1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Psalm 29

1 Corinthians 15:1-11
This is sometimes called the resurrection chapter. Paul begins by reminding the people of the church of Corinth that he had preached the Good News to them which they welcomed and in which they continue to stand. "It is the Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you--unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place." This does not mean that we will never doubt or if we do doubt, we are not saved. It simply means that if you trust Christ and what He did for your salvation, it will be a permanent relationship. Remember John 3 which tells us that when we're "born again," we're born into the family of God, and we can never be "unborn."

v. 3 and following defines the Gospel (Good News):  "Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said, He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said." We know the resurrection happened because we have eye witnesses (Peter and then the Twelve and many others) who saw Him and have passed along their testimony to us. Even Paul himself saw Jesus at his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Though Paul had at one time persecuted Christians, God was able to work through him to reach many people.

And so Paul first dealt with the resurrection of Christ; the remainder of the chapter deals with the resurrection of the dead. We'll tackle that next time!

Psalm 29

David in v. 1 calls on the angels in heaven to honor and praise the Lord and to give Him the glory due His name. Who would have thought of that?

The analogy of the storm in vv. 3-9 is a picture of the great and mighty power of God. I'm sure even this is a poor likeness to what God really is like, but it's about the most awesome scene we can imagine. 7 times in this passage, the storm is compared to the voice of the Lord.

• It echos above the sea.
• It is powerful.
• It is majestic.
• It splits the mighty cedars.
• It strikes with bolts of lightning.
• It makes the wilderness quake.
• It twists the mighty oaks.

Surely we should worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. v. 2

God reigns during the peace as well as during the storm. "The Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as king forever. The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace." vv. 10-11

May the all-powerful Great God of Heaven rule in our lives, giving us strength and peace.!