Work Your Weakness (Rich Wilkerson Jr.)

0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:07.280 Hey, did you hear the news. Elevation Nights Spring twenty 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:13.360 twenty two tour April twenty sixth through May fifth. Oh 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:17.800 you gotta come. I mean, you really gotta come. I'm 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:22.759 going to be preaching, Holly's going to be sharing Elevation Worship. 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:28.600 Your favorite songs, old songs, new songs, kind of old 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:33.199 new ish songs. I want to see you if you 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.360 are anywhere near these cities, I want to see you. 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:42.560 No excuses, no delay. Get your ticket right now. Let 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:44.280 me know in the comments what night I'm going to 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.319 see you, and what's your name? So I can try 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.080 to shout you out, but I'll probably forget. But this 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:57.360 is going to be amazing, the best night of our year. 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:02.360 Go to Elevation Nights dot com right now, get your ticket, 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.920 leave a comment. Let's go to the Word of God. 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.679 So good to be in the Lord's House. Do me 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:12.720 a favor. As you find your seat, just look at 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:14.800 your neighbor and say, it's so good to see you 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.920 in church. Say I'm happy I'm sitting next to you. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:23.360 I'm happy I'm worshiping next to you. Everybody online right now, 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:25.640 just tell us where you're watching from right now in 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.280 the Chat, people all over the world today joining us. 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.840 They brought me the real pulpit today. This is the 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.120 real pulpit. I haven't preached behind a pulpit in a 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:40.759 long time like this. So good to be at Elevation Church. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:46.080 How may all love your church make some noise no 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:50.040 place like Elevation Church. And what an honor, what a 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:52.760 privilege it is for me to be back here in 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.160 Charlotte at one of my favorite places in all of 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.680 the world. And a really special weekend if you don't know, 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:08.000 because yesterday your pastor, he celebrated his birthday, and I 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.200 think it's important on birthday weekends that we let Pastor 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:15.880 Stephen rest. And I love Pastor Stephen Verdick so very 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.040 very much, and what a voice he has been in 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:23.080 my life, What an impact and inspiration he has made 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.800 on my life and our family. And I just counted 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:29.880 an honor to not only get to follow behind him, 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.400 but also to get to call him friend. And today 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.640 on his birthday weekend, I just think that all of 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.840 us in this place we should be praying for Pastor 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.600 Stephen Hawley. We should be sending all the love. If 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:42.000 you're in the Chat right now, just put it in 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.400 the chat. Happy birthday, Pastor Stephen. We love him so 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.440 very very much. Come on, if you love Pastor Steven, 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.160 can we go ahead and make some noise and just 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:58.079 thank God for who he is and no one like him, 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.480 no one like him. I seemed to be under his preaching. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.480 What a blessing to be under his leadership. I learned 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.440 a long time ago it matters what you get under 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.839 in life. It really matters. Because I'm telling you there's 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.480 a whole lot of people in life they never get 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.720 over what God's placed under them because they never got 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.920 under what God placed over them. And I think getting 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:22.000 under the right spiritual authority and the right spiritual council 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.120 makes all the difference. And so I love you and 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:29.080 love this church honestly. Just being here today nothing like 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.400 the presence of God. I'm thankful for the presence of 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:37.200 God and he's here today. And recently, last time I 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.160 got to be around Elevation Worship, they were in Miami 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:43.280 on an elevation night. Wherever you're at in the world 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.440 right now, I know they're about to get out all 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.560 over the places in April. I think in May, I 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.120 think I'm getting the dates right if they're coming to 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.280 your city, if they're in a five hour radius drive, 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.200 you ought to make it there because I'm telling you 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.080 there's something on these nights that you're going to get 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.840 in that room, and power of God is there, and 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.160 I sense it here today in the house. Anybody ready 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:07.880 for God's word today? Tewo. Corinthians, chapter twelve. I'm just 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:10.040 I'm kind of gushing up here, but I got a 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:14.000 word on my heart, and I came to preach today, 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.240 and so I like a little bit of response. You 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.880 could say, amen, you could say I like that. You 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:21.960 could say preach it, white boy. I don't really care. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.760 But you are going to tap into your inner Pentecostal 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.640 wherever he or she is today, and we're gonna have 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:30.800 some church and we're gonna believe that God's Spirit's going 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.080 to meet us right what we are. Second Corinthians, chapter twelve, 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.400 verse six. This is the apostle Paul writing, he says, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.440 even if I should choose to boast, I would not 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.560 be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.080 But I refrain so no one will think more of 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.920 me than what is warranted by what I do or 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:55.680 what I say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, 0:04:55.760 --> 0:05:01.120 someone say, therefore, therefore, in order to keep me from 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:07.200 becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.719 a messenger of Satan to torment me three times. Someone 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:16.120 say three times three times. I pleaded with the Lord 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.760 to take it away from me, But he said to me, 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.400 my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.279 made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:30.839 more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.640 rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:41.919 delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:48.920 For when I am weak, then I am strong. I 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:53.080 came to Elevation Church today to encourage somebody. I don't 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.240 have a doom and gloom message. I don't think church 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.520 is to be endured. I think it's to be enjoyed. 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:00.119 And I got one mission, and that is to make 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.920 sure you walk out of this room feeling better, believing 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:08.400 for more, knowing that God wants to work in your life. 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:13.599 I want to preach for the next two hours. I 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.600 want to preach the next thirty minutes or so from 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.880 the subject, work your weakness. Look at your neighbor, say neighbor, 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:25.360 work your weakness. Look at your other neighbor, say other neighbor, 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.520 work your weakness. Hopefully in your living room. You're talking 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.640 to somebody right now, would you prayer one were talking 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.240 with LORDI thank you so much for your word. We 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:39.640 thank you that it's sharper than any double edged sored. 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.159 We believe that today God, it brings truth, Lord to 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.200 our chaos. It brings truth, Lord of the lies that 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.520 the enemy wants to put in our mind. I pray 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.240 that today Lord, as we know your truth, we walk 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.640 into true, real freedom through the power of Jesus Christ. 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.039 Thank you for being here with us today. Thank you 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.760 for meeting us here. We thank you in advance for 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.839 the transformation that's about to occur. If you agree with 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.080 that prayer, all of God's people said, all of God's 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.159 people said, and if you love Jesus one more time, 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.320 go ahead and make a big, big shout of praise 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:18.560 all over this place. Y'all. Don't make it fair up here. 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.280 They just keep playing stuff. It sounds way too spiritual 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.679 with these guys. I just got done at our church 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:30.320 doing a seven week collection of talks on mindsets, the 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.000 power of the mind, And I came across this this 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.040 study that was done in two thousand and five by 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.560 the National Science Foundation, and it was a study of 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.920 the brain, and I found the research to be really interesting. 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:43.600 They say that on average, that you and I we 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:48.240 have about forty thousand thoughts a day, and out of 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.280 those forty thousand thoughts, what we learned is that eighty 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:56.320 percent of those thoughts are negative. Watch this. This is 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.559 where I thought was really really interesting that ninety five 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.760 percent of your thoughts are the same thought that you 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:08.320 had yesterday. So what do we learn about humanity? We 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:13.160 learned that humanity tends to go negative, and humanity is 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.320 a broken record. Anyone out there, I'm not gonna get 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:17.720 you put your hand up anyone out there, like you 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:19.880 get on one song and you are on that song 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:26.480 till I don't play songs. I execute them, just over 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.440 and over and over and over again. And what I've 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.200 learned about myself, but what I've learned about pastoring people 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.800 is that we have a tendency to make much out 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.800 of our weaknesses and very little out of our strengths. 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.600 We have a tendency to focus on all that's missing, 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:50.760 rather than noticing all that we have. My wife, she's 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.080 here with me today, fifteen years of marriage. Holler at 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.080 your boy. And her name is don Shriie, and she 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.960 has a little bit of a struggle of her own, 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.640 and that is she's addicted to online shopping. My wife 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:06.880 makes you laugh because like she'll purchase something and she's like, 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.680 oh my god, like the package, just like where did 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:11.960 this come from? I'm like, you bought it for yourself, 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.560 you know, And some of you girls are like, what 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.439 do I get for Valentine's that you got yourself? Okay? 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.240 She loves the online shop is always interesting because you 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.080 purchase something online and typically they'll send you like a 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.280 FedEx number, and if you ever take that fed X number, 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:28.640 you put it into the website and then all of 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:30.600 a sudden a message pops up, and what does it say. 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:35.079 It says the package is in transit. And I think 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:36.920 it's such a word for all of us in this 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.560 place that if you have given your life to Jesus, 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:44.760 please recognize that two thousand years ago he purchased you 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:50.080 with his blood. But now all of us are in transit, 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.040 all of us are in process, All of us are 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:58.520 become mean who God has called us to be. I 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.200 am not perfect, but thank God, I am being perfected. 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.199 Anybody grateful out there that God has not done working 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:10.319 on you yet, that you are becoming something. I've been 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.760 purchased by Jesus. He owns me, but I have not 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:19.760 arrived yet. Therefore, watch this. I can be becoming and 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:25.080 struggling all in the same sentence. And we're gonna have 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.600 to learn, you and I that although we're struggling in 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:33.560 different areas, it does not negate the truth that we 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.160 are still becoming the person that God has called us 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:39.760 to be. I got to learn how to work my weakness. 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.760 I got to recognize that problems do not actually overshadow 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.880 God's purpose. You need to know today that you might 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.720 have some weaknesses, but God still wants to work in 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.280 your life. You're gonna have to learn that, yeah, you 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:56.080 have some deficiencies, but none of those deficiencies are gonna 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.680 delay the destiny that God has planned for you from 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:04.720 the beginning. Am I preaching to anybody today? Work your weakness. 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:10.400 You're becoming something in Jesus. You're becoming something in Jesus. 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.120 I love our passage of scripture. Today, we don't have 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.920 nearly enough time to truly put this text into its 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.120 full context, but it is important that we recognize that 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.760 Paul is writing to a church in Corinth. This is 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:25.520 a church that he started, and he's been gone from 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:26.800 this church for about a year and a half. And 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.319 as he's been gone, there have been some false teachers 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.480 that have snuck in and now they want to sway 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:34.720 that audience to follow them. And the way that they're 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.440 doing that is they're trying to discredit Paul. And they're 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:39.400 discredit him in all sorts of ways that they're lying 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.320 about him. They're really trying to challenge his integrity, and 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.280 so they're saying all sorts of stuff. They're saying that 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.719 he's got bad teaching, they're saying that he has moral failings, 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.160 that his