If you do not currently have a Bible reading plan, we invite you use our reading plan as we progress through our current sermon series.
Join us this fall as we explore Paul’s amazing and ancient letter to the church in Corinth, located in southern Greece. This letter preserves some of the most famous passages in the Bible. In chapter 3, we have imagery of God’s fire working to purify and reveal the quality of our work. This image partly serves as inspiration for our sermon series title. In chapter 11, we have Paul’s account of the Lord’s Supper. For the last two thousand years, these words have been read weekly in preparation for communion. In chapter 13, we find Paul’s beautiful and poetic explanation of what genuine love looks like. This passage is read often at weddings but was written to show what love looks like in the local church. In Chapter 15, some of the oldest words in the New Testament have been kept for us a witness to Jesus’s resurrection. These are matters of “first importance,” which are the bedrock of our faith.
At first glance, it is easy to think that the church in Corinth had it all together. They were located in a very successful and affluent community in the ancient world. They knew the truth of Jesus, and they were experiencing God’s gifts each week. This church was truly “on fire” for God. However, carefully reading Paul’s letter reveals layers of external and internal stress. They faced famine, evil belief systems, class struggles, and disunity. This included infighting, division, and power struggles. This church was “on fire” for God and, at the same time, “on fire” due to conflict and incorrect beliefs. They were at risk of burning down to the ground like an actual building on fire. Nevertheless, Jesus was still at work in their minds and hearts. God used a messy situation to spread the Good News about Jesus.
God can use the reading of his word to work in our hearts and minds just as he did two thousand years ago in ancient Greece. Please join us every Sunday and during the week as we read through all of 1 Corinthians and other sections of scripture. On Mondays, we will read a Psalm related to the upcoming sermon. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will read a large section of 1 Corinthians. On Thursday, we will read an Old Testament passage. Lastly, on Friday, we will read a passage from the Gospels. We encourage you to find the underlying themes of each passage and listen to what God is speaking to your heart and mind. When we truly listen to God, we are changed from the inside out, creating in us a new life and giving us purpose each day.
“...you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:7-9