There's Strength in the Struggle

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

A great door, and many adversaries

He is glad not to be alone in it: "To know that you are not in this by yourself, but you got somebody holding you by the hand. Amen. I don't know — I'm just gonna tell you, I don't think I could do it on my own. I know I couldn't do it on my own. I ain't smart enough. I'm not strong enough. I don't have enough intellect. I don't have nothing. Everything that I have and everything that I am, that's all because of the blood of Jesus Christ." He honors the house — "You couldn't have picked a better church in Birmingham to walk into on a Sunday morning... Give honor to the bishop today, mighty man of God" — and gives the text: "First Corinthians chapter 16, verse 8. Paul, writing, says: 'But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.' If God will help us today, I want to preach to you for the next few moments: There's strength in the struggle. Strength in the struggle." The setting matters: "In order to understand this text, we got to back up just a little bit and tap into the meat of the book, in Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19 is the beginnings of the church at Ephesus... Ephesus in Acts chapter 19 is picture-perfect revival. Acts chapter 19, people are getting baptized in Jesus' name, the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved. There are people that have been baptized before, but they're getting the revelation that the only way it works is if you say Jesus before you go down. Whoa, I'm glad for that revelation today... People are getting re-baptized in Jesus' name. People are burning ungodly books. It's time to crank up the music and let's have church. Acts chapter 19 is what we think about when we think about hundred-soul revivals... If He could do it in Ephesus, He could do it in Birmingham."

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 16:8-9; Acts 19

It's not a sin to struggle

"But to understand it from the point of view of the man that wrote it, it is important. He is writing to Corinth. His mentioning of where he is, here in Ephesus — he makes mention of two things: he talks about doors, and he talks about adversaries. Now, this might not be encouraging to everybody, but this is encouraging to me, because in this scripture it shows us that Paul, the man that wrote over half the New Testament, was struggling. He was fighting adversaries. The man that did all the miracles that were listed in Acts chapter 19 was fighting hell the same way that you and I fight hell. The man that we heroize — if that's even a word; if it ain't, I just made it up — we put him on a pedestal, and we assume him to be the picture-perfect apostle, writes to us and says — he's telling us through the ages — that there are many adversaries in Ephesus. In other words, he was saying: you can't get so much Holy Ghost that the devil don't still fight you. You can't get so saved that you still don't have a struggle. You can't be so powerful that the devil can't catch you in a weak moment. Which leads me to the point that I am not the originator of, but it preaches good anyway, which is the truth of the matter: it's not a sin to struggle. We get so caught up in the fact that we're struggling, and the enemy jumps on us and tries to convince us that we might as well throw in the towel because we're struggling. But let me tell you something, friend: if you're struggling, keep struggling, because that means you're still in the fight. If you're struggling, keep doing it, because that means you've got enough breath and enough grit in you to hold on through the storm and to hold on through the rain. Don't you dare let the devil convince you that it's time to quit because you're down. Just because you're down does not mean that you're out. Honey, Abraham might have doubted, but he didn't quit God. Jacob might have lied, but he didn't quit God. David committed adultery, but he didn't quit God. I'm telling you that a righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up again. I don't care what happened today, or yesterday, or the day before — I'm telling you, if you fell down, it's time to get back up. In the struggle, in the storm, in the rain, let the devil know: if you're looking for a hill for me to die on, you can just pick one, because wherever I die, it's gonna be with a sword in my hand. Wherever I die, it's gonna be with a fight in my spirit."

Nevertheless

Ephesus was a fight against a city's religion: "Paul has found himself in the struggle in Ephesus, a place where they would worship their false gods to the point that they would get in the street and they would cry, 'Great is Diana of Ephesus,' for two hours. This is the place where he is fighting false-god worship like he never has before. He is fighting things that are bigger than Paul. He is fighting things that are stronger than him... Can I preach to somebody today? It's a struggle for you just to get to church, because of the resistance, because of the adversaries. But you got to realize that the resistance isn't to strangle you — the resistance is to strengthen you. You got to realize that the resistance is put there to make you stronger than you've ever been before. There's strength in your struggle, friend. Even Jesus struggled: 'Father, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from Me. But nevertheless — nevertheless, nevertheless.' I'm telling somebody today, you need to get a nevertheless in your spirit that says: even though I'm weak, His strength is made perfect in my weakness. Even though I'm down, I will not throw in the towel. Come on, I'm reaching for somebody on a Sunday morning that walked in weak because the devil's been beating you up, because you did make a mistake and you did fall. But I'm telling you, you need to get Micah 7 and 8 in your spirit, and look the devil in the eye and say: 'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: for when I fall, I shall arise.' I might be in the struggle, but I'm coming out stronger." Identity is the anchor: "You are something. You mean something to God. You're important. You're invaluable to the kingdom of God. We can't replace you. If you go out the door, there's going to be a hole where you're sitting every service... Just because you're weak doesn't mean you're worthless... The truth is, we all want to be like Jesus — until we get in the garden. We all want to be like Jesus — until He got in the struggle. If you're fighting hell, friend, good. That means it ain't got you yet... There's a young person in here today that needs to hear me: you don't have to do what everybody at your high school does... Not everybody has to backslide when they make a mistake. Not everybody has to walk away from God when they fall down. I'm telling you, that is not the defining moment of your life. What defines you is what you do after the fall. Get up in the struggle. Get up through the pain, through the tears, through the condemnation, and let the devil know: I'm gonna live for God... Every time you lift your hands when you don't feel like lifting your hands, you're getting stronger with every wave of your arm. Every time you say hallelujah and you don't feel like it, it builds up that inner man."

