Sermon Audio
A Blessed Year
It has been such a blessing to be your pastor over the past year. I have been so incredibly blessed, and my joy overflows in my service to you. What a journey it has been the past year or so!
- Summer retreat
- Thanksgiving Celebration
- Fall Lock-In
- Holiday party
- March Break retreat
- Spring Lock-In
But more than the events themselves, I have seen God moving in you. I have seen the love of God become more real in this group. Sure, on a week to week basis we might not see or realize things, but in those special moments when we are sharing with one another, the Spirit of God is present and real among us. What a blessing it is to have this space where the love of God becomes real in our midst. I thank God so much with all of my heart for this incredible blessing.
A Glimpse of Paradise and Things That Bring Us Down
This is a glimpse of what the apostle Paul must have felt like when he was describing his spiritual experience. He had an experience of the divine that was extraordinary. It was something indescribable. He saw heaven itself.
But then, just so that he might not remain in the clouds, a thorn was given to him. We don’t know what this thorn is, but it was something that bothered him enough that he prayed fervently that God would take it away from him.
In our own lives, we have things that bring us down. A part of your experience as teenagers is to experience the up and down emotional roller coaster. One day you feel great and on top of the world, the next day your emotions come crashing down.
Back when I was in high school, I loved the weekends, because it was full of church activity. Back then, church was a central part of our lives. We had Hi-C gatherings on Fridays, sometimes had special events on Saturdays, and then all came on Sundays. It was a wonderful time. Church was almost all we had. Nowadays you’re all very busy with many other commitments and extra-curricular activities. But come Sunday evening, I would get extremely down. I dreaded the coming Monday and the drudgery of going back to school. I came to call them the “Sunday blues”. Oh how I was feeling blue on Sunday evenings.
There were many other things that would get me down as well. School was a constant struggle. I wasn’t very disciplined, nor had good study habits. When studying, my mind would often wander and I would find myself daydreaming about many things other than my studies. These bad habits led me to have mediocre grades during my junior and middle years of high school. Don’t worry, I finally turned on the gas and stepped it up in my last year! But these bad habits made me feel really bad about myself, and I felt inadequate.
Physically, I didn’t feel very attractive. Girls never seemed to notice me nor pay attention to me. I felt inadequate and felt like so much was lacking in me.
These are just some examples of things that make us feel weak and inadequate. The world and society looks down on weakness and inadequateness. In the world, it’s all about overcoming our weakness. Overcoming our weakness is fine and dandy, but what’s the source of overcoming it?
Message from the World: It’s all up to you
In the world, the message is that it’s all up to you – if you work harder, try harder, be stronger, then you can overcome your weaknesses and shortcomings. In other words, it all starts and ends with you.
That message sounds fine on the surface. Yes, I do believe that in life we should try hard and try our best in all that we do. I’m not for slacking off. In my ministry with you, I am trying my very best to teach you and prepare messages and programs for you. But what is that message really saying?
What it’s really saying is that there is no God. People might say with their lips that they believe in God or have faith, but when it really comes down to it, most of us don’t really believe in God – especially one that gives us strength.
Message from Our Faith
When Paul was desperately asking God to take away this thorn, he heard God saying: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
What does this mean? He is saying that God’s generosity and good will for us is enough for us when we feel weak. “Power is made perfect in weakness.” He is talking about true power, God’s power. Not the power that the world believes in.
Here’s the difference between the world’s power and God’s power: the world’s power can be taken away at any time. Is your source of power wealth and riches? A sudden change int the economy, or bad choices, can take away that wealth at any time. Is it political power? You can lose it all in the next election. Is it the power of fame and popularity? One little incident on social media can turn the world against you. The power of this world is very insecure and fragile. What seems like power can become weakness right away.
But God’s power is truth. It is unchanging, steadfast and eternal. It doesn’t depend on the whims of people or the opinions of the masses. It remains constant no matter what. Isn’t this a much more solid kind of power?
This is the power that Paul was referring to. But here’s the secret that Paul understood: this power, the real power, God’s power, is made perfect only in our weakness.
Why is this so? Why can’t it be made perfect when we are strong? It is because we are in the way. As human beings, we are very proud and insecure people. When things are going well, we tend to think it’s because of us. And we become self-reliant and and dependent on ourselves.
Here’s the thing: genuine pride is good – it’s a sign of deep inner confidence. Deep inner confidence is a good thing. But often pride is a mask for our insecurity. It covers up our deeper fears and insecurities. When that kind of pride is in the way, we try to rely on our own strength. When we do that, it prevents God’s power from working in us.
But when we admit that we are weak, we can see that we are vulnerable and need of help. God’s power is made perfect when we let God’s power shine through and take over. And that’s the real power, my friends.
John tells us: “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born of God.”
And “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”
What this means is that when we acknowledge our weaknesses and are honest about them before God, God’s power become active in us. We acknowledge our weaknesses and ask God to be in us. Then we are truly strong.
This strength allows us to carry on despite difficulties, challenges and times when we’re down. This is what real faith is, my friends: trusting that God will carry us through even when we are down and weak. This is the gospel, the good news – that God loves us and gives us the power to carry on through life’s challenges. My prayer for you is that you be people with this kind of strength – a strength that comes from God’s power when we ourselves are weak.
In your journey in life, you will face many situations where you feel weak and inadequate. But may this message remain in your heart: accept your weaknesses, be open about them and admit them; ask God to come into your life. Then you can experience the true power of God. For when we are weak, that is when we can be strong with God’s power and love.
God bless you, may you experience God’s grace upon grace.
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