In this podcast episode, Phil reflects on his experiences in ministry, focusing on the theme of finding strength in weakness. He shares stories of how, when faced with challenges such as getting sick before a trip or needing to pivot during conference sessions, relying on faith and the power of Christ in his weaknesses has allowed him to carry out his ministry effectively. Phil encourages listeners not to wait until they feel ready, but to trust in God’s grace and spiritual gifts, emphasizing that looking upward, not inward, is key to finding strength.
BONUS CONTENT
- Bible Reference: 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 │ Psalm 23 │Matthew 10 │Mark 16:17
- Previous Episode: Episode 49
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Introduction
Well, good day and welcome to the podcast this week. Welcome to coffee with Phil. My name’s Phil and we’re having a chat about Faith made real. How do we make our faith life reality? How do we make it not just a token gesture, not just words on a page, not just a spoken proclamation, but actually lived out. This is faith made real. So, today just grab a coffee. Sit down, have a yarn. Listen to what’s going on as I talk about the subject today, my weakness is what I need. Right.
So, right at the beginning, let me give you some context with this. So, the inspiration for this podcast today actually comes from 2nd Corinthians Chapter 12, and I’ve got some stories I want to tell you on the back of it.
But let’s just put a framework around and let’s put some context around it. Paul writes in his letter 2nd Corinthians Chapter 12. He talks about having this vision and being taken up to heaven and seeing things that were just unimaginable things that cannot be expressed and then he says this. So, 2nd Corinthians 12:5. He says.
“That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I’d be telling the truth. But I won’t do it because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So, to keep me becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.” Three different times, Paul writes “Three different times. I begged the Lord to take it away each time Jesus said my Grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
So, Paul writes. “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 weakness and in the insults and hardships and persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ for when I am weak then I am strong.”
Perhaps that could have also been the title for this podcast. When I am weak then I am strong. Well, what I would say to you and to me is that my weakness is all that I need. Perhaps you could say that to yourself. My weakness is what I need.
As I said to you recently, I don’t know if you listened to podcast 49, I’ve just come back from Indonesia, had a couple of weeks up there on a ministry trip, working with churches, speaking in conferences, and visiting and ministering with leaders and families.
And I’ve got to say to you, when I’m outside the context and the safety of home and what’s familiar here? When I’m outside there, it’s easy to find weaknesses, so it’s easy to find circumstances beyond capacity or control. And I’ll give you some examples of that today.
And so, it’s easy to understand that. But then I was thinking about it as I scratched out some notes this morning, and I’m thinking often at home, I find myself in a position of weakness, often at home, I find myself completely outside of my comfort or my depth, or even my preparation. And you know, you might, if you’re someone that attends our church and you come along perhaps on a Sunday or you come to an evening meeting and you’re watching me lead. And you might think “ohh. You know, look. He’s got it together.” Please don’t make that assumption. Please don’t think that that’s always the case because very often. The Lord takes me to a place where he absolutely wants me to depend on him, and I want to speak about that too.
Disclaimer
Right. Now, right at the beginning I do have a caveat, a disclaimer. And you should go back and listen to the words of Paul. I want to say like Paul. I boast in my weakness so that the honour and thanks be given to God, he says. I want to boast I wouldn’t be a fool, but I don’t want people to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life. Or hear in my message. It’s Jesus that is the perfection in our weakness and that’s why we would need weakness is so that we Can find his Perfection.
So, I’m not sharing you these stories for you to go. “Wow, look how amazing he is.” I want you to hear these stories. See what I do and go. “Wow, thanks be to God, Jesus is involved.” And what’s happening here? So that’s awesome. Alright.
So, I just want to get that out of the way, and I want to transition and tell you some stories. Just a side note though, you know we call this… You might experience coffee with Phil. You know I love my coffee, I’m a bit of a snob. I roast beans at home and the best coffee in the world is in fact found at my place. Freshly roasted beans in your cup as your pleasure. I’m pleased to report, for those of you that care about me enough to worry when I travel.
I’m pleased to report that in the town I spent a lot of time in I have now got 5 local coffee spots. It used to be none there. When I first started going there in 2015. It was just… I used to buy these coffee lollies because they were kind of like all I could get that was palette Table the first time I drank a local coffee, as they call it, I didn’t realise they made it with sludge, and they left the sludge in the. Cup so as I do at home, I sort of… Well, I worked my way through it. It wasn’t so enjoyable, but I got to the end. And as I do at home, I just slugged the end of it. And of course, I filled my mouth with sludge, and it was all over my teeth. And the guy I was travelling with just laughed at me and said, “oh oops, I forgot to tell you, don’t drink the bottom of the cup.” And I’m pleased to say I’ve learned my lesson.
But the good news is the local coffee shops. There’s two roasteries, local roasteries that I can visit, roasting their beans and you can be pleased to know that your prayers for me are helpful and along the way we have also found some coffee. Not the point of what I’m saying. Let’s get into this.
The Time It Hit Me Before I Left Home
Look, my weakness is what I need. I recently had this trip to Indonesia, and I wanted to prepare myself, you know, obviously I’ve got a lot to do at home. I’ve got things going on and often I work like a nutter to the point I get on the plane. And then when I get on the plane, I think well now I need to get myself ready for the trip. Well, I tried to change that this year. I dialled back some of my commitments. I put aside time for preparation. I had two different conferences I was speaking at many different churches. And I just wanted to have myself ready.
But do you know what happened? This time, before I left home. I got sick. It was like 2 days before we left. We had a whole bunch of stuff going on. Kathy had some minor surgery, a surgical procedure, which was like last minute and I was like, worried about… (well I was not worried about the procedure.) I was worried about her travelling with me. And then she was in hospital overnight, and I was at home trying to get ready for the trip. And I got sick, and it hit me. The stomach bug and I was crook man. And I was like ohh now I’ve got to sit on the plane for 12 hours. I’ve got to minister, the moment I get there. And I said, well, nothing you can do about it, you just got to go.
Now it’s usual when you’re travelling in a third world country to get sick. When you’re there, you know, sometimes the water’s not right. Sometimes the food’s just a bit off. Something’s going on. And so, it’s not uncommon that you just suck it up and you deal with it when you are on the trip. But this time it hit me before I went and so I got there and I was feeling dodgy ears and, you know, some nights I was in bed, like, at 5:30, just trying to sleep it off.
And then I’d get up and it’s hot. You’d dress up and you’d go to the pastors meeting, or you’d go to the church service or, you know, you’d get to the conference. And you’re like, man, “ohh I hope I make it through this”.
And so, we’ve got the prayer team covering. Thank you for your prayers. Those that prayed for me. But here’s the thing. Not once in the conference session did, I have this pang twinge in my gut and a need to depart the room urgently. Not once. You know I was able to eat with the pastors and share fellowship. I was able to sit with them and pray with them. I was able to work through meetings that we had with the leadership team, and I was able to, you know, do quite a few sessions. Well, all the sessions basically of the conference, both conferences. Still feeling crook and I was taking drugs for it’s a medication that you can get.
And I was being careful about what I ate and what I drank. Trying not to irritate it, but praise be to God in the midst of feeling like that. Cause you’re drained and you’re tired and you can’t think. And wait to hear the next thing that I’m going to share with you.
But you know it happened before I got home. I carried it all the way through, and I didn’t tell them. I was like, you know what? We’re not going to tell the prayer team. Kathy and I can walk through this together, and I’m not going to let them know that I’m not well. And we got out the other side of the conference and we’re travelling up the road to visit some folks and Kathy wasn’t well by this stage. She had something that she’d eaten, and it set her real crook.
And she told the translator we’re with because we just needed some support to make sure that we could find the right Relief stop if we needed It. and the translator said this, she says. “Isn’t it a blessing that Pastor Phil didn’t get sick? Maybe he’s got a very strong stomach.”
And I said to her. “Hey, you don’t know this, but for the 1st 10 days I was here, I was very, very, very sick.” and she just looked at me and she said, “why did you not tell me?” And I said to her. “In my weakness, I’m made strong.” You know what. Praise be to God for the way that he carries us through our challenges.
What About When Preparation Gets Put to One Side?
The second situation I wanted to tell you about was, you know, related to the conferences and all the preparation that I’d done, and I’d really tried to be diligent, you know, and seeking the Lord in prayer. And what’s the theme for the conference? And I met with one of the other speakers and we talked about it. “OK, what are we going to do? What do we think God wants to do through us at this conference. And put some preparation into it.” We’d made a plan, I’d mapped it out, I’d prepared notes, and you know, as I travel and if you follow me on social, you might see photos of me I was in Starbucks in Jakarta, which thankfully was only a 5-minute walk from my hotel. And it was air conditioned.
So, the first morning that we were there, Kathy and I just went down, we sat in Starbucks, which was nice and cool, and you can get an average coffee and some refreshments. We just sat there in a near Bible open and I’m preparing. I’ve got worship music playing on my air pods. And I’m just preparing my heart. And then you know what happens? Several times I get to the conference session, and I know what I’m doing, and I’ve even told my translator what we’re doing. In some cases, she’s read some of my notes.
And the Holy Spirit hits me and he says what you’ve done is great, but it’s not what we need in this moment. And just pivots and I say this, you know, with, all humility. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for coming through. You know, you stand, you know, you’ve travelled halfway around the world. Not quite, but you’ve travelled a long way.
These people have travelled a long way to hear you and you know I hate being in the room where I can tell the speakers not prepared because they’re waffling or they’ve got no direction or they go no God’s told me to change and I was like, really, or are you using that as an excuse for your lack of preparation? I genuinely tell you I had all my notes prepared. I had all the sessions mapped out.
I knew what I was doing in advance and several times the Lord said to me, this is what they need in this moment, and I was reminded of the verse, you know, where Jesus was tired, he was worn out, he was trying to hide, and the people brought the sick. The people came to listen to him. The people came to sit at his feet and. The scripture says he saw them. And he had compassion on them. And I truly tell you that’s what it was like, you know, just standing in front of this audience and the Holy Spirit saying I want you to pivot. I want you to move here and I want you to speak on the subject or, this Psalm or this passage. And I look at people and I just feel God’s heart for them.
And so, when Jesus says to us, “my Grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness.” I truly can boast in my weakness, you know, I’m not that clever. I’m not that smart. But just some of the stuff that God did through the sessions.
And there was one Sunday morning, I was preaching out of Psalm 23, cause the Lord said to me at breakfast I’d received a message from someone. It was a changing moment… A game changer for me, and I just felt like what I prepared was good and relevant. But the Lord said. “They need a shepherd. They need to understand the Lord as their shepherd,” and of course, that’s the beginning Of Psalm 23.
So, I sort of walked into the church to preach out of Psalm 23 and I stood before them, and I just felt that compassion that Jesus has when he stood before the crowd and I and I thought to Myself. “Well, Lord. You’ve got to come through here. Your Grace is what I need, and your power is best in my weakness. For when I’m weak, then I’m strong.”
Can I Really Heal Someone?
In another scenario, you know we’re in several situations with sick or the broken and depressed, oppressed people, prayer ministry. And I stand there, and I think to myself, you know what, there’s actually physically no way I can fix or heal this person. And because it’s true, I’m not a doctor. I’m not Jesus. And I do believe in the healing power of Jesus. And then and then I’ve really been challenged on that because Jesus says, well, I’m not there I sent you.
And I’m like God, I’m not qualified to do this. I’m not qualified to do this. He goes. “No, you’re not. Except for the fact that I sent you.” And I was referred back to Matthew 10.
