308 - Les Feldick Bible Study Lesson 2 - Part 4 - Book 26 - 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:9 - Part 2

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 2 * PART 4 * BOOK 26 I CORINTHIANS 2:6 - 3:9 - PART 2 I Corinthians 3:1-4a "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul;..." Remember, Paul was the one who came into that idolatrous city and preached the Gospel, and had a nucleus of believers, and naturally they would stick to Paul. But after Paul had gotten these congregations off the ground, naturally God used other men. He didn't leave it with Paul alone, and one of these other men that God had chosen was a man by the name of Apollos. And we pick Apollos up in Acts Chapter 18. This eloquent, well-mannered, gifted man comes to the Church at Ephesus. Now verse 25: Acts 18:25 "This man (Apollos) was instructed (or had been taught by other people), in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John." So here comes Apollos, and he knows nothing of Paul's Gospel that had been revealed to Paul by the ascended Lord: that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose again, and that's what you believe in your heart for salvation. I Corinthians 15:1-4) Apollos only knows the Gospel of the Kingdom that had been preached by Jesus and the Twelve, and by John the Baptist. That gospel was repentance and water baptism, and believing that Jesus was the Christ. Now that's all that Apollos knew, but remember God always has the right person at the right time available. So who takes Apollos aside, and says, "Now wait a minute, Apollos, you're a great speaker, and we love to sit and listen to you as you open the Old Testament, but Apollos you're missing something." Great man that he was, he sat down, evidently, and listened to the two lowly tentmakers, Aquila and Priscilla. Now as time goes by, and as Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla are spending some daily time with their occupation, what do you suppose Paul constantly talked about? So now Paul has just unloaded on these two people, and he has gone his way. When Apollos comes, and knows only the baptism of John what do these two people do? Paul gained his converts strictly through the working of the Holy Spirit. I don't think Paul physically had much to offer like Apollos did, and so now what do these believers in Corinth do? In other words that church has been loyal to the man instead of the Word of God, and the Christ Whom they worship. Just like today, and I run into it constantly, when I teach that our Church Age doctrines come from the pen of the Apostle Paul, and I can show from Scripture where Paul says: I Corinthians 11:1 "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." I Corinthians 4:16 People rebel when I show them these Scriptures, and say, "Les, there's no way I'm going to follow Paul because I only follow Jesus." However, they fail to realize that Paul was inspired to write these verses from the Holy Spirit Himself. I Corinthians 1:12 It was Jesus Who had instituted the work of the Cross and so forth, but Paul tells them you can not have these divisions. Now back to Chapter 3, and verse 5: I Corinthians 3:5,6 "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave (the measure of faith) to every man? (Now here Paul says how it really works) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." God is. Now verse 7: I Corinthians 3:7 Now verse 8: I Corinthians 3:8 I didn't save them, but rather God did. Now in the light of everything we've seen thus far in Corinthians, God is going to bring us now, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle Paul, this whole idea of works in the life of a believer. Now verse 9, and remember Paul has just said he planted, Apollos watered, maybe somebody else had a part in it, but God gave the increase. I Corinthians 3:9a "For we are labourers together with God:..." Now Paul says that's what we are. I Corinthians 3:9b "...ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." Of course the analogy breaks down because God doesn't kick out the lazy workers as the bees will. I Corinthians 3:9 "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." Now we will start with verse 10 in our next lesson, but remember, as workers, every believer, whether we're carnal like the believers at Corinth were, or whether we're spiritual giants like maybe some other great men of God, it doesn't make any difference. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible