How many have you got to see somebody today you haven't seen in a while?
Did you get a big hug?
High five?
I did.
I was very blessed this morning and get to see some friends I haven't seen in a long time.
I'm not going to embarrass them.
Because you love coming to church and getting your name called, don't you, Gary?
It is Gary, right?
Okay, all right.
Oh, you're good.
No, it's good.
It's good to fellowship and hang out.
And when we get to do that and do that in the word together, that's just bonus.
Amen?
So, anybody's struggling?
No, honestly.
I mean, hopefully church we can come together and be honest about the struggles we have.
Confess your sins one to another, James says.
That's not easy to do.
I don't know how much that's practice.
But we put a lot worse on the Facebook, don't we?
I really don't care what you ate, but we like taking pictures.
I don't know what that is.
So where are you struggling?
Relational challenges?
Financial challenges?
How about past?
Any past issues you struggle with?
Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night?
gut-wrenched over something that you did that you wish you didn't.
A lot of different ways that we struggle.
And one of the things that's really difficult is when you struggle,
I don't know what I'm rubbing against.
I apologize.
I'm trying not to.
If I don't move.
Ah, that ain't happening.
So what happens when you're struggling and you didn't necessarily do anything wrong,
but God is working and teaching you something?
Is anybody okay with that one?
Honestly, I'm in a dark place, but it's God at work?
Well, let's put it all in perspective.
So we can struggle in different ways.
And I think it's important that we put it in a right biblical understanding,
because if I have sinned and caused pain for someone else or myself,
what's the biblical way that we deal with that?
Repentance, confession, and forgiveness, yes?
Okay.
If somebody does that against me, I didn't do anything,
it just happened that somebody's sinned against me.
How do I deal with that one biblically?
I forgive.
Now, what is the standard by which I do that?
How I feel, whether they never do it again, what's the standard?
Forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you.
Fair?
And we can all agree that when that kind of pain, that kind of suffering, those kind of trials that come because of sin, that's one thing.
But what happens when God takes you into a place and he does to teach you something even though it may be painful?
what do we do then everybody with me so there's something unique i think about our journey so i'd like
to start out to just encourage you that if philippians one six is true and it is he who begun a good
work in you will do what continue it complete it to the day of christ jesus so has the day
capital d of christ come yet so is god still at work in you and i'm not so is god still at work in you and
I. Are you okay with that? Are you bought in? Do we respond in a way that gives him honor in that
journey? It didn't go my way. They did this. They did that. They didn't do this. They didn't. Y'all with me?
What? We get into all these things. Somebody cut me off. Don't tell them their number one. Just say,
Lord, thank you for working on my patience. No? Any road ragers? Yes?
Is it more of the ladies or more the men?
I don't know.
Ladies, thank you.
What?
Confession in church, that's good.
So another question.
Because we do struggle.
We do.
And it could be the death of a loved one.
We just went for a funeral back in the Oklahoma Panhandle a couple weeks ago.
And I know within our own body, we have those that have lost loved ones lately.
how do we deal with that kind of pain and struggle because it wasn't a sin issue it was that which is common to man
right non-believers die believers die what do we deal if you're a believer what's the
encouragement to live as christ to die his gain and again in philippians one paul would say what
you know what to be with christ is far better and i hope we all say that
Amen to that.
But yet we hurt on this side thinking about those things, right?
But we don't mourn, as Paul would say in Thessalonians, we don't mourn as those who have no hope.
Are we going to mourn?
Yes.
Hard?
Yes.
So ultimately, as we work through these things, I think it's really critical.
And I just want to make sure we're putting it in a perspective.
There's different categories of how and why we strike.
and have pain. And what we're going to look at today is 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
2 Corinthians chapter 12. And we're going to look at another testimony, and this is Paul
giving a testimony, of some pain and suffering in his life. Why it came, and ultimately,
what is it that God was doing? What is it that God is doing? Because
if he begun a good work and he's continuing it,
then I have to be committed that he's the one at work in me.
Yes?
Can I ever act outside of his sovereignty?
That's important.
Because if I can do something outside of his sovereignty,
that means what?
He's not sovereign.
Can God use the bumps?
Can God use evil?
Yeah, he's that sovereign.
We talked about Joseph in the past, and we're going to get into a toughie here because we're going to see another way that God works.
All right?
Everybody ready to roll?
All right.
Father, we thank you for the time in your living word.
And your living word is true, and it is eternal.
And the most beautiful is that we have your breath on page.
Here we are, communing with you, because we get to read your own.
very words that are living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.
And how deep does it go?
Father, your word even digs down to the soul level to discern the thoughts and intents of our
heart.
So we thank you that we get to focus on your word.
We get to focus on you.
We get to look at uniquely what and how it is you can work in our lives and you are.
And so thank you.
for your presence here today in the believer that we are not alone and we're not hoping
you'll show up we know you're already here because your presence is promised and we thank you
and in Jesus name everyone said amen amen all right so second Corinthians now a little background
because when you read second Corinthians 12 you really got to go back to
chapter 10 to get a good feel for what's going on because one of the major issues that Paul is
dealing with is false teachers what he calls quote unquote super apostles they're coming into the church
they are deceiving and drawing people away so let's look at a couple of identifiers back up to chapter 10
if you will and as you make your way to 10 i'll give you a little bit of 10 i'll give you a little
little bit more of a backdrop. I apologize. This thing keeps moving. I got to maybe I need a handheld. I don't know.
It's the collar. I don't need to wear a collar. Is it? I dress myself. It's usually not good.
So if you want a little bit of historical context. So there's dates that can be ish. And we don't know the exact date. We get an idea of a date.
So Christ would have died, went into the tomb, three days later, resurrected, 40 days later ascended, ballpark 30 to 33.
Fair?
Okay.
So when you fast forward, Acts chapter 18 is when Paul first goes to Corinth.
If you go back and you're looking at the book of Acts, that would have been Acts 18 when the time he gets into Corinth would have been about 50 to 51, maybe 52.
in that ballpark. So after the death barrel and resurrection of Jesus, we're about 20 years later.
And I think most of us in the room are older than 20 years. So in our lifetime, can we remember
something 20 years ago? We tell stories like that all the time. So Paul not only has met Christ
on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9, you fast forward the first mission journey with him
and who's a guy he went with? Barnabas. Thank you. Yeah. Barnabas.
that's him.
13 and 14.
Then you have the big to-do questioning the gospel.
They have the big back and forth there in chapter 15.
16 is the second journey.
And as he goes, he gets Timothy, they head out.
He ends up in Athens in chapter 17 and chapter 18.
He gets to Corinth.
All right?
That would have been ballpark 50-51.
Now, the time he would have written 1st Corinthians, the letter
would have been about two years later.
By the time you get to 2nd Corinthians,
we actually find out there's another letter that we don't have.
That there would have been another interaction with the Corinthians,
because if anybody's read 1st Corinthians,
we know that's pretty heavy.
He's answering chapter by chapter issues
that are going on in the church, and it's heavy.
So there's another letter in between,
but by the time you get to about 50,
56-57, now we're getting what would really be the third letter, but the second that we have here.
Does that make sense?
Okay.
So just that context, he is now writing this letter, and we're about 25 years after the death, barrel, and resurrection of Jesus.
All right?
So in chapter 10, he finds out, because Timothy has been over and back to him and let him know, hey,
things are going really well, but we do have some issues.
And one of the issues are these false teachers.
So what's going on with these guys?
In chapter 10, he opens up and he says in verse 1,
I Paul myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,
I who am meek when face to face with you,
but bold toward you when absent.
Is anybody else sitting here like that?
If I'm writing you a letter, a text, I'll let you have it.
But if I'm face to face, I'm like, oh, well, okay.
We're different, aren't we?
So Paul's no different.
He deals with people one way, and he's maybe not good with conflict when he's face to face.
But boy, when he's not, we find that this is something he opens up about.
Now, in Galatians, we know he stood Peter up and called him out publicly on his hypocrisy with the Jews and the Gentiles.
But anyway, he just gives a little bit of insight to him.
But he's dealing with these false teachers.
And when you look at it, go down to verse 12.
And what does he say about these false teachers?
Those who commend themselves and they measure themselves by themselves.
Have you ever gotten in a group that's all about measuring themselves within themselves?
Oh, I'm really something because I'm better than him.
Right?
But what happens when Christ is that standard?
So one of the things we find out are these false apostles don't have Christ as a standard.
Themselves are the standard.
Can churches get that way?
Can leadership get that way?
Yeah.
Scary, isn't it?
It gets better.
Watch out what else.
