The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 337: The Importance of Love (2024)
Mon, 02 Dec
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Fr. Mike unpacks the events in Acts 16, describing Paul’s trust in the Lord as God frees him from prison. He connects St. Paul’s conversation about spiritual gifts to the well-known “love” chapter in 1 Corinthians, explaining how love and donation of self gives purpose to the spiritual gifts. Today’s readings are Acts 16, 1 Corinthians 13-14, and Proverbs 28:13-15. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of Day 337?
My name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds. And we fit into that story today.
It is day 337. That's pretty phenomenal. And we're reading Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16, St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapters 13 and 14. Ah, I love letter. And Proverbs chapter 28, verses 13 through 15. As always, The Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, and you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. It is day 337. We're reading Acts chapter 16, 1 Corinthians chapters 13 and 14, and Proverbs chapter 28, verses 13 through 15. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16.
Timothy accompanies Paul and Silas. And he came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium.
Chapter 2: What does Acts 16 teach us about Paul and Timothy?
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.
So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. Paul's vision of the man of Macedonia. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go in Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
So passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing pleading with him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. The conversion of Lydia and her household.
Setting sail, therefore, from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the leading city of the We remained in the city some days, and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to listen to what was said by Paul. And when she was baptized with her household, she begged us saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned.
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by soothsaying. She followed Paul and us, crying, These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And this she did for many days.
But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the Spirit, I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs which it is not lawful for us Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
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Chapter 3: How did God intervene in Paul's imprisonment?
Love is not jealous or boastful. It is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away.
For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect. But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three. But the greatest of these is love. Chapter 14 Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the Church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.
He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be edified. Now brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how shall I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?
And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if you, in a tongue, utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning.
But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
What am I to do? I will pray in the Spirit, and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the Amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brethren, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in thinking be mature.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of love in 1 Corinthians 13?
that the persistence and the perseverance, the faithfulness of Paul and Silas and the other Christians, even in jail, even in prison, even in defeat, we just give you praise. We thank you so much for such faithful older brothers in the faith. We thank you for Lydia, one of the first converts there in Macedonia. We thank you for her. Thank you for her household.
Thank you for the guards in his household. Lord God, and we give you praise because you not only call us to love, you are love. Help us to love. Help us to trust. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So Acts of the Apostles, a lot of adventure, a lot of action happening. Here is Timothy. Oh man, the introduction of Timothy.
We're going to have St. Paul's letters to Timothy in a little bit. You would know when that's going to happen if you had a Great Adventure Bible Timeline reading plan. It's actually happening in like maybe three or four weeks. But Timothy, yes, his mom was Jewish, loved the Lord. Actually, his mom and grandma both knew the Lord, but his father was a Greek. And so Timothy was uncircumcised.
They go on a mission. And what does Paul do? Paul has him circumcised ahead of time. This is Paul living out. the very kind of principle that he was instructing the Corinthians to do, right? He said to the Corinthians, if something you do causes someone else to sin, then just stop it. Or something you don't do causes people to sin, then do it. You need to do the thing. Here is Paul, who knows
He was at the Council of Jerusalem. He knows that you don't have to get circumcised. But he also knows that there are some Jewish Christians who will not accept Timothy unless he was circumcised. And there's also some Jews they want to become, they desire to evangelize and bring into the church who won't listen to them if they know that Timothy's uncircumcised.
So for the sake of others, I mean, think about it. Talk about taking one for the team. That is incredible. But what a gift it is to see in action this principle of St. Paul. That is to say, if eating causes you to sin, I won't eat. If drinking causes someone else to sin, I won't drink. And here is Timothy as he's raising him up in the faith as well, just to say, okay.
There are some things that are worth doing for the sake of others, not because in and of themselves, they are what you need to do, but because of others for others, here's doing that. So that was just incredible. I just loved it. It's a small thing, but it's a big thing. You know what I mean? Okay. Moving on. Paul goes into Macedonia, has a vision. Please come to us, bring the gospel to us.
And we have the conversion of Lydia and her whole household. We also have what happens after this. There's this woman who has a spirit. Now, we recognize that even in our day, we get so smart, right? We're 21st century people that we tend to think at times that Satan is not real. We tend to think at times that demonic possession is not real. It is very real. Satan is very real.
He's not a literary figure. He is a
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Chapter 5: How should spiritual gifts be used according to 1 Corinthians 14?
Talked about that in the church, there are those who, through the wisdom of the, given through the spirit, the utterance of wisdom, through the spirit, knowledge, through the same spirit, mighty works, to the same spirit, healing. There's another spirit, that same spirit, sorry, another prophecy, through the same spirit, ability to distinguish between spirits. We call that discernment of spirits.
to another various kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. That's in chapter 12, these spiritual gifts. And St. Paul says, all of those are inspired by one and the same Holy Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. So those are gifts that every Christian should strive for. He even says, strive eagerly. And the last verse of chapter 12 is verse 31. And St.
Paul says, earnestly desire the higher gifts. We want to ask God for these gifts. All of those gifts we can ask God for. And he will give to us the ones that he knows that will be used for the building up of the church. These spiritual gifts are not sanctifying gifts. Here's what I mean. Those gifts, those charisms, those graces, They don't make a person holy.
So a person can have the gift of healing and not become holy. A person can have the gift of prophecy and not be holy themselves. A person can have the gift of mighty works and not necessarily have a sin-free life. So that kind of grace is a grace that's meant to build up the kingdom. It doesn't necessarily or automatically sanctify the person who uses those gifts. Now, it can, right?
Whenever we're cooperating with God's will, yes, we can be sanctified. We can be conformed more and more to his will. So we are made holy that way. But the presence of the gift and the exercise of the gifts themselves doesn't mean that this person is super holy.
That's why you can have people who are incredibly close to the Lord, who are incredibly aligned with his will, who don't manifest any big, big, big gift, dramatic gift like healing or dramatic gift like mighty works. And you can also have people who are broken people, who God still has given the gift of healing. He still has given them the gift of tongues.
He's still given them those spiritual gifts. And so it's not connected to one's sanctifying grace, not connected to one's holiness, but but it is meant, as St. Paul says so many times in chapter 14, for the upbuilding of the church. So those gifts are never given to the individual for the individual. They're given to the individual for the sake of the body, right?
They're given to the individual for the sake of the church. And so that's one of the reasons why we ask God for those gifts is not so, I can be edified, so I can be built up. It's like, no, no, no. So the church can be edified. So the people on the outside can say, the Holy Spirit is working in the church and I
he's real and he loves me and he's healed me maybe he's spoken to me spoken a word in my into my life that has transformed my life and that's why we ask god for those gifts that's also the reason why i believe saint paul says the greatest of these is love why well for many reasons saint paul says very clearly directly is because all these other gifts will cease
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Chapter 6: What does Proverbs 28 reveal about wisdom and integrity?
He says, my brethren earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues. So you guys pray for the gift of tongues. But all things, that was my editorial. He didn't say that part. But all things should be done decently and in order. So that's St. Paul's teaching to us today about prayer, about love, about speaking in tongues, about the giftedness of belonging to the Lord.
The Spirit of God is with you. And so I'm just asking the Holy Spirit right now who already has been given to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, Father, I ask you to please have an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the lives of every person who's listening to these words. May they prophesy mightily. May they be filled with wisdom and knowledge. May they be filled with the gifts of healing.
May they use the gifts of mighty works and miracles. May they, Lord, speak in tongues. May they have interpretation of tongues and discernment of spirits. May they have all of the spiritual gifts. But above all, Father in heaven, in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, send your spirit of faith, of hope, and of love upon every person listening to these words. In Jesus' name.
Guys, I am praying for you. That's what that was. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.