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Well, you can turn to 2nd 
Corinthians 12. 

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If you don't have a Bible, 
you're off the hook I guess a 

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little bit for today because 
Second Corinthians 12 verse 9 is

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now on the back of the stage. 
You'll be able to read that one.

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But a couple things that I just 
want to update you on that are 

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that are upcoming. 
First of all, this Thursday, the

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8th at 12 noon and yes, Thursday
at 12 noon is when we will have 

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a service for Mr. Hal Clark, who
went home to be with the Lord 

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shortly before Christmas. 
And so if you're able to come 

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out, that's this Thursday at 
noon. 

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If you knew Mr. Howe, he's a 
really sweet man. 

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I miss my friend, but we'll 
celebrate his life together on 

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that day. 
And one week from today, I'm 

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very excited for this. 
One week from today will be our 

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ministry roundtable in the 
afternoon at 2:00. 

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But if you want, then what you 
can do next, next Sunday right 

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after church is just meet us 
over in the other building And 

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we're going to have a chance 
there to gather together, break 

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some bread more than you know, 
the the little shot of juice 

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that you had this morning and 
and bite of bread. 

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We're going to have some food 
over there for you. 

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And this is just a chance if you
want to meet some more people in

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the church, if you've been 
coming for a while, if you have 

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been here long enough that you 
recognize some people and you 

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see them in Walmart and you're 
like, oh, we go to church, but I

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don't know anything else. 
It's a good chance to learn 

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about some of our ministries, 
some of our small groups, ways 

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that you can make some 
friendships. 

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And so, yes, if you've been 
coming for six years, it's still

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for you because you may still 
need to make some friendships or

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maybe you're one of the people 
who needs to be available to 

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help these people feel welcome. 
And so we'll be doing some lunch

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over there, followed by a 
ministry roundtable at 2. 

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And the ministry roundtable is 
just to say, hey, what has God 

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laid in your heart? 
How can we help partner with you

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to help accomplish what he wants
to accomplish here in Eastern 

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Carolina? 
And finally, on January 25th, 

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we've also got a baptism service
coming up. 

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I'm very excited about that. 
In fact, it's way later in my 

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notes. 
But would you all just throw up 

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the QR code real quick? 
We've got yeah, there we go. 

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If you want to get baptized on 
the 25th, we've got the 

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baptismal. 
It's right here in this 

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building. 
It's actually right back there 

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by the soundboard. 
And so we we fill it up. 

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It's warm, in case you're 
worried about that in January. 

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But being made new is a big 
deal. 

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It's a very, very big deal, and 
we celebrate it together. 

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So if being baptized is for you,
that is also coming up. 

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Last month, a couple weeks 
before Christmas, I took the 

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staff on a trip and I just 
wanted to thank them for a good,

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hard year's work. 
Just pour into them and just 

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spend some time just getting to 
know each other in a different 

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way. 
Part of what we did was we saw 

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the Pirate Christmas show over 
in Myrtle Beach, by the way, far

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exceeded expectations. 
We're looking at this Christmas 

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show and we're wondering, well, 
how Jesus centric is this going 

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to be? 
It's about pirates neglected to 

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remember that it's a company 
that's owned by Dolly Parton. 

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So the answer was fairly Jesus 
centric. 

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At one point in the middle, they
said you have to remember the 

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true meaning of Christmas. 
And a couple of us were sitting 

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there and we were like, well, 
let's see what it is because the

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true meaning of Christmas. 
So they're going to say it's 

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loving one another. 
Is it going to be peace on 

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earth, goodwill towards men? 
And they said Jesus and they 

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talked about Jesus and they, 
they re enacted Joseph and Mary 

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and all of this. 
It was amazing. 

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But I wanted pirates to be in 
their minds at Christmas for a 

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reason, because I knew that that
was how we were going to launch 

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into this year. 
Not far from where we're sitting

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today along the North Carolina 
coast. 

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There was a time when the water 
was as dangerous as the land, 

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and it was because of pirates. 
People who have lived here for a

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while, you probably know this, 
but ports like Beaufort, we're 

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not quiet coastal towns. 
They weren't places that you 

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would go and visit and say, oh, 
how quaint. 

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I bet they have a local coffee 
shop. 

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I bet it's beautiful. 
No, you would get in and out as 

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fast as you could because they 
were active. 

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Gateways and ships came in with 
heavy cargo like food or tools 

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or cloth or weapons, or 
sometimes they were just 

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carrying wealth. 
There was nothing like crypto or

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electronic funds then. 
So basically everything a 

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growing colony needed passed 
through those waters. 

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And that made them a target. 
Made them a target for who? 

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Pirates. 
Pirates did not attack at 

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random. 
They were not just saying, I 

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don't like the look of that 
guy's face. 

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I think I'll rob him. 
I mean, they might have done 

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that too. 
But they generally would do 

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their research. 
They would wait and find a place

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where ships had to slow down, 
where they were vulnerable and 

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visibility would be more poor. 
And escape was going to be hard.

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When you're in an inlet, when 
you're in a port, you, you don't

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have a lot of options on how to 
escape. 

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And they wanted to narrow that 
down. 

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And so when they struck, they 
didn't just steal your gold. 

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They ended up stealing your 
security and your sense of 

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safety and your sense of, of of 
confidence. 

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They stole the very sense that 
you could be safe doing an 

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honest day's work. 
So when pirates finally were 

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caught in days like that and 
imports like Beaufort, well, the

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punishment was also not very 
hidden. 

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They had this idea. 
It was something that was 

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intentional and public and a 
little graphic. 

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It's going to get dark for a 
minute here, but that's OK. 

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It's for a reason. 
All along the coastline, 

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sometimes right at the mouth of 
the harbor, they would put up 

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wooden gallows and pirates would
be executed there and hanged in 

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full view of the water. 
And not only were they hanged 

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there, they were left there. 
Their bodies were not taken down

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quickly. 
So as new boats would come, as 

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new pirates would maybe 
investigate the coast, they 

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would see that sometimes these 
bodies stayed up there for weeks

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at a time. 
I cannot imagine the smell, to 

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be honest with you. 
A couple years ago we had some 

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sort of critter from the forest 
get into the walls in the other 

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building and die. 
And for a week we had to move 

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into this building and set up 
tables and work while they were 

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fixing what happened there. 
And that was with a forest 

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creature. 
I cannot imagine what it was 

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like, and if it is unsettling, I
get it. 

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It's meant to be. 
But I want you to imagine the 

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sun bleaching the bones, the 
bodies decomposing as ships came

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and went. 
Why would they do this? 

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Well, they did it because it was
a warning, they said. 

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We understand that you believe 
having this port here is a 

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weakness, but we instead are 
going to take what you intended 

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for weakness and we're going to 
use it to threaten you. 

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It sounds brutal because it was,
but it was very purposeful 

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because pirates thrived in 
secrecy and as long as they felt

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like they could get in and out 
without being punished, they 

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would do it. 
But as pirates started to 

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investigate these ports and they
saw the piles of bodies of other

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pirates that had been caught, 
they had to think twice if they 

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were willing to do that again. 
The pirates that robbed us today

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don't normally sail ships. 
I know those are still out 

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there, but the pirates I'm 
talking about today, they live 

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inside of us. 
The pirates that rob us the most

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today are unspoken weaknesses, 
and they're failures that we 

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have never really processed. 
They're the flaws that we have 

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learned how to manage instead of
learning how to heal. 

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And you should know that the 
enemy loves it that way. 

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He doesn't need you to be an 
immoral person. 

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He doesn't need you to be 
reckless with your life. 

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He just needs you to keep quiet 
about your failures. 

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And if you're entering into this
new year with any sort of hope 

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at all that maybe, just maybe, 
things could be different, I 

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want you to understand something
about the enemy. 

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He normally steals your peace 
through your secrecy. 

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He normally steals your calling 
through highlighting your shame.

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You spend more time thinking 
about the things you're ashamed 

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of than what God is calling you 
to. 

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He's already winning. 
He steals your confidence by 

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convincing you that if everybody
knew about the ways you have 

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failed that it would absolutely 
end you. 

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He's wrong. 
So what we do normally is what 

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feels safer. 
We ignore these issues, we bury 

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the issues, we power through it,
and we tell ourselves that time 

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will fix it. 
Even though we would never give 

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that counselor advice to anybody
else, we readily make ourselves 

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available to try to help 
somebody who's in need, while 

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also simultaneously saying, but 
I don't want to be a burden on 

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you. 
We are hypocrites in this way, 

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and we become a pirate that robs
somebody else of their 

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opportunity to help heal 
somebody made in the image of 

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God. 
Paul didn't overcome his 

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weakness by hiding it, he 
overcame it by exposing it and 

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bringing it into the light. 
He named his pirates 

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essentially, and he publicly put
them out to exposure so that 

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they wouldn't be effective 
anymore. 

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So 2nd Corinthians 12 says a lot
to us. 

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It's not just a verse for the 
year. 

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It's a window into how grace 
actually works in our lives. 

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And I want you to understand 
that Paul talks openly about his

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limitations, about his failures,
about something he begged God to

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remove. 
But instead of shame, grace met 

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him there. 
So if you're not there yet, 

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we're going to start in verse 
one of Second Corinthians verse 

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12 or chapter 12. 
But I just want to ask you a 

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question before I read this. 
If you were asking God to change

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something in your life, have you
stopped talking about it because

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you're afraid of what it'll 
sound like when somebody says 

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so? 
How's that going? 

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Has God healed that yet? 
Has God taken that away from you

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yet? 
Do you feel like a failure if 

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you tell them? 
Not yet. 

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A lot of times we feel this way.
But if you are sincerely seeking

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Him, you have to make room to 
let God do what God does. 

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Verse one Paul says this 
boasting will do no good, but I 

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must go on. 
His boasting is something else, 

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but that's that's more in 
Chapter 11 he says I'll 

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reluctantly tell about visions 
and revelations from the Lord 

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and he says this. 
He says I was caught up to the 

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3rd heaven 14 years ago. 
Whether I was in my body or out 

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of body, I don't know, only God 
knows. 

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In other words, that detail 
doesn't even matter to him. 

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He says only God knows whether I
was in my body or outside of my 

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body. 
But I do know that I was caught 

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up to paradise. 
Maybe it says the 3rd heaven in 

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your translation. 
And I heard things so astounding

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that they cannot be expressed in
words, things no human is 

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allowed to tell. 
That experience is worth 

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boasting about. 
But I'm not going to do it. 

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I'll boast only about my 
weaknesses. 

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Question if you're given an 
option, let's say one week from 

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today, you're you're over there 
having some food in the cafe, 

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meeting some new friends. 
Man, it's going to be great 

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since we'll all be there, Right,
right, right. 

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OK, so you're chatting and 
they're like, so tell me about 

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yourself. 
And it's like a cartoon. 

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You can go one way. 
OK, I'm going to tell them about

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the secret addiction I've had 
for 13 years. 

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Or you tell them about this word
God gave me last year. 

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Well, I grew up knowing the Lord
my whole life. 

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My grandma introduced me to 
Jesus. 

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And last year the Lord gave me 
this word. 

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Why? 
Because there's something in us 

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that wants to seem impressive to
other people. 

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Now, whether or not you're 
wanting to consider yourself or 

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call yourself a people pleaser, 
it's not always that simple. 

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Sometimes it's as simple as I 
can't really believe in myself. 

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But if when I talk to you, if 
you seem to act like you think I

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know what's going on, like I've 
got it together, maybe I do. 

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I'll rely on your confidence 
because I haven't built up my 

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own identity in Christ. 
Who wants to start that way? 

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Who wants to start with? 
So tell me about yourself. 

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Aw, man. 
I've been struggling with 

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pornography for 13 years. 
Oh, it felt good to say that. 

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How about you? 
I slept through my alarm today. 

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I, I don't know, like. 
But I'm telling you that if you 

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have spent so much time 
protecting the areas of 

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vulnerability, what you're doing
is you're keeping them intact. 

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Think about this. 
If you protect anything, you 

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keep it intact. 
Imagine just picture in your 

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mind's eye or whatever that you 
you're holding on to an apple, 

238
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and you don't want it to get 
hit. 

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So you put a glass jar over it 
and you hold it down. 

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And I want you to picture like 
people are throwing pebbles at 

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it and they can't get to it. 
But over time, this apple does 

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what it rots, but you're still 
holding on to it. 

243
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,160
Yeah, but nobody's gotten to it,
have they? 

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Good job. 
You're the proud owner of a 

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rotting piece of fruit. 
We protect these areas that seem

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00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:40,800
vulnerable because we're afraid 
people are going to wound us 

247
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with it, but we're too busy 
wounding ourselves. 

248
00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,160
Why are we worried about what 
other people are going to do 

249
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with it? 
It doesn't happen as much these 

250
00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:52,000
days, but anytime somebody comes
to me and talks to me about an 

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00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,000
area of weakness or a place that
I have failed in the past or 

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something, I just own it. 
Yeah, I sure did do that. 

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Wasn't that crazy. 
Can you see how much God has 

254
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done in my life since then? 
By the way, I still fail at 

255
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things today, and the things 
that you fail at today are 

256
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,120
harder to share than the things 
that you failed at 13 years ago,

257
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,400
unless they're still ongoing. 
But they're all equally 

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important to share. 
Paul chose to expose his 

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weakness. 
In verse 6, he said if I wanted 

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to boast, I'd be no fool in 
doing so because I would be 

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telling the truth. 
But I won't do it because I 

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00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,640
don't want anyone to give me 
credit beyond what they can see 

263
00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:29,200
in my life or hearing my 
message. 

264
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And that's important because we 
often do this. 

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We end up accepting credit for 
being a a godly man or a godly 

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woman or something like that. 
And what we do, because we don't

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00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,480
expose our weakness alongside 
the victories that God has 

268
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,920
walked us through, we end up 
accidentally setting ourselves 

269
00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:50,280
up as somebody who has gotten 
Christianity right, whatever 

270
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,040
that means. 
And then somebody compares 

271
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themselves to you and says, I 
can't even get it together. 

272
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,960
Like that person. 
That person loves people better 

273
00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:58,960
than I love people. 
That person doesn't seem like 

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00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,360
they ever struggle with it for 
unforgiveness. 

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00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:03,920
You don't know that because 
they're not exposing their 

276
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,720
weaknesses. 
But if all of our weaknesses 

277
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were spilled out for everybody 
to see today, first of all, 

278
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:11,880
yeah, that's a fun thought, 
isn't it? 

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We would have a lot of shock in 
this room. 

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But on the other end of the 
shock, what we would find is a 

281
00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,000
whole lot of grace and a whole 
lot of unity. 

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00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,680
He says I won't do it because I 
don't want anyone to give me 

283
00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:28,600
credit beyond what they can see 
in my life or hearing my 

284
00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,120
message, even though I have 
received such wonderful 

285
00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,760
revelations from God. 
So to keep me from becoming 

286
00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:39,040
proud, I was given a thorn in my
flesh, a messenger from Satan to

287
00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,360
torment me and keep me from 
becoming proud. 

288
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,360
Three different times I begged 
the Lord to take it away and 

289
00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:47,040
each time He said, my grace is 
all you need. 

290
00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,240
My power works best in weakness,
so now I'm glad to boast about 

291
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,680
my weaknesses so that the power 
of Christ can work through me. 

292
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,960
That's why I take pleasure in my
weaknesses and in the insults 

293
00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,520
and hardships and persecutions 
and troubles that I suffer for 

294
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,400
Christ. 
For when I am weak, then I'm 

295
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:11,200
strong. 
What Paul shares in this moment,

296
00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:15,080
and it's a very well known story
amongst church people, but what 

297
00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:19,120
he shares in this moment, you 
need to have the proper fixation

298
00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,960
on this, the proper look. 
He's not speaking as a new 

299
00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,520
believer trying to make sense of
faith for the first time. 

300
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,320
He's speaking as somebody with 
history, a long history. 

301
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,200
And it's a complicated history 
and it was a public one. 

302
00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:34,400
This is the same Paul that 
persecuted the church. 

303
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,160
This is the same Paul who 
approved of executions, the same

304
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:41,680
Paul who spent years in 
obscurity after his conversion 

305
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,520
into being a Christian, learning
and waiting and being rebuilt. 

306
00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:45,880
And we'll talk about that in a 
bit. 

307
00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,520
This is the same Paul who 
planted churches, endured 

308
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,600
beatings and imprisonment and 
betrayal and exhaustion. 

309
00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:55,760
And then this moment in Second 
Corinthians comes from a man who

310
00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,480
has walked long enough with God 
to know himself. 

311
00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:02,320
Honestly, have you ever seen 
that When you first walk with 

312
00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,200
God, a lot of what gets 
highlighted is starting over. 

313
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,360
Brand new chances, fresh grace, 
new morning mercies. 

314
00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,280
And the longer you walk with 
God, he's like, oh, look at 

315
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:15,520
this, isn't this ugly? 
And you're like, well, I thought

316
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,760
you made everything new. 
He partners with you to make 

317
00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:21,400
everything new, but you have to 
be willing to submit it. 

318
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:26,080
And he's so loving. 
Y'all listen how loving God is 

319
00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:29,000
when you allow Him to step into 
your life. 

320
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,880
He doesn't grab everything 
that's ugly to him in one pile 

321
00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:38,680
and then go get to work when 
you're finished with it. 

322
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,360
Let me know. 
It would be overwhelming. 

323
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:45,840
We would give up immediately. 
But He moves us from glory to 

324
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,040
glory and conforms us daily to 
the image of His Son. 

325
00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:51,640
It has to be done gradually and 
overtime. 

326
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,360
There is no shortcut to it 
except how much you're willing 

327
00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,520
to give him your yes. 
After all of the things that 

328
00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,560
Paul has done and been through, 
he has a thorn in his flesh. 

329
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,680
Paul tells us that it's painful 
and humbling, and it's something

330
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,839
that he begged God to remove. 
For some reason, when we have 

331
00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:15,720
been asking God to remove 
something for a long time and 

332
00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:20,160
God doesn't, we say there's 
something wrong in me, it's my 

333
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:21,680
fault that God won't take it 
away. 

