Dear Student of the Word,
I am so glad to be sending you this installment from Kenya. It means that this new format and system are working, serving to reduce the time and effort it once took to send out these studies. I hope you are enjoying our study of Paul and his efforts to educate the church in Corinth as they walked out of paganism into the kingdom of God.
Paul was writing the Corinthians, but he was also providing helpful teaching for us under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. This week I explained how I applied something Paul taught the Corinthians to my own life:
v. 7 --In the previous study, I alluded to this decision to lose out rather than going to court against a brother. I don't speak from inexperience here. At one point in my life, a brother wronged me and many told me I could take legal recourse. I chose not to do so. I thought about the dishonor and shame that would bring to the body of Christ. Since there was no one who could or would arbitrate, then I chose to suffer loss, trusting God to restore what was gone. (I am not saying that it is always wrong to go to court to address a grievance against a brother.)
Shortly after I made that decision, I sensed God was posing this question to me one morning in prayer. "John, do you want Me to vindicate you or would you rather have ministry opportunities?" I knew I only had only choice and I immediately knew what that choice would be. I chose the opportunities (although the vindication was tempting!).
The next day I had the idea for the Bible study that I am writing today, ths studies I have been producing for almost five years! I'm glad I chose to trust God and not take matters into my own hands. Can you apply this principle any place in your own life at this point in time? Can you trust God to fight your battles rather than take them to secular agencies?
Remember that the Bible study archives of 13 other New Testament studies can be found on my website along with The Faith Files. You can unsubscribe by clicking on the link below (if you receive this through Feedblitz). You can give a gift subscription by going to the site where these studies are posted every week. And please feel free to post your own comments, insights, and questions at the same site (just click on the word at the "comments" at the bottom of this post).
Here is this week's study: Download 1_corinthians_study_5.doc
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