Welcome to another message from God's Word. We're studying 2 Corinthians from the Greek Bible. And we're in the 12th chapter of 2 Corinthians in verse number 1. And this is quite an exciting message tonight. I hope it comes out like what's in the Bible there. I hope I can make it exciting to you as it is to me. Paul is talking about visions and revelations that he has received. Now remember he was defending his apostleship, defending who he was. And the last time we talked about the perils of Paul. And now we're going to look at Paul's trip to heaven. He visited heaven. Paul visited heaven. the third heaven. Now, I want you to understand something. Heaven in the Old Testament, or Paradise, Paradisa, as it is in the ancient Persian, it came into the Hebrew, Paradisa, and into Greek as Paradiso. And in English, the paradise, it means a guarded pleasure park is what it means, a guarded pleasure park. And heaven at one time, if you can imagine, I wish I had a blackboard here. If you can imagine, here is a great big circle. Here is earth up here. And when everybody died before the cross of Calvary here, when everyone died, They went down to paradise or Hades or Sheol. Hades means the place not seen. Sheol means the place to ask about. And one side of it was paradise and the other side of it was a place of torments. Hades. Hades and hell are different. Now hell is eternal fire in the lake of fire. Hades is not that place. Hades is a place were all of the ones that were promised heaven from Adam on up here to the cross of Christ. They were held there in a paradise, a guarded pleasure park, but evidently people could see from paradise into Hades, a place of torment. When Jesus died on the cross, went down into that Hades, And he preached to them and said, I have overcome. I've died on the cross of Calvary. And then he took them with him, took all of them with him, and they went into the paradise of God, which is the third heaven. Now, Paul the Apostle talks about visiting that place. Luke, the 16th chapter, tells about it. And we won't go there right now, but we will. Look the 16th chapter and in just a few minutes we'll go over there also. I'll get that opened up in my Bible here so we can go over there in just a few minutes. We will look at it. Now the twelfth chapter and verse number one. Tak-tah-stay-day-oo-seem-fer-on-man-ee-loo-sum-wai-day-ace-ah-tah-see-ahs-kai-ah-poh-kuh-leap-says-kir-yo- And he says here, it is bindingly necessary. We're going to start off with that little day there. Day, third person singular impersonal verb. It is bindingly necessary to boast. For myself, that's middle voice, present infinity middle. Not, a little adverb of negation, page 294. Being expedient, being expedient there, that is, accused, singular, neuter, present, participle, active. Being expedient, indeed, he says, man, that little particle of affirmation there, man, is kind of like ah, man, but it's short. Indeed, most affirmatively, I shall come of my own volition and Now that verb there is first person singular, future, indicative, middle voice. I want you to get the idea of the action of the verbs. And then a little weak adversity conjunction here, particle, day. And to optosios, optosios. Can you say that? Optosios. Now we get the word optometrist and we get the word ophthalmologist from this word. And this word means to see. But it means a supernatural, divine apparition. A supernatural, divine apparition. And Apocalypse, that's Revelations. The book about Revelation, that's the same thing as here. Revelations. That means to uncover or to disclose or to reveal the true character of something. page 42 in Analytical Greek Lexicon. By the way, that optosios, that is page 290, if you want to look those up. And then it says, of the Lord. And this word here, kurio, here is equivalent of the Old Testament word Jehovah. Revelations of Jesus Christ Jehovah. The book of Revelation is a revelation of Jesus, a Jehovah of the Old Testament. John 1.14 says, and the word, and that there is a Hebraism because it comes from Hathavar, which means the word, except that's the replacement word for Jehovah. So it said, and the word, the Jehovah flesh he became dwelt among us. And we're talking about him here in these verses tonight. Now Paul starts to tell about his vision. And he says here, we're gonna read this one also and then we'll go on and read it back in the Amplified Bible. I have known a man, I have known, first person singular, perfect indicative, active, oida, oida anthropon, in cresu, pro eton, dicatation, tars, sireon, that is, ete in somate, uc, I have known a man, Paul says, in Christ. In Christ. This man was saved. It's Paul. Paul's talking about himself. Before years 14, about 14 years ago, whether in somati, in the body, not I have known, look at that, first person saying it in a perfect indicative, not I have known, or outside of the body, not I have known. The God, He knows. to God he knows, God alone he knows. Having been caught up and snatched away, though such a one, unto, now this word here, eels, means it is a preparation of time or place. and that's on page 180 in the Analytical Greek Lexicon, to the Tritou Ouranou, to the third heaven. Now, look at the earth again here, it's a round ball. I gotta get one of those charts and put them up here, I'll put it up there someplace where you can see it. Here's the earth, the round ball, and the first atmosphere around the earth, by the way, that is a Greek word, The atmosphere where the oxygen is, the birds flyin' and the clouds are, that's the first heaven. The second heaven is where the stars, you can walk out here tonight and you can see stars and two or three Milky Ways all over the skies here. That's the second heaven. But up into the third heaven is the abode of God and that's where Paul visited. He visited the third heaven. The third heaven. Now let's read this in the Amplified. 