Elevation with Steven Furtick - No Shortage! (The Power Of Therefore)

Episode Date: October 4, 2021

There is no shortage of God’s grace. In “No Shortage! (The Power Of Therefore)” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church reminds us that, no matter what we’re facing, God’s purpose will prevail.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. We're going to get to the message in just a moment, but I wanted to make sure you knew about elevation nights. It's going to be amazing. Eight cities, October 26th through November 4th. You've got to go to elevation nights.com to see if we're coming to a city near you. It's going to be me, elevation worship, a few friends, and you.

I want to see you there. I want to see you and everybody that you know there. Go to Elevationnights.com. I can't wait to see you soon. Here's the message. Right now, all over the world, people are joining in with this ministry. We want to welcome our eFAM, our extended family, all over the world right now. We're flinging the doors open, man, the digital doors.

Come on in, the church. The church is open. The spirit is here. So, God bless you. Just turn to the person next to. you and say, if Pastor Stephen knew you, he would be his favorite church member. Just tell him that. And I believe that.

Now some of us are glad to be here. We have learned that there is bread in the house of the Lord. I'm going to do a no-no. I'm going to use the same scripture I used last week. Sit down. Y'all leave. Let's study. I came home last week and I told Holly, I don't know how good that went.

She said, it was amazing, and I was frustrated. I said, I don't think I did it the way that I was supposed to. And Holly said, maybe you didn't fail, maybe you just weren't finished. Turning your Bible to Second Corinthians. Could y'all believe she backtalks me like that? The Bible says submit to your husband. You're not supposed to be quoting scriptures at the man of God? I'm kidding.

But it's good. in Corinthians chapter 12. And I want to talk a little more about your thorn. That was the subject last week. So this might be uncomfortable. I'm going to talk about your thorn for a moment or two. But I want to read this context. And I just want to remind you that usually when God speaks, he speaks in sentences and paragraphs. And, you know, like a lot of times what we'll take is we'll take a single sentence from the Word of God. And that's cool. It's better than nothing. But to really get the full impact of what God speaks, it's better if you understand the context of when he spoke it. And I don't know if we sometimes read scripture versus Bible verses like their captions on

Instagram or something like that. They're not. This was a letter Paul wrote to a church that he loved, that he was incredibly frustrated with. Oh, you can definitely feel that way about one person. one church. You can really love and be really frustrated with. And I made the case one time in this pulpit, a lot of people disagree. You can't really be truly good and frustrated with somebody that you don't really truly love. You'll feel the most intense feelings of I want to kill you if you are a parent, the person that came from your very body. And it goes the other way too with kids and parents. But this is the lesson that Paul is giving. And if I had outlined the message last week, the way I should have, where you could take notes and all of that, I would have used three points.

A mentor, a metaphor, and a therefore. A mentor, a metaphor, and a therefore. And I forgot to tell you that last week, because I was so busy preaching about Paul as a mentor to the church. Not an advice column. That's not a broke cousin who tells you where you need to invest your money and what kind of digital currency you need to invest in. But he's not one of these advice-given fools. He's got real authority. What surprised us about Paul Goh was that with such great apostolic authority and such

intellectual brilliance, instead of taking the opportunity to exceed his authority, he opened himself up with personal vulnerability. And what was amazing about it was, and I'm going to read it to you in just a moment in case you missed it. His vulnerability did not compromise his authority. His being real about what he struggled with didn't keep him from being powerful and being called. And it doesn't for you either. And you don't have to fake it. You don't have to go through life pretending. Because the people that you pretend to be somebody that you're not to in order to get them to like you, they don't really like you when they like you. They like the you that you showed them that you concocted just to get

their approval. So it's worthless anyway. And if you got it, you got it. You got it. You got it. And if you know, you know. And if God is with you, God is with you. And nobody can do anything to change it. Not even the devil. Not even the devil. Oh, I feel a no weapon formed against me shall prosper rising up in my spirit. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul says in verse 6, even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool

because I would be speaking the truth. Paul's the opposite of most of us. He has everything to brag about, but he doesn't. A lot of us have nothing to boast about, but plenty to post about. Y'all ought to say amen. Let the church say, ouch. He said, I'm not even going to tell you about my trip to heaven. I went to the third heaven, but don't worry about that.

because what I want to actually tell you about, and he uses a metaphor, he says, because of these surpassingly great revelations, therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn. That's the metaphor. He says, it was a thorn. Why scholars have centuries tried to identify what the thorn was when Paul clearly did not want us to know or he would have spelled it out, if he would have wanted us to know whether it was a physical issue because it could have been that, or a spiritual issue because it could have been that, or an emotional issue, it could have been that, or an opponent of the gospel because he was an ambassador of Christ. See, Paul was responsible for delivering the theology that we still

study today to millennia later. Justification by faith is a doctrine that we would not know about as we know of, about it if it had not been for Paul. Yet maybe the greatest gift that Paul ever gives to those of us who struggle with stuff, those of us who are confused sometimes about the way God is working in our life, those of us who are not quite sure if we're going to be in the VIP section of heaven or whether we're going to have to sneak in past the security in the back door and hope God does it call us out. This is what I want you to know about that Paul.

He gives us the gift of showing us that there is a thorn. Now everybody say this, there is a thorn. There is a thorn. The people who don't say it, they're probably lost in the metaphor, so let me break it down. The thorn is that thing that you don't talk about on the first night of E-group. The thorn is the thing that you don't tell somebody in the grocery checkout line. And you really shouldn't. I mean, it's not wise to share everything with everybody.

And we kind of live in a culture where everybody is boasting and posting so much. It's refreshing that Paul has the discretion to say, I had this thing, this thorn. It came from Satan. Look at this. It was a messenger of Satan to torment me. And that's what I flipped last week that God showed me. He showed me torment. And if you flip that, it's mentor, right?

If you say torment and you say at the other. You weren't here last week? That's why I did last week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, it's good. I'm going to catch you up. I'm going to get this. He said, the thing that is tormenting you, if you'll submit it to my throne, this is what you've got to learn to do. Take that thorn to the throne. Don't take that thorn to people because people don't have the power to turn it around. So Paul did something so wise. He said, God, would you take this away? God said nothing. Paul said, God, I don't know if you're busy doing something for Peter over there, but Paul, Paul, I need you over here. Take this thorn away. What was it? We found out last week. It was his mentor, because some things you can only learn through what you are afflicted by. And yet, the warning is so clear in my spirit that the Lord wants me to tell you today, it's not really about the thorn. It's not really about the thorn. That's not the real thing.

The thing that we bring to God. Fix this. Change this. Or if you're like me and you're a control freak and you think everybody else needs to get it, like get on the same page with you. Fix them. Some of y'all's thorn weighs 197 pounds and is sitting next to you.

God, would you... And this is the message that Paul gives us. And watch this. Get ready to shout. Get ready to out. Get ready to out. Get ready to. Get ready shout. If God doesn't remove it, you can expect him to use it. So whatever you bring before the Lord, I don't care if it's an addiction, a propensity, and you say, well, God, make me not want to do this anymore.

I don't want to want that anymore. I don't want this desire anymore. I don't want this darkness anymore. I don't want this feeling anymore. Well, sometimes God will take it away. I have some things in my life that I prayed about, and God got me through them. I have other things. These are the thorns.

horns that God said, I'm not going to remove it. So then Paul says, all right, all right, all right. If God is not going to take the thorn away that is tormenting me, you've been tormented by it long enough, you ask God three times, because it's amazing how Paul gives us this contrast of action and acceptance. I ask God to do it. I believe God could do it. Because when I first read this, I'm like, Paul, you needed to just have more faith.

Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. Paul's like, I wrote that verse, dummy. It's Ephesians 320. This is 2nd Corinthians 12. I'm talking about the things that God chooses not to remove. The things God gives you grace for. the place of change. This won't change, but I've got grace for it. Make the confession by faith right now with your mouth. I got grace for it. I got grace for it. They had an ad campaign

when I was a little boy called Got Milk. And I'm revising it right now to say, got grace. And the Lord told me to tell you today, I hear the Lord saying, I hear it so clear, I can't get it out of my spirit, there's no shortage. Put it in the chat right now or say it with your vocal cords. If you've got breath, say it, there's no shortage. Because when I ask the Lord to take the thorn away, and we're living in a time where you haven't heard very much about no shortage. I mean, when it started out, and I know the word global pandemic just makes your mouth dry even to hear it because we don't really want to talk about it or hear about it anymore. And I try not to talk about it too much in the pulpit because God knows you hear it everywhere else. But I knew it was bad.

You know, we were scared when COVID came because God didn't take it away. And then they didn't even have enough masks for us to wear because there was a mask shortage. Then the people who ended up in the hospital, there's a ventilator shortage, and then there's a staff shortage, and then there's tests, shortage, so we can't even know now. So there was shortage, but then it started getting crazy, like the things we were short on because of the supply chain that seemed to have nothing to do with sickness. I went to buy my oldest used car the other day, and the price is like 60 percent more right now for a used car, because the dude was telling me, oh, well, there's a chip, and there's a chip

shortage of new cars, so the used cars are more expensive because blah, blah, and all I heard is you're ripping me off. This is the worst time to buy a car. I don't even want him to drive. I'm scared to death to put him on the road. And now it's expensive to two because there's a global chip shortage. But I knew it was bad. I knew it was bad when Holly came home from Chick-fil-A one day.

