A lesson from a tree on this week's episode of Liberty at
Home. Hello, everyone.
Adam Rivero here for the latest edition of Liberty at Home.
As you may know, I'm the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, which
meets on Route 138 right here in town.
And today, as always, we're broadcasting from Easton, MA,
which is part of the South Shore of Boston.
Or is it? It depends on who you ask.
Let me know in the comments. Today we'll be looking at the
words of the Apostle Paul and 2nd Corinthians.
So pause the video if you're watching online.
Grab your Bible and join me as we read 3 verses from Chapter
11. And beginning in verse 8.
It says, For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it
might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I
rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in my
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. When we moved into our apartment
in Easton a few years ago, the complex was still being built,
Building by building. Living in the midst of a
construction zone and watching the complex come together was
interesting. Near the end of construction, a
landscaping company came and planted scores of trees all over
the complex. These saplings were scraggly
looking, In fact, most of them looked as if a puff of wind
could snap them in two. To protect these young trees
from such a fate, their trunks were bolstered by straps that
were attached to stakes deep in the soil and they stayed tied
down this way for over 2 years. During this time, the trees were
able to put down roots deep into the soil.
Once the trees had grown sufficiently both above and
below ground, the stakes were removed.
Now, later, as our apartment complex expanded again, a
temporary safety fence was placed around the new
construction zone. However, this flimsy fence fell
over several times in the first week or two after it was erected
when a string of strong storms blew through town.
After that happened, I noticed something interesting about this
ramshackle fence though. To keep it from continually
falling over, someone had placed straps on it and anchored it to
a nearby tree. Now, a few years ago, the tree
was the one that needed strength.
Now it was providing strength to something else that was weak.
Now getting back to our text, in 2nd Corinthians 12, Paul
describes an infirmity that he calls his thorn in the flesh.
Although we don't know what exactly the specific condition
was, it was something that caused him great physical
weakness. In fact, he says that he asked
God on three separate occasions to take away this weakening
agent from his life. Yet God did not answer Paul's
request in the way the apostle was hoping.
He remained weak in his body. But over time, Paul came to
understanding that this weakness was actually beneficial for his
life. In fact, God told Paul, My grace
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Which brought Paul to the
conclusion that most gladly therefore will I rather glory in
my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches and
necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then I am become strong.
Because Paul was weakened through his physical
difficulties, he was then able to strengthen thousands upon
thousands of others through his personal weaknesses.
Like a weak tree that later was able to lend strength to another
object, Paul was able to aid untold numbers on his missionary
journeys. All because he had experienced
weakness in his own life. Of course, he couldn't do this
on his own power. It was the power of Christ that
was the straps that stabilized him and allowed him to grow in
his time of weakness. Friend, if you're going through
trials in your life, don't focus on your weaknesses.
Allow the power of Christ to strengthen you so that you in
turn can strengthen those around you.
Take heart in the words of Peter, who said in his first
epistle. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though
some strange thing happened unto you.
But rejoice in so much as your partakers of Christ's
sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, He may be
glad also with exceeding joy in your weakness.
God will give you strength, and in turn, you'll be able to
strengthen someone else who needs your help.
Well, it's time to call it a day for this week's episode of
Liberty at Home. But just before we go off air, I
want to remind you to come see us sometime soon at 800
Washington Street, right here in Easton.
We meet every Sunday morning at 11 AM, Sunday night at 5:00 PM,
and Wednesday night at 7:00 PM. Check us out and follow all of
our digital platforms at my libertybaptist.org.
Well, I'm Pastor Adam Rivero, signing off from ECAT today.
Remind you as always that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty. See you next week right here on
Liberty at home.