I expected Church people to be different - JJ Vasquez

here today Sunday fan happy Sunday everybody this is the day yes and if I haven't gotten the pleasure of meeting you yet my name is Chantal and I get the absolute joy to be in the house of the Lord today and my name is Christian I get the joy and honor of being on line hills today that's right and my name is Jorge and I get the privilege and the joy as well being here to serve with you guys absolutely so online what are you guys doing how are you preparing for service dropping where you guys are tuning in from also absolutely yeah that's one thing where do you have any family watching from what about you from New Jersey New Jersey in the house okay if you're from New Jersey let us know in check you have any family I live watching from where yes I do I have from Chicago and Puerto Rico all right if you guys are watching from there you never know you might have some people in the chat that might be close to you right so community can be formed in all different ways right so you never know so guys yes are you guys so excited about the series that we've had what also kind of sad yeah it's really good so that you know me you learn from your failures more than your successes so in this series like it's really kind of gut punching but in a good way right right now Christian give me one day you know I'm gonna ask you oh yeah you know what is one thing that you've gotten from this series I think the one thing that stuck on me to me the most was that you can interrupt the process but you can't speed it up oh so it's like you want more and more and more but sometimes you just got to slow down and take a pause and breathe I think that's really good what about you Jorge what did you get from this series my goodness everything every service had something but the one that stuck to me the most was this last service which we'll talk a little bit more later because I have a kid yeah so there's moments where my son is like why do I got to do that because I brought you into this world yeah it's somebody thinking about that yeah yeah I used to get that a lot when I was a kid so I totally get that I have dogs so they all I could do is look at this right yeah so if you're a dog parent you know maybe you reflected as well with it because they'd be doing things you know - you know also what have you guys

got from it from the discernment series so dropping the chat where you were expecting and what you got out of it absolutely one thing that I really got from last week last week hit me the Holy Spirit was all up in the room okay Pastor JJ always gives a word because you know he's anointed with the Lord but one thing I would say is just looking at the Lord as the reward and remembering that he's the reward looking at his face rather than his hands and if you guys have been experiencing that as well we totally get it because we're human right we're supposed to do this together but ultimately I'm here to remind you that the reward is Jesus and what he can do in your life he's the only one that can transform yeah he also mentioned that we are his servant and not his employee which also stuck out to me so good man there were so many bars so many like one liners oh my god left and right one liners and that one really did stick out to me as well as like you're the servant how are you expecting a thank you a gratitude for something you're supposed to be doing so good my god so many gems and if you haven't watched it you can watch it on our after talk shout out to our YouTube channel you could go and watch all of those past after talks they're so good that's when Pastor JJ has a little bit more on the word that you didn't get to say in the sermon that you guys can get a sneak peek up and actually like listen to it now with that same posture guys we're actually gonna go into the sanctuary with our good friend Natalie she's gonna get you guys prepared for worship and show you guys what's going on down there and we'll see you after worship bye thank you so much to my studio co-host Chantel JC you guys are so special to me George Christian you guys are so special to me well listen as we can see we are in the sanctuary right now if I have not had the honor and the privilege of meeting you yet my name is Natalie and I get to serve on the online host team we're about to go into a minute of worship and a great word from our pastor JJ super excited we're finishing the series today and I just can't wait to see what he has in store before we get into that moment of worship I want to talk to you guys about distraction one peter five eight says to be alert and of sober mind your enemy the devil

prowls around like a lion ready to devour delay does not have to be dramatic sometimes it looks like distraction sometimes it looks like you can't that person you can't get off your mind all those bills that you keep thinking about sometimes it just looks like family problems just so much on your mind and if it is something that takes you away from the feet of Jesus it is a distraction one of my favorite stories is in loop 10 when Martha was preparing her home for Jesus and she was running around running around And he was like, "You worry too much. There's only one thing you need to be thinking about or after. So I just want to keep that on you guys fresh on your mind. I want to go ahead and pray. Father, I want to thank you Lord. I want to thank you that you seek us out even when we don't seek you. I want to thank you that you give us a chance every single day to get it right with you, to be at your feet, that there's never a moment when we come knocking that you don't open that door. Father, I come against distraction. I come against delay. The enemy has an assignment to take us out of our assignment. But Father, I know that you will encamp warring angels around us and help us to keep our eyes on you. Well, listen, I want to thank you for being here with us. I hope you have a great day. See you here soon. See you in the morning. Come on, we're going to sing a new song today. Let's put those hands together like this. Oh, you worthy Jesus. Oh, I pray. Come on, we'll sing it out together. There's another old story that brings the earth up to the heavens. Can't you feel it turning apart? Come on, we'll sing. To stop your running up no further. To find your rest here, shine to dark. There is freedom in the house of God. Come on, help me this morning. The door is always open. The altar's wherever you're making. You're already forgiven. It's ever too late, heaven is singing when we come home. The Father's waiting is there one more. We lift our hands and sing as the Lord. Can't you hear them say it well? Now they can sing it when we come home. The Father's waiting is there one more. Oh, thank you Lord. We lift our hands and sing as the Lord. Can't you hear them say it well? Come on, come on, we'll sing. And for now you can have a new creation. That begins with our salvation. Forever in the Father is our home. Come on, the door is always open. The door is always open. The altar's wherever you're making. You're already forgiven. Come on, it's never too late, heaven is singing when we come home. The Father's waiting is there one more. We lift our hands and sing as the Lord. Can't you hear them say it well? Come on, come on. Heaven is singing. The Father's waiting is there one more. So we lift our hands and sing as the Lord.

Oh, thank you Lord. Come on, is anybody thankful for our isn't saviour this morning? Come on in here we find our freedom and here we find new life. Let's put those hands together like this. Come on in here we celebrate together. We declare. The King is here. Lift your hands. Come and receive the Savior. With open hearts we declare. Jesus is here. So clap your hands. So clap your hands and move your feet. This is the celebration. Angels dance as we sing. Jesus is our sound. The King is here. Lift your hands. Come and receive. With open hearts. We declare. We sing. Jesus is here. So clap your hands. So clap your hands and move your feet. This is the celebration. Angels dance as we sing. Jesus is our sound. ♪ Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus is the South Jesus We lift our hands and sing as the light. Can you hear him say welcome home? Thank you, welcome home. The Father is here. The God we serve and we love that we sing to is in the room today. He's good. All over this room can we lift our hands? Because he's good. He's the great I am. What does that mean that he's everything you need right now? So if you need comfort, if you need an embrace, if you need joy, if you need peace, if you need healing, he's in the room. Do you believe that today church? Come on, could you lift your voice up? He's good. He's for you, not against you. Come on, let's sing of His goodness. Oh, how wonderful you are, Jesus. Jesus, wonderful Jesus, beautiful. Did I compare to Him and He? Come on, we sing.

Jesus, I will trust Jesus. Oh, my love. I pour it out like oil at your feet. Come on, we sing. You are good. You are good. Every moment, every time, every day of my whole life. You are good. Yes, you are a God. You are good. Always and everything. It will be my joy to sing. You are good. Come on, we sing. Jesus, go to stone. Jesus, you're the perfect home. Faithful you have been and you will be. The Holy Lamb of God. Holy, Lamb of God. Worthy of you. Every tongue confessing, I will sing. You are good. You are good. Come on, every son and daughter we declare. We sing of your goodness, God. Every moment, every breath we sing. You are good. You are good. Yes, you are. You are good.

Always and everything. It will be my joy to sing. You are good. You are good. It is good. You're nothing but good. You are good. You are good. You are perfect in every way. To you, I never change. You are good. You are good. You are perfect in every way. You are perfect in every way. To you, I never change. You are perfect in every way. To you, I never change. Come on, every son and daughter we declare this morning. You are good. You are good. Every moment, every time, every day. ♪ You are good, yes you are ♪ ♪ For Jesus, you're good ♪ ♪ Cross me to your name, God ♪ ♪ You're waiting ♪ ♪ Everything, every moment I can see ♪ ♪ My joy is here ♪ ♪ You are my perfect in every way ♪ ♪ To you, I never change ♪ ♪ You are my perfect in every way ♪

♪ To you, I never change ♪ ♪ You are good ♪ Come on, just to clear that I'll be alive. God, you're good in every moment, in every season. You remain the same. Every moment. ♪ Every day ♪ You're still good. ♪ You are good ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ You are ♪ - Amen, amen. - Amen, amen. And one thing I love about worship is that it could be anywhere, you can do it any way, you can sing, you can pray, you can talk, you can do however you wanna do it, but the beautiful things that we could do together. And in that same harp posture, we would love to pray for you right now for some of the online requests that we've received. And if you feel comfortable, let's pray together. Father God, thank you so much for allowing us to just be here in your home, Lord, dwelling in our places, God. We just ask you to meet every single one of your children right now for every need that they might have, God, but remembering that you are a big God, you're the best God, you're the greatest God, and you can do all things in your timing, Lord.

Lord, we're coming to you right now and just asking you for just guidance, God, in a move and in transition, Lord. We're asking for you to cover your people on their minds and knowing what their purpose is in this life, to be able to do kingdom work and the things that you've asked them to do, Father God. We're also asking for medical, for the medical teams and anybody that's in the medical field to be able to be replenished and to be poured back into, Lord, so that they can do your work and help your people. God, we know that you could do a big thing and we believe that you're gonna do these things all in your mighty, matchless name, amen. - Hey, man, what a beautiful prayer. I'd like you to pray for me. - Come on, somebody. (laughs) - We'll do it. And if you have a prayer request or you need praying, you need someone to pray for you or you need someone to pray for, drop it in the chat or scan that cue or code below. And our prayer warriors, just like you do, will be out here praying for you and with you. - That's right. - That's right. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Everybody, we are so glad that you are here.

You decided to spend your Sunday with us, no matter where you're from, whether you're like us in Florida, the sunny slash, not so sunny states or anywhere else in the world. - Yeah. - Thank you for being here with us. - Come on. - My name is Jorge and I have the honor and privilege of being here to serve with you guys. And this is so great. - Yes, welcome, guys. My name is Christian. I have the joy and honor and privilege of serving with you on this holy Sunday. - Okay, holy Sunday. I like it. That came out of it. That was the holy spirit. That was a good person. (laughs) - It was the copy. - And I get the absolute joy to be with the fellas today in the studio, serving the Lord and doing kingdom work. We are so excited to be here. That's right. Yeah, that's good, right? - Oh, yeah. That was so good. - Come on. Who else are we talking to?

The pando people? I know you were waiting for it. I know you guys. What about us? I know you're talking about everybody. What about us? - Shout out to the pando app. - We didn't forget you guys. - Oh, we love you guys. - Out in a congressional facilities, women, and men watching all around the world. We love you. We see you and shout out to the pando app. And we're so excited for your walk with Christ. Keep going, keep moving, and we're praying for you. And we love you all. - And they are one of our biggest online community right now. - That's right. - We also have a special guest called our F-T-G. - F-T-G. - F-T-G. - Come on. - So if you're a first time guest, please scan that QR code below. And our online director, Jaylene, will reach out to you, get to know you, get to see how you can be a part of Journey and build community here. - Yeah, it's so good.

I love that. Shout out to Jaylene. - That's right. Shout out to Jaylene. And if you're a not so first time guest, next steps is for you. And we have two steps for next steps. Step one is where you get to learn the church, the mission division, who our lead pastors are. - That's right. - And the second step, step two, is now can be done either in person or online. And that's where you get to plug in to the small groups and be able to share your God-given talents. - That's good. - How you can serve. - Yeah. So I have to know, how did you get into next steps? What was your process? - Well, I was here for a couple of weeks before just enjoying service and getting to know the community as at large, right? Because it's a pretty big church. You then found out that they do small groups. They didn't know it first. - Yeah. - Until I saw one of the online videos. - Oh, yeah.

