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Post by Obadiah on Oct 9, 2022 3:54:02 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 9TH
All Things Are YoursAll things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. 1 Corinthians 21b-23Paul is showing what happens when you choose the wisdom of God and the ways of God. You end up gaining the whole world. That is what Jesus said — The meek shall inherit the earth, (Matthew 5:5). What a great and broad vista opens up to us in these words! After all, the trouble with the world is, if the world, or the worldly church, is offering you something, and you want it badly enough — its fame, pleasure, honor, wealth, whatever it is — you will probably get it. But that is all you will get. Jesus said that if you do your giving to be seen of men you have your reward (Matthew 6:5). That is it. You will never get another one; nothing waiting for you beyond, no treasure laid up in heaven. If you do your praying to be heard of men so that you get a reputation for piety and godliness, well, you will get the reputation, but that is all you get. It is the world that is narrow; it is the world that is crabbed and withered and limited in its whole approach. But, as Paul reveals here, those who choose God never lose. This is right in line with Jesus' great principle, If you save your life you will lose it, but if you give up your life for my sake you will save it, (Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35). Paul looks all around and says, He who lets God choose, ends up with everything. Why do you divide between Paul and Apollos and Cephas, and choose one among them? You can have them all, he says. They are all yours. Paul, who planted — his whole ministry is yours. Apollos, the waterer — his ministry is yours; you can get the benefit of it. Cephas, the rock — whatever there is of value in his ministry is yours. In fact the whole world is open to you. Led of the Spirit of God, you can go anywhere you want and God will give you things that money cannot buy. I have had this experience many times of enjoying things that millionaires own, but I get to use and they do not. The world is yours. Life with all its possibilities is open before you. God can lead you into where the real living is. Even death with its threat is already mastered; it is already yours. When you come to it, it will minister to you — not take from you. It will bring you into glory. The present, the future, all things are yours because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's and therefore everything he owns is yours. All things belong to you because you belong to the One to whom all things belong. That is an incredible vista, isn't it? And yet those words are true. That is what God has in mind for his people. As we choose the life style we are going to have, do we have the faith and the courage to set aside the life style of the world around us, with all its demands for conformity, and walk with God? When we do, all that God possesses becomes ours. We become children of a heavenly Being who makes it all available to us. Lord, thank you for opening this vista of life in which all that you possess becomes mine. Life ApplicationAre we open and willing to receive our full inheritance in Christ? Are we learning to receive and use His good gifts at His discretion and with thankfulness for His perfect provision for our needs? Deep Dive> How to Destroy a ChurchDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by civic on Oct 9, 2022 4:30:37 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 2ND
Behind DivisionsI appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul always expresses great concern about the possibility of a split in the church. In a similar passage in his letter to the Philippians he says, So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind, (Philippians 2:1-2 RSV). In writing to the church at Ephesus, he exhorted the elders there to be careful to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, (Ephesians 4:3 RSV). Church unity is a very important matter. Paul puts it first in the list of problems he has to deal with here at Corinth. Many of the other problems were flowing out of this division within the congregation. Here in Verse 10 he briefly shows us the ground of unity, and the nature of unity in a church. The ground, of course, is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I appeal to you, he says, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their relationship to Christ was the unifying factor of the church. There is no other name big enough, great enough, glorious enough, and powerful enough to gather everybody together, despite the diversity of viewpoint and the differences of background or status in life, than the name of Jesus. That is why the apostle appeals to it. He recognizes that we share a common life if we have come to Christ; we are brothers and sisters because we have his life in us. He is the ground, always, of unity. And more than that, we have a responsibility to obey him, to follow his Lordship. Therefore, the only basis upon which you can get Christians to agree is by setting before them the Person of the Lord Jesus. He describes the nature of unity this way, that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. That does not mean that everybody has to think alike. With all the differences among us, it is impossible to get people to think alike. The church is never called to having everybody think exactly alike. Yet the apostle says they are to be of united in mind. How can that be? The letter to the Philippians helps us here. Paul says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, (Philippians 2:5). He then goes on to describe for us the mind of Christ, which is a willingness to give up rights and personal privileges and give in and take a lower place. Then comes that great Christological passage where he describes how Christ, ...though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8 RSV) That is the mind Paul is talking about. When everybody decides to put the things of Christ first, and is willing to suffer loss that the honor and glory of Christ might be advanced, that is what brings harmony in a congregation. That is always the unifying factor in a church, and that is the mind we should have, the mind that does not consider itself the most important thing. Thank you, Father, for your word. Let it do its great work of cutting down and eliminating from my life the things in which I take pride and which separate me from others. Help me to judge these in the light of the cross, and to walk before you in unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Life Application Are we confusing equality with authentic unity in Christ? Do we need to re-think our personal responsibility for building walls of separation and disunity, choosing rather to be peacemakers? Deep Dive> Behind DivisionsDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries. Makes you think about the other forum and that new thread . |
