Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / December 31, 2023 | 2 Corinthians - Paul vs. Superapostles

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December 31, 2023 | 2 Corinthians - Paul vs. Superapostles · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Morning, everybody.
• 0:01
  unknown: Good morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Could be with you.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, can tell who's from the Mulvane building because you guys are here right on time.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys got the first seats.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is our arrangement obviously this week.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: We've got it next week.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Week after that, if you normally worship in the Mulvane building, please crane your necks upwards so you can see what all the fuss was about with the stained glass.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we're all in here together.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um, it's gonna be all together though.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I really like it.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay, big question, right?
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody really knows the answer.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Does a fish know that it's swimming in water, right?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that just the way that it's always been?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this is gonna have a lot to do actually with our question that we're looking at this morning, um, and really Paul's difficulty with the church in Corinth, uh, because what had happened uh was they were so um thoroughly in love with their culture, so influenced by their culture back in ancient Greece, that they had allowed that to influence the way that they were uh hearing and living out the gospel message.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And furthermore, that was a big problem because, and if you've been with us through this series in 2 Corinthians, this is something we've talked about.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there were some people who came in, Paul calls them super apostles, sort of ironically, um, who said that they were from Jesus, they had been sent, and they were there to minister to the church, and they kind of moved in as Paul moved out, and uh.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: But the second one that he's written here, uh, Paul is combating them.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: He is he's arguing against the way that they are kind of transforming the church from the inside.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: He he says to the fish, basically, don't you realize uh that you are swimming in this water, and it's toxic.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so what Paul is going to do is he's gonna kind of two things.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: One, he's gonna fight really more than he ever has before, and specifically against these superapostles, especially at the very end.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna reveal some things about them that are really important.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: But also, he is trying to talk to the church simultaneously, and he says, Don't you realize, again, you are the fish here.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Understand how your culture influences the way that you hear the true gospel message, which has not changed, yet each culture makes it uh or makes us want to change it.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll look at that at the very end.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we begin here.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're in uh chapter 11, if you want to follow along.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is where Paul is going to, we're kind of picking up in the middle of an argument, right?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 10, he's been arguing.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 11, he's sort of continuing, uh, but now is where he really turns his focus to this topic of culture and the gospel.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the uh than the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that last sort of section that you put up with it readily enough is a very ironic statement.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: He is frustrated with them that they are putting up with all of these things.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: But at the very beginning, he uses an interesting analogy.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, if we're not really familiar with the Bible, um any talk of virgins sort of makes us squirm because in our culture, this is already a great example, we're basically obsessed with sex.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so anything like this in the Bible comes across both awkward and prudish at the same time.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's weird how it tackles both of those things.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but yet, what Paul is doing here, it's completely innocent, and in fact, it's really sweet, but it is layered.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to talk about this for a moment because it reveals his love for the church and also their danger.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so first of all, let's talk about covenants.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Covenants are a type of agreement that God uh has made with his people throughout all time.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Most of them are in the Old Testament, and individuals who would then later be representatives of a group of people, namely Israel, uh, would make these covenants with God.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or rather, God would make a covenant with them.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: A covenant is different than an agreement, okay?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is this sort of like binding relationship that they're going to have with one another, where both sides are supposed to do something.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And to make a long story short, uh, what is revealed over and over and over and over again in the Bible is that the people that God makes his covenant with are unfaithful.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: They do not live up to their end of the bargain, if you will.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: But God is faithful as a covenant promiser, right?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Even though uh occasionally there are times where uh penalties, you can think of the exiles in the Old Testament, where uh hard things happen because of the Israelites' faithful lack of faithfulness to the covenant.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, God is still overwhelmingly generous and merciful and always faithful to his promises.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's one side.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, then you take on marriage.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Marriage is a covenant that a husband and wife make to each other.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is the closest biblically relationship that can happen between two people.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that is because they become one flesh.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the greatest break of that relationship is when adultery is committed.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so that breaking of fellowship, that breaking of the covenant, all right, is an example that God picks up on.