Dec 3 - 2 Corinthians 9-11
2 Corinthians
1There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints.2For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.4For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we--not to say anything about you--would be ashamed of having been so confident.5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.9As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
1By 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!2I 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.3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.5We 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.6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.7You 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.8For 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.9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters.10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.12We 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.13We, 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.14We 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.15Neither 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,16so 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.17But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
1I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that.2I 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.3But 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.4For 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."6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.9And 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.10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!12And 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.13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.16I 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.17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!20In 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.21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!22What anyone else dares to boast about--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I.23Are 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.24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.25Three 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,26I 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.27I 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.28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.