In our message, BALANCED FREEDOM MOTIVATED BY LOVE (1 Cor. 9:1-19), Paul continued responding to the Corinthian church’s question on Christian freedom with respect to foods in the marketplace of their day (1 Cor. 8:1, 4). Paul now holds himself up as an example of a person who possesses certain rights but willingly set some of them aside in Corinth to have a more effective gospel witness (1 Cor.… Continue reading
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:18-20
Congratulations to those who were baptized Sunday!… Continue reading
In our message, LOOKING TO BUILD OTHERS UP (1 Cor. 8:1-13), we left the subject of marriage and continued to look at a new question asked of the Apostle Paul by the local church in Corinth: “Now concerning…” (1 Cor. 8:1; see also 1 Cor. 7:1, 25, etc.) “things offered to idols” (1 Cor. 8:1a).
Specifically, believers were asking, “Can Christians eat meats that may have been offered to idols sold in the agora/marketplace of that day?”… Continue reading
In our message, LIVE AS YOU ARE CALLED (1 Cor. 7:17-40), Paul continued to respond to specific questions asked of him now by the church at Corinth. The first series of questions given to the apostle was on the delicate subject of marriage in an immoral culture (1 Cor. 7:1, 25; 2 Tim. 3:16-17, etc.). Last week the Holy Spirit went back to the creation account, as did Jesus, citing the design and sanctity of marriage (1 Cor.… Continue reading
In our message, FAITHFUL WHERE YOU ARE AT (1 Cor. 7:1-16), after dealing with issues made known to him by Chloe’s household (1 Cor. 1:11f), Paul now begins to answer questions sent to him from the church in Corinth. The Greek phrase ‘peri de’ translated “Now concerning” in the NKJV is used throughout the rest of the book of 1 Corinthians as the Holy Spirit addresses specific challenges facing the local church in Corinth, and also churches in our day (1 Cor.… Continue reading
In our message, HELPFUL THINGS (1 Cor. 6:12-20), after addressing dealing with an immoral brother in their midst and handling disputes in a godly manner, the Lord then spoke to the issue of sexual purity for the church as a whole.
“All things are lawful for me” was a popular phrase in Corinth which some in the church were using to justify a false view of Christian liberty (1 Cor.… Continue reading
In our message, LIVING LIKE HIS CITIZENS NOW (1 Cor. 6:1-11) after a discussion on the need for church discipline of brothers within the fellowship who are living immorally, the Lord turns to resolving conflicts over resources in a godly manner. Just like it is the church’s job to “judge those who are inside” its fellowship when they walk contrary to clear teaching of the Bible, it is also the church’s job to help resolve personal disputes among the brethren (1 Cor.… Continue reading
In our message, ANYONE NAMED A BROTHER (1 Cor. 5:9-13) we finished God’s directions to Christians to exercise church discipline when dealing with persistent, unconfessed immorality within their fellowship (1 Cor. 5:1, 2, 5, 7, etc.). At this point, Paul references a letter he wrote to them before the book of 1 Corinthians was penned, in which he also addressed this problem telling them “not to keep company with sexually immoral people” (1 Cor.… Continue reading
In last Sunday’s message, TOUGH LOVE TO HEAL GOD’S CHURCH (1 Cor. 5:1-8) the Holy Spirit left the problem of party factions to deal with a second serious issue in the local church. There was ongoing “sexual immorality among” them that everyone knew about (1 Cor. 5:1). This compromised the church’s ability to witness powerfully in the culture they were in and even threatened to ruin the church itself (1 Cor.… Continue reading
In last Sunday’s message, GOD’S KINGDOM IS IN POWER (1 Cor. 4:6-21) we looked at Paul’s conclusion to the first major problem addressed in the Corinthian church- namely party factions and divisions which had their source in pride. When a church acts like the culture it is in, our ability as Christians is hindered to effectively share the gospel, and, if uncorrected, it can even threaten the very existence of a local church itself (1 Cor.… Continue reading
