WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:02.870 Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:02.988 --> 00:00:03.798 Day 22. 00:00:04.301 --> 00:00:08.441 Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I couldn't talk to 00:00:08.441 --> 00:00:10.421 you as I would to spiritual people. 00:00:11.081 --> 00:00:14.381 I had to talk as though you belong to this world or as though 00:00:14.381 --> 00:00:15.851 you were infants in Christ. 00:00:16.181 --> 00:00:20.291 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food because you weren't 00:00:20.291 --> 00:00:23.921 ready for anything stronger, and you still aren't ready. 00:00:24.536 --> 00:00:27.086 For you are still controlled by your sinful nature. 00:00:27.566 --> 00:00:30.536 You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. 00:00:31.406 --> 00:00:34.556 Doesn't that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? 00:00:35.216 --> 00:00:37.286 Aren't you living like people of the world? 00:00:38.066 --> 00:00:42.536 When one of you says, I'm a follower of Paul, and another says, I follow Apollos, 00:00:43.136 --> 00:00:49.106 aren't you acting just like people of the world after all, who is Apollos? 00:00:49.646 --> 00:00:50.486 Who is Paul? 00:00:51.446 --> 00:00:55.556 We are only God's servants through whom you believed the good news. 00:00:56.486 --> 00:00:58.736 Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 00:00:59.306 --> 00:01:03.236 I planted the seed in your hearts and Apollos watered it, 00:01:04.076 --> 00:01:05.996 but it was God who made it grow. 00:01:06.776 --> 00:01:07.676 It's not important. 00:01:07.681 --> 00:01:09.956 Who does the planting or who does the watering? 00:01:10.286 --> 00:01:13.646 What's important is that God makes the seed grow. 00:01:14.516 --> 00:01:16.616 The one who plants and the one who waters. 00:01:16.961 --> 00:01:20.081 Work together with the same purpose and both will be 00:01:20.081 --> 00:01:21.791 rewarded for their own hard work. 00:01:22.421 --> 00:01:26.471 For we are both God's workers and you are God's field. 00:01:27.071 --> 00:01:31.331 You are God's building because of God's grace. 00:01:31.336 --> 00:01:34.871 To me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. 00:01:35.591 --> 00:01:39.371 Now others are building on it, but whoever is building on this 00:01:39.371 --> 00:01:41.261 foundation must be very careful. 00:01:42.311 --> 00:01:46.661 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have. 00:01:47.591 --> 00:01:48.611 Jesus Christ. 00:01:50.261 --> 00:01:53.741 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials. 00:01:54.431 --> 00:01:59.231 Gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 00:01:59.621 --> 00:02:05.981 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. 00:02:06.911 --> 00:02:10.361 The fire will show if a person's work has any value. 00:02:11.306 --> 00:02:15.116 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 00:02:15.866 --> 00:02:19.796 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. 00:02:20.636 --> 00:02:24.716 The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall 00:02:24.716 --> 00:02:30.326 of flames, don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God 00:02:30.806 --> 00:02:33.506 and that the spirit of God lives in you. 00:02:34.586 --> 00:02:37.916 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. 00:02:38.546 --> 00:02:40.076 For God's temple is holy. 00:02:40.976 --> 00:02:42.326 And you are that temple. 00:02:43.406 --> 00:02:45.086 Stop deceiving yourselves. 00:02:45.596 --> 00:02:48.506 If you think you are wise by this world's standards. 00:02:48.776 --> 00:02:50.156 You need to become a fool. 00:02:50.426 --> 00:02:54.806 To be truly wise for the wisdom of this world is foolishness 00:02:54.806 --> 00:02:57.356 to God as the scriptures say. 00:02:57.446 --> 00:03:00.416 He traps the wise in this snare of their own cleverness. 00:03:01.166 --> 00:03:04.436 And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise. 00:03:05.006 --> 00:03:06.476 He knows they are worthless. 00:03:07.751 --> 00:03:10.661 So don't boast about following a particular human leader. 