Show Notes
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Pray, Lord, we thank you for the revelation of your word, for the revealing of it, we thank you that in Christ we have everything that we need. We ask that you would indeed help us to find rest in him, protection, comfort, a rock wall to hide in a fortress against the evil one. Lord, we ask that in him, even all of our trials and temptations would become means used by you for our sanctification.
[00:00:38] Lord, we pray now that as we come to the reading and preaching of your word, that you would continue this work in us and in the world. May your light shine brightly. May we see it and follow it. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:00:57] Well, please remain standing as we turn our attention to God's word. In two corinthians.
[00:01:05] Two Corinthians. Chapter 16, corinthians six, verses one through 13, Paul continues to address the topic of who he is as a servant of the Lord, as an ambassador of the Lord, what his task is, what he's doing in the name of the Lord, and what our response to that should be. So. Two Corinthians six, verses one through 13.
[00:01:52] Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain, for he says, in a favorable time, I listen to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
[00:02:12] We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech and the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as imposters and yet are true, as unknown and yet well known as dying. And behold, we live as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. As poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
[00:03:12] We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children. Widen your hearts also.
[00:03:30] You may be seated.
[00:03:57] You.
[00:04:02] When you're speaking with a friend, you can, generally speaking, be a little less qualified in what you say. You can be more direct. You can be more open. Right. Open your hearts. You can open your hearts with a friend. Right. With a friend that you trust, a friend that, you know, understands you, gets you. You're on the same page. You can say things that in other context you might qualify a little bit, say, well, I'm not saying this, but I am saying that and be really careful. But with a friend, you just kind of put it out there and you say, you know what I'm saying, right?
[00:04:39] That's what Paul's doing here. In this passage and in several of the passages that we've had before and some that are coming in future chapters, he says, in verse eleven, we've spoken freely to you corinthians. Our hearts are wide open.
[00:05:00] You might put it another way. You could say, there's ways to mishear what I'm saying, but I'm expecting you not to mishear me because you know who I am. You know what I'm trying to say.
[00:05:13] For example, when Paul says he commends, when he and the other apostles and servants of the Lord, they commend theirselves in every way, he's not saying we're constantly bragging or that we think we're big hotshots. And important, as he gives this list and describes the things that he's going to, he doesn't want the Corinthians to go, oh, well, there goes Paul again, talking about himself.
[00:05:42] In fact, Paul wouldn't do that except for the fact that he believes the Corinthians will hear him as he means to be heard, which isn't in a bragging way. And we know that from all the things that he says, we know where his heart is. We know what he's trying to do. Paul is not about himself.
[00:06:02] Paul is about Christ and him crucified. Paul is willing to endure all kinds of things, go through all kinds of situations, as do all faithful christians, for the sake of Christ. And so that's why he speaks in this way. He just lets his heart be open, and he calls them to respond. In a similar way, he says, we're being open with you. We're giving you everything that we have. We're enduring hard things. We're going through difficulties.
[00:06:34] Do not be restricted in your own affections.
[00:06:38] You could paraphrase it by saying, I'm treating you as friends, as trusted ones, as beloved ones return.
[00:06:45] And how will they return him?
[00:06:48] How will they widen their hearts? Well, ultimately, it's not toward Paul that he wants them to widen their hearts to, but it's toward the one that he serves.
[00:06:59] Paul is not about himself. He's about this message that he is called to bring, and that's true of all true christian ministry.
[00:07:10] So I want to think with you this morning about these two parts.
[00:07:15] What is Paul saying about his work as an ambassador? What are the ways in which he is? He and the others are commending themselves.
[00:07:25] And then what does it mean to really receive that, to open our hearts, to receive it, or to put it in the negative, as he does, to not receive the grace of God in vain?
[00:07:38] What does those things look like?
[00:07:41] So let's consider the first part. Paul working hard to be an ambassador, a servant of the Lord. What are the ways in which they commend themselves to us? What are reasons that we might have for believing him and the others, his other co laborers? Well, the first one, he says, is that we put no obstacle in anyone's way.
[00:08:06] And then he says, so that no fault may be found with our ministry.
