Daily Devotional 3-28-2022
1Co 5:11 CSB But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. What he called for was disciplinary action for anyone associated with the church, whether a brother or one in name only, who took part in the church while continuing a life of sin. The discipline demanded for such a one was exclusion from fellowship with other members. Certainly the prohibition extended to an exclusion from eating the communal meal, the Lord’s Supper. Other social contact might also have been excluded. It was unlikely, however, that the sanctioned individual was barred from all congregational meetings, for the church’s ministry might lead to his conviction and repentance.
Daily Devotional 3-24-2022
Hos 4:6 CSB My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as my priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons. Here the accusation is extended to the religious leaders or the demise of the religious leaders is announced. Stumble refers to their moral shortcomings or their coming downfall. These priests and prophets were attached to the official sanctuaries and royal court. Their allegiance was to their human king, not God, and they were characterized by self-gratification and greed.
Daily Devotional 3-22-2022
Rom 5:5 CSB This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. A believer’s hope, since it is centred in God and His promises, does not disappoint him. “Disappoint” means “put to shame because of disappointment” in unfulfilled promises. The reason this hope (resulting finally from affliction) does not disappoint is that God has poured out His love into our hearts. God’s love, so abundant in believer’s hearts, encourages them on in their hope. And this love is poured out by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. The Holy Spirit is the divine Agent who expresses to a believer the love of God, that is, God’s love for him. The reality of God’s love in a believer’s heart gives the assurance, even the guarantee, that the believer’s hope in God and His…
Daily Devotional 3-21-2022
1Co 13:13 CSB Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love. Faith is an expression of love, as is hope. Faith and hope, as manifestations of love, will endure eternally. So too everyone who follows the way of love finds “the most excellent way”, because every individual characterized by love carries that mark eternally. The spiritual gifts will one day cease to exist, but love will endure forever.
Daily Devotional 3-20-2022
1Th 1:3 CSB We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Three characteristics of these believers stood out in Paul’s mind. First, they had performed an important work produced by faith in Christ. They had turned to the true God from idols. Faith in Christ had produced true repentance. Second, they performed labour prompted by love for Christ. This consisted in their serving the living and true God in the midst of persecution. Third, they had endurance (hypomonēs, lit., “a bearing up patiently under a heavy load”; inspired by hope in Christ. Specifically they were waiting for God’s Son from heaven. These three cardinal virtues that should mark every Christian – faith, love, and hope – stood out in the Thessalonian believers’ lives. Each of these virtues…
Daily Devotional 3-19-2022
1Co 2:4 CSB My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, Neither Paul’s speech nor his preaching were in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Some suggest that his speech refers to the material he presented and his preaching to the manner of its presentation. Others define his speech as his witness to individuals and his preaching as his messages to groups. According to the standards of this world, the apostle might never have won an oratorical contest. In spite of this, the Spirit of God used the message to produce conviction of sin and conversion to God.
Daily Devotional 3-14-2022
2Co 9:9 CSB As it is written: He distributed freely; he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever. Charity reaps an eternal reward. A person who “fears the Lord” and gives gifts to the poor, (the Palm that Paul quoted) will be vindicated on the last day. Practical righteousness endures forever not only through the deeds but in the doer as he is progressively transformed into Christlikeness. Ultimately, a believer’s reward is the culmination of the process. The One who supplies what is needed is God alone. God (who supplies seed… and bread) enlarges the harvest (rewards or blessings) that results from righteous, generous living. The riches of righteousness are inestimable.
Daily Devotional 2-23-2022
1Pe 4:14 CSB If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. The early Christians rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. So should every Christian who has the privilege of being reviled for Christ’s sake. Such suffering is a true indication that the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us. This is the Holy Spirit who rests upon persecuted Christians as the glory cloud rested on the tabernacle in the OT, indicating the presence of God. We know that the Spirit indwells every true child of God, but He rests in a special way upon those who are completely committed to the cause of Christ. They know the presence and power of the Spirit of God as others do not. The same Lord Jesus who is…
Daily Devotional 12-11-2021
Psa 89:3-4 CSB The LORD said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to David my servant: (4) ‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’” Selah Faith reverently reminds God of the covenant He had made with David. Because David was His chosen servant, He had sworn that he would never lack heirs to sit on his throne and that his kingdom would endure to all generations. An unbroken dynasty sitting on an everlasting throne!
Daily Devotional 12-9-2021
2Pe 3:9 CSB The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. The Lord’s return seems to be so long in coming is that God wants as many people to be saved as possible. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise. Again Peter gave a divine-human comparison. God’s so-called “tardiness” as viewed by some people (as some understand slowness) is only a delay with respect to their time schedules, not His. In fact God’s time schedule is modified by patience, a major attribute of the heavenly Father. The words not wanting anyone to perish do not express a decree, as if God has willed everyone to be saved. Universal salvation is not taught in the Bible. Instead those words describe God’s wishes or desires; He longs that all would be…