From Pain to Purpose

- Thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Tim Powell and I have the privilege and the honor of being the campus pastor at our new life church, Greenbriar campus. We are a non-denominational church located in the state of Arkansas with 19, about to be 20 campuses across the state. Our heart behind partnering with Pando through God Behind Bars is to allow your family an opportunity to connect to biblical community so that they can be growing in their walk with Christ at the same time that you were growing. So if you do have family in Arkansas, encourage them to check out newlifechurch.tv to find a campus that fits them. Thank you so much for being here. Now let's listen in to today's message. (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) All right, all right, well good morning new life church. If you would turn with me to Matthew chapter five, that's where we're gonna spend most of our time this morning and while you are doing that, I want you to do me a favor and welcome in everyone that is listening in with our God Behind Bars ministry.

Thank you guys for being with us. Come on, Greenbriar, you can do better than that. (audience applauding) It's an honor to be with you guys this morning. Listen, we realize at any given weekend that we have people that are visiting from around the state and even from other states in town for family and different things and I just wanna say that if you have someone that lives in the state of Arkansas and they are not connected to biblical community, if they have not found a life-giving church to get plugged into, I wanna encourage you to invite them to one of our NLC campuses. We are about to have 20 campuses across the state of Arkansas. We currently have 18. We're about to launch our Sherwood campus just in a couple of weeks and we're not far from launching our Bentonville campus. One of the visions that God gave, Pastor Rick and Michelle when they launched a new life church 25 years ago was for 50 campuses across the state and I believe that we one day will see that. And the reason being is because we believe that it's important people are connected to biblical community. We've never claimed to be the best church. We're a church doing the best job we possibly can

to share the gospel and the truth through God's word and I just wanna ask you, even if you're listening in, maybe you have family that live around this area and bottom to one of our campuses. We are unique and we're not like most multi-site churches. Each campus has a speaking, teaching campus pastor that is there, very seldom do we do a video service. Sometimes if we have a message from our founding pastor or maybe there's a word that was shared around the state at one of our other campuses that we feel would be beneficial to you guys, then we will play that video but that is very seldom. In fact, that only happens maybe a couple of times a year if that but most of the time each weekend there is a speaker that is here sharing the word with you. We do write collaboratively sometimes together and we come together and I believe that God has something very special for our church. But like I said, we're not the best church but if you have family members or people that you love that is not found biblical community and I'm the one of our campuses. We'd love to have 'em join. Amen? Well, we have been in a series this summer titled "Kingdom Culture" and the reason being is we have walked through a sermon that Jesus spoke better known as the sermon on the Mount which I believe is the most powerful sermon ever spoken to date.

And Jesus sets down a mountain side and he begins to describe what a blessed life looks like. You see, today our culture, our society would somehow like to convince us that our happiness is based upon our circumstances. So the vacation that we go on, the car that we drive, the house that we live in, how much money we can accumulate, somehow will gain happiness in our life. And if you've chased that for very long, you've found that it leaves you empty. And Jesus teaches us that our happiness is not based upon our circumstances but it's based upon the posture and the condition of our heart. That is the reason that we have titled this "Kingdom Culture" this summer. I've loved digging into each one of the Beatters Today, I'm gonna recap all of the Beatitudes, and then I've got a word that God has placed on my heart that I believe is for someone today. We're gonna cover a lot of scripture. I make no apologies for that. I will tell you, if you're listening in, you can pause and go back and write them down, but if you're here today, we have a handout that you were given in each one of the scripture references that I will address today is on that handout in some way, and I encourage you beyond this next 35 minutes to spend some time digging into God's word. Look at the historical context behind

what Jesus is teaching at this moment. What does he mean when he says this? What was happening before and after this teaching? As a matter of fact, I encourage you to test everything that anyone ever teaches you with a Bible in their hand to test it through God's word. If it's out of God's word, it's true. If it's not in God's word, it's not true. It's someone's interpretation or someone's idea, but today we're gonna cover a lot of scripture because I believe that there's something that God wants to activate inside of our church today, maybe inside of someone that's listening in in a different state at this moment, but I believe God wants to do something very special. Amen? So when we get to Matthew chapter five verse one, now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountainside and he sat down. I believe this is important for us to understand too. I find it interesting that Jesus didn't have his disciples to build a platform and make this fancy podium that he could stand behind, but that he sat down and he began to teach. So the disciples came to him and he began to teach them. And in verse three, he says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Now this goes against culture. I don't know if I've ever just sat down in prayer

