May 18: Estonia | Operation World

May 18: Estonia | Operation World

1 Corinthians 14 ~ Spiritual Gifts

1. The test of the gifts (12:1-3)
2. The unity of the gifts (12:4-11)
3. The diversity of the gifts (12:12-31a)
4. The necessity of exercising the gifts in love (12:31b;13:13)
5. The superiority of prophecy over tongues (14:1-25)
6. Rules governing public worship (14:26-40

1 Corinthians 14 NLT

1 Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. 

2 For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. 

3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. 

4 A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. 

5 I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened. 

6 Dear brothers and sisters, if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language, how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. 

7 Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. 

8 And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle? 

9 It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space. 

10 There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. 

11 But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me. 

12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church. 

13 So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability to interpret what has been said. 

14 For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying. 

15Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.

16 For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don’t understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying? 

17 You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you. 

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 

19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language. 

20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. 

21It is written in the Scriptures : “I will speak to my own people through strange languages and through the lips of foreigners. But even then, they will not listen to me,” says the LORD . 

22 So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers. 

23 Even so, if unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. 

24But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. 

25 As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.” 

26 Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you. 

27 No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. 

28 But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately. 

29 Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said. 

30 But if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation from the Lord, the one who is speaking must stop. 

31 In this way, all who prophesy will have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged. 

32Remember that people who prophesy are in control of their spirit and can take turns. 

33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people. 

34 Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. 

35 If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.

36 Or do you think God’s word originated with you Corinthians? Are you the only ones to whom it was given? 

37 If you claim to be a prophet or think you are spiritual, you should recognize that what I am saying is a command from the Lord himself. 

38 But if you do not recognize this, you yourself will not be recognized. 

39 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking in tongues. 

40 But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.

May 17: Eritrea | Operation World

May 17: Eritrea | Operation World

1 Corinthians 13 ~ Spiritual Gifts

1. The test of the gifts (12:1-3)
2. The unity of the gifts (12:4-11)
3. The diversity of the gifts (12:12-31a)
4. The necessity of exercising the gifts in love (12:31b;13:13)
5. The superiority of prophecy over tongues (14:1-25)
6. Rules governing public worship (14:26-40)

1 Corinthians 12 NLT

31B. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

1 Corinthians 13 NLT

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 

3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. 

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 

5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 

6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 

7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 

8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 

9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 

10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. 

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 

12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

May 16: Eritrea | Operation World

May 16: Eritrea | Operation World

1 Corinthians 11 NLT ~ . Propriety in Worship (11:2-16) ~ The Lord's Supper (11:17-34)

1 Corinthians 11 NLT

1 And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. 

2 I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. 

3 But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 

4 A man dishonors his head if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. 

5 But a woman dishonors her head if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 

6Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering. 

7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 

8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. 

9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. 

10 For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority. 

11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 

12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God. 

13 Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? 

14 Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? 

15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. 

16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches. 

17 But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. 

18 First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. 

19 But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized! 

20 When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. 

21 For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. 

22 What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this! 

23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread

24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” 

25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” 

26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. 

27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 

29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.

30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.

31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 

32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 

33 So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. 

34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.

May 15: Equatorial Guinea | Operation World

May 15: Equatorial Guinea | Operation World

May 14: El Salvador | Operation World

May 14: El Salvador | Operation World

1 Corinthians 10 NLT ~ A Warning from the History of Israel (10:1-22) ~ The Principles Applied (10:23;11:1)

1 Corinthians 10 NLT

1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 

2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 

3All of them ate the same spiritual food, 

4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 

5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 

6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 

7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” 

8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. 

9 Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 

10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 

11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. 

12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 

14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. 

15 You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. 

16When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 

17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 

18 Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar? 

19 What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? 

20 No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons. 

21 You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too. 

22 What? Do we dare to rouse the Lord’s jealousy? Do you think we are stronger than he is? 

23 You say, “I am allowed to do anything” —but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial.

24 Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. 

25 So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience. 

26 For “the earth is the LORD ’s, and everything in it.” 

27 If someone who isn’t a believer asks you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience. 

28 (But suppose someone tells you, “This meat was offered to an idol.” Don’t eat it, out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you. 

29 It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person.) For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks? 

30 If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I be condemned for eating it? 

31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 

32 Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. 

33 I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.

1 Corinthians 11 NLT

1 And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. 

May 13: Egypt | Operation World

May 13: Egypt | Operation World

1 Corinthians 9 ~ B. The Problems of the Unmarried ~ The Principles Illustrated

1 Corinthians 9 NLT

1 Am I not as free as anyone else? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn’t it because of my work that you belong to the Lord? 

2 Even if others think I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you. You yourselves are proof that I am the Lord’s apostle. 

3 This is my answer to those who question my authority. 

4 Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? 

5 Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter does? 

6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?

7 What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? 

8 Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? 

9 For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? 

10Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest. 

11 Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? 

12 If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ. 

13 Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. 

14 In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. 

15 Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. 

16 Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News! 

17 If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust. 

18 What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. That’s why I never demand my rights when I preach the Good News. 

19 Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. 

20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 

21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. 

22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. 

23 I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. 

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 

25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 

26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 

27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

May 12: Egypt | Operation World

May 12: Egypt | Operation World

1 Corinthians 8 ~ V. Instruction on Questionable Practices ~ The Principles Involved

1 Corinthians 8 NLT

1 Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 

2Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 

3But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. 

4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 

5 There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 

6 But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live. 

7 However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. 

8 It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do. 

9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. 

10 For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? 

11So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. 

12 And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 

13 So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.