GRINDIT podcast

Paul uses and interesting word to talk about his conscience. He uses a Greek word that means “witness.” A witness is someone who testifies under oath in a court of law about what they have seen. How can someone see another person’s conscience? Only God can do that...right? We can see a person’s conscience by the way they live their daily lives and the choices they make. They are either guided by their flesh or the Holy Spirit. A word Paul uses in verse 12 means “I am going to lift this up to get glory” like an athlete who wins first place and gets all the attention. He lifts up his clean conscience. In other words, he is saying to the Corinthians, “Look at how I have lived my everyday life then you see my conscience. It is guided by God’s word.” Is ours?

Paul had told the church at Corinth he was coming to visit them twice before heading to Jerusalem to deliver the money he has collected for the church there to help out from the drought and famine. The problem is, God was doing a mighty work through Paul in and around Ephesus and he couldn’t leave there. Not to mention the persecution he was facing as well saying that he thought he would die there. Some people in the church at Corinth are upset with Paul because they have been persuaded by some fly by night preachers that Paul isn’t who he claims to be. They are doubting Paul at this point so he begins to defend his reason to put off his coming to Corinth. His point, “Put your trust in God whose promises are Yes and Amen.” God is faithful and will never let you down!

Do we believe that God never fails? If so, then why do we continue to put our trust in a man, a woman, or something like money, or a job? Anything we put our trust in other than God will fail us at some point! It’s ridiculous! Useless! God sees everything from beginning to end. He knows what is going to happen before it happens. He created everything and He has the power to control it by speaking a word. We, on the other hand, can’t do a thing about it. We think we can, but in reality, we cannot. The best thing to do is what Paul did...learn to trust God and put our confidence in Him.

People going through hard times have a difficult time seeing God as merciful. Why? Because we think that if we are serving God, then hard times shouldn’t come at all but that is the very opposite of what Jesus said! He told us hard times and persecution would come just because we belong to him! So why do we get mad at God and turn away from Him when hard times come? Because we have trouble seeing that He is merciful. We want to take control of the situation thinking we can get ourselves out instead of continuing to trust God.

Paul mentions Timothy in the first verse of 2 Corinthians meaning he was helping Paul write this letter, probably because Paul had bad eyesight and his letters are very large and perhaps hard to read. We learned from 1 Corinthians that Timothy would be sent to Corinth to help guide them through some troublesome times within the congregation. They have many issues and Paul tells them to welcome Timothy as they would welcome himself and to not intimidate him. But despite being a young man who seems to be shy, Timothy is brave and confronts the congregation about their sin and tries to correct their sinful behavior. Toward the end of Paul’s ministry, Timothy will end up being a leader in the church at Ephesus continuing the work of the Lord which all started from seeing the faith of his mother and grandmother.

When Paul writes a letter to one of the churches in the New Testament, he starts with a greeting and ends with a greeting. The greeting at the start of these letters all seem to have a familiar pattern. He starts with his name, Paul, so the people know he is giving the commentary, the beefy parts of the body of the letter, then he will mention the one who is helping him write the letter. Paul will sometimes write the final greeting in his own handwriting which is very large, probably because his sight isn’t very good. In the case of 2 Corinthians, Paul mentions Timothy, a young man who started helping Paul with his journeys when he came to Lystra. But then Paul does something special...he pens a blessing to congregation and points them to Jesus before challenging some ways they are acting. It’s as if he gathers them together for a big hug and says, “It’s all about Jesus and never forget that.”

How often do we tell those who serve in the church how much we appreciate them? Paul goes out of his way at the end of chapter 16 to point out three men that are from the church at Corinth who work very hard in the kingdom of God. Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have come from Corinth to help Paul with the work God is doing at Ephesus. Paul writes the church in Corinth telling them, “They have been providing the help you weren’t here to give me. 18 They have been a wonderful encouragement to me, as they have been to you. You must show your appreciation to all who serve so well.” This is a great testament to the hearts of these three men and their service to God in His kingdom. May we grateful for those who serve in the church and may we express our appreciation to them often!

How did Paul know where to go when he was traveling around sharing Jesus? Did he just pick places and go? Did he get direction from the Holy Spirit? Did Jesus tell him where to go? They only thing we know is where Paul got a vision where a guy says, “Come over here and help us!” and he immediately goes to Macedonia. But Macedonia is a huge region, not a particular city so then, why does Paul go to Philippi? Because Philippi is the leading city of Macedonia...things are happening in that city and that is why Paul chooses it. Paul plans ahead, sets goals, and moves toward those goals. He doesn’t wait around on God to give him direction. He chooses a place and goes, however, when he is on the way and the Spirit has different plans, he listens and is obedient.

In the beginning of chapter 16, Paul is going to answer a question from the church at Corinth about them having to take up a collection of money for the church in Jerusalem. There was a famine going on over all the Roman ruled areas, some places being worse than others. It was very severe in Jerusalem and the once rich and blessed church that started it all in Acts 2, finds itself struggling with people starving. They can’t grow food in the drought, Rome is struggling to provide, supply and demand is making everything more expensive, their money is drying up, and not even the might, power packed Holy Ghost filled, tongue talking apostles can’t provide for the people! They are having to walk through it and it is very difficult. God uses different means to supply for them, including this collection form the Gentile churches that Paul is collecting. Surely the church at Corinth would understand and give away some of their riches...right?

In the beginning of chapter 16, Paul is going to answer a question from the church at Corinth about them having to take up a collection of money for the church in Jerusalem. There was a famine going on over all the Roman ruled areas, some places being worse than others. It was very severe in Jerusalem and the once rich and blessed church that started it all in Acts 2, finds itself struggling with people starving. They can’t grow food in the drought, Rome is struggling to provide, supply and demand is making everything more expensive, their money is drying up, and not even the might, power packed Holy Ghost filled, tongue talking apostles can’t provide for the people! They are having to walk through it and it is very difficult. God uses different means to supply for them, including this collection form the Gentile churches that Paul is collecting. Surely the church at Corinth would understand and give away some of their riches...right?