12, one, two. Truth, there is nothing to be gained by it, but as I am obliged to boast, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know a man in Christ, he said here in Greek, I have known a man in Christ 14 years ago. Whether in the body or outside of the body, I do not know. God knows who was caught up, snatched up, the word rapture, raptured up. snatched up to the third heaven. Now let's go back and let's look at something in the 16th chapter of Luke. Now there was a certain rich man and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. We can tell you about that because dogs have antibiotic qualities in their saliva. So they were doing him a favor. Now it came about the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. This is Potardiso. This is the good side now. And he's carried away by the angels. Now, I believe, and many other theologians believe, that when we're born, when we're conceived, there are two angels that witness that. When we are saved, two angels witness that. When we die, two angels witness that. Now, why do I say two angels? Well, up here in the Ark of the Covenant, we have two cherubim, which are angels. That's an order of angels. And they have their wings. It says, by two or three witnesses, let everything be established. And these are a type of everything that happens to us. Those two angels, angels witness. Angels are messengers. Angels are servants. Angels serve us daily. I believe Satan sends angels to protect his. His angels. Paul's going to talk about that later. Satan's angels. But God sends his angels to protect us, not only to protect us, but to witness that we were conceived. Because every person that's ever been conceived, maybe aborted or miscarried or stillbirth or whatever, that person has eternal life with Jesus Christ. Every one of them. There was a witness that they were conceived. And when you die below the age of accountability, you get to go with God because the blood of Jesus Christ covers all men, especially those that believe. And we're talking all men there are talking about those under the age of accountability and those that never come to accountability. Now it came about that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom and the rich man also died and was buried. Now, Lazarus, I guess, was buried, or else they took him out and threw him in the dump. Maybe they did. Who knows? And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, Hades, that's what we're talking about, Sheol or Hades, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony." Now, the body of this man is buried. It's not the body that's suffering here. But somehow, we are triune, we are body, we are soul, and we are spirit. The Spirit is what gives us life, just like Father, Son, Holy Spirit, God said, let us create man in our image in Genesis 1.26. Let him be in our shadow casting likeness or our spiritual image, in our blood flowing likeness, in his physical image, and in his sovereign likeness like the Father. Triune. Now, he doesn't have his body there, but somehow his soul has form. In Hebrew, the word soul is nefesh. In Hebrew, the word flesh basically is basar. And in Hebrew, the word spirit is ruach. Now in Greek, sarx, flesh, spirit, pneuma, soul, psyche. So the psyche and the spirit of this man were there and they were suffering and they had the sensations of seeing, hearing, feeling, burning, thirst, hunger, and memory. But Abraham said, child, remember that during your life you received your good things and likewise lathered bad things, but now he is being comforted here and you are in agony. Now it doesn't mean just because you are rich you have to go to hell. For you people out there that are wealthy, you don't have to go to hell. As long as you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection, ask Him to save you and forgive you of your sins, repenting of them, you can be and have eternal life with Christ. You can do that. Now, just because you're poor doesn't mean you get to go to heaven. If you're poor, You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, death, burial and resurrection, you repent in your heart and ask him to save you, you get to go to heaven. Now the only difference between heaven and hell here, or Hades in all reality, is their belief in Christ. Lazarus believed, the rich man didn't. 26 and besides all this between us and you there is a great chasm fixed in order that those who wish to come over here from From here to you may not be able and that none may cross over from there to us and all these things And he said then I beg you father that you send him to my father's house now He remembers he remembers his family in hell or Hades you remember your family Now remember, this isn't the final hell. This is Hades. This is the place of the power of the Spirit. This is paradise side and the side of suffering. And both of them are guarded. One of them is a guarded place of agony and the other one is a guarded pleasure park. For I have five brothers, that he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment. For Abraham said, they have Moses and they have the prophets, let them hear them. Why? That's all that Lazarus had, and that was sufficient for this rich man to be saved, but he didn't. But he said, no, Father, I have rebelled, but if someone goes back to them from the dead, they will repent. Some did. Lazarus was raised from the dead, the other Lazarus that was Jesus' friend. There were several people that Jesus raised from the dead, and then Jesus raised himself from the dead. And some believed. Some did not. Just because you see the resurrection and the power of God, the Deinamus, the majestic power of God, does not mean you'll believe. Does not mean that you'll believe. Miracles were to confirm the Word of God, not to make people believe in all reality. You believe from your heart. You believe in a supernatural way. in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. They believed that in the Old Testament. And he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. Let's go on now to Paul's vision. Verse number three. Paul was snatched away into the third heaven and we just see what happens here now. Now, after all of that, after the resurrection of Christ, he took all of those down, Abraham, all of them got to go to heaven. Now let's go on to verse number three. Kai oida ton toion ton. Anthropon ete in somati, ete kores, two somatos, Uk oida ho theos oiden. And I have known the one, the such a one that went up to the third heaven now. He doesn't know if he's in the body or out of the body because he had a body with him. He saw, he felt, just like the man there in Hades did. He got to go to the third heaven. One man in the Bible died twice. This is him. Paul was stoned to death. And this is what happened. He went to heaven. And then Paul was decapitated. He was beheaded. Twice, he died a martyr. Two times, he died a martyr. And I have known the one, such a one man, whether in the body, in the somati, in the flesh, in the body, whether outside the body, now that we're weathered there, That's page 121. And it says, such a man, in the body or outside of the body, Coris, outside, page 440, that little adverb there. Of the body, not I have known. I don't understand this. It is, I experience it. I don't understand it. That rich man, he had a body. Yet he didn't have a body. He didn't have a resurrected body yet, but he was in Hades suffering. And the God, He knows all things. 12 and verse 3. Is this exciting to you? Yes. And I know that this man was caught up in the paradise, whether in the body or away from the body, I do not know, only God knows. Verse number 4. And this is quite a deal. How does that start off? Chote, herpage, ets, ton, paradeson, kai, akuasen, areta, remata, ha, uk, exon, anthropo, lalese. Now this, there's a lot here in this verse. that he was snatched up, and the same word for rapture, harpazo, that he was raptured up, that he was caught up and snatched away into the paradise. Now, the word paradiso means to bind beside, literally. It means to encircle with fence and to guard. Davidson talks about this in his lexicon. Psalm 23 is David's idea of paradise. David's idea of paradise, Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. Jehovah is my shepherd. I shall not want. Did Lazarus want? No. He leadeth me beside still waters. He causes me to lay down and to be nourished. Be nourished and to lay down in peace. and comfort and protection. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies, that he is able to feed and care for me in all ways. He restores my soul. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will feel no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's David, as a shepherd, his idea of heaven. And in John the 10th chapter of the New Testament, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. I am Jehovah. I am the good shepherd. And that this man was caught up from earth into the third heaven, which I explained to you, up into paradise. And remember, the word paradise means a guarded pleasure park. It means to bind beside. to encircle and to guard. I want to throw a little out there with you historically in archaeology. In many, many cultures, they all teach about the paradise of Eden, the paradise of that that Eden, there were two Edens in the Bible, the one in eternity past where Lucifer was on the throne room, and by the way, paradise was the throne room, Eden was the throne room of mankind upon this earth. He said, let him have sovereignty, let him have dominion, let him be sovereign over all the earth, let him be the king of the earth. And he was. In a Babylonian culture, they have a roll that rolls out that shows a man