Speaker 1: Well, we're gonna get to the message in just a moment,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to make sure you knew about Elevation Nights.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be amazing eight cities October twenty sixth through
Speaker 1: November fourth. You gotta go to Elevation Nights dot com
Speaker 1: to see if we're coming to a city near you.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be me Elevation Worship, a few friends and you.
Speaker 1: I want to see you there. I want to see
Speaker 1: you and everybody that you know there. Go to Elevation
Speaker 1: Nights dot com. I can't wait to see you soon.
Speaker 1: Here's the message. Right now, all over the world, people
Speaker 1: are joining in with this ministry. We want to welcome
Speaker 1: our epam, our extended family all over the world. Right now,
Speaker 1: we're flaking the doors open, man, the digital doors come
Speaker 1: on in the the church is open. The spirit is here,
Speaker 1: So God bless you. Just turn to the person next
Speaker 1: to you and say, if Pastor Stephen knew you would
Speaker 1: be a Sabor Church member, just tell them that, and
Speaker 1: I believe that. Woo who Now, some of us are
Speaker 1: glad to be here. We have learned that there is
Speaker 1: bread in the House of the Lord. I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a no, no, I'm going to
Speaker 1: use the same scripture I used last week. Sit down,
Speaker 1: y'all leave, let's study. I came home last week and
Speaker 1: I told Holly, I don't know how good that went.
Speaker 1: She said it was amazing, and I was frustrated. I said,
Speaker 1: I don't think I did it the way that I
Speaker 1: was supposed to she and Holly said, maybe you didn't fail.
Speaker 1: Maybe you just weren't finished turning your Bible to Second Corinthians,
Speaker 1: cause you'll believe she back talks me like that. The
Speaker 1: Bible says, submit to your husband. Not supposed to be
Speaker 1: quoting scriptures at the man of God. I'm kidding, but
Speaker 1: this good Second Corinthians, chapter twelve. And I want to
Speaker 1: talk a little more about your thorn that was the
Speaker 1: subject last week. So this might be uncomfortable. You won't
Speaker 1: tell about your thorn for a moment or two, but
Speaker 1: I want to read this context. And I just want
Speaker 1: to remind you that usually when God speaks, he speaks
Speaker 1: in sentences and paragraphs, and you know, like a lot
Speaker 1: of times, what we'll take is we'll take a single
Speaker 1: sentence from the Word of God. And that's cool. It's
Speaker 1: better than nothing. But to really get the full impact
Speaker 1: of what God speaks, it's better if you understand the
Speaker 1: context of when he spoke it. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if we sometimes read scripture versus Bible versus like their
Speaker 1: captions on Instagram or something like that, they're not. This
Speaker 1: was a letter Paul wrote to a church that he
Speaker 1: loved that he was incredibly frustrated with. Oh, you can
Speaker 1: definitely feel that way about one person, one church you
Speaker 1: can really love and be really frustrated with. And I
Speaker 1: made the case one time in this Pope that a
Speaker 1: lot of people disagree. You can't really be truly good
Speaker 1: and frustrated with somebody that you don't really truly love.
Speaker 1: You'll feel the most intense feelings of I want to
Speaker 1: kill you if you are a parent, the person that
Speaker 1: came from your very body. And it goes the other
Speaker 1: way too with kids and parents. But this is the
Speaker 1: lesson that Paul is giving. And if I had outlined
Speaker 1: the message last week the way I should have, where
Speaker 1: you could take notes and all of that, I would
Speaker 1: have used three points. A mentor, a metaphor, and a
Speaker 1: therefore intour a metaphor, and that therefore and I forgot
Speaker 1: to tell you that last week because I was so
Speaker 1: busy preaching about Paul as a mentor to the church,
Speaker 1: not an advice column. That's not a broke cousin who
Speaker 1: tells you where you need to invest your money and
Speaker 1: what kind of digital currency you need to invest in.
Speaker 1: But he's not one of these advice given fools. He's
Speaker 1: got real authority. What surprised us about Paul, though, was that,
Speaker 1: with such great apostolic authority and such intellectual brilliantess, instead
Speaker 1: of taking the opportunity to exceed his authority, he opened
Speaker 1: himself up with personal vulnerability. And what was amazing about
Speaker 1: it was, and I'm going to read it to you
Speaker 1: in just a moment in case you missed it, his
Speaker 1: vulnerability did not compromise his authority. His being real about
Speaker 1: what he struggled with didn't keep him from being powerful
Speaker 1: and being called. And it doesn't for you either. And
Speaker 1: you don't have to fake it. You have to go
Speaker 1: through life pretending because the people that you pretend to
Speaker 1: be somebody that you're not to in order to get
Speaker 1: them to like you, they don't really like you. When
Speaker 1: they like you, they like the you that you showed them.
Speaker 1: That you concoct it just to get their approval, So
Speaker 1: it's worthless anyway. And if you got it, you got it.
Speaker 1: And if you know, you know, And if God is
Speaker 1: with you, God is with you. And nobody can do
Speaker 1: anything to change it, not even the devil, not even
Speaker 1: the devil. Oh, I feel a no weapon formed against
Speaker 1: me shall prosper rising up in my spirit. But in
Speaker 1: tewod Corinthians twelve, Paul says, in verse six, even if
Speaker 1: I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool,
Speaker 1: because I would be speaking the truth. So Paul's the
Speaker 1: opposite of most of us. He has everything to brag about,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't a lot of us have nothing to
Speaker 1: boast about, but plenty to about. Y'all ought to say amen,
Speaker 1: let the church say ours. He said, I'm not even
Speaker 1: going to tell you about my trip to heaven. I
Speaker 1: went to the third Heaven. But don't worry about that,
Speaker 1: because what I want to actually tell you about, And
Speaker 1: he uses a metaphor. He says, because of these surpassingly
Speaker 1: great revelations, Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited,
Speaker 1: I was given a thorn. That's the metaphor. He says
Speaker 1: it was a thorn. Why scholars have centuries trying to
Speaker 1: identify what the thorn was when Paul clearly did not
Speaker 1: want us to know, or he would have spelled it
Speaker 1: out if he would have wanted us to know whether
Speaker 1: it was a physical issue because it could have been that,
Speaker 1: or a spiritual issue because it could have been that,
Speaker 1: or an emotional issue. It could have been that, or
Speaker 1: an opponent of the gospel. Because he was an ambassador
Speaker 1: of Christ. See, Paul was responsible for del livering the
Speaker 1: theology that we still study today to millennia later. Justification
Speaker 1: by faith is a doctrine that we would not know
Speaker 1: about as we know about it if it had not
Speaker 1: been for Paul. Yet, maybe the greatest gift that Paul
Speaker 1: ever gives to those of us who struggle with stuff,
Speaker 1: those of us who are confused sometimes about the way
Speaker 1: God is working in our life, those of us who
Speaker 1: are not quite sure if we're going to be in
Speaker 1: the VIP section of heaven or whether we're going to
Speaker 1: have to sneak in past the security in the back
Speaker 1: door and hope God doesn't call us out. This is
Speaker 1: what I want you to know about that Paul. He
Speaker 1: gives us the gift of showing us that there is
Speaker 1: a thorn. Now, everybody say this, there is a thorn.
Speaker 1: There is a thorn. The people who don't say it,
Speaker 1: they're probably lost in the metaphor. So let me break
Speaker 1: it down. The thorn is that thing that you don't
Speaker 1: talk about on the first night of the group. The
Speaker 1: thorn is the thing that you don't tell somebody in
Speaker 1: the grocery checkout line, and you really shouldn't. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not wise to share everything with everybody. And we
Speaker 1: kind of live in a culture where everybody is boasting
Speaker 1: and posting so much. It's refreshing that Paul has the
Speaker 1: discretion to say, I had this thing, this thorn, it
Speaker 1: came from It came from Satan. Look at this. It
Speaker 1: was a messenger of Satan to torment me. And that's
Speaker 1: why I flipped last week that God showed me. He
Speaker 1: showed me torment. And if you flip that, it's mentor right.
Speaker 1: Just if you say torment and you say it the
Speaker 1: other way, you weren't here last week. That's why I
Speaker 1: did last week. Yeah, no' go, i'm'na catch you off.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna catch up. I want you to get this,
Speaker 1: He said, the thing that is tormenting you, if you'll
Speaker 1: submit it to my throne, this is what you got
Speaker 1: to learn to do. Take that thorn to the throne.
Speaker 1: Don't take that thorn to people, because people don't have
Speaker 1: the power to turn it around. So Paul did something
Speaker 1: so wise. He said, God, would you take this away?
Speaker 1: God said nothing. Paul said, God, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you're busy doing something for Peter over there, but Paul, Paul,
Speaker 1: I need you over here, take this thorn away. What
Speaker 1: was it? We found out last week? It was his mentor.
Speaker 1: Because some things you can only learn through what you
Speaker 1: are afflicted by. And yet the warning is so clear
Speaker 1: in my spirit that the Lord wants me to tell
Speaker 1: you today it's not really about the thorn. It's not
Speaker 1: really about the thorn. That's not the real thing, the
Speaker 1: thing that we bring to God. Fix this, change this,
Speaker 1: or if you're like me and you're control freaking, you
Speaker 1: think everybody else needs to get it, get on the
Speaker 1: same page with you. Fix them. Some of y'all's thorn
Speaker 1: weighs one hundred and ninety seven pounds and is sitting
Speaker 1: next to you. God, would you and this, this is
Speaker 1: the This is the message that Paul gives us, and
Speaker 1: watch this. Get read shall get Ray y'all, Get Rey, y'all,
Speaker 1: get Red. Yeah, get Ray, y'all, Get Rey, shop gear reh, y'all.
Speaker 1: If God doesn't remove it, you can expect him to
Speaker 1: use it. So whatever you bring before the Lord, I
Speaker 1: don't care if it's an addiction of propensity. And you say, well, God,
Speaker 1: make me not want to do this anymore. I don't
Speaker 1: want to want that anymore. I don't want this desire anymore.
Speaker 1: I don't want this darkness anymore. I don't want the
Speaker 1: feeling anymore. Well, sometimes God will take it away. I
Speaker 1: have some things in my life that I prayed about
Speaker 1: and God got me through them. I have other things.
Speaker 1: These are the thorns that God said, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to remove it. So then Paul says, all right, all right,
Speaker 1: all right. If God is not going to take the
Speaker 1: thorn away, that is tormenting me. You've been tormented by
Speaker 1: it long enough. You ask God three times. Because amazing
Speaker 1: how Paul gives us this contrast action and acceptance. I
Speaker 1: ask God to do it. I believe God could do it,
Speaker 1: because when I first read this, I'm like Paul, you
Speaker 1: needed to just have more faith, you know now unto
Speaker 1: him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask.
Speaker 1: Or imagine Paul's like I wrote that verse, dummy, s
Speaker 1: Ephesians three twenty. This is tewod Corinthians twelve. Tell them
Speaker 1: about the things that God chooses, not to remove the
Speaker 1: things God gives you grace for in the place of change.
Speaker 1: This won't change, but I've got grace for it. Make
Speaker 1: the confession by faith right now with your mouth. I
Speaker 1: got grace for it. I got grace for it. They
Speaker 1: had an ad campaign when I was a little boy
Speaker 1: called gotten Milk, and I'm revising it right now to
Speaker 1: say God grace. And the Lord told me to tell
Speaker 1: you today. I hear the Lord saying, I hear so clear.
Speaker 1: I can't get I can't get it out of my spirit.
Speaker 1: There's no shortage, there's no shortage. Put it in the
Speaker 1: chat right now, or say it with your vocal cords,
Speaker 1: if you've got breast, say it. There's no shortage because
Speaker 1: when I asked the Lord to take the thorn away.
Speaker 1: And you know, we're living in a time where you
Speaker 1: you haven't you haven't heard very much about no shortage.
Speaker 1: I mean when it started out, and I know, the
Speaker 1: word global pandemic just makes your mouth dry even to
Speaker 1: hear it, because we don't really want to talk about
Speaker 1: it erebody anymore. And I try not to talk about
Speaker 1: it too much in the pulpit because God knows you
Speaker 1: hear it everywhere else. But I knew it was bad.
Speaker 1: You know, we were scared when when COVID came because
Speaker 1: God didn't take it away. And then they didn't even
Speaker 1: have enough masks for us to wear because there was
Speaker 1: a mask shortage. Then the people who ended up in
Speaker 1: the hospital, there's a ventilator shortage, and then there's a
Speaker 1: staff shortage, and then there's test shortage, so we can't
Speaker 1: even know now. So there was shortage. But then it
Speaker 1: started getting crazy, like the things we were short on
Speaker 1: because of the supply chain that seemed to have nothing
Speaker 1: to do with sickness. I went to buy my oldest
Speaker 1: a used car the other day, and the price is
Speaker 1: like sixty percent more right now for a used car,
Speaker 1: because the dude was telling me, oh, well there's a
Speaker 1: chip and chip there's a chip shortage of new cars.
Speaker 1: So the used cars were more expensive because blah blah,
Speaker 1: and all I heard is you're ripping me off. This
Speaker 1: is the worst time to black car. I don't even
Speaker 1: want him to drive. I'm scared to death to put
Speaker 1: him on the road. And now it's expensive to two
Speaker 1: because there's a global chip shortage. But I knew it
Speaker 1: was bad. I knew it was bad when Holly came
Speaker 1: home from Chick fil A one day. This is when
Speaker 1: I knew I'm a suboctane. My god, by have you
Speaker 1: forsaken of when Chick fil A had a sauce shortage.
