1 Corinthians 16 [Daily Bible Study]

[Music] as it is written in Isaiah the throne [Music] welcome to branch together today we are finishing the letter of first Corinthians we'll be in first corinthians chapter 16 before we dive in we'll take a moment and pray father we thank you for this day and we thank you for this letter we thank you for the time that we've spent together studying it hearing it listening to it either for the first time or again for the first time in a long time perhaps Lord we have a difficult time learning sometimes there's so much information that comes in and out of our heads I pray that you would help us grab hold of good things in this world grab hold of true things grab hold of what is love what is meaningful what is purposeful what is important help our mind let go of things that aren't important and cling to what is important we believe that this letter is important that this letter is your word you're inspired word speaking in some real and tangible and powerful way first to the the church that it was written for but then for every church since then in our church and the your body of people following you today so we ask that you would speak fresh words into our life that this word today would still go forth and bear fruit and be at work in our hearts and minds prayer that were all open to receiving this book that we've looked at for three weeks now and that today might be a step forward a step towards knowing you better a step towards loving you more a step towards loving our neighbor more and a step towards sharing your Grace and love with this world it's in your name we pray amen first Corinthians chapter 16 now about the collection for the Saints do the same as I instructed the Galatian churches on the first day of the week week each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering so that no collections will need to be made when I come when I arrive I will send with letters those who you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem if it is suitable for me to go as well I will travel with them I will come to you after I pass through Macedonia before I will be traveling through Macedonia and perhaps I'll remain with you or even spend the winter so that you may send me on my way wherever I go I don't want to see you now just in passing since I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord allows but I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost because a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me yet many oppose me if Timothy comes see that he has nothing to fear what with you because he is doing the Lord's work just as I am so let no one look down on you send him on his way in peace so that he can come to me because I am expecting him with the brothers now about our brother Apollo's I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers but he was not at all willing to come now however he will come when he has an opportunity the alert stand firm in the faith be courageous be strong do everything in love brothers and sisters you know the household of Stephanus they are the firstfruits of achaia and have devoted themselves to serving the Saints I urge you also to submit to such people and to everyone who works in Labour's with them I am delighted to have Stephan s fortunatus and Akai 'kiss present because these men have made up for your absence for they have refreshed my spirit and yours therefore recognize such people the churches of Asia send you greetings Aquila and Priscilla send you greetings warmly in the Lord along with the church that meets in their home all the brothers and sisters send you greetings greet one another with a holy kiss this greeting is in my own hand Paul if anyone does not love the Lord a curse be on him our Lord come the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you my love be with all of you in Christ Jesus so this is the last chapter Paul is finishing his letter he gives the church at Corinth an update on his travel plans he also instructs them on giving of their money now we might miss this and skip it but the church in Jerusalem was hurting and part of Paul's journey and his journeys included collecting money to take back with him to care for and or this struggling church this was a much more difficult endeavor back then you couldn't mail a check or swipe a credit card or anything like that the churches were all part of the same family and they took care of each other this was especially powerful as the Jerusalem church was most likely predominantly Jewish at that time while the Corinthian church and most of the other churches were probably mostly Gentile this was proof that the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile which was huge in that society was torn down in Christ so there's some powerful stuff here when we hear that Paul's taking some money from these Gentile churches and delivering them to help out this Jewish Church that's struggling I read this and I'm just a little sad and I know it's 2,000 years later and the early churches weren't perfect and sometimes we think oh we just got to get back and be like the original Church and we'll look at Corinthians as we've been reading for three weeks this church wasn't the perfect ideal Church so I'm not sure we're supposed to be just like them but in this small network of communities they were helping and looking out for each other across the Mediterranean that's awesome that's really awesome and powerful these were small pockets of people throughout a vast area and these these cities and and sub and you know rural places and the gospel and these churches were being started all over the place and they were hearing what was going on and they were helping each other they were serving each other across racial boundaries and across geographical boundaries and that is awesome and I said I'm a little sad when I read it because today with so many different denominations and different groups and splinter groups and divisions in this church that is supposed to all be one body of Christ we have lost something good and I'm not entirely sure of the way forward or how to fix that I'm just sad when I see this and see how well they or how hard they fought to probably work together keep that unity and how little of that we have in the larger church today I think one simple way forward is as much as it depends on you and your church community to seek out ways to make sure that you are supporting some other churches about wherever and whenever you can okay amidst these travel plans there's this final greeting and explanation of the collection there's also a final exhortation and it's worth repeating because it's the last few things that Paul wants to make sure this church years and this is the end of the letter and who knows if he's ever actually going to talk with these people ever again he plans on it but you know life is things happen in life so because he's finishing this letter and because we're finishing it too and who knows when we'll come back to this letter I want us to hear these words again because these are kind of the last big exhortation she leaves them he says be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men be strong and let all that you do be done in love good challenging last words for us to hear at the end of this book okay that is first Corinthians I invite you to take a few moments today scroll through the letter again what impacted you the most do you have a favorite verse or section find a moment to reread it and to remember it share with us some of your favorite verses in the comments section share with us your favorite section share with us what questions you have still whatever's on your heart but try to try to take another 10 15 minutes before we move on to the next book to look through 1st Corinthians again and remember go back over give yourself a chance of remembering something good that you got from this chapter thanks as always if you've been missing a bit and hopf decking today or hopping back in we're in September now hopefully you can get into a fall rhythm as summer passes away but if you and missed half of these don't worry about it tomorrow we start a new book so dive right in and join us as we read second Corinthians alright now as always we're praying for you guys we love you guys always send us your thoughts and your comments take care and we will see you next time on branch together [Music]

Channel: Branch Together

Views: 5,920

Keywords: daily devotions, inductive bible study, Daily Video Bible Reading, bible study, protestant, christian, monmouth county nj, church

Id: iP6e4SCBstI

Length: 9min 42sec (582 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 10 2018