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2 Corinthians chapter 8 · Scripture Unscripted

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2nd Corinthians chapter 8. Let us pray.
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God Almighty who reigns on high, we love you, Lord Jesus, for
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everything that you are and everything that you represent.
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God, we thank you for salvation. We thank you for waking us up
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this morning. We thank you God for breath.
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We thank you God for life. We thank you God for all of the
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many blessings that you're pouring out upon us.
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Lord, we bask in your beauty, we bask in your grace.
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God, we bask in your mercy. Lord, you're so good to us.
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And Lord, we are thankful and we praise your holy name.
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God, we have everything that we could ever need in you.
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And so Lord, we get out of our own way.
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And Lord, we give you center stage.
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Lord, come and get your glory. I get out of the way.
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And Father, I pray that you will be well pleased with the reading
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of your text today. I decrease as you increase, and
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it's all about you, King Jesus, our Lord and our Master and our
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God. Holy Spirit fill us today.
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Holy Spirit overflow into the communities.
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We love our Lord God with all of our heart and all of our mind
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and all of our strength. God, help us to love our
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neighbors as our self. Help us to go out into the
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harvest. Help us to go out into the
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highways and the hedges and the byways.
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Help us to snatch the firebrands, the burning sticks
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out of the fire. God, I pray that you'll clothe
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us in righteousness. Lord, let us stand upon truth.
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God, I pray that joy springs up God and love for our neighbors
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and love for you increases and abounds all the more.
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Father, I pray for kindness God and gentleness God, I pray for
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truth. Lord, I pray for our testimony
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to be talked about all everywhere that we go to all
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people. Father, I pray that we'll
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rightly divide the word today. God increase our faith.
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Father, let us run this race, the gospel shoes of peace.
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Lord, I pray for kindness and gentleness, for self-control.
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God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you'll continue to sanctify
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us as we consecrate this temple. Lord, it's all about you.
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Lord, we fix our mind upon everything that is holy and
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lovely and good and pure because you are worthy of all of our
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attention and adoration and affection.
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Father, it's all about you. So Holy Spirit, come and guide
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us and discipline us. Come and convince US and show us
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the gravity of the weight of God's glory.
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Let it encompass us all around. Overwhelm us with Your presence,
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Father, and help us to be the men and women who are marked by
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You. And let us be unashamed.
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Let us do away with the fear of man and cowardice.
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Let us be bold. And our witness today, we thank
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you, Father, for all that you do for us.
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And everything that we could ever do for you is just
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unprofitable servants. We are your bond servants.
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Father. This is a light affliction that
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you have called us into compared to what Christ has gone through
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and Lord with the reward for his suffering.
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God, we want to know Christ and Christ crucified.
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We want to know him and all of his sufferings.
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God, we thank you Lord Jesus for another day to come and worship
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you in spirit and truth. We love you.
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Father, give us this baptism of fire.
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Father God fill us today. Let us see the world all around
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us the way that you do. We love you God, we serve you
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Father, and it's in Jesus Christ holy and precious name.
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But I pray, Amen. Let's start in verse one.
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Moreover, brothers, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed
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on the churches of Macedonia. So here Paul is wanting to take
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a collection up for the poor that are in Jerusalem.
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And Jerusalem is to be honored, friends.
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Even today, Jerusalem is to be honored.
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We pray for the peace of that literal geographical place on
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planet earth, Jerusalem, friends, That is where King
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Jesus is going to rule and reign from for 1000 years during the
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Millennium, friends. And so you need to understand
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that is why it's such a hotly contested place on planet earth.
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And you need to know that Paul here had a heart for the church
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there, and they owed so much to the Saints and the apostles that
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were in Jerusalem because that's where it all got started.
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The groundswell was all started there in Jerusalem.
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And that's where Jesus told the disciples to go back and to wait
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upon the baptism of the Holy Ghost there on the day of
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Pentecost, and they would receive power from on high.
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And that is what you need to understand is that Paul was
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desired to bless them because of how blessed the entire world had
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become because of their obedience unto Christ.
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Verse 2 how that in a great trial of affliction, the
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abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the
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riches of their liberality. So they were giving out of their
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poverty. And you remember the widows 2
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mites. You remember whenever she was in
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the temple and Jesus saw that she gave everything that she had
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friends and He was not even looking or caring about all of
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the noise that the other people were making with their Jingle
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and their jangle as they were putting the coins into the
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treasury, trying to make a big spectacle.
