I invite you to turn in the scriptures this morning to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. As I said before, I anticipate to begin here shortly the book of Acts. But this morning I thought we would look at this passage from 2 Corinthians chapter 12. I'm going to back up and read at verse 22 of chapter 11 actually, through 12, 10. to set a context. 22, chapter, 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, beginning at verse 22. This is the word of the Lord. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I'm a better one. I'm talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes, less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, danger from the Gentile, danger in the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers. in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure and apart from other things there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches who is weak and i'm not weak who is made to fall and i'm not indignant if i must boast i will boast of the things that show my weakness the god and father of our lord jesus who is blessed forever knows that i'm not lying at damascus the governor under king artis that was guarding the city of damascus in order to seize me but i was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands i must go on boasting though there is nothing to be gained by it i will go on to visions and revelations of the lord i know a man in christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So, and now our text. 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. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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. 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. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. Well, we go through life evaluating its quality based on the principle of strength. Strength. In fact, we're all trying to achieve human strength in its most valued form as society defines it. And since we evaluate life this way, since it's all about strength and outward glory, we have a certain kind of perspective and a certain kind of view of the bad things that happen to who we perceive are weak people. Weak people. The things that we see as weakness make the strong people feel better about themselves. It's just a common reality that we all know. We're always trying to show ourselves strong. Whatever faults we have, we cover that up the best that we can. It's our way to make ourselves appear before people as together, poised, overall strong in mind and body. That's what we want people to see about us. A picture-perfect life we're all trying to create. You know that. No dust on the shelves. Everything looks good. can't have anything go wrong. It's what society values, isn't it? Of course it is. Because this is so common, because this is a natural way of looking at people's plots in life when we look at weakness and struggle and hardship, weaknesses, we begin to define things this way. What do I mean? The strong look at the weak as a less of a person, as less of a person. The poor are given the least of seats. You know how much attention the Bible gives to this. Weakness, in our view, puts a question mark on legitimacy. Weakness, in our view, puts a question mark on legitimacy. That is essentially the issue that we're dealing with here this morning, looking at 2 Corinthians 12 and what Paul is dealing with. Paul's purpose in this particular passage is to explain something that he learned about life. Explain something that the church in Corinth was not understanding or not appreciating, something he had to make very clear to them. That there was a way that he found real meaning in life. The day that he finally, as I reflected in the title, the day that he finally learned to live. With a new perspective, now in light of what he knew and understood and had experienced in light of human weakness. Human weakness. Something that will lead him by the end of our text this morning to say every expression of human weakness, did you notice this, became a pathway now and a privilege for him of true happiness and boasting. How do you get there? How do you have that complete shift? In fact, what he is about to do for us in this particular passage is explain his greatest disability as an apostle. He didn't have disability insurance. Did you know that? I do. He didn't. He wanted to help us understand and help Christians understand that it was precisely in his disability. and humiliation that he experienced the highest exaltation. And this should be immensely helpful for us this morning, for Christians. It's God's purpose, and this is so important. It's God's purpose for us that at some point in the course of your life, he is going to show his strength in you through some form of weakness. He's going to do it. Some form of hardship that he's going to have for you. And you need to understand that, because if you don't understand that, how easy it is to be derailed and confused and perplexed when these things happen. We need to learn that when things come upon us suddenly, when things happen that are unexpected, we have to have a way of going forward and a different way of looking at things. How they have happened to us, what has happened to us, and what is God's