# Perfect in Weakness

Category: Grace
Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 12
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: October 24, 2021

Turning your Bibles, if you would, please, to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 12. Second Corinthians chapter number 12. I appreciate all those that serve in the music ministry. What an important ministry it is.

And it just seems here lately I’ve been so grateful for all the people that serve in so many different capacities at Rutherford County Baptist Church. What a blessing. I appreciate it so very much, so many doing so much in places. Nobody knows about it. I listed off a group of people the other day, and I forgot a group. That’s very common. I’ll forget some people in just so many different places serving the Lord. Praise God never misses anyone.

And that’s the key. We’re so thankful you’re part of the team, though. Glad to have everybody here. Second Corinthians chapter number 12. And we’re going to really just focus on a phrase that God gives us here. And the title would be, perfect in weakness. That’s a little phrase God gives. And why perfect in weakness?

But we’ll start here, 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. We’ll start in verse number 7 of God’s Word. And are you thankful? We have the Bible. You’re thankful for that. Would you say, amen? Can you imagine how lost we would be in a day and time like we’re in? And society changes and polls change. And people get every kind of crazy philosophy there is in the world. Some of them just just crazy, but the Bible never changes. And the end will be judged by that book right there. And I’m glad God doesn’t spring in on us, if you will. We know ahead of time. I’m so glad I got the Bible. Praise the Lord for the Bible. Would you, if you’re able to, would you stand just trying to show the Word of God respect a little bit here? Second Corinthians chapter 12. And we’re going to begin reading in verse number seven of second. If you’re there, would you say amen?

Good deal. Verse number seven, he says, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.

Now we’re not exactly sure what that thorn in the flesh is. Most tend to think it was his eyes. He had bad eyesight. I don’t know that I’d argue about it. I wouldn’t get an argument. I tend to think probably his eyes too, but I’m not dogmatic about that, but he had some kind of thorn in the flesh, something that bothered him physically. This is how he describes that he says, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.

So in other words, this thing came from Satan. He’s beating the tar out of me. That’s Tennessee interpretation right there, all right? That’s what’s going on. He said, this thing is Satan sent him and he’s killing me. Then he says, lest I should be exalted above measure. God’s keeping him humble. For this saying, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee.

So much can be said about those six words. Yesterday I preached the funeral and for two hours on those six words. No, it wasn’t that long. Some may have thought it was, but not that long. Well, those six words, so much of our message is based on them. But here’s the phrase this morning we want to focus on: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Isn’t that amazing? God doesn’t say his strength is made perfect in talent. It doesn’t say his strength is made perfect when you’re strong. It doesn’t say his strength is made perfect with somebody that’s got everything all together. No, he says, my strength is made perfect in weakness. It’s amazing, God says that.

Paul goes on and he says, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities. That’s his weaknesses. That the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. God says that statement, for my strength is made perfect.

Would you pray and ask that God would use that phrase in your heart and your life? Would you pray that as I pray the same thing? Father, Lord, I’m just thankful that you use the weak things. Lord, I wouldn’t stand a chance if you use the powerful, mighty, intelligent. Thank you, Lord, you use the weak things. Now, Lord, would you show us we’re all weak? And then, Lord, would you show us how your strength is made perfect in weakness? Lord, let that phrase, that truth from your word, permeate our hearts and our minds, Lord, please. And would you encourage us through that? And we’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do. Father, we’re asking for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

As you study the Bible, it is amazing over and over again that we see God uses weak people. Now, would you just listen up for just a little bit as we try to build a little bit of a foundation on God using messed up, dysfunctional people? Let’s just name a couple of them. We could name so many, but let’s just start off with Moses.

