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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Today's Passage : Subject :Paul's Odd Ministry Bible Verse:1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (ESV) "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed." Message:
Follow, for a minute, what Paul is saying here. He is reminding the church of Corinth — and us — of how they (and we) came to receive the good news of Christ. After Christ was resurrected, He appeared to a number of people, so that they could directly witness the fact of His resurrection and testify about it to others. Paul actually recounts an incident not in the Gospels, where Christ appeared to a large group of followers, he appeared to his apostles (both several individuals and as a group).
But Paul was the odd man out; Christ appeared to him (although not in his human form) when he was still a heretic, and in fact the worst kind, a member of the faction that actually killed Him, in the very process of rounding up Christ's followers for persecution. Unlike the other witnesses to the resurrection, Paul was not a believer — far from it. He, and only he, was converted by Christ Himself after His death.
Having an oddball or black sheep picked by God for a special purpose happens often in the Bible. In fact, those chosen by God for a special purpose in advancing His message are rarely those one would expect: a younger son, the youngest of twelve sons, a widowed daughter-in-law, a baby abandoned in a basket on the Nile, children born to barren old women. Like them, Paul is the unexpected choice, the "untimely born" whom Christ recruits as his greatest missionary, speaker, and writer.
So why him, and not one of the apostles or many disciples who followed Christ in His lifetime? Because Paul is like us. He received the Word from a Christ he never saw.
Meditation : Prayer : Heavenly Lord, I know I am not alone saying these prayers or reading your Word this morning, but many people unknown to me, from all stations of life, have joined together in this brief moment of devotion. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be among the community of all who pray in the name of Christ this morning, and remain among us always.. Amen |
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