Scriptures: Micah 7:8

Tell me again how bad you've got it

Paul's catalogue is the measuring stick: "In Second Corinthians chapter 11, he said he was given 39 stripes, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked — perils of waters, perils of robbers; in the cities there was peril, in the wilderness there was peril — weary and hungry, weary in pain. 'I was thirsty. I was cold. I was naked.' And then he said, in all of this, 'I glory in my infirmities.' Now understand what I'm trying to tell you: Paul is one bad dude. A night and a day I've spent in the deep. How many in here have been shipwrecked three times? You've been stoned, beaten thrice with rods? Uh-huh. Now tell me how bad you got it again, so that you can't live for God. That man — the guy that wrote half the New Testament — said, 'I am fighting things that are strong.' Tell me again why you got a reason to quit, when you ain't been through all of that." Modern persecution gets no sympathy: "It blows my mind what our world considers persecution. You lost a hundred followers on Instagram, and it's the end of the world. You had a water leak, so your water bill was a hundred dollars more than normal — it's the end of the world. Really? 'Well, you don't know, so-and-so at the church said something to me, and it just rubbed me wrong.' Are you kidding me? You mean you're going to let that stop eternal salvation? You're going to let these little minuscule things stop you from living for God? When you get to the glory land and you start giving all your excuses — he said, she said, they did, he did this, she did that, and all this other junk about why you couldn't live for God — God's gonna say, 'Hey, come here, Paul. Tell them what you went through.'... And you know what Paul's gonna look at you and say? 'Hey, honey, there's strength in the struggle. If you just keep fighting it, you'll keep getting stronger.'" The struggle gives what the shout cannot: "There's some things you can't get in the shout. There's some things you can only get in the struggle. I love to dance, but there's some stuff you can't get in the dance. We can praise-break until the cows come home, and we can talk about how good God is, but the truth of the matter is, when you get in the struggle, you'll find things that you can't find in the dance... If you're in the struggle right now, God is trying to put something in you that you can't get anywhere else. He's trying to put something in you that you can't get by sitting in a pew. He's trying to put something in you that you can't get walking around the church shaking hands and being friendly. If you're in the struggle, God is trying to let destiny be birthed inside of you that you can't get anywhere else."

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 11:23-28

Jacob was born in the struggle

"Allow me very quickly — I'm hurrying today — to draw your attention to a man by the name of Jacob. He was the grandson of Abraham. And in preparation for this, I just started wondering: why did Jacob fulfill the promise that God gave his grandparents? I mean, God told Abraham, 'I'll make your seed like the sand on the seashore, like the stars of heaven.' But Abraham only has one kid. He understands that the way God works is the promise is going to come through him. Isaac — the same thing happens. He receives the promise handed down from his father, but he never sees it. Both men walked with God. Both men walked in favor. But there's a downfall in always walking in favor... Sometimes you'll go in places where favor runs out, and then you got to learn how to live for God when you don't have favor. If you learn how to live for God where you're always favored, what are you going to do when you go to a job where nobody worships God?... I'm telling you, you got to learn how to live for God when there is no favor. That's what living for God is really all about. It's not just about the loaves and the fishes. I'm in this for the long haul." Jacob is different from the womb: "The very first time you see and you read about Jacob, it's before he's even born. It's the only time in your English Bible that the word is used. The Bible says in Genesis 25 and 22, when Rebekah conceived, the Bible says that the children struggled within her. It's never used in the Bible up until this point. And the Lord speaks to Rebekah and says, 'Inside of you are two nations, and the younger is going to be stronger than the older.' Why? Because he's more manly? No — because Esau was a man of the field. He was a hunter. And Jacob was a slick-faced mama's boy. And I'm just preaching how a country boy would preach it today: if there's anybody that's going to be a man, it's going to be Esau. He's a man of the field. I mean, come on, he's a hunter, he's a hairy man. And Jacob spends all his time sitting around Mama's house. But there was something inside of Jacob that was not afraid of the struggle." At Peniel the difference shows: "God brings Jacob to the same place, and while Abraham and Isaac are just so worried about following the favor and trying to get something from God, as Jacob and God meet face to face, when he sees God he reaches up and grabs God by the ear... and he puts him in the headlock, and he says, 'I'm not letting you go.' 'Why not?' 'I want a blessing. I want something different than everybody else. Everybody else has just laid down and took what they could get. But not me. I was born in the struggle. I've lived in the struggle. And I understand that because I'm in the struggle, there are some things that are only going to come from there. I'm not going to get this falling on my face in favor'... 'You can push me around if you want to, but I'm not letting you go till You bless me, because I understand that there's strength in my struggle. And so I might have to get a hold of God, and hold on to God by the ear, and say, God — but I understand that the name change is only going to come if I don't let go until I get a miracle.'" His jab at the favor-cycle is direct: "That's why you come to church for three months and you're out for six... because you're happy just getting a little Abraham blessing of, 'Oh, there's a promise way over there, and you'll get it sometime down the road.' And so you come get a little bit of favor, and you go back out and you live for God until that little bit of favor you came in and got a hold of runs out, and then you got to come back in and get your favor fixed. Just give me another double shot. I hear people say that all the time at coffee bars. 'Give me extra favor — maybe I can make it eight, ten months a year without getting back to the house of God.' Somebody online probably just turned me off... But you see, if you want the promise to come to pass in your generation, you got to grab God by the ear. I'm not just in this for favor, because sometimes — 'and there arose a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph,' Exodus chapter 1 and verse 8. You go read it: favor ran out. But you want to know why they got out of Egypt? Because there was somebody that said, 'I know how to live for God with the lashes on my back. I know how to live for God when I'm working another man's job. I know how to live for God when they're talking about me, when they're running me down, when nobody wants to be around me... cause I know that there's strength in my struggle.'"

Scriptures: Genesis 25:22; Exodus 1:8

Doors, and what you have in your hand

The door and the adversary belong together: "When Paul's writing here, he said there are doors and there are adversaries. This word 'doors' comes from the word portal. Understand, that's where Jacob was when he saw the angels ascending and descending... 'See if I will not open you the windows of heaven' — that word window is a portal — letting you know that your giving is directly connected to the door, just as much as your learning how to live for God without favor is connected to the door... We can all dance. We can all run the aisles when we're at church on Sunday morning and the choir is hitting it — they're knocking it out of the park — and you can feel the beat of the drum, and everybody else is dancing. It's a little bit easier to do it like that. But how do you live for God when favor runs out? That's the question that decides if you're a Christian or not... There's glory in what you're going through somewhere. There's strength in it somewhere. And you can get mad at God, and you can get mad at the preacher, and you can get mad at this one and that one because it's not how you thought it was supposed to be. First of all, you need to get what you thought — what you had in mind — out of the way, because God never works with what you had in mind. God always works with what you have in hand. 'Moses, what do you have in your hand? I know what you had in mind, but what do you have in your hand?' 'This isn't what you had in mind.' 'I know, Moses, but you got to go back to Pharaoh's house. Well, how do I do it?' 'Not with what you have in mind. What do you have in your hand?' 'All I got is a rod.' 'Well, throw it down, and it becomes a serpent. Pick it up, and it turns back into a rod.'" The storm story closes it: "When God speaks, He means it. And what usually happens is, after God speaks, we typically get in some kind of a storm that makes us question what God said. And so we find the disciples there... Jesus speaks to His disciples, and He says, 'Get in this ship and go to the other side.' The Bible says He constrained them. He commanded them. The word 'constrained,' by picture, literally means that He tied them into the ship with His words. He commanded them to the ship and said, 'Go to the other side.' And then you read the story, and the Bible says that while they're in this ship, going to the other side, Jesus is sleeping. I mean, how do you sleep — is what I want to know — in a boat from way back then, in a storm? He's sleeping in the bow of the ship. And they came to Him and they said, 'Master, carest Thou not that we perish?' And you see, that's where we are right now. That's where somebody is today. 'Don't You care, God, that I'm in the struggle? Don't You care, God, that we perish?' And God stands up and kind of brushes Himself off, and you see, the revelation here is: it's not that He didn't care. It's just that He already told you what to do. And so when God gets silent, and it seems like God's not speaking, it's not because God doesn't have direction. It's because you've already got the direction. So you need to go back to the last time God spoke, and apply that to this situation. Jesus told them, 'You're going to the other side.' It's not that I don't care — it's that I've already gave you a prophetic word... You've got what it takes to make it." And the last run: "Man can say, 'I glory in my infirmities' — you know why he can say it? Because he understands that when you fight through the adversaries, there's a door. And he said it's an effectual door... It's action. It's designed by God to be successful... Moses, I know you're in the struggle, but just go tell Pharaoh, 'Let my people go.' 'What? There's many adversaries.' Yeah, but there's gonna be a door open. There's gonna be a portal that opens through the Red Sea, and the children of Israel are going to walk out on dry land. Living for God in the struggle always opens the door to the miraculous. You want miracle signs and wonders? Live for God when you don't see miracle signs and wonders. You want the supernatural? Live for God when you can't see the supernatural. You want to be healed? Live for God when you don't feel like you've ever been healed. You want to be blessed? Live for God when you're broke. There's strength in your struggle. There's strength in your struggle. God's making something out of you. He's drawing destiny out of you." The altar call makes it a family affair: "Would you make your way to an altar today? Everyone that would — would you step out of your pew? Could we make this a family affair right now? Everybody here, this is one big family. If you're a visitor, you are only a visitor for the first ten minutes you're here. You're no longer a visitor — you're home folk now. So would you make this a family affair today, and come down to the altar, and let's pray together? Because there's some people here today that are struggling. They're in the fire."