Now think about Moses. He was born, it seemed like, into a good family, for three months. And then three months into it, his biological mom and dad, especially the mom, the Bible says, took him and hid him in a basket in a river. Then the king’s daughter, Pharaoh’s daughter, came along and found that little baby, three-month-old baby. It started crying. And that lady had compassion on that baby, and she actually adopted the baby, if you will. Now, so you talk about messed up. I mean, he’s born in a good family, but he gets adopted out to another family. And this family, they actually hire his biological parents to raise him. Now, there’s a confusion, though, because it really comes to a head when he gets 40 years old. And I’m not sure if maybe his biological parents say, well, we don’t need to tell him the truth as he grows up because we’ll risk him, maybe his life being killed. It was under a threat if it was an Israelite baby. I’m not sure actually how all that happened. But when he gets 40 years old, it’s amazing in your 30s and 40s, how often you deal with things from your childhood. That’s always amazing. You’re thinking it would come out earlier. Often it comes out your 30s and 40s. He’s 40 years old and he says, look, I’m going to choose to go back to my ancestry, the Jewish people. Now, he was raised in the palace, so he had that side of him, but then he was also he knew at that point that his ancestry went back to the Hebrew, the slave people at that time, the Jewish people. And I’m just talking about what in our day in time, psychologists would call that dysfunctional or messed up.

In fact, later on, now when he was younger, the Bible says he was mighty in word and deed. He was probably educated at the Harvard of that day and time. He had probably studied karate and martial arts and everything else, you know. I mean, you heard about the guy. He said, I know, I know karate. I know taekwondo. I know judo and the other guy pulled out and he said, I know 357, you know, you understand that, you know? But probably Moses was training all those things, and so when he was younger it says he was mighty in word and deed, but when he got older he stuttered. Now typically, typically if someone’s stuttering, and I’m not trying to make fun of anyone, but typically there’s some issues there, and there were issues there. And yet this man that our day in time, they would call, wow, what a dysfunction, what a messed up home life. And yet he was the man that God used to deliver the children of Israel out of bondage. A mighty man. Moses.

We could go through so many in the Bible. Let’s talk about Joseph for just a second. Joseph, you talk about a messed up family. He had 11 brothers. He was second to the youngest. His dad favored him such a way that the Bible says his brothers hated him. Now that’s not what I make up the word hate. The Bible literally says his brothers hated him. Now, typically when you’ve got brothers and sisters that really hate each other, there’s typically some problems up headquarters, and it was. His dad favored him, and that always causes problems. But I’m just talking about a messed up family, Joseph. His brothers hated him so much. Some of his brothers wanted to kill him, but then some of them prevailed and said, well, instead of killing him, we’ll just sell him on the slave market. Human trafficking. Now we’re talking about some of these great Bible people, great Bible heroes. And this guy was in such a messed up family that he was sold in human traffic. I’m talking about messed up people. Weak people. Remember, his strength is made perfect in weakness. It’s amazing. That’s what God says.

What about Gideon, that great man, that him and 300 men, they delivered the children of Israel from the Midianites, and the Midianites, probably a million of them and only 300 Israelites. Gideon, that great leader, did you know before Gideon was used greatly like that, he had to go and he had to wipe out all his dad’s idols? He had to go against his dad. His dad was against Jehovah at that point at that time, and he had some false idols in him, and he actually had to go, and he had to cut down and tear down his dad’s idols. Well, that’s not the ideal family. You understand where I’m coming from. I’m talking about, you study history, Christianity. Christianity, I’m trying to mix history and Christianity in one word. What was that, Christianity? I’m good at inventing words, you know. I mean, we just got a new word right there. My wife sometimes will tell me, you came up with a new word today. And I was like, okay, what was it today, you know? But you study out history, amen. And typically you’ll find God uses messed up people. Weak people. Gideon had to go against his dad.

Paul. God uses Paul to write a verse that said 2 Corinthians 10:10. And it says, it’s his bodily presence, told my Paul, Paul means small. His bodily presence is weak. His speech contemptible. He said at one point, he said, I didn’t come to you using, I’m going to use my terms, flowery words, lest the cross of Christ be of none effect. I didn’t do that. Paul. In fact, at this point of Paul’s life, we just read the context of the phrase we just read, Paul, he had had a revelation about the third heaven. By the way, tonight I think we’ll go back to preaching on heaven like we did two Sundays ago. We’ll kind of finish that message. But he’s here. He had already seen the third heaven. And lest he be exalted above measure, God had allowed some thing in his life, some thorn, maybe it’s his eyesight, and it made him very weak. That’s when God said, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

I’m just saying you study out the Bible and God uses weak, messed up people. Take old Jephthah over there in the Old Testament, one of the judges of Israel. Jephthah, he was in a family where mom and dad were the biological parents for all his siblings beside him. His dad was the same dad for everybody, but his mom was a harlot. The whole family knew about it. And it was spread around town. It got so bad that his siblings kicked Jephthah out of the house because that wasn’t his biological mom, their mom. And so they kicked him out of the house because dad had had an affair with the wicked woman, and that was Jephthah’s mom. I’m just talking about messed up. Friend, if you think there’s no hope for you, man, you’re hard-pressed to check up the Bible and find out who are the people that God used in a great way. His strength is made perfect in weakness. I’m amazed when God makes that statement.

