From the Kitchen Table

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 5  Day 2

In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5

In the name and power of Jesus, Himself, make a distinction between spirit-filled living and sinful existence.  Let your values be known in love by the power of the Holy Spirit and let your brother be free to learn from the devil, but don’t pretend with God or each other that you’re something you’re not.  Embracing sexual immorality will be the extinction of God’s witness in the church.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 5  Day 1

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. ²  You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2

Beware of immorality!  It’s demonizing.  The only way of dealing with is to repent and renounce it as sin in humility.  Paul is writing on this side of the cross, so beware.  It’s real and we don’t want to tolerate immorality in our conscience or the church.  Sexual immorality is an agreement with the devil but in Jesus, we have an agreement with God to live free. 

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 4 Day 5

Now some have become  arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. ²¹ What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

1 Corinthians 4:18-21

Hey, Daddy’s coming home and we will see what you’re really all about.  We can say anything when we think no one important is listening.  The Bible says that we will reap what we sow.  Here’s the good news, the kingdom of God comes with power.  Here’s the bad news, the kingdom of God comes with power.  Make sure your life isn’t just a bunch of words.  The kingdom of God comes with power to live this life with power, not just talk about it.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 4  Day 4

For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

1 Corinthians 4:15-17

Who’s your daddy?  God has structured His church to be His family.  Every child in a home needs a parent, a spiritual parent.  A spiritual parent is a believer who knows God, God’s word, and the values and expectations of God’s house, and they live to see the glory of God in their own lives and the lives they parent too.  Find that person and follow with him or her. 

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 4  Day 4

You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. ⁹ For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

1 Corinthians 4:8-9

What does it take to really look at ourselves honestly?  Don’t wrong the people who ask you the right questions.  It’s our arrogance that causes us to boast about our foolishness.  The real question is, “How is that working for you?”  The Corinthians had all the answers but they were living in all the drama and its problems.  Never forget who you are in Christ but never keep caught up in your own accolades.  The only life that works is the one Jesus gives us.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 4  Day 2

Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.

1 Corinthians 4:5

There’s always that part that we can’t see, the motives of man’s heart.  Right now, we can talk like we have it all but know that we don’t.  One thing we do know is that God exalts the humble.  Honesty is one of the greatest signs of humility.  Be honest in love; take God at His word and don’t add anything to it.  That’s honesty and that takes humility. 

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 4 Day 1

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2

Now that you’ve determined where higher wisdom comes from, don’t let the world around you force you into a lower role.  As believers, we are servants of God and stewards of His wisdom.  What is status without a Savior?  What are riches without a Redeemer?  As a servant of God and a steward of His word, be found trustworthy.  We can’t be trustworthy of something we don’t have or know.  Trust His word and know His heart, and you’ll never have to be ashamed of who you are or where you stand.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 3  Day 5

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; ²⁰ and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.” ²¹ So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, ²²  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, ²³ and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.                  1 Corinthians 3:18-23

There is always a place for repentance.  Repentance isn’t something we do just because we’ve done but it’s something we do because we’ve been thinking wrong.  The wisdom that makes this world and this life work, really work, is the wisdom of God.  We can’t operate in the wisdom of God until we repent of the wisdom of man so that we can receive the wisdom of God.  All things belong to you but we can only receive them through the wisdom of God.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 3  Day 4

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷ If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

If you have been born again, then you are a temple, the temple, of the Holy Spirit.  This temple functions by the word of God and works from the word of God, not man.  God says that He will destroy any system that is not operating on the word of God.  The Holy Spirit brings God’s system into our lives and that system is a system of life, not death.  Hold on, hold to, and hold out for the word of God.  The Spirit will give you life.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

1 Corinthians 3  Day 3

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³  each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.

1 Corinthians 3:11-13

The life you’re living is the one you’ve chosen.  Quit worrying about who’s team you’re on or who you agree with the most and start thinking about who you are becoming.  The life you’re building right now is the one you’ve settled on for the future.  There will be no fooling anyone in heaven.  Trials and troubles have a way of flushing the liar out.  Build a life you can be proud of in the here and now and the then and there.  Build on Jesus’ work and words.  You won’t be disappointed or embarrassed now or later.