Tullian, keep preaching this. I keep coming back to this theme over and over again and I don't know anyone else out there who is preaching this message
I understand that weakness is part of the christian life and our weakness is why we need Jesus, but the more I show my weakness to my non-christian friends, the more they think christianity is a poisoned well. I've literally had a friend recently say that i'm toxic and that she will not drink my poison. She used to really respect me for how "pure" I was in her eyes. Then the more she got to know me and saw my sin the more revolting I became to her. Now she wants nothing to do with me or Jesus.
Hmmm … take out a "Strong's" concordance and see verses like Romans 15:1, Luke 1:80 and 2:40, Ephesians 6:10, 1 Corinthians 16:13, 2 Timothy 2:1, Hebrews 11:34, 1 John 2:14, Deuteronomy 31:6-7,23, Joshua 1:7,9,18, Joshua 10:25, Joshua 14:11, 1 Kings 2:2, 1 Chronicles 28:10, 2 Chronicles 15:7, 2 Chronicles 32:7, Psalms 18:32,39, Psalms 29:11, Psalms 68:28, Psalms 73:26, Psalms 84:7, Psalms 138:3, Psalms 118:14, Proverbs 10:29, Proverbs 24:5,10, Proverbs 31:17,25, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 40:31, Isaiah 45:24, Isaiah 51:9, Isaiah 52:1, Joel 3:16, Habakkuk 3:19, Mark 12:30, etc. Of course, our strength is in Christ like 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, but we are called to receive strength/grace/power/Spirit from God and be strong!
In Hebrews 13:17, it says, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." Aren't those rulers to be strong in faith? As shepherds, aren't they to be full of the Word of God from which we receive strength? Aren't they to be men/women of prayer from which they receive strength (Luke 18:1)?
Do you think a weak man is the one to be an overseer/pastor/bishop or deacon like 1 Timothy 3 speaks of? He is to be "blameless," "not a novice," "ruler," "sober," etc. A true bishop/deacon is strong.
In James 5, the sick are told to go to whom when they are sick? The elders. Are the elders to be strong? Yes … they are the ones to pray in faith. In that same chapter in verse 8, it says, "You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near." We are to STRENGTHEN our hearts. We are not to be weak.
The early church, Acts 2, was full of grace/power/Spirit because they did what Acts 2:41-47 says. They gave attention to the apostles teaching (Bible/Word of God), prayer, meeting together for worship, and did good deeds (sharing with others who had needs). We can be strong and are called to be strong by God over and over in the scriptures. Open up your gates and your doors and let the LORD strong and mighty, mighty in battle come in (Psalms 24:7-10)! The Lord wants to be great/strong in Zion (you) (Psalms 99:2)!
Why is this guy in a pulpit if he doesn't know what it means to be a strong christian? He seems to confuse himself by thinking a strong christian somehow refers to someone who is strong in and of himself which is the opposite of "strong IN FAITH".
16-21 Let me come back to where I started—and don’t hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you’d rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn’t learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it’s a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.
21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)
23-27 I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.
28-29 And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.
30-33 If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
Strength from Weakness
12 1-5 You’ve forced me to talk this way, and I do it against my better judgment. But now that we’re at it, I may as well bring up the matter of visions and revelations that God gave me. For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don’t know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise—again, whether in or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard. This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I’m not saying another word apart from the humiliations.
6 If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
7-10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
Awesome Tullian
Tullian, keep preaching this. I keep coming back to this theme over and over again and I don't know anyone else out there who is preaching this message
I understand that weakness is part of the christian life and our weakness is why we need Jesus, but the more I show my weakness to my non-christian friends, the more they think christianity is a poisoned well. I've literally had a friend recently say that i'm toxic and that she will not drink my poison. She used to really respect me for how "pure" I was in her eyes. Then the more she got to know me and saw my sin the more revolting I became to her. Now she wants nothing to do with me or Jesus.
There Are No Strong Christians – Tullian Tchividj…: http://youtu.be/tfUkjn50iKE
Romans 15:1 "Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves."
Hmmm … take out a "Strong's" concordance and see verses like Romans 15:1, Luke 1:80 and 2:40, Ephesians 6:10, 1 Corinthians 16:13, 2 Timothy 2:1, Hebrews 11:34, 1 John 2:14, Deuteronomy 31:6-7,23, Joshua 1:7,9,18, Joshua 10:25, Joshua 14:11, 1 Kings 2:2, 1 Chronicles 28:10, 2 Chronicles 15:7, 2 Chronicles 32:7, Psalms 18:32,39, Psalms 29:11, Psalms 68:28, Psalms 73:26, Psalms 84:7, Psalms 138:3, Psalms 118:14, Proverbs 10:29, Proverbs 24:5,10, Proverbs 31:17,25, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 40:31, Isaiah 45:24, Isaiah 51:9, Isaiah 52:1, Joel 3:16, Habakkuk 3:19, Mark 12:30, etc. Of course, our strength is in Christ like 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, but we are called to receive strength/grace/power/Spirit from God and be strong!
In Hebrews 13:17, it says, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." Aren't those rulers to be strong in faith? As shepherds, aren't they to be full of the Word of God from which we receive strength? Aren't they to be men/women of prayer from which they receive strength (Luke 18:1)?
Do you think a weak man is the one to be an overseer/pastor/bishop or deacon like 1 Timothy 3 speaks of? He is to be "blameless," "not a novice," "ruler," "sober," etc. A true bishop/deacon is strong.
In James 5, the sick are told to go to whom when they are sick? The elders. Are the elders to be strong? Yes … they are the ones to pray in faith. In that same chapter in verse 8, it says, "You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near." We are to STRENGTHEN our hearts. We are not to be weak.
The early church, Acts 2, was full of grace/power/Spirit because they did what Acts 2:41-47 says. They gave attention to the apostles teaching (Bible/Word of God), prayer, meeting together for worship, and did good deeds (sharing with others who had needs). We can be strong and are called to be strong by God over and over in the scriptures. Open up your gates and your doors and let the LORD strong and mighty, mighty in battle come in (Psalms 24:7-10)! The Lord wants to be great/strong in Zion (you) (Psalms 99:2)!
There Are No Strong Christians – Tullian Tchividj…: http://youtu.be/tfUkjn50iKE
Why is this guy in a pulpit if he doesn't know what it means to be a strong christian? He seems to confuse himself by thinking a strong christian somehow refers to someone who is strong in and of himself which is the opposite of "strong IN FAITH".
2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10The Message (MSG)
Many a Long and Lonely Night
16-21 Let me come back to where I started—and don’t hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you’d rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn’t learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it’s a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.
21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)
23-27 I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.
28-29 And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.
30-33 If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
Strength from Weakness
12 1-5 You’ve forced me to talk this way, and I do it against my better judgment. But now that we’re at it, I may as well bring up the matter of visions and revelations that God gave me. For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don’t know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise—again, whether in or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard. This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I’m not saying another word apart from the humiliations.
6 If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
7-10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.