2 Corinthians 8:1 to 24

and welcome back I'm Robert breaker missionary Vangelis the Spanish and English speaking people and today we are going through 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 last time we finished up chapter 7 as we're doing our weekly verse by verse Bible study through the epistles of Paul in order of when they were written and a check right here is a very special chapter for me this is a chapter where the Lord really spoke to me in verses 11 and 12 as I prayed as as soon as I got out of Bible school as I prayed and asked God what to do as I was praying well let me back up a little bit just give you a personal testimony of how the Lord called me into the ministry I went to Bible School in Pensacola and while I was in Bible School I pastored the chirps just up the road here gosh some point Baptist Church they tore down the old building we used to call it the old bent Baptist Church because the foundation was was falling in the middle and the church was literally bent like that he walked in the front door and he saw both sides of the ceiling just kind of go like this but I pastored that church for a while while I was in Bible School it's it's torn down they moved a new building in and don't even don't even use it I don't believe anybody even goes there but that was a great experience of learning to preach as a young man twenty-something years old preaching in a church my dad came some other family members and I visited everyone out on this peninsula where I live and was able to give the gospel to quite a few people well while I was in Bible School the Lord began to deal with me about serving the Lord in one time the pastor preached on God would use what you have in your past he preached about Peter and how Peter was a fisherman and he says follow me and I'll make you a Fisher of men jesus said and so he said see how Jesus was a fisherman and God could use what he had in his past and I remember well okay I went down the altar and said lord I don't know what I have in my past but you can have it and it was like the Lord said well you've had four years in high school of Spanish so I said well if you can use that Lord than take it I'll give it to you of course I didn't learn much I've learned a lot since then and I do every week a sermon and English and Spanish as a missionary in Honduras for seven years I've preached in Spanish I do what I can with what God has taught me so I gave that to the Lord and it was about a month later that the missionary was preaching about willingness and being willing to do what God would have you to do and it was around that time that I met a missionary to Honduras and he began to talk to me and he began to say hey brother I want you to come down and work with me and I was like well I want to do what God wants me to do not what some man wants me to do but I even began to pray about it and ask God what to do and finally I just got down on my knees and said Lord whatever you want and a pastor there at that Bible School set up said listen God is looking for willingness and I remember that touched my heart I went down the altar said Lord I'm willing to do whatever it is you have me to do and that's when I prayed about going to Honduras as a missionary and I prayed and prayed and prayed said Lord what would you have me to do well this chapter first of second Corinthians chapter 8 verses 11 and 12 or what popped out in my mind what God showed me from prayer and fasting that I believe was the answer to my prayer of what I should do should I go as a missionary to Honduras in verse 11 and 12 says now therefore perform the doing of it that as there was a readiness to will so there may be a performance also out of that which you have for if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not so those were the words that literally jumped off the page as I was literally searching and seeking God's face do you want me to do this do you want me to go be a missionary to a certain place and serve you and that was the answer a lot of times we read the Bible and and we feel like God answers our prayers through certain verses and that's what happened here now since I've learned the context of this whole chapter is about giving this whole chapter of 1st Corinthians chapter 8 is all about giving giving offerings or giving gifts of one Christian to another or a Christian to a minister or a missionary or evangelist it's it's about helping other Christians financially and that's we're going to look at when we get into this chat but I've always liked this chapter especially verses 11 to 12 because I took those it's confirmation from the Lord okay I will be a missionary to Honduras and I did after I graduated high school after I graduated Bible Institute in 1998 two weeks later I went to Honduras for about three months came back started what's called deputation it took me three years to raise enough support to be able to go to Honduras as a missionary and live there I lived there for seven years as a missionary was able to plant several churches that are still going on Bible oh by the way down in Honduras so I got married and I thank God I did God finally sent me the woman of my dreams been praying for a long time I didn't get married until I believe I was 31 years old because I was just praying and praying praying just scared to death to marry the wrong woman and I want to make sure God sent me the right one and he did and then God close the door on Honduras couldn't stay there forever and I've since learned that a missionary isn't just a missionary to a place a missionary is a missionary to people you see a lot of churches nowadays they they say well you're a missionary to Mexico or you're missionary took to Africa to Botswana or some country in Africa and then they put you in this little box where you can only go do the work of the Lord in that one place but as we look through the epistles of Paul we find out Paul was a missionary wherever he went he was a minister of the gospel he was the apostle to the Gentiles but just about everywhere he went he went to the synagogue first he went to the Jew first and then also to the Greek so I find it interesting a lot of people say well I'm a missionary to France or I'm a missionary to Germany or I'm a missionary to this place the place can't get saved you're not going to preach to a place it's the people if you are a missionary you're a missionary to the people and not just the people of that place but the people that speak that language anywhere and everywhere so I like to say I'm a missionary evangelist to Spanish speaking people there all over the world another story the guy that was in my church years ago he got he said God called me to France as a missionary and so he got all the support he needed to go and found out all work several of years of raising support and telling churches I'm going to France as a missionary and the door slammed and France would not let him into their borders as a missionary and say so what is God doing I don't understand but guess what happened someone said we know what brother there's a whole lot of french-speaking people in Canada they said