- Then I was like, "Oh, I can plug into a smaller group - Right, so next up's into the small group aspect. Okay, that's a nice segue for the small groups. - It's good, absolutely. - I saw what you did there, Homer. All right, let's go. It with the small groups, man. I hope you guys are excited because they are open, right? You can scan that QR code below. Let me tell you, we're not just telling you this just for the, you know, the heck of it. We really believe that small groups are the vision of our church and being in a collective small group and being able to connect with people, understanding their walk, knowing how to talk to the Lord, how you guys deal with your relationship with the Lord helps other people. So if you want to join, I'm inviting you right now to scan that QR code below. Even if you can't see and you got crust in your eyes, scan the QR code right now, that's right. - Speaking of small groups, we also had one of our small group leader, Joe. He's a member of Journey Church here and him, his wife, Lindsay, joined Journey a little over two years ago. And with that, they joined during a difficult time in their season of marriage. So through restoration and giving their yes to God, they were able to restore their marriage. And now, Joe is a Journey College student.

So he graduates in December this year, and he's also alongside his wife who's also a student. And through your generosity, he was able to get a scholarship to finish his schooling. So if you want to continue to partner with us through generosity, please scan that QR code below where you can help develop leaders and restore families all along with Journey Church. - Wow, so beautiful. That's such a beautiful generosity story. And being able to share that with everybody here lets me know that there's something else that I can do. If you know somebody that needs the word, this is how you can do it, by sharing. Share the message, share the good word with someone that you might not know what battle they're going through. Might look perfect on the outside, but there's a battle happening on the inside. So share the message and help someone come back to Jesus. - Absolutely, yeah. Sharing the message is major for sure. And you guys can do that right now. And you guys can tune in, lock in, create your space. We're going into one more song of worship. Praise the Lord, however you want to do it, we're going to do it with you. And we will see you after service. Bye. - See you tonight. - At this time, I want to welcome all of our locations

into worship. Come on, give it up for all of our locations. All over this room, wherever you're at, just want to invite you to get thanks to God at this moment. God, we thank you for who you are in our life. What we thank you is we've done things that we can't explain. What we thank you for breath in our lungs, for a song to sing. What we thank you for the food on our table, a roof over our head, y'all. But more importantly, we thank you for being in our lives. What a God you are, what a father you are. Come on, could you lift him up and declare his name whoever he is in your life right now. He's the great I am. He is whatever you need him to be. What a comforter you are, what a counselor you are. We worship you, God. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. Come on, we sing him his love. We worship you for the most.

We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. We worship you for the most. ♪ We gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go ♪ ♪ We gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go ♪ ♪ We gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ What a guy, what a guy ♪ ♪ What a faithful father ♪ ♪ What a counsel, what a guy ♪ ♪ What a healer ♪ ♪ Come on, if he's a healer in your life ♪ ♪ Could you lift up his name ♪ ♪ Healer, you are a God ♪ ♪ Thank you, comfort ♪ ♪ Thank you, bread of life ♪ ♪ Come on, we sing ♪ ♪ If the highest place I'll reach ♪ ♪ She's at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I'm turning old ♪

♪ It's the best thing that I've seen ♪ ♪ Is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has changed my life ♪ ♪ For any satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ If the highest place I'll reach ♪ ♪ She's at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I'm turning old ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen ♪ ♪ Is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has changed my life ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ For every satisfied God ♪

♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ You are my age ♪ ♪ When God would die ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ When God would die ♪ ♪ When God would die ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ When God would die ♪ ♪ If the highest place was you ♪ ♪ It's the highest place I've been ♪ ♪ Got to turn it on ♪ ♪ And turn it off ♪ ♪ It's the best thing that I've seen ♪ ♪ Is your glory ♪ ♪ And I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love ♪ ♪ My life forever says my God ♪ ♪ You won my everything ♪ ♪ What is the only thing you see ♪ ♪ Every door ♪ ♪ It will be your heart ♪ ♪ And never see your hair ♪ ♪ I still have your ♪ ♪ No treasure of this sight ♪ ♪ You'll ever say this fine ♪ ♪ You won my everything ♪ ♪ You won my everything ♪ ♪ You are my heavenly ♪ ♪ You are my heavenly ♪ - What a god, what a god, what a god.

Nobody like our god. Sometimes people ask you what it's like to be a pastor. We are a quick story of Friday, Friday night. I'm getting ready to be in bed. I actually should be in bed already by then. But it's like 907. And I get a text at 907. And the text is from a dad whose wife just gave birth. The text was, "He's here, it's awesome." And what's crazy is that the doctors that said that his wife would never be able to give birth. If she did, she would pass away. And so a miracle of the child is healthy. The mom is healthy. The baby's here, part of our church, miracle, miracle. Absolutely miracle. And if you knew, if you knew more of the details, you'd be like, that needs to be on like the news, miracle. At 908, this is, I'm not making up a preacher story. That's 907, I get the text, "Babies here." 908, I get another text from another member in our church. And the text is from a wife. And the text is his organs are failing. He's not going to make it into the morning. The morning came, he passed away. Both people, I speak to. Amazing. And I speak to the wife and the wife is also praising God because one child came into the world. But from this world into that world, she knew that her husband was being welcomed into the

next world. I don't know if there's another God like that lower case G with the only one with the upper case G but I don't know if there's another God like that in the world where in the middle of a blessing, you can what a God. And then when it's the worst thing that can ever happen, you go what a God, what a God. And so I don't know where you find yourself on the spectrum today if you're thanking God for something He's brought into your life or if you're mourning something that He's taken out. You know what we all have in common? Come on you know what we all have in common? You know what we all have in common? You know what we all have in common, you know what we all have in common? You know what we all have in common, you know what we all have in common? We all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common ,we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common. We all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common ,we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common, we all have in common gonna invite all of our Journey College students to the stage if you are unfamiliar you keep it going while they come up yeah just working thank you we love them appreciate it all of our locations as well thank you so much for welcoming them if you're unfamiliar with Journey College Journey College is a school a ministry school here we have at Southeastern it sounds like funder but it's just people walking here at at our at our church to develop and train the next generation of leaders and specifically ministry leaders and so we believe that we are investing in the future pastors missionaries onto business

