2 CORINTHIANS 13

Heart Issues
There are a few people that I need to be reconciled with. I do not want there to be any division between anyone and myself. I desire that I could model to others what it means to be restored. I am experiencing the fruit right now of having a rift in a relationship. The problem is that we cannot work it out to ever get together and talk through the issue. This is so destructive all the way around and Christ is exalted through our love for one another. I have found myself speaking against him instead of lifting him up and approaching him with humility. The longer the rift lasts the worse the infection sets in and we are torn apart more and more. I have to be the one to push for unity and to continue to try to restore the relationship. I am challenged here as well to continue to test myself as I walk with the Lord and approach Him in weakness and humility. I also wonder how my life would look different if I knew that Paul was coming to exercise judgment upon our congregation. I would be making sure that all things were good to go between me and others. This is how we should respond as we know about the sovereignty of God and the second coming of Christ as we never know the day or time that this will occur.

Notes
-Paul starts/continues with a pretty stern tone toward the church at Corinth. He desires that they walk in the truth and he calls them toward this multiple times in this chapter.
-Paul is giving them their second/third chance before he executes any type of judgment upon the people. This would not just be a personal disappointment, but is believed to have been a supernatural type of judgment that Paul could call down on the people.
-Perfection of the individual was not the point here. He wanted each person in the body to examine themselves and to see how they could be united again in relationship to the church. Divisions were destroying them and keeping them from being effective and productive in their faith. Paul does not want to let anyone take away from what the Lord wants to do in that area.
-Christ was not weak when he was crucified, but allowed himself to appear weak. He laid down His life to allow all of us to live in power with Him. We are to be weak in Him to allow Him to live through us. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
-Again at the end of this chapter the call is not to the individual to get all things together and stop sinning personally. They are called to aim for unity and to live in peace with each other. Fellowship is the major key throughout the whole chapter. He wants them to be restored and unified again that they would not be torn apart.

2 CORINTHIANS 12

Heart Issues
I don’t always lead people to repentance although that is such a vital part of their Christian lives. They cannot walk in the Spirit if they have sin short-circuiting their relationship with God and what He wants to do in and through them. Paul cares for the Corinthians deeply and wants them to not only follow him or support him, but he is coming that they may give themselves to him. He wants their hearts and their allegiance not because Paul is great, but because God has called him as a father to them. The thorn topic is close to my heart although I will not even begin to attribute my struggles with Paul. He went through far more and when he says thorn I am sure there was great pain and anguish through the thorn that kept him humble. I want to boast in the Lord as well and not in myself. I need to become weaker and allow Christ to become greater. This is so tough in our culture of today (and has always been, may we never make our culture the hardest of all). There are so many youth groups and ministries that vie for students that I feel the need to have bigger and better sometimes. This is focusing on my adequacy and not in the Lord’s ability. I want to hold, even the students I lead with an open hand that the Lord can do whatever He wants with them. I also am thankful for Jesus humbling me through the process of my ACL recovery and through my various health issues.

Notes
-There seems to be room for boasting of others as long as you are not exalting yourself through boasting of others. I know a lot of people that think they’re “somebody” because of someone they know or are acquainted with. Paul does not want to go on boasting in himself, but wants people to only think of him by what he says and does. He would be fully in the right, because he is telling the truth, but he recognizes that the Lord does not want him to become conceited.
-The thorn in the flesh is such a rich concept. God did not want him to become arrogant so he gave him a tormenter. I wonder if God is doing the same with the pastors of mega-churches who can easily become conceited, or has my thorn been my knee and my stomach issues. Thank you God for showing me dependence upon you and not myself as I have walked through physical and health struggles. God knows that He deserves the glory and not the vessel that He is using to get the work done. When I am weak, then I am strong. This phrase sums up so much in the Christian life. The spirit filled life hinges upon this concept. It is not about our strength, but the letting go of ourselves in walking with God, and Him receiving glory from our lives.
-Paul here refutes his accusers that have said that he caught them and used them by his trickery. He goes on to show that he never exploited them or used them for His means. He or his followers were never a burden to the Corinthians.
-Paul closes this chapter by expressing his concerns with the Galatians and with a reasoning for all of his boasting and commendations. He hopes that his struggles and ministry may encourage them to go beyond their past or possibly current way of life and to follow closely after the Lord. He fears that they still may be struggling with the deeds of the flesh. If we are to lead others, we are to lead others toward repentance in following God.

