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2 Corinthians │ Msg 928 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I have a secret love affair going with the Book
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Speaker 1: of Second Corinthians in the New Testament. Every time I
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Speaker 1: turned to it, it brings back some of the fondest
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Speaker 1: memories of a semester I spent in seminary a number
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Speaker 1: of years ago. It was actually a Greek class elective
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Speaker 1: that I had chosen to take on the Letter to
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Speaker 1: the Corinthians, that is the Second Letter, And as I recall,
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Speaker 1: there were not more than six or seven of us
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Speaker 1: in the class for some strange reason, which pleased me immensely.
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Speaker 1: Part of the reason I was so delighted is because
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Speaker 1: you sort of get personal tutoring from the professor in
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Speaker 1: those situations. Also, it happened to be one of my
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Speaker 1: favorite professors, Stanley Tussaint, who would be teaching the course.
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Speaker 1: And for the following four months, give or take a
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Speaker 1: few days, we did intense research in the Book of
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Speaker 1: Second Corinthians. Every time we met, we translated chunks of
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Speaker 1: the letter together, each man able to do several verses.
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Speaker 1: We were able to analyze a number of the terms.
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Speaker 1: We were able to trace some of the problem passages.
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Speaker 1: We captured the feeling of the book here and there.
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Speaker 1: We even had the time to dialogue some of the
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Speaker 1: problem passages, which are certainly here in this book, as
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Speaker 1: well as in every book of the Bible. As a result,
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Speaker 1: this friendship has grown through the years, and I never
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Speaker 1: open the Letter to the Corinthians, the second Letter without
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Speaker 1: remembering with fondness those days spent with those men in
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Speaker 1: seminary classroom. I also fell in love with the man
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Speaker 1: who wrote the book. Unfortunately, Paul suffers from too much familiarity,
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Speaker 1: and that tends to breed an unfortunate contempt. We feel
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Speaker 1: like we know the man because his name is tossed
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Speaker 1: around almost without fail every Sunday in most New Testament churches.
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Speaker 1: We continually peruse and examine and probe and analyze his writings,
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Speaker 1: and we become so familiar with the name Paul we
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Speaker 1: sort of pass it off. Here we go again, another
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Speaker 1: comment about Paul. But I'll tell you in Second Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: he gives us his journal. It is unedited, and it
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Speaker 1: is unvarnished. It has been published without his permission, and
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Speaker 1: he never had any idea that it would be preserved
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Speaker 1: for the centuries that would follow. And I'll grant you that.
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Speaker 1: If you want to see a man who stands up
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Speaker 1: and takes it on the chin, or, if you prefer,
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Speaker 1: falls flat on his face. In weakness, in humanity, and humility.
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Speaker 1: You meet him in Second Corinthians. He groans, he weeps,
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Speaker 1: he defends, he exposes the truth of his life. He
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Speaker 1: reveals himself for all to see, and he does it
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Speaker 1: in such a self forgetful way that you walk away
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Speaker 1: shaking your head. As to the genius of the whole writing,
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Speaker 1: we find in Paul not a highly polished silver goblet
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Speaker 1: that sits on a shelf, not to be touched, but
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Speaker 1: just to be observed. We don't find that in him.
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Speaker 1: We find him a used and abuse used, and broken
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Speaker 1: and bruised old.
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Speaker 2: Piece of pottery. As we read about his life.
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Speaker 1: You see, it's in Second Corinthians that Paul confesses to
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Speaker 1: despairing of life chapter one, verse eight. It's in Second
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Speaker 1: Corinthians that Paul admits to being afflicted, perplexed, knocked down
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Speaker 1: but not knocked out chapter four, verses eight and nine.
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Speaker 1: It's in Second Corinthians that Paul admits that he is
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Speaker 1: neither invincible nor perfect as he exposes the horror of
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Speaker 1: his pilgrimage chapters six through eleven, It's in chapters ten, eleven.
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Speaker 2: Twelve, and thirteen.
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Speaker 1: Paul doesn't do well under criticism, and he does his
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Speaker 1: best to defend himself. But in the last analysis, he'll
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Speaker 1: remind you of a little cur dog that turns over
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Speaker 1: and exposes his belly and says, kick me if you wish,
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Speaker 1: or love me if you can. It's in Second Corinthians
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Speaker 1: that Paul tells us about a steak, a thorn that
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Speaker 1: is so deeply embedded in him that not even a
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Speaker 1: thrice mentioned prayer caused God to relieve him of it,
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Speaker 1: and he lives with it till he dies, though he's
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Speaker 1: man enough not to really tell us what it was.
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Speaker 1: And I'm glad because it allows all of us who
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Speaker 1: have similar thorns to feel an identity with him. In
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Speaker 1: chapter twelve when he says his grace is sufficient for me.
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Speaker 1: Threaded through the fabric of Second Corinthians are the colors
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Speaker 1: of pain and weakness and sorrow and brokenness and meekness.
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Speaker 1: Number of years ago I asked Jim Peterson, who is
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Speaker 1: now quite a man with the Navigators, quite a missionary
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Speaker 1: statesman in my opinion, in South America, just before he
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Speaker 1: went to San Paolo, I asked, Jim, tell me the
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Speaker 1: secret of ministering to people.
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Speaker 2: I was young.
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Speaker 1: I was interested in how he had done it and
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Speaker 1: was continuing to do it. Cynthia and I visited in
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Speaker 1: a little cabin where they were staying before they set
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Speaker 1: sail for Brazil. I expected a word like always set
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Speaker 1: the pace, or be strong no matter what, or model
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Speaker 1: the truth and stand against the gale as it tax you.
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Speaker 1: And I got none of that. Jim Peterson said, Chuck,
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Speaker 1: let people see the cracks in your life and you'll
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Speaker 1: minister to them. That's all he told me. In Second Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: Paul shows us the cracks in his life. And you
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Speaker 1: get Paul down off the pedestal, and you put him
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Speaker 1: in the ranks of humanity, and you put your arms
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Speaker 1: around him, and you thank God for the transparent.
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Speaker 2: Apostle that he really was.
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Speaker 1: And I think when we're through with this brief study,
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Speaker 1: you'll have a love affair going with a letter just
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Speaker 1: like I do. Now a little background information to kind
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Speaker 1: of set the stage.
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Speaker 2: Why did Paul write it?
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Speaker 1: He had already written the one, and to borrow from
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Speaker 1: the missionary word, what right does a church to have
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Speaker 1: two letters from Paul? Until every church has one letter,
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Speaker 1: but God led him otherwise. There were three or four
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Speaker 1: reasons that Paul wrote the letter. First is of what
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Speaker 1: I would call a public reason. He was still disturbed
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Speaker 1: about some of their conduct, so he wrote to correct
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Speaker 1: them on read lot that they were One letter didn't
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Speaker 1: do it. Reminds me of my childhood. One spanking never
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Speaker 1: seemed to do it for me.
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Speaker 2: Were you like that?
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Speaker 1: In fact, dozens of spankings still it seemed didn't work
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Speaker 1: in some areas. For the Corinthians. You couldn't seem to
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Speaker 1: spank them enough to get them in line. So he
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Speaker 1: wrote them again.
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Speaker 2: To correct their life style.
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Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons. There's also a personal reason.
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Speaker 1: He was being criticized and he needed to defend his integrity,
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Speaker 1: so he wrote to do that. You'll get the you'll
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Speaker 1: capture those thoughts as you read through this very personal letter.
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Speaker 1: The public reason was to help straighten them out. The
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Speaker 1: private or personal reason was to defend his integrity. There's
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Speaker 1: a practical reason. They needed to give to the needs
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Speaker 1: in the Jerusalem Church. They had begun a financial project,
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Speaker 1: they hadn't finished it, so he wrote them telling them
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Speaker 1: to get at it and to get it done. The
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Speaker 1: practical reason was to get them to complete their project,
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Speaker 1: their financial project in giving to the church at Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: There were also doctrinal reasons that he wrote, and will
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Speaker 1: come across several of them through the letter. He wanted
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Speaker 1: to explain to them more fully some of the doctrines
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Speaker 1: that they had miswired, misunderstood. Now, how does he express
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Speaker 1: himself in the letter? With a lot of emotion, with
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Speaker 1: a lot of passion. I think it was RG. Lee
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Speaker 1: who said, tracing your way through Second Corinthians is like
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Speaker 1: tracing your way along an African river. It is deep
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Speaker 1: and profound, at places, almost mysterious, and then it moves
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Speaker 1: into narrow straits and the rapids become intense, and it
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Speaker 1: leads to all of a sudden an eruption and a waterfall,
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Speaker 1: only to go over and find yourself in another deep,
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Speaker 1: quiet pool a little further on. There are eruptions of
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Speaker 1: emotions at times, and yet at other times there are
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Speaker 1: deep and there are profound thoughts and feelings. It's perhaps
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Speaker 1: his most emotional letter. He's pensive, he's humble, he's broken,
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Speaker 1: he's bruised, he's almost self effacing, and at other times
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Speaker 1: he puts on the gloves and he rolls up his sleeves,
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Speaker 1: and he was willing to take them on one at
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Speaker 1: a time, or if they prefer as a group. Is
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Speaker 1: going to the extreme in his emotions in this letter. Now,
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Speaker 1: what had happened? What was the situation that led him
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Speaker 1: to write them? Well, Titus, his friend, had taken the
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Speaker 1: first letter to them, and he hadn't heard from Titus.
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Speaker 1: He hadn't heard the results of that letter from Titus's
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Speaker 1: own lips, and he got ants. He got uneasy about
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Speaker 1: the absence of information. So he went back to Macedonia,
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Speaker 1: which is northern Greece, and while there he ran into Titus,
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Speaker 1: and he came into touch with their reaction to that
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Speaker 1: first letter that Titus had taken as a comment made
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Speaker 1: in chapter seven. And I want you to look at
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Speaker 1: for a moment verse six. Well, look at verse five
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Speaker 1: two Corinthian seventy five. Even when we came into Macedonia,
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Speaker 1: our flesh had no rest. That's sad, like something you
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Speaker 1: heard recently. See it's not for everybody Nia, not even
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Speaker 1: Paul entered into the rest twenty four hours a day.
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Speaker 1: Nor will you, nor will I give yourself a break.
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Speaker 1: There will be times when you don't enter into the
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Speaker 1: rest that God has promised, he still loves you, and
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Speaker 1: he still patiently taps his foot waiting for you to
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Speaker 1: enter it. Paul says, I didn't rest at that time.
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Speaker 1: We were afflicted on every side, conflicts without.
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Speaker 2: Fears within. You believe it.
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Speaker 1: Paul, this strong apostle, says, I was afraid, and then
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Speaker 1: I met Titus next verse. But God, who comforts the depressed,
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Speaker 1: thank the Lord for that. Comforted us by the coming
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Speaker 1: of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also
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Speaker 1: by the comfort with which he was comforted in you
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Speaker 1: as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your
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Speaker 1: zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. The
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Speaker 1: setting that surrounds the writing of Second Corinthians was the
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Speaker 1: response of Titus concerning the first Letter. And we can
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Speaker 1: be sure that Titus brought with him other information about
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Speaker 1: the church that concerned Paul. No need to bother with
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Speaker 1: it now that is bothered turning to it. But the
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Speaker 1: last four chapters of the letter respond to the people's
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Speaker 1: criticisms that were no doubt reported through Titus to Paul.
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Speaker 1: They were really coming down on Paul. Titus told him
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Speaker 1: about it, so Paul answers their criticism. Now that's enough
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Speaker 1: background stuff. Let's get into the letter. Let's go back
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Speaker 1: to chapter one, and if you want to follow by
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Speaker 1: looking at the chart, great. If you don't even want
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Speaker 1: to look at the chart, that's fine too, doesn't matter.
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Speaker 1: Look at chapter one.
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Speaker 2: That's kind of.
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Speaker 1: Get a feel for the flow of this letter. I
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Speaker 1: want to pick out a few things here and there
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Speaker 1: that seem important, and I want to talk about them
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Speaker 1: with you. Paul admits at the beginning that he wrote
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Speaker 1: it calls himself an apostle of Christ. Jesus tells us
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Speaker 1: that it was but the will of God. Some were
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Speaker 1: questioning that he was even an apostle. Certainly they were
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Speaker 1: wondering if he was an apostle by the will of God.
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Speaker 1: He says in the very beginning, I am both and
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Speaker 1: Timothy our brother to the church, which is at current
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Speaker 1: with all the saints who are throughout a kaa grace
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Speaker 1: and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: And then in verses three through eleven, we have one
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Speaker 1: of the finest vignettes on suffering anywhere in the New Testament.