kingdom entrepreneurs and not just in the in this church but in this country and so we love them a lot they've given up a lot to be a part and we want to pray for them and bless them so these are all of our students Gianna who you saw right there and her husband Zion helped lead our college my life was formed in a school like this always like to remind our students that myself was a product of a school like this two years and God did a lot of work in my life and you'll get a degree and all that is great but I think the greatest thing you get out of it is looking more and more like Jesus the spiritual formation that comes from it and so we're so grateful that you're here you're the lifeblood of our church you keep us young you keep me young and I'm grateful for that as well so we are praying a blessing over your year we're paying for provision for tuition because SU is expensive and and we also pray for just an encounter with God just an encounter with God it's gonna be very special amen on shoot stretch out your hands and then church was you stretch out your hands towards all of our students let's go ahead and pray for them right now Father we thank you for every student here on this stage we thank you because on this stage is represented not just men and women but leaders pastors missionaries they don't know it but there are churches on this stage they don't know it but there are books on this stage there are songs on this stage and podcasts on this stage and there are businesses on this stage Lord and we are honored to be a part of their journey honored to be a part of their walk whatever need that they have financial relational spiritual would you provide it make a way bless them in Jesus name we pray amen and amen thank you guys so much for being here we honor you and we will see you four more times you're gonna get a lot of prayer today a lot of prayer love it also want to highlight guys we have got two special things coming up we are gonna turn ten years old in just a couple of weeks it's a church it's really exciting and you know I got this idea from from a lot of the youngians because when I was going up we just had a birth day but then I started seeing all these young people celebrating birth weeks and birth months I'm like that's not fair so we're gonna have a birth week at Journey Church

beginning on the actual day we launched we launched September 18 2016 and so on September 18th 2026 we are renting out a church on the other side of Orlando this sits has a 3,000-city auditorium and we're gonna be having a very special encounter night right there so Friday night so it's not simply on a Wednesday but it's a Friday night we've got my friend Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. from Brew Church gonna be bringing the word we've got Charles Weems needing worship and I want to pack the house and so come through it's gonna be a very special night and then on Sunday that following Sunday we will have our Journey Church birthday where Journey Church turns ten and if it's the first time you've ever been with us on our church birthday we believe a birthday is time for presents and so we don't ask for them we give them and so we always give out presents on our birthday so it's one of those Sundays we want to make sure you're in the room that will be fixed by then and so we'll be here at our firm park location so I have some more space and it'll be great you guys ready to get into the message today awesome I'm ready to preach it we are in the finale the final piece of a sermon series that's a collection of of a sermon's around a similar topic called what were you expecting and in this series we are exploring examining analyzing weighing comparing the expectations that we have specifically not of relationships not of life specifically the expectations of following Jesus whether it is what a pastor taught you growing up or a Bible verse that you read or a Sunday school class that you attended or a movie that you saw in Hollywood I think we all have these ideas of what following Jesus should feel like and it's very important that we define what those expectations are because like we said in week one Disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality. I'm reminded, as I was preparing for this message, I was reminded of my wife and I, and our honeymoon, 18 years ago, and it'll be 18 in October, 18 years ago. And we were in the lazy river, and we were talking,

and while we were there, we were like, "Hey, what are you expecting of a husband?" And she was like, "And what are you expecting of a wife?" Now, if you are engaged or thinking you're getting married, you need to have this conversation before you get to the honeymoon, 'cause there might be some expectations that you are not down with. And so we sat there and like, who are we expecting to wash dishes? Who are we expecting to fix things when they break? 'Cause if you married a woman but expected a maid, you could be disappointed. Ladies, if you married a man and you expected a contractor, expected a mechanic, you might be disappointed. Now, what the crazy thing is, I hope you catch this, 'cause this is really, they could be a perfect person. But the marriage have tension, not because they are a bad spouse, but because you have a bad expectation. And the same kind of principle can apply to our relationship with God. Many people begin following God and get upset in their relationship 'cause they follow God, but expected a genie. They said, "Jesus is my master," but then expected a slave. And then we walk away from God, not because God is bad, or because God is not good, but because your expectations are off.

They're wrong. At the same time, we said that while disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality, faith is the gap between reality and expectation. In other words, if you use expectations the right way, when life lets you down, faith can actually lift you up to the level of what you do believe God who's gonna do in your life. And so, and we too, we said, "I expected to be different by now." And we said, "That's not a good expectation." You shouldn't expect to be completely looking like Jesus the day after you get saved, not even the year after you get saved, not even a decade after you get saved. Here's the real good expectation you can have that stirs your faith, you expect to be different, you already are different. You just didn't recognize it, you just don't realize it, but you are not the person that you were. Another one is, you're gonna be changing every day of your life. And that's a good expectation to have. The other one was, "I expected life to get easier." In week three, we said, "I expected life to get easier." And we said, "That's bad expectation." Life got harder for Jesus, and we can't expect a better life than our master. And so here, don't expect to stop fighting, here's the good expectation. Expect to keep winning.

Expect to continue experiencing victory in your life. And then last week, we talked about a high expected reward. I was doing good things and I was expecting God to bless me. And we said this, that's a bad expectation to have. Here's a good expectation, Jesus is the reward. And I see says in Revelations, "I am coming soon, and I am coming with my reward with me." And so not only is Jesus the reward, but we are gonna get everything that He promised on the other side of eternity. That's my expectation. Today, I usually open up every expectation with the story. And the story kind of brings you into the topic or the title of the message. But today, I'm actually not gonna tell a story because I actually believe that today's expectation, well, I just think we all have enough stories of our own that our own stories can fill in the gap. 'Cause today I wanna speak on the expectation. I expected church people to be different. I expected good morning. I expected church people to be different. I expected church people to be kind. And someone caught me off in the street, flicked me off, and the bumper sticker said, "Jesus loves you." (audience laughing) And I'm conflicted. (audience laughing) I expected church people to be happier, but most of the time I speak to them, they complain me.