you know you're right he took a trip up to Canada and he realized I learned French hoping to go to France to speak French but the same people with the same language are here in Canada and then began to tell everybody hey I'm a missionary of the french-speaking people in Canada and I guess he's still up there today speaking and preaching in French so don't put God in a box don't don't back yourself into a little box where God can only use you in one little place God can use you anywhere and everywhere one thing I found about these videos putting them on the Internet people call from Great Britain from Australia from India from all over the world places that I couldn't go but yet through this medium of the Internet these videos can go around the world to people everywhere so I'm a missionary to people not just to a place but this little chapter here of second Corinthians 8 has a place in my heart for these two verses 11 to 12 but that I believe God used to call me to do the work of a missionary evangelist to go when people to the Lord so that's that's my little testimony about how God spoke to me through this chapter but let's look at the whole context let's go through the entire chapter of 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and as I've already mentioned this whole chapter is about giving well I guess I'm going to write this up here this whole chapter is about giving and how important it is to give to others so we're going to talk about this as we go verse by verse and look at this so verse 1 Saint cranly's chapter 8 verse 1 moreover brethren we did you two wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia now Paul begins speaking and he starts talking about a place called Macedonia last week if I'm not mistaken last time is we looked at chapter seven he also mentioned Macedonia I believe he did chapter 7 verse 5 for when we were come into Macedonia Paul mentions Macedonia alot and he's gonna mention Macedonia in this chapter why what's so important about Macedonia well let's go back to the book of Acts and look at how Paul went as a missionary to Macedonia it's amazing how I've talked to many people that claim to be missionaries and how God works on their heart to go to a certain people many times in a certain land and reach them with the gospel and it's all different ways that God that God does that that calls missionaries to other places I told my testimony in how I met a missionary to Honduras and he wanted me to go there and I prayed and prayed and asked God and surrendered and then God confirmed it through these scriptures yeah that's what I want you to do so let's look at this here here's the book of Acts here's the Apostle Paul and after the cross we have the church age well as it's going through and it transitions from Peter to Paul you have in the book of Acts all the missionary journeys of Paul and there's a journey where Paul goes to Macedonia how did Paul get to Macedonia why did Paul even go to Macedonia well Acts chapter 16 tells the story of Macedonia so Acts chapter 16 verses 1 through 12 let's read that then came he Paul to Derbe and Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there named timotheus the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess and believed but her father was a greek so here we have Paul meeting Timothy which by the way if I'm not mistaken we read of Timothy I've looked at it before as we've gone verse by verse many times in Corinthians Timothy is mentioned let's see first segment 2 Timothy lets you the same Corinthians 1 1 paul an apostle Jesus Christ by the will of god and timothy our brother so Timothy's a young man that Paul adopts and takes with him to different places and instructs him and teaches him how to be a pastor how to be the main I'll be a missionary same thing with Titus we looked at Titus last time in Chapter 7 as well so here Paul meets Timothy and back in acts 16 - which was well reported of by the Brotherhood that were at Lystra and Iconium him would pull up to go forth with him and took it circumcise then because of the Jews which were in those quarters for they knew all that his father was a Greek now there was no reason for Paul to circumcise him it's the church age were under grace but everywhere Paul went he went to the synagogue first and so if he was gonna take this guy with him Paul said I become all things for all men that I might win some Paul was a circumcised Jew and he pretended to be a Jew in order to gain access into the Jews to preach the gospel to the Jews if Paul had showed up and said hey I'm Paul the Apostle Paul that guy that's a Christian that they say the whole world's turned upside down because of me because I preached Jesus yeah I just want to come in the synagogue and tell you all about Jesus they would have slammed the door and said get out so Paul showed up at the synagogue in all these places lists run derby all these different places that he visit the first thing he did is walk right into the synagogue sit down listen for a little while and in those times you were allowed to get up and go read from the scroll read some verses and I'm sure what Paul probably did is he walked through the synagogue and he's probably dressed like a Jew he got read the scriptures about Jesus in the Old Testament and say by the way there was a man named Jesus Christ who was your Messiah that you killed and this is a prophecy of him and all through the book of Acts as you read the book of Acts you need to remember that that's how he got converts is oftentimes by going to the Jewish synagogue showing them Jesus in the Old Testament and then they said oh I want to be a Christian and they follow Paul and they left the synagogue so that's why he did that to Timothy so that Timothy could accompany him on his journeys and actually go into the synagogue because in those days Gentiles weren't allowed to enter into the synagogue so Timothy who was half to you and how Gentile would have showed up said yeah I'd like to go in the synagogue they would said nobody know you're not a Jew you're not allowed you're not allowed to come in so that's why Paul did that first of all and as they went through the cities that delivered them the decrees for to keep and where David the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem and so where the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily so we see Paul going around starting churches and how did he do it he went to the synagogue first told yous that their Messiah had been killed and showed them the scriptures and then formed the church first with Jews then he went out and one Gentiles to the Lord you know what that be equivalent of today a lot of people don't think about this because it's kind of weird but the equivalent of what Paul did in his day and age would be the equivalent of a person going as a missionary today and the first thing he does is walk into a Catholic Church and say the Bible says this is this the Bible says this who's going to follow me and I'll teach you more Bible because your church is teaching a lie and then goes to the charismatic church and says that the Bible says this who's