Intro to Second Corinthians

21 I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced. 
2 Corinthians 12:21 

May 23rd, 1618 marked the beginning of a period in history known as the Thirty Year’s War. It all began when Roman-Catholic officials in Bohemia prevented and stopped construction of Protestant chapels in violation of the Letter Majesty (1608 document by Emperor Rudolf II granting religious liberty to Catholics and Protestants). In response to this violation, the Protestant lords and the congregations who were affected gathered together in unity against the religious suppression. They were even willing to even lose their own lives in order to secure the liberty granted by the Letter of Majesty in order to assemble and worship God. Interestingly enough, it is from a letter read aloud in this assembly that we get the phrase, Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno which translates to “One for all, all for one.”

Unity is incredibly important in the life of the church. And as we begin reading 2 Corinthians, you will find that unity is still something that the church of Corinth struggled with greatly. They had needed to be reminded that, in Christ, they had been reconciled to one God and thus ought to have reconciliation with one another (2 Cor 5:17-21). But this was not the only problem in the church. They were too easily persuaded by false teachers, so-called “super-apostles”, and critics of Paul and were beginning to distance themselves from him and the other apostles. Paul addresses these criticisms by pointing to his suffering as clear evidence for his faithfulness and calling from God (2 Cor 11:16-33).

As you read this letter from Paul, place yourself in the mind of Paul. He is being ridiculed by the people he so dearly loves (2 Cor 12:14-18) and he writes this third letter to them in hopes to find them united and separated from sinful deeds. He writes, as we read in verse 21 of the 12th chapter hoping that he will not be humiliated when he returns to them. And in more personal terms, are you grieving your pastor? Or do you cause your leaders to rejoice knowing that the flock God has entrusted to them are united Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno. That they have truly repented from immorality and are walking in holiness? And in an eternal perspective, how will our Lord find you when He returns? May we be a people who live Coram Deo, before the face of God.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alex

P.S. To continue our brief history lesson….Shortly after, the two Catholic Regents and their secretary were defenestrated (thrown out of the windows) from the third floor of the building. We should not act in this manner, no matter what the cause we are untied against may be. Today there is still a debate as to how they all survived. Catholics will claim that these men were saved by angels or by the intercession of the Virgin Mary. Protestants, however, maintain that they survived having landed fallen onto a dung heap.

If you enjoy the content, it would really mean a lot to me if you would subscribe and share the blog with your family and friends. To subscribe, simply click on the "Subscribe" button at the top of the blog page (https://aogalvez.blogspot.com/)
****************************************************
You may follow Overflow Church @ https://faithlife.com/overflowtx/activity
or on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/OverflowChurchTX/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Balance

Image
"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV) This past weekend (Month even) has been a very busy one. It often happens that when life ramps up, we cut the unimportant things out of our lives in order to accomplish the tasks we identify as most critical. To all my followers, I want to apologize for my having cutting this portion of my life out for a period of time and I will do my best to have more consistency. A years ago, the United States Army deployed a digital "fitness" test to its soldiers and certain respondents received a message that read, "Spiritual fitness may be an area of difficulty. You may lack a sense of meaning and purpose in your life. At times, it is hard for you to make sense of what is happening to you and to others around you. You may not feel connected to something larger than yourself. You may question your
Read more

Satisfaction

Image
“…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Philippians 4:11b (NIV) This has been a very busy month for me in terms of traveling around. I returned home from Brazil after a long three weeks and, after two days, I now find myself back in a hotel in the great city of Duncan, Oklahoma. Although it is slightly inconvenient to me, in terms of my schedule for studying the word, prayer, and working out to live in a hotel for almost a full month, I have found great comfort in the words from the apostle Paul. A man who has murderous attempts on his life, been imprisoned on multiple occasions, beaten up, shipwrecked three times, and bitten by a snake was able to find a state of contentedness regardless of what situation he was in. Talk about finding complete joy. This is the same joy that the beloved disciple wrote of many times for other believers to embrace. And this is a joy that over the years I have learned to develop and enjoy. That no matter what situation I find
Read more

Light

Image
“And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 (ASV) Darkness is not a real thing. Cold is also not a real thing. They are just words that we have made up to define the conditions of an environment or state of existence at a specific period or periods of time. What do I mean then when I say that they are not real things? Well, what I mean is that the darkness that we see (or cannot see because of) is not because it is overwhelming, but because it lacks light. Darkness is the absence of light. When light comes into existence, because light is something real, darkness is expelled. That’s the same with cold. Cold is simply the absence of heat. It is not that it is cold and then at some point it shifts to being hot. It is simply that the heat that exists is too miniscule that it cannot bring warmth to anything. In verse five, we read that God is light, but not a weak source of light
Read more