Well, it is good to be with you this afternoon. The text that I'm going to be in is 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and we'll be looking in verses 7 through 10. But before I get to that text, I'll be mentioning several things. One of the verses that I want to mention is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 7, where the Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, It says, therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. He's talking about giving and my message this afternoon is not about giving. But it is about abounding, increasing, continuing in those things that God has bestowed upon us. In the grace of God that has been bestowed upon us. God has given us faith. That's actually where I'm going to be going before the afternoon is over. And we are to abound in that. We are to increase in that. We are to grow in that. But everything God does in the life of a child of God is His grace. It's His work in us. Grace is defined, if you have a strong concordance you could look this up, but grace is defined as the influence of God upon the heart. with its reflection in our life. So grace is on the inside showing up on the outside. And grace is not something that happened 20 years ago. God saved me a long time ago, 1975. Grace is not something that took place years and years and years ago. Grace is an active working of God in the soul, in the heart, in the life of a child of God, and in a church. Actively working. which hath begun a good work in you." What? Shall continue. I heard your pastor pray, and I was saying amen under my breath. He said something about continuing. I don't know the exact words, brother, but the words stuck with me. Continue. I preached on continuing this morning where I was at. We continue by the grace of God. We grow by the grace of God. We are what we are by the grace of God. And this afternoon, I want us to look that in that text, Paul talks about them abounding in faith. And we're going to come to that in the text in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. But abounding in all that which God has worked in us. Not being content where we were, but continuing forward. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 says, without faith it is impossible to please God. I'm dealing with faith this afternoon, and so we'll start there. Without it, it's impossible to please God. It is something God gives us that we exercise toward Him, but it is not again a one-time thing that took place many years ago and we no longer have any part in it. But it is a continual working grace in us, a grace in which we are to abound. Faith. Without it, we can't please the Lord, and though we may have a small portion or a large portion, if we have it, we are to be using it. Without faith, we cannot live a Christian life. Paul said we live by faith, not by sight, but by faith, by that which God has worked in us. We live by that grace that is in us. It is part and parcel of what it means to be a Christian. One of the means that God uses to increase our faith is that he gives us a greater measure of understanding of that which is required of us as true Christians. The apostles prayed, Lord, increase our faith in Luke chapter 17. What was the, to use the vernacular, the back story of that prayer? Well, that phrase, Lord increase our faith, is found in Luke 17, verse 5. Beginning in Luke 17, verse 1 and going down through verse 4, Jesus Christ is pressing upon his disciples that if someone sins against you, that you are to forgive them. And if they repent, you are to forgive them. And the disciples were saying, oh, how many times? And the Lord said, if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn to thee and say, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the disciples said unto the Lord, increase our faith. They had been faced with an aspect of Christianity that they had not thought about before. And look, that affects us all. As we grow in grace and knowledge, we are sometimes faced with an aspect of Christianity that we hadn't even thought about. And it's just right there, again using the vernacular, they in my faith, in our faith. The aspect of what it means to love our brothers and sisters. And to press that upon my heart and what that means to the best of my brothers and sisters and to the least of my brothers and sisters. What does that mean? And as I learn about that, I'm saying, oh Lord, increase my faith. Increase my ability to trust you in the middle of this situation. And that brings us to the doorstep of 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The more we learn of God's Word concerning true Christianity, the more we learn that we need a greater measure of faith in our life, a greater measure of confidence in a living God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The more we want to please God with our life, the more we learn that to do that, we have to have a greater measure of faith, a greater measure of confidence in God working in us, that which is well-pleasing in His sight. The more we understand the standard of true Christianity, and I was saved before I came into the first church that I was a member of, but in the church that I was a member of in the beginning of things, when I was new in the faith, There was this sort of idea, what is the least I can get by with and still be a Christian? Can I be a carnal Christian and still be a Christian? What's the lowest common denominator? There was not this thinking of attaining to greater heights, to know more of God, to press beyond where I'm at today, to grow up. to mature, to know more than I knew yesterday or last week or last month. So the Christian realizes there is a standard of Christianity that I haven't attained to. All you have to do is read the scriptures. And if you're honest with yourself as you're reading the scriptures, you see this standard and you see yourself and you're saying, Oh, Lord, How often have we had our devotions, and I trust this is true of you, where you have sat there and said, oh, help, Lord, because I'm not there. This is what you're saying you were, but I'm not there. And then we come to that place where we say, oh, Lord, and we realize that if we're going to get there, God, help us. God, grace