Being a Pilgrim

Living By God’s Power

Posted on 18th Sep 202518th Sep 2025 by korgrocker

“Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?”
1 Corinthians 4:18-21 NLT

Do we believers talk a lot about the things of the Kingdom but fail to leverage the power available to us through the Holy Spirit? I think we probably do, because there is a disconnect between what happened in the early church and what is happening today. When was the last time we had a prayer meeting that was so powerful that the building shook, for example (see Acts 4)? When was the last time we were in a meeting where the power and presence of the Holy Spirit were so evident that healings occurred, a crescendo of praise erupted spontaneously, and everyone spoke out in tongues? Of course, the Cessationists claim that all this would have finished with the death of the Apostles, because they believe that certain spiritual gifts, particularly those considered miraculous or revelatory, ceased to be active after the first century. They believe gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing are not meant for the church today. In contrast, we have the Continuationists (like me) who believe that the miraculous gifts mentioned in the Bible, such as healing, prophecy, tongues, and miracles, are still given by the Holy Spirit to believers today and should be actively sought after and practised in the church. Whichever position we follow will have a profound effect on how we view and believe the Bible. Take, for example, 1 Corinthians 12, a chapter where Paul taught about the Spiritual Gifts. A Cessationist might be comfortable with the Holy Spirit gifts of service, enabling us to help each other (vs 4-7), but they would start to become a bit uneasy when it comes to verses 9-10, “The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said”, and in the end they would get a black marker pen out and find themselves redacting parts of these verses, because they don’t believe they apply today. After all, if they don’t believe what is written in the Bible, then they may as well remove the bits they disagree with, or treat the Holy Scriptures as nothing more than a good read or a history book detailing the life of the Jews and the early Christians.

As a Continuationist, I have no problem in accepting these verses, and those written anywhere else in the Bible about miracles and healings, prophecies and tongues, and in fact, I have personal experience of the Holy Spirit moving in healings and miracles. Some years ago, my daughter was totally healed of a brain illness with a prognosis so poor that my wife and I were told to expect, and prepare for, the worst. But she recovered through God’s grace and healing power, and her hospital medical notes were completed with the comment “this is nothing short of a miracle” written by an unbelieving medic. Today, through her, we have two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren (so far), bringing blessings upon blessings. We serve an amazing God, who loves us and cares for us.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers that there was no use in all their “pretentious speeches” and accompanying arrogant talk because there was a lack of God’s power at work. But what does “living by God’s power” really mean? In our own lives, God has supplied all that we need for life in His Kingdom. 2 Peter 1:3, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself through his marvellous glory and excellence”. We may not have the riches and means to live a prosperous life in our natural years, but God has supplied all that we need for life in His Kingdom. There is a difference. Jesus said to the church in Smyrna, “I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! … ” (Revelation 2:9a). Here was a fellowship of believers who had little financially but who were rich with the resources and power of the Holy Spirit. Also, our needs have been met by God with all the resources of God being placed at our disposal. In our earthly lives, we are in the middle of a battle described by Paul in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms“. And Paul continued to describe the whole armour of God, set out to replicate the physical armour of the Roman soldiers to whom he was chained. We know the passage of Scripture, with the defensive items followed by one offensive weapon – ” … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17b). And finally, Paul exhorts us to “pray in the Spirit”

Are we pilgrims living in God’s power, so freely available to all those who believe? Or are we in a place of fear and anxiety, depressed by world events, and hoping that Jesus comes soon? We pilgrims are made of stern stuff, solid in our faith, and dependable in times of crisis. Psalm 112:6-7 is a pillar in our faith, “Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered for ever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord“. We share Scriptures like Psalm 105:4-5, “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced“. We can all recall the difficult times when God came through for us, and we strengthened ourselves with prayers of “do it again, Lord” when faced with a crisis. It is a tragedy that so many pilgrims can be stoics, gritting their teeth when troubles come against them, and sometimes hoping against hope that the Lord will return soon. But, folks, we have access to God’s power, and when we live by it, we are in a different world. Even when the world and society are falling apart around us, we can stand strong and firm, living in the power of God.

