0:00

Well, we're gonna get to the message in just a moment,

0:02

but I wanted to make sure you knew about Elevation

0:05

Nights. It's gonna be amazing

0:08

eight cities October

0:10

twenty sixth through November fourth. You gotta go

0:12

to Elevation Nights dot com to see if we're

0:14

coming to a city near you. It's

0:17

gonna be me Elevation Worship,

0:19

a few friends and you. I want

0:21

to see you there. I want to see you and everybody that you know

0:23

there. Go to Elevation Nights dot com.

0:26

I can't wait to see you soon. Here's

0:28

the message. Right now,

0:30

all over the world, people

0:32

are joining in with this ministry. We

0:34

want to welcome our epam, our extended

0:37

family all over the world. Right now,

0:40

we're flaking the doors open,

0:42

man, the digital doors come on in the

0:45

the church is open. The spirit

0:47

is here, So

0:53

God bless you. Just

0:55

turn to the person next to you and say, if

0:58

Pastor Stephen knew you would be a Sabor

1:00

Church member, just tell them that, and

1:03

I believe that. Woo

1:09

who Now,

1:14

some of us are glad to be here. We

1:18

have learned that there is bread in the

1:20

House of the Lord. I'm

1:28

gonna do I'm going

1:30

to do a no, no, I'm going to use the same scripture

1:32

I used last week. Sit

1:35

down, y'all leave, let's study. I

1:38

came home last week and I

1:40

told Holly, I don't know how good that went.

1:43

She said it was amazing, and I was frustrated.

1:46

I said, I don't think I did it the way that

1:49

I was supposed to she and Holly

1:51

said, maybe you didn't fail. Maybe you just weren't finished

1:55

turning your Bible to Second Corinthians,

2:02

cause you'll believe she back talks me like that.

2:04

The Bible says, submit to your husband.

2:07

Not supposed to be quoting scriptures at

2:10

the man of God. I'm

2:12

kidding, but

2:15

this good Second Corinthians, chapter twelve.

2:19

And I

2:22

want to talk a little more about your thorn that

2:25

was the subject last week. So

2:28

this might be uncomfortable. You

2:30

won't tell about your thorn for a moment

2:33

or two, but I want

2:35

to read this context. And I just

2:37

want to remind you that usually when God

2:39

speaks, he speaks in sentences

2:42

and paragraphs, and you know, like

2:44

a lot of times, what we'll take is we'll take a single

2:46

sentence from the Word of God. And that's cool. It's

2:49

better than nothing. But to really get

2:51

the full impact of what God speaks,

2:54

it's better if you understand the context of when

2:56

he spoke it. And I don't know if we

2:59

sometimes read scripture versus Bible versus

3:02

like their captions on Instagram

3:04

or something like that, they're not. This

3:06

was a letter Paul wrote to a church that

3:08

he loved that he was incredibly frustrated

3:11

with. Oh, you

3:13

can definitely feel that way

3:15

about one person, one church you

3:17

can really love and be really frustrated with. And

3:20

I made the case one time in this Pope that a lot of people

3:22

disagree. You can't really be truly good

3:24

and frustrated with somebody that you don't really truly

3:27

love. You'll

3:29

feel the most intense feelings of

3:31

I want to kill you if

3:34

you are a parent, the person that came from

3:36

your very body. And

3:40

it goes the other way too with kids and parents. But this

3:44

is the lesson that Paul is giving. And if

3:47

I had outlined the message last week the way

3:49

I should have, where you could take notes and all

3:51

of that, I would have used three points. A

3:54

mentor, a metaphor,

3:57

and a therefore intour

4:01

a metaphor, and that therefore

4:03

and I forgot to tell you that last week because

4:06

I was so busy preaching about Paul

4:08

as a mentor to the church, not

4:10

an advice column. That's not a broke cousin who tells

4:12

you where you need to invest your money and what

4:14

kind of digital currency you need to invest

4:17

in. But he's not one of these advice

4:19

given fools. He's got real authority. What surprised

4:21

us about Paul, though, was that, with

4:23

such great apostolic authority and such

4:25

intellectual brilliantess, instead

4:28

of taking the opportunity

4:31

to exceed his authority,

4:35

he opened himself up with

4:37

personal vulnerability. And

4:39

what was amazing about it was, and

4:42

I'm going to read it to you in just a moment in

4:44

case you missed it, his vulnerability

4:47

did not compromise his authority.

4:52

His being real about what

4:54

he struggled with didn't keep

4:56

him from being powerful and

4:58

being called. And it doesn't for you either.

5:02

And you don't have to fake it. You have to go through life

5:04

pretending because the people that you pretend

5:06

to be somebody that you're not to in order

5:08

to get them to like you, they don't really like you. When they like you, they

5:10

like the you that you showed them. That you concoct it just

5:13

to get their approval, So it's worthless anyway.

5:16

And if you got it, you got it. And if you know, you know,

5:19

And if God is with you, God is with you. And nobody

5:21

can do anything to change it, not

5:23

even the devil, not even

5:25

the devil. Oh,

5:27

I feel a no weapon formed

5:29

against me shall prosper

5:34

rising up in my spirit. But in

5:37

tewod Corinthians twelve, Paul

5:40

says, in verse six,

5:43

even if I should choose to boast, I would

5:45

not be a fool, because I would be

5:47

speaking the truth. So Paul's the opposite

5:49

of most of us. He has everything

5:51

to brag about, but he doesn't a

5:54

lot of us have nothing to

5:56

boast about, but plenty

5:59

to about. Y'all

6:02

ought to say amen, let

6:04

the church say ours.

6:07

He said, I'm not even going to tell you about my

6:09

trip to heaven. I went to the third Heaven.

6:12

But don't worry about that, because what I

6:14

want to actually tell you about, And

6:16

he uses a metaphor. He says, because

6:19

of these surpassingly great revelations,

6:22

Therefore, in order to keep

6:24

me from becoming conceited, I

6:27

was given a thorn.

6:29

That's the metaphor. He says it

6:31

was a thorn. Why

6:34

scholars have centuries trying to

6:36

identify what the thorn was

6:38

when Paul clearly did not want us

6:40

to know, or he would have spelled it out

6:43

if he would have wanted us to know whether it was

6:45

a physical issue because it could have been

6:47

that, or a spiritual issue

6:49

because it could have been that, or an emotional

6:52

issue. It could have been that, or an opponent

6:54

of the gospel. Because he was an ambassador

6:56

of Christ. See, Paul was responsible

6:59

for del livering the theology that

7:01

we still study today to

7:04

millennia later. Justification

7:07

by faith is a doctrine that we would

7:09

not know about as we know about it if

7:12

it had not been for Paul. Yet,

7:15

maybe the greatest gift that Paul ever gives

7:17

to those of us who struggle with stuff,

7:20

those of us who are confused sometimes

7:22

about the way God is working in our life,

7:25

those of us who are not quite sure

7:27

if we're going to be in the VIP section

7:29

of heaven or whether we're going to have to sneak in

7:31

past the security in the back door

7:34

and hope God doesn't call us out. This

7:36

is what I want you to know about that Paul.

