RSI
Raising The Standard International Ministry
  • Home
  • RSI MINISTRY
    • RSI Leadership
    • RSI Doctrines & Values
    • RSI Mentoring Process
  • RSI SOM
  • RSI BLOG
  • RSI RESOURCES
    • RSI BOOKS >
      • Author Charles Morris >
        • 15 Ways to Hear the Voice of God
        • Born Again
        • Chart Your Path
        • Experiencing the Beauty of Brokenness
        • Faithful
        • How Do I Write a Book?
        • My Topical Journal
        • Places Where God and Man Meet
        • Preparing Ourselves to Hear God's Voice
        • The 10 Characteristics of a Spirit-Filled Church
        • The Beauty of Brokenness
        • The Covenant of Salt
        • The Five Witnesses of Salvation
        • The Four Positions of the Holy Spirit
        • Your Dash
      • Other Authors
    • RSI PUBLISHING LLC
    • RSI VIDEOS
  • Contact Us

WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE DON'T KNOW:

4/4/2019

0 Comments

 
The Apostle Paul stated that he did not want the believers in Corinth to be ignorant.

1 Corinthians 12:1 KJV  Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

Ignorant: An interesting word since it has carried such negative connotations as someone being stupid or foolish.

The Greek word for ignorant is agnoeō, (ag-no-eh'-o) and means "not knowing due to lack of information or intelligence. To not know, not understand, or be unknown.

The ESV Translation gives a better view of this Scripture in light of the definition of ignorance.

1 Corinthians 12:1 ESV  Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

I was raised in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia in a small town of 250 and did not see indoor plumbing until I was 13 years old. We don't know what we don't know. I was aware of and use to a pump outside that always needed priming and an outhouse on the far end of the property. 

We heated the house with a wood stove in the living room and cooked on a wood stove in the kitchen. I was going to the mountains with my dad and grandfather every Saturday to cut firewood. We don't know what we don't know. I didn't know anything about other ways people used to heat or cool their homes. 

I was not aware of central air and heat. I was unaware of oil furnaces. I bathed in a small foot tub after the water was heated on the wood stove and poured into the tub. We don't know what we don't know. I wasn't aware of bathtubs or showers.


I was 18 years old before I ordered and ate in a restaurant. We don't know what we don't know. I was not aware of how to go into a restaurant and place a order.

Why do I share this? I was unaware and unknowing of indoor plumbing, toilets, bathtubs, showers, central heat and air conditioning. It's not that these things did not exist, they just did not exist in my thinking. All the people around me in our little town of 250 all had the same thing. Having central air and heat and indoor plumbing did not exist in my mind because I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

At age 13 my family moved to a larger town of 2,000 people, and we had indoor plumbing and central heating. I remember standing in the bathroom with the rest of my family flushing the toilet and running the water in the tub totally fascinated. I wondered, “Where did the water come from and where did it go?”

I didn't understand everything about these new luxuries, but I adapted to them quickly. I enjoyed my Saturdays being free because I no longer needed to work in the mountain cutting fire wood.

These new things were only new to me and my siblings. We just didn't know that we didn't know that there were things out there that makes daily life easier. 


So it is with the things of God. If we lock ourselves within the walls of what we only currently know, we might miss the things of God that others have known about all along and are enjoying in the fullness.

1 Corinthians 14:38 KJV  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

Paul is saying that if any man professes himself to be a prophet, or a spiritual man, and does not know the teachings of Paul to be the commandments of Christ, he is a very ignorant prophet or ignorant spiritual man.

If a man wants to remain (ignorant), unlearned, uninformed, then Paul says to let him be ignorant: or let him be treated and despised as an ignorant man, and let his ignorance not be a hinderance to anyone else who desires to receive the commandments of Christ.

One of my statements I have used over the last 44 years of ministry is this. If you are not going with me in the Word of God, don't dare stand in my path. 

Now, after living in three different Countries and nine different States I have seen things and eaten things that I didn't even know existed when I was 18 years old. However, at age 65 I still don't know what I don't know...therefore I need to always be teachable...God has more for us.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Charles Morris. Founder and Senior Pastor of RSI Ministry, RSI School of Ministry, and RSI Publishing L.L.C..
    Author of 16 books including "The Four Positions Of The Holy Spirit".

