 Good morning and welcome to BC103 New Testament survey. So today we're going to look at second Corinthians. Even before we could begin with our session, can I request one of y'all to please lead us and pray? Y'all can unmute. Yeah. Okay. Unmute and pray. Thank you for this time of understanding your word. Help us to understand, have a good understanding of the word, any father, let's learn a man, any father, help a minister, through her, any father, this new teaching, new understanding of the word, any father. And thank you very much for bringing us out here, any father, to learn something new, any father. Bless all those present here, any father, and please make the tallest class, any father. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Let me present the PowerPoint. Okay. So all of us can see the PowerPoint presentation. So yesterday we looked into the first Corinthians. Today we're going to look into the second Corinthians, which is, and we all know that Paul's second letter to Corinthians, even though it is called as the second Corinthians in our Bible. There are multiple clues within the letter that it is not the second letter, but then Paul wrote four letters of which the first and the third letters are missing. So Paul started the church at Corinth in his second missionary journey. We get to know that when we study the book of Acts 18. We also see that the main purpose of his writing, okay, the main purpose of him writing the second letter was the report that he got the first time was very disturbing report. That was the leading for him to write the first Corinthians. Now the second Corinthians was again, he gets another report. And this time the report is to do joyful, joyful. And so we can see that the five fold purpose of him writing the second Corinthians, which are the first one, the first one to assure the saints that the author, that is Apostle Paul had the believers of the Corinthian church in his heart. So that, you know, in all his dealing with them, it was for their good. Yes. In first Corinthians, we saw that sometimes he was very stern. It was a little hard on them, but then there was a reason behind that. He wanted to see their life been changed. He wanted to see the Corinthian church believers have a transformed life. So that was one of the reason why he was stern. And in the second letter, we see that he's been joyful because he's seen certain believers in the church being transformed and turning to be good. So the second purpose of him writing this letter was that he rejoiced. He's showing that I rejoice in your transformation because the people, the second Corinthian, the believers in the Corinthian church have now accepted the gospel and they see the lives were transforming and changing. The third reason of him writing the letter is to ask for arms. There was a famine in Jerusalem, which we will look into the later part of it. And for the Jerusalem church is asking arms with all the believers, with all the churches of which he started. So this was one of the reason in second Corinthian's letter is asking for arms with the Corinthian church. The fourth reason is to affirm that he will visit them again. Then fifth one is addressing on a new threat that has been risen in the church by the Judaizers or the false teachers in the church where in this letter, that is the last portion of the letter, we see that he is trying to defend his apostleship over the authority that he carries within himself saying that the false teachers are trying to establish themselves by criticizing apostle Paul. So he's trying to take up the apostleship, the authority as an apostle what he has and he's writing this letter to defend the gospel handers authority as well. So with that and also we see the reason was there was a Paul's experience against this false teachers and he was very serious about defending these false teachers because he has birthed the church in Corinthians with a lot of hardship and he cannot give it up like that to these false teachers who are deceiving, were sharing a deceiving gospel. So here we see apostle Paul coming against these false teachers and trying to withstand his authority saying that he was appointed by God and his apostleship that God had given it to him and Paul also accused these false teachers by saying that they were against the gospel. So we will move ahead and see what apostle Paul is trying to explain. So some of the defense what these false teachers were coming against apostle Paul was the first one we see is that Paul changed his plan. In the first letter he said that I will come and visit you and due to certain reason that he which he explains in chapter one and chapter two he explains why was he unable to come and visit the church because they were not ready enough to receive apostle Paul that he may sorrow over them if he comes. So he took time so that the church, the believers in the church would grow more in Jesus. So that was one of the reason that he could not visit them but the false teachers took that as an advantage and they came against him saying that you did not keep your word you said that you will visit the church but you didn't visit the church. The second was Paul felt the need to indicate his apostleship against the false teachers that he needs to justify that he is not wrong. And the third was suffering in the ministry as a primary proof of his motives in ministry. The last chapter where he finally defends that you know the weakness and the humility in the Lord. He talks about the servant leadership. He ministers to people saying that it is not the ministry is not about eloquence but then it is about the servant leadership. The main theme in this letter is Paul reaffirms some of the previous admonitions which he wrote in the first letter. Paul also defends his apostleship and answers charges against him that has come against him through the false teachers so he answers them. And the third point here we see is Paul presents a message of reconciliation. Can I request one of y'all to please turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 to 20. Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation not including their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us we implore you on Christ behalf we reconcile to God. Amen. Thank you. So we see three things in this verse. Reconciliation of the world back to God. Reconciliation of the world back to God. And then we see the second reconciliation of the church back to himself. And the third point we see is there is a reconciliation of the repentant man to the church family. There are three reconciliation that has been considered. And we also see one of the main themes here is in this letter that Paul contrasts about the weakness of a man as opposed to the power of God. When a man is weak he's saying that's where God's strength can be revealed. And the next point we also see that in his own life Apostle Paul is setting that as a pattern for ministry. In other letters we see that Apostle Paul is saying that imitate me as I imitate Christ because he's setting himself as an example. He's setting a pattern for the ministry so every believer every minister of God should have a pattern in the ministry. He's setting an example. He's setting a pattern for the other ministers to follow him as an example to follow the pattern in the ministry. So we see that in this letter the last part of the letter chapter 10 to 13 we see that Apostle Paul is laying down a principle of servant leadership and he's setting himself as a role model in the ministry where he is encouraging all the other ministers to follow the lifestyle that he carried. So let me see. So every minister is setting an example in this. Every minister should be like this in the ministry. So what he says he goes ahead and he lists certain points that we find in this letter. I thought I list all those points. So as a minister we need to be we need to flow in this ministry that is comfort and deliverance forgiveness. We need to flow. We need to be filled in the spirit. We need to have a life of faith. We also see the reconciliation is very important and we need to be approved by God when we serve him. How? Whenever we minister in word the spirit of the Lord will demonstrate by the spirit of God and then we see the restoration. We also see the message in this letter about giving about the generosity fund and then the meekness get bing bold. That is in our weakness God's power will be strengthened. The tenth is suffering. Yes in the ministry as a minister we need to endure certain suffering that comes our way. We also see about humility. Humility should be in our nature. And lastly we see discipline. Every minister of God should have certain discipline that needs to be uphold upheld in our life. With that we also see some of the unique features of this book that Paul opens his life in a more personal way in this letter where apart from the letter to Philemon in this letter he shows himself very personal. We see that he shares some of the interesting details of his life where he shares about the several experience of his life. Like how he escaped from the Damascus when they were about to kill him. Kill Apostle Paul and when they were searching for him he escaped from Damascus through a basket. He shares that instance here in chapter 11 and then in chapter 12 he also shares an instant where in a spare time he was caught up in the spirit in the third heaven. His personal experience during his prayer time he shares. He also shares some of the personal struggles that he had. In chapter 12 he says that there is a thorn in his flesh. And in chapter 1 or chapter 6 and also in chapter 11 he says he shares some of the personal sufferings that he is enduring in the ministry. So ministry is not about it's going to be easy like the bed of roses but no in ministry there are suffering. And as a minister of God how we can endure it. So Apostle Paul considered to be the great Apostle, a great minister of God who wrote one third of the New Testament. His life in the ministry was not very pleasant for Apostle Paul. He had to endure suffering. He had to go through certain sufferings in the ministry. He had to face the persecution within the church itself against him. The church that he birthed himself came against him. That's what we will see in this letter little further. He also shares some of the related to gifting and stature. In chapter 11 we see that he does not come with eloquent in speech. And in chapter 10 he says he's inferior in stature which the false teachers took that as an advantage. We also can we turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2. In 1st Corinthians chapter 2 here it describes even in this letter it describes about his own personal weakness. He says in chapter 2 verse 3 and 4 he says I was with you in weakness, in fear and in trembling. So he had this most common nature that you and I have many times when you have to handle people, ministry or head a community, head a congregation we do come across this. We do come across the weakness, we do fear, we do tremble. And in verse 4 he says my speech though he is a learned man he is a Pharisee of Pharisees but then what he says I did not come, I did not, my speech and my preaching were not with pervasive words and other words he says I do not have eloquent in speech. I may be, I may not have the persuasive words of human wisdom but what I come with you, front of you or before you is in demonstration of the spirit and of power. You see the genuineness in his ministry he is just trying to be himself. He is not trying to put a mask front of people trying to be some eloquent or trying to portray himself as rich but then he is coming as humble as he can just as a normal human being and he is very clearly saying I just come with a simple words with what I could communicate but the thing that I come is there is a power of God that backs me up. The spirit of the Lord demonstrating backs me with what I say. There is a genuineness in his ministry well, yeah, Vin said that we will go much in detail about how he shares about his personal lifestyle little later I thought I will just cover the few of the instance in this letter. So Paul goes further and gives us one of the greatest New Testament passage on giving or on being generosity and then he also shares some of the some of the challenges that he faced he is saying it is not only through human but he also had spiritual warfare in 2nd Corinthians 2.11, can I request you all to read 2nd Corinthians 2.11? So yeah, he is saying it is just not human it is a warfare. The Satan should not take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. So here we see that in this gospel it portrays that Satan is a God of this world, he is the serpent, he is the angel of light. He also goes further and says that he is the adversary who tries to keep them from doing what is right. And he also says in chapter 11.3 he says Satan is the one who seeks to corrupt the mind of people because that's where when we see further how the believers in the church come against Apostle Paul. So he says it's not they who is trying to come but then the Satan who is seeking to corrupt their mind and making them to come against them. And in chapter 4 verse 4 chapter 4 verse 4 can I request one of you all to read should shine on them. Yeah, so we see that Satan blinds the heart of people those who do not know God and further in chapter 10 verse 3 to 6 when we read verse 3 to 6 can I request you all to read we walk in flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of a warfare are not carnal but my name God for pulling down strongholds passing down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Thank you. Thank you. So we see that though we walk in flesh we do not war according to flesh. So in this verse we see that there is a spiritual warfare there is a spiritual warfare where it is necessary for us to defeat this enemy. Okay, we said that the whole we in second Corinthians we have about 13 chapters. Okay, let me change the slide. Okay, so we have about 13 chapters and these 13 chapters is divided into three portion. Okay, we can look into our slide. The first chapter from chapter 1 to chapter 7 we see Paul's reconciliation with the Corinthians and chapter 8 to 9 we see he's talking about the forgotten generosity. Why he had to talk about the forgotten generosity we will look into it little in detail and then chapter 10 to 13 Paul defends on his apostleship. It is so important that people should know the believers in the church should know that you are the chosen one, you are the lead and he's defending his authority and apostleship that is given to him by God. So what we see here is let's go into the letter we can turn to chapter 1. So what we see here is Paul gets a report that the things were getting better from before because in the first letter we saw that things were not going well and there were a lot of problem and that made apostle Paul very sad. But here we see that certain believers were getting transformed, getting changed but still there is certain problem in the church. So he wrote the first letter to correct those problems and in the second letter Paul is teaching that those who are rebelling against the authority that is against the leadership. So he's trying to write in this letter and tell them and to assure that God has appointed him. So Paul wrote this letter to assure that he was stern and little hard on these believers was because he loved them. He warned the believers to change and have a transformed life where they will be more in Christ likeness. So that's why he writing the second letter saying that I love you and that was one of the reason why I wrote a stern letter to you all in the first time. So in this letter we see the three sections and Paul opens up the letter by saying I thank God, God of all mercy and comfort who brought peace and encouragement to me by