Sunday Morning Service - Jul 26, 2026

Oh, we trust the name of Jesus. You are the only King forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only King forever. Forevermore, you are victorious. You are the only King forever. Forevermore, Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only King forever. Forevermore, you are victorious. We lift our banner high. We lift the name of Jesus. Throw nature away to reign.

Your kingdom has no end. We lift our banner high. We lift the name. Of Jesus. Throw nature away to reign. Your kingdom has no end. We lift our banner high. You are the only King forever. Forevermore, you are victorious. You are the only King forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only King forever. Forevermore, you are victorious. And we'll just go straight into straight, uh, great things. Come let us worship our king.

Let us bow at his feet. He has done great things. See what our savior has done. See how his love overcomes. He has done great things. He has done great things. Oh, in heaven, you conquer the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom. Oh, again, alive. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. You have done great things. Faithful through every storm. You'll be faithful forever. You have done great things. Oh, and I know you will do it again. Oh, your promise is yes and amen. You will do great things. Oh, God, you do great things. Oh, he will do great things. Oh, in heaven, you conquer the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom. Oh, again, alive. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. Faithful through every storm. You will do great things. Oh, and I know you will do it again. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our savior, your name lifted high.

Oh, Jesus, our savior great things, let's sing that again, hallelujah, oh, hallelujah, God above it all, hallelujah, God above it all, hallelujah, you have done great things, oh, hero, you conquer the grave, you free a free captive and break every chain, oh, God, you have done great things, we dance in your freedom, oh, again, oh, Jesus, our Savior, with your neck lifted high, oh, God, you have done great things, you have done great things, oh, God, you do great things, hallelujah, God above it all, hallelujah, God unshakable, hallelujah, you have done great things, oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, God above it all, hallelujah, God unshakable, hallelujah, you have done great, one more time, hallelujah, oh, hallelujah, God above it all, hallelujah, God unshakable, hallelujah, you have done great things, yes, and we'll end that right there, so that's a little bit different, I think, than the track, so basically, right after we do that tag, uh, uh, you do great things, oh, God, you do great things, and then we go straight into, hallelujah, God above it all, and then we'll do that three times, and then on that last time through, we'll end on the one, but we'll kind of, like, give it a little retard, and we'll do, uh, hallelujah, you have done great things, and kind of trash can it out there at the end, does that work, is that, like, is that okay with everyone, does that work, cool, okay, man, when we got to that chorus, it was just like a wind came in, and there is such an anointing, and as I was just worshiping that, and messed up, and got lost, but I just want to pray over Kylie, because Kylie, when I was singing this song, I thought, you know, he's above it all, and even though he, it didn't seem like it was what he did in the surgery was a great thing, even though it seemed like it wasn't, but he's above it all, he knows, so, Father, I just want to pray for you, just thank you, then whatever that we're going through, Lord, and whatever the world's going through, you are above it all, you're greater than it all, Lord, you're working in it, in it all, Lord, that we do not have to be, um, disillusioned, we don't have, our hopes are in you, and in you alone, so, Father, for those that are gathering today, that come in, Lord, with a heaviness on them, Father, I just pray that the heaviness would be lifted, Lord, as we lift our eyes to you, as we literally position ourselves, that you are above us, you're in us, you're around us, you're on us, Lord, but you are above all things, we just thank you, Lord, that the dreams that are in our hearts, Lord, Cheyenne, Kylie, all those things, Lord, you know, Lord, you know, and we can rest in you, in Jesus' name. Thank you for praying over that, Lisa. Yeah, there was, there was a, there was a shift there, I felt that, too. Wow. Thank you, Lord. There is one on the throne, Jesus, he's holy. He is worthy of praise, all the honor and glory. There is one on the throne, Jesus, he's holy. He is worthy of praise, all the honor and glory. So we sing, worthy is the Lamb, who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. The elders, creatures fall, giving praise to him and him alone. There's no one like the Lord. There is one on the throne, it's Jesus, oh, and he's holy. Yes, you are, Lord, he is worthy of praise, all the honor and glory. We sing, worthy is the Lamb, who was slain and seated on the throne. There is no one like the Lord. The elders, creatures fall, giving praise to him and him alone. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, we cry, worthy is the Lamb. Who was slain and seated on the throne. the throne there's no one like the lord and all of the elders creatures bow giving praise to him and him alone there's no one like the lord we crown you king of glory we crown you king of glory we crown you you are worthy we crown you you are worthy we crown you you are worthy we crown you lord of all we crown you king of glory we crown you king of glory we crown you king of glory glory we crown you lord of all we crown you you are worthy we crown you you are worthy we crown you you are worthy we crown you lord of all oh we cry worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne there's no one like the lord the elder's creatures bowed giving praise to him and him alone there's no one like the lord oh we cry worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne there's no one like the lord lord the elder's creatures bowed giving praise to him and him alone there's no one like the lord there's just no one like you lord there's no one like you lord there's no one like you lord can you guys do the good life the lord there's no oh come down also when they're doing the there's there's no one like the lord and i'm kind of ad living i'm not doing like an exact count i'm just gonna do it a little bit and then i'll say we crown you and then we'll know that's where we come back okay if i try to count it i get like sometimes you feel it but i'm not gonna one you know thing right okay so we're doing those note transitions for the that little interlude there every eight counts does that work okay Cool. Where are we starting? There's no one like the Lord. Oh, when the elder's creatures fall, giving praise to him and him alone, there's no one like the Lord. Is this? Like the Lord. This is right before, like, the whole long interlude, right? There's just no one like you. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, there's no one like you, Lord. There's no one like the Lord. Yes, there's no one like the Lord. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, you're the king of kings. There's no one like the Lord. Yes, and you're the Lord of lords. We crown you today, Lord. Oh, we worship you. We honor you, Lord. There's no one like you. There's just no one like you, Jesus. Jesus. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, we sing praises to your name. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, there's no one like the Lord.

Yes, we crown you. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you, Lord of all. We crown you. You are worthy. We crown you. You are worthy. We crown you. You are worthy. We crown you, Lord of all. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you, Lord of all. And we crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, Lord of all. Oh, we sing, oh, worthy is the Lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, and all of the elders, preachers, bow, giving praise to Him and Him alone. There's no one like the Lord. There's just no one like you, Lord. Oh, there's no one like you, Lord. I'm okay with ending it like that. So the, when it's, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you just hang out on that, is that a major one? Okay, well, I'm really trying to learn those things.