This is when I knew. My love a subacti. My God, why have you forsaken us? When Chick-fil-A had a sauce shortage, if there is one restaurant God loves, It's the one that's closed on Sunday. When Chick-fil-A is running out of Polynesian, oh God, where is your promise? It's a pod, the glorious department.

She said, and we love Chick-fil-A, so I didn't say that on the record if you want to send me some coupons, a sponsorship. I'll wear a shirt. She said, Holly said, they said, welcome to Chick-fil-A, you know, all happy like they do with Chick-fil-A. And then she said, I want a grilled chicken sandwich. She said, we don't have any chicken. And I said, Chick-fil-A didn't have chicken.

I think y'all might see where I'm going with this if you work ahead a little bit. And she ended up ordering something she didn't even want. But that's not the point because I'm not really talking about chick-fil-A or how they didn't even have wrench dressing or kale for a kale salad. You all think Holly's first choice was kale? That girl, she loves waffle fries more than she loves worship. They didn't even have a kale salad. She just had to make it work.

To me it's kind of crazy when Chick-fil-A didn't have grilled chicken. What would be crazier than that, if you can imagine a thing like that. If you can imagine something crazier than that, here's what it might be. For you to think as a Christian that you're going to need grace from your father in heaven. And he's going to, for some reason, there's like a global supply chain issue in heaven where there's not enough angels to staff because we can't get any angels to come in and work. Look, so here's one thing. There's no shortage of angels in heaven to praise God.

God. So the Bible even says this, if you don't praise him, the rocks will cry out. Jesus said that. So for everybody who's like, I don't like all of that when he tells us, you know, praise the Lord and give God glory. I don't really feel like it. I only got three hours of sleep. That's fine. You don't have to. There's no shortage of glory to God in heaven. There's an angel right now saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. It's the Lord. God Almighty, holy, holy. So if you don't want to say he's holy, there's an angel saying it. You can take a break. You can take the day off. God will always have a praise. God will always have a praise. God will always have a worshiper. God doesn't command you to praise him because he needs it. He's not an egomaniac. You need it. You need it. And when you give him glory, it releases grace. Something about it.

Once you realize that he's able to do immeasurably more than you ask or imagine, there is no shortage in heaven of what you're hurting for on earth. There's no shortage. There's no shortage. In fact, I love people who come to church and they're like, Pastor, if you preach, it's good. If you don't preach, it's good. I don't really care.

I brought my own sauce. I have my own relationship with God. I want you all to start bringing your Bibles back to church. I want you all to start a leather-bound Bible, a big fat leather-bound Bible, a holy Bible back to church with a pen and a highlighter. So you can go through that thing. And when I'm not there, because I'm not going to follow you to work tomorrow. Be weird. They probably wouldn't let me in.

anyway. Security. But when you have your own word from God, are you so focused on your thorn? Watch this, that you are missing. You're there for. And I'm going to make you a little scripture, grilled chicken scripture sandwich real quick, all right? I'm going to give you this little scripture sandwich real quick. In 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7. I love the word of God. I love it more The more I study it, the more ignorant I realize I am. So I would have missed something like this. 2 Corinthians 12, 7. He said, I had these great revelations.

I saw this amazing glory in my life. Paul is saying this. I was gifted by God in a unique way. I studied under Gamalini. Check my resume. I come from good stock. a Hebrew of Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin, that's me, your apostle to the Gentiles, Paul. But because of how good God had been to me and what he had shown me, here comes to teaching.

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming seated, in order to keep me grounded in grace, Are you grounded in grace or are you grounded in your giftedness? If you're grounded in your giftedness and you fail, your faith falls apart. Are you grounded in grace or are you grounded in your feelings? Are you grounded in grace or are you grounded in the latest blessing God gave you? Are you grounded in grace or you grounded in your goal? Because you're not going to reach all of them. Paul said elsewhere in Philippians, I pressed toward the mark toward the goal.

Paul's still pressing, and I'm thinking I'm going to reach the goal. You're not going to reach the goal. So he said, to keep me grounded in grace, God gave me a gift I didn't ask for. And heaven has no gift exchange program. But God delivered it in an unusual way. And this is what we studied last week. The same verse back up. Everybody say, therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited,

I was given a thorn in my flesh. And ongalos, same word that we take angel from, in Greek. It could say an angel of Satan. We've never heard of that before. To us, angels were touched by them and Thomas Kincaid and light and all this, but he said, no, it came through an angel and I hated the angel. It was a messenger. That's all angel means. Messenger. That's what the word means. It's the same word. He said, the messenger that God brought it through was my enemy. So God gave me a gift through my enemy. That's the context of this great verse. where he said, my grace is sufficient for you. There's no shortage of grace. Can I tell you something as a pastor who's pastored through the last two years right now? They might be short right now on masks. They might be short right now on staff. And I'm sure in your industry, you could tell me a shortage that's affecting you because I know that you have some too in your industry. In my industry, there's no shortage of thorns right now. I think the last 20 months have been some of the thornyest

that I've ever pastored people through. There is no shortage of the things that Paul lists. There's no shortage. I said that a minute ago, and y'all shouted. But when I said there's no shortage of thorns, you didn't shout. And you shouldn't shout about that. After all, Paul said, nobody in their right mind asks God for a thorn. There's no shortage of marriage problems in my church today.

