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1Cor 10,1-11

(141i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> Old Testament is for our instruction >> Teaching from the Old Testament -- These verses go with verse 26. Israel was baptized into Moses through the crossing of the Red Sea. The Egyptians also were baptized, but they did not survive. We also who belong to God are baptized in fire, showing there is someone indestructible living in our hearts, so what the Egyptians rejected destroyed them. Once safely on the opposite shore and wandering through the desert, the Israelites followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Israel ate from a common spiritual food and drank from a common spigot, and the rock was Christ. Mount Sinai billowed smoke and fire; the trumpets blew, and the word of the Lord came forth, and Moses alone climbed the holy mountain into the cloud and brought back the Ten Commandments. 

1Cor 10,1-6

(105la) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness of pain – It says that the rock was Christ who led the Israelites. Therefore, Jesus went through a forty-day wilderness of His own, wandering through the desert, His Father leading Him immediately following His baptism. He did not know where He was going or what He was doing in the same way that Jesus led the Israelites through the wilderness immediately after their baptism in the Red Sea. Every year that Christ made them wander in the wilderness, He wandered a day without food. They were given manna and everything they needed, but Jesus for forty days went with nothing, being led by the devil. The fullness of the anointing rested upon Him and it drove Him into the wilderness. We usually think about Jesus wilderness experience as an orchestrated event, like a walk in the park, but His Father orchestrated it, and Jesus was lost in it. It was painful in body and Spirit, for He had lost touch with God, and he didn’t know where to go or what to do. The moment He was baptized God suddenly disappeared. The Father tested Him after His anointing to see what He would do with the power of God. He left Him in the hands of Satan, tempting Him to use the anointing for evil rather than for the glory of God. This was a horrible time for Jesus, almost as bad as being nailed to a cross. His Father left Him when He needed Him most for the sake of the promise that He would not leave us in our darkest hour. See also: Unbeliever's view of suffering and evil; 2Cor 4-3,4; 166j

(147b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Remember the Father’s miracles – They all drank from the same spiritual drink, referring to the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20,1-13). The people became thirsty and they complained and murmured instead of remembering all the things they experienced from the hand of the Lord. They were delivered from the Egyptians by the mighty hand of God; they had manna descended from heaven each day for years, and it sustained them, and their sandals never wore off their feet. All their needs were continually supplied, so when they became thirsty, instead of remembering God’s faithfulness, they closed their heart and grumbled against Moses. All God's mercy and greatness was cancelled in their minds, and now they demanded water. The one thing that Israel over the centuries chose to forget was the uncanny patience of Moses. It says that he was the most humble man, and for that reason God spoke face-to-face with him. Note that humility and patience go hand-in-hand, suggesting that a person who is impatient is also resentful and arrogant. Since patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit, anybody who does not practice these fruits replaces them with overbearing pride and hubris.

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1Cor 10,1-5

(15d) Servant >> Ministering spirits >> Angels Perform certain duties – In various occasions the Old Testament speaks of angels. In particular it says that God was not patient enough to lead rebellious Israel and handed the reigns to an angel to lead them into victory over their enemies the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites (Exodus 23,20-23 & Exodus 33,1-5). God said that if He tried to lead them, He would have destroyed them for their insolence. God didn’t have the patience to lead Israel, but gave the job to someone who was more gracious and merciful. Numerous occasions the Old Testament speaks about Jesus as an angel (Genesis 16,7-13; Genesis 22-11,12; Genesis 32:22–32; Zechariah 1,8-17), and Paul is saying here that this angel who led Israel from Egypt and through the wilderness and into the promise land was none other than Christ Himself.

(63a) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> God deceives His people

(191b) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism symbolizes death, burial and resurrection >> Baptism is a sign of obedience – The Israelites were given everything to complete their task; they were under a cloud by day and fire by night. They passed through the Red Sea and were baptized into Moses. People who are baptized rise from the water alive, so the Israelites rose from the seabed alive on the other shore, and so they rose to a new life of serving God. Instead of making their own plans, their life became all about fulfilling His plan for their lives. The same is true for us in regard to baptism.

(221g) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from the mind of man >> He denies His kingdom to man’s stubborn will – The trip on foot from Egypt to the promise land would have taken only a couple months, but Israel’s disobedience expanded their journey to forty years. God had them wander through the desert until the entire unbelieving generation died. They would see the sun on their left shoulder and the next day they would see the sun on their right shoulder; they just walked in circles, and God was leading them. We think that because we believe in Jesus we will receive nothing but good from Him, but that was not the experience of the Israelites. If we are disobedient like Israel, He will make us wander in waterless places until we set it in our heart to serve Him. Most people in the Church have no clue about God’s will for their lives, nor do they much care. The only thing that matters to most people in the Church is their success in the world, and they blow off any concern about fitting into God’s plan. So, in His view they are just aimlessly wandering. Most of us have had periods of disobedience and rebellion when we lost touch with God and a meaningful direction, when nothing we tried succeeded, when life was empty. A person like that can repent of his obstinance and God will straighten out his path and lead him into His will that He had planned from all eternity, just like He did with the Israelites. He can still use our periods of rebellion, for nothing is wasted, not even our rebellious years.

