I expected life to get easier - JJ Vasquez

Hey, how are we doing, guys? Welcome in Journey family. Guys, you could be anywhere, but you chose to be here. We honor that. We love that. So good to see you. You guys are looking good. You look good today. That's right. That's right. If we haven't had the opportunity to meet yet, guys, my name is Alex. I have the joy to be a College Journey student and the privilege to be an online host with you today. Beautiful. My name is Ruby, and I'm a small group leader and a part of the online team. It's my first time on this side of the camera. Okay, be good to me, y'all. Yes, I'm thrilled to be here. And my name is Jorge, and I am an alpha leader, alpha groups leader, sorry. Yes, yes. That's what I meant to say, alpha groups leader. Alpha group. And I am honored to be here as well. Yeah, yeah. It's awesome. It's awesome. How are we feeling, guys? Is the caffeine flowing, coffee flowing? What are we doing? Are we doing coffee?

Are we doing... I did coffee, but the way I do coffee, it's more like a dessert. It's not just straight black. Right. Okay, okay. I add some creamer to it. I use honey instead of regular sugar. Oh. Some type of good, you know? Interesting. But it's kind of weaning off. I'm more of a tea person nowadays. Okay, yeah, yeah. But today I needed that little extra. I haven't heard of the honey in the coffee before. I haven't heard of that either. But also, I don't drink coffee, so I don't know a whole lot about coffee. If you're team honey in your coffee, put it in the chat. I want to know. Team honey. Honey emoji. We want to know. That's right. Honey combs. You learn about it. No, it's awesome. Personally, for me, I do energy drinks. And I know the church moms, I'm sorry. They've been telling me, put it down. But, you know, eventually.

Eventually we'll get there. Yeah. How was our weekends? Weekends were good? Wonderful. Wonderful. Very productive weekends. Okay. Because I'm a full-time student and working and serving, so there's a lot on my plate. So it's very productive in all fronts. And good stuff. Nothing but good stuff. Got good grades. Served a lot. Spent time with my son. It's really good. Praise God. Praise God. Amen. And that's what it's all about. And even with the busyness, still made time for church. Still made time to watch the service. That's right. Yeah. Last week was so good. Pastor JJ almost never misses really, you know? That's a good takeaways. My takeaway is that I felt like Pastor JJ came down from the stage and gave me a hug. I felt just so encouraged. It was a really graceful, beautiful message.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. No, that's a good point. Because, you know, sometimes the pastors will come out and the sermon is a little strong, or they'll come out with some heavy conviction. They'll give a little bow-bow with what you're saying. But I like how you put that, too. Because really, he kind of just came out just nice and graceful. Like, hey, this is what it is. You know, you're always going to be growing. And so with the After Talk, too, right, which is an opportunity, there's always more meat on the bone. So if you guys haven't heard about the After Talk, what is the After Talk? Well, the After Talk is a lot of times the pastors don't get a chance to say everything that they want to during the service. So they have the After Talk podcast, which they get to expand a little bit more and you get a little more nuggets. Yeah. A little more knowledge on what's happening. Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the things that Pastor JJ made in last week's After Talk was he was saying how the enemy can't stop your growth, right? It's not in his power. But what he can do is convince you that you're done growing. So I just, I really resonated with that because sometimes when I get into that, this bad headspace, I'm like, oh, I'm not doing well. I'm not doing this. I could be better. Then you remind yourself of what the Word says, that, you know, we're called higher, that he works things for the good of his children. He's wonderful plans for us and all those things. So that's right. Guys, we're excited. We have so much in store for you today.

We're going to pass it over to our friend, Jaylene. Sunday Journey Church Online. I am so honored to be here with all of you on this very special Sunday. If I haven't had the privilege and honor of meeting you yet, my name is Jaylene and I get to serve here as the online director. Huge shout out to my host in the studio for welcoming us in, helping us get ready for the word that Pastor JJ is going to preach today. But before we get to the message, we love to start with a time of worship. And the first song that we're going to sing today is Can't Help But Praise. And I know that a song like this can kind of be a little bit unrealistic for some of us in our timeline right now. Maybe it's hard to praise because you are processing the loss of a loved one. Maybe it's hard to praise because you yourself are going through physical difficulties and need healing. Maybe it's your job that's hard to praise right now or the fact that you need one, that your bills are hard. Maybe right now you cannot imagine how you can possibly lift your hands with the weight that you feel in your spirit. But I love this song because it reminds us that although life gives us many reasons to be discouraged, God gives us many reasons to be encouraged. And I wanna remind you that praise brings perspective. Write that in the chat, praise brings perspective. When we begin to praise God, He gives us the perspective we need, not only for our situation to change, but for our hearts to change, for us to find the joy that He's promised, the hope that He's promised, for us to discover the truth and the grace of His mercy and His faithfulness. And so I wanna encourage you, if today your hands feel too heavy, let your heart be lifted with this song as we pray together. Well, let's go ahead and pray as we begin to worship. God, thank you so much for allowing us to praise you. Thank you for the gift of worship.

Thank you for the gift it is to remind us that you're good, that you're holy, that you're present and that you're near. Allow them to be encouraged by this song and allow them to be closer to you than ever before. Amen. Good morning, Journey Church. You ready to worship Jesus together? Come on, anybody excited just to praise the Lord this morning? God, we love you. We exalt you. There is no one like you, Jesus. Come on, put your hands together. Woo! We love you, Father. ♪ I have felt the hands that bear the scars ♪ ♪ Reach down and wrestle me ♪ ♪ Oh, I have known the love my father's called ♪ ♪ A prodigal now indeed ♪ ♪ From where I was to where I'm now, it's overwhelming ♪ ♪ The more and more I see you move all around me ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but lift up, shout some joy, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, when I think of how good you've been ♪ ♪ Faithful now to the end, oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you, Lord, come on, let's worship ♪ ♪ For the blood you spilled to save my life ♪ ♪ A debt I cannot repay ♪ ♪ For the cross you bore with open arms ♪

♪ Salvation that called my name ♪ ♪ From where I was to where I'm now, it's overwhelming ♪ Anybody in the room just pray, come on. ♪ The more and more I see you move all around me ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but lift up, shout some joy, oh ♪ ♪ When I think of how good you've been ♪ ♪ Faithful now to the end, oh, I can't help but praise you ♪ ♪ Praise you, praise you, praise you, praise you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but dance, cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Got no chains on me, I'm healed and redeemed ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but call on the name ♪ ♪ That buried my shame, who opened my grave ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but dance, cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Got no chains on me, I'm healed and redeemed ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but call on the name ♪ ♪ That buried my shame, who opened my grave ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord ♪ ♪ We praise you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but lift up shouts of praise to you, Father ♪ ♪ Oh, when I think of how good you've been ♪ ♪ From now to the end, oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord ♪ Come on, just declare. ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord ♪ Oh, we praise you, Jesus. ♪ Oh, I can't help but praise you, praise you, Lord ♪ We praise you, Lord. Come on, someone give him praise and worship and honor, because he alone is worthy. We love you, Jesus.

We thank you, Father. It's Jesus. God, I invite you in this moment to just lift up your hands to receive the love that he pours out on us so freely, so lavishly. He never withholds it from us. We thank you, Jesus. You're good, you're good. Oh, you. You're a good Father. There's never a day you're turned away from your own. Oh, you. You are my defender. Put it on the line, ready to fight for who you love. Help me to believe. No weapon formed against me, no, it won't ever prosper. I want to tell the enemy it won't work. No weapon formed against me, no, it won't ever prosper. Because I have a Father, yeah. Come on, that's a promise. Oh, I have a Father. Oh. Oh, you. You're a mighty warrior. You break the lies. Oh, friends, there is freedom. And you, you are my protector. Yes, you're a safe place with a strong name. Jesus.

No weapon formed against me, no, it won't ever prosper. I want to tell the enemy it won't work. Oh, no weapon formed against me, no, it won't ever prosper. Because I have a Father. Because I have a Father, yes. Oh, I have a Father who loves me just the way I am. And I have a Father who saves me and leads me by His hand. And even the trouble couldn't stop the plans you have for me. Oh, I know you're here. It's more than a feeling. Help me to believe. I have a Father who loves me just the way I am. And I have a Father who saves me and leads me by His hand. And even the trouble couldn't stop the plans you have for me. Oh, I know you're here. It's more than a feeling. Oh, I have a Father who loves me just the way I am. Oh, I have a Father who saves me and leads me by His hand. And even the trouble couldn't stop the plans you have for me. Oh, I know you're here. It's more than a feeling. Help me to believe. No weapon formed against me. No, it won't ever prosper. I want to tell the enemy. Tell them. It won't. No weapon formed against me. No, it won't ever prosper. Yes, I have a Father.

Yes, I have a Father. Oh, yes, we do, yes. Oh, I have a Father who fights for me, yes. Oh, I have a Father who'll never leave. Come on, I have a Father. Amen, amen. What a beautiful, beautiful song. What an amazing thing. Getting able to worship and to honor God and the cool thing too And the honestly the beautiful thing is that we could do it in different postures whether it's right place of joy and in excitement but as well in times of Confusion or sorrow and so we want to take this opportunity to transition to a time of prayer As a church where a church of praying first that it's a first response on the last resort And we're gonna take the time to pray for actually the events in Colombia So if we can bow our heads we'll go ahead and do that. Father God, we thank you for this day and we come to you lifting up the the events that Transpired over in Colombia Lord, and so we may not fully understand things But we understand that your word says that your ways are above ours And as well your word says that you work all things for the good of your children So father, we just pray for provision over them. We pray for guidance and for the proper Medical needs and the food and for water for them We pray for all the families and the friends affected by this tragedy Lord. We leave it all to you We put it at your feet and pray this in Jesus name. We pray Well friends, I just want to remind you in the spirit of prayer you do not have to carry things alone That's right. If right now you're walking through something you're needing somebody to just stand beside you or believe with you We would love nothing more than to do that The prayer requests that you guys send in really do get read by us They really are things that we pray about and so the way to submit a prayer request is to go on our app Fill it out and just be rest assured that someone will be petitioning on your behalf. Absolutely guaranteed. Absolutely interceding for those Well, welcome. Welcome. Welcome

Thank you for joining us. You could have been anywhere but you decided to be here online with us Sharing in this experience your family your family. And so a part of being family is right We should probably know each other's names If we haven't met my name is Alex I have the absolute joy to be a journey college student and the privilege With you today. Absolutely a plug Lovely. Well, my name is Ruby. I am a small group leader here, and I'm also part of the online team Come on gang gang. That's right. And my name is Jorge I'm also a small groups leader alpha small groups, and I'm honored to be here. Absolutely and Honored that you are here and we love that you guys are here and that you're right here with us, right? Love that. Thank you. Thank you. Also, we want to shout out some people right a special group of people across the entire country and the correctional facilities the men and women of the That's right we think about you we talk about you every You guys that's right. That's right. Who else? Yes, we got Obviously, we're missing one very important particular group of people and that is our first time guest y'all FTG Love you guys Yes, absolutely. If this is your very first time tuning into this broadcast. Let me be the one to say welcome I am so psyched that you are here This church has blessed me in innumerable ways and I know it's also gonna bless you and so we're gonna have a QR code up On the screen, please click on that It's our way for us to get acquainted for you to learn a little bit more about us that journey and let me just encourage You do not make this a one-time thing. I believe that there is something that God has for you here And for those that are Not first-time guests that they've been here for a minute, but you don't know what to do. Next steps is your next move Step one happens exclusively online where you get to learn the church the mission division Harley pastors are and steps two is where you get to plug in and find out how you can share your God-given gift to serve the community both in person or online That's for y'all online, that's right. We need you. We love you We need to share the good word and you can be a part of that

Absolutely. And to that point Jorge being a part of it. The three of us are products of next Really? We want you guys to just be able to step in if you're looking to do that We definitely have that available for you and speaking of available for you We have an amazing event coming. That's right. That's men's night August 21st now the women's they've had her night. They've had her story a whole conference men This is for you. This is this for us. That's right. Yes, what's gonna be there? What is gonna be there? Okay, time out time out cuz we're gonna have the man stuff, you know, so we're not basketball. We have football around We're gonna have weights out there. You can work out man stuff just man stuff like, you know, I'm saying and then you know food Food's also gonna be there. So who's gonna be there? We're gonna have a former Super Bowl winning Guest speaker if you want to know about it missus tune in and you might be thinking well, this is online community Alex We're not gonna be there. It's actually for you as well. Whether you're in New York, you're in West Virginia or New Zealand bones or Streaming it online. So it is for our online community. Don't miss out August 21st Absolutely, and the exciting announcements keep coming because the smog Directory opens up on August 23rd. Just like you mentioned if you were in any one of those places We have an online group for you. And so go to journey or else connect Plug in for a small group. We were not meant to do life alone. I know it'll bless your life and We have a special generosity story Yeah Our very own when it's gone through the process steps one steps twos there was a time in her life where she needed some intercession and She had a point where she had lost both of her parents and the church was here for her and We can be there for you as well. But all of these things are only possible through your generosity so if you want to get plugged in go to Journey, or l.com forward slash give because none of this is possible without your absolutely not possible at all Generosity and go ahead and share this message with someone. You never know how far it can go guys. We love you We'll see you soon. We're gonna toss you back to service Welcome in all of our locations watching online community East Orlando Kissimmee. We love you. We honor you and Wherever you are if you would just lift your hands towards heaven as a sign of surrender God we love you and we honor you

The ransom Tired and weary And my brokenness you found Never too far from your amazing grace Gave my life to Jesus Gave his life for me He washed away my failings He came and set me free in a moment of surrender Life can be redeemed I'm a new creation The spirit lives in me Come on, let's sing together I Gave my life to Jesus Gave his life for me He washed away He came and set me free in a moment of surrender Life can be redeemed Now I'm a new creation His spirit lives in me Come on declare I can't help but give you all of me Well, I can't help but praise you We praise you We praise you Lord I can't help but lift your hold We lift up your name Oh I can't explain it

Something broke my chains Something took my shame Something healed my pain Oh I can't explain it Something freed my soul Something made me whole Something changed it all Oh I can't explain it Someone broke my chains Someone took my shame Someone healed my pain Oh I can't explain it But someone freed my soul Someone made me whole Someone changed it all I gave my life to Jesus He gave his life for me He washed away my failures He came and set me free In a moment of surrender Life can be redeemed Now I'm a new creation His spirit lives in me I can't help but love you I can't help but give you all of me I can't help but praise you We praise you, Father. You alone are worthy, God. ♪ I can't help but lend your hand ♪ Come on, would someone with a testimony declare.

♪ I can't explain it ♪ ♪ But Jesus broke my chains ♪ ♪ Jesus took my shame ♪ ♪ Jesus healed my pain ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't explain it ♪ ♪ But Jesus freed my soul ♪ ♪ Jesus made me whole ♪ ♪ Jesus changed it all ♪ ♪ Jesus is His name ♪ ♪ Jesus is His name ♪ Our authority and our power is found in the name of Jesus. There's no other name by which we are saved today. It's only by the name of Jesus. ♪ Jesus is His name ♪ ♪ Jesus is His name ♪ We lift you up, Jesus. There's power in the name of Jesus. Come on, how many people know that there is a name? There's a name. It's Jesus. It's powerful. I remember one night being in bed, sitting next to Liz, and I don't know what was going on in my life, but I just remember sharing some stuff with her. I was like, babe, I just, I don't know. I don't even know if God's real right now. Because if God was real, then this wouldn't be happening, and that wouldn't be happening, and this wouldn't be happening. And I was like reverse preaching to my wife.

That was just hurting. And when I was done, she's like, I know pastors go through that, pastors go through that. When I was done, she looked at, I was like, what do you think? And she was like, I don't know. She's like, all I know is I used to be one way, and I look at my life today, and I know something had to happen to make me not the person that I am, or that I was. I know that I went through some crazy stuff, and I've survived, and somehow I'm standing here today, and there had to be something that changed, that saved me, that rescued me. All I know is I've seen this in my life, and I've seen this in my life, and I don't know, I can't explain it, but something must have happened. Something must have shifted. It must have been somebody. Somebody must have rescued me. Somebody must have delivered me. Somebody must have transformed me. Somebody must have set me free. Somebody must have gave me joy. Somebody is the reason why I'm standing today, because I didn't find it in me. It's Jesus. ♪ Jesus broke my chains ♪ ♪ Jesus took my shame ♪

♪ Jesus healed my pain ♪ It had to be Jesus. ♪ Oh, I can't explain it ♪ ♪ But Jesus freed my soul ♪ ♪ Jesus made me whole ♪ ♪ Jesus changed it all ♪ ♪ I can't explain it ♪ I got no other answer. ♪ But Jesus broke my chains ♪ Even when I doubt it, I got the evidence. I got the evidence. ♪ Jesus healed my pain ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't explain it ♪ ♪ But Jesus freed my soul ♪ ♪ Jesus made me whole ♪ ♪ Jesus changed it all ♪ Come on, shout the name of Jesus. Come on, testify to your neighbor. I can't explain it to you in Greek. I don't know what verse to point out in Hebrew. All I know is I shouldn't be here today. Is God real? I don't know, but somebody rescued me. Somebody delivered me. Somebody healed me. Somebody rescued my mind. Somebody transformed me. I don't know. You tell me. All I know is I shouldn't be here.

Oh, I shouldn't be here. If God's not real, somebody is. But there is something when I say the name of Jesus that makes me think it was always him. Amen? Amen. Would you testify to your neighbor for me? I want you to find three people before you sit that you did not drive to church with today. Give him a high five, tell him he changed me. Come on, he changed me. I can't explain it. I can't explain it, but he changed me. Amen. Come on, we get hype. About to be in Canaan up in here. Woo! Amen! Feeling it. extra Pentecostal this morning. I'm excited, I'm excited about the message. I'm really pumped to preach this, and it's gonna help a lot of people. But before I do that, I wanna take a second to introduce myself to anybody who might not know who I am. My name's JJ, and along, two Js, easy to spell. And alongside my wife Liz, we have the honor and privilege of serving Journey Church as its lead pastors. And if you didn't know that, that probably means you're a first-time guest.

And if so, we're so glad that you're here. If you're looking for a home church, we think you found it, not only because you walked into a room full of the presence of God, but because you walked into a room full of some of the most amazing, honest, open, transparent people in all of Central Florida. Journey Church, will you prove me right by putting your hands together and welcoming all of our first-time guests one more time? Keep it going for Journey Church Online. What's up, Journey Church Online? Keep it going for Journey East Orlando, meeting at Gateway High School. What up, East Orlando? Come on, help me welcome Journey Kissimmee, meeting at Gateway High School. Sorry, East Orlando's in University High School. We got a lot of high schools, my bad. And keep it going for all of those who are currently incarcerated, watching in jails and prisons throughout the United States through the Pando app. We're so glad that you're here. East Orlando University, Kissimmee Gateway, remember that. So glad that you're here, guys. I think God is gonna do something special today. Also wanna, I wanna announce two things, highlight two things, and I got a special announcement. But first is, I also wanna,

we don't have to clap for anything. I just wanna shout out my love to all those who are in additional seating today. We have a bunch of people here in the second floor, and I can see people going up the escalator right now. I'm so sorry that there's no space in here. This side of the auditorium right now is currently under construction. The good news is, it currently sits 230, and in five weeks, it'll sit 540. And so, yeah, 540 seats. So we should hopefully be done with additional seating for our services here, at least for a while, because the church is growing and God is good. In the meantime, we got more seats at our 8.30 service, and our 1.30 service, and we got some great campuses in Kissimmee and East Orlando. They got plenty of seats there, too. So I wanna, for the next five to six weeks, redirect you there if you are not enjoying the experience wherever you are. I have no idea where you are. You might be in my office watching this sermon right now. Don't touch anything of y'all. All right, well, second thing is a very special announcement. I actually, I don't know if I can make it. I won't know if I can make this announcement until the very end of the service today. So here's what I need you to do.

Promise me you won't do. I promise I won't preach too long, but when I am done preaching, don't leave, because I might or might not make a very special announcement, and it really just depends on how it goes these next 38 minutes. So if your curiosity is peaked, mission accomplished. All right, we're getting ready to get into the third part. I'm gonna teach you today on the third part of a series that we're in. It's a collection of talks, and I'm really pumped about this one today, I guess, because I've walked through it. And the series, if you're joining us today, is titled, What Were You? Expecting. Wow, I'll tell you what I was expecting. I was expecting a lot more of you to remember the series title. So it's called, What Were You Expecting? And you didn't know that, and we've been doing it for three weeks now, and I gotta be honest, I'm disappointed, which is something that we've been talking about in this series. The disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality. If you're taking notes, you can write that down if this is your first time.

Disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality. You can put it on the screen so they can watch. There you go, it's a gap. See, that's why I'm disappointed, because I expected you to remember what I've been preaching, and the reality is you didn't. And so here I am, disappointed. To give you a better example of how this relates to God, because when we're talking about what were you expecting, I wanna be very clear, we're not talking about what were you expecting in life, because I think we all know to expect, or what to expect out of life. Life, be lifin'. What I really wanna preach about is what to expect when you follow Jesus, because I think we all expect following Jesus to change our life in a particular way. And when the reality of that, there's also water dripping from the ceiling, we're fixing that too, in case you get wet or anything. It's a lot of construction going on, guys. When the reality of following Jesus does not match your expectation of following Jesus, you might be disappointed, because Jesus didn't do something in your life he never said he would. but I think it's important to know that. My son, I'll give you kind of a real life example

on how it connects. My son, Zane, we've just started working out together. He's been with us now about probably eight months and I'm real proud of him. He's going in and he said something really funny the other day. He was doing some dumbbell bench presses and he was going in and he went all out, almost to failure and I was so proud of him and then when he was done, he looked at me and he said the funniest thing. He was like, dad. I was like, he was like, yeah? I was like, yeah? He was like, I don't know. He's like, I've just been doing this for a long time now. And I was like, yeah? And he was like, I just expected the weight to be lighter by now. Isn't that funny? He's like, I expected the weight to get easier by now. I don't understand. I've put in the work. I have the disciplined diet. I'm getting the one gram of protein per body weight and the weight is still heavy. And he's thinking that working out isn't working because the work is still hard. And they made me think about us and some expectations we might have with God.

I don't know if you've ever been there, but sometimes I find myself wondering, I don't understand. Paul said, work out your faith in fear and trembling. Well, I've been working out my faith and I've been watching my spiritual diet, what I let in and what I bring out. And why is it that even though I'm putting in the work, ready? Temptation is still tempting. Why is it if I've done the work, why is discipline still difficult? If I've put in the work, why are trials still trying me? I thought that at this point in my spiritual journey, it would be lighter by now. This is when we tap in to the opposite side of that truth. If disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality, there's another truth that is just as true. And it's something that helped my son Zane out in that moment, it could help you out. And that's this, we've been saying it throughout this series that faith is the gap between reality and expectation. Now let me define faith because then this all makes sense. Faith, Hebrews, the book of Hebrews says, is being certain of what you do not see. Or in another way that makes the kind of more relatable to you, it is recognizing what you do not realize, okay? It's seeing something that's there, but you don't see it.

And because of that, you can't really have it. And so one of the things I had to point out to Zane, stirring his faith, I had to go, yeah, buddy, it's still hard, but if you've noticed the numbers on the side of those dumbbells have been getting higher. So you started with fives and now you're at eights and now you're at 10s and now you're at 12s and now you're at 15s. And last Friday, 17.5 for six reps, way to go, buddy. You thought it wasn't working because it was still heavy, you thought it wasn't working because it was still heavy, but it was still heavy because it was working. Now, I don't wanna preach the same message that I preached last Sunday. Last Sunday, if you weren't here, I preached about how we should expect God to grow us. And I said, expect to grow slow. No, I'm preaching a different message today. I'm preaching this, even if you're growing, don't expect the work to get easier. Don't expect it to stop being hard. You know what Jesus never said? And by the way, I think in 2027, we need to preach a sermon series titled, Things Jesus Never Said. I think we could free you from things Jesus never said. Never said, I'll never give you more than you can handle. Never said it, never said it. You know what Jesus never said? This is so good guys.

The longer you follow me, the easier it will get to follow me. He never said it. In fact, the expectation he set is quite the opposite. John 16, verse 33, talking to his followers, he said, in this world, I just thought I'd get a sip of water, let Jesus preach a little bit. You will have trouble. By the way, Jesus lived this out. Let me ask you a question. This is like simple Bible trivia 101. You're gonna think you know the answer and you do. So just say it. What do you think the hardest battle? battle Jesus ever had to fight in his life was yeah the cross and did that come at the beginning of his life or the end of it so if the hardest battle Jesus had to fight was at the end of his journey why are you expecting life to get easier the longer you follow him do you expect a better life than your master here's the expectation that we're gonna tackle today I expected life to get easier whoo I'm gonna tell you right now some people are gonna second-guess following Jesus today no one told me this when I signed up I didn't know it was supposed to work like that I started tithing and I was expecting for financial pressure to go away my spouse and I went to church and we were expecting for marriage to no longer be difficult I raised my kids in church I was expecting them not to rebel I prayed I was expecting to get what I asked for before we start to blame God and point fingers at the Lord can we just set up a universal truth here right now so that we can kind of take some pressure off of the not that he cares he'll carry he can carry it all but life is going to be hard no matter who you follow do you know that you can follow Buddha you

