Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 24.
but now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.
If I could speak all the languages of Earth and of angels, but didn't
love others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging symbol.
If I had the gift of prophecy and if I understood all of God's secret plans and
possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains but
didn't love others, I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could
boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would've gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
It does not demand its own way.
It is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up.
Never loses.
Faith is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become
useless, but love will last forever.
Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy
reveals only part of the whole picture.
But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child, but when I
grew up, I put away childish things.
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.
Three things will last forever.
Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.
Let love be your highest goal, but you should also desire the
special abilities the spirit gives.
Especially the ability to prophesy for if you have the ability to speak in
tongues, you'll be talking only to God.
Since people won't be able to understand you, you'll be speaking by the power of
the spirit, but it will all be mysterious.
But one who prophesies, strengthens others, encourages them and comforts them.
A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally.
But one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.
I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more, I wish you could all
prophesy for prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues unless someone
interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.
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.
Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp, must play the notes clearly,
or no one will recognize the melody.
And if the bugler doesn't sound a clear call, how will the soldiers
know they're being called to battle?
It is the same for you.
If you speak to people in words, they don't understand.
How will they know what you are saying?
You might as well be talking into empty space.
There are many different languages in the world and every language has meaning,
but if I don't understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who
speaks it and the one who speaks.
It will be a foreigner to me.
And the same is true for you.
Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the spirit gives, seek those
that will strengthen the whole church.
So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability
to interpret what has been said.
Four.
If I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don't understand what
I'm saying, well then what shall I do?
I will pray in this spirit and I will also pray in words.
I understand.
I will sing in the Spirit and I will also sing in words.
I understand for if you praise God only in the Spirit.
How can those who don't understand you praise God along with you?
How can they join you in giving thanks?
When they don't understand what you are saying, you will be giving
thanks very well, but it won't strengthen the people who hear you.
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you, but in a church
meeting, I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than
10,000 words in an unknown language.
I.
Dear brothers and sisters, don't be childish in your
understanding of these things.
Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in
understanding matters of this kind.
It is written in the scriptures.
I will speak to my own people through strange languages and through the lips
of foreigners, but even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord.
So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign not for
believers, but for unbelievers.
Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers even.
So if unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into
your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language,
they will think you are crazy.
But if all of you are prophesying.
And unbelievers or people who don't understand these
things, come into your meeting.
They will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say.
As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed and they will fall
to their knees and worship God declaring God is truly here among you.
Well, my brothers and sisters, let's summarize.
When you meet together, one will sing.
Another will teach.
Another will tell some special revelation.
God has given.
One will speak in tongues and another will interpret what is said.
But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.
No more than two or three should speak in tongues.
They must speak one at a time and someone must interpret what they say.
But if no one is present, who can interpret, they must be silent
in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.
Let two or three people prophesy and let the others evaluate what is said.
But if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation
from the Lord, the one who is speaking must stop in this way.
All who prophesy will have a turn to speak one after the other so that
everyone will learn and be encouraged.
Remember that people who prophesy are in control of
their spirit and can take turns.
For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.
As in all the meetings of God's holy people, women should be
silent during the church meetings.
It is not proper for them to speak.
They should be submissive.
Just as the law says if they have any questions, they should ask
their husbands at home for it.
Is improper for women to speak in church meetings or do you think
God's word originated with you?
Corinthians?
Are you the only ones to whom it was given?
If you claim to be a prophet or think you are spiritual, you should
recognize that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself.
But if you do not recognize this, you yourself will not be recognized.
So my dear brothers and sisters be eager to prophesy and don't forbid
speaking in tongues, but be sure that everything is done properly and in order.
Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters of the good news, I
preached to you before you welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.
It is this good news that saves you if you continue to believe the message
I told you, unless of course you believed something that was never true
in the first place I passed on to you.
What was most important and what had also been passed on to me.
Christ died for our sins.
Just as the scriptures said he was buried and he was raised from the dead.
On the third day, just as the scriptures said, he was seen by Peter and then by the
12 after that he was seen by more than 500 of his followers At one time, most of whom
are still alive, though some have died.
Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.
Last of all as though I had been born at the wrong time.
I also saw him for I am the least of all the apostles.
In fact, I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle after the
way I persecuted God's church.
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 is working through me by his grace.
So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach for.
We all preach the same message you have already believed.
