Christ Un-barred - Bible Studies 26,27 & 28

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Hey man, how's everyone doing? - Blessed. - Blessed. - All right. So I want to thank you guys for coming. I owe a couple super chats already. First of all, Anthony De La Garza. Also, we have Jorge Luis. There's your super cat and Constance. All right, thank you guys.

Appreciate you so much. All right. So real quick before we get started on, for those of you that are interested in going to the conference, somebody had asked and said, "Do we have to all leave together?" 'Cause you know how in the video, it says, "Right after service." You don't have, we don't have to leave together. It just, what's gonna happen is, for those that I'm gonna ask, for those that want to volunteer to help, because the church in orange is asking for any volunteers to help, it's Sunday to set up for the Monday. So those of us that do want to go and volunteer, 'cause I know like Abraham volunteered to help with the media over there. So we're gonna go right after service so we can go straight to the church and get to work and help them. But you don't have to, you know? So that's one thing. Another thing I wanted to mention is I failed to mention all these weeks, is if there's a single guy going, or a single female going, and you're just like, "Man, you know, is there any way I can share a room?"

So let me know or let Sharon know, 'cause she might know somebody that wants to, you know, share the cost with somebody. So we've done that in the past before. We'll get, you know, two, three, four brothers, and then we put them all together so they can pay the cost together, and the same thing with the women. So that's something we would like to know if that's something new, if that's what's stopping you, you know? So we have that available. So we're gonna go ahead and get started. Let's bow our heads, Lord God. We thank you for this opportunity, Lord. We give you all honor and all glory. We thank you so much for this Wednesday. We thank you for us waking up today. We thank you for the work day. We thank you for our families. We thank you for our salvation. We thank you for bringing us here so we can be here together as a family. We pray that these scriptures open up, that our hearts open up our hearts and our minds to the scriptures of what it is that we're studying, Lord. We thank you in Jesus name, Amen. All right, so we're gonna continue where we left off in 2 Corinthians 8 verse 10. Second Corinthians chapter 10 chapter,

I'm sorry, chapter, yeah, chapter eight verse 10. I think I said it right. Second Corinthians chapter eight verse 10, just to put it in context, what we were talking about is Paul is obviously writing to the church in Corinth. And he's writing to them as a second letter that we have. We already, in the previous months, we read 1 Corinthians and he had a lot of rebukes for them. But now we're going into, we're reading 2 Corinthians and he's, again, talking about some things to that church. You gotta remember this is a letter to the church of Corinth. And we need to understand that in context first before we read it is we wanna understand what is going on. So there's some things that are going on there and that's where we left off last week was in verse nine. For the sake of continuity, I do want to start at verse eight, even though I know we read verse eight, I'm gonna read verse eight and go into 10, which is where we're starting today. It says, "I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine." for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." Now we're in verse 10, "And in this matter I give my judgment. This benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work, but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by

your completing it out of what you have." So that's 10 and 11, I want to read it in the message, 2 Corinthians 8, 10 and 11. So he had just finished telling them, we read last week, that the Lord made himself poor so he can be rich, he's not talking about money, he's talking about salvation. The fact that he humbled himself to make himself one of us, that way we can be like him. And in verse 10 and 11 it says this, it says, "So here's what I think," this is the message Bible, same verse, but in the message Bible, he says, "So here's what I think, the best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. So I don't know what was going on in this church, but it seems to be, because if you remember what we were talking about last week, he was talking about being a giving church, because the Corinthian church was probably a very well-off church. And I don't know if you remember if you're here last week, he mentioned Macedonia who was very poor, they were hungry, he says, "But they gave out of everything." So he's talking about that, and so I think this is what he's saying, so now he's letting him know, listen, you guys started out right, but finish what you started. Do you guys know where the, you know how we do missions, $3 a person, $3, you know where that came from, is because like pastor Thomas, pastor Moses, these guys, they would travel all these grace churches throughout, throughout the two months that they're here. And they would go to these big churches, you know, grace has some big churches. And they would take a pledge and say, "Who's willing to give this amount, this amount, this amount, all year long for Nigeria or for Uganda, whatever country, there's so many countries in grace." And people would make their pledges, but after about three months, it would just kind of dwindle, dwindle, dwindle, dwindle, dwindle, dwindle. By the time Thomas came the next year, nobody was giving nothing. And he would have to say it all over again, and then it would start up again.

So the reason I started the dollar, first it started with $1, pastor Thomas was because I said, you know, we're not a rich church. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do like, hey, who gives pledges to give, you know, X amount of money every month to pastor Thomas or pastor Moses and all that. So I'm like, you know what, I remember me insharing, saying, let's pick up a dollar person. I would rather pick up a dollar all year long than to get pledges and then three months, nobody gives. I just found it easier because honestly, I mean, what's a dollar? What, you don't get a venti? You just get the smaller drink now, you know, for one time, you know, so. And that's where that came from, the $3 a person, $3 a week, that's where that came from, because we want to finish what we started. We want to finish what we started. I would rather house of rest be a giving all year long, even though it's not a huge amount, than make all these promises to pastor Thomas and in three months, nothing. So anyways, it makes me think of that here when he says that, I'm going to read it in the message. He says, so here's what I think the best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. So whatever promises that, that the Corinthian church made, I feel like Paul according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." And the message that says this, it says, "Once your commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't." And I think that relates to us too. How many times have we, myself included, we promise things we can't keep up with. We say we're going to do something and we don't do it. And like it says, he says, "You had good intentions. Husbands, how many times we tell our wife we're going to fix something." And six months later, they remind us, right? And when I told her, "Y'all, I got it. My intentions were pure. My intentions, I didn't

do it to shut her up. I didn't say it to, I really had all intentions to do it." And I'll be honest with you, most of the time, I forget. So when she reminds me, I'm like, "Oh, I feel dumb because I'm like, I forgot." And she's like, "How did you forget you passed by it every day?" But that's how men are, right? That's the thing. Yeah, we keep forgetting, right? And then we promise again. Yeah, I know. They do. They probably are halfway. So women, you can throw this scripture at us. Write it on our toolbox. Write it on the, put it on a post-it and on the thing that needs to be, put it on the thing that needs to be fixed. Second Corinthians 8, 10, 12. Post-its everywhere. He says, "You've got what it takes to finish it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't." So in verse 12, I'm going to read 12 again, "For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." He says, just be real. Don't make your promises unto the Lord that you know you can't keep. Don't do that. Just do according to what you know you can do. And just be honest with yourself and honest with God. Verse 13 says, "For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness, your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness." So I'm going to read it in the message on that portion. It says, "The heart regulates the hands. This isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out." He's like, "I'm not saying for you to do all the work to make it easier for everybody else and you're killing yourself." He goes, "No, your shoulder to shoulder with them all the way. Your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit, in the end you come out even." You know? So it's like, unfortunately, I was reading this thing or I don't know where I heard pastors say that almost every church, 20% of the people keep the other 80% going in a church, 20% and that's, that's if it's going good. Out of every hundred people, 20 people are carrying the weight for everybody else. You know, and that's actually when it's good. Because a lot of times it's like five people carrying the weight for everybody else. But look what he says, he goes, "Listen, that's not so you take it easy so somebody else can sweat it out." He says, "Be shoulder to shoulder with them. In your surplus matching their deficit." In other words, in your strength, you're covering their weakness and in your weakness, they're covering it with their strength.

And in the end, it comes out even. You know? And I think that can go along with so many different things, so many different ways, you know, that we carry ourselves or I'm sorry that you carry others at times when you need to be carried. You know? And I think as a church family, this is something we need to learn. And what I find interesting, a lot of times, and I don't know why this happens, but a lot of times churches will, let's say, So he'll fill his church up with evangelists. Or if a pastor is a teacher and he wants to teach, he fills his church up with teachers. What, you know, it would be like being stuck in an island and everybody's a cook, but nobody knows how to hunt. Or everybody knows how to hunt, but nobody knows how to cook. And in actuality, a church should be, a church should be everybody. It should be balanced. There should be evangelists to go reach a loss. Here's the thing though. Here's what happens. Is somebody that feels called to reach the lost? They will, they will belittle those that don't have any evangelistic heart. Instead of saying, well, maybe you're meant to teach the children. Maybe you're meant to do worship. Maybe you're, and it should be okay. You know, so in the same way, I mean, even in, in the Marines or in the army, whatever, if everybody goes to the front lines, who's going to take care of their hurt? If everybody goes in the front lines, who's going to bring supplies? If everybody goes in the front lines, who's going to make food for the soldiers? If everybody, you know, see what I mean? So you need everyone participating and there's no way the soldier in the front can say the cook isn't doing his part because he's feeding you. If you don't eat, you're weak, and if you're weak, you can't fight. Yeah, so in the same way with the church, there's those that evangelize. There's those that are teaching. There's those that are teaching the youth.

There's those that are, that are discipling those in the church. There's, oh, you know, so it should work like that. Why? Because we work shoulder to shoulder. You're surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. And then the end, it comes out even. Nothing left over to the one with the most and nothing lacking to the one with the least. And, and I think that's, that's good wisdom. And it's easier said than done. And I'm pretty sure everybody here agrees with it. But then when we actually do church, it's like we forget and it gets thrown out the window. You know, and we have to. We have to be on top of it. We can't make somebody else feel bad because they don't have your passions. You know, it's been a while since I said the story, but I'll say it again. I was at a place when I was away in college. And they would go evangelize on Saturday. To whoever was out there. And I went a few times. I did. This is in prison. OK, I know you guys know what I meant when I say college, but just for context. Every second, I had to tell you that because I couldn't hide from them, right? So all the brothers have gone Saturday and I went a few times and then I stopped going. I'll be honest, I stopped going. I was a brand new Christian. I was only safe for like two years or so. And after two, three times, I'm like, this ain't for me. You know, so then they had a, what's it called? When they all have something to say to you, when they sit you down, yeah, they had an intervention for David.

I went out to the yard one day. It was a nice evening and everybody was quiet and they sat me down and I didn't realize it was David's intervention. And they started telling me how I'm not doing my part. And, um, you know, I was a young Christian, so I probably would have, I should have answered better. I probably should have answered more patients, but I still got my point across. And I remember a little snarky, but I said this, I said, what do you guys do on Monday? No, what do you mean? I said, because Monday after breakfast, I go to the Hamball court and between eight to nine 30, I'm teaching so and so. And after that, I go into the unit and from nine 30 until 11, I teach so and so. And then I have lunch and then from two to four, I teach so and so. I said, I do this five days a week. How many of you guys are doing this? They're like, we don't, we don't do that. I said, maybe because I'm a teacher, let the teacher teach and evangelize, go and evangelize. And when you bring them to the Lord, bring them this way. And I will fill my whole day, discipling them and teaching them. You know, and I didn't say it that nice though, but I was a new Christian. You know, huh? Oh, yeah. Well, now here's the thing though, is, is. I was glad because I think that we should all be able to share our testimony, no matter where we're at. That's why part of the six discipleship classes, one of them is to teach you how to share your testimony. Every person should be able to share. Are you praising God or you have?

Okay. So every person should be able to, that's why that's one of our core classes in partnering with this church is we teach you how to share your testimony 90 seconds flat to anybody. Because pretty much 90 seconds is all you're going to have at a gas station, at a bank line, at wherever it is you're at. And we want to teach you that. We want to show you that because I think every person should. Every person should be able to share the testimony in the same way a doctor knows a little bit about everything, but then there's a specialist. So everybody should be able to, to give a study to their family member. Everybody should be able to evangelize there and share their testimony to everybody. But then there's people that are called to evangelize, called to teach, called to, that's a different thing. So I have evangelized, I have gone to evangelize. It's not my thing. And I say it to say this, there's so many people that do so much better. I mean, I have heard people share the gospel. Oh my gosh, I'm just like, I want to get saved. You know, when I hear them share the gospel, it is beautiful. And I'm just like, I don't have that gift. I don't. It's amazing, you know, and, and maybe some people feel like that when I preach. I don't know. You know what I mean? I'm just saying that there's certain things that are just come out like, like, like a faucet with me. And there's some things that don't, you know what I mean? And I think that's for all of us, you know, we find. So again, let me go back to it. Your shoulder to shoulder, your surplus matches my deficit.

