The Pursuit of Happiness - Liz Vasquez

there will be room on the inside. But if you're out in front of them, there's room on the outside, you will feel warm and cozy. And if you are in front of your mom, you will feel cozy. And you will feel comfort. And you will be comfortable. So yeah, room on the outside, literally house with Mom. And you will never see your neighbor under the covers. They are hidden well, territory between them. All of the moms, the dog moms, the fur moms, the moms to be. You know. Exactly. Happy Mother's Day to my mama out there. Yes, hi mom and everyone watching. Shout out to all the moms. Go ahead and write in the chat something that you love about your mom. Go ahead and let us know her name, put some flowers, so that way we can celebrate everything and how much you love them

and how much we appreciate them. Shani, what are you doing on your Mother's Day? I'm going home to relax, to my empty nest house. Come on. She's an empty nester and she loves it. Yeah, she loves it. I do, I do. I'm a successful mother here. My boy's out the door, out the door. You did your job. Glory to God. You did your part. Yes, yes. But you're still a dog mom. So the work's not done. Exactly. He will be with me for a long time and I want him with me for a long time. That's right. And Danielle, you're a dog mom. Yes. But you're also gonna celebrate your mom today, right? Yes. I'll be seeing my mom later. I know she's out there watching. So hi mom. I'll see you after this.

I love that. I have my mom coming over. We're gonna make little key chains for her. Oh, that's so fun. We're gonna write like a word to describe her as a mom. Oh, that's so sweet. That is so creative. She doesn't know that. So I'm excited to surprise her. Aw, I wish her kids found her. Hopefully she doesn't know. No, she's working right now. She's working. Okay, okay. She's a hustler. Thanks mom for still taking care of us. But let us know what it is that you're excited for, what you're doing with your mom, if you're able to be with your mom today. But we're gonna go in the lobby with Josanne so she can continue telling us ways to get connected. And we'll see you guys soon. See ya. Bye. Happy Sunday journey family and happy Mother's Day to all of you amazing moms out there. Thank you for what you do. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Well, if we haven't had the privilege of meeting, my name is Josanne.

I'm so excited to be here in this amazing Mother's Day. As you can see, it is alive behind me. Everyone's excited to be here with their moms. Everyone's been waiting in line to take pictures with their moms, pictures with their wives. I'm so excited for the energy here today. I'm also super excited for the word today and I cannot wait for you to hear the word. I just wanna say, continue to celebrate your mom and love on them. Drop some flowers in the chat for them. If you're a fur mama, drop a cat or a doggie in the chat so we can celebrate your fur babies as well. And if you're like me and you're without your mom today, I understand the pain that you're feeling. I understand how hard today must be for you. Please drop a praying hands emoji so we can recognize you and lift you up in prayer and remember to cover you and support you as you walk along this day. Also, another way to stay connected and just feel that love is through our Journey app. If you wanna have that continued prayer and support throughout the week, please go to the Journey app, drop your prayer request, let us know what you're struggling with, the pain that you're going through. But also, one of the things that really helped me was our Journey YouTube channel.

Pastor JJ has some messages on there that says, I will get through this. Please go back and watch those as like from a few years ago. They really helped me a lot. And if you haven't subscribed, join our Journey YouTube and sign up to that notification bell so you can always stay connected to what we have to pour into you. Well, today is going to be an amazing word for you. I know that God has something special for you today. I want you to stay plugged in and know that God is with you. He's here for you. He loves you and he's gonna comfort you the best way that he knows how. We're gonna transition to Kyla in the auditorium and I'll see you after service. Enjoy worship. Good morning, Journey Church Online. Welcome to the sanctuary. Shout out to all of our ladies in the studio and in the lobby for getting us started today. If we haven't had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Kyla and I get the honor of serving as one of your online hosts today. And I just wanna shout out all of our mothers watching once again, happy Mother's Day. You could have chosen to be anywhere today on your day, but you chose to spend it with us and we're just overjoyed. On the theme of Mother's Day, the word that the Lord wanted me to share with y'all

is out of Isaiah 66 and it says, I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child. So I just wanna remind you today that God is the ultimate comforter. He comforts you in the hills and he comforts you in the valleys. He comforts you when you feel alone and he comforts you when you feel surrounded. But my favorite part about this scripture is that at this point in time, the Israelites not only feel far from God, but they're in a season where restoration seems impossible. possible and if that's you this morning and you're watching this and that's how you're feeling, I wanna encourage you. Not only is God the ultimate comforter, but restoration has nothing to do with who we think we are and what we think we can do, but everything to do with who God says he is and what God has done in your life already. And God is a provider, God's a healer, God's a deliverer. He's our strong fortress. He's the solid rock on which we stand and he has never left you, he will never leave you or forsake you. Journey Church family, let's pray as we prepare our hearts for worship. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for what you have done,

what you will do and what you are currently doing in each and every person's life watching right now. God, we pray that they would feel your Holy Spirit dwell wherever they are. We pray that they would feel your peace, your joy and your love and that they would carry you as their comforter throughout this week, Father God. In Jesus' mighty name we pray, amen. Journey Church family, lean in, prepare for worship, get the word that's coming your way. We'll see you later. Come on, Journey Church. Come on, happy Mother's Day. Lord, we lift you up, Jesus. Come on, Church, we sing this out together today. Oh, there's revival. There is revival right here and now and there is a freshness and I can hear the sound. Something truly wonderful is happening and there is a difference inside of me. It's more than a feeling. Yeah, this is a prophecy. Something really powerful is happening. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Darkness bow down to the name ♪ ♪ Mountains get out of my way ♪

♪ Breaking out of yesterday ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ Tell the giant in my face ♪ ♪ You're not greater than my fate ♪ ♪ Aspiring feel when I say ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing ♪ ♪ I got a new thing ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ There's an anointing to destroy the old ♪ ♪ To tell every stronghold that you gotta let me go ♪ ♪ Something really powerful is happening ♪ ♪ When there is a freedom that I had never known ♪ ♪ Out of the shadows and into the overflow ♪ ♪ Something really powerful is happening ♪ ♪ Oh, it's happening ♪ Come on, we sing. ♪ Darkness bow down to the day ♪ ♪ Mountains get up out my way ♪ ♪ Breaking out of yesterday ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ Tell the shining in my face ♪ ♪ You're not greater than my faith ♪ ♪ That's clearly feeling I say ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ I got a new thing coming ♪

♪ Oh, we believe it today ♪ ♪ That it's all the way, a new thing, come on, we sing ♪ ♪ Cause I can see a cloud, heavy with rain ♪ ♪ And it looks like revival is headed our way ♪ ♪ Cause I can see a cloud, it's heavy with rain ♪ ♪ And it looks like salvation is headed our way ♪ ♪ Oh, I can hear a sound, the abundance of the rain ♪ ♪ And it sounds like freedom is headed our way ♪ ♪ Oh, I can hear a sound, the abundance of the rain ♪ ♪ And it sounds like provision is headed our way ♪ ♪ Oh, I can see a cloud, and it's heavy with rain ♪ ♪ And it looks like healing is headed our way ♪ ♪ Oh, I can see a cloud, and it's heavy with rain ♪ ♪ And it looks like joy is headed our way ♪ ♪ Is headed our way, is headed our way, is headed our way ♪ ♪ Is headed our way, is headed our way, is headed our way ♪ ♪ He's in our way, He's in our way, He's in our way ♪ ♪ He's in our way, He's in our way, He's in our way ♪ ♪ He's in our way, He's in our way, He's in our way ♪ ♪ The darkness bowed down to the day ♪ ♪ Mountains gave up on my way ♪ ♪ Breaking out of yesterday, I got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ Hell is dying in my face, you're not breathing in my face ♪ ♪ You best believe me when I say you got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ You got a new thing, got a new thing coming ♪ ♪ Oh He's got a new thing, got a new thing coming in, new thing coming, new thing coming in ♪ We believe that God, we believe that you are moving in our lives, even when we can't see it, even when we can't feel it, we know, we declare that you go before us. You go before us in the trial, in the fire, Lord,

and you will never leave our sides. Come on, let's declare that truth today. He is with us. We thank you, Jesus, the God who never leaves. Hallelujah. ♪ I felt the flame and wrestled the dark ♪ ♪ But I never knew till I had the scars ♪ ♪ How good your grace could be ♪ ♪ How you would be my strength ♪ ♪ No matter what I have resolved on my lowest day ♪ ♪ You're still in control, I will not be afraid ♪ ♪ I'll get back up and say ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Ever present in my harmony, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, yes, you are, Lord ♪ Come on, it's a promise. ♪ You never said it wouldn't be a fire ♪ ♪ You promised that you'd be right by my side ♪ ♪ No matter how it seems, my confidence ♪ Come on, declare where your confidence is today. ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Ever present in my harmony, oh, the Lord ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me every day, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me every hour, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Oh, He's ever present in my harmony, the Lord is with me ♪ We will believe, we will declare it over every fear. Yes, Jesus. Come on, sing this out. ♪ We will not bow to fear, we will not be afraid ♪ ♪ No fear may tell me to tremble ♪

♪ I'm not gonna bow, I may be blown into fire ♪ ♪ But I'm gonna walk out, the heat of the flame won't consume me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke when they look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ But I'm not alone, come on, sing it again ♪ ♪ No fear may tell me to tremble, I'm not gonna bow ♪ ♪ I may be blown into fire, but I'm gonna walk out, the heat of the flame won't consume me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke when they look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ But I'm not alone, come on, sing it again ♪ ♪ No fear may tell me to tremble, I'm not gonna bow, I'm not gonna walk out, the heat of the flame won't consume me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke when they look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ With me, the Lord is with me ♪ Come on he's got you. He has you in his hands. He has your family in his hands. He's in the presence. ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me ♪ Oh, you're with me. ♪ You're with me, the Lord is with me ♪ Oh, don't fear me, come. ♪ Don't fear me, tell me to tremble ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna bow, I may be thrown into fire ♪ ♪ But I'm gonna walk out, the heat of the flame will consume me ♪ Oh, it's not difficult. ♪ It may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm not alone ♪ Sing it. ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me ♪ We tell every enemy that comes to face us. We tell every mountain, every fire. The Lord is with me, He is with you. ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me ♪

♪ The Lord is with me, ever present in my hour of need ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me, the Lord is with me ♪ I wanna remind you that you are not alone, that you serve a God who is right there with you, that there's not a circumstance that His hand isn't already in and that you have a church family who's ready to pray with you and alongside you. In fact, we actually wanna pray over our church community. We have our mission strip heading to Honduras today and we just wanna pray over them and cover them as they are there for this next week. So church family, if you feel comfortable, can you lift your hand toward the screen so we can cover them together? God, we thank you so much for being a present Father, for always being there for us, for never leaving us, for never letting us figure it out on our own, but for always being there and working on our behalf. Lord, we believe that you are with this mission strip, God. We pray that you protect them. We pray that you go before them, that you have already ordained conversations, breakthrough, healing, and freedom that's gonna pour out of the people in Honduras, God. We can't wait to hear what it is that you're gonna do. We love you, Jesus, in your holy name we pray, amen. Amen, and if you guys have any praise reports or prayer requests, we'd love to just walk with you

wherever you're at. Pray alongside you, celebrate with you, whatever it is. Go ahead and scan that QR code below or you can go on our Journey app and share yours there. Yeah, that's right. That's awesome. Well, welcome back, everybody. Happy Sunday. Happy Sunday. And happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers in the chat, our dog moms in the chat. We love you and we're so grateful for all it is that you do. If I haven't had the honor and privilege of meeting you yet, my name is Jaylene, and I get to serve here as the online director. And I'm Danielle, and I get the honor and privilege of serving as one of your online hosts here today. And I'm Shani, and I'm excited to be serving today as one of your online hosts as well. We have so many special people joining us, but we have a special group of people and that is our inmates watching from the correctional facilities on our Pando app. We love you. We're so grateful for it. Welcome. And we're so happy you're a part of the family. Yes, and we have another group of amazing people here as well. If you guys have watched before,

you already know the acronym, so say it with me. F-T-G. First time guests, welcome. We're so glad that you're here with us. Go ahead and drop F-T-G in the chat if it is your first time watching, and make sure to scan that QR code. We'd love to connect with you, get to know more about you guys. Absolutely, and if it's not your first, if it's your third, 300th, 10 millionth, I don't know. Oh, 10 million? Ooh, that's a lot of sermons, baby. Right. Please, please, if you're wondering about what's your next step, how can you serve God, what's the purpose that you have to serve with God, join us next week for Next Steps 2. Yeah. Right, scan the QR code below, find out the information, and then you'll receive a call from one of our amazing people. That's right. Y'all should receive a call from me. Man, thank you for thinking I'm amazing, Shannie. You are, yes, she is. You are the reason I'm sitting here, one of them, right? Yes. I'm with him above. 100%.

Yeah, if you fill out the Connect card, I'm gonna personally reach out to you. I would love to hear your story. and help you find your place here with us. But speaking of stories, we have her story conference happening on June 6th. Make sure you're there. Put some hearts in the chat, put some bows, some girly emojis. If you'll be there, you wanna be there because we have Lisa Brevere. Love her. Stephanie Ike. Here we go. And Pastor Liz. All preaching in the same day. Dynamic trio. Okay. Amazing. So you already know we're gonna get the word, but we also want you to find communities. So we're hosting a community night the day before where there'll be a hot girl walk. That's free. Completely free. Okay. We have pilates. I would like this, but you know. Right. And if that's not enough,

we're also gonna have coffee and matcha available. I'm locked in for the coffee. So. I'm the matcha. Okay. Make sure you register down below because there's something for everybody. I'll be there and I can't wait to see you. Yes. And I know we have an amazing testimony. I know we speak a lot about our Pando app viewers and you shout them out every single week, but we have a story from one of them. And his name is Jose. He was incarcerated on October of 2025. And he was just trying to navigate this life in jail alone and didn't have his friends or family around. And that's when he logged in to the Pando app on his tablet one day and found Journey Church and just really locked into the messages that Pastor JJ brought to us every week. And that's how we found Jesus. And he actually started spreading the gospel inside the jail. And now he actually made it out. So good. And he's still walking with Jesus. He is still watching Journey every week. And we have stories like this because of your generosity. Because of your giving, we have this studio

and we're able to go live every week. We have these lights, the cameras, everything. So if you guys feel called to give, go ahead and scan that QR code below or go to our Journey app. That's right. Yeah, that's right. And if that story has touched your heart and you feel you have somebody in your life that needs to hear the word, that needs to just feel God and reconnect, please scan the QR code below. Share it so that they can join us and be with us just like you are. That's right. We're gonna go to one more song of worship and we'll see you guys later. See ya. Bye, everyone. I encourage you, church, go all in because God is in the room. Let's worship. Amen, amen, amen. Come on, at this time, we'd like to welcome our Online East and Kissimmee locations with us into worship. Let's give it up for them. Father, we lift you up, God. We acknowledge today, Lord, that in you we find our comfort, God. In you we find our peace.

We thank you, Jesus, for who you are. Oh, we thank you, Lord. Oh, we thank you, Lord. In the house of the Lord. In the house of the Lord. So draw me close and let me stay here, Lord. Oh, house, I'll remain here. In your courts, I find rest for my soul. And I have a home in the house of the Lord. There is a table where I belong. It's set by my Father who calls me His own. He's safe in His presence and I'm dying in His arms. He's with me. I wanna dwell here for eternity. Draw me close and let me stay here, Lord. Oh, house, I'll remain here. In your courts, I find rest for my soul. And I have a home in the house of the Lord. Oh, we have a home here. ♪ And we thank you Lord ♪ ♪ We thank you for who you are today ♪ ♪ We lift you up Jesus ♪ ♪ Right here in your house ♪ ♪ Oh I was lost but now I'm found ♪ ♪ And there isn't a doubt that you love me Lord ♪ ♪ You love me Lord right here in your house ♪ ♪ Oh I was lost but now I am found ♪ ♪ And there isn't a doubt that you love me Lord You love me Lord ♪ ♪ Right here in your house ♪ ♪ I was lost but now I am found I believe it ♪

♪ There isn't a doubt that you love me Lord you love me Lord ♪ ♪ Right here in your house I was lost but I believe it ♪ ♪ There isn't a doubt that you love me Lord you love me Lord ♪ ♪ Right here in your house ♪ ♪ I was lost but now I am found ♪ ♪ There isn't doubt that you love me Lord you love me Lord ♪ ♪ You love me Lord right here in your house I was lost but now I am found ♪ ♪ There isn't a doubt that you love me Lord you love me Lord ♪ ♪ How I love you Lord how I love you Lord ♪ ♪ How I love you Lord how I love you Lord ♪ ♪ Let me sing it let me sing it let me sing it Lord ♪ ♪ I believe it in your heart in your heart ♪ ♪ I find rest for my soul and I have a home in your heart ♪ ♪ In the house of the Lord in the house of the Lord ♪ ♪ Let me sing it Lord I'll remain here in your heart ♪ ♪ I find rest for my soul and I have a home in your heart ♪ ♪ In your courts I find rest for my soul and I have a home ♪ ♪ In the house of the Lord in the house of the Lord ♪ Do you know how many people are excited to be home? Come on I didn't say excited to be at church, I mean excited to be home. Yeah and home is bigger than a place. But I don't know about you but I love home. Many homebodies in church today, any homebody. People ask me all the time, where you wanna go on vacation? I'm like home. If you go anywhere in the world, home, I love home. I could be home, give me seven days off of work, I'll be home, I love home.

And I think the reason why I love home is because I can be myself. This is I can take off my shoes, I don't care what my hair looks like, I can just be me and be accepted and be loved and not have to have the pressure of having to be anything special for anybody and just know that I'm loved. Which leads me to my next kind of revelation is that home is not a place on your Apple Map or your Google Map. What makes home, home at least for me is the fact that my wife is there, my kids are there, it's the person who makes the place home. Want you to know what makes this place the house of God is not the address that it resides on Fern Park. What makes this place the house of God, what makes your campus the house of God is the fact that your father is in the room right now and you don't gotta pretend because he loves you just the way you are. You don't gotta be successful, you don't gotta be somebody, you can be yourself, you can take off your makeup, you can take off your shoes, although not really, keep them on right now, but you can be yourself in the presence of God because you're loved and he accepts you. Come on, find rest in this place, find peace in this place, find acceptance in this place.

Father, we give our whole lives to you. We lay our lives at your feet, thank you Jesus, because you're here and you love me, you love me and I love you, thank you Jesus. This is where I'm whole, this is where I'm whole, this is where I'm welcomed, in the presence of God. I say in the name of the Lord Jesus. Thank You Jesus. How many people are grateful for the love of God this morning, come on, that welcomes you and takes you in. When you do me a favor, would you just close your eyes and bow your head if you feel comfortable for a second. Can you just stand in the presence of God for just a few seconds and realize the joy that it is to be loved, the joy and the peace that comes from being welcomed and accepted. Come on, I was just in the lobby right now and I was talking to a guy who was, yeah, I was going through a thing and I know this is going to sound crazy, but he was at the strip club and he was like saying how when he was there, he was like one of the girls who was wrestling with what she was going through, started talking to him about Jesus. Now they both started coming to church, got baptized, gave their lives to Christ, switched the situation up. And you know what he told me in the lobby? He told me, thank you for reminding us that this is a place where we can be loved, that we're not being judged for the choices that we made, but being accepted for the image we bear, that we look like our father in heaven. Father, thank you for loving us the way that you love us, Lord. Thank you for we don't have to be perfect in your presence, but we can be here whole in you, Lord. You're so good. We give you all of us, Lord, because we receive all of you. Thank you, Jesus.

And we're ready to receive the word that you have for us today. In your name we pray, amen and amen. Come on, give God a hand clap one more time. Feels good to be home. Before you take a seat, I want you to find three people that you didn't drive to church with today. Give them a big old high five and tell them, welcome home, welcome home, welcome home. You can take a seat. Who's excited to be at church this morning? Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, if we haven't met yet, my name is JJ, and alongside my wife, Liz, we have the honor and the privilege of serving Journey Church as its lead pastors. And if you didn't know that, that means you are a first time guest, and we're so glad that you chose to be with us today here at church. If you're looking for a home church, look no further. We think you walked into it, not only because you are surrounded by the presence of God, but because you are also surrounded by some of the most amazing, honest, open, and 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? Hey, keep it going for Journey Church Online. What's up, Journey Church Online? Keep it going for Journey East Orlando Meeting at University High School. What up, East Orlando? Keep it going for Journey Kissimmee Meeting at Gateway High School. And finally, keep it going for all those who are currently incarcerated, watching in jails and prisons throughout the United States. We're so glad that you're with us today.

Two things before we get into the message. Number one, I want to invite you to come out in a few weeks to Encounter Night here at Fern Park Campus. All of our campuses come together, and we take Holy Communion together. That is eating bread, drinking the juice in memory of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. In addition, we have extended worship, so we'll really just kind of go into the presence of God, and we'll open up our altars, and we'll have prayer, and it's a really beautiful time. So, if you haven't been to one, I want to invite you to come out to the first one. And also, it's three campuses in one location for one service, and so it gets packed in here. So, if you do plan on coming, be sure to register your kids, and be sure to get here early so you can get a seat and all of that good stuff. And then finally, how many people are pumped for Mother's Day today? Happy Mother's Day, everybody. Happy Mother's Day. Really quickly, if I could have all of the moms who are moms, who were moms, who are going to be moms, would you stand to your feet so that the rest of us can clap our hands, honor you, and say thank you for being the amazing women that you are? Thank you, mamas. We love you. Amen. We literally would not be here if it wasn't for you. And we're grateful, and we thank you. Shout out to my mama, always sitting in the front row of every service, shouting me down. He has been my biggest cheerleader throughout life. I often share the story of how she would drive two to three hours just to see me preach to a room of 20 high schoolers and then drive back home,

which was kind of awkward, actually, because it's just, you know, it's 30 high schoolers and there's one lady in the back, just, that's my baby, I got Jesus, Mommy, Jesus. But she is a testament to what a person can become when they are surrounded by women who believe in them. So thank you to all the mamas who believed in your babies and continue believing in them, because your faith and God's power can do something special in their life. Finally, want to make a big shout out to the mama of our church, my wife, Pastor Liz, who has the honor of bringing the message today to the rest of us. And so would you help me welcome to the stage my wife, Pastor Liz Vasquez. Thank you, baby. You guys can take a seat. Happy, aw, I love you too. Happy Mother's Day. I know everyone keeps saying it, but I wanted to just quickly share my, I guess, condolences for those who are here today who don't even have their mom with them anymore. That's really hard. My mom called me this morning to tell me that she wasn't gonna be able to come to church today because she wasn't feeling well. And for a moment, I had a glimpse of what it would feel like to not have your mom.

And I'm like, man, that must be hard for those of you, because I already met some people who are here today, and it's hard to be here today. Or maybe if you're a mom who had a child and lost a child, my heart goes out to you. I'm sorry, I don't mean to make the moment somber, but just, if you're here today, my condolences and my heart goes out to you. Also wanted to shout out my mom, because I know she's watching online since she's homesick. So happy Mother's Day, mom. I love you. Thank you for being patient, and for loving me and praying me here. It was my mom's prayers and my grandmother's prayers, because I was welling out. And there was times that, not even that long ago, I asked my mom, I was like, mom, did you know, I mean, I have a testimony, y'all. Your pastor has a testimony. But I'm like, did you know, when I was high, those days I came home high? And she was like, I did. And I'm like, why didn't you say something? She's like, I did, but then I also prayed for you. And it was her prayers that have me here. So if you're a mom that's praying for your kids, just keep praying for them. Also, shout out to my mother-in-law, who's here. We've become so close.

She's, whoa, we got loud. Is everything good? Yeah, okay. I don't know why I'm looking at you like you're gonna fix it. Anyways, she's become like my best friend, y'all. Like, so that's just a testimony that you can be really close to your mother-in-law. And I know she loves me more than she loves JJ, because she's sitting in all four services today. So she might've drove far for you, but she didn't drive far, but she's here, all four services. So it's not a competition, but I think she loves me more. Anyways, I also wanted to shout out my husband, because I don't get the mic a lot. So I just want to make sure that I honor, because you guys do not know, like, he is really the real deal. I honor you because you love Jesus more than you love me, and I know that, because in the mornings, you don't even talk to me. Like, and it's not because you don't love me, it's because you love God more, because you talk to God first, before you get on your phone, just like you need to know. He goes into the patio, and he's with his Bible, okay? And also, I love how you love our kids. You know, you love them the way Jesus loves them. Like, you see where they're at, but you call them higher. You do the same thing with our staff.

You have crucial conversations that are difficult, but you do it because you love them. The way you love this church. I know a lot of you don't know this, but my husband is an introvert. So it's hard for him to even be, sometimes, in the lobby. And he ain't gonna be at any of y'all's birthday parties, okay? And so he would be down on himself for that, but I'm like, babe, but you work so hard on your messages, so to make them applicable. And so that's how you show love to this church, is the way you work so hard to make Jesus accessible to anyone. And also, the way that you love me. If I ever doubted God's love for me, like, I know he loves me, because you are a physical representation of God's love for me. And the way you talk me off of jumping off of cliffs, not like literally, but like giving up, okay? And just how you try your best to make me happy. Like, he'll do anything to make me happy, as long as it's like within reason, okay? He's not gonna be buying me Fendi if we ain't got no food, okay? So. He's just wise as well. So, I have so much time, so I'm like, I'm gonna get to it, and speaking of making me happy,

I wanna start out by sharing the story of how my husband planned a trip to Hawaii for my 40th birthday to make me happy. Now, I had been dreaming of going to Hawaii since I was a kid, I saw it on the Disney Channel, I saw it everywhere, and I just always wanted to go, and so we did it, first off, also because my birthday's in January. Nobody goes to Hawaii in January, so it was cheaper, so tip, the weather's still nice, and I was so excited because when I turned 40, I was in the best shape of my life because two years before that was 2020 when you had to decide whether you were gonna eat a lot and gain weight, or you were gonna get fit. Well, I chose, well, no, I ate a lot, and then I was like, I gotta lock in, and so at 40, I was in the best shape of my life, and I was so excited to go on this trip, and so we're there, and then the day hits where it's my birthday, and I was happy up until that day, but then the morning of when I woke up, I realized, oh my gosh, I'm 40 years old, and for those of you who are older than me right now, you're like, please, it's not a big deal, but I don't know what it was, it just hit me, and I'm like, wasn't happy, I just started to cry. Yo, it was like six in the morning, I woke up at 6 a.m., why, I don't know. I went to the bathroom, I'm crying,

I don't want them to see that I'm crying because they planned this beautiful trip for me, so then I went outside, because we were staying in this beautiful resort that was on the beach. I ran out to the beach, I'm like, maybe if I sit outside and watch the sunrise, I'll get over this, and I didn't know this, yo, I don't know if you know this, but I was on the south side of the island, the sunrise is in the east, so there was no sunrise. I saw light, but I'm like, the sun's not going up, I'm so sad, and it was just terrible, and then there was a lady who worked there, and she was like, you can't be out here by yourself at this time, there's robbers, and I'm like, this is Hawaii, there's no robbers in Hawaii. And I'm just so sad, and then that was when it hit me that you can have everything that you ever desired, I have the husband I always desired, the kids, I have my health, and I'm in this beautiful five-star resort and I am sad, and that was when I realized that you could have everything that you ever dreamed of and you could still be sad, and I went on this journey of trying to figure out what could really make me happy, and I know I'm not the only one who cares about this, I know you care about this too, why? Because I know my husband preached a sermon about chat GPT, not to use it, but sorry, I used it, okay? And I asked chat GPT, based on people's searches,

what do they really want? So I asked, what do people want out of life? And it said to be happy. And if you think about it, it's at the core of everything that we do and why we do it. Like, I work out because I wanna be fit, because I wanna look at myself in the mirror and be happy with what I see, or if you're single, maybe you want someone else to look at you and be happy with what they see, and then you get into a relationship. Or maybe, you know, I go to the doctor because I wanna be healthy so I have the energy to do everything I want, because then I'll be happy. Or I work so that I can have the money to buy whatever I want to make me happy. Everything that we do, at the core of it, is so that we can be happy. And it's so important to us as Americans that we have literally made a declaration out of this, okay? Like, when I was preparing this, I realized that. I'm like, I went to D.C. with my kids a few years ago on a family vacation, and we went to the National Archives Museum, and I have a picture of the declaration, yeah. So y'all, we made a declaration about it. Have you forgot? I'm gonna read it to you, just in case, because I'm sure you don't remember this, because we haven't been in school in a while,

so it's all good. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, y'all, life, that's important, liberty, which is our freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. We as Americans care so much about it that we put it in the Declaration of Independence. So because I've been on this journey of trying to figure out what's gonna make me happy, and because I know it's important to you, the title of my talk today is The Pursuit of Happiness, The Pursuit of Happiness. So today, I wanna talk to you on how to pursue happiness. Now, before I talk about that, I wanna talk about what does happiness look like. If you ask people, what does happiness look like to you, it's usually something along the lines of possessions, money, or health, or relationships. We say things like, I'll be happy when I get that job, or I'll be happy when I get that house, or I'll be happy when I marry that person, or then you get married. And you're like, I'll be happy when I divorce that person, or I'll be happy when I have kids, or I'll be happy when the kids finally get out of the house. But the problem with that is a lot of times those things are out of our control.

And even if they're in our control, how long we have them for is not under our control either. All it takes is one recession, a couple of bad deals, a few lawsuits for you to lose all your money and your possessions. All it takes is one genetic disorder, a couple of clogged arteries, or a few abnormal blood cells for you to lose your health. All it takes is one car accident, a couple of acts of infidelity, a few disagreements for you to lose a relationship or a loved one. So my question to you, is your happiness based on these things that you have no control over? And if your answer is yes, then this message is for you. Because we can't wait for our circumstances that are out of our control to be happy. We have to learn how to be happy despite them. I wrote it this way, we have to learn to be happy despite our circumstances, not because of them. And if you're here and you're like, thank you, the one person that clapped. Y'all gotta like, yeah, let's go. If you're here and you're like, I don't know Pastor Liz, you mean to tell me that you won't be happy if you had everything you ever wanted? I'm like, I promise you. My husband has abs, I've been, y'all, I told you, I started working out, this was like six years ago, no abs, okay? I promise you, I still won't be happy just because of abs.

And if you don't believe me, and if you believe that if God gave you everything you ever wanted, you would truly be happy, then I want to share something from the wealthiest man in history that had absolutely everything he ever wanted and what he said. And this is not Elon Musk, okay? I know he's a billionaire, but I'm talking about King Solomon in the Bible. He was actually a trillionaire, if you didn't know this. Yep, there they are, they're like clapping for everything now, I love it. Ecclesiastes 2, this is again King Solomon. He says, in this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes. He had the houses for myself, and by planting beautiful vineyards, I made gardens and parks, parks, y'all. Like, he didn't just make a garden, he made a park. What? Filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. He had the organic fruit. I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. He bought people. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. I collected great sums of silver, gold,

the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers. He had live entertainment in his home, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. You know what that means? That means if his wife has a headache, he was still good, okay? I had everything a man could desire. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors, but as I looked at everything, I had worked so hard to accomplish. This is what he said. It was all meaningless, like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. Wow. This is a man that had everything. He said it was all meaningless. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. He's basically saying that going after happiness is just gonna make you sad, and he wasn't the only one that said it. There was an American philosopher named Eric Hoffner who said the search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness, and if you're here and you're like, Pastor Liz, you told us the title of your talk is Pursue Happiness, so if I pursue happiness,

are you saying I'm gonna be sad? Okay, well, I'm gonna tell you why I titled it that. I titled it that because we're trying to get some more views on YouTube, okay? And you know that if you saw the pursuit of happiness in the title, you would click, but also, I didn't lie, because in order to pursue happiness, it's gotta be not based on external circumstances that are out of our control, but internal things that we have control over, internal values. So today, yeah. Today, I wanna share with you three ways of living that the Bible teaches that you can pursue so that you will be happy. Now, before I start, I need you to understand that Jesus wants you to be happy. Did you know that? That Jesus really wants you to be happy, so much so that his first sermon, which is the Sermon on the Mount, was on happiness. They're called the Beatitudes, which the Hebrew word for Beatitudes is ashri, which means happy or fortunate. So he gave you eight things you can pursue to be happy. People, I can't do all eight things, okay? So I picked three, also it's Mother's Day and I know you guys probably wanna go out to eat after this, so if I gave you all eight,

we'd be here all day. So the first one is, if you're taking notes, pursue humbleness, pursue humbleness to be happy. And so starting out with the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five says, now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up a mountain, this is when he started. He sat down and his disciples came to him. He taught them saying, and then I'm gonna skip to Matthew five five, happy are the people who are humble because they will inherit the earth. Now a lot of people think that in order to be humble, that means that you think of yourself less. That's not how it works. Humble people don't think of themselves less. They don't think less of themselves, they think of themselves less. Sorry, I'm like tongue twisting over here. So basically, it's not that they think low of themselves, it's that they're not thinking about themselves so much. So humble people don't feel like God owes them anything because they believe that God has already given them everything that they need. Now, how does this, yeah. How does this relate to happiness? Because we aren't happy when we are disappointed. And disappointment is the gap between expectations and reality. So I'm sad or disappointed when my life doesn't look a certain way. I don't have the job that I want.

I don't have the family that I want. I'm not successful by now. So then I become disappointed. But when we are humble, we're happy because even what we have now, we see it as a gift because we didn't expect it or feel like we were entitled to it anyways. And the happiness, the opposite happens when we become entitled. And entitlement leads back to disappointment. And this idea of being entitled reminds me of Doubletree Cookies. Now, if you don't, she said amen. She knows, I'm about to share. If you don't know, Doubletree is a hotel like Marriott and Hilton. But it's magical because the first time I went, I was like, I had no idea. You know, I went on Hotels.com, I booked my hotel, I went to the Doubletree. And I expect that the lady behind the counter was just gonna give me my key. Well, that wasn't the only thing she gave me. Because then she opened this drawer next to her that had hot, warm cookies, y'all. Like what? A drawer, which by the way, babe, Mother's Day, I don't know if you figured out what to get me. I want a drawer at home. I love cookies.

That you open, and there's always warm cookies there. I know it's a tall order. Justice is my son, he's a baker. You just tell him to always have cookies at home. But anyway, so I went for the first time, and I'm like, what is happening? Like, I paid for a hotel, did not expect to get cookies. Like, what? So, gave me the cookie, really good cookie, by the way. Now I think they have gluten-free options without nuts. Like, it's wild. It's crazy, Doubletree. So, that was the first time I went. The second time I went, though, which I was happy, by the way, because I had a cookie that I didn't expect. Second time I went, y'all, I don't know if it's because I checked in later in the day or something. When I checked in, I got the key, no cookie. Oh, I was sad. Why? Because I expected a cookie. And the reason why I share this story with you is because that's a lot like us. We've gotten so used to God blessing us that now we expect it, and when he doesn't, we're like, where's my cookie? And I'm here to tell you, yeah, God doesn't owe you a cookie. This is gonna sound harsh, and I know it's Mother's Day,

but I'm one of those moms, okay, that I'm like, I'm tough. Like, if you ever wondered, he's the, you know, okay, that's why they go to him, because they know me, I'ma be like, I'ma lay down the law. And if you're here, and I'm like, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but I'm here to tell you, be humble enough to know that even if God doesn't do another thing in your life, you are blessed, and then you didn't deserve it anyways, okay, and just so you don't feel bad, I'll start with me. Whenever I feel entitled, I look back, and I know I'm not supposed to live in the past. I'm not living in the past, but I look back, and I remember that I wasn't always nice to, I broke hearts. There was guys that I was in a relationship, I didn't steward their heart well, but God still gave me the husband that I have. I told God that I was gonna save myself for marriage, I did it, y'all, I got pregnant, and I terminated a pregnancy, and I'm not judging anyone who did, because I was there too, and I just feel like I don't deserve the kids that I have, but he gave them to me anyways. I didn't, listen, y'all. I didn't go to Bible school and I'm standing here today pastoring this church that I feel like I don't even deserve to be on this stage,

but God in his grace, he has still blessed me. Now it's your turn, think about you. You didn't even finish school and you still have that business. You weren't always honest, but God gave you that spouse. You were selfish and he still gave you that family. You didn't deserve it, but God did it anyway. So look at it as a gift. And to help you out, you need to be like Justin Bieber, okay, have you guys heard that song, Hallelujah? It's basically a song where he like says something that maybe might not be a big deal to you and then he says, hallelujah, as a way of saying like, God, I'm grateful. So I'm not a singer, but I'll sing today. This is how the song goes if you've never heard it. Well, I'm not gonna sing it, I'm gonna read it, okay. It's mom and dad, hallelujah, this is my version. JJ babe, hallelujah, Justice Zane, my kids, hallelujah, honey and blue, my dogs, hallelujah. And if you're here today and you're like, but Pastor Liz, I don't have a dog or a spouse or kids. That's fine, you can sing this, I woke up today, hallelujah. Brush my teeth, hallelujah, right? Some people don't have teeth, y'all. You better thank God you have teeth. Or if you don't have teeth, the sun is out, hallelujah. You live in Florida. Everything, hallelujah, everything, hallelujah. Whenever you start to feel entitled, remember,

no one owes you anything and Jesus gave you everything. And when you realize that, you know that anything, as small as it is, is a gift and you become truly content and happy. So pursue humbleness to be happy. And the next one is pursue forgiveness, pursue forgiveness. Matthew 5, 7 says, happy are the people who show mercy because they will receive mercy. And the next one is, God is saying, you will be happy when you show mercy to others and forgive. And this was not always very easy for me. Probably the hardest time I had with this idea of showing mercy and forgiving. For those of you who are new here, maybe don't know this, but my husband for years struggled with an addiction to pornography. And it was really hard for me because when we were dating, he kind of told me, like, you know how you're supposed to do this before you get married? Like, he told me, but it sounded to me like he was over it, like he was good. But then when we got married, it kept still coming up and like, it got to a point where I like, I didn't even wanna ask because I'm like, if I ask, then I'm gonna know it's gonna hurt me. And for some of you who are here today and you're like, yeah, but it's not like he cheated on you, but that's how it felt, y'all. Like, it was really hard because it hurt me because it felt like he was going to something else

instead of me for what he needed. And so I had a really hard time with it. And glory to God, I could say that he has definitely been healed from the addiction of pornography. Yeah, you can give it up to God. He shares about it too. But I had to learn to forgive y'all and I couldn't wait till he was healed to forgive him. And so many people come to me and they're like, Pastor Liz, how did you forgive him when he was hurting you? And so I'm gonna share a story in the Bible that God showed me when I was dealing with that situation and how it really helped me. And this is a story of the unmerciful servant. So just bear with me because it's a whole long story, but it's important that we read it. Matthew 18, 23 through 35. It says, therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, and that's important to note. So there was a king, he had a servant that owed him money, but then he wasn't able to pay it. Then it says, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this, the servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything.

The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. If you're not following along, basically the servant whose debt was pardoned from the king now finds someone who owes him money, and instead of doing the same thing the king did with him and let him go, he started to choke him. And then he says, pay back what you owe me. He demanded, his fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, be patient with me and I will pay it back. So he did the same thing, but instead he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master. called the servant in, you wicked servant, he said, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. So now the king is upset at the servant that he had, pardon his debt. He said, shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed. And this is how my heavenly father will treat each of you

unless you forgive your brother or your sister from your heart. So the reason why I share that story is because when I was going through this situation, I realized two things. One is that God has forgiven me, just like the king forgave the servant, so how am I not gonna forgive him? Also, you're only punishing yourself when you don't forgive. I read this quote that says, unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. And you're also, like the word says, you're putting yourself in jail, basically, that you have the key to, a jail of torture. I wrote it this way. Unforgiveness is a prison of torture that you have the key to. You can let yourself out if you just forgive. And to illustrate this further, it's not just torture in jail. It's also burdensome and heavy to carry. So today, I'm gonna show you how burdensome it's heavy and heavy it is to carry with potatoes, okay? So just imagine with me that this bag is a bag that you carry of unforgiveness. Now, if I have nothing in it, that means I've forgiven everybody. So this is easy to carry. But imagine for me that every time there's someone

that hurts you and that you don't forgive, then you have to add a potato to this bag. So pretend Susie maybe talked behind your back at work, and so now you're upset at her and you're not forgiving her. John wasn't there for you when you needed him. You went to the hospital and he didn't come. So now you don't forgive him. And Jan, who passed you up for a promotion that you thought you should've gotten. Or maybe it's deeper than that. Maybe it's from your past when you were a kid. Maybe your dad who said some hurtful things to you out of anger and you're hurt because of that. Or maybe it's your mom who didn't protect you when that person violated you. Or maybe your mom who decided to be in a relationship with someone and care for that person more than caring for you. Or maybe it was a person that violated you. So just imagine for me, this is what it looks like when you're carrying around unforgiveness. And imagine that you have to carry this with you everywhere you go. You go to work, you go to school. Maybe when you come to church, you put it down for a second because the pastor talks about forgiveness. But then you're like, nah, I'm gonna pick that back up because this is the way I punish that person. But tell me how this doesn't make sense. You're punishing them by carrying this?

That makes no sense. On top of that, I'm trying to preach and it's hard because my arm is gonna start hurting after a while holding this thing. That's why you need to let it go. You need to forgive them so that you can do everything that God has called you to do. And if you're here and you're like, yeah, but they hurt me, like they deserve something, but that's not it. And sometimes they can't pay you. If you read earlier in the Bible verse, it said that he couldn't pay. The servant couldn't pay the king. There was no way he could do it. These people who have hurt you, they can't pay. But you know who can? God. The Bible talks about it. Vengeance is mine. And so whenever my kids get into an argument, you know what they do if like one of them hits the other one which happens like every day? They say, dad, right? They call dad. They called their father to come and rectify the situation because they know that their father is fair. So if you're here today and you're struggling with unforgiveness, call on your father. He's the one that's gonna rectify the situation.

And when you let go of that, if you notice, I'm lighter. And another word for lighter is happy. Because you're happy when you let things go. I wrote it this way. Forgiveness doesn't make them right. It makes you light. So pursue forgiveness to be happy. And the last one is pursue pain. Pursue pain. Matthew five says, happy are the people who grieve, basically those who are in pain, because they will be made glad. Now, if you're here and you're like, what? Pursue pain? And it sounds contradictory. Like how are people who pursue pain happy? Well, before we go into that, can we just establish that we're all gonna go through stuff? Christian or not, whether you serve God or not, like I'm gonna tell you right now, we would never tell you that you become a Christian and then all of a sudden, all your pain and your struggles go away. That's not true. The only difference is you have Jesus with you through it. Now, first Peter. Peter 4.12 says this, dear friends, don't be surprised when the fury ordeal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. So basically he's saying, don't be surprised

when you go through troubles. It's gonna come to you whether you want it to or not because it's a natural part of life. The rich suffer because they're rich. Biggie said it, more money, more problems. The poor suffer because they're poor. People who don't have a family suffer because they don't have a family. And then people who have families suffer because they have a family. People who pursue worldly pleasures suffer because those worldly pleasures and people who abstain from it, they go through it because they're abstaining as well. We all must suffer. We all go through pain and problems and they're never gonna stop. If you think, well, if I just pray for God to solve my problems, then I'm gonna be okay. But no, because the answer to one problem just basically becomes a foundation to a new problem. So if I pray for a husband, great, I have a husband, but now I'm praying for patience and for a strong marriage. Or if I prayed for kids, now I have kids and now I'm praying to keep them alive and to make sure they don't wall out. Or I prayed for this church to have staff, but now I'm praying that God would lead me on how to lead them. And if you're here and maybe you prayed

for a job or business, but now you're praying that you won't burn out. Or you prayed for God to bless you financially, but now you're praying God help me steward it. Or you prayed God help me with this addiction and now you're praying God keep me away from that addiction. I wrote it this way, today's prayers eventually become tomorrow's problems. There's always gonna be problems. Instead of asking God to remove pain, instead ask God for the pain or the suffering that's worth going through that's gonna help you, that's gonna help produce something in you. James 1, 2 through 4 says, consider it pure joy. Basically, you're gonna be happy my brothers and sisters when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finishes work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So pursue the pain that's gonna help you not lack anything. The pain of honest confrontation is what helps you have better, deeper relationships and having trust is gonna make you happy. The pain of losing a loved one will help you gain gratitude so you don't lack gratitude and having gratitude is gonna make you happy. The pain you're trying to avoid might be the pain that God's trying to use

to produce something in you. I wrote it this way because pain makes growth and growth makes happiness. And this idea of pursuing pain brings me back to the story I shared way in the beginning because it didn't just end there. It wasn't just at the beach and it was done. No, I came back home after that trip and I remember being so sad. Like it got to the point where I came to church and I sat there and I didn't even wanna be there. Like I had never in all my years of pastoring this church felt like I didn't even wanna be here. And I was sad because I just felt like I was in a place in my life that I didn't expect to be. Like, I'm like, I'm 40 and I feel like everything I do is for everybody else, for my husband, for my kids, I have nothing for myself. The enemy had me trapped in these thoughts feeling like I needed to give up, y'all. Like it got to the point where I didn't even wanna pastor anymore. And the reason why this story and this situation is so fresh in my heart is because it didn't just happen then. It happened just a few weeks ago again. I felt like giving up and I remember standing in the shower crying. I said, God, why do I feel like I wanna give up? Like this pain is just too much.

And every time I go through pain, God reminds me of when Jesus was praying in Gethsemane. That's where he prayed right before he died on the cross and what he said, and it so encourages me. I wanna read it to you, Matthew 26, 37 through 42. He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Y'all, he wasn't even on the cross yet. And he was already saying, I'm overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watching me. Going a little further, he felt his face to the ground and prayed. And this is one of my favorite Bible verses. It sounds weird, but he said, my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. That was Jesus, y'all. Jesus is like, can I not do this? If it's possible, can you take this away from me? Yet not as I will, he said, but as you will. Then he returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. Couldn't you men keep watch with me for an hour? He asked Peter, and the reason why I kept this in here is because I bet he felt lonely because not even his disciples were keeping watch with him. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Then he said this, he went away a second time and prayed,

my father, if it is not possible, so he went from, if it's possible, can you take this away? And then he said, all right, if it's not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, then may your will be done. And this whole year we've been talking about follow me, what it looks like to follow Jesus. And I realized when reading this that I'm never more like Jesus than when I go through pain that leads to something great. Pain is what God uses to lead to something great that he does through you. And I had to get to a place and I'm like, all right, God, if it's not possible, then your will be done. Like, I don't wanna do this anymore, but if you were able to keep doing it, then I can do it too. I wanted to give up and like two weeks later, I saw hundreds of people getting baptized. Yo, I baptized like a 90 year old man, like. You gotta get to a place, you say, all right, God, if it's your plan for my life, if you're gonna use it either to grow me or to help others, then so be it. So if you're going through it and the pain is hard, maybe you lost a loved one or you just found out something's going on with your child or your spouse was unfaithful, understand that he's using it to grow you. And also you don't have to do it alone. Luke's account of this same story says

that after Jesus prayed, Luke 22, an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. That means even Jesus had to ask God for strength and God strengthened him. So if you're here today, stop praying avoidance prayers. Stop praying, God, get me out of this, but instead, God, show me what you wanna show me through this situation. If you're here and you're saying, instead of saying, God, get rid of my enemies, say, God, bless me through my enemies. Or if you're here today and you're saying, God, just stop the fight, pray, God, fight for me instead. Be there with me and help me because nothing is produced without pain and that's what God uses. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we thank you for today. Thank you for this word. I even thank you for the situations you've brought me through to show me what it truly means to be happy, Lord. I just pray if there's people here today that are not happy and maybe they're thinking that if they just obtain more things or if they're in a relationship or they're just looking for the external God that they would realize today that it's the internal Lord. That it's being humble, that it's forgiving, that it's pursuing pain. Pursuing pain that makes no sense, God, but it's the pain that's gonna produce, Lord.

I pray that you would help us all today to remember that it's those things that are gonna truly make us happy. And with your head bowed and your eyes still closed, I wanna make one more prayer. And that's for those of you who maybe don't have a relationship with Jesus and you realize that you're here today, but the reason why you're not happy is because you don't have a relationship with Jesus. And after hearing this message, you realize that your first step before pursuing anything else is pursuing Jesus. Because happiness is not based on what you have, but it's based on who you know. And that's Jesus Christ. So if you're here today and you wanna make a decision to follow Christ, maybe it's been a long time or it's the first time, I'm gonna ask that you raise your right hand when I count to three as a sign and a symbol saying, Jesus, I want you in my life. One, two, three, raise your right hand. I see your hands, I see your hands, I see your hands. Journey Church, if you could put your hand down, if we could pray with those who made a decision to follow Christ, say, Father God, today I realize I'm not happy because you're not in my life. So I receive you in my life today as my Lord and Savior. I wanna continue my life, not doing it alone, but doing it with you.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Can we give it up for all those who made a decision to follow Christ? We could all stand to our feet. If you made that decision, make sure you take your. Amen, Journey Church online family, if you just accepted Jesus into your heart, I wanna be the first to congratulate you and welcome you to the family. It says that when someone comes to Christ, that heaven is rejoicing. I want you to bask in that right now. I also wanna encourage you to scan the QR code below and fill out. of the form that's gonna let us know who you are and your story, because your story matters to not only us, but to God. And our own online director, Jaylene, will be reaching out to you to connect with you and plug you into all things going on at Journey. What a message by Pastor Liz about the pursuit of happiness. I'm gonna send you guys up to the studio so y'all can talk about it further. I hope y'all have a great week. Thank you, Kyla, for letting us know how we can celebrate. If you made that decision, put some praise hands in the chat because we would love to celebrate you. But man, what an incredible message from Pastor Liz.

We told y'all. When she preaches. She's gonna preach again on her story, so just throwing that in there. Yeah, a little plug. Because it was so good. I love when she said that forgiveness doesn't make it right, it makes you liked. Yes. And I thought that was so good because that's the common misconception with forgiveness of like, I'm giving this person a pass. I'm giving them a slap on the wrist. It's like, no, that's actually God's job to vindicate you and to bring justice. It's just your job to let it go and let him handle it because he knows best anyways. Exactly, exactly. Mine was when she talked about just having forgiveness again. That was the other piece, because for me, the potatoes. The potatoes got me, honestly. The potatoes in the bag. For me, I'll go back and I'll look and I'll go onto her app and I look back at services. I look back at sermons because there's always something. So true. There's always something that I get, and I'm like, wow, they said that?

She said that? Yeah, right. That resonated. That hit me again. That's really good. You've gotta download the app, guys. Scan the QR code. You can go back, listen to her. You can stream Encounter Night. Yes. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, another plug. Let's go. Coming up. And then I actually have another shameless plug, too. Make sure that you're locked into our YouTube channel. That is the best way to re-watch sermons, and of course, not miss a thing. So make sure you subscribe and get the notifications. That way, when things go live, you can be the first to see it. That's right. And also, make sure to share today's message with anyone in your life who needs to hear it. I know it is Mother's Day. You can send it to your mom, send it to your sister, your coworkers. Whoever needs a word today, go ahead and send it their way. Well, we're gonna go see our girl Josanne in the lobby,

and she is gonna close it all out for us today. And we'll see you guys. Bye, everyone. Thank you, ladies. What an amazing word indeed. And that example with the bag of potatoes is truly a great visual of what it looks like when we hold on to anger, to unforgiveness. And I can think of so many people who may have lost their moms today and thinking, God, you took her away. I prayed for her healing. She's not here. And you may be holding on to that anger. I wanna encourage you, as someone who's probably had that same struggle, that it is not worth holding on to. Let it go. Give it to Him. Surrender to Him. Because at the end of the day, He's the only one that can truly comfort you and give you the peace that you're looking for. And we wanna support you in that and continue to pray for you. But also, one of the ways that I found healing through my grief was by giving back and serving. Serving has brought me so much closer to God. It's given me a family. It's given me a community.

My online family has been my biggest support through my grief. And I wanna encourage you, as part of our online family, to join us. We have Next Steps coming up next week, and we wanna get plugged in with you. Jaylene will walk you through, just learn more about you, and find ways to really, truly help you find your place here in our online family. We wanna keep you connected with us. And thank you so much for your continuous love and prayers and generosity. Because of your giving, we are able to continue to do this and be able to make Jesus accessible to anyone, everywhere. So thank you so much again for joining us for this amazing Mother's Day message. I hope that you share this message with your family and your friends, those who really need this word of encouragement today. Maybe go back and rewatch it on the app or on YouTube. But we hope that you join us again next week. It's been a pleasure hanging out with you for Mother's Day. Have an amazing week. We'll see you soon. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ community membership, I think