Have you ever gone through a difficult time and wondered why God isn't comforting you? The truth is that God loves us enough to bring us into situations that go beyond our own strength so that we abandon self-dependence and discover more deeply what it means to trust in him. We can't control how much we suffer, but we can look to God's comfort in Paul's life and see how we can respond to God during suffering.

The Corinthians have taken the guidance of false teachers and are starting to mistrust Paul's teaching of the Gospel. God has made us promises in the past through the prophets that have been fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus. God wants a personal relationship with us through Christ's death. This opens us up to meet each other's needs in this life.

The Corinthians had trouble with addressing a member of their body who was in a deep non-repentant sin, Paul himself had to visit them about it. Through this, we see how forgiveness and a relational closeness between each other and God impacts our walk with Him. This relational closeness is characterized by 4 requirements: agree on God's moral absolutes, be willing to discipline, be willing to repent, and be willing to forgive.

Have you ever meet someone and you wanted to listen to them and be around them more? This sort of instant connection is described by Paul as an aromatic Christian and there are a few ways we can grow in being a pleasant aroma to those around us. Speaking God's Word, our confidence in God's Word and the power of the Gospel has the power to convict people and bring them to God. Living out our transformed lives shows something different to the watching world. We can all have this kind of impact on others regardless of our limitations.

The two ways of relating to God are either: 1) through superficial rituals, and adherence to the laws of the Old Covenant; or 2) through God's intended method of a personal relationship based on Christ's death on the cross. The Old Covenant was never meant to be permanent and was never meant to bring the Jews closer to God, its' purpose was to show them how far they were from God and that they needed to be clean to come into His presence. The New Covenant was brought forward and promised by God long ago as a way to restore the broken relationship between us and God. We no longer need to clean ourselves to be able to come into His presence but can be fully restored and cleaned once and for all through Christ.

Our human desires and urges are what holds back the aroma of Christ and the Gospel, this is the earthly vessel. Paul speaks of different kinds of sufferings that can cause cracks in our vessel that let the aroma of Christ come out and uplift us and the people around us with his love and truth.

Paul describes the difference between the "earthly tent" and the "building of God". These are descriptions of us currently living in these imperfect bodies who long for the eternal experience of life with God in heaven. The building of God is much stronger and built for eternal existence. We have a taste of what life will be like with God through His seal of the Holy Spirit but even this is just a hint of the intimate relationship with God that is to come when we meet Him face to face.

The three aspects are: 1) a new motivation, 2) a new way of evaluating people, and 3) a new purpose for life. God wants to give you a new motivation to change that is based out of love. God sent Christ down as an example of His love that His son would live a perfect life, the one we should have lived, and then willingly be persecuted and die on the cross for us. God has offered us a new way where we can evaluate people on their potential in Christ. No matter how messed up you are there is always redemption in Christ who can free us to change into others-centered people Finally, we have been given a ministry of reconciliation. This is to bring people the Good News of Christ's redemption and to help others understand that there is a need for God's forgiveness because of His just nature.

Paul refers to the Christian's role in evangelism as being an ambassador for Christ. This is an important opportunity for Christians to be grown by God as we actively follow God into the role He has for us. Sometimes we try to plan for all the possibilities that can arise: I don't want to offend anyone; what if I say the wrong thing; or what if they reject Gods' message? It isn't possible to never give offense, because His message offends people who are too proud to admit their need for grace. God wants us to expose the emptiness of life in the world so that people are attracted to the positive lifestyle available to them through Christ.

Paul writes to the Corinthians to resolve alienation between himself and some of the members of the Corinthian church. Paul has affirmed that we are to be in the world as ambassadors for Christ. Now Paul warns against being "of the world". This is best defined as any kind of relationship with someone which involves compromise of our commitment to and witness for Christ. Are you taking a clear stand for Christ verbally and in your actions? Who is influencing whom? \r\n

The Corinthians evidently made a generous commitment financially to the Christians in Jerusalem but started to back away from their commitment. Paul writes to motivate them to make good on their giving and reminds them of several key theological principles of Christian financial giving. Giving is a response to God's grace. Giving is an acknowledgment that we are God's stewards. Giving is an essential component of Christian spirituality. This area of our Christian life is easy to try to wall off from God and say He has no business there. But when we have been given everything through our salvation because of Christ's death, how can we tell God that our worldly resources are too sacred to part with?

Paul sends multiple trustworthy leaders to deliver the money for a church. These are principles that are wise even today because it keeps those who handle money for Gods' church above reproach. But how should we handle our own personal money? The same principles can apply to households. Principles include no one should be left alone to handle money and having a mindful, frugal or no waste policy. Is God calling on you to make a step of faith to support His Will being done through many ministries that are reaching the lost?

Paul says our weapons against spiritual warfare are not humanely-originated, but rather divinely powerful. How do we use these weapons effectively? What does it look like to practice? If we want to be able to "take every thought captive," we will need to practice 3 things: 1) input, which is learning the biblical world-view so we are full of biblical truth; 2) control, which is monitoring our own thought life, such as identifying falsehoods and rejecting and replacing them; and 3) output, which is choosing to act existentially on truth, building our confidence in God's Word.

Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians to instruct them on right and wrong boasting. There are some things about which God says boasting is forbidden. But there are other things about which it is good and important to boast. It's okay to boast as long as you "boast in the Lord". Have you forsaken all boasting in your own works, and personally put your trust only in Christ's work for you?

The Corinthian Christians are being spiritually deceived, and Paul is motivated by godly jealousy to intervene. We are in the same situation today--spiritual deception is just as real, and spiritual intervention is just as important. If you want to avoid spiritual deception, pay primary attention to the objective content of the message. Those of us who are successfully avoiding spiritual deception have a responsibility to provide authentic spiritual direction for others! Be like Paul--be able to exemplify these qualities!

This is a time where Paul needed to boast to the Corinthians in order to save them from being swayed by false preachers who boasted of themselves. We learn more about Paul's thorn in the flesh and the origins of it and why God never lifted it from him after he prayed for it to be taken away. There are also ways God uses His sovereignty to permit suffering to teach us that self-sufficiency and self-exaltation will fall flat when we boast in ourselves.

Paul takes a stance on self-examination because the Corinthians are trying to accuse him of impure motives in his work. Paul leaves the examining to God and gives us insight on an appropriate willingness to examine ourselves. With that, there is also an unhealthy way of examining yourself that will lead to anxiety, confusion, and second-guessing. If we have a tendency to over examine our actions and thoughts Paul gives us some guidance on how to give this area up to God to guide us in His discipline.