Sunday Setup – 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

[Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Hey, Cross Church family and welcome to the Sunday setup. This is a time each week, Thursdays at 2:00, where we digitally gather together across our social media platforms where we get to read our text that we'll be preaching through Sunday, we get to pray through it at this time so that when we come together that as we hear the word of God, as we praise through the word of God, we can go out and practice it this next week. And today we are going to be in 2 Corinthians 12. And we'll be in verses 1-10. As we read this today, we have a few prayer prompts that we just want to pray through to prepare our hearts for what God has for us as we hear this preaching this week on how we can apply this to our lives. And it starts here in 12:1. Paul the Apostle writes this. He says, "Bosting is necessary. It is not profitable, but I will move on to vision visions and the revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven 14 years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. I know that this man, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. He was caught up into paradise. And he heard inexpressable words which a human being is not allowed to speak. I will boast about this person, but not about myself, except of my weaknesses. For if I want to boast, I wouldn't be a fool because I would be telling the truth. But I will spare you so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me." So I take pleasure in weakness and in insults, in hardships, in persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul in here talks and tells this story that we're going to dive into the details of, but he talks about himself in third person, this amazing experience he had of seeing heaven, of seeing God. But all of it leads to and really just like this capstone verse in verse 9 that I want us to focus kind of our two prayer prompts around is first he says my grace is sufficient for you despite the experiences that Paul had that we can't even explain despite the hardships that he endured despite the thorn in the flesh that he has the answer that God constantly gives Paul is my grace is sufficient for you and I want us to start with a prayer of acknowledgement. ment and and just a prayer of praise is God thank you for your grace because God thank you for your grace because focus on some of the ways that God's grace is sufficient of God thank you for your grace because pray that prayer to our Mother [Music] [Music] [Laughter] heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] God, thank you for your grace because it has saved us. God, thank you for your grace because it has released us from our sin. God, thank you for your grace because it has given us new life. God, thank you for your grace because it has given us a community of people to be around us of. God, we can thank you cuz you are worthy cuz you are sufficient cuz your grace is different than anything else. But God, not only do we get this grace that is sufficient, but Lord, Paul also talks about how power is perfected in weakness. that he said he'll boast about his weaknesses because in his weakness the power of Christ resides in him and takes center stage. And in this I want us to have a prayer not only where we acknowledge how great God's grace is and we acknowledge how he is worthy but we also acknowledge how we are in need of him to do his work and we are in need of him in order to share the gospel. And in this prompt kind of in a twofold is God use my weakness of and you fill in the blank there. God use my weakness of blank in order to blank. Here's how this could work. God used my weakness of pride in order to share the gospel. God used my weakness of jealousy in order to be a testimony to people around me. is God use my weakness of blank in order to blank. Pray that prayer of dependence on God to work through us. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] God, the power of the gospel is not in the people who bring it, but in the message that is brought. God, use our weaknesses. Use the weaknesses of our doubt to show your faithfulness. Use the weakness of God, our greed to show your generosity in order to share the love of you, God. Share the weaknesses of our anger to in order to show how you are more patient and kind. And God, let us be like Paul. That even though he endured hardship, even though he was an imperfect person, even though he suffered in so many ways that all of that was used to showcase the strength of Christ, to showcase the glory of who he is, to show how you are almighty and how you are greater than anything else our world has to offer. And God, as we are broken people, just as we read this passage and we see how our weaknesses ultimately in those you display your strength. Uh Lord, let us highlight how our weaknesses are not a bad thing, but how are they are merely a means to show the world you God. We just thank you for this time. We thank you for our church family who is listening to this, who is preparing their hearts for Sunday morning. And God, as we move through this week, that you work in our hearts so that we can gather together. We can pray through your word. We can praise through your word. We can preach through your word so that we can go out and practice your word to the world around us. Lift all this up in the gracefilled and the saving and Lord, the sufficient name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you guys for joining us. We'll see you Sunday. [Music]