So yeah, hang out on the major one. No, let's go in. Okay. Most worthy, worthy of praise, exalted above all things. My God, you are worthy of praise, exalted above all things. My God, you are my God, your splendor and majesty. Your wonder fills everything. My God, you are my God. Holy is the Lord, holy is the Lord Almighty, seated on the throne, seated on the throne. The throne of glory, I am lifted up. Your presence fills the temples and we worship you. We worship you. Creation points to the King. The heavens can't help but sing to you. To you, oh God. My God, you are my God, holy is the Lord Almighty, seated on the throne. Your wonder fills everything. My God, you are my God, holy is the Lord Almighty, seated on the throne. the lord holy is the lord almighty seated on the throne seated on the throne of glory your presence fills the temple and we worship you we worship you holy holy is the lord holy is the lord almighty seated on the throne he seated on the throne of glory your presence fills the temple and we worship you we worship you you hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who died and rose again hallelujah to the holy is the lord almighty seated on the throne of glory holy name above all names glory and honor and power forever hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who died and rose again hallelujah to the holy name above all names glory and honor and power forever hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way hallelujah to the one who came and made your way Holy is the Lord Holy is the Lord Almighty Seated on the throne Seated on the throne of glory High and lifted up Your presence fills the temple And we worship you Worship you Hallelujah Hallelujah to the one Who came and made a way Hallelujah to the one Who died and rose again Hallelujah to the only name Above all names Glory and honor And power forever Hallelujah to the one Who came and made a way Hallelujah to the one Who died and rose And rose again Hallelujah to the only name Above all names Glory and honor And power forever Glory and honor And power forever Glory and honor And power forever What is E? Yeah, what is that? Yeah, I think we kind of just trash can on the A Yeah, yeah, just stay on the A for that ending Uh-huh Oh, I did it two times I sure did Probably not Yeah, that was just a mistake Yeah, so probably not Also, Christy, on the words We sing it Your presence fills the temple And we worship you Just for a little theological tweaking Is that possible to change that? Thank you so much And the original is when? Yes I know We always sing it in Owasso as and Because we're like, wait His presence is always in the temple, right? It's not dependent on our words It's always there So, yeah, okay, cool Yes, I will do that after Holy is the Lord, holy is the Lord I might have seen it a little I will go straight into the bridge there After just one time So, that was my bad Thank you, guys Okay, does anyone have any questions on anything? Thank you But the instrumentals was fine We did it three times Yeah, okay, that's what I was thinking I never used this one before And it was, well, who's that?

It's all the way up We're the only people Forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king Forever Almighty Lord You are victorious You are the only king Forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king Forever Forevermore You are victorious Yeah All of them Same Yeah You are the justice Yeah You are an exception You are an exception All of who is anger In your name In the name of Jesus Jesus In the name of Jesus In the name of Jesus You are the only king Forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king Forever Forevermore You are victorious You are the only king Forever Almighty God we lift you higher You are the only king Forever Forevermore You are victorious We lift the name of Jesus From age to age Your kingdom has no end We lift our banner high We lift the name of Jesus From age to age You reign Your kingdom has no end You're the only king forever Almighty God we lift you higher You are the only king forever Forevermore You are victorious You are the only king forever Almighty God we lift you higher You are the only king forever Forevermore You are victorious You are victorious. Lord, we thank you. We thank you that you do great things. We thank you for who you are, for what you've done, Lord. We thank you that you're faithful. We worship you today. Let's sing this out together. Come, let us worship our King. Come, let us bow at his feet. He has done great things. See what our Savior instead. See how his love overcomes. He has done great things. Oh, he has done great things. Oh, hero of heaven, you conquered the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom. Oh, we get alive. Oh, Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. You've been faithful through every storm. You'll be faithful forevermore. You have done great things. Oh, and I know you will do it again. For your promise is yes and in. You will do great things. Oh, God, you do great things. Oh, hero of heaven, you conquered the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God. You have done great things. We dance in your freedom. Oh, we get alive. Oh, Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, God above it all. Hallelujah, God unshakable. Hallelujah. You have done great things. Oh, oh. Hallelujah, God above it all. Hallelujah, God unshakable. Hallelujah, you have done great things. Oh, oh. Hallelujah, God above it all. Oh, oh. Hallelujah, God unshakable. Oh, oh. Hallelujah, you have done great things. Oh, oh. You conquered the grave. You freed every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom. Oh, we get alive. Oh, Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high. Oh, Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high. Oh God, you have done great things, you have done great things, oh God, you do great things, hallelujah, God, above it all, hallelujah, God, unshakable, hallelujah, you have done great things.

Lord, we praise you, we praise you today, hallelujah, God, above it all, hallelujah, God, you're unshakable, hallelujah, you have done great things, come on, let's declare that one more time, hallelujah, God, above it all, hallelujah, God, God, unshakable, hallelujah, you have done great things, you have done great things, you have done great things, you Jesus, still doing great things, Lord, you're the King of kings, Lord of lords, hallelujah, there is one on the throne, it's Jesus, he's holy. He is worthy of praise. All the honor and glory. Just worship him. There is one on the throne. It's Jesus, and he's holy. Yes, you're holy. He is worthy of praise. All the honor and glory. So we sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. Elders, creatures bound, giving praise to him and him alone. There's no one like the Lord. There is one on the throne. It's Jesus, and he's holy. Yes, you're holy, Lord. And he is worthy of praise. And all the honor and glory. Oh, we sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. And all of the elders, creatures bound, giving praise to him and him alone. There's no one like the Lord. Oh, we sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. There's no one like him. Elders, creatures bound, giving praise to him and him alone. There's no one like the Lord. And we crown you king of glory. Elders, creatures bound, giving praise to him and him alone. There's no one like the Lord. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you lord of all. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. We crown you, you are worthy. king that's who you are today we crown you king of glory we crown you lord of all oh we crown you you are yes you are worthy we crown you you are worthy we crown you lord of all we cry worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne there's no one like the lord yes and all of the elders creatures bow giving praise to him and him alone there's no one like the lord yes we cry worthy we cry worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne there's no one like the lord yes and we oh yeah giving praise to him and him alone there's no one like the lord there's just no one like you lord my savior there is there's no one like you just lift your voice and tell him there's no one like the Lord he's the king of Kings today he's the Lord of Lords oh he's a wonderful counselor there's no one like the Lord there's no one like you in all the earth Lord we join with heaven's angels and sing to you you're holy you're holy we worship you oh there's no one like you oh say there's no one like you Lord there's no one like you Lord there's no one like you Lord one and only there's no one like you come on let's sing we crown you we crown you King of glory we crown you King of glory we crown you King of glory we crown you Lord of all we crown you Lord of all we crown you Lord of all we crown you Lord of all we crown you you are worthy yes crown you you are worthy we crown you you are worthy we crown you we crown you lord we crown you king of glory we crown you king of that's who you are we crown you king of glory we crown you lord of all yes we crown you you are worthy we crown you lord you're worthy we crown you you are worthy we crown you lord of all oh we cry worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne there's no one like the lord and all of the elders creatures bow giving praise to him and him alone there's no one alive one more time we crown we crown you king of glory we crown you king that's who you are lord you're the king of glory today we crown you lord of all oh we crown you you are worthy yes we ground you lord you alone are worthy you alone are worthy and we sing out worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne there's no one like the lord all the elders creatures your spouse giving praise to him and him alone there's no one like the lord there's just no one like you your chief most worthy worthy of praise exalted above all things my god you are my god your splendor and majesty your wonder fills everything my god you are my god holy is the lord holy is the lord almighty seated on the throne he seated on the throne of glory I lift it up, your presence fills the temple and we worship you, we worship you Creation points to the king, the heaven can't help but sing to you, to you Holy is the Lord, holy is the Lord almighty, seated on the throne, seated on the throne of glory High and lifted up, your presence fills the temple and we worship you, we worship you Holy is the Lord Holy is the Lord Holy is the Lord almighty, seated on the throne, seated on the throne of glory High and lifted up, your presence fills the temple and we worship you, we worship you To the one who came and made a way, hallelujah, to the one who died and rose again Hallelujah to the almighty Hallelujah to the one who came and made a way, hallelujah To the one above all names, glory and honor and power forever Hallelujah to the one who came and made a way, hallelujah To the one who died and rose again, hallelujah To the only name above all names, glory and honor and power For it is pure glory and honor and power For it is the Lord, holy is the Lord almighty Seated on the throne of glory I lift it up, your presence fills the temple And we worship you, we worship you Hallelujah to the one who came and made a way Hallelujah to the one who died and rose again Hallelujah to the only name above all names Glory and honor and power forever Hallelujah to the one who came and made a way Hallelujah to the one who died and rose again Hallelujah to the only name above all names Glory and honor and power forever Glory and honor and power forever Glory and honor and power forever Come on, give him praise, give him praise, church.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Paul speaking to the Philippian church, he said, speaking of Christ, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that at the tongue, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Hallelujah. We join with all of heaven this morning, church. Come on, what a privilege we have to worship the Lord. Oh, what an awesome privilege we have. Oh, what an awesome privilege we have to worship the Lord. Oh, what an awesome privilege we have to worship the Lord. Join in with all creation to exalt the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Lord, we praise you. We praise you today. Hallelujah. Glory to God. We're going to continue in our worship this morning. We have a baptism this morning. I believe two, two young kids, all right?

