Preparing for Sunday - 1 Cor 4:1-5

February 3, 2017 by Sam Walker Preparing for Sunday

Prepare your heart for Sunday by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and tangibly putting scripture to action in your personal life and in our corporate body.

Carefully Think

Read 1 Corinthians 3 as a reminder of where we are in this book and provide the backdrop for the next verses. Can you recall the points of last few sermons?
Listen to the previous sermons to help remember what has been the focus of the text. Sermon from 1 Corinthians. Click here for previous 1 Corinthians sermons.
Read 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, the passage for this Sunday.
How does 4:1-4 related to the previous chapter? What does it mean to be a steward of the mysteries of God? How does this relate and tell us what the stewards should be faithful of?
Look for repeated words and other keywords. How are the words judging and judgment being used?
How can Paul not find anything against himself, even with judging himself?
What judgment is Paul speaking of in verses 3-5? Is it the same judgment described through these verses? Who is being judged and why? How does this relate to 1 Corinthians 2:15?
The Sermon Study equipping class notes are available online for anyone wanting to dig deeper. Please review this week's notes to help study this passage. Click here for the notes.

Prayerfully Meditate

Prayerfully consider how you are a faithful steward of the mysteries of God. What does that look like in our lives?
How are we to judge one another and who is in authority over us to judge? Prayerfully meditate on how and why you would judge one another or someone in authority.
Pray to have revealed to you how you interact with one another within the church in situations of disagreement, whether member or leader and evaluate your heart response and what Biblical criteria is driving your judgment.

Intentionally Act

Review the questions below for preparing for your Growth Group discussion this Sunday evening.

Describe a proper way to approach a congregation's evaluation of a leader's ministry in the church? Where should we get the criteria from which to evaluate them?
Describe the improper way for a congregation to evaluate a leader's ministry? Where do these criteria often come from? Why?
In what ways can you think of that you have tended to improperly applied human criteria to your evaluation of a spiritual leader's ministry?
How can you and the church, as a whole, specifically contribute to developing an atmosphere where we all see our accountability to God first and ultimately?
When you find yourself or hear others assessing spiritual leaders in an unbiblical way, how could best offer correction to them?
What does our criteria of evaluating the effectiveness of a spiritual leader's ministry reveal about our values, vision of ministry, theology, and understanding of God?
How can the sermon from Sunday and the passage specifically assist you in praying for the church? For each other in your group? For your spiritual leaders? What would you pray for? How could you encourage others in our congregation based on this passage?
Click the links below to find the lyrics and recordings of the songs planned for our gathering this Sunday; practice the songs, study the lyrics and sing together.
Pray for those leading our corporate gathering this week and for the Holy Spirit’s work as the Word of God is further explained and applied: Dawson Bryant: music; Rob Stouffer: Elders' prayer and Scripture reading; Bret Capranica: teaching.

Songs for Sunday

Lyrics

Lyrics Morning Gathering - February 5, 2017 by Summit Woods Baptist Church on Scribd