The Mentor You Didn't Ask For

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 --> 0:00:13.840 November fourth. You got to go to Elevation Nights dot 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.360 com to see if we're coming to a city near you. 0:00:16.840 --> 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 --> 0:00:24.919 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 --> 0:00:31.920 Here's the message. I want to go back to corinth 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:36.879 this week. We were last week talking about a troubled 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:43.559 mind and an open door, that greatest opposition comes in 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:48.440 the moments of greatest opportunity. I believe God gave somebody 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.479 discernment last week about a door that you're standing in 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.120 front of and the devil that you're fighting to get 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:58.040 through it. Well, this week, I want a journey further 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:04.240 into the book of Second Corinthian tewod Corinthians, Chapter twelve, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.480 and I'm real excited. I'm gripping onto the pulpit just 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.880 trying to calm down Oh man, this is so good. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.039 This is so good. I already heard it. Holy Spirit 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.160 preached it to me, and I promise you it's good. Now. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.480 I might mess it up trying to preach it to you, 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:33.640 but the way God gave it to me birthday. So 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.320 we're going back to Corinth. This is a very culturally 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:42.320 compromised church, confused church. But we're going to Corinth one 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.640 more time. And Apostle Paul is getting personal with these believers. 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.240 And I believe he has a personal word to speak 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:55.960 to us today. Not Paul, but God. Second Corinthians twelve, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:00.680 verse six. Paul says, even if I should choose to boast, 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.279 I would not be a fool, because I'd be speaking 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:09.000 the truth. It's quite confident this apostle. He's like, I 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.080 could back it up. If I told you everything that 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.040 God had did for me, it wouldn't be boasting, It'd 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:19.160 just be facts. Wow. But I refrain, he said, so 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.520 that no one will think more of me than is 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:27.200 warranted by what I do or say, or because of 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:32.600 these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:39.400 from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:46.079 a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times. I 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:50.480 pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:57.000 but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:03.360 for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.960 will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:11.080 that Christ's power may rest on me. And that is why, 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:16.919 for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults, in hardships, 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:24.320 in persecutions, in difficulties, For when I am weak than 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:36.320 I am strong. Now I want to preach about verse seven. Therefore, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:38.840 in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:43.000 given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.680 to torment me. We're going to call this message the 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:53.240 mentor you didn't ask for, the mentor you didn't ask for, 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:59.080 Holy Spirit, and minister your word in Jesus' name. Amen, 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:06.920 be seated. Be seated, the mentor you didn't ask for. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:14.440 Had a argument with some family members recently, not necessarily. 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.960 Argument wasn't contentious, It just was I probably stated in 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.200 my position too strongly now that I look back on it. 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:24.800 We were talking about people who had influenced our life 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.440 for Christ and somebody said the word mentor. I don't 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.279 even know if that's a buzzword anymore. It was a 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.839 big buzzword when I was starting Elevation Church. Mentor, who's 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.680 your mentor? You need a mentor in the ministry, And 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:41.920 it's still obviously a corporate America term. Culturally, I don't 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:46.400 know so much anymore. It's been replaced by influencers. And 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.200 I don't know if we talk in the language of mentor. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.560 But I made a statement to my family who attend 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.840 our Greenville campus, Holly's sister and usband, a dad, and mom, 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:01.800 and I said I don't believe in mentors anymore. And 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.800 everybody said, now, that's extreme, and it probably was. Looking back, 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.279 it probably was extreme, But you have to understand, I've 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:16.640 just had some weird experiences with weird people, so I'm 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:22.920 probably coming from that standpoint of the idea of a mentor. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.720 You know, if it was Paul, I could get it. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:32.960 Because Paul was a master builder. He called himself that. 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:35.640 Now do you see why God had to give him 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.400 a thorn to keep him humble? He called himself a 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:45.920 master builder. But everybody is not, mister Miyagi, and in 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:50.200 certain moments, of my life I've been I guess a 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.600 little bit resistance to people who have a lot of 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:59.960 expertise without much experience seems to be the day where 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:06.000 living in there is no shortage of unsolicited opinions. And 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.440 even one time when the church was first getting going, 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:11.640 we need a building to meet and I went to 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:13.520 meet with a guy and I can remember the room. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.320 I don't remember his name. I remember the room, and 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.000 I remember something so weird that happened. And this is 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.680 probably why I don't really like the term mentor that much. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.480 Because I was talking about, you know, we need some resources, 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.960 and can we use your building to meet on when 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.480 you're not using it and things like that, and the 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.240 guy took it a little too far. He said, son, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.280 you're here asking me for a building and a little 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.760 bit of money for your budget, but seems like to me, 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:50.440 what you really need is a daddy. And then he goes, 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:58.599 Larry Bryan is my witness. He goes, I'll be your daddy. 