The Sword of the LORD

OVERVIEW The author of the letter to the Corinthians is the Apostle Paul.  Paul visited Corinth during his 2 nd missionary trip and planted a Christian church there around 52 A.D.  In Paul’s day Corinth was the capitol of the Roman province of Achaia.  The Apostle remained with the newly formed church for nearly two years teaching and ministering to their spiritual needs in order to provide them with a firm foundation upon which they could build.    Corinth was a city of about 500,000 people and was situated on the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in what is today modern Greece.  It was situated on major land and sea travel routes and commanded two harbors, one leading to Asia and the other to Italy.  With its extended trade, it was a very prosperous city and was known both for its luxury and its immorality.  To be called a Corinthian woman at the time was synonymous with being called a whore or a strumpet.  The city had at least 26 sacred pl...

It could be that the Apostle Paul wasn’t at all who we thought he was.   Our general impression of Paul may be based more on what he accomplished than by who he was at his core.   Many would perhaps think of him as a great orator, able to preach mighty sermons that would move his hearers to repentance and drive them to their knees.   We could assume Paul to have been super self-confident in his own abilities, accomplishments, and talents that he possessed.   Because of his ministry and the important call that God had on his life, we may think that the Lord would have kept Paul from trouble and from sickness, guarding and healing him just as he prayed for protection and healing over others.     These things are based on assumptions that we have about Paul, and not on what the Apostle tells us about himself.  If we take a deeper look into Paul’s life and ministry, we will perhaps find some surprising facts about this mighty man of God.   PAU...

OVERVIEW The author of the letter to the Ephesians is St. Paul the Apostle.  Paul dictated the letter to a disciple by the name of Tychicus between 60-62 A.D. during Paul’s imprisonment at Rome.  Tychicus was also the one who Paul entrusted to deliver the letter to the Church at Ephesus.  Paul wrote four letters while in prison.  They were written in the following order: Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon.   “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,…” (verse 1).    In the first three chapters of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul extols the beauty and power of God’s great gift of grace to man which is found in Christ Jesus.  With forceful and majestic phrases like:   ·         “He [God] hath chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world,” ·         “Having predestin...

It is important that every child of God know and understand that they have been given complete victory over sin, the flesh, and the devil.   This victory is ours in Jesus Christ our Lord.   It is part of the gift of grace that God has given us through the offering of His dearly beloved Son, and we find that God’s great and abundant grace is sufficient to meet any and every need that we may encounter in our lives.   Although there are times when we may feel that we are very weak and that the victory is out of our reach, yet the power of God’s mighty strength is perfected in us despite our infirmities and weaknesses! (2 Corinthians 12:9).   Jesus has overcome all things, and now His triumph has become ours through our faith in Him and in His finished work of redemption.   Now we can say with the Apostle Paul, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ .” (1 Corinthians 15:57).     Consider the following promise...