Thanks and Difficulty, 2 Corinthians 12: 1-10, 11/10/13

Sermon 11-10-13 thanks in difficulty 2 cor 12:1-10

 

12 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. ³ And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— ⁴ was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

Recognize veterans

 

Paul has an amazing story

Road to Damascus

Visions of heaven

Leader of the church

 

We have an amazing story

Born in a great land

Beautiful healthy great suburb

Chiefs are 9-0

Wow

Miracle of the human body

Groups of friends

Children

Its amazing

 

Paul had a problem – a thorn in the flesh

Hunchback?

Eyesight?

We don’t know, but it wore on him

 

We have problems

Someone’s business is in turmoil

Someone’s child is sick

A 36 year old man died

Someone’s father fied

Someone’s father has stage 4 lung cancer

Gosh we have problems - Whatever they are, they wear on us.

Paul identifies the cause

1.   A messenger of satan

2.   Something to keep me from being conceited

3.   Something to teach me, something I can learn from

He wanted it to go away and it wouldnt

 

we aren’t sure why things happen to us either

We don’t like that

Life doesn’t always make sense

We want easy answers but they don’t always come

 

Human life is both joyful and sad

Glorious and dismal.

Exuberant and painful.

There are two sides of this wonderful existence

 

Three times he prayed

Pretty desperate

Getting to the bottom of yourself

 

There is the bad news of it

And there is the good news of it

 

this is the good news. My grace is enough -- it is sufficient.

I am sufficient

In moments of pain we have to find enough of Jesus to get us thru

When we are weak then he is strong

 

In 1929 during the depression, a group of ministers in the Northeast

gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject Thanksgiving in deference to the human misery all about them. After all, there was little to be thankful for.

But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation in the city that rallied the group. This was not the time, he suggested, to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship.

 

I suggest to you the ministers struck upon something.

We can rise to the top in times of trouble

Trial in your own life

Perhaps in your own life, right now, intense hardship. You are experiencing

your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day? May I suggest some things?

 

1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter.

2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged.

3. We must learn to be thankful or we grow arrogant and self-satisfied, thinking we deserve this or that.

 

Gratitude is the only remedy

 

“O God, in this life you have given me so much,

I pray that you give me yet one more thing--a grateful heart. Amen”

Not every trial is from God………..Are some, maybe

When we become weak and open, God’s power comes in

Every trial is a chance for you to grow, to learn,

every trial is a chance for you to glorify God

 

Firey furnace

Shadrack meshack and abendigo

Our god may deliver us

Our god may not deliver us

But regardless, we will not bow down

One like the son of God

The king announces- now I know there is no God except the god of Israel

 

Moments of pain are not fun

But they are sometimes poignant opportunities to reach into others

People that never listened before, suddenly pay atten10321tion

The dad on the 84 version of red dawn                                       PICTURE

Karen long’s father talking about his last wishes

 

The psalmist wrote…

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.^[c]

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress

(Psalm 46:1-2).

When we are weak, he can be strong

In times of trouble, we have to find the rivers of living water

we have to find enough of Jesus

we have to find the song in our heart

 

concentration camp singer,

when you have a song in your heart, no one can take it away

today what ever trial you face, I invite you to join me in being thankful

for the song in our hearts

when we are weak, he is strong.

 

Lets pray