We could go old Testament so many, the New Testament meaning. What about Timothy? That great assistant of Paul, his son in the faith. Would Timothy have had a great mom and grandma, but his dad wasn’t even saved. Dad didn’t go to church. Dad wasn’t a born-again Christian. And yet Timothy, he was the great second man. He’s the one that led and took so many churches when Paul wouldn’t move on.

I think this will shock you a little bit, but just briefly, I just want to mention him. I tend to think, don’t throw any tomatoes at me yet until you hear me out, but I think Jesus was born into a very messed up family. Jesus himself.

Now think about it a little bit, Jesus. When he was 30 years old here on the earth, by the way, he always was, amen, he’s the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. But the incarnation, he came and is born of a Virgin Mary. And when he was here on the earth for 30 years, excuse me, he started his public ministry. And he went back only twice to his hometown of Nazareth. When he went back to his hometown, it did not go good at all. I mean, he went back. That’s where his mom and his half—he had at least four half-brothers. We think at least three half-sisters. I’m talking about Mary had more after Jesus, all right? And we think to Joseph. And so, but let’s just talk about Jesus for a moment. He came back to his hometown. They tried to kill him in the hometown. They took him to a cliff and they were going to push him off the cliff. His half-brothers was there, his sisters was there, his mom was there. I’m not sure where his stepfather Joseph was there or not. But the Bible never records them defending Jesus. The Bible never says, well, his brothers stand up and said, hey, what are you doing to our brother? The Bible never records that. They’re going to throw him off the brow of the hill. Jesus himself went through the midst of them in his own power and his own life.

In fact, Jesus makes this statement. Listen to this statement very, very closely. I’ll just read it for you. It’s Mark 6 in verse number 4. But Jesus said unto them, speaking of it going to his hometown, a prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. That’s what Jesus said. He’s not without honor among his own kin and in his own house. A kin, that’s your family, friend. House, that’s where you live at.

Just think about it for a little bit here. When he was 12, remember they went to the temple, Jesus is just a boy, and they forgot him. I’m talking about his mom and his stepfather forgot him. Now, how many would say, hey, well, look, if they just forgot about the child, mom and dad, something’s not right. You wouldn’t necessarily, hey, son, something’s not right. You’d say, mom and dad, what’s the deal? You’re the parents. You’re the grown adults here. Do you want me out there? Y’all are thinking this through. You’re like, you got one eye on me. I don’t know about this guy right here.

Well, wait a second. They came back, three days altogether. By the time they got back, they found Jesus. And you would think, oh, my goodness, are you all right? Are you okay? I’m so sorry. We would spend three days. Where did you eat at? Where did you sleep? Are you okay? How many of think something like that? I think something like that. Sure. Let me read for you what the Bible says. Luke 2:48, and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?

Now wait a second. That’s a little bit twisting things, isn’t it? Almost sounds like you’re going through it. You weren’t the one going through. Jesus has been going through it. He’s the one who’s been alone for three days. You with me? Kind of sounds a little what they would call it in our day and time, manipulation. Just trying to call it like it is. And his mother said, Son, why hast thou dealt thus with us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. Ah, it wasn’t his father’s stepfather. That’s why Jesus said, Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

I’m just saying I think there’s problems there. His four half-brothers did not believe he was who he said he was until he died and rose again. Now when he died and rose again, they said, okay, all right, I’m convinced now. And many of them became great, great apostles and preachers and pastors and so on and so on. But do you think about it at the cross? Jesus is on the cross and his mother Mary is there. You ever think about it? Now wait a second, Jesus had four half-brothers. We think at least three half-sisters. But Jesus is on the cross and Apostle John is out there. And Jesus tells Apostle John, hey, I’ll read it for you, so don’t misquote it. He says this, he says, John 19:27, Behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. What about Jesus’s brothers? Why aren’t they taking care of mom? What about the sisters? I’m just saying, I think there’s a lot of problems there.