gonna follow me because your church is lying to you on certain things and then go into the son of David it's like going to every established religious church and telling them no the Bible says this you need to follow me that that's what Paul did that's what he did in his day there was either Gentile or Jew the Jews saw one God and no more the Gentiles taught me God believe in any one of them as long as you believe in a God so Paul was going into the Jews and saying look Jesus Christ died for your sins was buried rose again the third day you're following the law he came to fulfill the law he's the end of the law to all who believe you're not saved by the law it's the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ come with me let me tell you the gospel and teach you what God says salvation is and how were to live as Christians today that's why people hate Paul many people today despise the Apostle Paul but that's what he did no oh boy I don't encourage anyone to do that please if you're a missionary if you're evangelist don't go into other churches that are already established and try to pull people out of there I'm not condoning that or saying do that but I am saying do what Paul did Paul would go to the street corner preach the Bible says here's the gospel and he'd get converts that way he would go acts 20:20 I believe it is and house house knocking on doors and saying have you heard the Messiah came have you heard about Jesus who died on the cross for your sins so there's many ways to start churches and that's what missionaries are supposed to do well let's go back to Acts chapter 16 and verse five and so where the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily six now when they had gone through Phrygia in the region of Galatia now Galatia that's the book of galatians and we've studied that verse by verse already and were forbidden of the holy ghost to preach the word in asia after that word never come to my sia and I say they say to go into both in iya but the spirit suffered them not capital s the Holy Spirit said no not yet I don't want you to go into there yet and they passing by miss Messiah came down to trow ass now it's about to tell us about Macedonia and how Paul was invited or how Paul went into Macedonia but look at all the places he just went modern missions today is so different today than it was in the time of Paul I have a question with all these places that Paul just went preaching the gospel if I were to ask you this question how would you answer the question is where was the missionary and where was the Apostle Paul a missionary to the answer is wherever he went you see most people today along the missionary to such and such a country oh I'm a missionary to this country a missionary is to people in whichever country you go to I say that because there's many churches today that a man starts out he says well God's called me to be a missionary to Ecuador and so he goes to Ecuador and starts a church and then God calls him to a different place and he tells the churches well now God's calling me to Argentina and they say you're a liar you told us you were missionary Ecuador now you go and Argentina we can't support you anymore you're a liar see that that's the mindset of modern missions is that you go to a specific place and stay in that place till the day you die but that's not what Paul did Paul changed the known world in his day because he traveled all over and preached all over so once again I say dogmatically a missionary is not a missionary to a place missionaries two people that's so important okay now we'll get here to two verse eight act sixteen eight talking about how Paul went to Macedonia and they passing by Messiah miss Messiah came down the TRO ass in a vision appeared up to Paul in the night and what happened is there stood a man of Macedonia and pray him saying come over on to Macedonia into Macedonia and help us and after it's seen the vision immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia certainly assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them therefore loosing from Troy us we came with a straight course to Simla $0.03 Samothrace iya and the next day two Neapolis and for Vince to Philip I from where we get the book of Philippians which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia and a colony and we were in that city of biting certain days and more and more more talks about he met a woman named Lydia verse 14 in a seller of purple but this is where we find the book of first and second Corinthians was taking a place around this time in which the Apostle Paul went into Macedonia so what we're gonna read here in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 is about Paul talking about these people in Macedonia were really good at giving the Macedonians were givers who wanted to give to the cause of Christ and so that's what we're going to talk about the whole chapter of second Corinthians chapter 8 is a chapter about giving giving so start over in chapter 8 of 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and had to run over to Acts just to give us an idea of how Paul in acts went to Macedonia and how he went there so first one moreover brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded into the riches of their liberality so Paul is talking to the Corinthians alright so the Corinthians I guess would be around here somewhere just write them up here in Corinth this is Macedonia this is Corinth from Corinth came the Church of Corinth where they have the Corinthians and in Macedonia there was a churches formed so it was the Church of the Macedonians there were Macedonian people who got saved now Paul is saying that these people he says how that in a great trial of affliction and abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded that the riches of their liberality Paul says these people in Macedonia were poor and they were very poor they had deep poverty and yet as poor as they were and as much as they were going through they went out of their way to save up money to give to Jesus Christ in the cause of Christ and that's what we'll see happened here in this chapter but for but three things is mentioned in verse 2 three things that this church went through let me write them up here the three things that this church that Paul says that this church went through number one was they went through some afflictions let's see I have it written down here someplace they had trials on affliction now what would that be from well of course the Jews tried to afflict Paul because the Jews saw him as a threat turning people from Jewish Judaism to Christianity so many times the the trials of affliction were the Jews that persecuted the Christians because they said oh you're apostates you've left Judaism no we've become Christians because there was a dispensational change from from the Old Testament to the New Testament from Judah Gentile from the Old Testament law to salvation by grace now the second thing that it's mentioned there in verse 2 is the abundance of joy now I believe if I remember correctly last time when we were talking about this we talked about yep