answer to us in the midst of this? And that's what this passage helps us to do this morning. It helps to have a little bit of context here in 2 Corinthians to see what was going on with Paul to have to explain this problem that we get to in verses 7-10 about the thorn in the flesh. Paul was under heavy assault as a pastor in 2 Corinthians by what he calls and designates as super apostles. It's a jab. He's calling them in jest and saying these are the real powerful super apostles that everyone likes. He's mentioned them in chapter 11, of course, and referenced and reminded the church in Corinth because they were caught up with all these guys. He reminded the church in Corinth that Satan has ministers in churches, in Christian churches. Did you know that? You don't think about that. We don't think about that. They come as angels of light. Demons, if you will, working powerfully behind the scenes and working in men to accomplish Satan's purposes. Their followers, of course, get attracted to all the wrong things, don't they? Their outward things, the strong things, the strength is the word I want to focus on here for a little bit this morning, the strong versus weak things. He had already said, i'm not inferior to these guys i'm not listen i'm gonna boast i know i'm gonna sound like a madman but i'm doing this on purpose i'm boasting because i'm not inferior to these guys i'll tell you where my boast is in a minute he'll say even though i'm untrained in speech yeah i don't have the great wow factor when it comes to speaking they were calling into question his legitimacy of his apostleship and they were doing things that had the biggest and the best and the greatest of draws for people they wowed people with their speech they did things that nobody else was doing in the name of ministry and and of course as you all know to this day you know what that stuff does you can get great followings doing this you can get followings about doing anything today they looked at paul and they said what a joke he was constantly under assault it's with this background that he's explaining to the christian church what they couldn't just seem to appreciate what they what they they had a hard time getting their minds around and understanding namely paul your whole ministry is shrouded with conflict it has nothing but hardship it has affliction what surrounds you is weakness people don't speak well of you did you know that we met a guy named alexander the coppersmith he trashes you everywhere they're spewing out all kinds of things about you paul it's really hard for us to understand. I mean, we hear your message, but the opposition surrounding your ministry, the hatred for you, the people speaking against you, it does kind of raise a question mark, Paul. The lack of outward draw, the power, all the things you could be doing, you're not. are you really sent are you really an apostle this is this is behind this epistle this is what they're questioning about him these other guys are more effective and we've heard about all the powerful signs and wonders of the apostles as time went on that was not the focus of the apostolic ministry they wanted it through preaching they wanted it through preaching the gospel We're not seeing all those powerful signs anymore. Now you understand, perception then is important here. We all struggle with perception, don't we? We're worried about perception. We live in fear constantly of perception. If I ask, aren't you incessantly worried about how the Escondido URC is viewed out these doors? And so we worry about that. It's really important, isn't it? perception. Sometimes raises when it's in question and the perception is not good in common eyes. It raises to the question and forefront in people's minds a question of authenticity or you might even say genuineness or legitimacy. And if you're involved in something that you're just there, you're just doing, but there's always in the back of the mind a question mark of legitimacy or a question mark of authenticity, all these things that challenge us, it has the effect of holding us back, doesn't it? Of course it does. You'll never really be able to believe what you're doing is true because you've got to come to a realization if what you're doing in the Christian church is true or not. And if it is, you're going to give 100%. If the question of legitimacy is not there, you're going to hold back and be nothing but a pew sitter. Well, how much more of the calling of a pastor? You've got to know, don't you? You've got to know in your mind and be convinced God sent you. You're not going to give a lot to this, or you're going to do whatever you want to do. Well, what Paul is doing in this particular section is working hard to change their entire perspective about ministry and about him. And you'll notice he says in verse 1, It's not profitable for me to boast. This is verse one. I must go on boasting, and he'll go on and say, though there really is nothing to be gained by it. What in the world is going on here in this first particular section? We'll follow it here for a minute, and I think it'll all become clear for you. I knew a man 14 years ago in Christ, in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows this man was caught up into the third heaven. He saw