Help! My Faith Isn't Working | Jabin Chavez | City Light Church

Hey, what's up, family? We are about to jump into God's Word, and I'm so excited about it. Hey, just wanted to take a moment real quick to tell you to like and to subscribe and to hit the notification bell, all the things that help us get this Word and this message out to a greater audience. If today's Word is a blessing to you, even if you wanna like throw it in your Instagram story, things like that, if you're still on Twitter or X or threads or one of those and share the Word with a friend, all of those things help us. And so if this ministry is a blessing to you, help us spread the Word. Also wanna tell you, man, we've got some really great praise and worship that is coming out of this house. We recently released Let the Redeemed. As you're watching this right now, we're just releasing a brand new kind of spontaneous moment called Joy. And we've got lots of incredible music with City Light Worship. So that's on Spotify, that's on YouTube, that's on Apple Music, all the places that you listen to music. And now hope all of that is a blessing to you. And right before we go to God's Word, if City Light is a blessing to you,

if this ministry has been impacting to you, would you prayerfully consider partnering with us financially? They tell us that Las Vegas is the most unchurched city in the most unchurched state, Nevada, in America. And we are doing everything we can to win people for Jesus and make a massive impact in this city. And if that stirs your heart, man, we need your help. And we need your partnership. And if you kind of consider City Light to be a part of your spiritual formation, if you consider my ministry to be a blessing, no gift is too small, no gift is too large as we continue to reach this region with the gospel. Let's jump into God's Word and let's receive from the Lord. Matthew 14, Matthew 14, immediately Jesus made the disciples get in a boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. The crowd is the 5,000. He just fed the 5,000. He's been teaching, the Bible said, for three days. You think I preach long? Jesus just preached for three days. He preaches for three days, he feeds them, and now he's dismissing them and he says, he says to them, go on over to the other side.

I just want you to know you're gonna make it to the other side. Everybody say, I'm gonna make it to the other side. Elbow your neighbor, let him know you're gonna make it to the other side. Come on, tell him, you're gonna make it to the other side. He went up to the mountainside to pray and later that night, he was there alone and the boat was already a considerable distance from the land buffeted by the waves because of the wind. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage, it is I, don't be afraid. Lord, if it's really you, if it's you, Peter replied, bid me come, ask me to come. Jesus said, come. Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, came toward Jesus. And when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink. And he cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, now here's the real problem. Why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? When they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

And then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the son of God. And when they had crossed over, they landed in Gennesaret. I wanna preach from this subject today, and I really wanna help you. And I think today's gonna be really helpful for you. I wanna preach from this idea, help, my faith isn't working. Help, my faith isn't working. Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask you, help. Increase our faith, strengthen our faith, and remove doubt from our heart. We pray this in Jesus' name. Come on, and everyone said amen. Come on, if you're believing for a word from God, clap your hands and celebrate the Lord. Come on, let's have a move of God today. Amen, thank you, brother. I've had seasons where I felt my sermon title, I just feel like my faith isn't working. It's just weak, it feels tested, it feels tried, it feels like it's going through the fire. There have just been seasons where it's like, man, Lord, my faith is not, I feel like God is a million miles away. 27 years of following Jesus, there's gonna be a few moments like this. There's gonna be some moments where you're walking through the valley. I've also had seasons where it's like,

man, I'm on the mountaintop. I feel like it's me and Jesus and nobody, I mean, it's just like, I am locked in. Every prayer seems to be answered. I feel the presence of the Lord. I sing one note of one song, I start crying. I mean, I'm just like, every time I read the Bible, it's like the words jump off the page. I've had both seasons. I've had valley seasons and mountaintop seasons. And the reality is you're gonna have both and both do something to your faith. So don't give up when you feel like God is far. Don't give up when you feel like you're in a valley because both seasons are developing you. I've also had areas of my life where it's very easy to believe God. Like it's easy to believe for this. It's easy to believe for this in this area. And then there's other areas of my life where it feels very hard to believe God. It feels very hard to invite the Holy Spirit into that area. But no matter where you're at, no matter what season you're facing, I believe that God will help you to increase your faith and remove the doubt from your heart. There's a man who comes to Jesus, his son is sick, and he says this before we start reading the verse. He says, Lord, if you're willing, you can heal my son.

