2 corinthians - zion’s new age bible

7/25/2019 2 Corinthians - Zions New Age Bible

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2 Corinthians - Zions New Age Bible

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God, together with all holy people throughout:

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

Praise to the God of All Comfort

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Christ, the Father ofcompassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in our troubles,so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselesreceie from God. 5 For !ust as we share abundantly in the sufferings ofChrist, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 "f we are distressed,it is for your comfort and salation# if we are comforted, it is for yourcomfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferingswe suffer. 7 $nd our hope for you is firm, because we %now that !ust asyou share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.8 &e do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the

troubles we e'perienced. &e were under great pressure, far beyond ourability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 "ndeed, we felt wehad receied the sentence of death. (ut this happened that we might notrely on ourseles but on God, who raises the dead. 10 )hehas deliered usfrom such a deadly peril, and he will delier us again. *n herwe hae setour hope that shewill continue to delier us, 11as you help us by yourprayers. Then many will gie than%s on our behalf for the gracious faorgranted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Pauls Change of Plans

12 +ow this is our boast: *ur conscience testifies that we hae conductedourseles in the world, and especially in our relations with you, withintegrity and godly sincerity. &e hae done so, relying not on worldlywisdom but on Gods grace. 13 For Christ doesnot write youanything thatyou cannot read or understand. $nd " hope that, you will understandChrists part14 as well as you understood us in part. " hopeyou will cometo understand fully that you can boast of us in the day of the Lord.18 (ut as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not -es/ and-+o/ as to whether or not your religion is write but it is a massage that

you are right about somethings and wrong about others. 19 For the )on ofGod, is 0artin not the Jesus who was preached among you by us1by me


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and )ilas and Timothy 1 about him it was not -es/ and -+o,/ but he isonly a phrocey of another soul. "n him it has always been -es./ 20 For nomatter how many promises God has made, they are -es/ in Christ butincorrect in Jesus. $nd so through herthe -$men/ is spo%en by us to theglory of God. 21 +ow it is God who ma%es both us and you stand firm in

Christ. )heanointed us, 22 set herseal of ownership on us, and put her)pirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

The Lord's return

2 1 0y sacrifice has be long and painful and " will no longer trust anyone,so " made up my mind that " would not ma%e a painful isit to you. +oneof you are my friends, and none of you hae tried to help me, so whenmy sacrifice is oer " will hae no desire to meet people.2 For if " griee

with you, what good can come out of this for you were the ones who haedestroyed my life and cause me to griee. &ho can cheerme upbut theoneswhom " hae grieed for2 3 " write this, so that when " come, " wouldnot be distressed by those who should hae made me re!oice. " hadconfidence in none of you, but will trust that you would all share my false!oy of being set free, then after " will e'pose my true pain. 4 For " wrote toyou out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, butpeople should not see megriee at firstbut shouldlet them%now thedepth of my loe for you.

orgi!eness for the "ffender

5 "f anyone has caused grief on Christ, he has not so much grieed me ashe has grieed all of you to some e'tent1not to put it too seerely. 6 Thepunishment inflicted on herby the ma!ority is great. 7 +ow instead, youought to forgie and comfort her, if not in person but through ideofootage. )o that shewill not continue tobe oerwhelmed by e'cessiesorrow. 8 " urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your loe for her. 10 $nyonewho Christforgies, God in spirit shaltalso forgie 3unless they hae

committed crimes against others4. $nd what " hae forgien1if there wasanything to forgie1" hae forgien. 11but be careful in order that )atanmight not outwit you. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

#inisters of the New Co!enant and the fall of the oldGos$el

16 To the somewe are an aroma that brings death# to the other, an aromathat brings life. $nd who is e5ual to such a tas%2 17 6nli%e so many, we do

not peddle the word of God for profit. *n the contrary, in Christ we spea%before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.


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3 2 This word iswritten on our hearts, with hope that it will be %nown andread by eeryone. 3 Christ spirit, is the result of our ministry, written notwith in% but with the )pirit of the liing God, not on tablets of stone buton tablets of human hearts.