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: He will frequently use the idea of marriage, even though he's not married to us, to describe the way that we cheat on him.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, the whole book of Hosea is basically based on that concept.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right, one last thing.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's also in the New Testament specifically, God talks about how in the future, okay, when Jesus returns, when we are all joined together, it will be like a husband and wife coming together and joining in marriage, because everything, like God's relationship with his people, instead of being based in infidelity, everything will finally be as it should.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is why in Revelation 19, um, uh the John, the writer, will use the phrase that uh when we all gather together with the Lord, it is called the marriage supper of the Lamb.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's because it's like a wedding feast that is taking place, even though there's nothing physical about that relationship.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so take all of that.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is now using a reference here to that.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so what he is saying, he is taking on the role, he says, basically, I am the father of this church, right?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's their spiritual father.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: He said that before, but he's like, I'm the father, and there's this church, which in the New Testament, um, the way that God talks about the church, and that could be any church, that could be our church as well, is that we are seen as the bride, okay, that is supposed, that is betrothed, which is sort of an ancient form of engagement.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit more serious, but they are betrothed to be married to Christ.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so what Paul is saying, if you want to take all of that and distill it down, is he says, I am your father, and I want to walk you down the aisle.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when you get to the altar, I want you to have been faithful to Christ the entire time.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'm seeing, what I'm experiencing, what I'm hearing from other people, is that you're flirting around.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're going around and you're talking to all these other people, and that's a problem.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're not being faithful to Christ.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so he is, that's exactly what he is saying here.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: He is presenting you as a pure virgin to Christ.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: He basically just means that you were faithful the entire time of this engagement period, which is the current moment.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh a full relationship in the future.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: But, he says, I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So now he says, Okay, well, uh, there are problems, Corinth, and the they're not certainly being let off the hook here.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You are sin, you're in danger of, and you might even be cheating on your on Christ here.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but he presents Satan, the serpent, with Eve, right back to Genesis.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: He presents Satan here as kind of like the homewrecker, okay?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so he says, Well, there's one who's like kind of trying to drive a wedge in between you and your relationship with the Lord, and it's Satan.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is going to become very important later on in the role of these false apostles.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: But it's good to understand right now kind of what's at play.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is both that the Corinthians are doing some foolish things, but also that Satan is at work and trying to deceive them, and ultimately it is happening through their culture.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: But just like, I mean, if you've ever been in the position of having a friend, maybe a family member who is in a really bad like dating relationship, and you're like, you need to break up with them.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, I don't think so.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, you need to break up with them.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, why?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, how can you not see it?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, what, you know, all the red flags, they're right in front of you, but the person just doesn't, they're not able to sense that, they're not able to grasp why it's a bad thing.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what Paul's doing here is he's like, okay, you don't get why this is so bad, and so let me explain it.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he gives three reasons.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: He says, for if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Three things that he's talking about.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: He says, a different Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel that are present in the church.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And though it's deceiving, it is through Satan that these things have come about.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, the Corinthians, it's like, Paul's like, you should have like you know what is truth.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: You've heard what is truth.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like you should be able to figure this out, uh, but you're not right now.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is why he's writing.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but what is also true is that these things lead into one another, that a different Jesus leads to a different spirit, which leads to a different gospel.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so if a false Jesus has been preached, right, incorrect things have been said, we'll talk about that in just a moment, then an expectation is that there would be a false spirit.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, that is not just like we're gonna reach into the bag and there might be a different one that comes out.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: There is one Jesus, there is one Holy Spirit, there is one gospel, okay?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Presenting the gospel is not like um trim packages in buying a car where there's like good, better, best, okay?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: There is one gospel message, and it has truth, it is truth, and people can deviate from that, okay, but then it becomes a false gospel.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Tim Keller says about the same thing.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: He says, you are either in Christ or you are not.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're either pardoned and accepted, or you are not.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: You either have eternal life or you don't.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: We must not then give the impression that the gospel is simply a divine rehabilitation program for the world, but rather that is an accomplished substitutionary work.