Now watch what he just said. If you're willing, you can heal my son. I know you can heal my son. I just don't know if you're willing to heal my son. In other words, I know you're powerful, but I don't know if you're kind. I know what you can do, but I don't know what you want to do. Jesus responds to him and says, if you can believe. Now we've just settled. You already believe that I can. But if you can believe what? If you can believe that I'm willing, if you can believe that I'm kind, if you can believe that I'm good, if you can believe that I wanna help you. Watch this, everybody say this out loud. Come on, everybody. All things are possible to him who believes. Notice that there's a battle of belief here. I know you can, I don't know if you want to. There's a part of me that believes, there's a part of me that doesn't believe. And the man responds, I love this, verse 24. Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. There is a part of me that's believing, and there's a part of me that's not believing. There's a part of me that's trusting, and there's a part of me that's doubting. There's a part of me that knows what you can do,

but there is a part of me that does not know. I'm in a battle on the inside, but I need my faith to win. Because if my faith wins, I win. If my faith overcomes, I overcome. If my faith can increase, I can make it through this moment. And I declare over this church, our faith is increasing. Say amen. For everyone born of God, everyone who's born again, 1 John 5, 4, anyone who's been born of God overcomes the world. This word world here is not earth, it's not people, it's a world system, it's a world mentality, it's culture, it's everything anti-God, but you can overcome that. Now watch this, this is the victory that overcomes the world. Here's the key, here's the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Your faith has overcoming power. Your faith is not a Band-Aid, your faith is not a Tylenol, your faith is not just something that we, you know, we kind of just put over the mysteries of life and go, well, our faith will get us through. No, your faith actually has overcoming power. You can overcome addiction, you can overcome fear, you can overcome panic attacks, you can overcome cancer, you can overcome poverty, you can overcome alcoholism, you can overcome drug abuse, you can overcome pain, you can overcome betrayal, you can overcome divorce, you can overcome, you can overcome by your faith.

Any overcomers in the room, shout to the Lord right there. My faith causes me to overcome. Hallelujah. Now the apostles were also dealing with a lack of faith and they said this in Luke 17 five. Now Jesus just preached for four verses and their response to his sermon was, Lord, you're gonna have to increase our faith. What you just told us we need to do and what you just told us we can do, we don't believe it. And by the way, that's a good prayer. You ought to be there every once in a while. You shouldn't always feel like, I got this. I hope God's leading you into a life where you say, Lord, I need you to increase my faith. The thing you're calling me to do is too big for me. The thing you're asking of me is too big for me. The thing that you're leading me into is too big for me. So God, I'm gonna need a faith jump. I'm gonna need a next level of faith to make it into the thing that you've called me to do. told me to do, and so the apostles and this Father were both brilliant because they know who to run to when they needed more faith. See, Jesus is not just the object of your faith, he's also the source of your faith. Faith is received, not achieved. And faith has a source, and you're not the source. So when my eyes are on Jesus, my faith grows. When my eyes are on anything else, my faith fails.

So here's what I know about your faith, your faith is a fight, it's a fight of focus. First Timothy 6, 12, fight the good fight of faith. You'll never get faith without a fight. But the fight is not trying, the fight is not earning, the fight is focus, I gotta keep my eyes on Jesus. To stay in faith when fear, doubt, and discouragement would be easier. Woo, you gotta fight for it. The scripture says it like this, that we've all been given the measure of faith, Romans 12. So every person who gets born again all starts with the same level of faith. But then faith must be developed. Like we all have a bicep. How many know our biceps all look a little different in the room, amen. Some of y'all, it's really hard and round and amazing looking. Some of us are still in, don't judge me. Some of us still preaching long sleeve, amen. Can I get a witness, amen. That's funny. I had a real buff dude tell me after, let's go to the gym. I said, let me pray about that, amen, praise God. All right, I got a bicep just like he does, but his has been developed. We all got faith. God has no favorites, but some of us have learned to develop our faith.

