Today’s Bible Translation
Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 11-12 CEB
Podcast Introduction
This is Epistles Sunday. We’ll read 1 Corinthians 11-12. I’m calling the episode “Different, Not Better.”
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Comments on 1 Corinthians 11-12
Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 11
I’ll address a couple of the topics Paul wrote about in Chapter 11. He wrote about men & women, and head coverings for women.
I think it’s most beneficial before we get into this discussion that we look at what Paul said near the end of his talk on the subject of men and women. In verse 11 he said, “…woman isn’t independent from man, and man isn’t independent from woman in the Lord. 12As woman came from man so also man comes from woman. But everything comes from God.”
It looks to me as if Paul is giving equal respect to both sexes in this. Wouldn’t you agree? There are other places in his letters where that attitude comes through, as well. Some have made the charge that Paul didn’t like or respect women, but I don’t see that when I take the totality of his writings.
The difficulty lies in cultural bias. Today, the women’s equality movement that began in earnest in the 60s tries to make the assertion that there are no differences between men and women. Of course that is not true. God made us different. He didn’t make one better than the other, He just made them different.
And this is what Paul is saying in chapter 11. Men and women have different roles. One is not better than the other, but they are different. And that’s a good thing.
Remember back in Genesis when God said that it was not good for man to be alone. So he made a woman for the man. Men and women compliment each other. They complete one another. And then, after God looked at what He had made, he said something that He did not say when He completed the previous elements of creation. At those times, He looked at what He had made and said, “It is good.” But when He had finished creating Man and Woman, he said, “It is very good.”
It is good to remember that neither men nor women are to abuse their positions, just as Jesus did not abuse His position. Jesus, as God, has the right to do as He wishes with His creation. What He chooses to do is to love us. And this is how we should treat each other.
So Paul laid out the different roles of the sexes in the Corinthian church. Men had a role, women had a role. There should be order in church, not chaos. But what was happening in Corinth was not order, and Paul’s answer was that if the sexes adhered to their proper roles, there would be order. And if they treated each other as Jesus treats us, there would be love.
So what’s the deal about the covering of the head and the hair length? This whole discussion seems pretty foreign to us, doesn’t it?
In today’s American culture, especially among Protestants, we don’t make a big deal out of head coverings in church or hair length for either male or female, do we? Based on 1 Corinthians 11, are we mistaken? Is it really important to God? Let’s take a look.
As is usually the case when studying Scripture, the first thing we should consider is context. What’s happening in the scene? The recurring theme in verse 3-16 is order, or the hierarchy of authority. Paul says in verse 3: Now I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
Now, in the Corinthian culture, a woman who wore a head covering was showing her submission to the authority of her husband, and consequently her submission to God.
Now lest we take umbrage at this concept, understand that submission does not mean that we are implying that the one who submits is “less than” the one who is being submitted to. Do you doubt that?
Well, consider this. God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit are equal parts of the One, united Triune God, are they not? Yet the Son submits to the Father, and the Spirit to the Son. They are equal, yet there is an order.
The relationship of the husband and wife is a picture of this relationship. In the Corinthian culture, a woman’s long hair and the covering of her head was an outward show of her agreement with the God established order. A man’s short hair and lack of head covering was the same.
Now, we know that what God considers important is the condition of our heart. He looks much less at the things we do than what goes on in our heart. Yes, what we do is important, because our actions often flow from our heart. But in our culture, where head covering and hair length has little or nothing to do with our marital status, God does not care about hair and covers. But He most certainly cares about our submission to His authority, and the order He has set out for husbands and wives.
Christ is in submission to the Father, the husband is in submission to Christ, the wife is in submission to the husband. No one has his or her thumb on the other. This is a love relationship, with respect and reverence.
I love the lovely Lady LeeAnn and would give my life for her, just as Christ gave Himself for me. I do not lord it over her. Her well-being is my most important priority, other than serving and loving God. She responds to that love by respecting and loving me in the same way. We are equal partners, and at the same time there is the order that God laid out. And not surprisingly, it seems to be working. We truly love each other more today than we did the day we married nearly 27 years ago. Every year our bond is stronger in every way. If she were here to talk to you, she would say the same thing.
