No Shortage! (The Power Of Therefore) | Pastor Steven Furtick | Elevation Church

we want to welcome our efam our extended family all over the world right now we're flinging the doors open man the digital doors come on in the turks the church is open the spirit is here so god bless you um just turn to the person next to you and say if pastor stephen knew you you would be his favorite church member just tell him that and i believe that [Music] [Applause] [Music] now some of us are glad to be here [Music] we have learned that there is bread in the house of the lord [Music] i'm gonna do um i'm gonna do a no-no i'm gonna use the same scripture i used last week sit down y'all leave let's study i came home last week and i told holly i don't know how good that went she said it was amazing and i was frustrated i said i don't think i did it the way that i was supposed to she and holly said maybe you didn't fail maybe you just weren't finished turn in your bible to second corinthians [Laughter] can y'all believe she back talks to me like that the bible says submit to your husband you're not supposed to be quoting scriptures at the man of god i'm kidding but it's good it's good second corinthians chapter 12 and i want to talk a little more about your thorn that was the subject last week this so this might be uncomfortable i'm going to talk about your thorn for a moment or two but i want to read this context and i just want to remind you that usually when god speaks he speaks in uh sentences and paragraphs and you know like a lot of times what we'll take is we'll take a single sentence from the word of god and that's cool it's better than nothing but to really get the the full impact of what god speaks it's better if you understand the context of when he spoke it and i don't know if we sometimes read scripture versus bible verses like their captions on instagram or something like that they're not this was a letter paul wrote to a church that he loved that he was incredibly frustrated with oh you can definitely feel that way about one person one church you can really love and be really frustrated with and i i made the case one time in this pulpit a lot of people disagree you can't really be truly good and frustrated with somebody that you don't really truly love you'll feel the most intense feelings of i want to kill you if you are a parent the person that came from your very body and it goes the other way too with kids and parents but this is the lesson that paul is giving and if if i had outlined the message last week the way i should have where you could take notes and all of that i would have used three points a mentor a metaphor and a therefore a mentor a metaphor and a therefore and i forgot to tell you that last week because i was so busy preaching about paul as a mentor to the church not an advice columnist not a broke cousin who tells you where you need to invest your money and what kind of digital currency you need to invest in but he's not one of these advice given fools he's got real authority what surprised us about paul though was that with such great apostolic authority and such intellectual brilliance instead of taking the opportunity to exceed his authority he opened himself up with personal vulnerability vulnerability and what was amazing about it was and i'm going to read it to you in just a moment in case you missed it his vulnerability did not compromise his authority his being real about what he struggled with didn't keep him from being powerful and being called and doesn't for you either and you don't have to fake it you have to go through life pretending because the people that you pretend to be somebody that you're not to in order to get them to like you they don't really like you when they like you they like the you that you showed them that you concocted just to get their approval so it's worthless anyway and if you got it you got it and if you know you know and if god is with you god is with you and nobody can do anything to change it not even the devil not even the devil oh i feel a no weapon formed against me shall prosper rising up in my spirit but in second corinthians 12 uh paul says in verse six even if i should choose to boast i would not be a fool because i would be speaking the truth so paul's the opposite of most of us he has everything to brag about but he doesn't a lot of us have nothing to boast about but plenty to post about y'all oughta say amen let the church say ouch he said i'm not even gonna tell you about my trip to heaven i went to the third heaven but don't worry about that because what i want to actually tell you about and he uses a metaphor he says because of these surpassingly great revelations therefore in order to keep me from becoming conceited i was given a thorn that's the metaphor he says it was a thorn why scholars have spent centuries trying to identify what the thorn was when paul clearly did not want us to know or he would have spelled it out if he would have wanted us to know whether it was a physical issue because it could have been that or a spiritual issue because it could have been that or an emotional issue it could have been that or an opponent of the gospel because he was an ambassador of christ see paul was responsible for delivering the theology that we still study today two millennia later justification by faith is a doctrine that we would not know about as we know about it if it had not been for paul yet maybe the greatest gift that paul ever gives to those of us who struggle with stuff those of us who are confused sometimes about the way god is working in our life those of us who are not quite sure if we're going to be in the vip section