WINNING THE PRIZE
Suggested Reading: 1 Corinthians 8-9
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Ruins of a main street in Ancient Corinth.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:22
…to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
Paul’s commitment, his personal discipline, his work schedule, and the way he lived his life is described in our key verse. The motivation, “that I might by all means save some,” is all consuming. Yes, he’s very human also. His statement about Cephas (Peter) bringing along his wife may have been evidence that for brief moments he felt sorry for himself (9:5). Nevertheless, Paul persevered with a godly stubbornness that refused to pander to his personal pleasures. The same could be said about his financial resources. He worked long hours making tents to support himself here in Corinth. He makes the point that he had every right to be supported by the offerings of the believers, but that for his own reasons, chose not to accept money from them for personal use. Just in case some would make a mandatory practice of this, remember that Jesus and the twelve accepted donations for their support (Luke 8:3). Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and many others provided for Jesus from their substance. Paul himself declared in 9:14 that those who preach the Gospel should live from the Gospel. However, Paul made a personal choice to support himself by his trade. I’m sure this added exclamation points (!!!) to his message and to the way these rough, tough people opened their hearts to Paul’s preaching.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, may I be given grace to “become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” I pray in the Name of the One who did this completely, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
When Jesus left Nazareth, He may have set up a carpenter shop in Capernaum. From time to time, in order to care for my family, I’ve worked extra jobs to provide necessary funds. For some reason one of my efforts comes to mind. I hope I don’t offend anyone, but I would drive to one of the many lakes in the area of Northern Ontario, catch bull frogs, and ship them over night by train to a Montreal restaurant for their menu of frog’s legs the next day. There are several other initiatives I took in order to have the funds to stay in ministry, preaching the Gospel.
In this blog, I’m like a child colouring in the pictures in a colouring book. My sons, Reynold, a professional photographer, and Ron, Spiritual Director of Crossroads, both ordained ministers, create the outlines. Reynold has spent 3 months in Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, and Italy to provide the pictures. He sends them electronically to Ron, who creates the blog format for me. Ron in turn sends it on to me. When I rise early each morning to read the Word, pray, and type the blog, there it is on my computer. I’m just filling in the blanks. It’s truly a team effort. The blessing of the entire leadership team of Crossroads is also important. Thank you everyone!!!
Yours to “by all means save some,” hopefully by being “winsome,”
David
The Bible is opened to 1st Corinthians in front of the Temple of Apollo in ancient Corinth.
Striking photo’s again today Reynold, using yesterday’s theme!! It must feel great David, to have Ron format and leave you your place to share our “daily morning bread.” These chapters have always impressed me about Pauls exceptional interpersonal and communication skills … how versatile he was! His passion to share the gospel exceeded any forms of judgement he may have had which may have precluded him from doing so. I admire Christian volunteers sharing in prisons, nursing homes, psychiatric and treatment facilities, as too those volunteering on the prayerlines at Crossroads! Well done!!!!
Hi David
Thank you for inspiring me with your work youand your family do for the Lord! His work is always team work and your family has done a great job in that. When you decided to do the blog, it inspired me as well to write. Each morning I get up 45 min earlier than usual (5:30 am) before work to pray and post scripture and thoughts on the script to Facebook. My prayer has been that people read it and be drawn to the Lord through it. I always pray that the thought on the scripture is from the Lord and not me. It took months before anyone even commented on it, but now people are reading and commenting how that particular scripture applies to them that day, even if they only read it privately is great too. The Lord knows their heart. God willing I will write something in bookform. Thank you for the inspiration. Your sister in Christ, Linda Price
Paul was committed to being cross-cultural, how I can learn from this.
Thank you to the team for bringing us this blog every day.
May the Lord bless and keep you, thank you again!
Blessings of this day to the Crossroads team and to you David for your faithfulness in times of ill health to rise each day spend time with our Lord and get the blog out to us.
May God continue to give you strength and also to Norma-Jean as she ministers to you each day.
Asking God’s wisdom each day to be diligent and faithful in keeping up withthe blog and obeying what it says.
I like the way you refer to the blog coming together, David–colouring in the spaces in a colouring book, and the importance of it being a team effort with your sons, Reynold, Ron, and blessings from the Crossroads leadership team. What a blessing you all are to us in sharing the Word!
So many things Paul said stuck out in these readings.
1 Cor 8:11-13: For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died, And thus, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble.
1 Cor 9:1-2: Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
9:19: For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.
9:23-24: And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
Amen! To God be the Glory! Blessings to all, today!
Thank you Reynold, Ron and David!! You work well together as a team – all united for one purpose: to bring Christians closer to Christ and His Word and to bring sinners to repentance. Awesome!!!!! Everything always ties in so beautifully.
