No Shortage! (The Power Of Therefore)

Here's the message. Right now, all over the world, people are joining in with this ministry. We want to welcome our epam, our extended family all over the world. Right now, we're flaking the doors open, man, the digital doors come on in the 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 would be a Sabor Church member, just tell them that, and I believe that. Woo who Now, some of us are

glad to be here. We have learned that there is bread in the House of the Lord. I'm gonna do 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 she and Holly said, maybe you didn't fail.

Maybe you just weren't finished turning your Bible to Second Corinthians, cause you'll believe she back talks me like that. The Bible says, submit to your husband. Not supposed to be quoting scriptures at the man of God. I'm kidding, but this good Second Corinthians, chapter twelve. And I want to talk a little more about your thorn that was the subject last week. So this might be uncomfortable. You won't tell 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 versus 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 Pope that 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 intour a metaphor, and that 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, though, was that, with such great apostolic authority and such intellectual brilliantess, 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 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 concoct it just to get their approval, So it's worthless anyway. And if 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. But in tewod Corinthians twelve, Paul says, in verse six, even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. So 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 about. Y'all ought to say amen, let the church say ours. 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 trying 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 del livering 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 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 doesn't 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 the 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 It came from Satan. Look at this. It was a messenger of Satan to torment me. And that's why I flipped last week that God showed me. He showed me torment. And if you flip that, it's mentor right. Just if you say torment and you say it the

other way, you weren't here last week. That's why I did last week. Yeah, no' go, i'm'na catch you off. I'm gonna catch up. I want you to get this, He said, the thing that is tormenting you, if you'll submit it to my throne, this is what you 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 control freaking, you think everybody else needs to get it, get on the same page with you. Fix them. Some of y'all's thorn weighs one hundred and ninety seven pounds and is sitting next to you. God, would you and this, this is the This is the message that Paul gives us, and watch this. Get read shall get Ray y'all, Get Rey, y'all, get Red. Yeah, get Ray, y'all, Get Rey, shop gear reh, y'all.

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 of 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 the 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 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 amazing how Paul gives us this contrast 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, you know now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask. Or imagine Paul's like I wrote that verse, dummy, s Ephesians three twenty. This is tewod Corinthians twelve. Tell them about the things that God chooses, not to remove the things God gives you grace for in 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 gotten Milk, and I'm revising it right now to say God grace. And the Lord told me to tell you today. I hear the Lord saying, I hear so clear. I can't get I can't get it out of my spirit. There's no shortage, there's no shortage. Put it in the chat right now, or say it with your vocal cords,

if you've got breast, say it. There's no shortage because when I asked the Lord to take the thorn away. And you know, we're living in a time where you you haven't 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 erebody 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 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 test 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 a used car the other day, and the price is like sixty percent more right now for a used car, because the dude was telling me, oh, well there's a chip and chip there's a chip shortage of new cars. So the used cars were more expensive because blah blah,

and all I heard is you're ripping me off. This is the worst time to black 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 I'm a suboctane. My god, by have you forsaken of 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? The pa, the glorious, the party, she said, And we love Chick fil A. So then we say that on the record. If you want to send me some goods, just want to say, sit up, I'll be your shirt, she said.

Holly said, they they said, welcome to Chick fil A. You know, all happy late they do it Chick fil A. And then she said, I want to grilled chicken sandwich. She said. He said, we don't have any chicken. And I said, chick fil A didn't have the 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. Y'all think Holly's first choice was kale? That girl, that girl is she She loves waffle fries more than she loves worship. Thinks she wanted to get They didn't even have a kale salad. She just had to make the She just had to make it, make it work. And to me, it's kind of crazy when

Chick fil a doesn't have grilled chicken. But 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 gonna sum 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. 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. 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 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. Goglola always have a break, Doug Lalla, always have a break, dog l La always haven't work. The first God doesn't command you to praise him because he needs it. He's not an ego maniac. 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

him measurably more than you ask for. 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 Therefore, Now, I'm gonna make you a little scripture, grilled grilled chicken scripture sandwich real quick. All right, I'm gonna give you this little scripture sandwich real quick. In Second Corinthians twelve, verse seven. I love the Word of God. I love it more the more I the more I study it, the more ignorant I realize. I am so uh I would have missed something like this. Second Corinthians twelve seven. He said, I had these great revelations. I

saw this amazing glory in my life. Paul saying this, I was gifted by God in a unique way. I studied under ga melee. 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, what he had shown me, here comes to teaching. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming con seated, in order to keep me grounded in grace? Are you grounded in grace? 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? Are you grounded in the latest blessing God gave you? Are you grounded in grace? Are 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 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 of everybody say, therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh. And angelos, same word that we take angel from in Greek, it's angelos. It

could say an angel of Satan. We've never heard of that before to us. Angels 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 yall 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 to in your industry. In my industry, there's no shortage of thorns right now. Wow, I think the last twenty months have been some of

the thorniest that I've ever pastored people through. Yep, 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 those two years now has done to a lot of people is it put them in isolation in the 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. Like 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. Amen. There's no shortage of thorns. There's just those that are 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 how Paul thought about his thorn. And likewise, I don't believe the most important thing about your life it's 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 other God 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 storm.

