Sunday Service in San Lazzaro Church

Tomorrow morning Stefano will preach
at the Sunday Service of San Lazzaro Church,
continuing the church shared series on 1 Corinthians.



This is a follow-up of the work done during the Bologna Bible School in March when, alongside other churches in Bologna,
we had a full-immersion on 1 Corinthians:
"A clash between two wisdoms!"

Stefano will preach from
1 Corinthians 4:1-21: "A matter of perspective: first and last"
with these 2 headings:

I. The perspective of the "first" looking down to the "last".

II. The perspective of God who makes us seeing through the eyes of Christ.

To introduce this sermon we'll read this letter: Matter of Perspective:

Dear Mom and Dad, Just thought I'd drop you a note to clue you in on my plans. I've fallen in love with a guy called Jim. He quit high school after grade eleven to get married. About a year ago he got a divorce. We've been going steady for two months and plan to get married in the fall. Until then, I've decided to move into his apartment (I think
I might be pregnant). At any rate, I dropped out of school last week, although I'd like to finish college sometime in the future. 
(On the next page the letter continued)

Mom and Dad, I just want you to know that everything I've written so far in this letter is false. NONE of it is true. But, Mom and Dad, it IS true that I got a C- in French and flunked my math class... and it IS true that I'm going to need some more money for my tuition payments.

Failure can sound like success. It just depends on the perspective.
The measuring device we use to evaluate our success or failure is often more important than the success or failure, for to a large extent, it determines that success or failure.

We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.  

1 Corinthians 4:10-14 (ESV)