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 9, 2022 5:11:11 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 2ND
Behind DivisionsI appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul always expresses great concern about the possibility of a split in the church. In a similar passage in his letter to the Philippians he says, So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind, (Philippians 2:1-2 RSV). In writing to the church at Ephesus, he exhorted the elders there to be careful to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, (Ephesians 4:3 RSV). Church unity is a very important matter. Paul puts it first in the list of problems he has to deal with here at Corinth. Many of the other problems were flowing out of this division within the congregation. Here in Verse 10 he briefly shows us the ground of unity, and the nature of unity in a church. The ground, of course, is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I appeal to you, he says, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their relationship to Christ was the unifying factor of the church. There is no other name big enough, great enough, glorious enough, and powerful enough to gather everybody together, despite the diversity of viewpoint and the differences of background or status in life, than the name of Jesus. That is why the apostle appeals to it. He recognizes that we share a common life if we have come to Christ; we are brothers and sisters because we have his life in us. He is the ground, always, of unity. And more than that, we have a responsibility to obey him, to follow his Lordship. Therefore, the only basis upon which you can get Christians to agree is by setting before them the Person of the Lord Jesus. He describes the nature of unity this way, that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. That does not mean that everybody has to think alike. With all the differences among us, it is impossible to get people to think alike. The church is never called to having everybody think exactly alike. Yet the apostle says they are to be of united in mind. How can that be? The letter to the Philippians helps us here. Paul says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, (Philippians 2:5). He then goes on to describe for us the mind of Christ, which is a willingness to give up rights and personal privileges and give in and take a lower place. Then comes that great Christological passage where he describes how Christ, ...though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8 RSV) That is the mind Paul is talking about. When everybody decides to put the things of Christ first, and is willing to suffer loss that the honor and glory of Christ might be advanced, that is what brings harmony in a congregation. That is always the unifying factor in a church, and that is the mind we should have, the mind that does not consider itself the most important thing. Thank you, Father, for your word. Let it do its great work of cutting down and eliminating from my life the things in which I take pride and which separate me from others. Help me to judge these in the light of the cross, and to walk before you in unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Life Application Are we confusing equality with authentic unity in Christ? Do we need to re-think our personal responsibility for building walls of separation and disunity, choosing rather to be peacemakers? Deep Dive> Behind DivisionsDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries. Makes you think about the other forum and that new thread . Most definitely. The sermon this Devo came from is Even better. Yes it's quite timely. Funny how that happens. |
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 10, 2022 4:13:56 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 10TH
Stewards of the Mysteries of God
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2A minister of Christ is to be a steward entrusted with what Paul calls the mysteries God has revealed, that secret and hidden wisdom of God, these valuable truths which are only found in the revelation of the Word of God and nowhere else. Ministers are responsible to dispense these truths continually to the congregation so that lives are changed and lived on the basis of these remarkable truths. These are truths about life, about our families, about God, and ourselves. These truths lie beyond all secular research and opinion polls; they are undiscoverable by natural reason or observation. These mysteries, when understood, are the basis upon which all God's purposes in our lives are worked out. Paul says that stewards are to be found faithful. Faithful at what? Faithful at dispensing the mysteries so people understand them. You may fail at many things as a teacher, a preacher, a leader of a class. You may not make it in many areas, but do not miss it in this one. Be sure that you are setting forth the mysteries of God. That is what stewards will be judged on. What are these mysteries? Here are some of them: There is the mystery of the kingdom of God, (Mark 4:11 KJV). What does it mean? It means an understanding of God at work in history, how he is working through the events of our day and of the days of the past, and how he uses these events that fill the pages of our newspapers to carry out his purposes. There is the mystery of iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7 KJV), of lawlessness. This is the explanation we desperately need to be reminded of continually, of why we are never able to make any progress when it comes to solving human dilemmas — why every generation without exception repeats the struggle, problems and difficulties of the previous generation. Then there is the counteraction to that — the mystery of godliness, (1 Timothy 3:16 KJV). This is the remarkable secret that God has provided by which a Christian is enabled to live right in the midst of the pressures of the world with all of its illusion and all of its danger, not to run away from it but to refuse to conform to it and do so in a loving, gracious way. What is the secret? It is the secret of an imparted life — Christ in you, the hope of glory, (Colossians 1:27b RSV). Christ in you, available to you — his life, his wisdom, his strength, his power to act available to you — to enable you to do what you do not think you can do at the moment, but, when you choose to do, you find you have the strength to perform. That is the mystery of godliness, the most life-transforming doctrine that has ever been set before man, radical in its effect. Then there is the mystery of the church (Ephesians 3:1-6), that strange new society that God is building which is to be a demonstration of a totally different life style before a watching world, and which is to repel the impact of the world upon it, and, instead, be an impact upon the world around to change it. Those who are called to teach this in a church congregation are stewards of that mystery, entrusted with it to set it out and to help people to face the facts of life without fear and favor so that all can experience both the ecstasy and the agony of Christian experience. Thank you, Lord, for these insightful words that help me to understand how the church functions. Help me to support those who teach and preach and hold them up in prayer before you. Life ApplicationWhether we teach, or are being taught, we need to know the four mysteries revealed in, and only in Scripture. Can we identify them? Are we giving priority to learning and sharing this transcendent Truth? Deep Dive> The True MinisterDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 11, 2022 4:10:34 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 11TH
