God Uses Weak People
Pastor Rick Warren · Mar 1, 2019
Pastor Rick Warren shares about his neurological disorder that makes public speaking excruciating, yet he continues because God has called him to it. The message challenges pastors and church leaders to recognize, share, and glory in their weaknesses, because it is through weakness that God's power is most clearly displayed.
Pastor Rick Warren opens the sermon by revealing a deeply personal secret: he was born with a neurological disorder that causes his brain to overreact to adrenaline, producing dizziness, blurred vision, severe headaches, and irrational panic every time he speaks publicly. Despite consulting top neurologists and praying daily for 25 years, God has not healed him. Yet he continues preaching because he is convinced it is God's calling on his life.
The sermon builds its theological foundation from 2 Corinthians 4, the image of treasure held in common clay pots, to explain why God intentionally chooses weak people. Warren identifies four benefits of weakness: it creates dependence on God, prevents pride, fosters mutual dependence within community, and expands one's capacity to minister to others. He draws on biblical figures including Moses, Gideon, Peter, David, and Abraham to illustrate that God consistently takes a person's greatest weakness and transforms it into their greatest strength.
Warren shares additional painful personal experiences, including a marriage that nearly collapsed in its first year, emotional burnout and depression after Saddleback's founding year, and a failed real estate deal that cost the church $100,000. He argues that honesty about these weaknesses built genuine trust and credibility with his congregation far more effectively than any display of strength or competence could have.
The practical application section outlines five areas in which leaders must learn to be transparent with their congregations: failures, feelings, faults, frustrations, and fears. Warren contends that vulnerability does not diminish a leader's authority but rather deepens influence and authentic connection with people. He draws on Paul's example in 1 Corinthians 2:3 and 2 Corinthians 12 to show that glorying in weakness is not false humility but the very pathway to experiencing Christ's power.
The sermon closes with a corporate prayer inviting leaders to surrender their weaknesses to God, asking Him to turn thorns into triumphs and to use ordinary, broken people for His glory. The central refrain throughout is: if God is ever going to use you greatly, you will walk with a limp the rest of your life.