Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Yesterday in Acts 18 we met the people of the church in Corinth.

Paul went there on a missionary tour and stuck around for 18 months.

He likes to check on them from time to time and he sends them letters in response to what he hears.

Before he wrote 1st Corinthians, he wrote them another letter that we haven't found.

We call it 0 Corinthians.

He references it in the section we'll read tomorrow.

Then at some point later he sent this letter,

First Corinthians, to address some really upsetting problems

had been hearing about, as well as some questions they had.

Before we jump in, this is your friendly reminder to slow down when you're reading Paul's intros.

They aren't fluff, they are steeped in theology.

Okay, here we go.

Paul spends a lot of time in this letter correcting things the Corinthian Church is doing and

believing. It carries the weight of a rebuke.

But he opens with some encouraging reminders before launching into the problem areas.

In 1, 7 through 9, he says that Jesus will sustain them to the end and will make them guiltless.

He says that since God is the one who called them into his family to begin with, God will be the

one to keep them there.

Because what God initiates, he will sustain, and he will fulfill.

When you're about to be confronted with all your sin, it's nice to be reminded that

none of it changes the way God views you.

None of it revokes your status as his beloved child.

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