1 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:20,680 We've been talking about the multi dimensional grace of God. 2 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,920 How many of you know God is not a one-dimensional God? 3 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:28,520 Sometimes people get a hold of one thing and they act like 4 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:30,840 that's the only thing there is to it. 5 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,600 And, you know, even, you know, the, the wonderful school that 6 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,880 Pastor Earl and Marcy and I had the privilege of being students 7 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,480 at and, and that type of thing, you know, they've got a big 8 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:43,000 faith shield up on top of the building. 9 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:49,080 And thank God for faith. You know, we're saved by faith. 10 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,120 We live by faith. We walk by faith. 11 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,160 Without faith it's impossible to please God. 12 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:00,240 But then Brother Hagin was called to teach faith. 13 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,560 There's nothing wrong. And actually, there's a lot 14 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:08,080 right about people who are specialists, you know, who are 15 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,560 called especially focus on a particular topic. 16 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:19,040 But but sometimes in hearing that some listeners act like 17 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:24,080 that specialized topic is all there is to it, instead of 18 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:29,000 realizing that it's one of many facets of that beautiful diamond 19 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,760 of God's truth. You know, for example, of people 20 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,160 get a hold of faith, but they forget. 21 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,000 But the Bible also teaches wisdom and the Bible also 22 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,920 teaches patience, and the Bible also teaches love and that type 23 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:44,440 of thing. So. 24 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,320 So we celebrate the fact that Brother Hagin had an assignment 25 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,600 to teach faith. Go teach my people faith. 26 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:53,800 But we're also very cognizant of the fact. 27 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:55,880 And he was certainly cognizant of the fact. 28 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,360 He people don't realize he taught a lot about walking in 29 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,080 love and being led by the Spirit and all these different things. 30 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:07,360 So when it comes to grace, I'm sure there's many more aspects 31 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,360 than what I'm covering, but we talked about saving grace and 32 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:17,560 strengthening grace and sanctifying grace and sharing 33 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,880 grace and serving grace. And I'm not going to go through 34 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,840 all that teaching tonight because we did, you know, that's 35 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:25,960 what we've been doing the last couple of days. 36 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:32,680 But grace is God making available from his nature 37 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:37,320 because grace is what flows out of a gracious God. 38 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:43,400 Aren't you glad God is gracious and, and, and so that he, he's 39 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,280 full of love and full of mercy and full of kindness. 40 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:53,200 And when his love acts there, when there's action from that 41 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,320 love, that's what we call saving grace and, and, and 42 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,120 strengthening grace and sharing grace and all these different 43 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,360 ones. But here's a statement I want to 44 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,320 make. And this is, I wish we had just 45 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,120 a whole session to teach on this topic and this topic alone. 46 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:15,480 The next slide says this, that grace is freely given by God, 47 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:20,760 but it is not automatically received or experienced by 48 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:25,800 people. Grace is freely given by God, 49 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,640 but it is not automatically received or experienced by 50 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:33,840 people. And so there's a there's a God 51 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,000 side of everything. And God is always the giver. 52 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:42,920 And at least initially there is the man side of things and we 53 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,600 are a receiver. But there also comes a point 54 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,920 where having received, we also become givers. 55 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,960 You know where when I was a student at Rhema, we had a 56 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:01,080 individual that said this, if God can get it through you, God 57 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,400 will get it to you. And maybe the people think 58 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,960 that's just a cliche, but it's really true. 59 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,840 God wants you to be so transformed by the good things 60 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,720 you receive from him that you don't simply become consumers, 61 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:21,240 but you become distributors. But you cannot give what you 62 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:25,320 have not received. And so the fact, for example, 63 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:31,320 that God has saving grace and is the author and The Fountainhead 64 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:35,960 and the source of saving grace and the fact that He makes it 65 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,040 available freely doesn't mean that everybody automatically 66 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,840 receives that there. There's this element of saying, 67 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:49,520 yes, it's not that we work for it, but there are ways that we 68 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:55,480 receive what God gives. OK, because God's not a, he's 69 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,080 not a bully. He's not going to, you know, 70 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,280 force you to have something that you refuse to accept. 71 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:06,520 And I want to give you 4 things very quickly 'cause I want to, I 72 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:12,400 want to get to Paul's thorn, but I want to give you 4 things that 73 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:18,280 will. These are biblical principles 74 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,800 that will enable you to tap into the grace of God. 75 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:25,120 How many? What if I told you that you 76 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:30,720 could have more or less grace depending on how you respond to 77 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,480 God? God's done all the giving. 78 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:37,000 He's always giving. But the question is, are we 79 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,320 receiving and, and what if I were to tell you there are 80 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,720 certain things you could do and I'm not teaching works here. 81 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,880 I'm not saying if you will, you know, perform all these rituals 82 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,680 and crawl on your hands and knees and do all these things, 83 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,880 then God might get inclined to bless you. 84 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,040 No, God's already done all the giving. 85 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:02,520 But, but these are things that you do to receive what He has 86 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,040 provided and is providing through the work of the Holy 87 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,040 Spirit. 4 things #1 faith. Everybody say faith. 88 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,680 Did you notice the other day? And what I said was probably the 89 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:16,640 number one scripture that people know about faith. 90 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,080 Ephesians 28 that faith and grace work together. 91 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,200 Paul said in Ephesians 28. And I know that's not the 92 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,000 Scripture that's up there now, but we'll get to this one in 93 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:32,880 just a minute. Paul said for by grace, are you 94 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,920 saved without faith? No, it doesn't say that, does 95 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,440 it? It says for by grace, that's 96 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,960 God's part. Are you saved through faith? 97 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:48,320 So grace and faith are partners. They work together. 98 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:53,720 All of God's principles are cooperating, and just like all 99 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:58,560 the no, no one facet of the diamond is in competition with 100 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:03,160 another facet on the diamond. That they're complementary, not 101 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:05,920 contradictory. Don't let people tell you that 102 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,480 faith and grace are contradictory, or that grace and 103 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:13,360 holiness are contradictory, or that grace and repentance are 104 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,080 contradictory, or that grace and confession are contradictory. 