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we are sinners, okay, deserving of judgment.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Christ, who is God, uh lived a perfect life, did not deserve punishment, and yet went to the cross and died on behalf of us.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: He was a substitute for our sin.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: If we trust in Christ, then we receive basically the punishment that was given to him and was fulfilled, like God's wrath was poured out on Jesus and satisfied.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we trust in Christ as our Savior, that he took the penalty for us, then it means that we can have a right relationship with God.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our sins are forgiven.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: We can it can be restored and renewed.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond that, Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: What that means is that we can now have hope and promise for the future, right?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: We no longer need to struggle and think that this is the end of all things because we know that he has conquered death.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: On top of all of that, by trusting in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit, which is God Himself, that enables us and empowers us to do all of these things significantly that we might live for him instead of ourselves, that we are now have the ability to do that.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, that all of these things are supposed to be done within the context of a Christian community, that it is not an individual faith that we run off and do by ourselves, but that it is supposed to be done with one another.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so there is this gospel message, and though there are many ways that we can uh live it out in our daily lives, it is still specific.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so this problem with Tim Keller, if I can emphasize something he's saying here, it's not about being uh sort of playing the role of a Christian.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, this is going to be something that becomes a big deal on our final passage because the Corinthians, many of them think that what they are doing is right.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because based just upon like the eye test, they look like Christians, they sound like Christians, these false apostles do.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: But the content of their message is not truthful.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: It does not align with the gospel, it is a false gospel.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so, because of that, there is a great question here about whether the people in Corinth do fully understand the gospel, and if they do, why they have been so thoroughly deceived.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of hard to think about and accept, to be honest with you, that there are some of us who might be uh playing the game of Christian that uh sound like Christians and look like Christians and you know come to church and do things, but yet that there might be people who are sitting here who have not fully accepted Christ.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so through that, maybe they've even accepted a false gospel, but they have not accepted what is true.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that truth, very important, is something that does not change.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: But what Paul's about to get into now is he says, That truth, though, which does not change, like the fish and water, sometimes our culture begins to move it back and forth.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so we accept things that are not true, even though they sound true because of the water that we're swimming in.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where he turns next.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: In verses five through eleven, Paul says, Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these superapostles, even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things, or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden any one.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: For the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia, which is where uh Corinth is at.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And why?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because I do not love you, God knows I do.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there are two criticisms that have been leveled at Paul.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And again, if you've walked with us through this book, we've talked about them, but here they kind of come to a head.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul is going to take the criticism, he's going to flip it, and he's going to throw it back at them.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the two things are one, that Paul is a garbage public speaker, okay?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, that they're upset that he has not accepted payment from them in return for his services.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, first, what the Corinthians are wanting is what their culture expects, and honestly, what we can understand they might want to expect from a human perspective, which is somebody who is talented at speaking or preaching when they're delivering the gospel.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so what they want is sort of this charismatic, powerfully speaking individual to come and lead the church.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Paul was none of those things.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's some debate about whether he genuinely lacked skill or if he was being uh humble.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: We already know that he is acting meek um because Christ is meek.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about that a couple weeks ago.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be, because we know as Paul was trained as a Pharisee, that he would have had some understanding of like rhetoric and arguments, and so the other possibility is that he is just choosing not to use that ability, and only, as he said elsewhere in Corinth uh 1 Corinthians, that he preaches Christ and him crucified alone.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless, he's not fulfilling their expectations.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so what he flips and throws back on them is he says, Look, you can condemn me all day long for not being skilled in preaching, but he says, you can't say that the content was wrong.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so what he's revealing here is this sort of deep truth that they have exchanged his tr uh, I wouldn't just say his truth, but the Lord's truth presented through Paul, they have exchanged the truth for a lie, which is they have exchanged one pub public speaker who they aren't as big of a fan of, because of his skill, for one who is more impressive or ones who are more impressive, but their content is lacking.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: They are presenting a false Jesus, a false spirit, a false gospel.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: But yet they are dealing with them, they are enjoying their presence.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this is kind of like a pie, right?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: The crust can look beautiful, but the filling can be terrible, right?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul's like, My crust isn't that great, okay?