Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20230423 - Victory Scars: The Sufficiency of God’s Grace - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

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#20230423 - Victory Scars: The Sufficiency of God’s Grace - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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  Welcome to the study of God's word recorded live at Calvary
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  Church in Aurora, Colorado, to learn more about the many
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  resources available, through abounding Grace, Media, or to
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  tune into our live stream Services.
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  Visit us online at Calvary. Co dot church or download our
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  free Calvary Church app now. Let's open our Bibles and study
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  God's word. And a second Corinthians for
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  those of you that are new to the Bible, in the front of your
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  Bible, there's a table of contents and you can find out
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  where 2 Corinthians is on your particular Bible.
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  And we're in chapter 12 this morning, and it's a message that
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  I've entitled Victory scars, the sufficiency of God's grace, and
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  I'll explain that as we go along.
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  I know that as we live through life, we find that there are
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  seasons where everything collapses, they're also Seasons
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  when it seems that everything is working.
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  Well, and there are dangers and temptations and each season.
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  There are times when you're down that, you just feel like you
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  can't get up or there are circumstances that take place in
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  your life that are so, Creating and, and collapsing that you
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  just don't think you'll ever rebound or recover and that
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  might be where some of you are this morning because of what's
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  happened in your life, maybe it's your your health, maybe
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  it's your marriage, maybe it's your family, maybe it's your job
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  situation. Everything is imploding upon
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  you, but I just want you to know that God's grace is sufficient
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  for you in Christ to help you in.
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  Endure and to learn what is needed to be learned in that
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  season. And if you're going through a
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  great time, it's also a dangerous time because you can
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  become so complacent and all they're going through a hard
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  time. Yeah.
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  Well God will take care of me. I'll pray for your brother and
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  you don't get involved at all. You don't come alongside to
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  strengthen or two to come underneath and help with the
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  Affliction maybe that has taken place.
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  And so the reason I'm pointing this out is because the Apostle
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  Paul here in second Corinthians 12 kind of pulls back.
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  The curtain and shares that there were times in his life
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  that it was so difficult, it made him plead with the Lord
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  three times. And after the third time, the
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  lord gave him this word directly, my grace is sufficient
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  for you. For my strength is made perfect
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  or brought to completion in weakness.
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  And that be it not might be the word of the Lord for you today
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  because you just feel overwhelmed and lost and what's
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  going on. And so we're going to look at
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  this this morning, I'm going to focus mainly on verses 7 through
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  10 and we're going to split that into two sections.
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  The buffetings verses 7 through 9 and the boastings in verses 9
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  to 10. But I want to read through
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  verses 1 to 10, just to catch the context.
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  So follow along with me in this, in these verses, 1 through 10.
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  And then we'll start with prayer chapter 12 of second
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  Corinthians. It is doubtless not profitable
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  for me to boast. I will come to visions and
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  Revelations of the Lord. I Know a Man in Christ who
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  fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I do not know.
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  Whether out of the body, I do not know, God knows such a one
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  was caught up to the third heaven.
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  And I know such a man, whether in the body or out of the body,
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  I do not know, God knows how he was caught up into paradise and
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  heard inexpressible Words, which it is not lawful for a man to
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  utter of such a one. I will boast yet of myself, I
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  will not boast except in my infirmities.
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  For though, I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool for.
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  I will speak the truth, but I refrain lest anyone to should
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  think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
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  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance
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  of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me a
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  messenger of Satan to Buffett me.
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  Lest I be exalted above measure concerning this thing?
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  I pleaded with the Lord, three times that it might depart from
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  me and he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my
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  strength. Is made perfect in weakness.
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  Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities,
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  that the power of Christ May rest upon me.
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  Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in
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  needs and persecutions in distresses for Christ's sake.
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  For when I am weak, then I am strong.
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  Let's pray. Father God, thank you for your
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  word this morning, and thank you that you set up Divine
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  appointments. where we happen to come to church on that day, and
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  it happens to be that text and that random Pastor who's talking
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  And we're trusting that the Holy Spirit would work in a way, a
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  surprising way, powerful way, a life-changing way.