sure enough last last time as we went verse by verse through Saint Corinthians 7 we talked about how there can be joy in times of the flick I remember that and Saint Corinthians chapter 7 verse 4 where Paul says I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation so there is a joy that comes in suffering affliction for the cause of Christ and that's what happened there those Macedonians poor they received the truth with love and joy and they had a great joy even though they were afflicted for their faith in Jesus Christ and that made them want to give to Jesus last thing there was here was deep poverty why were they so poor well that's the affliction they if they were afflicted by the Jewish relief leaders probably by the Gentiles as well and what they do when they made him suffer so that they couldn't make a lot of money they didn't have any esteem in the community they couldn't you know buy her cell sir ting good they were shunned by the community which by the way that's the way Satan has always worked he loves to control the economy and in the Bible we're told that after the rapture this of course being the rapture after after the rapture that's how the devil's gonna work in the tribulation period he's gonna make people have a mark that they can't buy or sell and guess what of course the rapture will take place and the Christians will get out but people that are left behind the devil if they do not obey the devil and take the mark of the beast what will they have deep poverty they'll literally probably starve to death because they can't by herself so Satan was if I will say about money the love of money is the root of all evil that's what the devil does the devil loves money and he uses money to try to make people serve him he promises lots of money to people that serve him so if you refuse to serve the devil and you serve Jesus Christ it's not a prosperity gospel how many people in the so-called Church today and I say so-called because I don't believe that that's part of the teachings of the gospel but there are many people today that's claimed to be Christians that preach a prosperity gospel and they say oh if you just live for Jesus you'll have all the money in the world and yet here we see people that trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior and they weren't prosperous they were afflicted for their salvation they were afflicted for their following Jesus they were in deep poverty so you watch out for this teaching today where people say oh yes it's the prosperity gospel if you become a Christian and you just love Jesus while his shower blessings of money all over you that's contrary to the teachings of the Bible in the Bible if you trust Jesus you'll have overwhelming joy in the sufferings and you will suffer for trusting Jesus and you most likely be stolen from see the world hates Christians and we're getting close to a time when the world is about to start killing Christians just like they did way back in the time of the early apostles and in Paul so secondly chapter 8 verse 2 how that in a great trial of affliction and the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded them to the riches of their liberality even though they were afflicted and in deep poverty they had joy in the Lord and Paul reminds us of their liberality what does that mean that means they gave liberally even there they had next to nothing they gave to help the cause of Christ what a blessing so verse 3 and well let me go to let me back up for a second and go to Romans 15 26 because Romans 15 26 and I'm sorry I'm I'm all over the place today I've been sick here the day before yesterday I'm still feel a little bit under the weather but I just wanted to get this record it's please pray for me Romans 15 26 says this speaking about Macedonia for deaf people ease them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at so we remember this church Macedonia as bunch of givers and they're happy in their tribulations they're happy in their sufferings and in their afflictions and they're wanting to give for the cause of Christ what does that show us that shows us they love Jesus more than anything else and so that money that they collected where did it go well the Bible says it went over here to the poor Saints in Jerusalem now why would they give to poor Saints in Jerusalem who do you think was suffering the most Jerusalem is where the Jews were and you have the Jewish relievers who rejected Jesus Christ and they hated people so much that were Christians they would actually kill them as a matter of fact before poem got saved that's what he did he was a Jew zealous of the law and he went to these Jewish religious leaders and he said write letters that say I can go and kill Christians and he went and the Bible says he took Christians and he hauled them into jail and he killed them and then God saved him so Paul always looked at himself as hey I'm worth than I'm worthless I'm worth than worth nothing I'm horrible my past life before I was saved I was a lost religious zealot murder worse than dog spit worse than nothing but what's interesting about that here's the Old Testament law who's the one that set up the Old Testament law God used a man named Moses remember what Moses did Moses was a murderer remember that Old Testament story how Moses was second or third in charge of Egypt Prince of Egypt he walks out there he sees the juice working his slaves and he sees a tennis Master beating on a Jew whipping him and Moses comes over and kills the taskmaster Moses was a murderer yet God used him to give the Jews the law Paul is a murderer it got used him to give us Romans through Philemon our doctrine for today for the church change it's amazing if God could use murderers he can use anybody so Paul used to be a murderer and that's why I see Paul is so zealous and so dogmatic and so willing to die for Jesus because he felt so bad at killing other people who trusted Jesus you know sometimes what you do in your past can really make you feel bad and make you want to make up for what you did in your past you know no I've known a lot of people who get saved and say man I I did so know so much for the devil and I just want to do more than that for Jesus that's a good good of philosophy if you will that's a good idea that's a good mindset to have so back to uh certain printings eight to how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded into the riches of their liberality so even though they were in affliction they had joy and even though they were in deep poverty they were as liberal as they could be with their money they gave as much as they could to the cause of Christ verse three for 2/3 yay and beyond their power they were willing of themselves well there's the key to giving the key to giving I guess I'll just draw a little key up here don't make fun of it police huh I'm not good at drawing things but the key to giving is willingness you see what God wants from us is just to be willing to live for him willing to suffer for him willing to give to him willingness that's what all Christianity is is is God just wants to see are you willing to do for him