So no, God doesn’t care today in our culture what is on your head. He cares about your submission to Him. That’s it.
Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 11
In chapter 12, Paul is addressing another issue that is bringing this argumentative Corinthian church another cause for divisions. And unfortunately, the division of a church over disagreements about spiritual gifts didn’t end with them.
When I was a teenager, I gave my heart to the Lord when I was attending a very traditional Southern Baptist church. I loved the people there, and I loved the pastor. But I don’t remember ever hearing a word about spiritual gifts. When I first got married and moved away from home, I began attending a little community church in the city of Mammoth Lakes. This church had just undergone a split over disagreements about spiritual gifts. I had no idea what they were even talking about. But the new pastor, who had been brought in to replace the pastor who left, preached a series of sermons about the various gifts of the Spirit. He did such a great job, backed up by scriptures like 1 Corinthians 12, that my own theology on the subject was shaped then and hasn’t changed a lot over the ensuing years. In a nutshell, Paul taught the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to different people as He chooses. They all have value, just as each part of the body has value. He taught them that it is silly to argue about what part of the body is better, and it’s silly to fight over what gift is better.
Paul’s analogy of the church being like a human body is a good one. Each body part has a purpose. When one part hurts, the whole body hurts. The foot is as much a part of the body as the ear. When you separate a part of the body from the body, it cannot continue to live, and the body suffers.
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Transcript
1 Corinthians 11-12: Different, Not Better (LSFAB S14E092)
[TEASER – 0:00]
What God considers important is the condition of the heart.
[INTRO S13E092 – 0:11]
Happy New Year and coming to you from Riverside, California this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. Podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we are reading through the entire Bible in a year. And I’m glad you’re spending the first day of the year here. This is Epistle Sunday, and we’ll read 1 Corinthians 11 and 12. And I’m calling the episode “Different, Not Better.” Of course, after the reading, I’ll have some comments for you. And we will have a time of prayer a little bit later.
Now before we start, let’s pray.
[OPENING PRAYER – 0:43]
Our gracious heavenly Father, how we love you, and we thank you for a new year. As we read today, I pray that you would bless our time together and that you would teach us. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
All right, let’s get started.
[1 CORINTHIANS 11 (CEB) – 0:57]
1 Corinthians, chapter 11.
(1) Follow my example, just like I follow Christ’s.
(2) I praise you because you remember all my instructions, and you hold on to the traditions exactly as I handed them on to you. (3) Now I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. (4) Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered shames his head. (5) Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head. It is the same thing as having her head shaved. (6) If a woman doesn’t cover her head, then she should have her hair cut off. If it is disgraceful for a woman to have short hair or to be shaved, then she should keep her head covered. (7) A man shouldn’t have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is man’s glory. (8) Man didn’t have his origin from woman, but woman from man; (9) and man wasn’t created for the sake of the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man. (10) Because of this a woman should have authority over her head, because of the angels. (11) However, woman isn’t independent from man, and man isn’t independent from woman in the Lord. (12) As woman came from man so also man comes from woman. But everything comes from God. (13) Judge for yourselves: Is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? (14) Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him; (15) but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? This is because her long hair is given to her for a covering. (16) But if someone wants to argue about this, we don’t have such a custom, nor do God’s churches.
(17) Now I don’t praise you as I give the following instruction because when you meet together, it does more harm than good. (18) First of all, when you meet together as a church, I hear that there are some divisions among you, and I partly believe it. (19) It’s necessary that there are groups among you, to make it clear who is genuine. (20) So when you get together in one place, it isn’t to eat the Lord’s meal. (21) Each of you goes ahead and eats a private meal. One person goes hungry while another is drunk. (22) Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on God’s churches and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Will I praise you? No, I don’t praise you in this.
(23) I received a tradition from the Lord, which I also handed on to you: on the night on which he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread. (24) After giving thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this to remember me.” (25) He did the same thing with the cup, after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do this to remember me.” (26) Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you broadcast the death of the Lord until he comes.
