Paul now begins to address problems related to the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the church, foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. What was their purpose? Where did they come from? Paul then paints a beautiful picture of Christian unity: a vibrant, functioning body composed of members with diverse roles and gifts. This […]
Gifts of the Spirit and Unity (1 Corinthians 12:1-26) View Lesson
We begin this series by considering the background of the church in Corinth and why Paul wrote this letter. The more we understand the culture of ancient Corinth, the better we can appreciate how counter-cultural Paul's admonitions were! In this message we also tackle the first problem Paul addresses: disunity in the church. Although Jesus […]
Introduction and Disunity in the Church (1 Corinthians 1:1-13) View Lesson
In our 2019 summer retreat in Pennsylvania, we laid a foundation of what the Scriptures teach about the Holy Spirit. In this follow-up lesson and in light of those foundational teachings, we review much of Paul's letter to the Ephesians and, perhaps, see this letter in a new light. We discover Paul has much to say […]
In this third of three foundational lessons on the Holy Spirit, we build upon Old Testament stories (introduced in the previous lesson) to explore what it means to live a life that is led by the Spirit today. We review the Spirit’s role in leading the apostles to “all truth” and inspiring the Scriptures; and […]
The Holy Spirit (Pt. 3 of 3): Walking in the Spirit View Lesson
In John 17, Jesus prays that His followers may be one as He and the Father are one. The goal of this unity was so that the world might know that God sent Jesus and loved the world as God loved His Son. Sadly, not only does this unity not exist today, but most Christians […]
Why is Biblical unity so difficult? Why do so many churches end up splitting apart, even churches comprised of Christians serious about following Jesus' teachings? This sad pattern is in stark contrast to early Christianity, where the church remained one for the first 200 years. Drawing on Scripture, examples from the early church, and his […]
In Genesis 17, God gives Abraham and God's people the "everlasting covenant" of circumcision. What is this covenant? Does circumcision have anything to do with Christians today? Why should we care? This lesson is packed with the heart of God, foreshadowing of Christ, and an explanation of the circumcision made available to us under the […]
The lesson starts with a discussion of the value of reading and understanding the early Christians. What purpose does this serve and what weight should be given to their writings? We then pick up in Genesis 10 and look at the story of the Tower of Babel, which supplies wisdom and warning to Christians today in […]
Babel through the Introduction to Abraham (Genesis 10-11) View Lesson
This lesson tackles a foundational and often misunderstood teaching of the Kingdom of God revealed in many of Jesus' parables, including the parable of the wheat and the tares (weeds). God will ultimately separate the good and the evil at the last day. This lesson addresses our responsibility as individual Christians to strive to be […]
Through the first eleven chapters of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses significant challenges and problems in the church. In 1 Corinthians 12 he turns to spiritual gifts, their importance in building up the Church, and how essential the Corinthians are to one another. Now, in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul turns to "a more […]