Message: “What Are You Boasting About?” from Dr. Rick Mandl

Devotional Manuscript: What Are You Boasting About?
Message By: Dr. Rick Mandl, January 12, 2021, Eagle Rock Baptist Church
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

Hey church family. Here’s a question for you to ponder. And my question is . . . “What are you boasting about?” Not sure??? Well check your social media feeds, and it might give you some ideas.

One person who wouldn’t have had a hard time answering that question was the Apostle Paul. Paul knew what he boasted about, and what makes that even more remarkable is that he lived in a time before social media. When it came to boasting, here’s what Paul said. . . . At the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 11 Paul said, "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness" (v 30).

If you take time to read Second Corinthians chapter eleven, you will find the things that the Apostle Paul decided to boast about were things like… The fact that he had been in prison more times… The fact that he had been been beaten more times… The fact that he had been been closer to death from being beaten by his own countrymen and foreign occupiers... The fact that he had been been shipwrecked, spent a day and night floating in the open sea... The fact that he had faced dangers of every kind, and has been thirsty and hungry not knowing where the food and water would come from. These are the things that the Apostle Paul boasted about . . .

You read on into 2 Corinthians 12 and you’ll see Paul talking about THIS THING - - - and we don’t know what it was - - but he referred to it as “a thorn in the flesh.” It could have been a physical ailment - - It could have been something else. Whatever it was, he said, he prayed three times that God would remove it - - He writes. . .  (2 Corinthians 12:8-10) “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time GOD said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.'”

Paul follows that up by saying . . . 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.” If you look at your life . . . And you don’t feel like you see much that you can boast about . . . Let me encourage you to look at it through the lens that the Apostle Paul used when he looked at his. . . Every place where you see weakness. . . Realize that, that is a place where God has the opportunity to demonstrate his strength.

Not all boasting is necessarily bad. It’s all about what we’re boasting in. 2 Corinthians 10:17 tells us. . . “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” My prayer is that HE would be our reason for boasting - - - AMEN

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

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