July 17, 2025 • 46 mins
Have you ever felt like you're not strong enough? Not confident or courageous enough for the task ahead? That you don't have what it takes to endure the pain and difficulty of your life? Christine Hoover will take us to 2 Corinthians for some encouragement about God's strength being made perfect in weakness. Your weakness does not disqualify you. Hear more on Chris Fabry Live.
Featured resource:
More Than Enough: God's Strength in Our Weakness in 2 Corinthians (Bible Study) by Christine Hoover
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:05):
Today at the radio backyard fence. Has God ever used
your weakness to show his strength? Let me put it
another way. Are you in a situation right now where
you feel like you're not strong enough? You're not up
to the task. You don't have what it takes to
endure the pain, the difficulty you're facing in your life.
(00:26):
Our guest today on Chris Fabry Live says your weakness
does not disqualify you. In fact, she believes it's the
intersection of our affliction and God's comfort that often turns
out to be the ministry God gives. How many times
have I said this on this program and others? The
(00:47):
wound becomes a place of healing for you. First of all,
and then for others, there is encouragement for your soul
straight ahead. Today, as we go to second Corinthians to
consider how God's strength is made perfect in weakness. What
does that look like in your life and mind? Have
you experienced that? We want to hear from you today
(01:09):
at (877) 548-3675. First, thank you to our team. Ryan McConaughey
doing all things technical. Tricia is in the chair. Our producer.
Rihanna is going to be answering your calls today. And
thank you, friends and partners. You're also part of the
team Steven in Florida. Thank you. I just saw that
gift that you gave a generous gift today. We have
(01:30):
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first time. So thank you for doing that. We are
more than halfway through July, and we need your help
to reach our goal by the end of this month.
We can't do what we do together without your support,
so call or click through today our thank you for
a couple of more weeks. As Pastor Colin Smith's drive
through the Bible. We're going to look at a section
(01:53):
of Second Corinthians today. But Colin's concern is how does
the entire Bible fit together. If you're confused about how
the Old and New Testaments harmonize, if you read the
Old Testament and say, boy, that got in that testament
seems kind of mean and vindictive, and then you read
the new and it's like, oh, this is grace and mercy.
There's a difference here. Drive Through the Bible is a
(02:15):
30 day journey I think will help awaken you to
the crimson thread of God's mercy and grace, all the
way from Genesis to Revelation. Give a gift of any size.
I'd love to send you a copy of this little
book that packs a big wallop by Pastor Colin Smith
from Edinburgh. Just call 86695 Febry (866) 953-2279 or go to
(02:40):
the website and scroll down. You'll see it right there
on the home page. Chris Fabbri. Fabbri Chris Fabbri Levorg
Chris Fabbri where you'll also find out about Christine Hoover,
who serves as the Women's Ministry associate at the Austin
Stone Community Churches Northwest congregation in Austin, Texas. She created
(03:00):
and is now executive producer of the Ministry Wives podcast.
She has authored seven seven books. I was going to
say several. And both are. Both are true, messy, beautiful friendship,
how to thrive as a pastor's wife, and then two
Bible studies. The one we're going to talk about today
is titled More than Enough God's Strength in Our Weakness.
(03:22):
In Second Corinthians. Christine, welcome to the program. How are
you doing today?
S2 (03:27):
I'm doing great. Thanks so much for having me.
S1 (03:30):
We had Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth on yesterday, and we were
talking about the entire scriptures and this notation Bible taking notes,
journaling through the Bible. I want to ask you the
same question that we talked with her about, and we
have talked with her about why do we study the Bible?
Why do you study the Bible and study it with
(03:51):
other people? What are the advantages of doing that?
S2 (03:54):
Mhm. When you ask that question, I. A smile comes
to my face because God's Word is like food for
the soul. It is water, living water for the soul.
I study the Bible because I want to be in
relationship with God. I want to know him. I want
to understand him. I want to know who I am
in relation to him. And it shows me how I
(04:18):
am not living in, you know, in, in the ways that,
that he calls me to. And so I'm convicted by
God's Word. And I am reminded that it's the Holy
Spirit that transforms me through God's Word. And so this,
this word, this book that's right in front of me
right now, it is a lifeline to me, uh, for
(04:39):
my relationship with God and understanding myself through his eyes.
And I do think it is important to study it corporately,
not just individually. Um, because it's it's kind of like
becoming fluent in a language if I'm trying to learn Spanish,
but I don't live in a Spanish speaking country. I'm
only going to know it as much as the books
(04:59):
teach it to me. But if I go and I
immerse myself in Spanish, Spanish speaking nation, I'm going to
learn it. I'm going to become fluent through my interactions
with other people. And I think the same thing is
true for God's Word that we become fluent, we become
able to apply it, able to live with wisdom based
(05:21):
upon God's Word as we interact with it corporately, with
other people, their perspectives, their thoughts, the way that they
got us teaching them. And so it's such an important
thing in my own life to be in corporate study
as well.
S1 (05:35):
It's also to do it yourself, because we made the
point yesterday, you can't pay somebody else to meditate for
you to meditate on, to ruminate. You know, a cow
can't hire a cow to come over and ruminate. They
have to do it themselves. Um, and so slowing down.
And this is part of the digital world that we
(05:56):
live in. Nothing wrong with digital Bible. You know things online.
It's great, great resources we have. But I feel like
we're so distracted and so disoriented by the the volume
of things, you know, just this fire hydrant of information,
even good stuff about the Bible that's coming at us
that we've lost the art of being able to just
(06:18):
quiet down, slow down and and read and take in
and listen to what God is telling us. Do you
agree with that?
S2 (06:27):
That's right. And I think also when other people teach
it to us, they've done the work of mining God's
Word for truth and the Holy Spirit, speaking to them
through the word, helping them to know, understand and apply.
And if we go off someone else's study, we're really
missing the opportunity to treasure hunt for our own understanding,
(06:52):
our own application for God to speak directly to us
through His word. And so I think that's hard in
our distracted world, but it is so worth it. Over
decades of studying God's Word, I can see how he
has changed me through that, and so it's worth it.
But it's something that we have to fight for.
S1 (07:10):
Yes. Okay, so you have a backstory about this. I
want to get into that on Facebook. I put this
question up. The intersection of your affliction and God's comfort
often turns out to be your ministry. Christine really believes that.
And the question is, where have you experienced the comfort
of God in the middle of some struggle in your life? Uh,
(07:34):
if you want to answer that question, I'd love to
hear from you today. How has God been made your
weakness a strength in your weakness or through your weakness?
That's the first question. Or what is the thing that
you're going through right now? And I mentioned that caring
for a parent with health struggles or a disabled child,
or if you're going through a job loss, I think
(07:55):
of those folks in Texas who are going through some
real deep waters of loss on a lot of different
levels today. What is the place where you have experienced
the comfort of God in the struggle in your life?
Or maybe you're not experiencing that right now and you
want to. I think the study is going to help.
Let me give her a number. (877) 548-3675. Would love to
(08:20):
hear from you today at the back fence. (877) 548-3675 Christine
Hoover has come up with more than enough God's strength
in our weakness. In Second Corinthians, our featured resource at
Chris Fabry Live More.
S3 (08:47):
This is Chris Fabry.
S1 (08:48):
Live on Moody Radio. Thanks a lot for joining us
this week. We've been looking at the scriptures. We had
the two Michaels talking about the Bible questions and answers
about the Christian life. We talked about the elimination of
sloth or acedia with pastor from Phoenix on Tuesday. Yesterday,
Nancy was talking about note taking journaling the Bible. Today,
(09:10):
we're narrowing down on Second Corinthians and a study that
Christine Hoover has come up with. You can find out
more about her and the study. More than enough at
Chris Fabriclive. Fabriclive. And that quote that I gave is
basically what you have said in the study in several
different places. The intersection of our affliction and God's comfort
(09:34):
often turns out to be our ministry. And you don't know, Christina,
how many times I've said that with guests who come
along here and we'll talk about some wound in their
life and they're being vulnerable, and that vulnerability reaches somebody
who's listening. So. So as you are writing this, as
you were studying Second Corinthians, something happened to you that
(09:56):
is the the metaphor of what we're talking about, right?
S2 (10:00):
Mhm. Absolutely. I actually started out to write this study
because I've always loved Second Corinthians, uh, primarily because it's he. Paul,
the writer of Second Corinthians, is so vulnerable about his ministry.
I've been in vocational ministry for decades, and so I've
always been drawn to this letter, and I thought, that's
the direction I'm going to go in just a few
(10:22):
days after, uh, saying yes to writing this study, my
husband and I got a phone call from our son
who was in college in California. We live in Texas,
and we knew he had gone to the ER that day,
and we were waiting for, uh, just to know what
was going on. We had no idea. And the doctor
came on the line and she said that your son
(10:43):
has cancer and it is all over his body. It
is in his brain, his heart, his lungs, his stomach.
It has spread everywhere. And so, of course, we were shocked.
