Untitled Sermon

2 Corinthians 1:1–11 AV

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: 2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. 8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

Verse 4 God comforts us in troubles so that we can comfort others.

Verse 5 The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3–7 AV

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

2 Cor. 1:1-

Verse 6-8 Paul was going through immense suffering, yet in-spite of his suffering he encouraged others and it was his prayer and desire that what he was able to do (by the grace and comfort of God) that he would be an example to others and that others would emulate his attitude.

Verse 8 Paul’s suffering was so intense that it crushed him and overwhelmed him beyond his ability to endure. Matter of fact he thought he wasn’t going to get through it.

Verse 9 Paul’s outlook was so bleak and clouded, that Paul was expecting to die, didn’t think he would make it through it. Yet God designed this as a lesson to Paul that Paul was not to trust in himself but to trust in the power of God. He said “I stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead”. As a result of his finally trusting God, God delivered him out of mortal danger and his faith has increased so much that Paul now expects God to rescue him again. Verse 12 when you know you have people praying for you and when God delivers you from situations that you didn’t think you could get out of it should cause you and those who prayed for you to rejoice.

2 Corinthians 4:6–15 AV

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Verse 6 - The same God that spoke into darkness and said let there be light has shined into every believers heart. How? When you believed the gospel, when you repented of your sins, when you were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and he filled you with the Holy Ghost, that’s when the light was shined into your heart. Until you have believed the gospel, accepted Jesus as your personal savior, repented of your sins, been baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost you have a dark heart.

Verse 7 - We must understand that the saving of the soul is more valuable than money. Money can’t buy salvation, there was only one thing that could purchase your salvation and that was the blood of Jesus. So when God saves you and places His Spirit inside of you, Paul says we have a treasure in earthen vessels (verse 7).

2 Cor 4:6-

Verse 7 - We are fragile, our human bodies are weak, are minds are weak, at any moment we can break down. At any moment because of our carnal nature, if we don’t keep it under wraps can fail us. But God has placed his Spirit inside every born-again believer. When God places his Spirit inside of us it is a treasure and when this happens we know that the power that we have doesn’t come from us, it comes from the abiding presence of God’s Spirit within us. That’s why you can take it when life seems to get difficult for you.

Verse 8-10 We are pressed on every side, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Jesus who is fully God and fully man, God manifested in the flesh, experienced every human emotion, he experienced every human feeling, he experienced hunger and thirst, love, joy, tiredness, pain, yes even loneliness (My God, My God why has though forsaken me). He suffered, was lied on, plotted against, rejected, forsaken by men, forsaken by his friends, betrayed, abused, misused. When we suffer for living for God we share in the likeness of death and suffering. The life of Jesus is made evident in our bodies.

Verse 13 Even though Paul was suffering because of living for God and preaching Jesus, Paul made up in his mind he wasn’t going to stop. He continues to preach because his faith compels him to preach. We should continue to live for God because our faith compels us to live for God. He continues because he has the same faith the Psalmist says “I believed in God, so I spoke”. I believe in God so I’m going to keep doing for God.

Verse 16 That’s why he said because of this I’ll never give up, though our body is dying our spirit is being renewed every day. These present troubles are small and won’t last very long. They produce for us a glory that vastly outweight them and will last forever. So we don’t look at the trouble we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen, for the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

2 Corinthians 5:1–10 AV

1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

2 Cor 5:1-

The believer has a hope and a future glory that outweighs anything we might experience in this life. At some point we are all going to die, we age everyday, and every day we are alive we are one step closer to the grave. But Paul says, if this earthly tabernacle (tent) is dissolved (we die) we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.

Verse 3 in other words what Paul is saying is that we are gonna put on heavenly bodies, we are not going to be disembodied spirits. But while we live in this human bodies we groan and sigh and desire to be in our heavenly bodies (we should).

Verse 5 God has made us a promise of this new body, a new home, and as part of his promised, he made a deposit (a downpayment) within every born-again believer called the Holy Ghost.

Verse 9 So whether we are here in this body or away from the body, our goal ought to be to please the Lord.

Verse 10 We must know this, that every person must all stand before Christ to be judged and that we will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

The clarion call of the church is to preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned (condemned) (). God is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance. We all are gonna have to stand before the judgement seat of Christ to give an account of the deeds we have done in this body.