MAY 12 – Lessons That Last
3-Year-Bible Reading: Proverbs 15:32–33; 1 Corinthians 15
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“Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” — Proverbs 15:32–33 (ESV)
“But by his resurrection, Christ has conquered death, and we are given new life in Him.” — 1 Corinthians 15:22 (ESV)
“So then, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” — 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)
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Life is full of lessons we sometimes wish we could skip—tests, correction from teachers or parents, and even tough experiences with friends. It can feel unfair or boring, but Proverbs 15:32-33 reminds us that listening and learning, even when it’s uncomfortable, leads to wisdom and honor. On the bigger scale, 1 Corinthians 15 reminds us that Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate lesson in hope and victory. Because He rose, every challenge, every moment of waiting, and every effort we make for good has eternal value.
This means that small, everyday lessons—like being patient, honest, or kind—aren’t wasted. They’re part of God shaping your character. When you get corrected, when a situation tests your patience, or when you struggle to do the right thing, remember that God is teaching you for a bigger purpose. Your faith, effort, and obedience today matter more than you can see.
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THINK ABOUT IT
1. Embrace Correction: How do you react when someone corrects you? Could listening to guidance bring wisdom instead of frustration (Proverbs 15:32)?
2. See the Bigger Picture: How does remembering Christ’s resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:22) change the way you handle challenges or failures in life?
3. Keep Going: Are there areas where you feel your efforts are unnoticed or pointless? How can you trust that your work for God is never in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58)?
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BOTTOM LINE
Every lesson, correction, and effort matters because God is shaping your life and your future in Him.
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PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank You for the lessons You allow in my life, even when they are hard or uncomfortable. Help me to listen, learn, and grow in wisdom and humility. Remind me that, through Jesus’ resurrection, my efforts for You have eternal value. Give me strength to stay faithful, steadfast, and joyful in every part of life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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Welcome to Bible Chat, where we
have devotional conversations
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rooted in scripture and relevant
for.
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Today, May 12th, lessons that
last.
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Be honest.
When someone corrects you,
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what’s your first instinct?
Do you get defensive?
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Do you shut down?
Do you brush it off and pretend
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it didn’t happen?
Most of us don’t love being told
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we got something wrong.
It stings a little, even when
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the person saying it actually
cares about us.
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But here’s what’s wild The
lessons we try hardest to avoid
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are often the ones that shape us
the most.
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Proverbs chapter 15, verses 32
to 33 puts it plainly.
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Whoever ignores instruction
despises himself.
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But he who listens to reproof
gains intelligence.
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The fear of the Lord teaches a
man wisdom and humility comes
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before honor.
That word despises is strong,
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isn’t it?
But think about it.
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When you refuse to learn, when
you dismiss correction and keep
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repeating the same patterns,
you’re actually working against
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yourself.
You’re blocking your own growth.
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On the flip side, the person who
can receive guidance even when
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it’s uncomfortable is quietly
building something real.
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Wisdom, character, the kind of
inner strength that doesn’t
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crumble under pressure.
And notice that humility comes
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before honor, not alongside it,
before it.
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That’s the sequence God
establishes.
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You don’t get to skip the
learning curve and go straight
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to the reward.
The humble, teachable, sometimes
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hard season is what prepares you
for what comes next.
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Now, First Corinthians chapter
15 takes everything up to a much
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bigger scale.
Verse 22 reminds us that through
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Christ’s resurrection, death has
been defeated and we are given
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new life in Him.
And verse 58 says so.
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Then, my beloved brethren, be
steadfast, immovable, always
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abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord
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your labor is not in vain, not
in vain.
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Let that sit with you for a
moment.
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There are probably things in
your life right now that feel
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pointless.
The effort you’re putting in
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that nobody seems to notice.
The choice you made to do the
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right thing that didn’t get you
any credit.
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The time you spent being kind to
someone who didn’t even say
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thank you.
It can feel like you’re pouring
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into something that has no
bottom.