ComplacencyAlready you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign — and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 1 Corinthians 4:8 The seat of the problem at Corinth was their love of human wisdom, their hunger for the approval of the world, and the pride they took in their own accomplishments that they felt merited that approval. There were several things Paul saw in Corinth that told the story for him: He had seen the divisions among them. Here was a congregation split up into little cliques gathering around certain teachers. Then they were telling everyone how great a church they were, how tremendous were their meetings, and taking credit for it themselves as though it were something they had thought of and planned and worked out. There was jealous strife and infighting in the congregation and the leadership, and finally, there was this complacent spirit. There were a lot of exciting things going on, but they had a complacency and smug satisfaction with being the way they were. What do complacent Christians look like? Paul indicates it is a sense that they have arrived. You meet people like that today. There are some who seem to feel as though they have it made; they have learned the whole truth; there is nothing you can tell them that they have not already learned; they think of themselves as rich. There are a lot of things that can give a Christian a sense of being rich and make him complacent. At Laodicea it was because of material possessions. We are increased with goods, they said, and have need of nothing. We have a tremendous budget; we have plenty of money; we can do what we want; we do not even need God any more, (Revelation 3:17). They were priding themselves on how affluent they were and that gave them a sense of complacency so that the Lord had to say to them, You have no idea what you are really like — you are poor and blind, pitiable and naked, and spiritually poverty-stricken. Affluence can do that to a church. Sometimes it is prominence that gives that sense of complacency. Perhaps you attend a large church that is known all over the world and has a reputation as a missionary church, a Bible-teaching church, and people in the congregation soon begin to think, We have arrived; we have no further to go, and the pride of complacency begins to appear. At Corinth, however, the problem was none of these: the problem here was they were complacent over possessing all the gifts of the Spirit — they had them all. There are probably 21 or more gifts of the Spirit that can be detected in the Scriptures, and all of them were present in Corinth. Now that is rather amazing because today we are being told that the trouble with the church is that it does not have enough knowledge and practice and experience with the gifts of the Spirit. But here was a church that had them all. They had tongues, and with it they had miracles and healings and prophesies plus a lot of what they regarded as lesser gifts — the gifts of helps and administrations, wisdom and knowledge, teaching, service, and giving. All the gifts were present. That was what was making them feel complacent: they felt rich because they had all the gifts of the Spirit and so they were self-satisfied. I am sure their meetings were interesting. Nobody wanted to stay away because they had lots of things happening, but the church was in danger, and Paul saw it, and wrote to them to point this out. That is the mark of a complacent Christian: the feeling that we have arrived. Father, thank you for a father's love that rebukes and chastens. Those whom I love I rebuke and chasten. Help me to cleanse my life of whatever introduces the sense of complacency and pride. Life Application Has affluence in any area of our lives resulted in complacency, or self-satisfaction? Are we aware of the serious erosion in our worship and serving? Are we ready to be re-routed into authentic and effective discipleship? Deep Dive> A Father in ActionDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 12, 2022 4:49:25 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 12TH
Scandal in the ChurchI wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from among you. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13
Paul refers to a letter that he had written to them, a letter that is lost to us. In it, Paul had evidently said something about not associating with immoral people, and the Corinthians had taken it to mean (as many Christians seem to feel today), that they were not to have anything to do with unbelievers who lived immoral lives. I am amazed at how that very attitude which Paul was attempting to correct here in this letter has pervaded the evangelical world. I meet people who refuse to have anybody come into their homes who is not a Christian — people who want nothing to do with anybody who lives in a way that is offensive to the Lord. I remember in my early pastorate going to a couple and asking them to open their home for a Bible class. The lady looked horrified and said, Oh! I could never do that. I asked, Why not? Why, she said, people who smoke would come in. My home is dedicated to God and I am not going to have any smoking going on there. That is a misunderstanding of the very thing Paul is talking about. We cannot avoid the world — we were sent into it. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, (Matthew 10:16 KJV). That is where we belong. Their habits may be offensive to us, but that is understandable. We do not have to pronounce judgment on them; God will do that. We are to love them and understand that they do not have any basis of knowledge for a change. We are not to demand it of them before we begin to show friendship and love and reach out to them to help them to see their need, to see the One who can answer the hunger of their hearts. What we offer the world is the gospel, not condemnation but the good news. But when it comes to the church, we are to judge the church for specific wrongdoings. Notice how Paul lists them. It is not because they are hard to live with or they are impatient people or they are obnoxious Christians — you are not to judge them on that basis. But if they are immoral, greedy, idolaters, revilers, drunkards or robbers then they are to be judged by the actions of the church, even to the point of social pressures: Do not even eat with them, he says. If they will not listen, then withdraw from them. It comes at last to ultimate exclusion, as he has indicated in this passage. What health would return to the world, and to the church, if the church would begin to behave this way! The reason the world is going downhill rapidly is because the church lets it by not maintaining the standards that God has given to us here. The purpose of a passage like this is to call us back to what God has given us, and to recognize the unique position the church holds in the world today — when it begins to walk in the beauty of holiness and enjoy the privileges that God has given to us. When we live in victory over the forces that destroy others, then people begin to see that there is meaning, purpose and reason for the salvation we profess to have. Thank you, Father, for your honest statement of what is the truth about me. You are the God of truth. You do not spare me, and you do not condemn me either. You do not wipe me out, but you do tell me the truth. We see behind it, Lord, your loving father's heart of concern. Help me to judge my life in these areas according to your Word, and to walk in the light and the power of it. Life ApplicationDo we share and care with God about the spiritual health of His Body? Are we judging non-Christians rather than targeting our individual and united godliness? What may be preventing our effective witness beyond the church walls? Deep Dive> Scandal in the ChurchDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 13, 2022 4:45:33 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 13TH
The Wrong Way to Right WrongsIf any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord's people? Or do you not know that the Lord's people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 1 Corinthians 6:1-3The apostle does not use the word stupid here, but his implication is that these people are very foolish for doing what they are doing. They were obviously engaging in lawsuits, dragging them before the Roman courts, and having all their quarrels and dirty linen washed in public and settled by a secular court. This, the apostle says, is foolish, and he has two reasons for implying this. First, he implies that it is an act of audacious boldness: Dare any one of you having a grievance against his brother take it to a law court to settle? His clear implication is that this is an audacious act; it is an outrageous act; it is a bold, daring thing to do. Paul implies that, of course, by the word he uses — that one who does such is uncaring; he has reached the point where he does not care what anybody thinks or feels and he is acting regardless of the injuries that may be done to others. Paul then suggests, in the two questions he asks, that anybody who does such a thing is really an ignorant person: Do you not know that the church is going to judge the world, and do not you know that the church is going to judge angels? These questions he asks imply a certain degree of knowledge that the Corinthians ought to have had. Do you not know, he says, that the saints will judge the world? Surely he is referring to those passages both in the Gospels and in the Epistles where we are clearly told that when the Lord returns the saints are going to share the throne of judgment with him. We are to rule and to reign with Christ, entering into judgment with him. We are not told whether we are all assigned a little throne to sit on, and have a certain number of people come to us, or whether we divide up according to the alphabet. We are, however, to enter into the mind and heart of God as he examines the motives and hearts, the thoughts and innermost desires and urges of men. In Chapter 4, remember, Paul said that we are not to judge before the Lord who will examine the motives, the hidden things of the heart. But we are learning how to do that, and that is the point Paul is raising here. He does not mean to put down the systems of justice that were practiced in that day or any day. Paul admired and honored Roman law -- he himself called upon it for defense on occasion -- but he is saying that human law by its very nature has to deal with trivial, superficial things, with actions, and not with urges and deep, hidden motives. Then the apostle goes even further and says, Do you not know that we are to judge angels? Just think of that! We do not know much about angels. They are beings of a higher order than we are. They are different in their very nature than we, and yet the amazing statement of Scripture is that God is preparing a people who are going to be so capable of delving into the motives, and hidden desires, and urges of all beings, that some day they will sit with him in judging the angels that have fallen. You can see Paul's argument then: Is it not rather ridiculous that you people who are going to have to deal in such difficult and hidden and subtle matters as the judgment of the world and of angels cannot even settle these little squabbles among yourselves? It is almost like having a mathematician who works with those great computers call in a ninth-grader and ask him for help to balance his checkbook. It's ridiculous, isn't it? Father, teach me to understand more thoroughly the great sweep of Scripture extending even beyond this life where I am now learning things and principles that I will be putting into practice in the life to come. Life Application Are we maximizing the trivial and momentary, while trivializing the essential and eternal events of our lives? Are we viewing God's equipping and training as preparation for the big picture beyond this time warp? Deep Dive> The Wrong Way to Right WrongsDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 14, 2022 4:29:22 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 14TH
What are Bodies For?Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 This passage tells why sexual immorality is different from other sins. Here again Paul is reflecting on how human nature is different than animal nature. It has a unique capacity: it is this marvelous capacity to hold God, to be intimately related to the greatness and the majesty and the glory of God, to have God in you. That is the temple — God dwelling in something transforms it into a temple. But sexual immorality defiles that temple. It offers the temple to another. It brings the body of that person who is the temple into a wrong union and therefore, it is basically the sin of idolatry. That is why in Colossians and other places the apostle links together covetousness, which is idolatry. He means sexual covetousness, the desire for another person's body, is a form of idolatry. Now only idolatry, the worship of another god, the substitution of a rival god, defiles the temple. That is why sexual immorality has an immediate and profound but subtle effect upon the human psyche. It dehumanizes us. It