GOLIATH MUST FALL: ADDICTION MUST FALL

We are quickly approaching Easter!  We hope that our Lenten study, Goliath Must Fall is preparing you for a resurrected spirit, heart, and mind on Easter morning.  We celebrate the ultimate victory of God in Jesus Christ to overcome the Goliath of Death!  Our lives cannot be the same after experiencing God’s resurrecting power in Jesus.  This gives us hope as we face every giant in our lives.  We know that the battle is not over but we also know that we will not be overwhelmed as we fight the good fight of faith!  This is very apparent in the sermon Addiction Must Fall based upon 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. The Apostle Paul is defending his spiritual credibility because a group of “super-apostles” have convinced the Corinthians that the ministry of Paul lacks genuine authority. This passage is one of the most autobiographical and emotional for Paul.  He is struggling to manage his hurt and anger, but he doesn’t want to reflect poorly upon the genuine love of Jesus.  In the process, he acknowledges one of the greatest spiritual experiences that he has ever had. Yet, he uses it to highlight that our greatest spiritual experiences are not proof of apostolic authority or even genuine spirituality.  His credibility as an apostle was represented, not by his spectacular spiritual experiences, but by his weaknesses.  This is not just the case for him but for every believer.  God’s power is “perfected” in us as we battle our giants.  As Paul defends his apostleship and manages his emotions, he also shines the light of finding God’s amazing power even in our darkest hour of need.  As you read these words, we earnestly pray that the power of God that brought Jesus back from the dead will minister to your heart in the place where you are the most broken, hurt, desperate, or addicted!  

2 Corinthians 12:1-10: I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know– God knows. ³ And I know that this man– whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows– ⁴ was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for 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. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (NIV)