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  And so, Lord, would you administer to us?
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  Would you give us ears to hear? And a heart to understand and
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  courage and Faith to obey? And we say this in Jesus name.
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  Amen. Amen.
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  Well, let's take a look at verse 7 as Paul really opens up his
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  life to the Corinthians and to us.
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  In verse 7. Paul writes lest I should be
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  exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations of
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  Thorn. In the Flesh was given to me a
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  messenger of Satan to Buffet me. Lest I be exalted above measure.
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  I want you to notice in verse 7, that two times.
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  He says lest I should be exalted above measure.
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  He emphasizes that point God was seeking to put a balance in
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  Paul's life. Yes.
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  He was going to use Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles.
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  He was going to minister deep Revelations and Visions to Paul
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  during his ministry. But also needed to understand
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  there were going to be difficulties extreme
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  difficulties in the ministry that God had given to him.
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  And he lists many of those inverse 22 of chapter 11 and the
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  previous chapter a long long list.
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  These are things that even the book of Acts doesn't cover, but
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  you see all the things and in verse 10, those five areas that
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  he listed their infirmities, reproaches needs persecution and
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  distresses are kind of the summary of all those particular
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  things. He mentioned back there in
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  Chapter 11. You know, the Lord warned Paul
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  and not so much worn, but just helped him understand by the
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  Lord giving a message to a disciple and Damascus, who was
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  to lay hands on Paul. Because when Saul of Tarsus
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  whose name was later, changed to say to Paul, he was blinded by
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  the vision of the Lord, Jesus appearing to him and you know,
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  bringing him humbling him to a saving knowledge.
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  Judge and Believe on Jesus. And so in Acts 9:15, we see the
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  Lord speaking to ananias the disciple in Damascus and he said
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  to him go for, he is a chosen vessel of mine to Bear my name
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  before Gentiles Kings and the children of Israel for.
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  I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's
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  sake. So now, here we are many years
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  later and Paul is writing to the Corinthian.
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  Brethren. And he's saying there was this
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  time when this Thorn In the Flesh was given to me and it was
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  a messenger of Satan to Buffett me. the word thorn in the Greek
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  language, literally means anything pointed or Sharp and
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  the Amplified version interprets it as a splinter.
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  I mean, think about it a splinter, really?
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  I mean here's the Apostle. Paul so Focus, so tenacious.
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  So driven. Do you really think a splinter
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  is going to make him plead with the Lord three times?
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  Oh please please please really no other Bible commentators.
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  Say this Thorn was like an iron steak.
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  Something that was just going right through him and also
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  consider how he wrote this because it was something he
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  could not get rid of himself, he had no ability to change the
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  situation. And then he says, in verse 7 of
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  Thorn In the Flesh was given to me Circle that word given
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  because it implies that God allowed it for his purpose.
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  And he says, I was made to get this.
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  No, no. I was given because the word
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  given speaks of receiving something as a gift for benefit.
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  This is perspective. And but then he qualified this
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  Thorn In the Flesh as a messenger of Satan to Buffett me
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  because the enemy wants to use your trial to take you out to
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  knock you down and to keep kicking you while you're down
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  and because that's the meaning of the word buffet buffet,
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  right? No Buffett.
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  It's to knock down and to keep hitting while you're down and I
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  know that you have had those times because life does this to
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  us, and Satan wants to use it to take us out where we've been
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  knocked down. But not just on the ground, but
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  we keep being kicked while we're down.
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  And the enemy is using that to so discourage you that you don't
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  want to get involved with the battle anymore.
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  Paul experienced this. And it made him plead with the
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  Lord. We don't know what the authority
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  and the flesh. Was Paul didn't include it
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  because he felt it would be distracting to the principal
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  he's bringing out. But here he is pleading with the
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  Lord. No, some Bible commentators
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  believe that maybe he suffered with typhoid others, say it was
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  a group of people that were after him.
