WEBVTT 00:00:06.509 --> 00:00:14.550 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul did a little boasting 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:20.649 in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, not boasting in 00:00:20.649 --> 00:00:22.649 the way that maybe some of these, as he would 00:00:22.649 --> 00:00:26.670 call them, super apostles were boasting. These 00:00:26.670 --> 00:00:29.550 super apostles had come in and they were preaching 00:00:29.550 --> 00:00:31.870 a different Jesus. The people were following. 00:00:32.509 --> 00:00:35.070 this version of Jesus as they were preaching, 00:00:35.210 --> 00:00:38.170 whatever that looked like. And Paul said, look, 00:00:38.250 --> 00:00:39.990 they're telling you a bunch of foolishness, but 00:00:39.990 --> 00:00:42.450 you gladly are listening to that foolishness, 00:00:42.490 --> 00:00:46.549 so let me be foolish for a minute. And so Paul 00:00:46.549 --> 00:00:49.770 in his foolishness said, look, if they have these 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:52.789 credentials that make them, you know, something 00:00:52.789 --> 00:00:55.689 that you want to listen to, then here's my credentials. 00:00:55.909 --> 00:00:59.289 But Paul's credentials were essentially... hard 00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:01.469 work and suffering and persecution for the gospel. 00:01:01.630 --> 00:01:04.950 I filled up seven football stadiums, and I took 00:01:04.950 --> 00:01:07.670 up a gazillion dollars, and I've been on every 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:11.469 talk show in the whole region around this area. 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:14.510 He didn't brag about those kind of things that 00:01:14.510 --> 00:01:17.370 maybe we may see people boast about today. Instead, 00:01:17.549 --> 00:01:20.170 Paul boasted about... I've been in prison. I've 00:01:20.170 --> 00:01:22.569 been beaten many times. I've been shipwrecked. 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:25.569 I've been lost at sea. I have experienced dangers 00:01:25.569 --> 00:01:29.230 in any way you can imagine. He says, I have suffered 00:01:29.230 --> 00:01:31.909 greatly for the kingdom of God. And that was 00:01:31.909 --> 00:01:36.390 what he boasted in. And tonight in this chapter, 00:01:36.590 --> 00:01:39.269 he's going to kind of conclude that idea, that 00:01:39.269 --> 00:01:43.090 thought. He doesn't really have any desire to 00:01:43.090 --> 00:01:45.250 boast in himself. We have to realize when we 00:01:45.250 --> 00:01:48.709 see these things through 2 Corinthians, Paul's 00:01:48.709 --> 00:01:52.709 desire is not to boast in himself. I think that's 00:01:52.709 --> 00:01:55.430 clear as we read through the whole book. But 00:01:55.430 --> 00:01:58.810 even still, he knows that even though he feels 00:01:58.810 --> 00:02:02.689 foolish in doing this, he sees some benefit in 00:02:02.689 --> 00:02:05.989 it. Not so people would come to have some greater 00:02:05.989 --> 00:02:10.030 appreciation and worship him, but so they would 00:02:10.030 --> 00:02:13.069 listen to his message, which was Jesus Christ. 00:02:13.349 --> 00:02:18.310 And so he boasts in a reluctant way. But tonight, 00:02:18.469 --> 00:02:21.629 he's going to boast in a way that really shows 00:02:21.629 --> 00:02:24.069 his heart. So let's pray, and then we'll get 00:02:24.069 --> 00:02:26.310 started. God, we come to you. We thank you for 00:02:26.310 --> 00:02:28.370 your good words. I pray that your Holy Spirit 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:30.229 will be with us tonight. I thank you that we 00:02:30.229 --> 00:02:33.530 can come and laugh and love each other and just 00:02:33.530 --> 00:02:36.069 have a good time, dear Lord, and have freedom 00:02:36.069 --> 00:02:38.229 to do so in your house. I pray that your Holy 00:02:38.229 --> 00:02:41.090 Spirit would lead me in the words to say that 00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:43.150 you would help your word to speak to us tonight. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:46.080 Meet us where we are, dear Lord. Help us to find 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:48.020 strength in you in the midst of our weakness. 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:51.439 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:02:52.500 --> 00:02:54.479 All right, we're going to look at about the first 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.819 few verses, and we'll talk about that for a little 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:01.060 bit. We'll go through about the middle of verse 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:05.280 7, and verse 7 kind of takes up in the middle 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:07.120 of a sentence. We'll finish that sentence. We'll 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.659 talk about those few verses, then we'll move 00:03:09.659 --> 00:03:13.490 on to the rest of the passage. 2 Corinthians 00:03:13.490 --> 00:03:19.050 chapter 12, verse 1. Boasting is necessary, it 00:03:19.050 --> 00:03:22.490 is not profitable, but I will move on to visions 00:03:22.490 --> 00:03:26.530 and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in 00:03:26.530 --> 00:03:29.250 Christ who was caught up into the third heaven 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:33.330 14 years ago. Whether he was in the body or out 00:03:33.330 --> 00:03:37.389 of the body, I don't know. God knows. I know 00:03:37.389 --> 00:03:39.949 that this man, whether in the body or out of 00:03:39.949 --> 00:03:42.889 the body, I don't know. God knows. was caught 00:03:42.889 --> 00:03:46.870 up into paradise. He heard inexpressible words 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:50.990 which a man is not allowed to speak. I will boast 00:03:50.990 --> 00:03:54.729 about this person, but not about myself, except 00:03:54.729 --> 00:03:59.009 for my weaknesses. For if I want to boast, I 00:03:59.009 --> 00:04:01.370 will not be a fool because I will be telling 00:04:01.370 --> 00:04:05.129 the truth. But I will spare you so that no one 00:04:05.129 --> 00:04:07.870 can credit me with something beyond what he sees 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:12.139 in me or hears from me. especially because of 00:04:12.139 --> 00:04:18.279 the extraordinary revelations. Now this passage 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:21.540 leaves us maybe with more questions than it does 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:26.000 answers. We see here that Paul is kind of wrapping 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.240 up his boasting in a sense. He sees that in some 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:35.819 way it's not profitable, but he still realizes 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:38.860 that there is some need for that. And then he 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:40.759 