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Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 11:27-28     27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.     No one is worthy of what Jesus has done for lost mankind. The unworthy manner that the Corinthians were displaying had to do with the love feast where they were not showing love to others. All believers are i

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 12:4-6     4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.     Notice the mention of the three persons of the one Godhead in this verse—the Spirit, Lord, and God. Although there are various kinds of gifts, it is the same God distributing them. Tho

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 12:14-17     14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 12:29-31     29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles?  30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.     Apparently some of the Corinthia

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 13:11-12     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.     Some claim some of these gifts will go from Paul’s time to

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:6-8     6 Dear brothers and sisters, if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language, how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. 7 Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. 8 And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called t

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:18-19     18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.     Before the time the Bible was completed Paul was able to say, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you.” But notice he also said, “But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help other

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:27-28     27 No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. 28 But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.     Paul laid down rules that were to be followed both in New Testament times and by any church who practices these gifts today. He gave a limit on how many tongues-speakers are

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:39-40     39 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.     Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to be “eager to prophesy.” This gift would not need interpretation. He also said, “don’t forbid speaking in tongues.” This statement is claimed by some to think that should still be said today. The apostle Paul, however, never referre

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 15:10-11     10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.     Paul felt unworthy but he thanked God for His grace apart from any of Paul’

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 15:27     27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)     After saying that Jesus will destroy death as the last enemy, Paul writes about who will not be put under His authority. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul tells how there is ranking in the Godhead. From this it is learned that Jesus is th

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 15:33-34     33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.     This was Paul’s answer to some who thought there is no resurrection so you might as well eat and drink because tomorrow you die. Paul was direct when he wrote that “some of you don’t know God at all.” Those who deny

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 15:45-47     45 The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.     Paul contrasted the first and last Adams. The one created in Genesis 2:7 was a person made from the dust on t

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 15:54-55     54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”     The apostle Paul assured believers in Jesus that when their bodies are transformed death will be swallowed up in victory. Usually death is thought of as the greatest defeat of all but not for the believer. It

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 16:5-6     5 I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia, for I am planning to travel through Macedonia. 6 Perhaps I will stay awhile with you, possibly all winter, and then you can send me on my way to my next destination.     It must have been encouraging for the Corinthians to read that Paul planned to visit them. Macedonia was in the north and then he would come to the south to visit the believers in Corinth. He did not plan ju

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 16:15-16     15 You know that Stephanas and his household were the first of the harvest of believers in Greece, and they are spending their lives in service to God’s people. I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, 16 to submit to them and others like them who serve with such devotion.     Paul had good memories of those who trusted Jesus early in his ministry in Greece. They had not only trusted in Jesus as Savior but spent their lives in servi

Getting Started…    “Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you,” With these words, the physician Luke begins his own account of some very remarkable events. Drawing upon many eyewitness testimonies, Luke sets out the history of the Messiah Jesus Christ for one simple reason: so we “can be certain of the truth.”    In this verse-by-verse study we’ll begin our look at Luke’s Gospel and the extraordinary

Day 1  RECEIVE   Luke 1:1-2     1 Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.     As Luke began his gospel, he alluded to others who had written about the recent events. He saw these events as fulfilled promises. The others had used eyewitness reports that came from the early disciples. Luke does not claim to be an eyewitness; instead he is a

Day 1  RECEIVE   Luke 1:14-15     14 “You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.”     This continues what the angel told Zechariah when he appeared to him in the temple. The angel had said Zechariah’s prayer had been answered and God was giving him and Elizabeth a son. The angel sai

Day 1  RECEIVE   Luke 1:44-45     44 “When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”     Elizabeth continued telling Mary what happened when Mary greeted her. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb “jumped for joy.” Elizabeth commended Mary for trusting in what the Lord, through the angel, had said would be done.   REFLECT   Think of the excitement these two ladies had as they had babies in

Day 1  RECEIVE   Luke 1:23-25     23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. 24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”     This passage reveals the people in Bible times thought it was a disgrace not to have children. Elizabeth is thrilled this stigma has been removed from her. She did not s

Day 1  RECEIVE   Luke 1:35     35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.”     This records what the angel Gabriel told Mary. His instructions concerned the baby she would have by means of the power of the Holy Spirit. The baby “will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” Surely Mary’s mind was whirling about what was predict

Day 1  RECEIVE   Luke 1:57-58     57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.     The story now turns to Elizabeth who gave birth to the promised son at her and Zechariah’s old age. Friends and relatives rejoiced with her. They saw this as God’s mercy being extended to Elizabeth.   REFLECT   How is it when a relative has a

Day 1  RECEIVE   Luke 1:67-70     67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy:  68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people. 69 He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, 70 just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago.”     After Zechariah said his son should be called “John,” he was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy. As a priest,