motivations are impure. They even just say stuff like, 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.520 you know, he's just he's not a good preacher, Like 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.560 he's not eloquent, he don't have the gift of pastor Steven, 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:01.120 Like he's not good, you know. And so Paul is 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.679 coming back to this church, and as he writes this church, 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.520 he doesn't want this audience to be swayed into this 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.080 false thinking and this false teaching, and so he has 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:15.400 to defend his ministry. And as he becomes to defend 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:17.880 his ministry, you can see like his hesitation go back 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.880 to Second Corinthians ten, eleven and twelve, and he's kind 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.040 of going through it and there's like a it's almost 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:24.800 annoying to Paul that he has to do this because 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:26.839 he doesn't want to give his resume, and he kind 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:28.679 of starts by giving his strengths, and it kind of 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.880 starts by sharing all the things that he's done. But 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:33.720 then like halfway through, as you get into chapter eleven, 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:35.800 what you see Paul's he flips the script. He's like, 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.959 you know what I'm done going this route. If I'm 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:42.200 really gonna try to impress you, let me just be 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.920 honest with you. What's really impressive is not my strengths. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.600 What's really impressive is all that God has done despite 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:56.920 my weaknesses. That if God's really gonna get glory and 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.280 if you're really gonna witness the supernatural power of God, 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.880 it will not happen because you witness and testify all 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.680 the areas about my life that are strong. But rather 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.719 when you recognize all of the gaps and the deficiencies 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.920 that I have. And so Paul begins to talk about 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.960 this thing he calls the thorn in his flesh. It's 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.280 amazing because as we go through it, scholars have talked 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:24.640 for many, many, you know, years about what is Paul's thorn? 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:26.920 And there's lots of things we could just spare you, 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.080 but they, you know, they talk about maybe it's his eyesight, 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.400 maybe it's the shame of his past. You know, it 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.480 wasn't just tough things that were happening to Paul. Paul 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.520 did some really bad things. He killed Christians. That's why 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:39.120 I always think for people in church, like I don't 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:44.200 know if God can use me well, like like like 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:51.040 what have you done? Bro? You know? Like and so 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:53.480 really they talk about that, they think maybe it could 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.400 be a physical thing. What I love is is that 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.640 none of us actually know what Paul's thorn in his 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:01.959 flesh was? And how do you know that? This is 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:07.360 both merciful and quite instructive. It's merciful that we don't 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:08.840 know what Paul's thorn is because how me all know, 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:10.400 I just know how we are. If we knew what 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.800 Paul's thorn was, we would all be comparing our thorn 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.880 to his thorn. Some of y'all be like, oh wow, 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.440 like Paul, you struggle with that, not me, superiority would 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.840 hit your life. Others of you be like, that's your thorn, Paul, 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:28.440 Oh man, I'm really jacked up. And then inferiority would 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.840 hit your life. So it's merciful that we don't know 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:35.960 what it is. But it's also instructive because apparently the 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.000 point is not the thorn, but rather it's the purpose 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.720 of the thorn. What's the purpose of the thorn? For 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.200 a lack of better terms, today, just as we're talking 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.760 about this idea of Paul's thorn, let's just use this 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.920 word weakness that every one of us in this room 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:53.880 and all of us watching online today, we have some 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.000 sort of weakness. We have some sort of gap, some 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.280 sort of deficiency, some sort of struggle, fear, worry, anxiety, 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.600 something that our brain loves to replay, something that our 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.880 brain told us yesterday. And if we're not careful today, 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:08.960 even on the Lord's Day, we will walk out of 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:13.480 here still rehearsing and playing the broken record. But I've 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:17.040 come today to encourage you that you're gonna have to 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.240 work that weakness, that you might be weak, but God 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.760 still wants to work in and through your life. How 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:27.520 do y'all know? Like, when it comes to this idea 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.280 of weaknesses, the first step about our weaknesses is that 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:35.880 we have to stop denying our weaknesses, Like you can't 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:40.600 denying your weakness isn't going to solve your weakness. And 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:42.720 sometimes church like it teaches us how to be like 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.200 professional mask wears, Like we come in, we play the part, 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:52.200 how you doing, brother blessed and highly favored, Like we 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.800 just say it's this funniest stuff at church that you 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.800 don't say on Mondays at the cubicle, you know. And 0:15:57.840 --> 0:15:59.840 if we're not careful, we just project all of our 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:05.000 strength and all that's going good as opposed to exposing 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:07.440 the weak areas of our life. I think many times 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.720 we don't expose our weaknesses because honestly, just we're afraid 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.880 to be embarrassed by them. When I was in Bible college, 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:15.600 I was eighteen years of age and I was really 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.360 on fire for Jesus. And I had started this Bible 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.240 study at my Bible college that's funny and winning my 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:28.080 Bible college to Jesus. And I decided that that summer, 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:29.920 I wanted to like kind of go, you know, on 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.440 the road doing some ministry. My dad's a preacher, and 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:34.440 so I said, Dad, I want to go and preach 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.240 and somebod. Dad called all his pastor friends and like 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.920 booked me all up and down, you know, the East 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.040 Coast preaching these little youth ministries. And so we got 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.160 a mini van and we got a trailer. And I 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.000 quickly realized I was like, yo, I'm gonna need some help. 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:47.680 And so I can't just go preach. I'm gonna need, 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:49.720 you know, like a like a worship team. And so 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.160 we put a group together. Our group was called Broken. 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.600 I mean it's no elevation nights, but I mean Broken 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:04.119 coming to a town near you, you know, you know it. 