2 Corinthians 13:11-14 says...and Happy New Year!!!

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 13:11-14 which read,

11 - Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 
12 - Greet one another with a holy kiss. 
13 - All the saints greet you.14 - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Last words are always important.  Much is said in the last moments and we hang on every word or we read them over and over again when it is coming from one we love.  Paul has given of his life to the Corinthian church and there would be no one to doubt his love for them.  Lets look at what he says.
  • "Finally, brethren,..." - I am not above you but alongside of you 
  • "...rejoice,..." - be glad 
  • "...be made complete,..." - fitted for the journey or task 
  • "...be comforted,..." - call to one's side 
  • "...be like-minded,..." - to have understanding 
  • "...live in peace;..." - to cultivate harmony 
  • "...and the God of love and peace will be with you." - the God of vow type love and national state of tranquility

Maybe these are Paul's resolutions for his brothers in Christ.
1.  to be glad about that fact that we are brothers in Christ 
2.  to continue to be fitted for this journey with Jesus 
3.  to be thankful for the comfort of others alongside of you
4.  to continue to have understanding of God's will and way 
5.  to continue to cultivate harmony with that group

"Greet one another with a holy kiss."  Okay, this sounds a little too close.  Draw to oneself others who are mutual with you with a "saintly" show of affection between friends to wish them well.  That may look different in our day but it needs to happen within the body of Christ.

"All the saints greet you." A direct example to follow of  what other godly people are doing for them.

Then let us look at what is stressed about each part of the Trinity in this last verse.  They have received "grace" from Jesus and they have received "love" from God and they have received "fellowship" from the Holy Spirit.

May this be a great description of our church this year and years to come.  That we are and would continue to be a group of gathered believers who also give the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ by telling the gospel message and the love of God by giving of ourselves just as God gave His Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit by being connected together in that love and grace.

A good way to end out this year and start a new one.

Pastor Adam
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlier in  Ga
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course everything was quite a bit dirtier when
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following the Sunday morning worshi
Read more