7:39

He gives us the gift of

7:42

showing us that there is a thorn.

7:46

Now, everybody say this, there is a thorn. There

7:49

is a thorn. The people who don't say it, they're

7:51

probably lost in the metaphor. So let me break

7:53

it down. The thorn is that thing that

7:55

you don't talk about on the first night of the group. The

7:59

thorn is the thing that you don't tell somebody

8:01

in the grocery checkout line, and you really

8:03

shouldn't. I mean, it's not wise

8:06

to share everything with everybody.

8:09

And we kind of live in a culture where everybody

8:12

is boasting and posting so

8:14

much. It's refreshing that Paul

8:16

has the discretion to say, I had

8:18

this thing, this thorn, it

8:21

came from It came from Satan.

8:23

Look at this. It was a messenger of Satan

8:26

to torment me. And that's

8:28

why I flipped last week that God showed

8:30

me. He showed me torment. And

8:33

if you flip that, it's mentor

8:35

right. Just if you say torment and

8:38

you say it the other way, you weren't here last week. That's why I

8:40

did last week. Yeah, no' go, i'm'na

8:42

catch you off. I'm gonna catch up. I want you to get this, He

8:44

said, the thing that is tormenting you,

8:47

if you'll submit it to my throne, this

8:49

is what you got to learn to do. Take that thorn

8:52

to the throne. Don't

8:54

take that thorn to people, because

8:56

people don't have the power to turn

8:58

it around. So Paul did

9:00

something so wise. He said, God, would

9:02

you take this away? God said nothing. Paul

9:05

said, God, I don't know if you're busy doing something

9:07

for Peter over there, but Paul, Paul, I

9:09

need you over here, take this thorn away.

9:11

What was it? We found out last

9:13

week? It was his

9:16

mentor. Because

9:19

some things you can only learn through

9:22

what you are afflicted by.

9:27

And yet the warning

9:30

is so clear in my spirit that

9:32

the Lord wants me to tell you today it's

9:35

not really about the thorn. It's

9:39

not really about the thorn. That's

9:41

not the real thing, the thing

9:43

that we bring to God. Fix this, change

9:46

this, or if you're like me and you're control freaking,

9:49

you think everybody else needs to get it,

9:51

get on the same page with you. Fix them.

9:55

Some of y'all's thorn weighs one hundred and ninety seven

9:57

pounds and is sitting next to you. God, would

9:59

you and this, this is the This

10:01

is the message that Paul gives us, and watch this.

10:04

Get read shall get Ray y'all, Get Rey, y'all, get Red. Yeah, get

10:06

Ray, y'all, Get Rey, shop gear reh, y'all. If

10:08

God doesn't remove it, you

10:11

can expect him to use it. So

10:16

whatever you bring before the Lord, I

10:18

don't care if it's an addiction of propensity.

10:21

And you say, well, God, make me not want to do

10:23

this anymore. I don't want to want that anymore.

10:25

I don't want this desire anymore. I don't want

10:27

this darkness anymore. I don't want the feeling

10:29

anymore. Well, sometimes God will take it

10:31

away. I have some things in my life

10:33

that I prayed about and God got me through

10:35

them. I have other things. These are the thorns

10:39

that God said, I'm not going to

10:42

remove it. So

10:44

then Paul says, all right, all right, all

10:46

right. If God is not

10:48

going to take the thorn away, that

10:51

is tormenting me. You've

10:54

been tormented by it long enough. You

10:57

ask God three times. Because amazing how Paul

10:59

gives us this contrast action

11:03

and acceptance. I

11:07

ask God to do it. I

11:09

believe God could do it, because

11:12

when I first read this, I'm like Paul, you needed

11:14

to just have more faith, you know

11:16

now unto him who is able to do immeasurably

11:18

more than we ask. Or imagine Paul's like I

11:21

wrote that verse, dummy, s

11:23

Ephesians three twenty. This is tewod Corinthians

11:25

twelve. Tell them about

11:28

the things that God chooses,

11:32

not to remove the

11:35

things God gives you

11:38

grace for in

11:41

the place of change.

11:44

This won't change, but I've

11:46

got grace for it. Make

11:49

the confession by faith right now with your

11:51

mouth. I got grace for it. I

11:54

got grace for it. They

11:57

had an ad campaign when I was a little boy called gotten

12:00

Milk, and I'm

12:02

revising it right now to say God

12:04

grace. And

12:07

the Lord told me to tell you today. I hear

12:10

the Lord saying, I hear so clear. I can't

12:12

get I can't get it out of my spirit. There's

12:14

no shortage, there's

12:17

no shortage. Put

12:21

it in the chat right now, or say it

12:23

with your vocal cords, if you've got breast,

12:25

say it. There's no shortage

12:28

because when I asked the Lord to take the

12:30

thorn away. And you know, we're living in

12:32

a time where you you haven't you haven't heard very

12:34

much about no shortage.

12:38

I mean when it started out,

12:41

and I know, the word global pandemic just makes your

12:43

mouth dry even to hear it, because we don't really want

12:45

to talk about it erebody anymore. And I try not to talk

12:47

about it too much in the pulpit because God knows you hear it

12:49

everywhere else. But I

12:51

knew it was bad. You know, we were

12:54

scared when when COVID came because

12:57

God didn't take it away. And

12:59

then they didn't even have enough

13:01

masks for us to wear because

13:04

there was a mask shortage. Then the

13:06

people who ended up in the hospital, there's

13:08

a ventilator shortage, and then there's a staff

13:10

shortage, and then there's test shortage,

13:13

so we can't even know now. So there

13:15

was shortage. But then it started getting crazy,

13:17

like the things we were short on because of the supply

13:20

chain that seemed to have nothing to do with sickness.

13:22

I went to buy my oldest a

13:25

used car the other day, and the price is

13:27

like sixty percent more right now

13:29

for a used car, because the dude

13:32

was telling me, oh, well there's a chip and chip

13:34

there's a chip shortage of new cars. So the used

13:36

cars were more expensive because blah blah,

13:38

and all I heard is you're ripping me off. This

13:40

is the worst time to black car. I don't even

13:43

want him to drive. I'm scared to death to put

13:45

him on the road. And now it's expensive to two

13:47

because there's a global chip shortage. But I

13:49

knew it was bad. I knew it was bad

13:52

when Holly came home from Chick fil A one day.

13:56

This is when I knew I'm

14:00

a suboctane. My god, by have you forsaken

14:02

of when Chick fil A had a

14:04

sauce shortage. If

14:08

there is one restaurant God loves,

14:11

it's the one that's closed on Sunday

14:16

when Chick

14:18

fil A is running out of Polynesian?

14:21

Oh God, where is your promise?

14:26

The pa, the glorious, the party, she

14:30

said, And we love Chick fil A. So then we say that on

14:32

the record. If you want to send me some goods, just want

14:34

to say, sit up, I'll be your shirt, she

14:37

said. Holly said, they

14:39

they said, welcome to Chick fil A. You know, all happy

14:42

late they do it Chick fil A. And

14:44

then she said, I want to grilled chicken sandwich.