Now, Jesus, he’s God, he’s God, he’s perfect. You’ve seen him, you’ve seen the Father manifested in flesh, God, Timothy says. He’s God, Emmanuel, God with us. And I’m not trying to take away from the deity of Christ, but he’s also 100% man. You say, can you explain that? No, and you can’t understand it either. But I know it’s true because God said it. He’s one, 1 John 5:7. I know that’s true because the Bible says it’s true, but we’re just looking at the human side for a little bit, and I’m just saying, I believe Jesus came from a messed up family, and not sinful, not at all, he had no sin, he knew no sin, but I believe it weakened him. And it goes along with the truth here: His strength is made perfect in weakness.

Friend, I’m simply saying, if you’ve got it all together, you’re just with the mighty, his strength can’t be made perfect in your life. How many of you say, preacher, the honest truth is I’m about as messed up as the next guy. Anybody out there like that? Anybody out there like that kind of messed up and said, yeah, me too, I’m with you on that. And the good thing about that, his strength is made perfect in weakness. Those are the people that God uses in such great ways. You study out those are the people that God manifests His glory and His strength from it. It’s not those that just got everything all together. There are those that say, Lord, I’m about as weak as they come. And God says, I know it. That’s why I want to use you.

Now let me just put a couple of thoughts in there on that. Why? Why is this perfect? His strength made perfect in weakness? I think because those that are weak and they know they’re weak, because they intensely, just with fervor, they seek the Lord. I mean, some people say, well, I need the Lord. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I need the Lord. I mean, yeah, I got to have the Lord. Yeah, I can’t do nothing without the Lord. But those that know they’re weak, they’re just very, very weakened by this old sin messed up world. They’re like, I’ve got to have God. I can’t make it without you, Lord. They’re like, God, I want to be after you. I need you in my life. I need your hand. I need your presence. I need your smile. I need to know you’re there. God, I’ve got to have you. That’s why God uses those people. It doesn’t have to make you like that, but I hope you’ll let the weakness, the messed up things in your life drive you to the Lord where you’re seeking just intensely. Typically, that’s the people that say, hey, Lord, I’d do anything for you. I have to have you. I give you everything I have. You’ve got my past. You’ve got my present. You’ve got my future. You’ve got my marriage. You’ve got my kids. You’ve got my cars. You’ve got my house. You’ve got my wallet. You’ve got my mind. You’ve got my reputation. You’ve got everything, Lord. I want you to have everything because I need you in my life. That’s the people God uses right there. And they know they’ve got to have God. They’re not going to make it without God. They’re so needy and they know they need God. That’s the people God uses. That’s the people God says, hey, I’ll put my hand on that person right there. I’ll let my presence fill their heart and their mind. Oh, friend, that’s the key to God using you. Yes, we’re weak. Yes, we’re hurt. Yes, we’re wounded. But let that drive you to the Lord. Satan’s trying to hurt you and harm you, but God’s saying, I’ve allowed this for a reason. I think the common denominator of so many of these people I just mentioned, at least for a period of their life, they just intensely sought the Lord like nobody’s business. God said, all right, I’ll put my hand on you. I’ll work in and through your life. That’s what Jeremiah 29:13 says, and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

I mentioned, I don’t want to drag it out because we’ve studied the life of David for over a year now Wednesday nights, so we’re at the end of that. But I believe David came from a messed up family. I mean, Samuel’s coming to anoint one of the boys king, and Jesse, the dad, he leaves David out in the woods, and he doesn’t even get him, and Samuel goes through him twice, and finally, Samuel says, all right, we’re not going to eat the fried chicken until you go get that other boy. Literally, he had to say, we’re not going to eat until you go get the other boy. Boy, wouldn’t you like that if your dad did that to you? Make you feel like your dad’s real confident in you, right? Then his oldest brother, when he’s fighting Goliath over there, his oldest brother says, I know the pride of your heart, the naughtiness of your heart. I think it’s a messed up family. I think that’s why God said, hey, that man right there, I’m choosing him to be king because he’s a man after my own heart. I know he’ll do my will. He’s after God’s heart. And friend, if you let your weakness and you let your wounds and you let your problems—don’t live your life in pity, don’t live your life being always the one that’s hurt and wounded, live your life saying this can be a positive because it can make me just get so close and so intensely after God. That’s what God wants. So they’re saying, well, I’m just, I just got to have God. I cannot make it without him. That’s the way God wants you to be. And his strength is made perfect in weakness.

We’ve got a little bitty dog, many of you’ve seen our little bit of dog, Bell. She’s a Yorkie. She’s about this tall, and she’s wide if we let her eat all the time. She loves—I can kind of give you the list of her priorities real quickly here, all right? Maybe one, two, three priority. Here it is: Food, food, food. That’s her priority right there. And somewhere down here is family, you know. She’s getting old. She really is. She’s 14 years old, Bell is. And we’ve had her for 13 years, I think, something like that. She knows Tammy is her owner. She loves Tammy. They have a certain bond. They really do. But I’ll be honest with me, she gets a little security from me. I don’t know why, but she does. I’ll never forget years ago. We were all out in the yard, a family. I think the kids were littler. In our backyard, there’s an electric fence. It’s not mine, it’s our neighbor’s electric fence. Bell doesn’t have a full tail. She’s got this little bitty nub, you know, that little bit of nub, but just like a flag, you know, it’s always sticking up. And Bell was back there running underneath that electric fence, and typically she’ll make it without that flag, that little tail hitting the bottom line. She must have been a little bit of a high spot for the ground, you know, and maybe a little low spot for the wire, because that little tail hit that electric fence. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was, and I was way up at the front, and we could see each of it. I was in front of the yard, and many of you have been in our yard before, pretty good size yard. And she’s in the back, and her little flag hit that electric fence. She was just squalling, and she ran as fast as her little bitty alligator legs—I call them just a little faster, a little bit of alligator legs—could carry her straight to me. And she gets a little security out of that. And, of course, you know, it made me feel like I’m somebody because a little bit of dog ran to me.

She’s like that. Last night I was praying about exactly what to preach and all that, and I don’t know what it was. Tammy even commented, Bell was just in one of those moods. She’s getting where she can’t see real good. Now she can see if it’s bright, it’s a little bit darker. If you drop food on the floor, of course, I never do that. Don’t tell my wife about it. But I’ll drop food down there, you know. And she can’t even see it. If it’s big, she’ll see it. And she’ll just use her nose. She’ll sniff all around. She’ll find it. She’ll keep sniffing until she finds it. But she gets where she can’t see real good. The other day, we had a little footstool. She ran right into the footstool. It wasn’t sad, it’d be funny, all right, you know? I mean, if it was real big, she can use and see it, but she kind of got started and she ran right into it, you know. And her hearing’s going bad. She used to, you could say something or clap your hands, amen, she just boom, she’s up, you know. Now you really have to yell at her, you know. I mean, you ask her if she’s got to go pee-pee and she knows what that means, but now you have to go pee-pee! You know, you have to yell at her about everything, you know. And I think it’s made her insecure. I mean, yesterday, we got home, we’ve been going all day, and everywhere I went, she’s right there on me. I mean, I was trying to study a little bit, and I go to my office, and I had a bunch of papers. I was cleared out of my Bible and junk, and so I got up, and I went just to the trash away, and I said, Bell, just stay here. She wouldn’t hear of it. She would follow her in there, you know, and I’d go back in there, and, you know, and she’d follow you, and then, you know, if I’m studying, I’m going to be drinking something. I—now it was just water, all right, you know. It should have been Dr. Pepper, but it was water, all right, you know. And I went back out and she just had to be right there on you the whole time. I’m not always there, but I thought last night, I wish I was like that with the Lord. See, if you’re insecure and you know you’re inadequate, you’ll run to the Lord.

Man, when you get hit by problems and trials, you get triggered, as they say, man, you’ll just as fast as a kid and you want to get to the Lord. And if you’re insecure, you know you’ve got to have him, you’re weak, you’re messed up, you’ll follow him everywhere he goes. You’ll be right with him all the time. Middle of the night you wake up, just wherever, whenever, however, you always want to, Lord, I want to be with you. Sometimes it’s not even a matter what you’re doing for the Lord. He leads you in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. You just want to be with the Lord. That’s what God wants. That’s why his strength is made perfect in weakness. You just follow him everywhere he goes. You could sing that song, “Where He leads me, I will follow.” Why? You can’t make it without him. That’s what God wants. Friend, you say, man, you don’t know, you don’t know how messed up I am. No, I don’t, but pretty good sign. We’re all there, friend. And God uses weak people. In fact, he kind of, if you will, a little bit allowed that messenger of the devil to come and beat up on Paul so he’d be weak. So his strength would be made perfect in weakness.