Our life was turned upside down. We went to get him,
brought him home for surgery and for chemo and a
year long treatment. And my publisher said, would you like
(11:05):
to put this study on the back burner? You have
a lot going on. And I said, I actually think
it's providential for me to be in this book, not
because of the ministry angle, but because Paul talks so
much in Second Corinthians about suffering and about weakness. And
here I am in my life in, in every day.
(11:26):
My experience was suffering. My experience was uncertainty. My experience
was pain, confusion, asking a lot of questions and walking
with my son through really difficult time. And so being
in this book, it kind of became the scaffolding that
that experience became the scaffolding for this Bible study. I'm
(11:47):
just digging into those truths that I've heard a lot.
We've we've heard these kind of what I call gem
passages in Second Corinthians about God's power and weakness, but
to experience it and to be asking those questions as
I was writing, it really became just such a providential
thing for me. And I'm thankful you brought up that
(12:07):
it has become my ministry. I'm thankful that now I
can speak to people and say, I was in the
midst of something. As I am writing this study, and
I'm here to tell you what God says about who
he is here, that he is the God of all comfort,
that his power is made perfect in our weakness. I
experienced that as true.
S1 (12:28):
Without knowing, though you mentioned uncertainty, without knowing the ending
of this or how this is going to turn out.
Because I think, and this is another one of those
things that I say a lot in the program, because
I live it as well, that many times we will
call faith figuring out God. Meaning if I can see
(12:49):
if there's something going on in my life, then I
can figure if and if I can figure out what
God is doing here, then I can believe in him.
Then I can trust in him. If he, you know,
get into an accident and somebody becomes a Christian that I,
you know, mechanic or whatever, EMT becomes a Christian. Well,
that's why God did that, you know, now I can
(13:09):
make sense out of it. But in the middle of,
in the middle of chemo with your son, you. There
is no sense in this. There is no you don't
know what the outcome is going to be, right?
S2 (13:22):
That's right, that's right. I had a moment at the
very beginning because his diagnosis was very, very bleak. Um,
his cancer markers were just off the charts. And so
I remember exactly where I was driving on a road
near my home. And I thought about, I, I don't
know the outcome and I can't control the outcome. And
(13:45):
am I going to trust God no matter what? Am
I going to trust him that he will be with
me wherever he takes me? And I had to make
a decision in that moment. And of course, I had
to make that decision again and again, because the fear
and the anxiety comes up where I have to choose again.
But I think that's what that's what we're called to do,
is not to not to believe God for a certain outcome,
(14:10):
but to believe God that he will be with us
wherever he takes us, whatever he has for us. And
that's a really hard truth. In that moment, I was
weeping because I don't know what the outcome will be,
but I could say, yes, Lord, I will trust you
and know that even if you take my son, I
you will be with me, and you will help me
(14:31):
in that. You will give me what I need. And
he did do that. And I will say, we did
have a good outcome. I will say we had a
miraculous outcome The doctors even use that word. And so
just for listeners who are wondering what happened, um, he,
he was able to recover from from his cancer miraculously.
I mean, I could tell you details that that you
(14:52):
would be amazed by. He's back at school running. He's
an athlete. So he's had that miraculous recovery. But that
that is that was not promised to me in that
moment where I. I had a choice. Will I trust
him or not? And I think Second Corinthians and a
lot of other parts of the Bible, they they don't
tell us why. And I still I don't know why.
(15:14):
I don't know why we went through this. I don't
have answers to that. But God tells us in a
lot of different parts of Scripture, including Second Corinthians, that
there are good things that he can do in it,
and we can look for those things. And like, for example,
that he will will teach us. Second Corinthians one it
says that Paul says, I, I had this, this death sentence,
(15:36):
but God used it to teach me not to rely
on myself, but to rely on God. And so that's
a good outcome. A good thing that God guarantees he
will do in us as we trust him in our
suffering and uncertainty.
S1 (15:51):
There's so much to apply, isn't there, in all of
that with with what Paul is. And as you said,
his vulnerability. You read through that the, the, the chapters
of Second Corinthians and you just see so much of
why did you why did you tell us that? You know,
I wouldn't have told that. Just like in the Gospels,
(16:11):
many times you see these things that happen with the disciples.
It's like if you're managing your image, you'd never you'd
never written that down.
S4 (16:19):
That's right.
S1 (16:20):
It's written because and that's part of the reason why
the Bible rings true is it's so vulnerable. It shows you.
It shows you David's warts and all. It shows you
King Saul's, warts and all. You know, Sam, look at
Samson and others. Okay, so let's get to. And then
I'm going to go to your phone calls. I want
you to I want to hear from you today about
(16:41):
how God has met you at that intersection of the struggle,
the affliction, the maybe the place where you are overwhelmed
right now and what he is doing in and through
your life. But I want to go to second Corinthians 12,
and let's start with verse eight, because everybody knows the, the,
(17:03):
the thorn in the flesh. Concerning this, I pleaded with
the Lord three times that it might leave me. And
these next two verses are really, really important. Would you
read those for us?
S2 (17:15):
Yes. Uh, but he said to me, so, uh, God
said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is perfected in weakness. And then Paul says,
therefore I will most gladly boast all the more about
my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me.
(17:36):
So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and
in difficulties for the sake of Christ. For when I
am weak, then I am strong.
S1 (17:49):
The translation that I have uses the word delight.
S4 (17:53):
I delight.
S1 (17:55):
Isn't that good? I delight. It's like, no, wait a minute,
time out. That is not the word I would. It's like,
if you want to give me weakness, if you want
to give me insults, distress, persecution, difficulty, it's like, okay,
if I have to endure that, I guess I will,
because there's got to be a pony in here somewhere.
You've heard the old joke. Um, but it's like I
(18:17):
delight in it. And it's not like he's a masochist.
He's not talking about masochism, you know, poor on this, uh,
flagellation on me, because it's going to make me feel better.
That's not it, is it?
S2 (18:29):
No. And I will say studying this book with the
context is so important. A lot of times we know
these these little verses from Second Corinthians, but we don't
know the context. Well, the context is, is that Paul
is refuting this group of people who have come into
the Corinthian church who have a lot of influence, and
they're false teachers, and but people are drawn to them
(18:52):
because they are boasting in their strength. They're boasting in
their oratory skills. They're boasting in their influence. They're boasting
in the amount of money that they're earning because of
their speaking. And so Paul is is kind of giving
this comparison of, hey, these guys, they're they're boasting in
their own strength, their own skill, their own ability, and
(19:14):
they're drawing you to them. But I don't want to
be associated with those things. I want to be associated
with my weakness, with my hardship. And why? Because then
you will see that it is God working in me.
This is not about me. Paul is saying it's about
God working in me. And so I think that context
(19:36):
kind of helps us understand why he says, I would
delight in my weaknesses or I would take pleasure in them.
It's not that we're supposed to enjoy suffering. I mean,
right before that he asked God to take away his thorn.
So it's okay for us to ask God for that.
But I think he's just contrasting that by saying, I
can embrace these things. If it means that you see
(19:56):
God in me and his power is made perfect in
these things.
S4 (20:02):
So there is a sense of.
S1 (20:04):
Surrender and submission to his plan, his path for me.
Even if it gets hard, I'm going to hang on
to the fact that your heart is for me, God.
And even though I can't understand the difficult path or
the thorns here, I'm going to keep walking because this
(20:25):
is what you have for me.
S2 (20:27):
That's right. I think what comes to mind is just
my own story and I had a friend a few
months before my son was diagnosed with cancer who lost
her son in an accident. And I remember watching her.
I remember watching her. She came to church every Sunday.
She she did not miss a Sunday with her arms
(20:47):
raised in worship. And she was not performing for anybody
but just desperate to be with God and to hear
from him. And I thought about her when we received
that diagnosis because I thought I learned from watching her.
I saw Christ in her deep weakness and suffering. Um,
(21:08):
and and I I'm not I don't want to perform
for anybody, but I do want to demonstrate my faith.
The faith that that in the car where I'm choosing
to trust God, I want to that to be seen
and demonstrated. Now I'm also sharing my my tears and
my fears and my my worries about what's going to
(21:30):
happen with my son. But at the same time, I
want to to demonstrate through my life and through my
actions and my words that God is trustworthy. I can
trust him and so other people can, too. And so
I do think there is an aspect of embracing it. Um, and,
(21:51):
and letting people see us embrace, embrace our weaknesses.
S1 (21:56):
I love it that you use the word desperate. You know,
for your friend. She was desperate for what God was.
She was desperate for his presence, for his comfort in
her life. And that's part of the weakness or part
of the thing that God sometimes will drag us through
something to show us our desperation that we we think
(22:20):
we can do it in our own strength. We think
we can manage it in our own strength. And when
you come to the place where you realize, I can't
do this anymore, I'm not enough, which is part of
the reason why you've titled your your study what you've
titled it. Then you turn to him. More than enough
is the study Christine Hoover has come up with in
(22:42):
Second Corinthians, our featured resource at Chris Fabry Live. I
want to get you in on the conversation today. (877) 548-3675.
