| Life Of God |
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I CORINTHIANS 2:1,2
(KJV)
I did not go around preaching God's word with a lot of fancy sermons or learned discourses, for I had decided to concentrate all my attention on Jesus Christ
(Hayman)
I did not come to announce to you the divine mystery with the prestige of rhetoric, for the only thing which I resolved to keep in view among you was Jesus Christ and Him crucified
(C. T. Wood)
Men enslaved in sin cannot be rescued by intellectual reasoning, but only by the presentation of Jesus Christ as crucified for our salvation
(Locke)
when I came and preached to you, I did not endeavor to set it off with any ornaments of rhetoric, or the mixture of human learning, or philosophy, but plainly declared it to you, as a doctrine from God, revealed and attested by him. For I resolved to own, or show, no other knowledge among you, but the knowledge or doctrine of Jesus Christ and of him crucified.
(Cornish)
So I never thought in coming amongst you to be able by my own persuasiveness, logic or rhetoric to make a message of God, a revelation of the mystery of His being, understood by you. It could never have come to you through such human means as that. And so I judged that to know nought, but Jesus Christ and him crucified was the way, the only way of this Gospel, which is demonstrated divinely by the Spirit and by power, not by persuasive preaching
Looks like this message of the Gospel is a little out of "balance". We need to get Paul here straightened out. All He wants to talk about is this "IN CHRIST" stuff. God mentions it no less than 140 times, yes that is right, 140 times in the New Testament letters. Think it's important? You say that might be, but it sure isn't entertaining, we need entertainment. We need to have someone else come in here and teach us about Faith, Hope or Love or just something else, anything else. Because if I hear this stuff anymore I am going to scream. Great! That's good, real good, and great. That means you have just about got it, a little while longer and He will have you, too. He will consume you; so that all there is left is Christ and Him Crucified. "For our God is a consuming Fire!" That is the message given to Paul by God for the Church and the Church has ignored it for two thousand years. Oh, now don't get me wrong every once in awhile, someone will come by and bring it up and put it in the back of their latest book; but it has never had the recognition it's supposed to have. Why? I don't know why don't you go ask that evil spirit the seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out. 
Do you think the devil wants us to know who we are, and what Christ really did on the cross, for us? NO. Hey will someone wake up and smell the coffee, it's been brewing for a long long time. The Church? They would rather have nice sermons of eloquence spoken by orators, skilled speakers, Doctors, Bishops with some kind of initials at the end of their names. People who talk to hear themselves talk about practical application and vain principles. You know the warning of the last days, people running to who will ever "itch their ears". Forget about true men of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, moved by the Holy Ghost and fire. Rather give me some teaching on healing, the gifts of the Holy Sprit, Faith, and Baptism instead, that way I don't have to make a conscious decision to do something and be responsible for something. |