The Pain Never Ends | Pastor Herbert Cooper

I'm excited to preach God's word today.

Are you ready for the word of God?

Come on, are you ready, everyone?

Are you ready for the word of God?

You know, when I was growing up in my little hometown called Weewoka, Wewoka, Oklahoma, is where I grew up.

I would hear my parents or I would hear adults say things that I did not understand.

Okay, this makes no sense to me what you are saying.

I was so confused.

I didn't like what they were saying, and I did not understand what they were saying.

Like I remember hearing parents say things like, This is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you.

It's like, I don't, I don't get that.

I I would hear them say things like, This is for your own good.

I can remember my parents telling me, one day you're gonna thank me.

I'm thinking, I don't think so.

I don't think so.

I I remember my parents saying, I'm not trying to control you.

I'm not, I'm trying to protect you.

I'm like going to bed at 8:30 at 13 years old feels a little bit like control to me.

You know what I'm saying?

The one that really threw me off was this one.

I'm doing this because I love you.

I'm like, love me less.

Like I could take some less love right now, right?

Like, I did not understand what they were talking about until I got a little bit older.

And today I want to give you a saying that's no fun to hear.

It can also be very hard to understand, but the truth that I'm going to share with you today literally has the power to change your perspective, to change your marriage, to change your singleness, to change your relationships with other people.

It has the power to change your life.

It has the power today to change your relationship with God.

Are you ready for this saying today?

Come on, Shoreline.

It's not gonna be fun to hear, but I gotta share it with you.

Here it goes.

Pain never stops.

Somebody says, send him back to Oklahoma, Lord.

I know some of you are going through pain.

Some of you are going through marriage pain, singleness pain, children pain, relationship pain, financial pain, health pain, career pain.

And I've come with an encouraging word for you today.

Pain never ends.

Let me take you to James chapter number one.

If you have a copy of God's word, I invite you to turn to James chapter number one.

We're going to be there for the duration of our time together and unpack some scriptures together.

James chapter number one, I want to pick up reading in verse number two.

The scripture says, James 1, verse 2, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters.

James 1:2

Whenever you face trials of many kinds, and in life, we face trials of many kinds.

Anybody ever feel like me?

That word whenever it seems like it's every day.

And sometimes it seems like it's multiple times a day.

There are so many kinds of problems in life that lead to so much pain.

Life is filled with problems and pain.

Problems and pain.

Problems and pain.

And when we read the Bible, we see how God's people constantly faced problems and pain.

I mean, scripture is filled with problem after problem and pain after pain.

I think about Noah.

He faced the pain of rejection.

People mocked and ridiculed him for building a boat.

Abraham had the pain of waiting until he was 99 years old for his wife to get pregnant.

Sarah had the pain of a barren womb.

Hagar had the pain of rejection and abuse from Sarah.

Esau had the pain of betrayal as he lost his birthright and blessing through his brother's deception.

Moses had the pain of leadership, leadership challenge after leadership challenge as he dealt with constant complaining, criticism, and rebellion from the Israelites.

Naomi, she had the pain of a broken and bitter heart as she watched her husband die.

Her sons die.

Elijah had the pain of depression as he battled and dealt with his own mental and emotional health.

Nehemiah had the pain of opposition while rebuilding the wall.

He faced opposers, haters, and threats.

Think about Job.

He had the pain of unbelievable suffering as he lost his health, his wealth, and his children.

Then there was Peter in the New Testament.

He had the pain of failure as he denied Jesus three times.

And the apostle Paul had the pain of constant hardship as he faced judgment, shipwreck, prisons, beatings, flogging, and hunger.

And I could keep giving you biblical character after biblical character who faced problem after problem and pain after pain.

Sometimes I feel like one of my top three jobs as a pastor, and my wife and I, we started our church and have been pastoring it for 24 years.

There are so many problems.

There's so much pain.

And I've come to understand that James was just so right when he said, trials of many kinds.

Throughout my life, there have been so many painful moments.

I think about the pain when I was sexually abused by a lady at the age of 13.