There is no shortage of things that can. make you feel so bad about yourself if you wanted to right now. Look, because one of the things that the last almost two years now has done to a lot of people is it put them in isolation in a season, and then things grew in the dark that are now coming forth and growing, and they're not good. There's no shortage of thorns right now. In some ways, I want to thank all of you who are honest enough about your thorns to come to church. In some ways, I feel like I owe every big sinner in here a big thank you, because you

give me job security. As long as you have thorns, I have a job. Don't ever get your life fully together, because then you won't need me, and I need to be needed. I don't preach for the praise of men. Amen? There's no shortage of thorns. There's just those that are better at hiding them than others. All you see is the lilies in the life of the person next to you. I am so thankful that Paul taught me the theology of the thorn. The theology of the thorn. And this is the theology of the thorn. When I am weak, then I am strong. I need that one. I'm thankful for everything that Paul taught me. But above all, maybe the greatest lesson that he taught me was to look for the therefore. Have you been more thorn conscious than grace conscious in your life lately?

The devil would love to do that to you. In fact, here's what I think about this passage, okay? I don't know if you care what I think about it, but this is what I think about it. I don't think it matters as much what Paul's thorn was as it matters. As it matters. how Paul thought about his thorn. And likewise, I don't believe the most important thing about your life with the challenge that you're facing or the insecurity that you have or the mistake that you made or the thing that you do that nobody knows that you do or the thoughts that you think that people would be shocked. Me and Elijah were talking the other day. How much would we pay to keep all of our thoughts from being broadcast on a screen in front of the whole world? And we both decided everything we

have. Every dollar I have. There could not be too great of an amount. So even if it's just in your thought life, those thorns, Paul is convincing you today. And you need to lean into this word because this is bigger than a Sunday lesson. This is bigger than a YouTube clip. This is bigger than an Instagram post what God is saying today. He is saying, if you keep looking at this thorn, because Paul doesn't talk about the thorn for seven verses. Paul doesn't give a whole chapter to the thorn, like we do. We get so stuck about what's wrong with us. We get so stuck. Is that why he called it a thorn? This is the thing that you get stuck by and stuck with and stuck in? But Paul doesn't talk about the thorn. He talks about the therefore. Did you see it in the text?

Come on, did you see it in the text? It's in the text, class. It's in the text. We are not going to recess until y'all get this lesson. He said, therefore, this is the important thing. What is your thorn therefore? Some people never find out. They get so stuck in what's wrong with them, what they can't do, what others can do that they can't do, what others got that they didn't get. But Paul said it was in order to keep me from becoming conceited. What a thing to admit. Paul said I would have had such a big head. I couldn't have fit through the church door if God didn't give me this thorn.

What is it therefore? I could preach all day. When we title this message on YouTube, we may call it the power of therefore. The power of therefore. When you find out not only what has been tormenting you, but what is it there for? Is this here to teach me something? And notice, people can't tell you this. They mean well, but they'll say, well, the reason your kid is misbehaving is because you should have talked to the other school.

The other school there, see, we homeschool our kids, brother Steve, and that's why our kids don't struggle with any of them. Those kids sometimes are the biggest crackheads at age 21. Sometimes nothing against homeschooling, nothing against not homeschooling. But Paul did not ask Silas about his thorn. I'm not saying don't get input from people, but some things only God can show you what it's there for. Only God can show you why he gave you that gift. That's why a beautiful young girl, you got to make sure you go to your father to find out what your beauty is there for.

It is not for some boy to put his hands all over something that he doesn't own. That's not why God gave you that beauty so you can spread it around until you feel empty. No, no. You've got to ask God, what is my gift, therefore? I don't just get to do whatever I want with my life. It's borrowed. I don't just get to do whatever I want with my gift. It's borrowed.

It's on loan. It belongs to God. I'm a servant of him. It's so powerful, the power of therefore, put it in the chat, put it in your mouth, put it in your spirit, say therefore. Therefore, therefore. And some of us, we so glorify the thorn. Oh, my thorn, oh, I'll tell you right now. Oh, man, if you knew about my thorn. But Paul said, therefore, it was there for a reason. And only God can show you what that is. Therefore, my favorite therefore in Scripture, I looked at 20 of them, but I only want to give you two.

The first one comes from Romans 8, where Paul said what the law was powerless to do, and it was weakened by sinful nature. God did by sending his own son, and likeness to sinful man to be a sin offering. There is, therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's my second favorite, therefore. My first favorite, I don't know if I should break it out right now because I'm just not sure. I'm just not sure if you... No, I'm not sure yet. I'm not convinced yet.

Should I show them, Lord? Should I take them to my secret stash over here in Lamentations? Now, how are you going to preach about Lamentations and you're talking about, therefore, well, this is the perfect place to look at it because, see, lamentations was a very very very very very. Very sad book in the Bible. It's sadder than a Nirvana song. I mean, this is really sad stuff, and it can really bring you down. And Jeremiah the prophet was ministering in a very hard time.

He wasn't seeing much fruit all the horns. Now, listen to how he starts in Lamentations 319. Actually, let's go to verse 18. Did I give you 18? I think I gave you 18 right before I came out just in case. Yeah, yeah. So I say my splendor is gone. And all that I had hoped from the Lord.

What a place to start. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall, so I'm stuck in the thorns. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. That's a prophet saying that. That's a prophet saying that. He said, the memories haunt me, the bitterness. I taste it right now while I'm talking. It's still on my tongue.

You can smell it on my breath. I'm still stuck in that. 21 says, yet this I call to mine, and therefore, that's my favorite word in the Bible today. Therefore, I have hope. It is, go on, that's not the good part. This is the good part. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed. for his compassion's never fail.

Here's the verse you might know. They are new every morning. There's no shortage. There's no shortage. There's no shortage. If you screwed up three days ago, there's grace for it right now. There's no shortage. They might not have sausage chick-fil-A,

but there's no shortage of mercy in the House of God. God. They are new every morning. So watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this. Well, Pastor Stephen, I can't praise God. You don't know what I've been doing. You don't know what I've been struggling with. What do you think his mercy is there for? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! When he hung up on that cross and he didn't come down, what do you do? think he was there for. That's what His grace is there for. Your weakness. That's what His grace is there for. The

insults, that's what His grace is there for. The persecution. That's what His grace is there for. difficulty, the thorn is what grace is there for. And see, Paul had to pray about that thing three times, three seasons. You think he wasn't fasting? You think he wasn't keeping a journal, a thorn journal? You think Paul wasn't doing everything in his power to get that thing to go And you have been too, and that's good. Because we don't want to glory in our thorn. Some of the people will pervert any message you preach. You know, well, Lord, I'm going to just go over here on this pornographic website.

Hey, Lord, that's what Grace is there for. I'm just going over here and just do it. Thornographic website, I should have said, where you just keep recreating the weakness by not dealing with it. But grace is there to change you, too. So it's there for you when you fail, but it's also there to build you up so you can Good. Stronger. When I am, weak. Some of us we worship our weakness. Just going off on people, that's how I am. That's just the way. That's just my thorn in the flesh. You heard old Pastor

Fjornick over there at the elevation. He said it'll be a grace for it. Now, you need to put the grace on me. Well, they're not God. They might slap you across your face if you act thorny out there. So it's not like, oh, well, let's just all be, you know, just everybody just, everybody just, let's have a, Let's have a thorn party. Let's all tell our thorn stories. My thorn is bigger than your thorn. That's not we came to church. You want to be transformed. I want to receive grace for what we struggle with. He said, I prayed. Raise your hand if you want me to go deeper in this. Or you can raise it on the chat. And just put in the chat right now, I've got grace for this. And the beautiful thing, you don't even have to specify what this is to the

other people in the chat. It's none of their business. It's none of mine. You take it to God and you get the grace that you need for the season. And don't take it to so many other people either to tell you what they would do if they were you. They're not. The God who knows your thorn knows the grace that you need. Now, this is pretty beautiful. How many of y'all actually really love the Bible and you're not even a little bit bored right now?

For you, that's not the only therefore in the passage. He said three times verse 8. is it back in 2nd. I don't even think I'm going to get to the other scripture today. That's all right. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away. Okay. Is he the Lord of your thorn?

