July 2026
Sermon Transcript
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. This is going to be our first Bible study at Soulwinning Baptist Melbourne for the midweek service, and also for those of us in Pampanga as well. We are going to start going through this book verse by verse, beginning in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
We are here in 1 Corinthians, going verse by verse through the book. This is in the section of the scriptures known as the church epistles — Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. A lot of Paul's writings are specifically to individual churches. And of course with every church there are going to be some differences. Even amongst like-minded churches that are primarily of the same doctrine, there are going to be certain things that a church might struggle with. Maybe a church is a little bit lean on soul-winning. Maybe there is a pastor who just does not want to deal with issues, so sin creeps up in the church — which is something that happens in the church of Corinth that we are going to see throughout this Bible study. So as long as a church has the right gospel it is a bonafide church, but there is the fear of a church having the blessing removed as it says in the book of Revelation.
Verse 1 — Paul's Apostleship and Sosthenes
"Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother." One thing you are commonly going to find in Paul's writings is that even though we think of all of these letters by Paul as being simply him — and he sort of seems like a one-man mission — he will mention the people that are actually there with him helping him in the labour. Here he mentions a character by the name of Sosthenes. There is not a whole lot of information about Sosthenes, but we do know he is a very zealous and devoted person with Paul the Apostle.
The name Sosthenes appears in only one other place in the Bible. To get a good understanding of 1 Corinthians, let us go to Acts chapter 18 to get the time frame of Paul's ministry and his relationship with Corinth.
Acts 18:1: "After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth." Paul was travelling around everywhere, so it can get complicated to figure out the time frame and when things are happening. But here in Acts 18, Paul goes from Athens to Corinth — which of course is the church at Corinth that 1 Corinthians is about. And he does not just come here for a short time. Notice what it says in verse 11: "And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Paul the Apostle was with them for a year and a half. Over a year and a half you get to go soul-winning with the members, have soul-winning events, fellowship events, get to know people, pray for them, care about them. Paul really does care about the church of Corinth because it is not just something he was there for a short time — he was there for a while. If you guest preach at a church or are there for a couple of weeks for some events, you do not really have the same sense of attachment. But Paul was very involved in the church of Corinth because he was there for a year and a half.
Acts 18:17: "Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgement seat; and Gallio cared for none of those things." Given the timing of when Sosthenes appears, I do believe this is the same Sosthenes. It is hard sometimes in the Bible because they do not have last names — there are a million people named John, a million people named Mary — but there are not really a million people named Sosthenes. It is not exactly a common name. And given the time frame, I think it is pretty clear this is the same person. Sosthenes was the chief ruler of the synagogue but he actually turned out to be a pretty decent guy. They are beating him here. I believe this is the same one who becomes the companion of Paul the Apostle — he basically forsakes everything to follow God and be with Paul to do great things for God.
Acts 18:27–28: "And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ." Achaia is part of Corinth. So Paul the Apostle ends up being gone, but Apollos ends up being there — sort of the boots on the ground, one of the leaders of the church of Corinth. Paul was obviously not a pastor, but he is involved in this work. He builds it up and then leaves it, and then there are other people running things. Acts 19:1: "And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus." Paul is now in another location but he had been in Corinth for a while and left people to take control. It would be like if I was starting a church, I was the boots on the ground for a couple of years, and then I said okay, I am going to move to this other location and start a church. I would still care about the future of that church. I would want it to thrive and be successful and keep going even after I am gone from it. Why? Because the more you invest into something the more you care about it. That is just the way things work. Once you put time into something, your heart is going to follow your actions.
This is a good thing to remind us — if you invest your time into soul-winning and preaching the gospel and reading the Bible and the things of God, your heart will get invested in that as well. Do the actions and your feelings follow. Do the actions and your heart follows. Instead of waiting to feel like doing it, just do what you are supposed to do and you are going to start to enjoy it. You are going to start to really care about it. It works that way in all areas of our lives and it works that way spiritually. So get involved and you are going to start to care about it even more.
What Is an Apostle?
