2 Corinthians 6:1-2

2 Corinthians 6:1-2  As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.  For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

James 4:13-14  Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

Hebrew 7:12-15  See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.  We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.  As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”  

Now is the time of God's favor.  Today is the day of his salvation.  Today is the time of work for the Lord.  We are not assured of tomorrow.  We are like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Whatever is to be done for the Lord should be done today.  Whatever plans we have to advance the kingdom of God should begin today, for we have no assurance of tomorrow.  If you plan to encourage a fellow believer, encourage that person today if possible.  If you have reason to share your testimony, speak today.  The Bible is very clear, we are God's instruments NOW, and we should be ready and willing to be used TODAY.  Paul was driven by this idea.  His life was constantly in the ministering mode, either in person or by letter.  His zeal to be God's ambassador, his instrument, was so great that he would not allow hardships or persecution to shut him down.  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.  

We, too, are God's instruments.  We, too, should be consumed by zeal for God's work.  Now, none of us are apostles as Paul was, but we are God's ambassadors here on Earth.  As Christians we represent him; therefore, we should be lights every day, for He is light.  We definitely don't have a time when the ambassador designation is off in our lives.  If we think we do, we have probably HARDENED our hearts to his message of light.  We really don't have a time when we can say, we will not bring our lives under subjection to him in a certain area.  We don't have a time when we can get discouraged and say, "Not today--I am not going to carry God's message to the world just now, for everything is too hard."  Later on in this chapter, Paul indicates all the troubles that he has had in this world, but he never allowed himself to be off message because Paul knew his life was an epistle written to the world by the Holy Spirit.  He had no right to draw back into unbelief: he had died to himself when he chose to live only to God.  As he wrote to the church in Galatia,  "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  (Galatians 2:20)  

Our lives are also written epistles; they are read by everyone we meet.  Regardless of the day or how we feel, people should read that God is alive in us and salvation has come to our lives.  God has lavished us with grace.  Our epistles should contain copious words of love and concern for others.  People should read words of joy, encouragement, and strength in the Lord.  Christians should be able to find supportive, not destructive words in our epistles.  Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today.  The unredeemed should find words of God's love as well as words of  conviction: words that express the need to turn around and to walk with the God of love who gave his all.  All of us should be read today as God's ambassadors, not as representatives of our self-willed lives.  If we represent God's goodness, mercy, and love, many people will desire to read our lives, to know us and the God who sends us.  But if we represent only ourselves, our self-willed lives, WE WILL LIVE ALONE: NO ONE WILL REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT WE HAVE, FOR WHAT WE HAVE IS NOTHING SPECIAL.  But God said that we are a peculiar people, a chosen people, priests unto himself.  Therefore, we have a precious gift to give people and that is the message of the gospel, the "Good News" that Jesus Christ has come to Earth to redeem man from sin and to bring him into the household of God.  God bless you today, for this is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

2 Corinthians 5:16-21  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

If you struggle to please God by works or if you have any idea that your works will get you to heaven, the above scripture will set you free from that spirit.  If you really believe the above passage, you will accept your FULL INHERITANCE, which has been freely given to you by God, for you will know that it is not YOU that pleases God; it is Jesus Christ, the Son who pleases God.  At Jesus' baptism God's voice came from heaven and said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:17)  And on the Mount of Configuration we hear God say, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”  (Luke 9:35)  God allowed Jesus to become sin for our redemption.  Jesus carried the sins of the world on him at the cross so we might have righteousness.  At the cross, He paid the penalty for sin, which is death.  Jesus died for our sins, the sins which were placed on him, your sins, my sins.  

Consequently, as people of faith, we are no longer part of the old creation in God's sight, partly redeemed by good works and sacrifices.  We are no longer redeemed only if we do that which is right, that which is good; no, we are redeemed because Jesus paid the price for our redemption.  God reconciled the world to him, through and IN CHRIST.  Otherwise, He sees the redeemed through and IN CHRIST'S likeness, for we have placed our faith IN HIM, not in our works of righteousness.  God sees us righteous as He is, for in him we might become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God.  We are NOW righteous because JESUS IS RIGHTEOUS.  You are hopelessly lost if you try to please God in the flesh, believing that you have to be GOOD to go to heaven.  The Bible says that ALL HAVE SINNED; all have seen their actions and thoughts not line up with God's thoughts and actions.  AND IF YOU HAVE SINNED AT ANY TIME IN YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE AWAY FROM GOD, and justice must prevail.  IF JUSTICE HAS NOT BEEN METED OUT ON YOUR SIN(S) BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, YOU ARE STILL A SINNER, FOR IN THE SPIRIT WORLD THERE IS NO TIME.  So at this very moment you are a sinner destined for judgement.  Without Christ, your sins are not in the past; they are always now in the spirit world.  People who are dying sometimes say their whole life flashed before them in a moment of time.  Why?  Because everything is in the NOW with God.  