00:03:11.231 --> 00:03:16.751 For everything belongs to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or 00:03:16.751 --> 00:03:22.091 the world, or life and death, or the present and the future, everything 00:03:22.241 --> 00:03:28.691 belongs to you and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 00:03:30.221 --> 00:03:33.371 So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ. 00:03:33.731 --> 00:03:36.581 Who have been put in charge of explaining God's mysteries. 00:03:37.571 --> 00:03:43.571 Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful as for me. 00:03:43.691 --> 00:03:46.991 It matters very little how I might be evaluated by you 00:03:47.291 --> 00:03:48.731 or by any human authority. 00:03:49.541 --> 00:03:51.581 I don't even trust my own judgment on this point. 00:03:52.181 --> 00:03:55.391 My conscience is clear, but that doesn't prove I'm right. 00:03:55.961 --> 00:03:59.681 It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. 00:04:00.671 --> 00:04:03.131 So don't make judgements about anyone ahead of time. 00:04:03.791 --> 00:04:08.471 Before the Lord returns for, he will bring our darkest secrets to light 00:04:08.921 --> 00:04:11.081 and will reveal our private motives. 00:04:11.831 --> 00:04:14.771 Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. 00:04:16.211 --> 00:04:19.451 Dear brothers and sisters, I've used Apollo and myself to 00:04:19.451 --> 00:04:20.921 illustrate what I've been saying. 00:04:21.521 --> 00:04:25.091 If you pay attention to what I've quoted from the scriptures, you won't 00:04:25.091 --> 00:04:29.531 be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another for what gives 00:04:29.531 --> 00:04:31.331 you the right to make such a judgment. 00:04:31.886 --> 00:04:34.496 What do you have that God hasn't given you? 00:04:35.186 --> 00:04:39.926 And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift. 00:04:41.456 --> 00:04:43.676 You think you already have everything you need. 00:04:44.546 --> 00:04:46.286 You think you are already rich. 00:04:47.006 --> 00:04:49.826 You have begun to reign in God's kingdom without us. 00:04:50.606 --> 00:04:54.626 I wish you really were reigning already for then we would be raining with you. 00:04:55.766 --> 00:05:00.146 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display like 00:05:00.146 --> 00:05:04.466 prisoners of war At the end of a Victor's parade condemned to die. 00:05:05.516 --> 00:05:10.316 We have become a spectacle to the entire world, to people and angels alike. 00:05:11.456 --> 00:05:14.696 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools. 00:05:15.596 --> 00:05:21.236 But you claim to be so wise in Christ, we are weak, but you are so powerful. 00:05:21.956 --> 00:05:24.296 You are honored, but we are ridiculed. 00:05:25.076 --> 00:05:30.176 Even now, we go hungry and thirsty, and we don't have enough clothes to keep warm. 00:05:30.866 --> 00:05:33.026 We are often beaten and have no home. 00:05:33.476 --> 00:05:36.446 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. 00:05:37.316 --> 00:05:38.996 We bless those who curse us. 00:05:39.446 --> 00:05:41.636 We are patient with those who abuse us. 00:05:42.356 --> 00:05:46.196 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. 00:05:47.546 --> 00:05:52.766 Yet we are treated like the world's garbage, like everybody's trash. 00:05:53.831 --> 00:05:55.271 Right up to the present moment. 00:05:57.011 --> 00:06:02.321 I'm not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children, 00:06:03.281 --> 00:06:08.471 for even if you had 10,000 others to teach you about Christ, you have only 00:06:08.471 --> 00:06:14.711 one spiritual father for I became your father in Christ Jesus when I the good 00:06:14.711 --> 00:06:18.881 news to you, so I urge you to imitate me. 00:06:20.651 --> 00:06:22.241 That's why I have sent Timothy. 00:06:22.691 --> 00:06:26.741 My beloved and faithful child in the Lord, he will remind you 00:06:26.741 --> 00:06:28.451 of how I follow Christ Jesus. 