Let's turn now to the New Testament, to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. We will follow up on the sermon of this morning, on the theme of seeking the kingdom of God. And the emphasis will be this afternoon on how to do that, with what attitude. We begin to read in chapter 11, and we continue reading until chapter 12, verse 10. Chapter 11, verse 16. I say again, let no one think me a fool, if otherwise at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. For you put off with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise. For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. To our shame, I say that we were too weak for that. But in whatever anyone is bold, I speak foolishly. I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the deep, in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings of then, in cold and nakedness, Besides the other things what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. Damascus, the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison desiring to apprehend me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands. It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord, I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago, whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows. Such a one was caught up in the third heaven, and I know such a man. Whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. How he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast. Yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will speak the truth. But I forbear, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be, or hears from me. Unless I should be exalted above measure, by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Please read with me again now the text for our sermon, verses 9 and 10 in chapter 12. And he that is God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness, Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Children, I want you to see two men fighting in the dark. It is dark. The night had just begun. And one of these men suddenly surprised the other person and began to fight. It is a serious fight. Not just a fight for five minutes. It's a fight of hours. you could hear the water of the river Djerbag on their side. You could hear the water because these men do not speak at all at this point. They wrestle. This is a battle. This is a wrestle between life and death. Till suddenly, one of them touches the other person's hip powerfully. so that the socket of the person's hip is out of joint. The same person begins also to speak and says, let me go, for the day breaks. In other words, that is, let me go because it is getting light, the day begins. They have been fighting the whole night. But the other person says, while he holds him firmly, I will not let you go unless you bless me." Well, you probably know already this Bible story. We are in Genesis 32, where Jacob wrestles with a man. Jacob wrestles. with the angel of the Lord. And this is most probably the pre-incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to check this up later, you can read in verse 28 where he says, I have seen God from face to face. Or Hosea 12, verse 4 and 5. But the point is here that Jacob found himself at the evening before meeting with his brother. And you know that Esau was angry with Jacob. Jacob had all reasons to think about what Esau would do to him, that Esau would kill him, that Esau finally would kill his brother. But Jacob was a smart person. He, in worldly terms, would have fit in the category of proactive people in books like Stephen Covey on perfect leadership. He was proactive because what was he doing before? Jacob thought about the meeting with Esau, and he sent already gifts to Esau to please him. He did not only send gifts, but then he awoke in the night and he sent his family and his possessions already over the river Jabbok. But Jacob found himself alone at the riverside when a man began to wrestle with him. You know the outcome of the story? The story ends surprisingly. The man lets Jacob win. But in the same moment, Jacob loses. Jacob wins by losing. There are two winners. But God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord, allows Jacob to win. But notice how he leaves the battle. He leaves the battle with a dislocated hip, with a wound for his whole life. A wound, and my question to you is, was this wound a handicap or an asset? In our chapter in 2 Corinthians 12, we do not find a dislocated hip, but we find Paul with a similar issue, with a thorn in his flesh, and therefore, My single aim is that we would understand the value of this thorn in Paul's flesh, but also the thorns in our flesh. My single aim is that we would evaluate our lives in the light of the cross, so that we would accept our weaknesses and even rejoice in them. So the first point of the sermon is powerful but weak. The second point is weak but powerful. And we approach this text from two angles, from the situation of the Corinthians and Paul. First of all, 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians is a unique letter. It is the most personal letter written by Paul. It is a letter written to the Church of Corinthians in the year 56. And in this letter, Paul addresses various issues. But most of all, he defends his authorship. Paul was criticized severely by the Corinthians after 1 Corinthians, after he had written 1 Corinthians. He was criticized. And in this letter, he defends his authorship, his apostleship. He defends that he was in his right position. and he defends his position by sketching a paradoxical painting of his ministry. Many paradoxes are to be found in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 1, we find comfort through suffering. In chapter 3, we find glory through shame. In chapter 4, we find life working death. In chapter 6, we find riches through poverty. And as climax, we find in chapter 12 and 13, power through weakness. How is this possible? And it's right so that these paradoxes in Paul's ministry