Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

15 Because I was confident of this, I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, “Yes, yes” and “No, no”? 18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas[b] and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. What Does This Mean? The second letter Paul ...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 16 The Collection for God’s People 1 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. What Does This Mean? In this last chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul turns to practical matters. One of his missions was to collect money from each of the churches that he had planted, in order to help the church in Jerusalem because they were struggling financially. This is where Paul calls to mind the principle of setting aside a certain amount of money in keeping with their income, on a weekly basis. You’ll notice he does not teach a strict “tithe”, as would be ...

Daily Bread 2011 The Resurrection of the Dead 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. What Does This Mean? Apparently there were some in the church in Paul’s day that were saying Jesus wasn’t really raised from the dead. ...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 14 Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues 1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. 3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified. What Does This Mean? In this last chapter on spiritual gifts, Paul clarifies the use of the gifts of “tongues” and “prophesy”. It seems in the Corinthian church there was a lot of energy around “speaking in tongues”, and it caused some confusion because some had the gift and some didn’t. Because the tong...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 13 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappe...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 12 Spiritual Gifts 1 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. What Does This Mean? Paul begins in chapters 12-14, his teaching on spiritual gifts. The Corinthian Church was blessed with many spiritual gifts, like speaking in tongues, miracles and prophesies; but people were starting to rank the gifts in importance based on how supernatural they were. I.e. they were lifting up the extraordinary gifts like speaking in tongues over more ordinary gifts like teachi...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 11 1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. What Does This Mean? Though a short verse this verse says so much. Some might think is being arrogant to say “follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” At the heart of our calling as a church is to “make disciples that make disciples”. Being a disciple is following the example of Christ of course, and yet God gives us mentors/teachers whose examples are worthy of following. Paul is not by this saying I am Jesus, or have already been made perfect; but I am pressing on to become the disciples that God/Jesus have called me to be. I am in progress. I am working out my salvation with fear and trembling as he says in Ephesians. Paul strives to be a living example to His followers so that they can follow the way he lives and acts and become more like Christ. This is summed up by what he states at the end of chapter 10, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do; do it all for...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 10 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. What Does This Mean? Paul then addresses the issue of sexual immorality and points out that his Jewish brothers and sisters struggled with the same issue. They were judged for their sexual immorality, in Exodus 25, when they were seduced by the women of Moab, and 24,000 were struck dead. Since the Corinthian church had similar temptations with their location as a bustling seaport, he uses this example to warn them. Note what this introduction to Corinth says about the city (http://www.christianinconnect.com/1corinthi...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 9 19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. What Does This Mean? There are probably no greater verses in the bible than these that describe the heart of the apostle Paul, chosen by God to be a light to the Gentiles. Again Paul uplifts that even though He is free in Christ, he makes himself a slave to everyone so that he might win some....

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 8 Food Sacrificed to Idols 9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall. What Does This Mean? This is a hugely important passage for how Paul understands the use of Christian freedom. First, he points out that for a believer to eat meat sacrificed to idols in the pagan festivals means nothing, because there is only One God. Since there is no real spiritual power inherent in idols, there is no spiritual potency in either...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 7 Marriage 1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.[a] 2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. What Does This Mean? Paul spends all of chapter7 explaining how the believers should handle the issue of marriage. Some conclude that Paul i...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 6 1 8 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. What Does This Mean? Although there are no ranking of sins as some worse than others, Paul teaches about the distinctiveness of sexual immorality as a sin against our own bodies. Since sexual immorality was one of the sins Paul was confronting in the Corinthian culture, and specifically as it had seeped its way in the church, he relates it to our body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Since the temple was a big fixture in the Jewish faith, the idea was that as God dwelt in the temple it was sacred or holy. Hence all the laws associated with the temple, who could come in and out of it, and the ceremonial cleansi...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 5 9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” What Does This Mean? One of the fruit of a non-discipleship culture is that people are still prone to immorality, since there is no true transformation going on. In this case a man is sleeping with his father’s wife (meaning she is most likely his stepmom). And Paul urges the church to deal with this issue swiftly before this type of ...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 4 14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. What Does This Mean? Paul uses the term 10,000 guardians in Christ, meaning there were many who wanted to act as their disciplinarians (i.e. tell them what to do!), but they didn’t have many fathers like him. The difference is like someone who wants to give you advice or take your inventory, versus someone who is willing to invest their life in you to help you become the person God made you to be. The word for guardian is also the word for “tutor”, someone who dispenses teaching, but...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 3 On Divisions in the Church 1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. What Does This Mean? As Paul confronts the spiritual immaturity in the Corinthian church, he uses the metaphor of milk and solid food (or meat). He also uses the analogy of “infants in Christ”. Although there are no ...

Wisdom From the Spirit The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. What Does This Mean? Paul continues his teaching on the difference betw...

Daily Bread 2011 – 1 Corinthians 1 Divisions in the Church 10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: On¬¬¬e of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul? 14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its po...

Personal Greetings 1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5 Greet also the church that meets at their house What Does This Mean? Paul uses the last chapter of the letter to extend personal greetings to all, who in some way or another, contributed to his mission. Though there is not a lot of theological content, except for verses 17-19, where Paul warns the church to watch out for cause divisions or teach contrary to what he has taught them, we see the diversity of people God used to build the 1st century church. In these lists are both men and women. Notice the large amounts of women who were integral in ...

Romans 15 14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. What Does This Mean? As Paul nears the end of his letter to the church at Rome, he takes the time to encourage them that they have grown to the point in Christian maturity and understanding where they can “instruct one another”. This is one of the reasons why Romans is such a systematic letter which outlines so much of the doctrine of the faith. Since Paul could not be there in person to instruct the church, he needed to rely on letters like this. Though his priority was to take up the offering that he received f...

Romans 14 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. 14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. What Does This Mean? As Paul makes the transition from the old covenant and its focus on following the Law, to the new covenant which is written on people’s hearts, he had to teach on some practical matters. Practical matters such as eating ...

Submission to the Authorities 1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give eve...