1Cor 10,1-4

(36c) Gift of God >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> Spiritual food – This spiritual food refers to the manna they ate in the wilderness every day for forty years where nothing grows; even if they journeyed through a fertile land the earth couldn’t have sustained such a large population condensed in one place. They were always on the move and couldn’t stop and farm the land, so God sent manna from heaven and fed them for forty years.

1Cor 10-4

(103f) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Spirit like water >> Cleanses you from the desire to sin

(132j) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holy Spirit is in God’s people >> Filled with the Spirit >> Drink in the Spirit – Christ is the rock of our salvation, and we drink from His Spirit, quenching our thirst in a desolate land, devoid of any other water source. Jesus is our lifeline, as He said to the woman at the well; He is a continually outpouring spring leading to eternal life. A few chapters later He said in Jn 7-37,38, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (referring to Proverbs 18:4 and Isaiah 12:3; 44:3; 55:1; 58:11 and Zechariah 13:1; 14:8). The rock of our salvation is written in the Scriptures, and the person of Christ lives in our heart through the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament Moses supplied water to the Israelites, and God gave him specific instructions on what to say, but he spoke the words that God told him while pounding His staff on the rock and water gushed forth, but God did not tell Moses to strike the rock with his staff, and for that reason God disciplined him because he did not explicitly follow the Lord’s instruction and consequently he was not allowed to enter the promise land with the Israelites. Therefore, if we are filled with the Spirit, we are also like Moses and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit; this is what Paul meant by walking in the Spirit.

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1Cor 10,5-11

(48f) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your deeds >> In this life

(49a) Judgment >> Nations are destroyed >> Israel judged as an example for us – Did Israel patiently wait for their leader to return from the top of Mount Sinai? No, "...the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play" (Ex 32-6). God called them idolaters, which is a one-word description of America. What did the Scripture say about them and us? “With most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” They never saw the promise land. After the events of Mount Sinai a forty-year period overtook the Israelites, and they wandered aimlessly, until their generation expired. Not even Moses saw the promise land, because he tapped the rock instead of speaking the oracle of God, as though Moses had the power in himself to make water come from a rock (Num 20,9-12). Pride entered his heart and he momentarily forgot the source of his power. Tapping the rock doesn’t sound like much of an infraction, but He talked face to face with God, making reverence an increasing obligation as he drew closer to God. This suggests that if we as a nation become idolatrous and irreverent, and God does not immediately judge us, it is because we are nowhere near Him in our hearts, and if we are a Christian nation as we claim, then we need to remember that “these things happened [to Israel] as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved.” Craving evil things can be interpreted as materialism, which is how this country is defined, and if these things were written for the instruction of the first century Church, “upon whom the ends of the ages has come,” how much closer are we to the end of the age? See also: First century Church; 1Cor 10,18-21; 173g

(64d) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Limits of God >> God cannot help but judge sin – Grumbling is highly contagious and destructive in the Church. If we have a problem with the pastor, we should go directly to him with our complaint and not grumble about him, spreading our disease throughout the congregation. Grumbling stirs up people’s minds and puts doubts in their heads, not just about the Church but also about God. The Church represents Christ in the world, so to attack the Church is to attack the Lord. He wants to love the brethren through us, but grumbling does the opposite, being akin to strife, which also works to divide and conquer. It is not the people who are orchestrating this so much as the devil, who has the ultimate interest in destroying the Church. So, either we let God work in us through love, or we let the devil work in us through strife and division, and there is no middle ground. They say that actions are greater than words, but the Bible teaches that our words are part of our actions, for it all comes from the same spigot. James asked the question, “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?” (Jm 3-11). If it doesn’t happen in nature, then it shouldn’t happen with us. See also: Synergy in the Church; 1Cor 11,16-22; 178h

(92h) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> What kind of trail is this? >> The wrong gate is wide and many enter by it

(153e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Hiding under a cloud of guilt >> Preferring darkness over the light -- These verses go with verses 18-21

(154g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against sin – Hundreds of years of rebellion in Israel led to their Babylonian takeover, and then seventy years later they were allowed back to their homeland, claiming to have learned their lesson, but they didn't learn anything. Centuries of rebellion hardened their hearts to their God and to His laws, turning them into a nation of reprobates, so when Jesus finally came, they were ready to murder their own Messiah. Obviously there were some good people in Israel; Jesus had a following: He had his closest disciples, the twelve, and many others followed Him, but most of the nation was corrupt. What made it worse, they believed they were serving God. They were extremely zealous for their laws, thinking that breaking them was their mistake that led to the Babylonian takeover, but their big mistake was misinterpreting their law. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob served the Lord with a good heart without need of law; but after Israel had been enslaved for 400 years, they hardened their heart against God and never recovered. Why did God allow them to be slaves? Some people fault God for this, but He was testing them to see if they would believe in Him after suffering Egyptian tyranny. Their enslavement embittered them, making them unable to believe in God. Apparently Israel as a nation gave up on God during their enslavement and decided He didn’t care about them, and rumors arose that choosing their father Abraham and raising up his offspring to become a great and mighty nation was just a myth. Once God came for them and exiled them from Egypt with a mighty hand, they were unable to back-peddle fast enough to put their hearts in place to serve Him. The lesson: do not harden your heart, "for you do not know which day your Lord is coming" (Mat 24-42). See also: Heart of man; Gal 5-5,6; 230i