So the Bible can rightly say that there are NONE that are righteous, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  And without righteousness, no person shall dwell with God, for sin must be judged because God is a righteous God.  In eternity, JUSTICE MUST PREVAIL, and without dire consequences for sin, justice would not prevail; injustice would reign FOREVER.  That will not happen in God's righteous domain.  Sin and the effects of sin will not exist forever, for eternal justice will be served, has been served because of Christ who reconciled the world to God through his complete sacrifice at the cross.  Therefore, my children, right now you are Christ's ambassadors, made in HIS IMAGE--A NEW CREATION.  You are God's workmanship.  You are NOW REPRESENTING HIM in this world.  You are representing his kingdom.  So act like that: in freedom bring your bodies and actions under his control, realizing you are TRULY HIS CHILDREN and you have been set free from the kingdom of death.  He has made you completely whole, for you are WHOLLY HIS, as it should have been from the beginning of time.  Let your light shine!

2 Corinthians 5:11-17

2 Corinthians 5:11-17  Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.  What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.  We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.  If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 

This is Mom filling in for Dad this morning, so if anything seems heretical, don't hold him accountable, but remember I often throw in a few thoughts on a daily basis.  One thing Paul is saying in today's passage is that whatever state we are in, we are Christ's.  He says whether I am in my right mind or out of my mind, it is for God.  I am committing all to him and to the church I serve, the  people I am trying to convince of the hope we have in Christ Jesus.  He writes that it is Christ's love alone that moves me, controls me, and gives me the motivation to do all that I do, and any other purpose in life is now false and empty to me.  Because Christ died and rose from the grave, Paul died to the old man, the fleshly man, and he is now alive to God.  Because of this reality, he wants the Corinthians to realize they should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  To Paul, accepting this position of new life in Christ was essential to growth, to victory over sin, and to rightly discerning the working of the Holy Spirit in ourselves and in others.

An important aspect of new life in Christ is how we see others in the body of Christ.  Tuesday night at women's Bible study, I was saying how thankful I am to be a part of the body of Christ.  As I come together with other believers, I find strength, hope, courage, faith, and joy in the Lord.  Fellow Christians build me up.  John wrote, If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.  (1 John 1:7)  That fellowship is healing and restorative.  We learn how to love and to forgive.  We grow in our faith, and we teach each other and share the "good news."  God uses us to smooth off the rough edges and turns ordinary rocks into beautiful gems in the tumbler of interaction in the body of Christ.  As I spoke with the ladies, I said it is so important that we do not know each other according to our faults or our weaknesses.  If we know each other by our weaknesses, then all we will be able to see are each other's faults, and we will not be able to love and to defend one another.  But if we know each other according to our strengths in the Lord, then we will see Christ in each other and we will shield and defend each other; we will hardly even notice when our brother or sister does it wrong.  When we regard others in the body from a heavenly point of view through Christ's eyes of love, we will stand our ground in defending them and come to their aid in the time of trouble or need.

Paul spoke directly to this when he encouraged the Corinthians not to live for themselves but for Christ.  But he did not stop at that, but went on to add: So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  He was instructing these Christians to get their eyes on the right issues, to find a godly perspective.  What have we been looking at lately?  When we are born again and become new creations, Paul says, the new has come.  The KJV reads, all things are become new.  That means we have new eyes, new ears, a new way of thinking and speaking, a new way of reacting to people and situations.  Also at Bible study, I mentioned that when we love people, we do not allow others to tear them down because the people we love are too precious to us to allow that.  We say, "If you knew her the way I do, you would not say that about her.  When you are with me, please do not talk like that about her because it hurts me.  She is my friend."  That is how we feel about Christ and that is how we should feel about one another.  Do we fail?  Of course we do, and we let each other down sometimes, but we should let Christ's blood cover those sins, start over, and move on.  So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Jesus said they will know us by our love. . .  Blessings, Mom (Jacqueline)

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

2 Corinthians 5:6-10  Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  We live by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 

Are we at home in the body?  Do we live only for ourselves, for our temporal existence?  These are good questions, probably too direct, too hard to field honestly so early in the morning when our spiritual stomachs might be too weak to consider such strong meat.  Obviously, Paul is saying in the above passage that if we are physically on Earth, we are in reality not with the Lord, but he is also saying that does not matter much because Christians walk by faith and not by works.  Christians don't have to work our way to heaven by good works, for we are already there by faith.  Therefore, whether we are in our earthly bodies or in heaven, we are always before God because of our faith in Jesus Christ and his works.  Faith alone brings us into the throne room and because of that truth, we should make it our daily goal as sons and daughters of God to please him in earnest.  

However, if our carnal nature is preeminent in our lives, if we are comfortable just being in our bodies, our focus on this life will be skewed towards our needs, our personal entertainment and well-being.  But believers' lives should be focused primarily on the spiritual.  Whether we are at home in the body or away from it, our main goal in life should always be to please our Lord, for we know whether we are here or there, our lives will be held accountable to him.  Otherwise, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  Paul, of course, wanted to be at home with the Lord.  He wanted to receive his full inheritance: a heavenly body and eternal life with the Lord, but since he was still in the flesh, he lived for the Lord night and day by trying to persuade the gentiles to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord.  Paul lived as if he were always before the throne of God.  He lived to fulfill God's purposes for his life: to be an apostle, a father of many churches, a teacher in the church.  Each of us has his or her own appointed role in life, and we are to fulfill our assignments the best we can, for we, too, will receive what is due us in the final judgment.  

For sure, God desires that we emit his savor, his likeness to the world.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  (Philippians 2:5-7)  We also should be servants even to the point of dying to ourselves and allowing the Spirit to make us alive unto God.  Is this hard to grasp?  Yes, the carnality within us will not want us to grasp that reality, but that is the truth of the gospel.  We don't belong to ourselves, we are God's.  We are not to remain comfortable in the body, oriented towards pleasing ourselves, but we are to be servants of God whether in the body or away from the body.  As citizens of the heavenly kingdom, we are to do HIS WILL, NOT OURS.  Paul put his life on the line for God; can we do likewise to some degree?  Are we willing to put our skills and talents on the line for him or are we hiding behind the blanket of self: our needs, our wants, our timetable?  Praise God, He is willing to use us if we are willing to be used.  And I know as Christians, children of God, we are willing.   Let us serve Jesus with diligence, with effort, with passion and love.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

2 Corinthians 5:1-5  Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.  Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.  For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Right now in the flesh, we are clothed in mortality.  Death is the inheritance of this earthly tent; someday it will return to dust.  However, our redeemed spirits are clothed in immortality.  Jesus' work on the cross has assured us of that.  Because of Christ and our adoption as sons and daughters of the Most High, we shall live forever in the household of God.  Right now our flesh is exposed to the sinful environment of this world and the vicissitudes of life.  As fleshly beings we experience the ups and downs of life.  Some days are exceptionally good, yet other days are terrible disasters.  Some days we are all top of the world, but other days we are underneath the world.  In the flesh our lives groan with the consequences of living an earthly existence.  But by faith we know this mortal being is swallowed up by life.  Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose (that we should have life) and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  God has made us for this reason that our temporary, often difficult lives, might be swallowed up by his life, new life.  To reveal this truth, He has given us the Holy Spirit to abide within us.  Because He has given us the Holy Spirit, we are assured (guaranteed) of heaven and the heavenly bodies that will eventually come to us.   

Even though life can be difficult, we do not desire to die (to be unclothed), but rather we desire to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.  We are looking forward with anticipation to our eventual heavenly bodies and our heavenly home.  REGARDLESS OF OUR ANTICIPATION, WE ALWAYS MUST BE COGNIZANT OF THE REALITY THAT WE ARE NOW CHILDREN OF GOD WITH ALL THE RIGHTS OF A TRUE OR BEGOTTEN CHILD.  Even though we are on this side of the veil of death, we are still the legitimate children of God, with all the rights of a member of his family.  Faith in Christ has made us so.  Therefore, we should act like his children to the best of our abilities even though we are still in the flesh.  We should commune with our Father God continuously through prayer, reading his Word, and willingly following his will in everything we do.  Our lives should be hidden in HIS LIFE.  This is why we discipline our lives.  This is why we attempt to be above reproach in our choices and actions.  This is why we make our lives as holy as possible, even though Jesus Christ is our true holiness.  Today, children of God, listen for the voice of God within you--listen and obey his words of instruction and receive his words of love.  Do that which is right and allow him to make you conformable to his image today.  I am confident that you will.

2 Corinthians 4:13-18

2 Corinthians 4:13-18  It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,  because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.  All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

As Christians we walk and live by faith.  By faith we know this world is not our home.  We know there is a spiritual world, one that cannot be perceived by our senses.  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.  (Hebrews 11:3)  We know that God does not solely abide in this dimension of reality, for this reality HAS BEEN CREATED.  Consequently, we know there is a spiritual world, an uncreated world, one that can be entered into by faith.  If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  (Romans 10:9-10)  Paul believed emphatically in the eternal kingdom of God being accessed by faith.  Therefore he could say,  With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.   His message was so much of faith that he was willing to go through all kinds of persecution and difficult situations to bring the gospel to people.  

