Suffer Well | Ps. Keith Pittman

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.

Right.

Thank you, thank you, uh Pastor Lindsay, a church family.

How you guys doing?

You guys doing good?

It's so good to see everyone here today.

Um I'm so so glad that you're here.

I want to um emphasize a couple of things that that Lindsay had addressed, um, just to give you some context and um a little bit more um purpose and and just kind of the mentality that we have um as it relates to the season that we are in.

Um Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

I want to read this passage of scripture to you.

Um starting at verse number 14, it says, it says, How then um can they call on him if they have not believed in him?

And and how can they believe without hearing about him?

And how can they hear without a preacher?

And how can they preach um unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those um who preach the good news.

This is where you guys look at my shoes and be like, Yes, that is also.

Um, but then also, um, but not um obeying the gospel, for Isaiah says, the Lord um who has believed our message.

So faith comes by what is heard and what is heard through the message about Christ.

Here, here's the here's the the the juxta that I'm trying to help us to wrap our minds around.

Over the next uh couple of weeks, we have a great opportunity um to present Jesus to in ways and to people that may not um interact with um Christians or or may not interact um or even have heard about Jesus.

We're literally we're literally living in a time and age where there's a lot of folks who just are unfamiliar with the gospel in general.

There's people that I'm amazed at meeting that say that they've never been to church before ever.

Um and so we're living in that context right now, and so we recognize that it's moments like this.

We have a we have an opportunity, but we also have a responsibility according to the Great Commission.

You know, the the thing that God has ultimately given every church the assignment to do um is to go out.

It's in the Great Commission, Matthew 28.

And he says, I want you to go out and identify people and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, lead them to a place uh of believing in me.

The Bible says that it's not God's will that any man perish, but that all come to come to repentance and come to accept Christ um as Lord and as Savior.

And so what we just read here is, but how can people believe if they haven't heard about him?

How can they how can they hear if there's not someone who's been sent?

And so we take that as a as a responsibility for us to get outside of the four walls of the church and doing our part with presenting Jesus in ways that that may be a little bit unconventional but unique, but hopefully can lead um to life transformation.

So this upcoming Wednesday is gonna be a practical way on how do we talk about Jesus?

How do we just live it in front of people in our varying spaces?

So don't get tripped up on Jesus in the workplace exclusively.

It certainly is gonna have a strong um context in that.

But it's just basically Jesus outside of the church.

How do I share Jesus um at home with unbelieving family members?

How do I share Jesus um um with colleagues?

How do I share Jesus in my in my college?

Like all these variables I believe are gonna be helpful.

And then that leads us to celebration at the park, which I believe is gonna be incredibly powerful, not only because we're hopeful that you guys will invite people that will come and have a whole experience, um, but I'm also believing in in in my heart that there are gonna be people that are there and and they're just gonna be out there fishing, doing their regular thing, but they're gonna see a bunch of people um that are gathered together, that are filled with joy, and that is community and love and peace, and that will compel them to come and ask questions the same way that Nicodemus did, and ultimately lead them to a point of true believing in Christ.

And then the third thing that I'm I want to share with you guys is that we're believing in um a harvest season, um, just in general.

We recognize that that we're living in a world of perilous times, a lot of bad news, a lot of negative stuff um that's out in the world, but also we recognize it's when the atmosphere is set that way that revival is birthed and that salvations seem to happen in record numbers.

And so we're we're preparing for that.

And so um for Easter services, we're gonna actually be having three services instead of two.

Um we're gonna be having our nine o'clock service.

Wait, wait, wait for it, wait for it.

We're gonna all celebrate the man.

We're gonna have we're gonna have our nine o'clock service, we're gonna have our 10:30 service, and then we're gonna have a 12 o'clock service.

You're gonna hear more about that.

But here's wait, wait, wait, wait for it.

I know we got some Rain.

I see you, I hear you.

We're gonna we're gonna point to you in a second.

I need you to be the loudest one.

But but but before we get there, so so last year we didn't have enough room for everybody.

Um, and and so we're we added an additional service, and I just can see the trajectory of of the needs and and what God is doing just in our culture.

I I suspect that that's gonna probably be the exact same thing as as Pastor Vinny would say.

Those are good problems to have.

So we are believing that God is just gonna send us an influx of people, and it's not about growing the church, but it's ultimately about growing people that could be followers of Christ no matter what church you go to.

That's the part where we celebrate.

Raina, I'm waiting on you now.

There we go.

So 9 o'clock, 10:30, and 12 o'clock.

So I'll I'll be sharing some more about that in the coming weeks.

Um, even asking you guys to pick a service that's gonna help us um create room and space for people that may be coming for the first time.

Now, if you have your Bibles, uh, we're gonna be jumping into uh the book of Hebrews, chapter number 12.

Hebrews chapter number 12.

If you were with us last week, or even if you joined online, or or maybe just following along, you guys know that we're we're in this series called Greater Than, which is really just about Jesus' superiority, that Jesus is greater than, and then you can fill in a blank.

No matter what you fill in, Jesus is greater um than that.

And and and last week, man, what can I say, man?

Pastor Vinny preached a profound message on faith.

Man, can we give it up for my Brazilian brother Pastor Vinny?

