The Roman’s Road

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Acts 18 NKJV

9  Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;

10  “for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”

11  And he continued in Corinth a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Two weeks ago I accompanied 30 people from our Church to Greece where we followed the “Steps of Paul” from Philippi to Corinth as recorded in the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th chapters of the book of Acts. We walked the streets of the cities Paul visited, studied the culture of his day, read the words he spoke to the various people he encountered, and gained a greater understanding of the Word of God. There were so many magnificent experiences, and each person had their favorite individual sites.

One of my favorite places on this trip was the ancient city of Corinth. During our time in Corinth we reviewed the culture and customs of the day and realized what the Apostle Paul, and indeed the members of the Church in Corinth, faced on a daily basis in that particular city. One of our group, Ben Lancaster, added to our understanding from something he had studied by comparing this Gentile city of Corinth in Paul’s day to the city of Las Vegas in our day. Corinth was a sin-filled, vice driven, high-energy, money motivated haven of carnal pleasures. Any and everything sinful could be found and purchased in the city of Corinth.

The city’s largest temple was dedicated to the mythological Greek goddess Aphrodite, whom the ancients associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, and passion. It is said that the temple owned more than 1000 prostitutes who walked the city in search of those who could be tempted by their promises of pleasure in exchange for money. Even a traveler new to Corinth could easily recognize one of these temple prostitutes not only by the way they adorned their bodies with gold earrings and costly apparel, but also because of two other distinct marks of identification.

Frist the temple prostitutes wore leather sandals, the soles on which were carved the words, “Follow me”. (The world continues to cry “follow me” or else!) Every step taken in the dusty streets of the city left a trail that could be seen and was meant to excite the impulse driven carnal nature of the flesh. As well there was a second, very evident, identifying feature shared by each of the temple prostitutes which was easily recognizable even at a distance … it was their shaved head.

Certainly, not everyone who had a shaved head was a prostitute, but every prostitute had a shaved head. The citizens of Corinth, of which many became Born-Again Believers and members of the Church there, were very familiar with these visible signs and as such the Church needed some guidance from the Apostle Paul concerning how to help someone who had been a prostitute and had gotten saved and delivered to feel welcomed and accepted into the congregation while integrating into the family of God once freed from such slavery and deception. Paul’s letters to the Corinthian Church encouraged the Believers in Corinth to pay special attention to these things and to make sure they were accepting each new convert without making them feel shame or appear different.

Many people through the centuries since have imagined the Apostle Paul to be a male chauvinistic misogynist when it was actually by the grace and goodness of God that Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to correct divisions and meet the desperate needs of so many unfortunate and abused individuals who came to Christ and found hope of building a new life with their families in Church.

Paul lived in Corinth for 18 months after his first visit and while he was there, he wrote the book of Romans. At the end of our tour of the ancient ruins of the city that day, while we were gathered in front of the “Bema” in the town square, at the very place where Paul was brought before Gallio, the Roman Proconsul of the Province governing Corinth, we opened the book of Romans and imagined together what Paul must have been experiencing when he received the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to write the Book of Romans.

Paul is right smack in the middle of the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean, surrounded by more than 1000 prostitutes who are publicly enticing citizens and visitors to engage in the lust-filled pleasures of the flesh in exchange for money as a sign of worship to a pagan goddess who had captured the minds and the commerce of the whole city.

In the midst of what was perhaps the most sinful city on the face of the earth in any generation, Paul knew the heart of God was to save sinners. Standing where Paul stood, knowing what he had experienced, we read the heart of the Gospel message from the hand of Paul. 

·        Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

·        Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

·        Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved

Romans 10

14  How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

15  And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

17  So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The more we share the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things, the more others will want to call on the name of the Lord for the things they need.

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Note: If we have time, I want to share how our Church is sending and supporting people who are preaching the gospel of peace every day.

Let me show you how this is working in our world today.

GTCOTR on campus and online family, because you have sent preachers to bring glad tidings of good things, people have seen, heard, believed, and called on the name of Jesus and have been saved this week.

