Pastor’s Corner January 2013

The following was published in our monthly newsletter, the Redeemer Report.

Starting in January 2013, a new sermon series at Redeemer-

Life in the Household of God: An Exposition of 1 Corinthians by Pastor Tony Felich

If there was a local church in the New Testament era that resembled the American Church, it had to be the one in Corinth. The Corinthian church was diverse culturally, receptive of the gospel message initially, and full of growth and energy. At the same time, the Corinthian church struggled living out their new found faith in Christ in their pluralistic, anything goes, culture. After the initial excitement of being a new, growing, church, the Corinthians suffered from disunity and strife. It was a church full of cliques with various opinionated, charismatic teachers, not to mention divisions over socio-economic status. There was very little effort to hold one another accountable (church discipline) to the Word of God coupled with an unwillingness to submit to God-appointed authority. The Corinthians showed a dangerous laxity in doctrine and morals. They were easily wowed by the more dramatic gifts of the Spirit and less inclined toward humbly serving one another and being a light to their community. What is the answer to all their issues? The Gospel of Jesus Christ! Yes, the same message of God’s grace through Christ, which brought them together, is what they needed a steady dose of to see their serious struggles answered.

1 Corinthians is a great book for us to be studying!

Very simply, and without giving too much away-1 Corinthians is about life in the household of God. It is a straight forward, pull no punches, address of the many complex issues we will deal with in our church and the wider church of Jesus Christ, of which we are a part. The issues we will face in our church (or any church) are in constant need of Gospel application. The study of 1 Corinthians, by the ministry of God’s Spirit, will guide, convict, and encourage us in just the right way.

Please continue to pray for my preparations to begin this series on January 6.

1 Corinthians 1:28-31 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

In the Lamb,
Pastor Tony Felich