2 Cor 1:1-7

Context: Paul is one of the founding members of the Corinthian church. He spent a whole letter rebuking the once led church for sexual sins, splits over leadership and bad use of gifts. Now, he writes a second letter with a softer tone. He is explaining how his hardship with the church is for their wisdom and comfort.





2 cor 1:1-7

From: Paul, a fellow adminastrator of Jesus Christ, recruited by God
And Timothy, the brother in Christ

To: The Corinth Church of God and all people in the surrounding area of Achaia

May God grant you grace and peace as He is the Father of Jesus Christ.

Let's take a moment and give a shout to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, the father of helping out those in need and the caretaker for those who need to be cheered up. He sends a soothing and healing word when we are totally bumming out over life. Then we can be inspired to send soothing and healing words to others, like you.  This Christian life is not just about receiving hard knocks and reality checks like Christ did on the cross, we also need to accept the words of comfort that Jesus supplied so freely.

If my ministry is bugging out I want you to know it is for your ministries betterment and ease. My stress serves to teach you. On the same note, if God shares with us a relaxing and joyful moment we want you to get that as well.  My pain is your pain and my comfort is your comfort. All this for the sake of teaching you guys how to keep on keeping on in hard times.

Do not misunderstand our mission in the church, brothers and sisters. This ministry has been no cake walk. Working in Asia Ministries is hard work. We got the Roman gestapo knocking on our door, endless deadlines and the constant feeling I might not see tomorrow. The feeling of doom has been very familiar in this walk.  But we learned that we can't trust our own decisions and leadership power, but give it up to God instead. (Similar how my words stressed you out so you could rely on God). God has reached out His hand and saved us from some bad spills. We are confident he will do it in the future. We thank you for asking God for help on our behalf and we know that your prayers will lead others to see how awesome God truly is.

2 Corinthians 5:1-15

2 Cor 5:1-15
New Lease on Life

My life is like a broken and shoddy car. It is a knock off of a knock off. If that old car were to break for good I would not worry. God replaces that life with a quality, premium and choice select vehicle that has an endless warranty. This shiny new car was not ruined by 3rd rate human developers, but made by the owner of eternal life. Deep inside I desire the new quality life instead of this old one that won't work properly. The new car smell is driving me crazy. I wish just to reach out and grab it. Honestly, I would rather be found in the brand new ride instead of the broken one.  This new life is always on my mind and I know God put it there to give me a glimpse of hope. It is his spirit's lifetime guarantee.

So we are brave and tough it out even though greater things lay on the other side of this half-priced life. This is our end goal and we see it in our hopes and beliefs...not our eyeballs. We choose the new car over the old one 10 out of 10 times. But whether we are leasing this old junker or partaking in the luxury ride one thing is still top priority: God's pleasure is our aim. We will all have to kneel before Jesus as he takes command from his seat of judgement. From there we will be reviewed by how we lived this life and how we spent our time. Whether good or bad review, we will recieve it.

Therefore, since we do not take God lightly, we use our time and effort to persuade others. God sees us work at it all the time. Our work to his glorious throne is always before him. But this is not bragging and name dropping to impress you, this is to show you a community of believers that care about people like you and about what is inside your heart. We have an extreme range of emotions for our affections. If we are crazy it was for God. If we were calm and collected it was for your sake. It is Jesus' deep affections and encouragements that drive us to do good things. That love died for us and we along with it. But our death is to the old life.

1 Peter 4:1-11

DON'T CRY FOR ME OLD LIFE
Listen up, church. I got news for you. Christ Jesus suffered way worse than we ever did. His body was drained from stem to stern. So we can take a cue from his playbook. Maybe it is not such a shocker when we receive lesser maltreatment from neighbors. We should have the same outlook on life. Those who suffer internally with the stresses of this world are slowly letting the poison of selfishness drain from them.  If you feel the discomfort from this world it means you are on the right track to leave sin.

Because you are putting an axe to the bad habits of your pagan neighbors, you are choosing God's personal management over your life. Very smart move. By now you have punched your card enough times at your old job: the nasty sins of alcholism, addiction, meaningless sex, obsession with things and fight starting. Your neighbors are starting to talk and they wonder why you aren't living in the fast lane of fast cars and faster woman. They call you softie behind your back for chickening out.  Don't listen to them. Those who live in the fast lane can't see the wall at the end. That wall is God and he will make them pay the bill for their extravagant life. Dead or alive, He will get you.

But that is the difference that the good news of Jesus makes. It is a battery that brings power to those who are even already dead. Even though their body hit the bucket, their spirit is doing just fine in this new life.

God is closing the book on this dark chapter. Focus! Concentrate on God's agenda so you can have a steady flow of communication with Him. You lose focus and your prayers become muddy. And what do we focus on? Where should our braincells be firing? Love! Give someone the deepest and most wide spread love your frame can handle. Love erases the screw up, pardons the messy and spends time with the broken. Open up your house to everyone and let them use your luxuries. You have that special skill, that God given power that makes others blessed. God is investing in your skills. If your skill is speaking then fill the air with the speeches of God. If you like helping people in need than let God be your driving force to accomplish things. In this way God gets a good return on his investment in the form of praise and worship in Jesus. Jesus is glorious, powerful and eternal. Amen

1 Cor 6: 1-11

1 Cor 6:1-11
Don't Let The World Fix This







So two people in your church are having a tiff. Sometimes arguments arise. But the fact of the matter is that you let the ungodly courts settle the case. They are really not in the position to handle our mediations. We are the ones who will be casting a verdict on them. If we are going to judge the imperfect things of this world than I think we can settle our own tiffs without bringing legal action into it. We will be judging angels for goodness sake! I don't believe the secular courts need to tell us how to behave with one another. They have bigger problems. You should feel like you are missing the point here. Not one of you can play peace keeper and settle the matter? But instead two godly people who read the word of god are trying to play Judge Judy in front of the world of unbelievers. These are unbelievers who don't give a crap about what God believes.

It gets worse. The fact that two believers are trying to sue each other and bring legal action is a huge epic loss. It would actually be better to be wronged, violated, insulted and sinned against than to follow this action. What are you trying to prove by gambling in the court system? You are dealing with the wrong people. Those people have only their crimes as their hope and the gates of God will not be opening for them. You know the people I am talking about. The pervs, the sexual deviants, the lust monsters, guys who break their marriage, the people that bow to everything but God and those who forsake natural relationships between man and woman. Don't get me started on the con artists, the money slaves, the corrupt business owners and the the kleptos. These people are not passing on their good merits. You were once like them. All you knew was the bad life. But the Lord Jesus cleaned that off you for good. He put you on the right side of his favor for eternity.

Daniel 1:1-21

Danny's New Job





In the 3rd fiscal year under the management of Israel Inc. CEO Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, rival CEO of Babylon, came to the Jerusalem HQ and bought it out. The Lord had fired Jehoiakim from his management position and all the sacred assets of the company got taken over. Nebu now controlled both businesses including the sacred assets that were now under Nebu's business plan.

Nebu then tasked Ashpenaz, HR of Babylon, to take inventory of the employees of Israel Inc. He was to find their top value workers and train them up for management positions. These employees would be quick on their feet, business saavy and real charmers on the sales floor. Ash was to teach the Babylonian business model to these top employees.  On top of that, the CEO would allow these men to sit in on the management meetings that were held in an exotic gentleman's club. These meetings are where management was trained to be future leaders of the business.

Israel Inc's top men were Danny, Hana, Mish and Aza. The first day of work they got new name tags that tested better in Babylon. Danny become Belter, Hana became Shady, Mish became Meshack and Aza became Abe.

But the one thing Danny was not going to stand for was the monthly management meetings at the exotic club of defilement. He marched to HR and explained that he and his crew would not be partaking in these events. HR carefully explained that these events were crucial to climbing the corporate ladder. Those who failed to rise were fired. But God was not about to lose his most faithful employees to defilement so he put HR on Danny's side. Danny compromised with HR and said, "Me and my work mates can sit in the office and read the business manuals while this is going on." HR tried to reason with Danny that the manuals were boring and dry, but Danny seemed confident that this would work.

Danny, Hana, Aza and Mish went to their Sales Supervisor and explained that they would be missing ten meetings at the exotic night club. They would instead be reading manuals in the office. He explained it like this to the supervisor, "If we don't have equal or better sales metrics on the floor than we will gladly join you at the meetings. Just let us have ten meetings in the office." The Supervisor gave the green light and Danny tried his new tactic.

By the end of the fiscal year, Danny and his sales team were in the top five. They had the highest conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Their methods were so inspiring that the Supervisor put the rest of the Sales team under Danny's method.