us. God, enable us. God, strengthen us. And so God does that for us. And He does that by pressing us beyond what we thought was normal Christianity. But He also does it by pressing us into a situation that is extremely difficult for us. And that brings us to 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 7 through 10. The Apostle Paul says in verse 7, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation that was given to me of thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then Paul responds, Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. Paul has been put in a situation where he is uncomfortable, where he is struggling. And he is praying about it. And he's asking God to deliver him from it. But he begins this text with this statement, lest I be exalted. And here we see part of the reason or the purpose of God in bringing Paul into the situation that he is in. God's purpose in this particular trial was to continue to help his servant grow. To continue to help his servant understand things about who God was and about the things of God, the way of God, that he didn't understand. And Paul's been walking with the Lord for a long time, but still needs to learn. And Paul speaks in terms of, lest I should be exalted. And this is what God is doing. He is working in His servant, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, and God is bringing His sheep, the Apostle Paul, into a pathway of righteousness, and it is not the way Paul wanted to go. It is not the path he wanted to walk. If Paul knew the possibility of pride existed in his life, How much more should we, who are the least of the saints, know the possibility of pride is possible in our lives? And so here he is, and he's saying up front, the purpose of all this, a part of the purpose of all this is that lest I should be exalted. The second thing he said, lest I should be exalted, there was given unto me. Now Paul's understanding of the sovereignty of God and of God's purpose in his life is that God is in control. There was given unto me. Paul didn't stumble into this situation. Paul didn't fall into this situation. Paul didn't drink the wrong kind of drink and end up sick, eat the wrong kind of food and end up sick. This thorn in the flesh, whatever it was that was afflicting him, a messenger of Satan he called it, this was given to him. This was done by God on purpose. And it's something that when we fall into difficult times, that we don't first think, this is the Lord. We think, oh, I shouldn't have done that, or that brother shouldn't have been there, or that sister this, or I shouldn't have been this medicine or this food. And maybe those were the means by which God brought you there. But the first thought on Paul's mind is, I've been giving something. I've been given something. And, of course, it has come from His Father, who has chosen Him for me for the foundation of the world, the One who has loved Him with an everlasting love. He would write to the Philippians and say in Philippians 1.29, for unto you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. And I speak about the two gifts of Philippians 1.29. You've probably heard this before. God gives us faith so that we might believe on His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and come into that living relationship with our Father through His Son. But God with that faith also gives us trials and sufferings. And it's part and parcel of Christianity. Peter speaks about being called to this, 1 Peter 2, verse 20 and 21, those of you that are taking notes. For even here unto you are called, God has called us into this suffering. He has given it to us. And Paul understands that what he has, and we don't necessarily need to define it, and some may strain a gnat while they swallow a camel trying to define what it was. But we don't necessarily need to define it. Paul simply tells us it was a thorn in the flesh and it was given to him, and it was given to him by God. Later, or earlier actually, he would write to the church at Thessalonica, to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 3, 3, and speak to them about their afflictions and then say that you yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. God has appointed us to afflictions, God has called us to them, and God has given them to us. Then Paul says, for this thing I shall be sought the Lord thrice. And I'm thinking to myself, here's a man that knows that God is in the middle of this conflict. Not conflict, that may be too much of a word. He's got a conflict in his soul, but God is in the middle of this trial that he's in. And Paul does have a conflict in his soul over it. And he knows that it's the Lord. And God has appointed it. And yet still he's praying. And I don't see a conflict between those two things. And you might say, well, I'm resigned to the will of God. If I'm sick, I'm sick. And there is a place for that. I am resigned to the will of God. Whatever it is God has revealed in my life and whatever appointment God has made for my life. But Paul prays not once, not twice, but three times. Paul knows that all of God's trials have an end. This is not Paul's first time to be in trial. He is writing after some years of having served the Lord. He has seen things. He's suffered things for the cause of Christ. He knows that all of God's trials have an end. He knows that all of God's trials have a purpose. And he knows God is in the middle of this trial. And what does he do? Well, he prays. He asks God to deliver him from it. Was it selfishness? Was it just a lack of faith on his part? I am not inclined that way. What I see is a man who knows something about the living God, who's facing something that is a struggle to him to face, and he's asking God to deliver him from it. And it is not stated in this text. There's this aspect of faith in the Christian life where we sort of resign ourselves to, not my will, but thine will be done. And though it's not spoken, it is something that we learn as Christians very quickly, and as we grow in grace, especially this grace of faith, it is something that we learn to sort of have this heart, Lord, I'm asking this, but not my will, but your will be done. And whatever it's going to be, it's going to be okay. And so, the problem