hearing a good report this time. And this has encouraged him and he also wants to open an honest relationship with these people and he says I have discovered later that there is a transformation, there is a change in you and Paul responds to his letter and Paul talks about the new covenant later part we see that he is talking about the new covenant and he is saying this new covenant when we compare to the old covenant it is much better covenant. Why? Because we see that it is more glorious because of the resurrected Jesus who is the glory of God and he lives forever and he also says that in his spirit when we believe there is transforming of life, when we believe in Jesus there is transforming of life. So we see again and again fossil Paul is trying to take an opportunity to share the gospel about Jesus death burial resurrection and ascension and he says when we believe in Jesus our lives can be transformed and he also says the new covenant is better than the old covenant it is more glorious and we will grow more to be Christ like. And the second part in chapter 9 8 to 9 it talks about the generosity talks about the forgotten generosity why? Because the Jewish the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem they have fallen into poverty right now due to the famine in that place and Apostle Paul is trying to raise a generosity fund among the churches that he planted so most of the churches are coming forward to give except for the Corinthian church. So the Corinthian church certain leaders in the church or certain people the believers in the Corinthian church were against Apostle Paul so because of that they didn't collect the generosity fund. Now we need to understand why were they against so we will come to it later because of the false teachers in the church but what happened here because they didn't collect the generosity fund Apostle Paul goes in detail and he preaches the message of generosity again it takes the opportunity to share the gospel to them because for every issue for every problem gospel is the heavenly message because the gospel has the power to change any human inside out. So if somebody has not collected the generosity fund to help another believer who is in Christ that means there is some problem within you. That is that area needs to be transformed needs to be corrected. So how can you bring a correction only by sharing the gospel so Apostle Paul shares the gospel with them again he says he says you know the generous grace of a Lord Jesus was the Messiah that even though he was rich for our sake he became poor so that through his poverty we might become rich he goes further and he tells the story of the gospel through the financial like financial metaphor so that they can understand he says Jesus gave up his glorious honor or wealth glorious honor or wealth and he lowered himself to die like a poor slave if God has chosen Jesus could have been born in a palace isn't it but where was Jesus born in a humble place and he died as a poor slave so that other people were in poverty through sin and death can be exalted and become wealthy through the riches of God's glory. So here he says for us to be a Christian to let the story sink deep in our mind and in our heart and let this nature of Christ transform our inner being so that we may flow in generosity and your apostle Paul is also making it very clear please don't give the generosity fund because I am asking okay our leader is asking let's go to it no it should come out of willingness because the scripture says it is more blessed to give than to receive this is one of the teaching of Jesus himself it is more blessed to give than to receive and it is more blessed to give from what you have and to share your life and resources to help others and here he says in chapter 8 and 9 I put up on the slide certain points which he talks about generosity in these two chapters he says give liberally out of your own poverty you can't say I am poor I have one bread no God says give out from what you have in fact Jesus in the gospels we see that Jesus appreciated the women who gave the offering of all that she had the one coin that she had she put in so Jesus appreciates it and says you are more blessed because you give all that you have you have given whereas others are giving little from what they have but then you are giving with all that you have so we need to give from our own poverty we also see giving willingly beyond our ability so this should be part of our nature this is what Christ likeness a transformed life can be where we give willingly beyond our ability and in chapter 8 verse 5 it also says giving ourselves to God first giving ourselves to God first so it's not only about finance giving out money giving out material things no God is also looking how you give yourself to God first in every area God likes the first fruit giving your time early in the morning giving your time or giving your time out of 24 hours setting at least 2 hours for God in prayer how are you in giving yourself to God first and then we see giving in such a way as to a bound in the grace of giving so again we see giving is not something simple it's not that we give it is the grace that we receive from God that makes us give and chapter 8 verse 9 we see that making yourself poor so that others can be made rich this is very difficult isn't it but this is the nature of Christ where you give yourself out you don't withhold anything for yourself but then you bless others so that others can also be a blessing point 6 we see sewing generously leads to bountiful reaping because it is contagious generosity is contagious giving should be done purposefully not haphazardly giving should be done cheerfully not grudgingly only when we give cheerfully there is a blessing there is a reward from what we give and 9th we see giving in faith leads to multiplication giving in faith leads to multiplication 10th spiritual blessing comes upon giver everything that you give that's what the scripture says even if you give a glass of water to a prophet you will have the reward of a prophet everything that you give your time, your money water, material things everything as a reward and as a blessing and with that we will move on to the final section chapter 10 to 13 chapter 10 to 13 Paul focuses mainly on the conflict with the Corinthians where there was a certain group of impressive leaders so called judicers who came against apostle Paul and he calls them apostle Paul calls them super apostles so they came to Corinthian church when apostle Paul was in there he planted the church and he has gone to different places he's at officiars and other places now in his absence there are other people like judicers leaders who come to this Corinthian church and they are ministering and they are ministering and they are trying to promote themselves by speaking of against apostle Paul they point out apostle Paul to be a very poor and unsuccessful leader they also say that they actually say that he is not eloquent in speech but then we knowing apostle Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees he's a well-learned man he knew the Bible and also these people who came against Paul they bragged about their superior knowledge with God whereas apostle Paul you see that he has seen and experienced the risen Jesus in his life where he writes about the visions that he has seen about Jesus and he also writes about the heavenly encounter but more importantly we see that apostle Paul is given his entire life to the mission of Jesus where he sacrificed himself he sacrificed this comfort and stability and he never asked the Corinthian church to give him or help him with money or to support him in his ministry in fact we see that apostle Paul he supported himself by a tent making business he never asked anyone for money to help him but then these super apostles or the false teachers who are in the church in fact they are charging the people with a big amount they are taking money from the people and they are blaming apostle Paul for that but Paul is making the statement very clear that I take care of my own living I do not come to you for any money for my personal thing I only asked to help the Jerusalem church who are going through famine we being one body in Christ we need to be there to help each other during the time of difficulty but then I did not come to ask money to support me or my ministry whereas I supported myself with my tent making business apostle Paul also goes ahead and he refuses you know against these false teachers and he says that I may be imperfect and weak in my stature but then in all my inadequacies I see God's love and God's grace being with me in fact he also says when he see God when there was a thorn in his flesh now this thorn in the flesh we exactly some callers have a debate on that it may be some sickness that was there as a thorn in the flesh some callers say that the false teachers are not allowing him to flourish in the ministry but then he makes it very clear that God told him when he see God against this thorn in the flesh God told him that my grace is sufficient for you my power is made perfect in your weakness so don't worry about your weakness for only in your weakness that I can reveal my strength now this can be the same message to every minister of God who are seated here who are hearing online or much later in our e-learning don't worry about your weakness because the Lord says as the Lord said to Apostle Paul that he is saying in your weakness my strength will be revealed it is an opportunity that in our weakness we seek God we seek more often we say Lord you be with me just like how Apostle Paul said I may not be eloquent in my speech I may not be as strong in my stature but Lord here I am here I am I may be imperfect in my stature and you know Apostle Paul is saying God is saying to Apostle Paul that my grace is sufficient for you and Paul also concludes the letter with a very sober warning to the Corinthians he says that they need to check themselves certain believers who were against Apostle Paul he is saying check yourself because the hatred for Paul is way of life was the love for the super Apostle if they hated Apostle Paul because the scripture also says one man cannot serve two masters so if they hated Paul they hated Paul because they went toward the teaching of the false teachers teachers so the false teachers were trying to put down Apostle Paul and put themself up and here Apostle Paul is writing to those believers he is saying that you may hate me but then you hate me because you love the false teachers and they teaching it all shows