New Testament in a Year

1 Corinthians 6:1-20
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Today in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 we read: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside their body, but you who sins sexually sins against your own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 body.” These are powerful verses. And verses that seem to fly in the face of much of what we are sold in today’s culture. Reflect on these verses. Do you believe that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Do you believe that you are not your own? Do you realize that you were bought at a price by Jesus on the cross? If you see sexual immorality heading your way, do you flee from it? Will you flee from it? What are the consequences if you do not flee from sexual immorality? Do you believe that sexual immorality is a sin you commit against your very own body? (self-abuse, if you will – though, I strongly believe others around you suffer from this sin against your own body as well. Nobody sins in a vacuum. It affects everyone we interact with. It affects everyone in our community. Think that sin is a selfish act?) Do you realize that when you sin sexually, you are sinning against a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells? Will you flee from sexual immorality? Please – literally – flee from it.

Bible.org’s commentary on today’s readings in First Corinthians titled “Courting Sin” is at this link and “The Relationship between Spirituality and Sexual Morality” is at this link.

Worship Video: Today’s readings reminded me of Casting Crowns song “If We are the Body.”  Here’s a live version of this powerful song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYbGMQ5Y3Uo

Are you part of the Body? Click here to join God’s Body!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on three verses of Scripture today: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. 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 6:18-20 TNIV

Prayer Point: Pray that you flee from sexual immorality. Pray that you will run to Jesus in prayer if/when sexual temptation comes your way. Pray that you will not sin against your own body, a temple of the Holy Spirit (if you are in a saving relationship with Jesus). Pray that you will honor God with your body. Pray that you will never ever look at pornography under any circumstances.

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!

1 Corinthians 5:1-13
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Wow… there is a lot going on in Paul’s words in First Corinthians chapter 5 today.  The first half of verse 6 stands out: “How terrible that you should boast about your spirituality, and yet you let this sort of thing go on.”  This is such a trap I think for many of us – boasting about our spirituality.  It is a very dangerous trap too.  Why do you suppose Paul would say this is a terrible thing to boast about your spirituality?   I think it is because when you boast about your spirituality, you have lost humility and you have in a sense put yourself in the place of God.  You’ve elevated yourself too high.  And Jesus says we are to be humble.  Here comes a tangent – 🙂 – I was listening to talk radio recently and I heard some guy talking about Kabala – the Jewish mysticism religion that is very popular these days – particularly with some Hollywood celebrities.  Well, I won’t say that this guy was boasting about his spirituality… but maybe he was.  🙂  The great thing I thought was then a guy studying to be a rabbi called in and basically went off on this guy.  The caller said that this guy was far too confident and boastful in his discussions of who God is and how God works.  And the caller said that he had studied the Torah for all of his life and he still considered himself only a student.  I wish I could remember his exact words – but he said something along the lines that “one will always be a student of the Torah.  Never it’s master.”  Something like that.  I loved it!  It was so humble and true.  And I think you and I would do well to realize that we will always be students of the Bible – never its master.   And we need to realize how terrible it truly is for us to boast about our spirituality in any way – either publicly or in our own minds.  As this image says below, “Boast only in the cross.”  Amen…

 

The second half of verse 6 is powerful for us to consider as well – “Don’t you realize that if even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected?”  This is so true.  Sin is an infection that will infect others.  Or, another way to look at this – when we sin we are affecting / infecting others.  Nobody sins in a vacuum.  It affects the whole community.  It affects everyone you know in some way.  Paul goes on later in this chapter to say in verse 12 – “It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your job to judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways.” Paul really has what will appear to our modern ears to be some strong / harsh words for Christians who sin in the ways listed in verse 11 – “What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler.”  I think there is truth in his words – but we need to walk a fine line.  There are people who are Christian who do struggle with sin – sin that indeed will infect / affect others.  And I think we are absolutely called to speak the truth in love into those Christians lives to point out their sin and encourage them to repentance.  But… I think there does come a point where we may have to realize that someone simply will not or does not want to repent of their sin.  And then it may be time to prayerfully follow Paul’s words about avoiding and removing that type of person from your church.  I don’t know – let me know what you think?  How / when do we draw the line of speaking the truth in love to a Christian stuck in sin?  And when do we avoid and/or remove them from our churches?  Is this too harsh?   Are Paul’s word’s too harsh?  Even if they are harsh, are they true? 