Now let’s get just a couple of thoughts. We’re going to go home and eat that fried chicken that Samuel wouldn’t let him eat back then. All right, we’re going to eat it later on. All right, you ready? Why? Why is the strength made perfect in weakness? I think, first of all, because weak people just—hopefully it’ll drive you to seek the Lord intensely. Then number two, if you look over in 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. Wonderful passage, this whole passage. We won’t have time to study it out, but it would be a great thing to do. First Corinthians one, and would you look there at verse number 26? We’re going to read several verses, and I just want you to get the overall thought. First Corinthians one and verse number 26. When you find that, would you say amen? Amen.

Good deal. Would you look at verse number 26? He says, For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh? Not many mighty, not many noble are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are: Here’s key verse: That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Why? Why does God use weakness? His strength is made perfect in weakness? I think because they’re more prone to just intensely seek the Lord. And number two, because you’re more prone to give him the glory. The older I get, the more I’m impressed, not with just someone that’s humble, but someone that stays humble. You see, it’s one thing to be humble, and that’s wonderful, that’s a great start, but sometimes we’re humble, and then God blesses us, we get a position, we get a little bit of prominence, and maybe get a little bit people know us, whatnot, and so often that changes people. And such a sad, sad thing. But those people that they stay humble—I’m talking about preachers, unfortunately. Man, I’ve just seen so many preachers I love them. And God’s blessed them in great ways. And so often you can almost see it, get a little proud. And before you know it, boom. And such a sad thing. And God says, I use these messed up, the foolish, the weak, the things that are not, to bring to nought things that are. Sometimes we say, well, let’s take over this old organization. Man, it was great back in there. Typically, God uses things that are not there to bring things in the past. Things that are not to bring to nought things that are. That’s an intelligent person. We need to get an intelligent soul in there over there to witness to him. That’s not typically the way God works. He uses the foolish to confound the wise. That’s God’s formula, you see. We think humanly. God says, your ways are so far below mine. As far as the heavens are higher than the earth, so high and so much higher are my ways than your ways. That’s the way God works. Why? So you don’t glory in His presence.

By the way, “in His presence is king”—that little phrase. See, here’s the way God wants to use you, and when He uses you, okay, some people notice and all that, and there’s nothing wrong with that, and that can be encouraging to you, but here’s the thing: when someone gives you a little praise or whatever, yes, let that encourage you, but don’t hold on to that. The key with that is you take that, and you get alone with you and the Lord, and you say, hey, Lord, you and I know the truth of the matter. I’m about as messed up as they come. So that praise they gave me, that belongs to you, Lord. And what they said—you and I know the truth of the matter. All that belongs to you. And you take all that. It’s not a matter what you do in front of everybody. People can fool, and they can act apart real good in front of everybody. It’s when the presence of God—what do you do in front of God? That’s the key. That’s why he says that no flesh should glory in His presence. So in His presence, you say, hey, Lord, all those things they think about me—we know the truth of the matter, Lord. I am so messed up. So all that belongs to you. That’s what God wants. And that’s the people that God uses. And that’s how his strength is made perfect in weakness. Because those aren’t the people that go around like a proud peacock saying, look at me and all that. Those are the people that get along with God in His presence and say, Lord, I’m so messed up. You’re so good to us messed up people. And all the glory, all the credit, everything belongs to you. Friend, that’s what God wants. That’s why God, his strength, is made perfect in weakness. That’s what God’s all about.

