November 23, 2023 • 21 mins
The "Las Vegas" of first century Rome has been on a long journey. The Apostle Paul is encouraging them to forgive one another, know who they are in Christ, keep their lives holy, and stay unified.
Strength in weakness. Jesus is the God of All Comfort! This is the central message of 2 Corinthians. Throughout the letter Paul turns upside down our natural expectations of the way life works. Contrary to the way the world and our own human hearts naturally function, God takes what is low, despised, and weak to accomplish his purposes.
Key Verse:
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown
podcast.
In this podcast, we will bebreaking down the Bible one
chapter a day.
Whether you are a new believeror have been following Christ
for a while, we believe that youwill learn something new and
fresh every single day.
So thank you for joining us andlet's get into breaking down
the Bible together.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, hello everybody , welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, 2
Corinthians 5, and if I couldgive this one a title, it would
be we Are Ambassadors.
We are ambassadors.
Well, what is the definition ofan ambassador?
An ambassador is thehighest-ranking diplomat that
has been sent from one countryto another.
(00:45):
It's the highest rankingdiplomat sent from one country
to another, and when that personis in that other country, they
still act as though they're fromtheir country of origin.
They may live in this new place, but their allegiance is still
to the original country, and sothey are representing that
(01:05):
country in everything that theydo, and it is an honor to
represent their home nation tothat new country.
And that is what God says thatwe are.
What an honor and a privilege,and we're going to get into that
in just a moment.
But, as always, if you likewhat we're doing here, make sure
you like, share and subscribeto the YouTube channel.
Leave us a comment.
Let us know how you're engagingwith God's word.
(01:25):
Also, be sure to subscribe tothis.
That's right below this videoon the right.
It really helps us get that onthe road to 1,000 subscribers.
Also, if you're listening tothe podcast.
I love you so much.
Thank you for listening to thispodcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review.
It really helps us in thealgorithm.
And then also our rallyingpoint the Bible breakdown
discussion.
Thank you so much for engagingwith us there.
(01:47):
Leave us a picture of yourself.
We would love for you tointroduce yourself.
Give us a picture.
Let us know a little bit aboutyou so we know who we are
engaging with every day in God'swork.
I'm going to tell you somethingthe more we dig, the more we
find.
I just feel like I have thishonor In my mind.
I have this idea that as you'reopening up your Bible to 2
Corinthians 5, it's like we'resitting around a coffee table.
(02:09):
I've got my cup of coffee,you've got yours, we get our
Bibles together and we just getto gush about God's Word for a
little while.
What a wonderful way we get todo that.
I've heard from some of youthat you read and listen to this
as soon as you get up in themorning.
I've had some people say that Iget to go with you on your way
to work, which is awesome.
Please keep your eyes on theroad so that you and I both make
(02:29):
it there together.
And then some people tell methat you listen to this right
before you go to bed, which,I'll be honest with you, that's
weird for me because I can'timagine myself being there right
beside you and saying thisalmost as though it's like a
bedtime story.
But when we go through the OldTestament, that's what I like it
is.
So if you have your Bibles in 2Corinthians, chapter 5, what
(02:49):
we've been doing here is, thisis the fourth letter that Paul
has actually written to thechurch.
At Corinth and Corinth man, theygo through all the trouble.
I mean, remember, corinth islike the Las Vegas of the first
century Roman Empire, and so onthe surface it's a big party.
Underneath is a lot ofdiversity, a lot of conflict, a
lot of stuff.
(03:09):
And so the first book or letterwe have of the Corinthians that
has survived with us, that wasinspired of the Holy Spirit.
Paul's being rough with them.
He's like, hey, you guys havegot to straighten up right.
Well then, over the course ofthe next season they really
repented of their sin.
They really a long way.
And now Paul is trying tocomfort them and say hey, man,
god is the God of all comfort.
(03:31):
That's the theme of 2Corinthians no-transcript in our
(03:53):
life, and we have to rememberthat there's a time to call each
other out, there's a time torepent, and then there's a time
to offer forgiveness and a timeto mend fences where possible
and, of course, to also rememberwho we are in Christ.
And that's what chapter five isall about.
