Welcome Monday Morning Coffee with Mark

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special Monday Morning Coffee Podcast. On this podcast, our preacher, Mark Roberts, will help you get your week started right with a look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through each other and better work the applications into our daily lives. Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday morning coffee with Mark.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

This is the podcast for the week of August 16th through the 22nd. I'm particularly excited to be talking to you today because we're going to focus on daily Bible reading. That was the point of the sermon yesterday. We're working with daily Bible reading all this week as we study in 2 Corinthians. We're reading along there. It will be a fabulous week. I am drinking a unan, black sheep double anaerobic natural coffee. And if that doesn't mean anything to you, don't panic. It doesn't mean anything to me either. I had to look it up. And Roastery got some coffee donated. And so put all that through the roaster. Unan is from China. And they're calling it black sheep because this is supposed to be kind of a wild coffee and kind of the black sheep of the family thing that they can drink it on a podcast like this. I don't know. Double anaerobic refers to and natural refers to the way the coffee beans were processed. And again, I'm not 100% sure about all that, but I know it's a really good cup of coffee in my cup. And I hope you're having a really good cup of coffee this morning or this afternoon or this evening, whatever it is, that you are doing your daily Bible reading and reflecting and thinking back about yesterday's sermon. You know what you need to do. Grab your Bible, grab your coffee, and let's grow together.

Sermon Notes

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Let's work with yesterday's sermon. Yesterday I talked about becoming a person who reads the Bible regularly on a daily basis. I want to add a little bit of something to that right here because it is possible to read your Bible every day and not get anything out of it like you should. And if that's happening, it won't be long until your Bible reading falls apart. Remember, James 122 says, be doers of the word and not hearers only. So it's not enough to read it, and we need to put it into play. So how do I do that? How do I make sure I'm not just reading words, checking the box, hey, I got done. Moving on. Well, let me give you what I call the path tool, and it involves four questions around the word path, P-A-T-H. If you are a Westsider, you have heard this before. I teach this a lot, both here at Westside and especially when I'm on the road in a gospel meeting, talking about daily Bible reading. So write the word path down, P-A-T-H. And then for each of those letters, when you're done with your daily Bible reading, you'll just ask a question. P stands for praise. What in this reading makes me praise God? What did I learn here about him? What did God do that's amazing? How do I know what do I know more about God now? Praising God. The A stands for admonish. Where do I need to do better? Is there something here I'm doing that needs to stop? Something I'm not doing that I need to get started. Where do I need a course correction? The A is for admonish. T then is trust. What here is building my faith in God by trusting God. I'm looking for God to keep a promise. I'm looking for God's word to ring true. I'm looking for God doing exactly what he says. That builds faith. And that's one of the purposes of the Word of God. Romans 10, 17. I always want to build more trust in the Lord. Finally, the H stands for hope. What here is keeping me going. Sometimes staying faithful is difficult. Sometimes we fall down and we need to get back up. God takes care of his people, God forgives his people. And so what in the reading here shows people who continued on and persevered? What here is saying, keep going, you can do this. Praise, admonish, trust, hope, path. You really don't need three hours of studying the Bible to get good from the Word of God in your time spent with daily Bible reading. 15 minutes of reading, five minutes of pathing. Or maybe if you're using the Bible reading schedule that we're using this year at Westside, the Like the Teacher schedule, you can download it from the website. There are questions on the back. Work those questions. Work the pathing too. Because before you close your Bible and be done with it, you need to think about, meditate on what you have read so that it will take root in your heart and have application there. Remember, we want Bible reading to become Bible living. And let's think about our daily Bible reading for the week. It's Monday. Let's go to 2 Corinthians.