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Speaker 2: Now, if you have.
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Speaker 1: Suffered in the past or if you are currently suffering,
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Speaker 1: or if you have plans in the immediate future to suffer,
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Speaker 1: you need to get a hold of these three reasons
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Speaker 1: Paul gives us for suffering, and they're right out of
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Speaker 1: the text. They're introduced with the little four letter word that.
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Speaker 1: He can Just take your pencil and underline the little
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Speaker 1: word that, and you'll have the three things nailed down.
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Speaker 1: Here are the three reasons three of the many reasons
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Speaker 1: we suffer. First of all, Verse four talks about God,
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Speaker 1: who comforts us in all our affliction, so that here's
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Speaker 1: the first reason we may be able to comfort those
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Speaker 1: who are in any affliction with the comfort with which
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Speaker 1: we ourselves are comforted by God. First reason we suffer
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Speaker 1: is that we might be able to comfort others who
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Speaker 1: can understand better the loss of a mate than one
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Speaker 1: who has lost her mate or his mate. Who can
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Speaker 1: better understand the loneliness of a divorcee than one who
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Speaker 1: has been divorced, Who can better understand the pain of
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Speaker 1: watching a child die by some terminal illness better than
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Speaker 1: one who has watched his or her child die. We
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Speaker 1: are comforted in our distress so that we might be
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Speaker 1: able to comfort others in that sense, No suffering is
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Speaker 1: ever a dead end street. There is no such thing
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Speaker 1: as futility in suffering. From God's vantage point, at times
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Speaker 1: we'll feel it, at times we'll even say it. But
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Speaker 1: from God's vantage point, there is always that open end
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Speaker 1: that says, someday, in some way, you're gonna be able
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Speaker 1: to comfort somebody else. That's verse four. I go down
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Speaker 1: a little further verse nine. Well, I want to take
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Speaker 1: verse eight because it's so real and it's a seldom
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Speaker 1: mentioned verse. Look, how parenty is. We do not want
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Speaker 1: you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came
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Speaker 1: in Asia. We were burdened excessively. The word means pressured,
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Speaker 1: pressed beyond our strength. We despaired even of life.
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Speaker 2: That's Paul.
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Speaker 1: If you have Paul in your mind as a plastered
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Speaker 1: saint who knows nothing of the pain of life, go
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Speaker 1: back to verse eight until you get it straight. Paul says,
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Speaker 1: I was so pressed, I was so pressured, I was
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Speaker 1: so burdened. I despaired of going on. One woman writes,
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Speaker 1: pressed out of measure, pressed to all length, pressed so intently,
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Speaker 1: it seems beyond strength, pressed in the body, pressed in
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Speaker 1: the soul, pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll,
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Speaker 1: pressure by foes and pressure by friends, pressure on pressure
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Speaker 1: till life nearly ends. Pressed into knowing no helper, but God,
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Speaker 1: pressed into loving the staff and the rod, pressed into
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Speaker 1: liberty where nothing clings, pressed into faith for impossible things,
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Speaker 1: pressed into living a life in the Lord, pressed into
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Speaker 1: living a Christ's life outpoured. It's that kind of pressure
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Speaker 1: in verse eight that caused him to despair of life
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Speaker 1: verse nine. He still sees a reason for it. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: we had the sentence of death within ourselves. In order
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Speaker 1: that reason number two, we should not trust in ourselves,
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Speaker 1: but in God, who raises the dead. The first reason
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Speaker 1: we suffer is that we might be able to comfort others.
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Speaker 1: A second reason we suffer is that we might not
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Speaker 1: trust in ourselves. Suffering certainly pulls the slats out from
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Speaker 1: under us, and it reminds us that we are really
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Speaker 1: dependent people, not really independent, certainly not as independent as
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Speaker 1: we act. He talks about God, who delivered us from
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Speaker 1: so great a peril of death, who will deliver us,
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Speaker 1: He on whom we have set our hope. He will
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Speaker 1: yet deliver us. Do you get the past, present, and future?
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Speaker 1: There he has done it, he is doing it, he
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Speaker 1: will do it Verse eleven. Third reason you also joining
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Speaker 1: and helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be
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Speaker 1: given by many persons on our behalf for the favor
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Speaker 1: bestowed upon us through the prayers of many, that we
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Speaker 1: might learned to give thanks and everything, that we might
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Speaker 1: comfort others, that we might not trust in ourselves, that
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Speaker 1: we might learn to give thanks in everything. The pressure
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Speaker 1: of chapter one brings Paul to his knees in concern
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Speaker 1: for a brother that they have disciplined. If you remember
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Speaker 1: from our study in First Corinthians, you will recall chapter five,
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Speaker 1: which is the scandalous chapter of the book. In First Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: there is a brother that has been in incest and
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Speaker 1: the church has responded by bragging about it. And Paul says,
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Speaker 1: shame on you. You should have disciplined the brother, and
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Speaker 1: I take it that they did. In fact, they disciplined
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Speaker 1: him so severely that they did not have room to
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Speaker 1: forgive him when he repented. So in chapter two Paul
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Speaker 1: comes to the man's defense and says, look, the discipline
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Speaker 1: has done its job. The man is repenting. Forgive him.
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Speaker 1: It's a great section on forgiveness. In chapter two verses
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Speaker 1: five through eleven. Look at these verses with me. Just
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Speaker 1: as the first chapter gives us some good insights on suffering,
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Speaker 1: the second chapter gives you some good insights on forgiving.
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Speaker 2: Verse five.
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Speaker 1: If any has cased sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not
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Speaker 1: to me, but in some degree, in order not to
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Speaker 1: say too much to all of you. Sufficient for this one,
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Speaker 1: or for such a one, is the punishment which was
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Speaker 1: inflicted by the majority. In other words, you brought punishment
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Speaker 1: on him. It has done its job. It's sufficient. Now
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Speaker 1: back off, bring the brother back into fellowship. He says,
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Speaker 1: so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive and
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Speaker 1: comfort him. Forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a
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Speaker 1: one be overwhelmed by ex sessive sorrow. I urge you
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Speaker 1: reaffirm your love for him. You see what they had
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Speaker 1: on their hands was a prodigal. The prodigal had had
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Speaker 1: run from home. Paul said, discipline him, and they did well.