and a woman that are unclothed and standing in a great garden and there's four rivers, just like in the Book of Genesis. And there's a tree and there's a serpent. In India, the same thing, the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is a type of paradise. Four streams running into the pond in front of the Taj Mahal. The great white dome of the Taj Mahal and it says you're entering heaven. This is paradise. The four streams all representing the same thing that was in Eden, the paradise. That paradise was a guarded pleasure park. until man sinned and he was kicked out of the garden. Paradiso. Remember, it comes from Persian, paradiso. Hebrew, paradiso. Greek, paradiso. English, paradise. A garden pleasure park. And he heard! And he heard. Third person singing the first hours in Dikti Vakti. I come from Akugo. We get our word acoustics from that word. Then he says, arayta. Arayta. That means unspeakable words not able to be put in human language. And it means not transferable. You can't describe this. I saw things undescribable. unspeakable in remata, in words. Which is not. It is permitted. Look at that word exon there. That's nomine singular neuter present participle active. Being, not being permitted. Not allowed for man to speak. Now the end of Hades which in existence today, the end of Hades will be eternal hellfire. That's a real place, people. It's not a figment of imagination. Everything in the Bible basically is archaeologically, medically and scientifically true. Don't be afraid of things. Don't be afraid to study archaeology or anything like that at all. It's there. The Bible can tell you all of these things. The Bible even tells you where the Ark of the Covenant is today if you read 2nd Maccabees 2nd chapter. It'll tell you Jeremiah the prophet was warned of God and he took that Ark of the Covenant into the mountain and hid it in a cave where God showed Moses the promised land. That's over in Jordan today. I've been on that mountain and looked there where Moses looked from. We see all these things. Circumcised on the eighth day, that's a very special time when the blood changes and it begins to clot. All the things. The seed of the woman, not the seed of the man, would become Christ because the woman does not transmit the sin nature. It comes through the blood of man. No blood of the woman goes in the child at all. The blood is what carries the infection of sin. The woman was taken out of man's side before he sinned. Many, many things in the Bible. The Bible talks about Tartarus in 2 Peter 2 and 4. That is a pit. That is a place in Hades. It talks about Topheth. In Brown, Driver, and Briggs, 1075, you'll talk about that paradise or hell. Parah, Tophet. No bottom. The bottomless pit. There are weary, wicked angels and spirits there today that are going to be turned down on this earth in that tribulation period from the half of it, from the mid of it, three and a half year period onward. Tophet is going to be emptied. 12 and verse 4, let's read that now. By the way, Sheol, Sheol means the place Azkabah. And there's another word in Hebrew for grave, and that's quiver. Now, you can dig a quiver, but you can't dig a Sheol. The Jehovah Witnesses and Worldwide Church of God and all of those, the Seventh-day Adventists, none of them believe in hell. They don't believe in hell. For mankind, that is. They think the only inhabitant of hell will be Satan, and that he will suffer in hell for all man's sins. That makes Satan a co-redeemer, and I don't believe the Bible teaches that at all. 12 and verse 4, And he heard utterances beyond the power of man to put into words, which man is not permitted to utter. Which man is not permitted to utter. Let's go on a little bit further. 12 and verse 5, Hyper, To, Toitu, Coxasomai, Hyper, De, e motul u kaxosomai e me in teis asthenios mu. Hyper. Hyperglycemia is high blood sugar. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. All of your medical terms come from Greek, by the way. On behalf of the such one, I shall boast. Now, Paul's talking about himself, or myself. He said, I shall boast for myself, person singular, future indicative, middle. On behalf of, or not here would it be on behalf of, but to a higher, more fuller degree. That's an adverb here, before it's a preposition up there. Hyper, up there, page 414. On behalf of, and now here, to a higher and more fuller degree. I shall boast. to a higher and more full degree, but myself not. I shall boast for myself, except in the sicknesses and weaknesses of me." Theosthenes, in the weaknesses and sicknesses of me. 12 and verse 5, Amplify. Of this same man's experiences I will boast, but of myself personally I will not boast, except as regards to my infirmities and my weaknesses." And remember that first hyper is a preposition, the second one is an adverb, which means higher to a fuller degree. 12 and verse 6, Ion, Gar, Thela, the lace the lay Oh cock sauce a say oook oh my a throne a lathe on your arrow fade oh my day may tease ace and may logis take hyper Ho, blepe, me, e, akue, t, x, imu. For if, now this if here, this eon as a third class conditional particle, that's a condition that is undetermined but it has a prospect of termination. For if I shall wish or I may wish This is what we call a futuristic subjunctive. That's first person singular, first aorist subjunctive active. That I may wish, or I shall wish, to boast, to cause merit to apply to me. That means to accommodate. Accommodation. I shall make accommodation, not I shall for myself, es so my, And then it says brainless, mindless, foolish. Truth, aletheia, no shadow. Aletheia means no shadow. The name Aletheia, that is a woman's name in English and it means truth. For I shall speak, ero, first person singular future indicative active, for I shall speak. I spare not, I spare but not anyone to me he may reckon or logically reason beyond what he sees me or he hears what out of me. The word hyper there, that is an adverb beyond or above or to a higher degree what he sees in me or what he hears out of me. 12 and verse 6. Should I desire to boast, I shall not. Be a witness and a bragger, for I shall be speaking the truth. but I abstain from it so that no one may form a higher estimate of me than it is justified by what he sees in me of what he hears from me." Now remember he's just told us that he made a visit to heaven and it's all revelations that no one else has ever known. 12 and verse 7, Cai tehipa bale. Apo kalipsa eon, dio kina me, haipare yotro me. Idose moi, skolops te sarki, angalo satana hina me, kola thize hina me. Hyperiorome. And for the excess, the hyperbole, the throw beyond, to exaggerate, the exaggeration of the revelations. I have more revelations than anybody has. Paul wrote most of the New Testament, you know, because he had these revelations. Wherefore, therefore, on which account, page 102, that little deal, Hina, a conjunction in order that not, particle of negation, I shall or I may be exceedingly uplifted. Hyperioro, that comes from Iro, that means lift up, to lift up high. There was given, or it was given, Third person singular, first terse, indicative, passive, to me, a scolops, a shark steak. Paul, when he was struck down on the way to Damascus, going there to kill the church members, God struck him down and blinded him, Jesus did. And Paul, Saul says, after the Lord speaks to him. Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? He said, Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus who is your persecutor. How long do you kick against the thorn, the goad, the sharp stick, the sharp stake? In the flesh, a messenger, an angel of Satan. an angel of Satan. In order to that, now here I told you about we have angels of God and we have angels of Satan. Now Satan is going to dog Paul. Going to dog him all of his life. They might hit me with a closed fist. That's what he said. Give me the knockout punch right under the eye. Third person seated in your presence subjunctive aptitude. that he might do that. In order that not, I shall be exceedingly uplifted, lifted above and beyond, that it might be a snare to me also. Proverbs 7, Amplify. And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness and preeminence of these revelations, there was given to me a thorn, a splinter, a shark stick in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, an angel of Satan to rack and to buffet and harass me to keep me from being excessively exalted. Joke 2 and 6 if you want to go look that up. Satan is there, people. We all have these sticks and these goads and these thorns in our flesh if you're trying to serve the Lord. Satan, I know where Satan is. He's one step behind me. I know always, he's always there with me. I'm not a great man of God. I'm not a great man of God. I was gifted with a good memory and high intelligence, and I learned languages. And I have a desire to preach God word that I cannot describe to you at all, unless you got it. I couldn't shut up and not preach. I almost quit one time. I almost quit preaching. Remember when I almost quit preaching, Mary? I had a stroke when I was preaching. And that, it very embarrassed me. Last time when I was preaching here, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. My heart was really bothering me. I'm not in good health. But I do it anyway. It so embarrassed me. One woman walked out of my class and said, I heard he was a Greek scholar and Hebrew scholar, and he can't even speak English. I couldn't hardly talk. I was trying to preach, but my words were just coming out gobbledygop, I guess. I thought I was preaching. My head was spinning, but I was trying to hold on task. After about 30 minutes or so, I guess I caught wind of myself, and I got to where I could talk again. And people come up and ask me what was wrong with me. I said, oh, I'm all right. I finished real good, but I sure had a rough time. And I almost quit. I didn't want that to happen to me again. But now, if that happens again, it happens. I don't want to drop dead in front of the camera, I really don't. I've always said, may my life glorify God and my death glorify God too. I really mean that. But I'm not really wanting to die on camera. or die being recorded. I'd like to do that in my sleeping bed. It won't bother anybody. On behalf of this three times, let's read it in Greek. Hēpēr tūto trēs tōn kyriōn. Pāre kalēsā. Hīnā. Apāstē. Āp'imū. On behalf of this, three times the Lord I kept on begging, in order that it might depart from me. 12 and verse 8 in the Amplified. Three times I called upon the Lord and besought Him about this very thing, about my thorn in the flesh. And I begged that it might depart from me. Have you got a thorn in the flesh? Do you have a thorn in the flesh? I got one. Have you ever asked the Lord to take it away? Maybe it's good for you. Not one thing happens to you that is not good for you, good or bad. Good or bad. I remember Dr. Troy Hastain debating with a Church of Christ preacher. Church of Christ, they believe that you've got to be perfect and sinless every day. And Brother Chastain kept telling him over and over and over again, I'm saved by grace. I'm going to tell you something. If it wasn't for the blood of Jesus Christ, you wouldn't get to go to heaven. Neither would I. If it wasn't for Jesus Christ's blood, nobody would go to heaven. You cannot the man, the presence of God, you cannot walk into the presence of God at all. Archaeologically, the name Adam comes from the word blood, dam, in Hebrew. And archaeologists have found people that when they died, they painted them red. So they'd be ready to go to paradise. You know what that red typifies the blood of Jesus Christ. All religions had the revelation one time that they needed to be saved by grace, by the blood of Jesus Christ. People, when I was given the Bible, when I was going to church, I read the whole thing. I read the whole Old Testament. You know, when you read a book, you start from the front cover and you go to the back. That's all I'd ever done. By the time I got to Matthew, from Genesis through Malachi, I was ready to offer my dog up, my horse, and everything else to be saved. And I found out that all those typified something. All that blood, shed blood, typified the one great Savior, Jesus Christ. And I didn't have to offer up Yukon, or my favorite chickens, or my horse. I didn't have to offer them up. Jesus had already died for me. I was already covered in blood of Jesus Christ. 12 and verse 9, Kai areken, moi arke, si he karis, mu he gardinus, in astania teletei, he dista, u malon, kaxosamai, Entes ostinias mu hina episque noce, ep eme he dinimus tu crisu. And He has said to me, sufficient. Totally supplied and sufficient. Third person singular, present and dignified. It is sufficient to you. He caris, the grace of me. God said, it's sufficient, the grace of me is sufficient to you. For the power, the dynamis. That dynamis is majestic power. Unlimited power. Majestic. From majesty on high. Majestic power in weakness. It is perfected and completed and made mature. Most gladly, hedista. Now the word hedista there comes from page 185 and it's an adverb by the way. Most gladly, with the greatest pleasure. Now we get a word hedonistic from this word. Hedonistic, what does that mean? That means to seek pleasure. Most gladly, the greatest pleasure therefore rather I shall boast and brag in the weakness belonging to me, in the sickness of me, in order that he might overshadow, or it might overshadow over me the power, the majestic power out from Christ, that Jesus shall outshine me. I ask God many times, don't let him hear me, let him hear you. I'm nothing, people. I'm nothing. I struggle. You look at this little background here. This is a little bitty tiny cabin that is a little chapel. See all that bad sheetrock work up there? I haven't even had money to cover it yet with paneling or anything. But you know what? God provided this little cabin. I have to come up with the taxes for it pretty soon. I have to come up with all these things pretty soon, but I pray that God will provide for that. There's a lot of things on our plate right now, but God provides. God provides. And he said to me, sufficient to you the grace of me. and the majestic power. In weakness it is perfected. Most gladly and with the greatest pleasure, therefore, rather, I shall boast and brag in the weaknesses of me. In order that he might overshadow me, the majestic power of Christ." Verse number 9. It's a long verse here in the Amplified. And He said to me, My favor, my loving kindness, and mercy are enough for you. That is sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully. For my strength and power are made perfect, fulfilled and completed, and show themselves most effectively. In your weakness, therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weakness and infirmities, that the strength and the power of Christ the Messiah may rest. Yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell upon me. Brother Chastain told that church guy's preacher. And he kept insulting him. He said, what if you run off with the wrong woman? This young, another 16, 15, 18 year old woman, what if you run away with them? You think that's God's will in your life? He said, well, Evidently, it was to teach me a lesson. He said, I never had a young woman before anyway. I said, my wife was 26 years old when I married her. And Sister Chastain was with him all of those years. Great man of God. Yeah, whatever happens to you, happens to you. It teaches you lessons, shows you how weak you are and how great he is. 12 and verse 10. Wherefore, on which