Bible

Here in the Bible Room today, we are reading Session 3 in the book of II Corinthians, the summaries of chapters 6, 7, and 8.

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II Corinthians

Session 3

Chapter 6. Accepted

So, as dedicated workers for Jesus, we are begging as strongly as we can  

• That you will never forget what we have taught you, and you
• Have believed; For the Lord has said: ‘When you call to Me,
• I will answer, and you will be saved;’ ‘That time has come,
• And now you are saved;’
• We have ministered to you, having overcome obstacles,
• Disruptions, personal lack, beatings, confinement, hard work,
• Sleepless nights; We have come through by fasting and the
• Presence of the Holy Spirit, helping us to keep an attitude of
• Pure love;
• We have seen and heard good and evil, lies and truth, from
• People we do not know, and some we know well; We have
• Been beaten close to death, yet still living, sorrowful, yet
• Remaining joyful; We have seen poverty while helping many
• Become wealthy; We own nothing, but we have all we need;
• You Corinthians are precious to me, and we have spoken to you
• From an open heart, not intending to insult you, but now I will
• Speak to you as I would to children: You are hurting yourselves
• By your earthly desires;
• Do not join with unbelievers as you have nothing in common
• With them; The believer is to be separated from the unbeliever
• Like the temple of God is kept free from idols; We are the
• Temple of God, as He has said: ‘I will dwell in them, and be
• Their God, and they shall be My people;’ For that reason, the
• Lord says: You must be separated from unbelievers for I have
• Accepted you, and I will be as a Father to you, and you will be
• My sons and Daughters.

Chapter 7. Confidence

With those promises clearly in mind, we must get rid of all bad habits,

• Both of the body and the spirit life, so that we can live holy
• Lives before God; You can believe what we are saying to you,
• And you can trust us to tell you the truth; I am not condemning
• You, for as I have told you before how much I care about you,
• And we will live together and die together; In Macedonia there
• Were so many threats that at one point I feared for my life;
• But God helped us get through all that by sending Titus to us,
• And we were helped even more by the good report he brought
• About his visit with you; For a while, I was regretting those
• Strong words I wrote to you in my earlier letter, as I was sure
• You might take offense to what I said; But my regrets have
• Been lessened by hearing from Titus of how well you have
• Responded in recognizing your need to change and to repent;
• Repentance leads to salvation as this is from God and never
• Brings offense; You have fully vindicated yourselves, and you
• Have shown that you understand clearly what I was saying: I
• Was not speaking about those who were critical of me, but
• Rather, I was trying to show you how much God knows I care
• For you;  
• So, I have been rejoicing with Titus over his good report of you;
• I have spoken highly of you to him, and he has seen that what I
• Have said about you is true; After being with all of you, and the
• Positive way you received him, he has great affection for you,
• And now I have even greater confidence in you.

Chapter 8. Lavish

Now I want to report of the grace of God on the churches in Macedonia:

• Even in their severe troubles, including poverty, they remain
• Joyful, and they exhibit extreme generosity; They give to their
• Ability and then give more, so that I could have a great offering
• To take back to the saints;
• Likewise, we had encouraged Titus to receive a generous
• Offering from you, so that you could know the grace of giving
• As well; This is not a demand I am placing upon you, but I will
• Be comparing what you give to that of other churches, and it
• Will be an expression of the degree of your love; You have seen
• The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, how He was rich but
• Became poor so that you might become rich; I am offering you
• My advice about this that you complete what you resolved to
• Do, and were beginning to do, last year; I am not suggesting
• That you give more so that others can willfully reduce their
• Giving, but when we are prospering, we should give more, and
• Then when we are lacking, others can give more, making it all
• Balance; Our giving should be based upon how much we are
• Willing to give out of how much we have, and not concerned
• About how much we do not have; For the scripture says it
• Made no difference whether one gathered more, or gathered
• Less, nothing was left over, and nothing was lacking;
• I thank God that Titus cares for you as much as I; He has
• Decided to came back to you to receive your gift, bringing
• With him a brother who has preached the gospel in all the
• Churches, and has been chosen by them to come with us to
• Accompany this lavish offering which we will oversee and
• Distribute to the saints; This respected brother will attest to the
• Proper handling of these funds, avoiding any appearance of
• Misuse by us before the Lord and men;
• We are also sending another fellow believer with them who is
• Highly respected; If anyone asks about Titus, or these other
• Men, tell them Titus is my partner and fellow worker, and
• These men have been chosen by the churches to act as their
• Representatives; You should show them the same love you
• Have for me, and thereby prove to them that all the good
• Things I have said about you are really true.

End of Session 3 of the book of II Corinthians.