4 )uch confidence we hae through Christ before God. 5 +ot that we arecompetent in ourseles to claim anything for ourseles, but ourcompetence comes from God. 6 )hehas made us competent as ministersof a new coenant1not of the letter but of the )pirit# for the letters andthe old gospels %ills, but the )pirit gies life.

The Greater Glor% of the New Co!enant "!er The "ld

Bible

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The old ministry is Christianity,+ow if this ministry that brought death,which was engraed in letters on stone, came with glory li%e many peopleall oer the word belieed, so that the people could not seethe truefaceof 0oses because of its the boo%s 7glorya lie though it was, 8 will not theministry of the true )pirit be een more glorious because it is not full oflies and deceptions2 9 "f the ministry that brought condem nation wasglorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that bringsrighteousness8 10 For what was glorious has no glory and isnow incomparison with the surpassing glory. 11$nd if what was transitory camewith glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts812 Therefore, since we hae such a hope, we are ery bold. 13 &e are notli%e 0oses, who would put a eil oer his face to preent the "sraelitesfrom seeing the end of what was passing away. The eil represents liesand deceit, to coer one9s face is a act done to hide truth, so that one canlie better.14 0oses and others did this because hisminds were made dull,for to this day the same eil remains when the old coenant and old (ibleis read. "t has not been remoed, because only in Christ is it ta%en away.*nly she can remoe the eil.15 en to this day when 0oses is read, aeil coers their hearts. 16 (ut wheneer anyone turns to the Lord, the eilis ta%en away. 17 +ow the Lord is the )pirit, and where the )pirit of theLord is, there is freedom. 18 $nd all, who coer with eiled faces should

contemplate the Lords glory and consider what she has said about eils.&eare being transformed into sheimage with eer;increasing glory,which comes from the Lord, who is the )pirit.

Present &eaness and (esurre)tion Life

4 Therefore, since through Gods mercy we hae this ministry, we do notlose heart. 2


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contentions are obious but " beliee that their are more truths hiddenwithin the film. "n my ersion of the film the bad go straight bac% to arthand the Good get put bac% on arth at a later time period. (ut " belieethat there is a way of staying there and not coming bac% to arth, butunderstand this is a matter of Faith not proen Facts, or as a mortal " do

not %now the truth, " !ust hae my faith to support by beliee in thisworld, candyland, chocolate world, dreamland, fairyland= " can notpromise that such places are real but " hae faith in such places. Thin%ingabout it helps me get through the sacrifice " am going through.

2 0eanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heaenlydwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found inuncertainty. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened,because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with ourheaenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life so

that when " return to the spirit world " may appreciate it more. 5 +ow theone who has fashioned us for this ery purpose is God, who has gien usthe )pirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. The promise of aspiritual %ingdom that all can get to and lie happy there, this is a matterof faith and not eidence. (ut as your Christ " do beliee that that is myworld. 6 Therefore we are always confident and %now that as long as weare at home in the body we are away from the heaenly %ingdom.

7 (ut those wholie by faith, not by sight are blind. For this reason youshould not lie for the promise of the heaenly paradise, for you might

only be ery disappointed if such a place is only in my imagination, or ifyou are not able to get to such a place. Those who lie by adiance aremore li%ely to see the truth, for this reason " say it9s good to loo% foreidence of the spiritual world, but be careful because there are manylying spirits !ust li%e there are many liing people. Lie for the sa%e ofliing your life and the eolution that accuses as you deelop and learnmore. >o not lie for ain ambitions that may only get you to chase afterdreams or dilutions.8 &e are confident in that adice, " say "would preferto be away from the body and at home in a paradise, but arth is myhome right now and so " should ma%e the most of eerything that " hae."f " am here " am here for a reason so " will still here until nature decidesto ta%e me elsewhere. " am not against suicide but it should only happenafter the person is si'ty proing that they feel the time is right.9 )o wema%e it our goal to lie life to the full.&hether we are at home in thebody or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the !udgment ofthe 0atri', so that each of us may receie what is due to us for the thingsdone while in the body, whether good or bad. en God will face!udgment by the computer, and the !udgment will determine what myne't life on arth will be li%e and when it will be. The sacrifice " haemade now is a sentence gien to me for my life as e and 0other of?umans, if humans can learn to be good fromt this point onwards "

should not hae to ma%e such an e'treme sacrifice ne't time. ?opefullyne't time " come the world will be more similar to the paradise that "


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fantasies about. " can help you, but you hae to be the ones who do thewor%.