explain what it is to be a Christian minister. The climax of the Christian minister of his whole life is, when I am weak, then I am strong. The climax of your life is, when you are weak, then you are strong. But it takes time to learn that lesson. It took time for Jacob to learn that lesson. It took time for Paul to learn that lesson. But maybe you question, OK, I want to know Paul's struggle. I want to know what the thorn in the flesh is. But why did the Corinthians criticize Paul? I think it's valuable to examine the situation of 2 Corinthians briefly. Corinthians was the Dubai of that time. Dubai is a fast-growing city. And Corinthians was, like Dubai, a very important city. When Paul came, the city had just reached its height, the height of its glory. And everything in the city was about splendor and glory. The city was filled with idolatry. It was a wealthy city because of its strategic position. And these Christians, these young converts in Corinth had a struggle to face, because everything around them was worldly, and they were called to seek the things above. They were called to be set apart. They were called to live holy. But as you know, children need guidance, and these Corinthians were children in the faith. So when Paul left, other teachers came. And these people looked around, and they saw things that distracted them. This is what they saw. Everyone around them was focused on self-display. People made monuments of their own. Everything in Corinth was about the people's social status. To have a good standing was very important. Corinth was filled with games. It was a competitive city. Kraus flocked to Corinth in order to attend games. It was even so that Nero, the Caesar, didn't want to visit Athens, but he came to Corinth. He loved the city. In the city, everything was about the externals, about pleasure, about wealth, about power. And that influenced the Christian in such a way that they were criticizing Paul on everything they saw in him that was different to what they valued. Their focus on preachers was that preachers ought to be powerful, eloquent. Their speech should be very impressive, but they were not concerned about the content of their messages. And how is this applicable to this time? Are we not, when we are very honest, are we not often focused on the externals? The Corinthians had four problems, four main problems with Paul. His boasting, his physical presence, his speech, and wealth. Well, first of all, boasting. They wanted Paul to boast in a similar way as they did. They were continually boasting in the achievements of other people. But Paul refused to boast in people. He only was boasting in the Lord. Oh, they were disappointed in his physical presence. They wanted to see a vigorous leader But Paul came among them and was weak, with fear and trembling. They were disappointed by his appearance and even by his speech, because his speech was marked by weakness. Some commentators say that the thorn in Paul's flesh was his speech. And they had a problem with Paul's dealing with money. Paul refused to accept gifts from them because he didn't want them to boast in their giving to him. So they criticized Paul. This is a category of people who are powerful at the outside but weak at the inside. How much are we impacted by our culture? What do you value the most? To say that you are weak is not really the evidence for that you are really weak. Last time I preached on Galatians 6, on our own load and burdens. But what are you doing when you're taking your task seriously and your load becomes a burden? Are you asking for help? Or will that bring down your reputation? Are you a person who is so humble to say, I am weak? I am warned at the seminary several times by professors who said, be careful when you go to a new congregation for people are very excited in the first moment. Be careful for these kind of people because these people can have the temptation to be focused only on your external qualities. after a falling in love period, they might actually turn against you and say, well, we are disappointed. We thought you were such a spiritual man. We have heard such great sermons. We have seen your passion. I was warned for that. And this impressed me because I know that it's so easy to please people. I know it's so easy to to focus on someone's presentation, and to be honest, if a student or a preacher enters the pulpit here, you're judging from the first moment. What are his mannerisms? How does he preach? We should learn from Paul that real power is in weakness. Does that mean that we have to be lazy and do not stretch ourselves to be effective communicators? Surely, we are responsible to be skillful communicators. You are responsible to be skillful in your work, in your task, to do it with everything you have, to bring quality in your work. But no, that's not the ultimate purpose. Paul was criticized. And in chapter 4 of this chapter, Paul says, Though my outer man is decaying, my inner man is renewed from day to day." In chapter 4. And many people interpret this as applying this to all the people, and that can be a legitimate interpretation. But in the context, Paul was saying, though my outward is decaying, though I'm weak at the outside, Paul was growing in holiness in his inside. That's the beauty when you are a person here and you have handicaps, you have limitations, that you can say at the end of this message, yes, I have my limitations. But you know, even if you are sitting here, You're decaying in some ways that you can say my inner man is renewed day by day. Paul was free, free from human approval, and that gave him such a boldness. It gave him even joy. I want you, therefore, to see two cycles this afternoon, and I want you to think about which one is most applicable to you. I want to present here the cycle of human approval, and secondly, the cycle of power through weakness. First of all, human approval. We find this in Matthew 12, for example, where the Pharisees are criticizing the Lord Jesus Christ. What happens