things that were inexpressible with words. He went up into paradise. Who's he talking about? Him. Him. Paul was brought up into paradise. He saw the glory. He saw heaven. He saw things he says that were inexpressible with words. Now what would the super apostles have done with that? Well, they'd have written a book of how they went up into heaven and came back and sold millions of copies, right? And people would buy that book and talk about that book and study. Oh, whoa, that just happened, didn't it? A few of you have read it. You see? This is what super apostles do with this stuff. Every false teacher, what they've ever done is claim something great. They went up into heaven. Benny Hinn claimed that. He saw God, talked with God. Boy, he got thousands and thousands and thousands of followers from that. Drums up an amazing response. Something real. There it is, legitimate, right there. That guy went to heaven. and people flock to this, they can legitimize themselves with what? Greatness. They can legitimize themselves with greatness. If God is real, why doesn't He do that stuff for us more? Why doesn't He make this a little more valid for us at least so that we can really believe that what we're a part of is genuine? Why doesn't He give us dreams and visions? And Paul is saying, well, guess what? It happened to me. I got one. I went up. He was an apostle. He had all kinds of extraordinary benefits at the beginning. And Paul says up front, oh, I could boast about this. I could tell you all about this to legitimize myself. I could tell you all about the details. But this stuff really was inexpressible with words. Even if I did and tried to, I couldn't. But he says, that's not what I'm doing. I'm going to refrain from all that. Why? So I have been there. I could testify to that. But I'll refrain, verse 5, lest anyone should start to think of me above what he sees me to be. Carrying around a jar of clay, aren't I? He'll say. In other words, if I start running around telling you about all my visions in paradise, what's going to happen? you're going to start getting a wrong understanding of what our calling is, and you're going to start getting a wrong understanding of what ministry is, and you're going to start exalting me. And that's all wrong. How much following of men do we have today? How much do we look at things outwardly in the church and say, ah, that's it. That's where it's happening. It's got to be. There's so much going on there. The man up front is something. And it's here, Paul says, you need to look at things differently. What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination of God. Remember that principle from our study in the churches of Revelation? As a matter of fact, the very church tonight, God says you have a name to the church in Sardis, but I want you to know something, you're dead. That's not a letter you want to get, do you? You got a great name to the world and the community, but before heaven, you're dead. Man looks outward, the Lord looks at the heart. So let me tell you a story so that you'll look at Christian ministry a little bit differently. Let me tell you a story, says Paul. I'm going to use myself now. You're a pastor. Here you go. To keep me, and by the way, the real over-pious line that says we should never talk about ourselves is ridiculous. Paul does it constantly. He uses the example of himself. To keep me from becoming conceited, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me. A messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. humble. Keep me humble. This was who? This was the great Apostle Paul. Can you imagine how much the man needed to do this ministry? You know the stress this guy was under? That's why I read chapter 11. Did you hear that? None of you have been through that. In danger of the sea, in danger, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, and hunger and thirst, often without food. Who's here been without food? Cold and exposure, and apart from these things, I'm always in full anxiety about the church as God put this in me. Paul turns the tables on himself. He's explaining to them that what they see as weakness, marking a question of authenticity, is actually, in fact, something from God. It was actually an indication that it was from God. I've given everything. I was given everything, says Paul. I was given visions and dreams. I saw, I was there. I saw the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. But with all of this, you know what the Lord actually did? He kept me really humble. Because all these special revelations, all these things that God was doing, all these gifts that God gave me, you know what he did? He gave me a thorn in the flesh. The way he describes this thorn in the flesh is absolutely remarkable, isn't it? It's something to think about here. To keep me from becoming conceited, he gives me this thorn in the flesh. It literally means a stake in the flesh. He goes on to say, whatever it was, behind it was direct demonic activity. Satan was involved with it. It was something that was constantly harassing him. It was something that would never, it was relentless in his life. It did not let up. The history of speculation as to precisely what this is is fascinating. It's fun to read. You have mentioned everything from a headache to an earache to Roman Catholics believing it was a perverse sexual sin. Other believes it was eye problems. Others believed it was persecution. At one point, he would even say Satan was directly hindering him from going to Thessalonica. And that's true. Opposition in the ministry, as I was beginning to think about this a little bit, that may be on track. That opposition in the ministry he was facing, Opposition for pastors is the greatest discouragement. People have no clue. It has the effect of souring the whole work. And again, because strong opposition affects so many people, perception. You're always living under this problem of perception. And you've got to live with that in times of opposition. It's hard. It's ugly. It's nasty. Here's the point. Paul is saying, I was given something that rendered my body helpless. You ever had something that absolutely renders your body helpless? That sets you back, sets back life, sets back work, sets back your ability to do things? There's a reason it's not specific. If we get too specific as pastors, I agree. We lose what's supposed to be taken in something like this and applied. If you stay with the context, you get it. The whole ministry was shrouded under the charge and the question mark of legitimacy because of a lack of power, a lack of human strength, a lack of speech, a lack of glory, a lack, lack, lack. And Paul just said, yes, right, you're right. You know why? Because I was given a thorn in the flesh. And that's made everything really hard. I know it's had the effect, says Paul, of making you look at me as weak. Isn't that our problem? Now you see how important this all is this morning. For we look at people with whatever weakness has come upon them, and if you're strong and you're healthy and you got it all together and you're trying to achieve the picture-perfect life, you're going to look at weakness that comes upon people and the tendency is, we would never say it, but the natural tendency is to think of that person as something less. Something's wrong. It's something I don't have to deal with. It's something I don't have to think about. The person right in front of me in the wheelchair. It was Job, wasn't it? One day he lost everything. His money. His money. His children, everything you're holding on tight to, his health, money, children, health, I can't snap, gone. And that plight in life, that sudden change, turned him upside down. And now everyone who had viewed him as strong now views him and has all their assessments of his plight. and no doubt what they were doing was looking for reasons either to explain away or ignore the plight of the weak. That's what we do. This thorn in the flesh represented every kind of backwards thing that happens to us that makes absolutely no sense where one would seem to say God has abandoned that person. God has left that person. Notice how opposite that is of every kind of false teacher in the world that says if you have faith, then you'll be blessed with this kind of life. This thorn in the flesh can rip apart families. This thorn in the flesh can come in the day when you hear all of a sudden you've got cancer. And this thorn in the flesh is the conflict that has come upon you that has soured everything. You know the feeling in your gut? You're now helpless. You're helpless. And you stand back with now the pain of perception. How's everyone looking at this? I don't want anyone to know about this. Don't we do that? We had life all mapped. I don't want anyone knowing about this. Close it down. You see? The strong, of course, sit there with the good life. Holding up the glass of wine, there goes the person. You ever seen a strong man hit who becomes nothing? The person's done. Is he? The person's useless. The person has no strength. I think we know the veneer of strength is a covering for real weakness, isn't it? We're always trying hard to show ourselves with everything together and we're working hard to create a utopia in this life. We're working hard to create a utopia. Everything mapped out as we looked at last time. You ever notice how nothing seems to go according to plan? You ever notice how you never really get your utopia? There's always some new pain, some new conflict, some derailing, something when you least expect it. you ever notice that me says paul it's me so paul begins to explain this inward struggle that that goes on he's saying i began to plea about this i how do you deal with this he says i i tried three times i went to the lord to to plea with the lord about this i prayed i cried out to him about this that it should leave me that's a deep cry uh the man's on his knees i prayed and i i found it interesting i thought to myself as he says why three times i believe paul something very specific in his mind that he was helping the church with something that we all know i pleaded with the lord three times who went to plea with the lord three times jesus in the garden of gethsemane in the heart of his greatest afflictions in the greatest test of his life he's in the garden of gethsemane remember what he said remember the prayer we just went through it father if it's possible let this cup pass let it leave me let it pass take it away then he said every time three times but not my will