Thursday, November 13, 2008

1 Corinthians 2 - 5

Here's a quick bullet list of what we've covered lately.

So we continue on our journey to studying 1 Corinthians. Paul continues to talk about division in the church. In verse 2:6 Paul starts to discuss the Spirit's ministry of revealing God's wisdom. Next is discussion about the immature and carnal conditions of the church. In chapter 3 he starts to discuss the role of his servants, human wisdom and limited blessing. Chapter 4 he discusses the relationship between himself and the church.

With the start of Chapter 5 we move from division in the church to the lack of discipline in the church. There looks to be 3 problems (to cover through chapter 6): incest in the church, litigation in the church, and prostitution in the church. A lot is happening and Paul is trying to teach the church what it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Friday, October 17, 2008

announcements 10-16

Groupies,

We had a lot of announcements last night so I wanted to hash them out.

1. Thursday, Oct. 30 is a social/fall festival/fellowship night with the other young married small group. We'll meet at the usual place and time. We'll have pizza and soda ($10 per couple) so let us know if you plan on coming and pizza/soda preference. We also have an array of games to choose from - so come prepared to partay!

2. We are looking for a fall/winter service project. If anyone has any ideas, please share. In the meanwhile, I've contacted several organizations to see if they need volunteers and will keep everyone posted. And, Sam is looking into a canned food drive through an elementary school.

3. Our Christmas party will be on Saturday, Dec. 13 at said place. We will have more to come as it gets closer. But, mark your calendars. It will probably start around 4 or 5 with Hors d'Oeuvres and white elephant to start at 6pm.

4. Starting in the new year we will start incorporating regular service projects. We'll pick a week once a month to serve in some manner. It can be with a group, your spouse or by yourself. Some ideas are to serve through your community, church ministries, habitat for humanity, hospitals, schools, etc. Start thinking of ideas so we can put together a list for everyone. And try to come up with other ideas for "serving."

5. This is our blog. It's up to the group to keep it running. So once a week, or when we meet, a member of the group will update the blog.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Chapter 1 and part of 2

Paul states the problem is division in the church and reasons for it. Paul reiterates the wisdom and power of God in 1:27-29 "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him." It appears that pride is also an issue in the church.

Chapter 2 is very interesting because Paul admits that he was in weakness, fear and with much trembling when he came to speak to them. Apparently, the church rested on man's wisdom and not God's (using persuasive words).

New Study - 1 Corinthians

We have started a new study - the book of 1 Corinthians. We've now gone through the introduction, purpose, chapter 1 and part of chapter 2. I found an introduction and purpose on bible.org so I wanted to share it with you.

Introduction

Corinth was a strategically located Roman city on the main land route between East and West and was the crossroads for several sea routes. Corinth was famous for its intellectual and material prosperity and was honored with being the capitol of Achaia. It also became famous for its corruption. As Guthrie says, “Its name became a byword for profligacy.”1

Paul began his ministry in Corinth on his second missionary journey under much opposition (Acts 18:6-17), but he was able to convert several influential people and consequently remained for about one and a half years in Corinth.2

He left Corinth and traveled to Ephesus. The city’s corruption had its influence on the church and Paul heard of the problems and divisions in the church. It is from Ephesus that he wrote and sent this letter to Corinth in about 53 A.D.

Purpose

Paul’s purposes for writing the Corinthians were several. His first purpose was to deal with several moral problems and the divisions that had formed as people had divided into fan-clubs and were proclaiming themselves followers of Paul, Apollos, Peter or Christ (1:10). His second reason was to deal with several questions that had been asked in a letter the Corinthians had sent to him (7:1). A third purpose that appears throughout the book is Paul’s defense of his apostolic authority.3

All of these issues can be related to a problem with pride, and thus in 1:27-29 we have what may be the thesis statement of the book:

. . . but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God (1 Cor. 1:27-29).

Paul will develop this idea in several different ways to deal with their root problem of pride. They had their eyes on external things like eloquence, social status, ascetic practices, etc. and Paul explains that those things mean nothing in God’s kingdom.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Young Marrieds Ministry

BACC needs a young marrieds ministry. Maybe we could be the start of one with a mission to develop Godly young marriages that impact our community and the world of Jesus Christ. What do you say?