Dear God. Your power is limitless. Please forgive our lack of faith and help us to grasp all You have us with both hands, as we walk day by day in his sad and bad world. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Kingdom of God

Posted on 17th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

We citizens of the Kingdom of God, pilgrims on a journey to Glory, are living a different life from those around us, unbelievers who are still firmly and solely citizens of the kingdom of the world. We pilgrims have transitioned from a worldly life to one that is pleasing to God and aligned with His values and requirements. And the two kingdoms are so different, often with the expression of opposites. So someone great in the kingdom of the world’s eyes, such as a successful businessman, an autocrat or a political leader, is least in God’s Kingdom, where a servant assumes the greatest slot. But the biggest difference is that God’s Kingdom is spiritual. The first verse in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reads, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). (Note that “Kingdom of Heaven” is synonymous with “Kingdom of God” – Matthew was written for a Jewish audience and the name of God was so sacred that Jews would not refer to it directly.) But before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to define what the Kingdom of God is. One definition is, “the kingdom of God is [the] spiritual rule over the hearts and lives of those who willingly submit to God’s authority. Those who defy God’s authority and refuse to submit to Him are not part of the kingdom of God; in contrast, those who acknowledge the lordship of Christ and gladly surrender to God’s rule in their hearts are part of the kingdom of God” (quoted from gotquestions.org). At His pre-crucifixion trial, Jesus was asked by the Roman governor, Pilate, if He was the King of the Jews. In response, “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place’” (John 18:36). Jesus truly was (and still is, by the way) the King, and we echo what Thomas said when he met the risen Jesus, “’My Lord and my God!’ Thomas exclaimed,” (John 20:28).

So, how do men and women today become citizens of God’s Kingdom? Jesus gave Nicodemus the answer in John 3:3, 5-6, “Jesus replied, ‘‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” … Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life“”. Men and women are naturally born into the kingdom of the world, a world riddled and polluted by evil, wickedness and sin. Although the Bible does not claim that the devil is the king of this world, Jesus did say that he was the ruler. John 12:31, “The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out”. And that is why this world is such an unpleasant place to live in. The only people who are comfortable living in this world are those who are sinful and conforming to the world’s evil ways. But God’s people experience a second birth, through the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus was greatly puzzled by this and couldn’t get his mind around the concept, the reality, of a different type of birth. Jesus said that worldly people could not understand how being reborn in the Spirit was possible (John 3:8 – “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit”), but He went on to describe what the door into His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, looked like – “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:14-15). Right at the start of His public ministry, Jesus explained to Nicodemus that there was a day coming when He would be lifted up on a cross, crucified by the Roman authorities at the behest of the Jews, and taking on Himself the punishment that we sinners deserved. The Kingdom of God is an eternal Kingdom and one where its citizens will live for all eternity.

To the Corinthian believers, Paul wrote, “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power“, but we will unpick that in the next blog. In the meantime, we have to understand the reality that living in God’s Kingdom in the spirit, while living in the world’s kingdom in the natural, will introduce tensions and conflicts for which God’s power is essential to be able to overcome. We pilgrims have a dual nationality. Paul was conflicted by a life in two kingdoms, and he wrote, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me” (Philippians 1:21-23). I have met Christians who are terrified of the thought of dying. All sorts of fears surface, such as leaving loved ones in a state of pain, sorrow and grief, but also the fear of the unknown, with questions around what the dying process for them will be like. Along with such thoughts come the doubts and sometimes a lack of faith bubbles to the surface. But Paul was so convinced about where he would end up after his physical death that he would have been more than happy if Jesus had whisked him away from this planet like Enoch (Genesis 5:23-24, “Enoch lived 365 years, walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him“).

We pilgrims have been born again by the Holy Spirit and now live for God in His Kingdom. It’s a wonderful life and one where we enjoy the presence of God in our lives day by day. And one day, we will experience an infinitely better life with Jesus forever.

Dear Heavenly Father. We are so grateful for Your plan that involved sending Jesus, Your Son, to die for our sins. We now live in Your Kingdom as Your valued children, and we look forward to the day when our life on this planet will be replaced by a life spent for all eternity with You. Amen.

Pretentious Speeches

Posted on 16th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

Can we remember those days as a young child, having been caught out for some misdemeanour, or having been sent home from school with a bad report? Our mother said, “Wait until your father gets home!” and there was then a long wait, full of dread, as we anticipated a major telling-off or worse. Possibly, sanctions would follow, such as a loss of liberty, a favourite toy or some other punishment. Well, Paul said to the Corinthians that some naughty children amongst them reckoned that he was too busy elsewhere to return and bring correction and discipline. These “arrogant” people thought that without Paul with them, they could continue in their pretentious ways without fear of getting a telling off and being made to look the small people that they really were inside.

Why was Paul feared so much by the Corinthian congregation? After all, he was only a man and wasn’t even very good at preaching, so they thought. But we find that Paul had one attribute that they couldn’t dispute, and which provided authenticity to his presence. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than relying on clever and persuasive speeches, I relied solely on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom. Still, in the power of God”. The power of the Holy Spirit was something that would have filled them with dread. His was the opposite approach to those “arrogant people” who were giving puffed up speeches full of their own claims and arrogance, but were nothing more than hot air. It was one thing to claim greatness. Still, another to prove it by “the power of the Holy Spirit“.

Of course, there would have been those who claimed that God was full of grace and love and would never do anything harmful to anyone. But I wonder if the story of Ananias and Sapphira had reached the Corinthians? Perhaps it had, and the news would have filled them with dread. Acts 5: 3, 5, 10, “Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. … As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. … Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband”. Those present when all this happened, we are told, were terrified. I expect they were, because in those days, such a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s power gave an incredible weight to the Word of God, and His expectation for integrity and honesty in the hearts and deeds of believers everywhere. On the positive side, there was the account of the lame beggar, healed at the Temple’s Beautiful Gate, an account we can read in Acts 3. But despite all this, there were still some in the Corinthian church who must have had little respect for the Holy Spirit and instead displayed an arrogant tendency to make “pretentious speeches” before the rest of the congregation. It is one thing to claim greatness but another to prove it through the Holy Spirit’s power.

Perhaps those arrogant and pretentious members of the Corinthian church would have done well to read a couple of Scriptures, which they would have had access to, because they are both in the Hebrew Bible. Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall”, might have been a good one to remember. Another we find in Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:3, “Stop acting so proud and haughty! Don’t speak with such arrogance! For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done; he will judge your actions”. But Paul said that the final arbiter was the answer to the question – did “they really have God’s power”? It is not by their words that they would be judged, but by their actions.

We pilgrims can learn much from these verses at the end of 1 Corinthians 4. It does not matter what we say in our Christian lives. Those around us will soon sniff out a fraud. Someone who acts all religious on a Sunday morning will soon be caught out if they act in a worldly way in the office on a Monday, with foul and unedifying speech and demeaning behaviour. Arrogant claims are just a puff of wind and will soon be discerned by the Godly. In the presence of brothers and sisters in Christ, such arrogant people can have a disruptive and negative effect, leading to division, quarrelling and strife. Factions will develop, and before soon, a church will start to disintegrate. It is just as well today that the Holy Spirit’s power is not manifested in an Ananias and Sapphira way, because with such a manifestation, much of our national religious denominational structure would collapse overnight. Imagine the chaos, the anxiety, fear and soul-searching! But that is not to say that God will not achieve His own ends in other ways. There may be nothing so dramatic (however, it would be foolish to discount such a move of God, by the way), but He is patient and kind in this season of grace, and nothing will get in the way of His will and purposes for His church. Remember that one day we pilgrims will form part of the Bride of Christ, wedded to Jesus forever (Revelation 19:7-9).

In Philippians 2, Paul set out the true way that we believers should behave and present ourselves in our churches and fellowships. Philippians 2:3-5, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had“. No “pretentious speeches” were ever heard from the lips of Jesus, and none should come out of our mouths either.

Dear Father, we need Your help. Our humanity gets in the way of our spiritual desires, and we all have a tendency to act in a worldly way. Please forgive us and lead us on the path of true righteousness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Imitate Me”

Posted on 15th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

“So I urge you to imitate me. That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.”
1 Corinthians 4:16-17 NLT

On his second missionary journey, Paul left one major city, Athens, and moved to another, Corinth. There he made the acquaintance of another tent maker, Aquila, and his wife Priscilla, fellow Jews who had been evicted from Rome by the Roman emperor at that time, Claudius Caesar. After opposition from the local synagogue, Paul, with the help of his colleagues Timothy and Silas, started the Corinthian church in the house next door. And in Acts 18:11, we read, “So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God”. Paul reminded the Corinthians that he was their spiritual father because he introduced them to Jesus through the Message of the Cross, the Good News of salvation through Jesus. Knowing Paul, the grounding in the faith that they received would have been faultless, but the Corinthians became proud and arrogant, and Paul wrote, referring to their spiritual state, “You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you” (1 Corinthians 4:8).

The Corinthians must have been drawn into error from somewhere other than their leaders, because Paul and Apollos would have taught them correctly. They had the Old Testament Scriptures to refer to, of course, but it takes very little to skew and distort the Gospel, particularly as our enemy, the devil, is alive and active, just as much as today. It might be worth asking ourselves the question, “Would we have behaved in the same way, had we been in that congregation?”. So, we too must also be on our guard, because it is easy to become lop-sided in our faith. As an example, I was once in a church in my early days as a believer, where the pastoral care and relationships amongst the Christians there were excellent, so good in fact that I, as a new Christian, had a feeling that new people might have a detrimental effect on the church. How did that happen? There was a wealth of good teaching on edifying and growing the believers there, but perhaps teaching on evangelism was given insufficient weight, or, more likely, I ignored it. Thankfully, my perspective has changed, and I have much to thank my spiritual fathers for. Paul was sure of his teaching, and he commended Apollos as well for his, so the faults Paul outlined, of a congregation prone to judgment, factionalism, quarrelling and general arguing, did not start with them. Paul wrote this letter during his third missionary journey, probably from Ephesus, as reports of what was going on in Corinth reached him.

Paul told the Corinthians to imitate him. There is much in that because Paul was a teacher and they were his audience. He was saying that they must look at what he was doing, and follow not only his teaching but also consider the practical aspects of his life. They had taken the good bits from his sermons and ignored those parts that they weren’t too happy about. To imitate Paul, they had to consider that their lives would not necessarily be comfortable any more. Paul suffered much to share the Gospel, and not just with them. Paul wrote, “Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us” (1 Corinthians 4:11-12). Their comfortable lives would have to be cast aside because there was a new order in play. Instead of being what they had always been first, their world had to be turned around so that Christ was their first priority. I used to know a lovely man who was a blacksmith by trade. He was first and foremost a believer, and that governed his life. Every spare moment of his life was devoted to serving Jesus, and his business cards had his name followed by “Christian and Blacksmith”. There was no doubt in the minds of his customers where his loyalties lay.

The same principle applies today to us pilgrims. Because we are diligent followers of Christ, we are always prepared and ready to put Him first in our daily lives. No more self-first and God second. It’s God first, and everything else follows. Paul urged the Corinthians to pattern their lives after his. This was not pride and ego at work. Paul was not trying to set himself up as a kind of cult leader. He was not asking to be called by the title of “father,” or demanding any other honour. He did not want to take the place of Christ in their lives. Instead, he was describing the pattern of Christian discipleship. He was saying to the Corinthians, “I have taught you what to believe, now follow my example of how to live it out.” Paul said to Timothy, “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Paul wanted the Corinthians to follow the example of his lifestyle described in the previous verses. There, he described himself and the other apostles as leading lives of poverty, considered as foolish by the world for Christ’s sake, and mistreated for their association with Him. Instead of retaliating or running away, though, they followed Jesus’ example by doing good to those who treated them badly. Paul wanted the Corinthians to do as he did, to give up chasing wealth and trying to gain the respect of the unbelievers in their culture and to serve Christ first and above all.

There is a cost to being a Christian. We are a counter-cultural people who say “no” when the secularists around us say “yes”. We stand in the gap protecting those who are defenceless and without hope. We share the good news about Jesus with those who are heading for a lost eternity, hoping and praying that the seeds we plant will bear the fruit of salvation. And we imitate Paul and follow Christ’s teaching, holding our worldly gifts and assets with open hands, always ready to bless those who curse us, always shining like beacons in a world of darkness. That is what being a Christian is all about. Paul’s life was far from comfortable, but he was faithful to the end, despising the comforts of those around him, allowing nothing to divert him from his mission. We all do not have a calling like Paul, but a calling is what we have, and we allow nothing to get in the way of what God wants us to do.

Father God. We commend ourselves to You once again because we are here to serve You and Your people. Please lead and guide us in the paths You wish us to take. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Spiritual Fathers

Posted on 14th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

“I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me.”
1 Corinthians 4:14-16 NLT

Is Paul on an ego trip here? He was claiming to be the Corinthians’ “spiritual father” because it was he who brought the Gospel to Corinth and started a church there. Other men (and presumably at some point women), may have taught them about Christ, but Paul reminded them that he was the one who started it all. Paul was, however, only doing what Jesus had asked of all of us – “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Even though Paul would not have heard Jesus’ words at the same time as the rest of the disciples, he had a personal revelation of Jesus, and he also spent time with the other Apostles and early disciples, learning what he could. But why did Paul have to remind all the Corinthians of his pedigree? It was because they had moved into error by neglecting their own missions, and they were squabbling over who was the best teacher.

The use of the word “father” can be a bit contentious in a religious sense because Jesus explicitly told His disciples, and by implication us as well, never to give anyone such a title. As recorded in Matthew 23:9, Jesus said, “And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father“. But there are references in the New Testament to the Apostles having spiritual children. Peter made such a reference about Mark in 1 Peter 5:13, “Your sister church here in Babylon sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark“. We know enough about Mark to know that he wasn’t naturally related to Peter, so the reference must have been spiritual. And of course we have the reference to Timothy being Paul’s son “in the faith” – “I am writing to Timothy, my true son in the faith. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace” (1 Timothy 1:2). And another Apostle, this time John, referred to the church he founded as his “children” – “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous” (1 John 2:1). But in all these cases, there is never a reference to anyone in the congregations calling their mentors “father”.

The references to parents and children may seem a bit strange until we understand that there is a birthing process in operation. Jesus clearly spelt this out in John 3:5-7, “Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again’”. I suppose it must be a natural conclusion because just as a physical birth resulted from a mother and a father, there is an analogy that a spiritual birth also has a parent. Perhaps we can also extend the analogy to include a “foster parent”, a man or woman who nurtures the young disciples through their early years in the faith. The whole principle of Christian discipleship involves a parent/child spiritual relationship, and the new disciples grow up in the faith and have their own “children” as well, thus fulfilling Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” everywhere. And of course, we are aware that the ultimate “parent” is God Himself,

A few years ago, I thought much about my spiritual parents, several men and women who, at various stages in my spiritual life, brought instruction and assistance. Their’s was a solid grounding for me, and I have had the opportunity to thank each one personally for their persistence and patience in keeping me on the “straight and narrow” pathway . Sadly, three wonderful parents are dead now, but their legacy – for me and others – still lives on. Being a parent can be a thankless task sometimes, as any natural parent will testify, but we are all spiritual parents in one degree or another to the “children” we encounter.

We mustn’t forget the role of spiritual siblings, our brothers and sisters in Christ. For their benefit, we have all been provided with a spiritual gift designed to build each other up in the faith. 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. … A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other”. Note that all Christians are provided with such a gift, and any believer who may be unsure should seek God through prayer to determine what their gift is.

It is sad that in society today, being “born again” has such negative connotations, but it is an essential part of entering the Christian life. Being “born again” will divide cultural Christians from true Christians. Cultural Christians are those who want to live a good life (commendable, of course) but without the relational connection with God. Yes, they may go through the motions, singing the hymns and saying the prayers, but they have never come to that point where they submit to Christ through true repentance, trusting God for their future and handing their lives over to Him, and in the process being birthed through the Holy Spirit. The devil hates “born-again” Christians because he knows he has no jurisdiction over them, but there is no other way for a believer to start his or her walk of faith. We who are “born again” must never forget and respect our “spiritual fathers“, thanking them through Jesus for their faithfulness and love, teaching and spiritual nurturing.

Dear Father God. Thank You for the spiritual birthing process, because without it there was no way we could enter Your Kingdom. We pray too that You reveal to us clearly what Your gift is for us, so that we can benefit those around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Life At The Bottom

Posted on 13th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

“You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike. Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honoured, but we are ridiculed. Even now, we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.”
1 Corinthians 4:8-13 NLT

Paul sets out a stark contrast between his life, living for Christ, and the life of the Corinthians, who displayed middle-class affluence and contentment. We can imagine such a scenario today, with the congregation arriving for the Sunday morning service at a quaint, post-card picture, type of church building in a similarly quaint English country village, with expensive houses skirting the village pond. Neatly manicured gardens and a graveyard, and well-dressed people in all their finery walking through the postern gate leading up to the church door. That was the image Paul was presenting about the Corinthian church. They were living like kings, he said. But compare that to a city-centre church today, with homeless men coming to the building for a bit of warmth and a hot meal if it is available that day. Their clothes were ragged and filthy, hair unkempt and dirty hands. Such a contrast. It is sad that such a situation is happening in our society today, but there have always been rich and poor people since the earliest times.

Paul set out the conditions under which he was living as a worker for Christ. He compared weakness and power, honour and ridicule, hunger and plenty, homes and homelessness, blessings and curses, unclothed and clothed, and finally, he said he and his fellow workers were being beaten and treated like “the world’s garbage”. He and his fellow workers were truly living their lives “at the bottom”. So why did they do it? Paul had at one time so much going for him, as a Pharisee with a career in tent making. He could have had a comfortable living, much as the Corinthians had, should he have so chosen. But Paul had an encounter with the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road that transformed his life and turned it around. No more comfortable suburban life for him because he had been commissioned to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, and nothing was going to divert Paul from his mission.

Paul points to himself and the other apostles of Jesus to show the contrast between their lifestyles and attitudes and those of the Corinthians. He wants the believers in Corinth to see the true path of those who live as servants of Christ. Paul writes that God has made him and the other apostles an exhibit of life at the bottom, in terms of earthly values. Instead of living as kings, as the Corinthians seemed to be trying to do, Paul and the other apostles lived as condemned men living on death row. Their lives were on display as a spectacle for all to see in both the natural and supernatural worlds. Both angels and men were watching how poorly they lived in human terms and made judgments about their choices. Paul had sacrificed much in his missionary service, and he wanted the Corinthians, and by implication, us pilgrims as well, to know that life being lived God’s way and in His Kingdom would not always be a comfortable existence.

Dear Father God. Living in Your Kingdom is not an easy choice. Jesus said that in this life we would have trouble, but we take heart, as did the early disciples, that He came to overcome the world. In deep gratitude, we move on step by step, towards our eternal home with You. Amen.

Reigning With Christ

Posted on 12th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

Paul suggested with a bit of sarcasm that the Corinthians had begun to “reign in God’s Kingdom” without involving Paul and Apollos and, presumably, other leaders sent to bless this wayward congregation. They had developed this line of thinking because they thought they were already receiving the future blessings of Heaven in their earthly lives, not understanding that they had much to learn and consequently receive. God had graciously provided all the spiritual gifts they needed, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:7, “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed“. So perhaps the Corinthians thought that they didn’t need anything more, but Paul administered a good dose of realism with 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 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“. But their worldly behaviour in judging the merits of Paul and Apollos exposed a reality gap between what they thought they had become and what they really were. These were just ordinary people saved by God’s grace, but still needing the basics of God’s teaching so that they would grow up to become the people of the Spirit that God desired. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?” The Corinthians seemed to have become so arrogant that they believed that they were “reigning with Christ” already, not realising that their worldly behaviour was getting in the way of God’s purposes.

So what does “reigning with Christ” really mean? In Romans 5:17, we receive some insight that provides an answer: “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” Unbelievers live in a kingdom where death reigns. Romans 5:14, “Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come”. Because of Adam, sin always brings death. Death became king. It ruled the lives of every person born from Adam, and it still rules our societies today. Until the point when we pilgrims became believers in Jesus, we too were living in the kingdom of this world, living in a place that was without hope and subject to a curse that would result in our ultimate “death” in a place we call hell. Of course, we are referring to spiritual death, and we know that through Jesus, life will reign supreme and eternal. Through His grace, we are reigning in God’s Kingdom, and it is all about Him, Jesus our Saviour. In other words, receiving God’s justification by placing our faith in Christ not only frees us from the kingdom of death, it allows us to rule in the kingdom of life alongside Jesus, as the very children of God.

Do we reign with Christ today? Romans 8:15-17 (MSG), “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!” We pilgrims know the future because we have faith in God and His promises. But in the here and now, we receive a foretaste of what is to come, because we are co-heirs with Christ “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings so that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17 NIV), but we note the added caveat – “sharing in [Christ’s] sufferings”. But what does this suffering look like? Well, for a start, we will be persecuted. It may be in a low-key way here in the West, or it may come to physical harm, as in other parts of the world. We will be ostracised in the office or in any other social gathering, considered as having “weird” beliefs. If we stand firm in our faith, it may reduce job opportunities and even exclusion from certain jobs. And we must also die to our previous sinful lives so that we can live a life of purity and holiness.

If we wish to “reign with Christ” there is a cost, but ” … the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10). Our life on this earth seems to have the potential to go on forever when a person is young, but the reality is that, compared to eternity, it is little more than a puff of wind. So, fellow pilgrims, let us reign together in God’s Kingdom, set free through the blood of Christ.

Dear Father in Heaven. Please help us in our lives today, as we reach out to You for the resources we need to be Your people of faith in a dark, sinful world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Wrong Thinking

Posted on 11th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

It seems some sort of arrogant pride had crept into the Corinthian church, and the people there had come up with a new worship song – “We’ll do it our way”. They had this view of life that they had “arrived” at the Christian destination here on earth, a place called “Utopia”, where they had pleasures, possessions, and power. They didn’t think they had any need for preachers and leaders like Apollos and Paul, and they spent their time criticising and judging them rather than listening to what they had to say. But Paul said that the world they were reigning in, the one they thought was God’s Kingdom, was not one that he recognised. And so perhaps they were in danger of becoming a self-serving cult with no need of an outside influence. In fact, they had reached a situation without any accountability, and because of that, they were in danger of irrelevance and error. The ultimate place for such a church was as Jesus warned the Ephesians about in Revelation 2:5 – a church marginalised and irrelevant. “Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches”. Paul said that the Corinthian Christians were so self-reliant that they were acting as wealthy people who already had all they wanted instead of as people who would have much to gain from Christ. They were living as if they were kings, passing judgment on others and doing as they pleased when they pleased. They were not living as people under authority and in submission to God’s will.