So flip over, keep moving.
Look at the end of 10.
He says that in comparison, in 15,
we're not boasting beyond our measure, or that is in other men's labors.
In other words, these guys were comparing the works.
These guys did this, but look how much greater we are.
They would be comparing, not just themselves,
but they were looking at other works that were being done
and elevating themselves, but what's Paul say about himself.
You know what?
He said, what we're doing?
But we're doing what we do with the hope that your faith grows.
Somebody who's a false teacher is going to be about themselves.
They're going to elevate themselves.
They want to have the power.
They want to have the whatever.
But what you find is when you have somebody that's a Christ-centered leader, they're going
to lead to build you up.
They're going to lead to encourage you.
They're going to lead to correct that we can be unified in Jesus Christ.
And that's what the correction constantly is with Paul when you read through his letters.
Most of his letters are corrective, but they're corrective with a standard.
and that standard every time is the gospel, it's always Christ.
That's not where these false teachers go.
Look at chapter 11, go down to verse 3.
He warns him, he says, I'm afraid that as a serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
For if one comes and preaches another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel,
and that's exactly what they're doing.
Now, here's the question.
As the body of Christ, can we discern a different spirit?
Can we discern a different gospel?
And are you with me?
A different, can we?
Do we have the ability to know, nope, that is not biblically accurate.
Do we have that ability?
And that's why we train.
That's why we repeat.
That's why we dig in.
That's why we read.
And that's why we constantly encourage you to read your scripture.
dial in, read it yourself, commune with God, and have that personal time to do that.
But in our consumer culture, it's really easy to come to church to be told what the Bible says,
then go out and live your life.
Now, that doesn't mean you're trying to live a rebellious life, but let me ask you,
if you're only living one time a week of getting a shot in the arm of truth,
but you don't dig into it, and it becomes who you are, and that's what discipline's all about,
isn't it? Discipline leads to what? It becoming you. Then it becomes breathing. It's a habit. It's what you do.
And so is that the process, is that progress, is that real in your life, that this is who we are?
Christ is making us like him. And so here he is concerned about the,
these false teachers, correct in these guys, be careful, be careful, be careful.
Please, please, please.
They're preaching a different gospel.
They're preaching, as I said, they're another Jesus and a different spirit.
And he's letting them know.
And he goes on, he really digs in.
And one of the accusations against him, oh, he's not a real apostle.
Oh, he's not eloquent of speech.
Oh, he's not.
And all these guys were about was the bling.
They looked good on the outside.
They were very eloquent when they talked.
God.
And he says,
verse 6, and he's a retort
versus the accusation that he's unskilled,
even if I am unskilled in speech, 116,
he says, yet I'm not so in knowledge, in fact,
in every way, we have made this evident to you in all things.
He's going back to the FaceTime, the life on life
that he had with the Corinthians. If you want to evaluate, look at what those guys are doing,
look at what they emphasize, look at what they teach, look at how they look, and then compare
to how we acted among you. He even goes on to say, look, I didn't even ask anything from you.
For me, I came and worked. He was a tentmaker, right? And then he gives a further warning in verse 13,
for such men are false apostles, deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as what?
An angel of light.
So for the average person in the room, if we have an angel of light and an angel of light,
how do we know which one is which?
We better know the word.
So Paul is putting this on the table.
And he pulls out some things and he goes through the line of saying, as you finish out 11,
are they Hebrews, so am I.
Are they Israelites?
So am I.
Are they descendants of Abraham?
So am I.
Are they servants of Christ?
I'm an insane man.
I far more.
And then he goes into his experience.
And we've talked about struggle and suffering.
If you want to do a little deep dive, look at verses 23.
through the end, and you'll see how far Paul goes, talking about being stone and beaten with rods
and shipwrecked and without food and naked, right? That's a big deal. And then he goes on,
and then we pick up where our text is today in 2nd Corinthians 12. Are you ready? So watch what he
goes on to say here. Boasting is necessary, though it's not profitable. These false apostles are
boasting about all. He goes, you know what? If you want the boasting game, I'll throw.
one down for you. Watch this. He says, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
Verse two, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or out of the
body I do not know, God knows such a man was caught up where? To the third heaven. Now let me ask you,
what does that mean? So we have
The atmosphere here, you have space, the universe, outside of that.
Guess what?
Presence of God.
So third heaven, that's one way to look at it.