14:46

She said. He said, we don't have any chicken. And

14:53

I said, chick fil A didn't have the chicken.

15:00

I think y'all might see where I'm going with this if

15:02

you work ahead a little bit, and

15:08

she ended up ordering something she didn't even want.

15:10

But that's not the point, because I'm not really

15:12

talking about Chick fil A or

15:15

how they didn't even have wrench dressing or

15:19

kale for a kale salad. Y'all think Holly's

15:21

first choice was kale? That

15:24

girl, that girl is she She loves

15:27

waffle fries more than she loves worship.

15:32

Thinks she wanted to get They didn't even have a kale salad.

15:36

She just had to make the She

15:38

just had to make it, make it work. And

15:44

to me, it's kind of crazy when

15:47

Chick fil a doesn't have grilled chicken. But

15:52

what would be crazier than that? If

15:55

you can imagine a thing like that, if

15:57

you can imagine something crazier than that, here's

16:00

what it might be for

16:02

you to think, as a Christian that

16:05

you're going to need grace from

16:08

your father in heaven and

16:10

he's gonna sum for some reason, there's like a

16:12

global supply chain issue

16:15

in heaven where there's

16:17

not enough angels to staff because

16:19

we can't get any angels to come in and work.

16:22

Look, so here's one thing. There's

16:25

no shortage of angels in heaven to praise

16:27

God. So the

16:30

Bible even says this, if you don't

16:32

praise him, the rocks

16:34

will cry out. Jesus

16:36

said that. So for everybody who's

16:39

like I don't like all of that, when he tells us,

16:41

you know, praise the Lord and give God

16:43

glory, I don't really feel like it. Only got three

16:45

hours of sleep. That's fine,

16:47

you don't have to. There's no shortage

16:50

of glory to God in heaven. There's

16:52

an angel right now saying, Holy,

16:55

Holy, Holy is the

16:57

Lord God, Almighty, Holy,

17:00

Holy. So if you don't want to say he's

17:02

holy, there's an angel saying

17:04

it. You can take a break. You can take

17:07

the day off. Goglola always

17:09

have a break, Doug Lalla, always

17:12

have a break, dog l La always

17:14

haven't work. The first God

17:20

doesn't command you to praise him because

17:22

he needs it. He's not an

17:24

ego maniac. You

17:27

need it. You

17:30

need it, and

17:33

when you give him glory, it

17:35

releases grace. Something

17:39

about it. Once you realize

17:41

that he's able to do him measurably more

17:43

than you ask for. Imagine there is no shortage

17:47

in heaven of what you're hurting

17:49

for. On earth, there's no shortage.

17:52

There's no shortage. In

17:54

fact, I love people who come to church and

17:56

they're like pastor. If you preach, it's good. If you

17:59

don't preach, it's good. I don't really care. I

18:01

brought my own sauce. I

18:05

have my own

18:08

relationship with God. I

18:15

want you all to start bringing your bibles back to

18:17

church. I want you all to

18:19

start a leather bound Bible,

18:22

a big fat leather bound Bible,

18:24

a holy Bible, back to church

18:27

with a pen and a highlighter, so

18:29

you can go through that thing. And when I'm not

18:32

there, because I'm not going to follow you to work tomorrow,

18:36

be weird. They probably wouldn't let me in anyway.

18:39

Security.

18:43

But when you have your own word from God, are

18:50

you so focused on

18:52

your thorn watch this

18:58

that you are missing? You're

19:00

Therefore, Now,

19:03

I'm gonna make you a little scripture, grilled

19:07

grilled chicken scripture sandwich real quick.

19:09

All right, I'm gonna

19:11

give you this little scripture sandwich real quick. In

19:14

Second Corinthians twelve, verse seven.

19:16

I love the Word of God. I

19:18

love it more the more I the

19:20

more I study it,

19:22

the more ignorant I realize. I am so

19:26

uh I would have missed something

19:28

like this. Second Corinthians twelve seven.

19:32

He said, I had these great revelations.

19:36

I saw this amazing glory in

19:38

my life. Paul saying this, I

19:41

was gifted by God in a unique way.

19:43

I studied under ga melee. Check

19:45

my resume. I

19:48

come from good stock, a Hebrew

19:50

of Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin. That's

19:52

me, your apostle to the gentiles,

19:55

Paul. But because of how

19:57

good God had been to me, what

20:00

he had shown me, here

20:02

comes to teaching. Therefore,

20:08

in order to keep me from becoming

20:11

con seated, in

20:13

order to keep me

20:16

grounded in grace? Are

20:19

you grounded in grace? Are

20:22

you grounded in your giftedness? If

20:26

you're grounded in your giftedness and you

20:28

fail, your faith falls apart. Are

20:32

you grounded in grace? Or are you grounded in

20:34

your feelings? Are you grounded

20:37

in grace? Are you grounded in the latest blessing God

20:39

gave you? Are you grounded

20:41

in grace? Are you grounded in your goal? Because you're not going

20:43

to reach all of them, Paul

20:46

said elsewhere in Philippians I pressed toward the mark, toward

20:48

the goal. Paul's still pressing,

20:50

and I'm thinking, I'm going to reach the goal. You're not going to reach

20:52

the goal. So he said, to keep

20:55

me grounded in grace, God gave me a gift

20:57

I didn't ask for and

21:00

has no gift exchange program.

21:03

But God delivered it in an unusual way.

21:05

And this is what we studied last week, the

21:08

same verse back of everybody say, therefore,

21:11

in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I

21:13

was given a thorn in my flesh. And

21:15

angelos, same word that we take angel

21:18

from in Greek, it's angelos.

21:20

It could say an angel of Satan. We've never heard

21:22

of that before to us. Angels

21:25

touched by them and Thomas Kincaid and

21:27

light and all this. But he said, no, it came

21:29

through an angel, and I hated the angel.

21:33

It was a messenger. That's all angel means,

21:35

messenger, That's what the word means. It's the same word.

21:37

He said. The messenger that God brought

21:39

it through was my enemy.

21:43

So God gave me a gift through my enemy.

21:47

That's the context of this great

21:49

verse where he said, my grace is sufficient

21:52

for you. There's no shortage of grace?

21:55

Can I tell yall something as a pastor who's pastored through

21:57

the last two years right now? They

21:59

might be short right now on masks,

22:03

they might be short right now on staff. And

22:06

I'm sure in your industry you could tell me a shortage

22:08

that's affecting you, because I know that you

22:10

have some to in your industry. In my industry,

22:13

there's no shortage of thorns right now.

22:16

Wow, I think

22:19

the last twenty months have been some of the

22:21

thorniest that I've ever

22:23

pastored people through. Yep, there

22:25

is no shortage of the things that Paul

22:28

lists. There's no shortage.

22:30

I said that a minute ago, and y'all shouted.

22:34

But when I said there's no shortage of thorns,

22:36

you didn't shout, And you shouldn't

22:38

shout about that. After all, Paul

22:41

said, nobody in their right mind

22:43

asks God for a thorn. There's

22:46

no shortage of marriage problems

22:48

in my church today.