Bible.org’s commentary on today’s readings in First Corinthians titled “Church Discipline: Taking Sin Seriously” is at this link.

Worship Video:  Today’s readings reminded me of Phil Wickham’s song “Hymn of Heaven:”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjB0mkj0XaM

Do you know the hymn of heaven? Click here to sing in heaven forevermore!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture this week: “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with any who claim to be fellow believers but are sexually immoral or greedy, idolaters or slanderers, drunkards or swindlers. With such persons do not even eat.” 1 Corinthians 5:11 TNIV

Prayer Point: Pray for those in your church who claim to be believers, but who are sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, slanderers, drunkards or swindlers. Pray for their repentance and restoration to the fellowship. Pray for church discipline, if necessary. Pray you won’t ever be lead astray by those living in sin.

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!

1 Corinthians 4:1-21
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Allright… so Paul has a little bit of scolding for the church in Corinth in our readings today!  Perhaps we would do well to listen to some of this scolding today too?  Verse 5 is powerful for us to consider: “So be careful not to jump to conclusions before the Lord returns as to whether or not someone is faithful. When the Lord comes, he will bring our deepest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. And then God will give to everyone whatever praise is due.”  I think far too often we ourselves try to judge others – saying that someone is wholly righteous or that someone is a doomed sinner.  Neither this excessive praise nor condemnation is ours to give.  It is only for God.  God is the judge.  We are not.  So be careful not to jump to conclusions about someone else…

If you blinked, you just might have missed verse 20 today – “For the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God’s power.”  Great stuff!  I am afraid that sometimes we do indeed reduce the Kingdom of God and living out our faith to just fancy talk.  We sometimes talk a lot, but we do not practice what we preach.  Rather than focusing on our fancy talk, how about if we simply live by God’s power?  It’s a revolutionary idea!  🙂

Bible.org’s commentary on today’s readings in First Corinthians titled “Follow the Leader” is at this link.

Worship Video: Today’s readings remind me of Rachael Lampa’s song “Perfectly Loved:”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfUkEgG5rEk

Are you perfectly loved? Click here for perfect love!

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!

1 Corinthians 3:5-23
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This may be a somewhat of a controversial reflection here, but I’d like to put it out for discussion.  Please feel free to let me know your thoughts in the Comments section of the blog below.  Today’s readings in First Corinthians made me think about all of our various Christian church denominations that we have in our world today.  In our readings today, some followed Paul.  Some followed Apollos.  Some followed Peter.  And in our churches today, some follow Calvin.  Some follow Wesley.  Some follow Knox.  And so on.  And I guess I just wonder would the church today look any differently today if we simply all followed Jesus?  I don’t mean to knock denominations here per se.  I myself go to a church affiliated with a denomination.  I just pray that each of us could look beyond our denominations and look fully toward Jesus.  And that we come to realize that no matter what our denominations, we are brothers and sisters through faith in our Lord Jesus.  We inherit eternal life through God’s grace and our faith in Jesus.  We all – no matter our denomination – are “the church” through our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.  As Paul teaches us in First Corinthians 3:21-23 – “So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you—whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

Bible.org’s commentary on today’s readings in First Corinthians titled “A Different Look at Leadership” is at this link and “A Call to Repentance” is at this link.

Worship Video:  Today’s readings reminded me of the song “Indescribable.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMkvZx477w4

Do you know our Indescribable God? Click here for His description!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray in thanksgiving that if you are in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ that you yourself are God’s temple. Pray in thanksgiving that God’s Spirit lives within you! Pray that you will not grieve the Spirit through any sort of abuse or neglect of your body, God’s temple.

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!

1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4
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Bible.org’s commentary on today’s First Corinthians readings titled “True Wisdom” is at this link and “Substandard Saints” is at this link.  Below is a powerful image for First Corinthians 3:3 from today’s readings:

Worship Video:  Today’s readings reminds me of the Chris Tomlin song “Our God is Greater:”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6YCrWhUdDs

Do you know true greatness? Click here to meet our Great God!

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

Ezra 3:1-4:23
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Today in Ezra chapter 3 we read about the Israelites rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. We read in verse 10 – “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel.” There are some powerful chapters in Ezra as we read about the start of the rebuilding of the Temple, the opposition to it, and then its final completion. I like that verse 10 above tells us that the priests and the Levites praised God after the foundation to the Temple was laid. And I wonder about this in our lives today. Is there perhaps a “Temple” of some sort in your life that needs rebuilding? Is there a good habit that you have lost? A bad habit that you have picked up? Have you lost some of your zeal for God that you had earlier in your life? Do you want things to change? Do you want to rebuild a “Temple” in your life? How will you do so? Will you perhaps follow the example of the Israelites in Ezra and begin with the Foundation? Will you take the very first, maybe seemingly small steps to begin to rebuild your Temple? And – when you get to even just the foundation of your Temple being rebuilt, will you praise God as the priests and Levites did in Ezra? Many blessings to you as you begin your journey with God of rebuilding a Temple in your life!

Worship Video:  Today’s readings reminds me of the Chris Tomlin song “Our God is Greater:”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6YCrWhUdDs

Do you know true greatness? Click here to meet our Great God!

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5
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~ Listen to today’s Scripture with The ESV Bible ~

Today in First Corinthians 1 verse 18 we read – “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” What does this verse say to you? Does it speak to you in any way? What is the message of the cross? What does the message of the cross mean to you personally? Is it foolishness? Or, is it the power of God? I don’t know what it is about this verse, but it really is so powerful for me. I think that it brings the Gospel message back to the central point in time in history – Jesus on the cross. And what Jesus did on the cross changed everything. Jesus changed history. The power of the cross is such that Jesus continues to change things this very moment. He is changing you. He is changing me. To us who are being saved, is the message of the cross literally the power of God? Do you meditate upon the cross regularly and meditate upon what the message of the cross truly is? Are you sharing the message of the cross with others in your life?

Worship Video:  Today’s readings reminds me of the Jeremy Camp song, “The Answer:”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQHXJi1EhDM

Do you know the Answer? Click here to meet Jesus, the Answer!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray that the message of the cross is the power of God in your life through your saving faith in Jesus Christ. Pray for those in your family, your friends, and others you know who feel that the message of the cross is foolishness. Pray that they won’t eternally perish.

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!

1 Corinthians 1:1-17
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Today we begin Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth!

First Corinthians
Author: Paul the apostle
Place: Ephesus
Date: A.D. 55
Content: Paul had established a church in the Greek city of Corinth on his second missionary journey (see Acts 18:1-8), but things had gone very badly after his departure. He felt it necessary to write them concerning the many problems that had arisen. They were challenging his apostleship, abusing the Lord’s Supper, wondering about eating meat sacrificed to idols, going to court against one another, condoning immorality, denying the resurrection, arguing about marriage – to name a few of the problems. Paul felt that he had to deal with the situation, lest everything in Corinth fall to pieces. As Paul more or less systematically goes through these problems, he touches upon many of the fundamental teachings of the faith.
Theme: Paul’s major purpose in writing this letter was to correct some glaring abuses in the church at Corinth, showing the importance of how we live. It is not enough to say that we are Christians; we must also act like Christians. Not to do so is to bring dishonor upon the name of Christ. Paul also stresses the all-sufficiency of Christ for the believer. In Christ we are made pure, holy, and acceptable to God. (Above commentary is from Tyndale Publishers “The One Year Bible Companion” pp. 24-25)

More commentary on First Corinthians is at these 3 links –
https://bible.org/article/i-corinthians-introduction-and-outline
https://bible.org/seriespage/7-1-corinthians-introduction-argument-and-outline
https://bible.org/article/argument-first-corinthians

Worship Video: Today’s readings reminds me of Josiah Queen’s song “Dusty Bibles:”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM2nMeXvor0

Is your Bible dusty? Click here for a cleaning!

Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike