Suffering

Welcome to Cross Church. My name is Tyler and I serve as campus pastor right here at Cross Church Elmarrage and I want to welcome you to service today. Before we get started, I want to make you aware of a couple of ways that you can connect with us today. The first, if you have a phone with you, you can send a text message with the word crossurch, no space to the number 9400. Or if you'd like to use the cards that are in the seat back in front of you, we've got three cards that'll direct you on ways that you can get connected. The first is the new card. If you're new to church over the last few weeks. We would love to connect with you. Take some time to fill out that card during our service today and drop it in one of the black boxes and then we'll follow up with you this week with some more information. The next card is the next card. Take some time to use that card if you're interested in taking some next steps in your faith journey. Things like baptism, joining a group, or even serving. And then lastly, and I believe most importantly, is the prayer card. And I want to guarantee you that if you take time today to fill out that prayer card, all of those come to me and I get to each of them individually. So, if you've got things big or small going on in your life, please feel free to share those with us. We'd be happy to pray over them. Hey, as we get prepared for some God-honoring worship, I want to encourage you to go into service today with an expectant spirit. We know that God will do big things in our midst. And so, I want to encourage you to enter this time with an expectant spirit. Let's get prepared for some God on Hey, good morning everyone. Let's all stand together. Let's all get ready to worship. [Music] Sing. This is the day. This is the day you made. So I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it. This is where I believe that you are more than enough. more than enough for me. You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Sing, oh my soul, oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me say the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I got the joy. I got the joy. Jesus, come one day. Cuz you are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise. Cuz you are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak. When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh my soul. Oh my soul. Bless his name. All that is within this. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I got the joy. Got the joy. Got the joy. [Music] Sing. So let it rise. Let it rise up like a river overflowing. Holy Spirit and let it pour out with no living overflowing Holy Spirit. So let it arise up. Let it rise up like a river overflowing. Holy Spirit, let it pour out. Let it pour out with no limit [Music] overflowing. Holy Spirit. [Music] Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh. Let's sing. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Blessing on my soul. Oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me. Say, oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me, say, oh my soul, bless his name. All that is within me, say, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. I got the joy. I got the joy. [Music] Yes. Isn't he so great? He gives us joy. He overflows with joy. He is provider. gives us everything we need. [Music] Look at the flowers and all of their beauty. I don't have to wonder [Music] know what you're doing. So why would I worry at all? You're faithful to [Music] everything I need. Everything I need, my father has it. My father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide. My father has it. My father has. Yes, he does. My father has it. [Music] Look at the sparrow. Lacking for nothing. No fear of tomorrow and what it will bring. Oh, you are enough. If I have you, I have enough. Cuz your love will set it fire. Everything I need. Everything I need. I know. My father has it here. My father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide. My father has my father. Oh my father. [Music] See the dream and it treasures. Everything else will be hiding. All that I'm needing. I know the Lord will provide. [Music] I know my God's not empty. [Music] He gives us blessings upon blessings. I'm still believing. I know the Lord will provide. Seek first the kingom. Seek first the kingom and its treasures. Everything else it will be added. all that I'm needing. I know I know the Lord will provide. I'm comforted and I know my God's got empty handed. He gives us blessings upon blessings. I'm still believing. Oh, I know the Lord will provide. Oh, everything I need, everything I need, everything I need. I know my father asks me, my father ask me every single time. The Lord will provide. My father loves it. My father loves it. Everything I need. Everything I need, my father has it. My father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide it. My father has it. Oh, seek first the kingom and his treasures. everything else. It will be out and all that I needed. I know. I know the Lord will provide. I know my God's night. I know my God's not empty handed. He gives us blessings of blessings. I'm still believing. I know. I know the Lord will provide. I know. I know the Lord will provide. I know. I know the Lord will provide. Yes. Isn't he good? He's so good. [Music] [Music] Blessed asssurance Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth man in the fire. Time after time, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. And what he did for me on Calary was more than enough. Oh, I trust in God, my savior. The one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my savior. You're the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Perfect submission. All desert rest. I know the author of tomorrow is ordered my steps. So this is my story [Music] and this is my song. I'm praising my risen King and Savior all the day long. Oh, I trust in God, my savior. The one who will never fail. [Music] He will never fail. I trust in God, my savior. The one who will never [Music] fail. He will never fail. [Music] He didn't fail you then. He won't fail you. Now [Music] let's sing. I sought the Lord. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. And I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust in God. My savior, the one who will never fail. [Music] He will never fail. [Music] Oh, I trust in God, my savior. The one who will never fail. He will never fail. Yeah. Oh. Oh. This is why we trust him. Oh, he hears us. He answers. I trust in God, my savior. The one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. My savior, the one who will never never fail. He will never fail. [Music] Thank you, worship team. That was beautiful. Uh good morning, Cross Church. Uh for those of you that are joining us online right now, I want to welcome you as well. Um, I do have a couple of announcements for you guys, but before I go over those announcements, um, I want to go over some cards that are located in the back of your seat or possibly in front of you in the back of the seat in front of you. Um, there's three cards. The first one is the new card. If you are new to Cross Church and maybe you've been here once or twice and you're interested in getting more information about who we are, please fill that card out. put in the black dropbox in the back of the room on your way out and somebody a leader or Pastor Tyler will get in contact with you through the week. The second card is the next card. Um, if you've been coming here uh for a little while now and you're sure this is where you want to get plugged in um and maybe you're looking for opportunities to serve, um we have lots of opportunities here to serve or maybe you're interested in baptism or getting connected in a small group. um please fill that card out and again a leader will get in contact with you with more information on your next steps. And lastly, the last card that is located back there is the prayer card. If you have a prayer, big or small, we would love to pray for you. Here at Cross Church, prayer is big. Pastor Tyler takes those cards and he prays over all of them. So, if you have any prayer requests, please don't hesitate to fill that out and drop it in the box in the back. All right. So, two weeks ago, we launched a summer series. So, every Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. during summer, uh, June and July, we will have women's group. We're going through a book called Extraordinary Women, 12 Extraordinary Women. And we also have a men's group and a youth group. They're all at the same time. We'd love for you guys to come check it out, get plugged in. Um, it's a good time to be able to fellowship in a smaller setting. And we also, if you drove up and you saw the bounce house outside with water, we're going to have a few Sundays this summer. Today is one of them. Uh, we are calling it summer Sundays. Uh, where the kids can just um hop in the water, cool off from the summer heat, have an otter pop, and then you guys can fellowship with one another. And lastly, um we have youth camp coming up this week. Everybody leaves tomorrow morning and we would just really appreciate it if you could keep us in prayer. The leaders, the students that are going to camp, um me because I signed up to be a leader. So pray for me. This will be my first time. But if you could just bow your head, I would like to pray over the camp. Dear heavenly father, Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to be able to go to camp. We ask for your blessings upon everybody who's going, both camp leaders and the campers. We pray for your presence just to be felt throughout the camp. We pray that you guide all of our activities and conversations. Lord, we ask for safe travels to and from camp. We pray for good health throughout our time there. We pray for receptive hearts, Father, that we may learn from your word and grow closer to you. God, please give us comfort and courage to step out of our comfort zones and make new friendships. I pray that they would be meaningful friendships that we make there and connections that we would that just both with each other and with you. I just pray that the friendships that are formed would at camp would be lasting and just Christc centered. I pray that you help us to have fun and just enjoy the activities there and just help us experience the joy of your presence. We pray for our leaders that they would be filled with wisdom and discernment as they guide us. Just equip them to minister to us effectively and to share your love with us, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And lastly, if you like what you see here at Cross Church and you are looking for opportunities to give to the ministry and the vision, um, in just a second there will be a slideshow that goes up on the back of different ways that you can give to our church. So, if you would like to do that, you can do that now. [Music] Good morning everybody. How's everybody doing this morning? Good morning. So my name is Javi or Javier, whichever one you can pronounce. I go by both. So, uh, yeah, I just want to thank Pastor Tyler for the opportunity to allow me to share God's word with you guys this morning. Uh, so we just recently, uh, finished up a series called Less of a Mess. And that was a really good series. Uh, the main point of that series, and I'm going to test those of you that were here for that. To have less of a mess, we look to what? We look to the book, meaning God's word. We go to God's word because his ways are better than our ways and if I do life on my own it'll be a mess. So I have to go to God's word. So um prior to that we were in the Corinthians series. Uh we are going to be going back to our Corinthians series. Now we're going to be in second Corinthians. We went over the first letter of Corinthians. Uh the name of the series is rooted in holiness. So, I'm going to give you guys just a brief uh background context of who wrote the letter and who was the letter written to. So, Paul was the writer. He was an apostle called by Jesus. Paul wasn't always a Christian or he wasn't always an apostle. Actually, Paul persecuted the church. Paul hated the church. He hated Christians. He even killed Christians and approved of them to be killed and even arrested. But it wasn't until God stepped in and saved Paul. And now he used Paul to build his church, not for Paul to destroy the church. So that's who the writer is. He wrote to uh the church in Corinthians. So Paul was chosen by God to go to the Gentiles to preach the good news to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are those that are not Jews. So if you're not of Jewish descent here, you're a Gentile. I'm Mexican, so I'm a Gentile. So that's who Paul went to preach the good news to. And so he went to a city named Corinth Corinth Corinthians and that was in the country of Greece. So he goes there, he preaches the gospel. The people are receptive. They understand God gives them the ability to hear and be touched by the Holy Spirit. The church is born there. Paul is the church planner there. He's the come he's the one that came and started the church there. uh he leaves on another mission trip and then it's not long after that the people come in and we have these false super apostles as we see if you read the the letter uh these super apostles go there and they start teaching things that are not biblical and not what Paul taught them and they very quickly turn and they begin to live in a manner that's not what God called them to live like. So Paul hears of it. He begins to re write letters because they didn't have Wi-Fi or cell service. So he can't call them or FaceTime them. So he has to write letters to them. So this is the second letter that Paul writes to the Corinthian church. Um so let us pray as we get into the word this morning. We are going to be in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians verses 1-1. So father we just come to you Lord. Uh just praying for your guidance uh praying for your spirit to move and impact hearts this morning. Lord, I am thankful for every single seat that's filled this morning. Lord, everybody is here for a reason. Lord, we are not here by accident. We there's a purpose and a reason why you brought us here today. Lord, I pray for the hearts to be prepared to hear your word. My heart, Lord. I pray that your word, Lord, challenges us, convicts us, renews us, encourages us, and strengthens us, Lord, because that's what your word does. And so, I pray, Lord, as I read your word and give the message that you've put in my heart, Lord, that you would just move in us, change us. Uh we pray that we don't just come to church this morning, Lord, but that we leave as the church, Lord. So, we pray for that in Jesus name. Amen. All right. So, I'm going to read this again. I've been reading it and reading it and reading it. So, I I should have it memorized, right? But I don't. So, I'm going to read it. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will and Timothy, our brother, to God to God's church at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Aaya. Grace to you and peace from God our father and Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies, the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all of our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction. Through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For as the sufferings of Christ overflows to us, so our comfort overflows through Christ. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort which is experienced in the endurance of same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that took place in the providence of Asia. We were completely overwhelmed of life. However, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a terrible death and he will deliver us. We have placed our hope in him that he will deliver us again and you can join in helping with prayer for us so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift that came through to us through the prayers of many. So how many of you here can relate to suffering and trials in life? I think if we're honest most of us if not all of us can raise our hands. you know, um, we all have suffered in one way or another. We all have been through trials. If we're all honest, I think we could all even say that we've even asked, why? Why am I suffering? Why am I going through this? Why is this happening to me? We might even have asked at one point, where is God? I don't feel God in this moment, in this situation that I'm in. We may feel that God is distant and not near. And we may not know and feel that where is God. So I want to I want to pull out three points that Paul points out here why we suffer. But before we get into those three reasons why we suffer, I think it's very clear that Paul wants to answer that question that we ask where is God? Why is this happening? I don't feel God. And his main point is as he starts this letter, we see it is that God is involved. So let's look at verse three. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. So he says God is merciful and God is a God of comfort. So if you think of comfort, somebody that gives comfort is involved, right? They're engaged. Some how can someone give comfort if they're not there, if they don't have a relationship with that person? An an example that I can give is when I was growing up, um I'm the only boy in my family. So, I was a big mama's boy until my wife showed up and then all that changed. So, I was a big mama's boy. And so, when things didn't go the way I liked or I got hurt or or whatever, I have two sisters that used to try to gang up on me and beat me up, but they couldn't. But sometimes I would have to cry out for my mom and she would come right away. She would come. She would comfort me, make everything better. I felt better. And uh we I don't know if it's just our Mexican family, but Mexicans, we don't believe in band-aids, so I didn't get band-aids, but my mom would sing and comfort me. And so uh that was my comfort. My mom was my comforter. But can you imagine her when I cry and I would call to her, she wouldn't respond. She wouldn't come. She wasn't there. That would be devastating. And so at time God is not like that either. Sometimes we may think that God is just in heaven far away. And we may not feel that he's there. He's present in our circumstances, in our situation that we're facing in life. But the the thing in the matter is that God is involved. God is there and God is present. Uh Jesus tells us in John chapter uh 16:7, he says this, "Nevertheless, I'm telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away because if I do not go away, the counselor will not come to you. If I go away, I will send him to you." In the ESV translation, the word counselor translates to helper. If I don't go away, the helper will