God's Strength In Human Weakness Series

Introduction:

1. Many years ago, a young man who had just got out of Bible College where he’d spent several years learning all the theological words he thought would make him a successful preacher. He was hired by a country church & was determined to bringing new people to Christ. So he set out to win his first soul. He came upon a farmer busily working in his field and, not sure if the man was a Christian, he asked “Are you laboring in the vineyard of the Lord?” The farmer didn’t even look up “Naw, these are soybeans, not grapes.” Realizing he had asked the wrong question he said, “You don’t understand what I’m asking. Are you a Christian?” With the same lack of interest the farmer replied, “Nope my name’s Jones. You’re looking for Jim Christianson. He lives a mile south of here.” The determined young preacher refused to quit. He asked the farmer, “Are you lost?” “Nope! I’ve lived here all my life,” he answered. “Are you prepared for the resurrection?” the frustrated preacher asked. This caught the farmer’s attention and he asked, “When’s it gonna be?” The young Preacher smiled, “It could be today, tomorrow, or the next day!” Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping his brow, the farmer said, “Well, I’m terribly busy with harvest right now, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to my wife. She don’t get out much and if she hears about it she’ll want us to go all 3 days!" (From a sermon by Jeff Strite, Confession Is Good For the Soul, 10/24/2010)

Cell #1— I Corinthians 2 is on page 871 of the Bible in your pew.

2. Sometimes part of the problem is that Christians spiritual vocabulary doesn’t match up with people who don’t know much about God and they don’t understand what we’re talking about. The young pastor had to learn that lesson the hard way and sometimes we make the same mistake. We assume people understand what we’re talking about when they don’t have a clue.

3. To be honest, it’s easy to never think about sharing the message of the Bible with others, because many people don’t want to hear it and frankly are offended if we try to share our faith.

4. That is unfortunate though, because while many people aren’t eager to hear about your faith, that’s not true of everyone. Everyone needs to hear about God’s love and many are searching for the hope God offers, they want to hear, although most of them won’t come right out and tell you that.

5. In this second message from 1 Corinthians, I want to share what Paul tells the believers in Corinth about God’s message. He gives them some principles about the message and in doing that helps them better understand God’s love for them and how to better be able to share God’s love with others. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 2 together now…

1 When I first came to you, dear brothers & sisters, I didn’t use lofty words & impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.

2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.

3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.

4 And my message & my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever & persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.

5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.

7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.

8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.

9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, & no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything & shows us God’s deep secrets.

11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, & no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.