(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) you all Right good evening everyone welcome to strong old Baptist church if you can grab your hymnals and open up the song 105 Song 105 all that thrills my soul so 105 On the first full inch in the heart like Jesus I find his presence on the vine Drifting to a tender room in gracious Oh what blessing for him I On that full threshold with Jesus Jesus He is more than that to me In the fairest mountain In my blessing Lord I see Love of Christ so freely given Praise of God beyond decree Mercy higher than the heavens Deeper than the deepest sea All that thrills my soul is Jesus He is more than that to me In the fairest mountain that's it In my blessing Lord I see What a wonderful redemption Never can a mortal know How I see the world advancing Can it be brighter than the sun All that thrills my soul is Jesus He is more than that to me In the fairest mountain In my blessing Lord I see That's song 105 on the fourth Every knee is more than lying Every foot in him I see On a string of broken lying He is more than all to me All that thrills my soul is Jesus He is more than that to me In the fairest mountain that's it In my blessing Lord I see Love of Christ so freely given Praise of God beyond decree Mercy higher than the heavens Deeper than that to me All that thrills my soul is Jesus He is more than that to me In the fairest mountain that's it In my blessing Lord I see Thank you for everything you've ever given us Father We love you, we're here for you Lord In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen Next song, song number 10 Song number 10, Near the Cross Song number 10 On the first Jesus heaving near the cross There's a precious mountain Free to all the healing strength Foes for Calvary's mountain In the cross, in the cross He gave the cross Near the cross be my glory ever Till my wretched soul shall find Rest beyond the river Near the cross of trembling souls Love and mercy found me There the bright and morning sun Shines its beams around me In the precious, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my wretched soul shall find Rest beyond the river Near the cross, O Lamb of God Bringing seeds before me Held me off from day to day With its shadows forming In the cross, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my wretched soul shall find Rest beyond the river On the last, near the cross I'll wash it with hoping, trusting ever Till I reach for love and strength Just beyond the river In the cross, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my wretched soul shall find Rest beyond the river Amen, alright, great singing this evening It's good to have you all here with us at Stronghold Baptist Church At this time we're going to go through our announcements If you do not have a bulletin, slip your hand up real high We'll make sure that we can get one out to you Keep your hand up high until the usher gets to you And if you open up to the first page You will see our service time This is our Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening Again at 5 pm Wednesday night at 7 is our Bible study We've got one more week left of 2 Corinthians And we're going to start a brand new book in a couple weeks So finish it out strong here We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there As well as the salvations and the baptisms For the month of January as well as for 2023 With the offering totals down there at the bottom Let's go ahead and count up if there's any Salvations to report for the week, slip your hand up Is that for Monday, sir? Amen Anyone else have anything to report On the salvation side of things? Alright, very good Continuing on here, prayer requests I don't really have any updates for anyone on the list So please continue to pray for everyone Who is on our prayer list Take these home with you, take a photo of them Keep it with you so you can be mindful to pray For these people On the next page, February challenge is to unplug Hopefully it's going well for you Hopefully it's not too difficult Hopefully people are participating I don't know I know some people are for sure I know what my family is Whether they want to or not There's a forced challenge in my household for this month But hopefully it's going well And maybe you're finding some other useful things You could be doing Sometimes even just getting more sleep Is very helpful And it's going to help your life Where you can just do without some of the mindless stuff And give your body a little bit of rest That in itself hopefully could be a life changer For people to just know what it's like I would love to know what it's like To be well rested every single day That would be awesome If your problem is from digital devices And things keeping you up Then man get rid of that Your sleep is way more valuable Anyways that's the challenge for the month Ministry luncheon, we've got two left So the soul and captain luncheon is this Sunday So we'll be going out for that As we have for the other ones And the same thing with the security team We're going to be leaving the premises Going out to lunch Requested, not mandated That people who are not going to actually be involved In the ministry can stay behind If possible, if not, totally understood No problem, family members, other people That need to come with That's fine It's easier to get everything done and managed In as small of a group as possible So that's the plan coming up And then pretty much all of these luncheons I've been talking to everyone individually So if you've been participating in these Don't think that I've forgotten about you Especially if you went to like the first one And you're waiting to hear back from me Just wait until everything is completed I owe some people some documentation on things On some of the, especially the music one we just had I will get that to you I promise you, I'll get everything to you So just be patient with me As we continue to go through this week by week And I'm able to just really Flesh out each one of these ministries that we're doing And make sure that we have coverage In all of them sufficiently And then everyone, we could all be on the same page On what the expectations are And where you're able to serve So appreciate everybody who has volunteered up to this point I mean really you're making this church that much better Through all your volunteer work So thank you for that Bible memory passage You got half a week left to finish Hebrews chapter 6 If you haven't done so already So you need to quote this passage By Sunday night If you want to earn that prize And then the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries Are listed there Today is what, five, six, seven, eight Today is the eighth So happy birthday to brother Vernon He's not here today So you don't get ice cream or a song But happy birthday Anyways And then on the back we've got the upcoming events So we have a homeschool field trip To the Science Museum this Friday I'm thinking about this right now Brother Micah, do you got the card, my wife's card on you? You already get, oh awesome, took care of it So she outsourced that work Because she thought I wasn't going to remember I did remember She's watching right now I did remember I remembered right now So we got that taken care of And then the eleventh is Saturday And that's our soul winning marathon Now I've been saying And I apologize for this I've been stating that I was planning And doing it up kind of north And that's been my plan That's been my plan And going up the same I spent time trying to find a neighborhood That I think would be a good neighborhood With everything considered And I was having, I'm having a hard time finding a good area It doesn't mean we won't go and find a good area But my original thought of where I thought We'd be able to go Wasn't working out the way that I thought it would So, because I don't have enough time To really invest now before Saturday To pick out that location I'm doing my backup plan Which is Mableton Okay, we're going to be soul winning in Mableton Which is right by Six Flags So if you know where that is Over on the west side of town It should be great for soul winning out there It was already on my list of places I wanted to do But that is where we're going to be soul winning this Saturday So, also dress warm Be prepared for a little bit of rain I don't know exactly what the weather's going to be like I know it's supposed to rain for the next few days And it's supposed to get really cold I know up north they're saying Maybe even some flurries on Saturday So I don't know what it's going to translate to Who knows what the reality is We'll see Just come prepared We'll have breakfast here Okay, we're going to meet up here 9am Between 9 and 9.30 You can mingle around, get some food, whatever 9.45 we're getting paired up You're getting maps And we're getting everything ready to go So 10am Hopefully everyone will be able to go out the door If not out the door already On the way to our location And then we won't have a centralized park That we're going to be doing Like we have in the past We're just going to be eating places I will have those destinations on Saturday Because I don't know specifically Where we will eat lunch and dinner But that will be what the plan is We're just going to show up At the lunch place At lunch time And eat within a facility And then go back out soul winning And then come back and we'll do dinner At a facility as well So that's the plan for Saturday Hopefully you can make it I'm excited too We also have other people joining us There's a group of guys that are coming down From Mountain Baptist Church To join us for the soul winning event on Saturday So it's going to be cool I love when extra people come I didn't even get a video out about this And there's still people coming to help us out So that is much appreciated Looking forward to that Hopefully you'll be here for that too We've got the We don't have Verity Baptist Church sponsoring The Next Generation Youth Rally in March For teenagers All teenagers are welcome to attend that In Sacramento And then on March 10th We have our homeschool field trip to the zoo And then April 7th Is the Coca Cola Museum Again we've got the deadline for that You've got about a week to decide If you want to attend this event or not And sign up for it We've got sign up sheets Hopefully the sign up sheets haven't been moved I came in And there were some people here that wanted to talk to me And I didn't really get a chance to settle in or anything And then I found out that there was a cleaning crew here Or something And a lot of stuff has gotten moved around I mean it looks nice It smells good So I don't know the details even about all this stuff Other than I was told by our contractor That Monday and Tuesday The rest of the work was going to be done We're supposed to have an inspection today And he was sending in a professional cleaning crew To get the place cleaned But this is just how everything has been going Plans have been spoken And not followed And everything's happening out of order I mean we still