the gathering of San Antonio

Blake Coffee taught from 2 Corinthians 12  on Sunday, November 27.  The video and listening guide from that lesson, followed by the scripture, is below.

Combined Core/Venture Lesson (Blake Coffee)

Thorns & Privileges

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Venture Listening Guide

I.  Privileges

One of the privileges of following Christ is being fully equipped to complete whatever assignment God gives us.  Part of Paul’s equipping was seeing Heaven.

“Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” 1 Cor. 1:31

II.  Thorns

Paul’s ambiguity regarding his “thorn in the flesh” allows any of us to relate to him.  Whether our weakness is physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, God can use it to draw us closer to Him.

God gifts us for service, and understanding our area(s) of giftedness is important to understanding our callings; but God also calls us in our areas of weaknesses, and there is no clearer evidence of His grace in our lives than when that happens.

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2 Corinthians 12

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

 ¹ I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.³ And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— ⁴ was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

~ by Blake on November 28, 2011.

Posted in Imperatives for an Imperfect Church