2 CORINTHIANS 11

Heart Issues
Boasting is not good, but there is a time and a place. Paul boasts out of humility and not to build up his pride in himself. He lets everyone know that by the grace of God he is the man that he is. It is good to boast in the Lord for God should be boasted about. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing God. I want to always boast in the Lord and in my weakness for that is where the Lord shows up to fill in the gaps. I even hope that my strengths will not be so strong that I don’t find myself weak there in dependence upon the Lord. I am challenged by Paul’s heart today. He loves the churches that he preached to. I want to love my students as much as he loved his churches. I want to present them to Christ pure and pleasing to Him. The Word is the only thing that can keep them pure so I must exalt the Word of God high above myself and let God work on their hearts. Finally, to see all that Paul went through really motivates me to keep pushing outside my comfort zone. I can so easily say I don’t have that much of a comfort zone, and mine is pretty wide, but I do the crazy things still worrying about what people think sometimes. I want to only care about the opinion of the Lord and give Him everything. I want to surrender to Him and allow Him to work through me through the Holy Spirit.

Notes
-Paul’s heart in taking care of the Corinthian church is amazing. He compares it to a wedding and helping to keep the bride pure for her husband. Christ is worthy of our pure and sincere devotion, but the super-apostles were pulling them away and turning them to a different gospel. Paul was jealous for them with a godly jealousy. He knew He was to continue in encouraging them and would be distraught had they turned to the super-apostles and ignored him.
-Paul wanted to preach to them free of charge so that their response would be complete. He did not want them to be hindered by anything, but now that they are following the Lord they should be sharing in supporting Him.
-Masquerading means to go about with a mask on and pretend you are something/someone else. The greatest deceit for Satan would not be to show up as scary looking or revolting, but as a servant of righteousness or as an angel of light. The people who turned more people away from God were the Pharisees and Sadducees, not the prostitute and the tax collector.
-Paul did not exploit them as others had. He is now going to boast to again reclaim their allegiance. He shows that boasting is not of the Lord, but the only reason he is doing it is because others had and he needed to defend his apostleship once more.
-Paul’s credentials as apostle are astounding and unmatched by any other. As we know through Galatians 1 and Philippians 3 he had met all of the Jewish requirements to be a top leader. Here we see all of the sufferings of Paul and it stops you in awe of his passion and zeal for the Lord. The forty lashes minus one is the same that Jesus went through. Five times he received that and then three times he was beaten with rods. After being stoned he was left for dead and went back into the city to preach more. He had been on the run and in danger everywhere he went. My favorite thing about this passage is to see his true heart. He was most concerned not with his own suffering, but with the churches that he cared for so deeply. He longed that they would know Jesus better and he felt their pain when they fell into sin.

2 CORINTHIANS 10

Heart Issues
I do not want to boast or find my identity in how well I minister. I have been told recently that I have the “skills” to build a big youth ministry. I have struggled through that as I am grateful for the talents that God has given me, but I can never trust in my “skills” for they would only puff me up. I can only trust in the Lord for He opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. He will work in students’ lives as He sees fit. I will be faithful and try to figure out ways to reach out to students, but my trust must fall all in His power and His grace to change lives. I am so thankful for the talents He has entrusted in me and I want to use it all for His glory. I pray that I will continue to be able to put myself aside and give God praise even when He works through other people to lead a movement to Jesus. I hate the snippets of jealousy that I see sometimes still arising in my sinful nature that wants God to work through me and only me. My desire is to see God praised and glorified independent of where it comes from. I am excited to see what God will do as He is molding me to care less about my own glory and more about His.

Notes
-This chapter speaks a great deal to boasting and commending ourselves. Paul speaks to the Corinthians that boasting is not good and only boasting in the Lord is worthwhile. Paul hopes that more of the men he has led to Christ will multiply their faith and continue his work. It is no threat to Paul, it only frees Paul up to continue to lead in new places. This is the ideal of the great commission and the reason we make disciples and not converts.
-Paul’s war talk is pretty awesome. Paul is not talking about physical war, but spiritual and mental. The battles that they fought were ones of bringing down the philosophies of the day and exalting Christ. They wanted to make every thought obedient to Christ which is the ultimate victory in life. This war is a long fought one that doesn’t seem to be ever fully won until we go home.
-At the same time that we should not commend ourselves and brag, we also should not slander a brother in Christ. We have come to know the same Jesus and belong to Him. Paul has spoken repeatedly in 1 & 2 Corinthians against divisions in the Church. We do not boast in ourselves, for as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10 – by the grace of God, I am what I am.

2 CORINTHIANS 9

Heart Issues
I want to always hold God’s possessions empty handed. When I begin to use the word mine, I am already out of context. I am only a steward, not an owner. All that I possess on earth is given to me, I have not earned it. God has provided and will provide for my family, my role is to hold it out to Him and ask Him what He would have me do with it all. I don’t own anything, but I am a steward of many things. If God can receive praise through the car He has provided for us, awesome!!! If God can receive glory through the house, food, computer, shoes, tv, etc. He has provided for us, then Amen!! Let all of our stuff sing praise to Him for He has given and He can take away at any moment. When I hold my stuff too tightly it hurts when my fingers are pried apart to rip it from me, but if it is openly held my fingers don’t have any scarring when it is gently lifted from my hands.

Notes
-Giving to the Lord is key in our lives and is a service to the saints. Remember that saints are not always a reference to some Super Christian, but Paul many times referred to all Christians as saints. He says that we are serving the saints as we give to the Lord for it will meet a need of another brother/sister in Christ.
-He is encouraging them to go ahead and start giving so that he may not have to ask for a huge offering when he comes. He wants them to give cheerfully not grudgingly. Sometimes it would be hard to give $1200 but to give $100 each month doesn’t sound as huge.
-There is a blessing that comes with our giving. God will bless those that sow generously and this message comes not only to our money but our relationships and evangelism as well. We will not reap where we have not sown, but a harvest is waiting as we sow seed generously.
-I love that the reason for God making us rich is not for our pleasure, but to continue to give generously. We cannot give what we don’t have, but what a privilege to support missions and to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ with the blessing that God has given us.
-It not only meets a need, but it does what we were created to do. It makes God look good when we give. Thanksgiving goes out to Him, not to us, and that is the beauty of the gift.

2 CORINTHIANS 8

Heart Issues
I am challenged by something that is not explicitly taught in the text, but the challenge that Paul gives the Corinthian church. He challenged them to finish what they started. Many times I am a starter and not a finisher. I do not carry things through to the end. I get distracted and start on other things in the midst of my pursuit of the finish of the previous task. I also want to give generously and see God use my gift to help those that don’t have. Willingness seems to be the heart issue behind the giving. I can give a lot grudgingly and be totally in the wrong or give a little willingly and cheerfully and be rewarded by the Lord who sees what is done in secret.

Notes
-The key verse here is verse 7 where it says “Just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” It sums up the main point of the entire chapter.
-It is amazing to see the Macedonian churches’ hearts in giving. They were just persecuted and they begged Paul to allow them to give and share in the service of the saints. They recognized stewardship better than anyone. Paul does not lord it over them to give, but calls them to it as a service to Christ who was rich and yet became poor for their sake.
-Paul’s wish is not that some may get rich and others give all they have, but that there may be equality. Most people do not want equality they want more. Never will you hear people say that I have too much and I need to give it away to those that don’t have.