We Celebrate the Goodness of God | Viny Costa

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

All right.

Good morning, church.

Good morning, family.

Good morning, you watching online.

Can we put our hands together for Jenna for this incredible, incredible testimony?

Thank you, Jenna, for sharing that with us.

Thank you for being so vulnerable.

On behalf of our pastors Keith and Megan, I would love to welcome you to the house of the Lord.

My name is Vini.

I am part of staff here at Celebration Orlando, and I feel so so privileged for being here this morning, sharing with you all a little bit of God's word this morning.

Thank you so much for coming.

Um we all know, we all know that when summer hits, lots of people travel.

So I just wanted to thank you for being faithful and for being here this morning.

Before I start, can I ask you a favor?

Are you here with me?

Okay, can I ask you for a favor?

Alright.

Would you help me preach this morning?

Uh, we had a challenging week.

Uh, myself and my wife.

Uh, Serena, our daughter, she had a surgery on Tuesday.

It was very simple, nothing, nothing crazy.

She just uh she got her her tonsils and adenoid removed.

But the recovery process is is brutal, and uh, because of that, we're not sleeping very well, so I feel a little bit tired uh this morning.

I know God renews our strength, but if you could do this with me, if you could help me preach this morning, you would give me that extra stamina.

I need to do this.

Deal?

Alright, this is week one of our series As We Gather.

We are very excited about this one, it will be four weeks long.

Um, has has anyone ever asked you what's your church all about?

And um, we have found that a great response to to that question would be we are all about Jesus, right?

But what does that mean, practically speaking?

Well, on the next four weeks, we will be talking about the four values of our church, the four pillars that makes us celebration church.

As we gather, we celebrate the goodness of God, as we gather, we engage the presence of God, as we gather, we believe in the power of God, and as we gather, we demonstrate the love of God.

Four weeks all in June, and we believe it will be great for all of us to grow in our relationship with God, and also for us to know more about our core values.

Cool, all right.

I would love to invite you to open up your Bibles or turn on, turn your Bibles on in Habakkuk chapter 3.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

Habakkuk chapter 3.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

I heard you.

When was the last time you heard a message on Habakkuk, huh?

Well, today's debate.

Such a hard word.

Habakkuk chapter 3.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

Habakkuk chapter 3 start on verse 17.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

This is what the Bible says, though the fig tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive fails, and the fields produce no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there are no cattle in the stalls.

Yet, yet I will choose to rejoice in the Lord, I will choose to shout in exaltation in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength, He has made my feet like His feet and makes me walk on my high places for the choir director on my stringed instruments.

If you are taking notes this morning, I have titled this message We celebrate the goodness of God.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you so much for your presence.

Thank you so much.

We can definitely say you are here with us.

We feel your presence.

And now we are ready to receive from you your word.

So we open up our hearts, we open up our minds, and we ask you to reveal your word one more time.

We want to be encouraged this morning.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Alright.

The book of Habakkuk was probably written in 597 before Christ.

It is only three chapters, very, very easy to read and very, very easy to understand.

The book begins with the prophet crying out to God and asking the Lord a couple of questions.

Well, the Lord answers to his prayers, but God's answers was not very pleasant.

Have you ever been in a situation like this where God's answers was not exactly what you were expecting to be?

I was having a conversation with Pastor Erica from Vida Church the other day, and uh she experienced something like this very, very recently.

About six months ago, Pastor Erica made great plans towards uh the end of last year.

She said, Well, I want to go to a mission trip in Haiti in April of 2023.

Is this a good plan?

Mission trip, Haiti?

Good, all right.

She got invited to preach at this conference in Brazil in May of 2023, and she said yes.

Good plans?

Okay, she planned uh an Israel trip with Vida Church for May 2023.

She would lead a group of 30 people uh from Orlando to Israel.

Good good plans?

So since last year, she's been planning about those three three little things mission trip, going to Brazil to preach, Israel.

Even though Erica she has a green card, she needed a travel permit.

She needed to receive an official document that would allow her to go.

She was full of faith.

She was like, I will get this for sure.

Come on.

The first, the first one, the missions trip, is in April.

Now is October.

I'm gonna get it for sure.

She was very excited, and for the next six months, Erica prayed a lot.

She was like, God, I just need a travel permit.

I just need a piece of paper, right?

So five months to the trip, no permit.

Four months to the trip, no permit.

Three months to the trip to the trip, lots of prayer, no permit.

Two months, no permit.

One month, lots of prayer, no permit.

Two weeks before the trip, lots of prayer, and no permit.

And now it's on the day for the Haiti missions trip, and Erica full of faith, with no permit, she decided to pack.

She decided to pack and she went to the airport, full of faith, and she was like, Come on, I'm gonna get this.

And do you know what's happening?

What's happened?

No permit.

And she saw all her friends going to Haiti to a mission trip, and she just drove back to India.

Very frustrated.

I don't understand God.

It was a good plan.

She prayed, she cried, but she needed to get ready because the trip for Brazil was in two weeks.

So, do you know what she did?

She prayed, and she was waiting for the permit.

And two weeks passed, and now is the day for her to go to Brazil.

No permit.

She had to record it a message to the church saying, I'm sorry.

Well, she prayed, she cried, and now the Israel trip is coming.

She has two weeks.

She's praying, she's ready to go.

Everybody's ready to go.

35 people from Vida.

She's the pastor.

She's ready to go with Dan.

Time to prep for Israel.

Do you know what happened?

No permit.

Now, do you know what's really, really interesting?

She prayed for the whole thing for seven months, six months.

As soon as the team landed in Israel, she got the travel permit.

God's answer to her prayers was not exactly what she was expecting, huh?

Can you imagine how frustrating that is?

And this is exactly what's happening with Habakkuk here in the book.

Because at this time, the nation of Israel, they are walking away from God, they ignored God's commandments, they ignored God's will, and they decided to worship other gods and to live their lives according to their own will, according to their own desires.

They didn't care about God, they didn't obey God, and they forgot a very, very important both natural and spiritual law.

The reaping and soul law.

Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 19, it says, God says, I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.

Deuteronomy 30:19

Now choose life so that you may live.

As a nation, they position themselves in a place where they would not reap good things.

So God's words to the prophet were: I will raise the Chaldeans, I will raise another nation, and they will invade Israel, and they will be taking you guys as slaves from Israel to Babylon because of your sins.

What a harsh word.

The prophet Habakkuk, he was not expecting that, right?

He was probably expecting for God to say, I'm gonna bless you guys.

He was expecting God to say, You are going to see great miracles, but God said, Because of your sins, because you ignored my word and commandments, you will reap what you sow.

A different nation will come and make you slaves.

On chapter 3, the last chapter of the book, the prophet prays again, and he prays for revival.

And then at the end of the chapter, we will discover that this was a song prayer.

He was actually singing, he wrote a song to God, and he was crying out for mercy, and he was also saying, God, your ways are eternal.

Come on, this is not an easy message to hear from God.

Would you agree?

This is not an easy message for him to speak to the nation.

Would you agree?

The prophet Jeremiah was almost contemporary to Habakkuk.

In fact, Jeremiah writes the book of Lamentations when uh Habakkuk's prophecy is fulfilled, and Jeremiah he weeps over the tragedy that befell Israel.

Poverty, misery, crying, tears, violence.

What a harsh word.

So harsh that Habakkuk on verse 16, he was so afraid of what he heard from God that this is what he says, verse 16.

I heard what you said, God, and my body trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entering into my bones, and I tremble in my place.

Habakkuk was surrounded by bad news.

He was afraid of the future, he was afflicted.

And friends, how many times in the Bible we see men and women going through difficult times, going through hard days?

Let's talk about David for a second.

David wrote Psalm 3 and he says, Oh Lord, I have so many enemies, so many are against me.

Let's talk about Paul for a second.

He wrote half of the New Testament, of the New Testament, and when you read the book of Acts, we see that Paul faced many adversities wherever he went.

So many.

And he was arrested, he was beaten, he was stoned, he was insulted.

Hard moments or adversities are part of life.

And we all have experience, we all have experienced moments like this.

We all have a story to share.

But I had a bad day.

And to be honest with you, the happiest day of my life was also the most challenging day of my life.

It was the day Serena was born.

Everything was fine at 9 a.m.

And Juliana told me, I think it's time for us to go to the hospital.

And then we went to the hospital very, very, very excited.

Well, I was more excited, she was more like in pain.

But we got there, we got admitted, and everything was fine.

We were just waiting for the moment.

My parents they were flying from Brazil to the US to be there for the moment.

My mother-in-law was there for the moment, everything was fine.

And then when it was 8 p.m., the doctor said, We cannot wait anymore.

We need to go to C-section.

So we went to the C-section.

We were not expecting that, but it is fine.

It is what it is.

God knows everything.

So we had the C-section, and then I saw Serena for the first time.

I fell in love right there.

I couldn't do anything but pray.

I pray for her.

I bless her.

I hold her for the first time.

We went to the recovery room.

We said bye to my mother-in-law, to my parents.

They went to my place, and now I'm holding Serena for the first time at this recovery room, waiting for Juliana to come back, waiting from Juliana to come from the C-section room to the recovery room, and we're just waiting.

And then out of nowhere, they just brought Juliana in.

She was on this bed.

There was blood everywhere.

A sea of blood.

Ten doctors around her, all those equipment beeping like crazy.

I'm trying to understand what's happening.

And then with my very, very rusty English at the time, I just asked, What's happening?

And I was complete, I nobody heard my question.

They were very busy trying to take care of Juliana.

And then at some point, someone said, She already lost one and a half gallon of blood.

She needs a transplant immediately.

And and and I'm just holding Serena, trying to figure this out, zero experience, right?

And then the doctor said, Hey Vinny, I need to take her back to the surgery room.

I'm gonna try to stop the bleeding, and I might need to remove her uterus.

I need you to sign all these papers, and I'm gonna take her.

And that's what they did.

They took her, and I was I was clueless what was happening with my wife holding Serena for the first time.

Zero experience, crazy day.

Crazy.

What about Pastor Erica when she packed for Haiti and no?

Pecked for Brazil?

No.

Packed for Israel, no.

What about Jenna when her mom was writing farewell letters for all the kids?

Such a hard day.

What about Israel and Habakkuk facing such a hard day?

The Bible says that in the world we would have difficult moments, and many people, when facing difficult moments, they abandon God.

They abandon God.

But Habakkuk teaches us a precious lesson.

And he says, it doesn't matter what's coming, God.

I don't care about the Chaldeans.

I acknowledge the bad news.

I understand.

I understand what you are saying.

Yet I will choose to rejoice in the Lord.

Yet I will choose to shout, to shout an exaltation in the God of my salvation.

Yes, I understand the bad news.

I understand the bad day.

Yet I will choose to celebrate.

I will choose to rejoice.

What he teaches us is in a bad day, it is also an opportunity to celebrate God.

What he teaches us is in a bad day, we should not ignore our feelings.

Listen to me, we should not ignore our feelings, but we have to lead then.

What he teaches us is it is possible to see the goodness of God in the midst of chaos.

Because this is what he says.

Repeat after me.

Celebrating God's goodness is a posture.

So I believe God brought me here this morning to tell you this.

Since we are all going to experience bad days in our lives, and maybe you are facing them right now.

Since they are inevitable, I believe that what the prophet encourages us to do today is check your posture.

Check your posture.

Check your posture because we tend to celebrate God's goodness when all is well.

When we have testimonies to share, when it seems that God answered our prayers in the way we were expected.

Check your posture because we tend to celebrate celebrate God when everything is good, and we tend to complain when everything is bad.

The prophet encourages us to see that God's goodness, God's goodness is always around us.

In the good and the bad day.

So we should celebrate Him.

In the valley or on the mountain, I will celebrate God.

With job or no job, I will celebrate His goodness.

On the happiest or the most challenging day of my life, I'm going to celebrate His goodness.

With or without a miracle, I will celebrate His goodness.

Vinny, I don't see a reason to celebrate God.

I understand that, but it's not about feelings, it is about posture.

Definitely about posture.

Vinny, you don't understand.

I'm sure I don't understand.

I'm sure I don't understand.

But it is still about posture.

Posture.

Psalm 136.

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.

Psalm 100 verse 5, for the Lord is good, his mercy endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalms 100:5

Psalm 118 24.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 68, verse 3.

Psalms 68:3

But the righteous shall be glad.

They shall exhole before God.

They shall be jubilant with joy.

Psalm 119, 68, you are good and you do good.

Teach me your ways.

Isaiah 61 verse 10.

Isaiah 61:10

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.

My soul shall exhole in my God.

Every day is an invitation for us to celebrate his goodness.

Every day.

Now celebrate his goodness has nothing to do with circumstances.

None of the verses I mentioned, I just mentioned, are conditional.

None of them say if X, Y, or Z happens, you should celebrate God.

Now listen to this.

If the circumstances of your life determine whether or not you should celebrate God, these same circumstances have become your God.

When Paul, when Paul writes his letter to the Philippians, he was in prison.

He was not in a great season.

He was in prison.

And from prison, he writes Philippians chapter 4, verse 4, and he says, rejoice in the Lord always.

Philippians 4:4

When?

When in a prison.

Yes, rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I'll say, rejoice.

It's not about circumstances, it is about posture.

Let me tell you something.

I feel like Diddy James.

Jeez, come on.

I'm not working out this week.

Listen, my mom, she fought cancer eighteen times.

Eighteen.

My mom is a woman of God.

And she fought cancer eighteen times, friends.

When I was 10 years old, my mom was diagnosed for the first time with breast cancer.

Last time my mom was diagnosed with cancer was four years ago.

18 times she faced radiotherapy, she faced chemotherapy, everything you could ever imagine.

And I remember when I was 10 years old, 12 years old, I remember going with my mom to the hospital.

And I remember while we were waiting in this waiting room full of people fighting cancer, my mom used to sing a song with her sweet voice.

She used to sing for everybody here.

And I translated the song for you guys.

This was the word my mom's my mom was singing.

I know you watch my heart.

Sometimes it is said with such adverse circumstances, but you already know it all, Lord.

So that's why I surrender everything into your hands.

I trust only in you.

The best, yes, I know that you have prepared for me.

Your word will never change.

How can I thank you enough?

I know that you take care of me.

I know that you are infinite in love.

I will always celebrate your name, my Lord.

And as my mom sang that song over and over again hundreds of times, how many times I saw people stopping her to say, Would you pray for me?

I need to understand what you have.

I need to understand what you're going through.

And my mom used to say, I'm just praising and worshiping the Lord because he has something prepared for me, and I will celebrate today.

Celebrate His goodness is all about trusting his ways.

It's all about trusting his ways.

Do you believe he is good all the time?

Do you believe he's good all the time?

Do you believe he is immutable?

Do you believe he is the same yesterday, today, and forever will be the same?

Everything changes, but God is still the same.

Do you believe that?

So even when you don't understand, you should celebrate his goodness and trust his ways.

Even when you don't understand, many times, listen to this.

Many times, what prevents us from celebrating the goodness of God is having a zoom-in perspective of circumstances.

We focus on what we're living in the moment, what we're suffering in the moment, what we hurt in the moment, but in moments like this, I invite you to zoom out and realize that even in a hard day, He has taken care of you.

He has surrounded you with grace and mercy.

And he has put a song in your mouth.

He has protected and kept you all this because he is good.

And when we realize this goodness and when we celebrate, we're also trusting that he knows what he's doing and he's taking care of us.

As we gather, we celebrate the goodness of God.

And sometimes you will come to church full of testimonies, like the one we heard from Jenna.

And sometimes you will come to church full of questions, full of doubts, maybe discouraged.

But either way, we celebrate his goodness because it is not about circumstances, it is about posture.

As we gather, we celebrate the goodness of God and we hold ourselves accountable.

And you can tell me, Vinnie, zoom it out a little bit, and you will realize that you have reasons to sing.

As we gather, we celebrate the goodness of God in community.

And then you will see the way Valentina worships.

And there is no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive fails, and the fields produce no fruit.

Though the flock is cut off from the food and there are no cattle in a store.

As a church, I would love to tell you when you are ready to share testimonies, we will be there to celebrate God with you.

But when you have zero testimonies and you are facing the hardest days of your life, we will be there to celebrate the goodness of God because it is not about circumstances.

Check your posture.

God, we pray this morning, and we are so excited for your word.

We pray because we know you don't change, you are the same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

And we know you are good.

God, this morning, we want to check our posture.

We want to check your posture, God, because it is definitely not about circumstances.

Your invitation for us for us to celebrate your name is right here, right now.

It's all about our posture, God.

And today we are thankful because you encourage us to zoom it out.

Zoom out and see you are still on a throne, you are still the savior, you're still the healer, you are still taking care of us, you're still our friend, you're still our father, you're still good, and we have thousands and thousands and thousands of reasons to celebrate.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Would you please extend up so we can worship God one more time?

I want you to encourage you to take all your gratitude and celebrate God with everything you have.

Come on, church.

Thanks again for listening.

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