Go back to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 1:1 — Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. Paul says he is called to be an apostle. We always say the Apostle Paul. We do not really say the Apostle Peter or the Apostle John as much. Probably because Paul would always refer to himself as an apostle. But it is not an arrogant thing he is doing. There is a reason he has to declare himself an apostle — because the other apostles were handpicked by Jesus Christ, and there was proof. Whereas Paul the Apostle just says he is an apostle and met Jesus on the road to Damascus. A lot of people are not going to believe that story. So he is always defending the fact that he has authority. He was chosen of God. He is the real deal. Barnabas helps give him some legitimacy, as we see in the book of Acts, because when Paul started people thought — wait a minute, this is the guy that persecuted and killed us. Can we really trust this person?
1 Corinthians 15:3: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." What Paul says is I received the message of the gospel just like everybody has to receive it. He said, I first received this from somebody. We hear the gospel and we must receive Jesus as our Saviour. According to John 1, to receive him means to believe on his name. You believe on Christ — you believe the testimony of Jesus, that he died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. Paul is saying I received this, I was taught it by somebody else. Because nobody gets saved on their own. You have got to hear the gospel from somebody else. And that shows us the obligation we have to spread this message to everybody.
Then he talks about being an apostle. Verse 5: "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve." It is talking about Christ after he died and rose again. He was seen first of Peter and then of the twelve. Now what you are going to find in the Bible is that there are not only 12 apostles. I am going to prove that in 1 Corinthians 15. There is the inner circle of the 12 who were very close to Jesus — which included Judas Iscariot, though he was an unbeliever. Even within that 12 you kind of have a more inner circle of Peter, James, and John. Andrew seems to be sort of in that inner circle as well, being the brother of Peter. But outside those 12 apostles, there were other apostles as well.
Verse 7: "After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles." Wait a minute — if there are only 12 apostles, why does he say then of all the apostles after already mentioning the 12? There were more than 12 apostles. And the apostles had special abilities and gifts during that time period to do special works, and had real legitimacy from Jesus Christ. Of course today nobody is an apostle. You have these Pentecostal preachers that will say I am the apostle, and usually when someone says they are an apostle they have gold necklaces, a lot of money, are dressed extravagantly, and are very arrogant. But the requirement to be an apostle is focused on the resurrection of Jesus Christ — if you have not seen the resurrected Christ, you cannot be an apostle.
Verse 8: "And last of all he was seen of me also." Paul is indicating he was the last one to see the resurrected Christ. Last one. Nobody today — Paul was the last one. As one born out of due time. Paul was specially chosen by God to be an apostle and to do something great for God. Even though Paul was an unsaved person persecuting Christians, he was specially chosen by God because God knew he was going to do great things for him. And of course he did. Paul's conversion is very unique — he gets blinded on the road to Damascus. I believe he gets saved not on the road to Damascus itself, but when he is sent to the soul winner Ananias and hears the gospel and gets saved.
Verse 9: "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." Paul basically lived with the idea: I have got to make up for my past transgressions. He does not let his past transgressions bring him down, but he recognises the fact that he is very blessed to be saved. He has been given a great opportunity, and it is kind of like this mindset — I want to earn it. God has given me a special opportunity, I want to earn it. And honestly, even if you lived a pretty clean past, given that there is a very small percentage of saved people in the world, we should have the mindset: I am very blessed to have heard the gospel. I want to earn it. I want to do everything I can to tell other people about it because God made sure that I got to hear it.
I think about the year I got saved, as a freshman in college. I had been thinking about eternal things for a while — thinking about whether I was going to heaven, going to bed at night scared I was on my way to hell. I remember there was an independent fundamental Baptist church handing out invitations and talking to people at an American college football game. I remember, because I was around people that kind of laughed at it, I did the same thing. I had been wanting to know how to go to heaven and when someone actually approached me, I did not listen. And what that kind of shows us as soul winners is that sometimes you go up and talk to people and maybe they actually do want to listen, but they choose not to because of the people they are around. Sometimes you talk to a group of people and you can tell one person wants to hear the gospel but the others do not, and that person does not listen simply because they are afraid of their friends making fun of them. That happened to me. I remember feeling horrible afterwards — man, I have been praying for the opportunity, it was right here, and I rejected it. I feel very blessed that a few months later God did send a soul winner directly to me and I listened and got saved. We are not promised tomorrow and we are not promised several opportunities to hear the gospel. God gives us the opportunity — we need to take it when we get it.
Verse 2 — The Church and the Saints
"Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints." He says they are called to be saints. In our modern day the Catholic Church will declare somebody a saint a long time after they are dead, but that is not what the Bible teaches. The word saint is used for saved people in the Bible. You do not have to wait until you are dead to be called a saint. You that believe on Jesus Christ — you are a saint according to the word of God.
