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<center><B>Our Preach will be centered on 2 Corinthians 12: 8-10 (RV 1960).</B></center>
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“…concerning which three times I have prayed to the Lord, to take it away from me. 9 And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you; because my power is perfected in weakness. Therefore, I will gladly glory more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10 Therefore, out of love for Christ I rejoice in weaknesses, in insults, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses; because when I'm weak, then I'm strong
…”.
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The apostle Paul is reporting a great event that happened to him, further back he says that he had a very great revelation, was taken to the third heaven, and heard things that can not be spoken with human words.
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The apostle says that for those revelations that he has had, he was not so proud, he was given a sting, he does not say exactly what that sting was, some say it was a problem in the eyes, it was that way when Jesus appeared to him. * According to this quote Galatians 4:15 (KJV 1960) "... Where, then, is that satisfaction you experienced? Because I give you testimony that if you could have, you would have taken out your own eyes to give them to me ... "
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<B>• Galatians 4:14 (KJV 1960) "... and you did not despise me or reject me because of the proof I had in my body, but I received as an angel of God, like Christ Jesus ...".</B>
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Others say that malaria was very common in the Mediterranean at that time, others say it was some carnal weakness. The only certain thing is that it was something that caused him a lot of pain.
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But that was given to him so that he would not be exalted, imagine if he received some kind of revelation like that, that he was taken to heaven and who knows how he would look at God himself. As we would walk, I imagine running from side to side telling his testimony and being praised, the people telling him that there goes the one who went to heaven and saw God, I talk to him. That brothers is to get the juices up as popularly said.
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But that weakness that was given to the apostle reminded him that he was a mere mortal, that he was nobody, that it was only because of the grace or unmerited favor of God, that weakness made him walk with his feet on the ground, humble.
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We realize that the apostle had something that made him humble, recognize his weakness, his need for God.
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The truth is that we all have that sting, that weakness that reminds us of the need of the Lord, of Paul was something like a disease, for us it may be something different, the truth is that we have it, sometimes we would like to be perfect, not have weaknesses, be complete, but the truth is that these weaknesses are:
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<center><B>1. They remind us of the need we have for God.</B></center>
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It is the weakness that shows us how much we need the Lord, the tendency of the human being is to be independent and self-sufficient, but it is the weaknesses that submit us to God, somehow force us to seek .
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Him. The apostle was revealed his need of the Lord, made him see how weak he was, how fragile, how human.
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I think that the greatest misfortune that can happen to a human being is not recognizing his weakness, not recognizing his humanity, his fragility. We are very fragile, on Friday I visited a co-worker, I was sick in bed and I could see how weak and fragile we are as humans, but there are men who do not recognize the greatness of God, they do not recognize their need of Him.
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And it is in the midst of that weakness that:
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<center><B>2. God shows his power in weakness.</B></center>
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The apostle said because when I am weak then I am strong. This is a paradox, a paradox is an apparent contradiction but one that can be explained and can be explained, when I am weak, then I am strong.
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It is when we recognize our weakness, it is when we reach the point where we say Lord until here I arrived, I can not anymore, I can not stand, I can not take it anymore, this could with me, Lord I need you.
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It is in that moment, it is in that moment of maximum weakness, in that moment where his strength is exhausted, in that moment something happens, suddenly God observes us, he is seeing us, he sees in that weakness the opportunity that he was waiting for to get up and clothe you with his power, it was the moment expected by him to begin to act, where our strength ends, the inexhaustible forces of Him begin.
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We need to stop being overbearing and believe that we can alone because that way the power of him will never work in our lives, it is when we recognize our weakness, our weakness that the power of him is perfected.
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Then we can say how the apostle in my weakness is strong, because it is my dad who gets up for me and helps me with his arm, Now a question.
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<center><B>How do I know if I have a sting? If the weakness that I have God will not take away from me?.</B></center>
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If I have done as the apostle, I have prayed to the Lord, if I have implored him, the apostle said I have prayed. To pray is to pray with intensity. If we have done this and we have not had an answer or we have had a negative response like the apostle, it is because we may have a sting, something that reminds us of the need of the Lord, it reminds us that without it we can not.
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And it will be there until the Lord sees fit, but the apostle said I rejoice in that because it is when I can see what I do is by God's favor. I enjoy this because it is when I can see God with his power working in my life.
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<center><B>Now listen to this.</B></center>
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<center><B>3. The sting is not an excuse to fail or not do something for the Lord.</B></center>
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We could say then well what I have is a sting that the Lord is not going to take away, I will always have it there and relax and do nothing. We see that the apostle Paul never shielded himself in his difficulty, on the contrary he trusted in the Lord who was powerful to act in the midst of that weakness.
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Paul served Him, in spite of his weakness he founded churches, he worked, he worked hard, he continued to believe in the Lord. We must do our part, the Lord does the rest, which is what we have to do, pray, seek the Lord, pray to him to help us, to remove that weakness.
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The apostle says three times I have prayed, we could say but only three times, so little, but in the three times the Lord had answered him no. So our duty is to pray to the Lord for that weakness we have.
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<center><B>CONCLUSION</B></center>
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To conclude this topic today, I want to tell you that we are going to have tests that come and go, and will show us the need to search for God. They will show us how weak we are.
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These are the ones that the apostle names in verse 10, he says I enjoy my weaknesses, affronts, needs, anxieties, persecutions because when that comes, when that is, when I can see his power, in that weakness I can say I am strong .
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But we can also have a sting as well as the apostle, that which we thus call will be there for us to recognize the need of the Lord. That which will not go away, will be there. But in spite of that we must continue believing the Lord.
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<center><B>Greetings God bless you. JJPL.</B></center>
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