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.200 It was a wild summer. We had this little van 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:08.879 and this blue trailer and we just drove everywhere. And 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.520 I remember one time I drove across the state of 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.960 Georgia five hours to get to a youth ministry that 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:19.080 had five people in the audience. I still used a 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:25.440 microphone because I didn't see five people. I saw five thousand. Okay, 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:32.919 true story though. Anyways, I remember we would go to 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.720 these places that I would preach and stuff, and so 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:36.760 we were like real like into it. And I used 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:38.439 to I used to wear this little microphone under my 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.159 shirt because I wanted to replay and listen to my 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:41.879 sermons and try to get better at them. And so 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.120 I remember at the time there was this big Michael W. 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.400 Smith song out there called Here I Am to Worship, 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.160 and there was this part on the bridge that said, 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.320 some of y'all remember it's like, oh, never know how 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:57.720 much it costs to see my sin upon that cross. 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.480 Thank you, so all glory to him. Honestly, honestly, it's 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:08.679 not about me. It's not about me. Shut up. And 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.399 I uh I remember. I remember like sometimes when I 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:19.000 get preaching and I get real annointed, shut up, and 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.520 the spirit of worship would like come upon me, you know. 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:25.800 And so uh I remember, in particular, we had this 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:28.600 little leap ministry and like I was off the microphone, 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.040 but now I'm like praying for students and like this song, 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:32.840 you know, the Michael W. Smith was on, and so 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.800 I'm like singing. And so we get in the car 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.439 the next day and I know this is super strange, 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.240 but we would like always recap the night before, and 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.160 so we're driving to the next town, and we put 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.800 on the tape to listen to the sermon. We're all 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:45.720 gonna evaluate it, we're all gonna like talk about it 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.600 and give feedback. And the sermon's over. But now it's 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:51.399 like in the ministry time, and so I'm praying for students, 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:52.840 and so I'm not on the microphone, but you can 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.399 still hear the recording, and that song comes on. And 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:57.800 when that song comes on, I'm I'm praying for people, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.960 but I begin to sing that song in a register 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:09.440 that certainly does not belong to me. And and it 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:11.679 wasn't that I was like opposed to everybody laughing in 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.480 the car. It was just after twenty minutes of still 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:20.560 laughing that the embarrassment hit my life to a point 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.000 that how ma y'all know that was the last time 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:29.400 I asked for feedback from those guys with my message. 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.560 Why because many times what happens is is that once 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:38.119 we expose the weakness, shame hits our life. Listen to me, 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.800 you will always be as sick as your secrets. God 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.240 can't heal what you just continue to hide. And so 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:47.840 what happens is if we're not careful, we start to 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.760 close up and we start to hide the weak areas 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:52.560 and we just start to play church and we just 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.439 start to play Christianity, but all the while we're not 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.080 finding encouragement. Listen to me loud and clear. Don't expect 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.439 someone to weak courage that which you do not expose. 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.480 We have to be people that are least willing to 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.960 expose the weak areas of our life because just denying it, 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.960 I'm never ever gonna find freedom from it. I have 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.080 to come to terms with it. I have to bring 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.960 it to the light. I have to showcase my friends, 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:22.480 my pastors, those around me, because if I want God 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:24.320 to work, I'm going to have to get comfortable to 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.760 realize that although I have a weakness, he's not done 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.199 working on me yet. But I have to expose it. 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:34.960 So here's the apostle Paul, Like he's like you and 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.400 I and he's writing, he's defending his ministry, and now 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.600 he gets to this area about his weak area, and 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.159 he's trying, I think, to encourage you and I that 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:47.159 although he's weak, God still working. But he kind of 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:51.159 just testifies about his story about his weakness, and he 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:56.800 genuinely says out loud he says, three times I pleaded 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:01.240 with the Lord to take it away from me. Three 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:05.359 times I ask God, take this weakness away. Is there 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.600 something in your life today that you are convinced that 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:14.959 you know better than God? God? If you would just 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:21.159 do that, then I could do this. God. If you 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:23.080 would just take away that thing, I could be so 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:27.480 much more effective for you. God. If you just gave 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:32.240 me that promotion, then I would actually be happy. God. 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:38.440 If you would just give me a spouse, I'm a Yeah, 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:46.480 people coming alive this morning. And sometimes we say we 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:48.959 want God's will, but really we just want our will, 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.480 and we want to call it God's will. And so 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:54.040 here's the apostle Pau and he's like, He's like, if 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:56.360 you'll just take away this thorn, I just know then 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.040 I could three times I've pleaded with the Lord. I 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:00.919 think the most beautiful thing about that passage is that 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.040 at least Paul is bringing the weakness to God. At 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.199 least Paul is praying about the thing. How mey ell know, 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:11.360 if you've got time to complain about it, you got 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:15.880 time to pray about it. I'm not sure. I think 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:20.600 some people they don't actually want resolve. Some people just 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:25.200 want attention. But if you actually want something to change, 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:27.800 if you want something to turn around, don't just talk 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.359 about it to your friends. Don't just talk about it 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:34.399 to your therapist. You bring that thing before and Alrighteous God, 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:36.640 and you bring it before him saying God, I need 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:42.679 you to turn something around. Three times, I'm pleaded with God. Yo. 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:47.560 If it's worth praying, it's worth repeating. Repeat those prayers. 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:51.160 Bring those prayers before God. There's a story in Luke 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:53.760 chapter eleven that Jesus is teaching about prayer, and it's 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:55.639 one of the most peculiar stories in all the Bible. 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:57.280 You ought to go back and look at it. I 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:01.119 preach the message one time entitled the Art of ba God, 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:05.600 because the entire parable is all about this guy waking 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:08.080 up in the night to a man on the outside 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:10.800 knocking on the door who would not stop knocking, and 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:13.480 finally the man answers his request, not because he loves 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:15.960 the man, not because he enjoys the man, but because 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:20.720 the man would not stop bothering him. I have a son. 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:23.080 His name is Wild. That was a mistake to name 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:28.360 him Wild. And this boy, I don't care what time 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:30.960 of day it is. We wake up seven thirty am. 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:35.000 Dead dead, dead dead ice cream ice cream, ice cream, 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:40.040 ice cream, ice cream ice cream, Shut up, wild ice 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:44.000 cream ice cream, ice cream ice cream. The other day, 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:45.680 his mom was still in bed and I was up. 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:50.359 It wasn't even eight am. His kids like ice cream, 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:57.520 ice cream, ice cream. I was like, fine, you say, Richie, 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:00.399 did you give that boy ice cream because you love him? No, 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:05.760 quite the opposite. I gave that kid ice cream because 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:08.760 he would not stop asking. And I want to say 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:10.879 to some of you out there right now, if you 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:14.280 got something that's that important you keep repeating that prayer. 0:24:14.640 --> 0:24:16.520 I don't care what it is. You bring it before 0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:22.240 God and you ask him to do something rich You 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:27.480 can't pray about ice cream. That's shallow. No, there's no 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:36.080 such thing as shallow prayers, only shallow people. If you 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:38.119 walk up to a pool, every pool that I've almost 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:40.600 ever been around has some sort of a shallow end somewhere. 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:42.960 But no one looks at a pool that's got a 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:44.639 shallow end and a deep end and says that's a 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:46.679 shallow pool. They simply ask the question, does it have 0:24:46.720 --> 0:24:49.960 a deep end? And so all of your prayers are 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:52.960 about ice cream. I don't think that's just a shallow prayer. 0:24:53.000 --> 0:24:56.120 I think you're a shallow person. The question is do 0:24:56.200 --> 0:25:00.479 you have a deep end. In the deep end is 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:06.359 when you bring your weakness, your fear, your struggle, your insecurity, 0:25:06.440 --> 0:25:09.080 your anxiety. Those of us in the room today, we 0:25:09.119 --> 0:25:12.240 don't just come in here and play church. We come 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:15.000 to God and we bring the totality of our self, 0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:18.160 the light side and the dark side, the good and 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:20.560 the bad, the positive and the negative, and we're saying, 0:25:20.600 --> 0:25:24.320 God today, we want to transfer our thoughts, and we 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:28.679 want your thoughts. Three times I've pleaded with the Lord. 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:31.800 What I have learned about God when it comes to 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:35.400 this idea of working my weakness is that unanswered prayers 0:25:35.440 --> 0:25:40.480 are not unmet needs. And you gotta get this because 0:25:40.520 --> 0:25:43.520 here's Paul. Three times I've pleaded to take that thorn away. 0:25:44.080 --> 0:25:46.080 I was sure if he would just take the thorn away, 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:49.080 I could be effective. I could really plant these churches. 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:51.920 Three times I've pleaded with God. I prayed it, I 0:25:51.960 --> 0:25:53.879 prayed it. I prayed it. I prayed it, I prayed it. 0:25:54.200 --> 0:25:56.760 So here's God, God, here's Paul's prayer. I love it, 0:25:56.840 --> 0:25:59.120 and you can hear see God. He's like yeah, Paul, 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:02.119 I hear you. Here's what we do. I'm going to 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:08.280 meet your need by not answering your request. No, no no, God, 0:26:08.320 --> 0:26:11.840 I don't think unerstood. I'm down here trying to do 0:26:11.920 --> 0:26:15.760 your work, and I got this struggle. I got this thing, 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:19.600 this thorn that is wearing me out. Could you just 0:26:19.720 --> 0:26:22.280 relieve me of that so I could be more effective 0:26:22.480 --> 0:26:27.160 for you? Paul, I heard you. I'm going to meet 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:33.040 that need by not answering your request. Some of y'all, 0:26:34.160 --> 0:26:36.240 y'all know this to be true about God. How may 0:26:36.280 --> 0:26:37.960 y'all know that one of the most merciful things God 0:26:38.000 --> 0:26:42.280 can do is not answer all your requests. I was 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:44.880 seventeen years of age. I had an encounter with Jesus. 0:26:45.160 --> 0:26:48.520 My life was radically transformed, turned upside down. I was 0:26:48.640 --> 0:26:50.920 full on for Jesus. I was seeking God. I was like, Lord, 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:53.320 I know you're calling me. I can hear. Yes, Lord, 0:26:53.320 --> 0:26:55.040 I'm supposed to go to school in Los Angeles. I 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:57.080 live in Miami. You're calling me this school in LA 0:26:57.160 --> 0:26:59.560 And so in my house, my dad he is twofold, 0:26:59.560 --> 0:27:03.720 he is both priest and king. And so I remember 0:27:03.800 --> 0:27:06.000 coming to my father, and you know, I curtseyed and 0:27:06.000 --> 0:27:09.280 I beseech the father on behalf of the brethren. My 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:11.959 brother's The Lord is speaking to me. I am supposed 0:27:12.000 --> 0:27:14.040 to go to college in Los Angeles and might have 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:16.640 said no, no, no, no, you are not. I said, 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:18.119 excuse me. He said, no, you're not going. You're not 0:27:18.200 --> 0:27:20.480 going to college in Los Angeles. That is not the 0:27:20.520 --> 0:27:28.000 Lord's will for your life. You're going to school in Cleveland, Tennessee. 0:27:31.480 --> 0:27:33.760 It's one thing not to go to Los Angeles. It 0:27:33.880 --> 0:27:38.280 is a whole other thing to be sent to Cleveland, Tennessee. 0:27:39.480 --> 0:27:45.440 Not Cleveland, Ohio. You need Cleveland, Tennessee. I was like what. 0:27:46.920 --> 0:27:50.720 I was like, God, where are you? Why have you 0:27:50.760 --> 0:27:54.800 forsaken me? You know. About a month and a half later, 0:27:54.840 --> 0:27:57.960 I was in Nashville, Tennessee. I met this beautiful blonde 0:27:58.000 --> 0:28:05.400 head girl named don Scherie durn Thank you, and man, 0:28:05.400 --> 0:28:10.960 it's excited for me. And we started talking and you know, 0:28:11.200 --> 0:28:17.480 just you know how it goes. And I said, what 0:28:17.560 --> 0:28:23.400 are your plans for the fall? She said, my plans 0:28:23.480 --> 0:28:26.000 are I'm making music and I'm going to be right 0:28:26.040 --> 0:28:32.240 here in Nashville, Tennessee. I said, how far of a 0:28:32.359 --> 0:28:36.959 drive is Nashville, Tennessee to Cleveland, Tennessee. She said, it's 0:28:37.000 --> 0:28:39.960 about two hours. I said, I know what God's will 0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:49.239 is for my life. Anybody thankful? God then answer all 0:28:49.280 --> 0:28:53.800 your requests. Anybody thankful that God still met your need 0:28:53.920 --> 0:28:56.480 although he didn't answer your prayer request in the way 0:28:56.560 --> 0:28:59.640 you wanted him to answer it. Come on, tell me 0:28:59.680 --> 0:29:02.840 all you wanted that new job, but had you gotten 0:29:02.880 --> 0:29:06.120 that new job, you would have never found that new passion. 0:29:07.040 --> 0:29:10.680 You prayed for a promotion, but had you gotten the promotion, 0:29:11.120 --> 0:29:13.520 you would have never found yourself on that new path. 0:29:13.960 --> 0:29:17.160 Some of you beg God, God, do not let this 0:29:17.360 --> 0:29:21.480 relationship fall apart. But God had to let that relationship 0:29:21.520 --> 0:29:25.200 fall apart to expose to you that thing was broken 0:29:25.520 --> 0:29:28.280 from the day you started it. Come on, some of you. 0:29:28.320 --> 0:29:31.040 All you said, God, show up in my life, But 0:29:31.120 --> 0:29:33.720 God says, I'm gonna make you wait so you can 0:29:33.760 --> 0:29:37.680 develop some inner strength. Some of you wanted breakthrough last year. 0:29:37.920 --> 0:29:40.200 You didn't know it was all a setup for breakthrough 0:29:40.560 --> 0:29:47.080 this year. Oh wait a minute, God has been meeting 0:29:47.120 --> 0:29:49.920 my needs. He just didn't answer the request the way 0:29:49.960 --> 0:29:54.720 I wanted it. God, God, I just know if you 0:29:54.880 --> 0:29:57.479 just solve this thing I could be more effective for you, 0:29:57.520 --> 0:29:59.280 And God's like, you have no idea how you'll be 0:29:59.280 --> 0:30:02.840 effective for me. I don't pick people like you do 0:30:03.400 --> 0:30:05.840 at recess when you line them all up for dodgeball, 0:30:07.520 --> 0:30:11.360 because y'all know what you do at dodgeball. You look 0:30:11.400 --> 0:30:14.880 at people and you judge them from their past performance, 0:30:16.880 --> 0:30:19.239 or you look at people you say, I wonder what 0:30:19.360 --> 0:30:23.000 they look like, they got some potential. But when God 0:30:23.080 --> 0:30:26.840 lines up humanity, he's not looking at past performance. He's 0:30:26.840 --> 0:30:29.840 not looking at your strength of today. When God looks 0:30:29.840 --> 0:30:31.880 at you, he says, I chose the foolish things of 0:30:31.920 --> 0:30:34.480 this world to shame the wise. I chose the weak 0:30:34.560 --> 0:30:37.040 things of this world as shame the strong. I chose 0:30:37.080 --> 0:30:40.000 the lowly things, the things that are despised, the things 0:30:40.000 --> 0:30:42.760 that are not, to nullify the things that are. Why 0:30:43.400 --> 0:30:48.440 because God only gets glory when you're broken. It's in 0:30:48.480 --> 0:30:55.040 your brokenness that His glory and power shines through. Paul. 0:30:55.040 --> 0:30:57.800 I'm going to meet your need by not answering your quest. 0:30:58.320 --> 0:31:01.880 I'm gonna leave that thorn in place because actually I'm 0:31:01.880 --> 0:31:04.560 going to get more glory from your life with this weakness. 0:31:06.520 --> 0:31:10.120 Oh okay, God, So I'm pleading. I'm pleading. God actually 0:31:10.120 --> 0:31:11.760 does answer him, he just doesn't answer him the way 0:31:11.760 --> 0:31:14.760 that he wants him to answer him. The scripture says 0:31:14.800 --> 0:31:16.680 that Jesus, this shows up in red letters now in 0:31:17.000 --> 0:31:19.640 the Bible, if you've got the red letter edition second print. 0:31:19.640 --> 0:31:22.040 Things right there, Jesus he speaks, and he says, my 0:31:22.280 --> 0:31:26.240 grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made 0:31:26.240 --> 0:31:29.120 perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more 0:31:29.160 --> 0:31:32.000 gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest 0:31:32.120 --> 0:31:35.080 on me. What I have learned about God over and 0:31:35.080 --> 0:31:38.360 over again is that God's grace will fill the space. 0:31:40.280 --> 0:31:42.560 We have a difficult time in twenty twenty two because 0:31:43.760 --> 0:31:46.320 now more than ever, we don't just have one person 0:31:46.360 --> 0:31:49.320 we're comparing our lives to. We have categories of people 0:31:49.400 --> 0:31:52.200 that we're comparing our life too. Right, Like, so you've 0:31:52.200 --> 0:31:54.360 got somebody in your life, is like, that's the spiritual person. 0:31:54.440 --> 0:31:55.960 Like you come to church, like look at them, they're 0:31:56.000 --> 0:31:58.640 just so free, they're just oh man, look at like 0:31:58.840 --> 0:32:01.160 they just have their hands are up. Wow, I'm over here. 0:32:01.160 --> 0:32:05.960 I feel weird like here and they're there, and uh, 0:32:06.040 --> 0:32:10.800 I'm less than we got we got, you know, relationships 0:32:10.800 --> 0:32:14.320 like married people. Oh man, look look at him. I 0:32:14.440 --> 0:32:16.280 just know. I just know he loves her like Christ 0:32:16.280 --> 0:32:22.680 loves the church guys. Oh man, look at her. I 0:32:22.760 --> 0:32:25.000 just I just know she's just I bet she she 0:32:25.120 --> 0:32:32.200 just always submits. Like what bro We got people we 0:32:32.240 --> 0:32:35.239 compare our kids to look at look at look at 0:32:35.280 --> 0:32:39.200 their kids. Oh they're perfect. Mine are demon possessed and 0:32:39.200 --> 0:32:45.000 they're perfect physicality right like, oh man, look at it, 0:32:45.080 --> 0:32:47.600 he's got apps. I just I have a tire around. 0:32:47.600 --> 0:32:49.760 I don't know what to do, like, God help me. 0:32:52.240 --> 0:32:59.680 And this comparison culture just kills our contentment, robs our joy. 0:33:00.080 --> 0:33:06.120 Watch this the grace that God has it fills the 0:33:06.160 --> 0:33:07.719 space in our life. But you got to see this. 0:33:08.480 --> 0:33:13.680 The space in my life is not the space between 0:33:13.720 --> 0:33:17.440 you and me. This is what happens. A lot of 0:33:17.520 --> 0:33:19.920 this is like, in fact, I don't get any grace 0:33:20.680 --> 0:33:22.520 for the space between me and you. The fact the 0:33:22.560 --> 0:33:24.760 space that God's filling my life is not between me 0:33:24.880 --> 0:33:26.680 and you. The space that God is filling in my 0:33:26.720 --> 0:33:31.080 life is who I am today and who He purchased 0:33:31.360 --> 0:33:34.240 on Calvary's Hill. It's the space from where I'm at 0:33:34.280 --> 0:33:38.320 and who I'm becoming tomorrow. And you have to learn 0:33:38.360 --> 0:33:40.640 this because the only grace you get is is for 0:33:40.760 --> 0:33:44.719 that space. It's for that. It's not the space between 0:33:44.760 --> 0:33:47.960 me and you, oh how much. It's the space between 0:33:48.040 --> 0:33:50.840 where I am today and who I'm becoming tomorrow. He says, 0:33:50.840 --> 0:33:54.720 my grace is sufficient. I like words, and words are 0:33:54.720 --> 0:33:56.560 always interesting me. I've read that word. That's the word 0:33:56.560 --> 0:33:58.520 that gets used a lot in church. Christ is sufficient, 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:01.200 the sufficiency of Christ. We just throw that word around. 0:34:01.240 --> 0:34:04.640 Do you know what sufficient means? By definition, sufficient means 0:34:04.680 --> 0:34:11.200 adequate for its purpose? Okay, hold on it because I 0:34:11.200 --> 0:34:19.960 want to help somebody. God's grace is adequate for your purpose. Adequate? 0:34:19.960 --> 0:34:23.080 That's interesting one. You know what that word means, just 0:34:23.880 --> 0:34:31.319 the right amount? How may all know? We all need 0:34:31.360 --> 0:34:36.399 different measures of grace. There was one measure of grace 0:34:36.440 --> 0:34:38.839 I needed when I was single and secure, new book 0:34:38.880 --> 0:34:45.160 dropping tomorrow. There was a different measure of grace that 0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:49.399 I needed when I got married to Don Cherie. There 0:34:49.440 --> 0:34:51.160 was a different measure of grace that I needed when 0:34:51.160 --> 0:34:53.880 I started pastoring to church. Oh my goodness, we have 0:34:54.040 --> 0:35:02.440 three kids now. More grace, grace, And the scripture is 0:35:02.480 --> 0:35:06.600 saying that God has just the right amount of grace, 0:35:07.120 --> 0:35:09.920 not for your neighbor's purpose, but for your purpose. So 0:35:10.160 --> 0:35:14.239 run your race, because it's about your race. He has 0:35:14.280 --> 0:35:16.680 grace for your race and for the space in your life. 0:35:16.719 --> 0:35:20.200 My grace is sufficient for you. I'm thirty seven years 0:35:20.239 --> 0:35:23.040 of age, and I have been doing ministry now since 0:35:23.040 --> 0:35:25.160 I was eighteen years of age, but full time in 0:35:25.239 --> 0:35:27.279 ministry since I was twenty three. And I told you, 0:35:27.360 --> 0:35:29.200 I started going to school up in Cleveland, Tennessee, and 0:35:29.200 --> 0:35:31.640 it ended up becoming one of the greatest joys and 0:35:31.680 --> 0:35:34.759 blessings of my life getting to go to school there, 0:35:34.800 --> 0:35:36.680 and I learned how to lead there. I learned how 0:35:36.680 --> 0:35:39.800 to start preaching there. And I remember down the street 0:35:39.800 --> 0:35:42.120 in Atlanta, Georgia, there was this big ministry taking place 0:35:42.120 --> 0:35:45.000 called seven twenty two and there was a pastor there. 0:35:45.040 --> 0:35:49.240 But they have Pastor Louis Giglio. Come on, somebody shout 0:35:49.239 --> 0:35:53.600 out to Louis. Just giving shout outs, you know, and 0:35:53.640 --> 0:35:55.959 those of you who don't know. Louis leads a church 0:35:56.239 --> 0:35:58.640 called Passion City Church. And he's actually a very good 0:35:58.640 --> 0:36:00.760 friend of mine now at this point my life, but 0:36:00.960 --> 0:36:02.960 especially back then. I mean, he's a hero today, but 0:36:03.000 --> 0:36:05.080 he was certainly. Like back then, I was like, this 0:36:05.160 --> 0:36:07.880 guy is amazing. And if you know anything about Louie's 0:36:07.920 --> 0:36:11.960 like really smart, you know, and his hair is like, 0:36:12.000 --> 0:36:15.279 you know, speckled gray, and he like preaches about all 0:36:15.280 --> 0:36:17.759 sorts of different stuff like this guy can like you know, 0:36:17.880 --> 0:36:22.440 he preaches about the stars and like reveals like Christ 0:36:22.480 --> 0:36:24.880 in the stars, you know, like how would go? He's like, 0:36:24.880 --> 0:36:27.080 that's Oryan's belt, the Belt of Truth. I'm like, oh 0:36:27.120 --> 0:36:31.680 my god, you know whoa like? And see the Big 0:36:31.719 --> 0:36:34.080 Dipper then the Resurrection, I'm like, oh my goodness. I 0:36:34.080 --> 0:36:38.160 never saw Christ there before and I was blown away. Man, 0:36:38.200 --> 0:36:40.759 and I would drive down to Atlanta. He hid thousands 0:36:40.760 --> 0:36:43.239 of twenty somethings on a Tuesday night he was preaching, 0:36:43.600 --> 0:36:47.760 and I would just go, I'm like, oh, man, Louis Louie, Man, 0:36:48.320 --> 0:36:52.239 oh Louie. So I finally graduated from Bible College. I 0:36:52.280 --> 0:36:55.480 moved to Miami and my dad said, rich, what do 0:36:55.480 --> 0:36:58.160 you want to do? I said, I want to preach 0:36:58.200 --> 0:37:02.000 to young adults. He said why, I said, because Louis 0:37:02.080 --> 0:37:07.959 Giglio preaches to young adults. He said okay, he said, well, 0:37:08.080 --> 0:37:09.879 what night do you want to hold the service? I said, 0:37:09.920 --> 0:37:13.200 I want to preach on Tuesday nights. He said why, 0:37:13.239 --> 0:37:19.960 I said, because Louis Giglio preaches on Tuesday nights. Very 0:37:19.960 --> 0:37:22.239 true story. We started a ministry called the Rendezvous on 0:37:22.320 --> 0:37:25.000 Tuesday nights, and for the first six months of that 0:37:25.040 --> 0:37:28.239 ministry I would get up with a laser pointer and said, 0:37:28.239 --> 0:37:34.279 you see Oryan's belt right there. I did everything I 0:37:34.360 --> 0:37:38.520 possibly could to preach and teach and behave just like 0:37:38.640 --> 0:37:42.400 Louis Giglio. But no matter what I did, how may'all know? 0:37:43.640 --> 0:37:50.360 I am a very bad version of Louis Giglio. I 0:37:50.400 --> 0:37:56.480 don't get any grace to be Louis Giglio. I love Louis, 0:37:56.760 --> 0:37:59.920 no disrespect to Louis. I'm just a really bad copy 0:38:00.520 --> 0:38:04.839 of Louis Giglio. But the good news is I am 0:38:04.960 --> 0:38:10.239 the best Rich Wilgerson Jr. You have ever met in 0:38:10.320 --> 0:38:16.320 your entire life. Come on, somebody, be you run your race. 0:38:16.840 --> 0:38:21.560 God has grace for your space. Be you. Everybody else 0:38:21.560 --> 0:38:30.080 has already taken, and his grace is sufficient. It's going 0:38:30.160 --> 0:38:34.759 to fill that space. Work your weakness, someone say, work 0:38:34.800 --> 0:38:39.319 your weakness. James Chapter four, verse six says that he 0:38:39.400 --> 0:38:43.240 has more grace. Someone say, more grace. God has grace 0:38:43.280 --> 0:38:47.760 to spare all your mistakes, all your mishaps, all your faults, 0:38:47.760 --> 0:38:54.000 all your failures. He has more grace, more grace, more grace, 0:38:55.360 --> 0:38:59.680 work your weakness. You are on the journey of becoming. 