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Saturday, November 30, 2019

Read the Bible in a Year (01DEC19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, December 1’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 9-11.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, December 2’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 12-14. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.


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1 CORINTHIANS MOMENT – (01DEC19) “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves” (1 Corinthians 11:28-29). There was a major problem – seemingly one of many taking place at the church in Corinth. They dishonored the Lord’s Supper by having divisions and debates in their midst during their assemblies, and they acted as if the Holy Communion was more of a buffet for the privileged rather than a commemoration of Jesus’ work done on the cross. This resulted in some of the church members leaving full of both food and wine, while others went away hungry and embarrassed. The Apostle Paul rebuked this behavior, for it did not honor the Lord.

Paul warned that some of them were taking the Lord’s Supper with sin in their lives and causing condemnation to come upon themselves. This resulted in some being sick and even dying for what they were doing was a sin. Therefore, Paul told them to eat at home so they would not come to the Lord’s Supper hungry and dishonor Him and bring judgment upon themselves. The Bible says: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21). Paul let the church know that they must make a decision rather they were going to be for Christ or against Him, but they could not have it both ways.

The church is to behave in such a manner that we bring honor to Christ for whom we say that we serve. We are never to take the Lord’s Supper in vain. Jesus expects us to be holy, and in living a righteous life, we will find ourselves in good standing with Him. The Lord’s Supper is not just a right of passage or a ritual that we are to take for granted when participating. It is a form of worship that should never be played with. The Bible says: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). As ambassadors for Christ, we are to show the world that we take what Jesus did on the cross for our sins seriously. Therefore, when we come together to honor Him through communion, we are giving witness to the Lord’s love for us and the entire world.

So, if one has unforgiveness in their heart against someone, they should not take the Lord’s Supper until they get it right with God. If a person has unconfessed sin in their lives, they need to repent before the Lord prior to taking part in communion. If a person has done wrong to someone with whom they have not apologized, they should try to make peace prior to taking the Lord’s Supper. Remember, we are to do this in remembrance of the One who set us free from sin. Something to ponder….

Friday, November 29, 2019

SATURDAY PRAYER – (30NOV19)




SATURDAY PRAYER – (30NOV19) Our Most Beloved Heavenly Father, we come to you this day and give praises to your name for all that you have done for us. We are more blessed than we deserve so we give you thanks for all the blessings you have bestowed upon us. Thank you for food, shelter, water, clothes, and giving us your breath of life. We would have none of these things if you had not been the One to provide them for us. Lord, we ask that you will forgive us from all of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Any stained garments that we have, please clean them in your blood for which you died on the cross for our sins. We desire to look, talk, act, and have the mindset of you so that we will do what is pleasing in your sight and be a bright light to those who are lost.

We pray for the people who are homeless and have nowhere to go. We ask that you will provide and take care of them as well as use us to be a blessing to them. We pray for the people who are lying up in hospital beds, on hospice, in convalescent homes, and rehabilitation facilities. We ask for your healing touch where they will recover in mind, body and spirit, but if not in body, at least in mind and spirit.

We pray for the children who are having to live in a morally depraved ungodly world. We ask for your hands of protection over them and despite what society says, we ask that they will come to the knowledge of your Truth and know how to distinguish right from wrong. We pray that you will teach the children whose parents are not teaching them your ways and that they will learn about Jesus even if they are in ungodly homes. We ask that you will save the children from those parents who are trying to change them physically and emotionally from what you created them to be. We pray against any abusers who would harm them and to set them free. We pray against the demons of hell who are trying to indoctrinate them in the ways of Satan through the schools, libraries, television, music, books, internet, and even toys.  Please chop off the devil’s hands where he cannot reach them due to the shield of protection that you have surrounding them.