animalizes us. It brutalizes us. Those who indulge in it grow continually more coarse, less sensitive, have less regard for the welfare of another, more self-centered, more desirous of having only their own needs met — I couldn't care less about the rest of you. That is what fornication does. I have seen it destroy young people's relationships. A beautiful young couple came to me. Both of them were Christians, and had formed a close friendship. They were growing in the Lord and heading for marriage and then something happened. They began to fight. Finally, they brought one of their quarrels to me and in the process of working it out I said to them, Are you having sex together? and they admitted they were. I said, Well, this is the result of it. It is destroying your relationship. But they did not believe me and they went on. Sure enough, soon they ended it with great brokenness and hurt on both sides — a painful episode remaining in each one of their lives. This is what sexual immorality does. Paul now closes with a beautiful summary: You are not your own; you were bought with a price. That is basic Christian truth. This is something every Christian ought to remember every day of his life. You have no final right to yourself. God has ordained that we should have decisions that we have to make, and only we can make them. He does not take away our right of choice. He does not turn us unto robots, but, he says we will have to account for the decisions we make. God always reserves the right, because he has bought us, he owns us, we are his by right of creation and of purchase. He reserves the right to take away from our life whatever he sees is harmful to us, whether we like it or not, to give us both blessing and trouble alike as he sees that we need each, and to guide us as a loving Father to the place where we recognize that he owns us, we belong to him. God is honored when any individual Christian begins to live on that basis. That's why he says, ...honor (glorify) God in your body. This is what makes the world see that there is something different about Christians — they have discovered the lost secret of their humanity. God has come to dwell in his temple again, and that temple should be maintained without defilement, without offering it to another, except as God himself has ordained in the beautiful sacrament of marriage. Lord, thank you for these searching words. Help me to present before the watching world a visible manifestation of the beauty of holiness and the joy of a life that walks in close communion with a God who dwells within. Life Application Do we value the high privilege of living in God's temple as tenants? How does sexual immorality defile God's temple? Do we worship the occupant, rather than the Owner of God's temple? Deep Dive> What are Bodies For?Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 15, 2022 4:52:32 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 15TH
Sex in MarriageThe husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 1 Corinthians 7:3-5The major thrust of this paragraph is that sex in marriage is designed for the fulfillment of each partner. Paul does not say to the husband and the wife, Demand your own sexual rights. He never puts it in that way, and yet I have been involved in scores of cases where one of the major problems of the marriage was that one partner, usually the man, demanded his sexual rights from his wife. Nothing is more destructive to marital happiness than that. To mistake and mistreat the passage where it speaks of the wife not ruling over her own body and thinking of this as giving license to the husband to demand sex whenever he wants it is to destroy the whole beauty of sex in marriage. If we understand that it is going to make a big difference in many marriages, and, if you reflect on it a moment, you will see why. Sex is designed so that we have no control over it ourselves within marriage. We need another to minister to us, and that is designed of God to teach us how to relate and fulfill the basic law of life which Jesus put in these terms when he said, If you attempt to save your life you will lose it (Matthew 16:25). If you try to meet your own need, if you put that first in your life, the result will be that you will lose everything you are trying to gain. Instead of finding fulfillment you will find emptiness, and you will end your years looking back upon a wasted experience. You cannot get fulfillment that way. That is not merely good advice — that is a law of life, as inviolable as the law of gravity. The only way to find your needs met and yourself fulfilled is to fulfill another's needs. Throw your life away, Jesus said, and you will find it. That is what sex is all about. It is designed not to have your needs met, but to meet another's needs. Thus, in marriage, you have a beautiful reciprocity. In the process of devoting yourself to the enjoyment of your mate, and to giving him or her the most exquisite sense of pleasure that you can, you find your own needs met. This is why God made us with that quality of needing someone else to fulfill us sexually. This is why unresponsiveness in a partner in sex always creates a deep-seated problem in a marriage and a rift occurs. God has given us the ability to give a gift of love and response to another person, and the joy of doing so is what creates the ecstasy of sexual love in marriage. So important is this to marriage that the apostle goes on to say that it takes precedence over everything else in your life except an occasional spiritual retreat for prayer. Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement... If you are going to do this, it has to be a mutual thing. You must not give up or deny your partner the right to this kind of enjoyment. To unilaterally take action to refuse to involve yourself in a sexual union in marriage is to violate this very command of God, and to hurt the marriage very severely. It can be such a dangerous thing in marriage that Paul says, Be careful. Don't continue it very long, and come together again, lest Satan be given an advantage over you. Those are very wise words, and Paul is underscoring here much that is causing problems in marriages today. Father, thank you for your frankness in dealing with these matters. Teach me, Lord, the beauty and the glory and the joy of sexuality. Help me to learn how to express it in ways that give honor to you and fulfill your divine intention for me. Life ApplicationIs our perspective toward sexual intimacy in marriage consistent with the basic spiritual principles for all of life? Do we need to examine the inconsistencies, and the ways in which they may be both unloving and ungodly? Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 16, 2022 6:18:48 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 16TH