of heaven or whether we're going to have to sneak in past the security in the back door and hope god doesn't call us out this is what i want you to know about that paul he gives us the gift of showing us that there is a thorn now everybody say this there is a thorn there is a thorn the people who don't say it they're probably lost in the metaphor so let me break it down the thorn is that thing that you don't talk about on the first night of e group the thorn is the thing that you don't tell somebody in the grocery checkout line and you really shouldn't i mean it's not wise to share everything with everybody and we kind of live in a culture where everybody is is boasting and posting so much it's refreshing that paul has the discretion to say i had this thing this thorn it came from it came from satan look at this it was a messenger of satan to torment me and that's what i flipped last week that god showed me he showed me torment and and if you flip that it's mentor right just if you say torment and you say it the other way you weren't here last week that's why i did last week yeah yeah yeah no no it's good i'm gonna catch up i'm gonna catch up i want you to get this he said the thing that is tormenting you if you'll submit it to my throne it's what you got to learn to do take that thorn to the throne don't take that thorn to people because people don't have the power to turn it around so paul did something so wise he said god would you take this away god said nothing paul said god um i don't know if you're busy doing something for peter over there but uh paul paul i need you over here take this thorn away what was it we found out last week it was his mentor because some things you can only learn through what you are afflicted by and yet the warning is so clear in my spirit that the lord wants me to tell you today it's not really about the thorn it's not really about the thorn that's not the real thing that the thing that we bring to god fix this change this or if you're like me and you're a control freak and you think everybody else needs to get it you get like get on the same page with you fix them some of y'all's thorn weighs 197 pounds and it's sitting next to you god would you and this is this is the this is the message that paul gives us and watch this get ready shop get ready shop get ready get ready get ready shop get ready get ready if god doesn't remove it you can expect him to use it so whatever you bring before the lord i don't care if it's an addiction a propensity and you say well god make me not want to do this anymore i don't want to want that anymore i don't want this desire anymore i don't want this darkness anymore i don't want this feeling anymore well sometimes god will take it away i have some things in my life that i prayed about and god got me through them i have other things these are the thorns that god said i'm not going to remove it so then paul says all right all right all right if god is not going to take the thorn away that is tormenting me you've been tormented by it long enough you asked god three times because amazing how paul gives us this contrast of action and acceptance i asked god to do it i believed god could do it because when i first read this i'm like paul you needed to just have more faith you know now into him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine paul's like i wrote that verse dummy it's ephesians 3 20. this is second corinthians 12. talking about the things that god chooses not to remove the things god gives you grace for in the place of change this won't change but i've got grace for it make the confession by faith right now with your mouth i got grace for it i got grace for it they had an ad campaign when i was a little boy called got milk and i'm revising it right now to say god grace and the lord told me to tell you today i hear the lord saying i hear so clear i can't get i can't get it out of my spirit there's no shortage there's no shortage put it in the chat right now or say it with your vocal cords if you've got breath say it there's no shortage because when i ask the lord to take the thorn away and you know we're living in a time where you you haven't you haven't heard very much about no shortage i mean when it started out and i know the word global pandemic just makes your mouth dry even to hear it because we don't want to talk about it or hear about it anymore and i try not to talk about it too much in the pulpit because god knows you hear it everywhere else but i knew it was bad you know we we were scared when when kovid came because god didn't take it away and then they didn't even have enough masks for us to wear because there was a mask shortage then the people who ended up in the hospital there's a ventilator shortage and then there's a staff shortage and then there's test shortage so we can't even know now so so there was shortage but then it started getting crazy like the things we were short on because of the supply chain that seemed to have nothing to do with sickness i went to i went to buy my oldest a used car the other day and the price is like 60 percent more right now for a used car because the dude was telling me oh well there's a chip and their chip there's a chip shortage of new cars so the used cars are more expensive because blob and all i heard is you're ripping me off this is the worst time to buy a car i don't even want him to drive i'm scared to death to put him on the road and now it's expensive to two because there's a global chip shorts but i knew it was bad i knew it was bad when holly came home from chick-fil-a one day this is when i knew elohim my god why have you forsaken us when chick-fil-a had