WEBVTT - No Shortage! (The Power Of Therefore) 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.639 Well, we're gonna get to the message in just a moment, 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.880 but I wanted to make sure you knew about Elevation Nights. 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:11.280 It's gonna be amazing eight cities October twenty sixth through 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.080 November fourth. You gotta go to Elevation Nights dot com 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.360 to see if we're coming to a city near you. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:21.320 It's gonna be me Elevation Worship, a few friends and you. 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:22.680 I want to see you there. I want to see 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.959 you and everybody that you know there. Go to Elevation 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.639 Nights dot com. I can't wait to see you soon. 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.600 Here's the message. Right now, all over the world, people 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.600 are joining in with this ministry. We want to welcome 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:40.080 our epam, our extended family all over the world. Right now, 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.120 we're flaking the doors open, man, the digital doors come 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.880 on in the the church is open. The spirit is here, 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:56.800 So God bless you. Just turn to the person next 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.720 to you and say, if Pastor Stephen knew you would 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:03.240 be a Sabor Church member, just tell them that, and 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:14.800 I believe that. Woo who Now, some of us are 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:19.520 glad to be here. We have learned that there is 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:28.840 bread in the House of the Lord. I'm gonna do 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:31.640 I'm going to do a no, no, I'm going to 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.240 use the same scripture I used last week. Sit down, 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:39.440 y'all leave, let's study. I came home last week and 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.640 I told Holly, I don't know how good that went. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.839 She said it was amazing, and I was frustrated. I said, 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.240 I don't think I did it the way that I 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.880 was supposed to she and Holly said, maybe you didn't fail. 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:57.920 Maybe you just weren't finished turning your Bible to Second Corinthians, 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.000 cause you'll believe she back talks me like that. The 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.640 Bible says, submit to your husband. Not supposed to be 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:15.480 quoting scriptures at the man of God. I'm kidding, but 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:22.360 this good Second Corinthians, chapter twelve. And I want to 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.680 talk a little more about your thorn that was the 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:30.840 subject last week. So this might be uncomfortable. You won't 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.800 tell about your thorn for a moment or two, but 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.400 I want to read this context. And I just want 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.120 to remind you that usually when God speaks, he speaks 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.840 in sentences and paragraphs, and you know, like a lot 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:46.799 of times, what we'll take is we'll take a single 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.079 sentence from the Word of God. And that's cool. It's 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.760 better than nothing. But to really get the full impact 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.040 of what God speaks, it's better if you understand the 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.600 context of when he spoke it. And I don't know 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.400 if we sometimes read scripture versus Bible versus like their 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:06.520 captions on Instagram or something like that, they're not. This 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:08.919 was a letter Paul wrote to a church that he 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:13.600 loved that he was incredibly frustrated with. Oh, you can 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:17.920 definitely feel that way about one person, one church you 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.680 can really love and be really frustrated with. And I 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:22.239 made the case one time in this Pope that a 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.880 lot of people disagree. You can't really be truly good 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.280 and frustrated with somebody that you don't really truly love. 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.520 You'll feel the most intense feelings of I want to 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.120 kill you if you are a parent, the person that 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:41.600 came from your very body. And it goes the other 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.680 way too with kids and parents. But this is the 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.920 lesson that Paul is giving. And if I had outlined 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.200 the message last week the way I should have, where 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.200 you could take notes and all of that, I would 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:57.760 have used three points. A mentor, a metaphor, and a 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:04.040 therefore intour a metaphor, and that therefore and I forgot 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.880 to tell you that last week because I was so 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.600 busy preaching about Paul as a mentor to the church, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.360 not an advice column. That's not a broke cousin who 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:14.240 tells you where you need to invest your money and 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.120 what kind of digital currency you need to invest in. 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.000 But he's not one of these advice given fools. He's 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.560 got real authority. What surprised us about Paul, though, was that, 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:28.880 with such great apostolic authority and such intellectual brilliantess, instead 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:35.800 of taking the opportunity to exceed his authority, he opened 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:41.039 himself up with personal vulnerability. And what was amazing about 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.480 it was, and I'm going to read it to you 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:46.080 in just a moment in case you missed it, his 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:54.159 vulnerability did not compromise his authority. His being real about 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.440 what he struggled with didn't keep him from being powerful 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.240 and being called. And it doesn't for you either. And 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:03.839 you don't have to fake it. You have to go 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.800 through life pretending because the people that you pretend to 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:08.960 be somebody that you're not to in order to get 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:10.280 them to like you, they don't really like you. When 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:11.920 they like you, they like the you that you showed them. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.240 That you concoct it just to get their approval, So 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.560 it's worthless anyway. And if you got it, you got it. 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.640 And if you know, you know, And if God is 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:21.359 with you, God is with you. And nobody can do 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:25.400 anything to change it, not even the devil, not even 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:30.279 the devil. Oh, I feel a no weapon formed against 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:37.599 me shall prosper rising up in my spirit. But in 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:43.760 tewod Corinthians twelve, Paul says, in verse six, even if 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.480 I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.320 because I would be speaking the truth. So Paul's the 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.719 opposite of most of us. He has everything to brag about, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.760 but he doesn't a lot of us have nothing to 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:03.200 boast about, but plenty to about. Y'all ought to say amen, 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.760 let the church say ours. He said, I'm not even 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.039 going to tell you about my trip to heaven. I 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.360 went to the third Heaven. But don't worry about that, 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.800 because what I want to actually tell you about, And 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.719 he uses a metaphor. He says, because of these surpassingly 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:26.400 great revelations, Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:31.400 I was given a thorn. That's the metaphor. He says 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:36.200 it was a thorn. Why scholars have centuries trying to 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.080 identify what the thorn was when Paul clearly did not 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.480 want us to know, or he would have spelled it 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.280 out if he would have wanted us to know whether 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.960 it was a physical issue because it could have been that, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.880 or a spiritual issue because it could have been that, 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.000 or an emotional issue. It could have been that, or 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.840 an opponent of the gospel. Because he was an ambassador 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.800 of Christ. See, Paul was responsible for del livering the 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:07.480 theology that we still study today to millennia later. Justification 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.000 by faith is a doctrine that we would not know 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.520 about as we know about it if it had not 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.600 been for Paul. Yet, maybe the greatest gift that Paul 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.520 ever gives to those of us who struggle with stuff, 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.040 those of us who are confused sometimes about the way 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.240 God is working in our life, those of us who 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.320 are not quite sure if we're going to be in 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.200 the VIP section of heaven or whether we're going to 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:33.640 have to sneak in past the security in the back 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.920 door and hope God doesn't call us out. This is 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:40.000 what I want you to know about that Paul. He 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.320 gives us the gift of showing us that there is 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:47.880 a thorn. Now, everybody say this, there is a thorn. 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.160 There is a thorn. The people who don't say it, 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.440 they're probably lost in the metaphor. So let me break 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.120 it down. The thorn is that thing that you don't 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.280 talk about on the first night of the group. The 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.480 thorn is the thing that you don't tell somebody in 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.880 the grocery checkout line, and you really shouldn't. I mean, 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:10.040 it's not wise to share everything with everybody. And we 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.440 kind of live in a culture where everybody is boasting 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.840 and posting so much. It's refreshing that Paul has the 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.960 discretion to say, I had this thing, this thorn, it 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.120 came from It came from Satan. Look at this. It 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.120 was a messenger of Satan to torment me. And that's 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.800 why I flipped last week that God showed me. He 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:36.120 showed me torment. And if you flip that, it's mentor right. 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.720 Just if you say torment and you say it the 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:40.240 other way, you weren't here last week. That's why I 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.560 did last week. Yeah, no' go, i'm'na catch you off. 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:43.720 I'm gonna catch up. I want you to get this, 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.760 He said, the thing that is tormenting you, if you'll 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.000 submit it to my throne, this is what you got 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.880 to learn to do. Take that thorn to the throne. 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.040 Don't take that thorn to people, because people don't have 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.000 the power to turn it around. So Paul did something 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.480 so wise. He said, God, would you take this away? 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.440 God said nothing. Paul said, God, I don't know if 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.440 you're busy doing something for Peter over there, but Paul, Paul, 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.080 I need you over here, take this thorn away. What 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:17.160 was it? We found out last week? It was his mentor. 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.280 Because some things you can only learn through what you 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:30.960 are afflicted by. And yet the warning is so clear 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.680 in my spirit that the Lord wants me to tell 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:39.080 you today it's not really about the thorn. It's not 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.880 really about the thorn. That's not the real thing, the 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:47.040 thing that we bring to God. Fix this, change this, 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:49.280 or if you're like me and you're control freaking, you 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.079 think everybody else needs to get it, get on the 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.880 same page with you. Fix them. Some of y'all's thorn 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.080 weighs one hundred and ninety seven pounds and is sitting 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.120 next to you. God, would you and this, this is 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.640 the This is the message that Paul gives us, and 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.439 watch this. Get read shall get Ray y'all, Get Rey, y'all, 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:07.440 get Red. Yeah, get Ray, y'all, Get Rey, shop gear reh, y'all. 