I was fired up, man.

We had an altar call, it was powerful.

I asked Vinny the first service, he said that he didn't want to do it, but I'm gonna ask him now.

Vinny, you you still feel that fire, man?

You want to preach?

No.

He said I did my part.

I just yeah, he's okay.

I told him we could switch.

I'll try.

Um, but he said, but he said no.

Um, but we're gonna pick up right where Vinny left off.

Vinny ended in what we often refer to as the Hall of Fame of faith, where Hebrews chapter 11, it really does identify these key Old Testament uh characters that we are familiar with, and spoke about how they walk by faith and how God used them to do some incredible things.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And so Hebrews 12 kind of builds on that idea with a continuation of our response to the activity of God.

So starting here at verse number one, it says this.

So therefore, somebody say, Therefore, since we have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, see Hebrews chapter 11 for that cloud of witnesses, lay aside every hindrance and sin that easily ensnares us.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won't grow weary and give up.

It says that Jesus endured the cross so that you won't grow weary and give up.

The the writer of Hebrews uses this metaphor uh about running a race in order to help illustrate this idea of what does it mean to be a disciple of Christ?

What does it mean to be a person who is fully committed to this lifestyle?

But he isn't talking about just a regular race.

He he actually is referring to a marathon.

Marathons are different.

Marathons aren't easy, they require a certain level of preparation and focus in order to be able to do it.

So today I want to talk to us a little bit about this idea of a marathon in the context of man, what do we do with suffering and perseverance and endurance in those extended seasons of discomfort?

Um, if you're taking notes, I want you to write this message title down, Suffer Well.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Uh, Father, we thank you for this precious community.

We thank you for what you're doing um in this place, in this atmosphere that has been set.

God, we pray that worship has been um honoring and glorifying to you and has ushered your presence into here with us, God.

And now we're asking, Father, for for us to decrease and for you to increase.

This is your space.

You are the guest of honor, Father.

Everything is is all uh about you.

So, Lord, I just pray um for open eyes to see you.

God, we want to see you in spite of all the distractions, God.

We want to have open ears to hear you above all the fray and the chaos that's in the world.

And we want to have open hearts to receive everything that you want to speak and deposit into us today.

Let it go on good ground in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, family, I have a confession to share with you guys.

I've I've really picked up um a new a new hobby that um it's borderline and addiction, but we're we'll see how you guys categorize it.

Um and and and here's and here's what it is.

I I I am obsessed with whenever I watch a TV show or a movie, with going on to YouTube to watch an expert talk about and dissect that said movie that I just got finished watching.

Like it's I don't I don't know where it started, but I just know that somehow I ended up on YouTube after watching uh a movie, and then I went on YouTube and then I saw like the director talking about the movie, and I seen all these other people talking about the movie.

I'm like, man, this is a this is a thing.

And so for the past several months, anytime that I'm watching something, my instinct is sometimes I want to go on YouTube and see what they gotta say about this.

Like in real time, like it's like a real thing for me.

I I've been watching this one show recently and I've been enamored with it.

And so as I'm watching the show, I'm thinking to myself, I can't wait to go on YouTube and see what they gotta say about this.

I need somebody to break down some scenes that maybe I overlook some things on.

I need someone to give me some interpretation on some stuff.

Man, a lot of times you get a chance to hear from the directors or the writers, man.

Like, it is like you get it feel like I'm in a living room with these guys.

It's it's absolutely uh amazing.

But but here's but here's the thing.

I've I as I began to engage YouTube a lot more, I started noticing that a lot of those commercials have been popping up a lot more.

Like, anybody ever been like watching YouTube, and just when you're getting to the good part, it gets cut off and then it goes into like these commercials, and you got you look at it like it's another two minutes before you can get back into your content.

And and they know what they're doing because the more that you engage it, the more the commercials keep popping up.

And so here's what they do this is how they tempt you.

What they'll say is like, hey, are you tired of commercials?

Yeah, absolutely.

Do do you want to skip these commercials?

Yes.

Well, for the next three months, you can skip every one of these commercials if you choose to upgrade to YouTube premium.

Now, here's the thing I I've taken marketing classes, I'm a pretty smart guy, so I know what they're doing.

What they're trying to do is they're trying to condition me over the next three months when it's free of charge to watch and consume this content in hopes that at the end of the three-month trial, that when it's time for me to start paying that$15.99, that I'm gonna just continue to pay it.

But I'm like, nah, man, I'm smarter than y'all, YouTube, so here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna I'm gonna go on, I'm gonna say yes for the next three months.

I immediately went into my phone and created a calendar request to cancel YouTube premium in two and a half months.

I said, I'm gonna actually give myself enough space to cancel it so that way I don't end up getting tripped up and seeing a charge come out of my account.

And so that's exactly what I did.

So I got the alert two and a two about two weeks before the YouTube was supposed to get canceled.

I said, Well, man, I still got another week.

And then I continued to watch um my content.

And then it got down to when it's like, hey man, you're one week out.

I'm like, okay, cool, man.

I still got one week.

I still got one week, man.

I still got these this next time that I can engage it.

I got down to two days to send another alert at Kennedy.

