1 Corinthians 1&2 – audio

Here is a walkthrough of 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 with side tangents.

Lord bless you!

Following is a sheet of conditions the Lord laid down for who could follow Him – and hope to be kept from greater error.
In the Bible study audio, this was referenced to.

Written: March 19, 2019. Expiration date: Never

God’s Requirements for His people

Following are condensed points God requires for anyone who would come to Him through Jesus Christ. These are your best hope to avoid error and stay on the narrow path that leads to life (Matt. 7:13,14). These are not commonly taught all in one spot. You can certainly find someone to contradict or counter-teach this – even though this is basically just a list of scriptures. Be advised: There are thousands of different viewpoints out there. There is so much sugar-coated teaching out there. Some preachers will never tell you these things from the pulpit – certainly not all in one place like this. Some will water down the plain meaning of Jesus’ words and explain them away. Be clear: This is NOT a “works based salvation” but looks to God’s grace in full.
Consider these pointers refined gold truth for your spirit. They are what the Lord and His disciples knew and taught. Whether you can meet these conditions is a test of your heart and real inner motives – not what you only say, but what you do. And, no one can do these without God enabling them (John 15:5). Of necessity these are brief each could be its own lesson.

Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

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Understand this: Salvation is about the kingdom of God. It not about us. It is about Jesus Christ. All human beings are sinners. Christians have potential for sin (Rom 7:13-25) and to be deceived (2 Cor. 11:2-4) but are called to let the life of God in them replace and flush out what they were (Gal. 2:20). This is not done by our willpower or determination, but by trusting God’s Spirit who wants to do it in us. We must see that and look to Jesus with faith. Caution – Today the Holy Spirit’s name gets casually flung around in Christian circles, but make no mistake, He is the Spirit of Almighty God. He is real, a Person, and is given to those who obey God.

Acts 5:32 – And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
Must be born again
Means having eyes opened Jesus is Messiah, died for you, and you are a sinner who needs to be saved. And … that you want nothing more than God! Needed: confession of Christ as Lord and savior and baptized in water. Understand the goal: God makes Christians into utterly new creatures (2 Cor 5:16,17). Our goal as new creatures trapped in a sinful body is to let the new creature united with Christ (1 Cor. 6:17) be in full control. This is possible if you meet His conditions.

John 3 – 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

Must become like a little child
Matthew 18:2-4 – 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Little child – assume a good little child, like Jesus held –
* Humble (not proud)
* Teachable (Willing to be retrained (renew mind)
* Obedient

Must “will” to do God’s will
John 7 – 14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”
16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

Must know deliverance from sin
Romans 6 – 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be [a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been [b]freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Meet Jesus’ requirements to be His disciple
Luke 14:26-33
26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it- 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Learn and keep Christ’s commands and apostles’ doctrine
John 14 – 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another [e]Helper, that He may abide with you forever- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Carry cross
Matt 16 – 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Die to self
John 12 – 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

Love not the world
1 John 2:15-17 – 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

James 4 – Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

Walk according to the Spirit
Rom 8 – 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Gal 5 – 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Pray regularly, sincerely
We are called to center all motives of heart around a love for Jesus and the Father that is to grow ever stronger as we press in to His heart and seek Him and His will.

We must understand we were found by God as sinners. We came to know the name of Christ as sinners. God desires to turn us away from our iniquities (Acts 3:26). We look to Jesus as our standard. We are called to become like Him (Rom. 8:29). Inasmuch as we are not like Him in any detail, we can be sure God wants us to bring that shortcoming to Him and seek Him for full deliverance and salvation.

So very much depends upon this. It is of paramount eternal importance. It is certainly always God’s will. Expect and accept nothing less.