Archive for month: September, 2021

Hi GAMErs,

Today we begin the book of Leviticus.  According to many scholars, Leviticus was mostly likely written by Moses himself in approximately the second half of 15th century B.C.  It was apparently the first book that a Jewish child studied and contained many of the sacrificial and ceremonial laws that the Jewish people were to follow.  From the book of Leviticus we can learn a lot about the character of God.

Today’s passage is Leviticus 1:1-17.  Let’s go!

Leviticus 1:1-2 (NIV)
1  The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said,
2  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any of you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

On verses 1-2:  Where was Moses when God spoke to him and revealed His plans for him and the people he was leading?  Moses was in church, or as it was called then, the Tent of Meeting, the place where God’s people gathered to worship and meet with God.  

Likewise, if you want God to speak to you and to reveal His plans for you, make it your priority to be in church where you can meet with God and with God’s people.  God loves to speak to His people when they are gathered together.  So come to church with a hungry, expectant heart, ready to worship God, to be still in His presence and to listen to His Word.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Corinthians 13:1-14.  Let’s go!

2 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)
1  This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
2  I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others,
3  since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me…

On verses 1-3a:  Paul naturally preferred to take a gentle approach with his congregation in person (see for example verse 10).  However, the Christians in the church in Corinth were continuing to engage in the sinful behaviours that Paul had repeatedly warned them about in the past (see 2 Corinthians 12:20-21).  In addition, people in the church in Corinth had been criticizing Paul for being strong and aggressive in his letters but weak and mild in person.  They even questioned whether Christ was really speaking through Paul (v3).  So with all that in mind, Paul says that he now plans to take a stern, disciplinarian approach toward the people in his church, just as he had warned them before on his second visit to them (v2).  In verse 1 Paul quotes Deuteronomy 19:15 as a way to say he is getting ready to exercise some church discipline when he visits them next.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Corinthians 12:11-21.  Let’s go!

2 Corinthians 12:11-19 (NIV)
11  I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
12  The things that mark an apostle–signs, wonders and miracles–were done among you with great perseverance.
13  How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
14  Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
15  So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?
16  Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!
17  Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you?
18  I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?
19  Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.

On verses 11-19:  Paul was hurt that the Christians at the church in Corinth, which he had helped to start, had so quickly shifted their loyalty to this new, heretical group called the “super apostles”.  Under the influence of these “super apostles”, the Christians in Corinth had begun to question Paul’s authority as an apostle, his ability as a leader, his character as a man and his love for them as their pastor and spiritual father.  These were very personal attacks. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.  Let’s go!

2 Corinthians 12:1-6 (NIV)
1  I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.
2  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know–God knows.
3  And I know that this man–whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows–
4  was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
5  I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.
6  Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.

On verses 1-6:  Why does Paul go on boasting even though “there is nothing to be gained” (v1) by it?  It’s because the Corinthian Christians have kept on comparing Paul to the “super apostles” who make all sorts of boasts about how spiritual they are and how accomplished they are.  The church in Corinth was starting to lose confidence in Paul and look down on him, since he wasn’t in the habit of flaunting his resume the way the super apostles would.  So to put the matter the rest and to show that Paul is not the least bit “inferior to the ‘super apostles’”, Paul shares about the powerful spiritual experiences he has had with the Lord in the past.