Speaker 1: If there is one restaurant God loves, it's the one
Speaker 1: that's closed on Sunday when Chick fil A is running
Speaker 1: out of Polynesian? Oh God, where is your promise? The pa,
Speaker 1: the glorious, the party, she said, And we love Chick
Speaker 1: fil A. So then we say that on the record.
Speaker 1: If you want to send me some goods, just want
Speaker 1: to say, sit up, I'll be your shirt, she said.
Speaker 1: Holly said, they they said, welcome to Chick fil A.
Speaker 1: You know, all happy late they do it Chick fil A.
Speaker 1: And then she said, I want to grilled chicken sandwich.
Speaker 1: She said. He said, we don't have any chicken. And
Speaker 1: I said, chick fil A didn't have the chicken. I
Speaker 1: think y'all might see where I'm going with this if
Speaker 1: you work ahead a little bit, and she ended up
Speaker 1: ordering something she didn't even want. But that's not the point,
Speaker 1: because I'm not really talking about Chick fil A or
Speaker 1: how they didn't even have wrench dressing or kale for
Speaker 1: a kale salad. Y'all think Holly's first choice was kale?
Speaker 1: That girl, that girl is she She loves waffle fries
Speaker 1: more than she loves worship. Thinks she wanted to get
Speaker 1: They didn't even have a kale salad. She just had
Speaker 1: to make the She just had to make it, make
Speaker 1: it work. And to me, it's kind of crazy when
Speaker 1: Chick fil a doesn't have grilled chicken. But what would
Speaker 1: be crazier than that? If you can imagine a thing
Speaker 1: like that, if you can imagine something crazier than that,
Speaker 1: here's what it might be for you to think, as
Speaker 1: a Christian that you're going to need grace from your
Speaker 1: father in heaven and he's gonna sum for some reason,
Speaker 1: there's like a global supply chain issue in heaven where
Speaker 1: there's not enough angels to staff because we can't get
Speaker 1: any angels to come in and work. Look, so here's
Speaker 1: one thing. There's no shortage of angels in heaven to
Speaker 1: praise God. So the Bible even says this, if you
Speaker 1: don't praise him, the rocks will cry out. Jesus said that.
Speaker 1: So for everybody who's like I don't like all of that,
Speaker 1: when he tells us, you know, praise the Lord and
Speaker 1: give God glory, I don't really feel like it. Only
Speaker 1: got three hours of sleep. That's fine, you don't have to.
Speaker 1: There's no shortage of glory to God in heaven. There's
Speaker 1: an angel right now saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the
Speaker 1: Lord God, Almighty, Holy, Holy. So if you don't want
Speaker 1: to say he's holy, there's an angel saying it. You
Speaker 1: can take a break. You can take the day off.
Speaker 1: Goglola always have a break, Doug Lalla, always have a break,
Speaker 1: dog l La always haven't work. The first God doesn't
Speaker 1: command you to praise him because he needs it. He's
Speaker 1: not an ego maniac. You need it. You need it,
Speaker 1: and when you give him glory, it releases grace. Something
Speaker 1: about it. Once you realize that he's able to do
Speaker 1: him measurably more than you ask for. Imagine there is
Speaker 1: no shortage in heaven of what you're hurting for. On earth,
Speaker 1: there's no shortage. There's no shortage. In fact, I love
Speaker 1: people who come to church and they're like pastor. If
Speaker 1: you preach, it's good. If you don't preach, it's good.
Speaker 1: I don't really care. I brought my own sauce. I
Speaker 1: have my own relationship with God. I want you all
Speaker 1: to start bringing your bibles back to church. I want
Speaker 1: you all to start a leather bound Bible, a big
Speaker 1: fat leather bound Bible, a holy Bible, back to church
Speaker 1: with a pen and a highlighter, so you can go
Speaker 1: through that thing. And when I'm not there, because I'm
Speaker 1: not going to follow you to work tomorrow, be weird.
Speaker 1: They probably wouldn't let me in anyway. Security. But when
Speaker 1: you have your own word from God, are you so
Speaker 1: focused on your thorn watch this that you are missing?
Speaker 1: You're Therefore, Now, I'm gonna make you a little scripture,
Speaker 1: grilled grilled chicken scripture sandwich real quick. All right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you this little scripture sandwich real quick. In
Speaker 1: Second Corinthians twelve, verse seven. I love the Word of God.
Speaker 1: I love it more the more I the more I
Speaker 1: study it, the more ignorant I realize. I am so
Speaker 1: uh I would have missed something like this. Second Corinthians
Speaker 1: twelve seven. He said, I had these great revelations. I
Speaker 1: saw this amazing glory in my life. Paul saying this,
Speaker 1: I was gifted by God in a unique way. I
Speaker 1: studied under ga melee. Check my resume. I come from
Speaker 1: good stock, a Hebrew of Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin. That's me,
Speaker 1: your apostle to the gentiles, Paul. But because of how
Speaker 1: good God had been to me, what he had shown me,
Speaker 1: here comes to teaching. Therefore, in order to keep me
Speaker 1: from becoming con seated, in order to keep me grounded
Speaker 1: in grace? Are you grounded in grace? Are you grounded
Speaker 1: in your giftedness? If you're grounded in your giftedness and
Speaker 1: you fail, your faith falls apart. Are you grounded in grace?
Speaker 1: Or are you grounded in your feelings? Are you grounded
Speaker 1: in grace? Are you grounded in the latest blessing God
Speaker 1: gave you? Are you grounded in grace? Are you grounded
Speaker 1: in your goal? Because you're not going to reach all
Speaker 1: of them, Paul said elsewhere in Philippians I pressed toward
Speaker 1: the mark, toward the goal. Paul's still pressing, and I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: I'm going to reach the goal. You're not going to
Speaker 1: reach the goal. So he said, to keep me grounded
Speaker 1: in grace, God gave me a gift I didn't ask
Speaker 1: for and has no gift exchange program. But God delivered
Speaker 1: it in an unusual way. And this is what we
Speaker 1: studied last week, the same verse back of everybody say, therefore,
Speaker 1: in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was
Speaker 1: given a thorn in my flesh. And angelos, same word
Speaker 1: that we take angel from in Greek, it's angelos. It
Speaker 1: could say an angel of Satan. We've never heard of
Speaker 1: that before to us. Angels touched by them and Thomas
Speaker 1: Kincaid and light and all this. But he said, no,
Speaker 1: it came through an angel, and I hated the angel.
Speaker 1: It was a messenger. That's all angel means, messenger, That's
Speaker 1: what the word means. It's the same word. He said.
Speaker 1: The messenger that God brought it through was my enemy.
Speaker 1: So God gave me a gift through my enemy. That's
Speaker 1: the context of this great verse where he said, my
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for you. There's no shortage of grace?
