The following message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. If you take your Bibles, please, and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. We started this text last Lord's Day in the afternoon. We're going to read verses 1 through 10. This is God's holy and inspired word. Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body, I do not know, or out of the body, I do not know, God knows, such a man was caught up to the third heaven, and I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such a man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast except in regard to my weakness." For if I do wish to boast, I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from this so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me. because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me, and he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Well, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God abides forever. Amen. You may be seated. Let's pray together. You deserve the greater glory. Overcome, I lift my voice to the King in need of nothing. Empty-handed, I rejoice. Father, You are so glorious. We can't even imagine how truly glorious You are. We have glimpses in Your Word. We know what to believe about You. We pray now that as we open Your Word that you would give us a glimpse of our good and gracious King. And we pray that you would meet needs in this place. And we pray that you would prepare our hearts for the supper. And we ask, we plead with you for the power of your Holy Spirit. Apart from you, we can do nothing. And so, gladly, we look away from ourselves to the God who supplies all of our needs according to His riches and glory in Christ. So draw near now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So last week, we looked at the background of Paul's relationship with the Corinthians and his correspondence. And I hope that the time that we took to lay out that background helped to see the significance of the text here in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and so we don't have time to review the whole thing and I should clarify Ashley told me that that's not what I said to you dad I didn't say you've been preaching longer and nothing good happens after 12 that's she said that's not what she said she said that she said you seem to not be paying as much attention to the clock recently and that no illustration that you give after 12 o'clock is good. Okay, I honestly have to say that last part's probably true. So here's Paul, and he's facing opposition from the church at Corinth, which is really an amazing thing. He spent 18 months in Corinth, planted the church, He was their pastor for a year and a half. And he's facing opposition at Corinth and the opposition is fueled by what we called last week and what's commonly called in scholarship, the super apostles, okay? The super apostles were these guys that came in after Paul had left, and these were the guys who would have said something to, by the way, you actually know what they say, because from chapters 10 to 13, Paul says, they say, Paul is impressive, his speech is unimpressive, his speech is contemptible, so forth. Those are probably things that were directly said against Paul by the super apostles, but you could imagine the conversation going something like this, you know, we're so glad that we are able to come and really rescue this church at Corinth because the fact is is that as far as messengers go, as far as apostles go, Paul is actually really weak. He's totally unimpressive. When Paul gets here, you know, all you get is just this Bible guy. He's just talking about the Bible. He never goes into the sensational. He never goes into the spectacular. He never even shares like dreams and visions. And you know the problem is, is he probably never shares those things because he just doesn't have them. Like our ministry, our ministry is a power ministry. Couldn't help but to think when I was a teenager, there was a group of guys that went around called the power team. Anybody remember the power team? Bunch of muscle heads, right? Okay, so how weird is this, seriously? You say, I'm gonna show you how awesome Jesus is by breaking handcuffs and tearing a phone book in half. I'll do that later, but. So you can imagine the super apostles just going like, hey, we're the power team. We're the power team. We've got it together. We've got stuff to share with you guys. I mean, forget the Bible. Our ministry is one of power. Paul is a weakling. So forget him. And so in 2 Corinthians, Paul defends himself and his ministry, especially 2 Corinthians 10 to 13, which is a unit. And he goes on the attack against the so-called super apostles. But he doesn't do it just simply to protect his own reputation. He's not defending himself and his ministry simply because they hurt his feelings. He's defending himself and his ministry because the Corinthians, by attacking him and attacking his ministry, are denying fundamental gospel realities. So for Paul, Paul was never about protecting his own reputation, making sure everybody thought highly of