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Speaker 1: The prodigal was trying to come home. He'd come home
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Speaker 1: in dust and ashes. And he says to them, in effect,
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Speaker 1: I confess my wrong. I've done what's wrong, and I
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Speaker 1: bring to you my repentance. Let me back in the fellowship,
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Speaker 1: and they were saying, apparently, no way. I mean, look
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Speaker 1: at what Paul wrote. So Paul writes here to say
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Speaker 1: let him back. Isn't it amazing? We get a message
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Speaker 1: from God and we overuse it. We don't discipline, but
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Speaker 1: then when we finally decide to discipline, we over discipline
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Speaker 1: so that a brother or sister who has been disciplined
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Speaker 1: isn't able to come up for air, and they can
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Speaker 1: stay down only so long, and finally when they gasp
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Speaker 1: and come up saying I'm wrong, Please forgive me. Oh my,
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Speaker 1: we're there to say, no way, look at what you've done.
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Speaker 1: I read in the New Yorker magazine some time ago
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Speaker 1: a cartoon. It was a biblical scene of the prodigal son,
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Speaker 1: the father, and the neighbors, and everybody's dressed in white,
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Speaker 1: frowning faces looking at the prodigal And just as the
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Speaker 1: father was carving this roasted lamb, he turns to the
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Speaker 1: son and says, now, after all, sun, this is the
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Speaker 1: fourth fatted calf. Sounds a lot like us, doesn't it?
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Speaker 1: Listen to Father brings fatted calves on our behalf forty
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Speaker 1: times in a lifetime, four hundred times four thousand times.
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Speaker 1: Thank God he doesn't run out of fatted calves when
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Speaker 1: the prodigal comes home, let him in. That's the plea
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Speaker 1: of chapter two. If you tend to overreact in the
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Speaker 1: realm of severity and discipline, need a good dose of
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Speaker 1: chapter two because it'll help you. Now, this leads Paul
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Speaker 1: into a real sense of compassion for the hurting, and
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Speaker 1: he turns it beautifully. I wish we had the time
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Speaker 1: to let you see how it kind of bleeds into
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Speaker 1: the next section, but trust me, it sort of weaves
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Speaker 1: its way into a whole section on a compassionate ministry.
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Speaker 1: I love this section the end of chapter two, all
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Speaker 1: the way through chapter four some of the finest stuff
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Speaker 1: in all the New Testament on ministering with compassion. Unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: uncompassionate people don't read these verses. Compassionate people pour over
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Speaker 1: them and find a lot of encouragement in them. Look
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Speaker 1: at verse fourteen for example. I want to just point
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Speaker 1: out some contrasts in a compassionate ministry. Here is a
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Speaker 1: man and here is a ministry. I want you to
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Speaker 1: see how they blend together.
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Speaker 2: To fourteen.
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Speaker 1: Thanks be to God who always leads us in his
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Speaker 1: triumph in Christ and manifests through us. I love this,
25:24
Speaker 1: the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
25:28
Speaker 1: Remember that word aroma. When we walk in the glories
25:34
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, and when we live the Christ's life
25:38
Speaker 1: in ministry with others, it is amazing what an aroma
25:43
Speaker 1: is created about us. It is an appealing fragrance. And
25:52
Speaker 1: this fragrance has an attracting characteristic about it, and the
25:57
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus gives it to us in in this whole
26:02
Speaker 1: business of ministry. Those who don't have that fragrance don't
26:07
Speaker 1: have that compassion. Those who do, they have it. Now
26:13
Speaker 1: look how it works its way out verse fifteen. We
26:16
Speaker 1: are a fragrance of Christ to God among everyone, those
26:21
Speaker 1: who are being saved, and among those who are perishing.
26:28
Speaker 1: To the one, we are an aroma from death to death,
26:32
Speaker 1: and to the other an aroma from life to life.
26:38
Speaker 1: Let me give you several contrasts, and then we'll kind
26:40
Speaker 1: of run them through this path, or we'll see them.
26:42
Speaker 2: Through this passage here. First of all, a.
26:44
Speaker 1: Ministry that is truly a ministry of God is a
26:47
Speaker 1: many a ministry of fragrance, not force. You don't find
26:51
Speaker 1: force in this, you find fragrance. You find an appeal
26:56
Speaker 1: of open arms, not a long finger coming down on
27:00
Speaker 1: people like that. Not that kind of gesture, but this
27:04
Speaker 1: kind of gesture saying welcome. There's a fragrance in that
27:09
Speaker 1: kind of compassion. The second contrast I find is that
27:12
Speaker 1: it is a ministry of spirit and not of letter.
27:18
Speaker 1: Read along with me verse one three. Are we beginning
27:22
Speaker 1: to commend ourselves again? Or do we need as some
27:25
Speaker 1: letters of commendation to you or from you?
27:28
Speaker 2: You're our letter.
27:30
Speaker 1: You're written in our hearts, known and read by all men,
27:34
Speaker 1: being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared
27:38
Speaker 1: for by us, written not with ink, but with the
27:43
Speaker 1: spirit of the living God, not on the tablets of stone,
27:49
Speaker 1: but on the tablets of human hearts.
27:54
Speaker 2: Verse six.
27:55
Speaker 1: He made us servants of a new covenant, not of
27:57
Speaker 1: the letter, but of the spirit. Here we are again,
28:00
Speaker 1: for the letter.
28:01
Speaker 2: Kills the spirit gives life. That beautiful.
28:08
Speaker 1: If you want to have a ministry that attracts people,
28:11
Speaker 1: and I'm not talking anything about size or getting a
28:14
Speaker 1: lot more people to come to your Bible study, forget
28:16
Speaker 1: that that numbers game is an endless, vicious cycle. I
28:22
Speaker 1: wish if I could have one wish for the Church
28:24
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ today, it would be giving up the
28:27
Speaker 1: numbers game, not sweating how many come.
28:32
Speaker 2: Or don't come.
28:34
Speaker 1: But if you want to have an appealing ministry that
28:37
Speaker 1: is truly New Testament grace, develop a ministry of the
28:42
Speaker 1: spirit and not of the letter. Give just as much
28:49
Speaker 1: attention to how you say what you say as to
28:53
Speaker 1: what you were saying. Think it through. Paul has a
29:00
Speaker 1: ministry to the spirit. Now I find a third characteristic
29:05
Speaker 1: and I see it unfolding in verse five. Not that
29:11
Speaker 1: we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming
29:14
Speaker 1: from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. So here's one.
