The Purpose of Pain // Second Chances | Ps Randy Bezet

Uh thank you guys so much. You can be

seated at at all of our uh locations.

And so, I'm so honored to be with you

guys. And uh I don't know if we've had

the privilege of of meeting before. Uh I

I was here, I guess, about a year ago.

And so, if we didn't get a chance to

meet, I just want you know I am really

honored to be a part of what God is

doing here. And I just I love your

pastors, Jamie and Ludmila. They are

incredible. Would you Would you show

some honor to your pastors all of our

locations? Come on, give it up

for your lead pastors here, Jamie and

Lud. Uh they really are incredible

pastors and leaders. And maybe you do

not understand how God is not just

blessing Lighthouse Church, but but the

fact that your church has the four

locations and the impact that you're

making all over this this island uh that

that we call Ireland. Uh yes, you guys

are making an impact here. And perhaps

you've been impacted. I hope that you

have. I hope that you have received

salvation. I hope that you have been

encouraged in your spirits. I pray that

God has done miracles in your life

through what God is doing here at

Lighthouse Church. In fact, if you have

been blessed by this church, would you

give the Lord some praise right now? All

of our locations, come on, give him a

praise that is worthy of what he's done

in your life. Yes.

But what's incredible about this church

is that it is much bigger

than what you see and experience at your

own location.

Whether you're here in in uh West Dublin

or North Dublin or or Navan or in

Dundalk, uh what God is doing there is

incredible, but but it's even bigger

than that.

And it's even bigger than Ireland. I

don't know if you know this, but there

was just a conference, a church

leadership and church planters

conference that just happened. And uh we

had some 500 pastors from all over

Europe that were coming to learn and to

be trained. In other words, you guys are

the models for what's happening and what

God is going to do all over Europe. And

so, pastors are coming and learning and

they're being resourced and they're

being trained and sitting back to their

countries of Germany and Romania and

Latvia and and and Barcelona, right? And

all the places and that you are a part

of that. And I just first of all wanted

you to see

that you are a part of something that is

massive.

And I don't mean that it's because of

you.

It is because God has just chosen this

church. And and maybe, you know, with

with Jamie as the leader, I would

probably believe this a lot. This wasn't

probably God's first choice.

Speaking of God of second chances, I

think you could scratch out second and

you'd have to put just chances.

Because I don't know that God was

picking Jamie as the first opportunity,

but but maybe because of blood, he was

higher on the list than he should have

been.

But what I can tell you is that God has

chosen this church.

And by you being a part of it, God is

going to work in your life. And when I

say meet your needs, God is not a Santa

Claus.

He's he's not a vending machine. You you

you you put some money in and then it

comes out what you want. God is

interested in you being whole and

fashioned and formed into what he's

called you to be. And being a part of

this church means that you get to

discover that. I mean, you could

discover those things on your own, but

the reality of it is that's not how the

kingdom of God works. He wants you to be

a part of a church. And I don't mean

church because of a a location,

you know, you you tick a box and I and I

come on a Sunday and oh, I get credit

for that and so I'm going to earn my way

to heaven. That's not what the kingdom

of God is about. It's that God wants to

have relationship with you and he wants

to to know you and he has a vision and a

purpose and a and a plan for your life

and God wants to do that here, but

you're a part of something even bigger

than that.

And that God is using you to resource

churches all over Europe. And I submit

to you that one day we're going to look

back in the beginning moments of what

God is doing in Europe. We're going to

say, "I remember back in 2026

when we were talking about that as a

church. And now when I see the landscape

landscape spiritually of Europe and I

see the revival that is happening and

the renewal that is happening in the

countries that are being uh being

transformed by the power of God, we're

going to remember this was the beginning

of it right here." And I want you to

know that you're a part of it. So when

you serve

and when you give and when you're part

of this, you're not just giving to this

local house, although you are making a

difference here. It's making a

difference all over Europe. And I know

that you've been given some praise

already, but God, he is worthy that he

is using you. Would you give him some

praise again as well for what he's

doing?

And uh God really is the God of second

chances, but I think God uses people as

well

to you to give second chances. In fact,

I played golf with Jamie yesterday. And

we get to the first hole.

