1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Gods’ ways are higher than ours. His doings beyond our understanding. The simplicity of the Gospel saves us. We need to have the loving, faithful heart of a child to hear Him.

If we glory, glory in this, that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Wise refers to the Greek philosophers. Mighty refers to influential, politically powerful people. Noble includes all the aristocratic upper classes. 

Most of the Corinthians came from the lower classes. No doubt many of the Corinthian believers were people who did not count in the eyes of the world but had found grace in God’s eyes.

God uses what is considered foolish and despised in this world to reveal His truth, so that He alone will receive the glory. Otherwise, the powerful would boast that they had found the truth. Instead, God sent His Son to become a humble carpenter and to die in the most despicable way, on a cross. Jesus’ life and death reveals God and His wisdom. Since Christ not only imparts wisdom but also righteousness, the Christian cannot boast, except in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

²⁶ For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. ²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence. ³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—³¹ that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 

John 7:48

² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. 

Psalm 8:2

²⁵ At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. 

Matthew 11:25

²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

2 Corinthians 5:21

⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 

Philippians 3:9

²⁴ But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. 

Jeremiah 9:24

¹⁷ But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 

2 Corinthians 10:17

1 Chronicles 22:6-12

War with its bloodshed displeases the Father. But He is faithful even when we are not. Solomon was born of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, whom David sent to war to be killed so that he could have her as his wife. David’s firstborn son of that union died as an infant. But even out of that mortal sin God still blessed David and Bathsheba with an heir to His throne, Solomon. He chooses whom He wills and without His blessing the plans of man will always fail.

He sent Jesus to proclaim peace, peace to the people of earth. In preaching the Gospel of Peace we extend His loving mercy to all of His creation. Only in Him and the power of the Holy Spirit is there rest.

rest ¹ |rest|

verb [ no obj. ]

1 cease work

The genealogies point out that the promises to David were founded on God’s ancient promises to the patriarchs. God had pledged to Abraham that He would make him the father of a great nation, one through which He would bless the whole earth. God had also promised that a king would rule over this special nation. It was revealed to Jacob that the king would descend specifically from Jacob’s son Judah. Finally, the genealogy in the Book of Ruth explains the link between the promise and the fulfillment by tracing the line of Judah through his son Perez to King David. God had faithfully fulfilled His promise. God would establish His reign upon the earth through David’s royal line. The kings God had promised to Abraham would begin with David and culminate in the One who would reign forever, Jesus.

David provided the materials but Solomon built the Temple.

⁶ Then he called for his son Solomon, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. ⁷ And David said to Solomon: “My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house to the name of the Lord my God; ⁸ but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. ⁹ Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. ¹⁰ He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ ¹¹ Now, my son, may the Lord be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the Lord your God, as He has said to you. ¹² Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.

¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 

1 Kings 8:17

³ But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.’ 

1 Chronicles 28:3

⁵ And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. 

1 Chronicles 28:5

⁶ Now He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his Father. 

1 Chronicles 28:6

²⁵ And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 

1 Kings 4:25

Acts 13:6-12

We know who we serve… Jesus Christ our Lord.

What can we learn from this?

1. There can be false prophets within a religion.
2. Intelligent people can to be fooled. 
3. God can intervene at any time and place..
4. God uses humans through the power of the Holy Spirit to be His voice.
5. Acts of God can be used to lead others to the truth of Jesus Christ
6. God always has the final say about a matter.

Luke presents Sergius Paulus as the first Gentile ruler to believe the gospel. The island of Cyprus was a senatorial island, which means it was Roman-controlled. As a Roman official, Sergius was a Gentile. There is no evidence that Sergius attended the temple or was a God-fearer. This pagan government official was amazed at the power of God and believed the truth.

Acts 13:6-12

⁶ Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷ who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰ and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.”

And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 

Hebrews 10:31 

⁹ But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 

Acts 8:9

¹¹ But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 

Exodus 7:11

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

Acts 2:4

³ behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very severe pestilence. 

Exodus 9:3

⁶ But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 

1 Samuel 5:6

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Only in God do I trust. 

The world as we know it will one day pass away but in Him, there is life… abundant and eternal.

God will strengthen those who trust in Him.

Habakkuk, the OT prophet, was different. To raise questions was—for our sake—part of his message. His questions were, “Why does evil in Judah go unpunished?” “How can a just God use a wicked nation like Babylon to punish His chosen people?” Habakkuk wanted to know, just as we do, what God was doing and why. There seemed to be too much evil among the “righteous” and too much freewheeling power among the wicked. God did not strike Habakkuk down for these questions. He answered. The Lord Himself will establish His kingdom. He will hold all people and nations accountable. The present may be filled with wickedness and chaos, but the future belongs to the righteous—the truly righteous. God will bring in His kingdom, give rest and salvation to His children, and judge His people’s adversaries.

The Hebrew word for “salvation” is the root word from which the name “Jesus” comes (Matt. 1:21). 

Habakkuk 3:17-19

¹⁷ Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls—

¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹ The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.

