Part Two: Paul’s Message of Comfort, Repentance, Reconciliation, and the Sufficiency of God’s Grace By: Junior Tate Introduction: The Story of Corinth Was Not Finished When I finished looking at 1 Corinthians, the story of this troubled church was far from over. Paul had confronted division, immorality, lawsuits between believers, confusion concerning Christian liberty, disorder at the Lord’s Supper, misuse of spiritual gifts, and questions concerning the resurrection. His words were strong because the problems were serious, but behind that correction was a man who genuinely loved these people and wanted to see them walking faithfully with Jesus Christ. Second...

Part One: How Paul Confronted Division, Sin, Spiritual Confusion, and Called the Church Back to Christ Introduction: A Church Surrounded by the World When I read 1 Corinthians, I see a church that had been wonderfully reached by the Gospel but was struggling to separate its new life in Jesus Christ from the culture surrounding it. These believers had heard the truth from the Apostle Paul himself. They had experienced the grace of God, possessed spiritual gifts, and gathered together as a church, yet serious problems had developed among them. Division, pride, sexual immorality, lawsuits between believers, questions concerning marriage,...

Jeremiah’s Prophecy of Israel’s Preservation and Future Restoration By: Junior Tate When I read the book of Jeremiah, one of the things that stands out to me is how serious Israel’s rebellion against God had become and, at the same time, how faithful God remained to the promises He had made. Jeremiah was not preaching during one of Israel’s greatest spiritual periods. He was ministering during a very dark time when idolatry, rebellion, and rejection of God’s Word had become deeply rooted among the people. God had warned them repeatedly through His prophets, but they continued down the same path,...

Tracing the Biblical Promise That God Would Put His Name There Forever By: Junior Tate Few cities in Scripture carry the theological and prophetic significance of Jerusalem. Many important cities appear throughout the Bible, including Babylon, Nineveh, Damascus, and Rome, but Jerusalem occupies a place unlike any other. Its importance does not come from the perfection of its inhabitants, because Jerusalem repeatedly witnessed rebellion, idolatry, corruption, and rejection of God’s messengers. Its significance comes from the fact that God Himself chose the city, associated His name with it, established His temple there, connected it with the throne of David, judged...