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  But but you know, as I look through the scripture I do find
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  in one of his earliest letters Galatians that he refers to an
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  infirmity of his flesh that he can't change.
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  And here is where it is. It's in Galatians, Chapter 4
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  verses 13 to 15. And here, he writes to the
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  galatian Brethren, you know, that because of the physical
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  infirmity, I preach the gospel to you at the versed And my
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  trial, which was in my flesh. You did not despise or reject.
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  But you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus?
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  What then was the blessing you enjoyed for?
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  I bear you witness that if possible you would have Have
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  plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
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  And so when I read this, I think, you know, I wonder if
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  there was like an eye Affliction that was there, it seems to be
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  included here. And then I wonder I wonder if
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  there was an attachment to what happened when he was blinded on
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  the road to Damascus? Yes, the scales fell off.
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  His eyes later has ananias laid, hands on him.
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  But I wonder if there was a leftover I Affliction to remind
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  Paul of his Beginnings in the Lord.
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  Another situation that occurs in Genesis is where Jacob is
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  wrestling with an angel of God. And then he wrestled all night
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  and and because he confessed who he was and his name was Jacob,
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  supplanter Trickster. That's when the angel of the
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  Lord said, no, your name will now be Israel ruled of God or
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  governed by God. And at that point we see the hip
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  pulled out of joint, the hip socket popped out.
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  And for the rest of Jacob's life, he hobbled.
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  And it was a reminder to him of where Victory came.
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  And I want to suggest to you God wants to use the infirmities of
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  our life and turn them around to be Victory scars instead of.
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  But why did that happen? I can't believe it.
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  I'm stuck in this new normal and, and, and were complaining.
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  And God says, let me change your perspective, I stand with you in
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  your scar, I want to turn it around and use it for my glory.
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  Can you let me do that? Because that's what he was
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  saying to Paul here, Paul. I understand, I understand what
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  you're going through. But my grace is sufficient for
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  you. And some of you are down and on
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  the ground and you don't know where God is while he's right
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  there but I don't feel them. I don't sense him.
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  Well, it's a walk of faith. Are you relying on your feelings
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  and you just want that sense, that God is there to assure you?
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  Or are you going to look to his word and say and say, I believe
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  what you promised me, I will never no, never leave you nor
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  forsake you forsake means to abandon How many people have
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  abandoned you in your life? Just left you high and dry.
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  God will never do that even though you don't feel them or
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  sense. Him his word is true.
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  He is there and he is not standing back saying, would you
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  just get up off the ground? No.
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  No, he's with you. They're just like he was with
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  Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the burning fiery.
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  Furnace there in the Book of Daniel in verse 8 Paul.
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  Right? Concerning this thing.
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  I pleaded with the Lord, three times that it might depart from
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  me. Now I wonder if the third time
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  is when the answer came, why didn't the answer come in the
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  first time? And it makes us question.
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  What is God not hearing me? I mean, what are they going to
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  do to get him to answer me? Listen to me.
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  There are times that God doesn't directly answer your prayer
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  because there's a purpose in it. You realize the children of
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  Israel were suffering in Egypt for four years and years, they
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  needed to be delivered and they're crying out to God.
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  And it seems like there's no answer, but there was a timing
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  issue that God had to allow to come to pass to be the greatest
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  Glory. And they had to endure suffering
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  until the Lord came through. And that's a word of the Lord to
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  some of you because you want out of it.
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  You just want out of it. But the Lord says no, there are
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  things I want you to learn in it and I'll be with you in it.
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  There are things you're going to learn about me and there are
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  things are going to learn about you.
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  And there are things you're going to learn about life and
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  then, I want you to take those things and I want you to pass
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  them on to other people. Because I want to use you in
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  this generation, because you're only here for a short time, you
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  realize your life is only as long as the dash between the
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  year of your birth and the year of your death.
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  That's it. And so Lord, Make a Difference
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  through my life and in my life during my Dash, On a day called
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  today, that's when the Lord is going to take you home.
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  I'm not life threatening anybody.
