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2
Corinthians 4:1-12
1Therefore, since it is by God’s
mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We
have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice
cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we
commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. 3And
even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In
their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to
keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God. 5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For
it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
7But we have this treasure in clay
jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God
and does not come from us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not
crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the
body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in
our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being given up to
death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our
mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Scripture: 1Therefore,
since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose
heart.
Observation: Ours is a ministry centered in, with and through God; how
could we become discouraged.
Application: What strengthens, encourages and enlightens us all in the
things we do for the Love of God and neighbor is when we are disciplined to
keep the Lord and His will and precepts at the center, heart of all we do
within this priesthood of believers.
Prayer: Most Gracious Lord,
Help shape our hearts for ministry
All that it will entail—both good and
bad
Continue to strengthen, encourage
and enlighten our hearts
To remain disciplined to Your
mission, vision
For the love of You and our neighbor
May we continue to grow as children
of Grace, children of promise
So that the future will see the
fruit of a transformed generation
One that most truly lives into the
call and commissioning
Of Your Holy priesthood—
AMEN
Scripture: 2We
have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice
cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we
commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
Observation: We have given up trying to alter God’s Word for our own
purposes but look to the truth and apply the truth from the Word before
everyone and of course God.
Application: It is an important aspect of our discipleship wherever we
are and wherever we serve that we uphold the Truth and authority of Scripture
Alone for Christ Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone. The moment we revise or
“tailor” scripture for our own purposes or agendas we rob the Word of its
transformative, timeless power to indeed enact living into the lifestyle of
Grace!
Prayer: Gracious & Loving God,
May we always be intentionally obedient
To Steward, serve and protect Your
Living Word
For it is through Grace Alone that
we are defined in purpose for this task
For it is Through Christ Jesus Alone
that we are reminded
Of our commissioning and call into
the priesthood of all believers
And it is most importantly through
our Faith Alone
That motivates our hands and feet to
the action of stewardship to Your Living Word
That it always remain, Your Living,
timeless, authoritative Word Alone
In the World but not of the World,
for the sake of the World—
AMEN
Scripture: 3And
even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
Observation: Even if our gospel is “hidden, covered up;” it is not
knowable or seen by those who can only see the world for themselves—their
curved-inwardness and idolatry will contribute to their spiritual death.
Application: If we live unto ourselves alone where Christ Jesus law and
Gospel cannot penetrate; we are contributing to developing a graceless wilderness
which is the beginning of spiritual death.
How can we be effective disciples if we are closed to the spiritual Work
of His Living Word!?
Prayer: Gracious & Loving God,
Help us to harbor and align hearts
To the Truth within Your Living Word
We live in a world, all too ready to
persecute the faithful
Help us to remain diligent to
upholding
The mission and goal of Your Gospel
of Grace
For it is New Life, Your Living Word
offers to all
May we live obediently and
intentionally
Into the lifestyle of Grace
May we never not be grateful
For all heart knowledge received—
AMEN
Scripture: 4In
their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to
keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.
Observation: The godless are too blinded by their idolatry to see, yet
alone know who Jesus Christ is, His Gospel and His glorious light.
Application: Idolatry is our great nemesis, temptation and evil from
being faithfully obedient disciples of Jesus.
When we cave into the ruler of this world’s empty promises and empty
transactions; we help to build the graceless wilderness, the reality of hell in
the world. This reality is a complete
turning away from God, a blindness to His Grace and His Kingdom.
Prayer: Dear Jesus,
May we discipline our hearts
To never go astray into creating
idols from the World
May we be faithfully obedient
To turn a blind eye to Satan’s
temptations
And open our eyes to see
Your Glorious light of Grace
Allowing this light to shape our
hearts
To Love You and neighbor
With the fruits of faith
Love, Kindness, Mercy, Compassion,
Selflessness and so on
May we be and become the children of
Grace You need
To reveal Your Kingdom, here and now
For the whole world to see!—
AMEN
Scripture: 5For
we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as
your slaves for Jesus’ sake.
Observation: For we do not preach our own gospel; but we preach with
great conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord as we are bound to as His servant
leaders.
Application: It is an even more pressing reality that we preach, teach
and live in example the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
It is all too easy to look away from the authority and power of the
Living Word for our own purposes and desires.
