Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

• This Sunday we finish 1 Corinthians 11. Read 1 Corinthians 11 in full to review and prepare for the sermon this Sunday. Read verses 27-34 again and determine what type of conjunction is used in 27 and how that relates to the previous verses. The setting continues Paul’s discussion on the Lords’ Supper. 
• Who is Paul referring to when he says “Whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup”? How is this important to determine how they can take the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner? How does Paul define an “unworthy manner”? What must a person do to not take the bread and the cup in an “unworthy manner”? What happens if you do take in an unworthy manner (v27, 29, 30)?  
• Is Paul indicating there is a physical aspect of judgment in this context?  
• What type of judging is Paul referring to if done by ourselves or if done by the Lord? What are the different outcomes based on who judges? How can that be? What is the outcome of the Lord’s judgment here?
• 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

• Based on last Sunday’s sermon and the previous verses what would be a primary way of taking the Lord’s Supper in an “unworthy manner”?  What is your focus when taking the bread and the cup?  Is it in obedience to Jesus’ commands? 
• Do you see the connected nature of Scripture the drives this pinnacle of redemptive history? How could you devalue and dishonor this practice of the Lord’s Supper display your mindset of God?  
• Are there any other places in Scripture that God ties massive acts in redemptive history to a meal to help celebrate, commemorate, and meditate on the love, power, and holiness of God as creator and redeemer?  (Read each of these accounts: Passover Ex 12:1-28, Lords’ Supper Luke 22:1-20, Marriage Supper of the Lamb Rev 19:1-10)
• Prayerfully ask God to reveal our hearts and repent if anything is found wicked and sinful against Him.