20 July 2025: Strength in Weakness (Josh Benge)

Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South

Australia. All right, here's the scripture

that God placed on my heart as as soon as I prayed for you

actually says this. Paul is talking about a man who

received an amazing revelation, all right, and he's talking

about boasting. He's talking about what he

should tell people. He's talking about what his prep

should be proud of. It says On behalf of this man,

this great revelation man, I will boast.

But on my own behalf, I will not boast.

Are we in the right? Yep, except of my weaknesses.

Thought about that and that. Wonderful.

Have you ever walked into a room?

And. Just thought, what am I going to

tell people at this party? They need to know about my

weaknesses. Though.

If I should wish to boast. I would not be a fool, right?

You know, for I would be Speaking of the truth.

But I refrain from it here, this one, so that no one may think

more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

How's that? Yeah.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the

surpassing greatness of the revelations God gave, I mean, he

wrote a third of the New Testament.

I mean, it's a fierce statement. OK, a thorn.

Was given me in the flesh a messenger of Satan to harass me.

Why? To keep me from becoming

conceited, right? Can you see?

Can you read? Am I in the way?

I'll move back a touch. 3. Times I pleaded with the Lord

about this, I begged him, I pleaded, I came to my father and

I asked him, Please God, remove it, you know?

That it should leave me. Please take this.

Thorn from me. But God said to me he didn't.

It wasn't a no or a yes. Have you ever had that?

You've gone to pray. You want to know her?

A yes. And God says something

different. It is.

My grace is sufficient for you. How's that?

Listen to this. For my power, God's power, the

power of God is made perfect in weakness.

What? How?

Can God's power? Be not perfect originally.

It's perfected through your weakness my.

Power is made. Perfect and weakness.

Have you ever read? Hebrews And you thought about

how Jesus was made perfect through suffering.

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses.

So that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then listen to this.

I'm content with weaknesses. What?

Insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.

Calamities. I'm thinking he was probably

thinking of shipwrecks and natural disasters.

And then finally, here's the big, the big banner over today's

sermon that I want in our minds for when I'm weak, then I'm

strong. I, I think one of the the

greatest prayers we can ever pray is God help me.

God help me, just help me. Please, please, God help me,

help me with this. Help me with that.

Oh God help me. Oh God, I'm lacking, help me.

I was ministering at a, we have a like a youth and young adults

camp in our region. And I was there and I was

sitting with a young guy in his 20s who's just started a massive

workload, a faithful lover of Jesus.

But he's he was overwhelmed and he was confessing to me.

He said my quiet times have slipped.

I feel like my faith is slipping.

He's beginning to weep. He says.

I just, I'm so overwhelmed. He says, don't know what to do.

I can't add. Anything more to my life?

And I just began to let God let in my heart.

I said, I said, mate, have you ever thought about not coming to

God with all the things you have to do for him, but just asking

for help? Did you know that God cares

about that? Have you gone to have you just

said God please help me? Got him so stressed, got him so

busy, got him so frustrated, got him so overwhelmed.

Just be honest. God help me.

I'm just began to pray and minister and he had this

revelation. He didn't have to.

It was a new season for him. He'd never encountered this sort

of pressure, pressure on his life that wanted to make him

clam up and and and stress and and.

He's added so many. Additions to his life.

And he didn't know what to do. And he?

Felt like he was on the roller coaster and he's felt like he's

going to. Fall over and he just didn't

know how to. Then he felt his quiet time

shrinking. He didn't know what to do.

He felt his faith shrinking. Where's?

God in that well, God's. God's involved in weakness,

yours and mine and His. One of the best things we can

ever do is pour our hearts out to God.

So here's some questions. Like Paul, for the sake of

Christ, are you and I content with weakness?

Are we content with insults or hardships, persecutions and

calamities? Do you and I believe that when

we are weak, then we are strong because His grace is sufficient

for us? There's the there's another

scripture that says don't think more highly of yourself than you

ought to. Isn't that a slap in the Bible?

Isn't the Bible wonderful like that?

Hey, I know you've been. Thinking about.

Yourself a bit maybe you shouldn't be, you know, I mean,

just realise your position now. Now I'm a.

Worshipper. That's that's my background.

I got saved in my bedroom with a guitar.

I I love worshipping God, but you get this revelation when you

become a worshiper that that you're not God.

You know, he's, he's higher, he's more, he's stronger, He's,

he's greater. He, he is, he's God and we're

not by comparison. And then you.