but your will be done it was christ in the heart of his afflictions who didn't have it taken away in his great distress of his life in his body and his soul to pay for your sins he cries out my god my god why have you forsaken me so that you today can sit here forgiven when paul went to prayer i believe he's letting us in a little bit on his perspective at first about this and and gave some real thought about this but isn't this just what we do we know this We know this about ourselves. When something happens, when the thorn happens, all of a sudden we're praying. It's wonderful. And what's the prayer? Let it pass. Take it away. It's just what we do. We have prayer chains. Everyone begins to cry out, wonderful. And we're all saying, Lord, get them out of it. Heal them. Am I right? Of course I'm right. I don't think that's a bad prayer. That's what we do, isn't it? It's harder to pray, but not my will, but your will be done. Because then what I'm saying is, I realize that this thorn in the flesh might be your will for me. You see, when we're only praying, take it away, fix it, have we really submitted to the reality that this thorn ultimately is not Satan's. It's God's for me. And then we begin to think about it. What is his purpose in it? You see, it was only after the third cry that he got a response. The Lord was training him, no doubt, to be persistent in prayer. We pray and we don't get the answer we want and you know what we do? We stop. But this tests sincerity at times. That's why we have to continually be in prayer. That's why the Scriptures call us to constantly be in prayer. Paul kept coming to the throne of grace until he received an answer. And you should too. And you say, well, what's going to be the answer? He might take it away. But this persistence in prayer demonstrates sincerity and the genuineness of our faith when it's tested. and and and so it's at this point at the third petition all of a sudden the lord answers him he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness what a moment hebrews says that when jesus was in the heart of his affliction in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. He hears your cries, all of them. Don't stop praying. Don't stop praying. But he wants you to understand something. Christ said in the heart of his affliction, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You know what we say in our forums when we do the Lord's Supper? So that we'll never have to say that. And that means he's going to answer you with grace. I'll never leave you nor forsake you has always been the promise of the covenant of grace. Why are you anxious? Why are you worried? I've always promised I'll never leave you nor forsake you, says Hebrews. If he doesn't take it away, then here's the plan for you. I'm going to give you grace. What do you mean? I'm going to give you all the help you need through it. But you need to understand grace is not always just about beating it. That's what we're all trying to do. The grace will be for you in it, in the thorn, through the thorn. Here it is. People are going to see my strength. Wait a minute, he just said that the thorn was some kind of opportunity then. The thorn was some kind of, in some sense, gift. And this is where I think we have to remember then, that we look at everything wrongly and everything in a backwards manner. The church was looking at Paul and saying, opposition, conflict, disruption, weakness, conclusion, absence of Jesus. And Paul just heard from the Lord's mouth the opposite thing, didn't he? All things are appointed in a thorn in the flesh so that real strength may be seen. Let me say, we all enjoy strength from the Lord. Strength is not an evil thing. That too is a blessing. If you're strong right now and enjoying a good life of no thorn in the flesh, be thankful. Paul learned contentment when he was abased or whether he was abounding. If you're strong, praise him. But we rarely give praise to God as we should in strength. We rarely acknowledge Him in prayer as we should in strength. So He gives you a thorn in the flesh to keep you humble. And that produces the best soil for grace to work. Understand that? Human strength, when God is not acknowledged in your life, human strength, when God is not acknowledged and divine grace are incompatible. Human strength and divine grace, when God is left out of the equation, incompatible. But human weakness on the knees is the soil for it to work. We can't get past that, though. I was thinking the other day, we live in a time of a return to the tough guy right. Ever notice that? The tough guy. And I love, you know, if I could, as a pastor, I'd grow a beard down to here, you know. I would. I love that. I like guns. I like overlanding the terrain. But I've never been to war, have I? I've never fought. Heads up, I'm not that tough. But the perception, tough guy. It's our day. And this is no disrespect. I'm not speaking either way to our president's victory, but I'm saying this. Isn't that a reason our president won? He was the epitome of strength to people again. How would we have perceived him if we saw tears and humility? Weak. Weak. And my father was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. All my life, I viewed him as a rock and a pillar of strength to