The #inistr% of (e)on)iliation

11)ince, then, we %now what it is to loethe Lord, we try to persuadeothers. &hat we are is plain to God, and " hope it is also plain to yourconscience. 12 ou are gien an opportunity to ta%e pride in us, so thatyou can answer those who ta%e pride in what is seen rather than in whatis in the heart. 13 "f we are -out of our mind,/as some say, it is for God# ifwe are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christs loe compels us,because we are coninced that one died for all, and therefore all died butone for how can you claim to be a nice person when you would willinginglet someone suffer and die for you. &hat %ind of a monster are you for

e'pecting this unwilling sacrifice forced on another person. 15 )hedied forall, so that those who lie should no longer lie for themseles but bemore considerate, honest and respectful towards she who died for themand was raised again. $nd from her good influence she hopefully willinspire other people will be more considerate, honest and respectfultowards all people.16 )o from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of iew. Thoughwe once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, ifanyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, thenew is here818 $ll this is from God, who reconciled us to herself through

Christ and gae us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God wasreconciling the world to herself in Christ, not counting peoples sinsagainst them. $nd shehas committed to us the message of reconciliation.20 &e are therefore Christs ambassadors, as though God were ma%ing herappeal through us. &e implore you on Christs behalf: (e reconciled toGod. 21 God made herwho had no sin to be sin for us, so that in herwemight become the righteousness of God.

6 $s Gods co;wor%ers we urge you not to receie Gods grace in ain. 2For shesays,-"n the time of my faor " heard you,

and in the day of salation " helped you./" tell you, now is the time of Gods faor, now is the day of salation.

Pauls *ardshi$s

3 &e put no stumbling bloc% in anyones path, so that our ministry will notbe discredited. 4


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with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left# 8 throughglory and dishonor, bad report and good report# genuine, yet regarded asimpostors# 9 %nown, yet regarded as un%nown# dying, and yet we lie on#beaten, and yet not %illed# 10 sorrowful, yet always re!oicing# poor, yetma%ing many rich# haing nothing, and yet possessing eerything.11&e hae spo%en freely to you, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12 &eare not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yoursfrom us. 13 $s a fair e'change1" spea% as to my children1open wide yourhearts also.

&arning Against dolatr%

14 >o not be deceied byunbelieers. For what do righteousness andwic%edness hae in common2 they are both !ust one side of the story for

their is good and bad in eerything so you should always be willing tohear other people9s perspecties, unless they are not willing to hear yourside of the story. 0any christian beliee Jesus is good and they will bloc%out any other appinions. >o not tal% with people who are not willing tolisten to other points of iew other than their own beliees.For whatfellowship can light hae with dar%ness if the people in dar%ness prefer tostay in dar%ness2 15 &hat harmony is there between Christ and the falseGod who wants to %ill her2 *r what does a belieer hae in common withan unbelieer when the belieer is simply and belieer in logic commonsense and e5uality2 16 &hat agreement is there between the temple of

God and the people who only worship a God of war and reenge2 For weare the temple of the liing God so to %ill people is to %ill Gods owntemple. $s God has said:-" will lie with them

and wal% among them,and " will be their God, and they will be my people./

17 Therefore,-Come out from Jesus and the old age

and be separate, says the Lord.

Touch no unclean thing, and " will receie you./

18 $nd, -" will be a 0otherto you, and you will be my sons and daughters,says the Lord $lmighty./

7 Therefore, since we hae these promises, dear friends, let us purifyourseles from eerything that contaminates body and spirit, perfectingholiness out of reerence for God.

