Sunday Setup – 2 Corinthians 7:1-13

[Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, Grass Church family and welcome to the Sunday setup. This is where we gather digitally together each week to prepare our hearts and prepare our minds for the passage that we are going to pray through, that we're going to preach through, that we're going to praise through, and then practice next week. But this Sunday, we'll be diving in as we continue in our series rooted in holiness through 2 Corinthians. We'll be in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. And this is actually the kind of the end to this first half of Corin 2 Corinthians that we're going to be studying and we'll be picking up in chapters 8 after a short break um and seeing the second half and there's this but it's the end of this theme of this idea of being rooted in holiness and in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 starting in verse one this is what the writer Paul um writes to the church at Corinth he says this so then dear friends since we have these promises es. Let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and the spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one. We have corrupted no one. We have taken advantage of no one. I don't say this to condemn you since I already said that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. I'm very frank with you. I have great pride in you. I am filled with encouragement. I am overflowing with joy in all our afflictions. In fact, when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. Instead, we were troubled in every way, conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus. And not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he received from you. He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. For even if I grieved with you or grieved you with my letter, I don't regret it. And if I regretted it, since I saw that the letter grieved you yet only for a while, I now rejoice not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn't experience any loss from us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death. For consider how much diligence this has, this very thing, this grieving as God's wills has produced in you. What a desire to clear yourselves. What indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice, in every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter. So even though I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong or because of the one who was wronged, but in order that your devotion to us might be made plain to you in the sight of God. For this reason, we have been comforted. In addition to our own comfort, we rejoiced even more over the joy Titus had because his spirit was refreshed by all of you. For if I have made any boast to him about you, I have not been disappointed. But as I have spoken everything to you in truth, so are boasting to Titus has also turned out to be the truth. And his affection towards you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of all of you and how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice that I have complete confidence in you. Paul packs a lot into this chapter. I just want to as we prepare for this and as we kind of pray through this to set up our hearts to get right for the message that God has for us as a church family this Sunday. I want to start here and see early on in this chapter in verse one of Paul talks about since we have these promises, we need to cleanse ourselves from the impurity that's in our flesh and that's in our spirit. And there's no way he says that we can be made complete in God, that we can have complete confidence in God if we are not cleansed of this impurity. So I want us to take a second and as you kind of let these words meditate over you, as you let this set you up for Sunday, this first prayer prompt that I want you to pray is a prompt of confession. Is a prompt of showing your neediness to God. And it is simple. It is this is Lord cleanse my impurity of Lord cleanse my impurity of what are things that you need to confess maybe the impurity of your pride the impurity of your anger the impurity of your greed or your jealousy or lust is Lord cleanse my impurity of pray those prayers to our Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] God, you know the impurity that is in our heart. you know, the things that we need to confess to you, the ways that we fail, the things that we struggle with. And Lord, that as we pray these prayers of confession of neediness. Um God, we just ask that your forgiveness that we know has covered it for all of eternity, but that your forgiveness come it just refresh us. It renew us. It restore us. That we not be marked by our impurities, but Lord, we be marked by how we are pure in you. How we are complete. how as Paul says that we are found pure before you because of what you have done in forgiving our sins. But God, we not only confess as we continue to move through this letter, uh we not just have this prayer of neediness, but we also have this prayer of how God is so worthy, how he can move through us and he can do something great through us when we're part of his kingdom. And Paul ends this chapter in verse 16. I rejoice that I have complete confidence in you. And this confidence is a confidence that's rooted in God. And our prayer as we kind of wrap this up is God let me have complete confidence when and this being a prayer of action a prayer that spur us like God let us have complete confidence when I am sharing the gospel with my neighbor when I am inviting a co-orker to church when I am sharing the truth of God's word with my children when I am leading my family in a certain way of God. Let me have complete confidence when pray those prayers to our father. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Laughter] [Music] God, let us have complete confidence when we know we are in your will. Not when we are relying on our own strength. Not when we are arrogantly seeking the things that might benefit us. But let us have complete confidence when we are inviting people to be a part of your church family. This forever family that we have. Lord, let us have confidence when we're going through grief that you are molding us through it. That you are doing something great and amazing through it. God, let us have confidence when we know your will is going forward. That we can share the gospel. That we can make Jesus known. God, let us have complete confidence not in our ability but in what your son Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross and what he is continuing to do in renewing us and sanctifying us and becoming more holy and rooting us in holiness in seeing holiness be completed in us. God, I just we are thankful that you move in us. you use us to do your kingdom work that you you Lord entrust us that we can have confidence in you that all this can become possible and I just ask that you prepare us that you um this week we can look for ways to glorify you to have the impurities uh forgiven by you but have the confidence of you flow through us and God just that this week we can glorify you that we can make you known and we and gather together this Sunday to see how you move in our church, in our community, in our families, and beyond. And we lift all this up in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, thank you guys for joining us this week for the Sunday setup. We'll see you Sunday. [Music]