00:06:28.841 --> 00:06:31.841 Just as I teach in all the churches, wherever I go. 00:06:32.831 --> 00:06:36.851 Some of you have become arrogant thinking, I will not visit you again, 00:06:37.271 --> 00:06:42.551 but I will come and soon if the Lord lets me, and then I'll find out 00:06:42.551 --> 00:06:46.511 whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they 00:06:46.511 --> 00:06:51.341 really have God's power for the kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk. 00:06:52.181 --> 00:06:56.681 It is living by God's power, which do you choose? 00:06:57.611 --> 00:07:01.211 Should I come with a rod to punish you or should I come 00:07:01.211 --> 00:07:03.611 with love and a gentle spirit? 00:07:05.681 --> 00:07:09.851 I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among 00:07:09.851 --> 00:07:12.791 you something that even pagans don't do. 00:07:13.871 --> 00:07:19.241 I'm told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. 00:07:20.306 --> 00:07:24.026 You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow 00:07:24.026 --> 00:07:28.166 and shame and you should remove this man from your fellowship. 00:07:29.546 --> 00:07:34.016 Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the spirit and as though I 00:07:34.016 --> 00:07:39.116 were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus, 00:07:39.566 --> 00:07:41.096 you must call a meeting of the church. 00:07:41.726 --> 00:07:45.746 I will be present with you in spirit and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. 00:07:46.391 --> 00:07:51.611 Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful 00:07:51.611 --> 00:07:56.801 nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. 00:07:58.121 --> 00:08:00.701 Your boasting about this is terrible. 00:08:01.721 --> 00:08:06.221 Don't you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads 00:08:06.221 --> 00:08:07.691 through the whole batch of dough. 00:08:08.861 --> 00:08:12.771 Get rid of the old yeast by removing this wicked person from among you. 00:08:14.006 --> 00:08:17.456 Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, 00:08:18.056 --> 00:08:19.376 which is what you really are. 00:08:20.366 --> 00:08:20.936 Christ. 00:08:20.936 --> 00:08:26.006 Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us, so let us celebrate the 00:08:26.006 --> 00:08:30.806 festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the 00:08:30.806 --> 00:08:33.776 new bread of sincerity and truth. 00:08:35.426 --> 00:08:38.816 When I wrote to you before I told you not to associate with 00:08:38.816 --> 00:08:40.856 people who indulge in sexual sin. 00:08:41.771 --> 00:08:46.781 But I wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin or are greedy 00:08:47.111 --> 00:08:49.301 or cheat people or worship idols. 00:08:49.991 --> 00:08:52.931 You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 00:08:53.981 --> 00:08:57.701 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a 00:08:57.701 --> 00:09:04.211 believer yet indulges in sexual sin or is greedy or worships idols, or is 00:09:04.211 --> 00:09:06.791 abusive or is a drunkard or cheats. 00:09:06.791 --> 00:09:09.881 People don't even eat with such people. 00:09:11.756 --> 00:09:15.986 It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is 00:09:15.991 --> 00:09:20.366 your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. 00:09:21.566 --> 00:09:26.906 God will judge those on the outside, but as the scriptures say, you must 00:09:26.906 --> 00:09:29.246 remove the evil person from among you 00:09:31.286 --> 00:09:33.986 When one of you has a dispute with another believer. 00:09:34.661 --> 00:09:39.641 How dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter 00:09:39.851 --> 00:09:41.861 instead of taking it to other believers. 00:09:42.431 --> 00:09:46.751 Don't you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? 00:09:47.951 --> 00:09:51.581 And since you are going to judge the world, can't you decide even these 00:09:51.581 --> 00:09:53.291 little things among yourselves? 00:09:54.251 --> 00:09:59.021 Don't you realize that we will judge angels, so you should surely be able to 00:09:59.021 --> 00:10:01.661 resolve ordinary disputes in this life. 00:10:02.576 --> 00:10:07.106 If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges 00:10:07.376 --> 00:10:09.026 who are not respected by the church? 00:10:10.376 --> 00:10:11.786 I'm saying this to shame you. 00:10:12.956 --> 00:10:16.466 Isn't there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these 00:10:16.466 --> 00:10:23.126 issues, but instead, one believer sues another right in front of unbelievers? 00:10:24.566 --> 00:10:27.836 Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you? 00:10:28.316 --> 00:10:30.806 Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? 00:10:31.676 --> 00:10:33.566 Why not let yourselves be cheated? 00:10:34.646 --> 00:10:39.116 Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat. 00:10:39.266 --> 00:10:44.036 Even your fellow believers, don't you realize that those who do wrong 00:10:44.216 --> 00:10:46.256 will not inherit the kingdom of God? 00:10:47.066 --> 00:10:48.416 Don't fool yourselves. 00:10:49.016 --> 00:10:54.056 Those who indulge in sexual sin or who worship idols or commit adultery 00:10:54.356 --> 00:10:59.486 or are male prostitutes or practice homosexuality, or are thieves or 00:10:59.486 --> 00:11:05.276 greedy people, or drunkards or are abusive or cheat people, none of 00:11:05.276 --> 00:11:07.106 these will inherit the kingdom of God. 00:11:08.216 --> 00:11:13.106 Some of you were once like that, but you were cleansed, you were made 00:11:13.106 --> 00:11:15.446 holy, you were made right with God. 00:11:16.196 --> 00:11:18.986 By calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:19.676 --> 00:11:21.206 And by the spirit of our God. 00:11:23.366 --> 00:11:29.006 You say I am allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for you. 00:11:30.056 --> 00:11:34.076 And even though I am allowed to do anything, I must not become 00:11:34.076 --> 00:11:37.346 a slave to anything you say. 00:11:37.856 --> 00:11:40.646 Food was made for the stomach and the stomach for food. 00:11:41.336 --> 00:11:42.986 This is true though. 00:11:42.986 --> 00:11:45.356 Someday God will do away with both of them. 00:11:46.106 --> 00:11:49.586 But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. 00:11:50.336 --> 00:11:55.856 They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies, and God 00:11:55.856 --> 00:12:00.716 will raise us from the dead by his power just as he raised our Lord from the dead. 00:12:02.096 --> 00:12:05.876 Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? 00:12:06.806 --> 00:12:10.346 Should a man take his body, which is a part of Christ and 00:12:10.346 --> 00:12:13.196 join it to a prostitute, never. 00:12:14.426 --> 00:12:17.666 And don't you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, 00:12:17.756 --> 00:12:20.006 he becomes one body with her. 00:12:20.906 --> 00:12:26.246 For the scriptures say the two are united into one, but the person 00:12:26.246 --> 00:12:33.416 who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him run from sexual sin. 00:12:34.166 --> 00:12:40.106 No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does for sexual immorality 00:12:40.111 --> 00:12:41.876 is a sin against your own body. 00:12:43.346 --> 00:12:47.786 Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives 00:12:47.791 --> 00:12:50.276 in you and was given to you by God. 00:12:50.966 --> 00:12:52.886 You do not belong to yourself. 00:12:53.396 --> 00:12:59.576 For God bought you with a high price, so you must honor God with your body. 00:13:01.616 --> 00:13:07.106 Now, regarding the questions you asked in your letter, yes, it is good to abstain 00:13:07.106 --> 00:13:11.966 from sexual relations, but because there is so much sexual immorality, 00:13:12.596 --> 00:13:17.396 Each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. 00:13:18.206 --> 00:13:21.656 The husband should fulfill his wife's sexual needs and the wife 00:13:21.656 --> 00:13:23.276 should fulfill her husband's needs. 00:13:24.056 --> 00:13:29.096 The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives 00:13:29.096 --> 00:13:31.586 authority over his body to his wife. 00:13:32.756 --> 00:13:37.436 Do not deprive each other of sexual relations unless you both agree to refrain 00:13:37.436 --> 00:13:39.596 from sexual intimacy for a limited time. 00:13:39.986 --> 00:13:44.456 So you can give yourselves more completely to prayer afterward, you 00:13:44.456 --> 00:13:48.386 should come together again so that Satan won't be able to tempt you 00:13:48.566 --> 00:13:50.396 because of your lack of self-control. 00:13:51.686 --> 00:13:56.156 I say this as a concession, not as a command, but I wish 00:13:56.156 --> 00:13:58.316 everyone was single just as I am. 00:13:59.246 --> 00:14:04.076 Yet each person has a special gift from God of one kind or another. 00:14:04.946 --> 00:14:09.056 So I say to those who aren't married and to widows, it's better 00:14:09.056 --> 00:14:11.216 to stay unmarried just as I am. 00:14:12.056 --> 00:14:15.386 But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. 00:14:15.866 --> 00:14:18.266 It's better to marry than to burn with lust. 00:14:19.346 --> 00:14:22.676 But for those who are married, I have a command that comes 00:14:22.706 --> 00:14:25.046 not from me, but from the Lord. 00:14:26.306 --> 00:14:32.216 A wife must not leave her husband, but if she does leave him, let her remain single. 00:14:32.816 --> 00:14:38.186 Or else be reconciled to him and the husband must not leave his wife. 00:14:39.386 --> 00:14:42.716 Now, I will speak to the rest of you though I do not have a 00:14:42.716 --> 00:14:44.156 direct command from the Lord. 00:14:45.176 --> 00:14:50.456 If a fellow believer has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue 00:14:50.456 --> 00:14:53.276 living with him, he must not leave her. 00:14:54.146 --> 00:14:59.096 And if a believing woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is 00:14:59.096 --> 00:15:00.806 willing to continue living with her. 00:15:01.481 --> 00:15:06.701 She must not leave him for the believing wife brings holiness to her 00:15:06.701 --> 00:15:11.141 marriage and the believing husband brings holiness to his marriage. 00:15:12.101 --> 00:15:17.201 Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy. 00:15:18.911 --> 00:15:24.641 But if the husband or wife who isn't a believer insists on leaving, let them go. 00:15:25.601 --> 00:15:29.711 In such cases, the believing husband or wife is no longer bound to the other 00:15:30.011 --> 00:15:32.111 for God has called you to live in peace. 00:15:32.861 --> 00:15:37.631 Don't you wives realize that your husbands might be saved because of you, 00:15:38.501 --> 00:15:42.611 and don't you husbands realize that your wives might be saved because of you. 00:15:44.831 --> 00:15:48.281 Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord 00:15:48.281 --> 00:15:52.451 has placed you and remain as you were when God first called you. 00:15:53.591 --> 00:15:55.541 This is my rule for all the churches. 00:15:56.411 --> 00:16:00.971 For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should 00:16:00.971 --> 00:16:05.501 not try to reverse it, and the man who was uncircumcised when he became 00:16:05.501 --> 00:16:07.811 a believer should not be circumcised. 00:16:07.816 --> 00:16:12.551 Now for it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. 00:16:13.181 --> 00:16:16.451 The important thing is to keep God's commandments. 00:16:17.591 --> 00:16:21.701 Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. 00:16:23.051 --> 00:16:23.891 Are you a slave? 00:16:24.971 --> 00:16:26.141 Don't let that worry you. 00:16:26.921 --> 00:16:29.501 But if you get a chance to be free, take it. 00:16:30.161 --> 00:16:33.521 And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, 00:16:33.791 --> 00:16:36.011 you are now free in the Lord. 00:16:36.761 --> 00:16:40.931 And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. 00:16:41.861 --> 00:16:46.031 God paid a high price for you, so don't be enslaved by the world. 00:16:47.231 --> 00:16:50.591 Each of you dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you 00:16:50.591 --> 00:16:52.691 were when God first called you. 00:16:54.311 --> 00:16:57.161 This concludes today's Immer Reading experience. 00:16:57.311 --> 00:16:58.301 Thank you for joining us.