Eugene Prewitt

Eugene Prewitt: 1 Corinthians 3

Neutered Sermons Do Not Produce New Births

Helping Others With The Word

I Plant and Water and Am Nothing

We Work Together With God

Ouachita Hills College


Our Father in heaven, I ask that you would be here this morning as our teacher. That you'd help us to understand what is true. And I ask for this gift in the name of Jesus. Amen. I'd like to have you memorize this morning a sentence of Scripture and then to give you a proverb and then to preach at you for about 9 minutes and let you go.

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 is where we find the sentence. The sentence is in verse 6. It's the first 3 words. What's the sentence say?

Have we memorized it yet? I have planted. Let's try to say that scripture sentence together. I have planted. Can you hold that in your head for a long period of time?

I have planted. I want that to be in your mind. I'd like it for us to have this idea that we could always say that and it would be true. I have planted. In this case, Paul was saying he had planted in Corinth.

We're going to study that for a few minutes. Here comes the proverb, neutered sermons do not produce new births. Neutered sermons do not produce new births. Why do we neuter dogs? We don't want there to be extra puppies around.

We don't. Neutered sermons do not produce new births. Good morning, ladies. You missed our memory work already, but I'll tell you, I think you can memorize it. We memorized 1 Corinthians 3, verse 6, the first sentence, and it says, let's try to say it together, I have planted.

That's the whole sentence. And then we went to a modern proverb. The proverb says that neutered sermons do not produce new births. Now begins the preaching. Let's just look more at this passage.

1 Corinthians 3, and we're looking at verse 6, the rest of it. I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then Neither is he that plants anything, neither is he that watereth, but God that gives the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are 1, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God.

You are God's vineyard. You are God's building. What is it that you plant? If you say, I have planted, what do you plant? You can go ahead and respond, pretend we're in a classroom.

What do you plant? Okay, you plant the seed, you plant Magga books, and a Bible answer would be you plant the Word of God. The seed is the Word of God. And we're born, let's keep a finger here because we're coming back to this before we're done, but look at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1.

So The Scripture we memorize says, I have planted. When we say it we're thinking, I've planted what? I've planted the Word of God. 1 Peter 1, and we're looking at verse 23, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. First Peter 1, verse 23.

But of incorruptible seed by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever." Here's some good news. If you plant the Word of God, how long is it going to stick around? The Word of God lives. It abides forever. If you plant it, it's going to grow because it is a seed.

I have planted. What have I planted? I've planted the Word of God. And when I plant the Word of God, does it cause new births? What does it say in the passage in Peter?

Being born again. Yeah. So here comes first point, rounded out. Planting the word of God causes new birth. When you plant the word of God, it springs up as new births.

And wouldn't it be nice to say I've planted? Because that means that God is going to give the increase, which of course is new births. What's a neutered sermon? It would be a sermon that is depending on something other than the Word of God for its power. It could be depending on show for its power, depending on humor for its power, depending on stories for its power, depending on something else for its power.

But what is it that you plant? You plant the word of God. And that's what grows, and that's what causes new births. And nurtured sermons do not produce new births. Look down at chapter 2 and verse 5.

1 Peter 2, verse 5. You also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house. So we read in Corinthians that we're God's building. What's the building made out of? Living stones, and These living stones are we.

A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice is acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That's the idea. We are God's building, and what he's building is living stones. But what makes us into a living stone? That would be if we had inside of us the living Word.

It lives and abides forever. So just like neutered sermons do not produce new births, neutered sermons do not produce living stones. They might produce other kinds of stones, but most often they produce fancy straw. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3, we're moving to the theme of building, because that's what the chapter does.

We're looking at verse 10. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds thereon Let every man take heed how he builds thereon. So the foundation is a huge living stone It's the living Word of God namely Jesus who came to be the living Word of God There he is a huge foundation stone. Now we're going to build on this. What should we be building on it?

We learned from Peter, this temple is built with living stones. That's right, living stones, lively stones. But you could put something else on it. It says in Corinthians, Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. So maybe you could say that on top of this foundation we can put lively stones and maybe some would qualify as building with silver or building with gold.

Those would be good things to build on, build the temple with, stones and gold and silver. What else could you build the temple with? Neutered sermons. With neutered sermons, the temple would look like it's getting bigger, but it wouldn't be getting bigger in the long term because when it gets tried by fire, it's going to get smaller if it's built with wood or hay or stubble. That's the biblical thought.

And now comes the 90 seconds of application. It's not only preachers who should be able to say, I have planted. The evangelist should be able to say, I have planted when he preaches his evangelistic series. And the canvasser should be able to say, I have planted when she has sold her books. And the pastor should be able to say he's planted when he's been preaching his sermons.

But any sort of Christian ought to be able to say, I have planted. The Word of God is the power in our lives to produce new births. If I want to produce new birth in my roommate, or in an academy student, or in a gas station attendant, or wherever I want to produce a new birth, What should I be planting? You can plant the word of God. Are sermons the only time to plant the word of God?

You know, the word of God is something to be scattered everywhere at all times. The word of God is a power and it produces new births. When we depend on it like that, we could find opportunities and we could say, I have planted. I've built it. God gives the increase.

Summary of the whole thing, let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Let your speech be planting the word of God with your friends, your neighbors, your family on the telephone, your family in letters, the people you find. If you're planting the right thing, God will make sure that there is an increase. Now, if you're trying to build up this temple of the church, it's possible that you could succeed without succeeding. That is, you could build the temple up and make it bigger, but you might build it up with wood, hay, or stubble.

And the problem is, the temple is going to have to handle a fire test. And if you build it up with that, there's no long-term benefit, because neutered sermons don't produce new births. We want to be sure we're relying and are planting on the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. Let's kneel for prayer. Our Father in Heaven, I ask that you would take the seeds from 1 Peter and 1 Corinthians and that you would use them today as you use all seeds.

That you would plant them in hearts and that you would bring forth an increase. That you would be the builder of your heavenly, well of your earthly temple here. We're dependent on you to give the increase. I ask for that blessing in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Eugene Prewitt: 1 Corinthians 3

Neutered Sermons Do Not Produce New Births

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