Your Greatest Pain Might Be Your Greatest Purpose | There Is More: Endgame | Pastor Josh Howerton

Hey guys, thanks for checking out this Bible teaching. Every week we release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon. It's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free. An episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now, enjoy this Bible teaching. All right, hey Lake Point family. It's really good to gather with you. If you got your Bibles, head over to Acts chapter 28 because ladies and gentlemen, here's what's happening today. We are finishing 40-ish weeks through the book of Acts today. Come on, man, here we go. We're finishing up, man. Verse by verse in the book of Acts, it's been awesome. Let me tell you what's going on right here. I'm really excited about this. So I grew up watching, I'm an 80s baby, the 90s baby. I grew up watching the greatest basketball player who has ever lived.

And if you thought of anybody besides Michael Jordan, hold up five fingers, make a fist, punch yourself in the face. You are wrong. It was Michael Jordan, okay? That's who I grew up watching. Now check this out. Jordan was always a goat. Jordan was always great. But in 1996, Jordan was another level. Jordan was always great, but in 96, Jordan was another level. The apostle Paul, listen, was the greatest disciple of Jesus Christ who ever lived. The greatest disciple of Jesus Christ who ever lived, Paul. Acts 28, Paul, is the greatest version of Paul we ever get exposed to. So just go with me on the weird 90s analogy, 96, Jordan, Acts 28, Paul. Just go with me, okay? Now what's gonna happen in this chapter, let me set it up like this, because it is Paul's pinnacle message. It is the quintessential moment in Paul's life where he draws on 30 years of discipleship, supernatural experiences, being discipled by people, seeing Jesus face-to-face in incarnational appearances, all these things. And in this chapter, it's his quintessential message. And let me set it up like this.

In my opinion, the greatest sermon I've ever heard was 10, 15 years ago, and it was at a pastor's conference. I won't say what conference, there's some details to protect the innocent and the guilty. And there was this guy that walked out, and there's like 5,000 or 6,000 pastors in a room like this, thing was jammed. And this guy walked out, and for the next 40 minutes, it felt like John the Baptist was standing right in front of us. And this dude started his sermon, he walked out and he looked at all these pastors, he was real quiet and he was real intense, and he started out by saying this. He said, do you want to be used greatly by God? Do you want to be used greatly by God? And the room burst into applause, bunch of pastors like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he waited for the applause to die down. And he said it a second time, real intense. He was like, I said, do you want to be used greatly by God? And a little louder, yeah, yeah, yeah. People applaud. And then a third time, and everybody's like, what's he doing? A third time, he almost screamed. And he said, do you want to be used greatly by God? And people stood up, standing ovation. Yeah, they're roaring. And he waited for the applause to die down,

and he said, then you must be wounded deeply, because those God uses greatly are first wounded deeply. And the room that was thunderous applause sounded like this, pin drop. What the apostle Paul does in Acts chapter 28 is he shows the message of his life. I'm gonna tell you where the end of the sermon goes, that his pain became his platform. His trial became his testimony. And Paul's greatest ministry came from his deepest misery. Now, what you need to know is that if the apostle Paul, the greatest disciple who ever lived, was constantly subjected to pain, opposition, suffering, can I give you a heads up? That's probably gonna happen to you too if you follow Jesus. So let me say it to you like this, because what I wanna do today is reframe the hard things that are going on in your life. What you need to know is that everyone everywhere experiences pain, everybody. You're going, this is gonna happen to you. But what happens is most people in life, they, just go with me, they squander their suffering. It's like they never learned how to profit from their problems. They're just trying to harvest their hurts. But watch this, believers that are like actually disciples of Jesus Christ, and remember this, we're not fans who cheer him on and we like him,

