Dear RTB’ers, Paul mentions the Spirit seven times in chapter 3. Our Men’s Group did a Holy Spirit study some years back. We looked at all occurrences of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. When you look for Him, you’ll find Him quite often in the Gospels, even more often in Acts (occasionally referred …
Author Archives: Fred
December 2024 Readings
Date Reading(s) Verses 01-Dec II Corinthians 3:1-4:6 24 02-Dec II Corinthians 4:7-5:10 22 03-Dec II Corinthians 5:11-6:10 21 04-Dec II Corinthians 6:11-7:16 24 05-Dec II Corinthians 8:1-15 15 06-Dec II Corinthians 8:16-9:15 24 07-Dec II Corinthians 10 18 08-Dec II Corinthians 11:1-21a 21 09-Dec II Corinthians 11:21b-12:10 23 10-Dec II Corinthians 12:11-21 11 11-Dec II …
November 30 / II Corinthians 1:23-2:17
II Corinthians 1:23-2:17 Dear RTB’ers, I am repeating below a comment that I wrote in 2020 (slightly edited), primarily to help us all understand the confusion in Paul’s letter regarding his Corinthian visits and correspondence: So, is there a lost letter or a lost visit? I sense that the majority of scholars tend to believe …
November 29 / II Corinthians 1:12-22
II Corinthians 1:12-22 Dear RTB’ers, As we near the end of this 16th year of RTB, I’m asking myself if I can apply Paul’s “boast” to myself? He says, For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace …
November 28 / II Corinthians 1:1-11
II Corinthians 1:1-11 Dear RTB’ers, Blessed be the God … of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction… (v. 3-4a). There was a time in my life (summer and fall 1981) when for seven straight months I had some major “affliction” in my life, the worst of which were my father’s death and …
November 27 / Psalm 41
Psalm 41 Dear RTB’ers, I don’t know why, but so often it seems like the first words in a psalm are the ones that hit me. Today was the case again, Blessed is the one who considers the poor! (or the “weak” or “helpless”, v. 1a) The ESV ends those eight words with an exclamation …
November 26 / Psalm 40:11-17
Psalm 40:11-17 Dear RTB’ers, I said yesterday that God’s provision is infinitely ongoing. Today’s last verse repeats that thought, As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. (v. 17a) I see “takes thought for me” as a continual thing, that the Lord is constantly taking thought of me …
November 25 / Psalm 40:1-10
Psalm 40:1-10 Dear RTB’ers, After two days of posts about David’s anger at God and his desire for a restoration of that relationship, we see a very different mood today: I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of …
November 24 / Psalm 39
Psalm 39 Dear RTB’ers, My NASB translation names this Psalm “The Futility of Life”. That sounds a lot like Ecclesiastes, and today’s reading does read a lot like Ecclesiastes, with a bit of Job sprinkled in: O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how …
November 23 / Psalm 38
Psalm 38 Dear RTB’ers, We cannot read David’s words today without feeling for him and whatever is troubling him, especially when his opening sentences speak of pain that the Lord has inflicted: …Your arrows, Your hand, Your indignation… (vv. 2,3a) But he quickly clarifies that he, himself is the source of his pain: …my sin, …