2 Corinthians, where Paul hasbeen talking about how we have
now the glory of God in ourlives and he said it's like jars
(04:16):
of clay with gold on the insidethat we all look normal to
everybody else as a matter offact, some of us look like we're
a cracked jar of know, all ofthat but on the inside is
something amazing, somethingeternal, and he's going to
continue to do that in talkingabout how we have new bodies
spiritually and that we areGod's ambassadors into the world
(04:38):
.
So this is an amazing chapter.
We're going to read it and letthe Lord just speak to us
through this, on the God of allcomfort, just comforting our
soul in what we can't see, butwhat God is doing in the
spiritual world all around us.
So here we go.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 1 saysthis For we know that when this
earthly tent, this earthly bodythat we live in is taken down.
(05:00):
That is, when we die and weleave this earthly body, we will
have a house in heaven, aneternal body made for us by God
himself.
Now pause.
Now the reason why Paul woulduse this idea of tents and all
that is.
Paul's trade was a tent maker,which would mean he's kind of a
handyman, kind of a fix-it man,and one of the things he would
(05:23):
do in this dry era climate issome people would have, you know
, homes that you would think ofin that climate, but then also
we'd have people that would havetents and stuff, and so Paul
would be just like a handymanwho would fix these things and
do these different, you know oddjobs, that kind of guy.
So this made sense to him inhow he would explain it.
So he said when we die, ourphysical bodies return to the
(05:45):
dust of the ground, but we havea spiritual side of us that
lives forever.
I've heard it said like thiseverybody me and you has a body.
We are a soul and we are aspirit.
So we are a spirit.
Excuse me say it another wayaround we are a spirit, we have
a soul and we live in a body.
(06:06):
So the lowest part of us is ourphysical body.
Our soul is what some peoplewould call our mind, our will
and our emotions, but then ourspirit is that part of us that
is made in the likeness andimage of God, and it's the one
that controls all those things.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I know that's very complicated to even go there,
but the idea, the bottom line ofit is, is our bodies are made
of flesh and blood and so whenour bodies die, it returns to
the dust of the ground.
There's nothing eternal aboutour physical body, but our
spiritual body is what lastsforever.
And he said when we diephysically, our spiritual body
(06:47):
takes over.
Verse two we grow weary in ourpresent bodies, for we long to
put on our heavenly body likenew clothing, for when we put on
our heavenly bodies, we willnot be spirits without bodies,
for we live in this earthly body.
We groan and sigh, but it's notthat we want to die or get rid
of these bodies that clothe us.
Rather, we want to put on ournew bodies so that these dying
(07:09):
bodies will be swallowed up bylife.
God himself has prepared thisfor us and as a guarantee, he
has given us his Holy Spirit.
Now what did Paul say?
He said you know, as we live inthis human body, we have aches,
we have pains, we have brokenbones, we have all these
different things, and there's apart of us that just grows weary
, just grows weary of notgetting enough sleep and dealing
(07:29):
with all these different thingswe have to deal with.
He said but one day, when wedie, we're going to get rid of
this earthly body and we'regoing to be a spirit and have a
spiritual body.
And he says the guarantee thatthis is true is that God has
given us his Holy Spirit to liveinside of us.
It's that part of us that, whenwe encounter God's presence,
when we feel God's goodnessaround us, when we feel the
(07:51):
assurance of our salvation, thatis God's Spirit living inside
of us, within us.
And he's saying that, knowingthat you have that experience,
that you have that, is aguarantee that all of this is
true.
That other words, there'ssomething transcendental that is
bigger than all of us, ifyou've ever, you know,
experienced the presence of God.
It is a reminder that there'sso much more to our life than
(08:13):
just what we can experience withour five senses, that there is
a spiritual world all around us.
And every once in a while, whenhe allows our five senses to
encounter the spiritual world,it is a reminder that there's so
much more going on than what wenormally can see.
Verse six says this we arealways confident, even though we
know that as long as we live inthese bodies.
(08:36):
We are not at home with theLord, for we live by believing,
not by seeing.
Yes, we are fully confidentthat we would rather be away
from these earthly bodies, forthen we will be at home with the
Lord.
So, whether we are here in thisbody or away from this body,
our goal is to please Him, forwe must all stand before Christ
(08:58):
and be judged, and we will eachreceive whatever we deserve for
the good or evil that we havedone in this earthly body.