105 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,640 They're all complementary, but I'm going to give you 4 things 106 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:26,800 about how how we receive more. Everybody say more because see, 107 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,040 if you believe, well, we've just all got the same level of grace 108 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,280 and that type of thing. Well, maybe potentially we do, 109 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,720 but the reality is you're going to see from these scriptures 110 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:39,960 that that I'm sharing with you right now that we can walk. 111 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,720 God may have made all grace available to all of us, but we 112 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:49,120 may walk in different degrees of grace depending on our level of 113 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:53,440 cooperation. So first of all #1 faith. 114 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,800 Romans chapter 5 says, therefore, having been justified 115 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:02,080 by faith, you know what being justified means? 116 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:05,200 It's it's the word. It means to be made righteous. 117 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,000 How many of you are tonight here in this room? 118 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:13,320 You know that you are righteous in Jesus Christ. 119 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:18,040 Now, you're not righteous based on your personal track record, 120 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:23,680 but we're righteous in Christ. The Bible says God made him who 121 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,720 knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the 122 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,760 righteousness of God in Christ, not apart from Christ, but in 123 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,400 Christ having been justified by faith. 124 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:39,600 We have peace with God. Not good to have peace with God. 125 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,880 He's not there. There's no enmity, there's no 126 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,880 separation. We have peace with God through 127 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,240 our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom everybody say through whom? 128 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,960 How many of you know, everything comes and goes through Jesus. 129 00:08:55,960 --> 00:09:01,480 He is the mediator between God and man, through whom we also 130 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,560 have access. Everybody say access. 131 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:14,440 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. 132 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:22,400 Focus on this phrase. We have access by faith into 133 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:26,480 this grace. Faith and grace are 134 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,960 complementary. We're in this wonderful 135 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,440 auditorium and such a beautiful place. 136 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,120 And man, it's, it's beautiful not just because you know, the 137 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,760 decor and that's beautiful because it's full of beautiful 138 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,080 people and it's, it's full of the presence of God and things 139 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:45,000 like that. But what if during the 140 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,640 engineering and architectural process, and I know this is a 141 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,880 silly illustration, but what if they just accidentally forgot to 142 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,200 put doors in into this auditorium? 143 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:59,000 You'd have this beautiful auditorium and no way to get in. 144 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:07,440 Well, we have access through the doors into this auditorium, 145 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:16,600 access through the doors into the auditorium, The access, the 146 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,160 doors are not contradictory to the auditorium. 147 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,440 The doors are the way you enter in. 148 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:31,960 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. 149 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,120 So faith is huge. Faith is important. 150 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:41,400 Any, any realm where we can hear the word of God and what God has 151 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:43,560 provided. Faith comes by hearing and 152 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:48,720 hearing by the word of God. Every time that we accept faith 153 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:54,080 by agreeing with God, you know, trusting him and and so on and 154 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:58,160 so forth, we are accessing the grace of God. 155 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:04,240 So the first way that in our list that we access the grace of 156 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,280 God is through faith. Do you know if you say there's a 157 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:13,240 promise of God and you say I just don't believe that at all, 158 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:18,840 then you're not accessing the grace of that promise. 159 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:26,080 Now you may accept Jesus as your Savior and access salvation, but 160 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:31,680 you can say you know no to another area of God and His 161 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:36,480 provision and His blessing #2 the second way that we access 162 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:44,040 the grace of God is through the knowledge of God knowing Him. 163 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,680 And this Greek word in second Peter chapter one, verse 2, from 164 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:55,200 what I'm told, it's not talking about a cold intellectual 165 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,000 accumulation of information about God. 166 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:04,000 It means to know him on a personal level, on an 167 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:10,080 experiential level, taste and see that the Lord is good. 168 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:16,080 And here's what the Bible says. Peter said this grace and peace 169 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:20,760 are multiplied. Everybody say multiplied grace 170 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:25,960 and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of 171 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:30,360 Jesus our Lord. So the more you know him, not 172 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:34,360 just from an intellectual standpoint, but from a personal, 173 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,560 you know him and you, you, you catch his heart. 174 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:42,080 You're not just grabbing the letter of the law, but you're 175 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:44,800 embracing the spirit of the Word. 176 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:49,760 And you know Him, that the Bible says that grace and peace are 177 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:55,880 multiplied in your life because you know him #3 I know we're 178 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,440 moving quickly here, and that's by design. 179 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,680 James chapter 4, verse 6, Humility. 180 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:08,240 Everybody say humility. Humility is not thinking less of 181 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:11,760 yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. 182 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:19,720 It's thinking more of Him in James chapter 4 verse 6, it 183 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:27,040 says, but he God gives what more grace? 184 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:33,480 So we found out in according to Peter that grace and peace can 185 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:39,240 be multiplied in your life. And now we're finding out that 186 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:46,760 God will give more grace, but it it says, therefore, he says God 187 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:51,840 resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 188 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,400 And, and you know, we could do all kinds of teaching about 189 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:59,320 humility and that type of thing, but humility is basically just 190 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,840 where we acknowledge his greatness and awesomeness. 191 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:07,600 It's not where we tear ourselves down and denigrate ourselves 192 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:12,480 and, you know, just disagree with God by saying, you know, 193 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,040 we're just such worms of the dust and we're just such 194 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,800 horrible people. No, it's just we acknowledge who 195 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:23,920 he is and we put him in proper perspective and we realize, you 196 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,440 know, that just without, you know, groveling and wallowing in 197 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:31,120 the dirt and all that type of thing that we need him. 198 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:33,440 You know, we can't save ourselves. 199 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:37,960 We, he's done everything for us. And so we're not trying to earn 200 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,600 anything. We're simply receiving with 201 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,120 Thanksgiving and praise and gratitude. 