Overcoming Temptation
Read: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. (v. 13) Gettysburg was the decisive battle of America’s Civil War, yet nobody saw it coming. Neither army knew that the opposing force was even in the area. Neither commanding general had any idea, when they awoke […]
Freedom to Flail
Read: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. (v. 22) Do you know what a flail is? It’s a primitive, hand-held device for threshing wheat—a staff, at the end of which is a free-swinging stick. The stick is connected to the staff with […]
Glorify God in Your Body
Read: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (v. 18) Corinthianize means “to live a promiscuous life” (Collins English Dictionary). The word comes, of course, from the ancient city of Corinth, a place known for […]
Real People
Read: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. (v. 26) In today’s mail there was a slick brochure about a new church in town. The brochure is a montage of beautiful people. The teenage girl with a sweet smile. […]
No Divisions
Read: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you. (v. 10) Sometimes I think about how divided the Christian church has become. Thousands of different churches; thousands of denominations. How come a divine structure […]
Called to Be Saints
Read: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. (v. 2) What is a saint? When we declare, in the Apostles’ Creed, that we believe in the “communion of saints,” who are we talking about? Especially virtuous and long-suffering people? Martyrs […]
Paul Plants a Church
Read: Acts 18:1-11 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. (v. 1) I’ve never worked as a church planter. The churches I’ve served as a pastor—in New York, Iowa, and Michigan—were all up and running when I got there. But church planters start with nothing. No congregation, no building, no staff, nothing. To […]
The Future Transition
Read: Revelation 21:1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. (v. 1) Genesis 1–2 and Revelation 21–22 show us a time when there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain (v. 4). We live in a world tainted […]
Future Plans
Read: Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (v. 11) When we go through life transitions, we quickly realize things will not be the same. There are losses that cannot be regained. There […]