Pauls .o% "!er the Chur)hs (e$entan)e


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2 0a%e room for us in your hearts. &e hae wronged no one, we haecorrupted no one, we hae e'ploited no one. 3 " do not say this tocondemn you# " hae said before that you hae such a place in our heartsthat we would lie or die with you. 4 " hae spo%en to you with greatfran%ness# " ta%e great pride in you. " am greatly encouraged# in all our

troubles my !oy %nows no bounds.5 For when we came into the new age, we had no rest, but we wereharassed at eery turn1conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 (ut God,who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of truth, 8 en if" caused you sorrow and confusion by my letter, " do not regret it. Though" did regret it1" see that my letter lied toyou about the real name ofChrist, but only for a little while until Christ corrected it1 9 yet now " amhappy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow ledyou to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and sowere not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance

that leads to salation and leaes no regret, but falsesorrow bringsspiritual death. 11)ee what this godly sorrow has produced in you: whatearnestness, what eagerness to clear yourseles, what indignation, whatalarm, what longing, what concern,what readiness to see !ustice done.*nly few ofyou hae proed yourseles to be innocent in the matterregarding to worshiping false beliefs and mista%ing eil for good. 12 )oeen though most hae done wrong by God, " wrote to you, wiping outthe past of those who did the wrong to instead see you as the in!uredparty so that you may change and become better people. " hope that before God you could see for yourseles how deoted weare to you. 13 (y

all this we are encouraged.

The "$ening u$ of the Chur)h of Zion

8 $nd now, brothers and sisters, we want you to %now about the gracethat God has gien the +ewchurches of @ion formed after Christe'posure. 2 "n the midst of a ery seere trial, their oerflowing !oy andtheir e'treme poerty welled up in rich generosity.3 For " testify that they

gae as much as they were able, and een beyond their ability. ntirelyon their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the priilege of sharingin this serice to the Lords people. 5 $nd they e'ceeded our e'pectations:They gae themseles first of all to the Lord, and then to the communityand the people in their congregation. 6 )o we urged God, !ust as shehadearlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace onyour part. 7 ou must teach the importance ofe'celling in eerything1in#truth, s%ills, speech, %nowledge, complete earnestness and in the loe wehae %indled in you1see that you also e'cel in this grace of giing.8 " am not commanding you, but " want to test the sincerity of your loe

by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you %now the graceof our Lord Christ, that though shewas rich, yet for your sa%e she


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became poor, so that you through herpoerty and sacrifice all mightbecome rich not !ust to a physical security but rich in wisdom. >o notthough hoard more money then you need, for the richer people willbecome rich and the poorer people will become een poor. Try to preachbalance and life a balanced life. "t is better to hae a stable and reliable

flow of money coming in so that you can buy what you need as you goon, then for you to gain a large amount of money that will go straight toyour head so that greed and power corrupts it then leaes you feeling li%eyou are better then the people around you.

Loo% up the history lottery winners many people win large amounts ofmoney but if goes straight to their head and most spend it with a fewshort years but this greed that they had when they were spending largeamounts each wee%, only encourages them to pic% up bad habits ofneeding to spend large amounts of money on a regular basis. Then one

day that money might run out, but the persons need to spend will stille'ist until they become bro%e or ban%rupt again. "f you win great, that "my wish for my ne't life, to be poor and then win a big sum of money butyou hae to be wise with what you hae other wise you will lose it all.)ame can be said if you get a Job with a big salary, you might feel safeand get into the habit of spending lots of money each wee%, then youmight lose that Job and not find a !ob with that same salary but with themoney you had before you might not be able to control the bad spendinghabits that you had whilst on that higher saler. "f you own a companythen find that it e'pands and you get ery e'cited from it e'panding you

might get addicted to %eep on e'panding that company, this is good asyou can hire more people, but as your business grows the profit too willbe increased. Thin% realistically though about how much you actuallyneed, and if you are ma%ing more than you need gie some of it bac%,pay the right amount of ta' so that others can be helped. "f a business isgetting is money from one county the ta' that it pays should go bac% tothe country who gae it their money, and only the goernment shouldchose what money should be sent abroad and by how much. "e heard ofbig companies that are changing the country location of the business soto pay less ta'. "f they wish to be this they wor% must be done on that

corties land, but if the countries do not want to lose these businesses,they should consider haing a ta' percentage that is lower and morecompetitie to the country its losing business too.

