Rock Solid Faith: In Weakness We Gain New Strength

What this episode covers

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:13-16 The Road To Strength Comes Through Our Weakness I. IDENTIFY YOUR WEAKNESS “…3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do notthink of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather thinkof yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faithGod has distributed to each of you..” Romans 12:3 II. ALLOW GOD TO USE MY WEAKNESSES WEAKNESSES CAN PREVENT ME FROM BEING CONCEITED “7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away fromme. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 WEAKNESSES SHOULD CAUSE ME TO VALUE OTHERS “21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…” 1 Cor. 12:21-22 WEAKNESSES SHOULD ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­MAKE ME DEPENDENT ON GOD Paul: “10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. MY WEAKNESSES SHOULD ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­GIVE ME A MINISTRY “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfortthose in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:4 III. OPENLY ADMIT OUR WEAKNESSES TO CHANGE THEM What is vulnerability? Being open and honest with somebody else about my own weaknesses. VULNERABILTY IS SPIRITUALLY EMPOWERING “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 VULNERABILITY IS EMOTIONALLY HEALING “Confess your faults to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” James 5:16 BEING WEAK SO GOD CAN BE STRONG MEANS BEING VULNERABLE & AUTHENTIC “We speak with complete honesty, hiding nothing, sharing our true feelings, and opening our heart wide to you.” 2 Corinthians 6:11 IN WEAKNESS WE ADMIT OUR FRUSTRATIONS “I think you ought to know dear brothers, about the hard time we went through in Asia. We were really crushed and overwhelmed, and feared we would never live through it. Wefelt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 IN WEAKNESS WE ADMIT OUR FAULTS “ Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5 IN WEAKNESS WE ADMIT OUR FAILURES “5 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1:15 “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannotcarry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, butthe evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.!” Romans 7:18-19 IN WEAKNESS WE ADMIT OUR FEARS I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and mypreaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demon