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Got overbaked a little bit.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: But the inside, delicious.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is you haven't tasted the pie of the false apostles, and if you did, you would know that that's garbage.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's what Paul's doing here.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Second, though, uh, Paul is responding to uh the Corinthians' uh frustration that he has not accepted payment from them.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you might be thinking, like, what is going on, right?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we know that this is a big deal.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: He actually brought it up in 1 Corinthians as well.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So what the culture expects is that somebody who is coming in and is kind of a traveling sort of orator, right?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody who is a philosopher, somebody who's of the arts, that's kind of the category they would have placed, Paul, because he is um arguing about life and philosophy and ultimately God.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so what they would expect, or rather, what somebody who is in that role normally would expect is to be paid.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Those who are listening would expect to pay them, and especially if they were wealthy, they would love the opportunity to become a patron of this individual.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: They would want to, in a world that is even more lopsided in terms of uh upper and lower class than it is today, uh the greatest way to show sort of your power or your prestige was to be a patron of the arts and to have somebody that you were like currying favor with, you were getting their perspective, like you got them alongside you.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: You were the one who brought them to town, basically.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul has brought this message, and they're like, Okay, Paul, thank you for bringing this.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: We love the gospel, we want to pay you.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Nope.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: I came with money back from when I was in Macedonia.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or it could be that some of the like Titus uh had brought some money from Macedonia.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then also he says, I'm going to build tents.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna build tents, I'm gonna have a part-time job.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, that's really dirty.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: We would prefer it if you didn't.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: We would like it if you just spoke 100% of the time.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul says, I'm not gonna accept your money because, or we might assume he says, because, that is going to entitle me to some of you.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It is going to mean that I'm expected to minister to some people and not to others, but I want the gospel to go as far as possible, and so I'm not gonna accept that money.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then Paul says, right, he flips it.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: He says, and actually what you should be doing, he's not being as sarcastic as I am, but he's like, you should be thanking me because you were blessed that you didn't have to pay for the gospel message to be heard.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: He says, What was done was a gift, and you're taking it as like, you know, a lump of coal.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Have we passed the Christmas metaphors?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do we are we safe for one last week?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they have sacrificed, again, the truth for a lie, and they have take allowed their culture uh to determine what uh they think is acceptable.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And they have taken the truth of Paul and they have instead changed it and switched it.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And sadly, at the very end of this passage here, um they have ultimately leveled the charge against him that he doesn't love them because of these things.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you didn't take our money, therefore you don't love us.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: And his final statement is quite literally Um, God knows that's not true.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: God knows that I love you.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is deeply in love.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Remember his message about a father trying to walk his daughter down the aisle.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like he cares for them, he wants them to be safe and protected, and right now they're in danger.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul takes these criticisms, flips them, turns them back.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: His content is more important than his presentation, and the furtherance of the gospel is more important than any sort of expectation they might have for payment.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: But as we head to the final passage this morning, he is going to reserve his final and deepest criticism for those that have been spreading and leading them in all of these lies.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Verses 12 through 15, he says, And what I am doing, I will continue to do.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So basically he's like, your frustrations with me, you will continue to have them unless you get over them, because I'm going to continue doing it, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Their end will correspond to their deeds.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul is doing all of these things, and what he has in mind is namely the two things he just mentioned: the way that he's teaching, the way that he's working, but also you can take in mind basically his body of work with the church, where they have had many criticisms against him.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, I'm doing all of this to undermine, to basically cut down at the knees these super apostles and their mission that they have, this claim that they have to you.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is taking a couple things that we've talked about the last few weeks and smushing them together into one verse, right?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: It goes into uh what it means to boast, and it goes into uh remember when we were looked at that Greek word canone about how Paul has been given a specific mission by God to minister to the Corinthians, and it's not about who gets credit, but it is about a ministry field.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And these superapostles have come in and they are saying that the area that Paul is ministering in is theirs, right?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul's frustration is not once more about credit, but the fact that, as he reveals here, they are not from God at all, and therefore they have no claim to any sort of ministry.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, in sum, what he's saying is like, I'm doing all of this, even annoying you a little bit, because what I'm trying to do is prove to you the truth of the gospel, and I'm doing it in such a way that I don't bend or even break as some of them are to the culture in any fashion.