Sermons on 2 Corinthians (Page 3)
The power of the Holy Spirit of God brings us hope in the midst of suffering! What a glorious blessing it is to know that there is Someone who is in control of all things and that someone is Jesus! All the events and situations of our lives–the good, the bad, and the ugly–are being used by God to make us into the people that He wants us to be.
I want to invite you to join us online this Thursday evening—December 24th at 5:00 pm—for our Virtual Christmas Eve service. The service will be premiered on both Facebook and YouTube. We have spent the last couple of weeks capturing video of many of you guys so you might want to watch to see if you make the final cut! One of the highlights of the service will be getting to see the Christmas Story through the eyes of some of our children here at Temple Rogers. Again, it is helpful to consider the “Age-Old” story from different perspectives from time to time. That is exactly what I would like to do today—I would like to consider the role of the shepherds in this narrative. Who were they? What did they do? How do they contribute to the overall story? Why were they included?
We have come to the end of our study through the Book of Ruth. This story is part of a much larger story of how God brings redemption to the whole world. Just as Ruth and Boaz’s obedience and faithfulness to the Lord impacted future generations in their family, our choice to obey God today will also impact generations to come. Are we leaving a legacy of faith in our homes and communities?
As difficulties arise each day, how are you dealing with them? Are you becoming overwhelmed by the stress and anxiety of contracting Covid-19? Has the racial tension across our great country caused uneasiness in you? Has isolation from interacting with people caused you to become despondent or depressed? Everyone is dealing with these things at least at some level. How are you doing? This morning, we’re going to divert from our study in 1 John to spend a few moments thinking about the frailty of life and how we are to respond to it. We’ll be looking today at the fourth chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church as we consider a biblical response to the difficulties of our time.
As we reflect on our church mission statement, we see that the last portion of this statement says that we are to “Equip People to Be On Mission.” But what does it mean to be “On Mission”? What will that look like in my personal life? We want to think about what it means to Live On Mission right here, right now, right where you live. My goals for you are to 1) help you overcome any anxiety/fear that you might have about being on mission for God, 2) equip you to serve God according to your giftedness, and 3) enable you to take ownership of your daily—even hourly—walk with Christ, because being On Mission for God requires more than one hour per week!
In Acts 20, Paul continues his travels on his third missionary journey. Very little information is given about these stops in his journey—save for one interesting story about a young man from Troas who fell asleep while the church members were having an all-night discussion with Paul about Scripture. In this study, we focus not…
As we come to the end of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey, we realize that Paul arrived in Corinth physically and emotionally spent—burned out—and he was in desperate need of rejuvenation. That is exactly what he received when he arrived in Corinth. In this study, we will spend some time examining all the ways that Paul received encouragement and instruction during this difficult time and try to apply some of these same principles to our lives as well.
In the context of this passage in 2 Corinthians, Paul focuses his attention on the Old Covenant between God and the Israelites, contrasted with the New Covenant that believers have with God through Christ. So as we think about the Old and the New Covenant granted to us by God, I want us to consider “What is freedom?” because I am unsure that we—even as Americans—truly comprehend the freedom that God wants us to experience!
Part 2. Our mission is to…Connect people to God.
Overcoming the fear of uncertainty can be accomplished by keeping our focus on the eternal. When we keep an eternal perspective on life, we are more readily able to see God’s plans for our lives. God’s plan for our lives almost always involve trials, tribulations, challenges and difficulties; but if Jesus is IN us, we have nothing to fear for He is renewing our spirits day by day.