him, but what he was all about was protecting the gospel. And so when the gospel came into play, all of a sudden, Paul was like, okay, there's a lot at stake. And if they're looking at me and criticizing me for being weak, by the way, criticizing weakness is fundamentally criticizing the gospel. Why? Christ was crucified in weakness. Okay, so if the Corinthians are on this power trip with the super apostles, dreams, visions, revelations from the Lord and all of this, and so Paul now is going to actually, in a sense, turn up the heat against these super apostles. But the reality is, is that the Corinthians had never really been amazed that strength comes through weakness. You go back to 1 Corinthians, which we spent a long time in a few years ago, and the fact is is that the Corinthians have always loved power. They always loved triumph. They always loved the impressive. They were simply, in a sense, allergic to the idea of weakness. And so here's what Paul does. This is just an example in chapter six. it's actually somewhat amazing. He says, starting at verse four, he says, but in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God, right, so we're gonna commend ourselves now as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor. by evil report and good report, regarded as deceivers, yet true, as unknown, yet well-known, as dying, yet behold, we live, as punished, yet not put to death, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing all things. And then he turns around and he says, our mouths have spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Our heart is open wide, and you are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. In other words, Paul says, so here's what our ministry's like. We get beat up. We get thrown in prison. We go hungry. We go without adequate covering. This is what our ministry is like, and it's also knowledge and power from God. In other words, you know what? The real power doesn't come through the flashy show of gifts. The real power comes as we weak people, beaten down, taken advantage of, regarded as the scum of the earth. It is as we are actually heralding the weakness of the cross that the power of God has demonstrated, and that's what I glory in. Corinthians never got it. Dane Ortlund makes this observation, I think it's spot on, he says, one imagines the cringing and blank stares of the self-respecting Corinthians upon the reading of this letter in the public assembly. And so that brings us to chapter 12. Brief, brief, brief recap. So chapter 12, verses one to six, Paul descends, in a sense, into the level of the super apostles, right? So boasting is necessary. That could have been a super apostle cliche or slogan. Boasting is necessary, but it's not profitable. And so now Paul says, but I'm gonna boast a little anyway. But understand this, he cannot bring himself just to boast. He's gotta talk about himself in the third person, and then he's gotta talk about this magnificent experience without any detail, saying it's absolutely unlawful for me to even talk about it, right? But here's the beauty, Paul says, so I'm gonna play their game, but Paul's a master, and so you know what he does? He uses his magnificent vision as a pathway to talk about a thorn in the flesh. So no super apostle ever did that. Their triumphant glory story was the end of the story. Paul says, for me, it led to a thorn in the flesh. And so, the apostle then talks about this thorn in the flesh. And so there was this thorn in the flesh that was given to me, divine passive idea, so it's God himself who ultimately gave him the thorn in the flesh, and it was given to me to keep me from actually exalting myself because the greatness of these revelations and visions were just so off the charts that God actually says, now, since I've brought you so high, now I'm gonna bring you low, and the way I'm gonna bring you low is I'm gonna give you a thorn in the flesh. Old A.T. Robertson says, the messenger of Satan, right? So a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me. A.T. Robertson says, the messenger of Satan kept slapping Paul in the face. And Paul now sees that it was God's will for it to be so. And so this whole section, actually you could say, very simply, that thorn in the flesh, God had a purpose in it. Now again, we mentioned last week, we don't know what it was. But God had a purpose in that suffering, and that purpose was that thorn in the flesh was going to lead to Paul's humility, his dependence, and his sanctification. Now, does Satan have a purpose in the thorn in the flesh? Most certainly. And Satan's purpose is different than God's purpose. Satan doesn't say, oh my goodness, there's a danger of Paul becoming proud. I need to do what I can do to stop that. He wants Paul proud. He wants to devastate Paul. He wants to crush Paul's faith. He wants to make Paul useless, and so God has an intent in the thorn in the flesh, but Satan has an intent in the thorn in the flesh, and that intent is always the same. It's to destroy faith. Paul could say to the Thessalonians, when we could endure it no longer, we sent Timothy