In today’s Bible reading, Paul makes the case for personal budgeting for missions. He tells the church at Corinth to set aside a little extra money every week so that when it comes time to take up a collection, everyone can participate in the blessing of supporting Paul’s mission work. You may have heard (or…
The Resurrection of Jesus either happened or it didn’t. So what difference would it make if it did or didn’t happen? What if it never happened and the entire Christian movement — from the very beginning — is based on hopeful wishes of Jesus’ Disciples? Would that make much difference? Paul thinks the Resurrection is…
Paul began talking about spiritual gifts with 1 Corinthians 12. In yesterday’s reading (Chapter 13), he talked about love. In today’s Bible reading, he continues addressing spiritual gifts, specifically how the gifts should be used in the church setting. The first thing to note is that things were not just a little bit different in…
Today’s Bible reading is often called “The Love Chapter”. Part of this chapter 1 Corinthians 13:4–7) is often used during wedding ceremonies. But Paul didn’t write this chapter to describe marital love. Instead, he wrote it to show the superiority of love over spiritual gifts. He goes so far as to say that without love,…
In today’s Bible reading, Paul discusses spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts tends to be one of those topics that many Christians feel uncomfortable discussing. And unnecessarily so because Paul’s thesis could be boiled down to just three verses: A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. One and the same…
John Cooper is the frontman for the Christian Rock band Skillet. On Tuesday, August 13, Cooper posted the following on Facebook with the title, ‘What in God’s Name is Happening in Christianity?” Cooper directly addressed the reasons given by Hillsong songwriter Marty Sampson for renouncing his Christian faith. He stated the need for Christians to…
