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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
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Welcome to "The Bible Breakdown," where we break down God’s Word so we can know God better. I'm your host, Brandon Cannon, and I'm here to guide you through the pages of the Bible, one day at a time.
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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
2 Corinthians 2: What Do You Smell Like?
The "Las Vegas" of first century Rome has been on a long journey. The Apostle Paul is encouraging them to forgive one another, know who they are in Christ, keep their lives holy, and stay unified.
Strength in weakness. Jesus is the God of All Comfort! This is the central message of 2 Corinthians. Throughout the letter Paul turns upside down our natural expectations of the way life works. Contrary to the way the world and our own human hearts naturally function, God takes what is low, despised, and weak to accomplish his purposes.
Key Verse:
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, 2 Corinthians, chapter 2. And if I were to give this one a title, it would be what do you smell like? What do you smell like? Well, I don't know if you've ever done this before, but I have been working and kind of outside doing yard work and whatever, and I come inside and because I have been outside and I've been just around everything, I don't smell anything. But as soon as I walk up to my family they're like oh Lord, please either leave or go get a shower right.
Speaker 2:And it's crazy how sometimes, because we can be in a certain environment we don't really smell any different Everybody around us can smell that way. That's a bad example. I've also been in a place to where I have been around a barbecue pit. You know what I mean. You smell the barbecue sauce and you smell all that, and then you leave. Somebody comes up to you and they just say man, let me just stand beside you, you smell good. And you realize it's not you that smell good, it's what you've been around right. That works both ways.
Speaker 2:We're going to get to that today, in God's Word. Before we do that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe on the YouTube channel. Leave us a five star review on the podcast. Also, gather with us at the Bible Breakdown Discussion Group on Facebook, where we are just digging into God's Word and man.
Speaker 2:The more we dig, the more we find, and this is one of those today, and I love the idea of you know they say that the, of all the five senses, the sense that you have, you know it's a what is it? Hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and one more you're probably yelling at your phone or wherever you're listening to this there's number five, but I don't know Whichever one. That is the one that is most closely associated with memory is smell. That's why I don't know if you know this about me, but I like certain smells from certain candles and stuff, and it's not because I care two cents about a candle. I like the memory attached to it and so if I have certain smells that remind me of Christmases with my kids, when they were little, or experiences, and when I find those smells, I will do that, because I'm kind of a nostalgic person and I think about that.
Speaker 2:Well, there's a part of this chapter we're going to look at today and if you want to go and open your Bibles with me to 2 Corinthians 2, there's a part of this that talks about how we smell like the fragrance of Christ and I'm curious if you were to. This is going to be kind of silly, so I want you to let me know in the Bible breakdown discussion. But if you were to give a smell, if you were to describe the smell of your relationship with God, what would that smell like? I got no idea what some of y'all might say. It smells like a pepperoni pizza, because it is. I have no idea where I'm going with that. I don't know. So I can't wait to hear and I'm not even going to try to do another illustration off top of my head because I don't even know what to do with that. But whatever you have, I want to hear in the Bible breakdown discussion for today, what if you could describe the smell of your relationship with God. What would that smell like? Very smell, like very interesting right.
Speaker 2:Well, as we dig into God's Word, I love how the Apostle Paul will use all these different metaphors and analogies and illustrations and examples to paint these word pictures. One of the reasons why he probably does this is, if his you know one of the languages that he would have known from a young age, because because before Paul got saved he was a Jewish Pharisee and he would have known Hebrew. Hebrew is a very pictorial, very picture kind of language and I wonder if he borrows from some of that when he does this. But we see these beautiful pictures and one of these he talks about is the fragrance of being close to Christ, and so let's get to that, because there's a couple other ones, it's really good, and let's read God's word together. And, man, the more we dig, the more we find. So here we go.
Speaker 2:Second Corinthians, chapter two what do you smell like? Here we go, verse one. So I decided that I would not bring you grief with another painful visit, for I, if I cause you grief, who will make me glad? Certainly not someone that I have grieved. That is why I wrote to you as I did, so that when I do come, I won't be grieved by the very ones who ought to give me the greatest joy. Surely you know that my joy comes from your being joyful. I wrote that letter with great anguish, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn't want to grieve you, but I wanted to let you know how much love that I have for you.
Speaker 2:So pause, what is he talking about? He's talking about in his previous letters, when he had to rebuke them, he had to tell them this is wrong, this is sinful, this is going to lead you down a wrong path. And he's saying I wanted to do it in a letter so that you could fix all that and so that when I got there, we could rejoice in the fact that you repented. And he's just saying so I did that way because I didn't want to see you down and I didn't want to have to do that. I wanted you to get past that. So that's that's what he's talking about.
Speaker 2:Verse five I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused you all that trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. Now pause, what's he talking about? Remember, in the last letter. First, he talks about how there was a man who was shacking up with his stepmother, with a man who, or a woman who was his father's wife, we're assuming stepmother right, and he was being proud of it. And so he is saying okay, all of you got mad at him for me. And he's like don't, I'm okay, I was telling you it was wrong. Well, apparently they went overboard, because look at what he says Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him, otherwise he may become overcome with discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. So I don't know what they did to this guy, but they must've like reaffirm your love for him. So I don't know what they did to this guy, but they must have like run him out of town for Paul Cause, if you remember, back in first Corinthians, he is saying y'all need to shut that down, y'all need to stop this fool quit it. Well, they must've went so far over into the quit it that now he's like back up, fam, slow it down. It's time to forgive him because he is super discouraged.
Speaker 2:Verse 9 says I wrote to you, as I did, to test you to see if you would fully comply with my instructions when you forgive this man. So he's saying I hope you do when you forgive him. Don't worry, I forgive him too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority, for your benefit. Forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority, for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us, for we are familiar with his evil schemes. He's not saying, by the way, that when he forgives him, jesus is going to forgive him too. What he's saying is is I'm going to forgive him because Christ has given us the ability to forgive one another. But I love how he also says we're doing this because we're not giving the enemy a place. Other translations say we are not ignorant of the enemy's devices. That's why we never need to glorify the enemy. But it's important to study tactics so that we understand that.
Speaker 2:Many times you notice that a lot of times people think of the devil as this guy with a red suit and horns and a pitchfork and a pointed tail and all that. You know most of the devil as this guy with a red suit and and horns and a pitchfork and a pointed tail and all that you know most of the time. The enemies. The enemy is going to attack your life in a subtle way. He's not going to show up with a pitchfork and horns and and and say, boo, he's not going to do that, because he knows you're going to notice. It's him. You know what he's going to do being offended, offending one another, unforgiveness, all these different things. Because what the enemy will do is, if he can't pull you away from God, that he'll push you too far until you miss him on the other side. So you have to be so very careful. And it looks like that's what happened when the devil couldn't pull the church of Corinth away from God by celebrating sin, he tried to push them too far. So then they kicked this guy out completely, and so Paul is going. We can't be ignorant of the enemy's devices, but forgive him.
Speaker 2:Come back to that center place, verse 12. When I came to the city of Troas to preach the good news of Christ, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me. I had no peace in mind because of my dear brother Titus hadn't yet arrived with a report from you, so I said goodbye and went on to Macedonia to find him. But thank God that he made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal procession. Now, what is he talking about there? Well, whenever a Roman general would win a battle. He would then march the people that he had conquered through the town as his trophies. And so what Paul is doing is he is saying Jesus has conquered it all and he has captured us, and now he parades us around as his trophies. You know, in saying so, he's actually saying that God is bragging on all of us and he is doing amazing works in all of our lives.