But tell me this, since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why
are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?
For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ
has not been raised either.
And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is
useless and your faith is useless.
And we apostles would all be lying about God for we have said that
God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there
is no resurrection of the dead.
And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and
you are still guilty of your sins.
In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost.
And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be
pitied than anyone in the world.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Now the
resurrection from the dead has begun through another man just as everyone
dies because we all belong to Adam.
Everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life, but there
is an order to this resurrection.
Christ was raised as the first of the harvest.
Then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
After that, the end will come.
When he will turn the kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed
every ruler and authority and power for Christ must reign until he humbles
all his enemies beneath his feet.
And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
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.
Then when all things are under his authority, the son will put
himself under God's authority so that God who gave his son authority
over all things will be utterly supreme over everything, everywhere.
If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized?
For those who are dead?
Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour?
For, I swear, dear brothers and sisters that I face death daily.
This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you.
And what value was there in fighting wild beasts?
Those people of Ephesus, if there will be no resurrection from the dead.
And if there is no resurrection, let's feast and drink for tomorrow we die.
Don't be fooled by those who say such things for bad company
corrupts good character.
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, but someone may
ask, how will the dead be raised?
What kind of bodies will they have?
What a foolish question.
When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless
it dies first, and what you put in the ground is not the plant that
will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you're planting.
Then God gives it the new body.
He wants it to have a different plant grows from each kind of seed.
Similarly, there are different kinds of flesh.
One kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth.
The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the
glory of the earthly bodies.
The sun has one kind of glory while the moon and stars each have another kind.
And even the stars differ from each other and their glory.
It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead.
Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they
will be raised to live forever.
Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory.
They're buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.
They're buried as natural human bodies.
But they will be raised as spiritual bodies for just
as there are natural bodies.
There are also spiritual bodies.
The scriptures tell us the first man, Adam became a living person, but the last Adam,
that is Christ is a life-giving spirit.
What comes first is the natural body.
Then the spiritual body comes later.
Adam, the first man was made from the dust of the earth while Christ,
the second man came from heaven.
Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people
are like the heavenly man.
Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.
What I am saying dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies
cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret.
We will not all die, but we will all be transformed.
It will happen in a moment in the blink of an eye when the last trumpet
is blown for when the trumpet sounds.
Those who have died will be raised to live forever.
And we who are living will also be transformed for our dying.
Bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die.
Our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
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.
Oh, death.
Where is your victory?
Oh, death.
Where is your sting for Sin is the sting that results in death,
and the law gives sin its power.
But thank God he gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable.
Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing
you do for the Lord is ever useless.
Now, regarding your question about the money being collected for
God's people in Jerusalem, you should follow the same procedure
I gave to the churches in Galatia.
On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion
of the money you have earned.
Don't wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.
When I come, I will write letters of recommendation for the messengers.
You choose to deliver your gift to Jerusalem, and if it seems appropriate for
me to go along, they can travel with me.
I'm coming to visit you after I've been to Macedonia for I am planning
to travel through Macedonia.
Perhaps I will stay a while with you, possibly all winter, and then you can
send me on my way to my next destination.
This time, I don't want to make just a short visit and then go right on.
I want to come and stay a while if the Lord will let me.
In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost.
There is a wide open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.
When Timothy comes, don't intimidate him.
He is doing the Lord's work just as I am.
Don't let anyone treat him with contempt.
Send him on his way with your blessing.
When he returns to me, I expect him to come with the other believers
now about our brother Apollo's.
I urged him to visit you with the other believers, but he was
not willing to go right now.
He will see you later when he has the opportunity beyond guard.
Stand firm in the faith.
Be courageous, be strong, and do everything with love.
You know that Stefanus and his household were the first of the harvest of believers
in Greece, and they're spending their lives in service to God's people.
I urge you, dear brothers and sisters to submit to them and others like
them who serve with such devotion.
I'm very glad that Stephanus Fornas and have come here.
They have been providing the help you weren't here to give me.
They have been a wonderful encouragement to me as they have been to you.
You must show your appreciation to all who serve so well.
The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord as do Aquila
and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings.
All the brothers and sisters here send greetings to you.
Greet each other with a sacred kiss.
Here is my greeting in my own handwriting, Paul.
If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed our Lord.
Come.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.
This concludes today's Immer Reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.