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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

“Saints, When Absent from the Body, Are Present with the Lord” — A Sermon by Jonathan Edwards (1747)

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:8
August 18, 2024

2 Corinthians 5:8: We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Sermon Outline

1. Departed saints live in the same wonderful place as Christ

  • Christ in Heaven still has a human nature

  • Heaven is a place

  • Angels are in heaven

  • Departed saints are in heaven

  • We who are saved will be in heaven

2. The souls of saints in Heaven have an unhindered sight of Jesus Christ

  • When absent from friends, we can only think about them

  • “But then we shall see him face to face”

  • Those in Heaven see him “as he is”

3. Departed saints become perfectly like him by seeing him

4. Departed saints enjoy a glorious and immediate closeness with him

  • Departed saints are present with the Lord

  • But His glorious state won’t intimidate them

  • Reasons with his majesty won’t intimidate them

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

Christ's Poverty, Our Wealth

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:9
December 24, 2023

2 Corinthians 8:9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Sermon Outline

1. Jesus Christ was rich

  • Rich in possessions

  • Rich in the ability to create yet more

  • Rich in honor

  • Rich in love

2. Jesus Christ became poor

  • Born into poverty

  • Lived as a human

  • Had no place to lay his head

  • Endured frustration and sorrow

3. The result of Christ’s poverty is our wealth in heaven

  • You’re rich in possessions

4. Applications

  • For non-Christians

  • For Christians

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

God, Humans, Hatfields and McCoys

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
June 25, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:18-21: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sermon Outline

1. Hatfields and McCoys

  • Who were they?

  • The Civil War

  • The hog incident

  • Roseanna and Johnse

  • Other incidents

2. Our distance from God is like the Hatfields vs. McCoys in that there is real hostility from both sides

  • Hostility from humans toward God

  • God at odds with humans

3. How our distance from God is unlike the story of Hatfields and McCoys

  • H&M hated each other for the other's wickedness; humans dislike God for his righteousness

  • Because of his love, God's desire is to restore friendship with us

Benediction

To every follower of Jesus

Colossians 1:21-22: Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

To every not-yet follower

Revelation 22:17: Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

The Life of a Genuine Christian

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:11-17
June 18, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:11-17: Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Sermon Outline

1. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — is fueled by the fear of God

2. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — is fueled by a sense of Christ's love

  • Text speaks of Christ's death as a substitutionary one

  • Result of Christ's death: We sense his love and change how we live

3. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — will sometimes be attacked

  • Said directly elsewhere in 2 Corinthians

  • Hinted at in this passage

  • Paul's goal in defending himself

4. A genuine Christian — particularly a minister — should be defended by other Christians who know him well

  • It's right for a minister to defend/explain himself

  • It's right for Christians to defend other Christians — particularly ministers — when those Christians are slandered

  • Only a change in the heart by Christ will give Christians the insight and courage to act this way

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

Christians on Judgment Day

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:9-10
June 11, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:9-10: So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians live holy lives to bring pleasure to Christ

2. Christians also live holy lives for another reason

  • There will be a day of reckoning

  • Judgment can be negative or positive

  • Christians, safe and secure in heaven, will enjoy more/fewer rewards based on how they have lived

3. Christians lead holy lives to avoid loss and enhance their own joy in heaven

  • Appearing before the judgment seat of Christ

  • Who will appear?

  • In what manner will we appear?

  • Purpose of appearing

  • What will be the general standard of judgment?

  • What will be the particular standard of judgment?

4. Some observations

  • Our presence in heaven is based 100% on God's grace and mercy

  • Our status in heaven will reflect our faithfulness and diligence

  • Faithful Christians will be rewarded appropriately. Less faithful Christians, though not punished, will forfeit rewards

  • Neither our presence nor our status in heaven is based on merit

  • Do you struggle with a besetting sin?

  • David's big sins

  • Perhaps the tears God will wipe away will be tears shed on Judgment Day

  • Regarding those above you in heaven

  • Regarding those below you in heaven

  • Final thought

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

Departed Christians: What Do They Experience?

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-8
June 4, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:1-8: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 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 our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Sermon Outline

1. Our future bodies will be far superior to our current bodies

  • Current bodies are likened to mere tents

  • Future bodies are likened to buildings

  • What we were created for

  • Applications

2. A seeming problem

  • When do we receive these bodies?

  • Until then, what do we do in the meantime?

  • Some commentators, troubled by this answer, propose some "creative" ideas

3. Solution to the problem

  • Our groaning is positive, not negative

  • Paul expresses longing, not horror, over heaven

  • Why talk about "nakedness"?

  • God's whole plan is this...

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

Earthly Suffering, Eternal Glory

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:13-18
May 7, 2023

Corinthians 4:13-18: So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians have real troubles in this life

2. Christians are renewed by their faith

  • David's faith in the Old Testament

  • Paul's faith in the New Testament

3. Renewing faith is faith that our troubles will be replaced by resurrection glory

  • The basic teaching

  • Objection: the road is hard and heaven seems so far away

  • How our trials are "light"

  • How our trials are "momentary"

4. Renewing faith is faith that our troubles actually increase our future glory

  • Your sufferings will make you more glorious

  • Your sufferings increase your future glory by making others more glorious

  • Your sufferings increase your future glory by bringing greater glory to God himself

5. What all this glory — through — suffering will look like on the Great Day

  • Beauty

  • Splendor

  • Honor

    • "The Charge of the Light Brigade" poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

  • All reflecting Christ's glory

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

Jars of Clay

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
April 30, 2023

2 Corinthians 4:7-12: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians have something priceless

  • Knowledge of the glory of God

  • Knowledge of God reflected in the face of Christ

2. Christians have the priceless knowledge of Christ in frail bodies and hard experiences

  • "hard pressed on every side"

  • "perplexed"

  • "persecuted"

  • "struck down"

  • Frail bodies and hard experiences are portrayed as a living death

3. Our dying is a joining with Christ in his death

  • The statement: "our dying with him"

  • Fleshing out the statement

4. Through our suffering/dying with Christ, we share the very life of Christ

  • The statement: Suffering Christians share the very life of Christ

  • Illustrations of suffering Christians sharing the very life of Christ

Benediction

May you know Christ through the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings and the power of his resurrection. — paraphrased from Philippians 3:10

Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him… Amen

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2 Corinthians Steve Estes 2 Corinthians Steve Estes

Christians Refusing to Lose Heart

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
April 16, 2023

2 Corinthians 4:1-6: Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 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 everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of the age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," make his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians are sorely tempted to lose heart

2. Reasons a Christian might lose heart

  • Paul will mention many reasons later in 2 Corinthians

  • One reason mentioned in these verses: Lack of success in ministry

3. Christians who lose heart may be tempted to change the gospel message

  • Describing "changing the gospel message"

  • The opposite of changing the gospel message

4. Christians who lose heart may be tempted to make themselves more important than the message (preach themselves)

  • Describing "preach themselves"

  • The opposite of preaching themselves

5. Why does Paul not lose heart? Two reasons in these verses, with more to come

  • God has shown him great mercy

  • God can penetrate the deepest darkness

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