We're living in a culture that struggles with sexual immorality and confusion over our bodies. Consequently, many of us have deep stains and scars in our sexual past. The path of freedom is found in seeing that our bodies belong to God and that we have been bought with the price of Christ's blood.

In Corinth, members of the church were filing lawsuits in the Roman legal system, seeking to settle their grievances in court. For the sake of financial gain and personal satisfaction they were ruining relationships with fellow believers and bringing shame upon Christ and his church. God has another plan for dealing with conflict. Grace reframes grievances. In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, we see that a proper understanding of God’s grace toward us produces peace, humility, and unity that commends Christ to unbelievers.

As Christians, one of our responsibilities is to keep the church as pure and holy as we can. One way we do this is by confronting each other when our lives don't match up with scripture. While this may seem harsh at times, it has three important effects: 1) it protects the church, 2) it honor's Christ's sacrifice, 3) it saves people's souls.

Leadership matters to everyone because everyone is led, and everyone leads in some capacity. When Jesus came, he flipped leadership on its head. He turned everything upside down. No doubt, Paul's views on leadership were shaped directly by the crucified Christ, and he expected the leaders and teachers of the Corinthian community to take their cues from him - to follow him as he followed Christ. So the question is, "How do we lead like Jesus?"

God is building something greater than our minds can even begin to comprehend! He's building his church, and we get to be a part of it. But we must be careful how we build. Indeed, how we live and how we teach matters! It affects our eternity, influences our entire church family and shows if we take God seriously.

Christians are meant to be spiritual conduits--God’s grace flows into our lives, setting us free and making us new, and then it spills out of us as God uses us to bless others and point them to that grace.

All of us want wisdom-wisdom to comprehend the deepest spiritual realities of life. Thankfully we don't have to go and search for it or discover it on our own, because it's already been revealed to us. The question is, "Are we living by the wisdom of the world or the wisdom of God?"

As the leaves begin to fall, we forget that death is happening all around us; yet for some reason we find it beautiful. Paul came to the Corinthians in weakness. He had died to himself and was determined to preach one message - Christ and him crucified. In this way the message and the messenger were consistent, so that our faith would not rest not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The message of Jesus Christ, crucified for our sins, now raised from the dead and reigning as King flies in the face of worldly expectations. But it is God’s power to save whoever believes. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 calls us to look away from earthly wisdom, power, and status and boast in the cross alone.

Here we see Paul calling for unity among the believers in the Corinthian church who were divided like a bunch of middle schoolers in their cliques. But instead of simply telling them to stop being divided, he calls them to humble themselves and focus on the cross of Christ, which will cause division to melt away.

Starting is easy. Finishing is hard. Have you been running the race as a Christian, but lately it seems like you're sputtering and falling behind? Did you start off well, but now you're wondering how you can get back on track? Be encouraged that if God had called you, he will sustain you to the end. You will finish, because God is faithful!

What do you think of when you hear the word saint? Are you a saint? This is one of the most widely misunderstood words in our Christian vocabulary. But if we are in Christ, we are saints. That's our identity. And God knows there's a gap between who we are and what we do. He knows we will often act un-saintly. The church in Corinth was a prime example. Indeed, God's saints aren't perfect; but we keep pressing on to become who we are in Jesus - and we do it together!