202 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:47,960 We're receiving his blessings and man, we give him glory and 203 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:51,560 honor for everything. So the Bible says, look at it 204 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,600 again. And James, he gives more grace. 205 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:00,640 So it's obviously we can have grace that is multiplied or 206 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,160 grace that's not multiplied. How many of you want multiplied 207 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,560 grace? Well then grow in the knowledge 208 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,920 of God. How many of you want more grace? 209 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,400 Then humble yourself. What does it say? 210 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,960 God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 211 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:24,000 And finally #4 boldness. Now boldness is not arrogance. 212 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:30,960 Arrogance is a confidence based on self boldness is a confidence 213 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:34,800 based on God and his word and what he says. 214 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:41,800 Hebrews 416 NLT says so let us come boldly everybody say 215 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:45,200 boldly. It doesn't say come sheepishly, 216 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,720 it doesn't say come in backwards. 217 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,200 It doesn't say you know anything of that nature. 218 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:57,640 It says let us come boldly to the throne of see. 219 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,720 That's the reason we can come boldly to it. 220 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:05,880 It's a throne of grace to the throne of our gracious God. 221 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:12,480 There we will receive His mercy and we will find grace to help 222 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,280 everybody. Say grace to help see. 223 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:20,120 I think this is probably a special grace for special times 224 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:26,480 because there are times where we're facing extra difficult 225 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:32,160 situations in life and, and we just, we sense a greater need 226 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,760 for him. And it doesn't mean that when 227 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:39,360 things are going OK that we just tell God to take a vacation and 228 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:40,920 say, God, I can just, it's a pretty good day. 229 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,240 I can handle everything myself now we need him all the time. 230 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,120 But but there are times you, you know this to be true and I know 231 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,280 this to be true, man. You get hit from every direction 232 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,920 and you get hit with circumstances and situations 233 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,120 that you're tempted to feel overwhelmed and things like 234 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,680 that. That's the time that you need to 235 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,480 come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. 236 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:11,400 There you will receive His mercy and find grace to help when we 237 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:15,720 need it the most. So these four things, this is 238 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,240 the next slide. What do we do to keep ourselves? 239 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,640 I just like to say this, to keep ourselves positioned. 240 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,119 None of this has to do with earning, but it has to do with 241 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,440 receiving. What do we do? 242 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:34,760 We respond to God in faith when we hear His word, when we read 243 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,880 His word, we hear a promise. We read about His nature, His 244 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:40,920 goodness, His provisions, etcetera. 245 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,120 We just say yes. Remember Martin Luther said 246 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:51,240 faith is the yes of the heart. We embrace the knowledge of God. 247 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:55,600 God, I want to know you more. Reveal yourself like like Pastor 248 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,760 Earl prayed about. The Spirit of God has been sent 249 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:03,240 to reveal and unveil truth to us and to teach us things. 250 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,920 And then humble yourself before God. 251 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,840 DL Moody said God sends no one away empty except for the person 252 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,360 who's full of himself. So when you come to God, don't 253 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:16,080 come to God. Proud and arrogant. 254 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:18,600 God, I'm so awesome. God, I've got it all together. 255 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:20,280 God, I'm better than everybody else. 256 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:25,920 Just come to God in humility and say, God, thank you that you 257 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:28,840 know you, you've done so much for me. 258 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:33,200 And just, you know, praise and honor and worship him and then 259 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:38,800 finally boldly approach him. So you're ready to tackle Paul's 260 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,320 Thorn. All right, we're going to look 261 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:45,080 at this. And if I can just say this, I 262 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,000 approach this subject with a little bit of trepidation, 263 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:55,320 partly because it's so it, it's been so controversial and I 264 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,680 don't know your background and I don't know what you may have 265 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,120 been taught, you know, in previous churches and things 266 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,560 like that. And, and I just want to say 267 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:09,200 right at the offset, if I say anything that just, you know, 268 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,240 having a hard time, please just feel free to put it on the 269 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,200 shelf. I'm not trying to, you know, 270 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,800 force a perspective on you or, or anything like that. 271 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:23,880 But I'm going to share with you what to me is helpful. 272 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:28,960 And, and I think at least at the very least, it will cause us to 273 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:33,520 rethink maybe some of the things we've traditionally heard. 274 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,160 So let's look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7. 275 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:40,440 Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7. 276 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,960 I'm reading from the New King James Version and here Paul says 277 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,760 and and let can I give you some context for the these few 278 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,640 chapters right around here? Paul is mad. 279 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,040 OK, Paul is not happy with the Corinthian church. 280 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:03,520 Start reading in 2nd Corinthians 10 and 11:00 and 12:00 and 281 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,400 you're going to find out that Paul was not happy. 282 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:15,680 He, they, Paul had laid down his life for this church and, and 283 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:22,360 they were comparing him to what he called super apostles. 284 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,800 And, and, and they, it's just, you almost have to read the 285 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,280 whole, all these chapters 10/11/12 to get the full 286 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:33,920 context. But Paul is actually, he's a 287 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:39,440 little bit hot and he's a little bit sarcastic because, you know, 288 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:43,360 he's given everything for this church and they're not being 289 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:49,120 very respectful to him. And he's he's they're forcing 290 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:55,080 him to defend his apostleship and he's not happy about it. 291 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,360 So here's here's where we're going to pick up in Second 292 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:04,400 Corinthians 12/7. Paul says, and lest I should be 293 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:11,600 exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, 294 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:13,720 how many of you know Paul had a lot of revelation. 295 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:19,720 Many saw Jesus personally. You know, he had a revelation 296 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,960 about who we are in Christ. He had a revelation about the 297 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,920 church. I mean, Paul, I mean God used 298 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,400 him to write, you know, we, we say generally and approximately 299 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,440 about half of the New Testament and you know, it depends on how 300 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,680 you look at it and and read it and that type of thing. 