why because Jesus Christ was willing to die for you he loves you enough he was willing to die in your place for your sins so Christianity really is it's a it's a I hate to use the word religion but it's a religion of willingness willingly giving your all to Jesus that's what Christianity is because he gave his all for us so they beyond their power they were willing of themselves were for praying us with much in pretty entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the Fellowship of the ministering to the Saints so these people these poor people suffering in Macedonia we're willing and it doesn't sound like they just offered once here Paul would you take this and focus all your suffering you keep it okay no they offered again please Paul take the gift please please Paul please take this and go help the Saints with it so what was the gift well the gift was an offering it was probably an offering of money and that gift they gave to Paul to take to who to Saints so the Bible says the ministering to the states let me speak should I write that right the ministry yep the Fellowship of the ministering to the States all right so ministering to the Saints how are they ministering to them they were ministering to them financially helping them these people were poor in Macedonia yet so poor they still had money to give to try to help people that were poorer than them the poor Saints in Jerusalem and the Bible calls this the fellowship the fellowship of ministering to the Saints now that's how the early church did thanks the early church went all over Paul preached in different places and Paul didn't love money Paul said the love of money is the root of all evil Paul would go to a place and he said in one place I robbed churches for you he took money from one church and took it to a poorer Church to help the poor people and they loved each other they took care of each other they ministered to each other's needs and here this church learned from Paul how to be a giver and they had to literally talk Paul into giving and saying please take this gift so that we too can have part of the Fellowship of ministry of saints so that we can't too can know how great it is to help or people you know it's it's a nice thing to help others and to know that you've helped so here's what it's talking about is talking about giving taking upon the Fellowship of the ministering of Saints now question how do modern churches do this today when you go to a modern church and you give money in the offering most of the time that money goes to the church building to pay off the building most of the time it goes in the pastor's pocket most of the time the money goes straight to other missionaries but you never and I mean never see what Paul and the early church did the helping of other poor Saints once the last time you were in a church service and you looked over here in the back pew and there was brother so-and-so hooves holes in his shoes holes in his shirt look over his wife her dress looks like it's 20 years old and it's faded the kids wearing rattle tattle clothes and you go talk to him say brother has gone oh we're just getting by a man we're straight which it's just hard you know I got laid off I'm doing everything I can I just got a new job but we just got out of the hospital we got bills when was the last time the pastor goes let's take up an offering and help this brother you haven't seen that and you probably never will because we are so far away from the way that the church started it's almost the exact opposite of the way it was set up I told you in the beginning where was Paul a missionary to you can't name a place because he went to lots of places he was a missionary to people yet today most churches say well so-and-so is a missionary to such and such a place it's the opposite of the way it was set up today they give money and it goes to a denominational headquarters or today they they give money and it goes to a missionary where's the the actual church itself taking up offerings and gifts for the poor among them it's way way different than the way it began so let's go back to verse 4 praying that's with much intreaty that you would receive the gift and take upon us the Fellowship of the ministering of the saints now I know when I grew up and churches that I grew up I saw that I'm 41 years old 10 years old 15 years old the church they were family they loved each other and if you saw a brother so-and-so over there and you knew he was going through some stuff you'd go Piggly Wiggly in grocery store are you gonna win Dixie a grocery store he'd buy a bunch of bags of groceries you go over to his house you leave it on the front step ring the doorbell and you run away there was a joy that they were taught from the pulpit of helping the people that are poor and it was a joy to do I don't see that anymore the Bible says in the last days the love of many shall wax cold and what I see today is just a bunch of cold cold-hearted Christians and rather than helping other Christians they look at mills he's not crippled he can go get a job look he he gets what he deserves what happened to that joy as the verse says of the Fellowship of ministering to the Saints it's about going it's about going so think about that if you're a pastor or your Sunday school teacher of your teacher think about how in our church can we help the poor people in our church you see a lot of churches they take up an offering and then they give it to the Lost now I'm not against that that's wonderful I know churches that have food banks and so they feed the people that are lost but that should be an opportunity to give the lost people the gospel you don't have a rule you can come and get some food but not tell you hear me preach to you the gospel but in the Bible they weren't given money to lost people they were helping the poor Saints Christians should be helping other Christians what I've seen in just the last 10 15 20 years is so sad I've seen so many people that are good godly Christians Bible believing Christians and they don't wrote a church anywhere I'll say brother why don't you church well they just don't preach right their apostasy they don't do right they don't help anybody there's no joy there's no happiness they're preaching the prosperity gospel and they just can't feel like they can go to church anymore why because they're seeing what I'm seeing that the church today is almost the exact opposite of the way the church was started there's no brotherly love there's no fellowship of the church members a lot of churches today they they become a little country club or a little clique unless you're part of the clique you don't get anything and they kick you out so I've seen some things change in my life a church of people loving each other and giving to each other and wanting to help each other - nowadays you go to church and most people don't even know the person that sits three three people over from them most person knows most people today don't even know who sits right behind them or who sits right in front of them they didn't know that person and yeah year after year and after year they sit in that pew