Distractions
Notes
from a sermon by
Rev.
Jason Rowland, Associate Pastor
Evangel
Assembly of God, Valdosta, GA
Sunday
PM, August 22, 2004
2 Corinthians
12:1 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. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not 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 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 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.
Paul
had been at a high point in his life because he had been in a trance and was
taken up into the third heaven, but now it is a low point in Paul’s life. He has
a thorn in his flesh. It was a messenger of Satan. Paul was a learned man and
knew that God used the phrase "thorn in the flesh" to speak about Israel’s
enemies.
Recently
Jason noticed that vines were taking over his house. He saw that the thorns on
these vines were a distraction to what he was really trying to do.
A
messenger of Satan is the thorn in his side. A messenger had been sent by
someone. The messenger had been sent to bring him down. He was laboring among
thorns. It was meant to cause a distraction in his daily life. The enemy was
beating him down with a weakness in his life. He asked God three times to remove
it. Thorns are there to choke the life out of someone. It brings distractions in
your life. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Thorns are on plants to
protect the plant. A person who has been hurt likes to hurt others. The thorn is
there to protect you so that you hurt the other person before they hurt you.
When
Jason was a child, he and a cousin were playing hide and seek behind the house.
His cousin ran into a curtain of briars, and it stopped him cold in his tracks.
The
enemy wants to stop you from your destiny. The enemy can bring some briars in
your life to stop you. You must get something that will kill the roots--an
herbicide. God has given us an herbicide. Jesus died on the cross so that you
would have someone to kill the thorns in your side. We must stand up in our righteousness.
God’s grace is sufficient for us. We are going to higher things. Don’t be
distracted by these thorns.
Maybe
you found out that some words were said about you. Words said about you can be a
distraction. God says that in one day if you will press and press, the enemy
will be defeated.
When
you are weak is when God wants to “show out” and make Himself strong in your life. God has a great destiny for you;
so, just press on. Thank God for the thorns because you will be stronger after
pressing through the distractions in your life and getting on to the job at hand
that God has given you to do. Don’t let the distractions in your life keep you
from the destiny that God has for you.