that you have not taken or received the fundamental message of Jesus which was thought to you so basically you were not living like the transformed believers of Jesus so he invites them he is not forsaking them he invites them once again and saying I humbly request you all to come back to the love of Jesus and the letter of second Corinthians we see that it gives a very unique side of Apostle Paul and the paradox set before by the cross of Jesus so we see that the cross challenges our values one way of seeing the world and we value success education wealth but then front of God what is the greatest value the greatest value before God is humility weakness because his love and power were made known through the suffering of Jesus death burial resurrection and ascension of Jesus by the word that Jesus did on the cross so what we see in this letter is that the cross the cross that unleashes the transforming power and the presence of the Holy Spirit which empowers each of us in our weaknesses because that's how Apostle Paul came to the believers Apostle Paul preached with all his weakness in front of them because that's way he says that God reveals his strength to me through me and that's what the second experience is all about where we see Jesus is the one who comforts us in our suffering reconciles us back to God and gives us strength in our weakness the whole message of this letter is that the ministry is not you know very easy or a place of comfort zone but a person like Apostle Paul if he has endured so much of suffering so much of opposition from the people how much more you and I would face in this generation or in our time but then the comfort is this that Jesus is with us when we suffer we take part in the suffering of Jesus and when we look up to him we are being reconciled because we need to get a heart set only the love of God through the love of God we can minister to people who come against us and through all our weaknesses when we look up to Jesus when we look up to him we will be strengthened and that's what the whole message of second Corinthians is we see God's strength in our weakness so let's not give up what God has called each of us to do just because we are weak if you see when you look back at the early church most of the disciples and the apostles in fact were weak they were inelegant but then it was the Lord's strength and backed them up it was the Lord who enabled them to speak that's the promise that God is giving to each of us today that we will be back here no matter what your weaknesses today when you surrender that weakness to God and Jesus is saying that I will strengthen you I can transform your weakness to be your strength so every weakness today as we study the letter of second Corinthians let's take this time as an opportunity to surrender our weakness to God let's see God saying God here I come before you surrendering my weakness to you and I pray that you will strengthen my weakness you will change this weakness to be a strength to serve you in your kingdom so can I request as we have three minutes can I request one or two to you know mute and raise your voice and pray as you are led by the Lord just unmute and pray Nina, Ren Sri Radha anyone anyone can pray or Sean thank you very much for reading this Mike Lee next time thank you very much for understanding the second Corinthians thank you very much for understanding the second Corinthians thank you very much for reading the Mike Lee Nortex this is a whole book Renic Father please help us to understand more about this book Renic Father and help us to continue to learn more things about the back door Renic Father no things about the new testament Renic Father and thank you once again for bringing us all here together today in order to gain this new understanding in Jesus name we pray Amen one more person Father God we surrender this time to our Lord Father Father God can you tell me can you all check the volume yes Jatin we can Father God Father as we surrender Lord at this time at your feet Father God Father we want to surrender each of us into your hands to the truth of your word Lord you have spoken to each of us Lord Father it is not our weakness Lord but you see as your strength Lord you love us Lord and you have given us your strength and your grace is sufficient for us Lord more than enough Lord God help us Lord to trust in your grace in your strength in your word Lord to proceed in the way that you want us to go because you are showing us the path Lord and we do not need to fear anything even our own weakness Lord cannot prevent your purposes in our lives to be fulfilled Master Father you have chosen each of us Lord to live for you and to glorify your name it is all about you Jesus Father as we surrender this time Lord each of us in our own way where we are struggling Lord at that very point help us to yield ourselves completely to you Father God it might be different for different people Lord Lord but Father as we give this time Father I surrender myself Lord Father the calling that you have called me to be your purposes that you have called me to live Father help me Lord in Jesus preciously Amen Thank you Sean Thank you Jacken Thank you so much for joining in today's session so let's meet next week with the next next letter to Galatians Thank you God bless Okay