# The Mentor You Didn't Ask For

An episode of [Elevation with Steven Furtick](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/216015753), 16 Oct 2026, 1 h 03 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/cbb40a38-726f-4243-a86e-b0ed01477640/6ec881af-3733-4c40-b8c5-b4e401512734/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=ff9164b2-aa64-410d-9ee1-b0ed0147765c

Some lessons are only learned in the face of adversity. In "The Mentor You Didn't Ask For," Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church reveals that even during the painful seasons of life, God has a plan for you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Furtick.
[0:02] Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
[0:05] Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
[0:08] Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
[0:11] Speaker 2: gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.
[0:13] Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
[0:17] Speaker 2: I want to go back to Corinth this week. We
[0:20] Speaker 2: were last week talking about a troubled mind and an
[0:24] Speaker 2: open door. That greatest opposition comes in the moments of
[0:31] Speaker 2: of greatest opportunity. I believe God gave somebody discernment last
[0:36] Speaker 2: week about a door you're standing in front of and
[0:39] Speaker 2: the Devil you're fighting to get through it. Well, this
[0:43] Speaker 2: week I want to journey further into the book of
[0:45] Speaker 2: 2 Corinthians. I'm really excited. I'm gripping onto the pulpit,
[0:56] Speaker 2: just trying to calm down. Oh, man, this is so good.
[1:01] Speaker 1: This is so good. I already heard it.
[1:03] Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit preached it to me, and I promise
[1:06] Speaker 2: you it's good. Now, I might mess it up trying
[1:10] Speaker 2: to preach it to you, but the way God gave
[1:11] Speaker 2: it to me ….
[1:14] Speaker 1: Breathtaking. So, we're going back to Corinth.
[1:21] Speaker 2: This is a very culturally compromised church, confused church, but
[1:27] Speaker 2: we're going to Corinth one more time. The apostle Paul
[1:31] Speaker 2: is getting personal with these believers. I believe he has
[1:36] Speaker 2: a personal word to speak to us today. Not Paul,
[1:38] Speaker 2: but God. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 6. Paul says, Even
[1:45] Speaker 2: if I should choose to boast, I would not be
[1:48] Speaker 2: a fool, because I'd be speaking the truth.
[1:51] Speaker 1: He's quite confident, this apostle. He's like, I can back
[1:55] Speaker 1: it up. If I told you everything that God had
[1:58] Speaker 1: did for me, it wouldn't be boasting. It'd just be facts. Wow.
[2:03] Speaker 1: But I refrain, he.
[2:04] Speaker 2: Said, so that no one will think more of me
[2:08] Speaker 2: than is warranted by what I do or say, or
[2:13] Speaker 2: because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to
[2:18] Speaker 2: keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn
[2:24] Speaker 2: in my flesh.
[2:27] Speaker 1: Messenger of Satan to torment me.
[2:31] Speaker 2: Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it
[2:35] Speaker 2: away from me, but he said to me, My grace
[2:42] Speaker 2: is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
[2:47] Speaker 2: in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
[2:51] Speaker 2: about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
[2:56] Speaker 2: That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses
[3:00] Speaker 2: and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. For when
[3:08] Speaker 2: I am weak, then I am strong. Now I want
[3:20] Speaker 2: to preach about verse 7. Therefore, in order to keep
[3:23] Speaker 2: me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in
[3:25] Speaker 2: my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. We're
[3:31] Speaker 2: going to call this message, The Mentor You Didn't Ask For.
[3:37] Speaker 2: The Mentor You Didn't Ask For. Holy Spirit, administer your
[3:43] Speaker 2: word in Jesus' name. Amen. Be seated.
[3:47] Speaker 1: Be seated. Be seated.
[3:51] Speaker 2: The mentor you didn't ask for. Had a little argument
[3:57] Speaker 2: with some family members recently. Not necessarily an argument. It
[4:01] Speaker 2: wasn't contentious.
[4:02] Speaker 1: It just was.
[4:04] Speaker 2: I probably stated my position too strongly now that I
[4:06] Speaker 2: look back on it. We were talking about people who
[4:09] Speaker 2: had influenced our life for Christ, and somebody said the
[4:13] Speaker 2: word mentor. I don't even know if that's a buzzword anymore.
[4:16] Speaker 2: It was a big buzzword when I was starting Elevation Church.
[4:19] Speaker 1: Mentor. Who's your mentor?
[4:21] Speaker 2: You need a mentor in the ministry. It's still obviously
[4:25] Speaker 2: a corporate America term. Culturally, I don't know so much anymore.
[4:29] Speaker 2: It's been replaced by influencers. I don't know if we
[4:34] Speaker 2: talk in the language of mentor, but I made a
[4:36] Speaker 2: statement to my family who attend our Greenville campus, Holly's
[4:41] Speaker 2: sister and.
[4:41] Speaker 1: Husband and dad and mom.
[4:43] Speaker 2: I said, I don't believe in mentors anymore. Everybody said,
[4:48] Speaker 2: now that's extreme. It probably was. Looking back, it probably
[4:52] Speaker 2: was extreme. But you have to understand, I've just had
[4:55] Speaker 2: some weird experiences with weird people. So, I'm probably coming
[5:03] Speaker 2: from that standpoint of the idea of a mentor. If
[5:12] Speaker 2: it was Paul, I could get it, because Paul was
[5:16] Speaker 2: a master builder. He called himself that Now do you
[5:21] Speaker 2: see why God had to give him a thorn to
[5:22] Speaker 2: keep him humble? He called himself a master builder.
[5:27] Speaker 1: But everybody is not Mr. Miyagi.
[5:32] Speaker 2: In certain moments of my life, I've been a little
[5:36] Speaker 2: bit resistant to people who have a lot of expertise
[5:41] Speaker 2: without much experience. It seems to be the day we're
[5:46] Speaker 2: living in. There is no shortage of unsolicited opinions. Even
[5:52] Speaker 2: one time when the church was first getting going, we
[5:56] Speaker 2: needed a building to meet, and I went to meet
[5:58] Speaker 2: with a guy.
[5:58] Speaker 1: I can remember the room. I don't remember his name.
[6:01] Speaker 2: I remember the room, and I remember something so weird
[6:04] Speaker 2: that happened. This is probably why I don't really like
[6:07] Speaker 2: the term mentor that much, because I was talking about,
[6:11] Speaker 2: you know, we need some resources, and can we use
[6:13] Speaker 2: your building to meet when you're not using it and
[6:16] Speaker 2: things like that.
[6:17] Speaker 1: The guy took it a little too far.
[6:19] Speaker 2: He said, Son, you're here asking me for a building
[6:22] Speaker 2: and a little bit of money for your budget, but
[6:25] Speaker 2: it seems like to me what you really need is
[6:29] Speaker 2: a daddy. Then he goes, Larry Bright is my witness.
[6:38] Speaker 2: He goes, I'll be your daddy. So, you'll understand …
[6:49] Speaker 2: The idea of a mentor is just a little complicated
[6:54] Speaker 2: for me, not just because of that one experience, but
[6:58] Speaker 2: I think early in my life I wanted God to
[7:01] Speaker 2: give me somebody who … I see this video game
[7:06] Speaker 2: that Graham plays called 2K, and he builds a player,
[7:10] Speaker 2: It's called My Player. He goes in and gives the
[7:13] Speaker 2: player everything, not only cosmetically but the skills and abilities.
[7:17] Speaker 2: I kind of always wanted God to give me someone
[7:21] Speaker 2: who would give me the right amount of lateral movement
[7:24] Speaker 2: and the right tattoos on my left arm and the
[7:26] Speaker 2: right height and the right speed and the right dunking.
[7:31] Speaker 2: I kind of wanted ministry to be like My Player
[7:33] Speaker 2: on 2K, where somebody could supercharge me with the answers
[7:37] Speaker 2: and stuff. One time, Holly … Y'all, Holly has this
[7:40] Speaker 2: ability to say stuff in a sentence.
[7:45] Speaker 1: That will stick with you.
[7:48] Speaker 2: So, I was complaining that I didn't really have …
[7:51] Speaker 2: I had a great dad, a great mom. I had
[7:53] Speaker 2: great people in my life who helped me along the way.
[7:54] Speaker 2: I could stand up here for a year and list them.
[7:56] Speaker 2: But I was looking for that one person who would
[8:00] Speaker 2: put their arm around me and say, this is.
[8:02] Speaker 1: How you do it in regards to preaching and leadership.
[8:06] Speaker 2: This is when you should build the building, and this
[8:08] Speaker 2: is when you should launch this part of the ministry,
[8:10] Speaker 2: and this is how you hire the right staff, and
[8:11] Speaker 2: basically somebody to shepherd me through a mistake-free ministry and
[8:16] Speaker 2: life and marriage.
[8:18] Speaker 1: A one-stop shop.
[8:22] Speaker 2: Holly said to me, in the middle of my discouragement,
[8:26] Speaker 2: this is what she said to comfort me. You know
[8:29] Speaker 2: God is never going to give you what you're asking for.
[8:35] Speaker 2: He's going to give you a lot of people to
[8:37] Speaker 2: guide you, but he is not going to let your
[8:41] Speaker 2: guides become your God.
[8:45] Speaker 1: She said that.
[8:47] Speaker 2: That sweet little Holly Furtick, thank you for your service
[8:52] Speaker 2: hours outreach.
[8:53] Speaker 1: She talked to the man of God that way.
[8:55] Speaker 2: In my face, God is never going to give you
[8:58] Speaker 2: book club Holly, bird lover Holly, french fry loving Holly
[9:02] Speaker 2: said that to me.
[9:03] Speaker 1: Can you believe it? She was right. God wasn't going
[9:09] Speaker 1: to give me what I was asking for.
[9:13] Speaker 2: One reason is that God cannot give you a mentor
[9:17] Speaker 2: for where you are that will limit you from where
[9:23] Speaker 2: he is ultimately leading you to be. If God would
[9:27] Speaker 2: have sent me in that season of my life one
[9:30] Speaker 2: person that I would pattern my life after totally ….
[9:34] Speaker 1: She said something important.
[9:35] Speaker 2: He's going to give you a lot of guides, but
[9:38] Speaker 2: he wants to be your God. He gave you a
[9:42] Speaker 2: unique gift, and only he knows.
[9:44] Speaker 1: … She didn't say all this. I'm preaching off of
[9:46] Speaker 1: what she said to me.
[9:48] Speaker 2: Fifteen years ago, God is not going to give you
[9:51] Speaker 2: a my-player career mode for your ministry. God is not
[9:56] Speaker 2: going to give you one person to model after, because
[9:59] Speaker 2: if you modeled after them completely and entirely, you would
[10:01] Speaker 2: be them, and.
[10:02] Speaker 1: He already has them, so he could kill you.
[10:05] Speaker 2: If God gave you one person, the person you compare
[10:07] Speaker 2: yourself to and think, oh, I could just be like them,
[10:09] Speaker 2: and if I could have what they have and do
[10:10] Speaker 2: what they do … If God gave.
[10:11] Speaker 1: You them, it would make you unnecessary.
[10:15] Speaker 2: She was trying to get me to see that in
[10:18] Speaker 2: life I will have many guides, but only one God.
[10:23] Speaker 2: Only one God who knows me. What I love about God,
[10:28] Speaker 2: the more I experience his will and his plan for
[10:30] Speaker 2: my little life, is that he's the only one who
[10:34] Speaker 2: can match the courses to the calling. If you go
[10:41] Speaker 2: to college, if you stay in college, you'll have to
[10:43] Speaker 2: declare a major eventually. The classes you take … You
[10:47] Speaker 2: can take any classes you want to. You can show
[10:48] Speaker 2: up when you want to. Nobody is going to make
[10:50] Speaker 2: you do anything. You can have a.
[10:51] Speaker 1: 7 GPA, Eric Phillips, if you want to.
[10:55] Speaker 2: You can party and flunk out and come to North
[10:57] Speaker 2: Greenville and follow me there and ask me to help
[10:58] Speaker 2: you get your life together if you want to, Eric Phillips.
[11:03] Speaker 2: But you can't declare a major and then pick the …
[11:07] Speaker 2: I think a lot of us want to pick an
[11:11] Speaker 2: outcome we want in our lives, but then … We
[11:16] Speaker 2: want to customize.
[11:19] Speaker 1: The courses, because we live in that age. We think that.
[11:28] Speaker 2: Mentorship is like a menu, like you're at Cheesecake Factory,
[11:33] Speaker 2: where the menu is thicker than the Bible.
[11:36] Speaker 1: Have you been to Cheesecake Factory? The menu is thicker
[11:39] Speaker 1: than the Septuagint.
[11:45] Speaker 2: That's kind of how the Corinthian church wanted to do
[11:48] Speaker 2: with Paul. I'm so furious at this church, because they
[11:55] Speaker 2: had the best pastor, the master pastor, Paul. How can
[12:00] Speaker 2: they be fighting with each other and divided within each
[12:03] Speaker 2: other when Paul is their pastor?
[12:07] Speaker 1: How can they have such.
[12:08] Speaker 2: A master mentor like Paul and be so petty and
[12:14] Speaker 2: How can they have a master mentor like Paul and
[12:18] Speaker 2: be so immature?
[12:21] Speaker 1: Now he's writing them a.
[12:22] Speaker 2: Letter, not as an advisor, not as a critic, as
[12:27] Speaker 2: a father.
[12:29] Speaker 1: To say to you, I see some things in your life.
[12:32] Speaker 2: This is one reason I don't like the concept of
[12:34] Speaker 2: a mentor either, because usually if we ask somebody to
[12:37] Speaker 2: be our mentor, we mean, will you be my mentor
[12:39] Speaker 2: until I don't agree with you anymore? Then I'll get
[12:40] Speaker 2: another one. Lord, you told me this message was going
[12:46] Speaker 2: to be hard to preach, but you didn't tell me
[12:47] Speaker 2: it was going.
[12:47] Speaker 1: To be this hard to preach to them. Now help
[12:49] Speaker 1: me out. No, we do this all the time. It's like, okay, okay, okay.
[12:55] Speaker 1: Here's how I typically do it in my life.
[12:57] Speaker 2: It's like I want to select certain things that I
[13:02] Speaker 2: want God to bring into my life to teach me lessons,
[13:06] Speaker 2: but not only do I want to select the lesson,
[13:09] Speaker 2: I want to select the outcome of the lesson. Paul
[13:17] Speaker 2: is having none of it. He's saying, you cannot customize Christ.
[13:24] Speaker 2: You can't customize Christ. What Paul went through to be
[13:28] Speaker 2: who he was, it cost him greatly. In chapter 11
[13:32] Speaker 2: of 2 Corinthians, he mentions a shipwreck. He mentions a stoning.
[13:37] Speaker 2: He mentions many storms. He mentions betrayals. He mentions opponents.
[13:43] Speaker 1: All of that In.
[13:43] Speaker 2: 2 Corinthians 11, Paul, who paid the price to be
[13:50] Speaker 2: an apostle of Jesus Christ, mentions all the things that
[13:53] Speaker 2: made him such.
[13:54] Speaker 1: A master pastor.
[13:58] Speaker 2: Now he's writing to a church that is in rebellion,
[14:01] Speaker 2: and he's reminding them of his resume. He says, I
[14:04] Speaker 2: could brag even more, but I'm not going to. I
[14:07] Speaker 2: just want you to judge me based on my results
[14:09] Speaker 2: and see if I'm somebody worth listening to. But before
[14:13] Speaker 2: you judge me based on my results, let me remind
[14:16] Speaker 2: you a little bit more of what qualifies me to
[14:19] Speaker 2: be in this position. We live in a day with
[14:23] Speaker 2: a lot of advice and not much authority. Everybody has
[14:32] Speaker 2: an advice column, but very few people have true authority.
[14:38] Speaker 2: Paul is not writing advice in the Scripture. Sometimes we
[14:41] Speaker 2: read the Bible like it's quotes on Pinterest. My grace
[14:45] Speaker 2: is sufficient for you. Well, that's true, but before Paul
[14:50] Speaker 2: said that sentence in that quote, he puts it in
[14:52] Speaker 2: a context that's.
[14:54] Speaker 1: A little more interesting.
[14:55] Speaker 2: That's what I want to speak to you a little
[14:56] Speaker 2: bit about today is that context. Paul mentions that he
[15:01] Speaker 2: had a revelation of God. He actually talks about himself
[15:05] Speaker 2: in the third person. At one point, he says,' I
[15:07] Speaker 2: know a man who was caught up to the third heaven,'
[15:10] Speaker 2: but he's talking about himself.
[15:12] Speaker 1: This is Paul.
[15:14] Speaker 2: No wonder Paul needed something to keep him grounded, because
[15:18] Speaker 2: there was so much glory on his life. No wonder
[15:22] Speaker 2: Paul needed something in his flesh, because he had so
[15:26] Speaker 2: much revelation in his spirit.
[15:29] Speaker 1: But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?
[15:32] Speaker 2: Paul said, I saw amazing things, and I could tell
[15:35] Speaker 2: you even more about it, but I'm not going to.
[15:38] Speaker 1: I don't want to boast about it.
[15:40] Speaker 2: Instead, he opens a window … He shows the wound
[15:45] Speaker 2: he calls a thorn and the weakness most people would hide.
[15:50] Speaker 2: I think we need more mentors like Paul, more people
[15:55] Speaker 2: who will show us not only the great power but
[15:58] Speaker 2: the problems they have to overcome to operate in that power.
[16:03] Speaker 2: I don't ever want my kids to see me not struggle.
[16:06] Speaker 2: You say, Well, don't you want to set a good example?
[16:08] Speaker 2: I want to set an example of overcoming struggle. not
[16:15] Speaker 2: avoiding it. Paul is like that. We need this message
[16:20] Speaker 2: now more than ever. I really think this is a
[16:21] Speaker 2: timely word from God, because now everybody wants to share
[16:26] Speaker 2: their opinion, whether or not it's even solicited.
[16:31] Speaker 1: We live in a day.
[16:32] Speaker 2: Of 12-year-old life coaches … I used to read a
[16:40] Speaker 2: guy's books early on until I realized he had started
[16:43] Speaker 2: six churches and all of them imploded. He was a
[16:46] Speaker 2: church-planting consultant. Oh, but you don't have to pay for
[16:50] Speaker 2: a consultant these days. Just go to the comments section
[16:54] Speaker 2: of any Facebook post, and you will find consultants in
[17:00] Speaker 2: the comments. Speaking of Holly, about a year ago she
[17:05] Speaker 2: showed me a comment. I asked her to send it
[17:07] Speaker 2: to me, because this is just unbelievable, y'all. what people
[17:10] Speaker 2: will offer in the way of expert opinion that you
[17:12] Speaker 2: did not solicit. She put a picture of me and
[17:15] Speaker 2: her on Instagram, and somebody said, y'all are so cute
[17:19] Speaker 2: and awe and hearts and pandas with hearts and all
[17:23] Speaker 2: of the things we put to feign emotion. Somebody said,' Hi, Holly.
[17:28] Speaker 2: Not sure if you noticed, but just wanted to say
[17:31] Speaker 2: your skin looks so great.
[17:32] Speaker 1: It's glowing and super clear. Thought you should know.
[17:35] Speaker 2: Ha!' Do share if you've recently changed something in your skincare,
[17:40] Speaker 2: red heart. Three comments later. Y'all ready for this? I
[17:45] Speaker 2: feel like you look way better without eyeliner. All the
[17:53] Speaker 2: makeup for so many years is making your skin saggy.
[18:02] Speaker 2: I might give y'all her username so y'all can look
[18:04] Speaker 2: her up and talk to her. How many of y'all
[18:06] Speaker 2: would enjoy that?
[18:07] Speaker 1: Y'all aren't saved.
[18:10] Speaker 2: Y'all are not mature enough to handle it. I have
[18:14] Speaker 2: permission to share this. Holly said I could share it.
[18:16] Speaker 2: The lady said, Botox can help with the wrinkles.
[18:23] Speaker 1: Listen to this. You're still beautiful. Thanks.
[18:31] Speaker 2: I wish I could show y'all her profile picture, because
[18:34] Speaker 2: she has crazy eyes. Her eyes are crazy, this woman,
[18:38] Speaker 2: and she misspelled your. She's a makeup consultant, y'all. She's
[18:47] Speaker 2: an amateur Mary Kay in the comments section, but she
[18:51] Speaker 2: needs a spelling teacher for the fifth-grade words.
[18:55] Speaker 1: Sorry. Sanctify me, Lord. You're still beautiful. I just don't.
[19:03] Speaker 2: Think you need so much makeup. It's ruining your skin.
[19:08] Speaker 2: In the words of my kids, who asked the unsolicited
[19:20] Speaker 2: opinions of people about how you should raise your kids,
[19:25] Speaker 2: about how you should relate to your husband, about what
[19:29] Speaker 2: age you should be married by. If you're married about
[19:33] Speaker 2: what age y'all really should start thinking about having kids,
[19:36] Speaker 2: you're not getting any younger. Paul is not a consultant
[19:40] Speaker 2: in the comments to the church at Corinth that's trolling
[19:42] Speaker 2: them with some little slivers of truth that are quoted
[19:44] Speaker 2: out of context and telling.
[19:46] Speaker 1: Them the great advice and plan.
[19:47] Speaker 2: That he asked for their life independent of God's will.
[19:50] Speaker 2: He's an apostle by the will of God speaking to
[19:54] Speaker 2: people he has a relationship with. This is not some
[19:58] Speaker 2: generic advice from an inspirational speaker who wants to sell
[20:01] Speaker 2: you something for $ 299. 99 on an infomercial or an e-course.
[20:06] Speaker 2: This is not an influencer on Instagram who needs you
[20:09] Speaker 2: to follow them in order for them to get a
[20:10] Speaker 2: swipe-up commission from a store.
[20:12] Speaker 1: This is Paul.
[20:17] Speaker 2: And he does something dangerous because they respect him, but
[20:22] Speaker 2: they're starting to question him because there are super apostles
[20:25] Speaker 2: that have infiltrated the church, and they've started to inundate
[20:28] Speaker 2: God's people with opinions.
[20:32] Speaker 1: You really don't have to follow Christ like that.
[20:34] Speaker 2: You should … You should mix a little Judaism and
[20:37] Speaker 2: a little bit of Christianity. Now there are so many
[20:40] Speaker 2: mixed opinions. Paul has to set the record straight and say,
[20:43] Speaker 2: I could lay down my authority if I needed to.
[20:46] Speaker 2: I don't want to do it like that. I would
[20:48] Speaker 2: rather speak to you out of the love for my heart.
[20:51] Speaker 2: But in order that you just don't think that I'm
[20:53] Speaker 2: putting my authority on you to tell you what I
[20:56] Speaker 2: want you to do, I want to talk.
[20:58] Speaker 1: To you about my adversity. That really touched me.
[21:07] Speaker 2: It's difficult to find somebody who will break it down
[21:10] Speaker 2: for you to the level that Paul does. It's not
[21:15] Speaker 2: difficult to find somebody who will complain to you. It's
[21:18] Speaker 2: not difficult to find somebody who will tell you what
[21:20] Speaker 2: they would do. It's not difficult at all to find
[21:24] Speaker 2: a parent whose kids are out of the house. Their
[21:26] Speaker 2: kids are lawyers and doctors now, and what you should
[21:29] Speaker 2: do in your kid is seven.
[21:32] Speaker 1: That's very easy. That's very easy to do.
[21:36] Speaker 2: Paul in the middle of his struggle to walk in
[21:39] Speaker 2: the authority of an apostle and what God has called
[21:41] Speaker 2: him to do. He shows appropriate vulnerability. I could go
[21:49] Speaker 2: on and on about going to the third heaven. I
[21:51] Speaker 2: could go on and on about what I endured. I'm
[21:53] Speaker 2: choosing not to do that. Instead, I want to tell
[21:58] Speaker 2: you about my thorn.
[22:02] Speaker 1: I want to tell you about my thorn. Somebody say,
[22:08] Speaker 1: show me the thorn. Show me the thorn. The thorn.
[22:17] Speaker 1: It's a metaphor, y'all. It's a metaphor. It's even like
[22:22] Speaker 1: a cliche. This is the verse we get it for.
[22:24] Speaker 1: It's like a thorn in my side. It's a metaphor.
[22:31] Speaker 2: Most of the things we really deal with When we
[22:34] Speaker 2: sing about them in church, we have to put them
[22:36] Speaker 2: in a metaphor form, because if we really mentioned what
[22:42] Speaker 2: we really struggle with, it would scare people, and they
[22:47] Speaker 2: would judge us.
[22:48] Speaker 1: At least we think they would.
[22:50] Speaker 2: Probably surprised you the person with their hands lifted higher
[22:52] Speaker 2: than you this morning. They probably got more thorns than you,
[22:55] Speaker 2: but that's not the point of this message.
[22:56] Speaker 1: Paul said, I want to tell you about my.
[23:07] Speaker 2: Now, since I've studied this text all week, I've learned
[23:12] Speaker 2: a lot about different interpretations of what Paul's thorn was historically.
[23:17] Speaker 2: Some people say that poor Paul had epileptic seizures. Nothing
[23:22] Speaker 2: funny about that, but the reason they trace it is
[23:24] Speaker 2: because when he was blinded and knocked off of his
[23:26] Speaker 2: horse on the road to Damascus where he was going
[23:28] Speaker 2: to persecute Christians, he never quite recovered.
[23:33] Speaker 1: That was his thorn.
[23:35] Speaker 2: Other people would say there was something wrong with Paul's eyesight.
[23:39] Speaker 2: When he wrote to the church at Galatia, he talked
[23:41] Speaker 2: about how large his letters were because he wrote with
[23:43] Speaker 2: his own pen. He even mentions that the Galatians would
[23:47] Speaker 2: be willing to give their own eyes to him if necessary.
[23:51] Speaker 2: Some scholars say it was from the blinding on the
[23:53] Speaker 2: road to Damascus that his eyesight never fully recovered. Other
[23:58] Speaker 2: people don't associate it with blindness or seizures at all
[24:02] Speaker 2: or a medical condition. Luther and Calvin identified it with
[24:06] Speaker 2: a spiritual.
[24:07] Speaker 1: Temptation Paul faced.
[24:10] Speaker 2: There is a little bit of support for this scripturally,
[24:13] Speaker 2: because in 2 Corinthians 11 he mentions,' I inwardly burn.
[24:18] Speaker 1: Not just persecution.
[24:23] Speaker 2: Some people think Paul's thorn was the opponents who were
[24:26] Speaker 2: saying about Paul, he's not real and he's not valid
[24:29] Speaker 2: and you can't believe him. His letters are good, but
[24:32] Speaker 2: he doesn't speak so well. It was those opponents that
[24:35] Speaker 2: were coming against him. Paul does what we do when
[24:40] Speaker 2: you have something in your life that you can't mention.
[24:43] Speaker 1: He gives it a metaphor. It's a metaphor. It's a metaphor.
[24:48] Speaker 2: No matter how many different scholars and how many different
[24:51] Speaker 2: theologians trace the Greek and the precedents and all of
[24:56] Speaker 2: the different things it could be, it seems to be
[24:58] Speaker 2: a lot of confusion about what was Paul's thorn.
[25:02] Speaker 1: This is the thing I was excited to tell you.
[25:04] Speaker 2: I studied all week, and I found out, y'all, what
[25:07] Speaker 2: Paul's thorn was. From this pulpit, I am going to
[25:13] Speaker 2: announce to you today You don't look like you believe me.
[25:17] Speaker 2: For the first time … Come on. There have been
[25:20] Speaker 2: thousands of years of preachers, but today I am going
[25:24] Speaker 2: to definitively tell you what was Paul's thorn in 2
[25:28] Speaker 2: Corinthians 12. Before we get there, let's talk a little
[25:32] Speaker 2: bit about the metaphor. First of all, a thorn is
[25:34] Speaker 2: a small thing. We sing about a God who can
[25:37] Speaker 2: do big things, but when Paul went to talk about
[25:41] Speaker 2: what God had taught him that meant the most to
[25:42] Speaker 2: him in his life, he did not talk about a
[25:45] Speaker 2: big thing. He talked about a small thing. He said
[25:48] Speaker 2: three times. The King James says thrice. Thrice I asked
[25:55] Speaker 2: God to take it away.
[25:56] Speaker 1: Three times. Now, this does not mean three times.
[25:59] Speaker 2: Paul prayed, take it away, take it away, take it away. Okay, God,
[26:04] Speaker 2: I guess I have to live with it. Which brings
[26:06] Speaker 2: me to an important point. If you have a thorn
[26:08] Speaker 2: in your life that you're dealing with that nobody knows
[26:10] Speaker 2: about and you need.
[26:11] Speaker 1: God to take it away, ask him. Ask him.
[26:16] Speaker 2: Don't say God's no for him. I was taught this
[26:25] Speaker 2: in negotiating. I was taught this in dating. Don't say
[26:29] Speaker 2: somebody's no for them. Well, they wouldn't want to go
[26:32] Speaker 2: out to eat with me. Well, you know what? You're
[26:36] Speaker 2: not out to eat with them now. If you ask
[26:38] Speaker 2: them and they say no, you still won't be out
[26:40] Speaker 2: to eat with them. so it would be the same
[26:42] Speaker 2: result if you risked the rejection and put yourself out
[26:46] Speaker 2: there and get some practice.
[26:48] Speaker 1: Then you can analyze the process by which you might
[26:50] Speaker 1: have failed at the endeavor of getting a date. Apply
[26:52] Speaker 1: it to your next.
[26:53] Speaker 2: Opportunity, and maybe one day you'll name your kid Stephen
[26:57] Speaker 2: after you get married, because I told you don't ever
[27:00] Speaker 2: let somebody else ….
[27:07] Speaker 1: Don't let anybody else say God's no for him. Ask God.
[27:12] Speaker 1: Did you ask him? Yeah, I prayed about it. You did?
[27:14] Speaker 2: Because I thought you just were worrying about it.
[27:20] Speaker 1: Did you ask him to do it?
[27:24] Speaker 2: I don't mean, you know, throw it on top like
[27:27] Speaker 2: a sprinkle after you tried everything else. No, no, no.
[27:31] Speaker 2: I'm saying like, Paul doesn't throw in words. He said,
[27:44] Speaker 2: I pleaded with God. I don't think it even means
[27:47] Speaker 2: he asked God three times. I think it means he
[27:50] Speaker 2: launched three separate campaigns to try to get God to
[27:56] Speaker 2: change his situation. After every campaign to get God to
[28:02] Speaker 2: change it failed, then he accepted it.
[28:07] Speaker 1: But at least ask. At least ask. If you need
[28:11] Speaker 1: God to heal somebody, I know, of course, if it's
[28:14] Speaker 1: God's will, he'll heal them. Okay. Great. Ask him. Ask him. Well,
[28:21] Speaker 1: I know God probably won't do that for me, because
[28:23] Speaker 1: I'm probably not going to … Ask him. He's a
[28:26] Speaker 1: big boy.
[28:27] Speaker 2: Let him say his own no. He doesn't need you
[28:30] Speaker 2: to protect him. God doesn't need you.
[28:32] Speaker 1: To be his assistant. Oh, you can't ask him that
[28:34] Speaker 1: right now. He's very busy to care about your little problem.
[28:38] Speaker 1: Ask him. for yourself.
[28:40] Speaker 2: Maybe he likes you more than you think he does.
[28:43] Speaker 2: Maybe he'll say yes and surprise you.
[28:45] Speaker 1: I ask God sometimes.
[28:47] Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, I don't have much time to study today,
[28:50] Speaker 2: but God, would you give me my message quick? Sometimes
[28:54] Speaker 2: he doesn't, but sometimes he does. So now I ask
[28:58] Speaker 2: him every time. If he says no and I have
[29:01] Speaker 2: to study all week, I was going to have to study.
[29:03] Speaker 1: All week anyway. It never hurts to ask. But ask him.
[29:09] Speaker 1: Ask him. Ask him. I used to rebuke Holly. You
[29:14] Speaker 1: can't pray for a good parking space. She said, why not?
[29:23] Speaker 1: That's a good question. Ask him. Ask him. I have
[29:28] Speaker 1: some things I'm asking God for that.
[29:30] Speaker 2: Are so stupid I would never tell you about them.
[29:33] Speaker 2: You would laugh me out of the room. But I'm
[29:36] Speaker 2: not asking you, am I?
[29:39] Speaker 1: That's why I didn't ask. ask you.
[29:43] Speaker 2: I don't ask people who don't have the authority to
[29:45] Speaker 2: give me what I'm asking for, so some stuff I
[29:48] Speaker 2: have to ask God. I have to ask God. I
[29:52] Speaker 2: need to see your supervisor, somebody.
[29:56] Speaker 1: With the authority to get it done. I'll need advice.
[30:00] Speaker 1: I need authority. I need somebody who has the keys
[30:04] Speaker 1: to walk me through this door. You're asking people questions
[30:09] Speaker 1: who don't even have the keys.
[30:16] Speaker 2: My family has launched three separate campaigns against me to
[30:21] Speaker 2: get a dog. I can mark each phase of the
[30:26] Speaker 2: campaign as really Graham, but he's enlisted everybody in the family.
[30:30] Speaker 2: The only one who's standing with me in solidarity is Elijah,
[30:34] Speaker 2: my firstborn son.
[30:36] Speaker 1: Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones. We
[30:39] Speaker 1: don't want a dog. So, the first phase, he wrote
[30:45] Speaker 1: a song. Daddy, can I get a dog? He took
[30:50] Speaker 1: the piano lessons I paid for and perverted.
[30:53] Speaker 2: It against me to ask me for a pet I
[30:56] Speaker 2: parentally have already prohibited.
[31:03] Speaker 1: Then he started phase two. That went on for months.
[31:06] Speaker 1: Phase two.
[31:07] Speaker 2: Signs all over the house and text messages with pictures
[31:11] Speaker 2: of rescue dogs all day long. The saddest Sarah McLachlan-eyed
[31:18] Speaker 2: dogs you've ever seen in your life just flooding my
[31:21] Speaker 2: text message. This is what Paul meant in the text
[31:27] Speaker 2: where he said, a messenger of Satan. No, no, no.
[31:31] Speaker 1: That's not in the Greek, but.
[31:35] Speaker 2: The third phase they're currently doing because he finally realized, Mom,
[31:39] Speaker 2: you're the only one. Now all of hell and all
[31:46] Speaker 2: of Holly and everybody in my house except Elijah, my
[31:51] Speaker 2: true son, in the faith, my Timothy, is against me.
[31:57] Speaker 2: Not just three prayers that they said.
[31:59] Speaker 1: Three seasons. Three seasons. Three seasons.
[32:05] Speaker 2: When you see God about something for a whole season,
[32:09] Speaker 2: whatever Paul's thorn was … I'm going to tell you
[32:11] Speaker 2: what it was in a minute.
[32:12] Speaker 1: I have not forgotten to tell you what it was.
[32:14] Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you what it was.
[32:18] Speaker 2: All the commentators have something different to say, but I
[32:20] Speaker 2: found out what it was.
[32:22] Speaker 1: I studied all weekend. I found out what it was.
[32:25] Speaker 2: I asked God to show me quick. He didn't show
[32:27] Speaker 2: me quick, so I kept studying, and I found out
[32:30] Speaker 2: what it was. But before we get to what it
[32:34] Speaker 2: was … Let's talk about what it represents. You think
[32:41] Speaker 2: maybe Paul didn't mention it by name because he did
[32:44] Speaker 2: not want to limit the application to the people he
[32:47] Speaker 2: was sharing it with?
[32:50] Speaker 1: A metaphor gives you more room than an issue does.
[32:55] Speaker 1: If Paul said exactly what he struggled with, you'd go,
[32:56] Speaker 1: I don't struggle with that. I'm better than Paul.
[33:00] Speaker 2: Or if it was something that is less than what
[33:03] Speaker 2: you struggle with, you'd go, huh. Well, if he calls
[33:06] Speaker 2: that a struggle, there's no hope for me. I used
[33:09] Speaker 2: to talk to a guy, and he'd be like, I've
[33:11] Speaker 2: been really struggling lately. I've had to cut my prayer
[33:13] Speaker 2: time to two hours a day. The way that would
[33:15] Speaker 2: make you feel … He was a pastor, and he
[33:17] Speaker 2: would say that to the church. The guy sitting out
[33:20] Speaker 2: there who has to do a real job and can't
[33:21] Speaker 2: just sit around reading about Bartholomew and Thomas and Alphaeus
[33:25] Speaker 2: and all these Bible names all.
[33:26] Speaker 1: Week is sitting there feeling like crap, comparing himself. Oh,
[33:31] Speaker 1: that's your thorn?
[33:33] Speaker 2: I was going to show you mine, but I'm going
[33:36] Speaker 2: to put this thorn right back here where it was. Oh, God.
[33:43] Speaker 2: That's why the power of a metaphor. I don't mean
[33:46] Speaker 2: to make this English class, but I keep coming back
[33:48] Speaker 2: to the power of a metaphor. We have one new
[33:50] Speaker 2: song we've been singing in the church. We're going to
[33:52] Speaker 2: record it on October 6th. You're like, I can plug
[33:57] Speaker 2: a song in a sermon. I've been doing this a
[33:59] Speaker 2: long time. I like the song because it gives you examples.
[34:05] Speaker 2: It says, I'm calling on the God of Jacob. I'm
[34:08] Speaker 2: calling on the God of Moses. I'm calling on the
[34:12] Speaker 2: God of David. That's my favorite one, because it says,
[34:17] Speaker 2: I'm calling on the God of David, who made a
[34:20] Speaker 2: shepherd boy courageous. But this is my favorite line. I
[34:25] Speaker 2: may not face Goliath, but I have my own giants. Now,
[34:33] Speaker 2: The reason it says it like that is because if
[34:41] Speaker 2: it addressed the specific issue, that would be too awkward
[34:46] Speaker 2: and limited. So, we just say, I may not face Goliath.
[34:50] Speaker 2: That's the name of a particular enemy David faced. but
[34:55] Speaker 2: I have my own giants. So, when you sing that line,
[34:59] Speaker 2: no matter how dirty, dark, stinky, rotten, filthy, corrupted, perverted,
[35:06] Speaker 2: or subversive your giant is, you can sing it with
[35:12] Speaker 2: a big old smile on your face. Because the other
[35:15] Speaker 2: way would be too awkward. I'm calling on the God
[35:18] Speaker 2: of David, who made a shepherd boy courageous. You know,
[35:24] Speaker 2: I may not face Goliath. Can't be too specific here.
[35:27] Speaker 2: You got to have a metaphor. I may not face Goliath,
[35:33] Speaker 2: but I'm a functional alcoholic.
[35:36] Speaker 1: You're going to do that. You're going to do that.
[35:37] Speaker 1: You're going to do that. It doesn't even rhyme. Let's
[35:41] Speaker 1: at least get it to rhyme. I may not face Goliath,
[35:44] Speaker 1: but I can't stick to a diet.
[35:49] Speaker 2: Right?
[35:50] Speaker 1: Y'all like that one?
[35:51] Speaker 2: I may not.
[35:55] Speaker 1: You can't sing.
[35:59] Speaker 2: About them while they're sitting next to you.
[36:06] Speaker 1: The funny thing is.
[36:08] Speaker 2: Two people sitting next to each other singing about the
[36:12] Speaker 2: other one they came to church with, and the other
[36:15] Speaker 2: one didn't know, you're my Goliath.
[36:17] Speaker 1: You're the one … Look straight ahead right now. Look
[36:21] Speaker 1: straight ahead right now.
[36:23] Speaker 2: You didn't even know you're the one I'm singing about.
[36:27] Speaker 1: You're the one I'm crying about. And I can't tell you,
[36:34] Speaker 1: you're my thorn.
[36:38] Speaker 2: Oh, that's mean, Pastor Stephen.
[36:43] Speaker 1: But it begs a question, doesn't it?
[36:46] Speaker 2: Why would a God … who has enough power to
[36:50] Speaker 2: take down a giant with a rock, leave something as
[36:54] Speaker 2: small as a thorn?
[36:58] Speaker 1: Why would a God.
[37:00] Speaker 2: Who said you could have mustard seed faith and move
[37:04] Speaker 2: something as big as a mountain leave something as small.