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  I'm just saying, it's present tense on that day.
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  Just like when you were born, you gave your mother pain when
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  when you were born. We're here for a season.
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  And the grace of God is here for you today.
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  It's a dated today, whatever your need is today, the grace of
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  God is sufficient in Christ to see you through to the day.
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  And to tonight and even though the pain is keeping you up and
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  you can't sleep. He's right there with you to
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  give you the grace to endure. Right now.
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  Sometimes God's purpose is to Humble our heart because we
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  still think we can do it. We still think we can do it on
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  our own strength and I've got these plans and I'm going to do
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  this and it's all about me. Me me, you know, about that
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  there is an Unholy Trinity called me myself.
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  And I And so those are things that God will resist and in that
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  Brokenness when you're convinced I'm done, I just can't that
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  Brokenness is what God is looking for.
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  Because in that Brokenness, he can be strong.
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  Jesus said, in the Beatitudes blessed are the poor in spirit
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  for theirs is the kingdom of God.
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  If you want the power of Christ rest in on you, like Paul
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  mentioned here in this text. Just let him have his way in
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  your life. Sometimes he tells you, no.
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  And you have to be good with no. and then you have to trust that
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  his no is better than his yes and that situation I know when
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  my wife and I have been up helping out the church and
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  Windsor Arizona, Arizona. Sorry, in Windsor Colorado for
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  the past seven months and there was a time when we began to
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  really think maybe God is calling us to be up there and to
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  be their Pastor because we just are heart poured out for all
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  that. They'd been through and the Lord
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  just said no. It's not what I've called you to
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  do. And even though our hearts were,
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  like drawn to these people, still the Lord was saying to us,
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  you know, my grace is sufficient for, you know, Go.
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  Yeah. But yeah.
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  But yeah. But you know, that's not a Greek
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  word. Yeah.
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  But you can't use that in the Bible.
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  Yeah. But is arguing with God?
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  Yeah. But well, forget, that strike
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  that from your vocabulary. Or just said no because I have
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  something else for you. And next Sunday, will be my last
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  Sunday there. Another appointment, Pastor is
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  coming in to take her place, Pastor Chris mccarrick, and his
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  wife Marion, and they'll see the church through the next season
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  and I know that they'll find her permanent pasture through their
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  Ministry. In verse 9.
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  All rights. Jesus said to me, my grace is
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  sufficient for you. My strength is made.
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  Perfect. In weakness.
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  What's his grace? All about this?
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  All, sufficient Grace. And by the way, sufficient
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  doesn't mean barely enough. Sufficient means more than you
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  will ever need. I need Grace.
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  That's more than I will ever need.
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  And by the way, you need Grace, when you go into that situation
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  when you're no longer in that situation, you don't need Grace
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  for that situation because it's not there.
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  But I want to say to you, when you get that notice from the
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  doctor and all the sudden you're in a whole new normal, God's
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  Grace will be there. For you.
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  It's just reminds me of a couple that are engaged in there
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  waiting to be married. And I tell them in pre-marriage
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  counseling, I'm saying. Listen, when you say I do before
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  the Lord in that ceremony and I pronounce you husband, and wife,
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  you may kiss your bride. There's a Grace that's going to
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  be put upon you as a husband that you didn't have before.
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  It's not that it's going to be hard.
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  Well yeah it will be hard but but proverb says he, that finds
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  a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord, the
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  word favorite favors the same word grace So, those are those
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  of you that are married, you need Grace to deal with your
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  spouse to humble yourself when you are wrong and to ask
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  forgiveness and to repent, you need God's grace.
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  I Define this Grace as the hand of God working in your heart and
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  life circumstances, so that You have his strength to endure with
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  patient joyfulness. Let me give that to you again.
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  This Grace as it's used. In this in this context means
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  the hand of God working in your life and heart so that you have
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  his strength to endure with patient joyfulness because you
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  see the benefit at the end. Not because you like the pain.
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  You see the benefit at the end. There's this connection between
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  God's grace and his strength. And we see that through the
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  scripture. Second Timothy 2:1 you therefore
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  my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
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  See the connection between grace and strength in Christ.
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  James chapter 1 verses two through four, my brethren,
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  count, it all joy. When you fall into various
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  trials, knowing that the testing of your faith.
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  Produces patience, but let patience have.
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  It's perfect work that you may be perfect, and complete,
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  lacking nothing and then also, Hebrews 4:16, let us therefore
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  come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain Mercy.
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  And find Grace to help in time of need.
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  And some of you that are going through such a difficult time
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  right now. It is a time of need And you go
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  to the throne of God in Christ boldly which means not brashly.
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  But it means you don't have to say, you know, can get can you
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  really help me here and you try to grovel Before the Throne?
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  No, no. Bolding means you can have
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  confidence because Jesus Christ in his Perfection stands for
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  you. Just come into the throne room,
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  you're that part of the family of God.
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  And just say, please God Paul's pleading with the Lord three
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  times in this difficulty, he's going through.
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  Let's now turn from buffetings to postings verses 9 and 10.
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  Here's the decision to boast in his infirmities.
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  Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities.
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  That the power of Christ May rest upon me.
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  Therefore verse 8, my grace is sufficient for you for my
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  strength is made perfect in weakness.
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  So, Paul had a perspective change when Jesus entered the
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  picture. And all the sudden he saw that
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  his infirmities were being used by God to work in him, like
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  nothing else could work. And so he made a choice by
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  faith. Most gladly it was a decision by
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  faith on the part of the Apostle.
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  Paul not based on his feelings. That decision was to persevere
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  and endure and to let Christ do everything.
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  He wanted to do in the midst of this life circumstance.
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  I know that you want to get out of your situation but to get out
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  too early. You're missing what God wants to
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  do and to show you something about himself that you can never
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  learn outside of that trial. So can you have faith and
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  courage to let go of the timing and let God do whatever he's
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  going to do in the midst of what you're going through even though
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  you're down on the ground and you're being kicked by the
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  enemy. The grace of God and the
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  presence of the Lord. Jesus can see you through today.
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  And you got to break it down to the day.
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  What are the infirmities that we're having to deal with this
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  morning? Are they physical infirmities?
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  Maybe because of accident or illness were now living at a new
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  normal and we don't like it. And and we fight and we fight.
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  Well, if I don't fight, you know, I'll just succumb to it.
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  No, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
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  Your fight has to be in a different Arena?
• 27:53
  Your fight has to be trusting. God in what's going on?
• 27:57
  Trusting his word. Lord, you're going to give me
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  the Grace today and I'm telling you not my will but thine be
• 28:04
  done. Please give me the strength and
• 28:08
  the grace to make it through and to keep my My eyes on you, maybe
• 28:14
  it's an emotional area, you suffer from bouts of depression
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  or you tend to usually see yourself as a failure, never
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  able to do the right thing because of all that you were
• 28:24
  told when you were growing up and the abuse, maybe that you
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  experience. And it just is like being in
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  jail with all of that. Why?
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  I just want to say the grace of God is right there to help you
• 28:38
  push the door of the jail you're in.
• 28:41
  Find out that it's unlocked. But you've gotten so used to the
• 28:46
  jail and the four walls you just you just certain that it's
• 28:51
  locked and it's too risky to even touch the door because you
• 28:56
  don't want another failure in your life.
• 28:59
  But Jesus has unlocked the door already and he wants you by the
• 29:04
  grace of God to give you strength to push again.
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  What has trapped you for years? And I want to share a story with
• 29:11
  you. A few weeks ago, we had a water
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  baptism up at Calvary Windsor. And there was this young lady
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  and her husband that came up to me asking for prayer because she
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  was suffering from a disorder that kept her freaking from
• 29:27
  being baptized for years. And the by the grace of God, she
• 29:32
  was able to step through and she was baptized.
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  And so I and I asked her if I could use her story because it's
• 29:41
  amazing, And she says, absolutely.
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  And then I said, can I use her picture?
