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The Centrality of the Cross: A Study in 1 Corinthians

 

 

 

Consider Your Calling, I Corinthians 1:26-31

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I.   The Context of I Corinthians 1:26-31

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I Corinthians 1:24-25 " to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.   Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

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II.   The Proof of Paul's Claim in I Corinthians 1:24-25 Found in I Corinthians 1:26-31

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   A. For consider our calling: we were not chosen because of our impressive credentials - smart, strong, of nobility, I Corinthians 1:26

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I Corinthians 1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

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   B. Because God loves taking the rejected by this world to work out His plan (one of the central messages of the cross)

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I Corinthians 1:27-28 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are

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Voice of the Martyrs Video

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Jeremiah 4:3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns."

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Acts 14:21-22 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

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   C. God's plan shames and removes the pervasive pride of humanity, I Corinthians 1:29

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I Corinthians 1:29 so that no man may boast before God.

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   D. God's plan comes by His work in Christ Jesus, I Corinthians 1:30

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I Corinthians 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

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   E. So that all boasting will be in God, I Corinthians 1:31

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I Corinthians 1:31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

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