[37:11] Speaker 1: As a thorn in the life of someone as important
[37:15] Speaker 1: as Paul? It begs a better question. Why would God
[37:19] Speaker 1: allow you.
[37:20] Speaker 2: Season after season, to sing about Goliaths, to sing about mountains,
[37:25] Speaker 2: to pray about them, to ask about them, to strategize?
[37:29] Speaker 2: Maybe it'll be different this time. Paul said, I asked
[37:32] Speaker 2: three times. Three times now. I launched three separate campaigns
[37:39] Speaker 2: that I waged with heaven to see if God would
[37:42] Speaker 2: take this away so I could be more.
[37:44] Speaker 1: Effective for him. This was something I wanted, and it
[37:49] Speaker 1: was something I thought God would want. We don't get
[37:53] Speaker 1: to know, was it physical? We don't get to know,
[37:56] Speaker 1: was it mental?
[37:56] Speaker 2: Or did the great apostle struggle with depression? See, we
[37:59] Speaker 2: probably couldn't handle that. Then we wouldn't listen to him
[38:02] Speaker 2: if he said, Rejoice in the Lord always, because we'd
[38:04] Speaker 2: be like, Oh, you're a hypocrite, Paul.
[38:05] Speaker 1: You're canceled.
[38:06] Speaker 2: You can't struggle with that and preach to me, because
[38:09] Speaker 2: we like to cut people out when they don't live
[38:11] Speaker 2: up to our exact standards. But all have sinned and
[38:15] Speaker 2: fallen short of the glory of God. All up in
[38:37] Speaker 2: the seat next to you. Don't get too close to her.
[38:39] Speaker 2: You might get stuck. She has thorns. I want to
[38:45] Speaker 2: say something else before I tell you what Paul's thorn was,
[38:47] Speaker 2: because you're not going to believe it when you see it.
[38:51] Speaker 2: I want to make sure you understand that life will
[38:56] Speaker 2: give you an ample supply of thorns.
[38:59] Speaker 1: You don't have to ask for one. Okay, Lord. All right, Lord.
[39:04] Speaker 1: I hear the preacher today.
[39:05] Speaker 2: He's saying we have to suffer.
[39:09] Speaker 1: Persecution is bringing on, Lord. I'm ready, God. I was
[39:13] Speaker 1: in a prayer service one time, and somebody started praying. God,
[39:15] Speaker 1: I just prayed for a trial by fire. I backed
[39:21] Speaker 1: up so quickly. Hold up, y'all. I have a phone call.
[39:24] Speaker 1: I didn't come back.
[39:25] Speaker 2: I don't even want to be in the prayer circle
[39:28] Speaker 2: with somebody dumb enough to pray that. Oh, God.
[39:30] Speaker 1: When I'm with somebody and they start praying for patience ….
[39:42] Speaker 2: It's all in the text. He said in verse 7,
[39:50] Speaker 2: I was given a thorn. I didn't ask for it.
[39:53] Speaker 2: I'm preaching to people who are fighting something you didn't
[39:56] Speaker 2: ask for. I'm preaching to people who are fighting something
[40:04] Speaker 2: you didn't ask for. All of these categories Paul lists
[40:08] Speaker 2: will make a good starting place for us to evaluate
[40:10] Speaker 2: our life and see what is that thing where we
[40:12] Speaker 2: need God. He mentions hardships. He mentions insults. He mentions persecutions.
[40:17] Speaker 2: He mentions difficulties. He mentions all of these things, weaknesses.
[40:21] Speaker 2: He mentions them categorically and metaphorically, but this is not
[40:27] Speaker 2: a shopping list. Life will give you enough of those.
[40:33] Speaker 2: You don't have to go looking for them.
[40:36] Speaker 1: Insults. Life will give you plenty of those. You don't
[40:41] Speaker 1: have to infer them when they're not there. Insults. Life
[40:46] Speaker 1: will give you enough. You'll get insulted for real.
[41:03] Speaker 2: Somebody will be on your comments looking for you to
[41:05] Speaker 2: have a Botox, a Mary Kay consultant, a ninja in
[41:08] Speaker 2: the comments trying to take you down.
[41:09] Speaker 1: You won't have to go looking for a hardship. Yeah,
[41:14] Speaker 1: it'll give you enough.
[41:15] Speaker 2: That's why, for me … This is just me in
[41:20] Speaker 2: my house. Social media is really dangerous. I'm not saying
[41:25] Speaker 2: it's bad, because right now, while I'm preaching, they're posting
[41:28] Speaker 2: on an account about my sermon on the thing.
[41:31] Speaker 1: But for me ….
[41:33] Speaker 2: Because life gives me enough thorns, I have enough insecurity.
[41:36] Speaker 2: I deal with enough in my head. I mean, I've
[41:39] Speaker 2: got enough movies to make me miserable the rest of
[41:41] Speaker 2: my life. Regrets, things I replay, self-doubt, even self-loathing. Hold
[41:50] Speaker 2: on now, Pastor Stephen. You are a preacher. You should
[41:54] Speaker 2: have worked through these issues.
[41:59] Speaker 1: Paul had a thorn. You have a thorn.
[42:06] Speaker 2: If you keep looking at me this fake, I'm going
[42:08] Speaker 2: to interview your family members, and I'm going to find
[42:11] Speaker 2: out your thorn, and I'm going to put you on
[42:13] Speaker 2: blast in the pulpit next week. But what got me
[42:19] Speaker 2: about it was that social media can be like a
[42:25] Speaker 2: thorn store, where as if you don't have enough already
[42:31] Speaker 2: to feel worried about or to compare yourself … If
[42:36] Speaker 2: it's not hard enough to be a teenager with the
[42:38] Speaker 2: fear of missing out, you can go and find proof
[42:40] Speaker 2: that you're missing out of all the people who didn't
[42:42] Speaker 2: invite you and watch the things they're doing. For me,
[42:47] Speaker 2: I don't go on Facebook, because it'll make me too angry.
[42:52] Speaker 2: I may not face Goliath, but I already have a
[42:54] Speaker 2: really bad temper. I may not face Goliath, but I
[42:58] Speaker 2: have anger issues. so I don't need all that. I
[43:09] Speaker 2: don't need more thorns. I don't need to borrow your thorns.
[43:13] Speaker 2: I don't need to be swimming in the sewage of
[43:16] Speaker 2: other people's anger when I've already got enough anger of
[43:19] Speaker 2: my own. For me, Instagram is like Thornhub. It's just like, oh, God.
[43:29] Speaker 2: He's preaching a real sermon today. He's saying real things today.
[43:33] Speaker 2: To me, this is like a … I'm not looking
[43:35] Speaker 2: for insults, hardships, persecutions, weaknesses. I've already got enough of those.
[43:41] Speaker 2: I need a word from God. I need an encouraging voice.
[43:45] Speaker 2: I need an image I can aspire to that looks
[43:48] Speaker 2: like Christ's. He said a thorn was given to me.
[43:58] Speaker 2: and he says a strange phrase. He says it was
[44:00] Speaker 2: a messenger of Satan. The word in Greek for messenger
[44:04] Speaker 2: is angelos. What does that sound like?
[44:08] Speaker 1: Angelos. Angelos. Angel. The same word that is used for messenger.
[44:19] Speaker 1: Y'all don't believe me. Put my Bible verse back up.
[44:24] Speaker 2: He said, because of these surpassingly great revelations, therefore, in
[44:27] Speaker 2: order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given
[44:28] Speaker 2: a thorn, a messenger of Satan.
[44:33] Speaker 1: Angelos. Same word as angel.
[44:39] Speaker 2: The same word as angel. An angel, a messenger. It's
[44:42] Speaker 2: the same word. There's no difference in the word. An
[44:45] Speaker 2: angel of Satan to torment me. An angel of Satan?