(157d) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Being displeasing to God >> Leading a fruitless lifestyle – Grumbling is a sign of unbelief. That is not to say Christians don’t grumble. Those who feel the need to grumble and continually start rumors and divisions in the Church and never repent, there is no reason we should believe they are born-again believers in Jesus. They might have learned the language of Christianity and they might be able to convince people they believe in God, but if the end result is strife and division, it is doubtful anything about them is real. We only need to inspect their fruit as Jesus taught. He spoke in such a way that human behavior is not something we need to diagnose. If their fruit is strife and division, then they are bearers of thorns and thistles and not of grapes and figs (Mat 7-16). These are the kind that are fascinated with evil and doing wrong, and upsetting people’s lives instead of blessing them. There have always been people like this; Israel was full of them in the days of Moses to the point that God denied the promise land to an entire generation of grumblers. They learned it during 150 years of captivity, and they developed longstanding habits that they were unable to break, not even after seeing His miracles. The Pharisees witnessed the miracles of Jesus and grumbled about Him (Jn 6,41-44).

(172b) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Devils among the saints >> Unrighteous among the righteous

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1Cor 10-6

(8p) Responsibility >> Prevent God’s judgment on your life – God chose Israel through Abraham, and they have suffered more than any nation. To be chosen of God was a great blessing, and it was also a great responsibility. If they blew it, tremendous consequences would follow them, because they are dealing with God, who is not like fallen man. His judgments are just, so that whatever happens to us we deserve. After God finishes judging us, He longs to bless us and forgive us and cleans us from all unrighteousness for His namesake. That is exactly what God intends to do for the Jews one day. They have been lost for 2000 years, but they will find their way in the last days. When they see persecution returning the same as in World War II, they won’t accept such a fate again, but neither will they be able to fight against it, so their only alternative will be to accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah, and He will be waiting for them with open arms (Lk 15,18-25). They will believe and obey God and do everything God commands of them, and the gentiles will benefit from their faith. See also: Great Endtime Revival (Jews will manage the gospel [144,000]); Mat 21-43,44; 21e

(12e) Servant >> Bad examples – There is one definite advantage of a bad example: we know what not to do. There is also one prominent disadvantage of a bad example: we have more knowledge than the Israelites about the consequences of our actions and are consequently apt to have a stricter judgment for following in their footsteps (2Pet 2,4-9; Jude 5-7,11).

(194g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >> Victory over sin >> Hate evil by loving good

1Cor 10-7

(195h) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping other gods >> Worshipping other gods as a servant -- This verse goes with verse 14

(196d) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Immaturity >> Not mature enough to die to self >> Unable to put down the flesh

1Cor 10-8

(134k) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Immorality >> Sexual perversion >> Basic immorality – Paul depicted the immoral man as sinning against his own body (1Cor 6-18); that is, the immoral man thinks he is blessing his body by giving his flesh what it wants. The spirit of man and his flesh is like having a relationship with the devil; we give him what he wants and we end up getting hurt. If the body were separate from the spirit it would die, and without the body the soul could not sin. By this we see that body and soul are one in many respects, and for this reason the sins of the body are transferred to the soul. Body and soul are so intricately woven together that the secular man denies he has a spirit. However, we who are spiritual understand that the physical realm is superimposed over the human spirit, being inseparable until biologically the physical can no longer support life and evicts the soul. See also: Sacrifice our flesh to abide in the will of God; 1Jn 4-15; 78l

1Cor 10-9

(181a) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the authority of God

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1Cor 10-10

(158b) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Strife >> Grumbling – Paul presented a short list of all the mistakes Christians make as illustrated by Israel in the Old Testament, and grumbling is toward the top of the list, being highly destructive. “Destroyer” is one of the names given to Satan, suggesting that in the days of Moses God used Satan to judge the children of Israel. The context of being destroyed by the destroyer is that after man has been worshipping demons, God decided to give man what they wanted and give the demons what they wanted, letting the demons destroy the idolaters, one destructive force destroying another. This suggests that grumbling has roots in demon worship, that is, idol worship, and the main idol of grumbling is pleasure. The grumbler wants what he wants when he wants it on a silver platter. If anybody is a grumbler and causing strife and division, he might praise the Lord with his mouth but worships demons with his actions. This will manifest in the last days, based on Rev 9-11, where it talks about the chief of demons, whose name was Abaddon or Apollyon, which means destruction and destroyer in Hebrew and Greek respectively. They were called first to torment those who received the mark of the beast, and later God altered their appearance and ministry to “destroy those who destroy the earth” (Rev 11-18). So, destruction seeks those who hold the same attribute in that, “If anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed” (Rev 13-10). The Psalms and Proverbs speak about a man being destroyed by his own sin, “His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin” (Proverbs 5-22). “He has brought back their wickedness upon them and will destroy them in their evil.” "Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads." (Psalm 94-23; Psalm 7-15,16).

