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See how the gospel transforms and challenges the church in Corinth, and your church today.
Part of the Good Book Guides series.
Even today, Jesus is still a figure of intense interest and admiration for millions. But then there’s His church. Church is a boring topic for most, and a reluctantly fulfilled duty for many.
And we can understand why. Churches say they have the best news in the world, that they have the answer to our problems, that they are God’s embassies on earth; and yet churches are made up of people like you and me, who are grumpy, irritable, unfaithful, selfish, and worse.
And as that is sadly true of churches today, so it was of the church in Corinth. It was young, it was full of life, and it was just as full of problems. What would God say to such a challenging church? What did they need to be excited by, to listen to, to learn?
Use this seven-study guide to open up the first nine chapters of the letter of 1 Corinthians, to hear what God said to His church in Corinth, and what God still says to His church today.
Written by Mark Dever, Senior Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church & President of 9Marks.
Introduction
Why study 1 Corinthians?
Timeline
1. Count your blessings - 1 Corinthians 1 v 1-9
2. Unite in "foolishness" - 1 Corinthians 1 v 10 - 2 v 16
3. Unite as God's community - 1 Corinthians 3
4. Recognize real ministers - 1 Corinthians 4
5. Don't go soft on sin - 1 Corinthians 5 - 6
6. Let your calling count - 1 Corinthians 7
7. Use your rights - 1 Corinthians 8 - 9
Leader's Guide
| Contributors | Mark Dever |
|---|---|
| Format | eBook |
| Case quantity | 50 |
| Language | English |
| No. of studies | 7 |
| Publisher | The Good Book Company |
The Good Book Guides have been developed to ensure that each session not only seeks to uncover the meaning of the passage and see how it fits into the big picture of the Bible, but also leads people to apply what they have learned to their lives. Flexible and practical, the Good Book Guides are ideal for small groups, or individual study.
"The format is very user-friendly and the content is rich and accessible."
- Justin Taylor, Gospel Coalition blogger and Vice-President of Editorial, Crossway
"God-centered, application-oriented, and driven by the text throughout, this resource is a gift to God’s church."
- Matt Smethurst, Gospel Coalition reviewer and Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Here at Covenant Life Church, we have greatly benefitted from the small group resources from The Good Book Company. Many small groups in our family life ministry have used "Colossians: Confident Christianity" in their study of scripture. Additionally, our youth ministry has used "Romans 1-5: God and You" in their small groups. Both resources were very easy to use, helped the reader engage directly with the scriptures, and had a wonderful pastoral emphasis demonstrated in all the questions.
- Dave Brewer, Youth Pastor at Covenant Life Church, Maryland
I love this small group study guide series from The Good Book Company. Christians are regularly told they should spend more time studying God’s Word, but sometimes there’s not a clear plan for how to do this. These study guides provide practical, step-by-step guidance on working through books of the Bible, along with wonderful questions that encourage reflection and application. I hope churches and Christian ministries will take advantage of this wonderful resource.
The aim of the The Good Book Company is to be biblical, relevant and accessible, and nothing embodies that ethos more than their Good Book Guides. Each guide provides a framework for your group to dig into the text of Scripture for itself while providing enough of a steer to keep you on track plus useful pointers towards application. The result is a great combination of fidelity to Scripture and ease of use.
The Good Book Guides are an immensely precious resource for the church. A careful blend of helpful context and clearly-worded, searching questions which aim to help readers to uncover the meaning of the text and apply it in responsible ways. I think these small group studies are the best available and pray that they will continue to prove helpful to local churches across the world!
I work primarily with college students who lead Bible studies on an American University campus. For a long time we have wrestled to find a method of Bible study which both teaches how to study the Bible well and also helps guide and support discussion for people who are still learning. Dever does a great job using the text to teach while also providing helpful questions and observations to the users. Grateful for this series and this book.
There are seven studies, and at least one can be divided into two.
I particularly liked:
- Mark Dever does a very good job of taking us through some large chunks of text, without skipping anything, and yet without getting bogged down.
- From the second study onwards there is a 'story so far'. It's a small thing but it reminds everyone that these studies are part of a whole.
- As with previous study guides, there are leaders' notes at the back. One small thing I especially liked was that in the leaders' guide, the questions are repeated, instead of only giving the question number.
We will be using this guide for our bible studies in the autumn - alongside the preaching.
Mark Dever has been a leader of church reform for many years now, and nobody I know has thought more carefully about the church. That’s why I’m thrilled the Good Book Company is publishing Mark’s helpful study guide to 1 Corinthians, because no book of the Bible says more about the church. No doubt, Mark has acquired these insights through many years of hard labor both in the Scriptures and in the church. Whether you are a church leader or a faithful member, this guide will help you understand and apply 1 Corinthians to your life and the life of your church.
Unless you run a house group full of people who have never had problems I would avoid this book at all costs. If you have any women, divorcees, or people married to unbelievers be prepared to have people hurt as the book is written with a lack of sensitivity, indeed a harshness, which defies belief. It is not often as a house group leader I actually have to say to the group that we are going to have to stop using the book but this is the case in this instance. Very disappointed.
