Bible Readings

In the opening of Philippians, Paul gives thanks to the Philippians because of their participation in the gospel. Paul hints at the need for the church to continue to work even while he is imprisoned. Paul encourages the church to keep going because God is going to keep going and be at work with them. Verse 8 is the sentence that impacts me the most. When you remember that Paul is in prison as he writes to the Philippians, you feel an emotional tug from these words. His state

In Romans, Paul was thankful for their faith. For the Corinthians, Paul is thankful that they have received the grace of God. If you have read through 1 Corinthians, you will know that Paul had reason to be thankful for God’s grace. Corinth was a pretty messed-up place! And the church in Corinth was not much better. Paul reprimands the Corinthians for obvious sexual immorality and inequality between rich and poor members of the church. Some in Corinth even think they are bett

We reach the end of our Core Values+ series by looking at the need for Thanksgiving. In most of Paul’s letters, he has at least one section in which he gives thanks for his coworkers in Christ. We will read many of those sections this week. The introduction to Romans thanks the Christians in Rome because their faith is being held up as an example all around the world. What is interesting to me about this thanksgiving compared to others is that Paul had never been to Rome when

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206%3A23-24&version=NASB

The letter to Ephesus is probably written during the time of Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea, which would have been during Acts 23:23-26:32. After Paul says goodbye in Acts 20, he is indeed arrested in Jerusalem as the Ephesians thought he would be. At some point, a year or two after that goodbye, he writes Ephesians to continue to pastor one another. These words in the second half of Ephesians 1 show the heart that Paul had for the Ephesians. He regularly prays and gives tha

Today is a longer passage of Scripture, so we will have a shorter devotion. Paul brought together the elders of the church in Ephesus so that he could say goodbye. And it is in that goodbye that we realize the connection and community that Paul and the church in Ephesus had. They knew they would never see one another again, and that caused great emotion for everyone involved. But even in this time of great emotion, they kept their focus on God and prayed for one another in th

After Paul was in Ephesus for 2 years (Acts 19:10), Paul felt the urging of the Spirit to move on to the next place. Acts 19:26 reinforces what we could already tell from the rest of Acts 19; Paul had a major impact on Ephesus. Paul’s work of leading the church in Ephesus led to a financial deficit for those who made idols. Our story tells of one of those silversmiths trying to lead an uprising against Paul and the church because of the damage they had done to his business an

You get some pretty good stories when you’ve spent enough time with certain people. This coming May, it will be 20 years since LeeAnn and I started dating. Now, I know most of you have us beat by 10, 20, 30, 40+ years, but sharing life with someone for 20 years gives you plenty of good stories. In fact, we don’t even have to tell the whole story to one another. We will be in a place or see something, turn to one another, and say, “You remember that time?” The other one of us

Because of how quickly we can read through Acts, we imagine that Paul is running from place to place and never in one place for a long time. We think of Paul hosting revival services over a weekend and moving on. That is not what happens. As we read in Acts 19:10, he stayed in Ephesus for two years. That’s not a revival service with an evangelist. That’s a church with a pastor. Paul truly had a pastoral relationship with many of the churches he started, especially in Ephesus.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%204%3A34-35&version=NASB

Paul was 100% committed to getting the Jerusalem Collection to Jerusalem. His friends and co-workers in Christ begged him not to go. They knew the chances were high he’d be arrested in Jerusalem. But Paul was unpersuaded. Paul also knew the chances, but he was committed to the cause of delivering the collection himself, no matter what. Are you committed to giving everything for the cause of Christ? Giving money is usually the easiest thing to give. Time, energy, mental power

Nobody from First Baptist Gonzales will ever make you give money to the church. That is not the type of church or organization we are. I am not the type of pastor who is looking at how much people give; I don’t know anyone’s tithes and offerings. You don’t have to give anything to be part of FBCG. But you should want to give. You should be excited to give toward what is happening at FBCG. The Kingdom of God is growing and active because of the work of our church. And we canno

I mentioned on Monday that part of the plan for the Jerusalem Collection was to show unity among all the churches, Jews, and Gentiles alike. These verses encourage the Corinthians to give not so that Jerusalem can have more than they do, but so that there is equality. This collection will set a precedent that the churches help one another. When Corinth is in trouble, the churches will rally to help them. As they are all part of the Kingdom of God under the lordship of Jesus C

What is a sacrifice for others might be easy for you. Most churches teach the necessity of giving a tithe, 10%. The Old Testament Law specified giving a tithe of the crops and livestock to the tabernacle or Temple for different projects throughout the year. In addition, Malachi 3:10 says to “bring your whole tithe into the storehouse.” This concept has carried over to the New Testament world in which we live, even though the New Testament and Jesus never mention a tithe. Jesu

The Bible has a lot to say about money and what we should do with it. In sum, the teaching is that the money that is in our possession is not a possession of ours, but all resources are God’s resources. Because of this, we should be willing to give to others as they have need. Throughout this week, we are going to read passages from the New Testament that discuss what is known as the Jerusalem Collection. The Jerusalem Collection is mentioned in several of Paul’s letters. Thi

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028%3A18-20&version=NASB

Was Paul’s message a success? Not very many people became believers. It wasn’t like when Peter preached at Pentecost, and 3000 people were added to the church. So, was Paul’s message a success or a failure? Obviously, Luke thought it was a success. Luke wrote the sermon in the book of Acts. There are not many sermons written down in Acts. This is one of them. That makes me think that Luke thought it was successful. And who am I to argue with Luke? This is a moment where we mu

You can have compassion and curiosity (see Monday’s and Tuesday’s devotions). You can start where they are (see yesterday). But if you don’t get around to sharing the gospel and the need for repentance, you have not done evangelism. At best, you’ve done a self-help talk, and nobody can help themselves to salvation. Only God can give people salvation. You must present the gospel and let the people respond. If you do not do that, you are not doing evangelism. You must leave it

Imagine someone walking up to you to tell you that everything you think about the world is wrong. How would you react? Now, imagine that same person telling you that because of what you think about the world, you will spend forever sentenced to punishment. This is how non-Christians see Christians when they jump straight to you are living the wrong way and will go to hell. Is what the believer is saying wrong? No. Are they saying it in the wrong way? YES! As Christians, we ne

Be curious. Probably one of the more famous scenes in the TV show Ted Lasso is a scene with the title character being challenged to a game of darts by one of the show’s antagonists. The antagonist thinks very little of Ted because of his Midwestern demeanor. The antagonist is also arrogant about his dart playing. As they are competing in a round of darts, Ted begins to monologue about the need to be curious before committing to something. Ted explains that if the other guy we