1 Corinthians 15:12-34 - The Power of the Resurrection

"But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still guilty in your sins. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead... The last enemy to be destroyed is death... Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.' Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God..."

I really like this devotional today because it is on a topic that we forget to emphasize very often in the life of the church--the Resurrection of Christ and it's power.

There is a lot to this passage, which you can read all the way through on your own time, but I want to touch on the highlighted passages above. I gather 3 things about the significance and power of the resurrection from this passage:

1) Paul was addressing a group of people at the church in Corinth who were saying that there is no such thing as a physical resurrection of the body. Paul sternly counters this opinion and states that indeed there was a physical resurrection because Christ was physically resurrected. It was witnessed by many. He then says, if there is no resurrection, then Christ's death was pointless and we have no hope as human beings. Christ did rise from the dead and we do have hope in Christ! Do not separate the power of the blood and death on the cross from the glory and power of Christ's resurrection and it's victory! Through these two combined our sins are conquered.
2) Death is something that started with Adam and will end with Christ. Those who put their hope in Christ will, in fact, live for eternity in heaven with Christ. Death will not be a factor any longer.
3) Paul urges that we hold fast to this truth and are not led astray. Do not allow people who don't believe the truth to corrupt the hope that you have in Jesus Christ.

Whatever you are going through in this life, know that there is hope and victory through the death AND RESURRECTION of Christ for those who trust in Him.

I'm not sure if this baby has a full diaper or if he is filled with the Spirit! haha

1 Corinthians 14:1-25 - Using Your Gifts to the Max!

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts...for strengthening, encouragement, and comfort...so that the church may be edified. Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? ...try to excel in gifts that build up the church... I thank God that I speak in tongues... But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in tongues... But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in...he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

Ok, so as you read this passage, bear in mind that I have paraphrased a lot of this passage to hit the main points of what Paul is trying to emphasize here. My devotional today is about the importance and advantage of using our gifts in the church and why.

Based on the summary passage above I gather 4 things in regards to spiritual gifts:
1) The best gift that we could ever use as a believer is the gift of love. Whatever we do in this life, if love for people is not at the root of our motives, it is pointless.
2) One of the greatest things taking advantage of our spiritual gifts does is edifying (building up) the church to "strengthen, encourage, teach, and comfort."
3) By using our spiritual gifts, they allow us to praise and worship God, in thankfulness. And through this, people will see God's power and worship God as well.
4) As many different types of gifts a church has the better off they are to reach out, bring unbelievers to Christ and "make disciples."

God moves when we use our gifts for His purpose. What are your gifts? Have you figured them out? Are you using them for your own benefit or for the benefit of God and His kingdom?

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - "Don't Be Harmful to the Church!"

"In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment..."

This passage is very interesting because it touches on two very relevent topics with our ministry and church: Division/cliques and discipline.

Never, in any case, is segregation or divisiveness a positive thing in the life of a Christian. Especially in youth ministry, I have seen too many times when there is no sense of community or family because people don't like someone or have issues with another. As believers, we should be able to set aside our own agendas and personal preferences and be in communion with all believers. Who cares if someone is annoying...who cares if that kid is too emo...who cares if someone doesn't dress the same or like the same music. We should be able to worship God together in one accord!

When Jesus was engaging in the Lord's Supper with the disciples, he didn't say that there would be a buffet where you could come and go and grab food whenever you choose. He made all 13 of them sit down at the exact same time and pray together for the food and to talk about life. They shared life even they all came from different background... Peter and a few others were a dirty old fishermen... Matthew was a nasty tax-collector... Jesus was the son of a carpenter... The Bible also says that they supported each other and so Paul tells us in this passage to do this Christian life together (one of the most significant things being Communion).

When it comes to discipline there are a variety of ways God intends for this to go...1) The obvious ways: Spiritually and physically. 2) Be disciplined in putting others before yourself. 3) Being disciplined in showing no favoritism towards anybody. 4) Being disciplined in something as simple as waiting for everyone to be ready to eat a meal together. 5) Not getting drunk or keeping somebody from enjoying the same share of food and drink as you. 6) Being disciplined in being just as humble as those people who are poor and have nothing. 7) Being disciplined in evaluating your heart before God every single day. 8) Being disciplined in serving God and living for God every single day. 9) Being disciplined by seeking the Lord's guidance. 10) Being disciplined in showing compassion and love towards any and all people in your life.

The list goes on...but these are just some I have gathered based on this passage. Where is your heart? Is it divided or is it united with the heart of Christ?

Are you all talk? James 2:14-26 - Faith without action is meaningless...

1 Corinthians 10:23-33 - "The Believer's Freedom"

"'Everything is permissible'--but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible'--but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, 'The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.' If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, 'This has been offered in sacrifice,' then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake--the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved."

I don't believe that it is coincidence that my next Thursday morning with Shidoshi blog is in direct parallel with my last one--1 Corinthians 9:19-23 because Paul is emphasizing the freedom that we have in Christ to make a choice. Paul made a choice when God appeared to him to "commit his life to ministering to the Gentiles." So, today my hope is that you will grasp the significance of "a believer's freedom."

In this passage, specifically in verse 31, Paul lays the foundation for his message to the Corinthians. He says that "whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." If you are a follower of Christ you have been given a tremendous freedom. We should understand that whatever we do in this life is to be an act of worship for the very life that God has given us. However, because we are human, we can easily abuse this freedom and stray from God's wonderful path that he has laid out for us. From this passage I gather four things to help us understand better the freedom we possess:

1) Verses 23-24 tell us that "everything is permissible, but not beneficial" or "constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others." Just because God has given us a tremendous freedom doesn't mean he allows us to use it for selfish reasons. The purpose of our freedom is for unbelievers to see our freedom, so we can bring them to Christ and experience that freedom for themselves.
2) Verses 25-27 explain the idea that we should look at everything in this world as primarily good because God created it. So, for the sake of reaching people for Christ, we should be directly in contact with unbelievers, in the world with them but not of the world with them, without raising question of right or wrong.
3) In verses 28-29 Paul says if somebody tells you that what you are participating in is against God or dishonoring of God then you should not participate. So in this case, if the meat has been identified as meat sacrificed to idols and you eat it, the unbeliever might think you condone or even are willing to participate in the worship of idols. He also says for the man's conscience--not to cause this person to think it's all right to eat the meat himself.

Paul then says in verse 29 that the reason why we don't eat it is not for our sake, but for the man's. Because our freedom is not judged by the other man's conscience but is based on whether it will bring glory to God, whether it will build up the church of God and whether it will encourage the unsaved to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. We do these things until we realize that it causes our fellow person stumble...

4) Lastly, verses 30-33 tell us that when we do all things in thankfulness toward God, in the name of God, and bringing glory to God, we are living in full the freedom God has given us.

So, summing up this passage, we know we are living right and living out our freedom in Christ when: We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as yourself. This is our freedom...