(audio cuts out) the questions together. But I do hope that in your own time, you guys are able to really dive into those questions, 'cause I'm trying to use those questions now as also like major, setups for the major points that we are studying, okay? And to tell you honestly, sometimes coming up with these questions are pretty hard.

Coming up with discussion questions is like extra difficult. If you guys have, like, as you're doing your own observation and stuff, email me through the week, like, "Hey, this seems really interesting "and hard to decide how to interpret." All your observations and questions, you can shoot me emails, and then I'll be sure to bring them up too in the study, okay?

So again, for next week, if you guys are studying the passage, please email me, okay? Well, let's take a road of just kind of reviewing what's been happening by looking at the flow of thought, okay? So I'm not gonna say, "Oh, first is this, "then this is exactly this," but looking more so at the flow of thought that's been happening with Apostle Paul writing this letter to the Corinthians.

So these are all kind, some of them are really obvious, so I want you guys to just yell it out, okay? In the first section, as he opens this letter, he thanks God that they are. I saw all of you guys go over to write, but what did you guys write?

He thanks God that they are? Saints, yeah, that they're saints and they're saved, okay? And then, in the next section, he quickly goes into, "But," this is what I hear, he hears that there are? Divisions among you, all right? Divisions among you. And he believes that these divisions exist because there is worldly, what was that?

Worldly wisdom, okay? They have this worldly wisdom that's divisive, and typically, I mentioned that the worldly wisdom, typically, think about all the advice you get when you're young about how to date, what career to pick, and how to choose this path and that path, and it's all about becoming greater.

There's a sense of pride, right? And I showed you that the topic of arrogance and pride came up in almost every chapter, right? And we just listed those off. And number four, Apostle Paul counteracts that by saying God's wisdom is superior. So what you have is him explaining to you, this is the difference between the world's wisdom and God's wisdom, and God's wisdom is permanent.

God's wisdom is powerful, okay? And then, he not only talks about God's wisdom in general, but he points to the people and says, think about your humble, (audience member speaks off mic) close, beginning, or calling, okay? So that goes hand in hand. When you were called, what was your life circumstance, right?

So you can say, think about your humble calling. And I made mention of this fact, Apostle Paul's kind of getting personal. He's like, so there's these divisions, huh? You guys are sitting there trying to one-up each other. You guys are saying, I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Paul. Some of you are saying, I'm just of Jesus only, 'cause I don't need any of you guys and all this stuff.

And they have this arrogance, and he says, personally, think about yourself, right? Now, in so doing, Apostle Paul showed us that God functions upon completely different standards than the world. The world functions on stuff like strength, stature, birth order, nobility. And God, he says, his standards are, his wise standards come from things of righteousness, holiness, and redemption, right?

In this last, or in this next section that we're gonna study today, he's still on this whole train of thought, and that's why we have to review. He's still in the train of thought, and in still talking about it, he says, okay, think about you, but now also think about my preaching.

Okay? Think about my preaching to you. Like, how and what did I teach you when I preached to you? Okay? And this is the section that we're studying in verses one through five of chapter two, preaching God's wisdom, okay? And I wrote a little mark. I know, sorry, I had you guys study verses all up until 12, but lo and behold, we can only, I think we can only cover the first five verses.

All right. So let's begin here by reading this section in verse two. I'm gonna read the whole section, a paragraph, verses one through five. And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Okay? All right. In this section, we wanna begin with verse one. And he essentially, you know, as typically when you write an essay, the first sentence of the paragraph essentially gives you the punch. It gives you its proposition. And likewise, Apostle Paul does the same. He says, when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or with wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

Now this is one of those verses where it's just plain. There's a simplicity to it. But I would like us to try and put it in our own words, so to speak. So let me ask you guys, in your own words, what is he simply trying to say? Anybody?

This one's one of those, you know, just clear statements, hey, I'm, what's he saying, I'm, (laughs) I'm leaving it to you to just summarize for me. If you were to put it in your own lingo, so to speak, how would you say it? Great. Commenting at you plain and simple.

Excellent. Anywhere else to put it? Or any, anywhere else to put it? He's just kinda saying, I actually haven't really been eloquent with you, but I just gave you the truth, right? And the reason why I'm saying this, in terms of asking you guys to kinda give me the obvious, I know it's a little awkward.

(laughs) Those are always our most fearful. It's like, teacher asks you a, I was in seminary one time, and, you know, I was in the class for the book of Hebrews. Teacher looked at me, and he said, who do you think the book of Hebrews were written to? And I went, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, you know?

It's too easy to say, I don't know. (laughs) And I said, pass. (laughs) It's like utter fail moment in my life. But sometimes it feels like that. But the reason why I'm asking you for an obvious answer is because sometimes the Bible's really plain and simple. But the fact of the matter is, I wanna ask you this question.

There is a perspective to gain. It's a plain and simple statement. It's like, you know, I don't use the eloquence that all these other guys use. And although you might seek, some of you Greeks, the kind of philosophy and wisdom that your other, you know, orators and articulators might practice, I don't have that stuff.

He could, actually, but he says, I'm not gonna do it like that. I just gave you the truth, plain and simple, right? And I think the thing about it is, though, as he's saying this, there is a perspective. There is a, what I like to call, worldview reality of what he is doing, how he paints himself.

And so I wanna ask you this question, letter B in your packet, in what context do people give a testimony? What sort of context do people give a testimony? He says there, I came to you, I didn't use impurity of speech or wisdom, proclaim to you testimonies of God.

In what context do people give testimonies? Courtroom, exactly, okay? And that's essentially what I would like you to envision. There is this kind of question, you know, Apostle Paul, you were kind of like a privileged few. You had an incredible education, you had nobility status, you had the greatest teachers.

So essentially, if you think about it in our day, if you think of Harvard, and then the best professors at Harvard, he was mentored by them, and then here he is, speaking plainly, like somebody who wasn't, you know, just like average Joe, so to speak. And so you gotta ask, why?

Well, in my mind, the why comes from him revealing the fact that he essentially says, what I'm doing is I'm giving a testimony of God. And when you think testimony, you think courtroom. As you guys know, and when I say as you guys know, people have said this a lot, and I know Pastor Peter has said it a bunch, that when you think testimony, there's a Greek word that basically is a root for where we get the term martyr.

And that root is from the word that signifies a witness. Someone is giving a testimony as a witness. So we're called witnesses, which means we have a story to tell, but is it any old story? No. Does a witness go on the stand to give a dramatic presentation, and then they go off saying, and the sound was like whoosh, you know, whatever?

No, they just need to give the what? The straight facts. They need to tell how it happened, exactly how it happened. Their job isn't to make the crowd as the audience of the courtroom to be wooed and wowed or the judge be impressed by you. You just need to give your statement.

That Greek term is also sometimes used to signify a proof. Like if you were to have a case to make, and here is the proof behind it, sometimes that's the word that's used. So how does Apostle Paul view himself and perceive his reality when he is preaching? Does he see himself like the leaders of their day?

The people might want, you know, the Hermes, the messengers, and they want the philosophers, they want the Aristotle's, and they want all these people. Apostle Paul dare not try to fill that role. What was his perspective, his worldview on his reality? He was a witness. He got slapped, you know, like knocked off his horse.

He had a dramatic experience. I have a story to tell, and the story is Christ redeemed me. Christ saved me. I encountered the Lord, right? And so here is Apostle Paul saying, and remember the way I taught you. Think about what I was accomplishing, okay? And that's really important.

So in this first verse, it's just a plain verse saying, I didn't use the stuff of the culture, I didn't use the stuff of eloquence, the purity of speech and wisdom, but I proclaim to you the testimony of God. But he gives us a greater reason why he did it the way he did.

So let's take a look at the next verses. Oh, actually, ugh, sorry. Before we get there, I wanted to ask you this question. There's a sense in which a lot of verses actually are plain Jane and easy. There are a lot of verses that are hard. But I believe the vast majority of the scriptures, the important thing is God repeats in our plain.