not come to you. And another translation that I like is the comforter. The comforter will not come to you. And so, um, I compared the two because we know that the New Testament was written in Greek. It was written in Greek, not in English or in Spanish, but it was written in Greek. So, their their words have different meanings than the way we understand them. And so I looked up the definition for the word that Paul uses here for comfort. And I also looked up the definition in English in the Webster dictionary. And the way we understand comfort is kind of like what my mom did. She would come. It's someone that tries to take your your pain, try to take your your suffering and try to make life better for you so that you don't have to suffer. That's what comfort is. And I can relate to that because when my kids get hurt or or they're sick or something, I just want to take that and make them feel better. You know, we don't want our kids to suffer and to hurt, but that's not what Paul says here when he uses this word. The word that Paul uses here, and I hope I pronounce it right. If not, correct me if anybody knows Greek here. Uh, but the word is paraco. Uh, that definition is someone that encourages you, somebody that strengthens you, somebody that comes alongside you. So, it's different. It's not somebody that comes and takes your your pain and your suffering and your trial away. He's saying that this somebody which is God comes and he's with you. He strengthens you and he's going to encourage you. So not necessarily that God is going to take your suffering and your pain. He can if he wants to, but I believe that there's times where God will allow us to be in that suffering, allow us to go through that trial because there's a reason for it. And so I think as Paul begins that the the letter, he's very firm and clear that God is the God of comfort. He is involved. He is there. So then go Paul is able to go on to give us three reasons why we suffer. The first reason being is we c we suffer to comfort others. We suffer to comfort others. Let's look at verse four. Who comfort who comforts us in all of our afflictions so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction that with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. So as I looked at that and I studied this point, God showed me something and revealed something to me. And that was that in our suffering and in our trials, it's not just about me. It's not just about you. And we may think like, what do you mean I'm the one that's suffering? I'm the one that's hurting. I'm the one that's going through this. You know, so what do you mean by it's not just about me? We need to look and see that God has a bigger plan. God has a bigger purpose in our suffering. And I believe that that's what he means by we're able to comfort others. I'm going to give you guys a quick example. Uh I work with a brother and I asked him if I could use his name. He's not here, but I I am I invited him to come. I do have a brother here from work though. I'm not going to point him out just because I don't want to embarrass him. But um he his name is Juan and he's a believer. Uh he's struggling a little bit with his faith. So I pray with him a lot and I try to encourage him. I shared a testimony with him that something that our family has recently been going through and it's been really heartbreaking and we've been struggling through. And I shared that with him and then I began to cry with him because I was heartbroken of our situation. And he begins to share a testimony that's very similar to what I was going through, but his was way worse than what I was going through. And as I was listening to his story and his testimony of how he his situation was worse than mine, I began to feel comfort. Not that his I was happy that his was worse than mine. Not that's not what was comforting me. What was comforting to me was that even though his situation was worse and I was like, I can't imagine going through that, God was able to get him through that. God was able to comfort him, strengthen him, encourage him. And that's what gave me comfort that even though we were going through this situation, I understood that God was going to get me through it, was going to get our family through it, right? And so that gave me encouragement and comfort in my in my situation. But a lot of times that, you know, we focus too much of our in our in our in our situation. Um, Paul was a man that knew suffering. He knew what trials were. And the but the cool thing about Paul is that he didn't just focus on his suffering and his situation. He focused on the one that gave him the comfort and the strength. He says it here in verse four. We can comfort others because we are comforted by God. So he didn't focus on his situation. And a lot of times we do that. I know I do that. I just live in my suffering and what I'm going through and I can't get out of it. But when we shift our focus on the one that gives true comfort, we are able to be strengthened to comfort somebody else that might need the comforting in that moment. And that's what happened with the brother. Even though he probably didn't know what he was going through in that moment, he was a God was able to use that years later to comfort me and give me the strength. And but how can we um how I'm trying to follow my notes because I'm pretty bad about following my notes. But a lot of the times we come to church and you know we wear our best, we look our best and we get to church, how how's it going, brother? How's it going, sister? You know, and oh, everything's great. You know, family's good, work is good, everything is good. And praise God for those moments when it is good. But there's times where we come to church and we just say everything's okay and it's not okay. We are carrying something that we're suffering and we're going through and we don't want to say anything. You know, at our previous church, we used to be leaders there. And I think that was the biggest mistake that I made. As leaders, we don't want to seem like we need help, we need encouragement. And and and I keep I kept that to myself and I carried the burden on my own. And that was really hard. But, you know, praise God that I have a wife that, man, she is an open book. I'm not going to say who my wife is cuz you're going to go, she'll tell you everything you want to know about me, but she is she's an open book. She will tell you everything. And I am not like that. But I'm learning to to to to be open and honest because we need the encouragement. We need the comfort and we need the strength that we need from each other, right? So that's why I'm a very firm believer in uh Bible study groups, home groups, little small groups where because at Sunday it's hard for us to be open and honest when there's so many things going on, right? We want to get in, get out, drink our coffee, drink our donuts, and hear the good message, and we want to slip out of here, right? And so the moments where we are in Bible study, that's when we get deeper. We are able to share life, invite somebody over for dinner, you know, get to know people, get to know each other. We're family here. You know, invite somebody and get to know them and you will see that God will reveal things in in their lives and our lives. But I just want to encourage you guys that Bible study groups is where the true growth happens. We're able to comfort each other, pray for each other, and share each other each other's burdens. So that's my first point. The first point that Paul says is that we comfort. We we suffer to comfort others, but we need to focus on the one that gives us comfort so that we have the strength to be able to comfort each other. Don't just focus on your situation, focus on the one that will get you out of that. Uh number two, uh we suffer for Christ. Verse five, Paul says, "Just as the sufferings of Christ will overflow over to us, so also through Christ the comforts will overflow." So, what does Paul mean by the sufferings of Christ are going to overflow over to us? So, I have a cup. I didn't use it. I'm going to use the bottle because I need water. So, I I'll use the I am thirsty. But anyways, if I fill this bottle completely and I keep pouring it and it keeps and then it begins to overflow, what's going to happen? My my computer's going to get ruined. My Bible's going to get ruined. the effects of it being overflown, there's going to take effects on everything that's around this bottle. So, if we think about it, if Jesus was the bottle, his sufferings are being overflown. Everything around Jesus or connected to Jesus or in Christ is going to suffer. So, what does he mean by the sufferings of Christ? Was he Paul talking about that Jesus suffered financial problems? Did Jesus suffer uh physical illnesses? Did Jesus suffer relationship problems, marriage problems, raising children problems, anything like that? Those are real sufferings. So, I'm not trying to take away from that because we do have that type of suffering in our lives. But I believe that the type of suffering that Paul's talking about that Jesus suffered ultimately Jesus came and and died on the cross for us. That was his main suffering. But he also suffered because he was rejected. He was persecuted. Why was Jesus rejected and persecuted? Because he went against the way the world lived their lives. The world lives a life that's contrary to God. So when Jesus came and he preached the gospel and he was calling people's sins out to repent and to come to him and come to the light, the world hated him. They rejected him. The religious people of the day, they chose to lead the people the way they wanted to be, the way they wanted to lead. But when Jesus comes and he exposes and and gives the light to the world, they hate him for that. So us as Christians, we are expected to suffer. We should suffer for the sake of Christ for sharing the gospel. So uh a quick analogy, if we come into this room and the lights were off when we come in and nobody takes the initiative to turn the lights on, what would happen? We would all sit in darkness, right? Why? Because nobody wanted to turn the lights on. The same way us we are called to be the light of the world as Christians. If we are in the world and we don't say anything is wrong and we don't point to the word of God, we're we're not turning the light on. We're just sitting in darkness and letting darkness rule. I know that it's hard and we're and we might be rejected or we don't want to offend somebody. we don't want to say something cuz somebody's going to get offended or if I say that they're going to reject me or they might not like me anymore at work or wherever I'm at, you know, cuz I've had those situations where I'm at work and and they're talking about something and they ask me for my thoughts or what do you think about that? And if I just stay quiet, I'm like, "Oh, well, I agree with them. Am I being light? Am I exposing? Am I standing for God? Am I being rooted in righteousness? Am I being rooted in what God's word says?" No. Why? because I don't want to be rejected or I don't want to offend somebody. You know Jesus said this in chap in John chapter 15 18-19 Jesus said these words if the world hates you understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world the world would love you as its own. However because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of it. The world hates you. So, I look at my life and I'm like, am I rejected because of my faith? Am I rejected because I'm a Christian? You know, people won't hate you because you're nice, you're friendly, you're kind, you're patient, or you don't ever contradict anything they say. You know, you just don't say nothing or just agree with it. They won't hate you for that. But they will hate you if you say, "God says this," or "My faith says this," or "Jesus says this." you know, they will hate you for that. And we see that in the world today and the world that we live in. They're living a way that they feel like that's the right way. And if a Christian says something or or said, "You're judging me." God says, "Don't judge." We go to the word of God. What does the word of God say? But we are so quick to not be persecuted. When I me and my wife became Christians, my family rejected me. My family made fun of me. My family would hate me and my wife. It was it was really bad. It broke my heart because that's my family. But I stood for the word of God. I stood for God, not for the world and my family. And praise God that now my family have has come to know the Lord because of that. Because of the suffering and the persecution that I received, I did not give up. And so um we live in a country where we have the freedom to share our faith, right? We do. How many of us have ever been to prison for that? Or how many of us have ever been seen or know somebody that has been killed in our country for sharing their faith? Uh the early church suffered that. Let's let's I'm going to read something really quick that Paul writes in in the same letter chap uh uh 2 Corinthians, but in verse uh 11 24-27, uh Paul says this. Five times I received 40 lashes minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent night and day in the open sea. On frequent journeys I face dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among amongst false brothers. toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold and without clothing. How many of you here can raise your hand and says you've been whipped 39 times for sharing the gospel with somebody? I can't raise my hand for that. How many of you have ever been stoned because you said Jesus says this? How many of us have ever gone hungry and not had food and and been cold and don't have clothes because you share the gospel with somebody? I think the worst thing that could happen to us here in America is that somebody would just don't agree with us or reject us or we're not, you know, we're not in the world, they won't like us. Is that is that hard? I think that this really convicted me to be more intentional in the relationships that I have with people because sometimes we stay quiet because we don't want to come off like, "Oh, that guy, he's weirdo. He talks about Jesus." You know, a lot of times we do that. We get embarrassed or we're like, "Oh, what if they get offended or what if they say something to me?" Well, I think that's better than being stoned. I think that's better than being whipped or being hungry. So what I guess what I'm saying is that if if we suffer for a lot of things, we should suffer for for the gospel. We should suffer for Christ. Why? Because the gospel offends people. Yes, I get that. It's offensive. Why? Because you point to their sins, but then you point to somebody that saves them. But people don't want to hear about their sins. I know for me, I didn't want to know about my sins. The man that shared uh the gospel with me, his name was Waldo. And this poor guy, man, I had so much hate and so much anger in my life that when he would talk to me about Jesus, I would just say some words that I can't say up here. But I I I I rejected him so many times and I made him feel like an outcast. But he was bold and he continued and pressed on until God opened my ears to hear what he had to say through Waldo. So he was persecuted. He was rejected at work. But I stand here today because God used this man that was bold to stand for the light in all that darkness that was there with where I was at. And I'm thankful for that man. And so I what I'm saying is that even though we suffer for Christ, God will give us the strength. God is with us. God will encou encourage us. Be bold and pray. God, give me the boldness. Help me to say the words what I need to say. Because a lot of times we might say, uh, well, I don't know how to share the gospel. Well, I don't know what to say. Pray. Pray and ask God to give you opportunities. And if we suffer, then let's suffer for Christ. Because if there's no suffering, the church wouldn't be here today. The early Christians suffered and gave their life for the gospel. So, let us be bold and be willing to suffer for Christ. Number three, uh number three is to rely on God. How many of us here have ever heard the saying, "God won't give you more than you can handle?" A lot of us, right? I'm kind of nervous to ask who believes that. Okay. Um I'm going to skip that one. No, seriously. Um me and my wife, we believed that for the longest time. We believe that, oh, God won't give you more than you can handle. So, I was like, yes, great. I'm glad for that because I can't handle a lot of things. And so, um, it wasn't until somebody came and ruined it for me. So, I hope I'm not the one that's going to ruin that for you. Um, so yeah, somebody told us, "Hey, that's not in the Bible. That we can't find that anywhere in the Bible." And so, automatically I was afraid. I was like, "What do you mean it's not like God is going to give me something that I can't handle?" Uh yeah, he will. And it's not because I'm telling you guys, but it's because the word of God shows us that. So let's look at verses 8-9. It says, "We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed beyond our own strength. So that we even despared of life itself. It was that bad that he they were just like, "We're going to die. This is it. It's over." Right? The spirit of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received a sentence of death. I don't know what that feels like, but that's got to be really hard if you feel like you you're going to die. So that that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raised the dead. So God will give us more than we can handle. Not because I say it, be because Paul experienced it and we see it in the word of God. So we will go through life with things that we feel like we cannot handle. For me, one of the things that I feel like I cannot handle or I could not bear is losing my wife or losing one of my kids. So if you're a parent or you're married here, you might relate to that. Like you feel like if you lose one of your child, your life is over. or if you lose your spouse, the same thing. Well, God allowed me to experience that to a certain point. So, my wife had certain episodes where she would pass out. And one night as I was leaving to work, it was 3 3:00 in the morning and I was going to work. Um, I get a call from uh one of our relatives and tells me, "Hey, your wife is not doing good. She just passed out at at home." So, I turn around. I go right back home. I wasn't even gone like 10 minutes when I turned back around. I get there and she's already awake. She's alert, but she still doesn't feel good. So, I called, we call the paramedics. The paramedics show up. They check her vitals. Everything checks out. She's fine. As soon as they're about to leave, she passes out again. And the paramedics were like, "No, we need to take her in to get her evaluated because something is going on." And so, they take her in the ambulance. I'm going with her. We get to the emergency room and in the emergency room they hook her up. They put all the vitals. They're checking everything. And so I'm sitting there next to her in the bed freaking out like what is going on? And then uh they're checking her blood pressure and then all of a sudden she like I'm going to pass out. She passes out and all I hear is the machine when her heart flat flat lines. She died right in front of me. And I was just full of fear and I I couldn't think of anything. I was just frozen. And then all of a sudden, I see all these paramedics and nurses are just running into the room, the doctors. And this nurse, man, she just jumps on her and she just starts chest compressions to revive her because her heart just stopped. And so I could not do anything. I was just full of fear. And I I was the only thing that came to my mind is, "God, I need you. God, I need you. I need you. I need you." That's all I could say. That's the only thing I can think of. And my wife comes back and praise God, she's alive. She's here in the room. So, praise God for that. Yeah. Yes. So, I'm thankful for that. But that was a moment where I couldn't do anything. I wanted to do everything I could in my power to to comfort her, make everything better, but I couldn't. God allowed me to go through that because he wanted me to fully surrender to him. He wanted me to say, "Hey, I can't do it, Lord. I can't fix my wife. I can't save her. only you can. And so in those moments where we feel like we cannot handle our situation and we have to give it to God. We have to learn how to surrender to God. And that's what God is teaching us in those moments that we rely on God. That's what Paul says. I rely on the God that raised the dead because he was beyond despair to the point of death. That's what Paul says. And so that's how I was in that moment. And in that moment, I didn't know what to do. Another situation was with my one of my daughters. I have three daughters here. I'm not going to say which one because they're here. But one of my daughters when she was little, she was in the ICU for over two and a half weeks. And the doctors told us they didn't think she was going to make it. They thought she was going to die. And that is probably one of the hardest things as a parent that you do not want to hear. And we did not know what to do. We were in despair. We felt like our life is just crumbling and what do we do? We fall to our knees and we cry to God and say, "You are the only one that can save her." And praise God, she's also in the room. So time and time again, God has been able to get me through the hard things. So I want to encourage you that no matter what you're facing today, you might be at that point in your life right now where you're like, I don't know where you're at, God. I cannot continue on my own. I want you to know that God is there. God is present and he will strengthen you. And so, uh, Paul was a man that suffered plenty and he knew, but he he didn't focus just on that. He focused on the one that gave us that gave him comfort. And so, I want to I want to be able to finish with this key thought. Um, and my key thought is that, sorry, I'm trying to follow my notes. Y'all, really quick, I'm trying to follow my notes. My wife's like, "You need to follow your notes." And I am. So, even though even though we we we we go through things in life, a lot of the times that we we try to look for things that bring us comfort outside of God. I know that before I was a Christian, I looked to the world and I looked to a lot of things that brought me comfort. But those things don't give us true genuine comfort. You know, even as Christians, me as a Christian, I still look for things that, you know, I'm I'm guilty of like my coffee. If I drink coffee in the morning, I'm good. If I don't have coffee in the morning, I'm not that good. And so I I even see shirts that say Jesus and coffee. And nothing wrong, so please don't stone me up here for that. But the but the thing is that it should just be God. It should just be God that gives us the comfort. So coffee is good, don't get me wrong, but it needs to be just God, right? So don't run to the things that this world offers us for comfort. Even relationships, even our our marriage, we go to comfort for that. But only God can give you the true genuine comfort. So my key thought and I want to end with this is that God is the true comforter. God is the one that gives the true comfort. Nothing else will ever give you that. So Jesus said in Matthew 11 202 28, Jesus said, "Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." Jesus is the one that gives us rest. He is the one that gives us true comfort. He is the one that's present involved in our lives because he lives in us and he's working in this world. The thing that we have to do in response is that as Christians, as followers of Christ, if any of you here call yourself a follower of Christ or say, "I follow Jesus. I'm a Christian." I want you to know that you are not alone. Even though we may not feel him, we need to go to his word because his word speaks to us. Speaks in a way that no, nobody else can ever speak to us. I know that I get comfort. I get encouragement from other Christians, other believers, and that's great. We used to comfort each other, but there's nothing that that substitutes the word of God. The word of God is what gives us power and strength. So, if you're going through the time, go to the word of God if you're going through something. Go in prayer. Go in your closet, get on your knees, and cry out to God because you will experience God. Because I've experienced God in a way in my moments where I just I can't do anything other than go get on my face before God. I experienced God in a way that I can't explain that. So you are not alone. God is present. God has given us his word. He's given us his church. He's given us leaders, the body. So if you're going through something, I want to encourage you to be open, to be honest. You don't have to carry it alone on your own. You might be in this room today and you might not really know who God is or you're starting to want to know who God is. Well, I want you to know that God provided a way. He provided a way for you to be able to have that relationship that you can feel God's comfort in your life. Jesus had to pay that price and on the cross for us to be able to come to God. And so, if you're here today, I just encourage you to surrender. Surrender your burdens. Surrender your your struggles or whatever you're going through. If you're tired of doing life on your own, God is waiting for you to surrender to him. Even as believers, God is calling us to surrender all. I want to take a moment right now. Me and Pastor Tyler will be up here. If you're going through something or you're experiencing anything that you need prayer for, we would love to pray for you to have an opportunity to do that. So, as they sing a song, we're stand here and if anybody is wanting us to pray for you, we would love to do that. I'm going to close us in prayer and then they're going to start the song. Father, I just want to thank you Lord for your love and thank you for your word. For your word is truth. Lord, your word tells us that you are present. You are our true comfort. You are the one that is working in our lives. Help us to not focus on our situation. Help us to focus on the one that gives solution to our situation. Lord, help us to feel your comfort this morning. move in the hearts of the pe of your people, Lord, and draw those that need to feel your comfort this morning, Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. [Music] What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give. He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom. My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. To this hold my hope is only Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to it. Oh how strange and divine I can sing. All is mighty and not I. but through Christ in me. [Music] The night is dark, but I am not forsaken. For by my side, the Savior, he will stay. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing. For in my need, his power is displayed. To this ahold, my shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley will lead. All the night has been one and I shall overcome yet not I but through Christ in me. [Music] No fate I dread. I know I am forgi the future sure the price it has been paid for Jesus fled and suffered for my pardon and he was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold my sin has been defeated. Jesus now and ever is my plea. All the chains are released. I can sing. I am free and not I but through Christ in me. Oh, [Music] with every breath I long to follow Jesus. For he has said that he will bring me home. And day by day I know he will renew me until I stand with joy before the throne. To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. All the glory ever more to him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat and not I, but through Christ in me. To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. All the glory ever to him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat and not I but through Christ in me. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Amen. Hey, will you join me in celebrating what Christ has done in these people are getting baptized today. So when they come out of the water, do me a favor, celebrate, clap, cheer all that Christ has done. This is Michael. And it's been so cool to walk alongside Michael and to see how he has come to faith in trial, in suffering. And so, Michael, as you come as a candidate today for baptism, have you put your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins? Yes. All right. Well, that's on that profession of faith, my brother, that I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. [Music] All right, you guys come on down. Next, um we got quite a few baptisms. We're excited about what God's doing today. Um this story is one of my favorite one at a time. Um we're actually going to get to see a mom who's baptizing her daughters today. So if you guys want to step in, um this is such a cool step. Um, this is a mom. And one of my favorite things, Ky has come. But honestly, uh, it's not just her that's came and the kids. She's got a whole section back here that you guys are here because you know Ky, it's friends, it's family. So, we're so excited about all that God's doing. So, the question for you today is this. Are you coming today as a candidate for baptism based on your profession of faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Awesome. Well, it's going to be bapt on that profession of faith that your mom is going to baptize you. Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in a death like his race to walk in a brand new life. Awesome. Awesome. [Music] Perfect. And you'll get the same question. Are you coming today as a candidate for baptism based on your profession of faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Awesome. Well, it's going to be based on that profession of faith that your mom's going to get to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried with Christ in a death like his. This is the moment. Awesome. a race to walk in a brand new life. And that's not it. If you guys want to step right over here, last but not least, we've got Damian. And uh here's the deal. Um you never know what's going to lead to someone's faith going to the next level. Uh Damian was here uh a couple of weeks ago on a I guess it was a Tuesday morning, a part of the VBS decoration team. I think he got volunte. I don't know if you volunteered for that, but you were here and uh I'll never forget him sitting on the back row holding that next steps card and uh we struck up a conversation and one thing led to another and now you're here today as a candidate for baptism. So we're super excited for that. So uh my question for you is the same. Are you coming today as a candidate for baptism based on your profession of faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Awesome. Well, it's going to be based on that profession of faith that I get to baptize you, my brother, name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried with Christ in a death like his raised to new life. Hey, we are so excited, church family. Thanks for being here. Go hit the water slides and we'll see you guys again next Sunday. [Music]