Staying Anchored in Suffering | Francis Chan

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Staying Anchored in Suffering" | Francis Chan

Crazy Love Podcast — November 10, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on how Christians can find meaning, hope, and joy in the midst of suffering. Francis Chan draws on personal testimonies, biblical insights (especially from Job and 2 Corinthians), and honest discussions about pain, community, and humility. The message: True comfort is found not by making ourselves the center, but by keeping God and His glory at the heart of our lives—even (and especially) when life doesn’t make sense.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Authenticity in Christian Community

• Church as a Place for Realness
  • The beauty of church is found not in perfection but in vulnerability and honesty.
  • Francis and Angel share the importance of a body where "everyone has something to offer," pushing back against leader-centrism.
    • "Why is everyone looking to me for every answer... You can open up this book for yourself. You can lead other people." — Angel or Testimony Speaker [00:47]
• The Power of Honest Testimony
  • Angel describes his journey of knowing Christ but then falling into greater mistakes—which, for him, made repentance both more shameful and more miraculous.
  • The church is affirmed as a place where sharing struggles does not lead to condemnation but deeper love.
    • "Church used to be a place where if you throw something out, everyone judges you... What I love about this place is you throw something out and everyone loves you more because of it." — Angel [05:44]

2. Confession, Revival, and Comfort

• Testimony as a Catalyst for Healing
  • Francis recounts an 18-year-old’s brave public confession at a high school retreat.
    • His vulnerability sparked communal honesty, prayer, and a genuine revival.
      • "Revival isn't everyone going 'hallelujah'—revival is everyone, like, bawling their eyes out before God." — Pastor [08:14]
• From God’s Comfort to Comforting Others
  • Drawing from 2 Corinthians 1, Francis emphasizes that those who receive comfort from God in their suffering are equipped to comfort others.
    • "Blessed be God who comforts us in our afflictions so that we then can comfort others when they go through the same affliction." — Pastor [09:43]
  • Rejects prosperity gospel: Suffering is a foundational part of the Christian walk; Bible never promises ease for followers of Christ.
    • "Every single book of the New Testament talks about suffering for believers." — Angel [11:15]

3. Understanding Suffering: The Book of Job

• Suffering Is Not Always Explainable

  • Francis explains that many misunderstandings arise from thinking all of life revolves around us, not God.
    • "If I'm confused about life, it's probably because I think too highly of myself... We think everything is revolving around us." — Pastor [17:38]
  • Job, the most righteous man, still suffered intensely. The book challenges simplistic explanations of pain.

• God’s Perspective Trumps Human Wisdom

  • The bulk of Job consists of people offering (sometimes wise-sounding) but ultimately misguided advice.
  • Elihu’s humility stands out:
    • "Behold, I am toward God as you are; I, too, was pinched off from a piece of clay." — Elihu quoted [16:12]
  • True wisdom: Recognizing our creaturehood and the vastness of God’s purposes.

• The Climax: God’s Voice

  • When God finally speaks, He reminds Job and his friends of His sovereignty and their limitations.
    • “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” — God speaking in Job, quoted by Pastor [22:43]

4. Wrestling with “Fairness” and the Gospel

• Redefining Fairness
  • Francis shares a story about a man with same-sex attraction who, when asked if it's unfair to remain celibate, responds:
    • "Unfair is that the Son of God who did nothing wrong, had to die on the cross for my sins… and now everything is cleansed from nothing that I did, and I get to spend all eternity with God. That’s unfair." — Guest testimony [26:48]
• Our Suffering in Light of Christ
  • When we grasp the gospel, we see our own suffering differently—we marvel at grace rather than complain about fairness.

