(Through the Bible) 2 Corinthians 1-2 — Chuck Smith

2 Corinthians 1 and the Divided Corinthian Church

Tonight, let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. The church of Corinth had been a divided church. There was a lot of carnality, a lot of problems in their doctrines. That prompted Paul's first epistle, which is a rather stern epistle, and was a corrective epistle, seeking to correct a lot of the doctrinal errors that did exist, seeking to bring them from their carnality into a real spiritual walk.

A mark of their carnality, one of the marks of their carnality, was the party spirit that existed. For some were saying, I'm Baptist, and others were saying, I'm Presbyterian, and others were saying, I'm Nazarene.

Or they were actually saying, I'm of Paulus, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Paul, I'm of Christ. And these little party spirits dividing the body of Christ. And so Paul wrote to rebuke this party spirit. He wrote to correct their carnality, their doctrinal errors.

But the effect of his first epistle was sort of a polarizing of the people. And there were those who did repent and were corrected. They really came along after receiving Paul's epistle. But there were others that turned more firmly against Paul.

And it seemed to be those who were the Judaizers, or perhaps those who said, we are of Christ, and were teaching basically from the Sermon on the Mount, and had not really accepted the grace of God that Paul shared that has come to us through Jesus Christ.

They began to speak disparagingly of Paul. Began to challenge his claim of apostleship, and thus speaking to them with authority. And it would seem that Timothy probably delivered the first epistle and brought back to Paul the initial reaction toward the epistle.

Titus had stayed there for a while and was to meet Paul in Troas and to give Paul a full report on the Corinthian church. When Paul got to Troas, Titus had not shown up. And God opened for Paul an effectual door of ministry in Troas, however he was so upset in his spirit about the possible offense that the Corinthians might have for him.

Rather than staying in Troas and ministering in that effectual door, he journeyed on over to Macedonia where Titus did meet him and gave to him news of the church in Corinth, which encouraged Paul. But he also heard of this faction that had set themselves against Paul, were challenging his apostleship.

And so Paul learned from Titus now the condition of the church in Corinth. Timothy had been with Paul when Paul first ministered in Corinth. And so Paul joins Timothy with him in his salutation to the Corinthian church.

In verse 1, notice Paul first of all asserts, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. There were those who were challenging his apostleship, saying that he, you know, just took that title on himself.

But here he lays claim to the fact that he is an apostle by the will of God. Now, when Paul was writing his first epistle to the Corinthians, in chapter 12, he said, are all apostles? Are all evangelists?

Do all work miracles? And the answer is obviously no, because it's a rhetorical type question. So Paul, an apostle by the will of God. However, God hasn't called all to be apostles. Now the question is, what has God called you to be?

If I were writing to the church, I would have to write Chuck, a pastor teacher by the will of God. I couldn't really write Chuck an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, for that isn't my calling in the body.

God has called me as a pastor teacher, but there are others who could write Frank, a mechanic by the will of God, John, a fisherman by the will of God, Mike, a car salesman by the will of God. For God has called men into all types of occupations.

The important thing is that I am what I am by the will of God, that I am doing what God has willed for me to do. And it's marvelous when you can say concerning your life, I am walking according to the will and the plan of God for me.

That whatever it is I am, I am by the will of God. So Paul, an apostle by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, because Timothy was teaching them and ministering to them when Paul first visited the Corinthian church, he joins Timothy together in his greeting.

Timothy, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, and then he includes all of the area around Corinth, the area of Achaia. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

We recognize this as a typical Pauline salutation. He begins many of his epistles with this very similar salutation. Grace to you, which is, of course, the typical Greek greeting of one another, and peace, which was the typical Jewish greeting, shalom, keres, the Greeks would greet, and shalom, the Hebrews would greet.

These beautiful Siamese twins of the New Testament, coupled together. From God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, I would like to point out that the Lord Jesus Christ is not his name. Jesus is his name.

Lord is his title that signifies relationship. And too many times people think of it as first, middle, and last name, the Lord Jesus Christ. But Lord is a title, and it's an important title, which signifies my relationship to him, which signifies that I am a servant.

He is my master. And it is necessary for me to confess this to be saved. For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

So the Lord signifies the relationship. Christ is, again, a mission, the anointed one, the Messiah. And it speaks of the fact that he is the fulfillment of God's promised salvation. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

And again, this is so typical of Paul. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in heavenly places. How he begins his Ephesian epistle is quite similar to this.

Comfort in Suffering and the Ministry of Consolation

First of all, the greeting to the people, the grace and peace to them, the acknowledgment of his mission as being what he was by the will of God, an apostle, and then the thanksgiving to God. Praise be unto God.

The word blessed is actually praise be unto God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Father of mercies and the God of comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. So Paul here is speaking of the afflictions that he had experienced, the sufferings that he had experienced, and the tribulation that he had experienced.

We have difficulty in our minds wondering why God would allow us to experience suffering, why God would allow us to go through tribulation, why God would allow us to be afflicted. Because we believe that he is a God of love and we know that he controls the circumstances that surround our lives and that come into our lives.

And it is difficult for us to understand why God would allow me to suffer if he loves me so much, why God would allow me to be afflicted. Now Paul declares that he experienced these things in order that in them he might also experience the comfort of God so that he would be able to comfort others with the same comfort that he had received.

So it was for their sakes as much as his own that God allowed these things to happen to him for he needed to be ministered by God in these areas so that he could minister to others in these very same areas.

As I look at my own life I realize that God has allowed a lot of difficult experiences to happen to me so that I can truly understand and sympathize and minister to those who are going through the similar or the same kind of difficulties.

Had I never gone through them myself I wouldn't have understanding of that person's need, where they're coming from. But having experienced the tragic death of my father and brother, having experienced the suffering of my mother by cancer, having experienced being broke, not knowing how to where money was going to come from for dinner, I understand when people are going through these kind of experiences and I can minister to them with that same comfort whereby I have been comforted by the Spirit of God when I was going through these things.

And so it's always good to say, I know what you feel. I've been there. I went through it. And so Paul could say, hey, I know the sufferings. I know the afflictions. I know the tribulation. I've been there.

And he could comfort them. While I was there though God proved his faithfulness to me. God saw me through. God provided the strength. God provided for me that comfort that I needed and I am able to comfort with the comfort whereby I was comforted.

And so Paul said, therefore it was for your sakes really that I might be able to give this kind of consolation to you, the consolation that I myself received. And so if we are afflicted, it's for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same things which we also suffer.

Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye also be of the consolation. I know that God is faithful and even as you have suffered, as I have suffered, I know that you will come forth victoriously as I came forth victoriously.

And so he is able to encourage them in the victory that they were going to experience because I was there and God brought me through in victory. And I know he'll bring you through victoriously. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia.

Now it is felt that Paul wrote this right after that experience that he had in Ephesus, which is recorded in the 19th chapter of the book of Acts, the latter portion, where Paul was in Ephesus and many people were turning to Christ.

And so Demetrius, the silversmith, called together all of those of his trade. And he said, fellows, do you realize that this new sect that is being preached here in Ephesus is destroying our business?

We've made our livelihood selling all of these relics of the goddess Diana. Now they are teaching that Diana isn't a goddess. Our business is suffering. Our profits are down. If this gospel continues to spread, we could be out of business.

We've got to do something. And so they grabbed a couple of the disciples who had been working with Paul, who were from Macedonia. And they drug them into the big arena there in Ephesus. And they began to sort of riot and carry on.

And one of these fellows from Macedonia attempted to speak to the crowd. And they all began for the space of two hours to chant, great is Diana of the Ephesians. And Paul the apostle, when he heard of it, he wanted to go in.

But some of the leaders of the city who loved Paul said, don't do it, they'll tear you apart. You know, it's a mob frenzy. And if you go in there, it's the end for you. Well, Paul, as the result, had to flee from Ephesus.

His life was in jeopardy. And so he left from there and went over to Macedonia. And it is thought that while he was then at Troas or Macedonia, that he wrote this epistle, probably in Macedonia. He could have started it in Troas and finished it in Macedonia.

That he wrote this epistle right after this harrowing experience in Ephesus where his life was really threatened. In fact, he thought he had had it. The crowd was in such a frenzy, Paul really thought that this is it, this is the end.

But he was ready to go in and face them anyhow. So I would not that you were ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, beyond our strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.

It was just too much. It was beyond my ability to handle. I really despaired of my life. I really felt this was the end. For we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust ourselves, but in God which raises the dead.

Reaching the End of Self

I believe that many times, in many different areas, God brings us to the end of our own resources, emotional, physical, perhaps financial, that we get right to the end. There's no place else to go where we actually give up and we just say, I've had it, I can't do anything else, I've had it.

Now, God's brought me to that place many times where I thought, this is it, this is the end. The end of my strength, the end of my abilities, where I have given up and I don't give up easily. That's one of my problems in my spiritual walk, is that I keep trying until I have tried everything before I really turn it over to God.

But God brings me to that place where, having tried everything, I now have given up. And you know, I discover something. That many times when I get to that point of just giving up, that that is the point where I experience the power of God and the work of God in my life.

Not until I have run out of my strength and my resources. A classic example comes to us from the Old Testament in that fellow Jacob, who received his name at his birth because of an incident that took place at his birth.

He was the second of twins that were born. And when his mother Rachel was expecting these twins, of course, they didn't have sonograms and things in that day. They couldn't get two heartbeats. They didn't know, or she didn't know, that she was carrying twins.

But all she knew it was a miserable pregnancy. I mean, it was just really bad. And she said, Lord, what's going on? This is horrible. And God said, there are two nations in your womb and they're different from each other.

They were not identical twins. They were fraternal twins. Two nations in your womb, diverse from each other, and they're fighting each other. Poor Rachel, these two brothers going at it against each other in the womb, wailing away.

And when they were born, the first brother was born all covered with hair and so they called him Harry, Esau. And when the twin was born, he was ready to continue the fight because the first thing he did is reached out and grabbed Esau's heel.

And they said, look at that little rascal. He's a heel catcher. And so he got the name Yaakov, which is literally heel catcher, which being translated a little more loosely would be dirty, rotten thief or dirty, sneaky thief, which, of course, would be a tough name to be tagged with.

You go to school and the teacher says, and what is your name? And you say, dirty, sneaky thief. They call roll and they call dirty, sneaky thief here. This conflict between the brothers continued through their lifetime.

Dirty, sneaky thieves tricked his brother or took advantage of his brother and bought the birthright from him. And then later deceived his father and stole the blessing, the family blessing, which should have gone to the elder brother.

And when the older brother Esau found out that Jacob had stolen the blessing, he said, my dad's about ready to die. And as soon as he's dead, I'm going to kill that rat. I've had it with him. I'm going to kill him.

And Jacob was more the tender sort, a mama's boy. Whereas Esau was a man of the field, a hunter, rugged, outdoor individualist, going to kill him. As soon as dad's dead, I'm going to kill him. I swear I'm going to kill him.

So his mother heard the brother's threats and she said, son, you better take off. Your dad's not doing very well and your brother has vowed to kill you. So you better take off and go stay with my brother for a while over in Haran, about 800 miles away.

And so Jacob took off and he went to his mother's brother, Laban, who was just about as crooked as he was. And he was a dirty, sneaky thief. He fell in love with one of Laban's daughters, said, I want to marry your daughter, but I don't have any dowry to give to you.

So Laban says, well, that's fine, son, just be my slave for seven years and that can be the dowry. You can marry her. So he became the slave of Laban for seven years and he loved Laban's daughter so much.

He loved Rachel so much that it was just like a moment's time. So the day of the marriage came, marriage ceremony. And of course, according to custom, the bride was veiled and all. So they went into their tent, spent the night together in the morning.

When the veil was removed, it wasn't Rachel at all, but her older, ugly sister, Leah. And Jacob went storming out of the tent, got hold of Laban and said, what have you done? That isn't the deal that I made with you.

Sorry, son, it's just the custom. The older sister has to be married first, according to our customs. If you want to work another seven years, then you can have the other one too. So you see, Laban was quite a match for Jacob, but in the end, Jacob won out.

After 17 years, stripping Laban of practically everything he had, he saw that things weren't going too well anymore. They weren't smiling at the table anymore when they looked at him. And he realized, I got to get out of here.

And so he left with all of the flocks and the herds and all that he had. All that he had gained from his service to Laban. And now he's on his way back home and he comes to the border of the land and he fords the stream of Jabbok, sets things up because suddenly he gets word from the scouts going ahead.

Your brother Esau is coming with 200 warriors. Oh man, the last time I saw this guy, he had threatened to kill me. And I ran because, you know, he was going to kill me. Now he's coming with 200 men. What am I going to do?

I can't go back because he and Laban had drawn a line and Laban says, don't you cross over this line. If you do, you've had it. And Jacob says, don't you cross over to me or you've had it, you know. And so they put a line of, you know, don't cross over.

He couldn't go back, but he was afraid to go forward. Hey, Jacob was one of the most resourceful persons in the world. Naturally, he was a resourceful guy, always had an angle, could always get the best of the other person, totally resourceful.

But now he's cornered. In the morning, Esau will be coming over the hill with 200 men. He can't go back. And so he seeks to set things up and then beds down for the night. Get a good night's rest. I'm going to need all the strength I can in the morning, but the Lord had other ideas and there wrestled with him an angel of the Lord all night long.

So rather than getting a good night's rest to face a heavy day, he finds himself wrestling all night with an angel of the Lord until the day began to break and the angel had not prevailed against him.

Many people believe that the angel was none other than the Lord. I do believe this. It was Jesus Christ that wrestled with him. He called the name of the place, Penuel, for he said, I've seen God face to face.

But it said the angel of the Lord touched him in the thigh and he became a cripple. Hey, what it took to get this guy to the end of himself because he was so clever and resourceful. God had to really deal with him in a heavy way.

He's got a line. He can't go back. His brother's coming with 200 men. Now he's been wrestling all night. He's tired. And beyond that, now the angel touches him and he becomes a cripple. The muscle shriveled up, painful cripple.

Now at that point, he had had it. He was finally defeated. The resourcefulness, it's all over. I've had it. And so he began to weep and cry and he said to the angel, don't leave me without blessing me.

Now according to the scripture, if you ask for a blessing, you are acknowledging the superiority of the other party as the lesser is always blessed by the greater. You've read that in scripture. So when he is asking for a blessing, he is admitting defeat.

I've had it. I'm defeated. Please bless me. And the angel of the Lord said, what is your name? And he said, dirty, sneaky thief. And he said, you won't be dirty, sneaky thief anymore, but you will be a man governed by God, Israel, a man of God.

He was brought to the end of himself, but he was brought to the beginning of a whole new dimension of life. What a glorious day of victory that was for Yaakov. When he was brought to the end of himself, the end of his natural cunning craftiness, and he turned his life over to God and he became from that point a man governed by God.

So the place of defeat was actually the place of the beginning of a life of victory. As we so often discover in ourselves, the place where we give up, where we are forced to give up, where we despair ourselves of ever coming out of it.

This is it. I've had it. This is the end. And I just give up. That is the place where God then has the opportunities of working. It's not a scripture. It's a poem, but it has so much truth in it. It could be a scripture and that is man's extremities are God's opportunities.

When I come to the extremity of my own self and I can't go any further, that is the place that God has the opportunity to work in my life. And I find that God often brings me to that place in order that he might work.

Now because of my nature, God often has to bring me to that place before he can work because he knows that I am basically a pretty self-confident person, feel that I can handle a situation. And if he let me just go ahead and handle it, then I would say, well, I face that, but I, you know, I just set myself and gritted my teeth and said, I'm going to make it, you know, and I went through.

God knows I'm that kind of a person. I'll try and go through. And so God lets me try and try and try until I'm beat, until I come to the end of myself. And I say, God, I can't go through. And then God opens the door and says, Oh God, why am I so stupid?

Why did I wait so long? Why did I go through so much suffering before just turning it over to you? You see, the place of our defeat is often the place of the greatest victory because we come to the end of ourselves and we turn it over to God at that point.

So many people, when they get to that place, alas, I've had it. This is the end. No, it's the beginning of a whole new experience, the experience of God's power working in your life. So Paul came to that place and Paul's the same kind of guy.

He was the kind of guy, hey, let's go for it, you know, a will that wouldn't quit. So God brought him to the despairing of life. I was pressed beyond my measure, beyond my strength, so that I despaired of life.

I thought, this is it. And we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust ourselves. And that is always the purpose for God bringing you to the end of yourself, is that you won't trust yourself, but you'll learn to trust in God who can raise the dead.

Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver us in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us the past, present, future. He did deliver us. Right now, he is continuing to deliver us. And I just trust he's going to deliver us.

You see, the future victories are assured by the past victories. God's faithfulness in the past is a testimony to me of his continued faithfulness in the future. God was faithful. He delivered me. God is faithful.

He is delivering me. And thus my faith and trust grows. And I know that God will be faithful and shall deliver me. The past becomes a prophecy of the future and the basis for my trust and faith for the future.

Ye also helping together by prayer for us. And so Paul is acknowledging his gratefulness to them because their prayers had an important part in that work of God. And for the gift that was bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, that thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

Sincerity, Integrity, and the Promises of God

So I thank you for your prayers and your gifts for us. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our manner of life in the world and before you or more abundantly to you.

So Paul describes the way he lived with them and before them. It was in simplicity and godly sincerity. And that should be the case of every minister of God. That they learn to live a simple life in all sincerity before people.

That they not be caught up with fancy clothes and fancy fashions and high fashion or high life kind of a thing. But they live a simple life. And also that they live a very sincere life. That they are not one thing in the pulpit and they preach one thing and live another.

But their life is sincere before the people. And they are the same out of the pulpit as they are in the pulpit. They're the same in the home as they are in the church. A life of sincerity. Of course you know the origin of that word sincere in English.

It comes from Latin. Siniseri. And literally it means without wax. Now of course in the time of Rome and the Roman Kingdom because people didn't have much to do. There were a lot of men who just sat around and chiseled on marble.

And made statues, busts and so forth of different persons. And if you look at the work of these artists it's remarkable. It's really outstanding. I've been through the museum in Greece and in Rome. And I've seen a lot of the work that goes back to that period.

But you know even an artist can sometimes make a mistake. And you might be trying to get just the right curve on the nose. And the hammer slip and wham the nose pops off of this bit of marble. Well these fellows became very clever.

They had learned how to take wax and mix it with marble. To where it looked just like marble. And so they would patch up this broken nose with wax. And you would buy this beautiful statue. Not knowing that the nose was wax.

And come summertime on those hot days. You'd walk into your family room and look at your beautiful statue that you paid so much for. It would burn the nose and melt it and run down the face. And so the word sincerity without wax.

What you see is what you get. That you are the same. That you live a very sincere life. Thus Paul expressed his life. His manner of living before them. In simplicity and godly sincerity. Not in fleshly wisdom.

But by the grace of God. For we write none other things unto you than what you read or acknowledge. And I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end. In other words I'm not two faced. I'm just straight.

And the things I write to you. I'm not thinking something else. There isn't a double meaning in what I am saying. I had a woman in the church that I pastored one time. That was always looking for a secondary meaning.

And she would call me up on the phone. On a Monday morning. And she'd say now. Pastor Smith last night when you said goodnight to me. What did you really mean by that? And always you know. What do you really mean?

What are you really trying to say to me? Well for one thing I'm too stupid to. You know have hidden. Kind of cryptic messages in what I say. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. And so Paul is declaring the same thing about himself.

What I acknowledge to you is the same. You know it's. What you read and acknowledge. I don't have any other writing. That's that's what I feel towards you. That's what it is. As also you have acknowledged us in part that we are your rejoicing.

Even as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence I was minded to come to you before. That you might have a second benefit. Now I really intended to come. What Paul had said.

He had written earlier and said he was coming to them. And then he didn't show up. And so those detractors of Paul were saying. Oh the guy's fickle. You can't take him for his word. He just said that.

But he really didn't mean it. And so Paul here is bearing witness to the fact that he was sincere. When he wrote the things and acknowledged the things. That's what he was intending to do. He was sincere in it.

And I was intending to come unto you. And to pass by you into Macedonia. And to come again out of Macedonia unto you. And of you to be brought on my way towards Judea. I was really. That was what I had in mind.

And when I therefore was thus minded. Did I use lightness. Or the Greek word is fickleness. Was I fickle when I said that? Or the things that I purpose. Do I purpose according to the flesh. That with me there should be yea, yea and nay, nay.

He says yes. But he really means no. He says no. But he really means yes. Now Jesus said let your yes be yes. And let your no be no. Be a man of your word. They were accusing Paul of violating this. He is not a man of his word.

He said he was going to come. He didn't come. He never intended to come in the first place you see. And they were using the fact that he didn't show up as a tool against him. But Paul is saying hey I was sincere.

I'm not fickle. But as God is true. Our word toward you was not yes and no. I was really intending to do it. It was in my mind to do. For the Son of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us. And even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus.

So Timothy was there and Silvanus was with Paul when he first preached in Corinth. Was not yes and no. But in him it was a yes. The gospel that we preached was a positive gospel. It was straight forward.

It wasn't a two faced thing. And then he declares for all of the promises of God in him are yes. In other words all of the promises of God to us have been fulfilled in Jesus. In him they are yes. Under the glory of God by us.

Jesus is the assurance to us that God's promises are all true. And all of God's promises to you are wrapped up in Christ. God has promised to give you life. That life is in Jesus. This is the record God has given to us eternal life.

And this life is in the Son. God has promised to give you peace. But that peace is in Jesus. God has promised mercies to you. But those mercies are coming to you in Jesus. All of the promises in him are yes.

Or are fulfilled in him to us. And the fact that God sent his Son is the assurance to us that God is going to keep all of his word. And all of his promises that he has made to us of that eternal kingdom.

And the glory that we shall share with him world without end. Jesus is the affirmation to you that God has meant what he said. And that he will keep all of the promises that he has made. Of the coming kingdom and the glory of that kingdom.

That shall be yours when you live with him. In his kingdom forever. So, Paul is declaring here Jesus. The assurance. He is the yes of God to us. Now he who has established us with you in Christ. And hath anointed us is God.

It is God's work Paul is acknowledging. The one that has established us with you in Christ. And has anointed our lives. And who has also sealed us. And given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts.

The earnest the word there is a Greek word which is like our word deposit. Or down payment. Paul tells us in Ephesians. Chapter one. That God has given to us. He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession.

God has purchased you that you might be his forever. That you might share in the glory of his eternal kingdom. Now to show you that he is sincere he has given you a down payment. Yes I really intend to complete my redemption of you.

To show you that I am sincere I will give you a deposit a down payment. The Holy Spirit sealed. Sealed with the Holy Spirit of course the idea of the seal was the stamp of ownership. You are mine. I claim you.

Here is the down payment. And one day I'll redeem your body and bring you into glory. But in the meantime. I'm sincere. Here's the Holy Spirit to prove my sincerity. He is the earnest. And so God has given to us the spirit sealed us.

Given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. Moreover I call God. For a record upon my soul. That to spare you. I have not come as yet to Corinth. The first. Word that Paul got back from Corinth wasn't so encouraging and.

He was upset and was going to come and just take off into them. You know I just really. Go at it. As the natural man would. And. He was patient. Waiting to hear the full word from Titus before coming.

And so it was ready to spare you. That I didn't come. Because I didn't want to exercise dominion over your faith. But I'm just a helper of your joy. For by faith you stand. Paul's glorious attitude. I didn't want to come and.

And. Have dominion over you. There are many people. Many pastors today. That want to have dominion over the people. Now don't you dare go to another fellowship. Don't you dare do this or that. And they want to have dominion over the people.