to find out about your faith, lest the tempter had come and our labor was in vain because you believed in vain. So here's Paul and he goes, I know, I know God has a purpose, but I know the devil has a purpose. And so here's this thorn in the flesh, absolute painful affliction, whether it's physical, emotional, personal, we have no idea, but here's Paul, and what does he do? He begs three times for it to be removed. I just remind all of us that it's not wrong to ask God to remove the thorn in the flesh. These three times, in a sense, reflect probably extended periods of earnest prayer, repeated prayer, but at the end of the day, denied prayer. God didn't say, I'll take the thorn from you. Now, does sometimes God take the thorn? Okay, sometimes, sometimes, and when you're in the midst of deep pain that's overwhelming, physical or emotional, whatever it is, there is a sense of, you know what's on your mind? God, deliver me, right? Our first impulse is not to say, wow, so thorn, not like rosebush thorn, stake, driven inside. Our first response is not to say, wow, a stake driven into my flesh, what can I learn? You know what our first impulse is? Get this out! And it's totally fine to pray that God would get it out. Paul prays three times. By the way, someone else pled three times. Our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. And Paul says, and here's what the Lord said. Now it's important to know that when it says, and the Lord has said to me, that it's a perfect tense. So the idea of the perfect, so Paul asked Aris three times, the Lord has said to me, perfect, so completed action, abiding result. So Paul's petitions were passed, but Christ's answer was ever present. And here's what he says, my grace is sufficient for you. That was Jesus' answer to Paul. Please, Lord, take this from me. Here's my answer, Paul, no. But my grace is sufficient for you. So grace here, is not the saving power of forgiveness that comes by grace, but think of it this way, this kind of grace is a strengthening grace, an empowering grace that comes by God's Spirit, and it's that grace, that actually sustains us and empowers us and supports us and keeps us and emboldens us and satisfies us. It's that grace that actually keeps me believing in Jesus. It's that grace that keeps me clinging to Jesus. It's that grace that gives me the strength to take one more step with Jesus. It is sufficient grace, that is, it is grace that is wholly adequate for what you need in the midst of suffering that thorn in the flesh. And so, you want a great illustration of this sufficient grace, this sustaining grace? So, Pilgrim's Progress. Pilgrim goes into interpreters house He sees seven things in interpreters house one of the things that he sees in interpreters house is a fireplace that is burning and There's the devil. What's the devil doing? Okay, we just looked at this. Okay, it was months ago, but this should stick out. He's pouring water on it, trying to quench the fire. And here was the amazing thing. So pilgrim or Christian is looking at this. He says to interpreter, so explain this. How can this be? And I mean, you've got this person trying to quench the fire. And so interpreter says, there's a man behind the fireplace. and he is pouring oil onto that fire so that no matter how much water gets poured on it, it continues to burn. And that man is Christ. Right? That is sufficient, sustaining grace. The devil, the world, the flesh, doing everything they can to extinguish those flames, and yet you have a savior who loves you, who's pouring the oil onto the fire to keep it burning, and so at the end of the day, after the devil has drenched that thing, and it's still burning, you know what you say? His grace is sufficient for me. He sustained me. strengthened me. He didn't let that flame go out. And then Jesus says to Paul, for my power is perfected in weakness. So power here is virtually synonymous with this kind of grace, this sufficient grace. The sufficient grace and power of God is perfected, comes to its completion in the midst of our suffering and our weakness. In other words, when we are at the lowest with the thorn in the flesh, there is a sense in which God through his grace comes and he brings us the strength that we need so that it's his power that's perfected in our weakness. Some of you may remember the name of Friedrich Nietzsche. Anybody remember that name? He was a German philosopher, a nihilist, and his criticism of Christianity was this. It's for weak people. Praise God! Right? If you view yourself as strong, you view yourself as competent, you view yourself as having your act together, you view yourself as actually being able to stand, and you've got that old-fashioned kind of pull yourself up by your bootstrap kind of faith, and man, you aren't gonna give up, you aren't gonna give in because you're one of the few, the proud, you know, the Marines or whatever. Okay, you don't need Christianity. But if you say, Lord, I'm weak, I can't stand on my own. And my heart is failing. And my strength is diminishing. And I know the tendency of my own heart and I know I know that I'm weak, but I don't even know how weak I really am. And I need you. God delights when people just say, I'm weak. I need you. Okay, so that doesn't sound very American, does it? We like being self-sufficient. We like being independent. We like being strong. When it comes right down to it, each one of us are weaklings. So Jesus says, it's okay, because my power, my power is perfected in your weakness. Here's the amazing thing about this text. There's so many wonderful things about this text, especially considering the background. But Paul says, right in the middle of verse nine, he says this, notice. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. So here's the beauty of it. Paul's not willing to actually share the details of his visions, but he was willing to say, I'll share with you, and what I'll share with you is my weakness. And so he could say, it's the sufficiency the power of Christ that actually brings me a strength in the midst of my weakness so that I can say most gladly I will boast about my weaknesses. Could you imagine being in a small group, a typical evangelical small group, and so tell us how your week went, and everybody's talking about how they went from glory to glory. and from triumph to triumph, and how they just walked in faith and defeated the enemies and pulled down strongholds, right? You get it, right? And actually just put 10,000 to flight by proclaiming, declaring a word. And then they get to Paul. Paul says, oh man, I can't wait. I'm glad you guys finally got to me. I'm gonna boast about my week. I was so absolutely weak, I couldn't even get out of bed. I was so weak, I didn't think I could fight for another day. I was so weak, I didn't think I could take another step. I was so weak, I didn't even know if I would lay my head down that night and still believe in Jesus. That's how weak I was. And you know what? It was glorious. Because it was in the midst of that weakness that God himself came to me in Christ and made me strong. Well, Paul, so saturated with Christ that he sees his own weakness as a platform for Christ to become more precious to him and more powerful in him and then thus to others. So one commentator, he says, the stake, that is the thing that was stabbing Paul, makes him acutely aware of his own inadequacies and prevents him from thinking that he's equal to the task alone. It prevents a bloated ego from crowding out the power of God in his life. And notice what he says. He says, I'd rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ. Now, New American Standard says may dwell in me. The word that's used is the idea of overshadow me. The word is used in the Septuagint to refer to God's visible or Shekinah glory which dwelt in the tabernacle. So what's the tabernacle? Well, it's a tent made out of sea cow hide. Unimpressive. Okay, seriously. Could you imagine, they carry this thing around the desert for 40 years. Do you have a family tent that you've carried around for 40 years? It probably wouldn't be that impressive, but here was the impressive thing, it wasn't the outside, it wasn't the tent, it was the glory that dwelt in. And in a sense, that's what Paul's saying. He's saying that the power and the grace and the glory of Christ may overshadow me, pitch his tent over me. And so here is this beautiful picture. And so Paul says, so this is why I'm more than happy to boast about my weaknesses so that I can actually tell you about the way that the power and the glory of Christ dwells in me. Dana Ortlund says, competence is not where God's power lies. Frailty is. Feebleness is. For there, God's grace ignites. There, God himself dwells. Verse 10, Paul says, therefore I am well content. What does the ESV say? Does it say well content also? Oh, Daniel's not here, so you left your ESVs at home. Everybody has new American standards. What? I am content, okay. Well, okay, so I want to say content misses it, okay, because I'm content That doesn't necessarily bear the connotation that is being expressed here. So if I say, well, all right, well, I'm content. It's like, okay, I've made my peace with. It's not what Paul says. He actually says, I am well pleased. Or you could even translate it, I take delight. Now, understand this, it's not that he is pleased or takes delight in the thorn itself or in the pain, but he takes delight or he is well pleased with what the thorn is accomplishing in him. He stepped back and he saw the bigger picture of what the thorn was doing and he says, therefore, I'm actually well pleased with weaknesses. Weaknesses don't bother me. In fact, I am delighted when I actually see that I'm weak. What would be weakness? This word can be used for sickness, physical sickness, or it can be used for any fallen human capacity. So just think of weakness applied to absolutely any area of life. any area of feeling incapable. And Paul says, you know what? This whole glory of Christ's power perfected in my weakness is so magnificent that I actually delight in my weaknesses and I delight in insults. That's weird. The idea here is being mistreated by other people. Now make no mistake about it, Paul wasn't mistreated by other people because he was a jerk. He was mistreated by other people because of the gospel. Let me just give you a quick footnote. Don't think that all mistreatment comes to you because of Jesus. Remember when I was at Biola, where's Ariel? She ran away. Huh? Oh, she's, is she sleeping? She probably, when I was in, here she comes, now I'm in trouble. Anyway, so when, my apologies. Now, I'm in college and there was a guy in my dorm who was abrasive, confrontational, argumentative, contentious, And he had conflict with everybody. And I'm talking about other Biola students. And he and I did not get along. I was more irritable in those days. And one day, he says to me, nobody likes me because of my stand for Christ. And I said, Steve, nobody likes you because you're a jerk. Okay. It's a fair distinction. Is it not? Okay. So here's Paul. And he says, I get mistreated by people. But it's not because I'm a contentious, irascible jerk. It's because of the gospel. Man, when that happens to me, when that happens to me, I actually delight in those mistreatments. Why? Because it is actually the power of Christ being perfected in me. Then he goes on, distresses, that is pressing needs or hardships. He says, I delight in persecutions, physical oppression. I delight, I'm well content with difficulties. Difficulties would be the overwhelming circumstances, devastating circumstances of life. And he says, I am well pleased with all of this for Christ's sake. That's the key. It's not like Paul is just like, oh man, I love being miserable, I love being beat up, I love being ridiculed. It is the best way to live. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying is, for Christ's sake, when these things are happening to me, I actually am taking delight in them. Why? For Christ's sake. So these hard things that happen to me, these hard things that happen in me, provide me with the greatest opportunity to see his grace and strength at work. And so then here's his conclusion. For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. That's the most wonderful paradox. of the Christian life. All of this stuff that weakens me, that devastates me, that takes me low, I'm content with all of it for Christ's sake, why? Because when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong and that strength is not my strength, it's Christ's strength being perfected in me. So here's the thing, when we're weak, got the thorn in the flesh, we're suffering, no other props can hold you up. Only Christ can hold you up. Because in weakness, all man-made props fail because they can't really sustain me or my faith in time of need, can they? But Christ is real. Christ is strong. And so when I am weak, I delight in it because I can rely on Him and find the real thing. Weakness isn't an obstacle. It's a gateway. Now, One commentator makes this observation and it's so good. He says, he is therefore most powerful when he is least reliant on his own resources. So brothers and sisters, God's grace not only saves us, but it strengthens us. in our deepest need. God's grace not only saves us, but it is sufficient to keep us. It is sufficient to keep your faith vital and strong. And so you ask yourself, okay, so how How does that sufficient grace, that power of Christ that's perfected in weakness, how does it come to me? How do I get that? Is that a question you might ask yourself? You read this, go, okay, but how do I get that? How does it come to me? And I wanna say that the sufficient grace of God that comes to us in our weakness comes to us in countless ways, most of which are inexplicable. And so there you are. And you are about as low as you can go. You don't know how you could get any lower. And God uses a text. God uses a verse. God uses a promise. That is brought to your mind. Maybe by a brother or sister, maybe actually you hadn't thought of that text in a long time, and all of a sudden you realize. The Holy Spirit's actually brought that to my mind. And all of a sudden there is this sense I've been revived according to his word. Has that not ever happened to you? Where just one promise, one text comes and it is the delivery system of sufficient grace for you in that time of need. There are other ways that sufficient grace comes to us. Maybe it comes to us There you are, as low as you can go, suffering, you're in pain, you're wondering if you can continue to hang on to Jesus, and unbeknownst to you, another brother or sister is praying for you, and God answers their prayer, and gives you sufficient sustaining grace, and you never even know that the prayer was offered. You ever have that experience where God does something remarkable, and then you find out at that very moment somebody was praying for you. God can bring us sufficient grace. Maybe sometimes through our own desperate prayer, Think about Paul for a second, right? So here he is, intense, earnest prayer three times, Lord take it from me, and yet it is in that prayer for removal that God does what? Answers with sufficient grace. So maybe it's as we are crying out to God, pleading with God, take it from me, deliver me, help me, that God actually comes to us in the midst of our own desperation and crying out to him from the depths and comes to us and brings to us a sufficient grace so that his strength is perfected in our weakness. Maybe you're suffering, you got a thorn in the flesh, I don't even know what it is, and you've not told anybody about it, you've pled with God, and then just what seems to be by chance, another Christian comes, and you start to have a conversation, and they just start to tell you. Nothing in particular about your own thorn in the flesh, but they just start to tell you about the love of Jesus and what Jesus is doing for them. And all of a sudden, in the midst of that conversation, you find what? You find God bringing sufficient grace to you in your time of need so that his strength is perfected in your weakness. Maybe the delivery system is the Lord's Supper. You feel the weight of your own sin. You feel the weakness of a burdened, guilty conscience. You know that you're not living up to what a disciple of Jesus should be doing. And what happens as you sit there and you hear the words of institution and you take the bread and you take the cup, you find yourself revived in the fact that a Savior loves me and he gave himself for me. It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me in the life that I live, in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and he gave himself up for me. Maybe sometimes it comes in a sermon, and maybe not even the whole sermon. In fact, I would suggest that God doesn't usually use entire sermons from stem to stern, but he uses pieces. Maybe there's something that's said that God uses as the delivery system for sufficient graves. Maybe he brings sufficient grace through a song. On November 4th, 2019, my dad called me at 2.30 in the morning. And he can't even get these words out. Never, ever, ever heard my dad cry before, ever. And he gets these words out through brokenness and tears. Your mom just died. Me, like a dummy. I said, well, as soon as I get done preaching, I'll be over. I hung up. I thought, you are such an idiot. You need to go now. Ariel's like, we need to go now. All my kids, called them. They all left. All the way to Kaiser Hospital in Roseville. Ariel and I listened to the song that we sang this afternoon, Good and Gracious King, and we listened to it over and over and over. We sat there without saying a word, but those words through that song coming to us over and over and over again was the vehicle through which God's sufficient grace came so that when we got there, we could minister to others who were suffering and in pain. You do not restrict the ways in which God's sufficient grace comes to us. But you can bank everything on this. When you need it, it is there. And you might think to yourself, I don't know. I think about scary stuff and I don't feel very confident. God gives you sufficient grace when you need it, not the day before. Right? It's not like God says, okay, I'll give you a little down payment today. He waits. Corrie Ten Boom used to say, God will in fact pay your train fare, but only as you're boarding. And so brothers and sisters, thorns in the flesh abound among God's people, and some of you are suffering right now. Depression, difficult relationships, marriages, kids, finances, pressures of all kinds, heartaches, disappointments, and what you need to see is this, there's a purpose in your thorn in the flesh. There's a purpose. There is a divine purpose of a good and a gracious king. And so, Embrace the weakness that comes from the thorn. Because it will, in fact, be the avenue through which the power and the preciousness of Christ becomes more and more real to us. You know, there's not one area of life that's off limits for the sufficiency of His grace. Not one area. And His grace is sufficient for you today. And it will, in fact, be sufficient for you tomorrow. And it will, in fact, be sufficient for you to the very end of your life. And as you lay there, if God gives you a deathbed, as you lay there ready to draw your last breath, There will be a sufficiency of divine grace that will cause your heart to sing, if ever I loved thee, my Jesus tis now. So as we come to the table, we need to receive the sufficiency of his grace with gladness. And remember that Jesus was crucified in weakness, but he was raised with power. And he ever lives for us in our weakness. Let's pray. Our gracious God, we pray for those that are really suffering today. And they came in and there is a. Just an acute sense of suffering and affliction. And we pray that those precious words, my grace is sufficient for you, my powers perfected in your weakness. Would come home with power by the power of your Holy Spirit. Strengthen and salvage faith today. Help us today. Help us to disabuse ourselves of all sense of self-sufficiency and strength and look to you and you alone. In Jesus' name, amen. We hope that you were edified by this message. For additional sermons as well as information on giving to the ministry of Grace Community Church, please visit us online at gracenevada.com. That's gracenevada.com.