GROUP FELLOWSHIP NOTES:    SUMMER 2006   MAY 30/JUN 1

‘THE SPREADING FLAME- How they brought the good news ....... to Rome’

(9) Acts 18.1-18:  THE FLAME SPREADS ...TO CORINTH

PAUL AT CORINTH: a long effective ministry

• CORINTH, THE CHALLENGE!  Get your Group Leader to tell you all about Corinth, the city known as ‘the wicked city’, - and the great challenge and opportunity it presented.
• CORINTH, THE CHURCH! In this challenging and corrupt city, a church was born – the people became ‘new creations’!  (2 Cor 5.17). The church there has been described as being like ‘snow drops on a dung heap’!

A LONG AND EFFECTIVE MINISTRY at Corinth

Paul arrives at Corinth alone.

Paul’s ministry there is characterised by:

DILIGENCE exhibited: (18.1-5)  - in fact, hard work!!

• What was the pattern of the early days of Paul’s ministry at Corinth?. What indication is there in the opening verses that he worked very hard to sustain his ministry?  (Compare Paul’s words to the Ephesians: Acts 20.31-35)
• Why did he work at secular work? When did this pattern of ministry change? (18.5)
• How did it change? And why?
• Is Christian work a ‘soft option’?

INTRANSIGENCE encountered: (18.6)

• What are we told about the result of his ministry in the synagogue?
• What do you make of Paul’s response? Was it a response of personal pique or spiritual policy? Do you think the Lord  would have approved of his response? (cf Matt 10.14)
• What does it teach us about responsibility and urgency in responding?      (see Heb 4.7)

ENCOURAGEMENTS received:

• The human spirit needs encouragement!  Christian workers greatly need encouragements!  What encouragements does Paul receive at Corinth?
• COMPANIONS AND PARTNERS IN SERVICE: Talk about the encouragement Paul must have felt in finding Aquilla and Priscilla. What do you know about them?
• Where is Pontus?
• Any thought about when and how they may have become Christians? (see Acts    2.9)
• Ask your Group Leader why the Jews were expelled from Rome.
• How much of an encouragement to you are your Christian companions and partners in service?
• RETURN OF FRIENDS: (18.6) – Why would the return of Silas and Timothy from Thessalonica have provided great encouragement to Paul? (cf 1Thess 3.6-8) Should we share more often than we do stories of good news?  How can we put that into operation in our daily lives? What do we find ourselves sharing most: difficulties or  blessings?
• NEW BELIEVERS AND BAPTISMS!  (18.7-8) Talk about the encouragement to Paul of the  events recorded in these verses. What do you find provides the greatest encouragement to those serving Christ? To you in your Christian life?
• What distinction does Crispus hold?? (1 Cor 1.14)
• LORD’S OWN ASSURANCE: (18.9-10)  The Lord’s personal words to Paul assure him of safety and success. Why do you think the Lord felt it necessity to ‘appear’ to Paul in this exceptional way? Do you think it reveals anything about Paul’s inner spiritual needs?
• Do the (hard) experiences we go through leave lasting ‘scars’ on our spirits – shadows in  our minds?

DELIVERANCE experienced  (18.12-17)

• How did the Lord keep his promise?
• What form did the ‘attack’ on Paul take at Corinth? how was this different from that in Lystra?  (14.19)
• why did it fail?
• What do you make of Gallio’s attitude?

CONTINUANCE practised (18.11,18)

• What important things are said in these verses about Paul’s ‘continuance’?
• The Corinthians’ ‘continuance’?
• In what did they both ‘continue’?  How important is this to us?  How much effort are we putting into continuing in ‘the word of God’?