Speaker 2:Let's pick back up now. He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere. Here it is like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we're a dreadful smell of death and doom, but to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ's authority, knowing that God is watching us. In other words, he said what we do is serious, because we want to have a sincere message to share with all of you. So there's a lot there. There's a lot that I stopped to say. So let's bring all this back to a conclusion, and that is this If you could describe your relationship with God as a smell, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Well, paul was saying thank goodness that God has captured all of us. In other words, he's captured our hearts, he's conquered death, hell and the grave and now we are his trophies and as we live for him. He says it's like our lives are like a sweet perfume. We're like a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God and to other Christ followers. When they see our lives and we see their lives. Man, it's like a sweet smell. Man, I see you going after God and I affirm that and I appreciate that and I celebrate your pursuit of God.
Speaker 2:But to those who are not Christ followers, they look at us and it doesn't smell good because they don't understand. That's why I like to say all the time it's one thing to know about the love of God, it's quite another to experience the love of God for yourself. You can never fully understand the goodness of God until you embrace all that the Lord has for you. And so he's saying for those who are non-Christians Christians smell like death. Well, to a Christian, a non-Christian smells like death as well because of the fragrance.
Speaker 2:And so what do you smell like? Do you smell like a sweet smelling fragrance before the Lord, because your life is fully committed to God? Or, to put put it the way Paul did, he says do you smell like death and doom? There's a lot of ways we can smell like that. We can smell that way by the life that we live. We can smell it like that because we live the life, but we look like we've been drinking lemon juice and we just have the most sour attitude ever and people are going well, if that's what Jesus does, I don't want that.
Speaker 2:And so what does your life smell like? If you could describe your relationship with God, what would it smell like? Well, I want you to think about that today and remember the theme of 2 Corinthians is that God is a God of all comfort. Do you smell bad? Because you're struggling right now and you're turning to everyone but God. And when you do turn to God, you're turning to God with God. Why would you, how could you, why didn't you? When will you? Maybe, instead of asking God all the why questions, you should turn to God and say God, I don't understand. But even if you don't do it my way. Will you show me how? Will you show me how I can walk with you through this? Because, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid, because you walk close beside me. Do you smell like death Because you need the comfort of the Lord? Do you smell like death because you don't have a relationship with Jesus?
Speaker 2:Can I tell you that the God of all comfort wants to comfort your soul by washing away all of your sin, and I'm so thankful that you're listening to this podcast right now. It's no accident you're doing that. That God's not mad at you. God loves you. You've never been more loved than you are right now, and the greatest comfort that you'll ever receive is the knowing that your sins have been washed away. You know, jesus didn't die on the cross to teach us righteousness. He died on the cross to fix our broken relationship with our creator, and then it's as we follow him that we become righteous, as he is righteous. And so if you're thinking that you're going to turn to Christ and become perfect because of how you act, then that's all wrong. When you come to Christ, he fixes that broken relationship. He washes away all that sin, and then it's as we follow him that then he heals us from the inside out.
Speaker 2:The Bible says that God is the God of all comfort, and what is your relationship with God smell like? Do you need the God of comfort to comfort you? Well, if so, let's pray together and just invite him to do that in this moment. Father, thank you so much for your goodness, your mercy, your kindness. Thank you that you are the God of all comfort.
Speaker 2:Lord, I pray for everybody right now who's listening to this and they need your comfort. Maybe they need your comfort because they're going through a difficult season. Well, god, your word says that you are the source of all comfort and I pray that right now, holy Spirit, that you will comfort them as only they can. Your word says you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are continually upon you. As we focus our attention on you, that you, god, will come in like a flood and fill our hearts with your goodness.
Speaker 2:For those who need the comfort of salvation they need to have you wash away all their sins. They want to give their allegiance to you. I pray, god, right now, that you will lead them to repent of every one of their sins, help them to experience your love and help them to realize, god, that you are salvation. You are our rescuer, you are our king, and when we turn our lives to you, there is no better place to be than in the hands of a good God who loves us. In Jesus' name, we pray amen, amen, but don't forget 2 Corinthians, chapter one, says God is the source of all comfort and he comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. How do you smell and who do you need to talk to today that needs the comfort that you have received from the Lord?
Speaker 3:no-transcript.