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I could do some of these things.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there are other places where Paul preaches and he allows them to pay him, right?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is part of what he talks about, a minister of the gospel, uh, do not muzzle the ox while it's treading out the grain.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so he says, I've done this in other places, but I'm not doing it with you because you seem to have a weird relationship with that.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so he says, they um they're not working on the same terms as we are either.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this again, right, we take what we understand.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're preaching a false Jesus, a false spirit, a false gospel.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: They are uh taking money from the church, and what we find out from other places in the letter is they might be taking quite a bit from them, um, but they are uh probably leading the church in just this cultural idea of Jesus, right?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: They want a think about the environment that they're in, right?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: In Corinth, I should have thrown up a picture, but you have the massive, massive uh temples to gods that are just probably like within eyesight of their church.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: They walk out of whatever home church they were in, they look over, they see on the top of the hill all these other people who are worshiping false gods, who are mighty and revered, and it I mean, if you know Greek mythology at all, right, um, that are powerful, and then here comes Jesus who is meek and died.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so they come in and they have somebody who says, Hey, what if Jesus was powerful?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: What if he wasn't any of those meek or mild things?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what if we to talk maybe nothing at all about his sacrifice or his death or his crucifixion, which was uh foolishness to the Greeks, Paul says, but instead we just talk about how he's gonna conquer everything, right?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now we begin to see how this gospel message is being transformed.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so all of these things are going on, but this is very, very important.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: He says, For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is so both sad and dangerous about this situation is these are not people who have come in and are just misguided or ignorant.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: They are, as Paul identifies them, servants of Satan.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so the deception that is happening within the church is intentional on their part.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that the Corinthians have fallen for it, that's a different different problem entirely.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: But these false apostles have come in claiming, again, the word apostle means more than just like teacher.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're saying that Jesus sent them.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And they're coming into this environment and they are intentionally leading them astray.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're doing all these things, they're taking advantage of the people.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul says, it is no surprise then, and he makes reference back to uh the very beginning of the passage that we are looking at in chapter 11 with Eve in the garden.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I already told you, Satan the snake, he is the deceiver, he is the one who lies, he is the one who is trying to undermine all of these things.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's the homewrecker, remember?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, now these people uh they're servants of him.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's no surprise to us then that they are also deceiving and they are liars and they are cheats.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of interesting.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'll talk about that more on the podcast.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: It could be that Paul is referencing like a Jewish tradition that Satan disguised himself as a brilliant angel back in the Garden of Eden when he was talking to Eve.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a thing.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: But regardless, the point remains the same.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: He says Satan transforms himself.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, sometimes we think of the devil only in terms of like pentagrams and lighted candles, okay?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's dangerous things, it's, you know, it's statues of goats and stuff like that.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, well, that's easily identifiable, that's sinister, that's not good.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what the Bible tells us is that Satan is much smarter than that.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, it's probably an element of his craftiness that so many people think that that's the only place where he's at, anyhow.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: That what has taken place is that Satan has infiltrated the church, or at the very least, his agents have infiltrated the church, they have duped them, and he is undermining the gospel by what they what is going on here.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so, to take that one step further, then the problem becomes that the Corinthians are not just misguided themselves, even though that's true, but they are unwittingly, unknowingly taking part in Satan's schemes.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because now they are beginning to believe these things.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: That was right, Paul's criticism at the very beginning.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: He says, like, you don't seem to have a problem with these things.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: False gospel's in your midst, and you're okay with it?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: They are joining this work of Satan themselves.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: So what becomes clear then, and really where it begins to hit home for us, is uh what's dangerous is again, not just that they were duped, not just actually that they are doing the work of Satan, but that people in the church think that they are doing God's work while they are doing the work of the enemy.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's quite the switcheroo, right?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what Paul is talking to them about here.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: They and the reason why that has happened, why that has been able to take place is because Satan has used the culture and basically created the greatest Greco-Roman idea of a leader that could possibly happen and has sent them into the church.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: And insofar as Paul doesn't meet those expectations, they've begun to go with the culture, and then back to our fish analogy, they are beginning to be swayed and moved because they don't realize what's happening.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: So to kind of summarize there, right, exhibit one is you have Paul's speaking, right?