1Cor 10-11

(50c) Judgment >> God judges the world >> These are the last days

1Cor 10-12

(22n) Sin >> Pride comes before a fall – This passage characterizes the sliding continuum between humility and pride; the more pride the less humility, being inversely proportional to each other. Note that Paul didn’t say, ‘Let him who is proud take heed lest he fall;’ he said, “Let him who thinks he stands…” That is all it takes to fit the definition of “proud”, though Paul urged in other cases to “stand firm” (1Cor 16-13). So if we don’t stand, we’re in trouble and if we do stand, we’re in trouble. We need to stand firm against Satan, but if we think we are in good standing with God and man, beware. There are sins in our lives that we don’t know, and there is willingness to explore sin that we don’t want to know. Nobody can say, ‘My walk is perfect;’ we all have sins that are offensive to God, and He doesn’t accept them but bears with us.

(77j) Thy kingdom come >> Tapping into the power of God through humility >> The humble realize the source of their power – This life is so frustrating, difficult and complicated that we need certain outlets to occasionally let off steam; for if we let stress and tension accumulate, we will explode. Our relationship with God helps; we pray and seek God to dissipate our anxieties, but there are always things in our lives that frustrate us to the point of despair, things that make us wish we were never born. We have moments when we think life just isn’t worth it. Most of the time we just wish we could die and go to heaven. We get tired of this life because we know the life to come is so much better, and we become impatient and want to go there now. All these things come upon us at times, blowing over our souls with a scorching wind. We pray and there is not enough time in the day; we read our Bible and there aren't enough words, and so we choose our vises. Every Christian has a set of them, a sin that is erosive to our faith. The best of us do this, and the ones who say they don’t are lying. If a person’s life is so perfect that he doesn’t need a vise to occasionally stabilize him, then he ought to produce the fruit of it, so where is all this fruit? Everybody has secret sins, and Paul says that anyone who denies this, anyone who claims to have a perfect life, take heed! They are full of pride and about to fall. The best thing we can do is confess our sins to the Lord and admit we allow them, and ask that He take them away in His time, which will be our time when we no longer need them. See also: Man is utterly sinful; Rom 10-1; 247h

(94n) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective is your personal reality >> How you interpret your point of view

(178c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the facts about the circumstances >> Presumption interprets our observations

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1Cor 10,13-15

(54m) Paradox >> Opposites >> Be mature and run

(137j) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >> Stages of maturity are levels of accountability >> Maturity is working with God

1Cor 10-13

(28g) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects us through endurance – Most things that happen to us are common. Our persecutions and hardships have all happened to our brethren throughout the generations, but God is faithful to control the level of suffering we endure. He assures us that we will not be overcome by our circumstances if we will only follow the Holy Spirit. We must ask ourselves what would it be easier, for God to control our circumstances, or for God to control the level of grace in our lives to manage our suffering? God can far more easily control the amount of grace in our lives than to control our circumstances, and so that is generally what He does. There are other times when God steps in and controls our circumstances, but we must be prepared to receive His grace long before we can expect to see His hand affecting our circumstances. This management of sorrow through grace is our gift from heaven; it is ours to keep forever, the one possession we can take with us to heaven. God does not give us His grace for a season but gives it for all time, “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11-29).

(30d) Gift of God >> Prepare to receive from God >> God supplies our needs under certain conditions

(31j) Gift of God >> Gift of His grace >> Being responsible with it – James said that God tempts no one and nor can He be tempted (Jm 1-13), though He allows temptation to test His people. God moderates our temptations, yet sometimes we become overwhelmed. When this happens, they say that life has exposed them to trials too difficult to handle, and some have partially or completely lost their faith as a result. Is that God’s fault? If God is moderating our temptations, then how did we get overwhelmed? Often, people have invited disaster into their own lives through poor life decisions. God doesn’t moderate trials and temptations that we cause for ourselves; how could He? He will not stop us from doing whatever we want, because preserving our will is more important to Him than keeping us from exercising our volition. If it turns out that the temptations we invite into our lives overcome us and we lose our faith over them, it just proves that these things were more important to us than God's will in our lives, which is idolatry. God is seeking people who will obey Him, who will live in a world of temptation, but let Him steer us around them, though inevitably we will run aground on some. If we feel that our temptations are getting the best of us, it is probably because we are asking for it; the best thing to do is repent and go back to God and start afresh, making it our life’s goal to do His will only and stop sinning. People who find it too difficult to live for Jesus are too disobedient to follow Him. They need to get rid of everything that is tempting them and stop straddling the fence.

(49k) Judgment >> Judgment day >> God judges the world >> The great tribulation

(99h) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Enduring circumstances >> Endure temptation – Our suffering is to our benefit, for it gives God reason to bless us with His grace in the form of an anointing, which enables us to endure our circumstances, otherwise why did James say, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials; knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance.” This endurance comes from the anointing (which is a word that refers to the grace of God) that perfects us and completes our faith. Endurance and grace are synonymous, causing Paul to say, “…with the temptation [He] will provide a way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” God’s grace is directly proportional to our suffering, so to the degree that we are pressed under sorrow is the degree that we receive grace for endurance. Now we know God’s way of escape is through grace, but from what are we escaping? He helps us escape from the snare of disobedience, so we can continue being faithful to Christ, regardless of our circumstances. Hardship and difficulties apart from God's grace have a way of hardening our heart, so God endows us with His anointing to help us circumvent the sin of unbelief.