comes when we seek God in prayer without understanding that He is in the middle of it all. Without understanding that this was given. This came my way out of the good pleasure of my Father in Heaven. And that's a hard place to get to. It really is. Okay? And if you're a young Christian and you haven't got there yet, you will. Because God teaches every one of His children. And if you're an older Christian and you've been walking with the Lord for some time and you're still struggling with that, that's okay. God's going to continue to teach you. I sought the Lord. And He said, I love that, I prayed, and God answered. And he said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And what I see here is a son of the living God praying to his Father in heaven, and the Father in heaven saying, Here's your answer. Here's your answer. And where faith comes in is, it's already been active because he's praying, but where faith comes in and what the point I want to get to here is this. When the answer came, Paul trusted God with the answer. It wasn't what he was looking for. But it was God's answer to the situation. And God's answers are not always what we expect. We go to prayer to the Lord and we think this is how it's going to work out. And we even delineate it to the Lord. You know, if this and this and this, then this. And we lay out our plans. I don't know if you think like that. Sometimes I do. And I lay out my plans before the Lord and then come back to my senses, if I can put it that way, and say, nevertheless, Lord, not my will be done, but Yours. But Lord, if I could, If it's pleasing to you. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I've been corrected many times. I've taken the right hand when I should have taken the left. But my Heavenly Father has been very gracious to me over the years. And I have seen the answers to my prayers come from my Father in Heaven. But not always as I have asked. Not always, as I have asked. One of God's purposes in our trials is to teach us about His grace, about the influence of God upon the heart with its reflection in our life. One of the purposes of God is to teach us something about what it means to reflect, to show, the grace of God that is in us. And so he said, my grace is sufficient for thee. And to Paul, that's enough. Because then Paul says, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities. And here is a demonstration of Paul's faith. And this is where I'm at. Okay, if that's what the purpose is. If it is indeed to show me that your grace is sufficient, then okay. Then I'm going to resign myself to that. I'm going to be glad then and glory in my infirmities because I am understanding now what your purpose is for my life, why you brought me to this time and this point in my life. And it's faith. You see, this is a demonstration of faith. The word faith doesn't show up here. Confidence doesn't show up here. He's not talking anything at all about Paul's faith in God in the middle of this. But it shows up in Paul's words. It shows up in his attitude. Shows up in his heart. OK, Lord, if that's your will. You see, that's the that's the foundation of faith. God calls sinners and says, repent. And the sinner's heart opened by the Lord says, OK. I've been fighting this for X amount of years. OK, Lord, if that's your will. And believe on my son. OK. God just opens the heart to that. And we come to Christ. And then we start learning what it means to live for God, who is a God of grace. whose purpose in our life is to teach us to reflect that grace. Paul's demonstration of faith is not found in the word okay that I've been using, but most gladly therefore. Most gladly therefore. To put the Texas twine on it, okay. That's it. If that's what it is, okay. Faith resigns itself to the will of God. That's a hard place to be. Hard, I say, on the flesh, not hard on the spirit. Because once we grasp it, then we resign ourselves and God's work in us begins to flow out of us. Faith believes God, trusts God in circumstances that are difficult. Faith believes that God rewards those that diligently seek Him. Paul has been diligently seeking Him. And the answer came, my grace is sufficient. And he said, most gladly therefore. That's what I've been praying for. I need to know what it is that your purpose is. Faith believes that God is the source of all that we need to live out our Christian life. Faith lays hold on that. What do I need to take the next step? What do I need to progress? What do I need to know more of the Word of God? What do I need to learn about the ways of God with His children? And God begins to teach us. And faith says, okay. Now we begin to learn. And we submit ourselves. In the book of Hebrews, Paul writes in chapter 4, By the way, if you don't agree with me that Paul wrote Hebrews, it's okay with me. I just said that I believe he did. We don't want to fight over it. I'm not going to fight with you over who wrote the book of Hebrews. Seeing then that we have a great high priest. What an amazing opening for a verse. We have a great high priest in heaven. It's passed into the heavens, Jesus, Son of God, and he said, with that information, he said, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. And then he, let us therefore come boldly. unto the throne of grace. Why, Paul? Why come to the throne of grace? Why come to the Lord Jesus Christ and ask of Him? Why? Well, he answers the question. That, in order that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's why we come. That's why we pray. We come and we pray and we ask because we need something. from our God. We know we need something. We don't understand the Scriptures. How are we going to learn it? Well, God can teach us. I don't understand this. Teach me. I've got a neighbor that I want to minister to. I don't know how to reach out to them. Open the door for me. I've got a child that's difficult. I don't know how to reach them. I was talking to a lady that visited our church this morning about her teenage daughter. She said, I don't know how to reach her, but she has friends in this church. I said, bring her. We'll do what we can to help her. And I've got a child and I don't know how to reach her or him. What do I do, Lord? And the Lord teaches us. And shows us. Somebody