[00:08:12] So in another place, Paul says that he does sometimes put an obstacle in people's way, and that obstacle is Christ. To some, Christ is the foundation stone, the building stone, the cornerstone. And to others, he's a rock of offense, a stone of stumbling.
[00:08:32] Paul, of course, is not putting Christ in people's ways so that they might stumble over him. That is the work of the Lord. The Lord does as he pleases. Paul's job is simply to give Christ, to present him, and to implore people to follow our savior.
[00:08:51] Paul's not talking about Jesus here. He's talking about his ministry when he's addressing this point about no obstacles.
[00:09:02] In other words, he doesn't want himself to be the problem.
[00:09:07] Again, this is another way of him emphasizing that his ministry is in Christ.
[00:09:12] Paul wants people to hear Christ, believe Christ, and if they're going to stumble over something, it's going to be Christ, not Paul. And so he seeks to do everything that he can so that no fault may be found with his ministry.
[00:09:28] Fault, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and Paul, as you might guess, is going to define it by the eye of God. Fault is not determined by this person's opinion or that person's opinion. Fault is determined by what the Lord wills and desires. He judges himself by those standards, aiming to please the Lord, to be open and honest and true.
[00:09:54] And he describes some of that. What are some of the other ways in which he and the others commend themselves to us?
[00:10:04] One way is by great endurance, great endurance.
[00:10:09] Paul is not one to simply get excited about Jesus for a little bit, and then, well, that was hard, and we're done.
[00:10:17] Paul is true. He brings to us the truth, and he's willing to suffer for it, to go the distance for it, to run the race for it.
[00:10:27] He describes this endurance in general terms in the first set of three. And there are three sets of three. The first set of three he describes in general terms, in afflictions, in hardships, in calamities.
[00:10:43] In the second set of three, he colors those in a little bit, gives some definition and specific examples.
[00:10:54] He talks about beatings, imprisonments and riots or civil disturbances and things like that. Then in the next set of three, he talks about labors, sleepless nights and hunger.
[00:11:11] This list is a list, and it's filled out by the stories that we read in the acts of the apostles written by Luke the historian. He recounts these various things, the many ways in which Paul and the other apostles and disciples of Christ did indeed endure these exact things.
[00:11:38] And they were difficult.
[00:11:41] I don't know if you can have a not difficult beating.
[00:11:45] They were difficult.
[00:11:47] They were in some ways very difficult. And sometimes long imprisonments lasting months, even years, being chased out of cities, working hard, day and night, going without sleep, going without food, challenging, challenging situations.
[00:12:08] In the next set of things that Paul gives to commend the ministry to us, he says, by holiness.
[00:12:18] In verse six, he lists purity and knowledge and patience and kindness. The Holy Spirit, genuine love.
[00:12:26] Endurance can be a great thing, but it can also be a really awful thing. If your enemy is pursuing you with endurance, you would not want to see that continue, right. If someone is enduring after a scam, right. Getting sucked down further and further and further into theft or whatever, you would say, stop it, let it go, stop enduring. Right. Endurance matters really only so far as what it is you're striving after.
[00:12:56] Well, what is Paul striving after? Good things.
[00:13:01] In what strength is he enduring in? In the strength of the Holy Spirit, what fruits are being produced by him? Not foolishness and loss of valuable things, truly valuable things. But his endurance is producing purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, genuine love, and all by the Holy Spirit. These are the things that God.
[00:13:27] These are the things that show to us that God is at work.
[00:13:33] In the next verse, we read about truthful speech and the power of God.
[00:13:41] When somebody comes to us with a message, one of the most important things about it is, is it true or not? And Paul's message is true. He speaks with truthfulness and he speaks with power. Lies and weakness do not commend themselves, but truthful speech and the power of God do.
[00:14:03] Next, he uses this great image of righteousness, the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left right. He is a fighter. He is a warrior.
[00:14:16] He is working hard and striving against the evil one, against the cosmic powers of darkness, as they are talked about in Ephesians. And what are his weapons? Righteousness.
[00:14:31] Righteousness.
[00:14:33] Then we see that this happens in all kinds of situations. Paul doesn't just endure when the going is good and when things feel right, when he's receiving praise, but even when he's not.
[00:14:47] We read in verse eight that through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, then all of these things, he does not give up.
[00:14:58] This does not only make us admire Paul and say, man, I would like to be like this man, but it should even more make us admire, or a better word, worship our savior, because our savior is the one who has changed. This man, equipped, this man, moved his direction and his life all in this way for the benefit of us and the Corinthians and the Ephesians and the Galatians and people all over the world. The Lord is doing that. Paul says it himself, and he's constantly testifying to that in all kinds of ways. Paul wants us to look at him and see Christ, hear his words and hear Christ. And that's what Jesus wants, too. He promises that when he sends out his apostles to the world, he will give them words to speak. He will equip them, he will empower them, he will strengthen them, and the world will know him. His sheep will hear his voice and follow.
[00:16:07] And we do.
[00:16:09] How does Paul do it?
[00:16:11] Well, he does it by the power of God.
[00:16:16] He does it by remembering his king, his savior, his sender. He remembers and puts his faith in the truth and the power of his lord.
[00:16:28] And he decides it in all of these times to view himself and view the world and view his savior as things truly are, not as the world perceives them.
[00:16:43] And so he lists in this final section before verse eleven, this set of contrasts ways in which they are treated or perceived and the way that things really are.
[00:16:55] He looks at things with a certain perspective.
[00:16:59] So, for example, we are treated as imposters and yet are true, as unknown and yet well known as dying. And yet, behold, we live as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything he's going through. Basically a checklist of charges of why we should not pay attention to Paul. And he's addressing them. Why should you not pay attention to Paul? He's an imposter. Look at how people treat him.
[00:17:34] He's unknown. Who's Paul?
[00:17:37] He's dying. Look, he was beaten here. He was ran out of the city there as punished. The guy's been in jail as sorrowful. Look at all the sorrows that he has. Look at his poverty.
[00:17:56] Look at. He doesn't have anything. He's always on the run. He's always trying to accomplish things and struggling.
[00:18:06] Is Paul overwhelmed by these accusations?
[00:18:10] Does Paul look at them and put his tail between his legs and say, yeah, I better just give up? Does he look at the way that the world is looking at him and say, this is just too hard. Nobody's listening?
[00:18:24] No, he believes the truth, the truth about himself that has been handed to him by God.
[00:18:35] The truth about Jesus Christ, who came into the world and then not only saved us from our sin and rose from the dead, but spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus and said, why are you persecuting me? And struck him blind for several days and put in him the Holy Spirit so that he might believe and serve the Lord Jesus.
[00:19:00] When that happens to you, the world becomes a passing thing, a thing in which you are no longer afraid of.
[00:19:10] This happens throughout all the world. We see it especially in times of sorrow, in times of testing, in times of persecution, fellow believers being put under the test, a pressure, being put down, put down, put down. And then they say things like, I'm not afraid.
[00:19:32] Do what you want.
[00:19:34] I'm going to keep worshipping. I'm going to keep serving. I'm going to keep loving.
[00:19:40] It's an amazing thing.
[00:19:44] It's an amazing thing and a powerful thing and a life changing thing. When we put our trust in the Lord Jesus and his victory over the present and the future, this is how Paul comes. This is how Christ is active and work in the world.
[00:20:05] How will we receive it then? This is very much on his mind, and it should be on ours as well.
[00:20:13] He says in verse one, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
[00:20:24] God is doing this amazing work in the world. Don't receive it in vain.
[00:20:32] What does it mean to receive something in vain?
[00:20:37] There's lots of things in life that we participate in, but only kind of in a tangential way. We're not really participating in it. We see but we don't see. We hear but we don't hear. We have, but we don't have.
[00:20:56] Paul is focusing on a very, very big and the most important, the most big thing. But this happens at low levels, too.
[00:21:05] Have you ever been in a conversation with someone where someone's telling you something and you can kind of feel your brain just turning off, you end up spending more of your time and your mental energy. Sort of maintain eye contact. Maintain eye contact than actually listening to what they're saying.
[00:21:28] This can happen at various places, and it usually happens when we feel unequipped, unprepared, out of our league, or just bored. Right? Maybe you're at the car repair shop and the mechanic's explaining to you the details of why you need to fix whatever needs to be fixed. You just are struggling to pay attention. Or maybe you're talking with a banker about a loan. Or maybe it's your teacher at school who's giving you a new assignment that you really don't want to do, and you try to look like you're listening, but you're not.