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  And she says, yes, you can use my picture, which was huge.
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  So here's her story. I had to write it down.
• 29:52
  So I'm going to read her story. I had a disorder called
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  trichotillomania. It's a compulsive disorder where
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  you're pull your own hair. I know it's a bit wild.
• 30:08
  It started after my Dad was deployed to Iraq and doctors are
• 30:12
  not sure why it affects some people or even the fundamental,
• 30:16
  cause they believe it's a form of OCD in the same way.
• 30:21
  A parrot pulls their feathers when they are stressed.
• 30:25
  That's essentially what I did. It started when I was 10 years
• 30:29
  old, but I was able to get to therapy and help I needed.
• 30:33
  So I stopped around 19. However with the long-term
• 30:39
  damage done to my scalp, I started wearing wigs when I was
• 30:45
  15. I've so I've been wearing them
• 30:48
  for 10 years now. It's been a massive, massive
• 30:53
  point of contempt in my life, and has taken many years to
• 30:58
  overcome it. I never got baptized due to the
• 31:02
  shame and wanted to be baptized where I didn't feel like I
• 31:07
  needed to hide my true self being completely bald.
• 31:14
  I was raised in the church but it only took three months of
• 31:17
  attending Calvary Chapel and a newfound focus with God to help
• 31:22
  me overcome the fear and give it away to him.
• 31:27
  A fantastic verse to go with that.
• 31:29
  The Lord is my light and my salvation, Whom Shall, I Fear?
• 31:34
  The Lord is the strength of my life of whom.
• 31:37
  Shall I be afraid? And let me show you her picture.
• 31:43
  This is her being baptized. This is the first time she has
• 31:52
  ever shown herself for who she really is because she faced it
• 31:58
  with the grace of God. It was, it was startling.
• 32:05
  It was glowing and I just want to say that there are things
• 32:13
  that have trapped us for years and God wants to wants to make a
• 32:17
  change. Help us to change perspective,
• 32:21
  he wants to take this car and turn it into a victory scar.
• 32:25
  So that when we see, it will see his victory.
• 32:29
  And not the bad thing that And I know for and a half years ago, I
• 32:33
  had a heart attack over in the UK and the UK will do that to
• 32:38
  you by the way. And and I went into the
• 32:42
  emergency room and all of a sudden they, you know, said
• 32:45
  you're having a heart attack and I'm going, no, I'm not.
• 32:48
  And, and they said no, you are. And they strap me up, shop me
• 32:53
  with morphine a couple times and then and then they shoved a
• 32:57
  stent into my wrist and went Through and down into the left
• 33:03
  anterior artery, which is the Widowmaker because it was
• 33:06
  blocked. And I've got that scar a little
• 33:10
  dot right now. And when I look at that dot,
• 33:14
  it's a victory scar because the Lord says, I'm not done with
• 33:19
  you. I can see you through anything.
• 33:23
  Your life is in my hands. I hold your breath in my hands.
• 33:28
  I'm not done with you Bob and because I did offer it and I'm
• 33:31
  going Lord. If you done with me, I'm fine,
• 33:34
  you know, I don't want to plead with my, you know another
• 33:36
  another 15 years like Hezekiah did and ended up not being good,
• 33:42
  you know, you do what you want and so You're in, you know, here
• 33:47
  we are. I think you have scars as well.
• 33:56
  You know, some of the scars are from people that have turned
• 34:00
  against you. And it hurts deeply when you
• 34:04
  open your arms to love somebody deeply in your family, your
• 34:08
  spouse, your children. And then they turn and they stab
• 34:13
  you in the back. That hurts.
• 34:18
  But the danger and I've shared this illustration before, the
• 34:22
  danger in with this knife in your back, is you start using it
• 34:27
  as your identity and you make sure everybody knows that you
• 34:31
  were treated bad. And so you're asking the Lord to
• 34:36
  heal your life, but you're keeping the knife in your back
• 34:40
  because now you've wrapped your identity around how bad people
• 34:44
  have treated you and the Lord can't heal it.
