Faith Joy & Coffee

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders
to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also”
– 1 Corinthians 1:16 –

In 1 Corinthians 16 we observe the following:

1. Paul and the brethren of Corinth were sensitive to those in need and wanted to help them. That is why they set apart a weekly offering (vv 2,3).
2. Paul strengthened the faith of the church by providing guidance on how to live the Christian life (vv. 13, 14).
3. Paul accompanied and trained church leaders (vv. 10, 11, 15-18).
4. Paul encouraged the church to be attentive and conscious of the challenges of a Christian life, to strengthen each other, to base actions on love, and to involve everyone in the mission and recognize their participation (v. 13).

The church is made up of imperfect people. That is why our greatest example in the church is not the leadership or the faithful members; the greatest and best example is Jesus Christ.

Marcos Rafael Blanco Belmonte, in his poem “The Sower,” summarizes the need to develop a persevering leadership which integrates people and resources to fulfill the mission:

“One autumn afternoon I went up to the mountain and as I watched the sower sowing, I watched smiling. Ever since men existed on the earth none have toiled with such determinantion!
“I plant flowers, pines and sycamores; I want to fill this hill with fronds; I want others to enjoy the treasures that these plants will give when I die.
” ‘Why so much effort in a day’s work without seeking reward?’ I said. And the madman murmured, with his hands on the hoe: ‘Perhaps you think that I am mistaken; perhaps, being a boy, you are really amazed by the enormous impulse that ignites my soul; for those who do not work, I work and struggle; if the world does not know it, God understands me!’…
“That is why, when I contemplate the world and am sad, I strive and impose on myself such a rough job, and I know that my humble example is worth a lot, though poor and modest it seems and is.
We must fight for those who do not fight! We must plead for all those who do not implore! We must make those who do not listen to hear us! We must cry for all who do not cry!
We must be like the bees in the hive, that make for all sweet honeycombs.
We must be like the water that flows serenely, offering the whole world fresh streams. We must imitate the wind, which plants flowers, both in the mountain as in the plain. We must live life sowing love, with our sight and our soul always looking upward.”
Said the madman, and with noble melancholy, through the thicket of the mountain he continued climbing, and as he lost himself in the shadows, kept repeating:

“We must live sowing. Always sowing!”

God bless you…

“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption,
and this mortal has been put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ “
– 1 Corinthians 15:54 –

Laura Hillenbrand summarized the life of Louis Zamperini (1917-2014), an American athlete with Italian roots, in the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resillience, and Redemption. Today the book has become a bestseller.

Louis had a difficult childhood. Supported by his family, he decided to train hard, and quit consuming alcohol and tobacco. Soon, he began to win races. In 1934 he won the school record for the mile and won a scholarship to the University of Southern California.

He went on to compete in the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 in the 500-meter races, finished in eight place, and beat the record with a sub-60-second final lap. At nineteen years of age, he was the youngest Olympic athlete on the American team.

Zamperini enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1941. He was deployed to the PAcific Islands as a bombardier. In 1943 his plane went down in the ocean. Eight of the eleven men on the plane died.

The three survivors (Zamperini, McNamara, and Phillips), with little food and no water, lived on rainwater, fish, and birds – which they ate raw – while they defended themselves against constant shark attacks and storms. They were shot at with machine guns several times by a Japanese bomber. McNamara died after thirty-three days at sea.

On the forty-seventh day adrift, Zamperini and Phillips arrived at the Marshall Islands, where they were captured by Japanese sailors. They were taken prisoner, severely beaten, and mistreated, until the end of the war in August 1945.

Years later, Zamperini accepted Christ, became a preacher, and went to find his torturers to offer them forgiveness; many of them were converted. He died on July 2014 at the age of ninety-seven, in his home in Los Angeles, from pneumonia.

His story worth imitating because of his unbreakable valor and invincible spirit. A fighter who overcame everything: prejudice, injustice, being shot, being shipwrecked, hunger, sharks, mistreatment, machine guns, torture, jail, and hatred. He overcame almost everything; in the end, pneumonia overpowered him.

Paul says that when Jesus returns, “the corruptible
[will] put on incorruption, and the mortal [will] put on immortality.”
The stinger which has injected us with deadly poison will be destroyed.
The last taste of pain will be to end all pain.
It will be the death of death.
From then on, we will be unbreakable,
invincible, and immortal… forever!