But isn't it true that sometimes it's hard to apply, right? Let's brainstorm a little bit. Just from this first verse, just from that kind of worldview of reality, what are some applications that can come from thinking like a apostle Paul thinks? - Be straightforward and witness. - Okay, when you witness to non-Christians, there's a sense in which you need to be quite straightforward, okay?

What else? What else can you guys think of? Just from this straightforward verse, what are some applications that you guys can think of? Sorry, a little here and here, go ahead. - Everyone think about the gospel. - Okay, there's a sense in which everybody is equipped to share the gospel.

Why, because every single one of you are witnesses. And that means you all have a story to tell, right? And so for the people who think evangelizing is very not much, meaning I'm getting real shy and I don't know what to say, I just mumble my words. So I'm gonna give them money, I'm gonna give support, but I just never wanna do it.

You don't have to be a everyday street preacher, but you're a witness. You have a personal encounter, you have a story to tell. Okay, so everybody's equipped to share the gospel. What else? You actually don't have to fear not being eloquent. I think one of the greatest fears that people have is getting stuck, not knowing what to say, right?

But what are some other applications that can just come from this? (audience member speaking faintly) Okay, good. So there is a place for apologetics. In this specific circumstance, that was not Paul's approach, right? Okay, yes? (audience member speaking faintly) Yeah. Right. (audience member speaking faintly) Right. So there is, your question is actually pretty huge.

I can't answer it right now. That's not to say it's a bad question, it's a great question. Huh? Definitely, we'll go out to lunch, we'll talk. But just to, did you guys hear his question? It's like, how do you balance? And there is a balance. But let me say this, though.

Hands down, I believe in the sufficiency of scripture. And there's a sense in which, should you know the revelation of God, you have all that is necessary to win a soul. Right? That's my personal take. But I'll also reference to some books. There's books that's just written on the topic of where is the place of apologetics in our Christian ministry.

And there is a place, you know? There is a place of understanding both science, history, culture, social, you know, economics, all this kind of stuff in order to give a good defense of the Christian faith. But I also believe that, you know, the scriptures, when we say it's sufficient, I don't think of it as, oh, it's sufficient.

I think of it as it's powerfully sufficient to overcome any thought, okay? All right. It's a great question. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. (audience member speaking indistinctly) Yeah. Well, that's not the only answer to that. That plays a role, but it's not the only answer to that. Yeah, but, you know, just kind of thinking about the question, though, a little bit about, you know, the application of this, I think, let me put it this way.

You know, for me, I really think that one of the easier ways to apply this, and for me, you know, I'm an individual that's ultra-cautious of my words. When I was, you know, my very first year in preaching, almost every single sermon that I gave, I had a full-on manuscript that I almost, like, kind of memorized.

It was like 12 pages, and that was bad, okay? That was a bad way to do it, but because I'm ultra-cautious, and I always had this fear of, man, how do I, you know, communicate in a way that's winsome? That's important, but to me, the application of this, and in line with what you're saying is, I'm trying to shoot for clarity.

Clarity. And to shoot for clarity, I just need to be super-duper accurate to reality, spiritual reality, to the Bible. I don't need to necessarily overcome every single argument of the guy that's talking to me. I approach it with my apologics the way I do it is, he might throw at me 50 questions, but for me, I just need to have this guy clearly understand spiritual reality, so I'm only going to tell him what I think is going to help him be clear and accurate to scripture.

So my ultimate goal in my speaking, in evangelizing, in counseling, I want you to understand accurately what God sees. My goal is not to answer all your 100 questions. I'm not your, you know, whatever that is, the little, like, wind-up, yeah, I'm not Siri. So, that being the case, that's how I reconcile some of the difference between the two.

I am, I want to be ready to, you know, take hold of every false thought and, you know, all that kind of stuff, but my goal ultimately is, I just need to have you accurately understand what God says. But this one verse has a lot to say, you know, has a lot to say.

Well, let's move on a little bit. And, again, Apostle Paul, through this paragraph, conveys to us further reason and rationale. You know, he's trying to explain to them, I want you to consider my preaching, and there is an important reason why I did what I did, okay, which is to speak to you plainly, without eloquence and without persuasive speech.

