The Prime Timers A.B.F. welcomes you to our weekly web page.

Just about every Sunday you can find us in the Payne Education Center from 10:10am to 10:50, rooms 207-209.  We have coffee and snacks and Paul's letters to the Corinthians  waiting for you!

Skip Allen will teach class July 23rd as we continue our journey through Paul's letters to the Corinthians.

Prime Timers Good News

At the beginning of our class we set aside time for members to bring us their good news. For $1 you can have the floor.

Called to Win

Joe Thomson taught class this week, and the theme "Called to Win" reminded Joe of his efforts for his High School track team. Apparently Joe was not the star of the team but he recalled the efforts of his track coach, who after several false starts enabled Joe's struggling team to find a sweet victory.

Today's reading in addition to having sports metaphors, has Paul teaching Christians to have conduct so far above reproach that it would give no possible offense to Jew or non-Jew. After having us read the section from the end of 1 Corinthians 9, Joe asked us to consider:

1) which "idols" tempt us or sway us away from our commitment to Christ?
2) How do we handle these temptations?
and 3) What helps us get back on track?

In the section above, Paul sets out a brief philosophy of life, mainly consisting of Self-Discipline. Life is a battle, he says, and he asks us to treat this as a campaign where we keep pressing onward to our good goal. In order to do this we need to discipline our bodies, our minds, our souls and to face life's sorrows with calm endurance. Also, we need to face life's temptations with the strength God gives us, and to face disappointments with courage.

Going along with the sports metaphor, we need to know what our goal is, and to know that this goal is worth pursuing. To save others, we must take control of ourselves.

Joe was reminded of the classic book, Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, where Robinson teaches Friday about religion, and the one true God. If you click the link this section is about half-way down the page that appears. Joe also was reminded of Hebrews 12:1-12.

The second part of our reading is about the perils of overconfidence. Joe told us that the Greek word for temptation is closer in meaning to the word test. Corinthians 10:1-5 recalls events from the Old Testament, such as Exodus 13:21-22: "By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." and Exodus 14:19-31, where the Lord parts the sea for the Israelites. Also Exodus 16:11-15 where the Lord provides "manna from heaven" for the starving Israelites. Finally there is Numbers 20:1-11 where Moses brings water from a rock in the desert of Zin.

This is a prelude to Paul's conclusions about temptation. First, temptation will come, its part of life. These tests are put to us not to make us fall but to make us stronger. The temptations coming to us are not unique. And with these temptations there is always a way out, an escape, not by surrendering or retreating but by way of conquest in the Power and the Grace of God.

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

St. Paul addresses the Corinthians, Middle Ages.

Paul's journeys took him from what is now Israel, through Italy and Turkey, and right in the middle of everything is the city of Corinth.

This representation of St. Paul is from a stained glass window in the new church. You really have to see these windows in person to appreciate their true beauty. St. Martin's Episcopal Church conducts tours of the church every Sunday starting at 12:30pm, and then Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:45am to 12:30pm, with a formal tour from 11:00am to 12:00pm.

The Lesson for Sunday, July 23rd is titled "All for One"

Key Verse:  1 Corinthians 12:7

Focus of the Lesson:  Everyone has something to contribute to the common good. How should we use our gifts, abilities, and talents? Paul indicates that every believer has received a spiritual gift that can be used to build up the body of Christ.

The reading is 1 Corinthians 12:1-13. This text is from the New International Version^®.

   1 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

   4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

   7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

   12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

NIV®