301 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,160 But but not asking your opinion, but, but I want to ask you what 302 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,560 you think most people's opinion is. 303 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:48,080 What is Paul talking about from the very beginning of this 304 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:53,600 sentence when he says, lest I be exalted above measure, what's he 305 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:56,360 talking about? Say it. 306 00:21:56,360 --> 00:21:59,120 Go ahead and say it. Pride. 307 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,880 That's what we assume. So he's talking about getting 308 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,920 into pride. Now keep that thought in mind 309 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:11,200 because we're going to, we're going to challenge that and look 310 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:15,920 at that in just a minute, lest I should be exalted above the 311 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:21,200 above measure by the abundance of revelations. 312 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,880 How many of you know Paul had an abundance of revelation? 313 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:27,880 How many of you believe he probably had more revelation 314 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:32,080 than maybe any of us? I think he probably had maybe 315 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:36,520 more revelation than maybe the rest of the original band. 316 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:38,200 He was not part of the original band. 317 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,840 Did you know that Peter said that? 318 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:44,920 God's given Paul wisdom? And some of it's hard to 319 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,920 understand. I mean, even Peter didn't 320 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,520 understand everything Paul said. So Paul did have a lot of 321 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:57,800 revelation, and Paul says, lest I should be exalted above 322 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:02,080 measure because of the abundance of revelations. 323 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,360 Now, can I do something here with you? 324 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,360 I'm going to I'm going to read some of this wrong. 325 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,600 And I want you to correct me where I'm wrong because I'm 326 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:16,160 going to read it in ways that most people think it's what Paul 327 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,680 says, but it's not what he says at all. 328 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:23,200 OK, ready. And lest I should be exalted 329 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:29,480 above measure by the abundance of the revelation God gave me, a 330 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:33,120 thorn in the flesh doesn't say that, does it? 331 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:36,880 Doesn't say it was from God. As a matter of fact, it says a 332 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:43,000 thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of God. 333 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,760 No, it wasn't from God. It was not a messenger of God. 334 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:53,600 The thorn was a messenger of Satan. 335 00:23:54,400 --> 00:24:02,880 OK, to buffet me, that word buffet means to beat with blow 336 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:09,240 after blow after blow. Does God send demons into 337 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,760 people's lives to beat the daylights out of them? 338 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:18,360 So we're just trying to consider, are all these 339 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:19,960 traditional things we've heard right? 340 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:26,720 A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to 341 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:32,880 beat me with blow after blow, lest I be exalted above measure. 342 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:39,520 Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that 343 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,320 it might depart from me. Let's go to the next slide, 344 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:47,160 verse 9. I pleaded with the Lord three 345 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:48,800 times that it might depart from me. 346 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:59,200 And he God said to me, no, that's not what God said at all. 347 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:05,760 OK, let's try it again. And he said to me, My grace is 348 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:12,720 insufficient for you. No, God said to me, My grace is 349 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:20,680 sufficient for you, for my strength. 350 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:27,480 See, Satan is giving him the thorn to buff at him. 351 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:34,320 God is giving him His grace to strengthen him. 352 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:37,920 He says. My strength is made perfect in 353 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:39,080 weakness. How many of you know? 354 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,800 Sometimes you do need to remember not to trust in 355 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,480 yourself. You need to rely on Him, not 356 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,800 your own strength, Paul says. Therefore, most gladly I will 357 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:52,320 rather boast in my infirmities. How many of you know you have 358 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,840 some infirmities? How many of you know you don't 359 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,720 know everything? You don't have all wisdom, you 360 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,480 don't have all knowledge, You don't have all strength, you 361 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,520 don't have all abilities. See the person who just is their 362 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,640 own God and God I don't need you. 363 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,120 I can handle everything. See that's God resists the 364 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:14,680 proud, but he gives grace to the humble. 365 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,440 I think 1 trait of being a humble person is you're just 366 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,680 honest about areas that you're not super strong in and and you 367 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:27,480 trust him. So so God Satan gave him a 368 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:31,840 thorn, a messenger of Satan to buff at him. 369 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:39,520 But God said my grace is sufficient because my strength 370 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:44,080 is made perfect in weakness. Paul says, therefore most 371 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:51,240 gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power, 372 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,280 everybody say the power of Christ. 373 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,280 So there are three things you'll notice all three of these are 374 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,720 underlined. See, this is what God gives my 375 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:05,320 grace, my strength, and the power of Christ. 376 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:10,760 That's what God gave Paul. He didn't give him the problems. 377 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,000 He didn't give him the thorn in the flesh. 378 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,480 Paul, we don't have to say, well, where did that thorn come 379 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,680 from? He says it, it was a messenger 380 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,560 of Satan, not a messenger of God. 381 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,720 He's a messenger of Satan to Buffett him to beat him with 382 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:31,680 blow after blow. Therefore I take pleasures in 383 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,600 infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and 384 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:41,360 distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am 385 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:43,280 strong. And I, I don't think it's too 386 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,520 big of a stretch to say that Paul was saying, when I am weak 387 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:54,520 in myself, I am strong in him. OK, so let me tell you the 388 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,600 traditional understanding of this. 389 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,600 I have this as part of a slide and I took it out because I 390 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,720 didn't even want your eyes to read this. 391 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,680 But here's how people have tended to interpret this whole 392 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,880 section of Scripture. So that I would not become 393 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:16,880 conceited. God sent a thorn to lodge itself 394 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:21,240 in my flesh, A sickness to keep me humble. 395 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:27,600 When I prayed to God and asked him to remove it, he said, no, 396 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:34,040 I'm not going to heal you. But Paul says it's OK because I 397 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,400 I realize it's better that I stay sick. 398 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:43,440 That's how people, they read what we just read and they come 399 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:47,400 up with that interpretation. Am I, am I off? 400 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,960 How many of you have heard people say, well, I'm just like 401 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,400 Paul, I've just got this thorn in the flesh. 402 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,640 Really, Really. You're like Paul? 403 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:00,080 How how many times have you been caught up to heaven? 404 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,360 I don't think you have an abundance of revelations like 405 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,840 him. I mean, I think Paul is really 406 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,600 describing this as kind of an exceptional situation. 407 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:18,680 He, he knew more than we know. He'd been to heaven, he'd seen 408 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,440 Jesus, he heard God's audible voice. 409 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,760 God made him an apostle to the Gentiles. 410 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:28,360 I'm not going to put myself on, on level with Paul. 411 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:31,600 This is an exceptional situation. 412 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,440 Now, the principles may apply in different ways at different 413 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:40,240 levels, but let's go to this next slide because in order for 414 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,320 us to properly understand this, I think there are five things we 415 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:48,160 need to understand #1 on the next slide, if we could, please. 416 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,760 God and Satan have nothing in common. 417 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,880 They're not on the same team. God is light and in him is no 418 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,520 darkness at all. Jesus said the Prince of this 419 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,680 world cometh, and he has nothing in me. 420 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,560 The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. 421 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,560 Jesus came that we might have life and have it more 422 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,440 abundantly. God and Satan have nothing in 423 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:17,200 common #2 they are not partners working together. 424 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,120 They're not in partnership, they're not on the same team #3 425 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,160 God and Satan have totally different agendas. 426 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:28,600 They don't have the same purpose. 427 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,560 They don't have the same agenda. And, and here's something, this 428 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,560 may sound very simple or simplistic, but if God is for 429 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:43,000 something, Satan's against it. If Satan is for something, God's 430 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,320 against it. I I think that's that's pretty 431 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:53,240 easy to grasp. So here's a quick summary, A22 432 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:58,440 sentence statement about this, what this whole thing is about. 433 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,200 Let's go to the next slide if we could. 434 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,200 The thorn is Satan's. I'm sorry. 435 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:09,840 Yeah, it's the thorn is Satan's ability against Paul. 436 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,480 It was sent to Buffett him. And we're going to get into this 437 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,960 thing in a minute about what does it mean to be exalted above 438 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:19,520 measure? Because I think that's a great 439 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,720 key to the misunderstanding. The thorn is Satan's ability 440 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:29,320 against Paul. Grace is God's ability for Paul. 441 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,600 Does that is that simple? Say this with me. 442 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:39,920 The thorn was Satan's ability released against Paul. 443 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:48,440 Grace was God's ability released on behalf of Paul. 444 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:54,880 Now I want to look at, let's go to the next slide if we can. 445 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,280 We're going to talk about exalted above measure. 446 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:02,320 Are you staying with me? I know this is a a, a a a 447 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,280 Monday. Many of you worked all day, but 448 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,320 I need your mental crispness here for just a couple more 449 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,760 minutes, your mental clarity, your focus. 450 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,440 Because we're going to, we have to look at this exalted above 451 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:23,240 measure concept. The thorn was sent, and Paul 452 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:27,640 says it twice. To keep me from being exalted 453 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,840 above measure. To keep me from being exalted 454 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,360 above measure. And we've always interpreted 455 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:37,680 that. People have always interpreted 456 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,760 that to keep me from getting into pride, right? 457 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,160 That's how people interpret it. To keep me from getting into 458 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:53,400 pride. So Satan sent a messenger to 459 00:32:53,400 --> 00:33:00,400 keep Paul from being proud. Does that make any sense? 460 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:06,360 That's so good. Pride goes before destruction 461 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,720 and a haughty spirit before a fall. 462 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:15,640 If anything, Paul Satan would have loved to have seen Paul get 463 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,200 into pride. Charles Spurgeon one time. 464 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,600 He's considered the Prince of preachers. 465 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:28,960 Greatest preacher in the English language perhaps of all time, at 466 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:34,880 least of the 19th century. One time he was stepping down 467 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:39,040 from the pulpit right after a sermon and a woman, I'm sure she 468 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,400 is a good-natured, well meaning woman. 469 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:47,960 But she, she said, Pastor Spurgeon, she said that sermon 470 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:52,800 was wonderful. And he said, yeah, I know. 471 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,600 He said, Satan told me the same thing just a minute ago. 472 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,640 Now, I'm not saying if somebody compliments you, you have to say 473 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:03,480 that. That's the but he knew that 474 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:08,199 Satan, if Satan can't pull you down into inferiority, he'll try 475 00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:13,320 to get you lifted up into pride. Satan doesn't want any Christian 476 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,880 to be humble. He'd love it if every Christian 477 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,719 was arrogant, conceited, full of pride. 478 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,760 So I want to just do a, a, a little game here with you. 479 00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:30,400 Don't try to second guess me. Don't try to outmaneuver me 480 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,440 mentally. I just want you to say what 481 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,159 comes to your mind. I'm going to give you some words 482 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:41,159 and you're going to tell me your first impulse again, don't try 483 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:46,719 to, you know, outdo me here. Just just give me your honest. 484 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:52,719 If you heard this word in a conversation, is your impression 485 00:34:53,199 --> 00:34:58,480 positive or negative? OK jealous. 486 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,840 How many say negative? OK let's go to the next slide. 487 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:11,280 God says I'm jealous over you with the godly jealousy. 488 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,680 So maybe we see it mostly negative. 489 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,000 What about the word anger? I'm angry. 490 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:22,480 Is that positive or negative? We think negative but the Bible 491 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:32,040 says be angry and sin not. What about covet negative? 492 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:34,840 But the Bible says I feel like this is a game show. 493 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:41,000 The Bible says covet earnestly the best gifts. 494 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:45,400 What about hate? Negative. 495 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:50,000 But the Bible says abhor that which is evil. 496 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:54,160 What about sorrow? We think that's negative, but 497 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:59,520 the Bible says godly sorrow works repentance. 498 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:05,720 What about fear? But the Bible says the fear of 499 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:08,760 the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord 500 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,560 prolongs life, etcetera. So what are we saying here? 501 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:19,280 There are many words in the Bible which we usually assume 502 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:26,200 are negative, and maybe they are negative most of the time, but 503 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:31,080 there are exceptions when they're not under the control of 504 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:35,360 the flesh, but perhaps under the control of the Spirit, where you 505 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:40,480 can have a godly jealousy, have a righteous anger, covet the 506 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:43,760 best gifts, abhor that which is evil. 507 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:48,800 The Bible says about Jesus, you have loved righteousness and 508 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:54,480 hated iniquity, godly sorrow works, repents the fear of the 509 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:59,240 Lord, and so on. So is it possible that exalted 510 00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:08,600 above measure, maybe it usually means something negative, but 511 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:15,120 maybe, maybe Paul's using it in a little different sense here? 512 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:19,120 That's good. That's good. 513 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:23,960 I go back to this argument. Paul makes it very clear that 514 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:31,800 the thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan to buff at 515 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:36,280 him and to keep him from being exalted above measure. 