shifts gears and he says, I want to tell you 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:42.600 about somebody else. I don't want to boast in 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:45.220 myself, but I want to tell you about another 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:49.240 man who 14 years ago was caught up into the third 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:53.399 heaven. Now, there is a lot of speculation as 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:55.800 to who Paul is talking about here. Obviously, 00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:58.160 we don't know. We can only speculate. Scripture 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:00.600 doesn't tell us who he's talking about here. 00:05:00.980 --> 00:05:06.500 The general rule that is commonly agreed upon. 00:05:07.339 --> 00:05:10.319 is that Paul is in fact talking about himself, 00:05:10.500 --> 00:05:13.620 that he doesn't want to say his name, he doesn't 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:16.740 want to draw attention to himself, and so therefore 00:05:16.740 --> 00:05:19.180 he says, well, I'm just going to tell you about 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:23.019 a man. Now, whether or not this is Paul, it doesn't 00:05:23.019 --> 00:05:25.259 really matter too much. I don't know if it was 00:05:25.259 --> 00:05:27.560 Paul or was not Paul that he was talking about. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.360 I suspect it probably was. He probably was speaking 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:36.230 of himself in some way. We see a similar thing 00:05:36.230 --> 00:05:39.189 in the book of Mark when there's one who's there 00:05:39.189 --> 00:05:42.269 with Jesus when he's arrested and those who are 00:05:42.269 --> 00:05:44.870 arresting Jesus, they grab the clothes of one 00:05:44.870 --> 00:05:47.269 of the people there and this person runs away 00:05:47.269 --> 00:05:50.509 and his clothes rip off and he runs away naked. 00:05:50.629 --> 00:05:53.509 We see that in the book of Mark. And it is also 00:05:53.509 --> 00:05:56.389 believed that that is probably Mark, that Mark 00:05:56.389 --> 00:05:58.790 is probably talking about himself there now. 00:05:58.889 --> 00:06:02.019 How scholars come to these conclusions. I'm not 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:04.779 really sure, but it's been generally agreed upon 00:06:04.779 --> 00:06:07.680 through the years that there Mark is talking 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:11.540 about himself while not naming himself. And here 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:14.879 it is usually agreed upon that Paul is speaking 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:18.100 about himself and not wanting to draw attention 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:24.079 to himself. Perhaps for just the kind of the 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.639 grandeur of this experience that somebody is 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:29.980 taken up into heaven and hears inexpressible 00:06:29.980 --> 00:06:33.139 words. I mean, Whatever it was that Paul or whoever 00:06:33.139 --> 00:06:37.860 this person was heard is indescribable, something 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:41.439 that we could not even begin to understand or 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:45.259 wrap our head around. And Paul gets to his main 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:47.920 point as he gets toward the end of this passage. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:54.180 He says, look, it's not a big deal. It's not 00:06:54.180 --> 00:06:56.750 a big deal about these things. that I'm telling 00:06:56.750 --> 00:06:59.430 you about. What matters is what you see of me 00:06:59.430 --> 00:07:01.550 and what you hear of me, what you have seen of 00:07:01.550 --> 00:07:05.050 me. So he could have told him this story, but 00:07:05.050 --> 00:07:08.490 this is all unprovable. So he's not trying to 00:07:08.490 --> 00:07:10.350 tell him something that is unprovable. He's not 00:07:10.350 --> 00:07:11.990 saying, let me tell you about this grand story. 00:07:12.250 --> 00:07:15.149 While it is certainly true, he's saying what 00:07:15.149 --> 00:07:17.430 you really need to pay attention to is not just 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:19.529 this story, but what you really need to pay attention 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:22.949 to is what you have seen and what you have heard 00:07:22.949 --> 00:07:25.550 from me. Now, this is a pretty incredible thing 00:07:25.550 --> 00:07:29.480 that, that Paul describes here. And Paul describes 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:32.360 that he says, I don't know if this was real, 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:35.139 if this person was literally taken to heaven, 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:38.459 or if this person was having some type of vision. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:41.519 He's not certain as to how all this occurred. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:43.939 There's a lot of questions here that we can speculate 00:07:43.939 --> 00:07:47.399 on, but we simply don't have the answers to that. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:51.800 But nevertheless, Paul is using this as an example 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:56.000 in boasting. Kind of using it to get to people's 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:58.939 attention, but in reality saying, but don't pay 00:07:58.939 --> 00:08:01.040 too much attention to that. You've got enough 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:03.620 that you've seen and heard of me here that you 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:06.459 can pay attention to. Now, he says in this passage 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:09.240 that this person was caught up into the third 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:13.079 heaven. Again, there's a lot of speculation to 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:15.519 be had there because what in the world is the 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:18.560 third heaven? Well, you see right here, this 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:20.639 is the mention of the third heaven. What we know 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.490 about it is right here in this passage. Which 00:08:23.490 --> 00:08:27.230 isn't a whole lot. Now, there are certainly different 00:08:27.230 --> 00:08:30.269 views and interpretations about what the third 00:08:30.269 --> 00:08:34.129 heaven is. There are some religions, and it's 00:08:34.129 --> 00:08:36.649 a pretty important part of their religion, that 00:08:36.649 --> 00:08:38.470 