1 CORINTHIANS 16:13\u201324<\/b><\/p>\n
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love<\/i><\/p>\n
(1 Cor. 16:13\u201314)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The exhortations of verses 13\u201314 form a fitting close to this first letter to the church at Corinth, with each exhortation being adapted to the particular problems and circumstances of the Corinthians\u2014and, of course, all Christians as they continue their journey in this foreign and hostile world.<\/p>\n
First, he tells the church to watch. This means to be wakeful, to be constantly on the alert so that our spiritual enemies might not gain advantage over us before we are aware of our danger. Because sin is always on the march in our own hearts, in the world around us and in our relationships, we must be on guard against temptations. We must know our weaknesses and take steps to prohibit Satan from gaining even the slightest foothold in those areas. Such an endeavor calls for constant and serious self-examination, which is accomplished through meditation on the Word of God, interaction with stronger Christians, and constant prayer.<\/p>\n
Second, because there are always false teachers trying to lead us astray, we must remain committed to the true faith. Like the Bereans, we must search the Scriptures and not allow false doctrine to cause us to forsake the truth that has been revealed to us in the Bible.<\/p>\n
Third, we must be brave. It takes courage to stand up against learned and powerful men who seek to divide God\u2019s people and spread error. It takes courage to enforce church discipline and to disassociate from those who are in sin. It takes courage to proclaim the Gospel to a hostile world. And it takes courage to love one another as Christ has loved us.<\/p>\n
Fourth, we must be strong in the Spirit. This strength comes not from ourselves, but from dependence upon our Lord and from relying on His wisdom as revealed in the Word.<\/p>\n
Lastly, we must do everything with love. Paul\u2019s earnest exhortations in chapters 12 and 13 prove how necessary this is in our lives, our families, and our churches. Without love, we exalt ourselves and despise those whom God has chosen to be part of His family. To be conformed to the image of Christ, you must put on love. \u201cHe who does not love does not know God, for God is love.\u2026 If we love one another, God abides in us\u201d (1 John 4:10\u201312).<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Psalms 85\u201387<\/p>\n
Romans 8:23\u201339<\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n
Psalms 88\u201392<\/p>\n
Romans 9\u201310<\/p>\n
This weekend, look up passages that have to do with each of these five exhortations (using your concordance). Make a column with each exhortation at the top, then, under each, list the verses that correspond to each exhortation. Keep this list in your Bible and daily meditate on various verses. Pray daily that you will grow in these five areas.<\/p>\n
For further study: Luke 21:34\u201336 \u2022 Eph. 3:14\u201321; 5:1\u20137; 6:10\u201320 \u2022 Phil. 1:27\u201329<\/i><\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 CORINTHIANS 16:13\u201324 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love (1 Cor. 16:13\u201314). The exhortations of verses 13\u201314 form a fitting close to this first letter to the church at Corinth, with each exhortation being adapted to the particular problems and circumstances of … Continue reading “CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}