WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:06.320 And one called to two, he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:17.120 And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:24.160 And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:40.000 And I said, Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:47.600 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken from the tongs from the altar. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:53.520 And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.479 Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:42.719 The word of our God, the word of our God, the word of our God, the word of our God. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.400 You were not able to drive up this driveway. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:19.680 I tried. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:30.719 And it was a lot of hard work over the last hour, hour and a half to be able to get this place where you probably didn't even notice driving up that driveway. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:37.919 So a big thanks to all the guys who out here this morning uh standing in the cold. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:47.599 I think we'd have learned by now that that driveway freezes over uh when it's cold, but every time it's a surprise. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.599 I want to read to you uh a parable. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:54.879 It's a story. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.759 Esther Lou actually heard it in a sermon. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.639 Uh she had a little 31-day devotional on shame. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:08.879 Uh, there are about six of you who actually came to my Sunday school class for shame, but uh so this is a new story for you all. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.199 Uh for the six of you, you've heard it. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.520 But it's a parable about a cracked pot. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.759 So I want to read you this uh parable. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:22.319 There once was a water bearer who walked to the stream every day to fetch water for her mistress. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:27.919 She carried two large pots, one on each end of a pole that rested on her shoulders. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.159 One of the pots was cracked. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.000 The other pot was perfect. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:39.039 The cracked pot would leak water and was always half empty by the time the water bearer reached her mistress's house. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.319 The perfect pot would still be filled to the brim. 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:44.400 This happened for years. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.759 The cracked pot delivering only half the amount of water to the mistress's house every day. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:58.159 Finally, one day the cracked pot could bear it no more and cried to the water bearer, I'm so sorry and ashamed. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:02.400 And the water bearer asked, Well, why are you so sorry and ashamed? 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:14.479 The pot responded, Because of my cracks, water leaks out of me as we walk back from the stream, and I am unable to deliver only half a pot of water. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:21.360 Meanwhile, the perfect pot is able to deliver a full pot of water every time, and I am so sorry. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:26.720 The water bearer paused and then responded to the crackpot. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:33.199 When we walk back from the stream today, I want you to notice the flowers along the path. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:42.480 As they walked back from the stream to the house, the cracked pot did notice the vibrant flowers along the path and was delighted by their beauty. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:49.040 But when they arrived at the house, the crackpot was half empty again and apologized to the water bearer. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:59.120 The water bearer tenderly replied, Dear cracked pot, did you notice there were flowers on only your side of the path? 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:09.519 The thing is, I have always known about your cracks, so years ago I decided to plant flower seeds on your side. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:14.959 Every day as I have walked back from the stream, you have watered these flowers. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:23.759 Thanks to you, I am able to pick the most beautiful flowers to adorn the mistress's house for everyone to enjoy. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:30.480 I read you that story because I think oftentimes we feel like that cracked pot. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:42.720 We have weaknesses that we feel like are hindering our use, that aren't allowing you to live up to your potential. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.160 Or maybe you feel, hey, I'm sorry, God. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:48.800 I'm sorry I'm not doing more for you. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:51.600 I'm sorry I'm not enough for you. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:57.680 When I read that story, I think it hits home to a lot of us. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:11.920 John Bloom, I promise I'm not just going to read long quotes and stories, but John Bloom was a writer for Desiring God, and he wrote, How well are you investing the weaknesses you have been given? 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.920 Perhaps no one has ever asked you that question before. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:18.160 Perhaps it sounds nonsensical. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:23.360 People invest assets in order to increase their value. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.079 They don't invest liabilities. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:30.079 They try to eliminate or minimize or even cover up liabilities. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:43.519 It's easy for us to see our strengths as assets, but most of us naturally consider our weaknesses as liabilities, deficiencies to minimize or cover up. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:50.399 My question this morning is: how well are you investing in your weaknesses? 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.279 Weaknesses aren't a liability. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.079 Weaknesses are in fact the way God works through us. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:09.439 He invests in us by his grace through our weaknesses so that you're able to serve people. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:18.560 Our point today, in what I was reading from Isaiah, is that he expresses an insecurity. 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:19.519 Right? 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:21.519 He expresses a weakness. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:29.360 And then he experiences God's grace, and then he goes to feeling empowered. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:32.480 And that's what I want us to look at today. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:39.600 Your weaknesses being confronted by God's grace and you feeling empowered by them. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:50.800 When you read Isaiah 6, 5, and he says, Woe is me, that is the first time in the book of Isaiah that you hear Isaiah speak. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:57.439 It isn't some bold proclamation of I'm going forth, here I am. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:00.720 It's not some song of praise. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:07.600 His first words that you hear from him, woe is me, right? 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:08.639 Lost. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:10.079 That means ruined. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.439 What he's expressing is, I can't be used. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.079 There's actually a bit of a grief there. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.120 I'm unclean, I'm sinful. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:23.759 You don't want me to go on your behalf. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.439 How often do we feel like that? 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:28.800 Right? 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:30.800 But what is Isaiah doing? 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.080 He's acknowledging who he is. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:38.000 He's not trying to put on a front. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.960 He's saying, here I am, I'm weak. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:43.039 Because guess what? 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:45.440 Weakness is who we are. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:47.440 We aren't strong. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:49.440 We're weak. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:50.399 Right? 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:55.039 The world says, be strong, you're strong, you can do it. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:55.519 Right? 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:58.559 Being strong is what's necessary for success. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:08:59.120 Right? 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:00.720 You look at like Nike, right? 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:01.600 Just do it. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:11.519 Uh Adidas a long time ago had an impossible is nothing kind of phrase, or it was kind of a twist on right, like nothing is impossible. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:13.600 They kind of switched it around. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:16.879 But the world is all you can do it. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:21.120 Miranda Lambert has a song called Mama's Broken Heart. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:25.039 This is a shout out to Betsy. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:30.240 When we were talking about this months ago or weeks ago in our women's Bible study, I could not remember this song. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:32.000 And Betsy knew it. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:36.159 But it's Mama's Broken Heart by Miranda Lambert. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.720 And here's kind of some of the lyrics. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.240 Don't matter how you feel, it only matters how you look. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.080 Go and fix your makeup, girl. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:45.360 It's just a breakup. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:50.399 Run and hide, you're crazy, and start acting like a lady because I raised you better. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.759 Gotta keep it together even when you fall apart. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:10:01.200 That whole song is about keep it together, be strong, don't show weakness. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.919 And we feel like that at times. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:10.960 But here's the thing scripture is real clear that the greatest danger for you is feeling that you're strong. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.960 It's feeling that you have it together, that you can do it. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:22.080 Because if you're so strong enough to do it on your own, you have zero reason to boast in the Lord. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:27.200 You have no need for him, you have no need for his grace, you have no need for his providence. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.840 There's no reason to boast in what he's done if you can do it all. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:38.320 Only people who are weak boast in the Lord. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:52.559 Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:11:06.879 And because of him you are in Christ who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:15.919 It's very clear from the get-go, your calling was not because of your wisdom or your worldly standards or your power. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:19.039 It was quite the opposite of that. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:26.639 He called you because of your helpless state, which makes it more ironic when we try to convince people of our strengths. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:28.559 It it happens here. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:29.519 Right? 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:32.799 We feel the pressure sometimes of coming here on Sunday morning. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:37.600 It's you've been screaming in the car up here, and it's like, put on a put on a smile. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:43.120 I never really hear any of you talking about how you scream at your kids on the way here, but it happens. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:44.799 You do it. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:48.159 Because it's like, let's let's get it together. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:57.120 But the irony is when we try to convince people of our strengths, that doesn't even matter. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:03.279 The only person it matters to is the Lord. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:08.080 And he called you because of your weakness, not your strength. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:13.679 I mean, the fact that our births should be enough for you of understanding this. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:18.879 No one in here was born and then self-sufficiently sustained themselves. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:26.720 When a newborn is born, it only survives because someone takes care of you, feeds you, clothes you. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:31.600 You don't just come out self-sufficient. 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:33.519 You're born in weakness. 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:36.000 God calls weak people. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:39.759 Think about Moses in Exodus 4. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.080 He kind of has a similar response to Isaiah. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.279 He's like, Look, don't send me. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.039 I'm slow to speak. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:49.600 Right? 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.320 Some kind of say that he probably had a stuttering problem. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.039 He actually pleads. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:58.639 He says, please send someone else. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.360 And actually, Jeremiah has the same response. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.159 If you go read the beginning of Jeremiah, he's like, please send someone else. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:08.480 And the Lord kind of gets angry with him. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:11.519 Now, why would the Lord get angry at that response? 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:15.279 Because what he's saying is, Moses, this isn't about you. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.559 I don't need you to be strong to carry this load. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:22.399 I need you to be weak. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:27.039 I need people to realize that I am the one who's actually sustaining you through this. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.320 Because if you'll remember what does happen, Moses gets prideful. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:33.039 People start complaining about water, and he's like, You want water? 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:33.600 Here's water. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:36.559 And he hits the rock and they're given water. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:41.360 And he does this act of pride, is like, I'm the one who's sustaining you people. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:42.000 I'm the one. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:47.759 And so from there, from that sinful act, right, he he's not able to enter into the promised land. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:59.840 But the Lord was saying, I need you in your weakness so that people will see my glory and not yours. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:02.639 He says kind of the same thing for Paul, right? 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:04.960 In 2 Corinthians 12, right? 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.120 He's got the thorn in his flesh. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.600 And what does he say to him? 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:12.320 My grace is sufficient for you. 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:16.960 My power made perfect in your weakness. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.399 My power is made perfect in your weakness. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:24.159 Why? 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:34.960 Because Paul, I don't want people thinking you're the one who is providing all these miraculous works, who's proclaiming this truth. 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:38.720 I want people always to know, like it couldn't be you, Paul, doing this. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.120 Someone else has to be working through you. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:45.279 And that's how we want to live our lives. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:48.960 I don't have it together. 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:51.279 I'm not strong enough. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:57.679 When you see me, you see the Lord miraculously working through me. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.720 When you are able to be gripped with this weakness, right? 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:06.399 Weakness says, hey, life's not about you. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:15.840 It's about the Lord, his glory, his power sustain you, his grace given to undeserving sinners. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:22.080 Remember Jesus' first temptation, Satan's like, hey, well, just turn this these rocks into bread. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:23.120 You do that. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:24.480 You self-sustain yourself. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:25.440 And he doesn't do it. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:28.240 He responds, right, in Deuteronomy 8.3. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:33.039 But here's the thing when you read this whole thing, right, where it's like, man does not live on bread alone. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:35.440 Here's the whole context of 8.3. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:55.840 And he humbled you, and he let you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:10.720 It is a blessing when we come to the recognition that our weaknesses humble us and allow us to experience that hunger to see that it is the Lord who feeds you. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.600 And that it's the Lord who sustains you. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.639 And Isaiah is doing this. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.480 He's acknowledging his weakness. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.840 And he's allowing God to show his grace. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:27.919 What is the next thing that happens? 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:29.279 Right? 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:36.879 Then one of the seraphim flew to him, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.360 And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:45.919 Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.360 And so I ask you this. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:03.519 Have you let God's grace deal with your sins? 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:11.359 Have you let God's grace deal with your weaknesses and your insecurities? 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:15.279 Because here's the thing. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:23.119 If you don't let God deal with those, with His grace, the only other alternative is Satan and the world. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:30.720 And they're only going to use those things to shame you, to make you feel insufficient, right? 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.000 And worthless. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.319 But God's using those weaknesses to redeem you. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:58.079 It allows you, kind of in 1 Timothy 1.16, right, to tell people, I received mercy for this reason, that in me is the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:06.880 When you let God's grace deal with you, your response is no longer hiding and it's no longer shame. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:10.160 It's Isaiah's response. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.039 Here I am, send me. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:19.680 Verse 5: Woe is me, I am ruined, I am lost, I am useless. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:28.480 He experiences God's grace, his next words out of his mouth, here I am, send me. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:32.079 He's been empowered. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:34.640 It's not a shame to him. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:40.319 It's a I'll go and tell people what God has done for me. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:49.680 I'm convinced that one of the biggest issues with evangelism is not so much a theological understanding. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:51.759 Right? 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:58.559 I think a big part of the struggle with evangelism is I don't have anything to say. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.160 I just don't have anything to say. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:07.599 I don't have a story in my own personal life to tell someone what the Lord is doing for me right now. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:11.519 I think that's a big, I think that's a big part of why we have a problem with it. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:12.960 Because we have lots of stories to tell. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.599 We still we tell stories all the time to people. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.279 We have things to say. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:27.440 But then when it comes to uh salvation or evangelism, you know what to say, but that's different than having something to say. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:38.480 And the more you let God deal with your weaknesses and work through those, the more you have to say. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:40.240 Right? 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:43.440 Here I am, send me, is to tell people what you've done. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:45.920 John 4, the woman at the well. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:49.119 A Samaritan woman. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.799 Right, meets Jesus, he tells her everything about her life. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:56.000 She's had five husbands, she's currently living one who's not her husband. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:58.160 A lot of things to be ashamed of. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:06.160 She experiences his grace and love and mercy, and she immediately goes and runs into town. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:22.480 A town that does not respect her, probably doesn't acknowledge her most time, but she was making such a commotion about what Jesus has done for her that people listened and they started to believe. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.200 And then they went out to Jesus. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:39.039 For you to be a light of the gospel with your weaknesses to where you live, to where you work, right? 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:41.359 To the communities. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:48.000 I tell people this when you know if they're kind of thinking about getting into full-time ministry. 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:54.559 I'm like, well, before you go into full-time ministry, you need to consider the impact you might be giving up. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:55.440 Right? 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:59.200 And since that kind of seems odd, we're like, well, hold on, if I'm a pastor, right, isn't that a bigger impact? 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:00.799 I'm like, well, maybe not. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:04.000 Because if you become a pastor, this is kind of what happens. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:05.839 This happened to me at a birthday party recently. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:11.039 They find out you're a pastor, this is a total stranger, and they'll immediately start telling you their spiritual resume. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:11.519 Okay? 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:24.880 So I'm at this birthday party, and uh this older lady uh had found out I was a pastor, so she starts telling me about all of you know her spiritual resume in her church, and it's actually a very complicated story. 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:30.240 Um and I'm just thinking to myself, you know what, ma'am? 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:34.960 I just I walked into this kitchen because there's a huge plate of Chick-fil-A nuggets. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:39.599 And I'm I just want to eat some Chick-fil-a nuggets. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.079 That's what I'm I'm in here for the nuggets. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:45.359 But she found out I was a pastor, right? 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:48.160 And why she why is she telling me her spiritual resume? 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:50.880 Because she thinks I have my life together. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.160 That wasn't a joke, Steve. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:03.839 Like uh Yeah, see, you know, she doesn't know me, but yeah, I would have been like, don't talk to that guy. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.720 Oh, you're a pastor, you have your life together. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:10.880 So people have to be strong. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:16.319 When people think they have to kind of just show you, like, look, I'm I'm qualified, like, I'm doing okay. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:18.079 Right? 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:21.759 Usually my response is look, I don't I don't have my life together. 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:24.720 I'm I'm a sinner who needs Jesus. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:31.200 I'm here to just try to tell people, look what he's done for me. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.519 Think about some of the ministries we have in Birmingham. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.640 Unbound grace, turning point. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.880 Those ministries started in someone's weaknesses. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:44.319 Right? 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:46.079 They decided to say, hey, you know what? 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:54.319 Instead of just continually to spiral downward in shame, I'm gonna run to the Lord and I'm gonna experience his grace and mercy. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:23:00.240 And now I'm going to use the weaknesses I have to be an encouragement to other people and show you that, hey, God works through weaknesses. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:04.960 It's a powerful vision. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:08.400 If you have doubts, right? 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:10.480 Maybe you struggle with doubts. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:17.039 The opportunity, right, for you to continually run and look to the cross. 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:18.559 I doubt you love me. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:20.559 I doubt you forgive me. 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:22.319 Well, you what is your option? 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:25.759 You run to the cross and you see that he does. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:27.519 But then guess what? 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:30.880 If you have doubts, there are other people who have doubts. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:36.400 If you doubt you're forgiven, if you doubt you're loved by the Lord, there are other people who feel that way. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:43.759 And it's an opportunity for you to share those moments of weakness and how the gospel continues to help you. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:45.359 Not fix you. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:46.160 Right? 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:49.119 We're not gonna be, you're not gonna be fixed until you're dead. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.799 And I think that releases a little bit of this pressure. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:56.160 It's not about you saying, let me fix you. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:58.640 It's let me help you. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:23:59.599 Let me help you. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.480 Because here's the thing, if you became fixed, then you would really not wouldn't think you need the Lord. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:12.000 But let me continue to help point you to the gospel and how daily it sustains me. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:13.599 Right? 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:15.440 Maybe it's physical weaknesses. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:17.599 Jody Erickson, right? 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:19.680 She has a huge ministry, right? 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:25.759 Where when she was uh, I think like 17 or something, dove into a pool and became a quadriplegic. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:37.440 She's had a huge ministry in her life now of showing the way in which the Lord has sustained her and used her physical weaknesses to be a blessing to other people, to share the gospel. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:38.640 Right? 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:40.559 Maybe it's anxiety. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:42.559 Maybe it's stress. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:52.720 All of those ways in which I don't know what it's like to feel stress in a law firm or a banking community, right? 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:55.920 Or dealing with people people in the financial world. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:01.839 I don't know the stresses that you know and the anxieties that you feel. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.920 But you feel them and you work with people that feel them. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.519 And they're willing to listen to you. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:14.000 One of your strongest assets is that people deem you as equal in a sense. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:19.039 They're like probably less likely to listen to me honestly. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:21.279 Because they're like, well, you don't you wouldn't understand. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:24.000 You're a pastor, like you have your life together. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:39.200 But then for you all, and the unique opportunities that you have, and the weaknesses that you experience, and some of the very specific circumstances that allow you to be that gospel to people. 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:52.160 Christ displayed his weakness on our behalf. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:26:12.319 He is God and emptied himself to become a man and experience a fallen world to be hungry and to bleed and to be thirsty and to be tired. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:15.519 Why? 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:26.240 Because he wanted you to know that I know about your weaknesses, I understand them. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:36.559 It's very hard for someone who is hurting to be heard by someone that they do not believe can understand how they feel. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:41.759 If you're hurting and you're talking to someone like you, you wouldn't know. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:45.279 You want to like, but you can't say that to Jesus, can you? 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:49.359 Because he displayed weaknesses. 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:53.599 He was able to say, I know what that feels like. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:56.160 I know what it feels like to be betrayed. 00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:02.000 I know what it feels like to deal with the frustrations of sinful people. 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:04.000 I know. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:33.440 And so from him emptying himself and experiencing this fallen world so that he can relate to us, it allows us in 2 Corinthians 1, 3, and 4 to say, Blessed be God who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 00:27:35.680 --> 00:28:03.119 The blessing of the body of all of us here, or that we cover a multitude, or maybe an infinite amount, of afflictions that you all have experienced in different ways and can use the Lord's grace to sustain you through those situations and tell it to other people. 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:09.920 Living our life as mission is not complicated. 00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:16.400 It's go and tell people what He has done in your life. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:25.200 Here I am, send me is to be a comfort to others with the gospel. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:27.680 It's to reach those, right? 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.480 With the grace given to us in weakness. 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:46.240 The last 10 years I've been here, what's drawn me to this place is the vulnerability, the realness, the saying of you all, I struggle and I need the Lord. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:50.880 Let's go out and tell people that. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:14.160 Amen. 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:15.680 Let's pray. 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:25.519 Father, it's it's hard to not feel in control, to not feel strong, to not feel sufficient. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.599 Weakness is hard. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:35.839 But what a comfort in knowing that you called us because we are weak. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:46.079 You called us in our weak state, so that the only thing we could boast in or to talk about is how you have sustained us. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:50.240 That we don't have the answers, that we don't have it figured out. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:30:04.000 What we do have is faith in you, in your perfection, in your providence, in your sovereignty, in your grace, in your holiness. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:07.839 That's what we have. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:23.279 Help us not feel shame or uselessness or feel like we we just send someone else because I'm flawed. 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:38.319 I pray, Father, again, our grace or our understanding of your grace and mercies will grow daily as we continue to allow you to sustain us through our weaknesses. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:40.160 And it's in your name we pray. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:41.119 Amen.