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And here comes this widow, and she drops all that she has to
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live on these two little pennies and Christ notices her.
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And here we are 2000 years later and we're still talking about
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the widow's mite. And so that is what you need to
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understand is that God sees whenever we give all that we
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have to live on. He sees whenever we are giving
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liberally, whenever we are giving hilariously friends,
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whenever it doesn't make sense in the systems of the world.
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But we do it because we give to God.
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We do not give to man. We are storing up treasures for
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ourselves in heaven where moth does not destroy and rust does
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not destroy, and the thieves do not break in and steal.
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You need to understand you can't take any of this with you, but
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you sure can send it ahead. And don't be like the fool who
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built an extra barn to store all of his hay in and his very life
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was demanded from him that night and he never got to finish the
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task. He should have been open handed.
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And the better thing to do when it's in concern to giving is not
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just move a decimal to understand the tide, but you
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need to be asking God what it is that He would have you to give.
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Go to God. And it takes great faith to know
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that we have heard from God and that we're moving in obedience.
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And the 10% is just a benchmark. It's a great place to start.
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But it is not the law in the sense that we're bound to the
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tides. We can give much more.
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Friends 342 their power. I bear record.
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Yeah, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves.
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So here we can see that the churches in Macedonia, they were
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hilarious with their giving. They had lack, but they didn't
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see it that way. They saw that they could send
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their treasures ahead and by giving to the church in
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Jerusalem, they would be blessed eternally and they would have
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the peace of God reigning on their house and the provision of
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God. And that is where we we need to
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get to friends, where we're not relying on money, we're not
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relying on our bank accounts, we're not relying on the 401K in
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the retirement, we're not relying upon all of the systems
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of the world, but we rely on God for the very next breath that
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we're going to breathe. And if you are someone who is
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called into stewarding money, that is none of it is yours.
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It all belongs to God and he has just entrusted it to you.
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And we need to understand that all of the riches in all of the
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world, for all time's sake, all belong to God Almighty.
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He's the one that put the oar in the earth that we place the
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value of our currency upon. Just think about it, friends.
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We need God and God alone to provide for us the very next
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breath in our lungs, our very next heartbeat, friends.
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And what does it profit a man to gain the entire world to be the
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richest man in the world? And to lose his soul and for his
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soul to be cast into hell, it profits him nothing, friends.
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And that is what you need to understand.
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A content man that has God is much more wealthier than any man
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who is discontent and has all the abundance that this world
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could ever offer. Just remember that you can be
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the wealthiest man in the room and your bank account could be
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at 0. And that is because those that
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are acquiring much wealth and those that are stuck in
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materialism, it's never enough. And so that is where
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discontentment comes in. And that comparison is a great
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thief of our joy. And so if you want to have joy
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in your life, be content with what you have and watch God grow
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it, friends. And He is going to change you.
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He might not even ever change the external, but He'll change
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what's happening inside of you. And you can see the entire earth
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and all the world as gods. And there is no lack in the
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Father's house, and he has the cattle on 1000 hills.
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And so when you come to God, all the resources and the wealth and
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the riches that God possesses become your inheritance friends,
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and not just for later, but for the here and the now.
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And you will see that come to fruition in your life if you
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will stiff arm all of the greed and all of the love of money and
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the love of mammon. Friends, we don't just give to
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God to get. We give to God because He gave
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first. He is the greatest gift giver
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that there ever was, when He gave His only begotten Son, so
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that you and I can inherit eternal life.
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For praying us with much entreaty that we would receive
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the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to
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the Saints. So Paul is desirous to take up a
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collection and then he's going to have Titus and an unspoken
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brother to take it there. And he's saying that they are on
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the up and up and everything is financially accountable.
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And you can check the the Ledger and the balances and everything
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adds up, friends. And Paul's not in it for the
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money. And you can see that Paul was a
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tent maker in the sense that he provided his for his own needs.
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He did not want to be a burden. So you can see that he's not
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asking for money. And a lot of times churches get
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a bad rap because you might attend and all they ever talk
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about is money, friends. But just know, we do not give to
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man, we give to God. Five.