So he knows a man that was caught to the presence of God.
Can you imagine?
Can you even wrap your mind around what that would have been like to be in the very
presence of God?
And then he goes on.
He says, and I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I
do not know, God knows, was caught up into paradise. Now is paradise ring a bell?
Who makes the statement about paradise? Jesus on the cross speaking to the thief.
Today you'll be with me. Where? Paradise. So that's the presence of God. That's Jesus.
Can you imagine? And we're talking about that in an eternal sense, in a reality sense of heaven.
So third heaven, paradise. Again, let's be very careful. It was the Lord.
Lord that took this guy to that place.
Paul wasn't praying about it.
Paul wasn't begging, oh, show me amazing things and give me, right?
It wasn't that.
Not name it, claim it.
It was a move of God to take Paul to a place and God had a purpose.
Now, right now he says a man.
Who's he talking about?
He talking about himself, okay?
And then he goes on.
So caught up into paradise.
Now look at this, and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak.
Some of your scripture will say, unlawful to speak.
Now let me ask you in today's American church, if somebody had this kind of experience, what would follow that experience?
A book deal?
Right?
A mini-series.
Y'all with me, it's something that's really incredible to me how much we turn the gospel into
personal gain or to power or to something, right? Now, I'm not saying we don't have, again,
not to say we don't have testimony. But Paul says it's not even lawful to speak. And this is
the only time we ever see him say anything about this. So then, verse five, on behalf of
of such a man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to what?
What's the word?
Infirmity or weakness.
How many of us pray for strength?
We pray for strength a lot, don't we?
When's the last time you were thankful for being weak?
So stay tuned.
For if I do wish to boast, verse 6, I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth.
But I refrain from this so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.
There's something unique about the elevation of self versus humility.
Paul talks about humility a lot.
We don't have time to dig into all of it, but basically Philippians 2 dives into that.
And what is the pent-ultimate focus of humility?
Jesus, who has all the glory of heaven, equal with God, gives it up, puts on flesh, and dies a human.
Ultimate humility.
So verse 7.
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, plural, for this,
reason to keep me from exalting myself. Do you have another word there in verse 7?
Exulting myself? If somebody exalts himself, what do we call them? Conceded or what?
Errigant. Right? We love those people, don't they? Have you ever been around a narcissist? There you go.
Man.
You talking about you?
Oh.
Narcissus.
Have you ever been around a one-upper?
You got the amazing story how you fought the dragon and they fought five, right?
So what's the human condition?
What's the default?
We want to move to escalation.
We want to move to make sure people think well of us.
But as a believer, the Spirit of Christ being in us and us becoming like Him and God being at work in us,
what should it ultimately look like?
So here he has these phenomenal revelations.
And he says, because of these surpassing greatness of Revelation, verse 7, for this reason,
to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.
Now, stop there and look at me.
Have you ever done a study on the thorn in the flesh?
I've read tons of commentaries on it, and you want to know what we hear most time about
thorn in the flesh?
Anybody know?
We don't know.
Bad eyesight, diminutive, he can't speak well.
We have all these things that are put into the context.
Now, if you and I are going to wonder what the thorn in the flesh is, what's most necessary?
You ready?
Two words.
Keep reading.
Okay?
He's going to tell us exactly what that thorn in the flesh is.
But here's the reality.
Nobody likes to deal with this.
Nobody wants to wrestle with this reality.
That's why it's so difficult.
A thorn in the flesh.
You see it?
A thorn in the flesh given to me a, what's the next word?
Messenger of Satan to do what?
Buffett or torment?
You look up the Greek term for Buffett?
You want to know what it says?
To strike with the fist.
Have you ever heard a fist hit a human face?
Have you ever heard a fist hit a human body?
That is a unique feel.
That is the term he gives to this messenger of Satan's power and influence on him.
a thorn in the flesh was given to me a messenger of satan to buff it torment me
whoa now wait a minute where did this messenger come from go back and read it where did it come from
came from God.
It was given to me.
What was the purpose of this messenger of Satan to torment?
What's the purpose?
Verse 7, what's it say?
To keep me from being arrogant, conceited, exalting myself.
Can I tell you?
I love exalting myself.
I'm a coach.
I'm a drummer, I'm a this, I'm a that, I'm an All-American, right?
So when me and my wife get into it, I just got a reminder I'm an All-American.
Fixes it.