With GodWere you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you — although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord's freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. 1 Corinthians 7:21-24Paul is dealing here with the common problem of slavery in that day, and yet what he says is interesting. Basically, what he says is, To be a slave or to be free is not the overriding consideration of life: it is what you are inside that counts. In the novel Roots, and in the television portrayal of that book, it was very evident that some of the slaves who were believers in Christ were much more noble, more loving, more compassionate, more understanding, demonstrated more integrity than their free masters. This whole passage calls us to the fact that that is the true freedom. Paul is not denying the possibility that God may so arrange things that an opportunity for freedom is given. If so, Take it, he says. Basically, it is a gift of God. Christianity, though it is revolutionary, it is not designed to be radically so. It is not a violent overthrow of systems of the past, but it is designed to free from within. This is what the apostle is saying. So if you are in a situation that is difficult to handle, and hard to bear, remember that is only external; it is only temporary and passing, and you can be free in Christ in a most beautiful and effective and influential way. The key words in verse 24 are with God. Regardless of what your situation may be, even if you cannot change it, even if it is a so-called difficult marriage, remember that God is able to meet you right where you are and to fill your life with love and joy and peace despite the struggles. The struggles themselves will help you do it if you understand them as God's choice for you. So, Paul says, ... do not become slaves of human beings. How do you become slaves of human beings? Well, you do when you conform to the world around, when you let the opinions of the world shape your judgments as to what you ought to be in marriage, or whether you ought to get a divorce or not. You are becoming a slave to men, instead of to the Lord, when you do that. When you follow after teachers in the church and think of one as being better and preferable to the other, you are becoming a slave of men. When you give way to the secular pressures to sexual infidelity you are becoming a slave of men. Do not become slaves of men, Paul says, but remain where you are, with God. Thank you, Father, for the grace that comes to help me live under the difficult situations in which I find myself. Life ApplicationAlthough we are probably not enslaved legally, what are some habits and/or emotional commitments to which we may be held hostage? What are some specific ways in which God's rightful ownership sets us free? Deep Dive> Answers on DivorceDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 17, 2022 4:54:02 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 17TH
The Time Is ShortWhat I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31All Paul says here hangs on the words the time is short. While Paul did anticipate the Lord Jesus Christ returning in his lifetime, I view this as Paul referring to the general brevity of life. The longer we live the more we sense how time seems to fly. As someone has said, About the time your face clears up, your mind begins to go. That's how life seems to be. But not just Christians see that; non-Christians also speak of the shortness of time, and their reaction is, Well, if life is so short, then let's grab all we can. Let's live life with gusto. There is nothing beyond, so let’s get all we can. Their philosophy seems to be: If you are going to be a passenger on the Titanic you might as well go first class. Live it up. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. But that's not to be the Christian's philosophy, Paul tells us. Clearly the Christian response is: Use your short time for eternal purposes. Be sure that the aim and center of your life is not just making a living, but making a life. That's what he is saying, and why he says, let those who have wives live as though they had none. He is not encouraging you to neglect your wife or your responsibilities to your children and your home. What he is saying is that we are to keep things in proper focus. Do not let maintaining your home be the major reason for your existence, or give all your time to enjoying this present life. Life has higher demands and higher challenges. Therefore, even marriage, God-given and beautiful as it is, is not the highest choice an individual can make. If some choose not to marry, to instead pursue other standards, especially spiritual involvement, their choice should be affirmed as good and proper. No one should put them down for it. So his word to us is, Do not let things that the world around you lives for become the center of your life. Joys and sorrows are seen quite differently from the viewpoint of eternity. Success in business is not life's greatest aim, for all in this world is passing away, even its fame and glory. I once visited the museum tomb of General Douglas MacArthur, who was in my day a great American hero. I remembered his welcome in San Francisco when he finally returned home after World War II, and the ticker-tape parades he received both there and in New York. Cabinets held his medals and memorabilia, letters he had written during his life, and uniforms he'd worn. All were gathering dust, and paint was peeling from the ceiling. Standing there I suddenly and deeply sensed the fading glory of earth. I began to compare it with what the Scriptures say awaits the believer in Jesus Christ: that exceeding weight of glory ( 2 Corinthians 4:17) which Paul says is beyond all comparison. It is something so fantastic, so mind-blowing, so unbelievable that nothing we know of on earth can remotely compare to what awaits those who have found God's purposes and realized God's fullness in this life. How tawdry this tomb seemed. The glory of MacArthur was nothing compared with the glory of the simplest believer in Christ. How important therefore it is to pursue that kind of glory, rather than empty baubles that only gather dust. This is Paul’s point — this present world is passing away. Thank you, Father, for the hope I have in you, and that nothing in this short life can compare with what you have in store for me. Help me live, not for things that are passing away, but for that which will last for eternity. Life Application Whether brief or longer, time is given us by God with a view to eternity. Are we investing this priceless gift in the tawdry and perishable things of earth, or in the timeless, imperishable and invaluable purposes of God's good and perfect will? Deep Dive> Alone but Not LonelyDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 18, 2022 4:55:08 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 18TH