but we don't wanna be like him. No, we're disciples of Jesus Christ. Disciples that grow, they are always people. that they learn from their losses, that they figure out how to gain from every pain in their life. And because of that, they spend the rest of their lives just constantly getting better, being transformed into the glory of Christ from one degree to another, like the book of second Corinthians says, and they get better instead of bitter their entire Christian life. This is what you see in Acts chapter 28 in the pinnacle moment of the apostle Paul's life. So if you've got your Bibles, let's jump right into it. And I gotta do this. I gotta get a run and start into it. This is like previously on Yellowstone. What Acts chapter 28 is, Acts 28 is the fulfillment of a promise Jesus made decades ago in Acts 1-8. If you were here for the very first week of this series, 40 sermons ago, what I preach is that Jesus stood in front of his disciples and he made a promise and Jesus fulfills his promises. And his promise was you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And those were concentric circles by which the gospel would go out by dudes that came out preaching sermons, swinging haymakers for the glory of God. And the rest of the book of Acts is that story. Now, decades later, we are here in Acts chapter 28. And whereas decades earlier, Jesus said the gospel will go to the ends of the earth. Now we're in Acts chapter 28. The apostle Paul has been converted, been filled with the spirit. He's gone all around planting all these house churches all over the different places in two, three different continents. And we're here and we are, check this out, 2,997.4 miles from where Jesus made that promise in Acts 1-8 that the gospel would go out to the ends of the earth. This is where we are. Now, I wanna show you what happens and let's close the book of Acts. Here's how it starts. It says, once safely on shore, we found it, we did the whole shipwreck thing last week, JP crushed, once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta and the islanders, by the way, when it says islanders, that's a little PC translation. It's actually the Greek word is Barbaroi from which we get the English word barbarians.

So the barbarians showed, and it says unusual kindness. The reason it says unusual kindness is when you shipwrecked on like an island with people like this, they run out in their little Jack Sparrow painted faces and they come out, what they would have expected is either to be killed or enslaved. So this is what they're expecting. But what happens is they show Paul, it says unusual kindness. Now, I wanna show you where Malta is. So here's where we were. We were just over in this region. This is where we just were a few chapters ago. Paul sailed all the way over here. Remember he's going to Rome. Here we are in Malta. Now, if you read Acts 28, here's your homework later, you're gonna see two other places mentioned. You're gonna see Regium mentioned and then a place called Pudioli, that's my best pronunciation up there. And then it goes to Rome. So Paul right here, he's on Malta. Now watch what happens, go to this next verse. This is what happens here in Malta. So Paul gathers a pile of brushwood and as he put it in the fire, a viper, it's very intense, driven out by the heat, fastened itself, so not just a bite,

it's like literally dangling from Paul's arm, on his hand, poisoned a snake. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, this man must be a murderer. Now, that's gonna be important, bookmark that. For though he escaped from the sea, the goddess justice has not allowed him to live. Now here's what they're doing. In their minds, this is gonna be important for the rest of the sermon. In their minds, justice work like this. Anything bad that happened to you, you must have done to somebody else. So they're like, a poisonous snake just bit this dude, he's gonna die. Because he's gonna die, he must have killed somebody. So the math is that he was a murderer, this is what they thought. But, no, go back, I didn't finish. But it says, go back to the last verse. Yeah, but Paul shook the snake off into the fire and he suffered no ill effects. Now, let's keep going. We got it, we got it. We're gonna do it, it's gonna be great. So now, the people, when they see it, here's what they expected. They expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead. This is what they expected. I just kind of find this a little hilarious.

That's not what happened. Here's what ended up happening. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. You know, quick mind change, what happens to him. Now, right after this, God uses this miracle to confirm the supernatural power on Paul's life to these islanders who don't know Jesus yet. So what they do is there's a chief of the island, a guy named Publius. If you're looking for baby names, Publius is available. They take him to Publius, that's the chief of the whole island. And Publius has a dad that's dying of a disease. Okay, we're gonna come back to that. And it says, his father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him. And after, listen, and after prayer. placed his hands on him, and he healed him. And when this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and they were cured. Now, pause, I just need to say this. Listen, man, Jesus heals people. We began the very first week of the book of Acts, and Jesus said to every disciple, you will receive supernatural power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

in order to do what? To be my witnesses throughout the rest of the world. And that wasn't just for them, that's for you. The reason we called this series, There Is More, because listen to me, no matter how much of God you've experienced, no matter how much of his power you've seen, no matter how much of his character you've known, I can make you a promise, there is more. There's more, and Paul does this. Now, check this out, man, I am, listen, man, I am not a faith healer, that ain't my thing. I ain't a faith healer, but I am a Bible believer. And what my Bible tells me is that God is gonna heal every Christian in one of three ways, immediately through miracle, gradually through medicine, or eventually in glory, but listen to me, he still does number one, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, and if he healed people then, he still does it now. I'm just telling you, he still does it. So this is what happens, Paul. Now, because of that, there's this big outpouring of the Holy Spirit, tons of people start getting saved and joining Team Jesus on Malta. Side note, because this is kind of awesome, if you go to Malta to this day, the island is more than 80% Christian to this day.