• 34:48
  Because the knife is still in the, in the back, he wants you
• 34:52
  to go forward, but he needs your participation and what that
• 34:58
  participant participation is is you have to grab it yourself in
• 35:03
  the Of Christ and you have to pull it out.
• 35:07
  Yeah. But if I pull it out, no one
• 35:08
  will ever know. That's the point.
• 35:12
  Because God knows. And he's going to heal the
• 35:16
  wound, but that wound will be a reminder of God's strength, not
• 35:22
  to evil. It's God's strength.
• 35:26
  Yeah, but no one will ever know. Well, wait a minute, isn't it
• 35:31
  enough that God knows. And yes, they'll be times he
• 35:34
  will use that to minister to somebody else but is no longer
• 35:38
  your identity that makes sense but it's risky because you have
• 35:45
  a tendency to wrap your identity around it and that's not your
• 35:50
  identity in Christ. Your identity is you're a child
• 35:53
  of God. You're his You're a new creation
• 35:57
  in Christ and more things will happen to you.
• 36:02
  But let's go forward. Let's have that Victory.
• 36:04
  Let's have that freedom that no one else can bring to you except
• 36:09
  the Lord. Paul says in verse 10.
• 36:17
  Therefore, I take pleasure. In infirmities in reproaches in
• 36:23
  needs and persecutions in distresses, for Christ's sake.
• 36:27
  Notice is for Christ's sake. Because these were all things he
• 36:32
  experienced because he was trying to follow the Lord's law
• 36:35
  and not the world. For when I am weak, then I am
• 36:40
  strong. Can you receive that today?
• 36:46
  That in your weakness in the infirmity and the difficulty
• 36:50
  you're going through. That it's okay.
• 36:54
  And Jesus to say, I see my weakness.
• 36:59
  Because that's when he can really start working because
• 37:03
  we're yielding to what he wants to do were yielding to the fact
• 37:07
  that I can't control life, but I know who can and I know he can
• 37:12
  turn my life around to be a glory to him, even when I'm
• 37:17
  suffering, even when I'm being Afflicted, even when it's an
• 37:21
  infirmity, I can't get rid of. and so, as we close here, Just
• 37:29
  know that. There's nothing too hard for the
• 37:34
  Lord. Yeah, you're a piece of work but
• 37:39
  God can handle you. He doesn't want two of you.
• 37:43
  One is enough. But you have a journey like
• 37:48
  nobody else and God wants to take your life journey.
• 37:53
  And so transform, you from the inside out that it becomes a
• 37:57
  glory to him, but you gotta let him do what he's going to do.
• 38:04
  And that comes by faith and some of you have that might be here
• 38:08
  today or you're listening online.
• 38:12
  You haven't yet surrendered your life to Christ?
• 38:15
  Your little mad at God because it didn't work out, like you
• 38:19
  thought it should happen. I want to say God there's just
• 38:24
  so many things you don't understand yet and would you
• 38:27
  just trust God that he has a full understanding of all things
• 38:32
  and he hasn't shown them to you yet?
• 38:35
  Can you trust him when the Bible says that Jesus took your sins
• 38:40
  upon himself and it killed him, he died on the cross.
• 38:43
  Bearing your sin, my sin. And he rose again from the dead
• 38:48
  on the third day, to prove that God accepted what he did for
• 38:51
  you. Can you trust that?
• 38:54
  Can you, can you Bank your eternity on that reality?
• 38:58
  Can you risk it? Yes, you can.
• 39:01
  God will give you the faith to believe and you let him sort out
• 39:06
  the questions. You let him sort out the issues.
• 39:09
  He doesn't want to make a reformed.
• 39:11
  You he wants to make a transformed you a A new life in
• 39:16
  Christ but you got to step across the line.
• 39:21
  You can hang out on the pier and say well the boat will surely
• 39:24
  him. You know, hold me up.
• 39:26
  I believe the boat will hold you up here.
• 39:28
  Why don't you step off the pier and you and you stand in the
• 39:31
  boat physics show that it will hold you up.