516 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:41,480 So if Satan wanted to keep Paul from being exalted above 517 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:50,720 measure, if Satan's against it, does God want any of his 518 00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:56,520 children to be exalted, not in the prideful and conceitful way, 519 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:02,280 but it But is there another exalted above measure that means 520 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:08,040 to just go far beyond the normal, to have a super 521 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:12,120 outstanding success, to have phenomenal results? 522 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:13,800 What? What if? 523 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:19,640 What if Paul was saying to keep me from being highly effective 524 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,760 because God had given me these amazing spiritual insights? 525 00:38:25,240 --> 00:38:31,080 Satan saw me as a great threat to his Kingdom, so he assigned 526 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:38,080 some principality or power to just beat the daylights out of 527 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:43,240 me every chance he had to keep me from being highly effective. 528 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:47,240 And I said, God, I don't like all this persecution and stuff. 529 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,640 And I asked God, God, take this thing away. 530 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:51,720 Well, God didn't give it to him. Right? 531 00:38:51,720 --> 00:38:55,120 There you go. And God didn't say no. 532 00:38:55,120 --> 00:39:02,160 He said, my grace is sufficient. For you see, the thorn was 533 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:08,040 Satan's ability against Paul. The grace was God's ability 534 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:13,520 toward Paul. And he said, thank you, my grace 535 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:17,760 is sufficient for you, my strength and the power of 536 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:21,880 Christ. Now what? 537 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:28,080 What is the possibility? What is Paul's thorn in the 538 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,280 flesh? I mean, how? 539 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:32,080 What was the outward manifestation of it? 540 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,880 Can I tell you my first answer to that is I don't know. 541 00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:42,960 But can I tell you my second answer is I think he just talked 542 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,160 about it right before he talked about the thorn in the flesh. 543 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:51,000 Because if you back up a few verses, I can't prove this 544 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:56,080 definitively because Paul didn't say and this is exactly what the 545 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,640 thorn in the flesh is. But, but let me just ask you a 546 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,680 question. I'm going to ask you a question 547 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,960 if if you had a literal thorn in the flesh, because I think he's 548 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,480 using that term as a metaphor. You know, you say somebody, man, 549 00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:12,440 that person's a pain in the neck. 550 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,720 OK, well, you don't necessarily mean that your neck hurts 551 00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:17,400 because you're around. What are you saying? 552 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:19,720 You're saying those that person really irritates me. 553 00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:23,600 That person gets under my skin. You don't mean that literally, 554 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:25,320 but but everybody knows what you mean. 555 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:31,280 If you literally had a thorn sticking in your flesh, I want 556 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:34,080 to hear about six or seven things from you. 557 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:43,000 Give one one a person that that, what would be the indicators 558 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,120 that you had a thorn in the flesh? 559 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,640 What would be the results or the consequences? 560 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:52,840 So, brother, if you had a thorn sticking in your flesh, what's 561 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:54,600 the first way you would describe it? 562 00:40:56,160 --> 00:41:00,240 Irritating brother right here. Ouch. 563 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:05,640 It hurts. All right, Dear Jim, what would? 564 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:08,960 If you had a thorn in your flesh, what would you say it was 565 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,360 to you, Sharp? Who said annoying? 566 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:18,000 You said annoying, Sharp. Annoying brother right here. 567 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,320 If you had a thorn sticking in your flesh, what? 568 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:21,960 What? How else would you describe it? 569 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:27,800 Rehab. You might need some rehab. 570 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:33,160 Yeah, this young guy right here. If if you had a thorn sticking 571 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,160 in your flesh, what would you say to somebody? 572 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,160 Man, this thorn is really hurtful. 573 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:44,120 OK, what about that guy next to you with the beard and mustache? 574 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,880 What would he say? Irritating. 575 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:49,400 Irritating. OK, I think we get the picture, 576 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:50,320 don't we? What? 577 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:51,360 What? A thorn in the. 578 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:56,240 The one word I didn't hear was distracting, you know, and it 579 00:41:56,240 --> 00:41:59,920 would try to, you ever notice like if you really do have like 580 00:41:59,920 --> 00:42:06,840 a thorn or even a like a splinter that you know, 99.9% of 581 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:11,200 your body can be fine, but you tend to be focused on that one 582 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,360 thing. It just, it just screams for 583 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:18,640 your attention. OK, so Paul said in Second 584 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:25,040 Corinthians 12/7 this that Satan gave him this thorn in the 585 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,120 flesh. But let's back up just a few 586 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:34,440 verses, not too many verses. 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 23. 587 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:39,280 Now you remember I said that Paul was mad when he wrote this. 588 00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,080 OK, you think Paul never got mad. 589 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,080 If you think Paul never got mad, then you haven't read the New 590 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:49,400 Testament very thoroughly. He he walked in love and yet but 591 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:54,360 but on occasion he got a little bit bothered. 592 00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:58,600 And I won't go into all that, but remember I said that the 593 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:05,480 Corinthians were choosing these false apostles and these what he 594 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:11,920 called super apostles over him when he is the one that had laid 595 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,920 down his life. He was the one that had poured 596 00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:19,000 the foundation of the church. He was the one that had given 597 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,200 his life for them. And now they're choosing these 598 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:27,040 other people who are attacking and criticizing Paul and, and, 599 00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:31,440 and Paul's having to justify himself to them. 600 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:35,360 And and he doesn't want to do it, but he's kind of like having 601 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:41,560 to say, let let me I, I hate to have to tell you why my ministry 602 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:46,240 is legitimate. Second Corinthians 1123 New 603 00:43:46,240 --> 00:43:49,800 Living Translation. He says, are they servants of 604 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:53,280 Christ? He says, I know I sound like a 605 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:59,000 madman, He said, but I have served him far more. 606 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,960 See, he, he, he doesn't even like doing this. 607 00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:07,640 But, but now he begins to list his credentials and he's not 608 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,160 talking about his educational credentials. 609 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:12,560 He's not talking about how many churches he started. 