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:06.440 Understand that the idea of a mentor, you know, is 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.000 just a little complicated for me, not just because of 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.880 that one experience, but I think early in my life 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.200 I did want somebody I wanted God to give me 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.560 somebody who kind of like you can do on I 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:21.680 see this video game that Graham plays called two K, 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:26.000 and he builds a player is called my player, and 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.000 he goes in and he gives the player everything, not 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.800 only cosmetically, but the skills and abilities. And I kind 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.120 of always wanted God to give me someone who would 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.080 give me the right amount of lateral movement and the 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.040 right tattoos on my left arm, and the right hide, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.520 and the right speed and the right dunking. You know, 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.040 I kind of wanted I kind of wanted ministry to 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.160 be like my player on two K, where somebody could 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:53.120 supercharge me with the answers and stuff. And one time, Holly, y'all, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.000 Holly has this ability to say stuff in a sentence 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:04.200 that will stick with you. So I was complaining that 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.480 I didn't really have like I had great dad, great mom. 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:07.840 I had great people in my life who helped me 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:09.040 long a way I can stand up here for a 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.680 year and list them. But I was looking for that 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.840 one person who would put their arm around me and say, now, 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.600 this is how you do it in regards to preaching 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.560 and leadership, and this is when you should build the building, 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.240 and this is when you should launch this part of 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:24.840 the ministry. And this is how you. Iire the right 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.360 staff and basically somebody to shepherd me through a mistake 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:33.520 free ministry and life and marriage, a one stop shop. 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.840 And Holly said to me, you know, in the middle 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.120 of my discouragement, this is what she said to comfort me. 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.640 You know, God is never going to give you what 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:50.120 you're asking for. He's going to give you a lot 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:54.040 of people to guide you, but He is not going 0:08:54.120 --> 0:09:01.520 to let your guides become your God. She said that 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:06.520 that sweet little HOLLI ferdict, thank you for your service, 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.600 hour's outreach. She talked to the Man of God that 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.880 way in my face, God is never gonna give you 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.760 book club Holly Bird, lover Holly French for I love. 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.079 And Holly said that to me, can you believe it? 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:24.360 She was right. God wasn't going to give me what 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:29.360 I was asking for. One reason is that God cannot 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.960 give you a mentor for where you are that will 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.720 limit you from where He is ultimately leading you to be. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.000 If God would have sent me in that season of 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.360 my life, one person that I would pattern my life 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.920 after totally, she said something important. He's going to give 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.880 you a lot of guides, but he wants to be 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:57.440 your God, and he gave you a unique gift, and 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.960 only he knows. She didn't say all this. I'm preaching 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.520 off of what she said to me fifteen years ago. 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.800 God is not going to give you a my player 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.800 career mode for your ministry. God is not going to 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.320 give you one person to model after, because if you 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.720 modeled after them completely and entirely, you would be them. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.280 And He already has them, so he could kill you. 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:20.880 If God gave you one person, the person that you 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:22.520 compare yourself to, and think of all I got just 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:23.640 be like them, and if I could have what they 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:25.719 have and do what they do, if God gave you them, 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:30.080 it would make you unnecessary. She was trying to get 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.960 me to see that in life, I will have many guides, 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.760 but only one God, only one God who knows me. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.880 And what I love about God the more I experience 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.320 his will and his plan for my little life is 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.760 that He's the only one who can match the courses 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:54.840 to the calling. When you go to college, If you 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:56.720 go to college, if you stay in college, you'll have 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.760 to declare a major eventually, say is that you take 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:02.320 you can take any classes you want to. You can 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.080 show up when you want to. Nobody's gonna make you 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.839 do anything. You can have a point seven GPA Eric 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.199 Phillips if you want to. You can party and flunk 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:11.960 out and come to North Greenville and follow me there 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.280 and ask me to help you get your life together 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:18.840 if you want to, Eric Phillips. But you can't declare 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.520 a major and then pick the I think a lot 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:25.720 of us wow want to pick an outcome that we 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:32.280 want in our lives, but then we want to customize 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:39.160 the courses because we live in that age where we 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:43.880 think like we think that that mentorship is like a menu, 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:49.240 Like you're a cheesecake factory where the menu is thicker 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.520 than the Bible. The menu. If you've been a cheesecake factory, 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:59.319 the menu is thicker than the Septuagint. And that's kind 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:00.960 of how we want to do. That's kind of how 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.120 the Corinthian Church wanted to do with Paul. I'm so 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:10.359 furious at this church because they had the best pastor, 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:15.000 the master pastor, Paul. How can they be fighting with 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.960 each other and divided within each other when Paul is 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:23.640 their pastor? How can they have such a master mentor 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:29.160 like Paul and be so petty. How can they have 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:34.640 a master mentor like Paul and be so immiture? And 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.600 now he's writing them a letter, not as an advisor, 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.480 not as a critic, as a father, to say to you, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.199 I see some things in your life. This is one 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.760 reason I don't like the concept of a mentor either, 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.720 because usually if we ask somebody to be our mentor, 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.520 we mean, will you be my mentor until I don't 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:58.560 agree with you anymore, then I'll get another one. Lord, 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.199 you told me this message was going to be hard 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:01.560 to preach, but you didn't tell me it was going 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:03.120 to be this hard to preach to them. Now help 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:08.760 me out. No, we do this all the time. It's like, okay, okay, okay, 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.000 here's how I typically do it in my life. It's 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:16.240 like I want to select certain things that I want 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.840 God to bring into my life to teach me lessons. 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:22.679 But not only do I want to select the lesson, 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:28.880 I want to select the outcome of the lesson. And 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:34.000 Paul Paul is having none of it. He's saying, you 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:41.559 cannot customize Christ. You can't customize Christ. What Paul went 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.520 through to be who he was, it cost him greatly. 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.400 In chapter eleven of Second Corinthians, he mentions a shipwreck, 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.760 he mentions a stony, he mentions many storms, He mentions betrayals, 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:59.920 he mentions opponents. All of that. In Second Corinthians, Chapter eleven, 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.319 Paul who paid the price to be an apostle of 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.760 Jesus Christ. He mentions all the things that made him 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:13.199 such a master pastor. Now he's writing to a church 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.560 that is in rebellion, and he's reminding them of his resume. 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.960 He says, I could brag even more, but I'm not 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.840 going to. I just want you to judge me based 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.560 on my results and see if I'm somebody worth listening to. 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.640 But before you judge me based on my results, let 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.840 me remind you a little bit more of what qualifies 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.120 me to be in this position. We live in a 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:43.200 day with a lot of advice and not much authority. 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:50.440 Everybody has an advice column, but very few people have 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:54.280 true authority. Paul is not writing advice in the scripture. 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.440 Sometimes we read the Bible like its quotes on pinterests. 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:02.800 My grace is sufficient for you. Well, that's true. But 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.120 before Paul said that sentence in that quote, he puts 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.000 it in a context that's a little more interesting. That's 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:10.160 what I want to speak to you a little bit 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:15.360 about today. Is that context. Paul mentions that he had 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.880 a revelation of God. He actually talks about himself in 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.440 the third person. At one point, he says, I know 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.520 a man who was caught up to the third heaven. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.880 But he's talking about himself. This is Paul. And no 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:32.520 wonder Paul needed something to keep him grounded because there 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:36.600 was so much glory on his life. No wonder Paul 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.120 needed something in his flesh because he had so much 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:44.120 revelation in his spirit. But I'm getting ahead of myself, 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:48.840 aren't I? Because Paul said I saw amazing things, and 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:50.640 I could tell you even more about it, but I'm 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.400 not going to. I don't want to boast about it. Instead, 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:58.680 he opens a window and he shows to the wound 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.680 that he calls a thorn, and the weakness that most 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.680 people would hide. I think we need more mentors like Paul, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.160 more people who will show us not only the great power, 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.000 but the problems that they have to overcome to operate 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:18.040 in that power. I don't ever want my kids to 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.360 see me not struggle. You say, well, don't you want 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:23.040 to set a good example. I want to set an 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:29.360 example of overcoming struggle, not avoiding it, not avoiding it. 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.120 Paul is like that, and we need this message now 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:35.960 more than ever. I really think there's a timely word 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:40.560 from God because now everybody wants to share their opinion, 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.600 whether or not it's even solicited. We live in a 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:54.240 day of twelve year old life coaches. I used to 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:56.440 read the guy's books early on until I realized he 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:00.120 had started six churches and all of them imploded. He 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:04.000 was a church planting consultant. Oh but you don't have 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.119 to pay for a consultant these days. Just go to 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.920 the comment section of any Facebook post and you will 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:17.720 find consultants in the comments. Speaking of Holly, about a 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.639 year ago, she showed me a comment. I asked her 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.399 to send it to me, because this is just unbelievable, y'all, 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.200 what people will offer in the way of expert opinion 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.600 that you did not solicit. I mean, she put a 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:32.000 picture of me and her on Instagram and somebody said, 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.640 y'all are so cute and awe and hearts and pendus 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:37.720 with hearts and all of the things that we put 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:42.720 to feign emotion and somebody said, Hi, Holly, not sure 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.359 if you noticed, but just wanted to say, your skin 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.879 looks so great. It's glowing and super clear. Thought you 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:53.159 should know. Ha, do share if you've recently changed something 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:57.400 in your skincare red heart. Three comments later, you're ready 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:02.240 for this. I feel like you look way better without eyeliner. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.840 All the makeup for so many years is making your 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:17.720 skin saggy. I might give y'all her user name so 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:19.400 y'all can look her up and talk to her after core. 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.160 How many y'all would enjoy that? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:25.720 Y'all aren't safe. Y'all learn not mature enough to handle it. 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:29.280 And I got permission to share this, HOLI, so I 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:33.800 can share it. The lady said botox can help with 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:42.840 the wrinkles. To listen to this, you're still beautiful. Thanks. 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.200 I wish I could show y'all her profile picture because 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.840 she's got crazy eyes. Her eyes are crazy, this woman, 0:18:52.119 --> 0:19:00.560 and she misspelled your and she misspelled she's a makeup consultant, y'all. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.399 She's an amateur Mary kay in the comments section, but 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:09.560 she needs a spelling teacher for the fifth grade words. Sorry, 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:15.720 sanctify me. Lord, you're still beautiful. I just don't watch this. 