(27) This is why those who eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord inappropriately will be guilty of the Lord’s body and blood. (28) Each individual should test himself or herself, and eat from the bread and drink from the cup in that way. (29) Those who eat and drink without correctly understanding the body are eating and drinking their own judgment. (30) Because of this, many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died. (31) But if we had judged ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. (32) However, we are disciplined by the Lord when we are judged so that we won’t be judged and condemned along with the whole world. (33) For these reasons, my brothers and sisters, when you get together to eat, wait for each other. (34) If some of you are hungry, they should eat at home so that getting together doesn’t lead to judgment. I will give directions about the other things when I come.
1 CORINTHIANS 12 (CEB) – 4:50
1 Corinthians, chapter 12.
(1) Brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. (2) You know that when you were Gentiles you were often misled by false gods that can’t even speak. (3) So I want to make it clear to you that no one says, “Jesus is cursed!” when speaking by God’s Spirit, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (4) There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; (5) and there are different ministries and the same Lord; (6) and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. (7) A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. (8) A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, (9) faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, (10) performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another. (11) All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person.
(12) Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. (13) We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. (14) Certainly the body isn’t one part but many. (15) If the foot says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not a hand,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? (16) If the ear says, “I’m not a part of the body because I’m not an eye,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? (17) If the whole body were an eye, what would happen to the hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, what would happen to the sense of smell? (18) But as it is, God has placed each one of the parts in the body just like he wanted. (19) If all were one and the same body part, what would happen to the body? (20) But as it is, there are many parts but one body. (21) So the eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or in turn, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” (22) Instead, the parts of the body that people think are the weakest are the most necessary. (23) The parts of the body that we think are less honorable are the ones we honor the most. The private parts of our body that aren’t presentable are the ones that are given the most dignity. (24) The parts of our body that are presentable don’t need this. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the part with less honor (25) so that there won’t be division in the body and so the parts might have mutual concern for each other. (26) If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. (27) You are the body of Christ and parts of each other. (28) In the church, God has appointed first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, the ability to help others, leadership skills, different kinds of tongues. (29) All aren’t apostles, are they? All aren’t prophets, are they? All aren’t teachers, are they? All don’t perform miracles, do they? (30) All don’t have gifts of healing, do they? All don’t speak in different tongues, do they? All don’t interpret, do they? (31) Use your ambition to try to get the greater gifts. And I’m going to show you an even better way.
[COMMENTARY – 8:36]
Well, Beloved, I’ve got thoughts on chapters 11 and 12 today. Let’s talk about chapter 11 first. I’ll address what he wrote about men and women and head coverings for women.
But first, I think it’s most beneficial before we get into this discussion that we look at what Paul said near the end of his talk on the subject of men and women. In verse 11, he said, “(11) …woman isn’t independent from man, and man isn’t independent from woman in the Lord. (12) As woman came from man so also man comes from woman. But everything comes from God.”
It looks to me as if Paul is giving equal respect to both sexes in this. Wouldn’t you agree? There are other places in his letters where that attitude comes through as well. Some have made the charge that Paul didn’t like or respect women. But I don’t see that when I look at the totality of his writings.
The difficulty lies in cultural bias. Today, the women’s equality movement that began in earnest in the 1960s tries to make the assertion that there are no differences between men and women. Of course, that isn’t true. God made us different, but he didn’t make one better than the other. He just made them different.
And this is what Paul is saying in chapter 11. Men and women have different roles. One is not better than the other but they’re different. And that’s a good thing.
Remember back in Genesis when God said that it was not good for man to be alone, so he made a woman for the man. Men and women complement each other. They complete one another. And then after God looked at what he had made, he said something that he did not say when he completed the previous elements of creation. At those times he looked at what he had made, and he said, “It is good.” But when he had finished creating man and woman, he said, “It is very good.”
We should remember that neither men nor women are to abuse their positions, just as Jesus did not abuse his position. Jesus as God has the right to do as he wishes with his creation. And what he chooses to do is to love us. And this is how we should treat each other.
So Paul laid out the different roles of the sexes in the Corinthian church. Men had a role. Women had a role. There should be order in church, not chaos. That was his basic message. But what was happening in Corinth was not order. And Paul’s answer was that if the sexes adhered to their proper roles, there would be order. And if they treated each other as Jesus treats us, there would be love.
So let’s move on now to the issue of covering the head and hair length. To us today, the whole discussion seems kind of foreign to us, doesn’t it?
In today’s American culture, especially among Protestants, we don’t make a big deal out of head coverings in church or hair length for either male or female. So based on 1 Corinthians 11, are we mistaken? Is it really important to God? Let’s take a look.
As is usually the case when studying the Scripture, the first thing we should consider is context, what’s happening in the scene. The recurring theme in verses 13 to 16 is order or the hierarchy of authority. Paul says in verse 3, “Now I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God.”
Now in the Corinthian culture, a woman who wore a head covering was showing her submission to the authority of her husband, and consequently her submission to God.
Lest we take umbrage at this concept, consider that submission does not mean that we’re implying that one who submits is “less than” the one who’s being submitted to. You doubt that?
Well, consider this. God the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit are equal parts of the one united Triune God, are they not? Yet the Son submits to the Father and the Spirit to the Son, they are equal, yet there is an order.
The relationship of the husband and the wife is a picture of this relationship. In the Corinthian culture, a woman’s long hair and the covering of her head was an outward show of her agreement with the God-established order. A man’s short hair and lack of head covering was the same.
Now, we know that what God considers important is the condition of the heart, right? Yes, what we do is important because our actions often flow from our heart, but in our culture, where head covering, and hair length has little or nothing to do with our marital status, God doesn’t care about hair and covers. But he most certainly cares about our submission to his authority, and the order he set out for husbands and wives.
Christ is in submission to the Father, the husband is in submission to Christ, the wife is in submission to the husband. No one has his or her thumb on the other. This is a love relationship with respect and reverence.
I deeply love the Lovely Lady LeeAnn, and I’d give my life for her, just as Christ gave himself for me. I don’t lord it over her. Her well-being is my most important priority other than serving and loving God. She responds to the love I show her by respecting and loving me in the same way. We’re equal partners, and at the same time, there is the order that God laid out. And not surprisingly, it seems to be working. We love each other more today than the day we got married nearly 32 years ago, which by the way, we’ll be celebrating that 32nd anniversary this coming New Year’s Eve. You’ll hear more about that later. The point is every year our bond is stronger in every way possible. And if she were here, right now, she’d tell you the same thing.
So no, God doesn’t care today in our culture what is on your head. He cares about your submission to him. That’s it.
Now in chapter 12, Paul is addressing another issue that’s bringing this argumentative Corinthian church another cause for divisions. And unfortunately, the division of a church over disagreements about spiritual gifts doesn’t end with them.
When I was a teenager, I gave my heart to the Lord when I was attending a very traditional Southern Baptist Church. I loved the people there and I loved the pastor but I don’t remember ever hearing a word about spiritual gifts. And when I first got married and moved away from home, I began attending a little community church in the city of Mammoth Lakes, California. Now this church had just undergone a split over disagreements about spiritual gifts. I had no idea what they were even talking about. But the new pastor who had been brought in to replace the pastor who left, preached a series of sermons about the various gifts of the Spirit. And he did such a great job backed up by Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 12, that my own theology on the subject was shaped then and hasn’t changed a lot over the ensuing years. In a nutshell, Paul taught the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to different people as he chooses. They all have value, just as each part of the body has value. He taught them that it’s silly to argue about what part of the body is better. And it’s silly to fight over what gift is better.
Paul’s analogy of the church being like a human body is a good one. Each part has a purpose. When one part hurts, the whole body hurts. The foot is as much a part of the body as the ear. When you separate a part of the body from the body. It cannot continue to live and the body suffers. So we shouldn’t value one gift over the other. We should just ask God to give us whatever gift it is he wants us to have, and then celebrate that.
[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 16:15]
What do you think? Let me know. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. And you can also comment at comment.lifespringmedia.com or you can email me at st***@*************ia.com.