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: The expectation is that people who come in would be great at speaking.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Here comes Paul, not great at speaking, okay, whether by choice or by uh his own lack of skill.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh here comes Satan, who brings in people who are fantastic at teaching and very charismatic and meets everything that they expect this person would be, and so they exchange the truth of God for a lie.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Exhibit two goes back to the payments, right?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: The culture expects Paul to accept payment.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, no, thanks.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to accept payment because of what that means to you.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then here comes Satan bringing in people who are like, we'd love for you to pay us, honestly.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be fantastic.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Please pay us more.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so the people get so enraptured with this, we're like, fantastic! We we get to pay, we get to exchange money for what they're telling us, and all the while they don't recognize that what is being told to them is not the gospel.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's very important to understand that concept before we go to application, because it is not as if the message of these false apostles is telling them like they're agents of Satan and also saying that Jesus Christ is their Savior.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: We know that that is not the case.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are clear and definite ways that this gospel that they are presenting, the false gospel, has fallen short and is not truthful.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: And these are things that the church should have picked up on, right?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: They should know.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you have Paul preaching to you, like you don't have a whole lot of excuses for not understanding God's word.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, how does this apply to us, right?
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because what's left here is the assumption that, I mean, you can it's kind of an awkward scene, right?
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: They would read this letter in the church, and presumably the false apostles are there too, and they're just like, this is not good for us, right?
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're telling them that we are from Satan, and this is awkward.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: So presumably that the church would kind of figure things out.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: But if this becomes Paul versus the superapostles, right, um, even though Paul is sort of he's playing chess while they're playing checkers, like the whole time he's doing deeper things than just criticizing them.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: But regardless, if that's kind of the battle that's happening here, there's also this bigger battle that's taking place, which is the culture and this false gospel versus God's word and the true gospel, and how those two things are fighting against each other, and what's stuck in the middle is the Corinthians, who should be able to discern between them, but instead they're leaning over this way.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: So here in America, right, let's talk about our culture.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here in America, there's something that's been going on for, I mean, you could say the last couple decades, but our lifetimes, um, that is unusual, which is that Christianity is becoming the spiritual minority, okay?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's been going on for a long time, hundreds of years.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: In the EU, um, it's been in Canada, even before it hit us, it's in the coasts, if you even want to just say like we're Midwest, Kansas gospel people, okay?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what is absolutely true is that within recent memory, things like Christian morals and ethics and standards have moved from the cultural norm into uh something that is seen as judgmental and intolerant in many respects.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and through that, what's going on is we are all experiencing in various forms, and again, honestly, here we are even more shielded from it than elsewhere in the world, but we are experiencing what it looks like to move from the majority opinion into the minority opinion.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: And furthermore, what's also happening is that the people in those other places where this has been going on for a while, they're better at handling it than we are.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: They have experienced it longer.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so what is going on is Christians in our world today, um, as culture begins to turn against Christianity, right, begins to change and believe things that are divergent than from what we believe are truth, uh, we begin to move with that culture in two ways.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: The first way is that we begin, we can, uh, begin to continue to vie for cultural superiority, basically to regain the top spot that we once had, and the means by which we do that are problematic.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that in a second.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: The other way is that we become culturally accepting and we move too far into because there is an idea of contextualization of the gospel.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Paul does this.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: He is able, like you'll notice the difference in the way that he might preach to a Jew, uh to a Gentile, and that there are ways that he presents the true gospel that matches sort of the things in their culture and speaks to them directly.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: But you kind of go way past that into just a cultural acceptance and relativism where we are trying to regain the popularity that we had, not moral superiority, but the acceptance, sort of the social acceptance that was once there that we're losing.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Two problems, right?
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the first one, when it comes to Christian superiority, right?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: So for some, we're becoming militant in our Christianity.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: We see uh Christian morals and ethics and values um being thrown away in places like government or in schools or in our neighborhoods or other institutions of influence, things like that.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um because of that, not only do we grieve it as we should, but now we begin to grow angry and frustrated instead of, to be honest with you, what I think the Bible presents, which is that that should have been our expectation.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's really no expectation in the Bible that until Christ returns, that this fallen world is going to look like God's kingdom.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are struggling with the loss of that superiority that was once present and very comfortable to us, understandably.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so instead of engaging with the method of change that is outlined in Scripture, which is evangelism, sharing the gospel with people, transforming lives through God's word, uh we begin to move to things that feel more tangible to us.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so this looks like in our current space, um, taking more of a political identity than a Christian identity, advocating uh more um intensely for those things than Christian things, or at the very least, muddling the two together.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: And hear me, right?
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: There's places for that, right?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we should be engaged with the world without succumbing to it.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, the question here is where is our hope fall?
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the hope for those who are struggling in this way is that they begin to see that there is going to be such transformation in this world that we are going to be able to regain cultural superiority.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh at least if it follows the path that any other place in the world has fallen, it's not going to happen.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: What is also happening here is that we tend to become more antagonistic with our neighbors.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're less willing to engage with things uh that we disagree with, and we are frequently trying to withdraw into uh spaces that feel safe to us.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, in its own way, this is a response to a culture.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a response to our culture because even though we're vigorously fighting against it, we have chosen as methods of battle the things that our culture is fighting with.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: We are fighting again for those institutions of influence.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: When when you look at the example of Jesus Christ, right, who recognized that what was really transforming was the power of gospel in a convicted community, and that the truth of God's word, as it spread and changed hearts and minds, then also had the outworking effect of changing those who are in positions of influence, right?
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: It did not flow backwards.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: So this is one way that we struggle with our culture today, that we're fighting the battles that they are fighting instead of fighting the battle that we should be fighting.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: But the other one is that we are moving into cultural acceptance, right?
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so for others, and this is kind of completely on the opposite side, they don't normally engage with each other.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, both of these sides of cultural sort of movement are normally frustrated with each other.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um but cultural acceptance is normally signified by people becoming embarrassed of their faith.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: And as they once uh were very comfortable in being known as a Christian because nobody had problems with that.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now some of the things that are in God's word um that contradict our culture's narrative, things like uh sex and marriage and uh life and just objective truth, um, these things, as they are beginning to be seen as intolerant for people who believe them, uh, we pull back from those things.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, okay, well, I will take basically whatever the gospel is that you'll give me.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take the gospel that you're comfortable with, I'll take the gospel that you're saying is okay.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so again, right now, what that looks like is a world that is fascinated with the idea of love and acceptance, but really doesn't like anything about God's judgment or sin or need to repent, amongst other things, right?
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: But we live these things out by walking with the culture and instead adhering to the world of relativism, which says that there really is no objective truth, and the only truth is what you think truth is.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem with that is not to be funny, that's not true.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that is not, at least that's not what God's word says, uh, is that there is something as objective truth.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is why Paul feels comfortable saying there's a true Jesus, there's a true spirit, there's a true gospel, and they are preaching a false Jesus, a false spirit, and a false gospel.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing that because he's comparing it to God's word, right?
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: So people walking this path tend to hide their faith when around non-Christians.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they're more willing to bend their beliefs when confronted with opposition, and they are more willing to accept that there are multiple pathways to get to heaven, which once more is not what God's word says.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a cultural pressure as well.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Taking a step back from these two things, our then our biggest question becomes okay, so how do we respond?
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's the big deal.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: How do we respond to this?
