We all feel weak at times, but we remember that Christ is Powerful.

Introduction

This week has been a trip together. We’ve really explored what it looks like to be powerful. What its like to have our confidence and identity come from God and not others. What its like to see our weakness as a canvas for the Lord to paint a masterpiece on. What its like to realize that while we don’t have any reason to brag about our achievements we have every reason to boast until our lungs burst because of what Christ has done in an through us. We serve a great and glorious Christ who doesn’t run from sinners but into the breach to save them. One of the hallmarks of Christ unique in his nature and character is that while all others in the world at that time, with ties to religion, power, authority, or supposed righteous or pious living, distanced themselves from those who were seen as undesirable. Those less than. Those who were detriments to their honor and position. Jesus’ story of the good Samaritan demonstrates this perfectly, as the religious leaders left the dying man where he laid, beaten and broken on the side of the road. So it was in that world.

Yet, Christ; the son of the Living God. The bright and morning star. The king of kings, lord of Lords, the Second Adam, our chief shepherd, the first begotten, the cornerstone of the church, runs towards sinners when the world runs away. He looks towards what the world looks past. He sees the hurt of the downtrodden and the struggle of those held ransom in a prison of their own sin. Even and up to begging grace for those that put him on the cross, asking God to show mercy “for they know not what they are doing.” Such is the power, the care, and the grace of Christ for those of us who have heard his voice.

I also feel like we’ve gotten to know one another a bit better as I’ve invited you into my family a little bit. You’ve gotten to hear the story of Amanda and I’s relationship. How God is the everlasting God of grace, giving blessings that we never deserve, as you heard the story about our daughter. You got to hear Alex’s story and how God works things in situations where we don’t fully know what to do or how things are going to work out.

Tonight I want to introduce you to the next season God has led me and my wife too and our two newest family members.

You see, when Alex left us we were really having a lot of “unease” in what God was calling us to do next. It wasn’t that we were, or are constantly moving from one thing to the next or really keen on filling our calendar’s with more and more stuff. To be honest, the older I get the more I try and take a machete to our calendar and carve stuff out of it so we can have simple and quiet days. Now, I married a woman who would fill our calendar to overflowing if I’d let her and so this is my struggle in life. Pray for me. LOL

But at different times, separately, God really impressed upon Amanda and I both that he was calling us to deeper waters. We didn’t know what that was or what to do about it but for a couple months we really sought Him in prayer and finally it was made aware to us what He was planning. We enrolled in classes, went to training's, had walk through’s, got finger printed, wrote papers, and did certifications and finally after 4 months, we officially became a state licensed foster-home.

And this is Miss Ava. Ava is shown here completing her program for nursing and we are so proud of her because she is officially a “Certified Nursing Assistant.” Actually, she starts her new job this week at a nursing home about 5 minutes from here. Ava had been passed back and forth between homes, and towns, and situations since she was 8 and then she got told that she was going to have to move another time to some town she’d never heard about called “Mount Vernon.” As you can imagine, she wasn’t exactly thrilled about the move or the change, and when she met us, she was tired. But, as we sit here tonight Ava is going on being at our house for a year now, the longest stay she’s ever had. And God willing, this year, she won’t be going anywhere anymore because in December her adoption will be finalized.

When you become selected as an adopted parent, a weird thing happens that only happens once for each kiddo. You get access as the parents to their permanent file with the state. It shows you every report, event, and court appearance that ever happened with them since they came into care. You have access to that file from that time until the adoption is finalized and then its sealed by law, never to be opened by anyone ever again. Amanda and I scheduled our appointment to go read through everything. They put you in a room under a camera. You are there by yourself and you are not allowed to take photos or copies of anything. Alot of stuff is crossed out for legal reasons. You can take notes but you have to make sure you do it in a certain way. It all feels very clandestine and hush hush, but we finally got to see it.

