1 Corinthians 9 bible reading and devotionals.

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MaxLucado.com: A New Birth

God is often more patient with us than we are with ourselves.  We assume if we fall, we aren’t born again.  If we have the old desires, we must not be a new creation.

If you’re anxious please remember what Paul said in Philippians 1:6, “God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.”

In many ways your new birth is like your first.  In your new birth God provides what you need; someone else feels the pain, and someone else does the work.  And just as parents are patient with their newborn, so God is patient with you. But there’s one difference. The first time you had no choice about being born. This time you do.

The power is God’s. The effort is God’s. The pain is God’s. But the choice is yours.

From A Gentle Thunder

1 Corinthians 9
New International Version (NIV)
Paul’s Rights as an Apostle

9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas[a]? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?

7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”[b] Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?

But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

Paul’s Use of His Freedom

19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made 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 people 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.

The Need for Self-Discipline

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 1 John 4:7-11

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

A Fragrance

November 9, 2012 — by Anne Cetas

If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. —1 John 4:11

Katie nervously walked into the church youth group party that Linda had invited her to attend. She hadn’t been to a church since she was a little girl and didn’t know what to expect at a Valentine dinner with mostly strangers. But her heart started to calm when she found valentines at her plate that had been written for her from everyone there. They had cards for each other too, but it touched Katie’s heart that they would think to do that for her, a visitor to their group.

Katie felt so welcomed that she accepted Linda’s invitation to a church service. There she heard about God’s love for her in spite of her sinfulness, and she embraced Jesus’ forgiveness. The youth group had given her a fragrance of God’s love, and God opened her heart to trust Him.

“If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another,” the apostle John said (1 John 4:11). That’s a love for our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as for those who don’t yet know Him. Ray Stedman wrote, “As God’s love shines into our hearts, we become more open to others, allowing the fragrance of love to drift out and attract those around us.” The youth group did that for Katie.

God can spread the fragrance of His love through us today.

Lord, I’m so thankful that because You first loved me,
I am able to love others. Please spread the sweet
fragrance of Your love through me to everyone
I interact with today. Amen.
A godly life is a fragrance that draws others to Christ.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 9, 2012

Sacred Service

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . . —Colossians 1:24

The Christian worker has to be a sacred “go-between.” He must be so closely identified with his Lord and the reality of His redemption that Christ can continually bring His creating life through him. I am not referring to the strength of one individual’s personality being superimposed on another, but the real presence of Christ coming through every aspect of the worker’s life. When we preach the historical facts of the life and death of our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacred. God uses these words, on the basis of His redemption, to create something in those who listen which otherwise could never have been created. If we simply preach the effects of redemption in the human life instead of the revealed, divine truth regarding Jesus Himself, the result is not new birth in those who listen. The result is a refined religious lifestyle, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in a realm other than His. We must make sure that we are living in such harmony with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in others those things which He alone can do.

When we say, “What a wonderful personality, what a fascinating person, and what wonderful insight!” then what opportunity does the gospel of God have through all of that? It cannot get through, because the attraction is to the messenger and not the message. If a person attracts through his personality, that becomes his appeal. If, however, he is identified with the Lord Himself, then the appeal becomes what Jesus Christ can do. The danger is to glory in men, yet Jesus says we are to lift up only Him (see John 12:32).


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Gods That Die - #6740

Friday, November 9, 2012

Well, I fell in love with a girl from Arkansas, and she informed me that the largest religion in the state is football; especially the University of Arkansas kind of football - the Razorbacks. So, guess who the most important man in the state is? No, not the governor; he's number two. Probably the most important man is the football coach of the University of Arkansas. Now, years ago In the '80s it was a man named Ken Hatfield; in this particular case, a follower of Jesus Christ.

He gave his testimony at Billy Graham's Little Rock Crusade some years ago, and I happened to be there that night. Everyone really listened because of who he was. He told us about the turning point in his life, and it was 1964. He was playing for the University of Arkansas, and his dream had come true. They had just defeated Nebraska for the national championship in college football - #1. He told us that he read those headlines the next morning of how Arkansas was number one, and he realized he had experienced his greatest achievement and it left him totally depressed the next day. He summed it all up in four words that I haven't forgotten. He simply said, "My god had died." They have a way of doing that.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Gods That Die."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Jonah 2. This is actually a prayer, and it's probably the only prayer we know of ever prayed inside a fish. That's where Jonah is for his disobedience to God. He's reflecting on his detour from God's best. Here's what he says in his prayer. Verse 7: "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you to your holy temple. 'Those who cling to worthless idols, forfeit the grace that could be theirs.' But I with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You. What I have vowed, I will make good."

You notice he's inside the great fish, and he's talking about clinging to worthless idols. You have to wonder if he's not meaning here that there was something in his life too important to let go of when God said, "Go to Nineveh." Something he could not let go of. Now, what would that be for you? Well, you may know Christ, but maybe there's a god you cannot surrender to the control of your Savior. It could be your child, or a dream you have for your child, or it could be someone you love very much, or maybe a dream you have cherished for yourself for years, or a position, a ministry, a home, an activity, a career.

In fact, we sometimes will release one god at one point in our life, and then unintentionally pick up another one at another point. It may be a different one at this point in your life. But every little "g" god has the same fate. "My god died" like the coach said. Maybe one of yours has died recently. You know, that's actually okay. That's what brings you back to the vows you made to the Lord. "What I have vowed, I make good now" is what Jonah said; to get back to the main road and get off of his detour.

It took a violent storm and near death for Jonah to wake up and let his false god die - whatever it was. See, when you cling to that false god, it says you forfeit the grace that could be yours. You're missing the best of God's gifts as long as you hang on to another god, a god that will die. Often when you're in a storm, you understand that what you've been basing your life on - what's been number one in your life - is not enough. And maybe those are the moments when your heart turns and says, "I believe I'm made for more." That more is Jesus Christ, who died for you.

When His own follower, Peter, was in a violent storm and ready to drown, He reached out and all he could get out was, "Lord, save me!" You say that to Jesus today, and He will do that for you. He's the God you were born to serve.

Don't wait until you're totally submerged to say to God, "I'm letting go." Say it now, and with Jonah, "What I vowed, Lord, I'll make good."