29:21
Speaker 1: It's going to surprise you. A ministry that's characterized by
29:27
Speaker 1: Paul's kind of New Testament ministry is a ministry of
29:30
Speaker 1: inadequacy and brokenness, not slick performance. Paul says, I'm not adequate.
29:41
Speaker 1: The only adequacy I have comes from God, and he's
29:44
Speaker 1: not trying to be humble or super pious.
29:46
Speaker 2: He means it.
29:48
Speaker 1: You'll see that more so as time passes. Let me
29:56
Speaker 1: move along. Look at chapter two again. The last verse
29:59
Speaker 1: I want to tie in with the first part of
30:01
Speaker 1: chapter four two seventeen we are not like many peddling
30:06
Speaker 1: the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as
30:12
Speaker 1: from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
30:17
Speaker 1: Now Verse one, chapter four. Therefore, since we have this
30:20
Speaker 1: kind of ministry that is one of sincerity, as we
30:26
Speaker 1: have received mercy, we do not lose heart. We have
30:28
Speaker 1: renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in
30:32
Speaker 1: craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the
30:39
Speaker 1: manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
30:46
Speaker 1: the sight of God. Another characteristic of a New Testament
30:54
Speaker 1: ministry in the true pristine sense of Appauline kind of
30:57
Speaker 1: ministry is authenticity rather than phoniness. There is a sincerity
31:03
Speaker 1: when the ministry is carried on like Paul carried his on.
31:10
Speaker 1: And if you go on down through the passage verse five,
31:14
Speaker 1: you'd see that it's a ministry not.
31:16
Speaker 2: Of self, but of Christ Jesus.
31:19
Speaker 1: We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord,
31:22
Speaker 1: and ourselves as your bond servants.
31:25
Speaker 2: For jesus sake.
31:31
Speaker 1: We have the treasure verse seven, in earthen vessels, in
31:36
Speaker 1: a in a piece of pottery, that the greatness or
31:40
Speaker 1: the excellency of the power may be of God and
31:43
Speaker 1: not from ourselves. So finally, it's a ministry of a
31:48
Speaker 1: genuine humanity rather than professional capability. Hope, I didn't leave
31:56
Speaker 1: you in the dust in those things. Those are very
31:58
Speaker 1: important to me and to us as a body of people,
32:02
Speaker 1: and maybe they bear repeating. It's a ministry of fragrance
32:06
Speaker 1: rather than force, a ministry of the spirit rather than
32:10
Speaker 1: the letter, a ministry of inadequacy and brokenness rather than
32:13
Speaker 1: slick performance, of authenticity rather than phoniness, not of self
32:20
Speaker 1: but of Christ Jesus. A ministry of true humanity rather
32:25
Speaker 1: than professional capability. Now across the board you will see
32:31
Speaker 1: all kinds of ministries. Those that failed, in my humble opinion,
32:35
Speaker 1: those who failed because they fall into that other category
32:39
Speaker 1: in one area or another, rather than in the ones
32:42
Speaker 1: that Paul emulates for us in chapters five, six, and seven. Well,
32:49
Speaker 1: I should take four. I really need to have you see.
32:52
Speaker 1: It's all so good, it's really so good. But if
32:57
Speaker 1: i'll watch it, we'll have a midnight snack here and
32:59
Speaker 1: we won't get through with this deal. So let me
33:01
Speaker 1: just say some things about that. Verses eight, nine and ten.
33:05
Speaker 1: Chapter four. Look at the humility, look at the honesty.
33:09
Speaker 1: We're afflicted, but not christ. We're perplexed but not despairing,
33:15
Speaker 1: persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always
33:19
Speaker 1: caring about in our body, dying, the dying of the
33:25
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, that his life may be manifested in our body.
33:29
Speaker 1: You're going through times like verses eight and nine. You're
33:32
Speaker 1: right on target. You're going through times of crushing, going
33:36
Speaker 1: through times of affliction, times of perplexity, times of persecution,
33:41
Speaker 1: times of being buffeted, punched in the face, talked about, criticized, attacked, assaulted.
33:48
Speaker 2: You're right on stream. That's right where Paul.
33:51
Speaker 1: Was, and Paul admits it and says, I'm not free
33:57
Speaker 1: of it. It is a characteristic of my ministry. Let's
34:02
Speaker 1: never forget that. That's part of the authentic role of
34:05
Speaker 1: the minister. We do everything we can to stay as
34:10
Speaker 1: comfortable as we can be, but God designs that some
34:14
Speaker 1: things be terribly uncomfortable to keep us trusting in Him.
34:22
Speaker 1: I found in my life that about the time I
34:25
Speaker 1: get on a crest and I think, well that's pretty good,
34:29
Speaker 1: rolling along fairly, Well, there's a whole bombing mission that
34:36
Speaker 1: comes and just kind of takes all the wind out
34:40
Speaker 1: of the sails.
34:40
Speaker 2: It takes all.
34:42
Speaker 1: The beautiful floating experience and kind of collapses it into
34:47
Speaker 1: the bottom of the sea and a lot of people there.
34:50
Speaker 1: It seems not bailing me out, but bailing me in
34:54
Speaker 1: so that the thinguld sink. God knows what he's doing,
35:00
Speaker 1: because when I'm on a crest and I'm thinking how
35:02
Speaker 1: great and wonderful things are, I don't really need that
35:05
Speaker 1: much from him. When I'm going under, and when I
35:10
Speaker 1: am under in these crushings and afflictions, etc. I am
35:15
Speaker 1: never more sensitive of God's assistance. Now I think what's
35:19
Speaker 1: true of me is true of every one of you.
35:21
Speaker 2: Also. It's not something we would want, but it is.
35:27
Speaker 1: It's like verse sixteen of that fourth chapter. We don't
35:31
Speaker 1: lose heart. Though our outer man is decaying, our inner
35:36
Speaker 1: man is being renewed.
35:37
Speaker 2: Day by day.
35:41
Speaker 1: We protect our outer man. God works on our inner man.
35:46
Speaker 1: We try to keep all the things away from our
35:48
Speaker 1: outer man. God just penetrates and goes right through our
35:52
Speaker 1: outer man and brings all that pain to get into
35:54
Speaker 1: the inner man. I'm told that in surgical operation and
36:00
Speaker 1: is the greatest level of pain is on the surface
36:02
Speaker 1: of the skin, not down inside. So it is in
36:07
Speaker 1: God's surgery on us. When he attacks the outer man.
36:10
Speaker 1: We scream and we fight and we resent it because
36:14
Speaker 1: it hurts so much. But he's doing something way down inside,
36:17
Speaker 1: and we can't even know or feel.
36:19
Speaker 2: At the time.
36:21
Speaker 1: Looking back, we see it, but at the time we don't.
36:25
Speaker 1: In chapters five, six, and seven, there are several significant doctrines.
36:29
Speaker 1: Chapter five the doctrines of death and reconciliation, Chapter six
36:36
Speaker 1: servanthood and separation. Chapter seven again affliction, sorrow and comfort.
36:43
Speaker 1: And then I want to get into chapters eight and
36:45
Speaker 1: nine quickly because it has to do with the whole
36:48
Speaker 1: issue of financial involvement. No one who doesn't in depth
36:54
Speaker 1: study in the New Testament on the subject of money
37:00
Speaker 1: overlook chapters eight and nine of Second Corinthians. In fact,
37:04
Speaker 1: I did a little research, and I found that there
37:08
Speaker 1: are really four great chapters in the New Testament on
37:11
Speaker 1: giving at all. Four, interestingly, are in the Corinthian Letters.
37:18
Speaker 1: Chapter nine of First Corinthians talks about justification forgiving. Why
37:26
Speaker 1: should I give? First Corinthians nine answers why, especially verses
37:31
Speaker 1: one to fourteen. Chapter sixteen of First Corinthians, we find
37:36
Speaker 1: instructions forgiving. We're told how to do it. It's to
37:41
Speaker 1: be systematic, it's to be individual. It's to be proportionate.
37:44
Speaker 1: It's to be consistent. It's to be private, it's to
37:47
Speaker 1: be without pressure. Chapter sixteen of First Corinthians, did I
37:54
Speaker 1: say sixteen?
37:54
Speaker 2: Yeah?
37:55
Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen of First Corinthians provides us with instructions forgiving.
37:59
Speaker 1: Now Chapter eight of Second Corinthians we find illustrations of giving,
38:04
Speaker 1: and the illustration is Macedonian churches. They were so poor
38:14
Speaker 1: there weren't words to describe them. It's it's amazing how
38:22
Speaker 1: poor they were, yet how well they gave. In fact,
38:24
Speaker 1: the illustration is used to show the Corinthians, who lived
38:28
Speaker 1: in abundance, what it really means to give out of poverty.
38:33
Speaker 1: Chapter eight, Brethren, we wish to make known to you
38:36
Speaker 1: the grace of God which has been given in the
38:38
Speaker 1: churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction,
38:42
Speaker 1: their abundance of joy, and their deep poverty. And that
38:47
Speaker 1: is the most lowlyd of terms in New Testament Greek,
38:56
Speaker 1: the lowest possible level of econo make survival characterize the
39:02
Speaker 1: Macedonian churches. And yet they gave reminds me of one
39:12
Speaker 1: of those crazy comedians he talked about when he was
39:14
Speaker 1: when he was young, he was so poor they wore
39:17
Speaker 1: their sneakers down so far they looked like spats, canvas spats.
39:21
Speaker 1: And I think the Macedonian churches wore them down that far.
39:25
Speaker 1: They were so poor they wore their clothing until it
39:28
Speaker 1: was virtually rags. And yet Paul says, those Macedonians gave
39:34
Speaker 1: in an overflowing of liberality. And Paul says it to
39:39
Speaker 1: these Corinthians, Now you've got a job to do. You
39:42
Speaker 1: give like that. If they can, you can. So we
39:47
Speaker 1: have an illustration of giving in chapter eight, and then
39:49
Speaker 1: we have an application of giving in chapter nine. In fact,
39:53
Speaker 1: the finest couple of verses that go together on giving
39:59
Speaker 1: or so it and eight of chapter nine. Let each
40:04
Speaker 1: one do just as he has purposed in his heart,
40:07
Speaker 1: not grudgingly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.
40:14
Speaker 1: I saw a sign this last week that said, the
40:17
Speaker 1: Lord love it the cheerful giver. But he also accepteth
40:20
Speaker 1: from a mean old grouch. I like that He prefers
40:24
Speaker 1: a cheerful giver. But if you're a mean old grouch,
40:27
Speaker 1: He'll still take it. Either way, you'll miss the reward,
40:30
Speaker 1: but he'll still take it. And God, and that's the
40:33
Speaker 1: part we forget. God is able to make all grace
40:36
Speaker 1: abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything,
40:42
Speaker 1: you may have an abundance for every good deed.
40:46
Speaker 2: You know what he's saying.
40:47
Speaker 1: Don't be stingy, don't be tight fisted, be generous, Give, Give,
40:57
Speaker 1: and don't stop giving when you retire.
41:00
Speaker 2: Give. Don't stop giving just because it's tough. Keep giving.
41:06
Speaker 2: Give is the whole thrust of this passage.
41:11
Speaker 1: I don't know if there is another subject, perhaps the
41:13
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, But except for that, I don't know of
41:17
Speaker 1: another subject in which there's more sloppy or erroneous thinking
41:20
Speaker 1: in the family of God than on the whole subject
41:22
Speaker 1: of giving. It runs the gamut from people who say
41:26
Speaker 1: you should never mention one single word about any need
41:30
Speaker 1: ever ever, all the way to the person who uses
41:34
Speaker 1: guilt gimmicks to make you give. Like what I heard
41:38
Speaker 1: about recently, a Christian organization had a banquet. At every
41:42
Speaker 1: table was a candle, and at every table set eight people,
41:48
Speaker 1: and the guy who finally brought the pitch said to
41:50
Speaker 1: everybody there. The candle at the table doesn't go out
41:53
Speaker 1: until everybody is either given to the to the organization, or.
41:56
Speaker 2: Made a pledge. The lights all went down.
42:01
Speaker 1: Low waited for people to give so that every candle
42:06
Speaker 1: would go out. That's the stupidest thing I can think of, honestly,
42:13
Speaker 1: there's no candle In Second Corinthians eight and nine. Guilt
42:21
Speaker 1: is a horrible motivation. Let's not use it on people.