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.319 If God doesn't remove it, you can expect him to 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:18.240 use it. So whatever you bring before the Lord, I 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:22.000 don't care if it's an addiction of propensity. And you say, well, God, 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.160 make me not want to do this anymore. I don't 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.840 want to want that anymore. I don't want this desire anymore. 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:28.920 I don't want this darkness anymore. I don't want the 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.200 feeling anymore. Well, sometimes God will take it away. I 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:34.480 have some things in my life that I prayed about 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.160 and God got me through them. I have other things. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:41.800 These are the thorns that God said, I'm not going 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:46.200 to remove it. So then Paul says, all right, all right, 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.720 all right. If God is not going to take the 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:55.120 thorn away, that is tormenting me. You've been tormented by 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.760 it long enough. You ask God three times. Because amazing 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:07.240 how Paul gives us this contrast action and acceptance. I 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.719 ask God to do it. I believe God could do it, 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.160 because when I first read this, I'm like Paul, you 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.040 needed to just have more faith, you know now unto 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.559 him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask. 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.199 Or imagine Paul's like I wrote that verse, dummy, s 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.840 Ephesians three twenty. This is tewod Corinthians twelve. Tell them 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:35.720 about the things that God chooses, not to remove the 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:43.880 things God gives you grace for in the place of change. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:48.959 This won't change, but I've got grace for it. Make 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.560 the confession by faith right now with your mouth. I 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:57.679 got grace for it. I got grace for it. They 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.480 had an ad campaign when I was a little boy 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:04.200 called gotten Milk, and I'm revising it right now to 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:08.920 say God grace. And the Lord told me to tell 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.679 you today. I hear the Lord saying, I hear so clear. 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:13.600 I can't get I can't get it out of my spirit. 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:21.360 There's no shortage, there's no shortage. Put it in the 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.240 chat right now, or say it with your vocal cords, 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:28.520 if you've got breast, say it. There's no shortage because 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.040 when I asked the Lord to take the thorn away. 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.320 And you know, we're living in a time where you 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:38.120 you haven't you haven't heard very much about no shortage. 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:41.840 I mean when it started out, and I know, the 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.200 word global pandemic just makes your mouth dry even to 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:45.800 hear it, because we don't really want to talk about 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:47.680 it erebody anymore. And I try not to talk about 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.240 it too much in the pulpit because God knows you 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.400 hear it everywhere else. But I knew it was bad. 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.960 You know, we were scared when when COVID came because 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.560 God didn't take it away. And then they didn't even 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.520 have enough masks for us to wear because there was 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.600 a mask shortage. Then the people who ended up in 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.440 the hospital, there's a ventilator shortage, and then there's a 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.760 staff shortage, and then there's test shortage, so we can't 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.560 even know now. So there was shortage. But then it 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.320 started getting crazy, like the things we were short on 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.760 because of the supply chain that seemed to have nothing 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.440 to do with sickness. I went to buy my oldest 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.480 a used car the other day, and the price is 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.040 like sixty percent more right now for a used car, 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.400 because the dude was telling me, oh, well there's a 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.040 chip and chip there's a chip shortage of new cars. 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.680 So the used cars were more expensive because blah blah, 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:40.800 and all I heard is you're ripping me off. This 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.040 is the worst time to black car. I don't even 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.079 want him to drive. I'm scared to death to put 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.400 him on the road. And now it's expensive to two 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.000 because there's a global chip shortage. But I knew it 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.800 was bad. I knew it was bad when Holly came 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:57.120 home from Chick fil A one day. This is when 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:02.040 I knew I'm a suboctane. My god, by have you 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.920 forsaken of when Chick fil A had a sauce shortage. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:12.360 If there is one restaurant God loves, it's the one 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:19.320 that's closed on Sunday when Chick fil A is running 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:26.800 out of Polynesian? Oh God, where is your promise? The pa, 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.960 the glorious, the party, she said, And we love Chick 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:32.480 fil A. So then we say that on the record. 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.280 If you want to send me some goods, just want 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.840 to say, sit up, I'll be your shirt, she said. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.080 Holly said, they they said, welcome to Chick fil A. 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.360 You know, all happy late they do it Chick fil A. 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:46.880 And then she said, I want to grilled chicken sandwich. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:52.880 She said. He said, we don't have any chicken. And 0:14:53.320 --> 0:15:00.440 I said, chick fil A didn't have the chicken. I 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.440 think y'all might see where I'm going with this if 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:09.120 you work ahead a little bit, and she ended up 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.600 ordering something she didn't even want. But that's not the point, 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.240 because I'm not really talking about Chick fil A or 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:20.160 how they didn't even have wrench dressing or kale for 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.600 a kale salad. Y'all think Holly's first choice was kale? 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.920 That girl, that girl is she She loves waffle fries 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:33.600 more than she loves worship. Thinks she wanted to get 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.640 They didn't even have a kale salad. She just had 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.480 to make the She just had to make it, make 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:47.320 it work. And to me, it's kind of crazy when 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:53.160 Chick fil a doesn't have grilled chicken. But what would 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.520 be crazier than that? If you can imagine a thing 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.640 like that, if you can imagine something crazier than that, 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.520 here's what it might be for you to think, as 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:08.720 a Christian that you're going to need grace from your 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.320 father in heaven and he's gonna sum for some reason, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:17.120 there's like a global supply chain issue in heaven where 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.240 there's not enough angels to staff because we can't get 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:24.040 any angels to come in and work. Look, so here's 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.320 one thing. There's no shortage of angels in heaven to 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:32.040 praise God. So the Bible even says this, if you 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:37.280 don't praise him, the rocks will cry out. Jesus said that. 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.360 So for everybody who's like I don't like all of that, 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.600 when he tells us, you know, praise the Lord and 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.040 give God glory, I don't really feel like it. Only 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.560 got three hours of sleep. That's fine, you don't have to. 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.440 There's no shortage of glory to God in heaven. There's 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:57.480 an angel right now saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:02.240 Lord God, Almighty, Holy, Holy. So if you don't want 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.399 to say he's holy, there's an angel saying it. You 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.880 can take a break. You can take the day off. 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:12.680 Goglola always have a break, Doug Lalla, always have a break, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:20.400 dog l La always haven't work. The first God doesn't 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.920 command you to praise him because he needs it. He's 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:31.000 not an ego maniac. You need it. You need it, 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:39.119 and when you give him glory, it releases grace. Something 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.960 about it. Once you realize that he's able to do 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.520 him measurably more than you ask for. Imagine there is 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:50.160 no shortage in heaven of what you're hurting for. On earth, 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:55.800 there's no shortage. There's no shortage. In fact, I love 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:57.960 people who come to church and they're like pastor. If 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.000 you preach, it's good. If you don't preach, it's good. 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:05.680 I don't really care. I brought my own sauce. I 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:15.719 have my own relationship with God. I want you all 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.160 to start bringing your bibles back to church. I want 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.560 you all to start a leather bound Bible, a big 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.879 fat leather bound Bible, a holy Bible, back to church 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.320 with a pen and a highlighter, so you can go 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.840 through that thing. And when I'm not there, because I'm 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:37.119 not going to follow you to work tomorrow, be weird. 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:43.840 They probably wouldn't let me in anyway. Security. But when 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:50.760 you have your own word from God, are you so 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:59.560 focused on your thorn watch this that you are missing? 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:05.840 You're Therefore, Now, I'm gonna make you a little scripture, 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:10.960 grilled grilled chicken scripture sandwich real quick. All right, I'm 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.800 gonna give you this little scripture sandwich real quick. In 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:17.520 Second Corinthians twelve, verse seven. I love the Word of God. 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.560 I love it more the more I the more I 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:26.080 study it, the more ignorant I realize. I am so 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.840 uh I would have missed something like this. Second Corinthians 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:36.600 twelve seven. He said, I had these great revelations. I 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:40.040 saw this amazing glory in my life. Paul saying this, 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.560 I was gifted by God in a unique way. I 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:48.440 studied under ga melee. Check my resume. I come from 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.879 good stock, a Hebrew of Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin. That's me, 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.800 your apostle to the gentiles, Paul. But because of how 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.840 good God had been to me, what he had shown me, 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:09.280 here comes to teaching. Therefore, in order to keep me 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:16.840 from becoming con seated, in order to keep me grounded 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:23.000 in grace? Are you grounded in grace? Are you grounded 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:28.240 in your giftedness? If you're grounded in your giftedness and 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:34.000 you fail, your faith falls apart. Are you grounded in grace? 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.320 Or are you grounded in your feelings? Are you grounded 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:39.520 in grace? Are you grounded in the latest blessing God 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.600 gave you? Are you grounded in grace? Are you grounded 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:44.160 in your goal? Because you're not going to reach all 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.720 of them, Paul said elsewhere in Philippians I pressed toward 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:51.160 the mark, toward the goal. Paul's still pressing, and I'm thinking, 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:52.639 I'm going to reach the goal. You're not going to 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.640 reach the goal. So he said, to keep me grounded 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:57.880 in grace, God gave me a gift I didn't ask 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:04.520 for and has no gift exchange program. But God delivered 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:06.439 it in an unusual way. And this is what we 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:10.600 studied last week, the same verse back of everybody say, therefore, 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:13.280 in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:17.360 given a thorn in my flesh. And angelos, same word 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.480 that we take angel from in Greek, it's angelos. It 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:22.520 could say an angel of Satan. We've never heard of 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.600 that before to us. Angels touched by them and Thomas 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:28.840 Kincaid and light and all this. But he said, no, 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.120 it came through an angel, and I hated the angel. 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:36.160 It was a messenger. That's all angel means, messenger, That's 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:38.080 what the word means. It's the same word. He said. 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:43.200 The messenger that God brought it through was my enemy. 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:47.600 So God gave me a gift through my enemy. That's 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.840 the context of this great verse where he said, my 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.720 grace is sufficient for you. There's no shortage of grace? 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:57.280 Can I tell yall something as a pastor who's pastored 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:00.080 through the last two years right now? They might be 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:04.320 short right now on masks, they might be short right 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:07.600 now on staff. And I'm sure in your industry you 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:09.919 could tell me a shortage that's affecting you, because I 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:12.479 know that you have some to in your industry. In 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:17.120 my industry, there's no shortage of thorns right now. Wow, 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.040 I think the last twenty months have been some of 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:25.920 the thorniest that I've ever pastored people through. Yep, there 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.680 is no shortage of the things that Paul lists. There's 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:32.959 no shortage. I said that a minute ago, and y'all shouted. 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:36.960 But when I said there's no shortage of thorns, you 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:40.720 didn't shout, And you shouldn't shout about that. After all, 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:44.320 Paul said, nobody in their right mind asks God for 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:48.680 a thorn. There's no shortage of marriage problems in my 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:53.440 church today. There is no shortage of things that can 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.600 make you feel so bad about yourself if you wanted 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.120 to right now. Look, because one of the things that 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:01.399 the last almost those two years now has done to 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:03.720 a lot of people is it put them in isolation 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.879 in the season, and then things grew in the dark 0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:13.280 that are now coming forth and growing, and they're not good. 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:17.760 There's no shortage of thorns right now. Like in some 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:20.800 ways I want to thank all of you who are 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:27.240 honest enough about your thorns to come to church. In 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:29.320 some ways, I feel like I owe every big sinner 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.159 in here a big thank you, because you give me 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:40.040 job security. As long as you have thorns, I have 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:46.040 a job. Don't ever get your life fully together, because 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:48.760 then you won't need me, and I need to be needed. 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:53.000 I don't preach for the praise of men. Amen. Amen. 0:23:56.720 --> 0:23:59.800 There's no shortage of thorns. There's just those that are 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:06.159 at hiding them than others. All you see is the 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:10.480 lilies in the life of the person next to you. 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:16.920 I am so thankful that Paul taught me the theology 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:23.439 of the thorn, the theology of the thorn, and this 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.639 is the theology of the thorn. When I am weak, 0:24:29.119 --> 0:24:33.080 then I am strong. I need that one. I'm thankful 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:37.480 for everything that Paul taught me, but above all, maybe 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:41.160 the greatest lesson that he taught me was to look 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:48.320 for the Therefore, have you been more thorn conscious than 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:53.360 grace conscious in your life lately, the devil would love 0:24:53.400 --> 0:24:56.080 to do that to you. In fact, here's what I 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:57.920 think about this passage. Okay, I don't know if you 0:24:58.000 --> 0:24:59.840 care what I think about it, but this is what 0:24:59.880 --> 0:25:02.480 I think about it. I don't think it matters as 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.040 much what Paul's thorn was as it matters how Paul 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:12.520 thought about his thorn. And likewise, I don't believe the 0:25:12.520 --> 0:25:16.320 most important thing about your life it's the challenge that 0:25:16.359 --> 0:25:19.520 you're facing, or the insecurity that you have, or the 0:25:19.520 --> 0:25:21.879 mistake that you made, or the thing that you do 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:24.720 that nobody knows that you do, or the thoughts that 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:26.880 you think that people would be shocked. Me and Elijah 0:25:26.920 --> 0:25:29.080 were talking the other day how much would we pay 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:31.840 to keep all of our thoughts from being broadcast on 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:33.760 a screen in front of the whole world. And we 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:38.160 both decided everything we have, every dollar I have there 0:25:38.160 --> 0:25:40.400