You. You.

You make him Lord, but you have to get this revelation that

maybe he's better than you. Maybe he's.

Maybe he's stronger than you. You know, people often talk to

me and they said, you know, I can't figure out all these

questions about God and you know, you know, doesn't make

sense. And I just.

Kind of say to them, well. Maybe God knows stuff you don't.

Have you ever thought that maybe he's cleverer than you?

You know, maybe you should. If you could figure it all out,

then maybe you wouldn't need him.

But he's God and, and, and we would be.

Wise to learn to and continually trade our weakness for his

strength. But we're so foolish and we

don't. And I and I don't just mean.

With the impossible. Things, I think it's easier

sometimes to try to trade your weakness for the impossible

things like you can't, you can't heal anybody, right?

So you have to go to God for that.

Someone says, pray for me. You're like, Oh no, I've that's

not you. Know I.

Don't have an ad in me, so I'm going to go to God.

But but I think this means more than that.

What about just every day. God help me to be a good dad.

I don't know how to be a good dad.

I'm trying. I'm not sometimes.

What about, you know, just got grumpy again, Just help me, you

know, I want to be a good husband.

I want to. I want to.

I think the longer that I've lived, the more I've realized

I've come to the end of myself again and again and again.

And I think that's normal. I think we're kind of supposed

to. I don't think we're supposed to

be the strong ones in this relationship.

Have you ever wondered, and this is just my musings, OK?

This isn't scripture. This is just my thinking.

But why is it that we're at our strongest when we're like 2530

physically and yet we live? That's like nothing.

That's like what, 1/4? Maybe God's more concerned with

inner strength or reliance than he is on us being able to do

everything ourselves, right? There's a there's a period where

you leave your mother, your mother and your father, and you

need to learn to stand on your own 2 feet.

So God gives you strength, He enables you.

You learn you, you get ideas and you leave home and you and you,

you, you create a world for yourself and you build a family

and you do all that sort of stuff with God's help.

And then you start getting weaker.

You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

And and but you're not dead and there's more to do and there's a

life to live and this year's ahead of you and all this sort

of stuff and it's. Because it's because because

God's not finished with you learning things and there's so

much for him. And so he begins to teach you

about reliance. And maybe one day we could be

like Paul. Maybe we would understand that

when we're weak, there's opportunity for fantastic

strength because Grace is just there.

How do you live this life without him?

I don't know. How do you go through trial?

And hardship. And heartache.

How do you? Deal with brokenness.

How do you deal with trauma? How do you deal with pain?

How do you? Deal with suffering or just

annoying. People.

Right. Like how do you do that?

What about your next meeting? What about your next connect?

With your. Friend, imagine if you prayed.

God, I'm going to have, I'm going to go have a meal with my

mate. God, I just pray.

It's an awesome time. God just help me, help me to say

the right things. Help me to.

I want to feel. I want to leave.

Feeling refreshed. I don't know how to do that.

I just want to. Be with my mate.

And just have a great. Like can you just cover that

Time Lord? Acknowledging our weakness and

receiving God's grace is a prerequisite to strength, true

strength, His strength. Now there's a problem to that

gets in the way of receiving the strength.

It's we probably all know what's the problem.

What's the problem? Pride.

Say it again. Pride.

Yeah. I know I'm familiar.

James Chapter 4. Verses 1 to 10.

James 4 · chapter mention

It's one of the the most sobering verses, I think in the

Bible for me at least with the revelation God's given me to

this point. I'll read it to get we'll read

it together. It's 10 verses says what causes

quarrels and what causes fights among you.

Have you ever been in a quarrel or a fight?

Never. Hey, never, never, never had a

fight, never had an argument and.

I don't know what. They're talking about.

Is it not this? That your passions are at war

within you. You desire and do not have.

So you murder, you covet and cannot obtain.

So you fight and you quarrel. You do not have.

Because. You do not ask, says God.

OK, there it is. Pray and you ask.

And do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your

passions. And he's a.

Good father. You know, sometimes my children

ask me for things I'm like, that will kill you.

No. You know, no, I'm not giving

you. I love you too much to give you

that. You adulterous people.

Do you not know that friendship? With the world is enmity with

God. Have you thought about that?

That's not a subtle statement. That's not a throwaway

statement. If you love the world, you're my

enemy. Who therefore, whoever wishes

just wants. To be a friend of the world

makes makes himself or makes of himself an enemy of God.