And your surplus matches your deficit back and forth, you know? So we work together as a family. Okay. Um, where did I leave off here? Is I read 13? 13? Oh, 15. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You're right. As it is written, whoever gathered it much had nothing left over. And whoever gathered little had no lack in the message, it says, I'm going to read that whole portion that you guys know the message Bible is very simple, but sometimes there's no numbers to the scriptures the way they have it, but he says this, um, or is it at? Oh, yeah. That's the party left. Left over to the one with the most and nothing lacking to the one with the least. That's basically all it's saying is that basically it balances out when we do things together, uh, verse 16. He says, so after he says all that, he says, but thanks be to God who put into the heart of Titus, the same earnest care I have for you. So Titus is one of his students, just like Timothy is. So I don't know if you remember last week, but he mentioned Titus. The Titus went over there and put a good word in for him. You know, so we see the same thing here. He's mentioning Titus again. And he's like, man, I thank God that, um, Titus loved you guys just as much as I love you guys. In the message, he says, I thank God for giving Titus the same devoted concern for you

that I have. And that, that feels good, you know, that, that feels good. If you ever, um, you ever cared for somebody and you can't do it and you tell somebody, I think I can, can you do me a favor? I can't do it, but can you minister to them and, and then you get a good report that, that they were treated very good by the person you sent. And you're like, man, praise God. Praise God that this person had the same heart for you as I have for you. And that's what he's telling them. And in, um, verse 17, he says, for he not only accepted our appeal, talking about Titus, but being himself very earnest, he's going to you of his own accord. And in the message, he says, his eagerness to go to you and help out with this relief offering is his own idea. So Paul is like, I didn't even send Titus. He went on his own. He saw that I needed help and he went on his own. You know, so again, you got to remember this is a letter. So there's personal things here, you know, so he's just sharing with the Corinthian church about Titus. He's like, listen, man, Titus went to you guys and I didn't even ask him to, you know. So he's, he's, he's talking very well of his student, Titus. And then in verse 18, This is interesting here with him. We are sending the brother who was famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel and It's funny because I've always read this verse in the New King James and the King James It never says the word famous. It always says like well known and so it's interesting. It says famous. So he has a guest speaker You know in the message it says We're sending a companion along with him Someone very popular in the churches for his preaching of the message So scholars have wondered and wondered who was he talking about?

Most scholars believe it was Luke Only because early church fathers wrote that it was Luke that did this because remember Luke's think about it having Luke go to your church is a big deal Luke was a doctor Luke was a very intelligent man He did not he not only wrote the gospel of Luke, but he wrote the book of Acts so many think that Luke came to be that famous speaker Because by this time they had already read his his gospel So there but it but there are some scholars that believe it could have been somebody else some say could have been Mark some Say could have been Barnabas It could have been somebody we don't know nothing about you know, but whoever it was He was a special speaker that was coming to speak to the church in Corinth I'm going to read that that verse again. It says we are 18 with him we are sending the brother who was famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel The main quick the main reason they believe it's Luke was because the gospel was the good news or the story of Jesus So that's why they they believe it was it was Luke because Luke was the most educated out of Matthew Mark Luke and John Luke was the one that was the most educated So I don't know verse 19 It says and not only that But he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace That has been ministered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself and to show our good will So Paul is like listen not only is this guy going to come and speak to you all He's gonna he's gonna he's coming along with us to all the churches So that was a big deal. Whoever this this special speaker was It was a big deal in the message. It says he's rock solid trustworthy I'm sorry. It says somebody very pop. Okay, but there's far more to him than popularity That's what it says in a message. He's rock solid trustworthy the churches handpicked him To go with us as we travel about doing this work of sharing God's gifts to honor God as well as we can

Taking every precaution against scandal So I mean that I wish I knew who exactly he was talking about but we'll just keep breathing verse 20 20 to 22 He says we take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man 22 and with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters But who was now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you I'm gonna read that in the message so we get a better understanding of what he's talking about He says we don't want anyone suspecting us of taking one penny of this money for ourselves Remember in the previous chapter. He was they're picking up an offering They're picking up an offering to take to the to those that didn't have and I like the fact that Paul is saying listen We're bringing along this well-known speaker more than just speaking. I mean We're taking every precaution against scandal. We'd want anybody thinking that we're gonna dip our hands into the money And that's what he's saying here in the message He says we don't want anyone suspecting us of taking one penny of this money for ourselves He says we are being as careful in our reputation with the public as in our reputation with God That's why we're sending another trusted friend along He's proved his dependability many times over and carries on as energetically as a day. He started He's heard much about you and You know, so I like I like the fact that it's a personal letter because it helps us to see kind of how people communicated back then, even back then they were worried about scandal, even back then they were worried about how things would look, even then they were worried about what people would think, you know, I remember, let's see, I remember one of the first advice that somebody, a pastor gave me before I even started this church, as he says this, he says, do not ever counsel a woman with the door closed. Don't do it.

You know, and this, did he say that because like, I'm crazy and I'm going to go groping and no, he just like, hey, you have the good reputation. You want to make sure there's no scandal. You want to make sure that that nobody says nothing. You want to make sure there's accountability, you know, so same thing with finances, same thing with whatever it is. You want to be an open book, you know, you have to be an open book to people and that that comes with ministry. You can't get mad about it. It comes with it, you know, and so he's making a point here of saying, listen, we want no scandals. We want you to know that all the offering that we're picking up is going to go exactly where we're saying it's going to go. And the people around that money are very dependable. You know, he goes because I don't want any scandals, you know. So in verse 23, it says, as for Titus, he's mentioning Titus again, as for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ, 24. So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men. In the message, it says this, it says, I don't need to say anything further about Titus. We've been close associates in this work of serving you for a long time. The brothers who travel with him are delegates from churches, a real credit to Christ, show them what you're made of. The love I've been talking up in the churches, let them see it

for themselves. So he's kind of riding ahead to the church in Corinth. He's like, hey, man, Titus is on his way. He's got this famous preacher with him. Everybody with him are delegates. They're all trusted by me. And he says, man, I've been really building you guys up. So when they get there, man, I hope you show them love. I hope you treat them right. I hope you treat them the way they're supposed to be treated. You know, because I put my name on this, you know. So I love again, I love the fact that they're letters. I love the fact of knowing that that these are real people talk writing. It's a, Paul's a real person writing to real people about real life situations, you know, and it gives us a glimpse. It lets us learn, you know, and we went to this, me and Sharon went to this house that was built in 1860. And you can see letters that were written and they're really hard to read. But if I really took my time, I'm sure I can read them. But it's almost like reading it gives you a glimpse of what life was in 1860. So it's the same thing. When we read these scriptures that were written 2000 years ago, it helps us to see how they were functioning as a church, what things were going on in the church, because I think a lot of times issues and problems we have in church today, we think they're new, but there were issues that were already happening. Right. I mean, how many of us tell your teenagers, they think they're getting away with something and you're like, man, been there, done that. And I did it better than you.

You know, and it's kind of like, and it's funny because teenagers, they think they come up with this stuff, you know, and in the same way. So a lot of times we think that there's things going on in the church, like nobody's ever experienced it. But we can see in the scriptures that things were happening back then also. And, and I don't know about you, but that should give us confidence. That should give us confidence that, you know what, the church is full of imperfect people serving a perfect God. You know, and sometimes I think that we, we have to give each other grace. But that doesn't mean we take advantage of that grace. You know, it doesn't mean like, oh, they're Christians. They got to forgive me and you keep on doing stuff. You know, that's, that's not right either. You know, but at the same time, I think it goes back to what we were just is somebody else's strength, you know, and I think that's why we hold each other up. I'm a strong believer that when somebody starts to fall away from the things of the Lord, most of the time, we just need to be reminded of who we are. You just need to be reminded of who you are in Christ, you know, and for the most part, unless somebody is really just, you know, wants to completely go back to the world and listen that for the most part, we just need to be encouraged, you know, and we need to be lifted up and we need to be reminded, you know, sometimes we need to be reminded, remind each other, you know, and I think that's important. That comes along with identity in Christ, of knowing who you are, it comes back to this, right? How many times do we say when there's a marriage, we say that marriage is a three chord, that your one chord, your spouse is the other, but Christ is in the middle holding it together. And actually in the Bible, it says that when one is down, the other spouse will lift the other up and vice versa, right? And so in the same way, if marriage is like that, well, isn't church of marriage to Christ, you know, so we're there to encourage each other and help each other out and sometimes

remind each other of who we are in Christ, you know, and that's, I believe that's important for all of us, you know, to be reminded of that. We need that, you know, we do. We need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need that, we need, that, I think it's, for me, it's wisdom that I don't know exactly who gives what. I think I have to, I have to know what's in there because at the end of the month, ultimately, it's my name on the lease, you know, it shares name on some of the, because you have to have a name on the utilities, but ultimately, I learned a long time ago early on that I don't want to know who gives because what was happening was we had people that were giving a lot and then they wanted to influence how I preach, you know, and to the point where one time somebody basically threatened me and says, you know, you talk about tongues too much and you preach too long and this and this and this and this and, you know, basically he was telling me because he was carrying 80% of the bills, you know, and he ended up leaving and we're still here, you know, but after that, I'm just like, you know what, I don't want to know, you know, I want to know the total because I need to know what is going on, I don't want to be blind, you know, thinking that everything is great and everything and here we are not being able to pay this or pay that, but for the most part, I don't want that responsibility, you know, so chapter nine verse one, it says, we're going to read one and two and I don't know how to say that word, how do you say that word, superfluous, superfluous, is that how you say it? I don't know, huh, superfluous, that's out of my vocabulary, I might just say super! about the ministry for the saints For I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia Saying that a chai has been ready since last year and your zeal has been stirred up Has stirred up most of them In the message he says if I wrote any more on this relief offering for the poor Christians I'd be repeating myself. So that what that means that word is to repeat I'm guessing right

Yeah, what does it mean? Okay extra, okay Don't you young people say that while you're being extra So now change that for that word Yeah, throw throw them off be like man, you're being superfluous whatever Being extra So the enemy read again the message if I wrote anymore on this really so in other words He goes man, I'm going on and on and on about this offering He was if I wrote any more on this relief offering for the poor Christians. I'd be repeating myself. I Know you're on board and ready to go I've been bragging about you all through Macedonia province telling them a chai province has been ready To go on this since last year your enthusiasm by now has spread to most of them So in other words, he's like man, I'm gonna quit talking about this You know, I already know you guys are down. I already know you guys are givers. I already know so Let's keep it moving in verse 3 Let's read in three to five He says but I am sending the brothers So that are boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter So that you may be ready as I said you would be Otherwise if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready We will be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you in a range in advance for the gift You have promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift not as an Exaction I'm gonna read it in the message. He says now. I'm sending the brothers to make sure you're ready as I said You would be so my bragging won't turn out to be just so much hot air If the Macedonians and I happened to drop in on you and found you weren't prepared We'd all be pretty red-faced you and us for acting so sure of ourselves So to make sure that there will be no slip up. I've recruited these brothers as an advanced team to get you and your Promised offering already before I get there. I want you to have all the time you need to make this offering in your own way

I don't want anything forced or hurried at the last minute. So even though he said I ain't gonna talk about it He talked about it a little bit more and he's like I'm gonna send some guys ahead. He goes I don't want to get embarrassed. I don't want to arrive there and you guys haven't gathered it from everybody yet I just I don't know if they had cash app or Venmo back then You know, but he's just like hey, you know, we let's gather it together. Let's get it together So that way when we show up Nobody's embarrassed and nobody feels hurried and nobody feels you know So for whatever reason he sent a delegation to go and make sure that that offering that pledge or whatever they promised was ready, you know and then he goes into something really interesting in verse six He says the point is this look what he says Whoever souls sparingly will also reap sparingly and Whoever souls bountifully will also reap bountifully Each one must give as he has decided in his heart Not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver So I'm gonna read it in the message. We're gonna talk about it. He says remember a stingy planter gets a stingy crop a lavish planter gets a lavish crop I Want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over and make up your own mind what you will give and That will protect you against sob stories and arm twisting God loves it when the giver delights in the giving So that is in context. I know a lot of people say well That's not talking about giving at the church yet is he's actually talking about giving You know and he says when you sow sparingly if you you you throw a little bit of seed out He says, you know, you, you, you sow seed just a little bit. You're, you're going to just get a little bit. But when you sow a lot, you're going to receive a lot. Now, obviously we know that this scripture has been abused.

We've heard people say, well, if you give a thousand gods, innocent, you 10,000. Where does it say that? It doesn't say that. You know, if some of you have, that's happened to you, praise God. But for most of us, it comes back in different ways. You know, it comes back in different ways. Um, there are so many, I don't mean, I can't even think of the top of my head. Or, you know, but there's so many times where God just bless us and it's not finances. It's health. It's not this. It's that. It's not, you know, there's so many ways, you know, when you give God everything, he's going to give everything back. And I'm not talking money, you know, but. Yeah, so this is, this is important for us to understand that God loves a cheerful giver. You know, it's interesting. Go back to Cain and Abel. Abel gave out of the best that he had. And the Lord loved his gift, his, his, his, his offering. And Cain was all mad. And the Lord didn't receive it. Because honestly, the Lord don't need your money if you really want to hold on to it. The Bible says that he owns all the cattle on the hill, all the silver and gold is his. It's all, it all belongs to him. You know, the way I heard it, it changed my perspective is this, is that it's not giving him 10. It's him letting me keep 90 because it all belongs to him. What do you mean it? I'll be long. I'm the one that went to work really who gave you the air who gave you the strength. It's God that gives, you know, so it's like he gives us 90, you know, so again, we want to be a cheerful giver. We want to be able to, you know, do it with a, with a heart that is open unto giving unto giving to others and to helping others, you know, and again, if you, okay, here's another prison example.