[00:22:00] Now, of course, when these kind of things happen, there are consequences.
[00:22:04] Most of us kids, this applies to you and to the adults who are around you. Most of us have been grilled at one point or another by some adult asking us what the teacher said.
[00:22:17] What did she say? When is the assignment due? Why don't you have it written down and you just can't remember? You were there. You were in the classroom. You were listening, right? But not really listening. Hearing, but not really hearing. Well, this can happen tragically when it comes to the gospel and to the grace of God. We can hear, but not really hear. We can receive, but not receive. Let's talk about some of the ways that that happens.
[00:22:53] One way that happens is we assume something about that verb, having or receiving.
[00:23:00] We think, maybe wrongly, that having and receiving is different than what it really is. People do this all the time.
[00:23:09] They think that, for example, they can receive by simply being near other christians.
[00:23:16] I'm near the grace of God. I have christian friends. I know christian people, so I must be okay with the Lord. Not true.
[00:23:25] Or I come from a christian family.
[00:23:28] My parents taught me christian things and taught me about the grace of God.
[00:23:34] Not true.
[00:23:36] Going to church or having a christian family or friends, being a part of a christian society or culture, even having experienced amazing things by God's hand, such as having an apostle come to you and talk to you, does not guarantee that you have received the grace of God.
[00:23:57] Consider Jesus's words in Matthew eleven.
[00:24:01] He's talking about these cities in which amazing things were done.
[00:24:06] In Matthew eleven, verses 20 through 24, he says this, or Matthew writes, then he, jesus began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done.
[00:24:19] Because they did not repent.
[00:24:22] Woe to you, chorusen. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
[00:25:00] Ouch.
[00:25:02] Terrifying, right? Just because you have a sign from God, a mighty work, healing, resurrection, curing of diseases, demoniacs, demons, exercised out of a person, it doesn't guarantee that you have received the grace of God in the way that you need to receive it.
[00:25:28] That didn't happen in these places. And Jesus denounces these cities.
[00:25:35] Just because you are tangent, right, tangentially connected. Just because you are close by, near to, in the proximity of the mighty works of God does not mean that you have received them unto saving life.
[00:25:54] Another assumption that we make that is wrong and dangerous is we think of the grace of God, the thing that we receive, as something other than what it is.
[00:26:06] Some people think of the grace of God as being a good person, simply be a good person, be a moral person, an upstanding person. But that's not true.
[00:26:19] God's grace certainly works in us and makes us good people, changes us, sanctifies us, makes us more and more holy. God does that, and that's true.
[00:26:31] But that's because of God's grace.
[00:26:34] God's grace is his work on us and in us where we didn't deserve it. God's grace is not depending on our own righteousness, but on him.
[00:26:47] If we depend on the works that we do, we remain dead in our trespasses and sins.
[00:26:57] Another assumption that people make about the grace of God is that it means not suffering. You have people in this world that preach. If you just put your faith in God, then you will not suffer. You'll have wealth, you'll have abundance, you'll have land, you'll have great family, everything that you could want in this life, you will have if you have the grace of God.
[00:27:19] Paul has the grace of God and he's suffering a lot.
[00:27:25] Our savior and Lord, he suffered.
[00:27:31] He tells us that the servant is not greater than the master, that if we follow him, we will necessarily suffer, not be separated from suffering.
[00:27:46] Now, that doesn't mean that suffering, on the other hand, is necessarily equivalent with the grace of God either.
[00:27:53] There are people who think that just because they are immoral and foolish and clowns in this world and then suffer all kinds of consequences for that, that they are victims and therefore okay in their victimhood. Not true.
[00:28:10] Just because you're suffering in this life doesn't mean that all of a sudden you are one of the blessed ones.
[00:28:17] Suffering is an aspect of our life that the Lord uses, a means that he uses to sanctify us, to grow us.
[00:28:30] We can do moral things. We can suffer in various ways or not suffer without Christ.
[00:28:40] The point is Christ, the grace of God is not in all of these things. Fundamentally, the grace of God is found in Jesus.
[00:28:52] Consider the scriptures themselves. The Bible.
[00:28:57] Jesus says this in John 539 and through 40.
[00:29:01] He says, you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
[00:29:16] He's addressing people that are Bible study people that search the scriptures, look in the scriptures and believe that they will have eternal life from them.
[00:29:30] And Jesus is not denying that you cannot have.
[00:29:34] Jesus will say that you have eternal life from the scriptures, from the word of God, but only insofar as you search in them to find Christ.
[00:29:46] Only insofar as you search in them to have Christ.
[00:29:51] There are many people who spend a lot of time in the Bible, in all kinds of christian texts, dogmatic works, practical works, biographies, lessons, all kinds of things, and yet don't ultimately benefit from them because they don't read them through faith in Christ.
[00:30:14] If we are to have eternal life from the scriptures, it is because we have come to Christ whom the scriptures bear witness about.
[00:30:24] It's very similar to the point about the mighty works of God. Here we have the words of God. It is possible to hear them, to spend time in them, to study them, and yet not believe.
[00:30:38] These are the dangers, right? These are the ways in which we can hear but not hear or receive the grace of God in vain, and we ought to be aware of them.
[00:30:54] So how do you know if you are receiving the grace of God in vain or not?
[00:31:01] One test you can give to yourself is you can see. When I search the scriptures, when I look at the mighty works of God, when I consider these things, am I looking for Jesus, and am I looking for faith, and am I using, and am I putting my faith in him?
[00:31:22] Or am I doing these things to impress other people, to simply build up a library of knowledge, to sow my pride, to check a box?
[00:31:37] If we are looking for Jesus, we are wanting to hear him, hear his voice. We see ourselves as sheep, and our ears are attuned to the voice of our shepherd, and we look for him and we find him in the Old Testament, in the New Testament. We hear for him in the words where he is promised, in the words where he comes, and in the words that tell of his coming. Again.
[00:32:04] We listen to learn and discern what he means and what he doesn't means. How we have life in him and how we don't.
[00:32:13] Jesus becomes our everything when we receive the grace of God.
[00:32:21] Following from that is loving and trusting him. We don't just look for him, but we love him and trust him when we find him. Lots of people came to Jesus in the course of his ministry, followed for him for a time, but did not love or trust him. They stood around and made accusations and tried to trick him up and tried to make him look like a fool, tried and did eventually crucify him. Those were all people who were very close to Jesus in terms of proximity, in terms of knowledge, in some ways, and yet we're so far.
[00:32:54] To truly find the grace of God and have it in fruitfulness means that when we find the Lord Jesus, we follow him, we love him, we trust him. Jesus is not a joke to us, an idea for us, or some sort of curiosity.
[00:33:12] He is our only hope, our only comfort in life and in death.
[00:33:20] I'll add finally that out of this love and this trust, we take concrete actions to act on the basis of that grace that we have received.
[00:33:30] In Matthew 25 one through 13, Jesus tells this parable. He says, the kingdom of God is like ten virgins that are preparing for this, for the bridegroom coming. And some of them prepare and some of them don't. Some of them understand and know that there is an urgency and a readiness that matters. They believe in what is about to happen. And the others, they're there.
[00:33:56] They kind of believe, but they don't prepare properly. And so when they hear the bridegroom is coming, they start asking for things that they don't really have.
[00:34:05] Oil in particular in the story.
[00:34:08] They're not ready. They're close, but not close enough.
[00:34:14] They're depending on something other.
[00:34:17] They're depending on something that they do not yet have.
[00:34:24] If you have received the grace of God, then you are someone who acts on the grace of God. If you know the Lord Jesus is coming. Then we prepare, we get ready. We live our lives in light of that truth. James says in James 220, do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
[00:34:47] The answer to that should be no. I get that. You don't need to show me. I get the point.
[00:34:55] Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? No, James, but thanks.
[00:35:06] When we find the Lord, we follow the Lord. No matter what the world says, no matter what attacks the world will make, no matter what sins and temptations to sin may come our way to receive the grace of God, not in vain, but in fruitfulness, means putting our faith in him.
[00:35:35] He is our first priority, our first love, our greatest treasure.
