February 10, 2009 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Problems in the Church
I beg you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with each other and not be split into groups. I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose. My brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe's family have told me quite plainly that there are quarrels among you. This is what I mean: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another says, "I follow Apollos"; another says, "I follow Peter"; and another says, "I follow Christ." Christ has been divided up into different groups! Did Paul die on the cross for you? No! Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No! I thank God I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius so that now no one can say you were baptized in my name. (I also baptized the family of Stephanas, but I do not remember that I baptized anyone else.) Christ did not send me to baptize people but to preach the Good News. And he sent me to preach the Good News without using words of human wisdom so that the cross of Christ would not lose its power. ~1 Corinthians 1:10-17~

This passage is about unity within the church! Our fellowship, Cornerstone, has had several problems because we broke unity within the church. These things happened because members of the church had some conflicts. These are the things that Satan looks for within a church. Our purpose is to have unity, to become one body of Christ. When that unity/bond is broken, we are weakened, and that's when Satan attacks. Satan's tactics are to divide and conquer. First step is to divide, which means that unity is broken within a church, but we should be praying that we have continuous love within the church, between the members, so that we do not end up with conflicts, causing a breakage in the bond. If we do have some negative emotions towards another member, or uncomfortable feelings towards another member, we should pray about it...that we are able to diminish those feelings. Also, pray that our church, is one body, unified in the name of Jesus Christ.