(102d) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Faithfulness is dependable >> God is dependable

(116e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through worship >> Entering His hiding place

(140a) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> The doorway – This is God’s manner of delivering us from temptation: He uses that temptation itself to provide a way of escape, that we may be able to endure it. That is, God uses temptation to deliver us from temptation, as Jesus also said in the Lord’s Prayer, “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Mat 6-13). Rev 3-8,10 also says, “I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” Then verse 10, “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Every person who walks through this open door is rescued from temptation, and the hour of testing is the time of the antichrist, and the temptation is receiving the mark of the beast, which would seal our eternal fate if we took it. He uses the temptation to provide a way of escape by creating a door in the temptation itself, where the antichrist cannot go. It is like the movie The Truman Show where there was a door at the perimeter of his make-believe world. Truman got tired of living a lie after realizing his life was a mere production for society's viewing pleasure, found a little boat and sailed into stormy seas, and when He got to the horizon, he bumped into the outer perimeter of his fantasy world and climbed into the sea, only waist deep, looking for a way to escape his facsimile, and located a door, walked through it and discovered a new reality. Like Truman, we walk through the door from this fantasy world that temptation has invented to discover the wilderness, where reality is awaiting us. This is where God will deliver His people in the last days, in the wilderness, meaning that man's world is unreal, a mere facsimile of his imagination. The principle is the same in every temptation of life, God creates a door for us to use that exposes the backside of Satan's deceptions. Once we walk through this door and view our temptations from the other side, the power of temptation dissipates, but if we remain within the temptation, it will maintain its power over us.

(160i) Works of the devil >> Temptation >> Overcoming temptation >> Prayer overcomes temptation

(228g) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> God is working in you to place you in His will >> To lead you in His purpose

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1Cor 10-14

(192k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Stop practicing sin >> Run from sin

(195h) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping other gods >> Worshipping other gods as a servant -- This verse goes with verses 19-30. Idol worship back in the day was based on superstition, consisting chiefly of the Baals. There was one for the spring rains, one for harvest and one for every solar, lunar and human event, and they all robbed God of His glory. When He gave them rain, people gave the credit to a stupid statue. He was kind to people, and they wouldn't even acknowledge Him. We all know that kneeling before a dumb idol won’t make it rain. Things have changed since then; people are not as superstitious; we have grown in knowledge. We now trust our scientists who tell us that God doesn’t exist. Much as things have changed, they have remained the same. We understand weather patterns and the causes for rain, making idol worship obsolete; science has become our new idol. We don’t kneel and pray to dumb statues anymore; today man has found God in himself, and the knowledge that man has achieved has become his new idol.

1Cor 10-15 

(69g) Authority >> Righteous judgment >> Meditate on discernment >> Judging what is right – Paul was writing to people he expected to properly interpret him, and these were the Corinthians who were the most immature Christians of all his epistles. God also expects each of us to properly interpret him, but do we? If we miss Paul’s point, we have no excuse, and if we get it wrong, it proves our spiritual immaturity. The most likely reason we want the Bible to say something it doesn't is to corroborate with our religion. We cannot properly interpret the Scriptures to save our souls, proving that we are far less mature even than the Corinthians, which is saying a lot. According to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, Laodicea was extremely immature, and the Church in the 21st century resembles them.

1Cor 10,16-21

(130a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Communion

(230a) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking of Jesus >> Partaking of communion – The body and blood that Jesus gave for us is what communion represents. The most poignant aspect of this ceremony is the fact that we cannot share with someone else the food we eat. We can share our meals together, but the food we put in our mouths we cannot share; it becomes ours alone. In the same way, we can share the gospel with someone, but we cannot share our faith, for it is ours alone. A husband and wife who have become one flesh sit at the dinner table and eat their meals together on separate plates. So too when we consume the bread and wine, it is ours alone. Jesus’ heart pumped His blood from his body and it dripped all over the street, where he made the arduous trip to Golgotha, there nailed to a cross, hoisted into its stand and left to die. His body was given for us. Jesus never wanted us to literally drink His blood, anymore than He wants us to be cannibals, yet all symbolism points to something literal. The sacrifice He made for the sins of mankind belongs to anyone who will accept that He died for our sins. We needed this sacrifice for God to forgive us, and without it we were destined to be separated from God forever. Now that the grace of God has been revealed, we only need to receive it, and God uses our faith to receive the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in us, and we become born-again, destined to live forever with Him in paradise.

1Cor 10,16-18

(76n) Thy kingdom come >> Desires >> Word is food >> Bread of life is the word of God

(37g) Judgment >> Redemption of man >> His blood is the gift of His grace

(131j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Many members but one body >> Many partakers but one loaf of bread – We are the children of God, as in marriage where the man and woman are one flesh, though not every day seems like a union. Married couples have separate interests and desires, different hobbies, different habits, different ideas and thoughts, yet the Bible says they are one flesh, and that speaks to more than sex. Over the years husband and wife meld together; they rejoice together and suffer together as a single life. This too is what it means to be a member of the body of Christ. Sometimes we seem distant from each other; we have different views of God, different ideas about the Bible, pray about different things; our faith and devotion to Christ differ in magnitude and emphasis, yet God calls us one body. The arm is linked to the torso, fingers to hand, hand to wrist, wrist to arm. We are not in pieces but connected. When there is a task at hand, we all help each other, feet standing in position, hands working on the project, but we all have the mind of Christ, who is head of the body, telling us what to do, operating together.