Monday 2 Corinthians 10

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Let's get focused and let's get landed in the text here. Once Paul clears up all of the concern about how the Corinthians will receive his letter and are they still listening to him, then Paul turns his attention to two main ideas. One, the contribution for the saints in Jerusalem, chapters 8 and chapter 9. And then, and this is how the book closes, beginning in chapter 10, Paul deals with those who attack him and say he is not a real apostle. And you will note a change in tone here. No if, ands, or buts about it. Paul is very severe in some places here. There are some people who are charging that Paul is brave in his letters, but he's not so brave in person. Maybe this is the earliest time that we hear the idea of, oh, you're just a keyboard warrior. You think you're so powerful when you got a pen in your hand. Let's see what you really got. And Paul doesn't want to have to come to Corinth and show he's not a keyboard warrior. He can hold his own. He would be quite brave, quite bold if he had to come and rebuke them directly. But he doesn't want to do that. But he also does not want them to in any way confuse gentleness with timidity. And it gets pretty specific in here. Verse 10, they say, look at verse 12, compare ourselves with some, but when they measure themselves, compare themselves, they are without understanding. So Paul is absolutely dealing with some very specific opponents here. Let's look at this text, verse 2. There are some there who are walking according to the flesh, and just watch all this you and them talk, they talk, that kind of thing. And more according to the flesh, verses 3, 4, and 5 is really the idea of using the tools of the flesh, slander and lies and gossip, human sophistry, that kind of thing, manipulating people. Paul says, we're not doing that. We never do that. Verse 5. We would destroy that kind of thing. So Paul is really pushing them to stop looking below, or to start looking below the surface and stop looking only at the surface, fleshly achievements, maybe even the flashy dresser. One writer said, Corinthians, you are confining your gaze just to what you can see without going any deeper. I think that's helpful here. And so Paul says in verse 7, look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he's Christ, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ, so also are we. Paul's answer here is to say, you don't ever seem to check credentials, but you need to be looking at the right thing. You need to pay attention to what's really happening here. And then verse 10, that is where they say his letters are tough, but he's not so tough personally. And one scholar said Paul did not have the brilliance of Apollos and he didn't keep Eutychus awake. Wow, that may be a little sharp, but but maybe that's where some of this is. So Paul then begins to talk about and develop his service, verses 12 to 18 here. And we need to remember all the way back to chapter 3 and verse 1, Paul seems to be thinking of these who say he doesn't have letters of commendation, he's not certified, all of that kind of thing. Verse 12, he is concerned about people who are writing their own press clippings, no question about that. And there are some who are false apostles who seem to even be claiming verses 15 and 16, Paul's work in Corinth. They seem to be taking the credit for that as if it is their own. In verse 16, what you're looking at there really, Paul wants to go on to Spain, lands beyond you. He's always thinking about Spain. That's Romans 15, for example. And then I love the conclusion here, 17 and 18. The only thing the preacher can really boast in is in knowing the Lord and having the Lord's approval. The reading for Monday, 2 Corinthians 10.

