Register for Promise Keepers with the North Coast Church for a Super Discount!

By using our special North Coast Church church code you can save $20 off the individual registration cost!  If you use the following link: http://www.promisekeepers.org/events/san-diego-registration  AND USE THE COUPON CODE: 0912-NOCC the discount will be applied.  You can register up to 4 men at a time (if registering more than 4, then register online again or call 866-776-6473).  For further information about car pooling or joining in with other men's groups, leave a message or call (760) 802-8471

Why is the Promise Keepers San Diego Event Important?

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San Diego Promise Keepers Conference - Sept. 7-8 2012

September 7-8, 2012

Promise Keepers Conference

Called Out!

The Message:

• We will begin the conference with a call to men to live a life of significance and purpose through surrender to Christ. Called Out!
• We will then call the men to not only be hearers of God’s word but doers. A Call to Duty!
• We will challenge men to live a life of nobility by living moral, ethical and sexually pure lives. A Call to Nobility!
• We will inspire and equip men to be leaders in their families by taking an active role in teaching and demonstrating God’s Word. A Call to Lead!
• We will then be calling the men out to give of their time, talents and treasure to the poor, needy and lost of the world to ultimately make a difference. A Call to Action!
• Finally, we will call men to courage by challenging them to stand against the things that divide us. To stand united as one with their brothers (Jew and Gentile) and demonstrate God’s love to one another and to the world around us. A Call To Courage!

PK Conference Program Times at Viejas Arena at SDSU in San Diego

Friday, September 7: 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Saturday, September 8: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Saturday Lunch: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

San Diego Speakers and Performers

Lincoln Brewster Special Music	Greg Stier Called Out	Bob Beltz A Call to Duty	Miles McPherson A Call to Nobility	Tony Evans A Call to Lead
Sam Rodriguez A Call to Action	Raleigh Washington A Call to Courage	TBD	Ed Barron EMCEE	One Body with Danny Oertli PK Worship Team

North Coast Church Men's Ministry will have a special discount code to help reduce the registration fee for this event to only $39.00!  Also, there will be a limited number of scholorships available to be sure every man can attend.  Bring your son's, bring a friend!!

The Most Excellent Way - 1 Cor. 13

1 Corinthians 13 Love

“And now I will show you the most excellent way.”

Chap. 12 vs. 31 – But eagerly desire (be zealously concerned for) the greater gifts.  And now I will show you the most excellent way.

In Chapter 12 Paul gave evidence of the Corinthians’ lack of love in the utilization of spiritual gifts; Chapter 13 defines real love; and chapter 14 shows how love works.  Love is more important than all the spiritual gifts exercised in the church body.  Great faith, acts of dedication or sacrifice, and miracle-working power produce very little without love.  

 Chapter 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Moving mountains was a recognized metaphor:

Matthew 17:20  ²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Matthew 21:21  ²¹ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.

³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship (or over to be burned) that I may boast, (voluntary martyrdom) but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Matthew 6:2  ² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

Daniel 3:28  ²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

⁴ Love is patient (waits patiently), love is kind. It does not (burn with) envy, it does not boast, it is not proud (not inflated with it’s own importance). This is what Paul finds so disturbing and so un-Christ-like among the Christians in Corinth.  They like to parade their “gifts” and “spirituality”. This contaminates love.

1Thessalonians 5:14  ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking (or preoccupied with the interests of the self), it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Do you sometimes seek to identify a grand total of your supposed “hurt” or injury?

1Corinthians 10:24   ²⁴ Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth (or joyfully celebrates truth). ⁷ It always protects (or never tires of support), always trusts, always hopes (never exhausts hope), always perseveres (never gives up).

2Thessalonians 2:12  ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

2John 1:4  ⁴ It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.

⁸ Love never fails (never ends). But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away (or become obsolete). ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

Remember, in chapter 8 verse 1, Paul contrasts; “Knowledge inflates (oh, I know it all!)…but; love builds.” God gives us spiritual gifts for our lives on earth in order to build up, to serve, and to strengthen fellow Christians.  The spiritual gifts are for the Church.  In eternity, we will be made perfect and complete in the very presence of God.  We will no longer need the spiritual gifts.

Philippians 3:12 ¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Here Paul offers a glimpse into the future to give us hope that one day we will be complete when we see God face to face.

Genesis 32:30  ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel,^[a] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

1Corinthians 8:3  ³ But the man who loves God is known by God.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The Life Application Bible puts it: Faith is the foundation and content of God’s message; hope is the attitude and focus; love is the action.  We have these three now, but when see God face to face, we will no longer need faith and hope.

