2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 11

[Kevin Young]

We are closing in on the homestretch of 2 Corinthians. Just 3 more chapters left. This week we will be looking at chapter 11. After reading the chapter, please post your thoughts, insights, and questions here in this thread. God bless you guys.... and gals.

[Kevin Young]

2For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.

I love this verse. We are promised to Christ.... betrothed to Christ. This is totally a rabbit trail, but I would like to share with you something that my pastor said yesterday. He said, "If you want to be friends with me, then you have to like my wife. If you don't like my wife, then we probably won't be friends." He went on to say that it is the same way with Christ. He said, "How can you say you love Jesus, if you don't love His bride, THE CHURCH." Boom! That was pretty awesome. He was talking about Christians who don't like other Christians or Christians who say that you don't have to go to church to be a Christian. Very profound.

Christ. 14But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

I don't think I have a problem thinking of Satan being disguised as an angel of light, but this verse says that his servants ALSO disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. I don't want to walk around judging others that seem to be servants of righteousness, but I also don't want to be blind to the possibility that they may not be what they seem. And more importantly, I have to keep a watchful eye over my heart to make sure that I am not serving my self or Satan's interests, but Christ's.

23Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.* 27I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

Man.... I haven't even begun to serve Christ when I think about what this man went through for the sake of the gospel.

[sassy1506]

23Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.* 27I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

Man.... I haven't even begun to serve Christ when I think about what this man went through for the sake of the gospel.

Kevin, times have changed. Granted, Paul DID go through a lot, even in the terms of those times, but today we have it so much easier.
We in America don't have to worry about going to prison or being put to death for our beliefs. Most of us have much more than enough food and water to live off of. Most of us have a nice house and a comfortable bed.
You do a ton for Christ in today's world. You do what you can, nobody's asking more.

Sorry, I just had an amazing weekend doing the 30 hour famine with my youth group, so these past few days have been spent focusing on just how much I have compared to what people used to have, or what people have in Malawi (The country we decided to help.)

6 I may be unskilled as a speaker, but I’m not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every possible way.

This makes me feel a bit better. I'm an unskilled speaker, but I've never gotten very nervous when I speak, and the words just flow out. That's including all the "Uh"s, "Um"s, and "Ah"s.

27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

This reminds me of all the things we talked about this weekend. So many people in developing countries do this ALL the time. Every day.

[Kinsey]

Wow, what a good chapter. It's nice to see a chapter here and there with a more personal glimpse of Paul as a person rather than a teacher. He gets a bit of venting off his chest here too.

3. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.

and

15. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

I've found myself praying for discernment a lot lately. It seems like there is a lot more of the "choose your own religion" mentality than there used to be, and I want to be able to support my friends, family, and especially my kids as they grow up. It's a comfort to know that Paul was wary of the same thing.

26. ...And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not

This goes along with my previous thought but leads to the question of how to tell the difference. We need to compare what others say to what the Word says. I really like the word picture of burying yourself in scripture. We can cover ourselves so completely in the Word of God that false teachers won't be able to burrow through it to reach us.

[Ric]

We in America don't have to worry about going to prison or being put to death for our beliefs. Most of us have much more than enough food and water to live off of. Most of us have a nice house and a comfortable bed.

WE don't hafta worry(yet). But there are lots of our brothers and sisters around the world who are killed everyday because they won't denounce Jesus. In India, the caste system's lowest group are the untouchables. They've never known anything but fraud, abuse, casual rape/sodomy, and they live in the filthiest places in the country. They aren't even considered human, so nobody comes to their aid when they are attacked, beaten, raped(I'm talking little children), tortured, etc. Think about how huge Jesus is to them when they hear(for the FIRST TIME) that they are LOVED! They come running to Jesus like crazy, and are forever changed because of Him!

In Africa and the Middle East, it's all-out war on Christianity. I heard a story of a pastor in Africa... during service, islamic gunmen stormed the hut, shot/killed people. They shot the pastor's pregnant wife in the belly, killing her and their child. He watched his family die. He still loved Jesus enough to raise his arms and worship Him... right in front of these gunmen.

In Turkey, a pastor had just seen out the last of his church group when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it, and someone shoved a suspicious box into his hand, said it was a "gift from al-qaeda", and left. Not knowing what it was, he called the police. They came, but instead of helping him out, they beat him unconscious for being a Christian. Sometime the next day I believe, he woke up in a pool of his own blood, managed to get to his knees, and raised his hands in praise to Jesus for being counted worthy to receive a beating for His Name.

In Iraq, I made friends with the heat/AC guys. They were Iraqi Christians. They said they got death threats, bricks through their windows, all kinds of harassment for being Christian.

