Author: Pastor Mike

The Kitchen Table Devotional

2 Corinthians 1 Day 2

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. ⁶ But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; ⁷ and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:5-7

Ever walk into an intense conversation?  That’s what’s happening here.  There can be a lot of feelings in the air during an intense conversation.  Sometimes we have to do the “right” thing, the “God” thing, rather than the “people” thing. Don’t be afraid to follow God; those feelings, they help us understand what we’re facing but faith helps us understand what we’re doing.  One ends in vanity and the other in victory.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

2 Corinthians 1 Day 1

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Our God is the God of blessing.  He blesses us to bless others.  Don’t let the fears, frustrations, and fears of life ruin your today or tomorrow.  He is the God of comfort, He comes close and embraces us, encourages us, and exhorts us.  Listen for and to His voice; He is here!

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1 Corinthians 16 Day 4

I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. ¹⁸ For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.

1 Corinthians 16:17-18

Let your faith be the fragrance of your life.  To be a part of the world all we just have to be the fumes of frustration, foolishness, and failure.  But if we will let our faith guide of speech, our steps, and our sight, we can be the fragrance of God in this world.  It won’t be vanity; it will be victory.

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1 Corinthians 16 Day 3

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. ¹⁴ Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Find your friendships where your faith is, it makes for the best of friends.  Paul, Timothy, and Apollos were all friends in the faith, and they looked out for each other, calling on friends to take care of their friends.  Find friends who share your spiritual DNA and you’ll find yourself on a mission, with a message, and a ministry that allows you to walk in the blessing of God.

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1 Corinthians 16  Day 2

For I do not wish to see you now just in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. ⁸ But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; ⁹ for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

1 Corinthians 16:7-9

Put your faith where God’s focus is.  There is so many things bidding for our time and people who want to occupy that time.  And it’s all good but it’s not all God.  Where we spend our time is determined by who we spend our time with.  As you spend time with Him, look for the doors God opens for you.  Those doors do not lead to vanity or emptiness. 

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 16 Day 1

¹ Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. ² On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come

1 Corinthians 16:1-2

If you really believe the gospel, put your finances where your faith is, it’s the next step.  If we believe God is going to raise us from then we can believe He will raise our needs now too.  A believer lives to conquer vanity in his world, not just his walk.  Put your finances where your faith is.

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1 Corinthians 15 Day 5

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58

There’s nothing worse than empty promises.  Don’t believe them.  Put your feet where your faith is.  The promises of God are true.  He promised to raise His Son and He did.  He promises to resurrect us too, and He will.  Because He lives, we can and will.  The life He gives is victorious, not vain.  Grab hold of it with both hands.

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1 Corinthians 15 Day 4

I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. ³² If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE. ³³ Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” ³⁴ Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

1 Corinthians 15:31-34

It’s not what you think but what He knows.  It’s not what you’ve done but what He did.  Don’t take human thoughts to understand heavenly things.  All that does is corrupt the faith and destroy our hope in Christ.  Come into agreement with God and His word, it’ll make all the difference in the world and in eternity.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 15 Day 3

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

1 Corinthians 15:13-14

Don’t just believe “in” Jesus, believe Jesus.  And don’t just believe in His word but believe in His work.  Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  Jesus died on a cross for our sins, went to hell for our punishment and rose out hell and back to life with life in His hands for us forever.  That is the gospel of our faith and that is the reason for our hope.  Without that we have nothing but a really nice story.  It is vain to believe anything else and not to believe this testimony of Jesus.

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1 Corinthians 15 Day 2

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

It’s all simple; just talk about what Jesus has done for you, that’s all.  Because He died, we don’t have to.  Because He lives, we will too.  What He did has changed my life; He has given me love, light, liberty, and life and I am blessed.  But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Corinthians 15:10) His grace (undeserved and unreserved love for me has changed my life and I am blessed.  Just tell your story.