We can grow our faith. And Jesus wants to become your personal faith trainer to develop you to become a strong man and woman of God. Come on, say amen. But if my faith isn't working, if my faith feels weak, I've learned three things. I see it in the text, but I've learned it in my life. And here's the first. If my faith is weak and my faith isn't working, my eyes are on me. They're not on Jesus, they're on me. Here's how I feel it. Peter goes, Lord, if it's you tell me to come, Jesus has come. And Peter starts running out on that water and immediately he goes, I can't walk on water. I, me, I'm not Jesus. I don't have this ability. And he gets out of faith and he gets back into self-focus. See, the opposite of faith isn't always just fear. Sometimes the opposite of faith is just you. He's looking at you. You might be a great person. You might be beautiful. You might be handsome, but you cannot be the source of your own faith. You might be gifted and you might be talented and you might, but you, but I cannot be the source of my own faith.

And God is actually calling you into impossible things. Let me just say this about your flesh, your earth suit, your body. It hates faith. It hates the impossible. It doesn't even like the possible. It doesn't even like the treadmill. It doesn't even like waking up at six in the morning. It doesn't even like broccoli, let alone walking on water. Are y'all with me? It doesn't even like self-control, let alone doing something impossible for God. My flesh hates, man, I feel the anointing right now. Ooh, man, I feel this. Hallelujah. Sorry, I just had to encourage myself. My flesh doesn't like, my flesh doesn't like obedience. My flesh doesn't like miracles. My flesh doesn't like the impossible. My flesh likes comfort. My flesh likes comfort food. My flesh likes the couch. My flesh likes the bed. My flesh likes, my flesh likes to hit the snooze button and get 10 more minutes. But God is calling me into something impossible where I walk out on the water, but I cannot consult my flesh. I cannot ask myself for permission. If Jesus said walk, I'm gonna walk.

Shout amen, somebody. I gotta get my eyes off of me and onto Jesus. When my eyes are on me, I know spiritual defeat is inevitable. So Javan, what do I, what do I do? I'm glad you asked, Hebrews 12. Looking unto Jesus. Let's take out unto, that's King James, that's a little too poetic. Look at Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He's the author. He's the author and the finisher. He's the source and the object of our faith. He's the alpha and the omega of our faith. He's the A and the Z of our faith. He's the beginning of our faith and the end of our faith. He's the author and the finisher of our faith, meaning I don't get any faith, cannot have any faith, cannot walk in any faith without Jesus. So if my faith isn't working, that means I must be looking at me, not at him. See, self-righteousness and self-doubt both have self in common. And self is a terrible source. If I'm looking at me, I'm always disqualified. So I can't look at me. I have to look at him. See, condemnation is the faith killer. Now, condemnation has two sources.

One is the devil, but one is you. One source of condemnation is the enemy, but another source of condemnation is the inner me. Let me prove it with the word so it isn't just cute little phrases. And by this, we know that we are of the truth. Watch this. And shall assure our hearts before... Look at what you have to do as a spiritual discipline. You have to assure your hearts before the Lord, meaning your heart is unsettled. Your heart is unsure. Your heart is a mess. Your heart is your emotions and your past and your experiences and your weaknesses and your reminders of everything that did not work. And your heart needs to be settled before him. Verse 20, and if our hearts condemn us, because our hearts condemn us. Look who we have to focus on, not our hearts. God is greater than our heart. Why is he greater than our heart? Because he knows all things. Your heart doesn't know everything. Your heart only knows your past. Your heart only knows your experience. Your heart only knows what you've been through. So your heart is condemning you, telling you you've tried this, but it didn't work. You believed, but it didn't work.

You prayed for them, but they died. You tried to get free, but you're still addicted. You pressed in, but it didn't work out the way. You thought you're gonna prosper, but the business had to fold. You took a step of faith, but you sunk. Your heart is constantly condemning you, reminding you that you've tried and you failed. But God is greater than our hearts, because God does not just know my past. God knows my future. God knows where I'm going. God knows where he's taking me. God is not lost. God knows all things. I don't know all things. I know a few things, and they're all skewed based off of my experience. But God knows all things, and he's greater than my heart. But if I'm looking at me, I'm looking at my heart, and my heart's condemning me. But if I look at Jesus, he knows all things. And I walk out on that water, and my heart says, you cannot walk out on water. And you have to go, you're right. But he said, this marriage will never work. You're right in the natural, but he said. Your kid's too far gone? No, you're right, but he said.

