Our Principle Assets(2023)-4

Our PRINCIPLE ASSETS-IV--A—1Corinthians 1:4-5(:1-9)

ATTENTION:

WILD VINES—At the pastor’s house we are in the midst of a battle with Wild Grape vines & Carolina Jessamine vines. They are so prolific that they especially ‘wreak havoc’ on tree seedlings, pulling the young trees to the ground with the weight of their vines. Even mature trees much older than the vines, are weighed down with the bulk of the vines, & become competitors with the vines for access to sunlight.

But what makes the vines so difficult to get rid of—i.e., one of their principle assets— is that every grapevine you see has a woody rootstock that travels many yards horizontally. The rootstocks themselves branch out to form a massive rootstock ‘network’, just an inch or so under ground so you can’t see them! They are unseen but run all thru the edge of the woods!

Those large networks of underground rootstocks send up branches from the ground, with leaves & tendrils which climb up & choke other plants. And these branches regularly emerge from the soil at multiple locations, & simultaneously along the entire length of the hidden rootstock.

Then the smaller more fragile Jessamine vines simply wrap around the grape vines for support. Once the tips reach a sunny location on the tree, then they bulk up high in the air, overtaking the tree leaves. The Jessamine leaves the tree just enough sun to keep the tree from dying, so that the Jessamine won’t lose it’s physical ‘support’ system.

The vines Principle Assets make them particularly successful along the edges of the tree-line or fence-line or hedge-row.

*The Church also has Principle Assets, that are essential for it’ to be successful in matters of eternal significance!

NEED:

God’s church must administer ‘The Good News’/‘The Gospel’ to each other, & to a world that is lost in sin!

IF we ‘forget’ or ‘neglect’ or ‘discard’ our Assets, which God has provided for us, then we will fail our God-ordained mission!

An ASSET— ‘A useful or valuable thing, person, or quality’; ‘An advantage or A resource.’

TEXT to SERMON:

Paul & Sosthenes opened their letter to the Corinthian church by informing them of their most important spiritual assets.

The local(our) church has important spiritual assets.

We will attempt to answer the question:

‘?What are some of our church’s most important spiritual assets?’

In previous weeks we found that...

1. APPROPRIATE APOSTLES(:1)

2. SANCTIFIED SAINTS(:2)...

&

3. GOD’s GRACE & PEACE(:3)

...are principle assets of the Christian church.

Today we’ll find that...

4—Another Principle Asset of the Christian church is...

GOD’s ENRICHMENT--A(:4-5)

Explanation:(:4-5)

:4—“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,”

Paul has a godly ‘habit’ of “thanking” “God” continually(“always”) in reference to the Corinthians.

Thru Paul’s offering up “thanks” to his “God”, God’s people—you & me— are also exhorted to ‘PRAY’!

*PRAYER is ‘mutual communication’ with God. Please keep in mind that prayer is MUTUAL communication. That is, before you throw a huge ‘laundry-list’ of your wants at God, consider the fact that your ‘wants’ would be better served by listening to Him! If you really listen to YHWH, I guarantee that your ‘laundry list’ will shrink considerably! You will recognize that the vast majority of what you think of as ‘needs’, are actually fleshly-driven ‘wants.’...And that recognition will change the ‘prayer’ landscape entirely!

Mat. 6:5-6, 7-15—“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues & on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. “But you, when you pray, go into your room, & when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; & your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom & the power & the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

•That passage of scripture is NOT to be ‘mindlessly repeated’, as is the habit of some, but it is to be committed to memory & ‘faithfully heeded’ as a tool to help us serve God better! The so-called ‘Lord’s Prayer’ is intended to inform the ‘prayer life’ of His servants/people.