Daily Text and Bible Reading: Sunday, December 8 [Press play below]

7.1 Therefore, since we have these promises, beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
7.2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.
7.3 I do not say this to condemn you. For I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.
7.4 I have great freeness of speech toward you. I have great boasting in regard to you. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.
7.5 In fact, when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies got no relief, but we continued to be afflicted in every way—there were fights on the outside, fears within.
7.6 But God, who comforts those who are downhearted, comforted us by the presence of Titus;
7.7 and not only by his presence but also by the comfort he received because of you, as he reported back to us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, and your earnest concern for me; so I rejoiced even more.
7.8 For even if I saddened you by my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did at first regret it (seeing that the letter saddened you, though only for a little while),
7.9 now I rejoice, not because you were just saddened, but because you were saddened into repenting. For you were saddened in a godly way, so that you suffered no harm because of us.
7.10 For sadness in a godly way produces repentance leading to salvation, leaving no regret; but the sadness of the world produces death.
7.11 For see what a great earnestness your being saddened in a godly way produced in you, yes, clearing of yourselves, yes, indignation, yes, fear, yes, earnest desire, yes, zeal, yes, righting of the wrong! In every respect you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in this matter.
7.12 Although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the one who did the wrong, nor for the one who was wronged, but so that your earnestness for us might be made evident among you in the sight of God.
7.13 That is why we have been comforted. But in addition to our comfort, we rejoiced even more over the joy of Titus, because all of you refreshed his spirit.
7.14 For if I have boasted to him about you, I have not been put to shame; but just as all the things we told you were true, so also our boasting to Titus has proved true.
7.15 Also, his tender affections toward you are greater as he remembers the obedience of all of you, how you received him with fear and trembling.
7.16 I rejoice that in every way I may have confidence in you.
8.1 Now we want you to know, brothers, about the undeserved kindness of God that has been granted to the congregations of Macedonia.
8.2 During a great test under affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty made the riches of their generosity abound.
8.3 For it was according to their means, yes, I testify, it was even beyond their means,
8.4 while they on their own initiative kept earnestly begging us for the privilege of kindly giving, to have a share in the relief ministry for the holy ones.
8.5 And not merely as we had hoped, but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us through God’s will.
8.6 So we encouraged Titus that, just as he had initiated this work among you, he should also complete this same kind giving on your part.
8.7 Nevertheless, just as you abound in everything, in faith and word and knowledge and all earnestness and in our love for you, may you also abound in this kind giving.
8.8 I am saying this, not to command you, but to make you aware of the earnestness of others and to test the genuineness of your love.
8.9 For you know the undeserved kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sake, so that you might become rich through his poverty.
8.10 And in this I give my opinion: This is for your benefit, seeing that already a year ago you not only initiated the action but also showed your desire to do it.
8.11 So now, also complete what you started to do, so that your readiness to act may be completed according to the means you have available.
8.12 For if the readiness is there first, it is especially acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what a person does not have.
8.13 For I do not want to make it easy for others, but difficult for you;
8.14 but that by means of an equalizing, your surplus at the present time might offset their need, so that their surplus might also offset your deficiency, that there may be an equalizing.
8.15 Just as it is written: “The person with much did not have too much, and the person with little did not have too little.”
8.16 Now thanks be to God for putting the same earnest concern for you in the heart of Titus,
8.17 because he has indeed responded to the encouragement, but being very eager, he is coming to you on his own initiative.
8.18 But we are sending along with him the brother whose praise in connection with the good news has spread through all the congregations.
8.19 Not only that, but he was also appointed by the congregations to be our traveling companion as we administer this kind gift for the glory of the Lord and in proof of our readiness to assist.
8.20 Thus we are avoiding having any man find fault with us in connection with this liberal contribution that we are administering.
8.21 For we ‘care for everything honestly, not only in the sight of Jehovah but also in the sight of men.’
8.22 Moreover, we are sending with them our brother whom we have often tested and found to be diligent in many matters, but now much more diligent on account of his great confidence in you.
8.23 If, though, there is any question about Titus, he is my companion and a fellow worker for your interests; or if there are questions about our brothers, they are apostles of congregations and a glory of Christ.
8.24 So demonstrate the proof of your love to them, and show the congregations why we boasted about you.
9.1 Now concerning the ministry that is for the holy ones, it is not really necessary for me to write you,
9.2 for I know your willingness about which I am boasting to the Macedonians, that Achaia has been ready now for a year, and your zeal has stirred up the majority of them.
9.3 But I am sending the brothers, so that our boasting about you might not prove empty in this respect and that you may really be ready, just as I said you would be.
9.4 Otherwise, if the Macedonians should come with me and find you not ready, we—not to mention you—should be put to shame by our confidence in you.
9.5 So I thought it necessary to encourage the brothers to come to you ahead of time and to get your promised bountiful gift ready in advance, so that this might be ready as a generous gift, and not as something extorted.
9.6 But as to this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
9.7 Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
9.8 Moreover, God is able to cause all his undeserved kindness to abound toward you so that you are always completely self-sufficient in everything, as well as having plenty for every good work.
9.9 (Just as it is written: “He has distributed widely; he has given to the poor. His righteousness continues forever.”
9.10 Now the One who abundantly supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating will supply and multiply the seed for you to sow and will increase the harvest of your righteousness.)
9.11 In everything you are being enriched for every sort of generosity, which produces through us an expression of thanks to God;
9.12 because the ministry of this public service is not only to provide well for the needs of the holy ones but also to be rich in many expressions of thanks to God.
9.13 Through the proof that this relief ministry gives, they glorify God because you are submissive to the good news about the Christ, as you publicly declared, and because you are generous in your contribution to them and to all.
9.14 And with supplication for you, they express affection for you because of the surpassing undeserved kindness of God upon you.
9.15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable free gift.
10.1 Now I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the mildness and kindness of the Christ, lowly though I am when among you face-to-face, but bold toward you when absent.
10.2 I beg that when present, I may not have to be bold and take the strong measures that I expect against some who view us as if we walked in a fleshly manner.
10.3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to what we are in the flesh.
10.4 For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things.
10.5 For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are bringing every thought into captivity to make it obedient to the Christ;
10.6 and we are prepared to inflict punishment for every disobedience, as soon as your own obedience is complete.
10.7 You look at things according to their face value. If anyone is confident in himself that he belongs to Christ, let him reflect again on this fact: Just as he belongs to Christ, so do we also.
10.8 For even if I should boast a bit too much about the authority that the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down, I would not be put to shame.
10.9 For I do not want to seem as though I were trying to terrify you by my letters.
10.10 For they say: “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his presence in person is weak and his speech contemptible.”
10.11 Let such a man consider that what we say by letters when absent, this we will also do when present.
10.12 For we do not dare to class ourselves or compare ourselves with some who recommend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.
10.13 However, we will not boast outside our assigned boundaries, but within the boundary of the territory that God measured out to us, making it reach even as far as you.
10.14 Really, we are not overextending ourselves as if we did not reach you, for we were the first to reach as far as you with the good news about the Christ.
10.15 No, we are not boasting outside our assigned boundaries about the labors of someone else, but we hope that as your faith continues to increase, what we have done may be made to increase, within our territory. Then we will abound still more,
10.16 so that we may declare the good news to the countries beyond you, so as not to boast in what has already been done in someone else’s territory.
10.17 “But the one who boasts, let him boast in Jehovah.”
10.18 For it is not the one who recommends himself who is approved, but the one whom Jehovah recommends.