Never once that I get in a fight, did you get in fights, brother? You did 15 years on, but you were only saved. Did you get in fights where you're saved? No, all right. Just the other years. Now, tell me if this is true. I'm looking at you convicts over here. Are you going to get the energy you give out? If you have, if you're a jerk, you're going to get attitude back. If you give respect, what do you get back? Respect back, right? It's the same way. So what you put out is what you're going to get back. I went through six years, not one fight, you know, and it wasn't because like I was cowering in the corner off scared because I treated people with respect and I treated myself with respect, you know, and automatically people respect. You know, so in the same way. So in the same way in the things of God, right, we're going to receive what it is that we put out. So if you're constantly praying for others, if you're constantly worried about others, if you're constantly praying, you know, or ministering to others or everything you do is with the church or with the brothers or with the sisters. Ultimately, that's which that's the energy you're going to get back. That's what you're going to get back, you know, and it's like I'm one person trying to help, but you know what, in the time of trouble, it might be 200 to help me. So in other words, my 1% of me helping others, I get 200% back because when in the time of need, I have 200 people that are willing to help me. Yeah, amen, exactly, the same energy you put out, same energy you get back. You know, and I have had people say that be like, man, how come you don't get in fights and I get in a fight every day almost because you're a jerk, dude. You have an attitude, you're walking around with a chip on your shoulder. So you're just asking for somebody to knock that chip off your shoulder. What do you expect? You know what I mean? So, so when we when we sow bountifully, what are you sowing? If you're sowing bitterness and anger and all this stuff, guess what? That's all you're going to get back in abundance because you're going to you're laying a lot of seed of just negativity everywhere. So guess what your whole day is it be none but negativity because But if you throw out good seed, that's what you're gonna get back. You know, so I'm gonna read that again in the message.

A stingy planter gets a stingy crop. A lavish planter gets a lavish crop. And then he says, I want each of you to take plenty of time to think that over, make up in your own mind what you will give, that will protect you against sob stories and arm twisting because God loves it when the giver delights in the giving. So we always want to be a cheerful giver. And if we're not a cheerful giver, then I think that's something we should pray about. Yeah, exactly. You wanna say something? - Yes, no matter what we give, Jesus said, he'll take care of all of our needs according to his righteousness. He's gonna take care of it. - Yeah, what you do, okay? That's all. - Thank you. All right, Raven, you get the warrior cap. - The name of Jesus, I have defeated you. You have no power. - He's kicked. - In name of Jesus. - I gave him Jesus. - I have defeated you. - You have no power. - Yeah. (laughs) All right.

So, verse where we are eight. Verse eight says, "And God is able." Man, first of all, that's right there, a message right there. You can just drop the mic, God is able. (laughs) "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, "so that having all sufficiency in all things, "at all times, you may abound in every good work. "As it is written, "He has distributed freely, "He has given to the poor, "His righteousness endures forever." Verse 10, "He who supply seed to the sower, "and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed "for sowing and increase the harvest "of your righteousness," verse 11, "You will be enriched in every way, "to be generous in every way, "which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." I'm gonna read it in the message. It says, "God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways, "so that you're ready for anything and everything, "more than just ready to do what needs to be done. "As one psalmist puts it, "he throws caution to the winds, "giving to the needy in reckless abandon. "His right living, right giving ways, "never run out and never wear out." And 11 in the message says, "This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer

"that becomes bread for your meals "is more than extravagant with you. "He gives you something you can then give away, "which grows into full form lives, "robust in God, wealthy in every way, "so that you can be generous in every way, "producing with us great praise to God." I'm gonna throw this in there, is that if you've ever heard me say this, we're either going to be a vase or a funnel. A vase holds everything and gives nothing out. And God will fill your vase. But once your vase is full, that's it. It can't take anymore. But God is not looking for vases, he's looking for funnels. Because a funnel has a big opening, but it never fills, it just continues to pour out. God is looking for spiritual vases that are not gonna hoard what God has given you, and you're gonna be a funnel that'll bless everybody around you. And it's almost like God is saying, you know, you don't realize you wanna be a vase 'cause you wanna hoard what I have. But in essence, if you were a funnel, I would just keep point and keep point and keep pouring. God is looking for funnels. You know, and I don't know about you, but I'm just like, Lord, so what you're saying then

is that if I'm a vase, then you can only give me so much, but if I'm a funnel, you keep pouring. I'd rather be a funnel. I'd rather be a funnel. And I'm just like, all right, God, let me be a funnel. And let me just pour out because the more you pour in, the more God pours out, the more the pours in, the more that pours out. You know, I wanna be a spiritual funnel. And so when I see that, you know, a lot of times, you know, it reminds me of this, that he wants a cheerful giver. the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others." 14, "While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, thanks be to God for this inexpressible gift." I'm going to read it in the message. He says, "Caring out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians." He goes, "This is more than just feeding the poor." Look what he says, "It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God." We need to slow down there. Look, so when we do things, right, you know what's awesome is that we're going to do a grocery giveaway Saturday. We're going to feed hundreds of people and all it takes is a couple hours of your energy and my energy. Think about that. Do you know some people come and they cry? They cry because they literally had nothing for their children. And all it took was two hours of our time. Now think about that. Look what this says, it says, "Caring out this social relief work," because that's what it is, so Saturday is going to be a social relief work. Scripture said, "It involves far more than just helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God." What does Jesus say? "When you fed them, you fed me." So it's far more than just giving chicken to people. It says, "It produces abundant and bountiful thanksgiving to God."

This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, His gift, and no language can praise it enough. So again, he's talking to the church in Corinth, Paul is, but we know that the Holy Spirit is the one that wrote these words through Paul. So even though Paul thought he's writing to the church in Corinth, Holy Spirit was writing it to us. Holy Spirit was writing it for all the churches, all the believers in Christ. I think that's awesome. I think it's a beautiful thing that we all do our part in everything. I know we've been talking about tithing and giving, and some of you aren't working, some of you aren't. Well, be a blessing on Saturday and help us load food. Help us load food and be a blessing, because remember what it said, it's not just meeting their bare knees, it produces abundant and bountiful thanksgiving to God. So in other words, you're saying, "Lord, thank you." And you're thanking God in doing that. I just think it's awesome what it is that God is doing. Oh, it's already eight? All right. Oh, I got some super cats here, wait. I need the Kool-Aid cat for Jimmy Blaze. And the spread cat for Ray. What's up? There it is, spread cat. Everybody gets hungry with that one, especially Mickey. She gets real hungry. All right. I'm going to end it there for next week. We're going to start with we can start clean on chapter 10. Amen. All right. Bible study. Those of you that are here, those that are watching on the screen. We have been doing this great, I guess, series about the life of following Jesus. And like it says on the flyer, it says that we're going to be going through 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians and Jude and 1st 2 Corinthians. And the reason being that I chose these, even though it's going to take months to do, is because, yes, it's important to understand the stories of the Bible. It's important to get those things. But for the most part, we need to learn how to be Christians. We need to learn how to serve God in our everyday lives, in our jobs, in our families, in our relationships, in our social circles. And for that reason, it's important. And I chose these books 1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians, Jude 1 Corinthians, Timothy. We're going to go through line by line, verse by verse, because we want to know about the life of following Jesus. And so for those of you that have been watching and following and learning, it's a blessing. I want to say a shout out to Anthony De La Garza. And he's a brother that used to watch us. He went to be with the Lord, but nevertheless, we always want to give him a shout out, because maybe he's watching from heaven. Amen. So, let's above our heads, Lord God, we thank you for this opportunity. We give you all honor and all glory. I thank you for your scriptures, for your word. We thank you, Lord God, because so many have tried to destroy this word, but kingdoms have failed, but your word prevails. And we just thank you for that, Lord, because now we can read these words for ourselves, for our lives. So, and we just appreciate the fact that we live in a nation where we can openly praise you and worship you and read your word. We thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. So, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And that's where we left off last time. And as you guys know, already, I read out of the ESV, and then I read the same verse in the message Bible. The message Bible is kind of a supplement Bible. It just makes it easier. Just a word of advice. Don't ever use the message Bible as your main Bible, but it's okay if you want to use something else that's easier to understand as a supplement alongside with your study Bible. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, starting at verse 1 and 2, it goes into the words of the Apostle Paul. He's the one that wrote 2 Corinthians, and he says, "I, Paul, myself, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away." Verse 2, "I beg of you that when I am present, I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh." So, we're going to read that in the message. We're going to talk about what's he saying? Why is he saying this? In the message, the same verse 1 and 2, he says, "And now a personal but most urgent matter." He says, "I write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ. I hear that I'm being painted as cringing and wishy-washy when I'm with you, but harsh and demanding when at a safe distance writing letters. Please don't force me to take a hard line when I'm present with you. Don't think that I'll hesitate a single minute to stand up to those who say I'm an unprincipled opportunist. Then they'll have to eat their words." So, remember, this is a letter that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. And a lot of times because it's in the Bible, we forget that it's a real letter written by a real

person with real concerns about a church. Paul started a lot of churches. He was an apostle, an apostle, somebody that establishes churches, an apostle, somebody that establishes leaders. And once he builds that church, then he moves on to start another. So, this is important. So, basically, what he's saying right here is that as he's writing to this church and letting them know, It seems like there was like a kind of a reputation about... person. I mean, how many of you here don't like confrontation? I don't like it. I don't like it. It seems like Paul didn't like it either. He didn't like confrontation. He didn't like it. And so people were like, man, you come all crazy on the letters and then you get here and you're all soft. So apparently that's something that he dealt with. How many times you're like, man, when I see them, I'm going to tell them this and this and then you see them and you switch up. I do it all the time. You know, and so, but according to this, you know, he was the same way. And I think I think what he's saying is, listen, I would rather me straighten things out in this letter than to make it really awkward in person. Can we just get things right? You know, and it says here in the in the in the Bible, he says, I who am humble face to face with you, but bold toward you when I'm away. I'm in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, one and two. And he says, I beg of you that when I am present, I might not have to show boldness with such confidence. He goes, man, don't don't make it awkward for us. Don't make it weird. You know, and that's kind of what he's saying. In verse three, he says, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. And the message is says, the world is unprincipled. It's doggy dog world out there. The world doesn't fight fair, but we don't live or fight or battle that way. What does that mean? He's telling them, listen, he goes, there's always a constant fight that's happening. And again, I'm a reiterate es v chapter chapter 10, verse three, for though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh, even though in other words, he's saying, even though we're here in this world, doesn't mean we fight the way we used to, even though we're still in the flesh. Yeah, I was in the flesh before Christ. I'm still in the flesh now as a as a Christian, but that don't mean I have to live according to the flesh. You know, they I heard the same before is that we our our our soul and our flesh are constantly fighting. And what we feed more is it's going to be stronger. If you're constantly feeding your flesh, then your soul is going to be weak like a raisin

like a, you know, a raisin is a dried up grape. So of course, if you're constantly feeding your flesh, your, your spirit, your soul is always going to be weak all the time. When we were in the world, all we did was feed her flesh. Everything the flesh wanted, everything the flesh desired, constantly, constantly, constantly. But now that we're in Christ, why are we still feeding our flesh? People have asked me, why is it good to fast? There's many good reasons to fast, but one of them is putting your body of submission is you're telling your heart and your mind is telling your body, I'm in charge, not you. You know, the other black about a month ago, there's these drinks, you always see me drink these locomocas. And I was drinking them. And then usually one a day. And I was cool with that. I'm okay, I'm like, because I do pretty good with everything else. I try to eat a lot of protein, all that I'm like, that's like my little pleasure. But here's the thing, man, you go to AMPM and it's cheaper to buy too. So I would say, well, one for tomorrow. Guess what would happen later on that day? I would drink the second one. So even so actually, one was $4, two was $6. And I'm thinking I'm going to save money, but really I was buying $6 and $6 every day. So technically I was paying more. And it got to the point where one day I was drinking one, it was a real hot day. And I told Sharon, I said, yeah, I'm not going to drink these for two weeks. I didn't say never. I said, I'm in charge here. And I don't like the fact that my body wants it and now it wants to today. And I'm like, I'm gonna show my body who's in charge. So boom, two weeks, 14 days. And then I got used to it. I'll probably drink like two a week now. Ever since then. Because a lot of times your flesh is going to want what it wants, and if you never fight against your flesh, your flesh will always win every single time. You know, so coming back to this, he says verse three, "For though we walk in the flesh,

we're not waging war according to the flesh." So now he's talking about spiritually, like before he used to get in fights, but that's not your enemy anymore. People are not your enemy anymore. As Christians, sometimes I see in social media, Christians will get really mad at non-believers because they're saying this or they're saying that or they're protesting this or protesting that and Christians get all fired up. Don't you realize that you were blind like that too? We were all blind to the things of the world. Matter of fact, the Bible says I just said it on Sunday that the God of this world blinds us. So really, are you mad at the protesters or are you mad at the spirit that's guiding them? We don't fight against flesh. We don't fight against people. We're fighting against the demonic oppression that is using them as puppets. Yeah. So this is a constant thing we got to remember all the time. One time I was out here evangelizing right here on I a night that somebody came by and said, "F Jesus Christ." Now my old self, I would have wanted to get in the fight. You know what I did? I smiled and said, "God bless you." Because I knew that by default, if you don't serve Jesus, then you're serving Satan. And if you're serving Satan, you're a slave to Satan.