And Jamie's teeing off ahead of me and

he hits his tee shot and he hits it so

far left, we didn't even bother to look

for it.

You know what I'm saying? It was a

terrible shot.

And I just felt like, you know, that I I

needed to be gracious like the Lord and

I said, "Jamie, you can have a mulligan.

That's a that's a second chance."

And uh then he hit that one right down

the middle. And so, you're welcome,

Jamie. It would Without me, you would

have lost all the money right there on

the first hole, right?

You know what I love about God is he

takes our mistakes,

he takes our problems and our pain and

our difficulties and he uses them to

give us second chances.

He is a gracious God. Amen.

He is an encouraging God. His His grace

and His encouragement it it never ends.

So, as I'm in this series called the God

of second chances, today I want to teach

you how God uses our mistakes

and the pain

caused by those to teach us something.

In fact, what I want to teach you today,

if you would put that next slide up, is

the purpose of pain.

Would you write that down in your notes?

The reason why God gives us second

chances is so

His grace can be displayed in our lives.

But, there is purpose to the pain. I

don't mind making mistakes. I just don't

want to make the mistake again.

Come on, somebody. You understand what

I'm saying? I don't want to do the same

thing again. I want to learn from it. In

other words, there's purpose in my

mistakes. There's purpose in my pain.

And that's what I want to teach you

about today.

So, my kids, my boys, I I took them on a

on a skiing trip, like snow skiing trip,

in America just a few years ago.

And so, we're there for a few days.

We're skiing. And my my boys are are

pretty like daredevilish. Like they

there was this there was this jump and

they kept hitting this jump on the

slopes and seeing how how big of air

they could catch, right? And I'm taking

it easy. I'm an old man, right? You

know, so I'm I'm trying not to to let

them stir me up to try try to beat them

in competition, right? See who could

jump the highest and the furthest. But,

it's the last day.

And it's the last run down the mountain.

And I thought, I must show these boys

that this old man has still got it.

So, I went fast. I mean, I tucked and I

went. And I'm going fast and I get to

this

lift to this this jump.

And I hit it and I'm going to tell you,

it was amazing. You guys are going to

look at this. Look at Look at Woo!

LOOK AT THAT OLD MAN. I'M CATCHING SOME

AIR.

I'm looking good.

But,

that's not how it ended.

This is how it ended.

Oh, doesn't it hurt looking at it? Like

it makes me like triggered a little bit.

This right here is what you would call a

separated AC joint.

A third degree, mind you. Fourth would

be completely and this one this is a uh

a problem. This is a pain that causes

surgery or it requires surgery.

And so, this this happens and I'm in a

ton of pain. Please take that down. If I

see it anymore, I may not be able to

finish the message, right?

I I come back to uh to to Florida where

I live. I I go see a doctor and he's

like, uh yes, this this is going to

require surgery.

And uh

is that that it's messed up. It's it's

bad.

So, this happens in in January and we as

a church are moving into our season of

prayer and fasting like you guys do in

January.

We're going to we're going to pray and

fast. We're going to fast. We're going

to We're going to say no to something

and we're so we can say yes to God even

in a greater way and we do that here at

Lighthouse Church. Uh we do that at our

church as well as giving God the first

the first of the year.

That's a principle the Bible calls

tithe, which is giving God the first so

that he can bless the rest. But, if he

doesn't have first, that means he's not

in control of the rest. So, if you don't

give him the first, then you don't know

what's going to happen with the rest.

But, if you give him the first, you have

faith and trust in God that he will take

care of everything else. That's true in

your finances. That's why you should

give God your first.

Uh

but, that also is true in life. It's in

everything. It's the the the Bible when

it teaches us principles that it isn't

just specifically that, but it's it's

broader than that.

And that's why I think we should give

God the first part of the year. That's

why we go through a season of prayer and

fasting. That's why you guys do this in

January and I believe you should

participate trusting God I'm giving you

the first of the year and the rest of

the year is going to go better. Anyway,

this skiing accident happens right as we

are about to begin our prayer and

fasting and we're going to kick it off

with a night of worship and miracles and

healings believing God to do great

things. Well, I posted on social media

about my skiing accident and the church

saw this, they started praying for me

that God would heal me.