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But God says no.
It counts.
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Every bit of it counts because
the resurrection of Jesus
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changes the entire equation.
If death itself doesn’t have the
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final word, then neither does
failure, discouragement, or
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feeling unseen.
Every small act of faithfulness.
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Every moment you chose to listen
and learn instead of harden and
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resist.
Every time you got back up after
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a set back.
It’s all part of something God
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is building in you that has
eternal weight.
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That means today’s correction
isn’t punishment, it’s
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preparation.
That difficult teacher, that
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hard conversation with a parent,
That failure you’re embarrassed
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about.
God is using all of it not to
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break you down, but to build you
up into someone who can handle
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what He has ahead.
So the next time life hands you
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a lesson you didn’t sign up for,
try to resist the urge to just
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escape it.
Ask instead, What is God trying
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to teach me here?
What is He developing in me
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through this?
Because He wastes nothing.
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And your willingness to stay
humble and keep learning is one
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of the most powerful things you
can do.
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Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for
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the lessons You bring into my
life, even the ones that are
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uncomfortable or hard to
receive.
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Help me to stay humble, to
listen well, and to trust that
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You are shaping me with purpose.
On the days when my efforts feel
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invisible or pointless, remind
me that my labor for You is
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never in vain.
Because of Jesus resurrection, I
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have hoped that nothing I do in
faith is wasted.
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Give me the strength to stay
steadfast, keep going and grow
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in wisdom every single day in
Jesus name, Amen.
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What if the battles hitting your
family are not random and your
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home can become a place where
darkness loses every right to
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stay?
The Secured Home is a powerful
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in Jesus Christ.
Book 1.
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reclaim spaces marked by fear,
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defilement.
Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes
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hidden access points and severs
every agreement with darkness.
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and attacks against your family.
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dedicates every space and rhythm
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Now I invite you to spend time
with God in today’s three-year
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Bible reading plan.
Proverbs chapter 15, verses 32
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to 33 World English Bible.
He who refuses correction
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despises his own soul, but he
who listens to reproof gets
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understanding.
The fear of Yahweh teaches
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wisdom before honor is humility.
First Corinthians Chapter 15
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World English Bible Now I
declare to you, brothers, the
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good news which I preach to you,
which also you received, in
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which you also stand, by which
also you are saved, if you hold
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firmly the Word which I preach
to you, unless you believed in
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vain.
For I delivered to you first of
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all that which I also received,
that Christ died for our sins
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according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, that He was
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raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures, and
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that he appeared to Sepha’s,
then to the 12.
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Then he appeared to over 500
brothers at once, most of whom
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remain until now, but some have
also fallen asleep.
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Then he appeared to James, then
to all the apostles, and last of
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all, as to the child born at the
wrong time, He appeared to me
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also.
For I am the least of the
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apostles who is not worthy to be
called an apostle, because I
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persecuted the Assembly of God.
But by the grace of God I am
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what I am.
His grace which was given to me
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was not futile, but I worked
more than all of them.
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Yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me.
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Whether then it is I or they.
So we preach, and so you
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believed.
Now if Christ is preached that
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He has been raised from the
dead, how do some among you say
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that there is no resurrection of
the dead?
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But if there is no resurrection
of the dead, neither has Christ
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been raised.
If Christ has not been raised,
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then our preaching is in vain,
and your faith also is in vain.
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Yes, we are also found false
witnesses of God, because we
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testified about God that He
raised up Christ, whom He didn’t
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raise up.
If it is so that the dead are
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not raised.
For if the dead aren’t raised,
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neither has Christ been raised.
If Christ has not been raised,
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your faith is vain, you are
still in your sins.
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Then they also who are fallen
asleep in Christ have perished.
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If we have only hoped in Christ
in this life we are of all men
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most pitiable.
But now Christ has been raised
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from the dead.
He became the first fruits of
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those who are asleep.
For since death came by man, the
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resurrection of the dead also
came by man.
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For as in Adam all die, so also
in Christ all will be made
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alive, but each in his own
order.
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Christ the first fruits, then
those who are Christ S at His
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coming.
Then the end comes, when He will
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deliver up the Kingdom to God,
even the Father, when He will
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have abolished all rule and all
authority and power.
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For He must reign until he has
put all his enemies under his
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feet.
The last enemy that will be
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abolished is death, For He put
all things in subjection under
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his feet.
But when he says all things are
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put in subjection, it is evident
that He is accepted.
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Who subjected all things to him?
When all things have been
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subjected to him, then the Son
will also himself be subjected
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to him.
Who subjected all things to him,
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that God may be All in all.
Or else what will they do?
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Who are baptized for the dead?
If the dead aren’t raised at
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all, why then are they baptized
for the dead?
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Why do we also stand in jeopardy
every hour?
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I affirm by the boasting in you,
which I have in Christ Jesus our
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Lord, I die daily.
If I fought with animals at
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Ephesus for human purposes, what
does it profit me?
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If the dead are not raised, then
let’s eat and drink, for
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tomorrow we die.
Don’t be deceived.
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Evil companionships corrupt good
morals.
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Wake up righteously and don’t
sin, for some have no knowledge
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of God.
I say this to your shame, but
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someone will say, How are the
dead raised, and with what kind
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of body do they come, you
foolish one?
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That which you yourself sow is
not made alive unless it dies.
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That which you sow you don’t sow
the body that will be but a bare
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grain, maybe of wheat, or of
some other kind.
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But God gives it a body even as
it pleased Him, and to each seed
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a body of its own.
All flesh is not the same flesh,
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but there is one flesh of men,
another flesh of animals,
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another of fish, and another of
birds.
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There are also celestial bodies
and terrestrial bodies, but the
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glory of the celestial differs
from that of the terrestrial.
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There is one glory of the sun,
another glory of the moon, and
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another glory of the stars.
For one star differs from
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another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of
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the dead.
The body is sown perishable.
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It is raised in perishable, it
is sown in dishonor.
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It is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is
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raised in power, it is sown a
natural body, it is raised a
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spiritual body.
There is a natural body and
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there is also a spiritual body.
So also it is written.
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The first man, Adam became a
living soul.
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The last Adam became a life
giving spirit.
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However, that which is spiritual
isn’t first, but that which is
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natural.
Then that which is spiritual.
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The first man is of the earth
made of dust.
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The second man is the Lord from
heaven, as is the one made of
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dust.
Such are those who are also made
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of dust, and as is the heavenly,
such are they also that are
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heavenly.
As we have borne the image of
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those made of dust, let’s also
bear the image of the heavenly.
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Now I say this, brothers, that
flesh and blood can’t inherit
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God’s Kingdom, neither does the
perishable inherit imperishable.
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Behold, I tell you a mystery.
We will not all sleep, but we
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will all be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at
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the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and
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the dead will be raised
incorruptible, and we will be
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changed.
For this perishable body must
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become imperishable, and this
mortal must put on immortality.
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But when this perishable body
will have become imperishable,
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and this mortal will have put on
immortality, then what is
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written will happen.
Death is swallowed up in
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victory.
Death, where is your sting?
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Hades, where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin, and
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the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives
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us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Therefore, my beloved brothers,
be steadfast, immovable, always
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abounding in the Lord’s work,
because you know that your labor
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is not in vain in the.
Lord, thanks for joining us on
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Bible Chat, where Scripture
meets everyday life.
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00:12:09,760 –> 00:12:13,320
If today’s devotional encouraged
you, share it with a friend and
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00:12:13,320 –> 00:12:16,120
be sure to follow the podcast so
you won’t miss the next
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00:12:16,120 –> 00:12:19,040
conversation.
Until next time, stay rooted in
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00:12:19,040 –> 00:12:22,240
truth, anchored in hope, and
walking daily with Jesus.