Do we have that kind of faith?  Do we really believe there is a world beyond our perception?  Or do we mainly believe in the physical world and maybe that God is just a bigger entity who can create things such as the heavens and earth and the stars and galaxies.  Do we really believe there is another domain of existence?  Or do we only believe in what we can see or touch, such as the billions of galaxies that we observe in space.  Is this God of yours bigger than space?  Or is He some kind of a creator who tinkers with creating things, and for some reason you are just one of those creations?  Who is your God?  If He is one who exists in your finite perception, you don't need faith, but if He is beyond your human abilities to comprehend or imagine, if He exists in a world you cannot perceive except by divine inspiration, He is the God of faith, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He is the God that requires faith, the God who sent his Son to die for your sins.  There is no other way of knowing Him.  If He is the God that sends a shiver down your spine; He is still knowable through senses, but if He is the God that seems distant when you are in trouble, it is because He is the God found through faith.  

Now, do I not believe that God is intimate?  Yes, I believe He is intimate, but sometimes we want to make God in our own image.  Yet God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.  (John 4:24)   He is everywhere simultaneously.  He is all knowing, all powerful, all-encompassing.  Nothing that is, is beyond him.  Who is your God?  Well, God is the God of Faith and He is Alive.  Paul quotes the Psalmist, “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”  In the same psalms it says, All men are liars.  Otherwise, God receives and delivers those who believe and state it with their mouths.  He brings them out of death; He places their feet in the eternal "land of the living."  Let all men be liars, for eternal life in God is REALITY.  And that reality can only be gained by faith that He is, for faith is the key to the kingdom of God, to eternal life.  Therefore, Paul says, So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  Paul's faith was so sound, so sure, that he was willing to face any dire circumstance in this temporary world.  His God was so real to him that he was willing to lose all, to gain EVERYTHING.  Are we so willing?  DO WE REALLY BELIEVE THERE IS ANOTHER DIMENSION WHERE GOD IS, A TRUE RESTING PLACE, AN ETERNAL HOME?  YES WE DO, for we live BY FAITH in the I AM, who was and is and shall be.  Amen!

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

2 Corinthians 4:7-12  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.  So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 

As Christians, are we too much alive to this world?  Paul said for the sake of the Holy Spirit's blessed ministry to the world, he is like a jar of clay, that which can be easily destroyed, fragile in nature.  He said, I am hard pressed on every side; the vicissitudes of life are overwhelming to me.  It seems as if I am spreading life to everyone, but my personal life is like death.  I struggle every day in my physical body, in my emotional well-being.  My enemies are always out to destroy me, to harm me, to belittle me.  My life is like an incessant march toward the grave.  My personal desires, wants, and security are not mine to claim, for I have given them to God: I am like a dead man.  But Paul concludes, I am sacrificing my life freely that I might give life to the lost, that they might hear and see the ministry of the HOLY SPIRIT through my life.  

Is this our desire?  Is this our compulsion?  Do we so much want God's life in us that we are willing to forgo the embellishments of life or even the essentials of life such as physical safety and security?  Are we willing to live God's life rather than our own?  Are we willing to accept God's voice, God's will, over our own voice and will?  I am sure some of the difficulties Christians experience in life are a call on their lives by God to rededicate themselves to him.  Christians, because they are human, tend to concentrate on themselves when everything is going well in their lives.  When they have enough money in the bank, enough health to feel good, enough security to know that they are okay, they tend to orient themselves back into the world; the world becomes more significant to them than it should be.  The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  (John 12:25)  They start to look for that next great relationship, that new car, that next remodeling project, that next house, that exciting trip.  They start to allow self-interests to power their lives rather than seeking God's direction.  

I know I am like that.  But difficulties, sickness, insecurity tend to refocus our lives.  For sure, most of us do not live the harrowing life that Paul lived.  But even though Paul experienced such a life, he wanted us to know that through Jesus Christ, he was more than a conqueror.  He said that many times he was perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and hard pressed, but God always gave him the victory because he was never crushed, abandoned, destroyed, or left in despair.  Paul knew God was using his difficult life as an instrument to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to a sick and dying world.  Paul literally revealed the WORD OF GOD, THE BREATH OF GOD to a sinful, gentile world through his lifestyle, his choices, his words.  Are we willing to be like Paul, willing to be brought low so that Jesus Christ might be manifested in our lives?  Are we willing to go through struggles so that Jesus Christ might be glorified?  Are we willing?  Paul depicts himself as an earthen jar, that which can be easily cracked and destroyed, but which also can contain the marvelous, supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit.  We are also earthen jars, but God's glory, his voice, his breath will be manifested in those earthen jars if we are willing, if we yield control to the Potter.