Speaker 1: Can I tell yall something as a pastor who's pastored
Speaker 1: through the last two years right now? They might be
Speaker 1: short right now on masks, they might be short right
Speaker 1: now on staff. And I'm sure in your industry you
Speaker 1: could tell me a shortage that's affecting you, because I
Speaker 1: know that you have some to in your industry. In
Speaker 1: my industry, there's no shortage of thorns right now. Wow,
Speaker 1: I think the last twenty months have been some of
Speaker 1: the thorniest that I've ever pastored people through. Yep, there
Speaker 1: is no shortage of the things that Paul lists. There's
Speaker 1: no shortage. I said that a minute ago, and y'all shouted.
Speaker 1: But when I said there's no shortage of thorns, you
Speaker 1: didn't shout, And you shouldn't shout about that. After all,
Speaker 1: Paul said, nobody in their right mind asks God for
Speaker 1: a thorn. There's no shortage of marriage problems in my
Speaker 1: church today. There is no shortage of things that can
Speaker 1: make you feel so bad about yourself if you wanted
Speaker 1: to right now. Look, because one of the things that
Speaker 1: the last almost those two years now has done to
Speaker 1: a lot of people is it put them in isolation
Speaker 1: in the season, and then things grew in the dark
Speaker 1: that are now coming forth and growing, and they're not good.
Speaker 1: There's no shortage of thorns right now. Like in some
Speaker 1: ways I want to thank all of you who are
Speaker 1: honest enough about your thorns to come to church. In
Speaker 1: some ways, I feel like I owe every big sinner
Speaker 1: in here a big thank you, because you give me
Speaker 1: job security. As long as you have thorns, I have
Speaker 1: a job. Don't ever get your life fully together, because
Speaker 1: then you won't need me, and I need to be needed.
Speaker 1: I don't preach for the praise of men. Amen. Amen.
Speaker 1: There's no shortage of thorns. There's just those that are
Speaker 1: at hiding them than others. All you see is the
Speaker 1: lilies in the life of the person next to you.
Speaker 1: I am so thankful that Paul taught me the theology
Speaker 1: of the thorn, the theology of the thorn, and this
Speaker 1: is the theology of the thorn. When I am weak,
Speaker 1: then I am strong. I need that one. I'm thankful
Speaker 1: for everything that Paul taught me, but above all, maybe
Speaker 1: the greatest lesson that he taught me was to look
Speaker 1: for the Therefore, have you been more thorn conscious than
Speaker 1: grace conscious in your life lately, the devil would love
Speaker 1: to do that to you. In fact, here's what I
Speaker 1: think about this passage. Okay, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: care what I think about it, but this is what
Speaker 1: I think about it. I don't think it matters as
Speaker 1: much what Paul's thorn was as it matters how Paul
Speaker 1: thought about his thorn. And likewise, I don't believe the
Speaker 1: most important thing about your life it's the challenge that
Speaker 1: you're facing, or the insecurity that you have, or the
Speaker 1: mistake that you made, or the thing that you do
Speaker 1: that nobody knows that you do, or the thoughts that
Speaker 1: you think that people would be shocked. Me and Elijah
Speaker 1: were talking the other day how much would we pay
Speaker 1: to keep all of our thoughts from being broadcast on
Speaker 1: a screen in front of the whole world. And we
Speaker 1: both decided everything we have, every dollar I have there
Speaker 1: could not be too great of an amount. So, even
Speaker 1: if it's just in your thought life, those thorns, Paul
Speaker 1: is convincing you today, and you need to lean into
Speaker 1: this word because this is bigger than a Sunday lesson,
Speaker 1: This is bigger than a YouTube clip, This is bigger
Speaker 1: than an Instagram post. What God is saying today. He
Speaker 1: is saying, if you keep looking at this thorn. Because
Speaker 1: Paul doesn't talk about the thorn for seven verses. Paul
Speaker 1: doesn't give a whole chapter to the thorn, like we do.
Speaker 1: We get so stuck about what's wrong with us? We
Speaker 1: get so stuck. Is that why he called it a thorn?
Speaker 1: This is the thing that you get stuck by and
Speaker 1: stuck with and stuck in. But Paul doesn't talk about
Speaker 1: the thorn. He talks about the Therefore, did you see
Speaker 1: it in the text? Come on, did you see it
Speaker 1: in the text? It's in the text. Class, it's in
Speaker 1: the text. We are not going to recess until y'all
Speaker 1: get this lesson, he said. Therefore, this is the important thing.
Speaker 1: What is your thorn? Therefore, some people never find out.
Speaker 1: They get so stuck in what's wrong with them? What
Speaker 1: they can't do, what others can do that they can't do,
Speaker 1: what other God that they didn't get. But Paul said
Speaker 1: it was in order to keep me from becoming conceited.
Speaker 1: What a thing to admit, Paul said, I would have
Speaker 1: had such a big head, I couldn't have fit through
Speaker 1: the church door if God didn't give me this storm.
Speaker 1: What is it? Therefore? I could preach all day. When
Speaker 1: we title this message on YouTube, we may call it
Speaker 1: the power of Therefore, the power of Therefore when you
Speaker 1: find out not only what has been tormenting you, but
Speaker 1: what is it there? For? Is this here to teach
Speaker 1: me something? And notice people can't tell you this. They
Speaker 1: mean well, but they'll say, well, the reason your kid
Speaker 1: is misbehaving is because you should have told them to
Speaker 1: the other school. The other school there. You see, we
Speaker 1: homeschool are kids, brother Steve, and that's why our kids
Speaker 1: don't struggle with any of those kids sometimes are the
Speaker 1: biggest crackheads at age twenty one. Sometimes nothing against homeschooling,
Speaker 1: nothing against not. But Paul did not ask Silas about
Speaker 1: his thorn. And I'm not saying don't get input from people.
Speaker 1: But some things only God can show you what it's
Speaker 1: there for. Only God can show you why he gave
Speaker 1: you that gift. That's why, a beautiful young girl, you
Speaker 1: gotta make sure you go to your fopper to find
Speaker 1: out what your beauty is there for. It is not
Speaker 1: for some boy to put his hands all over something
Speaker 1: that he doesn't own. That's not why God gave you
Speaker 1: that beauty, so you can spread it around until you
Speaker 1: feel empty. No, No, you gotta ask God what is
Speaker 1: my gift there? For I don't just get to do
Speaker 1: whatever I want with my life. It's borrowed. I don't
Speaker 1: just get to do whatever I want with my gift.
Speaker 1: It's borrowed. It's a loan. It belongs to God. I'm
Speaker 1: a servant of him. It's so powerful the power of Therefore,
Speaker 1: put it in the chat, put it in your mouth,
Speaker 1: put it in your spirit. Say therefore, therefore, therefore, and
Speaker 1: some of us we so glorify the thorn. Oh my thorn. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you right now. Oh man, if you knew
Speaker 1: about my thorn. But Paul said, therefore it was there
Speaker 1: for a reason, and only God can show you what
Speaker 1: that is. Therefore my favorite Therefore in scripture, I looked
Speaker 1: at twenty of them, but I only want to give
Speaker 1: you two. The first one comes from Roman's aid, where
Speaker 1: Paul said, what the lawless powers doing? That was eaking
Speaker 1: by simple nature. God did by sending his own sun
Speaker 1: likeness a simple man to be as an offering. There
Speaker 1: is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Speaker 1: Christ Jesus that's my second favorite, therefore my first favorite.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I should break it out right now,
Speaker 1: because I'm just not sure. I'm just not sure. If
Speaker 1: you no, I'm not sure yet. I'm not convinced yet.
