Elevation with Steven Furtick - Work Your Weakness (Rich Wilkerson Jr.)

Episode Date: February 21, 2022

Our weakness is an opportunity for His strength. In “Work Your Weakness,” Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. of Vous Church reminds us that when we are weak, we can stand in God’s strength. We can't wait to be back out on the road with Pastor Steven Furtick and Elevation Worship! Get your tickets NOW at elevationnights.com. April 26 - Chicago, IL | NOW Arena April 27 - Grand Rapids, MI | Van Andel Arena April 29 - Indianapolis, IN | Gainbridge Fieldhouse April 30 - Columbus, OH | Nationwide Arena May 1 - Washington, DC | Capital One Arena May 3 - Reading, PA | Santander Arena May 4 - Newark, NJ | Prudential Center May 5 - Boston, MA | TD GardenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, did you hear the news? Elevation nights, spring 2022 tour, April 26th through May 5th. Oh, you got to come. I mean, you really got to come. I'm going to be preaching.

Holly's going to be sharing. Elevation worship. Your favorite songs, old songs. new songs, kind of old new-ish songs. I want to see you. If you are anywhere near these cities, I want to see you. No excuses, no delay.

Get your ticket right now. Let me know in the comments what night I'm going to see you and what's your name so I can try to shout you out, but I'll probably forget. But this is going to be amazing. The best night of... our year. Go to elevation nights.com right now. Get your ticket. Leave a comment. Let's go to the Word of God. So good to be in the Lord's house. Do me a favor as you find your seat. Just look at your neighbor and say,

it's so good to see you in church. Say I'm happy. I'm sitting next to you. I'm happy. I'm worshiping next to you. Everybody online right now just tell us where you're watching from right now the chat, people all over the world today joining us. They brought me the real pulpit today. This is the real pulpit. I haven't preached behind a pulpit in a long time like this. So good to be at Elevation Church. How many y'all love your church. Make some noise. No place like Elevation Church. And what an honor, what a privilege it is for me to be back here in Charlotte at one of my favorite places in all of the world. And a really special weekend, if you don't know, because yesterday, your pastor, he celebrated his birthday.

And I think it's important on birthday weekends that we let Pastor Stephen rest. And I love Pastor Stephen Ferdick so very, very much. And what a voice he has been in my life. What an impact and inspiration he has made on my life and our family. And I just counted an honor to not only get to follow behind him, but also to get to call him friend. And today on his birthday weekend, I just think that all of us in this place,

we should be praying for Pastor Stephen Hawley. We should be sending all the love. If you're in the chat right now, just put it in the chat. Happy birthday Pastor Stephen. We love him so very, very much. Come on, if you love Pastor Stephen, can we go ahead and make some noise

and just thank God for who he is. No one like him. No one like him. What a blessing to be under his preaching. What a blessing to be under his leadership. I learned a long time ago. It matters what you get under in life. It really matters because I'm telling you,

there's a whole lot of people in life, they never get over what God's placed under them because they never got under what God placed over them. And I think getting under the right spiritual authority and the right spiritual counsel makes all the difference. And so I love you. And love this church, honestly, just being here today, nothing like the presence of God.

I'm thankful for the presence of God. He's here today. Recently, last time I got to be around elevation worship, they were in Miami on an elevation night. Wherever you're at in the world right now, I know they're about to get out all over the places in April, I think in May. I think I'm getting the dates right.

If they're coming to your city, if they're in a five-hour radius drive, you ought to make it there. Because I'm telling you there's something on these nights that you're going to get in that room, and power of God is there. And I sense it here today in the house. ready for God's word today. Second Corinthians chapter 12. I'm just, I'm kind of gushing up here,

but I got a word on my heart. And I came to preach today. And so I like a little bit of response. You could say, amen. You could say I like that. You could say preach it white boy. I don't really care. But you are going to tap into your inner Pentecost to wherever he or she is today. And we're going to have some church. And we're going to believe that God's spirit's going to meet us right we are. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 6 this is the apostle Paul writing he says even if I should choose to boast I would not be a fool because I would be speaking the truth but I refrain so no one will think more of me than what is warranted by what I do or what I say or because of these surpassingly great revelations therefore therefore therefore in order to keep me from becoming

conceded. I was given a thorn in my flesh. A messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times. Someone say three times. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. I came to Elevation Church Day to encourage somebody. I don't have a doom and gloom message.

I don't think church is to be endured. I think it's to be enjoyed. And I got one mission, and that is to make sure you walk out of this room feeling better, believing for more, knowing that God wants to work in your life. I want to preach for the next two hours. I want to preach for the next 30 minutes or so from this subject. Work your weakness. Look at your neighbor. Say neighbor.

