Reformation Christian Assembly Messages

In our last sermon we were reminded to "flee idolatry" and run to Christ. In this sermon, as we close chapter 10, Paul explains three things we must understand about Christian liberty if we are to glorify God in everything we do.

In this text, Paul warns us to flee from idolatry and encourages us to run to Christ through the grace of the Lord's Supper. If Christ's body and blood have been poured out for us, then no longer are we to fellowship with "devils," but our communion is with the Lord through the sacrifice of Christ.

The hope is that we will grow in grace as we look deeper into the sacrifice of Christ.

The hope is that we will grow in grace as we look deeper into the external symbolism of the Lord's Supper to the spiritual significance of our personal, relational, union with Christ, and the impact of His sacrifice upon our lives.

This Lord's Day is Christmas Eve. We will be retracing the steps of Jesus Christ's birth in Matthew 1:18-25. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call His name Immanuel, (which means God with us)." We will look at six truths from this passage about the historical fact of Jesus Christ's virgin birth.

At the end of Chapter 9 Paul begins a transition from talking about his ministerial role to an exhortation for the Corinthians to persevere and discipline themselves. In the beginning of Chapter 10 we continue this discussion of discipline as Paul warns the Corinthians about the ever present danger of idolatry. Specifically we will examine how Paul uses the Israelites as an example of those who had God dwelling in their midst, and yet fell prey to idolatry. But as always we will return to the good news of the Gospel and how members of the New Covenant are well armed to fight against the snare of idolatry.

In chapter 8, Paul set the limits of Christian liberty, limits that are to be determined by brotherly love, by our concern for the welfare of fellow brothers and sisters. In chapter 9 the apostle illustrates how he followed the principle in his own life. In verses 15-27 he explains that he would give up any and every right for the sake of winning souls to Jesus Christ. In this week’s sermon, we’ll look at Paul’s sole passion for the preaching of the Gospel. We’ll be looking at the freedom, compulsion, discipline, and passion that governed Paul in his drive to be a preacher of the Gospel and will make applications to our lives.

In this sermon, we look at the first section of chapter 8 in verses 1-14. Paul gives six reasons why he had the right to be supported by the churches to whom he ministered. We will look at these six reasons and ask ourselves how does that apply to us today? What would we give up for the Kingdom of God?

In I Corinthians 8, Paul addresses the issue of eating food offered to idols. Seeing their fellow Christians enjoying meat that had been sacrificed to pagan gods was causing the weaker Christians in the church to stumble.

Though the issue is specific, there are timeless principles in Paul’s response that will affect the way that we live in community with our fellow believers in our day. In this sermon, we’ll be clarifying the role of conscience, the pitfalls of knowledge, and our sometimes conflicting callings to proclaim the truth and to live in love.

This week we will finish our study of chapter 7 as Paul re-addresses many of the same topics we have discussed in our first three sermons on this passage; such as marriage, singleness and general contentment in life. However, we will note that the issues being discussed in vs. 25-40 are much narrower in scope as Paul appears to be addressing very specific issues in the Corinthian church. As a result we must remember to read this passage of Scripture in its own context and resist the ever-present urge to make sweeping general applications. As we have done for the first 24 verses, we will address this passage first within its own context before making application to ourselves.

In verses 17-24 Paul teaches us that we should serve the Lord where he has called us. That we don't need to disrupt our social world because we are Christian, instead influence it, cleanse it, purify it, make wherever God has assigned you a place for Him to be served.

Paul continues writing on principles of marriage in verses 8-16. In this week's sermon, we'll see the calling of believers to live faithfully unto God no matter our marital status - or the difficulty of our situation. The hope is that we will come to see our circumstances - as the means of a sovereign God to work in us and through us.