22:51

There is no shortage of things that can

22:53

make you feel so bad about yourself if you wanted

22:55

to right now. Look, because one of the

22:57

things that the last almost

23:00

those two years now has done to a lot of people

23:02

is it put them in isolation in the season, and

23:05

then things grew in the dark that

23:08

are now coming forth and growing,

23:12

and they're not good. There's

23:14

no shortage of thorns right now. Like

23:17

in some ways I want to thank all of

23:19

you who are honest enough about

23:21

your thorns to come to church. In

23:27

some ways, I feel like I owe every big sinner

23:29

in here a big thank you, because

23:31

you give me job security.

23:36

As long as you have thorns,

23:39

I have a job. Don't

23:43

ever get your life fully together, because

23:46

then you won't need me, and I need to be

23:48

needed. I don't preach

23:50

for the praise of men. Amen. Amen.

23:56

There's no shortage of thorns. There's

23:59

just those that are at hiding them

24:01

than others. All

24:05

you see is the lilies in

24:08

the life of the person next to you.

24:10

I am so thankful that

24:13

Paul taught me the

24:16

theology of the thorn,

24:20

the theology of the thorn,

24:23

and this is the theology of the thorn. When

24:26

I am weak, then

24:29

I am strong. I

24:31

need that one. I'm thankful for everything

24:33

that Paul taught me, but

24:36

above all, maybe the greatest lesson that

24:38

he taught me was

24:40

to look for the Therefore, have

24:45

you been more thorn conscious than

24:48

grace conscious in your

24:50

life lately, the

24:52

devil would love to do that to you. In

24:55

fact, here's what I think about this passage. Okay,

24:57

I don't know if you care what I think about it, but

24:59

this is what I think about it. I don't

25:01

think it matters as much what Paul's thorn

25:04

was as it matters how Paul

25:06

thought about his thorn. And

25:09

likewise, I don't

25:12

believe the most important thing about

25:14

your life it's the challenge that

25:16

you're facing, or the insecurity that

25:18

you have, or the mistake that you made,

25:20

or the thing that you do that nobody knows

25:23

that you do, or the thoughts that you think

25:25

that people would be shocked. Me and Elijah were talking

25:27

the other day how much would we pay to

25:29

keep all of our thoughts from being broadcast

25:31

on a screen in front of the whole world. And we both

25:34

decided everything we have, every

25:36

dollar I have there could not be too

25:38

great of an amount. So, even if it's just

25:41

in your thought life, those thorns,

25:44

Paul is convincing you today, and you

25:46

need to lean into this word because this

25:48

is bigger than a Sunday lesson, This

25:51

is bigger than a YouTube clip, This is bigger than

25:53

an Instagram post. What God is saying today.

25:56

He is saying, if

25:58

you keep looking at this thorn. Because

26:00

Paul doesn't talk about the thorn for seven verses.

26:04

Paul doesn't give a whole chapter to the thorn,

26:06

like we do. We get so

26:09

stuck about what's

26:11

wrong with us? We get

26:13

so stuck. Is that why he called it

26:15

a thorn? This is the thing

26:17

that you get stuck by and

26:20

stuck with and stuck in.

26:23

But Paul doesn't talk about the thorn. He

26:25

talks about the Therefore, did

26:28

you see it in the text? Come

26:30

on, did you see it in the text? It's

26:33

in the text. Class, it's

26:35

in the text. We are not going to recess until

26:38

y'all get this lesson, he

26:41

said. Therefore, this is

26:43

the important thing. What is your

26:45

thorn? Therefore, some

26:48

people never find out.

26:51

They get so stuck in what's wrong

26:53

with them? What they can't do, what

26:56

others can do that they can't

26:58

do, what other God that they

27:00

didn't get. But Paul

27:02

said it was in order to keep me from

27:05

becoming conceited. What a thing

27:07

to admit, Paul

27:10

said, I would have had such a big head, I couldn't have

27:12

fit through the church door if God didn't

27:14

give me this storm. What

27:17

is it? Therefore?

27:20

I could preach all day. When we

27:22

title this message on YouTube, we may call

27:24

it the power of Therefore,

27:28

the power of Therefore when

27:31

you find out not only what has been tormenting

27:33

you, but what is it there?

27:36

For? Is this here to teach

27:38

me something? And notice people can't

27:40

tell you this. They mean well, but they'll say,

27:42

well, the reason your kid is misbehaving is because

27:44

you should have told them to the other school.

27:47

The other school there. You see, we homeschool are

27:49

kids, brother Steve, and that's why our kids

27:51

don't struggle with any of those kids sometimes

27:54

are the biggest crackheads at

27:56

age twenty one. Sometimes nothing against

27:58

homeschooling, nothing against not. But

28:00

Paul did not ask Silas about

28:04

his thorn. And I'm

28:06

not saying don't get input from people. But some

28:08

things only God can show you what it's there

28:10

for. Only

28:12

God can show you why he gave

28:14

you that gift. That's why, a beautiful

28:16

young girl, you gotta make sure you

28:19

go to your fopper to find

28:21

out what your beauty is there for. It

28:24

is not for some boy to put his hands

28:26

all over something that he doesn't own.

28:29

That's not why God gave you that beauty,

28:31

so you can spread it around until

28:33

you feel empty. No,

28:36

No, you

28:39

gotta ask God what is my gift

28:41

there? For I don't just get

28:43

to do whatever I want with my life. It's

28:46

borrowed. I don't

28:48

just get to do whatever I want with my gift.

28:50

It's borrowed. It's a loan. It

28:53

belongs to God. I'm a servant

28:55

of him.

28:58

It's so powerful the power of Therefore,

29:00

put it in the chat, put it in your mouth,

29:03

put it in your spirit. Say therefore, therefore,

29:06

therefore, and some of us we so glorify

29:08

the thorn. Oh my thorn.

29:11

Oh, I'll tell you right now. Oh

29:14

man, if you knew about my thorn. But

29:18

Paul said, therefore

29:21

it was there for a reason, and

29:23

only God can show you what that is. Therefore

29:28

my favorite Therefore in scripture, I

29:30

looked at twenty of them, but I

29:32

only want to give you two. The

29:35

first one comes from Roman's aid, where

29:37

Paul said, what the lawless powers doing? That was eaking

29:39

by simple nature. God did by sending his own sun likeness

29:42

a simple man to be as an offering. There

29:44

is therefore now

29:47

no condemnation for

29:50

those who are in Christ Jesus that's

29:55

my second favorite, therefore my

29:58

first favorite. I don't

30:01

know if I should break it out right now, because I'm

30:03

just not sure. I'm just not sure.

30:05

If you no, I'm

30:07

not sure yet. I'm not convinced yet. Should

30:12

I show him Lord? Should

30:15

I take him to my secret stash

30:18

over here in Lamentations? Now?

30:20

How are you gonna how are you gonna preach about Lamentations?

30:24

And you're talking about therefore, Well, this

30:26

is the perfect place to look at it, because see,

30:28

Lamentations was a very

30:31

sad book in the Bible. Is

30:33

sadder than a Nirvana song. I

30:35

mean, this is really sad stuff

30:38

and it can really bring you down. And Jeremiah

30:40

the prophet was ministering in a very hard time.

30:42

He wasn't seeing much fruit, alterorance. I listen

30:44

to how he starts in Lamentations three

30:46

nineteen. Actually, let's go to verse eighteen. Did

30:48

I give you eighteen? I think I gave you eighteen right before I came

30:50

out, just in case. Yeah, yeah, So I say,

30:53

my splendor is gone and all that

30:55

I had hoped from the Lord. What a place

30:57

to start. I remember my affliction

31:00

and my wandering, the bitterness and

31:02

the gall so I'm stuck in the thorns.

31:04

I well remember them, and my soul

31:07

is downcast within

31:10

me. That's a prophet saying that.

31:13

That's a prophet saying that. He

31:15

said, the memories haunt me. The

31:19

bitterness I taste it right now while I'm

31:21

talking is

31:23

still on my tongue. You can smell it on my breath.

31:28

I'm still stuck in that. Twenty

31:34

one says, Uh,

31:36

Yet this I called to mine,

31:40

and therefore that's

31:44

my favorite word in the Bible today.

31:48

Therefore I

31:52

have hope

31:54

it is go on.

31:57

That's not the good part. This

31:59

is the good part. Because

32:01

of the Lord's great love, we

32:04

are not consumed. For

32:06

His compassions never

32:09

fail. Here's the verse. You might

32:11

know. They are new every

32:14

morning. There's no

32:16

shortage. There's no

32:18

shortage. There's no shortage.

32:22

If you screwed up three days ago, there's

32:24

grace for it right now. There's no

32:27

shortage. They might not have

32:29

sausage, sick filet, but there's

32:31

no shortage of mercy.

32:34

In the house of God. They

32:37

are new every morning.

32:41

So so so watch this, watch us, watch this, watch

32:43

us. We passed Stephen. I can't praise God.

32:46

You don't know what what I've been doing. You'll know

32:48

what I've been struggling with. What do you think is mercy?

32:50

Is there for? Amazing

32:54

grace? How sweet the sound

32:56

that saved the wretch like me? When

33:00

he hung up on that cross and

33:02

he didn't come down. What

33:04

do you think he was there for?

33:09

That's what his

33:12

grace is. Therefore,

33:15

your weakness, that's

33:18

what his grace

33:21

is. Therefore, the insults,

33:24

that's what his grace is

33:26

there for the persecution, that's

33:30

what his grace is

33:32

there for, the

33:35

hardship, the difficulty,

33:38

the thorn is

33:40

what grace is

33:43

there for. And

33:47

see Paul

33:50

had to pray about that thing three

33:52

times, three seasons.

33:56

You think he wasn't fasting, You

33:58

think he wasn't keeping a journal, a

34:01

foreign journal. You

34:05

think Paul wasn't You think Paul wasn't doing everything

34:07

in his power to get that thing to

34:09

go away. And you have been to and that's good because

34:12

we don't want to glory in our thorn. Some of people

34:14

will pervert any message you preach. You

34:17

know, well, lord, I'm gonna just go over here on this

34:20

pornographic website. But hey, lord, that's

34:22

what grace is there for him. Who's gonna go on over here

34:24

and and just do it

34:27

thornographic website. I should have said where

34:32

you just keep recreating the weakness by not dealing

34:34

with it. But

34:37

grace is there to change you too, So it's there

34:39

for you when you fail, but it's also there to build you up

34:41

so you can get stronger. When I am, we

34:45

some of us, we worship our weakness. Just

34:50

going off on people. That's how I am, not

34:53

just the way, that's just my thorn in the

34:55

flesh. You heard old Pastor Furnick over there at

34:57

the elevation. He said, it'll be

35:00

grace for it. Now, you need to put the

35:02

grace on me. Well, they're not God. They

35:04

might slap you across your face if

35:06

you act thorny out there. So it's not like, oh

35:09

well, let's just all be you know, just everybody,

35:11

just everybody, just let's have a let's

35:13

have a thorn party. Let's all tell our thorn

35:16

stories. My thorn is bigger

35:18

than your thorn. That's

35:20

how we came to church. You want

35:22

to be transformed. I

35:25

want to receive grace for what we struggle with, he

35:29

said. I prayed, raise

35:33

your hand if you want me to go deeper in this or

35:36

you can raise it on the chat and

35:38

just put in the chat right now, I've got

35:40

grace for this and

35:43

the beautiful thing. You don't even have to specify what this

35:46

is to the other people in the chat. It's none of their business,

35:49

it's none of mine. You take it to God and you get

35:51

the grace that you need for the season. And

35:55

and don't don't take it to so many other people

35:57

either to tell you what they would do if they were you. They're

35:59

not the

36:02

God who knows your thorn knows the grace that you need.

36:06

Now, this

36:08

is pretty beautiful. How many of y'all like actually

36:10

really love the Bible? And you're not even a little bit

36:12

bored right now? All

36:15

right for

36:17

you, that's

36:20

not the only Therefore in the passage

36:22

he said three times, Verse eight is back, I said

36:24

Corinthian's twelve. I don't even think I'm gonna get

36:26

to the other scripture today. That's all right.

36:29

Three times I've pleaded with the Lord to take

36:31

it away. Okay. Is

36:34

he the lord of your thorn? Does

36:37

he get to decide what to leave in your life?

36:40

Who to leave in your life, and what to remove? Is

36:43

he the lord of your thorn?

36:47

He says, I was given a thorn. The

36:49

messenger was Satan, but

36:52

the master was the Lord. So

36:56

whatever the devil is doing in your life,

37:00

he doesn't get the ultimate authority.

37:03

It's not about the thorn. It's

37:06

the story you tell yourself

37:08

about the thorn. Now,

37:12

Paul could have just as easily come to the

37:14

conclusion because he said it was a messenger

37:16

of Satan to torment me. But verse

37:19

nine, God said to me, my grace

37:21

is sufficient for you, for my power has made perfect

37:23

in weakness. I read that so many

37:25

times this week. I felt there was something in it for us, and

37:27

there is. But he said to me, okay,

37:31

back to verse eight. Three times I

37:33

pleaded with the Lord

37:36

verse nine, but he said to me, so

37:43

Paul asked three times, and God said, my grace

37:45

is sufficient for you, for my power has made perfect

37:47

in weakness. And then what's the next word in verse

37:49

nine? Therefore that's

37:52

the sandwich. Therefore, to

37:55

keep me from becoming conceited, there was

37:57

given to me a challenge that I could not handle in

37:59

my own strength, something that made me

38:01

realize, I don't have enough IQ to do this.

38:04

I don't have enough I don't have enough physical

38:06

stamina to do this. I

38:08

don't I don't have enough experience to do this.

38:10

He said, That's what it was there for, because

38:13

I had so many things going for me

38:16

in my life that there had to be

38:18

this thing. It was said one

38:20

way by one preacher. He said, the thorn

38:23

took him to the throne.

38:26

It reminded him he wasn't in charge.

