Remnant by Grace Audio Podcast

Pastor Jeff teaches from 1 Corinthians 16 that Paul closes his letter with practical instruction and pastoral wisdom for how the church should live, give, lead, and love. He explains that the collection for the Jerusalem church reflects both compassion for persecuted believers and unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians, establishing principles of regular, willing, and cheerful giving through the local church with transparency and accountability. Pastor Jeff highlights Paul’s model of thoughtful planning paired with humility and flexibility under God’s will, showing that open doors for ministry often include opposition and hardship. He emphasizes Paul’s trust in coworkers like Timothy and Apollos, teaching that spiritual leadership involves delegation, mutual respect, and freedom to follow the Spirit without pressure. The message concludes with Paul’s call to be watchful, steadfast, courageous, strong in the Lord, and motivated by love in all things, while recognizing faithful servants within the church, encouraging unity, and living with hopeful expectation for Christ’s return.

Pastor Jeff teaches from 1 Corinthians 15:50–58 that flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s eternal kingdom and that both the dead and the living in Christ will be instantly transformed into imperishable, glorified bodies at Christ’s coming. He explains this revealed mystery as the rapture of the Church, marked by the last trumpet, which he describes as a military call of return signaling believers being gathered home to God. Pastor Jeff carefully distinguishes the rapture from the second coming of Christ, showing from Scripture that the rapture involves Christ coming in the air to take believers to heaven, while the second coming involves Christ returning to earth with His saints to judge the world and establish His kingdom. He emphasizes that the Church is not destined for God’s wrath, that the rapture is meant to be a source of encouragement, and that believers are therefore called to remain steadfast, faithful, and diligent in the work of the Lord, confident that their labor is not in vain and that Christ will one day bring them home to be with Him forever.

Pastor Jeff teaches that the true story of Christmas is the historical and prophetic fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan through the birth of Jesus Christ. Walking through Luke and Matthew, he explains how Jesus’ virgin birth, divine identity, and legal descent from David fulfill Old Testament messianic promises, revealing Him as God with us, the rightful King, Priest, and Savior. Born humbly and rejected, Jesus nevertheless inaugurates the New Covenant, marked by the return of God’s glory, the angelic announcement to the shepherds, and the worship of Gentiles through the Magi. Pastor Jeff emphasizes that Christmas is the moment everything changed, making possible Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death, resurrection, forgiveness of sins, and the promise of eternal life and a coming everlasting kingdom for all who trust in Him.

Pastor Jeff teaches from 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 that the resurrection is not only real but essential to Christian hope, explaining that our future resurrection bodies will be transformed, glorified, and imperishable not merely reanimated versions of our current flesh. Using Paul’s seed analogy, he shows that just as a seed dies and is raised into something greater yet still connected, our mortal bodies must give way to spiritual bodies fit for God’s eternal kingdom. He contrasts Adam, who represents earthly, perishable life, with Christ, the “last Adam,” who brings life, immortality, and a heavenly destiny to those who identify with Him. Pastor Jeff emphasizes that believers will still be themselves after the resurrection, recognizable, personal, and embodied yet free from sin, weakness, and death, sharing in Christ’s glory. Ultimately, the resurrection is presented as our promised destiny, grounding present suffering in future hope and assuring believers that God, who creates from nothing, will faithfully raise them to eternal life with Him.

Today Pastor Jeff is in 1 Corinthians 15:20-34. In it, Paul teaches us that Christ’s resurrection is the first fruits, guaranteeing the future resurrection of all who belong to Him, just as Adam’s fall brought death to all who share his nature. He outlines the order of resurrection. Christ first, then believers at His coming in stages (the Church, Tribulation saints, Old Testament saints), and finally “the end,” when Christ hands the fully redeemed, eternal kingdom to the Father after every enemy-including death-is destroyed. Paul clarifies the Father’s role in subduing all things under the Son, culminating in the perfect unity of the Triune God reigning “all in all.” He dismisses any idea of vicarious baptism, using the Corinthians’ own practices only to emphasize the inconsistency of denying resurrection. Paul argues that without resurrection his own suffering and sacrifice would be pointless, warns that false teaching corrupts the church, and urges believers to live in light of the certainty and hope of the resurrection.

Today, Pastor Jeff focuses on 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul confronts members of the Corinthian church who doubted the bodily resurrection. Paul reminds them of the essential gospel: Christ died for sins, was buried, rose on the third day, and appeared to many witnesses. He explains that denying the resurrection undermines the entire faith. If Christ is not raised, preaching is pointless, faith is empty, believers remain in sin, and there is no hope. But Paul affirms the truth: Christ has been raised, guaranteeing the future resurrection of believers. The message concludes with gratitude for salvation, the hope of eternal life, and a prayer for strength and joy until Christ’s return.

Today, Pastor Jeff explains Paul’s instructions for orderly church gatherings, especially regarding tongues (foreign languages), interpretation, and prophecy. He emphasizes that tongues in Corinth referred to the native or foreign languages needing interpretation so the church could be built up, and that prophecy in the New Testament is not the authoritative, inerrant office of Old Testament prophets, but rather believers sharing insights, impressions, or encouragement that God spontaneously brings to mind and always subject to Scripture and to being weighed by the church. Paul’s instructions for women to remain silent are explained as applying specifically to the authoritative judging of prophecies, not to praying, singing, or participating generally. Pastor Jeff highlights that prophecy today still benefits the church when shared humbly and examined together, since God can give insights to any believer through the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Jeff teaches that when Paul speaks about “tongues” in 1 Corinthians 12-14, he maybe referring to real human languages rather than ecstatic utterances, and that his central concern is the building up of the church. Because Corinth was a multilingual community, people were praying, reading Scripture, or speaking in languages the rest of the congregation could not understand, which created confusion rather than edification. Paul teaches that spiritual gifts must be used in love and for the benefit of the whole church, and that speaking a language no one understands only builds up the speaker, not the body. Drawing from Deuteronomy and Isaiah, Paul even shows that hearing foreign languages you cannot understand is associated with judgment, not blessing. The true sign of God’s presence in a church is not tongues but the clear proclamation of His Word, which convicts hearts, leads unbelievers to repentance, and builds up believers. Ultimately, Paul urges the church to value understandable teaching, interpretation, and proclamation of Scripture above all, because these strengthen and unify the church.

Pastor Jeff explains that interpreting Scripture requires separating timeless truths from personal assumptions. A word study shows the Greek glōssa always means a real human language or the physical tongue, never ecstatic sounds. Through most of church history, tongues were understood as real languages, with the modern idea of “glossolalia” (unknown or heavenly tongues) only appearing in the 1700s - 1800s.