For Love's SakeNow about food sacrificed to idols: We know that We all possess knowledge. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 1 Corinthians 8:1 The best meat in Corinth was found right next to the idol temple. In these pagan temples live animals were sacrificed. Like the Jews, they reserved some of this meat for their priests and for public sale. So, the best meat markets in Corinth were right next to an idol temple. Everyone in town knew that if you ate some of that meat you were eating meat that had been offered to an idol. So, the question arose among the Christians: If a Christian eats meat offered to an idol is he somehow participating in the worship of that idol? A group within the church was saying, Yes, that’s exactly what happens. When these local pagans see a known Christian sitting in the public restaurant next to the temple, enjoying a steak that had been offered to the idol, they will think that person agrees with with the pagan ideas about that idol. As a consequence, that Christian is giving a false testimony; he is not clearly declaring that Christ has replaced all idols. Furthermore, he is causing weak Christians to stumble, ones who might easily be led back into worship of an idol by their actions. But there was another party that said, No, that’s not true. An idol is nothing but a piece of wood or stone. How can you worship something that really does not exist? How can we deliver people from their idolatrous ways if we act as if there is something to this? It is better that we act according to the knowledge of reality that God has brought us to in Christ. Let's enjoy our freedom and eat this meat without any question. It is perfectly good meat, and it would be wrong to not use it. So, there was a division within the church. Paul's argument is that such problems cannot be solved merely based on, We know such and such and so and so to be true, therefore, we are free to act. No, Paul says, knowledge or doctrine alone is not enough. You need love. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. Love looks at somebody else's situation, not always one's own. Knowledge, in other words, is self-centered, but love reaches out to include someone else in your thinking. Dr. H. A. Ironside gave an illustration of this. He was at a picnic with other Christians, including a man converted from Islam. A girl brought a basket of sandwiches to this man and offered one. He said, What kind are they? She said, All we have left are ham or pork. He said, Don't you have any beef? She replied, No, they're all gone. Well, he said, then I won't have any. Knowing he was a Christian, she said, Well, sir, I am really surprised. Don't you know that as a Christian you are freed from food restrictions, and you can eat pork or ham or whatever you like? He said, Yes, I know I am free to eat pork, but I am also free not to eat it. I'm still involved with my family in the Middle East, and I know that when I go home each year, and come to my father's door, the first question he will ask is, Have those infidels taught you to eat the filthy hog meat yet? If I have to say, Yes, father, I will be banished from that home and have no further witness in it. But if I can always say, No, father, no pork has ever passed my lips, then I have admittance to the family circle and I am free to tell them of the joy I have found in Jesus Christ. Therefore I am free to eat, or I am free not to eat, as the case may be. That story sets this problem in proper perspective. We do not have to claim our right to freedom based on knowledge. We are free to give up our rights anytime the situation warrants. Though we have the rights, we also have the right not to exercise them for the sake of love. Help me, Father, to act in love in what I do and not act merely in knowledge alone. Thank you for the truth that sets me free, but also for the love that still restrains me and makes me give consideration to someone else's welfare. Life ApplicationGod's love for us sets us free to make loving choices. Do our relationships demonstrate thoughtful responses which originate in godly love? Deep Dive> What's behind Your Influence?Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 19, 2022 5:02:15 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 19TH
Duty and DelightFor when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:16-18What Paul is saying is that he has no sense of pride and achievement because he faithfully preached the gospel without charge. On the contrary, he really has no choice about preaching the gospel. I am compelled to preach. In other words, If I do not preach I am miserable. I have really no choice in this matter. I would much rather preach than experience what I know I am going to experience if I do not: the lash of my conscience, the sense of failure in what God has called me to do. I cannot live with that. Woe to me if I preach not the gospel. He says, If I do it willingly I gain a reward. If I accept this commission from God, and joyfully do what he tells me to do, it is to my great advantage. I enjoy it; but whether I like it or not, I have to do it. There is nothing wrong with a sense of duty; the feeling that God has given you a job to do, and you have to do it whether you like it or not. Many of us are uneasy with that kind of motivation, but Paul felt it. He said, There is no choice for me in the matter of preaching. Whether I like it or not I have a commission to fulfill, and if I want my life to be worth anything at all, I had better do it. But that is not why he does it without charge. He tells us the reason in verse 18: What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel. He is saying that the thing that motivated him, the thing that drove him to work late hours at night making tents so he would earn a living and would not have to be supported by anybody in the church in Corinth, was the sheer delight it gave him to bless and enrich someone else without taking a penny in return. It was the joy of giving that Paul was experiencing. I was invited by some missionaries to go to the south of France to hold a Bible conference. They needed to be refreshed from the Word of God, but I knew too that they could not afford it, and they told me so when they called. They said, We cannot afford to give you an honorarium. I said, That is alright with me. I will come anyway. Can you meet the expenses of the trip? I asked. They said, We will try. I knew that they were going to try out of very meager salaries, as they lived in one of the highest cost of living areas in the world. So I went to France. Through a misunderstanding of communication I was not met at the airport in Lyon, and I sat there for 24 hours waiting to be picked up. I finally got out to the conference ground and we had a great three or four days together feasting on the Word of God. I saw their spirits blessed as they heard the truth. At the close of the conference they came to me and said, We have put together a check from all of our contributions here. We do not know if it is enough, but it is all we have got, so here it is. It was not enough, hardly covering half of my expenses. But I had the exquisite pleasure of turning the check over and endorsing it on the back and handing it back, saying, Use this to establish a fund to bring more speakers in to minister to you. To see the joy and unexpected surprise in their faces was all the reward I needed. I went away, richly repaid for that ministry. Lord, teach me to be giving and generous, not always asking, What's in it for me? Help me to not be squeezed in the mold of the world. Teach me to be like yourself, Lord, to give freely and gladly even though nothing is given back. Life ApplicationIs a price tag attached to our service to others? Do we give and serve with grace, and with gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ who gave all that we may have eternal riches? Deep Dive> Rights or WrongsDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 20, 2022 5:52:01 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 20TH