account I am well pleased? In weakness and in insults. This word insults, hebrason. This means wanton insolence. This means outrage and damage by words and even damage by the sea, it says here, it's used. When you go out there and your boat gets beat up in the ocean. People, we get beat up by people. Sometimes even Christian people beat the tar out of us. Sometimes Christian people can tear your guts out and just rip your head plumb off and tear you up and spit you out. And you look at them and they have no confidence of it. That's what this word means right here. He embraced it. In innocuous, in necessities. and terrible pressures is what it says. I am squished. I am stepped on like a bug. I'm in a straitjacket. I'm in that what they called during the acquisition They had this device where you couldn't stand up straight, you couldn't sit down. And it had spikes and barbs in it in all directions. You couldn't lean, you couldn't rest. And some people would scream in agony. They'd put them in there for days at a time. Finally, they would throw themselves into those knives and blades to just get rid of it, to just die and get it over with. That's this word right here, in agony. And in Diogamois, in Persecutions, this means to run down like an animal. They ran him down like an animal, like hounds on the trail. And Difficulties, Steno Kolrias. That's a narrow strait. That's a cramped place. In a tight enclosure. Squished. Here in Fish Lake Valley 63 years ago, I guess. I won't forget this. I don't think I've ever told you about this story. We were out there, my dog chased those brahma bulls way down to almost Eureka to Saline Valley. We had to go out there and we were all night long driving the cattle back. He chased him. We sicked him off. Say, Yukon, Middy, get him out of here. Well, Yukon, Middy came back after about a mile. Yukon chased him down for miles. We had to go down there in a truck and see where they went. We saw Yukon's tracks and we saw their tracks. And we had to go get those bulls back. Those were our breeding bulls with our Black Angus cattle. All night long we were driving them back. And my horse was blind in one eye. Her name was Lady. She was a big quarter horse. She's blind in one eye and that horse would jump ten feet sideways if something scared her. I was leading her down a chute that night, late at night. And one of them bulls, the bulls got the plan out there, and one of them hit the fence and she jumped and squished me and I couldn't breathe. It is a narrow chute and that horse and I, there wasn't room for both of us. And I was wedged in there. I couldn't breathe. I had spurs on and I kept spurring that horse's leg and kept spurring that horse's leg and I mean she was bleeding. And finally I got her, punched her and everything else. I couldn't breathe. I got her back. That's what that word means right there. Stanocorias. In a narrow strait, a crushing distress. Suffocation. claustrophobic, hyper, on behalf of Christ. For whenever I may be weak, asano, first person singular presence, subjunctive active, then, that adverb of time, page 407 totem, powerful and with majestic dynamite powers, strength and ability that is efficacious to every obstacle. Verse number 10, For the sake of Christ I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults and perjuries, hardships and persecutions, perplexities and distresses, for when I am weak in human strength, then I am truly strong and able and powerful in divine strength. What is your thorn? Jesus can comfort you with it. Whatever thorn you have. What is your thorn? Paul talked about his trip to heaven. Paul was stoned to death. He died twice for Christ. He died. He was a martyr two times. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that to judge. Paul, I don't think he complained about it at all. Five times he was beaten with a cat o' nine tail, 39 stripes, five times. Almost 200 lashes cut in his back, trails of blood and torn flesh. Stoned to death. God raised him from the dead. Just think about that for a little while. Paul was stolen to death. He goes to the third heaven, sees beautiful things up there, and the Lord says, get back down there, Paul. I got things for you to do. Paul didn't say, I don't want to go. Off again he went. And then the next time, when he saw the axe, the sword that was about to fall on his neck, he knew where he was going. Two times he tasted death. We only have to do once. In Jesus Christ, death is a release. It is a, what we might call a graduation. Our Heavenly Father, we send this multi-purpose, multi-faceted message out tonight. Let them see Paul, let them see you. Let them understand that whatever their thorn in the flesh is, that you will take care of it. And Father, thank you for this moment, for this time. Thank you for all the persecutions and the things that have taught me in my life and still teaching me. Father, watch over us. Please go with your word, help it to do its job. because it will only do its job with your spirit, and that's all. Father, forgive me for I fail you every day. And in my sicknesses and my weakness, may your grace be sufficient for me. It has been tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.