Tuesday 2 Corinthians 11

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Welcome to Tuesday. Welcome to Tuesday, and we will have a Zoom call tonight, West Siders. Now, Paul knows that it is not his place to praise himself, but he has to answer these critics somehow. And so as they keep running out all of their credentials and all of their accomplishments, Paul, maybe in some ways almost sarcastically, I wonder if the sarcasm font is on here, says, Paul says, All right, all right, even though I may be misunderstood in doing this, I'll talk, I'll talk credentials with you. And we get some of that today in 2 Corinthians 11. The reading for Tuesday, 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I think as as we open here, look at verse 2 particularly, there is some godly jealousy here. He feels about these Corinthians like a father would feel about his daughter or for his son. He has borne them into Christ's body, and and he's the one that started all of this. And so he wants very much for them to quit being tricked. Look at verse 3 here. They have lost their sincere or simplicity, the simplicity of the gospel. In verse 3, there's a difference between being simple and simplicity. Simplicity is just that being uncombined, plain, straightforward. They're losing that as some come and proclaim a more sophisticated version of Christianity. And he talks here in verse 5 of the super apostles. And we don't know who exactly who that is. The word super here is a very unusual and rare word, but please notice he'll bring that thought to a close in chapter 12 and verse 11. I was not at all in fear to these super apostles. So there, 11.5 to 12.11. That that that's going to be a section here that all holds together. And Paul says very clearly that I don't want to be doing these kinds of things, but I will do these kinds of things. Probably better in verse 6 is we are made manifest. We are making this plain, is the idea here. And so then I think against the background of 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul talks about why he did not charge them money. And it seems like some of these opponents of Paul, they they just want to have it both ways. Hey, Paul's just in it for the money. And then someone says, Well, you know, when he was preaching here in Corinth and establishing us, he didn't take money from us. Well, there you go. That just shows right now that he's not real because our real teacher, like the philosophers of the day, for example, they accept money. So Paul just he gets it going and coming. And what he says here in his defense is, I didn't take money because I didn't want to burden you. That was for your benefit. So during his visit, I'm looking at verse 9 here, when he was visiting Corinth, that would be in the fall of AD 50 to the spring of A.D. 52. Paul worked there as a tent maker, Acts 18, verse 3. That's when he meets Akola and Priscilla. And there were other congregations supporting him. That's probably Philippi, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 15. But he did that to help them because he did not want his motives to be questioned. And there are false apostles, 13, 14, and 15. Paul just says, These men among you, they're not true apostles, they're deceitful workers. And it seems to me that verses 13, 14, and 15 are some of the more most terrifying verses in the Bible. Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. I've used that passage with great effect when people have told me that they were following after some leader with a latter-day revelation, for example. How do you know maybe it's a false apostle? Then Paul concludes the chapter here by discussing his trials, his sufferings, all the things that he's gone through. And he begins to talk about this business. He kind of got a little distracted from some of that, but he says, here I am. This is what I've gone through. You want to swap resumes, super apostles. Look at my resume. And this is foolishness. Under verse 17, look at verse 17. Under normal circumstances, I would never do any of this kind of thing. And in verses 19, 20, and 21 looks very ironic. You put up with the gross misconduct of these false teachers, but you don't put up with me, Paul is saying. And and there is there is something about, maybe I think about some of these cults. The leader is abusive, he's harsh, he's mean. In some cults, um, he takes people's wives and claims that he gets the right to them for himself. And people just put up with all that. Oh, he's the leader. And then someone tries to teach them the truth and and and they're hateful to that person and and they won't listen. It's just mind-blowing how that kind of thing can happen. Well, finally, Paul gets to it. Finally, Paul begins to discuss all the things that make Paul Paul and all the things that he has gone through. And he's tried to tried to get here a couple of times in chapter 10 and verse 8. Even if I boast a little and then bear with me in a little foolishness, 11:1. Well, finally, verse 16. Maybe I'll boast a little. Okay, finally, here it comes. I'm a Hebrew, verse 22, I'm a servant of Christ, and then he just starts going on about his persecution. There's a writer outside of the Bible, Clement of Rome, says that Paul was in prison seven times. And a lot of what we get here beginning about verse 23, that's not even recorded in the book of Acts. But it's just stunning to see all the things that Paul went through. Verse 28. Notice Paul had anxiety. He had concern for the churches. Just the other day, I was talking with somebody who was all concerned. They were concerned about being concerned. They were concerned about having some worries about some major health issues in their life. I know that I shouldn't worry. No, no. That's such a terrible misunderstanding. There are things that we should be concerned about, have anxiety about. There's sinful worry, but then there is the anxiety for the churches, verse 28. The concern that comes because we're deeply invested in something that we have control over. That kind of anxiety is plaguing Paul here. The reading for Tuesday, don't forget, we've got Zoom tonight where Ciders will talk a lot more about all of this. Then hope you won't be anxious about that. See you on Zoom tonight, the reading for Tuesday, 2 Corinthians 11.

Wednesday 2 Corinthians 12

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It is Wednesday. It is Wednesday, and today the reading is 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The reading for Wednesday, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Lots going on today, lots happening that is very exciting. This is the conclusion of our summer series, and we are ending with a bang. Caleb Collins is here from Soldatna, Alaska, and it will be a joy to hear him preach this evening, I am sure. Before we get to that, we need to do our daily Bible reading from 2 Corinthians 12. And here's a text where the controversy about some specifics in the text may keep us from recognizing and understanding the lesson that is in the text. In fact, in a moment I may even argue that there's a reason Paul is vague in this text rather than being specific. And of course, if you're looking at your Bible, you see this is the famous thorn in the flesh text. This chapter marks the end of Paul's argumentation against the false teachers. It's his last appeal for the Corinthians to recognize him as a true apostle. And once again, he says, verse one, that he's forced to boast. I wish I could stop. I don't want to talk like this. This is just terrible. But uh, okay, you want some of this? Here it comes. And he really is going to push the idea that it is better to be weak and dependent in Christ than to be strong and self-sufficient. We need to hold on to that. That's what's happening in this text. And there is no doubt, verse 2, I know a man in Christ. This is Paul. He knows the exact time of the revelation. The revelation was directly related to the giving of the thorn, which Paul says in verse 7 is his. And all of this just talks clearly of Paul. I think Paul would be a little aghast to be reporting somebody else's vision, and it wouldn't fit the need here where these false apostles they're boasting in all the things that they claim they are doing. How does that help Paul's case to say somebody else had this amazing vision? Now, this vision is not recorded in Acts. None of the visions that are there, and there are several, matches up exactly with this one. But Paul talks about being caught up in the third heaven. And in Jewish thought, there were three heavens. There's the air right above us, and then there's space space with the stars, and then there's the heaven where God lives. So he's caught up, and Paul does relate this in a third person kind of way, maybe because he's a little embarrassed about the whole thing and doesn't even want to have to do this kind of thing. I don't want to boast. So if I if I'm gonna boast, he says, here it is. I got this thorn then, verse seven, because of the surpassing values of surpassing greatness of these revelations. A little coffee here. And maybe there are a few texts in scripture that have in any way provoked so so much speculation, nearly as much speculation as the thorn in the flesh. Everything gets run out here. Physical problems like difficulties with vision. Paul did have eye problems, Galatians 4.15, epilepsy, a speech impediment, maybe a recurring sickness like malaria, spiritual problems, the Jews persecuting him and dogging him all the time. Some have said maybe this is a carnal temptation like lust. We just don't know. We just don't know. And yes, you could make a case for this, or you could make a case for that, but maybe Paul purposely didn't say what the thorn was, because then everyone without that particular affliction would not benefit from this material. If Paul says I have eye trouble, somehow someone who is dealing with spiritual problems maybe, maybe is being persecuted or dogged by false teaching. They just don't relate to the text as well. If Paul says the difficulty here is I've got malaria, that lets out everybody else who doesn't have malaria. So let's just let the text stand. Paul says, I have this terrible burden, this problem, this thorn. It's a term that means splinter or stake. And that keeps me closer to the Lord. Notice verses 9 and 10, prayer is not always answered as we expect. But Paul says, I want to be dependent upon Christ. And that's what's happening here. And so I just rejoice in that. I'm content in that. This is good. It's keeping me close to the Lord. This is a powerful text to help us in our praying and helping, it helps us to accept the place that we are in if God chooses not to remove the thorn in the flesh. Then Paul moves from there to begin tidying up the letter and shows once again his concern for the Corinthian church, beginning in verse 11. If there's any group of Christians that should, oh, they should be just supporting Paul left and right, testifying to his authenticity, the Corinthians are doing that. And their failure here, their failure is just an embarrassment to Paul and a disappointment to Paul. And so what Paul says is, I don't want your stuff. And is there somebody saying, yeah, he just he's just in it for the money? He's just trying to get in your pocketbook. Paul says, verse 14, I don't want your stuff. I want you. I want you. And so they're saying I was crafty to take the better of you by deceit. No, that's never been where I'm at. In fact, Titus is the one who's making this collection, verses 17 and 18. And so he concludes the chapter here by talking about his great fears, that he will not find them doing what they ought to be doing, that there will be continued problems in sin, and all of that would just humiliate him. Verses 20 and 21. So the reading for Wednesday, 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Thursday 2 Corinthians 13

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It's Thursday. Got coffee, got your Bible open to the end. 2 Corinthians. We're in 2 Corinthians the 13th chapter today, the reading for Thursday, 2nd Corinthians chapter 13. This has been a difficult book in some ways. I think I mentioned in the Zoom call last week that it's not one of my favorite books because it kind of winds around and repeats itself, and Paul goes off on some tangents, and then in the middle of everything, he hears from Titus, and the whole book changes. It's not the easiest book to outline. Let's just put it that way. This book is not going up on PowerPoint, three Roman numerals, and we just move on. But we reach the conclusion of this book, and once again, I think we see Paul's deep affection for the Corinthians. And that'll be expressed in two ways. First, there is the warning that I am coming, and when I come, Paul says, it is not going to be peace at any price. It will be confrontation, it will be conflict. I will be bold. You want to see a big show, you're really impressed when somebody acts like they have authority. Wait till you see somebody, verse three, who really has authority. Now, when Paul comes and all of these visits here, this is the third time I'm coming to you, verse one, all of that is very difficult to work out. Paul's timeline is just not laid out anywhere, just step one, step two, step three, or visit one, visit two, visit three. That doesn't happen in the New Testament. It's probably outside this podcast to try to resolve all of that, but he is saying, I will come. And if you think the fact that I have been gentle and careful means that I am weak, I'm weak like Jesus was weak. Verse 4. When Jesus hung on the cross, he appeared to be absolutely at at the mercy of his enemies, but of course that was not the case at all. So Paul says, I'm being like Jesus. And rather than examining me, verse five, what you really need to do is examine yourselves. And how often is that true? We attack others when we ourselves need to be looking inwardly at our own failings. And so Paul's really not into personal vindication as much as he is into seeing them serve the Lord. That's verse 7. He just really cares about this church and he wants them to do what's right. So Paul says, verse 10, I'm writing to you now, let's get it fixed. Let's get it fixed so that the next visit is not painful, and he concludes with a call for unity, verse 11, something the Corinthians seem to really struggle with. Not a long chapter in our reading today, but an important conclusion to this second epistle to the Corinthian Church. The reading for Thursday, 2 Corinthians 13.