I think about the pain of growing up in a broken and an abusive home and watching my parents get a divorce.

I think about the pain of my dad telling me one day, boy, you're never gonna do anything with your life.

And how those words pierced my heart and marked me as a teenager.

I think about the pain of being betrayed by people, the pain of people making up stories about me, the pain of taking the high road when it would feel better to sling mud and to get even.

I think about the pain of being misunderstood.

Or the pain of watching people in our church family lose their job or lose their health or the death of a loved one.

Or the pain of watching people that I've poured my life and I've invested my life into for years and then watch them drift away from God and wreck their lives.

Or dealing with my own personal pain.

When my marriage was in a bad season, or watching one of my children struggle with their own pain.

Pain never stops.

The day we stop bleeding is the day we stop breathing.

So what in the world do we do with this thing called pain?

Since pain never ends, what do we do with pain?

Let's talk about it right now.

Number two, pain and the right perspective.

James teaches us one of the most powerful principles when it comes to problems and pain, and that is a painful life and a joyful life can coexist.

James chapter 1, verse 2.

James 1:2

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, it is possible to have problems and pure joy at the same time.

And I meet a lot of Christians who are losing their joy because they're facing the painful problems of life.

Their perspective is I can't have joy if people are talking bad about me.

I can't have joy if people are leaving my life.

I can't have joy if my dreams are not happening fast enough.

I cannot have joy if money is tight.

I can't have joy if my family or relationships are struggling.

I can't have joy if I'm dealing with the sickness in my body or a family member is dealing with the sickness in their body.

But James says that does not have to be our perspective.

James says we do not have to be a victim of our problems and our pain.

What's happening around you does not have to dictate what's happening in you.

You can have joy in the middle of the pain because the world didn't give it and the world can't take it away.

People didn't give it and people can't take it away.

Money didn't give it and money that can't take it away.

Career didn't give it and career didn't can't take it away.

Your joy comes from Jesus.

I'm gonna say it again.

Your joy comes from Jesus.

Joy is found in the presence of the Lord.

And James teaches us you can have pain and joy at the same time.

I think about one of my dear friends.

He's one of the most joyful people I know.

His name is Scotty Gibbons.

He's one of the pastors on our staff.

And if you look at Scotty, you would never realize and know that he lives with a broken back.

He's had four or five surgeries on his back.

He's one of our teaching and preaching pastors, lead staffs, lead teams.

And I watch him, he's preaching today back in a people's church right now.

And oftentimes he'll have a stool while he preaches, and he'll sit on the stool because of all the back pain.

And I see him struggle with migraines all the time because of a broken back.

And then he has six children, and you see Scotty and his wife, and none of them children are adopted.

They she gave birth to all of them children.

Six of them.

I thought I had a lot four, but six.

Come on, all you parents know, all you parents know you have one child, you got a problem.

Come on, you got six children, you got a problem every other minute.

Come on, somebody, hi.

It's a joy, they're a blessing of the Lord.

But it's real raising children and marriage and living with a broken back, and yet he challenges me because I watch him do it with so much joy.

He's one of my dearest friends.

I love hanging out with him.

I love being around him because he teaches me, James chapter number one, that you can have pain and problems and joy at the same time.

You can have four or five back surgeries, live with the broken back, deal with migraines, raise six children, and you can do it with joy because a painful life and a joyful life can coexist.

It's the right perspective on pain, is to understand I can have pain and I can have joy.

Let me give you another right perspective on pain.

Pain is a test.

Pain's a test.

Let's go to the next verse, James chapter 1, verse 3.

James 1:3

Because you know that the testing, come on to every location, shout testing.

You know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Problems and pain are a test.

I'm going to date myself right now, and some of you will show your age as well.

Some of you will remember watching television from 1978 through 1996, and the television station would be interrupted.

You'd be watching your favorite ballgame, you'd be watching your favorite show, and all of a sudden they would stop the television and they would say, This is a test.

I mean, right in the middle of your show, this is a test.

This station is conducting a test of the emergency broadcast system.

This is only a test, and then you would hear this noise.

And then the noise would stop, and then they would come back and say, This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.

If this had been an emergency, this station would have told you where to tune in for news and official information.

This concludes this test of the emergency broadcast system.

Why did you do that?

I'm missing the game.

So regular tests allowed authorities to check the system's operational readiness, to identify technical problems, and confirm that the government can effectively alert the entire country when necessary.

And God allows tests in our life to check our readiness.

He uses tests to reveal problems inside of us that will keep us from our destiny.

So God allows tests so we can change, so we can grow, so we can mature, so that we can step into our God-given destiny.

So God uses pain as his genome and testing as our trainer.

Never forget this, it'll change your life.

Your problem is not just a problem, it's a test.

Your pain is not just pain, it's a test.

And every test has a question waiting to be answered.

When we were in school, and some of you are still in school, the test came in the form of a question.

If you answered the questions correctly, we got promoted from sixth grade to seventh grade.

But if we answered the questions on the test incorrectly, we got held back and we had to take sixth grade over again.

And the school did not hold us back to be mean to us.

They just simply knew we needed to grow.

I mean, life is a series of tests to reveal where we are.

Your problem and your pain is a test revealing where you are and where you need to grow so that you can step into what God has next for your life.

And my question for you today, Shoreline City, is how are you doing on the test that God is allowing in your life?

When things don't go your way, how's your attitude?

Positive or negative?

Your attitude's a test.

How do you respond to pressure?

It's a test.

How are you responding to the challenging situations and conversations that God is allowing in your life?

It's a test.

Can people count on you to do what you say you're going to do even when it's hard?

It's a test.

Do you follow through on what's asked of you even when it's challenging?

Or are you always making excuses?

It's a test.

When life is hard, do you take personal ownership of your life?

Or do you find yourself becoming a victim and playing the blame game?

It's a test.

How do you respond when people hurt you?

Betray you, reject you.

It's a test.

Are you approaching difficult days with faith or with doubt?

It's a test.

How are you handling God's delays in your life when you don't feel like God is showing up quick enough?

Do you trust God?

Trials test whether you trust God's character or just his calendar.

How are you handling working with that difficult coworker?

That that boss that you just don't like?

How do you handle that person who gets on your last nerve?

It's a test.

Your problem is not just a problem, it's a test.

Your pain is not just pain, it's a test.

God is trying to reveal something to you so that you can grow and step into your destiny.

Correction today prevents collapse tomorrow.

We must allow pain to expose where we need to grow.

I'm telling you, I tell myself frequently, I talk to myself, y'all.

Anybody else talk to yourself?

Like I talk to myself, and I'll call myself by my full name.

Herbert Lee Cooper Jr.

I know you don't like what you're going through, but boy, don't you forget, Herbert, this is a test.

Herbert Lee Cooper Jr., that person is.

I know they're on your nerves, but they're a test that's a test that situation is a test that trial is a test that pain is a test that dilemma is a test that confusion is a test.

This is a test.

This is only a test of the emergency God broadcast system.

This is only a test.

Respond with the right answer.

Respond correctly to the test God has allowed in your life.

Why?

Why?

Number four, because pain always produces something in you.

It always produces something in you.

James 1, verse 3.

James 1:3

Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Don't miss this.

One hundred percent of the time, problems and pain produce something in us.

The question is, what are you allowing pain to produce inside of you?

When you respond incorrectly to pain and problems, it produces impatience, frustration, anger, bitterness, a victim mentality, sinful behavior, worry, fretting, complaining.

But when you respond correctly to pain and problems, scripture says it produces perseverance.

It produces this steadfastness, this faithfulness on the inside of us.

We must be patient and allow pain to produce something good inside of us.

If you rush what God is refining in you, you'll forfeit what God is forming for you.

So when you face pain, don't get so caught up on why me, why me, why me?

No, flip the question.

What are you trying to build in me?

God is trying to produce something good inside of me.

One of the greatest revelations that happened in my life over the last decade.