a sauce shortage if there is one restaurant god loves it's the one that's closed on sunday [Applause] when chick-fil-a is running out of polynesian oh god where is your promise [Applause] ichabod the glory is the party she said and we love chick-fil-a so i'm going to say that on the record if you want to send me some coupons a sponsorship i'll wear a shirt she said holly said they they said welcome to chick-fil-a you know all happy like they do a chick-fil-a and then she said i want a grilled chicken sandwich she said well he said we don't have any chicken and she's i said chick-fil-a didn't have chicken i think y'all might see where i'm going with this if you work ahead a little bit and she ended up ordering something she didn't even want but that's not the point because i'm not really talking about chick-fil-a or how they didn't even have ranch dressing or kale for a kale salad y'all think holly's first choice was kale that that girl that girl she she loves waffle fries more than she loves worship think she wanted they didn't even have a kale salad she just had to make the uh she just had to make it make it work and to me it's kind of crazy when chick-fil-a doesn't have grilled chicken but what would be crazier than that if you can imagine a thing like that if you can imagine something crazier than that here's what it might be for you to think as a christian that you're going to need grace from your father in heaven and he's going to sum for some reason there's like a global supply chain issue in heaven where there's not enough angels to staff because we can't get any angels to come in and work look so so here's one thing there's there's there's no shortage of angels in heaven to praise god so so the bible even says this if you don't praise him the rocks will cry out jesus said that so for everybody who's like i don't like all of that when he tells us you know praise the lord and give god glory i don't really feel like it i only got three hours of sleep that's fine you don't have to there's no shortage of glory to god in heaven there's an angel right now saying holy holy holy is the lord god almighty holy holy so if you don't want to say he's holy there's an angel saying it you can take a break you can take the day off god will always have a praise god will always have a praise god will not always have a worshipper god doesn't command you to praise him because he needs it he's not an egomaniac you need it [Music] you need it and when you give him glory it releases grace about it once you realize that he's able to do immeasurably more than you ask or imagine there is no shortage in heaven of what you're hurting for on earth there's no shortage there's no shortage in fact i love people who come to church and they're like pastor if you preach it's good if you don't preach it's good i don't really care i brought my own sauce i have my own relationship with god i want you all to start bringing your bibles back to church i want you all to start a leather-bound bible a big fat leather-bound bible a holy bible back to church with a pen and a highlighter so you can go through that thing and when i'm not there because i'm not going to follow you to work tomorrow be weird they probably wouldn't let me in anyway security but when you have your own word from god watch this that you are missing you're there for now i'm gonna make you a little scripture grilled grilled chicken scripture sandwich real quick all right i'm gonna give you this little scripture sandwich real quick in second corinthians 12 7. i love the word of god i love it more the more i the more i uh study it the more ignorant i realize i am about so uh i would have missed something like this second corinthians 12 7. he said i had these great revelations i saw this amazing glory in my life paul's saying this i was gifted by god in a unique way i studied under gamaliel check my resume i i come from good stock a hebrew of hebrews tribe of benjamin that's me your apostle to the gentiles paul but because of how good god had been to me and what he had shown me here comes the teaching therefore in order to keep me from becoming conceited in order to keep me grounded in grace are you grounded in grace are you grounded in your giftedness if you're grounded in your giftedness and you fail your faith falls apart [Music] are you grounded in grace or are you grounded in your feelings are you grounded in grace are you grounded in the latest blessing god gave you are you grounded in grace are you grounded in your goals because you're not going to reach all of them paul said elsewhere in philippians i press toward the mark toward the goal paul's still pressing and i'm thinking i'm going to reach the goal you're not going to reach the goal so he said to keep me grounded in grace god gave me a gift i didn't ask for and heaven has no gift exchange program but god delivered it in an unusual way and this is what we studied last week put the same verse back up everybody say therefore in order to keep me from becoming conceited i was given a thorn in my flesh and angelos same word that we take angel from in in greek it's angelos it could say an angel of satan we've never heard of that before to us angels we're touched by them and thomas kinkade and light and all this but he said no it came through an angel and i hated the angel it was a messenger that's all angel means messenger that's what the word means it's the same word he said the messenger that god brought it through was my enemy so god gave me a gift through my enemy that's the context of this this great verse where he said my grace is sufficient for you there's no shortage of grace can i tell you something as a pastor who's pastored through the last two years right now they might be short right now on masks they might be short right now on staff and i'm sure in your industry you could tell me a shortage that's affecting you because i know that that you have some too in your industry in my industry there's no shortage of thorns right now i think the last 20 months have been some of the thorniest that i've ever pastored people through there is no shortage of the things that paul lists there's no shortage i said that a minute ago and y'all shouted but when i said there's no shortage of thorns you didn't shout and you shouldn't shout about that after all paul said nobody in their right mind asks god for a thorn there's no shortage of marriage problems in my church today there is no shortage of things that can make you feel so bad about yourself if you wanted to right now look because one of the things that the last almost two years now has done to a lot of people is it put them in isolation in a season and then things grew in the dark that are now coming coming forth and and growing and they're not good there's no shortage of thorns right now like in some ways i want to thank all of you who are honest enough about your thorns to come to church i in some ways i feel like i owe every big sinner in here a big thank you because you give me job security as long as you have thorns i have a job don't ever get your life fully together because then you won't need me and i need to be needed i don't preach for the praise of men amen amen there's no shortage of thorns there's just those that are better at hiding them than others all you see is the lilies in the life of the person next to you i am so thankful that paul taught me the theology of the thorn the theology of the thorn and this is the theology of the thorn when i am weak then i am strong i need that one i'm thankful for everything that paul taught me but above all maybe the greatest lesson that he taught me was to look for the therefore have you been more thorn conscious than grace conscious in your life lately the devil would love to do that to you in fact here's what i think about this passage okay i don't know if you care what i think about it but this is what i think about it i don't think it matters as much what paul's thorn was as it matters how paul thought about his thorn and likewise i don't believe the most important thing about your life is the challenge that you're facing or the insecurity that you have or the mistake that you made or the thing that you do that nobody knows that you do or the thoughts that you think that people would be shocked me and elijah were talking the other day how much would we pay to keep all of our thoughts from being broadcast on a screen in front of the whole world and we both decided everything we have every dollar i have there could not be too great of an amount so even if it's just in your thought life those thorns paul is convincing you today and you need to lean into this word because this is bigger than a sunday lesson this is bigger than a youtube clip this is bigger than an instagram post what god is saying today he is saying if you if you keep looking at this thorn because paul doesn't talk about the thorn for seven verses paul doesn't give a whole chapter to the thorn like we do we get so stuck about what's wrong with us we get so stuck is that why he called it a thorn because it's the thing that you get stuck by and stuck with and stuck in but paul doesn't talk about the thorn he talks about the therefore did you see it in the text come on did you see it in the text it's in the text class it's in the text we are not going to recess until y'all get this lesson he said therefore this is the important thing what is your thorn therefore some people never find out they get so stuck in what's wrong with them what they can't do what others can do that they can't do what others got that they didn't get but paul said it was in order to keep me from becoming conceited what a thing to admit paul said i would have had such a big head i couldn't have fit through the church door if god didn't give me this thorn what is it there for i could preach all day when we sh when we title this message on youtube we may call it the power of therefore the power of therefore when you find out not only what has been tormenting you but what is it there for is this here to teach me something and notice people can't tell you this they mean well but they'll say well the reason your kid is misbehaving is because you should have told them to the other school the other school there so you see we homeschool our kids brother steve and that's why our kids don't struggle with any those kids sometimes are the biggest crackheads at age 21 sometimes nothing against homeschooling nothing against not homeschooling but paul did not ask silas about his thorn and i'm not saying don't get input from people but some things only god can show you what it's there for you only god can show you why why he gave you that gift that's why a beautiful young girl you got to make sure you go to your father to find out what your beauty is there for it is not for some boy to put his hands all over something that he doesn't own that's not why god gave you that beauty so you could spread it around until you feel empty no no you got to ask god what is my gift there for i don't just get to do whatever i want with my life it's borrowed i don't just get to do whatever i want with my gift it's borrowed it's on loan it belongs to god i'm a servant of him [Applause] it's so powerful the power of therefore put it in the chat put it in your mouth put it in your spirit say therefore