and said, "Lord, make me poor in spirit," because we don't understand what it is exactly that Jesus is teaching at this moment. Well, you need to understand too, that Jesus doesn't teach anything by happenstance. Everything that he teaches is with order. We believe that we know that we serve a God of order, amen? So there's an order to his teaching when he starts describing what it means for us to live a blessed life. And what he means by being poor in spirit is that we have to understand that we are spiritually bankrupt without him. There's nothing that we can accumulate, there's nothing that we can achieve, there's nothing that we can purchase, there's nothing that we can come up with that will fulfill the happiness inside of us, that will feel that void that we have. The only thing that will truly feel that void is a relationship with Christ. It's the only thing. We can search in many areas, but it's until we find that relationship that we begin to see, that fulfillment. I taught on King Solomon last weekend and King Solomon was a man of full of wisdom, he had many resources, he had the ability to purchase and obtain anything that he set his eyes to,

is the way that scripture puts it for us. So he had the ability, he had the means, and he does this almost happiness test. Like I didn't deny my eyes anything, and what he found at the end of this was that it left him empty. He described it as almost grasping the wind, that it doesn't matter how much we accumulate in this life, it doesn't matter how many materialistic things we obtain, or how much success we propel ourselves to, it's all meaningless without Christ in the center of it. And then when we get to verse four, he says that blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Well, this goes against culture. Like nobody looks forward to mourning, do they? Well, the mourning that Jesus is referring to is different than the mourning that happens on the backside of pain. We're gonna talk about that a little bit today as well. What Jesus is referring to here is, it's when our sin breaks our heart because we know that it breaks God's heart. It's a spiritual mourning. It stops being, well, I just wanna be a better person to God, you deserve my best because you gave me your best. It's a different perspective, it's a different mindset. And verse five says, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Another one that I don't know anyone just sits around

and says, God, would you just make me meeker? I taught on this last week. Well, the reason being is because we don't truly comprehend and understand what meek means in this passage of scripture. Biblical scholars say that it's very difficult to interpret the meaning of what Jesus is saying with one word, but if you had to use one word, instead of meek, it would almost be interpreted better as gentle spirit. So you go, well, what do you mean by gentle? Well, what I do mean and what Jesus is saying to us here is that how we respond in adversity, how we respond at times in our life when the world teaches us we should respond one way makes the biggest impact on the people that we come in contact with. Are you with me? when everything's going good. It's good and easy to be a Christian when everything's rocking along well, isn't it? Just bless, Lord, just bless. Good to be here, bless, it's a good day. Glad you're in the presence of the Lord. But then you walk through a storm and you're like, "God, where are you?" But it's when people see how we respond in those moments of adversity when we have the ability to bring a light into a very dark place. We live in a broken, sin-filled, fallen world.

I wish we didn't. But it's reality. And because of that, we're going to walk through adversity. We're going to walk through difficult times. When you get to verse six, it says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Well, Jesus, what do you mean here? When we develop a hunger and a thirst for being more like Jesus, it's at that moment that we can begin to be filled. There is nothing that can fulfill that empty void in our life like a relationship with Christ, nothing. I've tried. And verse seven says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Now, I'm going to spend a little more time here because I believe this is very important. When you get to chapter 18, Jesus teaches a parable known as the parable of the unmerciful servant. And he tells us in Matthew 18, verse 21 through 35, he says, "And Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? "Forgiveness is hard sometimes, isn't it? "Does that mean that just everything that happened "wasn't real?" No. "How many times shall I forgive my brother or sister

"who sins against me? "Up to seven times, he's been a little sarcastic here. "And Jesus answers, I tell you not seven times, "but 77 times. "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a kingdom "and for the kingdom of heaven is like a king "who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. "As he began the settlement, a man who owed him "10,000 bags of gold was brought to him. "Since he was not able to pay the master ordered "that he and his wife and his children "and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. "And at this, the servant fell on his knees before him. "He says, be patient with me, he begged, "and I will pay back everything. "The servant's master took pity on him, "and he canceled the debt, and he let him go. "But when that servant went out, he found one of his "fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins, "just nothing in comparison to what he had just been "forgiven up. "He grabbed him, and he began to choke him. "Pay back what you owe me." He demanded his fellow servant. Fell to his knees, and he begged him. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? He says, "Be patient with me, and I will pay it back." But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

Now, when the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged, and they went, and they told their master everything that had happened. And then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said. "I canceled all the debt of yours "because you begged me to. "Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant "just as I had on you?" He gave him another opportunity here. But in anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart. And Jesus teaches us very clearly that how we treat others is important, isn't it? Whether we have a legitimate right to be angry with him or not, this isn't always easy, though. I mean, we're people, aren't we? Sometimes, that gamut, I just wanna be mad. I just wanna hold on to that offense. What they did hurt, what they said hurt, what they didn't do hurt. I've got full right not to forgive them, right? No, now that doesn't mean that you reward bad behavior. It doesn't mean that you have to trust them. It doesn't even mean you have to be around them, but you have to forgive them. Why? Because Jesus first forgave you.

Aren't you glad? That God didn't wait for us to get our lives together before he sent his son to the cross to pay for the sins that we would never be able to pay for? If he would have, we'd been in big trouble. I don't know about you, but I'm really glad that I don't receive what I deserve. Because what we all deserve is death and hell. That's what we deserve. Let's just get real about it. But it's only because he loved us so much that he sent his son to die on a cross to pay for the sins that we would never be able to pay for on our own. I don't know about you, but I'm really glad I didn't get what I deserve. When you get to verse eight, it tells us that blessed are the pure in heart Can you picture how blessed of a life we would live and what our homes and communities would look like if all of our hearts were aligned with God's will for our life? Can you just imagine for just a second? There was no distraction, there was no competition, there was no waiting to achieve this and waiting to achieve that, but aligned with whatever it is that God was calling us to do. If we started our day in full submission to Him on our face, God, show me my next step. Every day, each one of us, the people that we dealt with,

the people that we disagreed with, if we were aligned there, can you imagine what this world would look like? Not only would you be blessed, but Jesus adds something, He says, "Blessed through the pure and heart, for they will see." God, our view of God gets obstructed when we have unresolved sin in our life. That's just reality. When our hearts are hardened, not only are we not able to see God clearly, we're unable to see each other clearly as well. Not only does it obstruct our view, it obstructs our ability to shine His light to others. So it interferes with the purpose and the plan that God has for our life, wherever we're at. You know, as a pastor, something I hear all the time is I can't see God in this situation. Like I'm praying, but I just can't hear God's voice. Does He hear what I have to say? Is He even listening? Is He even around? Is He even real? Like I'm praying, but I'm not hearing anything. Well, if you're getting honest and you're getting real with God and you're not hearing a response, I would ask, is there something that's clogging up that line of communication? Because unresolved sin will prevent you from being able to hear God's voice clearly. And we have a responsibility to do something about it.

Isaiah 59 1 through 2 says, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear to build to hear." But, everybody say, "But, but your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." Psalm 66 18, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." It's in the moment that when we make the decision to surrender our life to God and ask forgiveness of all of our sin, 'cause we've all sinned, we've all fallen short. I say all the time, I do not speak and preach from my perfection, I preach from my brokenness through the grace of God. When we get to a place of surrender and we know that we can't do it, we know that we're gonna make mistakes, we know that we fall in short, and we surrender that to God in repent and then turn, it's at that moment that God can use you. But as long as you're holding on to the pride that you're always right and everyone else is wrong, God can't work with that. He's waiting on your surrender. Let's get back to the beatitudes. Verse 9, it says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." This is important 'cause not only are we called to be peacemakers, but they're times

when we have to be peace keepers, and that's difficult at times. This world is not getting any quieter, the chaos we face is almost daily. It's creeping into our homes, it creeps into our families and our relationships and our friendships and the people that we love. And verse 10 tells us that blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When you make the decision to surrender your life to Christ, that change is obvious, or at least it should be. Now I wanna challenge you a little bit in this area. I believe there's a lot of people walking around thinking they're saved that are not. You go, wow, that's a pretty bold statement, it is. Because until you truly understand what it means to have a relationship with Jesus and what it means to surrender your life to Him and what it means to truly know Him and invite Him into your life and be forgiven of your sins is more than just a hand raise one day on a Sunday. Raise my hand once, I think I'm good. That's not what the word of God tells us. The word of God tells us it starts with our heart. If we believe in our heart, we confess with our mouth. Jesus is Lord, then we will be saved. There's a responsibility on our part to surrender to Him, to repent of our sins and to move forward. Does that mean you'll never make mistakes again?

No, that's not what it means. You're gonna make mistakes, you're gonna mess up. Well, pastor, you don't know how big my mistakes are. Well, you don't know how big my God is. 'Cause He's big enough to cover your sins each and every one of them. But I'll take it a step further and say that if you think you've given your life to the Lord, but nothing has changed and there's no fruit from that decision, then I would ask, did you really make a decision to follow Christ? Because there should be fruit and evidence of that decision. Does that mean you're perfect? Absolutely not. But it doesn't mean that some things should have changed. Well, when you make that decision and you begin to follow the Lord and you give your life to Him, you would think that the people around you would love it and support it and be there with you. You would hope that, but the reality is that some people will not respond the way you hope they would. Some won't believe it. Is this real? [BLANK_AUDIO] that they're living and not wanna be around you because it reminds them that they're not living the life that God's called them to live. And unfortunately, there could be some persecution along the way. And Jesus reminds us that our reward is not in this world.

You are gonna face persecution. You're gonna have difficult seasons. You're gonna have difficult times. And He takes it a step further and tells us in verse 11, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me, what? How does this make sense? I wish it wasn't true, but it happens. I believe this is one of the enemy's tactics as well. If he can't get you to stumble, he'll get you to tell people or get people to say that you have. He tells us in verse 12 to rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So here's the reality, in this life, you will face persecution. Glad I could encourage everyone to came to church today, right? You will face hard times. You're gonna go through seasons of pain that seem unfair and undeserving. And Jesus is described in great detail what it looks like to live a blessed life, but that blessed life does not come without adversity. It doesn't come without resistance and it doesn't come without problems. Jesus is described in great detail what it means to live a blessed life.

As a matter of fact, there are 66 books written by more than 40 authors over a period of more than 1,500 years, all inspired by God that gives us a road map to Jesus. But what do you do with the pain that you walk through in this life? How do we respond to that pain? What do I do with the disappointment? What do I do with the hurt? What do I do with the loss of the loved ones that I have? What do I do with something that is so real that I just don't know how I can take another breath? I want you to write this down. Our pain becomes purpose when we use it to point others towards Christ. That's when our pain becomes purpose. In just a moment, I'm gonna tell you why this is so important and how we do it. But before I do, I wanna show you what God's Word tells you first. And I'd rather you hear more of God's instruction than my interpretation. And each one of these scriptures, references are listed. I challenged you on that at the beginning and I'm fixing to cover a lot of territory. But I want you to go back, meditate on the Word and see if the Holy Spirit has something that he wants to reveal to you as well. Look at your neighbor and say, lean in. You get to 2 Corinthians chapter one, verses three through four, says praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all troubles. So that, everybody say so that. So that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. So there's a purpose behind that pain. And Paul teaches us that God comforts us not only for our own sake, but so we can comfort others with the same hope. When you get to Revelation chapter 12 verse 11, this is after Satan had been cast out of heaven. He says they triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their what? Testimony. They did not love their life so much as to shrink from death. Our testimonies become a very powerful witness to what God can do when we allow him to. Romans 8, 28 says, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose. So God can work through every experience for his purpose. Not my words, God's words. James chapter one, verses two through four, says consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. What? Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance and it tells us to let perseverance finish its work

so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. God uses our hardships to shape our character and it's preparing us to serve others. This is kingdom culture. This is what we've been teaching all summer. In Romans chapter five, verse three through five, so that's not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance character, character hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. So you're telling me that suffering produces hope? Yes, that's what it's words telling us. Second Corinthians chapter 12, verse nine through 10. Says, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you. "For my power is made perfect in what?' Oh my goodness. His power is made perfect in what? so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. Why? For when I am weak, then I am strong. This goes against today's culture and today's society. As the Christ's strength is seen in our weaknesses, the world may not be able to identify the hope that you have through the trials that you're going through because God is the only one that can do it.

But this is important, and I believe this is for someone today. Your second point is this, God will not waste your pain. There's a lady by the name of Miss B that is my pastor's mom. She passed away some time back, but she was truly a mentor for me, and she helped establish this campus. There's no doubt about that. I spend a lot of time with her, and I remember many times with Miss B, after meeting with a family or something, I would find time to sit down with her, and I don't know how many times we had this conversation. I was like, Miss B, it just breaks my heart, what they're going through, and the pain that they're experiencing. And she'd always tell me, let it break your heart. But you have to remember that God will not waste that pain. And I don't know how many times she told me that. And I've held on to that, and I've watched it play out in so many lives since that. But I want to first set up what I'm about to say. We all go through seasons in life. Each and every one of us, as a matter of fact, Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 1, it says, there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. But when you get to verse 4, it reminds us that there's a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

And I pray that you truly hear my heart in this, because if you don't hear my heart in this, you're fixing to get offended. But I need you to hear my heart for a second. I pray that you understand that on the backside of this pain, it doesn't mean that God's finished using you. And I'm not saying that God calls that pain. Please don't misunderstand me. But we have to admit that God allowed it to happen. We may not understand that. We may not be able to comprehend that in this life, and we may have a lot of questions. And for some of you, that pain is too new. That wound is still open. You may be in a season of mourning, and I don't want you to skip that. I want you to continue to heal. I want you to continue to stay connected to the biblical community. I want you to continue to lean in to God's promises and His Word, and let Him minister to you. Continue to heal. And the reason being is because hurt people, hurt people, but healed people help people heal. However, for some of you, God's ready to take that pain and do something that you never thought was possible, and He can use you to do it. You go, well, you don't know what I went through. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right.

And there's many of the things that you've walked through in life that I do not understand. We have people here that have lost children, and I don't understand that. And I hurt for you, and I pray for you, but I haven't walked through that. There are people here that have lost a spouse, and I can't relate to that, but I can pray for you, and I sympathize with you. But there are people here that they truly understand because they've walked through that season, and they found hope in the midst of pain and chaos, disaster, and that hope that they found in those circumstances, well, God's ready to take that pain and use it for purpose. Now, this past week, I had the privilege of leading a team back to Peru, and there was 16 of us, and I will tell you, it was incredible. We watched God move in a very powerful way. I tell people all the time, I love mission work. In fact, if I was about 20 years younger, you probably wouldn't see me here. I'd be in some country somewhere in the bush. I just love it. But I tell people each time that we begin to prepare our heart for a mission trip, that you're not going to come back the same way that you leave. And they're always like, ah, right, whatever you say. No, seriously. Because there's something that happens when we eliminate

the distractions in our life and we lay it down and we lean in and we focus on what it is that God's calling us to do. Am I telling the truth, Byron? We were in Peru and if I'm being a little transparent, there was a group of 16 people and I didn't really have a deep relationship with each one of them. Some of them, I knew better than others and some of them I did, but each time you do something like this, because it's hot. You're tired. There's no hot water. You're sweaty. You stink. You're like, ah, but man, their hearts were aligned. Oh, it was incredible. But there was one person on this trip. And if I'm being real, she was the inspiration for this message this weekend. Our name is Theta Fortner and I don't know if you know Miss Theta or not, but if you don't, you're missing out because she is one of the most incredible people that I've ever had the privilege of meeting. Four years ago, Miss Theta came to me and she said, Pastor Tim, I want to lead a life group called Griefshare. And I said, OK, Miss Theta, are you ready? She said, I think I am with God's help. And what Griefshare is, as it meets here on Sunday afternoons at 3 o'clock and it helps walk people through the loss of a spouse or a child,

it helps people with the tools and the resources and the hope that only comes through Christ to navigate through a very difficult season. And many of you in this room, you know Miss Theta. You know this ministry. You've heard about it. You've seen brochures. Griefshare is a huge organization that happens. But she brought it here to our campus. She started that life group four years ago. And since then, she's led over 60 people through Griefshare. And that's incredible. And that would be enough to just stop. But you don't know the rest of the story. What you may not know is Theta was married for 20 years to the love of her life. And she lost her husband to cancer. They raised a family together, completely devastating. I can't imagine. Well, she went through a season of mourning and healing. And she was blessed to be remarried again. She was remarried again for nine years. And she lost that husband to a disease. Most people would have given up. Most people would have said, I've done my work. I've done my time. I'm going to let everyone else take care of it from here. But she didn't. She leaned in, and she let the Holy Spirit direct her and her past and her next steps.

But one of my favorite moments while we were in Peru, unrelated to this story, one of the last days we went in. We call it the jungle school or the mission school, where we take pastors in. They spend three years learning how to be a pastor. And then we send them out into their communities, all up and down the Amazon River. I don't know how many pastors have trained through the years. So when we go, we try to take the opportunity, especially if I have pastors with me to go in and to help teach the pastors that are there and pour into them and love on them a little bit. But it's about a 2 and 1/2 mile walk into the jungle. And I could have probably found enough motorcycles and side carts to get people in so they didn't have to walk. But it wouldn't have been near as fun as it was, watching the expression on Byron's face. Because I told him, don't be last, because there's some big jaguars in this jungle. Worth the 5 mile hike all day. But we were about halfway into the jungle school. And one of the missionaries pulls up on a dirt bike. And Miss Theta looks at me, she takes her backpack off and hands it to me and says, carry this. She jumps on the back of that motorcycle. The next thing I see is her going through the Amazon jungle going, oh, she looked like Rose off the Titanic. I was like, you go, Miss Theta, I got to carry your backpack for another mile and a half. I had sucker written across my forehead, I guess.

Just the joy in her life, man. Does it mean that the pain wasn't real? No. Does it mean that-- and she found a way to help others navigate their season as well. I think every one of us in this room could learn something from that. I had her share at church while we were there. And she stepped up on the stage with a room full, just about like this, of people that didn't even speak English. So she had to speak through a translator. But with a big ole smile on her face, I wish I had to pull the picture up. But a big ole smile on her face, she begins to share that there's hope on the backside of this loss. God still has a plan for them if they've lost someone that they love and they care about. In this world that we live in is broken, but God has a plan and a purpose for you. They may not have spoken English, but I'll tell you what they did speak. They spoke pain. They understood, they realized what it meant to lose someone. They understood what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus and that he was the only one that could help them navigate through a season of pain and hurt. Why am I telling you this? I believe that there is a lot of wisdom in this room. And there's a lot of life experiences setting in front of me right now where you have walked through some very difficult seasons in some very dark areas and you've come out the other side of it and you found hope through Jesus. It may be that you have found recovery through addiction. And everyone in the world society would say that there was no hope for you, but you found hope. Maybe you need to lead a life group around recovery this semester. Maybe there's some of you in here that the world said that your marriage would never survive. It would never make it. But with the relationship with Christ, you got connected to biblical community and you found support and you begin to grow. Maybe you need to lead a marriage group this semester. Maybe you've lost a loved one and you're still trying to figure out how to navigate this season. Don't skip the morning, but I am saying that you don't have to have all the answers because sometimes there's healing and just surrounding yourself with people that trust in God and that get to his word for direction and that you encourage one another, that you can make it beyond this circumstance. We live in a sin field, broken, fallen world. We do. I look around this room and I can,

because I'm privileged to some of the stories, I see the pain, but I also see the hope that has come on the back side of a surrender to God and allowing him to be with you and you continuing to be here. Some of you, it would be easier to just stay home on Sunday because being here reminds you of the times that you were here with your spouse that is no longer with you. I don't minimize that, but you're here and God sees you and I'm proud of you and I'm thankful for you. But is it possible that this is the semester that you take that pain and you use it for God's purpose to speak into someone else? You may be listening in right now and you think, what in the world, how am I going to do anything beyond this place? Can I tell you right now that where you're at does not define you, it is not your identity? And God's still got a plan and a purpose for your life and he will use your testimony to reach others if you will allow him. Now we allow pride to prevent us a lot of times from being able to do anything that God's calling us to do, but when we get to a place of full surrender, that's when God can do something. So this leads me to my last question and it's the last point on your handout. Are you ready to be used by God? Are you ready to be used by God? First Peter chapter 3 verse 15 through 16 says, "But in your hearts, revere Christ's Lord, always be prepared." Everybody say always, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. Christ may be ashamed of their slander. Always be prepared to share why you have hope in the season that you're in. You know, and as a matter of fact, I teach this a lot of times before we go on mission trips, but most of the time you have 30 seconds to share your testimony in first meet. 30 seconds, you're like, "What? 30 seconds? I can't share my testimony in 30 seconds. Yes, you can. I can teach you how to do it." But in that second meeting, you typically have two minutes. So you need to be able to share why you have the hope that you have in 30 seconds and in two minutes. You're going through a storm, you're going through the midst of something, and somebody goes, "I don't understand why you're able to have the peace that you have at this moment." In 30 seconds, I can tell you why. It's because of a relationship with Jesus. I tried to do it on my own for many years and I failed miserably, but I found that my surrender to him allowed me an opportunity to walk in the hope and the freedom, and I'd be happy to tell you about it if you'd let me. That's less than 30 seconds. You go on two minutes, you can tell your story, yeah.

You can. So we need to be prepared as the body of Christ. God has called us, and He's commissioned us to be a light in a very dark place. Right where you're at. Can you share why you're still able to have hope where you are? You can if you have a relationship with Christ. I believe God wants to do something special this semester through our life groups. This is the last week to sign up to be a life group leader or to be a host home. We've got to sign up behind me. God is stirring something in the hearts of people in this room right now, and you'd say, "You know what, Tim? I am not qualified. You are absolutely right. You are not qualified." But I am really glad that God doesn't wait for a bunch of qualified people. He calls the people and then qualifies them. If you thought you were qualified to do it, it would be led with pride, and that's a disaster waiting to happen. But when it's led with humility, and you say, "I don't have all the answers, but I serve a God that's helped me navigate through some very difficult seasons." And you come with a submissive heart. God can use that, and He will use you if you will let Him. I'm going to ask you to buy your heads if you would. I don't know where you're at this morning. It may be that the campaign is really new. It's really fresh, and you're still going through a season of healing. And I want to encourage you to continue to lean into that. Just as He tells us, there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. But it may be on the backside of this, you're trying really hard to figure out why God allowed you to walk through this. Let me be very clear about something. God did not cause your chaos. God did not make this happen, but God is able to take everything that the enemy means for evil and turn it for good. Now we don't understand, and we don't comprehend, sometimes why God allows things to happen, that happen. And we may not know the answer to those questions until we are face to face with Jesus. But I do know this, as long as we're willing to come before Him with a submissive heart and let Him use us, it'll impact far more people than we'll ever be able to impact on our own. You have a story, and someone needs to hear it. But if you're in this room and you've never made that personal decision to invite Jesus into your life to be forgiven of your sins, that is the first step. That's where it begins. But that is a personal decision. If you're here this morning, you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you were to take your last breath on this earth today, where you would spend eternity tomorrow, you can change that right now at this moment. You don't have to leave this room with any

question or any doubt. The Word of God says, "If we believe in our heart, we confess with our mouth. It's at that moment that we are saved." Now does it mean that we've got all the answers? No. It means that sanctification is a process that happens the rest of our life. We're going to fail miserably at times. We're going to say things. We shouldn't say. We're going to do things we shouldn't do. But we continue to put one foot in front of the other and we continue to live our life focused on what it is that God's calling us to. But if you're here this morning and you've never made that decision or you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt, maybe you just made a hand raise one day, but you say, You know what God, I've got to have you in my life. I can't live another day without you as the most Or maybe you're ready to rededicate your life. If that's you and you're in this room, make that bold decision. Raise your hand right now, I wanna pray for you around here. I don't want you to leave the same way that you came in. Anyone here, yes, ma'am, I see you, anyone else. Yes, I see you, yes, I see you, anyone else. Thank you, Jesus, yes, sir, I see you. The Word tells us that all of heaven rejoices when one center turns from their sin. All of heaven is rejoicing right now. If you're listening in right now, the Holy Spirit is able to reach you right where you are. He is not limited by walls or jail cells or anything else. He can meet you right at the moment, right where you are. And it begins with a decision that you can only make. I can't make it for you. But if you're ready to make that decision, I just wanna pray with you. Say, "Lord God, forgive me of my sins."

The ones that the enemy reminds me of every day that I wake up, and God, forgive me of the ones that I have forgotten all about, and God today, I dedicate my life to you. I surrender my life to you, Father. I need you in every area of my life. And beginning today, I am focused on living it for you. If you're in this room and you feel that pain that I've been speaking on and you know that it's time, just ask the Holy Spirit to show you that next step. Father, right now, I know that there are stories in this room and there is pain, but I also know that there is purpose on the backside of that pain, and Father, I pray right now through the help of the Holy Spirit that you begin to reveal the next step for each and every person that is here today. The plan that you have for us is not to just roll over and quit, but it's to get up, dust ourselves off, surrender to you, and use that pain for purpose that grows your kingdom. It is in Jesus' powerful, mighty name we pray. And everybody said, "Hey man, can we praise God with everything that we've got?" (congregation applauds) (gentle music) You