2 Corinthians 1:8-11, 4:7-12, 12:7-10
November 26, 2017
preached by Craig Mercer
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“We need patience under pain and hope under depression of Spirit…Our God…will either make the burden lighter or the back stronger; he will diminish the need or increase the supply”

~ Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), English pastor and author

“Our character must matter more to us than our reputation. We must learn to love the light, even when it exposes the darkness in us, instead of running and hiding from the light.”

~ Scott Sauls, contemporary pastor, speaker and author

“Never do we find God’s grace unless something has shown us our weakness, insufficiency, sin and neediness”

~ Timothy Keller (1950-present), American pastor and author

“Grieving friends need our tears more than our teaching; our silence more than our solutions; our faces more than our fixes.”

~ Scotty Smith (1950-present), American pastor and author

Sermon Passage

2 Corinthians 1:8-11, 4:7-12, 12:7-10  (ESV)

Chapter 1

⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ¹¹ You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Chapter 4

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Chapter 12

⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.