Have a great and blessed day today, everyone, worshipping in the Lord’s House (I will be teaching Sunday School to 2 & 3 year olds).
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!!!!
Amen to the team effort! And to their wives who together make a sacrifice with going to bed early to make this happen for us so early in the morning!
Thankyou and GOD BLESS YOU AND
YOUR SPLIRITFILLED FAMILY!!!!!!!
David, Reynold and Ron : I have realized that successful people have a synergy between them to accomplish great tasks. In the case of your family, you have accomplished great things, even unto this digital age, for our Lord. On all your behalf, it has taken hard work, dedication and pure love of the Word, to bring us this daily blog. David, it’s a tremendous thing to see how at one time you mentored your family in the ways of the Lord and even took the odd ‘bull frog’ job in support of your family and ministry. Now your children are mentoring you with digital and technical advice & support, so that you can continue to be a role model for others in this age of the internet.
Like Jesus mentored the disciples, we all need support in this life to become the best we can be. This is why it breaks my heart when I see the lost world, particularly our young teenagers who are trying so desperately to fit-in and to find out who they are in this world. I feel so deeply that if the lost youth (or anyone) had Godly support, their struggles wouldn’t be such a heavy burden. In this internet world, I often think there should be more mentors for our teens (it’s such a critical time of fitting-in and finding a future career). I’ve heard many teens ending high school and not knowing where to turn. This is where I think Christian mentors (also one-on-one mentors) are essential in reaching our pre-teens and teens. Youth groups at church try so hard to reach-out to the young, some are successful, but the ‘introverted’ person is falling through the cracks in these ‘energized’ environments. Many introverts have a phobia of interacting with people, so a physical church is not even a possibility; this is where social-media via internet becomes a valuable tool for salvation. David, I’m sure that your blog has been reaching many introverts (youth and adult) who are searching for Godly answers.
I know first-hand how difficult it is to be faithful to God and yet haven’t been able to reach the lost (my young relatives & friends). Is there any way that a youth ministry could be born on the internet that is specific to the needs of these teens? For example, a Godly teen or twenty-something year-old, starting a blog or vlog with the idea of focusing on the life of a Christian youth including great Christian music. Teens today love vlogs, I know this to be true. This would be a wonderful ministry for a person or a group of people to establish for God’s glory.
Another beautiful and touching photo Reynold, with the open Bible.
What a blessing you, Ronald, and your Dad are, in putting this blog together with such love~ for one another, and to us, your readers. Thank you!
David, what a blessing to have your sons standing beside you, holding up your arms when they grow weary, as you remain faithful to bringing us this daily blog.
About all I can add to the comments today is ditto! My feelings are expressed in the comments of others.
Thx to the Mainse family & all involved – so much appreciated!
Marg
Bullfrogs! I love it!!
(You catching them I mean, David – not so much the eating-them-in-the-restaurant part).
🙂
I’ve been a Christian for decades, but this is the best bible study/ blog I have ever experienced… Your personal stories/ sharing, and teaching David, along with Reynold’s awesome pictures, and Ron’s format ..have made this such an enjoyable rich learning experience for me… Thank you sooo much :0) & God Bless !
This is a wonderful example of how a family should work together; all using their own unique gifts to further God’s work. God Bless!
Amen, and provides a good example of the right attitude that the younger and older should have toward each other. Thanks to the Mainse family! Thank you, Beverlee for responding to my question yesterday. It would not have been wrong for Paul to marry, but he seemed to have spent most of his time travelling and preaching so would not have been expedient. Yes, I am aware of what they said about Jesus. Rubbish! Your frog story is humorous, David but shows your humility and willingness to work which the Apostle Paul talks about later. Appreciate your burden for the younger generation, Scott and I need to connect more with those in my family on Facebook. Also for your sacrifice, David, Norma Jean, Ron, Reynold and all the staff. These good movies on CTS could be films we could direct the youth to watch. God bless everyone!
I truly admire the daily efforts of Team Mainse! It’s a unity I didn’t experience growing up but I attempt to instill in my own children.
That last picture with the open bible took my breath away!! So, so, so beautiful! I’d love a print of it and to hang it On my wall. Lovely
May God continue to Bless you all. Fellow blog readers included.
Hi Janice, I hope to make my photos available sometime soon for exactly what you suggested… “putting them up on the wall”
I don’t comment often but am following daily.It’s the first place I go to in the morning.Can’t imagine a day without this wonderful blog.Your time and devotion inspires me so much.Another instance of the (behind the scenes)that help it all happen.
Thankyou from the bottom of my heart. God bless all of you.
The great message I get from today’s blog is what someone already shared in one of the above blogs — it is about us ministering to a “cross-cultural” world wherever we are — and winning the prize of our efforts as commissioned by our Lord Jesus Christ.