So, this is just me sharing my personal encouragement, but I hope it encourages you. As well, I sit back to Matthew 10. Jesus called Thomas disciples. It says in verse one and he gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. Matthew 10, verse one right there. God gave authority to cast out devils and to heal disease. And it says they went out and Jesus said to them go saying this, the Kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, he says, raise the dead cleanse lepers and cast out demons.
And so there is no way that I can heal them except by the authority and the Commission of Jesus. To go and also you know we I recently preached out of Mark 16. And this is the Great Commission at the end of the Book of Mark, Jesus says to his disciples go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone. Anyone who believes and is Baptised will be saved. And then it says this in verse 17. “These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe so anyone who believes and is Baptised will be saved”.
And these miraculous signs will accompany those who believe. So, Jesus sent the apostles, the original apostles. He then commissions all of us, by saying when you believe these miraculous signs will accompany you, you’ll cast out demons. They’ll speak in your language, they’ll handle snakes. It won’t hurt them. They’ll place their hands on the sick and they will be healed.
Relying On Spiritual Giftings
So come on. There’s no way that I can actually heal someone except by the grace of Jesus working through me. And Jesus says, my grace is all you need. The next example. Because this is #4, I suppose relying on spiritual gifts means denying personal strength, relying on spiritual gifts means denying peace or strength, so therefore, first and foremost, you must know What your spiritual Gifts are.
You must know what you’re flowing in by the spirit because the spirit has given you the gift and he’s given you the gift for the purpose of ministering to others. So, the responsibility on all of us is to know what our spiritual gifts are, and then rely on them. But I would say this to you that relying on spiritual gifts means denying personal strength. It wasn’t this most recent trip. I travelled years ago with my mate, Phil. He was with me, and I got to the end of the conference, and I turned up to the conference and some others had cancelled. And so, I was the only speaker at the conference.
And when the Western is there, when the white face is there, the bule they call him. When bule is there. They want you because they don’t want their usual pastor, I suppose.
And so, I’ve done a three-day conference by myself, and I was shot. I was drained. I had nothing left. We’d also been on the road. And you know, we’d been out at night doing a crusade, which is kind of like a healing power meeting that they do in towns and villages and churches we’d done that. And got back late. We got back really late.
So, I had done this conference done these meetings and then they said to me they dropped us off at the hotel and they said OK tomorrow morning. We will go to the prison, and we’ll pick you up at 8:00. And I looked at them and I thought, ohh my gosh, you’re joking me.
And sure enough, they picked us up at 8:00 and we stopped at the local supermarket, the Indo Mart. And Red Bull and chocolate biscuits for breakfast. And my translator. Looked at me like ohh. And then she Said pastor Phil What will you speak on today? And I said, I don’t know I said give me half an hour and then I’ll talk to you. And so, we went and had a great time. We got to the end of this trip.
And so, I’m absolutely knackered, right. I’ve just given everything, and I don’t know where… Clearly my brain wasn’t engaged because I said to the local leaders, I said to a host I said. “Hey, before I go, I’d really like to bless the Bible school students and I said, let’s pray and prophecy over the students.” I remember saying it. I remember thinking, what are you doing? And then that was it.
So, we check out of our hotel on the last day, and they bring us back to the house and we have a cup of tea sitting around the table. There’s a beautiful location where you can look over the lake, trees and birds and hopefully you’ve got a cool breeze. But not always, but it’s lovely. We’ve had many, many, many meals at this table and sung songs and prayed and had some very interesting meetings. We’ll sit at the table and they said. “OK, you say you want to pray, we bring them now.”
And 26 people arrive; young people, couples, kids, we really found them because there’s really not that many people in the Bible School you know, and I thought, wow. And you know what happened? And I’m going to use specific language here, the spirit of prophecy turned up and just flowed and there. Were some very. Very powerful prophetic words. And there were words of knowledge that were given, spoken to people, situations that made the eyes just go large like dinner plates. They’re like, how did you know that?
And I don’t know anything. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you under the gift of prophecy, and we went on for an hour. And my head was thumping, and I was aching in my neck and shoulders. And they just lined them up one after the other. And I just got to say that relying on spiritual gifts means denying our personal strength. And you know that I will always give thanks to God for that time because I got to be part of it. And I got a front row seat through my bleary eyes to watch the Holy Spirit work and Minister in people’s lives and it was so awesome.
And you know, so this is why I actually say from experience my weakness is what I need. Because if I’d been fighting fit and chirpy, I would have relied on my strength. And not the gift of prophecy. So those four situations, you know, I got sick before I left home. You do all the preparation and the Holy Spirit pivots you. You can’t heal someone, yet you have to heal someone and then not relying on your own strength but relying on the gifts.
These are the things that demonstrate my weakness is what I need. So, as I land this session, I suppose I want to ask the question, what’s the takeaway from this for us all as we enjoy our coffee together as we sit to make our lives a life of purpose on purpose as we want our faith made real? We need to understand what’s the takeaway here. And I’ve got three things I’d like to say as I close.
#1. Firstly, waiting until you’re ready. There’s a mistake. Often the Lord calls you into a place where you’re not ready, and yet he is ready to work through you and you know I as a leader, one of my responsibilities is to help people into their opportunities, to help doors open, to lead people into their calling, to encourage them and their giftings.
But you know, like lots of times, I got to say to you, I’ve had these conversations with people, and they just said, oh, I’m not ready. I’m not moving. And I know from experience that waiting until you’re ready is a mistake. Don’t wait. Trust God and take the first step. Sometimes quite often he doesn’t move until you take the first step.
The second thing that I’d say is a takeaway from this… And remember my weakness is what I need. That’s what you need to be thinking. Only saying yes when you feel like it. Well, that’s also a mistake. That’s a huge mistake. You know, when I go to Indonesia, I can’t rely on my feelings because half the time I feel like rubbish. I’m tired or I’ve got jet lag or I’m uncomfortable or, you know, I’m sitting in this church the other night and I’m in the front row because I’m the guest speaker and the loudspeakers are right next to Kathy and they are so loud that my eardrums are pulsating to the point where I think they’re… Kathy’s got her noise cancelling Air pods in under her hair because she’s trying to mask the severity of the noise, and I don’t feel like it. I don’t feel comfortable.
And then at the end of the worship, they invite you up and you’ve got to preach and minister and be a blessing that God’s called you to be. I can’t just say yes when I feel like it and I’d Say it to you, get over your feelings, push them aside and say Jesus, and your strength My weakness will be made perfect.
And finally, you know this relates to our looking inward again looking inward instead of upward will only delay the strength that is necessary looking inward instead of upward will only delay the strength that is necessary and it’s not your strength, you know. Jesus said to Paul, and he says it to us. Jesus says. “My Grace is all you need. My Grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness,” says Jesus.
So don’t look inward don’t, you find it inward. Look upward when you cast your eyes upward. When you look for Jesus, I mean, this is what I’m doing. I’m getting up to preach, whether it’s overseas or at home, I’m getting up to preach. I’m stepping in front of a crowd, or I’m going into a one-on-one ministry opportunity. And I’m saying I’ve got to look upward. I’ve got to look upward to find the strength and the3psalm grace that is perfect in this situation because it isn’t me.
Hey, I hope this has challenged you. It’s really challenging to me too, you know. By the way, as I reflect on these things, I give thanks to God, I don’t not boast in my weakness so that I get the praise I boast in my weakness so that the honour and the thanks be given to God. And I hope that you would contemplate these things deeply to find your strength and what Jesus has prepared for you. His grace is all you need.
So, May God richly bless you. May have a fantastic week, and I’ll look forward to hanging out with you real real soon. Take care.