therefore therefore and some of us we so glorify the thorn oh my thorn oh i'll tell you right now oh man if you knew about my thorn but but paul said therefore it was there for a reason and only god can show you what that is therefore my favorite therefore in scripture i looked at 20 of them but i only want to give you two the first one comes from romans 8 where paul said what the law was powerless to do and it was written by sinful nature god did by sending his own son lightness to sinful man to be a sin offering there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus that's my second favorite therefore my first favorite i don't know if i should break it out right now because i'm just not sure i'm just not sure if you no i'm not sure yet i'm not convinced yet [Applause] should i show them lord should i take them to my secret stash over here in lamentations now how are you gonna how are you gonna preach about lamentations and you're talking about therefore well this is the perfect place to look at it because see lamentations was a very sad book in the bible it's sadder than a nirvana song i mean this is really sad stuff and it can really bring you down and jeremiah the prophet was ministering in a very hard time he wasn't seeing much fruit all thorns now listen to how he starts in lamentations 3 19. actually let's go to verse 18. did i give you 18. i think i gave you 18 right before i came out just in case yeah yeah so i say my splendor is gone and all that i had hoped from the lord what a place to start i remember my affliction and my wandering the bitterness and the gall so i'm stuck in the thorns i well remember them and my soul is downcast within me that's a prophet saying that that's a prophet saying that he said the memories haunt me the bitterness i taste it right now while i'm talking it's still on my tongue you can smell it on my breath i'm still stuck in there 21 says uh yet this i call to mine and therefore that's my favorite word in the bible today therefore i have hope it is go on that's not the good part this is the good part because of the lord's great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail here's the verse you might know they are new every morning there's no shortage there's no shortage there's no shortage if you screwed up three days ago there's grace for it right now there's no shortage they might not have sausage chick-fil-a but there's no shortage of mercy in the house of god they are new every morning so so so watch us watch this watch this watch it well pastor stephen i can't praise god you don't know what what i've been doing you know what i've been struggling with what do you think his mercy is there for amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me when he hung up on that cross and he didn't come down what do you think he was there for that's what his grace is therefore your weakness that's what his grace is therefore the insults that's what his grace is there for the persecution that's what his grace is therefore the hardship the difficulty the thorn is what grace is there for and see paul had to pray about that thing three times three seasons you think he wasn't fasting you think he wasn't keeping a journal a thorn journal you think paul wasn't you think paul wasn't doing everything in his power to get that thing to go away and you have been to and that's good because we don't want to glory in our thorn some people will pervert any message you preach you know well lord i'ma just go over here on this uh pornographic website hey lord that's what grace is there for him he's gonna go on over here and and just do it thornographic website i should have said will you just keep recreating the weakness by not dealing with it but grace is there to change you too so it's there for you when you fail but it's also there to build you up so you can get stronger when i am weak some of us we worship our weakness just going off on people that's how i am that's just the way that's just my thorn in the flesh you heard old pastor furnik over there at the elevation he said that it'll be a grace for it now you need to put the grace on me well they're not god they might slap you across your face if you act thorny out there so it's not like oh well let's just all be you know just everybody just everybody just let's have a let's have a thorn party let's all tell our thorn stories my thorn is bigger than your thorn that's not like in the church you want to be transformed we want to receive grace for what we struggle with he said i prayed raise your hand if you want me to go deeper in this or you can raise it on the chat and just put in the chat right now i've got grace for this and the beautiful thing you don't even have to specify what this is to the other people in the chat it's none of their business it's not a mind you take it to god and you get the grace that you need for the season and and and don't don't take it to so many other people either to tell you what they would do if they were you they're not the god who knows your thorn knows the grace that you need now this is pretty beautiful how many of y'all like actually really love the bible and you're not even a little bit bored right now all right for you that's not the only therefore in in the passage he said three times verse eight as if you go back and said corinthians 12 i don't even think i'm gonna get to the other scripture today that's all right three times i pleaded with the lord to take it away okay is he the lord of your thorn does he get to decide what to leave in your life who to leave in your life and what to remove is he the lord of your thorn he says i was given a thorn the messenger was satan