{"id":6654,"date":"2020-07-22T05:34:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T10:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=6654"},"modified":"2020-07-21T21:36:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T02:36:11","slug":"2-corinthians-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=6654","title":{"rendered":"2 Corinthians 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

12\u00a0<\/strong>I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and\u00a0revelations of the Lord.\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I know a man\u00a0in Christ who fourteen years ago was\u00a0caught up to\u00a0the third heaven\u2014whether in the body or out of the body I do not know,\u00a0God knows.\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And I know that this man was caught up into\u00a0paradise\u2014whether in the body or out of the body I do not know,\u00a0God knows\u2014\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast,\u00a0except of my weaknesses\u2014\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>though if I should wish to boast,\u00a0I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that n<\/p>\n

Paul did not want to talk about what all he has dome. He wants to only talk about Jesus and what he is doing in his life. We need to be proud of what the Lord is doing in our lives. <\/strong><\/p>\n

7\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>So\u00a0to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0a thorn was given me in the flesh,\u00a0a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But he said to me,\u00a0\u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for\u00a0my power is made perfect in weakness.\u201d\u00a0Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that\u00a0the power of Christ may rest upon me.\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For the sake of Christ, then,\u00a0I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For\u00a0when I am weak, then I am strong.<\/p>\n

Paul was desperate in his desire to find relief from this burden, but there are two ways of relief. It can come by\u00a0<\/strong>removing<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0the load or by\u00a0<\/strong>strengthening<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0the shoulder that bears the load. Instead of taking away the thorn, God strengthened Paul under it, and God would show His strength through Paul\u2019s apparent\u00a0<\/strong>weakness<\/strong>. UNKNOWN <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Concern for the Corinthian Church<\/strong><\/p>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was\u00a0not at all inferior to these super-apostles,\u00a0even though I am nothing.\u00a012\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>The signs of a true apostle were performed among you\u00a0with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.\u00a013\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that\u00a0I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!<\/p>\n

14\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Here\u00a0for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for\u00a0I seek not what is yours but you. For\u00a0children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but\u00a0parents for their children.\u00a015\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If\u00a0I love you more, am I to be loved less?\u00a016\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But granting that\u00a0I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Did I take advantage of you\u00a0through any of those whom I sent to you?\u00a018\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I urged Titus to go, and sent\u00a0the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need to minster to people with an Idea of what can I get out of this but a idea of what can I do for this person. <\/strong><\/p>\n

19\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is\u00a0in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and\u00a0all for your upbuilding, beloved.\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For I fear that perhaps\u00a0when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish\u2014that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those\u00a0who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity,\u00a0sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paul didn\u2019t have to speak excuses. He was speaking of truth and didn\u2019t hide behind it. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6655,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6654\/revisions\/6655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}