In morally corrupt California (oops); Corinth love had become a mixed-up term with little meaning.  Today people are still confused about love. Amen?!   Love is the greatest of all human qualities, and it is an attribute of God (1 John 4:8; ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.).   Love involves unselfish service to others; to show it gives evidence that you care. 

1 Corinthians 13 THE MESSAGE

The Way of Love

 ¹ If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

One commentary explained; “The whole combined metaphor depicts a tongues speaker who may have little love for others as producing self-important, sonorous, intrusive decibels, which amount to little more than that.  In the English Country of Yorkshire, people often dismiss someone who is “all noise” as “Now’t but rattle.”

²If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. ^3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.  Love cares more for others than for self.  Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

 ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

 ¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

German theologian, Nygren states that the word; agape’, denotes a love that is spontaneous, unmotivated, creative, and free.  Christians are not to love only those whom they find attractive, or who share their values, social status, or theology.  What motivates Christian love is a prior experience of the love of Christ, not a reciprocal return to those who are kind to us.

True love never gloats at someone’s failure, nor thrills at the thought of being able to lecture someone on his or her shortcomings.  Love never relishes the opportunity to say, “I told you so.”

TABLE TALK

1.      “Spirituality” in Corinth, the whole epistle suggests, was regarded less as Christ-like holiness involving transformation of life than as receiving toylike gifts that provided status or pleasure in the playroom.  How has that changed today?  Has it?!

2.       In what ways can Christians be “childish” in their faith?  On the other hand, need “maturity” bring lack of excitement, apathy, or world-weary, “seen it all” cynicism?  How can we retain the zest of youth with the wisdom of age?Cross references:

Unity and Diversity in the Body - 1Cor. 12:12-31

I Corinthians 12:12-31

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

Romans 12:5  ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (The Holy Spirit completely fills our innermost being.  Different gifts and interests but a common goal.) (And, as Paul will discuss, the Holy Spirit is poured into us that we might pour into other’s lives.  How cool it is to go completely on the other side of the world and share this common bond and Spirit.)

 ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Ephesians 2:18  ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Galatians 3:28   ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:11   ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

John 7:37-39  ³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

Kind of a radical concept here; remember in Corinth were the people of status and renown, and if they didn’t have any then you make up some.  Paul’s already talked about how they would exclude the ‘lesser’s’ in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  Now to say the weaker, lesser parts are indispensable?!

I’ve had the misfortune, over my years, to have managed to break a great deal of the different bones in my body, and it seems some of them were my favorites, so I have broken them 2 or even 3 times!  I’ve learned the value of not being restricted by slings, casts and canes and not having to write or eat with your off hand)

(I’ve heard that one of the seemingly lesser parts; the big toe, if you lost it suddenly, you would have trouble standing and have to learn how to walk, run and stand all over again; so much for the Olympic track star!)

²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

2Corinthians 12:9  ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ”

²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 

Time out!! Now that’s not a John Wayne model!  We men don’t like to share in our sufferings, at least not until it’s too late.  When, if we were open and accountable to our trials with other men, they might encourage us, pray for us, and help strengthen us.  What a concept!

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Ephesians 1:23  ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 4:12  ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

Colossians 1:18, 24  ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.   ²⁴ Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles (messenger or sent one), second prophets (not just a prediction about the future; it can also mean preaching God’s Word), third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able of helping (the gift of helps), those with gifts of administration (or of guidance, leadership), and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. (notice this is a normal sequence of events, not meant to be a hierarchy.)

Ephesians 4:11-12  ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

Romans 12:6-8  ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully

²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But eagerly desire the greater gifts. 

The greater gifts are those that are more beneficial to the body of Christ.  Paul has already made it clear that one gift is not superior to another, but he urges the believers to discover how they can serve Christ’s body with the gifts God has given them.  Your spiritual gifts are not for your own self-advancement.  They were given to you for serving God and enhancing the spiritual growth of the body of believers.

Ed has said in the past something that really struck me.  Talking about men who have missed a few meetings for some reason or another, or just plain ‘sissied up to the pillow’; he said that you should take care and be consistent in coming so that someone here should not miss the blessing that the Lord wants to deliver thru you.  Interesting, we all have a responsibility to each other; the body. Otherwise the body of believers will be less effective.

Love Is Indispensable

And yet I will show you the most excellent way.  Paul sets us up for the great ‘Love’ chapter; chapter 13.

1Corinthians 14:1, 39  ¹Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.  ³⁹ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

TABLE TALK QUESTIONS

1.      WHAT’S YOUR GIFT ENVY?  WHAT DO YOU EAGERLY DESIRE FOR A GREATER GIFT?

2.      DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE HAD OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS?

3.      HOW DO YOU PLAN TO USE THEM TODAY?  GET IN THE GAME!!!!