Morning Shot

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Because Paul has left Timothy in Ephesus to correct false teaching, he instructs Timothy in how to chose leaders for the church. Many will desire to be leaders, but not everyone should be thrown into this responsibility. Paul is writing to Timothy so he and the church will know how believers are to conduct thems...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), James unpacks the faith problem of the early church—the wealthy among them are neglecting the poor among them. He tells them exactly what they must do to fix the problem! Paul also writes Timothy, who is in Ephesus. Paul left him there to correct false teaching that had permeated the church. We read the first sp...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), James writes to believing Jews dispersed throughout the world. He addresses a main problem that exists in the church. Quarrels and fights are prevalent among the young body of Christ, and the root of the problem is the division between the rich and the poor. James desires for all believers to grow in their love...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul enters the tumultuous waters of navigating conflict among God’s people. He reminds the Philippians that divisions have no place in the church. The secret of getting along is disciplined thinking and prayer! He also desires to protect the church from the Jew’s teaching about circumcision. Paul concludes his...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Philemon is a member of the church at Colosse. Because Paul is sending Onesimus as a member of the team delivering his letter to this church, Paul also writes Philemon personally. Onesimus is a runaway slave in the household of Philemon. Onesimus was lost when he abandoned his responsibilities in Philemon’s care...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul writes to the church in Colosse and intends for the church in Laodicea to read the letter as well. He has written a letter to the church in Laodicea, but we don’t have a copy of that letter. He has not planted these churches, but he loves them deeply. Paul is writing these congregations to encourage them an...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Writing to the church in Ephesus, Paul shifts from instruction to believing Jews and Gentiles to an address for all of them as one in Christ. Instead of categorizing people into the two previous groups, now he specifies two ways to live—as fools and as wise. The remainder of Ephesians details the wise life in Ch...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), We continue in the letter Paul writes to the church in Ephesus. It is important that believing Jews and Gentiles understand the love of Christ and live in that love toward one another. This is a diverse church of young Christians. Their differences, however, are dissolved in Christ and they must work to mature t...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), After their shipwreck, the traveling party—Roman officers and prisoners—are welcomed on the Island of Malta. God’s covenant with Abraham is continuing to cover God’s people of faith. Paul preaches the gospel in Rome for two years without anyone attempting to stop him. Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, desiri...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul is a man living under a promise! Jesus appeared to him approximately two years ago, promising him he will testify to Jesus’ resurrection before Caesar in Rome! Today’s reading is a glorious picture of identity. Paul, a prisoner, is the only one enduring the dangers of the sea with knowledge of a promise. He...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), As God revealed Himself to Kings and governments during the Divided Kingdom Era through prophets, Jesus seeks confrontation with governments through Paul. Paul will fulfill his calling as a missionary just as effectively from prison as he does as a free man. Knowing the future Jesus promised, Paul speaks with fr...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul’s imprisonment begins his final chapter of missionary work. Today, we read the story of the first five days of His capture. We must read this portion of Paul’s story in the context of what Jesus told His disciples about coming persecution. He said: Matthew 10:16–20 (NLT) 16 “Look, I am sending you out as sh...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Toward the end of the third missionary journey, Paul is attempting to get to Jerusalem in time to celebrate the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). On his way to Jerusalem, he calls the elders of the church in Ephesus together. He knows this is the last time he will see them. The Holy Spirit has told him as much. In Jer...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul admonishes the church for listening to false teachers. Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church corrects them in many areas where they are failing. They are struggling because they allow false teachers to gain their loyalty. Paul is fighting for the integrity of the gospel and the supreme lordship of Jesus! L...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul concludes his teaching about church discipline to the Corinthians. He expresses his and Titus’ joy over the way they had handled the restoration of their member who was living a sexually immoral lifestyle with his stepmother. Paul also addresses the church’s desire to participate in the freewill offering fo...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul writes for a third time to the church in Corinth. In His second letter, he asked them to do a very difficult thing. They have done it. They obeyed Paul’s instruction and sought to submit to Jesus. The rivalries that have been setting up in the church because its leaders became preoccupied with who could pro...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul concludes his letter to the Romans with instructions for Jews and Gentile believers to praise God together, anticipation of his future visit, greetings for genuine partners in the gospel, and a warning to chose their teachers in the word wisely. In Paul’s third letter to the church in Corinth, Paul testifie...

In today’s reading of Tyndale’s OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul continues to expose the sin problems of the Corinthian church. These problems exist because the leaders have preoccupied themselves with outdoing one another in influence. Apparently, the leaders are spending more time trying to appear wise and preach the best sermon than they are working for the holiness o...

In today's reading of Tyndale's OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul exposes four problems that exist in the life of the young church. He instructs them in four specific ways so they might obey the Lord and avoid the continuation of thinking and behavior unworthy of the call of Christ. The church must untangle themselves from their old worldview and lifestyles. They must lea...

In today's reading of Tyndale's OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Like Philip needed help correcting his disciple-making methods, Apollos desperately needs someone who can explain the gospel accurately to come alongside him. Aquila and Priscilla meet him in Ephesus and teach him to explain the gospel accurately. Paul begins his third missionary journey and ends up in Ephesus....

In today's reading of Tyndale's OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul concludes his letter to the Thessalonians with thirteen specific instructions for Christian living and prayer. Paul writes a second letter to the church in Thessalonica because persecution does not only come in physical form. Paul continues to fight against wrong teaching. Paul plants the fifth new church d...

In today's reading of Tyndale's OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul is separated from Silas and Timothy in his sixth destination—Athens—during the second missionary journey. Although Paul is in Athens, fleeing from the persecution in Berea and waiting on the rest of his team to join him, he is overcome by the idol worship he encounters in Athens. In Corinth, Paul meets two...

In today's reading of Tyndale's OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), The church encourages one another, settles a dispute about doctrine once and for all, and great joy is the result. Paul and Barnabas navigate conflict over John Mark. Paul begins his second missionary journey in today’s text, visiting six destinations and planting four new congregations. The work of missions est...

In today's reading of Tyndale's OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), False teaching threatens the young churches of Galatia. The primary question for believing Jews and Gentiles is this: in order to be saved must a Gentile become a Jew by submitting to circumcision? Paul understands this teaching of circumcision for both Jews and Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ changes...

In today's reading of Tyndale's OYCSB (with featured content written by the CBT team), Paul and Barnabas conclude their first missionary journey, returning to Antioch of Syria. The church's faith has resulted in much fruit. The churches in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia were birthed in the midst of great opposition from the Jews. They must learn quickly how to navigate a different kind of...