[44:53] Speaker 2: I don't want that kind. I never prayed for Satan
[44:57] Speaker 2: to give me anything in my life, and Paul didn't
[45:00] Speaker 2: like it either. He said the first time he got
[45:02] Speaker 2: hit with that thing, he said, return to cinder, and
[45:07] Speaker 2: he did it three times. Sometimes that works, and God
[45:11] Speaker 2: helps you through it, and you're like, oh, I'm not
[45:13] Speaker 2: going to struggle with that anymore, and that's awesome, and
[45:15] Speaker 2: you can testify and help others. In this case, he said,
[45:19] Speaker 2: I had to see that. It was given to me,
[45:26] Speaker 2: even though the Enemy delivered it. He said, it came
[45:31] Speaker 2: from an angel. An angel of Satan gave me a
[45:35] Speaker 2: gift from God? That's why I think this week, when
[45:40] Speaker 2: it comes to the thorns in your life … Even
[45:44] Speaker 2: if it's a person that gets on your nerves …
[45:46] Speaker 2: Raise your hand if there's one in your life. So,
[45:49] Speaker 2: this week, tell them, you're such an angel. Now, if
[45:54] Speaker 2: they go to church here, don't say that, because they'll
[45:56] Speaker 2: know the Greek. But if they don't go to church here,
[46:00] Speaker 2: they won't have a clue what you're talking about. Say, man,
[46:04] Speaker 2: you're just like an angel to.
[46:07] Speaker 1: Me. What the angel brought me is a thorn.
[46:16] Speaker 2: I started to get confused, because he said it was
[46:19] Speaker 2: an angel.
[46:19] Speaker 1: You're teenagers. Did you know you're teenagers, parents? are angels? Teenagers,
[46:26] Speaker 1: did you know your parents are angels?
[46:30] Speaker 2: I can't wait all week for people walking.
[46:32] Speaker 1: Around their house being like, what's up?
[46:35] Speaker 2: All the angels saluting each other that God is using
[46:39] Speaker 2: to keep us dependent on him. You gave me a
[46:43] Speaker 2: gift of realizing how much I need God. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
[46:54] Speaker 2: You're going to see angels everywhere this week. Put the
[46:57] Speaker 2: verse back up. He said, it's a messenger from Satan.
[47:00] Speaker 2: He said, but I don't have.
[47:03] Speaker 1: To like the delivery service to open the package.
[47:08] Speaker 2: So, it was an angel, a messenger of Satan, in
[47:12] Speaker 2: order to keep me from getting so conceited.
[47:16] Speaker 1: God knows what you're prone to.
[47:19] Speaker 2: God knew that Paul was prone to pride, so What
[47:21] Speaker 2: God does is he matches your thorn, your course, to
[47:28] Speaker 2: your calling. The reason I can't pick my own mentor
[47:33] Speaker 2: in life is I don't know what I need, because
[47:36] Speaker 2: I don't even know who I really am yet, and
[47:38] Speaker 2: I certainly don't know who I'm going to be when
[47:40] Speaker 2: God gets done with me. So, God is so good
[47:45] Speaker 2: that he knows how to match your thorn, your thorn,
[47:52] Speaker 2: From his throne, he said, it was sent.
[47:59] Speaker 1: A messenger of Satan to torment me.
[48:07] Speaker 2: Torment me. You've been tormented by it. You've been tormented
[48:14] Speaker 2: by it. It torments you. When there's a weakness and
[48:18] Speaker 2: you can't get stronger in it.
[48:19] Speaker 1: It torments you. that I should be further along, and
[48:24] Speaker 1: I did it again.
[48:25] Speaker 2: It torments you. Other people can do that easily, but
[48:29] Speaker 2: it's not easy for me. It torments you.
[48:33] Speaker 1: Torment. Torment. Torment. Torment. Tormentor. Mentor. Mentor. Mentor. Mentor. Mentor. Tormentor. Mentor. mentor.
[48:55] Speaker 1: Paul's thorn was his mentor.
[49:10] Speaker 2: I told you I'd tell you what Paul's thorn was,
[49:13] Speaker 2: and I did. It was his mentor. It was the
[49:18] Speaker 2: thing God gave him to teach him grace. So, I
[49:26] Speaker 2: actually don't have to interview anybody to find out what
[49:29] Speaker 2: your thorn is.
[49:31] Speaker 1: I already know. It's your mentor.
[49:34] Speaker 2: It's the mentor you didn't ask for. It's the thing
[49:40] Speaker 2: that showed up in your life. See, you've been trained
[49:44] Speaker 2: in a lot of things. Some of you have a
[49:47] Speaker 2: master's degree. Some of you know how to run a business.
[49:51] Speaker 2: Some of you know how to make straight A's. Some
[49:54] Speaker 2: of you know how to impress others. Some of you
[49:56] Speaker 2: know how to dress. Some of you know how to
[49:59] Speaker 2: talk real good, and you can flatter people and say
[50:01] Speaker 2: things to get out of the situation. But there are
[50:04] Speaker 2: some things that can only be learned in Thorne University.
[50:11] Speaker 1: There are some.
[50:12] Speaker 2: Things God can only teach you not through advice but
[50:16] Speaker 2: through adversity.
[50:19] Speaker 1: Paul was not a rookie.
[50:21] Speaker 2: And Paul was not a noob, and Paul was not
[50:24] Speaker 2: an unsolicited Dear Abby advice columnist. Paul was an apostle
[50:30] Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ, and he didn't even want to be.
[50:35] Speaker 2: Paul never even applied to be an apostle.
[50:38] Speaker 1: He was just riding on his donkey through Damascus.
[50:41] Speaker 2: And God knocked him off his donkey and said, New boss,
[50:46] Speaker 2: I am Jesus, whom.
[50:48] Speaker 1: You are persecuting.
[50:49] Speaker 2: They had to lead him by the hand.
[50:55] Speaker 1: You have a new mentor now, Paul. This is difficult.
[51:00] Speaker 2: Because Paul studied under Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a father of
[51:05] Speaker 2: the Sanhedrin, not just a member. Gamaliel was the grandson
[51:09] Speaker 2: of Hillel. Gamaliel was so powerful. They said the glory
[51:13] Speaker 2: of the Torah died when Gamaliel died, but he was
[51:15] Speaker 2: steeped only in Judaism. When Gamaliel mentored Paul, he could
[51:20] Speaker 2: teach him so much. He could teach him about the law.
[51:22] Speaker 2: He could teach him about the oral tradition. Paul sat
[51:25] Speaker 2: at his feet. He defends himself in Acts 22, verse 3.
[51:28] Speaker 2: He said, I grew up in Jerusalem, and I sat
[51:30] Speaker 2: at the feet of Gamaliel. He was my mentor. But
[51:33] Speaker 2: one day, as I was going to persecute the church
[51:36] Speaker 2: and wipe out those who were members of the way …
[51:39] Speaker 2: Help me, Holy Spirit. I got knocked down by something
[51:42] Speaker 2: bigger than me. I got blinded by a light I.
[51:45] Speaker 1: Didn't even ask for.
[51:51] Speaker 2: Gamaliel could teach me about grammar, but he couldn't teach
[51:55] Speaker 2: me about grace. It took a thorn to show me that.
[52:03] Speaker 2: I didn't ask for it. God, if you want to
[52:06] Speaker 2: take it, it's still on the table. You can have
[52:10] Speaker 2: it back any time. But the torment stops here. I
[52:17] Speaker 2: will not be tormented by this thorn one more day.
[52:25] Speaker 2: If you're not going to take this thorn away, then, God,
[52:32] Speaker 2: you will need to give me the grace.
[52:38] Speaker 1: So, when Paul preaches and.
[52:42] Speaker 2: He talks about the thorn, I want you to realize
[52:45] Speaker 2: that that is the thing God wouldn't take away. But
[52:49] Speaker 2: he says in verse 7 something very interesting. He says,' Therefore,
[52:54] Speaker 2: in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was
[52:57] Speaker 2: given a thorn.' I just read that a bunch, and
[53:00] Speaker 2: I eventually began to see,' Therefore, in order to keep
[53:09] Speaker 2: me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn.
[53:12] Speaker 1: It came through an instrument of Satan.
[53:14] Speaker 2: But God used it as a vessel of grace. Isn't
[53:17] Speaker 2: that what he did with Paul?
[53:20] Speaker 1: Paul was a tool who was used by the Enemy
[53:23] Speaker 1: to torment the church.
[53:25] Speaker 2: When God transformed him, he became a vessel for the gospel.
[53:30] Speaker 2: If God can do that through Paul, now he said,
[53:33] Speaker 2: I'm going to do it for Paul, and if you
[53:36] Speaker 2: can receive it, he's going to do it for you. Therefore,
[53:40] Speaker 2: I was given a thorn. God didn't take it away.
