If you’re looking for something to read this the summer in your Bible study or on your own, LifeWay’s Collegiate Magazine has recently published a 13 week Bible study of mine for their Summer issue.
Collegiate Magazine is published by a division of LifeWay called Thread’s and I’ve really been digging their ministry. They produce a lot of awesome resources or young adults, so I would encourage you to check out their website if you haven’t already.
Just to give you a taste of what you can find in the study, it walks through 1 and 2 Corinthians, examining what it means to be the Church in your daily life. One of the things I like best about 1 and 2 Corinthians is that these two letters were written to a culture much like ours today, and they deal with everything from sexual purity and singleness to holding friends accountable to figuring out how where you fit in your church community.
Along those lines, here’s a taste of what you can expect in the study. Below is a brief excerpt from a section on spiritual gifts that addresses questions like whether everyone has spiritual gifts, or how you can know what your gifts are:
Think You Don’t Have Any Gifts?
Let’s begin with a little theology lesson. There is a doctrine of the Church called creatio ex nihilo. It means “creation from nothing.” It’s the idea that God created us from nothing, as opposed to creating us from pre-existing material. This doctrine is important because it means that God was intentional about how He made us. In creating you, He didn’t have to make due with what He already had. No, God made each part of you from scratch, which means He made you exactly the way He wanted you, on purpose.
This also means that God made you for a reason, and it’s up to you to figure out what that reason is. All of us were created to glorify God, but we all do this in different ways. That said, God made each of us uniquely so we can glorify Him in our own individual ways, and we all have gifts toward that end. We just have to discern them.
If you’re interested in reading more, you can either pick up a Collegiate Magazine at your local LifeWay store, or you can purchase one on-line here. And if you’re studying with a group, you may want to check out the accompanying teaching plans here.
