Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts

Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

We hope today's message is encouraging.

To you, welcome to Illuminate church.

If this is your first Sunday here, you made a really good

decision to be in a house that is inhabited by the Lord our

God. He made a promise where my

people praise me, I come and live with them.

And what I just heard was ridonkulous praise, like true

and sincere hearts, passionate to make sure God knows that we

love them and that we're grateful for all that he's done,

all that he's doing. We're grateful for his Son

Jesus, who shed his blood for you and for me.

And we're grateful for the Holy Spirit that empowers us to life.

We are not alone. You do not bear the burden

alone. I'll be honest.

My heart is right here. And what I feel is the

compassion of the Lord for everybody that's hurting today.

And God wants to minister to you in a very personal way, but you

have to choose it, OK? It's like he set up this grand

buffet and all of it is there for you.

Not Golden Corral. Way better than a chocolate.

Wonderful is his love. And if you just dip yourself in

to his wonderful love, I, I pray healing for you today.

I almost jumped to the end of the message and just like, let's

get it over with. But she came all this way.

So I want to speak just a second to our dream team, our dream

team with those volunteers who serve in the church, in the

region and in the world. And they are spectacular at this

church. I just, I'm blown away by the

quality of people, but more than that, the quality of heart.

Yes, yes, yes, what do you need? Yes, how can I help?

Yes, I want to. I'm in.

And I just want to make sure you're aware that we want to

celebrate you and invest in you and say thank you to you with a

special event. We want to do that all the time.

But on the first weekend of October, we're having something

called the Dream Team Weekend. And it's going to be a

beautiful, incredible time. All the information, all that

you need, how to register, head to Connect Central.

It's not an open event, so you're not going to find it on

the app, the church center app or illuminate that church.

It's an invite only. So if you've missed the invite,

whatever, go to Connect Central today.

They can help you get registered or your ministry lead can help

you get registered. We want to spend time with you

because a dream without a team is just a wish.

But a dream with a team is a reality, right?

And y'all are making out and go ahead.

Everybody should say Hallelujah. Well, today we are on week five

of the seven Habits of Jesus People.

Today is habit 4 because week 1 was an introduction and we have

three more habits to go after this.

Thank you for the feedback we're hearing from you.

It's always helpful. I mean, we're just going to obey

the Lord and preach whatever He wants.

Sometimes we don't get a lot of feedback and other series is we

get a lot of feedback of how this is helpful to you.

And so thank you for those notes.

A Jesus person is a distinct person, a person of distinction.

I'm going to keep repeating this as long as I'm preaching this

series. Philippians chapter 2 verse 15

Philippians 2:15

says that we will shine like stars in the darkness.

So think of the night sky and see those little dots.

When we adopt the habits of Jesus people, we become like

those stars in this world. God called us the light of the

world. So our job is to shine.

Jesus people are peculiar people, which means that you are

slightly odd. And I want you to know Jesus was

incredibly odd, if by odd we mean no one else like him.

Not seeing love like this, not seeing miracles like this, not

seeing service like this, not seeing truth speaking like this.

That guy's different. And when you become a Jesus

person, people will note, man, you are different.

And at first they call you odd because they're not sure what to

do with you. Like, I don't know what to do

with you. Jesus weirdness, right?

But I want to amend the list. Not only distinct, not only

peculiar, not just a Jesus person.

But if I were to change out the word peculiar, I would say that

Jesus people are powerful people, full of the power of the

Holy Spirit, full of the power to overcome, and full of the

power to help others overcome. It's in you.

By the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Spirit has been given to

you, powerful people to kill your people, distinct people.

We're adopting these transformational habits so that

we pattern our lives after Jesus and the disciples.

I want you to know we're listing 7.

You can add to them many, many, many more, but these are

foundational and can be plugged into your life.

And if you begin practicing them, it's one thing just to

talk about them. It's another thing to practice

them. Rick Connor, is that you?

Oh, my word, This is a brother from a long old time ago.

We went to youth group together and he's a pastor now in Tampa

at Lake Magdalen Church, Right. And I just saw you, and now I'm

having a squirrel moment. Good to see you.

Honored that you're here. How'd you get a Sunday off?

Habit one week 1. Christine taught it so

wonderfully. Rule of life.

This is really a scaffolding by which you can put in all the

other habits. A rule of life is biblical

values that are matched with biblical practices.

We value this, so we do this. I value this, and now it's

evidenced in my life by the practice, the habit of my life.

So the other six habits you can plug in.

We value these things, so we do this.

Second week we said we value the word of God.

So we said we read the word of God, but that's not the habit.

The actual habit is to apply the word of God.

Lots of people read the word of God, but kill your people.

Do it, live it. Week 3 Last week we said that

peculiar people practice confession.

Have the habit of confession in your faith in Jesus.

He removed from you the penalty of sin, but it is your

confession that heals you from the power, the residue of sin.

Confess your sins one to another and you will be healed.

And we open the altars. And y'all, we stayed here for an

hour last week after service with people coming, even had

emails later like hey, I didn't go forward and I wish that I

did. I'm like, it's not too late.

Start right now. Confess your sins in.

And by the way, it's not what you think of when you think of

the Catholic Church and confessional.

It's completely different. Confess your sins one to

another, not just to a priest. Bring into the light what the

devil wants to keep in the darkness.

Habit 4. Aren't you anticipatory?

Aren't you just like, what is it?

I want to know before I reveal it.

I will tell you that you can just call this one the one Tim

Ingram needs work on. The one Tim Ingram needs help

with ain't so good at. The one Tim Ingram needs to be

held accountable by the church regarding.

So if you're willing to hold me accountable, say I will.

If you're not willing, what's wrong with you?

Before I reveal it, I want to set some structure in your mind.

I believe, and the first service was evidence of this, that there

is a primary universal posture pose for victory.

It's known world round. You see it all the time.

It's not some fading victory poses like this.

Remember that? Did a picture just pop up?

Pretend like you didn't see that see what exactly it's not.

We did this some people for victory.

I don't know why do you ever do that like dude, home run.

I don't know does that. I watched a YouTube video and

I'm going to try to do the. I did it over here, away from my

kids. So sorry, kids.

Yeah, that's called the gritty. I have no idea why.

Thank you, Justin Jefferson. I'm going to count to 3 and when

I count to three, I want you to strike the universal victory

pose posture and to feed you. Just pretend like somebody

called you and said I'm going to give you $10,000 for the rest of

your life. Every week, $10,000.

You hang up the phone and you strike this pose.

Ready, 123 go. I should have said strike the

pose and make the noise. Ready 123 go.

All of a sudden, I felt like you guys were riding a roller

coaster. Yeah, it looks like this.

And it sounds like this. Yeah, whatever, right.

And you see it all over the world, right?

You saw C's picture. Here's Rory McIlroy winning the

Masters, finishing the career against Grand Slam.

He's won all four majors now. And look at the people in the

back. Oh, look at Argentina winning.

There you go. One day the United States will

win the World Cup. I'll be.

I'll be dead. But they're going to win it one

day. Then you have these people, they

as a business, they just won wee they're I don't.

That's New York City. Clearly there's the Empire State

Building. Do you?

Yeah. They're all like, you know, OK.

Mary Poppins. Exactly.

And then you have the OG where all of this began right here.

Owen and Audrey down here. We ran up the rocky steps many,

many moons ago. They were teeny tiny.

We got to the top. I'm like, hold on a minute.

And then OK. Yeah.

The universal victory pose known throughout the world this

morning. I'm wondering what is the

universal pose or posture for suffering like?

We have many expressions based on the person and the situation.

Everyone has it a little bit different way they do it.

Some of us have the ugly cry. Anyone ever had the ugly cry?

Come on, let's all confess. What's interesting about the

ugly cry is it like healing in the middle of it?

At least for me, because I start making these weird sounds and I

kind of start laughing at myself in the middle.

Or you look down and you got these two diet bubbles right

here under your nostrils. You're like, those are kind of

cool. Like, look at those.

Yep, ugly cry. Oh, we have indulgence when

we're suffering. We indulge gallons and gallons

of ice cream or gallons and gallons of alcohol.

We have lashing out as a way that we walk through suffering

and trials. Lashing out is merely an outlet.

There's so much going on in here that I cannot contain it, so it

comes uncontrollably spilling out of me.

I'm like the smokestack. And here's my word all over you.

And then freaking out. I think that this is mine.

This is the one little bit of bad news.

You're like, it's ruined or everyone's going to die.

Woe is me. It's exasperation.

We talked about this a little bit in the Sabbath series about

Chicken Little. Exactly.

But what about Jesus? People, Peculiar people,

powerful people? Is there a response that should

be universal to the church that makes it shine like a star in

the midst of the valley, in the midst of the grief and the

struggling? Jesus has said this himself.