38:31

But then after he says that, he says, he

38:34

said, to me, my grace is sufficient for my powers

38:36

made perfect a weakness. Therefore I

38:39

will not post but

38:42

boast all the more

38:44

gladly about my weakness, so that

38:47

Christ power me rest on me. Not

38:49

so I can just stay complacent, stay selfish,

38:52

stay mean, stay hateful, just

38:54

stay sick, stay in this bad physical

38:56

condition. That's not what I'm glorying in.

39:00

But he said, therefore, therefore

39:04

I realized what the thorn was there

39:06

for. And he could have taken this anyway,

39:09

because remember, Paul persecuted

39:12

the same church that he ultimately helped

39:14

to build. So

39:16

now if this had been your thorn, whatever it was,

39:19

is it Paul's eyesight? Who knows? Was Paul

39:21

a little short? Who knows? Was Paul

39:23

talking about the people who followed him around in every

39:25

city trying to run him out. Was he talking about

39:27

the people who threw actual stones at him,

39:30

trying to persecute him for the Gospel? We

39:32

go? Oh, persecution. I relate with Paul.

39:34

You don't relate with Paul because

39:36

one atheist on your Facebook said they didn't

39:38

like your Bible verse. That is not what he's preaching

39:41

about here. But

39:46

Paul could have just as

39:48

easily told himself this thorn story

39:50

you ready, Well, this is

39:53

what I get. This

39:55

is God punishing me for all the bad things I did. I

40:00

guess it doesn't matter how much I change, God's

40:02

never gonna really accept

40:05

me. I

40:08

do happen to know that Paul studied, struggled

40:11

with He studied, but he also struggled

40:14

with an inferiority complex because

40:18

one time he called himself the least of the Apostles

40:20

as one abnormally born because

40:23

he didn't physically walk with Jesus like Peter did.

40:27

He could have just as easily told himself

40:30

this story

40:33

about the thorn, Well,

40:35

I guess, I

40:37

guess if God's not going to take this thorn away

40:40

from me, it's really not worth serving him.

40:45

He could have just as easily told

40:47

God, well, if you would have wanted to use me more than you should

40:49

have made me more whole. And

40:53

I tell the Lord these kinds of things all the time, just

40:55

to be honest with you, because I

40:57

can get in this thing of comparing myself to people

41:00

whose thorns I don't see. I'm

41:03

not saying they don't have them. I

41:05

just don't get a viewing party.

41:08

And I

41:11

don't think it's as important what

41:14

your thorn is. You could name it if you wanted

41:17

to in your heart.

41:21

I think the story you tell yourself about the thorn,

41:25

because Paul says, the Lord said

41:28

to me, show him again in the

41:30

text he said to me, he

41:33

said to me, he said

41:35

to me, I

41:37

don't think he heard God out loud, and

41:40

I don't think God's voice was the only one speaking to

41:42

him about that thorn. Remember,

41:46

he said, a messenger of Satan

41:49

was sent to torment me. So

41:52

at the same time Paul's trying to do ministry,

41:54

or you're trying to raise your kids, or you're trying to grow

41:56

up in a really weird, wicked world and

41:59

have some integrity about you, there's

42:02

two voices going on. Really, there's

42:05

two stories being told. He said,

42:07

there's a messenger of Satan that's

42:10

tormenting me. And then

42:13

there's the voice of Grace that's

42:16

coming forth to strengthen me. If

42:19

I listened to the first voice, the messenger of

42:22

Satan, in this season of my life,

42:24

I will not have the strength to get up and

42:27

face myself in the mirror tomorrow.

42:30

If I listen to the message of Satan in my life,

42:33

I'm gonna wind up like Elijah

42:35

the Prophet, not my son, Elijah, the prophet, Elijah,

42:39

who had the power. You talk about

42:41

strong, you talk about a mentor,

42:43

you talk about somebody who had the sauce,

42:46

who had the glory of God. Elijah

42:48

Eli Yahoo, my God is they ah

42:50

Wad called down fire on the

42:53

prophets of Bail, called down fire

42:55

on the prophets of Ashra. Eight hundred

42:57

and fifty died in the valley that day.

43:00

The nation was turning back to God. Spoke

43:02

and the rain stop spoke again, and

43:04

it rained to cloud the size of a man's

43:07

head. Then how in the world did

43:10

Elijah wind up standing

43:13

at the mouth of a cave

43:16

in one kings nineteen. Strong

43:20

people have weak moments. Strong

43:25

Christians have sharp thorns. Every

43:30

believer has places of brokenness.

43:33

I need you to know this so you don't

43:36

quit, So

43:38

you don't stop coming to church because

43:41

you think God doesn't have enough grace for you,

43:45

or because you stopped showing up for the rule

43:47

God gave you, because you don't think you're smart

43:49

enough. You're not. And

43:52

the thorn is there for you to realize.

43:55

I need your wisdom God. I

43:58

don't look to the north, the east,

44:01

or the west for my wisdom. My

44:03

health comes from the

44:06

Lord, so

44:09

God has given it to me. Like this, Turn

44:11

to somebody next to you. Turn to somebody next to you him say

44:13

the thorn came from the enemy,

44:17

but the grace came from God. I'm

44:20

gonna say it again. The thorn came

44:22

from the enemy. That was the lessnger.

44:25

I hated the angel that brought it. You don't

44:27

have to like what's happening in your life. You

44:29

don't have to like the people that are in your life.

44:32

You don't have to like the challenge. You don't

44:34

even have to like your personality, but

44:36

you do have to realize that

44:38

it must be submitted to God's

44:42

purpose. Stand

44:53

up. I want to show you something, and we're out of here. Of

45:02

your therefore is

45:07

greater than the power of your thorn. God's

45:12

purpose will prevail,

45:24

he said. Paul

45:26

said three times. That's

45:29

a significant number. In scripture, three

45:33

represents perfect unity. You

45:35

know, Jesus prayed three times in the garden of gussemone.

45:38

He said, nevertheless, I'm gonna take this cup,

45:40

even though I don't want it. I'm

45:42

gonna do this what I came to

45:44

do. This is what I came for.

45:48

Don't you see it. You are running from

45:50

the stuff that God put you. Therefore,

45:54

you are not praying about the things

45:56

that God's grace is. Therefore, you

46:01

don't just get to bring God your praise. You

46:04

get to bring your pain too. That's

46:07

what the grace is. Therefore,

46:12

three times I asked the Lord to

46:15

take it away, but

46:17

he said to me, hey,

46:19

here to allow. My

46:22

grace is sufficient for

46:24

you, for

46:26

my power is made perfect in

46:29

weakness for us as acute scripture.

46:32

For Paul, that was a story that

46:34

he had to tell himself every

46:36

time that thorn pressed into his flesh. God's

46:39

power is made perfect

46:43

every time it presses your flesh. I

46:45

want you to tell yourself a different story.

46:48

You don't get to choose your thorn. You

46:52

get to choose your story.

46:57

He said, there's no shortage of grace. There's

47:01

no shortage now,

47:05

he said. Three times I asked, and

47:08

one time he answered, you

47:11

know what that means. That

47:13

means the first two times that Paul prayed about

47:15

his storm, silence, some

47:20

of us are standing in the silence right now

47:24

asking God to do stuff. And he didn't say yes,

47:26

but he didn't say no either. That

47:29

waiting place, that's

47:33

what grace is there for that

47:35

silence, And

47:38

it's the story you tell

47:40

yourself about that silence that

47:43

determines whether or not you walk in grace or

47:45

whether you give up the

47:49

story in the silence.