me. We watched Clint Eastwood together. I don't know if the kids even know who that is anymore. We lifted weights together. We did all the manly stuff. I think that's so important. You know, I haven't seen too many times my father with tears in his eyes. I have recently. It's hard to see a source of your strength whittled down to weakness. It's hard. But when is he really strong? When the power of Christ rests upon him. You see, human weakness provides the soil for grace to work and becomes the opportunity for Christ's glory to shine. There is power to show, as I express trust in him, I'm finally put on my knees in prayer. Are the strong praying? How about this? The church father, Chris Austin, once said this. How great is the advantage of affliction? for now we are in the enjoyment of peace and have become lax he says as a people we got all this peace we got all this stuff we're all lax now and now the church has become filled with countless evils but when we were persecuted this is one of the church father's testimony when we were persecuted we were more sober-minded and more earnest and more ready for church attendance and for hearing. Witsius, Herman Witsius laments how contentious the church was in his day over tedious, thorny controversies. And he said, the early Christians he envied because they lived in simplicity. He said, they believed the gospel, they fled for refuge to Jesus, they gave themselves up to be led and ruled by his pleasure, ignorant of all these disputes, he says, we're in now. And he said, then that the faith exerted all its influence on their minds and animated them to suffer bravely death for Jesus. He said, they must have been the most happy Christians ever. He said, we've lost that. In our time, free from all this, we have everything. Every priority now is lost. You see, Paul has learned to look at everything differently. I know we need to close, and I'm going to close with this. Verse 10, he has a great therefore. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly. Notice that. for the sake of Christ. Verse 9, Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Philippians 4 just happened. Be anxious for nothing and everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Present your requests known to God and what's going to happen? The peace of God is going to surround your heart and your mind and what that means is He may not change the circumstances but He changes perspective. All this perspective has just been changed, hasn't it? Look at Him now. it's not, take it away. I'm going to boast in this now. He's changed the way he looks at it. Paul would say, we don't lose heart though our outward self is wasting away, our inward self is being renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient. Seen, strength, power. But the things that are unseen are eternal. Whatever it is then. Is it sickness? Is it people coming after you? Is it great needs in this life? Is it persecution, Paul says? Whatever form this all takes. Adversarial relationships. Whatever form this all takes. I'm going to boast in Christ's power that rests upon me. I'm going to use it as an opportunity to magnify Christ in my body instead of running around, which is the alternative to this and complaining. Because here's the reality of it all. It's in that very form of weakness that you're experiencing that you're really strong. Get that? That's the summary of this. It's in that form of weakness that you're experiencing that you're really strong. Can you see that? Because full dependency is upon Him. God gave you an opportunity. You ever seen what happens to a man who lived a notoriously wicked life and then is delivered? Grace drives him. How about this? You ever seen a strong Christian who has everything chiseled down to a place of dependence? Grace drives him. I don't think you really begin to live until you grasp this. Because when you grasp this, you're no longer living in fear. It's not just about keeping your life, your plans, your utopia, your will, your path you got all planned out. But now you grasp, finally, your life's no longer your own. You're bought. And that, as it's true of you, I leave you with these closing words this morning. That the God of all grace who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you've suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you in Christ Jesus. Amen. Heavenly Father, we give you glory this morning. In some ways, it's a hard message, and in other ways, the most freeing message ever. Because it means that you take our lives and control every aspect, even the evil things that happen to us. You just told us you intend them for good for us. Even when Satan buffets us. You have a good plan working out. Would you give us this perspective then and give us who are strong sensitivities to the weak and then when thorns in the flesh come upon us that we would be trained more in perseverance and in patience and in godliness as we learn and are trained in dependency upon Christ so that there Christ may be seen for what a wonderful witness it is when a Christian is on his knees humble weak for there the power of Christ rests upon him give us that oh Lord and thank you for being so involved in completing the work that you started in us in Jesus name we pray Amen