Work your weakness. Look at your other neighbor. Say other neighbor. Work your weakness. Hopefully in your living room you're talking to somebody right now. Would you pray one more time? Lord, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you that it's sharper than any double-edged sword. We believe that today, God, it brings truth, Lord, to our chaos. It brings truth, Lord,

of the lies that the enemy wants to put in our mind. I pray that today, Lord, as we know your truth, we walk into true, real freedom through the power of Jesus Christ. Thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for meeting us here. We thank you in advance for the transformation that's about to occur. If you agree with that prayer, all of God's people said? All of God's people said, And if you love Jesus one more time, go ahead and make a big, big shout of praise all over this place. Y'all, y'all don't make it fair up here. They just keep playing stuff. It sounds way too spiritual with these guys.

I just got done at our church doing a seven-week collection of talks on mindsets, the power of the mind. And I came across this study that was done in 2005 by the National Science Foundation. And it was a study of the brain. and I found the research to be really interesting. They say that on average that you and I, we have about 40,000 thoughts a day. And out of those 40,000 thoughts, what we learn is that 80% of those thoughts are negative.

Watch this. This is where I thought was really, really interesting, that 95% of your thoughts are the same thought that you had yesterday. So what do we learn about humanity? We learned that humanity tends to go negative, and humanity is a broken record. Anyone out there, I'm not going to make you put your hand up. Anyone out there, like you get on one song and you are on that song

till I don't play songs, I execute them. Just over and over and over and over again. And what I've learned about myself, but what I've learned about pastoring people is that we have a tendency to make much out of our weaknesses and very little out of our strengths. We have a tendency to focus on all that's missing

rather than noticing all that we have. My wife, she's here with me today, 15 years of marriage, holler at your boy. Her name is Don Sheree, and she has a little bit of a struggle of her own, and that is she's addicted to online shopping. My wife makes me laugh because she'll purchase something, and she's like, oh my God, like,

the package comes, just like, where'd this come from? I'm like, you bought it for yourself, you know? Some of you girls are like, what did I get for Valentine's Day? Got yourself. Okay. She loves the online shop. It's always interesting because you purchase something online and typically they'll send you like a FedEx number. If you ever take that FedEx number, you put it into the website and then all of a sudden a message pops up and what does it say? It says the package is in transit. I think it's such a word for all of us in this place that

if you have given your life to Jesus, please recognize that 2,000 years ago, he purchased you with his blood. But now all of us are in transit. All of us are in process. All of us are becoming who God has called us to be. I am not perfect, but thank God I am being perfected. Anybody grateful out there that God has not done working on you yet, that you are becoming something? I've been purchased by Jesus. He owns me, but I have not arrived yet. yet. Therefore, watch this, I can be becoming and struggling all in the same sentence. And we're going to have to learn you and I that although we're struggling in different areas, it does not negate the truth that we are still becoming the person that God has called us to be.

I got to learn how to work my weakness. I got to recognize that problems do not actually overshadow God's purpose. You need to know today that you might have some weaknesses, but God still wants to work in your life. You're going to have to learn that, yeah, you have some deficiencies, but none of those deficiencies are going to delay the destiny that God has planned for you from the very beginning. Am I preaching to anybody today? Work your weakness. You're becoming something in Jesus. You're becoming something in Jesus. I love our passage of scripture today, we don't have nearly enough time to truly put this text into its full context, but it is important that we recognize that Paul is writing to a church in Corinth. This is a church

that he started. And he's been gone from this church for about a year and a half. And as he's been gone, there have been some false teachers that have snuck in. And now they're wanting to sway that audience to follow them. And the way that they're doing that is they're trying to discredit Paul. And they're discredit him in all sorts of ways. They're lying about him. They're really trying to challenge his integrity. And so they're saying all sorts of stuff. They're saying that he's got bad teaching. They're saying that he has moral failings, that his motivations are impure. They even just say stuff like, yo, he's just, he's not a good preacher. Like, he's not eloquent. He don't have the gift of Pastor Stephen. Like, he's just, he's not, he's not good,

you know? And so Paul is coming back to this church. And as he writes this church, he doesn't want this audience to be swayed into this false thinking and this false teaching. And so he has to defend his ministry. And as he begins to defend his ministry, you can see like his hesitation. Go back to 2 Corinthians 10, 11, and 12. And he's kind of going through it. And it's almost annoying to Paul that he has to do this

because he doesn't want to give his resume. And he kind of starts by giving his strengths and kind of starts by sharing all the things that he's done. But then like halfway through is you get into chapter 11, what you see Paul is he flips the script. And he's like, you know what? I'm done going this route. If I'm really going to try to impress you, let me just be honest with you.