47:53

Three times I asked, one time he answered,

47:56

My grace is sufficient. Silence.

48:06

I don't know if this is going to get better, Silence.

48:14

I'm waiting for this to come through. Silence.

48:20

I have no idea if my kid's life is going to

48:22

turn around, they're going to come back to God. Silence.

48:28

I don't know if I ever be in a loving relationship

48:30

again. Silence.

48:35

I'll know if I'll ever feel

48:38

better. What

48:41

story are

48:44

you telling yourself in the silence? Satan

48:48

wants to use that silence and plant a seed.

48:52

See God doesn't love you. See

48:54

God isn't with you. See

48:56

the whole thing is a bunch of fairy tales and myths.

48:59

See you'll never be good enough. See

49:01

you can't change everybody else can. See. You

49:04

knew this church thing wouldn't work. See there's

49:06

no way. You never stick to it, you

49:08

never do it. But

49:11

I believe the spirit wants

49:13

to plant a different story

49:17

in the silence, so

49:20

you can know. That's where grace lives,

49:25

the story in the

49:27

silence. And then he said

49:29

to me, and he'll say it to you too if you let him.

49:34

My grace is

49:36

sufficient for

49:39

what you struggle with. My

49:41

grace is sufficient for your mistakes.

49:45

My grace is sufficient for your inexperience.

49:49

My grace is sufficient for your sin.

49:51

Oh yeah, where sin abound it, there

49:53

did grace abound that much more.

49:56

I praise God for grace that

49:59

is gre later than

50:01

oh my sin. And

50:06

I spent all week thinking about the silence.

50:09

You know, I asked God, he didn't

50:11

answer. I tried that it

50:13

didn't work. I waited for it. I

50:15

don't even see a sign of it coming. I

50:18

have no idea what that was there

50:20

for. And

50:23

I saw Elijah, God's great prophet, see

50:25

Paul wasn't the only preacher who had to deal with the

50:27

silence. You're not the only

50:29

one either, the great

50:32

prophet who called down fire

50:34

from heaven. In One Kings

50:36

nineteen, verse thirteen,

50:40

the Bible says that God

50:42

was passing by Elijah. He was depressed. Now,

50:44

he was discouraged. Now he was tired, Now

50:46

he was exhausted. Now the

50:49

nation had rebelled against God. And he had

50:51

been suffering from the ramifications of a

50:53

drought for so long, and he was considered by

50:55

many to be the troublemaker who started

50:57

it all. And even after call

51:00

down fire from heaven, he still

51:02

felt something in his soul. It

51:05

was the isolation of the draft that landed

51:07

him in this place. And

51:09

Elijah says something in

51:13

One Kings nineteen that

51:15

you may have said a few times this

51:18

past week. I have had enough,

51:20

Lord, I'm

51:23

sick of this. A

51:26

woman named Jezebel, who was the wife

51:28

of Ahab the King, was chasing Elijah.

51:31

She sent a messenger to

51:34

threaten him, which lets

51:36

me know there was really nothing she could do to

51:38

him. She was just trying

51:40

to intimidate him to the point that

51:43

he would leave the place where God had assigned

51:45

him. That is what Satan

51:47

is trying to do to you right now, is

51:50

trying to run you off from the place where God's

51:53

greatest grace is about to be released in

51:55

your life. That place of weakness, that's

51:57

where the grace is coming. That's

52:00

where the grace is coming. So

52:05

let me preach this for every Jezebel,

52:08

for every thorn that has been threatening

52:10

you, that has been tormenting you, that

52:12

has been pressing into you, that has been

52:14

causing you. Pain in your spirit is

52:17

worse than pain in your body. Is

52:19

a pain in your spirit you can't shake,

52:21

and God won't remove it. And the Bible

52:23

says when Elijah heard the

52:25

voice of God, by the way, God

52:28

didn't shout to Elijah, he whispered,

52:33

and Elijah pulled his cloak over

52:36

his face and went

52:38

out and stood

52:41

at the mouth of the cave.

52:44

I know it's just a figure of speech, but

52:48

knowing that it's called the mouth of the cave makes

52:51

sense to me. That

52:53

was the place where he had holed up, waiting to

52:56

die. That was

52:58

the place where he had shut himself in because

53:00

he didn't want to take it anymore. That

53:03

was the place where he was all by himself

53:05

with nothing but the movies in his mind

53:07

to watch of how bad his life

53:09

was. So now he's

53:11

standing at the mouth of the cave,

53:14

and so are you. The

53:16

only voice you hear in the cave is an echo

53:20

the thoughts that bounce around your head, the

53:23

thoughts that torment you.

53:25

You've already

53:27

thought those enough that if

53:29

those thoughts could bring you out, they would have by now.

53:34

So when he stood at the mouth of the cave watched

53:36

this, he heard the

53:38

voice of the Lord. And

53:41

the voice said, what

53:43

are you doing here? Elijah?

53:47

I could ask you the same question, What

53:50

are you there for in

53:55

the cave? When

53:58

God has a great ministry for you, when

54:01

God has a great future for you? Remember,

54:04

Jeremiah said this I recall

54:06

to my mind. Therefore I

54:09

have hope. What are

54:11

you doing in the place of shame when there's

54:13

so much mercy

54:16

with your name on it? What

54:18

are you doing running around the people

54:20

to get what can only come

54:23

from God? So

54:25

God said to Elijah, I've still

54:27

got an assignment for you if you want it.

54:30

I've still got a job for you if

54:32

you want it. I still got grace

54:34

for you if you want it. I still

54:37

got a hope for you. If you want

54:39

it. I still got a future for

54:41

you. If you want it, I got

54:43

joy for you. There's no sortish,

54:51

It's the power of a Therefore, lift

54:54

your hands. The Lord is passing by. The

54:58

mountains were ripped apart. That was God.

55:01

The wind came sweeping through. That wasn't

55:03

God. The fire came sweeping

55:05

through. That wasn't God. The

55:08

earth started shaking. That wasn't God.

55:10

It was in the

55:12

whisper that Elijah

55:15

heard is voice. Lord,

55:19

I thank you for a

55:21

new story. In the silence, we

55:25

come against every false belief and

55:28

every messenger of Satan that was sent

55:30

to torment on us. Today we

55:32

flip it in Jesus' name, in

55:35

Jesus's name, in Jesus's

55:38

name. No, no, not in our strength,

55:41

in Jesus's name. What

55:44

tormented you before is going

55:46

to bring you to the throne of God

55:49

for a greater release of grace. I

55:51

speak, greater anointing over your

55:53

life, Greater anointing over

55:55

your leadership, Greater anointing

55:58

over your relationships, later

56:00

annoint over your mind. Here

56:02

comes your peace, Here comes

56:04

your joy, Here comes your provision.

