A Problem For My Problem | Jonathan Rivera

- Church, stay standing for a moment. - Been thinking a lot about this moment and before I do anything else and before I preach the word of God, I wanna take a moment to just honor your pastors and honor your church. There's some people that you know from afar, you don't know them up close, but even though you don't know them, they have an impact on you. Like I remember when Kobe died and I cried like if a family member died because even though I didn't know him, he had made an impact on my life. Recently, I went to the movies and watched Spider-Man. And I cried a lot. 'Cause I felt like even though I don't know Spider-Man, he is real, but I felt like even though I don't know him, I know him and he's made an impact on my life from afar. And I can't tell you the kind of impact the Elevation Church and pastor Stephen and Holly Furdick have made on my life. I can't talk about my relationship with Jesus. I can't talk about my ministry. I can't talk about my life without talking about Elevation Church, an Elevation Worship, and pastor Stephen and Holly Furdick. Come on, if you love your church, if you love your pastors,

can you make a little bit of noise today? Come on, all of our campuses, can you make a little bit of noise today? Do me a favor, high five, five people, let me know I'm glad you came to church today. Glad you came to church. After that, you can go ahead. Take a seat, take a seat, take a seat. (congregation applauding) Does anybody happen to be in God's house today? (congregation applauding) Can we say thank you to the worship team for leading us today? Come on, if you love my friend, Graham Furdick, you make a little bit of noise today? (congregation applauding) Got a word that I've been praying over and preparing and I really feel like it's gonna be an encouragement to somebody in this room today. But before I go into the work, can I introduce you to my family really quickly? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a picture of my wife. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Your boy did good. Your boy did good. He gave me a Colombian queen. Someone say hallelujah. Now I'm about to show you a picture of my son. When I show you this picture of my son,

I need you to absolutely lose your mind. Are you ready? This is my son Tobias. Come on, put that picture up on the screen for me. Yeah, that's my boy. That's my boy. Also, the last thing that I'll do, I need to give a special shout out. I am a proud Puerto Rican from Orlando, Florida. And so shout out to Elevation or Lando. Shout out to Elevation Melbourne. So thankful for what God's doing in our city and in our state. Is anybody ready for the word of God today? Needs you to do three things for me. Number one, I need you to take some notes. I heard y'all take notes at Elevation Church. Is that true? Show me a notebook. Show me a notebook. Show me a notebook. Does anybody have a Bible in the room? Show me your Bible. Show me your Bible. Show me your Bible. I like big Bibles and I cannot lie. Tonight I need you to take some notes. Write some stuff down 'cause I, you can't remember what God told you if you don't remember what God told you. You're gonna wanna go back and remember

what God spoke to you today. Somebody say amen. That's the second thing that I need you to do. I heard that at Elevation Church. Y'all talk back to the preacher. Is that right? Now I want you to know, you don't talk back to the preacher because we just like to have ruckus and noise. When you talk back, when you say amen, it's actually an expression of faith. Saying God, I received that word from my life. Somebody say amen. Come on, where's my amen corner today? Where's the people who are saying, is it over here? Is it over here? Is it over here? Is it over here? Is it over here? No, it's over here. I feel like it's over here. It's over here. Y'all my amen corner today. Last but not least, I want you to open up your heart because I truly believe that today. Someone say today. God has a word that He wants to share with you. If you've got a Bible,

I want you to go to Philippians chapter one versus 12 through 14. Reading the book of Philippians, which is really a letter. It's a letter from the Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul's one of the most important people in all the Bible. He's an Apostle. He wrote two thirds of the New Testament. And in my mind, he's kind of the goal. He writes this letter to a group of people that are worried about him. And he wants to encourage them because right now he's in prison. And his situation doesn't look very promising and doesn't look very hopeful. But he writes them to encourage him and he has this peculiar passage that I would like to share with you today. Philippians one, 12 through 14. Here's what it says. Now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the Gospel. Pause. He's saying, me being in prison, behind bars, in chains. throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ and because of my chains most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear

if you take a note tonight over the next few minutes I like to speak to you from this start. A problem for my problem. A problem for my problem. Say it again. A problem for my problem. Keep our heads and close your eyes. Let's pray over the preaching of God to our Lord we love you. This is your house and we are your people and I pray that today as we look into your word you would speak to us through your spirit in the ways that only you can and in the end we promise to give you all the glory and all the honor and all the praise in Jesus name because someone shout out amen. Come on if you're ready for the word of God today can you make a little bit of noise. Last thing I got to give a shout out I am the campus pastor at Southeastern University and I heard that Elevation College might be in the room today. Come on shout out to Elevation College excited about what God's doing with you guys. Real quick make some noise if you love history you're a history buff you like history all right let's let's do this one this will get some more amens raise your hand if you like a good documentary you like a documentary I'm worried about you because all y'all are watching documentaries about murderers and serial killers and that's the way that's the reason why you can't sleep at night but I love history I love biographies I love documentaries I love hearing the story of how something became what it became or how someone became what they became I love documentaries and I love stories especially about things that I'm passionate about so for example I love Apple I've got an iPhone I've got an iPad I've got an iMac a lot of eyes I got all of them and I want to hear the story of how Apple started as a company and when I started doing research I saw something I'd never seen before see most people have heard of a guy named Steve Jobs this is your hand if you heard of Steve Jobs put your hands down raise your hand if you ever heard of a man named Steve Wozniak raise your hand fewer people put your hands down there's one name that most people have never heard of they've heard of Steve Jobs they've heard of Steve Wozniak but many people have never heard of a man named Ronald Wayne the reason why is because Ronald Wayne isn't part of the story the way that Steve and Steve are see here's what happened 50 years ago April 1st

1976 there was three co-founders of the Apple Company not to Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne Ronald Wayne did some pretty important stuff he was actually part of creating the first manual for the first Apple computer not only did he do that he was also the one who created the first ever Apple logo it wasn't an Apple it was actually something else you put that picture on the screen this is the first ever Apple logo that was ever created Ronald Wayne did that and because of his work he was gonna receive 10% of the Apple Company but something happened after 12 days he quit could I handle the stress could I handle the worry could I handle the anxiety Steve and Steve were driving him crazy maybe they didn't like him because his name wasn't Steve because then it would have been Steve Steve and Steve but it was Steve Steve and Ronald they didn't like the sound of that so he's what he does he quits and he sells his 10% of the company for eight hundred dollars now we all know Apple went on to be a real small mom and pop shop in San Francisco it's actually not what happened Apple goes on to be one of if not the biggest company in the entire world quick question would you like to know how much is eight hundred dollars his 10% of Apple stock will be worth 50 years later in 2026 200 billion dollars not that's not not an M with a B billion billion now I want you to look at me I have a question that I would like to ask you today have you ever seen somebody quit too soon have you ever seen somebody that threw in the Have you ever seen someone quit on a job too soon? Quit on a friendship too soon. Quit on a marriage too soon. Quit on a dream too soon. Have you ever seen somebody quit on God? Too soon. See, what's sad about that is the possibility of what could have been and what should have been and what would have been but did not happen

because sometimes we give up too soon and we miss out on everything that God had in store for us. Came to encourage somebody at Elevation Church today. Look at me, it's too soon to quit. Look at your neighbor, say neighbor. It's too soon to quit. Look at your other neighbor, your second option and let your neighbor know, neighbor, it's too soon to quit. One day, you and I will stand before God. You and I will stand before Jesus and we will give an account for the life that we lived and He will ask us, what did you do with the life that I gave you? What did you do with the talents that I gave you? What did you do with the family that I gave you? What did you do with the resources that I gave you? There's actually scripture about this in the Bible. There's something called the judgment seat of Christ. There's gonna be a judgment around eternity but then there's gonna be a judgment for the believers, or followers of Jesus, where Jesus is gonna talk to you about the life that you live. Second Corinthians 5, 10, here's what it says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. I remember hearing preachers preach about this text and talking about how one day we're gonna stand before Jesus and we're gonna give an account for the life that we lived.

But the preacher preached it in an interesting way. Maybe you've heard this before. Maybe you and I listened to the same preacher. He will say, one day you're gonna get to heaven and there's gonna be a gigantic screen. Has anyone heard this before? There's gonna be a screen in heaven and God's gonna play a movie of your life. And people are going to see the good things that you did but they're also gonna see the bad things that you did. Do you want people to watch a movie about all the bad things that you did? And the whole time that I'm watching it, I'm thinking, I just hope my mom isn't there to watch the movie. 'Cause there's a season, there's parts of that movie that are not PG-13 and I don't want my mother to see. See, the older that I got, I came to two conclusions. The first thing is this, the Bible doesn't say anything about a TV screen, the preacher added that part. That part's not there. And then the second thing is this, even if that is true, even if everyone that I know will see all the mistakes that I made and all the bad things that I did and the sins that I committed, I don't have to be worried about that because Jesus died on the cross from me. I'm covered by the blood of Christ. I've been redeemed. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Play the movie. I'm not worried about it. Now here's the thing, like I mentioned, this is that the movie part isn't in the Bible, but you know what will be worse than a movie about all the mistakes that you made and all the things that you committed? I remember my youth pastor told me one time, you know what will be worse than that? Could you imagine God played a movie of the life that you could have lived? The life that you would have lived, the people that you could have impacted, the businesses you could have started, the lives you could have changed, the messages you could have preached, the songs you could have written, the businesses you could have started, but you never did because you quit too soon. Because you allow life to get in the way. Listen to me, that is horrible. I hate to think about that. You know why? 'Cause the only thing harder than obedience is regret. The only thing harder than saying yes to God is wishing you would have said yes to God. See, God has so much in store for our lives, our marriages, our children, our families, our businesses, our church, our callings. God has so much in store for us,

but all of that, listen to me, is on the other side of something called perseverance. Somebody say perseverance. Someone shout out, perseverance. Let me give you Miriam Webster's definition of perseverance. Perseverance is continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. Let me put that in plain English for you. You need to push past the pain. You need to push past the pain. Can you say it with me? Push past the pain. Say it one more time, push past the pain. I kind of like this, push past the pain. Give yourselves a round of applause. The truth is pain is part of the human experience. I want y'all to know today I confess to you my back hurts. My knee hurts. My life hurts. Pain is part of the human experience and there's all kinds of pain. And I came today to church to let you know that God cares about your pain. God doesn't cause all pain. Breaks God's heart. Some of the things that you've had to go through, it breaks my heart as a pastor. Some of the things that you've had to walk through. I bet if I walked around and passed the microphone, I'd hear so many stories of things that people are even walking through right now in this church. And nobody would know they could be sitting on your left, sitting on your right behind you or in front of you. They have no idea what you're walking through. There's all kinds of pain. There's relational pain. There's emotional pain. There's physical pain. There's financial pain. But what I love about the Bible is the Bible is a book that doesn't run away from pain. Actually read the Bible. If you've ever really read the Bible, here's what you see. A lot of pain. A lot of brokenness. The Bible doesn't run away from pain,

