This Blog is Becoming Inactive

Because I have been getting many people who are not associated Norwin Church of the Nazarene, I am deleting this blog and will be posting to http://devotionswithmike.blogspot.com/

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mike.w.mcvey@gmail.com

Friday Devotion, August 14

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—

¹⁰ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. ¹⁴ The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

¹⁶ “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

Quick Notes

V. 18 says we have the mind of Christ. But what is the mind of Christ? Philippians 2 tells us that Christ had everything being God, but gave it up to be a servant to humanity. For us to have the mind of Christ means that we do not look at what we have been entitled to, but to serve others instead. The Spirit always moves us into positions of servanthood.

Quick Questions

How have you embodied or enacted the mind of Christ lately?

Quick Prayer

O God, if we have your mind, let us also have your compassion to serve those who are lower than ourselves. Amen.

Thursday Devotion, August 13

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Quick Notes

This passage is a little more troubling than might first appear. As Christians, we have a responsibility to tell others about Jesus, but several times we get caught up in other issues like church or doctrine, what we believe. Though these things are important, we are not Churchians or Doctrinists, we are Christians - followers of Christ. We look to him as our source of power.

Quick Questions

How many times do we plan on telling someone about Jesus and forget to mention Jesus?

Quick Prayer

O Lord, may my life be a testament of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Amen.

Wednesday Devotions, August 12

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

²⁶ Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Quick Notes

Before we became Christians, there were probably a few of us who had stature among the world. But for most of us, we were at best average when we came to Christ. As followers, we have a tendency to spend more time trying to be with the important people. But Jesus spent his time with the lowly of society: lepers, prostitutes, fishermen, and worse yet - tax collectors! It is easier to love the superstars of the world. It is not so easy to love the least of these.

Quick Questions

Who did Jesus spend the most time with according to the scriptures? Who do you spend the most time with? Do the answers match?

Quick Prayer

Lord Jesus, let me see the least of these more clearly every day. Amen.

Tuesday Devotion, August 11

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²⁰ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Quick Notes

Sometimes we Christians try to "reason" the gospel with non-Christians to persuade or argue them to our faith. Unfortunately, this does not lead to lasting change. When we tell nonbelievers that our God, our messiah died on the cross, we might as well be saying that 2+2=33. It does not make sense to them. It is foolish. The way that people are persuaded to Christ is not by good argument or an awesome sermon, but by how they see our lives day in and day out and how we are being saved from what we were to what we are becoming.

Quick Questions

Do you think the cross is foolish to nonbelievers? Why or why not?

Quick Prayer

Lord, thank you for the irrationality of how you continually choose to save us. Help me to be consistently changed by your grace. Amen.

Monday Devotion, August 10

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. ¹¹ My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶ (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Quick Notes
I come from a very distinct branch of theological heritage. I am apart of a denomination that I have chosen to stay with, not the other way around. I am very particular of who my theological heroes are. Yet, I completely agree with Paul here. Of all the things that make us different from each other, it is Christ that unites us. If we cannot unite under Christ, then we probably are nothing more than followers of this theologian or that pastor or apart of that movement/denomination.

Quick Questions

Who do you follow?
Quick Prayer

Jesus, may I be united with all those who claim you as Christ. Amen.

Sunday Devotion, August 9

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

⁴ I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— ⁶ because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Quick Notes

How awesome it is that everything we have is by grace. Grace infiltrates every sector of our lives, but it does so in a way that is non-intrusive. Grace changes us down to our very core and because of that, we act as agents of grace in the lives of those we come into contact. You are an agent of grace, and He will keep you strong to the end.

Quick Questions

How do you think you can impart grace to everyone you come into contact with?

Quick Prayer

Almighty God, who has called me into fellowship with Your Son Jesus Christ, thank you for being faithful. Amen.