shouldn't even have the new carpet down Because you know they're not done with all the construction work yet But you know we figured We actually believe At one point I believed them And took them for their word Of what was going to happen And that got me into trouble Because you know We laid down brand new carpet Whatever so Now we got the cleaning done before all the construction's done I don't know How that makes sense They've got Most of the materials over there But not all They're still missing a door And you know We kind of need to cut open And do some more work so Whatever I don't know I do see those new materials though That's good They have some more stuff to finish Some more of the projects But I'll let you know what's going on I actually feel like now It's time for me to make a phone call again And I will See what new lies I'll get told tomorrow And I'll keep you up to date on that It'll probably be done next week That's probably what I'll be told When I call tomorrow Oh yeah yeah Oh no there's a problem We'll be done next week so Okay we'll see Whatever For those who want to I kind of stop even thinking about it Because One day One day we'll come in And maybe it'll be done Or we'll just Exist like this for the next few years And I don't know We'll see Anyhow Enough rambling on that You can see Oh the church camping trip is the last event That we have listed here I don't have it listed though I should We have another soul winning marathon That's scheduled for the day before Easter I think that might be actually the 8th Yeah because I think the 7th is Good Friday And then the 8th will be our next Soul winning marathon That one I'll try to get more prepared To do one locally And do that up north In the northern regions Of the state I don't know how far but And anyone who lives up that way Or knows those areas a little bit better Might If you want to help me out with that To give some suggestions Of areas that have Somewhat dense population And you think would be Good areas for soul winning I'm not saying there isn't good areas Even in the places where I looked It's just If they're there They're going to be It's not as noticeable For my methods of finding soul winning Right So one of the best methods for me Is finding section 8 housing Like that is A great place to start And then usually in the same vicinity Of the section 8 housing There's other Housing and other You know Places that are just excellent for soul winning So Obviously everywhere needs to be knocked We'll end up hopefully knocking As many places as possible But when we do these big days I want to go to The prime You know Most receptive Honey holes as it were To go and Get as many salvations as we can In a day so Anyhow That's the plan Sign up for the camping trip If you haven't already We've got a brand new Clean sign up sheet I have already Taken Into my possession The sign up sheets That has already been filled out Don't worry If You notice that's not there I have it So if you have not signed up Please do so On our sign up sheet That's it for the announcements So I'm going to turn the service Back over to Brother Peter Yes sir Alright church If you can open up your windows To Psalm number 208 Psalm 208 Grace greater than our sin Psalm 208 Church let's sing this out in the first Bar-valess grace of our loving Lord Grace that exceeds Our sin in our guilt Yonder on Calvary's belt Outfall Here where the blood Of the Lamb was spilt Grace, grace God's grace Grace that will pardon In place within Grace, grace God's grace Grace that is greater Than all our sin Sin in despair Like the sea waves blow Granted the soul Within faith in loss Grace that is greater Yes, grace untold Poets to the refuge The mighty walls Grace, grace God's grace Grace that will pardon In place within Grace, grace God's grace Grace that is greater Than all our sin Dark is the stain That we cannot hide What can avail To wash it away Look, there is blowing Of grace and time Whiter than snow You may be today Grace, grace God's grace Grace that will pardon In place within Grace, grace God's grace Grace that is greater Than all our sin On the last part of this Sin in endless grace Freely be snow On all who believe You that are longing To see His face Will do this moment His grace we see Grace, grace God's grace Grace that will pardon In place within Grace, grace God's grace Grace that is greater Than all our sin In church, while all three plates are being passed around, if you could open the Bibles to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. That's the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. And as we do customary here at Strong Home Baptist Church, we'll read the entire chapter, and I'd like to ask Brother Jesse if he can please do that for us. In 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, the Bible reads, It is not expedited for me doubtless in glory, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell God no. Such is one caught up to the third heaven, and I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell God no. How that he was caught up with the paradox, and heard us speak of the Lord, which is not a lawful part of the answer buttered. Such in one will I glory, yet in myself I will be glory, but in mine will be glory. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not fear. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation, there is given to me a authority of faith. The messenger of saints is above me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord Christ, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is a fish for a fish, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Such rather therefore, while I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in excesses, in persecutions, in distress for pricing. For when I am weak, then am I strong. I have become a fool in the Lord, yet compelled me, for I ought to have them to mend the view. For in nothing am I behind the very cheapest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders, and my needs. For what is it wherein he were inferior to other churches, except it being that I myself was not perfect with you? Forgive me is wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours but you. The children ought not to lay up their parents, but their parents to the children. And I will very gladly spend to be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I have not heard of you. Nevertheless, be crafty, so I have taught you to die. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I said not to? I desired Titus, and with him I said to her, Did Titus make a man of you, while putting you not in the same spirit, while putting you not in the same steps? Again, think to me that we excuse ourselves unto you. We speak the poor of God and Christ, but we do all things during the life we are advised. For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not, lest there be the face, envy, wrath, strife, backbites, whispers, swellings, tools. And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall be willed many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanest, implementation, and lasciviousness which they have committed less to. Father, we thank you for giving us another chance to come here together, to sing the same thing, to hear the word of God we preach to you. We pray that you bless the church tonight, bless Pastor Burch's word, bless your spirit, your words, so you can preach and keep the word of God in a way that we don't get by. Please help us all to have ears to hear, and just ready to listen, and just so that we can apply to teach to our lives, and pray that everything we do and say, be done under the honor of the Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, we're getting close to wrapping up this whole book here, so we've just got Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 next week. We're going to dig right in. Now, most of the content here in Chapter 12 has already been built up and established. We're not really starting any new themes other than what we've already covered, but there's definitely some interesting things that come up in this chapter that we're going to dig into. So, let's start off right away here looking at verse number 1. The Bible reads, It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. So, of course, expedient means it's not really valuable. There's nothing that's going to help me out here by my glory. It's not something that I ought to do. This is very similar to what we've already read in 1 Corinthians. You know, in the Bible, we wrote to Corinthians in the past. He says, All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. So, he's basically saying, hey, everything may be lawful to me because I'm not under the law. I'm under grace, and I'm saved, and I don't have to worry about the curse of law or anything like that. So, all things are lawful to me, but all things aren't expedient. Just because all things may be lawful doesn't mean it's a good idea to do everything. He's saying, you know what, it's not expedient for me to glory. It's not going to help me out at all. It's not going to do any good. My glorying is going to do nothing good, and we need to do this. It's kind of summing up already from the previous chapter, but keep that in mind. You know, the Christian who's following Christ is, you should never be just trying to lift up yourself in glory in what you do and everything else and all your works. There's no point in doing that. It's not expedient. It's not going to help you reach any goals that you're trying to reach, unless your goal is to just self-exalt, which then that shouldn't be your goal, right? So he says, it's not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago. Whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such in one caught up to the third heaven. Now, before we even continue any further, this is a real interesting story, just in and of itself. So he's saying, like, I knew this guy about 14 years ago, right? 