As a skilled communicator, Paul in his mission work used the familiar to explain the unfamiliar. He took everyday features of the Greco-Roman world to illustrate the practical reality of new life in Christ. He drew especially from two areas of his converts’ world for his teaching metaphors—athletes with their games and the ever-present Roman … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Corinthians 1:22-24. How do these verses help us to understand the different ways people relate to truth? What can we learn here that can help us in our witnessing to various people groups? In the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, God worked remarkable signs of providential care for Israel. Later generations of Jews … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Cor. 1:22-24, 1 Tim. 6:12, 2 Tim. 4:7, 1 Cor. 15:12-22, Acts 15:38-41. Memory Text: Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of … Continue reading –>
-Gamini Mendis- I wanted to call a meeting of all the clergy in my town in Sri Lanka. I thought we needed to pray and fellowship together. I reviewed the list to be sure I hadn’t forgotten any pastor. I knew that some of the clergy wouldn’t be happy that I was inviting the Adventist … Continue reading –>
I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings (1 Cor. 9:22-23 NIV). Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 NIV. Modern missiology applies the term contextualization to Paul’s mission methods stated here. … Continue reading –>
Multiculturalism is a recent term, first appearing in print in the 1960s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. For many ancient peoples, there were only two categories of humanity—us and them, our tribe and not our tribe. For Greeks, all non-Greeks werebarbarians. For Jews, all non-Jews were Gentiles. As we have seen already, the success … Continue reading –>
From Jerusalem and round about as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ (Rom. 15:19, NKJV). What crucial element for any kind of mission work can we find in this text? See also 1 Cor. 1:23; 1 Cor 2:2; Gal. 6:14; Phil. 1:15-18. One thing is certain about all of Paul’s missionary endeavors: no … Continue reading –>
Read Acts 9:1-22, the story of Paul’s conversion. How was this experience linked to his missionary calling? See also Acts 26:16-18. Right from the start, it was clear that the Lord had intended to use Paul to reach both Jews and Gentiles. No other event in Paul’s preparation as missionary and theologian compared in importance … Continue reading –>
Personality traits are an individual’s typical responses to surrounding domestic, cultural, or educational circumstances. Character is the combination of traits, qualities and abilities that make up what sort of person an individual is. Read Acts 9:1, Philippians 3:6, Philippians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 15:9,1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Timothy 1:16; Galatians 1:14; and 2 Corinthians 11:23-33. What do these texts … Continue reading –>
Saul was born in Tarsus, an important town on the trade route between Syria and western Asia (Acts 22:3). Tarsus was a multicultural center of industry and learning and home for a short time to Rome’s most famous orator and senator, Cicero. Saul’s parents were Diaspora Jews (Jews who were not living in the land … Continue reading –>
