Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / May 6 - Living Beyond Self
Transcript
- 0:02Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
- 0:06rooted in scripture and relevant for.
- 0:07Today, May 6th, Living beyond self what if one of the clearest
- 0:14signs of spiritual maturity is not how much you know, but how
- 0:17much love shapes what you do with what you know?
- 0:21It is possible to? Be right and still hurt people.
- 0:24It is possible to be. Gifted and still selfish.
- 0:27It is. Possible to run fast but in the
- 0:29wrong direction. Proverbs chapter 15 verses 20 to
- 0:3321 speaks about wisdom, diligence, and the danger of
- 0:37foolishness. First Corinthians chapter 8
- 0:40verses one to two says knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
- 0:45If anyone imagines that he knows something he does not yet know,
- 0:49as he ought to know, then First Corinthians Chapter 9 verses 24
- 0:54to 25 compares life to a race, saying that runners run to
- 0:59receive a prize and every athlete exercises self-control.
- 1:04That gives us a powerful picture of Christian life.
- 1:07God is not just calling you to avoid bad things.
- 1:10He is calling you to live with purpose, to think about how your
- 1:13choices affect others, to use your freedom with love to
- 1:18discipline your desires instead of being dragged around by them.
- 1:21This matters in everyday life. Before you post, ask if it
- 1:25builds up. Before you speak, ask if love is
- 1:28guiding you. Before you make a choice, ask
- 1:31whether it helps you run the race God has marked out for you.
- 1:34Not every fun thing is fruitful. Not every popular thing is wise.
- 1:40Not every freedom should be used just because you have it.
- 1:43Living beyond self means choosing long term faithfulness
- 1:46over short term attention. It means saying no sometimes,
- 1:51not because God wants to ruin your joy, but because He is
- 1:54training you for something eternal.
- 1:56Let's pray, Heavenly Father, help me live beyond myself.
- 2:01Let love shape what I say, what I choose, and how I treat
- 2:04others. Give me self-control to run the
- 2:06race you have set before me. Keep me from pride, impulse, and
- 2:10selfish freedom. Teach me to build others up and
- 2:14to seek the eternal prize that comes from following you
- 2:16faithfully in Jesus name, Amen. What if the battles hitting your
- 2:21family are not random and your home can become a place where
- 2:24darkness loses every right to stay?
- 2:27The Secured Home is a powerful six book prayer series for
- 2:30believers who want to guard their households with biblical
- 2:33authority, peace and confidence in Jesus Christ.
- 2:36Book 1, Guarded Thresholds, fortifies every doorway, room,
- 2:41and entry point with prayerful protection.
- 2:44Book 2, Cleansed Rooms, helps reclaim spaces marked by fear,
- 2:49unrest, and spiritual defilement.
- 2:52Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes hidden access points and severs
- 2:56every agreement with darkness. Book 4, Broken Assignments,
- 3:01confronts oppression, torment, and attacks against your family.
- 3:05Book 5, Consecrated Walls, dedicates every space and rhythm
- 3:10of the home to God. Book 6, Abiding Peace, shows how
- 3:14to maintain spiritual order, rest, and holy presence every
- 3:17day. Order now on Amazon or visit
- 3:20prayerscripts.org. Now I invite you to spend time
- 3:25with God in today's three-year Bible reading plan.
- 3:29Proverbs chapter 15 verses 20 to 21 World English Bible A wise
- 3:35son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.
- 3:40Folly is joy to one who is void of wisdom, but a man of
- 3:43understanding keeps his way straight.
- 3:45First Corinthians chapters 8 to 9 World English Bible Now
- 3:51concerning things sacrifice to idols.
- 3:53We know that we all have knowledge.
- 3:55Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
- 3:58But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn't yet
- 4:01know, as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, the
- 4:05same is known by him. Therefore, concerning the eating
- 4:09of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything
- 4:13in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
- 4:17For though there are things that are called gods, whether in the
- 4:20heavens or on earth, as there are many gods and many Lords,
- 4:24yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things,
- 4:29and we for Him, and 1 Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all
- 4:32things, and we live through Him. However, that knowledge isn't in
- 4:36all men, but some with consciousness of the idol, until
- 4:40now eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience
- 4:44being weak, is defiled. But food will not commend us to
- 4:48God. For neither if we don't eat are
- 4:50we the worse, nor if we eat are we the better.
- 4:54But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours
- 4:57become a stumbling block to the weak.
- 5:00For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol's
- 5:03temple, won't his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat
- 5:07things sacrificed to idols? And through your knowledge he
- 5:11who is weak perishes the brother for whose sake Christ died, thus
- 5:16sinning against the brothers and wounding their conscience.
- 5:18When it is weak, you sin against Christ.
- 5:22Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat
- 5:25no meat forever more that I don't cause my brother to
- 5:28stumble. Am I not free?
- 5:30Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus Christ our
- 5:33Lord? Aren't you my work in the Lord?
- 5:37If to others I am not an apostle yet, at least I am to you, for
- 5:41you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
- 5:44My defense to those who examine me is this Have we no right to
- 5:48eat and to drink? Have we no right to take along a
- 5:51wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles and the
- 5:55brothers of the Lord and Cephas, or have only bar Nabas, and I
- 5:59know right to not work? What soldier ever serves at his
- 6:03own expense who plants a vineyard and doesn't eat of its
- 6:06fruit? Or who feeds A flock and doesn't
- 6:08drink from the flock's milk? Do I speak these things
- 6:12according to the ways of men, or doesn't the Law also say the
- 6:15same thing? For it is written in the law of
- 6:18Moses. You shall not muzzle an ox while
- 6:21it treads out the grain. Is it for the oxen that God
- 6:24cares, or does he say it assuredly for our sake?
- 6:28Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who ploughs
- 6:31ought to plough in hope, and he who threshes in hope should
- 6:34partake of his hope. If we sowed to you spiritual
- 6:37things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?
- 6:41If others partake of this right over you, don't we yet more?
- 6:45Nevertheless, we didn't use this right, but we bear all things
- 6:49that we may cause no hindrance to the good news of Christ.
- 6:53Don't you know that those who serve around sacred things eat
- 6:56from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar
- 6:59have their portion with the altar?
- 7:02Even so, the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the good news
- 7:06should live from the good news. But I have used none of these
- 7:09things, and I don't write these things that it may be done so in
- 7:13my case, For I would rather die than that anyone should make my
- 7:16boasting void. For if I preach the good news, I
- 7:20have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me.
- 7:24But woe is to me if I don't preach the good news.
- 7:27For if I do this, of my own will I have a reward, but if not of
- 7:31my own will I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
- 7:34What then is my reward? That when I preach the good
- 7:38news, I may present the good news of Christ without charge,
- 7:42so as not to abuse my authority in the good news.
- 7:46For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage
- 7:49to all that I might gain the more to the Jews I became as a
- 7:53Jew. That I might gain Jews to those
- 7:56who are under the law as under the law.
- 7:58That I might gain those who are under the law to those who are
- 8:01without law as without law, not being without law toward God,
- 8:06but under law toward Christ. That I might win those who are
- 8:09without law to the weak I became as weak.
- 8:12That I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all
- 8:15men, that I may by all means save some.
- 8:19Now I do this for the sake of the good news, that I may be a
- 8:22joint partaker of it. Don't you know that those who
- 8:25run in a race all run but one receives the prize?
- 8:28Run like that, that you may win. Every man who strives in the
- 8:33games exercises self-control in all things.
- 8:36Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an
- 8:39incorruptible. I therefore run like that, not
- 8:42aimlessly, I fight like that, not beating the air, but I beat
- 8:47my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means,
- 8:50after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
- 8:56Thanks for joining us on Bible Chat, where Scripture meets
- 9:00everyday life. If today's devotional encouraged
- 9:03you, share it with a friend and be sure to follow the podcast so
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- 9:09Until next time, stay rooted in truth, anchored in hope, and
- 9:12walking daily with. Jesus.