Locally:

·        Families fed

o   We have about 4000 families in our COTR Food Pantry database who have come to us for help.

o   We currently feed about 18 to 20 families each week, which is down about half the number it was prior to COVID.

·        People are prayed for at our Food Bank

·        Needs are met

o   Including receiving a 70# box of food, about 20 to 25 pounds of meat, can goods, noodles, spaghetti, rice, beans, and other types of food each week.

o   We give lots and lots of toys to needy children each year

o   Thanksgiving meals with turkeys and all the trimmings

o   And we talk to every person, find their needs, and do whatever we can to help.

·        Lives changed and people are born-again and encouraged because of your support and the hard work of those you enable.

·        It takes a lot

o   It takes money – which you give

o   It takes time – which you give

o   And it takes hard work to shop and load and sort and box and hand out – which is done because we care.

The Philippines:

·        Families fed

o   Including 160 children

·        People prayed for

o   Including 86 Families

·        Needs met

o   Including giving our hygiene kits

·        Lives changed

o   Bible studies in 20 homes in Mindanao, a Muslim city

o   Plans to sponsor Muslim children for their studies and start a house church

o   Because of your support and the hard work of those you enable.

Elburgon:

·        Families fed; children blessed; people prayed for; needs met; lives changed … because of your support and the hard work of those you enable by God’s grace.

India:

·        The same testimony … Time fails to tell of all the ministry that went on this week from families, children, workers, Christians, and Hindus being blessed alike. Meals are being given out, lives are being changed, people being saved, churches planted, ministers taught, and needs are being met every single day. 

·        You are making a difference and it is because of your support and the diligent work of those we enable and cover in prayer.

Gioto Dumping Site:

·        There is never enough time each week to just show the pictures I receive or read the testimonies I receive of all God is doing in just this one place.

·        One report I received yesterday was concerning one of the orphans someone in our church sponsors. (There are now 71 children in our sponsorship program) I was informed that the last little girl from one certain orphan group who live at the Dump Site, gave her life to Jesus yesterday.

o   It is because you support and enable those who would not have any way to go and tell, share, and care for them if you did not help. Thank you so very much.

Time today does not allow me to show you everything you have done this week or all the places around the world you have made impact this week in Indonesia, Russia, across the US, Mexico, the Ukraine, and so many other nations. However, I do have one more praise report. Yesterday Bishop Steve and Nancy Kibiri signed the papers on the home we are purchasing. This is because you send preachers to proclaim the Good News to those in need.

I want to thank you on behalf of Almighty God and all of those we have reached out to and blessed with food and clothing, water and shelter, care and prayer, love, and Jesus this week. You have done well …

In Christ – In Us

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Colossians 1:27  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

You are God’s hope for the world you live in today. Each person is born for just the right time, prepared for just the right job, and positioned in just the right place to accomplish the desired destiny God has chosen.

The things which have happened in your past as well as those things you are presently encountering are not punishment for the past but are rather positioning for the future.

God has a plan, He will succeed, and you have a chance to participate.

Don’t let the world tell you anything different. God knows you are not perfect, but He also knows He has perfected you in Christ.

·        1 Corinthians 2:16 You have the mind of Christ and …

·        Philippians 4:13 You can do all things through Christ …

·        Philippians 4:19 God shall supply all your needs …

·        Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper …

·        1 John 4:4 You have overcome because greater is He who is in you…

I suppose everyone has reason to doubt if they can truly be used of God. Especially after some failure or perhaps after some disappointment, hardship, or loss. At times people even imagine they have somehow disqualified themselves because of doubt or some lapse of faith or faithfulness. Nothing could be farther from the truth … just ask the Apostle Peter.

You may not be perfect but you have been perfected.

Several from our Church were in Greece this past week following the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. While there, I had occasion to read from the 7^th and the 8^th chapter of the book of Romans. I can identify with the message Paul wrote and how he felt some days.

(synopsis of Romans 7:14-25)

Romans 7 NKJV

14 ¶  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15  For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

16  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

17  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

19  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

20  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

22  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25  I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

But thanks be to God, Paul did not leave us without the remedy … we are not living in some Greek tragedy. The Holy Spirit had Paul share his feelings and bring these things to a victorious conclusion. Let’s read the remedy and the victory God gives us through our relationship with Jesus.

Romans 8 NKJV

1 ¶  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

3  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

4  that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6  For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8  So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

10 ¶  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

God has a plan for my life and even when I am feeling defeated, I am victorious in Christ Jesus, because I am in Christ and Christ is in me.

Don’t allow the devil to shut you up or shut you down.

Romans 8 NKJV

31 ¶  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36  As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

38  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

39  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Now get out there and shine for Jesus! You’re the best God has …

Great Grace

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There is an account in the Gospel of Matthew which details the afternoon just after Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration. Earlier, Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up onto a high mountain while leaving the rest of the disciples and perhaps a great number of followers at or near the bottom of the mountain.

It was on this mountain, we read in Matthew 17 and Mark 9, that Jesus was transfigured, meaning His face began to shine with the true glory of who He was, and His clothes became as white as the light. Then suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared with them on the mountain.

It was an eventful morning to say the least, and afterwards Jesus and the three went back down the mountain to where the multitude was. It seems that while Jesus and His three closest disciples had been up on the mountain, a man who had a son who was possessed of a devil brought his son to the disciples who were waiting at the bottom of the mountain. They tried to cast the devil out of the boy, but were unsuccessful.

The account continues with Jesus delivering the boy from demonic possession. This perplexed the disciples a little and later they questioned Jesus as to why they were not able to cast that devil out of the boy themselves.

Matthew 17:20  So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

It is evident something was missing in the lives of the disciples of Jesus that Jesus wanted them to know about and fix. Perhaps a little less than 2 years later, we see the disciples again, now they are Apostles, and they are working many miracles among the people in Jerusalem. 

Acts 4:33  And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Not only did the Apostles do many signs and wonders among the people but so did others who we read about all throughout the New Testament.

There are a few key factors we see in each miracle whether performed by Jesus before His crucifixion or others after the day of Pentecost.

1.  Faith – Faith is our trust in the truth.

§  Faith moves mountains

Hebrews 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

o   Where can I get me some faith?

Romans 10:17  So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

o   That’s a good place to start right there.

2.  The Presence of God

Luke 5:17 ¶  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

If we are to be the hope of God in the earth, we must be a people who cultivate the Presence of God.

I’ll give you three things to start with:

·        Psalms 27:14 Wait on the Lord …

o   Sometimes you just have to be quiet and patient and listen.

·        Psalms 22:3 God inhabits the praises of His children …

o   If you will praise God and give Him glory, He will show up.

·        Matthew 18:20 Where two or three are gathered in my name …

o   Get together with other believers – go to Church …

o   Church is the common denominator throughout the NT.

The people on the outside should in some way see and believe that our God is with us.

3.  Prayer

Matthew 17: 21  “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Later we see the disciples leading the whole Church to pray and believe for healings and miracles, signs, and wonders to be done in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:30  Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

A prayer filled life is a power filled life.

4.  The Power of the Holy Spirit

o   Authority

o   Ability

Acts 1: 8  “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

There is no substitute for constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

5.  Great Grace

o   Megas = Great

o   Grace = the unmerited favor of God

How can a person go from unbelief to walking in the presence and the power of God?

Mark 9 adds insight into that same day when the disciples could not cast the deaf and dumb spirit out of the young boy at the bottom of the Mount of Transfiguration.

Mark 9

23  Jesus said to the father, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

24  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

This is the element of grace. God has reserved the right to help you and cover you in the areas of life and faith in which you are lacking. The father of this boy lacked what he needed to help his son and even to get him the help he needed. All this father could do was to appeal to Jesus and be honest with Him.

There is no better place to begin than to appeal to Jesus with an honest heart and ask Him to help you where you lack.

