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Three Weaknesses That Perfect God’s Strength

Strength in weakness is a profound theme explored in this podcast episode, where the speaker, Noah Day, delves into the idea that our vulnerabilities can reveal God’s strength. Using the apostle Paul’s experience with his “thorn in the flesh,” he illustrates that true power often emerges from our moments of helplessness. The discussion highlights how challenges, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, serve to humble us and draw us closer to God. Noah shares personal anecdotes that resonate with listeners, emphasizing that trials can lead to growth and strengthen our relationships with God and others. Ultimately, the message encourages embracing our weaknesses, as they are opportunities for God’s grace to shine through in our lives.

Paul’s struggle with a ‘thorn in the flesh’ serves as a poignant reminder of the paradox of strength emerging from weakness. Throughout the discussion, the speaker illustrates how personal trials can lead to a deeper reliance on God’s grace. Drawing from his own experiences, including a harrowing incident involving a moth and a series of unexpected life events, the speaker emphasizes the importance of humility in the face of adversity. He invites listeners to reflect on their own weaknesses and the thorns in their lives, encouraging them to embrace these challenges as opportunities for spiritual growth. The segment transitions into explorations of biblical figures like Job and Jesus, who faced significant struggles yet emerged with a profound understanding of their faith and purpose. Ultimately, the message centers on the idea that when we acknowledge our weaknesses, we open ourselves up to God’s strength, allowing it to manifest in our lives in transformative ways. This powerful narrative serves as both a personal testimony and a call to action for listeners to seek strength in their own vulnerabilities, fostering a sense of connection and resilience in their spiritual journeys.

Takeaways:

  • Strength in weakness is a central theme, emphasizing reliance on God’s grace during hardships.
  • Paul’s experience with a thorn in the flesh illustrates how God uses weakness for His glory.
  • Trials and tribulations can lead to spiritual growth if we embrace our weaknesses.
  • The importance of humility and acknowledging our limitations in our relationship with God.
  • God sometimes allows discomfort to teach us valuable lessons about strength and reliance.
  • Finding joy in trials reflects a deep faith that God is working through our struggles.
Transcript
Noah Day:

We'll be just reading four short verses in this passage, but we'll jump around to different or other passages for our Scripture tonight. But I want to cause title this message tonight. Strength in weakness. Strength in weakness. Let's go ahead and dig into our reading here.

In verse number seven of chapter 12 in 2 Corinthians it says, and lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. This is Paul speaking, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. Pray. Lord, just want to thank you again for allowing me the chance to preach in my home church tonight, Lord. Help me not take it lightly, Lord.

Lord, I just pray that you would hide me behind your cross, Lord, that it would be your words, not mine, Lord, that speak through this message. Lord, I pray you'd speak to heart. Speak to my heart as well, Lord, in just saying I pray. Amen. Years ago, I used to work in concrete construction.

If you've ever done concrete construction, it's some hard work. But to kind of paraphrase how a week would go, Monday through Friday is basically a normal week. And sometimes you'd work on Saturdays.

And now Saturdays were kind of a different, little bit more laid back of a workday. So Saturdays we would most of the time be more just cleanup.

We'd go to our different job sites, we'd pick up our forms, or we'd wreck a house or we'd wreck a driveway. And by wreck, I don't mean tearing the concrete up, I mean wrecking our forms that we've used to pour that concrete.

So after the concrete's flashed, we usually go in on a Saturday morning real fast and we pull all these forms out and we call it a day. And hopefully usually you're done around noonish, so you have kind of rest your afternoon, and then of course you're off on Sundays.

So I remember one Saturday going in, I went in at about 7 o'clock. It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful morning.

It was during The I believe this was before COVID but I think it was the summer before COVID And I remember going in that day and I was like, it's a good day. We just got two driveways to wreck. And they're really small driveways. They're right down the street from each other. We'll get it done.

We'll be out of there before even it's breakfast time. That's what I was feeling like, right?

So we go in, we wreck the forms, we'd head back to the shop, we load everything up, drop the trailers, and I get a phone call from my mother. And it was not a bad phone call, it was actually good news. And she calls me and she says, hey, breakfast is being served at the property.

Now, if you don't know what the property is, that is the day Reid compound out in Boyd or. That's where all my grandparents live. That's where my aunt and uncles live.

And they were out there cooking breakfast and they invited our family over to join them for it. So of course I was like, I'm there. And I took a 15 minute drive and cut it down to about two and a half minutes. It was really impressive, right?

But anyway, so I get there, we ate breakfast. We were having a good fellowship together. It was probably around 11 o'clock in the morning and I was feeling good. I was like, this is a great day.

It's a beautiful day. I'm probably going to go fishing later. It's a good day.

And I remember sitting there talking on the back porch with my family, and all of a sudden something hit my ear and it was like kind of right here in my earlobe. And I kind of did this, kind of swiping it away because I thought it was a fly or maybe even a spider or something. Just didn't know what it was.

But instead of it going off of me, it actually dove into my ear canal and actually went all the way to my eardrum. And it turns out it was actually a moth that had flown into my ear. And of course, this is like sci fi horror in real life. It was insane, right?

Insane moment, right? And it really felt like there was an alien in my head. It was a very uncomfortable experience. And I remember feeling and hearing the. In my ear. Yes.

It was a very uncomfortable situation. And I remember kind of panicking and I almost couldn't do anything. I couldn't move. It was just kind of scaring me.

It was freaking me out a little bit. And I remember we went to a CVS clinic all Right. They have those at a couple of CVS's.

And we were just hoping like, hey, can you just try to fish this bug out of my ear? We had managed to drown it with rubbing alcohol. We put in my ear. And we were like, can you just fish something out?

Well, the lady kind of did some things and she didn't really help. And she just kind of sent us on our way. Kind of treated me like I was crazy. And of course, that did not make me feel good.

And of course we go home and I'm still in this weird state of, this has ruined my day. And I'm just very unhappy about the situation.

And I remember just telling my mother, just saying, hey, just take me to the ER or something after surgery to get this bug out of me. Do it kind of thing. It's freaking me out. I don't like this.

So I remember we went to an urgent care because I think my mom called him actually and said, hey, we have this situation. Can y'all do anything about this? And like, yeah, we can go ahead and send them in. Like, come in.

See them, they come in, they flushed my ear and out and a couple of times, and out came this moth. And it's hilarious how a bug this big caused so much chaos for about a six hour experience. And it kind of ruined my day.

I was like, I didn't end up going. I think I did end up going fishing that night. But it ruined my whole day. And I was not happy. And I just remember thinking, so helpless.

By the way, I named the moth Earl, by the way, because it has the name. Ear is in the name. Just want to let you know. Anyways, so that was just a little tidbit from me. Anyways. I just remember feeling so helpless.

I could not. This small little thing was just preventing me from enjoying my Saturday, my day off. I've been working all week. I want to enjoy myself a little bit.

And I remember feeling so helpless until I went to that urgent care and someone finally gave me some help. Now that may be a kind of a silly story, kind of a long, drawn out, kind of crazy story, right?

But I say all of that to say, have you ever been in a situation in your life where your strength has been completely taken from you and now you feel like the weakest person alive? Maybe spiritually, emotionally, physically even. Have you ever been to that place? A famous line that's always used especially when playing sports.

I heard it constantly. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, right? So I have a question. For you tonight. How weak are you tonight?

I'd like to go over the three weaknesses that perfect God's strength in our lives. Number one, I would like us to see weakness in ability.

Look back in verse number seven of chapter 12 of Second Corinthians, verse number seven, it says, this is Paul speaking, right?

Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. So Paul's thorn in the flesh. There's been lots of conversations about, you know, what that could be.

A lot of people believe that it may have been his eyesight, that he may have not fully regained his eyesight from the road to Damascus when Jesus appeared before him on that road. And some people believe that maybe he had malaria from his travels around the world and being a missionary.

And some people even think that he may have had some sort of speech impediment or he had. He had struggled getting words out at times.

And so because it's interesting, you don't see a whole lot of sermons about Paul in the Scripture, but you see a lot of his writings. It's pretty interesting if you have that sort of connection. But the Bible doesn't necessarily say exactly what Paul's issue was.

But Paul describes it here as the messenger of Satan to buffet me. Now, this is something that cannot be taken lightly, a message from Satan. This kind of reminds me a little bit of the story of Job.

Remember what happened with Job? Job was an upright man. And God said to Satan, look at this servant of mine, Job, Satan, I will allow you to do whatever you want to him.

You just can't kill him. And Satan takes everything away from him. And still through it all, Job did not curse God. He didn't sin.

He just gave glory and honor to God the whole time. Right. But so we see a little bit of maybe, maybe Paul is calling back to that story a little bit with that message of Satan a little bit.

But also, I want you to leave that word buffet there. Now, when you Google this word, often it comes up as buffet. It's kind of funny, but that's actually not what this is talking about.

It's not talking about the food line here. It's talking about a buffet is to strike. This is kind of the short version, to strike suddenly or to hinder suddenly.

So this is probably something physically that has come into Paul's life and all of a sudden has. It will pop up all of a Sudden and prevent him from doing a certain. For God or make it even harder to do. Right?

And so obviously there's probably this frustration with Paul, this confusion, right? This was used as a hindrance to his ministry. It may have had his. It may have affected his ability to perform certain tasks.

Right, Turn with me real fast to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. This also calls to another story in the bible, Luke chapter 13.

And we'll read in verse number 10, and I'll go ahead and read it for the sake of time. It says, and he, this is Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could. And could in no wise lift herself. Lift up herself.

And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her, woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.

And the ruler of the synagogue answered with the indignation because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, there are six days in which men ought to work in them, therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.

The Lord then answered him and said, thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo, these 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

So to kind of paraphrase this story, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue one day, and there is this woman that says she has been bowed roughly for about 18 years. Now, a lot of people will say it's bowed or bowed. It kind of depends on who you ask.

But this kind of describes that she's in a state of this constantly. She's not able to lift herself up. And she has lived life like that for 18 years.

And when Jesus looks on her, he has pity on her, he has compassion on her. And he says, you know what? I'm going to heal you. You don't have to dwell within this infirmity anymore. I'm going to go ahead and heal you.

So Jesus calls her over to him and he lays hands on her and he heals her. And she's able to lift herself up, and she's able probably to walk like a normal. Like a normal human being, right How God designed it, right?

And of course, the rulers of the synagogue they kind of get upset that Jesus did this on the Sabbath, and Jesus kind of rebukes them and kind of puts them in their place. I kind of like that story, but no doubt that Paul was probably calling back to this instance and thinking about this.

And we'll go into this in our next point. He's probably thinking about that God can take me out, God can take this away from me, but he hasn't.

It's preventing me from doing my task that I'm supposed to do for Him. Now let's think about our thorn for a minute. What is our thorn in the flesh? Oftentimes it could be something actually physical.

Some of us may struggle with our eyesight. Some of us may struggle walking. Some of us may struggle with speaking. Right. Some of us may have a lot of sickness, may have a lot of pain.

And we have these thorns in the flesh. And sometimes they can kind of cause us to get in a bad mood sometimes and kind of caused us to be in an unrighteous state of mind. Right. And so.

But I would like to draw attention to the thorn in your flesh that is the sin in your life. Each one of us has a thorn in our flesh tonight. What is that sin that is preventing you from doing the will of God?

Oftentimes I have to even check my own self and say, what sin is preventing me from performing the task that God has me to do? Is there a hindrance in your life that makes it hard to do the right things? Is there something that's blocking.

We'll go in that inside of something that's blocking a relationship with Jesus Christ in your life? Why would God do this? Why would God allow Paul to go through this? Well, and why would God allow us to have some of the sin in our lives?

Why can't God just take it all away? Well, for one, he wants us to humble ourselves and know that we are a fallen people. And he wants us to come back to Him.

And secondly, he may want us to teach something or he wants to teach us something. And that may be more on the physical aspects of things instead of the sin aspect. But these are certain things that God wants to teach us.

