God does not require every man to sell all he has and give it away but He does require that our loving hearts will count all we have His and gladly subject to His control to give or keep. ". . .Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:19, 20). - John R. Rice [The Church of God at Corinth, pg. 226-227]
Someone has said, "God wants one-seventh of our time and one-tenth of our income." That is a wholly inadequate fraction of what God wants. God wants Monday as well as Sunday. He wants your Saturdays, your vacations, your rest hours as well as the time for visitation or midweek prayer service. - John R. Rice [The Church of God at Corinth, pg. 229]
The "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" gives up the riches of Heaven to take the sinner's poverty, gives up the place of equality with the Father to be forsaken on the cross so we sinners may be received in the arms and heart of God. Grace takes our stripes on His back, our tears on His cheeks, our pains in His body, our torment in His Gethsemane and on Calvary. so we may have peace without fear, salvation without falling; we may have Heaven when we deserve Hell. - John R. Rice [The Church of God at Corinth, pg. 230]
Is not healing in the atonement? Yes, in a certain ultimate sense it is. But so also is the glorified body which we will get at the resurrection, but it is not now available. All healing now is temporary, incomplete. Those who are healed, later get sick and die. - John R. Rice [The Church of God at Corinth, pg. 260-261]
Paul had earnestly besought the Lord for three periods that the thorn might be removed, but God did not see fit to remove it. Rather, he taught Paul, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12, vs. 9). It is far better to have a big God and a little Paul. It is far better to have a Paul utterly dependent on the dear Lord for His help day by day than one confident in his natural strength. So resignedly Paul said, "Most gladly therefore I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Cor. 12, vs. 9). - John R. Rice [The Church of God at Corinth, pg. 261]
"Be perfect," that is, be complete (2 Cor. 13, vs. 11). It is true that no one in this life can be perfect. But in the sense of the Scriptures, one can be wholly committed to Christ again and again. And besides, when God would set a standard, He sets a perfect standard. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commanded, "Be ye therefor perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). - John R. Rice [The Church of God at Corinth, pg. 270]
When people come together in a local congregation there ought to be greetings and shaking hands and happy fellowship. I think it is far more important to shake hands with a friend, to ask a newcomer to sit beside you or share a hymnbook, than to have funeral calm and formal dignity. The idea, "If you must whisper, whisper a prayer," and other formal teachings do not tend toward the informality or the loving fellowship which was common in New Testament congregations. - John R. Rice [The Church of God at Corinth, pg. 271]
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