"Broken" - Pastor Raymond Woodward

Psalm 51 verse 17 tonight a verse that you've heard many times perhaps the psalmist wrote these words he said the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise everybody's a broken I want to talk to you about being broken but maybe not in the sense that you would think when we say broken we often think of somebody that's really hurting and that's a good sense of that word and I think that's one of the major ways in which the psalmist means it in that verse but I want to talk to you on this subject tonight broken how to have a ministry everybody that is born again into the kingdom of God God equips them to do something that matters for the kingdom of God you may never stand in a pulpit thank God it would be an awful lineup up here you may never stand in a pulpit you you may never lead a class you you might never do anything like that but God has equipped every person in the body of Christ with a ministry the New Testament says we are all able ministers of the New Testament but this thing called ministry ministering in the body of Christ ministering to one another and ministering to those that are coming into the church those that are still not born-again to have a ministry you have to have a breaking in your life and that's what pastor wants to talk to you about for a few minutes if you look in the Word of God you get this sense from the people of God and it seems like it's a downer it seems like they're talking negatively about themselves but they're not they're being more honest than secular people perhaps Psalm 6 verse 2 have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak somebody say I am weak and we sing that in some of the songs that we sing we sing you know I am weak and thou art strong the psalmist said heal me for my bones are vexed he said I go through situations that I don't understand I'm vexed by them and and I feel weak God and I need your mercy and then in the New Testament Matthew chapter 26 Jesus actually addressed his disciples in the garden and he said watch and pray that you enter not into temptation and he hits the issue head-on he said your spirit indeed is willing but your flesh is weak how many of Luke 4 God long enough to figure that out that you've got a spirit that really wants to do great things for God and wants to be on top of it for God but you've got flesh that doesn't get enough sleep you've got flesh that has bad moods you've got flesh that's just whatever it's it's flesh and so the flesh is weak and so you get this honest sense from the people of God in the Word of God that we're not trying to gloss it over and pretend we're perfect and pretend we don't have any issues we willingly admit that sometimes we feel very weak and one time Jesus was discussing with a group of people the the John the Baptist he was discussing him with this group of people and here's what Jesus evaluations of John the Baptist was Luke 7 for I say unto you among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist John the Baptist would have not have seen himself that way in fact Jesus when he speaks about John the Baptist John the Baptist ends up thrown in prison and loses his life just for preaching about the coming Messiah and and so John the Baptist probably didn't feel very strong he he literally met his end at the hands of a wicked King but jesus said this also he said he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater think about this then the greatest prophet of the Old Testament and we read that over that's a familiar verse to us but but literally think about what Jesus is saying because some of us sometimes we don't feel very strong very mighty very capable we don't feel like we're doing very much for God and when we get this kind of guilt complex inferiority complex and and some of you your self-talk isn't very good you literally kind of say these things to yourself I'm dumb and I'm stupid and I can't do much and whatever and and sometimes all of us feel those feelings but Jesus has a great ego booster if you want to call it that he said I don't care who you are if you're in the kingdom of heaven the least one the weakest one the smallest one if you're in the kingdom of heaven you have a relationship with God that is greater than the greatest prophet who ever lived in the Old Testament now that's amazing to me and that's how God looks at his family now we have a unique generation of Christians out there today because more than any other generation I think we've tried to make God into our image we try to create a savior who's kind of like our buddy in the sky and you know he comes when we call and and he does what we want and he answers every prayer we ever pray and and that's our image of the perfect God and God defies us making him into our image in fact he's on a different kind of construction project he actually wants to make us into his image and and for some of these people today if you hear them talk or preach or teach or that God's will for them always just seems to be exactly what their will is that's God's will and God also never seems to be disturbed by the places where they are willfully knowingly contradicting the Word of God in their lifestyle and and and yet God's not supposed to be upset by that and so that's not what I'm talking about I'm not talking about people who willfully sin or are willfully rebellious or willfully ignore the plain clear word of God I'm not talking about that I'm talking about us I'm talking about people who sincerely genuinely want to live for God because weakness is not willful repeated sin when that's the capo well I'm just weak that's why I sin every week every Tuesday night at 8:00 every Thursday night at 9:00 no that's not weakness that's willful repeated sin so I'm not talking about that I'm not talking about people that you know they they think they've got God fooled you know they've got it pulled the wool pulled over God's eyes cuz you know oh god I'm so sorry I didn't mean it I I did it again I'm so sorry I didn't mean and they intended to do that they planned it for months it was in their calendar that's not weakness that's sin so I'm not talking about that if any of us are consistently willfully repeatedly making choices that are against the word and the