Our Principle Assets(2023)-7

Our PRINCIPLE ASSETS-VII—1Corinthians 1:8-9(:1-9)

ATTENTION:(Business idea/Better mousetrap)

‘Smartphones’ have changed the way we live our lives.

In 1994—IBM released the ‘Simon Personal Communicator’(SPC) for public purchase. The SPC was the first handheld touchscreen ‘Personal Data Assistant’ with analog telephone capability. The SPC could send & receive emails & faxes. It had a calendar, an address book, & an appointment scheduler, & stylus-compatible screen keyboards. Just what businessmen needed.

June 2007—Apple Debued the first iPhone. It was & remains an extremely successful product. But why?

•The iPhone appealed to the public rather than to businessmen only. It was the first device that offered the ability to browse the web just as you would on a desktop computer. It offered digital telephone capability & a more ‘elegant’ & simplified touchscreen interface. It offered multiple individual ‘apps’(applications), which were simpler for businesses to write, & were also simple to add &/or delete for the consumer. Apple also had a solid reputation for not only innovation, but for a robust product. It was & is a ‘telephone’ for the times!

And those Principle Assets made the iPhone noteworthy & successful.

*And in the same manner, the Church has Principle Assets, that are essential for the Church to succeed, in eternal matters regarding the Kingdom of God! God’s Church is a Church for the times!

NEED:

God’s Church globally, & therefore our church, must administer ‘The Good News’/‘The Gospel’ in this world!

And God has blessed us with Assets to make that work possible. So, IF we disregard those God-ordered Assets, we cannot fulfill our God-ordained mission!

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

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

You...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’ve discovered, that some principle assets of the Christian church are...

1. APPROPRIATE APOSTLES(:1)

2. SANCTIFIED SAINTS(:2)...

&

3. GOD’s GRACE & PEACE(:3)

4. GOD’s ENRICHMENT(:4-7a)

5-A. A CARRYING CONFIRMATION-A(:7b-9)...

That God’s people are to be “eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Today we’ll continue to examine the fact that...

5-B—A Principle Asset of the Christian church is...

A CARRYING CONFIRMATION-B(:7b-9)

:8—“who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

:8a—“who will also confirm you to the end,”...

Your being absolutely “confirmed” as one who bears the “testimony of Christ”(:6), & as one who is “sanctified in Christ”(:2) NOW, ensures that your certainty(“confirmation”) continues thru “to the end.”

•“The end” speaks of that future(near or far) time, when God’s ‘final judgment’ will take place. Those final determinations of God will take place immediately before He replaces the old heaven & earth, with the ‘new heaven’ & ‘new earth.’(Rev. 20:11-15; Rev. 21:1-8).

Rev. 20:11-15—“Then I saw a great white throne & Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth & the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small & great, standing before God, & books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, & Death & Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death & Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Rev. 21:1-8—“Now I saw a new heaven & a new earth, for the first heaven & the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, & He will dwell with them, & they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them & be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true & faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha & the Omega, the Beginning & the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, & I will be his God & he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, & all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire & brimstone, which is the second death.”