As disciples of Jesus, it is our covenantal vow to be a servant to the
Living Word as well as to the will and precepts of Christ Jesus the Lord. To do otherwise is to destroy the message of
grace and New life that the Living Word is to timelessly bring.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to remain faithful Stewards
Servant leaders to Your Living Word
Guard us against the temptations
from the Evil One
To revise, contradict and soften the
power and authority
Of Your Holy Gospel, we must realize
its sacredness in our lives!
For when we stray, we become
sacrilegious and destroy
The Efficacy of the Gospel’s input
in, with and through our lives
May we as a divided church in the
world thanks to Evil...
Come together for Your sake and for
the love of neighbor
To return faithfully and obediently
To Your Living and TRUE Word
As our only model to live into the
lifestyle of Grace—
AMEN
Scripture: 6For
it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
Observation: When our hearts are truly turned to God; this heart
knowledge reflects and radiates the light and glory of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, son of God.
Application: “Give me oil in my lamp and keep it burnin,’” That classic
campfire, Cursillo song reminds us of when we are fed, we are led to be and
become light-bearers of the Gospel for all to see. Bearing the light of Christ
and His beautiful Gospel, starts through our conversion which begins the
process of transformation. All of this
starts in the heart to then connect to our minds and then our hands and feet to
then live into the lifestyle of Grace.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus,
May we hear deeply: “Let light shine
out of darkness”
For we are in very dark times
Where the knowledge of Good and evil
Are becoming blurred and distorted
boundaries
The Gospel of GRACE that you
challenge our hearts to KNOW
May we realize, become aware of our
need to spiritually transform
For if we turn our hearts away from
this
Regenerating light of Grace
We will only be perpetuating the
darkness
The Glory of God is in our realizing
Our potential as a valued member of
the Body
For Your Sake and truly for the Love
of neighbor —
AMEN
Scripture: 7But
we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this
extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
Observation: We must realize our capacity and place in regards to the
Lord. With a healthy humility, we can
truly know and see the magnitude of God’s power—the glory of Grace flowing in
and through the world we live.
Application: Being Christian is to know our role in the sense as St.
Paul has said in a different letter: “We all fall short of the glory of
God.” We are indeed both saint and
sinner, with a particular capacity and limitation to our intentional ministry
in the world for the Love of God and neighbor.
When we fall prey to intellectual idolatry and become curved
inward—selfish, greedy and indifferent... we will not see the magnitude of the
power of God’s grace in our lives, yet alone have our hearts acknowledge His
significance... We need to embrace our
roles within the priesthood of all believers with accountability and a healthy
humility—where Christ Jesus is central!
Prayer: Heavenly Father,
Help our hearts to know our roles
We are your children who will always
be challenged and growing
May we never fall prey to the Evil
One’s temptations
Where we become our own idols
And where the fruits of vice,
indifference and evil overtake us
May we realize with a gracious and
loving humility
Who we truly are and be accountable
To who we truly need to be and
become for Your Glory’s sake
Through Your Son Jesus, the light of
Grace has overflowed
May we learn and grow from Your
servant Paul’s message
May every moment of every day be
lived
With You at the center of our hearts
And the cornerstone of all we do and
say as Your disciples
AMEN
Scripture: 8We
are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to
despair;
Observation: We are determined through our faith to persevere and be
strong for others no matter what horrible things happen.
Application: As St. Paul has said in another letter: “The Cross is foolishness
to those who are perishing...” Some people outside of the faith may never
understand what drives and motivates a disciple of Jesus to persevere. The
Greek word for witness is Martyr. When
we think of martyr, many of us see those pictures of people being violently
persecuted in a physical way. Perhaps we
should re-think martyr in a positive and spiritual way as a drive to be
spiritually Christ-centered (the vertical) and faith, grace and scripturally
centered (using these internal focuses as tools in the world to love and serve
neighbor—the Horizontal.) Both
dimensions—the vertical and the horizontal are aspects of living a
cross-shaped/ transformed life. Christ Jesus gives us being and His mission
defines our purpose in the world but not of the world.
Prayer: Gracious and Loving God,
May our lives continue in all
adversity to be grounded
In Your will and Mission for the
world
May we be spiritually shaped by and
for Your Grace
So that our efforts in the world but
not of the world
Remain greatly motivated,
intentional and accountable
To You alone for the Love of You and
neighbor
The Evil One will try to make us
despair and feel weak
May we always be encouraged by GRACE
Encouraged to live into it and for
Your sake
May the fruits we bear be the tools
and model
Of true discipleship
AMEN
Scripture: 9persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
Observation: As disciples of Jesus, we are indeed persecuted but God has
not forsaken us. We may feel struck down
by evil and the world but we are not spiritually devastated by it.
Application: Perseverance should be a giant poster up in a Christian’s
home. This is especially so when we take our challenge to live into our faith
with full commitment and intentionality.
There will be many ready to strike your efforts down especially when it
goes against the grain of the agendas in the world. You must remember as children of Grace, Jesus
Words when he said: “22 ... and you will be hated by all because of
my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Prayer: Dear Jesus,
May we always stand firm in saying
You are indeed Lord
May our faith be unwavering
In the face of many who actively
persecute us
Because we dare to confess
That You are our sovereign Lord and
crucified King
As a disciple and servant to Your
will and Word
May I always endure my cross
With patience, kindness, obedience
and mercy
Against the Evil One and the enemies
to Your Gospel
Help my heart to be shaped and
strengthened by perseverance
For Your Name’s sake
AMEN
Scripture: 10always
carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be
made visible in our bodies.
Observation: We carry in our hearts the gravity and magnitude of the
cross to live in Gracious response with the fruits of our lives lived in, with
and through Christ Jesus, our crucified Lord and savior.
Application: The cross and resurrection of Jesus is what makes Him the
Lord. He is the Lord and font of Grace
ever restoring and establishing His Gospel in our hearts as the New
Life—creation; from the Living Word. We
are as His disciples intentionally grow and be shaped by the Gospel to truly
and truthfully live into the Lifestyle of Grace—the language and reality of the
Kingdom of God.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus,
May we never stray from the Truth
The truth of the story of GRACE
Imparted by Your death and
resurrection
Which freed us undeserving sinners from
sin, death and the devil
We are still in bondage on account
of our own failings
To Truly and Truthfully grow with
the Living Word
To be empowered and accountable to
fight for the Gospel
In a dark and fallen world
Continue to encourage our
perseverance
For Your sake and out of Love for
You and neighbor
Shape our lives to Your will and
precepts
Almighty King of Grace
AMEN
Scripture:
11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for
Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.
Observation:
As disciples of Jesus, we are to live into that New Nature given to us through
Grace, so that His example shines brightly through the fruit of our lives lived
in Grace.
Application:
Christ Jesus example of perfect spiritual development is something we, as
children of Grace are to live towards being and becoming. If we are to realize,
manifest the glorious truth of the Kingdom of God, we need to truly and
truthfully live into the lifestyle of Grace, if not for ourselves betterment
but out of Love of God and neighbor.
Prayer:
Gracious and Loving God,
May our lives truly develop
To realize what living into the lifestyle
of Grace
Really is—in, with and through You
The Holy Spirit our guide and transforming
agent
May the work of our hands and feet
Be always shaped by and for Grace
May together as Your Body in the world,
but not of the world
Live a life worthy of the Gospel
To Thine always be the Glory
AMEN
Scripture:
12So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Observation:
We are striving to die to the Old Nature and rise to the New Life, Nature that
is within us.
Application:
We are radically challenged to transform spiritually and deny, put to death our
Old Nature selves. This means being and
becoming intentionally obedient to steer away from Satan’s temptations, our
selfishness and ways of the world that do not further the Gospel cause. We need to live into the New Life planted
within us by Grace through faith for Christ’ sake and neighbor in order to be
and become truly children of Grace.
Prayer:
Gracious and Loving God,
Help us die to our Old ways
Which bear fruit and victory only for the
Evil One’s plans
May our lives be shaped and truly
transformed by and through Grace
If not for our sake but out of love for
you and neighbor
May we turn away from the graceless
temptations of Satan
May our lives live into the New Nature
Bearing the beautiful fruit of Grace
For Your glory and Kingdom come.
AMEN
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