# Would You Offer God Your Weakness

Category: Grace
Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 12:7
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: May 22, 2022

Give you a little background to this. Many of you know it, but we want to just kind of review a touch before we dive into the text: 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Brother Patterson, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you in church. He’s listening to the ball game. You see that over there. I tell you what, when he stands up and says, yeah, you know, it’s somebody—I wouldn’t say scored a touchdown, but, you know, it’s basketball, so we’ll see. First time I’ve seen that one. But 2 Corinthians chapter 5. At the beginning of this chapter, let me just talk to you for a second.

At the beginning of this chapter, he talks about this man that had been given a revelation. He had gone to the third heaven. That’s the abode of God. That’s what we often call heaven. He says this guy—I think he’s talking about himself, Paul—says, “Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.”

I think he’s talking about himself fourteen years before. When Paul was at this place called Lystra, he was preaching the gospel, and because he was preaching the gospel, they persecuted him; they stoned him. They took big, old, huge rocks, and can you imagine? They just took this guy, man, they pounded him with these rocks.

They just had blood coming out all over. And these fellows had been through those things. And they said, “Well, that guy down there”—and I just heaped up, probably in a fetal position, just bleeding all over—“he’s dead.” And they dragged him outside that city and kind of left him for dead.

Have you ever heard somebody talking about, “Well, you know, I died for 30 seconds or whatever, and I’ve seen these bright lights or whatever they say”? We’ve all heard those stories. I tend to think there’s some truth to it. Now, I don’t put a whole lot of weight on what they say; I go by the Bible. It’s sure, amen. But I tend to think there’s some weight to it because I think that’s what happened to Paul. He says, whether I was in the body still living or out of the body dead, I don’t know. Whether in the body or out of the body, I can’t tell. God knows. But he said, I got this revelation. I went to the third heaven. I went to heaven. He said, I’m telling you the things that I heard, just the things that I heard. I mean, have you ever heard something so powerful, so strong, it just kind of goes through your body? Maybe it’ll be like that in heaven. I imagine that and much, much more. But he says, I’m telling you, even the things I heard are just beyond me telling you about them.

Now, here’s the thing. He says, after this revelation, he said, I was about to get the fat head. How many out there know what the fat head is? You know what I’m going to talk about? It seemed like the younger generation calls it the fat head. Older people call it the big head. Whatever you want to call it, pride is what we’re talking about, you know. He says, “Unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations,” he said, God has allowed this problem in my life. And he said, really, it’s from the devil, Satan. It’s the messenger of Satan, and he is… Well, let’s just read it. Let’s just read. Let’s start in verse number seven. I’m going to get ahead of myself. Verse number seven right there, if you would, please.

In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7, would you please stand? Would you please stand just to show the Word of God respect? We are in verse 7. That’s the context for verse 7. 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, let’s just stop for that. Let’s talk about a thorn in the flesh. How many have ever gotten a thorn in you somewhere that you cannot get out and it festers? Anyone know what I’m talking about? I remember our son one year; we were down with some family, and he was on a wooden dock, and he was barefoot, and he would just walk along. You know, those splinters come up out of the wood, and man, he would just walk, and one of those splinters went way up in his foot. And we could not get that thing out. It kind of closed up and infected, and we tried everything. Finally, literally, we had to take him to the ER, I don’t know, a week or so later. They numbed his foot; I was in there watching it all. Then they took, like, a razor—a scalpel—and they just cut into that. When they cut it up, it just popped, and that splinter just popped out, along with all the infection. Anyone getting hungry right now?

Now, I say that to say a thorn can mess your life up. And God had allowed—God wasn’t doing it; it’s always the devil that does the dirty work—but God had allowed this thorn. Well, it’s just a thorn? Oh, man, thorns can get you. And he had this thorn in the flesh. Now, we don’t know what it is, but it’s something with this flesh. Help me out. Most of you, what do most people think it was? Somebody say it.

His eyes. There are some things in the Bible that kind of lead you to think that, and it’s probably true. I don’t know. But something, some kind of thorn in the flesh was getting him. Okay? Let’s keep reading what he says about it.

“Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”

To buffet—what does it mean to buffet? Typically, that means where they would put a black bag over your face and somebody would use you like a punching bag—not a body bag, but the speed bag that boxers use. I imagine it would just pound them in the face. I mean, they’d be black and blue and bloody all over. He said Satan is just killing me. Can I put it in Tennessee vernacular? He’s beaten the tar out of me.

The messenger of Satan to buffet me. This thing was… Lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing, I besought him. It’s like I begged him. I besought the Lord thrice. Now, I don’t think it was three times, like, “Take this away, take this away, take this away.” I think it was seasons of prayer. I tend to think he probably fasted every one of those times. It was three major times. I besought the Lord. Now, what was he praying? What does he say? “That it might depart from me.” He said, I was begging God, “May, please let this thing leave. Let it depart.” That was his prayer. We know what he was praying. Look what God answers. Here’s the answer: verse number nine. Verse number nine.

And he said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” That’s amazing. But I want you to notice this. Would you look real close at this part here? “For my”—that’s God—“for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Is that what it says? For my strength is made perfect in personality? Notice that. For my strength is made perfect when everything is going your way.

Help me out. What does it say? Say the word when we get to it, please. For my strength is made perfect in… Would you say it one more time? I’m going to read it again. For my strength is made perfect in… That’s not what I would think. That’s not the way we think. Have you ever heard somebody say, “Well, so-and-so has got so much talent. If they would give themselves to the Lord, the Lord can really use them”? God doesn’t think like that. That’s what we think. God says, “No, my strength is made perfect in weakness.” It’s interesting. That’s what God says.

Now, watch what Paul says now. “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities.” That’s weakness. Paul said, man, I’ve changed. I was praying for it to leave me. I’m not praying that anymore. I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. This is amazing, this next verse. “Therefore I take pleasure.” I take pleasure in everything when it’s going good, and I got a medium-rare steak in front of me, amen, you know. That’s good preaching, right, brother? Amen. But he says, I take pleasure in infirmities, that’s weakness, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am… what’s the next word? Weak. That’s what God says. “For when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Just for a little bit, would you… this is the title of it. And I’m going to ask you: Would you offer God your weakness?

Would you offer God your weakness? I’m forgiving God your strength, but that’s not what we’re asking this morning. This morning, would you offer to God your weakness? By the way, that’s what I’m going to ask, without the message, invitation time. I’m going to tell you ahead of time. I’m going to ask you during the invitation time: Would you offer God your weakness? That’s what we’re going to ask.

But later on here, would you pray and just pray that God would let us see things as He sees them? His ways are different than ours. His thoughts are different. High as the heaven is above the earth, so far are His ways above our ways, Isaiah 55 says that. Would you pray that we can kind of see things as God sees them a little bit more this morning? Would you pray that as I pray the same?

Father, Lord, help us to catch a glimpse of Your thought process and how You work and how You have worked down through the centuries. Father, help this truth to be real to us. Lord, help us today to offer our weakness to You. It’s wonderful You show us that Your strength is made perfect in weakness. Help us today, Lord, please. I yield to You. We’ll brag on You for what You do, Lord. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.

Let’s pretend I leave here and go down Seminary Road, Poplarwood, Honoville Road. And we’re going down Ambeville Road. We’re going to a restaurant, all right? Now, think about where would you like to go to a restaurant? Whether it be Cracker Barrel. We could get on the interstate and go to, what’s the one, Old Charlie’s, or we could go south down to Texas Roadhouse. You know, wherever. Tell me where would you like to go? What’s your favorite? Where do you want to go? Tell me: one, two, three, here we go. Wow, Brother Anthony said Chick-fil-A. I’m a little surprised about that. I figured with the younger generation, it would be all these, you know, Texas Roadhouse, everything. Anyway, we’re going to our favorite restaurant.

And on the side of the road, there is a good-sized pickup truck. It’s a dually. I mean, it looks sharp. In the back of the pickup truck, you can see a big old toolbox. It looks like he’s got every tool in the world. This guy’s standing out there. He looks like a mechanic in uniform. He’s a young, healthy, strong man. Looks like he works out all the time. I mean, he looks kind of like your… okay, I won’t say like your pastor’s dad. He looks, you know, but he looks like he works all the time. I work out all the time, curls, amen, one, two, three. I’m good at it, you know. But anyway, he’s young, healthy, and all that, and he’s got a cell phone out, and it looks like maybe he’s calling somebody. He’s probably got AAA. And he’s got the smartphone, all those things, and he’s out there. Now he’s got the hood up, but he looks like he knows what he’s doing. And look, man, we’re going to Texas Roadhouse. Can I confess here? There’s a good chance I’m going to keep going to Texas Roadhouse. I mean, steak is waiting, you know what I’m saying? He’s incapable. He’s got to go. I’m sorry you broke down, but man, you’ve got a cell phone, you know what you’re doing, you’ve got all the tools, you’re young, healthy.

But let’s say we’re going down the road, and we see a little old lady. I mean, she’s getting out of the car as we drive by, and you’re like, “Can this little old lady even get out of the car?” And she just looks like she’s 140 years old. She just kind of shriveled up, very weak. And she’s getting out of her car. Her car looks like it went through the Vietnam War. I mean, it’s in pretty rough shape. And there’s smoke coming out, you know, from the front end. And, you know, our wiser people in our church—I’m not trying to pick on you at all—but sometimes that generation, they have a little difficulty with phones, you know, I’m talking about. And this lady looks like she doesn’t even have a flip phone. I mean, she doesn’t have a cell phone. And she’s popping the hood, trying to at least get the hood up. And man, she’s trying to open the hood. There’s smoke coming out, you know. She’s opening the hood. You’re like, “Man, don’t open the hood.” You know, you’re doing good to get out there, but don’t open the hood. There’s smoke coming out, you know. And no cell phone, old, broken… Now, have me out. It’s a sad day in America, but that steak may have to wait for a while. You know what I’m talking about.

God says, “Well, I often pass by the strong.” But that weak person that’s weak, broke down on the side of the road, if you will. God says, “I’m willing to stop.” Those are the people that I use in great ways.

I remember a story of a preacher who told me when he was in another state that he was trying to grow this church and said, “God bless this church and do all these things.” And this church… And he got physical problems, and he ended up in a wheelchair for a period of time. And his wife had to take care of me. He said, “I could not do all the things needed as a pastor.” And he said, man, my wife had to do everything, from pushing me around in the wheelchair. And he said, it was amazing; that was during that time that that church just really took off. God blessed it; it grew. I’m telling you, God works. His strength is made perfect in weakness. So I’m asking you this morning, yes, give Him your strength, but I’m asking you this morning, would you give Him—His strength is made perfect in weakness—so would you give Him your weakness? Would you offer it to Him?

God wanted Paul to be weak. And God allowed this thing in his life to make him weak. Why? So the power of Christ could rest upon him. Would you offer Him your weakness today?

Gideon. Do you remember the story about Gideon? Gideon, yeah, yeah. And remember, he fought with the Midianites, and there were thousands and thousands. It’s been a while since I read the story. I would think in the hundreds of thousands, the Midianites. And Gideon, remember he started off—how many did he start off with? Anybody remember how many he started off with? Somebody just said it out loud. Yeah, 32,000. Gideon started off. And boy, he just thought, “All right, you got hundreds of thousands? Well, I got 32,000,” you know. And what did God say? God said, “Gideon, you’re too strong.”

So God said, “Gideon, all right, tell those people if you’re afraid, if you’re a… what we say when we were little kids, you’re a chicken. Go on home, man. You just don’t need you in the fight. Go on home.” And I imagine Gideon thought, “Well, a couple hundred will leave.” How many left? Remember how many left? 22,000. Man, he’s left with 10,000. He’s about to go against 100,000 plus. And here’s the thing: God said, “Gideon, you’re too strong.” I imagine Gideon said, “Can you say that again, Lord? I didn’t hear you right there, you know.” God said, “No, you’re not weak enough.”