5. Letting Go of False Security and Embracing God

• What are You Holding On To?
  • Francis uses a lighthearted story of his daughter accidentally grabbing a stranger’s arm as a metaphor: We often cling to the wrong things for comfort or security.
    • "Some of you, you've just been grabbing onto the wrong arm... Maybe today you see the ugliness of it." — Pastor [29:54]
  • The real invitation is to “let go” and hold firmly to God, our true Father who restores and comforts.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Confession sparking Healing:
  “It was the first time I really saw, like, revival happen. Because revival isn’t everyone going, ‘Hey man, hallelujah.’ … Revival is everyone, like, bawling their eyes out before God.” — Pastor [08:14]

• On Comfort and Suffering:
  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” — 2 Corinthians 1, quoted by Pastor & Angel [09:25-09:32]

• On Prosperity Preaching:
  “I’m telling you, that’s garbage. That is not what the Scriptures teach.” — Pastor [11:10]

• On Perspective:
  “If you’re confused about life, it’s probably because I think too highly of myself and we think everything is revolving around us.” — Pastor [17:38]

• On Divine Sovereignty:
  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?... I didn’t create you to judge me.” — God speaking to Job, quoted by Pastor & Angel [22:43-23:19]

• On Grace and Fairness:
  “Unfair is that the Son of God who did nothing wrong, had to die on the cross for my sins… and now everything is cleansed... and I get to spend all of eternity with God. That’s unfair.” — Guest testimony [26:48]

• On Grabbing the Wrong Security:
  “Some of you, you’ve just been grabbing onto the wrong arm... Maybe today you see the ugliness of it... There’s a real father that’s waiting for you, man, that can restore through the pain and everything else.” — Pastor [29:54-30:15]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:05] — Introduction: Suffering and centering life on God’s glory
• [00:47 – 03:41] — Realness in testimonies and the brokenness of leaders
• [05:44 – 08:28] — Stories of confession, healing, and communal revival
• [09:25 – 12:15] — 2 Corinthians 1: God's comfort and the myth of prosperity
• [12:28 – 16:28] — Job’s story: suffering, confusion, and humility before God
• [17:38 – 21:05] — “Pinched off from clay”: the place of humility in suffering
• [22:27 – 24:01] — God’s response to Job: Divine sovereignty and human humility
• [24:44 – 27:41] — Wrestling with fairness, sexuality, and the cross
• [29:54 – 30:15] — Illustration: Letting go of false securities and grabbing onto God

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Conclusion:

Francis Chan calls listeners to let go of the illusion that life is meant to be pain-free or revolve around themselves. Instead, true meaning comes when we anchor ourselves in God’s story—accepting suffering as part of the journey, allowing that trial to humble us, and trusting that our ultimate comfort comes from the Father. The episode ends with an invitation to turn to God as the only secure anchor, especially for those in times of pain.

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For more information, resources, or to support Crazy Love Ministries: crazylove.org

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

Welcome to the Crazy Love Podcast. How can we find hope, joy, and meaning in the midst of suffering today? Francis explains that our natural tendency is to look at ourselves as the center of the universe. Through the story of Job, Francis reminds us that we can only make sense of our suffering when we keep God and his glory at the center of our lives.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Man, like, that's. That's. The vision I had for church was not just one guy gets up here all the time and is always leading, but as you guys know, when your church is, man, I don't lead any of you. It's like, these people that care for.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

That's the way the body was supposed to be was like, everyone has something to offer. And for me, I was so tired of, like, going to church and feeling like I'm the one that's got to speak to thousands of people when I go, no, there's a lot of, like, crazy, crazy gifted people with amazing stories right there. And the Bible says everyone has something to give, you know? And I was like, man, why is everyone looking to me for every answer, every question? You know, you can open up this book for yourself. You can lead other people. And to me, it was like, man, that was the perfect picture of it.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

I was like, here's this guy that.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Aaron's been working with, and, you know, and then he comes up here and blesses all of us, and I'm just sitting here going, God, I have nothing.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

To add to that.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

I mean, that's just something you've done.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

In someone's life that's so amazing.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Gosh, I've so appreciated getting to know.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

You and your family, and, man, I pray that, man, Lisa and I can pour into your life somehow or serve with you guys. I love that our kids play together, hang out together. Their son, Izzy. Yeah, there really is no one like him. He was on my baseball team. You know, for those who don't know, I'm a baseball coach. It's just what I do.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

But, man, we just had such a blast, you know? And, man, thanks for opening up. That's the thing. Like, as I'm sitting there listening to them share everything, I'm going, man, who does this anymore? Like, just lays it all out there.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

I mean, a lot of us grew up in church where everyone dressed up and pretended like their life was all together, right?

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And they don't throw their garbage out there, and then you find out about it later and you go, what a.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Hypocrite, man, it's so refreshing, I think, for all of us, right? To sit here and go, you're just.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Going to tell us your whole story? You're just going to lay it all out, like, the good and the bad?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

I mean, aren't we used to church where people just come up and they.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Share all the good stuff and all their successes and they don't lay out? No, this just happened last week. No, I just messed up. No, you got to understand, where I came from, we made some serious mistakes. And then they give all the glory to God and go, you know what? He saved me from that. He brought me out of there. So, man, I'm just so thankful for that, man. That's the picture of church we want to share with the world is like, no one's up here saying, look, I've lived this perfect life and therefore God's blessed me, and you're not quite good enough. Maybe, you know, it's just like, no, we've all messed up. We don't belong here. I don't belong standing up in front of you, being a pastor to anyone. The thing that bugs me about my life is my life wasn't like angels.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

See, my life, I found Jesus at.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

An early age, but then it was like, after I found Jesus, I screwed up.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And sometimes I think that's so much worse because it's one thing, like, you don't know. And so you're going and you're doing these stupid things, and then God gets a hold of your life, and then there's a repentance story where your life starts going a different direction. But for me, it was like, no, I knew better, man. I was in high school, I knew the Lord, and I was even heading into ministry. And that's when I started screwing up my life. And it's like. And that bothers me because, man, I love hearing all these testimonies, but I'm like, man, but, man, they didn't know better. I knew better and I chose to rebel. And then sometimes, maybe some of you are like me, where you go, okay, God, is there forgiveness for me? Can you help me? The guy that knew better already knew you and maybe was even pursuing ministry. And then I turned and do all these things, and I'm on the other side of no. I was that guy that was supposed to be the protector. I was supposed to be the church leader. I already had my youth group and everything else, and then I started screwing up.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And that's the beautiful picture of the prodigal son, right in the Bible was this father who had this son who knew better, who was under Everything. And then he goes the wrong way. And when he recognizes it and says, I gotta head back, you know, the father goes running to him and puts his arm around him and puts a ring on him and has a feast for him and everything else that man, like angel says, it doesn't matter where you came from. It's like, man, today I think there's a reason why every one of us is here right now. There's a reason it was ordained that angel should share that story that I did not know he was going to share. And I didn't know some of those things. And it just makes me love you guys more. And God, man, that's the thing.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

It's like when you're real and you lay it out. You know, church used to be a place where if you throw something out, everyone judges you for it. And what I love about this place is you throw something out and everyone loves you more because of it, because you're real. And everyone can suddenly go, okay, I get it now.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Now I'm not so ashamed of the stuff of my past, man. I remember speaking at a conference, I don't even remember. I'm so far from what I was going to talk about today, but I remember speaking to this high school retreat. It was an outdoor thing like this. And this kid starts confessing up front and he starts talking about, I mean, this 18 year old kid starts talking about how he was fake. And you know, in the church we just had a time of confession.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Like, man, do you want to share sin with everyone? You don't have to, you know, but people started coming up and this one kid just starts talking about how when.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

He was, you know, 13, you know.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

He was a leader in the youth group already, but he was looking at pornography.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And then he was 14, he started.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Sleeping with his girlfriend. And then he was 15 and he started experimenting with guys.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And then, you know, and then he.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Was like, last year it got so.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Bad, I even tried to force my little brother. And everyone's just sitting here like, what.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Would possess this guy to just lay it out? I mean, he's 17, 18 years old in front of all of his peers. And I'm up there holding the microphone, my arm around this guy, like, I can't believe he's saying this stuff and he can't even talk, he's just bawling. And it's one of those moments where you're talking. These are like 7, 800 high school students, his peers that he's throwing all of this in front of. And I'M seriously in shock. I've never seen anything like this. And I'm worried now for the guy. Like, you just said this in front.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Of high school students, man.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

What's going to happen to him now? And right then, about 30 or 40.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

High school kids, unprompted, whatever, come up around this guy and start hugging him.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And crying with him and laying hands on him and praying for him and that, man. All the kids went back to their.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Cabins and everyone started confessing their sin.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

It was the first time I really saw, like, revival happen. Because revival isn't everyone going, hey, man, hallelujah. You know, it's just revival is everyone, like, bawling their eyes out before God.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And go, okay, I'm just like that kid, okay, I screwed up. I mean, after someone confesses something like that, everyone's like, okay, I'll tell you what I did. I shot a guy. You know, it's just when someone's that real and just goes, I don't care. I'm going to use what God's done in my life and I'm just going to throw it out there because I just want to be right with him. I'm just going to lay out everything that I've done and has been done to me. I'm going to lay out my background. You know, that's one of the passages we read this week, right, Was Second Corinthians, you know, that angel spoke from about us being blinded. But in 2 Corinthians 1, if you remember, in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, he says in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

All our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

In any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. So he says, you see, this is.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

A very, very important point.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

If there's one thing just the one thought I want to get across, it's that he says, blessed be God who.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Comforts us in our afflictions so that we then can comfort others when they go through the same affliction. I mean, that's exactly what angel did, right? He got up here and he's praising God. You see the joy in his life. I see the joy in their family. I see everything else. They're praising God. They're not bitter from the past and going, man, God did this to me. God did this to me.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

No, they're talking about, man.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Here's God he got us through it. He got us through it, and now what is he doing? Hey, if you're in the middle of something like this, let me now comfort you with the same comfort that God gave us. See, that's what a testimony is. It's just saying, man, I was so messed up. I was so lost. And in the midst of that, God came down. That's what 2 Corinthians 1 was all about. Look what he did in my life. And I bring this up because, man, some of you may have grown up in a church that tells you, hey, if you follow God, man, everything's going to go your way. You want a better job? Follow Jesus. You want everyone in your family to get healthy? Follow Jesus. Get rid of the sin in your life, and God's going to bless you.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And I'm telling you, that's garbage. That is not what the Scriptures teach.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Every single book of the New Testament talks about suffering for believers. It's not saying, you follow Jesus and everything's going to get better and you'll have no pain on earth. No. There will come a day, he says in Revelation 21, when, at the end of all of this, when we'll see God and he'll wipe away every tear.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

From our eyes because we will have shed plenty of them. He says, now there's no more pain. Now there's no more death.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

But while we are here, we suffer. That is such an important thing for you to learn, because I've heard of people walking away from God when they go, man, God, I was going to church. I was following you. Then all of this stuff happened to me. So you must not be real. I got a text this week, just two, three days ago, my wife and I got a group text from this gal from our old church that just.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Says, where is God?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

It's a question a lot of people ask when they go through difficult times.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Where is God?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

How could there be a God if.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

This is happening to me? Isn't it crazy that this week in.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Our scripture reading, we had our New.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Testament reading in Second Corinthians, Chapter one.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

While the Old Testament reading was in.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

The Book of Job, Right? And you guys know the Book of.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Job is all about this guy who suffered. And I used to hate the Book of Job. I used to hate it. The reason why I hate it was because people in church would abuse that book. And people in church tend to whine a lot, you know? And it's like, oh, my ankle hurts. I'm just like, job. And it's like, are you kidding me? You know, I mean, you've heard it, right? And then you read the story of Job. No. Job had his whole family die, okay? And Job was. Had sores all over his body. But not only that, Job was the most righteous man on Earth, okay? You're not like Job. You're not the most righteous. You're not the most blameless. I mean, here's a guy who's saying, man, anytime a stranger needed a place to live, did I ever turn him away? Here's a guy who said, God, you know me. I made a covenant with my eyes never to look lustfully on a woman. Need I say more?

[Pastor or Church Leader]

You're not Job, okay?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And then he goes through all of that pain and everything else. So I was always, like, bothered by Job because I'm like, oh, man, I don't get.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

But he was the blameless one.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

What's hard for me in the book.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Of Job is, you realize, here were guys that were pretty wise and pretty holy. In fact, when I look at Job's life and I listen to what he says, I go, okay, he's beyond me. And then when I hear the wisdom that comes out of the words of these people, I go, man, they're pretty wise people. And yet the whole book of Job is about. The other part I don't like is like, man, for like, 38 chapters, they're just speaking nonsense to each other.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

But these are the wisest people.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

They're beyond us, for many of us.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And yet as they talk, you realize.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

At the very end, man, those were all just these little people talking, everyone thinking they're so wise, and they're not. At the end, it's God who speaks and says, you guys were all off. There was one verse I did want to read from it, though, that I loved. It was from Elihu. I think this is from yesterday's reading, or the day before, where he says, okay, so everyone's talking, explaining to Job.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Which probably has happened in your life.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

When something goes wrong, everyone has advice for you, right? They're like, well, maybe it's this. Maybe it's this. Maybe it's a sin in your life. Maybe it's because of this.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

There's no shortage of people who want.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

To talk nowadays, right? Everyone's got advice. Everyone is just so wise, so brilliant. And, you know, I was talking to my daughter about it this morning. I'm like, hey, what did you get out of your reading in the Book of Job? And she goes, you know, it's just that it's like everyone wants to talk. And you start hearing everyone else's voice and trying to figure out who's right. When in the end of the day, you should just listen to the voice of God. And Job is. It's almost like he couldn't hear because he's talking.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Everyone else is talking.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And at the end of the day, it's like God speaks at the end. But Elihu says something.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

You know, Elihu actually was pretty good.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Because he shut his mouth for, like, 31 chapters, and he's just listening to everyone else talk.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Job's friends are like, well, it's because of this. And Job's fighting back. No, it's not. You know, they're talking, talking, talking.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And then in chapter 32, he's like.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Okay, I've just been listening all this.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Time, but now I got something to say.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Okay, I've been listening for 31 chapters.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Now I have something to say. And in chapter 33, verse 6, I just love this one verse. He goes, behold, I am toward God as you are. I, too, was pinched off from a piece of clay, okay?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

So he's probably the most humble in that group. And he goes, okay, look, I'm not.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Here like, oh, I'm all high and mighty, Elihu. I know more than you guys. He goes, I'm just like you. I was pinched off from a piece of clay, okay? In the Old Testament, I got a Clay. Clay. D'oh. But, you know, and in the New Testament, it talks about the potter and the clay, okay? I don't know any book in the Bible that humbles me as much as Job does. Because that first story is about God and Satan. That's the thing. The book of Job is not about us so much. It's about God and going, look, there's something bigger going on right now. See, if you're confused about life, this is something I realized from the Book of Job this week. If I'm confused about life, it's probably because I think too highly of myself. Whenever we're too confused about life, it's because we think too highly of ourselves and we think we're thinking about everything revolving around us.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

If everything revolves around you, life's not.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Going to make sense.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Because it didn't make sense in the book of Job. Here's the most righteous guy, and he's suffering more than anyone on Earth. You see that in chapter 21, Job's frustrated. Like, I don't get it. I see wicked people, and they're healthy. You ever thought that, man, I see some of the most evil People, and they are living it up, because that doesn't make sense. And he goes, and I know my life, man. I know how I. I look at girls with my eyes, and I. I just. I treat them like sisters, man. There's purity. I see the way it's all my stuff. I just give it away. I care. I know how I live, and I know how they live. So why does it look like their life is so easy and mine's so messed up?

[Pastor or Church Leader]

See, even Job was like, I am getting confused by this thing. Then Elihu comes up. He goes, okay, I want to say something, but I'm not, like, high and.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Mighty above all you all.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

He goes, I was pinched off from a piece of clay, too. It's this picture of. Here's God, okay? Not in a blasphemous way, but the image. And here's you right here. And God just said, okay, I'm going to make this guy. Here's Elihu, here's Job, you know, here's angel, you know, here's Dora Boots, you.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Know, you know, it's just like.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And then what do we do? We're down here going, man, it's all about me. Why is this happening to me? Why is that happening to me?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And so Eli, who has the wisdom.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

He goes, look, I'm just another guy that was pinched off a piece of clay, okay? This is all I am. There's this being up there. Do you think of yourself like that?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Like, man, who do we think we are? That's why I was even scared to teach this more. I'm going, God, I'm just another guy that's just pinched off this piece of clay. Like, there's the Maker up there, man. And until you get that, you're not going to understand life. And that's what Paul was saying. He goes, man, I'm struggling. Read all of 2 Corinthians 1. Paul's like, man, I'm going through it. There's times. This is the Apostle Paul. And that's why I get so frustrated with this prosperity gospel of, oh, you follow Jesus? Everything's going to be right. No, look at the godliest people. People in scripture. Look at Jesus, man. It was a life of suffering, but it's for his glory. And we, as this little piece of clay, we don't just think everything revolves around us. No, we all just congregate down here as all these little pieces, and we go, we get it. This isn't about us. So, Job, if something good happens in my life, then I give it all to God and go, why? Because God wants me to glorify him in that. So God, you know, some of you guys know God blessed me with a.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Bunch of stuff and money and whatever else.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And so my responsibility right now is just like, look, I don't care. I'll give it all away. There's people suffering. You know what makes me excited is.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

I know him, the one that pinched.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Me off from this piece of clay. And I can't even believe I'm up here anymore. The God who restored me and changed everything.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

I can't even believe my life, life.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And then for those who are suffering or going through it, it's just like in that story of Job, why Satan is looking at God and going, man, Job only loves you because you give him everything. Take it all away and you'll see he doesn't love you. And so those of you who are suffering right now and going through it, maybe you're in a different stage of life. It doesn't mean God doesn't love you as much as he loves those who are prosperous. Because there's wicked people who are prospering. And read Psalm 73 sometime. The Psalmist himself is going, I don't get it. All these rich people, they're healthy, they're wealthy, and yet they're wicked. And I'm suffering. But by the end of the chapter, he goes, okay.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

But then God opened my eyes, I got into his presence, and I realized how this thing ends. He gone. He goes, okay, so it's not going to make sense in this world all the time. But how does it end? And how does this story of Job end, Huh? I mean, I'll close with this. I think job 38. So God's quiet for 37 chapters. He even beat out Elihu. But then at the end, God says this.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

The Lord answered Job out of the.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Whirlwind and said, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man. I'll question you, and you make it known to me.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Tell me if you have understanding.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Okay, here's how the story ends. I don't care how brilliant you think.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

You are, the story ends with God. See, we live in such an arrogant time. People go, oh, man, I'm going to question God on this.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

I wonder why God's doing this. I wonder why God's doing this.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

And God's just being silent.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Then at the end, he explains to Job and all his friends, let me explain something to you. You've got this all backwards.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

In fact, let me ask the questions.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

I don't know if you realize this, but I didn't create you to judge me.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Okay?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

So why don't you just sit there and let me ask you some questions, since you're so brilliant, to question Almighty.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

God of why did this happen to me?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Why did that happen to me? He answers them out of a storm and he goes, tell me, come on, you're so smart. Where were you when I laid the.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Foundation of the earth?

