Category: Scripture

🔊 Listen to this

“” 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 grown 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 wherever you are 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 the glory of the earthly bodies.””

(1 Corinthians 15, vv. 35-40, NLT)

“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 are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they all be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.” (1 Corinthians 15: vv. 42-44, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“If I could speak all the languages of the earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret pans and passed 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 have 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 about 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.” (1 Corinthians 13, vv. 1-7, NLT)

“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.” (1 Corinthians 13, vv. 11-13, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“There are different kings of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit give the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit give the gift of healing. He give one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He give ssomeone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decided which gift each person should have.” (1 Corinthians 12: vv. 4-11, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“”For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord, Himself. On the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and said, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” In the same way, He took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people – an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until He comes again.

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. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have died.

But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”” (1 Corinthians 11: vv. 23-30, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experienced. And God is faithful. He will not allow temptation to be more than you can stand. when you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (1 Corinthians 10: vv. 12-13, NLT)

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved. And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10: vv. 31-33, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“”Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them: pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do this in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,”I will take revenge: I will pay them back,”, says the Lord.

Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.””
(Romans 12: vv. 14-21, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.” (Romans 12: 6-13, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:vv. 1-2, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“”For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience in all of its commands. But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart,’ who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (bring Christ back to life again).” In fact, it says,

“The message is very close at hand; it is on you lips and in your heart.”*. (Deut. 30:12-114)

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who give generously to all who call on Him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”*(Joel 2:32)
(Romans 10: vv. 5-13, NLT)

🔊 Listen to this

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us., who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one – for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one- for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor ag God’s right hand, pleading for us. “(Romans 8: vv. 31-34, NLT)

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: vv. 38-39, NlT)