Danny and his fellow co-workers continued to be promoted by God. They had amazing work ethic, understanding of customer needs and the winning spirit for sales. God even gave Danny the gift of interpreting the business world. He could see the future of Babylon Inc.

When it came time to evaluate the employees, the Supervisor had no problem presenting Danny and his team. Their numbers and work ethic were beyond every sales team in the company. Nebu found them to be way more qualified than all the middle management, analysts and accountants he had working for him.

Danny remained in the company even after Nebu passed CEO to his understudy, Cyrus.

1 Peter 1:13-25

Context: Peter has to explain to his followers that persecution and hardship isn't the end of the world. In fact it can actually strengthen the faith. He assures them that God gave them this faith as an inheritance and now God is using hard times to shape it. Now Peter tells the church that they need to be on the offensive with their faith.


1st Peter 1:13-25
Wake up and smell the holy wars, my friends. You are on the frontline in the war for your mind. Set your artillery toward the rising dawn, which is Christ and his never ending grace upon his return.  Keep fighting back that shadowy tentacle of evil that grips loyal children like yourselves. You were friends with this evil tentacle back when you were mindless peons. You two were tight. But you have been upgraded to the Holy Army. A Sacred knight of God's throne must act as such. Just as the scripture says, "Be holy because I am Holy."

Time is money and God owns the bank and the stopwatch. Make the most of your stay on this Earth, but keep in mind this is just a pitstop. You are not living for cheap tricks and trinkets that dissolve like cotton candy. This is an old family tradition that needs to be buried. But now you've struck it rich in Christ's blood, a sacrfice that is perfect and flawlessly executed. Christ gives nothing cheap. This present was set and gift wrapped before the world was on the blueprints (though God let us take a little peek at the gift). You believe that this gift gave up His life for our sake, but God gave Him life and a crown of royalty. Now this extraordinary event in history is our lifeline.

To sum it all up...since you have bowed to these facts about Christ and his gift leading to a love for others that is legit...LOVE OTHERS LIKE YOU ARE LEGIT. Love them like you mean it. You are not a cheap plastic toy that breaks. You are a finely crafted, time tested soul, powered by God's word. Unbreakable!

As the good book says,
"Humans are like carnival goldfish.
Our accomplisments are like carnival prizes.
The fish die too easily and the prizes get thrown out
But God's truth lasts through all time."

And this is the truth I am giving you.

Philippians 4:4-13

Context: Paul, an imprisoned messenger of Jesus, is giving hope to the church of Philippi who are facing persecution of their own. He ends his letter with hopeful instructions.





Phil 4:4-13
How to Keep Your Sanity in Dark Times!

1. Celebrate God! I don't care what the occasion, just put God in a good light.  God is coming to make His debut in our lives and we need to show the people we love and support one another.

2. Don't let any problem in this life keep you up at night. I forbid any pacing, hand wringing or unnecessary insomnia over the hurdles of life. It is a God problem and all God problems deserve to be voiced toward God. Not only just to have God hear you cry out, but to also be thankful that he is capable of handling it. This is the lifestyle where God's beautiful peace and confidence overpowers your endless badgering of the situation and your brain  gets refuge behind the wall of Christ. It is a reality.

3. How are you going to spend your day, siblings of the Lord? How about you start dwelling on honesty, absolute truth, professionalism and courtesy in relationships, every day acts of heroism, habits of restraint and clean thinking, respect toward creation, awe of God's splendor, integrity in the work place, attitudes of victory and acts of selflessness that bring out the good in God's people. These thoughts should be the consumption of your day.

4. These nuggets of wisdom that I am speaking should be put into practice. Don't just read this and walk away. Do this and God's clarity and alacrity will be with you.

Finally guys, I am touched that you were deeply concerned about my well being. You wanted so bad to help me in my imprisoned state. But...I don't really have any dire needs right now. I know...right, I am in prison and I seem to taking it quite alright. Even if my life isn't all peaches and gravy I am still keeping a cool head. There's a secret to being okay with this unstable life. You see, I have been on both ends of the spectrum: feast and famine. I have swam through riches, fame and plenty, but I have also been poorer than a peasant. There's one tip that has made this liveable, one reminder that keeps me from going crazy.  Are you ready? The secret: Christ keeps me stable and strong. I can get through this because of Jesus. Amen.