No TemptationNo temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 Oh what an encouragement this is! This is written down that we might understand three specific things about our testings: First, they are common to all. I do not know anything that is harder to believe, when we are under testing, than that. We all think, Why isn't this happening to others? They deserve it so much more than me. Why is it happening to me? Well, it is just your turn, that is all. Everybody goes through it. You are not permitted to witness their martyrdom, but you will not be allowed to miss yours. You do not see what they go through most of the time, but no one is left out. Trials are common to all. Their time is coming, if it has not already, so do not ever allow yourself to think that what is happening to you is unique. It is not at all. It is very common, and the minute you start inquiring around, you will find a dozen that have gone through it too. Second, though they are common trials, they are also controlled pressures — God is faithful, he will not allow you to be tempted above your strength. Again, that is hard to believe, is it not? We say, Well, it has already happened. I am already beyond my strength. No, you are not. You just think you are. God knows your strength greater than you do. He knows how much you can handle, and how much you cannot. One of the basic principles of training in an athletic contest is to develop things you do not think you can do right now, to put more pressure on you than you think you can handle, is it not? And you discover you can handle it. This is what God does with us. He puts the pressure on, but it is controlled pressure. It will never be more than you can handle as long as you understand the third thing. The third thing is the conquering grace that he provides, the way out that is always present, never failing. What is that way of escape? It is dependence. Discipline is necessary, but so is dependence. All through the Old Testament the heroes and heroines of faith have taught us that in the hour of testing God strips away all human support so that we may learn that he is enough. God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble (Ps.46:1), and we will never discover that until everything else has been taken away. Then we begin to discover that God can hold us steady. He himself is the way of escape, and that is why he puts us through pressures and testings. Lord, I pray that this may be my experience in the days that lie ahead in this troubled world. Life Application What three aspects of our trials and temptations are assured to us as God's people? How does this address our complaints, as well as our confidence in God's purposeful ending? Deep Dive> Disqualified!Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Oct 21, 2022 3:51:58 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR OCTOBER 21ST
IdolatryTherefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 1 Corinthians 10:14There were, of course, idol temples in Corinth. On the hill behind the city was the temple of Aphrodite where male and female prostitutes plied their trade in the name of the worship of Venus, the goddess of love. Within the city itself were scattered many temples; their ruins are still visible today. These Christians had once been idol worshipers, bowing down before these images, their lives being controlled by the fear and the philosophy of the Greek and the Roman pantheons of gods. I do not think that the apostle is concerned that they are going to go back to bowing down to an idol. What he has in mind is not bowing and scraping before an image, but succumbing to the temptation to enjoy again the atmosphere found at the idol temple. There were many fun things going on regarding idolatry that some of the Corinthians were hoping to be able to hang onto. If you had lived in Corinth in that 1st century you would have recognized that everyone regarded the temple as the most exciting place in town. There you could get the best food, served up in the open-air restaurant. There they had the wildest music and all the seductive pleasures of wine, women and song. If you wanted to enjoy yourself in Corinth, you went to the temple. Paul is concerned lest these Corinthians, in seeking to enjoy what would be normal pleasures of life, would be tempted to go back into it to such a degree that, ultimately, they would find themselves lured back into belief in these idols and their power. Idolatry is not something you do outwardly with your body. Idolatry occurs whenever anyone or anything becomes more important to you than the living God. This is the greatest temptation we all face. When we fall back into the place where something becomes of greater importance to us and more controlling in our life than God himself, we have succumbed again to idolatry. How easily this kind of idolatry happens to us today! You can get so wrapped up in sports, for instance, that you live for them; they take over in your life. When dancing becomes more than recreation but is something you cannot put aside, then it becomes idolatry. Skiing can do the same thing. Fishing can keep you away from your ministry. Television robs you of Bible study. Gourmet eating that demands your attention and your money is a form of idolatry. These things are not wrong in themselves, but it is easy to fall prey to them. They lure you on into more and more involvement until, before you know it, they are more important than God. That is idolatry. You have a new god before you know it, a new love and a new master. Lord, I live in a dangerous world. I often forget it, thinking that I can go along with many of these things and I find myself beginning to be drawn away, to lose my fervor for the things of God. Help me at that moment, Lord, to flee idolatry. Life ApplicationAre we giving first priority to the indwelling Life and Love of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we allowing other interests to deceive and detract from loving Him with all our heart, mind and soul? Deep Dive> The Focused LifeDaily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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