And if you're a slave to Satan, you're a puppet for Satan. So that was Satan saying that through that person's mouth. Because I understand, because it says here, "For though we walk in the flesh, "we're not waging war according to the flesh." Verse four, "For the weapons of our warfare "are not of the flesh, "but have divine power to destroy strongholds." And the message it says, "The tools of our trade "aren't for marketing or manipulation, "but they are for demolishing "the entire massively corrupt culture." So we are called to destroy the works of the enemy. I can't see who gave the super chat 'cause it's like orange and green, but whoever you are, bam, super cat, thank you. Appreciate you. All right. So, the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. That's an amazing scripture, guys, because again, it kind of intermingles with Sunday Sermon is I want to teach people who they are in Christ, because if you don't know what you have, the power that's in you, the Bible says greater is he who's inside of you, which is Jesus than he who's in the world. So we have to understand who we are. And when we understand who we are,

we don't have to fight against people. We fight against demonic strongholds, but it says here that we have divine power. What's divine from God? We have power from God to destroy strongholds. Wow. So we can destroy strongholds. What's a stronghold? Anywhere we're demonic oppression, when somebody is into voodoo, santeria, witchcraft, whatever it may be, there's a stronghold there. Do you know that people that do that will actually pray for neighborhoods, for drugs to come in, for destruction to come in, for violence to come in? But we have the authority to break those strongholds in the name of Jesus. Because of who we have, they can have 50 million demons, but all we need is a Holy Ghost. And if we have the spirit of God, we can destroy strongholds. I believe there's strongholds over six. They're strongholds over families. We've ever noticed a lot of times in the family, it's like everybody's the next convict or convict, 'cause that's just a stronghold in that family to go to prison. There's other families that there's a lot of sexual lust

in those families, and it goes from generation to generation. It's a stronghold. Suicide, same thing. Drug addiction, alcoholism. Those are strongholds in families. They're strongholds in neighborhoods, they're strongholds in cities and states and nations. But it says here that we have divine power to destroy strongholds. That is powerful, guys. We're not called Christians to just keep a seat warm. We are called to be soldiers. And the Bible says that a soldier doesn't entangle himself with the things of the world. A soldier is there to do one thing, and that is fight. We are called to fight. I'm gonna read it again, verse three. For though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, verse four, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Yeah, go ahead. My good old words, but I'm gonna say this. It made me think about today, when we went to the store, and we've seen that national geographic that had the main headline for national geographic said witchcraft, and it was talking about witchcraft. But I believe that the strongholds and the people will seek into positions and places

where people will go into positions so that they can be used to be able to make it broader and bigger so we can penetrate out into bigger places and so we can go out into the world. So those strongholds can be used for greater and bigger things. And it's crazy because it impacts the world in great ways. Like look at just going into that store and just seeing how a book was generated, national geographic was being generated for a big old cover of witchcraft. And it's like positions, people are getting into positions to be able to penetrate in big quantities and big ways. And then so in that way, it's like that's crazy. What's happening? - Well, I remember there was a movie a long time ago called The Craft. Everybody remember that? It was about like these three or four girls and they got into witchcraft. Do you know when that came out, the rise of Ouija boards and all stuff witchcraft went through the roof and sales? So somebody in Hollywood thought it was a great idea to do this movie about these four teenage high school girls that got into witchcraft. Forget the thing that it blew up in their face in the end 'cause people don't pay attention to that.

You don't think, of course, we're reading here that it wasn't a person, it was a demonic stronghold that got a hold of somebody, some executive, some producer, some director implanted in their head and then they produce it and what happens? So it's the same thing with the National Geographic, like, you know, sometimes like during Easter National Geographic or time, it's time still existed. Magazines were like a whole book on Jesus. So they did this whole thing on witchcraft, we saw it at the store and Sharon took a Spider-Man magazine and covered it over that one, so nobody will see it. (laughs) - If I don't get it, no, I just turn it around 'cause the fact that it will be exacting being in it. - I forget that, I could've painted the cover. - Maria. - But now, with that, now they're doing it in cartoons. - Oh yeah. - And actually making everything. - The new meaning is that they're doing witchcraft being a monster. - It's all over. - And now Disney's just made this movie called "Hats" about a witch coming into power. So now they're targeting the kids. - Yeah, yeah. - 'Cause now the kids are gonna, you know, into it and yeah. - And they're using actual demon things in them too. - Yeah, oh, are they really?

- Yeah, they're using actual demon things in them all. - Wow. - That means the church has to step up and start with our own partner. - But it goes to say, you know, Steve Riggle talks about this a lot as well. those positions. Yeah, you know, we need to step into positions. Why are we afraid? Why are we afraid to go run for positions? Why are we afraid to step into things? Yeah, you know, we cannot become complacent. We need to feel the confidence and we need to feel bold enough to go step into things, go volunteer places, go get involved in a beat, go get out there and stop being complacent. Like you said, just go. Now, yeah, that's all important prayers, important all that. But I think what Sharon is saying is more this is that let me kind of back up here. When when radio first came out, the radio, pastors were against it. It's of the devil. Because some pastors back then were saying, Hey, instead of preaching in our little church, we can get on the radio and hit our whole county. And other pastors attacked that pastor and said, No, that's of the devil. That's of the devil. So all these Christians backed off of radio. And you the church has basically gave the radio to Satan. So then once radio became popular and they're like, Well, maybe it is good. By that time, radio was controlled by Satan. Then came the television. You know, and so all of a sudden television is people start replacing their radios with television. And pastors like we should get on TV because you know what? We can reach our state we can reach bigger and share the gospel and other preachers attacked those preachers and none of that said the devil. So

they so the church backed off of TV and what happened with Hollywood. Let's keep going. Same thing with internet now. People were internet and when until COVID hit, there's a lot of pastors that refuse to live stream their sermons or Bible studies or anything. No, internet to the devil and this and that whatever. So all these Christians backed off. And we have given Satan free reign to the internet. We keep doing this. Instead of actually coming in and saying, you know what? We're going to use a radio for Jesus. We're going to use TV for Jesus. We're going to. I love the fact that Christian films are starting to come out of theaters. And it's important. Why do you think I always show trailers for Christian movies here? You know how many times I've shown a Christian movie and there's people here that say, I didn't even know that came out. You know what? I took my family that day on Sunday. It's important because this world listens to the dollar. And when we go every time we go and pay into a Christian film, that tells Hollywood that we want Christian films. We don't want the garbage you guys are putting out. You know, so we have to do it accordingly like that. So, and with Steve Wrigle, who's the president of Grace International, he goes even further and saying, yeah, let's pray for politicians. But how about even more get a believer to go for a mayor, get a believer to be a judge, get a Christian believer to go for Congress, get a believer to go for for whatever it is, you know, senator or even a president, you know, and they were talking about this, I forgot his name, Pastor Jason, his wife in Texas. So their school district was completely anti Christ. And you know, as parents, you can go to the to the meetings and in the school board and and finally, the wife of this pastor at

Grace International said, I'm sick and tired of this. You know, what I'm gonna run. And this woman, this mother ran for the school board and won. And the moment she came in, another Christian woman came in and another one and another one. Now, the whole area in Houston, every person in charge of the school district is a Christian now. Yes, it's important to pray. Yes, it's important. But the church has to rise up and we keep running to the caves. Yes, we keep in women that just decided to say no more. Yeah, no more. You know, this the pregnancy center where I'm at, you're at the application that they took. You have to be a believer in Christ. The questions were believing in Christ. That's what the resume application, everything that you have to be a believer. The questions were like crazy. I'm like, wow, I love this. It is so important that that there's places that want you to be a believer. We have to go out there and we have to be bold. And I think that this is, I love this because this is what it's saying. Like, we need to be the ones to go out there and break those strongholds. Yeah. And not be, not be, you know, you have to be willing. You know, we're living in the last days right now. We are, and you can see, I can see the evil I was raising in the 50s, how that's a nation that's changed. It's turning more and more evil. And us, we are a valuable. We're the only, we're the salt of the earth. We're the ones that have to go out there and tell them about Jesus. Let them know. Grab a stranger off the street. Somebody you don't know. You know, the easiest thing a Christian can do is tell another Christian about Jesus. You need to tell a husband, leave them. They're all over the place. You know who they are. You see them. Tell them. Start their conversation, man. That's how it starts. You're not a snatcher from the names of the claims of hell. Hell is a real place. You know, Jesus said, hey, you know what? He talked about hell. Boy, he talked about heaven. Thank God you got a pasture here that comes out on the board of God and talks about the cross. He's bold, man. He's not afraid, man. I knew him for a long time now. And he married the mama son here, man. Same way. I love what somebody said. Somebody said other religions are doing it. So why are we not? Yeah, thank you, Bill. Yeah, exactly. You know, we have to be bold. Now, don't give me mixed up. Bold doesn't mean I'm nauseous. Yeah, we plan a seed. Our best message of the gospel is more than our words, it's the way we live. Our walk better, match our talk.

You know, and that's important too, because don't walk around with a Christian shirt and just be rude to everybody. That's not helping the situation at all. You know, so we have to utilize. We have to stand. We are not going to run. We are going to be on the front lines. You know, this is important because we are not fighting against the flesh where there is a spiritual war that is happening. Yeah, keep the armor on. That's a good one. Exactly. So same thing. You know, when I talk to people, I've talked to probation officers. I talked to people even in prison. Praise God that we are Bible studies and our sermons are in prison because I'm convinced that Jesus is the only one that can rehabilitate anybody in prison. It's just, I don't care what program you have, they might teach them how to have life skills and all that. Those are important too, because a lot of them are incarcerated. They don't know how to get a social security number, ID, a job, a resume. Yeah, that's all important, but the heart is not going to change. Only Jesus can change a heart. Only Jesus, not nothing else. It is only Christ because he's the one that breaks the strongholds. So in verse five, he says, "We destroy arguments, and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ." Let's see. All right. So is my voice peeking too high on online, guys, for you guys online? Let me know if it's peeking too much. I could always turn it down from what you guys are hearing. So what verse is that? Five? Okay. In the message, it says, "We use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ." Oh, now I'm too low? Okay. Testing, testing. All right. I put it back where it was. Thank you. So, I like this verse. You know how the enemy wins a lot is because he will throw a temptation at you, and then you think a thought, and the enemy says, "Oh, you thought it, you might as well do it." I want to remind you of something. The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way, yet he had no sin. Now, we have to be careful with this, right? Because a lot of times you can't help but the things you think, especially in this world where there's ads and billboards and this and this and this. And the moment you think it, Satan will say, "Oh, you thought of it." No, I didn't think of it. You put that in my head. The devil will put something in your head. But look what it says, once something goes in your head. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. So what are you gonna do with that thought? Are you gonna kick it out? So you have to bring every thought. It's almost like the Lord has to be the filter of your mind. What are you gonna allow in?

If you have a house that doesn't have some kind of filtering system, your water could be contaminated, right? That's why most of us don't drink our tap water. We buy bottled water. But some people, you have a filter in your house that stops anything from getting in to your water system of your house, your shower, your sink, or whatever. So in the same way, are you allowing Christ to be the filter of what's entering into your heart and your mind? He needs to be the filter, or else you're gonna deal with all kinds of stuff you shouldn't even have to deal with. We bring every thought captive to obey Christ. This is important. This is right here, this little verse here, is where many times will cause you to either succeed or fail in your walk. Because the moment you have a thought and you let it pass through the filter of Christ and then you entertain that thought. Okay, how many of you have had a big bowl of pausole and granuto, right? A big old thing. What if I got a little piece of cat poop and dropped it in? Hey, it's a big old pot. You won't taste it.