And Jonathan's going to lead us today. So you can go ahead and be seated this morning as we worship there together with them. Yeah. Today, we have the honor as a body to celebrate with the family. We've got a brother and a sister that are going to be baptized today. This is Asher and Chandler. And we're going to start with Asher. I'm going to kneel down right here by you, okay? You just, yeah, just sit just like that. Perfect. I've known this family for many years and had the ability to minister to them and kids church and even connection and sports and the community and things like that. And it is an honor. It is an honor to get to baptize you this morning. So let me ask you a question. Asher, have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Then on the profession of your faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And this is Chandler. Chandler, you just had a birthday. How old are you now? Eight years old. So Chandler, I'm going to ask you the same question. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Then on the profession of your faith, I baptize you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We're blessed this morning that our elementary students get to be a part of moments like this. But now, if our lower elementary would go ahead and make their way to their class, upper elementary will remain in service with parents. We've got our youth camp going on. So, so many of our youth team and some of the students in that class are away today. So we'll have upper elementary with us in service. Hello. There we go. Well, let's give the Lord another great big hand clap. Can we do that? I love that. Thank you, Eslick. We got so many Jonathans around here. We have to go by our last name. Jim said, Jonathan's baptizing. And I thought, oh man, did I forget something here today? I just caught me quickly there.

Hope you're doing all right and doing well this morning. My name is Jonathan Cook. If I've not had the opportunity to meet you, part of the pastoral preaching team at Destiny Life. Glenn is over in Owasso this morning. We are in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. We're on a... A series called Steadfast. And last week we were talking about being steadfast in truth. Today, I'm going to talk about everybody's favorite subject. You ready for it? Steadfast in suffering. I know we all love to hear about suffering, but I hope that today the Holy Spirit will really encourage you in the truth of the word. You know, we can't help but be influenced to some degree by this, the society that we live in, what we've been raised in. We can't help but be affected by that to some degree. And so oftentimes we've grown up in a relative comfort. And, you know, even if you've had a challenging life individually, as a whole in society, we've kind of lived in a comfortable place, if you will. And sometimes that can creep into the church. I want to talk a little about that today. The things that Paul the Apostle would just kind of say, not flippantly, but not with near the seriousness maybe that we would say them. I want to talk a little about that in 2 Corinthians 11 today.

Let me kind of give a summary at the beginning of the chapter to lead us to where we are today. I'm going to do that by just talking about my wife for a little bit. I told the congregation last week in Owasso that my wife recently has let me know. How many of you guys know there's things that wives can say to husbands that husbands can't say to husbands? Things can never say to wives. Are we clear about this? Okay. And so we were driving not long ago, and my wife just happened to mention to me that she does not quite trust my driving quite like she did, you know, 30 years ago. Like I noticed that when we would take a road trip, you know, two miles down the road, she was asleep 30 years ago. Now she never sleeps. I don't know if there is a correlation there or what, but I think it was in one of those times. I think it was in one of those times that I was just veering a little bit as I was driving. And she made that comment to me. I said, honey, I pay taxes on both sides of the road. I'm going to utilize it. And so one of these times we were just kind of, you know, veering off, and I hit that, I guess they call it a rumble strip, you know, where they cut out the pavement, you know, like that, like you feel like you're firing a machine gun or something as you're kind of veering off the road there. And they put that there as a warning. Not for you to freak out, not for you to yank the car back on the road, but for you to realize that you are veering out of the lane. In fact, I would submit to you sometimes, I had forgotten about this until I actually was talking last week, that sometimes when you yank the car, do a do us. Some of you guys know Nathahi has known each other for years. And I remember one time we had gone to a service. I can't remember if Alicia and I were dating or just married, but we were very new in our relationship. And so we were coming back and I said, Nathah, why don't you drive my car and I'm going to just sit here in the back with Alicia and we're going to chat while you drive. And so he had not had his license very long. That should have been my first clue. And so he's driving and, you know, I'm talking to Alicia. We're not really paying attention. You know how you are, just young, other's eyes, hallelujah. And all of a sudden we feel that and he panics and he yanks the car this way. Yanks it across and I'm and I'm yelling, no, Nathah, don't do it. Don't. And so he freaks out again. He yanks it back to the right. And we are like almost duck walking down the road. Alicia, at that time, when she when she gets nervous in the car, she would just say, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. So she's she's yelling and I'm yelling. And finally, I convinced Nathah to let his hands off the wheel and take his foot off the gas. And fortunately, nobody was coming. But I just remember duck walking that little Honda. Accord all the way down this highway and realizing what happens when you panic in a moment and you just yank it rather than just veer back onto the road.

And Paul, at the beginning of 2 Corinthians chapter 11, is saying to the Corinthians, he said, I'm concerned that you guys are veering off. I'm concerned. I'm concerned that you've allowed. He kind of says it facetiously. These super apostles to come in and begin to lead you astray. In fact, they're preaching to you a different spirit than I preach. They're preaching to you a different Jesus that I preach. They're preaching to you a different gospel than I preach. And he said, I'm concerned that you're falling for it just like Eve did. And, you know, when when you hit that rumble strip on the road, how many of you know the road has not moved? Now, sometimes we are tempted to think, oh, the road moved. The road is wrong. I'm right. The road is wrong. Right. The road didn't move. Your destination didn't. You didn't change. You just veered off a little of the course. You just didn't make a total right turn, but you veered off a little bit.

And he said to him, he said, I'm concerned that you have been deceived just like Eve was. And I don't know if you remember the story in Genesis when the serpent comes to Eve and he deceives her. He doesn't just initially slap her face, slap her in the face with rebellion, so to speak. You ever notice about the enemy that oftentimes he. He doesn't come to us and just really hit us straight in the face with something. He will say something that may have been sounds like there's a part of it that's true. And he being good, we begin to question things and veer off. Look how he did it with Eve in Genesis. The first thing he says to her is this. He gets her to question God. He said he said to her, did God really say, you know, you remember there was this tree and God said, you can have the whole of the garden, but don't. Don't mess with this tree. And and so Satan kind of calls Eve into question. Did God really say that? He just called. He just kind of plants that thought. And then he distorts God's character. Right. He implies to Eve that she's going to be left out. If she doesn't do this, she's going to be left out. And then finally, he just flat out contradicts God's warning. God said, don't eat this tree. You're surely die. And the enemy says to her, the serpent says to her. You will not surely die. And I don't know if you've noticed in your own life that sometimes that you might even find yourself really in the throes of sin. And you didn't just jump right into it. Right. It was it was a veer off of sorts. Oftentimes it start. Well, not oftentimes. All the time it starts in deception because sin is always deception. Sin is always the buying of a lie that there's something out there better for me than what God intended. Right. So there's always deception in in sin. But did you notice that this this veering? Visible act of rebellion that we witness as Eve and we witness as Adam comes and eats the fruit fruit because he was dumb, too. And so sin enters the world there as Adam eats the fruit. But there this outward sign of rebellion really began with an end of an invisible drifting of her thoughts. Right. Like her mind. That's why I think it's so important for us to really give ourselves to the word of God. I appreciated James talking last. Last week about, you know, he for a lot of the years early on in their life there, he's traveling and preaching quite a bit. And when he stopped doing that, he's asking himself the question, OK, am I going to really start? Am I going to apply myself to the word of God? Not because I'm preaching, but because I'm a believer. Right. And I don't know if there's a better time in history than today, I should say, in history than today for us as believers to be saturated in the word of God, because we live now. That's always been true. True, for sure. But we live in the so-called information age. I mean, it's unbelievable the amounts of information that is at our fingertips and even at our voice. You can talk in your phone and receive information on literally anything in literal seconds. Now, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I'm going to let you know this is a this is a public service announcement for everybody here today. Everything on the Internet is not true. OK, I want to make sure everybody's got that. OK, everything on the Internet is not true. And yet we're bombarded with so many ideas. How do you know what ideas are true and which ones are false? Because I say to you today that probably the the fault, the faulty ideas that catch the most traction are the ones that on their surface seem like they have a little bit of truth in them. Right. But when you begin to peel the layers back, you begin to see them for what they are. And the only way that you and I as believers are able to really combat faulty ideas is through knowing the truth. And the only way that we can really know the truth is to apply ourselves in the scripture. So Paul is saying there at the beginning of 2 Corinthians 11, he said, I'm concerned that you're being deceived. I'm concerned that you're looking at things and you're measuring things and judging things by the world's way of judging things and not by God's way of judging things. So basically, when you veer off and you hit that rumble strip, you might be driving in Oklahoma, which means that when you veer back onto the road, there's probably still a whole bunch of bumps on the road, too. Because if I have any complaint about Oklahoma, y'all know I call myself Oklahoma evangelist and advocate. I don't let people talk bad about Oklahoma ever. But I got to tell you, I consider myself an okie now. So I'm going to say this, OK? Our roads are terrible. It's awful, right? So you might get off of that rumble strip and get back on the road and still find yourself on a really bumpy, difficult road. Well, that's what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about the reality that sometimes, you know, you might be drifting. Sometimes there might be sin. Sometimes there might be something and you're walking the consequence out for that in your life. But as you drift back, as you come back.

As you drift back onto the road, it's possible that you still are finding yourself walking through a very difficult time, even though you're doing all the things that you know are the right things to do. And my question for us this morning would be, what do we do with that? When I'm, quote unquote, doing everything right. When I'm doing what I believe God has told me to do. When I am walking in all the things that I know God's told me to do. When I am reading the word. You know, we're keeping score to ourselves. When I'm being a, quote unquote, good. Good Christian, right? When I'm doing all those things and yet I'm still walking through a major battle. What do we do with that? Because I think that the enemy uses, he uses a lot. But I think there's two primary tactics that the enemy often uses to attack our faith. And those two things are, one would be distraction. I think there's times when we get distracted by things. And the other one is difficulty. We can be, if, again, if the enemy can't just smack you in the face. With it, he'll distract you. In fact, he'll distract you with even good things. He'll distract you with things that we call ministry, right? So we start chasing after things. We start doing a whole bunch of stuff. But we forget while we're doing it. Or difficulty. Because sometimes we're following Christ really faithfully. And yet the road is still hard. So I want to talk this week about this. How basically what it looks like to remain faithful. Or we're using the word.

This year of standing when the road itself becomes difficult. If you don't get anything else this week. Here's kind of the big idea for lack of a better term. Steadfast believers remain faithful through affliction. We receive God's comfort right in the midst of it. And then God uses what he forms in us through that to carry others. Let's start reading in verse 16. 2 Corinthians 11. Paul says, I repeat. No one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool so that I may do a little boasting. In this self-confident boasting, I'm not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. So he just says here, hey, God wouldn't talk this way. The Lord wouldn't talk this way. But let me just take a moment since you guys seem so impressed with these other knuckleheads, super apostles, he calls them. Let me just take a minute and boast. Like they've been. Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise. Paul was a little sassy at times when he was writing. In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. To my shame, I admit that we were too weak for that. Whatever anyone else dares to boast about. And then he says, I'm speaking as a fool. I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. So he calls boasting foolishness multiple times. In essence, he's saying to them, hey, two can play at this game of just bragging on themselves, if you will, but I realize and recognize just how foolish that it is. So it's important to know he's not endorsing this. He's just exposing it for what it actually is, right? It's boasting in. It's boasting in man-made things. It's boasting in things that people can see. And he's temporarily adopting the value system of the Corinthians so that he can really prove a point of revealing just how foolish that it is. Here's the first point today that I want to say. I want us to choose our measurement. Jonathan, what do you mean by that? I'm glad you asked. The world measures by what we see as great or impressive. When the world is measuring people, this is exactly what's happened in Corinth. They're measuring people. We have a tendency to look at the outwardness and the impressiveness of the person. Boy, that person is really well put together. Boy, that person carries himself well. Boy, that person is really intelligent. Boy, that person speaks very well. Whatever the case may be, we, and it's not that any of those things are bad in and of themselves, you know? If you're going for a job interview, comb your hair, get the mustard off your shirt, brush your teeth, I mean, it's okay to present yourself well. In fact, if you're going out of the house, you could do that. It doesn't have to be a job interview, okay? Nothing wrong with presenting ourself well, but if that is the thrust of who we are, if that's what we're putting all of our efforts into, and if that's the only thing we're perceiving when we receive people, then it's empty. So the world measures by what they see as great and impressive, but God measures by what he calls faithfulness, right? Am I being faithful? And something, and often, I got to tell you, often, God's measurements is not what we perceive as good, and so we sometimes ignore that. We don't measure by the same thing that God does, and what happens is we confuse what attracts attention with what really carries God's approval. Here's what the Corinthians had done. They looked at confidence of these super apostles, and they saw authority. They didn't see real authority. They just saw confidence. You ever met anybody that was super confident? You ever met anybody that was super confident but really did not have any reason to be super confident? That's what these super apostles, we call that cocky, right? We call that arrogant. Often, we point that out because it's in us and we don't see it. That's a whole nother message. Glory to God.