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.679 I just don't think you need so much makeup is 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:23.280 ruining your skin. And in the words of my kids, 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:34.679 who asked, who asked? Who asked? The unsolicited opinions of 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:40.000 people about how you should raise your kids, About how 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:43.560 you should relate to your husband, About what age you 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:47.200 should be married by if you're married, About what age 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.120 y'all really should start thinking about having kids. I mean, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:54.080 you're not getting any younger. Paul is not a consultant 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.159 in the comments to the Church of Court that's trolling 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.600 them with some little slivers of truth that are quoted 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:01.240 out of context and telling them great advice and plan 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.520 that he asks for their life independent of God's will. 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.240 He's an apostle by the will of God speaking to 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.840 people that he has a relationship with. This is not 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.080 some generic advice from an inspirational speaker who wants to 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:17.280 sell you something for two hundred and ninety nine dollars 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.399 and ninety nine cents on an infomercial or an e course. 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.000 This is not an influencer on Instagram that needs you 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:24.560 to follow them in order for them to get a 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:31.560 swipe up. Commission from a store. This is Paul, and 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.840 he does something dangerous because they respect him, but they're 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.600 starting to question him because there are super apostles that 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.840 have infiltrated the church and they started to inundate God's 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:47.040 people with opinions. You know, you really don't have to 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:51.200 follow Christ like that. You should mix a little Judaism 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.040 and a little bit of Christianity. And so now there's 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:56.680 so many mixed opinions. Paul has to set the record 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.600 straight and say I could lay down my authority if 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:01.760 I need to. I don't want to do it like that. 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:03.880 I would rather speak to you out of the love 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.080 for my heart. But in order that you just don't 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:08.440 think that I'm putting my authority on you to tell 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:12.080 you what I want you to do. I want to 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:18.880 talk to you about my adversity that really touched me. 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.959 Because it's difficult to find somebody who will break it 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:28.440 down for you to the level that Paul does. It's 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:30.720 difficult to It's not difficult to find somebody who'll complain 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:34.159 to you. It's not difficult to find somebody who will 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:37.800 tell you what they would do. It's not difficult at 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:39.399 all to find a parent whose kids are out of 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.520 the house. Their kids are lawyers and doctors now. And 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.280 what you should do and your kid is seven, that's 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:51.000 very easy. That's very easy to do. But Paul, in 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:53.840 the middle of his struggle to walk in the authority 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.080 of an apostle and what God has called him to do, 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:03.639 he shows appropriate vulnerability. I could go on and on 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:05.320 about going to the Third Heaven. I could go on 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.240 and on about what I endured. I'm choosing not to 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:14.480 do that. Instead, I want to tell you about my thorn. 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:21.720 I want to tell you about my thorn. Somebody says, 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:30.320 show me the thorn, show me the thorn. The thorns. Ah, 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:35.960 it's a metaphor, y'all. It's a metaphor. It's even like 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:38.320 a cliche. This is the verse we get it for. 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:43.320 It's like a thorn in my side, right, It's a metaphor. 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:48.280 Most of the things that we really deal with, when 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:50.160 we sing about them in church, we have to put 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:55.840 them in a metaphor form, because if we really mentioned 0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:00.520 what we really struggle with, it will scare people and 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:03.000 they would judge us. At least we think they would 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:06.600 probably surprised. You. The person with their hands lifted higher 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:08.639 than you this morning. They probably got more thorns than you, 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.440 but that's not the point of this message. Paul said, 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:23.280 I want to tell you about my thorn. Now. Since 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.240 I've studied this text all week, I've learned a lot 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:31.200 about different interpretations of what Paul's thorn was. Historically, some 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:36.280 people say that poor Paul had epileptic seizures. Nothing funny 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:38.080 about that. But the reason that they trace it is 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:40.240 because when he was blinded and knocked off of his 0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:42.320 horse on the road to Damascus where he was going 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:46.879 to persecute Christians, that he never quite recovered, and that 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:50.280 was his thorn. Other people would say that there was 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:53.399 something wrong with Paul's eyesight. When he wrote to the 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:56.679 church at Galatia, he talked about how large his letters 0:23:56.680 --> 0:23:59.359 were because he wrote with his own pen, and he 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:01.720 even mentioned that the Galatians would be willing to give 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:05.760 their own eyes to him if necessary. Some scholars say 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:07.760 that it was from the blinding on the road to 0:24:07.840 --> 0:24:12.640 Damascus that his eyesight never fully recover. Other people don't 0:24:12.680 --> 0:24:16.119 associate it with blindness or seizures at all, or a 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:20.560 medical condition. Luther and Calvin, they identified it with a 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:24.960 spiritual temptation that Paul faced. And there is a little 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:28.800 bit of support for this scripturally because in Tewod Corinthians 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:34.840 eleven he mentions that I inwardly burn, I inwardly burn, 0:24:34.960 --> 0:24:38.520 not just persecution. Some people think that Paul Storn was 0:24:38.760 --> 0:24:41.920 the opponents who were saying about Paul. He's not real 0:24:42.000 --> 0:24:45.040 and he's not valid, and you can't believe him, and 0:24:45.119 --> 0:24:47.159 you know his letters are good, but he doesn't speak 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:50.360 so well. It was those opponents that were coming against him. 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:54.359 And so Paul does what we do when you have 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:57.480 something in your life that you can't mention, he gives 0:24:57.480 --> 0:25:03.160 it a metaphor. The metaphor, and no matter how many 0:25:03.160 --> 0:25:07.119 different scholars and how many different theologians trace the Greek 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:11.000 and the precedence and all of the different things that 0:25:11.040 --> 0:25:12.760 it could be, it seems to be a lot of 0:25:12.800 --> 0:25:16.719 confusion about what was Paul's thorn. But this is the 0:25:16.720 --> 0:25:18.639 thing I was excited to tell you. I studied all 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:22.480 week and I found out y'all what Paul Scorn was. 0:25:23.960 --> 0:25:28.159 And from this pulpit I am going to announce to 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:31.440 you today. You don't look like you believe me for 0:25:31.480 --> 0:25:35.080 the first time. Come on, there have been thousands of 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:38.840 years of preachers. But today I am going to definitively 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:44.159 tell you what was Paul's thorn in Tewo Corinthians, chapter twelve. Now, 0:25:44.200 --> 0:25:46.280 before we get there, let's talk a little bit about 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:49.360 the metaphor. First of all, a thorn is a small thing. 0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:52.440 We sing about a God who can do big things. 0:25:53.119 --> 0:25:55.280 But when Paul went to talk about what God had 0:25:55.320 --> 0:25:57.560 taught him that meant the most to him in his life, 0:25:57.600 --> 0:26:00.440 he did not talk about a big thing, talked about 0:26:00.440 --> 0:26:03.920 a small thing. He said three times. The King James 0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:08.280 says thrice, thrice. I just want to put that in there. Thrice. 0:26:08.359 --> 0:26:11.760 I ask God to take it away three times. Now, 0:26:11.800 --> 0:26:15.000 this does not mean three times Paul prayed, take it away, 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:18.080 take it away, Take it away, Okay, God, I guess 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:20.320 I gotta live with it, Which brings me to an 0:26:20.320 --> 0:26:23.000 important point. If you've got a thorn in your life 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:24.960 that you're dealing with it, nobody knows about it, and 0:26:24.960 --> 0:26:29.760 you need God to take it away, ask him, ask him. 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:39.200 Don't say God's no for him. I was taught this 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:43.000 in negotiating. I was taught this in dating. Don't say 0:26:43.040 --> 0:26:46.400 somebody's no for them. Well, they wouldn't want to go 0:26:46.440 --> 0:26:49.800 out to eat with me. Well, you know what, You're 0:26:49.800 --> 0:26:51.960 not out to eat with them now, And if you 0:26:52.040 --> 0:26:53.840 ask them and they say no, you still won't be 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:55.880 out to eat with them. So it would be the 0:26:55.920 --> 0:26:59.600 same result if you risk the rejection and put yourself 0:26:59.600 --> 0:27:02.240 out there and get some practice, and then you can 0:27:02.280 --> 0:27:04.600 analyze the process by which you might have failed at 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:06.840 the endeavor of getting a date, apply it to your 0:27:06.880 --> 0:27:10.200 next opportunity, and maybe one day you'll name your kid 0:27:10.280 --> 0:27:14.000 Stephen after you get married. Because I told you, don't 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:22.240 ever let somebody else. Don't let anybody else say God's 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:26.879 no for him? Ask God? Did you ask him? You 0:27:27.040 --> 0:27:31.119 upraight about it? You did because I thought you just 0:27:31.160 --> 0:27:36.399 were like worrying about it. Did you ask him to 0:27:36.480 --> 0:27:40.479 do it? And I don't mean, you know, throw it 0:27:40.520 --> 0:27:44.359 on top like a sprinkle after you tried everything else? 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:54.199 He falla, he won't and you I don't want to No, no, no, 0:27:54.200 --> 0:27:57.960 I'm saying, like Napaul doesn't throw on words. He said, 0:27:58.000 --> 0:28:01.600 I pleaded with God. I don't think it even means 0:28:01.600 --> 0:28:04.359 he asked God three times. I think it means He 0:28:04.440 --> 0:28:10.240 launched three separate campaigns to try to get God to 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:15.880 change a situation, and after every campaign to get God 0:28:15.920 --> 0:28:21.600 to change it failed, then he accepted it. But at 0:28:21.680 --> 0:28:25.879 least ask, at least ask if you need God to 0:28:25.920 --> 0:28:29.040 heal somebody? I know, of course, Well, if it's God's will, 0:28:29.080 --> 0:28:35.080 he'll heal them. Okay, great, ask him, ask him. Well, 0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:37.040 I know God probably won't do that for me because 0:28:37.040 --> 0:28:40.600 I'm probably not gonna ask him. He's a big boy. 0:28:41.600 --> 0:28:44.520 Let him say his own. No, he doesn't need you 0:28:44.560 --> 0:28:46.800 to protect him, like God doesn't need you to be 0:28:46.840 --> 0:28:49.000 his assistant. Ah, you can ask him that right now. 0:28:49.200 --> 0:28:52.360 He's very busy to care about your little problem. Ask 0:28:52.440 --> 0:28:56.080 him for yourself. Maybe he likes you more than you 0:28:56.120 --> 0:28:59.000 think he does. Maybe he'll say yes and surprise you. 0:29:00.040 --> 0:29:02.200 I ask God. Sometimes I'm like, I'm like, okay, I 0:29:02.200 --> 0:29:04.280 don't have much time to study today, but God, would 0:29:04.280 --> 0:29:08.240 you give me my message quick? And sometimes he doesn't, 0:29:09.000 --> 0:29:12.880 but sometimes he does. So now I ask him every time, 0:29:13.520 --> 0:29:15.520 and if he says no, and I have to study 0:29:15.560 --> 0:29:18.160 all week, I was gonna have to study all week anyway. 0:29:18.400 --> 0:29:23.840 It never hurts to ask, but ask him, ask him, 0:29:25.080 --> 0:29:28.880 ask him. I used to review Collie. You can't pray 0:29:28.920 --> 0:29:37.800 for a good parking space. She said, why not. That's 0:29:37.840 --> 0:29:42.360 a good question. Ask him? Ask him. I got some 0:29:42.480 --> 0:29:44.800 things I'm asking God for that are so stupid. I 0:29:44.840 --> 0:29:47.720 would never tell you about him. You would laugh me 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:51.320 out of the room. But I'm not asking you, am I. 0:29:52.920 --> 0:29:57.800 That's why I didn't ask you. I don't ask people 0:29:57.800 --> 0:29:59.760 who don't have the authority to give me what I'm 0:29:59.760 --> 0:30:04.600 asking for. So some stuff I gotta ask God. I 0:30:04.680 --> 0:30:09.720 gotta ask God. I need to see your supervisor, somebody 0:30:09.720 --> 0:30:13.240 with the authority to get it. Thought, I'll need advice. 0:30:13.600 --> 0:30:17.120 How need authority? How need somebody who's got the keys 0:30:18.280 --> 0:30:23.400 to walk me through this door. You're asking people questions 0:30:23.400 --> 0:30:32.040 who don't even have the keys. My family has launched 0:30:32.160 --> 0:30:38.360 three separate campaigns against me to get a dog, and 0:30:38.440 --> 0:30:41.800 I can mark each phase of the campaign is really grim. 0:30:42.000 --> 0:30:45.320 But he's enlisted everybody in the family. The only one 0:30:45.320 --> 0:30:49.400 who's standing with me in solidarity is Elijah, my firstborn son, 0:30:49.920 --> 0:30:52.640 bless of my flesh and bone of my bones. We 0:30:52.720 --> 0:30:58.920 don't want a dog. So the first phase he wrote 0:30:58.920 --> 0:31:02.640 a song, Daddy can a dog? Daddy can I get? 0:31:04.160 --> 0:31:06.920 He took the piano lessons that I paid for and 0:31:07.000 --> 0:31:09.840 perverted it against me to ask me for a pet 0:31:10.040 --> 0:31:18.520 that I parenthally have already prohibited. Then he started Phase 0:31:18.560 --> 0:31:22.000 two that went on for months. Phase two signs all 0:31:22.040 --> 0:31:26.320 over the house and text messages with pictures of rescue 0:31:26.360 --> 0:31:32.400 dogs all day law the saddest Sarah McLaughlin eyed dogs 0:31:32.680 --> 0:31:37.920 you've ever seen in your life, just flooding my text message. 0:31:39.280 --> 0:31:41.440 And this is what Paul meant in the text where 0:31:41.440 --> 0:31:45.040 he said a messenger of Satan. No no, no, that's 0:31:45.080 --> 0:31:49.640 not in the Greek. But and the third phase they're 0:31:49.680 --> 0:31:56.120 currently doing because he finally realized, Mom, you're the only one. 0:31:56.920 --> 0:32:01.120 And now all of Hell and and all of Holly 0:32:01.560 --> 0:32:05.440 and everybody in my house except Elijah, my true son 0:32:05.640 --> 0:32:11.400 in the faith, my Timothy is against me. Not just three, 0:32:11.520 --> 0:32:17.080 not just three prayers that they said three seasons, three seasons, 0:32:18.760 --> 0:32:21.040 and when you see God about something for a whole season. 0:32:23.400 --> 0:32:25.480 Whatever Paul's thorn was, And I'm gonna tell you what 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:27.560 it was in a minute, I have not forgotten to 0:32:27.560 --> 0:32:28.840 tell you what it was. I'm gonna tell you what 0:32:28.840 --> 0:32:33.680 it was because all the commentators have something different to say. 0:32:33.680 --> 0:32:35.600 But I found out what it was. I found out 0:32:36.120 --> 0:32:39.080 what it was. I studied all weekend. I found out 0:32:39.080 --> 0:32:40.680 what it was. I asked God to show me quick. 0:32:40.720 --> 0:32:42.320 He didn't show me quick. So I kept studying it 0:32:42.440 --> 0:32:47.000 and I found out what it was. But before we 0:32:47.240 --> 0:32:52.280 get to what it was, let's talk about what it represents. 0:32:54.200 --> 0:32:57.960 You think maybe Paul didn't mention it by name because 0:32:58.000 --> 0:33:00.360 he did not want to limit the application to the 0:33:00.400 --> 0:33:05.240 people that he was sharing it with. A metaphor gives 0:33:05.280 --> 0:33:09.880 you more room than an issue does. So fas exactly 0:33:09.880 --> 0:33:11.440 what he struggle with, you go, I don't struggle with that. 0:33:11.960 --> 0:33:16.160 I'm better than Paul. Or if it was something that 0:33:16.400 --> 0:33:19.480 is less than what you strugle with, you go, huh, Well, 0:33:19.640 --> 0:33:21.640 if he calls that a struggle, there's no hope for me. 0:33:23.160 --> 0:33:24.800 I used talk to guy and he'd be like, I've 0:33:24.800 --> 0:33:26.960 been really struggling lately. I've had to cut my prayer 0:33:27.000 --> 0:33:29.400 time to two hours a day. And the way that 0:33:29.400 --> 0:33:31.080 would make you feel. He was a pastor, and he 0:33:31.080 --> 0:33:33.920 would say that to the church and the guy sitting 0:33:33.960 --> 0:33:35.400 out there that has to do a real job and 0:33:35.440 --> 0:33:38.120 can't just sit around reading about Bartholomew and Thomas and 0:33:38.320 --> 0:33:41.320 Alpheus and all these Bible names all week. It's sitting 0:33:41.320 --> 0:33:45.920 there feeling like crap comparing himself. Oh that's your thorn. 0:33:47.280 --> 0:33:50.160 I was gonna show you mine, but I'm gonna put 0:33:50.160 --> 0:33:55.640 this thorn right back here where it was. Oh God, 0:33:57.120 --> 0:33:59.760 that's why the power of a metaphor. I don't mean 0:33:59.800 --> 0:34:01.800 to make this English class, but I keep coming back 0:34:01.800 --> 0:34:04.440 to the power of a metaphor. We've got one new 0:34:04.440 --> 0:34:06.400 song we've been singing in the church when are recorded 0:34:06.440 --> 0:34:09.560 on October sixth, where it has all these everythings you're like, 0:34:09.680 --> 0:34:12.880 I can plug a song in a serment. I've been 0:34:12.920 --> 0:34:15.880 doing this a long time. I've been this time and 0:34:16.200 --> 0:34:19.279 I like the song because it gives you examples. It says, 0:34:19.320 --> 0:34:22.880 I'm calling on the God of Jacob, I'm calling on 0:34:22.920 --> 0:34:27.720 the God of Moses. I'm calling on the God of David. 0:34:28.920 --> 0:34:31.960 That's my favorite one because it says I'm calling on 0:34:32.000 --> 0:34:35.839 the God of David, who made a shepherd boy courageous. 0:34:36.520 --> 0:34:40.560 But this is my favorite line. I may not face Goliath, 0:34:41.760 --> 0:34:47.960 but I've got my own giants now. The reason it 0:34:48.080 --> 0:34:50.640 says it like that because I wrote that with a 0:34:50.640 --> 0:34:53.160 few friends. And the reason we chose to say it 0:34:53.280 --> 0:34:57.440 like that is because if it addressed the specific issue, 0:34:57.719 --> 0:35:02.279 that would be too awkward. And limited. So we just 0:35:02.360 --> 0:35:05.520 say I may not face Goliath. That's the name of 0:35:05.560 --> 0:35:09.400 a particular enemy that David faced. But I've got my 0:35:09.640 --> 0:35:13.960 own giants. So when you sing that line, no matter 0:35:14.000 --> 0:35:21.480 how dirty, dark, stinky, rotten, filthy, corrupted, perverted or subversive 0:35:21.840 --> 0:35:26.000 your giant is, you can sing it with a big 0:35:26.000 --> 0:35:28.840 old smile on your face, because all the way it 0:35:28.880 --> 0:35:32.680 be too awkward. Right, I'm calling on the God of 0:35:32.800 --> 0:35:38.520 David who made a shepherd boy courageous. You know, I 0:35:38.600 --> 0:35:41.279 may not face go LII can't be too specific here, 0:35:41.920 --> 0:35:48.200 Yeah a metaphor, I mean, no face go Lie'm a 0:35:48.320 --> 0:35:51.840 functional alcoholic. You're gonna get gona do they gonna do that? 0:35:51.840 --> 0:35:55.640 I'm gonna do that. It doesn't even rhyme. Let's at 0:35:55.719 --> 0:36:03.040 least get it to rhyme. I mean I can't dying, right, 0:36:04.160 --> 0:36:12.520 you like that one? You can't say you mean now 0:36:12.680 --> 0:36:17.800 says go liar? My kid's expulsive liar. Right, you can't 0:36:17.800 --> 0:36:20.239 sing about them while they're sitting next to you. So 0:36:20.280 --> 0:36:21.800 funny thing is funny thing is The funny thing is 0:36:21.840 --> 0:36:24.399 funny thing is two people sitting next to each other 0:36:25.320 --> 0:36:27.760 singing about the other one that they came to church 0:36:27.800 --> 0:36:30.680 with and the other one didn't know. You're my liar. 0:36:31.480 --> 0:36:34.200 You're the one look straight ahead right now, right now, 0:36:34.320 --> 0:36:37.080 right now, right now, looks straight ahead, right now. You 0:36:37.120 --> 0:36:41.040 didn't even know you're the one I'm singing about. You're 0:36:41.080 --> 0:36:48.000 the one I'm crying about. And I can't tell you 0:36:47.320 --> 0:36:57.279 you're my thorn. Oh that's mean, poster Steven. But it 0:36:57.320 --> 0:37:01.000 begs the question, doesn't it. Why? Why would a god 0:37:01.719 --> 0:37:05.279 who has enough power to take down a giant with 0:37:05.400 --> 0:37:10.680 a rock leave something as small as a thorn? Wow? 0:37:12.160 --> 0:37:16.200 Why would a god who said you could have mustard 0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:20.040 seed faith and move something as big as a mountain? 0:37:20.480 --> 0:37:25.080 Why would that God leave something as small as a 0:37:25.280 --> 0:37:29.080 thorn in the life of someone as important this Paul? 0:37:30.280 --> 0:37:33.600 And it begs a better question? Why would God allow 0:37:33.680 --> 0:37:38.200 you season after season to sing about goliaths, to sing 0:37:38.239 --> 0:37:41.640 about mountains, to pray about them, to ask about them, 0:37:41.800 --> 0:37:44.840 to strategize and maybe it'll be different this time? And 0:37:44.920 --> 0:37:50.600 Paul said, I asked three times, three times now. I 0:37:50.680 --> 0:37:55.160 launched three separate campaigns that I waged with heaven to 0:37:55.200 --> 0:37:57.839 see if God would take this away so I could 0:37:57.840 --> 0:38:02.600 be more effective for him. This was something that I 0:38:02.719 --> 0:38:05.719 wanted and it was something that I thought God would want. 0:38:06.600 --> 0:38:08.719 And we don't get to know. Was it physical or 0:38:08.719 --> 0:38:10.839 we don't get to know was it mental or did 0:38:10.840 --> 0:38:14.000 the Great Apostles struggle with depression? See, we probably couldn't 0:38:14.040 --> 0:38:16.040 handle that. Then we would listen to him if he 0:38:16.040 --> 0:38:18.600 said rejoicing the Lord always, because we'd be like, oh, 0:38:18.680 --> 0:38:21.279 you're a hypocrite, Paul, you're canceled. You can't struggle with 0:38:21.320 --> 0:38:23.640 that and preach to me, because we like, we like 0:38:23.719 --> 0:38:25.640 to cut people out when they don't live up to 0:38:25.680 --> 0:38:29.279 our exact standards. But all have sin and fall in 0:38:29.400 --> 0:38:37.120 short of a glory of God. Oh oh, Paul, go oh, pau, 0:38:37.680 --> 0:38:51.799 go oh oh. Thorns all up in the seat next 0:38:51.800 --> 0:38:53.880 to you. Don't get too close to her. You might 0:38:53.920 --> 0:38:59.040 get stuck. She's got thorns. And I want to say 0:38:59.040 --> 0:39:00.960 something else before I tell you what pulse thorne was, 0:39:00.960 --> 0:39:02.600 because you're not gonna believe it when you see it. 0:39:05.400 --> 0:39:07.560 I want to I want to make sure that you 0:39:07.640 --> 0:39:11.560 understand that life will give you an ample supply of thorns. 0:39:13.160 --> 0:39:18.439 You don't have to ask for one. Okay, Lord, all right, Lord. 0:39:18.440 --> 0:39:21.120 I hear the preacher today. He's saying, we got to 0:39:21.160 --> 0:39:27.080 suffer from persecution, bringing on luid. I'm ready, gun. I 0:39:27.160 --> 0:39:28.960 was in a fair service one time and somebody start 0:39:28.960 --> 0:39:32.360 praying God, I just pray for a trial by fire. 0:39:34.719 --> 0:39:36.759 I backed up so quick. Hold up, y'all, I got 0:39:36.800 --> 0:39:40.319 a phone call. I didn't come back. Don't. I don't 0:39:40.360 --> 0:39:42.320 even want to be in the prayer circle with somebody 0:39:42.400 --> 0:39:44.640 dumb enough to pray that. And oh God, when I'm 0:39:44.680 --> 0:39:56.040 with somebody and they start praying for patience, it's all 0:39:56.080 --> 0:40:00.399 in the text. It's all in the text. He said 0:40:00.440 --> 0:40:06.960 in verse seven. I was given a thorn. I didn't 0:40:07.000 --> 0:40:09.680 ask for it. Because I'm preaching the people that are 0:40:09.680 --> 0:40:15.520 fighting something you didn't ask for. I'm preaching to people 0:40:16.000 --> 0:40:20.279 who are fighting something that you didn't ask for. And 0:40:20.440 --> 0:40:23.080 all these categories Paul lists will make a good starting 0:40:23.120 --> 0:40:25.560 place for us to evaluate our life and see what 0:40:25.719 --> 0:40:28.200 is that thing where we need God. He mentions hardships, 0:40:28.320 --> 0:40:32.840 He mentions insults, He mentions persecutions, he mentions difficulties. He 0:40:32.960 --> 0:40:36.800 mentions all of these things weaknesses. He mentions them categorically 0:40:37.239 --> 0:40:44.719 and metaphorically. But this is not a shopping list. Life 0:40:44.719 --> 0:40:47.640 will give you enough of those you don't have to 0:40:47.680 --> 0:40:53.400 go looking for them. Insults. Life will give you plenty 0:40:53.440 --> 0:40:56.839 of those. You don't have to infer them when they're 0:40:56.840 --> 0:41:01.680 not there. Do you see how she looked at me? No, 0:41:02.560 --> 0:41:05.160 I don't even think she was looking at you. Yes 0:41:05.200 --> 0:41:06.680 she did, she was looking at me. Did you hear 0:41:06.680 --> 0:41:08.319 how they said that? They said that about me? They 0:41:08.320 --> 0:41:13.160 were talking about me. Insults. Life will give you enough. 0:41:14.280 --> 0:41:17.560 You'll get insulted for real. Somebody will be on your 0:41:17.600 --> 0:41:19.600 comments looking for you to have a boat talk so 0:41:20.000 --> 0:41:23.160 Mary Kay consultant Ninja in the comments, trying to take 0:41:23.200 --> 0:41:27.640 you down. You won't have to go looking for a hardship. Yeah, 0:41:27.680 --> 0:41:33.000 it'll give you enough. And that's why for me, this 0:41:33.640 --> 0:41:37.560 is just me in my house. Social media is really dangerous. 0:41:38.520 --> 0:41:41.200 I'm not saying it's bad because right now while I'm preaching, 0:41:41.239 --> 0:41:43.520 they're posting on an account about my sermon on the thing. 0:41:45.200 --> 0:41:48.759 But for me, because life gives me enough thorns, I 0:41:48.800 --> 0:41:51.919 have enough insecurity. I deal with enough in my head. 0:41:53.040 --> 0:41:55.080 I mean, I got enough movies to make me miserable 0:41:55.080 --> 0:42:00.960 the rest of my life. Regrets things I replay, self doubt, 0:42:01.640 --> 0:42:06.040 even self loathing. Well hold on, no, Pastor Stephen, you 0:42:06.080 --> 0:42:10.200 are a preacher. You should have worked through these issues. 0:42:13.080 --> 0:42:20.000 Paul had a thorn. You have a thorn if you 0:42:20.120 --> 0:42:23.239 keep looking at me this fake I'm gonna interview your 0:42:23.280 --> 0:42:26.200 family members and I'm gonna find out your thorn, and 0:42:26.200 --> 0:42:28.919 I'm gonna put you on blast in the pulpit next week. 0:42:32.960 --> 0:42:36.720 But what got me about it was that social media 0:42:38.160 --> 0:42:42.960 can be like a thorn store. Where As if you 0:42:43.000 --> 0:42:47.640 don't have enough already to feel worried about or to 0:42:47.680 --> 0:42:51.360 compare yourself, if it's not hard enough to be a 0:42:51.400 --> 0:42:53.520 teenager with the fear of missing out, you can go 0:42:53.560 --> 0:42:55.279 and find proof that you're missing out of all the 0:42:55.280 --> 0:42:57.239 people that didn't invite you, and watch the things that 0:42:57.239 --> 0:43:01.360 they're doing. It can be like a for me. For me, 0:43:01.440 --> 0:43:04.319 I don't go on Facebook because it gonna make me 0:43:04.360 --> 0:43:07.239 too angry. And I may not face Goliath, but I 0:43:07.320 --> 0:43:10.360 already got a really bad temper. I may not face 0:43:10.480 --> 0:43:19.920 goal liar, but I have anger is shoes right, So 0:43:19.960 --> 0:43:24.080 I don't need all that. I don't need more thorns. 0:43:25.000 --> 0:43:27.960 I don't need to borrow your thorns. I don't need 0:43:27.960 --> 0:43:30.800 to be swimming in the sewage of other people's anger 0:43:31.080 --> 0:43:34.000 when I've already got enough anger of my own. I'm 0:43:34.040 --> 0:43:38.200 not looking for me. Instagram is like it's like thornhub. 0:43:38.680 --> 0:43:43.359 It's like it's just like it's this. Oh God, he's 0:43:43.360 --> 0:43:47.240 preaching a real sermon today. He's saying real things today. 0:43:47.560 --> 0:43:52.640 To me, this is like a I'm not looking for insults, hardships, persecutions, weaknesses. 0:43:52.960 --> 0:43:56.280 I've already got enough of those. I need a word 0:43:56.320 --> 0:44:00.440 from God. I need an encouraging voice. I needed that 0:44:00.520 --> 0:44:09.359 I can aspire to. That looks like crisis. Ah. He said, 0:44:09.360 --> 0:44:12.480 A thorn was given to me. And he says a 0:44:12.600 --> 0:44:16.200 strange phrase. He says it was a messenger of Satan. 0:44:16.640 --> 0:44:21.000 The word in Greek for messenger is angelos. What does 0:44:21.040 --> 0:44:31.359 that sound like? Angelos? Angelos, angelos angel the same word 0:44:31.400 --> 0:44:35.680 that is used for messenger. Y'all don't believe me. Put 0:44:35.719 --> 0:44:38.799 my Bible verse back up. He said, because of these 0:44:38.800 --> 0:44:41.359 surpassingly great revelations, therefore, in order to keep you from 0:44:41.360 --> 0:44:43.799 a coming sid, I was giving a thorn, a messenger 0:44:44.760 --> 0:44:53.319 of Satan. Angelos, same word as angel, the same word 0:44:53.320 --> 0:44:57.120 as angel, an angel, a messenger. It's the same word. 0:44:57.120 --> 0:45:01.000 There's no difference in the word an angel of Satan 0:45:01.760 --> 0:45:07.799 to tormin me an angel of Satan. I don't want 0:45:07.840 --> 0:45:11.719 that kind. I don't. I never prayed for Satan to 0:45:11.760 --> 0:45:14.440 give me anything in my life. And Paul didn't like 0:45:14.480 --> 0:45:15.920 it either, and he said, the first time he got 0:45:15.960 --> 0:45:18.480 that thing, hit with that thing, he said, return to cinder, 0:45:21.200 --> 0:45:25.120 and he did it three times. And sometimes that works 0:45:25.160 --> 0:45:26.480 and God helps you through it and you're like, oh, 0:45:26.480 --> 0:45:28.160 I don't. I'm not going to struggle with that anymore. 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:30.920 And that's awesome, and you can testify and help others. 0:45:31.120 --> 0:45:34.000 But in this case, Paul said, in this case, he said, 0:45:35.400 --> 0:45:38.319 I had to see that it was given to me, 0:45:39.719 --> 0:45:44.799 even though the enemy delivered it. He said, it came 0:45:44.840 --> 0:45:49.560 from an angel, an angel of Satan gave me a 0:45:49.600 --> 0:45:54.279 gift from God. And that's why I think this week, 0:45:54.280 --> 0:45:57.879 when it comes to the thorns in your life, even 0:45:57.920 --> 0:46:00.200 if it's a person that gets on your nerves, raise 0:46:00.200 --> 0:46:03.200 your hand. If there's one in your life, so so 0:46:03.200 --> 0:46:07.719 so this week, tell them you're such an angel. Now, Now, 0:46:07.719 --> 0:46:09.720 if they go to church here, don't say that, because 0:46:09.800 --> 0:46:13.640 they'll they'll know the Greek. But if they don't go 0:46:13.680 --> 0:46:15.560 to church here, they won't have a clue what you're 0:46:15.560 --> 0:46:20.839 talking about. Say, man, you're just like an angel's mean 0:46:23.880 --> 0:46:29.799 and what the angel brother is a thorn? And I 0:46:29.840 --> 0:46:33.560 started to get confused because he said, it is angel. 0:46:33.640 --> 0:46:40.600 You're you're teenagers. Did you know your teenagers parents are angels? Uh? Teenagers? 0:46:40.640 --> 0:46:44.879 Did you know your parents are angels? I can't wait 0:46:44.960 --> 0:46:48.760 all week, people walking around their house feeling like, what's up? Angel? 0:46:48.920 --> 0:46:51.879 Angel and angel? Everybody, all the angels saluting each other. 0:46:52.000 --> 0:46:54.480 That God is using to keep us dependent on him. 0:46:56.120 --> 0:46:58.200 You gave me a gift of realizing how much I 0:46:58.320 --> 0:47:09.440 need God. Oh yeah, oh yeah, You're gonna see angels 0:47:09.480 --> 0:47:12.399 everywhere this way. But the verse back off. He said, 0:47:12.920 --> 0:47:15.200 it's a messenger from Satan. He said, but I don't 0:47:15.320 --> 0:47:17.400 like to I don't. I don't have to like the 0:47:17.520 --> 0:47:23.400 delivery service to open the package. So it was an angel, 0:47:24.200 --> 0:47:28.120 a messenger of Satan, in order to keep me from 0:47:28.200 --> 0:47:33.279 getting so conceited. God knows what you're prone to. God 0:47:33.360 --> 0:47:36.000 knew that Paul was prone to pride. So what God does, 0:47:36.480 --> 0:47:44.759 He matches your thorn, your course to your calling. The 0:47:44.920 --> 0:47:47.640 reason I can't pick my own mentor in life is 0:47:47.760 --> 0:47:50.040 I don't know what I need because I don't even 0:47:50.040 --> 0:47:53.040 know who I really am yet, and I certainly don't 0:47:53.040 --> 0:47:54.960 know who I'm gonna be when God gets done with me. 0:47:56.920 --> 0:47:59.719 So God is so good that he knows how to 0:47:59.760 --> 0:48:10.040 man your thorn. Your thorn from his throne. He said 0:48:10.080 --> 0:48:19.320 it was sent a messenger. Yeah, Satan, to torment me, 0:48:21.160 --> 0:48:28.320 torment me. You've been tormented by it. You've been tormented 0:48:28.360 --> 0:48:32.040 by it. It torments you when there's a weakness and 0:48:32.120 --> 0:48:34.760 you can't get stronger in it. It is to torments 0:48:34.800 --> 0:48:38.279 you that I should be further along, and I did 0:48:38.320 --> 0:48:42.560 it again. It torments you that other people can do 0:48:42.680 --> 0:48:58.920 that easily, but it's not easy for me. It torments you. Torment, torment, torment, torment, tormentor, mentor, mentor, mentormentor, mentor, 0:49:00.120 --> 0:49:12.280 mentor men poor mentor mentor mentor. Paul Storn was his mentor. 0:49:24.400 --> 0:49:26.800 I told you i'd tell you what Paul Storn was, 0:49:27.000 --> 0:49:31.800 and I did. It was his mentor. It was the 0:49:31.960 --> 0:49:40.520 thing God gave him to teach him grace. So I 0:49:40.600 --> 0:49:42.880 actually don't have to interview anybody to find out what 0:49:42.960 --> 0:49:48.680 your thorn is. I already know it's your mentor. It's 0:49:48.719 --> 0:49:54.640 the mentor you didn't ask for. It's the thing that 0:49:54.760 --> 0:49:58.600 showed up in your life. Because see, you've been trained 0:49:58.600 --> 0:50:01.200 in a lot of things. Some of you have a 0:50:01.280 --> 0:50:04.680 master's degree. Some of you know how to run a business. 0:50:05.440 --> 0:50:07.960 Some of you know how to make straight a's, some 0:50:08.080 --> 0:50:10.480 of you know how to impress others. Some of you 0:50:10.600 --> 0:50:12.920 know how to dress. Some of you know how to 0:50:13.000 --> 0:50:15.480 talk real good and you can flatter people and say 0:50:15.560 --> 0:50:18.440 things to get out of the situation. But there are 0:50:18.600 --> 0:50:22.880 some things that can only be learned in Thorn University. 0:50:25.520 --> 0:50:27.719 There are some things that God can only teach you, 0:50:27.880 --> 0:50:34.360 not through advice, but through adversity. Paul was not a rookie, 0:50:35.239 --> 0:50:39.040 and Paul was not a nude, and Paul Paul was 0:50:39.080 --> 0:50:43.520 not an unsolicited dear abby advice columnist. Paul was an 0:50:43.560 --> 0:50:47.040 apostle of Jesus Christ, and he didn't even want to be. 0:50:48.640 --> 0:50:52.000 Paul never even applied to be an apostle. He was 0:50:52.080 --> 0:50:56.399 just riding on his donkey through Damascus and God Pop 0:50:56.520 --> 0:51:00.239 knocked him off his donkey and said, new Boss, I 0:51:00.400 --> 0:51:06.960 am Jesus whom you are persecuting, and had delete him 0:51:07.000 --> 0:51:10.719 by the hand. You got a new mentor now, Paul. 0:51:11.960 --> 0:51:16.680 This is difficult because Paul studied under watch this Gameleo 0:51:17.440 --> 0:51:21.240 Gamalio was a father of the Sanhedrin, not just a member. 0:51:21.520 --> 0:51:25.560 Gamaliol was the grandson of Hillel. The Gamaleo was so powerful, 0:51:25.800 --> 0:51:28.879 they said the glory of the Torah died when Gamalio died, 0:51:29.120 --> 0:51:33.160 but he was steeped only in Judaism. When Gamalio mentored Paul, 0:51:33.360 --> 0:51:35.520 he could teach him so much. He could teach him 0:51:35.520 --> 0:51:37.960 about the law, He could teach him about the oral tradition, 0:51:38.200 --> 0:51:40.680 and Paul sat at his feet. He defends himself in 0:51:40.800 --> 0:51:43.080 Acts twenty two, verse three. He said, I grew up 0:51:43.080 --> 0:51:45.560 in Jerusalem, and I sat at the feet of Gamalio. 0:51:45.840 --> 0:51:48.360 He was my mentor. But one day, as I was 0:51:48.440 --> 0:51:51.480 going to persecute the church and wipe out those who 0:51:51.560 --> 0:51:54.120 were members of the way, help me, Holy Spirit, I 0:51:54.239 --> 0:51:57.160 got knocked down by something bigger than me. I got 0:51:57.239 --> 0:52:04.800 blinded by a light I didn't even ask for. And 0:52:04.880 --> 0:52:09.000 Gomalio could teach me about grammar, but he couldn't teach 0:52:09.040 --> 0:52:14.120 me about grace. It took a thorn to show me 0:52:14.239 --> 0:52:19.960 that I didn't ask for it. And God, if you 0:52:20.000 --> 0:52:23.520 want to take it is still on the table. You 0:52:23.600 --> 0:52:28.200 can have it back anytime. But the torment stops here. 0:52:30.640 --> 0:52:36.399 I will not be tormented by this thorn one more day. 0:52:39.040 --> 0:52:43.200 If you are not going to take this thorn away, 0:52:44.239 --> 0:52:47.560 then God, you will need to give me the grace. 0:52:51.719 --> 0:52:56.759 So when Paul preaches. When Paul preaches and he talks 0:52:56.800 --> 0:52:59.640 about the thorn, I want you to realize that that 0:52:59.880 --> 0:53:03.400 is the thing that God wouldn't take away. But he 0:53:03.440 --> 0:53:06.960 says in verse seven something very interesting. He says, Therefore, 0:53:08.040 --> 0:53:11.440 in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was 0:53:11.520 --> 0:53:14.239 given a thorn. And I just read that a bunch 0:53:14.280 --> 0:53:22.080 and I eventually began to see. Therefore, Therefore, therefore, in 0:53:22.280 --> 0:53:25.400 order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given 0:53:25.520 --> 0:53:28.520 a thorn. It came through an instrument of Satan. But 0:53:28.640 --> 0:53:31.320 God used it as a vessel of grace. Isn't that 0:53:31.440 --> 0:53:35.480 what he did with Paul. Paul who was a tool 0:53:35.800 --> 0:53:38.160 who was used by the enemy to torment the church, 0:53:39.239 --> 0:53:42.360 and when God transformed him, he became a vessel for 0:53:42.560 --> 0:53:45.880 the gospel. And if God can do that through Paul, 0:53:46.719 --> 0:53:49.520 now he said, I'm gonna do it for Paul, and 0:53:49.640 --> 0:53:53.520 if you can receive it, He's gonna do it for you. Therefore, 0:53:54.280 --> 0:53:57.960 I was given a thorn. God didn't take it away. 0:53:58.400 --> 0:54:03.160 He showed me what it was. Therefore, so ask God 0:54:03.280 --> 0:54:08.400 for this. Ask God for therefore. I'm celebrating today because 0:54:08.440 --> 0:54:12.279 God gave me a Therefore, I'm not celebrating that the 0:54:12.440 --> 0:54:16.640 thorn is gone. I'm celebrating that God gave me a 0:54:16.840 --> 0:54:20.640 there form. I'm gonna find another church that preached us 0:54:20.680 --> 0:54:27.080 in this is too good. Somebody celebrate the therefore therefore 0:54:29.160 --> 0:54:32.640 so so, he said, Therefore, all the more gladly, for 0:54:32.880 --> 0:54:38.560 Christ's sake, I will boast in the things that make 0:54:38.640 --> 0:54:44.600 me appear broken. Therefore I will glory not in the thorn, 0:54:46.520 --> 0:54:51.919 but in the grace that God released for it. Don't 0:54:51.920 --> 0:54:56.480 glory in the thorn. Don't walk around just worshiping your weakness. 0:54:59.239 --> 0:55:02.640 But he said, I'm elebrating because I've got a grace 0:55:02.719 --> 0:55:09.080 for it. I've walked with hundreds of people through seasons 0:55:11.040 --> 0:55:16.960 of unimaginable struggle, and what they all seem to have 0:55:17.080 --> 0:55:20.400 in common when you talk to them, if they go 0:55:20.520 --> 0:55:25.759 on living, is that God gave them a grace that 0:55:25.960 --> 0:55:37.239 was proportional to the problem. And if they live through it, 0:55:38.640 --> 0:55:41.400 they live long enough to talk about not just what 0:55:41.520 --> 0:55:47.759 I went through, but what God taught me. And they 0:55:47.800 --> 0:55:50.600 stopped talking about the thorns so much, it's like, even 0:55:50.640 --> 0:55:52.480 if it was a really big thing, they start in 0:55:52.600 --> 0:55:57.279 comparison to the glory of the grace that God gives them. 0:55:58.640 --> 0:56:04.000 They start making it look like a small thing. So 0:56:04.160 --> 0:56:08.359 I wonder who you are today, and I wonder what's 0:56:08.400 --> 0:56:11.560 your thorn. But I don't really need to know, because 0:56:11.640 --> 0:56:19.040 God already showed me that thorn is the mentor you 0:56:19.120 --> 0:56:24.440 didn't ask for. Is the thing that's gonna teach you. 0:56:26.480 --> 0:56:30.440 One old preacher said, the thorn is what takes you 0:56:30.520 --> 0:56:38.800 to the throne. Because Paul said, I know me, and 0:56:38.960 --> 0:56:42.279 God knows me, and I would have gotten out ahead 0:56:42.280 --> 0:56:46.200 of myself if God didn't give me this. So take 0:56:46.280 --> 0:56:52.120 your thorn to the throne and ask God. I didn't 0:56:52.120 --> 0:56:53.839 ask you for this thorn, but I'm asking you now. 0:56:55.560 --> 0:56:58.520 I need a grace for this season. I need a 0:56:58.600 --> 0:57:01.919 grace for this insult. God, you told me to turn 0:57:02.000 --> 0:57:04.200 the other cheek. I'm out of cheek. So only God, 0:57:04.320 --> 0:57:11.640 so many, so many, some grace. Three seasons I've petitioned you. 0:57:12.600 --> 0:57:18.880 Still no dog. So if you won't give me a breakthrough, 0:57:20.160 --> 0:57:25.040 give me a therefor reveal something here in my life 0:57:25.080 --> 0:57:28.320 that I couldn't see anywhere else. I'm not telling you 0:57:28.400 --> 0:57:30.760 to thank God for your thorn. I'm not there yet. 0:57:31.640 --> 0:57:33.520 Some people can do that. I'm not that good of 0:57:33.560 --> 0:57:36.640 a Christian. I'm not, Paul, and most of y'all aren't either. 0:57:38.520 --> 0:57:40.400 So if we can't thank Him for the thorn, which 0:57:40.520 --> 0:57:47.560 is understandable, let's thank him for the Therefore, Therefore I 0:57:47.600 --> 0:57:51.360 will boast all the more gladly about what God gave 0:57:52.360 --> 0:57:58.160 me through it. It's a pivotal moment when you don't 0:57:58.200 --> 0:58:02.560 allow the enemy to torment you anymore, and he don't 0:58:02.600 --> 0:58:05.480 want you to see this because he wants to keep 0:58:05.520 --> 0:58:11.240 you weak where you won't worship. Paul said. Therefore, I 0:58:11.400 --> 0:58:15.919 boast all the more. I glory in what the thorn 0:58:16.000 --> 0:58:19.240 brought me to long glory in the thorn. I don't 0:58:19.320 --> 0:58:22.160 like the thorn. I tried to send it back. I 0:58:22.240 --> 0:58:26.120 didn't order the thorn. But regardless of how it came, 0:58:28.440 --> 0:58:32.160 right now I need grace everybody under the sound of 0:58:32.200 --> 0:58:34.440 my voice. This is not your chance to slip out 0:58:34.480 --> 0:58:43.480 of the room. Early, stand up, and in this moment, 0:58:44.960 --> 0:58:47.280 I wonder would you receive what you really need from God? 0:58:50.480 --> 0:58:52.280 And I wonder can you be humble enough to lift 0:58:52.320 --> 0:58:56.280 your hands like you need it, and not clench your 0:58:56.320 --> 0:59:03.480 fists like you got this, because that's the posture of 0:59:03.640 --> 0:59:10.840 power right there. That's it. And Lord, we thank you 0:59:10.960 --> 0:59:14.840 further therefore, and we thank you for the Holy Spirit, 0:59:14.960 --> 0:59:22.080 our divine mentor, and we thank you that you're teaching 0:59:22.160 --> 0:59:23.960 us about your grace in this season. There is a 0:59:24.000 --> 0:59:26.480 supernatural grace that comes upon you in seasons like this. 0:59:27.840 --> 0:59:30.480 There is a supernatural grace that comes upon the saints. 0:59:32.000 --> 0:59:37.440 There is a grace for your thorn. And one day, 0:59:40.000 --> 0:59:42.320 if we cannot be so proud and arrogant to deny it, 0:59:43.600 --> 0:59:45.440 if we cannot be so bitter about the fact that 0:59:45.520 --> 0:59:49.000 it happened, one day, maybe we'll get to talk about 0:59:49.040 --> 0:59:54.000 what God taught us like Paul did. And maybe one 0:59:54.080 --> 0:59:58.800 day we can say, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. 1:00:00.920 --> 1:00:04.520 Maybe we can let God in. Maybe he's bigger than 1:00:04.560 --> 1:00:11.760 our thorn. Maybe his grace is sufficient for you too. 1:00:14.600 --> 1:00:21.280 The Spirit of the Living God fall fresh, anoint us 1:00:21.360 --> 1:00:28.240 with oil for the thorns in our flesh and the 1:00:28.360 --> 1:00:32.120 pressure that we face, and the temptation that we're under, 1:00:33.640 --> 1:00:36.640 and the weakness that we know all too well. We 1:00:36.800 --> 1:00:44.520 need your oil. I lift up every thorn to you today. 1:00:46.240 --> 1:00:49.720 We ask you to take it away, and we probably 1:00:49.840 --> 1:00:57.120 keep asking, but while we're working through it, we thank 1:00:57.160 --> 1:01:02.560 you for the Therefore, it's there for a reason. We'll 1:01:02.640 --> 1:01:05.840 see what it is in time and time and time 1:01:07.120 --> 1:01:12.200 in time. I want to tell you one more thing 1:01:12.240 --> 1:01:18.040 while you pray. While you pray, Satan was the messenger, 1:01:19.120 --> 1:01:29.880 but he wasn't the master. While you pray, consider that, 1:01:31.480 --> 1:01:38.000 consider this that in God's hands, Paul, who tortured and 1:01:38.240 --> 1:01:46.720 tormented the church, became a mentor for the gospel. That's 1:01:46.760 --> 1:01:50.200 what's going to happen in your life. The sufferings of 1:01:50.320 --> 1:01:55.760 this present time are not worth comparing with the glory 1:01:55.920 --> 1:02:02.960 that will be revealed in you. And so God, I 1:02:03.120 --> 1:02:06.200 thank you for a release of your glory. I thank 1:02:06.240 --> 1:02:08.919 you for these things that drew us closer to you. God. 1:02:09.280 --> 1:02:11.960 We wouldn't have prayed. We would have been proud. We 1:02:12.000 --> 1:02:14.720 would have thought it was our strength, our might, our armor, 1:02:14.840 --> 1:02:19.720 our sling, our sword. It wasn't. In this moment of weakness, 1:02:19.800 --> 1:02:25.640 we declare we are strong, we are blessed, we are filled, 1:02:26.880 --> 1:02:32.440 We are overcomers, we are conquerors, we are more than conquerors. 1:02:33.200 --> 1:02:37.439 Let the weak say, I am strong. Let the Corse say, 1:02:38.000 --> 1:02:45.120 I am rich. We're thank you for in Jesus' name, 1:02:46.120 --> 1:02:54.880 we offer you this praise, and the whole church said amen. Well, 1:02:54.920 --> 1:02:57.000 if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of 1:02:57.040 --> 1:03:00.680 things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, 1:03:01.000 --> 1:03:03.960 and review this podcast. You can also help us reach 1:03:04.040 --> 1:03:07.880 others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give 1:03:08.320 --> 1:03:11.080 and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.