Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / September 5 - 2 Corinthians 4

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September 5 - 2 Corinthians 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here it is a Thursday, it is the 5th of
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  September and hello, hello. Good to have your company as we
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  are going to do what we do every day, which is read a chapter of
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  God's Word together. And this chapter has a title
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  which is Treasure in Fragile Clay Jars.
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  That is such a great title. You know, I was listening to
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  some letters being read this week, letters from a gentleman
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  written to a friend of his, and he described life as like
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  everything being made of egg shells.
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  Wow, isn't that beautiful? Everything being made of egg
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  shells. Everything is so fragile around
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  us. And when something from the
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  outside looks really solid, often, often that's the facade
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  and there's something really fragile to it.
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  But there is one thing, friends, that is not fragile, one thing
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  that is unshakeable and unbreakable.
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  And that is the goodness and glory of our God, which is why
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  we are here, you and me, why we are going to hear more from our
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  God through his Word today. So let us hear Paul share God's
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  word to his friends in Corinth and his friends wherever you are
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  and wherever I am, because we're his friends to you.
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  Ready. Let's read together Second
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  Corinthians chapter 4. Therefore, since God in His
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  mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.
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  We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods.
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  We don't try to trick anyone or distort the Word of God.
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  We tell the truth before God. And all who are honest know
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  this. If the good news we preach is
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  hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are
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  perishing. Satan, who is the God of this
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  world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe.
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  They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news.
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  They don't understand this message about the glory of
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  Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
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  You see, we don't go around preaching about ourselves.
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  We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord and we ourselves are your
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  servants for Jesus sake, for God who said let there be light in
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  the darkness has made this light shine in our hearts so we could
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  know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus
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  Christ. We now have this light shining
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  in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars
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  containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our
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  great power is from God, not from ourselves.
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  We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not
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  crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven
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  to despair. We are haunted down, but never
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  abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are
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  not destroyed through suffering. Our bodies continue to share in
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  the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen
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  in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant
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  danger of death because we serve Jesus so that the life of Jesus
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  will be evident in our dying bodies.
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  So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal
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  life for you. But we continue to preach
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  because we have the same kind of faith as Psalmist had when he
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  said I believe in God. So I spoke, we know that God who
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  raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present
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  us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit,
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  and as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be
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  great Thanksgiving and God will receive more and more glory.
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  That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our
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  spirits are being renewed every day.
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  For our present troubles are small and won't last very long.
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  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and
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  will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles
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  we can see now. Rather we fix our gaze on things
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  that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will
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  soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
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  Our Lord Jesus, you and your Kingdom do last forever.
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  And though the troubles that we face every day seem awfully
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  troublesome and awfully big, sometimes they just fade away.
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  In fact, better than just fading away.
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  Paul writes that these troubles that we face as we live a life
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  for you produce a glory that vastly outweighs these troubles.
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  And then as we come into your presence forever, that will last
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  there. Oh, Jesus, we thank you.
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  We thank You that you are so much bigger than anything we are
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  going to face today. So we pray for your eternal
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  perspective and your very present love right now.
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  And we pray all of this in your name, Jesus, Amen.