“… this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself …” (II Corinthians 8:19)
Here Paul, writing about the offering that he and his associates were taking up for the impoverished saints at Jerusalem, talked about their motivation for this work. WHY were they taking up this offering for those saints? Continue reading
“For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” (II Corinthians 8:12)
This scripture should be a great encouragement to every Christian who wanted to do something for the Lord, but who was unable. Continue reading
“Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great deal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.” (II Corinthians 8:1-2)
It should be instructive to us that Paul tells us here that “the grace of God” which was given to the churches in Macedonia was NOT that they didn’t experience trials and difficulties, but rather what they evidenced IN their trials: Continue reading
“O God, you are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)
Here David, although circumstances had him in a “dry and weary” wilderness, wrote that he had a thirst for something greater even than his thirst for water: his thirst for God. Continue reading
“But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability.” (II Corinthians 8:11)
The Apostle Paul was addressing the Corinthian church here, referring to the offering the churches of Greece were taking up for the impoverished saints in Jerusalem. In :10 he reminded them that “a year ago” they had started to take up this offering, and in fact were “the first … to begin to do this.” But a year later, as Paul wrote here, they had not yet completed taking up their gifts. So he exhorts them here, that just as they had started taking up the offering, “Now FINISH doing it also.” There is a good word here for many of us — and not in regard to offerings only! Continue reading
Several years ago, a man and his wife were traveling on the Interstate Highway in Florida, when their car broke down. The next exit was 40 miles away, and there had been a rash of highway robberies, so no one was stopping to help them. They actually counted 100 cars that drove past – until they finally stopped counting! At last a man stopped to help – a man who could barely speak English. He helped them out, took no money for it when they offered, and then he drove away. The wife turned to her husband and said, “How do you pay somebody back for that?” After thinking for a while, the husband said, “We can’t; but what we can do is pass along what he did for us.”
Now in some ways, that couple’s story is very unique. But in another way, if you are a Christian, this is YOUR story! God saw you helpless, in your sin, and He did what no one else would do or could do — and sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for your sins and save you. And what can you possibly do to pay Him back? Nothing! We could never pay Him back for one drop of the blood of Jesus that saved us! But what we CAN do – and what we WILL do, if we are really grateful – is to pass along to others the same kind of mercy that God first gave us.
This morning we continue our study of the character qualities of Christ found in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-12. These are the qualities that God is using everything that happens in your life to build into you. We’ve seen that He wants you to be spiritually dependent on Him (“poor in spirit”); He wants you to mourn your own sins and those of others; He wants you to be “meek” (trusting in Him and doing what is right); and He wants you to spiritually hungry. Today we come to the 5th quality: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Continue reading
“And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.” (II Corinthians 8:13)
We should not miss this little sentence, describing what happened to the spirit of Titus when he spent time with the church at Corinth. Although we do not know all the details of it, Titus had had opportunity to go to Corinth during Paul’s missionary journey. Paul subsequently wrote in :14 that what he had told Titus about the Corinthians had proved to be right (in a good way; he said his “boasting” proved to be true), and :15 relates that Titus ended up with a great “affection” towards the Corinthian church. But perhaps most poignant of all is this statement Paul made that Titus’ “spirit has been refreshed by you all.”
It ought to make us ponder a couple of questions: Continue reading
“I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” (Psalm 9:1-2)
Psalm 9 opens in :1-2 by describing four distinctive ways that God’s people can praise Him: Continue reading
“Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.” (Psalm 6:8)
It should be instructive to us that David’s response to God answering his desperate prayer was holiness, and not libertinism. Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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