Speaker 1: Should I show him Lord? Should I take him to
Speaker 1: my secret stash over here in Lamentations? Now? How are
Speaker 1: you gonna how are you gonna preach about Lamentations? And
Speaker 1: you're talking about therefore, Well, this is the perfect place
Speaker 1: to look at it, because see, Lamentations was a very
Speaker 1: sad book in the Bible. Is sadder than a Nirvana song.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is really sad stuff and it can
Speaker 1: really bring you down. And Jeremiah the prophet was ministering
Speaker 1: in a very hard time. He wasn't seeing much fruit, alterorance.
Speaker 1: I listen to how he starts in Lamentations three nineteen. Actually,
Speaker 1: let's go to verse eighteen. Did I give you eighteen?
Speaker 1: I think I gave you eighteen right before I came out,
Speaker 1: just in case. Yeah, yeah, So I say, my splendor
Speaker 1: is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.
Speaker 1: What a place to start. I remember my affliction and
Speaker 1: my wandering, the bitterness and the gall so I'm stuck
Speaker 1: in the thorns. I well remember them, and my soul
Speaker 1: is downcast within me. That's a prophet saying that. That's
Speaker 1: a prophet saying that. He said, the memories haunt me.
Speaker 1: The bitterness I taste it right now while I'm talking
Speaker 1: is still on my tongue. You can smell it on
Speaker 1: my breath. I'm still stuck in that. Twenty one says, Uh,
Speaker 1: Yet this I called to mine, and therefore that's my
Speaker 1: favorite word in the Bible today. Therefore I have hope
Speaker 1: it is go on. That's not the good part. This
Speaker 1: is the good part. Because of the Lord's great love,
Speaker 1: we are not consumed. For His compassions never fail. Here's
Speaker 1: the verse. You might know. They are new every morning.
Speaker 1: There's no shortage. There's no shortage. There's no shortage. If
Speaker 1: you screwed up three days ago, there's grace for it
Speaker 1: right now. There's no shortage. They might not have sausage,
Speaker 1: sick filet, but there's no shortage of mercy. In the
Speaker 1: house of God. They are new every morning. So so
Speaker 1: so watch this, watch us, watch this, watch us. We
Speaker 1: passed Stephen. I can't praise God. You don't know what
Speaker 1: what I've been doing. You'll know what I've been struggling with.
Speaker 1: What do you think is mercy? Is there for? Amazing grace?
Speaker 1: How sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me?
Speaker 1: When he hung up on that cross and he didn't
Speaker 1: come down. What do you think he was there for?
Speaker 1: That's what his grace is. Therefore, your weakness, that's what
Speaker 1: his grace is. Therefore, the insults, that's what his grace
Speaker 1: is there for the persecution, that's what his grace is
Speaker 1: there for, the hardship, the difficulty, the thorn is what
Speaker 1: grace is there for. And see Paul had to pray
Speaker 1: about that thing three times, three seasons. You think he
Speaker 1: wasn't fasting, You think he wasn't keeping a journal, a
Speaker 1: foreign journal. You think Paul wasn't You think Paul wasn't
Speaker 1: doing everything in his power to get that thing to
Speaker 1: go away. And you have been to and that's good
Speaker 1: because we don't want to glory in our thorn. Some
Speaker 1: of people will pervert any message you preach. You know, well, lord,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just go over here on this pornographic website.
Speaker 1: But hey, lord, that's what grace is there for him.
Speaker 1: Who's gonna go on over here and and just do
Speaker 1: it thornographic website. I should have said where you just
Speaker 1: keep recreating the weakness by not dealing with it. But
Speaker 1: grace is there to change you too, So it's there
Speaker 1: for you when you fail, but it's also there to
Speaker 1: build you up so you can get stronger. When I am,
Speaker 1: we some of us, we worship our weakness. Just going
Speaker 1: off on people. That's how I am, not just the way,
Speaker 1: that's just my thorn in the flesh. You heard old
Speaker 1: Pastor Furnick over there at the elevation. He said, it'll
Speaker 1: be grace for it. Now, you need to put the
Speaker 1: grace on me. Well, they're not God. They might slap
Speaker 1: you across your face if you act thorny out there.
Speaker 1: So it's not like, oh well, let's just all be
Speaker 1: you know, just everybody, just everybody, just let's have a
Speaker 1: let's have a thorn party. Let's all tell our thorn stories.
Speaker 1: My thorn is bigger than your thorn. That's how we
Speaker 1: came to church. You want to be transformed. I want
Speaker 1: to receive grace for what we struggle with, he said.
Speaker 1: I prayed, raise your hand if you want me to
Speaker 1: go deeper in this or you can raise it on
Speaker 1: the chat and just put in the chat right now,
Speaker 1: I've got grace for this and the beautiful thing. You
Speaker 1: don't even have to specify what this is to the
Speaker 1: other people in the chat. It's none of their business,
Speaker 1: it's none of mine. You take it to God and
Speaker 1: you get the grace that you need for the season.
Speaker 1: And and don't don't take it to so many other
Speaker 1: people either to tell you what they would do if
Speaker 1: they were you. They're not the God who knows your
Speaker 1: thorn knows the grace that you need. Now, this is
Speaker 1: pretty beautiful. How many of y'all like actually really love
Speaker 1: the Bible? And you're not even a little bit bored
Speaker 1: right now? All right for you, that's not the only
Speaker 1: Therefore in the passage he said three times, Verse eight
Speaker 1: is back, I said Corinthian's twelve. I don't even think
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get to the other scripture today. That's all right.
Speaker 1: Three times I've pleaded with the Lord to take it away. Okay.
Speaker 1: Is he the lord of your thorn? Does he get
Speaker 1: to decide what to leave in your life? Who to
Speaker 1: leave in your life, and what to remove? Is he
Speaker 1: the lord of your thorn? He says, I was given
Speaker 1: a thorn. The messenger was Satan, but the master was
Speaker 1: the Lord. So whatever the devil is doing in your life,
Speaker 1: he doesn't get the ultimate authority. It's not about the thorn.
Speaker 1: It's the story you tell yourself about the thorn. Now,
Speaker 1: Paul could have just as easily come to the conclusion
Speaker 1: because he said it was a messenger of Satan to
Speaker 1: torment me. But verse nine, God said to me, my
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for you, for my power has made
Speaker 1: perfect in weakness. I read that so many times this week.
Speaker 1: I felt there was something in it for us, and
Speaker 1: there is. But he said to me, okay, back to
Speaker 1: verse eight. Three times I pleaded with the Lord verse nine,
Speaker 1: but he said to me, so Paul asked three times,
Speaker 1: and God said, my grace is sufficient for you, for
Speaker 1: my power has made perfect in weakness. And then what's
Speaker 1: the next word in verse nine? Therefore that's the sandwich. Therefore,
Speaker 1: to keep me from becoming conceited, there was given to
Speaker 1: me a challenge that I could not handle in my
Speaker 1: own strength, something that made me realize, I don't have
Speaker 1: enough IQ to do this. I don't have enough I
Speaker 1: don't have enough physical stamina to do this. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't have enough experience to do this. He said,
Speaker 1: That's what it was there for, because I had so
Speaker 1: many things going for me in my life that there
Speaker 1: had to be this thing. It was said one way
Speaker 1: by one preacher. He said, the thorn took him to
Speaker 1: the throne. It reminded him he wasn't in charge. But
Speaker 1: then after he says that, he says, he said, to me,
Speaker 1: my grace is sufficient for my powers made perfect a weakness.
Speaker 1: Therefore I will not post but boast all the more
Speaker 1: gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power me rest
Speaker 1: on me. Not so I can just stay complacent, stay selfish,
Speaker 1: stay mean, stay hateful, just stay sick, stay in this
Speaker 1: bad physical condition. That's not what I'm glorying in. But
Speaker 1: he said, therefore, therefore I realized what the thorn was
Speaker 1: there for. And he could have taken this anyway, because remember,
Speaker 1: Paul persecuted the same church that he ultimately helped to build.
Speaker 1: So now if this had been your thorn, whatever it was,
Speaker 1: is it Paul's eyesight? Who knows? Was Paul a little short?
Speaker 1: Who knows? Was Paul talking about the people who followed
Speaker 1: him around in every city trying to run him out.
Speaker 1: Was he talking about the people who threw actual stones
Speaker 1: at him, trying to persecute him for the Gospel? We go? Oh, persecution.
Speaker 1: I relate with Paul. You don't relate with Paul because
Speaker 1: one atheist on your Facebook said they didn't like your
Speaker 1: Bible verse. That is not what he's preaching about here.
Speaker 1: But Paul could have just as easily told himself this
Speaker 1: thorn story you ready, Well, this is what I get.
Speaker 1: This is God punishing me for all the bad things
Speaker 1: I did. I guess it doesn't matter how much I change,
Speaker 1: God's never gonna really accept me. I do happen to
Speaker 1: know that Paul studied, struggled with He studied, but he
Speaker 1: also struggled with an inferiority complex because one time he
Speaker 1: called himself the least of the Apostles as one abnormally
Speaker 1: born because he didn't physically walk with Jesus like Peter did.
Speaker 1: He could have just as easily told himself this story
Speaker 1: about the thorn, Well, I guess, I guess if God's
Speaker 1: not going to take this thorn away from me, it's
Speaker 1: really not worth serving him. He could have just as
Speaker 1: easily told God, well, if you would have wanted to
Speaker 1: use me more than you should have made me more whole.
Speaker 1: And I tell the Lord these kinds of things all
Speaker 1: the time, just to be honest with you, because I
Speaker 1: can get in this thing of comparing myself to people
Speaker 1: whose thorns I don't see. I'm not saying they don't
Speaker 1: have them. I just don't get a viewing party. And
Speaker 1: I don't think it's as important what your thorn is.
Speaker 1: You could name it if you wanted to in your heart.
Speaker 1: I think the story you tell yourself about the thorn,
Speaker 1: because Paul says, the Lord said to me, show him
Speaker 1: again in the text he said to me, he said
Speaker 1: to me, he said to me, I don't think he
Speaker 1: heard God out loud, and I don't think God's voice
Speaker 1: was the only one speaking to him about that thorn. Remember,
Speaker 1: he said, a messenger of Satan was sent to torment me.
Speaker 1: So at the same time Paul's trying to do ministry,
Speaker 1: or you're trying to raise your kids, or you're trying
Speaker 1: to grow up in a really weird, wicked world and
Speaker 1: have some integrity about you, there's two voices going on. Really,
Speaker 1: there's two stories being told. He said, there's a messenger
Speaker 1: of Satan that's tormenting me. And then there's the voice
Speaker 1: of Grace that's coming forth to strengthen me. If I
Speaker 1: listened to the first voice, the messenger of Satan, in
Speaker 1: this season of my life, I will not have the
Speaker 1: strength to get up and face myself in the mirror tomorrow.
Speaker 1: If I listen to the message of Satan in my life,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wind up like Elijah the Prophet, not my son, Elijah,
Speaker 1: the prophet, Elijah, who had the power. You talk about strong,
Speaker 1: you talk about a mentor, you talk about somebody who
Speaker 1: had the sauce, who had the glory of God. Elijah
Speaker 1: Eli Yahoo, my God is they ah Wad called down
Speaker 1: fire on the prophets of Bail, called down fire on
Speaker 1: the prophets of Ashra. Eight hundred and fifty died in
Speaker 1: the valley that day. The nation was turning back to God.
Speaker 1: Spoke and the rain stop spoke again, and it rained
Speaker 1: to cloud the size of a man's head. Then how
Speaker 1: in the world did Elijah wind up standing at the
Speaker 1: mouth of a cave in one kings nineteen. Strong people
Speaker 1: have weak moments. Strong Christians have sharp thorns. Every believer
Speaker 1: has places of brokenness. I need you to know this
Speaker 1: so you don't quit, So you don't stop coming to
Speaker 1: church because you think God doesn't have enough grace for you,
Speaker 1: or because you stopped showing up for the rule God
Speaker 1: gave you, because you don't think you're smart enough. You're not.
Speaker 1: And the thorn is there for you to realize. I
Speaker 1: need your wisdom God. I don't look to the north,
Speaker 1: the east, or the west for my wisdom. My health
Speaker 1: comes from the Lord, so God has given it to me.
Speaker 1: Like this, Turn to somebody next to you. Turn to
Speaker 1: somebody next to you him say the thorn came from
Speaker 1: the enemy, but the grace came from God. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it again. The thorn came from the enemy. That
Speaker 1: was the lessnger. I hated the angel that brought it.
Speaker 1: You don't have to like what's happening in your life.
Speaker 1: You don't have to like the people that are in
Speaker 1: your life. You don't have to like the challenge. You
Speaker 1: don't even have to like your personality, but you do
Speaker 1: have to realize that it must be submitted to God's purpose.
Speaker 1: Stand up. I want to show you something, and we're
Speaker 1: out of here. Of your therefore is greater than the
Speaker 1: power of your thorn. God's purpose will prevail, he said.
Speaker 1: Paul said three times. That's a significant number. In scripture,
Speaker 1: three represents perfect unity. You know, Jesus prayed three times
Speaker 1: in the garden of gussemone. He said, nevertheless, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take this cup, even though I don't want it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do this what I came to do. This is
Speaker 1: what I came for. Don't you see it. You are
Speaker 1: running from the stuff that God put you. Therefore, you
Speaker 1: are not praying about the things that God's grace is. Therefore,
Speaker 1: you don't just get to bring God your praise. You
Speaker 1: get to bring your pain too. That's what the grace is. Therefore,
Speaker 1: three times I asked the Lord to take it away,
Speaker 1: but he said to me, hey, here to allow. My
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
Speaker 1: perfect in weakness for us as acute scripture. For Paul,
Speaker 1: that was a story that he had to tell himself
Speaker 1: every time that thorn pressed into his flesh. God's power
Speaker 1: is made perfect every time it presses your flesh. I
Speaker 1: want you to tell yourself a different story. You don't
Speaker 1: get to choose your thorn. You get to choose your story.
Speaker 1: He said, there's no shortage of grace. There's no shortage now,
Speaker 1: he said. Three times I asked, and one time he answered,
Speaker 1: you know what that means. That means the first two
Speaker 1: times that Paul prayed about his storm, silence, some of
Speaker 1: us are standing in the silence right now asking God
Speaker 1: to do stuff. And he didn't say yes, but he
Speaker 1: didn't say no either. That waiting place, that's what grace
Speaker 1: is there for that silence, And it's the story you
Speaker 1: tell yourself about that silence that determines whether or not
Speaker 1: you walk in grace or whether you give up the
Speaker 1: story in the silence. Three times I asked, one time
Speaker 1: he answered, My grace is sufficient. Silence. I don't know
Speaker 1: if this is going to get better, Silence. I'm waiting
Speaker 1: for this to come through. Silence. I have no idea
Speaker 1: if my kid's life is going to turn around, they're
Speaker 1: going to come back to God. Silence. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I ever be in a loving relationship again. Silence.
Speaker 1: I'll know if I'll ever feel better. What story are
Speaker 1: you telling yourself in the silence? Satan wants to use
Speaker 1: that silence and plant a seed. See God doesn't love you.
Speaker 1: See God isn't with you. See the whole thing is
Speaker 1: a bunch of fairy tales and myths. See you'll never
Speaker 1: be good enough. See you can't change everybody else can. See.
Speaker 1: You knew this church thing wouldn't work. See there's no way.
Speaker 1: You never stick to it, you never do it. But
Speaker 1: I believe the spirit wants to plant a different story
Speaker 1: in the silence, so you can know. That's where grace lives,
Speaker 1: the story in the silence. And then he said to me,
Speaker 1: and he'll say it to you too if you let him.
Speaker 1: My grace is sufficient for what you struggle with. My
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for your mistakes. My grace is sufficient
Speaker 1: for your inexperience. My grace is sufficient for your sin.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, where sin abound it, there did grace abound
Speaker 1: that much more. I praise God for grace that is
Speaker 1: gre later than oh my sin. And I spent all
Speaker 1: week thinking about the silence. You know, I asked God,
Speaker 1: he didn't answer. I tried that it didn't work. I
Speaker 1: waited for it. I don't even see a sign of
Speaker 1: it coming. I have no idea what that was there for.
Speaker 1: And I saw Elijah, God's great prophet, see Paul wasn't
Speaker 1: the only preacher who had to deal with the silence.
Speaker 1: You're not the only one either, the great prophet who
Speaker 1: called down fire from heaven. In One Kings nineteen, verse thirteen,
Speaker 1: the Bible says that God was passing by Elijah. He
Speaker 1: was depressed. Now, he was discouraged. Now he was tired,
Speaker 1: Now he was exhausted. Now the nation had rebelled against God.
Speaker 1: And he had been suffering from the ramifications of a
Speaker 1: drought for so long, and he was considered by many
Speaker 1: to be the troublemaker who started it all. And even
Speaker 1: after call down fire from heaven, he still felt something
Speaker 1: in his soul. It was the isolation of the draft
Speaker 1: that landed him in this place. And Elijah says something
Speaker 1: in One Kings nineteen that you may have said a
Speaker 1: few times this past week. I have had enough, Lord,
Speaker 1: I'm sick of this. A woman named Jezebel, who was
Speaker 1: the wife of Ahab the King, was chasing Elijah. She
Speaker 1: sent a messenger to threaten him, which lets me know
Speaker 1: there was really nothing she could do to him. She
Speaker 1: was just trying to intimidate him to the point that
Speaker 1: he would leave the place where God had assigned him.
Speaker 1: That is what Satan is trying to do to you
Speaker 1: right now, is trying to run you off from the
Speaker 1: place where God's greatest grace is about to be released
Speaker 1: in your life. That place of weakness, that's where the
Speaker 1: grace is coming. That's where the grace is coming. So
Speaker 1: let me preach this for every Jezebel, for every thorn
Speaker 1: that has been threatening you, that has been tormenting you,
Speaker 1: that has been pressing into you, that has been causing you.
Speaker 1: Pain in your spirit is worse than pain in your body.
Speaker 1: Is a pain in your spirit you can't shake, and
Speaker 1: God won't remove it. And the Bible says when Elijah
Speaker 1: heard the voice of God, by the way, God didn't
Speaker 1: shout to Elijah, he whispered, and Elijah pulled his cloak
Speaker 1: over his face and went out and stood at the
Speaker 1: mouth of the cave. I know it's just a figure
Speaker 1: of speech, but knowing that it's called the mouth of
Speaker 1: the cave makes sense to me. That was the place
Speaker 1: where he had holed up, waiting to die. That was
Speaker 1: the place where he had shut himself in because he
Speaker 1: didn't want to take it anymore. That was the place
Speaker 1: where he was all by himself with nothing but the
Speaker 1: movies in his mind to watch of how bad his
Speaker 1: life was. So now he's standing at the mouth of
Speaker 1: the cave, and so are you. The only voice you
Speaker 1: hear in the cave is an echo the thoughts that
Speaker 1: bounce around your head, the thoughts that torment you. You've
Speaker 1: already thought those enough that if those thoughts could bring
Speaker 1: you out, they would have by now. So when he
Speaker 1: stood at the mouth of the cave watched this, he
Speaker 1: heard the voice of the Lord. And the voice said,
Speaker 1: what are you doing here? Elijah? I could ask you
Speaker 1: the same question, What are you there for in the cave?
Speaker 1: When God has a great ministry for you, when God
Speaker 1: has a great future for you? Remember, Jeremiah said this
Speaker 1: I recall to my mind. Therefore I have hope. What
Speaker 1: are you doing in the place of shame when there's
Speaker 1: so much mercy with your name on it? What are
Speaker 1: you doing running around the people to get what can
Speaker 1: only come from God? So God said to Elijah, I've
Speaker 1: still got an assignment for you if you want it.
Speaker 1: I've still got a job for you if you want it.
Speaker 1: I still got grace for you if you want it.
Speaker 1: I still got a hope for you. If you want it.
Speaker 1: I still got a future for you. If you want it,
Speaker 1: I got joy for you. There's no sortish, It's the
Speaker 1: power of a Therefore, lift your hands. The Lord is
Speaker 1: passing by. The mountains were ripped apart. That was God.
