Spiritual Gifts Are Given for the Good of All

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12: 1, 4-7,14, 20-25

Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. (1) There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (4-7)

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.(14)

As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. (20-25)

Scripture Commentary: Bring as many souls to Christ as your gifts allow.

We are of one body in Christ. As one body we work for one goal. We serve our Lord and bring as many souls to him as our gifts allows. If you bring one and another brings a hundred, we are to rejoice for all.

Rejoice when a Christian is honored, weep when one suffers; we are one. Christians exist in the world together. There is no such thing as private or individualistic Christianity.

No one gift is greater than another.

Paul tells us that we all have gifts given from God, and no one gift is greater than another. Your spiritual gift is not for your own self-advancement. Its purpose is enhancing the spiritual growth of the body of believers.

Spiritual gifts build God’s church.

We, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, include many types of people from a variety of backgrounds with a multitude of gifts and abilities. All spiritual gifts are from the Holy Spirit and their purpose is to build up Christ, the church.

Read the Entire Chapter
1 Corinthians Chapter 12

For More on Spiritual Gifts
What Are the Different Spiritual Gifts?

What You Do in the Dark Eventually Comes to Light

Scripture: Ezekiel 8: 11-12

And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Ja-az-a-ni’-ah the son of Sha’-phan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.

Scripture Commentary: God sees all the dirty deeds we do in the dark.

Why do people do in the dark what they conceal from the light? People hide their actions in shame of their wrongdoing. There is no hiding from God. What we do in the light or dark, good or bad, God sees.

Those who recognize their error but continue practicing it embrace idolatry and wickedness. Are you allowing sin to control you?

Identify your weakness and turn to God for strength.

In this chapter, God reveals to Ezekiel the extent to which people embraced idolatry and wickedness. Look at yourself and see where you went wrong. Let God’s spirit work in you to reveal the sin lurking in your life. Learn from the Bible, identify your weakness and turn to God for strength.

The Bible continues telling us how people lost their way and how God, in mercy, accepted them again.

It is not too late to repent.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ezekiel Chapter 8

The Lord Will Answer You

Scripture: Ezekiel 14: 6-7

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself…

Scripture Commentary: Go to God with a pure heart for the Lord will answer you.

People today behave in a manner similar to the Israelites in the Bible. We go to the Lord for things instead of worship. Sometimes we seek advice from ministers, but we have ulterior motives. Of this, God says, “I the Lord will answer him by myself.” He tells us to repent and turn from our idols.

If you do not go to God with a pure heart, you are placing idols between you and God. Do not go to God until you repent and ask for his mercy and forgiveness. Humble yourself before him, be sincere.

You can’t fool God.

God knows what is in your heart, so you cannot fool him at all. You can’t have idols in your heart when you pursue God. Things like reputation, acceptance, wealth, and sensual pleasure are held in our hearts with the intensity and commitment that should be reserved for serving God.

We are weak and have the potential to fall into idolatry.

Let God replace your sinful wants. He will be your pillar of strength. You are responsible for your own relationship with God.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Ezekiel Chapter 14

What Is the Evidence of Your Faith?

Scripture: Hebrews 11: 1,3,6

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.(1) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.(3) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.(6)

Scripture Commentary: Faith is the evidence of our relationship with Christ

Believing in God is only the beginning. Faith is the foundation and the evidence of our relationship with Christ and our eternal life with God in Heaven. God will not settle for mere acknowledgment of his existence. He wants a personal and dynamic relationship with you. He wants to transform your life.

The first step to faith is believing in God’s character; he is who he says he is. The endpoint is believing in God’s promises; he will do what he says. Believing in God’s promises demonstrates true faith.

Faith allows you to carry the power of God within you.

How many times have you asked for God’s help and received a solution? God’s word has awesome power, and faith allows you to carry that power within you. Through faith, God is always with you, giving you the strength you need to serve him.

God rewards those who seek him with his intimate presence. Faith is trusting God regardless of the circumstances or consequences. In times of pain, persecution, or suffering we should trust confidently in God.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Hebrews Chapter 11

Wealth Won’t Save You on the Great Day of the Lord

Scripture: Zephaniah 1: 14-18

The great day of the Lord is near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers. I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.

Scripture Commentary: The great day of the Lord is near and coming quickly

At the time of Zephaniah’s prophesy, the great day of the Lord was near. The Babylonians would soon come and destroy Jerusalem.

The day of the Lord is also near us. God promises a final judgement, a day of worldwide destruction. The Babylonians’ conquest occurred just as surely and horribly as Zephaniah predicted.

God’s final day of judgement is also sure, but so is his ability to save. Recognize, you have sinned. Know that your sin will bring judgement and that you cannot save yourself. God alone can save you from damnation.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Zephaniah Chapter 1

Do Not Turn to the Right or Left; Keep step with God

Scripture: Mark 10: 38-39

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

Scripture Commentary: Stay on point with God – do not turn to the right or left

James and John wanted honored places alongside Jesus. They wanted to know where their places were. Would they sit at Jesus’ right or left at the table?

Today, people think they are working toward having a physical spot next to Jesus. We don’t realize that, if we live and love as Jesus did, there would be no need to question our place.

Jesus died and rose; he paid the price for our sins. We have an opportunity to turn to God. God’s plan is to give us what we want out of love, and in return we love him with faith.

We suffer, just as James and John, with serving others. Jesus will not ridicule us for wanting to know where we stand. Remember that God wants us with him.

Take it upon yourself to remove sin from your life. Repent and find a place with God. Live a Christ-like life and minister to the needs of others. Fill your life by serving Jesus Christ.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Mark Chapter 10

Honor the Father so That It May Go Well with You

Scripture: Malachi 1: 6-7

“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible.

Scripture Commentary: Give the Lord the honor he deserves

Are you worshipping the lord out of faith; giving him honor, thanking him and giving him praise? Or, are you worshipping him in hopes of getting something in return?

In your offerings, do you give God what is his, or are you giving him the smaller portion?

Keep in mind, all is God’s. What you have, he has given to you. God’s law requires only perfect goods from you, not your leftovers. If you give God your leftover time, money, and energy, then you repeat the same sin as those worshipers in Malachi’s time. They didn’t want to bring anything valuable to God.

What you offer to God reflects the honor you give Him.

Your way of giving shows your real Christian self. Give God only the best you have, not only the material things but also your time. God gave you his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, because he loves you. In return, give the best of yourself and love Him.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Malachi Chapter 1

Man Despised and Rejected Jesus

Scripture: Isaiah 53: 1-3

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Scripture Commentary: God will cut off those who despise his son.

Jesus doesn’t “fit” into the mold of our narrow expectations of who the Messiah would be. People despised and rejected him. God chose to save the world through a humble servant, not a glorious king. Jesus, the Messiah, suffered for the sins of all people. God revealed this to his prophet, Isaiah.

The idea of a humble servant being the hero is contemptible to our human pride.

We create super heroes who fit worldly definitions of beauty and strength. We do not acknowledge the unbeatable and most awesome deed Jesus did for us. He, who was faultless, died for our sins.

We can’t understand how God works.

We don’t recognize what God is doing in our lives. There was nothing beautiful or majestic in the physical appearance of God’s servant. Israel miscalculated the servant’s importance and considered Jesus an ordinary man. Jesus is no ordinary man. God sent him to open the doors of his kingdom to us. Jesus gave us the possibility of an eternal life in heaven.

Do you despise Jesus? Are you living a life where Jesus is ordinary?

Read the Entire Chapter:
Isaiah Chapter 53

Other Posts from the Book of Isaiah:
The Pit of Corruption is Dug for the Wicked
Jesus Is the One and Only
Value Others As You Do Yourself

Seek to Learn and Understand the Words of the Lord

Scripture: Amos 8: 11-14

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day, the lovely young women and the strong young men will faint because of thirst. They who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives,’ they will fall, never to rise again.”

Scripture Commentary: Place the words of the Lord in your heart

When Amos brought his teachings, the people had no appetite for the words of the Lord. God took away the opportunity to hear his word as a consequence for their apathy.

Help those in your life turn to the Bible to answer their questions and needs

We have God’s word, the Bible. Many people still look everywhere for answers to life’s problems except in scripture. You can help by directing people to the Bible. Show them the verses – the words – that speak to their special needs and questions. God’s word is available to us. We have a duty to help others find it before the time comes when they cannot.

When you give time to God, are you devoting your heart to worship or is your religion a front for unethical practices? Do not turn a blind eye to the truth of God’s word.

There will come a time when you will not be able to turn to the Word. Seek him before it is too late.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Amos Chapter 8

The Lord Offers You A Seat At His Table

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10: 21,31

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.(21) Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.(31)

Scripture Commentary: You cannot have both a seat at the Lord’s table and a seat at the devil’s.

At which table are you seated? If you wake up and tell yourself that today you will be a Christian but tomorrow you’ll act contrarily, you are wrong. If you think you can sit at both tables, you cannot.

You are either a Christian, living as God wants you to live, or you are not. There is no middle ground between God and Satan. You cannot switch back and forth moment to moment based on where you want to belong.

Your relationship with God is a commitment.

As followers of Christ, we must give him our total allegiance. We cannot, as Paul explains, have a seat at the Lord’s table and have a seat with the devil. To sit at God’s table is to commune with Jesus and identify with his death and resurrection.

To sit with Satan is to promote evil and worship of earthly things. Do not try to live two lives. At the end, you will be held accountable for one. Remember that no matter what, this life is only temporary. The next one is for eternity.

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Corinthians Chapter 10