It promises to be a beautiful day.  The sun it brightly shining and a cardinal is still singing in my back yard.  I hope you are able to enjoy it.  But regardless of the weather, which around here can change it seems in the blink of an eye, we never have to give up the light shining in our hearts.  May His joy be with you always.

It was good to have almost everyone back with us last Sunday.  It was good to see Sandra.  I was delighted to know that Holy Spirit orchestrate the events of the service, everything coming together for a central theme though none of us planned it.  We trust that God’s word will do its work even when we don’t see some immediate result.

Pris told me that Kimi finally has her procedure scheduled for next week.  Pris is still trying to get the help that she needs.  Keep them both in prayer. We know that our God has the power to heal.  Remember her sister Jo as she goes through more chemo this week.  Remember Anita as she struggles with getting to dialysis while their car is out of service.

Looking for inspiration this week, I continued searching through the New Testament for references to the kingdom of God.  I came across this interesting statement by Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:20, “..the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power.”  We talk a lot about the power of words.  We speak of the word of God.  John refers to Jesus as the Word.  So, what does this phrase mean?

This is how we get in trouble.  By taking this verse from it’s context, we could end up running in circles, but when we consider it as part of the whole letter, it poses no problem at all and teaches us an important truth.  The power of words comes from the speaker.  Paul addresses division within the church and calls out arrogant windbags that are fomenting that division.  To rephrase what he said, if you do not have the power of God within you, your words are empty.

These men were also appropriating authority within the church that did not belong to them.  Paul lets them know that their time is short.  He will come back, Lord willing, and they will be found out.  The way he writes this letter shows us something about spiritual authority within God’s church.  This too, we will explore.  Our focus is on 1 Corinthians 4:18-21, but we will survey the first 4 chapters of 1 Corinthians for context.

Come join us!

love y’all,

Larry