Bible

In the Bible room today, we continue in our Getting Started Bible, reading Session 2 in the book of II Corinthians, the summaries of chapters 3, 4, and 5.

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II Corinthians

Session 2

Chapter 3. Freedom

Do I need to assure you again that I am an apostle of Jesus Christ?

• Do we need others to send you letters verifying us to you,
• Or letters from you confirming us to others?
• But you are the best letter we could have, written on our own
• Hearts; Everyone knows of you and your faith in Christ, not
• Written with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, attested
• To by us, within the hearts of men everywhere;
• We are confident enough, through Christ in God, that we do
• Not need anything further from you, as He has made it possible
• For us to deliver the new covenant of the Spirit of life to you;
• The old covenant was the message of death, written on stones
• By Moses, and, though it was important, it was temporary, like
• The veil Moses used to shield the Israelites from the radiance of
• God shining on his face;
• Now, the Spirit replaces the old ministry of condemnation with
• The new ministry of reconciliation which is more powerful,
• Enabling us to preach more boldly than Moses, with his face
• Covered, when he delivered the message to his people who
• Would never listen; And yet today that same covering remains
• Over their hearts;
• But now, when someone turns to the Lord, that covering is
• Removed, for the Lord is the Spirit who brings freedom—the
• Ability to see the Lord, face to face, and to be changed, by His
• Spirit, into a mirror image of Himself.

Chapter 4. Power

For this reason, we remain encouraged in you,

• While we will not dwell on things that are not important,
• Nor will we manipulate the scriptures to deceive you;
• But we will keep trusting God to show men the truth which
• They will understand;
• However, there are some people who will never see the truth
• Of the gospel: They are the lost whose minds have been
• Blinded by the allure of this world, so they refuse to see the
• Light of the gospel of Christ; The light that God originally
• Commanded to shine out of the darkness, is the same light that
• He has given to us to be able to know, and see Jesus Christ;
• We continue to receive threats everywhere, but we are not
• Breaking, frustrated, but never giving up, suffering but not
• Alone, beaten, but surviving; Through pain we continue being
• Examples of the Lord Jesus who was marked by His suffering
• And dying; Though we will one day die, now we will live as He
• Lived, and we intend to show that life to you; We share in the
• Same faith, and because we believe in this faith, we tell
• Everyone about it; And our faith tells us that God will bring us
• Back from death to life just as He brought Jesus back to life, and
• Then you also will be with us;
• We are not discouraged in what we are doing, even as we face
• Possible death each day, because we are daily finding new
• Strength; We consider these present trials as ‘light afflictions,’
• And I am not focused on these temporary situations here, but
• On the everlasting joy which is to come.

Chapter 5. New

Because we know that this body, our temporary home, will die, and God

• Has made for us a new, permanent home in heaven;
• This is the home where we are sincerely, earnestly, wanting to
• Live forever within His blessing;
• But, for now, we endure the struggles, looking forward to that
• Day when mortality will give way to life; God has prepared us
• For that day, and, He has given us His down payment, the
• Knowledge that we will soon be with the Lord; Right now, we
• Are living by faith, ignoring the circumstances around us, just
• Having pleasant thoughts about leaving this body and moving
• Into the presence of the Lord;
• While we are here, we intend to live a life that pleases Him,
• Because we know that one day He will sit in the judgement
• Seat, and we will appear before Him to give an accounting of
• The things we have done in this life, whether they are good
• Things, or bad things; Now, we may do good things, and people
• Will think well of us, and I want you to think well of us, but
• God knows everything about us;
• I will not boast to you about all we have done, but I want you
• To know how to answer those critics who question our
• Authority; Be assured, everything we do is for God, and
• Everything we say is intended for your benefit;  
• Christ loves us so much that He died for us all, and those who
• Live for Him do not live for themselves; So, we no longer
• Consider how people appear on the outside, for we have seen
• Christ when He was a man, but we now know He was not
• Just a man; Now, everyone who lives in Christ becomes a new
• Creation, as this newly created person has no past, and
• Everything is just a bright, new future;
• Now, God is in control of this new person, and has placed them
• Into a perfect relationship with Himself, through Jesus Christ;
• He really wants to have a new relationship with everyone in
• The world, so He has designated all of us as His personal
• Representatives to ask everyone we can to believe in Jesus;
• It all started when God made Jesus, who had never sinned, to
• Become the very nature of sin, taking our place, so that we
• Could be changed and then live our life for God.

End of Session 2 of the book of II Corinthians.