In North Korea a Bible study was stormed, and all the families were jailed. The officers threatened to kill the kids if they didn't renounce Christ. The parents held their kids and told them they'd be in heaven with them soon. Those kids were shot in the head. The remaining parents were laid in a row in front of a steamroller and given one more chance. As the steamroller began crushing the believers there were reports of them singing Amazing Grace as they were being run over.

What's sad is that we've sent missionaries to these places... those missionaries told the people that we're praying for them back here. Their response? "Please don't. We're praying for YOU!" I pray that these believers in hostile areas stay on the right track. Our problem is that we've flat-out DERAILED. Let's never forget how blessed we have been here, and let's fight for Christ here in America. If anyone on earth needs to see a revival, WE DO!

2For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.

I love this verse. We are promised to Christ.... betrothed to Christ. This is totally a rabbit trail, but I would like to share with you something that my pastor said yesterday. He said, "If you want to be friends with me, then you have to like my wife. If you don't like my wife, then we probably won't be friends." He went on to say that it is the same way with Christ. He said, "How can you say you love Jesus, if you don't love His bride, THE CHURCH." Boom! That was pretty awesome. He was talking about Christians who don't like other Christians or Christians who say that you don't have to go to church to be a Christian. Very profound.

Dude, that's AWESOME!!! Sendin ya a PM.

14But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

Yet another bullet to a lot of religioulous TV, eh?

Just like fishing... we're drawn to pretty things, shiny things(don't think so? What wheels do you want on your car?), cool things, etc. All satan has to do is put bait on a hook and hang it in front of us. We're easier to catch than any fish. Most of us don't even know or think we're hooked yet.

Then on the other end of the spectrum is John the Baptist. Jesus said he was the greatest of men on earth. He didn't look like any baptists I know. He lived in the desert, wore camelhair droors, and ate bugs. Yet Jesus asked HIM to baptize Him, instead of collaborating with the religioulous elites in the temple for some pious and dignified ceremony.

So, who do we wanna be like?

[sassy1506]

We in America don't have to worry about going to prison or being put to death for our beliefs. Most of us have much more than enough food and water to live off of. Most of us have a nice house and a comfortable bed.

WE don't hafta worry(yet). But there are lots of our brothers and sisters around the world who are killed everyday because they won't denounce Jesus. In India, the caste system's lowest group are the untouchables. They've never known anything but fraud, abuse, casual rape/sodomy, and they live in the filthiest places in the country. They aren't even considered human, so nobody comes to their aid when they are attacked, beaten, raped(I'm talking little children), tortured, etc. Think about how huge Jesus is to them when they hear(for the FIRST TIME) that they are LOVED! They come running to Jesus like crazy, and are forever changed because of Him!

In Africa and the Middle East, it's all-out war on Christianity. I heard a story of a pastor in Africa... during service, islamic gunmen stormed the hut, shot/killed people. They shot the pastor's pregnant wife in the belly, killing her and their child. He watched his family die. He still loved Jesus enough to raise his arms and worship Him... right in front of these gunmen.

In Turkey, a pastor had just seen out the last of his church group when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it, and someone shoved a suspicious box into his hand, said it was a "gift from al-qaeda", and left. Not knowing what it was, he called the police. They came, but instead of helping him out, they beat him unconscious for being a Christian. Sometime the next day I believe, he woke up in a pool of his own blood, managed to get to his knees, and raised his hands in praise to Jesus for being counted worthy to receive a beating for His Name.

In Iraq, I made friends with the heat/AC guys. They were Iraqi Christians. They said they got death threats, bricks through their windows, all kinds of harassment for being Christian.

In North Korea a Bible study was stormed, and all the families were jailed. The officers threatened to kill the kids if they didn't renounce Christ. The parents held their kids and told them they'd be in heaven with them soon. Those kids were shot in the head. The remaining parents were laid in a row in front of a steamroller and given one more chance. As the steamroller began crushing the believers there were reports of them singing Amazing Grace as they were being run over.

What's sad is that we've sent missionaries to these places... those missionaries told the people that we're praying for them back here. Their response? "Please don't. We're praying for YOU!" I pray that these believers in hostile areas stay on the right track. Our problem is that we've flat-out DERAILED. Let's never forget how blessed we have been here, and let's fight for Christ here in America. If anyone on earth needs to see a revival, WE DO!

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. In fewer words. I just got off a fast, so I couldn't put the words together that well 'cause I was a bit loopy.

[Ric]

Ahh, that foggy-brained feeling. I remember a three-day fast when all I had was water. I can relate to your loopiness, Sam.