2 Corinthians 4 I'm sure we can all relate to feeling, at times, like things that we agree to or commit to, start to feel burdensome and too much work to endure. No one would be more justified in those feelings than the apostle Paul; but I don't think that's how he felt. In Verse 1 of Chapter 4 he writes: "Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not l...

From The Message Bible: 2 Corinthians 3:1-6:Does it sound like we're patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we're not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ h...

2 Corinthians 1 (2 Cor 1:20) For all the promises of God find their "Yes" in Him! Paul's statement in verse 20 is one that every believer should commit to memory. What an amazing promise! Everything the Father has committed to us find their fulfillment in Jesus and their confirmation in Him. We can trust what He is going to do in the future by His track record in t...

To mix it up, all I am going to do today is give you a brief list of observations on 1 Corinthians 15 and encourage you to make some observations of your own and then reflect on them. 1 Corinthians 15: Paul calls people back to the gospel (v1) Paul was preaching the gospel to people who were already saved The gospel doesn't just justify us, it is God's primary tool i...

1 Corinthians 14 Ecclesiastes 3:1 says that there is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. Don't we know this! As we do life together as a church, I see times for mourning, times for rejoicing, times for listening, times for speaking, times to sit quietly and let a brother pour out his heart. All of these are appropriate an...

1 Corinthians 13 If you've ever been to a wedding, you're familiar with this chapter! While love is a central theme of the entire Bible, no chapter in all of scripture paints such a clear picture of what love is in action. As a result 1 Corinthians 13 has been labeled the "LOVE CHAPTER" of the Bible. Action Without Love is Nothing The chapter starts off with a series...

1 Corinthians 12 There is something in each of us - something deep in our hearts - that leads us to rank ourselves in comparison with others. You would think we would have learned by now that this rarely plays out well. I know that for me personally, I am either (1)leftdespondent - feeling inferior or (2)I attempt to "one-up" those in my "category," or (3) I eitheridolize...

1 Corinthians 11 Today's reading is from 1 Corinthians 11 and it has two major sections -- one dealing with the expectation that women would wear head coverings when praying or prophesying in the church, and the other dealing with the abuse of the Lord's Supper. Women, Headcoverings, Authority, and Prayer The passage from verse 1 to 16 is among the most difficult in...

I Corinthians 10 When I first opened my Bible to this chapter, the verse that I had previously underlined in red (so it must have been important) jumped out at me: V13: "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will make the way of escape, that you will be ab...

1 Corinthians 9 I wasn't much of an athlete at school. Most of my school years I was overweight, and had asthma and allergies. Usually last picked, usually last in the pack! That didn't mean that I wasn't competitive though. I liked (and still like) to win. When we enter a competition we usually want to do our best. Yet in some area's of our lives we don't think conscio...

1 Corinthians 7 In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul gets very practical in what is already a very practical letter. He addresses marriage, singleness, divorce, self-control, lust, sex in and out of marriage and contentment. (7:1-5) Paul tells married people that it's okay to have sex. It sounds strange that he would have to say that, but the Corinthians were people (like us) or e...

1 Corinthians 6 When we read chapters like chapter 6 it should be clear to us that History is cyclical and that there is nothing new under the sun. Paul addressed some of the hot button issues facing our modern society two thousand years ago and if Paul owned a Chick-Fil-A, or had an HGTV show lets just say, he might get some negative press. But what is he getting at? ...

1 Corinthians 5 Paul is going to rebuke the Corinthian church for their lack of discipline within the church. He uses the example of a Christian man who was sleeping with his stepmother. Old Testament law (Leviticus 18:8, Deuteronomy 22:22) prohibited such acts but so did the Gentile law. The church in Corinth was so messed up that they were not mourning this sin but we...

1 Corinthians 4 I'm writing from the Navajo reservation in Northwest New Mexico. Here we have the privilege to observe the hearts of a missionary family who are serving others less fortunate by becoming like them. It reminds me of Jesus' promise in Matthew 19:29, "And everyone who has house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name'...

1 Corinthians 3 You know how The Word of God is alive? How it teaches you different things without changing its own content? That held true for me when reading this passage. Maybe it's the phase of life I'm in specifically, but I felt kind of slapped in the face and challenged as soon as I started reading. Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who li...

1 Corinthians 2 (2:1-5) When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, ...

We're in a new month, and a new book today as we turn our attention to Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth. Read on as we look at what Paul offers as the reason for our unity and the source of any effectiveness in our efforts to share the good news....