will of God that's not weakness you're not a saint you're a sinner and you need to deal with that but if you are a child of God sincerely trying to serve God which I think would be probably all of us at least the vast majority of us here tonight then this particular Bible study is dedicated to you no matter how many times you have come up short fallen failed made mistakes felt inferior felt like your life doesn't matter felt like you tried to do something for God and messed it up this is for you tonight Paul even said this in Romans 7 he said for the good that I would I do not I have great intentions but sometimes my flesh catches up with me and he said the evil which I would not that I do now notice what he says I didn't want to do the evil but it crept up on me I didn't want to make the mistake but it crept up on me he's not talking about planned repeated willful sin he's talking about errors and mistakes and and and and he said I want to do so much more for God I want to be so much more for God I want to be good and great for God but sometimes I head out for that direction and I don't get there and that's why the words of Jesus in Matthew twelve that I'm about to read they they mean so much to many people in this room a bruised Reed shall he not break and smoking flax shall he not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory somebody that's bruised somebody that has been damaged somebody that's been hurt or wounded God's not going to break them he's going to minister to them he's gonna heal them and a smoking flax some something that is is trying to light tryin to catch on fire but it's just not there he's not gonna stomp that out and quench it he's going to blow the breath of his spirit on it he's gonna let it flame up into a burning flame so this is the picture in the Word of God yes if God was looking at us he'd say yes you're weak yes you mess up yes you have flesh to deal with yes sometimes you don't meet your own good intentions and yes see see see most of you have already forgotten and broken your New Year's resolutions and we're not even through January yet right some of us have totally given up on New Year's resolutions we just say God ditto for last year because we haven't done those yet every one of us as people we have weaknesses and there's all kinds of weaknesses there's all kinds of brokenness we have emotional weaknesses we have relationship weaknesses we have some of us physical challenges that we work with financial situations that we work with there's all kinds of weakness there's the intellectual weakness not all of us are the sharpest knife in the drawer there there are even fashioned weaknesses for some of us I'm guilty of that I I don't think I'm color blind but I've learned how to dress by watching Beverly's face I'll say does this match and she'll say well if she says that it doesn't match she's just trying not to defend me and so if you ever see me and something that looks hideous it's because Beverly wasn't home we've all got different kinds of weaknesses the real issue for every Christian here every church member every Apostolic believer is not do I have weaknesses if you're still asking well I don't know pastor D I wonder if I've got weaknesses if you're still asking that question this is not for you you just go on in oblivion okay but for the rest of us it's not do I have weaknesses it's what in the world am I going to do about my weaknesses what am I going to do with all the weaknesses that I seem to have and what people normally do in the world and it's bled over into the church is we deny our weaknesses and we defend all that's a big one we defend our weaknesses and we make excuses for them some of us we resent that we're weak in those areas and and most of all we try to hide our weaknesses because we don't want anybody to see that we've got weaknesses and then God comes along to every one of us at some point in our life and he says you know what I want to do about your weaknesses I don't want you to resent them I don't want you to hide them I don't want you to make excuses for them in fact God would say to every one of us is I want to take your weaknesses and this is one of the most counterintuitive things about living for God I want to take your weaknesses and I want to use them for my glory and we go that's impossible but that's what God does with everybody we think God only wants to use our strengths but when we bring our strengths to the table we're all strong in different areas and if we start comparing our strengths all we create is competition he's better at that she's better at that when we bring our strengths to the table and all we ever share and all we ever use and already ever talk about is our strengths all we do is make everybody else feel inferior because we never compare our weaknesses with their weaknesses a lot of times what we do is we hold up our strengths and then we look at their weakness don't we and and so God says I want to use not your strengths I want to use your weaknesses and I want to use it for my glory and and how can God do that well here's how we can do it Isaiah 55 my thoughts are not your thoughts I don't do this like the world does this your ways are not my ways says the Lord as the heavens are higher above the earth my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts so what God's saying is I've got this figured out that I can actually do something that you would probably never choose to do but I can take areas where you are weak I'm not talking about sin remember that I'm talking about weak areas in our lives and and and God says I can use those from my glory how many know that God is smarter than you are okay we didn't get a hundred percent and that's dangerous but we'll carry on the way we think God should work is sometimes the exact opposite of the way he does work in our lives God says I don't want to work around your weaknesses I don't even want to work in spite of your weaknesses I want to work through your weaknesses areas where you don't have it together I want to take those areas and I want though the way I'm working on those in your life I want that to be a message I want that to be a blessing and I want that to create a ministry to other people and and we never see that one coming we think God's gonna use our great strengths and all of our spiritual giftings and we think God is going to use all the things that we're kind of secretly quite content and maybe even proud about that well I can do that I'm really good at that so that's where God's gonna use me and and and 99 times out of a hundred that's not the area God uses in your life to be a major blessing to everybody else he uses areas where you're weak and he turns those into a strength and then he uses that to bless everybody and we don't even see it coming first Corinthians chapter 1 Paul writes these words he says this this might not be helpful to your self-esteem God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise always say that's us God has chosen the weak things there's that word the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty and base things of the world things which are despised as God chosen yea and even things which are not things that don't have really any value in the eyes of the world things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are why does God do that why does God persist in reaching into our lives and putting his hand on areas where we don't have it together and using areas where we don't have it together to be a blessing to somebody else why does he do that here's why that no flesh should glory in his presence that's why he does it because if we just go around feeling quite happy that God's converted us he saved us we're in his family we've got all these wonderful strengths and power and and we get thinking about that we don't give him the glory we kind of give us the glory this thing called ministry and and ministry is such a wide broad word in the Word of God because again everybody has a ministry it's not just people that stand in pulpits that have ministry everybody has a ministry and that word is is so wide in its meaning in the Word of God but but sometimes in North America we focus on the the very public prominent aspects of ministry let me tell you about ministry I don't know if you've noticed this or not but our Wednesday night crowd has been shrinking has anybody noticed that you know why it's shrinking because people are engaged in ministry that aren't even on our campus tonight they're in different parts of the city and they're engaged in reaching and winning and teaching and de cycling people and I think it's wonderful and so if you look around anything my goodness Wednesday night I think it used to be bigger yes it did in here but it's now bigger because of everything else than it was before does that make sense and so that's ministry we think it's ministry when Pastor gets up and he starts to preach or teach or somebody gets up here and there you know somehow anointed we think ministry is what we're doing to further the kingdom of God and what some of you precious people do every week where nobody else sees it that's ministry thank god we've got prayer warriors and we don't have to parade them in front of the whole church and brag on their gifting every week to get them to pray they just pray they don't have to have the pulpit the spotlight they don't have to have any of that so so God does this that no flesh should glory in his presence God purposely on purpose intentionally works through weak people because it shows his power instead of our power so here's what you got to learn about the god you serve he's not impressed with human strength you are he's not God's not impressed when human beings power up and they're real strong and they got it all together that impresses us that doesn't impress God in the least God is impressed when somebody humbles themselves and when somebody knows they don't have it together and when somebody goes to God on their face and prayer and says God I can't do this this isn't working you've got to help me God's impressed with that Zechariah chapter 4 famous scripture we quoted all the time we sing it not by might not by power but by my spirit says the Lord of Hosts none of the work of God gets done by human beings powering up and doing something that's very strong in the human sense the work of God always gets done by people who know that they've got weaknesses and I think that's good news maybe not to you maybe you've got your act all together but that's really good news to me because most of us are not extraordinary people nobody's been lining up for your autograph this week some of us we we don't have extraordinary personalities we're just normal we're just ordinary we're just average and God says that's okay because I choose to work through supernatural strength not natural strength that's why we have to be conscious of this all the time God says I choose to work through natural weakness so that supernatural power can shine through now again when I talk about weakness I'm not talking about sins I'm not even talking about character flaws that you can change God is not sitting up in heaven thinking that you go girl you're so impatient you rage at everybody you go that's not a weakness that's a character flaw God is not sitting up in heaven say and have that seventh piece of pie you don't need any self-discipline that's a weak no that's not a weakness that's what you may have a weakness for pie but that's a character flaw greed and laziness and all those kind of things that's not something that God because those are against his word and against his principle well so what's a weakness if it's if it's not a sin and if it's not something that's kind of willful like that what what is it a weakness is a limitation every say a limitation a weakness is a limitation in your life and you either inherited it from your life circumstances or it's something that has come into your life and you can't change it you would if you could and and this can be a number of things everybody say limitation so if you've ever felt like I'm so limited I wish I could do more I wish I could be more but you're limited and and as we get older some of our senior Saints I've had wonderful very kind of almost emotional conversations with some of them because as they get older they find that physically they can't do what they would like to do and then there's some people that are born with physical challenges or physical defects and they face that all their life and for some of us there's external circumstances that we can't control sometimes there's unexpected financial setbacks or unexpected issues in life and that's why our heart goes out to people that encounter a trauma or a crisis because we we just have a good sense as a human being of what that's like but for some people in our church and you would not know who they are because you know they're worshipping and smiling and they're shaking your hand but some of our folks have unbelievable relationship pressures within their families some people in our congregation their families don't like that they're part of our congregation they don't want them to be a Christian they don't want them to be a Pentecostal and and you know we think everybody likes us but not everybody likes us it's a revelation some of us do have emotional tendencies that were predisposed towards some people they struggle with depression or they struggle with anxiety or whatever and and then some of us we look at other people and you know some talents are just completely beyond our ability God did not I don't know why he didn't but it's his business and I'm good with it he didn't create everybody to be a singer some of you he created kind of as a an anti singer when you sing administers to animals that can hear those high shrill pitches that no human and you know what that's why the scripture didn't say make a joyful song unto the Lord make a joyful tune under the Lord make an Anki performance under the Lord the Bible just says make a joyful noise under the Lord and I know some people that can really fulfill the word of and sometimes people look at other people because the devil likes to work at this because he likes to drive a wedge between us and other people or he even likes to drive a DRI push a wedge between what we should be thinking and what we are thinking about ourselves and so the devil sometimes he tries to beat up on us and and and he'll he'll remind us what we can't do you're no good at that you you you can't do that that person has that gifting and that ability in that talent and so they're so valuable and because we are inundated with a celebrity culture today sometimes we come to church and and literally people think that somebody that has a microphone in their hand that they're more valuable than everybody that's not going to microphone in their hand the preacher the soul of us the singer that's crazy that's just a different talent or a different gifting or a different office that has nothing to do with your value as a minister of the New Testament because we are all able ministers of the New Testament some of the most valuable people in our church you will never ever ever ever ever see them up in the pulpit teaching or preaching but if we didn't have the prayer cover you know when you think about military assaults in the modern age you've read this in the media you know they go to attack and and they fly the the air attack first because they'd soften everything up on the ground literally prayer power prayer cover is the aerial assault of the church and before we ever get the service and before the the singers ever stand up here in the line and they pick up the microphones and they begin to sing or before pastor or pastor Jack ever gets here and they open their mouth to say the first word of a sermon somebody has prayed they've put prayer cover over our church and prayer cover over our pastors and prayer cover over our services and that is so incredibly valuable you talk about ministry that's how an apostolic church survives and thrives in an era like I'm not gonna be much longer but I wish you just lift up your hands for a minute because I do want this to to soak in somehow I'm not asking you to pray anything right now but would you just worship Jesus for a minute because that helps us that helps the Word of God to find root if we just have it in a climate of a prayer and worship and Thanksgiving to God Jesus I pray that you administer to some precious Saint that is struggling tonight I pray that you'd minister to some precious believer some member of our church that they don't feel very valuable or significant or even strong and I pray Jesus in your name that you administer strength and healing and understanding to them the understanding may be the thing that that helps them to get through a part of their life I pray Jesus that you'd minister right now I speak it in the name of Jesus right now I speak it in the name of Jesus I worship you god I worship you god I worship you God I worship you God this is one of the most frustrating things about living for God Paul writes about it in 2nd Corinthians 4 and he uses this incredible image he says we have this treasure in earthen vessels why so the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us God is not interested in how puffed up our egos can get because we think we did a good job or we think that somebody benefited from our ministry the thing about clay pots is that they break very easily they're not indestructible the thing about clay pots is that every clay vessel has inherited design flaws they're all unique they're not poured in a mold they're not made in a factory they're they're hand made and they all have little uniquenesses and and design flaws and little imperfections and Paul's lesson there is we are just ordinary containers but we contain the indestructible power of God so sometimes going through life our little clay vessel it gets hurt it gets bruised it gets scratched it gets damaged one lady even wrote a books that God uses cracked pots and I think she was right and and and for all of us that means we are the kind of person that God can use we have this great treasure it's in an earthen vessel if you can learn this the next time you face one of your limitations there is a limitations the next time you face some area where you think I'm broken this isn't working I'm not doing this very well when you face your own human brokenness I wish you could look at it this way God created you that way so that you would not rely on your strength on your intelligence on your talent on your ability on your gifting God created you that way so you could rely not on the vessel not on the outside not on what everybody else sees or interacts with but so you could learn to interact and to rely on the treasure that is within you there are people in the Church of the Living God that that their physical presence isn't very formidable it's not very powerful it's it's not something that you go oh my goodness you know we're we're kind of in the presence of somebody that has it all together I was writing a report for global missions today and I was summarizing this last year and one of the highlights of my not just my year one of the highlights of my life was being able to go to Brazil this year and spend a few days with brother and sister then merchants who this September October will have been in Manaus for 50 years doing the work of God and I imagine everybody here lives in a nicer home than those great missionaries live in in Manaus a very humble plane home I imagine everybody here they probably would have more financial about everything they get goes back into the work of God I imagine we've all probably looked after our retirement in in some way even those of us that that might not have a whole lot they just keep piling everything back into the work of God and to be around them to felt like walking in the presence of giants just so plain and so ordinary and so humble and so self-effacing and when you're with Benny - merchants you feel like you're with a New Brunswick potato farmer because that's what he was and he's just plain and ordinary but when he steps into his role as the leader of that great work in Brazil which is mammoth by anybody's stretch of the imagination it's it's it's breathtaking every night there was a choir of hundreds from different parts of that district we were in one district I was writing it all down again today a hundred and forty one Bible School graduates one weekend a hundred new ministers one weekend 136 received the Holy Ghost one weekend it's just this powerful powerful national church and yet they would be the first ones to tell you that they don't have a whole lot of strength that's the kind of people God uses mightily and when we get us out of the way God can use us even even more the Bible doesn't just tell us to admit our weaknesses and this is where probably we all struggle it's one thing to admit our weaknesses we can kind of grumble to each other well yeah I'm weak here and I don't I can't get this together but the Bible doesn't just say to admit our weaknesses the Bible actually tells us to be thankful for our weaknesses it literally teaches us to give God thanks in the middle of all of our weaknesses and we don't like that because we really want to come to church and take a magic pill and get rid of all of our problems and all of our weaknesses and we don't have any magic bills here and we come to church and when the Bible's kind of leans that way and says we should be grateful our reaction is I don't want to be grateful for all the things I'm not good at and I don't want to be grateful for all the areas I'm weak in and I don't want to be grateful for all the issues and problems and struggles I have in fact I come to church so I can be free of all that I'm sitting around waiting for the one sermon and the one song and the one service and the one altar called where God finally delivers me from all that well I'll tell you when that's gonna be that's gonna be your funeral and God will deliver you from all of it but but the alternative is better just keep living for God despite your weaknesses and your circumstances and your problems because there's no magic service or magic song or magic sermon that's going to deliver you from all your struggles but the good news for the people of God is not just that God works in spite of our weaknesses and in spite of our problems and in spite of our brokenness is not just that he works through our weaknesses and through our problems and through our brokenness and that's the real miracle of living for God as a human being why in the world would anybody want to be thankful for their weaknesses well there there's blessings two weaknesses weakness is gonna be a blessing in disguise they keep you humble they keep you from competing with your brothers and sisters weaknesses guaranteed God's help because God helps those that are contract those that are broken Paul had this little prayer meeting second Corinthians chapter 12 he had this thorn in the flesh people think it was this debilitating eye condition because he he said in one place see how large these letters are I'm writing them with my own hand so some people think his thorn in the flesh was a big eye condition some people think that he had some kind of seizures some people think he had other issues some people theologians just think that he had a lot of physical problems because he'd been shipwrecked left for dead beaten thrown in prison you know now that would kind of mess you up after a while you know it wouldn't be arthritis it could be like a wound from a beating or you know being stoned to death and left for dead that that can do some damage and so some people think it was that there's a small little portion of Bible scholars that think Paul's thorn in the flesh was a mean mother-in-law first for real for real I don't know what his thorn in the flesh was but here's what I know about Paul's thorn in the flesh three times he went to God and he said the great apostle said I'm tired of the weakness I'm tired of the brokenness I'm tired of a feeling like I don't have strength I'm tired of feeling like you know that this is this lifelong prayer request and god I'm tired of my prayer not being answered here's what he said second Corinthians 12 verse 9 God said to Paul Paul my grace is sufficient for the know here it is don't miss it for my strength this is God talking my strength is made perfect in weakness my strength isn't made perfect in your strength that's where your strength shines and everybody goes away saying look how cool that guy is look how together she has it look how strong they are look at what a good Saint there look at what a great preacher he is that's where our strength shines through God says my strength isn't made perfect in your strength my strength is made perfect in your weakness and we don't like that I'm not even sure we do really well dealing with that but God that's his word that's what