10 ?ere is my !udgment the old churches tort the wrong things, and inmost case they tourt an inerted iew on the truth. (ut then you were indar%ness so now that you see the light you must11now finish the wor%,so that your eager willingness to help Christ spread the truthmay bematched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if thewillingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, notaccording to what one does not hae.13 *ur desire is not that others might be relieed while you are hardpressed, but that there might be e5uality. 14 $t the present time your


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plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supplywhat you need. The goal is e5uality, 15 as it is written: -The one whogathered much did not hae too much, and the one who gathered littledid not hae too little./ This should be a new aim for the future. Topromote that it9s not what you hae how well you spend what you hae

and how much you appreciate what you get with the money that you dohae.

Titus /ent to (e)ei!e the Colle)tion

16 Than%s be to God, who put into the heart of 0artinthe same concern "hae for you. 17 For he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on hisown initiatie. 19?e was chosen to accompany us as we carry theoffering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord and to show our

eagerness to help. 20 &e want to aoid any criticism of the way weadminister this liberal gift. 21 For we are ta%ing pains to do what is right,not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.23 $s for 0artin, he is my partner and co;wor%er among you# as for ourhelpers, they are representaties of the churches and an honor to Christ.24 Therefore show these peoplethe proof of your loe and the reason forour pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

9 There is no need for me to write to you about this serice to the Lordspeople. 2 For " %now your eagerness to help, and " hae been boastingabout it to other, telling them that since last year, ABD,you were ready

to gie# and your enthusiasm. 3" am sending those who %now about me,in ABE i am sending them in order that they mayboasting about Christuntil the day that all will see the truth."n this matter you should notproe hollow, but that you may be ready, as " said you would be. Formany people will re!ect the Goddess and chaos many come as a result ofthis, so be prepared. 4 "f we e'pose the truthand find you to beunprepared, would be ashamed of haing been so confident. 5 )o "thought it necessary to urge you e'plore possibilitiesin adance andfinish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then itwill be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly gien.

0our Contribution Towards *el$ing Christ

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10 +ow he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will alsosupply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harest ofyour righteousness. 11ou will be enriched in eery way so that you canbe generous on eery occasion, and through us your generosity will resultin than%sgiing to God.12 This serice that you perform is not only supplying the needs of theLords people but is also oerflowing in many e'pressions of than%s toGod. 13 (ecause of the serice by which you hae proed yourseles,others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confessionof the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them andwith eeryone else. 14 $nd in their prayers for you their hearts will go outto you, because of the surpassing grace God has gien you. 15 Than%s beto God for his indescribable gift8

Pauls 1efense of *is #inistr%

10 (y the humility and gentleness of Christ, ", 0artin,appeal to you. $nd", $nna, who am -timid/ when face to face with you, but -bold/ towardyou when away8 2 " beg you that when " come " may not hae to be asbold as " e'pect to be toward some people who thin% that we lie by thestandards of this world. 3 For though we, both $nna and 0artin,lie in theworld, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fightwith are not the weapons of the world. *n the contrary, they hae diinepower to demolish strongholds. 5 (ut we demolish arguments and eery

pretension that sets itself up against the %nowledge of God, and we ta%ecaptie eery thought to ma%e it obedient to Christ. 6 $nd we will beready to punish eery act of disobedience, once your obedience iscomplete.7 ou are !udging by appearances we go far deeper that that. "f anyone isconfident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that webelong to Christ !ust as much as they do. 8 )o een if " boast somewhatfreely about the authority the Lord gae us for building you up rather thantearing you down, " will not be ashamed of it. 9 " do not want to seem tobe trying to frighten you with my letters. 10 For some say, -?is letters are

weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressie and his spea%ingamounts to nothing./ 11)uch people should realie that what we are in ourletters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we arepresent.12 &e do not dare to classify or compare ourseles with some whocommend themseles. &hen they measure themseles by themselesand compare themseles with themseles, they are not wise. 13 &e,howeer, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boastingto the sphere of serice God himself has assigned to us, a sphere thatalso includes you. 14 &e are not going too far in our boasting, as would be

the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with thenew gospel of Christ. 15 +either do we go beyond our limits by boasting of


