As Christians we need the Holy Spirit to live the life that God wants us to live. The Holy Spirit works along side of us to be an advocate, a comforter and helper. The Holy Spirit is truth and God's word is truth and therefore the Spirit will not guide us outside of what is written in the bible. The Spirit of God is not different to the Son of God. As believers today, we did not see Jesus as a man on this earth, but we are connected to Jesus in the same way the disciples were when Jesus left this earth, and that is through the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. The world receives peace in times of no trouble. Christians receive the peace of God despite our troubles. We can only receive this peace if we first accept Jesus into our lives and allow the Spirit to work in our lives. Will you allow God to work in your life? Will you allow the Spirit to bring you into a deeper relationship with God?

Food has such a social impact in our lives when we gather together with friends and family. When the early Christians met for the Lord's Supper they shared a meal together, which was known as a 'love feast'. In this passage, the 'love feast' that the Corinthians were sharing in was turning out to be more like an 'abusive feast', doing more harm than good. There was division and selfishness forming between groups instead of fellowship with the whole church. Paul reminds the Corinthians not to come to the Lord's Supper with unprepared hearts. What do we need to do in preparation of participating in the Lord's Supper? We need to look back at what Jesus has done for us, we need to look ahead in anticipation of Christ's return, we need to look within and judge our own sin and confess this to God and we need to look around at other Christians and see body of Christ. The Lord's Supper should be a celebration of the unity of the church. Are you prepared?

The gospel is not just the answer for our own sin and broken relationship with God, but it is the answer for everyone's sin and their own broken relationship and fellowship with God. As Paul enters Corinth he is determined not to be discouraged in presenting the gospel and he surrounds himself with people who are willing to support and encourage him in his ministry. How can we avoid giving up serving God? We need to surround ourselves with kingdom building people, but also be prepared to support and encourage others. We need to keep a spiritual perspective in our life and not be influenced by the world around us. We need to recognise God's assurance that He is always with us, whatever the circumstances, and we need to be serving God in His will for our life.

It is easy for us to close the door on people who have ideas that do not resonate with us. We see in the early part of this passage how some of the church leaders struggled with how the Gentiles could come to a true faith in Jesus without following the law of Moses, the test of such compliance being circumcision. Peter, Paul, Barnabas and James highlight that there is no difference in God's eyes between Jew and Gentile. What distracts us and stops us from focusing on our call to share Jesus with others?

Paul describes himself, when he was Saul, as a Hebrew of Hebrews - he had all the right qualities of being a great Jewish leader including being a Roman citizen. He saw persecuting Christians as upholding the law of God. Saul's view of God's Kingdom was very narrow, limited to the nation of Israel. He was ignorant in his unbelief, but Jesus elected to save him. Because of the persecutions of the Christians, many were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Philip is an example of one of those who took the opportunity to spread the gospel and good news of Jesus to the people of Samaria - a natural enemy of Israel. Where is God leading you to reach out to those in our society that don't quite fit in? Who are the people in our life that need to know about the gospel and love of Jesus?