but the master was the lord so whatever the devil is doing in your life he doesn't get the ultimate authority it's not about the thorn it's the story you tell yourself about the thorn now paul could have just as easily come to the conclusion because he said it was a messenger of satan to torment me but verse 9 god said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness i read that so many times this week i felt there was something in it for us and there is but he said to me okay back to verse eight three times i pleaded with the lord verse nine but he said to me so paul asked three times and god said my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness and then what's the next word in in verse nine therefore that's the sandwich therefore to keep me from becoming conceited there was given to me a challenge that i could not handle in my own strength something that made me realize i don't have enough iq to do this i don't have enough i don't have enough physical stamina to do this i don't i don't have enough experience to do this he said that's what it was there for because i had so many things going for me in my life that there had to be this thing it it was said one one way by one preacher he said the the thorn took him to the throne it reminded him he wasn't in charge but then after he says that he says he said to me my grace is sufficient for my powers made perfect and weakness therefore i will not post but boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that christ's power me rest on me not so i can just stay complacent stay selfish stay mean stay hateful stay sick stay in this bad physical condition that's not what i'm glorying in but he said therefore therefore i realized what the thorn was there for and he could have taken this anyway because remember paul persecuted the same church that he ultimately helped to build so now if this had been your thorn whatever it was is it paul's eyesight who knows was paul a little short who knows was paul talking about the people who followed him around in every city trying to run him out was he talking about the people who threw actual stones at him trying to persecute him for the gospel we go oh persecution i relate with paul you don't relate with paul because one atheist on your facebook said they didn't like your bible verse that is not what he's preaching about here but but paul could have just as easily told himself this thorn story you ready well this is what i get this is god punishing me for all the bad things i did i guess it doesn't matter how much i change god's never going to really accept me i do happen to know that paul studied struggled with he studied but he also struggled with an inferiority complex because one time he called himself the least of the apostles as one abnormally born because he didn't physically walk with jesus like peter did he could have just as easily told himself this story about the thorn well i guess i guess if god's not going to take this thorn away from me it's really not worth serving him he could have just as easily told god well if you would have wanted to use me more than you should have made me more whole and i i tell the lord these kinds of things all the time just to be honest with you because i can get in this thing of comparing myself to people whose thorns i don't see i'm not saying they don't have them i just don't get a viewing party and i don't think it's as important what your thorn is you could name it if you wanted to in your heart i think the story you tell yourself about the thorn because paul paul says the lord said to me show him again in the text he said to me he said to me he said to me i don't think he heard god out loud and i don't think god's voice was the only one speaking to him about that thorn remember he said a messenger of satan was sent to torment me so at the same time paul's trying to do ministry or you're trying to raise your kids or you're trying to grow up in a really weird wicked world and have some integrity about you there's two voices going on really there's two two stories being told he said there's a messenger of satan that's tormenting me and then there's the voice of grace that's coming forth to strengthen me if i listen to the first voice the messenger of satan in this season of my life i will not have the strength to get up and face myself in the mirror tomorrow if i listen to the message of satan in my life i'm going to wind up like elijah the prophet not my son elijah the prophet elijah who had the power you talk about strong you talk about a mentor you talk about somebody who had the sauce who had the glory of god elijah eliyahu my god is yahweh called down fire on the prophets of baal called down fire on the prophets of asherah 850 died in the valley that day as the nation was turning back to god spoke in the rain stop spoke again and it rained a cloud the size of a man's hand then how in the world did elijah wind up standing at the mouth of a cave in first kings 19. strong people have weak moments strong christians have sharp thorns every believer has places of brokenness i need church god doesn't have enough grace for you or because you stop showing up for the role god gave you because you don't think you're smart enough you're not and the thorn is there for you to realize i need your wisdom god i don't look to the north the south the east or the west for my wisdom my health comes from the lord [Applause] so so so god has given it to me like this turn to somebody next to you turn somebody next to him say the thorn came from the enemy but the grace came from god i'ma say it again the thorn came from the enemy that was the messenger i hated the angel that brought it you don't have to like what's happening in your life you don't have to like the people that are in your life you don't have to like the challenge you don't even have to like your personality but you do have to realize that it must be submitted to god's purpose [Applause] stand up i want to show you something and we're out of here the power of your therefore is greater than the power of your thorn god's purpose will prevail [Applause] he said paul said three times that's a significant number in scripture three represents perfect unity you know jesus prayed three times in the garden of gethsemane he said nevertheless i'm gonna take this cup even though i don't want it i'm gonna do this what i came to do this is what i came for don't you see it you are running from the stuff that god put you there for you are not praying about the things that god's grace is there for you don't just get to bring god your praise you get to bring him your pain too that's what the grace is therefore three times i asked the lord to take it away but he said to me they hear it allow my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness for us as acute scripture for paul that was a story that he had to tell himself every time that thorn pressed into his flesh god's power is made perfect every time it presses your flesh i want you to tell yourself a different story you don't get to choose your thorn you get to choose your story he said there's no shortage of grace there's no shortage now he said three times i asked and one time he answered you know what that means that means the first two times that paul prayed about his thorn silence some of us are standing in the silence right now asking god to do stuff and he didn't say yes but he didn't say no either that waiting place that's what grace is there for that silence and it's the the story you tell yourself about that silence that determines whether or not you walk in grace or whether you give up the story in the silence three times i asked one time he answered my grace is sufficient silence i don't know if this is going to get better silence i'm waiting for this to come through silence i have no idea if my kid's life is going to turn around they're going to come back to god silence i don't know if i'll ever be in a loving relationship again silas i'll know if i'll ever feel better what story are you telling yourself in the silence satan wants to use that silence and plant a seed see god doesn't love you see god isn't with you see the whole thing is a bunch of fairy tales and myths see you'll never be good enough see you can't change everybody else can't see you knew this church thing wouldn't work see there's no way you you never stick to it you never do it but i believe the spirit wants to plant a different story in the silence so you can know that's where grace lives the story in the silence and then he said to me and he'll say it to you too if you let him my grace is sufficient for what you struggle with my grace is sufficient for your mistakes [Music] my my grace is sufficient for your inexperience my grace is sufficient for your sin oh yeah where sin abounded there did grace abound that much more i praise god for grace that is greater than all my sin and i spent all week thinking about the silence you know i asked god he didn't answer i tried that it didn't work i waited for it i don't even see a sign of it coming i have no idea what that was there for and i saw elijah god's great prophet see paul wasn't the only preacher who had to deal with the silence you're not the only one either the great prophet who called down fire from heaven in first kings 19 verse 13. the bible says that god was passing by elijah he was depressed now he was discouraged now he was tired now he was exhausted now the nation had rebelled against god and he had been suffering from the ramifications of a drought for so long and he was considered by many to be the troublemaker who started it all even after calling down fire from heaven and still felt something in his soul it was the isolation of the drought that landed him in this place and elijah said something in first kings 19. that you may have said a few times this past week i have had enough lord i'm sick of this a woman named jezebel who was the wife of ahab the king was chasing elijah she sent a messenger to threaten him which lets me know there was really nothing she could do to him she was just trying to intimidate him to the point that he would leave the place where god had assigned him that is what satan is trying to do to you right now is trying to run you off from the place where god's greatest grace is about to be released in your life that place of weakness that's where the grace is coming that's where the grace is coming so let me preach this for every jezebel for every thorn that has been threatening you that has been tormenting you that has been pressing into you that has been causing you pain in your spirit is worse than pain in your body is a pain in your spirit you can't shake and god won't remove it and the bible says when elijah heard the voice of god by the way god didn't shout to elijah he whispered and elijah pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave i know it's just a figure of speech but knowing that it's called the mouth of the cave makes sense to me that was the place where he had holed up waiting to die that was the place where he had shut himself in because he didn't want to take it anymore that was the place where he was all by himself with nothing but the movies in his mind to watch of how bad his life was so now he's standing at the mouth of the cave and so are you the only voice you hear in the cave is an echo the thoughts that bounce around your head the thoughts that torment you you've already thought those enough that if those thoughts could bring you out they would have by now so when he stood at the mouth of the cave watch this he heard the voice of the lord and the voice said what are you doing here elijah i could ask you the same question what are you there for in the cave when god has a great ministry for you when god has a great future for you remember jeremiah said this i recall to my mind therefore i have hope what are you doing in the place of shame when there's so much mercy with your name on it what are you doing running around the people to get what can only come from god so god said to elijah i've still got an assignment for you if you want it i've still got a job for you if you wanted i still got grace for you if you wanted i still got a hope for you if you wanted i still got a future for you if you wanted i got joy for you there's no sewage it's the power of a therefore lift your hands the lord is passing by the mountains were ripped apart that wasn't god the wind came sweeping through that wasn't god the fire came sweeping through that wasn't god the earth started shaking that wasn't god it was in the whisper that elijah heard his voice lord i thank you for a new story in the silence we come against every false belief and every messenger of satan that was sent to torment on us today we flip it in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name no no not in our strength in jesus name what what tormented you before is going to bring you to the throne of god for a greater release of grace i speak greater anointing over your life greater anointing over your leadership greater anointing over your relationships greater anointing over your mind here comes your peace here comes your joy here comes your provision there is no shortage in heaven for a heart that is open to god so lift your hands cause if he dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor how much more [Music] how much more [Music] all right hang out one second so here it is this is the new story i want you to tell yourself in the silence the more thorns you're dealing with the more grace you are to expect holy is your name god glory to your name god we worship your great name god we worship your great name god glory to your name god release your glory in this place release your glory on every location release your glory lake norman release your glory release your glory right now all over the world through this broadcast through this sermon through this worship moment i pray a great release of grace a great release of glory we give you glory lord we give you glory a new story for the silence father we bring those thorns right now to the throne you are the lord of the thorn and you are the god of all grace when i stood up today to preach lord i had no idea whose thorn i would be preaching to but you did i had no idea who would take the time to come to church to log on but you did and they didn't even know what they came for but you did [Music] so now i know what i was here for god wanted me to receive this grace and i receive it right now in the name of jesus pray that out loud i receive it right now in the name of jesus i receive grace right now in the name of jesus i receive healing right now in the name of jesus i receive joy right now in the name of jesus and i celebrate your grace god i celebrate your grace for my thorn [Music] i celebrate your grace come on we didn't come to have a pity party about our thorn this is a celebration of grace a celebration of grace sing that song again sing that song [Music] there's no shortage my god will supply all your needs how oh more does here [Music] [Music] [Music] therefore i will boast all the more gladly in the things i used to complain about [Music] when paul was locked in prison at philippi when god opened the prison doors because he sang a song at midnight paul didn't even leave he wanted to lead the jailer to christ he said i'm not coming out until i find out what i was there for and do you not know that the church at philippi was born out of that situation so tell the devil i'm not leaving until i find out what god has for me in this situation i took too far to turn around well that's the end of the message but we do have some good news before we go amazing news listen to this we are going on tour elevation nights 2021 is finally happening it's gonna be elevation worship and all of our favorite preacher steven furtick i'm coming too okay it's gonna be amazing it's gonna be awesome it's gonna be october 26th through november 4th you got to go to elevation nights to see if we're coming to a city near you and by near you i mean if it's within 300 miles i expect to see you there yes elevationnights.com get your ticket quick we'll see you there don't dawdle they might sell out make sure you subscribe thank you for being a part of our family we'll see you at elevation night we'll see you back here next time we love you

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 177,364

Rating: 4.9388475 out of 5

Keywords: elevation church, steven furtick, no shortage!, the power of therefore, elevation church sermons, pastor steven furtick, steven furtick sermons, 2021 sermons, preaching, preacher, grace, weakness, perspective, gifts, glory, purpose, pain, silence, power, therefore, mentor, thorn in my flesh, struggling, confused, grounded in grace, comparison, god’s purpose, grace is sufficient, sermons about grace, sermons about weakness

Id: keSAHaORMQk

Length: 61min 23sec (3683 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021