5,49 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Rock Rooster Books
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Serie: 40-Day Bible Study Series
- Sprache: Englisch
Forty insightful truths that will inspire you to live a life transformed by God’s love.
Love is Patient is a devotional Bible study based on First and Second Corinthians that will help you apply life-changing lessons from Paul’s two most jam-packed letters.
With clear teaching, comforting truths, and daily encouragement, you’ll uncover how Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian church two thousand years ago still apply to us today.
Love is Patient will help you discover how to:
- develop a Christlike mindset
- encourage others on their faith journey
- handle conflict and disappointment in healthy ways
- understand your spiritual gifts
- prioritize God in your life and embrace freedom in Christ
Each reading encourages you to grow in your faith as you unpack Biblical lessons that are relevant for today. With practical tips and Godly wisdom, you’ll learn how to deal with differences and work through divisions with grace and love.
Love is Patient makes an ideal eight-week discussion guide, perfect for small groups and Sunday School classes. This is the seventh book in the 40-Day Bible Study Series.
As you read through this insightful gem, you’ll be blessed by your heavenly Father’s love, and learn how to encourage others as you point them to Jesus.
Get your copy of Love is Patient today.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 132
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
Ähnliche
LOVE IS PATIENT
40 DEVOTIONAL GEMS AND BIBLE STUDY TRUTHS FROM PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS
40-DAY BIBLE STUDY SERIES
BOOK 7
PETER DEHAAN
LoveIsPatient: 40 DevotionalGems and BibleStudyTruths from Paul’sLetters to the CorinthiansCopyright © 2021 by PeterDeHaan.
40-DayBibleStudySeries, Book 7
All rights reserved: No part of this book may be reproduced, disseminated, or transmitted in any form, by any means, or for any purpose without the express written consent of the author or his legal representatives. The only exception is short excerpts and the cover image for reviews or academic research. For permissions: peterdehaan.com/contact.
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures taken from the HolyBible, NewInternationalVersion®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “NewInternationalVersion” are trademarks registered in the UnitedStatesPatent and TrademarkOffice by Biblica, Inc.™
Library of CongressControlNumber: 2021914025
Published by RockRoosterBooks, GrandRapids, Michigan
ISBN:
Credits:
ToKolbyDeHaan
Series by PeterDeHaan
40-DayBibleStudySeriestakes a fresh and practical look into Scripture, book by book.
BibleCharacterSketchesSeriescelebrates people in Scripture, from the well-known to the obscure.
HolidayCelebrationBibleStudySeriesrejoices in the holidays with Jesus.
VisitingChurchesSeries takes an in-person look at church practices and traditions to inform and inspire today’s followers of Jesus.
Be the first to hear about Peter’s new books and receive updates at PeterDeHaan.com/updates.
CONTENTS
Paul’s Letters to Corinth
Day 1: No Divisions
Dig Deeper: The Dangers of Following Christian Celebrities
Day 2: Foolishness and Wisdom
Day 3: The Mind of Christ
Day 4: Baby Christians
Day 5: Worthy of Imitation
Day 6: Judge Others or Not
Dig Deeper: The Lost Letter
Day 7: Litigious Christians
Day 8: God’s Temples
Day 9: Sex, Marriage, and Life
Day 10: Freedom in Jesus
Day 11: Run to Win
Day 12: The Temptation to Sin
Day 13: Flee from Idolatry
Dig Deeper: Judge
Day 14: Put Others First
Day 15: Interdependent
Day 16: An Unworthy Manner
Day 17: Thirteen Spiritual Gifts
Day 18: One Body United
Day 19: Love Is Patient
Day 20: The Greatest of These Is Love
Day 21: Build Up the Church
Day 22: When You Come Together
Day 23: Alive in Jesus
Dig Deeper: Can We Be Baptized for Dead People?
Day 24: Do God’s Work
Day 25: If It’s God’s Will
Dig Deeper: A Holy Kiss
Day 26: When People Pray
Day 27: Restoration
Dig Deeper: Peddle God for Profit
Day 28: Freedom
Day 29: Easy or Hard?
Day 30: Live by Faith
Day 31: God’s New Creation
Day 32: Paul’s Commendation
Day 33: Yoked with Unbelievers
Day 34: Godly Sorrow
Day 35: Generosity
Dig Deeper: The Old Testament in 1 and 2 Corinthians
Day 36: A Cheerful Giver
Day 37: Take Every Thought Captive
Day 38: Devoted to Jesus
Dig Deeper: False Teachers
Day 39: Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh
Dig Deeper: Encourage One Another
Day 40: Paul’s Blessing
What Book Do You Want to Read Next?
For Small Groups, Sunday School, and Classes
If You’re New to the Bible
About Peter DeHaan
Books by Peter DeHaan
PAUL’S LETTERS TO CORINTH
Paul (formerly called Saul) is a zealous Jew, pursuing his faith with full abandon. He sees the growing Jesus movement as an affront to his beliefs and seeks to squelch it. To do so, he harasses and hunts down Jesus’s followers, arresting them and throwing them in jail.
YetGod has a different plan for Paul. This committed Jew has a supernatural encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and decides to follow him. He then goes all in for his Savior (see Acts 9:1–22).
Paul then travels the region, telling others the good news of salvation through Jesus. One place Paul visits is Corinth, located in what is modern-day Greece. He spends a year and a half there, teaching them about God and helping them grow in their faith. This is much longer than he spends in most of the other towns he visits.
You’d think that after investing eighteen months with this church they would have matured in their faith and been able to function well on their own. This is not the case. Paul’s two lengthy letters of instruction to this church reveal their spiritual immaturity and their ongoing struggle to walk rightly with Jesus. PerhapsPaul spent so much time there simply because he knew how badly they needed it. And based on the content of these letters, we must wonder if they needed even more of his in-person attention.
For each of these two letters, Paul lists a consignatory.
In his first letter, 1 Corinthians, Paul lists Sosthenes as a co-author. His name only appears one other time in the Bible. We learn in Acts 18:17 that Sosthenes is a synagogue leader. We can safely assume that he later follows Jesus and becomes a leader in Jesus’s new church there. Because his name appears on this letter, we can speculate that Sosthenes has come to Paul on behalf of the Corinth church with a list of questions or a report on problems. Perhaps he does both. Regardless, Sosthenes has a role in writing this dispatch to his friends back home.
In his second letter, 2 Corinthians, Paul lists Timothy as a co-author. We know much more about Timothy. He travels with Paul on some of his missionary journeys, spending time in Corinth with Paul (Acts 18:5). Paul later sends Timothy back there (1 Corinthians 4:17). Again, we can speculate that Timothy carries first-hand information back to Paul, which results in his second letter.
These two letters (sometimes called epistles) that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth are his longest missives. This means that we know more about Paul’s instructions to this fledgling church than any of the other faith communities he started or visited.
Paul directs the content of his two letters to the Corinthians, addressing questions they have asked him or their struggles that have come to his attention. Unfortunately, we don’t know the details of this relevant background; we only know Paul’s response.
This may mean these dispatches do not contain universal truths but are specific reactions to a church with issues. This doesn’t mean there isn’t value in these letters because there is. But we must exercise care to not take Paul’s words out of context.
In the next forty chapters we’ll strive to do just that. In this Bible-study-style devotional, we’ll examine Paul’s teachings to the Corinthian church. As we do, let us rightly discern how his instructions to them two thousand years ago best apply to us today. To accomplish this, may we seek HolySpirit guidance in reading and exploring 1 and 2 Corinthians.
What do you anticipate you might learn from the Corinthians that can inform your faith practices? If you are part of a church, what similarities do you sense between your church and the church in Corinth?
[Discover more about the church of Corinth in Acts 18.]
DAY 1: NO DIVISIONS
1 CORINTHIANS 1:1–17
That all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. (1 Corinthians 1:10)
Paul wants the Corinthians to function as one and to live in unity—of like mind. But this unity isn’t just a message for them because Paul also encourages the churches in Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae to pursue unity with other believers. In the same way, Jesus prayed that we—his future followers—would live as one, just as he and his Father exist as one (John 17:21).
But to our shame, we divide Jesus’s church. We live in disharmony. We fight with each other over our traditions and our practices and how we comprehend God.
We spar over worship style, song selection, and a myriad of other things that relate to church practices and our perception of right living. Or to avoid these errors, we simply ignore those with other perspectives, and that’s just as bad.
But the world watches us. They judge Jesus through our actions. They test what we say by the things we do. And we often fail their test.
With our words we talk about how Jesus loves everyone, but with our deeds we diminish our brothers and sisters in Christ with a holier-than-thou discord. If we can’t love those in the church, how can we hope to love those outside it? We can’t.
It’s no wonder the world no longer respects the church of Jesus and is quick to dismiss his followers as hypocritical zealots. We brought it upon ourselves with our church splits and tens of thousands of Protestant denominations, resulting from our petty arguments over practices and theology and everything in between.
In the face of a couple of billion Christians, mostly living life contrary to God’s will by not getting along with each other, what can you and I do to correct this error?
We can change this one person at a time. Find another Christian who goes to a church radically different from yours (or has dropped out of church) and embrace them as one in Christ.