Maybe you can't build a building like this in Vegas. You're right, but he said. You can't buy that land. Yeah, you're right, you're right, I can't, but he said. When the FAA and the DOA told us you'll never get that land, you'll never do it. We'll never give you the land. When our attorney dropped us as a client, because they said, we're stealing your money because we cannot help you overturn that deed restriction, you'll never get that land. So we're dropping you as a client, and we're reimbursing the money because you'll never get that land. When people were calling me, telling me, why are you trying to buy that land? You'll never get that land. You need to work on something else. That's what my heart said. That's what the natural said. But on Wednesday night, we're gonna put 500 cars over there. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And I'm gonna go park over there. Yeah! Yeah! I'm gonna go park. I don't care if I gotta walk a little bit. I'm gonna go park over there, and just remind the devil that my heart does not decide, God decides. Somebody give God a shout of praise. Keep preaching. My heart, my emotions, my memories, my soul is condemning me, reminding me of all the reasons why I can't have faith, why I am disqualified. why I should run from God, but Jesus has come. See, conviction runs to God, condemnation runs from God. So anything keeping you from Jesus, from seeking Jesus, from praying to Jesus, from the things of Jesus is condemnation. That word condemnation means guilty sentence. You're guilty, you're done, it's over. Romans chapter eight verse one says, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. See, I'm in Christ and there's no condemnation, yet my heart is still trying to condemn me. My heart is trying to tell me what is possible and impossible. So I have to ignore that and I have to listen to Jesus. So 2 Corinthians would say it like this,

I forgot to give them this, but it would say it like this, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, neither has it entered into the heart what God has in store for his people. But then he goes on, it doesn't stop there, he goes on and he says, but we know by the Holy Spirit. Meaning this is limited, this is limited, these are limited, these are limited, but the Spirit of God will, the Spirit of God will make you a water walker. Amen. So I gotta get my eyes off of myself. I need to have more faith, I need to believe God. No, no, no, stop, stop, stop, look at Jesus. See, you're missing it, most faith messages are focused on us and you have to stop that, you gotta get your eyes on Jesus. So if my faith isn't working, my eyes are on me, but number two, my faith isn't working, it probably means my eyes are on the wind. Jesus asked Peter a question, he picks him up out of the waves and he goes, why did you doubt? He made a statement that's powerful, he said, you have little faith, why did you doubt? Now, it's okay to have a little bit of faith because you don't need a lot of faith. Somebody shouted, I heard you, you just need a mustard seed of faith, you don't need a lot of faith.

The issue is not your level of faith as much as it is the doubt that is contaminating the faith that you do have. This word doubt means you're divided. With one ear, I'm listening to Jesus, with one ear, I'm listening to the wind. With one eye, I'm looking at Jesus, with one eye, I'm looking at the waves. I haven't doubted my faith, I haven't doubted my faith, I haven't focused yet. I'm still, my eyes are still on the wind and the waves and Jesus says, you've got doubt in your heart. This word doubt means to be divided and it means to hesitate. You just start hesitating. You remember teaching your kid how to catch a ball? And you toss that little ball to your kids and they go like this. My nine, I don't wanna expose my nine-year-old but that's still how she catches. We were at the park this week, I had this little volleyball and I was trying to throw it to her and every time I throw the ball, she goes. I can't catch it. Well, your eyes are closed and you're running away. It's gonna be hard. You gotta lean into it. Let me teach you, I'm an athlete, guys. Let me teach you how to, you know, I'm obviously an athlete. I'm like talking to her like I played football or something.

I'm like, honey, I never touched a football. You know, a lot of people do that with God. Can't get anything from God, can't get anything. You're hesitating, you're divided. It's not gonna hurt you. Lean into it, lean into the presence of God, lean into the promises of God, lean into the Holy Spirit. Lean into speaking in tongues, lean into the baptism in the Holy Spirit, lean in to the truth of God. Don't be hesitant of it, lean into it. That is a good word. See, faith hears one voice, the voice of God and obeys, but doubt hears two voices and ends up divided. Doubt will get you seeing things. You know what the Bible said, right? That Peter said he saw the wind. You can't see wind. But doubt will get you creating worst case scenarios. Doubt will get you going, it's a ghost. Because you know, there was a wife's tale in this day that said, you know, because you know, there was a wife's tale in this day. that believe that in the middle of the night, the ghosts would come out on the water and walk on the water. We got grown men acting like five-year-olds. There's a ghost out there. Because that's what doubt does.

