August 19, 2021
IS EVERY SPIRITUAL GIFT PRESENT IN THE LOCAL CHURCH? It is the Lord that gives out spiritual gifts to those who have believed and received Jesus. He gives them to each according to His will, so that the local church has every spiritual gift it needs to function and fulfill His commission. Yet, many churches
August 18, 2021
PASSING ON THE BATON OF FAITH The apostle Paul’s teaching concerning the Lord’s Supper was faithfully passed on from the Lord to the church at Corinth. Paul reminded them that his authority as an apostle came from the Lord, as did his message. Having established his credibility, he corrected the unworthy practices of the Corinthians
August 16, 2021
ONE BREAD, ONE BODY The apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians concerning the significance of sharing the Lord’s Supper together. He told them that those who remember the sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper are also giving recognition to their oneness as members of Christ’s body. Just as we eat from one
August 15, 2021
SERVANT EVANGELISM The apostle Paul described his approach to sharing the gospel as becoming “a slave to everyone, in order to win more people” (1 Cor. 9:19). In other words, he sought to find common ground with his hearers when sharing the good news. When Paul was in Athens, he used their monument to
August 13, 2021
YOUR RIGHTS ARE LIMITED BY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LOVE OTHERS Our freedom in Christ does not relieve us of our responsibility to consider others, especially new believers. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he was concerned about those who felt free to eat meat offered to idols without consideration of those who would be tempted
August 10, 2021
LIVING OUT YOUR NEW IDENTITY IN CHRIST After admonishing believers in Corinth for suing other brothers in court, rather than handling things within the Church, Paul reminded them that they had a new identity in Christ. He listed some of their former identities, which were really marked by their favorite sins. Identities like: “Fornicators, idolaters,
August 8, 2021
FAITHFULNESS IS SUCCESS Paul called himself a “steward of God’s mysteries” (1 Cor. 4:1). A steward is a manager who serves on behalf of the owner. Managers in business are judged by their success. But Paul said that stewards of God are judged by their faithfulness. In God’s Kingdom, faithfulness is success. It’s not
August 7, 2021
UNDERSTANDING OUR PLACE IN WITNESSING Paul wrote to correct the Corinthian church for its disunity and favoritism. For some were claiming to be followers of Paul and others followers of a preacher named Apollos. Paul told them that “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives
August 6, 2021
THE SPIRIT OF UNDERSTANDING Have you ever been asked how you can know that God has saved you? The question may come from someone who lacks assurance of salvation themselves, so they want to understand from where you get your confidence. Or the question may come from an agnostic who wishes to challenge the basis
August 5, 2021
TALKING ABOUT JESUS Why is it easier to invite someone to church than it is to invite them to follow Jesus? Talking about church is not the most comfortable thing in our modern culture. It signals a shift in our everyday generic conversation with neighbors and coworkers, for it moves from that which we have