And this is what he says. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Again, it's in there, it's in the paragraph, I know it's obvious, but please answer for us. Why does he not use eloquence? Why, when he is a smart guy, you look at the scriptures, you look at what he's writing, and it's penned through Apostle Paul, and it's incredibly eloquent.

As a matter of fact, if you ever have outlined his letters, it's incredibly structured, his arguments are always supported, there is an outline or a structure to all the things that he's saying, but there's a sense in which, in certain cases, in moments when he's preaching, he will choose to not use eloquence, the question is why?

So what do you see there in the paragraph? Why does he choose to speak in such ways? - He wants to make sure that Christ is there and foundation for the faith, nothing else. - Excellent, he wants to make absolutely sure that their faith is not based on anything shaky.

He wants to make sure that their faith is founded upon Christ, the solid rock, right? And he's so concerned about that. And so as he's speaking here, he explains in multiple ways, not just one way or two ways, but he repeats himself, saying about how my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, right, but in the demonstration of spirit and power, and so he says, I want you to make sure that your faith is grounded on the right thing.

Well, that's something, again, if you've been a Christian more than a year or two, that's something you've heard, right? That your faith needs to be grounded on the right thing. That your practice of coming to church, your practice of being involved and participating in the membership of Berean or whatever church you may go to and all that stuff, that it's grounded on the right thing.

But I want to ask you guys, practically, in living it out, what would be an example of somebody whose faith is not grounded on Christ but is grounded on the wisdom of men? So let's try to flesh it out. Like, in reality, what would this look like? Or I guess in, you know, in observable expression, you know, in action, how would this look like if somebody is grounded on the wisdom of men as opposed to the wisdom of God?

(audience member speaking indistinctly) Okay, so if you guys didn't hear her, that's a great example and I think it covers a lot. She said there are people who experience difficulties in their lives, hard circumstances, and in those moments, a lot of people turn not to God, spiritual things, but perhaps just counsel from people.

Perhaps like, what did you do, you know? And sometimes there are so many different, you know, so many different counsel that people receive. There are people who will counsel, get away for a while, try to forget about it, as though that's gonna solve anything. There are people who get different counsels like, you know, if you, you know, wanna resolve this, you gotta, you know, take it by the horns and you just bull those things, just get through it, you know, does that really take care of situations?

Is that what God is saying in Scripture? Okay, what else? (faint talking) - You feel like basing your standard based on rules, why don't you, like, if you go to church like one time a year for Christmas, and you tell your non-religious co-workers, like, man, you're pretty religious. - Right.

- I mean, well, I guess I am. - So, do you guys hear him? Like, there is an assessment sometimes that's really just faulty, and that's a key word here, assessment, evaluation, okay? Remember, God evaluates on a different standard. So many times I have seen stuff like that, where, you know, Kevin said, maybe, you know, there's co-workers, a guy goes to church once a year, and then his other co-worker's like, oh, you're like crazy religious 'cause you go to church on Easter, you know?

Well, funny thing is, you don't know how many times, you know, you sit down with somebody and you ask them about their Christian walk, and they're like, yeah, right now I'm doing okay, and then I'll ask them about, well, what about your past? Like, how did you become saved, and how did you meet the Lord?

And it's like, I've always been a Christian, because my parents were Christian, and my parents told me this was the right thing to do. And then I'll ask them, so when did you take that Christian faith, that stuff that your parents taught you, and make that your own, like, this is my faith.

I believe it, I surrender to Christ, I repent, I believe, I trust in God's promises. And they're kinda like, what are you talking about? It's always been mine, you know? And I'm like, no, if, you know, faith is like a house that your parents leave you as an inheritance, then sure, but this is supposed to be a reconciling with God, where has that been?

See, sometimes the parents have taught their children, having a religious facet of your life is really good for you. And so, in evaluation of my life, I'm fine. I'm doing all right, says the guy, because I've been in it all my life. Is your faith grounded on Christ, or is your faith grounded on what your parents taught you was good for you, you know?

Well, what I'm talking about is getting back to this idea of how the world evaluates what's good for you, what's better for you. And the world is always about self-improvement. The world is always, always about, yes, you can. And there's a sense in which evaluating that is incredibly difficult.