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And this they did not as we hoped, but first gave their own
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selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God.
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So even more important than a collection of money is that we
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need to commit our whole selves and our whole life over to God.
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And then we need to find the shepherds that we look up to who
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are not acting in a simple way, and we need to commit ourselves
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over to them. If they are following after the
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Lord, we will have no problem with following after them.
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Find somebody in your life that can disciple you.
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Friends, no man is an island. There are many who have gone
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before us who have paved the way and have given us the
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opportunity to step in to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
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Christ because of the lives that they lived, friends, and you can
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see it, the groundwork all being laid within the early church and
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it's all built upon the chief cornerstone.
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But we do not need to try to think that we somehow do not
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need a person to disciple us. And so they have given
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themselves over to the Lord. They have given themselves over
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to discipline. And now he's saying discipline
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yourself with your finances. 6IN so much that we desired Titus,
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that as he he had begun, so he would also finish in you the
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same grace also. So there was a riff between the
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Corinthian church and Paul when he wrote him the 1st letter and
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he had written to him a hard letter.
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And here he's saying, before the riff, y'all had all decided that
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you wanted to give something to the church in Jerusalem, so let
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it be so. I've already told them that
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you're preparing a gift and to your shame, do not let it go by
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the wayside just because there was a rift between Paul and the
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Corinthians. He did not want them to be
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looked down upon by the church in Jerusalem because He had
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promised that they were getting together this gift.
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He's telling them to finish in that grace.
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And it is the grace of God that allows us to even have a heart
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of giving. Friends, the carnal natural
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response is to hoard it up. The carnal natural response is
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to just do you, to take care of you and yours.
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But it is the grace of God that gives us a heart for giving,
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because He is the greatest giver.
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And when we have the heart of God, it is a natural overflow to
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want to give. 7 Therefore as you abound in everything, in faith
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and utterance and knowledge and all diligence, and in your love
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to us, see that you abound in this grace also.
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It is amazing that the giving of the finances is considered
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grace, and you can see here that these are the attributes of
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Christ. This is how Christ's example
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was. He wanted us to abound in our
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faith. He wanted to abound in
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everything in our speech, and in our knowledge and diligence and
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love, and also in our giving. 8 I speak not by commandment, but
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by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the
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sincerity of your love. So you can see when a person is
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completely sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ, it will result in
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a spirit of giving. If you find somebody who is
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greedy, that is a probable indicator that they are not
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filled with the Holy Ghost, and you can see it in their
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sincerity. For the love of the outpouring
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of giving, you can gauge where somebody is at through the
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giving that they have. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
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Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
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poor, that you through his poverty might be rich.
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So think about it, friends, Jesus Christ left his eternal
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abode of all the riches and the glory of heaven to step down
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into earth, to become a little baby and to put on humanity,
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friends, and to become impoverished.
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And we know that foxes have holes and birds have nests.
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But the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head, friends.
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And so you can see that it was through him choosing to come in
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this impoverished state that we inherited eternal life and that
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all the riches available to him are available to us.
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And that is the amazing fact is that Jesus could have came in an
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in a palace. He could have came in robes of
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splendor. He could have came as a
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authoritarian. He could have came as the
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richest person on planet earth who never had lack.
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But because he wanted to get level with the gravel and he
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wanted us to be able to come to him in ways that we understand,
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he chose to come and to be in poverty for our richness
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friends. And now we can see just how rich
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we are in Christ. 10 And herein I give my advice, for this is
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expedient for you who have begun before, not only to do, but also
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to be forward. A year ago.
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So a year ago they had all decided as the Corinthian church
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that they would put together a blessing for the church there in
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Jerusalem. And Paul is saying now make good
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on your promise. 11 now therefore perform the doing of
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it that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a
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performance also out of that which you have.
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So we can't just go around and verbally blessing people and
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telling them to stay warm and well fed.
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We actually have to put some practicality to our faith
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friends. We actually have to do
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something. And no, we're not saved by
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works, but our works revealed our faith, friends, and that is
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what Paul is referencing here. 12 For if there be first a
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willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man has, and
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not according to that he has not.