(135l) Similarity In the Body (Key verse)

(135m) Temple >> Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of Christ >> Similarity in the body >> The things we have in common >> Common salvation

(136g) Temple >> Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of Christ >> Jesus’ spiritual body – There is a lot of arrogant thinking in the Church today that resists associating with other members of the body of Christ. In order for unity to exist we need to associate with each other and spend time together. In ninety-nine percent of the cases the only time we ever see each other is at church. We go through the motions together, and that is the only thing we do in unison, but that is not what constitutes genuine unity. Paul does not call participating in a church service unity; rather, He talks about people meshing their lives together, dedicated to one another. Even if this happened a little, it would change the world, but gross disobedience cancels what little unity exists between us. In heaven we will be united as a single body in ways that are incomprehensible in this life.

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1Cor 10,18-21

(153e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Hiding under a cloud of guilt >> Preferring darkness over the light -- These verses go with verses 5-11

(163l) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Entertaining demons >> The Church entertains demons – Paul begins speaking directly to the Catholic faith again, flashing back to chapter 8 and resuming his discussion about eating things sacrificed to idols, saying that those things which the gentiles sacrifice to idols, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, attempting to steer the Church from being sharers with demons. This is speaking in context with taking communion. Those who believe the bread and wine magically turn into the body and blood of Christ at the blessing of the priest, are communing with demons. He reminds us that we cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; we cannot serve two masters; we must make up our mind whom we will serve. See also: Catholicism; 173g

(173g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice (Penance) >> Offering sacrifice without God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the will of God -- These verses go with verses 27-29. The first century Church is something that has never recurred; it literally changed the world, in that the second century Church was a composite of the first century and the third. When we compare Paul and his friends to Catholicism that came 200 years later—in the third century—the difference is enormous, especially when considering that Catholicism was the official Christian religion for 1200 years, until the Protestant Reformation came in the 1500’s. In almost every respect Catholicism is a cult, except that it acknowledges the trinity, being the only thing that makes it a true Christian religion. However, they practice many cultic, pagan rituals that are nowhere near the teaching of Scripture. They have a habit of just making up beliefs, indicating they have not subjected themselves to the authority of Christ. Catholicism took Christianity under siege over a millennium before anyone decided to do something about it, which accounts for half the entire age of grace. Now that Christianity has escaped the oppression of Catholicism, we seemed to have fallen into apostasy again. There is complacency in the Church so thick today we could cut it with a knife. See also: See also: Catholicism; 1Cor 10,25-28; 155a / History of the Church (First century Christians); 1Cor 10,5-11; 49a / 1Pet 5,1-3; 138j

(176h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Resolution without relationship

(183f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Nursery for the Spirit of error >> Ignorance

(196b) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping the devil – Paul said in 1Cor 8-4, “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.” This is really quite an amazing statement after all the hullabaloo concerning idolatry in the Old Testament. In fact, the very first commandment says that we should have no other gods. Chapter after chapter in the books of judges, I & II Kings and I & II Chronicles spoke of God judging the Israelites for their idolatry, and now Paul is saying that idols don’t really exist. What he meant was that to us there is no such thing as an idol, but to those who fall down and worship them, idols do exist, and to them there are many false gods in the world. We see them as props for demons, for there is a demon hiding behind every idol, looking for a way into people's lives. God didn’t want Israel worshipping idols, because He didn’t want His people worshipping His nemesis, Satan, the person who is His exact opposite.

1Cor 10,19-30

(195h) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping other gods >> Worshipping other gods as a servant -- These verses go with verse 7

(163j) Entertaining Demons (Key verse)

1Cor 10-20,21

(185f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> Having knowledge but not knowing God

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1Cor 10-22

(63g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Be pretentious >> Pretending to be stupid

(75k) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Jealously manipulating people – There are plenty of shysters and false prophets who jealously manipulate people to get what they want. They know how to dangle temptation in front of people and make them dance without giving them anything, while the people give them all their money and trust. Paul is talking about idolatry in this chapter, returning to the Old Testament when the Lord warned Israel that He is a jealous God (Exodus 20-5). The concept of God’s jealousy has aroused many people’s curiosity as to what it means; why would He be jealous of us? Some of these charlatans who manipulate people would do the same to God if they could, by refusing to love and worship Him with a whole heart, inciting God to jealousy. They are not trying to manipulate Him, are they? Doesn’t God’s jealousy prove just how invested He is in mankind, who made us to be His worshippers? When we become insanely jealous of something or someone, wanting something so bad it hurts, we have an inkling of how God feels about us. How many times have we heard that God loves us, and then we grin and do what we want, instead of allowing the love of God to motivate us to love and good deeds? Does not our complacency incite God to jealously; we are not stronger than Him are we? If we think we are, then we are deceiving ourselves, and in fact isn’t the destructive power of idolatry self-deception? We must deceive ourselves before we can deceive anybody else, especially God. We must lie to ourselves and say that God is okay with us if we don’t serve Him, because He loves us; and since He loves us, He would never judge us, so we can do what we want and he can’t touch us. This is manipulation 101.