The churches on the island of Malta trace their spiritual lineage back to Paul's shipwreck in Acts chapter 27, and every year on the island of Malta, on February 10th, they celebrate the shipwreck of St. Paul Day when the gospel touched down on their island. Listen, bro, that's amazing, I love it so much, man. The same yesterday, today, and forever. So this is what happens. Now, the verses we're getting ready to read are the final recorded acts of the apostle Paul in the book of Acts. Here's how the whole story ends. It says here, when we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier to guard him for two whole years. Paul stayed and welcomed all who came to see him. Now, here's what I'm gonna do in the next few minutes. I gotta move fast. What this chapter does is it shows us three things. There are, we're gonna theology nerd out here for a second, I'm assuming you came to learn the Bible. It shows us there are three causes for all the pain in your life. And you have to have the wisdom to know which one might be the cause so that you can respond. And then it shows us what we do with the pain that God gives us, okay? So here we go, here we go. Three causes for pain in the Bible, three different causes, okay?

Now, number one, let me read this verse. This is from Acts 27, just before this. It mentions a hurricane and it mentions a shipwreck, hurricane and shipwreck. Bible category number one, sometimes you're experiencing pain, check this out, because of something theologians just call general sin. Sometimes you're experiencing pain because of something theologians just call general sin. Now, I'm gonna read you a verse and when I read it, you might not understand it. So let me read it and then let me explain it. This is in the book of Romans that Paul wrote to the church in Rome before he got there, okay? And this is what he says in Romans 5. He says, therefore, just as sin entered the world through one guy, through one man, he's talking about Adam. Now, here's the, just track with me, be a theology nerd with me here for a second, okay? What the Bible teaches is that Adam was what theologians call the federal head of mankind. We actually have this concept like all over the place. So for instance, the president of the United States, no matter who that is, acts as the federal head of the nation in that when he makes a decision, that decision is, watch this, it's imputed to everybody that's under his leadership and his decisions have ramifications

for people who are under his leadership. The Bible says that God created Adam and Eve as quote, this is a theological term, the vice regents of all creation, the federal head of all mankind in such a way, that's what this verse means, in such a way that when Adam sinned, his decision to rebel against God had ramifications that were imputed to everything that was under his leadership, all of his progeny, all of his lineage, that's you and me and all of creation that he was put on earth to steward and lead. So when the Bible says, sin entered the world through one man, it's going, hey, the federal head sinned and that had ramifications for everything after it, watch this, and death came through sin. So because he sinned, death entered the world is what it's saying and in this way, death came to all people because all sinned. Now, here's what you gotta understand, this is a really, really, listen man, this is so important, this will really trip people up, okay. You do not live in a perfect world where everything works as God wants it. You right now live in a fallen world where nothing works as God designed it and he wanted it. So God made everything good and he gave life, but then sin came in and it made everything bad

and it brought death. Now, here's why that matters. Sometimes people will grab me, this is a very common question and they'll be like, man, with bitterness in their heart, and I honestly, I actually kind of get it. With bitterness in their heart, they'll be like, man, Josh, why would God create a world where kids get cancer, mental illness ravages people, parents die, hurricanes happen, shipwrecks, why would God do that? Listen, listen, this is really important. The answer to that is he didn't. He didn't create that kind of world. God created a world where everything was good and wonderful, sin corrupted that world, so the world as you're experiencing it now, check this out, is not as God created it, this world is as sin has corrupted it. Now, let's go a layer deeper and talk about what that means for the pain that you experienced in your life. Now, check this out. I just want you to zoom out and think about the Apostle Paul in Acts 28. So here's what he just did. In the last three chapters, he survived a mob that wanted to kill him, a group of like little special ops, Jewish ninjas that made a blood oath to assassinate him, a death sentence trial before a homicidal maniac with the emotional stability of a Kardashian sister,

a hurricane, a shipwreck, barbarians. Now in Acts 28, he's like finally for the first time sitting in front of a fire, warm, somebody else made him a fire. He's getting to warm his hands for the first time in at least two weeks after a shipwreck. I think he's finally singing, I can see clearly now because the rain is gone. He's like, finally, everything's great. And the second he tries to warm his hands, a viper attaches itself to his hand. Now, if I was Paul, I would have been like, come on. That's what I would have done. Not Paul, here's all he does. All Paul does, shakes it off, keeps telling people about Jesus. Shakes it off, keeps telling people about Jesus. Now, here's why Paul is different than you and me. There's a secret to Paul being able to be happy no matter what was going on. Let me show it to you. Paul says this in Philippians, check this out. He says, I have learned to be content. That's another word for constantly happy. Just I'm cool with what's going on. Whatever the circumstances, that's another word for happenings. I'm coming back to that. I can be happy no matter the happenings. I know what it is to be in need.

I know what it is to have plenty. I'm good either way. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. That's another word for happenings, whether well-fed or hungry. Now, I'm getting ready to read a verse that you've seen in like every gym for the last 30 years that taken out of context. Whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all this through who? Through Christ who gives me strength. That's not about benching 250. That's not what that's about. Now, check this out. Here's what you gotta understand. What Paul is saying here, listen, he's saying there's a difference between happiness and joy. Those are two different things, happiness and joy. Happiness is based, it comes from a root word. The root word is happenings. Happiness comes from happenings. When what you want to have happen to you happens to you, then you can be happy. But when what you don't want to have happen to you happens to you, you can't be happy. Now, newsflash, big problem. What you want to have happen to you doesn't usually happen to you. So if you're doing your thing on happiness,

then it's gonna go up with the stock market and down with the stock market. Kids are awesome one day and crazy the next day. Everybody's applauding you one day, one day. Listen, I've learned this real fast. One day you're a hero, the next day you're a zero. If you are basing your joy, the baseline of your heart on happenings, good luck to you. Good luck to you because you live in a fallen world where stuff is not gonna go like you wish. Go back to that verse. But what Paul does here is he goes, hey man, I'm not doing happiness, I'm doing joy. Watch this, happiness is based on happenings, but joy is based on Jesus. And here's a big idea, is that happiness goes up and down with happenings. But listen to me, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So Paul goes, hey man, if I'm shipwrecked, I'm good. If I'm in prison, I'm good. If I'm out, I'm good. If I'm worn by fire, I'm good. If there's a viper on my hand, I'm good, I'm gonna be okay. Now let me make an application and move on to this next one. Listen, what I'm trying to do right now,

if you're not on Team Jesus yet, I'm discipling my people. So when you hear this, you may be like, just go with me. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, what you gotta do is you gotta fight for your heart and you gotta be rooted not in the happenings of this world, but have a heart that's hid with Christ on high, like the word says. You gotta fight for that. I'm gonna tell you what I do, because I'm just like you, man, stuff did not. always go good for me. What I gotta do is when I'm going through it and stuff's not good, I'm just gonna tell you what I do. I get out, I get out in the country a little bit, I take a few miles walk and on my iPhone, I got a little iPhone note with a bunch of lyrics of hymns. And I get out in a country and I just walk around where nobody can hear me sing in Jesus' name to God be the glory, nobody can hear me sing. I just get out there and man, I just worship my way back into it. And I'm not talking about like prom songs for Jesus, like, oh my gosh, Jesus, you're so great. I just wanna lay my head on your chest and look in your eyes, like floppy wet kiss, that's not my thing, I hate those songs. Our team doesn't sing those songs, we kill those songs fast, our team doesn't sing that stuff, I hate that stuff. I'm talking about like,

a mighty fortress is our God, like, I'm talking about old rugged cross. I'm talking about like amazing grace. I'm talking about come now found stuff. And I'm just gonna tell you, man, if I get out in the country and I start singing that stuff, it does something to me. And here's what happens, when I start, my problems feel real big and my God feels real small. But worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, and by the time I'm done, my God feels real big and my problems feel real small. So you gotta fight for that, man. By the way, that's why this thing matters. This is not a game. We get up here and we do all the things, we sing the songs and we pray the prayers and we read the book, all that stuff, you're rooting your heart in Christ on high. So that's number one, let me do the other two fast. Number two, there's a second reason you'll experience pain in this life, check this out. It says this, Paul said to them, my brothers, watch this, although I've done nothing against our people or against the customers of our ancestors. Another, watch this, Paul's going, I'm innocent. I didn't do nothing wrong, okay? I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

Then he says this, they replied, we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect. Now Bible nerd note for a second here. It says sect right here in Acts 28, because for the first hundred years of Christianity, they didn't view Judaism and Christianity as separate religions. They just viewed Christianity as a sect of Judaism. Oh, those are the Jewish people who believe that Jesus fulfilled the messianic promises and that the Messiah already came. So for the first hundred years, they were just like, it's like a denomination of Judaism. And what they're saying here is, hey man, everybody's throwing shade at this little denomination or this sect of Judaism, okay? Now, category number two, sometimes you are experiencing pain in life, not because of general sin, watch this, but because of human sin. Somebody sinned against you or watch this, you did something dumb and you sinned against you. Sometimes you're experiencing pain because of human sin. Now, sometimes it's other people. Now you saw this, Paul didn't do anything wrong. He was innocent and they hated him. Newsflash, sometimes you're not suffering because you did something wrong, you're suffering because you did something right.

You had a backbone, you had courage, you stood for righteousness, you didn't come off your convictions, you didn't flinch when the moment came. And listen, when that happens and you are firm in your faith and you're reverse engineering your life from the only thing that matters, listen, you are going to have moments where the world will hate you. They will hate you. So let me just say this, do not be surprised when this world hates you, my Christian friends, do not be surprised. You're like, oh, Josh, why not? Why wouldn't we be? Why shouldn't we be surprised when people hate us? Because we literally have a verse that says, do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters in the world hate you. There's literally a verse that says this right here, okay? So I just wanna point this out. If you think that you're gonna worship a guy who got crucified by the world, but you're gonna worship that guy and you're gonna be applauded and commended by the world, bless your heart, as my grandma would say. Bless your heart that you think that. So sometimes it's other people. Here's the other one though. Sometimes it's not other people's sin.

Let me just shoot you straight, man, I love you. Sometimes it's because of your own sin. You screwed yourself over is what you did. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. I'll change that next service. It was your fault, okay? So here's what I mean. Like sometimes me and Jana, like we're praying with people in the lobby and somebody will run up and they'll say something like this. They'll say, oh, Pastor Josh, would you pray for us? The devil's attacking my relationships. Devil's attacking my relationships. And we'll be at a campus and we'll be like, oh man, hey, tell us what's going on so we know how to, what's going on in your relationships? You know, well, man, I'm in this habit. I'm going to the club like every single night. And you know, when I'm going to the club like every single week or whatever it is, I hooked up, you know, I'm dating like three guys. I hooked up with one of them. And you know, we got pregnant and now I don't know who the dad is. And all the other ones are mad at me and it's just gone terrible. And the devil's attacking my relationships. You know, it's the second time I want to be like, I would never say this, but I'm thinking is,

hold up five fingers, make a fist, punch yourself in the face, it's you. Only thing that Taylor Swift ever got right, hi, it's me, I'm the problem, it's me, it's you, you're the problem, okay, that's it. So sometimes it's not other people, it's your own sin that's causing all this stuff and what you gotta understand, listen to me, man, what this world will disciple you into is this world's gonna say, hey man, you do you. Affirm every desire you got, any inclination you got, every emotion you have, you need all, you're a yes girl, go queen, you need everybody around you cheering on every little feeling you got in your life and if they don't do that and they're bad for you, that's what this world is gonna disciple you into, follow your heart, cheer every emotion and feeling you have. What the word says instead of the world is the exact opposite. Your heart is deceitful above all things who can know it. So what this means, listen, man, I'll just point this out. Nobody has ever hurt you more than you. Nobody has ever lied to you more than you. Nobody has ever let you down more than you. Nobody has ever broken more promises to you than you. This is why what we gotta have, and listen, I say this all the time and I don't think you ever believe me and someday you're gonna believe me. This is why you gotta have a band of brothers around you

or a band of sisters around you, dudes or ladies that they love Jesus and they love you and they actually have beliefs and convictions that are formed, that they can be around you that you have, watch this, you've deputized in your life. You have given permission and authority in your life. Hey bro, if you see something off in me, I need you to get in my life and say, hey man, something's off, you're drinking too much and you need to quit. You need somebody in your life who can say that stuff to you. Hey man, how you're talking to your wife, it's not good. It's gonna hurt you man and you're gonna pass it down to your kids. You need somebody in your life that you put a badge on in their life who can say that to you and listen, watch this, whenever they do it, if you get defensive when they do it, in the words of the great theologian Ice Cube, if you get defensive when they do it, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself because that's exactly what you're gonna do. You gotta have some people in your life who will call you out when the worst comes out, okay? Now, last one, third category of, there's a third reason that people don't think of that's a reason some people experience pain in their life. And when I read it, you're gonna be like,

you are really weird. I'm not really weird, I really wanna be into the word and this is what the word says, okay? Let me read it. We already read this verse but let me point something out. So Paul gathers the brushwood, puts it on the fire, a viper, a poisonous snake driven out by the heat fastens up on his hand. Now, almost every Bible scholar you will come across thinks that it is not a coincidence, listen real close to my language, that right before Paul testifies to Christ in Rome, a serpent, are you seeing this? A serpent attacks Paul. Side note, cause this is real awesome. A serpent attacks Paul, he is unharmed by the attack of the serpent. He shakes off the serpent into the fire, side note, cause this is real, real awesome for you Bible nerds. That is a preview of coming attractions of exactly what Jesus is gonna do to the serpent in the book of Revelation. The serpent will attack Jesus, he's gonna be like, bro, that didn't even do nothing, shake it off into the lake of fire and that burns forever and Jesus is good. That's a little preview of coming attractions. Now, what you got right here is third reason you may be experiencing pain in your life