which brings me to the book of Philippians where we find our passage today. Philippians is an interesting book. See, Philippians is written by the apostle Paul. Someone say Paul. And the book of Philippians is written in prison. It's a prison, a pistol. Someone say prison. Look at your neighbor, say neighbor. I don't want to go back to prison. Your neighbor is like, you went to prison? I don't know what I'll say next to, dang. The book of Philippians is written by Paul. It's written in prison, but there's one additional factor that makes it an interesting book, theologians, scholars. They call the book of Philippians the book of joy. The episode of joy, the letter of joy, which to me sounds like an oxymoron. Paul writes a book in prison and it is the episode of joy. That feels like a contradiction because how do you have joy while you're sitting in a prison cell? That doesn't feel like the appropriate response to chains. So Paul, he's trying to encourage the church in Philippi. The people are worried about him and he's trying to encourage him and he's saying all these encouraging things and he's speaking about joy. But as I'm listening to this, I've got to be honest, I'm thinking to myself, Paul, are you faking it? Just tell me the truth. Are you struggling? Are you not okay? Just tell me what's really going on. Are you faking it? Are you lying? Is the situation actually worse than you want to be honest about? Because Paul, this doesn't feel genuine. You're in prison, but you're talking about joy. I used to ask the same question about my mama. Mama, if you're listening, I'm sorry. Because my mom will fight with me on Friday and my mama will spank me on Saturday. My mother didn't believe in gentle parenting. My mother, she's Pentecostal in Puerto Rican. She believed in the laying on of hands. You know what I'm talking about. Oh, you in therapy too. Anyways, um, so my mama will argue with me on Friday. She will spank me on Sunday, but then on Saturday, but she would sing on Sunday. We had a bad week, but my mama will show up to church. Maybe you know a song. I've got a joy like a river, joy like a river. Sing with me, joy like a river in my soul. I got a joy, joy, joy like a river, joy like a river in my soul. But she wasn't singing on Saturday. She was spanking, singing and spanking. She's doing both. I think about my mom and I think about Paul and I've got a question. Which one is it? Is it joy or is it change? Is it praise or is it pain? Which one is it? Because it doesn't feel like both of those can go together, but the answer is it's actually both.

It's praising in my pain and not allowing my pain to stop my praise. Someone say perseverance today. We see this in 1st and Acts 16. This is not Paul's first time in prison. He is a repeat offender. this a couple of weeks ago, Paul and Silas, they're in prison, and the Bible says they're praying and singing hymns, and the other prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly they were such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and out once all the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose. That's a powerful sermon. I could preach that sermon. That's a powerful story. I believe that God could set people free. I believe that God does miracles. I believe that God does the impossible. I believe that God sets chains loose and brings freedom, but what do you do when you're singing about joy but you're still in chains? Coming to church on Sunday, you're serving, you're worshiping, you're giving, you're listening, but your kids still acting up, and you still can't sleep, and your spouse still isn't coming to church, and that addiction keeps knocking at your door, and you still can't find a job. The Apostle Paul can relate. Yet, at the very top, we read Philippians chapter 1, verses 12 through 14. In this moment where Paul is writing this, he's still in prison. He's still in chains, but he says something interesting about his experience. He says in verse 12, "Now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually served to advance." Someone say, "Advance." The gospel. When he says what has happened to me, he's talking about his chains. These chains are advancing the gospel. What has happened to me, me being in prison, me being in chains, unfairly, unjustly, and I'm here for preaching the gospel.

Have you ever done everything right and still things go wrong? You're coming to church, you're trying to get right, you're trying to lead your family the right way. You're trying to honor God at your workplace. You're trying to honor God in your relationships. You're trying to do the right thing and the wrong thing happens. Paul says what has happened to me, being in prison, has actually served to advance the gospel. He's talking about it like it's a good thing. He even talks about it in a way where it almost implies, listen to me, that he's grateful for it. How can you be grateful for the pain that you're going through? How can you celebrate the struggle that you're living in? Now listen to me, I don't think Paul likes pain. He's not a masochist. I don't think anybody likes pain. It's like when I talk to people who go on a diet, nobody likes to die it. If someone tells you they like a diet, they either lie to you or try to sell you something. Nobody likes a diet, but here's what they do like. They like the results that it produces. I've been living long enough and following Jesus long enough. I've read the Bible long enough to notice. I don't understand why, but pain produces. Producers produces something on the inside of you. James would say in chapter 1 of his book, he would say, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you go through trials of all many kinds, because it is producing." Someone say, "Produce, I don't know why pain does it the way it does, but pain produces." See, I'm not thankful that you went through the divorce. I'm not thankful that you lost the job. I'm not thankful for the betrayal.

I'm not thankful that I lost those people. I'm not thankful that I went through that season. I'm not thankful that they lied about me. It hurt me. It broke me. It did something to me. But listen to me. On the other side of it, pain produced something that success couldn't produce. Pain produced something that money couldn't produce. Pain produced something that promotion couldn't produce. Pain produced something that that relationship couldn't produce. Pain produced something that fame couldn't produce. Pain produced something that an answered prayer couldn't produce. Pain produces it. I don't thank him for the pain, but I do thank him for how he used the pain to produce something in me that I could not produce in myself. Listen to me. If you've ever been on the other side of pain and looked back and said, "Thank you, Jesus. Can you make a little bit of noise today?" If he got you through, if he did something in you, he made you stronger. He made you wiser. He made you better. He made you more loving. He made you more compassionate. I don't understand why it works that way. All I know is that pain produces what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. That's the other thing. The gospel is advancing. I want someone to know today there's nothing that could stop the gospel.

There's nothing that could stop the kingdom of God. There's nothing that could stop the Word of God. It doesn't matter what TikTok says, doesn't matter what Instagram says, doesn't matter what the news says, doesn't matter what you hear on the street, the gospel is on the move. Your God, and my God, listen to me, he's always working. Look at your neighbor, say labor. I said labor, neighbor. Let 'em cook. Tell your other neighbor, neighbor. Let 'em cook. (congregation laughing) What I love about God is how he moves the gospel forward in ways that we could never imagine. Like God is always looking for Forrest Gump. He's always looking to do things in a way that you and I wouldn't have done it. He always does things in a way where you and I couldn't see the potential of it, but God did. Someone say, "God did." (congregation laughing) Paul's situation isn't looking good. He is in chains. He's in prison. This feels like a loss. The show is over, bro. Throw up the white flag, hang up the jersey.

But Paul doesn't do that. See, Paul's a preacher, but how do you preach behind bars? Paul is a church planter. How do you plant churches in chains? Paul goes on to say, as a result has become clear throughout the whole palace guard into everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Context matters, someone say context. If you're not careful, you'll skip over a pre-significant detail in this passage. That's why you need context, someone say context. Paul says it has become clear throughout the whole palace. Everybody knows the security guard knows, the secretary knows, the housekeeping team knows, everybody knows, I'm in chains. But then he says this other phrase, the whole palace guard. If you read that, you're like, well, what does that mean? How many people is that? In Roman culture, the palace guard was also known as the Praetorian guard. The Praetorian guard was a small army of a thousand soldiers. And they all know about Paul. You know why? Because in Roman prisons, what they would do is, they would get the prisoner, they would put him in chains, but he wasn't just left in the prison cell by himself. What they would do is they would put a soldier on his right

and they would put a soldier on his left. You can use your imagination for a second. I just got a feeling Paul was an evangelist. He was gonna talk to everybody, even if they didn't want to listen. I can imagine someone sitting next to him, amen? What's your name? Julio, nice to meet you, Julio. Julio, you Puerto Rican? (audience laughs) I want to Puerto Rico one time, it was a good time, man. I like my phone go, you know? Julio, you see these chains? I'm in chains, but I'm free. And I want you to know, you might be free, but you still in chains. But I believe God's gonna set you free. Julio, he's gonna do something in your life. What's your name? James, what's up, James? You doing good? Yeah, I'm all right. (audience laughs) James, y'all on rotation, right? What's your shift? What time you got here? Four? Four? Y'all on rotation? That's cool.

Listen to me, while you're here, we gonna talk, James. Have you heard about Jesus? You haven't heard about Jesus? I want you to know Jesus heard about you. It's going back. And guess what? Every four hours he would get another one, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one until the entire palace guard heard about Paul, and heard about his chains. He turned his prison guards into his congregation. Philippians is a prison epistol. Ephesians is also a prison epistol. That means that he wrote Ephesians in prison, and he wrote Philippians in prison. And there's this interesting thing at the end of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter six, it says that he starts talking about the full armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the sword of a spirit. What does that sound like to you? What does that mean? That he did not allow his circumstance to stop his message from going forward? He said, listen to me, I'm going to write what's going on. I'm going to make a message out of this mess.