Evaluating that becomes incredibly muddy, especially when it happens in the context of religiosity. And so, think about that for us for a moment, and try to dig a little bit into that question. What would be an example of someone whose faith rests on the wisdom of men? Perhaps individuals who are in the Christian culture, or in the Christian circles, trying to use the Christian environment as a means to stand out, have a sense of notoriety, you know?

Have a sense of purpose? Have a sense of meaning? Is that resting on, your faith resting on that of Christ, or is your faith resting on certain ambitions, certain belief systems that tell you this is good for my life? Does that make sense? So again, it's not limited to that, 'cause again, the worldly wisdom is broad, and what Apostle Paul is tackling is broad.

But I felt like we needed to give some detail to what he's talking about there. So, in thinking about this, though, Apostle Paul is concerned that if he uses eloquence, they might come for the wrong reasons. Let me ask you a question. What would be the result of people's faith being based upon a preacher's eloquence?

Where people go to church because there's a, you know, standout figure, a Christian celebrity. People choose a church and go there because that person, obviously, has the spirits working there, 'cause it's huge, right? What would be the result of someone going purely for that reason? Yes? - They'll get tired of it, and they'll go somewhere else because they eventually get to know it.

- Exactly. Time will tell. You know, time will tell. And that's something that, you know, as a young guy, I've been kinda like learning a little bit, and I still need to learn that a lot. There are days when, because I'm a young guy, I'm like, oh, this guy's gonna be a leader.

Let's invest into him, and let's give him position, and move him along. But you know, time will tell. Other times, this guy's just not moving, you slow, humongous glacier. I'm gonna leave you, you know? But time will tell. Stuff like that, I mean, there's, there's an element in which you have to give things time.

Well, aside from that side note, the fact of the matter is, in due time, if they're there for the wrong reasons, that will also be revealed, okay? And what will be revealed is, much of what Jesus Christ says in the book of Matthew, chapter 10, you guys do all this stuff, but you just don't know me.

And what Christ says is, away from me, I don't know you. And so, if you look at that, if you look at all that in light of this, you think, why, you know? Why does he choose not to do this? And why does he choose not to do that?

And why is he doing this, and why is he doing that? For me, that is why verse two is there. For when he says, for I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, it's because he doesn't want anybody's faith to be based on all this extra fluff, right?

Now, we have to take a moment to evaluate this verse, verse two, because in recent history, meaning like in the last two, three years, four, five years, it's become like a significant passage and a point of great debate in the Christian world, okay? So, in light of why he doesn't use eloquence and stuff like that, how would you personally interpret and apply this verse?

For I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, okay? And I give you some options here. There is Paul, he's simply saying, maybe like, you know, Eric, you gave a case in which somebody is evangelizing, the other guy's like, yeah, but what about evolution?

And he's like, forget evolution, you just need Jesus, you know, and then all he says is Jesus, that's all you need, right? There's another example, Jesus Christ and the crucifixion are foundational to godly wisdom, so that's your foundation, everything starts from there, so let's start from there and let's begin there and focus there.

Another one, Jesus and redemptive sacrifice should be the only thing we teach. Teaching commandments, teaching expectations of holiness, teaching works, teaching deeds, unbiblical, why? 'Cause apostle Paul determined to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. Another one is Paul saying, I only preach evangelistic sermons. When we preach sermons, we have to preach what will save people, Jesus and crucifixion, the redemptive theme, the theme of redemption in every sermon.

There are other interpretations too that can come, or applications that can come. But what do you guys think? If you guys can try to like sum it up in your own way, what does he mean by determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified? Yes. >> I think it's partly about the content, the key aspect of the content of what he speaks, is Christ and him crucified.

But I think he goes much further than that because he says, I decided to know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified. So in the context of talking about how all this other wisdom has been demolished, he's saying that I'm gonna throw out this old worldview, this old way of, this old starting point, and now I have a new starting point, which is Christ and him crucified.

And I have to rethink everything that I believe and do and base it all on the core of the gospel. >> Great. I hope you guys heard him 'cause it was great. I'm not gonna repeat all that he said, okay? Good. Yeah, I think if you look at it in context, you know, there is such a huge contrast between the old wisdom and this new wisdom and this new wisdom has at its core foundation, Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And Christ being crucified is truly the wisdom and power of God. And it stumbles, you know, it stumbles these religious higher ups and it stumbles the Greeks and the Jews all alike, you know? But by saying that the foundation is laid there and by saying that the core of the wisdom of God is there, definitely we do not take this to an overstatement of and so therefore, Apostle Paul has denounced the teaching of other commandments or denounced the teaching of imperatives, okay?

And I am talking about there has been a movement to, not the whole movement, it's been good. To focus on the gospel isn't good, is good. But there have been some who have made a sloppy application to say, and so therefore, let's make a rule. Every sermon has to have the gospel proper.

Everything that we teach, how we counsel Christians, how we evangelize the lost, and all that has to look a certain way and has to have certain verbiage in there. But the fact of the matter is, the gospel of God really is, it can have a broad context of the truth and wisdom of God's saving graces, you know?

And so I just wanted to make a note of it because I've seen it used, I've seen it applied a bit sloppily. But for me, the point of it really comes back to something important. And I ask in letter C, what was Apostle Paul trying to, whoa. How does that read in your, (laughs) it's like the craziest phobie mistake I think I've made so far.

I can't even read it 'cause it's like throwing me off. Okay, what is this trying to say here? What was he trying to avoid, okay? I left out a verb. What was he trying to avoid by determining to know nothing other than Christ? What was he so concerned about?

And we said it earlier, he was so concerned that their faith would be based on his eloquence and not the truth. And so that's why, and if you think about that, verse three is there. I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, right? What was Apostle Paul's weakness?

What was his fear? What was his trembling? Was it a physical trembling? Was he a guy who had a speech impediment and he stuttered? Was he a guy who was a nervous wreck when he was in front of people 'cause he was too shy? I ask these questions, but we've already mentioned the answer that's been quite obvious throughout the whole passage.

But I wanna highlight something here, okay? Apostle Paul is so concerned that their foundation be Christ, I believe that is the reason why he is in fear and trembling. We know for a fact Apostle Paul's not afraid to lose his own life, 'cause he just keeps going back after being beaten.

He just keeps going. It's like, dang, you just got stoned. You could go another way, you know? But he goes back. We know he's not afraid of being isolated and imprisoned. He will go gladly where the gospel leads him, to preach to the lost, to go where the gospel is needed.

He's not in fear and trembling for his own neck. But something that you notice in the passage, he says, "I was," and there's a little prepositional phrase, "with you." His concern is for them. His concern is for their well-being. For me, I wish that my understanding of spiritual reality, my worldview of reality, would impact my view of people such that the drastic weight of the result, the consequence of your faith being grounded on something other than Christ, right, would move me to the degree that I would have fear and trembling.

The weightiness and seriousness of what I preach to you, and the result, if I veil the truth by my eloquence, if I adulterate this by my showmanship, he's trembling. And the weakness he has is the weakness with the gospel, with the people. And it makes sense. Right? It makes sense to me.

Why would division be the first thing he addresses when there's stuff like incest, and stuff like immorality, and stuff like suing each other? Because as a pastor, his heart is for his people. He loves them to the degree that it's causing him this great fear and trembling. That's what I'm saying.

He is the pastor who planted this church. He is the first pastor they had, and he was with them the longest. He loves them to the degree, and he says, "I am so concerned that your faith "would be grounded on something else, "and that's why I am determined to speak in such a way "to you, to give you the clarity of truth." So, how dare you guys divide amongst yourselves by loving worldly wisdom, trying, you know, being the forerunners of saying, "I am better, I am better." How dare you, you know?

And I think that's the pastoral heart coming out with Apostle Paul saying this paragraph, "Remember my preaching to you guys." And he wants them to remember his intent in the preaching as well. Does that make sense? All right, so by way of conclusion, because Apostle Paul desired, right, and that's an understatement, how deeply he was committed, devoted, and determined that their faith would rest upon the wisdom and power of God, he preached clearly and accurately the truth, right?