610 00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:15,480 He's not talking about how many times he's seen the Lord or 611 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:18,040 anything like this. He's talking about how much he 612 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:23,880 has suffered. I have worked harder. 613 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,520 I've been put in prison more often. 614 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:31,920 I have been whipped times without number. 615 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:37,120 Can you imagine somebody being whipped so many times he didn't 616 00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:41,760 even remember how many times he'd been tied to a pole, had 617 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:44,920 his shirt ripped off of him and just whipped. 618 00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:48,560 So I don't even know how many times it's has happened so many 619 00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:52,800 times. I face death again and again. 620 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:59,320 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes 621 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:02,200 because he sometimes he was whipped by Roman, sometimes he 622 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:03,800 was whipped by the Jewish authorities. 623 00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:08,040 He says 3 times I was beaten with rods. 624 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:13,960 Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. 625 00:45:14,240 --> 00:45:19,160 And by the way, when Paul wrote this, Acts chapter 27 hadn't 626 00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:23,680 happened yet, so he ended up being shipwrecked at least four 627 00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:27,360 times. I'm telling you what if I was 628 00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:31,800 Timothy or Titus or some of these guys, Luke, I might have 629 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:40,640 said Paul and you're bad luck. Once I spent a whole night and 630 00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:44,480 day adrift at sea. Let's go to next verse, verses 631 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:49,480 26 or verse 26. I have travelled on many long 632 00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:52,640 journeys. I have faced danger from rivers 633 00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:55,760 and from robbers. I have faced danger for my own 634 00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:58,840 people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. 635 00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:02,680 I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts and on 636 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:05,920 the seas. I have faced danger for men who 637 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:08,720 claim to be believers but are not. 638 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:14,800 And versus 27 and 28. I have worked hard and long and 639 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:19,640 during many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty 640 00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:22,200 and have often gone without food. 641 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:26,360 I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep 642 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:30,440 me warm. Then besides all this, I have 643 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:35,280 the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. 644 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:45,000 It's fun to be an apostle. I have a minister friend and 645 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:50,040 he's he's an interesting person, character, and he'll have some 646 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:53,720 sometimes young bucks will come up to him and say pastor, he 647 00:46:53,720 --> 00:46:56,360 said. I think, I think, I think I'm 648 00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,760 an, I'm an apostle. What do you think? 649 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,000 And he says, I think you're going to suffer a lot. 650 00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:04,920 I think you'll probably be martyred. 651 00:47:05,240 --> 00:47:07,360 You know, that's not what they're looking for. 652 00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:15,280 But but you understand that's not normal to go through. 653 00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:18,040 What Paul went through is not normal. 654 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:27,120 It's like something or someone was following him around, 655 00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:34,560 causing as many problems in in his life as they possibly could. 656 00:47:38,720 --> 00:47:41,160 Why was Paul so dangerous to the devil? 657 00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:49,480 Because he had so much revelation, I don't think that 658 00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:53,320 the devil was interested in keeping Paul humble. 659 00:47:53,600 --> 00:47:57,960 I think he was interested in crushing him, destroying him, 660 00:47:58,280 --> 00:48:01,800 suppressing him, getting him so discouraged. 661 00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,040 And hey, there's a few occasions when you read the New Testament 662 00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:08,360 epistles, Paul really did get discouraged a time or two. 663 00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:13,520 And but God lifted him up because the grace of God came 664 00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:18,000 in. So what do we see here? 665 00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:25,440 Paul said. A messenger of Satan was a thorn 666 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:29,880 in the flesh to me. And some people speculate that 667 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:35,480 he was referring to some human being, you know, like Alexander 668 00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:40,160 the coppersmith or something. I, I'm just guessing that it was 669 00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:44,840 probably not just one person, but it was Satan working through 670 00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:48,800 anybody that he could work through, work through somebody 671 00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:51,760 in this city and somebody in that city and somebody in that 672 00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:54,440 city. Just Satan was just, you know, 673 00:48:55,520 --> 00:49:00,320 anytime you try to do something for God, Satan's probably going 674 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:02,280 to try to throw up some roadblocks. 675 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:08,080 And he, Paul went through so much beating, so much battering. 676 00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:14,080 And, and it was a messenger of Satan that came and attacked him 677 00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:19,760 relentlessly through every kind of, you know, beating, whipping, 678 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:24,840 imprisonment, persecution, danger, threats, all these type 679 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:27,760 of things. And Paul, if, if, if I'm 680 00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:33,280 understanding this right, OK, that Paul said, God, I'd sure 681 00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:35,880 like for this thing to be taken away from me. 682 00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:44,280 And God didn't say no, he didn't say, sorry, my grace is, is 683 00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:49,040 insufficient. God said, my grace is sufficient 684 00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:51,680 for you. And when you read that back in 685 00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:54,240 2nd Corinthians 12, let's go to the next slide. 686 00:49:54,520 --> 00:49:58,280 Here's what basically grace provided for Paul. 687 00:49:58,720 --> 00:50:05,040 My grace is sufficient. I I am willing to rejoice in my 688 00:50:05,040 --> 00:50:11,600 infirmities so that the strength of Christ can be upon me and the 689 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:18,400 power of Christ can be upon me. Now here's the question. 690 00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:26,880 Does God want to push his people down? 691 00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:29,560 Now, how many of you know we, we all know that God. 692 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:32,640 How many of you know you didn't need to come to church on a 693 00:50:32,640 --> 00:50:36,440 Monday night to find out that God doesn't want you to be 694 00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:42,080 arrogant, cocky, prideful, conceited? 695 00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:43,800 How many of you already knew that? 696 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:49,120 We all knew that. How many of you know that that 697 00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:52,080 in the negative sense of these words? 698 00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:55,120 How many of you know that God doesn't want you to be hateful 699 00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:59,800 toward other people and jealous of other people and coveting 700 00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:04,280 what they have and and going around with anger boiling? 701 00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:06,360 How many of you know that stuff is true? 702 00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:12,280 But we also saw that there's a godly jealousy, there's a a 703 00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:17,040 godly anger, there's a godly covetousness, there's a godly 704 00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:22,880 sorrow. See, I just for the life of me, 705 00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:29,240 I can't see that a messenger of Satan was trying to keep Paul 706 00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:36,360 humble, because Satan would know that if he could get Paul into 707 00:51:36,360 --> 00:51:41,000 conceit and arrogance and cockiness and all that type of 708 00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:43,840 thing, it would be the downfall of his ministry. 