Paul’s Plan

[전승훈2]

Summary:
Paul explains his travel plans to the Corinthians. He intends to go through Macedonia and hopes to stay with them for a while - possibly even spending the winter - so they can help support him on his next journey. He does not want to visit them only briefly but desires a meaningful stay if the Lord permits.

For now, he will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost because a great and effective ministry opportunity has opened to him, even though there are many opponents.
 
Teaching:
Paul’s ministry always aimed for the church to become stable and grow in Christ, and for that to happen, the problems within the Corinthian church needed to be resolved. The fact that the Corinthian church had grown so much within just five to six years was the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet even within that growth, many issues remained.

Paul did not look only at the church’s growth; he continually watched for the problems within the church, exposed them, pointed them out, and sought to resolve them.

Many people have zeal for church work, yet they lose their first love for Jesus. Some may be doing more work than before, but they forget the salvation they received and focus only on the tasks. Others grow spiritually lukewarm simply because their life circumstances are comfortable.
We must be able to honestly recognize when we are in such conditions, see them as problems, and work to resolve them.

The heart of the gospel always brings us back to the issue of our sin, and it always confronts us with the need to build up the church. If we do not face these truths head-on, we risk losing both the essence of our salvation and the church’s true identity as the church.

Excerpt from the sermon by Pastor Lee, Dec 1, 2025
1 Corinthian 16:5-9