all things

We have forgotten how or why we should be "all thing to all people"...

1 Corinthians 9

19 Even though I am a free man with no master, 

I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 

20 When I was with the Jews, 

I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. 

When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, 

I too lived under that law. 

Even though I am not subject to the law, 

I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 

21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, 

I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. 

But I do not ignore the law of God; 

I obey the law of Christ.

22 When I am with those who are weak, 

I share their weakness, 

for I want to bring the weak to Christ. 

Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, 

doing everything I can to save some. 

23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, 

but only one person gets the prize? 

So run to win! 

25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. 

They do it to win a prize that will fade away, 

but we do it for an eternal prize. 

26 So I run with purpose in every step. 

I am not just shadowboxing. 

27 I discipline my body like an athlete, 

training it to do what it should. 

Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

1 way

This is Paul writing his first letter to the followers of Jesus who live in Corinth...



According to some people,

there are many so-called gods & many lords,

both in heaven & on earth.

But we know that there is only one God,

the Father,

who created everything

& we exist for Him.

And there is only one Lord,

Jesus Christ,

through whom God made everything

& through whom we have been given life.

1 Corinthians 8:5-6



I would suppose that kinda sorta cuts the legs of "all paths lead to God"?

encouragement

The children of Israel are fixing to enter Canaan & capture the Promised Land.

Moses isn't going with them (long story).

Joshua is going to lead them.

This is some of what Moses said to them right before they entered Canaan

& he went up into the mountains & died.



Don't be afraid

or discouraged,

for the Lord is the One who goes before you.

He will be with you.

He will neither fail you

or forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT, 1st ed.)



This verse is also the basis used by the author of Hebrews 13:5, which is my life verse:

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

come

Then Jesus said,

Come to me

all you who are weary

& carry heavy burdens,

& I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 (NLT, 1st ed.)



The God of the universes in the person of Jesus says to us, "come here".

Amazing...

lots of stuff

As I read sequentially through the Psalms, today was the day I was supposed to read Psalm 139.

It's my favorite psalm.

I was hoping to get some answers & direction from the various places I read today.

I don't know yet if I did.

For some reason, verse 3 stood out - I don't remember the last time that happened.

Verses 19 - 22 have always troubled me - they seem so out of place in such an otherwise positive psalm.

I've included them today - maybe you can give me some insight as to their presence.

There's A LOT of stuff in these verses, stuff we could ponder for eternity, stuff that bears looking at from all kinds of angles.



Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You chart the path ahead for me
    and tell me where to stop & rest.
    Every moment you know where I am.
4 You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
12     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
    Get out of my life, you murderers!
20 They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.
21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
    for your enemies are my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

1 vs

For the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk;

it is living by God's power.

1 Corinthians 4:20

that night...

Luke 2

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

amazing

I don't think I've ever heard a sermon about what this passage eventually says.

I've only heard sermons on what is said in verse 9.

Read the whole discussion Paul has because the ending is to me a surprising conclusion...

 1 Corinthians 2

9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
    and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
    for those who love him.”

10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. 

For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 

11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, 

and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 

12 And we have received God’s Spirit 

(not the world’s spirit), 

so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. 

Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, 

using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 

14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. 

It all sounds foolish to them 

and they can’t understand it, 

for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 

15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, 

but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 

16 For,

“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
    Who knows enough to teach him?”

But we understand these things, 

for we have the mind of Christ.

13

I need to read this every once in a while...

1 Corinthians 13 

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

either word works

"Here on earth you will have many trials & sorrows.

But take heart,

because I have overcome the world."

Jesus, speaking to His disciples the night before He was killed, 

in John 16:33 (NLT, 1st ed.)



I checked the dozens & dezoens of English translations & paraphrases at BibleGateway.com...

They all say the same thing...

Jesus either says "I have overcome the world" or "I have conquered the world"

So I guess we can trust  the basic premise that Jesus meant to tell His disciples that He is in control?

😎

vines / branches

I know I've shared this passage before.

I think I share it every time I'm slated to read it.

There's just SO MANY layers to these few verses.

Like when I read it just now I noticed something that I hadn't seen before.

Read it again - maybe God will speak to you in a different way, like He just did to me.

John 15 

1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.17 This is my command: Love each other.

the way

This is Jesus talking to His disciples the night before He was killed...

John 14 

1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. 

Trust in God, 

and trust also in me. 

2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. 

If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 

3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, 

so that you will always be with me where I am.

4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. 

“We have no idea where you are going, 

so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus told him, 

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. 

No one can come to the Father except through me. 

7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. 

From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? 

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! 

So why are you asking me to show him to you? 

10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? 

The words I speak are not my own, 

but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 

11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. 

Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

12 “I tell you the truth, 

anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, 

and even greater works, 

because I am going to be with the Father. 

13 You can ask for anything in my name, 

and I will do it, 

so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 

14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, 

and I will do it!