Jesus loves you and He will listen to you just like He listened to this father in Mark 9, and just like He listened to the Church in Acts 4. Let me encourage you to:

·        Start by loading yourself up with scriptures concerning the things you need.

·        While you are waiting on God, praise Him and get together with other Believers to be encouraged and to sow some encouraging seeds in them.

·        Talk to God in prayer and speak boldly to the mountains you face.

·        Be a witness, not by your own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

·        Trust that Jesus will take care of the things you cannot. He’s got you covered.

Let’s be a witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power and great grace.

What if …?

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This week I spent hours upon hours seeking a word from God to share with you today. I diligently prayed, faithfully read the Bible, sought godly counsel, listened to sermons, read a newly published book written by a man I consider to be an anointed prophet in these last days, connected with pastors, listened to the personal needs of several individuals and families under my pastoral care, and then I secluded myself to meditate and study the Word for yet another 10+ hours yesterday.

This was a fairly normal week for me in the pursuit of my God-given responsibility to deliver a Holy Spirit anointed, life-changing challenge from God to His children. I do not say this to boast, as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12, but rather to hopefully give you confidence that today you will have the chance to hear a true Word from God specifically designed to impact your life for His purpose.

Only God knows your past, your present, and your future. And He has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save you, deliver you, set you free, and keep you free to accomplish His will. God knows what you are going through, and He also knows what you are going to. The mark of the ministry God has given me is to cut to the heart of the moment with the truth and clarity of God’s Word.

I am a passionate preacher, but I am not driven by emotions. My passion comes from a firm conviction that almighty God is speaking through me to you. Those who know me best and have known me the longest will attest to the fact that I do not preach about issues, ideas, or opinions; I preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, issues, ideas, and opinions do come under the scrutiny of God’s Word. And if God wishes to address them from this pulpit, we make no apology for how God feels or what His Word says.

Every point made today will once again be clearly backed up by the simple reading of scriptures and confirmed by the mouth of two or more truths found in the Bible. Truth transcends time and public opinion, and truth is evident to those who open their hearts and their minds to Jesus.

My part today will be to share the message God has given me. Your part will be to listen and learn what the Holy Spirit desires to impart or confirm to you. With this being said, let’s turn our attention to the New Testament book of First Peter, chapter 5. I will be reading from the NKJV today.

1 Peter 5 NKJV

8 ¶  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

9  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

The question I pose this morning is:

·        What if you knew Jesus would come for you tonight?

·        What if you knew today was the last day you would have to influence a family member or a friend?

·        What if you knew you would never get another chance to invest in your heavenly reward?

Right now you might be asking, “Are you trying to scare me or manipulate me Preacher?” No, that’s not my aim at all. What I am hoping to do this morning is to inspire you. I want to encourage you to:

1.   Be sober.

2.   Be vigilant.

3.   Be acutely aware the devil is looking for someone to destroy.

4.   Resist the devil.

5.   Be steadfast in the faith.

6.   Realize you are not the only person going through problems.

7.   Be ready for the coming of the Lord.

The New Testament encourages us to live by faith and to be ready for the coming of the Lord.

Luke 12:40  “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Jesus will come for everyone someday … He will come for someone tonight. What if? Are you ready?

Sunday Circles Building Your Family With Friends The Good Samaritan

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Memory Verse: Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Lesson: The Good Samaritan

                Pastor Ron’s remarks and intro of first principle

First Principle: Sometimes life throws you a curve.

Scripture Reference:  Luke 10:30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”

·        This man could have been anyone.

·        He surely didn’t expect his day to include this.

·        Bad things happen, even to good people.

·        Naked; wounded; half dead.

Discussion Question: What could these things represent in life today?

                Pastor Ron’s remarks and intro of second principle

Second Principle: Nothing happens “by chance” unless it happens to give you a chance.

