October 8, Thursday Devotion

1 Corinthians 16:5-9

⁵ After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. ⁶ Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. ⁷ I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. ⁸ But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, ⁹ because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

Quick Notes

Our fast-food world rarely slows down to enjoy some of the pleasures of what the Kingdom at hand really means. It is not lazy to spend time with each other. It is a way we build each other up with encouragement. Sometimes it is better to not do something than to do it and not have time for those around you.

Quick Questions

When you do something, who do you spend your time with?

Quick Prayer

O Lord, please make my time more effective than efficient. Amen.

October 7, Wednesday Devotion

1 Corinthians 16:1-4

16 Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. ² On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. ³ Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴ If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.

Quick Notes

Where I grew up, several people hated coming to church because it seemed as if the churches only wanted people's money. Though collecting offering is a part of what we do, we always do it with the purpose to spread the gospel.

Quick Questions

Where does the money you receive go to? Do you spend it with purpose? Do you spend it to spread the gospel? Where do you spend it?

Quick Prayer

Lord Jesus, let the money that I spend be glorifying to you. Amen.

October 6, Tuesday Devotion

1 Corinthians 15:58

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Quick Notes

There are a lot of people who do things for the Lord that are not necessarily of the Lord. We constantly ascribe things to God to justify and rationalize what we already do - that is work for, not of, the Lord. Work of the Lord is bringing reconciliation and redemption back to relationships. It is the co-existence of peace and justice together, and not apart. Ultimately, work of the Lord is the holy encountering the profane and sanctifying or redeeming it.

Quick Questions

Are you more caught up in the Lord or of the Lord?

Quick Prayer

Lord, let me be of you. Amen.

October 5, Monday Devotion

1 Corinthians 15:35-57

³⁵ But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” ³⁶ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹ All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. ⁴² So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” ⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Quick Notes

Death has been swallowed up in victory. I do not want to make a trite statement, but death is the absence of life. And we find life through Jesus Christ. When we find life through other means, it always leads to death. Yet the death of Jesus lead to life everlasting. We pursue life, not death.

Quick Questions

What areas of your life seem to be plagued with death? Do you believe you that Jesus can bring life to these areas?
Quick Prayer

Jesus, bring life to me abundantly. May my life bring life to others. Amen.

October 4, Sunday Devotion

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he “has put everything under his feet.”^a Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

²⁹ Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? ³⁰ And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? ³¹ I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” ³⁴ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

Quick Notes

Without the resurrection, our faith is useless. The cross is important, but only seen in light of what the resurrection is and does. Because of the resurrection, it completely validates everything Jesus said and did and because of this, it gives a not yet world to live into already, today.

Quick Questions

Don't you want to live into this not yet world? Don't you want to bring the not yet into the already? Don't you want to see the resurrection mean something in your life?

Quick Prayer

Almighty God, may the grace of your Holy Spirit continue to transform us and through us may your grace change the world. He is risen indeed!

October 3, Saturday Devotion

Hey, everyone,

It has been about 46 days since I wrote anything before the devotion. We have about another week of 1 Corinthians and then we will move into 2 Corinthians. I have heard some stories of how God has encountered you in your lives, and I myself have been encouraged. My email is always open to any and all if you have any issues to work through. I will be glad to help point you in certain directions and find people locally to give you encouragement. Blessings upon you all and bless others.

Grace & Peace,

Mike McVey

1 Corinthians 15:3-11

³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹ Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Quick Notes

What Paul is talking about here is that the gospel he preaches is consistent with the testimony of Peter, the Twelve, and over five hundred more. It is important that the story, the testimony, the gospel, that we tell others is true to the testimony of others who follow Christ throughout history and geography (time and space). In the Apostle's Creed, we call this the "catholic" or "universal" Church.

Quick Questions

Does what you say about Jesus measure up to the universal testimony? Do you talk about Christ's death and resurrection?

Quick Prayer

Christ Jesus, thank you for taking upon death and conquering it. Thank you for the forgiveness of sins. Thank you for witnesses along the way. May I join that cloud. Amen.

October 2, Friday Devotion

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

15 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

Quick Notes

Christianity is not really a position of prestige. Yet is it amazing how many Christians think it is a status that shows them higher than others. The gospel that Paul preached was Christ crucified - the man who had everything yet gave it all up to serve. That is the gospel, not whatever one might "get" for being a Christian.

Quick Questions

Do you see your faith in Christ as prestigious or humbling? Why or why not?

Quick Prayer

O God, that I might follow your Son's footsteps forever. Amen.