What an amazing thing that God makes. He says, my strength is made perfect in weakness. You know, if you’ll ever go to heaven, if anybody ever goes to heaven, they won’t go to heaven out of their strength. There’s a story of a man that went to the gates. And the Lord said, why should I let you in? And one man said, well, I’ve been baptized. And God said, hey, depart from me. I never knew you. Another guy, he said, why should I let you in? And he said, well, Lord, I was faithful in church for 30 years, never missed. I mean, I was just a faithful person. You should say, well, don’t thou good and faithful servant. And the Lord says, depart from me, I never knew you. And another man says, well, I was a good family man. I raised good kids. I treated my spouse right. I did what I ought to do. I was good to my neighbor. And the Lord says, depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. Just a sword—it’s not biblical, but the truth is true, biblical. One man comes, and he says, why should I let you in? And he says, honestly, I’ve got no hope besides this shed blood of Jesus. My only hope to get into heaven is Jesus Christ. And he says, come on in. You’re my son, you’re my daughter. Nobody, nobody will ever get to heaven apart from one way: just Jesus.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Our heads bowed, our eyes are closed. We’re going to have a little different invitation. I’m going to ask if our instrumentals just come, our musician just come. In just a moment, I’m going to have you play very softly if you would, very, very quietly if you would. If you hear this morning you say, preacher, you know what? I’m in that category. I’ve got my hurts, I’ve got my wounds, got my problems for sure. I’ll be in the category of the weak. That’s me. I’m going to encourage you during this invitation time to seek the Lord intentionally. In fact, I’m going to ask you, would you please stand? All of us, would you please stand? I’m going to ask our instruments just play very softly if they would please. If that’s you, you say, I’m in that category. I’m in the weak category. I want to be one of those that uses that to seek the Lord intentionally. I’m going to invite you, would you come down an old-fashioned altar even now as our instruments play? Would you come? That’s right. Don’t wait for anybody else. I want to come and seek the Lord. It’ll be a great time just to intensely seek the Lord. His strength is made perfect in weakness. I’d like to be in that category of those that use my weakness, my problems, my messed up situation just to seek the Lord like nobody’s business. Maybe you’re there right now and you say, I want to give him glory, I want to give him praise, I want to get in his presence right now and brag on him. Lord, you know the truth of everything. They think anything good about me, it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to you. Every bit of it all belongs to you.

If you’re there this morning, you’re standing out there and you said, preacher, I’ve never been saved, not been born again. There are two men standing down front. Would you come? Would you come? Heaven and hell hang in the balance. God loves you. He wants you to go to heaven. If you’re not sure you’re going to heaven, you want to go to heaven, would you come, shake one of these men’s hands? Just shake their hand. They’ll take the Bible and show you from the Bible how you could know for sure you’re going to heaven. If you’re not sure you’re saved, that’d be—we want you to be saved. Go to heaven. Anybody like that? Right now, if you say, I don’t know that I’m going to heaven, would you come down, just shake their hand? If you’re a lady, they’ll get a lady. They’ll take the Bible and show you from the Bible how you can know for sure you go to heaven. It’d be a great time just to kind of humble ourselves at an old-fashioned altar. Just say, Lord, all the glory, all the praise. All of it belongs to you. It would be a great time to do that. All my problems we all got, my flaws, my messed up, my dysfunctional, all of that, I want to come and just use that to intensely seek you.

Let’s do this. Just as a church family, all of us together, we’ll just—I want us all to do this. I want us just go to the Lord. And I want us just kind of admit, hey, we’re messed up. We’re flawed. And I want us to come today and say, Lord, would you use this in my life for me to just intensely seek you? Lord, I want to do the best I can to give you glory and praise if you use me anywhere. Would you let him know that? Let’s as a church family, if you’re at the altar, that’s fine, wherever you may be. But let’s just as church family, as Rutherford County Baptist Church collectively, let’s go to the Lord right now. Say, Lord, if you use this, we want to give you glory. All my problems, Lord, would you use it? I want to seek you more. Would you let him know that? Let’s do it as a church family. The Lord will become—I know you’ve had a reason for allowing these problems, these issues in our lives so many times. Well, we’re so messed up. Lord, old Satan, you know how he comes and accuses us, but Lord, we want you to use your strength to be made perfect in our weakness. Well, we come right now, we present ourselves to you. Would you use us? Lord, help us to just intensely seek after you. And Lord, help us to glory in you. Help us, Lord, to give all the glory and credit. It belongs to you. Help us to do so. Give it all to you. Father, would you take this phrase and make it so real in our lives? Help us to stick with us. Your strength is made perfect in weakness. Thank you, Lord, for using us weak, messed up people. We’re honored to be a part of your family. We love you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Original File: Perfect in Weakness - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday AM 102421