And so what happened? Gideon went down to the river, and he said, “Now watch him, Gideon, and those that drink this way, whatnot—you keep them.” Remember how many it was at the end? At the end, he went with how many? Just 300. That’s it. And God said, “Now, Gideon, I just want you to be real weak, that way everybody knows I’m the one that brought the victory.” Gideon, I need you weak, not strong, because My strength is made perfect in weakness.

You see it all through the Bible, friend. Israel is a tiny little nation. You can take a map of the Middle East, put it on the floor, and pretty much you can put your thumb over Israel. Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. Don’t tell my wife that I told on her. My wife is a Jersey girl. Do you know that? Now, she was from South Jersey, amen. So she’s still good, amen. But she’s from New Jersey, and they say Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. And literally, you can put your feet on the map and you won’t cover up the nations around Israel that have tried to wipe it off the face of the earth—those Muslim countries. It’s just a good sign that God’s real. God says, “No, that’s My nation. I’m going to take care of her,” amen. And it’s still true today. But this—I’m just saying God said, when I’m going to get a nation, this is going to be My special people. God chose a little nation.

He talks about another place, just a small nation. Would you look over—you’re already in Corinthians—would you look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, please? 1 Corinthians chapter 1, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And would you look down at verse 27? This is not how we think, but I want you to see how God thinks. 1 Corinthians 1. When you find verse 27, would you say amen? Amen. Look what God says. He says, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” Let’s stop for just a second.

I’ve heard it so many times: “Well, this person is real wise and very intelligent, so we need an intelligent soul winner to go talk to them.” That’s not God’s plan. “Well, we need somebody who knows science. We need a scientist Christian to go talk to them,” you know. That’s not God’s plan. It’s not what God said. I know that’s what we say, but God’s ways are not our ways. What does God say? “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” That’s God’s formula. Just somebody foolish; they’ll confound the wise.

Look at how He gives these scenarios throughout this thing. God has chosen the… what’s the next word? “Weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” Well, that guy, he’s mighty, man. He works out all the time, all that. We need some other bodybuilder to go witness to him. That’s not what God says. He says, “Give Me a weak guy, and he’ll go confound the things that are mighty.” That’s God’s formula. You see, now I understand a little bit more of why He says over there in Isaiah, “As far as the heavens are above the earth, that’s how high and how different My thoughts are than your thoughts.” I’m telling you, this is how God works. He’s telling you how God works.

Verse 28: “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.” What does it mean by “the things which are not”? Typically, we think, “Well, we need a revival. Let’s get this great Christian organization; it’ll bring revival to America.” God says, “No, typically I find something that’s not even there.” The things that are not—those are the ones from which I do mighty things. The things that are not to bring to nought things that are.

Now, verse 29 is a key verse. This is the reason for it. Verse 29: He says, here God—God says, I use the foolish, I use the weak, I use the base and things that are despised and all these things. God uses verse 29. Why? “That no flesh should glory in His presence.”

I think about Brother Bobby Roberts, and he preached at their church, and he would say this several times. He said, “Brother Paul, won’t you pray that God does something so big everybody knows God did it?” Hey, that’s the end result. When God uses weak things, God gets the glory. “That no flesh should glory in His presence.”

So, hey, I’m going to talk to every one of you this morning just for a second here. Would you this morning offer Him your weakness?

All of us have weakness, all of us have flaws, all of us have some inadequacies, all of us feel just like we can’t measure up. We all have these things in different areas. Would you offer Him your weakness? I’m not talking about your strengths today. Would you offer Him this morning, “Lord, here I’m bringing my weakness to You”?

Think about Moses. Remember Moses over there? Moses. We’re talking about Moses for a moment. Look over in Acts chapter 7. I just want you to see this: one verse about Moses. While you’re turning there, let me refresh your memory. You’ll know about Moses. Remember Moses? Pharaoh’s daughter ended up raising Moses. I think Moses was raised in the best—he was raised with the best education, the best food, the best physical condition, everything you can imagine. He went to Harvard and Yale and all the above. He was just… I think he was very trained in martial arts. I think that’s why he could kill that Egyptian soldier. He killed the Egyptian soldier. Did you get that? I mean, he did. He took him out, you know. He killed the Egyptian soldier.

He was 40 years old, man. He was strong, he was buff, he was smart, he was intelligent. Look at what it says. Look at Acts 7, verse 22: “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds.” That’s very interesting. Notice that: mighty in words.

Now, 40 years old, man, he’s got it all together; he’s got all the wisdom, he’s mighty in words and deeds. He goes out, remembers the story, “I’m going to deliver my people Israel.” And what is it? He kills the guy. Then what happens? He runs. Pharaoh hears about it. “He’ll get you, boy!” Moses takes off when he goes, and he hides out for 40 more years. He is 80 years old now. He is not all that now.

And so he’s 80 now. Look over in Exodus, if you will. Look back over in Exodus chapter 4. And I want you to see what happens now. He was young and said, “Man, I can do it,” and he had all this wisdom, and he was mighty in words and deeds, and he flops. And he’s 80 now. And God says, “I want to use you.” And it comes to this burning bush, remember that? And God said, “I’m going to use you now, Moses. And I have a call; I have something I want to use you to do.” Would you look in chapter 4 of Exodus? Look at verse 10. He’s having this meeting with the Lord.

And Moses said unto the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent.”

Wait a second. Acts 7:22, he was mighty in words when he was 40 years old. Forty years later, excuse me, he’s 80. He says, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither hitherto nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” And the Lord said to him, “Who hath made man’s mouth? Or who maketh a dumb man, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Hath not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say.”

And here’s what I’m getting at. Look: when he was 40, he had all that might in words and deeds, God said, “No, I’m not ready to use you.” Eighty now, and Moses said, “Look, look, Lord, I can’t even talk.” Literally. And he said, “Lord, me?” If you will, he said, “Lord, I’m weak.” God says, “Yeah, I know. My strength is made perfect in weakness.” God used Moses to deliver the children of Israel through the Red Sea and across the wilderness. Weakness.

Would you offer Him your weakness? Hey, you just look all through the Bible. I’m amazed. I’ve talked to many preachers, and so often you hear a preacher say, “Man, if the truth be known, I’m an introvert.” I was like, “No way.” I believe him. God uses weakness. God called Jeremiah when he was a young man and said, “I want to use you, Jeremiah.” Let me read for you what Jeremiah said. Then said I, “Oh, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.” I mean, Jeremiah said, “Lord, I can’t do that. I’m a child.” I said, “I know. I work through weakness.”

I think about my dad, the best personal soul winner I know as far as just being faithful to witness to people. Can I tell you the truth about my dad? For the most part, my dad was very quiet. He didn’t talk much. I mean, he’s really pretty quiet. But God says, “I use his weakness.” That’s God’s plan.

I think about our country, America. Man, this great, this world power, this dominant power in the world for years and years and years. Can I tell you how weak we were at first? Thirteen ragamuffin colonies? I mean, they were very loosely knit together. George Washington was a great leader, I think he was a great Christian, but can I be honest with you, he made some major military mistakes. Our military did not even have enough clothes to put on our… a lot of them died from either starvation or because they lacked the clothing. They froze to death. That’s our mighty America. We were so weak. Even the British, some of the British generals said, “Man, the only reason why they won was because God was fighting for them.” We were so weak. And yet God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. You check it out in history. You check it out in the Bible, friend. I’m telling you, God’s word is so true. His strength is made perfect in weakness. That no flesh should glory in His presence.

Paul, the one that God used to pen first and second Corinthians, Paul—that many would say he’s the greatest Christian that ever was. I mean, he kind of took the gospel and spread it over to Europe and that part of the world, really, to us eventually, and started 13—so I’m going to go up to 20, maybe even up to 30 churches—and just the greatest missionary there was. You know what Paul means? Paul means small. They’re small. In some places he said, “Look, he said, I know my bodily presence is weak.” That’s what he says. God’s strength made perfect in weakness.

Jesse, I want one of your boys to be the king. God’s done told me that. Man, I went through twice amongst all your boys. These aren’t it. You don’t have any other? Kind of a sad deal. The prophet Samuel had to say, “We’re not going to eat till you get him.” I was just a boy out there watching the sheep. Have a perfect in weakness. Go get David. Go get David.

Can I be honest with you about Jacob for a second? Remember Jacob and Esau over there? Jacob… hey, Jacob in many, many ways was a sissy. And he was a liar, he was manipulative, he was a deceiver, Jacob. He had major flaws. God said, “I’m going to use Jacob.” And from Jacob, he started the nation of Israel. Friend, I’m saying, would you offer Him your weakness? We don’t think like God thinks, but God says, “I use the weak.”

Hey, what about Abraham? Man, Abraham was a great, strong man. Really? Abraham? Abraham twice, he lied about his own wife. You call this wimpy? I mean, he says, “Hey, when we get over there, don’t tell them you’re my wife because they may kill me or hurt me because they want to get to my wife. So just say you’re my sister.” What a wimp. How many ladies would like a man like that? No way. No way.

I mean, you call that weak. What about Hosea? Hosea, we were studying on Wednesday night Bible study. Hosea, man, he was all that. Man, God had made Hosea. His wife had left him. She cheated on him, and she walked out on him. Now, you talk about leaving a fellow weak. God said, “I want a weak man.” This guy is heartbroken. You can preach to people how you’re breaking my heart like nobody else can.

Friend, you just go through the Bible front to the back. Amos! That great prophet Amos warning them. Amos said, “Look, I’m not a son of a preacher. I’m just a herdsman. I’m just a farmer. I’m just a rancher.” I say, “Yeah, Amos, I know that. You’re weak, if you will. I use weak people.”

Where was the God incarnate, what God Almighty, when He was going to come into this world? Where was He going to be born? Out in a great palace in Jerusalem? No. Micah 5:2 says, just Bethlehem, “though thou art the least among the thousands of Judah.” How about where Jesus grew up at? Well, Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of that place? Man, you talk about a bad neighborhood. Wow! You talk about, you know, in our day and time, we usually… man, that neighborhood is trash. Yeah, that’s where Jesus grew up at. God, His strength is made perfect in weakness. Friend, you check it out in history, you check it out in the Bible; that’s God’s plan.

So I’m asking you this morning, would you take your weakness and would you take it and would you offer it to the Lord? I’m going to ask in just a minute here; we’re about to have the invitation. I’m going to ask you to take all your weakness and say, “Lord, here it is.”

I think about Fanny Crosby. She was a little baby, six weeks old, and she had eye problems. The regular doctor was out of town, so they got this quack doctor. The guy who said he was a doctor really was not a doctor. He came in and gave her the wrong medicine, and they put this medicine in this six-week-old little girl, and it made her blind for life. And yet this little girl wrote over 6,000 hymns. Many of the songs that are in your songbook, she wrote. Her name was Fanny Crosby. I’m just saying, you check it out through history. God uses the weak. That’s His plan. Sometimes God allows weakness or things to come into your life and my life, our lives, to make us weak. And yet, God… you give that weakness to the Lord.

D.L. Moody—I like this one a whole lot. Amen, this is my only hope I got. D.L. Moody could not spell or write. His grammar was horrible, and he couldn’t pronounce words. Somebody say, “Amen,” right there. Yet God used him to shake two continents for Christ. Weakness. Billy Sunday was raised by an alcoholic father. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was kicked out of the London Baptist Association. They didn’t think, “You’re not going to make it now.” Friend, I’m just saying, you check it out. Susanna Wesley, she was the mother out of whom came the great John and Charles Wesley, who started their great religion. And it’s batsled now, but just God used that thing to really make a difference in our world. And yet, you know what? Susanna Wesley’s husband was a very sinful man. That’ll leave a lady weak. And His strength is made perfect in weakness. You just check it out.

Can I get a couple more things in here, and we’ll be done? Would you look over in Revelation? You’ve seen this, but I want to just kind of tie it in here, and then we’ll get one last illustration. We’re done. Who does God open doors for? Now, by the way, when God opens the door, nobody can close it. Nobody. Satan comes along and tries to close it; you aren’t going to close it if God opens it. It’s done. Now, if God closes the door, it doesn’t matter what you do, how you manipulate, how hard you try, all that. If God closes the door, it isn’t going to be opened. Well, let’s look and see who God opens the door for. Revelation 3. Would you look in verse 8 real quickly here? Revelation 3 and verse 8. He says, “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door.” God opens the door; you can go into the next room, you can travel to a new level, you can grow more, for all that I’ve set before thee, an open door, and no man can shut it. Watch what He says: “For thou hast…” What?

You call that weak? He gives three things. The first thing He says, “For thou hast a little strength.” God said, “Oh, they’re ready for me to use them.” “For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.”

Now let me say this: They didn’t quit. Paul didn’t quit. God had made him weak. He said, “I’ll take pleasure in my weakness.” Jeremiah, Amos, Moses—all these days—they didn’t quit. You can’t quit. God makes you weak sometimes. Don’t give up. Don’t throw in the towel. Say, “Fooling up.” Don’t quit. God may be getting ready to do something great in your life. Don’t quit.

And this last illustration—we’re done—Jesus is our perfect example in every area. I want you to think about Jesus. You can close your Bibles if you like to. We’re not going to go back to it; we’re just going to talk the last thing, and we’re done. Ladies, you need to put your shoes back on, would you please?

Think about Jesus. He is doing the greatest act for mankind that’s ever been done. He is buying salvation for every single person here. He is buying salvation for this young man—I’m sorry, what’s your name? James. James, I’m sorry. He’s buying salvation for James. He’s buying salvation for Ryan. He’s buying salvation for Ethan, for Abby, for every person. He’s buying salvation for every person in the world. It’s up to you whether you take it or not, but He’s buying it for you. The greatest thing ever to happen to mankind, by far.

And watch Jesus. He has just had his beard plucked out. He has just been buffeted when they put the bag over; they beat him to a pulp. He has just been whipped with the cat o’ nine tails. I tend to think they did it in different ways. But I tend to think that they put chains on him, and sometimes they would just suspend him just a little bit off the ground. And then they’d take that cat o’ nine tails, and it would come around, and they had woven in those whips—those glass and sharp hooks—and it would wrap around their body, and then they would just pull it, and it would fillet them like a lion when it’s got the claws; it just fillets him. Psalms 22 talks about how their bones would stare out. That’s why I think he was suspended. I think you could see his bones in many places. I mean, he’s been… He’s got a crown of thorns that took a reed and they beat it down in. You talked about a thorn earlier; it’s beat down into his skull.

And then, after all that, it’s all right, put that old rugged cross on. Friend, we put that cross up there. Brother Calva made it for us. That thing is heavy. And they say, “Hey, we want you to carry that old rugged cross up to the hill, Golgotha, the place of the skull.” It actually looks like a skull where we think it was. It’s a rocky hill, if you will, with two holes for eyes and the mouth, whatnot. It looks like the place of the skull of Golgotha. Do you remember what happened? He’s carrying that cross. Remember what happens? Isaiah said he was such a bloody heap of flesh, you could not even tell he was a man. I don’t want to take anything away from Jesus, but he had a hard time carrying the cross. And the farmer, man, Simon, helped him carry the cross. Why? Because God Almighty had come down, and He said, “You know what? I’m going to become a man and I’m going to experience weakness.”

And God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. And when the greatest act for mankind was ever accomplished, it was accomplished through weakness. Friend, would you bring your weakness to the Lord today? Just wrap up all your weakness. And what you’ll offer to the Lord… Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. I’m going to ask, would you please stand? Would you please stand? Right there we are.

In just a moment, I’m going to pray. As soon as I say, “Amen,” our instruments will play, and we’ll sing, but I’m going to ask you: Would you just come like a mighty army? Would you come and say, “Lord, actually, I’m not mighty right now. I’m offering my weakness to You”? Would you come and give Him your weakness this morning? All your inadequacies and your fears and the problems and the flaws. “I’m not as smart,” “I can’t,” all that. Would you bring it all? Would you just come and would you offer Him your weakness? As soon as I say, “Amen,” don’t look around if anybody else is coming or not and all that. Would you come? As soon as we say “Amen,” would you come and would you offer the Lord? It’d be good for our church as a church family right now. So, Lord, we’re coming. We’re offering You our weakness. Would you do that? Let’s pray. Would you come?

Lord, thank You that You use the weak. We have a hard time—I have a hard time grasping that—but I see how true it is. Help us, Lord, in these next five minutes as a church family and as individuals to offer our weakness to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Would you come? Would you? No way for anybody else. Let’s just all come. All of us come, the church family. Church family, just come and let’s offer Him our weakness. That’s good. All of us, all of us, myself included. He has made us weak. He used His weakness. That’d be all right, Pastor. I got so many issues. I understand. We all do. But offering, offering your weakness—that’s right. If the Lord’s speaking to your heart, be obedient. Be obedient. Give Him your weakness. He’s a master at taking weak things and doing mighty things with them. That’s the way He gets the glory. Everybody knows He’s done it. That’s what He wants. That’s His plan. Bring all your weakness, all of them. You say He wants that? Oh, you better believe it. Bring Him your weakness. I think He’s pleased as a church family. It just comes to say, “Lord, here’s our weakness. I got some weakness going on, Lord. We’ve got some problems, some major flaws, but Lord, we’re going to give it to You.” Give Him your weakness. Would you do that as we see? In other words, just spend your time, give Him your weakness.

Let me talk to you for just a little bit more, and I’m finished. Yesterday, we were out. We spoke with a man. We asked, “Are you sure you’re going to heaven one day?” And he said, “Yeah, I think so.” He said, “I really work hard at being good. I give because it gives me a lot of joy. I work at these things.” And I believe he did. As a man, I thought he was a very good guy, and I mean that. But nobody gets to heaven that way. Nobody will ever get to heaven that way. It’s not until you realize, “I’m weak. I’m a sinner. I cannot save myself. I’m so weak, Jesus, You have to do it for me.” I would just say, “I’m not going to depend on my strength. It’s filthy rags, really.” “Jesus, I need You.” You have to say, “That’s the folks that go to heaven.”

Would you bow your heads for just a moment, please? You said, “Preacher, there was a time that I was weak and I knew I could not save myself. I needed Jesus to save me. I asked Jesus; I trusted Jesus to save me.” If that is you, would you slip your hand up all across the auditorium? “I’ve been weak and I knew Jesus, my only hope,” and I trusted Him. Many, many hands. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you. You can put your hands down.

Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, there’s never been a time I realized I need to be weak, and I need a Savior. I need Jesus. I realize this morning I need to come as a weak person. I can’t save myself. Jesus, I need to trust You. I need to be saved.” I’ve never done that, but I’d like to do that this morning. If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up. Nobody’s looking. You slip it up. “I need to come before Jesus. I’m a sinner. I need to be saved.” Anybody like this? Slip it up. Slip it up.

I don’t see any hands. Friends, that’s how we got saved. And that’s how He’ll use this: His strength is made perfect in weakness. Thank you so much, friend. You can look up. I appreciate you being faithful to the house of God. I believe God’s very pleased with so many just offering our weakness to Him. And He’s amazing. His strength is made perfect. And so just glory in your infirmity. We all got them. We all got them. And just say, “Hey, Lord, Lord, take care of the rest.” He’s got it. So glad you were in church this morning. Looking forward to the night. God working in our hearts and lives. Five o’clock choir—the choir did a good job this morning, by the way. I appreciate it. Like that. Six o’clock service, and then pie. Hamid’s going to come eat some pie tonight. Come on now. Amen. Amen. Amen. We’re going to be weak after we eat all that sugar pie. Amen. I’ll tell you what. Have a good time at it, though. Glad you’re here this morning. Good to have everybody here. Praise the Lord for you.

Original File: Would You Offer God Your Weakness - Pastor Paul Chisgar -Sunday AM 05222022