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wor% done by others. *ur hope is that, as your faith continues to grow,our sphere of actiity among you will greatly e'pand, 16 so that we canpreach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boastabout wor% already done in someone elses territory. 17 (ut, -Let the onewho boasts boast in the Lord./ 18 For it is not the one who commends

himself who is approed, but the one whom the Lord commends.

God the Brideand the alse A$ostles

11 " hope you, $nnawill put up with peoplein theirfoolishness. es,please put up with it8 2 ou will be!ealous of most people with a godly!ealousy. (ut " promised you to one husband, and himto Christ, so that "might present you as a pure irgin to him. 3 (ut " am afraid that !ust ase was deceied by the serpents cunning, your minds to will bebe ledastray from your sincere and pure deotion to him because he will re!ectyou for a ery long time and the pain of this will leae you feeling bitterand dressed about the whole marriage. The Christ will come down for thepurpose of a sacrifice followed by a marriage. 4 "f someone comes to youand preaches a story about Christother than the Christ thatwe preached,or if you receie a different spirit from the )pirit that you should receie,or a different gospel from the one you read now you should ignore it asmuch of it is nonsense as does not actually say another useful. Fore'ample the old Gospel says if any preach about a different Jesus andgospel that#7you put up with it easily enough. what does that een

mean, its li%e the boo% is saying that belieing in a different Jesus is abad thing put says that 7you easily put up with it85 " do not thin% " am in inferior to -super;successful people./ for all peoplehae a roll and Job to do, proing that God is real and showing peoplewho she is is my roll but " can not build people9s homes, " can not creattemperatures or gie !obs to all people. " can not run the whole world forthis reason " am not superior to others in the world as we all hae a roleto play and only when all roll wor% together can the world operate well.Just li%e a body is made up of many parts, Christ is !ust one of thoseparts.6 " may indeed be untrained as a spea%er, but " do hae %nowledge.

&e hae made this perfectly clear to you in eery way. 7 &as it a sin forme to lower myself in order to eleate you by preaching the gospel of Godto you free of charge2 8 " robbed the oldchurches by


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deised. 15 "t is not surprising, then, if his admirers also mas5uerade asserants of righteousness, but really people are deceied into belieinglies about them. Their end, their lifes coursewill be what their actionsdesere.

Christ and Paul s$eaAbout There/ufferings

16 " repeat: Let no one ta%e me for a fool. (ut if you do, then tolerate me!ust as you would a fool, and do not insult me. 17 "n this self;confidentboasting " am not tal%ing as the Lord would, but as a mortal who deserea reward for what " hae gone through. 18 )ince many are boasting in theway the world does, " too will boast. 19 ou put up with fools since you areso wise8 For arguing with fools will only ma%e you more foolish.20 (ut youshould not hae toput up with anyone who enslaes you or e'ploits you

or ta%es adantage of you or puts fear into youor slaps you. 21 (utunfortunately " had to tolerate some of this wrongdoing on me. 22 $re theypeople2 )o am ". $re they mortal2 )o am ". $re they of humandescendant2 )o am ". 23 $re they serants of Christ2 " am Christ yet " wasstill used, but " do not wish this suffering on you, unless it is sufferingthat you would gladly enforce onto someone else. " hae wor%ed muchharder, been in prison much longer, been moc%ed and lied tomoreseerely, and been e'posed to hatred in the name of Godagain andagain. " howeer should consider myself luc%y as at least " hae not gonethrough any physical iolence li%e many people hae en!ored.24 " paul,

