July 10, 2016

The Sufficiency of Grace

Pastor: Jeff Bedwell Series: Amazing Grace Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:1–10

Amazing Grace
The Sufficiency of Grace
2 Corinthians 12:1-10

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“Grace” is used in the New Testament in two distinct but complimentary ways:

  1. God’s Unmerited Favor freely given to us from which salvation and all other blessings come.
  2. God’s Divine Assistance to us through the Holy Spirit.

In order to experience both aspects of God’s grace in our lives, we must move past Self-Righteousness and Self-Sufficiency

Paul’s Strange Resume

1. God Honored Him (1-6)

  • Visions (see Acts 9; 16:9; 18:9-10; 22; 23:11; 27:11)
  • Revelations (see Ephesians 3:1-6; Galatians 1:12)
  • Taking Him To Heaven

2. God Humbled Him (7-8)

“Thorn” – Stake/Sharp Instrument

Satan was the Immediate cause, but God was the Ultimate cause

It was Painful, but Purposeful

“Has it ever occurred to you that the very thing you most want removed from your life might be the very thing God uses in the greatest way for his glory?” Hershael York

Paul appropriately Pleaded with the Lord in prayer!

You do not know the truth about your situation until you have heard from God.

3. God Helped Him (9-10)

Paul didn’t get a total Explanation, but he did get a Promise

God promised him a grace that was:

  • Sufficient
  • Strengthening

When you cry out to God about a “Thorn in the Flesh,” God sometimes:

  • Releases you from it
  • Remains with you in it

“I believe my greatest spiritual asset throughout my entire life has been my failing sight, for it has kept me absolutely dependent upon God.” Henrietta Mears

God’s grace is sufficient for anything you are facing or will ever face in your life!

Making It Personal:

  • Have you personally experienced God’s saving grace through turning from sin and self-righteousness and turning to Christ and Christ alone in trust and submission?
  • Where in your life do you need to experience God’s sufficient and strengthening grace?
  • How have you brought this before God in continual prayer? What direction has God given you out of that praying?
  • Are you willing for God to glorify himself not by removing your “thorn in the flesh” from you, but remaining with you as you deal with it by his enabling grace?
  • How will you daily appropriate the sufficiency of God’s grace?

other sermons in this series

Jun 26

2016

Grace that Restores

Pastor: Jeff Bedwell Scripture: Mark 14:27– :72 Series: Amazing Grace

Jun 19

2016

Growing in Grace

Pastor: Jeff Bedwell Scripture: Philippians 2:12–13 Series: Amazing Grace

Jun 12

2016

Offering Grace to Others

Pastor: Jeff Bedwell Scripture: Ephesians 4:32 Series: Amazing Grace