Putting Down Roots: Week 2

Good morning, church. Good well, it's a good morning church. Well,

it is so good to be back home with you this morning, on

this the last day of April, and just being able to celebrate in community.

I often say, you know, we attend online, and family is

watching this morning online, and some friends are tuning in as well online and

all of our online family. It's good to know that you're there and tuning

in. So much has been happening here at Church at the Crossing. So

many good things have been happening as this year launched out, and Pastor just

kind of shared with us about the vision for the church that we want to

become a better church, not so much a bigger church, but a better

church serving all the needs of the congregation and this community, whether they're here

locally or online, that we're making sure that we are giving the best services

possible. And so with that happening has not just been blessing us being better,

but he's also helped us to grow at the same time, and so

over the last since I was here last time to this time, we have

had forty people who have started to take the Next Steps class and they're processing

and getting involved, and I'm so glad about that. Come on, let's

celebrate that this morning. If you would, I tell you, and then

I hear that there were eighty people who got connected to small groups. Come

on, they're getting connected community. This is good stuff here. And then

from last year this time to this year this time, there have been two

hundred people who have literally come and walked alongside with church with a crossing.

They're part of this community. Come on, let's give it up for that.

Evay. Fantastic weekend this weekend. I was here Thursday night able to

share and it was just a blessing to be able to bring the word Thursday

night. But we also had a baptism on Thursday night. Saturday we came

over here and celebrated that. Saturday we had the prayer equipping time for all

of those servants who are praying for us constantly. It's beautiful to walk into

services and before many of you get here, somebody's walking around this Congress sanctuary

through each row, praying for the service, praying that God will just move

in this space. And so it's so wonderful to be a part of this

great community. This morning, I am tasked with sharing the second part of

this great series putting down roots. My assignment today is quite interesting, and

I'll tell you a little bit more about that. When I first got my

assignment, I said, what you're talking about, willis? So I got

my assignment and my assignment today is rejoice in suffering. Exactly what you're talking

about, willis. But let us pray. Father, We thank you right

now. God. My response is not your response. So Lord, tell

us what you are talking about today. Help us to understand your word and

the way that you would have us to operate in the earth. God,

make yourself known in this space, Holy Spirit, Come now show us his

face that we may know where we're to stand, what we're to do,

and the way we should go. We thank you now for this in Jesus

name. Amen. Amen, So rejoice in suffering. We go to the

Book of Colloshians. And I think pastors started Pastor James started a great way

last week, just opening the series up, helping us to understand why the

Book of Colloshians is there. He said last week there have not been great

of studies that I've been a part of about the Book of Collossians. So

when he was saying that last week, I was cracking up by saying,

man, you are right. So he talked about his stack of books,

and I had my stack of books and internet pages and all that stuff,

trying to figure out, Okay, what is Paul talking about. And then

as you do the research, you start to understand that Paul is really trying

to draw this group of people back to the truth of Christ. They had

lost their way, they had lost the fact that Jesus is not just a

teacher, he was not just a servant of God, but he is God.

And so he was on the way of writing this to let them know,

do not lose your focus, do not lose Christ, do not forget

what He's done. He is God. He was there in the beginning,

he came, he lived, he died, he got up, and he

has all power in his hands, and he will be there in the end.

And I love how Paul takes the time to communicate this great message.

Now, there were many things that were going on in the church among the

Collashian people. They were they had fallen away. They were following false teachings.

They had this whole idea of angels. They were focusing on angels and

all these other teachings. They were thinking about wealth and all these things that

they thought was going to get them and make them happy, but they had

lost Jesus in the process. Meanwhile, Paul is he is incarcerated at the

time, and he is in a place where he cannot be among the people.

We cannot be in fellowship like we are today. So he is in

prisoned, house Arrestipe of you know perfectly correct. He's under house arrest,

cannot leave, cannot go out, cannot teach, cannot preach, cannot do

the things that he's been called to do. But all he can do is

right now when he writes. He's got to write a very compelling letter in

order to bring people in. You you know, we read all the time,

and sometimes you know, reading depend upon interpretation. You ever sent that

email and said, I hope they understand what I mean? Uh huh.

So the same thing with Paul. Paul is writing for understanding that not only

do you read it, but you understand it, and it draws you in

to know that you need to come back to Christ, come back to the

fold. So I want to start out today we're talking about rejoice in suffering,

Rejoice and suffering, rejoicing and suffering as a very complicated concept. So

most times when I have a complicated concept, I go to the dictionary.

I want it broken down. Help me out, will you amen? All

right? And so I want to start out today with the world rejoice.

Let's look at the word rejoice. Rejoice means to feel or show great joy

or delight. It is how I think it is. It's all those things.

It's like overwhelming, it's a good every feeling. It's you know,

when the Bible says, rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say,

rejoys, rejoys, be a good cheer, be of joy, have

joy, Let the joy flow, and it feels so good, so light,

so airy. Ah, rejoice. And then there's suffering. Suffering.

The state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship doesn't sound rejoicing. Doesn't

sound like you want to rejoice when you hear those words undergoing pain, distress,

or hardship. So to put those two things together, it sounds like

they're in conflict. These statements are in conflict. To say that rejoice in

suffering, I don't want to rejoice. Why I'm suffering. Most times when

we are suffering, or when suffering comes upon us, the first thing we

do is the pain hits. There's pain and suffering, and so when the

pain hits, that's what we do. We say ouch, right first response,

something falls in their foot. It's not praise the Lord. Ouch,

that's not what comes out. Sometimes we're lucky it praise the Lord comes out

at all. But the reality is is that pain, the instant feeling of

pain, drives us into a place that we don't think christ first. But

Paul is becking in us to come into a place of rejoicing in our suffering.

When Paul is writing this letter, you have to imagine that he is

not able to be with the people that he is called to serve. He

is called to preach and teach the Gospel and draw people into the Kingdom.

He's not able to do the thing that he wants to do. Some of

us, when we are ill or sick, there are things we want to

do but we can't do. And so Paul is finding a way to continue

to carry this good work forward. And that's why he's writing. But he

writes this and he's talking about his own suffering. But notice what he does

in the process of this letter. We're gonna go to collossions the first chapter,

and we're gonna go from chapter one twenty four through chapter two verse five.

Okay, so we're gonna go right in that section and we're gonna just

read through that and they kind of just sandwiched together. So well, that's

why we're going through both of these pieces of scripture. So the Bible says

this in verse twenty one of chapter one of Collossions. Now I rejoice in

what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what

is lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which

is the Church. In other words, I'm going through all of this right

now. I rejoice in the act of what I'm going through because I know

it's gonna bless you, because this is gonna bless the church. This is

gonna bless the body of Christ. So Paul is saying, I see a

bigger picture. I know that it's not all about me. Let me help

you today. Everything that you're going through is not about you. Yet you

are experiencing it, but it's not about you. Notice this, you is

only one letter in the alphabet. There's twenty six. You got what I'm

saying, there's other letters there, so don't get caught up on the you.

There's more people involved. There are more people who are watching you go

through your ordeal, and they will be impacted about the way by the way

in which you do with your suffering. So Paul is saying, yes,

I am locked up, I'm in Chaine. I am I'm in this place

of imprisonment. But I'm not letting that stop me from the call that God

has on my life. I don't know why I'm saying this in this service,

but whatever God has called you to do, don't let anything stop you

from doing what God has called you to do. He has set you up

and He has a whipped you. So even in your struggle, you are

still able to do it, still able to do it. Look at Paul,

he's locked up, and guess what he's still writing. He's still compelling

people to come to Christ. Imagine this, we are still reading these letters.

He didn't write the letter for me, but he did. He didn't

write the letter for you, but he did. Because the letter was so

compelling to that particular church that we read it today and we can still find

ourselves in the lines of the letter. The Bible goes on to say,

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you

the Word of God in his fullness. In other words, I'm not going

to give you part of the gospel, but I'm giving you the whole word

of God. I'm giving you everything that the Bible has. I want to

let you know some of us we like feel good gospel. Let me explain

that feel good gospels are the scriptures that just make you go, oh,

I love it what I'm talking about. I can do all things through Christ,

who gives me strength. Yes, that's the truth. And it guess

what, it's good when it just feels good. But when you are under

a burden and you have to say that, that gospel feels a lot different,

doesn't it. When you have a heavy load and you gotta push through.

It's not about feeling good. It's about the truth of the Word,

that the fullness of the Word, that the body of Christ. We will

go through things. We will go through suffering, we will go through trials

and tribulations. But when we go through, the Lord will help us.

That's the good news. He goes on in verse twenty six, the mystery

that has been kept hidden for the ages and generations. But now it's disclosed

to the Lord's people. To them, God has chosen to make known among

the gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you,

the hope of glory. Oh I love that right there. The mystery is

that Christ is in you, and he is a hope of glory. He's

made you rich. How do you become rich? I want to let you

know. You're not gonna find it in a book. I know everybody who

read the Poor Dad, Rich Dad. You know that's great, Yeah,

great, right, But you want to be rich, find Jesus in you.

That's your riches. That's where your wealth is. That's where God extends

all of the things that is promised in his word, because you become rich

when Christ is in you, when you allow him occupancy in your life.

And so he says, this mystery, this thing that's been hidden for generations,

is now revealed because of what Christ did. He came, he lived,

he died, he rose, and he has all power in his hand.

Somebody should say amen. And so the Bible goes on. In verse

twenty eight, it says he is the one we proclaim. He is the

one we proclaim, not anything else, not anyone else. He is the

one we proclaim, amonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may

present everyone fully mature and Christ. Listen to this. I want to let

you know maturity has nothing to do with age. I know some foolish older

people, and if you're sitting with them, I'm sorry. And I know

some wise young people and I'm like, you're ten years old and you just

said something that just blew my mind. I'm sitting here and I'm like,

you know whoa heading towards fifty and a ten year old said something. I'm

like sitting there and I'm in tears because why Because maturity has nothing to do

with age. It has everything to do with exposure to Jesus. How exposed

are you to Jesus? How exposed are you too as word? How open

are you to the presence of God? He says, so that we can

become mature. He wants us to become mature in Christ. To this,

and I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

In other words, I am fighting for this, I am pursuing this.

I am giving this everything I got because it's all that I have. What

do you do when Jesus is all that you have? Some of us we

get comfortable because we have other things. We have a nice car, a

nice house, two kids and point five kids. I guess the dog is

a point five right, got all the things. But when you remove all

of those things and all you have is Jesus, all Paul had was Jesus.

It didn't matter that he was a Roman citizen, didn't matter that he

was a jewishman, and none of those things mattered anymore because all he had

was Jesus, and he was making Jesus his everything. He says, I

strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works within me. Then write

seamlessly. You know, usually when you write a letter, you create these

paragraphs, you take pauses and whatnot. Not Paul, Paul just writes it

all together. He's like, Hey, while I'm on this topic, let

me go to chapter two of this okay, and I'm gonna pick up where

I left off in chapter one. And he goes right into I want you

to know how hard I am contending for you and for those of Layah de

Sea and for those who have not met me personally. And other words,

Paul said, hey, listen, this isn't just for the ones I know,

but these are for the ones that I have not met personally. In

other words, these are for the people who are sitting in this room today.

Now. I don't know about you, but if anyone has met Paul

personally, please talk to me after service. I'm sure we got a mental

health agent on staff. Because the reality is is that Paul, so many

years ago, has been gone, but his words still remain. Paul can't

be here today, but his words are still here. They're still speaking life

and helping us to understand the truth of who God is, who Jesus is,

and why we need Jesus in our lives, and how we allow Jesus

to move in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. So he

goes on to say, for my goal is that they may become encouraged in

heart and united in love. Let me say something about this. I didn't

say this earlier. Paul has a way of always bringing us back to love.