Karen is on the line. Karen, why did you call today?
S5 (22:57):
Hi. My situation seems so insignificant compared to your guest.
I feel for her and will pray for her son.
I'm in a situation where I have several spaces of
stenosis in my spine. That's a narrowing of the vertebrae
(23:18):
crimping the spinal cord. It causes a lot of pain,
and especially when I move, my most comfortable position is
to lay flat with a heating pad, but you can't
live that way. I have given God the credit for
my being able to make it through the day. I've
(23:42):
tried to give the glory to him. I've tried to
be a witness for him and his strength.
S3 (23:53):
You know, the other thing.
S1 (23:54):
That is hard with this Karen, is other people probably
look at you and and you look fine to them.
They can't see the pain that you're dealing with. Is that.
S5 (24:05):
True? Right. I called because my question is, do I
negate the glory I'm giving him when I complain and
cry out in pain?
S3 (24:20):
Oh.
S1 (24:21):
Oh, I wish I was there to give you a hug,
but I probably would hurt.
S3 (24:26):
Uh, let me give you another question.
S1 (24:28):
Um. Ah. Where. How are you talking to us right now?
Are you sitting up or are you lying down?
S5 (24:35):
Actually, I'm sitting up at the moment, leaning forward on
my knees.
S4 (24:40):
Okay.
S1 (24:41):
All right, so there's a a little respite from the pain, Christine.
You get what she's talking about. And I don't think comparatively,
I get it. You know, the desperation of this day in,
day out. What would you say, Christine?
S2 (24:57):
Well, I would say that you are turning to the
one who, uh, can receive your complaint. I love in numbers.
There's a story of God's people, uh, following Moses, and
they begin to complain, but they complain to one another.
And there's this contagion in the camp where complaining, complaining,
(25:20):
it's build upon building upon one another. The very next
part is Moses and he is complaining even more than
the people. But he is complaining to God. And God
receives that complaint because he is the one who can
do something about it. And that's what I would say
is you're giving glory to him if you're taking it
to the one who can receive that complaint.
S1 (25:43):
Well, isn't that what the psalmist did? Uh, Karen, you
hang on. This is too good not to come back
and talk about it in just a moment. This is
Chris Fabry live on Moody Radio. Karen called with a struggle,
(26:05):
and it might be yours. Maybe not exactly the same
thing that she's gone through, but the vulnerability that Karen
is showing us is really showcasing what we're talking about today.
There's a Bible study, God's strength in our weakness. In
Second Corinthians, it was written by Christine Hoover. It's titled
More Than enough. So we're focusing on that passage in
(26:27):
Second Corinthians chapter 12, verses nine and ten. And in
the break Karen said to us, Christine, my question is,
is anybody going to see God in it? You know,
she was worried about the complaining. And I mentioned the Psalms,
you know, before we went to the break there. Is
anybody going to see God in this? And I part
(26:48):
of me thinks, well, I don't know. I don't know
who's going to see or if anybody's going to see.
I can't guarantee you that they are going to. That's
one of the things that you have to release to him.
But if you are faithful in the process, with the
pain and with the comfort that you get from him,
(27:10):
then you you start to touch on the things that
Paul was going through. So take it from there, Christine.
S2 (27:17):
I was telling Karen during the break that I think
that honest lament corporate lament, meaning bringing other people in
and telling them this is the reality of what I'm facing.
This is what's hard about it. That's not a complaint.
That's just acknowledging reality. Um, but then also bringing in
how has God met you in that? How has he comforted?
(27:41):
How has he helped you in your physical need? It
reminds me of Second Corinthians one three through five, where
Paul says that God comforts us in our affliction so
that we can then comfort those who are in affliction.
Using the comfort that we ourselves have received from God.
And so there's this affliction, this reality, this honest truth.
(28:03):
This is an affliction. This is hard. But then God
has comforted me. And so let me share with you
what I have learned about him in my specific affliction,
so that you can then be comforted. So a lot
of times you know what you've described. Karen, I can't
imagine that I have not experienced chronic pain. But when
I hear someone like you say, this is really hard,
(28:24):
but here is how God has met me in that thing.
That is a testimony to me that I'm going to
tuck away if I ever have chronic pain, or if
I have ever have any kind of suffering. I can
remember that Karen said God was faithful to her, and
this was specifically how that's a testimony.
S4 (28:43):
One of the things.
S1 (28:44):
Karen in, in this study that Christine has written is
that you you have to release self-sufficiency. And, um, I
don't know if you identify with this or not, but, uh,
I'm one of those kind of people that it's like,
I can do this myself. You know, I, me and
(29:05):
YouTube can fix my car until I can, you know,
if there's some problem that I've got, I want to
pull myself up by my bootstraps. And you come to
the end of that and you say, God, I can't
do this. I can't do this. And really so much
of my life I can't do on my own. But
I think I can, you know, and control little things.
(29:25):
My guess is that God has met you in that self-sufficiency.
Even in your life to say, oh, God, come in here.
Is that true?
S5 (29:36):
Yes. He has. God has been so good.
S1 (29:42):
Well, friend, thank you for calling in here and being
vulnerable with us today. Christine, respond to that self-sufficiency. That's
one of the I don't know if it's a part
of the West or if it's worldwide, but it seems
to be prevalent today, especially with self-help. We want self-help
so that I can do it myself, right?
S2 (30:03):
Yes, it is that cultural air we breathe. And so
a lot of times when we face suffering or we
face weakness, we're not able to have the capacity that
we wish we did. We we feel like something is
wrong with us that we have. We have to overcome that.
We should be ashamed of that. We have to hide
that from other people. And really, the Bible tells us
(30:25):
that those weaknesses are a pathway to knowing and understanding
God and His movement, his power in our life. And
so I think it's this upside down way of looking
at things. It's hard for us as human beings because
we are, in our flesh, so self-sufficient. We think we
are in control. And then God will bring things into
(30:46):
our life that just kill that idea that we can't
we can't do it. And so I think in some
ways it's a gift. And I know that's hard sometimes
to wrap our minds around. I would say what I
went through, what I have been through is, has been
a gift, because I have come to know God in
a way that I wouldn't have known him if we
(31:09):
had not encountered such suffering, and if my idea of
self-sufficiency had not been challenged so severely.
S4 (31:17):
Yes.
S1 (31:18):
More Than Enough is the title of the study by
Christine Hoover, who's joining us today from Austin, Texas. You
can find out more at the website. Chris Fabry, Livorno.
Linda is on the line. Linda, why did you call today?
S6 (31:32):
Hi, Chris. Um, so I've been walking down this path
of getting closer every day with God and, uh, just
very recently, I have a partner, um, that I met
over a year ago, and I just realized as I
read the scripture, as I'm getting closer, um, that I'm
sinning in the eyes of God because I'm not married
(31:55):
to this person, and I'm struggling because, um, I'm actually
on my way to go to confession, but I'm I'm
really struggling with this decision I have to make now
because I didn't realize that although we're both divorced and
we're in our later years, I'm in my 50s. He's
in 60s. is still living together is considered obviously a
(32:20):
sin unless you're married. Now, I do have plans to
marry him, but in the same time, I'm still in
the eyes of God. So I have been struggling with. Yeah, repentance.
And what should I do?
S4 (32:37):
And what does it look like? And it's going.
S1 (32:39):
To be, you know, it's going to have ramifications when
you make the decision about, you know, I can't keep
doing this anymore. You know, I can't do this. That's
going to have big ramifications. And you're, you know, wondering
how he's going to respond. Have you two talked about
this at all?
S6 (32:57):
No, because unfortunately, I just I really confirmed this this
morning that what I thought to be true. And I
wanted to know because again, I'm, I'm, I'm so deep
in my faith right now that it's been something I've
been struggling with just trying to talk to anyone about it.
And this morning I reached out to my local pastor
(33:18):
in email and he confirmed it. My partner just left
today for a week, so I'm going to be having
to battle this decision I need to make without him
being with me to talk it through. And I've got
to figure out, like you said, there are ramifications like,
you know, like. How do I have a relationship with
(33:39):
this person if I can't? Unless we're married and even
in the eyes of God, you know, divorce is a sin.
And I know he's forgiven me for my sins in
the past, and I've let go of that. But how
do I move forward where I'm not sinning in the
eyes of God?
S4 (33:55):
And when you just.
S1 (33:56):
Gave that sigh just now, you just are that to me, Christine,
that's the overwhelming, you know, thing that I'm going through
and that I don't want to be going through. And
yet I see an awful lot of hope and an
awful lot of life because God has pressed his finger
on this nerve of your soul. It's like, this is
(34:18):
not your plan. This is not what you want me
to do. And I want to be faithful to you.
But this is hard. Christine, what do you say?
S2 (34:27):
First of all, I just want to commend you of
your vulnerability to to call on radio and say this.
And two, I want to commend you because what you're
experiencing is godly grief. This is this is the Lord
convicting you. And when God, you're responding to that with obedience.
And I know that that's going to require some hard
(34:47):
decisions for you. But I commend that. And in fact,
in Paul speaks about this in second Corinthians seven. He
talks about godly grief that produces repentance and that the
the outcome of repentance and obedience is joy. And so
there's going to be some hard, hard things coming in
the next few days and decisions, but ultimately walking down
(35:10):
this pathway of godly grief and repentance. It will be
for your joy and God will meet you there. He
will help you in every way. And also makes me
think of Hebrews 12. I would encourage you to go
and read these chapters later, second Corinthians seven and Hebrews 12,
that God does the hard work of convicting us, that
it it doesn't feel good, but in the end it
(35:33):
is for our joy and it is for our good.
And so I would encourage you to continue walking this road,
and I'm so glad you're speaking with your pastor, because
he can help you with this. Um, but, uh, we
I'll be praying for you over the next few days
that God would give you the boldness and courage to
obey him in this.
S4 (35:51):
Yes.
S1 (35:52):
Linda. Um, the main question here that you are really
struggling with is the same question a lot of people
are struggling with. Is God good? Does he have good
for me in mind? With the guidelines that he has
laid out, you know, in Scripture about, following him or
following our own path. Is he really good and does
(36:16):
he have good things in store for you if you
obey him even when it feels bad? Uh, and that's
to me. That's what I'm going to be praying for
you about to be able to do the heart, make
the hard choices to follow him, and then you don't
know what the fruit or the joy is going to
(36:37):
be around the corner of that. But you know that
he has and this is part of the study. You
know that you'll have his presence, that his presence with
you every step of the way, because that's that's one
of the promises that you can hang on to is
his presence with you and the spirit at work inside
(36:58):
of you. Um, go ahead and respond to that, Linda.
S6 (37:02):
Yeah, I know, um, I know that, um, he's there
with me, and he'll be there with me no matter
how hard the road ahead is. And to your point, Christine,
my like the old version of me before I was
born again would be like, I really don't care. I
love this person, I don't, I want to keep doing
(37:23):
what I'm doing. And when I realized this morning that
I was hurting and being disobedient to God, even though
I love this person, I just felt such a tremendous
amount of shame and guilt and even fear about, you know,
not getting into his kingdom.
S2 (37:45):
I would say to you, when we respond in confession
and repentance that God receives, that he receives you and
he offers you forgiveness and grace, and he will help
you to respond in obedience to what he is convicting
you about. That the the Holy Spirit convicts us with Specificity,
(38:09):
meaning he's pointed out this specific sin and he speaks
to us with hope, meaning that he will say, I
first John one nine if you confess your sins, I
will be faithful to cleanse you of your sins, to
forgive you, and to cleanse you. And so it's this forgiveness,
but it's also a change, a transformation. And he leads
the way. And so you can trust that he has
(38:32):
forgiven you, that he's not holding, withholding himself from you,
withholding mercy and grace from you. Uh, and he. But
he will lead you to obedience. And so that's that's
your job now, is to obey him, trusting that he
loves you. He forgives you, and he wants you to.
He's he's inviting you to greater joy by being in
(38:55):
line with his will. So receive that. Receive that grace,
but also obey.
S4 (39:01):
Yeah.
S1 (39:02):
Linda, uh. Hang on. I want Tricia to get your information.
We'll send you something that I think will encourage you.
But I think your call here today is the exact
representation of what we're talking about. And that is what
you're the sin that you've identified and what you want
to do. You can't do on your own. You have
(39:24):
to be empowered by him. So even your call here
today and your desire to follow him, to obey him,
is an empowerment of His Spirit. I would rejoice in that.
We're going to pray for you. Stay with us. This
Chris Fabry live on Moody Radio.
S4 (39:51):
This is Chris.
S1 (39:52):
Fabry live on Moody Radio. We just had Linda call, and, uh,
she's just felt this desire, this nerve that has been
touched that she needs to get her life right And
that godly repentance is here. There's nothing we could plan
for today, but we're rejoicing in it. And so I
(40:13):
just want to pray. Christine Hoover's with me. Father, I
thank you for Linda. I thank you for the way
that she has expressed the vulnerability that she has. And, father,
use her vulnerability, use this thing in her life that
she says, I want to turn from this. I don't
want to do this anymore. Use that in somebody else's
life today. Who is listening? Uh, I just hear deep
(40:37):
grief over her sin and a desire to follow after you.
And you have said, For Paul's thorn, my, your grace
is sufficient. Your grace is sufficient for Paul. Your grace
is sufficient for Linda, for your loving kindness, your mercy.
It's more than enough. It's always available no matter what
(41:00):
the situation. So would you pour out your mercy and
your grace and your loving kindness and your forgiveness and
help Linda. Not only to believe that in her head,
but to receive it in her heart, that what she repents,
of what she gives to you, that you take that
sin and you give her your righteousness. So I pray
(41:23):
for her that that she would believe that be able
to walk in that. And then would you empower her
to make this decision, whatever that means, with her partner
and the ramifications of all of that? It's scary to
even think of. It's scary to think of the conversations,
but I just thank you for her determination to follow
(41:46):
you today. And would you give her the power to
do that? I pray in Jesus name.
S2 (41:52):
Lord, I also pray for Linda. Thank you for that.
We have the gift of repentance that you give us
the opportunity to turn and to follow you when we
have walked in sin. And I thank you that Linda
is choosing that. And she's choosing it in tears, knowing
that there could be heartache for her, maybe some fears
(42:14):
of being alone. I pray that you would meet her
every step of the way and comfort her. Show her
your presence. Show her that you are with her and
give her the boldness to obey. And so would you.
Use the conversation she has with her pastor. Use the
conversation that she has with her partner. I pray for
his salvation, and if he does not know you, that
(42:35):
you would use all of this for for your glory
and for the good of Linda and for her partner,
I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (42:44):
The thief comes to kill, steal, destroy. I've come to
give life and give it abundantly. And that's what Jesus said.
And so you think that life comes from, you know,
this relationship that is outside of God's bounds? What really
abundance comes from following him. You have no idea what
is ahead. After following fully following him. So, Linda, God
(43:09):
bless you. Thank you again for being vulnerable. I this
was on Facebook response. Patrick says 30 years ago I
stood behind doors in the jail cell. I was facing
a life sentence as a habitual offender. Guilty as charged.
Convicted many times before for my crimes. My point system
was so high this would be the end of me
(43:32):
in the free world if found guilty. A jailhouse preacher
came into our pod, headed straight toward my cell. I
literally confessed all that I'd done, going against everything I
was supposed to and not supposed to do. I poured
out my heart to this man. It was truly the
most helpless experience I've ever been involved in as a
young man. And the preacher shared the gospel with me.
(43:54):
Quoted Jeremiah 2911 and James 516. He prayed and then
was on his way. And I went back to my bunk,
sat down and prayed, Lord, if it's your will that
I go to prison for a long length of time,
then I'll follow you there. But if it's not your
will to go for that long, I beg of you,
set me free from this place. Let me be a
(44:15):
father to my daughter, because I don't want her to
grow up fatherless like I did. And I will follow
you out there and never come back to this place.
And he said, a few months later, God delivered me
from that place, and I didn't turn back to those crimes.
And I've been a father to my daughter the whole
time since, and I've gone on to have a son
(44:35):
and now my grandfather, six grandchildren. So he says, I
boast even more in my weaknesses, because in doing so,
I made it strong in Christ. Christine, what do you
say about that?
S2 (44:49):
I say, praise the Lord. That's amazing. That's an amazing story.
And I love that that is available for anyone, anyone,
wherever you are. I love how Paul closes Second Corinthians
where he talks about that wherever we are, whether we
are not saved, we don't know God or whether we
need to grow. We need to repent of sin, that
(45:09):
God is more than enough to help us, to save us,
and to sanctify us, to make us more like him.
S4 (45:16):
Yes.
S1 (45:17):
I've often heard it said, um, oh, if I just
had if I had your kind of faith, you know,
I've had as much faith as you do. God is
not asking you to be strong. He's asking you to
be dependent on him. And there's another caller here we'd
have time for. Who's asking? You know, how do I
overcome the desire to go back to whatever the addiction is?
(45:40):
Might be alcohol or something else? How do I overcome that?
It's not your strength. It's going to deliver you from
that addiction. It's your dependence on him to set you free.
And this study in Second Corinthians. It's all over there.
I can't believe how many things are coming up, how
(46:01):
we're talking about in this hour, Christine, that are are
talked about in Second Corinthians. So I will commend this
to you. If you go to scroll down, you'll see
more than enough God's strength in our weakness in Second Corinthians.
It's a Bible study with video access as well. Just
go to Chris Fabry live. Christine, thanks for sharing your
(46:24):
heart and your life and the story about your son,
and keep doing what you're doing. Friend.
S2 (46:29):
Thank you so much for having me again.
