”How to Have Joy in Difficulty” // Philippians 1:12-26 // Lakeview Bible Church

Let me ask you a question as we get

going. Do you have a friend who by and

large like doesn't get stressed?

Like by and large, like you know,

sometimes they may have their moments

where anxiety gets the better of them,

but most of the time like when you're

stressed out, they're like totally calm.

We don't like these people. All right,

those of us who tend to worry, right?

Um, one of those people in my life is

Brian. Brian and I went through initial

stages of Marine Corps officer training

and then flight school. And Brian is one

of those guys where the rest of us are

stressed out about a flight or something

going on. Brian's like, "Man, it'll be

all right."

Like, I didn't like Brian. When we were

at the basic school, the basic school,

Quanico, Virginia, seven months running

around in the woods with a rifle and

camouflage paint on your face, learning

how to be an infantry platoon commander.

Even if, this is unique to the Marine

Corps, even if, like for me, I knew I

was going to flight school, I still had

to learn infantry tactics because the

the phrase is every in the Marine Corps,

every Marine a rifleman, every Marine

officer a rifle platoon commander,

right? So, you learn things like uh

offensive tactics and defensive tactics

and weapons and call for fire like

calling in artillery and stuff like

that. Um it's really a lot of fun. I

start Yeah. You're like uh is

uh I started my class started in

November of 1996

and we finished in May. So, I was in

Quanico during the winter months, which

meant in the weeks at a time that we

spent in the field, um, it was great

weather.

And so, I can remember one time, uh, it

was, this is how it works, just so you

know, the the rain or snow never starts

on like Thursday cuz you're getting

ready to finish on Friday. It starts

Monday morning. That's when it starts.

You get wet right out of the gate. And

so, it was like 35 during the day, it

was 20 at night. And it was that mix of

snow and sle and it just intermittent

all throughout the week. You don't

shower,

which is awesome. Uh you're dirty,

you're covered in mud. And we were doing

our defensive week, which means you go

in the woods, you dig a hole, a

defensive fighting position, and you

live in a hole for a week. This is a

great recruiting commercial.

And I get up, this is probably Thursday

morning, and everyone is just cold to

the bone, miserable. And I look over and

in the hole next to me is Brian. And

Brian is doing this.

And I get up. I'm like, "Bro, what are

you do?" He goes, "Sh,

I'm tanning."

I'm like, "What?" I look I look behind

him because there was sun on his face,

but the coldest part of the day is at

like daybreak, right, where the sun

hasn't heated anything up and like it's

20° and the there is some sun on his

face. So I'm kind of scratching my head.

I'm like, "What?" He's like, "Yeah, I'm

on the beach in Pensacola. It's

amazing."

And I was like, "You're aware?" He's

like, "Some cute girls are walking up."

I laugh. A couple of the guys in the

holes around us start laughing and it

was a little bit of joy

in the midst of an otherwise miserable

week. Here's my question. Here's my

question. Is it possible that in the

midst of the difficulties that you and I

face, often times we miss joy because

we're focused on the difficulty more

than maybe some other things that we

could in the midst of difficulty.

That's what I want to talk about this

morning. Have you heard last week when

we began our series in Philippians, we

started this um idea of like, okay, what

makes for joy? And we said last week

that we get joy as we advance the gospel

together that God has given us an

amazing mission and we get to do that.

It's great when we get to do stuff as

individuals and we have individual

accomplishments, but there's just

something about doing something big

together. And we talked about how that's

joy producing and that's where Paul

starts his letter. But then he talks

about how we also get joy when we share

difficulty together. Back to the woods

of Quanico when it's 20 and you're

covered in ice and dirt and you've been

sleeping in a hole. It's like to have a

buddy with you who can lighten the mood.

It was like man like I'm so glad I have

those stories and that that I got to do

that and you're like you're nuts. Yes.

Yes. But you get joy when you do

something hard with your friends. And

then we get joy as we grow more like

Jesus. that as Paul is like getting into

the letter where he ends with he goes

and at the end of the day what God is

doing in all circumstances good bad and

everywhere in between he's helping you

and I grow to look like his son and

there actually isn't anything more

joyful than that and we landed on a

definition of joy which says joy is the

deep settled confidence that God is in

control of every area of my life and we

made the comment that joy as we're

talking about it we differentiate it

from happiness happiness that happiness

is circumstance-based.

Happy circumstance, you can be happy.

Bad circumstance, tough to be happy. But

joy is different. Doesn't matter what

the circumstances are. Why? Because

God's in control of them. And so what I

want us to talk about, what we're going

to dig into today is, okay, how do last

week, how do you get it this week? Well,

how do you have it or how do you keep it

or how do you develop it when you do?

So, if you have your Bibles, Philippians

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 is where we are going to be.

We're going to start in verse 12.

Philippians 1:12.

Philippians 1:12

And the first truth that we're going to

unpack is we can have joy because

nothing can hinder the gospel. We can

have joy because nothing can hinder the

gospel.

Verse 12,

I want you to know, brothers, and when

you see brothers, think like how we use

guys. It's brothers and sisters. I want

you to know guys that what has happened

to me really has served to advance the

gospel so that it has become known

throughout the whole imperial guard and

to all the rest that my imprisonment is

for Christ. Now um Paul's in prison. We

talked about that last week and he

mentions it again uh here in in this

part of the letter. And if you had a if

you had a friend in prison, right, your

first thought likely wouldn't be like,

"Oh man, yeah, my buddy Paul's in

prison. Probably going great for him

right now. Probably killing it in

prison." No, you'd be concerned. You'd

be worried. You'd be like, "Man, I

wonder how it's going because this

prison is probably not going great." And

so what Paul sends back, he's like, "Hey

guys, I want you to know, like, man, it

really has served to advance the gospel.

If you guys are depressed, don't be. I'm

not. And he uses a very that word

really. Did you catch that?

You can imagine some person in the

Philippian church when they got the

letter, they're like, really?

Are is it going good, Paul? I can't

imagine that prison really. And what

Paul is trying to say, it's really going

well. Like, I'm really trying to

convince you like don't please take me

at my word. But also really in this

sense like in amplitude like it has

really served to a to amp up the gospel

and I think both are in view. How well

okay Paul how

well verse 13. It has become known

throughout the whole imperial guard and

to all the rest that my imprisonment and

when you see imprisonment here in this

section it's literally the word for

chains.

So he says um and to all the rest that

my chains

are for Christ. Um

the imperial guard uh what I want you to

think of is uh a bit of secret service

slash special forces. The word in Greek

is ptorian. This is Caesar's special

guard that that stayed in Rome full time

and they watched over not only him but

the Senate and whatever stuff that they

wanted protected.

History says 3,000 to upwards of 10,000

like elite soldiers out of the Roman

legions are these guys. Um they are guys

who would spend more time in the pub. I

don't know if they had pubs then. Um

then church and Paul gets to be chained

to one of them for three to four hour

shifts all day every day.

So think about it. Paul's there. He's

under house arrest. He's chained to one

of the guards and he's like, "H, what's

your name?

I got some stuff to tell you."

But when you read the end of the book of

Acts, uh Luke makes this comment. He

goes, and Paul was not hindered from

receiving guests daytoday. So, not only

would the direct conversation between

Paul and one of the guards been like,

"Well, if you died today, where do you

go?"

But they would have heard him pray for

people, share the gospel with other

people, answer questions, and day after

day, shift after shift, be like, "All

right, see uh Romulus, I don't know. Do

you know Roman names? Romulus is the

guard, right?" He leaves and here comes

Bill and I'm right I'm adding Roman

names.

Hi Bill. Good to see you.

And he gets to share with another guy.

Think about this. God's like, I need to

get I need to get the gospel into the

very heart of Roman power.

How am I going to do it? I'm going to

put my best evangelist, missionary, and

church planter in prison and have him

tied to Ptorian guards.

You wouldn't have thought of that. I

wouldn't have. And that's what he does.

It really has served.

Why? There's nothing can hinder the

gospel. Have joy.

It's also done something else. Look at

verse 14.

Paul goes on. He says, "And most of the

brothers, having become confident in the

Lord by my chains, my imprisonment, are

much more bold to speak the word without

fear." One little comment about the word

most. Um, do you believe that the Bible

is accurate?

Do you believe that this book is

trustworthy?

Do you believe that the book that we

have in our hands is the accurate um

representation copies through the years

of what was written in the first

century?

You should, and here's another example

of why. If this book was propaganda, you

wouldn't have read the word most.

You would have read the word all.

But he says most why do I why do I

highlight this one to give you

confidence

because this wouldn't have happened

otherwise but also it's true to life.

What I mean is during difficult

circumstances one of two things happen

depending on who you are. During

difficult circumstances some people

press forward and some people do what?

Shrink back.

So here's Paul. He's in prison. The

other people what he's referring to in

the church in Rome are looking at Paul

and some people are getting motivated

and other people are like,

man, I don't I don't want to end up in

prison like Paul.

But notice what God has done. God at the

same time is like, all right, here's

what I'm going to do. I'm going to get

the gospel to the very heart of Roman

power and I'm going to encourage the

church at the same time.

It's amazing what he can do. Why?

Nothing can hinder the gospel. Nothing.

It's not all great. Look at verse 15.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and

rivalry,

but others from goodwill. The latter do

it out of love, knowing that I'm put

here for the defense of the gospel. The

former proclaimed Christ out of selfish

ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to

afflict me in my chains.

What then? Verse 18, only that in every

way, whether in pretense or in truth,

Christ is proclaimed, and in that I

what?

Rejoice.

Apparently, here's what's going on. This

is fascinating to me. There were some

guys there in Rome who were like, "You

know what? I'm going to make it hard on

Paul. So, I'm going to start preaching

the message that Paul preached." What?

That's your plan?

Um, he mentions some people right

motives. They're preaching the gospel.

And here's what's odd to me. Paul

doesn't call him on the carpet. He's

like, "Hey, your motives are bad. You

need to correct yourself."

Seems as though at least in this case,

as long as the message is getting out

accurately, appropriately, it's the

right gospel.

He's like, "Let it fly."

Now, is he saying that motives don't

matter? No. Just read 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. God is going to judge all of

us less on what we did and more on the

reason why we did it. Our motives will

be brought to light. So, it's not that

God is is is winking at motives.

But he's like, "Man, let's let's get the

gospel out. Let's get the gospel out.

Let's get the gospel out." When I read

this passage this week, I immediately

thought of some folks in our country who

are preachers who I wish weren't

preachers.

You probably have those names in your

head, right?

Well, as long as the right gospel is

getting out, here's my position. I'm

going to let Jesus deal with that guy.

He doesn't answer to me.

But Paul's like, "Man, the gospel's

getting out. Let it go. This is

amazing." Again, you and I, we would

have never thought of this. God's like,

"Yeah, and I'm going to use people with

I almost said a bad word. Garbage

motives

to get the gospel out. Why? Nothing.

Nothing can hinder it. Nothing can

hinder it." Let me ask you a question.

back to the point about um how we do

when difficulty comes

in general. Are you the kind of person

when difficulty in your faith comes you

press forward

or when difficulty for your faith comes

you shrink back?

Which person would you like to be?

Here's the thing I want to note and tie

it to joy.

Culturally, we live in this hustle,

grind, just get up earlier, do your

Andrew Huberman routine and all the

rest. If you don't get that reference,

just YouTube Andrew Huberman

and it's all on you.

Well, just do better. Just try harder.

Just pick yourself up. Come on. Grind.

Hustle.

How do you actually do it? This is the

paradox. It's actually joy.

Last week we mentioned Nehemiah 18. The

joy of the Lord is your what? Strength.

Strength.

Why? Because grind and hustle will only

get you so far until the Lord shows up

with a challenge that will be too hard

for you. That you can't grind your way

through. You can't hustle your way

through. Why? So you and I can hit our

knees and be like, "I need you.

It's too big for me." And when he shows

up, get what you guess what you get to

do? Rejoice.

I have a God in heaven who's bigger than

this thing. Even though I'm small, he's

not. Joy.

Do you see it?

One of the things like you like me um I

don't generally like enjoy difficulty by

and large I tend to avoid it as much as

I can. Um and one of the things I do to

help me spiritually is I get this

magazine

from the Voice of the Martyrs. Raise

your hand if you've seen this or

familiar with this. Go online, go to

Voice of the Martyrs and and sign up for

the magazine. It's super encouraging.

Why? Because you get to read usually two

or three very Paullike stories of our

brothers and sisters around the world

dealing with what they're dealing with.

And it encourages my heart. So, this

this issue, which just I got in the

mail, had this family highlighted in it.

Uh Isabella and Edgar are the parents

and they are uh Colombian and they live

in rural Colombia. And what had happened

is the Lord had gotten a hold of their

heart for their relatively poor village

and they started helping people

practically food and jobs and making

ends meet. And the next thing they knew

is all these people that they were

helping were just showing up their house

wanting to hang out. like why are you

the way you are? And then over years a

church sprouted up and they became the

pastors and they're leading all these

people in their rural village. The

problem came when the local like the

area in Colombia where they are is it's

not like government like um law

enforcement, it's uh militia gerilla

paramilitary in the area. So they they

show up at their house and say, "We're

in charge here. You need to pay us

basically a protection fee, like a mafia

shakedown kind of thing." And Isabella

and Edgar are like, "We will not do

that."

And they're like, "Well, you're dead."

And they had been praying before, but

the Lord impressed upon their hearts at

that point, "You really need to pray."

And so what started to tend to happen

for Isabella is she would get awoken at

midnight, 1 in the morning, and she

would pray on into the night.

And here's what happened.

Is Isabella's midnight prayer times

became a source of strength throughout

the community. During a week when she

had not gotten up to pray, a neighbor

knocked on her door. We didn't hear you

pray last night. She told Isabella, "We

need you to wake up and pray because

your prayer is what inspires us to

pray."

Gets better. At one point, Isabella had

a dream of a strong demon attacking

their house. She awakened Edgar and they

prayed fervently until 6:00 a.m. In the

thin morning light, they went outside

and saw that their wooden roof had

collapsed.

A few days later, a stranger came to

their door. She identified herself as a

fellow Christian. She was also the

sister of a neighborhood witch doctor

who had repeatedly tried to lay a

supposed curse on Edgar and Isabella.

The stranger informed Isabella that her

brother had died two days earlier, the

night of the demon attack.

Well, that's not suburban America.

Or do we just not notice it?

Isabella asks, "Why are you coming to

tell me this?"

Because there has to be evidence that

darkness can't win against the light.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing can hinder the

gospel.

Nothing.

Do you believe that?

Have joy.

No matter what the difficulty, whatever

the challenge is,

nothing can hinder the gospel.

Let me ask you, do you have folks in

your life who you've had the thought

like, man, they're never going to

change.

They're never going to believe what I

believe. They're still going to be

antagonistic to what I believe.

Have joy.

Nothing. I promise you, nothing can

hinder the gospel.

Have you ever thought like, "Oh man, I

could not be bold in whatever way that

you would think of boldness at your

company, on your street, on your kids'

team, or you yourself, at your school,

have joy.

Nothing can hinder the gospel."

If

Paul in prison, what we are to see is if

like if God can do that through him

there, what can hinder him from where he

has you right now? What's the answer?

Nothing.

Have joy.

Believe it. I promise he's with you in

it. I promise he can do more than you

can ask or imagine.