What's really impressive is not my strengths. What's really impressive is all that God has done despite my weaknesses. That if God's really going to get glory, and if you're really going to witness the supernatural power of God, it will not happen because you witness and testify all the areas about my life that are strong, but rather when you recognize all of the gags, in the deficiencies that I have. And so Paul begins to talk about this thing he calls the thorn in his flesh.

It's amazing because as we go through it, scholars have talked for many, many, you know, years about what is Paul's thorn? And there's lots of things we could just spare you, but they talk about maybe it's his eyesight, maybe it's the shame of his past. You know, it wasn't just tough things that were happening to Paul. Paul did some really bad things. He killed Christians. That's why I always think for people in church, like, I don't know if God

can use me. Well, like, what have you done, bro? You know, like, and so really, when they talk about so they think maybe it could be a physical thing. What I love is, is that none of us actually know what Paul's thorn in his flesh was. And how many know that this is both merciful and quite instructive? It's merciful that we don't know what Paul's thorn is because how many all know, I just know how we are. If we knew what Paul's thorn was, we would all be comparing our thorn to his thorn. Some of y'all be like, oh, wow, like, Paul, you struggle with that? Not me. Superiority would hit your life.

Others of you'd be like, that's your thorn, Paul? Oh, man, I'm really jacked up. And then inferiority would hit your life. So it's merciful that we don't know what it is. But it's also instructive because apparently the point is not the thorn, but rather it's the purpose of the thorn. What's the purpose of the thorn? For a lack of better terms today, just as we're talking about this idea of Paul's Thorn, let's just use this word weakness, that every one of us in this room and all of us watching online today, we have some sort of weakness. We have some sort of gap, some sort of deficiency,

some sort of struggle, fear, worry, anxiety, something that our brain loves to replay, something that our brain told us yesterday. And if we're not careful today, even on the Lord's Day, we will walk out of here still rehearsing and playing the broken record. but I've come today to encourage you that you're going to have to work that weakness, that you might be weak, but God still wants to work in and through your life. How do y'all know?

When it comes to this idea of weaknesses, the first step about our weaknesses is that we have to stop denying our weaknesses. Like, you can't, denying your weakness isn't going to solve your weakness. And sometimes church, like, it teaches us how to be, like, professional mask wears, Like, we come in, we play the part.

How you doing, brother? Blessed and highly favored. Like, we just say it's the funniest stuff at church that you don't say on Mondays at the cubicle, you know? And if we're not careful, we just project all of our strength and all that's going good

as opposed to exposing the weak areas of our life. I think many times we don't expose our weaknesses because, honestly, just we're afraid to be embarrassed by them. When I was in Bible college, was 18 years of age and I was really on fire for Jesus. And I had started this Bible study at my Bible college. That's funny. And winning my Bible college to Jesus. And I decided that that summer I wanted to kind of go on the road doing some ministry. My dad's a preacher. And so I said, Dad, I want to go and preach. And so my dad called all of his pastor friends and like booked me all up and down, you know,

the East Coast preaching at these little youth ministries. And so we got a minivan and we got a trailer. and I quickly realized I was like, yo, I'm going to need some help. And so I can't just go preach. I'm going to need, you know, like a worship team. And so we put a group together. Our group was called Broken. I mean, it's no elevation nights, but I mean, broken coming to a town near you, you know. Yo, it was a wild summer.

We had this little van and this blue trailer. We just drove everywhere. And I remember one time I drove across the state of Georgia five hours to get to a youth ministry that had five people in the audience. I still used a microphone because I didn't see five people. I saw five thousand. Okay. True story though. Anyways, I remember we would go to these places and I would preach and stuff. And so we were like real like into it. And I used to, I used to wear this little microphone under my shirt because I wanted to replay and listen to my sermons and try to get better at them. And so I remember at the time there was this big Michael W. Smith song out there called Here I Am to W.

and there was this part on the bridge that said, some of you all remember, it's like, I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross. Thank you. It's all glory to him, honestly. Honestly. It's not about me.

It's not about me. Shut up. And I remember, I remember, like, sometimes when I get preaching and I get real anointed, shut up. And, um,

the spirit of, worship would like come upon me you know and so uh i remember in particular i was we had this little ministry and like um i was off the microphone but now i'm like praying for students and like this song you know the michael w smith one's on and so i'm like singing and so we get in the car the next day i know this is super strange but we would like always recap the night before and so we're driving in the next town and we put on the tape to listen to the sermon we're all going to evaluate it we're all going to like talk about it and give feedback and the sermon's over but now it's like in the ministry time and so I'm praying for students, and so I'm not on the microphone, but you can still hear the recording,

and that song comes on, and when that song comes on, I'm praying for people, but I begin to sing that song in a register that certainly does not belong to me. And it wasn't that I was, like, opposed to everybody laughing in the car. It was just after 20 minutes of still laughing that the embarrassment hit my life to a point that how many all know, that was the last time. I ask for feedback from those guys with my message. Why? Because many times what happens is that once we expose the weakness, shame hits our life.

Listen to me, you will always be as sick as your secrets. God can't heal what you just continue to hide. And so what happens is if we're not careful, we start to close up and we start to hide the weak areas. And we just start to play church and we just start to play Christianity. but all the while we're not finding encouragement. Listen to me loud and clear. Don't expect someone to encourage that which you do not expose. We have to be people that are least willing to expose the weak areas of our life because just denying it, I'm never, ever going to find freedom from it. I have to come to terms with it.

I have to bring it to the light. I have to showcase my friends, my pastors, those around me because if I want God to work, I'm going to have to get comfortable to realize that although I have a weakness, he's not done working on me yet, but I have to expose it. So here's the Apostle Paul. He's like you and I, and he's writing, he's defending his ministry. And now he gets to this area about his weak area. And he's trying, I think, to encourage you and I that although he's weak, God's still working, but he kind of just testifies about his story about his weakness. And he genuinely said, out loud, he says three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. Three times I asked God, take this weakness away. Is there something in your life today that you are convinced that you

know better than God? God, if you would just do that, then I could do this. God, if you would just take away that thing, I could be so much more effective for you. God, if you just gave me that promotion, then I would actually be happy. God, if you would just give me a spouse. I'm a, yeah. People coming alive this morning. And sometimes we say we want God's will, but really we just want our will and we want to call it God's will. And so here's the Apostle Paul. He's like, he's like, if you'll just take away the storm, I just know then I could, three times I pleaded with the Lord. I think the most beautiful thing about that passage is that at least Paul is bringing the

weakness to God. At least Paul is praying about the thing. How many all know? If you got time to complain about it, you got time to pray about it. I'm not sure. I think some people, they don't actually want resolve. Some people just want attention. But if you actually want something to change, if you want something to turn around,

don't just talk about it to your friends. Don't just talk about it to your therapist. you bring that thing before an all righteous God, and you bring it before him saying, God, I need you to turn something around. Three times I pleaded with God. Yo, if it's worth praying, it's worth repeating. Repeat those prayers.

Bring those prayers before God. There's a story in Luke chapter 11 that Jesus is teaching about prayer, and it's one of the most peculiar stories in all of the Bible. You ought to go back and look at it. I preached the message one time entitled, The Art of Bothering God. because the entire parable is all about this guy waking up in the night to a man on the outside knocking on the door who would not stop knocking.

And finally the man answers his request not because he loves the man, not because he enjoys the man, but because the man would not stop bothering him. I have a son, his name is wild. That was a mistake to name him wild. And this boy, I don't care what time of day it is, we wake up 7.30 a.m. Dad, dad, dad, ice cream. Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, shut up, wild. Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. The other day, his mom was still in bed and I was up. It wasn't even 8 a.m.

This kid's like, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. I was like, fine. You say, Rich, did you give that boy ice cream? Because you love him? No, quite the opposite. I gave that kid ice cream because he would not stop asking. And I want to say to some of you out there right now, if you got something that's that important, you keep repeating that prayer.

I don't care what it is. You bring it before God. And you ask him to do something. Can't pray about ice cream. That's shallow. No, there's no such thing as shallow prayers. Only shallow people. If you walk up to a pool, every pool that I've almost ever been around has some sort of a shallow end somewhere.

But no one looks at a pool that's got a shallow end and a deep end and says, that's a shallow pool, they simply ask the question, does it have a deep end? And so if all of your prayers are about ice cream, I don't think that's just a shallow, I think you're a shallow person. The question is, do you have a deep end? And the deep end is when you bring your weakness, your fear, your struggle, your insecurity, your anxiety. Those of us in the room today, we don't just come in here and play church. We come to God and we bring the totality of our the light side and the dark side, the good and the bad, the positive and the negative. And we're saying, God, today we want to transfer our thoughts and we want your thoughts.

Three times I've pleaded with the Lord. What I have learned about God when it comes to this idea of working my weakness is that unanswered prayers are not unmet needs. And you've got to get this because here's Paul, three times I pleaded to take that thorn away. I was sure if he would just take the thorn away, I could be effective, I could really plant these churches. Three times I pleaded with God. I prayed it, I prayed it, I prayed it, I prayed it, I prayed it. So here's God.

God, here's Paul's prayer. I love it. And you can hear God. He's like, yeah, Paul, I hear you. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to meet your need by not answering your request. No, no, God, I don't think you understood. I'm down here trying to do your work, and I got this struggle.

