60IN60 Day 57 - Mon Aug 31

It's Day 57 and we're in 1 Corinthians 10.

Remember that your daily reading in the Bible isn't about gaining information - it's about changing your life to be more like Christ. That means that you need to take action on what God speaks to you about. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 31 - That's a good question for making hard decisions: will be pursuing this bring glory to God?

Help:
- Verse 2 - That simply means that the struggles they went through made them the Israelites they were.
- Verses 6-10 - These are all historical events from Israel's journey and they serve as "bad example" warnings.
- Verse 23 - We have great freedom in Christ rather than a pre-cut list of acceptable behaviors.  But I need to not misuse that freedom to pursue sin.
- Verses 25-28 - There was meat sacrificed to idols back then and Paul is giving guidelines for how to handle situations involving that food.

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.

Your Questions and Comments:

- A comment from one of our 60IN60 participants. Psalm 40. "This is one of my favorite psalms, although I prefer another translation."

- A comment from one of our 60IN60 participants. Psalm 38. "Taste and see that the Lord is good" is a visceral image, that the person knows in heart that God is a good God because he has  experienced him in a way most Christians don't.  It's as if he's taken a bite of a perfect fruit."

60IN60 Day 56 - Sun Aug 30

It's Day 56 and we're in 1 Corinthians 9.

Where God Spoke To Me: 
- Verse 24 - This isn't a lazy river; it's a foot race.  Run like you plan to win.

Help:
- Verse 1 - There were some in Corinth who were questioning whether Paul was a real apostle.  They were doing so because they disagreed with his leadership.
- Verses 2-15 - The basic argument Paul is making is this: Christian workers have the right to be paid for their labor, although I chose not to exercise that right and worked for free.  (Paul worked as a tentmaker to support himself while planting churches.)
- Verses 19-22 - There are parts of the gospel that are unchanging (example: Jesus is the Son of God); there are parts of the gospel that can be adapted according to the situation and culture (example: the type of music sung in church services).  Paul is saying that he's going to do all he can to make the gospel accessible by removing those unnecessary barriers (relating to that second category) that might keep someone from hearing and accepting the gospel.

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 55 - Sat Aug 29

It's Day 55 and we're in 1 Corinthians 8.

Where God Spoke To Me: 
- Verse 13 - I can't just think about the impact of my actions on me, but on those around me who are new in the faith.

Help:
- Verse 1 - This is obviously not a big issue today, but it was back then.
- Verses 2-3 - This is simply a call to humility and realizing that we're not as smart as we often think we are.
- Verse 5 - When he says there are many gods, he saying that there are many things that people treat as gods and that people call gods.  Obviously, there is really only one actual God.
- Verses 7-8 - The mature person realized that when food was sacrificed to idols that the idol wasn't real so it really didn't make any change in the food.  Some, though, newly out of paganism, still thought something was going on in that moment of sacrificing the meat to idols.

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 54 - Fri Aug 28

It's Day 54 and we're in Psalm 40.

What's the Bible say about the book you're reading today? "All Scripture is. . . profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). Reading the Bible will make your day more "profitable." 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 5 - If I stop to think, I have an amazing list of works that He's done for me.

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 53 - Thurs Aug 27

It's Day 53 and we're in Psalm 38.

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

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 52 - Wed Aug 26

It's Day 52 and we're in Proverbs 22.

You are not reading the Bible to gain trivia knowledge. You're reading the Bible for life change. Father, change our hearts to look more like Your's.  

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 2 - We can't let the pride of what we own obscure the reality that we're all the same inside.

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.

Your Questions and Comments:

- A comment from a 60IN60 participant: "'So that we may present the fruit of our lips' is a wonderful imagery as well. God desires our acknowledgment /praise after rescue. This verse ties in with 'Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.'"

60IN60 Day 51 - Tues Aug 25

It's Day 51 and we're in Proverbs 21.

Remember as we read through Proverbs that a proverb is a general truth - the way things normally are.  That means that what's being said may not be always happen.  For instance, the proverbs about "train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" doesn't mean that every single child raised in a Christian home will come back to the Lord - it just means that's what generally happens.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 2 - It's not enough to have good actions.  I need to have good motives as well.

Help:
- Verse 14 - I don't think we should presume that the writer here is condoning bribery, but rather that he's simply describing the way the world often works.

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.