Without fluff, without eloquence, without persuasiveness of speech, but in its plain, plain form, okay? All right, any questions about this passage? Or thoughts? Yes? - Just one quick one. So, without eloquence and all that, why do you need to teach a seminary, why do you need to take a preaching course and spend all these hours practicing what you preach?

- Well, number one, Apostle Paul made very, very clear. He says give attention to the reading of scripture, to exhortation. Pastor Peter just recently preached whether in Caesar and in Attasidon, preached the word of God. But he also taught that the man who preaches, he has to be able to accurately divide the word of God.

Right? So, there's a sense in which, yes, can anybody as a priesthood of saints read the Bible, understand, and be able to share? Yeah. But you have to realize there is a difference because God has given very specific instruction that there be preaching in the congregation. So there's a time actually I wondered, why do we do this?

Like, the pulpit, why is this the main attraction on Sunday? You know, this takes 45 minutes, an hour. You know, there was a movement called the Emerging Church Movement where they tried to do away with it, right? They just gathered everybody in a huge big circle. They said, "We're gonna have a talk.

"And we're gonna discuss stuff." And everybody kind of got a chance. And they wanted to get rid of the high church feel of like, here's the pastor on the pulpit preaching. But the fact of the matter is, scripture is really clear that the preaching and exhortation of the word of God needs to be done both in, again, accuracy, it needs to be rightly divided, and needs to be done by men who are trained, tested, and have godly character.

So in order to do that, there has to be training, you know? So yes, there is a sense in which he is saying, I'm not using eloquence, but he's not talking about in broad brush stroke, any kind of speech that has an element of, I don't know, like refined, you know, talking or definitive talk.

That's all bad, that's not what he's saying. He's saying resting on worldly wisdom. And especially in their context, where they loved eloquence, they loved guys who'd come over and throw out new and innovative talk, throw out new and innovative theories, talk about meaning of life, give them something to peruse about, they loved that stuff.

They had debaters and philosophers, that was their profession in life, you know what I mean? So that being the case, Paul made sure, because of the context he's in, I'm not gonna use any of that, but I'm going to give to you what's true and clear and accurate to God.

So, yes. (audience member speaking) It sounds like Paul's kind of supportive of the church, and the kids were inviting people from different faiths to show them that's wrong. (audience member speaking) (audience member speaking) (audience member speaking) (audience member speaking) (audience member speaking) (audience member speaking) Right. (audience member speaking) Right.

Okay. Yeah, so I mean, this would be good for you guys to discuss too. The question is a good one, and what you say is a good one too. Given the context, there's a certain way we speak. But definitely, we're trying to apply a principle, and we have to make sure that we apply the principles in the parameters of scripture, and the kind of balance that scripture gives too.

You know, Apostle Paul, remember we learned, he is not using worldly wisdom, and he's not using worldly eloquence, but he is using a kind of speech that's pleading with the people, and he's winning them over, right? So there is a balance in that too, that we have to recognize.

But I like what you said, that given the context, he's getting at them at the core of where they're wrestling, he's getting at them at the core of their pride, and he's in the moment where he's rebuking them, you know? So again, context kind of dictates sometimes how you speak.

Good, any other questions? Okay, then I hope you guys have a good time in small group, let me pray for us, and then we'll wrap up. Father God, we want to thank you, Lord. God, I pray, Lord, that for us as Christians, the stuff that's attractive would not be the same thing that the world finds attractive.

Lord, the world finds attractive, you know, stature, physical beauty, reputation, high education, and the accomplishments that, in our foolish minds, think in this world and in this lifetime took a long time. God, I pray and hope that our evaluation of what is attractive, or what is powerful, or what is good, would come truly through the lens of scripture.

And Lord, that not only would be able to evaluate appropriately, God, then that would turn then into us not seeking to accomplish those things, but rather, God, that we would be desiring to accomplish the things that are spiritually weighty, the things that matter, and the things that have eternal value.

Lord, I pray for every single one of us that you give us true wisdom. God, a lot of the teaching that we talked about today, there are good principles to take home, but applying them, Lord, we need your spirit, we need your guidance, and we need your light every day.

So I pray that you would provide that for us through your grace, and it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.