Does he get to decide what to leave in your life, who to leave in your life, and what to remove? Is he the Lord of your thorn? He says, I was given a thorn. The messenger was Satan, but the master was the Lord. So whatever the devil is doing, doing in your life. He doesn't get the ultimate authority. It's not about the thorn. It's the story you tell yourself about the thorn. Now, Paul could have just as easily come to the conclusion because he said, it was a messenger of Satan to torment me, but verse 9, God said to me, my grace

is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. I read that so many times this week, I felt there was something in it for us, and there is. But he said to me, okay? Back to verse eight. Three times I pleaded with the Lord. Verse nine, but he said to me. So, Paul asked three times, and God said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power, is made perfect and weakness. And then what's the next word in verse nine? Therefore, that's the sandwich. Therefore, to keep me from becoming conceited, there was given to me a chance. A challenge that I could not handle in my own strength, something that made me realize I don't have enough IQ to do this. I don't have enough physical stamina to do this. I don't have enough

experience to do this. He said, that's what it was there for, because I had so many things going for me in my life that there had to be this thing. It was said one way by one preacher. He said, the thorn took him to the throne. It reminded him he wasn't in charge. But the Then after he says that, he said to me, my grace is sufficient for my powers, me perfect and weakness. Therefore, I will not post, but boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power of me rest on me. Not so I can just stay complacent, stay selfish, stay mean, stay hateful, stay sick,

stay in this bad physical condition. That's not what I'm glorying in. But he said, therefore, therefore, I realized what the thorn was there for. And he could have taken this any way. Because remember, Paul persecuted the same church that he ultimately helped to build. Now, if this had been your thorn, whatever it was. Is it Paul's eyesight? Who knows?

Was Paul a little short? Who knows? Was Paul talking about the people who followed them around in every city trying to run him out? Was he talking about the people who threw actual stones at him? trying to persecute him for the gospel. We go, oh, persecution, I relate with Paul. You don't relate with Paul because one atheist on your Facebook said they didn't like your Bible verse. That is not what he's preaching about here. But Paul could have just as easily told himself this thorn story. You ready? Well, this is what I get. This is God punishing me for all the bad things I did.

I guess it doesn't matter how much I change. God's never going to really accept me. I do I've never to know that Paul studied, struggled with, he studied, but he also struggled with an inferiority complex. Because one time he called himself the least of the apostles as one abnormally born, because he didn't physically walk with Jesus like Peter did. He could have just as easily told himself this story about the thorn. I guess if God's not going to take this thorn away from me, it's really not what we're serving him.

He could have just as easily told God, well, if you would have wanted to use me more, then you should have made me more whole. And I tell the Lord these kinds of things all the time, just to be honest with you. Because I can get in this thing of comparing myself to people whose thorns I don't see. I'm not saying they don't have them. I just don't get a viewing party. I don't think it's as important what your thorn is. You could name it if you wanted to in your heart.

I think the story you tell yourself about the thorn. Because Paul says, the Lord said to me, show him again in the text, he said to me, he said to me, he said to me. I don't think he heard God out loud, and I don't think God's voice was the only one speaking to about that thorn. He said, a messenger of Satan was sent to torment me. So at the same time Paul's trying to do ministry or you're trying to raise your kids or you're trying to grow up in a really weird, wicked world and have some integrity about you. There's two voices going on, really.

There's two stories being told. He said, there's a messenger of Satan that's tormenting me. And then there's the voice of grace that's coming. and forth to strengthen me. If I listen to the first voice, the messenger of Satan, in this season of my life, I will not have the strength to get up and face myself in the mirror tomorrow. If I listen to the message of Satan in my life, I'm going to wind up like Elijah, the prophet, the prophet, Elijah, who had the power. You talk about strong, you talk about a mentor, you talk about somebody who had the sauce, who had the glory of God.

Elijah Elihu, my God is Yahweh, called down fire on the prophets of Bail, called down fire on the prophets of Asherah, 850 died in the valley that day as the nation was turning back to God, spoke in the rain stop, spoke again and it rained, a cloud the size of a man's hand. Then how in the world did Elijah wind up standing at the mouth of a cave in First King's 19. Strong people have weak moments. Strong Christians have sharp thorns. Every believer has places of brokenness. I need you to know this so you don't quit. So you don't stop coming to church because you think God doesn't have enough grace for you or because you stop showing up for the role God gave you because you don't think you're smart enough. You're not.

And the thorn is there for you to realize, I need your wisdom, God. I don't look to the north, the south, the east, or the west for my wisdom. My help comes from the Lord. So God has given it to me like this. Turn to somebody next to you. Turn to somebody next to you and say, the thorn came from the enemy. But the grace came from God. I'm going to say it again.

The thorn came from the enemy. That was the messenger. I hated the angel that brought it. You don't have to like what's happening in your life. You don't have to like the people that are in your life. You don't have to like the challenge. You don't even have to like your personality. But you do have to realize that it must be submitted to God's purpose.

Stand up. I want to show you something, and we're out of here. The power of your therefore is greater than the power of your thorn. God's purpose will prevail. He said, Paul said, three times. That's a significant number in Scripture. Three represents perfect unity. You know, Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gassimony.