709 00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:52,320 It doesn't make sense that Satan would send a demonic power to 710 00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:57,680 keep Paul humble. But what if there's another 711 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:05,520 sense of being exalted above measure that maybe doesn't mean 712 00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:11,720 conceit, arrogance, pride. But what if it? 713 00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:17,640 What if it had to do with Satan wanted to keep Paul from being 714 00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:25,120 effective, having a highly robust ministry that produced 715 00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:30,160 great results? I told you just a little bit ago 716 00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:34,120 that there were four factors about receiving grace and we're 717 00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:35,880 we're going to wrap up in just a quick minute. 718 00:52:37,720 --> 00:52:40,760 Anybody remember what they were? The first one, we said that to 719 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:47,280 receive the grace of God, first of all is faith, that by faith 720 00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:52,040 we have access into this grace. What was the second one? 721 00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:56,640 Knowledge that grace and peace are multiplied unto us through 722 00:52:56,640 --> 00:53:00,240 the knowledge of God. Does anybody remember the third 723 00:53:00,240 --> 00:53:02,640 one? Humility. 724 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:11,800 God resists the proud but gives grace to the God resists the but 725 00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:19,400 gives grace to the God resists the proud but gives grace to the 726 00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:22,000 humble. Now the 4th 1 was boldness but 727 00:53:22,240 --> 00:53:24,600 but I'm just I'm I'm focusing on this third one. 728 00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:37,000 Would Satan want Paul to be humble, knowing that Paul then 729 00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:43,520 would receive grace? But look with me, this is our 730 00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:47,720 final slide. What happens when you humble 731 00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:49,760 yourself under the mighty hand of God? 732 00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:55,240 First Peter chapter 5. Likewise, you younger people 733 00:53:55,240 --> 00:53:56,960 submit yourselves to your elders. 734 00:53:56,960 --> 00:54:01,560 Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with 735 00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:05,400 what? Be clothed with humility. 736 00:54:05,720 --> 00:54:11,200 God, I need you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I need you. 737 00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:13,640 See, we're not to be arrogant over one another. 738 00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:17,480 We're we're to be humble toward one another, encouraging one 739 00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:21,200 another, things like that. Be clothed with humility and, 740 00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:24,160 and hear Peter and James say essentially the same thing. 741 00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:28,640 God, God resists the proud. But look at that. 742 00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:35,720 What does it say on the screen? Gives grace to the humble. 743 00:54:36,720 --> 00:54:42,080 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, 744 00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:51,040 that He may exalt you. When you humble yourself before 745 00:54:51,040 --> 00:54:53,160 God, what does that? What does it mean to humble 746 00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:56,120 yourself? A big part of it is just receive 747 00:54:56,120 --> 00:54:59,920 everything that God has for you. Don't tell God, God, I don't 748 00:54:59,920 --> 00:55:01,560 need you. I'm all I've got it all 749 00:55:01,560 --> 00:55:03,760 together. I, I, I can handle this myself. 750 00:55:04,560 --> 00:55:09,040 Humility is where you posture yourself to receive from God. 751 00:55:09,240 --> 00:55:15,320 The Bible says humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and 752 00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:19,640 he will. What was the thorn trying to 753 00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:23,720 keep from happening in Paul's life to keep him from being 754 00:55:23,720 --> 00:55:27,080 exalted? So if Satan was trying to keep 755 00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:34,320 Paul from being exalted, maybe God was trying to exalt him, not 756 00:55:34,320 --> 00:55:36,960 in the negative sense of arrogance, conceit, and pride, 757 00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:42,760 but in the sense of being highly effective, highly productive, 758 00:55:42,960 --> 00:55:46,160 accomplishing everything that God had for him. 759 00:55:46,680 --> 00:55:54,160 Isn't that amazing? I wish we had hours and hours 760 00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:56,360 and hours and hours, but we've got the book, we've got the 761 00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:58,920 video series. You got your amazing pastor here 762 00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:04,120 to teach him things like that. But I just pray that you'll have 763 00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:07,560 and leave tonight with, you know, last night and Sunday 764 00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:10,880 morning with some fresh appreciation for the grace of 765 00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:14,000 God. I mean, I think we could just 766 00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:16,760 say the grace of God means hundreds of things. 767 00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:20,840 It means that God is for you, not against you. 768 00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:24,640 He's trying to lift you up, not put you down. 769 00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:27,680 He's not trying to drive you into the ground. 770 00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:33,960 God is not the one sending a messenger to beat you with blow 771 00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:40,120 after blow after blow, to keep you humble or to teach you some 772 00:56:40,120 --> 00:56:41,920 lesson. There's lessons to be learned in 773 00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:44,520 every circumstance of life. I understand that. 774 00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:47,560 Let's look at that. If we, if we could go back to 775 00:56:47,560 --> 00:56:50,160 that Second Corinthians 12/1 more time, we're going to have 776 00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:54,720 to go back a few different verses there to 2nd Corinthians 777 00:56:54,720 --> 00:56:58,120 chapter 12. And Paul says, And lest I should 778 00:56:58,120 --> 00:57:02,840 be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a 779 00:57:02,880 --> 00:57:08,240 thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to 780 00:57:08,240 --> 00:57:12,080 buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 781 00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:17,200 So all of that, all of verse 7 is 100% about Satan. 782 00:57:17,360 --> 00:57:19,760 Well, except for the revelation that came from God. 783 00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:24,880 But the messenger of Satan to beat him, to beat him down was 784 00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:27,280 all Satan. And then Paul turns to God, 785 00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:29,760 says, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three 786 00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:31,400 times that it might depart from me. 787 00:57:31,800 --> 00:57:37,040 And then the next verse says, And God said to me, My grace is 788 00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:43,240 sufficient for you see, the thorn is Satan's ability against 789 00:57:43,400 --> 00:57:48,200 Paul. Grace is God's ability toward 790 00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:49,920 Paul. For Paul. 791 00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:53,360 God said, my grace is sufficient for you. 792 00:57:53,600 --> 00:57:56,080 I wonder if God's grace is sufficient for you. 793 00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,360 Now we may not. How many of you would be honest 794 00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:04,120 and say, wow, compared to Paul, I haven't really faced much in 795 00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:07,440 life. You know, every once in a while 796 00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:10,560 I get tempted to feel, oh, man, things are going hard. 797 00:58:10,560 --> 00:58:13,280 Well, what's wrong? I had a 30 minute delay at the 798 00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:16,520 airport the other day. I don't really do that. 799 00:58:16,520 --> 00:58:20,520 But I mean, if I did, and I mean, if I said that, I think 800 00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:24,680 when I stepped into heaven, I think Paul would be just waiting 801 00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:28,760 at the gate just to slap me. Say, what do you mean you had it 802 00:58:28,760 --> 00:58:31,400 hard because you had a 30 minute delay? 803 00:58:31,800 --> 00:58:35,560 You know, I was in prison for years and, you know, things like 804 00:58:35,560 --> 00:58:37,200 that. I, I, I'm sure he wouldn't be 805 00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:39,520 slapping me when I go to heaven. I think that's what heaven's 806 00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:40,880 about. I'm just trying to make a point. 807 00:58:41,240 --> 00:58:46,280 So anyway, so my grace is sufficient for you. 808 00:58:46,480 --> 00:58:49,200 My strength is made perfect in weakness. 809 00:58:50,600 --> 00:58:52,920 So I'm going to rejoice. And even though I have 810 00:58:52,920 --> 00:58:55,600 weaknesses and man, I can't control some of these 811 00:58:55,600 --> 00:58:58,640 circumstances and some of these things are outside of my 812 00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:01,480 control. But but I'm going to boast And 813 00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:04,920 even the fact that I I can't even do anything about this so 814 00:59:04,920 --> 00:59:08,240 that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 815 00:59:08,480 --> 00:59:13,360 And then he says at the very end, for when I am weak, how 816 00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:15,800 many of you know it's OK to be weak in yourself? 817 00:59:16,880 --> 00:59:19,080 Paul didn't say I can do all things. 818 00:59:20,800 --> 00:59:24,600 He said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens 819 00:59:24,600 --> 00:59:27,280 me. Paul said for when I am weak, 820 00:59:27,640 --> 00:59:31,360 then I am strong. Because when he was weak, when 821 00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:36,160 he recognized his inabilities, he trusted in God's ability. 822 00:59:36,600 --> 00:59:39,320 That was the grace of God working in him. 823 00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:41,760 That was strengthening grace.