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    April 2018
    March 2018
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    1 JOHN
    4 POSITIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
    ABIDING IN CHRIST
    ABRAHAM
    ABUNDANT LIVING
    ACCOUNTABILITY
    ACCUSATIONS
    ADAM & EVE
    ADVERSITY
    AFFLICTIONS
    AGREEMENT
    ALTAR
    AMBASSADORS
    AMERICA
    ANGER
    ANOINTING
    ANXIOUS
    APOSTASY
    ATONEMENT
    AUTHORITY
    BAPTISM IN WATER
    BE FILLED
    BE HOLY
    BELIEF
    BIBLE
    BIBLE STUDY NOTES
    BIN GROUPS
    BODY
    BOLDNESS
    BORN AGAIN
    BREAKING CURSES
    BROKENNESS
    CHANGE
    CHAOS
    CHARACTER OF GOD
    CHOICES
    CHRISTMAS INFO
    CHURCH
    CITIZENSHIP
    COME OUT FROM
    COMPASS
    COMPROMISE
    CONFESSION
    CONSCIENCE
    CONTENTMENT
    CONVICTIONS
    COUNTERFEIT
    COVENANT
    COVENANT OF SALT
    CROSS
    CULTS
    CUT OFF
    DEATH
    DECEPTION
    DEFECTING
    DEITY OF CHRIST
    DELIVERANCE
    DELIVERED
    DEPARTING
    DESTINY
    DIE TO SELF
    DISCIPLESHIP
    DISCIPLINE
    DISEASES
    DOCTRINE
    DOUBLE MINDED
    DREAMS
    DRY WELL
    EASTER
    EDIFICATION
    ELIEZER
    EMOTIONS
    ENCOURAGEMENT
    END TIMES
    ENEMY
    ETERNAL SECURITY
    ETERNITY
    EVALUATION
    EVIL HEART
    EXAMINING SELF
    EXCELLENCE
    FAITH
    FAITHFUL
    FAITH IN VAIN
    FAITHLESS
    FAITHLESSNESS
    FALLING AWAY
    FALSE BELIEVERS
    FALSE CONFESSION
    FALSE DOCTRINES
    FAMILY
    FATHER
    FEAR
    FEAR OF GOD
    FEAST OF PASSOVER
    FELLOWSHIP
    FIRE
    FIVE WITNESSES
    FOLLOWERS
    FORGIVENESS
    FORSAKING ALL
    FRAGRANCE
    FREEDOM
    FRUIT
    FRUITFUL
    FRUIT OF H.S.
    FUTURE
    GENESIS
    GIFT
    GIFTS
    GIVER
    GIVE THANKS
    GIVING THANKS
    GLORIFICATION
    GLORY
    GOD AND MAN MEET
    GODLINESS
    GODS CALLING
    GOD'S CHARACTER
    GOD'S COMMANDS
    GOD'S FULLNESS
    GOD'S GLORY
    GODS GLORY
    GOD'S LIFE
    GOD'S LOVE
    GOD'S POSSESSION
    GOD'S PURPOSE
    GOD'S REST
    GOD'S VOICE
    GODS WILL
    GOD'S WORD
    GOSPEL
    GRACE
    GRAFTED IN
    GRATEFUL
    GREAT INVITATION
    HARD TIMES
    HEALING
    HEALTH
    HEARING GOD
    HIS NAME
    HOLINESS
    HOLY SPIRIT
    HONOR
    HOPE
    HOSEA
    HUMAN TRAFFICKING
    HURT
    IDOLATRY
    "IF WE" STATEMENTS
    IMITATORS
    IMMORAL
    IMPLIED TRUTH
    INTERCESSION
    IN THE SPIRIT
    ISAAC
    ISHMAEL
    ISLAM
    ISRAEL
    ITCHING EARS
    JESUS CHRIST
    JOHN 14:6
    JOHN THE BAPTIST
    JOURNALING
    JOY
    JUDGING
    JUDGING OURSELVES
    JUDGMENT
    JUSTICE
    JUSTIFICATION
    KEEPER
    KING
    KINGDOM OF GOD
    KNEELING