I got this thing, this thorn that is wearing me out. Could you just relieve me of that so I could be more effective for you? Paul, I heard you. I'm going to meet that need by not answering your request. Some of y'all, you all know this to be true about God. How many of you all know that's one of the most merciful things God can do is not answer all your requests. I was 17 years of age. I had an encounter with Jesus.

my life was radically transformed, turned upside down. I was full on for Jesus. I was seeking God. I was like, Lord, I know you're calling me. I can hear it. Yes, Lord, I'm supposed to go to school in Los Angeles. I live in Miami. You're calling me the school in L.A.

And so in my house, my dad, he is twofold. He is both priest and king. And so I remember coming to my father. And, you know, I curtsied and I beseech the father on behalf of the brethren, my brothers. The Lord is speaking to me. I am supposed to go to college in Los Angeles. And my day said, no, no. No, no, you are not.

I said, excuse me, he said, no, you're not going to college in Los Angeles. That is not the Lord's will for your life. You're going to school in Cleveland, Tennessee. It's one thing not to go to Los Angeles. It is a whole other thing to be sent to Cleveland, Tennessee. Not Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland, Tennessee. I was like, what?

I was like, God, where are you? Why have you forsaken? me, you know. About a month and a half later, I was in Nashville, Tennessee. I met this beautiful blonde-head girl named Don Chirri, Duron. Thank you. And, man, it's excited for me. And we started talking and, you know, just, you know, how it goes. And I said, what are your plans for the fall? She said, my plans are, I'm making music and I'm going to be right here in Nashville, Tennessee. I said, how far of a drive is Nashville, Tennessee to Cleveland, Tennessee? She said, it's about two hours.

I said, I know what God's will is for my life. Anybody thankful God didn't answer all your requests? Anybody thankful that God still met your need, although he didn't answer your prayer request in the way you want? wanted him to answer it. Come on, some of y'all, you wanted that new job. But had you gotten that new job, you would have never found that new passion. You prayed for a promotion. But had you gotten the promotion, you would have never found yourself on that new path.

Some of you beg God, God, do not let this relationship fall apart. But God had to let that relationship fall apart to expose to you. That thing was broken from the day you started. it. Come on, some of you all, you said, God, show up in my life, but God says, I'm going to make you wait so you can develop some inner strength. Some of you wanted breakthrough last year. You didn't know it was all a set up for breakthrough this year. Oh, wait a minute. God has been meeting my needs. He just didn't answer the request the way I wanted it. God, God, I just know if you just solve this thing, I could be more effective for you. And God's like, you have no idea how you'll be effective

for me. I don't pick people like you do at recess when you line them all up for dodge ball. Because y'all know what you do at dodge ball. You look at people and you judge them from their past performance. Or you look at people and you say, I wonder what they look like. They got some potential. But when God lines up humanity, he's not looking at past performance. He's not looking at your strength of today. When God looks at you, he says, I chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. I chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong. I chose the lowly things, the things that are despised, the things that are to nullify the things that are. Why? Because God only gets glory when you're broken. It's in your brokenness that his glory and power shines through. Paul, I'm going to meet your need by not answering your requests. I'm going to leave that thorn in place because actually

to get more glory from your life with this weakness. Okay, God, so I'm pleading, I'm pleading, and God actually does answer him. He just doesn't answer him the way that he wants him to answer him. The scripture says that Jesus, this shows up in red letters now in the Bible. If you've got the red letter edition, 2 Corinthians right there, Jesus, he speaks, and he says, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. What I have learned about God over and over again is that God's grace will fill the space.

We have a difficult time in 2022 because now more than ever, we don't just have one person we're comparing our lives to. We have categories of people that we're comparing our life to. Right? So you've got somebody in your life who's like, that's the spiritual person. Like you come to church. Look at them. They're just so free. They just, oh man, look at like, they just have their hands are up. Wow. I'm over here. I feel weird. here and they're there and oh, I'm less than. We got, we got, you know, relationships, like married people. Oh, man, look at him. I just know, I just know he loves her like Christ loves the church. Guys, oh, man, look at her. I just, I just, I just, I bet she just always submits.

Like, what, bro? We got people we compare our kids to. Look at, oh, look at, look at their kids. Oh, they're perfect. Minor demon possessed and they're perfect. Ah, oh. physicality, right? Like, oh, man, look at it. He's got abs. I just, I have a tire around. I don't know what to do. Like, God, help me.

And this comparison culture just kills our contentment, robs our joy. Watch this. The grace that God has, it fills the space in our life. But you've got to see this. The space in my life is not the space between you and me. This is what happens a lot of this.

