Sunday Bulletin January 19 2025

Sunday Bulletin January 12 2025

Sunday Bulletin January 5 2025

Sunday Bulletin December 22 2024

Craig A. Brittingham, Pastor
Hillside Baptist Church
January 19, 2025

“Unity Is in Christ” pt.2 – 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

* Unity is essential to the health and growth of the local church.
* Unity in the church is not something we manufacture, but something we are to maintain.
* The church at Corinth had a unity problem (1 Cor. 1:10-17).

1A. Say the same thing, all of you (vv. 10-16).
1b. A number of translations have instead, something like, “that all of you agree.” (But see verse 12.)
2b. We are to be united in the same mind and in the same judgment, not just in what we “say.”
3b. Stated negatively, there must not be divisions among us.
4b. There are many issues that can cause division, from doctrinal differences to opinions about what color of carpet should be installed.
5b. The divisions in Corinth were over personalities.
1c. Some followed Paul who brought the gospel to Corinth and founded the church, and some Apollos, a gifted orator, who preached and taught in Corinth, and some the Apostle Peter.
2c. One of the connections seems to have been related to who had administered his or her baptism (vv. 14-16).
6b. Paul baptized very few, at least in Corinth.
1c. Given the situation that arose in the church there, he was glad he had not baptized many.
2c. Some may have charged that He baptized in his own name – to gain a following and secure loyalties.

2A. Christ sent Paul to preach the gospel, not to baptize (vs. 17).
1b. Though the Great Commission includes baptizing disciples, Paul himself was not required to actually do the baptizing.
2b. He was to preach the gospel not with words of wisdom.

Questions…
1. Why is unity essential to the health and growth of the local church?
2. Is it necessary that everyone agree about everything in order to have unity?
3. What are some things about which we must agree in order to be unified?
4. How might following certain personalities in the church lead to disunity?
5. What can you do to help maintain unity in the church?
6. What or whom must be our focus in the church?
7. Did Paul marginalize baptism in verse 17? What point was he making? What observations can you make from his distinction between preaching the gospel and baptism?
8. What does it mean to preach the gospel with wisdom of words?
9. How might this approach hinder the effectiveness of the gospel?