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is our cultural moment right now, but you can very well expect that in a decade, maybe two decades, whatever it is, that the things, the cultural things that are drawing us away from the gospel will change as well.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not enough to just be aware of it.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's kind of like, and this is an example you might have heard before, um, but when you talk about the uh those at the mint and the secret service who are responsible for determining what is a faulty uh US dollar bill, uh, that they study the true thing instead of all the forgeries because it's easier to compare it to what they know instead of trying to track down everything that's false.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is what's going on here with the gospel.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so our solution is we must be careful to follow the true Jesus, true spirit, and true gospel message.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the way that we do this is we go back to, I mean, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, you go back to the source.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so you go back and you look, okay, well, how did Jesus handle his culture, right?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: How did Jesus handle being in a society that was not receptive to the gospel message?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you see, well, he did, he was both loving and truthful.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is not unsurprising to us that he um had no problem at all making friends with people who disagreed with him initially.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um he had no problem reaching out to those um who were seen as downcast by society.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: He had no problem sort of subverting expectations of the culture by doing that, but ultimately it was so that the gospel might be furthered.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then you look at the other side and you say, well, he also didn't think that the way to change the world was by becoming a Pharisee and then just preaching a different message within that space.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was subverting all of the expectations of the world and the authority structure that they had, and saying that the gospel was renewing uh society in its own way.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus walked this line perfectly.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's no surprising.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um Jesus didn't bend to the whims of the day, nor did he think that warfare was the path to change.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: You as an example, you can think of when he's being arrested, and Peter has a sword and even manages to cut off somebody's ear.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, not the time for that.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um Jesus understood that the gospel and evangelism is what changed the world.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: But as a final thought, though, um I want you to understand that recognizing and responding to culture, though.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is more important than just, hey, let's make sure we all have the details straight.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: You have to understand that there is a sinister thing behind Satan and his deception and his work in the gospel and trying to undermine the gospel specifically.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so to be very transparent, what that also means, and what we have to be on guard against, is that remember, Satan is not just, you know, pentagrams in dark rooms, but rather he is trying to infiltrate churches.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so there is a need for all of us to be vigilant about understanding what the gospel message is, to understand what is truth, and to be willing to engage with things that don't match that.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's a whole conversation in and of itself.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the purpose for us, really the application this morning, is recognizing how as fish and water we might be bending to our culture and to understand that the solution is to know what the true Jesus is, who the true Jesus is, rather.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: And through that, then we won't be able to be duped by the schemes of Satan, which he is very talented at, and instead we can walk forward with a faith that is true and honest and transforming.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: What is apparent about the Corinthians is that they were like that bride.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: They were starting to flirt with all of these other things, and because of that, they were in danger of being presented as unfaithful to Christ.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if we want to maintain, and I say this to you, recognizing that we will probably continue to go into this spiritual minority, that's most likely what's going to continue to happen.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: But the way through that is not to respond to our culture like our culture, but it's instead to preach the gospel and to share the love of Christ with your neighbor and to do all the things that the Bible is telling us to do.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because shocker, most of the time, throughout all of human history, Christians have been in the minority.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the greatest growth that has ever been seen is when they are in the minority and they choose to be faithful to God's word.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you today, and Lord, we we are people who desire truth.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we desire to know your word.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: And God, we want uh a true Jesus, his true spirit, and the true gospel.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray that our church would be protected from the schemes of Satan who desires to undermine what's happening here and elsewhere, Lord.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um God, we desire to be vigilant and that you would give us discernment and wisdom so that we can recognize these sorts of things, whether it's happening in our body, uh our community, uh, Lord, or just individually and the people that we might be listening to.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Lord, we know that not everybody is a false apostle.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: But Lord, we also know that Satan is deceptive and scheming.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: And God, we desire to just be aware of his schemes so that we can fight back with your truth.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: God, finally, I pray that you would help us if maybe we feel like we are being pulled by our culture in one way or the other in response to the gospel.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, God, that you would just help us to align ourselves with your truth.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, that you would help us to see uh the ways that you have called us to fight and the ways that you have called us to accept are not exactly what our culture thinks.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that we would be faithful and obedient to you in these ways.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: God, we love you and we praise you for Christ, uh, that we have the reason to say all of these things, most of all for our salvation.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's in his name we pray.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, before you go, um I think I heard somebody say, oh no.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh before you go, we're all in this room together.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, take advantage of this opportunity.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: Say hi to two people that you've never met before before you leave the doors.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: Make some new friends.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great week.