14 years ago, I knew this guy, and then he says this. He says, whether in the body, I cannot tell, whether out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. So, like, you know, the knowingness guy, was this a vision? Was this, you know, in the body, out of the body? He says, I can't tell. He says, but God knows. And he says, such in one caught up to the third heaven. So before we even get any further, there's multiple things in this verse and the next couple verses I want to cover. The first one that I want to cover here is just the fact that he mentioned the third heaven. Okay, so just understanding, well, what does it mean, the third heaven? Well, first of all, if there's a third heaven, there has to be a first heaven and a second heaven. I mean, that common sense is going to tell you that third heaven, there has to be a first and a second. From the context here, I think it's very obvious where the third heaven would, what it would be or where it would be, because he's talking about someone being caught up to the third heaven and then seeing these visions and being with the Lord. So we commonly know the third heaven, because then he says in verse 4, he was caught up into paradise. Where, and heard unspeakable words was not lawful for man. And I'm going to get into that, too, on who I think this is and the story behind that, but we're not there yet. I want to cover just the third heaven, first of all. So third heaven. Third heaven. Now, keep in place your two of you would back to Genesis chapter 1. And just when you think you get done having any comments from flat earthers, you know, one pops up. I literally had one pop up last night. As I was preparing for this sermon, imagine that, like this was already on my mind. And then, and then that just, and I don't know if I've received it last night or not, whatever, I don't know. I saw it. I saw it last night. Man, this is wrinkled. Chapter 1. So here's what we see. This is, the firmament is what we're going to look at. The firmament is something that gets the flat earthers all confused and turned around. They don't know what this is talking about. And they say, see, look, there's a word firm, and they think there's like this dome and all kinds of other nonsense. And I'm not going to just waste too much time, you know, just debunking all of their silliness. I've done that once before, and I've already said I don't want to ever have to do that again. But this is just understanding third heaven. Like, we're seeing this in the scriptures. Let's just figure out what these are. I think it's pretty obvious what they are. I think most people know what it is, but let's just spell it out doctrinally, biblically, and see from the Bible why we believe what we believe. Look at verse number 8 of Genesis chapter 1. The Bible says, And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place. Excuse me. Verse 8, I said, and I'm reading verse 9. Verse 8. And God called the firmament heaven. And in fact, let's just go up a little bit more and get the whole thing in context. Verse 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. So there's another name for the firmament, and that's heaven. We see that right here. I mean, it's defined. God called the firmament heaven. Okay. And this firmament divided the waters which were above from the waters which were below. And the waters above and the waters below is not very complicated at all. Because the waters below are obviously the sea. The seas, the oceans, the rivers, you know, those waters on this earth. And when you look up, if you happen to see clouds in the sky, guess what's in those clouds? Water. There's water in those clouds. So, you know, when we feel it in the form of rain, water, okay, waters that are above and waters that are below, and in between that space is called heaven. Now, if the Bible says there's three heavens, then I would say there's three firmaments. And this makes sense perfectly also since the heaven is called firmament, or firmament is called heaven. And then you see the place, because think about it, if, well, before I even get into that, verse number 20 in Genesis chapter 1. And even before we get into verse 20, look at verse number 1, the Bible says in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The heaven and the earth. But then there's a division being made with the heaven and saying, okay, well this is the firmament now because I have waters above, I have waters beneath. And he starts making divisions. So at the beginning of creation, there wasn't always three heavens. But as he divides it up, then you have a division going on, okay. The third heaven is where God exists. Like his throne, the things that we can't physically see right now exist in the third heaven. The second heaven is going to be where all the bodies of the heavenly hosts, like the sun, the moon, the stars exist. Because that's on the other side of the division of the waters that are above. And then there's the heaven where the fowls of the air fly, which is like all the space contained between the waters below and the waters above. Which in verse 20 of the Bible says, and God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature, that life, and the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. So we have heaven defined here with birds flying through heaven. Okay. Well, we also have, and that makes sense, you also have in verse 14, we jump up a little bit, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also, and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. So here we see the sun and the moon and the stars being placed in the firmament. Okay. But the firmament is just a heaven. It's heaven. Right. So you've got the firmament that where the birds and the people we could see here, the planes fly. And then you go beyond that to the second heaven, which isn't ever specifically mentioned by name in scripture, which is where we have to use some type of reasoning to figure out, well, if we have a first heaven, which I would say is probably the closest to us, is going to be the air where the birds are flying in. There's a second heaven somewhere, and then the third heaven is paradise, as defined in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Well, when we think about the divisions that are made, there's a lot of dividing going on in Genesis chapter 1, is there not? From the very beginning, there's light divided from darkness. There's the earth, and then the seas are separating. You have dry ground, and then you have water. You've got the firmament that's now dividing waters that are above and waters that are below. And I would say it also divided from the second heaven, which is also called the firmament, where sun, moon, stars all exist. And then you have the third heaven, which could also be called a firmament, where God's throne is. Pretty straightforward, pretty simple, right? That word shouldn't confuse you, but see, the flowers get confused because they think that the birds fly in the same exact space where the sun is, and the moon, as if, like, well, it's not really that far away, it's actually pretty, you know, like, I don't know how you get that at all. But I'm going to withhold any more preaching on that because it's silly. I'll just say this, if anyone listens or if anyone gets confused by some flatter thing, if anyone wants to talk to me about this, be prepared to come at me with a model. All the model has to do is just explain what type of situation we can have where the Earth is flat, but the seasons all function the way that they do, with some form of explanation as why is it cold in the winter and hot in the summer, why do the days shorten and get longer, not just in one region but all over the Earth, okay? It has to accommodate for all times everywhere and all time zones and all that. Seasons, times, okay, it's pretty simple. This is stuff we observe every day. Show me a working model on how you can have a sun that exists, that can shine light, that's not real far away, because that's another one of the things. They're saying it's in, you know, it's, I don't even know, they say different things, but like, just make that model where you can just say that this works at all. You can't do it. You can't do it. Oh, and then throw in the phases of the moon. Explain that one. Just explain it, show me. It's funny because every model that they'll show you, it's only designed to handle one of those things. But then it's a different model if it's, so if we're just talking about the lengthening of the days and shortening of the days, there's a model for that. But then if you're talking about the seasons and why things would be cold out, then there's a different one for that. And every time you talk about the phases of the moon, well then there's a different one for that. Okay, no, put them all together, because they all work together simultaneously. Show me one model. I can't do it. One model to scale. I mean, scale it, you know, obviously in a way that's visible, but like, have it to scale. I can't do that. I can't do it. Enough. Let's move on. Second Corinthians chapter 12, let's keep reading. So he talks about this man who's caught up to the third heaven. Just, and you know, make note of that direction up to, by the way, he's caught up to the third heaven. Verse 3, I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell God. So again, he just brings up this parenthetical statement, like, look, I don't know if it was in the body or not. So apparently, I mean, the puzzle balls had these visions and things going on, so like, at this point, he's like, I don't know, it was 15 years ago, this is also later in his ministry, he's an older man, he's just going like, you know, 15 years ago, I knew this guy, I mean, in the body, out of the body, I don't know, God knows, but I still know the guy, you know, like, I still know about this. Okay. Verse 4, how that he was caught up into paradise. So now we have, he was caught up into the third heaven, caught up into paradise, obviously the same place. Third heaven is paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to utter. Now, I'm going to cover the paradise thing first. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter 23, because there's only three references to the word paradise in the whole Bible. And why am I even taking time to cover this at all? Because there's false doctrine out there that teaches that paradise at one point was in the heart of the earth. The people who believe the Abraham's bosom doctrine nonsense that defines Abraham's bosom as an actual place of paradise as opposed to a body part on a man that once lived on this earth and still exists in heaven, okay, they call that place where Jesus went, that the Bible says his soul went to hell, they call that hell paradise. I'm not even kidding, there's people out there who literally say that when Jesus went to hell, he actually went to paradise. But they call that place paradise because they get confused about what we're going to read in Luke chapter 23. And they also get confused about Jesus' soul going to hell, they're confused about a lot of things apparently. Seriously. Because, first of all, hell never has a good connotation in the Bible, ever, one time. Hell is accompanied by fire, by burning, by darkness, by torture, by torment, by weeping, by wailing, by gnashing of teeth, by worms that don't die, you know, and the fire is not quenched. Okay, so the concept that anything even close to that place would be a desirable place to be is mind-boggling in itself. But then to call it paradise, that's even more bizarre. Especially because, and I'll read the total of three verses. The only one mention we have that we read in 2 Corinthians 12 is no one actually has a direction, but you know what, it has a direction. If we were going to refer to a place called paradise, mentioned three times in the Bible, one time it actually gives a direction of where it is, why would you have any other reason to think that it hasn't always been up, caught up? And heaven and paradise, let's see, is that a really hard leap to say there's a connection between heaven and paradise? They're interchangeable, right? People call it when they talk about paradise, they're talking about heaven. You have to try really, really, really hard to talk about paradise and try to go, no, no, no, actually paradise at one point was in hell. You're forcing the issue. You're forcing a doctrine that's not real, it's not true. In Revelation chapter 2, I'll read this for you in verse 7, because this is one of the other references, one of the three references of the word paradise. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcometh. Who is he that overcometh the world? Right? Talking about salvation, when you overcome, you have faith. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life. There's a reference to the Garden of Eden, the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Okay, the tree of life in the middle of paradise. That sounds like a good place to be, again. And this is in Revelation. I mean, this is after the so-called resurrection, after the resurrection. I totally misspoke there. After the so-called moving, what people will say, of paradise from hell into heaven. But what's interesting about that is there's also nowhere in the Bible that makes any mention at all of any mass exodus of people in hell going to heaven. Ever. That seems like a pretty significant event if it actually happened. I mean, like all of these souls that were saved in the Old Testament that are existing in this paradise that's in the heart of the earth, all of a sudden going to the third heaven to paradise. If it was true, that seems pretty significant to me, we should have something, something indicating this. I mean, when a whole group of people show up in heaven in the book of Revelation, that's referred to a few times. It's the rapture, right? When people are just in mass, martyred for the cause of Christ, and then they're showing up in heaven because the antichrist is out just killing all these people. Now all of a sudden there's just a whole group of people to show up in heaven. That was a big event. And that's recorded in the book of Revelation. But that hasn't happened yet. And that's not, those people didn't come from hell, they came from the earth. Because even John's saying like, hey, who are these people and whence came they? Because an angel asked him and he's like, I don't know, you know, right? Like, you tell me. And he told them these are they which came out of great tribulation. Not came out of great fire in hell, but came out of great tribulation. And that, you know, and now they're in heaven. So, anyways, that's one reference which, again, the tree of life, midst of the paradise of God, no reason to think that's not talking about the third heaven. And then Luke 23, and this is where the big confusion comes from. Verse 42, this is at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And he said unto Jesus, this is one of the thieves that was crucified with Jesus. He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Prior to this, both thieves had been railing on Christ. Okay, but then at some point, according to the Gospel of Luke, one of the thieves has some sense knocked into him. And then he starts rebuking the other thief and saying, hey, look, you know what? We are here because of what we've done. You know, we're here justly. He says, but this guy hasn't done anything wrong. This man has done nothing amiss. He's done nothing wrong. He doesn't deserve to be in this punishment. So he's recognizing the righteousness of Christ, right? He's rebuking the other guy, and then he turns to Jesus and he says, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. So here we see this guy putting his trust in Christ as his Savior and getting saved as he's dying on the cross. And then Jesus turns to him and says in verse 43, Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. So this is where the big problem comes in of people having to understand what is paradise? Where is paradise? How can this work? We know very clearly and very explicitly that Jesus Christ's soul went to hell for three days and three nights after he died on the cross. We know that unequivocally. There is no shadow of a doubt in that. You can look at Acts chapter 2. You can look at many places that tell us specifically that Jesus Christ's soul went to hell. Okay, you've got Jonah chapter 2. You've got many references that refer to this. So the question then comes in because what people want to do then that believe this false doctrine of paradise being in the heart of the earth is they try to reconcile, well how can Jesus say, today shalt thou be with me in paradise if he's going to a burning, fiery hell when this guy is basically calling on him, right? I would say for salvation, even though he's not wording it that way specifically. But he's saying remember me when thou comest in me. It may not be the perfect words. But he's getting his intent across, you know, like hey, I want to be with you. And paradise is a good place, right? So Jesus isn't saying well today you're going to be with me in hell. Sorry buddy, you know, you blew it. He's saying today you'll be with me in paradise. He's telling him, you know, basically not to worry because you'll be with me. And paradise being a good place. Well how can that be? If Jesus told one to hell, we know hell is a bad place, we know paradise is a good place, how can he say this to a person? Well, turn if you go to John chapter 3, it's actually answered very easily. We don't need to rest scripture and turn things on its head in order to understand this or try to make it fit. You know, it seems like a contradiction. It may seem like it's a little confusing. It's actually not when we just can remember the fact that Jesus Christ is God. That while, yes, Jesus Christ is man, he's God. He's fully divine. So Jesus Christ, even himself, is not bound by any physical containment at all. God is omnipresent, meaning God is everywhere. I already read the verses, I believe it was on Sunday, you know, hey if I send up into heaven, behold thou art there, if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. You can't escape God, God is everywhere. We understand this even through scripture in John chapter 3. John chapter 3 are events that were recorded that Jesus Christ spake, what we're going to read in verse 13 is what he said when he was alive on this earth in human form. He said this as he's speaking to Nicodemus, okay, in verse 13, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven. These words are not just true now because Jesus Christ resurrected and went to heaven, they were true when he stated them. When he was physically on this earth, he said, you know what, the son of man, which is in heaven. But he was on this earth. Yeah, but he's God. He's God. Well, if he was in paradise, then how could he possibly pay for our sins? Look, because he was in hell, also, because he's God, but don't, you know, not only was he in hell, he suffered for our sins. Okay, he did. Like, the fact that he went to hell is important. It is relevant. It's not just because he's everywhere, he actually did take the punishment for our sins in full. He actually was able to make them, and it's extremely important that, too, because that's why it's referenced, you know, the ascension, the resurrection, all of that is important. There's an aspect of all of this that God is communicating with us and helping our human minds understand, even though Jesus Christ is deity, these are all facts that are extremely important for us to get. But the way that this is true about being with me in paradise, it's totally true because Jesus is God, and because this man was going to heaven, he says, you know what, you'll be with me in paradise. Our God is not bound to even being or existing in one specific place at one specific time. We are. God is not. So it's harder for us to comprehend this sometimes, but we have to accept, one, that the Bible is always true, because it is, because it's the Word of God, it's the truth, right? And two, let's not place all of the same limitations on God that we have for ourselves. This is, I think, if you boil down to it, I think this is literally probably the only reason why people even would try to defend and argue that paradise was ever in the heart of the earth, was just because they have a hard time reconciling this one verse. But what happens is when you get a bad doctrine or a bad understanding, so let's say someone saved, they're trying to figure this out, they're trying to reconcile, they're saying, look, I know that the Bible can't contradict itself, so how can this be? Well, then it must be that there's this place called paradise, but then you have to, once you come with a bad conclusion on a verse, in order to support that, you have to find some type of way to support that. And then when we're looking at other stories and other verses, the Bible will always have ways of correcting you on doctrine, because in order for one thing to be true, something else has to be true, something else, everything has to fit together perfectly. So then what happens, it becomes more and more of a ridiculous doctrine, because then you look to Luke 16, and then you have to call this Abraham's bosom to be something else, and you have all these different stories, and you have to now start making explanations for these things, that are contradictory to what your original premise is of, oh well, paradise must be in the heart of earth, because we know Jesus was the heart of the earth, and paradise is a good place, you know, all these different things, and you have to just start repackaging this stuff, and that's when it ought to be obvious to people, yeah, this isn't adding up. And look, well-intentioned people can be wrong about different things and wrong about doctrines, I know I'm not perfect on everything, but it hasn't been illuminated to me yet all the things that I'm wrong on, because if I knew, then I would change, right, that would be the thought process for every believer is, hey, you know, I'm going to believe this way, believe the way I understand the Bible, and look at things, but if I'm wrong about something, make it known and make it obvious, and not just dig in your heels, and be able to just let the Bible teach you, let the Bible correct you, you know, if you're wrong, admit it, right? You don't have to worry about your glorying or anything like that. Just let the Bible teach you, and I think this couldn't, you know, obviously there's a couple verses that may be hard to understand, but overall, the doctrine itself couldn't be clearer. Paradise is a good place, Jesus Christ's soul went to hell, Jesus Christ was a burnt offering of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, to pay for our sins, the penalty of our sins is death, death is there's a place of death, there's a second death, it's all talking about hell, it's talking about this bad place of fire, burning, torture, torment, Jesus Christ made that payment for us, look, it all adds up perfectly. It all adds up perfectly. Paradise is up, to mention a few times, good place, so let's leave it at that and keep moving on. You know, some of these things, it's easy to