He always brings us back to love because God is love. He always

it's like, you know, he'll be going down a whole path to things,

and he'll just boom, let me throw some love in there. It's

like okay. He'll be like, he'll be correcting you and you need to

stop. Stop, stop and love. I love how Paul does that.

In the scriptures, he said united in love, so that they may have

the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery

of God, namely Christ. Christ is a mystery. He reveals himself to

us. He reveals himself to us. You may go looking for him,

but it's about a revealing. I don't know if you've ever been to a

gallery and someone has painted something really wonderful and they drape a large cloth over

it, and everybody comes in. They've come to see, but they don't

know what they will see. And at some point of this showing, they

pull the drape off of the painting and everyone sees something and they have a

different experience by what they see. They feel differently, they observe something different,

They have emotions that are tied to that. And I want to let

you know that Christ is revealed just like that. It's your own personal revealing

experience. It's how you see him, how he shows you the truth of

who he is. And so this mystery whom is Christ and whom are hidden

all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? Wisdom and knowledge is hidden in Christ.

Listen, there's some things I don't understand. There's a lot of things

I don't understand. When I turn on the news, I don't understand when

I hear the reports of things that are happening in school systems and happening in

communities. I don't understand when I look at a global context and see the

world and the wars and all the things that are happening. When I hear

about the flooding and the fires and all of the things that are happening in

the world. I know the Bible speaks of these things, but I don't

understand. I do not understand. But when I don't understand, I know.

I want to let you know that when you don't understand, all you

need to do it's no. You need to know that He is God.

You need to know that He's in control. You need to know that no

matter what's going on in our world, that God still sits on the throne.

You need to know that Jesus is still king and there's nothing that's happening

in this world, that it's outside of his reach, outside of his control,

that he can't touch, that he can't move, that he can't change.

And so we stand in a place, in these hidden places where wisdom

and knowledge are found in him. I tell you this so that no one

may deceive you by fine sounding arguments. In other words, in this time

that he was talking about with this particular church, he was saying to them,

listen, don't be deceived by the things that sound good and feel good,

look good. It's all he said. Don't be deceived by those things,

because those things, they'll capture your eyes. And if they capture your

eyes and they capture your ears, eventually they'll capture your heart. Don't be

deceived by them. For though I am absent from you in body, I

am present with you in spirit. He's contending and praying for them in spirit.

I can't be there, I can't touch, I can't form a circle,

I can't lay hands. But I'm praying and believing God in spirit to

be with you and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your

faith in Christ is. He says this. He says, he speaks something

that is not fully truth. Yet their faith is becoming discipline if they follow

what he just said. But he speaks forth some truth. I remember when

my kids were little, they would fall, get a booboo or something like

that, and to stop them for crying up and like, look at you.

Look how strong you are? Look loop loop, look, and I

would start encouraging them in something because they were about to fall apart. You

know that looks like and it's like the explosion coming and you're like, oh

Lord, and you you're like, you don't want to hear it because you

don't know how loud it's going to get. But you're like, if I

can just stop them, hey, look at you. Look, look you

distract them. Here Paul is telling them, hey, hey hey, let

me breathe bring you back, Let me bring you back. This is who

you are to become. This is you're gonna be firm in your faith.

It's a little shaky right now. You're a little like jello right now,

But guess what, You're just gonna let yourself sit for a while in this

truth, and I promise you will be confirmed. Your faith in Christ will

become firm. Well, let's deal with this whole suffering thing, because that's

my assignment, right. So a couple of things I want to talk to

you about with suffering, and I'm gonna take my seat and i'll be out.