Like, and at this point, I felt like the artificial intelligence that was inside of my phone was really trying to pass me, like, hey Keith, like, you got two days, bro.

Like, if you don't get out now, you're not gonna get out.

I'm like, nah, man, bro, listen.

I I literally said it to midnight the next day.

I'm like, I'll just cancel it at midnight.

So I've waited until midnight.

And so now I'm getting to the point where I go on and I'm about to cancel it, and I'm looking at it, and when you hit the button, they always hit you with like, are you sure?

Yo, you're about to make the worst decision of your entire life, like ever.

Are you sure?

And I don't know what happened inside of me.

I'm like, no, I'm actually not.

So as I'm sitting there having this existential moment, I was like, well, you know,$15.99 really isn't that bad.

If you re if you re if you really think about it, like when I was looking at my account, I'm like, if I just cut back on eating out in a couple's faces, like it'll be justified.

So I just paid$15.99 yesterday and I'm watching all this content still.

Because like I've been conditioned.

Do you really expect me to go back to watching YouTube like a regular person?

Do you really expect me to go back and to and not be able to skip past the parts of the show that I don't like?

You know, when you're engaged in content and you got this momentum going and they want to interrupt it with this with this little sales pitch, I I don't want to see that.

Let me skip past that part.

I've been conditioned to skip past the interruptions in my viewing behavior.

We've all been there.

And and honestly, I know you guys are sitting there judging me, like, I can't believe you spent$15.99 on that.

Is that the church's money?

No, it's mine, first of all.

I mean, it's mine.

Okay?

I give.

Lindsay was talking to me, I give.

It's mine.

I'm paying$15.99 a month, but I'm making adjustments.

I know y'all are judging me, but we've all been conditioned if we honestly evaluate ourselves.

Here's here's the point.

Like, when is the last time?

Honestly, when's the last time that you listen to an entire album from beginning to end without skipping?

Crickets.

You know why?

Because we create playlists of our favorite songs so that we don't have to listen to the ones that we don't like.

We've been conditioned.

We've even been conditioned that when you're watching Netflix and God, like at the end of an episode, and you can wait the next 60 seconds through the credits before the next episode comes on, or you can instantly skip to it right now to save that 60 seconds.

What do we do?

Where's the remote control?

I gotta get there immediately.

We've been conditioned.

We've all been conditioned to skip past those parts that we that we don't like, those things that make us uncomfortable.

We've all we've all been conditioned, but I find myself wondering at times, at what expense?

What is it doing to us?

Because I think on one hand, like we we love to grab the remote control and skip past the parts that we don't like, but what happens when these conveniences of our lives become a detriment to our faith?

Because it's inevitable at some point, we're all gonna find ourselves in a season of life that we just can't skip past.

What do you do when when you're in a season of of losing your job and you're like, I just I just want to skip past this part where I can get to the part where I got the new job?

Where where I'm where my bank account is full.

Can I just skip past this season that I'm in right now?

What about when you hear bad news with with your medical history?

Man, I just want to skip past to the part where I'm healed.

I don't want to have to keep going to the doctor.

I don't want to have to keep waiting for the results to come in.

Can I can I just skip past this part?

And there's something inside of us that that we don't know how to wait for anything because we're so used to not having to wait for anything.

I believe that inside of us, whether it's literal or not, there are moments that we are internally reaching for the remote control to skip past seasons that we're not remotely in control of.

And and it's in these moments that we begin to have a little bit of a crisis.

It's in these moments that we find ourselves filled with anxiety and stress because we can't skip past it.

You see, we're familiar with that phrase that life is a marathon and not a sprint.

It's meant to help us to understand that that there's a different approach to life than it is to anything else that we can engage in.

Case in point, that when you are running a marathon, that has a completely different mentality.

See, what sprinting is, sprinting is all about getting a quick start and getting to the finish line first.

That is what is valued in a sprint.

I I had my granddaughters with me just last weekend, and everything for them is a competition.

Who can run upstairs first, who can run downstairs first, who can eat their food the quickest, who can even go to sleep fastest.

I don't even know you can compare who went to sleep first, but everything is a competition.

And so I'm thinking to myself, and I'm laughing with them, I'm joking with them, but I'm also trying to make sure that they understand that some things you're just gonna have to wait for.

It's a burden that none of us like to think about.

But when it comes to a marathon, it's not about getting done the quickest.

It's not about getting the quickest start.

It's actually about finishing and finishing well.

It's a completely different approach.

The thing that I believe that the biblical writers often want to challenge us and encourage us to do is make sure that you're not bringing a sprinter mentality to a marathon situation.

This need to microwave past this season of my life when honestly it's just going to require me to have to sit still and wait on God.

Solomon, who is categorized as being one of the wisest men to have ever lived, in Ecclesiastes 9.11 says that the race is not given to the swift, nor the battle to the strongest.

Ultimately, what the writer is saying is he's saying that our strategies, our intellect, our ability to navigate through things, that isn't always going to be the determining factor.

We can't always get around everything.

Some things you only get through it by going through it.

That's the that's the only way that you can endure it.

So what I've learned about this idea of what suffering well really means is going through it with God.

It doesn't mean not going through it.

What it means is I'm choosing to go through it with God.

I believe this is what David was saying to us in Psalm 23, 4, when he says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, and your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You're going through this valley that is dark and that is uncomfortable, but there's nothing to fear because God is with you in it.

He's he's shifting our mentality around this whole idea and creating this concept of what true biblical endurance is.

When you look at it through this lens, you see that the Bible is filled with the concept of perseverance and endurance.

All the references that that we looked at in Hebrews 11 is speaking about them walking by faith, but they had to persevere and they also had to develop some endurance.

We can sometimes use those words interchangeably, but they're slightly different in the way that they truly express themselves.

Perseverance means this.

It refers to persistence.

It's a mindset of determination.

It means that I'm going to continue to pursue my goals even if I have setbacks.

We absolutely need to have a perseverance mentality, mamba mentality.

I'm going to take the shots, I'm going to keep going forward, I'm going to keep moving forward no matter what.

Perseverance is a mindset.

But endurance, on the other hand, endurance refers to the ability or to withstand or tolerate prolonged exertion.

That speaks about durability.

That speaks about having this ability to have stamina to continue to move forward in spite of any obstacle.

Endurance is all about, endurance is all about conditioning and discipline.

Perseverance is about mentality and having a focus, but endurance is about conditioning and making sure that you can withstand and go the extra rounds.

Many of you guys may be familiar with Muhammad Ali.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a Come on, y'all talking back to me.

This is gonna be a great service.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

Now, now he is uh a known professional and credible boxer, greatest of all time, is what he would often refer to himself.

And and then we also may be familiar with with George Foreman.

Yes, not just from the grills, but he actually used to be a boxer before the Foreman grills, and you guys probably even know that.

Okay, let me let me educate you.

Well, these two giants actually fought against each other over 40 years ago, and and it was called the Rumble in the Jungle.

And it was a really it was a big spectacle, and everybody had anticipated that George Foreman was gonna win because he was younger and stronger.

So Muhammad Ali is kind of like getting near the twilight years of his fighting, and so people were like, man, there's no way, even though he's a champion, there's no way that he's going to win.

What they didn't know was the strategy that Muhammad Ali had began to develop while he was preparing for this fight.

He understood that George Foreman was gonna come out and exert a lot of energy in the earlier parts of the rounds in effort to knock him out.

So what he began to do is he literally trained himself to absorb his punches.

He trained himself to absorb the blows.

So he just would train, and they said his body was like a statue, but you wouldn't even know it.

So when they get into the ring, then instead of Muhammad Ali doing his normal thing, floating around and all that type of stuff, he literally intentionally, strategically, backs up against the ropes on his own volition.

Foreman's like, Man, you just basically gave me an easy layup, walks in and begins to lay into him without realizing the conditioning that Muhammad Ali had developed so that he could absorb every one of his punches.

George Foreman had literally worn himself out trying to knock out Muhammad Ali, but Muhammad Ali was just using the ropes to absorb the blows.

It got to the final round, and George Foreman couldn't even lift his arms up because he was so tired, and which that's when Muhammad Ali, with very little effort, was able to knock this man out.

I look at this and I'm thinking to myself, how do you condition yourself to absorb the punches from your adversary?

How do you condition yourself and your strategy is I know at some point he's gonna run out of energy, and I all I have to do is be able to have the endurance and the ability to keep moving forward.

What I believe the Bible is often trying to encourage us to do is that there may be times that our back is against the wall, but if we can just employ a technique in knowing that every time I read the word of God, I am building up endurance, that every time I show up and come to church, I am building endurance, that every time I lift my hands in worship when I don't feel like it, I'm building endurance, that every time I give when it doesn't look like I have to give, I'm building endurance.

That as I continue to build up this endurance, that when the enemy comes and hits me with his best shot, that he can hit me with everything he's got, but eventually he will wear himself out.

See, the strategy is this I don't have to defeat the enemy.

Jesus has already done that, I just have to outlast him.

The goal is for me is just to simply outlast him.

Let me let me help us to see this because this is a this is a revelation that God hit me with and it blew my mind.

Romans chapter 5, verse 3 and 4 say this.

Romans 5:3

I not only boast in that, but we also boast in our afflictions because we know that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

Let me put this together suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character.

Endurance produces character.

Endurance produces character.

You know why we have victory over the enemy?

Because the enemy doesn't.

Have any character, which means he doesn't have endurance.

So if I can withstand his best shots, it's going to develop in me a character and a kingdom mindset that I recognize that at some point every storm runs out of rain.

At some point, the enemy will run out of his energy and ability to deflect me and to defeat me.

What the scripture is showing us is that we don't have to defeat him, we just simply have to outlast him.

This is why when we read scripture, they say things as consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you are experiencing varying trials, because we know the testing of your faith produces endurance.

There's something about endurance that the Bible actually values, and it can mess us up a little bit.

James chapter 1, 12 says, Blessed is the one who endures trials because he has stood the test and he will receive a crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

James 1 · chapter mention

I want you guys to hear me.

Maybe, maybe your back's against the wall right now.

Maybe you feel like the enemy is hitting you with everything that he has, and you don't know if you can keep moving forward.

First and foremost, set your mindset and say, I absolutely can survive this, and then begin to pull on every scripture.

Begin to pull on your community, begin to anchor yourself in the Word of God, and you will be surprised at how you can absolutely endure this when we find ourselves focusing on the right thing.

That is what it means to suffer well.

Suffer well is really this idea about enduring hardship and trials with faith and trust in God.

It's long suffering.

The Bible teaches that suffering is a natural part of our human experience.

We we live in a fallen and broken world, but and we all will experience hardship and pain.

And we can't always get around it, but we absolutely can get through it if we choose to bring God with us.

Psalms 34, 19 says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them from them all.

Y'all are not celebrating as if you believe you're righteous.

So let me say this again.

Let me help you with the righteousness.

When we were talking earlier in this series, we were talking about the precious blood of Jesus.

What that means is that when Jesus shed his blood, that blood purifies us so that when God sees us, he no longer sees us through the filter of our sins, but he sees us through the sacrifice of Christ.

So literally, when God sees us, he sees us the same way that he sees Jesus.

That means that we are now righteous, which means that we're in right standing with God.

So now let me refer back to Psalm 34 that it says, Many are the affliction or the righteous, or those who are in right standing with God, or maybe I could say it this way: many may be your afflictions, but God will deliver you from them all.

You may be going through some afflictions, but you are righteous by the blood of Jesus, and God absolutely will deliver you from them all.

Suffering well simply means turning to God in times of distress and seeking comfort and strength in his presence.

It's how we are able to walk through prolonged seasons of discomfort knowing that God is with us.

So, how do we how do we practically do this?

What do we do in those prolonged seasons that we just can't skip past?

Those the things that we've been conditioned to fast forward through.

If I could be honest with you, I don't know if the if the church at large has always done a good service to the followers of Christ.

Because what we've done is we've reduced the enormity of God's power and what's responsible for us to stand still and see that God is with us and understanding perseverance and endurance, instead of us teaching you messages on endurance, we tell you three steps on how to get out of it, three ways to avoid it.

And there's certainly times to have practical steps on how to be smart about how we orient our lives, but I want to be a church that really prepares you for reality.

In this world, you will have trouble.

But take heart, friends, that Jesus has overcome the world and you have victory in Christ Jesus.

That's how I want to develop our church to see and believe.

So, what are some things we can do when we're going through these difficult seasons?

What the writer in Hebrews is doing is he's talking to a group of people that are disconnected from their community.

They're suffering.

People are dying, they're they're losing resources, they're at a point where we're about to throw in the towel on their faith.

And so as he's anchoring them in these concepts of who Jesus is and that he's greater, he goes into chapter number 12 and he begins to give them some encouragement while they're going through their long season of suffering.

The first thing I want you guys to write down to do is take inventory.

When I'm going through these difficult seasons, when I'm when I'm going through these challenges, the the first thing I need to do is take inventory.

What the writer says is lay aside every sin and weight that easily trips you up.

So so he's speaking in the context of running a marathon.

He's speaking in a context of running.

Here's the background story of that.

What would often happen with these with these Olympic runners, because this is what's going on in that culture at the time, the way that they would condition themselves is that they would put on weights in order to build up their endurance.

And we may have seen this.

We see sometimes people that are at the gym and they got on extra weights.

We see people that that may be on a dip machine and they got extra weights on, like, you know, Sean.

I sometimes would do that, but I don't want to make anybody feel embarrassed.

I was like, I'll just do it with my body weight.

I don't want to scare anybody off.

You know what I mean?

So so, you know, some people feel the need to flex that way.

It's not my thing.

Um, um, pride comes before the fall, is what they say.

But but you may see some people as if the natural weight that's already available isn't good enough, they want to add extra weight to it.

Okay, I get it.

You do you.

Okay, so so they actually put all this weight on.

And so what the runners would do is they would put extra weight on so that they could build up their endurance.

But what he was saying is, but now you're entering into the race.

The marathon's about to start.

So it's not a good time for you still to wear your weighted vest when you have such a long journey in front of you.

So taking inventory means what are the things that I'm carrying that may have developed me in one season that I need to let go of as I'm moving into a new season?

Because sometimes we end up finding ourselves in the middle of a crisis and we try to bring everything with us, and God's saying, I need you to lose some of that weight.

I need you to, I need you to offload some of these things.

These are what we call pruning seasons, seasons when God is like, okay, it's time for you to disrobe some of these things.

So, what the Olympic runners would do, they would literally strip off everything to make sure they could run unrestricted.

That was the imagery that they were trying to paint for us to grab a hold of is this idea of taking inventory.

I'm in the middle of something right now.

Let me take inventory what's around me and making sure that I'm not bringing anything with me on this marathon that could potentially slow me down or trip me up.

We we all go through difficult seasons.

I I I remember, I remember a couple years ago, many of you guys may recall that when Megan and I were leading the church here in Orlando and our church in D.C.

at the same time, our church in DC went through a church split.

And I remember in the beginning stages of that, when I would go up there and meet with our staff in DC to make sure they were good, I remember on one day, 12 staff members quit, all in one day.

So I go up there for a meeting, I'm sitting in the conference room one after one.

Hey, we're leaving, we're going to another church, we're leaving, we're going to another church.

So I'm in the middle of a leadership crisis.

And what can happen in those moments is you can be filled with so much panic and you can be filled so consumed.

But but instead of me focusing on what we lost, the first question I ask was, Who do we still have?

What I want to encourage you with right now is I know that when we're going through seasons of suffering, when we talk about taking inventory, we can sometimes obsess about what we lost.

But what God has done with me is I don't focus on what we lost, I look at what we still have.

Because I'm of the mindset that if God needed what we lost, then I wouldn't have lost it.

The fact that I still have it means that I have what I need in order to move forward.

The next question I then ask is okay, what did we lose?

Now that I know what we still have, because maybe we still got some people here that got some opportunities and gifts on the inside of them that haven't been activated because there have been people that have been sitting in their seat too long.

But now that we've offloaded some things, maybe God wants to activate some people.

So now that we know what we have and who we have, now let me begin to evaluate what did we lose.

Then I began to take inventory on what the loss was.

At that point, then I said, What do we need in order to move forward?

That's where our prayers come in.

That's where our strategy comes in.

Listen to me, friends.

My mindset is this I build strategy on substance, but I won't react out of fear.

We can often, when we find ourselves in moments of crisis and take an inventory, it's from a place of fear and it has no substance, and fear has torment.

What I want to help you guys with is when you're going through those prolonged seasons, take inventory, celebrate what you still have, acknowledge what you lost, and look at what you need in order to move forward.

That's a healthy way and what it looks like to take inventory, laying us out every sin and weight, but also asking ourselves, what do I still need to let go of?

Because the truth of the matter is, some pruning seasons, they're uncomfortable.

They could feel as if their walls are closing in on us, but maybe God is just preparing us and saying, there's still a couple things I want to remove from your life so you can have utter dependence on me and you can function at the optimal level that I called you to function at.

That is what it means to be a child of God who is in these prolonged seasons and taking inventory.

Here's the second thing that I want us to do.

Take it one day at a time.

Take it one day at a time.

The the writer says about running this race, he says, run the race that is before you.

Run the race that is before you.

They they were he was talking to a group of people that that were familiar with the Olympics.

Run the race that is before you.

You you can't rerun yesterday's race.

You you can't run tomorrow's race.

You can't even run the next race.

The only thing you can do is run the race that is in front of you right now.

Some sometimes the best thing we can do today is to stop obsessing about tomorrow.

Jesus even tells us in Matthew 6, 34, don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's troubles is enough.

Ultimately, what he's saying is, man, we always will have something else to obsess about.

There'll be another thing that will consume us.

There will always be another thing that's drawing from us.

But what he's saying is, man, just focus on running the race that's in front of you today.

Take it one day at a time.

You know, um my family and and I'm we're going through a season of suffering.

So on um on Tuesday, early Tuesday morning, um my my wife and I we got a text message from her best friend um asking us to pray.

Um and and this was like around five in the morning.

So so Megan calls her immediately, um, which I was like, man, I'm breaking my car to rule if they text you, you text them back.

We're like, no, I'm calling her.

So she calls her uh immediately, and and her best friend is very emotional.

She's at the airport and she's like, give me a second.

She she steps outside of the line and she's like, I'm I'm on my way to Colorado.

My son, my son just passed away.

Her son was nineteen years old.

Her son is my son's best friend.

I'm I'm sitting with with the mom.

I'm sitting with his siblings, and and it's just heavy, and it's it's grief, and there's moments of laughter, but it's just it's just hard.

And then I was sitting with the grandmother yesterday.

Megan is actually still there with Caleb.

I flew in late last night because I just I felt compelled to get back to you guys and share this with you.

I was sitting there with the grandmother, and and she told me, she said, Man, I I went back to the house for the first time.

Sadly, her grandson died in her home.

She hadn't been back since.

So she said, I went back to the house for the first time, and um I went in really quick, I got my coat, and I left immediately.

And and I looked at her, I said, That's victory today.

And she said, I don't I don't know what tomorrow is gonna look like.

She said, but I know that God gave me the strength today.

I think about my son, I think about our family, I think about what we're walking through.

And it's just so easy to think about next year.

We were planning on going on vacation together as a family in May.

There's a lot of things we can think about, but I just feel that God's grace is with us today.

And if we can recognize his strength today, we'll get to tomorrow.

And we'll we'll get to next week, and we'll get to a month from now.

I don't know what it is that you're walking through, I don't know what your circumstances, but but I feel like God's saying just just live for today.

His grace is sufficient today.

He will he will get you through this today, and then tomorrow will come, and the grace will get you there.

But he'll get us through it.

He'll get you through it.

But don't obsess about tomorrow.

Just be recognizing that God's grace is with you today.

The third thing I want to share and I want to I want to close is that the writer says to keep our eyes on Jesus.

In in moments of suffering, in moments of disappointment, and in moments of distress, that the best thing that we can do is to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Because it's so easy to get distracted by so many different things.

A friend of mine, he he runs marathons on a regular basis, and um he was sharing with me what some of the some of the things that he can prepare for in those moments of running through these long marathons.

He he shared with me that that not only is it a mental thing that you have to prepare for, but it's also a physical thing that you have to prepare for.

And what he shared with me is that that that you can go through dehydration, dizziness, and and muscle cramps, that when you're doing these these marathons, that you can get muscle fatigue from the harsh conditions, that you can even have intestinal stress and and chafing and and blisters.

This is all part of being on a marathon, and I can't help but to wonder why would you sign up to do this?

Who's chasing you?

Why why would you do this on purpose?

That's just me though.

That's just me though.

I feel like I can get that same 13K in my car in about two minutes, but okay, fine.

You you wanna you wanna you wanna run it, you have at it.

It sounds awful to me.

I said, so man, you're you're going through these blisters, you're going through this discomfort, you're you're having all this pain in real time while while you're running.

I'm like, bro, how how do you survive that?

And he literally said, you have to learn to focus on something other than the pain.

You you gotta learn to, you gotta focus on something else.

If you are taking every step and saying, Oh, this hurts, this hurts, this hurts.

He said, You'll never finish.

He said, but if you can begin to envision crossing the finish line and stop thinking about the pain, it's not that the pain goes away, it's that you begin to endure and have a perseverance that says that I can make it in spite of the pain.

I believe that that's a message for some of us.

Maybe for some of us right now, we are feeling dehydrated.

Maybe we're dealing with cramps right now, maybe we're feeling restricted.

But I believe this is why we get glimpses into scripture that are meant to remind us about the marathon, because what the Bible says that inside of us is rivers of living water that will spring up on the inside of us even in our desert season.

What that means is you may be on a marathon and it may be uncomfortable.

Your back may be against the wall, maybe you're dealing with some pain and some discomfort.

But what the Bible reminds us is that living water is available to nourish your soul even in these darkest of times, that God's presence is available even when it's uncomfortable, that suffering well simply means tapping into that well that can overflow out of us and give us strength even in those times.

But we gotta learn to focus and put our eyes on Jesus.

It's gotta be on something other than the pain.

Romans chapter 8, 18 says this.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

For I consider that the present sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

Let me read this again to a bunch of people that actually believe the words that I just said.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy of being compared to the glory that will be revealed in us.

The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

Revealed is translated to apocalypse.

It means unveiling, it means to be revealing, it means to bring things to light.

What the Bible is ultimately trying to communicate to us in its own paradoxical way, that somehow God uses suffering to bring glory out of us.

That means that there may be something on the inside of us that we didn't even know was there, but it came out because the pressure was applied.

I believe that I was able to tap into some of my greatest gifts as a result of suffering.

I've been able to recognize when grace and anointing has come upon my life as a result of suffering.

Even when we look at the Holy Spirit and how he is identified as being olive oil or the anointing oil, what it's meant to insinuate is that yes, there is healing in the anointing, there is miracles in the anointing, there is breakthroughs in the anointing, but it comes through the anointing oil, and oil only comes out through the crushing.

Maybe somehow in God's own way, he's able to use the suffering that is just a part of the ecosystem we live in.

But he says, But I can use it for my glory.

This is why when people go through endured seasons of suffering, that somehow that test becomes a testimony, that somehow that pain becomes a platform, that what I went through becomes something that I can educate somebody else on.

When you begin to look out in the world and see all of the good that's happening, and people that have desires to help people that are in bondage, people who have a desire to help people who are caught up in the sex trafficking.

A lot of times that comes because of a result of what they have personally experienced, and that God is now using them to create a platform that could bring life for somebody else.

What I'm saying is that your suffering is not in waste when you bring Jesus into it.

God has the ability of taking something that the world would bring shame to, and he would say, I will glorify my name through it.

So maybe what you're walking through right now is not just for you, but maybe it's to create a story and a legacy of what does it look like to survive a divorce?

What does it look like to survive a death of a loved one?

Instead of me asking what happened, I begin to ask myself, what am I going to do now that it has happened?

God, I see you in this, I know you're moving in this, I choose to suffer well.

Maybe suffering isn't a problem to be solved, but it's a tension that we need to manage.

It's the reality of the world that we live in.

1 Peter 4 says, Don't be surprised with the fiery trials that comes among you as if something weird is happening, but instead rejoice in your suffering because you're sharing it with Christ.

And through that joy, his glory is revealed.

The writer of Hebrews ultimately then says in verse number 12 and 13 to strengthen yourself with community and get back out into the race.

I know you got some injuries.

I know this race is a little bit longer than you thought, but what I love about marathons is that you sometimes notice that they have those stations where you can grab the water, get something to drink, and keep it pushing.

It's meant to be something for you to say that you gotta finish your race, you gotta keep moving forward.

You know, life is filled with dichotomies, with with mountains and and valleys, and and and many times they they coexist at the exact same time.

Many of you guys have been a part of our church know that uh maybe about a year and a half ago, um, I lost my cousin tragically um to a car accident.

He was a twin.

So in February, um our families got together all together for the first time since his funeral.

And and it was interesting because in one moment we were grieving the loss of my cousin Michael, but then also celebrating the life of his twin brother, Mark.

And and and here I am in one space, recognizing the the pain and suffering that is connected with our family and and and with his parents, and and grieving their son's loss still, while still celebrating the life of their son.

It's it's it's an interesting dichotomy that honestly really is more like what life is than the others.

See, I I used to think that that being on the mountaintop meant I'm at this apex of my life, everything is good, nothing's wrong.

I'm just I'm living my best life.

And honestly, I used to think that being in a valley just meant that I'm in this dark season, I'm I'm I'm alone, I'm trusting God through it, and and and I'll get out on the other side by faith.

But but I'm learning that the mountains and valleys are a lot closer than what we probably often recognize.

That that what if what if our whole idea of what it means to have a mountaintop experience needs to be rewired?

That maybe a mountaintop is not the absence of problems, but it's the presence of God, which then means that I can be experiencing a mountaintop moment even in the midst of some of my greatest suffering.

That this that dichotomy of recognizing that that even though I'm going through a dark season, but because God is with me, that is ultimately all that I need.

I know that this may not sound easy, I know that this may not fix what you're going through, but what I want to do is to reorient our faith into recognizing that maybe you're experiencing a mountaintop experience right now, and it still may be one of your most difficult seasons.

Why?

Because God is with you.

As I'm sitting with our family friends in Colorado, I'm also simultaneously texting with a family whose wedding I'm officiating on Saturday.

I've I've I've seen the presence of God in emergency rooms when a young lady finds out that her father is not going to live, and I felt the presence of God there, but I've also felt the presence of God when a husband and wife say, I do.

God's there.

I've seen when when family have have cried over the loss of their child, and I felt the presence of God there, but I've also felt the presence of God when I say congratulations, it's a boy.

The life that I live, the life that we all live is this this life where we're exposed to so many different things, and if we're not careful, we can become emotional, compartmentalized, spiritual schizophrenics.

But what if God's desire is for it all to be integrated in knowing that He is faithful and just in every situation?

When there's death, God is there.

When there's life, God is there.

That when you get to breakthrough, God is there.

That when you get to answer prayer, God is there.

When a door is closed, God is there.

When you get the job, God is there.

When you lose the job, God is there.

What if suffering well simply meant acknowledging that God is with me no matter what season I'm going through?

That is what it means to suffer well.

I want to ask everybody to stand onto their feet right now.

And I want to go into a moment of reflection and prayer.

And I want to pose this question.

What are you suffering through right now?

And then I want to pose another question.

If you want prayer for whatever it is that you're walking through, I just want you to lift your hands up.

Amen.

Amen.

We're going to go into a song of worship.

And what I want to do is I want to invite you to come down and meet me at this altar.

I want to pray for every single one of us that are walking through these difficult seasons.

You can start making your way down here right now.

We're going to go into uh just a brief moment of worship.

And I believe that there's power and faith and responding in moments like this because I think God meets us.

It's us making the choice to.

I'm in this valley right now, but I'm but I'm choosing to.

I'm choosing to step out and it presence God even in the midst of all of it.

Let's let's come in close, let's come in as close as we as we can uh to make as much room as possible.

We're we're gonna go into to worship in just a second, but I just really feel um inclined just to just to pray for some people.

And and if you're on the mountaintop experience and that's the absence of any problems for you right now, then I'm gonna ask that you pray with us, that you worship with us.

But I believe that God's gonna do a mighty work at this altar right now in the name of Jesus.

I want you to hear me.

It doesn't mean that it's gonna go away magically, but what it does mean is that God is more present now than he ever has been.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I touch and agree with every precious couple that's up here, Lord.

If we have any prayer team in here, I would love for you guys to come up and pray with me.

Father, I pray in the name of Jesus, Lord, that as we're walking through these seasons of suffering, Father, we know that your word reminds us that you are with us, Father.

You know the pain that we are experiencing, God.

You know the torment that we have endured, you know the fear that we often walk in, Father.

But your word reminds us that you will not leave us nor forsake us.

So, Father, I pray for those who are experiencing loss and hardship, Father, that you comfort them in the name of Jesus, Father.

We need you now, God, more than we ever have before.

And we trust you.

We know that you are with us.

Father, your word declares that your grace is sufficient, Father, and you are the same God.

You are the same God that parted red seas.

You are the same God that slayed giants, you're the same God that allowed Peter to walk on water, you're the same God that allowed fire to come down to deal with the enemy.

You're the same God that brought resurrection power to Lazarus, you're the same God that healed the woman with the issue of blood, you're the same God that was able to allow Zacchaeus to have purpose and value.

You're the same God that allowed the woman with the issue of blood to be restored, God.

You're the same God that did it then, and we have an expectation that you're going to do it now.

So, Father, I declare in the name of Jesus that every person that is suffering, every person that is going through endured seasons of struggle, that Father, you give them strength, you give them endurance, you give them hope, and that you can turn this pain into a platform that brings glory to you.

So, Father, I pray for a breakthrough.

I pray for revelation, I pray for healing, I pray for miracles, I pray for signs and wonders.

We believe that you're the same God, and the way that you did it then, we expect to see it now.

Comfort us and be with us.

It's in Jesus' name that we declare, it's in Jesus' name that we expect it.

It's in Jesus' name that we have the victory, and it's in Jesus' name that we celebrate.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Come on, church, let's worship together.

Thanks again for listening.

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