Or do you suppose? It is to no purpose that the

Scripture says he God yearns jealously over the.

Spirit. That he has made to dwell in US,

but he gives more grace. OK, don't get too scared.

He gives more grace. Therefore it says, and this is

the big, the big banner of this text for me.

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God. And here's a promise.

And he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

Purify your hearts, you double minded.

Be wretched. Mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning.

And your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the

Lord and He will exalt you. Isn't that powerful?

There's lots in that. We can't unpack it all, but I

want you to focus on this. Did you know that God opposes

the proud? And that is not a that's not,

that's not passive. That's not a passive act on

God's behalf. He's not sitting back, just

ignoring you. He's actively working against

you. It's opposition.

Oh, it's terrifying. You.

You want to be proud. God will work against you.

He will apply his might. It's like where do I hide?

You know, like, where's the corner?

And where can I hide? But but the humble, the weak,

the ones who acknowledge their weakness, he's going to.

He's going to give grace. Grace enabling grace.

Grace is grace is wonderful. It's getting what you don't

deserve hey, you don't deserve his strength.

You don't deserve his goodness. But he gives it but he gives it

to the humble. He gives to the humble.

He doesn't give to the proud. He squashes the proud, OK, He

squashes the proud. There's a, I've got lots of

scriptures, we'll go back to them.

But I want you to just for a moment think of Jesus, OK, our

great king. I want you to think of Jesus in

this light of, of weakness and humility and what God did

through him and what and how God exalted him as a result, OK?

He took off divinity and he stepped out of heaven, away from

riches. OK, you want to know about

humbling? OK, he came to Earth and was

born in dodgy circumstances. You know I.

Live in a small town. Bethlehem would have known.

The family would have known and there would have been whispers

that his whole life. OK.

He born into poverty. His family paid the poor tax.

OK. He he walked.

He he took on vulnerability. Have you thought about God?

God made himself vulnerable. He could bleed.

God couldn't do that before. Who's going to cut God?

No one became vulnerable, became humble.

Do you know that that that the word says he only said what the

father asked him to say? How's that for laying down your

agency? You walk into a room, try and do

it, try and do it for the rest of the day.

Just just just just try and do that walking anywhere.

Someone starts talking to you, asking questions, and you go,

God, what do you want me to say? And you wonder why his?

Disciples were frustrated, eh? Just say it plain please, you

know. No, he's just sharing what God

laid on his heart. He only did.

What the father asked him to do. Submission, Humility.

Imagine that this is the king. He, he, he followed through all

the way. OK.

Even even to the point of death and a horrible death.

This is our this is our savior. You can even see it wasn't easy

for him. We see glimpses of of his.

Humanity and his suffering throughout it.

The Garden of Gethsemane is the the probably one of the biggest.

Moments. He's sitting there.

He's he's begging God with an agony.

Have you been there? God, please, I don't.

I don't. Want I don't.

Know I don't understand. And then submission again.

Oh, but God, it's. Just not my will.

It's just God. It's God calling.

Another example for me is, is Nebuchadnezzar king

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. OK, there's a story, you might

not know it. You can read it the book of

Daniel, and he's up on his. Palace walls, OK, up, up at the

top of his rooftop. And he's looking over his vast

Kingdom and he's the king of the world and he really is.

And it's not like a king we know today, you know, like kings back

in the day, if you look at a king, you die.

You look, you catch their eye, you did.

That's authority, that's power. That's like a power

differential, right? Whatever he wants, he can have.

He is he. And he's looking over his

Kingdom. And he was warned by God.

Careful, careful. Don't let pride come up in your

heart. And then one day he's on the

rooftop and he's looking over and he says something to the

extent of look at my mighty Kingdom that I've made with the

power of my might. God crushes him.

He makes him insane. Read it.

Read it. God says come down and said,

because you've said this, you're going to lose your mind and one

day I'll restore you when you understand.

It says that he went in and ate in the field like a cow, and

it's until his hair grew long like feathers and his nails like

eagle's claws. And then one day he got it.

I think he learned. He learned who the real king is,

right? He learnt we make nothing.

Without God's will. And he we're not we're not the.

Boss. He's the boss.

God restores him and and gives him back his Kingdom, and his

Kingdom becomes even greater once he understood and he

becomes an evangelist to the whole world.

A whole chapter in the book is him evangelizing to all the

other nations once he understood.

