Sunday, October 14th, 2018
1 Corinthians Series
The early church, much like today, wrestled with issues of how to love and treat one another as followers of Christ. Paul writes to instruct the church in Corinth on their calling as a distinct people living in contested space. They were a people who were not Jewish living in a very Roman city situated in Greece. This letter is packed full of instructions from a church planter to a group of people he loved dearly. Paul wanted them, as well as us today, to see that we are caught up into a great movement of God whose work in the world has been unveiled through the events concerning his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the center of the movement.
Best Practices for Missional Community Bible Study Facilitation
- As you begin each study, pray that God will speak to you through his Word.
- Listen attentively to other members. Encourage only Bible reading from phones during the study.
- Work to include everyone’s voice by asking follow-up questions, restating what you heard someone say, and asking for more details to thoughts given by group members.
- It is often helpful for someone to take notes of the discussion and send them out afterwards to reinforce key learnings from the study.
- Pray for one another and be accountable to applying the word of God to your lives.
General Questions:
- What does this scripture communicate about the heart of God?
- What does it teach us about ourselves?
- Does it challenge our thinking/beliefs in a new way?
Sermon Specific Question:
- God has unveiled his genuine model for humanity in Jesus the Messiah, and there are certain ways of behaving that do not fit in this model. What changes of behavior has God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, called you to initiate as a result of belonging to Christ?
- Read 1 Corinthians 5. Paul is very stern with the church in their responses to Christians living in ways that don’t reflect Christ. Why do you think he responded this way?
- How does this apply inside and outside the church? Are we to take discipline-type actions towards those who don’t follow Christ?