I remember my going back to kind of concrete construction. I remember my first day of going into work, working concrete. I remember waking up early that day. I can't remember what time it was.

It was before the sun was up, and I remember getting ready and it was pouring rain outside. Now, if you know anything about construction, especially in concrete, you cannot do much when it is pouring rain.

Outside when it is raining cats and dogs, you cannot do much concrete work, right? And so, but so I was like, I don't know if they're going to be working today. I haven't really had any contact information. These guys.

I just kind of was offered this job third party. And so I was like, well, I'll just go and just see what happens, right?

I remember on my way there, I nearly got into a car accident because a car pulled out in front of me and slammed on their brakes at the stop sign that was right there in front of me. And I had to ditch my truck for a minute to make sure I did not hit them because roads are slick.

So when I slam on my brakes, out of reaction, I slide, right? Thankfully, the Lord protected me. But I started asking God, you know, lord, are you trying to prevent me from getting there?

For some reason, I remember I making it and it was kind of awkward. There was no one there. I remember sitting in the truck for a few hours and no one showed up. I'm like, am I in the right spot? Where am I?

And eventually a truck started to pull up and they had been waiting for the rain to kind of go away, and the rain went away. And I remember I got to work that day and I had done some hard work in the past.

I remember doing yard work growing up doing yard work, helping build fences, things of that nature. And all of a sudden, this is some backbreaking work this day. I did not realize how much work I was getting myself into.

I remember digging beams for a house. I remember pouring a job that was a for a house. I remember doing that.

And I remember doing so many different jobs and just one day, and I remember going home that night going, I don't know about this. This is some hard work, right? But I stuck with it, right?

And I'm not necessarily trying to point attention to myself, but I remember sticking with it because guess what? Concrete taught me hard work. And it taught me to push through when things get hard and tough, when you're tired. It taught me lots of those things.

But see, that's the same thing in our lives. When there's something in your life that may be hard, it may not necessarily be sin.

It could be sin at times, but sometimes we have to push through that and use God and call upon God and say, God, I need this thorn in my flesh. I need your help, and I need your help to push through it. So, number one, weakness in ability.

Number two, I'd like to draw attention to weakness in relation now we see here in verse number eight of chapter 12 in 2 Corinthians, it said, for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. Now, this word besought means that Paul was begging God to take this away.

This wasn't just some short little, hey, God, can you just kind of take this away from me? No, no, no. Paul was on his knees and he was begging, God, God, please take this from me. It is a hindrance.

I cannot do the things that you want me to do because this thorn in my flesh is preventing me from doing what you want me to do. It's hard, God. I don't have to go through this. I don't want to go through this. And you see here that he doesn't just ask God once, right?

He asks him not twice, but he asks him three times, which that means the first time, God said no. The second time, God said no. And we're gonna see here the third time God also says no.

But obviously he goes and asks God three times because he was not happy with the answer that God gave him the first two times. He may have been a little frustrated with the Lord. We don't know. I think that I would probably be frustrated in this situation. I mean, I'm human.

I would probably react in a certain way out of anger or frustration, maybe even blame on God. And yet we see that Paul is just begging God to take this away. But God said no. He said no twice, and Paul went back to him a third time.

And God says this in verse number nine. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. My grace.

Now, growing up, I learned that mercy is getting something or is not getting something that you deserve. Grace, on the other hand, is getting something that you don't deserve. God's grace.

And it says right here, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. We see the reason that God has had this thorn in his flesh.

Just because he's like, Paul, Paul, I don't want you to get too puffed up a little bit, Paul.

I need to be able to kind of rein you in a little bit and keep you somewhat weak so that I can be powerful and people through you can see me in your life, right? I need you to be that witness for me in your life. And that requires you to be weak first.

Paul undoubtedly became frustrated with the Lord about his answer. Let's turn over real fast to Matthew in chapter 26. Matthew, chapter 26, Matthew, chapter 26. And we'll begin reading verse number 36.

I would like to call attention to this Paris or this passage of Scripture here.

It says here in verse number 36, then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with me.

And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, o my Father, oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. We know this story very, very clear. We know what this is. Jesus is about to go to the cross. And guess what? It's going to be a painful experience.

Jesus knows that coming in. Now, there's a lot of speculation about what cup is Jesus asking to be passed from him.

Is he asking for the cross, or is he asking for something else that's weighing him down? What is it that he's asking for?

But there's something right here that Jesus is going through right now, and he's saying, God, if it be your will, let this cup pass for me. This is a similar prayer to what Paul was praying to for, about his thorn in the flesh, saying, God, take this from me. Take it away.

I don't have to go through this. You know, there's things in our lives that are going to make us uncomfortable.

Financial debt, loss of loved ones, sickness, hurting, maybe even relational issues in marriage with your kids, with your other family members, whatever it is. You are going to go through some hard things in life. And we can sit here and ask God constantly, God, don't let me go through that.

Take that away from me. I don't want to have to go through that. But guess what? Sometimes God says, no, I need to take. I need you to go through that.

Because when you are weak, that's when you're strong. I remember that when Covid hit, it was such a crazy time. I was in college and I had come home briefly for a few days for a funeral.

And it was a weird feeling.

Me and my wife were dating at the college at the time, and I remember saying bye to her, and it was just kind of a short, hey, I'll see you in a few days. You know, like, I'll let you know when I land. It was a very quick passing conversation. And I was on my way to the airport. I went Home surprised.

The family went to the funeral. And literally the day after the funeral, Covid happened. And the world shut down. And it was kind of. Everything was in a scramble mode.

Half of my stuff, my truck was all the way back in California, and my girlfriend is now headed back to Canada because she's from Canada. And it was like this whole just mix of emotions in my life of just, whoa, this is hitting. This is really weird that it's about to happen.

This is strange. I've never gone through something like this before.

And I remember me and my wife had already, or at the time, we had been talking a little bit about, you know, marriage, and we had been thinking about that, and obviously that was. That was something that was on the table. But I remember we went eight months without seeing each other. And that was hard.

That was hard to go through being separated for someone that you love. And I know God's grace was honest during that time because, you know, we often thought, are we going to make it through this?

Are we ever going to even be able to get married? Like, we can't even cross the borders to see each other.

And eventually, after eight months, the borders kind of half opened between Canada and the United States.

So we had to prove that we had been dating for over a year and had actually just submit evidence of us to having a relationship before so I could come and visit her. And thankfully, God allowed us to do that. And I got during that time, that's when I asked her father if I could have her hand in marriage.

And of course, he gave me his blessing during that time. And of course, and then we went another eight months without seeing each other. But it was hard at the time.

I wish that we didn't have to go through that. I wish that there was some things that I wish we did differently. I wish that some things went a little differently.

This was something that was unplanned. And I know many of you were affected by it as well, but it was hard at the time. It was difficult. And I remember praying to God, God, take this away.

God, take this away. God, take this away. God, like, let things go back to normal. And God just said, no, not yet.

I need you to go through this right now because this is what's going to strengthen your relationship with your wife and with me. And it was a time where I got kind of a little bit closer with God and spent some focus on him during that time.

And I can see now in hindsight, that it was good for us. But one, we saw that weakness in ability and two, we saw weakness in relation, and now we see weakness in trials.

Now look at verse going back to second Corinthians in chapter 12. Let me turn back over there. I've lost my place as well. 2nd Corinthians, chapter 12.

If you're curious where 2 Corinthians is, it's after 1st Corinthians. Anyways, in verse number. Let's look in verse number nine, the second half of that verse. We'll read the whole verse for context.

It says, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities.

That seems backwards. Pleasure and infirmities, pleasure and reproaches, pleasure and necessities, pleasure and persecutions, pleasures and distress.

That doesn't seem right. There's something not connecting the dots here. I don't know. Why is it pleasure?

Well, it says right here, for Christ's sake, Paul took pleasure in his trials. He accepted. He came to the point in his life where he accepted the conditions that God had placed him in. With open arms, he embraced the hardships.