You know, we've had a windy couple of days here in Vegas. If you're watching online, we've had a windy couple of days in Vegas. And we didn't ever see the wind though. But we saw the trees. And we saw our dirty pools, right? And we saw our dirty yards and we felt it hitting our house. And we heard it, but we didn't see the wind. But doubt will get you created. I saw something. I see worst case. I believe worst case. I'm gonna drown. It'll get you creating worst case scenarios. That's what doubt will do. It'll get you telling ghost stories. It'll get you believing the worst. Okay, so how do I feed my faith and starve my doubts? Isaiah 26 three. God will keep him in his place. God will keep him in perfect peace. Now watch this. This is powerful. Whose mind, that word mind is not brain. That word mind is imagination, image. You've got to keep your imagination on God. Because Peter had his imagination on the storm. It's a ghost. I can see wind.

I see dead people, right? Put it back up, put it back up, put it back up. What movie is that for? Sixth Sense. Whose mind, I've got to keep my imagination. You've got to start dreaming with the Holy Spirit. You have to start imagining I'm healed. You have to start seeing your family restored. You have to see your children serving the Lord. You have to see yourself free from that addiction. You have to see yourself free from that bondage. You have to start seeing yourself free from that insecurity and that spirit of death. I'm keeping my imagination, my image on God. Fear is an imagination of the worst. Faith is an imagination of the best. But we only make fun of people with faith. We don't make fun of people with fear. No, I don't fly, I'm afraid of planes. Why? We never teach people about them being afraid of heights. Though there's very, very, very few plane wrecks, right? The vast, vast, vast majority of our fears will never come to pass. And yet we treat those as reasonable. See how quiet it got in here? I offended you. But we start talking big faith and we start scoffing at it. But if we're gonna imagine,

if we're gonna use our imagination, we ought to use it with God. Okay, but here's the second meaning of that word mind. It means frame, frame, frame. Who's frame? Who puts God? Oh man, here's what it reminds me of. It reminds me when Goldie was like three or four years old, my daughter, and we'd say, baby, do you see that out there? Do you see those trees? Do you see that bird? Do you see that? And she'd go like this, let me look. Let me look. Come on, can I get somebody to put on their faith frames real quick? Come on, everybody, just get, come on, come on, come on, do it right now, come on. Some of y'all just folded your arms, but I'm just looking for somebody to. I did that. I saw one dude go like this. Pastor, you crossed the line. I'm with you, but I can't, I can't, I can't have that picture on Instagram, pastor. I can't have that. This didn't help her see further. It helped her focus. And man, I feel this so strong in my spirit. I'm not denying the waves.

I'm not denying that I'm in a storm. I'm not denying that I feel the wind. I'm not denying that I feel the rain, but I'm keeping one thing in focus, whose mind is, I'm keeping, right now, I can't listen to anything else. I gotta have one thing on my mind. I gotta have one thing on my heart. Every other voice, I've gotta shut out right now. You could call it denial, but I call it faith. You could call it crazy, but I call it trust. You could call it, you want to call it, but I'm keeping my eyes on Jesus. I'm staying focused right here, right line upon line, word upon word, precept upon precept. I can't listen to podcasts right now. I can't watch those shows right now. Can't listen to that music right now. Can't talk to that person right now. Can't take that call right now because right now I've got to keep my mind on him. I've got to keep my frame. Peace. And as every season like that, not necessarily, but I'm telling you, if your faith isn't working, fix your frame. If your faith isn't working, fix your focus. Some of y'all this week, you need to pray a little different. Some of y'all pray like this. Others of you pray like this. Some of you pray like this. I'm adding a new hand gesture to our prayer life and it's right here. Jesus, this week. Man, I feel joy right now. This week I'm keeping my eyes on you. I'm ignoring every other spirit and every other doubt and every other storm and everything that the devil's throwing my way. And I'm keeping my eyes right here on you until I get to the other side. Come on, somebody shout with me. I'm going to do that next week at church. Instead of lift your hands, I'm going to go just, just stand before the Lord. One more point, I'm done. Come on up, guys. I got to take my eyes off me. I got to take my eyes off the wind. And then thirdly, I have to take my eyes off of the moment because for some of you,

your faith isn't working because your eyes are on the moment. The story begins and ends with a promise from Jesus. Here's how the story begins. I don't know if you remember, here's how the story begins. We're going to the other side. You know how it ended? And they got to the other side. Now, in between point A and B was the scenic route. A and B was the scenic route. Has the Lord ever taken anybody on the scenic route? Amen. Yeah. Yeah. I don't like the scenic route, but they had to go through the scenic route, but they got there. And if Jesus said, you're going to the other side, you're going to the other side. If Jesus said, my children will serve the Lord, we're going to the other side. If Jesus said he'd make a way out of no way, we're going to the other side. If Jesus said he'll restore seven times, we're going to the other side. If Jesus said he could move mountains, we're going to the other side. And I'm holding on to the promise when the moment is disagreeing with where I'm going. We're going to the other side. Paul would say like this in Romans 8, these light and momentary afflictions. Momentary, it's a moment. You cannot compare it to the eternal weight of glory. I'm in a moment. Don't give up in a moment. Keep your eyes on Jesus in that moment. Keep your eyes off of the moment and keep it on the promise. Don't forget the promise. Don't forget what he whispered to you. Don't forget in the dark what he told you in the light. Don't forget in the storm when he told you when there wasn't a cloud in the sky. So I declare, you're going to make it to the other side. And here's what's amazing. They get to the other side. And the Bible said, there's a whole village waiting. So what was on the other side? Ministry. What was on the other side? People. Who needs your story?

Who needs your testimony? Who's waiting for you on the other side of this storm? I want to say it like this. Your breakthrough is never just for you. Ever. It's never just for you. It's never just for you. Ever. It's never just for you. you. If your breakthrough ends with you, you missed the whole point of the breakthrough because the breakthrough was never for you. It was actually for you to be able to go to a people, to your family, to your friends and say the same Jesus that sustained me through the storm will sustain you. The same Jesus that got us through will get you through. The same Jesus that when I thought I was going, when I thought it was over, somehow he made a way and he and he tell they are able to tell the story. You know, there's, there's really two ways to approach our life. When we go through pain, when we go through storms and boy, I've walked people, walked with people through a lot of them in this church and I've walked through my own. And here's, here's, I think that the first question that we can ask is, man, why did I go through that? Why me? Why us? Why, why God? Why? And I want to say this as gracefully and graciously as I can say it. We usually won't have the answer for why. I wish we did. You know, Job asked why. It's a book in your Bible called Job and he, he goes through six months of hell on earth and he goes, God, why? And God answers his question with a question. It's pretty insensitive. It's pretty offensive. But God looks back at Job and goes, were you, did you happen to be here when I created the heavens and the earth? Were you here when I created you in your mother's womb? Were you here when I, are you God or am I God? And Job goes, I'm cool. Because most of the time we're not going to get an answer to the why. So there's a better question and I'm not big insensitive. I understand this is a challenge, but here is the step of maturity to not ask why, but to ask who? Who needs my storm? Who needs my pain? Who needs my scars? Jesus rises from the dead with scars. And the first thing he does is he shows up to people. He says, look at my scars. If I made it, you can make it. If I got through it, you could get through it. The same God that caused me to walk on water

can get you over the storm in the name of Jesus. I know a water walker. I know a sustainer. I know a healer. I know a deliverer. Don't give up on God. Who's waiting for you on the other side of this season? Who's waiting for you? Who needs your story of the all sufficient grace of God? I could live in the why. I could, but I'll die in the why. Or I could live my life in the who needs my Jesus story. And everything I just said is not easy to do. So Lord increased my faith so I could tell my story because God gives pain purpose. Not because you figure out the purpose of every storm, but because you tell your story to the people in front of you, that becomes the purpose. Does that make sense? I don't try to figure everything out. I don't try to theologically make sense of everything you go through and that I go through. What I do do is I look at the people God's put in front of me and I tell them this same God that got me through will get you through. And that becomes my purpose. Amen.