Okay. They looked at domination, and they saw strength. When they saw that these super apostles were really dominating them, Paul said, and they're being abusive to you, and what the Corinthians were perceiving in that was strength, right? They looked at Paul's suffering. He's about to tell us about his suffering. They looked at Paul's suffering, and they saw weakness. So they're in this comparison. They're seeing these apostles, these so-called super apostles that have come into court that have basically said, listen to us, don't listen to Paul, and they're seemingly talking about their accolades to kind of sell themselves to the Corinthians, and they're juxtaposing that with Paul to say, look at Paul's weakness. Look at all the stuff this guy's going through. He doesn't have it together. This guy's not going to do it. This guy's a hot mess. Look at all that he has. And so Paul says, I'm going to boast just like them for just a minute, even though it's really foolish. And so the Corinthians see one thing, but God sees something entirely different. These super apostles, evidently, they had a whole lot of this outward display of strength, and they had a whole bunch of it, but guess what it was? Counterfeit. It would be like this. If you went and filled up two... Suitcases full of Monopoly money.

You got $2 billion in Monopoly money, and you walked up into the super Walmart over here, and you just piled your cart full of groceries, and you went up to the cash register, and you slung those suitcases on the cash register, and you flipped them open. $2 billion of Monopoly money, and you cannot even buy a pack of gum. Why? Because it's not real. It's counterfeit. And in essence, that's what these super apostles were, and that's what they were presenting. They were presenting the $2 billion, so to speak, but it was just Monopoly money. There was no tangibleness to it. There was nothing they could do with it. And Paul says, I can play that game, and I can brag on this, but the reality is when you stand before God, that currency, this self-promotion, that bragging, it really doesn't buy anything. What really matters, what really is tangible, what God really measures by, and what really attracts God's attention is faithfulness. That's really, really what grabs his approval. So my question for us today would be this. How are we presenting ourselves? It's twofold. How do we present ourselves? Do we let God speak on our behalf, or do we commend ourselves, right? And then the other side would be, how do we perceive others? What measurement do we use when we encounter men and women of God? Is it the outward impressiveness that we see? Is it the spiritual authority that we discern? Is it the faithfulness that we see in their life? Or are we impressed by things that the world is impressed by? Again, it's not bad to present yourself well. It's not bad to be confident in who God's made you to be. All those things, it's just we get in two ditches because when we put all our eggs in that basket is when we really mess ourselves up. So that's really the question for us today. 1 Samuel 16, very familiar story to many of you. When Samuel the prophet goes and he's trying to anoint one of Jesse's sons, God's told him to go anoint one of Jesse's sons to be the next king of Israel. And Jesse brings out all of his sons that look so impressive, and God doesn't choose any of them. And in essence, Samuel says to Jesse, he says, you know, man looks at the outward, but God looks at the heart, right? God looks at the heart, right? In Mark 10, you see about rulers lording over people, but kingdom leadership doesn't lord authority over people, right? True servanthood, true greatness is expressed through really serving people, right? Paul himself, same one that wrote 2 Corinthians here, writes Philippians. Jim quoted from Philippians this morning. He writes, And, you know, he basically says, hey, I've got some of these credentials. And Paul was as credentialed as you could be, absolute brilliant man. And yet he says, I count all of that as rubbish, garbage. It's nothing in comparison to really knowing Christ. And I wonder how many of us could say that today.

Again, nothing wrong with improving ourselves. Nothing wrong with growing. In fact, I encourage you to do that. Grow in the scripture, grow in your knowledge, grow in your profession, do all those things, put tools in your tool pouch. I think that's great. And yet when we stand before God, all of that is nothing in comparison to really knowing Christ. And I say to you today, I hadn't really planned to say this in my message, but I don't know, maybe in this service, I feel there's maybe some people here to hear this. You've really walked in obedience to what you felt God has told you to do, but the outward, fruit of that and circumstances is not what you expected it to be. And I want to say to you today, there's nothing greater in your life than you can do than to be obedient to God and leave the outcomes to him. I'm not saying it's easy, but I'm going to say to you, his grace, we're going to preach about this next week. His grace is sufficient for you right now in the midst of it. So lean into him, lean into his body. In that order, by the way, because we can lean into people before we lean into God and not even realize I'm putting more dependence on those that I'm talking to about this than I am God. So lean into God first. Jonathan, what does that look like? Cry out to him in prayer. When you're frustrated, when you're angry, when you're sad, when you're hurt, when you're confused, just let God know that because can I let you know this? He already knows. Let him know it. That's calling out to God, right? God, I don't understand. Would you comfort me in the midst of this? Because I trust you. I know that you're only good. I know that you only have my best interest in mind. I believe I'm walking in obedience to you. I'm going to continue to walk in obedience to you. Would you sustain me right in the midst of the trial I'm walking through? I believe that's a word for somebody here today. See, once Paul corrects their definition, if you will, of greatness or impressiveness, he starts listing what his faithfulness, his own faithfulness had. Cost him prisons, beatings, dangers, hunger, sleepless nights, exposure. So first thing is we want to choose our measurement. Here's the second thing we need to do. Count the cost, right? Being faithful when obedience hurts. Have you ever been obedient to God and it hurt? If you've been a believer for more than, I don't know, five or seven minutes, probably that's look at verse 23. Remember, he's asking them these questions. Are they servants of Christ? And then he says, I'm out of my mind to talk like this.

I am. I'm more. In other words, I'm more of a servant of Christ than they are. I've worked much harder. Look at this. This is probably the most concise list that we have in the Bible of Paul's just suffering. I've worked much harder. I've been in prison more frequently. I've been flogged more severely, been exposed to death again and again. We pass by this verse quickly, but I'm going to read it real slow. Five times I've received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. One, 39 lashes, five separate times. Three times I was beaten with rods. That was what the Romans did. He got whipped by the Jews 39 times or five times, 39 lashes. Three times he's beaten with rods. That was by the Romans. Once I was pelted with stones, by the way, pelted to the point that they thought he was dead, left him. Brother got back up and walked back into the same city that they had just drug him out of. I don't know if we have those guts.