Ladies, aren't you impressed?
Let's call?
We're really good at it.
But what's interesting is, I'm really good at it, but I despise other people who are.
Isn't that odd?
Anyway, are you catching on to this?
Is this easy?
I'm going to be honest with you, man.
I struggle with this.
So to keep Paul from being arrogant, wait a minute, about the revelations that God gave to him,
now he's going to turn a demon loose on him to keep him humble.
How would you deal with that?
What would be your response if you got a demon turned loose on you to keep you from being arrogant?
on your knees and pray
how else would we deal with it
I'd be angry
I'd be asking questions
I would be wondering what's going on
any other way that we would deal with it
let's be honest in our day and time
and looking through history how many people would turn
to drugs or alcohol
turn to something
that would be even more so tormenting
So he says,
A messenger of Satan to torment me,
to keep me from exalting myself or being conceited or arrogant.
Verse 8.
Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
Yeah.
Let me ask you, what do you think that prayer look like?
what do you think that sounded like
you think Paul was like man I'm really bummed
you know like if you could take this away it'd be great
can you imagine how deep
has Paul dealt with some stuff
now let's put it in perspective
because he's writing this letter ballpark
56 AD how long ago was it that he was caught up
into heaven
14 years ago.
He says it right off the bat.
You remember that in verse 1?
I know a man 14 years ago that was caught up into the third heaven.
So about 42 AD, this is early on in his ministry, if you put it in perspective.
He gets these amazing revelations.
Then he has a demon turn loose on him.
He's imploring the Lord.
Has he had some throw-down prayers with God before?
Yeah, because he's been stoned and left for dead.
drug out of the city. He's been beat with rods. He has been chased down like a dog, just so the enemy would
shut his mouth because he preached the gospel and preached the truth. This guy has experienced
some amazing stuff, thrown in jail simply because he spoke the truth. So he begs God, he implores,
he pleads with God three times. Now, what's your expectation?
when you ask God for something.
That will be done, I hope, is our consistent position
that God, at the end of everything,
I want to see your work be done through me.
Whatever that means, whatever that impact is.
Now, we could go a long way into this
because if you look into Isaiah,
most people know Isaiah chapter 6.
He sees the Lord high and lift it up,
train fills the temple, smoke, cherub, or seraphim are there, and in the presence, he confesses.
Does anybody remember what the Lord tells him to go speak to the people?
Right?
Because God says, who will go for us?
And Isaiah says, here I am, Lord, me, I'll go.
Now, we know that.
Do you know what God tells him to go say?
Anybody remember?
Go speak to the people that they won't hear.
Go speak to the people that they won't understand.
Go speak to the people that they won't discern and turn and be healed.
Uh, what?
Time out.
I thought the Word of God was for salvation.
I thought the Word of God was in order to do whatever you and I think it ought to do,
because we know better than God.
But God had a purpose in that word, which is fulfilled in Jesus during his time in John 12.
Then Paul brings it into perspective in Acts 28.
Go speak that they won't believe.
How many of us consider that the Word of God,
part of the purpose God has for is that people won't believe?
That's a hard one, isn't it?
But here's what we do know.
What's Isaiah 55 say about the Word of God?
When it goes out, it will not return void.
Why?
Because it will accomplish that which God sin it.
So you and I can absolutely bank that when the word of God goes out, it will do exactly what God said.
It will accomplish his purpose.
Not yours and mine.
That's an amazing thing.
But we've got to wrestle with these things.
These aren't easy.
So we need to be careful that we're not arrogant in our own right.
And so, let's see what happens here.
So he prays and he begs God.
Does God say yes because he prayed three times?
Does God say yes because he had a certain posture?
Does God say yes just because he's Paul?
Does God fix the situation?
Just, you all with me?
Let's see what happens.
Concerning his thing, verse 8, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
Verse 9.
And he said to me, quote,
My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ
may dwell in me.
How are we doing?
Are there some things that are going on in our lives that we don't have an answer for?
for? Can we agree that God is at work? Can we come to this position to say, okay, God, if you're at work
and you're doing this, I'm going to trust you. Because when I'm weak, what's he going on to say?
Ten, therefore, I am well, what's the word? Content with weakness, with insults. Ooh, are you content with
insults? Husbands, wives, do you have kids? You have neighbors? You ever been to church?
We aren't very nice to one another, and that's a sad day.
So here's Paul's position after praying and dealing with this torment of the demonic.
Therefore, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with deceit. With deceit.
stress, with persecution, with difficulty. Why, Paul? For Christ's sake, for when I am weak,
I am strong. When's the last time you were okay with weakness?
Parents, do we struggle with our kids? Is that a point of weakness? How about when we deal with
one another in the body. How about when we deal with other denominations? How
we deal with our coworkers or our bosses or we deal with our neighbors? Let me tell you,
this is something very, very unique because this is something the Lord is at work in his life
doing, to bring humility, to bring a dependence. What are the false teachers doing?
Exalting self, power, control, manipulation. What is it that God is at work? And this is
one of the most impactful leadership we have in all the Bible.
13 letters of the New Testament come from Paul.
Most of them have to deal with some correction of some sort.
And you're dealing with a man who's not looking to be number one.
He's not looking to be the power guy.
He's not looking for manipulation and control.
He's looking to edify everybody in the body to be submitted and committed and devoted, born
spirit-driven, truth-based, right? You with me? And to always look for others betterment than your own.
Now what would happen if we were committed to that? What would the body of Christ look like?
I don't care if I get mine, but if you grow, I'm celebrating. If you deal with the struggle and I can be there with you to pray with you,
encourage with you and watch you come on the other side and watch God take you to another level,
I have no greater joy than to see you grow in your faith. If you're around a tribe like that,
can you imagine what that team will be like? That we celebrate each others, weaknesses, pains,
tribulations, because what do we know? When you're in the middle of that, what's God doing?
Anybody know? Second Corinthians 1, 3 and 4. Go over there. This is where we'll land.
land.
Second Corinthians, one, three, and four.
Blessed be the God of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us when?
Second Corinthians, one, three, and four.
God who comforts us when?
How many tribulations?
all of them.
Are you there with me?
Is this landing?
Because I guarantee you, we all raise our hand at first.
Everybody's got a struggle of some sort.
But when we get to these trials, what is it that is promised right here?
That God comforts us in those trials.
I have to know that at the same time he's comforting me, he's comforting you too.
Is that important to know?
Or are we so self-centered that we don't even consider what someone's
somebody else is dealing with. We don't even consider that somebody else is in that run.
Pain, tribulation, trial. You'll with me? So, blessed be the Father of Mercy, is the God of
all comfort, who comforts us in all of our trials, tribulations. Are there any other words in the
scripture there? Trial, tribulation, afflictions, good term, affliction. How many of us are lining up
for that. Well, you don't have to line up for it because we're all dealing with it. So it didn't,
if it comes, it's that it comes. Amen? And we need to understand that. You're not unique because
you're in pain or having some affliction. It may not be, uh, uh, God is taking you to heaven and
having that kind of a deal and then busting you so you're not arrogant. We may not be dealing
with that, but if we're able to put it across the board that all of us who are in pain,
affliction, and trials, what is God's promise?
He is doing what?
Comforting us.
But does it stop there?
Do I get to come up and boast about the fact, oh, God comforted me in this XYZ.
God comforted me in XYZ.
Then you got people that are sitting out here going, well, I don't feel like I've been comforted.
What's wrong with me?
Have you ever felt that?
Have you ever heard somebody get up here and wax eloquently and do all the thing and it doesn't really jive with your run?
And you're going, well, something must be wrong with me.
I'm not experiencing that.
I haven't understood it.
I haven't seen that.
I prayed that way and it didn't happen for me.
Everybody with me?
That's a divider.
That's a devastating thing for the body of Christ.
That's why we need scriptures to put it in a right.
right place. God is comforting in the trial, tribulation, and affliction. What's the next word that
comes after that? So that, yes? So that we who have been what? Keep reading in your scriptures,
2 Corinthians, 1, 3, and 4. He comforts us so that we may comfort others with what? The same comfort
we got from God.
And what is it that Paul's doing throughout all of his journeys, throughout all of his letters?
He's simply giving that gospel, that right lens by which we need to walk through this world.
And if we don't have that lens of truth, if we don't have the God of comfort, and that's why, again,
I'm going to put this on the table.
I think we need to be really careful about how we pray.
Because as a believer, where does the Holy Spirit dwell?
When I come to church, he shows up.
As a believer, where's the Holy Spirit?
In me, I am the tabernacle.
I am the church everywhere I go.
