1 Corinthians 1:18 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.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

·         The Cross Reveals the Power of God

·         To be a Gospel vessel:

·         The method must be simple. (2:1)

·         The message must be clear. (2:2)

·         The messenger must be dependent on God. (2:3-4)

·         The motive must be sincere. (2:5)

Acts 9:15 (NLT) But the Lord said, “Go, for [Paul] is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…

·         Paul Tripp: “The cross confronts us with how we really are (sinners) and what we need (rescuing and forgiving grace).”

1 Corinthians 1:27 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.

·         Disciple: Someone who knows and follows Jesus, is becoming like Jesus, is doing the things Jesus did, and is helping others do the same. (Derived from Matt. 4:19)

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 (…) For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 2:6-9 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—

·         The Cross Reveals the Wisdom of God

1 Corinthians 3:1 Brothers and sisters (believers in Corinth), I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.

Galatians 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Hebrews 12:15a (NIRV) Be sure that no one misses out on God’s grace.

1 Corinthians 10-16 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

·         The Cross Reveals the Spirit of God

John 16:7 (NKJV) Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away (go to the cross), the Helper (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

·         Three primary roles of the Holy Spirit

·         1. To point the world to Jesus. (Alongside)               John 16:8/Titus 3:5

·         2. To show us how to live. (Inside)                             John 16:13/Romans 8:15

·         3. To give us power to live for God. (Empower)       Acts 1:8/1 Cor. 2:12

John 14:16-17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore,…, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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