42:29
Speaker 1: It's an unfair manipulation. And parents, let's not use it
42:33
Speaker 1: on our kids. Has to do with so much more
42:37
Speaker 1: than giving. It isn't fair. And if you're a strong
42:44
Speaker 1: natural leader, you have more creative ways of using guilt
42:47
Speaker 1: in the law lous they're all lawless, so don't use them.
42:53
Speaker 1: Paul doesn't. In fact, Verse fifteen kind of wraps it
42:56
Speaker 1: all up. Thanks be to God for his indusc ri gift.
43:01
Speaker 1: Look how positive that is. God gave his son, Thanks
43:05
Speaker 1: be to God. And there's a period there it doesn't say,
43:09
Speaker 1: and now how much are you willing to give? We
43:16
Speaker 1: even use God in our manipulating people.
43:21
Speaker 2: Unfair, don't do that.
43:25
Speaker 1: Chapter ten palls fighting for his life. Quite honestly, it's
43:31
Speaker 1: so tough. Verse ten and eleven, he tells them what
43:40
Speaker 1: he's heard that they've been saying about him. Sometime it's
43:42
Speaker 1: best not to know what people are saying about you.
43:46
Speaker 1: Sometimes you still hear it, and at times you have
43:49
Speaker 1: to say something, and other times you just swallow it.
43:52
Speaker 1: Usually they're wrong Verse ten. For they say there's that ubiquitous,
43:57
Speaker 1: they it's always there. His letters are weighty and strong,
44:02
Speaker 1: but his personal presence is unimpressive, his speech contemptible. Yeah,
44:13
Speaker 1: if you thought everybody just kind of worshiped at his shrine,
44:15
Speaker 1: you haven't read Second Corinthians. I want to spend a
44:20
Speaker 1: minute on it. People attacked him because his presence was
44:24
Speaker 1: unimpressive and his speech was contemptible. Maybe you never thought
44:29
Speaker 1: about that. One of the finest commentaries on Second Corinthians
44:33
Speaker 1: is the one by Plumber. It's a super international critical
44:37
Speaker 1: commentary and he guess he has some great insights I
44:39
Speaker 1: want to share with you.
44:41
Speaker 2: Let mean, just listen.
44:42
Speaker 1: It is not certain that there is any allusion to
44:45
Speaker 1: the personal appearance of the apostle, that he was short
44:49
Speaker 1: and insignificant and ugly little jew quote unquote, and that
44:53
Speaker 1: he had that he had revolting infirmities such as epilepsy
44:58
Speaker 1: or ophthalmalia. The contrast seems rather to be between the
45:02
Speaker 1: character of his letters and the character of the man himself.
45:07
Speaker 1: That's what they were criticizing in his letters. He was
45:11
Speaker 1: bold as a lion and firm as a rock. When
45:16
Speaker 1: he came face to face with you, he gave way
45:19
Speaker 1: at once, trying to please everybody, or so they said,
45:24
Speaker 1: and what he said was therefore not worth listening to.
45:30
Speaker 1: Deisman writes, a personality of such polar contrasts made a
45:37
Speaker 1: very different impression on different people. Seldom, perhaps, has anyone
45:44
Speaker 1: been at once so ardentently hated and so passionately loved
45:50
Speaker 1: as Paul. Of the descriptions which have come down to
45:56
Speaker 1: us of the personal appearance of the Apostle, the only
46:00
Speaker 1: one which is at all likely to be based upon
46:03
Speaker 1: early tradition is the well known one entitled the Acts
46:08
Speaker 1: of Paul and Thecla, a document Ramsey assigns to the
46:13
Speaker 1: first century. These no, I'm sorry. The description in the
46:20
Speaker 1: Syriac is as follows. Paul is a man of middling size.
46:27
Speaker 1: His hair was scanty, some of you can identify with that.
46:32
Speaker 1: His legs were crooked, his knees were far apart. He
46:39
Speaker 1: had large protruding eyes, his eyebrows met, and his nose
46:46
Speaker 1: was long. Does not sound like Burt Lancaster to me,
46:54
Speaker 1: I tell you the truth, But he was full of
46:58
Speaker 1: grace and mercy. At one time he seemed like a man,
47:03
Speaker 1: and at another he seemed like an angel. So it
47:08
Speaker 1: is with personalities God chooses to use. There will be
47:14
Speaker 1: parts of those individuals that you will have to fight
47:17
Speaker 1: not to idolize, and there will be other parts you
47:20
Speaker 1: will come close to despising. And if that is true,
47:25
Speaker 1: that person is just like Paul, and he's going to.
47:29
Speaker 2: Get a lot of criticism.
47:32
Speaker 1: I got a neat letter from someone recently who is
47:35
Speaker 1: a public figure, and you wouldn't expect to give way
47:38
Speaker 1: too much flak, but it was starting to happen, and
47:42
Speaker 1: in it he writes, this, Chuck, Your message on Elijah's
47:45
Speaker 1: discouragement came across loud and clear this.
47:48
Speaker 2: Evening, just when I needed it. Thanks.
47:52
Speaker 1: Some fundamentalist crank has written me two critical letters and
47:56
Speaker 1: they were starting to get to me. Your message helped
47:59
Speaker 1: me regain my balance. Thanks. Keep preaching the word. Don't
48:05
Speaker 1: get detoured sign Reverend Ike.
48:09
Speaker 2: No, I'm just tea that's not Reverend I. It's not
48:12
Speaker 2: Reverend I.
48:15
Speaker 1: As a great guy that wrote that, and I appreciate
48:17
Speaker 1: his humility. I had no idea I could ever minister
48:20
Speaker 1: to a guy in that caliber of life, but I did,
48:23
Speaker 1: and I praise God. Even they fall prey at times
48:26
Speaker 1: to criticism, and so will you, and so do I.
48:29
Speaker 2: It's very hard for me to.
48:31
Speaker 1: Continue under an onslaught of criticism because I am of
48:36
Speaker 1: that kind of nature. Some I just admire greatly that
48:39
Speaker 1: are able to just roll right through it.
48:41
Speaker 2: I don't do real well with a whole lot of it.
48:44
Speaker 1: I always have a little of it, but sometime I
48:47
Speaker 1: get a bunch of it, and that's when I'm kind
48:48
Speaker 1: of low, and I find comfort from Paul, who in
48:52
Speaker 1: chapter eleven, twelve and thirteen just kind of unveils his
48:57
Speaker 1: life and says, I'm broken. I have this thorn, I
49:01
Speaker 1: have this humanity. I had spent those days in the deep.