Now, before we move on, thatcomes from a question where many
people have said that the onlyway you can get into heaven is
by having a relationship withJesus Christ, by declaring
Christ as Lord, and then, bydoing that, our affections and
(09:19):
our nature is changed and wewant to live according to the
goodness of God.
And so they say that at somepoint, though, all of the things
that we do will be tested byGod.
Now, not at all having to dowith getting into heaven.
You don't get into heaven bydoing anything good.
You get into heaven because ofwhat Christ has done, but at
some point there'll be rewardsin heaven.
There'll be an opportunity tohave these rewards in heaven
(09:42):
that then you can turn and giveto God in worship and a lot of
theologians think that thisverse is kind of talking about
that, that whatever we deservefor good or evil, we will have
what we have done in earthlybodies when we have done that.
And so there is this theologicalidea when we get to heaven,
there's only one question thatmatters to get to heaven, and
that is what did you do withJesus?
And the answer needs to be youmade him your Lord and your
(10:04):
Savior.
And then the second questionwill be what did you do with the
opportunities I gave you?
And now that one doesn't haveto do with going to heaven, it
has to do with rewards in heaven, and so that's where a lot of
that comes from, and I wouldencourage you to dig deeper on
that and to find otherscriptures in the Bible that
either support it or maybe don'tsupport it, and the more you
dig, the more you'll find.
Let's keep going.
Verse 11, because we understandour fearful responsibility to
(10:27):
the Lord, we work hard topersuade others.
God knows.
We are sincere, and I hope youknow this too.
We are commending.
Are we commending ourselves toyou again?
No for we have given you a goodreason to be proud of us, so you
can answer those who brag abouthaving a spectacular ministry
rather than having a sincereheart.
(10:49):
If we seem that we are crazy,it is to bring glory to God, and
if we are in our right minds,it is for your benefit.
Either way, christ's lovecontrols us.
Since we believe that Christdied for all, we also believe
that we have all died to our oldlife.
He died for everyone so thatthose who receive his new life
(11:12):
will no longer live forthemselves.
Instead, they will live forChrist, who died and was raised
for them.
That is why, by the way, pausewhen Paul just said that those
who believe in Christ now livefor Christ.
That's why some people say youcan pray the prayer of salvation
but not actually get saved.
I don't know if you've everheard that before, but what that
(11:34):
means is I can pray the prayerof salvation all I want to, but
if it's just empty words, ifit's just something I say and I
don't actually mean it in myheart, then it's not going to
change anything.
But when I mean it and I trulygive my life to God, then a
supernatural change comes overme and I go from the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom oflight and my affections begin to
(11:57):
change.
And I want to serve the Lord, Iwant to live for the Lord.
That's why, if you ever hadsomeone who said well, man, I
prayed a prayer a long time ago,but nothing really happened,
then it would be you prayed aprayer a long time ago, you
didn't actually give your lifeto Christ.
And the difference is becausewhen you mean it, when you truly
mean it, then somethingsupernatural comes and now you
live for Christ and those whowere dead were now raised to
(12:20):
life.
Let's finish this up verse 16.
So we have stopped evaluatingothers from a human point of
view.
At one time we thought ofChrist from merely a human point
of view, but how differently weknow him now.
That's the difference betweenjust praying a prayer but now
knowing Christ, verse 17.
This means that anyone whobelongs to Christ has become a
(12:42):
new person.
The old life is gone and thenew life has begun.
And all of this is a gift fromGod, who brought us back to
himself through Christ.
And God has given us this taskof reconciliation, of
reconciling people to him, forGod who is in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting these
(13:04):
people's sins against them.
He gave us this wonderfulmessage of reconciliation.
We are Christ's ambassadors.
God is making his appealthrough us.
We speak for Christ when weplead.
Come back to God, for God madeChrist, who neverned, to be the
offering of sin for us so thatwe could be made right with God
(13:27):
through Christ.
In other words, what Paul issaying is God does this amazing
thing for you, and then heoffers you the opportunity to
enter back into your world ashis ambassador and say look at
what God has done in my life,and if God has done it for me, I
know he can do it for you.
So what does that mean for ustoday?
Well, remember God is the Godof all comfort, and what that
(13:49):
means is is that God loves youmore than you can imagine, and
his plan for you doesn't justexist in this life, but it
exists throughout eternity.