Amazing, right? What's another one, Paul?

Paul himself, OK, revered, trained by the best, educated

What? What did he?

Have to do he. Encounters Jesus and he becomes

blind, loses it. That'd be terrifying #1 back

then even more 3 days. Doesn't know what's happening.

Encounters God. He's his whole world shifts and

he begins to strip off his his dignity, his reputation, his you

know, his money. He was likely to be a quite a

wealthy dude. He he, he joins the enemy.

A lot of those Christians probably hated him.

So he has to now try to befriend people he's harmed and who hated

him and who he used to hate and has to go through that

awkwardness and then try to prove himself.

He has to re study, start from scratch, build his reputation

from the ground up, humbled and exalted, wrote 1/3 of the New

Testament. These amazing, I mean, Jesus is

on another level. But the others, they're amazing

men, right? They became strong through

weakness, through humility. They understood this key, and

it's this key I write, I write this down.

Our salvation is dependent on weakness.

Our sanctification is dependent on weakness, right?

Our glorification, really it's dependent on weakness.

We will be. Bowing.

Trust me, the. Disciples wanted to be great,

and Jesus asked them to be children.

Hey, he asked them to be servants.

There's a, there's a key. There's a, there's a, I think

it's almost like scales falling off our eyes.

Realize your state, realize you're human, realize you're

weak. And that's OK because you have a

strong father. And what, what he wants us to be

as strong our whole lives and strong through everything.

He wants us to be part of his unshakable Kingdom.

He doesn't want things to throw us off.

And but you, you don't get that strength.

It doesn't just happen. It it comes through trial.

It comes through trusting God. It comes through when you're

aching and you don't know if you can sustain it and and you're

failing and your legs are shaking and you're nervous

inside and you're stressed out because tomorrow's so scary to

even think about. And you get on your knees and

then you get up with the strength of the Lord.

But you trust Him, you trust Him.

Faithfulness is faithfulness. Why would you need faithfulness

if you had? Power.

Yeah. I think some of the most

powerful testimonies that I've ever heard is when it feels like

hell is unleashed on an individual, OK?

And they trust God through it. I think one of the greatest

testimonies in the Bible is Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Our God can save us, but even if he doesn't, So what?

That for me is a powerful testimony.

That's that's like. What can you do to me?

So what? You kill my body?

God. Still God hasn't changed that.

Yes, he can save me. And we'll pray that way.

Cool. Even if he doesn't won't shake

me. I know, my God.

I'm faithful. I know.

I know. I'm weak.

What's this body? Nothing.

I'll get a new one. We need to trade our apparent

strength or our human strength for heavenly strength.

And we access heavenly strength through weakness.

And I wrote, it's an astronomical net game, OK.

It's a. It's a big win.

It's a big win to get on your knees and receive grace for what

God wants to, you know, what you're walking with.

And I just, yeah, Yep. I thought, how do we trade it

right? How do we trade it our

weaknesses for strength? I said pray unceasingly.

Read your Bible consistently and believe it.

Confess your sins to God and break confession, breaks pride.

OK, Confess your sins to God and let it break pride in you that

wants to rear its head. Ask for help from God all the

time. All the time.

Seek God for wisdom to make decisions fast to overcome your

fleshly desires, and let the spiritual access be there, you

know. Seek God, resist temptation,

flee from it. Run.

You're not strong. Run.

Ask for help. Get faith from God to live your

life in a certain direction and then be faithful to it.

Just do what he said and just keep doing it.

Simple to say they super easy words to come out of them.

Come out of my mouth. But it's profound.

Just remember what he said to you and do that.

And do. It till he says something

different and if you do that you'll and rely on.

Him and it's going to be hard and it's going to be good, and

you'll be laughter and there'll be trial and there'll be

brokenness and there'll be sickness and there'll be

hardship. We live in a broken world, but

God is consistent through it all and He there is strength

available to us. And there will be miracles, and

there will be breakthrough. And there won't be.

But he's still the same king, all right, and you can be strong

through it. Whatever comes.

Take communion regularly. To.

Remember Jesus and his sacrifice for you to know that you're

loved and that you're free. You know, Jesus asked us to do

that. He said think about it.

Why would God say think about it?

Because we forget about it. That's an instruction from the

Lord. Hey, hey.

When you do this. Remember, remember that you

loved. Remember my body broken for you,

right? Remember the extent I went to

for you. Never forget it.

Never forget that you're loved for by God, for God so loved I

came for you. I didn't stop at the first cut.

You know I came after you. I, I did everything in my power

because to demonstrate my love for you.

Do not forget it, never doubt it.

Do this often so that it's part of your heart.

And then what about the wine? Remember you're free.

You used to be a slave, but when you drink this, remember the

freedom that I've bought for you.

You're no longer a slave. There's there's a.

Washing you're completely free. That's a you're free of your

past sins and empowered. So you don't have to have future

sins. God, God can help you in it and

wash you're free. You're free.

From your patterns, remember. My the, the value of my blood,

my grace is sufficient for you. There's nothing.

Stronger than my blood. I've got you.

We need to remember that constantly.

And then I wrote ask for things from God and ask with the

correct intent. Here's some more scriptures.

Let's read together Philippians 4 verses 11 through 13.

Philippians 4:11–13

It's Paul again, he says. Not that I'm Speaking of being

in need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be

content. I know how to be brought low and

I know how to abound. You know, you have to learn how

to abound. That's also a dangerous place.

It's difficult for the rich man. The Bible says.

That's a whole new thing in any and every circumstance.

I have learned the secret, OK, I've learnt it of facing plenty

and hunger, abundance and need. That's I'm pretty sure he's

that's his way of saying everything.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Doesn't say. I can do all things because of

I've got a great character. That's what we sometimes think,

right? Maybe one day I'll be mature

enough. Maybe I'll reach a level.

When I'm a level 10 Christian, I'll be able to do all things.

Doesn't say that. Through him, he strengthens me.

The power of acknowledging your weakness and leaning on

strength. OK, what about Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 3:5–8

3, verse 5 to 8? Trust.

Trust. I like that word Trust.

Trust. That's what children do.

They trust. Trust in your muscles, trust in

your wisdom. Trust in.

Trust in what? Trust in.

Your life experience, trust in, I don't know, trust in the Lord

with all your heart. Do not lean on your own

understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge

Him and He. What's His promise?

You make your paths straight. Don't we long for that?

I long for that. Sick of walking around bushes

and mountains. Just want to get from A to B

you. Know what I mean?

Why am I in the wilderness again?

Be not wise in your own eyes. So that's a put that on your

mirror. You know, if you ever think I've

got this, I've got, I understand now.

I think I've I think I can do this now I know what to do.

Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord rather, and I like

that. That means realize you're a

human and he's God. That's what fear the Lord means.

It looks like. It looks like.

Oh. You know, you know what I mean?

Oh. I I once worked for Drug Free

Sport New Zealand and that was one of my jobs through uni and I

got to drug drug test all our professional athletes.

I got to be in the All Blacks changing room.

OK. I felt like a man until I walked

into that changing room, let me tell you.

OK, I was, I was like, yeah, I walk in there.

I was like, yeah, she's like what?

You know I'm a. Child, I'm a baby.

These guys are ginormous. What the heck?

Thighs on them? Like you wouldn't like even

bigger. I was.

Just like oh, but I don't know. You know, and you just realise

you're just a weak pathetic. Pink thing, you know.

And it's that kind of, it's like, that's just a silly.

Example, but that's kind of like.

When you when you realize who God is and who you are, that's.

Fearing the Lord. You know what I mean?

You think like, yeah, yeah. Whoa, fear the Lord.

Rather, don't think you're wise. Fear the Lord.

Turn away from evil. Don't do.

What this guy doesn't want you to do when you do that, it'll be

healing to you and refreshment. OK, Ephesians 6, you know, we're

about to go into Ephesians armor of God with our church going to

try to train our people how to wear the whole armor.

But listen to this. This is this is verse 10 of

Ephesians 6. Finally be strong.

How and the Lord and in what the strength of his might think

about that. That's the that's like a

summary. It's like a hey, you've got all

these tools. Great.

Remember who the strong one is. Be strong in the Lord, be strong

in him and in the strength of his might.

Don't get up from here and think you can do it.

No, no, get up from here and be reliant.

Be reliant on the king. He's given you tools.

Wonderful, but be strong in his strength, the strength of his

might. He's so powerful.

He's so powerful. You know, what does a victorious

life look like? What does a successful life look

like? Perhaps it's someone who's

faithful in weakness. Perhaps it's someone that is on

their knees before they're created, consistently asking for

help. Thank you for joining us for

today's message. For more information about The

Way Church, please visit [email protected] dot

AU. Have a blessed day.