56:07

There is no shortage in heaven

56:12

for a heart that is open to God, So

56:15

lift your hands, because

56:20

if he dress the lilies,

56:24

it's beauty and slender.

56:27

How much they come?

56:31

How much? If

56:36

he waw

56:44

much? Does he know

56:46

you? All right? Hang out one

56:48

second? So here it is. This is

56:51

the new story I want you to tell yourself in the

56:53

silence. The

56:58

more thorns you're dealing

57:01

with, the more grace

57:04

you are to expect. Holy

57:11

is your name, God. Glory

57:14

to your name. God. We worship

57:16

your great name. God. We worship

57:19

your great name God. Glory to

57:21

your name, God. Release your glory

57:23

in this place. Release your glory

57:26

on every location. Release

57:28

your glory. Lake Norman, release

57:30

your glory. Release your glory

57:33

right now, all over the world. Through

57:35

this broadcast, through this sermon, through

57:38

this worship moment, I pray a great

57:40

release of grace, a great

57:42

release of glory. We give

57:44

you glory,

57:49

We give you glory,

57:53

a new story for the

57:55

silence. Father,

57:58

we bring those storms right now to the throne.

58:02

You are the Lord of

58:04

the thorn, and you

58:06

are the God of all grace.

58:10

When I stood up today to preach, Lord,

58:13

I had no idea whose

58:16

thorn I would be preaching to, But

58:18

you did. I

58:20

had no idea who would take the time to

58:23

come to church to log on, but you did.

58:28

And they didn't even know what they came for, but

58:31

you did. So

58:35

now I know what

58:38

I was here for. God

58:41

wanted me to receive this grace,

58:46

and I receive it right

58:49

now in the name of

58:51

Jesus. Pray

58:54

that I lod. I receive it right

58:57

now in the name

58:59

of Jesus. I

59:01

receive grace

59:05

right now, in the name of

59:07

Jesus. I receive

59:10

healing right now,

59:13

in the name of Jesus. I

59:15

receive joy right

59:19

now in the name of Jesus.

59:22

And I celebrate your grace. God.

59:24

I celebrate your grace for

59:26

my thorny, I

59:30

celebrate your grace. Come

59:34

on, we didn't come to have a pity party about

59:36

our thorn. This is a celebration

59:38

of grace, A celebration

59:41

of grace. Sing

59:43

that song again. Sing that song. There's

59:48

no shortage.

59:51

My God will supply on your Jesus.

1:00:26

Therefore I will both stall the more

1:00:28

gladly in the things I used

1:00:30

to complain about. You

1:00:34

know what, when Paul

1:00:36

was locked in prison at Philippi, when

1:00:38

God opened the prison doors because he sang

1:00:40

a song at midnight, Paul didn't

1:00:43

even leave. He wanted

1:00:45

to lead the jailer to Christ. He

1:00:47

said, I'm not coming out until

1:00:49

I find out what I was there for. And

1:00:52

do you not know that the Church at Philippi

1:00:54

was born out of that situation.

1:00:58

So tell the devil, I'm not until

1:01:01

I find out what God has

1:01:03

for me in this spiritualation.

1:01:06

I talk too far, I turn

1:01:08

around. Whoo.

1:01:14

So campus pastors,

1:01:16

y'll take the service. I'm done officially

1:01:19

right now in

1:01:24

the name of Jesus. And

1:01:27

here at Valentine, clap your hands and give God break.

1:01:34

All right, all

1:01:37

right, there's what I'm gonna do in

1:01:40

this room. There's somebody God wanted me to give

1:01:42

you the invitation to receive Christ by your head.

1:01:47

You didn't come to church today because your girlfriend wanted you to.

1:01:51

That's just who God used. God

1:01:54

brought you here for this moment, all

1:01:56

right, That's

1:01:59

what God brought you here for. Because

1:02:01

as I've been preaching today, God's been speaking to you,

1:02:03

calling you out of the cave, calling you out

1:02:05

of your sin, calling you out of your shame, calling

1:02:07

you out of your self reliance. Just

1:02:10

the voice of the Lord. And he's whispering to you right

1:02:12

now. He's not going to force you. He's

1:02:15

not going to make you. But if you want to

1:02:17

surrender your life to God, the Bible says

1:02:19

it's by faith we are saved. Is by grace. We are saved

1:02:21

through faith. It is the gift of

1:02:23

God, not work, so that no one

1:02:25

can boast about it. So you

1:02:28

have the same right to receive grace as

1:02:30

anybody in this room. And if you need

1:02:32

a new start with God and to know you

1:02:34

have a relationship with Him, whether you're

1:02:37

coming to Jesus for the first time or

1:02:39

coming back to Him, I want to give you

1:02:41

that opportunity. In this moment.

1:02:44

You pray with me out loud and

1:02:46

repeat after me this prayer. And God will

1:02:49

hear you from heaven. If

1:02:51

you place your faith in Him, He'll forgive you of all

1:02:53

your sins. There is a

1:02:55

grace in this moment.

1:02:58

Repeat after me out loud. For everybody who's

1:03:00

coming to God today, let's pray as a church

1:03:02

heavenly Father. Today

1:03:05

today is by days of

1:03:07

salvation. Salvation. I am a

1:03:09

sinner in need

1:03:11

of the grace of God.

1:03:14

I believe. I believe that Jesus

1:03:16

Christ is the Son of God

1:03:19

and the Savior of the world. And

1:03:21

today I make Jesus

1:03:24

the Lord of my life. I

1:03:26

believe he died that

1:03:29

I would be forgiven and rose

1:03:31

again to give me life.

1:03:34

I receive this new life.

1:03:37

This is my new beginning.

1:03:40

If you pray that shoots your hand up right now

1:03:42

on the count of three, two three, put

1:03:44

it up. Bless your man, blessed,

1:03:48

bless it. Come on and

1:03:50

celebrate like you know

1:03:52

what it means to get a second chance. Let's

1:03:56

celebrate the grace of God. How

1:03:59

many are breaks? Yeah?

1:04:03

What ah?

1:04:09

It is all right,

1:04:11

I gotta dismiss you now. You

1:04:13

know we gotta go. You

1:04:16

know we gotta go. But you

1:04:18

better leave here more focused on your

1:04:20

therefore than your thorn. Every

1:04:26

time you feel that thorn this week, there's

1:04:28

a therefore. Oh God's

1:04:30

about to bring me into every time you see

1:04:32

a Goliath this week, Oh God must

1:04:34

have a sword that I'm gonna need in the future. Goliath

1:04:37

has got your sword. Y'all better stop,

1:04:39

stop, stop, don't encourage me. And

1:04:43

he said to me, my

1:04:46

grace is sufficient for you, for

1:04:48

my power is made

1:04:51

perfect in weakness.

1:04:53

On your way out, touch three people and

1:04:56

say I got my own sauce. I

1:04:58

see y'all next. I

1:05:01

love you well. If you enjoyed Today's

1:05:03

podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love

1:05:05

for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,

1:05:08

and review this podcast. You

1:05:10

can also help us reach others by investing today

1:05:12

at Elevationchurch dot org, slash

1:05:15

give and thanks again for joining us

1:05:17

on the Elevation Podcast