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Paul Realized Even in his Weakness he Could Still be Thankful

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(II Cor. 12:9)

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.

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Jesus Christ appeared in front of one man who was heading to Damascus to capture those who believed in Jesus. And from that time on he changed and became a man who preached about Jesus.

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This man was Paul who is known as the great apostle.
The Apostle Paul really worked hard to preach about Jesus.
Everywhere he went he would preach the gospel.

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Paul preached the gospel really faithfully and God gave him powers.
When Paul prayed he could cure diseases.
The evil spirits facing him could not stand a chance.

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Also, God showed to the Apostle Paul what heaven would be like by taking him to the third heaven. People thought that Paul did not have any problems.

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However, the Apostle Paul had problems the others did not know about.
The Bible did not state clearly what kind of disease it was.
Some say he had an eye problem while some others say he had epilepsy.

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The Apostle Paul was so tired because of this sickness.
He was so sad that he could cure other people's sicknesses but he couldn't fix his own sickness.

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The Apostle Paul prayed specially to God for his sickness.
"God, please cure my sickness. It is so painful."
However, God did not answer his prayers.

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After some time passed, Paul asked to God again to cure his sickness. "God, please cure this sickness of mine. I am in pain and it is so tiring. It makes it hard for me that I can cure other sicknesses but not mine." However, God did not answer Paul`s second prayer.

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Paul asked God to cure his sickness for the third time. This time God answered Paul.
"Paul, my grace to you is already so much. The power I gave you worked properly because you felt weak because of your sickness."

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God showed Paul heaven and gave him lots of powers. However, God gave him a sickness to prevent him from becoming prideful because of his powers from God.

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When the Apostle Paul realized this he was so thankful. So every time he suffered from his sickness he once again realized his own weakness and looked to God again.

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Paul confessed to people like this. "Because of this great power I got from God, he gave me a thorn in my body to prevent me from pride. This thorn always disturbed me. I prayed to God three times to cure this sickness. However, the LORD said to me, "Your grace is enough. Your power is complete from being weak."

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The love from God towards us is unimaginably big and precise.
The Apostle Paul who had been given powers realized this after praying to God three times.

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We got our salvation by believing in God.
God never makes mistakes for his children.
God allows us the finest things among his wonderful plans.

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In I Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 18 Paul says, "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I hope we all believe in God 100% and give thanks in all things that happen to us and have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.

(You can change the conclusion of this sermon best suiting to your listeners of this sermon. We want to make it clear that the provided conclusion is only a sample conclusion provided by CTM.)