• 39:35
  Okay you stand now in the boat. Well I'm not ready, why not?
• 39:40
  Because I'm afraid I'll fall. I'm afraid it won't hold me up.
• 39:43
  Yeah but you know the physics I mean you just You saw it
• 39:46
  happened, two or three times. What's the problem?
• 39:49
  Well, I'm not sure if it'll hold me up and many people don't
• 39:52
  receive the, what the Lord Jesus did for them because of their
• 39:57
  afraid, maybe that's you and God wants to just help you give you
• 40:02
  the courage to do what's right and to trust God.
• 40:06
  With all your heart, I mean, you can't do a foot on the pier and
• 40:10
  a foot on the boat because you will be in the lake.
• 40:15
  You've got to be either all in or not.
• 40:19
  And today, the Lord wants you step in the boat.
• 40:25
  Step in. How do I do that?
• 40:28
  You just ask him. You just pray.
• 40:30
  All need you in a prayer as we close mean, it in your heart.
• 40:35
  Gone, all gone take you there. You don't have to have exact
• 40:38
  words, or, or do Penance and know I've got to do all these
• 40:42
  before. God will even look at me.
• 40:44
  Stop it. Just as you are Christ, died for
• 40:48
  you while you were in your sin because he loved you, but it's
• 40:53
  your step now. You've got to do it.
• 40:56
  It's an act of the will. Let's pray.
• 41:00
  Our Father in heaven. We thank you for this tax today
• 41:03
  and how you might be ministering to us and for those that are
• 41:07
  watching online or do, you know what's going on in their lives?
• 41:11
  You know what they're living through in the midst of that
• 41:15
  place, maybe they're listening to it on the radio.
• 41:18
  Maybe they're watching it online.
• 41:20
  Maybe they're downstairs in the coffee house area.
• 41:26
  God, you're good at what you do and your faithful and you never
• 41:31
  give up. And we're praying Lord that we
• 41:35
  would have a change of perspective.
• 41:40
  And trust your grace to be sufficient in our weakness.
• 41:47
  And father as we continue to pray, if there are those here
• 41:49
  that need to surrender their life to Christ, Jesus may you
• 41:53
  grant to them the courage and the faith to step in the boat to
• 41:58
  come into the family of God, to repent of their sins and to turn
• 42:02
  to you for cleansing and forgiveness.
• 42:05
  As we continue to pray up, this is you this morning.
• 42:10
  Here's how you take that step you just say God, please have
• 42:14
  mercy on me. I know I'm a sinner.
• 42:21
  And I believe Jesus bore my sin on the cross, as what the gospel
• 42:25
  tells me. I ask you to forgive me of all
• 42:29
  the sin of my life. Wash me.
• 42:32
  Clean. Make me a whole new creation.
• 42:37
  Move into my life right now. Make yourself real to me.
• 42:43
  Change me from the inside out. Open your word to me and have
• 42:50
  it. Make sense.
• 42:50
  And I want to know the truth. Receive me.
• 42:56
  Lord please. I step into the boat.
• 43:00
  Put my whole weight in Take care of me, Lord.
• 43:09
  If you prayed that prayer this morning, I know that God has
• 43:11
  heard you because he knew you're going to be here. and he knew
• 43:16
  it'd be such a time as this And so Lord God with all of us.
• 43:24
  Enter the midst of what we're living through, what we've gone
• 43:28
  through, what we're going into. And be our strength in Jesus
• 43:36
  name. Amen, we pray that you've been
• 43:40
  encouraged by this Bible. Study delivered live from the
• 43:43
  sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
• 43:46
  Call us at 877, 30 Grace. That's eight 77304, 703 to
• 43:55
  listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
• 43:58
  lives dream Services. Visit us online at Calvary.
• 44:02
  Co dot church or download our free Calvary Church app be
• 44:07
  blessed as you worship Jesus this week.
• 44:02
  Co dot church or download our free Calvary Church app be
• 44:07
  blessed as you worship Jesus this week.