Speaker 1: The wind came sweeping through. That wasn't God. The fire
Speaker 1: came sweeping through. That wasn't God. The earth started shaking.
Speaker 1: That wasn't God. It was in the whisper that Elijah
Speaker 1: heard is voice. Lord, I thank you for a new story.
Speaker 1: In the silence, we come against every false belief and
Speaker 1: every messenger of Satan that was sent to torment on us.
Speaker 1: Today we flip it in Jesus' name, in Jesus's name,
Speaker 1: in Jesus's name. No, no, not in our strength, in
Speaker 1: Jesus's name. What tormented you before is going to bring
Speaker 1: you to the throne of God for a greater release
Speaker 1: of grace. I speak, greater anointing over your life, Greater
Speaker 1: anointing over your leadership, Greater anointing over your relationships, later
Speaker 1: annoint over your mind. Here comes your peace, Here comes
Speaker 1: your joy, Here comes your provision. There is no shortage
Speaker 1: in heaven for a heart that is open to God,
Speaker 1: So lift your hands, because if he dress the lilies,
Speaker 1: it's beauty and slender. How much they come? How much?
Speaker 1: If he waw much? Does he know you? All right?
Speaker 1: Hang out one second? So here it is. This is
Speaker 1: the new story I want you to tell yourself in
Speaker 1: the silence. The more thorns you're dealing with, the more
Speaker 1: grace you are to expect. Holy is your name, God.
Speaker 1: Glory to your name. God. We worship your great name. God.
Speaker 1: We worship your great name God. Glory to your name, God.
Speaker 1: Release your glory in this place. Release your glory on
Speaker 1: every location. Release your glory. Lake Norman, release your glory.
Speaker 1: Release your glory right now, all over the world. Through
Speaker 1: this broadcast, through this sermon, through this worship moment, I
Speaker 1: pray a great release of grace, a great release of glory.
Speaker 1: We give you glory, We give you glory, a new
Speaker 1: story for the silence. Father, we bring those storms right
Speaker 1: now to the throne. You are the Lord of the thorn,
Speaker 1: and you are the God of all grace. When I
Speaker 1: stood up today to preach, Lord, I had no idea
Speaker 1: whose thorn I would be preaching to, But you did.
Speaker 1: I had no idea who would take the time to
Speaker 1: come to church to log on, but you did. And
Speaker 1: they didn't even know what they came for, but you did.
Speaker 1: So now I know what I was here for. God
Speaker 1: wanted me to receive this grace, and I receive it
Speaker 1: right now in the name of Jesus. Pray that I lod.
Speaker 1: I receive it right now in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: I receive grace right now, in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: I receive healing right now, in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: I receive joy right now in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And I celebrate your grace. God. I celebrate your grace
Speaker 1: for my thorny, I celebrate your grace. Come on, we
Speaker 1: didn't come to have a pity party about our thorn.
Speaker 1: This is a celebration of grace, A celebration of grace.
Speaker 1: Sing that song again. Sing that song. There's no shortage.
Speaker 1: My God will supply on your Jesus. Therefore I will
Speaker 1: both stall the more gladly in the things I used
Speaker 1: to complain about. You know what, when Paul was locked
Speaker 1: in prison at Philippi, when God opened the prison doors
Speaker 1: because he sang a song at midnight, Paul didn't even leave.
Speaker 1: He wanted to lead the jailer to Christ. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm not coming out until I find out what I
Speaker 1: was there for. And do you not know that the
Speaker 1: Church at Philippi was born out of that situation. So
Speaker 1: tell the devil, I'm not until I find out what
Speaker 1: God has for me in this spiritualation. I talk too far,
Speaker 1: I turn around. Whoo. So campus pastors, y'll take the service.
Speaker 1: I'm done officially right now in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And here at Valentine, clap your hands and give God break.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, there's what I'm gonna do in
Speaker 1: this room. There's somebody God wanted me to give you
Speaker 1: the invitation to receive Christ by your head. You didn't
Speaker 1: come to church today because your girlfriend wanted you to.
Speaker 1: That's just who God used. God brought you here for
Speaker 1: this moment, all right, That's what God brought you here for.
Speaker 1: Because as I've been preaching today, God's been speaking to you,
Speaker 1: calling you out of the cave, calling you out of
Speaker 1: your sin, calling you out of your shame, calling you
Speaker 1: out of your self reliance. Just the voice of the Lord.
Speaker 1: And he's whispering to you right now. He's not going
Speaker 1: to force you. He's not going to make you. But
Speaker 1: if you want to surrender your life to God, the
Speaker 1: Bible says it's by faith we are saved. Is by grace.
Speaker 1: We are saved through faith. It is the gift of God,
Speaker 1: not work, so that no one can boast about it.
Speaker 1: So you have the same right to receive grace as
Speaker 1: anybody in this room. And if you need a new
Speaker 1: start with God and to know you have a relationship
Speaker 1: with Him, whether you're coming to Jesus for the first
Speaker 1: time or coming back to Him, I want to give
Speaker 1: you that opportunity. In this moment. You pray with me
Speaker 1: out loud and repeat after me this prayer. And God
Speaker 1: will hear you from heaven. If you place your faith
Speaker 1: in Him, He'll forgive you of all your sins. There
Speaker 1: is a grace in this moment. Repeat after me out loud.
Speaker 1: For everybody who's coming to God today, let's pray as
Speaker 1: a church heavenly Father. Today today is by days of salvation. Salvation.
Speaker 1: I am a sinner in need of the grace of God.
Speaker 1: I believe. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
Speaker 1: of God and the Savior of the world. And today
Speaker 1: I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe
Speaker 1: he died that I would be forgiven and rose again
Speaker 1: to give me life. I receive this new life. This
Speaker 1: is my new beginning. If you pray that shoots your
Speaker 1: hand up right now on the count of three, two three,
Speaker 1: put it up. Bless your man, blessed, bless it. Come
Speaker 1: on and celebrate like you know what it means to
Speaker 1: get a second chance. Let's celebrate the grace of God.
Speaker 1: How many are breaks? Yeah? What ah? It is all right,
Speaker 1: I gotta dismiss you now. You know we gotta go.
Speaker 1: You know we gotta go. But you better leave here
Speaker 1: more focused on your therefore than your thorn. Every time
Speaker 1: you feel that thorn this week, there's a therefore. Oh
Speaker 1: God's about to bring me into every time you see
Speaker 1: a Goliath this week, Oh God must have a sword
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna need in the future. Goliath has got
Speaker 1: your sword. Y'all better stop, stop, stop, don't encourage me.
Speaker 1: And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you,
Speaker 1: for my power is made perfect in weakness. On your
Speaker 1: way out, touch three people and say I got my
Speaker 1: own sauce. I see y'all next. I love you well.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed Today's podcast, there are a couple of
Speaker 1: things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give
Speaker 1: and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast