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One of the problems with the Christians in Corinth was that they imported into the church attitudes that had been part of their old way of life. One of the ways in which that showed itself was their use of spiritual gifts. Instead of those gifts being used to build each other up they drew attention to themselves by majoring on the loudest and most spectacular. In addressing that problem, Paul said some remarkable things – including the fact that, however wonderful we might appear to others, if we do not love, we achieve nothing and we are nothing – a big zero! That burst a few big egos in Corinth! That is a challenge to us. It is not what we achieve that counts – but why we did it! It is not about how things look on the outside – but what is in our hearts. This week’s talk takes a look at what love really looks like. Click the podcast link to hear the full talk. |
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 From a reader: I visited Cala Galdana in Menorca on holiday recently. At the entrance to a water park there is a sculpture of a large tap apparently suspended in mid air and not connected to any pipe work or water source, yet with water flowing constantly from the tap. It creates an interesting illusion and, as I watched it, I thought it illustrates an important principle. In order to live as a Christian, to serve the Lord and give away all that He has put within us it is essential to be ‘connected’ to the Lord as the source of our faith and to His people for His life to flow through. We cannot stand alone – as the tap appears to – because without those vital connections we cannot keep going and we will damage ourselves if we try. |
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I like this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. 'Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve - you only need a heart full of grace - a soul generated by love.’ |
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You will notice that it is now possible to hear our Sunday morning talks. Click on the relevant links. The quality of sound is not good on either the first or latest talks - better on the second. We are experimenting and hope to soon get a really clear recording. If you wish to save the talk to your desktop you can do this by clicking on 'Full Feed' under the podcast symbol to the left, right mouse clicking the appropriate mp3 file in the list that will appear and choosing 'Save Link As ...' |
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The church at Corinth was anything but ideal. It was a young church struggling to get to grips with fundamental issues such as the ability to value one another equally and to work as a team. How did Paul address these problems? This week in our Sunday talk we will be looking at 1 Corinthians 12 so watch this space for the full notes to be posted. |
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So many different things go on inside us at any given time. It is important for our sense of well-being that we put many of those things into words. When we feel gratitude, it can be important for someone else’s sense of well-being that we express what we feel. I like this quote from author Margaret Cousins: ‘Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.’ |
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We get used to things so quickly! We can get used to being miserable – or joyful. Like putting on weight – we gain ounces at a time and only notice when we get out of breath or catch ourselves in the mirror – or someone makes a comment! We have got used to being how we are – in ourselves, in our attitudes – but we can be different, feel different, adjust our outlook – live more joyfully. The writer of our ‘Thought for the Week’ uses her recent house move to make the point well. |
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'The head of every man is Christ – our wives don’t want us leaning on them – but on the Lord. We need to walk and talk with the Lord so we learn to get beyond our own emotions and what we perceive as our own needs. The church – and our wives – needs men who will come from God’s presence and give clear direction and strength. Sadly, it is all too often the men who let the ladies down and leave them in ‘no man’s land’ in the middle.' The above is a quote from last week's notes on what Paul wrote about proper order in our relationships and in our worship services. Go to the 'Sunday talks' link for the full notes. And, by the way, what did Paul mean when he wrote that 'the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head' - 'because of the angels'? This week's notes on 'the Lord's Supper' will be up soon. Things were so bad in Corinth that Paul said 'your meetings do more harm than good'. Could that be said of any of our church meetings? And had some of the congregation really died prematurely because what they were doing in their Communion service contradicted the heart of the Christian message? This is serious stuff and we need to investigate! Watch out for the notes. |
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‘The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man…’ So wrote Paul to the church in Corinth. Why did he write like that and what did he really say about the issue of a woman’s head being covered in a church meeting? And are there any principles from this passage that we can benefit from today? This is what we will be looking at this Sunday in church as we consider 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. |
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