It's like, in fact, I don't get any grace for the space between me and you. In fact, the space that God's feeling in my life is not between me and you. The space that God is feeling in my life is who I am today and who he purchased on Calvary's Hill. It's the space from where I'm at and who I'm becoming tomorrow. And you have to learn this because the only grace you get is for that space. It's for that. It's not the space between me and you. Oh, how much it's the space between where I am today and who I'm becoming tomorrow.

He says, my grace is sufficient. I like words and words are always interested me. I've read that word. That's a word that gets used a lot in church. Christ is sufficient, the sufficiency of Christ. And we just throw that word around. Do you know what sufficient means? By definition, sufficient means adequate for its purpose.

Okay, hold on. Because I want to help somebody. God's grace is adequate for your purpose. Adequate. That's in your rest of your word. You know what that word means? Just the right amount. How many all know? We all need different measures of grace. There was one measure of grace I needed when I was single and secure. New book dropping tomorrow. There was a different measure of grace that I needed when I got married to Don Cheree. There was a different measure of grace that I needed when I started pastoring a church. Oh my goodness, we have three kids now. More grace. More grace.

And the scripture is saying that God has just the right amount of grace. Not for your neighbor's purpose, but for your purpose. So run your race because it's about your race. He has grace for your race and for the space in your life. My grace is sufficient for you. I'm 37 years of age. And I have been doing ministry now since I was 18 years of age, but full time in ministry since I was 23.

and I told you I started going to school up in Cleveland, Tennessee, and it ended up becoming one of the greatest joys and blessings of my life getting to go to school there. And I learned how to lead there. I learned how to start preaching there. And I remember down the street in Atlanta, Georgia, there was this big ministry taking place called 722. And there was a pastor there by the name of Pastor Louis Giglio.

Come on, somebody. Shout out to Louis. Just giving shoutouts, you know. And those of you who don't know, Louis leads a church called Passion City Church, and he's actually a very good friend of mine now at this point in my life, but especially back then, I mean, he's a hero today, but he was certainly like back then, I was like, this guy is amazing. And if you know anything about Louis, he's like really smart, you know, and his hair is like, you know, speckled gray. And he like preaches about all sorts

of different stuff. Like this guy can like, you know, he preaches about the stars and like reveals like Christ in the stars, you know, like how would it go? He's like, that's Orion's belt, the belt of truth. I'm like, oh my God, you know. Whoa. And see the big dipper, then the resurrection. I'm like, oh, my goodness. I never saw Christ there before. And I was blown away, man. And I would drive down to Atlanta. He had thousands of 20-somethings on a Tuesday night. He was preaching. I would just go. I'm like, oh, man, Louis, Louie, man. Oh, Louie. So I finally graduated from Bible College. I moved to Miami and my dad said, Rich, what do you want to do?

I said, I want to preach to young adults. He said, why? I said, because Louis Giglio preaches to young adults. He said, okay. He said, well, what night do you want to hold the service? I said, I want to preach on Tuesday nights. He said, why? I said, because Louis Giglio preaches on Tuesday nights. Very true story. We started a ministry called the rendezvous on Tuesday nights. And for the first six months of that ministry I would get up with a laser pointer and said, you see Orion's belt right there? I did everything I possibly could to preach and teach and behave just like Louis Giglio. But no matter what I did, how many all know, I am a very bad version of Louis Giglio. Grace! To be Louis Giglio! I love Louis. No disrespect to Louis. I'm just a really bad copy of

Louis Giglio. But the good news is, I am the best Rich Wilkerson Jr. You have ever met in your entire life. Come on, somebody. Be you. Run your race. God has grace for your space. Be you. Everybody else has already taken. And his grace is sufficient. It's going to fill that space. Work your weakness. Someone say work your weakness. James chapter 4 verse 6 says that he has more grace. Someone say more grace. God has grace to spare all your mistakes, all your mishaps, all your faults, all your failures. He has more grace, more grace, more grace. Work your weakness. You are on the journey of becoming. It's not the point that he has a thorn. The point is the purpose of the thorn. So what is the purpose of the thorn. Well, Paul actually answers it as we get ready to close the day. Paul says,

I was given a thorn. Isn't that amazing? I was given a thorn. Meaning some of the weaknesses in your life, you didn't cause them, you didn't ask for them, you didn't want them. He says, a messenger of Satan to torment me. It even tells me that you didn't ask for it, but God's going to use it. It even tells me that God will use the devil. He'll use the devil to accomplish his will in your life. But notice what he says. He says, to keep me from becoming conceited. To keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh.

There's that word becoming. Who are you becoming today? Because who you're becoming, I actually think is more important than who you are today. Where you're headed is more important than where you are. has always been more important than speed. And Paul answers the question. He says, why was I given this thorn? It was to keep me from becoming conceited.

Meaning anything that keeps you humble in this life is a gift from God. Oh, I know that is not something that we like, but it's very true. That pride comes before the fall. And the enemy is looking to trip us up in life. And he's looking for ways and he's looking for opportunities for us to fall. C.S. Lewis called Pride the great sin. That truly at the heart of all of our mistakes and our sin is our ego and our pride. And I'm telling you that God sometimes will give you a weakness because the weakness keeps you humble.

The weakness reminds you that God is working despite and in spite all of your deficiencies. To keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh. God's keeping me humble. God's reminding me where my strength comes from. James, in that same passage in chapter four, he says, there's more grace, but he says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Do you know how you get into opposition with God? Pride.

That's how we oppose God, because when God sees a person full of pride, It's a person who's saying, God, I don't need your grace. And it reminds him of someone he don't like very much, which is the enemy. Because the enemy at one point was leading worship and then he fell like lightning from the sky because pride rose up on the inside of him. And every time we operate in pride, we look like the enemy. Therefore, anything we don't turn to praise, we'll turn to pride. That's why we can't help but walk into God's house and say,

I am only here by the grace. of God. So what is the reason for the thorn and the weakness? It's because we have all been pierced for a purpose. You see, you have a calling. In Jesus Christ, he purchased you with his blood 2,000 years

ago, and your calling and the dream he has for your life and your future is beautiful. In fact, I would liken it to a rose. If you ever look at a rose, a rose is beautiful, but on that stem of the rose are thorns. And why are there thorns on that rose? Because the thorns prevent predators from destroying the rose. And why does God give us a thorn

in our flesh? Because pride is the great predator of our potential. And my thorn prevents pride from destroying the calling and the purpose and the future that he has for me. I'm going to use you. You're right where I need you to be. I'm going to use your life. I'm going to use your life. I purchased you. You are in transit. You are in process. Quit rehearsing all that you're not and start focusing all that I am. My little boy, Wyatt, we have three children. My firstborn's name is Wyatt Wesley Wilkerson. My second born's name is Wild Wesley Wilkerson. And then my favorite child who was born in July, she's a girl. My daughter, her name is Waylon Wesley Wilkerson. And just a couple weeks ago, Wyatt had to have his first surgery.

My four-year-old son, he was three at the time. Hit a little birthmark that had to be removed. And it was a difficult thing for us, parents, taking him into the doctors. And we came over there, and because of all the COVID stuff, only one of us could go. And I'm the favorite parent. And so I went with him, of course.

And it's not about me, though. And as the worship team comes up, I took Wyatt to the hospital. We got there, and when we came in, the doctors came and told us, they said, Mr. Wilkerson, and we're going to have to take him back alone to get anesthesia, which I didn't know.

I thought I was going to be with him the whole time, and there had to put him under for the surgery to take place. And so this little three-year-old boy is just like, you know, he's freaking out and he's scared and, you know, why it's like, dad, you know, why can't you go with me? You know, I want you to go with me. And I'm like, son, you know, hippilaws and whatnot, I can't, you know. And so it's like way too much information for the kid, you know.

But with all of my kids, I have these sayings that I teach, my boys, especially my boys every night. We say the same thing. There's a whole long list of them. I'll spare you all of those because those would all be sermons themselves. But one of the things I've taught my boys is that going, hey guys, whenever you're scared, you can always ask dad to borrow some courage. So Wyatt's like, Dad, I don't want to do this right now. They say that I want to watch Spider-Man. I said, Wyatt, what does Dad say when you're scared? He's like, well dad can i borrow some courage i said of course of course i got some i got some courage to spare see in our weakness we must be reminded that you and i we don't find encouragement in our strength

we find encouragement in christ strength look at what ephesian chapter six says it says finally be strong in the Lord. And then in his mighty power, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. You know what the devil's scheme is? The devil's scheme is in your mind.

You are less than. You are disqualified. Your mistakes. Your past. Your shame disqualifies. You play that record over and over. But it's in that moment that I've got to lean up to heaven

And I got to ask my heavenly Father, God, can I borrow some courage right now? I don't take courage in my strength. I take courage in his strength. See, the enemy does not defeat us because we are weak. The enemy defeats us because we think we are strong. We think we're strong. We think we can walk out of this place today and face the world and our own strength. But we need to come back to that childlike faith.

I have been pierced for a purpose. I have been given a thorn to keep me. humble to keep me close to God. God, can I borrow some courage? Every night before I leave the boys room, we have this little saying, I say, all right, boys, are you strong? And they respond back to me, Dad, if you're strong. And so they took Wyatt, and they started putting him down on the stretcher, taking him down in the hospital. He's sitting there with this big spider man kind of crying. I say, hey, Wyatt, I said, are you strong? He looked back to the, dad, if you're strong.

want to let you know today that wherever the enemy is attacking you, wherever he is lying to you. And you said, I don't know how to go one more step. I don't know how to move forward. I don't know how to step into the future. I don't know how to become all these called me to become. And when God looks down at you and says, are you strong? Just like my boy, why, I just look back to God and say, God, if you're strong. Lord, if you're strong, I'll keep standing. If you're strong, I'll keep walking. If you're strong, I'll keep serving. If you're strong off, keep worshiping.

If you're strong up, keep moving forward. I'm going to work my weakness, God. I'm going to work it. Work your weakness. Oh, but Rich, you don't know about my thorn. Yo, something tells me if Jesus Christ could handle a crown of thorns, he could manage your little thorn. You keep surrendering over to him.

Newsflash, Jesus doesn't need your strength. He needs your surrender. And when you give up, that's when God shows up. That's when God shows up. As everyone stand to their feet today. It's a simple call. Work your weakness. Don't stop working in spite of your weakness.

God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. You're becoming something in Jesus. You've been pierced for a purpose. It's to remind you. It's Jacob walking with a limp. I wrestled with God and he was stronger than me. I know the one who's greater than me.

I know the one who's greater than me. God, can I borrow? Can I borrow some courage? Certainly. Are you strong, son? Are you a strong daughter? I was talking to a friend the other day. And he's kind of struggling with his faith.

He said, Rich, the thing about you, man, that just keeps annoying me is that I feel like, I know, I was like, there's a lot, man. So just line up, you know. The thing about you, man, that just keeps annoying me is I feel like you use Jesus as a crutch. You just use them as a crutch. It's like anything challenge, you just ask Jesus.

Anything, just Jesus. I listened to all your sermons. Jesus. I said, I hear you, man. I said, but you have half a truth. I say you're right in one way, but you're wrong in a totally different way. Jesus is not a crutch for me. It's way bigger than that.

He's a stretcher. Oh, come on, I need somebody in this room who can just take about 10 seconds right now. And who can testify, who can stand right now in the place that you're standing and say, I would not be here if it was not for the grace of God. Come on, somebody in this room, let praise erupt from the inside. He hasn't just been something you've leaned on. He's been carrying you. He's been walking with you.

Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow. It's been faithful. Our weakness. God, we put you first. God, we lean on you. God, today we know your truth. grace is sufficient. Just with your head bowed and your eyes closed,

those online right now at all of our other locations in the room. What's the area today that you're afraid to expose? What's the area that you just complain about but you don't pray about? What's the area today that you're comparing your life to someone else's? It's that thorn that keeps you humble. It keeps you close to the foot of the cross. It keeps you close to Jesus. He's more than a crutch.

He's a stretcher. Work your weakness. God, I just, pray for people all of this room right now online right now got areas lord where the enemy is lying to them god areas today where the enemy lord is putting shame on them and anxiety and depression and fear greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world god we aren't survivors we're more than conquerors all glory and praise to you i just pray right now that you just meet people meet them where they are. You could borrow some courage today. Be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord.

Your heads are bad, your eyes are closed wherever you're at, whatever location, online. If you're here today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, doesn't need your strength, it's your surrender. If you're here today and you're ready to give up and give into Jesus, you want to make your peace with God. How do you do that? You do that through relationship with Jesus. yet to all who received him and believed in his name, he gave them the right to be called children of God. So with your head, bow, and your eyes closed, just on the count of three, if that's you,

I'm ready today to give my life to Jesus. I believe he is who he said that he is, and I want to follow him. On the count of three, would just be bold, lift your hand up high enough and long enough, just so I can see it. I want to include you in this prayer of salvation. Ready, one, Bible says, today is the day of salvation.

Two, don't look at your neighbor. It's not about your neighbor. It's between you and Jesus. Jesus. Ready, one, two, three. If that you lift it up, that's me, that's me, that's me, that's me, that's me, that's me. Oh, it's beautiful. Church, can we just all lift our hands towards heaven? Would you just repeat this prayer after me? The Bible says, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and you shall be saved. Let's all pray it together. Say, dear Jesus, today I surrender. I give you my life, my past, my present, even my future. I give you all of my weakness, all of my shortcomings, all of my sin.

I surrender it to you. God, replace it with your strength. I believe Jesus, you are who you said that you are. And today, I'm declaring, I want to follow you. Thank you for loving me. I love you, Jesus. In Jesus' mighty name, everybody said, Come on Elevation Church, can we give Jesus the highest praise? Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make 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 Podcast.

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