He said, nevertheless, I'm going to take this cup even though I don't want it. I'm going to do this, what I came to do. This is what I came for. You see it, you are running from the stuff that God put you there for. You are not praying about the things that God's grace is there for. You don't just get to bring God your praise. You get to bring your pain too. That's what the grace is there for.

Three times I asked the Lord to take it away. But he said to me, I hear it allow. My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. For us as acute scripture, for Paul, that was a story that he had to tell himself every time that thorn pressed into his flesh. God's power is made perfect. Every time it presses your flesh, I want you to tell yourself a different story.

You don't get to choose your thorn. You get to choose your story. He said, there's no shortage of grace. There's no shortage. Now, he said three times I asked, and one time he answered. You know what that means? That means the first two times that Paul prayed about his thorn. Silence.

Some of us are standing in the silence right now. Asking God to do stuff, and he didn't say yes, but he didn't say no either. That waiting place. That's what grace is there for. That silence. And it's the story you tell yourself about that silence that determines whether or not you walk in grace or whether you give up. The story in the silence. Three times I asked one time he answered.

My grace is sufficient. Silence. I don't know if this is going to get better. Silence. I'm waiting for this to come through. Silence. I have no idea if my kid's life is going to turn around. They're going to come back to God.

Silence. I don't know if I'll ever be in a loving relationship again. Silence. I'll know if I'll ever feel better. What story are you telling yourself in the silence? Satan wants to use that silence and plant a seed. See, God doesn't love you. See, God isn't with you.

See, the whole thing is a bunch of fairy tales and myths. See, you'll never be good enough. See, you can't change. Everybody else can't. See, you knew this church thing wouldn't work. See, there's no way. You never stick to it. You never do it.

But I believe the Spirit wants to plant a different story in the silence. So you can know that's where grace lives in the silence. And then he said to me, and he'll say it to you too, if you let him. My grace is sufficient for what you struggle with. My grace is sufficient for your mistakes. My grace is sufficient for your inexperience. My grace is sufficient for your sin. Oh yeah, where sin abounded, there did grace abound that much more.

I praise God for grace that is greater than all my sin. And I spent all week thinking about the silence, you know. I asked God, he didn't answer. I tried that. It didn't work. I waited for it. I don't even see a sign of it coming. I have no idea what that was there for.

And I saw Elijah God's great prophet. See, Paul wasn't the only preacher who had to deal with the silence. You're not the only one either. The great prophet who called down fire from heaven in 1st King's 19, verse 13. The Bible says that God was passing by Elijah. He was depressed now. He was discouraged now. He was tired now. He was exhausted now. The nation had rebelled against God and he had been suffering from the ramifications of a drought for so long and he was considered by many to be the troublemaker who started it all. Even after calling down fire from heaven, he still felt

something in his soul. It was the isolation of the drought that landed him in this place. And Elijah said something in 1 Kings 19 that you may have said a few times this past week, I have had enough, Lord. I'm sick of this. A woman named Jezebel, who was the wife of Ahab, the king, was chasing Elijah. She sent a messenger to threaten him, which lets me know there was really nothing she could do to him. was just trying to intimidate him to the point that he would leave the place where God

had assigned him. That is what Satan is trying to do to you right now, is trying to run you off from the place where God's greatest grace is about to be released in your life. That place of weakness, that's where the grace is coming. That's where the grace is coming. So let me preach this for every Jezebel, for every thorn that has been threatening you, that has been tormenting you, that has been pressing into you that has been causing you pain in your sphere. It's worse than pain in your body. It's a pain in your spirit. You can't shake and God won't remove it. And the Bible says when Elijah heard the voice of God, by the way, God didn't shout to Elijah. He whispered. And Elijah pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

I know it's just a figure of speech, but knowing that it's called the mouth of the cave makes sense to me. That was the place where he had hold up waiting to die. That was the place where he had shut himself in because he didn't want to take it anymore. That was the place where he was all by himself with nothing but the movies in his mind to watch of how bad his life was. So now he's standing. at the mouth of the cave. And so are you. The only voice you hear in the cave is an echo.

The thoughts that bounce around your head. The thoughts that torment you. You've already thought those enough that if those thoughts could bring you out, they would have by now. So when he stood at the mouth of the cave, watch this, he heard the voice of the Lord. And the voice said, what are you doing here, Elijah? I could ask you the same question. What are you there for in the cave when God has a great ministry for you, when God has a great future for you? Remember, Jeremiah said, this I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. What are you doing in the place of shame when there's so much mercy with your name on it. What are you doing running around to people to get what can only come from God? So God said to Elijah, I've still got an

assignment for you if you wanted. I've still got a job for you if you wanted. I still got grace for you if you wanted. I still got a hope for you if you wanted. I still got a future for you if you wanted. I got joy for you. There's no shortage. It's the power of a therefore. Lift your hands. The Lord is passing by. The mountains were ripped apart. That wasn't God. The wind came sweeping through. That wasn't God. The fire came sweeping through. That wasn't God. The earth started shaking. That wasn't God. It was in the whisper that Elijah heard his. voice. Lord, I thank you for a new story in the silence. We come against every false belief and every messenger of Satan that was sent to torment on us. Today, we flip it in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. No, no, not in our strength. In Jesus' name. What tormented you before is going to bring you to the throne of God for a greater release of grace. I speak greater anointing over your life, greater anointing over your leadership, greater anointing over your relationships, greater anointing over your mind. Here comes your peace. Here comes your joy. Here comes your provision. There is no shortage in heaven for a heart that is open to God.

So lift your hands. Because if he dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor, how much more they close, how much if he watches. Hang out one second. So here it is. This is the new story I want you to tell yourself in the silence. The more thorns you're dealing with, the more grace you are to expect. Holy is your name, God. Glory to your name, God. We worship your great name, God. We worship

your great name, God. Glory to your name, God. Release your glory in this place. Release your glory on every location. Release your glory. Lake Norman. Release your glory. Right now, all over the world through this broadcast, through this sermon, through this worship moment. I pray a great release of grace, a great release of glory. We give you glory, Lord. We give you glory. A new story for the silence. Father, we bring those thorns right now to the throne. You are the Lord of the thorn, and you are the God of all grace. When I stood up today to preach, Lord, I had no idea whose thorn I would be preaching to. But you did. I had no idea who would take the time to come to church to log on, but you did.

And they didn't even know what they came for, but you did. So now I know what I was here for. God wanted me to receive this grace. And I receive it right now in the name of Jesus. Pray that out loud, I receive it right now. in the name of Jesus. I receive grace right now in the name of Jesus. I receive healing right now in the name of Jesus. I receive joy right now in the name of Jesus. And I celebrate your grace, God. I celebrate your grace for my thorn. I celebrate your grace. Come on, we didn't come to have a pity party about our thorn.

This is a celebration of grace. A celebration of grace. Sing that song again. Sing that song. There's no shortage. We'll boast all the more gladly in the things I used to complain about. You know what?

When Paul was locked in prison at Philippi, when God opened the prison doors because he sang a song at midnight, Paul didn't even leave. leave. He wanted to leave the jailer to Christ. He said, I'm not coming out until I find out what I was there for. And do you not know that the church at Philippi was born out of that situation? So tell the devil, I'm not leaving until I find out what God has for me in this situation. I come too far.

So campus pastors, y'all take the service. I'm done officially. Right now, in the name of Jesus. And here at Valentine, clap your hands and give God bread. All right. All right. Here's what I'm going to do. In this room, there's somebody God wanted me to give you the invitation to receive Christ by your head.

You didn't come to church today because your girlfriend wanted you to. That's just who God used. God brought you here for this moment. All right? That's what God brought you here for. Because as I've been preaching today, God's been speaking to you, calling you out of the cave, calling you out of your sin, calling you out of your shame, calling you out of your self-reliance. This is the voice of the Lord.

And he's whispering to you right now. He's not going to force you. He's not going to make you. But if you want to surrender your life to God, the Bible says it's by faith we are saved, it's by grace we are saved through faith. It is the gift of God, not work so that no one can boast about it. So you have the same right to receive grace. as anybody in this room. And if you need a new start with God and to know you have a relationship

with Him, whether you're coming to Jesus for the first time or coming back to Him, I want to give you that opportunity in this moment. You pray with me out loud and repeat after me this prayer and God will hear you from heaven. If you place your faith in Him, he'll forgive you of all your sins. There is a grace in this moment. Repeat after me out loud. For every everybody who's coming to God today. Let's pray as a church. Heavenly Father. Today is my day of salvation. I am a sinner in need of the grace of God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the Savior of the world. And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe If he died, that I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life.

I received this new life. This is my new beginning. If you prayed that, shoot your hand up right now on the count of three. One, two, three. Put it up. Bless you, man. Bless you, bless you. Come on and celebrate like you know what it means to get a second chance.

Let's celebrate the grace. of God. How many are grateful for his grace? All right. I got to dismiss you now. You know we got to go. You know we got to go. But I'm not, you better leave here more focused on your therefore than your thorn. Every time you feel that thorn this week, there's a therefore. Oh God's about to bring me into every time you see a Goliath this week. Oh, God must have a sword that I'm going to need in the future. Goliath has got your source. Y'all better stop, stop, stop.

Don't encourage me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. On your way out, touch three people and say, I got my own sauce. I see y'all next time. I love you. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch.org slash give. And thanks again for joining us on the Elevation

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