The flesh is so subtle, so crafty in its ability to justify sin. It wants to be satisfied- or gratified at any expense. It takes - twists even good news for selfish gain. We start perverting biblical principles in order to satisfy sinful desires. We'll take the words of Jesus, -Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.-1 Or the apostle Paul, --where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.-2 Words like, -I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself--3 Or -To the pure all things are pure,-4- We'll completely void them of context in order to create some sense of justification or rationalization as to why it is we can partake in some kind of sinful situation. We want to associate liberty w-sin, - holiness w-legalism.

The church today seems to have so many problems, we can easily become disillusioned. We wonder where things went wrong. - I mean, you read the book of Acts - you think, -Man, they really had their 'act' together. J Things were happening, miracles were taking place, God's power was on the loose, what a glorious time- If we could only be like they were.- - - It's certainly true that we read of glorious things taking place in those early years, the foundational years of the church- But I'd like to remind you that what we have in the book of Acts, though the record is accurate, in - of itself it's incomplete. If you want a more accurate picture of the early church, then you really need to read the entirety of the N.T. epistles -- you might ought to throw in Ch's 2-3 of the book of Rev. as well-.

-Divided where I should be united, united where I should be divided. Who am I--- Sounds like a riddle, doesn't it-- But such was the state of the Corinthian Christians. Division - indifference was disgracing them. Divided over teachers-preachers, ministers - ministries. Yet altogether indifferent, even somewhat endearing toward willful, unrepentant sin w-in their congregation-

It was just over 1,000 yrs B.C. God says to Samuel, -Go to the house of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.- So Samuel fills his horn of oil to anoint the new king, - heads to Bethlehem. He gets there - Jesse brings out his eldest son - Samuel says, -Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him-- He just looked -kingly-, strong, stately, good looking, - all.

They should be united, but instead they're divided. That's the current situation in the-Corinthian congregation. Dividing over various teachers who've been ministering to them,-rather than simply recognize that it's Jesus who's been ministering through them -to-them-. They've drifted back into placing a premium on the wisdom of this world rather-than recognizing the true wisdom of God in Christ. So they banter back and forth about-who had the best delivery, who waxed most eloquently - they're missing the point entirely-

The resurrection of J.C. There are many ways to look at it, think through it or perhaps approach it as it pertains to a service like this. A day in which we set aside time to intentionally - specifically consider its truth, its impact, its affect upon our lives personally-as well as its ramifications upon all of mankind throughout human history.

The message of the cross offends the wisdom of this world. It's foolishness to those-who are perishing. The idea of a man being taken, tortured, nailed to a cross - left to die-somehow being a means through which I can be saved simply makes no sense. You can do-the math, it won't add up, the dots don't connect along the lines of worldly reasoning.

Divided, defiled, disgraced- That was the condition of the congregation of Corinthian church when Paul wrote this letter. It seems as though one sin situation after another was plaguing the people - Paul was writing to put out the forest fires blazing in-their midst.

Anybody here ever found a perfect church- If you did, you knew right then - there that you could never join it because you'd ruin it- J Truth be told, there is no -perfect church-. Because the church is comprised of people, - people have problems- Perhaps-the most notoriously problematic church in biblical history was the Corinthian church...