I expected church people to be trustworthy, but then they started talking about me. I expected church people to be safe, but then I got hurt. I was expecting church people to be forgiving, then they started judging. Most of the time I talk to people, I would say at least half of the time or more, 70% of the time. I talk to people who have walked away from Jesus. It was not because of their experience with Christ. It was because of their experience with Christians. And I need to address this expectation today. I think I can lower the level of disappointment that you've been experiencing. And I will start by saying this, of all the expectations that we covered, this expectation probably has the most right to be true. Jesus said it, church people should be different. Matthew chapter five, verse 13, Jesus was teaching. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Verse 14 and 15, you are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Made to do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. Verse 16, in the same way, let your light shine

before others, that they may see your good deeds, they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven, salt and light. I just, I asked to bring him, I'm only gonna use this illustration for a couple of seconds, but I asked to bring it because I just needed you to just kind of get it. When Jesus calls you salt and light, he's calling you salt for three reasons. Salt does three things and light does three things. One of the things salt does is salt preserves, back in the day they didn't have refrigerators. So the only thing they kept the food from breaking down was putting salt on it to keep it from falling apart. A lot of times we look around the world and we go, oh man, the world is falling apart. Somebody ought to do something. That's us. We're the ones, we're the salts that keeps the world from falling apart. The other thing salt does is it adds flavor. It makes whatever you put it on better. That is us, you should take a church person, put them in a classroom and the classroom gets better. Take a church person, put it in the office and the office gets better. When a church person moves into a neighborhood, the neighborhood should get better. It should be nicer. And the other thing that salt does is salt makes you thirsty.

And every time you meet a church person, they should make you want more of Jesus. They should make you thirstier for the things of God. You should look at the way that they smile. You should look at the joy that they carry and go, oh my gosh, I want what you have, that salt. And the other thing is light. I love light, light also does three things. The first thing that light does is light exposes. Light exposes, which listen, I do believe that church hurt is the real thing. I think people sometimes, oh, church hurt is real. Church hurt happens. I just want to put a little disclaimer, make sure that what you're calling church hurt was not just accountability. Just got to make sure, you got to weigh that out. Because if you love somebody and you believe that the healthiest, safest way to live your life is according to the word of God, but they are not living their lives according to the word of God. You have a duty to that person, to share with them God's plan for their life. And so light will do. I'm just, when you get around church people, it's a little exposing and it's a good thing. The other thing light does is it guides. And I think that's important, that you have good counsel around you to help lead you.

So many times in my life, I've needed advice. Thank God, I've had people who have been lights to help shine the way. And the last thing that the light does is that the light pushes back the darkness. It should be no surprise when you're walking into a room of people who profess to believe in God that we also profess to believe in devil, in demons and in spiritual forces of evil. And I just want you to know that when the light turns on, the darkness has got to go. I believe that devil tries to take territory in neighborhoods, territory in the schools, but when a church person enters the scene, every devil, every demon, every spiritual force of evil has got to go, it's got to expel the darkness now. The reason why I wanted to bring them both to you really quickly is 'cause these are not special because they're expensive. These are not special because they're rare. These are special and they're small. It only has a little bit of salt. You look at what you're baking, it only takes like a quarter teaspoon. And now to try to go to sleep and sometimes pass the lids has a toothbrush on, like it's an electric toothbrush and it blinks, it's the smallest light in the world. But I see it from all the way across the room, it's just a little light. The reason why Jesus shows you salt and light

is because you don't need to be a king. You don't need to be a president. You could be a stay-at-home mom, you could be working at Chick-fil-A, you could be the guy at the toll booth. It doesn't, what makes you special is the fact that everywhere you step, things change. Things are different. We are different, ready? Church people should be different because we're supposed to make a difference. Okay, so let me follow this up. I'm gonna give you a sentence, but I'm only gonna give you half the sentence and I'm gonna give you the other half in just a second. Here's the first half of the sentence. You are right to expect Christians to be different. You are right to expect church people to be different. You are absolutely 100% right But when I look at the Scripture, I see also another truth. And a truth that might surprise you when it comes to church people. Because I hear a lot of critics of the modern church today. It's too big, there's too many lights, there's celebrities, and there's this. And maybe a lot of that criticism is warranted. But here's where they lose me. Where they lose me is when they go, we just need to go back to the early church.

'Cause the early church, that was where it was at. The early church was where God was moving. The early church had it all together. The early church was perfect. We needed to do what the early church is. And when I hear someone say that, I gotta go, time out, you've never read the Bible. And if you did, you skipped all those pieces. 'Cause I wanna introduce you to a little bit of the earlier. You think the early church didn't have issues? I'm gonna show you some of the issues that the early church had. And I'm gonna give you a bunch of Bible verses so that you could, I gotta move this so you can see it. And a bunch of Bible verses so that you can actually follow along if you wanted to at home, you can read this back. First off, the early church, I'm gonna put on a screen, was hypocrites. There was hypocrites in the early church. There was an an isence of fire, a couple, that were one way in public, but another way in private. So if you think there's hypocrites in church, there was hypocrites in that church. Hit the next one, there were church members fighting. People saying, I follow this person, I follow that person. This person is my leader, Trump. This person is my leader, Democrats. And they were arguing with each other. Next one was racism.

There was racism in the early church. The Greek Jews, Greek widows were not being treated as fairly as the Hebrew widows were, because Jewish people were handing out the food. They gave the food, they gave better treatment to the people who had the same skin tone as them. And Paul had to call it out. Next one, there was favoritism toward the wealthy. The rich people got all the seats at the dinner table and the poor people had to stand. There was sexual immorality in the early church. Listen, I don't care how wild you think this church is or the churches in this church, a dude was sleeping with his dad's mom. That's some Jerry Springer, some, that's crazy. Sexual immorality. After that, there was Christians suing Christians. There was marital problems. People were getting divorced and separating and Paul had to speak on marriage. This is a crazy one. There were people getting drunk on the communion wine. In church, they're like, "Hallelujah, hallelujah." And he more that blood, that he more that blood. Anybody ever grew up in a crazy Pentecostal church? Amen. That was the church of Corinth. There was people abusing spiritual gifts. Paul was talking to them. He's like, "Y'all can't speak in tongues at the same time."