[00:35:41] And he is all of these things because of what Paul told us in the last few verses right before the section that we read, that in Christ we can be reconciled to God.
[00:35:55] In Christ we can have friendship with him despite our disobedience, because God has put him forward as a propitiation for sin, because God has saved us from his own wrath.
[00:36:12] When we think about hearing and not hearing, receiving and not receiving, it is worth saying that not all things in life are worth listening to.
[00:36:21] Some things are worth zoning out.
[00:36:24] The skill of focusing very much involves the ability to not pay attention to some things so that you can pay attention to others.
[00:36:37] But some things are not worth focusing on, and some things are.
[00:36:44] The grace of God in Jesus Christ is one of those things worth focusing on. When we think about who he is, when we think about what he came to do, hear Paul's words about not receiving the grace of God in vain. In light of that, I'll finish with just a simple example.
[00:37:05] Imagine that you're going to go to a very important doctor's appointment. Let's say you've been diagnosed with something very, very serious. He's going to give you results. He's going to explain your options. What do you do?
[00:37:19] Do you say, I'm not a doctor, this is too hard to understand.
[00:37:24] I better just not go?
[00:37:27] Or do you go and you sit there and you just sort of zone out while he talks? Then he says, what do you want to do? And you go, what?
[00:37:34] No.
[00:37:36] Even though it's complicated, even though it's a stranger, even though it's hard, even though emotionally you're in turmoil. What do a lot of people do? What does a wise person do in a situation like this?
[00:37:48] Everything you can, right? You get some sleep. You arrive early, you take notes, you bring a friend who takes notes. You go out to lunch. Afterwards, you compare notes.
[00:38:02] You follow up with questions if you don't know the answer.
[00:38:07] Because you care about your life, because you don't want to die.
[00:38:13] When we care about our lives in this way, this is how we treat things. We take it seriously. This is an important thing. We do everything we can.
[00:38:23] Now, if we do this for our temporary health, let's say you take the doctor's advice. Let's say he's awesome and right about everything. And it gets better. We all know what's going to happen again. It's going to happen again.
[00:38:38] Eventually we will all die.
[00:38:41] And so if we take this level of seriousness for our financial accounts or our health or certain relationships or job opportunities, will we not take this level of seriousness and engage in this way when it comes to our eternal life?
[00:39:00] Our eternal life, when we have an opportunity to hear about the grace of God, perk up our ears and say, I really need to listen to this. I need to make sure I know this. I need to use this information.
[00:39:15] I need to act on this.
[00:39:19] Brothers and sisters, God is giving us his grace. He gives it to you. Today. He reveals his word to you. He's telling you about Jesus. Do not receive it in vain. Hear it, believe it, follow it, and you will not be put to shame.
[00:39:38] The Lord will not lose a single one of his. Let's pray.
[00:39:46] Our heavenly Father, all praise and glory and honor goes to you. You who have worked in such marvelous, unexpected and world shaming ways deserve all of our hearts, all of our mind, all of our soul, all of our strength.
[00:40:09] You have come into this world and have done what no one could do.
[00:40:14] You have saved us from our sin, saved us from the wrath that we deserved, saved us from meaninglessness and foolishness and vanity. You've brought healing into our lives. You've opened up our hearts. You've removed the fear of death so that even when we hear the worst words from the doctor, we would not be scared.
[00:40:42] Even when enemies of the cross of Christ would turn the screws down on us so hard that we, like job, would feel we are losing everything.
[00:40:55] We do not lose heart.
[00:40:58] This is because of you. The strength that we find in ourselves, even though it is mixed with weakness, is a strength that is from you.
[00:41:08] We find ourselves as those in Christ who have been loved, who have been honored, and who have been saved.
[00:41:20] Lord, we ask that you would encourage us to know this word more and more fully and to receive this word not in vain.
[00:41:30] We pray also, Lord, for those family members and friends of ours who do not yet know you. We ask for them and for our neighbors here, nearby and throughout the world, Lord, that this message of the gospel would go out through your servants, through us, and that you would make yourself known that not only widen the hearts, but that you would first revive the hearts of sinners from death so that they might live in you. And according to your word.
[00:42:07] We thank you for our own salvation, Lord, and all the blessings that come with it. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
