A Lesson From a Tree | Liberty at Home

A lesson from a tree on this week's episode of Liberty at

Home. Hello, everyone.

Adam Rivero here for the latest edition of Liberty at Home.

As you may know, I'm the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, which

meets on Route 138 right here in town.

And today, as always, we're broadcasting from Easton, MA,

which is part of the South Shore of Boston.

Or is it? It depends on who you ask.

Let me know in the comments. Today we'll be looking at the

words of the Apostle Paul and 2nd Corinthians.

So pause the video if you're watching online.

Grab your Bible and join me as we read 3 verses from Chapter

11. And beginning in verse 8.

It says, For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it

might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is

sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in

weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I

rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may

rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in my

infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in

distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I

strong. When we moved into our apartment

in Easton a few years ago, the complex was still being built,

Building by building. Living in the midst of a

construction zone and watching the complex come together was

interesting. Near the end of construction, a

landscaping company came and planted scores of trees all over

the complex. These saplings were scraggly

looking, In fact, most of them looked as if a puff of wind

could snap them in two. To protect these young trees

from such a fate, their trunks were bolstered by straps that

were attached to stakes deep in the soil and they stayed tied

down this way for over 2 years. During this time, the trees were

able to put down roots deep into the soil.

Once the trees had grown sufficiently both above and

below ground, the stakes were removed.

Now, later, as our apartment complex expanded again, a

temporary safety fence was placed around the new

construction zone. However, this flimsy fence fell

over several times in the first week or two after it was erected

when a string of strong storms blew through town.

After that happened, I noticed something interesting about this

ramshackle fence though. To keep it from continually

falling over, someone had placed straps on it and anchored it to

a nearby tree. Now, a few years ago, the tree

was the one that needed strength.

Now it was providing strength to something else that was weak.

Now getting back to our text, in 2nd Corinthians 12, Paul

describes an infirmity that he calls his thorn in the flesh.

Although we don't know what exactly the specific condition

was, it was something that caused him great physical

weakness. In fact, he says that he asked

God on three separate occasions to take away this weakening

agent from his life. Yet God did not answer Paul's

request in the way the apostle was hoping.

He remained weak in his body. But over time, Paul came to

understanding that this weakness was actually beneficial for his

life. In fact, God told Paul, My grace

is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in

weakness. Which brought Paul to the

conclusion that most gladly therefore will I rather glory in

my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches and

necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then I am become strong.

Because Paul was weakened through his physical

difficulties, he was then able to strengthen thousands upon

thousands of others through his personal weaknesses.

Like a weak tree that later was able to lend strength to another

object, Paul was able to aid untold numbers on his missionary

journeys. All because he had experienced

weakness in his own life. Of course, he couldn't do this

on his own power. It was the power of Christ that

was the straps that stabilized him and allowed him to grow in

his time of weakness. Friend, if you're going through

trials in your life, don't focus on your weaknesses.

Allow the power of Christ to strengthen you so that you in

turn can strengthen those around you.

Take heart in the words of Peter, who said in his first

epistle. Beloved, think it not strange

concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though

some strange thing happened unto you.

But rejoice in so much as your partakers of Christ's

sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, He may be

glad also with exceeding joy in your weakness.

God will give you strength, and in turn, you'll be able to

strengthen someone else who needs your help.

Well, it's time to call it a day for this week's episode of

Liberty at Home. But just before we go off air, I

want to remind you to come see us sometime soon at 800

Washington Street, right here in Easton.

We meet every Sunday morning at 11 AM, Sunday night at 5:00 PM,

and Wednesday night at 7:00 PM. Check us out and follow all of

our digital platforms at my libertybaptist.org.

Well, I'm Pastor Adam Rivero, signing off from ECAT today.

Remind you as always that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there

is liberty. See you next week right here on

Liberty at home.