334
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,359
I'm not being obedient enough. 
But we never have that thought 

335
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:27,480
about Paul because we can see 
his whole picture. 

336
00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,680
We know his life. 
We don't see our whole picture. 

337
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,520
We don't see the whole story of 
our life on this earth. 

338
00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:35,640
So we put ourselves under a 
different lens. 

339
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,760
And the more that you feel like 
it's your fault, let me rephrase

340
00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:40,800
that. 
The more that you make it all 

341
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,800
about you, the more that you set
yourself up to give up. 

342
00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:49,320
Why would you keep trying if it 
all hinges on you? 

343
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,760
Paul sounds like a man we would 
all love to emulate. 

344
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,240
And when he asked God to remove 
this thorn, what did God tell 

345
00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,440
him? 
Said no. 

346
00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:02,640
And sure, my grace is 
sufficient. 

347
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,640
Sounds nicer. 
That's a fancy no. 

348
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,600
God's, not even the one that 
told Paul this will keep you 

349
00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:16,760
from becoming proud. 
But Paul discerned it. 

350
00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:20,320
He said my grace works best in 
weakness. 

351
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,680
He said, you know what, I would 
be too proud without this thorn.

352
00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,640
Well, what is that thorn? 
Over the years, theologians have

353
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:28,160
debated what the thorn might 
have been. 

354
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,760
The only thing I think everybody
agrees on is it wasn't a literal

355
00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:34,440
thorn. 
That would be silly, right? 

356
00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:37,360
Some believe it was a physical 
thing, though, like a chronic 

357
00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:39,920
illness or eyesight issues. 
A lot of theologians believe 

358
00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,280
it's that a lot of people think 
it's an emotional or 

359
00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:44,480
psychological issue. 
The fact that he could never 

360
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,400
quite outlive his past in the 
eyes of everybody. 

361
00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,680
No matter how long he served the
Lord, there was always a pocket 

362
00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,120
of people that would say, Oh 
yeah, but I heard about what you

363
00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:56,480
did and blah, blah, blah. 
He could never quite outlive 

364
00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,080
them. 
Some people think that he had 

365
00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:01,760
crippling anxiety or trauma from
his past. 

366
00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,040
Some people think it was 
spiritual and relentless 

367
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,240
temptation or opposition from 
the devil. 

368
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,160
Some believed that it was a 
divorce since he stopped being a

369
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,240
Pharisee. 
Personally, I could almost 

370
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:15,840
guarantee you that Paul was 
divorced. 

371
00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,200
I don't know if it's his thorn, 
but all the Pharisees were 

372
00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,280
married and it would seem very 
plausible that as he started to 

373
00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,280
follow Jesus and follow the way 
that his wife would. 

374
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:29,640
Say you're in a cult, have a 
great life and be surrounded by 

375
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,160
those that were still practicing
the traditional Judaism of the 

376
00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,480
day. 
But while we don't actually 

377
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,400
know, scripture never tells us. 
I want you to have this view on 

378
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,440
it. 
I think that's on purpose. 

379
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,960
I think it's intentional that we
don't know what this thorn is. 

380
00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:48,400
I think the Holy Spirit leaves 
it unnamed so it can speak to 

381
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,720
all of us. 
The thorn in your flesh, it's 

382
00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:54,680
probably not the thorn in my 
flesh, but it doesn't mean I 

383
00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,960
don't have thorns. 
What you're struggling with may 

384
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,360
not be what I'm struggling with,
but the second that we have 

385
00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:02,640
language for it and we know what
that thorn is, you know what we 

386
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,000
do? 
We just build a dogma or a 

387
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,480
doctrine around it. 
Paul well, here's the verse for 

388
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,960
when you're dealing with 
eyesight issues, or here's the 

389
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,320
verse for when you're dealing 
with persecution, or here's the 

390
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,480
verse for when you're dealing 
with a divorce. 

391
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,880
No, no, no. 
Here's the verse for when you 

392
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,360
were struggling and God has not 
yet removed what you so 

393
00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:22,600
desperately want Him to remove. 
And here's the hope of his power

394
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,560
being made strong in your 
weakness. 

395
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,480
That was a hard shift for Paul 
to wrap his head around. 

396
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:30,600
And I know that because it's a 
hard shift for me. 

397
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,760
I think we tend to believe that 
spiritual growth means 

398
00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,680
elimination, and what I mean by 
that is we fix the flaw, we heal

399
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:41,560
the wound, and we outgrow the 
weakness. 

400
00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,120
Sometimes God does heal what 
we're going through, and 

401
00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:48,960
sometimes he does remove the 
obstacles in our life. 

402
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,760
But sometimes the deeper work is
learning how to stop fighting 

403
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,880
what God is using. 
It's really hard to do that. 

404
00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,200
I would rather say I prayed for 
five years and then God took 

405
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,520
this away than to say I prayed 
for five years and then God said

406
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,920
I'm not going to take it away. 
So for the last 15 years I've 

407
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:10,040
been proud of this thorn. 
But sometimes that's exactly 

408
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:13,800
what God designs in our lives. 
Paul learned to make peace with 

409
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,520
this. 
So that forces us to ask if you 

410
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:18,080
uncomfortable but necessary 
questions. 

411
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:19,720
I got a couple questions for you
this morning. 

412
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,240
What if the thing that you've 
been trying to hide is actually 

413
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,200
the place that God wants to be 
seen most clearly? 

414
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:29,400
Everybody's been struggling with
something, right? 

415
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,120
What if the area that you've 
been trying to hide is where God

416
00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:36,640
wants to be seen in your life 
more clearly #2 I would ask you 

417
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,120
this. 
What if beginning again doesn't 

418
00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:41,160
mean becoming stronger, but 
becoming more honest? 

419
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,280
And you may say I'm not a 
dishonest person. 

420
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,920
While there are lies of 
Commission and there are lies of

421
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,360
omission where you don't share 
the full story. 

422
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,480
How are you doing this morning? 
I'm doing great. 

423
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,320
And in your mind, you're like, 
well, I was crying in my car 20 

424
00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:00,800
minutes ago, but you don't have 
time to hear about that. 

425
00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:05,280
Number three, what if the 
weakness that you resent is the 

426
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:10,320
very doorway that grace keeps 
walking through, but because we 

427
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,760
keep it at Bay, we don't 
experience as much of the grace 

428
00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:15,920
as we could? 
And the last thing is, what 

429
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,560
would it look like in your life 
to stop praying only for the 

430
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,000
removal of that thorn and to 
start asking God how He wants to

431
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:23,600
reveal His strength through you 
right now? 

432
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,320
Any moms in this room that have 
had the compliment before where 

433
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,360
somebody says you're a great 
mom, you're like a super mom? 

434
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:34,760
Anybody ever received that 
compliment before? 

435
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:39,240
OK. 
And do you normally feel, yeah, 

436
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,600
I am. 
Or do you normally think you 

437
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:47,320
have no idea I am on the brink 
of a collapse. 

438
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:50,080
But instead you go, thank you so
much. 

439
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,080
Here's the thing. 
That's what makes you a great 

440
00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:00,360
mom. 
Through your weakness, you 

441
00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:02,200
persist. 
You continue. 

442
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,880
You know what's a vulnerability?
Relationships. 

443
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,560
It's how they get to you. 
It's how the enemy tries to get 

444
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,880
to you. 
What would it look like to stop 

445
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,160
praying only for the removal of 
things that make you a little 

446
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,360
weaker and start asking God to 
reveal His strength through you?

447
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,320
You would never pray for God to 
remove the kids from your life, 

448
00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:24,680
but other people can see how 
strong you are and what God is 

449
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,480
doing in you because of how you 
persist and endure with your 

450
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,880
children. 
Same for marriages, friendships,

451
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:35,360
relationships. 
Those are questions that we need

452
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,440
to ask ourselves, but I'm just 
going to ask two general 

453
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,360
questions today. 
If you are really looking to 

454
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:43,320
begin again, and you can, we're 
going to have to ask a couple 

455
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,080
questions. 
And the first one is, is 

456
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,400
beginning again, even aloud. 
And what I mean by this is this,

457
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:50,240
when we ask that question, we're
not asking whether or not 

458
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,200
salvation is still available. 
If you're wondering if salvation

459
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,040
is available to you, Scripture 
is clear that grace saves us 

460
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,360
completely and forever. 
That is not the issue. 

461
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,480
And if you do want to be saved, 
talk to us after the service. 

462
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:06,080
But the real question under is 
beginning again aloud is this, 

463
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,680
Can I still become someone who 
takes the Lord seriously? 

464
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,400
For many of us, we've grown up 
knowing of the Lord, at least on

465
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,760
the fringe, or had a family 
member that's told us about the 

466
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,000
Lord, and we've never quite 
arrived. 

467
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,360
We've never quite been the 
person that we thought we were 

468
00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:26,760
supposed to be. 
And a large part of why that is,

469
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,400
is because we don't think that 
we can be. 

470
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,480
Maybe the questions that linger 
in your mind is, can I still 

471
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,800
write the things that God has 
placed in my heart years ago, 

472
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,120
but I never started because I 
was afraid I would fail? 

473
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,480
Can I still step into obedience 
today after seasons of 

474
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,000
disobedience or distraction or 
compromise? 

475
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,600
Can I still live intentionally 
after I know how much 

476
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,560
procrastination has already cost
me? 

477
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:55,960
And the answer to his beginning 
again aloud is yes, 

478
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:02,800
unequivocably yes. 
You can begin again before Paul 

479
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,920
ever encounters Jesus on the 
road to Damascus. 

480
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,080
And we'll be there in just a 
moment. 

481
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:07,760
We'll be in Acts 9 in just a 
moment. 

482
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,040
His story was already underway. 
He did not come to the faith 

483
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,600
from the outside looking in. 
I love meeting people and 

484
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:17,120
they're like, oh, tell us your 
spiritual story. 

485
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,320
Because I'm like, well, I 
started Lutheran and then I got 

486
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:21,680
baptized in a Baptist Church. 
And then I got here at Liberty 

487
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,400
in 2004 and I got filled with 
the Holy Spirit and, and 

488
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,120
Cassie's like, she'll just say I
came up American heathen. 

489
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,120
She's like, I didn't know Jesus,
but I'm so glad I do now. 

490
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:37,720
And this is not Paul. 
Paul grew up immersed in all of 

491
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:39,240
this. 
Obedience to God was not 

492
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,760
optional to Paul. 
It was central to who a person 

493
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,000
is in Paul's view. 
And here's why this is 

494
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,400
important. 
Paul grew up memorizing and 

495
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:48,560
immersed in the law. 
He was trained to Revere 

496
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,320
everything that was written 
down, to memorize it, protect 

497
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,040
it, and defend it at all costs. 
If you go amongst all the things

498
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,480
he does talk about with his with
his past, he he brags about 

499
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,240
being circumcised on the 8th 
day. 

500
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,960
Born into the people of Israel 
tribe of Benjamin and he was 

501
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,040
educated amongst the most 
serious students of his 

502
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,440
generation. 
He studied under Gamaliel, one 

503
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,160
of the most respected teachers 
of the law in Jerusalem, and he 

504
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,480
quickly stood out as somebody 
who was marked by heavy 

505
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,640
conviction over what was 
important to the Lord. 

506
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,600
And so as he grows up and he 
matures, Paul's devotion only 

507
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,280
gets deeper and deeper and 
deeper. 

508
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,920
He advances rapidly past his 
peers. 

509
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,240
He he learns about all of this 
because he is disciplined and he

510
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:31,760
learns to find his identity in 
it. 

511
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:36,000
He outpaces every other 
contemporary or peer of his, and

512
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,560
not just his knowledge, but also
in his commitment and his energy

513
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,360
and his zeal for the traditions 
of his Jewish ancestors. 

514
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:47,240
In his mind, it feels like he is
right in all of his thinking and

515
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,400
therefore he must be the primary
defense for God, especially when

516
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,920
truth feels threatened. 
Now put yourself in Paul's 

517
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,000
shoes. 
You have been trained and 

518
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,320
affirmed by everybody. 
Wow, you're the number one 

519
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:00,120
student. 
Wow. 

520
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,480
A + a plus. 
You've got it right again. 

521
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:03,840
You've learned everything we've 
taught. 

522
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:09,960
You have it all together. 
Where did I mention God in his 

523
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,040
resume? 
They learned about all these 

524
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,600
ways to Revere God, but he yet 
to he was yet to have an actual 

525
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,400
encounter with God himself. 
So when Paul starts to hear 

526
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:25,480
about Jesus and the and the 
spreading message of Jesus 

527
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,720
starts getting to people that he
knows, what is Paul thinking? 

528
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,480
Put yourself in his shoes. 
This is dangerous. 

529
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,360
It's a dangerous cult. 
It's going to spread. 

530
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:36,600
And so he responds with alarm 
and panic. 

531
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,920
And to him, this is not a 
harmless reinterpretation of 

532
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,160
faith. 
If if we were to talk to him 

533
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,840
about the Passover meal and 
explain what Jesus did for 

534
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,160
communion, that alone he would 
have dragged us out of this 

535
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,880
building. 
He sees it as a distortion of 

536
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:53,840
truth. 
So because Paul believes that 

537
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:58,600
obedience matters and action is 
required, he starts dragging 

538
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:01,400
people out of their homes. 
And this is what makes Paul's 

539
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,560
actual story so unsettling. 
I want you to think about Paul 

540
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,600
in a different light. 
We know him as a great Christian

541
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:11,200
theologian now. 
He is sincere, he genuinely 

542
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,520
loves God, and he genuinely 
believes this is the way to 

543
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,240
honor God is to shut down those 
that are doing things outside of

544
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,120
how he was taught. 
So he starts attaching. 

545
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:24,800
Not that we would ever do this, 
but he starts attaching his own 

546
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,640
internal standards to other 
people, and when they fall 

547
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:32,320
short, he begins pursuing them 
and arresting them in the name 

548
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,080
of his faith. 
His conscience is active. 

549
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,080
It's not seared. 
His theology is so rigid, 

550
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,120
though, that his sense of 
responsibility has taken over 

551
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,120
his ability to hear from God. 
And by the time we see him in 

552
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:46,760
Acts 9, Paul's not doubting his 
direction. 

553
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,080
He's confident in it. 
He is enforcing the law. 

554
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:58,120
Paul is successful and as much 
as he loves and honors God as 

555
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,640
best he can to the up and coming
church, he would very much be 

556
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,600
like a member of Hamas or ISIS. 
He would be somebody that we 

557
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:11,040
would look at as a high danger. 
You don't talk about 

558
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:13,000
Christianity when Paul comes 
around. 

559
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,880
Now that being said, God doesn't
just interrupt us when we are 

560
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:20,680
failing. 
He doesn't just step in and give

561
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,560
us a brand new start. 
He interrupts us when our life 

562
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:28,080
is successful, but it's only 
successful on our standards. 

563
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:34,360
God is ultimately looking out 
for Paul because Paul is 

564
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:36,640
confident, but he's moving in 
the wrong direction. 

565
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,440
So grace did not meet him and 
failure alone. 

566
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,920
It met him at the height of how 
certain he was about what he 

567
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,040
believed. 
So beginning again is not just 

568
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,640
about correcting mistakes. 
It's also allowing God to 

569
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,120
redefine what faithfulness 
actually looks like in our 

570
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,400
lives. 
In the very first verse of Acts 

571
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,720
9, it says Saul was uttering 
threats with every breath and 

572
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,480
was eager to kill the Lord's 
followers. 

573
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,760
This was not a game. 
So he went to the high priest. 

574
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,600
He requested letters addressed 
to the synagogues in Damascus 

575
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:09,680
and asked for their cooperation 
in the arrest of any followers 

576
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,960
of the way he found there. 
He wanted to bring them, both 

577
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,400
men and women, back to Jerusalem
in chains. 

578
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:19,800
This is not just like taking the
heretics off the field. 

579
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,280
It's a public warning. 
He's trying to hang the pirates,

580
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:23,880
right? 
He's trying to make a public 

581
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,720
warning to anybody else who 
would dare follow Jesus. 

582
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,680
And it says in verse 3, as he 
was approaching Damascus on this

583
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,640
mission, a light from heaven 
suddenly shone down around him. 

584
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,720
He fell to the ground and he 
heard a voice saying to him, 

585
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:41,400
Saul, Saul, which was his name. 
Why are you persecuting me? 

586
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,560
Who are you, Lord? 
Saul asked. 

587
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,760
And the voice replied, I am 
Jesus, the one you're 

588
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:50,960
persecuting. 
Now get up and go into the city,

589
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:52,480
and you'll be told what you must
do. 

590
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:55,920
And the men with Saul stood 
speechless, for they heard the 

591
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:57,840
sound of someone's voice, but 
saw no one. 

592
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,440
Saul picked himself up off the 
ground, but when he opened his 

593
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,440
eyes he was blind. 
So his companions led him by the

594
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:07,960
hand to Damascus, and he 
remained there blind for three 

595
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,560
days and did not eat or drink 
once. 

596
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,040
You think about that. 
This is the beginning again for 

597
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:15,600
him. 
Can he begin again? 

598
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:17,520
And he does not have any clue 
what's happening. 

599
00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:19,960
Now, if you're a Christian and 
you follow the Lord for a while,

600
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:21,800
maybe you know some of the rest 
of the story and we'll get 

601
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:22,960
there. 
But he did not. 

602
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:27,000
So put yourself there. 
The only fresh revelation you 

603
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,240
have is that you've been 
persecuting Jesus and that Jesus

604
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,320
is true. 
And what does he tell him to do?

605
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,360
Go into that town and then I'll 
give you some more instructions 

606
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,160
there. 
He can't even see his way into 

607
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:40,200
the town. 
These people that were following

608
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,160
Paul are now leading Paul by the
hand into a new town, and he has

609
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:48,800
no clue what the next step is. 
But then again, we don't have 

610
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,440
any indication that God ever 
asked him to go and drag people 

611
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,160
out of their homes and arrest 
them either, right? 

612
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:55,360
So now he's finally getting 
this. 

613
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,760
This had to have been his 
turning point. 

614
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,520
He doesn't begin again. 
When everything all of a sudden 

615
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,560
makes sense, he begins again. 
When he says yes to the next 

616
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:07,400
instruction in front of him, 
that's the first place that we 

617
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,080
have any indication that God 
gave him any instruction at all.

618
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:13,160
And God had to blind him to get 
his attention. 

619
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,160
So in what would look like a 
failure, he finally hears from 

620
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,960
God and his first yes leads him 
down a path that is going to 

621
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,760
revitalize and change him from 
the inside out. 

622
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:28,760
Can you relate to this? 
Because we want God to show us 

623
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:30,440
the entire future before we 
move. 

624
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,360
We want 13 confirmations from 
people. 

625
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,400
We want the assurance and 
confirmation and complete peace 

626
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,440
in our spirit before we give him
our yes. 

627
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:44,880
Paul is not given any of this. 
He's given one step, One 

628
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,960
Direction, 1 moment of 
surrender, and he takes it. 

629
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:51,760
That's what obedience looks like
when grace is at work. 

630
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:53,600
So I want you to understand 
this. 

631
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,960
The beginning again doesn't mean
that you suddenly become 

632
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,640
disciplined or consistent or 
fearless overnight. 

633
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,480
It doesn't mean that every habit
is instantly corrected and every

634
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,240
struggle disappears. 
It means that you re enter the 

635
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:06,760
conversation with God instead of
postponing it again. 

636
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,320
For many of us, we know that God
has spoken something to us. 

637
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,560
We've heard it in our prayer 
time, in our in our spirit, or 

638
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:19,080
maybe even audibly or whatever. 
And we have said later instead 

639
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,240
of yes, but later often becomes 
never. 

640
00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:27,400
God is not looking for somebody 
who is primed to do everything 

641
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,080
right. 
God is looking for people that 

642
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,760
are interruptible. 
And I'm going to tell you right 

643
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,880
now, interrupting me is one of 
the quickest ways to make me 

644
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:40,800
mad. 
Whether you interrupt a 

645
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:45,200
conversation, a nice moment in a
movie, a conversation, it's not 

646
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,400
my favorite. 
God wants to know if he can stop

647
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,040
you or if you're going to make 
him wait until there's a more 

648
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:53,600
favorable moment for him to 
speak. 

649
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:57,920
If you're going to make him 
wait, he's going to be speaking 

650
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,400
to you anyway. 
But delayed obedience is 

651
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:05,000
disobedience. 
Church history is full of people

652
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:07,040
that didn't change because they 
suddenly understood everything. 

653
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:09,040
I'm just going to give you 2 
church history examples. 

654
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:10,639
Anybody ever hear of Saint 
Augustine? 

655
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,280
Saint Augustine for years. 
He was a brilliant scholar and 

656
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,199
he was also super. 
I guess as my pastor used to 

657
00:34:19,199 --> 00:34:21,159
say, he was about as carnal as a
hot dog. 

658
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,360
He was he was all about the 
things of the earth and he loved

659
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,679
knowing philosophy and truth, 
but he also loved pleasure and 

660
00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:33,719
he slept around and he was known
for living a very immoral life 

661
00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:36,560
lifestyle. 
He was famous for having this 

662
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,280
quote. 
He prayed this Lord make me 

663
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:44,520
pure, but not yet. 
And some of us are like, well, 

664
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,719
that's honest, That's real. 
It's real fake. 

665
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,920
One day when he was wrestling 
internally, Augustine heard a 

666
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:56,760
child's voice from somewhere 
nearby him say take up and read.

667
00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:01,000
He didn't hear it in a sermon. 
He didn't hear it in an 

668
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:04,600
evangelistic pitch. 
He didn't get an explanation. 

669
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,360
He was interrupted. 
And for whatever reason, when he

670
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,440
heard this kid say get up and 
read, it moved him. 

671
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:14,480
He opened the Scriptures and he 
read in the book of Romans. 

672
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:18,560
And what he gained there was the
willingness to be obedient to 

673
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:20,800
the next step. 
And he said yes, and that 

674
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,720
interruption changed the 
direction of his life. 

675
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,320
And it wasn't through what we 
would consider one of the most 

676
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,560
effective ways, but it was one 
of those interrupting moments. 

677
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:33,160
And then there's a man by the 
name many of you know his story,

678
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:36,640
John Newton. 
John Newton was heavily involved

679
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,480
in the slave trade. 
And he didn't just benefit from 

680
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,360
injustice, he highly profited 
from it. 

681
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,320
He was a rich man from this and 
made him wealthy. 

682
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,920
And overtime, God began to 
interrupt him through Scripture 

683
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:49,000
and constant conviction. 
And finally, there was a time 

684
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,800
where he just stopped resisting 
the interruptions and he started

685
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,360
responding to them. 
And it didn't undo his past. 

686
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,640
He went around the rest of his 
life, even though he was now no 

687
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,520
longer for the slave trade, but 
he went around the rest of his 

688
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:03,560
life with people knowing that he
was heavily involved in it. 

689
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,400
But he fell so in love with God 
that he started to write songs. 

690
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,840
And the lyrics to his most 
famous song is Amazing Grace. 

691
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,840
He became a pastor. 
And for most of us, the 

692
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,760
spiritual word that we need to 
relearn this year is not Amen. 

693
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,960
It's yes. 
It's when God says something, we

694
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:23,960
say yes. 
And so Paul's story doesn't 

695
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:25,840
really end with a dramatic 
encounter on the road either. 

696
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,320
And I'm sure many of us know 
that grace interrupted him 

697
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,080
there, but his transformation 
continued in the rest of Acts 

698
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,920
Chapter 9 and verse 10, it says 
he's arrived there now. 

699
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,880
And there was a believer in 
Damascus named Ananias, and the 

700
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,360
Lord spoke to him in a vision 
calling Ananias. 

701
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:42,800
Yes, Lord. 
Oh, there's that beautiful word.

702
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,080
Yes, Lord, he replied. 
Now, I don't want you to put 

703
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:48,240
yourself in Paul's shoes. 
I want you to put yourself in an

704
00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:51,360
Ananias shoes. 
You know his reputation. 

705
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:52,760
You know what Paul's done, 
right? 

706
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,680
So the Lord said, go over to 
straight St. to the House of 

707
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:57,560
Judas. 
And when you get there, by the 

708
00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:58,880
way, not the same Judas. 
Don't worry. 

709
00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,320
When you get there, ask for a 
man from Tarsus named Saul. 

710
00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:06,720
He's praying to me right now. 
I've shown him a vision of a man

711
00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:09,400
named Ananias coming and then 
laying hands on him so he can 

712
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:15,520
see again. 
But Lord, how quick does our yes

713
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:19,640
change to? 
But Lord, he said, I've heard 

714
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:21,680
many people talk about the 
terrible things this man has 

715
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,880
done to the believers in 
Jerusalem, and he's authorized 

716
00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:27,880
by the leading priest to arrest 
everyone who calls upon your 

717
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,920
name. 
But the Lord said, go, for Saul 

718
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,200
is my chosen instrument to take 
my message to the Gentiles and 

719
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:39,080
to kings as well as to the 
people of Israel, and I will 

720
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:41,880
show him how much he must suffer
for my name's sake. 

721
00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:47,640
So Ananias went and found Saul. 
He laid his hands on him, and he

722
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,480
said, Brother Saul, the Lord 
Jesus who appeared to you on the

723
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:55,160
road has sent me so that you 
might regain your sight and be 

724
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:59,200
filled with the Holy Spirit says
instantly something like scales 

725
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,320
fell from Saul's eyes and he 
regained his sight and he got up

726
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,720
and he was baptized. 
This moment is so much more 

727
00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:11,160
relatable than we often realize.
Paul begins again, but he's not 

728
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:12,960
immediately restored to 
influence. 

729
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,160
He submits to a process he can't
control. 

730
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,440
This man is coming in to lay 
hands and pray for him. 

731
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,840
He doesn't know him. 
He could be carrying a weapon. 

732
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:22,560
They're both afraid of each 
other. 

733
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,560
But this man who once commanded 
other people now receives 

734
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,840
ministry from other people. 
And I want you to notice this, 

735
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:33,640
that Paul's obedience doesn't 
just evolve or involve what he 

736
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:35,720
does. 
It involves how he allows 

737
00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:39,040
himself to be seen by others. 
Already you can start to see 

738
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:40,800
him, allowing people to see his 
weakness. 

739
00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:42,600
He's blind, of course he has 
need. 

740
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:45,200
He's not eaten in three days. 
He's been fasting. 

741
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,480
Of course he has need. 
Beginning again required Paul to

742
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,960
become reachable, and nobody 
could reach him before that road

743
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:55,000
to Damascus. 
So beginning again. 

744
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,680
If this is for you guys, it's 
not just a private decision 

745
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,600
between you and God. 
A lot of times this is going to 

746
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,000
look like letting God 
reintroduce obedience into 

747
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,560
everyday spaces where you once 
resisted it and you start to 

748
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,080
realize you're not always right.
It's humbling, isn't it? 

749
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,200
For some of us that can look 
like re entering the spiritual 

750
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,040
disciplines that we accidentally
abandoned. 

751
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:18,280
And we talked a lot about that 
in December, maybe going back to

752
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,400
the scriptures, going back to 
prayer, coming back to 

753
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:22,800
community. 
But for some people, beginning 

754
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,080
again actually looks like 
letting people speak into your 

755
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,600
life again. 
If you have ever like just 

756
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:29,960
stopped and looked at your life 
and said when is the last time I

757
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,080
took advice from somebody and 
applied it, and you have trouble

758
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,040
figuring out when it is, that 
might be for you. 

759
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:40,320
Beginning again can sometimes 
look like finally doing what God

760
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:43,800
asked you years ago to do, and 
you were disobedient then, but 

761
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:46,200
you wonder why God's not giving 
you new instructions now. 

762
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,160
Maybe it's a conversation you 
avoided or a step of obedience 

763
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:52,520
might be labeled as someday now 
becomes right now. 

764
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,640
But for a lot of us, it also 
means learning to accept help 

765
00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:00,200
without shame. 
It's a good thing to accept 

766
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:01,360
help. 
It doesn't mean you're 

767
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:03,560
destitute. 
It doesn't mean you're helpless.

768
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:07,520
We're meant to help one another.
But this is what I want you to 

769
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:10,000
know about grace today. 
Grace doesn't ask you to fix 

770
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,040
everything all at once. 
It just asks you to say yes to 

771
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,120
what God is doing right now. 
If you can't say yes to right 

772
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:17,680
now, you're never going to get 
to the next request. 

773
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,880
This is how lives get changed. 
But the question that stops us 

774
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,880
all too often when it comes to 
this, when we decide we're going

775
00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:29,000
to begin again, is, as much as 
we hate to admit it, adults. 

776
00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:34,400
What will other people think? 
What will other people think? 

777
00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:38,440
Well, let's talk about that. 
And in the short I want to tell 

778
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:42,640
you, who cares what they think? 
It's not that simple. 

779
00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:46,280
By the way, the people who brag 
about how little they care about

780
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:48,760
what other people think care the
most. 

781
00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:54,200
Sorry to expose somebody on the 
surface. 

782
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:57,200
The spiritual answer is simple. 
If God says to do it, then do it

783
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,160
and it doesn't matter what 
people think, but God does care 

784
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:02,240
about what other people think. 
It doesn't influence what he 

785
00:41:02,240 --> 00:41:05,040
does, but he cares about it 
because people matter to Him. 

786
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:07,960
And if we're not careful, we 
will become so sold out to I'm 

787
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,760
just going to do what God says 
that now people become 

788
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:14,120
afterthoughts to us and now we 
don't care about what they say. 

789
00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:16,720
Maybe they say things in the 
wrong way, but they have an 

790
00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:19,240
intent to help us and we just 
shove them to the side. 

791
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,360
These people made in the image 
of God and now we don't receive 

792
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:26,200
help. 
What other people think doesn't 

793
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,840
determine if God has restored 
you, but it does tell you 

794
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:31,040
something about timing and trust
and wisdom. 

795
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:33,960
I want you to see this as we 
continue through Acts 9 and 

796
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,240
verse 21, Paul starts to go and 
teach the gospel. 

797
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:39,360
Now this is amazing and we love 
this. 

798
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:43,080
We love to see a life changed. 
But I want you to imagine that I

799
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,120
brought up a guest speaker today
and I said, this is somebody in 

800
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:47,800
ISIS who's killed a lot of 
Christians. 

801
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:51,040
But I don't want you to worry 
about it because three weeks ago

802
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:56,880
he got saved. 
And I want you guys to invite 

803
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,520
him to your house. 
I want you guys to show him 

804
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:03,800
genuine Christian love, OK? 
This is somebody who is now 

805
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:06,560
showing up and preaching Jesus 
and they're like, you arrested 

806
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:13,080
my grandma last month, OK? 
And all who heard him in verse 

807
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:16,240
21 were amazed. 
I bet they were. 

808
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,280
Isn't this the same man who 
caused such devastation among 

809
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,080
Jesus's followers in Jerusalem? 
And they asked, didn't he come 

810
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:25,720
here to arrest them and take 
them in chains to the leading 

811
00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:27,960
priests? 
And Saul's preaching became more

812
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,000
and more powerful. 
And the Jews in Damascus 

813
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:33,240
couldn't refute his proofs that 
Jesus was indeed the Messiah. 

814
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,640
This is great news. 
He's undeniable. 

815
00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:39,000
He's got a gift. 
God has anointed him. 

816
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:42,920
And verse 23, after a while, 
some of the Jews plotted 

817
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:48,160
together to kill him. 
They were watching for him day 

818
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:50,640
and night at the city gate so 
they could murder him. 

819
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:52,560
But Saul was told about their 
plot. 

820
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:55,440
So during the night, some of the
other believers lowered him in a

821
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,480
large basket through an opening 
in the city wall. 

822
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,840
And when Saul arrived in 
Jerusalem, he tried to meet with

823
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,400
the believers. 
This is Jerusalem where most of 

824
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:07,440
his chaos happened. 
But they were all afraid of him.

825
00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:12,240
I get it. 
They did not believe he had 

826
00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:15,880
truly become a believer. 
And then Barnabas brought him to

827
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,880
the apostles and told them how 
Saul had seen the Lord on the 

828
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:21,880
way to Damascus and how the Lord
had spoken to Saul. 

829
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,480
And he also told them that Saul 
had preached boldly in the name 

830
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:29,160
of Jesus in Damascus. 
So Saul stayed with the apostles

831
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,720
and went all around Jerusalem 
with them, preaching boldly in 

832
00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:33,160
the name of the Lord. 
And wouldn't that be a great 

833
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:38,280
place to cap off that he debated
with some Greek speaking Jews 

834
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:42,120
but they tried to murder him, 
noticing a pattern here. 

835
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,120
When the believers heard about 
this, they took him down to 

836
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,960
Caesarea and sent him away to 
Tarsus, his hometown. 

837
00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:51,600
He's not even effective as a 
preacher now. 

838
00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:54,720
But hasn't God genuinely changed
him? 

839
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:56,600
Genuinely gave him a fresh 
start? 

840
00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:59,720
Yes, but people don't always 
catch up to what God is doing in

841
00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:04,240
your life and you are not 
allowed to hate them for it. 

842
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:10,200
You have spent a long time 
teaching them who you are, and 

843
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:11,880
now you can tell them it's 
different. 

844
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:15,160
But you're going to have to take
at least as long sometimes to 

845
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:19,280
show them who you are now. 
Some are amazed, some are 

846
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:21,360
afraid. 
Most of them just don't trust 

847
00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:23,600
him yet and so the church 
doesn't rush him into 

848
00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:25,960
leadership. 
But they also don't dismiss him 

849
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,480
because of his past. 
They don't pretend everything is

850
00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:30,640
fine. 
They protect him and redirect 

851
00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:32,560
him and send him away for a 
time. 

852
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:37,680
Paul's not rejected by God, but 
he also is not immediately 

853
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:39,320
received by everyone else 
either. 

854
00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:42,240
And so I want to encourage you, 
if God is doing something brand 

855
00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:46,200
new in you, you can see what God
is accomplishing in you, but 

856
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,840
other people can't. 
Don't take that to heart. 

857
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:53,400
If you know God is doing 
something new in you, you 

858
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,040
believe it. 
You walk it out. 

859
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,320
Don't let somebody else talk you
out of what you've said yes to 

860
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:02,920
God about, but also don't get 
mad at them if they don't see 

861
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,400
it. 
You don't see everything God's 

862
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:12,400
doing in their life either. 
So let him be their God and let 

863
00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:16,560
him be your God. 
Years and years later in first 

864
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:20,200
Timothy 1, starting in verse 12 
and older, Paul writes to his 

865
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,840
spiritual son and he says, I 
thank Christ Jesus our Lord, 

866
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:26,520
who's given me strength to do 
his work. 

867
00:45:27,240 --> 00:45:30,920
He considered me trustworthy and
He appointed me to serve Him, 

868
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:34,840
even though I used to blasphemy 
the name of Christ in my 

869
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:39,080
insolence. 
I persecuted His people, but God

870
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:42,920
had mercy on me because I did it
in ignorance and unbelief. 

871
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:47,280
Oh how generous and gracious our
Lord was. 

872
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,720
He filled me with the faith and 
love that come from Christ 

873
00:45:50,720 --> 00:45:53,360
Jesus. 
This is a trustworthy saying and

874
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:57,680
everyone should accept it. 
I agree with him for what it's 

875
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,320
worth. 
Christ Jesus came into the world

876
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:06,160
to save sinners, and I am the 
worst of them all, but God had 

877
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:09,400
mercy on me so that Christ Jesus
could use me as a prime example 

878
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,800
of his great patients with even 
the worst sinners. 

879
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:15,960
And then others will realize 
that they too can believe in him

880
00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:20,080
and receive eternal life. 
Paul isn't even attempting to 

881
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:23,200
rewrite the past. 
This is what governments do. 

882
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:25,720
That's what kings do. 
They try to rewrite things so 

883
00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:28,000
that they look shiny and 
successful. 

884
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,840
They want to have a good legacy.
And he's like, did you all see 

885
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:34,360
how much I stunk? 
I'm really trying to keep APG. 

886
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:37,600
Do you see how awful I was? 
How I was like one of the worst 

887
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:39,640
human beings to ever walk the 
earth? 

888
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:42,200
Do you see the awful things I 
did to the church? 

889
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,360
And have you seen what God has 
done through me? 

890
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:48,720
Now this should give 
encouragement to everyone who 

891
00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:52,480
has ever felt like the chief of 
sinners that God can do 

892
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,960
something through you. 
When you learn that the grace of

893
00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:00,080
God equips you without freeing 
you from everything that you 

894
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:03,040
struggle with, you learn that 
the things you struggle with 

895
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:07,000
don't get the final word. 
It's a little heavy. 

896
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:08,120
So let's talk about Justin 
Bieber. 

897
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:13,640
So I'm just going to tell you 
right now, because I used to 

898
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:16,040
work in the music industry and I
used to take great pride in 

899
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:17,640
being like, oh, that person's 
going to be superstar. 

900
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:20,080
Justin Bieber came out. 
I was like, you don't have a 

901
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:22,640
long career. 
Remember that first song Baby 

902
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:25,360
that came out? 
A little swooshy hair made fun 

903
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:26,960
of every boy in the youth group 
that had it. 

904
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:33,440
Well, he's had a pretty good 
career as far as hits goes. 

905
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:38,360
And many years ago, he started 
to talk about Jesus and he got 

906
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:40,640
baptized. 
And more and more his faith 

907
00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:43,120
would come up in these different
interviews, in these different 

908
00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:45,240
discussions. 
And the reason I bring up Justin

909
00:47:45,240 --> 00:47:48,880
Bieber is because most 
Christians had the same reaction

910
00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:52,080
that we normally do. 
And we fall into two categories.

911
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:56,000
When a celebrity starts talking 
about Jesus, some of us with no 

912
00:47:56,000 --> 00:48:00,320
research whatsoever, go, look, 
he's a Christian now. 

913
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:08,120
And some of us say, yeah, we'll 
see how many of us, every time 

914
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:10,320
we hear celebrities start 
talking about Jesus, immediately

915
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:11,920
go, that man's on my prayer 
list. 

916
00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:15,480
Most of us don't. 
In fact, we barely look at 

917
00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:17,680
famous people like they're 
actually human beings, but they 

918
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:20,920
are. 
Justin Bieber even got baptized 

919
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:24,800
by a pastor that ended up 
falling into his own scandal. 

920
00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:29,680
And Justin Bieber is continuing 
to talk about Jesus to this day.

921
00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:32,400
So this is what's interesting to
me. 

922
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:35,640
Justin Bieber didn't convince 
people that he was serious about

923
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:37,720
his faith because he got 
baptized. 

924
00:48:37,720 --> 00:48:40,200
He didn't convince people about 
it because he gave one 

925
00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:42,680
interview. 
But most people that do follow 

926
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:45,640
that stuff believe he's a real 
believer because he's been 

927
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:47,760
consistent and he's talked about
it over time. 

928
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:50,480
In fact, he's got a lot of 
sympathy from people who say, 

929
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:52,360
now I understand a lot of what 
you went through. 

930
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:55,760
I understand why you ended up 
where you were, and once you 

931
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:57,800
understand somebody, it's really
hard to hate them. 

932
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:01,720
And now he's got a lot of people
that are on his side with it. 

933
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:06,600
Now, I'm not saying that Justin 
Bieber is a modern Paul, or am I

934
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:12,280
not calling him a theologian, 
But is he a case of somebody who

935
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:15,920
lived one way and then had a 
dramatic moment with the Lord 

936
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:19,120
and learned to give him a yes 
and is consistently giving him a

937
00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:21,040
yes? 
And people are having their mind

938
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:23,920
changed because they can see a 
long history of saying yes. 

939
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:31,280
And in that regard, if he can be
a modern Paul, so can you. 

940
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:35,520
But what it's going to take is 
some vulnerability. 

941
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:37,560
You're going to have to hang the
pirates. 

942
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:41,600
Even at the end of his life, he 
said, I blasphemed God, I 

943
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,360
persecuted his church. 
I'm responsible for the deaths 

944
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:48,000
of people. 
And God forgave me because I was

945
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:52,040
ignorant. 
And so when you're talking to 

946
00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:54,600
people, it's not just saying 
look at how God has blessed me. 

947
00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:59,640
Look at my car. 
Look at this, whatever it comes 

948
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:01,720
with. 
Look what God saved me from. 

949
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:06,320
Here are all the reasons why I 
wouldn't want to hang out with 

950
00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:09,840
me if I was looking at me from 
the eyes of somebody else. 

951
00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:13,640
And look what God chose to do. 
That's what's going to give 

952
00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:16,760
people hope. 
If all you do is express all of 

953
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:19,960
the blessings that you see, then
people just look and they say, 

954
00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:21,680
well, I wish God would bless me 
like that. 

955
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,640
Show them your thorns. 
Hang the pirates. 

956
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:28,880
It will not only give other 
people freedom to feel safe 

957
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:32,120
around you and say, OK, I 
understand they have struggles, 

958
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:35,480
so they're safe to be around. 
It'll probably also be a warning

959
00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:37,720
to the enemy. 
Yeah, you might attack me 

960
00:50:37,720 --> 00:50:39,720
another way, but I'm just going 
to hang that pirate, too. 

961
00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:42,720
You're going to throw another 
thorn my way. 

962
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:46,040
I'm just going to become 
stronger. 

963
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:49,320
Every thorn that came Paul's 
way, he became more strong 

964
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:50,560
because it was the Lord's 
strength. 

965
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:54,520
So like I said earlier, it's 
obvious that the question what 

966
00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:56,720
will other people think doesn't 
disappear just because you 

967
00:50:56,720 --> 00:50:59,200
decide to follow Jesus and take 
it more seriously. 

968
00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:01,640
Grace doesn't remove that 
problem either. 

969
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:04,160
It only teaches you how to live 
consistently inside of it. 

970
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:09,640
Paul was called immediately and 
he was changed immediately, but 

971
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:12,040
he was trusted gradually. 
So be patient. 

972
00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:16,640
Let 2026 be a year of patience. 
It may not look dramatic to a 

973
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:20,440
lot of people, but it can pay 
off big time eventually. 

974
00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:22,200
There's three moves that I want 
to share with you that can 

975
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:24,320
really help you if you're trying
to begin again in an area. 

976
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:28,280
The first thing that I would 
tell you is obey God 

977
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:31,360
consistently. 
Now you say, Pastor Blake, you 

978
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:34,440
use that as one of your steps at
least once a month. 

979
00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:41,640
Yeah, I do. 
You know why it's so important 

980
00:51:42,240 --> 00:51:45,960
consistently? 
Well, God did ask me to forgive,

981
00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:51,400
you know, my uncle back in 2017,
and I did really proud of you. 

982
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:54,640
What's he telling you to do now?
And more importantly, are you 

983
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:57,440
doing it? 
Because as I hinted at earlier, 

984
00:51:57,440 --> 00:52:00,080
a lot of times we're asking God 
for a fresh word and he's 

985
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:04,760
wanting to give us a fresh word,
but we've not answered the last 

986
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:07,240
word. 
And God has asked us to do 

987
00:52:07,240 --> 00:52:11,240
something, but because we're 
unwilling to do it, He cannot 

988
00:52:11,240 --> 00:52:13,240
give us something else. 
Why would he give us new 

989
00:52:13,240 --> 00:52:17,080
responsibility when we've 
already proven irresponsible? 

990
00:52:19,720 --> 00:52:22,360
But when God does give you a 
step, just know this. 

991
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:24,400
You don't have to announce every
change that you're making or 

992
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:27,440
explain yourself at every turn. 
One of the reasons a lot of 

993
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:30,560
Christians fall out of their 
life changes is because they'll 

994
00:52:30,560 --> 00:52:34,120
announce them in a way that then
we as loving and judgmental 

995
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:37,960
Christians hold them accountable
in an unrealistic way. 

996
00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:41,760
Today, you know, this is the 
year that I stop crossing or 

997
00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:43,400
whatever. 
And then the next time we do 

998
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:47,520
when we're like, I knew you 
wouldn't go. 

999
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:51,600
Christians, a lot of times we 
put pressure on ourselves 

1000
00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:54,360
because we tell everybody, this 
will be the year I have no more 

1001
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:56,840
drops of alcohol. 
I'm I'm changing my lifestyle. 

1002
00:52:56,840 --> 00:52:58,480
This is the year that I'm blah, 
blah, blah, blah, blah. 

1003
00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:04,040
No, no, no, you're just now 
proclaiming in your own prophecy

1004
00:53:04,040 --> 00:53:05,800
that you will never struggle 
with that again. 

1005
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:08,120
That's not the way that any of 
this works. 

1006
00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:11,240
You will struggle with it and 
God will be with you and His 

1007
00:53:11,240 --> 00:53:14,400
strength will keep you going. 
And if people can see it in the 

1008
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:18,960
process, they will cheer you on.
If they believe you are trying 

1009
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:22,160
hard to grow. 
You might say, well, some people

1010
00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:23,920
won't cheer me on, quit talking 
to them. 

1011
00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:28,400
Well, every time I talk to them 
they'd make me feel like I can't

1012
00:53:28,400 --> 00:53:29,320
do it. 
Stop it. 

1013
00:53:29,320 --> 00:53:35,880
Then secondly, make your peace 
that there's a process. 

1014
00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:37,760
Instead of getting affirmation 
from everybody. 

1015
00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,360
If you have got to hear you're 
doing a great job, you're 

1016
00:53:40,360 --> 00:53:42,000
killing it, you're continuing to
do it. 

1017
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:44,920
That's the only fuel you're 
running on. 

1018
00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:49,160
Paul had to learn to make his 
peace, that even in his time 

1019
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:53,240
away, it was a preparation. 
A lot of theologians believe 

1020
00:53:53,240 --> 00:53:57,000
that he was gone for about 7 to 
10 years in Tarsus. 

1021
00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:00,920
A decade of his life could have 
been spent resetting before he 

1022
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:03,840
launched back into ministry. 
That's wild. 

1023
00:54:04,320 --> 00:54:06,040
Think about it. 
Think about how old you'll be in

1024
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:08,680
a decade. 
Imagine if God was like then, 

1025
00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:10,720
then I'll use you in a different
way. 

1026
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:13,680
But he didn't look at that as 
this is my punishment now I have

1027
00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:15,480
to wait. 
He looked at it as a time of 

1028
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:17,440
preparation. 
And the last thing you're going 

1029
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:20,080
to have to decide is whose voice
really carries the most weight. 

1030
00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:24,400
You may be mostly following God 
in a season, but if the voice 

1031
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:27,520
that carries the most weight are
the people that are criticizing 

1032
00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:30,240
you, the people that have an 
unrealistic expectation of you, 

1033
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:33,720
eventually they're going to talk
you out of God's voice. 

1034
00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:38,360
You can't let the fear of 
opinion silence your obedience 

1035
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:40,760
to God either. 
So beginning again means 

1036
00:54:40,760 --> 00:54:43,120
learning to listen without being
led by fear. 

1037
00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:47,520
Paul teaches us that a yes, 
that's repeated over time is how

1038
00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:51,280
God rebuilds a life. 
And before I really move on and 

1039
00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:56,040
wrap this up, I just, I can't 
help but wonder this as we as we

1040
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:58,640
sit with this idea, since I 
talked about a celebrity that 

1041
00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:02,040
got saved, I wonder if 
celebrities who try to change 

1042
00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:04,920
would do better if we encourage 
them instead of criticizing 

1043
00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:07,760
them. 
I wonder how many stories we 

1044
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:09,920
dismissed too quickly because 
we've already decided who 

1045
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:13,040
somebody is. 
And I wonder if Paul could have 

1046
00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:16,000
gone a little further and a 
little faster if there had been 

1047
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,800
more support in his day instead 
of fear. 

1048
00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:22,600
I wonder what would happen right
here in our own church, here at 

1049
00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:25,760
Liberty, if we believed people 
sooner and chose to help them 

1050
00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:30,960
grow instead of waiting to see 
perfection, knowing full well 

1051
00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:34,520
that beginning again is always a
bumpy and imperfect process. 

1052
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:37,280
We might not just change 
individual lives. 

1053
00:55:37,280 --> 00:55:38,960
We might change the whole 
culture here. 

1054
00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:43,600
But today, today we asked just 
two simple questions. 

1055
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:45,480
We asked is beginning again, 
even aloud. 

1056
00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:49,160
And we asked, what will people 
think when we do this? 

1057
00:55:51,240 --> 00:55:53,520
And we've seen that grace 
doesn't wait for us to have 

1058
00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:56,840
everything figured out. 
But beginning again always 

1059
00:55:56,840 --> 00:56:00,040
starts when we stop delaying, 
stop hiding, and we start saying

1060
00:56:00,040 --> 00:56:03,000
yes. 
Paul learned that the weakness 

1061
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:05,560
he wanted removed became the 
place where God's power was most

1062
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:11,280
clearly seen, and he stopped 
despising his thorn, not because

1063
00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:13,200
the thorn became pleasant to 
him, but because it had a 

1064
00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:15,480
purpose. 
His thorn had become part of an 

1065
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:18,200
even greater exchange. 
One last scripture that I want 

1066
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:20,400
to share with you this morning 
in the book of Hebrews, chapter 

1067
00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:25,160
4 tells us this. 
Since we have a great high 

1068
00:56:25,160 --> 00:56:30,440
priest who has entered heaven, 
Jesus the Son of God, let us 

1069
00:56:30,440 --> 00:56:34,120
hold firmly to what we believe. 
This high priest of ours 

1070
00:56:34,160 --> 00:56:38,800
understands our weaknesses, for 
he faced all the same testings 

1071
00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:43,600
we do, but he did not sin. 
So let us come boldly to the 

1072
00:56:43,600 --> 00:56:47,760
throne of our gracious God. 
There we will receive his mercy,

1073
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:52,080
and we will find grace to help 
us when we need it the most. 

1074
00:56:52,600 --> 00:56:54,760
There we'll find what to help us
when we need it the most. 

1075
00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:58,400
Grace. 
And the author of Hebrews tells 

1076
00:56:58,400 --> 00:57:01,080
us to come boldly. 
So listen to this. 

1077
00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:03,880
Paul eventually understood 
something that I don't think 

1078
00:57:03,880 --> 00:57:05,800
we've ever really wrapped our 
heads around before. 

1079
00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:10,200
The thing that reminded him of 
his limitation, that Thorne also

1080
00:57:10,200 --> 00:57:12,960
reminded him of Christ's 
sufficiency. 

1081
00:57:13,440 --> 00:57:15,640
It reminded him of how strong 
God was. 

1082
00:57:16,080 --> 00:57:18,400
If we would start to look at our
weaknesses, the things that we 

1083
00:57:18,400 --> 00:57:21,280
haven't been able to shake and 
use them, reframe it as a 

1084
00:57:21,320 --> 00:57:25,160
reminder of how God is still at 
work and still powerful Despite 

1085
00:57:25,160 --> 00:57:28,920
that, then we'll remember the 
great exchange. 

1086
00:57:29,600 --> 00:57:33,280
Do you all remember what Jesus 
crown was made of when they 

1087
00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:38,000
crucified him? 
Is it possible that these thorns

1088
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:41,840
that you and I wish we didn't 
have, he wears them like a crown

1089
00:57:45,320 --> 00:57:48,640
so that you can wear His 
strength. 

1090
00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:53,640
If he's not ashamed of it, then 
we're not ashamed of it. 

1091
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:56,320
And I don't care how long you've
gone to this church. 

1092
00:57:56,480 --> 00:57:58,080
I don't care how long you've 
served the Lord. 

1093
00:57:59,120 --> 00:58:01,040
As a matter of fact, a lot of 
times when we serve the Lord a 

1094
00:58:01,040 --> 00:58:03,920
long time, that's where we start
to really hide it and cover it 

1095
00:58:03,920 --> 00:58:05,480
up. 
What will people think if I 

1096
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:08,640
serve the Lord for 27 years and 
then I'm still got to struggle 

1097
00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:10,400
on? 
They might think you're a human,

1098
00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:15,000
so watch out. 
I understand that we struggle to

1099
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,080
trust ourselves, and next week 
we're going to talk about 

1100
00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:18,560
learning to trust ourselves 
again. 

1101
00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:21,800
By the way, you cannot fully 
trust yourself, but you can 

1102
00:58:21,800 --> 00:58:24,080
trust what God is doing in you. 
We'll talk about that. 

1103
00:58:25,480 --> 00:58:28,560
That scripture says to come 
boldly before the throne. 

1104
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:32,720
So I'm going to ask you to do 
something uncomfortable. 

1105
00:58:35,640 --> 00:58:37,760
If there's some area in your 
life that you're going to begin 

1106
00:58:37,760 --> 00:58:39,680
again, y'all know we end with 
music. 

1107
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:42,880
I'm just going to ask that you 
come forward, that you would 

1108
00:58:42,880 --> 00:58:44,520
boldly come before the throne 
this morning. 

1109
00:58:44,520 --> 00:58:46,960
You don't need to tell somebody 
what you're struggling with yet,

1110
00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:49,360
but if there's an area that 
you're looking to start over 

1111
00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:53,920
fresh as we close with worship 
this morning, I want you to know

1112
00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:56,880
you don't have to have 
everything resolved and you 

1113
00:58:56,880 --> 00:58:58,400
don't have to wait until the 
thorn is gone. 

1114
00:58:58,400 --> 00:59:01,760
That thorn may never be gone, 
and you don't have to be 

1115
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:05,800
believed by everyone, but you do
have to become bold enough to 

1116
00:59:05,800 --> 00:59:10,440
walk to Him, receive His grace, 
and start once and for all 

1117
00:59:10,440 --> 00:59:13,160
publicly hanging the pirates. 
So if that's for you this 

1118
00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:15,480
morning, I'll see you at the 
front.