they have interpreted this to mean that there 00:08:38.470 --> 00:08:43.820 are multiple levels of heaven. The worst people 00:08:43.820 --> 00:08:46.019 still make it to heaven, but they're on the first 00:08:46.019 --> 00:08:48.559 level. And then those who are a little bit better 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.740 on the second level and those who are really 00:08:50.740 --> 00:08:52.639 good get to make it to the third heaven. But 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:55.440 you've got to be really special. That's one teaching 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:59.580 that you may hear. Again, this is total speculation 00:08:59.580 --> 00:09:02.299 because the Scripture, it does not say that. 00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:05.700 It simply says the third heaven. Now, I think 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:07.700 that there's maybe a more reasonable explanation 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:10.000 than that. I certainly would disagree with that 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.769 interpretation. I think the more reasonable explanation 00:09:13.769 --> 00:09:17.429 we see is we read through Scripture. Because 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:19.769 what we see when we read through Scripture is 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:24.090 we see the heavens referring to different things 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:27.470 through the Scripture. The same word as heavens, 00:09:27.610 --> 00:09:32.309 but it's not always referring to the abode of 00:09:32.309 --> 00:09:35.110 God. Now certainly we would say God is in heaven, 00:09:35.210 --> 00:09:38.250 and I think that that's right to say. And so 00:09:38.250 --> 00:09:40.190 sometimes when we see heaven in the Scripture, 00:09:40.330 --> 00:09:44.179 it is talking about, where God resides. But sometimes 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:47.100 when we see heaven, it's talking about the sky, 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:49.440 the atmosphere that's around us. We see that 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:52.440 in Genesis, that God created the heavens and 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:56.139 the earth. We also see scriptures that talk about 00:09:56.139 --> 00:09:59.080 the heavens declare the glory of the Lord, or 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:02.299 we see the heavens referring to the stars of 00:10:02.299 --> 00:10:06.120 the sky. And so those are three different heavens, 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:09.610 all the same word. that's used there, heavens, 00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:12.549 and those instances that refer to the sky, outer 00:10:12.549 --> 00:10:15.950 space, and the abode of God, but it's the same 00:10:15.950 --> 00:10:18.610 word for all of them. So I believe that it's 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:21.450 probably the most reasonable explanation for 00:10:21.450 --> 00:10:24.710 three heavens here. It's not that there are multiple 00:10:24.710 --> 00:10:27.789 levels of heaven that we will go to one day, 00:10:27.870 --> 00:10:31.309 but it's simply saying the highest heaven. Okay, 00:10:31.389 --> 00:10:34.149 the first heaven we can see is the sky. The second 00:10:34.149 --> 00:10:37.230 heaven we can see, outer space. And the third 00:10:37.230 --> 00:10:41.309 heaven, the abode of God, this is what this person 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:43.850 saw, Paul or whoever it was. He was taken up 00:10:43.850 --> 00:10:47.649 to the third heaven. And so this first part of 00:10:47.649 --> 00:10:51.789 this passage, It's a lot to consider and a lot 00:10:51.789 --> 00:10:53.590 to think about, but we don't want to get too 00:10:53.590 --> 00:10:56.230 caught up in the weeds, but perhaps some of you 00:10:56.230 --> 00:10:58.110 had some thoughts or questions on that, so maybe 00:10:58.110 --> 00:11:01.110 you want to research it more, but we will move 00:11:01.110 --> 00:11:04.350 on. And he says in the middle of verse 7 here, 00:11:04.750 --> 00:11:08.830 Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, 00:11:09.070 --> 00:11:13.090 a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger 00:11:13.090 --> 00:11:17.730 of Satan to torment me, so that I would not exalt 00:11:17.730 --> 00:11:20.960 myself. All right, now this is an interesting 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:24.879 passage and maybe hard for us to wrap our mind 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:29.980 around or kind of grasp. But what does he say? 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:32.600 So that I would not exalt myself. That is to 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:37.080 say, so that I would remain humble. Now, we probably 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:40.620 all at some point in time, there is a temptation 00:11:40.620 --> 00:11:44.360 to exalt ourselves, a temptation to be proud. 00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:48.779 Maybe you get a compliment or maybe, you know, 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.980 you really take care of yourself, and man, you 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:53.799 start looking good, you start working out, you 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:56.539 start losing weight, and man, you start looking 00:11:56.539 --> 00:11:59.019 good, and you see yourself in the mirror, and 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:01.580 you think, man, I'm pretty good looking, or you 00:12:01.580 --> 00:12:03.919 sing, and you think, man, I'm a pretty good singer, 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:07.000 or you get that compliment, or whatever it is. 00:12:07.139 --> 00:12:09.779 There's a lot of things in this life that we 00:12:09.779 --> 00:12:13.120 can begin to... exalt ourselves a little bit. 00:12:13.179 --> 00:12:16.620 Man, I do such a good job at my job. Like, who 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:19.519 else could do as good as me at doing this job? 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:22.480 Or I'm so great at this sport. And we begin to 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:26.559 exalt ourselves. And there's probably times in 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:28.720 all of our lives that maybe we could say that 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.960 we've had a humbling. Man, those are not good 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:34.360 times. But all of a sudden, we start getting 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:36.159 a little proud. We start exalting ourselves. 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:41.860 And God graciously humbles us sometimes. But 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:45.419 Paul says here, so that I would not exalt myself. 