Mike Domeny, actor, author, and founder of Outloud Bible (outloudbible.com), reads the Bible out loud in a conversational and approachable way so you can read the Bible like it makes a difference! This isn't simply an audiobook version of the Bible! Every episode offers helpful context so you won't get lost, and a brief takeaway to help apply that reading to your life.
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We finish 2 Corinthians by listening to Paul’s raw honesty about visions, weakness, and the thorn he begged God to remove. I sit with the uncomfortable comfort of “My grace is enough for you” and ask what it means to be content when God gives strength instead of relief.
• Paul’s unusual boasting through weakness so Jesus gets the credit • The thorn in the flesh and God’s answer to repeated prayer • “My power is made perfect in weakness” as a lens for trials and suffering • Paul’s push for integrity, repentance, and order in the church • “Put yourselves to the test” and what honest self-examination looks like • Authority used for building up rather than tearing down • A practical pause for anyone feeling tired, burdened, or worn thin • A look ahead to the 500th episode celebration
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Wrapping Up Second Corinthians
Visions And The Thorn
Paul’s Warning And Self-Test
My Grace Is Enough
Finding Strength When You’re Tired
What’s Next And How To Join
SPEAKER_00
Hey, this is Mike and the Out Loud Bible Podcast. Thanks for joining me here today. I'm excited. Today we get to wrap up 2 Corinthians. Just two more chapters to go. It's uh been a really fascinating
visit into this letter. Uh, I hope you've enjoyed it as well. It's a really unique tone. We don't see this from Paul very much because it is so personal. Uh, even more personal than the first letter. The first letter is a lot of like, okay, well, here's this and this, and here's my advice about this, here's what you got to do here. And this one is way more from the heart, and we see some tenderness from Paul. We also see him going off the rails a little bit, frankly. Well, just in his comfort with these people that he knows and they know him, he just leans into this kind of crazy, and he even admits, like, this is foolish. Like, I let just let me be crazy. You listen to crazy people all the time coming in and through your church. Why don't you listen to me be crazy for a minute? And he just goes off boasting about the failures and the difficulties and the weaknesses that he's experienced. Because look, if he's gonna boast, he says, I'm gonna boast about things that show my weakness so that Jesus can be the common thread to uh here, that that if anything good comes of anything I've done, it's not because clearly anything I've done, it's because of Jesus working through me. That is what he's in the middle of, and he's not done. We're gonna pick it right back up here in chapter 12 as he lands this plane, and we'll go into chapter 13 where he sends some final personal greetings. And uh, and then that will be 2 Corinthians. All right, let's get into it. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and 13 in the New English Translation. Okay, it's it's necessary to go on boasting, though it's not profitable. I will go on to visions
and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know, God knows, was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I don't know, God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words. Things that a person is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such an individual, I'll boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast except about my weaknesses. For even if I wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I'd be telling the truth. But I'll refrain from this so that no one may regard me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me, even because of the extraordinary character of the revelations. And therefore, so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in my flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me, so that I wouldn't become arrogant. And I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me, but he said to me, My grace is enough for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. So then I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. And therefore I'm content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I'm weak, then I'm strong. I become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you, for I lack nothing in comparison to those super apostles, even though I'm nothing. Indeed, the signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance by signs and wonders and powerful deeds. For how were you treated worse than the other churches? Except that I myself was not a burden to you. Oh well, forgive me this injustice. Look, for the third time I'm ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you, because I don't want your possessions, but you. For children shouldn't have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. Now I will most gladly spend and be spent for your lives. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit. I've not taken advantage of you through anyone I've sent to you, have I? I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother along with him. Titus didn't take advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit? Did we not behave in the same way? Have you been thinking all this time that we've been defending ourselves to you? We're speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. For I'm afraid that somehow when I come I will not find you what I wish, and you will find me not what you wish. I'm afraid that somehow there may be quarreling and jealousy, intense anger, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. I'm afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I will grieve for many of those who have previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced. This is my third time I'm coming to visit you. By the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter will be established. I said this before when I was present the
second time, and now, though absent, I say again to those who sinned previously, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare anyone. Since you're demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me, he's not weak toward you, but is powerful among you. For indeed he was crucified by reason of weakness, but he lives because of God's power, for we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him because of God's power toward you. Put yourselves to the test to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test? And I hope you realize that we've not failed the test. Now we pray to God so that you may not do anything wrong, not so that we may appear to have passed the test, but that's so that you may do what's right even if we may appear to have failed the test. For we can't do anything against the truth, but only for the sake of the truth. For we rejoice whenever we're weak, but you're strong. And we pray for this, that you may become fully qualified. Because of this, I'm writing these things while absent so that when I arrive, I may not have to deal harshly with you by using my authority. The Lord gave it to me for building up, not for tearing down. And finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Rejoice. Set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. It's here in the middle of Paul's crazy man ramblings that we find a key to why we may suffer and why Jesus
may not answer the prayers of relief that we so often pray. Not saying this is going to be the answer for everything, but it's certainly in Paul's case, and so it sets a precedent for what might be going on behind the scenes of our own trials. That God's grace is enough for you. Chapter 12, verse 9. My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. That is a crazy thing to say, by the way, coming from the God of the universe. His power is made perfect in weakness. He takes the weak, pathetic things of this world, makes them perfect, makes them good, makes them beautiful, makes them whole, things that were impossibly broken, things that were puny and weak, when they are shown to be strong, wise, healthy, alive, then he gets all the credit for it. It's no miracle for you to be strong and then do something amazing. Good for you. It's no miracle for you to be smart and come up with some solution or plan that works. Congratulations. What is a miracle that brings God glory is doing great and mighty, amazing things in a grand masterpiece of a plan, using things and people that are weak and stupid. His power is made perfect in weakness. So then we can be, did you see the word there in verse 10, chapter 12? Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions, with difficulties for the sake of Christ. I'm content? Those are the situations where it is very difficult and not natural to feel content. Yeah, we can be content when we feel weak, when we're insulted, when we're in the midst of troubles, when we're being persecuted, when we're experiencing difficulties. Our contentment comes not from the circumstances, obviously, and not even from our own confidence and our ability to overcome them, hopefully, but we're content with them. Because whenever we're weak, then we're strong. That's where we find strength. And anything good that comes from that strength can only go back to build the reputation of God, and not you or me. Are you feeling weak today? Oh man. I'll tell you what, I am so tired. This past month has been a very tiring month due to
Kelsey's uh health issues with her back, and um a great privilege, but a a a great uh energy expense uh in teaching at a at my local church the past uh few weeks, and uh just other things, other things going on, uh many wonderful things to thank God for, and many challenges that are also worthy of giving thanks for, but it it is a little bit harder. And I'm sure what I have been feeling like is small beans compared to what you may be going through and what I know others have been going through. Uh, and so we find ourselves weak. But in these times, can we just pause, stop long enough to recognize that in our weakness is exactly where God wants to meet us so that he can give us his strength. God wants to give you his strength if you pause and let him so that you can emerge on the other side of whatever is going on and say, Wow, I only made it because of Jesus. That's a good testimony right there. I'm only here on the other side of whatever that was because of Jesus. That's what he's interested in doing. That's why he may not take away the trial. He may just give you the strength to go through it. Is that enough? Are you content with that? Something to consider. That's the thinking out loud thought for the day. Hope you enjoyed this read-through of 2 Corinthians. I think I gotta go back and read it again in my own time and go pick up some more things that I may have missed. But on the podcast, we'll move on.
In fact, here's something to look forward to. Next week actually contains the 500th episode of Out Loud Bible Podcast. Very excited about that and uh excited. We're gonna take a little bit of a pause from our normal going through Paul's letters here in the New Testament to uh celebrate 500 episodes of the podcast. So I'll see you then. We'll talk more about that next time. It'll be I think it'll be fun. And uh, appreciate you for being with me on this journey through the podcast and going through the Bible together out loud. Thanks so much. Go check out outloudbible.com. Go to the resources page, make sure you're up to date on the resources that you have uh to help you get into the Bible and study the Bible. There's a I I keep putting more and more things up there, and I would love for you to be able to uh to find something that helps you love the Bible even more, whether it's a book or a download or uh other resources. Please go check it out. Outloudbible.com. Check out the resources. And uh and if you find any value in this and you're in a place where you'd be willing and able, I would love to invite you to support the ministry of Outlawed Bible as well. Uh and you can go to the support page, the giving page there on the ministry website, and uh, and just uh so thankful for you as a partner in this ministry as we move forward as well. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next time on the Outlaud Bible podcast.