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 told them to

the other school. The other school there. You see, we homeschool are kids, brother Steve, and that's why our kids don't struggle with any of those kids sometimes are the biggest crackheads at age twenty one. Sometimes nothing against homeschooling, nothing against not. But Paul did not ask Silas about his thorn. And 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 gotta make sure you go to your fopper 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 gotta ask God what is my gift there? For 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 a 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 twenty of them, but I only want to give you two. The first one comes from Roman's aid, where Paul said, what the lawless powers doing? That was eaking by simple nature. God did by sending his own sun likeness a simple man to be as an 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 him Lord? Should I take him to my secret stash over here in Lamentations? Now? How are you gonna how are you gonna 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 sad book in the Bible. Is 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, alterorance. I listen to how he starts in Lamentations three nineteen. Actually, let's go to verse eighteen. Did I give you eighteen? I think I gave you eighteen 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 is still on my tongue. You can smell it on my breath. I'm still stuck in that. Twenty one says, Uh, Yet this I called 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 compassions 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, sick filet, but there's no shortage of mercy. In the

house of God. They are new every morning. So so so watch this, watch us, watch this, watch us. We passed Stephen. I can't praise God. You don't know what what I've been doing. You'll know what I've been struggling with. What do you think is mercy? Is there for? Amazing grace? How sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me? When he hung up on that cross and he didn't come down. What do you think he was there for? That's what his grace is. Therefore, your weakness, that's what

his grace is. Therefore, the insults, that's what his grace is there for the persecution, that's what his grace is there for, the hardship, the 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 foreign journal. You think Paul wasn't You think Paul wasn't doing everything in his power to get that thing to go away. And you have been to and that's good

because we don't want to glory in our thorn. Some of people will pervert any message you preach. You know, well, lord, I'm gonna just go over here on this pornographic website. But hey, lord, that's what grace is there for him. Who's gonna go on over here and 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 get stronger. When I am, we some of us, we worship our weakness. Just going off on people. That's how I am, not just the way, that's just my thorn in the flesh. You heard old Pastor Furnick over there at the elevation. He said, it'll be 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 how 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 and don't 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 like actually really love

the Bible? And you're not even a little bit bored right now? All right for you, that's not the only Therefore in the passage he said three times, Verse eight is back, I said Corinthian's twelve. I don't even think I'm gonna get to the other scripture today. That's all right. Three times I've 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 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 nine, God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power has 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 has made perfect in 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 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 I don't have enough physical stamina to do this. I don't 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 then after he says that, he says, he said, to me, my grace is sufficient for my powers made perfect a weakness. Therefore I will not post but boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power me rest on me. Not so I can just stay complacent, stay selfish, stay mean, stay hateful, just 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 anyway, because remember, Paul persecuted the same church that he ultimately helped to build. So 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 him 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 gonna really accept me. I do happen 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, Well, I guess, I guess if God's not going to take this thorn away from me, it's

really not worth serving him. He could have just as easily told God, well, if you would have wanted to use me more than 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. And 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 him about that thorn. Remember, 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 forth to strengthen me. If I listened 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 gonna wind up like Elijah the Prophet, not my son, Elijah, 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 Eli Yahoo, my God is they ah Wad called down fire on the prophets of Bail, called down fire on the prophets of Ashra. Eight hundred and fifty died in the valley that day. The nation was turning back to God. Spoke and the rain stop spoke again, and it rained to cloud the size of a man's head. Then how in the world did Elijah wind up standing at the mouth of a cave in one kings nineteen. 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 stopped showing up for the rule 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 east, or the west for my wisdom. My health 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 him say the thorn came from the enemy, but the grace came from God. I'm gonna say it again. The thorn came from the enemy. That was the lessnger. 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. 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 gussemone. He said, nevertheless, I'm gonna take this cup, even though I don't want it. I'm gonna do this what I came to do. This is what I came for. Don't you see it. You are running from the stuff that God put you. Therefore, you are not praying about the things that God's grace is. Therefore, you don't just get to bring God your praise. You get to bring your pain too. That's what the grace is. Therefore, three times I asked the Lord to take it away,

but he said to me, hey, here to 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 storm, 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 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. 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,

the story 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 abound it, there did grace abound that much more. I praise God for grace that is gre later than oh 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 One Kings nineteen, verse thirteen, 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. And even after call down fire from heaven, he still felt something in his soul. It was the isolation of the draft that landed him in this place. And Elijah says something in One Kings nineteen 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. She 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 spirit is worse than pain in your body. Is 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 holed 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 watched 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 the people to get what can

only come from God? So God said to Elijah, I've still got an assignment for you if you want it. I've still got a job for you if you want it. I still got grace for you if you want it. I still got a hope for you. If you want it. I still got a future for you. If you want it, I got joy for you. There's no sortish, It's the power of a Therefore, lift your hands. The Lord is passing by. The mountains were ripped apart. That was 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 is 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's name, in Jesus's name. No, no, not in our strength, in Jesus's 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, later annoint 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 dress the lilies, it's beauty and slender. How much they come? How much? If he waw much? Does he know you? All right?

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.

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, We give you glory, a new story for the silence. Father, we bring those storms 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 I lod. 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 thorny, 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. My God will supply on your Jesus. Therefore I will both stall 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. He wanted to lead 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 until I find out what God has for me in this spiritualation. I talk too far,

I turn around. Whoo. So campus pastors, y'll take the service. I'm done officially right now in the name of Jesus. And here at Valentine, clap your hands and give God break. All right, all right, there's what I'm gonna 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. Just 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. Is 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 everybody who's coming to God today, let's pray as a church heavenly Father. Today today is by days of salvation. Salvation. I am a sinner in need of the grace of God. I believe. 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 he died that I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. If you pray that shoots your hand up right now on the count of three, two three, put it up. Bless your man, blessed, bless it. 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 breaks? Yeah? What ah? It is all right, I gotta dismiss you now. You know we gotta go.

You know we gotta go. But 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 gonna need in the future. Goliath has got your sword. 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. I love you well. If you enjoyed Today's podcast, there are a couple of 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 dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast