1 Corinthians 9: March 5 2011.

Hey all... I'm still recovering from my cold, and it's getting better (YES!) The sad thing is that I basically didn't do anything today... being unproductive!
Anyway, I guess I'm feeling great... and I read this in the afternoon around 3 hours ago, listening to Jacob's advice... better early than late. We have more time to think, and we don't feel sleepy when we're taking the time to read the most important book - God's word. Be sure to honour our time when doing this, just as Yeni says. It's the greatest honour to worship, and taking time to read God's message is certainly one of them.

The first question that I asked upon reading Verse 9 was this: what does it mean to muzzle an ox?

I'm guessing that muzzling an ox makes it unable to eat... there's a cover over the mouth. So when oxes are used to do labour and if they want to eat food, they're unable to. A farmer who makes his oxen do labour should allow him to consume some of the grains that he wants - be fair to your workers, really...

And that's what verse 14 leads to - In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.

Verses 24 to 27 also made me think of Sam's last sermon, I think... the one about the race and how we should continue with the marathon even though it's difficult:

And out of all those verses, I prefer 27 the most - Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified. This is the kind of attitude that is NECESSARY for ourselves to think of on Sundays. The congregation looks at us, even though we can't help it, so we MUST be solemn and somewhat serious.. just not careless and too comfortable... DISCIPLINE is key to this, from what I see we need in our team. So think about this verse and what Kevin talked about on Friday, because we NEED change.

That's what I got from this... and I'm off to do more piano exercises. Lates.

Jules.

7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”[b] Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

Obviously, these verses are about hypocracy. As leaders of the congregation, we have to remember that we shouldn't tell anyone to do anything that we, ourselves, don't.

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

That last verse, leads into the message of this one.
If we want someone to do anything (especially devoting their lives to God), we have to go to them as one of them.
If a friend told you to believe something, wouldn't it be a tad bit easier to believe than if a teacher you've never had before told you to?

hellooooo hope practice went well~
so im going to keep it simple today, but what i got was pretty important!

19I am not anyone's slave. But I have become a slave to everyone, so that I can win as many people as possible.
I found this really meaningful
We are sent here by God to plant seeds into those who do not know Christ.
We need to do what we can to "win people over", so that they will be able to go to heaven as well.
As some of you may have already witnessed... It isnt always effective to just go up to people and be like "BELIEVE IN GOD!" "GOD LOVES YOU"
because of many different reasons, like previous encounters with hypocrytical christians or anything else that may become an obstacle.
Sometimes we need to SHOW people how much God loves them. Thats what it means to become a slave for others. To serve them, show them God's kindness and love through our actions and hope that a seed is slowly growing inside of them!
We cant force anything... we may not even witness this transformation, all we can do is plant the seed and let God do the rest. For some, it takes a whole life time to accept Christ, for others it can be done right away, it all depends... but all we got to do is TRY to win those people over, walk WITH them on God's path while you can, while God has sent that person into your life.

hey guys. i know i haven't done my devos in a while. sorry for that...
i did my devos on the message version (its a lot easier to understand).

I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

So this verse is a mouthful, but its basically Paul explaining that he worked so hard to be able to see the christian world from everyone's perspective. It shows that he tried to be as close to Jesus as he can. Jesus came down to earth to not only show us that God sent him to save us, but he also went through experiencing life as a human being. Paul went from a missionary, to serve all different types of people, and to experience what a christian is from their point of view. I think we should follow the example that Paul set for us, so that we can go into different types of people, to more effectively administer the gospel. The better we know them, the better we can help them, so instead of sticking with one group of christian friends, I think we should all go to different people, so that we can spread our gospel to them.

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?

As I read this verse, I remembered that like this analogy, God gave us the choice. Obviously the farmer doesn't want the ox to eat freely as it pleases but at the same time, it's not good to muzzle (close the ox's mouth) in order to prevent in doing so. In the same sense, we were given the choice to sin or to not sin. We should all keep in mind that we were lucky enough to have the choice so we should live our lives with a thankful heart and remember that our God is a God who gave us a choice. But it's up to us for how we use our "freedom"

hi guyss today was such a long day! this physics project is hard
i understood this verse, but it didnt really stand out to me. i didnt really have an OH! i learned something! because to me it just sounded like the justification of his actions, and kinda telling people that this and that are wrong and the justifications for those as well. I guess this verse was a reminder of things that i should keep in mind. yeaahhh so thats it!
see yall tomorrow