Thursday's Thought--Sneak Preview of this Sunday's Sermon

I have been asked to preach at IBC this Sunday because last week and this week we have been/will be honoring our graduating seniors during the Sunday morning service. Every time I preach at IBC (this will be the second time), I feel a great weight because of the importance of the fact that I am delivering the Word of God to the entire church and because of the rarity of this opportunity arising. I feel a need to pick not just something important to say to the church, but to actually say the most important thing to the church that I can.

This time, I have decided to preach on 1 Cor. 2:1-5, specifically focusing on the part where Paul says it was his goal during his time among them to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. During my study this week, it has truly amazed me that with all of the issues facing that church--including, but not limited to: intense sexual immorality, divisions, selfishness in approaching the Lord's Supper and spiritual gifts, and denial of the resurrection of the dead--Paul continually points them back to Christ as the ultimate solution to every problem the church is facing. He truly understands that, as Timothy Keller so wisely says, "Idolatry is always the reason we ever do anything wrong." Every problem the church was facing was due to the fact that they were taking worship of the true God and replacing it with worship of other things. The only way to fix this problem was to point them back to the true God and replace their idolatry with worship. The gospel was, in Paul's eyes, the most important thing for the Corinthian church to know. If Paul thought it was so important, I guess it should be a safe pick for my time preaching at IBC.

That's the teaser. Check back in next week for the link so you can listen to the podcast.