Where Are You Standing? (Evangelist Joselyn Lopez)

Welcome to Inspired Church.

It is an honor once again to bring the word of God.

Amen.

And I gotta steal this from Pastor Let's give it up from my boy Vincent.

Always coming through.

Thank you.

Thank you, baby.

Right, he keep me for real.

These days have been wild.

Um, okay, so today I want to start with a serious question.

I'm not used to this clicker thing, so here I go.

All right.

So the question of the day, I want you to take a moment before we get into this.

And I want you to think to yourself, where are you standing?

So if you for a moment can think about your life right now, if you would just entertain me and close your eyes, forget about who's sitting next to you, and just think about for a moment.

Ponder on life.

Where in life are you standing?

If I was to ask you this question one-on-one, would you be able to give me a quick and clear answer?

Think about all the things that you have going on, whether those are good things, the things that we call blessings, the things that make us smile, and the things that somehow bring us happiness.

Think about those things.

But also think about the things that are not so great in life.

Think about the battles that we go through and the struggles that we face that come our way and many times are unexpected.

Think about your losses or your fails, or you feel like they're losses, or you feel like they're failures, and the unanswered questions that you may have that pop up in your head, especially when things are not looking that great.

Think about that.

Like, where are we standing?

Where are you standing?

So let's talk about that.

So today I want to share with you from the book of 2 Corinthians, and before I get into that, I want to talk a little bit about who the Corinthians were.

So the 2nd of Corinthians is a letter that was written from Paul.

Paul was an apostle who was called to open churches back in the day before he came to Christ and he had a meeting with Christ on his way to Damascus.

Paul was a murderer.

That's just what it is, right?

But Paul was a very wise man.

He was a man that was well educated, he knew the word, and so he persecuted the cute the Christians, thinking that he was honoring God.

Until Jesus comes upon him and says, Hey, why are you persecuting me?

Right?

So now he's called to open a church in the middle of uh Corinth, which is called the Corinthians church.

So to share some context about this location or this place, this place was in a city called Corinth, and it was a major and successful city.

I'm going somewhere.

Corinth was most of the one of the most important places back then in the Roman times, um, because it sat on a narrow strip called the Islam of Corinth, connecting the north and the south of Greece, which made it a perfect meeting point for many merchants in those times.

So if you can see there's a canal and many, many businesses were going on.

This was a main point where all types of people would come together and they it would become a trading point.

And because Corinth was so wealthy, and merchants from all over the Roman Empire came here, you can imagine that there was a lot of luxury there.

There was a lot of wealth there.

There was people, international people meeting, and it was a very populated place.

And there was a mix of cultures and backgrounds that took place, like Romans and Greeks and Jews, and Syrians and Egyptians and former slaves and wealthy business owners and sailors and even government officials all came together in this place to do business.

It's very much like today.

So if we look at this image, we can see that the place of Corinth is very much like the times of today, where we look and seek for wealth and po and and we we we push away from poverty, right?

And we look at this image and we see populated streets and we go about our lives not thinking, or thinking I should say, that wealth and success and and elevation in our pro in our own lives is it.

The people in Corinthians had the same hearts that we have, which is why I chose to speak about the Corinthians.

This was a huge melting pot where all religions coexisted side by side.

There were many temples and many gods with the liturgy that they worship in that area.

It was a place where pagan temples rose everywhere, and they lived their lives without the knowledge of Jesus and He and what he had come to do, and Paul was called to open a church in the middle of that.

It reminds us of these times today, doesn't it?

On how inspired church just two years ago decided to open a church in the midst of that, in the midst of the world that we live in.

We live in a mountain pot of people who come from different backgrounds and different belief systems, and we're all trained to think that success and well-being is the ultimate goal in life.

I used to think like that.

We are consumers first, and we want the best for ourselves and our children, and there's nothing wrong with wanting better, right?

But however, we often fall short to think how much we make or how much far we've come in life and how much we obtain, and for our younger generations, how many followers we have on social medias, how many Tic Tac likes and loves and cares we get, right?

And that is somehow what we look as valuable in life.

But why?

Why do we do that?

Because just like the people in Corinthian valued money and social status and self-sufficiency and public recognition and sexual freedom, come on, because there's a mix-up in identity these days.

Kids call what's what's good bad and bad good, right?

And we self-promote.

That's what social media is all about.

We self-promote ourselves.

It sounds like today, and we define good life with all the good stuff that comes with it.

Now, although they had all these things, oops, wrong slide.

Let me go back.

Although we have all these things, or the Corinthians had all these things, and we have all these things, we still say we love God.

Right?

So, in essence, the church of Corinthians is very much like the church today.

We love God, but we want all the other stuff that the world has to offer.

Often not remembering that although the things that are not always bad or sinful are not always beneficial to us.

The first of Corinthians 10 23, Paul is telling the same group of people, just the letter before, I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial.

I have the right to do anything, but not everything is constructive.

What Paul is saying is that yes, we have our freedom in our Christianity, but are we but is it even good for us?

Isn't the the choices that we're making on our daily basis it might not be bad, and you're going into locations that you think are not bad, and you're surrounding your people with yourself with people that you think are not bad, but is it good for you?

Is it helping you grow?

Is it drawing you close to God or is it drawing you away from God?

These are things that we have to think about.

We have to interact with the world because we love the world that we're in, but we have to understand that we're not from this world.

We are a chosen people, a chosen generation, hand-picked by the Father Himself.

So we are different.

If I look different and I speak different and I carry myself different, it's because I am different.

Amen.

And so we have to remember, guys, that not every choice that we make or everything that shines is gold, and not everything that we say or we speak or we think comes from a good place because at the end none of us are good, right?

All of us are not wise, and everything is not helpful, and everything doesn't honor not just God, but does it honor each other?

We have to honor each other.

We are told to love others like we love ourselves, right?

That's the second commandment.

So would you act the way that you do to uh would you act towards others the way would you like for I'm mixing out it up?

Would you would you act the way you act to others if Jesus was in the room?

Or would you like for them to treat you the way you treat them?

And I'm speaking to myself.

I can say this because I am guilty of that.

So think about it.

We have to think about how we treat other people, and the same, the same as Corinthians, excuse me, how we say we love God, we need to really check ourselves if we are acting and walking in the love that God has placed in our hearts, and not just based on a situation, because many times these situations happen, and then we ask ourselves why.

I don't know about this.

This is getting real hard.

Is God really with me?

Is God really good?

Or are we even there to say, why is this happening?

I've said that.

I've said that, I've said that.

Why is this happening?

I've said that so many times in the last two months.

Because reality is that life can get hard and life can get heavy, and there's nothing wrong with that, but we have to remember where we're standing.

And that's why I started this where where are you standing?

Right?

We start to question God, we treat it as if we only feel that God knows what he is doing when he is allowing the blessings to come our way.

But when God is pouring grace and mercy and joy and prosperity, we say that he's good and we say that we're blessed and we say that we're covered.

But when life goes south, we start to question where he is.

We start doing and saying things as if God is allowing these things to cause us harm.

We don't trust the God that we trusted just weeks ago when he was giving us the blessings and opening the doors of our life, right?

The one that we unconsciously call on when things go bad.

What do we think say when things go bad?

Oh my God, even the unbeliever says, Oh my God.

And we blame or we move funny or dismiss uh others that are trying to speak into our lives because we're not okay, and it's the easiest thing to just blame God, right?

But that is when we need to reflect for just a moment again and examine where we're standing.

And so going back to the letters of Corinth, Corinthians, excuse me, we're gonna jump now to the second of Corinthians, and Paul starts his letter, excuse me, in the second of 1 Corinthians, the first letter, he starts the letter in 1 Corinthians, the first chapter, verse 3 and 4.

He says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.

Not a God that leaves us when things get bad.

This is not describing a God that comforts us that that that takes the back door when we're going through something.

No, but it describes a God that comforts all of our troubles, even when we don't feel him, even when we don't see him, even when we feel lost, even when we feel deep, even when we feel like we're falling into depression or anxiety, even when we feel alone, he is there.

Because guess what?

God is an unseen God, amen.

We cannot see him, but trust me when I tell you we can feel him, but we must look, we must seek, and we will find.

Amen.

But do we allow him to?

Do we allow him to comfort us?

Or are we focused so heavily on the things that seem like a mountain that we can't even see the God that created the actual mountains?

So that we comfort those in any trouble, it says, with the comfort, excuse me, so that we comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

So there's the why.

There's the why.

Why do we go through this?

Why does he give us compassion?

Why does God comfort us so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God?

So there's a purpose for that pain, there's a reason for that struggle.

So the reason we go through things is not just because.

Look for the lesson, look for the reason, right?

There's a reason for that season.

Amen.

So we are comforted by God Himself, why, so that we can comfort others.

We can't minister to set sensitive topics if we can't, if we've never been through that, right?

We can't teach a parent how to parent if you've never been a parent.

Right?

Men, don't talk to us about birthing a child if you've never gone through childbirth.

Right?

It's the same deal.

So Paul starts the letter with the fact that we will go through things.

But look at this on slide five.

For just as we abundantly in the suffering of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

I'm gonna read that one more time.

For just as we abundantly in the suffering of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

So, in other words, we are so happy and excited to get a chance of eternal life because of what Jesus did, because of his suffering, right?

And so also our comfort abounds.

Abounds means to exist in large amounts in great quantity or fully supplied with comfort through Christ.

So just like we take the one, we must take the other.

We can't say, Thank you, Lord, for that sacrifice, but we're not willing to sacrifice ourselves sometimes.

He's not asking us to die literally, he's asking us to die internally every day so we can please him and become a living testimony for the next brother coming behind us.

That's what he's asking us to do.

Amen.

So we rejoice because of what Christ did, therefore we also have comfort in the large numbers of what he did.

In other words, he got us.

He got us.

Paul continues through teaching in his church about how God reconciles people to himself through Christ, and he tells them that although others have arrived through in Corinth boasting, remember, it was a very successful place.

So there were other preachers that had money and had luxury and had names for themselves, and those they wanted to listen to, but they didn't want to listen to Paul because Paul was poor, because Paul was suffering for the name of Christ.

And Paul's suffering and poverty was valid as well.

And and what Paul is saying is Christians are defined by humility and our weaknesses rather than our self-promotion and our self uh and our self-personal strength.

Right?

So through those letters, I just gave you a quick synopsis of what happened from that letter to the next letter.

And so now we're gonna jump to the second letter, because this is where I want to focus, but I wanted to tell you what Paul had to tell them the first time around, and he felt that it was necessary to write to the Corinth church again.

And so he writes another letter to him in 2 Corinthians.

We're gonna jump to chapter 4, and he says, the God of this age.

I'm gonna pause.

So who's the God of his this age?

The God of this age, he means Satan himself.

That's who he's talking about.

He says, the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

All right.

I'm gonna read that one more time.

The God of this age has blinded the minds.

They do not understand, they think that what we do is foolishness.

They don't see the God that we see, they cannot see, it says, they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

So Jesus came so that we can see God in the flesh.

Amen.

And going on to verse five, because you know when I preach, I'm gonna read the whole Bible to y'all guys.

I'm sorry, but that's how I do it.

We're gonna teach the word.

This is what we're here for, amen.

So it says on verse five, for what we preach is not to ourselves.

We don't preach this because we want to preach this.

We already believe it.

We don't preach it just to ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

In other words, the world, the unbeliever, your friends, your family, your co-workers, your TikTok followers, your Facebook friends will not understand why such things can happen to the us, the believers.

Don't you serve Christ?

Oh, I can't believe that happened to her.

She must be uh she she must be feeling God's wrath.

I'm sorry, but I live in God's grace right now.

So sometimes we look at the believer or the unbelievers will look at us and will wonder, aren't you a child of God?

Why are you struggling?

Why did they fall?

Why are they uh why are they going through whatever it is that they're going through, right?

And so they assume that because we're going through these things, we must not be right before God.

Why?

Because the minds of the unbeliever have been blinded and they cannot see the light of the gospel.

So because they cannot see the light of the gospel, we don't preach to us, we preach Jesus, and we are just servants, and so we miss it.

Unbelievers miss it and we miss it, family.

We miss it all the time.

I'm not preaching for me, I'm preaching to give God the glory.

It doesn't matter what I sound like, it doesn't matter if I mess up, it doesn't matter if uh uh if I trip up over my words like I do sometimes, because it's not about me, family.

It's about the Jesus that I'm trying to serve to you.

Why?

Because I am a server, server of Christ, and that is the only reason I'm up here.

Not because I want to be up here, because my pastors will tell you that I did not want to come up here many moons ago.

I did not want to walk into the calling that he gave me, but I do it why?

Because I know that I am called.

I know that one day I'm gonna have to stand before his throne and he's gonna say, What have you done with what I have given you?

And so I have to answer to that.

We all have to answer to that.

So ponder on that for a moment, family.

We don't do it because we want to do it, we do it because we serve Jesus.

Amen.

That's where it says, ask servants for Jesus' sake, because he told us to do it, he told us to make disciples, he told us to preach the gospel, amen.

That's what he told us to do.

Amen.

And on verse 6 it says, for God who said, who said it?

God said it.

For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.

So, what does that mean?

It means God has made his light shine in our dark hearts, allowing us to know God through Jesus Christ.

We come to know who God is despite the dark world that we live in.

Right?

He pierces.

Imagine a dark room.

We're living in a dark room, a light pierces through into your heart, and that light shines not like a flashlight to expose us, but it's a transformation in our hearts from dark to light, removing the blindness that we once had when we were unbelievers.

Amen.

That's what that word says.

It says that the light of the knowledge of God's glory.

The word is foolishness to those who don't believe.

Amen.

But to us, it is life, it gives us life.

Amen.

And how?

How do we do that?

It is displayed, it says, displayed in the face of Christ, meaning we must look like Jesus Christ.

His character, his sacrifice, he resurrect him resurrecting shows us that we too will resurrect one day.

Amen.

Because if if they were to find the body of Jesus.

Anywhere, then what are we doing this for?

What are we doing this for, family?

Why do we come here every day, Sunday after Sunday, praising a God that we don't believe in?

This walk is by faith.

We've never seen our God, but we've seen how he moves in our lives and how he shifts and and and and makes the way out of no way and supplies when we had a need.

Amen.

And that's why we serve him.

We serve him because he has taught us how to love him.

I didn't always love God.

He has taught me how to love him, he has taught me how to trust him.

But had he given me everything that I wanted, would I have trusted him now?

No.

No.

He had to let me go through things and walk me through the valley of death and allow me to see that I would not die in that valley because he would be with me.

Had I not gone through that, I would still be blind.

Amen.

So slice, excuse me, verse 7 continues.

It says, But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

There's a treasure.

That treasure is in a jar.

The jar is made of clay.

Why?

Why does Paul use these things?

What Paul is telling us that God Himself lives within us.

That's the treasure.

What Paul means is that we ourselves are those jars.

But why jars?

Because we are made of dust.

If you think about what jars are made of, is dirt and water mixed together.

It is dust.

And when God comes along in our life, he is the water, he is the living water, and he mixes us up and he puts us on the powder's wheel and he starts making what it looks like a mess.

Others will look like it's a mess, but God is creating something beautiful.

He's creating a jar.

He is molding, he is pushing and bending and forming whoever it is that you need to be in him.

And so he Paul says we are clay jars.

And in that time, he chose to say cle uh clay jars because remember, these people had money.

These people were successful.

Clay jars were cheap, clay jars were nothingness to them.

That's for the poor folks.

So Paul is intentionally calling us jars of clay.

Amen.

We are merely human, we're fragile, we're easily broken, but the treasure of God is within us.

And so we have this treasure in these jars because we're earthly, because we're frail.

In other words, God is intentionally choosing us, the weak ones, breakable containers, us to carry a magnificent, indestructible message, which is the word of God.

Amen.

Because if we were flawless and powerful, and the world would credit the goodness of God to our talents and our strengths.

So why choose the ones that are already up there?

No, he chooses the weak to highlight the unmatched power of God.

Amen.

But why?

There is the why.

In the second half, it says to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

That's what it says.

So what is surpassing?

Surpassing is going beyond, is exceeding, it's bigger than any ordinary limits or expectation.

So his glory is all surpassing.

Amen.

To show his all-surpassing what power there is power in our God.

Amen.

Whether you wanted to believe it or not, the power comes from God, the favor comes from God, the open doors come from God, the healing comes from God, the restoration comes from God, the resurrection comes from God.

It all comes from God.

It doesn't come from us.

I can't give you anything but a good word.

And where am I getting that word?

From God.

Amen.

The next verse says, and we are hard pressed on every side.

Hard pressed.

I meant to have a piece of clay in my hand, but if you can imagine a piece of clay in my hand, I'm gonna press it in every single way, but is it gonna crush?

It's not gonna crush.

It's pliable.

We're pliable in his hands when we want to be pliable in his hands.

We cannot be weak.

This is not a walk for weaklings, family.

It's not.

Do you know that we are soldiers in the army of God?

Do you know that?

Do you understand the power that you have on the inside of you, family?

If we just knew that, we wouldn't walk around like, whoa me, oh my God, what am I gonna do?

And I'm saying that because I'm guilty of doing that.

But then when I figure it out and I come to my senses and I pray and I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

The Holy Spirit reminds me that it is not through his power that I'm gonna go through this, but I'm excuse me, that it is not through my power that I'm gonna get through this, but it is through his power, and I will see the other side of that.

I will, I will.

Amen.

And so we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

That's the word, that's the promise, family.

And we are hard-pressed on every side, the pressures of life will come.

We will feel pain, hurt, struggled, squeezed on every side from all directions, but we're not gonna be crushed.

And that's right there, black and white.

It's the word that the Father left for us, family.

We are still being formed.

Amen.

Tell your neighbor, I'm still being formed, I'm still being formed.

I'm still being formed.

That's a whole nother word for a whole nother day.

But despite all the squeezing and all the pressings from all and all the pressing, excuse me, from all sides, we will not be broken.

It feels like that, but we're not, we're we're not gonna ever be broken, we're not gonna be shattered.

And then it says perplexed, but not in despair.

So, what does perplexed mean?

This is my favorite part, y'all.

Perplexed.

When you're perplexed, you're confused.

When you're perplexed, you're like, what is going on?

It's those questions that I had on the other slide, like, what is happening?

We face with situations that we have no idea what we're gonna do, what steps we're gonna take, what's gonna be our next move, what's gonna happen next.

We feel what the Bible calls perplexed.

But we're not in despair.

Not to the point where we're completely hopeful.

Why?

Because even when our logic fails us, for us logical people that we think we could figure everything out, faith keeps our mind and heart from giving up, from feeling completely hopeless because we already know the end of it all.

We know where we stand, regardless of what's happening and regardless of what's going on around you.

Paul says, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

And what does persecuted mean?

It means to be true treated cruelly, harassed, talked about, dissed, if that's still a word, because of what we believe or identity in Christ and the faith we have, but even in those moments, we are not abandoned by God.

Excuse me.

I am so hype, y'all.

I get real hype when I talk about God for real, for all.

So we may we may get struck down.

Meaning you might feel like you got knocked down, meaning you might get a heavy blow and suddenly get knocked off your rocker.

But even when you're down and out, it doesn't mean that you're destroyed.

And the enemy is the only one, the only accuser that tells you that you're done, the only accuser that tells you that you're that there's nothing else left for you, that you've been defeated and you've been destroyed, because he will use the things that he knows will happen to him and put it on you because he's the only defeated foe, not us.

We walked in victory, from victory to victory, amen, from glory to glory, amen.

So Paul meant this whole situation that he's talking about, he meant this in a literal way.

Because Paul was that man that was involved in riots, he was literally getting beat down, he was literally getting knocked off his horse, right?

If he had a horse, I don't know, he probably did, but this also represents situations where you feel like you'll be destroyed, right?

The word comforts us in telling us that we're not gonna be destroyed.

God is gonna lift us back up, amen.

So again, verse 10.

It says, We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus.

I'm gonna read that one more time.

We always continuously again and again carry around.

I carry around like this jacket, I carry it around in our bodies the death of Jesus, so that life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

So let me break this down.

What does it mean?

It means that our hardships in our life will mirror the death of Jesus.

Jesus had to literally die.

So if he had to go through that, we're definitely gonna go through some hardships on this side of life, on this side of life.

And when we're in the midst of those situations and we think it's over and we think it's hard and we know that it hurts, we have to remember that Jesus died.

But what happened after Jesus died?

It doesn't end right there.

The Bible says that he resurrected and is still alive till today.

And for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, we will do the same.

We will do the same.

Amen.

So why do we go through these things we ask?

So that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body, so that his power can be seen, so that the cloud of witnesses that the Bible talks about can see the situations that we go through and say, Wow, and you still serve God, and you still holding on, and you still going to church, and you still praising your God?

Didn't the wife of uh uh uh Job tell them, damn your God?

And he's like, No, no, and the cloud of witnesses, because we have one the neighbor, your spouse, your wife, your husband, your children, the people around you, your co-workers, they're our witnesses, they're always watching.

They could pat you in the back, like, I'm so proud of you, but also talk about like let's see how long that lasts.

Because that's real talk.

So, see, the problem is not the problem, the way how we react to the problem is really the problem.

Okay, because slide 11, or I keep saying slide, verse 11 tells me, for we who are alive, we who are alive, not everybody's alive.

We I might be breathing right now, but we're not all alive.

For we who are alive are always being able being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal bodies, so then death is at work in us, but life is in work in you.

So let me break this down.

So, this suffering, these problems, these hardships, and these situations is not a one-time deal.

If it happened to you a couple years ago and you thought you surpassed that already, guess what?

It might come around again.

You might have to do a little bit more.

Uh, God had may have to mold you a little bit more.

You still got a little rough edges, so you're gonna go through it again.

All right, or you might have surprised, something new comes up.

Amen.

However, it is continuous.

Now, let me make this clear because I don't want anyone to take what I'm saying out of content.

Everything that I'm saying again, Paul was referring to the threats and all that he was going through because of the gospel.

Okay, so I fully understand that Paul is talking about because of where they were, because all the persecutions that he was going through for God's sake, right?

For the gospel, the good news, sharing about Jesus.

And that's all, and we're I'm very well aware of that.

However, we know that all things are written to teach us, and we must make those teachings and discover how we can apply those same principles, because they're principles, to our lives today, on our daily lives, right?

So I just want to make that differential.

I know that Paul was talking about literally persecutions, and we may not face persecutions here in the US, but trust and believe that there's still areas to this day in 2027 that are being persecuted, that this is literally what God, what what Paul is talking about to those to those individuals.

But I'm using this as a comparison of the things that we go through in life that we think will suffocate us, but in reality they're not.

So now, if you made up an issue all by yourself in your own life, that's your problem, and think that God's gonna get the glory, that's not what I'm talking about.

That's not what I'm talking about.

If you got yourself in your own mess because you didn't want to obey what God said to do, that's not what I'm talking about.

Okay, I also want to make that differentiate differentiation.

Did I say that right?

I don't know, teacher.

All right, bet.

All right, so going back to the word, it says, for we who are alive, how are we considered alive?

We are alive in Christ Jesus, meaning we are no longer dead, we are no longer blind, we will resurrect, our life is not over.

When we close our eyes, it says to be absent from the body is to be present in the Lord.

Amen.

And so we will not die, we'll never die.

Our plan is to us close our eyes, boop, and we wake up and we're in the presence of the Lord.

That's the plan, family, right?

So he says, for those who are alive, so that means that there's some that are not alive, there's a difference there, and then he says, are always continuously right, always being given over to death for Jesus' sake.

Paul means that we in this suffering is intentional and it's purposeful, right?

There's a purpose for it.

Believers are targeted for not doing the wrong thing, but because we represent Jesus Christ in a hostile world, we live in a fallen world.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Because we live in a fallen world by default, family.

That happens by default.

Why?

Because we again just just a quick reminder that if we are stamped with the Holy Spirit, we must not forget that we have an adversary that does not rest and will always try to knock us down to the point that we give up.

Why?

He's he's like a lion looking to who devour, right?

That's what he's doing.

24-7, him and his minions, right?

I'm sorry.

It says, so then, in other words, he's saying, I'm saying all this to say death is in work in us, but life is in work in you.

So we may be dying daily to live right before God through Jesus Christ, but us dying to ourselves starts to work up the life in you because we are a living testimony of Jesus Christ Himself, His followers, and His children.

So, yes, you're gonna see us go through things, but guess what?

Whoever's looking, that witness of uh the cloud of witnesses is looking at us and saying, Wow, you going through all that and you still got joy?

You going through all that and you still praising God?

You going through all that, and you still up and about lifting up your hands like ain't nothing going on?

Yes, because like Peter said, Where will I go?

Where will I go?

Where am I gonna get this water, this living water where I would never be thirsty?

Nowhere, family.

We can run, we can hide, we can act like we like we got uh uh everything going on in this world, but guess what?

When you really know God, when you really, really had a relationship with God, that thirst is just never gonna go away.

That void is just never gonna get filled.

That happiness that comes from happy moments is just not gonna be it because you know that the joy of the Lord is not in you anymore.

Amen.

And so that's why he says the death that is working us, we die daily.

We have to die daily.

When we obey, it's a part of dying to ourselves.

When we shut our mouth when we really want to tell you off, that's dying to ourselves.

When we wake up in the morning and we're super tired and we wake up just to give you 15 minutes, Lord, because if I don't give you these 15 minutes, I'm gonna be busy all day.

That's dying to ourselves.

When we turn the other cheek, that's dying to ourselves.

When we sacrifice when we don't have it, that's dying to ourselves.

When we go visit and we don't really want to do it, but we want to show you that God loves you too, that's dying to ourselves.

Right?

There's so many things that we do to die to ourselves, family.

But life isn't work in you.

Paul is saying, I'm dying so that you can live.

I'm dying to myself to pour life into you.

Amen.

And so we must remember that it is written.

What was Paul talking about?

Every time you see in the word it is written, that means it was written already.

So go find it.

This was something that the psalmist had already written in Psalms 116, 10, and he says, I believe, therefore I have spoken.

And he's the psalmist was referring to his affliction, right?

So I believe, therefore I have spoken, and then it says, Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one raised the Lord, Jesus, from the dead, will also raise us with Jesus and and present us with you to himself.

All this is for your benefit, it's for our benefit, family.

We go through much because too much is given, much is required.

Thank you.

Right?

So it's for our own benefit, even though it doesn't seem easy in our flesh, because it's never gonna seem easy in our flesh.

Our spirit wants it, our spirit is excited, our spirit is like, come on, let's go, but our flesh is like, Woo! I don't want to go through this, right?

But why?

So that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Amen.

Therefore, we do not lose heart.

Oh, I was oh, okay.

Therefore, we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

So you ever seen somebody?

I know I walked up in this church like, whoo.

Pastor Leslie be like, sis, you good?

And I'll be like, I'm good.

Am I good?

No, I'm not good.

No, I'm not good.

I feel like I'm wasting away.

Sometimes.

But I also know that inside there's something happening.

Inside, God is moving and shifting and reorganizing the pockets of my heart to show me me.

Amen.

And so we have to allow that because we have to be renewed day by day.

This is not an overnight thing, family.

You're not gonna accept Christ today and tomorrow.

We have wings.

Doesn't work like that.

It's a day after day thing, it's a sacrificial day, and we are a living sacrifice unto the Lord.

Amen.

And even though it seems like it over it's over and we're wasting time and we're wasting away, internally we are being renewed.

And you must trust that process.

It's making us stronger in the areas where we were once weak in.

Amen.

For our light and momentary troubles.

Momentarily.

That means for a little bit of time.

Our achieving.

That means something is happening.

We're working towards something, right?

So we are achieving for us an eternal glory.

Somebody say eternal.

Eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Amen.

So in other words, it's worth it.

It's worth it.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.

Since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

So part and courage is not to focus on what it looks like.

Because it's not always gonna look like Sunday morning, it's not always gonna look that great.

Amen.

But what we see and what we know is that it is all temporary.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Life is but a vapor.

Just clicking away.

I didn't add it.

James 4, 4, 14.

I'm so mad I didn't add it.

Pastor Luz, you changed my slide.

You sure did.

You use another version.

Praise God.

James 4.14 clearly states, for what is your life?

It's a question.

James is saying, what is your life?

If it's even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanishes away.

That's how James describes life.

Meaning life passes on quickly.

So similar for those of you who like coffee or tea, when you brew that fresh cup of coffee, you know the vapor that comes up.

That was the visuals I had, by the way.

That vapor comes up, but just as it comes up, doesn't it quickly disappear?

It only takes a minute for that vapor to disappear.

If we even notice it.

And then it's gone.

That's what the word is comparing our life to.

When we compare our life to eternity, we're only here this long.

This long on earth.

So we have no idea, family, what tomorrow's gonna hold.

So thinking or assuming that we got all this time left because we're young is not the right train of thought.

Thinking or assuming that you got everything you got and God is absent in our life is not a wise way to live our life.

So, why did I ask you in the beginning, where are you standing?

I asked that to allow a moment to reflect on where you're actually standing in life.

Are you standing on a sandy foundation where winds can come and knock you down?

Or are you standing on a rock and on a farm, firm, excuse me, firm and solid foundation and what you believe, that this too shall pass, and that it doesn't matter what comes, you're not gonna fall off that rock.

That's in Matthew 7, 24 through 2027, for those of you to take notes.

Matthew 7, 24 and 27 talks about a parable about the man who builds their house on the sand versus the man who builds the house on their rock, right?

I'm gonna leave that for you so you can read it on your own.

Or as Paul said, for our lights and momentary troubles are achieving for us an internal glory that far outweighs them all.

So are we still acting like the church of the Corinthians where we love God but we still want to live our life our own way?

We gotta really think about that.

Are you strong one day and another?

You are hanging on the fence because you're not sure on what to believe anymore because life got hard?

Or are you planted?

Are you planted by still waters where you will be refreshed and a well planted trees with strong roots cannot be easily knocked down?

Which one are you?

So are you double-minded?

James also talks in James 1.6.

He says, Who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown, excuse me, blown and tossed by the wind.

Right?

So if you are a double-minded person, you're being swayed back and forth.

I don't know, I'm not sure.

I've served God, but I love God, but I don't know, right?

That's that's a double-minded person.

We ask him, but we don't even believe the God-knowing God that it can happen.

Amen.

Or are you anchored in Christ and stay in place during all the changes that happen in your surroundings?

So again, I ask you, where are you standing?

In this walk, we have to make it up in our minds, family, and we have to make it up in our hearts.

We have to make it up in our minds and in our hearts that we're not gonna be shaken, that we're gonna continue to choose God each and every time, no matter what it looks like.

That we can't be double-minded and and say to ourselves that we're gonna do this, but inside we're shaken and rattled and and doubting the God that we serve.

We have to fix our eyes on the one who did it all so that we can have it all.

Amen.

So going back, it's fixing our eyes, not on the unseen.

Excuse me, not on the seen, but not on what is seen, but what is unseen.

Who is unseen?

Our God is unseen.

His promises are unseen.

Amen.

We can't see that, but we know it's temporary.

The bills are temporary, your wants are temporary, the goals are temporary, your car, the house, the job, the things that you don't have, the diagnosis, the sickness, our very own life here is all temporary.

But at the ends of our unknown road, we need to know where we are standing.

Amen.

So today I encourage you and remind you the same way Paul reminded and encouraged the Church of Corinthians.

Keep your eyes fixed on the promise and the unseen because we have not seen God yet.

We trust him.

We trust him because he has taught us over and over again that he is trustworthy.

Amen.

And if no one can, he can.

Amen.

God already reminded us of that not that long ago through Pastor Les.

He can.

And if no one will, he will.

Amen.

All of it will align to his perfect will.

We just have to make sure that our hearts are aligned to his will.

Amen.

So if you're unsure of where you're standing, or you need strength, or you have taken a moment to reevaluate your life and realize that you don't know where you're standing, I invite you to actually take that stand.

Take that stand today.

Take that firm step onto the only rock that will sustain you.

So I'll join you myself in prayer, amen, for encouragement, for redirection, for clarity, to hold grasp of the fact that no matter what, you should always know where you're standing.

You should always remember who called you, and you should always remember why you said yes.

Amen.

Because every day ain't Sunday.

If you don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior, or you are uh contemplating on you may not be standing so solidly like you thought you were standing, I invite you today to take that stand.

Because as we were told as little kids, if you don't stand for anything, you're gonna if you don't stand for something, you're gonna fall for anything.

Amen.

And so I invite you, family, to take that stand today.

Where are you standing?

Amen.

Where are you standing?

Think about that.

Where am I standing?

How do I react?

How do I uh uh face my oppositions, amen?

Because as I always say, life be life in, right?

Life could get hard, life could get heavy, but it doesn't matter.

We have to remember that we serve a God that can do the impossible.

Amen.

Amen.

So that's all I have for today.

God bless you, family, and with us, Pastor Les.