[Steve Myers] Well, good to be back for another opportunity to study 2 Corinthians. We had left off last time in Chapter 10, kind of in the middle of the chapter where Paul has defended his apostleship, criticized those false teachers and those in Corinth who had really put him down, who had only seen him from a physical perspective. And, of course, he had just gotten done telling them, "If I have to come in boldness, I will come, and we will correct things." And so that criticism of being bold in his letters but weak in his appearance was one that they were going to find wasn't very proper. And so as Paul talks about this, he is defending his apostleship and giving them reasons to recognize why his ministry is valid. So if you take a look at 2 Corinthians 10.

2 Corinthians 10:13 Paul says, "We, however, will not boast beyond measure but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us, a sphere which especially includes you."

This idea of a sphere is really talking about his jurisdiction or the area that God has given him to serve. I mean, Corinth was one of those. Paul spent a year and a half there. So you could say this was part of Paul's domain. This is part of his church circuit, we might call it today. This is part of where he has influence. And so God's given him this. And so, "All right, I can talk about some of these things with you. You're part of the people that I've served," is what he's getting at.

2 Corinthians 10:14 And so he says, "We are not overextending ourselves as though our authority did not extend to you, for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ."

I mean, without Paul, there might not have been a church in Corinth. God used him to call those in Corinth.

2 Corinthians 10:15 He said, "I'm not boasting of things beyond measure, that is in other men's labors, but having hope that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere."

So this almost ties back to some of the other things that he had mentioned previously. He talked about his heart is enlarged. He had an open wide heart to them. He loved them. He cared for them. Some of them were not returning that same enthusiasm for honoring him and having that same affection for Paul. And so he's saying, "Well, as you're growing in faith, hopefully, you'll come to see that. Hopefully, you'll appreciate those who have served you, those who God has used as instruments to call you." And so he's saying that very thing. And so you're part of the area that God's given me to serve. And hopefully, you'll come to that understanding.

2 Corinthians 10:16-17 He says, "Also then," verse 16, "to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you," God had called Paul to do that, "and not to boast in another man's fear of accomplishment, but he who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

And so he draws that principle, this is from Jeremiah. Jeremiah 9:24 is a quotation. If you've got the italicized words right there, it's just telling you that's a quotation from another section of Scripture, so this is from Jeremiah, "And let him who glories, glory in the Lord." Jeremiah says it a little bit differently. It talks about knowing and understanding the true God. Yeah, that's what we honor. And so we recognize that ultimately God used Paul to call the Corinthians to help bring them to conversion. And so Paul is not really boasting in himself in a prideful kind of a way. Here Paul is really expressing it in a humble kind of a way that God was doing the work through him.

2 Corinthians 10:18 He says, "For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends."

So God is, in a sense, commending Paul. So what does that say about those other false teachers? Oh, remember they came with commendation letters and the whole thing. They were commending... So this is kind of a dig at those false teachers as well. So he's showing God's called me. God's commending me. God sent me to you. God gets all the credit for that, lets glory in God. That's where all the credit is due. But recognize at the same time these people have led you astray, they're just approving themselves. God's not giving them the stamp of approval. And so Paul gets right to the heart of things then as he then does actually boast a little bit. He begins to talk about, okay, you want to talk about accomplishments? You want to talk about the resume of a true teacher, of a true follower of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ? You want to talk about what that resume might look like?

He says, "Okay, let's do that," which kind of goes back to that idea, okay, I'm not going to boast beyond measure, but let's talk about it. You want to bring this topic up? All right, let's address it for a moment. And so notice what he does as he gets into Chapter 11.

2 Corinthians 11:1 He says, "Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me."

All right, so let's have a little fun with this. Now, this is written in a little bit of a...well, actually it's pretty caustic. It's going to get pretty facetious as he goes on here, a little sarcastic. Let's notice what he says.

2 Corinthians 11:2 First, he begins by saying, "I'm jealous for you with godly jealousy."

So this word for jealous could also be translated, zealous, that he has a zeal for them, this idea that he is enthusiastic. The idea of being zealous has to literally do with boiling, that he's heated up, he's excited about this in a good sense. That's the zealous word, a good desire. And I think that's the kind of jealousy he's talking about because he compares that to a godly jealousy. So Paul's talking about not just a physical perspective, but he's talking about really a divine perspective, divine jealousy, you might say. So he wants the best for them, like God wants the best for us as well. So he's pursuing that. And so in his zealousness, he was teaching them.

 He says, "I've betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

So he brings home the point of, which he had talked to them about in the past when he was there, that the Church will marry Christ. And so Paul was kind of the agent of this. You could say, he's kind of the matchmaker, I suppose, in that regard, that I've betrothed you to Christ. You know, kind of almost like a father figure would present his daughter to her husband. That's kind of the image that he's painting here, that God was the instrument that...or Paul was the instrument God used to do just that.

And so this idea of being betrothed, you're promised in marriage to Christ, your one husband. That's the important part. That's the ultimate plan pointing to ultimately the time of the kingdom of God. And so he says, "Keep that in mind, that's why I'm so zealous for you. Because I want to see that come about. I want to see you in the kingdom," is a different way of expressing that same idea here. And so Paul reminds him, I'm kind of like your father in the faith. I'm the one that God used to bring the gospel, the one that helped you come to conversion. Yeah, kind of like that. But then he says in verse 3.

2 Corinthians 11:3 "I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

And so they've been corrupted, right? They've been betrothed to Christ, right? Kind of bringing back all of those images that Christ used about the wedding and the wedding supper and the whole thing to this point. Now, somehow they've got off track that Satan has deceived them, has fooled them just in the way that he fooled Eve. And that's kind of an interesting comparison that he uses here, that Satan has his schemes. He has his devices. He has his means of undermining our thinking. And so he compares this that, all right, you're being fooled by this. Christ is straightforward. His way is plain, but you're being subverted in other words. Verse 4, who's subverting them? Well, these false teachers are tools in a sense in Satan's hands.

2 Corinthians 11:4 It says, "If he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it."

You Corinthians, you're being fooled by this. You're being fooled by this. Some are talking about a different kind of Christ. Some are coming from a different spirit. Of course, if it's not the Spirit of God, what spirit would it be? Yeah, a satanic spirit, a demonic spirit. They have a different gospel. It's not the true Word of God. You know, they're listening to it. They're putting up with it. Almost reminds you of what Paul wrote to the Galatians. If you hold your place here, turn over to the very beginning of the book of Galatians. He says a similar thing to them, that they had been undermined by a wrong gospel. Notice what he writes to them in Galatians 1:6.

Galatians 1:6-9 He says, "I marvel you're turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel." They weren't teaching the true plan of God, not the true will of God. He says, "It's not even another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ."

So similarly, those in Corinth were being perverted. There was a wrong teaching. And he says here to the Galatians, verse 8, "If we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we've preached to you, let him be accursed." So here Paul pronounces a curse on them, and he says it again, verse 9. "Now, again, I say, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you've received, let him be accursed."

Sounds pretty similar to what he says to the Corinthians. Anyone preaches another Jesus, a different gospel? There is no other gospel. There are only one true gospel, only one true plan of God. Don't put up with that. You can't put up with it. There isn't any other. There's not another Jesus. There's not another gospel. There's not a different means of our calling. And so he says, "Don't put up with that." Or maybe by contrast, he's saying, "Some of you have put up with that." So let's talk about those that would bring a different gospel. Those that are preaching, those false teachers, that's what exactly they're doing. But Paul says in verse 5 then...go back to 2 Corinthians 11.

2 Corinthians 11:5 He says, "I consider I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles." Yeah, some of the Corinthians were putting Paul down. We read about that earlier. Comparing them to these false teachers who were probably quite the presenters, quite the orators, he says, "I'm not any less than the most eminent apostles." If you translated that into modern English, you'd probably say something like Paul saying, "I'm not any less than those super-apostles, those most super-extra-duty apostles that you think are such great teachers." Now, he's not referring to the real apostles. He's talking about those fake ones that they were listening to. He says, "I'm not any less than those super men that you consider to be apostles," right? And so he begins to point out why.

2 Corinthians 11:6 He says, "Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge." Okay, they might be great speakers, big deal. They're telling you falsehoods. They're not bringing you the true gospel. They're not teaching you the true Savior. They've got it all wrong. He says, "We've been thoroughly manifested among you in all things."

Oh, they could put on a good show for a while, but I lived with you for a year and a half. It's obvious who I am.

2 Corinthians 11:7 He says, "Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?"

Yeah, interesting. Yeah, Paul didn't take tithes and offerings from them. And he points out the fact he did it in order to preach the gospel. So that wouldn't be some kind of stumbling block to them.

2 Corinthians 11:8-9 He says, "I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you."  Well, who is that referring to? Well, he tells them. He says, "When I was present with you in a need, I was a burden to no one. For what I lacked, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied." Probably Philippi even more specifically. Yeah, they helped, they served, they brought him what he needed so that he didn't take the tithes from Corinth. He says, "In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself."

I didn't want that to be a hindrance to your faith, to be a stumbling block to you, as though I was just there to collect your money. Of course, the implication is, yeah, some of those false teachers were doing just that. So he points out the difference from his perspective. And so in a way, what he's doing here is he's answering their wrong perspective. And so he says, verse 10.

2 Corinthians 11:10 "As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia."

So in this area, in this sphere, in my jurisdiction, in Achaia, that's where Corinth was, I can do this. You really do know me.

2 Corinthians 11:11-12 He says, "Why do I do this," verse 11, "because I don't love you?" Well, that's the wrong way of thinking. “God knows, of course I do.” He says, "But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast."

You know, so these false teachers, you know, they were bragging about themselves, how great they were, how wonderful they were, all their great accomplishments, all their commendation letters. But Paul says, "I'm going to cut that off. I'm going to talk about these things because I'm not going to give them an opportunity to subvert your faith. I'm not going to give them an opportunity to allow the devil to get his foot in the door." That's what he's telling them. "No, I'm not going to do that. The devil has deceived you like he deceived Eve." And, of course, he looked good, sounded good, seemed right. Well, these false teachers are doing the same thing. And so he just lays it straight out.

2 Corinthians 11:13 He says, verse 13, "For such are false apostles, they are deceitful workers." So their ministry is based on falsehood, on lies. They're deceitful. They're fooling you. And it says, "They're transforming themselves into apostles of Christ." That's an interesting word, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. Well, by what means are they doing that?

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 He says, "No wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

So bringing us back to the time of Eve. So bringing us back to the time of Eve. Yeah, there were curses pronounced upon Satan that ultimately he's going to get what he deserves. There's no doubt of... These false teachers, they are ministers of Satan. So Paul lays it on the line. That's who they're working for.

And they've transformed themselves into ministers of light like Satan tries to transform himself into an angel of light. Now, that's not a literal thing. Satan can't possibly be an angel of light. I mean, he was at one time, he was Lucifer. He was this bright shining light. But he gave all that up, and he turned against God. And so now what does he do? He transforms himself, not literally an angel or a messenger of light, no, he looks like it. This transformational word that's used here, transforming themselves, that he appears that way. But it's smoke and mirrors. In a way, what he's doing is he's masquerading as an angel of light. He puts on the disguise. So he disguises himself as an angel. That's what he did with Eve. And so he's told us before, don't get fooled by Satan's devices. Remember, that's all the way back in 2 Corinthians 2. He said, "Hey, we know, we should know these things. This is what Satan does. It's all an illusion. It's not reality. Oh, it seems right. It looks right. It appears to be right. But the reality is that is just all a lie."

And, ultimately, he and his false ministers will stand before Jesus Christ, and their end will be according to the things that they've done. And so he's exposing the whole thing. He's exposing Satan and his apostles as, yeah, they're ministers of Satan. They are not ministers of Jesus Christ. He doesn't pull any punches, does he? He just gets right down to it. That's what it's all about. And so they're putting on this masquerade as though they're righteous when really they're just the opposite. So then he goes on, verse 16.

2 Corinthians 11:16 He says, "I say, again, let no one think me a fool, if otherwise at least receive me as a fool, that I may also boast a little while."

What's he saying? Yeah, these false ministers, these ministers of Satan, you've been listening to fools. You're foolish, listening to these kinds of individuals. And so let me give you some qualifications here. In a way, what he's doing, he's answering them. Of course, we saw some of the criticisms, some of the accusations that were made against Paul. Oh, he's weak. You know, he really is not a very good speaker. He's kind of weird-looking. Yeah, all those kinds of things in his appearance. Yeah, he's not very strong. He's not the Adonis. He's not like these other guys who seem to be super-apostles. Yeah, he's not like, okay, they leveled all these accusations against him, the worst being that he wasn't truthful with them. And so Paul is probably applying Proverbs 26, where it says, "You answer a fool according to his folly." Remember Proverbs 26:5, I think it is. It says, "Answer a fool..." And so Paul is going to do that. All right, you want to be foolish? Let me tell you. Let's talk about that for a moment. And so don't think of me as a fool, but I'll answer you because I think you're foolish.

