# Sunday Setup – 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: October 9, 2025
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-2-corinthians-121-10

## Summary

What if our weaknesses are the very things that showcase God's strength? How can embracing our struggles lead to deeper grace? Join us as we explore 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 and discover the power of vulnerability in our faith journey. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

[Music] 
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 [Laughter] 
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 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 
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 heat. 
 Heat. Heat. 
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 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. 
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 Heat. Heat. 
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 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. 
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