S1 (46:32):
More than enough. God's strength in our weakness in Second
Corinthians is our featured resource at.
S4 (46:37):
Chris.
S1 (46:37):
Fabriclive. Chris Fabriclive. Our program is a production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. Thanks a lot for listening.
Today at the radio backyard fence. Has God ever used
your weakness to show his strength? Let me put it
another way. Are you in a situation right now where
you feel like you're not strong enough? You're not up
to the task. You don't have what it takes to
endure the pain, the difficulty you're facing in your life.
(00:26):
Our guest today on Chris Fabry Live says your weakness
does not disqualify you. In fact, she believes it's the
intersection of our affliction and God's comfort that often turns
out to be the ministry God gives. How many times
have I said this on this program and others? The
(00:47):
wound becomes a place of healing for you. First of all,
and then for others, there is encouragement for your soul
straight ahead. Today, as we go to second Corinthians to
consider how God's strength is made perfect in weakness. What
does that look like in your life and mind? Have
you experienced that? We want to hear from you today
(01:09):
at (877) 548-3675. First, thank you to our team. Ryan McConaughey
doing all things technical. Tricia is in the chair. Our producer.
Rihanna is going to be answering your calls today. And
thank you, friends and partners. You're also part of the
team Steven in Florida. Thank you. I just saw that
gift that you gave a generous gift today. We have
(01:30):
a new friend in California Melissa gave for the very
first time. So thank you for doing that. We are
more than halfway through July, and we need your help
to reach our goal by the end of this month.
We can't do what we do together without your support,
so call or click through today our thank you for
a couple of more weeks. As Pastor Colin Smith's drive
through the Bible. We're going to look at a section
(01:53):
of Second Corinthians today. But Colin's concern is how does
the entire Bible fit together. If you're confused about how
the Old and New Testaments harmonize, if you read the
Old Testament and say, boy, that got in that testament
seems kind of mean and vindictive, and then you read
the new and it's like, oh, this is grace and mercy.
There's a difference here. Drive Through the Bible is a
(02:15):
30 day journey I think will help awaken you to
the crimson thread of God's mercy and grace, all the
way from Genesis to Revelation. Give a gift of any size.
I'd love to send you a copy of this little
book that packs a big wallop by Pastor Colin Smith
from Edinburgh. Just call 86695 Febry (866) 953-2279 or go to
(02:40):
the website and scroll down. You'll see it right there
on the home page. Chris Fabbri. Fabbri Chris Fabbri Levorg
Chris Fabbri where you'll also find out about Christine Hoover,
who serves as the Women's Ministry associate at the Austin
Stone Community Churches Northwest congregation in Austin, Texas. She created
(03:00):
and is now executive producer of the Ministry Wives podcast.
She has authored seven seven books. I was going to
say several. And both are. Both are true, messy, beautiful friendship,
how to thrive as a pastor's wife, and then two
Bible studies. The one we're going to talk about today
is titled More than Enough God's Strength in Our Weakness.
(03:22):
In Second Corinthians. Christine, welcome to the program. How are
you doing today?
S2 (03:27):
I'm doing great. Thanks so much for having me.
S1 (03:30):
We had Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth on yesterday, and we were
talking about the entire scriptures and this notation Bible taking notes,
journaling through the Bible. I want to ask you the
same question that we talked with her about, and we
have talked with her about why do we study the Bible?
Why do you study the Bible and study it with
(03:51):
other people? What are the advantages of doing that?
S2 (03:54):
Mhm. When you ask that question, I. A smile comes
to my face because God's Word is like food for
the soul. It is water, living water for the soul.
I study the Bible because I want to be in
relationship with God. I want to know him. I want
to understand him. I want to know who I am
in relation to him. And it shows me how I
(04:18):
am not living in, you know, in, in the ways that,
that he calls me to. And so I'm convicted by
God's Word. And I am reminded that it's the Holy
Spirit that transforms me through God's Word. And so this,
this word, this book that's right in front of me
right now, it is a lifeline to me, uh, for
(04:39):
my relationship with God and understanding myself through his eyes.
And I do think it is important to study it corporately,
not just individually. Um, because it's it's kind of like
becoming fluent in a language if I'm trying to learn Spanish,
but I don't live in a Spanish speaking country. I'm
only going to know it as much as the books
(04:59):
teach it to me. But if I go and I
immerse myself in Spanish, Spanish speaking nation, I'm going to
learn it. I'm going to become fluent through my interactions
with other people. And I think the same thing is
true for God's Word that we become fluent, we become
able to apply it, able to live with wisdom based
(05:21):
upon God's Word as we interact with it corporately, with
other people, their perspectives, their thoughts, the way that they
got us teaching them. And so it's such an important
thing in my own life to be in corporate study
as well.
S1 (05:35):
It's also to do it yourself, because we made the
point yesterday, you can't pay somebody else to meditate for
you to meditate on, to ruminate. You know, a cow
can't hire a cow to come over and ruminate. They
have to do it themselves. Um, and so slowing down.
And this is part of the digital world that we
(05:56):
live in. Nothing wrong with digital Bible. You know things online.
It's great, great resources we have. But I feel like
we're so distracted and so disoriented by the the volume
of things, you know, just this fire hydrant of information,
even good stuff about the Bible that's coming at us
that we've lost the art of being able to just
(06:18):
quiet down, slow down and and read and take in
and listen to what God is telling us. Do you
agree with that?
S2 (06:27):
That's right. And I think also when other people teach
it to us, they've done the work of mining God's
Word for truth and the Holy Spirit, speaking to them
through the word, helping them to know, understand and apply.
And if we go off someone else's study, we're really
missing the opportunity to treasure hunt for our own understanding,
(06:52):
our own application for God to speak directly to us
through His word. And so I think that's hard in
our distracted world, but it is so worth it. Over
decades of studying God's Word, I can see how he
has changed me through that, and so it's worth it.
But it's something that we have to fight for.
S1 (07:10):
Yes. Okay, so you have a backstory about this. I
want to get into that on Facebook. I put this
question up. The intersection of your affliction and God's comfort
often turns out to be your ministry. Christine really believes that.
And the question is, where have you experienced the comfort
of God in the middle of some struggle in your life? Uh,
(07:34):
if you want to answer that question, I'd love to
hear from you today. How has God been made your
weakness a strength in your weakness or through your weakness?
That's the first question. Or what is the thing that
you're going through right now? And I mentioned that caring
for a parent with health struggles or a disabled child,
or if you're going through a job loss, I think
(07:55):
of those folks in Texas who are going through some
real deep waters of loss on a lot of different
levels today. What is the place where you have experienced
the comfort of God in the struggle in your life?
Or maybe you're not experiencing that right now and you
want to. I think the study is going to help.
Let me give her a number. (877) 548-3675. Would love to
(08:20):
hear from you today at the back fence. (877) 548-3675 Christine
Hoover has come up with more than enough God's strength
in our weakness. In Second Corinthians, our featured resource at
Chris Fabry Live More.
S3 (08:47):
This is Chris Fabry.
S1 (08:48):
Live on Moody Radio. Thanks a lot for joining us
this week. We've been looking at the scriptures. We had
the two Michaels talking about the Bible questions and answers
about the Christian life. We talked about the elimination of
sloth or acedia with pastor from Phoenix on Tuesday. Yesterday,
Nancy was talking about note taking journaling the Bible. Today,
(09:10):
we're narrowing down on Second Corinthians and a study that
Christine Hoover has come up with. You can find out
more about her and the study. More than enough at
Chris Fabriclive. Fabriclive. And that quote that I gave is
basically what you have said in the study in several
different places. The intersection of our affliction and God's comfort
(09:34):
often turns out to be our ministry. And you don't know, Christina,
how many times I've said that with guests who come
along here and we'll talk about some wound in their
life and they're being vulnerable, and that vulnerability reaches somebody
who's listening. So. So as you are writing this, as
you were studying Second Corinthians, something happened to you that
(09:56):
is the the metaphor of what we're talking about, right?
S2 (10:00):
Mhm. Absolutely. I actually started out to write this study
because I've always loved Second Corinthians, uh, primarily because it's he. Paul,
the writer of Second Corinthians, is so vulnerable about his ministry.
I've been in vocational ministry for decades, and so I've
always been drawn to this letter, and I thought, that's
the direction I'm going to go in just a few
(10:22):
days after, uh, saying yes to writing this study, my
husband and I got a phone call from our son
who was in college in California. We live in Texas,
and we knew he had gone to the ER that day,
and we were waiting for, uh, just to know what
was going on. We had no idea. And the doctor
came on the line and she said that your son
(10:43):
has cancer and it is all over his body. It
is in his brain, his heart, his lungs, his stomach.
It has spread everywhere. And so, of course, we were shocked.
Our life was turned upside down. We went to get him,
brought him home for surgery and for chemo and a
year long treatment. And my publisher said, would you like
(11:05):
to put this study on the back burner? You have
a lot going on. And I said, I actually think
it's providential for me to be in this book, not
because of the ministry angle, but because Paul talks so
much in Second Corinthians about suffering and about weakness. And
here I am in my life in, in every day.
