That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
3 sermons cite this verse
… I'm going to boast in weakness that the power of God would rest upon me. Verse 10, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, I am strong. I don't know if this is making sense to you or not. Let me just illustrate it this way. There are times where the power of God is displayed because of the aggressive obedience of the servant to the Lord. I've seen moments where where I've got friends, they've just aggressively stepped into a place. In fact, I have one friend who preached to this entire crowd and told them, you know, like, if this blind person is not healed, I will renounce this gospel. Thankfully, his whole team was going, oh, no. Oh, no. And the blind eyes opened. But there are times where that aggressive faith. I was with Mario. In fact, he was here at Bethel many years ago, Mario Murillo. And he had this lady stand up in the center aisle and said, stand up. …
… so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then, then I am strong. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God indeed. You may be seated. You may be seated. Does anybody else in here feel like it's super embarrassing when a Pixar movie really gets you in the feels? Like when Buzz rejects Woody's counsel and gets himself in serious trouble, but then Woody risks everything anyway to come and rescue him because you've got a friend in me. Or when Andy discards his toys and he goes off to college. or how about the opening sequence of Up? I feel like that one should have come with a trigger warning because you're like eight minutes into a cartoon movie and you've got tears streaming down your cheeks and your kids are like, what is wrong with you? This is supposed to be my movie and you're supposed to be over in the corner quietly checking your phone. …
… God used Satan to accomplish that 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 through 10 Paul, there was given me a thorn in my flesh a messenger of who? a messenger of Satan given to me, a messenger of Satan to drive me to trust in the strength that God provides. God used Satan to teach Paul to trust in his grace and his sufficiency. One more example, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 20. Hymenaeus and Alexander, they have been handed over to Satan, uses the same language. I have handed them over to Satan so that they would be taught not to blaspheme. God has a purpose in this, and there's a lot of questions there. That's for those three or four sermons. There's a lot of questions there. It's mind-boggling to say the least, but the picture is God is sovereign over Satan, and God is, first, ultimate picture here is the purity of the church, but this is for the good of an individual, that being cast out of the church, he would see the severity of sin, that he would feel the consequences of not being united to the body of Christ. …