1Cor 10,23-30

(118k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Law of the spirit >> Law of liberty – If we want to dine with an unbeliever, we have that freedom. Christianity doesn’t say we should have nothing to do with unbelievers; if one invites us to dinner, we can go. The believer’s liberty is well-documented in the New Testament; Paul was a strong advocate of freedom. We are free to do righteousness, which is not true of unbelievers, who are in bondage to their unbelief and the sin associated with it, but we have been set free from sin, and we have the freedom to live for Jesus and do what is good and right. So, when we dine with an idol worshipper, Paul advises us not to ask if the food was sacrificed to idols. In this case it is better to remain ignorant. To us it doesn’t matter if the meat was sacrificed to an idol, unless the meat is turning green or smells of death, or the heathen ritual involved sprinkling the meat with poison. Otherwise, Rom 14-14 says, “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” We are free to eat whatever is set before us with no fear of voodoo curses coming upon us.

1Cor 10-23,24

(234k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Be a blessing >> Be a blessing and love your brother -- These verses go with verses 31-33

1Cor 10-24

(13h) Servant >> Support the body >> Serve selflessly – If we cut this verse out of the Bible and threw the rest away, and the whole world obeyed this one and only statement that God ever made to mankind: “Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor,” people would create paradise on earth. This is the only verse we need, if we weren’t so hopelessly lost in sin, but because of that we also need the story of Jesus and the epistles that explain the gospels that tell how He came to save us from our sins and made us acceptable to the Father. If we include that, then we should also include the history of man with God in the Old Testament, which is the basis of Jesus coming in the flesh. Phi 2-4 says, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” In that verse Paul gave us permission to pay attention to our own interest as well as others, but to the Corinthians he took away “self” and told them to care only about their neighbor, starting with their immediate family, then the brethren at church and finally those who are lost and in the world. If everybody did this, people would be looking after us as we looked after them. Blessing would come from every direction as we reciprocated the blessing to others, meeting every need and concern in front of us, as others met our needs behind us. We would never have to worry about robbers or losing the things we have gained, except that we would be giving it all away, at the same time that others replenished what we have freely given. This is exactly the way it will be in heaven; we have no needs there, because everybody will be caring for everybody else, so we don’t have to care about ourselves.

(127b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Kindness >> Be kind like God >> Kindness is meeting the needs of the saints -- This verse goes with verse 33

(131c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Brother depends on you >> To care for his needs

(235f) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Giving preference to one another -- This verse goes with verse 33

1Cor 10,25-33

(55g) Paradox >> Opposites >> The mature are no stronger than the weak in faith

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1Cor 10,25-30

(54l) Paradox >> Opposites >> Do not let that which is a good thing be spoken of as evil – We don’t want to know if our food was sacrificed to an idol; we don’t even care, but if a friend informs us that the meat was sacrificed to an idol, then we don’t eat it for his sake, not ours. If we eat the meat knowing it was sacrificed to an idol, to our friend we will be condoning the worship of his gods, and we don’t want to condone evil. We are to serve our brothers and our neighbors and even our enemies with the gospel, taking their point of view into consideration. We who believe in Jesus should not inadvertently model the practice of idol worship and Christianity as though they go together. We don’t want to close the gap between Christianity and paganism, or limit the distinction between the believer and the unbeliever. We want to preserve that gap, so they understand they need to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior and abandon their religious idols and witchcraft and whatever practices that are contrary to Christianity. Paul wants us to maintain the distinction between us and them, not for our sake but for theirs, that they might be saved. This gap represents the offense of the gospel; it represents the fact that God accepts no one apart from Christ. People can say what they want about God, but the bottom line is this: everyone wants to believe that God accepts him. No one wants to feel below standard in the eyes of God. Realizing that we are unacceptable to God marks the beginning of every person’s journey back to Him.

(175l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Lack of knowledge – Obviously the unbeliever is ignorant; he is an idol worshipper, and the meat market is full of meat that has been sacrificed to idols, and he knows what cut has been sacrificed to which idol; he knows all about his religion, and he may know the tenets of the Christian faith and the doctrines of salvation, but if he is an unbeliever, he is still ignorant of God. If he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, who gives the revelation of God’s word, he may have head knowledge of the Scriptures, but he has no revelation of the sacrifice that Jesus made to cleanse mankind of sin.

1Cor 10,25-28

(155a) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> Having a good conscience >> Doing right to the best of our knowledge – If someone invites you to a Catholic Church, go with him, and take communion without asking questions for conscience sake. Paul says in Rom 14-14, “I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” Then, it says here, “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains,” implying that there is no substance under heaven that is intrinsically evil, but we assign evil to certain things by using them for evil or simply deeming them unclean. See also: Catholicism; 1Cor 10,27-29; 173g

1Cor 10-26

(141i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> Old Testament is for our instruction >> Teaching from the Old Testament -- This verse goes with verses 1-11

