Power Power to be Saved

Power 

Power to be Saved

The wisest of the world cannot understand God’s Wisdom  

But the one who believes in the foolishness of the cross

Will find wisdom in their heart

Faith will cause the simple to experience the Wisdom of God for life

Power to be Saved

How smart do you have to be to be saved?

How great must your wisdom be

to receive God’s gift of eternal life?

You don’t have to be too smart

to be saved by the power of God.

The truth of the matter is

many make it too complicated.

Their wisdom becomes

their excuse to not follow God.

 Is God as complicated as those who

seek intellectual wisdom say He is?

Let’s be honest…

 God is complicated and hard to understand.

That is why Paul says…

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom,

and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

Too often it is the wise man, the scholar, the

philosopher that is lost in their world of big words.

Those whose reasoning becomes

their excuse not to believe.

God said…

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

  

This could make us average “Joes” feel hopeless.

But Paul reminds the people at Corinth

of what kind of people they were

when they put their faith in Christ…

 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.

Not many of you were wise by human standards;

not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

I once talked to an intellectual who studied

everything and lost me in his conversations.

He did not have faith in God but when

I shared what God had done for me;

The hope and peace I had…

He left feeling empty because he had

a mind full of intellectual wisdom

but an empty heart with no hope.

You have to believe with your heart

that God raised Jesus from the dead.

The historical understanding will do

nothing for you unless it changes your heart.

Life becomes complicated

when we make it complicated.

The scriptures are able to be understood

because God designed them that way.

God has made the mysteries

known to the simple minded.

Look at Hebrews 11:6…

Anyone who comes to Him must believe

that He exists and that He rewards

those who earnestly seek Him.

That is simple and a good place to start.

God Is…

A rewarder of those who seek Him

It is a no brainer that…

Romans 3:23…

 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

There is no Mr. or Mrs./Miss Perfect.

So what is our hope?

What wisdom can take care of our sin, our mistakes?

 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18

The God who exists and created the heavens and the

earth is a God of Love who paid for our sin on the cross. 

As Paul says the Jews keep looking for more

miraculous signs and the Greeks who look

for more wisdom…

 There is no greater sign or wisdom then the

death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Creation clearly lets us know there is a God.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ shows us who God is.

What more do you need to believe and put

your trust in everything else God has said?

Anyone who believes in the message of the

cross will find peace and joy in their heart as

the keys of wisdom are unlocked in their heart.

Those who have not accepted the message

of the cross in their heart will find anxiety

in their minds as they try to figure it out.

Yes, the Bible is filled with wisdom for living life

and not complicated to understand for the person whose

heart is filled with faith in God and the work of the cross.

If you believe in the message of the cross

in your heart, you are now wiser then the

wisest man who can’t figure it out in his head.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:1 NIV

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."  

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.   31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."