(11:26):
My experience was suffering. My experience was uncertainty. My experience
was pain, confusion, asking a lot of questions and walking
with my son through really difficult time. And so being
in this book, it kind of became the scaffolding that
that experience became the scaffolding for this Bible study. I'm
(11:47):
just digging into those truths that I've heard a lot.
We've we've heard these kind of what I call gem
passages in Second Corinthians about God's power and weakness, but
to experience it and to be asking those questions as
I was writing, it really became just such a providential
thing for me. And I'm thankful you brought up that
(12:07):
it has become my ministry. I'm thankful that now I
can speak to people and say, I was in the
midst of something. As I am writing this study, and
I'm here to tell you what God says about who
he is here, that he is the God of all comfort,
that his power is made perfect in our weakness. I
experienced that as true.
S1 (12:28):
Without knowing, though you mentioned uncertainty, without knowing the ending
of this or how this is going to turn out.
Because I think, and this is another one of those
things that I say a lot in the program, because
I live it as well, that many times we will
call faith figuring out God. Meaning if I can see
(12:49):
if there's something going on in my life, then I
can figure if and if I can figure out what
God is doing here, then I can believe in him.
Then I can trust in him. If he, you know,
get into an accident and somebody becomes a Christian that I,
you know, mechanic or whatever, EMT becomes a Christian. Well,
that's why God did that, you know, now I can
(13:09):
make sense out of it. But in the middle of,
in the middle of chemo with your son, you. There
is no sense in this. There is no you don't
know what the outcome is going to be, right?
S2 (13:22):
That's right, that's right. I had a moment at the
very beginning because his diagnosis was very, very bleak. Um,
his cancer markers were just off the charts. And so
I remember exactly where I was driving on a road
near my home. And I thought about, I, I don't
know the outcome and I can't control the outcome. And
(13:45):
am I going to trust God no matter what? Am
I going to trust him that he will be with
me wherever he takes me? And I had to make
a decision in that moment. And of course, I had
to make that decision again and again, because the fear
and the anxiety comes up where I have to choose again.
But I think that's what that's what we're called to do,
is not to not to believe God for a certain outcome,
(14:10):
but to believe God that he will be with us
wherever he takes us, whatever he has for us. And
that's a really hard truth. In that moment, I was
weeping because I don't know what the outcome will be,
but I could say, yes, Lord, I will trust you
and know that even if you take my son, I
you will be with me, and you will help me
(14:31):
in that. You will give me what I need. And
he did do that. And I will say, we did
have a good outcome. I will say we had a
miraculous outcome The doctors even use that word. And so
just for listeners who are wondering what happened, um, he,
he was able to recover from from his cancer miraculously.
I mean, I could tell you details that that you
(14:52):
would be amazed by. He's back at school running. He's
an athlete. So he's had that miraculous recovery. But that
that is that was not promised to me in that
moment where I. I had a choice. Will I trust
him or not? And I think Second Corinthians and a
lot of other parts of the Bible, they they don't
tell us why. And I still I don't know why.
(15:14):
I don't know why we went through this. I don't
have answers to that. But God tells us in a
lot of different parts of Scripture, including Second Corinthians, that
there are good things that he can do in it,
and we can look for those things. And like, for example,
that he will will teach us. Second Corinthians one it
says that Paul says, I, I had this, this death sentence,
(15:36):
but God used it to teach me not to rely
on myself, but to rely on God. And so that's
a good outcome. A good thing that God guarantees he
will do in us as we trust him in our
suffering and uncertainty.
S1 (15:51):
There's so much to apply, isn't there, in all of
that with with what Paul is. And as you said,
his vulnerability. You read through that the, the, the chapters
of Second Corinthians and you just see so much of
why did you why did you tell us that? You know,
I wouldn't have told that. Just like in the Gospels,
(16:11):
many times you see these things that happen with the disciples.
It's like if you're managing your image, you'd never you'd
never written that down.
S4 (16:19):
That's right.
S1 (16:20):
It's written because and that's part of the reason why
the Bible rings true is it's so vulnerable. It shows you.
It shows you David's warts and all. It shows you
King Saul's, warts and all. You know, Sam, look at
Samson and others. Okay, so let's get to. And then
I'm going to go to your phone calls. I want
you to I want to hear from you today about
(16:41):
how God has met you at that intersection of the struggle,
the affliction, the maybe the place where you are overwhelmed
right now and what he is doing in and through
your life. But I want to go to second Corinthians 12,
and let's start with verse eight, because everybody knows the, the,
(17:03):
the thorn in the flesh. Concerning this, I pleaded with
the Lord three times that it might leave me. And
these next two verses are really, really important. Would you
read those for us?
S2 (17:15):
Yes. Uh, but he said to me, so, uh, God
said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is perfected in weakness. And then Paul says,
therefore I will most gladly boast all the more about
my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me.
(17:36):
So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and
in difficulties for the sake of Christ. For when I
am weak, then I am strong.
S1 (17:49):
The translation that I have uses the word delight.
S4 (17:53):
I delight.
S1 (17:55):
Isn't that good? I delight. It's like, no, wait a minute,
time out. That is not the word I would. It's like,
if you want to give me weakness, if you want
to give me insults, distress, persecution, difficulty, it's like, okay,
if I have to endure that, I guess I will,
because there's got to be a pony in here somewhere.
You've heard the old joke. Um, but it's like I
(18:17):
delight in it. And it's not like he's a masochist.
He's not talking about masochism, you know, poor on this, uh,
flagellation on me, because it's going to make me feel better.
That's not it, is it?
S2 (18:29):
No. And I will say studying this book with the
context is so important. A lot of times we know
these these little verses from Second Corinthians, but we don't
know the context. Well, the context is, is that Paul
is refuting this group of people who have come into
the Corinthian church who have a lot of influence, and
they're false teachers, and but people are drawn to them
(18:52):
because they are boasting in their strength. They're boasting in
their oratory skills. They're boasting in their influence. They're boasting
in the amount of money that they're earning because of
their speaking. And so Paul is is kind of giving
this comparison of, hey, these guys, they're they're boasting in
their own strength, their own skill, their own ability, and
(19:14):
they're drawing you to them. But I don't want to
be associated with those things. I want to be associated
with my weakness, with my hardship. And why? Because then
you will see that it is God working in me.
This is not about me. Paul is saying it's about
God working in me. And so I think that context
(19:36):
kind of helps us understand why he says, I would
delight in my weaknesses or I would take pleasure in them.
It's not that we're supposed to enjoy suffering. I mean,
right before that he asked God to take away his thorn.
So it's okay for us to ask God for that.
But I think he's just contrasting that by saying, I
can embrace these things. If it means that you see
(19:56):
God in me and his power is made perfect in
these things.
S4 (20:02):
So there is a sense of.
S1 (20:04):
Surrender and submission to his plan, his path for me.
Even if it gets hard, I'm going to hang on
to the fact that your heart is for me, God.
And even though I can't understand the difficult path or
the thorns here, I'm going to keep walking because this
(20:25):
is what you have for me.
S2 (20:27):
That's right. I think what comes to mind is just
my own story and I had a friend a few
months before my son was diagnosed with cancer who lost
her son in an accident. And I remember watching her.
I remember watching her. She came to church every Sunday.
She she did not miss a Sunday with her arms
(20:47):
raised in worship. And she was not performing for anybody
but just desperate to be with God and to hear
from him. And I thought about her when we received
that diagnosis because I thought I learned from watching her.
I saw Christ in her deep weakness and suffering. Um,
(21:08):
and and I I'm not I don't want to perform
for anybody, but I do want to demonstrate my faith.
The faith that that in the car where I'm choosing
to trust God, I want to that to be seen
and demonstrated. Now I'm also sharing my my tears and
my fears and my my worries about what's going to
(21:30):
happen with my son. But at the same time, I
want to to demonstrate through my life and through my
actions and my words that God is trustworthy. I can
trust him and so other people can, too. And so
I do think there is an aspect of embracing it. Um, and,
(21:51):
and letting people see us embrace, embrace our weaknesses.
S1 (21:56):
I love it that you use the word desperate. You know,
for your friend. She was desperate for what God was.
She was desperate for his presence, for his comfort in
her life. And that's part of the weakness or part
of the thing that God sometimes will drag us through
something to show us our desperation that we we think
(22:20):
we can do it in our own strength. We think
we can manage it in our own strength. And when
you come to the place where you realize, I can't
do this anymore, I'm not enough, which is part of
the reason why you've titled your your study what you've
titled it. Then you turn to him. More than enough
is the study Christine Hoover has come up with in
(22:42):
Second Corinthians, our featured resource at Chris Fabry Live. I
want to get you in on the conversation today. (877) 548-3675.
Karen is on the line. Karen, why did you call today?
S5 (22:57):
Hi. My situation seems so insignificant compared to your guest.
I feel for her and will pray for her son.
I'm in a situation where I have several spaces of
stenosis in my spine. That's a narrowing of the vertebrae
(23:18):
crimping the spinal cord. It causes a lot of pain,
and especially when I move, my most comfortable position is
to lay flat with a heating pad, but you can't
live that way. I have given God the credit for
my being able to make it through the day. I've
(23:42):
tried to give the glory to him. I've tried to
be a witness for him and his strength.
S3 (23:53):
You know, the other thing.
S1 (23:54):
That is hard with this Karen, is other people probably
look at you and and you look fine to them.
They can't see the pain that you're dealing with. Is that.
S5 (24:05):
True? Right. I called because my question is, do I
negate the glory I'm giving him when I complain and
cry out in pain?
S3 (24:20):
Oh.
S1 (24:21):
Oh, I wish I was there to give you a hug,
but I probably would hurt.
S3 (24:26):
Uh, let me give you another question.
S1 (24:28):
Um. Ah. Where. How are you talking to us right now?
Are you sitting up or are you lying down?
S5 (24:35):
Actually, I'm sitting up at the moment, leaning forward on
my knees.
S4 (24:40):
Okay.
S1 (24:41):
All right, so there's a a little respite from the pain, Christine.
You get what she's talking about. And I don't think comparatively,
I get it. You know, the desperation of this day in,
day out. What would you say, Christine?
S2 (24:57):
Well, I would say that you are turning to the
one who, uh, can receive your complaint. I love in numbers.
There's a story of God's people, uh, following Moses, and
they begin to complain, but they complain to one another.
And there's this contagion in the camp where complaining, complaining,
(25:20):
it's build upon building upon one another. The very next
part is Moses and he is complaining even more than
the people. But he is complaining to God. And God
receives that complaint because he is the one who can
do something about it. And that's what I would say
is you're giving glory to him if you're taking it
to the one who can receive that complaint.
S1 (25:43):
Well, isn't that what the psalmist did? Uh, Karen, you
hang on. This is too good not to come back
and talk about it in just a moment. This is
Chris Fabry live on Moody Radio. Karen called with a struggle,
(26:05):
and it might be yours. Maybe not exactly the same
thing that she's gone through, but the vulnerability that Karen
is showing us is really showcasing what we're talking about today.
There's a Bible study, God's strength in our weakness. In
Second Corinthians, it was written by Christine Hoover. It's titled
More Than enough. So we're focusing on that passage in
(26:27):
Second Corinthians chapter 12, verses nine and ten. And in
the break Karen said to us, Christine, my question is,
is anybody going to see God in it? You know,
she was worried about the complaining. And I mentioned the Psalms,
you know, before we went to the break there. Is
anybody going to see God in this? And I part
(26:48):
of me thinks, well, I don't know. I don't know
who's going to see or if anybody's going to see.
I can't guarantee you that they are going to. That's
one of the things that you have to release to him.
But if you are faithful in the process, with the
pain and with the comfort that you get from him,
(27:10):
then you you start to touch on the things that
Paul was going through. So take it from there, Christine.
S2 (27:17):
I was telling Karen during the break that I think
that honest lament corporate lament, meaning bringing other people in
and telling them this is the reality of what I'm facing.
This is what's hard about it. That's not a complaint.
That's just acknowledging reality. Um, but then also bringing in
how has God met you in that? How has he comforted?
(27:41):
How has he helped you in your physical need? It
reminds me of Second Corinthians one three through five, where
Paul says that God comforts us in our affliction so
that we can then comfort those who are in affliction.
Using the comfort that we ourselves have received from God.
And so there's this affliction, this reality, this honest truth.
(28:03):
This is an affliction. This is hard. But then God
has comforted me. And so let me share with you
what I have learned about him in my specific affliction,
so that you can then be comforted. So a lot
of times you know what you've described. Karen, I can't
imagine that I have not experienced chronic pain. But when
I hear someone like you say, this is really hard,
(28:24):
but here is how God has met me in that thing.
That is a testimony to me that I'm going to
tuck away if I ever have chronic pain, or if
I have ever have any kind of suffering. I can
remember that Karen said God was faithful to her, and
this was specifically how that's a testimony.
S4 (28:43):
One of the things.
S1 (28:44):
Karen in, in this study that Christine has written is
that you you have to release self-sufficiency. And, um, I
don't know if you identify with this or not, but, uh,
I'm one of those kind of people that it's like,
I can do this myself. You know, I, me and
(29:05):
YouTube can fix my car until I can, you know,
if there's some problem that I've got, I want to
pull myself up by my bootstraps. And you come to
the end of that and you say, God, I can't
do this. I can't do this. And really so much
of my life I can't do on my own. But
I think I can, you know, and control little things.
(29:25):
My guess is that God has met you in that self-sufficiency.
Even in your life to say, oh, God, come in here.
Is that true?
S5 (29:36):
Yes. He has. God has been so good.
S1 (29:42):
Well, friend, thank you for calling in here and being
vulnerable with us today. Christine, respond to that self-sufficiency. That's
one of the I don't know if it's a part
of the West or if it's worldwide, but it seems
to be prevalent today, especially with self-help. We want self-help
so that I can do it myself, right?
S2 (30:03):
Yes, it is that cultural air we breathe. And so
a lot of times when we face suffering or we
face weakness, we're not able to have the capacity that
we wish we did. We we feel like something is
wrong with us that we have. We have to overcome that.
We should be ashamed of that. We have to hide
that from other people. And really, the Bible tells us
(30:25):
that those weaknesses are a pathway to knowing and understanding
God and His movement, his power in our life. And
so I think it's this upside down way of looking
at things. It's hard for us as human beings because
we are, in our flesh, so self-sufficient. We think we
are in control. And then God will bring things into
(30:46):
our life that just kill that idea that we can't
we can't do it. And so I think in some
ways it's a gift. And I know that's hard sometimes
to wrap our minds around. I would say what I
went through, what I have been through is, has been
a gift, because I have come to know God in
a way that I wouldn't have known him if we
(31:09):
had not encountered such suffering, and if my idea of
self-sufficiency had not been challenged so severely.
S4 (31:17):
Yes.
S1 (31:18):
More Than Enough is the title of the study by
Christine Hoover, who's joining us today from Austin, Texas. You
can find out more at the website. Chris Fabry, Livorno.
Linda is on the line. Linda, why did you call today?
S6 (31:32):
Hi, Chris. Um, so I've been walking down this path
of getting closer every day with God and, uh, just
very recently, I have a partner, um, that I met
over a year ago, and I just realized as I
read the scripture, as I'm getting closer, um, that I'm
sinning in the eyes of God because I'm not married
(31:55):
to this person, and I'm struggling because, um, I'm actually
on my way to go to confession, but I'm I'm
really struggling with this decision I have to make now
because I didn't realize that although we're both divorced and
we're in our later years, I'm in my 50s. He's
in 60s. is still living together is considered obviously a
(32:20):
sin unless you're married. Now, I do have plans to
marry him, but in the same time, I'm still in
the eyes of God. So I have been struggling with. Yeah, repentance.
And what should I do?
S4 (32:37):
And what does it look like? And it's going.
S1 (32:39):
To be, you know, it's going to have ramifications when
you make the decision about, you know, I can't keep
doing this anymore. You know, I can't do this. That's
going to have big ramifications. And you're, you know, wondering
how he's going to respond. Have you two talked about
this at all?
S6 (32:57):
No, because unfortunately, I just I really confirmed this this
morning that what I thought to be true. And I
wanted to know because again, I'm, I'm, I'm so deep
in my faith right now that it's been something I've
been struggling with just trying to talk to anyone about it.
And this morning I reached out to my local pastor
(33:18):
in email and he confirmed it. My partner just left
today for a week, so I'm going to be having
to battle this decision I need to make without him
being with me to talk it through. And I've got
to figure out, like you said, there are ramifications like,
you know, like. How do I have a relationship with
(33:39):
this person if I can't? Unless we're married and even
in the eyes of God, you know, divorce is a sin.
And I know he's forgiven me for my sins in
the past, and I've let go of that. But how
do I move forward where I'm not sinning in the
eyes of God?
S4 (33:55):
And when you just.
S1 (33:56):
Gave that sigh just now, you just are that to me, Christine,
that's the overwhelming, you know, thing that I'm going through
and that I don't want to be going through. And
yet I see an awful lot of hope and an
awful lot of life because God has pressed his finger
on this nerve of your soul. It's like, this is
(34:18):
not your plan. This is not what you want me
to do. And I want to be faithful to you.
But this is hard. Christine, what do you say?
S2 (34:27):
First of all, I just want to commend you of
your vulnerability to to call on radio and say this.
And two, I want to commend you because what you're
experiencing is godly grief. This is this is the Lord
convicting you. And when God, you're responding to that with obedience.
And I know that that's going to require some hard
(34:47):
decisions for you. But I commend that. And in fact,
in Paul speaks about this in second Corinthians seven. He
talks about godly grief that produces repentance and that the
the outcome of repentance and obedience is joy. And so
there's going to be some hard, hard things coming in
the next few days and decisions, but ultimately walking down
(35:10):
this pathway of godly grief and repentance. It will be
for your joy and God will meet you there. He
will help you in every way. And also makes me
think of Hebrews 12. I would encourage you to go
and read these chapters later, second Corinthians seven and Hebrews 12,
that God does the hard work of convicting us, that
it it doesn't feel good, but in the end it
(35:33):
is for our joy and it is for our good.
And so I would encourage you to continue walking this road,
and I'm so glad you're speaking with your pastor, because
he can help you with this. Um, but, uh, we
I'll be praying for you over the next few days
that God would give you the boldness and courage to
obey him in this.
S4 (35:51):
Yes.
S1 (35:52):
Linda. Um, the main question here that you are really
struggling with is the same question a lot of people
are struggling with. Is God good? Does he have good
for me in mind? With the guidelines that he has
laid out, you know, in Scripture about, following him or
following our own path. Is he really good and does
(36:16):
he have good things in store for you if you
obey him even when it feels bad? Uh, and that's
to me. That's what I'm going to be praying for
you about to be able to do the heart, make
the hard choices to follow him, and then you don't
know what the fruit or the joy is going to
(36:37):
be around the corner of that. But you know that
he has and this is part of the study. You
know that you'll have his presence, that his presence with
you every step of the way, because that's that's one
of the promises that you can hang on to is
his presence with you and the spirit at work inside
(36:58):
of you. Um, go ahead and respond to that, Linda.
S6 (37:02):
Yeah, I know, um, I know that, um, he's there
with me, and he'll be there with me no matter
how hard the road ahead is. And to your point, Christine,
my like the old version of me before I was
born again would be like, I really don't care. I
love this person, I don't, I want to keep doing
(37:23):
what I'm doing. And when I realized this morning that
I was hurting and being disobedient to God, even though
I love this person, I just felt such a tremendous
amount of shame and guilt and even fear about, you know,
not getting into his kingdom.
S2 (37:45):
I would say to you, when we respond in confession
and repentance that God receives, that he receives you and
he offers you forgiveness and grace, and he will help
you to respond in obedience to what he is convicting
you about. That the the Holy Spirit convicts us with Specificity,
(38:09):
meaning he's pointed out this specific sin and he speaks
to us with hope, meaning that he will say, I
first John one nine if you confess your sins, I
will be faithful to cleanse you of your sins, to
forgive you, and to cleanse you. And so it's this forgiveness,
but it's also a change, a transformation. And he leads
the way. And so you can trust that he has
(38:32):
forgiven you, that he's not holding, withholding himself from you,
withholding mercy and grace from you. Uh, and he. But
he will lead you to obedience. And so that's that's
your job now, is to obey him, trusting that he
loves you. He forgives you, and he wants you to.
He's he's inviting you to greater joy by being in
(38:55):
line with his will. So receive that. Receive that grace,
but also obey.
S4 (39:01):
Yeah.
S1 (39:02):
Linda, uh. Hang on. I want Tricia to get your information.
We'll send you something that I think will encourage you.
But I think your call here today is the exact
representation of what we're talking about. And that is what
you're the sin that you've identified and what you want
to do. You can't do on your own. You have
(39:24):
to be empowered by him. So even your call here
today and your desire to follow him, to obey him,
is an empowerment of His Spirit. I would rejoice in that.
We're going to pray for you. Stay with us. This
Chris Fabry live on Moody Radio.
S4 (39:51):
This is Chris.
S1 (39:52):
Fabry live on Moody Radio. We just had Linda call, and, uh,
she's just felt this desire, this nerve that has been
touched that she needs to get her life right And
that godly repentance is here. There's nothing we could plan
for today, but we're rejoicing in it. And so I
(40:13):
just want to pray. Christine Hoover's with me. Father, I
thank you for Linda. I thank you for the way
that she has expressed the vulnerability that she has. And, father,
use her vulnerability, use this thing in her life that
she says, I want to turn from this. I don't
want to do this anymore. Use that in somebody else's
life today. Who is listening? Uh, I just hear deep
(40:37):
grief over her sin and a desire to follow after you.
And you have said, For Paul's thorn, my, your grace
is sufficient. Your grace is sufficient for Paul. Your grace
is sufficient for Linda, for your loving kindness, your mercy.
It's more than enough. It's always available no matter what
(41:00):
the situation. So would you pour out your mercy and
your grace and your loving kindness and your forgiveness and
help Linda. Not only to believe that in her head,
but to receive it in her heart, that what she repents,
of what she gives to you, that you take that
sin and you give her your righteousness. So I pray
(41:23):
for her that that she would believe that be able
to walk in that. And then would you empower her
to make this decision, whatever that means, with her partner
and the ramifications of all of that? It's scary to
even think of. It's scary to think of the conversations,
but I just thank you for her determination to follow
(41:46):
you today. And would you give her the power to
do that? I pray in Jesus name.
S2 (41:52):
Lord, I also pray for Linda. Thank you for that.
We have the gift of repentance that you give us
the opportunity to turn and to follow you when we
have walked in sin. And I thank you that Linda
is choosing that. And she's choosing it in tears, knowing
that there could be heartache for her, maybe some fears
(42:14):
of being alone. I pray that you would meet her
every step of the way and comfort her. Show her
your presence. Show her that you are with her and
give her the boldness to obey. And so would you.
Use the conversation she has with her pastor. Use the
conversation that she has with her partner. I pray for
his salvation, and if he does not know you, that
(42:35):
you would use all of this for for your glory
and for the good of Linda and for her partner,
I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (42:44):
The thief comes to kill, steal, destroy. I've come to
give life and give it abundantly. And that's what Jesus said.
And so you think that life comes from, you know,
this relationship that is outside of God's bounds? What really
abundance comes from following him. You have no idea what
is ahead. After following fully following him. So, Linda, God
(43:09):
bless you. Thank you again for being vulnerable. I this
was on Facebook response. Patrick says 30 years ago I
stood behind doors in the jail cell. I was facing
a life sentence as a habitual offender. Guilty as charged.
Convicted many times before for my crimes. My point system
was so high this would be the end of me
(43:32):
in the free world if found guilty. A jailhouse preacher
came into our pod, headed straight toward my cell. I
literally confessed all that I'd done, going against everything I
was supposed to and not supposed to do. I poured
out my heart to this man. It was truly the
most helpless experience I've ever been involved in as a
young man. And the preacher shared the gospel with me.
(43:54):
Quoted Jeremiah 2911 and James 516. He prayed and then
was on his way. And I went back to my bunk,
sat down and prayed, Lord, if it's your will that
I go to prison for a long length of time,
then I'll follow you there. But if it's not your
will to go for that long, I beg of you,
set me free from this place. Let me be a
(44:15):
father to my daughter, because I don't want her to
grow up fatherless like I did. And I will follow
you out there and never come back to this place.
And he said, a few months later, God delivered me
from that place, and I didn't turn back to those crimes.
And I've been a father to my daughter the whole
time since, and I've gone on to have a son
(44:35):
and now my grandfather, six grandchildren. So he says, I
boast even more in my weaknesses, because in doing so,
I made it strong in Christ. Christine, what do you
say about that?
S2 (44:49):
I say, praise the Lord. That's amazing. That's an amazing story.
And I love that that is available for anyone, anyone,
wherever you are. I love how Paul closes Second Corinthians
where he talks about that wherever we are, whether we
are not saved, we don't know God or whether we
need to grow. We need to repent of sin, that
(45:09):
God is more than enough to help us, to save us,
and to sanctify us, to make us more like him.
S4 (45:16):
Yes.
S1 (45:17):
I've often heard it said, um, oh, if I just
had if I had your kind of faith, you know,
I've had as much faith as you do. God is
not asking you to be strong. He's asking you to
be dependent on him. And there's another caller here we'd
have time for. Who's asking? You know, how do I
overcome the desire to go back to whatever the addiction is?
(45:40):
Might be alcohol or something else? How do I overcome that?
It's not your strength. It's going to deliver you from
that addiction. It's your dependence on him to set you free.
And this study in Second Corinthians. It's all over there.
I can't believe how many things are coming up, how
(46:01):
we're talking about in this hour, Christine, that are are
talked about in Second Corinthians. So I will commend this
to you. If you go to scroll down, you'll see
more than enough God's strength in our weakness in Second Corinthians.
It's a Bible study with video access as well. Just
go to Chris Fabry live. Christine, thanks for sharing your
(46:24):
heart and your life and the story about your son,
and keep doing what you're doing. Friend.
S2 (46:29):
Thank you so much for having me again.
S1 (46:32):
More than enough. God's strength in our weakness in Second
Corinthians is our featured resource at.
S4 (46:37):
Chris.
S1 (46:37):
Fabriclive. Chris Fabriclive. Our program is a production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. Thanks a lot for listening.
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