2 Corinthians 11:17 He says, "What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting."

So he's going to use this to make a point with them. All right, let's talk about these things.

2 Corinthians 11:18 He says, "Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast."

Yeah, that's what these supposedly super-apostles were doing. All right, let's talk about this.

2 Corinthians 11:19 It says, "For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise."

A little bit of sarcasm there. I think as we go through these verses, we probably, will read some of the most scathing sarcasm that Paul ever wrote. I mean, he's just laying it out here that you've been listening to fools, you are fools. You think you're so smart. You think you're so spiritually wise.

2 Corinthians 11:20 Says, "You put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face."

Wow, that's pretty amazing. Some of this is those things that the false teachers were doing, want to bring you back into bondage. You don't see the truth in the spiritual application of God's law. They want to enslave you.

They want to bring you into bondage. They're preying on you, that idea of devouring you, probably, this idea of the false teachers expecting financial support. Probably that's part of the devouring that they're talking about. If they take them, what are they doing? They're taking advantage of them. They're taking advantage of them. So they're taking you. And then, of course, this idea of their presumptuousness of how they are so arrogant, and they're putting it on there. They're lording it over them, this idea of exalting themselves. That's certainly what those false teachers were doing. And then you're going to put up with it when they slap you on the face, they strike you. Yeah, and that would certainly be just a sign of disrespect that, okay, you think they're so great, but they're just slapping you around and you're taking it. And so Paul tells them straight out.

2 Corinthians 11:21 "To our shame, I say that we were too weak for that, but in whatever anyone is bold, I speak foolishly, I'm bold also."

Little sarcasm there really is what he's getting at. He's saying, "Oh, I guess I was just too weak to abuse you as Christians, like these false apostles have done." So he's kind of turning things all around. Oh, if that's what you like, you like putting up with all that disrespect, well, I guess I was too weak to be able to do that, to abuse you. So Paul uses that sarcasm to try to really make a point. And so he gets into these different aspects of this answering a fool according to his folly. And so he begins.

2 Corinthians 11:22-23 By saying, "Are they Hebrews?" He says, "So am I." He says, "Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I." So they got nothing on me in that way. Verse 23, he says, "Are they ministers of Christ?" Okay, now, I'm talking as a fool. Obviously, they're not. They claim to be these super-abundant apostles, but they're not. He says, "Yeah, are they ministers? No, I'm speaking as a fool. I am more."

All right, you want to get into the qualifications of a true servant of Jesus Christ? Let's talk about it a little bit. Let's get into this. And that's where Paul goes. Why would he do this? Why would he begin to get into this account, which really ends up to be, well, actually, a lot of difficulties that he endured, a lot of the challenges that he went through? Well, he begins to give an account of this to really show how he is a servant of Jesus Christ, how he does serve God. And, ultimately, it's to bring honor and glory to God because God helped him through all of these things that he's going to list here.

And we'll see that's really the point of what he's trying to make, that through all of these experiences, it proves that he's a servant of God, and that ultimately, God gets all the credit for enabling him to endure all of these difficulties. And so he begins by saying, "In labors more abundant." In other words, I worked harder than all of the others, than all of the others. Yeah, these false apostles, for sure, no doubt about that. But even if we went back to 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 15, he talked about that as well, that he labored more abundantly even than the other true apostles. Now, these false apostles, they saw service...the only reason they were serving, then they could benefit from it, right? They thought, "Well, if I serve, then I'll be more prominent. I'll get all the glory. In fact, I'll have less work to do. I can make everybody else do the work and they can serve me."

Yeah, that was these false teachers' perspective. But Paul says, "I worked harder. I worked harder than all of them." He says, "In stripes above measure." And as you go through the book of Acts, you're going to study those things, that the Jews beat Paul. He was beaten by the Romans as well. You can count at least five times where he was beaten. He mentions it here, verse 24.

2 Corinthians 11:24 "Jews, 5 times I received 40 stripes minus 1."

That kind of goes back to Deuteronomy 25, where God gave them directions. If someone was to be beaten, they couldn't give them 40 stripes, so they'd give them 39. And so Paul makes that point that he received that kind of beating five times. Five times he did that. The Romans would use rods made of wood, and they would beat an individual, usually all over, not just beat them on the back or anything, they'd beat them all over their body.

In fact, you could read in some of the Roman historical accounts that sometimes they would tie a victim up, tie him upside down, and beat them on the bottom of their feet, and beat them so hard that it would break the bones in their feet. And so just a sadistic kind of punishment that the Romans put on, perhaps Paul was beaten in that way. It doesn't get into some of the specifics here. But certainly stripes above measure. Going back to verse 23.

2 Corinthians 11:23 He says, "In prisons more frequently." And going through the account of Paul, we know that there's at least three times that he was in prison and we don't even have all the record of all the times he was probably in prison. Yeah, he was arrested when he went to Philippi after he cast out a demon from this girl and he got into trouble with the people there.

He certainly went back to Jerusalem, and he was at the temple, and the Romans came, and he was taken into custody. He was shipped off, writes to Timothy late in life after being released, and then back in prison again, but not under house arrest, but in a jail cell at that time. So there are a number of accounts that we could go to to show, yeah, he was certainly in prison multiple times. He also then says in verse 23, "In deaths often," pointing to the fact there were many times that his life was threatened, that he could have been killed, he could have died. Yeah, and it happened, he says, "Often." So you could say he was close to death many times as he preached and as he taught. And so we look at that, especially when you look at some of the journeys that you'll study as you get to the later chapters in the book of Acts. All right, we talked a little bit about verse 24 already.

2 Corinthians 11:24-25 He says, "From the Jews, 5 times I received 40 stripes minus 1." Then he says, "Three times, I was beaten with rods." Yeah, that's those wooden rods that the Romans used. He says, "Once I was stoned." So this ties in with the deaths. Can you imagine? They took him outside the city and stoned him. They left him for dead. Perhaps he was dead. Was it possible that he was resurrected back to physical life? Possibly. It could be the case that, yeah, you can read about that in Acts 16. And so, yeah, he was stoned even. He says, "Three times I was shipwrecked." And so he says, "A night and a day I've been in the deep." He says, "In journeys often, in perils."

Acts 18 recounts some of the experiences he had in the shipwreck, at least one of them that he experienced, but happened multiple times. He says, verse 6...not verse 6, but he says in verse 26.

2 Corinthians 11:26 "In journeys often, in perils of waters, perils of robbers, perils in my own country." So here you've got all of the dangers that he went through, whether it was going in ships, traveling by sea. Yeah, there was all kinds of difficulties. He says, "In the cities," go through the book of Acts, and you'll see all the hostile mobs that he faced and the difficulties in the different cities where he preached, where there would be Jews that would stir up the people against Paul and Barnabas. And he, basically, was thrown out of some of their areas. There were those gentiles, that came against the Apostle Paul as well. And so those stories are recounted in the book of Acts as well.

He talks about perils in his own country. "Perils," it says, "of robbers," as well. Yeah, those that would come and steal from him. And as you look at all these various things, he says, "Perils of the gentiles, and perils of the city, perils of the wilderness, in the sea and false brethren." Yeah, even those who betrayed the Apostle Paul, which kind of leads us back to these false apostles that the Corinthians were listening to. So all of these things were some of the difficulties he went through as he preached the truth.

2 Corinthians 11:27 He says, "In weariness and toil, in sleeplessness, often."

So Paul went through all of these things. And if you were a Corinthian reading this letter, taking a look at all of these difficulties that Paul went through, what had to come to your mind? Well, what about these other guys? What had they gone through? Were they weary? Had they labored at all? Were they fasting? Were they going through any of these kinds of things? And with the weariness that would have come from the journeys that Paul was on, with the traveling that he did, with even just the exposure that he would have had, this would have been so difficult. And so Paul talks about that.

He says, "In hunger," verse 27, "and thirst, in fastings, often, in cold and nakedness."

And so he's written about some of these things with not a lot of detail, but he talked about being hungry and thirsty and being poorly clothed. He talked about that earlier in his first letter maybe Chapter 3 or 4, he talked about that very thing. Earlier in Chapter 6, he talked about perils and difficulties and stripes and imprisonments and nakedness. He already talked about some of that a little bit earlier here in 2 Corinthians as well. Now, in verse 28.

2 Corinthians 11:28 He says, "Beside the other things, what comes upon me daily? My deep concern for all the churches."

So Paul's perspective in all of this was God's people. God's people were his focus. That's where he really placed the emphasis. That's what was most important. And so this deep concern for the churches.

And so every day, of course, think about all these things he went through, do you think there were difficulties that he had to face from going through all these things every day? I mean, what kind of shape would his body have been in after being beaten, and after being, you know, shipwrecked all these times, after being stoned and left for dead? What kind of physical shape would he have been in? I mean, you could see that when they criticize his bodily presence, well, no wonder. I mean, the things that he went through are just amazing. And so, yeah, when you think about that.

2 Corinthians 11:29 No wonder he says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak." Yeah, Paul could identify with that. "Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation."

Yeah, when these false teachers cause people to go down the wrong path, yeah, he's not happy with that. Not happy with that.

2 Corinthians 11:30 He says, "If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmary."

The infirmary, the weaknesses. So here he's just gotten done doing that, hasn't he? He's saying, "You want to talk about being a true minister of Christ, look what I've gone through to serve God. I'll boast in my weaknesses, my infirmaries."

2 Corinthians 11:31 He says, "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is blessed forever knows that I am not lying."

So in the midst of all these persecutions, is Paul concerned about himself? He's not. He's more concerned about the Church. "My concern is the Church. That's my real focus, my deep concern for the Church." He sympathizes with them. He understands them. And so I think as you look at this list, I mean, it is just phenomenal to see the things that he endured. And so we may have to go through different sufferings. We may have to go through trials, disappointments in life. But what should our perspective be? I mean, when you look at the Apostle Paul, none of us have had to go through the things that he went through, and he still remained a loyal follower of Jesus Christ, no matter what. What an example to follow.

Can we continue to glorify God when we go through difficulties, when we go through the challenges of life, when we may go through difficult health situations, when we suffer, can we look to God and recognize He's right there with us, and we then could have that perspective, that we could continue no matter what's happening in our life to glorify God, to honor Him. And what else did Paul do? Not only did he honor God and continue to serve Him, he continued to serve God's people. And so he didn't allow his sufferings and trials and the difficulties to short-circuit his service to God, and his responsibility to serve the brethren as well. And so for us, I think it should be our perspective. We should strive to have that perspective that, okay, if we're persecuted, let's serve God. If we're disappointed with the circumstances in life, can we still honor God? Can we still bring Him, honor and respect and glorify Him, for the things that He has done in our life? Can we continue to do that no matter what the circumstances maybe?

What a great example we have in the Apostle Paul. He showed us how that is possible, that despite the circumstances we may face, we could put God first, and we can continue to serve Him and serve His people.

2 Corinthians 11:30-33 He goes on, he says, "If I'm going to boast, I'm going to boast about these weaknesses, those infirmities." He says, "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is blessed forever knows I'm not lying." He tells of a situation here, "In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me." Talk about one of the times he could have been thrown in prison here. Here's one of the situations. He says, "But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands."

It's kind of interesting that he tells us one story, just one, after going through all these other things, which he probably could tell multiple stories about each one of those circumstances about the shipwrecks, or he could tell stories about the times he was beaten with rods, or the times he took all those stripes, or all of the perils that would have been in the country.

You remember hearing any stories about when he was robbed? I don't remember any accounts of that. I mean, he tells us here it was, but, boy, he probably could have told us some stories about what happened on all those various journeys. Maybe it happened on every one of them, but he doesn't tell us those things. And yet at the end, he tells us this one story, which is interesting, where he shows God's intervention, even in this, which seems kind of be a little bit more of a simple example, that, okay, they were going to arrest me. And what happened? They let me down through a basket, and I escaped. Here's just one example of God's presence, that even in a situation that may not have been as life-threatening as some of these other things, did God care and help him and guide him and lead him? Absolutely, no doubt about it.

And so Paul uses these things to really show that God was with him in all of these circumstances. And so how important is that as he tries to show these Corinthians who still hadn't repented, who still were honoring and listening to these false apostles and putting up with their lies? He's trying to show them that ultimately God gets the credit for all of these things. And that is some of the indication that he is a true apostle of Jesus Christ. He is a minister that speaks the truth. None of the others could possibly match this kind of resume. And so the Corinthians should have recognized that very thing. And so he boasts according to the flesh, he answers a fool according to their folly, so that, hopefully, they'll recognize this and change. That's what he prays, and he hopes for them. All right. Well, we'll leave it at that at the end of Chapter 11. And we'll look forward to picking up next time with 2 Corinthians 12.