could follow Confucius you could follow Mohammed you could follow Jesus you could follow nobody you can be an atheist life is gonna be hard no matter who you follow and in a lot of ways it's not fair for the weight that we put on God I mean when you follow God what were you expecting were you expecting the mortgage company to stop sending you bills well I battle with lust well what you expecting when you follow Jesus for every woman or man to stop being attractive you expecting everybody who was not your spouse to automatically be ugly what were you expecting well I got sick well what were you expecting as you got older were you expecting for the human cell to not break down as it aged life is gonna be hard no matter who you follow listen because the world it's the world that's broken not Jesus the world is broken and Jesus tries to prepare us for this reality he says this as much in Matthew chapter 13 verse 18 and 20 here's what he says listen then to what the parable of the sower means the seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy verse 21 but since they have no root they last only a short time when trouble or persecution comes they weren't ready for it life got hard no one told him it would get difficult because of the word that's the whole other part we'll get into that they quickly fall away are you ready for the for the harsh truth right now listen to me not only does life not get easier when you decide to follow Jesus in a lot of ways it gets harder I told you this wasn't gonna be your favorite sermon it gets even harder my sister when she was younger she went to the orthodontist and she has some things going on with her teeth so they put rubber bands in between her molars in the back have you ever had that procedure done or know anybody who's ever had that procedure done y'all see a couple hands going up you guys know it's very painful the teeth are moving you get a lot of headaches and the first couple weeks are on Tylenol maybe even some payment is very very not comfortable very not good and I remember I was walking through her bathroom one day and she had a knife in her mouth and she was trying to pick at the rubber band so she could pull the rubber band out in between her teeth and she did get it out by the way she is a

mom she watches the show you are a monster okay Vicki she went in there with a knife and popped the rubber bands I said Vicki what are you doing she said the rubber bands said they're hurting me it's just stupid dentist they're hurting me and I wanted to tell her but I didn't because she had a knife I wanted to tell her I said Vicki your teeth are hurting but then are hurting because of the rubber bands I mean they kind of are but they're really hurting because your teeth aren't aligned don't blame the dentist for trying to fix what's off with you when an addicts goes through detox he can't blame rehab for the withdrawals rehab is hurting because his habits are not in alignment with his health And so it's trying to realign. When following Jesus leads to sobriety, and sobriety is hard. Don't be mad at Jesus. Sobriety is hard. Addiction is hard. Choose your heart. Choose your heart. They're both hard. But it's because it's out of alignment. When following Jesus means you lose friends, that's hard, but your friends were not in alignment with the will of God over your life. So while you're feeling in the readjustment, I know letting go of friends is hard and finding good friends is hard, but choose your heart. What are you gonna choose? And if this rubs you the wrong way, it's probably because of the way that the gospel was first introduced to you.

Now, when I say gospel, gospel means good news, and it's the news of Jesus Christ. But unfortunately, some of us, when we heard the good news, we actually heard the wrong news. The way the gospel was presented to us isn't complete in the way Jesus presents the good news to us. And there is a gospel that is preached that says that Jesus came, listen, to make you comfortable. And if that's why you choose Jesus, if the reason why you choose Jesus is to make you comfortable, the problem with that proposal is that the moment Jesus becomes uncomfortable, you will take him off. I need you to imagine for a second that you're on a plane and the stewardess is handing out parachute backpacks. So I just need you to imagine with me that this is a parachute backpack. We tried to get a real one. We looked it up. It was $9,000. So I told the creative team, get a backpack and fill it up with stuff. And we'll say it's a parachute backpack. I want you to imagine that the stewardess is walking down. You're in your seat. She's walking down and she's like, sir, would you like one? And you're sitting here and you go, well, what is it?

And he goes, well, it's the new high-tech comfort pack. You put this on, it's gonna help you sleep on the plane. You're gonna be so relaxed. He's gonna be chilling. He's gonna wake up. He's gonna be at your destination. He's gonna keep you so comfortable. It's a comfort pack. And you go, sure, I'll take one. Thank you. Wow, comfort pack, so awesome. Comfort pack, sweet. It don't, it don't feel very comfortable. Am I doing it right? Is it wrong? This guy, this guy heavy. This guy, okay, I know this is the comfort pack, but stupid pack. I think it's like, like that for a lot of believers. If you, if you put Jesus on your life, life gets easier. Life gets comfortable. Go on and put on Jesus. It's gonna make you so comfortable. And we put on Jesus and we're like, hold on now. So the only person I can sleep with is my spouse. That's a little uncomfortable. I have to give him how much percent of my income? You call that what? Tithing?

It's a little, a little uncomfortable. I got what? Forgive people who hurt me. The heck with this. It's not comfortable. But can I tell you the secret to me never taking my backpack off? That I never put him on because Jesus was comfortable. I put him on because Jesus saves. So when this plane starts hitting turbulence, and when this thing starts going crazy, I'm like. I'm locked in. I don't care how uncomfortable it gets. Cause I know that eventually the plane is going down. By the way, you don't put on the backpack to prevent the crash. You put on the backpack to survive the crash. And let me tell you something about life. You will crash. You will crash. Zane is turning, soul sermons about Zane. Zane is turning 13 this month. And we do this thing at our house when our son's turned 13. We bring him on a rite of passage ceremony. It's like a transition in a manhood. And we're going through a book right now called Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. And there's a chapter in that book called The Wounds. And he read it.

And as he's reading the chapter, he tells me, and it's all about the wounds that we experience in life from our fathers or from other men or just in general, even from women, just wounds. And as he's talking to me, he goes, dad, I really didn't resonate with that chapter. And I'm like, how come? He's like, well, I don't really have wounds. He's 12. And I looked at him. but I also looked at him with sadness and with warning because I told him I said buddy I'm so glad that that's your testimony so at this point but I just need you to know that no one gets through life you don't get to be in this the cost for being born and living is wounds everybody gets wounded and when you get wounded let me tell you that's when Jesus shows up the most when it gets crazy when it gets hard John 16 33 you're gonna see something here which is strange Jesus says now John 16 33 is actually three sentences that make up one verse I only gave you the middle verse intentionally in this world you will have trouble but the line right before in this world you will have trouble is this I have told you these things so that in me you may have what in this world you will have trouble that is a paradox how can you tell me in one sentence I'm going to have peace and then in the next sentence I'm going to have trouble unless having trouble has nothing to do with having peace are you ready we're gonna shift some expectations my help you today expect takes expectation shift number one don't expect comfort expect peace expect Pete what's the difference between comfort and peace I'm gonna tell you in a Bible story Matt Mark chapter 4 verse 35 that day when evening came Jesus said to his disciples let us go over to the other side of the lake leaving the crowd behind they took him along just as he was in the boat there were also other boats with them and a furious squall came up in the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped and Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion the disciples woke him and said to him teacher don't you care if we drown he got up rebuked the wind and said to the waves quiet be still then the wind died down and it was completely calm verse 40 he said these disciples why are you afraid do you still have no faith I need you to understand he did not rebuke the disciples

because they went through a storm it wasn't like they made a wrong turn somewhere they were in a lake it wasn't like they were in the ocean and they they went the wrong route if you're when you're in a lake there's no getting away from the storm when the storm hits the lake and it's a picture of the problems that happen in our life that are nobody's fault sometimes we get into storms because you made bad decisions and sometimes we get into storms because it's life and so life is just hitting the disciples and Jesus is not mad that life is hitting he's not mad that they're uncomfortable he's mad he's rebuking them because they have no peace and he says and why don't they have peace because they have no faith in other words Jesus is look at them saying this I know it's getting rocky but don't you know what you have can I tell you about the guy who has the parachute on he might not be comfortable but when that plane is shaking and rocky point to the one person in that plane who got peace this guy this guy even though everything is rocky even though everything is shaking I am sitting down and I am like I'm good am I'm a little scared yeah is it rocky yeah but I've got peace in the midst of my discomforts are you see how it works I know it's going I just know who saves me looking at the person in the next aisle somebody you should have got one listen listen it was free it was free somebody else paid for it you should put it on I don't take it off my dad shared this story he grew up in in New York City we grew up in New York City but he grew up in a worser part and he was going to the video store video store how many guys went in three guys went in shotguns has shotguns everybody down the floor but he goes down he knocks one guy in the face not my dad the guy with the shotgun my dad was like down the floor and he told me and he was sharing the story with me and he goes when my face hit the floor and I went down all I said to the Lord was take care of Liz and JJ and then he said JJ it's peace I just knew He was like, I thought I was gonna die that day. That's not fun. But I had this peace because I knew where I was going if I did. There is this, there is this paradox between what you are feeling and what you know. And it's a peace that comes when my wife and I started the church and I didn't have a job.

We left our job in March. The church started in September and then we didn't get our first check until like March of the next year of the church. And so a year without a salary, every month I didn't know how I was gonna pay the rent, the mortgage. And every month I was concerned and every month I had peace. I don't know how to explain it. I just had peace. As a pastor, I have stood by the bedside of people passing away. I've seen the last breath leave their mouth. I've been to more funerals than I can count. And I can tell you that in the hospice room, the hospital room, and the graveyard of believers, there is pain, there are tears, there is sadness, there is anger, and there is peace. That's right, come on, that's good. And if you're not a follower of Jesus, that doesn't make sense to you. But Jesus, the Bible tells us that it's a peace that doesn't make sense. That's right. We just feel it because we know who Jesus is in our life. He said, I have told you these things so that in me you will have peace. When you're married and you find out that your husband's been unfaithful,

the peace comes from knowing that you still have a groom in Christ. When the funds are low in the account and you have a provider, you know that you have a provider in Christ. When death comes on earth, you still have peace because you know that you have life eternal in Christ. The next thing Jesus says in John 16, 33, in the middle, he goes, and I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. Look what he says next. In this world, you will have trouble. I love that he said you will because at that point, the disciples had already been through a lot. They walked with Jesus for three years. There was a lot of trials. There was a lot. And Jesus was like, yup, and get ready. It's about to get harder. Write this down if you're taking notes. Here's my second point. Don't expect it to get easier. Expect it to stay hard. Expect it to stay hard. I preached a couple of weeks ago about this massage, this deep tissue massage that Liz and I got when we were in Cancun. I didn't tell you the whole story about that.

That massage was actually a part of like a circuit. And it started by like you lay in this like bed that has bubbles come up from water and it like massages you, like that's cool. Then you go into the sauna. The sauna is a little uncomfortable, but it was bearable. And then as soon as your body is as hot as it can be, the next part, this is before the massage, they throw you in the ice bath. And now I knew the ice bath was coming because this was the second time I had done this little circuit thing here. And so when it was coming, I was like, I got it this year. I'm going in shoulders deep. Anybody know, you know, shoulders deep. There's waist deep, but then there's shoulders deep. And I was like, I'm going in shoulders deep. And the lady was like, you could go 30 seconds to a minute. I'm like, a minute. Put it a minute, I get in there. I'm just, ah, ah, ah. I'm getting a really good impression of what it's like to be in a cold plunge, ah, ah, and it's freezing. But I'm just, when the minute was up, I get out, I'm like, ah, looking at my wife, I feel like a man, like I did something. Then we go upstairs and they begin the massage and they start the deep tissue massage. And then after the deep tissue massage,

they put you in this dual bathtub. I'm next to my wife over here, we're laying down. They're massaging us some more, our head. I'm like, this is really cool. And then the lady takes two ice cubes, puts them on the sides of my temple and begins to massage ice cubes into my temple. And it was like brain freeze, but from the outside in, my cortex locked up. I'm just, I don't know if that's true. I don't know what that is. I can't spell cortex, but it was really hurting. It was cold and I was so upset, but I was so upset. Listen, because in my mind, I was thinking, I thought I was past this by now. I was ready for the cold. I fought the cold, I beat the cold. I didn't know, I wasn't expecting to fight the cold again. I'm talking to somebody today. Have you ever fought something in one season of your life that you could have swore? You kilt in another season of your life and you're like what am I dealing with this at 40 I thought I'd beat that at 30 what am I doing still fighting this thing I've been a Christian 10 years I thought we came over that after year one I wasn't expecting to fight this still by now how many people know the story of David and Goliath yeah yeah he fought a giant and the Giants name was yeah good job I mean I gave you the answer but still good job it's Goliath and he slays Goliath and he knocks out Goliath and that's amazing but what a lot of people don't know is that Goliath was just one of the Giants that he killed one of the Giants that Israel slayed a lot of people don't know there were

other Giants that walked the ground that walked the land that were part of the Philistine nation that the Israelites had to destroy I was sharing this with even our own staff team and they were like I've never read that in the Bible before and I'm like well I'm glad that you get to learn the Bible at church it's good there were other Giants I want to introduce you to the rest of these Philistine Giants one of them was named Ishbi B'Nab you can find him in 2nd Samuel chapter 21 verse 16 and 17 now this guy actually almost killed David the Bible says that David was exhausted and Ishbi B'Nab was about to slay David when Abishai David's nephew came out of nowhere to rescue David from the hands of Ishbi B'Nab that's another giant two Giants killed by David and his men then there was another giant named Sapph in 2nd Samuel 21 verse 18 there was another giant named Lammy Goliath's brother in 1st Chronicles 25 a lot of people think or you might have heard it preached Goliath has four brothers that's actually not biblically accurate the Bible doesn't tell us that they were all his brothers the only one that it says was his brother was Lammy Goliath's brother had a spear there was three inches in diameter this thing was massive also killed by David and his men and then the last one is a straight-up X-man because the Bible doesn't give us his name but it tells us that he has an unnamed six-fingered Giants was a mutant okay giant six fingers six toes on each hand on each feet nice foot also slayed why do I share all this so that you can learn more about the Bible yes but here's the real message I'm trying to get across I hope you catch this Goliath is your first time not your last do you hear me Journey Church I know you slayed some Giants in your life listen to me more are on the way and you're gonna have to fight them too last week I shared a little bit about not struggling but that way God freed me from pornography here's a lot of people don't know is that the month got free me from pornography the next month I was in therapy dealing with panic attacks the moment one giant fell the next giant came but the reason it gets harder I hope you I hope this hits your heart is because you're going higher that's why it's getting harder because you're going higher David started off as a

shepherd he didn't start off killing Giants he started off killing bears and lions then he started killing Giants now he's in charge of nations fighting armies as you it gets when you start a job the first day they give you a task if you do really good with the task they give you a project if you do really good with the project they give you a team and if you do really good with the team they give you a department listen to me nobody ever gets promoted into fewer problems did you hear me that's what everybody praying for the promotion you want more problems I want more money nobody gets more money and less problems Biggie was right more money more problems but it's cuz you're going higher when you have a kid the problems are little oh he pooped his pants or he won't he won't pick up the towel Oh bedtime but guess what when they become teenagers those problems grow with them now you're not talking about bedtime now you're talking about the definition of sexuality now you're talking about theology and about faith and about deep issues and then when they get real big I always thought that when they get real grown that's when it's like the easiest to be a parent because they're not in the house anymore and then a parent who sent their kids out of the house told me that's when it's the hardest I was like what they said yeah because once they leave the house you never know for sure if they made it back home safe again I didn't even thought of that When you are single, I'm not saying that being married is being harder than being single, but I'm just saying, when you're single, you only have to deal with one crazy person. You. When you're married, you gotta deal with two crazy people. But that work, that pressure, that weight is the evidence of your blessing. It's harder, but you're blessed. It's more hard, but you're more blessed.

You're blessed-er. When you're young, you have challenges. I don't know, nobody respects me. I don't have a lot of money. I'm not in the income making of my prime. But when you get old, you have other challenges. My back hurts, my feet hurt, I can't sleep. I gotta go to the bathroom five times while I'm sleeping in the bed. And it's a whole other kind of hard. And I remember when I turned 30, I told my wife, I said, I told my wife when I turned 30, I wish I would've known how young I was. But I'll be 40 next month. When I turned 30, I told my wife, I said, oh, you know, I'm getting old, I'm old here. I'm just midlife crisis at 30. She looked at me, because that's Liz, man. She has a way of like, she got bars. And she'll correct me, but like, also sometimes, like it also cuts me at the same time, but it's also like holy. And so she looked at me, she said, are you complaining that you're 30? I said, yeah. She said, oh, I'm sorry. So then if God was really good, he would've killed you when you were 20? I'm old, my feet hurt, my back hurts. I gotta, yeah, because you're blessed,

because he made you live, because you survived, because he's protected you and guided you and guarded you. You got into old age, you got white hair, you getting bald, amen, that means you lived. I'm getting wrinkles on my face, praise the Lord. Wrinkles means you made it. Wrinkles means you lived. I'm delivering people today. You don't need more collagen. You need a better revelation of Christ's blessing over your life. John 16, 33, I have told you these things so they didn't mean you may have peace. Look at the next one. In this world, you will have trouble. And there's a third sentence to this verse, one verse, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Ooh, that is good. Here's the last thing I want you to expect. Shift expectations, ready? Don't expect to stop fighting, expect to keep winning. He said, I've overcome, I've got the victory. Don't expect to stop fighting, expect to keep winning. Next month, Journey Church will turn 10 years old. Next month, praise the Lord. And I was not expecting it to feel this way, if I'm honest. In year one, I was expecting year 10 to be the easiest year that we would ever face. In my mind, I thought by year 10, we'll have a building, we'll have staff, we'll have systems.

It'll be easier, it'll be easier by year 10 because year 10 has been the hardest year since year one. But you got a building, yeah, but the building leaks. But you got more staff, that means more problems. That means more pain. That means more people to lead and care for and pray for. But you got more giving and more, that's more stewardship and more accountability and more regulation and more. And it's, but at the same time, we got more decisions for Jesus than we've ever seen. We got more people showing up to encounter night, more people in freedom groups, more people in small groups. Journey College has got more students than it's ever had. The outreach and the influence of the churches is more than it's ever been before. And that's when the expectations shifted for me. Oh, I should have never expected this to stop being hard. I should have never expected to stop fighting. I should just expect what I've seen the last 10 years to keep winning in Christ. Because I preached about my struggle with pornography last week. Somebody in the lobby talked to me and they said, Pastor JJ was a guy, he was like, Pastor JJ, when did you stop fighting? When did you get over it? it get easy and I looked at them I was like sir take a seat when did I stop fighting I was fighting last night if you have an addiction this might help you you never stop fighting

you just stop losing you stop losing in Christ I don't think I can win anything but I got Christ how many people ever played sports especially if you ever played any kind of organized sport before team sport team sport okay a lot of us you have it how many people ever been on a team that was hot garbage it was trash it was not a good team it's not a good team how many people ever played on a bad team but there was one guy who could ball come on and he carried the whole team you know why I got confidence not because I'm good but because I got a guy on my team who is really good at carrying because the last time I saw him he was carrying I need you to know Jesus carries if you are tired if you are exhausted if you are beating up in life Jesus carries if you have failed and have sinned and made mistakes and last night you were at the club Jesus carries if you are sick and you've got cancer and the doctor told you there's no way out Jesus carries if your marriage is on its last leg and you don't know where to go or what to do Jesus carries when you got no more faith left and doubt is flooding your mind Jesus carries when you don't know left from right up from down holy from sin Jesus carries let Him carry you you got a guaranteed victory you might not be good but Jesus carries would you stand all over this room real quick stand all over this room if you haven't if you can't stand if you can't stand listen to me if you can't stand for health reasons you can stay sitting but if you can say listen to me I need to encourage you today typically I always do two prayers at the end of my sermons one for believers and those who are for people who are far from God

believers you are people who have put your faith in Jesus Christ already unbelievers you're here today here's what that means all that means is that it's been your it's your first time in church in a long time it's your first time in church ever don't feel bad like 50 percent of is that or was that and you don't have a relationship with Christ typically I do two prayers but today I want to do one prayer because this prayer of salvation this prayer to make Jesus the Lord and save of your life this prayer for help for restoration for relationship with God for those who are believers this is what's going to be it's going to be a renewal of your vow I just felt that heavy in my heart I felt like there were people following Jesus who were going through a real tough battle and you just need to say today because you're either in a trial or a trial is coming and you just need to say today today you need to say I'm in I am not taking this thing off I know I you never promised comfort but you did promise peace and you did promise victory and so I am locking in you know what else he promised by the way he said in this world you will have trouble you know what the insinuation is but not in the next world emphasis on this world so we're gonna make one prayer today and then nobody leaves I have a really special announcement to make so please nobody leave real special announcement if you're in this room today listen to me I want to give a moment of privacy every head but every eye closed you're in this room today and you're ready to give your life to Jesus Christ and I didn't let you know I didn't let you know what the other preacher didn't say the last time you went to church it's gonna be hard it's gonna be difficult there are going to be challenges temptation is still going to be tempting the weight is still going to be heavy well why follow him then pastor JJ give me one good reason

because he promises victory and he promises peace and he promises another world that's what I can offer you that's what Jesus can offer you today if you want him you're in this room and you haven't made that decision but you haven't made it in a long time if you're watching online here at any of our locations on the count of three I would love it if you would raise your hand high to the sky saying Jesus I need you in my life all over this room on three one two even though it's hard I choose Jesus I choose my heart and I'm choosing the heart of holiness I'm choosing the heart of Jesus that's you on the count of three would you raise your hand high one two three right now I want to see these hands one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 and that's not including the hands in the additional seating thank you so much nobody leaving i got a special announcement i want you to put your hands down let's all pray this prayer everybody repeat this prayer after me everybody say father god i choose you and i know it's gonna be hard but i choose my heart i choose the heart of holiness i choose the heart of surrender i choose the heart of purity i choose the heart of following jesus i choose the heart of leaving the world i choose the heart of change i choose the heart of transformation jesus be my lord and the savior of my life save this sinner welcome me home in your name we pray amen and amen nobody leaves special announcement if you made that decision i need you to take your phone and i need you to tap this card if you made that announcement to select jesus let us know you make selected jesus as your lord and savior because i don't know if you walked into the lobby today there's this black board says decade of decisions on the left and there are numbers there and and that number is a tracker because three years ago we had seen 3 000 decisions for jesus at seven years as a church and we said that before we hit a decade as a church we would see 10 000 people it was a big vision it was a big dream we didn't even know if it was possible but we just believed god for it 10 000 people would make a decision not raise their hand would would tap the card 10 000 people if you passed it today it was at 9 988 and i counted 20 some hands which means today

over 10 000 people have made a decision to follow jesus christ in 10 years in under 10 years as a church that's 10 000 families marriages teenagers young people kids addictions deliverance freedom thank you jesus and thank you journey church because we couldn't do it if it wasn't for your worship and for your giving and for your serving and hospitality for journey youth and journey kids 10 000 real quick now if you don't tap this card those numbers don't go up so if you tapped if you raised your hand i need you to take your phone tap this little sticker or i'm gonna do the same thing in the third service until we get to 10 000 but 10 000 god is good amen and the best days of our church and the best things that god wants to do in orlando are still yet to come god bless you journey let's celebrate thank you jesus amen god is so good i hope you are celebrating with us on the special announcement that we have finally hit our 10 000 decisions in 10 years which is so crazy to think about because pastor jj he casted this vision to us as a staff three years ago and we were only at 3 000 which 3 000 is still a praise report it's still something to glorify god for but he introduced this vision of 10 000 decisions and we thought how are we going to do it we've been in church for seven years and we're at 3 000 but in three years god did it 7 000 more decisions and that's not just people who decide to give their life to jesus which is huge as families being restored marriages being restored people who are hopeless and now have hope people who didn't believe but now believe they have faith that they didn't have before and if you were one of those people that were part of that 10 000 go to put in the chat i was part of the 10 because we're not done celebrating what god did in your life or maybe today you were one of those people that helped us pass over the 10 let us know put it in the chat and go to journeyworld.com forward slash decision so i can call you and help you start your new relationship with jesus well as i'm going to kick it off to the studio so that way they can tell you more ways to get connected bye everyone that's right that's right thank you 10 000 decisions it's insane it's ridiculous it's crazy absolutely awesome 10 000 in 10 years and and just for more context too that like it's not just people raising their hands or anything but these are real these are these are cards filled out the card with my name my name ruby's name these are real names real people so what an absolute awesome and like such a blessing to be a part of it cool thing absolutely being uh just like you said being a part of it so i mean and a wonderful message right awesome message that's right awesome message so yeah What did you expect?

I like that. I like that. What were you expecting? That's the one. That's the one. What were you expecting? Yes. I love it. I love it. What was I expecting? Well, honestly, this message was really relevant in my life because I feel like I experienced what he was talking about. That peace that we have whenever we're facing storms with Jesus because, if I could just testify for a little bit, like a month ago, I was going through a bit of a financial situation. I'm a business owner, and if you are one too, you know that every month looks different. Some months you're rolling in the budget, and some months you're like, let me transfer over some savings. And so I was going through one of those months where I'm looking at my bank account and all the expenses that I had left, and I was like, I don't think it's going to happen. I don't see how it's going to happen, but I had so much peace. Long story short, I had a friend that I was talking to about the situation fast for me, and while I was talking to her on FaceTime, and she was telling me that she fasted for me, I had two notifications pop up on my phone that two clients had signed and paid in full. And it was the most amount of money I have ever made

in a single day since I started my business. And so, just glory to God, He does give us the peace in the storm. Amen, amen. That makes me think, too, of the analogy Pastor JJ gave, and it's going to be stuck in my head with the parachute you're strapped in. That plane might be rumbling and flowing. Rocking and going. But, you know, even if it, when it crashes, because it's going to crash, or it goes down, it's going to go down. It's going to be nice and safe. You're tucked. You have peace. If you don't know how those bills are going to come through or what's going to happen, you have this sense of peace. It doesn't make sense, but we've got that parachute on, and we've got some peace to feel. Peace in Jesus. That's awesome, absolutely. Well, guys, if you made a decision today, like Jalene said, we want to walk with you. We want to know about it. Yes, congrats. 10,000 decisions, and that's just the beginning. There's so much more to come, guys. And, you know, if you want to be part of us, if you're going to be part of us, we want to know, right? That's right. And how do you do that? How do you get connected? First thing that we can do to get connected is go to journeyorl.com forward slash connect. That's right. You can do that, or even easier, just scan the QR code and follow

the application and connect with us. We will reach out to you and join you along the process and welcome you in. Absolutely. And so I guess we'll just wrap it up, guys. Share this message with people. Don't be selfish with the word. Let them know. Check out the YouTube, our past messages and everything that we've got going on. Just a reminder, we do have some ways to give. Ruby, what are some quick ways to give? Ooh la la. Ways to give of your time. You can start volunteering. That's right. Your time. There's the Journey app. You can go to journeyorl.com slash give as well. With that being said, guys, we love you. You're the best. Welcome to the family. We can't wait to see you again. Until next time, we're out of here. Later. . . . . . . . . .