Thanks Giving services/Sermon in Minneapolis 28.11.2008

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I will read God's holy word from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning with verse 17 to verse 5 of the second chapter.

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of noneffect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.

It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men are called according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are despised, God hath chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him are ye in Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

That according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Amen. This was the testimony of Paul concerning wisdom. We all, I think we all appreciate temporal wisdom. And we see it as a God's gift. It is a good gift.

But it has its area of application. The wisdom that God gave, the human wisdom that God gave, he gave to everyone. He gave to every human being that was born. And that is good. We see lots of applications of that around us.

There is nothing wrong with that wisdom. We encourage one another to cultivate it, to study, and use it. But that's human, and that is meant for this life. And as we heard here, Paul, who no doubt was a wise man, is very logical in his thinking. He explained how man can never reach to God with one's own wisdom.

Never. Why? Because God has given that wisdom, and He has set the limits for that. Because he gives it, he also has dominion or power over it. He sets the limits for the human wisdom.

And it says here, For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. This world did not know God, did not understand God. When God created man, he gave him enough understanding and wisdom to operate in this world that He has given. But as one brother once said very fittingly: God is not so small that He would fit into the head of His creation. He does not fit into our heads.

He's so big. So because it was so, it pleased God. That means God saw it fit and good by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I can't explain it because I can't understand it, but I believe it. And our preaching is foolishness.

And it saves man. It saves the one who believes. To our understanding, it's foolishness. To man's understanding, to our human understanding, it's foolishness. Some people of this world say that your faith is too easy.

You just lift up your hand and your sins are being preached forgiven. I would say, is that so? You don't even have to lift up your hand. The sins are being preached to the one who feels so low and weak, that does not even dare to ask for forgiveness. The preaching of the kingdom of God may be foolish.

I don't care about that because it saves man. If it's foolishness, let it be so. I don't care about that part, but I yearn for salvation. I want to be saved. And if God has seen it good, that it happens through a foolish sermon.

I don't want to seek any change for that. I'm okay with that. Paul said that God did not send him to baptize. Now when I moved here, I've had a chance to serve a few families with baptizing their children. And I must say that I have enjoyed that.

It felt precious. But that's not why we are here. We are here to preach the gospel. And again we see how, if someone is being baptized, it does not mean that the person is being saved. It's precious to be baptized.

And I know there are brothers with me who are baptized children and I know that you have enjoyed serving those families. It's precious work. But it does not save anyone. Faith is needed. That kind of faith, which our text speaks that it is foolishness.

Isn't that something? For it is written, and now I'm reading what Paul wrote: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. God says this. This is not my understanding or my opinion, it's God's opinion. It's God's thought.

So if there is someone listening or thinks that there is still a way to understand God by man's understanding, I think that these words close the door. God is going to destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise?

Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Disputer, the one who is willing to say yes or no against me. If I say yes, he says no. If I say no, he says yes.

Disputer of this world. The one who is bold to disagree. Who thinks that I know. I met such people. I visited with such people.

Who very clearly have shown and understood that sound doctrine is foolishness to them. And what is the stumbling block for them? Mostly, it seems to be that no man's work is needed or more than that, accept it. And that makes a kind of sense, it's a human thinking that you do your part and God does his part. And the more you do, the less God has to fill.

God only fills what you're lacking. But God is a jealous God. It's not enough for him. He wants to be all or nothing. And we can't choose, we can't change it.

If we try to change something in that doctrine, we hurt ourselves. And now he says, for the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Which one are you? Do you hope for the sign, or do you seek after wisdom? I think I'm more a Jew.

I would prefer a sign. You know what? I'm that kind of emotional type, I think, who would love to see a sign. And some are maybe more logical, and they would like to have wisdom. Soul clear understanding that everything is clear and something that one can understand.

And of course, both would be just great. Wouldn't it be easier to believe if the angel of God would appear and would keep a sermon? No one would sleep. And it would be so much easier to believe if an angel of God would speak. Or if the preacher would have so much understanding, it would be so logical, so simple to follow, just like reading a cookbook where everything falls into place.

Everything is so clear that you don't need to believe anything. You just listen to. But God did not give either. He did not give a sign. He was asked for a sign.

Well, he said that the sinful and adulterous generation shall not be given but the sign of Jonah. And they had to be content with that. They knew Jonah for sure. They knew. And I think you, most of you, do remember.

Jonah, he was swallowed by a huge fish. And this world is ready to say, No, it's impossible. It's a legend, as most of the Bible stories are just legends. Very, very entertaining ones, but they're just legends. No.

It is not so. I believe it. I believe in the Word of God. I can't explain it, and I can't understand it, but I can believe it. They are two different areas.

Our human understanding belongs to this life, everyday life, temporal life. This what we see or what we can touch. Have you thought that all this which we can see and touch, which is easy for us to or should I say easy, more or less easy for us to understand. At least, it's easy for us to believe, because we can see and touch. It is something which will one day disappear.

All of this that we see will disappear. Even the elements, that is those well I suppose you know better, I lack English to explain what are the elements. The tiniest particles of which these old what we see is being built. Even those will disappear because of the heat. I don't understand it, and I don't have to.

I don't worry about that. If God's word says they'll disappear, they will. The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. And our Paul says, but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks, foolishness. So that is what we preach.

We preach the crucified Christ. He's our subject. He's our topic. He's our sermon. The end of the soul says oftentimes to the speaker brothers that you always keep the same sermon.

Doesn't he? Or am I the only one that he has said so many times that you change your text, but they keep the same sermon. And he does too. He always keeps him in the same sermon. Every day he keeps the same sermon.

He doesn't change his sermon. He doesn't change even his text. He starts, you are weak, and you are not going to make it to heaven. You are a sinner. And that's so true.

There is no doubt that I'm a sinner, that I'm going to make it to heaven. God has promised. So we preach Christ crucified. And that is a stumbling block to the Jews. Why?

They don't even believe that he was born. He was not a Christ. They are still waiting for the Christ to be born. They knew him. He was son of Mary and Joseph, and they are half right.

He was son of Mary, but he was not son of Joseph. He was son of God and Mary. That is what they can't believe. They can't understand. Because with their human understanding, it goes that a man and a woman can have a child.

It doesn't happen so that God and a woman can have a child. And that was unique. It happened only once. Do you understand it? I don't.

And I don't have to. I don't worry about that. I believe. I don't know how it was possible. I don't care.

God knows, and he did it. And it happened. That is how I believe. Jesus was son of Mary and God. No wonder it is a stumbling block.

Because no one can understand it. No one can explain it. The more man increases in wisdom, also in health issues. It's amazing how much the doctors can do nowadays. It's amazing.

But they don't know very much. I don't mean that in a human sense, they don't know. They know a lot. I don't know all that, but they know, and I appreciate that. And honor their knowledge and understanding.

But compared to God, it's not very much. And this preaching is foolishness unto Greeks. So if someone wants to have a sign, our preaching is a stumbling block. And if someone wants to have deep understanding, that's foolishness. But unto us, unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks.

So we can be Greeks or Jews who are present here. We can be seekers of understanding, deeper understanding by our nature side, or seekers of the sign, like an emotional person. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He's enough. He's all, all in all.

Nothing else is needed. He's all, Christ, because he has fulfilled everything. He has done everything that was needed.

So we just sit and believe. We don't understand, and we don't have to. Here Paul speaks of our calling, how God has called who he has called. And all this is that no flesh should glory in his presence. When God is present, when God is here, no one should glory.

No, not one. We should be very careful in giving our honor and glory unto God, not to people. That which we hear, which we receive, we humbly and thankfully accept it and believe it and try very carefully to remember that it comes from God. This God has good intentions towards us. He wants us to make it to heaven.

And his be the glory. This is the kingdom of God and not of men. And that's why Paul says that when I came to you, you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. And I very much feel like the dear brothers I've spoken here before. I also came being very weak.

And it's amazing how it seems that it's God's goodwill that this work is being done in weakness. For some reason, he has seen it fit and good. When I stepped here, I had nothing to bring. I had a vague thought of a text, but no understandings. And that it's God's work which he does through us sinful and weak people.

That the glory, the whole glory could and should go to him. And Paul says, I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's what I'm interested in too. That is important because that's a foundation for our faith. That's a foundation for our hope of heaven.

Dear brothers and sisters, I don't know how you feel. Maybe the enemy of the soul has kept you the same, very same sermon: that you are a big sinner. You're the biggest sinner upon this earth. That no one will even understand you.

That don't you go to talk to anyone. They won't understand you. They can't understand you because you are such a big sinner. The enemy of the soul has no real power. It's very mighty and powerful, but it has no real power.

Its power is in the wind. Its power is in the speech, in the words, in the lies. And the more you believe, the more power it has in you. So don't believe. Don't believe in his sermon.

Remember that he's a liar. He has been a liar from the beginning and will be until the end. And he's going to lie more and more when he sees how the time is coming of this world. So don't believe.

So if we don't believe in the sermon of the enemy of the soul, what is being left?

Lots of hope. We are going to make it to heaven. God has promised to take us there. So my dear brother, your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And the power of God is in the forgiveness of sins.

Believe your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood. Even the big sins, believe them forgiven in Jesus' name and blood. And if you believe, you're going to make it to heaven. And that's where I also would like to go. Can I believe my sins forgiven?

I very much want to believe. That's my wish, my joy. In Jesus' name, amen.

Let us pray. Almighty, eternal God, we humbly wish to thank you for your goodness and we pray, bless that which you have given unto us.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.