Friday 1 Thessalonians 1

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It's Friday. It's Friday, and today we begin a new book of the New Testament. We are starting 1 Thessalonians. There are two letters to the Thessalonian Church. They are part of the earliest writings of Paul, probably A.D. 51-52, maybe the very earliest books of the New Testament. Maybe Galatians is earlier, but this is very early stuff from the pen of Paul. And these these letters, first Thessalonians more coffee. Need some coffee right there. These letters are very much about Christianity in the very real world because Thessalonica was an important and populous city. In fact, today it is the second largest city in Greece. It is called Thessalonike or Salonike and has a population of over two million people. By the way, that's not necessarily a great thing today. A bunch of the ruins of the Greek culture and the temples and all the things that Paul would have seen all the way back in Acts, all of that now is underneath apartments and banks and parking lots and office buildings. There's really not very much New Testament stuff that you can see in Thessalonica anymore because, yeah, because the city has prospered and continued to grow and just build up on top of it. But when Paul was there, the city was, just as today, very, very important. It was a capital of one of the provinces in Macedonia. The city was 350 years old by the time that Paul got there in 50 AD. Think about that, a 350-year-old city. I don't think we've got anything in the United States that's as old as that. But the Via Ignatia Highway ran right there, and so that established Thessalonica as a trade port. It was a secure road, a safe road. And Paul loves to go to major hub cities and establish the gospel in that kind of place. So there's Egyptian religion there. There's some writing about that. There's the Roman Emperor cult worshiping Rome and the Emperor, lots of Greek gods, of course, all those things are going on. And Acts 16 and 17 give us a really good look at the founding of the church there. This is the famous come over and help us, the vision from Macedonia. And so Paul goes and Luke seems to be part of that. At least initially, that's part of the we section in Acts 16 and verse 11. And then a little bit later, Paul comes to Thessalonica in Acts chapter 17, and the they is there. Now Luke maybe is, uh Luke's probably back in Philippi, and Paul preaches the gospel in Thessalonica. And if you want to know the date of the writing here, we've pretty good evidence for that because as Paul continues on this missionary journey, he ends up in all kinds of trouble in Acts chapter 18 in front of a proconsul named Galio in the city of Corinth. And we actually know, scholars actually know exactly from some writing outside of the Bible when he was the proconsul there. That's AD 50 to 52. And you can actually stand, there's an inscription that's been found in Corinth, in the ruins of Corinth, that talks about Galileo, and this was his judgment seat. So you can actually stand where Paul stood, and all of that helps us understand when the church in Thessalonica was founded, and that helps us with this epistle. And Paul, he loves this church. He really loves this church. Verse 2, we're just praying for you all the time. We're giving thanks for the way that you received the gospel and how you received it not as the word of men, but as in fact the word, what it really is, the word of God. It came to you in power and in the Holy Spirit. Verse 5. Holy Spirit, there is probably miracles. They saw those signs that authenticate the gospel, and this congregation has faith. Verse 8, not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere. People are talking about this. And people are talking about verse 9, their repentance, turning to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Chapter 10, chapter 1 ends in verse 10, where Paul says, you're waiting for his son from heaven. And the word wait here is an unusual word. It is found only once in the New Testament. Now, the idea is certainly found in other places, but this specific term is only found here, and it has a sense of urgency while waiting. It's not passive, it has the idea of optimism and anticipation. One scholar said it implies being ready for his return. When you await a visitor, you have prepared everything for his coming. You arrange the guest room and the activities and your time and your other duties, all in such a manner so that the visitor will feel perfectly at home. So also awaiting the very Son of God whose coming out of the heavens implies our hearts and lives will be sanctified. I think that's a really good thought here out of verse 10, the reading for Friday, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. That concludes the podcast for the week. Thank you so very, very much for listening. I certainly enjoy doing the podcast and just always hear from folks. I was in Rogers a couple of weekends ago, and folks were talking to me about the podcast and how it helps them with their daily Bible reading. I just appreciate that so, so very much. Thank you. Thank you for listening and reading the Bible with me, thinking about the sermons from Sunday. We're all working together to press on to go forward towards our heavenly home. What a joy it is to work together in the Word of God. I'm Mark Roberts. I want to go to heaven. I want you to come too. See you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, just Christians.com, and our Facebook page. Our music is from Upbeat.io. That's Upbeat with two Ps, U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday.