Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth I - The Book of 1 Corinthians

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now I beg you brothers, through the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that you will speak the same thing,
and that there be no divisions among you, but that
you be perfected together in the same mind and in
the same judgment. First Corinthians one ten. Dear God, you
want your people to support each other like we're on

(00:22):
the same team. You love that we like different things
and have different ideas, but you always want us to
love one another like we love you. Please use Paul's
letter to his friends in corinth to teach us even
more about you and how we can support one another
as a team and one family. Thank you for loving

(00:45):
us so much. We love you too, in Jesus' name.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Amen, thank you for praying with us today. The Kid's
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delivering monthly activity kid subscriptions that help kids excep the world,
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(01:09):
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Speaker 3 (01:24):
Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth. In our
last story, Paul stayed in Emnaesis and gave the Holy
Spirit to followers there, and then Demetrius the Silversmith caused
a riot. In this story, Paul writes to the church
at Corinth to encourage them, and this is the first

(01:45):
part of the letter he wrote to them as inspired
by First Corinthians.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Hi, again, it's Julianne Thompson guest hosting for Julia Jeffers
Sadler with the Kids Bible in a Year podcast. I
am so excited you're here with me. Today. We're going
to hear about what Paul says to his friends in
Corinth about fighting over who they think is best. Let's
dive in.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
I Paul have been asked by God to be a
messenger of his son Jesus. I write to the people
in the church in the city of Corinth. All of
us who call upon the name of Jesus are of
the same family. I send my love to you from God.
I am thankful for you all because you have received

(02:37):
the grace of Jesus. He has given you great wisdom
and shown himself to be real to you. You have
all that you need and Jesus will help you until
he returns. God never fails us. I ask that you
would not fight with each other. I have heard that
you have been fighting over which person you should follow,

(03:00):
but you should be one family. I am sent by
God to tell you good news, not my own words.
If you believe in God, you will understand what the
cross of Jesus means. The cross of Jesus does not
seem smart to many people, but it is the power
and wisdom of God. The wisdom and power of people

(03:21):
cannot compare with the wisdom and power of God. We
are not all wise and powerful, but God chooses to
use us to show his power. We cannot be proud
of our own wisdom and power because it only comes
from God. I do not try to show off, but
I only want to tell you about the story of Jesus.

(03:42):
It is not my wisdom which is important, but the
power of God. Those of us who are older than
you hope to show you the wisdom of God. Those
who put Jesus to death did not understand the wisdom
of God. The spirit of God reveals his will. We
must have the spirit of God inside of us, leading

(04:04):
us and showing us truth. If you do not believe
in God, you cannot understand the spirit of God. We
must think as Jesus would think. I had to speak
to you like babies because you were not ready to
act like adults. You are still not ready because you
are still fighting. We work together to build God's kingdom

(04:27):
on earth, but only God is the one who makes
the kingdom grow. Only God can get the credit for
making his kingdom grow. We are working together to help
build God's kingdom. I have started to help you all
in your relationship with God, but you must allow others
to continue to help you. Jesus must be the center

(04:49):
of your life. If you keep Jesus at the center
of your life, you will be strong even when times
are tough. The spirit of God lives inside of you.
God will anyone who tries to hurt you because He
lives inside of you. You are holy because God is
living in you. Anyone who trusts in their own wisdom

(05:11):
is actually unwise. You belong to Jesus and he belongs
to God. You should know that I am only a
servant of God. I must be faithful to God. Do
not judge yourself or others, for God will judge all
of us when he returns. Do you be proud for
everything you have is from God. In God, you have

(05:34):
everything you need. People think we are foolish because we
follow God, but they do not understand. We are hungry, thirsty, tired,
and we have no home. And when we help people,
they help us in return. Do not be ashamed of this.
You have many people you can follow, but you should
follow me because I will teach you the ways of Jesus.

(05:57):
I will come and see you soon. Many are proud,
but the true power is only found in God. I
have heard that a man in your church is behaving
badly with his father's wife. You have ignored this wrong behavior. Instead,
you must ask this man to leave. Even though I
am not there with all of you, I know that

(06:19):
this man is acting wrongly. When you gather together, you
must ask this man to leave, hoping that one day
he will return and be saved. If you have a
little bit of evil among you, eventually it can spread
to the rest of the group. Get rid of evil
so you can be made new. Jesus has died for
our sins, and we must not celebrate with evil, but

(06:42):
with truth. I am not asking you to stay away
from people who are far from God, for you need
to be a light to them. Instead, I am asking
you to stay away from people who act like they
love God but really love evil. If you have a
problem with some one in the church, you should not
take them to a judge and fight where everyone can see.

(07:06):
We have much more important things to take care of. Instead,
you should take care of your fights within the family
of the church. Those who are unholy will not be
part of the Kingdom of God. Many of you used
to be unholy, but Jesus has made you holy and clean.
There are many things I can do, but not everything

(07:27):
is good for me. You are not created to do
evil things, but to serve the Lord. You must not
be joined to sin, but joined to God. Run from
your sin, for it will hurt your own body. Your
body belongs to God, so you must praise God with
your body. Each man should find a wife, and each

(07:48):
woman should find a husband. For men and women desire
to be with each other, you should put the other
first and meet all of their needs. For those who
are not married, it is good for you to remain so,
for I am also single. But if you feel the
need to get married, then it is good to do
so to those who are married, do not leave each other,

(08:11):
but remain together. If your husband or wife is not
a believer, do not leave them. If they choose to
leave you, be at peace. Everyone should live the life
that God tells them to live. God wants you just
as you are. He can use you in any situation
you are in. If you are married, do not seek

(08:32):
to leave your husband or wife. Being married may be difficult,
for things are changing in the world. I wish you
would not be worried about the things of this world,
but about the things of God. If you are married,
you will have to devote much time to your husband
or wife instead of only to God. I wish that

(08:52):
you will be able to focus on God alone. It
is not wrong for you to get married. If you
treat your husband or wife when well, you can serve God.
Whether you are married or unmarried, remain with your spouse
as long as they live.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Wow, there was a lot of teaching from Paul today,
wasn't it. Let's dig in and see if we can
discover how a letter that Paul wrote hundreds of years
ago can make a difference in our lives today. Now.
Back in Bible times, Corinth was a big important city

(09:33):
like New York or Los Angeles. Paul lived here for
about a year and a half, making friends and telling
them about Jesus. Those friends worshiped God and learned about
Jesus together, so they became one of the very first churches,
the Church of Corinth. Later, Paul left Corinth to go

(09:53):
to other cities and start other churches, but he stayed
in touch with this friends in Corinth, and when they
get confused about what it means to follow Jesus, Paul
wrote them letters to help them get back on track. Now,
it might seem like Paul was talking about a lot
of different topics today, but there is actually one main
idea that runs all the way through the book of

(10:15):
First Corinthians, and that's the idea that following Jesus isn't
just what you do at a church or when you're
with other Christians. Following Jesus is something you do with
every area of your life. Every relationship, every decision, and
every word you say is part of building God's kingdom.

(10:36):
God's truth touches everything. For example, one reason Paul wrote
this letter is because other teachers had to come to Corinth,
and even though they were all preaching and teaching about Jesus.
The Christians had started fighting over which teacher was the best. Now,
this might seem silly to you. It seems silly to Paul,

(10:59):
because the best teacher is obviously Jesus. But maybe you
and your friends like one sports team and a different
group of friends likes a different team, and you make
fun of each other because of it, maybe you even
fight about it. Or maybe like one kind of music
or a style of clothes, and you don't want to
be around people who listen to a different kind of

(11:21):
music or wear a different style of clothes. You might
not think that sports teams, clothes, or music have anything
to do with following Jesus, but the way you treat
people who think differently than you do has everything to
do with Jesus. And while Paul writes that we are
to run from sin, we are also to run toward

(11:44):
other Christians. We are to love and look out for
one another. In fact, Paul says that we should consider
others better than ourselves. That doesn't mean that we should
mope around and say, oh me, oh my, I'm a
terrible person and you're so much better than me. No,
But what it does mean that if supporting your team

(12:06):
means putting someone down or being mean to them, then
God wants you to choose a different way to support
your team, because showing someone God's love is much more
important than making yourself look good or cheering on what
you think is best. Fighting over teachers and Corinth, like
fighting over teams or clothes or music today, causes damage

(12:29):
and a division. God wants his people to be unified
and on the same side, one team focused on one goal,
loving Jesus and helping other people love Jesus too. You
don't have to pick a different team, just cheer for
them with the heart that loves everybody at the game,
because that's what Jesus does. I am so happy you

(12:53):
join me today. Come back next time to hear the
rest of Paul's letter to his friends in Corinth. Remember
the Bible is the best story ever told. It's God's
story to you and it's all true. Loved what you heard,
Pass on the joy to someone you love, and together,
let's bring these messages to more kids and their families.

(13:14):
Thanks for listening to Prey dot com Kids Bible in
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Speaker 4 (13:32):
Thanks for listening to kids Bible in a year. I
want to invite our adult listeners to check out my
other show, Unapologetic, God's Truth on today's topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring,
and we have awesome conversations and amazing guests such as
Candice Cameron Bray, Vice President, Mike Pince, doctor Robert Jeffers,

(13:54):
Shannon Breem, Maddie Pruitt, and so many others. We are
helping you have conversations that empower you to have bold
faith in a broken world. You will be excited, inspired,
and encouraged in your faith as you check out and Apologetic.
Remember that you can tune in wherever you get your

(14:14):
podcasts and on pray dot com.