00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:49.440 Now, maybe the exaltation was going to come from 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.360 what he had seen or whoever he's talking about 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:55.340 had seen. Maybe there would be a temptation there. 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:58.000 Look, I've been to the highest heaven. I've heard 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.100 and seen things that you cannot even imagine. 00:13:00.899 --> 00:13:04.860 Man, I must be special. Maybe that's what he's 00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:06.980 referring to. Maybe there's something else in 00:13:06.980 --> 00:13:10.139 his life that he's tempted to exalt himself about. 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:14.179 Whatever the thing is that's maybe a temptation 00:13:14.179 --> 00:13:18.019 for him to exalt himself, God deals with that. 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:21.580 Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:26.379 a thorn in the flesh was given to me. Now, again, 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:29.059 like the other verses, there's a lot of speculation 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:32.870 here as to what this thorn in the flesh is. Now, 00:13:32.889 --> 00:13:36.230 I suppose that it is possible that the thorn 00:13:36.230 --> 00:13:38.409 in the flesh is a literal thorn in his flesh. 00:13:38.629 --> 00:13:41.149 However, it's unlikely. It's probably something 00:13:41.149 --> 00:13:44.649 much more severe than an actual, I've been walking 00:13:44.649 --> 00:13:46.889 through a thorn into a thorn bush and I got a 00:13:46.889 --> 00:13:49.730 thorn in me. There's a symbolic language that 00:13:49.730 --> 00:13:51.769 there's something that's sticking in me and it's 00:13:51.769 --> 00:13:54.850 painful and it hurts and I can't get it out. 00:13:54.929 --> 00:13:57.990 It's always there poking me and jabbing me. It's 00:13:57.990 --> 00:14:01.870 always reminding me that it's there. So therefore, 00:14:02.029 --> 00:14:08.490 so that I will not exalt myself, he says, a thorn 00:14:08.490 --> 00:14:11.870 in the flesh was given to me. Now, we don't know 00:14:11.870 --> 00:14:13.970 what that thorn in the flesh is. You can go home 00:14:13.970 --> 00:14:15.610 and you can research this and you're going to 00:14:15.610 --> 00:14:20.399 find a lot of things that it could be. It could 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.220 be some physical ailment. It could be some anxiety. 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:26.279 It could be some depression. It could be just 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:28.779 the persecutions that he goes through. I mean, 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:31.840 the list goes on and on of things that people 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:35.720 have speculated that this thorn in the flesh 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:39.539 could be. We simply do not know what it is. But 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:43.080 it's something that was always kind of there 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:47.259 with Paul that was keeping him on level ground, 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:50.659 so to speak. It was keeping him grounded in the 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:53.740 Lord. Now listen to what he says about this thorn 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:58.360 in the flesh. He says, a messenger of Satan to 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.039 torment me so that I would not exalt myself. 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:04.460 So a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger 00:15:04.460 --> 00:15:07.419 of Satan to torment me. Now that's pretty serious 00:15:07.419 --> 00:15:10.549 language right there. What is he talking about 00:15:10.549 --> 00:15:12.649 when he talks about a messenger of Satan? Some 00:15:12.649 --> 00:15:15.389 translations may say angel. Same word there, 00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:18.309 messenger angel. You look back and you study 00:15:18.309 --> 00:15:20.750 the original language. We see that a lot. That's 00:15:20.750 --> 00:15:24.129 what an angel is, a messenger. And so he says 00:15:24.129 --> 00:15:27.549 part of this thorn in the flesh was that a messenger 00:15:27.549 --> 00:15:31.950 of Satan was sent to torment him. What does this 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:36.389 mean? Well, perhaps it was some kind of demonic. 00:15:37.690 --> 00:15:40.950 follower of Satan that was doing something, having 00:15:40.950 --> 00:15:43.649 some impact in Paul's life that wasn't giving 00:15:43.649 --> 00:15:46.450 him rest, that was just constantly just attacking 00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:49.230 him in some way. That's a possibility. Maybe 00:15:49.230 --> 00:15:51.990 this messenger of Satan was human. Maybe it was 00:15:51.990 --> 00:15:55.730 somebody that Satan was using to hinder Paul. 00:15:55.929 --> 00:15:58.049 We know that Paul faced a lot of opposition. 00:15:58.769 --> 00:16:01.509 We see a similar thing with Judas who betrayed 00:16:01.509 --> 00:16:05.870 Jesus, that Satan... essentially used Judas as 00:16:05.870 --> 00:16:09.529 a messenger of Satan to betray Jesus. So we don't 00:16:09.529 --> 00:16:11.909 know who this messenger is, whether it's a supernatural 00:16:11.909 --> 00:16:15.129 messenger or whether it's a real person that's 00:16:15.129 --> 00:16:19.029 just coming against Paul. But whoever this messenger 00:16:19.029 --> 00:16:23.169 was, it was a constant torment to him. It was 00:16:23.169 --> 00:16:26.169 a constant struggle to him. It was something 00:16:26.169 --> 00:16:29.309 that he always was having to deal with, and he 00:16:29.309 --> 00:16:33.039 never could quite escape. And in whatever way 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.519 that God was allowing this to take place, and 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:41.240 God did allow this to take place, and God sometimes 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:44.779 may allow us to go through things, maybe that's 00:16:44.779 --> 00:16:48.580 how God keeps us in check and keeps us dependent 00:16:48.580 --> 00:16:52.679 on him, is he allows us sometimes to endure things 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:57.480 that we may not think are for our good. But maybe 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:00.480 in the same way that Paul is being helped here 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.399 so that he would not exalt himself, maybe the 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:06.960 Lord uses