We pray for broken marriages, family issues, displaced anger, and grief. We ask that you will give strength to the Christian spouses who are married to either unbelieving or spiritually weak spouses. We pray for their strength, endurance, courage, and for their faith to withstand the trials that they may be facing. Help them to pray when they do not know what words to say. Give them the love in their hearts when their spouses are acting unlovingly. Grace them with Your words when their words will not suffice. Give them the patience when they become weary in well-doing. Please be their Pillars of Strength when they feel like giving up and please move on their spouses where they will have an experience with You. Please help those who are going through separation, divorce, and child custody matters. We know that your plan was for families to be united, but we also know that you told us such things would happen the closer we got to your return. Nevertheless, where there is the hope for healing of such matters within your perfect will, please do you and allow their trials to become their testimonies unto you.

We pray for the lost who have not come to you. We ask that you will convict their hearts to submit their lives totally to you because there is only Heaven to gain and hell to lose. We pray that you will guide them down your narrow path and keep them steadfast and unmovable as they live in your Word.
We pray for our government leaders, military, peace officers, civil servants, and all of those whom you have placed in authority who operate as servants of the people. We ask that you will make them align their plans in accordance to your will and that nothing happens ahead of your divine plans. We ask for strength, grace, mercy and forgiveness of this nations’ many sins and corruption. We have failed you as a nation and we as believers pray on behalf of this nation that they will turn themselves back to you, but if not the nation as a whole, we pray for individual souls to be saved even during your judgments that we know will soon fall.

Lord, we pray for those who have lost loved ones and are struggling with death’s effects. Many people suffer especially during this time of year when they are no longer able to be around those they love. We ask for them to be surrounded by your loving arms and to give them hope in knowing that one day, there will be no more wet eyes, and you will wipe all tears away. We ask for you to replace the emptiness in their hearts with joy from above, and allow for their loneliness to be full of your divine comfort.

We look forward to your soon return and we pray for your preparedness in our hearts, minds, bodies and spirit. We thank you and pray that your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We ask for all of these things in your Son’s name, Jesus, Yeshua Hamashiach. Amen and amen.

Read the Bible in a Year (30NOV19)


DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 30’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 5-8.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, December 1’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 9-11. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

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1 CORINTHIANS MOMENT – (30NOV19) “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

The Apostle Paul had to address some issues in the church of Corinth to settle matters of division and sexual immorality amongst them. A case of incest had taken place in the church where a man had slept with his father’s wife. Paul rebuked this type of behavior and informed the church that they should have dealt with this man as his immoral behavior was inappropriate for the body of Christ. Paul argued that the church should expect the world to act contrary to God, but He would be the One to judge them so they may come to His saving grace. Nevertheless, when it came to matters such as sexual immorality taking place within the church, these types of issues were to be judged accordingly and dealt with so that the rest of the body would not be negatively affected. The Apostle Paul wrote: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). Paul used the example of using old leavened bread to celebrate Christ when it came to fulfilling the lustful desires of the flesh, while supposedly being new in Christ. Therefore, being in Christ was supposed to produce change.

Then there was the issue of the married verses the unmarried. Paul was a single man who had not been married, and he wrote that it was good for a person to remain single, so they may be able to devote their time to God. Nevertheless, he also said that there was nothing wrong with a person getting married if they so desired. It was better to marry than to commit sexual immorality. Paul wrote: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 7:18-20). We are free in Christ, but we are not free to commit acts that goes against the very nature of who God is. We are to honor Him with our bodies and not cause ourselves nor someone else to sin due to yielding to temptation. For those who are married, they are to submit to one another except for a mutual time of fasting and prayer, but after such, they are to come back together to avoid temptation.

As for divorce, Paul repeated the words of Jesus that a woman was not to leave her husband, but if she did, she was to remain unmarried or be reunited with him. This prevented couples from divorcing and remarrying on a whelm but caused them to seriously think about the commitment they were making to one another, and should they choose to leave the marriage, to weigh the consequences of their decision. The Apostle Paul wrote: “A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:39).

The Apostle Paul was clear in his instructions to the church in Corinth, and the issue of marriage and sexual immorality is still what the Lord would have us to follow today. Regardless of how man tries to twist the Bible or make God’s laws nonexistent, marriage is and will forever be between a man and a woman. Divorce does not give everyone the right to get remarried unless it happens on biblical grounds. God desires for us to be a righteous and holy people in our relationships with one another for we are to represent the relationship Christ has with us. Therefore, when we see our fellow brothers and sisters living contrary to the Word of God, we are to lovingly try to win them back over towards the Lord's side, but if they continue to live sinfully, then we are not to follow their same path and disassociate. First, however, we are to judge ourselves to ensure that there is no hypocrisy in us, and then, we can see clearly as to the other person’s spiritual condition. Something to ponder….

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Read the Bible in a Year (29NOV19)


DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 29’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 1-4.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, November 30’s Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 5-8. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

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1 CORINTHIANS Introduction 


The city of Corinth was a prosperous trading hub during the Apostle Paul’s day, but it was also known for its wickedness and vast immorality. He wrote his letter to the church because it was having some major problems due to it being new and centered in an ungodly society. Paul’s letter dealt with issues of Christian conduct and valuing their freedom in Christ, while not taking advantage of the Lord’s grace given as a license to sin. The apostle encouraged the Corinthian church to live sanctified and holy lives unto God.

Paul wanted to help the young church understand the unity they were to have in the body of Christ and that their disagreements should be settled amongst them in a fair and Godly manner without having to resort to secular court systems. Paul spoke against their divisions, drunkenness at the Lord Supper celebration, matters of marriage, and other issues that affected the Church and its worship to God. He sought for them to look at the Law as a mirror of their sins but not as a form of enslavement by their indulgence or disregard. Paul’s letter is believed to have been written towards the end of his stay in Ephesus around 55 A.D. where both in his own words and biblical scholars have credited him as being the author.  

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1 CORINTHIANS MOMENT – (29NOV19) “ ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’ So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God” (1 Corinthians 3:20-23). There were issues of pride and arrogance that the Apostle Paul had to address with the young church in Corinth. In Paul’s beginning address to the Corinthians, he reminds them that they were called to be sanctified in Christ and holy. Paul gave thanks to God for them because they were a church full of spiritual gifts, but there were some problems within the church that the apostle had to address. There were disputes amongst the believers which caused great division. Some of them felt as if they were better than others dependent upon which leader they followed. Paul was grateful that he had not baptized most of them, so they would not have him as one of the chosen leaders for which they were prideful all, although, at some level, even he was not excluded from their debates.

The Apostle Paul was mindful to let the church know that he along with the other apostles and leaders were just mere servants. They were only there to give the Gospel through the leading of the Holy Spirit and not from human origin. The Apostle Paul wrote: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul did not want to church to elevate them in the place of Christ on whom their foundation was built. Every apostle had their individual task given to them from the Lord as to the work that He wanted them to do in ministry. They did not speak from their own wisdom and eloquence to woo the crowd, but they spoke as the Holy Spirit gave utterance.

Paul did not desire fame, honor, and glory given to him by man’s standards, but he sought to have the approval from the One who called him into service. The apostle described the hardships that they had to encounter for the sake of the gospel which was by no means an easy task. They were sometimes, hungry, thirsty, homeless, dressed in rags, and persecuted through beatings, imprisonment, ridicule, and even death. Therefore, Paul did not want the church to be conceited when it came to the apostles who were only tools used by God to usher them to Christ.

Those who operate in the 5-fold ministry (apostles, pastors, teachers, prophets, and evangelists) along with the rest of the body of Christ are to operate in humility. It is not our jobs to lift ourselves up, nor are we to take the glory and praise the belongs to God. Without the Lord, none of us would be able to function. Unfortunately, in today’s church at large, there are those who seek position to perform instead of to minister. The members suffer at the hands of such narcissistic personalities because they have not truly learned how to take on the mantle of Christ. The Bible says: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:5-7). Even Jesus became a servant to do the will of the Father. Therefore, how much more should we be in the body of Christ? We should never allow the giftings that God has given us to go to our heads, nor place leaders above God. We are to respect those who are in authority over us, but those of us who are leaders, are to be humble servants to God’s people as He will be the One to elevate us in the end. Something to ponder….