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So God knows our financial situation and He's not asking
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us. To go into poverty so that
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someone else can be rich and to be wealthy and to have all of
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the nice things in this life. And that is why it's so
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important to go to God before you ever give.
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And you need to ask God what He would have for you to do,
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friends. And God will reveal to you what
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it is that His heart is moving you towards.
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And we don't need to just move the decimal so that others can
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be in fine luxury. And we are stuck in the
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impoverished state. And God provides for our needs,
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not always for our wants. And that is what you need to
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understand is that He is going to take care of all your needs.
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And it is with food and clothing that we need to be content.
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And godliness with contentment is great gain.
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And the pride of life is not from God.
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And we should not just always be looking for the luxurious
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things. We need to be humble and content
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with food and with clothing. And God will provide those
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things for you. 13 for I mean not that other men be eased and
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you burdened. That's the whole point friends.
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We should not just be easing up on others lives while we
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ourselves are in lack 14 but by an equality that now at this
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time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that
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their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there
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may be equality. So this is not communism in the
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sense of forcing others to share at the expense of being forced
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into it. That is not God's heart.
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It is a choice. We choose to give.
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We choose it. It is not by force.
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And that is what you need to understand all of the utopian
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ideas of some kind of society, this Robin Hood society, It
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would never work. It has to be a choice and it
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comes from understanding our position with Christ.
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And it's easy to give when you see how Christ has given to us.
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And that is what Paul wants them to know is that we don't give so
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that others can just continuously amass for
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themselves. And if you have that in your
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mind, then you will be just fine.
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And we should not just be looking for the smallest amount
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to give that's going to please God.
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You've already lost it. If that is your mindset.
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If you're just trying to get God in your favor, then you've
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already lost his favor. Because our hearts should be
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positioned in ways that we rely on God to direct us in our
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finances. And the spirit of mammon is a
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real thing. And there are many people who
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call themselves believers, but they have the love of money,
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which is the root of all kinds of evil. 15 As it is written, he
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that has gathered much had nothing over, and he that
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gathered little had no lack. That is the principle that God
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wants us to understand. We don't need to hoard it up for
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ourselves, and we don't need to hold it back from those that are
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in need. And if we will be in tune with
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God, anytime He blesses us with abundance, it will be to bless
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others. There is no lack in the Father's
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house. 16 But thanks be to God which put the same earnest care
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into the heart of Titus for you. 17 For indeed he accepted the
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exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord, he
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went unto you. 18 And we have sent with him the brother whose
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praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.
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So you need to understand that Titus and this unnamed brother
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were coming to gather the offering that the Corinthians
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had put together. 19 And not that only, but who was also
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chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace which is
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administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and declaration
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of your ready mind. So he's saying get it ready for
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us so that we do not have to beg or try to put on some kind of
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fundraising campaign when we get there.
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That we can move on to much more higher spiritual planes than to
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be there haggling and trying to collect for something that
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you've already said in your heart that you wanted to do.
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And we have already told them that it is coming 20 avoiding
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this, that no man should blame us in the abundance which is
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administered by US, 21 providing for honest things, not only in
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the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 22 And we
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have sent with them our brother, whom we have often times proved
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diligent in many things, but now much more diligent upon the
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great confidence which I have in you.
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So that is what you need to understand when it comes to
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financial stewardship. We need to be honest in all of
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our dealings, not only in the sight of God, but also in the
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sight of men. We need to make sure we're
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diligent in all things. 23 Whether any do inquire of Titus,
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he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you or our
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brothers being inquired of. They are the messengers of the
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churches and the glory of Christ.
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So we can see here that Paul is putting his stamp of approval on
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Titus and this other unnamed brother and he's saying you can
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trust them. We'll end on 24.
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Wherefore show you to them and before the churches the proof of
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your love and of our boasting on your behalf.
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So you can prove your love by your giving.
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And it is going to be a natural overflow.
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You will not hoard up for yourselves.
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It is much better to give than to receive.
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And I pray that you have experienced that phenomenon and
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you cannot out give God hope. You've been blessed by this
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amazing chapter. I know I sure have.
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I'm praying for every single one of you.
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I love you. So does God.
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Stay prayed up today. Put on the full armor and
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withstand the fiery darts of our enemy who is relentless, but we
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can withstand him and have him to flee from us for a time.
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God bless you.