1 And so, since God in his mercy has given us this wonderful ministry, we never give up.
2 We reject all shameful and underhanded methods. We do not try to trick anyone, and we do not distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know that.
3 If the Good News we preach is veiled from anyone, it is a sign that they are perishing.
4 Satan, the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe, so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News that is shining upon them. They don't understand the message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
5 We don't go around preaching about ourselves; we perch Christ Jesus, the Lord. All we say about ourselves is that we are your servants b because of what Jesus has done for all us.
6 For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made us understand that this light is the brightness of glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But this precious treasure this light and power that now shine within us is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.
I don't have any spiritual gifts. I don't have a ministry. Is that your attitude? God has gifted you to serve Him and others. You may say, I don't know what to do." The problem is that you may be thinking in terms of ministry to children, prayer, missions, etc. What you need to be thinking of is a ministry of the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was a covenant of laws regulating behavior and requiring conformity in order to have a relationship with God. The Old Covenant was contained in the Hebrew Bible and demanded that the followers not break the laws. Moses brought the law down from Mt. Sinai on tablets of stone. In order to have a righteous relationship with a Holy God it was necessary to obey each and everyone of them. The people failed miserably at keeping the laws. Thus condemnation, guilt and death followed.
Jesus introduced a New Covenant. It was a covenant of grace and mercy. It is recognized that breaking the law was sin. It is recognized that
death followed the breaking of the law, but gave an opportunity of hope, forgiveness, life and a relationship with God through Jesus' death and resurrection. The ministry, a food distribution center, or a ministry to a specific need. It is a ministry of hope to all. It was a ministry of new life through Jesus Christ. It comes about as you serve the needs of people for eternal life. No matter what you do you have this ministry. For that reason Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians reminds us that this ministry is of God's Spirit. It brings life. It is with glory.
_______________Today's personal note from Dennis
Greetings from Starbucks in Tempe, AZ,
We are so excited to be back in AZ where it is to be 116 degrees today. YUK!! The week in South Dakota was wonderful, but it is good to be home.
Sandy, Collin and I had the opportunity to do some of our favorite things. Collin was able to try several new adventures. He got up the first time on a wake board, tried out the jet ski, and went spearfishing. Quite an agenda for a 10 year old.
I was able to scuba dive one time. Sort of one of those bucket list things I was wanting to do. Sandy watched birds and spent time on the house boat with the rest of us.
Sunday was an interesting day. I preached two and one half times at Community Bible Church. They have three services and I did well the first two. I became disoriented and nearly passed out in the third about 15 minutes into the message. I had to sit down and was unable to finish. I see my Doctor here in Tempe this morning to see if an explanation for the incidence can be discovered. Please pray.
I will be speaking at the Laveen Baptist Church in Laveen, AZ on August 21st. They have only two services so Ishould be safe. LOL
Thanks for you love and prayers. You are appreciated.
~ DGW
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