[53:44] Speaker 2: He showed me what it was. Therefore, So ask God
[53:49] Speaker 2: for this. Ask God for a therefore. I'm celebrating today
[53:54] Speaker 2: because God gave me a therefore. I'm not celebrating that
[53:58] Speaker 2: the thorn is gone. I'm celebrating that God gave me
[54:02] Speaker 2: a therefore.
[54:03] Speaker 1: I'm going to find another church to preach this in.
[54:07] Speaker 1: This is too good. Somebody celebrate the therefore. Therefore.
[54:13] Speaker 2: Therefore. So he said, therefore, all the more gladly, for
[54:19] Speaker 2: Christ's sake, I will boast in the things that make
[54:24] Speaker 2: me appear broken. Therefore, I will glory not in the
[54:30] Speaker 2: thorn but in the grace that God released for it.
[54:38] Speaker 2: Don't glory in the thorn. Don't walk around just worshiping
[54:42] Speaker 2: your weakness. He said, I'm celebrating because I have a
[54:48] Speaker 2: grace for it. I've walked with hundreds of people through
[54:54] Speaker 2: seasons of unimaginable struggle, and what they all seem to
[55:03] Speaker 2: have in common when you talk to them if they
[55:06] Speaker 2: go on living is that God gave them a grace
[55:12] Speaker 2: that was proportional to the problem. And if they live
[55:23] Speaker 2: through it, they live long enough to talk about not
[55:27] Speaker 2: just what I went through, but what God taught me.
[55:33] Speaker 2: And they stop talking about the thorn so much. Even
[55:36] Speaker 2: if it was a really big thing, in comparison to
[55:40] Speaker 2: the glory of the grace God gives.
[55:43] Speaker 1: Them, they start making it look like a small thing.
[55:50] Speaker 2: So, I wonder who you are today, and I wonder
[55:54] Speaker 2: what your thorn is, but I don't really need to know,
[55:57] Speaker 2: because God already showed me.
[56:00] Speaker 1: That thorn.
[56:03] Speaker 2: Is the mentor you didn't ask for. It's the thing
[56:09] Speaker 2: that's going to teach you.
[56:12] Speaker 1: One old preacher said, the thorn is what takes you
[56:16] Speaker 1: to the throne.
[56:23] Speaker 2: Paul said, I know me, and God knows me. I
[56:27] Speaker 2: would have gotten out ahead of myself if God didn't.
[56:29] Speaker 1: Give me this.
[56:32] Speaker 2: So, take your thorn to the throne and ask God.
[56:38] Speaker 2: I didn't ask you for this thorn, but I'm asking
[56:39] Speaker 2: you now. I need a grace for this season. I
[56:44] Speaker 2: need a grace for this insult. God, you told me
[56:47] Speaker 2: to turn the other cheek.
[56:49] Speaker 1: I'm out of cheeks.
[56:49] Speaker 2: I only got so many. I'm going to need some grace.
[56:56] Speaker 2: Three seasons I've petitioned you.
[56:58] Speaker 1: Still no dog. So, if you won't give me a breakthrough,
[57:06] Speaker 1: give me a therefore.
[57:09] Speaker 2: Reveal something here in my life that I couldn't see
[57:12] Speaker 2: anywhere else. I'm not telling you to thank God for
[57:15] Speaker 2: your thorn. I'm not there yet. Some people can do that.
[57:19] Speaker 2: I'm not that good of a Christian. I'm not Paul,
[57:21] Speaker 2: and most of y'all aren't either. If we can't thank
[57:25] Speaker 2: him for the thorn, which is understandable, let's thank him
[57:30] Speaker 2: for the therefore. Therefore, I will boast all the more
[57:34] Speaker 2: gladly about what God gave me through it. It's a
[57:42] Speaker 2: pivotal moment when you don't allow the Enemy to torment
[57:45] Speaker 2: you anymore with it.
[57:48] Speaker 1: He doesn't want you to see.
[57:49] Speaker 2: This, because he wants to keep you weak where you
[57:53] Speaker 2: won't worship.
[57:56] Speaker 1: Paul said, therefore, I boast all the more. I glory
[58:01] Speaker 1: in what the thorn brought me to. Long glory in
[58:05] Speaker 1: the thorn. I don't like the thorn. I tried to
[58:07] Speaker 1: send it back. I didn't order the thorn. But regardless
[58:11] Speaker 1: of how it came, right now I need grace.
[58:17] Speaker 2: Everybody under the sound of my voice, this is not
[58:19] Speaker 2: your chance to slip out of the room early.
[58:21] Speaker 1: Stand up.
[58:29] Speaker 2: In this moment, I wonder, would you receive what you
[58:32] Speaker 2: really need from God? I wonder, can you be humble
[58:38] Speaker 2: enough to lift your hands like you need them and
[58:42] Speaker 2: not clench your fists like you have this? That's the posture.
[58:49] Speaker 1: Of power right there. That's it. Lord, we thank you
[58:57] Speaker 1: for the therefore.
[58:59] Speaker 2: We thank you for the Holy Spirit, our divine mentor.
[59:06] Speaker 2: We thank you that you're teaching us about your grace
[59:09] Speaker 2: in this season. There is a supernatural grace that comes
[59:11] Speaker 2: upon you in seasons like this. There is a supernatural
[59:15] Speaker 2: grace that comes upon the saints. There is a grace
[59:19] Speaker 2: for your thorn. One day, if we cannot be so
[59:27] Speaker 2: proud and arrogant to deny it, If we cannot be
[59:30] Speaker 2: so bitter about the fact that it happened, one day
[59:34] Speaker 2: maybe we'll get to talk about what God taught us
[59:37] Speaker 2: like Paul did. Maybe one day we can say, when
[59:42] Speaker 2: I'm weak, then I'm strong. Maybe we can let God in.
[59:50] Speaker 2: Maybe he's bigger than our thorn. Maybe his grace is
[59:56] Speaker 2: sufficient for you too. Spirit of the living God, fall fresh.
[1:00:06] Speaker 2: Anoint us with oil. For the thorns in our flesh
[1:00:14] Speaker 2: and the pressure we face and the temptation we're under
[1:00:20] Speaker 2: and the weakness we know all too well, we need
[1:00:23] Speaker 2: your oil. I lift up every thorn to you today
[1:00:32] Speaker 2: We ask you to take it away, and we'll probably
[1:00:36] Speaker 2: keep asking, but while we're working through it, we thank
[1:00:43] Speaker 2: you for the therefore.
[1:00:46] Speaker 1: It's there for a reason.
[1:00:48] Speaker 2: We'll see what it is in time, in time, in time,
[1:00:53] Speaker 2: in time. I want to tell you one more thing
[1:00:58] Speaker 2: while you pray. Satan was the messenger, but he wasn't
[1:01:06] Speaker 2: the master. While you pray, consider this, that in God's hands, Paul,
[1:01:23] Speaker 2: who tortured and tormented the church, became a mentor for
[1:01:29] Speaker 2: the gospel.
[1:01:32] Speaker 1: That's what's going to happen in your life.
[1:01:35] Speaker 2: The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
[1:01:41] Speaker 2: with the glory that will be revealed in you. So, God,
[1:01:49] Speaker 2: I thank you for a release of your glory. I
[1:01:52] Speaker 2: thank you for these things that drew us closer to you, God.
[1:01:55] Speaker 2: We wouldn't have prayed. We would have been proud. We
[1:01:58] Speaker 2: would have thought it was our strength, our might, our armor,
[1:02:01] Speaker 2: our sling, our sword.
[1:02:02] Speaker 1: It wasn't. In this moment of weakness, we declare we
[1:02:07] Speaker 1: are strong. We are blessed. We are filled. We are overcomers.
[1:02:15] Speaker 1: We are conquerors. We are more than conquerors. Let the
[1:02:19] Speaker 1: weak say, I am strong. Let the poor say, I
[1:02:24] Speaker 1: am rich. We thank you for it.
[1:02:30] Speaker 2: In Jesus' name, we offer you this praise, and the
[1:02:35] Speaker 2: whole church said, Amen. Take a screenshot and share it
[1:02:41] Speaker 2: on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.
[1:02:42] Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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