¹⁶ You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, And the whirlwind shall scatter them; You shall rejoice in the Lord, And glory in the Holy One of Israel. 

Isaiah 41:16

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 

Isaiah 61:10

Obadiah 1:2,3,4

No nation is an island to themselves. How we treat others is how we will be treated. Because God shows partially to no one, all nations will be judged on the mercy and compassion that they extend to others. 

God hates pride and arrogance.

In 586 b.c. Nebuchadnezzar’s army crushed Judah and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple, ending Judah’s existence as an independent nation. Edom, as a closely related nation, should have helped Judah’s refugees. But instead of offering sympathy and help, Edom handed Judeans over to the conquering Babylonians. The Edomites even murdered some of the refugees.

In the grand scheme of the biblical message of God’s redemption of fallen humanity, the Book of Obadiah may seem to be of little importance. But its portion of that message is tremendously vital. God is sovereign over all nations, whether they acknowledge His sovereignty or not. God desires that we show mercy and favor to our neighbors in their time of distress.

God would bring about a reversal of Edom’s inflated self-importance. Some of the mountain peaks of Edom reach over six thousand feet; Jerusalem is about 2,300 feet above sea level. Edom’s presumed physical safety led the Edomites to become haughty; this would be their downfall. Trusting in its high places and mountainous strongholds, Edom reckoned that no one could bring it to account for its actions.

 Obadiah 1:2-4

² “Behold, I will make you small among the nations;

You shall be greatly despised.

³ The pride of your heart has deceived you,

You who dwell in the clefts of the rock,

Whose habitation is high;

You who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’

⁴ Though you ascend as high as the eagle,

And though you set your nest among the stars,

From there I will bring you down,” says the Lord.

¹⁶ Your fierceness has deceived you, The pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord. 

Jeremiah 49:16

⁷ In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ 

Revelation 18:7

Acts 21:26-29

Events are not always as they appear to be. The whole of a story is the sum of its parts. 

Don't judge the actions of others prematurely.

Although Paul had not done any of the things he was being accused of…they were judging him and finding him guilty. We must be very careful not to allow our thoughts to supersede God’s.

Acts 21:26-29

²⁶ Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

²⁷ Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” ²⁹ (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)

¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; 

Acts 20:19

¹⁸ in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. 

Acts 24:18

¹³ They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; 

Acts 6:13

⁶ He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law. 

Acts 24:6

Nahum 1:7-8

In Him, with Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit… we are preserved until the Lord returns. We are safe in His righteousness not ours.

Because we know that the Lord is good, we can endure the tribulations of life.

How does the mood of the Book of Nahum accord with the sentiment of the Sermon on the Mount? Although the Lord Jesus certainly spoke of loving one’s enemies, He strongly warned of the inevitability of judgment. He said that “all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew  26:52). If ever the words of Jesus concerning the sure destruction of those who live by violence had a direct application, it was to Nineveh. In the conquest of the ancient world, the Assyrians were merciless and cruel.. In many ways, the Book of Nahum is a theology of the maxim of the sword. Nineveh had an international reputation for bloodthirsty acts of repression, destruction, and wantonness. God could not be good if He failed to call such an evil nation to account. The theology of the Book of Nahum is a theology of the goodness of God in bringing about the final destruction of those who oppose His will and abuse His people.

Nahum 1:7-8

⁷    The Lord is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble;

And He knows those who trust in Him.

⁸     But with an overflowing flood

He will make an utter end of its place,

And darkness will pursue His enemies.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. 

Psalm 25:8

³⁹ But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 

Psalm 37:39

⁴⁰ And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him. 

Psalm 37:40

⁵ For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. 

Psalm 100:5

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. 

Lamentations 3:25

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 

John 10:14

¹⁹ Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 

2 Timothy 2:19

Acts 21:35

Sometimes the biggest obstructionists of the truth are the people in the pews.

Jesus is God’s Word, His truth, manifested to His creation. Jesus is His gift of salvation to mankind.

obstructionism

noun

the practice of deliberately impeding or delaying the course of procedures.

obstructionist

Acts 21:35

 ³⁵ When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. ³⁶ For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!”

²² And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” 

Acts 22:22

¹⁸ And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas”—

Luke 23:18

¹⁵ But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, ^m“We have no king but Caesar!” 

John 19:15

Daniel 12:1-3

Salvation belongs to the Lord. 

In Jesus Christ we are saved. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are refined and changed.

The simplicity of the Gospel changes lives from the inside out.

Those who shall be delivered are those whose names are written in the book of life, God’s record of those who have been justified by faith.

Daniel 12:1.2.3.

12 “At that time Michael shall stand up,

The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;

And there shall be a time of trouble,

Such as never was since there was a nation,

Even to that time.

And at that time your people shall be delivered,

Every one who is found written in the book.

² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

³ Those who are wise shall shine

Like the brightness of the firmament,

And those who turn many to righteousness

Like the stars forever and ever.

²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

Matthew 24:21

¹⁹ For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. 

Mark 13:19

²⁹ and come forth those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 

John 5:29

³⁵ And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time. 

Daniel 11:35

⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! 

Matthew 13:43