events in our life, allows things to 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:10.220 happen in our life that are going to cause us 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:13.440 to have to continue to trust in the Lord. Because 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:17.640 if we do begin to exalt ourselves and we're never 00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:19.720 brought down and we're always living in that 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:23.220 pride, then eventually we will just kind of forget 00:17:23.220 --> 00:17:25.519 about the Lord and we will not seek the Lord. 00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:28.980 And if Paul would have done that, and let's say 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:31.619 that Paul would not have had this thorn in the 00:17:31.619 --> 00:17:35.000 flesh, would not have had this messenger of Satan, 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.299 perhaps Paul would have exalted himself in whatever 00:17:38.299 --> 00:17:40.619 way that it was that he was tempted to do so. 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:43.220 And maybe he would not have been as effective 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:46.000 for the kingdom of God. Maybe he would have been 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.259 more concerned about his own ministry and what 00:17:48.259 --> 00:17:50.720 he had seen and what he had done, and maybe he 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.119 would have allowed that to go to his head. People 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:56.940 do that. Human beings do that. We see that sometimes 00:17:56.940 --> 00:17:59.539 with famous people that start out on a good track. 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:02.200 Maybe they're preachers. Maybe they're politicians. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:04.619 There's a lot of people that I think start out 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:08.099 on a good track. And they don't intend to go 00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:10.460 off the rails. They don't start off being evil. 00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:13.039 But, man, there's some exaltation and there's 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:14.819 some pride and there's some greed that comes 00:18:14.819 --> 00:18:18.660 in. And sometimes well -meaning people end up 00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:23.220 just really doing some horrible things. And so 00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:25.900 maybe in some way we... Man, we don't like these 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:28.880 thorns in our flesh. They're painful to us. We 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:31.920 wish we could just be free of some of our temptations, 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.140 some of the things that just keep coming back 00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:37.319 and coming back and coming back. And maybe this 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:40.059 is a way that God says, no, I want to use you, 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:43.519 but I want to make sure that you stay humble. 00:18:43.660 --> 00:18:45.920 I want to make sure that you continue to trust 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.359 in me. And so God certainly had allowed this 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:52.160 thorn in Paul's flesh in whatever way it was, 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:55.220 whatever was tormenting him that he wanted to 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:59.440 escape from, he was not able to escape from that. 00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:05.519 And sometimes it's a hard thing for us to consider, 00:19:05.619 --> 00:19:09.460 but there may be some things in our life that 00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:13.599 God may not deliver us from. It may not be his 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:17.490 will to deliver us from those things. But it 00:19:17.490 --> 00:19:20.329 may be that he allows things to happen because 00:19:20.329 --> 00:19:24.609 those things are making us into the person that 00:19:24.609 --> 00:19:27.630 he wants us to be. And that's a hard thing for 00:19:27.630 --> 00:19:30.190 us as human beings to wrap our head around because 00:19:30.190 --> 00:19:34.190 we understand things in a human way. But as the 00:19:34.190 --> 00:19:37.069 proverb says, trust in the Lord with all your 00:19:37.069 --> 00:19:39.289 heart and do not rely on your own understanding. 00:19:39.789 --> 00:19:41.730 I was talking to somebody the other day and they 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:43.839 said, man, you see in the scripture, You know, 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.119 Jesus had the ability to heal and the apostles 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:48.500 thereafter had some ability to heal. And he said, 00:19:48.539 --> 00:19:51.380 wouldn't it be great? He said, I wish I had the 00:19:51.380 --> 00:19:53.279 power to touch somebody and heal them today. 00:19:54.019 --> 00:19:56.019 And I said, I don't know if I would want that 00:19:56.019 --> 00:19:59.519 power or not. And I don't know that we could 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:01.680 be trusted with that power if God were to give 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:04.259 all of us that power. Because I don't know about 00:20:04.259 --> 00:20:07.099 you, but I'd heal everybody. Man, I'd get me 00:20:07.099 --> 00:20:09.359 a jet. I'd fly around to every hospital, to every 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.400 sick person in the world. I'd just be like, bam, 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:14.039 heal, bam, heal, bam, heal, bam, heal. I mean, 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:16.119 that's what we would want. Every child we saw, 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:18.240 every person, every friend we know, we get to 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:20.599 call so -and -so's in the hospital like on the 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:22.720 way. And we would go and we would heal every 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.680 person. And we would think this is a good and 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:29.079 right thing to do. But we know that it's maybe 00:20:29.079 --> 00:20:31.119 not the best thing to do. How do we know that? 00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:35.069 Because God does not do it and God is good. Why 00:20:35.069 --> 00:20:39.089 is it maybe not always good? Well, how many people 00:20:39.089 --> 00:20:41.650 have come to the Lord in the midst of their suffering? 00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:45.650 How many people in the midst of their pain, in 00:20:45.650 --> 00:20:47.410 the midst of their heartache, in the midst of 00:20:47.410 --> 00:20:50.849 their life falling apart, have called out to 00:20:50.849 --> 00:20:53.950 the Lord and trusted Him? How many people in 00:20:53.950 --> 00:20:57.670 their hardest moments have trusted the Lord all 00:20:57.670 --> 00:21:01.369 the more? And what if those hardest moments were 00:21:01.369 --> 00:21:04.930 wiped away? What if that pain was wiped away? 00:21:04.990 --> 00:21:08.650 What if healing was instant? Perhaps there would 00:21:08.650 --> 00:21:10.809 be many people who would not come to the Lord. 00:21:11.690 --> 00:21:14.250 I suspect there are some of you in here that 00:21:14.250 --> 00:21:16.049 would say, man, there was a time in my life where 00:21:16.049 --> 00:21:18.470 I was going through so much stuff and I had to 00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:21.390 pray to the Lord so much and your faith was strengthened 00:21:21.390 --> 00:21:24.569 and you trust the Lord more as a result of that. 00:21:27.069 --> 00:21:30.980 So maybe if we had that power, We wouldn't be 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:33.279 able to use it in the way that God wants us to. 00:21:34.819 --> 00:21:37.440 Sometimes, as we see in the case of Paul, and 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:41.140 maybe in our life sometimes too, God allows us 00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:43.240 to go through things because he knows it's going 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:45.400 to make us into the men and the women that he 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:49.220 wants us to be, that we need to be for his kingdom. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:52.259 And the things that he's allowing you to go through 00:21:52.259 --> 00:21:54.509 today, that you've been going through for 20 00:21:54.509 --> 00:21:58.009 years, maybe he's preparing you and he's strengthening 00:21:58.009 --> 00:22:00.589 you and he's getting you in the right spot for 00:22:00.589 --> 00:22:02.589 something that he wants you to do next week or 00:22:02.589 --> 00:22:06.309 next year and in 20 years. And maybe he's preparing 00:22:06.309 --> 00:22:09.470 you for that. And maybe he wants to use you in 00:22:09.470 --> 00:22:13.450 the same way that he wanted to use Paul. And 00:22:13.450 --> 00:22:15.849 the way that he kept using Paul and the way that 00:22:15.849 --> 00:22:19.029 he wanted was he allowed this thorn in Paul's 00:22:19.029 --> 00:22:23.099 flesh to persist. So what does Paul say in verse 00:22:23.099 --> 00:22:26.480 8? Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:30.339 times to take it away from me. Now this is a 00:22:30.339 --> 00:22:32.740 natural thing to do. This is what we should do. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:36.680 When we've got conflict and stress and pain and 00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:39.759 temptation, we should take it to the Lord. We 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.640 should pray to the Lord and say, God, here's 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:46.019 this thing I'm going through, but God, your will 00:22:46.019 --> 00:22:49.240 be done, not my will be done. That's exactly 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:51.480 what Jesus prayed, okay? He's listening to go 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:53.859 be crucified. He's about to go be nailed to a 00:22:53.859 --> 00:22:57.359 cross. Jesus knows that what is before him is 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:01.000 about to be a horrible and painful thing in a 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.619 lot of ways. I mean, you got the pain of all 00:23:03.619 --> 00:23:05.319 the people that are closest to you just running 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:07.640 off and leaving you. Well, that's pretty bad, 00:23:07.740 --> 00:23:10.740 and that ain't even the start of it. As soon 00:23:10.740 --> 00:23:12.880 as your friends leave, now all of a sudden you're 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:16.099 in a mall of people who hate you, that spit on 00:23:16.099 --> 00:23:18.279 you, that mock you, that rip your clothes off, 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:20.700 that put a crown of thorns on you, that nail 00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:23.619 you to a cross and that stand there and joyfully 00:23:23.619 --> 00:23:27.319 watch you die while you are dying to cover their 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:30.900 sins. Now that's a pain. That's a lot of pain 00:23:30.900 --> 00:23:33.839 that Jesus knows that he's about to experience. 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:38.569 And knowing that this pain is before him, He 00:23:38.569 --> 00:23:43.509 says, God, let this cup pass from me if it be 00:23:43.509 --> 00:23:47.390 your will. God, deliver me from this if it be 00:23:47.390 --> 00:23:50.250 your will. And Paul prayed this prayer three 00:23:50.250 --> 00:23:54.170 times, it says. I pleaded with the Lord three 00:23:54.170 --> 00:23:56.609 times to take this away from me. Now, I suspect 00:23:56.609 --> 00:23:59.730 that there are some of us in here that have pleaded 00:23:59.730 --> 00:24:03.819 with the Lord many more than three times. For 00:24:03.819 --> 00:24:07.039 ourselves, for our loved ones, for our world. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:09.819 There are lots of things that we have pleaded 00:24:09.819 --> 00:24:12.740 with the Lord on. God, would you deliver me from 00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:15.680 this? God, would you heal this person? God, would 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:18.380 you heal our world? God, would you heal me? God, 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:20.460 would you make my job better? God, would you 00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:22.579 make my marriage better? God, would you help 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:25.079 me with my children? God, would you help me with 00:24:25.079 --> 00:24:28.710 this? God, we have pleaded with God. I'm talking 00:24:28.710 --> 00:24:32.190 about earnestly and genuinely pleaded and called 00:24:32.190 --> 00:24:35.730 out to the Lord. And sometimes God has heard 00:24:35.730 --> 00:24:38.869 our prayers and other times he has heard those 00:24:38.869 --> 00:24:41.849 prayers but not answered in the way that we have 00:24:41.849 --> 00:24:45.069 asked. And Paul asked, and there is nothing wrong 00:24:45.069 --> 00:24:48.549 to ask, but what we always must remember is that 00:24:48.549 --> 00:24:53.170 we must always ask in God's will. We think we 00:24:53.170 --> 00:24:55.450 may know