Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / August 8 - 1 Corinthians 4

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August 8 - 1 Corinthians 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  G'day, friends. I'm Sean Connery, host of this
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  podcast, The Intersection of Philosophy and Spirituality.
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  And welcome to the 8th of the 8th International Infinity Day.
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  Why is today International Infinity Day?
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  Well put that generously proportioned 8 on its side ha
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  ha, the symbol of Infinity. Thus today International
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  Infinity Day. Hello friends, it's also normal
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  Sean here. Today is International Infinity
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  Day, so I wonder what conversations we can start today
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  talking about the fact that we are not finite, about the fact
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  that we go on and on and on beyond this life.
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  Wouldn't that be interesting? I challenge you, dear friends,
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  to begin a conversation about Infinity today where they might
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  share an opinion, ask you about yours, and you can let them know
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  what you're going to be doing in Infinity.
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  What an opportunity. Happy International Infinity
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  Day, friends. We are going to continue reading
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  about our faith, which holds us securely in the hands of an
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  infinite God for Infinity, as we read together First Corinthians
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  chapter 4. So look at Apollos and me as
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  mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining
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  God's mysteries. Now a person who was put in
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  charge as a manager must be faithful.
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  As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated
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  by you or any human authority. I don't even trust my own
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  judgement on this point. My conscience is clear, but that
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  doesn't prove I'm right. It is the Lord Himself who will
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  examine me and decide. So don't make judgments about
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  anyone ahead of time before the Lord returns, for He will bring
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  our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives.
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  Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.
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  Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to
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  illustrate what I've been saying.
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  If you pay attention to what I've quoted from the Scriptures,
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  you won't be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of
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  another. For what gives you the right to
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  make such a judgement? What do you have that God hasn't
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  given you? And if everything you have is
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  from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
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  You think you already have everything you need?
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  You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God's
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  Kingdom without us. I wish you really were reigning
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  already, for then we would be reigning with you.
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  Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display,
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  like prisoners of war at the end of a victor's parade, condemned
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  to die. We have become a spectacle to
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  the entire world, to people and angels alike.
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  Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you
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  claim to be so wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are so
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  powerful. You are honoured, but we are
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  ridiculed. Even now.
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  We go hungry and thirsty and we don't have enough clothes to
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  keep warm. We are often beaten and have no
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  home. We work wearily with our own
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  hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us.
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  We are patient with those who abuse us.
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  We appeal gently when evil things are said about us.
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  Yet we are treated like the world's garbage, like
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  everybody's trash, right up to the present moment.
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  I'm not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my
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  beloved children. For even if you had 10,000
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  others to teach you about Christ, you have only one
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  spiritual father. For I became your father in
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  Christ Jesus when I preached the good news to you.
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  So I urge you to imitate me. That's why I have sent Timothy,
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  my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.
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  He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I
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  teach all the churches wherever I go.
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  Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not
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  visit you again. But I will come, and soon, if
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  the Lord lets me. And then I'll find out whether
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  these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether
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  they really have God's power. For the Kingdom of God is not
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  just a lot of talk, it is living by God's power.
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  Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to
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  punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?
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  Our Lord, you have a Kingdom which is so profoundly different
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  from the world around us, where your Kingdom is about living in
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  God's power. It's living in the power that
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  enables us to love and forgive and act gently and kindly, even
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  when that would seem to make no sense at all.
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  So Jesus, I pray for that power. I pray for that power for each
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  one of us. Not that we would be powerful,
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  but that we would know how to submit to your power, to your
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  Kingdom, to your way, because you are our God and we worship
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  you, and not just with fancy words, but with our hearts and
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  our lives. So we come before you.
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  And just as your Apostle Paul wrote, we put our needs second
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  to the needs of you and your Kingdom.
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  Come Holy Spirit, we pray all of this in the saving name of
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  Jesus, Amen.