Youre here today, okay. Number One, people who rejoice in suffering

understand that on the other side of this is the blessing. You can only

rejoice in suffering if your reward is beyond your current pain. Watch this.

Whatever you are going through, whatever situation you are currently facing, whatever battlefield

you're on, whatever, see that you're trying to cross, whatever boat that

is being beaten by a storm. I want to let you know that there

is another side to this. I know right now it feels like this thing

is never gonna end, that the night is always gonna be long. But

I want to let you know that the sun will shine again, and the

s o end will shine again in your situation and in your life. Hold

on. When I take trips, let me tell you about me. When

I take trips. I love to take trips that start when it's dark.

Yeah, And the reason why I don't like to start a trip like you

know, if people say, oh, well, let's just leave about five

o'clock in the evening and we'll go in and drive all the way through the

night. I don't like to drive through nights. You know why, because

I like to sleep at night, and driving and sleeping don't go together.

I just gonna let you know, okay, And so what I'll do.

I'll go to sleep, get a good night's sleeping. I'll get up at

two three o'clock in the morning, start packing up the car, get on

the road about four thirty five o'clock because I know that by seven am,

the sun is gonna be shining. Oh my god, I know some of

us in this room you didn't have control of what time you entered this place

of suffering. But I want to let you know. Don't get tired and

well doing, don't give up. Just hold out because the sun is going

to shine. There's an end to this. The reward is beyond your current

pain. Just hold on. Second, Suffering kills the flesh and allows the

true nature of Christ to arise. I'm gonna say that again. Suffering kills

the flesh and allows the true nature of Christ to arise. In other words,

when I am going through my storm, and when I yield myself to

Christ, he arises his words come forth, his actions come forth, his

thoughts come forth. Why because I don't have control anymore, because I've released

it. A couple of weeks ago, I got to hear Andrew's story about

Grandma Vada. I never met Grandma Vada, and Andrew really didn't get to

spend time with Grandma Vada, but her story speaks that was a whole sermon

by itself. I was sitting on life's like Wow. I was so blessed

to hear this story about this woman of faith who took a journey with Jesus,

who struggle with trust, but at the same time she got to a

place where she yielded everything and her testimony still speaks. Wow, still speaks

I want to be like that, and I know you want to be like

that, but you gotta go through your storm, go through. You're suffering,

and just like Grandma Veda who suffered and went through and wrote letters that

tell the story that we celebrate now after, I want to let you know

that I know personally what that looks like. I've told you the story of

my mother and how she impacted my life, and how she turned at some

point in her life and faced Jesus, and she started to yield, yield

everything, yield her ways, yield her thoughts, and her words changed.

She started seeing things and started to blow my mind. I'll never forget this

one phrase. And I've shared this before that she said, and it's still

to this day when I hear it, it still gives me this feeling of

like Wow. I was telling her and said, Mom, you're doing so

many great things. God is blessing you. You're involved in a church,

you're helping hear You're serving kids who are underserved. You're helping people by bringing

them in your home and letting them give them a place to say. All

these things. I was telling them, say, oh, it's just beautiful

to watch what you're doing. And she said, ah ah, No,

give God the glory. I just want the victory. Wow. Mom knew

that it was not about her, it was about God and his glory.

I want to let you know that the things that you're going through, somebody

else is watching the things you are are pulling yourself through, the things you

are praying through, the things you're fasting through, the things that you're coming

into community and asking people to pray about those things. People are watching the

way that you go through it. And at the end of this thing,

it's not about you anymore. It's not about how you went through. It's

not about how you pray, it's not about all of those things. It's

about the God who answered your prayer, the God who brought you through.

I want to let you know that God is using you for somebody else.

You're just a tool that he went in his workshop said today, I want

to use this tool, and he gains the glory. Because he's building your

testimony for his glory. The flesh starts to die. Third point, those

who are suffering can find refuge in community. Those who are suffering can find

refuge in community. That's why we're here today. This is community, right

here in this room and right online. Community. We're all tuning in hearing

the word of God. We're all listening to the songs of God. We're

celebrating the victories, and we're reflecting on the things that we're still working on

in community. Community is a beautiful thing because we hold each other accountable and

we lift each other up, we push each other. I was telling one

of my friends just the other week, and we've talked about this some time

before the idea of being boxed in. In community, there are people to

box you in. Jesus leads you, He leads the way. But guess

what, you need people alongside you who hold you accountable, who will not

let you go to the left nor to the right. And then you have

the power of the Holy Spirit pushing you forward towards your destiny. Community boxes

us in. Recently I joined a community. I had started a journey of

trying to have some fitness in my life. This was me last time I

was here. Besides looking confused, I can tell you I had a whole

lot of weight on me, a whole lot of weight, and I'm telling

you, I just didn't feel good. I didn't feel like I knew I

needed to feel. And so I started this thirty eight journey with this church

group and workout group called the Lab and Lab Fitness, and we all got

in there and started working out. But before I joined, I started talking

to my minute trade of assistant and I said to her, I said,

Hey, I'm about to do this challenging whatnot. She said, I'm gonna

do it with you. And I was like, great, come on there,

we'll do it together. Little did I know. She said, I'm

gonna do it with you. Meant I'm gonna do it with you, right,

So what's the difference. One day I showed up just a little bit

late and I was like two minutes. It was literally two minutes late,

and I'm running in there and whatnot. She said, I'm glad you can

make it. I said, I said yeah, she said, she said,

because you had three more minutes, I was gonna walk right down them

stairs and get in my car and go home. And she was serious.

And the reason why was because she said, we're in this together. Because

if you stopped coming, I stopped coming. We're doing this together. I

want to let you know in community, there is a testimony that leads us

to victory together because we're praying one for the other, we're holding each other

accountable, and we're saying we're gonna go to distance together. We need community,

we need church, we need family. I know you got your own

family, the people that you've come from, but there's a family here that

God is calling you to. And if you're not a part of a church

family, I want to let you know the door is open for you to

get connected with this community. We welcome you to be a part of this

church. Finally, last point, God will never allow you to face things

you are suffering alone, but He will give you himself the joy of your

salvation. He will give himself to you. He will show up. The

reason he will show up is because He loves you so much that he will

not allow you to go through anything alone. I want to let you know

that while Paul is in this place of captivity, this place of imprisonment,

he was not alone. But God was there with him. Jesus was there

with him. The Holy Spirit was there with him, allowing him to write

these episciples to be able to share with the people so they would know who

God is, who Jesus is. He can leave him alone. He will

not leave you alone suffering. It's not missing on me that some of us

have come here in a place of suffering. Some of us are suffering in

health, condition of self suffering, maybe in a marriage or relationship. Maybe

we're suffering with our kids because of decisions they're making. Maybe we are suffering

on our job, suffering in school, suffering in different places. Suffering has

different connotations to different people. But whatever your suffering is, I want to

let you know that this is not how it will end. There's hope in

suffering, and the hope is Jesus. Jesus is the hope in our suffering.

The Bible says this, and I love this. First Peter five ten

in the e s. D says this, and after you have suffered a

little while the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory

in Christ, will himself listen, will himself restore confirmed strengthen and establish you.

Oh my lord, that's good, right there, I listened. After

you have suffered a little while. It's a little while. I know,

it seems like forever, Oh my lord, it seems forever. I would

go to those little word out classes. It was only supposed to be an

hour, but the hours like ten hours going and I felt like I was

gonna lose my mind. But the first day was not like the second day,

nor was it like the tenth day. Because guess what, I became

better at what I was doing. The Bible also tells us this that as

we're going through it. It says this in Romans five three through five.

It says, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing

that Suffering produces endurance. Suffering produces endurance. Man, I tell you I

would have been fallen on the floor because I didn't have the endurance to be

able to the stamina to be able to do it. Endurance and endurance produces

character. Oh my good Lord, I carry this thing well even though it's

hurting and it's painful. But my character says I can do all things through

Chrice, who gives me strength. And character produces hope. I got hope

on the other side of this, that Christ has all of this in control.

He's got the whole world in his hands. And if he's got the

whole world in his hands, my problem exist in this world. And so

he's got my problem Hallelujah in his head. He's got my sickness in his

heads, he's got my family in his head. Whatever I'm going through in

his hands. Wow. But then check this out, and the hope does

not put us to shame. When you put your hope in Jesus, you

will never be put to shame. You'll never have to worry about being made

a fool of if you put your hope in Jesus. Because God's love has

been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

God gave us the Holy Spirit so that we will not lose our hope.

Hold onto your hope, my friend, Hold onto your hope, my

brother, my sister. I know that the world around us is changing and

fading, but guess what, The Lord will never ever disappoint you. This

morning, I know you've brought some stuff in this room with you. I

know you've brought some stuff online with you. I know you got some stuff.

Whether you're in your living room or your sofa, in your kitchen,

wherever you are, you got some stuff with you. But this is the

thing I will tell you today that wherever you are, he is too,

because He was there with Paul, and this morning I want to let you

know that after you've suffered a little while, the Lord is going to restore,

confirm, strengthen, and establish you. It's ugly to watch a building

being built. They start out with clearing out all the waste, and then

they start just sticks in the in the sand you kind of see, but

there's a foundation under it, and every day it keeps going, and it

keeps going. Before you know what, you see a house. He's establishing

you looks rough right now, but it won't always be this way. Stand

on your feet with me this morning, rejoice in suffering. Maybe it doesn't

sound as complicated. Now. When Jesus is your joy, you can rejoice.

But Jesus must be your joy, the foundation of your joy, then

you can go through. I want to pray for somebody today, somebody who's

in the midst of their suffering. Whatever it is, I don't need to

know, because God already knows. He knows the condition, he knows the

state of mind, he knows the pain, and he's here and he's there.

Sometimes it comes down to an invitation. Oh thank you God man.

The invitation is simple, Lord, enter my suffering, enter my space,

and allow me to rejoice in the midst of it. To not lose my

joy because the world didn't give me this joy, nor can the world take

it away. It comes from you. I want to pray for you,

and if that's you today, just throw your hands up or throw a hand

up, whatever it makes you feel comfortable. Technoledge. Yes, I want

to receive. Maybe you want to put your hands like this to receive or

I agree with this prayer. Let's pray Father. I thank you right now

in this space that Lord, You're people have come and at times, Lord

God, refine ourselves in the space of suffering. And suffering is difficult,

Lord God, because we sometimes don't know how to rejoice in it. We

feel the out we feel the pain. But Lord God, help us to

focus the pain on you, Lord God, and what you have done for

us before and what you are doing now through us, Oh God, that

this suffering is not in vain. But there are others who are going to

be blessed by the testimony that you will give us, Oh God. Lord,

I pray God for victory in every area of suffering. Oh God,

Lord, remind us of your word, Oh God, that it is only

gonna be a little while. Oh God. I know we're like little children

in the car, and we're saying, are we there yet? Are we

there yet? Are we through the suffering? Are we through this pain?

Oh God? And it seems like it keeps going. But Lord, a

destination has been decided in you, and Lord God, you have declared that

when we get there, Lord God, when we look back over the journey,

My God, when we look back over what we went through, Lord

God, then it will be one of the journey of God. Will be

glad we got in the car with your God. We'll be glad we've got

on the road trip with your God, because you brought us into a place

of victory. God, bless us, help us to bring glory to your

name through all we go through. That even when we're in these spaces,

we are not alone because You are there with us. Thank you for your

presence. Thank you for never leaving us nor forsaking us. You remain always.

We bless you, we love you, and we thank you for us.

In Jesus name, we pray. Let everybody say a man a man

then and Amen again. God bless your family.