I promise you you won't taste it. Would you eat it? Who would eat it? Who would hear me like, you know what? I would eat it. I don't think anybody. (indistinct) That is gross. But we allow that much to enter into our mind. A little bit will corrupt the whole pot. You entertain, you allow a thought to pass through the filter of Christ. It will corrupt your whole spirit and your soul. And all of a sudden that pot's no good. It looks good, it smells good, but it's corrupt, it is filthy. So we don't wanna be that. For the weapons of our warfare and not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds, verse five, we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Verse six, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. (indistinct) And the message on that last part says, "Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground "of every obstruction and building lives "of obedience into maturity." I was watching this YouTube me and Sharon the other day

and this guy and his wife, they wanted to put this mobile home on these six acres of land. And before they moved in, they had to do some tests. Like they had to make sure they could put a septic tank in, they had to make sure PG&E could put electricity out there. They had to do a lot of things. But the moment they realized the ground was good, there was trees and brush everywhere. They had to figure out where's this house going and they cleared everything. They had to get a tractor and clear the land where they were gonna build the house. So let me ask you this. Have you cleared the land of your spiritual house? Because here's the problem. A lot of people don't clear the land. So you come into Christ, you cry to the Lord at the altar call, but you never cleared the land. You know what's gonna happen? You don't have a strong foundation and you will last two, three, six months and that's it. And you will fall away because you never tested the ground. It is important where your ground is. That's why it's so important of where you attend church. It's important of where your Bible study is. It's important of what YouTube videos are you watching? What channels are you watching? Who are you letting clear your ground?

Or clearing your ground at all? That is a dangerous thing to put a house little bit. What happens if there's a sinkhole? What happens if there's sand down there? What happens if you try to plant a garden not realizing if you bunch of sand there's no dirt? Nothing's going to grow. So how are you preparing your land? Your spiritual where you're raising your spiritual house? It's a faulty foundation. Exactly. Yeah. That's Colossians 3-1? Yeah. It's a center of mind on things above and on. Amen. Exactly. That's a good word. Verse 7. We're going to read 7 and 8 in the ESV. It says, "Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ, so also are we. 8. For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed." 7 and 8 in the message says this. He says, "You stare and stare at the obvious, but you can't see the forest for the trees. If you're looking for a clear example of someone on Christ's side, why do you so quickly cut me out? Believe me, I am quite sure of my standing with Christ. You may think I overstate the authority he gave me, but I'm not backing off. Every bit of my commitment is for the purpose of building you up after all, not tearing you down. I love this. Okay. So this is interesting because what Paul is saying is this. He says, in other words, this is what he's saying between the lines. He says, "I helped establish this church in Corinth." He says, "And when I see something wrong, I'm bringing correction." He goes, "But now that I'm bringing correction, now you're going to saying I'm overstating my authority." Who are you Paul to say anything? And that's why he says here, he says, "You may think I overstate the authority that he gave me." He says, "But I'm not backing off." He goes, "I'm not apologizing. If I come harsh, it's because of this reason," he says, "my commitment is to build you up, not tear you down." So I have said this many times, guys. I've had people say, so be careful of who you call your pastor. I'm going to tell you why. I have had people tell me to my face, you're my pastor, man. You're my pastor. But the second I see something that ain't right in their lives, I'll sit them down and be like, "Hey, brother, you know, your good brother, blah, blah, this and that." But you know what? I see this and let me tell you, I've seen this happen before,

you're going in the wrong direction. And they get mad, I never see them again. You know what that tells me? I was never your pastor. So if you can't receive, because this is what Paul is saying, you think I'm correcting you to destroy you? No, I'm correcting you to help you, to build you. And if you can't take that from me that I'm not your pastor and you're wasting your time here, you should go find somewhere where you can be corrected. Find somebody where you can, where you trust them, because in essence, then what you're saying is you don't trust me. And then you're wasting your time and mine. Plant yourself at a place where you're like, "You know what? I know the true Word of God is preached here. I know that there's wisdom here. And I know that if my pastor says something, he's doing it to build me up not to destroy me. If a pastor is there to destroy you, he's not a pastor. You know, so we have to be careful. I like this the fact that Paul is saying, "Listen, I'm not going to apologize. Let me read it in the message again so you get what I'm saying." He says, "You may think I overstate the authority that he gave me." He says, "I'm not backing off." He says, "Every bit of my commitment is for the purpose of building you up. After all, not tearing you down." So this is important. This is key, guys. Now, does this mean that I'm perfect? I'm going to - Say the perfect one. Right? No, we all say things wrong, but that's not my intention. My intention is not that. My intention is always going to be to build you up, you know? And so, you know, the worst part, the worst part, is if I say something to somebody, and it's one thing, if they get upset about it, I'm like, well, then I was never your pastor. You know, the worst part is when somebody hears something I say, they take it wrong. It's not even what I meant. And they leave without telling me saying, Hey, pastor, you know what, you said that that really offended me. What did you mean by that? Oh, I meant this and this and this. And they would have been like, you know what, I'm glad I asked because I was about to leave. But now that you've explained what you mean, man, thank you. But most people don't give me that opportunity. They just bounce. They just bounce. You know what I mean? So again, that tells me I was never your pastor then. Yeah, there's people I call my pastor, Pastor Larry from Grace International. He's in Livermore. You know, I'm like a perfect child, but there's a couple of times where he's corrected me. A couple of times where he's like, huh, that's probably not the right, you know, and, and I hear him out. Why? Because he's been in ministry for 50 years. He has a little bit of a

jump on me. And he'll explain there's times, you know, where he has, I don't want to say correct, but given his wisdom to me and Sharon. And I'm just like, man, I'm going to break wall here, pastor. I don't know what to do. I think we're just going to slam into this wall. And he's like, whoa, hold on. And then he'll say things. And I'll be like, Oh, that makes sense. You know, now imagine if I didn't like it and I just rejected, then he that means he's not my pastor. You know, so now that goes two ways though, right? Because if I'm telling you that I'm your pastor, then I have to live up to that expectation too. It goes both ways. It's not about I'm the pastor you submit. No, it's about I'm making a commitment that that everything I say and do is going to be to build you up and better you. And everything I do in my life is going to be an example for you to follow. I love the fact that Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. That's a confident man to say, Hey, man, just follow me because I'm going to lead you to the Lord. And we should all be able to say that because every person should have somebody that teaches you and pouring into you and you should be pouring into somebody else. I'm telling you right now, you will not feel fulfilled until you're pouring in what somebody else is pouring on you. That's the way it's supposed to be. And if you don't know who that is, then you better, you got to find that person that you can pour into. There's a completion that needs to be done here because that's the way it works. That's the way the gospel works. Go out to the world and make disciples of all nations. That's what it says. You know, we have this bridges program that Marcelo runs and right now we have two guys in it who watched us online and now they join it. You know what happens when somebody shows up now that says, Oh man, I used to watch you online. I'm expecting these two to pour into him. That's my expectation because I've been pointing to you for months, pointing to Marcelo, Marcelo pours into them. You need to be pointing to others. That's just the way it goes. The Bible says, let older men teach to younger men, older women teach to younger women. There's an obligation. If you were an older woman, I'm not going to say what age is old because then your women are going to jump me. But whatever age you are, there's always somebody younger. Sometimes it doesn't have to be by age. It could be spiritually younger. Pour into them. I guarantee you ladies that if you are older, there's life lessons you have lived through that these young women need to know. Same thing with young men. There's things they need to know. And you might think that you don't have nothing to teach, but if you're alive and you've gone through some stuff, trust me, there's stuff you can teach. There is something you have gone

through that you can show. I'll just sit in here with Pastor Armando. Pastor Lorena has a really, really serious surgery today. And I told him you know I said there's some things I want I want to teach you and sit with you There's things that it took me 15 years to learn Why should it take you 15 you can learn it now You know because even though he's a pastor. He's our Spanish pastor. I have been pastoring for more years So obviously there's something I have that I can instill on him why have him relearn it when I'm here Same thing with with dads and moms, you know My dad used to tell me He says if all you do is hang around people your age. You're all gonna be old and dumb See my dad runs with the flag, but that's how he'll talk to us raising us One time he told one of pastor Angel's friends. He was a you believe in God and his friends is no He was what are you stupid or something? My dad's a rancher man, so he's in a talk like that And that friend later on got saved years later and came back to my dad and said I'm stupid anymore You know so this is important guys that we teach and we be teach a bowl be teachable That's why it's important who you call pastor because You have to have somebody that isn't gonna tear you down You want somebody? It's gonna build you up So where are we at here? Seven and eight so nine nine three eleven Okay nine says this He says I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters For they say his letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech of no account Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent we do when present What is he saying there? Let's read it in the message and get a better idea of what he's saying He says what's this talk about me bullying you with my letters? His letters are brawny and potent, but in person he's a weakling and mumbles when he talks

Such talk won't survive scrutiny What we write when away we do in present with the exact same people absent or present in letter or in person You know so I don't know I don't know what Paul look like I don't know if you look like a little scrawny guy have no idea what he look like Maybe like man, this guy's writing powerful letters and then Paul would show up and he'd be some some I Don't know I have no idea what he looked like But nevertheless, you know, I love the fact of what he's telling them. He's like listen What I write to you is what I'm gonna stand on when I'm there in person I'm gonna be the same person on the phone. I'm gonna be the same person in the email I'm be the same person on the pulpit. I'm gonna be the same person in a Bible study I'm gonna be the same person when you visit me in my living room I'm gonna be the same person and that is important. I think for all of us Do not be two different people one person in church around church people and another person when you're away Because you know what I might not see you, but God does The Lord sees all things. I Don't know about you, but I was Raven. Okay, Raven gets I'm not giving her the cheesecake. Oh No, look, you know what she's getting the prayer cat Thank you, thank you Raven All right, so what were they saying? Somebody remind me Yeah, don't be two different people. I'll tell you one of the things that I love the most about giving my life to the Lord Was not living a double triple quadruple life. I Was completely different to my parents completely different To the mother of my kids completely different to somebody just I was just completely there I was like man, it was hard trying to keep up with all the lies I'm like man at the end of the day. I'm just like man. This is exhausting What light did I tell you? Where did I tell you? It really was what it's like man when I gave my life to the Lord It felt so good. It felt so good so free to be who I'm called to be and that is it You know and and that is a beautiful thing, man. I'm telling you If you live in a double life and you're tired, that's why

Just be who you're gonna be in Christ And that's it You know who you who you see right now Bible study I mean, that's why a lot of the times, We ain't so good man, but you know what you're gonna feel it, you know, and I'm just like we're just gonna be real Because I got no time to be fake and you shouldn't have time to be fake Be who you're called to be in Christ and that's it. Does that mean that you're all happy and joyful all the time? No, sometimes You know, sometimes their life hits you Sometimes you're down sometimes situations happen. Sometimes somebody's in the hospital and you're down. We know what you do You pray with each other You know, you're there for each other you know brother Ruben yesterday, you know, if you don't mind me sharing your mom's in the hospital and and You came into bridges with your face down man, you know, and Juan you were like man What's wrong and you started just sharing a little bit about your mom and what did we do we prayed? I said, you know what we're gonna pray right now We're gonna pray right now Because that's what bridges is about and by the end of that hour. He got a text He got a text and it was his sister saying mom got her strength back and she's talking and feeling good You know I'm saying like this is what we do We come together. We pray for each other. We lift each other up. We encourage each other. That's what we're supposed to do That's important and that should be happening at the women's discipleship or what do you call it? Women's discipleship it should happen with the ushers and greeters. It should happen with the worship team It should happen with, you know, how are you doing? What's going on? Hey, what's happening? Let's pray Let's encourage each other because some days some some Sundays you're gonna be like man I don't you want to be here and some Sundays you want to be here and somebody else don't you're like You know what? I felt like that last week, but you know what God is good man We're breathing and this and this and this you encourage you lift each other up That's so important you know, that's important so We need to be the exact same people absent or present in letter or in person. This is important for us guys

verse 12 He says not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another they are without Understanding. What does he mean? I'm gonna read it in the message. We'll talk about it It says we're not Understand putting ourselves in the league with those who boast that they are superiors. We wouldn't dare do that But in all this comparing and grading and competing They quite missed the point Okay, this is important to understand the the context. So here's what was happening guys when Paul would he's an apostle He would go to different cities and establish a church He would go to Ephesus raise up leaders leave a pastor leave elders, you know Worship team whatever it is and then he would move on went to Corinth went to the Selenika went to Galatia went to so he would do this once he would leave Other evangelist speakers would come That spoke better than Paul. Maybe we're more handsome than Paul. Maybe for whatever reason they would show up and They would just exalt themselves They would exalt themselves That's why I'm really careful in who I let behind this pulpit you Trust me. I've had some people come and say I want to God is calling me to speak at your church I'm like, okay, I'll let you know when God tells me Cuz I don't know you and if I don't know you I don't know you I'm really careful because in the past. I've let people speak behind this pulpit. Oh, man all bad and Once they're up on the pulpit. I'm sitting there like what did I do? What did I do now? I got to play cleanup for the next two months of all the garbage they were preaching out so Clearly some people were coming to the churches that Paul was establishing and they were making themselves out to be like these super Christians Making them exalting themselves making themselves seem like there's something bigger Hey Ray, what's up? Let's see. I'm gonna give you The Moses cat and the 10 Komalments Hey, man. Thank you. Thank you brother. So and sister