He had to correct them. He was like, "That's crazy in here." And nobody understands what's going on. People think, Paul literally said, "People gonna think you're weird." Maybe you can relate to this one. We had to call it out in scripture. Gossip was in the early church. And probably the one that gets the most lack on the news and all this, but it's not a new church problem. It happened even then in first Timothy, pastors and leaders failing morally. So much so that Paul has to write a whole letter to Timothy like, "Bro, you can't just put in whoever you want in leadership." And he has to write a whole chapter on the things to look for in a leader. Here's why I say all this. Listen, you're right to expect Christians to be different, but you're wrong to expect them to be perfect. (congregation applauding) And as disappointing as all that is, can we put that all up on screen one more time? As disappointing as all of this is, I got really good news for you. Here's the good news, ready? And this was the church that changed the world. (congregation laughing) That's crazy. With all of that going on,

this is the church that changed the world. Because even though the church was always messy, the church still carried the message. Church people have always been messy and they've always carried the message. In fact, I will say this. I actually think that the messiness is actually a part of the message. And so what I wanna do today is I wanna teach you about why church is messy, not to excuse it. When someone gossips, it's wrong. When a church leader fails morally, it's wrong. When someone gets drunk in church, it's wrong. I'm not trying to excuse it. I want you to understand it. 'Cause I think when you understand it, you can see how God uses it and it'll adjust the level of your expectation for all of us that you experience. And so why was the church messy? The church was messy, first off, because church people are different. Now, when I say the church people are different, Church people are different. Church is messy because church people are different. So, when I say different, I mean like they're different types of people. I wanna use the Corinthian church as our example 'cause I don't know if you notice all the scriptures there.

One church that kept coming up was the Corinthian church. The Corinthian church, you know how churches have names today? Not just like the, their church would have the hot mess church. That would have been their church 'cause it was a hot mess. Six out of the, six out of the 11 issues I brought up on that screen were all happening at Corinth. So it was, but there was a reason why it was so messy. First off is because there were different ethnicities. There were different ethnicities at that church. It was a very diverse congregation. I'm gonna go back here to the map and I wanna show you just a little bit of what the church in Corinth, where it was located and what it looked like. So if you see here in the red and the zoom out, this is the church of Corinth. Now, church in the, it's in the, it's in Greece, but it's in between Rome. It's in between Israel and it's in between Cairo. And we know through archeological evidence that we know through in the Bible, in the book of Corinth, Paul addresses people like Stephanie's, people like Tertia's, people like Justice, these are Roman names. So we know that even though Corinth was in Greece and it had Greek people living there, there were a lot of Romans who lived there 'cause it was a Roman territory. At the same time, we've got a lot of Egyptians that are coming there. And at the same time, we've got a lot of Israelites

that are there, so many Israelites, so many Jewish people that there's a synagogue. And so when you have one place with five or six or seven or eight different cultures, how many people know is gonna be messy? 'Cause it's not just different ethnicities, different ethnicities bring different cultures, different culture brings, different politics. There was different politics. Some people were pro-Rome, which was the empire at the day of the day. Other people were anti-Rome. In addition to that, they were different religious backgrounds. In the city of Corinth, you would have found a temple to Aphrodite, you would have found a temple to Poseidon today if you were to go visit Corinth. And by the way, it's still in the exact same spot it is back then in the Bible. You would still see they have the ruins of the temple of Aphrodite. There's a statue to Poseidon. There was a temple for Isis, the Egyptian God. So all these different religious backgrounds are mixing at the same time. And then on top of that, there's different consciousness. What does that mean? This is so unique. They were all Christians, they all followed Jesus, but in the same community, some thought they eating pork was a sin.

While others thought that you could eat whatever you want. And all of these people, guys, are coming to the same church. Are you seeing it? It's messy, but what if that messiness is actually the message? Because the world is just as divided today as it was then. So when you are used to the world being as divided as it was then and you walk into a room and you see Greeks hanging out with Jewish people. Romans hanging out with Egyptians, Jews with Gentiles and they're all at church, something inside you goes, this gotta be different. 'Cause everywhere I go, it's separated. But here, it's almost like the whole world has come together under one name, under one banner. John 17, 20 to 23, Jesus said as much. Look what he says. I pray also, this is before he goes to the cross, for those who believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, that they may be brought to complete unity. Looking for verse 23, then the world will know that you sent me. What's the best way to prove to the world that Jesus is real? I bet if I hadn't just preached, what I just preached, you just said miracles. If people walked in here and the eyes of the blind were opening up, they would know that Jesus is real, not according to Jesus.

According to Jesus, what would be even more miraculous than that is a church where Republicans and Democrats come together. A church where black people worship alongside, white people worship alongside, Spanish people. It's, this is what journey church should be known for, by the way. I pray that when they, when a first time guest comes to journey church, they walk away and someone asks them, how was your experience? I pray that they would say it was different. It was different. They're like, what you mean it was different? It was like, well, some said hello. Other said Ola. (audience laughs) (audience applauds) But they all said hallelujah. I pray, I pray they would say it's different, it's different. Some of them chose Harris as president, but they all serve Jesus as king. It's different. I don't know how to explain. I've never seen nothing like it. I talked to some of them. Some of them used to read the Quran. Some of them used to read the Torah. Some of them used to read their horoscope. But they all walked into the church carrying a Bible. I don't know how it's just different.

I walked in and I saw some people with tattoos. And I spoke to other people who thought tattoos were sins. I spoke to some people, and they said, they only drink on special occasions. And I spoke to other people that said, drinking is a sin, they don't drink at all. But they all recognize that they have all sinned and they are all short of the glory of God. And they all need Jesus. That's just what our church should be known for. It's just different. And if you're not cool with that, you really need to like, we, we're running out of seats. So if you gotta go, if you have to go to a church where everybody looks like you, believes like you, acts like you, talks like you, it's not gonna be here, it's gonna be different. And it's gonna be a testimony to the power of Jesus Christ. The church is messy. Listen, because church people are hurting. Church is messy because church people are hurting. The church at Corinth was hurting. They were being hurt politically from the outside in. They were being church hurt, people in church hurting each other. Some theologians believe there was a famine happening at the same time. And the saying is true. How many people have ever heard the phrase hurt people? Hurt people. And that's very, very true.

And so you just need to know that. I was gonna get real weird here for a second, especially if you don't know the person next to you. Would you just take a second to look at the person to your left and to your right? I mean, don't like x-ray them, but just take a look at 'em real quick and just take a scan 'em, scan 'em and then come back here. Listen to me, I know they look good. Probably smell good. They've got their earrings on and their hair is done well and they probably smile, that's you. (audience laughs) I'm looking at the camera when I say this and you have no idea what their week has been like. (audience applauds) No idea. (audience applauds) The hell that they gone through to show up smiling on Sunday morning. And you usually know when you walk into this place you're walking into a hospital with sick people. (audience murmurs) And so I kinda just expect that. Someone reached out to my wife during the weekend was like, "Hey, I know I haven't been at church "for a while when my mom passed away." And I didn't wanna go because I was hurting, she said. And I know how I get when I'm hurting. I get, I get, I get a certain way

and I didn't want anybody to experience that. And I didn't get the chance to talk to this person. We prayed for this person, but I'd have told him. And I said, "No, no, I know how you are when you're hurting "because I know how I am when I'm hurting "and that's why you need to be here." Second Corinthians, speaking of that Corinthian church is what Paul says, "The God of all comfort "who comforts us and all our affliction. "Why do I have affliction? "Why do I have affliction so that we may be able "to comfort those who are in any affliction." (audience applauds) You don't not come to church 'cause you're going through pain. You come to church when you're going through pain so that someone who knows what pain feels like. Can you put their arm around you and go, I get what you're going through, I get what you're wrong with me, I'm with you. (audience applauds) You know what the secrets and losing my marriages outside of Jesus Christ, date, night, and communication? We never have breakdowns at the same time. (audience laughs) When she's breaking down, I'm good. So far for 18 years, God has blessed our breakdowns so that they staggers them. (audience laughs) Then when I'm breaking down, she's there to support me,

Romans 15-1, ready? We're not all good at the same time, but look at this, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the week. (audience applauds) And so you're going to come to church and they're going to be some hurting people, but you're also going to come to church. There's going to be somebody who's actually doing really good right now, and you need that person to come alongside you and go, I was there, God pulled me out. He's going to pull you out, I got you. Come on. (audience applauds) This is the Emporian of signing up for a small group. you need to get into a small group. If you need to get into community, it's so important. Listen to me, because you are excluding yourself from community because you don't want to get hurt. Bad news, you're going to get hurt whether you're in community or in isolation. Now here's the good news, at least if you're in community, 'cause when you cut yourself off from community, you're not just cutting yourself off from hurt, you're also cutting yourself off from healing. You need to get into groups so that you can get around the people who will aid in your healing. If people hurt you, God can use people to help heal you. Here's the other one, this is going to come as a shock, maybe not, but the church is messy because not everyone

who is in church is in Christ. (audience applauding) You know that to be true? Every week we go through our sermon slides and Solange, who helps see our slides, I put this verse up, she was like, what version is that? I've never seen this verse before. Jesus said this when talking about His disciples, John 6, 70, did I not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil? And yet one of you is a devil. I was on, I don't know how YouTube knows what I want to watch, but it got me. It was this short of a guy, and you might have seen it, they're like five different YouTubers that I saw do the same one, they go to Goodwill, they get a red T-shirt, they cut out a white piece of cardboard, they put a little bullseye on it, and then they go pretend like they work at Target. (audience laughing) And so this YouTuber goes, he goes, I'm going to pretend like I work at Target, so he puts the shirt on, he goes to Target, and then he starts messing with people. He starts telling people where the bathroom is, but he sends them to the storage room. Somebody asks them, do you know where the toilet paper is? He's like, I have no clue. You're going to have to go get that yourself, I don't know where it's at.

And he starts doing all these bad things at Target, and finally somebody complains about the employee to the GM, or I need a circular manager. This person sent me to the storage room and asked me to go to the bathroom, and the manager's like, that guy don't work here. (audience laughing) But Target almost got blamed for someone who looked like, (audience shouting) (audience shouting) Looked like he belonged there 'cause he wore a matching T-shirt. I'm just saying, the devil likes to play dress up. And we got to stop blaming Christians for the things that the devil is doing. Now I got to be careful when I preach this, 'cause what I don't want is for you to be on the lob, be like devil, devil, devil, devil, devil, devil, devil. It takes you 30 minutes to get out the parking lot, devil, devil, devil. I'm not telling you that so that you can look for the devil in people. I'm actually telling that so that you can get your eyes off of people and onto the devil. Ephesians chapter six, verse 12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood." I'm not out here fighting people. People are not my enemy, but against the rulers, against the authorities,

against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. My enemy is the enemy, not the person next to you, not the person who cuts you off from traffic, not the pastor who hurt you, it was the devil. And we got to keep our eyes there 'cause when we keep our eyes there, instead of drop kicking people, we drop to our knees for people, and we start rebuking the enemy. Instead of throwing hands, we start raising hands, and we start asking God to intercede and fight the fights that we can't fight. Instead of looking at somebody, I'm going, you're a liar, we look at that pain and we go, the devil is a liar. I will not believe that this is not my home. I will not believe that this is churches corrupt. I will not believe that God is not real. I will not believe, I know who my enemy is. The last thing you need to know why the church is messy, and I hope this really hits home, listen, the church is messy because you and I are a part of it. And you and I, we're not the needest. We're not the needest. We had a staff member reach out to me this week. She's real sad because she said something

that offended somebody. And I said, I said, first I said, listen, can I tell you what I'm about to preach this Sunday? don't leave the church when I say this. Just wait till I finish. I have accepted that as a pastor, I am going to hurt people. I don't want to. Every time I do, I learn from it. I put in safe guards. I work on the way that I say things. I've got to get better. I try and grow. It's not that I've become okay with hurting people. I'm never okay with hurting people. I have just come to accept my imperfections. I have just come to accept that God picked a human as a pastor. So all due respect to the Lord, he could have had an angel come up here and preach to you. It'd have been a lot cleaner probably, but he picked me and I'm a mess. So I just have to accept. Paul, by the way, in scripture says the same thing. While he's leading multiple churches, he goes, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate to do, I keep doing. So, and then he goes, what a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Can I just say this about you with all due respect? This isn't a slide, but it probably should be because this is good what I'm about to say. Don't expect people to not hurt you. Church people to not hurt you. Expect to hurt people. Because no matter how good you are, you're not going to say it perfect every time. You're not going to say it right every time. And most of the time is unintentional, but unintentional doesn't mean inexcusable. You still hurt them whether you intended to or not. And we just got to go through it. Because I think when we go to church expecting that there is just a measure of grace that we can extend to others knowing, because I know I'm going to need that grace right back on me when I hurt somebody. I love Paul's solution to that. I'm a mess. I'm a mess. Look what he says. And this is why church is so messy. Look at verse 25. But thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Ready? I don't go to church because the people are perfect. I go because Jesus is. And the reason why the church is so messy is because every time I see a jacked up person, or I look up in the mirror and I see a jacked up me, I am reminded every time I come to church, just how much we all need Jesus. And I think that's why God picked me as your pastor. Because he needed you to hear somebody get up here every Sunday and go, I messed up. I don't have it altogether. I need Jesus so

that you would feel the same way about your life. Imagine for a second that church is a gym. If you come to the gym, you know, it's a waste of time judging everybody else's form. You need to arch your back. You need to pull your breath. You came here because you're out of shape. So how about we all come here and work on us and watch other people work on them. And if they need a spot, we will run from across the gym and help them out and lift them up when they need it. But I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to help you. Well, God works on me. Well, God works on me every hit ballot, every act closing this room. I want to pray especially for two people once. I want to pray for those who have cut off people. I want to pray for those who have been hurt by the church. It's a real thing. It happens. And if it happened here at Journey, I'm sorry. If it happened to one of our leaders, I'm sorry. If I did it, I'm sorry. I'm a mess. I'm sorry you. I prayed today we would forgive ourselves and we would forgive others and we would make a commitment to reopen the walls and the gates of our hearts to let people in because we need them to help us heal. Pray that we would demolish any expectations we have of church people. We should be different. Amen. They should be different. But they're never going to be perfect and we have to balance that out. I've got to pray you begin to heal right now. Heal right now. Heal right now. Heal right now. If you're in the room today and you identify as a mess, maybe your relationship with God is far off. Maybe it's been a while since you've come to church. Can I just tell You are joining a bunch of people who know they're not, and who have all decided we need Jesus. We need Jesus. So you would just be joining a bunch of people who go, "Yep, me too, me too, me too, me too." If that's you and you need a place to call home, and you need a Savior to pull you out of that mess, you got hurt in your life, and you need Jesus to come and heal it on the count of three. I want to invite you to raise your right hand. Here at Fern, all of our locations at East Orlando

in Kissimmee, it's time to come back home to Jesus. Let them heal you, let them welcome you, come into this community, watch what God can do when you make Jesus the Lord and the Savior of your life. On the count of three, that's you, would you raise your right hand? Jesus, I need you, Jesus saves. I'm not perfect, and I need one who is. One, all over this room, that's you. Two, online, and our campuses. One, two, three, would you raise your right hand high right now, all over, all over? I see those hands, I see those hands, amen. Praise the Lord, whether you raise your hand or not, so many hands in this room, by the way. Wow, whether you raise your hand or not, I want you to pray this prayer out loud with me. Everybody say, "Father God, today I declare I am a mess." I'm not perfect, but you are Jesus, and I need you to heal me, to restore me, to repair me, step into my heart, forgive me for my choices, bring me life, bring me friends, bring me a community. As I join your body, I join your church. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, and amen. Come on, let's put our hands together, welcome all of those who made a decision to follow Jesus today. Wow, if you just made the decision to give your life to Christ, let me tell you, it's one of the best decisions you can ever make for yourself, you will not regret it.

I encourage you to go ahead and scan that QR code that's on the screen, and somebody will be reaching out to you to get to know a little bit about you and your story. But this sermon was so amazing. You know, church hurt is a real thing, and there are some people that have gone through some really horrific things in the church gossip, but I love how Pastor JJ just talked about how, especially with the Church of Corinthian, when you're dealing with so many different people, different people in their different stages of walk of life, you are bound to get hurt. Whether it's in church or outside of church, the truth still stands as that nobody is perfect, but Jesus Christ. So there's gonna be moments where someone may say something against you, or they're having a bad day and they take it out on you, but that is not a reflection of the God that we serve. There's only one person in this world who's all perfect and all knowing, and that is Jesus. So I encourage you to not let people be the reason that you get further from God. I would love to know what my fellow co-hosts are thinking. So Chantel, George, Christian, what did you get? I'll see you guys next week, and I'll let them take it over from here. - Thank you so much, Chantel, we appreciate you so much. Man, what a service, all right? - That was cool, so many nuggets.

- Yeah, so many nuggets, which I would love, just like Natalie was saying, she would love to hear from us. Jorge, what did you get from the message? - So one of the nuggets that I got from this message, he didn't say it like this, but this is exactly how I received it. Our struggles as also our gifts, because we now have the ability to help those through their suffering, because we too have suffered. So that was one of the nuggets that I got that was really impactful for me, from what he said. So nobody's perfect, right? - That is true. What I got was that we don't go to church because people are perfect, we go to church because Jesus is, so that's why we keep coming back and coming back. So you gotta look beyond the face of the hurt and just focus on the enemy. - Yeah, I think that too. And I really liked that he highlighted the fact that you have, look it back then and look it now. And it looks basically the same. And the fact that about with Journey Church, which you're gonna find here online, if you ever get into the building, just so you're gonna see different type of people, different type of ethnicities, languages, everything. But the ultimate thing that you're gonna find in the center of this is that Jesus comes first

and that he's our Lord and our Savior. And if you also made that decision today, congratulations and welcome home. So what a series, sad that it's over, but after talk will be happening for one more service. - I'm sure it's gonna be super hot. - Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch after talk. And also download our Journey Church app if you wanna continue roaching recaps to the center of it. - Absolutely. And the next steps, you can also go ahead and get, in touch with next steps, go ahead and scan our QR code below it. and yeah, that's all we got for you guys today. Enjoy your Sunday, and God bless you guys. - See you. - Bye. (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music)