And I'm going to believe that in spite of my chains, and in spite of the bars, and in spite of this prison cell, the message of the gospel is still going to move forward. And what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. I'm going to finish with this. I'm going to start landing this plane. Paul is preaching the gospel in the midst of his pain. And the soldiers are coming to Christ in the midst of his pain. But watch this. And the church is being encouraged by his pain. How are you encouraged by somebody else's pain? But that's what's happening. Look at what the next verse says, verse 14. "And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord. And they're all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear." That's interesting. You know why? See, Paul's preaching. And then he goes to prison. And then people see the correlation. He preached. He went to prison. And they see him in prison. And they say, now I want to preach. But preaching is what landed him in prison. Why would you want to go to prison? Why would you want that pain?

Why would you have that experience? Not only do they have more confidence, they have less fear. They're not afraid of the prison. They're not afraid of the soldiers. They're not afraid of the bars. So why would Paul's chains encourage them to preach if they know the end result? And what is it that is making them less afraid? If you've heard nothing else that I've said today, I want you to hear this. Could it be that Paul's chains removed the mystery behind what was on the other side of pain? I want to say that one more time. Could it be that Paul's chains removed the mystery behind what was on the other side of pain? On the other side of the prison. On the other side of the chains. On the other side of the soldiers. What do I mean by that in plain language? They don't have to guess what's going to happen when they go through their worst moment. I remember when I got my first tattoo out of younger brother who passed away. And me and a group of friends and his parents, we went and got a tattoo in his honor. And I remember we're getting the tattoos. But I looked at my friend, I said, you go first. I never got a tattoo before I said, you go first. He said, why, why won't you go?

I said, because I want to see what the pain looks like. I want to see it first. And if I could see it, I feel like I can endure it. See, you know what I want to do in that moment? I wanted to remove the mystery of pain. I want to remove the mystery of what was on the other side of that experience. See, they saw Paul preach. And they saw Paul get arrested. And they saw Paul go through his worst moment. But on the other side of it, look at me, he was all right. He was still in prison. I'm not trying to minimize his pain. He was in prison. He was in chains. He was surrounded by soldiers. But he was all right. Which means, if you're taking us, I want you to write this down. Which means, I don't have to be afraid anymore. See, y'all remember the movie Home Alone? By the way, part two is the better one. But there's a scene in Home Alone where Kevin comes out and he says, I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not afraid anymore. I think we need to walk out of church today and look at the enemy and let him know, hey, I want you to know, devil, I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not worried about what's going to come my way. I know who my God is. I know who's with me.

I've seen other people's stories. And I saw how they made it through. Which means I'm going to make it through too. I'm going to be all right. (dramatic music) The good news is that you and I have examples of this all over the Bible. All over the Bible. Moses is standing in front of an ocean with millions of people behind him and pharaoh shoulders at his neck, but in the end he was all right. David is sent to go take some lunchables to his brothers. He's a cheese boy, comes with a little picnic basket and some sandwiches. He's a giant and you said I'll take care of that giant and David listen to me because if you're not careful you've heard the story so many times that you don't realize the impact of it. David fought a giant but in the end David was all right. Daniel is in the lion's den with a lion looking him face to face and in the end Daniel was all right, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego get thrown into a fire because they will not bow down to the king and at the end of the story they come out of the fire untouched and the king even said I feel like I see a fourth man in the fire and it looks like the son of man. They went through the fire but in the end they were all right. Daniel comes down to Mary and says Mary I know you're young and I know that you haven't been married yet but Mary you will give birth to a son, Emmanuel, God with us and Mary said let it be as you have said and in the end Mary was all right. Paul is in prison, soldiers, prison bars, chains and somehow in the end Paul was all right. He said I'm all right. He said even if they take my life to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Even if I'm not right here I'm gonna be all right up there. You ain't gotta worry about me. I'm gonna be just fine.

Paul was all right. This last one Jesus is on a cross a sign over his head the king of the Jews. People mocking him if you're really the son of God come down from that cross and show us who you are nails in his hands nails in his feet a spear in his side. In his mouth people mocking him and guess what Jesus dies but Jesus he died they took him down and they put him in a grave but he didn't stay in the grave. He was there for one day he was there for two days but on the third day the Bible says he is resurrected he comes out of the grave you might have seen him on a cross but I want you to know Jesus is doing just fine he's resurrected he's got a glorious body he's sitting at the right hand of the Father he's proceeding for you and interceding for me he has to go to the cross he has to go to the jail he has to go to the hurt but in the end I want you to know Jesus is all right. Which means that if he died and he's resurrected and if he came out of the grave it means that you and I will do. Stand on your feet this morning church I'm almost done. If God could take Jonathan Rivera broken Puerto Rican kid on the city bus single handicap mom going from one painful event to another painful event fighting every day to try to move forward call to preach but he's got a stuttering problem. If God could do it with David and he could do it with Moses and he could do it with It also means he could do it with you This is why testimonies are so important The Bible says that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony I remember I grew up in a church or once in a while We would have a testimony night and the elderly lady would come to the front and the pastor would give her the mic But he held the mic because he didn't know what she was gonna say And so the elderly lady would come to the front and she would say pastor and church I want you to know there's six months ago I went to the doctor and the doctor gave me a report and I looked at the doctor and I told the doctor listen doctor I don't believe you I believe by God And I know he's gonna heal me and he's gonna restore me and the doctor said that's fine ma'am

But I want you to come back in six months so we could check on you which by the way go check with your doctor Go to the doctor right take your vitamins kids take your vitamins She says I came back to the doctor six months later and he shows the report and he says ma'am I can't explain this. I don't know what happened. I can't scientifically prove what took place But I saw cancer and there's not cancer anymore. I saw a sickness and there's no sickness anymore I saw a disease and there's no disease anymore. She's got a testimony someone saw that testimony There's somebody else who'll come to the mic and they would say a year ago me and my wife We're going through a really rough patch. We're going through a tough situation and the truth is we had divorce papers on the table And we didn't move it off the table, but we didn't sign it either We knew stuff was rough, but we didn't know what was going to happen And then we came to church on a Sunday And there was a word that the pastor gave and on the way home. We just started crying Because we felt like God was doing something in our heart And we feel like God wanted us to fight for our marriage And we came to let you know today church that we ripped up the divorce papers and God's working on our marriage And we're still coming to church and we're trying to be faithful and we're restoring our family and God's working on us It's one day at a time, but I want you to know we gonna be all right Today my encouragement to you is all over the Bible there is proof That you don't have to be afraid of what's on the other side someone say the other side do my favorite real quick if you're in this room today and You've got a testimony of God's faithfulness in your life in your marriage in your kids in your business in your body In your mind right where you are lift up your hand Listen to me, I just get no keep it up keep it up kiddo I Just gave you a bunch of reasons to believe that you're gonna make it that God's gonna get you through That you and I are gonna be all right Don't gotta be afraid anymore and listen to me that is a problem for my problem I Don't know a problem you walked in with today. I don't know a situation You might be walking through with your marriage with your kids with your business I your job in your health in your mind I don't know what you're walking to today

But I want you to know that your problem has a problem his name is Jesus And I know that right now you might be afraid of your problem But your problem is afraid of your God which means that today It doesn't matter what you're going through it doesn't matter what prison you find yourself in It doesn't matter what change you are having your life. Here's what you could do You can still lift up your hands. You can still lift up your voice You can still say hallelujah. You can still say thank you Jesus because I might be here right now But I don't gotta be afraid because I know what's on the other side of this and the truth is that I know I'm going to be all right. I'm gonna walk out of this with a touch the movie I'm gonna walk out of this with a story of God's goodness I'm gonna walk out of this with a story of God's faith with this. Come on (Music) 'Cause you gave me tears after tears, after tears, and I, yeah I'm keeping on who that I am 'Cause you gave me tears after tears, after tears Who am I? Daddy, you keep me on, my God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you And all I, you can write here by my side God, I'm just grateful I'm really, really grateful I'm keeping on my God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you And all my, all my, you can write here by my side God, I'm just grateful I'm really, really grateful Think I survived, I survived And I, you've been a testify You've got to testify, testify For the sake of all, I'm all right God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you [MUSIC PLAYING]