BibleTrekToday.com

Year: 2023

  • Lord, I need love!

    Scripture reading for August 17th: 1st Corinthians 13, Psalm 14, Proverbs 9

    1st Corinthians 13: 1-8 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

    Because of sin and selfishness, mankind is bankrupt when it comes to God’s kind of love. We can have all sorts of talents and gifts, but without agape love, the love that gives to help another, they are meaningless. We often lack patience and kindness with others. Envy and boasting cause division and strife. Resentment and irritation come out of us instead of blessing and rejoicing and long-suffering. Fortunately, God’s love becomes available to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our spiritual growth after new birth by faith is governed by our growth in learning to love like our Lord. Lord help me to love like you!

    Psalm 14:2-3 “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is none that does good, not even one.”

    Prayer: Father God, thank You for the greatest gift, Your amazing agape love! I receive it and embrace my need to grow in my ability to love You and others. Fill me daily with the Holy Spirit. Give me opportunity to share love. Keep me from folly, the loud and seductive voices of this world that try to use me in unloving ways of impatience, irritation, resentment and strife. I am glad Your love never ends!

    Proverbs 9:13-16 “The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!””

  • The mutually dependent church!

    Scripture reading for August 16th: 1st Corinthians 12, Psalm 13, Proverbs 8

    1st Corinthians 12:24-28 “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.”

    Pride and envy can easily slip into the church around the spiritual gifts and gift people God appoints. Paul here carefully points out that God puts His body together with many varied parts and different giftings. This is not to cause division, but to bring greater unity and interdependence. Not everyone has every gift or is appointed by God to fill positions of leadership. God calls leaders to be servants and those with gifts to serve others to His glory. Each person should care for the others. We are mutually dependent on God and those whom He has gifted. God has dealt bountifully with His family in supplying abundant gifts and gift people to serve. His wisdom through the Holy Spirit brings justice and blessings.

    Psalm 13:5-6 “But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

    Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your church! I am amazed and blessed by the various members and the gifts You have placed in them and through them to serve Your people. Help me to walk in wisdom to use the gifts You have formed in me of teaching and evangelism and helps. I rejoice each day at new opportunities to serve You by serving others! You have dealt bountifully with me and Your family!

    Proverbs 8:20-21 “I (wisdom) walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.”

  • Healthy self-examination!

    Scripture reading for August 15th: 1st Corinthians 11, Psalm 12, Proverbs 7

    1st Corinthians 11: 27-32 “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

    The receiving of the Lord’s supper is to be an intimate time of fellowship with the Lord and healthy self-examination. This sacred meal consists of bread representing the sinless body of Jesus Christ and wine or grape juice representing Christ’s blood shed for our sins. We are to discern through His sacrifice for us our own sins and ask our Lord for mercy and cleansing. Some Corinthians were taking this meal with a frivolous and prideful attitude. This resulted in some falling to sickness and even some dying because of unconfessed sins. God’s desire is for us to judge ourselves so that we do not need God to judge us because of Christ’s sacrifice covering our sins. These are pure Words, given to refine us for His service!

    Psalm 12:7-8 “The Words of the Lord are pure Words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O Lord, will keep them; You will guard us from this generation forever. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.”

    Prayer: Father God, thank You for the Lord’s Supper and the opportunity to remember Jesus’ death on the cross for us and the forgiveness of our sins and healing of our bodies. Forgive me when I have taken this supper without a healthy self-examination. Give me fresh insight into Christ’s sacrifice and His current Body, the Church. Help me to forgive others as I have been forgiven and to walk in health.

    Proverbs 7:4-5 “Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.”

  • God is faithful–are you?

    Scripture reading for August 14th: 1st Corinthians 10, Psalm 11, Proverbs 6

    1st Corinthians 10: 8-13 “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

    Writing to a church in an immoral and idolatrous culture in Corinth, Paul gave examples from Scripture that would be useful for avoiding temptations. God sees and knows each person. He is faithful to those who humbly put their trust in Him for help and mercy. Every temptation comes with a way of escape. Sexual immorality requires use of the feet to run away and resist. Twenty-three thousand Israelites died when they gave in instead of running away! Proverbs says the adulterer will not go unpunished and that sexual immorality will burn the garment of our flesh! It affects our body and soul. We must avoid pride and humbly use the means of escape provided by our Lord! God is watching us and is for us!