So this is important, right? So we need to be really careful What verse am I at? 12 okay, so they were coming along and making themselves superior, you know and [BLANK_AUDIO] Don't chase titles don't ever chase titles. Who cares about titles pastor apostle evangelist teacher or whatever Just be if God called you to do that. Just do it Just do what it is that God has called you to do and that's it There's only one title that's important the king of king and the lord of lords That's the only title his title. There is no other title important. There's nobody better than anybody else There's nobody superior over anybody else and that's what Paul is saying. He says man. These people are coming acting superior He says we wouldn't dare do that. We're not gonna do that He says but in all this comparing and grading and competing they missed the point Verse 13 and 14 It says We out here He says but we will not boast beyond limits But we'll boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us to reach even to you For we are not overextending ourselves as though we did not reach you But we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ This is good. I'm gonna read it in the message He says we aren't making outrageous claims here. We're sticking to the limits of what God has set for us But there can't be no question that those limits reached you and include you. We're not moving into someone else's territory We were already there with you. Weren't we we were the first ones to get there with the message of Christ, right? So how can there be any question of overstepping our bounds by writing or visiting you? I? Like that because basically what he's saying is in to make it real simple. He goes man. We're staying in our lane We're staying in our lane We each of us have a circle of influence guys there's people in your life That I can't speak into their life, but you can There's people that will not step foot into this place But you know what you get the sermons make it your own words and you share it to them and bring him to the Lord

We stay in our lane. There's each of us has a circle of influence each of us has a boundaries or whatever, you know Like for instance me. I know I'm not called to preach to the president Because you know how I know Because those doors ain't open to me But I guarantee you somebody has that influence whether the president wants to hear or not That's that's a whole other issue. That's between that person and God But I know God has put people of influence and open doors for the White House God has has opened doors of influence for the judges and the mayor in this city got it, you know, so That's what he's saying and so he's saying this to the Corinthian church He says I know for a fact that God has called me to reach Corinth because didn't we establish this church together and You see you're letting these outsiders now come and bring influence What is that he's saying? They're overstepping their boundaries You know, so that's something that is saying Sandra Vargas. Let's see Let's see I'm a giver Where's it at the Kool-Aid cat? That's my favorite one of my favorites But I need one more because somebody's got to get the spread cat Verse 15 and 18 and we'll finish up this chapter It says we do not boast beyond limit in the labor of others But our hope is that your faith increases and our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged So that we may preach the gospel and lands beyond you Without boasting of work already done in another areas of influence in another's area of influence 17 let the one who boasts boast in the Lord For it is not the one who commends himself who's approved, but the one whom the Lord commends Let's read it in the message and we'll talk about it and we'll wrap this up Get into prayer and verse 15 in the message says we're not barging in on the rightful work of others interfering with their ministries demanding a place in the Sun with them What we're hoping for is that as your lives grow in faith, you'll play a part within our expanding work and

We'll all still be within the limits God sets as we proclaim the message in countries beyond Corinth But we have no intention of moving in on what others have done and taking credit for it. What you say about yourself means nothing in God's work. It's what God says about you that makes the difference. What is this talking about? You know what I don't do? I don't show up to another church's ministry giving them flyers to attend house arrest. Neither should people do that here. They need to stay in their lane. I stay in mine. We shouldn't, we're not in gangs here. Hey, join my gang. You know, in the message he says, "We're not barging in on the rightful work of others." And unfortunately that happens a lot. I remember one time, I forgot what it was. Oh, we were at a church in Stockton. We went to a, I forgot what it was. And I don't even remember why we invited people to the house. And there was a person that called himself a prophet. And in the midst of that, it was weird because this is my house, my living room. But the second I walked out, he tried to get these people and his ministry. In my own living room, you know? And I'm just like, you're weird, bro. You know what I mean? Like that's just weird. We shouldn't do that.

We shouldn't do that. We just live our lives, live our life in Christ. If somebody asks you where you attend, that's one thing. You know what I've told so many people. Okay, I'll end it with this. We were at a coffee shop a couple days ago, I think Monday or Tuesday. And I turned around and I saw these two young men, like they're 24, 25 years old. They had their Bibles open in a coffee shop. When do you see young people with their Bibles open in a coffee shop? And I don't think Sharon noticed them. I turn around and I was like, and I turned around, I put my hand on one of their shoulders. You looked at me like I was in a rob them, no, but. And I'm like, hey, I said, I just want to tell you, I love to see young men with their words open. I said, man, I encourage you guys keep doing that. And I said, what's your name? What's your name? And I said, well, my name's Dave Rocha and Sharon. And we had, we're pastors of House of Rest. And one of them said, well, I think I know where that's at. And then I noticed one of them had a shirt and I recognized that church. I'm like, oh, I said, I think your church is not far from our house. I said, man, that's awesome. I love the fact, I don't know what your pastor's doing,

but he's doing something right. If he has his 20-year-olds and a coffee shop with their Bibles open, praise God. That's it. I wasn't like, amen, let me get you a flired house of rest. No. I encourage them in the lane they're in. - Worship, worship something and I told them to invite our son. - Yeah. - I said, my son would love to go to that, you know? I think that would be great, you know? So I think it would be great fellowship for, you know? - Yeah, because there's a lot of the young people who get together, you know? And I love the fact that in the midst of that, the young man respected that we don't do nothing here on Thursdays. - Yeah. - And that was cool, you know what I mean? - And he said, yeah, I'd love to invite him. So I connected them. - Yeah, and it was also because, and then in the midst of that, the young man, one of them said, you know, I'm studying to be a pastor. You know, and so it's not about trying to recruit into your church, or recruit into your ministry. - Yeah, and I told him, I said, well, maybe we'll run into you again, you know? And he's like, yeah, you know, and that was it, you know? So I love the fact that I'll practical this is,

you know, in this church. And even if you ever see my post on Facebook for say Sunday sermon, I always put the flyer up. And I will say, if you don't have a house church, come check us out, and I'll put the flyer. I'm not like, hey, leave your church and come here. No, that is wrong, you know what I mean? And unfortunately people do that with our people, but I won't do it back, you know? But that is, that's what it is, amen. We gotta face God with that. Eventually we're gonna face God for everything, the Bible says, you know? So, and I say that because I have seen people get recruited to other ministries out of here. And within six months, they're back in the world, you know? foundation at all, and they fall away. Not always. Some people have left and they flourish and praise God. Welcome to our Wednesday evening Bible study here at House of Rest Church, where Jesus is the senior pastor. We believe there's a seat with your name on it, and we're so glad you chose to spend your Wednesday evening with us. House of Rest Church was established in 2011, and by the grace of God, we're still going strong all in the name of Jesus. Here's our QR code. Your one-stop place for everything happening at House of Rest Church. You'll find our weekly schedule, upcoming events, giving information, service times, baptism sign-ups, and much more. You'll also find QR codes throughout the church in the lobby, in our different rooms, and even

on many of the seats. Make sure you check our website often, because there is always something happening at House of Rest. Every Wednesday at 6.45 p.m., we come together for worship, Bible study, and prayer. And there's something for the next generation, too. Our youth ministry, for students in 7th through 12th grade, meets at the same time, along with our young adults' ministry, for ages 18 to 30. There's a place for everyone to connect, grow, and build relationships. Also available is bridges, our re-entry ministry for men and women who have been released from incarceration. We understand that coming home can bring challenges, and you don't have to walk through them alone. We want to partner with you as you acclimate back into society, grow in your relationship with Christ, develop practical life skills, and become everything the Lord has called you to be. Someone from our team will contact you and help you get connected. Don't forget about our school online discipleship community. You can continue growing in your faith throughout the week, with classes like Learning to Hear God's Voice, Church History, and many more. We're continually adding new classes and resources, so make sure you check back often. At House of Rest Church, Sunday morning is just the beginning. There's a place for you to worship, learn, serve, grow, and become everything God has called you to be. Thank you for joining us at House of Rest Church Modesto. We are a Grace International Church, part of a global family of more than 5,000 churches worldwide. Welcome home. All right. Okay, so welcome to our Wednesday study. I know last week I had some superchats that I didn't see, so right away I want to get those.

All right, we give a shout out to Anthony. Dr. Legarza also, let's see. So let's bow our heads, Lord God, we thank you for this opportunity, Lord, to have Bible study, to have fellowship, to open your scriptures. We thank you so much, Lord, and we pray that our hearts and minds be open to receive what it is that you have to say to us through your word. We thank you in Jesus' name, Amen. All right. So how's everybody doing? Good, blessed, Amen. All right, okay, we got another one coming. So we are in chapter 10 or, no, hold on, 11. Yeah, chapter 11, second Corinthians chapter 11 is where we left off last time and I always read through ESV and then we read through the message Bible, the same passage. In Corinthians chapter 11. the same passage. Okay, so again, for those of you who have been in this study, you already know this, but those that haven't, I just want to remind you that the reason we're doing this study is because we wanted to study the life of a Christian, the life of following Jesus, and I chose 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians, one of the main ones because it gives us a practical study because a lot of times when we think of Christianity, we think of these real lofty ideas, and what we don't want is these lofty ideas of how to be a Christian, then you go back to work, and you go back to your job, and you go back to your marriage, you go back to your home, and you're just like, I need some practical ways of living a Christian life, and that's why I chose 1 Corinthians that we studied through, and now 2 Corinthians, to give us a better understanding of just practical serving the Lord in our regular lives, and that's why I like this so much because Paul hits different subjects throughout 2 Corinthians that I believe apply not only at the context of what was happening at that time, but also helps us in our lives today, you know, so we're gonna go ahead and start right away, we read a little bit, talk about it, read a little bit, talk about it, we read it in the message

in case sometimes we want to get a better understanding, so 2 Corinthians chapter 11, we're gonna read 1 through 3, and again this is a letter that he's writing to that church, so if it sounds like a letter it's because it is, and he says, "I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness, do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ, but I'm afraid that as a serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." Before we talk about that, like what is he talking about, we're gonna read it in the message, and it says this, he says, "Will you put up with the little foolish aside from me? Please, just give me a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much. This is the passion of God burning inside me. I promise your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband, and now I'm afraid that exactly as the snake seduced Eve with his smooth tongue, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ." What is he talking about? We gotta understand the context is Paul's mission was to go to places that hadn't heard of Christ, and he would establish the church there. He would bring people to the Lord, he would raise them up as leaders, and then he would start a church there, and then he would do the same thing and same thing and same thing. So in a sense, he almost felt like a father to those churches, because he planted those churches. He put blood, sweat, and tears into those churches. Many of these cities, he would stay there for weeks and weeks and weeks pouring into people and helping them become the leaders that they were to be, and then he would leave. And he would leave what he thought was a well-established solid church, but then the moment he would leave, false teachers would come in and try to take over. And unfortunately, this is what was happening over and over and over for Paul. Everywhere he went to establish something, somebody else would come along and try to take over what he established.

You know what's hurtful about that is the fact that why didn't these people come and establish their own thing, but it was much less easier to build upon something somebody else built. That's what it's about, it was just easier. And that's why he's saying, I'm going to sound a little foolish, I'm going to sound a little jealous, he says, but man, I care about you so much. I presented you to Christ. That's all my job was to present you to Christ, but in the same way that the snake seduced Eve with this smooth tongue, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. So this is happening and he compared it to the surface. that she wasn't supposed to eat. You know, so it's unfortunate that this still happens today. This still goes on today. Unfortunately, this happens even outside of ministry, even within ministry, even outside anything, but it happens in churches, it happens in things like that a lot. And to be honest, it's never gonna stop. Somebody will always try to build on something that you put your sweat into. And it's just like, it's not fair, but it's reality. You know, let's keep reading, what else is he saying? In verse four, he says, "For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus, then the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted,

you put up with it readily enough." Verse five, "Indeed I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles." He's almost being sarcastic. He says, in verse six, "Even as I am unskilled and speaking, I am not so in knowledge. Indeed, in every way, we have made this plain to you in all things." Are we gonna read in the message and talk about it? In the message in four through six, it says, "It seems as if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus and we preach, a different spirit, a different message, and you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big shot apostles, why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true, I don't have their voice. I haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything." So obviously, he's taking a shot at these people that were coming, they're calling themselves these big shot apostles. And he's like, "Man, maybe I don't talk like them.

Maybe I don't look like them. Maybe I'm not as eloquent as them. I'm not as, you know, just, just attention grabbing. He's, "Maybe I'm not like them, but at least I know what I'm talking about. At least I know what the word of God says. At least I know who I'm preaching about. You know, you gotta always regard us of where you go. You gotta be careful on what somebody's saying. Don't always, presentation is nice. Let's say somebody has a dinner plate and they present it beautifully, but it's poison. So presentation is nice, only if the food is good. And we have to be careful in this day and age. And sometimes in the ministry, the presentation could be really nice, but the things are feeding you, it's poison. And I think as we go more and more closer to the end days, that's gonna get more and more blurred. We have to be in our word. We have to know our word. Don't ever, don't ever trust the pastor to teach you the Bible. Read the Bible on your own, because then what it should be is that when you come to hear a preacher preach, it should be a confirmation of what God has been telling you as you're reading your own word. Because the time is coming, the Bible says where people will come with false teachings and deceiving spirits.

