Rev Gideon Lee
I want to look at a familiar passage of scripture.
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
The Vision of Paradise
1 It is doubtless not profitable for me
to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: 2 I know a man in
Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do
not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know
such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4
how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is
not lawful for a man to utter. 5 Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I
will not boast, except in my infirmities. 6 For though I might desire to boast,
I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone
should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
The Thorn in the Flesh
7 And lest I should be exalted above
measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to
me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart
from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength
is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
There was once a man who had a large sum of money. He thought he
would invest his money but he
didn't know how to go about it. He sought out someone who knew how. A financial
planner. If I want to know about advertising or media, I'd go to bro Kenny. We go to the person
who is expert in their field for advice. So he went to
this financial planner and
asked how and the more he
talked, the more he realised
he didn't know much. There was so much he didn't know.
- Confront your weaknesses
The key to understanding is to know what our weaknesses are. To
confront our weaknesses. All of
us have weaknesses. Something we didn't know. We cannot know everything. So we
need to seek out people who
are experts on those areas.
How many of you are aware of your weaknesses? Not to let it cripple us but to confront
it so that it can become our strength. Paul was talking about himself. He could
have boasts about what he knew but he also knew God allowed a thorn in his
fresh to keep him humble.
Many debated on what
was this thorn in the flesh.
We don't know but we know it vexed Paul so much he asked God to remove it from
him. But what was God's reply? My grace is sufficient for you for my strength
is made perfect in you.
We need to confront our weaknesses. What is it we need to work on?
Is it our devotion? To wake up early and study the Bible? I know my weaknesses.
Leaders in ministry, you will know sometimes you will give your best message
and people will response at
the altar call and many will be touched and God moved mightily. And one of my
weakness is that I think I have arrived. Walk also gaya. We are so caught up
that we forget it's not about us. We need to know what's our weaknesses and we must confront them.
Paul studied amongst the best teachers. He had pedigree. But he had
weaknesses and had to confront them.
Those of you who are married will know what I mean. We must set
perimeters. Pastors also have emotions. We are not made
of wood. Billy Graham for
example, we have not heard any scandals. He set
perimeters. He never go to a hotel room alone. His assistant will check the
room before he goes in. All of us have to set perimeters. Like I don't counsel
a lady one on one. And not
outside. If you want to see me come to my office. We all have our weaknesses
and one of it is to set perimeters. I don't even fetch one of the opposite sex.
If I have to you sit behind. Confront your weaknesses.
Singles, set perimeters. Don't ask them to come or go to their
homes when parents are not in. Don't say you are only wanting to study the
bible.
- Confess the truth
For example you
may say you're suffering from cancer this morning, that's your weakness, but you say God is your healer, that's the truth. You may say you have no
money, that's your weakness but God is your provider, that's the truth.
What is God's truth? You may say your didn't come from a good
family but now the truth is
you can call him Abba Father. The weakness is that once we were all in sin. We
gave in to our sinful desires. But the truth is he has set us free. Our
weaknesses becomes the strength.
Do you have a friend who knows everything? He talk about everything he'll know. Sometimes it's difficult to
be with people like them but until we learn that we have weaknesses and things
we don't know that's how we'll
grow.
There was this student who was a genius and seems to know
everything. His professor invited him to his home,for tea. As the professor
poured tea for him, he continued to pour and didn't stop until it reached the
brim and continued to pour
until it spilled onto the floor. The professor then told him he is like that.
As long as he is not teachable, he will never learn new things and it'll just
be like that cup where it'll just spill.
- Commit it to God
God also wants to use you in your strength. If you can play the
guitar God will use you. God can use both your strength and weakness. Work on
your weaknesses to turn it
into your strength. God will help you when you commit it to the Lord. Surrender
to him. Be vulnerable.
If I want to be close to my wife, I'll know her inside out. And
that's being vulnerable. How many of us like our weaknesses to be known? In order to have that relationship we
have to trust God and know what he's doing. That's being vulnerable. In our
weaknesses as we surrender to him, we can do all things. To be vulnerable means
you're saying we need help.
Sometimes we think we have things under our control that we forget about God. We need to
come to God and admit we need him. God love you. Ask God to help you and he
wants to help you.
What is your weakness? Is it durians? I heard it's a bumper crop.
The price is like the stock market but it's going down.
What's your weakness? Confront it. Confess the truth and commit it
to God. If you want God's grace you must know how to surrender. I'm going to close by saying this.
The first president of USA, Abraham Lincoln felt he was inadequate
to become president. He said often he was driven to his knees because he had
nowhere else to go to as president. I pray that at the end of the day I can say
I did it because his grace was sufficient for me.
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