Dec 16: Venezuela | Operation World
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Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Chronological New Testament Study Day 67
2 Corinthians 10; 2 Corinthians 11; 2 Corinthians 12; 2 Corinthians 13
1 By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to
you--I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but
"bold" when away! 2 I beg you that when I come I may
not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we
live by the standards of this world. 3 For though we live in
the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons
we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have
divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments
and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we
take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And
we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is
complete. 7 You are looking only on the surface of things. If
anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we
belong to Christ just as much as he. 8 For even if I boast
somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather
than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9 I do not
want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10 For
some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is
unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11 Such
people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we
will be in our actions when we are present. 12 We do not dare
to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they
measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they
are not wise. 13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper
limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a
field that reaches even to you. 14 We are not going too far in
our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as
far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15 Neither do we go
beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your
faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly
expand, 16 so that we can preach the gospel in the regions
beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another
man's territory. 17 But, "Let him who boasts boast in the
Lord." 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who
is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
1 I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness;
but you are already doing that. 2 I am jealous for you with a
godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might
present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that
just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be
led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For
if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different
gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But
I do not think I am in the least inferior to those
"super-apostles." 6 I may not be a trained speaker,
but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every
way. 7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate
you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I
robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9 And
when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the
brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself
from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10 As
surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will
stop this boasting of mine. 11 Why? Because I do not love you?
God knows I do! 12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in
order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be
considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For
such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of
Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an
angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants
masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions
deserve. 16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if
you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little
boasting. 17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking
as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18 Since many are boasting
in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19 You gladly put
up with fools since you are so wise! 20 In fact, you even put
up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or
pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21 To my
shame I admit that we were too weak for that! What anyone else dares to boast
about--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast about. 22 Are
they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's
descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am
out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been
in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to
death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews
the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with
rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a
day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I
have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own
countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the
country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I
have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger
and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.28 Besides
everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the
churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led
into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 30 If I must boast, I
will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and
Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not
lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the
city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 But I
was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his
hands.
1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be
gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I
know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.
Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows. 3 And
I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know,
but God knows-- 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard
inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5 I
will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except
about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I
would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so
no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. 7 To
keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great
revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to
torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it
away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I
will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may
rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For
when I am weak, then I am strong. 11 I have made a fool of
myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am
not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles," even though I am
nothing. 12 The things that mark an apostle--signs, wonders
and miracles--were done among you with great perseverance. 13 How
were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to
you? Forgive me this wrong! 14 Now I am ready to visit you for
the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not
your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for
their parents, but parents for their children. 15 So I will
very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I
love you more, will you love me less? 16 Be that as it may, I
have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by
trickery! 17 Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent
you? 18 I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with
him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and
follow the same course? 19Have you been thinking all along that we
have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God
as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your
strengthening. 20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not
find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I
fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions,
slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21 I am afraid that
when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over
many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin
and debauchery in which they have indulged.
1 This will be my third visit to you. "Every matter
must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." 2 I
already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it
while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of
the others, 3 since you are demanding proof that Christ is
speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among
you. 4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he
lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will
live with him to serve you. 5 Examine yourselves to see
whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ
Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I
trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now
we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see
that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we
may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against
the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad whenever we
are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection. 10 This
is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have
to be harsh in my use of authority--the authority the Lord gave me for building
you up, not for tearing you down. 11 Finally, brothers,
good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in
peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet
one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints send their
greetings. 14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Psalm 15
Psalm 15 (New International Version)
Psalm 15
A psalm of David.
1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
4 who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
5 who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
Psalm 15
A psalm of David.
1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
4 who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
5 who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
Revelation 10
Revelation 10 (New International Version, ©2010)
Revelation 10
The Angel and the Little Scroll
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but 'in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.'[a]" 10 I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
Revelation 10
The Angel and the Little Scroll
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but 'in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.'[a]" 10 I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
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