And we have to be very careful. And so Paul is like, you know what's awesome? Not awesome, but it is awesome. The fact that we see this happening back then too. So it's not something new. This has been always happening, you know? So Why can't you put up with simple me? You know and and I like that I like that about but what he's saying and I really like when he says I Might not have their voice, but I know what I'm talking about And I think that's awesome. You know that that he can just share that I'm gonna read it again in the ESV verse 5 indeed I consider that I'm not in the least inferior to these super apostles Even if I am unskilled and speaking I am not so in knowledge Indeed in every way we have made this plane to you in all things You know and yeah Marcelo here says oftentimes they will manipulate scripture and And that is true that is why we need to learn not only not only scripture But the context of scripture We have to We can always Somebody can always take scripture it's like cherry-picking a verse and Make it into what they want you to believe it says This isn't okay, perfect example. This is why we do this kind of teaching on Wednesdays Don't we go line by line verse by verse so we don't get out of context? Because you know like for instance if it's a Bible study let it be a Bible study not a cherry-picking Hour of the preacher or the teacher whatever cherry-picking his scriptures to make it and twist it whatever he wants it to say We're reading word word line by line so we get things in context and understand things in context

Because that's important My job is not to make you like me. My job is to bring you closer to Jesus. That's it That's it. That's all it is. Oh hey. Thank you for that. Let's see. Let's get you a the Horton here, you know and um Understanding context is is it's so so important, you know I'll give you an example of some of if you've heard it already I'm sorry, but some of you have never heard this little story is I Was at a place called terminal island and in terminal island you couldn't have tomatoes as a Christian because if you did it means they were stolen from the kitchen and So imagine I'm there for a few years and As a Christian, I don't have tomatoes in my locker because I'm not a thief because I'm a believer of Christ So imagine I I leave that place and I come home my dad's a tomato grower. He literally has he just gave me tomatoes on Sunday But imagine if I wrote a letter back to the brothers in terminal island and I said hey brother How's everything doing hope you're doing good stay encouraging the Lord and stay away from the tomatoes imagine a hundred years goes by and for whatever reason a Christians find my letter and They read the letter and they're like oh, this is from that pastor pastor David from House of rest and oh wow me, you know, let's say for whatever reason my letter would be important I don't know and they're reading the letter. They're like amen praise God and they read the end the ps stay away from the tomatoes And that'd be like oh my god. We're sinning we eat tomatoes every day So half of the church says no that that's probably not right He probably didn't mean that other church saying no his said it. He said it. He said it. Don't eat tomatoes So the church splits because of tomatoes and Then half of its beliefs its sin and the other half believes that they don't have the full understanding When in actuality it was just meant for terminal island Because if you had tomatoes as a Christian it means you stole it from the kitchen and you shouldn't steal So they wouldn't understand the context

Nothing wrong with tomatoes tomatoes are awesome It was just in the context of what was happening there So every time we read these letters or we read scripture It's always we have to know the what why the where in the who in the house? we have to know what it meant to their life first. That's why there's all kinds of denominations everywhere. Because people have understood things out of context. You know, I'll be honest with you. I don't like to say we're a non-denominational church. I really don't like that because a non-denominational has become a denomination unto itself. So I really don't like that term to be honest with you. But remember when I gave my life to the Lord, you know, I'm just like people be like, what are you Pentecost or are you Baptist or this, or this, and this, you know. And I'm not gonna serve God through the filter of nothing. I wanna serve God through the filter, the scriptures. And my understanding of the scriptures. You know, I remember having a conversation with a chaplain, and I told him, I said, you know, 'cause I was a new Christian at that time. And I went, well, yeah, it was about three, four years in the Lord. And I said, you know, do you believe that when we die, we go to heaven, do you believe we sleep? You know, I said, 'cause I was just learning the Bible, I was trying to learn as much as I could. And I was honestly asking him, you know, and he says, well, he was, well, you know, I believe that when we die,

we stay asleep. And someday, in the great white throne judgment, we all rise up. And I said, okay. I said, man, don't get mad past him, chaplain. I said, don't get it, I kind of think the opposite. He goes, what do you mean? I said, well, I think that the Bible says to be absent of this body is to be present with the Lord. I said, the Bible says that Jesus is, that he's not of the God of the dead, the God of the living. He tells the criminal today, you will be with me in paradise. You know, so he says, no, he goes, I respect what you're saying, you know? And again, I'm a new Christian talking to this chaplain who's been, you know, chaplain for a couple of decades. And he says, well, you know, David, he goes, what you're saying is very compelling that I get it. I know those scriptures, he goes, and this would bug me. He says, but if it's compelling, but if I follow after what you're saying, I would go against my denomination. That's when I made up my mind, where I was gonna say, well, I'm not gonna be a denomination. 'Cause I'm not gonna allow denomination to hinder me from what I read in the word. A denomination is basically saying, oh, read your Bible within these little, you know, those things that pop up when you're bowling.

Oh, read the Bible all you want long as you stay in this lane. The bumper, yeah. Yeah, like a horse with the blinders. And it was then where I said, Lord, you know, and I'm just like, I need to just, if this Bible was onions, then let's start peeling this now. 'Cause when I, my first six years of my life, I was in a place, read a lot of time, you know, and just wanted to peel this onion to get to the core of it and I'm 22 years in, I'm still peeling the onions, you know, but that's my thing is in case you come here and you're in case you're like, what's different about here? I just told you the difference. 'Cause my thing, my goal is not to make you a Pentecostal Baptist, this, and my goal is to understand his word, to bring us closer to Christ, to get a deeper understanding of his word, a deeper understanding of what he's saying he is, because I don't ever wanna be one of these big shot apostles that Paul's talking about. 'Cause he says it seems like someone shows up preaching another Jesus and the one we preached. And I don't ever wanna be that, nor do I ever want any one of you to be that. We just wanna, we just wanna follow Jesus, right? I mean, isn't that what this is about? It's following Jesus, you know, and again,

I don't wanna ever read Scripture and shape it to fit what I wanted to say. Every time I read Scripture, I'm like, Lord, shape me to fit what you want me to be, not the other way around. So in verse seven, he says, "Did I commit a sin in humbling myself "so that you might be exalted? "Because I preached God's God, In the message, he says, "I wonder did I make a bad mistake "in proclaiming God's message to you "without asking for something in return, "serving you free of charge "so that you wouldn't be an inconvenience to me?" Verse eight. He says, "I robbed other churches "by accepting support from them in order to serve you. "And when I was with you and was in need, "I did not burden anyone "for the brothers who came from Macedonia "supplied my need. "So I refrained and were refrained "from burdening you in any way." And the message he says, "It turns out that the other churches "paid my way so that you could have a free ride. "Not once during the time I lived among you "did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out? "My needs were always supplied by the believers

"from Macedonia province. "I was careful never to be a burden to you "and I never will be. "You can count on it." So what was happening here, now this is interesting, right? Because the Corinthian church was very well off. I don't know, I wouldn't go as far as saying it was a rich church. But see, Corinth was a port city, like Long Beach, Houston. Always import, export, always things good. So there was a lot of work to be done. So there was a working class people, they had money. Now Macedonia, notice he says to Macedonia, he says, "You know what? "I'm glad that I didn't ask nothing of you guys." Because here's what was happening, right? Is some of the people in Corinth are saying, "Oh, you're all about the money." And if you were here last week, we talked about that in the previous chapter. And he's saying, "You know what, "since you're saying I'm all about the money, "I'm so glad I never asked the interview for a penny." He says, "You know what? "Macedonia's the one that paid for this." He goes, "I'm preaching to you on their dime." Now you know what he said in the previous chapter about Macedonia, that they were poor.

So the poor church supported Paul to go to the working class church to preach. That's kind of embarrassing. So in verse, what are we, 11 or 10? Okay, well, no, I'm on 10 here. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of a chai. And why? Because I do not love you. God knows I do. I'm gonna read 12th also. And what am I doing? I will continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission, they work on the same terms as we do. And the message just says, "My needs were always supplied by the believers "for Macedonia province. "I was careful not to be a burden to you, "and I never will be. "You can count on it. "With Christ as my witness, "it's a point of honor with me, "and I'm not gonna keep it quiet, "just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. "It's not that I don't love you. "God knows I do. "I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us."

Mia Pacheco, let's see. What do we got here? Victory in name of Jesus. I have defeated you. You have no-- All right. So for whatever reason, again, the context of it, whatever was going on at that time, in that place, it makes me think, now this is my opinion, it makes me wonder and think with these big shot apostles that were coming in, were they asking for money? Were they coming in? They're like, oh man, this is a city. They got money, they disin' that. So they were asking for money, and here Paul is like, man, I'm feeling a little jealous, man. I established his church. He was a matter of fact, I haven't asked you guys for nothing. And then he comes back and says, I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad I didn't. You know, I've had a few handful of people that knew me from my past because I used to be in a music industry. And I have seen comments. I try not to read comments about me, but sometimes I do. I went on there on purpose because I was hoping I could compel people to Jesus.

And there was a couple comments, most of them were positive. And one of them was like, "Oh, he's doing it for the money. He's preaching for the money." And I'm like, I've been pastoring house arrest. I'm not on payrolls. I mean, 15 years now. How much longer do I got to prove that I do this because I love Jesus? How much longer? I'm pretty sure I can think of other ways. If it was about money, there's all kinds of other things I could be doing. I'm not like, "You know what I could do to make money?" That's right. I'm a preacher Modesto. The county and the city with the lowest financial status in California. That's where I'll start a church. Well, you know, that's what I get for reading comments. In verse 12. I think, or I read 12 already, 13. He says, "But we will not boast beyond limits. But we'll boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us to reach even to you." And the message he says, "I'm not changing my position on this. I will die before taking your money." I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money grubbing preachers, vaunting themselves as something special. So now he's direct. So now we know those super apostles are coming and they're asking for all this money. They're asking for all these things. I'm going to read it again in the ESV. He says, "We will not boast beyond limits, but we will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us. We reach even to you." 14, "We are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ." Oh, wait, I'm reading the wrong scripture. No wonder. I was way off. Sorry.

I'm just checking, make sure you guys are following scripture right here. Wrong chapter. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. 13 says, "For such manner..." There it is. "For such manner false apostles deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ, and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds." I feel like crying too, and I read that. Now let me read it in the message. He says, "I'm not changing my position on this. I die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing preachers, vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch, pseudo-apostles, line preachers, crooked workers, posing as Christ's agents, but sham to the core, and no wonder Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when the servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end." Wow. You know, this is the stuff that if you don't fear God, then you have no business teaching His Word. You know, the Scripture says that when you teach, and you teach wrong, you're going to answer for that. And that is something I don't take lightly, man. Matter of fact, when I read those scriptures, that's what made me not want to preach. Because I'm just like, "Lord, I don't want to lead people astray." 'Cause what if I, what if I or will he give you a serpent if you ask for the spirit he will give you the spirit so when we teach and read scripture and we understand scripture and say lord let me teach in a way that is true God's not going to allow me to teach something false you know I remember when I first came home after those years being gone

I started the church a year later there was still things in my life that weren't in order what I mean is I wasn't in sin but like my finances my my relationship with my children there was things I still had to set in order so because of my fear of the word if you go all the way back to the beginning of this youtube channel there's things I wouldn't preach about not because I was in sin but how am I going to preach to men about being a good husband or a good father or a good this or a good that if I haven't didn't have that stuff in order I don't want to be fake so I just wouldn't preach on it I wouldn't preach on it you know and again it's not like I was omitting things in my life it was like lord I need to set my fields in order before I can teach other people how to farm as those things came to order because as a Christian and establishing my life all over again as I started to establish those things then I started to preach on it because then I could preach from experience you know and I think that's the right way to do things now I remember asking my brother to step in because by the time I got saved my brother was already 10 years saved so there's times where I would have him come and preach about certain things because I'm like I'm not comfortable touching the subject because I'm still getting this right you know and so but my goal my goal was to be able to say I want to reach a point and honestly looking back did I start the church too soon this church probably honestly it was just I would just gung ho but a year after I got home that was probably too soon I can admit that now but I thank god that we're still here I mean it was only by the grace of god we're still here but my goal was to be able to stand behind that pulpit and preach about marriage because I have a marriage and preach about loving your wife because I love my wife and preach about loving my children even though they were now adults I can preach on it now I can preach it with true conviction you know to be able to be a man of god a pastor that can preach these things and line by line like this because I'll be honest with you teaching like this line by line in the beginning I would have been freaked out because then I'm the one that's most convicted but I love the fact that even today right now 22 years in the Lord 15 years pastoring that with all honesty with complete humility I can tell the men of this church follow me as I follow Christ verse 16 huh oh yeah he says I repeat let no one think me foolish but even if you do accept me as a fool so that I too may boast a little 17 what I'm saying with this boastful confidence I say not as a lord would but as a fool

says many boast according to the flash I too will boast for you gladly bear with fools being wise yourselves he's being sarcastic right and in the message he says let me come back to to where I started or don't hold it against me if I Didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ You regard like somebody just completely in the flesh so bad. You're like, you know what? I'm you want to talk in the flesh. Let's talk in the flesh. Let's be real. That's what he's doing. He's like, let's be real You need and I love it's funny cuz he's almost saying but I didn't learn how to talk like this from Jesus And he goes, no, no, he goes. It's a bad habit. I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days He's I don't you you know, you like he is clearly you like the way they talk so I'm gonna talk like them He's not you a boast verse nine 19 he says for you gladly bear with fools being wise yourselves for you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or Devout to you or takes advantage of you or puts on errors or strikes you in the face to my shame I must say we were too weak for that And the message it says Since you admire no wait, let me back up a little bit Because in the message it kind of combined scripture, so He's a sense you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans you can afford to humor an occasion of fool who happens along You have such admiral admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom rip you off steal you blind put you down even slap your face I Shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff He says but to my shame, I must say we are too weak for that in 21 But whatever anyone else dares the boast of I'm speaking as a fool I also dare to boast of that in 21 here, so since you admire the ego maniacs of the pulpit so much Remember this is your old friend the fool talking. Let me try my hand at it And Then he goes into the bragging 22 he says he's talking about these preachers that are coming in with their fancy suits and rings on all their fingers In their rolls Royces

Yeah a toe ring Sister Raven it's been a while, so you're gonna get the cheese So You know, it's crazy as my friend Tony a he's in Southern, California I've told them I say, you know, you're called you're called. He's he's not a Christian I said, you know, you're called to pastor church to be a pastor to pastor to be leader He knows a lot of scripture, and he's like no, no, no, he goes man I'm not he was you know, there's a club here of pastors and they all have like this Rolls Royce car club I'm like are you serious? And he goes yeah, I don't want no part of that. I said maybe God's calling you to preach To not be part of that Maybe that's exactly why God is calling you and we go back and forth now, but Anyways, he says Uh This is his boasting these the spiritual leaders that are coming to karen he says number one are they Hebrews so am I Are the Israelites so am I? Are they offspring of? Abraham so am I Are they servants of Christ? I'm a better one I'm talking like a madman He says with far greater labors far more imprisonments with countless beatings and often near death Five times I received at the hands of the jews the 40 lashes less one three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned three times I was shipwrecked a night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys and danger from rivers danger from robbers Danger from my own people danger from gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at at the sea danger from false brothers In toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure And apart from other things there's a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches Who is weak and I am not weak who is made to fall And I am not indignant That was his boasting guys

Let's read it in the message [BLANK_AUDIO] He says, "Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites? The pure race of Abraham, I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. I can believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way, but I started. I'm going to finish. I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count. And at death's door, time after time, I've been flogged five times with the Jews, 39 lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once, shipwrecked three times, immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes, I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those who I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many along in lonely night without sleep, many amissed meal, blasted by the cold and naked to the weather, and that's not half of it. When you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches, when someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones, when someone is duped into sin and angry fire burns in my gut. Wow. So, all these people are coming to Corinth, all these people saying all these things. And instead of Paul talking about, "Look how smart I am, look how many degrees I have, look how many people listen to me, look how many people I healed, look how many people I healed." Instead, he's like, "You want to hear some boasting, let me boast." And 30, he says, "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever knows that I'm not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aratus was guarding the city of Damascus in order

to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands. He says in the message, "If I have to brag about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows that I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus, and the governor of King Aratus posted guards at the city gates to arrest me, and I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and I had to run for my life." We're going to keep going into chapter 12. Anybody want to say anything yet, or what something is jumping out at you, and I want it just to be interactive, and I've been talking for forty-five minutes. Dale? Well, you know, I feel out of fear, and fear of the Lord, and fear of the Lord, is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and prosperity. And when I think about the fear of the Lord, I think not to be a scare of him, but to honor him, and reverence him as God, and my Savior. That's the way I look at it for. When you have to honor the fear of the Lord, these things automatically come to you. You can receive knowledge, prosperity, and understanding, and listen. Thank you. Anyone else? Anything stand out to you? What part of this has stood out to you that really just like, really hit you right now? Anybody? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [BLANK_AUDIO] Do you do you relate when he starts talking about these super apostles? I do yeah, and there's a lot of what was happening right?

You I I I I Yeah, that doesn't mean that that's not But it's not simply about these Having all these shows that you're walking like that a lot of ministers out there I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

That's what's that 17 and 18. Yeah, what does that mean to you? Like what did that? How did that? Why did that strike you? Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's why a lot of times people mistake their test tests. Yeah. I think it's a lot of time. That's why a lot of times people mistake their testimony and make it and they turn it into a bragging story. Instead of it's his story. You know, it's about Jesus. It's about Jesus every time. Amen. Okay. Chapter 12 verse. Let's see one through five. Oh, he keeps going. Look, I must go on boasting. You got him on a roll now. He's I must go on boasting though. There is nothing to be gained by it. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up in the third heaven. Whether in the body or out of the body. I do not know God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body. I do not know God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast except of my weaknesses. Guys, he's talking about himself. He's talking about himself, but even then he doesn't want to straight up boast about it. So just in case you don't know what he means by the third heaven. The Jewish people believe that our atmosphere, you know, like the blue sky is the first heaven. Outer space, the stars is the second heaven. And the third heaven is where God lives. So this is the Hebrew people believe that. So when Paul says the third heaven to us in English, we're like, what's he talking about? That's what he's talking about. Remember in the book of Daniel, when it says that Daniel prayed and an angel immediately got the message and was coming back to deliver the message, and he fought with the Prince of Persia for 21 days? It was in that second heaven. Remember how the Bible says that we don't fight against principalities? No, we fight against principalities. We don't fight against flesh and blood, So the Hebrew people believe that the first heaven is our atmosphere. The second heaven is the realm of the demonic. And then there's a third heaven, which is heaven. This is what the Hebrew people believe.

So basically when you were praying when you are praying, the Bible says when you pray in their spiritual battle, it's to get your prayers through that second heaven, the demonic realm into the heavens. And that's why the angel had to fight those demons to get back to Daniel. So anyways, I'm just sharing with that in case you're understanding like, what is he talking about here? But he's bragging about himself. He's still, again, I'm gonna read it in the message. He says, you force me to talk this way and I'll do it against my better judgment. So he already, he's like, I'm on a roll, but I'm gonna just keep going. He says, but now that we're at it, I might as well bring up divisions and revelations that God gave me. For instance, I know a man, but I believe, most scholars believe he's talking about himself. He just, I know a man who 14 years ago was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don't know if this took place in the body or out of it, only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise again, whether in or out of the body, I don't know, only God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard.

This is the man I wanna talk about, but about myself, I'm not saying another word apart from my humiliations. So basically he's saying, man, you know what? We're gonna keep bragging about it. I've been to heaven. I don't even, I don't know if I got taken there. I don't know if it was a vision. I don't, only God knows, you know, but that's what he's saying. In verse six, he says, though if I should wish to boast, I will not be a fool. For I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And the message just says, if I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous. And I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way, but I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk. Read a couple more. Seven. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was giving me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. Verse nine, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Marine the message, and we'll talk about that and get into some prayer. And the message he says, because of the extravagance of those revelations, so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down. When what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty. At first, I didn't think of it as a gift and beg God to remove it, and three times I did that. And then he told me, my grace is enough, it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. And once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations and stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size,

abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks, I just let Christ take over. And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. Remember that part in the Bible where the Bible, Moses says that he stutters? Moses is talking to God through the burning bush, him. He's like, Lord, who am I? I stutter. And the God says, who made man's mouth? But if you notice, he never healed him from that stutter. And many times I've wondered, why did God say, who made man's mouth, why didn't he just heal him? But it makes me think sometimes that he not fit. So instead of healing him, he says, well, you have your brother Aaron, let him do the talking for you. So he could have easily healed him, right? I mean, he raised Lazarus from the dead. What's a stutter? He could have fixed that, took care of it right away. But he left him with that stutter. And it's almost like, it reminds me of this right here because it's almost like Paul is saying, you know what, he goes, I have this thorn in my flesh and I'm like, God, take this away. Take this away. Take this away. And God said, isn't my, are I sufficient with you? Isn't my grace sufficient? And it's almost like if God would have took the stutter away, would Moses have not relied on God?

And I say that to say this, is that some of us, we have the scars of our past life. Some of us may be not on our, on our bodies, but maybe on our hearts. And the things you went through and the things you did and many of the things you did to yourself that cause a thorn in your flesh. And you're just like, God, I just want to serve you, but I got this thorn. I got this past. I got this scar. I got this. And the Lord is saying is not my grace efficient because what if he took that away and you'll become boastful, but he doesn't take it away so you're always humbled. And it seems like that was the issue here. It seems like that's what, what was happening here is Paul was like, Lord, take this away from me. Why am I going through this? Why is this happening? Take this away from me and finally God told them, is it my grace efficient? One of the biggest things that those, those is money, this is money for some people, will remove the vanity and money and, and a lot of that and it gives people humility to hum, the humbleness, you know, to stay humble, to stay humble and gives them just what they need. Sometimes living over our means, sometimes this is just, we can't, you know, because it's, it's just too much sometimes and he says, let me just give you what you need. It's a vice. It's just sufficient enough, you know, because, you know, sometimes it's just too much. Yeah, I think in the case of Moses and the Apostle Paul, they both knew who God was. And that was the moment. Yeah. Before I got saved, I didn't know what God was. But when I got saved out of man named religion, I knew who he was, and that was enough. Like I tell people, man, as far as I've been selling, I'm the richest man on the plane.

I'm rich. Father and mother cattle on the hill. Amen, sister. I told her, I was at rent and I said, told her, I'm going, I said, you know what, I'm rich. She said, oh, you hit the lottery? I said, most people think, I said, no, I said, Jesus became poor, so I can become rich. God, do you believe that? I do. I tell people, I'm a rich man. I have Jesus, I have the Father, I have the Holy Spirit, I don't need no more than that. That's all I need. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Yeah, I mean, there's, I'm sure all of us could say, man, you know, God, if you would fix this, life would get so much easier. And you know, I have seen, I have seen careers destroy people's spiritual life. I have seen a job destroy people's spiritual life. I've seen people lose weight. they're never happy again I'm like dude you are better off fat I have seen ministries that started humble but the moment it blew up now they think they're somebody I mean haven't we else it's so sometimes we got to be careful what we asked for you know when when God would send manna manna was like this stuff that came from the sky and and they would make bread out of it and God told them listen I'm just just making enough for you to eat today don't say for tomorrow because I'll give you more tomorrow and some people got greeting they're like well let's just save some more for tomorrow and the next day would be full

of worms but then on the seventh day God said grab for two days so on the seventh day it would last what was God teaching them because when you start hoarding stuff you're basically telling God I don't trust you because if he says I'm gonna provide you every single day and you start hoarding for the next day in essence what you're saying is God I don't trust you you know and sometimes I think the same thing myself I'm just like Lord you know why is it that how is it that we barely make it every for the last 15 years I'm exhausted God yes I'm like Lord we've been eating off the crumbs of your table for 15 years you know and it's like God's like do you trust me you know and you know in the past before Christ for some of you maybe a drug was your God maybe alcohol was your God maybe this was your money was my God that's all I chase it's all I care for whether I was selling drugs or making music that was my God I worship money literally I would iron my bills I would iron my bills because I carried my money in a money clip I didn't care I couldn't carry it in a wallet it wouldn't fit I'm not again I'm being the fool and like Paul I'm just boasting you know and it's like you know when I when I see what I see what sometimes money does in ministry I promise you this I don't like freaking out every month I don't like it but I said Lord I know what my God was and if if that would ever get a whiff of me then let me be let me be humble for the rest of my life because I'd rather know you I'd rather know you and struggle but Lord just provide every month just provide and bring people that I help provide because I would rather know you you know and that's that's that's a hard prayer to pray that's a hard prayer to pray to say Lord keep me humble my whole life you know let me never have a money clip like that ever again because I would rather have you you know and it's like that's just you know it's it's one thing to pray for God I need a new car God I need this but God keep me bro keep me poor yeah that ain't an easy prayer you know I'll just I'd rather have our little house and my little marriage and our children visiting and us visiting them and and you know an occasional trip to Monterey and I don't have to see Paris I'm happy with Monterey or Lake Tahoe you know just I'm good man I just

I just want to love Jesus and I just want to teach people Jesus and love my family and love you guys that's it I'm good you know I can see Paris on YouTube actually I probably would never want to see Paris but I'm just using as an example you know huh yeah man I can then flights to Texas bug bug might hurt my back I don't know what it's like to fly the way over the ocean but (chuckles)