Fast forward to 21st-century churches today, and what do we find? Western Christians have a huge obstacle, and that is their wealth. In an environment with no persecution, and one in which people go to church every now and then because it is the socially accepted thing to do. They go home to a nice house, food in the fridge, an expensive car in the drive, and no fear of a knock at the door and being hauled off to a gaol somewhere because of their beliefs. Back in the home, they “roast” the preacher during their Sunday lunch and cast judgments over his sermon. They live as though they are already kings, with no fear of the future, thinking that God Himself has that in hand. Of course, there will be mild but fearful thoughts of death one day, but in the meantime, “let’s eat, drink and be merry”. Jesus said some strong words to the church in Laodicea that we would do well to listen to today. Revelation 3:15-19 (MSG), “I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless. “Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see. “The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!” So many believers today have trouble discerning their spiritual lives, instead equating their “riches” with God’s favour. Of course, there may be an element of truth in that, but living a life God’s way will lead to riches that most worldly people know nothing about. Unless such people can see something before their eyes, they reject its existence.

Regarding riches, Jesus warned His generation about the trap waiting for people to fall into. He said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21). As usual, Jesus put His finger on the very problem that exists in our society today. A timeless statement that has echoed down the centuries and generations since. And the sad thing is that so many people have nothing but think they have everything. God’s economy is opposite to that in the world’s kingdom.

Paul was quite sarcastic with the Corinthians when he exposed their problem. Wrong thinking had crept into their church, bringing with it a view of Christianity that had abandoned the simplicity of the Message of the Cross. They had extracted the good bits about power and kingship and had abandoned the basics such as humility and openness to God’s teachings. Was it a universal problem in their church, impacting the whole congregation, or were there still some who were on the right path? In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need”. Jesus said to the Laodiceans, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:20-21). There was hope for the Corinthians just as there is hope for our churches today. Not every congregation of believers in our generation is afflicted with the Corinthian spirit. There are many who hear the voice of Jesus through their preachers and leaders, and such fellowships are growing spiritually and in numbers. But sadly, there are also others that are fading away, as the congregation slowly dies out. Paul warned Timothy about such a congregation in 2 Timothy 3:4-5, “They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religiously, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!”

But we pilgrims are not like that. We pursue the God of the Bible and are obedient to all He says to us. When the messages from the pulpit are difficult to hear, then we get before God and ask for help, always with a humble spirit, expressing the willingness to learn. And day by day, we grow in the light of God’s grace, chosen and loved, and assured of our salvation.

Dear Father God. Is that a knocking we hear at the door of our hearts? We pray that we will always allow Jesus to enter and will never lock the door, keeping in shut before Him. In His precious name. Amen.

Gifts From God

Posted on 10th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

“Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another. For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?”
1 Corinthians 4:6-7 NLT

Paul continues in his rebuke about preferring one leader over another and making judgments, both demonstrating worldly behaviour not appropriate for believers. We can just imagine the quarrels that had been going on as they discussed the merits and strengths of one leader, only to find disagreement from other believers who instead preferred another leader. Today, the same thing happens, with one congregant perhaps saying, “Good sermon from Fred today, the Holy Spirit was really moving”, only to hear someone else say, “Didn’t think much of Fred’s message today; it was rather boring, don’t you think?” And it is issues such as this that have caused people to quarrel and disagree with one another, and even leave one church to find another with a preacher who has a delivery style they prefer. But Paul said to them that they had to stop making such judgments, which is true both then and today. If we view the preacher as being God’s messenger, as Paul and Apollos were, then the responsibility for hearing what God wants to say rests just as much with the hearer as the deliverer. As an aside, perhaps today, should the preacher not be to our taste, then we must try all the harder to hear and understand what he is saying, and definitely we must not switch off and potentially miss what God wants to say. Taking notes of the sermon helps, as does an opening prayer asking for God’s help.

We must also remember what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:11-12, “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ“. Viewing our church leaders through the lens of these verses, perhaps, will help us to understand where the responsibility lies for our spiritual growth as believers. Many a message from these men will be uncomfortable to hear because they may expose what God wants to deal with in our lives. So a teacher one Sunday might base his message on Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord“, but we men might possibly start to squirm in embarrassment in our seats because of our behaviour in the home. It would not be any good rubbishing the preacher just because we don’t like what he is saying. He is only delivering a message based on what God has said to him, something that he might have heard during his prayers that week. As is often said, “don’t shoot the messenger”!

But Paul continued to labour his point. The Corinthians were not just saying that they didn’t like a sermon. They went much further in judging its worth. For some reason, they believed that they had the right to assess the message and, from that, make judgments on the ability and character of the preacher. And in the process, they totally missed what God wanted to say to them. The points in the message were drowned out by personal feelings, judgments and arguments. So sad. But Paul was having none of this and said so quite forcibly. But he went on to make the point that although he and Apollos were gifts to the church in Corinth, the Corinthians were boasting about this not being the case. What gave the Corinthians the right to judge the merits of their leaders? It’s the same today – what gives us believers the right to make judgment over another believer, let alone the church leaders? The only criterion for judging a preacher or leader about what they had said was if the message being delivered was not in alignment with the Scriptures. Something like this is easier today because we have the full Canon of Scripture, but that didn’t stop the Berean Christians, who only had what we refer to as the Old Testament – Acts 17:11, “And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth”.

The Corinthians didn’t really recognise Paul and Apollos as being gifts to the church in Corinth. But that didn’t change anything, because these faithful men continued to do their best in delivering God’s message. They lived in the light of Ephesians 4:11-12 through the power of the Holy Spirit, gifts to the Corinthian church, whether or not the people there believed it. But we believers have many gifts granted to us by our Heavenly Father. The Apostle James wrote, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). We mustn’t forget the best and greatest gift of all though, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Paul wrote that everything we have is a gift from God, and we must be continually grateful.

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for this life that You have granted to us. Please forgive us for our grumblings and lack of gratitude, and help us instead to look to You as the Source of everything that is good in our lives. When sickness or difficulties come our way, we look to You and pray because You have the answers and the remedies. We trust You, Lord, and thank You for Your love and kindness. Amen.

Judgments

Posted on 9th Sep 202519th Aug 2025 by korgrocker

“My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.”
1 Corinthians 4:4-5 NLT

Good news and bad news are coming on the Day of Judgment when the Lord returns. This will not be the time of the Great White Throne judgment, when all those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will find out their ultimate destination, an eternity spent in the company of the devil and his demons in a place called hell. No, this will be the Bema Judgement Seat of Christ, so named after the Greek word “Bema” meaning “judgement seat”, that we find in Romans 14:10, which reads, “So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God”. Although this verse refers to God being the Judge, we know from John 5:22 that it will be Christ sitting on the Bema. This verse reads, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son”. So, the bad news for us believers is not having to fear the thought of spending eternity in hell, but that God “will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives”. That is for us pilgrims, and I don’t know about you, but the exposure of my “darkest secrets” will make for an uncomfortable time. The only mitigating factor is that everyone else’s “darkest secrets” are probably just as bad. But we also have some good news coming. Firstly, our salvation will be intact. This matter was settled by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf ( 1 John 2:2, “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world“) and our faith in Him (John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life“). Secondly, Paul wrote that “God will give to each one whatever praise is due“. Will this be the time when we will hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! ’”).

Just as an aside, consider this word “eternity”. The natural view is to look at it from our perspective of time, meaning “eternity” is time without a beginning or an end. But “eternity” does not consist, in my view, of clocks ticking away forever. I prefer a definition of “eternity” as a state existing outside of time, meaning it is not subject to the passage of time as we experience it. Imagine all the things that are subject to the ravages of time lasting for all “eternity”. Our eternal bodies will never wear out, and many things more, but “eternity” is something that we will not be able to get our human-bound minds around in this life, but there is a time coming when we will be able to.

But Paul was reflecting on the human tendency to judge others. We go through our lives making judgments all the time, purely because we have to. It is part of human existence. For example, if we see a person walking towards us, we subconsciously make a judgment to protect ourselves, just in case the person approaching us wants to do us harm. Most of the time, no action is required, but occasionally we will think it prudent to cross the road just in case. Or in a conversation, a statement made by the other person will require analysis and judgment to extract what it means for us. For example, if my boss at work starts talking about redundancies, I will immediately start to judge what he is saying, whether it will impact me. But on a more negative note, all the time we have our value systems at work, we judge others against them. And that is where the problem can lie, because most of the time our values are based on how a person looks, dresses or behaves, rather than what really exists within their hearts. Our values are established from an early age and reflect what we have been taught in the nurturing years. But our values do not provide us with a system for making judgments that is worth anything. God is the only Person qualified to judge. His “value system” is true, righteous, and just.

So what will happen when we give an account of our lives to Jesus? He will inspect our work. What did we do with the resources God gave us? How faithful were we? Were we yielded to the Spirit, seeking to honour Christ and further His work in the world? Did we neglect our opportunities to serve the Lord? In Matthew 10:41-42, Jesus said, “If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded“. It doesn’t matter how small something we have done for Jesus is, because each act of service will have a reward. The converse is also true, with neglect leading to a loss of reward.

So, Paul advised the Corinthians to not get ahead of themselves and instead leave judgment to the Lord. Only Jesus is qualified to judge, and this will happen one day. If people, particularly other believers, act in ways that violate our values, we must not judge them, and instead we must pray for them. And if we can do that, it takes the pressure off us. One day, everyone will have to stand before one of two judgment seats and starting that process ourselves ahead of time is pointless.

Dear Heavenly Judge. We know that it is only You who is qualified to judge the human race. Please help us to look at our fellow members of society, believers and unbelievers, through Your eyes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.