That when you die one day and Ihope for all of us it's a very,
very, very, very long way awaybut when you do that, you still
have eternity to look forward toan eternal life with God, and
(14:10):
that should bring us hope.
But then also to realize thatGod has a plan for you.
Right now, I can't tell you howmany times people ask me as a
pastor.
You know, pastor, I have noidea what God wants me to do and
I say I do.
Well, what could that possiblybe?
Well, there's probably a lot ofthings he wants you to do, but
one of the things he wants youto do is he wants you to know
him personally.
But then, once you do, you'vegot an amazing job.
(14:30):
You are Christ's ambassador.
You've been empowered to make adifference, and that difference
making is when you go to peopleand you say come back to God,
come back to him.
If God did this in me, he cando this in you.
So, no matter who you are, nomatter what season of life
you're in, no matter whereyou're living and I'm so blessed
to know we have people now allover the United States and a
(14:52):
couple people internationallywho are listening, but it don't
matter, no matter who you are,wherever you're listening from.
Here's the truth.
You have a purpose, and, amongmany other things, that purpose
is your purpose is to Share thelove of Christ with everyone you
meet in your everyday life, thesame joy that you've
(15:15):
experienced, even if you're notexperiencing it right now, but
the simple joy of knowing God,the simple knowing that God is
for you and not against you,that you have a purpose, and the
purpose is not to change asingle person's life.
That's God's job.
Your job is not fruitfulnessyou can't control fruitfulness.
You can control faithfulness.
(15:36):
Your job is to be faithful, toshare the love of Christ with
others, and God takes care offruitfulness.
So God loves you more than youcan imagine, and God has a plan
for you.
Let's pray together, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you for your goodness,your kindness.
Thank you, lord, that you arefor us.
Thank you that you are the Godof all comfort.
My prayer today, god, is we'llrealize that nobody watching or
(15:59):
listening to this is withoutpurpose, that we have more
purpose than we can imagine, andbecause of that, that fills us
with hope, because you have notforgotten us.
Thank you for that.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Have not forgotten us.
Thank you for that.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Don't forget.
God's word says in 2Corinthians 1,.
God is the source of allcomfort and he comforts us in
(16:20):
all of our troubles so that wecan comfort others.
What have you learned about thecomfort of God today, and what
can you do and who can you sharethat with today?
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrowno-transcript.
Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown
podcast.
In this podcast, we will bebreaking down the Bible one
chapter a day.
Whether you are a new believeror have been following Christ
for a while, we believe that youwill learn something new and
fresh every single day.
So thank you for joining us andlet's get into breaking down
the Bible together.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, hello everybody , welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, 2
Corinthians 5, and if I couldgive this one a title, it would
be we Are Ambassadors.
We are ambassadors.
Well, what is the definition ofan ambassador?
An ambassador is thehighest-ranking diplomat that
has been sent from one countryto another.
(00:45):
It's the highest rankingdiplomat sent from one country
to another, and when that personis in that other country, they
still act as though they're fromtheir country of origin.
They may live in this new place, but their allegiance is still
to the original country, and sothey are representing that
(01:05):
country in everything that theydo, and it is an honor to
represent their home nation tothat new country.
And that is what God says thatwe are.
What an honor and a privilege,and we're going to get into that
in just a moment.
But, as always, if you likewhat we're doing here, make sure
you like, share and subscribeto the YouTube channel.
Leave us a comment.
Let us know how you're engagingwith God's word.
(01:25):
Also, be sure to subscribe tothis.
That's right below this videoon the right.
It really helps us get that onthe road to 1,000 subscribers.
Also, if you're listening tothe podcast.
I love you so much.
Thank you for listening to thispodcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review.
It really helps us in thealgorithm.
And then also our rallyingpoint the Bible breakdown
discussion.
Thank you so much for engagingwith us there.
(01:47):
Leave us a picture of yourself.
We would love for you tointroduce yourself.
Give us a picture.
Let us know a little bit aboutyou so we know who we are
engaging with every day in God'swork.
I'm going to tell you somethingthe more we dig, the more we
find.
I just feel like I have thishonor In my mind.
I have this idea that as you'reopening up your Bible to 2
Corinthians 5, it's like we'resitting around a coffee table.
(02:09):
I've got my cup of coffee,you've got yours, we get our
Bibles together and we just getto gush about God's Word for a
little while.
What a wonderful way we get todo that.
I've heard from some of youthat you read and listen to this
as soon as you get up in themorning.
I've had some people say that Iget to go with you on your way
to work, which is awesome.
Please keep your eyes on theroad so that you and I both make
(02:29):
it there together.
And then some people tell methat you listen to this right
before you go to bed, which,I'll be honest with you, that's
weird for me because I can'timagine myself being there right
beside you and saying thisalmost as though it's like a
bedtime story.
But when we go through the OldTestament, that's what I like it
is.
So if you have your Bibles in 2Corinthians, chapter 5, what
(02:49):
we've been doing here is, thisis the fourth letter that Paul
has actually written to thechurch.
At Corinth and Corinth man, theygo through all the trouble.
I mean, remember, corinth islike the Las Vegas of the first
century Roman Empire, and so onthe surface it's a big party.
Underneath is a lot ofdiversity, a lot of conflict, a
lot of stuff.
(03:09):
And so the first book or letterwe have of the Corinthians that
has survived with us, that wasinspired of the Holy Spirit.
Paul's being rough with them.
He's like, hey, you guys havegot to straighten up right.
Well then, over the course ofthe next season they really
repented of their sin.
They really a long way.
And now Paul is trying tocomfort them and say hey, man,
god is the God of all comfort.
(03:31):
That's the theme of 2Corinthians no-transcript in our
(03:53):
life, and we have to rememberthat there's a time to call each
other out, there's a time torepent, and then there's a time
to offer forgiveness and a timeto mend fences where possible
and, of course, to also rememberwho we are in Christ.
And that's what chapter five isall about.
2 Corinthians, where Paul hasbeen talking about how we have
now the glory of God in ourlives and he said it's like jars
(04:16):
of clay with gold on the insidethat we all look normal to
everybody else as a matter offact, some of us look like we're
a cracked jar of know, all ofthat but on the inside is
something amazing, somethingeternal, and he's going to
continue to do that in talkingabout how we have new bodies
spiritually and that we areGod's ambassadors into the world
(04:38):
.
So this is an amazing chapter.
We're going to read it and letthe Lord just speak to us
through this, on the God of allcomfort, just comforting our
soul in what we can't see, butwhat God is doing in the
spiritual world all around us.
So here we go.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 1 saysthis For we know that when this
earthly tent, this earthly bodythat we live in is taken down.
(05:00):
That is, when we die and weleave this earthly body, we will
have a house in heaven, aneternal body made for us by God
himself.
Now pause.
Now the reason why Paul woulduse this idea of tents and all
that is.
Paul's trade was a tent maker,which would mean he's kind of a
handyman, kind of a fix-it man,and one of the things he would
(05:23):
do in this dry era climate issome people would have, you know
, homes that you would think ofin that climate, but then also
we'd have people that would havetents and stuff, and so Paul
would be just like a handymanwho would fix these things and
do these different, you know oddjobs, that kind of guy.
So this made sense to him inhow he would explain it.
So he said when we die, ourphysical bodies return to the
(05:45):
dust of the ground, but we havea spiritual side of us that
lives forever.
I've heard it said like thiseverybody me and you has a body.
We are a soul and we are aspirit.
So we are a spirit.
Excuse me say it another wayaround we are a spirit, we have
a soul and we live in a body.
(06:06):
So the lowest part of us is ourphysical body.
Our soul is what some peoplewould call our mind, our will
and our emotions, but then ourspirit is that part of us that
is made in the likeness andimage of God, and it's the one
that controls all those things.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I know that's very complicated to even go there,
but the idea, the bottom line ofit is, is our bodies are made
of flesh and blood and so whenour bodies die, it returns to
the dust of the ground.
There's nothing eternal aboutour physical body, but our
spiritual body is what lastsforever.
And he said when we diephysically, our spiritual body
(06:47):
takes over.
Verse two we grow weary in ourpresent bodies, for we long to
put on our heavenly body likenew clothing, for when we put on
our heavenly bodies, we willnot be spirits without bodies,
for we live in this earthly body.
We groan and sigh, but it's notthat we want to die or get rid
of these bodies that clothe us.
Rather, we want to put on ournew bodies so that these dying
(07:09):
bodies will be swallowed up bylife.
God himself has prepared thisfor us and as a guarantee, he
has given us his Holy Spirit.
Now what did Paul say?
He said you know, as we live inthis human body, we have aches,
we have pains, we have brokenbones, we have all these
different things, and there's apart of us that just grows weary
, just grows weary of notgetting enough sleep and dealing
(07:29):
with all these different thingswe have to deal with.
He said but one day, when wedie, we're going to get rid of
this earthly body and we'regoing to be a spirit and have a
spiritual body.
And he says the guarantee thatthis is true is that God has
given us his Holy Spirit to liveinside of us.
It's that part of us that, whenwe encounter God's presence,
when we feel God's goodnessaround us, when we feel the
(07:51):
assurance of our salvation, thatis God's Spirit living inside
of us, within us.
And he's saying that, knowingthat you have that experience,
that you have that, is aguarantee that all of this is
true.
That other words, there'ssomething transcendental that is
bigger than all of us, ifyou've ever, you know,
experienced the presence of God.
It is a reminder that there'sso much more to our life than
(08:13):
just what we can experience withour five senses, that there is
a spiritual world all around us.
And every once in a while, whenhe allows our five senses to
encounter the spiritual world,it is a reminder that there's so
much more going on than what wenormally can see.
Verse six says this we arealways confident, even though we
know that as long as we live inthese bodies.
(08:36):
We are not at home with theLord, for we live by believing,
not by seeing.
Yes, we are fully confidentthat we would rather be away
from these earthly bodies, forthen we will be at home with the
Lord.
So, whether we are here in thisbody or away from this body,
our goal is to please Him, forwe must all stand before Christ
(08:58):
and be judged, and we will eachreceive whatever we deserve for
the good or evil that we havedone in this earthly body.
Now, before we move on, thatcomes from a question where many
people have said that the onlyway you can get into heaven is
by having a relationship withJesus Christ, by declaring
Christ as Lord, and then, bydoing that, our affections and
(09:19):
our nature is changed and wewant to live according to the
goodness of God.
And so they say that at somepoint, though, all of the things
that we do will be tested byGod.
Now, not at all having to dowith getting into heaven.
You don't get into heaven bydoing anything good.
You get into heaven because ofwhat Christ has done, but at
some point there'll be rewardsin heaven.
There'll be an opportunity tohave these rewards in heaven
(09:42):
that then you can turn and giveto God in worship and a lot of
theologians think that thisverse is kind of talking about
that, that whatever we deservefor good or evil, we will have
what we have done in earthlybodies when we have done that.
And so there is this theologicalidea when we get to heaven,
there's only one question thatmatters to get to heaven, and
that is what did you do withJesus?
And the answer needs to be youmade him your Lord and your
(10:04):
Savior.
And then the second questionwill be what did you do with the
opportunities I gave you?
And now that one doesn't haveto do with going to heaven, it
has to do with rewards in heaven, and so that's where a lot of
that comes from, and I wouldencourage you to dig deeper on
that and to find otherscriptures in the Bible that
either support it or maybe don'tsupport it, and the more you
dig, the more you'll find.
Let's keep going.
Verse 11, because we understandour fearful responsibility to
(10:27):
the Lord, we work hard topersuade others.
God knows.
We are sincere, and I hope youknow this too.
We are commending.
Are we commending ourselves toyou again?
No for we have given you a goodreason to be proud of us, so you
can answer those who brag abouthaving a spectacular ministry
rather than having a sincereheart.
(10:49):
If we seem that we are crazy,it is to bring glory to God, and
if we are in our right minds,it is for your benefit.
Either way, christ's lovecontrols us.
Since we believe that Christdied for all, we also believe
that we have all died to our oldlife.
He died for everyone so thatthose who receive his new life
(11:12):
will no longer live forthemselves.
Instead, they will live forChrist, who died and was raised
for them.
That is why, by the way, pausewhen Paul just said that those
who believe in Christ now livefor Christ.
That's why some people say youcan pray the prayer of salvation
but not actually get saved.
I don't know if you've everheard that before, but what that
(11:34):
means is I can pray the prayerof salvation all I want to, but
if it's just empty words, ifit's just something I say and I
don't actually mean it in myheart, then it's not going to
change anything.
But when I mean it and I trulygive my life to God, then a
supernatural change comes overme and I go from the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom oflight and my affections begin to
(11:57):
change.
And I want to serve the Lord, Iwant to live for the Lord.
That's why, if you ever hadsomeone who said well, man, I
prayed a prayer a long time ago,but nothing really happened,
then it would be you prayed aprayer a long time ago, you
didn't actually give your lifeto Christ.
And the difference is becausewhen you mean it, when you truly
mean it, then somethingsupernatural comes and now you
live for Christ and those whowere dead were now raised to
(12:20):
life.
Let's finish this up verse 16.
So we have stopped evaluatingothers from a human point of
view.
At one time we thought ofChrist from merely a human point
of view, but how differently weknow him now.
That's the difference betweenjust praying a prayer but now
knowing Christ, verse 17.
This means that anyone whobelongs to Christ has become a
(12:42):
new person.
The old life is gone and thenew life has begun.
And all of this is a gift fromGod, who brought us back to
himself through Christ.
And God has given us this taskof reconciliation, of
reconciling people to him, forGod who is in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting these
(13:04):
people's sins against them.
He gave us this wonderfulmessage of reconciliation.
We are Christ's ambassadors.
God is making his appealthrough us.
We speak for Christ when weplead.
Come back to God, for God madeChrist, who neverned, to be the
offering of sin for us so thatwe could be made right with God
(13:27):
through Christ.
In other words, what Paul issaying is God does this amazing
thing for you, and then heoffers you the opportunity to
enter back into your world ashis ambassador and say look at
what God has done in my life,and if God has done it for me, I
know he can do it for you.
So what does that mean for ustoday?
Well, remember God is the Godof all comfort, and what that
(13:49):
means is is that God loves youmore than you can imagine, and
his plan for you doesn't justexist in this life, but it
exists throughout eternity.
That when you die one day and Ihope for all of us it's a very,
very, very, very long way awaybut when you do that, you still
have eternity to look forward toan eternal life with God, and
(14:10):
that should bring us hope.
But then also to realize thatGod has a plan for you.
Right now, I can't tell you howmany times people ask me as a
pastor.
You know, pastor, I have noidea what God wants me to do and
I say I do.
Well, what could that possiblybe?
Well, there's probably a lot ofthings he wants you to do, but
one of the things he wants youto do is he wants you to know
him personally.
But then, once you do, you'vegot an amazing job.
(14:30):
You are Christ's ambassador.
You've been empowered to make adifference, and that difference
making is when you go to peopleand you say come back to God,
come back to him.
If God did this in me, he cando this in you.
So, no matter who you are, nomatter what season of life
you're in, no matter whereyou're living and I'm so blessed
to know we have people now allover the United States and a
(14:52):
couple people internationallywho are listening, but it don't
matter, no matter who you are,wherever you're listening from.
Here's the truth.
You have a purpose, and, amongmany other things, that purpose
is your purpose is to Share thelove of Christ with everyone you
meet in your everyday life, thesame joy that you've
(15:15):
experienced, even if you're notexperiencing it right now, but
the simple joy of knowing God,the simple knowing that God is
for you and not against you,that you have a purpose, and the
purpose is not to change asingle person's life.
That's God's job.
Your job is not fruitfulnessyou can't control fruitfulness.
You can control faithfulness.
(15:36):
Your job is to be faithful, toshare the love of Christ with
others, and God takes care offruitfulness.
So God loves you more than youcan imagine, and God has a plan
for you.
Let's pray together, god.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you for your goodness,your kindness.
Thank you, lord, that you arefor us.
Thank you that you are the Godof all comfort.
My prayer today, god, is we'llrealize that nobody watching or
(15:59):
listening to this is withoutpurpose, that we have more
purpose than we can imagine, andbecause of that, that fills us
with hope, because you have notforgotten us.
Thank you for that.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Have not forgotten us.
Thank you for that.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Don't forget.
God's word says in 2Corinthians 1,.
God is the source of allcomfort and he comforts us in
(16:20):
all of our troubles so that wecan comfort others.
What have you learned about thecomfort of God today, and what
can you do and who can you sharethat with today?
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrowno-transcript.
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