he said to the great Apostle Paul he said Paul when you're weak when you can't do it when you feel like you're overwhelmed that's when my strength comes through and it's made perfect in your weakness and so finally here in 2nd Corinthians Paul seems to get it he says so most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities and and I'll talk about where I'm weak so the power of Christ may rest upon me in fact I'll take pleasure in infirmities pleasure in reproaches and necessities and persecutions and de-stresses for Christ's sake and he gets it for when I am weak then am i strong I don't know who it is tonight pastor in teaching Bible study preaching is kind of working blind sometimes I don't know it is that she really wrestled with this maybe the last few days or this week or this month or since the first of the year because everybody else has got these big impressive New Year's resolutions and they're they're gonna you know lose 50 pounds get into their high school clothes run the marathon scale Mount Everest and get it all done by the by Sunday and and and they're not gonna do that but they're talking about it and and maybe you feel like you know what I look at everybody else and I feel so so weak so inferior so less than and Paul got it he said when I'm weak when I feel like I can't do much for God when I feel like my problems disqualify me when I feel like the mistakes I've made and the weaknesses I have and my life circumstance some of us we feel like our life circumstances are kind of a billboard and and and and the the Billboard says to everybody just stay away damaged goods never gonna amount to much that is not true in the Church of the Living God in fact if you could take down the mass that we all wear that's our North American mask if you could take down that mask every one of us we have very similar struggles very similar issues we all feel that way and God says would you would you people get a grip I'm not looking for you to be perfect I'm not looking for you to be strong I'm not looking for you to be mighty I'm not looking for you to have it all together in fact I'm looking for you to say God I'm weak God I don't have it all together god I've got this issue and I've got that circumstance and god I don't understand why you haven't answered this prayer and God sometimes I feel like I'm wearing a big sign saying keep out keep away cuz I'm damaged goods I've had so many problems so many mistakes and I'll never be what I could have been for God and God saying get a grip that's not the way I look at my church oh my strength my grace my power is made perfect in your weakness I'm not looking for anybody to run the aisle if you do we'll probably wonder about you but I think the quietness in the room tonight maybe is the loudest amen being thankful for our weaknesses instead of fighting against them and chafing against them and actually thanking God in the middle of some of the things we face some of the things we can't do some of the areas where we lack strength it confuses the devil to bits here we are we've got all these issues and weaknesses and we're thanking God in the middle of it see a church works like this when you make a strong rope you don't make it by one solid cord you make it by a lot of strands entwined together any one of those little strands alone couldn't do the job but when you entwine all those strands you make a strong rope that's the Church of the Living God not one of us has to be gifted enough or anointed enough or powerful enough to do what we're supposed to do here but together we all entwined as strands the family of God and you know what some weeks some of those strands are pretty weak but it doesn't matter because they're entwined with the rest of the rope called the family of God and the Church of the Living God and so the Rope still gets the job done even though one of the strands is is week this week that's the value of unity that's the value of a church family we're all week in different ways we're all week at different times but together we are strong and when we admit our weaknesses and when we admit where we don't have it all together and we're not trying to just put on airs and impress everybody we get to be strong together and that's important so let me close Paul said in Romans 14 1 him that is weak in the faith you receive them but don't receive them to don't doubtful disputations don't receive them so you can correct them and advise them and improve them just receive them because if you could turn around in the mirror you'd figure out that some days it's you that's the weak one and you're the one that needs received he says in Romans 15 very next chapter we then that are strong so if you're feeling strong today we ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not just please ourselves this is all about being part of the family of God he says in 2nd Corinthians 11 who is weak and I'm not weak who is offended and I burned not Paul said we're family we're God's body so if one of us is hurting if one of us is weak really that's my responsibility too if I must needs glory I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities I'm not gonna be bragging to you about the sermon I preached or the gift I operated or or the great accomplishment that I made for God I'm gonna tell you about my infirmities that's the New Testament model because when we compare our strengths we create competition sometimes we don't even voice it but we just create competition sometimes we create jealousy sometimes we create tension but anytime you open up and you're honest about areas where you're weak you create sympathy you create grace you create help there's nothing more powerful than somebody standing up and giving a personal testimony of where they were weak and God made them strong where they didn't have it together but God turned their life around there is nothing more powerful than that and and years ago we used to do tests testimony services in church where I grew up many of you have been in those services we don't really do those anymore somewhere along the way I don't know if it was the 60s somewhere along the ways the crazy started coming to church and testimony service got quite entertaining and so we don't really do that anymore but but