right behind that person are right in front of them where's the fellowship where's the joy well the problem is mega churches the problem is most churches today so-called churches have 5 6 7 8 thousand members so you go to church here just to face in the crowd you don't know anybody nobody knows you I don't think that's the way God wanted the church to be best churches I've ever been in my life our small churches of about 20 30 40 50 people because then you get to know of the other ones then it's like a family then you feel for each other then you can have fellowship of ministering to the Saints down south where I live we have customs where we go over to somebody's house and we take them some food they come over and visit us they take us some food that's the way the church used to be nowadays you just go to church I just talked to the guy don't ever talk to him just say hey never see them again to the rest of the week you forget about them where's that Fellowship of the ministering to the Saints where's that peace there's that joy of being together with others and being close to other Christians but I'm going off when I can to tangent but it's just sad to see that most churches nowadays are just country clubs people just go listen to a sermon and leave and they don't ever talk with other Christians don't fellowship with other Christians don't try to help others that they they can clearly see you need some help and for that reason many people go to church and you say well I don't see any love in this place I'm suffering I'm hurting I need somebody to talk to nobody's here so I'm just never go back and oftentimes they don't and they just fall through the fallout there's a lot of people that don't go to church that's one of the reasons we started the cloud church to try to reach them because they read their Bibles every day they love God they just they can't find a church and a lot of people contacted me said man I can't find a church well I encourage you to find one go find that fellowship but a lot of them said but they don't teach the Bible I don't learn anything well that's what this is for to try to teach you sound doctrine and hopefully be able to continue preaching and teaching and going through the scripture so you'll learn something so wow I'm only 2 verse 5 and there's 24 verses so let me continue here verse 5 and this they did no what did they do they had the Fellowship of the ministering of the city Saints they gave a gift to Paul to give to other poor Christians and this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God so they gave themselves and then they gave their money what does that mean that means they wanted so bad to serve Jesus they came to Paul said Paul what can we do and he says what you can do this does this will do it and they gave themselves in other words they gave everything they had to the Lord a lot of people think giving to the Lord is just putting money in the offering plate every week I can't tell you how many men that I've met but I truly believe God's called them to preach but they're scared to do it and a lot of them they make lots of money in the business and things so they go to church every week and then give a whole lot of money in the offering plate and back in the back of their mind they think now God leave me alone I can do what I want because they want to give money but they don't want to give them themselves there are people out there that God could use as a pastor or as evangelist or a missionary but they don't want to so to appease their confidence conscience that pay a lot of money in the offering plate and say there I did my duty I've done enough you can never do too much for the Lord give of yourself maybe God wants you to get into the ministry to preach and to teach and do his will so they gave him their ownselves verse 5 verse 6 and so much that we desired Titus that as he had begun so he would also finish in you the same grace also so Titus was sent to them now verse 13 of the preceding chapter 77 he talks about the joy of Titus so two people we've seen mentioned so far in this study and we saw mentioned one called Timothy one called Titus you know I believe in in our Bible study as we're going through Corinthians we mentioned one named Silas these are young boys are younger men that Paul would train on how to preach and how to teach and so he was pretty much teaching them how to do what he was doing so that when Paul died there would be others out there doing the same thing that Paul was doing what was Paul doing going all over the world preaching the gospel seeing people saved starting a church and then the church is the people a lot of people think of church is a building nowadays but the church is the people and then they would begin teaching and instructing and helping them grow in the Lord so that's how it was set up that's how it should be set up today verse six in Cilicia we desire Titus that as he had begun so we he would also finish in you the same grace also therefore as he abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also so it sounds like what Paul is doing he's taking this chapter to say let me tell you about these guys the Macedonians who go out of their way to give their money and themselves so what is it that they gave they gave money of course but they gave themselves it's like they put themselves as far as they could into the ministry they they just said I'm giving everything to Jesus I'll do whatever I can for Jesus and so it sounds like Paul is saying that see what they did now you Corinth need to do the same so it's almost like this is a rebuke and we saw first Corinthians a lot of that was rebuked second Corinthians he's starting to say when I'm so happy with you guys you're doing good and I'm joyful and what you're going through but it's like they they were lacking still on giving and giving isn't always money I'm so tired of people say oh I hate going to church because all I do is talk about giving money yeah that's a shame because the Bible talks about giving lots of other things there's more to give to God than just your money and give him your heart give him your time give him your thoughts give him your actions give them everything you have give of yourself to God say God Here I am send me like I told you the beginning of this teaching I said okay Lord I'm willing use me what's the last time you got down underneath say Lord whatever you'd have in my life I'm willing to serve you and your will be done in my life have you ever done that have you ever prayed that are even willing to to serve God and let him use you so back to verse 7 therefore has he abounded everything and then he mentioned several things about in faith about an utterance in knowledge in diligence and in love and in grace now this thing which says utterance I just I want to comment on that for a second here that word utterances that's an interesting word Paul mentions that word quite a few times let's look at a couple of verses first Corinthians 1:5 and what does he mean by that uh pterence well utterance is speaking something out of your mouth what do you think he refers to their first