is, when you are striving for human approval, this happens. You are proud, you criticize people, you please people, till you're disappointed, and you go the same cycle again. You go from disappointment till a new attempt to please people. And this only gives you a short satisfaction, because once you discover your weaknesses, you focus, you push even more. That's why the Pharisees were lawless. They were looking at the disciples who were helping, who were eating on the Sabbath. They were looking at the man who was healed on the Sabbath. And do you know what happened in their hearts? They became angry. They became angry. because hypocrites and legalists don't know what to do with love. Human approval, it's a sad cycle to be in. It's an iron cage. But now the other cycle, power through weakness. Here's Paul. Oh yes, he received boldness. And Paul was a sinner too. So he had the danger to be arrogant and to boast. And at these points, God placed the cross in his life, so that Paul was brought lowly again in complete dependency, so that he would seek again God's strength. This is the cycle of the Christian, because we have the tendency to be proud. And we will be fighting this our whole life. But know that in the moment God brings these difficulties in our lives, He challenges us to bow our knees again in dependency and to say, God, You are everything. I am nothing, and I can do nothing without You. That's the second part of the sermon now. Weak but powerful. And I want to zoom in on the second cycle this afternoon, especially power through weakness. Well, Paul had the danger to become very proud, to become very boastful. And here it says in my Bible as subheading at first 16 of the preceding chapter, it says reluctant boasting. Paul was reluctant to boast. He didn't want to join the Corinthians in their sinful behavior. But here, He finally says, I will boast, but I will not boast in human strength. I will boast in my infirmities. I will boast in my weaknesses. And here's what happens. Read with me in verse seven. And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. lest I be exalted above measure." If you read in verse 1 through 6, you read about Paul having received heavenly revelations. It's beyond our imagination what happened in verse 1 through 6. Paul heard inexpressible words. And at this point, when this happened to him, lest he should be Exalted above measure, a thorn was directly placed in his cycle. To prevent him from stumbling, to prevent him from becoming arrogant, a thorn was placed. And Paul didn't understand this thorn because he says three times concerning this in verse 8, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. This was a painful thorn in his flesh. It is important to see here that Paul had to learn a lesson. He was so privileged, but he was still a sinner. And God gave him a thorn in his flesh, and it's not explained here. It can be something physical. It can be something spiritual. And the very fact that this is such a general description leaves the room open for us to place our thorns in this context as well. Paul was given a thorn in his flesh, and he explains it as a messenger of Satan. R.C. Sproul, in his book Prayer, in the book on prayer, refers to different parties working together at the same time. God at work, Satan at work, and other people at work. All these parties are at work at the same time. That's what is happening here. A thorn was given by God, and Satan had influence in this thorn as well. A helpful illustration is Job chapter 1. Job was serving the Lord, and he too had the challenge to stay humble. And that's what he did. He arose in the morning, and he was God-fearing. He prayed for his children. But then Satan came to God, and God gave Satan permission to hurt Job. only inside the boundaries that God had given to Satan. So God allows Job to be tempted to enter deep trials. Satan takes his chance. He finds Chaldeans to steal the camels, first of all, of Job. And Job, Job's faith is vindicated. Different parties at work, here too. God gave Paul, this thorn in his flesh. And Satan was involved in that as well. But notice the change in Paul's understanding. This is the change. He pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. This was a painful thorn. And Paul surely thought, Oh God, if this thorn will be removed from me, I will be more useful. And maybe you're thinking the same. If I only didn't have this weakness in my life, if I were a little bit smarter, if I would have been a little bit faster, if I would have had this or this. But God gives Paul this thorn in his flesh as a gift. It is a gift. It is not a handicap. It is an asset. How can it be? Here's the answer God gave to Paul. Verse 9, And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. This is what God says. Paul, no. My grace, my manifested grace, is fitting for you. This grace of mine will lead you to satisfaction. My strength is made perfect in weakness. God makes clear to Paul that he can only work in Paul when Paul becomes nothing. He could not boast on past experiences. He had to rely on the Lord. And is that not true in your life, that the most joyful moments in your life have been those moments where you felt nothing and the Lord became everything? Shortly from now, you have the Lord's Supper here in the congregation. Imagine that you would come to the table and you just a normal physical table and you would eat beforehand, would you be satisfied? If you would come here to the front as poor sinner, empty of yourself, then you will be satisfied. God's grace is sufficient for Paul. God's grace is sufficient for you. We have different sizes of ships. Thinking about the last sermon, We are captains of our own ship, but the sizes and the degrees are different. You can look to another person who has a bigger ship, but God has given you your ship, your life, and his grace is sufficient for you. Don't be jealous of someone else. God has given you limitations. so that His power can become evident in your life. Who will receive the most glory in our lives? When we are doing everything in our own strength, or when God is doing everything? Surely, this is God's glorious way of glorifying Himself in your life, that when you are nothing, He becomes everything. When people look at you, they say, yes, I know this person is weak, but you know, God gives him or her such an abundance of strength and grace that I'm surprised by what he is doing and that he is not collapsing and she is not collapsing. God's strength is made perfect in weakness. God's answer changed everything. And notice what Paul says. He does not only accept this for now, he begins to boast in it. He happily accepts it. And this is a superlative. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Is that not what you want? To be weak, so that God's power can rest upon you? If you are someone who really wants to experience God's grace, Maybe you can't because God is not able to enter your heart. Imagine your heart as a room and your heart is filled with all other stuff, with idols, as I addressed this morning, and there's no room left for God. But what if that all is removed by a cross in your life and God has all the room he has to work in you? We are so often misleaded by our culture to think that everything is about staying young, about being healthy, about being rich. You can have a thorn full life and spend the eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can have a thorn less life and a good life now, but spend an eternity in hell. These forms are given and are gifts. They are no handicaps, but additions. Verse 10, Paul says, I take pleasure in infirmities. You know what this means? He's satisfied. He is pleased. He's content with his limitations. Can you say the same, I am pleased, not only just accept that you are weak, that you have limitations, but also to rejoice in it? I can preach this to you. But the real question is, have you ever become a poor sinner in the sight of God? Have you ever become a weak person Did you not know that in order to be justified, you have to hand in all your filthy rags, all your filthy robes, all your sin. You have to be emptied of yourself in order to be justified by Christ. But also in our sanctification, we need these difficulties. We need these weaknesses. in order to stay humble and to remain useful. Because this is what happens. If someone is useful for the Lord, and this has been a strong warning for me in my teenager years, when someone is used by the Lord, he has the tendency, can have the tendency to boast in himself. so that he grows so arrogant, so proud, that God has to look for someone else who is more useful, more obedient, more teachable, more willing. Therefore, As I am reminded again, keep your face in the dust again and again and again. Stay humble so that Christ can become everything. I take pleasure in infirmities. I'm pleased with it, says Paul. In reproaches, in insults, when people are disrespectful to Paul, he even took pleasure in it. He did not only accept but he also took pleasure in it. This is the difference between a sheep and a goat on the Judgment Day. But even right now, how are you responding to criticism? Because if you are criticized, do you defend yourself? It's a difference not between sheep and goats, but even between sheep and wolves. Because wolves will bite when they are offended. but sheeps will not." How do you respond when someone criticizes you, when someone disrespects you? Paul says, I take pleasure, I'm content with it. I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs. That means in troubles, in distresses, even in persecutions. And these persecutions didn't exclude physical things. Because in the preceding chapter, that's why I included that in the reading, we can read about Paul having received stripes above measure, being imprisoned more frequently, verse 23. Verse 24, from the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Verse 25, three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. You know, we want to be as spiritual as Paul. But Paul was shaped by all these trials, by all these difficulties. It's a list, and I'm not aware of any other list except the Lord Jesus Christ, of a person who suffered so much as Paul did. This was something he took delight in. That's why Peter could sing when he was in prison, While his feet were enclosed in blocks, his heart was in heaven. Paul could delight in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. He is the reason. Everything for Christ. He is the trouble. Many Christians want to have the benefits of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in order to become a disciple, We have to suffer as well. In many ways, that's where the book of Acts is about. It's about what happened to Christ is happening now to the church. From death to exaltation, this is what happened in the life of Joseph as well. Joseph, who is such a glorious type of Christ. And I've been thinking in the last weeks many times about Joseph in the prison. Here Joseph was. He didn't do anything wrong. He was brought into the prison with all his dreams about a glorious future. And people came even to him with dreams, and he interpreted them by God's grace. And he saw them going out in three days. But Joseph remained in the prison. And this prison was such a character training to Joseph. It prepared him for the next step. your trials, your crosses, your difficulty, Christian, is a preparation to become more useful. Paul delights in these things because he says, when I am weak, when I'm deficient, Christ is sufficient, Christ is able, Christ is able to do everything. When I'm weak, He is strong. There's a beautiful when and then in the message of this morning and in the message of this afternoon. When Christ, this morning, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory. And here, when you are weak, Christ is strong. It's so hard to understand this cycle of human weakness when we live in a world that applauds only human strength. And maybe some of you are sitting here