Work Your Weakness (Rich Wilkerson Jr.)

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 dot 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 in 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 may 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 Verdick 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 Steven, can we go ahead and make some noise and just thank God for who he is and no one like him, no one like him. I seemed 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 council 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 and he's here today. And 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. Anybody ready

for God's word today? Tewo. Corinthians, chapter twelve. 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 Pentecostal wherever he or she is today, and we're gonna have some church and we're gonna believe that God's Spirit's going

to meet us right what we are. Second Corinthians, chapter twelve, verse six. 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, someone say, therefore, therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, 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 today 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 the next thirty minutes or so from the 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 prayer one were talking with LORDI thank you so much for your word. We thank you that it's sharper than any double edged sored. 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. 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 this study that was done in two thousand and five 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 forty thousand thoughts a day, and out of those forty thousand thoughts, what we learned is that eighty percent of those thoughts are negative. Watch this. This is where I thought was really really interesting that ninety five percent 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 gonna get 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, fifteen years of marriage. Holler at your boy. And her name is don Shriie, and she has a little bit of a struggle of her own, and that is she's addicted to online shopping. My wife makes you laugh because like she'll purchase something and she's like, oh my god, like the package, just like where did this come from? I'm like, you bought it for yourself, you know, And some of you girls are like, what

do I get for Valentine's that you got yourself? Okay? She loves the online shop is always interesting because you purchase something online and typically they'll send you like a FedEx number, and if you ever take that fed X 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. And 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 two thousand 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 become mean 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. Therefore, watch this. I can be becoming and struggling all in the same sentence. And we're gonna 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 gonna have to learn that, yeah, you have some deficiencies, but none of those deficiencies are gonna delay the destiny that God has planned for you from the 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 want 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 that 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, you know, he's just he's not a good preacher, Like he's not eloquent, he don't have the gift of pastor Steven,

Like 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 becomes to defend his ministry, you can see like his hesitation go back to Second Corinthians ten, eleven and twelve, and he's kind of going through it and there's like a 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 it kind of starts by sharing all the things that he's done. But then like halfway through, as you get into chapter eleven,

what you see Paul's he flips the script. He's like, you know what I'm done going this route. If I'm really gonna 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 gonna get glory and if you're really gonna 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 gaps and 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, you know, 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 like like what have you done? Bro? You know? Like and so really they talk about that, 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 do you know that? This is

both merciful and quite instructive. It's merciful that we don't know what Paul's thorn is because how me 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 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 gonna 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? Like, 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 this 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, I was eighteen 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 like kind of go, you know, on the road doing some ministry. My dad's a preacher, and so I said, Dad, I want to go and preach and somebod. Dad called all his pastor friends and like booked me all up and down, you know, the East Coast preaching these little youth ministries. And so we got a mini van and we got a trailer. And I quickly realized I was like, yo, I'm gonna need some help. And so I can't just go preach. I'm gonna need,

you know, like a 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, you know it. It was a wild summer. We had this little van and this blue trailer and 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 that 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 Worship, and there was this part on the bridge that said, some of y'all remember it's like, oh, never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross. Thank you, so all glory to him. Honestly, honestly, it's not about me. It's not about me. Shut up. And

I uh I remember. I remember like sometimes when I get preaching and I get real annointed, shut up, and the spirit of worship would like come upon me, you know. And so uh I remember, in particular, we had this little leap ministry and like I was off the microphone, but now I'm like praying for students and like this song, you know, the Michael W. Smith was on, and so

I'm like singing. And so we get in the car the next day and I know this is super strange, but we would like always recap the night before, and so we're driving to the next town, and we put on the tape to listen to the sermon. We're all gonna evaluate it, we're all gonna 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 I'm praying for people, but I begin to sing that song in a register that certainly does not belong to me. And and it wasn't that I was like opposed to everybody laughing in the car. It was just after twenty minutes of still laughing that the embarrassment hit my life to a point that how ma y'all know that was the last time I asked for feedback from those guys with my message.

Why because many times what happens is 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 weak courage 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 gonna 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, Like 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 still working. But he kind of just testifies about his story about his weakness, and he genuinely says out loud he says, three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. Three times I ask 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 Pau and he's like, He's like, if you'll just take away this thorn, I just know then

I could three times I've 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 mey ell know, if you've 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 and Alrighteous God, and you bring it before him saying God, I need you to turn something around. Three times, I'm 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 eleven that Jesus is teaching about prayer, and it's one of the most peculiar stories in all the Bible.

You ought to go back and look at it. I preach the message one time entitled the Art of ba 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 seven thirty am. Dead dead, dead dead 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 eight am. His kids like ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. I was like, fine, you say, Richie, 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 rich You 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 all of your prayers are about ice cream. I don't think that's just a shallow prayer. I think you're a shallow person. The question is do you have a deep end. In 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 self, 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 gotta get this because

here's Paul. Three times I've 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've 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 see God. He's like yeah, Paul, I hear you. Here's what we do. I'm going to meet your need by not answering your request. No, no no, God,

I don't think unerstood. 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, y'all know this to be true about God. How may y'all know that one of the most merciful things God can do is not answer all your requests. I was

seventeen 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. Yes, Lord, I'm supposed to go to school in Los Angeles. I live in Miami. You're calling me this school in LA 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 curtseyed and

I beseech the father on behalf of the brethren. My brother's The Lord is speaking to me. I am supposed to go to college in Los Angeles and might have said no, no, no, no, you are not. I said, excuse me. He said, no, you're not going. 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. You need 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 Scherie durn 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 then answer all your requests. Anybody thankful that God still met your need although he didn't answer your prayer request in the way you wanted him to answer it. Come on, tell me 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 gonna 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 setup 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 dodgeball,

because y'all know what you do at dodgeball. You look at people and you judge them from their past performance, or you look at people 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 as shame the strong. I chose the lowly things, the things that are despised, the things that are not, 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 quest. I'm gonna leave that thorn in place because actually I'm going to get more glory from your life with this weakness.

Oh okay, God, So I'm pleading. I'm pleading. 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 second print. Things 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 twenty twenty two 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 too. Right, Like, so you've got somebody in your life, is like, that's the spiritual person. Like you come to church, like look at them, they're just so free, they're just oh man, look at like

they just have their hands are up. Wow, I'm over here. I feel weird like here and they're there, and uh, I'm less than we got we got, you know, relationships like married people. Oh man, look 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 know she's just I bet she she just always submits. Like what bro We got people we compare our kids to look at look at look at

their kids. Oh they're perfect. Mine are demon possessed and they're perfect physicality right like, oh man, look at it, he's got apps. 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 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 is like, in fact, I don't get any grace for the space between me and you. The fact the space that God's filling my life is not between me and you. The space that God is filling 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 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 interesting me. I've read that word. That's the word that gets used a lot in church. Christ is sufficient, the sufficiency of Christ. We just throw that word around. Do you know what sufficient means? By definition, sufficient means adequate for its purpose? Okay, hold on it because I

want to help somebody. God's grace is adequate for your purpose. Adequate? That's interesting one. You know what that word means, just the right amount? How may 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 Cherie. There was a different measure of grace that I needed when

I started pastoring to church. Oh my goodness, we have three kids now. More grace, 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 thirty seven years of age, and I have been doing ministry now since I was eighteen years of age, but full time in

ministry since I was twenty three. 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 seven twenty two and there was a pastor there. But they have Pastor Louis Giglio. Come on, somebody shout

out to Louis. Just giving shout outs, 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 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 Louie'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 go? He's like, that's Oryan's belt, the Belt of Truth. I'm like, oh my god, you know whoa like? 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 hid thousands of twenty somethings on a Tuesday night he was preaching, and 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 Oryan'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 may'all know?

I am a very bad version of Louis Giglio. I don't get any 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 Wilgerson 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 four, verse six 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, he didn't cause them. You didn't ask for them, You didn't want them, he says, a messenger of Satan to torment me. He even tells me 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. Direction 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 conceded, Meaning anything that keeps you humble in this life is a gift from God. Ah. No, 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 inspite 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 will 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, pierced for a purpose. You see, you have a calling in Jesus Christ. He purchased you with his blood two thousand 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. Then Y has for me. I'm going to use you.

You're right where I need you to be. I'm gonna 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 Waylan Wesley Wilkerson. And just a couple of 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 you know, 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, not about me though, And as the worship team comes up. I took Wyatt to the hospital and we got there and when we came in, the doctors came and told us.

They said, mister Wilkerson, we're gonna have to take him back alone to get anesthesia, which I didn't know. I thought I was gonna be with him the whole time. And they had to put him under for this surgery take place. And so this little three year old boys 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 like son, you know, hippolaws

and whatnot, I can't, you know. And so it's like way too much information for the kid, you know. But with all 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 help these sermons themselves. But one of the things I've I've taught my boys is that going, hey, guys, whenever you're scared,

you can always ask Dad to borrow some courage. And so whiff like, d I don't want to hear this right now, they say that either way. I wanted to Spider Man and I said, Wyat, what does Dad say when you're scared? He's like, ah, well, Dad, can I borrow some courage? I said, of course, of course I got some. I got some courage. Despare 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. Know what the devil's scheme is. The devil scheme is in your mind. You you are less than you are, disqualified, your mistakes,

you're past, your shame disqualifies you. Play that record over and over, but it's in that moment that I gotta 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 of 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 in our own strength. But we need to come back to that child like 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 boy's room, we have this little santus say all right, boys, are you strong? And they're respond back to me, Dad,

if you are strong. And so they took Wyatt and they started putting him down on the stretcher, taking him down the hospital and he's sitting there with this big spider man kind of crying. I say what I said, are you strong? He looked back at the death. If you're strong? And I 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 Wyatt, just look back to God and say, God, if you're strong Lord, if you're strong and keeps staying. Then, if you're strong, up, keep walking. If you're strong, up, keeps serving. If you're strong up, keep worshiping. If you're strong, I'll keep moving forward. I'm gonna work my weakness God, I'm gonna work it.

Work your weakness over 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. News flash, 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's standing 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 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 your strong son, are your strong daughter? If you're strong, If you're strong, I'm strong. 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, it just keeps annoying me, is I feel like you use Jesus as a crutch. You just use him as a crutch. It's like anything challenge he just us, Jesus. Anything, just Jesus. Listen to all your sermons, Jesus. I said, I hear you, man,

I said, but you have half a truth. So 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 ten seconds right now, and who can testify, who can stand right down the place that you're standing, say, I would not be here if it was not for the grace of God. Come on, somebody in this room. Let praise or rup 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 of death, I'm not gonna fear any evil. My God has been faithful. I'm gonna work de fight my weakness. Come on, Church, lift your heads, Come on, joys kean live. You'll be had it. See first the king he o, you'll be what's you see first? The king know this? Carry yat. Oh we'll be yead. Oh he'll be had it. See first, the king he

will be yd and sa first. The king pato, you'll be hot sae first, the king heat o, you'll be had. Oh we'll be had. Oh we'll be Can we put you first? Can we lean on you? God? Today we know your truth, Your 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 to day 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 crutchy, he's a stretcher or your weakness. God, I just pray for people all of this room right now online, Right now, God, 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 or 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 heads are bout your eyes a 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 for you 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. Get 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 bound in your eyes closure, 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 with your hand of 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. Ready, one, two, three. If that's you, liften up, that's me. 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 pray 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? Hallelujah. 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 GiB and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast