Introduction:
Kyle Maynard was born March 24, 1986 with a condition known as congenital amputation that has left him with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end near his knees. His story begins as an 11-year-old that wanted to wrestle and a coach that gave him an opportunity to try. After losing every single match his first and second year, Maynard, with his iron will and a coach with a heart of gold became a very successful varsity wrestler on one of the best teams in the Southeast. In spite of his limitations, Maynard found a way to win 36 varsity matches his senior year, while defeating several state place finishers and state champions during his final season.
But Maynard's accomplishments extend far beyond the wrestling mat. With basically two elbows he can type up to fifty words per minute, eat and write without any adaptations, and drive a vehicle that has little modification. Maynard began weight training as a youngster and with leather straps and chains attached to his arms he lifted over 400 lbs. In November 2003, he attained the unofficial title of the World's Strongest Teen at the GNC Show-of-Strength by butterfly pressing 23 repetitions of 240 lbs. In 2005, he set the World Record in the modified bench press at the Arnold Fitness Classic with the bench of 360 lbs. In February of 2009 he successfully benched 420 lbs.
Maynard is the 2004 ESPY Award Winner (Best Athlete with a Disability), and was included in ESPN The Magazine, ESPN 100 - the single list that ranks the top 100 sports personalities, moments, trends, games and stories that mattered in 2004. He is the recipient of the 2004 Presidents Award for the Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. One year later, Maynard was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with the Medal of Courage. In 2007, he was elected by the U.S. Jaycees as one of the Top Ten Outstanding Young Americans. In 2008, Maynard received the Highest Recognition Award of the Secretary of Health and Human Services because of his efforts as a life role model, motivational speaker and humanitarian.
Maynard is a Level 1 Certified Fitness Instructor and has always had a passion for helping people reach their fitness goals. In 2008, Maynard saw one of his most fervent dreams become a reality when he built his first fitness center where he endeavors to motivate people to better their lives on a daily basis. He also wrote the book entitled “No Excuses” to encourage and inspire others to allow God to use them in spite of their weaknesses, handicaps, and struggles in life. On April 25th of 2009, Kyle became the first quadruple amputee to step into the cage and compete as an amateur no-holds-barred fighter.
Questions:
Do you ever wonder if God can use you in spite of your weaknesses? Do you sometimes feel that you are worthless and you are not able to do something great because you have too many failures, problems, and struggles? Have you ever doubted your true potential and believed that you will never amount to anything good?
All of us have handicaps. Whether emotionally, spiritually, financially, or physically, our handicaps, weaknesses, wounds, problems, and pains are there for a reason --- but it does not mean that God cannot use us anymore. In fact, God is in the business of using weak, broken, imperfect, wounded, struggling, and make us into people who can do great things.
Message Title: God Uses Weak People
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:26-30 NIV
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
Do you ever wonder if God can use you in spite of your weaknesses? Well, I have good news for you. If you have weaknesses, God will use you. God chooses to use the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chooses to use the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
The point of the Christian life is not what I can do for God; the point of the Christian life is what God can do in and through me. It does not matter how weak or limited or imperfect you are… what matters is who is using you, holding you, and empowering you…
When I hold a basketball in my hands, it’s merely a basketball, but when you place that same basketball in the hands of Michael Jordan, it turns into professional championships. Put a golf club in any of our hands, and it’s merely a golf club, but when you place that same golf club in the hands of Tiger Woods, it turns him into the best golfer in the world. A paintbrush in my hands might result in a pretty good picture if it’s paint by numbers, but when a paintbrush was placed in the hands of Picasso or Van Gogh, it turned into incredible works of art. A gun placed in the hands of a hunter is a tool used for sport or obtaining food, but when placed in the hands of a terrorist, that same gun becomes a weapon of destruction. How is it that the same instruments and the same tools can bring about such differing degrees of results? Quite simply, it depends upon who is holding them and how they’re being used.
God will use you not because you can make yourself great… but because God can make you great.
Illustration: Resumes of the Twelve Disciples
TO: Jesus, Son of Joseph
COMPANY: The Woodcrafter’s Carpenter Shop, Nazareth
FROM: Jordan Management Consultants, Jerusalem
SUBJECT: Management Report
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization.
All of them have now taken our battery of tests, and we have not only run the results through our computers, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.
It is the opinion of the staff that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking.
They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capacity.
We have summarized the findings of our study below:
Simon Peter is emotional, unstable and given to fits of temper.
Andrew has absolutely no quality of leadership.
The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interests above Company loyalty.
Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.
We believe it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau.
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus definitely have radical leanings. Additionally, they both registered high scores on the manic depressive scale.
However, one of the candidates shows great potential. He’s a man of ability and resourcefulness; he is a great networker; has a keen business mind; and has strong contacts in influential circles. He’s highly motivated, very ambitious and adept with financial matters. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your Controller and Chief Operating Officer.
All the other profiles are self-explanatory. We wish you the utmost success in your new venture.
Author Unknown
Big Idea: God Does Not Call the Qualified, God Qualifies the Called
The twelve disciples were all just men and there was nothing special about them before Jesus called them. It is true that God made them who they were and He purposed that they would be the disciples of Jesus Christ. However, besides that they were people like you and I. They had fears, concerns, misunderstandings, and all of the other things that we humans share.
Many people think that they have to get their lives right before God would love them, use them, or even save them. Many believe that God is looking for special people in order to use for service. However, that such is not the case. If God wants to use you then He will make you a special person and He will qualify you for the job Himself.
God is not waiting for you to change so that he can use you, but rather you change as a result of God using you. The disciples were ordinary people. Jesus called ordinary people to extraordinary things.
The first thing Jesus did was to call ordinary people to be with him. This means that Jesus first wanted to train these men so that they would be able to do what they were called to do.
It is wrong to get our own lives "right" or to a certain point before we think that God would use us. We think that we can change our own lives for the better so that God would call us to service. The bottom line is that we cannot change our own lives so that it is acceptable to God. We are incapable of changing ourselves so that God is pleased with us and calls us.
What we see here is that Jesus called these men in the condition that they were in. However, he first called them to be with him. He called them and then trained them to do the job. Imagine if someone from a large company called you on the phone and asked you to work for them. However, you were asked to work in an area that you have absolutely no experience or knowledge. You might think that is strange because typically we get the education before we are qualified for a particular job. Jesus called the disciples before they were really qualified to do the work.
Text: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV
To keep me from becoming conceited… there was given me a thorn in my flesh… to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Point One: Weakness Develops Our Humility
2 Cor 12:7 NLT
“So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh…”
We do not know what this thorn was, but the best suggestion is an eye ailment. Paul was supernaturally blinded when converted (Acts 9:9), and it is possible that some weakness remained even in later years. This would have been a trial to Paul both physically and emotionally, and could honestly be called a thorn (stake) in the flesh. Whatever the thorn was, it was a burden to him, and it brought pain. He asked to have it removed.
Countless explanations concerning the nature of his thorn in the flesh have been offered. They range from incessant temptation, dogged opponents, chronic maladies (such as ophthalmia, malaria, migraine headaches, and epilepsy), to a disability in speech. No one can say for sure what his was, but it probably was a physical affliction. It is understandable that Paul would consider this thorn a hindrance to wider or more effective ministry (cf. Gal 4:14-16) and that he would repeatedly petition God for its removal (2 Cor 12:8).
The presence of this thorn was proof of his heavenly experience related in (vv. 1-7; for God gave him the thorn (what a gift!) to keep him from getting proud. The enemies at Corinth had been accusing Paul of being weak (see 10:1 and 10; 11:6 and 29), and now he admits that he was weak, but that his weakness was a gift from God. The very weakness they accused him of was actually an argument for his apostolic authority!
Illustration: Jesus Used a Donkey to Enter Jerusalem (Matthew 21)
The text couldn’t have said a donkey. Jesus could have chosen a white stallion, even a Camel maybe… but not a donkey. Can you imagine President Aquino attending a meeting with the Makati Business Club riding on a tricycle?
It’s pretty amazing don’t you think? The first truly public acknowledgment of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and he comes, as predicted in a way that seems, frankly, a little bit silly.
God had chosen to fulfill his plan riding upon a donkey. What is the meaning of it?
If God can use a stinky little donkey in the triumphant fulfillment of his plan then just maybe he’s got a plan for me too. How does a donkey become fit for the service of the King of Kings and How can we be made useful for him too?
Big Idea: God Does Not Call the Qualified, God Qualifies the Called
You know donkeys really aren’t all that great. They’re stubborn, they’re smelly, they’re small, not really able to do that much. But Jesus used a donkey in his most triumphant public moment here on earth. He could have chosen a a white stallion outfitted for battle as he’s portrayed in the book of revelation. He could have chosen a camel decked out in sumptuous velvets. But he chose a donkey.
You may not be a white stallion, or even an old gray mare. You may have never really thought of yourself as a part of God’s grand plan, but the Bible says that’s exactly what you are.
Point Two: Weakness Displays God’s Power
2 Cor 12:8-10 NLT
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The lesson that pervades this letter: divine power (My power, v. 8; Christ's power, v. 9) is best displayed against the backdrop of human weaknesses (cf. 4:7) so that God alone is praised (10:17).
Illustration: The Little Boy’s Fish and the Loaves (John 6:1-13)
The scene is a grassy meadow near Bethsaida Julias across the Sea of Galilee from Capernaum. Jesus has been preaching and healing the sick much of the day. He has retreated in order to get some rest and recharge his batteries, but when he looks up, the crowd has followed him. He turns to Philip, because this is Philip’s old stomping grounds, “Where can we buy bread for these people?” Somewhat quizzically, Philip replies, “Don’t you understand that it would take more than 6 months’ wages to buy bread for all these people.” He knew that Jesus was kind and thoughtful, but even for Jesus, this was out there. All of a sudden Andrew shows up, “Hey guys, there’s a little boy here who has 5 barley loaves and two fish.”
I’ve often wondered what it must’ve been like to be that little boy? When he got up that morning, he was probably planning to spend the day fishing or playing with his friends. As he’s on his way out the door, his mother hollers to him, “Did you pack a lunch?” “Aaawww, Mom.” “Get back in here right now, young man. You know you can’t be out all day and not have anything with you to eat. You just sit right there while I make you some lunch.” She pulls out the little lunch basket, and prepares him a lunch of five loaves and two fish.
Now, these loaves of bread were not your top of the line sour dough loaves of bread. They were barley loaves, which was the cheapest of all breads; and his fish wasn’t salmon or tuna, it was pickled sardines. This kid leaves the house muttering to himself, because all his friends are going to make fun of him when they see that his mother made him bring his lunch.
On his way to meet his buddies, he sees this large crowd gathering, and he asks, “What’s going on?” “See that guy up there? That’s Jesus of Nazareth. He is an incredible teacher, and he can heal people. We all want to hear him preach and see him heal people.”
Intrigued, the young boy forgets about meeting up with his friends, and he begins to listen to Jesus preach. He becomes enthralled with his teachings about the kingdom of God and love and forgiveness, and he can hardly contain himself as Jesus makes the blind see and enables the lame to walk. He ends up spending the whole day listening to Jesus, and when Jesus retreats, he joins the crowd and follows him.
It’s getting late in the day, and as they stand in a large group in front of Jesus, the disciples start walking through the crowd. The boy feels a tug on his arm and turns around to hear Andrew ask him, “What is it that you have there?” “Oh, nothing.” “Come here, let me see,” and Andrew grabs the boy’s pail. After looking inside, he says, “Come with me.”
The little boy can hardly contain himself as he walks with Andrew to the very front of the crowd where Jesus is sitting. He’s excited yet shy as Andrew says, “Jesus, this young boy has 5 barley loaves and two fish.” The boy watches in amazement as Jesus takes his lunch- his stinky, old, unappreciated barley loaves and sardines- and turns it into lunch for 5,000 people. He can hardly wait to get home and tell his mother what happened.
What did happen? Besides it being a miracle, what’s the significance of Jesus taking 5 barley loaves and two fish and feeding 5,000 people? The significance is that it illustrates for us what can happen when we place ourselves in the hands of God.
First of all, don’t think what you have is insignificant or can’t be used! Too often we think, “I’m too young, there’s nothing God can do with me.” Wrong…you’d be amazed how many people have come to visit and join our church because a classmate at school or a seatmate on the bus invited them to Chestnut Grove, which introduced them to this church and a renewed relationship with God.
You also can’t say, “I’m too old.” Now I’m not going to divulge anyone’s age, but Allen Butler and Alyss Gentry aren’t teenagers, yet they stepped forward to say, “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and I’m going to place my life in his hands.” You’re never to old to place it in God’s hands.
You also can’t say, “Well I don’t have anything to offer,” or “What I’ve got isn’t very much.” Baloney…as we considered the story of David last week, we saw that all he had was some courage combined with a sling and five smooth stones. You, too have something to offer. You may not think so, but you do.
This boy had a meager lunch…5 barley loaves and two sardines. That’s not even potluck material around here, yet he was willing to place it in the hands of God. He said, “Here, take it and use it.”
I remember when I was struggling with my call to ministry. Some of my thoughts were, “God, are you sure you mean me? Are you sure you didn’t miss the mark and intend to tap someone else on the shoulder?” The truth is, we all fall short of the glory of God, and we walk humbly by his grace, for God does not call those who feel equipped, he equips those He calls.
God didn’t expect that boy to have enough to feed the 5,000. He only expected the boy to place it in his hands, and leave the rest up to God.
This applies to all aspects of our lives. Not only does God want you to place your gifts and energy and talent in his hands, he wants you to place your pain as well. Many times we cling to our grief, we cling to our bitterness, and we cling to our anger in such a way that we cripple ourselves. Just as God wants to take the offering of our barley loaves and fish and multiply it, he also wants to take what’s eating away at our souls, robbing us of the joy in our lives, and do away with it… when you place your life, including your pain, in the hands of God, he will also turn it into something beautiful and great.
After you place it in the hands of God, expect something wonderful. When you give God your barley loaves and sardines, expect something wonderful. When you give God your pain, expect something wonderful.
Big Idea: God Does Not Call the Qualified, God Qualifies the Called
Point Three: Weakness Demonstrates the Sufficiency of Grace
2 Cor 12:8-10 NLT
Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles... For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Rather than removing the problem, God gave him grace in it. This grace is sufficient. God's grace transformed Paul's perspective. Experiences in his ministry he would naturally abhor, he could welcome supernaturally because the evidence of Christ's power in the midst of them brought glory to Him, not Paul. When Paul came to the end of himself, Christ alone was seen. When he was weak, then Christ, by His strength, could make Paul spiritually strong.
Big Idea: God Does Not Call the Qualified, God Qualifies the Called
The entire Bible is filled with stories of people who experienced the grace of God in their lives… amidst their weaknesses, failures, pain, struggles, and imperfections…
Abraham experienced the sufficiency of God’s grace when he was tested at Mount Moriah and when he lied about his wife Sarah; Noah had his doubts about the ark and the flood; Moses was a murderer and had many excuses when God called him to lead the people out of Egypt; Jacob deceived his father and brother yet God still called him to become Israel; Judah betrayed his own brother and also hired a prostitute; David committed deception, murder and adultery; Jonah was a disobedient servant; Solomon compromised his faith; Samson was a womanizer and a sex addict; Peter denied Jesus three times; Thomas doubted; and Paul was a murderer and an enemy of the Church….
God uses weak people! Do you ever wonder if God can use you in spite of your weaknesses? Do you sometimes feel that you are worthless and you are not able to do something great because you have too many failures, problems, and struggles? Have you ever doubted your true potential and believed that you will never amount to anything good?
All of us have handicaps. Whether emotionally, spiritually, financially, or physically, our handicaps, weaknesses, wounds, problems, and pains are there for a reason --- but it does not mean that God cannot use us anymore. In fact, God is in the business of using weak, broken, imperfect, wounded, struggling, and make us into people who can do great things.
Summary:
• Weakness Develops Our Humility
• Weakness Displays God’s Power
• Weakness Demonstrates the Sufficiency of Grace
