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Church of Praise, Ipoh

Gospel, Glamour and Glitter

Gospel, Glamour and Glitter

Locations & Times

Church of Praise, Ipoh

27, Persiaran Industri Rapat, Kawasan Perindustrian Ringan Sri Rapat, 31350 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Sunday 8:00 AM

Gospel, Glamour and Glitter

Have we gone far away from the Gospel? Do we gauge spiritual fruits and success by the standard of the world? Is money, building, popularity, charisma, some new teachings a gauge for godliness and success? Are we guilty of judging success as the world does?

Paul was jealous for the Corinthian church. He had betrothed them to Christ but now they are corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
1. Paul’s Rivals

They preach another Jesus, they have a different spirit, preach a different gospel. They had made significant inroads in the Corinthians church because of their penchant for impressive credentials (v5,21-23), fine sounding words (v6) and charges a fee (7). But they are false apostles and deceitful.
They bring them into bondage, devours them, takes from them, exalts themselves and strikes them on the face (20)

The problem was, the church put up with them! v4
2. Paul’s Approach

● His apostleship was challenged. He was stern, humbled and he rebuked the church.
● He was jealous of them 2
● He was not inferior to those eminent apostles 5
● He was untrained in speech 6
● He humbled himself, exalted the church instead 7
● He preached free of charge 7
● He was a burden to no one while in need 9
● He was too ‘weak’ to take advantage of them 21
3. Paul’s Credentials. II Cor 11:16-33

Paul’s credentials were not his wealth as he had none, nor popularity and he was not very popular. He doesn’t exalt himself when he comes to the churches as he wasn’t demanding. He did not measure himself to the standard of the world but he is an apostle of God who preached the Word without fear or favour.

His credentials or trophies were sufferings and persecutions. He was constantly on the run from the Romans and religious leaders. He wasn’t very popular by our standard today.
Conclusion

Please be discerning, a counterfeit note is 99% similar to the genuine but it’s still a counterfeit.
Questions

1. Do you know how to discern a true and a false prophet?
2. Do you know and understand the simplicity of the Gospel?
3. What is your understanding of spiritual success?
4. Do you also gauge life’s success by worldly standards?