60IN60 Day 42 - Sun Feb 15

It's Day 42 and we're in 1 Corinthians 16.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 9 - It's telling that he both has great opportunity and great obstacles.

Help:
- Verses 1-4 - This is a great idea: create a "generosity fund."  Put a little money aside each pay so that you can be generous when opportunities arise.
- Verse 20 - Greeting each other with a holy kiss is not binding on us today.  It was their custom in that day.  It was a kiss on the cheek.
- Verse 21 - Most of Paul's letters were dictated to someone because of Paul's eyesight.  On the original letter, this line was written in his own handwriting.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 41 - Sat Feb 14

It's Day 41 and we're in 1 Corinthians 15.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 24 - I don't remember noticing the line about Jesus handing the Kingdom over to the Father.  I'm going to have to think more about that.

Help:
- Verses 6, 18 - "asleep" - It's a euphemism for having died.
- Verse 29 - This verse is very obscure and I honestly have no good explanation for it.
- Verse 31 - "I die daily" - Not physically, but that spiritually Paul kills off his will and yields himself to God's will.  This is similar to what we are to do in "carrying our cross."

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 40 - Fri Feb 13

It's Day 40 and we're in 1 Corinthians 14.

A scary thought: the Bible is "able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). That can be frightening, but know that God loves you the way you are, but too much to leave you that way. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 26 - Worship, especially evening worship, would be more meaningful if this happened: if everyone brought something to share for the Lord.

Help:
- Verses 1-4 - Some believe that "prophecy" here refers to predicting the future.  It more likely simply means preaching.
- Verses 5-9 - This is laying out the point that if someone is speaking in tongues in a worship service, it's pretty useless unless someone is there to interpret what he's saying.
- Verses 27-28 - If a church does believe in speaking in tongues, these are some of the rules for how it can be expressed in worship.
- Verses 34-35 - Some argue this is a binding teaching for today; others argue that this was only for the Corinthians.  I believe the latter interpretation.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 39 - Thurs Feb 12

It's Day 39 and we're in 1 Corinthians 13.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 3 - I need to have love at my core and not just good works.

Help:
- Verse 12 - This means that in this world we don't always see spiritual things as clearly as we'd like, but someday we'll see clearly.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 38 - Wed Feb 11

It's Day 38 and we're in 1 Corinthians 12.

Is the Bible an old dusty book? Nope - ". . . the Word of God is living and active. . ." (Hebrews 4:12). Dig into today expecting it to speak to you. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing jumped out to me today.

Help:
- Verses 10, 28, 30 - Obviously Baptists and Pentecostals disagree on whether speaking in tongues is a gift that's available.  Baptists believe that it disappeared at the close of the apostolic era.  Pentecostals believe that it returned in the early 20th century.  I disagree with my Pentecostal brothers, but count them as my brothers in Christ and acknowledge that I have much to learn from their joy.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 37 - Tues Feb 10

It's Day 37 and we're in 1 Corinthians 11.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing jumped out to me.

Help:
- Verse 1 - This seems a little bold.  I think the point Paul is making is not that he is perfect and therefore a perfect example, but that he was passionately pursuing Christ (something the Corinthians were not doing) and that it would benefit them to be more like him.
- Verses 3-10, 13-15 - Is this controversial?  Oh yeah.  There are a few basic ways to handle these verses:  1. The core point Paul is getting at is for women to be modest and that translates to all cultures, even if the head covering doesn't; 2. This is a binding command for all women in all cultures and therefore they should be wearing head coverings; 3. This was a cultural thing relevant only to Paul's time and in no way binding on women today.  My personal interpretation is #3.
- Verse 30 - "Sleep" here means that they had died.
- Verse 32 - If we get off track, the Lord will discipline us to get us back where we need to be.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 36 - Mon Feb 9

It's Day 36 and we're in 1 Corinthians 10.

Sometimes we only want to hear words of comfort from God, but we're reminded in Hebrews 4:12 that the Bible is "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit." It's great when we get an encouraging word, but we need to be convicted too. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 31 - Do all I do for the glory of God.

Help:
- Verses 1-4 - This is Israel's history.  We are being told to avoid their mistakes.
- Verses 20-21 - This has to do with people sacrificing meat to idols in Corinth.  That's obviously not a problem for us today.
- Verse 23 - By "lawful" here Paul means ok before God, not legally ok.  He's saying that there are things I may have freedom to do in Christ, but that may not be productive in some situations.
- Verses 32-33 - This obviously doesn't mean pleasing people by compromising the gospel.  He simply means that he does his best not to unnecessarily offend people so that he can win as many as possible to Christ.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.