is not general sin or human sin, it's demonic sin. It's demonic sin, okay? Now, let me do this, let me do this fast and then land it, okay? So this is, if you're like, ah, sounds weird, sounds weird. Okay, it sounds a little weird to me too, but go with me. If you go read the book of Job, here's the, listen, this is the entire point of the book of Job. Job chapter one, Satan comes to God, very interesting. Satan has to ask God for permission to attack Job, very interesting. God grants Satan permission for a greater purpose, I'm coming back to that, and then Satan comes and he essentially takes everything from Job's life except his wife, that's always been very interesting to me. He's like, I think something was going on with her and Satan was like, I think she's on my team, I'm leaving her, that's what I think was going on. And I will just, listen, I will just point this out, she's the only one that's like, curse God and die, that's what I think you should do. So I think Satan was like, she's on my team, I'm leaving her. So he takes everything except Job's wife and then for 40 chapters, 40 chapters, Job's got these idiot friends, Larry, Moe, and Curly, if you don't know who that is, that was a boy band in the 80s, and Larry, Moe, and Curly, and they're all sitting there and because these guys, go back to the three categories,

I didn't tell you I was gonna do this, go back to the three categories, because Job's buddies, they only had this category and this category, they didn't understand that this category existed. So because they only understood general sin and human sin, for 40 chapters, Job's buddies are like, hey bro, if you're suffering, it must be because you did something wrong, no other reason you could be suffering. That's the only reason. If you're in pain, it's because you committed a problem or a sin. So for 40 chapters. As they do this, finally, at the end of Job, Job finally speaks up and he shakes his fist at heaven, proverbially, and he goes, essentially he's going, God, I got some questions. And listen, man, what I'm about to say, some of you are in a spot right now where you're going, God, I got some questions. Let me just gently step into something that's got a bit of an edge to it. I love you, let me pass to you for a second. Job goes, God, I got some questions. As soon as Job goes, God, I got some questions, God himself steps forward and he said, oh, you called? And what God says to Job is he says, who is this who darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?

And in the Hebrew, what it literally says is this is, I'm quoting the verse. He says, gird up your loins like a man and sit down because I'm gonna demand some answers of you. I'm gonna translate that in a 2026 English. That's, hey man, strap on your jock strap, you're fighting with your maker today. That's literally what God's saying. Gird up your loins like a man, sit down, I'm gonna ask some questions of you. And Job sits down and God just starts asking him questions. Honestly, it gets a little sassy. He starts asking Job questions. He's like, hey, Job, where were you when I scooped out the Pacific Ocean? Do you know? Hey, Job, where were you when I pulled the Himalayas out of the ground? Hey, Job, where were you when I twisted a double helix and I created a language more complex than any computer programmer has ever messed with? And that's what's in every cell of your body. Essentially what he's doing is going, hey, Job, if I'm as big as the Pacific Ocean and you're the size of a Coke can, you better expect there to be some things that don't fit, brother. When he's going, he's going, hey, you can't even, he's saying, Job, you can't even lick your own elbow and you think you're gonna understand

everything that's going on? Who are you? Who do you think you are? And listen, watch this. Job never gets an answer to his question of why he was suffering, but he gets the presence of God. And the presence of God was better than an answer to his question. That's the story of the book of Job. Now watch this. What that means is it was never revealed to Job that he didn't suffer because of his sin or anybody else's. The only reason Job suffered was because of demonic attack and sin against Job. Now, that sounds weird. Here's why this is really important. It really matters how you frame in your mind pain when it comes to your life. Because if when pain comes into your life, you think God must be punishing me, then you'll blame God and run from him. But if when pain comes in your life, you think Satan must be attacking me, then you'll trust your heavenly father and you'll run to him. See, this is really, really important. Now, let me just say this and then let me land it here. I need to talk to you for a second. If you're not a Christian, you're not on team Jesus yet, you have never been in your need of the worship of Jesus Christ.

I love you enough to tell you the truth. So let me tell you the truth real quick. Man, here's reality. If that's you and you've never been transferred from the domain of darkness into the domain of lightness, so the Bible says, then listen, you need to know that you live in a world, the Bible says that Satan is the little G God of this world. He is the quote, prince of the powers of the air, the New Testament says. And if you are outside of Christ, you're not full of the spirit, you haven't been adopted by the father, what you need to know is that the little G God of this world, Satan, he is indescribably more powerful than you, unimaginably more intelligent than you. He's been studying you like an NFL coordinator studies the defense for thousands of years. He is more full of malice and hatred than you will ever understand. The book of John says, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. He looks at you every single day. And the only thing that he wants is he wants you dead. He wants everything good in your life gone. He wants you, your life and your lineage destroyed. And the thing that he's coming after more than anything else in your life is he wants to take away your faith

or keep you from ever coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Because listen, it's got an edge to it. I'm just telling you reality, because the thought of you and your children and your children's children burning in hell for eternity is a gleeful thought to him that he rejoices in. So if you're not in Jesus, listen, man, you should be scared. You should be terrified. You should think of nothing else day and night. It should bother you every single second because the reality is that he that is in the world, Satan, is greater than you. He's greater than you. But, and that's a big but that I like and I cannot lie. But, but if you have been, listen, if you've bent your knee to Jesus, you have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, adopted by the heavenly father, sealed by the Holy Spirit, then what the Bible says is that, yes, the one that's in the world is greater than you, but he is now in you and greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You got nothing to fear, man. You ain't got nothing to fear, nothing to fear, okay? This is what you got. This is how you defeat. Demonic sin, okay. Now, here's the question.

Here's where we're gonna land it. What do you do with it? What do you do with pain? Watch what Paul did. Here's where I'm gonna land it. Watch what Paul did. What Paul did is he reframed every pain he experienced into serving the purpose of his life. And here's a little side note, okay. The happiest people you'll ever meet, they're not people who have fewer problems than you. Everybody's got problems. They're not people with fewer problems than you. The happiest people you'll ever meet are people who have a purpose in their life that's greater than their problems that make all their problems worth it. This is what Paul says here. He goes, and we know that in all things, actually, I want you to say it out loud. Those two words, say all things. One, two, three. All things. In all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to, what's that word? Called according to his? Purpose. This is what Paul does,

is he transforms all these pains into purposes. Now, here's what I mean, okay. People will do little theological debates. Hey, here's a theological debate we had in college. We'd sit in dorm rooms and argue about dumb things. Does God cause pain? Or does God allow pain? You can debate that all day you want. I got a theory. You can debate that all day you want. Here's what no Christian can debate. The debate is not whether God causes pain or allows pain. Here's what we know. God always uses your pain. He uses it. And this is like the little Easter egg of Acts 28, okay. So let me show you something I didn't show you before. So we read this earlier, that Paul gets to Rome and watch this. He stays, there's soldiers guarding him. It's like military vets are guarding him. For two years, he stays there. We don't know a ton about what Paul did in those two years, but this is really cool. What we do know is that whatever he did, he proclaimed Christ with boldness. He was a man of courage and without hindrance. Nobody's gonna stop, stop. This is all we know. Now, what we also know is that while Paul was in prison,

bookmark this in your head, in Caesar's household. While Paul was in prison for those two years, he wrote four books of your New Testament that you got in your lap. He wrote Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and a book called Philippians. Now, let's go a layer deeper. There's this little verse in Philippians you read a million times, and when you read it, you didn't know why it was cool, but it's really, really cool. Remember, Paul's in Rome, bunch of soldiers guarding him from Caesar's household. He's telling about Jesus. When Paul writes Philippians, when you get to chapter four, Philippians four says this. Paul just kind of throws this into this letter. He goes, hey, church at Philippi, all God's people here where I'm at, they send greetings, especially, and remember he's talking about Christians, especially those that belong to Caesar's household. What that means is that Paul was looking at all these soldiers guarding him, and the soldiers were going, you're chained to me, and Paul was going, uh-uh, bro, you're chained to me. You got to listen to me tell you about Jesus Christ every second that you're chained to me. And so many of those dudes got saved that when he wrote Philippians, he was like, hey, hey guys, there's a whole bunch of Christians over here

in Caesar's household, and they want me to tell you, keep going, good job, we're on team Jesus with you. That's what that is. Watch, watch, watch, Paul's pain became his platform, his trial became his testimony, and his greatest ministry came from his deepest misery. God will do that for you. Now, here's where I want to land it. Here at the Rockwall campus, we just had one of my favorite church members go to be with the Lord by two, two and a half weeks ago. Dude sat right over there from my vantage point to the left of the sound booth. He's got an aqua shirt over here is where he was sitting. This guy's name, man, he was one of the good ones. This guy's name was Kelly Goudreau. Any of y'all know Kelly? Kelly Goudreau, Kelly Goudreau is a good man. Kelly Goudreau served on a security team, you know, served in student ministry for a long time. I got a picture of me and Kelly. That's a few pounds ago for me. That's me and Kelly. And please take that down. And Kelly, Kelly was sitting right over there and he was praying every week. He'd come in an hour before services and he'd just sit here and worship as the worship team was warming up. About five years ago, Kelly grabbed me and Jana in a lobby

and he was like, hey, pastor, will you pray for me? I've just, and he had a big smile on his face. I've just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and they're just telling me I've only got a few months to live. And for the next five years, he told us nearly every time we saw him, hey, will you pray for me? I've been diagnosed with terminal cancer. They tell me I only have a few months to live. And we prayed for that for five years. And he always asked the same thing. Would you pray for me that I'd have. have faith through it to share Christ with everybody I can. And dude, I'll be honest, as a pastor, sometimes you look at that stuff and you're like, man, I don't understand what you're doing. And you're like, why do you got to take one of the good ones? I would have taken one of the bad ones, you know? Like, you know, I wish it'd be like, you know, Jihad lightning bolt, you know, whatever it is. Take the rough ones. It was like, man, Kelly. And Kelly, a few years ago, here's what he did. He started asking the question, huh, I wonder if God put me in this spot so that I could turn it into ministry. Kelly started a ministry that a lot of you are familiar with called Hope Bags. And what Kelly did is he took a Bible.

He was a Bible guy. One of those dudes just read the Bible every day, prayed every day, and he acted like it. He took his Bible where he had highlighted all the verses that encouraged him during his cancer fight. And he had hundreds of verses highlighted. And he got a whole bunch of leg pointers together, and he took those Bibles, and they highlighted all the verses in those Bibles that encouraged Kelly in his fight with cancer. And they put them in these bags that said Hope Bags with a whole bunch of little equipment, supplies that people who are fighting cancer need. And they started mailing them to people fighting terminal cancer all over at DFW to share the love of Christ with people who are in it in the middle of the fight. Well, this thing, it took off, and over the last few years, they have mailed 6,000 Hope Bags to people in 40 states, in eight countries, in two languages. And just last week, they started mailing for the first time their first pediatric Hope Bag sharing the love of Jesus with children fighting cancer. There was this dude, there, make your eyes sweat. There was this guy that literally this week walked into an oncologist's office in Dallas and told him that he went to Lake Point. The oncologist was like,

oh, I don't know a lot about your church, but I know a lot about one guy from your church. And she was like, but Hippolaz, I can't say who. And he was like, can I guess? She was like, sure. He said, was it Kelly Goudreau? And she was, you know, and did this little thing. Yeah, ding, ding, ding. And here's what the oncologist said. I don't think she was a church person, but the oncologist said, I don't think she was a church person, but the oncologist said, here's all I know. No one in history has had more effect on the patients in this oncologist department than that man, Kelly Goudreau. And no one has had a bigger impact on my nursing staff ever than Kelly Goudreau because of his faith, his steadfastness, and his joy through the midst of his fight. Listen, man, three cheers for Kelly Goudreau. Well done, my friend. Well done, my friend. Well done. Well done. Here's the deal, man. I don't know what you got going on. I don't know what you got going on. I don't know which thing is going on. What I do know is God wants to turn your pain

into a platform, a trial into a testimony, and your misery into ministry. So can I do that right now and just pray for you? I wanna pray for you right now. Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus Christ, friend of sinners. Father, thank you like your word says that you are near to the brokenhearted and you save the crushed in spirit. So Father, I pray that your presence would draw real near to people. If they just, like your word says, draw near to God, he'll draw near to you. I pray that they just wiggle a little pinky toe in your direction and you just come running, you just come running, and they would feel the presence of their loving Heavenly Father. I pray for our people that they would press their head real tight up against the chest of their Heavenly Father, that every day they'd just be going, all right, Lord, I'm yours. What do you got for me? What do you got for me? And Lord, I pray that you would raise up disciples at Lake Point, that what we do is we leverage every second of our lives, everything that we're entrusted with, whether in plenty or in want, that you would make us people who are like,

man, how can I use this to throw a haymaker for the kingdom of God and share the love of Christ with everybody everywhere? Father, would you do it? I pray that you redeem all those pains and comfort your people in the midst of trouble, and I pray it in the crucified, resurrected name of Jesus Christ. And all God's people said, amen.