A couple of proofs. Go to Ephesians 1. The Bible reads in the book of Psalms: "Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints." Are we singing praises around dead bodies of people declared saints by the Catholic Church? Of course not. When you are singing praises in the congregation of the saints it means you are congregated together, you are one group of people singing praises amongst other believers.
Ephesians 1:1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus." It refers to the saved people at the local church of Ephesus. Philippians 1:1: "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi." Colossians 1:1–2: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse." The Bible is consistent — the saints are the believers, whether they are in Philippi, Ephesus, Colosse, Pampanga, or Melbourne. A good local church will be primarily filled with saved people that believe on Christ. That is the group the Bible declares as saints. So once again the Catholic Church is wrong.
"With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." I believe he says this because it is not always only the church of Corinth. Other times people might come and be with them for a little while — go soul-winning, then end up going back to their home area. You also have people that live a long way from Corinth but it is the closest real church they can find. Travel was difficult in those days. Same thing exists today whether it be Pampanga or Melbourne. Some people live a long way away and do not always make it to the church service. We love those people. We care about them. When they are with us it is like, hey, it is great to see you brother, it is great to see you sister.
Verse 3 — The Trinity
"Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." You are often going to find the distinction between God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as they are both mentioned here. What you are seeing is that the Lord Jesus Christ is not God the Father. We believe in a Trinity. Man is made in the image of God — body, soul, and spirit. That is not a perfect illustration of God but I do think there is a reason why we are made in three parts. With God you have got God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. There are three distinct persons in the Trinity. God the Father is not Jesus. Jesus was not created by God the Father. God has eternally existed as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. He has always been the three in one. It is not that God can choose to be four or seven or two. God is the three in one and he is eternally the three in one, because the Bible says in the beginning was the Word, and Jesus has been here from the very beginning. The amazing thing that happened 2,000 years ago is that he was born from the Virgin Mary, took upon flesh, and was all God and all man. That is a great mystery as the Bible says, because it is hard to wrap our minds around all of this. But it is important to understand — we believe in one God, and that one God is made up of three distinct persons. He has always been the three in one.
Verses 4–8 — The Testimony of Christ
"I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you." When the Bible speaks about being saved, it says we need to receive the testimony of the Lord. It is not our personal testimony that saves. Sometimes you will have these works salvation teachers come up and give their testimony — I used to be a drunkard and now I do not drink anymore. They will never mention anything about believing on Christ. They will talk about how they made a change. But a lot of us were never drunkards. I personally was never a drunkard. I personally never smoked a cigarette, never slept around. What saves is the testimony of the Lord — that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you take your belief and trust off of yourself, place it on Christ, and get saved. That is what the Bible says. It is not our personal testimony.
I think it is great when people make changes in their life, but do not for a second think that that is salvation. I remember after I got saved going to Christian groups on campus that would often have testimony times. People would come up and speak for ten minutes and say, man, I used to be devoted, then I got into the party lifestyle, and then six months ago I recommitted myself to Christ. Everybody starts clapping. And my friends and I are like — where is the moment where they said they believed on Christ? My testimony of salvation is pretty boring by comparison. Somebody gave me the gospel. I realised I believed in works salvation. I changed my mind about what I believed. I asked God to save me and forgive me of my sins. At that moment he saved me and now I know I am going to heaven. That is my testimony. It is not about what happened in your personal life.
And another thing to keep in mind — just because you made a lot of changes in your life after getting saved does not mean that automatically happens with everyone who gets saved. When I got saved I did not cry. I was emotional but I did not cry. Does that mean my salvation is not as real? I have gotten people saved who cried — does that mean their salvation is more real? The thing is, you might think when I got saved I started to read the Bible, I started to go to church — but that makes you an exception, because most people that get saved do not make changes. All the people you get saved, whether here in the Philippines or in Melbourne, do not question their salvation because they are not coming to church. Most of the people you get saved are not going to come to church. You say, well, what is the point of going soul-winning? Because you are saving people from burning in hell for all eternity. It is always worth it. Every soul, even if nobody ever came to church a single time, it would still be worth it. But it is not our testimony that is salvation. It is the testimony of the Lord.