Scripture Reference: Luke 10:31-33 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

·        3 People were given a chance that day.

o   Priest – He saw him and passed by.

o   Levite – He came and looked at him and passed by.

o   Samaritan – He saw him, had compassion on him, and went to him, and took care of him.

Luke 10:34-35 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

Discussion Question: Which of these acted like a neighbor to him?

Pastor Ron’s remarks and intro of third principle

Third Principle: “Go and do Likewise.”

Scripture Reference: Luke 10:37b Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

·        Everyone can help at least one.

·        You can help the hurting and you need a place to bring them.

·        The ultimate goal of God is to bandage the wounded and to get them to a place where they can recover.

·        The Church is the place for recovery.

·        Do this, Jesus said, and you will truly live.

Discussion Question: What is your take-a-way from today?

 

 

 

Trouble Came

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The accounts we are about to read took place in or near AD56, give or take a year. Some may remember the Apostle Paul had been teaching in a Bible School in Ephesus for 2 years by this time and many of the citizens of the city had put their faith in Jesus and had been born-again and had stopped their worship of other gods.

This was a constant aggravation for some businessmen in Ephesus who made their money selling silver idols. The leader of their group, Demetris, caused an uproar and stirred up a mob who filled a 25,000-seat theater in public protest. Some in the crowd were not even sure why they were there but they joined in anyway.

If it had not been for some city leaders warning the rioters of the trouble they would face by breaking the Roman laws of the city, the unruly crowd would have killed Paul on the spot. This is where we will begin the message tonight.

Acts 20 NKJV

1 ¶  After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia.

2  Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece

3  and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

Macedonia may be better known to us as the region of Greece covering the city of Philippi, Apollonia, Amphipolis, and the cities of Thessalonica, and Berea. About 5 years earlier, Paul had made his first trip to Macedonia where he was promptly stripped naked in public, beaten, and thrown in a Philippian jail for preaching the Gospel of Jesus in such a way that it was causing sinful businessmen money.

Now, after the same thing has basically happened to him in Ephesus, Paul decided to visit Philippi and some other cities where he had earlier been thrown out. He had a desire to see how the Churches he had planted were doing in those places.

The biblical account does not give us many details of this visit, but we do know that while the Apostle Paul was visiting Macedonia, we suspect in either the city of Philippi or Thessalonica, that he received some good news concerning the Church a little farther south in Corinth. So, from Macedonia, the Apostle Paul decided to write his second letter to the Church in Corinth and let them know he was coming for a visit and he hoped his visit would be a pleasant one.

Let’s continue the message tonight by reading the introduction Paul wrote to the congregation at Corinth.

2 Corinthians 1 NKJV

1 ¶  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:

2  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 ¶  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

8  For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.

9  Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,

10  who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,

11  you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.

Our focus for this evening comes from verse 10 and verse 11. Paul is talking about God …

2 Corinthians 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,

Verse 8 – Don’t be ignorant of the fact that – “Trouble came” to us in Asia. The facts are … trouble came to Paul almost everywhere he ever lived. And sometimes trouble comes to us. Not trouble from God, but trouble from the devil through circumstances, events, and other people. Often trouble comes to people who don’t deserve it and didn’t expect it. Trouble comes to saints and sinners alike.

However, when we turn our lives over to God, we have an advocate with the Father. His name is Jesus. Paul’s message to the Church is plain:

1.   God has delivered us

2.   God does deliver us

3.   God will deliver us

God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. And you can also help those in trouble.

2 Corinthians 1:11  You also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.

Prayer for others helps. Don’t let the devil make you imagine it won’t.

Paul is crediting the prayers of his friends in Corinth and many other people with him being delivered from a death and from despair while facing the radical mob in Ephesus.

The prayers of the saints move mountains and deliver souls. I want to encourage you this evening to exercise a deep and sympathetic care for the welfare of others and verbalize that concern to God. God intends your prayers be added to the many others who are also praying so that those in trouble might be granted the gift of deliverance when they face death or despair. Prayer will work for you and others just like it did for Paul.

Have faith and pray! Together we make the difference.