49:05
Speaker 1: I am totally human, completely at a loss to stand
49:09
Speaker 1: up under it all, and I'm at your mercy. But
49:12
Speaker 1: I want you to know I am authentic, and he
49:14
Speaker 1: closes with kind of an authentic ring to it.
49:17
Speaker 2: At the end of the chapter or the end of
49:18
Speaker 2: the letter.
49:19
Speaker 1: Let me share with you three or four closing comments
49:21
Speaker 1: hours late, and you very patiently set through this. I
49:25
Speaker 1: want to wrap it up with these thoughts. Okay, here's
49:29
Speaker 1: the first one. It's brokenness that gives a ministry wholeness.
49:38
Speaker 1: These are kind of contrasting lessons that I see in
49:40
Speaker 1: Second Corinthians, and they're very different from what you might
49:42
Speaker 1: think of in Apauline kind of ministry. It's brokenness that
49:48
Speaker 1: gives wholeness to a ministry. If you're broken, if you're bruised,
49:53
Speaker 1: if you're beaten, if you bleed, if you cry, if
49:57
Speaker 1: you tend to get discouraged, you're right on stream with Paul,
50:01
Speaker 1: so did he. Second, it's meekness that communicates strength in life.
50:13
Speaker 1: The person who is always has to be in control
50:15
Speaker 1: is a very weak individual. The person who is meek
50:20
Speaker 1: is a person who is indeed strong. It's meekness that
50:23
Speaker 1: communicates strength in life. That's also a great insight on servanthood.
50:31
Speaker 1: You truly want to be a servant, don't try to
50:34
Speaker 1: keep control of everything. Third, it's loneliness that makes us
50:41
Speaker 1: value friendships. Paul comes to that in chapter eleven when
50:47
Speaker 1: he said all of those things that happened to me.
50:49
Speaker 1: I was terribly lonely. And besides all this, there was
50:53
Speaker 1: the care of the churches. It's loneliness that makes us
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Speaker 1: value friendship. And fourth, if you still got your Bible
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Speaker 1: open chapter twelve, you just have to see this for yourself.
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Speaker 1: After he talks about the thorn in the flesh, verse eight.
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Speaker 1: Concerning this, I entreated the Lord three times that it
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Speaker 1: might depart. He said to me, my grace is sufficient
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Speaker 1: for you. Power is perfected in weakness. Read that again,
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Speaker 1: power is perfected in weakness. I wanted the thorn to
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Speaker 1: be removed. He said, my grace is sufficient because power
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Speaker 1: is displayed, brought to completion in weakness. Now that's the
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Speaker 1: fourth point. It's weakness that puts power on display. Great
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Speaker 1: old Saint, now dead, was a doctor, m R.
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Speaker 2: De Han.
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Speaker 1: I close with his words. I learned long ago the lesson,
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Speaker 1: but I need to be reminded of it constantly. That
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Speaker 1: God makes only what he breaks, and he breaks only
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Speaker 1: that which he wants to make. If you are being broken,
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Speaker 1: God is working with you. He is making something, something
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Speaker 1: which will someday astound with its wisdom and beauty. We
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Speaker 1: think broken things are a loss but God turns them
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Speaker 1: to gain. In nature, broken things are cast aside, But
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Speaker 1: in grace, God doesn't use a person until he's broken.
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Speaker 2: A little piece of.
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Speaker 1: Wood once complained bitterly because its owner kept whittling away
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Speaker 1: at it, cutting it, filling.
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Speaker 2: It with holes.
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Speaker 1: But the one who was cutting it so remorselessly paid
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Speaker 1: no attention to the complaining of the wood. He was
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Speaker 1: making a flute out of that piece of ebony, and
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Speaker 1: he was too wise to desist from doing so. Even
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Speaker 1: though the wood complained bitterly. He seemed to say, little
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Speaker 1: piece of wood, without these holes and all this cutting,
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Speaker 1: you would just be a black stick forever, just a
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Speaker 1: useless piece of ebony. What I am doing now may
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Speaker 1: make you think I'm destroying you, But instead I am
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Speaker 1: changing you into a flute, and your sweet music will
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Speaker 1: charm the souls of men and women and comfort many
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Speaker 1: a sorrowing heart. My cutting you is the making of you,
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Speaker 1: for only thus can you be a blessing in the world.
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Speaker 1: Let's bow together for a moment. Maybe these have been
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Speaker 1: tough days on you. Maybe you've felt sort of teamed
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Speaker 1: up on by God and by a few folks. My
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Speaker 1: circumstances you may even begin to feel so broken that
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Speaker 1: you just are convinced there'll never be a sense of
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Speaker 1: beautiful music that will be played out of your life.
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Speaker 1: You don't know that, but you feel that God has
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Speaker 1: just wonders with the old, gnarled pieces of wood, and
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Speaker 1: the tougher seems the better.
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Speaker 2: He likes.
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Speaker 1: To make them something beautiful and good. Dear Father, Often
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Speaker 1: it doesn't feel good, and it doesn't seem very beautiful.
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Speaker 1: We confess to you that we've resisted it, and we
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Speaker 1: have resented it. We've wanted to be loved rather than
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Speaker 1: talked about. We've wanted to be admired rather than put down.
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Speaker 1: We've wanted to be beautiful without being cut. But our
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Speaker 1: concept of beauty is not yours, because you make the
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Speaker 1: inner person beautiful without worrying at all about the outer.
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Speaker 1: So thank you for giving us a dimension this day
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Speaker 1: of understanding. As Paul, this grand transparent apostle, showed us
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Speaker 1: himself and all of his needs, and we come to
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Speaker 1: you with that same sense of humanity, unguarded humanity. We
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Speaker 1: ask you to give us the grace to trust you
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Speaker 1: when we feel very weak and broken and bruised and
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Speaker 1: misunderstood and even abused. Thank you for what you are
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Speaker 1: doing deep within us in Jesus' name.
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Speaker 2: Amen.
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Speaker 3: The preceding message Second Corinthians, A Man and His Ministry
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Speaker 3: was copyrighted in nineteen eighty two, and the sound recording
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Speaker 3: was copyrighted in twenty twelve by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide