Pastor Brodie | Unstoppable Church | May 25th, 2025

That's a lot of talking going on.

You don't need that much convincing that you look good today.

It's just just gotta look good.

Like that color on you.

You look sharp today.

Your new haircut.

You're in your Sunday best.

God made if if you're really struggling, just say God made you unique, just the way you are.

And that's you.

I'm so glad you just got up and got here today.

I'm glad you made it.

Uh today we're sharing on the unstoppable church.

When you say unstoppable, the unstoppable church.

Come on, let's say that one more time.

The unstoppable.

Unstoppable church.

That's right.

How many of you know that the message, the mission, the person cannot be stopped?

The message, the gospel, seems craziness to the world, but to those who believe, we know it's the power of God that provides salvation to all who believe.

How many of you have received that gift of salvation?

How many of you are celebrating that gift of salvation today?

What a huge win for each one of us who made that decision to serve and follow Christ.

We discover it's like a cheat code to life.

It's just like we've been living without this the whole time.

You knew about this, this message of the gospel.

You don't have to live life alone, but that there's someone there to take you by the hand who knows the way to go and will lead you to life, and not just a life, but life abundant.

Amen.

Isn't that a good thing?

It's the good news.

Turn to your neighbor and just give them a big smile and say, It's good news.

Yeah, that's right.

It's good news.

Good news today.

That's why we have to have a smile on our face.

Because we serve a God of good news.

He's a good news God.

Father, we thank you today for your word.

We thank you for this opportunity to share it and celebrate it together.

We thank you, Lord, for the for the cross of Christ.

Lord, that our sin and our failure and our past, our habits, and our hangups and all those things that have that held us back can be left at the cross.

And we can pursue this new purpose that you've given each and every one of us.

And we can pursue it with passion because it leads to life.

Lord, today we desire to go deeper into your heart, Lord, and discover the secrets that are in your life, your heart towards us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Awesome.

Well, the unstoppable church is a church that just won't stop because of it just won't stop.

It's like people are like, what's the message?

It's what's the theme?

Unstoppable church.

What does that mean?

It's just unstoppable.

It just can't stop.

And it just won't stop.

And so that is the message because we serve a God who is and has already done everything that we need to keep on going.

In the middle of this experience, however, the question rises, and this is where we're going to focus today, whether the unstoppable church will ever experience suffering or setback.

And in those times of suffering or setback, because you said, I'm the church.

This building is not the church.

This building is a building.

We are the church.

We are the body of Christ.

We represent God's kingdom here on this earth.

Together collectively, we are his ambassadors to this world of his kingdom, of heaven first.

And you say, well, then we experience suffering.

We experience pressure.

We experience obstacles.

So what do we do with those?

And how do we frame our mindset for when those experiences will come?

Because that is one guarantee in our life that you will experience pressure and setback.

You will experience that in your lifetime.

So can joy and suffering really coexist?

It's a big question.

I don't encourage you to say that at an intimate dinner meeting with your wife.

Can joy and suffering really coexist?

Like, what are you trying to say here?

Like, I love you, but I feel like I'm suffering at the same time, and yet there's a joy in the middle of it.

Is this like a marriage?

No, this isn't marriage marriage weekend.

This is life.

We have joy in one hand and we have suffering in the other.

We live in a time of that tension between the joy and the suffering, and most of us have been trained either one way or another to see life from a perspective that you're either thriving and surviving or you're surviving.

You're either uh left blessed or you're left burdened.

You're left with a lot in abundance or you're left in scarcity.

And you're left shrinking or you're left uh growing and living with that, with that overflow.

And so we want to look today about God's purpose for the church and in that purpose of the church, how we frame our mindset when we come across points of suffering.

And the best time to talk about suffering is when you're not suffering, to prep you for the time of suffering.

So I'm saying everything's good with the church, everything's good with us, everything's good in our world here.

In fact, we have a bright future ahead of us.

Everything is doing is going really well, but in the day where suffering comes, how are we going to frame ourselves to be able to position ourselves so that when that day comes, we stand as overcomers and not as the victim.

We stand as the victors.

When a child trains, and early this morning we had a basketball game at Flex Academy, and our our our kids were playing some teams, and one of the guys in their team, you know how it is, basketball?

There's 13-year-olds, and then there's the 13-year-old.

And he's got like a full beard and size 14 shoes, and he just stands under the net, puts his hands up, and there was a big boy on that court today, and I was like, How are you gonna deal with that?

Like, our kids are like, come on, boys, you can grow.

Will we ever grow?

I don't know, but you're coming, and it's like, come on, let's go.

But you know what they did is they trained to deal with a big boy in the middle.

They learned how to be better shooters from the outside because everyone who went in got crushed.

So you learn how to deal with the pressure before the pressure comes.

So we learned last week that the God, that God not only uses the cross to save us, but he uses the church to place us.

And I love that message last week.

How many of you loved that message last week?

That is definitely one on repeat.

That there's a the cross was there to save us, but the church, God saved us to put us into the church, to place us in the church so that we could become stronger together.

Because he understood that days ahead might have challenges.

What if I told you that some of the most unstoppable people on the planet aren't the ones with the fewest problems, they're the ones with the deepest roots.

The ones with the deepest roots are the ones that are unstoppable.

And I'd like to take a moment and take us back to Paul and Silas.

For those of you who know the story, you might recall it quickly, but for those of you who don't, he they were they were imprisoned in the darkest, in the center cell, hands stalked, legs stalked, they were whipped, they were beaten, they were sitting in that center place, and at midnight they decided, how are we going to respond?

Because we're in the middle of a suffering spot, and they chose, even though they were beaten, even though they were bruised, even though they were shackled, they chose not to whine and say, God, where are you?

They chose to praise God in the middle, and they knew in that moment that if they pushed through their praise, that God would come through and worship songs, come off the stone walls, bounce off the stone cell, and that's not normal to do.

It's supernatural to turn your spirit towards heaven and to look up when things look down.

It's not natural.

How many of you have ever had a friend who's uh you're going through a real tough time?

They're like, come on, cheer up.

Come on, you can do it.

It's like, no, I can't.

And you try and convince them that you that it's impossible.

I don't know what to do.

And they're like, we can get through this together.

We're in a pit.

Yeah, but we're in a pit together.

We're both in the pit, and that makes it better.

And it's like, well, I don't know.

Those people are just like, they'll kill you with positivity.

How many of you have got a friend like that?

How many of you are grateful for a friend like that?

Send you an emoji.

I'm going through a real tough day, and they send you an emoji back.

Fire, fire, fire.

Let's go.

You got this.

It's like, I they don't even know my problem.

But but they're all in.

They're all in for me.

Acts chapter 16, verse 25 talks about their unstoppable spirit, and it was fueled by worship, and it was fueled with joy in the middle of adversity.

Acts 16:25

Acts chapter 16, 25 says, About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying, singing hymns to God, and other prisoners were listening in on this.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

How many of you know there's a moment in time where that point of pressure will make a difference for those in the room?

And even those in the other room.

A lot of people say, What's your what's your book on parenting?

And I'm like, just live, live out loud.

And your kids will pick up on it.

Your kids will see it.

What do you do when you're in trouble?

They'll hear it, they'll watch it, they'll see it.

How many of you know that kids see, hear, touch, feel like they're that they're listening.

My daughter has ears she could hear through like four walls.

Mention her name in a whisper.

I know you're talking about me.

It's like, how do you know?

No, we're not.

I know you're lying.

How does she know?

Because we were.

Here's the big idea today.

That place where Paul and Silas were imprisoned, in the place of deepest adversity, in the place of deepest pressure, the place where they turned to God was the place where the church was birthed in Philippi.

The church wasn't birthed from an Airbnb, it wasn't birthed from a big cathedral.

The church was birthed from a prison cell.

When the most pressure was on, that's the place where the church got birthed because the church itself is unstoppable.

And that message and that story, we learn more about it, and we'll learn more about it here today.

But one of the biggest ideas today is that adversity doesn't eliminate joy, it exposes the source of your joy.

A lot of people use adversity, adversity to tear themselves to adversity to remove that spark in their life instead of exposing where that spark is from.

And so when you turn to joy, in the place of pressure, there's a change.

And uh, though the world may be shaking, and though everything else might be trembling, our foundation is on the rock of Jesus.

And that's a foundation that will not be shaken and cannot be moved.

And we can have confidence and trust that God is with us.

And so if you're shaking today, just remember where you're standing.

You're standing on the rock of Christ, and that rock is a firm foundation.

We should break into song.

He's my firm foundation.

Psalm 46, 2 says, Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, he is our rock.

So let's look at this first uh point today.

Joy is rooted in internal, in internal values, not external circumstances.

Philippians chapter 4, verse 4, Paul reminds the church, he says this.

Philippians 4:4

He says, Rejoice.

Would you all say rejoice?

Rejoice in the Lord.

How often?

Always.

And again, I say, rejoice.

So if you have to walk around going, what should I pray today?

What should I do today?

I'm feeling kind of off.

What do you do?

Rejoice.

What's the practice of that?

You rejoy, you find your joy again, you come back to joy.

Rejoy in the Lord.

Always.

Again, I say, rejoy.

Rejoy again.

Come back to joy, come back to joy, come back to joy.

Because joy in a saint, joy in someone who's found their joy in the Lord, it will make you an unstoppable person.

You cannot take my joy.

Why?

Because you didn't give it to me.

The Lord gave it to me.

So how can you steal my joy?

Why are you smiling?

Because I have the Lord.

But you're in the middle of a fight.

It doesn't matter.

I've got him.

Have you ever been in a fight with someone smiling at you?

It's kind of intimidating.

It's like I hit him and he just smiles bigger.

Eyes get bigger.

Yeah, you got this.

I'm coming, but I hit you.

Yeah, but I'm getting the last one.

The last one's all that matters.

And I've got something, I've got a strength that can stand beyond the fight.

Because the joy of the Lord becomes my strength.

It carries me on.

An unstoppable church is a church that is rooted and fueled by joy.

Rejoice.

Hebrews chapter 1, 9 says this, you've loved righteousness, hated wickedness.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

And this is uh God, uh this is Luke talking about Jesus.

And he says, Therefore, God your God set you above your companions, and he anointed you with the oil of joy.

So Jesus himself was anointed with the oil of joy above anyone else.

A lot of people have their view of Jesus, and that's why I love the chosen series, and the the parts of it that I've watched of the chosen series, I see like uh they call him the laughing Jesus, the smiling Jesus.

Is that I don't believe Jesus was like walking around like, what am I gonna do today?

How am I ever gonna face this issue?

He oh man, I I don't feel like he was tripping over himself.

In fact, I think Jesus was walking around going, You think you think you have me in a corner, don't you?

And he walked with a joy in him that was above everyone else.

When he walked into a room, it wasn't solemn, it wasn't like dreary, it wasn't a dirge, it was magnetic in his contagion.

He walked into a room, he had joy in his heart, had an energy that the world couldn't take away.

And it was sustaining him, it sustained those around him, and it drew people in.

The joy comes from God.

It's anointing, it's a it's a spirit of joy.

I love people who are anointed with joy.

After a while, it's just like my cheeks get sore laughing with them and hanging out with them.

I love the joy of the Lord.

Amen.

I love the joy.

The church should be a joyful place in the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord.

Let me just give you an illustration here of the difference between uh some people as they come to church or approach church.

Some people come in and they come in as the thermometer in the church.

They come as the church and they're like, okay, what am I gonna face?

And how is what I'm going to face affect my temperament?

Like what's happening in the room is what actually affects me.

You're the thermometer, you're you're the thermometer.

You're feeling what's in the room.

Other people come into the room as the thermostat.

They set the temperature and they're like, I'm gonna go into this room and I'm gonna shift it, I'm gonna shift the climate, I'm gonna shift the environment, and because of who it is I'm carrying and what it is I'm a part of, I'm a part of the church.

Therefore, the church is unstoppable, therefore, there isn't an issue that we cannot face.

There isn't an issue we can't overcome and an obstacle we can't come through.

That's the power of an individual.

That's the power of an individual found in Christ.

And I love that that reality that says, you know, I'm gonna set the temperature.

Uh, watching the boys play basketball, they go into defensive mode because the ball turns around and all of a sudden they put on defense.

But there's a difference between a team that becomes defensive, okay, guys, hold ground and we'll just manage whatever's coming at us, versus a defense that says, hold ground, I'm going to take offensive defense and control the state of the game from the defensive space.

Now, a lot of you might be like, what's he talking?

Poof.

It's like, Professor, stop.

This isn't working for us, this basketball analogy.

But it's the idea that a defensive player can be an offensive player.

We don't have to live under the the pressure that's coming at us.

We can decide the temperature of that space and our response to it.

And if it's if it's offensive, it can be offensive, and we're a part of an unstoppable church.

So joy isn't just a perk, it's power.

And it's something, it's a well that we have within us that the world cannot touch.

We live with that strength.

Number two, adversity is part of the experience.

Philippians 1.29, we'll just uh see if we can put that on the board.

If not, listen closely.

Philippians 1.29 says this, for it has been granted to you not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.

It has been granted to you, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.

This is a gift, and Paul's saying, This is a gift you get.

This is a privilege you have.

Imagine this.

You've been granted the gift of suffering.

How many of you are like, Oh God, I've had enough?

More of the other gifts, please.

But God gives us the gift of suffering.

He says, I'm gonna give you an opposition because I know I'm gonna give you someone who's gonna oppose you.

I'm gonna give you something that's gonna be a challenge to you because I've given you something stronger in you.

You've got to learn to tap into it to be able to overcome that opposition.

Without the opposition, like in James, it says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you experience every kind of tribulation and trouble, because you know that it works out perseverance and patience, and good character develops in you, endurance.

Wow, it's resounding.

That'll be our prayer tonight.

Lord, give us, grant us more suffering.

Grant us not only the joy, but grant us the challenge.

The challenge is a gift.

Greek scholars said the word grant means it's a grace.

They say that word grant, you have been graced with it.

It's like a crown upon you.

You've been given this privilege to suffer, Brian.

Yeah.

Thank you, Lord.

I'm not talking about like martyrdom or anything like that.

I'm saying this is this is a a gift that we've been given to experience a challenge.

In the middle of the challenge, what are you gonna do?

How will you be tested?

How what will come out of you?

When you're squeezed, what comes out?

Is it the joy?

There's modern examples of the messages that are coming out of places like Iran right now.

And the Iranian church is blowing up.

It's just like awesome.

It's uh there's persecution, but the church is growing.

And they said this, they said, adversity exposes the fake and fuels the faithful.

And they don't see it as a hardship or as a hindrance, but a filter.

And their joy is unshakable.

So when you pray, pray not that the storm will pass, pray that your strength gets so great that you can manage the storm when the storm comes.

Say, Lord, would you help make me stronger in this moment?

Would you help strengthen us in this moment to be able to have that unshakable faith?

Because Paul and Silas, as I alluded to earlier, they're in prison.

The result of that experience is that they're worshiping in the cell, they're singing songs at midnight, the midnight playlist.

I wonder what it was.

They're singing the songs, they're beaten, they're bruised, they're shackled, they're in the darkness, people are all around them, and they're singing their hearts out to God.

And all of a sudden, an angel like the place begins to shake.

And I don't know what happened in that moment.

I'd like to know what happened in that moment, but all of a sudden, every door, every prison door blew open.

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

All the shackles broke free from every prisoner, and they were free in that moment.

And I just wonder what God is trying to tell us in that moment.

He's trying to tell us in the middle of your deepest place, in darkest place, turn to God, turn to him, thank him for the trouble, thank him for the place that you're in.

Put your trust in him and let him deal with the pressure, let him deal with the pain, with the prison.

And he set them free.

And the result of it was the jailer came back thinking he was, everyone had escaped, but no one, because of the awe of God in that moment, no prisoner even left their cell.

Not one person left.

And the prisoner was going to kill himself because he had he would have been accused of abandoning his duty.

And Paul stops him and says, Don't, don't, don't do anything hasty.

Everyone's here.

Don't worry about it.

And at that moment, not only the jailer, but the jailer's whole family came to know Christ and this is started establishing the church of Philippi.

There's a power in that place of prayer, in that place of joy.

Joy moves people, it moves people up.

When we talk about Philippi in the book of Philippians, is that letter to that church of Philippi?

They're under intense persecution.

And Paul continues to tell them the joy up.

And we kind of use that acronym, UP, as an acronym under pressure.

Joy under pressure.

And where do you go?

You look up.

When you're under pressure, where do you go?

You look up.

Joy under pressure.

And that that place of joy will impact the community in the place where you're at.

And as they were as they were saying, the prisoners heard the prison, the prison guard came came and uh welcomed Christ into his home and into his family.

But that greatest moment and that greatest place of ministry not only affected him, Paul, and Silas, but affected everyone in that prison.

It's contagious.

So your midnight praise, your place of turning to God in pre in and under pressure, your place of tapping into that unstoppable strength that builds the church will make a difference for those people maybe down the row from you.

Watching you, seeing how you're managing in that difficult place.

Are you gonna lose your joy?

Or is your joy fixed on your paycheck?

Is your joy fixed on the economy?

Is your joy fixed on politics?

Is it is it is it fixed on things that are vain in your education and things like that?

How many of you know that's huge disruptions happening in the world today?

Like people who went to school for years and years and years are being replaced by a robot.

Things are happening in the world today, they're gonna affect people's joy center.

And we're gonna have to be able to have us uh have a case in our heart that says, no matter what happens, where is my joy found?

My joy is found in him.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoy.

Find that joy.

Joy is our tool, not just a feeling.

Nehemiah 8 verse 10 says this the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10

Joy isn't a reward after the battle.

Joy is your weapon in the battle.

A lot of people think I'm gonna just be if we win, then I'll celebrate.

If I win, then I'll have joy.

And God's position on joy is go into the battle with joy.

It's a different perspective.

That's why he told the Israelis, uh, the Israelite army, he said to them, he said, shout before you go into battle, shout, God has given us the victory.

Well, the battle hasn't started yet, like the other team.

It hasn't, the war hasn't started.

No, God's already given it to us.

And that confidence is there that the Bible says that of the people that the Hebrew people were facing, the people who were giants in the land, it says their hearts melted like butter when they heard that they were coming.

Melted like wax, I should say.

They felt small compared to this giant that was coming against their per proverbial giant.

David, when he faced Goliath, it's an pretty impressive moment.

Here's a shepherd boy coming against a trained soldier, giant soldier, who's got someone who just carries his shield and someone who just carries his spear, fully garmented in like in armor, in warrior armor, and and David runs onto the field, probably with a smile on his face.

How do I know?

He called him an uncircumcised Philistine when he was running at him.

Get over here, you uncircumcised Philistine! Like, how like I just can't imagine the smack talk that that was like back in the day, Hebrew court talk.

It's like you're uncircumcised.

I can see it, small skirt.

I don't know what it was.

How he figured it out.

Get larger leggings.

Like he, I don't know what happened, but he's running onto the field and he's yelling at the go at Goliath.

He's yelling, I'm gonna feed you to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.

You're mine.

And he runs out there with a stone and a sling.

I'm gonna cut off your head.

How are you gonna cut off his head?

How?

You've got a stone and a sling.

The only person who has a sword is Goliath.

So whose sword is he gonna use?

Goliath goes to pick up his sword.

He's like, I'm gonna cut off your head with that.

What?

It's in my hand.

I've got you.

You thought you were, it's like, you thought you were coming after me, but you're trapped.

I got you.

That's powerful.

You think I'm in your prison, you're in mine.

It isn't just emotional to have joy.

It's not an emotion, it's not something of energy that just floats in and out of your life.

Like, I feel joy today.

These socks spark joy in my heart.

This meal is joyous.

It's not an emotion, it's not an energy that you feel, it's a person who you know, and it's a fabric of your heart that it's built on.

The foundation of it is the joy of him.

The joy, rejoice in the Lord.

In the Lord has a VI, it has a I was gonna see a V1P, that's my area code.

It has an area code.

Joy has an area code, it's found in the Lord.

Celebrate.

God has given us the victory.

First Corinthians 15, 57 says this, but thanks be to God, he has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God, he has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God, he's given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you, God, you've given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, emboldens me.

Thank you, Father, and there's no weapon formed against me that will prosper.

There's no place my child, my family, my spouse, or whatever it is, can go where your hand can't reach out and grab them and pull them home.

There's nothing that can separate us from your love for me, your care for me, you hold me, you know me, I'm in you, and because I'm in you, I have joy.

That the world around me could be shaken, and I've got you as my rock I'm standing on.

If you question this and go back in history and watch as Christians sang, walking into a Coliseum, walking into persecution, walking into a place where they knew that there was they had to stop killing the Christians because it wasn't a it wasn't a theater, it wasn't theater anymore.

It wasn't entertaining because they would they they'd worship God in the middle of it.

It's a different spirit.

I'm not saying we have it, I'm not saying I even have it.

It's something I'm learning.

That the church unstoppable is a church fueled by joy.

It's fueled by the joy of the Lord.

Find your joy, find that place, celebrate that joy.

Joy is a sign of life, not immature faith.

It's a sign of life.

A joyless church isn't holy, it's hurting as a church.

A church that has joy is a healthy church.

Come to church, come with joy.

If I don't see joy, I'm gonna be like, what's going on in your life?

What are you facing right now?

Because I know you're hurting.

Joy is healthy.

Pressure is a privilege.

Joy is our response.

Pressure is a privilege, a privilege.

Don't, don't, pressure, pressure doesn't silence us, it sharpens us, and we have ambitious like in our in our society here, we've got ambitious plans for this for this church.

We believe it's gonna make a difference for the world.

And we've got plans in motion, and it's ambitious, but we're under pressure.

And you know what?

Each day I'm like saying, Thank you, Lord, for the pressure.

Because out of that plate point of pressure, God, you're gonna birth something amazing.

You go into that.

But three, joy is our strength, not our side dish.

It's it's our it's our it's our life, it's our blood, it's in our spirit.

Some churches like some churches can like be carry the stress, but we want to carry the joy.

The church should be the funnest place in town.

How many of you know that you're sitting beside a fun person, a fun guy, or a mush, or never mind.

Some of you caught that.

Turn to your neighbor and say, You're a fun guy.

Our church brand is a big old mushroom.

No, don't go there, Batley.

Batley's like, don't let him run with it, he'll just go.

Put the brakes on.

Uh, but yeah, how many of you know it our life, our our life and our experience can't be shallow.

It uh joy doesn't make us shallow, it makes us magnetic.

It actually makes a difference.

Uh, Jesus, just for your info, his first miracle was turning water into wine.

Acts 2.46 says, when the the first church gathered, they gathered with glad and sincere hearts.

There was gladness, sincerity in their hearts.

And Jesus himself, when he talked about the kingdom, he always said, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto this, or the kingdom of God is likened unto this.

He said, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a banquet.

When you think of the kingdom of God, when you think of the church, it's not a boardroom, even though our board meetings are really fun.

It's a banquet.

It's a party.

We come to church, we come with celebration, we come with hearts that are full.

We come to a place, we laugh loud, we hug strong, we share honest tears, and we have unshakable and unstoppable joy that's in us.

That despite the situation, we're gonna stand strong because we're together in him.

I'm gonna stop there today.

I pray that this was a blessing for you.

Do you receive it today?

Amen.

Amen.

I love it.

Church is not a burden, church is a blessing.

Church is not uh a place where you have to sit back, it's a place where you can step in.

And uh we all come with our past, and we're all ex-somebodies, but God made us someone with a purpose and a plan, and he's gonna use your past to refine and define your future.

And so don't be concerned about what you came into this room with, be concerned on how you're walking out.

Those who were in prison walked in like with Paul and Silas, they thought Paul and Silas were just another one of the shackled.

They didn't know that they were the ones who were gonna set them free.

They didn't know that they were the ones who are gonna create liberty and and and uh freedom for them.

God has a purpose and a plan for each and every one of you.

And you can look at that plan and you can say, Well, God's plans for me, I'm not sure because I've had a really rough past.

It says, His plans for you are for good, for a future, for a hope, something that you look at and you're like, Oh my gosh, you have those plans for me, and you're within one decision, one moment of stepping into that place that God has for you.

You're not alone in this.

You've now got God with you, working through you and in you, supporting you, carrying you for his purpose to be declared in your life.

Man, how many of you are thankful for that today?

Aren't you grateful for that today?

Come on.

I hope you feel like man, I feel like I've just been pumping your tires.

You guys ready to explode?

You're gonna walk out of here like floating, like I've got joy.

I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart.

Stop, bro to your brakes on.

It's down in my heart.

No, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

The joy of the Lord is our strength, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice.

Thank you, Father, thank you, Father.

Would you stand with me today in honor of the Lord?

Would you stand and just receive the joy today?

Thank you, Father, thank you, Father, for your love for us, your care for us, the joy that is in you, that you provide to each and every one of us, that the world cannot touch, and the world cannot take away.

Thank you, Father.

We do not have to live under depression, under pain, under pressure, under oppression.

Father, we thank you for your love towards us that releases us and sets us free and provides freedom to each and everyone who's in this room today.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord, for victory.

Declare the victory of the Lord over your life, over your family, over your church, over your city, over this nation, over the purposes and the plans that God has for you.

We declare the victory we have because of you through Jesus Christ.

You made a way where there was no way.

You provided hope where there was no hope.

You provided care when there was no care.

And Lord, you provided a firm foundation for each and every one of us to stand upon today.

That despite the world's challenges, we can trust in you.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah.

We honor you today, Father.

Hallelujah.

If you're here today, perhaps you just found your way in this place.

And you're here and you're like, I want that joy, but it's found in the Lord, and you don't know Jesus today.

I want to pray a prayer with you.

Um, but and the congregation will pray along.

But if that's you today, just raise your hand really high, raise your hand really high.

I see that hand.

Anyone else?

Raise your hand high.

You want the joy that's found in the Lord.

Amen.

I see that hand.

Anyone else nice and high?

I see that hand there too.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

Father, today, would you just pray this prayer along with me today?

Pray with sincerity in your heart.

I accept you, Jesus, today, to come in my life.

I believe that you are the Son of God, and that you died on the cross, and you made a way for me, and I confess today that I've done wrong, that I am a sinner, and I accept today your forgiveness, and I accept my homecoming.

It's your family.

Amen.

Let's give the Lord a round of applause today.

And let's just take a moment and let's just worship the Lord together.

Let's just stay in that place of just thankfulness and thanksgiving.