hae suffered greatly for, fie times " receied forty lashes minus one. 25Three times " was beaten with rods, once " was pelted with stones, threetimes " was shipwrec%ed, " spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 "hae been constantly on the moe. " hae been in danger from riers, indanger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger fromGentiles# in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea#and in danger from false belieers. 27 " hae labored and toiled and haeoften gone without sleep# " hae %nown hunger and thirst and hae oftengone without food# " hae been cold and na%ed. 28 (esides eerythingelse, " face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 &ho is

wea%, and " do not feel wea%2 &ho is led into sin, and " do not inwardlyburn230 "f " must boast, " will boast of the things that show my wea%ness. 31 TheGod and Father of the Lord, who is to be praised foreer, %nows that " amnot lying. 32 "n >amascus the goernor under ing $retas had the city ofthe >amascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 (ut " was lowered in abas%et from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

Pauls 3ision and *is Thorn


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12 ",Paul,must go on boasting. $lthough there is nothing to be gained, "will go on to isions and reelations from the Lord. 5 " should not boastabout myself, e'cept about my wea%nesses. 6 en if " should choose toboast about this, " would not be a fool, because " would be spea%ing the

truth. (ut " refrain, so no one will thin% more of me than is warranted bywhat " do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great reelations.Therefore, in order to %eep me from becoming conceited, " was gien athorn in my flesh, a messenger of )atan, to torment me. 8 Three times "pleaded with the Lord to ta%e it away from me. 9 (ut he said to me, -0ygrace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in wea%ness./Therefore " will boast all the more gladly about my wea%nesses, so thatChrists power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christs sa%e, " delightin wea%nesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. Forwhen " am wea%, then " am strong.

$dmitting that you wea%ness, is a good thing as if an alcoholics does notthin% that he has a problem, how can he really fi' that problem, if thesame why most things can be improed but you first hae to humbleyourself and be honest with yourself. )uffering because of a mista%e youhae made can also be good as it is the best way to learn from suffering.

The return of Christ

&e hae been spea%ing in the sight of God as those in Christ# and

eerything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 20 For " amafraid that when Christcome shemay not find you as shewanted you tobe, and you may not find heras you want herto be. " fear that there maybe discord, !ealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip,arrogance and disorder. 21 " am afraid that when shecomes again God willhumble herbefore you, and will be forced to grieed oer many who haesinned and hae not repented of the impurity, se'ual sin and debaucheryin which they hae indulged.

inal &arnings

13 This will be my third isit to you as Christ. -ery matter must beestablished by the testimony of two or three witnesses./ 2 Christ as$aliyahalready gae you a warning when shewas with you the secondtime. " now repeat it while absent: *n my return " will not spare thosewho sinned or any of the others, 3 since you are demanding proof thatChrist is spea%ing and spea%ingthrough a man who lied thousands ofyears before Christ returns. )heis not wea% in dealing with you, but ispowerful among you. 4 For to be sure, shewas crucified in wea%ness, yet

shelies by Gods power. Li%ewise, we are wea% in her, yet by Godspower we will lie with herin our dealings with you.


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5 'amine yourseles to see whether you are in the faith or in the side oftruth# test yourseles. >o you not realie that Christ is in you1unless, ofcourse, if you fail the test and stand by Jesus, who is only a mortalcreation2 6 $nd " trust that you will discoer that we, who stand with$nna,hae not failed the test. 7 +ow we pray to God that you will not do

anything wrong1not so that people will see that we hae stood the testbut so that you will do what is right een though we may seem to haefailed as the man who first wrote this spirit, long ago faid, but in this agehe has not. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for thetruth. 9 &e are glad wheneer we are wea% but you are strong# and ourprayer is that you may be fully restored. 10 This is why " write these thingsthrough a man from the past, when " am absent and cut off from theworld, that when " come, " may not hae to be harsh in my use ofauthority1the authority God gae me for building you up, not for tearingyou down.

inal Greetings

11Finally, brothers and sisters, re!oice8 )trie for full restoration,encourage one another, be of one mind, lie in peace. $nd the God of loeand peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with %indness. 13 $llGods people here send their greetings. 14 0ay the grace of the Lord, andthe loe of God, and the fellowship of the ?oly )pirit be with you all.

2 corinthians - zion’s new age bible

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