And the closer that we got to this, the

skiing accident happened on a Friday,

the kickoff was on a Monday. So, it's

just a few days, but but the closer I

get to that meeting on Monday night, all

of a sudden the better my shoulder

feels. Like, wow.

It's feeling really good. And then by

the time we show up to that miracle and

healing service on Monday night, I'm

lifting my hands, I'm praising God, I am

completely and utterly healed by the

power of God.

Now, I still have a massive bump in my

shoulder. I never had the surgery. I

went back to the doctor, he says,

"You're Yeah, you're you're okay. And we

can do cosmetic surgery and and put a

screw in there and bolt that down to

your other so you don't have the bump

there." I was like, "No, I want to leave

that there as a reminder

of how great God is. And Amy says, "It's

more of a reminder of how dumb I am

for trying to keep up with the young

boys, right?"

And listen, let me just say this as

well. I don't know what kind of pain

you're in here today at whatever

location you're at.

But what I can tell you is that God

wants to heal you as well.

He's still a God that does miracles. And

my prayer today is that whatever pain

you're in,

just as the closer I got to that moment,

the more the power of God began to work

in my life until I was utterly healed. I

believe that today, even as you're

listening to this message, that the

power of God will begin to go out and

begin to touch your life. Because I know

that in your life right now today, there

is some relational pain in this church

right now.

Someone has done something to you

and you are hurt by that. I know that

some of you are dealing with financial

pain.

And you're like, "I don't know how this

is going to work out. Like I'm I'm

overextended in my life. I I have some

things that I can't take care of

financially, and there's pain." I'm here

to tell you God's going to do a miracle

today in your life. Even as you're

sitting in a part of this service, some

of you are dealing with some emotional

pain. Maybe you've lost a friend or a

loved one or some situation in your

life, and there's like a a a a grief in

your life and your heart, and there's a

cloud of of of of of grief that is

hanging over you, and I'm here to tell

you God's going to bring healing in

Jesus' name.

Maybe for some of you, you have a

physical pain.

Maybe like my shoulder, you have

something that's ailing you as well, and

I'm here to tell you God's

He's going to heal that pain today.

Somebody say amen.

But can I just tell you here's here's

the real lesson I want you to learn

today. I want you to write this down. I

want you guys put that next slide up.

The greatest lessons in life,

they're almost always taught in the

classroom of suffering.

That's a good place to say amen.

I don't know why you guys are so quiet.

Maybe because you didn't want to hear

that. So,

the greatest lessons in life are always

taught in the classroom of suffering.

We're going to study a passage of

scripture in 2 Corinthians. It's a It's

a portion of the Apostle Paul letter he

wrote to a church at Corinth, which is

you know, modern-day Greece. And he's

writing a letter to this church talking

about this idea of pain. Here we go.

Verses 7 through 10.

He says, "To keep me from becoming

conceited because of these surpassingly

great revelations,

there was given me a thorn in my flesh,

a messenger of Satan to to torment me.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to

take it away from me, but he said to me,

'My grace

is sufficient for you.

My power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, I will boast all the more

gladly about my weaknesses, so that

Christ's power may rest on me. That is

why for Christ's sake I delight in

weakness and insults and hardships and

persecutions and difficulties for when I

am weak then I am strong. So let me

answer a couple of questions about pain.

Here's the first one, write this down.

Where does pain come from?

And we we have to answer this this

question. Uh and and it's important that

you get it. I'll tell you why in a

moment. Let's look back in verse 7. Paul

says, "There was given me a thorn in my

flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment

me." Notice a messenger of Satan. It

means someone who informs or someone who

announces.

And uh

it it it's kind of think about how how

this affects our lives. People that want

to make announcements or communicate

something to us. Maybe you you've had a

project at work that you were

responsible for and and you bring it to

your team at work and or at at school or

a project you have to do at school and

and you bring it before the class. You

bring it before the the team at work and

and everybody likes it but one person

doesn't.

Right? It doesn't it just bother you?

Like they're like that that messenger of

pain into your life. Like why do we let

the one person rule over all the good

things, right?

Uh what what what about this? Maybe you

post something on social media and and

you're hoping it'll be an encouragement

or a great lesson that you've learned

and so many people enjoy that and they

make comments on your social media but

one person says something and complains

or says something negative. Why do we

let that one get us? That's the

messenger of Satan. Can I tell you

pastors

have people in their church sometimes

that are messengers of Satan.

Now you probably don't have them in

Ireland but we have them in Florida.

Pastor, I just love this church but

Oh, it happens. I think I'm going to

send them over here to Ireland.

Apparently, Pastor James, you don't have

any of those here any of our locations

not just here in West Dublin but in

North Dublin and in Navan and also

Dundalk because because nobody's

responding to that. So I don't know how

you did it, but I'm sending you some of

my messengers of Satan from Florida.

That uh word there, messenger of Satan,

it's kind of like an angel.

And even throughout the Bible,

especially even in the Old Testament,

that word angel is the is the Hebrew

word malak, which means a messenger. In

other words, Satan was originally an

angel, a messenger of God.

But pride entered his life and he was

kicked out of heaven.

And so now he's a messenger of pain.

This is so important. I'm answering the

question, where does pain come from?

You need to know this theologically. God

does not cause pain.

And if you think that you're being

punished by God,

then you have wrong theology. You will

spend your entire life relating to God

in the wrong way.

Thinking you have to understand or have

to earn his love.

You need to understand this that pain

does not come from God. It comes from

Satan. Jesus said it this way in John

John 10:10

10:10, "The thief comes to steal, kill,

and destroy, but I have come that you

may have life

and that you may have it to the full."

Satan is a messenger of pain. But back

in our verse in Corinthians, it said

there was given to me a thorn in my

flesh. A thorn is something small. I

want you to know something that often

times it's not just the big moments that

are a problem in your life. It's little

thorns in our life. The the little

things in our lives

that the devil is also a part of that as

well. Just kind of a nagging problem.

Satan just won't leave you alone

sometimes. It doesn't have to be a big

thing. You know how you've been walking

maybe before and you get a little pebble

in your shoe

and you just kind of oh, it'll be okay

and you just keep walking, but you have

to change the gait of your walk and all

of a sudden because of that stone and

and if you didn't stop and take it out

of there and you kept walking that way,

eventually it would cause other problems

in your life. This little thing would

become a big thing.

And that's how the devil works.

He doesn't want to just utterly destroy

your life. He wants to cause little

problems in your life just to get you

focused off of what God really wants you

to accomplish.

So, if pain comes from

Satan,

let me answer this question. Where is

the target?

Like he's going to come at you

somewhere. Wouldn't it be good to know,

right?

Well, let me show you where the target

is. Verse 9 of 2 Corinthians, "The Lord

said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for

you. My power is made perfect in

weakness.'" Everybody say weakness.

Come on, all of our locations, let's all

say it again. Say weakness.

That's a target.

In other words, we all have weaknesses.

We all have blind spots.

Things that we can't see. Places where

you and I are very prone to make stupid

decisions.

How many of you have areas where you

find yourself repeatedly making stupid

decisions? Raise your hand. Come on, at

any of our locations where Okay. I don't

know about other places, but here at

West Dublin, not many people raised

their hands.

Which just simply shows how deceived

they are

at seeing their weaknesses. See, I can

prove it this way. How many of you are

sitting next to someone and you go,

"Man, they are loaded with weaknesses."

Come on, raise your hand if if you see

people. Okay, a lot more hands going up.

Look, problem with most of our

weaknesses is a lot of times they can be

generational.

In other words, you can say things like,

"My mom

was such an angry and a bitter person,

and I hated that about her.

And I find myself

the very same way.

My father never said anything

encouraging to me, and I hated that

growing up. And now I find myself not

being able to say positive things as

well. That I'm always putting people

down."

Look, the only way to overcome those

areas, those weaknesses in your life,

is you have to have the right people

around you.

Look at this verse in Hebrew.

The book of Hebrews 12:1, it says,

Hebrews 12:1

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by

such a huge crowd of witnesses,

the location you're at there there's a

crowd around. There there are people

around you.

And these people they say it because

we're surrounded by this great crowd of

witnesses, let us strip off the weight

that slows us down, especially the sin

that so easily trips us up. You know,

the area where you're so prone to make a

bad decision, so that we can run with

endurance the race that God has marked

out before us.