comes along with more experience. Or we open the Scriptures and we're reading it and the Scripture teaches us something. The Spirit of God teaches us something. God is answering. God is answering. One of the problems we have is we fail to see the hand of God in the daily things of our life. When David fled from Absalom, and I think it was Shimei that was casting stones and dirt on him, and the young men around David pulled out their swords. I'll take his head off, and David said, I'm paraphrasing, put your sword back. It is the Lord. That was the end of the conversation for David. It was dirt, and it was stones, and it was cursing. It is the Lord. That was sufficient. You see, there is something about faith in that. Whatever is happening is the Lord. It's the Lord. And so, God promises us that if we come to Him, Come to Him like we understand who He is. He is sitting on a throne. Thou art coming to a king. Great petitions with thee bring. He is sitting on a throne. He is king. He is ruling in heaven and upon the earth. He hasn't forgot about His children. A sparrow can't fall without Him noticing it. How much you? How much more? And so he says, come, but come to me on my throne. Come to me like you believe I'm God. Like you really do believe I'm King. And then I can do something about this for you. And then you will obtain that which you need. You need mercy. Lord, have mercy upon me. Lord, please help me, Lord. What do you need? You know the depths of your heart. I don't need to expound them to you. All of us that have walked with the Lord for any period of time know the cries of the heart that are silent in our closets over the things that we need. And we know He knows. And this is one of the means by which God increases our faith. God brings us into difficult, difficult situations. God brings us to a standard of Christianity that we have not seen before. And he doesn't remove the standard and he doesn't remove the suffering sometimes, but he does have a way of changing our hearts so that we can see suffering with a different set of eyes. Paul was able to see that when he was weak, that's when God was working. Just the opposite of the American mind. Just the opposite, as most things Christian are. He could see that because he was seeing it through the eyes of faith. All of a sudden it's not about the affliction anymore, it's about God's purpose in the affliction. He could see what God had said to him, My grace is sufficient for thee. He could see that that was right. That was true. And that's what he needed. At some point in his life, the affliction was taken. I think. I'm hoping. But if not, grace was sufficient. But you can only see that through the eyes of faith. You see, when you're in the middle of a circumstance, and it's not working out the way you think it should, If you are looking at that circumstance like a man looks at it in the world, you cannot see the hand of God in it. You cannot. But if you look past it and see God in the middle of it, it's a whole different perspective. David learned these same lessons in Psalm 119 and verse 75 and 76. David said, I know. There are times when I read the Scriptures and I just stop. I know David's there. You know what that means? That means God's taught him something. That means he's been a student in the schoolroom of Christ. And he's learned something. He says, I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me, Let I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant. Let what you say in your word minister to my soul when I'm in the middle of this conflict. That's why, brothers and sisters, listen carefully. You're in a hard place? Do not put your Bible on the shelf. Do not stop reading. Brother Pat, I've read and I've read and I get nothing out of it. I'm getting nothing out of it. So what should I do? Read again. What about if I don't get anything? Read it again. But it's not working. Read it again. God has said something and he's said something to his children. And it's like our minds are dumb to the thing and it's true. I've been there, and I'm assuming because I've been there, you've been there. And you pick up the Scriptures, and it's not what it used to be. And the next day you'll do it again, but you don't put it down on the shelf and forget about it. You pick it up, you read it. And read it, and you're asking God for instruction in the midst of this thing. Because it's there. You believe, right? You believe, right? Like I do, that this is sufficient for us. This is what we need. This is food for the soul. It's there, somewhere. Psalm 119, verses 66-68, the same writer said, teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, he said, and now I have kept thy word. Thou art good and doest good. Thou art good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. Thou art good for correcting me when I went astray, for afflicting me when I went astray. That was a good thing you did, Lord. When I went astray, you corrected me. Aren't you glad God didn't leave you in the pit where he found you in the first place? And then he lifted you up out of the miry clay and set you on a rock and put you on a pathway and you've turned to the right hand, haven't you? Yes. And to the left? Yes. And you've felt and known that God has known and said, nope, not that way. Nope, not that way as God has instructed you along the pathway of life. And you've learned a little bit about the ways of God. As the writer of Job says, paraphrasing, we've touched the hem of his garment. We know a little, brethren. I've been walking with the Lord since 1975 and I know a little. Just a little. Because we're dealing with God here. We're dealing with the infinite here. I know a little of His ways. How do you know, Brother Pat? Because He's taught me. That's what David said here. He's taught me. How did He teach you? Well, from the pulpit. From reading in Afflictions. He taught me. He taught me. He taught me how to trust Him. He taught me to keep trusting Him. He taught me that He is a God who cannot fail. He does not fail. And He has never made a mistake in my life. As you therefore have abounded in these graces, abound in this one also. I'm not talking about giving, but I'm talking about the grace of faith. Abound in it. The Lord bless you, brethren.