November 30 – 1 Corinthians 5-8

Bible Reading Commitment, Encouragement, and Challenge

November 30 – 1 Corinthians 5-8

Observe with some (Interpretation in Parentheses)

• There is a lot in these chapters that could be meditated on!
• Chapter 5 talks about the important of church discipline
• Chapter 6 talks about sex and sexual immorality
• Chapter 7 talks about marriage
• Chapter 8 talks about looking out for the good of other Christians, being willing not to eat meat if it offends the conscience of another brother or sister
• Along these lines, the first part of chapter 6 about lawsuits kept jumping out at me
• In verse 7, Paul says, “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!”
• (While I may not bring formal lawsuits, I so often care more about being “RIGHT” than the love of brothers and the display of the Gospel)
• (Am I living for the glory of the Gospel, or the glory of my “rightness”?)

How Points to Christ

• Everything about Jesus’ death on the cross was wrong – Jesus deserved NONE of it
• Yet, Jesus was willing to be wronged so that through His death, salvation could come to the whole world

Apply

• Please pray that the glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ would what I live for
• Please pray for humility and overwhelming joy in the Gospel, so that I would be willing to be wronged for the Gospel
• And please pray that churches would display the unity of the Gospel instead of the selfish desires of the world

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November 30 – Prayer for the World and Unreached

May God increase our desire for His glory to spread to all nations and peoples – Operation World. and Joshua Project!

Unreached of the Day

Please pray for the …

Pasi, Hindu of India

Population: 7,440,000

Language: Hindi

Religion: Hinduism

Evangelical: 0.00%

For more details…

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November 29 – 1 Corinthians 1-4

Bible Reading Commitment, Encouragement, and Challenge

November 29 – 1 Corinthians 1-4

Observe with some (Interpretation in Parentheses)

• There is a lot in these chapters that could be meditated on!
• In chapter 2, verse 2, Paul “decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
• Paul knew that all of life was grounded in the Gospel
• Paul knew that all of life lived to glorify God were implications of the Gospel
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified was not simply at event in the past to “get him into heaven”
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified affected ALL of life

How Points to Christ

• Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the reason, foundation, source, power, and confidence for everything in the Christian life

Apply

• Please pray that I would never assume that I “know” enough about the Gospel of Jesus and Him crucified
• Every sin stems from an unbelief in the Gospel
• Every wasted moment stems from a lack of understanding of the power and urgency of the Gospel
• Every emotion of depression and hopelessness stems from unbelief in the Gospel and Jesus Christ’s comfort and hope He gives freely
• Please pray that I would live a Gospel-centered life and seek to lead every aspect of the church to be Gospel-centered

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November 29 – Prayer for the World and Unreached

May God increase our desire for His glory to spread to all nations and peoples – Operation World. and Joshua Project!

Unreached of the Day

Please pray for the …

Aweer of Kenya

Population: 7,700

Language: Aweer

Religion: Islam

Evangelical: 0.06%

For more details…

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November 20 – Acts 18-20

Bible Reading Commitment, Encouragement, and Challenge

On Vacation, so will resume blogging when I return.  =)

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November 20 – Acts 18-20

Bible Reading Commitment, Encouragement, and Challenge

November 20 – Acts 18-20

Observe with some (Interpretation in Parentheses)

• There is a lot in these chapters that could be meditated on!
• Among the many things that jumped out to me, this sentence was profound for me
• ²⁰So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. (Acts 19:20)
• In Acts, we see so many people becoming disciples through the apostles and other Christians sharing the Gospel
• One may suspect to see that the church of God or the disciples of God continued to increase and prevail mightily over those who would persecute them and the church
• But, the big power behind the church and disciples is God’s WORD
• Without the Word of God, the church of God and the disciples of God have no power

How Points to Christ

• Jesus Christ is the Word of God that grants life to those who repent and believe

Apply

• Please pray that I would always seek to direct people to the Word of God, the power of salvation
• And please pray that I would saturate the preaching of God’s Word with prayer, knowing that the Spirit of God must move in the hearts of people so that they would receive the Word of God humbly and be transformed by it
• Given that it is Sunday, please pray that churches would truly believe in the power of God’s Word so that they would be committed to preach God’s Word and not give in to seeker sensitive techniques to “help” God
• God’s Word has all-sufficient power to save, to increase and prevail mightily!

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November 20 – Prayer for the World and Unreached

May God increase our desire for His glory to spread to all nations and peoples – Operation World. and Joshua Project!

Unreached of the Day

Please pray for the …

Jew, Polish of Israel

Population: 397,000

Language: Polish

Religion: Ethnic Religions

Evangelical: 0.00%

For more details…

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November 19 – Acts 16-17

Bible Reading Commitment, Encouragement, and Challenge

November 19 – Acts 16-17

Observe with some (Interpretation in Parentheses)

• There is a lot in these chapters that could be meditated on!
• In chapter 17, I found the example of the Bereans encouraging and challenging
• ¹¹Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. ¹² Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
• Those in Thessalonica outright rejected God’s Word and persecuted the apostles.
• But those in Berea received God’s Word with eagerness
• They also examined the Scriptures themselves to see if they believed it
• And by God’s grace, many believed – Praise God!

How Points to Christ

• The focus of all of Scripture is the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• In Acts 17:2, we read, ²And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

Apply

• Please pray that my life and heart would be characterized by a love and eagerness to be in God’s Word
• And please pray that I would long to search the Scriptures to see what God truly says in order to know what to believe in
• And please pray that Christians and churches would root themselves in the Word of God as the final authority of all things

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November 19 – Prayer for the World and Unreached

May God increase our desire for His glory to spread to all nations and peoples – Operation World. and Joshua Project!

Unreached of the Day

Please pray for the …

Moghal of India

Population: 1,601,000

Language: Urdu

Religion: Islam

Evangelical: 0.00%

For more details…

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Do you struggle with sin?

If you struggle with sin, how do you typically respond?

This article by Ed Welch is extremely helpful to expose one big hopeless way we tend to respond when we struggle with sin.

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