I want you to write the word down,

surrounded.

That English word is the Greek word,

you're going to love this, this is the

word echo.

E C H O. What does that mean? That means

you and I need to have the right people

around us that are echoing the things

that we need to hear, not just the

things that we want to hear.

A real friend in your life will look at

you and tell you what you need to hear,

not what you want to hear.

And you may say, "Well, I have, you

know, friends in my life." Well,

do they tell you the things that are

hard to say?

Are they willing to have awkward

conversations with you? Are they willing

to say, "Listen, I don't think you going

out with that guy is the right thing."

I don't think you hanging out with these

these people it's the right thing.

Aren't you likely to end up making the

same bad decision again? And if you

don't have people like that in your

life, you're just going to continue

taking lap around the track doing the

same thing over again. God's the God of

second chances. Oh, well, now he's the

God of the third chances. And now he's

the God of the fourth chances. And yes,

he is, but wouldn't it be better if we

didn't have to take a lap around that

again?

Could it be

that the single greatest obstacle to you

overcoming the pain in your life is you

don't have the right crowd of witnesses

around you.

And I'm just going to tell you that that

church is the best place for you to take

the mask off

and for you to receive from other people

because look, this church is loaded with

some messed up people.

Cuz it starts with your pastors.

Well, not blood. I mean, she's like my

wife. I mean, they probably could have

gotten to heaven without Jesus, you know

what I mean? Like they're just like an

angel, like an angel from the Lord.

Okay, not this other angel we were just

talking about. Okay.

So, our weaknesses, which leads us to

this weakness. Write this down, our

pride.

Our pride. Go back to our verse, verse

seven.

To keep me from becoming conceited,

Oh, Paul had some pride, too.

Because of these surpassingly great

revelations, there was given me this

thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan.

See, a lot of times our pride would say

things like, "I don't need help. I got I

got this."

You ever notice when somebody's trying

to prove something, their voice goes up

an octave? How you doing? I'm doing

good. Man, I don't think you're DOING

GOOD. I GOT THIS, MAN.

IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL.

RIGHT? ISN'T THAT ISN'T THAT KIND OF HOW

IT WORKS?

WELL, I just want you to know something

that your pride is getting in the way of

you walking in freedom from your pain.

Let me illustrate it with this.

I have have

Dublin's finest right here.

No, it's not Guinness.

That's That's Dublin's finest, right?

I uh I I I I I just I just filled this

glass up with water.

And uh

I don't know. So, this would be uh about

8 oz maybe. It's I don't If I asked you

how heavy this is,

uh 250 ml,

uh which, you know, for those of you

that are from America that are listening

uh that don't know how many milliliters

that is, maybe 8 oz. It's It's It's that

heavy.

So, if if if I were to ask you how heavy

is this, you would tell me well, it's

maybe 250 ml. That's not that heavy.

But, that's not the real question.

The weight of this is not even really

determined by how much it weighs, but

it's how long I've been carrying it.

Because if I were to hold this for an

hour, it it would probably be no big

deal.

If I started holding this for maybe a

couple of hours, all of a sudden my

fingers would start to tingle.

And then all of a sudden this thing

would start to shake.

Just a little bit.

And then all of a sudden if I held this

for 6, 8, 10, 12 hours or so, all of a

sudden my whole arm would become numb

and I would probably end up dropping

this and I would have made a mistake or

or made a mess all over the place,

right?

And so, when you say things like, "It's

not that big a deal. I got this."

Maybe it's not that heavy at the moment.

But, you're not designed to carry that

stuff alone.

That that's why God wants to help you

carry the pain that you're dealing with.

And that's why God wants you to be in

relationships with other people that

they can help you carry the pain as

well. Because maybe you say it's not

that big of a deal, but I'm telling you

it's going to get too heavy for you to

carry.

And you'll never experience the grace

and the fullness of God when you I GOT I

GOT IT'S NOT THAT BIG A DEAL.

I GOT THIS.

BECAUSE THE Bible says that God opposes

the proud

and he gives grace to the humble.

How does God give grace to the humble?

You guys theologically need to

understand something. This is talking

about how gracious God is. 1 John 1:9.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins to God, he is

faithful and just and he will forgive us

of all of our sins and purify us for

unrighteousness.

Aren't you thankful

for the grace of God?

So, did you know that you can be

forgiven and still not be free?

I'm I'm to say that again. This is very

important because I know a lot of

believers, a lot of Christians, a lot of

Christ followers

that are forgiven, they're just not

free. They're just not whole.

Because of this next verse in James.

Therefore, confess your sins to each

other and pray for each other so that

you can be healed, so that you can be

whole.

As soon as you make a mistake, as soon

as you need a second chance, you just

turn to God, confess your sin and he

gives you a second chance. That may call

you to be free, but it doesn't mean that

you're whole.

You're still carrying something in life

and you need people around you that you

can say, "I need help." And they will

come and they will help you carry this

so that you can be healed, so that you

can be whole, so you can be free, so you

can be in all that God has for you. In

Jesus' name, somebody say amen.

Okay, so this is this is really

important as well. All these points have

been important, otherwise, why am I

saying it, right?

I I want you to write this down. Is that

pain happens

to everyone.

The problem in life is that we look at

other people, right?

And we go, "Man, if I had what they had,

if my life was like theirs, if my

financial situation or my family or my

friends or my marriage or whatever it

is."

You look at it and you go, "Wow, my life

was like that." But what you don't know

is what pain they went through to get to

where they are.

And if sometimes we don't see that, we

only think, "Wow, look at them." And

well, you probably look at your pastors

and you go, "Well, they're you know,

they're like professional Christians,

right? They get they get paid to be

good, you know what I mean?" And you

look at them and you go, "Well, they

don't they don't have problems.

They don't have pain." Let me tell you

something,

your pastors, they they do have pain.

You probably have no idea how many times

they've been up here in this exact spot

preaching the gospel,

leading with a smile and joy on their

face.

But it has no indication that there's no

pain in their life.

I know there has been financial pain

in their life before.

There has been physical pain in their

life.

There's health pain in their life.

There's kid pain in their life. And if

they'd quit having so many kids, maybe

that wouldn't happen. You guys need to

shut the factory down, man. I mean, this

is

This is getting a little unreal.

But, I don't I don't I don't tell you

that for empathy for them.

I tell you that because I need to take

some lenses that you're looking at life

through.

And for you to realize that everyone

faces pain.

But, I want you to know something. The

reason why people like your pastor

and others that have make it through

difficult, painful moments in their

life. The reason why they are the way

they are is because they realize that

the harvest doesn't come to those who

quit.

The harvest only comes to those who stay

engaged in relationship with the Lord,

and they are convinced that God is going

to use their pain, and in spite of their

pain, they're still going to be

victorious in Jesus' name.

In fact, I don't want to give a

prophetic word right now to Lighthouse

Church.

I want you to know the pain that you

have been in for a long time now and

trying to find locations for your

church, starting here with West Dublin.

I submit to you that because you haven't

given up, because you have trusted in

the Lord, because even in the middle of

your pain, you have chosen to trust the

Lord and believe God for great things, I

submit to you a door is opening in

Jesus' name. God is going to provide.

Come on, Lighthouse Church. Give God

some praise for his faithfulness

in painful moments.

Everyone goes through pain.

I want you to see what the Apostle Paul

as he shows us the pain that he went

through.

He says this that five times I received

from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one.

Okay, can we just stop before you guys

listen to this?

I want you to understand that that this

right here is the same beating that

Jesus received.

Remember the Bible says that he was

beaten so bad he was unrecognizable.

That's what the what the what the

prophet said in the Old Testament. Paul

had this five times.

Okay, he had pain.

He said three times I was beaten with

rods.

Once I was stoned. And you go, well, at

least he got some relief.

Sorry, it's just you can't not just

leave that sitting there. You have to

Okay, I'm moving on.

Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a

night and day in the open sea. I've been

constantly on the move. I've been in

danger from rivers and danger from

bandits, danger from my own countrymen,

and danger from Gentiles, danger in the

city, danger in the country, danger at

sea, danger from false brothers. I mean,

this guy's been through some stuff.

I labored and I toiled and I've often

gone without sleep. I've known hunger

and thirst and I've gone without food.