If you are a mainline Christian, find a charismatic follower of Jesus and get to know him or her. If all your friends are Protestants, go to Mass and make some new friends.
If all the Christians you know look just like you, think like you, and act like you, find another Christian who is not like you. Diversify your Christian relationships to expand your understanding of what following Jesus truly looks like.
InJesus, we are the same. It’s time we embrace one another. The world is watching us to discover what we do. Instead of seeing our selfishness and sins, may they see Jesus instead.
What can we do to better live in unity with other Christians? What action can we take today?
[Discover more about unity through Jesus in Ephesians 4:3 and Philippians 4:2–3.]
DIG DEEPER: THE DANGERS OF FOLLOWING CHRISTIAN CELEBRITIES
One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:12)
TheChristians living in the city of Corinth suffer from an unwise celebration of its leaders (1 Corinthians 1:11–13). They exalt the missionaries who stop by—Paul, Apollos, and Cephas—following them with great zeal (1 Corinthians 3:4–5). They argue over who’s the best. In doing so, they divide Jesus and his church, elevating leaders and removing the focus from their Savior who died for them.
Just as it happened 2,000 years ago, it still happens today. Christians gush with praise over well-known teachers. This adoration of church leaders approaches the level of hero worship. The risk is that the fame of these superstars threatens to supersede Jesus.
Many of these Christian celebrities are featured in books, or they pen their own. There’s nothing wrong with this, but what is wrong is following their words with more zeal than believing what the Bible says or following God as revealed in Scripture.
With ungodly fervor, we elevate these cherished leaders, hoisting them to lofty expectations that no one can maintain. Our unbridled admiration only increases their risk of failure and the likelihood of our profound disappointment when they stumble.
It’s sad when it happens, and we won’t need to wait long before another prominent Christian leader falls from his pedestal. Yes, it’s usually men. It may be infidelity, drug abuse, misappropriation of funds, or improper treatment of women. Make no mistake that their moral failings are the sole cause, but our unrestrained, unexamined admiration makes it easier for this to occur.
While the Bible celebrates our faith’s heroes, such as in Hebrews 11, it does so posthumously. They’ve set their record. We know their strengths and their weaknesses. We esteem them, celebrating what is good and guarding against what is not. They can no longer disappoint us by their human failings.
Christian celebrity is dangerous, both for our leaders and for us not putting Jesus first in our lives. May we not fall victim to it. May we instead keep our focus on Jesus. We need to follow him and no one else.
Which spiritual teachers have we put on a pedestal? What must we do to keep our focus on Jesus and not let Christian celebrity get in the way?
[Discover more about putting Jesus first in Matthew 6:33 and Colossians 3:17. Read about putting God first in Exodus 20:3 and Matthew 22:37–40.]
DAY 2: FOOLISHNESS AND WISDOM
1 CORINTHIANS 1:18–2:5
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25)
Jesus doesn’t make sense to most people. They need him, but they don’t realize it. They’re dying, but they don’t see how Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross can save them. It’s foolishness to them. They think they need to do something to earn their salvation or that being mostly good, most of the time, is enough. God’s grace is a free, no-strings-attached gift that escapes their comprehension.
Therefore, they dismiss the good news about Jesus because they don’t understand it; they can’t. But to those of us on the inside—those who follow Jesus—his death (and resurrection) represents the glory and power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).
When most not-yet-believers of Jesus consider him, they do so with their mind. It’s hard—even impossible—for their intellect to grasp what he says, so they dismiss his message as mere foolishness. They then pronounce that only the ignorant would embrace such nonsense. Without the convicting power of God’sHolySpirit, we would all remain mired in this same perception that following Jesus as our Savior makes no sense. It’s utter foolishness.
YetGod renders our worldly wisdom as mere foolishness. Paul explains that every aspect of God, including the parts people may perceive as foolish, far surpass the wisest person. And even at his weakest—such as when he died on the cross—he exceeds the strongest person.
ThoughGod wants us to tell others about Jesus—which should be our natural inclination as his disciples—he never told us to make converts. Instead, he told us to go into the world and make disciples. But how can we make disciples of people who haven’t yet believed in Jesus and don’t yet follow him because his message is foolishness to them?
Fortunately, this transition from nonbeliever to believer falls to the convicting power of the HolySpirit. BecauseJesus’s good news seems like foolishness to the world, we will never talk them into following him. We can’t argue anyone into the kingdom of God.
But this isn’t an excuse to remain silent. Our words—and our actions—can point people to Jesus. Then the HolySpirit will go to work, turning what seems foolish to them into an understanding that Jesus is the answer to their pain, a solution to their problems. What they once perceived as foolishness in their mind becomes the wisdom of God
