1Corinthians 1:27 - Prayer Tents

1I, Paul, have been called and sent by Jesus, the Messiah, according to God's plan, along with my friend Sosthenes.G3972G2822G652G2424G5547G1223G2307G2316G2532G4988G80 2I send this letter to you in God's church at Corinth, Christians cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life. I include in my greeting all who call out to Jesus, wherever they live. He's their Master as well as ours!G1577G2316G3588G5607G1722G2882G37G1722G5547G2424G2822G40G4862G3956G1722G3956G5117G1941G3686G2424G5547G2257G2962G5037G846G2532G2257 3May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours.G5485G5213G2532G1515G575G2316G2257G3962G2532G2962G2424G5547 4Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus.G2168G3450G2316G3842G4012G5216G4012G1909G5485G2316G3588G1325G5213G1722G2424G5547 5There's no end to what has happened in you—it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge.G3754G1722G3956G4148G1722G846G1722G3956G3056G2532G3956G1108 6The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.G2531G3142G5547G950G1722G5213 7Just think—you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale.G5620G5209G5302G1722G3361G3367G5486G553G602G2257G2962G2424G5547 8And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus.G3739G950G2532G950G5209G2193G5056G410G1722G2250G2257G2962G2424G5547 9God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.G2316G4103G1223G3739G2564G1519G2842G846G5207G2424G5547G2257G2962

The Cross: The Irony of God’s Wisdom

10I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.G1161G3870G5209G80G1223G3686G2257G2962G2424G5547G2443G3004G3956G3004G846G2532G5600G3361G4978G1722G5213G1161G5600G2675G1722G846G3563G2532G1722G846G1106 11I bring this up because some from Chloe's family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you're fighting among yourselves!G1063G1213G3427G4012G5216G3450G80G5259G3588G5514G3754G1526G2054G1722G5213 12I'll tell you exactly what I was told: You're all picking sides, going around saying, "I'm on Paul's side," or "I'm for Apollos," or "Peter is my man," or "I'm in the Messiah group."G1161G5124G3004G3754G1538G5216G3004G1473G3303G1510G3972G1161G1473G625G1161G1473G2786G1161G1473G5547 13I ask you, "Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul's name?"G3307G5547G3307G3361G4717G3972G4717G5228G5216G2228G907G1519G3686G3972 14I was not involved with any of your baptisms—except for Crispus and Gaius—and on getting this report, I'm sure glad I wasn't.G2168G2316G3754G907G3762G5216G1508G2921G2532G1050 15At least no one can go around saying he was baptized in my name.G3363G5100G2036G3754G907G1519G1699G3686 16(Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephanas's family, but as far as I can recall, that's it.)G1161G907G2532G3624G4734G3063G1492G3756G907G1536G243 17God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words.G1063G5547G649G3165G3756G907G235G2097G3756G1722G4678G3056G3363G4716G5547G2758 18The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out.G1063G3056G4716G2076G3303G622G3472G1161G2254G4982G2076G1411G2316 19It's written, I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.G1063G1125G622G4678G4680G2532G114G4907G4908 20So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense?G4226G4680G4226G1122G4226G4804G5127G165G3471G3780G2316G3471G4678G5127G2889 21Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.G1063G1894G1722G4678G2316G2889G1223G4678G1097G3756G2316G2106G2316G1223G3472G2782G4982G4100 22While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom,G2532G1894G2453G154G4592G2532G1672G2212G4678 23we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd.G1161G2249G2784G5547G4717G2453G3303G4625G1161G1672G3472 24But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one.G1161G846G3588G2822G5037G2453G2532G1672G5547G1411G2316G2532G4678G2316 25Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness."G3754G3474G2316G2076G4680G444G2532G772G2316G2076G2478G444 26Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families.G1063G991G5216G2821G80G3754G3756G4183G4680G2596G4561G3756G4183G1415G3756G4183G2104 27Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses,G235G2316G1586G3474G2889G2443G2617G4680G2532G2316G1586G772G2889G2443G2617G2478 28chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"?G2532G36G2889G2532G1848G1586G2316G1586G2532G3588G5607G3361G2443G2673G5607 29That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God.G3704G3361G3956G4561G2744G1799G846 30Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.G1161G1537G846G2075G5210G1722G5547G2424G3739G575G2316G1096G2254G5037G4678G1343G2532G38G2532G629 31That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."G2443G2531G1125G2744G2744G1722G2962