0:39:01.160 --> 0:39:03.120 It's not the point that he has a thorn. The 0:39:03.160 --> 0:39:05.359 point is the purpose of the thorn. So what is 0:39:05.440 --> 0:39:08.279 the purpose of the thorn? Well, Paul actually answers it 0:39:08.320 --> 0:39:12.000 as we get ready to close the day. Paul says, 0:39:14.000 --> 0:39:17.200 I was given a thorn. Isn't that amazing? I was 0:39:17.360 --> 0:39:20.160 given a thorn? Meaning some of the weaknesses in your life, 0:39:20.160 --> 0:39:23.319 he didn't cause them. You didn't ask for them, You 0:39:23.360 --> 0:39:26.680 didn't want them, he says, a messenger of Satan to 0:39:26.680 --> 0:39:29.359 torment me. He even tells me you didn't ask for it, 0:39:30.040 --> 0:39:33.040 but God's going to use it. It even tells me 0:39:33.080 --> 0:39:37.120 that God will use the devil. He'll use the devil 0:39:37.200 --> 0:39:40.279 to accomplish his will in your life. But notice what 0:39:40.320 --> 0:39:44.440 he says. He says, to keep me from becoming conceited, 0:39:46.160 --> 0:39:49.359 To keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a 0:39:49.400 --> 0:39:53.799 thorn in my flesh. There's that word becoming. Who are 0:39:53.840 --> 0:39:58.799 you becoming today? Because who you're becoming, I actually think 0:39:58.880 --> 0:40:02.839 is more important than who you are today. Where you're 0:40:02.840 --> 0:40:06.440 headed is more important than where you are. Direction has 0:40:06.520 --> 0:40:11.160 always been more important than speed. And Paul answers the question. 0:40:11.719 --> 0:40:14.279 He says, why was I given this thorn? It was 0:40:14.360 --> 0:40:21.640 to keep me from becoming conceded, Meaning anything that keeps 0:40:21.640 --> 0:40:27.640 you humble in this life is a gift from God. Ah. No, 0:40:27.840 --> 0:40:30.399 that is not something that we like. But it's very 0:40:30.480 --> 0:40:37.600 true that pride comes before the fall. And the enemy 0:40:37.680 --> 0:40:41.000 is looking to trip us up in life, and he's 0:40:41.040 --> 0:40:44.920 looking for ways, and he's looking for opportunities for us 0:40:45.000 --> 0:40:48.040 to fall. C. S. Lewis called pride the great sin 0:40:48.760 --> 0:40:51.400 that truly at the heart of all of our mistakes, 0:40:51.400 --> 0:40:54.160 and our sin is our ego and our pride. And 0:40:54.200 --> 0:40:56.120 I'm telling you that God sometimes will give you a 0:40:56.160 --> 0:40:59.720 weakness because the weakness keeps you humble. The weakness reminds 0:40:59.719 --> 0:41:03.640 you that God is working despite and inspite all of 0:41:03.680 --> 0:41:09.560 your deficiencies to keep me from becoming conceited. I was 0:41:09.640 --> 0:41:14.880 given a thorn in my flesh. God's keeping me humble. 0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:20.239 God's reminding me where my strength comes from. James, in 0:41:20.280 --> 0:41:22.560 that same passage in chapter four, he says there's more grace. 0:41:22.600 --> 0:41:25.600 But he says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace 0:41:26.000 --> 0:41:28.439 to the humble. Do you know how you get into 0:41:28.440 --> 0:41:33.680 opposition with God? Pride? That's how we oppose God. Because 0:41:33.680 --> 0:41:36.319 when God sees a person full of pride, it's a 0:41:36.320 --> 0:41:40.160 person who's saying, God, I don't need your grace, and 0:41:40.200 --> 0:41:42.160 it reminds him of someone he don't like very much, 0:41:42.160 --> 0:41:44.839 which is the enemy. Because the enemy at one point 0:41:44.880 --> 0:41:47.239 was leading worship and then he fell like lightning from 0:41:47.239 --> 0:41:50.000 the sky because pride rose up on the inside of him. 0:41:50.160 --> 0:41:52.640 And every time we operate in pride, we look like 0:41:52.719 --> 0:41:55.879 the enemy. Therefore, anything we don't turn to praise will 0:41:55.920 --> 0:42:05.200 turn to pride. That's why we can't help but walk 0:42:05.239 --> 0:42:10.439 into God's house and say, I am only here by 0:42:10.480 --> 0:42:16.239 the grace of God. So what is the reason for 0:42:16.280 --> 0:42:18.040 the thorn and the weakness. It's because we have all 0:42:18.040 --> 0:42:22.440 been pierced, pierced for a purpose. You see, you have 0:42:22.480 --> 0:42:25.440 a calling in Jesus Christ. He purchased you with his 0:42:25.480 --> 0:42:28.440 blood two thousand years ago, and your calling and the 0:42:28.520 --> 0:42:31.240 dream he has for your life and your future is beautiful. 0:42:31.280 --> 0:42:35.120 In fact, I would liken it to a rose if 0:42:35.160 --> 0:42:36.960 you ever look at a rose. A rose is beautiful, 0:42:36.960 --> 0:42:40.960 but on that stem of the rose are thorns. And 0:42:41.040 --> 0:42:45.600 why are there thorns on that rose? Because the thorns 0:42:46.280 --> 0:42:51.560 prevent predators from destroying the rose. And why does God 0:42:51.600 --> 0:42:55.080 give us a thorn in our flesh? Because pride is 0:42:55.120 --> 0:43:00.600 the great predator of our potential, and my thorn prevents 0:43:00.680 --> 0:43:05.320 pride from destroying the calling and the purpose and the future. 0:43:05.920 --> 0:43:08.840 Then Y has for me. I'm going to use you. 0:43:08.840 --> 0:43:12.040 You're right where I need you to be. I'm gonna 0:43:12.200 --> 0:43:16.400 use your life. I purchased you. You are in transit, 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:19.520 you are in process. Quit rehearsing all that you're not 0:43:19.640 --> 0:43:24.360 and start focusing all that I am. My little boy, Wyatt. 0:43:24.400 --> 0:43:28.360 We have three children. My firstborn's name is Wyatt Wesley Wilkerson. 0:43:28.400 --> 0:43:31.400 My second born's name is wild Wesley Wilkerson. And then 0:43:31.480 --> 0:43:33.680 my favorite child, who was born in July. She's a girl. 0:43:34.880 --> 0:43:40.560 My daughter. Her name is Waylan Wesley Wilkerson. And just 0:43:40.600 --> 0:43:42.319 a couple of weeks ago, Wyatt had to have his 0:43:42.360 --> 0:43:44.239 first surgery. My four year old son, he was three 0:43:44.239 --> 0:43:46.520 at the time, hit a little birthmark that had to 0:43:46.560 --> 0:43:50.680 be removed, and it was you know, it was a 0:43:50.719 --> 0:43:53.040 difficult thing for us parents taking him into the doctors. 0:43:53.040 --> 0:43:55.279 And we came over there, and because of all the 0:43:55.280 --> 0:43:57.399 COVID stuff, only one of us could go, and I'm 0:43:57.400 --> 0:43:59.240 the favorite parent, and so I went with him, of course, 0:44:00.080 --> 0:44:04.799 not about me though, And as the worship team comes up. 0:44:05.640 --> 0:44:07.560 I took Wyatt to the hospital and we got there 0:44:07.560 --> 0:44:09.319 and when we came in, the doctors came and told us. 0:44:09.360 --> 0:44:11.520 They said, mister Wilkerson, we're gonna have to take him 0:44:11.560 --> 0:44:15.840 back alone to get anesthesia, which I didn't know. I 0:44:15.840 --> 0:44:17.040 thought I was gonna be with him the whole time. 0:44:17.080 --> 0:44:18.880 And they had to put him under for this surgery 0:44:18.960 --> 0:44:20.840 take place. And so this little three year old boys 0:44:20.880 --> 0:44:22.960 just like, you know, he's freaking out and he's scared, 0:44:23.040 --> 0:44:26.200 and you know why. It's like, Dad, you know, why 0:44:26.200 --> 0:44:27.920 can't you go with me? You know, I want you 0:44:27.960 --> 0:44:30.080 to go with me, And like son, you know, hippolaws 0:44:30.120 --> 0:44:33.440 and whatnot, I can't, you know. And so it's like 0:44:33.480 --> 0:44:38.920 way too much information for the kid, you know. But 0:44:39.040 --> 0:44:41.759 with all my kids, I have these sayings that I 0:44:41.840 --> 0:44:44.080 teach my boys, especially my boys, every night we say 0:44:44.120 --> 0:44:45.640 the same thing. There's a whole long list of them. 0:44:45.719 --> 0:44:48.719 I'll spare you all of those, because those would help 0:44:48.760 --> 0:44:50.719 these sermons themselves. But one of the things I've I've 0:44:50.760 --> 0:44:55.200 taught my boys is that going, hey, guys, whenever you're scared, 0:44:56.080 --> 0:45:01.880 you can always ask Dad to borrow some courage. And 0:45:01.960 --> 0:45:04.000 so whiff like, d I don't want to hear this 0:45:04.120 --> 0:45:05.680 right now, they say that either way. I wanted to 0:45:05.840 --> 0:45:12.080 Spider Man and I said, Wyat, what does Dad say 0:45:12.480 --> 0:45:18.440 when you're scared? He's like, ah, well, Dad, can I 0:45:18.440 --> 0:45:25.279 borrow some courage? I said, of course, of course I 0:45:25.320 --> 0:45:30.239 got some. I got some courage. Despare See, in our weakness, 0:45:30.360 --> 0:45:33.600 we must be reminded that you and I we don't 0:45:33.600 --> 0:45:38.520 find encouragement in our strength. We find encouragement in Christ strength. 0:45:39.600 --> 0:45:44.279 Look at what Ephesian chapter six says. It says, finally, 0:45:45.360 --> 0:45:51.280 be strong in the Lord, and then in his mighty power, 0:45:51.320 --> 0:45:53.000 put on the full armor of God, so that you 0:45:53.040 --> 0:45:54.920 can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Know what 0:45:54.920 --> 0:45:58.399 the devil's scheme is. The devil scheme is in your mind. 0:45:59.800 --> 0:46:04.839 You you are less than you are, disqualified, your mistakes, 0:46:05.200 --> 0:46:09.959 you're past, your shame disqualifies you. Play that record over 0:46:10.040 --> 0:46:14.879 and over, but it's in that moment that I gotta 0:46:14.960 --> 0:46:17.080 lean up to heaven, and I got to ask my 0:46:17.120 --> 0:46:19.960 heavenly father, God, can I borrow some courage right now? 0:46:22.960 --> 0:46:25.320 I don't take courage of my strength. I take courage 0:46:25.719 --> 0:46:29.040 in his strength. See, the enemy does not defeat us 0:46:29.080 --> 0:46:31.520 because we are weak. The enemy defeats us because we 0:46:31.560 --> 0:46:40.160 think we are strong. We think we're strong. We think 0:46:40.160 --> 0:46:42.160 we can walk out of this place today and face 0:46:42.200 --> 0:46:45.640 the world in our own strength. But we need to 0:46:45.680 --> 0:46:48.200 come back to that child like faith. I have been 0:46:48.320 --> 0:46:51.120 pierced for a purpose. I have been given a thorn 0:46:51.400 --> 0:46:54.680 to keep me humble, to keep me close to God. God, 0:46:54.719 --> 0:46:58.319 can I borrow some courage? Every night, before I leave 0:46:58.360 --> 0:47:00.720 the boy's room, we have this little santus say all right, boys, 0:47:01.320 --> 0:47:05.200 are you strong? And they're respond back to me, Dad, 0:47:05.600 --> 0:47:08.680 if you are strong. And so they took Wyatt and 0:47:08.719 --> 0:47:11.880 they started putting him down on the stretcher, taking him 0:47:11.920 --> 0:47:13.640 down the hospital and he's sitting there with this big 0:47:13.640 --> 0:47:17.200 spider man kind of crying. I say what I said, 0:47:17.200 --> 0:47:20.400 are you strong? He looked back at the death. If 0:47:20.440 --> 0:47:31.200 you're strong? And I want to let you know today 0:47:31.960 --> 0:47:36.400 that wherever the enemy is attacking you wherever he is 0:47:36.520 --> 0:47:40.279 lying to you, And you said, I don't know how 0:47:40.280 --> 0:47:42.160 to go one more step. I don't know how to 0:47:42.200 --> 0:47:44.960 move forward. I don't know how to step into the future. 0:47:45.320 --> 0:47:47.120 I don't know how to become all these called me 0:47:47.120 --> 0:47:50.239 to become. And when God looks down at you and says, 0:47:50.480 --> 0:47:54.040 are you strong? Just like my boy Wyatt, just look 0:47:54.080 --> 0:47:58.759 back to God and say, God, if you're strong Lord, 0:47:58.800 --> 0:48:01.400 if you're strong and keeps staying. Then, if you're strong, up, 0:48:01.480 --> 0:48:04.520 keep walking. If you're strong, up, keeps serving. If you're 0:48:04.560 --> 0:48:08.600 strong up, keep worshiping. If you're strong, I'll keep moving forward. 0:48:10.000 --> 0:48:14.120 I'm gonna work my weakness God, I'm gonna work it. 0:48:17.280 --> 0:48:23.320 Work your weakness over rich. You don't know about my thorn, yo. 0:48:24.040 --> 0:48:27.080 Something tells me if Jesus Christ could handle a crown 0:48:27.160 --> 0:48:30.200 of thorns, he could manage your little thorn. You keep 0:48:30.239 --> 0:48:36.960 surrendering over to him. News flash, Jesus doesn't need your strength. 0:48:37.640 --> 0:48:41.839 He needs your surrender. And when you give up, that's 0:48:41.880 --> 0:48:45.840 when God shows up. That's when God shows up. As 0:48:45.840 --> 0:48:48.919 everyone's standing their feet today, it's a simple call. Work 0:48:48.960 --> 0:48:52.080 your weakness. Don't stop working in spite of your weakness. 0:48:53.280 --> 0:48:58.160 God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. You're 0:48:58.200 --> 0:49:01.960 becoming something in Jesus been pierced for a purpose. It's 0:49:02.040 --> 0:49:05.719 to remind you. It's Jacob walking with a limp. I 0:49:05.760 --> 0:49:08.520 wrestled with God and he was stronger than me. I 0:49:08.600 --> 0:49:13.440 know the one who's greater than me. I know the 0:49:13.440 --> 0:49:16.879 one who's greater than me. God. Can I borrow? Can 0:49:16.920 --> 0:49:21.440 I borrow some courage? Certainly? Are your strong son, are 0:49:21.480 --> 0:49:27.480 your strong daughter? If you're strong, If you're strong, I'm strong. 0:49:30.239 --> 0:49:33.120 I was talking to a friend the other day and 0:49:33.160 --> 0:49:35.960 he's kind of struggling with his faith. He said, rich. 0:49:36.040 --> 0:49:37.920 The thing about you, man that just keeps annoying me 0:49:38.520 --> 0:49:39.960 is that I feel like I know. I was like, 0:49:40.000 --> 0:49:42.880 there's a lot, man, so just line up. You know. 0:49:43.719 --> 0:49:45.360 The thing about you, man, it just keeps annoying me, 0:49:45.440 --> 0:49:47.600 is I feel like you use Jesus as a crutch. 0:49:50.200 --> 0:49:52.760 You just use him as a crutch. It's like anything 0:49:52.840 --> 0:49:57.239 challenge he just us, Jesus. Anything, just Jesus. Listen to 0:49:57.239 --> 0:50:03.200 all your sermons, Jesus. I said, I hear you, man, 0:50:04.200 --> 0:50:08.759 I said, but you have half a truth. So you're 0:50:08.840 --> 0:50:10.399 right in one way, but you're wrong in a totally 0:50:10.400 --> 0:50:16.279 different way, Jesus is not a crutch for me. It's 0:50:16.360 --> 0:50:25.160 way bigger than that. He's a stretcher. Oh come on, 0:50:25.200 --> 0:50:27.879 I need somebody in this room who can just take 0:50:27.920 --> 0:50:31.839 about ten seconds right now, and who can testify, who 0:50:31.840 --> 0:50:34.040 can stand right down the place that you're standing, say, 0:50:34.120 --> 0:50:36.160 I would not be here if it was not for 0:50:36.280 --> 0:50:38.879 the grace of God. Come on, somebody in this room. 0:50:39.080 --> 0:50:42.000 Let praise or rup from the inside. He hasn't just 0:50:42.040 --> 0:50:45.799 been something you've leaned on. He's been carrying you. He's 0:50:45.840 --> 0:50:48.920 been walking with you. Yay. Though I walk through the 0:50:49.040 --> 0:50:52.040 valley of the shadow of death, I'm not gonna fear 0:50:52.120 --> 0:50:55.680 any evil. My God has been faithful. I'm gonna work 0:50:56.000 --> 0:50:59.200 de fight my weakness. Come on, Church, lift your heads, 0:50:59.239 --> 0:51:07.479 Come on, joys kean live. You'll be had it. See 0:51:07.680 --> 0:51:12.920 first the king he o, you'll be what's you see first? 0:51:13.000 --> 0:51:18.680 The king know this? Carry yat. Oh we'll be yead. 0:51:19.560 --> 0:51:24.320 Oh he'll be had it. See first, the king he 0:51:25.040 --> 0:51:30.120 will be yd and sa first. The king pato, you'll 0:51:30.280 --> 0:51:36.000 be hot sae first, the king heat o, you'll be had. 0:51:36.880 --> 0:51:43.920 Oh we'll be had. Oh we'll be Can we put 0:51:44.000 --> 0:51:51.320 you first? Can we lean on you? God? Today we 0:51:51.800 --> 0:51:55.880 know your truth, Your grace is sufficient. Just with your 0:51:55.920 --> 0:51:58.040 head bowed and your eyes closed those online right now, 0:51:58.080 --> 0:52:01.239 at all of our other locations in the room. What's 0:52:01.280 --> 0:52:04.480 the area today that you're afraid to expose. What's the 0:52:04.560 --> 0:52:06.759 area that you just complain about but you don't pray about. 0:52:06.800 --> 0:52:08.839 What's the area to day that you're comparing your life 0:52:08.880 --> 0:52:13.640 to someone else's. It's that thorn that keeps you humble, 0:52:13.680 --> 0:52:15.080 It keeps you close to the foot of the cross, 0:52:15.120 --> 0:52:18.280 it keeps you close to Jesus. He's more than a crutchy, 0:52:18.480 --> 0:52:23.359 he's a stretcher or your weakness. God, I just pray 0:52:23.440 --> 0:52:27.560 for people all of this room right now online, Right now, God, 0:52:27.680 --> 0:52:31.680 areas Lord, where the enemy is lying to them. God, 0:52:31.800 --> 0:52:36.080 areas today where the enemy Lord is putting shame on 0:52:36.200 --> 0:52:41.759 them and anxiety and depression and fear. Greater is he 0:52:41.880 --> 0:52:44.680 that is in me than he that is in the world. God, 0:52:44.719 --> 0:52:49.719 we aren't survivors. We're more than conquerors. All glory and 0:52:49.800 --> 0:52:51.800 praise to you. I just pray right now or that 0:52:51.960 --> 0:52:55.160 you just meet people, meet them where they are. You 0:52:55.239 --> 0:52:58.440 could borrow some courage today. Be strong in the Lord, 0:52:59.200 --> 0:53:02.520 be strong in the heads are bout your eyes a 0:53:02.520 --> 0:53:05.040 closed wherever you're at, whatever location online. If you're here 0:53:05.080 --> 0:53:08.640 today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, doesn't 0:53:08.680 --> 0:53:12.759 need your strength. It's your surrender for you here today, 0:53:12.800 --> 0:53:15.440 and you're ready to give up and give into Jesus. 0:53:15.520 --> 0:53:18.320 You want to make your peace with God? How do 0:53:18.400 --> 0:53:20.200 you do that? You do that through relationship with Jesus. 0:53:21.840 --> 0:53:24.279 Get to all who received him and believed in his name. 0:53:24.360 --> 0:53:27.000 He gave them the right to be called children of God. 0:53:28.320 --> 0:53:29.800 So with your head bound in your eyes closure, on 0:53:29.840 --> 0:53:32.360 the count of three. If that's you, I'm ready today 0:53:32.640 --> 0:53:34.960 to give my life to Jesus. I believe he is 0:53:35.040 --> 0:53:36.360 who he said that he is, and I want to 0:53:36.400 --> 0:53:38.320 follow him. On the count of three. Would just be 0:53:38.360 --> 0:53:39.839 bold with your hand of high enough and long enough, 0:53:39.880 --> 0:53:41.760 just so I can see it. I want to include 0:53:41.760 --> 0:53:44.560 you in this prayer of salvation. Ready. One, Bible says 0:53:44.600 --> 0:53:47.440 today is the day of salvation. Two. Don't look at 0:53:47.480 --> 0:53:50.000 your neighbor. It's not about your neighbor. It's between you 0:53:50.080 --> 0:53:53.080 and Jesus. Ready, one, two, three. If that's you, liften up, 0:53:53.120 --> 0:53:56.840 that's me. That's me. That's me. That's me, that's me. 0:53:57.800 --> 0:54:06.200 That's me. That's me. Oh, it's beautiful church. Can we 0:54:06.280 --> 0:54:09.040 just all lift our hands towards heaven. Would you just 0:54:09.120 --> 0:54:11.279 repeat this pray after me? The Bible says, believe in 0:54:11.320 --> 0:54:14.759 your heart and confess with your mouth, and you shall 0:54:14.840 --> 0:54:17.320 be saved. Let's all pray it together. Say, Dear Jesus, 0:54:18.000 --> 0:54:22.480 today I surrender. I give you my life, my past, 0:54:23.200 --> 0:54:26.840 my present, even my future. I give you all of 0:54:26.920 --> 0:54:31.279 my weakness, all of my shortcomings, all of my sin. 0:54:32.400 --> 0:54:36.040 I surrender it to you God, replace it with your strength. 0:54:37.520 --> 0:54:41.400 I believe Jesus, you are who you said that you are, 0:54:42.040 --> 0:54:46.719 and today I'm declaring I want to follow you. Thank 0:54:46.800 --> 0:54:51.320 you for loving me. I love you, Jesus in Jesus 0:54:51.440 --> 0:54:55.440 Mighty name. Everybody said, come on, Elevation Church. Can we 0:54:55.520 --> 0:55:01.239 give Jesus the highest praise? Hallelujah. Well, if you enjoyed 0:55:01.280 --> 0:55:03.640 today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love 0:55:03.719 --> 0:55:06.840 for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and 0:55:07.040 --> 0:55:10.080 review this podcast. You can also help us reach others 0:55:10.160 --> 0:55:14.120 by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash GiB and 0:55:14.239 --> 0:55:16.840 thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast