Okay, 1 Corinthians 414 through 21. I'm not writing to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children,

for you have had, for you have countless instructors in Christ, but you don't have many fathers.

For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you to imitate me. This is why I have sent

Timothy to you. He is my dearly beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about

my ways in Christ Jesus. Just as I teach everywhere in church, now some are arrogant.

And though I were not, they were, now some are arrogant

as though I were not coming to you,

but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills.

And I will seek out not the talk,

but the power of those who are arrogant.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.

What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod or in love, a spirit of gentleness?

So what's been going on in 1st Corinthians 4 is Paul in around 50 to 52 AD, he starts this church.

And this church is in Corinth. It's on the water.

It's a very cool, awesome place to live. They start to fight over who they think is a better

speaker, how they think church needs to be run. They have their own standards that aren't holy,

but they have their own standards that have been made up by man. They've also decided that what we think is best for the

church is that we come up with ideas that are beyond what's in the Bible. It's called beyond what

is written in chapter 4. And Paul is calling to call that out. I mean, Paul is writing,

there's no phones yet, he's writing to call that out. And as he's

calling it out, he says in verse 14, I'm not writing this to shame you. Underline that word,

shame you. Today's culture, one of the worst things that could happen to you is shame.

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