that... If we got healed in this way 00:24:55.450 --> 00:24:57.430 or somebody else got healed in this way or if 00:24:57.430 --> 00:24:59.890 we got this new job or if we got this new thing, 00:25:00.049 --> 00:25:02.589 we think that it'd be better for us, but God 00:25:02.589 --> 00:25:05.930 knows what's better for us, and we do not. So 00:25:05.930 --> 00:25:07.890 we plead with the Lord and we seek the Lord and 00:25:07.890 --> 00:25:10.009 we pray to the Lord and we seek the Lord's will, 00:25:10.170 --> 00:25:12.890 and that's what Paul did. Now, you're not going 00:25:12.890 --> 00:25:15.450 to tell me that Paul wasn't a man of faith, that 00:25:15.450 --> 00:25:17.650 Paul didn't trust the Lord. Certainly he did. 00:25:18.809 --> 00:25:21.750 But even though he pleaded with the Lord, God 00:25:21.750 --> 00:25:24.289 did not remove this thorn in his flesh. Listen 00:25:24.289 --> 00:25:27.569 to what the next verse says. This is God speaking 00:25:27.569 --> 00:25:31.309 here in verse 9. But he said to me, My grace 00:25:31.309 --> 00:25:36.390 is sufficient, for power is perfected in weakness. 00:25:37.710 --> 00:25:39.650 Now if you don't know that scripture, you need 00:25:39.650 --> 00:25:42.049 to know that scripture. You need to make a note 00:25:42.049 --> 00:25:43.849 of that. You need to write that down. You need 00:25:43.849 --> 00:25:45.950 to underline that if you underline that in your 00:25:45.950 --> 00:25:50.599 Bible. That is a good scripture. My grace is 00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:53.900 sufficient for power is perfected in weakness. 00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:57.259 Now there are going to be things in our life 00:25:57.259 --> 00:25:59.720 that are hard. And you know that because you've 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.140 gone through them and you're going through them 00:26:02.140 --> 00:26:04.500 and you will go through them. And there are things 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:06.700 in your life that you just wish you could be 00:26:06.700 --> 00:26:10.059 delivered from and they bring a lot of difficulty 00:26:10.059 --> 00:26:13.539 and pain and stress and heartache and angst in 00:26:13.539 --> 00:26:15.779 your life and those things are just so tough. 00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:19.440 And you call out to the Lord and listen to what 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:24.220 the Lord said to Paul here. He said, my grace 00:26:24.220 --> 00:26:28.339 is sufficient. And that's the only way we're 00:26:28.339 --> 00:26:30.140 going to make it through the things that we go 00:26:30.140 --> 00:26:33.079 through. Say, God, how am I going to make it? 00:26:33.099 --> 00:26:34.940 God, how am I going to make it through this? 00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:38.480 I cannot make it another day, dear Lord. The 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:40.559 pain, the heartache, the hardship that I'm going 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:44.059 through, it is too much, God. God, how will I 00:26:44.059 --> 00:26:47.539 make it? And maybe we need to hear the words 00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:51.339 of God tonight where God says to Paul, my grace 00:26:51.339 --> 00:26:54.960 is sufficient. By the grace of God, that's how 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:58.700 we'll make it. By the grace of God. On the days 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:00.119 where you say, I don't know if I can make it 00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:02.980 another day. You can make it by the grace of 00:27:02.980 --> 00:27:05.920 God. On the days that you say, I got too much 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:09.319 pain, dear Lord. I just, I cannot make it. You 00:27:09.319 --> 00:27:12.220 make it by the grace of God. You're going to 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:14.759 see people. family and co -workers and people 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:16.980 that you just do not want to see, that are just, 00:27:17.019 --> 00:27:19.420 they make your life hard and miserable, and you 00:27:19.420 --> 00:27:22.440 say, God, I cannot bear to be around them for 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:25.039 one more day, God. How am I going to make it? 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:28.859 You're going to make it by the grace of God. 00:27:30.220 --> 00:27:34.220 My grace is sufficient, God says. And what does 00:27:34.220 --> 00:27:38.859 he say after that? For power is perfected in 00:27:38.859 --> 00:27:42.329 weakness. Power is perfected in weakness. He 00:27:42.329 --> 00:27:45.009 doesn't say power is perfected in strength. He 00:27:45.009 --> 00:27:46.549 doesn't say I'm just going to make you super 00:27:46.549 --> 00:27:48.650 strong and everything's going to go good for 00:27:48.650 --> 00:27:51.250 you and in that strength and in all of that good 00:27:51.250 --> 00:27:53.289 that's happening for you, then you're going to 00:27:53.289 --> 00:27:56.690 see my full power. That's not what he says. He 00:27:56.690 --> 00:28:00.890 says power is perfected in weakness. He says, 00:28:00.910 --> 00:28:03.549 with this thorn in your flesh, with this weakness, 00:28:03.730 --> 00:28:05.829 with all of this that you're going through and 00:28:05.829 --> 00:28:08.250 suffering in your life, with all of these things, 00:28:08.329 --> 00:28:10.250 God says, this is how you're going to know my 00:28:10.250 --> 00:28:12.569 power. This is how you're going to see my grace. 00:28:12.710 --> 00:28:14.529 This is how you're going to learn to trust me 00:28:14.529 --> 00:28:16.609 all the more. This is how I'm going to make you 00:28:16.609 --> 00:28:18.849 into the man that I want you to be. This is how 00:28:18.849 --> 00:28:21.029 I'm going to use you for my kingdom. This is 00:28:21.029 --> 00:28:23.569 how you're going to make it through by my grace 00:28:23.569 --> 00:28:26.549 and my power. And God tells him, you're only 00:28:26.549 --> 00:28:29.740 going to experience that in weakness. And listen 00:28:29.740 --> 00:28:34.119 to what Paul says. Therefore, I will most gladly 00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:38.240 boast all the more about my weaknesses so that 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:42.759 Christ's power may reside in me. So I take pleasure 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:46.319 in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:50.839 and in pressures because of Christ. For when 00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:56.680 I am weak, then I am strong. What a beautiful 00:28:57.379 --> 00:29:00.920 Close to that section there. For when I'm weak, 00:29:01.079 --> 00:29:05.140 then I'm strong. There's a lot of people in this 00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:08.019 world. And man, they have exalted their self. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:11.339 And they are living in their strength. And their 00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:13.799 strength may be physical strength. It may be 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:16.259 their fame. It may be their wealth. It may be 00:29:16.259 --> 00:29:19.549 their job. It may be, you list it. There may 00:29:19.549 --> 00:29:22.009 be a lot of things that people, man, they are 00:29:22.009 --> 00:29:23.890 finding strength in these things and they are 00:29:23.890 --> 00:29:26.250 exalting themselves in these things. But guess 00:29:26.250 --> 00:29:28.869 what? At the end of the day, in their strength, 00:29:28.990 --> 00:29:34.190 they are weak. But for those who trust in Jesus 00:29:34.190 --> 00:29:38.289 Christ, we find a strength that is hard to explain 00:29:38.289 --> 00:29:41.750 to people who have never experienced. Paul says, 00:29:41.809 --> 00:29:44.990 for when I am weak, then I'm strong. That just 00:29:44.990 --> 00:29:47.500 don't even make any sense. You tell that to an 00:29:47.500 --> 00:29:48.680 unbeliever, they're going to say that don't even 00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:51.599 make any sense because they don't understand. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:55.319 They don't know what true power is. They don't 00:29:55.319 --> 00:29:58.920 know what the grace of God is. They're living 00:29:58.920 --> 00:30:00.799 for the world and the things of the world and 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:02.859 they are living in weakness and pain and they're 00:30:02.859 --> 00:30:05.319 still trying to find the answer and the answer 00:30:05.319 --> 00:30:09.400 is humbling ourselves before Jesus Christ. That's 00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:13.180 where we're going to find strength. On the days 00:30:13.180 --> 00:30:15.299 that we say, God, I am too weak to carry on. 00:30:16.589 --> 00:30:18.730 God I am too weak to go back to that office. 00:30:19.529 --> 00:30:22.250 God I am too weak to go out into that mission 00:30:22.250 --> 00:30:25.730 field. God I am too weak to go in for another 00:30:25.730 --> 00:30:29.130 treatment. God I am too weak to make it through 00:30:29.130 --> 00:30:33.470 another day. When we get to that moment and we 00:30:33.470 --> 00:30:36.470 become completely and totally dependent on God. 00:30:37.849 --> 00:30:40.930 You'll find a strength that you can't even imagine. 00:30:42.210 --> 00:30:45.210 You'll find a peace that you can't even imagine. 00:30:46.009 --> 00:30:49.309 And Paul says, this is what I will boast in, 00:30:49.470 --> 00:30:53.130 that I am weak, that I'm a human being and I'm 00:30:53.130 --> 00:30:55.809 weak and I have failures and I have difficulties 00:30:55.809 --> 00:30:58.809 and I have temptations and I fail sometimes and 00:30:58.809 --> 00:31:03.910 I'm not a good speaker and I'm a weak man. But 00:31:03.910 --> 00:31:06.750 I have found strength in Jesus Christ and that's 00:31:06.750 --> 00:31:09.069 what he wants his audience to find. That's what 00:31:09.069 --> 00:31:11.160 he cares about. He don't care about all this 00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:13.559 boasting. He don't care about people knowing 00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:15.740 what he's done or how he's done it. He wants 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:18.240 people to know that he loves Jesus. And he knows 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:20.920 that to love Jesus and to feel the strength of 00:31:20.920 --> 00:31:26.339 Jesus requires humility. So wherever you are 00:31:26.339 --> 00:31:28.119 tonight, maybe you're in the midst of a struggle 00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:30.240 now. Maybe you will be in a couple of months. 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:33.380 You remember the word of God that his grace is 00:31:33.380 --> 00:31:36.799 sufficient. And on your weakest days, you seek 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:40.380 his power for his power is perfected. and weakness. 00:31:40.579 --> 00:31:42.839 Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you 00:31:42.839 --> 00:31:45.160 for these good words. That's a few things in 00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:47.539 here, dear Lord, that we just speculate on that 00:31:47.539 --> 00:31:49.460 we don't have a good answer to. We just don't 00:31:49.460 --> 00:31:51.400 know. And help us not to get caught up in the 00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:53.599 weeds. What we do know, dear Lord, is that you 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:57.039 are good. And sometimes, God, as hard as it is, 00:31:57.160 --> 00:31:59.420 you allow us to go through things that are hard 00:31:59.420 --> 00:32:01.319 and that are painful and that we do not enjoy. 00:32:02.700 --> 00:32:05.339 But God, just like Paul, sometimes you use these 00:32:05.339 --> 00:32:10.329 thorns in our flesh to keep us humble. To keep 00:32:10.329 --> 00:32:12.549 us to seek you, dear Lord. Without that, man, 00:32:12.609 --> 00:32:15.309 maybe we'd go out on our own and get ourselves 00:32:15.309 --> 00:32:17.269 into trouble. And maybe, God, there are some 00:32:17.269 --> 00:32:19.329 here tonight or some online that are listening 00:32:19.329 --> 00:32:22.049 that they have gone out on their own. And they 00:32:22.049 --> 00:32:23.930 have trusted in their own strength. And they 00:32:23.930 --> 00:32:27.990 have realized they're not as strong as they thought, 00:32:28.089 --> 00:32:31.109 dear Lord. So I pray that we would listen to 00:32:31.109 --> 00:32:34.170 Paul's words here. That we would listen to your 00:32:34.170 --> 00:32:36.750 words, dear Lord. That we would know tonight 00:32:36.750 --> 00:32:40.099 that your grace is sufficient. And that's the 00:32:40.099 --> 00:32:43.059 only thing that's sufficient. And God, we may 00:32:43.059 --> 00:32:45.400 have come in here weak tonight. We are, God. 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:47.619 We just need to admit that. Maybe we don't want 00:32:47.619 --> 00:32:50.799 to, but we need to admit that truth. We are weak 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:53.900 human beings and we struggle and life is hard. 00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:57.180 But God, if we would just seek you, your power 00:32:57.180 --> 00:32:59.640 is perfected in our weakness. So God, help us 00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:01.680 just to humble ourselves, to quit trying to do 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:05.859 it on our own, but to trust you so that we may 00:33:05.859 --> 00:33:09.200 be able to say, God, that when we are weak, We 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:11.980 are strong through Jesus Christ. And I ask these 00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:14.160 things in Jesus' name. Amen.