Wisdom: Worldly & Spiritual

Monday, December 26, 2011: 1 Corinthians 2:1 – 2, 4 – 5 (NKJV)                  What should our faith be based on?

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

What should our faith be based on? Our faith is based on the power of God, not crediting it to man’s wisdom.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011: 1 Corinthians 2:6 – 7 (NKJV)                   What should our erudition be based on?

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory

What should our erudition be based on? Once a believer, our wisdom is on God’s preordained wisdom.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011: 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12 – 13 (NKJV)                   Who educates us in God’s wisdom?

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Who educates us in God’s wisdom? The Holy Spirit uses men to so educate us.

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Thursday, December 29, 2011: 1 Corinthians 2:14 – 15 (NKJV)                   Who receives this insight?

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

Who receives this insight? This insight is foolishness to natural man but is discerned by a spiritual man.

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Friday, December 30, 2011: 1 Corinthians 2:16 (NKJV)                   Who has the mind of Christ?

For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Who has the mind of Christ? All believers have this positionally. (Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus Phil 2:5)

Lineage

Monday, December 19, 2011: 1 Chronicles 24:1b, 7 – 10                  Who was Zacharias?

The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Now the first lot fell to … the eighth to Abijah

Luke 1:5 (NKJV)

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

Who was Zacharias? Zacharias was a priest from the line of Abijah, of Eleazar, of Aaron.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011: Luke 1:67, 76 – 77                   What did Zacharias prophecy?

Now his (John the Baptist’s) father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

      “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;

      For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,

      To give knowledge of salvation to His people

      By the remission of their sins

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011: John 1:29 – 35                  Were these prophecies fulfilled?

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

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Thursday, December 22, 2011: 2 Samuel 5:13b – 16 (NKJV)                   The lineage of David, the King.

Also more sons and daughters were born to David. Now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

1 Chronicles 3:1a, 5b (NKJV)

Now these were the sons of David who were born to him … in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon—four by Bathshua (Bathsheeba) the daughter of Ammiel.

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Friday, December 23, 2011: Luke 1:26b – 27 (NKJV)                  What were Joseph and Mary’s lineage?

the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

What were Joseph and Mary’s lineage? Joseph was of Solomon and Mary was of Nathan, both of whom were sons of David through Bathsheeba.

Baptism: John's and the Holy Spirit's

Monday, December 12, 2011: Acts 18:24 – 25 (NKJV)                   Does erroneous teaching of the Bible exist?

Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.

Does erroneous teaching of the Bible exist? Yes, it does. So does incomplete knowledge. Apollos was in the latter category: we all need to learn more.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011: Acts 18:26 (NKJV)                   How should a person be corrected?

So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

How should a person be corrected? He should be taken aside privately and gently put right.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011: Acts 18:27 – 28                   Does this passage place importance on baptism?                 

And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

Does this passage place importance on baptism? No, the importance is placed on Jesus Christ, the One all scripture point to.

Thursday, December 15, 2011: Acts 19:1 – 3                  Can a believer not know the Holy Spirit?

And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

Can a believer not know the Holy Spirit? Without the rest of the story, it seems so.

Friday, December 16, 2011: Acts 19:4 – 6 (NKJV)                   What is the conclusion about the two baptisms?

Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

What is the conclusion about the two baptisms? John’s baptism: repentance. Baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ: symbolically showing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and arose and accept Him as Savior and Lord. The gift of the Holy Spirit is power to proclaim Christ, never to promote self.

Should the Church be unified?

Monday, December 5, 2011: 1 Corinthians 1:10 – 11 (NKJV)                  Should the Church have denominations?

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

Should the Church have denominations? No, the Church should be united. But this is not the case.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011: 1 Corinthians 1:12 – 13 (NKJV)                  What name should we carry?

Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

What name should we carry? We should carry the name of Christ: we’re Christians. In reality, we’re Catholics & Protestants, Baptists or this or that.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011: 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 18 (NKJV)                  What was Paul’s mission?

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What was Paul’s mission? Paul was a missionary to the Gentiles, to whom he preached Christ crucified.

Thursday, December 8, 2011: 1 Corinthians 1:20 – 21 (NKJV)                  What is preaching?

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

What is preaching? It is foolishness to those who think they are wise; it is salvation to believers.

Friday, December 9, 2011: 1 Corinthians 1:22 – 25 (NKJV)                  Why does Paul preach Christ crucified?

For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are 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.

Why does Paul preach Christ crucified? This is the power and wisdom of God.