And do not believe the lie that oh in

the next season or once this gets

handled or once we get to this position

or no no procrastination is a tool of

the enemy who wants to keep you right

where you are

believing like oh there will be a better

time. No you know what the best time is

right now.

Right now.

Do you believe it?

Do you believe it? Here's the second

truth. We have joy because our life can

bring honor to Jesus. Can bring honor to

Jesus. Look back at verse 18.

Paul says again, only that in every way,

whether in pretense or in truth, Christ

is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

And then he just doubles down. And yes,

I will rejoice. Why, Paul? Verse 19, for

or because

I know that through your prayers and the

help of the spirit of Jesus Christ, this

will turn out for my deliverance. As it

is my eager expectation and hope that I

will not at all be ashamed,

but that with full courage now as

always, Christ will be honored in my

body, whether by life or by death.

Paul's been praying.

The Philippians have been praying

and it seems as though Paul has gotten

this sense from the Holy Spirit that

like, hey, you're going to get out.

Which is interesting cuz in the first

century Roman judicial system, it wasn't

like, all right, yeah, you got two

years, you're probably going to hit

parole in a year. You know what it was

like in prison in the first century? You

get to go in there. When are you getting

out?

No idea if you're going to get out at

all.

And either someone's just going to knock

on your door randomly. All right, you

can leave. Or they're going to knock on

your door and be like, "Time for your

execution."

Paul has no promise as to the future.

But as he's been praying, he's like,

"Man, I feel like God's telling me I'm

going to get out." Now, think about you

in that instance. What would you do in

your imprisonment if you got this sense

like I'm getting out of here?

That's exactly what you'd focus on.

That's what I'd focus on. Kickback just

waiting waiting for me to get out.

What's Paul worried about? I just want

to make sure that I bring no shame when

he says that I would not at all be

ashamed. What he's saying is that I

wouldn't bring shame to the Lord.

Why? Because at the end of the day, what

I want to do with my life is I want to

honor him.

And again, this I love Paul's honesty.

But Paul, why are you confident? Is

because you're such a great guy and it's

because you just know all these great

things and God has downloaded this

theological understanding to you? No.

What does he say in verse 19? For I know

that through your prayers

and the help of the spirit, the Holy

Spirit, Paul, what's your like, don't

look at me. I'm nobody special. He's

like, the only reason I can do this is

you guys are praying and I feel like the

Holy Spirit is with me.

And then he says verse 21,

what like what's beneath all this, Paul?

Well, he says, "For me, to live is

Christ

and to die is gain."

What I've come to believe is at the end

of the day there there's there's really

living this life for Jesus and what he

says and what he wants for me. And I'm

just trying to obey him. I just get up

every morning. It's like, "Okay, Jesus,

what are we doing today?" And I'm just

trying to do that. And guess what? If I

die, winner winner chicken dinner.

It's It's in the Greek.

That's what he says.

He says, "I win. So, how do I lose on

this deal? I don't."

Which is why he says in verse 10, "And I

guess what? I'm going to rejoice.

I'm going to rejoice."

Um, do you like going to the hospital?

Uh, no.

Certainly not as a patient.

It's not much better going as a visitor,

is it?

Like I don't like going. There's not

many people It's like, "Yep, got to go

to the hospital. Can't wait."

In my line of work, I've been quite a

bit more than I ever would want. So,

I've gotten over it just a tad, but I

still don't like it.

Several years ago, a couple in the

church reached out to me because they

had a one-month-old

who needed heart surgery,

open heart surgery on a one-mon-old.

That was hard day.

Or so I thought.

I got to the hospital and I'm visiting

with the couple and they just have like

scripturally it's a peace which passes

all understanding is the phrase. What

does that mean? A peace that makes no

earthly sense. Like how are you not

coming apart at the seams when your

one-month-old is about to have open

heart surgery?

It's a piece that you can't make sense

except for the grace of the Lord Jesus.

and I'm visiting with them.

They're telling me everything that's

going on. So, we pray a good long while

over the baby and over them. And

something happened as soon as I said

amen that I was not expecting.

The couple after we say amen says,

"Okay, Eric, now we need to go to the

next room." I was like, "What do you

mean?" Well, see, there's a couple in

there and their baby is just as bad off

as ours, but they don't have anyone

coming to pray for them.

So, Eric, we need to go and pray for

them.

I was at a wedding this weekend and I

just happened to be sitting at a table

at the rehearsal dinner with a doctor

who is a neonatlogist.

Okay, just God works out things

amazingly. I was when when I heard she

was a neoatlogist. I'm like, "Oh, I'm

gonna tell a story on Sunday about this

experience I had." And she goes, "Yeah."

Um, those folks usually are there for

weeks and months at a time, and no one

else really understands what they're

going through, so they usually form

pretty strong bonds.

And so, off I go into the next room.

There was not a peace that passes all

understanding in there.

And so I got to with this couple who has

their own big challenge and big

difficulty be there for this other

family such that I could pray for them

and we all prayed over them. How do you

how do you do that? How do you do that?

Because you care more about honoring

Jesus in the moment than your own

difficulty. As hard and gut-wrenching as

it may be,

here's what's true about your life and

my life. We're all honoring something.

Our calendar honors something. Our

spending honors something. Our hopes and

dreams honor something. Our fears honor

something.

What do you want to honor?

Man, it's an invitation every day. Get

up and be like, just whatever this looks

like for you, verse 20, for me to live

is Christ and to die is gain. And most

of us, we're not going to have life and

death situations, right? But it's going

to feel like, okay, there's going to be

risk in whatever Jesus is going to say

to live for me. Will you do it?

How do you do it? Well, what do you want

to honor?

What do you want to honor,

man? I really want to honor God in my

neighborhood. I really want to honor God

on this team. I really want to honor God

where he has me for 40, 50, 60 hours a

week.

How would you want to honor him if you

were to pray that prayer? God, what does

it look like for me to honor you in this

season,

as a spouse, as a parent,

have joy.

Paul does. He's like, I will rejoice.

Why? Because that's your life can bring

honor to Jesus. And that's what he

wants.

Last point, we have joy because our life

can bear fruit in others. Look at verse

22.

He says, "If I am to live in the flesh,

that means fruitful

labor for me. Yet which shall I choose?

I cannot tell. I'm hardpressed between

the two. My desire is to depart and be

with Christ, for that is far better. But

to remain in the flesh is more necessary

on your account." Again, I just love the

honesty of Paul. He's like, "Look, I'm

genuinely wrestling." He's like, "I like

y'all. I do." But if Jesus is like,

"Hey, time to come home." He's like,

"See you later."

And he's like, "I'm torn. I'm torn." But

he goes again, "I've been praying and I

feel like the Holy Spirit says I'm

staying."

Why?

Well, because if I'm here on this

planet, it means God has something good

for me to do.

That he has fruitful labor for me. Not

just to mark time, not just to right,

eat groceries and call it a day.

He's like, he's got fruitful labor for

me

and that's a blessing to you. So, I'm

like, man, I'm in.

And then he finishes.

He says, "Convinced of this, I know that

I will remain and continue with you all

for your progress and what?

Joy in the faith,

so that in me you may have ample cause

to glory in Christ Jesus because of my

coming to you again."

We're not sure how this works out, but

the best guess is when Paul writes

Philippians, he's in the Roman prison

and it likely he gets out at some point

given what he just says and he's able to

visit, but then he gets rearrested back

in Rome and then he gets executed.

That's the best way we think the history

goes. The book of Acts is unclear. Um,

but his hope, like again, think about

it. He's in prison. He's like, "Man,

I'd really like to go and be with Jesus,

to be honest with you,

but I don't think that's in the cards.

I'm wrestling it down, but I think I'm

going to hang out so I can come see and

encourage you so you guys have joy." And

he goes, "I'm good with that."

And I can imagine that the Philippians

as they get this letter are like,

"Sweet. We get to see Paul again,

our first pastor, first guy to share

Jesus with us,

but yet he stays in prison.

This week I was having a conversation

with a member of our church who um

let's call him Francisco.

Someone brought up elf to me the other

day, so I have the name Francisco

on my mind. All the people I leave

anonymous in my stories of you all I

will now name Francisco.

So this is a Francisco story.

But um what tends to happen um not

frequently but you know that happens is

when you put people together sometimes

wait for it even in church there's

conflict. I know I know surprise to me

too.

and me and Francisco were talking about

some conflict that he was dealing with.

He didn't know what to do. Here's a

situation kind of complicated because

it's always complicated and this person

said this and this person did this and

this person reacted this way and d and

we're walking through it and I'm like

this is a mess

on the inside.

And uh I was like okay well that makes

sense. What have you done? You've had

this conversation. Okay, great. you

know, all right, let me know how that

goes. You know, and then he gets he gets

a huge smile on his face. He goes, "Ah,

but don't worry about that, Eric. Um,

let me tell you what he he serves uh

with our kids and students."

And he goes, "These past nine months

since Lake View has started, let me tell

you all that God has done." And he

starts like the next 10 minutes cuz

Francisco can talk. All right? and

Francisco.

And one thing I'll pull out for you guys

to hear is he said, um, as a dad myself,

I realized that God had placed in me as

I raised up my kids ways to explain

Jesus. And he was so excited about the

Trinity. I NOW HAVE THIS GREAT TRINITY

EXPLANATION.

And he goes on, he goes, he goes, "And

you can't imagine what happened last

Sunday. this one kid who wasn't getting

it and told me to don't worry about it.

And

I am so thankful.

I am so thankful for what I get to do

now.

And me, I'm still over on the like,

well, what are we going to do about

these people that can't get along? He's

like, ah, don't worry about them.

Even in the midst of difficulty.

Even in the midst of difficult.

It applies to each and every one of us.

For we,

everyone who names the name of Jesus,

are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand

that we should walk in them.

What fruitful labor

would you like to be a part of?

The church is an allplay institution.

No one sits the bench.

And as your brother, I'm going to

lovingly

encourage you regularly

that if you are in the stands watching

or on the bench sitting that the game is

available for you. Why? Because there is

fruit, not just labor,

not just well, we got to do we got to

make widgets.

Fruitful labor that brings honor to the

Lord. Are you doing it? Do you know what

it is?

There is no greater joy that I have than

seeing people like come alive and like

I'm doing the thing like Francisco.

what God has wired him to do in this

season.

Do you know what that is?

If you wonder if right now the Holy

Spirit's like, "Man, you got to get in

the game. Go to the connect card.

Shoot us a note." Well, let's hope.

Last thing I want you to notice and then

we're done.

Satan thought

that he was winning.

Satan thought that when he had Paul put

in prison, Satan thought like, "Good, I

got that guy off the field."

Notice what happened. Satan actually

helped God accelerate

what God wanted to do.

Why? Because the more Satan tries to

grab and squeeze,

more gospel stuff just starts happening

all over the place. It's like trying to

grab oil.

The same way that at the cross,

Satan thinks he's winning.

When he's nailing Jesus to the wooden

beams,

what's he actually doing? He's nailing

his own coffin.

I think we can have joy

because I think God's got this thing

and you and I can honor him and bear

fruit.

And last week at Mother's Day,

who knows what's coming.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your

goodness and kindness to us. Thank you

for your word again today. I pray that

you would continue

to grab a hold of each and every one of

our hearts, what it is that you have for

us in this season. For those of us that

are currently in difficulty and joy is a

struggle, would you by grace

help us to see the joy that you have for

us.

Thank you that the cross is finished,

that the tomb is empty, and King Jesus

reigns.

And we declare that it is far better

to go home, but between this day and

that day, would we bear fruit.

We thank you that we've been invited

into the game.

And we ask it in Jesus name. And

everyone said, "Amen.