in church and you are so disappointed. You read beautiful books about how you should be a perfect Christian, a perfect mom, a perfect father, perfect student. And you face your weaknesses and you think, I'm a failure. You need to understand that your weakness is the beginning point of your strength. I'm compelled not only to call you to accept your weaknesses, but even to glorify in them. Because when you glorify in your weaknesses, in whom do you glorify? You boast in God. Boasting is often sinful in Scripture, but there's a legitimate boasting. Boasting means to boast, that is, to put your confidence in something. When you boast in man, you put your confidence in the approval of man. When you boast in Christ, you put your confidence in Christ. Do we not long for revival in our families, in our personal lives? Revival can begin right now in your own life. by bowing under the hand of the heavenly doctor. How foolishly would it be when someone of you is taken to the hospital with a serious disease, and there you are on the surgery table, and instead of surrendering to the doctor, you try to help yourself. Oh no, that man will not put a knife in my body, I will help myself. Many people are living in this way. Surrender yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect physician. Jacob was changed after his wrestle with the man. He won by losing. This dislocated hip was not a handicap, but an asset in his life. Your handicap, Christian, your weakness is not a handicap, but it is an asset. Jacob won by losing. And when we think about Joseph, Joseph was exalted because he was brought so lowly. from the pit, to the prison, to the palace. The only way to exaltation, Christian, is through death to life. And we need to die daily so that Christ becomes everything. In many ways, John the Baptist is such a shocking example. He said, he must increase, I must decrease. And then suddenly we hear nothing about John the Baptist anymore. The only thing we hear is that he is beheaded by Herod. What would you prefer? A thornless life and eternity in hell, or a thornful life and eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ? Even the Lord Jesus Christ's life was marked by weakness. As a lamb, he was brought to the slaughter, but as a lion, he conquered death. And this is the way of the Christian. It's not an option to be weak. It is the way to Christian maturity. It's the way to grow. So let me bring it down to three areas. I want you to understand that weakness is no option. It's necessary for salvation and sanctification. We need to grow in weakness. I want you to understand that weakness is not a handicap, but it is an asset. So stop fighting. When God has given you weaknesses, you can keep praying, oh, take this thorn away. But when God doesn't, this gift is an asset so that God will get the most glory out of your life. For your heart, I want you to accept. I want you to accept weaknesses in your life. except when you are weak, when you are having limitations. That's why the church is such a beautiful body, because when you're weak, there's always a pink and a thumb that can reach out to share one another's burdens. And then for your hands, this is so difficult. How can we grow in weakness? Maybe the first step is to come home today And as leader of your family, you share with your wife and your children that you are weak. You share that you are weak. Maybe it's beautiful to share how God has worked through the weakness in your life. Does that not bring God glory? Last week, I was so reminded of my own situation. I graduated from my MDiv, and I've lived in Germany before I came to the United States. And many people said to my wife, You are going to the mission field? You're not a strong personality. And even when we announced we would go to the States and study there, that's too much for you. You have two children. That's too much. You're not a strong personality. And I've seen again and again how God worked through weakness. I think God especially used my wife to be my strength at my side during my studies. And I'm sure you can repeat this in your own life as well, that exactly at the moment that you felt weak, that God was providing. What a glorious cross. So away with the Judas's. Away with the idols in our life. How is it possible that someone like Judas was spending so much time with Jesus, day after day, and that this disciple turned from a disciple into a monster, if he ever was a disciple? How is it possible that there's such a glorious message, with all the grace available for us, that we keep relying on ourselves? Jacob, without his wrestle with God, would have faced Esau in a different way. Sometimes we need a sleepless night in order to wrestle with God so that God becomes everything and we become nothing. The last thought, on the moment when you appear for the Lord Jesus Christ, In Revelation, it speaks about tears who will be wiped away. How can there be tears on your face on the Judgment Day when there are never tears on your face in the present moment? How can Christ take away your tears? when there's no cross in your life, when you are avoiding risks, when you are avoiding obedience, when you are relying on human strength. Then you are living like the Corinthians, relying on their culture, on wealth. But at the end, strength through weakness. This is the way of you and me. Amen. Let us pray. O God, the cross is foolishness for the world. And how sad it is that the cross is even foolishness for some of us as we try to avoid the cross. How can we ever be called a disciple? But, O God, help us to bow, help us to surrender to your care, to your providence in our lives. Help us not even to accept crosses, weaknesses, limitations, infirmities, but help us to be content with them. O God, that no one would leave this place complaining this week about difficulties. No one, O God, because these difficulties are gifts in order to be dependent on you, O God, break down our pride so that you would increase and we will decrease. In Jesus' name, Amen.