Corinthians 1:5 then in everything you're enriched by him Jesus in all utterance and in all knowledge what did you say well I believe you saying that utterances his testifying he's witnessing so we as critic Christians we need to witness for Jesus Christ that is do what Paul did Paul told us being he was an example and he said be followers of me as I am of Christ so if that be the case then how do we follow the Apostle Paul by uttering the gospel to other people you know there's still people out there who claim to be Christians that are scared to death to tell others the gospel scared to death to witness scared to death to talk to others about Jesus that's part of giving of yourself I've known people that say Lord I'm going to work today and I ask that you let me give the gospel to at least two people today and they have that utterance they have that zeal they have that knowledge that whatever I do today when I go to work or if I just go to town to buy groceries I want to use this mouth to other things about Jesus Christ so that people will hear the gospel and that's what it's all about the Christian life is to try to give the gospel to the lost and dying world that's what Paul did Ephesians 6 9 says let's see 6 9 that's the wrong first let's go to Colossians 4 3 I'm cutting down the wrong verse Kalasha or 3 about this word utterances look at that again so question is do you witness for Jesus Christ you might be the guy in church that gives the most money in the offering every week good for you you gave money but how often do you tell others about Jesus Christ how often do you open your mouth and pray God give you a door of utterance to speak to others cautions 4:3 says with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I also am in bonds Paul said to the church pray for me that God would give me an open door to speak an open door of utterance to preach the gospel to the loss that's important that's something we need to do we need to witness to lost people so back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 hopefully get through with this today verse 8 I speak not by commandment but by occasion of the for our forward nests of others and to prove the sincerity of your love so giving proves the sincerity of your love giving shows how much you love Jesus but it's not just giving of this how much you love Jesus is proved by how much you talk about Jesus you know when you love something it sounds on your heart and whatever you love the most if should be what you talk about the most so how much do you talk about Jesus I go to churches and I just get so sick when I walk in and you know you're there 15 20 30 minutes early just look around and sometimes I just like to sit down in a pew and just look around and just listen to what other people are talking about and what they love to talk about the newest fashions the latest movie to come out the newest book sold on Amazon and they're talking about how these things of the world how seldom do they talk about God oh the wonders of the heart the mouth speaketh what you love is what you talk about it's obvious Paul loved the Lord because that's all he talked about was the Lord Jesus Christ so how much do you love the Lord it's a good question back to uh 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 19 for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich that's the definition of grace God's grace was giving he even had everything God came down became poor gave his all gave his life gave everything he had so that we might be rich how are we rich well that's not the prosperity gospel we've already looked at that true riches our spiritual blessings the Bible says that you receive spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus that's true riches in Christ so continuing here in verse 10 and herein I give my advice for this is expedient for you who have begun before not only to do but also to be for work forward a year ago so Paul is writing to them and he said a year ago you wanted to do what the Macedonians did take up an offering to give to others so it sounds like with that stated that there might be a year between the writing of first Corinthians and second Corinthians and I've always thought that because he says a year ago and it's most likely a year ago is when he talked to him and now it's a year later and a year ago they were saying well Paul we we'd like to give an offering and he says well you wanted to a year ago so go ahead and do it and that's what verse 11 and 12 is speak about is for them to give an offering so Paul get all this together in your mind Paul said look how great these Macedonians are that gave money but they gave her themselves as well and then he brings it all together and says so how about you Corinth a year ago you told me you wanted to give money to help the Saints to do the ministry to the Saints so why don't you do it why don't you take up a special offering to help the poor saints in Macedonia or to help the poor Saints in Jerusalem or wherever the need was at the time so that's why we read verse 11 now therefore perform the doing of it that as there was a readiness to will so there may be a performance also out of that which you have so go ahead and give what you have now let me say quickly that what you have notice it says that doesn't say that what you have not you can only give what you have you can't give what you don't have something to think about verse 12 for if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not so take what you have and set that aside and say no how much do I need to live on and how much of that can I take out of to sacrifice to give to others in need and that's what Paul is saying verse 13 for me not that other men be eased and you be are burdened but by any quality that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want that their abundance also may be a supply for your want that there may be equality so when you guys are doing great and you're making a lot of money well there might be a drought over here and they've worked their rear ends off but they can't get ahead well then take that supply of a want it put it over here because next year you might be the ones with the drought struggling and they might be the ones with the abundance and they can help you and that's what he's saying that's what the Apostle Paul is saying there is to is to bear one another's burdens as it as it says in in Galatians numbers 15 as it is written he that hath gathered much hath nothing over and he that it gathered little have no lack but thanks be to God which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you for indeed he accepted the exhortation but being more forward of his own accord he went unto you so here what sounds like is an invitation to Titus it sounds like Paul had preached so much here to the core of the Corinthians and yet Paul was going to so many other places to preach that the church says when we know Paul is so busy that he can't come visit us how about Titus you come preach to us and that's what it sounds like he's talking about here so Titus went there in verse 17 for indeed he accepted the exhortation but