Three times I was shipwrecked. I don't think I'd ride on a ship with Paul. Paul, you go ahead. I'll catch the next one, buddy. Now, I got to be honest with you. This next part might be the most terrifying of all these. I spent a night and day in the open sea. I would be terrified of that. I've been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false believers. In other words, I can't escape it. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. I mean, just, I mean, if any one of these things were to happen to us, how would we handle it? The only way, I'm going to submit to you, church, and this is the crux I want to say to you today. The only way that you could handle it would be the same way that Paul handled it. He had to be comforted in the Lord. He had to have such a narrow-minded, for lack of a better term, that he would really believe and live out what he says in Philippians. All of this other stuff I count is lost in comparison to really knowing God. Do we really know God? Do we really know him? Affliction, by the way, doesn't mean that God's abandoned us. Sometimes we look at that and we think, dude, what did you do? You must be, quote unquote, out of the will of God. I grew up in a movement. That's what we thought. If things were not going well, I must have missed God. Now, you might have made some bad decisions, and you might be suffering the consequences of decisions. That is a real thing. You might be suffering the consequences of sin. That is a real thing. But you might be right smack dab in the middle of what God has called you to do and to be and still really walking through it because Paul was right in the middle of the will of God and went through every single one of those things. In fact, I'm going to submit to you, it was because he was in the center of the will of God that he went through every single one of these things. If he just stayed a Pharisee, he was on the fast track to be the man, and he could have just had a comfortable and easy life. Can I say to you, I'm not trying to preach at you. I like comfort. I mean, I haven't met anybody who doesn't like comfort. If you don't like comfort, then we need to pray for you or something. But if we allow that comfort to hinder us, church, to hinder.

From knowing God, from counting the cost, from saying, Lord, whatever it is that you want me to do and be, I'll do it. Now that comfort has become a stumbling block to the will of God in our life. So affliction doesn't mean that God's abandoned us, but it is a place where he really brings comfort to us, strength to us, and his grace really to change us. In fact, Paul lists these sufferings here almost casually. You know, he just kind of bang, bang, bang. He just goes. He just goes through it. But think about how we started this letter. Way back, I don't know, it was January, February, and we preached through this in chapter one. Look at the verses three and four. He says, all praise to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful father. And look at this part right here. And the source of all comfort. Look at this verse four. He comforts us in all our troubles. That means that right in the midst of all that Paul is talking about, the shipwrecks, the beatings. The lack of sleep, the danger, that in the midst of all of this, the God of heaven, our merciful father is bringing comfort to me. And then he tells us, we'll get to this in a minute. Why? So that we can comfort others when they are troubled, and we'll be able to give them the same comfort that God has given us. So Paul's intentional in his repetition. If you read kind of the first seven verses of the, of this letter to 2 Corinthians here, he repeats this word comfort 10 times. He talks about affliction. He repeats that five times. By the way, biblical affliction is suffering that's experienced while you're walking in obedience to God. Often it's suffering that you experience out of faithfulness or just the reality of living in a broken world. It's not punishment for sin. And there's consequences to sinful actions. Uh, there is a reality to sowing and reaping out into that. But affliction is something that happens to you. Not something that you bring on yourself through. I've heard people say before, you know, I've been afflicted because they sinned. You know, they, they haven't repented. And they said, oh, I'm walking in, in the affliction. I'm saying, no, you're not walking in affliction. You're walking in the consequences. Now I love you. Let's pray and ask God to comfort you. And let's ask for you to repent.

But it's not, it's not that you're walking in faithfulness in the will of God. It's you just walking in rebellion. That's a side note there. He says the source of the comfort. Here's what it is. The source of the comfort is from who God, please hear this. The source of the comfort is from who God is in circumstances. Because how many of our prayers could be boiled down to this? Please get me out of this. Now I'm human and I, and yet we don't ever, we don't really ever hear Paul pray in that stuff. We preached a series here years ago. Y'all have heard me reference this. It just messed me up for the rest of my life. We called it the prayers of Paul. And we went through all the prayers that Paul documents and in his letters. And I kept asking myself this question. The Holy spirit brought to me, Jonathan, does the content of your prayers match the content of Paul's prayers? Because oftentimes our prayers are like a demand list for God, right? We come and kind of, and it's okay to bring your petitions to God, but like that's sometimes that's the totality of our prayers. We just bring this, you know, list for God to do.

And then we go on about our business. And we come back the next day or the next week or the next month or the next time we pray, whenever it is. And we say, Hey God, you got three of those, but if you could knock the other four out, that'd be great. Right? So the content of our prayer and Paul doesn't pray that way. I just started. And there was times when I could look at him and say, yeah, I think, I do think that the content of my prayers are Paul. There's other times it was like, Ooh, Jonathan, you're missing it. And that, and it changed the way I pray. I mean, it's, it's, it's really messed me up. Look at, um, by the way, God is not merely comfort. He, Paul says he is the source of the company. Again, it's back to really knowing God. Look at Psalm 34 verse 18. The Lord is close to the broken hearted. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. I want to read that again. If you're walking through a challenging time today, would you just right here in the midst of this service, allow the Holy spirit to really bring comfort to your heart. The Lord is close to the broken hearted. He rescues those. Those whose spirits are crushed. I'm actually gonna take a moment and pray over that right now. Father, you are aware of every person watching online and every person in this building, what they're walking through. Lord, I know some are walking through real challenging circumstance, real pain, real thoughts. I'm asking you right now, Holy spirit, right here in the midst of this message that you would like only you can do Holy spirit bring comfort in Jesus name. Amen. Look at verse four. He says he comforts us in our troubles, right? In our troubles. He doesn't say from our troubles or out of affliction, but in affliction, he brings comfort. And I'm convinced that God really uses challenges in our lives, difficulties in our lives to really shape us into the men and women of God that he's called us to be. Um, I don't know if you ever thought about, um, carbon, anybody ever thought about carbon? I guess that's an element, right? Ladies got a diamond ring. Ladies got a diamond ring. Wave at me. Got a diamond ring. Nobody's got a diamond ring. Okay. A few of y'all got diamond ring.

Now, let me ask you this. If when your husband proposed to you, he came up to you, he went down here to Walmart, super Walmart, and he bought a bag of charcoal. Okay. And he took one of those briquettes. Is that what they call them? Briquettes out, right? And he took you to this nice sweet spot and he got down on his knee and he gave you that one piece of charcoal. He said, honey, you mean so much to me. I want you to spend the rest of your life with me. And he gave you that piece of charcoal. You'd be like, bro, I might not need a ring, but I sure don't need a piece of charcoal. And yet that diamond and that charcoal are in essence the same material. They're both carbon. The difference is the carbon in that charcoal is basically at the surface, you know, of the earth. It doesn't experience a lot of pressure and the processes of that like a diamond would. So temporary charcoal that just burns up and easy, it's not enduring like a diamond. That diamond has been formed. It's down in the earth. Now, I know they got a lot of lab-made diamonds now, so-called man-made diamonds now, right? But the pressure of that in the depths of the earth of a natural diamond, same thing, both are carbon. But that charcoal is formed close to the earth and does not experience a whole bunch of pressure. And the diamond is deep in the earth with a whole lot of pressure. And that's really the main difference between that briquette and that, you know, thousands of dollars of rare. I always wonder, how is this rare? Everybody's got one. This is not rare. This is the greatest sham in the history of the world. That's a whole nother message right there. I just throw that out there. Ladies, forgive me. I'm sorry. I just got on my soapbox for a second. But here's the reality, right? I mean, and what does that look like for us in our own life? You know, all of us have met people that you meet them and you see the depth of the character and the depth of spiritual maturity in their life. And in fact, I'm going to say to you, I don't know if I've ever met anybody who was really spiritually mature that had not walked through great challenge. Why? Because through that and through their response, God has used that to form them and to shape them into the man or woman of God that he's called them to be. There's a counting of cost. See, it's different processes between that briquette and that diamond, but it's the same truth.