Tomorrow is The Law Monday and we’ll begin the book of Exodus with chapters 1 through 4.
[SUPPORT THE SHOW – 16:43]
I have a couple of people to thank today. Jared Buer – I hope I’m saying that right… B-U-E-R – sent in $33.33. And he said, “Happy Anniversary! ITM, Steve. Thank you for your courage, and God bless you and your family.” Well, thank you, Jared. ITM, and thank you for your courage as well. I appreciate your donation. And may God bless you richly.
And Lester Graber came in with $20. And with the donation, he sent this note, “Thanks for bringing the show back for another season!” Well, Lester, thank you. It’s good to hear from you. And you’re welcome. I’m glad you’re back, too. Thank you for being there, Brother.
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[SUPPORT THE SHOW JINGLE – 17:40]
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[PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – 17:47]
Praises and prayer requests. We have a few today and Kevin sent in a prayer request and a praise report. First his praise. He said, “My praise is that I was finally allowed to go back to working in the office in May of 2022 after more than two years of having to work from home. It was really taking a toll on my physical, mental, and emotional health. And I was starting to feel like I was nearing the end of my rope. I praise God for changing the hearts and minds of the people who are in charge of these decisions. And for giving me the strength to keep going.”
Well, Kevin, yes, praise the Lord for that. I’m happy to hear that you’re able to be back with your coworkers and out of the house.
God did make most of us to be social and isolation is difficult. I generally tend to be okay by myself. I’ve been that way my entire life. I can work here in the studio for hours at a time producing voiceovers and studying for and producing this show. But, of course, LeeAnn comes home after work, and I have that human interaction. And we have our other business that I started back in 1988, which requires that I go to our customer’s location. So there are always those kinds of things for me to do. I’m usually only with our customers for a maximum of 30 minutes at a time, but that’s given me breaks from being alone. If I were totally isolated, I’m sure it probably would get to me as well. Being with people is a blessing for sure.
And then Kevin’s prayer request. He said, “My prayer request is related to my praise. As I mentioned, I had a difficult couple of years and I picked up some bad habits as I tried to cope with the stress, isolation, and loneliness. I’ve made some steps in the right direction now that my life has mostly gotten back to normal. But I want to start a new chapter in 2023. I pray that I can put my vices behind me and live my life in a way that is pleasing to God.”
Yes, Kevin, we will pray for that for you. And that’s really a prayer that every believer can pray. None of us are without faults. As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7, “And I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” Well, if Paul struggled with it, we know that we’re not alone, right? Well, thankfully, he followed up that confession in Romans 8 when he said, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit, if you have the Spirit of God living in you.” And he continued, “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.”
Beloved, there is so much more that Paul wrote about this in chapters 7 and 8 of Romans, I recommend that all believers study these chapters, and really all of Romans. Then, yes, that’s an important prayer, Kevin, and like I said we will pray for you.
And then the Lovely Lady LeeAnn had a praise.
[LEEANN WEBB – 20:43]
Good morning to the Lifespring family. I am so blessed by you. And that is my praise report for this year, is the beautiful interaction and becoming more of a family with all of you this year. Thank you so much for all your well wishes for our anniversary. It has been a blessing and a pleasure to be married to this wonderful man for 33 years. And I know I don’t have the radio voice, but I just wanted to reach out. So thank you so much. And I hope you all have a wonderful 2023 and a very happy New Year. Take care and blessings to you.
[PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS (CONT’D) – 21:15]
Thanks for calling that in, Sweetheart.
Now, for me, my praise is that my family is in good health. My sons and their families are healthy. And of course, there was the birth of Penny, our fifth grandchild this last year. And I praise God for you. And for each and every member of the Lifespring family. As is always the case – and please don’t misunderstand, this is not at all a complaint – most of you don’t interact with the show. But you listen to almost every episode, I see the statistics for the show and there you are. I thank you for that.
Season 12 was one of the most listened-to seasons for the show. And there are more than twice as many of you this season. So I’m rejoicing about that. And not because the number is bigger, but because there are more people reading through the Bible with me, more hearts being touched by God. And that truly is the most important thing to me. So I’m glad you’re there. Of course, I invite those of you that have not yet written in or sent an email to do that. But there’s no pressure. And of course, I’m praising God for each Lifespring member who has written, commented, and donated their time, talent, or treasure. You have no idea how much you mean to me. For every email, every comment, every prayer request, every prayer, every donation, monetary or otherwise, gives me so much encouragement to keep on going. I’m doing this show because God called me to do it. But he’s using you to keep gas in the tank as it were. So yes, I praise God for you.
And now this one is kind of serious. No, it’s very serious. My biggest prayer request for 2023 is a very personal one for the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and me. This is something that both of us have lost sleep over and have shed many tears about. A few years ago, our middle son decided that he was no longer sure that he believed in God. You can imagine how that shocked and saddened his mother and me. Of course, we’ve had several conversations with him about his doubt. But he continued to go down the trail of deceit that he was following. The lies of the enemy can be very persuasive. And this past year, my son told me that he does not believe that God exists. Of course, those words hit LeeAnn and me very, very hard. Our son is a good man, married to a good woman. But he has been drawn into a lie. LeeAnn and I are leaning on Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” Steven had a real love for the Lord when he was small. And we’re trusting God that Steven will return to him as the prodigal son did. Our prayer request is that it would be sooner rather than later. We’re praying that God will touch Steven’s heart and that his love for God would be rekindled. We’re praying that God would bring someone or something into his life that will show him the way back. Steven has pretty much stopped listening to LeeAnn and I when it comes to the topic of God, so we’ve turned him over to God who loves him infinitely more than we ever could. I’m asking if you would keep Steven and his wife in your prayers in 2023. It would mean an awful lot to LeeAnn and me.
And then I do have this prayer request. My sister-in-law, Jane broke her wrist when she slipped and fell on Christmas Eve night, which required surgery to put a plate and at least one screw in to stabilize the bones. They weren’t able to do the surgery until this past Thursday, but it was successful and she seems to be doing well, according to LeeAnn’s brother, Rick. Jane is a flight attendant and she’ll probably not be able to go back to work for another six weeks or so. So let’s pray for a speedy recovery with no complications.
Our heavenly Father, we thank you for so many blessings. You are holy and you are merciful. You are unchanging and you are faithful to your promises. You are both the Creator of the universe and you’re very personally involved with your children. We love you Lord, and we know that we need you desperately.
Father, we thank you for making a way for Kevin and so many others to get back to work this past year. It is not good to be isolated. And we thank you for the opportunity to have more normal interaction. And I pray that Kevin and each of us would learn to listen more to the Holy Spirit when he corrects us. We do want to live lives that are more pleasing to you, Lord, so teach us to say no, to run from the things you do not want us to do, and to run to you.
And Father, LeeAnn and I thank you for this Lifespring family and the wonderful support they’ve been this past year. I pray that you would bless each one Lord in every area of their lives.
I pray for Jane that you would give her a quick and complete healing with her broken wrist. And during her time off work, Lord, I pray that she’ll get some good time to be alone with you.
And once again, Lord, I lift Steven up to you. Father, you know the thought process that brought him to the place that he’s in, and I pray that you would show him the mistakes he made in his thinking in these areas. But even more Lord, I pray that you would make yourself real to him again. If it’s a life circumstance that is needed, or if it’s someone that he’ll listen to, Lord, whatever it takes, I pray that he will return to you soon. I pray that you would bring the prodigal son back to you.
I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
If you have a prayer request or to praise, please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. Our next time together in prayer is this coming Wednesday.
[OUTRO S13E092 – 27:04]
Comment on the show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511, or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Or just put an email in the pipeline to st***@*************ia.com. I want to hear from you. My thanks to the team Kirsty, Denise, Michael Haner, and Scott Snider.
And until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me into the very first day of 2023 with you. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.
[LIFESPRING MEDIA PROMO – 27:45]
Lifespring Media, bringing the message of hope, love, and good news since 2004.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Transcript corrected by Denise
The post S2E092-1 Corinthians 11-12: Different, Not Better first appeared on Lifespring! Media.