being more forward of his own accord he went unto you he accepted their invitation of coming and preach for them verse 18 and we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches now this is interesting the brothers not mentioned here's some guy that Paul calls the brother but he's remembered for something he's remembered for having his praise in the gospel throughout the churches I don't know who this guy is I think it's interesting if you've gone to Macedonia if you've done to Corinth if you've done to Galatia at one of those churches you had a gun hey you remember brother so-and-so who's that oh the guy that's always praising God every time he hears the gospel preach Oh brother someone so you didn't mean he's crazy every time to mention the gospel he's like the gospel that's what it sounds like his praise is in the gospel well dude churches preach the gospel nowadays I've told the story before I've been over 200 churches preaching in about 10 times about have they ever answered what the gospel was correctly that means there's out of 200 churches mm-hmm what 190 of them haven't heard the gospel preached I get phone calls and emails from people all the time saying man I'm going to church after church after church I've been in church 20 30 40 years and I just get so put out cuz I don't hear the gospel preached anymore and then I saw you on YouTube and you're preaching the gospel it just makes me rejoice well that's what this guy is this this unnamed brother his praise was in the gospel throughout all the churches whenever he went and he preached he was just praising God that he heard the gospel preached and that's where we need to get back to today people need to preach the gospel first Corinthians 15 1 through 4 preach salvation through cry what he's done his death his burial his resurrection get back to preaching to the gospel because so few people preach it today so few churches today even know what the gospel is is so sad verse 19 not that only but who was also chosen to the churches to travel with us with His grace which is established or administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and declaration of your ready mind avoiding this that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us verse 21 providing for honest things not only in the sight of the Lord but also on the side of me so when you take an offering use it for things that are honest don't use it for dishonest and we have sent with them our brother whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you whether any do inquire of Titus he is my partner and fellow Hepler helper concerning you of our brother and be acquired of they are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ wherefore show you to them and before the church is the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf so Paul is boasting about them as we saw last time as women through Chapter seven and what is he boasting well it sounds like he's saying you guys are catching up to the Macedonians using the Macedonians they they quickly accepted the gospel they quickly gave of themselves to the cause of Christ and they're suffering they're in deep poverty and they're going through some things but yet they're full of joy serving Jesus and that Paul is saying that you guys in Corinth do you remember how you said you wanted to give some money to the poor Saints in Jerusalem why don't you go ahead and do that once you go ahead and take up an offering look I'm gonna send Ty this over there Paul saying he wants to preach and you guys have invited him why don't you give it maybe he's saying this I don't see it there I might be reading between the lines but when you come and you take up that offering and give it to Titus and you'll take it back to them I don't know but most of this chapter is about giving and it's not just giving money even though that's part of it it's giving them themselves to the cause of Christ and I think it all goes to that one word how's the best way to give yourself to the cause of Christ make it a point that these this mouth these lips that this tongue be used for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ to give the gospel to the lost and dining world the gospel is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ I said it earlier but he's gotta repeat it first Corinthians 15 one through four somebody called me the other day said how's the best way to lead somebody into Jesus Christ well I said well you show them verses on sin you ask them are they Center and if they realize they're sinners say okay I got good news Jesus Christ died for your sins look at 1st Corinthians 15 1 through 4 and I always like to take people to that verse I don't think there's ever been a time in my life when I've tried to witness to someone and win them to the Lord that I never showed them for Sprint this 15 1 through 4 yeah you've got people today they say oh I'm just gonna show them the Romans Road three or four verses from Romans and then say repeat this after me hmm where's the gospel why did you omit 1st Corinthians 15 1 through 4 I'm not saying you can't use those verses in Romans but why are you doing that rather than uttering the gospel from your lips because we see the salvation is through the gospel so there's a great great great need today to preach the gospel so I guess that's it I got through this chapter pretty quickly read through it fast but try to to prove what it's talking about and if you just see it as what it is it's Paul telling them about this church and basically he's comparing them to this church and saying this is how they're like and what they went through and I know what you're like in it as I told you at the beginning of this teaching in 1st Corinthians Corinth was a port city and it was a very very rich city a lot of goods came in a lot of people had lots of money selling and buying but it's also a city full of idolatry so it sounds like to me that the people in Corinth had a lot of money and so Paul is saying look how little these people had in Macedonia and yet they gave all they had how much more can you that have a lot of money give to others so chapter 8 is a plea to the Church of Corinth think about Jesus give of yourself to him witness to others and then don't be afraid to give some money to help other Christians to do the same so thank you for watching we'll see you next time as we start 7 Corinthians chapter 9 a very very short chapter I really like for chapter 10 and 11 it can't wait to get to those but next time we will look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 so thank you for being here and once again I'm sorry I'm a little under the weather I hope this was understandable and hope it's a blessing to you and God bless we'll see you next time

Channel: Robert Breaker

Views: 9,070

Rating: 4.8383837 out of 5

Keywords: Bible Study, Pauline Epistles, Verse by Verse Bible Study, 2 Corinthians, King james bible, 2 Corinthians 8, Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Religious Text), Religion (TV Genre)

Id: y3sNAsW-f2U

Length: 59min 54sec (3594 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 06 2015