Just turning the page over to chapter seven, verse number four. You don't have to turn there. I'll go and read. It says, great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my glorying of you.

I am filled with comfort. I am exceeding joyful in all tribulation. Exceeding joyful in all tribulation. The world will look at that and say, that's backwards way of thinking.

You've got to get your life right. There's something wrong with you. You've got it all backwards.

But right here in verse number 10, it says, for Christ's sake, Paul is willing to go through all this for Christ's sake. And it's, what do we do in our trials? How do we respond when we go through those thorns in our lives?

How do we respond when we go through the trials in our lives when the hardships come? What do we say? We say, God, I don't want to do this. This isn't fair to me. That's a lot of our mindsets.

Oftentimes we sulk, complain, blame, and we quit on God. If you look in James, chapter number one, James, chapter number one. You don't have to turn there. I'll read for the sake of time.

James, chapter one, it says, verse number two, my brethren, this is right after the church has just been separated the church in Jerusalem has just been separated throughout all the world because of persecution. It says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.

Count it all joy knowing this, at the trying of your faith worketh patience. That doesn't make sense. What do you mean that count it joy when we fall into diverse temptations. That's the trials, that's the test.

That's the hard things in our lives. What do you mean? What do you mean, count it joy? What do you mean, be happy about it? It doesn't seem right, but this is what Paul.

Look at Paul's example right here. He just embraces it because he says, it's all for God. It's all for Christ. I'm embracing it.

I take pleasure in my infirmities, in the reproaches, in the necessities, in the persecutions, in the distresses, for Christ's sake. Now, these are just words, but Paul was shipwrecked, he was stoned, he was persecuted, he was nearly killed. He eventually was killed.

Paul went through so much. And he says, hey, it's all good. I'm happy about it. That's backwards. We don't think that way. We think, oh, God, you're evil. You're mean to me.

I don't want anything to do with you now because now you're putting me in a hard place. But God just saying. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it right there. I need you to be weak for a second.

Because right here in verse number 10, right after Paul writes, for Christ's sake, he says, for when I am weak, then I am strong. And God says in verse number nine, it says, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Let me ask you, how weak are you tonight? How weak are you?

Are you too strong for God tonight? I'm not talking about being a strong soul winner. I'm not talking about standing up for God. I'm talking about your relationship with God.

How strong are you? How. How much pride do you have in your life?

We must embrace the trials with open arms because God wants us to rely on him when he takes us through it. Last May, I had just quit my job at Southlake, and I had started working here. I started cleaning the church. I knew that this is what God had for me.

I was thankful for my job at South Lake. It was a good job. I learned lots of things there. And it was definitely God provided that job for me.

It allowed me and my wife to have the finances to get married and things of that nature. But I just felt like God wasn't fully blessing me there anymore, and I feel like that I had to move on.

And God kind of laid on my heart to just come to the church and start cleaning. I knew there was a need there, and so I asked around about it. And Pastor talked to me about it, and he offered me the position.

And literally the week of my first week, my wife and I found out that she was pregnant. And then. So I remember going that whole week thinking, this is right before Mother's Day.

I remember going that whole week thinking, wow, I'm about to be a dad. Like, life's changing. Obviously, God wanted me to put me in this position because he wanted me here.

So when we have our first child, this is where he wants me. And we went and took blood tests, and it was confirmed that my wife was pregnant at the time. And then two days later, she was no longer pregnant.

And then you kind of start asking God questions like, why did you. Why? I just did what you told me to do. I gave up a good job. I gave up comforts. Why? Why do you put my wife through so much hardship and sorrow?

She hasn't done anything wrong. I remember asking those questions in my mind. And of course, it was not a very easy time. We kept it quiet at the time.

We didn't want to draw too much attention to it. And one of our friends ended up also getting pregnant at around the same time. And. And obviously that was hard for us to see that as well.

But you know what? After the time, we started to heal a little bit about it. We now have a beautiful baby boy. He's in the nursery right now.

And I'm very thankful for him. But during that time, I see now what God was doing in my life. God grew my relationship during that time with him. Him.

Because I was weak emotionally, spiritually, mentally. My wife and I's relationship was strengthened during that time. It wasn't easy, but we got through it. And guess what?

It's amazing how you get so weak and then all of a sudden, wow, some of these other things that were the big things don't seem so big anymore. I see what God's doing now. God was preparing. God was working in my life. We go through hardships.

It becomes very easy to appoint, to point the finger back at God and say, it's not fair. But guess what? If you look in the Bible, it's full of situations that are unfair. You look back in Genesis, Abel was killed by his own brother.

That wasn't fair. Abraham told to leave his family and go into another land he had never been before. That wasn't fair.

Jacob stealing his brother's birthright, that wasn't fair. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Moses and the children of Israel wandered the wilderness for 40 years.

David was hunted by his own king and driven out of his homeland. Daniel taken into captivity as his life was just beginning to start. Hosea was told to marry an unfaithful wife. Mary had to give birth as a virgin.

Apostles and early Christians had to suffer persecutions in the most brutal way. Paul shipwrecked, stoned, hated, persecuted for serving Christ. But guess what?

It also wasn't fair that Jesus died on the cross for our sins because that's God's grace in our life. Jesus on that cross took your sins and my sins, and he says, I'm going to take your place on that cross.

You deserve, this is what you deserve, this is what would be fair, is for you to die and go to hell because you are a sinner. And, and you have sinned against me. And so. But guess what? It's not fair. So I'm going to take your place.

Maybe we have to shift our perspectives around a little bit, look at things in a different light. What, what is unfair in your life may be the perfect will of God.

There are some things that happen, there are some things that are hard, there are some trials that we go through, and it may seem unfair, it may seem hard, it may seem difficult, it may seem cruel. But guess what? God's working. And as long as you stay faithful to him, all things work together for him.

When we are weak in ability, we are then strong in ability. When we are weak in relation, we are then strong in relation. When we are weak in trials, we are strong in trials.

All through the help of Jesus Christ. The problem is we have too many strong Christians that do not allow God to do something great in their lives.

Be thankful for the hardships, be thankful for those trials, because that means God is not done with you. He's working something out. He wants to take you through something.

God doesn't want you to react to those things in a bitter way, in an angry way, but this is what he wants you to do.

If you turn to Psalm chapter number 51, Psalm chapter number 51, and look in verse number 17, it says, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise. This is David, a plea for forgiveness. David hadn't obviously is a man after God's own heart.

That's how the Bible describes him. But he sins with Bathsheba and now he's having this plea of forgiveness. And he says, God, I can't sacrifice the way you want me to sacrifice.

Because what you truly want is you want me to be a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart humbled before you. Let me ask you one more time. How weak are you? How unfair is your life? And where is your joy? Grounded? As the musicians prepared for invitation.

Life is full of trials. Life is full of hardships. Been saying the whole service. Life is full of disappointments. That just means God's not done with you yet.

God wants you to humble yourself before him, to come to an altar and to cry out to him saying, God, I am nothing without you. I am weak and I need your strength. I'm done being prideful. I'm done. I'm done with putting up the face. I'm done with putting up the walls.

I'm done with the strength of my life. I'm ready to be weak again. God help me to rely on you and my strength. Some of you tonight may have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

I pray that tonight would be the night that you do so. Put away the pride that's in your heart. Come to Jesus and say, lord, I am a sinner and I need help. I need you.

I need you to save me from an eternal place called Hell. You took that place on the cross for me. Maybe you're going through something in your life. Maybe you're frustrated about it.

Maybe you're angry, maybe you're sorrowful, depressed even. But just remember this. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect and weakness. Let's pray.

Lord, I just want to thank you again for this message, God, as I know you have used this message in my own life, Lord, and you've spoken to my heart this Lord. Lord, I pray that tonight that souls would be touched tonight, Lord, and that people would come back to you, relationships would be restored.

Lord, help me to always remember that the trials, the hardships, the pain, Lord. As long as I keep you first in my life, Lord, that those things will all work out, Lord. Because when I am weak, God, you are strong.

We thank you, Lord. And please be with this time of invitation just now I pray. Amen.

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