True toughness is making sure you and those you're responsible for are growing in the Lord.
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Read previous DIG DEEPER posts on 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 16 Summary
The Corinthian congregation was not an individual church, disconnected from the Ephesian, Galatian or Jerusalem churches. Jerusalem was in the midst of a terrible famine, and the other churches were collecting money to send to the church there. This passage reminds us that we are one church, which is found in many locations around the world.
On the first day of the week (v2) - People in Roman culture knew nothing of a 'weekend;' all days of the week were the same. Yet, we see that it was the early church's custom to meet together on the first day, in contrast to their society and also in contrast to the Jewish practice of meeting on the seventh day. We still follow this habit of meeting on the Lord's Day.
Dig Deeper
As a Christian, know and be prepared to be attacked at all times. Verse 13 tells how to do that:
Stand firm in the faith.
There are two ways you stand firm:
FIRST: Act like men
Our culture has no idea what the phrase 'act like men' means. Some will understand it as acting in a immature, juvenile way. In contrast to that, society is trying to soften men to the extent that they're no different than women. Neither of these extremes are what Paul means.
The Godly man that Paul wants you to emulate has at least three attributes. He:
PROTECTS: Keeps himself, and those entrusted to him, from being corrupted by the sinful world;
PROSPERS: makes sure that he and his family are fed well from God's Word
PROMOTES: Encourages all those around him to live according to Godly principles as well.
SECOND: Be strong.
Know what you believe, and why you believe it, and don't let this world push you around.
As you stand firm in the faith, do so in love. If you're wondering what that means, go back and review chapter 13.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The One who has assembled people from every tongue, tribe, nation and even time into His people, the Church
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray Marana Tha, an Aramaic phrase Paul uses in v22 meaning "Come, Lord"
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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