May the Lord bless you, have a blessed day…

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,
and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed”
– 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 –

The trumpet is a musical wind instrument made of metal. It is as ancient as the flute, and both are derived from the cattle horn. The trumpet was used to transmit signals – for the hunt, for religious services, and for burials and interments. The Bible refers to the use of the trumpet in battles, to sound the alarm in the times of war or danger, and as a sign of the end times.

Paul says that, in an instant, at the sound of the trumper, the dead in Christ will rise with an immortal body. The sound of the trumpet will be to announce the danger of war, the pain of saying goodbye and of death; the powerful sound will announce the joy of a return and of life restored. Some, like Elijah, will be transformed and translated without seeing death. Others like Moses will be resurrected. And both, the Elijahs and the Moseses, will live for eternity.

James Black was taking attendance of the children in his Sunday School class in 1893. When he called Bessie, she was not there. The teacher, disappointed by the lack of attendance, wanted to make a joke. He said: “I am confident that when the roll is opened up in heaven and they take attendance, she will be there.” Then he felt moved to sing a song on the topic but could not find one.

When he went back home, Black sat down at his piano and began to compose. Tears filled his eyes while he sang the song. This hymn is called “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder,” and quickly became a classic for all churches.

It has been translated into more than fourteen languages and used in award-winning films. It has even been sung by presidents and prime ministers, like Winston Churchill, and many artists around the world.

This is what the original first verse says:

“When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright, and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder,
I’ll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
I’ll be there.”

May it be that as the roll is called up yonder, we’ll all be there…

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead,
then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen,
then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty”
– 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 –

The brethren in Corinth needed to strengthen their understanding of the resurrection. It was not a moral, ethical, cultural, or ecclesiological problem – it was a doctrinal matter.

Paul writes that he received and transmitted the teaching of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ, based on Scripture, revelation, and testimony of the more than five hundred witnesses to the risen Christ (1 Cor. 15:6). If Christ did not resurrect, then there is no resurrection of the dead. To deny one is to deny both; and is essentially denying it all. In doing that, we are left with nothing. A vain faith is empty, hollow, foundationless; a valid faith is authentic and real, because it is based on the word of Jesus.

For Paul, Christ is the author and restorer of life. A very talented writer once said that while Christ was still a prisoner in His narrow tomb, the stone still in its place, the Roman seal intact, the Roman guards and good and bad angels were guarding the place. Had it had been possible, the enemy would have kept Him there forever. Suddenly, the stone is removed, and a voice is heard: “Son of God, come out: Your Father calls you.” Jesus leaves the tomb with devine majesty and says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Then, what seemed a victory of the enemy transformed into the Lord’s glorious victory. The One who had overcome death and the grave left the tomb and as an overcomer, amid the earth shaking, the glare of lightning, and the roar of thunder. The end of sin and all its consequences was assured.

“The voice that cried from the cross, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30) was heard among the dead. It pierced the walls of sepulchers and summoned the sleepers to arise. Thus will it be when the voice of Christ shall be heard from heaven. That voice will penetrate the graves and unbar the tombs, and the death in Christ shall arise. At the Savior’s resurrection a few graves were opened, but at His second coming all the precious dead shall hear His voice, and shall come forth to glorious, immortal life.

“The same power that raised Christ from the dead
will raise His church, and glorify it with Him,
above all principalities, above all powers, above every name
that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come”
(The Desire of Ages, p. 787; emphasis by the author).

Can you imagine this amazing moment?
Our faith is not in vain, it is valid. May the Lord bless you…

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel
which I preached to you, which also you received
and in which you stand”
– 1 Corinthians 15:1 –

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul presents five great themes:

1. He recognizes his unworthiness and affirms that he is an apostle only by the grace of God (vv. 7-11).
2. Christ’s resurrection was a historical event, witnessed by many individuals and groups (vv. 3-6).
3. Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of our faith and the guarantee that the plan of salvation will be completely fulfilled (vv. 12-22, 24-28).
4. At the second coming of the Lord the dead in Christ will rise first (v. 23; 1 Thess. 4:14-16).
5. Christ’s return implies the destruction of death (v. 26).

Christ’s resurrection is essential for the Christian faith, because if He did not resurrect, we have nothing to believe, and nothing to announce or wait for (see vv. 15-19). Thanks to God, this event is completely trustworthy.

After His crucifixtion, Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea by His heartbroken followers. On Sunday, after the crucifixtion, a group of Jesus’s followers found the grave empty. The empty grave is confirmed by ancient independent sources. At different times, different individuals and groups of people witnessed sightings of the risen Christ. The disciples beleived and proclaimed that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Dead does not have the last word; Christ has the last word.

