Truth is Foolishness to Them That Don’t Believe

Let’s tackle the Apostle Paul’s claim that the message of the cross is foolishness to some and the power of God to others, as we also address how partial truth drains power and fractures unity. “Somebody’s wrong, but not the Bible”.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Greeting And Setup
• 1:45 Reading 1 Corinthians 1:18 In Multiple Translations
• 3:20 Faith, Evidence, And The Nature Of Truth
• 6:50 Life’s Cares Versus Devotion To God
• 9:55 Marriage, Focus, And Paul’s Counsel
• 13:30 Idols Of Good Things And Self-Examination
• 16:45 Personal Church Background And Heart Posture
• 19:15 Treating Scripture As Malleable
• 22:15 Call For Unity From 1 Corinthians 1:10
• 25:00 Denominations, Doctrines, And Context
• 28:10 Fullness Of Scripture: Old And New Testaments
• 31:10 Power Of The Word And Knowing Jesus
• 34:00 Closing Encouragement And Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Grace in peace. Grace in peace, one and all. Happy Friday. It is Friday. It is October 24th, 2025. And it is a pleasure. It is a privilege to be here once again with you all. I'm your boy. I'm Eon Jay. And we're going to dive straight into it. I was talking to my youth committee. At my church, I happen to be the youth chairman, the youth president, whatever you want to call it. And the Lord laid it on my heart to speak to my team about some very specific things. Now, in going through these different things, I had a few scriptures that I wanted to share with them. One of those scriptures being coming from First Corinthians chapter one. We just had a whole conference last week. That was where the scripture was taken from. Or that's one of the scriptures that was used. Now, this is what I wanted to share with us, right? First Corinthians chapter one. And verse number 18. And this wasn't the plan, but you know, I I, you know, I follow the leading of the Lord, and where he takes me, that's where I go. Right? So 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18. And I'm really just diving in, right? No time to play around. This is not one of those ones where we're gonna joke around, right? 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18, it's it reads as thus for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Now, what I want to do is I want to read it in a few different translations. Okay? That was the King James Version, of course. This is the NSAB and ASB, excuse me. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Amplified version. For the message of the cross is foolishness, it's absurd and illogical. To those who are perishing and spiritually dead, because they reject it. But to us who are being saved by God's grace, it is the manifestation of the power of God. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God, so on and so forth. Okay? I love that amplified version. Now, I I really want to dive in, and greetings to each and every one of you guys. Again, this wasn't my plan. This is not what I intended to do. This particular scripture really just stuck out to me because we are living in a world, and we're living in this world. Those of us who know the Lord, we know that this world is not our home, right? And so if this world is not our home, that song just came to me. If this world were mine or if this world were ours, whatever, it's not. Now, we do have dominion over it. God has given us dominion over it. That's why you see that the human race is the most dominant species on this planet, right? Whether that be good or bad. We're the most dominant in a good way, the most dominant in a bad way. Not gonna dive into that. Now, bear with me here, okay? Bear with me. This conversation is obviously for a specific set of people. Now, the conversation is for everybody, and anybody. You often hear people say, yo, it's for anybody, but not for everybody. Well, I could say that, but the truth is the preaching of this cross is for everyone. It is for the wise who take it, and it is for the foolish who reject it. And please believe me that my intention is not to offend anyone. I am speaking the truth. Whether you like it or not, it's the truth. Whether you watch this, whether you believe it or not, it's the truth. And the unfortunate thing is, like, we could sit here and debate, we could go back and forth, you can give me your perspective, and I'll listen, and I can give you mine, and we can debate what we believe is true. We can debate the Bible that I'm reading from now, and we can talk about the origins of the Bible itself. I can give you fact that you've probably never heard before. I'm sure you can probably hit me with some disputes that I may not have heard before. We can stump one another, you could win the discussion in the eyes of yourself and the masses, I could win the discussion in the eyes of myself and the masses who agree with me. The truth is none of that matters. That's the unfortunate thing, is that none of it matters because until God cracks the sky, it'll be hearsay. This idea of Jesus Christ being who he said he was, living, coming down from heaven, in the form of man, in flesh, just like you and I. I like to say he came down in a in a in a form that you and I could understand, right? Did what he did on earth, was crucified and killed for it, rose from the dead, ascended back into heaven. That will be hearsay to those that disagree. For whatever reason, until God cracks the sky, this conversation will continue, and it'll be fact to the people who know, it'll be opinion to the people who don't. It's a very uh distinct idea, it's very detailed, there's a lot of nuance to who Jesus is, and many people don't understand, but the preaching of Jesus Christ, the preaching of heaven, the preaching of the grace that came with truth through Jesus, that was nailed to the cross for you and I, the preaching of this whole thing, it's foolishness, but it's foolishness to those who are perishing. Now that is that is tough to stomach, but I'm thirty-three years old now, I'm I'm married, I have a wife, I have a child, you know. This conversation is the most important thing of all time because God is the creator of everything that you and I have come to know. Everything that I've been able to steward over, this family that I've been able to create, God is overseeing it all, and there will come a day where none of this here on earth will matter anymore, and and that's the thing, is it won't matter, none of it is going to matter to any of us. We're so concerned right now with the cares of this world. It's like what do they say? Like, out of sight, out of mind. Well, God is so out of sight and out of mind for so many of us, even myself, like let's let me let me really like talk about this, bro. Like, myself, I I was born in the church, I was born in Christ, and chose him for myself, and I have followed the word of God to the best of my ability over the last few years, excuse me. And even in that, it's it's so funny how I have been so consumed with my life and the things that I can see here on earth. And I I can look around the room, I'm so concerned with this renovation. Uh I'm so good. It's so funny. In this same book, 1 Corinthians, Paul in chapter 12 or 13, somewhere down there, Paul is talking about marriage, and he's he he was he essentially said at one point, like, I wish that you guys could be like me and not be concerned with marriage, not be concerned with having a wife and starting a family. Why? Because these things will take your attention off of God, whether you want it to or not. Now, don't get it twisted. He that findeth the wife findeth a good thing and and obtaineth favor from the Lord, and and and it and it is for a man to to leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife, start a family, be fruitful and multiply. All of that is obeying the word of God. Now, Paul, in this same chapter, 1 Corinthians, pause, in the same book of 1 Corinthians, he actually says, I'm speaking this by perm uh by permission, and and let me get that right. By permission and not commandment, if I'm not mistaken. I want to get that right. I don't even want to paraphrase that. Let me let me just let me just find that real quick. Uh and I wish I had my my physical Bible because it's so funny. I would know exactly where to find it in the physical Bible. But Paul says, I'm speaking this by permission. Permission and not commandment. What does that mean? That means uh it's not necessarily a bad thing for you to get married, right? That's what Paul is trying to say. Permission, not commandment, and I'm sorry, I'm searching for it. Yes, exactly. Yes, first 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 6. I speak this by permission and not of commandment, he says. He said, I wish that all men were more like me. I wish that you guys could be more like me and not focus so much on starting a family. Not that starting a family is a bad thing. And I wish y'all could be like me and not focus so much on finding a wife, not that having a wife is a bad thing. These are amazing things, but he goes on um to explain himself further down in that chapter. He actually tells them that when you are when you have a wife, it verse 32. Verse 32 of 1 Corinthians chapter 7, it says, But I would have you without carefulness, he that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, and how he may please the Lord. Verse 33, but he that is married careth for the things that are of this world, and how he may please his wife. So I I just want to say I'm speaking this by permission and not not of commandment. We, me, myself, a lot of us, we have been focusing on good things, right? Be marriage, families, our jobs. Now we have to focus on our job, right? The Bible tells us to essentially like make do while we're here, do our best, and whatever the case is, be fruitful and multiply again, right? It it tells us to do these things, right? But that's why a lot of these things are able to become idols in our lives. And I hold it now. I didn't that's not my intention to go there. I don't want to go down that road, I don't want to go down that path, but a that's the that's the only reason so many of these things in our life, social media, you know, our phones and our jobs and certain people, certain activities. You got some people who who have and and these are good things. These are good things for us, right? But they they become idols in our lives, and we start to put them above the Lord and where God is in our lives, and that's when these things become a problem. So I I myself, I grew up in the church. I was saying, I I was both my mom's, I believe my mother's water broke in in church, bro, if I'm not mistaken. And my father, you know, we rushed into the hospital. I was born to God be the glory, and I've been in church my whole life. Now I want to say that don't make me any better than anybody else. That doesn't make me any closer to God than anybody who, you know, may not have been born in church and going to church their whole life. Because that relationship is personal. You know, I could very well be somebody who's in church. There's plenty of people who are sitting in church who don't have a personal relationship with God. There's plenty of people who hold positions in church and they give the church everything they've got, but it's really the pastor they're looking up to. They're not even focusing on God. They focusing on a pastor. You know, I'm here to talk. I'm here to talk about this a little bit. We're talking about 1 Corinthians 1 and 18. The preaching of the cross, the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, the preaching of that which matters the most, which is who God is and who I am in God, and if I'm where I'm supposed to be in God, right? The preaching of that very concept, believing on the name Jesus Christ, right? Some of some people, I can't believe in Jesus Christ because the letter J didn't exist in that time period. Bro, like if I I'm gonna have to dedicate a whole episode to to to to to to you guys. Because I I mean, and maybe I should, right? Maybe that's why I'm here. But you gotta understand that that name Jesus is a transliteration of the name Yeshua. And and when you when you're searching for the answers without a skewed mindset and without a made-up mind that you think you already know everything, bro, you might actually find some answers. It's not the translation, it's not the direct translation, it's the transliteration. And I I don't even want to go too far into that because the truth is there's so much of that I don't even know. But that makes me know better than anybody else, right? There's some people who don't have a relationship with God and think they do, and it's unfortunate because on that day, the Bible says, when the Lord's when the Lord returns, he's gonna ask the question, or better yet, he's gonna say, or he's gonna ask the question, like I was saying, like, or we're gonna ask the question. Did we not prophesy in your name? You know, didn't we do all of these good things? Didn't I didn't I start the family you told me to and and be the head of my household? Didn't I give to the poor? You know what I'm saying? And and and God is gonna be like, nah, that don't matter. That's not an excuse for you not being where you need to be in your heart with me. And and we kind of, I kind of, I kind of divert a little bit. If I could come back to that to that particular scripture, 1 Corinthians 1 and 18. So now we're not talking, we're not even talking about those who are saved and living right versus who's living wrong. We're talking about the preaching of the cross, it's foolishness to some people. Like it's legitimately foolishness to some people. The preaching of the cross, the preaching of Jesus Christ is foolishness to some people. The preaching of the Bible, the word of God, is foolish to some people. I and I could even go as far as saying now, it it's not just the people who it's foolish to generally, there's some people who treat it like it's foolishness. Oh, come on, somebody. There's some people who are in God, you claim you're saved, you claim you're a believer, you're baptized, you're filled with the Holy Ghost. Or you're or you're only baptized and you're not filled, you don't believe in being filled. There's some people who don't believe in the speaking of tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. There's some people who don't believe that God is still prophecy, still speaking through his vessels, you and I, in the form of prophecy. Where's that biblical? There's some people oh I it's so if if even those who are taking the word of God and you're making it what you want it to be, right? You're not taking the word of God for what it is. You're taking it and you are you're taking the word, you're treating it like it's malleable. I mean, you're treating the word of God, some people are treating the word of God like it's malleable, like it's able to be formed, as if the word of God is able to be conformed to our will, which is not the case. Some people treat the word of God, mind you, the word of God is is is what God is saying. I always tell people if you want to know what God is saying, open your Bible. A lot of times we're waiting for this divine word from heaven, we're waiting for the loud voice from the heavens to roar and thunder, and we're waiting for the clouds to roll back and for God to speak out of his holy hill. Open your Bible, bro. Open your Bible. You're you're searching for answers. Crack the Bible open. Do some research. You're looking for a husband, you're looking for a wife, you're not sure why you're not finding one, you're not sure what the Bible says about it, you think it's gonna be a certain way when it's actually open your Bible and see what God says about it. You wanna know if you're living right? Open your Bible. But you got some people who one don't believe in the Bible at all. Foolishness, perishing. That's it. I I'm sorry. That's it. That's the that's the we want to know what the end is and what the end looks like perishing. Fire, eternity. And and then, but then you have some who don't think they're foolish. But you and and and and you're preaching the word and you're you're quoting the word, and you're you you claim you're living the word, but we're only taking we're taking parts of what the word says, and we're living by that. We're not taking the word for uh in totality for what it says and living by that. And that's I'm gonna be honest, oh Lord, I don't want to get myself in trouble. You got some denominated, you know how we first of all, ah God, you know I really came here to talk about unity, and and the Lord kind of took me in a different direction, but we're supposed to be together uh uh further up in that in that chapter. Oh God help me. Further up in this chapter, 1 Corinthians 1, and this was really where my church was at, verse 10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing. I beseech you, I beg you, I'm pleading with you guys, please start to speak the same thing, and that there be no dimin divisions among you. That there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind, in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me of you, my brethren, by them which are that of the house of Chloe. So somebody snitched, somebody came and told Paul what was going on that there are contentions among you. So you got us who all believe in God, and we believe we're Christian, and we're different forms of it, so much so that we got 10 million different one one religion, Christianity, and you have all these different denominations in the middle of it. We're I'm Christian, but I'm Baptist. I'm Christian, but I'm Pentecostal, I'm Christian, but I'm Catholic. I'm Christian, but I'm Seventh-day Adventist. I'm Christian, but I'm Jehovah's Witness. And we believe Jesus existed somewhere, but we all believe something different about him. We're supposed to be unified, we're supposed to be together, but we're all divided. We're all in contention. Contention. There's a separation. As if there's a gulf. There's a separation among us all. I'm Jewish, but I'm this type Jewish. I'm Jewish, but I'm that type Jewish. And we're supposed to be united, we're supposed to be together, but we're not. And it's crazy because what we've used to separate ourselves is the Bible. And that's where I was going. So I oh god, I don't want to get myself in trouble. I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to get myself in trouble. I don't want nobody being upset with me. But we've we've used the word of God, and we've used it to the point where we've created certain doctrines with the Bible itself. Some we have taken specific scriptures, specific chapters, specific books, specific terms, and we have created doctrine on it without utilizing the full picture that the Bible paints for us. That's why you got some people who can baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Because you have not fully understood the scripture. Bro, there's a whole church that has been created on that. Matthew 28, 19. No shade, no hate. I'm just saying. There's no reason I think this just got downloaded to me from the spirit. There's no reason Jesus has been clear about who he's talking to, who he is, where he comes from. And Jesus is gonna be unsure about the name, the name that he's telling us to baptize in. Oh God. Listen, uh, listen, man. This is not about that. Somebody tell your neighbor this ain't that, right? This ain't that. This ain't that. This is not what we're trying to do, this is not what we're here for today, okay? I'm just saying, we who are spiritual, we who are supposed to be together, we have even separated ourselves. You've got the perishing, the foolish, and the wise, those who are saved and are on their way to Canaan land, right? But even among us, there are contentions. Among us there is division. And it's because we have utilized and taken the word of God out of context. We have cut it, we have stretched it, we have ripped out certain parts, we have literally avoided certain portions of it and completely denied certain parts of scripture and based our church, based our denomination, the whole SDA faith, bro. I I wonder if I got a lot of friends who are Seventh-day Adventists, and like all love to y'all. But I wonder if all of you know how the Seventh-day Adventist Church actually started. The Seventh-day Adventist movement. I wonder how I wonder if you guys know how it actually started. I wonder if they teach you that in um in Pathfinders and stuff. I tell you what, Seventh-day Adventist folks, they do some of the best missionary work I've ever seen, though. They got some of the best preaching and teaching I've ever heard, some of the best music. But I wonder if you know how the faith actually started and what it and the ideals that it's built on. And I mean, and I'm just saying that to say we swear everybody else is wrong. Each denomination, we swear everybody this one is wrong, that one is wrong. I'm SDA and I'm right, and all of y'all are wrong. I'm Baptist and I'm right, and all of y'all are wrong. I'm Jehovah's Witness and I'm right, and all of y'all are wrong. Jehovah's Witness have they created their own Bible. Come on, bro. Uh all right. And the truth is, Jehovah's Witness is not even in the same Lord. Forgive me. Forgive me, guys. Forgive me. I'm ranting now. Listen, at this point, this is what we're here for. All right, this is what you come here for. This is this is your fault. You came back, right? But we're supposed to be unified and we've separated ourselves. We separated ourselves, and we're cutting scripture up, using portions of it, denying other parts of it. I mean, it says it. The same Bible you're reading that you've taken this particular portion of scripture from and built your doctrine on, that same Bible says something else in a different place that really gives credence and makes what you've what you've built your doctrine on make more sense, and you deny that. I just want to say that's foolishness also. The preaching of the cross is full of grace and truth. The preaching of the cross is total, the preaching of the cross is finite, it's final. The preaching of the cross, there is no confusion in the cross. The word of God is the word of God in its totality. I don't know who needs to hear that. The word of God is the word of God in its totality, in its fullness. The Bible says the fullness of the Godhead in him, Jesus, dwells the fullness of the Godhead. And that Godhead is full of grace and full of truth. And the truth is in the Word of God. It is the Word of God. And it's not a portion of it. It's not the Old Testament. Sorry, sorry to my Jewish friends. It's not the first five books. That's not the fullness of the word. It's not just the New Testament. Because you got some people who have based their doctrine on just the New Testament, where that's all that matters, and the Old Testament doesn't matter anymore. Jesus says, I have come not to abolish it, but I've come to fulfill it. The Old Testament. I come, I've come to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. I've come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it. That's why it's in him that the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Yo, um, the preaching of these things in its fullness and in its totality, it is foolishness to those of us who are perishing. It is unimportant to those of us who are perishing. All of these things that I have mentioned, who Jesus is, God in the flesh, who is no longer flesh but spirit, and will and is on the throne. Yo, read the book of Revelation, please. Please. Oh God, I tell you. I don't want to go too far, too far. I don't want to make this a Pandora's box. Right. But the fullness of who Jesus is and the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of love and unity is what I told my team yesterday. It is foolishness to people who are perishing, but to those of us who are the called according to his purpose, to those of us who are saved by grace and who have a hope. It is the very power of God. The power of God is not, it doesn't lie in a portion of scripture. I don't know how anybody can read the book of John, chapter one and verse one, and tell me anything other than what it says. How can you read John chapter one? Verse one through five and verse ten and verse fourteen. How can you read it and tell me anything other than what it says? But the preaching of John chapter one and verse one. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was God in the beginning. He was God when he was on earth. And he's still God today. The preaching is foolishness to those that perish. But to you and I, my brothers, who I am encouraging, my brothers and sisters, I'm encouraging you today that we have the very power of God in us because we have the word in us. The very power of God lies within us because we know who Jesus is. We know the cross. We know there's power in the blood. And that message is the very power of God if you own it for yourself. I love you guys. Thanks for joining me. This has been another chronicle. Not totally where I planned to go. Not even when I clicked, when I turned the microphone on, this wasn't even where I was going. But the Lord had other plans. But I love you. I appreciate you guys. Until next time, this is the Moral Compass Chronicles.