What do we do with hardship? Because it matters. God doesn't always remove us from the pressure, but he definitely forms us while we stand right in the midst of it. Paul's sufferings, as I said, were really connected to his obedience to Christ, the advance of the gospel, his love for the church, his faithfulness in his calling. So the question. Is it really in our life? Is it really this? Is it difficult? The question is really, am I remaining faithful to Christ in the middle of it? Right. Am I remaining faithful to Christ? And every single one of us are going to walk through challenges in life. Every one of us. Obviously, when you read this, this this passage here, when Paul lists all the things that happened to him, you recognize it did like in the book of Acts. Some of this is covered, but not all of it. So there's a lot that Paul endured that's not covered in Scripture. Jonathan, what does that tell you? Well, here's what it tells me. That not every painful season in our lives is going to be publicly known. There might be some of it is publicly known and that's fine, but there might be a lot of it is not publicly known or fully understood.

Some faithfulness is only known to God. Sometimes you're faithful and the only person that is going to know that is God. Nobody else is going to know. Look at verse 28 and 29. Besides everything else. So he lists all these things that happened to him. And then he says, besides everything else. Kind of like those things are nothing. I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Wow, that's a mouthful there. Who is weak and I do not feel weak. Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly burn. What's he saying? He's saying in addition to all of these outternal, external things that have happened to me, I carry daily the weight of the churches, which includes you, Corinthians. Which one of you is hurting that I'm not hurt? Or weak and I don't feel weak? Which one of you is in sin that I don't burn inwardly inwardly out of it? So we got to choose. What are we going to measure success, if you will, by? What are we going to? How are we going to count the cost? Lastly, is this how are we going to carry the church? He says you're walking through this in the beginning of the book that that God is bringing comfort to you so that you can comfort others. See the comfort and the strength that we receive in the midst of that affliction really becomes the grace that God uses in our lives. In our life to help others walk through those challenging season. I'm grateful for a house full of people that are faithful believers, mature believers that have walked through challenge and yet turn back around out of that challenge and help others walk out that challenge as well. It's the beauty of the body of Christ. See, Paul, he didn't minister to them from a safe emotional distance. Now, I'm not saying that there's never appropriate time for safe emotional distance and boundaries and all of those things. But Paul really gave himself to the Corinthians. He's saying when believers were weak, he entered into their weakness. When they stumbled, he felt the burden. When the churches struggled, he carried them in prayer and concern. This is the heart of true spiritual ministry. False ministry ask this, what can these people do for my ministry? True ministry ask this, what can I endure to see these people formed into the image of Christ? Now, I know that everybody here is not. An apostle, I know everybody here is not a preacher, so to speak. Everybody here is not what we might consider a quote unquote leader in the body of Christ. But every single one of us that is a believer, God has called us to minister to other people.

That's why we say every member is a minister. We don't mean that every person is a preacher in the sense that we think of a preacher, but every single person is somebody that God has reconciled to himself. Now he's given unto you the ministry of reconciliation. He's given you to you to be an ambassador for him. So here would be my question for us today. Let's just bring this scripture down to 2026 practicality. Who are we carrying? I want you to think about this. Lisa, you can come to the keys if you would. Who are you praying for consistently? Who are you helping to grow in Christ? Who are you encouraging through weakness? Who are you walking with through difficulty? In other words, who are you giving your life to? Now? I don't want you to hear that in condemnation, but I do want you to hear that in challenge. Because if we're not giving our lives to people, then we're missing ultimately what God is desiring to do in and through us. Don't let the suffering or affliction that you walk through be wasted by it only impacting you. Let what God formed in you spill out. Let what God formed in you spill out onto other people to be a blessing and a source of encouragement to them. See, mature and steadfast believers, they don't only ask, who's carrying me? Here's what they ask. Whom has God entrusted to me to carry? I'm not responsible for people, but I am responsible to them. Galatians 6.2 talks about bearing one another's burdens and how in doing that, it fulfills the law of Christ, right? Paul, again, in Galatians. He says, I labored until Christ was formed in these believers. 1 Thessalonians, he says to them, we ministered to you and among you like a nursing mother. Like, in other words, we were caring for you. You know, it was in gentleness and care that we ministered to you. So he says there now, if I must boast, I'm going to boast in the things that really reveal my weakness. Again, he's talking about these super apostles who were bragging on how great they were. And Paul says, I'm going to brag for a minute on myself. It's foolish to do this. It's not what the Lord would do, but I'm going to do it. And now he comes down to verse 30, and he says, if I must brag, I'm not going to brag on all my accolades and all the great. I'm going to brag on weakness. I will boast of the things, verse 30, that shows my weakness, that God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. In other words, these false apostles boasted in what made them appear strong. And Paul says, I'm going to boast in what makes my dependence on God absolutely undeniable.

So what are we bragging on? Ourselves, how we made it through, how we pulled ourself up through our own bootstraps, and all, or are we bragging on God, bragging on God? There's a great story. Let me just finish with this. Most of you would know this story if you've been in and around church in Genesis 32. Jacob, Jacob's got a brother named Esau, and Jacob, that name means deceiver. He grasped Esau's heel. He was coming out of the wound, and so Esau's got the birthright, and Jacob's a mama's boy, and he basically steals his birthright. I won't go through all this. He steals his birthright, and he runs because Esau's going to kill him. Esau's kind of, you know, a man's man, if you will, and rough guy. He's going to kill him, so he runs. And now all these years later, God's blessed Jacob tremendously. He's a wealthy man, and he's coming back, and he's going to see Esau, and he's nervous. You know, he's nervous because he hadn't seen him, and he's thinking, I mean, he might still be there. He might still be mad at me. He might still kill me. And so he sends his family ahead and sends, you know, livestock, sends an offering to him, and he, in Genesis 32, has this encounter with God. It says that he sees him face to face, and he wrestles with the angel of the Lord until daybreak, and he says to him, I'm not going to go until you bless me. And this angel of the Lord, many think is a pre-incarnate Christ, touches him in his hip socket, and he limps.

It makes him limp. Now, we don't know if he limped for the rest of his life. What? Some think he limped for the rest of his life, but he limped for some period of time, and he had this encounter with God. And here's the point I want to make to you. He had this encounter with God, and it affected him in such a way that it was undeniable that he had had an encounter with God. And every time that he was limping, he remembered, I encountered God, right? He remembered, I had this moment where I really encountered God face to face, and I walked away from that moment changed. Now, at Destiny Life, we oftentimes embrace. In fact, it would be a real major key in our philosophy of ministry. We really embrace the processes of God in people's lives. We're really patient to see God walk things out in people's lives. And I think that's right, and we need to do that. But oftentimes, that process is initiated by a true encounter with God. Now, sometimes that might look like falling out into the Spirit. Sometimes that might be emotion. Sometimes that might be in the midst of the other saints. Sometimes there's no emotion. Sometimes you're right by yourself, but you know I just encountered the manifest presence of God. And when we walk out of that church, are we changed? See, Jacob had spent so much of his life scheming, right? Scheming, trying to maneuver, planning, manipulating, relying on his own strength. And then he has this encounter with God. He enters even in the night striving with this angel, but he leaves what? Blessed, renamed. God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, right? Transformed, limping. And that limp became a permanent reminder of this encounter. So let me sum up what I want to say today by saying this. On that rumble strip, we're riding on the road, right? That rumble strip, it just reveals to us that we need to correct our direction. And we begin correcting our direction. And even if that road is bumpy, the pressure coming into our lives, the challenges, the pain, the frustrations, here's what it does. It reminds us that God is forming us and shaping us, right? And then that limp that we walk with reminds us that we're still walking because God is faithful. And I want to encourage you today. Don't allow the difficult road to convince you that God's left you. If you're a believer today, the Bible, one of the most comforting scriptures in the Bible, we quote it a lot, but it's so comforting. He declares, I will never leave you or forsake you. And maybe you're here today.

And you say, Jonathan, I got to really lean into that scripture. I want to pray that over us. Would you stand with me? Here's our challenge today. I think it's on the screen. Let's stop measuring our life by the smoothness of the road. And let's start resting in the faithfulness of our God, right? Would you bow your heads with me? You might want to lift your hands today. I lift my hands a lot when I pray. It just really is a sign of surrender to God. Lord, you know your people today. There's some that are just walking through real challenge, pain. I pray, Holy Spirit, that right in the midst of it, that you would bring comfort. God, I pray. I pray this over my own life, that I would know you in a way like never before. Lord, let me be able to say with sincerity, confidence, and truth, that all of these other things are just garbage in comparison to really knowing you. I pray that you would settle us in our place, settle us in who you've called us to be and what you've called us to do. Lord, there might be some that are drifting today. Would you align us back on the road? Would you adjust us in a way that only you can do? And Lord, I pray for those that may be really in a great season. Things are going well. Maybe you brought them through some things. Would you open our eyes to look around and see those that we could help and encourage and strengthen and come alongside and pray for and walk with and minister to? I thank you for doing it. I bless you for doing it. Lord, thank you for your people today. We bless them. These here in the building and those watching online today, we honor you. We're grateful in Jesus' name. If you believe that, say a good amen. Give the Lord a great big hand clap and you can be seated. Jim is going to come and lead us in a couple other things this morning. Wow, what a challenging word this morning for all of us, no matter what area, what things we're going through in life today. I know I really just sensed at the end of the service here, our teams, I want you to get ready. Be ready to be up here at the front when we close out the service because I just sense the Holy Spirit's just moving because I believe it touches all of us in our spirits as well and just having a heart for others. Even if our life is rosy right now, it's just great. But yet, it's a call for us to just reach out for those who are not, who are struggling right now. So, amen.

Thank you for that challenging word this morning. We're going to worship our own giving this morning. Yeah, I noticed the black book's being passed. If the black book hasn't been passed down your row, please do that. Grab it from one end and pass it down that way. Thank you so much. But this morning we're giving and it's just an honor that we are doing this as unto the Lord. It is true worship as we give. The information is there on your screen, the tithe. And you just, if you're giving by check, the envelope is there right in front of you and you can drop that in the box. In the bucket at the back of the auditorium as you leave. Also, if you're our guest with us this morning, we're grateful to have you. And if it's your first time, if you don't mind, there's a card there in front of you. Just, if you haven't already filled one of those out, fill that out for us just so we can have information about you. I'd love to connect with you. And you can drop that card as well in the bucket as we leave this morning. Let's pray together as we honor the Lord with our giving. Father, thank you for your blessings in our lives, Lord. We're truly grateful for every blessing that comes from you. Lord, today we honor you with our giving because you are faithful, Lord.

And we just thank you, Lord, for every member here that just is faithful in their giving. I pray that you'll bless them, Father, 30, 60, 100-fold in being faithful in their giving. Lord, just thank you, Lord, for faithful givers in the house. So, Lord, we honor you today, Lord, in this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you give this morning and you prepare to do that, check out the announcements that are happening around DLC. What's up, DLC fam? My name is Teddy, and we are so glad that you're here with us today. Check out just a couple of announcements that we got coming up for you. It's almost time to kick off our discipleship groups for this fall. Christianity 101, Ministry 301, and Doctrines 401 begin August 5th. For all info and to sign up, visit dlc-signup.com or scan the QR code on your C-Flyer. Our Youth Summer Summit has begun. The DLCC signup is happening this weekend. Let's continue to lift up our students in prayer as they seek God together this week. Our next Christ College class, Hermeneutics, begins tomorrow, July 27th. For all info and to register, visit ChristCollege.us. Our Meet the Family Dinner is next Sunday, August 2nd, on the Claremore campus. If you're new to DLC or relatively new, this is a great way for you to get to know some of our pastoral team while sharing a free meal. To let us know that you're coming, please visit dlc-signup.com or scan the QR code on your C-Flyer. That's all the announcements that I got for you this week. If you have any prayer needs, please let us know. We would love to walk alongside you in prayer. With that being said, have a good week, DLC. All right. Why don't you stand with me? I meant to mention something to slip my mind. And so I told Jim, Jim, I don't want to put it on you at the last minute, let me say it. I want to put out, for you guys, just as a church family, one, that you could be in prayer, but then two, you may know of somebody interested in this. We need two. we need to fill two teaching positions at CCS. The school has really grown. God has really blessed us in a lot of ways, but we need a fourth grade teacher and we need a middle school history teacher that is part-time, uh, a part-time role. And so I've, not that we have to limit it to this, but somebody, maybe a spouse that doesn't work or somebody who's retired, be interested in doing that. Jimmy, would you wave at us? This is Jimmy Sharp. If you're interested in that or know somebody that might be, get ahold of Jimmy and she can point you in the right direction. And, uh, I just want to put that out there that our church family, because obviously, you know, you want some solid, uh, teachers here at CCS. Glory to God. All right. Uh, I think that's it. I'm going to invite our prayer teams to come. And, uh, if you need prayer, we would love to, uh, pray over you this morning. And if you have any sort of need, God bless you. You're dismissed. Have a wonderful rest of your week and, uh, take some air conditioner with you on the way out. Hallelujah.