Literally, it's been one of the greatest revelations, and that is this.

I had to learn to change my relationship with pain.

We all have a relationship with it.

My relationship with pain was very poor.

I hated pain.

I despised painful seasons.

But the more I've grown, the more I've studied, the more I've walked with God, I've learned that if I respond correctly to pain, pain is actually my friend.

Because it produces something good inside of me that.

I need for my next season of life.

So when I feel squeezed, it's not the devil defeating me, it's God developing me.

And some of you today, you need to change your relationship with pain.

You keep asking God, do something big through me, do something big through me.

And God says, I will if you let me do something big in you.

You have to change your relationship with pain.

When God allows heat in your life, is not to burn you down, but to burn away what's holding you back for what God has next for your life.

Come on, the pain you're experiencing is for one purpose.

God is wanting to produce something good in you.

But you must allow pain to develop.

One of the common mistakes is with pain, and I don't want you to do it.

Don't waste painful diseases.

So many people wasted and they take it in.

They're going to pain and they curse it and they hated it and they're mad.

But I want to take it to don't get bitter again.

Number five, number five, number five, number five.

The right perspective on pain.

Pain is the vehicle that takes you to your next level.

Some of you are not experiencing what God has next for your life because you keep failing the test.

Okay, understand this.

Pain proceeds promotion.

Pain proceeds promotion.

Promotion in your marriage, promotion in your singleness, promotion in your relationships, promotion in your career, promotion in your finances, promotion in your ministry, promotion in life.

James says this is the next verse.

James chapter 1, verse 4.

James 1:4

Let! Well, I could preach that one word for about 20 minutes.

Let I said you gotta let.

I said, well, let's I'm a preacher, y'all.

I like that right there.

You better let because not everybody does.

You better let perseverance finish its work.

So that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

When you respond correctly to pain, it builds you, it develops you, it matures you, so you're not lacking anything you need for your next season of life.

Pain is the vehicle that gets you from where you are to where God wants you to be.

Every painful test is God's way of saying, I'm preparing you for what I've prepared for you.

Sometimes unanswered prayers are not God's punishment, they're his preparation.

God's painful not yet protects you from not ever.

God is trying to mature you, he's trying to develop you, he's trying to grow you, he's trying to get you ready for what he has next.

You must embrace this pain and pass the test.

James teaches us that maturity comes when perseverance finishes its work.

If you shortcut the process, you'll short the circuit the promise.

Let perseverance finish its work.

Perseverance must finish its work.

So we are complete not lacking anything.

You gotta allow pain to grow you, to push you out of your comfort zone, to develop you, to mature you.

Let perseverance finish its work.

That means don't quit.

Don't give up because it's painful.

Don't give up because the problems are coming one after another after another.

Sometimes the pain feels unbearable.

Sometimes you feel like I can't take it anymore.

I spiraled into addiction.

And a fellowship of Christian athletes.

At 17 of that night, I gave my life to Jesus.

Everything began to change.

God began to work in me and heal me and free me.

And now today at 51, I get to share my story of freedom and see other people set free.

I'm so glad I didn't give up.

At my lowest point in life.

I think about the pain and the weight of life.

And marriage.

Pastoring at church for 24 years.

It almost destroyed me.

There was a season I did not think I could take anymore.

I really did.

But I'm so glad I did not quit.

And I can tell you genuinely and honestly, today I'm living the best season of my life in my marriage with my children, with my church, because I did not give up.

How do you stay married for 29 years?

You just don't quit.

How do you raise godly kids and see them serve the Lord?

You just don't quit.

How do you pastor the same church for 24 years?

You just, you just don't quit.

You let pain develop you, you let it mature you, you let it grow you, you let it, you let it produce something good in you that gets you ready for your next season of life.

I think about Job.

Job lost everything.

He lost his kids, his wealth, his health, the support of his wife, the support of his friends.

It was a painful season, a low season for Job.

He's scraping himself with with pottery, with with glass, because of the sores on his body.

All of his kids are dead.

Has no more money.

All of his livestock are dead.

But you know what Job did?

He did not give up.

And God developed something good in Job that got him ready to experience double the blessing.

Double the blessing.

Job 42, 12 says, the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former part.

He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, a thousand donkeys, more kids.

And I come to tell somebody if you learn how to steward pain well, God will bless the latter part of your life more than the former.

If you steward pain well, if you let God grow you and mature you, God will bless you more than you can imagine.

If you'll steward pain well, God'll bless your marriage, He'll bless your kids, He'll bless your sickness, He'll bless your family, He'll bless your relationships, He'll bless your careers, He'll bless your finances, He'll bless your future more than ever before.

He'll bless your life city, He'll bless the future, He'll bless Midway Hollow.

He'll bless you more than you can ever imagine.

You gotta be like Job in Job 13, 15.

So he slay me.

I trust you in the middle of the play.

I trust you in the middle of the hell.

I trust you when people are acting like you don't explain me.

In the middle, of the middle, I switched you, in the middle, of the black, I switched you, I switched the gun, I switched to gold, I switched up to the body.

Father, thank you right now for the work of the Holy Spirit, for deepening our trust in you in the middle of pain, in the middle of problems.

Thank you, Lord.

Right now, I just want to just pray for you.

Just pray for specifically for somebody who feels like you're at the end of your road.

You're going through so much pain.

You're going through so many problems.

This message was for you.

You're struggling right now.

You're struggling.

I want to pray for you.

If that's you, just slip your hand up real quick and let me just let me just pray for you.

Let me just pray for you.

Let me just pray for you.

It's okay, tears coming down your face.

It's okay.

Just let me pray for you, Father.

I pray in the name of Jesus.

Life is hard.

There's real problems, there's real pain.

I thank you for the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

I thank you for the strength of God.

I thank you right now in your presence, it's fullness of joy.

Give somebody joy as they go through pain.

Give somebody joy as they go through problems.

I thank you for the hope of Christ.

Give somebody hope.

In the middle of the problem, there's hope, there's a future.

You're at work, you're doing something in them, Lord.

I pray right now, God, have your way in their heart right now.

Minister your grace, minister your power, minister your strength.

Lord, I thank you right now.

We won't waste this pain.

Mature us, develop us, grow us for what you have next in Jesus' name.

His eyes are just closed, and you're just locked away with God.

I'm talking to some people that don't have a relationship with Jesus.

You're not following him, you're not serving him, you're not living for him.

And oftentimes I see people and talk to people who are not serving God because of pain and problems.

Why the suffering?

Why the starving people?

Why my own personal pain?

Why the pain in my family?

If God really loved me, God really cared, I wouldn't be going through what I'm going through.

And maybe you feel that way.

God loves you.

There's grace, there's mercy, there's forgiveness.

He has a plan for you.

Would you give your heart to him?

Maybe you used to serve God, but you drifted away.

Felt like life's been unfair, problems and pain, and you drifted away from the Lord.

And today you need to rededicate your life to the Lord.

If that's you today, as I count to three, you want to give your life to Jesus for the first time, or you want you want to rededicate your life to the Lord and come back home today.

I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand high.

And I want to lead you in a prayer to say yes to Jesus.

One, two, three.

Just lift it high and say, Pastor, that's me today.

I want to give my life to Jesus.

Thank you so much.

I want to rededicate my life to the Lord.

See your hand there, see your hand there, see your hand there, see your hand there, see your hand there at the balcony, see your hand there.

See several hands going up.

So awesome, so awesome.

I'm gonna ask for every hand raised, every single location, to pray this prayer with me.

Confess it with your mouth, believe it in your heart.

Romans 10, 9 says, You will be saved, your sins will be washed away.

Church, family, would everybody pray this prayer with them?

Let's just all pray together.

Let's pray this prayer, this prayer of commitment to the Lord.

Come on, just pray with me right now.

Heavenly Father, I turn from my sin and I turn my life to Jesus.

I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again.

I place my faith and my trust in Jesus.

I will serve Jesus the rest of my life.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen and a man and amen.