I've been cold and I've been naked.

Besides everything else, I face daily

the pressure of my concern for all the

churches.

Here's the sauce. This is the sauce

right here, guys. Verse 29. Who is weak?

I do NOT FEEL WEAK.

WHAT?

HOW CAN YOU GO THROUGH ALL OF THAT stuff

and say, I'M NOT WEAK?

IT'S MADE ME STRONGER.

I I don't I don't want to have to go

through all that to prove that I'm

strong.

You know, I don't I don't know about

you, but I I like comfort.

I I do. I like I like being very

comfortable.

But, the reason why there is pain

is I want to finish with this thought.

Okay, we made we made a whole loop. I

told you I was going to teach you this.

Write this down. Here is Here is the

purpose of pain.

Paul says it back in our verse in

chapter 12.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to

take it away from me.

But, he said to me, "My grace

it is sufficient for you.

My power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, I will boast all the more.

I'm I'm going to be excited. I'll be

more glad about my weaknesses so that

Christ's power may rest on me. That is

why for Christ's sake I take delight in

weaknesses, in hardships, and insults,

and in persecutions, and difficulty, in

pain." That's what he's talking about.

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

You know why Paul was excited about

pain? Cuz he understood the purpose of

pain is that it is in that pain that's

where I really get to see the fullness

of who God really is and the power that

he can exert over my pain whatever the

circumstances are.

So, you got to realize that the purpose

of your pain is to see the magnitude and

the power and the grace

from God.

You don't see that on mountaintops. We

discover those, remember?

The greatest lessons in life, they're

almost always taught in the classroom of

suffering.

Seeing the power

of Christ magnified in our lives

is often times learned and seen

in our darkest and most painful moments.

I've taken my kids to Africa

on mission trips to see a work that we

do there in in Zimbabwe.

And this one moment we got to uh one

trip that we got to go and go to this

uh sanctuary this lion sanctuary, if you

will. Maybe they they get these baby

lions and they rehabilitate them and

help them get to health and then

ultimately they release them back into

the wild. But, they allow you to come

and kind of hang out in the wild with

them. As they're about to release them

in the wild, they they they take them

out of their their habitats and they let

them walk out in the in the jungle,

really, if you will. And they let people

come and walk with them. And so, I did

that with one of my boys and I'm walking

with this lion and having a moment with

him and we get to this tree and he jumps

up in this tree.

And he's standing in this tree or, you

know, sitting in this tree just above

me. And and they tell you when you're

going out walking with these lions that

you cannot show fear.

Well,

they can sense it.

I'm very nervous because look at this.

Look at this lion.

He's that close to me. I mean, he's in a

he's in a position where I am extremely

vulnerable, right? He could He could

jump. He could

pounce on me at any moment. And they

tell you, right, don't show fear and

whatever you do, don't run.

Well, that's the first instinct is to

run, man. This this is lion here could

kill me, right? At any moment. So, I'm

just standing here trying to be

confident.

And nothing happened, as you can tell.

I'm still here.

But, I want you to know the reason why

really I felt confident to not run and

fear didn't overtake me.

It's because of something that you

almost cannot see.

If you were to look in this photo

and look down here, there's a shadow of

a man

and he's actually holding a rifle.

A gun that would shoot that lion with a

tranquilizer and immediately would would

go to sleep.

The reason why this lion would not do

anything to harm me is because

it knows that there's someone

outside of my peripheral vision here

and notice the eyes of the lion, they're

not even on me. It's on them.

Because even though the lion is greater

than me, there's something greater than

the lion.

And too many times in life, we're so

focused on our pain

that we can't zoom out enough

to see the one who can overcome even the

pain in the devil in our lives. As the

Bible says that the devil is like is

like a roaring lion

looking for someone that he can devour.

But what you need to understand is that

there's something even greater than the

devil who's like a roaring lion. I'm

telling you it's the Lord that is

standing in your situation as well.

And you will never see the Lord in your

pain unless you can zoom out a little

bit and realize he's right there with

you and he's greater than in Jesus'

name.

And I submit to you the pain you're

walking into or you're walking in today

will be the strength that you walk in

tomorrow.

If you surrender it and begin to trust

the Lord with your pain.