you know what the place that your testimony matters the most isn't here anyway you know that we stand up and say you know thank the Lord for saving me keeping me healing me filling me and I want to be ready when he comes plunk that was testimony service in some of the the church's church services I was in and that's volleyball I guess I am kind of making fun of that but I'm not meaning to but but the place where your testimonies the most valuable isn't to all of us that already are on your team we're all rooting for the same thing we could all get up and say it in unison unison you know thank God for saving me keep me healing me I want to be ready when he comes plunk we could all do that together in unison but that's not where your testimony matters your testimony matters out there where somebody who is really weak and somebody who is really messed up needs to know that you're not feeling superior to them you're just like them except you found Jesus and so your weakness becomes this incredible strength and this incredible blessing and this incredible testimony Paul says in 1st Corinthians 9 to the week became is week that I might gain the week I talked to people about my struggles because when I talked to people who were struggling about my struggles I helped them I gained the week when I talked to people who were doubting about the doubts I had had I gained them I helped them when I talk to people we're going through a dark night of the soul about the time that I was going through a dark time and I didn't hardly know if God existed and it was really bad and it was really sad and I was really angry when I talked to the doubting about my doubts when I talked to those in the darkness about the times I'd felt like I was in darkness I gained them I helped them I minister to them and so Paul said I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some he said you know what I'm just gonna put my life on the line and be an open book and talk about everything my struggles my issues my problems my weaknesses the greatest thing that weakness does for every single person in here is your weakness gives you your greatest police here pastor tonight this is really what I came to say and the rest has been introduction okay the greatest thing that a weakness does for us is it gives us a ministry and this is counterintuitive and we don't even like it and some pastors like pastor Raymond we're even uncomfortable with it because you know people can stray even backslide and they can come back and I don't like that as a pastor because I want to just kind of Thunder down so nobody ever backslides I want to dangle them over the flames every Sunday so nobody dares to backslide but you know how powerful the grace of God is that even somebody and some of you are here tonight even somebody that strays backslides gets away from God some of you have kids or grandchildren or maybe a spouse that they once served God and they're not serving God tonight the grace of God is so massive and so impressive that God can take the wrong that they've done years in some cases that they've wasted and they come back and God can use that as a testimony and it was a weakness it was it was it was a wrong choice it was a sinful choice even and God can take that and he can turn that into a testimony that actually blesses somebody else the devil never sees God coming the devil thinks if he can mess you up even for a little while in your life that you'll never be able to do anything for God and nothing could be further from the truth because there's no sin so deep that the grace of God is not deeper still there's no situation so bad that the grace of God can't get in and redeem it and turn it into a testimony of his glory so the greatest thing that your weakness does for you and I don't know what you've been thinking about during this message I hope you've been thinking about your weakness I hope you've been I hope you haven't been sitting there thinking well this doesn't apply to me I don't have any weaknesses please go home and talk to your spouse ask them about the message they'll explain the way to you more perfectly the greatest thing that weakness does for us is it gives us our most powerful ministry our weakness where you cry out to God and say I where you cry up to God and say this is a struggle for me and I need your help those things in life give you your greatest ministry greatest ministry I I'm gonna be a little vague here purposely early on in my ministry faced a situation and some precious precious precious things that I had been taught and believed and were part of the fiber in the core of my being and who I was as a Christian and what I'd always been taught they were vicious we attacked and brutalized and lampooned and marked and I wasn't here in Fredericton at the time I was in st. John assistant brother Goddard and I remember brother Goddard saying those things are being attacked and they're being mocked and and they're being just lampooned by by people and Raymond you you're kind of like a teacher kind of personality so why don't you go and and study those things and then teach him to our church and so I did brother Goddard was so kind to me he he didn't realize I don't think what he was doing he not only gave me time to study something that would be a strength to our local church in st. John he gave me time to study something that would forever ground that and drill it deep in my spirit and I came out of those few weeks of study not just believing what I had always been taught but realizing that what I had always been taught was so grounded and so much part of the fiber of the Word of God that has been way too many years ago for me to admit to you I can't remember I'm old enough now that I get to forget stuff and decades later literally I've been privileged around the world in different places to teach those same principles out of that moment of struggle not only personally and in our churches and in our district not only out of that moment of struggle did something come that benefited me but it's been something that God has allowed me to use and to communicate to different people different churches even different countries sometimes the situations that you go through that you would never ever choose God uses them to turn around maybe years later and be a blessing to someone I know that's best purposely big be thankful for your weaknesses sounds stupid it doesn't sound biblical but it is it guarantees God's help when you're thankful for your weaknesses but more than that it guarantees that you will value other people in the body of Christ when you are aware and thankful for your weaknesses it teaches you to be in unity with your brothers and sisters it teaches you that we're all strong together and we're all a disaster apart because we're meant to be family the greatest thing that your weakness will do is it'll give you your deepest moments of ministry because God didn't put you on this earth just to live for yourself he put you on this earth to live for other people your greatest ministry will flow out of your greatest weaknesses your greatest life message is going to come out of some of the things that hurt you the deepest I'm not very dramatic pastor got all his hollering done on Sunday but the very thing that caused some of you the most grief and pain God can use as a life message to other people to encourage them to think this is this is the grace of God the thing that you're most embarrassed about the thing that you're most ashamed of the thing you don't want anybody else to really talk about or think about God can even use things like that to encourage and lift and bless other people Hebrews chapter 11 the great faith chapter of the Bible in verse 34 there's a little transition it says all these mighty people they quenched the violence of fire and they escaped the edge of the sword but it says out of weakness they were made strong here's the principle of the word of God God always uses weak people because he can turn weakness into strength pain hurt loss grief mistakes embarrassments they sensitize us to the Hertz that other people face and we're not going through life so selfishly and so self-centered so if you want to have a christ-like ministry that means sometimes other people are going to be helped or encouraged or even healed by the wounds that you've experienced in your life think about it Jesus suffered wounds at Calvary and we were healed and saved by those wounds that's the principle so the bottom-line of this simple little lesson tonight is this stop using your weakness as an excuse why you can't do anything for God stop using your weakness as an excuse to feel inferior stop using your weakness as as some kind of you know crotch or prop oh I can't do that I'm not valuable your weakness may be the very thing God wants to use in your life to bring glory to himself Paul said in Philippians for I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me I'm weak but I've got his strength I'm just a clay vessel but I've got his treasure inside last scripture Isaiah chapter 40 you know this one he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might God increases strength even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord they shall renew their strength not because they embarked on any great program of self discipline that's good but that's not what they did they waited on God and he renewed their strengthen and then Isaiah says they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint this is all about weak people weary people people who are fainting and falling but when they turn all of that over God renews their strength and he uses what they've walked through to bless others little quote I read years ago it's never ever escape my mind Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Saint upon their knees the least in the kingdom of heaven the least that CCC is greater than the greatest prophet of the Old Testament your weakness is not the devil having been given permission to wreck your life your weakness is actually something that God is permitted in your life to ultimately bring him glory I hope that's a little bit of an encouragement to a people that I love and that's this wonderful church some of you Saints I'm glad you're not all puffed up with pride thinking you're so great but we could use a good dose not of self esteem but of God esteem God didn't create us just so we could just kind of be nothing he created us to be something for him but the way he makes something out of us is not the way we would choose to make something out of us would you lift up your hands and would you pray with Pastor one more time I know this is kind of low-key tonight but it was meant to be and I really feel like somebody's here that needs this so if you'd lift up your hands for a minute and let's pray right now and if you can just kind of let your voice out just create a little bit of a tapestry of Prayer here we want God to be able to do and speak the way he wants to right now I love you Jesus I pray that you would lift up and encourage and help and heal the precious beautiful people of God I pray Jesus for people at the devil he he attacks them all the time it says they don't matter and they're not loved and they don't belong and they don't fit I prayed Jesus that in the middle of all of that you would give them a little glimpse of your word what you see about them that through their weakness you bring strength and through their pain you actually bring healing and through their circumstances God you can bring such a testimony of deliverance to other people Jesus I pray that you administer right now in your name I love you Jesus Ruta lobelia so summon us yes it's beautiful folks would you just keep praying if you feel the stand and the presence of God that would be a wonderful thing I think somebody just needs to just stretch your arms toward the heavens and let God touch you tonight I worship You Jesus I worship You Jesus so denominator Korea says Ryan come on back a place of worship so Dana Balaban uses a little Abilene Sosa barbecue indelible adorable yet or abbaseya Sabha notable SEO services

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 15,614

Rating: 4.9055119 out of 5

Keywords: broken, brokenness, brokeness, pastor, raymond, woodward, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, apostolic, pentecostal, upc, upci, sermon, bible, study, preach, preaching

Id: -iq5kntkLSE

Length: 60min 43sec (3643 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 15 2015