    KNOWLEDGE
    LAODICEAN
    LATENESS
    LAW
    LAWLESSNESS
    LAW OF SIN
    LAW OF THE SPIRIT
    LEADERSHIP
    LIFE
    LIFE MESSAGES
    LORDSHIP
    LOT
    LOVING GOD
    LUKEWARM
    LUST OF THE HEART
    MAJESTY
    MAN'S PURPOSE
    MARTYR
    MATURITY
    MGT
    MIMICKING
    MIND
    MINISTRY QUOTES
    MODELING
    MORAL
    MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY
    MORALITY
    MOTHERS
    MOURN
    MOURNING
    MUCH MORE
    MUSIC
    My Book
    MY BOOKS
    NATIONAL SIN
    NEW COVENANT
    NOAH
    NOAH WEBSTER
    NOT FOR SALE
    NUM.23:19-20
    OBEDIENCE
    ORGANIZATION
    O.T. GOSPEL
    OUTPOURING
    OVERCOMER
    OVERCOMING
    PAST
    PEACE
    PEA PATCH
    PERSECUTION
    PERSEVERANCE
    PERSUADE
    PERSUADED
    PESTILENCES
    PETER
    PHILIPPIANS
    PLACE
    POWER
    PRAISE
    PRAY
    PRAYER
    PRAYER OF FAITH
    PRAY FOR THE NATION
    PREACHING
    PRESENCE
    PRIEST
    PRIESTHOOD
    PROMISE
    PROMISES
    PROPAGANDA
    PROPHET
    PROPHETIC
    PROVISION
    QUENCHING THE SPIRIT
    QUIET PLACE
    REBELLION
    RECONCILIATION
    REDEFINING
    REFUGE
    REGRETS
    REIGNING
    REJOICE
    REPENTANCE
    RESPONSIBILITY
    REVELATION
    REVOLTING
    REVOLUTION
    REWARD
    RICHES
    RIGHTEOUSNESS
    RIOTING
    RSIM
    RULING
    SABBATH
    SACRIFICE
    SALVATION
    SANCTIFICATION
    SELAH
    SELFISHNESS
    SENIORS
    SEPARATED LIFE
    SERVANT
    SET APART
    SICKNESS
    SIGNS
    SIN
    SING
    SIN NATURE
    SINNER
    SINS OF THE PRIESTS
    SMELL
    SORROW
    SOUL
    SPIRIT FILLED
    SPIRIT OF MAN
    SPIRITUAL LEADERS
    SPIRITUAL WARFARE
    STANDARD
    STEADFAST
    STRENGTH
    STRONGHOLDS
    SUBMISSION
    SUCCESSFUL
    SUPERNATURAL
    TABLE OF JESUS
    TEACHABLE
    TEMPTATIONS
    TESTIMONY
    TESTING OF FAITH
    THANKFUL
    THE 5 WITNESSES
    THE BIBLE
    THE BLOOD
    THE CROSS
    THE FOUR POSITIONS
    THE RACE
    THE WICKED SAY
    THIRST
    THOUGHTS
    THRONE
    TIME
    TODAY
    TONGUE
    TRADITIONS
    TRAITS
    TRANSGRESSION
    TRIALS
    TRIBULATION
    TRUTH
    UNBELIEF
    UNCLUTTER
    UNDERSTANDING
    UNFORGIVENESS
    UNITY IN FAITH
    UNITY IN SPIRIT
    UNSTABLE
    VALUE
    VEIL
    VENGEANCE
    VETERANS
    VICTIM
    VICTORY
    VIOLENCE
    VOICE FOR GOD
    VOICE OF GOD
    WALK IN SPIRIT
    WARRIOR
    WASHED
    WEAKNESS
    Whats In A Name?
    WHO AM I
    WILDERNESS
    WISDOM
    WITNESSING
    WORD AND DEED
    WORD OF GOD
    WORDS
    WORDS FROM GOD
    WORLDINESS
    WORLDLINESS
    WORLD ORDER
    WORRY
    WORSHIP
    YOGA

Raising the Standard International Ministry.   1912 Sundown Drive, Navarre, Florida  32566