Devotional Thoughts

1 Corinthians 15:3-6    “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” Paul is not merely recounting the chronological order of how he delivered (or preached – see v. 1) the gospel unto them. He is declaring the most basic and powerful points of the good news of Jesus Christ. This was not just Paul’s thinking, but what he has received from the Holy Spirit. I realize that there are different ways of looking at some scriptures. Some can be applied to eternity, some to God’s kingdom here, and some to both. Brethren may not always view these scriptures in the same light. Contrary to popular belief, we can disagree on s...

Psalm 138:1-3     "I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.  (2)  I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.  (3)  In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." We love the "I will's" of the Bible, don't we? We love to be reminded that God said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." We love to know that "My God shall (will) provide all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Our hearts are strengthened to know that even when we go through the waters, the flood, or the fire, God has promised: "I will be with thee." We love it when God says, "I will."  We know that there has never been one single promise from God that has not come to pass. The one we are still waiting for is when Jesus said, ...

1 Corinthians 15:1-2    “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” Paul tells the church at Corinth that what he has said to them and what he is about to say to them is not new. What he writes in his letter is the same gospel that he preached to them face-to-face for a period of a year and a half (Act 18:11). He reminds them here that they received that gospel, not just by hearing but that it found a lodging place within them. It was this gospel of Paul that had established caused them to stand as the church at Corinth. Scholars estimate that Paul came to Corinth around 51 AD. Depending on exactly when he arrived that would put his departure from them sometime between 52 and 53 AD. The date of this letter is put somewhere between 54 and 55 AD, so it did not take long for discord to cro...

Psalm 137:1-4    "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.  (2)  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.  (3)  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.  (4)  How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?" There is no doubt about it that sins of the flesh produce pleasure for a while. We read in Hebrews 11:25 that Moses chose "... to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." But for the child of God, there is a void that is left because those pleasures are only temporary. Today's Psalm was written about the time of captivity when Israel was taken away into the land of Babylon. The Lord allowed that captivity to take place because His people had turned away from Him. In contrast to Moses, they chose to enjoy the pleasure...