"YOU WERE NOT READY!"

1 Corinthians 3:1-6                           (ESV)
"1 But I, brothers, could not address you as Spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as INFANTS in CHRIST.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for "YOU WERE NOT READY" for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but GOD GAVE THE GROWTH."



One of the quickest ways to get me "in the flesh" is begin testifying about what GOD is doing in the _____(fill in the blank denomination)________ church!  While I confess I go to a certain "denomination" fellowship, it's not because of that denomination that I attend there.  The reason my wife and I attend where we do is GOD speaks to us through the Pastor, and the "flock" is as loving, and giving, as any fellowship I have attended in my life.

The Apostle Paul, in writing his first epistle to the church at Corinth, wrote very plainly, almost BLUNTLY, that he had to address some very gently, for they were Spiritually immature and could digest the meatier things of the Spirit!  The journey Paul had been put through was not something that is very well advertised.  According to Galatians 1, after Paul's conversion he went to Arabia and then Damascus for three years.  There are many theories about what he did while removed from his normal routine, but without a doubt, he was being taught some valuable lessons by the Holy Spirit to groom him for the Plan GOD had for his life!

GOD has a Plan for each of our lives.  Whatever situation you find yourself in, no matter how plush or difficult, GOD has a Plan and purpose.  Glean everything you can from the difficulties, for you don't want to experience them again to learn what you should have the first time!  Ask Joseph about GOD's Plan (Genesis 50:20)!  So don't get caught up in what your denomination, or whatever you want to call the "wall" your fellowship uses, does for the Kingdom of GOD.  Don't get caught up in how other denominations observe what GOD is leading them to do.

All I need to do is be READY TO BE USED BY HIM when the time comes to Glorify HIS name to a lost and dying world!  HEAVENLY FATHER, don't let me one day hear YOU say to me "YOU WERE NOT READY"!!