preach even longer on and kind of flesh out further, but there's a lot of things I want to cover out of this chapter as we go verse by verse. So, the last thing in this one little section, verse 5 says, of such a one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities, is who is this guy? Now, I may be wrong about this, but I think we can look to the Scripture for this as well. I think the answer is still found in Scripture. Turn, if you would, to Revelation chapter 4. Because the person I think that he's talking about here, I think he's talking about the apostle John. Now, I could be wrong about this, it could be someone completely different. He doesn't give us the name of this person, he just says, I knew this guy, you know, whether in the body, out of the body, I don't know, I can't tell. The apostle Paul came around later than a lot of the other apostles that were already serving with Christ and stuff. We never really know the exact age of the apostle Paul as compared to some of these other men that were serving with Christ. So, at the time when these things were happening, you know, I don't know that there's even a good way to determine for certain if the events of Revelation chapter 1, or Revelation, could coincide with 2 Corinthians, where the events of Revelation would have already happened when Paul was writing this epistle. I don't know that, I'm just telling you right now, I don't know that for a fact, if it could even be proven one way or the other. But what I do know is what Revelation says about John's testimony, and it seems to match up really perfectly with what the apostle Paul is describing here about a guy. First of all, it says he's caught up into paradise. Okay, well in Revelation chapter 4, the Bible says in verse 1, After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. Okay, and then he continues with all the visions, all the prophecies, everything that he sees in heaven, and it's obvious he's in that third heaven, he's in paradise. I mean, he sees the crowns being thrown before God on the throne, he sees the heavenly elves, he sees the beasts that are in heaven that say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and art and is to come, and he sees all these events, it's clear he's in heaven, like the heaven that we know of as heaven. Okay, so caught up in the paradise, I can't think of anyone else in the scripture at least that had this specific experience of actually being in heaven. Many men of God have had visions, have spoken to God face to face, as it were, and all these other things, but actually going there, the Apostle John did, in the Spirit, go to heaven. And then suddenly they say, Well, what does this mean about he heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter? Well, go to Revelation chapter 10. What is it talking about? Well, we don't know what the words are because they're unspeakable words, and it's unlawful for a man to utter them, so they hadn't been uttered by the person who heard it. Other than he just said, Hey, I heard something, I can't say it. I got this secret. I heard this, and I was told not to write it down. Verse number 4 in Revelation chapter 10, the Bible says, And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write. So John's recording this stuff, the things he's seeing, the things that he's hearing, he's recording his vision, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. There was one thing that was witnessed that was heard by the Apostle John, and he said, Nope, don't write that down. You know what that tells me? It's unlawful for him to utter those things. Seems to fit, right? I mean, this is where I come at with this. Now, it doesn't specifically say it, but if we're just looking at scripture, I can't find a better match than this. Now, does that really matter? I don't know. I don't know. The point is, the bigger point of this chapter in 2nd Corinthians, I just think it's kind of neat. I think it's like seeing that and kind of see, yeah, I think, I mean, as he's talking about, he must be talking about the Apostle John. That's what I believe. But he says, you know what? Our glory of that guy. It's also interesting that he doesn't name him by name. One of the things with the teachings to the Corinthians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and especially in the portion of 2nd Corinthians that we're reading right now, I've been reading for the past couple of weeks, and in chapter 12, the carnality of the glorying, of the people lifting themselves up, before he'd addressed the people who were, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Christ, and this division, and people lifting up men, and almost worshiping these men of God that they're following, and making a big deal out of it, right? Out of who the people are. The apostle Paul is trying to explain, like, look, you know, one's watered, another one's towing, another one's doing this. We're all just ministers, though. Like, whether it's Paul, or Peter, or John, or me, or, you know, it doesn't really matter. He's trying to bring themselves down, and humble themselves, in a sense, because it's not about the man, and we can't get too caught up in any one man. There's many men of God that can do great works, and it's, you know, hey, follow a great leader, right? As they follow Christ, follow them. That's a great teaching, but at the same time, don't exalt them to a status that is inappropriate for a man to be at. Don't give them the reverence like you would revere God. Okay? They're still a man, respect them, sure, follow, listen, learn, be respectful, but don't treat them like a God-man, like a Jesus, like a God, right? That's going and becoming inordinate. And this is what the apostle Paul is trying to get across, because they had this problem here, and I think he's saying, look, I'm going to glory of this guy, because, hey, that's really great, but I think he still just wants to prevent people from just going, because they have this problem, of just, whoa, let's just go to that guy now, because the apostle Paul says he's going to glory of this guy, so let's all lift this guy up now, and let him be our new little God that we're going to follow, right? That's, to me, I think that's kind of why he doesn't even, he chooses not to mention, but he's making the point of saying, look, regardless of all the great things I've done, or anything else, like, you know, if I'm going to glory, I'm not going to glory myself, I'm going to glory anyone, I'm going to glory someone like that, right? Hey, that's pretty cool, that happened to him, I'll praise and glory that guy more than I'm going to glory myself. Verse number six, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, and the word fool comes up a lot here, just like it did in the last chapter. He keeps on reiterating, even as he's making his point, from last week, you remember, in chapter 11, like, he brings up all his infirmities, all the things he's gone through, all the persecutions, all the sufferings, and he's saying, look, I'm doing this as a fool. Like, I don't even want to glory at all, but look, but if you're going to bring me to this, then here you go, what about all this, right? And he's saying, I would desire to glory, but I'm not going to be a fool. So even though I want to glory, even though I want to brag about all the things, and I've been through all the things I've done, he's like, look, I'm not going to be a fool, because fool's glory. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And he's saying, I'm not going to do this, and I'm not going to brag, I'm not going to boast, because I definitely don't want anyone to think of me higher than whatever I just am anyway. You know, like, I'm just going to do this, I don't want anyone trying to elevate me or think higher of me, you know, through his own boasting and bragging and glorying, that can also give rise to people just elevating him even further. And he's like, I don't want that to happen. Verse 7 says, and lest I should be exalted above measure, more than appropriate, more than what he's actually done even, because the measure is, you know, you measure something, it's from here to here. Well, I've done this much, so your glory can be here, but he doesn't want it to be above measure, turning him into something that he's not, and things he hasn't done, and things like that, and people just doing an inordinate amount of praise. And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, because he has received a lot of revelations, by the way, most of the New Testament is penned down by the Apostle Paul. You know, we have, he definitely has more books attributed to him being the instrument, the writer that God used to give us the New Testament, and so he's had a lot of revelations, this abundance of revelation. He says, lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. So the Apostle Paul suffered an injury, not from God, but from a messenger of Satan. So he was attacked by a messenger of Satan, but God allowed this to happen to him, and it also helped to humble the Apostle Paul, because he was getting and receiving all of these great revelations, but then, you know what, he was sidetracked a little bit by this thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. So as long as things didn't just continue the exaltation of Paul, he was brought down a little bit, now by an ungodly person, by a messenger of Satan, right, someone who hates God, someone who hates the Apostle Paul, but it still is able to work good in the Apostle Paul and even for the cause of Christ. God's ways are not our ways. We need to understand that. When it seems like, like, it might seem like, well, I mean, this messenger of Satan, I mean, he got the victory, right, because he hit the Apostle Paul and he injured him and he hurt him, right? And he brought him down. Well, yeah, but you know what, God allowed that to happen, and then as we're going to see, he says here in verse 8, for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. So this problem, this injury that he incurred from being hit by a messenger of Satan, he's like, I asked God three times to help me out with this, that I wouldn't have this thorn in the flesh, that I wouldn't have this problem that was bestowed upon me by this messenger of Satan, and I asked God three times, but you know what, God denied that request. God denied that request, verse 9 says, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. God still had a plan, and God is still intended on using him for more greatness, to serve him more. The Apostle Paul is going like, man, I got this thorn in the flesh, please help me with it, but you say, you know what, I'm going to use this, that evil for good. What they intend for evil, God can use for good. And he says, my grace, first of all, my grace is sufficient for thee, and we all need to understand that. You know, we may have many requests that we ask God for, and we all need to be content with God's grace, first and foremost. Hey, my grace is sufficient for you. Just be happy with that. It doesn't mean you can't ask God for