As we read through all of the reports of all the case workers from the time she’d come into care we noticed how many case workers she’d gone through over the years. How many homes. How many families. How she’d been treated in various situations and strung along. Monthly reports going back for years. Then, in July 23, we came to the reports that talked about her placement in our house. Y’all, they started to change. Behaviors, struggles, rebellions, issues that once littered all the reports were becoming far more rare and finally, after 6 months with us, we say the report of her case worker that said a line that I’ll never forget. “Something has changed in Ava, and I believe the Lord is doing a work in this girl’s life through this family.” I don’t say that to brag on us or what we’ve done but just to say God has a plan and we don’t always get to see it in the moment.

Tension

Paul’s encouraged us in that this week, hasn’t he? I mean we can see this theme resting on the passage and the message he’s giving to the church using his own struggles as an example. Tonight we finish our week together as we go through our passage again, and tackle verse 10.

Truth

2 Corinthians 12:1–10 (ESV)

1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.

3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—

4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—

6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

9 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Pray

Exposition

Let’s take what we learned and math this guy out. We will take these sentences apart, then add them back into the whole passage.

10 For the sake of Christ, Notice Paul doesn’t say for my own sake, or for your sake. While these things might end up turning out for his good or for the good of the church, he realizes that it is ultimately on the altar of the sake of Christ that he now places his decisions and circumstances. He is doing what he’s doing, going through what he’s going through, and enduring it all because of Christ. For Christ. He explains in a moment that these are not pleasantries but struggles that he’s choosing to embrace but his motive must be understood as the glory of Christ expanded in his own life and suffering.

This is the same justification Paul gives to the church in Philippi

Philippians 4:11–13 (ESV)

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul knows this, he’s told others. He adds in Romans

Romans 8:16–18 (ESV)

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

He’s been saying this to all his churches. To live for Chris to endure suffering, and pain, and hardships for his glory. To endure it all because he’s called us to join us on the path he walked.

then, “then” here acts as a means to attach his previous statement “for the sake of Christ” to what he’s about to say.

I am again, Paul here saying these words

content $20 word alert. What does it mean to be content and how it Paul using it? “Ed-vo-kao” (eudokeō) means to be well pleased with something or delighting in it. One important use is for God’s approval of Jesus. Twice in Matthew’s Gospel, God speaks from heaven and declares that Jesus is God’s beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. It means to be fully delighted in, or to find entire pleasure in something. Paul is saying that he’s learned to be content or otherwise entirely pleased with what?

with weaknesses, His weakness is a means of satisfaction now. It has brought him pleasure in himself and who he is and let’s be fully honest for a second. Doesn’t that sound like the thoughts of a crazy man to us in our 2024 brains? Like a buddy of our comes to us telling us that he’s started a podcast and it’s going to be all about all the way’s he a horrible, dirty, rotten, no good person, and how he’s just going to tell people how great he’s not for an hour an episode. You might try to encourage him to find another topic or forgo it entirely. “Yeah man, I’m not sure its gonna go the way you think it is and people might not want to listen to that.” But, not that guy tells you that it’s not about whether people are listening or not, he just does it because he’s found satisfaction in it, because of what it produces in his life. Crazy right. And all of that comes from Paul using this $20 word instead of other ones he could have used. He has learned (been shown, been taught) that his weakness doesn’t have to be a source of shame but he’d grown to appreciate his weaknesses because of how they end up serving Christ. For his sake.

insults, As Paul has sought to serve Christ and make him known he’s largely lost everything for it. All his relationships, all his friends, even those he shared the gospel with and raised up in the church abandoned him when he got in trouble. He spent so much time in jail that people had grown to be embarassed of him. He was constantly belittled and his reputation had become mud to many. So what, he’s still content.

hardships, Dude knew what he was talking about too. Look at the chapter right before this one where Paul outlines all of his hardships for the gospel.

2 Corinthians 11:21–30 (ESV)

21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

persecutions, Yeah, pretty much. Paul’s life was constantly being sought, his address was most of the time a different prison. People spewed hate at him all the time because of what he was doing for Christ.

and calamities. $20 word again. Calamities (steno-hor-ree-ha) we know to mean “distress, troubles, difficulties” but it can also be used to describe a narrow and confined space, a short space, or a want for more room. So hear this out. Its having troubles, distresses, and difficulties that are closing in around you and jamming you up in an inclosed environment. Its having troubles that press you into a jail cell you can’t get out of. Good word Paul. Now Paul comes to his justification. How could you consider this list of awful to every bring you content-ness or happiness or satisfaction?

For when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul has found this to become true too many times to ignore any longer. God doesn’t need his gifts, his power, his great preaching or teaching. God doesn’t need a strong and powerful Paul to make his plans work. No, what God is using and has used in his whole ministry of struggle, pain, and calamity is weak Paul. Struggling Paul. Not enough Paul. When Paul’s been in those circumstances God has shined through and glorified himself and the church has prospered because of it. Paul’s suffering has yielded strength in ways that are only explained by God’s intervention.

So what have we learned this week and how can you and I, here in 2024 use this to affect how we see our power today?

Our world has become obsessed with followers, influencers, power, and position. We too have grown to become impressed with following people we deem as powerful. We love videos of debates and people “destroying or owning” their opponents. We cheer for the best team, we root for the champions. We buy their shoes, we drink their labels, we buy their jerseys. We too have become a people obsessed with success, winning, and strength.

But Paul beacons us to see strength as he has come too. Its not his strength that matters of gives him value. He no longer cares what people think about him. He no longer views himself through their comments or his weakness or lackings as a leader. No, he has grown to take great appreciation of the ways he’s not all that because God has given him sober judgement about who he is and WHOSE he is. This lesson has so taken root that it now almost defines all of how he sees himself. While others brag about themselves, building up their followers and brands to make much of themselves, Paul now brags only in his weaknesses. Why? Because he’s seen the power and influence of Christ grow in and build him up, not in his strengths but in all the ways he’s not enough. When he acknowledges his need for Christ, Christ embraces him and fills him with his Holy Spirit and his great power. “When I am weak, then I am strong.”

Friends got doesn’t need you to be perfect, or for that matter, even good. He can and will take and use you as you are. Warts and all. Weaknesses and all. He can even use the calamities that close in around you for his glory if you’ll trust him in the midst of the struggle. When it seems like the world is stacked up against you, and the waves are about to capsize you in the midst of the storm, you know the guy who can look at the storm and say “shut your mouth” and it does. We are not a powerless, weak, or timid people. We are not without power, we just know that its in him and not in us. We know where to go and in that is genuine satisfaction that doesn’t make sense to the world. But it’s available to you and I if we will just learn to hear his still small voice and trust him.

Landing

Let me introduce you to two more people before we wrap up tonight. This first one is someone you might know. This is me. I was 12 at the time. My little sister Beth is to the left of me and to the left of her is my dad. I don’t know if you can really make out any of this in this old picture from 1998 but you might notice my face. You see, I grew up in a family where my dad was my hero. We hunted and fished together all the time and I wanted nothing more than to be wherever he was. I looked up to him all the time but when I hit 12 mom and dad had an ugly divorce. Dad went from being my hero to someone who scared me and caused me anxiety anytime he’d show up. I stopped playing sports because he’d show up to practices and games hammered. One time one of the parents got in his face about it after he opened the Bronco’s door and beer bottles broke all over the parking lot. One of the guys’ dads refused to let dad drive me home and dad threatened to come back with a gun and get his son as he sped away. Every time I see this picture all I can think is how nervous I was all the time when dad was around me. I was scared of what he’d say, what he’d do, how I should react or talk so that I didn’t make things worse. My first time driving was one night when dad was so drunk that he whipped the bronco off the road and almost flipped it with me and my sister in the back. Beth hit her head, catapulted against the roof, hard enough to give her a probable concussion. Dad, drunk as all get out, tried to play it off but I knew that if I didn’t do something we weren’t going to make it to where we were going. So I had to ask dad to teach me to drive at 13 and make it sound convincing so that he’d think he was having a father son moment. I couldn't see over the dash unless i sat forward all the way and if dad could have seen me, all he’d see would be tears rolling down my face. We drove an hour and a half to Grandma’s at night, dad passed out in the passenger seat and I had to get us there by myself. From 12-15 I lived in this constant state of fear and anxiety. Weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities; they were all I knew.

Then a buddy invited me to an all you can eat dinner at his church one night. $2 and as many chicken tenders you could eat, sign me up. He didn’t know that mom hadn’t put groceries in the house that week. I went, I ate, and he told me I had to come to church with him too. I went but expected to be kicked out. I was wearing a muscle shirt to show off muscles I didn’t have and baggy jeans that were all dirty, stained, and falling apart. I didn’t get kicked out however. Instead I went and found friends. The guy gave a lesson that night and I even liked that. He talked to us like we were people, not kids. I liked that too.

I kept coming back and eventually met a man named Tom who was the youth pastor. He poured into my life when he didn’t have too. I’d be invited to his home with his family and eat. They let me and some buddies watch their kids (probably not a good choice in hindsight as we were super stupid). He invested in me and even taught me to drive. At this point my dad had dove full on into alcoholism and moved in with a woman whose whole family were strung out on drugs and I had little to do with him anymore. Tom stepped in and whether he knew it or not, or had the intention or not, he became the one person I knew I could count on. Tom became my dad and more importantly, he showed me what a Godly man and father could look like. He showed me what it looked like to walk with Christ, not perfectly at all, still broken, yes, but to genuinely pursue Christ. Eventually God used him to demonstrate to me what a call to serve Him looked like and wouldn’t you know it, God eventually called me into the ministry as well. Tom and Amy Dropped me off at college where I went to study ministry and alot of who I am today comes from their love and how they saw me.

One last person to introduce you too. This is Bianca. She’s been with us for a month now. She’s Ava’s sister. Mom decided she was done and didn’t want her anymore and left her at a shelter in Joplin. She cries alot, sleeps never, eats, farts, and smiles from one ear to another.

This is my family. We are nuts. Our life is crazy. And If I can fully explain this to you I don’t know if you’ve figured it out yet, but we have no idea what we are doing. Amanda and I aren’t super people. We aren’t even that good of people. We are not magnificent Christians who have some special line to God and what he’s doing. We are just trying to be faithful and follow where he leads us. Its exhausting and we feel so unequal to the task most of the time. But, as Paul has demonstrated through our verse this week, when we are weak, and we seek Christ and his will, he brings the strength. He makes us powerful. He steps in when we run out.

Little did I know that during one of the worst seasons of my life, a divorce that ended up in the police being called multiple times, trauma becoming a part of my life, that God was preparing me for those things he’d be calling me to later on in life. That all the time he had a plan. All the time he was working. When I didn’t see it, when I didn’t want to see it, God was working all things together for His glory to be revealed in my life, in my marriage, in my home. We are not special at all guys. We just decided a while ago that we wanted to give God everything we had and let him figure out the rest.

What about you?

Questions

What has been the biggest lesson of your week so far? How about tonight, what stood out to you?

have you ever considered that God could be using your struggles of now, to prepare you for a future work you don’t yet know about? Would knowing that help you see them differently?

Being “content” with hardships seems like an oxymoron. Like a round square or a pointy circle. Have you ever been “content” with hardships in your life, like Paul describes here? Have you encountered a person who has? What do you think in the secret sauce of getting this right?

Being popular, seen as successful, or influencing a lot of people have all become idols of our culture. Things people will pursue as if they hold great importance. Let’s be honest for a moment: have you ever been wrapped up in chasing these things? How did that go? What was the end result?

Paul encourages us instead to boast in our weaknesses so that people can see Christ in us rather than building up our own ego. How have you seen God work in your weaknesses to bring glory to himself and his power?

What is the one lesson you think you needed to hear this week from God?

What are you going to do about it when you go home?