Tag: 1 Corinthians

What’s Built Will Be Exposed

Ever got a counterfeit bank note? It looks genuine but it’s eventually exposed for what it is.

Same in the Church, what’s built will be exposed.

Cross Christ Church

So what is being built? It’s our lives. The state of our hearts and our attitudes. Are our lives Christ’s or our own? Can we forgive? Can we repent quickly? Are we ready to pay a price and even suffer for what we believe?

To be frank, Church would be not helpful to us if we are not hearing a message that helps us mature.

Although the Pastor and Teacher are have different gifts they both take us to the same place… to the cross… for the same reason… to be sanctified… or to grow towards maturity.

Neither will take me off the Apostolic foundation of Jesus Christ Crucified.

1 Corinthians 3: 11-13
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

  • Mark Saunders

The Ministry Of The Prophet

A good building is planned from start to finish and it’s not done by one man. We need brick layers, electricians, plumbers…

The spiritual building of the Church also needs a blue print and a team.

the revelation

Men who carry a prophetic anointing are part of this team. They bring word from the Lord – what’s in God’s heart to His people and are used by Him to turn the hearts of God’s people to back to Him.

He’s not there to tell you your phone number or who you will marry!

He won’t use the anointing for money – a little “something needed to release the anointing!”

His concern is for God’s people, not his fame or pocket. He’s not a hireling and it’s not God’s heart for him to be a “Lone Ranger” and himself subject to no spiritual authority over his life.

The prophet is a spiritual “office of responsibility” …different to the spiritual gift of prophesy or word of knowledge which is available to any of us as Christians for the edification of the body.

The ministry of the prophet can’t be “learned” at “prophetic school.” It’s an anointing from God and essential in the spiritual construction of our lives.

Ephesians 4:11 -13
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge

1 Corinthians 12:4-8
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

  • Mark Saunders

We Cannot Separate Jesus And The Cross

A building always takes the shape of its foundation. A man building his house won’t ever build it on another’s foundation. It wouldn’t look like he planned and frankly it wouldn’t be his.

It’s the same in the spirit for His Church. There is a foundation laid – that is Jesus Christ.

low angle shot of high rise building with a cross shape

Jesus’ ministry on earth was not really about the miracles- it was about the cross. The miracles without the cross would have left us all unsaved.

So we cannot separate Jesus and the cross.

Apostle Paul said that Greeks wanted wisdom, Jews wanted signs but as a “wise, master architect” he would only know Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. He knew what was needed for the foundation of our faith. Not teachings or miracles but Christ Crucified.

We can conclude that the foundation for the Church is Jesus Christ crucified. Not Jesus Christ the teacher or the miracle worker.

The right foundation shapes, in the spirit, the church that is built on it. The wrong foundation will bring the wrong shape.

The image that people see will not be the one the architect intended.

1 Corinthians 3:11
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:2
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:5
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:22-23
For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

  • Mark Saunders

There’s An Order Of Authority In A Christian Home Established By God But “Worldly Wisdom” Wants To Do Everything To Undo That

Weeds grow so easily. They don’t need any intervention from us.

Our kids grow too. Without any intervention from us they grow like weeds.

Like sponges, they take in everything around them in. The example we put in front of them the most will have the greatest influence on them.

family bonding activity

That’s a big challenge for us all as parents. Our lives are so full and often so pressured. It’s easier to have our kids entertained by the internet than to build relationship with them.

It’s better for them to go without the “latest” and “best” things and rather to have us instead.

The apostle Paul said,“follow me as I follow Christ.” There’s an order in a Christian home that he tells us about. Christ is the head of man and man is the head of woman. Oops … what did you just say…

There is an order of authority in a Christian home – it’s established by God. But “worldly wisdom” wants to do everything possible to undo that order because we feel we know better.

Christian men, there’s our challenge – to say follow us as we follow Christ. The first thing he did was “to humble himself and come down.” This is, without a doubt, the best and most important thing we can possibly do for our wife and our kids. Help me please Lord!

1 Corinthians 11:1
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Luke 9:23
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

  • Mark Saunders