Prepare your heart for Sunday by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together.
You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and tangibly putting scripture to action in your personal life and in our corporate body.
Carefully Think
- Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 to review context. Listen to the sermon from last week. Take note of how Paul is defining maturity and spiritual people.
- Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 for this week's passage. As you read through take note of how Paul is addressing the Corinthians in their maturity and spirituality.
- How does Paul start in verse 1? But is used here to contrast two ideas; what is Paul contrasting? Is this contrast done in love or in spite? What is the first indicator? Look at how Paul addresses the Corinthians.
- Why does Paul use the image of an infant to confront the Corinthians? Does Paul give examples of spiritual immaturity? List them (verses 2 and 3).
- Paul returns to the issue of divisions in the church that are following different leaders. (Look at Chapter 1 to review where Paul started with this issue). How is he displaying the two leaders Paul and Apollos? How are the related to one another? Is there one above another?
- What is the ultimate purpose found in this text for the work that is done in Paul and Apollos’ ministry?
- The Sermon Study equipping class notes are available online for anyone wanting to dig deeper. Please review this week's notes to help study this passage. Click here for the notes.
Prayerfully Meditate
- Draw out the attributes of spiritual maturity and immaturity derived from verses 2:6-3:9. What were some of the primary reasons displayed by Paul for spiritual immaturity; for spiritual maturity?
- Pray for others in the congregation to come along one another to help build up areas of need to spiritual maturity.
- Pray for areas of blindness to our corporate disunity and immaturity to be brought into the light through the exposition of these texts and for our church to walk into the light.
- Thinking back to the sermon on 2 Timothy 2:2 and also Paul’s emphasis in 1 Corinthians on unity and maturity, read Ephesians 4:11-16 to meditate on spiritual maturity.
- How does this impact the way you see new believers and more mature believers in the church and the importance of making disciples? What should the role be of mature believers with new believers? (Think Titus 2, 2 Timothy 2, etc.)
Intentionally Act
- Pray for God to help you discern your spiritual maturity based on the above attributes identified.
- Look for ways you can intentionally grow in your spirituality, not just for individual gain, but to build up the unity of the church.
- Look for sin and attributes of spiritual immaturity in your life that you need to repent of and determine actions to kill the sin in your life.
- Seek out someone in this local congregation to share these within the church to help build one another up into spiritual maturity.
- Seek out new believers and develop a relationship to aid in the growth of their spiritual maturity.
- Follow the links below to the lyrics and recordings of the songs planned for our gathering this Sunday; sing the songs while being mindful of the lyrics.
- Pray for those leading our corporate gathering this week and for the Holy Spirit’s work as the Word of God is further explained and applied: Dawson Bryant: music; Rob Stouffer: Elders' prayer and Scripture reading; Bret Capranica: teaching.
Songs for Sunday
Lyrics
Lyrics Morning Gathering - November 13, 2016 by Summit Woods Baptist Church on Scribd