things, but just understand that God's not obligated to just start, you know, be your genie in the bottle, and I'm not saying the Apostle Paul sees him that way, I'm just saying that, like, God doesn't have this obligation to you, you have an obligation to him. He's the one who saved you, he's the one who gave you grace, he's the one who did all this stuff, he doesn't have this obligation to you. He doesn't have the obligation to feed you and clothe you if you're seeking him. If you're serving him and serving the Lord, he has an obligation to feed you and clothe you because he promised to do that. Just as much as an obligation to take you to heaven when you die if you put your trust in Jesus Christ. But these other things, injuries, illnesses, other things that might come your way that are negative, that are bad, that you want taken away, well, you know what, he may or may not do that. And in his further explanation of the Apostle Paul, he says, my grace is sufficient for my strength is made perfect in weakness. God's strength, showing God to be strong, is actually done even more effectively through weak vessels, through people, through humans that don't have the power on their own, that don't have all the natural abilities, that have other things, other ailments, other problems. Well, hey, now if they're still doing these great things for God, that is clearly further demonstrating the power of God in their life. So God's strength becomes even more clear. Someone who would continue to serve God, even through these difficulties, even through these hardships, even through permanent injury, still serves. Hey, you know what, that also adds greater testimony to the Lord. Greater even than the healing would do for him. Now look, we know God heals. And we know many times God will heal. But we have to understand this, is that sometimes when we deal with hardships, physical ailments, whatever things we pray about, we know God, first of all, we know God's able to grant these requests, which is why we go to Him. God is fully capable, He's powerful, He can and will do those things if He wants to. But we must also understand that God may have another purpose for our troubles that we're unaware of. There may be some other reason why we go through what we go through, and He doesn't just answer that request the way that we want Him to answer it when we ask for it. Because there may be something else that we don't understand that there's actually a greater will of God that He wants to have done. So when we make our requests and we ask for things, one, it ought to be something that's good, something that would be pleasing to God, something that's godly that we're requesting. Asking for health, asking for recovery, these are all great things to ask for. But number two, we have to ask according to His will. So when we pray, we always need to consider, and we should include in our prayers, at least from time to time, hey, you know what, Lord, your will be done. God, I would like this in my life. God, please help me with this. God, God, help in this area. God, I have these problems. Will you please help me? But in all of this, Lord, your will be done. And we see this in Jesus Christ's own prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Hey, Lord, if it's possible at all, right, for me still to be in your will for this habit, can you just make this cup pass for me? Because I really don't want to go through this. This is a big burden. I don't want to do this. But you know what, hey, nevertheless, though, regardless of this, if this isn't able to happen, I still want your will to be done. So if this is the way it's got to be, then it's the way it's got to be. It would be the same thing with the apostle Paul's prayer. Hey, look, God, please, I've got this. I've got the message of Satan buffeting me. He hurt me. I've got this injury. I've got this problem. God, please make this go away. But hey, you know what, even if you don't, God, your will be done. This is important. Look, this is key. Because you don't want to get depressed and start doubting God or something. You say, yeah, but I asked God. I asked God to help me here. And he didn't do it. Why would he not do it? I'm going to church. I'm praying. I'm so ready. I'm doing all this stuff. Why wouldn't God answer my prayer? Well, there may be another reason, and you don't know about it yet. So take solace and comfort in that. There are ways, many ways that God is able to then use our experiences, use things that we go through to reach other people. To provide perfect situations and opportunities to reach people who might not otherwise get reached. And those things that I look back on in my wife's life, in my life, and things where you say, you know what, maybe all of this stuff happened even for this one person. For some other person who our paths crossed later on in life, this never would have happened if some other tragedy, some other thing didn't happen that now led us to this point. We don't know that. We don't know that. God knows and I'm confident that God is able for everyone, you know, there's ministers that are appointed by whom we believe. The Bible teaches that, that we all have ministers by whom we believe. And that God has a plan for all of us to be ministers for other people so that everyone can hear the gospel and everyone has that righteous opportunity to get saved. Because God's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So God is allowing for some of these things to happen because he also wants to make sure everyone has this minister, this opportunity to hear the gospel. And we might not understand that at the time. And in the Apostle Paul's case, I mean, I think a good example would also be with the martyr Stephen, which I believe had an impact on the Apostle Paul and his life. When he was Saul of Tarsus, he stood by while Stephen was martyred. And he took the clothing of the guys who stoned him to go hide it. But he witnessed the faith of the martyr Stephen who did not deny the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was faithful unto death, who looked up into heaven, he called upon God saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Now at the time, the Apostle, you know, Saul didn't get saved then. But it had an impact. It stuck with him. He references it later on in life after he's saved, that he was consenting unto people's death and that he helped hide, I mean, that's how we even know that he was there. It's because he admitted to being there and kind of helping conceal that matter. The fact that even brings that up shows that stuck with him. Bad things happen. We may not always get the relief we're seeking. But we should always seek from God. But always, always, always include and understand, hey, but God, no matter what thing I'm asking you for, your will is what needs to be done here. Your will needs to be, I mean, false people, false people, people might be in prison falsely. Right? Didn't do anything wrong. They go to jail. But you know what? God maybe had a purpose for that. Like Joseph. Joseph didn't, wasn't doing anything wrong when his brethren, you know, were going to kill him and then sold him into slavery and all that stuff. But you know what? God intended that for good. At the time, for so many years, Joseph probably had no idea why he was there. But he stayed faithful to God. He didn't turn his back on God. Some people might think, oh, God turned his back on me. No, he didn't. Stay faithful. You just don't understand yet why you're in that situation. Just remember this verse, just like Paul heard. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. So then the puzzle of Paul is like, hey, well, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Well, if that's the case, if your strength is made perfect in weakness, then you know what I'm going to glory in? My weaknesses. My infirmities. The things that are troubling for me, you know, that I'll just glory in that. Why? Because that's going to show God's strength. If my humility, if my abasing brings more glory to Christ, then just abase me as low as it can go. Because I want the most glory going to Christ. This is what he's saying here. Okay, I'm going to glory in my infirmities then. Because that's going to further bring greatness to the name of Christ. It's not about us. It's not about you. It's not about the man. I'll read this passage for you in 1 John 5. Turn, if you would, to Galatians 4, while I read for you from 1 John 5. 1 John 5, 14, the Bible says, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. The key part of this when we ask petitions is, well, if we ask anything according to his will. So if we're asking for things outside of his will, now there's some things that are just clearly obvious to us that are outside of God's will. Okay, so if we're asking to like, oh God, you know, I don't love my wife anymore, can you bring another woman into my life that I'm going to love and I could dump my wife for you? That's clearly outside of the will of God. Okay, like, don't ask for those things. That's really stupid. But sometimes we may ask for things that's not blatantly outside of the will of God, that's not something overtly sinful or anything like that, like the Apostle Paul asking to get relief from this injury, but he doesn't know that that is still not according to God's will. It's not exactly what God wants. Even though he may want to help Paul because he loves him and he may have sympathy for the Apostle Paul, he's not going to answer that request because no, actually, this is something that needs to happen. I want this happening to you. And, you know, it may not even be for someone else, it may have just been for him too. Maybe he needed this humility and he was, I mean, I'm not saying he was, but maybe he was getting puffed up in his heart or something like that, maybe with all these great things he was doing, I don't know. I mean, we don't see that, I'm not saying there's any evidence of that, I'm just saying we don't necessarily know what God allows and why he allows it, but it's according to his will. So at the end of the day, if it's God's will and God wants it, we should want that too. He knows everything, we don't. Okay, God, you want it? I won't even have to question you about it, I'll just do it. That's not obligated to tell you everything either and tell you how the whole course of your life is going to be, and you know what, he doesn't do that. So he wants us walking by faith, not by sight. So what is this thorn in the flesh that the apostle Paul suffered? And again, I think we have enough clues in the Bible to give a rough idea of what actually happened. One who knows a messenger of Satan that buffeted him, he got hit, physically hit, by a messenger of Satan. He got buffeted, right? He got hit by him. He references an infirmity of his flesh, which is exactly what he is beseeching the Lord for here in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. In Galatians chapter 4, look at verse number 13, the Bible says, Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. So when I came and I preached the gospel unto you the first time around, I had an infirmity in my flesh. You know how through that infirmity I preached the gospel unto you. And my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not nor rejected. So this problem that he had was something that was blatant enough that some people might just be like, whoa, you know, like reject, just because maybe he looked really gnarly. You know, like it was something bad enough to where they could have rejected me saying, look, you didn't reject me because of this temptation in my flesh, this infirmity of my flesh. You still received me. And my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. Now, obviously this is an expression where you're saying, you know, you would have given me your own eyes, but I don't think it's a random expression like, well, you would have given me the shirt off your back. I actually think that what happened to Apostle Paul had to do with his eyes, the infirmity of his flesh. And if you think about it, getting hit by a messenger of Satan probably got hit in the face. They probably got pummeled or beat up or whatever by some God-hating child of the devil, right, that actually caused injury to his face and to his eyes. That now he's saying, well, look, you loved me so much, you know, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. That's how much you loved me. Because even though I had this infirmity, I had this problem, you still received me as an angel of God. It didn't matter to you that I got beat so badly and I had this problem. You would have given me your own eyes. And then at the end of Galatians in chapter 6, verse 11, he says, Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. Now, he's talking about how large a letter. He's not saying, you've seen how big I wrote this A. A letter, the whole letter, right? I think that went over some people's head. We're not talking about capital letters and the font size. He's talking about how, okay, you're like, we get it, it just wasn't that funny. You've seen how large a letter I've written unto you with mine own hand. So, he's commenting now on even being able to write. So, if you have a problem with your eyes and you can't really necessarily see clearly and you have all these problems, I think it would be a lot harder and strenuous to actually write a letter yourself. Right? And we know Apostle Paul dictated a lot of his stuff too and was written down by someone else as he said it. So, that could also just be more evidence that, you know, for however long he was suffering with this problem in his flesh, it probably had to do with his eyes. And, again, how far, how important is this? I don't know, but understanding this a little bit more and kind of gaining this knowledge and context. One, it, at least in my mind, kind of makes me feel a little bit closer to understanding the Apostle Paul. And as we read about all these great triumphs and teachings and preachings from the Apostle Paul and kind of that greatness, it's good to understand that he went through these problems too. You know, he went through a lot of problems. And it kind of, it's humanizing in a way when you just think about, like, you may have physical ailments and people have different problems that they deal with on a daily basis. And you read, we have a tendency to kind of treat some of the great heroes of the faith and people of the Bible just as, like, assuming that, like, well, of course they did this and of course they did that because they were great men of God or whatever. But, like, you know, they were human beings too, just like you and me. I mean, exactly like you and me. They were human beings with no difference other than just their will to serve. That's it. We all have a will and the same ability to do and serve God as anyone else. He had his problems. He had his ailments. It was hard for, you know, he could have just been like, man, it's too hard for me to write this letter and whatever, like, I'm always helping other people, like, forget it. No, but he still wrote the letter with his own hand. He still served. He still went and visited the churches. He still went and did things. He's praying to God and he's like, you know, on one hand, if you have the wrong attitude, you could think of this and be like, well, God, I'm giving you my life. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. Can you please just help me out here and help me with this problem in my flesh? And then he's not even going to answer that, hey, look, you know what, my grace of Israel, he's got the right answer, the right heart all the way through. Why do I bring that up? When you have those problems, when you have the flesh tearing at you one way or another, whether it be pain, whether it be sin, whatever it is, trying to get you not to serve God and then give you all the reasons and all the excuses why you just want to give up and I don't want to do anything anymore. Hey, remember the Apostle Paul, remember all the things he went through and he still did it anyways. He continued. I mean, he died in his service to the Lord and came back. Remember in death's oft? Being shipwrecked, being in perils like everywhere he goes, that's a big deal. It's not easy. But he was a human being and he suffered in the flesh a lot but continued. Look to the Apostle Paul, not inordinately, as if he's a superhuman or supernatural or some, you know, angelic creature or something that should be worshipped. No. Just as an example of a human being like you or me but someone who made good choices ultimately in his service to the Lord. And was he perfect? No. Every man of God has their own flaws recorded in scripture. No one's perfect. But the ones that are separated and exalted in God's word didn't quit. And no matter what mistakes they made, they continued. No matter what they suffered, they stayed faithful. If they did it, so can you. If they did it, so can you. The Apostle Paul did it, so can you. There is not one reason on this, on God's greener that you can't do and continue and persevere as the Apostle Paul did. But it has to come from your heart, your desire, your will, and seeking God and ask God for the strength. He will strengthen you. He'll give you just what you need. Not necessarily anymore but he'll give you just what you need. Verse 10. Man, I'm running out of time. What a great chapter. One last point, though, too, about the idea that the problem might have been in his eyes. He just got done talking about how many great revelations he has. All these revelations from the Lord. Visions. I mean, I knew a guy. I don't know if he was in the body or in the flesh or in the spirit. I don't know. I knew this guy. All these great revelations, Ruth, but you know what? Maybe that injury to his eyes helped keep him grounded. That while, yes, you're getting all these revelations, you know what? You have to deal with this other thing now in your flesh, in your eyes, in your vision. I'll give you the visions, but it's going to come at the cost of your fleshly vision, your carnal vision. Let's keep reading here. Verse 10. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, that's your needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. That doesn't make any sense. No, it does. It actually makes perfect sense. When I'm weak for the cause of Christ, you get the strength, the spiritual strength from God then to keep going because you know, as he was already told, my strength is made perfect in weakness. He's drawing strength from God. Hey, if his strength is made perfect in weakness, then, hey, make me weak that I may be strong. Verse 11. I am become a fool in glory. Again, he brings up the fact, hey, look, I've become a fool in glory. Like, thanks a lot, guys. I've become a fool in glory. You have compelled me. Like, you've made me do it. For I ought to have been commended of you. And that ought to sting. Look, you guys should have been commending me instead of me now being forced basically to become a fool and just provide this glorying because you have no idea what you should even be glorying about. And you've got these people that are saying all these wicked things. And it's not about you. And it's not about me. And it's about Christ. You have to teach all this stuff. And unfortunately, the only way I found I could do this is by becoming a fool. Thanks a lot for forcing me to become a fool. You should have been commending me, not tearing me down. Not allowing for people just to tear down what he's teaching, you know, who he is and everything else which was happening. And then he says, it's for nothing am I behind the very cheapest apostles. It's true. He's not. He's not behind. Peter, James, John, you know, the very cheapest, he's right there with them. He says, though I be nothing. Again, he's not trying to lift himself up. He's like, look, I'm up. Don't treat me as just some, some clown compared to James and Peter, John, like, I'm not behind them at all. But I'm but I'm not anything. They're making up, you know, they've got this really carnal view of things. And he's trying to try and express the right way. Verse number 12. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. For what is it, wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. Behold, and we talked about this quite a bit already in the past that he didn't charge them anything. He's doing all this work with them not covering any of his costs at all. He just he just served them. And he's basically saying, look, forgive me this wrong. Okay, I didn't ask you for anything. Verse 14. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not yours but you. He said, I'm not going to be burdensome to you. I'm not going to ask you for anything. Third time I'm coming to you. I'm not going to ask you for anything. I'm not looking for yours for the stuff you have. I'm looking for you. I care about you. For the children not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. He's saying it's my job, my responsibility to look after you. I'm going to lay up for you. I'm going to look for your benefit. I'm going to try to care for you. I don't need you to take care of me. I'm going to take care of you. He's the spiritual dad, and he's coming to his spiritual kids and saying, I am going to come and care for you and help you and feed you with what you need. You don't need to give to me. I'll give to you. And verse 15 sums it up. He says, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. You know, in this context, he's talking about parents and children. Hey, you know what, dads? You ought to very gladly spend and be spent for your children, for your family, for those that you're supporting. Right? Spend and be spent. Right? It's not about you. Hey, all that money that you make, whatever money you make at your job, don't think about all the great things you can get. How about you just spend and be spent for other people that you care about, that you're supporting and you're providing for. Don't think about all the great things you can get. Don't worry about, they don't have to do anything for you. You're providing for them. And that's in a carnal sense. But obviously, even more importantly, in a spiritual sense, hey, if we're going to serve other people, then whatever the cost, whatever it is, let's spend and be spent for other people to be benefited. For other, you know, and this goes for, especially, you know, we go out sowing in, we go out trying to reach people to cry real, bring people to Christ. Be willing then, after you lead someone to Christ, to try to help them out. You know, if they need to live to church, bring them to church. They need some other resource, help them out. You know, help people in their area to help them to grow whatever that need may be. I'll spend and be spent. Whatever it takes. You know, whatever it's going to be helpful to get these people to continue to grow, to continue to be nurtured in the admonition of the Lord, however that looks, right? In whatever situation, I'll gladly, gladly spend and be spent. Not grudgingly spend and be spent. Oh, oh man. Well, so-and-so wants to stay for sowing and they didn't bring any food and that, you know. Look, help a brother out. Help a sister out. And don't be grudgingly about it. I mean, look, and if you don't want to do it, then don't do it. But don't do it and have a bad attitude and bad heart about it. We all have to just gladly spend and be spent and be like, okay, cool. Hey, what do we need? Okay, there's someone here that they're trying to grow and learn and become more spiritual. Let's help them out. Well, let's help them to improve. The apostle Paul didn't give up on the church accord. Well, they've got all these problems. Let them just deal with on themselves, man. They're just full of drama. I don't like drama. You can have that attitude towards the Corinthians. You know, we're going to work this out. I'm going to instruct you. Now, if they just completely reject him altogether, he's going to be like, all right, well, I tried, but they didn't. And he's going to go and help with their drama. And there's a lot of people, especially as we grow and we reach people, you know what? Just because you may have been saved for a really long time and you've got a lot of the drama out of your life, a lot of sin out of your life, praise the Lord, right? Maybe that's where you're at. Great. But don't forget what it's like. And there's a lot of people who are just freshly learning about sin and all these different things that are sin and learning about the truth and learning about the ways of God and need the help. Help them. It requires a sacrifice. There may be drama associated with it, right? Okay. Well, we'll straighten it out, show him the word of God, and just say, hey, this is the right way. Help out. Verse 15, I am very glad to be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. And don't forget that fact either. That happens a lot in ministry. You may bend over backwards for people. You may love people more abundantly and give and I'm there and I'm providing rise and I'm inviting more for dinner and I'm investing so much in these people. And then they just turn around and stab me in the back and don't care about me and don't love me at all and just try to use and abuse me and stuff. You know what? That's going to happen. Not with everybody, but it happens. It's happened more times than I can count. I try not to keep track of it because it's not very encouraging to remember the people who use you and abuse you, right? But just don't let it bother you. Apostle Paul knows this. He says, you know what? I'll gladly spend and be spent for you even though the more I love you, the less I be loved. The more I do for you, the less you even seem to care or be grateful about what I'm doing for you. But he doesn't say, so now I'm not going to do it. I'm going to keep on doing it. I'll still gladly spend and be spent for you. Because the people matter. And sometimes it takes a while for some people to get it. So we need patience and long suffering and mercy to help people grow and get to the point to where they'll finally get it and then they could grow in their spiritual growth and then become more charitable. Because charity is like the greatest thing to be able to achieve in your spiritual growth and walk and you're constantly adding different things to get to the patient's virtue. You keep on growing with all these various characteristics and then it culminates in the charity where you actually then have that heart and mind of caring for other people and you become more selfless instead of selfish. As people are getting pulled out of the world, the world's got a selfish mindset, a selfish attitude. It's me, me, me, me, me. So when people are being drawn towards a godly, more spiritual way, that's still going to be part of their life. And understand that and know that and especially those who are more spiritually mature. Have the grace and long suffering to deal with that. And don't get offended. Let's keep reading, verse 16. But be it so, right? But be it so. Wait, whatever. The more money I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so. I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? So when he caught them by guile, he sends these other ministers in and kind of checking up on the church and ministers to them and is also preaching the truth to them. But then he's saying, hey, look, what did we gain by this? Like, anyone that I sent to you, did we take your money? Were we taking anything from you? The answer is, of course, no. We didn't make a gain. I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps? Like, didn't he do, like, what I'm doing? Don't I do what he did? Aren't we pretty much the same? Like, he wasn't there for your money. We're not here for your money. Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things dearly beloved for your edifying. Even in the midst of his rebukes on the people, he's letting them know, look, you are dearly beloved, and what we're doing is for your edifying. It's for your growth. We don't want your money. We don't care about your stuff. We want to help you. Verse 20, for I fear, lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would. Would means want. My concern and my fear is that when I show up, things aren't going to be settled and turned around and gotten right like I want them to be. Right? When I show up, I'm just going to find these problems. He says, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not. And that when I come, you're not going to see me the way you'd want to see me. You know, it's like, I want things to be well when I go there, but I'm kind of worried that they may not be. They may not be the way I want it to go. And he says, lest there be debate. Now, look at these, look at these characters. Look at these things that he's worried about finding. Debates, envies, wraths, strifes, backbiting, whisperings, swellings, tumult. A lot of controversy, a lot of fighting, a lot of bad things. But what's interesting here is that a lot of these characteristics are actually found in Romans chapter 1. And next week we're going to go into, because the word reprobate is brought up in chapter 13. And I brought it up last week also on purpose when he was talking about the people, and he keeps on going on about how he's not trying to get money from them. And then there's the people who are just tearing down the apostle Paul and lifting themselves up. These are all these different attributes of reprobates. And he's worried then, I think, that some of that stuff now is going to happen and just come out when he gets there if people continue to be led astray by some bad people, by some false brethren that have crept in unawares. When you look at that list, you've got debate, you've got envy, you've got whispers, and you've got backbiters in this list right here from verse 20 that are also listed in Romans chapter 1. Romans 1 is being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetous, and maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful proud, boasters, and members of evil things, disobedient parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. So we don't see swellings and tumults, but you know what, it's basically the same type of thing. It could just as well be included because all these fightings and being contrary. So he's worried about these things when he's going to show up. And as we conclude next week, you'll see, again, he brings up this idea of the reprobate and stuff, and I think there may have been some influence going on at the Church of Corinth by some reprobates. Verse 21, unless when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. So now whether or not the people, because you could have saved people who get involved with debates and envies and wraths and strifes, I mean those are all things that could happen from saved people. Romans 1 characterizes the reprobate, that that's what they are and who they are. Saved people can get involved in these sins, but it doesn't characterize them. Make sense? And he doesn't want to come, and then also it's going to be a problem, you say, look, I've pointed out these sins, these fornications and stuff, you've got to get this right. You know, because when I show up, if you just have all these problems still, I've already pointed this out to you, it's not going to be a very pleasant visit. You've still got all this garbage going on in the church, you know, clean it up. Let's apologize for that prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for your word. God, I pray that you would please help us to understand and grow in our wisdom and knowledge, dear Lord. And I pray that you would please help us to just gain a more full understanding and appreciation, first and foremost for your word and for the truths found in your word and for the guidance in our life, but also for the men of God that have hazarded their own lives for your glory and for the benefit of continuing in the word, dear Lord. And I pray that you would please help us to look to the great men as a role model, as inspiration for us to continue and to remain strong in our faith and to serve you through all of our own infirmities. Lord, we love you, we thank you so much for loving us and for your long suffering and mercy, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright, we're going to sing one last song before we are dismissed. Brother Peter, please lead us. Alright church, if you can open up your hymnals. Song number 207. It's all 207, only a synth. It's all 207. Alright, let's sing the sound of the verse. Not have I got it, but what I've seen. Praise that still exists, I have believe. Close things who bid, pride I embrace. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Once I was foolish and sinful my heart, Causing my footsteps from God to the Lord. Jesus had found me and healed my case. I now am a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Tears not willing, nowhere behind. Mercy and safety, who else I despise. Safe and worthy, fearing God's grace. But now I'm a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Amen church, great singing. Thank you so much for coming. You guys are dismissed. Bye.