He has resurrected to show us that whoever dies in Him will rise to eternal life. Resurrection means “rising from the grave” and the restoration of full life.

This is a sory of a family that lived in Brasilia, and the mother had to go to Buenos Aires for work. She was working at the headquarters of the South Amrican Division. The son travelled to visit and spend some time with her, because the doctors had found lung cancer and determined that she needed to undergo chemotherapy. She trusted in God’s promises, and had only one request, which was not to suffer and for the Lord to do His will. On Sunday morning, mother and son said goodbye, they prayed together, and as the son left, the mother told him, “Son, please hurry back.”

The son traveled back to Brasilia. On Monday at noontime that daughter of the son called him, and amid tears, told him: “Grandma just passed away.” The son did hurry back, but his mother did not know it. He travelled with his wife from Brasilia to Buenos Aires and arrived at midnight on Monday. There was his mother, resting in the promise to which she always clung. The painful goodbyes were filled with hope. Her last words to her son were, “Son, hurry back.”

My beloved brothers and sisters, if you suffer because of the absence of a loved one you have lost,
remember that the Son of God is not delaying His return.
Strenghten your faith, assert your hope, and accomplish the mission.
In a short while, He will fulfill His promise
and those who rest in Jesus will rise first.

May the Lord bless you…

“Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts”
– 1 Corinthians 14:1 –

Paul introduces 1 Corinthians 14 with a recommendation: “It is love, then, that you should strive for. Set your hearts on spiritual gifts, especially the gift of proclaiming God’s message” (v.1).

The apostle did not say that the gift of prophesy (communicating messages on God’s behalf) was the best and only one. Some brethren in Corinth were speaking in tongues, but without interpretation; that is why Paul warns that, if they speak in tongues and are not understood, it is worthless.

The apostle acknowledges and declares:
“ I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all; yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue” (1 Cor. 14:18-19).

It is not useful to speak in foreign tongues, because the gift has been given for the edification of the church. Therefore, everything that is done needs to be intelligible.

Now, imagine the following: if the whole church meets together in the same place and everyone begins speaking in tongues, and people come in who are not knowledgeable or believers, and who will not understand anything that is said, won’t they say the members of that church are “out of [their] mind” (v. 23)?

Also, speaking in tongues without understanding and without comprehension can become a meaningless conversation… perhaps total bedlam. And it is not a good thing, because Paul says everything in the church should be “done decently ans in order” (v. 40).

A well known Doctor od Ministry once clearly said that the gift of tongues can be understood better as the gift to speak existing foreign languages without having studied them. 1 Corinthians 14 refers to a situation when someone speaks in a foreign tongue in a context where it is not understood, and they are speaking only to God because God can understand all languages.

The gift of tongues in Corinth was a genuine gift from the Holy Spirit, but was used incorrectly. Consequently, the church was intructed by Paul to return to the correct use of spiritual gifts with  the intention that they would become a blessing, and not an obstacle for believers and non-believers.

“The talents that Christ entrusts to His church represent especially
the gifts and blessing imparted by the Holy Spirit…
‘But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to evry man severally as He will’ (1 Cor. 12:11).
All men do not receive the same gifts, but to everyservant
of the Master some gifts of the Spirit is promised”
(Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 327).

Let’s use the gift God has given each one of us to edify the church.
May you have a blessed day…

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love”
– 1 Corinthians 13:13 –

Most spiritual gifts will cease, because the purpose for which they are given will haven ended; but there are three that will remain forever:

• Faith as an experience of hope.
• Hope as a desire and expectation of learning and growth; there will always be more to know, investigate, and enjoy.
• Love, however, is the greatest, since it is the one that describes God the best. Loving Him now and loving Him for eternity is and will be the science of the redeemed.

On July 2, 1816, the French frigate Meduse ran around during a fierce storm near Mauritania, with 149 people on board. There were not enough life rafts on board. Using pieces of the ship, some crew members built a raft. The storm dragged them to the open sea for almost a month. Without a set course, drifting on the improvised raft, the few castaways who managed to survive faced such a dramatic experience that all France was deeply moved when they were rescued. Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), a celebrated painter and one of the pioneer artists of the French Romantic movement, impressed by the experience of the survivors, left this extraordinary event recorded on a canvas, which is found at the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is called “The Raft of the Medusa.”

In order to paint this piece, Géricault interviewed the surviving sailors and even viewed the dead. Feeling the impact, he painted the moment before the culminating event, when the survivors saw the rescue ship. The picture shows a combination of figures whose faces and bodies capture the anguish of that moment; it is quite a metaphor for the anguish of life. It is a realistic interpretation and presents a notable thoroughness of detail.

Among the characters in the painting we can appreciate four different expressions which reveal human attitudes amid tragedy. There are lifeless bodies; others sitting with their heads between their legs, showing their complete dejection. But amid so much tragedy, there are also those who look to the horizon, where the rescue is coming from. They are seen with hope-filled faces, hopeful and strong.

Reason may err, and willpower can fail. However, faith, hope, and love never give up because they always expect the best; they are capable of witing for salvation even amid the worst storm. Hope is courage and fortitude, and gives us strenght. This type of hope is born from the hope and love of God.

Charles Spurgeon summarized it well:
“Faith goes up the stairs that love has built
and looks out the windows which hope has opened.”

May this faith, hope, and love remain forever in your life. God bless you…

“Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing”
– 1 Corinthians 13:2 –

The brethren in Corinth were having an intense debate about who had the most important spiritual gift. This caused confrontations and division, which, of course, is not God’s objective for His church. It would seem that the “gift” they had was the search for supremacy, pride, and selfishness.

Paul says that if love is not the motor that propels us, what we do is useless. The he writes the greatest poem about love, ehich we would do well to read and practice every day.

He begins with the “yeses” of love: Love is patient because it can withstand the pressure of all burdens, real or imaginary. Love is kind, good, caring, loving, and merciful.

Paul continues with the “nots” of love: It is not jealous, because the one who loves does not envy or live suspiciously. It is not boastful, because those who love do not consider themselves the main attraction; the main attraction is always the loved one. It is not vain, because it is not arrogant or feels superior. It is not rude, because it does not act in a discourteous or rude manner. It does not seek its own, because it lives to benifit others. It does not get irritated, because it is not easily provoked, and if it is angered it will find a way to resolve the situation. It does not hold a grudge; if it is hurt, it heals; if it is offended, it forgives; and if it forgives it also forgets. It does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth.

The apostle emphasizes the “alls” of love: It bears all things – disappointments, taunts, attacks. It believes all things, always believing in others. It hopes all things: it is optimistic about the future. It endures, or bears, all things.

Paul ends with the great difference between love and all other gifts. Love, along with faith and hope, remain forever; they never fail and never end. Although other gifts are important, they are temporary, and have already fulfilled their mission.

The Greeks had at least four words to define love:

1. Eros: Love that is passionate and selective, a carnal ephemeral impulse.
2. Storge: Love that is paternal, exclusive, obsessive, and protective, commited, and lasting.
3. Philia: Fraternal love, exclusive to the family as an expression of solidarity and brotherhood.
4. Agape: Biblical love which is inclusive, pure, generous, and selfless. It is the unconditional love that God has for His creatures regardless of their response.

It is in response to this love that we must fulfill
the great commandment presented by Jesus:
Love God with all your heart
and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Let us experience the Agape Love today…

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I have become sounding brass
or a clanging cymbal”
– 1 Corinthians 13:1 –

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most extraordinary and meaningful chapters in the Bible, and should be read as a continuation of the argument Paul presented in the previous chapter. Spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophesying, understanding great mysteries, having faith that will move mountains, giving everything in favor of the poor, and dying as a martyr, are inferior to the gift which is quintessentially superior: the gift of love.

A person can prophesy in an impressive manner, be a captivating teacher, cure the most complex illness, perform the most spectacular miracles, but if they do these things without love, these actions lose their value.

“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstacy but don’t love,
I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all His mysteries
and making everythng plain as day,
and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump,’
and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor
and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr,
but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do,
I’m bankrupt without love”
(1 Cor. 13:1-3, The Message).

What the apostle Paul clearly says is that love which is born in God’s heart should be the only motivation for any use of the spiritual gifts. Why is that? Because love that is born in the heart of God is the one that gives purpose, validation, and the correct guidance to everything the gifts can lead us to accomplish.

Everything we do, no matter how well-intentioned it may be, remains incomplete, because someday everything will be plainly revealed in light of the love which was consolidated on Calvary, and still remains as a mystery, because our mind is not capable of understanding the love of the One who is love incarnated: Jesus Christ.

A very talented writer once said that “when love fills the heart, it will flow out to others,
not because of favors received from them, but because love is the principle of action.
Love modifies the character, governs the impulses, subdues enmity,
and ennobles the affections. This love is as broad as the universe,
and is in harmony with that of the angel workers. Cherished in the heart,
it sweetens the entire life and sheds its blessing upon all around”
(Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings, p. 38).

May our Loving God bless you today…