This will not be on the screen. I just want you to hear the

Scripture. And it's a promise from Jesus.

And we love his promises, don't we?

Don't you love his promises? OK, He said this.

I promise you, in this world you will have trouble.

Yay. I love all your promises, God,

but that one you will is a promise.

You will have trouble. On this side of heaven, we

experience the brokenness of the world and as a result, we

suffer, we grieve, we go through trials, pain.

The way that I think about it is like God designed this perfect

bicycle that could move freely and the wind is blowing in your

hairs. And then men, we men, by men, I

mean all people, men and women, we came along and in our sin, we

removed the seat in one of the pedals.

And that's what we're riding now.

And the whole time it kind of works like it's supposed to.

But man, does it hurt to take this ride.

But then Jesus completes his thoughts.

He says in this world you will have trouble, but take heart.

I've overcome the world. This taking heart is the

distinction. This taking heart is what makes

us peculiar. Most of the world will suffer

and not take heart. But but as believers in Jesus,

we are invited to take heart. And that my friends, is what

makes the difference in your suffering and it's the basis of

our 4th habit. Are you finally ready to hear

it? OK, for the six of you that are

ready, pay attention. The rest of you have it.

For Jesus people suffer well. Jesus people will say, I have

the habit of suffering well. When trials come my way, I

travel through well. People may not notice when you

rejoice because the whole world rejoices kind of the same way it

looks the same. But when we as Jesus people

learn to suffer peculiarly by taking heart, the opposite is

losing heart. I've lost all heart.

Well, taking heart, it is then that we become like Jesus and we

shine like stars. People will marvel and they will

ask you, how is it that you are going through this so well?

I only have two points today, 2. But I want you to know two

things before I get to the two points #1 remember, I'm

preaching to myself first, chiefly me.

I need to learn this throughout my entire being.

And the second is this, if you are hurting today, I'm not

asking you at all to fake like you're not hurting.

I'm not asking you to put on a happy face.

I'm not asking you not to grieve.

I'm not telling you to get over it, whatever it may be.

But I believe in all my heart that God is speaking to his

church to say I have given you, you have at your disposal more

than what you're using to get through your trouble, your

struggles, your suffering, so that you can respond differently

than the world does. 2 points #1 Here's the first one.

Jesus. People suffer well because they

have hope. Everyone say hope.

Say it hopefully. Yeah, Jesus, people suffer well

because they have hope in First Thessalonians.

If you want to turn there in your Bible.

By the way, interesting fact, all the TS T books in the New

Testament are in the same place. Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus,

and God put them there in alphabetical order to help us.

I love that so much. So near the end of the New

Testament, you'll run into the T books and the first is First

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter 4. Paul makes a summary statement

that is very similar. By the way, if you need to Bible

the ushers have one. Just raise your hand.

They'll bring one to you. Thank you, Allison and others

for doing that right over here, all the way down front.

Is that you, Javier? I can't see that far.

Here he comes running like the wind.

First Thessalonians, chapter 4, Paul makes this statement verse

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

one. As for other matters, brothers

and sisters, look, listen to this.

This is very similar to our series.

We instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact

you are living. You've taken up these habits,

this way of living in order to please God.

Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more

and more. Paul's teaching the church in

Thessaloniki, basically all the churches then and all the

churches today, even now, the same thing that we are teaching

in the series. There is an order, there are

habits to learn. There is a practice to have in

your life, instructions that will help you to please God, to

be used of God for your own benefit, for the benefit of

others and for the benefit of his Kingdom, the church and that

day we're doing them and Paul's like do them more and more.

Let these habits be ingrained in you.

And then First Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13, if you skim

1 Thessalonians 4:13

down, we get this instruction, this habit to form.

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about

those who sleep in death so that you do not grieve like the rest

of mankind who have no hope. Paul invites them to grieve

differently than the rest of humanity because unlike the rest

of humanity, followers of Jesus have a hope, which means today

we have a hope. When Jesus said, take heart,

I've overcome the world, he's saying, listen, sin and death

are what's the broken part of this world.

But they crucified me and buried me in the tomb.

And three days later, the evidence is the empty tomb.

I have authority over sin and death.

I have overcome these things. So that he can make promises

like this. John Chapter 11 verse 25, Jesus

John 11:25

said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me will live even though he dies.

And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this? It's a good question to ask

yourself this morning. Anyone who believes in him will

never die, even should they die. Meaning your physical body, this

tent suit will wear out and you will graduate to an immortal

body and you will live there forever with the Lord your God

because he has overcome and this we put our hope.

I've shared this story before and I almost was like I'm not

going to share it again but I just felt the Lord keep

prompting it in my spirit. And maybe it's because we

haven't learned it yet. It hasn't sunken down when I'm

pointing all fingers at myself right now.

At another church, sister Church of ours, a man was brought

forward who is ravaged with cancer, stood in front of the

church to be prayed over. Now imagine your family going

through this and you're invited up on the platform.

You can imagine the family walking up with a heavy burden,

walking forward, bent over, faces kind of dour.

This is heavy. Well, here comes this family

walking up with the man with cancer in the front and he's

beaming. He's got cancer all throughout

his body. He was so peculiar that the

pastor noticed. He was so odd and powerful that

the pastor's like, how is it that you're behaving like this

when we all know the report that you've been given?

And a man said two things. First thing he said is either

way I win. I either get to live here on the

earth with people I love or I go to get my eternal reward and be

face to face with Jesus. Like give me that.

But the second thing you said is what I've said here many, many

times. It might be my favorite words

ever spoken by a human except for I love you from my family is

this. You cannot threaten me with

heaven. Come on now, think about that.

You can. I'm not afraid to die.

In fact, it's a graduation to the greatest season of my life,

forever and ever. In eternity, even though I die,

yet shall I live, and I will live with him.

You can't throw me to heaven. That man looked at his situation

and could have had despair, but instead, because of the truth of

God's Word, he had hope. I'm all right.

That's what Jesus said for people who are already dead.

He also said something for people who are still living.

Raise your hand if you're still living John chapter 14 verse

John 14 · chapter mention

one. Do not let your hearts be

troubled. You believe in God, believe in

me as well. In my father's house are many

rooms. If it were not So what I have

told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you and if I

go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you

into my presence so that you also may be where I am.

Jewish tradition custom man asks a woman to marry him.

He says hold tight right here. He goes to his father's

household and he builds on to the house a room for he and his

bride. He says hold on.

When I'm done making the space for us, I'm going to come back

and get you, my bride, and take you to our new home.

They would have understood Jesus's words immediately

because it was their custom for us.

It means the same. Jesus is saying I am your

bridegroom, I am preparing a place for you.

And as it says in the book of Thessalonians, I will come back

in the clouds and rapture the church.

It's a Latin word, rapturo, which means to be caught up and

the church will be taken. The believers in Jesus will be

taken with Jesus. Here's what I'm trying to say.

Whether you die or whether you live, believers in Jesus have a

very, very, very, very, very, very, very good end.

The end is very good. And then, which is important

because between this time and that, there's going to be a lot

of things that happen, but I can always look up and see there is

light at the end of the tunnel. My savior has made a promise.

He's overcome the grave. He's he can overcome whatever

I'm going through. If he's overcome the grave, then

this is easy, right? So I'm going to put my eyes on

him. One of our elders in the church,

Matt Call has been on a journey of cancer himself for the last

couple of years. Pancreatic gallbladder like

intense, severe. He's a many, many me too many

surgeries that I can even name. It's been in New York City had

surgeries, the chemo to radio all that stuff.

He's cancer free, but all of the healing has his body and sorts

and things are it's just been a wild ride.

You think are we finally clear and free and there's another

thing and another thing and another thing and another thing.

Listen to me closely. The other elders in the room can

testify. There has never, ever one single

time been a word of complaint that has passed.

Matt calls lips every time he texts, Hey, this is happening,

but God is good. Let's pray and believe.

Faith, faith, faith. I keep waiting for that weak

moment so that I'd be like, yeah, I would.

I mean, if I found out, the first thing I would do is

complain. This is the one I need to work

on. I just confessing again, not

Matt every time confessing. His hope could choose despair,

but instead he chooses hope. There's a movie out that says

hope isn't a plan. I think it might be a Star Wars

movie. I think it might be Rogue One.

Somebody help me. Yes or no?

Nobody cares. It says hope is not a plan.

I'm telling you, for believers, hope is not a plan either.

Hope is the plan. It's the only plan.

Our hope is in something heavenly that's beyond our

ability to endure it by ourselves.

But when we put our hope in Jesus, not just for our eternal

life, but for everyday life, then we can suffer.

Well, I know in the middle of my sufferings, I forget my hope.

I forget God's ability, I forget the end of the story, and I'm

mixed up in the mess that's happening right here, right now

in front of me. It's got my full attention with

some moments of prayer and clarity.

You remember, oh wait, I've got God on my side.

We can do this. We can endure Jesus.

People suffer well because they have hope.

Secondly, and the only second point I have, Jesus.

People suffer well, because they have purpose.

Everyone say purpose. Yeah, I'm going to read to you

no one's favorite verse. I've never seen this tattooed or

in a T-shirt. Nope.

Nobody's got this on a bumper sticker in the back of the car.

Not this one. James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

If you're in Thessalonians, flip to the right.

You're going to get to James. That's at the end of the Bible.

They're close to the end. James, chapter one, verse 2.

Check this out. Consider it pure joy, my

brothers and sisters, whatever. You face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith produces

perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work

so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

To which I say, yeah, right, pure joy, my elbow.

Maybe we need a refresher on what joy actually is.

I don't know if you've confused this, but joy is not an emotion.

Happiness is an emotion. Giddiness is an emotion.

Joy is the stimulus that causes the emotion.

You picking up what I'm putting down, Bob is for the believer,

for one that's taking heart. For a Jesus person, Joy is the

deep recognition of grace. I have considered the grace of

God and it astounds me and I feel something when you sing

Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound.

You know this song Save the rich.

Come on, you might as well sing now.

I once was lost, but now when found was blind.

Beautiful. If you sing that song of the

right season of your life, your heart will fill with joy and

your eyes will brim with tears because you realize the audacity

of the price that Jesus paid and the immensity of His love to do

it. And you say Amazing Grace in

this emotion comes with it. James is teaching us that if we

can adjust our thinking in regards to our suffering, we

will have joy because we realize that God, even in the midst of

pain, is up to something good. And I'm flipping the script on

this pain when I recognize God's grace to use it for something

good. Jesus, people put purpose to

pain because God puts purpose to our pain.

Now, to be clear, God could be causing you pain.

It's called discipline. He disciplines those that He

loves. And so when you feel the

discipline of God, it's painful. It's a struggle, man that hurts.

He's cutting something away from you, whatever the case may be.

Or the pain comes from grief, loss, It's real, it's deep.

Or the pain comes from sin that you have committed, so it's a

self-inflicted wound. Or the sins of others that's

consequences lap over into your life.

But regardless of what kind of pain it is, God's promise to us

is to use it for good. How does he use it?

Well, first of all, James tells us he uses it as a test, a test

of faith. Suffering is a test of faith.

In this test, will I trust my victorious, overcoming, chain

breaking God? Or will I behave like there is

no God? Or even worse, while I confess

that there is a God, but behave like my God is a lousy and

capable loser by the way that I suffer?

As we stand in the faith in the middle of our storm, God endows

us with a gift. It's the gift of perseverance.

Like I'd rather just have joy and peace.

I don't know that I want perseverance because

perseverance comes through trials.

Perseverance biblically means to remain under, to remain under a

weight. The muscles of your body and the

muscles of your faith grow the same way.

By resistance, dumbbells and dumb people, they'll grow your

faith. Just kidding.

Kind of. Not really.

Every child we face is a test. To stay under the weight is not

to stay under the weight of the trial.

The burden, the brokenness, the grief, the the perseverance

comes when we stay under the weight of our belief.

I'm staying under the umbrella of your covering, under the

umbrella of your hope, God, that you've given me.

I'm staying here. It takes discipline.

It's like forming a habit. No, I'm not going to revert to

indulgence and freaking out and ugly cries, although ugly cries

are totally understandable. I get it.

I'm not saying don't, we don't, don't grieve, but I'm going to

do my best in the midst of my trial to persevere in my faith.

And as I persevere in my faith, James says I will become mature,

not lacking anything. We feel so terrible in our

suffering because we feel like we lack, we lack peace, we lack

a person, we lacking money or job or strategy, you name it, we

lack. And as we persevere in our

faith, we become mature and realize in Christ Jesus, I lack

nothing. The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. Amen.

Because I have everything that I need, but I've got to persevere

in that belief. I got to remain under my belief.

The more you apply your faith and your hope during times of

suffering, the more you give purpose to your pain and what

was meant to destroy you are permanently traumatize you gets

flipped on its head and now God uses it for something glorious,

something useful in his Kingdom. That's why we have this promise

that people do put on tattoos. They do have on bumper stickers.

They do make T-shirts. Romans chapter 8 verse 28.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those

who love Him who have been called according to His purpose.

In the midst of your trial. You can suffer well by asking

God this question. How are you using this pain for

your purposes? Help me to see what you are

doing God, to make this good. I'm going to partner with you

there and believe in your goodness.

Can we just take a moment right in the middle of the message to

pray into this? If you would just bow your heads

and close your eyes, I'm going to ask you to do something.

I don't want to use the word dangerous.

I want you to be careful as you do this.

But what I want you to do is to bring whatever is causing you to

suffer to the forefront of your mind.

And when I do that, I don't want it to put you in a tailspin.

And I don't want it to become something that you obsess about

and perseverate on and marinate in and suddenly you're down in

this brokenness. That's why I'm saying be

cautious. We're only bringing this to mind

so that we can ask the Lord Jesus to minister to us in this

struggle, in this suffering, whatever name it has for you.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we release your ministry

into this house and all those watching online, that you might

come and intimately personally answer this prayer for us.

God, why this suffering? What are you trying to teach me?

What good are you using it for? Help me to see your hand at work

that I might have faith in what you are doing.

I'm just going to be quiet for a moment and let Holy Spirit speak

to you and answer the question captured in your heart.

God, give pain. Give purpose to our pain

in Jesus name, Amen. I've been in a suffering mode

myself. Yesterday at 7:15 in the

morning, I received a text that one of our dear brothers, Jody

Staley, had a ruptured brain aneurysm and was taken to the

ER, then helicoptered an hour away to a hospital in Seattle.

They were on vacation in Washington and this happened.

Today is Jody's birthday. Yesterday he underwent surgery.

There's signs of good news but way too early to tell exactly

what's going on with him and his brain.

Let's keep praying for Jody and Jess's wife that have 5 kids and

just believe if you've seen our social media posts, there's ways

that you can lean in especially financially supporting them in

the season. And Jody and Jess, if you're

watching we love you the church now that they know we are

praying for you and believing God to breathe life into your

brain in Jesus name, Amen. We have friends.

Yesterday night I took him to the ER.

We have friends whose parents have died this week.

We have friends, our neighbors who are on the the death watch,

a loved 1 of theirs is is about here's what I'm trying to say in

COVID, there seemed like this wave of grief and then it kind

of subsided and there's these little pop ups.

But this week as I'm preparing to preach this message on

suffering, there is so much suffering, so many people hurt

and broken and I was suffering because of it.

Wanted to stand and be like what's going on God like and I

went through all my own little emotions and my I told you this

is the one I got to work on my own little freaking out and then

I ended up in a place that I hope that you will end up today

as well. Let me say it to you this way.

And I've asked the band to come back out because we're going to

end it a little differently today.

So coming out band. But when I went to write this

message, I was very curious about how this became the

universal victory response. So I asked Google, how did this

become our victory pose? Like where did that come from?

And AI searched the entire interweb throughout all history

and in 0.7 seconds, this secular monolith called Google gave Me 2

answers, says this is the way that this became the victory

pose I was expecting. Like hey, in 1832 this guy

invented peanut butter and his arms went up.

I'm like, I thought there had to be some sort of story somewhere

where this became what we did. Well, it turns out there's two

stories. The first one is a story of a

man who was leading his nation into an army battle and he went

up on a mountainside and he looked down and his troops were

losing. And so he did this, and he

raised his arms, and while his arms were raised, his army was

winning the battle. And when he put down his arms,

his army was losing the battle. So he kept putting his arms up

until they got tired and his buddies held his arm up.

Sound familiar? Google gave this answer.

Google said the reason we put our arms up like this is because

of Exodus chapter 17. As long as Moses held up his

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered

his hands, the Amalekites were winning.

That was the first answer. Google gave me a second answer.

Google said Jesus on the cross. Jesus's outstretched arms on the

cross also interpreted as the victory pose, symbolizing his

triumph over death and darkness. What's up with that?

So here's what I learned. The victory pose and the

suffering pose is the same thing.

We stand like this in victory and we stand like this when we

suffer to reach our arms out to the one who has overcome sin and

death and said, God, you can do it and only you can do it.

So we're going to do it. Would you stand to your feet?

I want to say to you, if you're suffering today, you would

stretch your arms up to the ceiling, you reach your hands

out to heaven and you let your voice be heard by the Lord.

Sing your Hallelujah in the middle of your storm and he will

come healing in Jesus name, Amen.

Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your

heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with

us, you can text Connect to 4:07 588-0115 or visit Illuminate

Church. Have a great week.