(214a) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> God owns everything – This is a quote from the Old Testament (Psalm 24-1), making this statement doubly sure and indicating its importance. Knowing that God created everything is the basis of our faith. Even so, He delegates it to His creation. Everything He owns He delegates, to the point of giving us place on His throne, which no other created being can say, yet He maintains His place in creation as God and Creator of the universe. He is the origin of all things; He has all authority and power; God lived in eternity past, but we were created; He is infinite; He has all wisdom; He is all knowing and predestines all things according to the counsel of His will, and He understands things we never will. For all these things we worship Him. We worship God for all the ways that distinguish Him from His creation, for all His attributes that only He possesses. He has given us all authority and power, yet He has given none of it away. For example, a boss can give ten people authority to accomplish a certain task that he wants done, and when they finish, the boss takes credit for what they did, because without his authority, they could not have done it. In this way he exponentially increases his authority. God can give us a place on His throne, and we can sit in judgment, yet God maintains the final authority. He will give us cities that will grow into countries, that will grow into planets that will grow into galaxies that we will manage, and each person will have his own galaxy or system of galaxies, yet we will always have reason to worship God, because He created it all. We may manage our little corner of the universe, but He owns it all. Over the billions of years as we watch everything grow and see the Kingdom of God spreading throughout the universe, we will glimpse infinity, for His kingdom will have no end (Isaiah 9-7). See also: New heavens and a new earth (God will create another race of man and put us in charge of them); Gal 4,1-7; 117gb

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1Cor 10,27-29

(173g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice (Penance) >> Offering sacrifice without God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the will of God -- These verses go with verses 18-21 Paul describes a member of the Catholic Church as an unbeliever. He instructs that if a Catholic invites us to church, we can take communion if we wish without asking any questions, but if our friend explains that the bread and wine transform into the body and blood of Christ at the blessing of the priest, don’t take communion for his sake, not ours. This is how free we are: we would not be spiritually endangering ourselves if we took communion even in full knowledge of its association with demons, but if we take communion when our friend knows that we know it is a form of witchcraft, we will be inadvertently condoning it, wounding his conscience. Paul’s main point is that we should avoid contradicting the true doctrines of the faith by condoning evil and offending the conscience of others for the sake of our freedom. See also: Catholicism; 1Cor 10,18-21; 163l

1Cor 10,28-30

(17c) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Judging in the flesh >> Evaluating circumstances by the carnal mind

1Cor 10-29

(154j) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> Having a good conscience >> God is my conscience

1Cor 10-30

(82i) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> Thankfulness >> Giving thanks for His blessings

1Cor 10,31-33

(13g) Servant >> Serve the body >> Promoting its health >> Be a blessing

(234k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Be a blessing >> Be a blessing and love your brother -- These verses go with verses 23,24

1Cor 10-31

(156g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Manifesting the Holy Spirit is evidence of salvation – This verse does more to differentiate between the believer and the unbeliever than perhaps any other verse in the Bible, yet it is invisible to the naked eye. There are many things Christians do and say that are different from unbelievers, but it doesn’t really amount to much. People in the world wonder what is the difference between them and us, and this verse answers their question: we keep our mind trained on Jesus. One of the best ways to describe this verse is practicing the presence of God. Doing this usually is not anything that anyone could physically measure; nobody else knows what we are thinking; only He knows, and this is what makes us His worshippers. It is a true mark of a Christian, and fellow Christians can discern this about us, and that spiritual discernment stands as evidence of our salvation.

(233l) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering >> By all means seek the glory of God – Paul is telling us to seek the glory of God in all aspects of our lives. We sit down to dinner we say a prayer as a formal acknowledgement of God, yet Paul is telling us to acknowledge Him informally in everything we do. When we get to heaven, we will discover our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life, as those who acknowledge God in all things. In His literal presence we will know for sure that He is watching us and sees everything, but in this life most people fool themselves into believing He doesn’t really know what is happening or that He even cares. God knows and cares.

(250a) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Sequence of priorities >> In all things ... >> Glorify God in all things – All that is not sin we do to the glory of God, so the first way to give glory to God is to stop sinning, and then honor Him in everything we do. Some of the examples Paul gives, “whether we eat or drink…” are some of the most basic functions of life; even drinking a glass of water we do to His glory. We are to acknowledge Him in all our ways, “and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3-6). This is how it is in heaven; everyone there acknowledges God as a form of worship. We don’t acknowledge Him only when the water tastes good, but even if we must drink from a puddle.

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1Cor 10-32,33

(1c) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God and people >> Avoid the appearance of evil -- We often think of evangelism as a vigilant task, but much of evangelism is trying to avoid offending the person we want to save. If the person knows where we stand with Christ, there is nothing more we need to say; evangelism after that is based on what we do. We must wait for the person to open his heart to God, but if we continually offend the person by contradicting our faith, or by needlessly offending him, his salvation may never come.

(2i) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not touch the apple of His eye >> Do not offend the weak in faith – We actually have freedom to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols (Vs25-33; also 1Cor 8,7-13). We know idols are a spoof, suggesting that Christianity was ahead of its time by thousands of years; in fact, the only reason idol worship is so antiquated is because of Christianity. There may be a demon hiding behind every idol, but we personally do not worship them. Moreover, just because a certain cut of meat has been sacrificed to an idol doesn’t mean we shouldn't eat it, but Paul says we should not eat it in front of a person who is weak in faith if he knows that we know that it was sacrificed to an idol, or we may inadvertently condone idol worship if he is predisposed to such things.

(11l) Servant >> Paul’s example of ministry

(150b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Instructions on evangelism

1Cor 10-33

(127b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Kindness >> Be kind like God >> Kindness is meeting the needs of the saints -- This verse goes with verse 24

(235f) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Giving preference to one another -- This verse goes with verse 24

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