{"id":17333,"date":"2021-09-10T22:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T05:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2corinthians-3_7-18-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-09-03T22:51:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-04T05:51:11","slug":"2corinthians-4_1-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2corinthians-4_1-6\/","title":{"rendered":"When God Turned On The Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Corinthians 4:1-6\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Corinthians 4:1-6.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Corinthians<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>4<\/strong>:<\/strong>1<\/strong>\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\n1<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse\u00a01: \u00a0It’s only because of God’s mercy that we get to serve God and represent Him on this earth.\u00a0 It’s a privilege and an honour that we never earned or deserved, just one of the many benefits that comes from receiving God’s gift — Jesus Christ — by faith.\u00a0\u00a0If don’t feel worthy to serve God or you feel inadequate, remember: God in His mercy has saved you, chosen you and qualified you to serve Him.\u00a0 So serve Him with confidence, joy, perseverance and without fear.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Corinthians<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>4<\/strong>:<\/strong>2<\/strong>\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\n2<\/sup><\/em>\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse\u00a02: \u00a0Since it is because of God’s mercy that we can serve God and be called ministers in His kingdom, we don’t need to pretend to be someone we’re not, or act as if it all depends on us.<\/strong>\u00a0 Rather, we can just “set forth the truth plainly”.\u00a0 The truth of what?\u00a0 The truth of who God is as revealed in Jesus Christ and the truth of who we are, mere sinners who have been saved by His grace, who still make mistakes but who are loved, accepted and chosen by God through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 4:3 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 3:\u00a0\u00a0Here Paul says that the consequence of not accepting what Jesus Christ has done for us is to perish, to be separated forever and eternally from God.<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 4:\u00a0\u00a0Who is \u201cthe god of this age\u201d (v4)?\u00a0\u00a0Here Paul is referring to Satan, saying that Satan our enemy has blinded the minds of every person who does not believe in Jesus, such that they cannot see the light that comes from God\u2019s great gospel in Christ.\u00a0\u00a0Does that mean that people who don\u2019t believe in Jesus are not responsible for not believing?\u00a0\u00a0No, for it is not one way blinding that takes place as if Satan blinds someone without their consent or knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a blinding that comes when we decide to give into the temptations and fall for the traps that Satan places in our path.<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 4:5 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 5:\u00a0\u00a0Paul makes clear that it\u2019s not about preaching about how good we are and what good as Christians we have done.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s about preaching Jesus, how good He is and what He has done for us.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Corinthians<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>4<\/strong>:6 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 6: \u00a0Paul recalls that moment in Genesis when all was dark and God created the world by saying these words: “Let there be light” (Genesis\u00a01).\u00a0 In the same way, God caused His light to shine in our darkened hearts so that through Jesus we can now see God as He truly is.<\/p>\n

Thank You God.\u00a0 Before we were in the dark about who You are.\u00a0 Our vision of You was covered as with a veil.\u00a0 But then You spoke Your Word into our hearts, the lights came on and now because of Jesus we can see You for who You are.\u00a0 Thank You, Lord, for turning on the lights.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Corinthians 4:1-6.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2\u00a0Corinthians\u00a04:1\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verse\u00a01: \u00a0It’s only because of God’s mercy that we get to serve God and represent Him on this earth.\u00a0 It’s a privilege and an honour that we never earned or deserved, just one of the many benefits that comes from receiving God’s gift — Jesus Christ — by faith.\u00a0\u00a0If don’t feel worthy to serve God or you feel inadequate, remember: God in His mercy has saved you, chosen you and qualified you to serve Him.\u00a0 So serve Him with confidence, joy, perseverance and without fear.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0Corinthians\u00a04:2\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n2\u00a0Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verse\u00a02: \u00a0Since it is because of God’s mercy that we can serve God and be called ministers in His kingdom, we don’t need to pretend to be someone we’re not, or act as if it all depends on us.\u00a0 Rather, we can just “set forth the truth plainly”.\u00a0 The truth of what?\u00a0 The truth of who God is as revealed in Jesus Christ and the truth of who we are, mere sinners who have been saved by His grace, who still make mistakes but who are loved, accepted and chosen by God through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17334,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17333\/revisions\/17334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}