John 3:33: "He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true." You receive the testimony of Jesus Christ and you set to your seal that God is true — meaning you are never going to call God a liar. You are always going to believe, as it says in 1 John 5:10–11, that it is a gift, something being given to you. It is a gift, it is eternal, and it is in Jesus. And when you get saved the Bible says you may know that you have eternal life, as 1 John 5:13 states, because you believed on Christ.
"So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." One thing we are waiting for is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now some people would see this and assume that since we are waiting for Christ to return, it can happen at any moment. But waiting for something does not mean it can happen at any moment. When I visit Melbourne in about a month, my kids are going to miss their dad and be waiting for the return of their dad. But that does not mean I can come back at any moment — I have got to get on a plane, it takes hours to fly. It is going to take some time.
We are waiting for the return of Christ in 2026. The world is getting sinful and wicked. But the Bible is very clear — there are things that need to take place first. One of those things is that the Antichrist is going to reveal himself according to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and declare himself to be God in the temple of God. That has not happened. Nobody knows who the Antichrist is. And since we do not know who the Antichrist is, that means Christ cannot return right now. We are still waiting. You look forward and wait for things that are exciting — but that does not mean they can happen at any moment. Right now in the middle of the World Cup, people have been waiting for this for three and a half to four years. They can excitedly wait for it without it being able to happen at any time.
Verses 10–12 — Unity in the Church
"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement." The Bible is speaking about unity. This is important whether a church is small or large. I would rather be part of a small church that is united than a church that is divided. When churches are not clear on their doctrines, they become very divided. A lot of you coming from Baptist churches here in Melbourne felt like there were multiple churches within one church — you are the soul winner, you believe the doctrines of the Bible, you stand firm on salvation being by grace through faith and not repentance of sins, you realise Zionism is false, the pre-trib rapture is false, all these things — and then there is almost a completely different church right next to you that believes different things and is not soul-winning. That is partly why a church in Melbourne needs to exist — because there is a group of people that want the real deal. Zealous soul-winning, hard preaching, correct doctrines. That is what makes you united as a church.
But even if people believe the same things, we are sinners saved by grace. Being sinners, we get on each other's nerves. We do wrong. Things need to be dealt with. And you need to stay united as a church because the church is more important than just you individually. There are a lot of people at the church, not just you. When you come together and are joined together you can do greater things for God. The fellowship is beautiful when you have people walking together, serving God together, as one united body.
"For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you." Paul says there is fighting taking place. He was there for a year and a half and now he is hearing there are problems — you need to be united.
Verse 12: "Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." This statement is very relevant to both Melbourne and Pampanga. What was taking place is that Paul was there for a year and a half and now he is gone. A lot of people are very loyal to Paul the Apostle, but there are other people who are the boots on the ground, and then others who get up and preach from time to time. People have divided loyalties. Some say I am of Paul. Others say I am of Apollos, who became kind of the boots on the ground at Corinth after Paul left. Others say I am of Cephas — obviously Peter is a big character in the Bible. And others say I am of Christ — I just follow Christ.
Why is that relevant? Think about this logically in 2026. Many people hearing this sermon got saved from the ministry of Pastor Steven Anderson. Some could say I am of Pastor Anderson. Others got saved from the Bible Way to Heaven by Brother Roger Jimenez back when he was right with God — I know a lot of people that got saved from that. If you got saved from somebody, sometimes you feel loyalty to them simply because they got you saved. Others could say I am of Pastor Matthew Stucky because he is the one who said we are going to start this church in Melbourne, so my loyalty is to him. Then others say I am of Brother Christian because he is the one running things here in Melbourne, so my loyalty is to him. And then there is the fourth group — I am of Christ. I am not of Pastor Anderson. I am not of Pastor Stucky. I am not of Brother Christian. I am just of Christ.
These are foolish attitudes to have. In Melbourne you have got one local body that is together. Currently this church is under my authority, but Lord willing one day somebody will be ordained in person to be the pastor of that church. At that point that person is the one running the church and you need to be united as a local church. The work I am doing for God, I am largely entering into the labours of other men that did great works before me. They did amazing works, but you do need something in person. Many of you have listened to great things online, heard sermons and preachings, and you still listen to that preaching and learn great doctrine — all of that is great. But you really need a church in person that you can be part of. The people you should be closest to and care about are the people you are going soul-winning with.
You do not want the attitude of — well, I am a member of Soulwinning Baptist Melbourne but I got saved from Pastor Anderson, or I prefer this person's teaching, or I prefer that person's preaching. Those are foolish and stupid attitudes. There are a lot of great pastors and a lot of great preaching you can hear, but nothing replaces having a local church, people that you can fellowship with and be with. I am telling you, you have got a great group of believers in Melbourne, Australia. You have like-minded people there. You are hearing great preaching that you are not hearing in other churches in Melbourne. You are hearing the truth without apology, bold preaching, zealous soul-winning. Be excited for what you have and never have the attitude of being with this other group or that other group. You are with the local body in Melbourne. Be happy with what you have and serve God together there.
By the way, when I write sermons I often write them well in advance. I wrote 1 Corinthians a long time ago. In my notes I have Pastor Menz referenced because he was still a pastor at the time. Obviously things have changed. It is what it is. People can have different loyalties to different people, but what matters is your local church.
Verses 13–17 — Not to Baptise but to Preach
"Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptised in the name of Paul?" Paul is not trying to get loyalty to himself. He is saying I started this church, I am gone now, I want a man of God to take it over and do a great job. Right now, unfortunately, Paul has to get involved because sin is creeping up in the church. But he is not trying to keep the attention or hearts of other people. We started a church in Poland and Pastor Plewniak is the ordained pastor, the leader of that church. That church is now completely independent of us. He is going to do a great job. They are zealous and going soul-winning and getting a lot of people saved. I am not trying to keep the hearts of those members — they are their own church. And I hope they do greater things than they have ever done and go forward. The same is going to be true in Melbourne, where there will come a day when someone is ordained as the pastor in person. If he teaches some things differently from me, it is not the end of the world as long as he is not teaching heresy.
"I thank God that I baptised none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; lest any should say that I had baptised in mine own name. And I baptised also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptised any other." Paul's main mission was not baptising. Obviously they baptised converts, but Paul is saying — plenty of people got baptised, it just was not always my hands that did it. And Paul probably did so many great works for God that he does not even remember everyone he might have baptised.
Verse 17: "For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." For those of us that are saved, this is not complicated. Christ sent me not to baptise but to preach the gospel. What does that tell you? Baptism is not part of the gospel. It symbolises salvation — it symbolises the burial of Jesus, which is why we do it by immersion as seen in Romans 6, like a planting or a burial. It symbolises the resurrection. But it is not salvation at all. It is a symbol of it. And Paul is saying he got a lot of people saved that he never baptised, and his main mission is to go out and preach the gospel and get people saved.
And how does he preach the gospel? Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. What we explain when we go soul-winning is very easy and very simple. We explain that salvation is a gift — everybody understands what a gift is. I will often explain about how it is a spiritual birth and reference the physical birth because I have kids. When a child is born they do not do the work and effort to be born. Just like the mum does the work, Jesus is the one that did the work. Being spiritually born happens one time. Your parents will always be your parents, just like God will always be your Father. Being saved means you cannot save yourself — somebody is grabbing you out of the water, saving you from a burning building. Simple examples that we can explain.
Paul is saying when I preach the gospel, I do not try to sound like the most educated person in the world or say complicated things. I just try to speak so people understand. Imagine going soul-winning and saying, hey, can I talk to you today about soteriology? People are going to be like, what are you talking about? Soteriology just means the study of salvation. Does it not just make more sense to say salvation? Or eschatology — a lot of people do not know that means the study of the end times. You will often have Calvinist pastors using big words and trying to sound smart — we need to exegete that passage. That just means go back to the Greek, go back to the original language. We should use words that people can understand, especially when we are going soul-winning, because we are trying to get something across to someone. You want to say it simply enough that even a young child could believe it and understand it and get saved. You do not have to be super educated to understand the gospel because it is very simple. And Paul said I did not use wisdom of words. I just brought it across simply, because the gospel is meant to be simple — so that anyone can receive it if they choose to believe on Christ and put their trust on Jesus Christ for salvation.
We will wrap up there at the end of verse 17. There is still a lot of great stuff in 1 Corinthians 1 and I am excited to preach through this book. Let us just close here in a word of prayer and then we will sing a final song.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and to hear your word and learn things from the scriptures. I ask you to help us to apply these things to our lives. Help us to love the Bible and study the Bible, and I ask you to bless this new church in Melbourne. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.