    Psalm 11:4-5 “The Lord is in His holy temple the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes see, His eyelides test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.”

    Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your faithfulness to us in sending Your Son to live perfectly under Your law and offer His body for our sins. Help me remember each time I am tempted to use the way of escape You graciously provide. Protect me from sexual temptations, grumbling, and testing God by my attitudes. Use me to proclaim Your Name through a life of love and ability to resist temptations.

    Proverbs 6:27-29 “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.”

  • Sharing Gospel blessings!

    Scripture reading for August 11th: 1st Corinthians 9, Psalm 10, Proverbs 5

    1st Corinthians 9:19-23 “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”

    After finding Jesus Christ as Lord, Paul was a free man from the law of God. Jesus had taken the penalty for his (and our) sins and given him the Holy Spirit and the law of Christ which is love. Paul became a willing bond-servant of God, offering his own self as a witness and preacher of the Good News to win lost people to God. He sought to find a way to relate to each person in order to share the Good News. His focus was their salvation, regardless of their background or religious upbringing. He knew God’s heart of compassion for hurting and oppressed people and for the sake of the Gospel allowed the Holy Spirit to use him for their healing and deliverance through faith in Jesus.

    Psalm 10:17-18 “O Lord, You hear the desire of the afflicted; You will strengthen their heart; You will incline Your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may not strike terror no more.”

    Prayer: Father, thank You for hearing the cries of the afflicted and hurting, the fatherless and oppressed and acting for them by sending Your Son. Thank You that You see all of our ways and ponder all our paths that You might win us to You by sending servants like Paul. Fill me with Your compassion and love and send me today to those in need of Your grace. Pour out Your blessings through the Gospel!

    Proverbs 5:21 “For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths.”

  • Love builds up!

    Scripture reading for August 10th: 1st Corinthians 8, Psalm 9, Proverbs 4

    1st Corinthians 8: 1-3 “Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

    Paul, writing to Christians in a culture of idolatry, cautioned them against spiritual pride and using their freedoms and “knowledge” in a manner that might cause weaker or younger believers to stumble. “Knowledge” puffs up a person with pride. Using even right knowledge that an idol is nothing and that food does not necessarily defile you, even if offered to an idol, could cause those who still believe that is defiling to stumble and violate their conscience. The law of love says that we follow the Holy Spirit in caring for others and limiting our freedoms that all might grow closer to Jesus Christ. When we love God in this way, God takes note and upholds each loving believer.

    Psalm 9:9-10 “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know Your Name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

    Prayer: Father, thank You for being our stronghold in times of trouble and in this idolatrous culture. Help me daily to stay humble and avoid the trap of pride. May Your love flow in me by the Holy Spirit to love God and show love towards others seeing them built up in their faith. May we not stumble as we run the race of faith and follow Your path of wisdom and uprightness.

    Proverbs 4:10-12 “Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have lead you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.”

  • The appointed time is short!

    Scripture reading for August 9th: 1st Corinthians 7, Psalm 8, Proverbs 3

    1st Corinthians 7: 25-31 “Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.”

    Paul, out of love and concern for the believers, writes to them with compassion from the sincerity of his heart. He honestly believes that the time of Christ’s promised return is very near. The circumstances of the culture of his time were very like those of the day we live in. Marriage was lawful and proper between believers. Yet, in tough times, the unmarried can devote more fully to serving the Lord and spare themselves some trouble and heartache. Believers must maintain a very loose grip on the world and its goods and attractions. All of life and our possessions are temporary. The world in its present form is indeed passing away, and the time is short! God’s love is eternal and He alone is worth worshipping!

    Psalm 8:1-2 “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, You have established strength because of Your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.”

    Prayer: Father God, Your Name is majestic, holy and above all that this earth and world has to offer! We honor You and praise You alone. Help me today to hold this world’s goods with an open hand and keep me from idolatry in relationships, placing You first in everything! Thank You for these instructions from Your Word and Your Father’s love and discipline. May I delight You in my journey to Your eternal house!

    Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of His reproof, for the Lord reproves him who He loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

  • One Spirit with the Lord

    Scripture reading for August 8th: 1st Corinthians 6, Psalm 7, Proverbs 2

    1st Corinthians 6: 13-20 “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, Whom you have from God? Your are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

    Sexual immorality is defined in God’s Word as a very serious matter. Through the sexual union between a man and a woman, God partners with humans to bring forth children made in His image with eternal souls. Two people become one as they join their bodies and God amazingly is at work in creation of that eternal soul. This is why sexual immorality–any sex outside of a marriage covenant between a man and a woman, is wrong. If a person has repented of his sins and received grace through Jesus Christ, past sins are forgiven. Our bodies belong to the Lord and we are joined with Him in ‘one spirit’. It would be very wrong to commit sexual immorality, even using pornography. May it never be! Lord, help us to listen and obey!

    Psalm 7:11-13 “God is a righteous Judge, and a God Who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet His sword; He has bent and readied His bow; He has prepared for him His deadly weapons, making His arrows fiery shafts.”

    Prayer: Father God, help us as Your people and one in spirit with You, to understand the seriousness of our sexuality and Your plan to procreate through our bodies. Deliver us from the evil one and the temptations around us through our culture and old nature. Forgive us our sexual sins and empower us to live as Your Holy Temple, reflecting Your love to our family and world.

    Proverbs 2:16-19 “So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death and her paths to the departed; none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.”

  • Judging inside Christ’s church

    Scripture reading for August 7th: 1st Corinthians 5, Psalm 6, Proverbs 1

    1st Corinthians 5: 9-13 “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler–not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.””

    The Word of God makes it clear that sitting in the place of God and judging others is not right. Only God is righteous and knows how to judge each person as He knows their hearts perfectly and sees all facts. He has given all judgment to His Son, Jesus Christ. However, God has given limited judgment to His people to purge evil from His Church. This judgment is to be exercised based on facts of two or more witnesses. Opportunity to repent and ask for grace is to be given. If there is a refusal to repent, the unrepentant person who claims to be a believer must be put out of the church and association with them cut off. This is to bring them godly sorrow in hopes of repentance and restoration. Sin, like leaven in bread, can infect the whole church if not dealt with. Lord give us grace to hear and obey!

    Psalm 6:8-9 “Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.”

    Prayer: Father God, it has been with weeping and pleas for repentance that I have obeyed this passage in Your Word. Thankfully, I have seen fruit of repentance in some but others turned away. I am thankful that all final judgment is given to Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge. Help me and Your church leaders to follow Your instructions to purge evil from Your church and see Your grace draw many to the cross.

    Proverbs 1:32-33 “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

  • Lord, give us more ‘fathers’!

    Scripture reading for August 4th: 1st Corinthians 4, Psalm 5, Proverbs 31

    1st Corinthians 4: 9-15 “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”

    Paul was explaining how God used him in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To the world, he appeared as a fool and a man of weakness and someone to revile. He had no permanent home, and was destitute of worldly goods. He was slandered and spoken of as evil, even as one sentenced to death. He was sometimes without food and poorly dressed and was treated as the scum of the earth by those in the world. But Christ in him gave him power to bless those who reviled him and to endure the persecution and ill treatment and hardships and sorrows. His encouragement was those who received the message of Christ Jesus and became children of God. He became their ‘father’ through the Gospel. The new ‘household’ of God was clothed in the scarlet of Christ’s blood and had a secure position in God’s eternal family! Amen!

    Psalm 5:5-6 “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”

    Prayer: Father God, Your heart of love and mature witness expressed in the life of the apostles and in Paul’s life convicts me and inspires me. I long to see more lost people come into Your eternal family and be clothed in the scarlet of Christ’s sacrifice and then the white robes of His righteousness. I pray for more fathers in the faith to be raised up who will fully give their lives to increase Your family and glory!

    Proverbs 31:20-21 “She (the excellent wife) opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.”