So are you if you're born again.
So to pray, hey God, I pray you'll be with me today.
Is that a good prayer?
I'm going to raise my hand and say no.
Because he's already with you.
I think the prayer ought to be.
Thank you, Father, that you're with me and you've begun the good work.
There's nothing coming my way that I'm going to face alone.
Everybody with me?
Is that important?
Because if something does blow you up, if we're not careful and we're not Bible-driven,
then we're going to assume something came on me and God was over here doing something else.
Oh, what?
What happened to you?
Tell me more.
We have a God who's present with us in the pain, in the trial, in the affliction.
But what's he doing?
He's working in and through that to comfort us, to grow us, grow our faith, make us like Jesus so that we can do what?
Help others on the journey.
It never just ends here, does it?
How many of us are guilty of it ending just?
here.
Everybody with me?
If I have a God who's begun the good work,
I know he's continuing it.
There's nothing coming my way that I face alone.
And that's what Paul learns here.
So what's the first term that said?
My grace is what?
Okay, so let's do a word study.
What does sufficient mean?
Did you know that it carries with it
place of strength by definition?
It's a phenomenal thing.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
What?
The Bible's full of those paradoxes, right?
That if I humble myself, I'm exalted.
If I want strength, I got to be weak.
And we go through, there's dozens of them in the scripture.
So another question is we close.
is it true in your life that the grace of God is it?
Am I satisfied?
Am I content with the death,
barrel, and resurrection and ascension of Jesus?
And I live my life because I know the journey is not done.
Why?
He's coming back.
So what's that mean for you and me?
More trial.
More pain.
more affliction, that God will comfort, that we can comfort others, that I will grow to become
more like Jesus Christ, and I will help others do the same thing. And guess what? That's where unity comes.
You want a body that's unified? Then you get everybody that is a born-again believer dialed in
and absolutely committed to the journey to know that God is always with you, working in and through,
building you to be just like Christ.
So when another brother or sister is down,
I'm happy to come alongside, say,
I know exactly what you're dealing with.
I can understand weakness.
I can understand pain.
Make sense?
And so as we finish out,
obviously there's a lot that we can say about that.
Because there's going to be a lot of different personal journeys.
and it's not always easy to speak to everybody's journey but I do encourage you if there's a place
there where you're struggling we go to the Lord go to others have people pray for you have
people you trust that can build you up encourage you and make that connection and we're going to
have prayer time right now I'm going to have we're going to close just with the song that we can
seeing together. If you're working through some of this and you just want to, maybe it's that
place where you draw that line and say, okay, enough, I, I have a place to go now. I know that
God has comforted me. He wants to comfort me. Am I accepting that comfort? Another question,
am I born again? Do I have a true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Have I believed,
absolutely, that Jesus, have I confessed, Jesus is Lord? I believe in my heart that God
raised him from the dead the third day. Do I have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?
If you don't today, if the Lord is drawing you to say, trust me, trust me, then trust him today.
Confess him, believe him. And if you're a born again believer and you're struggling,
then come on up. Prayer team, come on up. And we're going to have our song here. Buster, thank you,
sir. Let's pray. Father, thank you for
helping us dig into a place it's really not easy.
And it might be that some of us are there
that we're in a struggling place,
not because anybody else did anything wrong
or not because I did anything wrong.
It's just a place that you have brought us to.
And so it's absolutely right to pray about it
and see what's going on.
And yet, if it is a grace is sufficient,
if it is a weakness thing that we're not able to deal with or be okay with,
that we would be able to call that what it is too.
But having the promise that overarches any trial or affliction,
that you comfort us so that we can comfort others,
that we wouldn't be a black hole,
we wouldn't be a Dead Sea type of person,
but that as you are working, we then have an opportunity to work in others.
from a biblical understanding,
we then are able to understand
that you're always at work in and through us.
And that even evil or pain or trial
doesn't mean you're not there.
That may be the deepest reality
of what's going on that proves your presence.
So thank you for allowing us to wrestle with this today,
to begin a journey to really dig in and look at how it is, I can understand that and apply that
and trust and know that you haven't missed one breath or heartbeat in our lives.
So as we pray together, as we fellowship and go our way, let us go with the absolute certainty
that there is not one thing this week that we're going to face alone because you are with us.
And we thank you.
All God's people say, amen.
Amen, amen. All right, let's stand and sing.