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Come on, you're the genius. I could have used you when I. When I made the earth because you're so brilliant, aren't you? That's the way God speaks. Look, you're going to recognize at the end it was not all about you.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

It's about this God.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And so if you're going through a difficult time, your job is to say, you know what, Lord, Blessed be your name. On a road that's suffering, we sang.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

That song and there's pain in the offering.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Blessed be your name. That's what Paul was saying in 2 Corinthians 1. He goes, man, when I'm suffering, man, I just figure God's going to get me through this and comfort me through it. He didn't say God's going to take it all away.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

No. He goes, no, no, I'm going to get through it. I'm dying daily. This is difficult, difficult, but it's all going to be worth it. There's this glory that's coming that I can't see it. It's happening.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And for now, as I'm healed by these things, I'm going to go out and heal other people. That's why God's doing it. If you're going through the tough times, man, don't question God. We weren't created to question him. We're created to glorify him.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Man, I love listening to testimonies like.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

That, where people go, okay, that's what I went through.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

But, man, I'm thrilled to be a child of God. On. I think it was on Monday this week that some of us were listening to us. Some of the pastors were. I know this is a sensitive subject, too, right now, but we're listening to a guy who was speaking and he was a homosexual. Grew up just ever since he was in elementary school. Just attracted to guys and loved guys and fell deeply in love in these relationships. It was his whole life. And he's fashion designer, you know, designer guy in Paris and all this stuff. I mean, someone shared the gospel with him, he started reading the Bible and he started looking at the. He's just like, man, I saw what this book said. It didn't change his desires. He still liked guys, but he understood what the Word said. And so he's like, I just got to resist. And now he's in seminary, wants to be a pastor, and. But someone asked the question. They said, don't you think it's unfair that we tell gay people that they have to remain celibate in order to follow Jesus? And the way the guy answered the question, I've never seen anything like it. He kind of like sat back in his chair and smiled and kind of.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Like with a rolling of his eyes.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Type of look, he just goes, unfair.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

He goes, what do you mean, unfair? He goes, you want to know what unfair is? Unfair is that the Son of God who did nothing wrong, he had to die on the cross for my sins. And now everything is cleansed from nothing that I did, and I get to spend all of eternity with God. And he just had this look in his eyes, like, that's unfair. He goes, am I still attracted to guys? Yeah, I guess. You know, do I understand from scripture that I can't? Sure. But unfair.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

It was like he just got it. He was like, man, that's the beauty of the gospel. So when you get it, you don't look back at life and say, God, this isn't fair. This isn't fair. This isn't fair. This isn't fair. You just realize, man, Lord.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

So you.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Watched your son tortured on a cross. For me, I'm the most blessed man on earth. And the moment I die, I come before God as one of his children, despite everything I've done. And that's going to be for all of eternity for those of us who believe. And that's why we embrace this God. And that's why we're about to take communion, because this is what purifies us. And this isn't for everyone. But I just want to say, man, I don't know your backgrounds, man, first, I just love seeing this group. I love our church togethers, you know, it's just like, man, all these people, I don't know, from different churches, and we're gathering together, and no one wants us to be about us. We want it all to be about him. And so I don't know if you've been grabbing on to something else. You know, it's almost like angel screwdriver, like you've been holding on to that, like that's your security. That's what you're going to grab onto. And maybe it's time to let go. Maybe today you see the ugliness of it. Silly illustration, but it's kind of like yesterday. Yesterday we were at Six Flags in Vallejo because it was my daughter's birthday. One of my 10 or 11 year old daughter now. And we're in line for this ride and I'm with Dalal, you know, she's staying with me. You know how you're in line and. And there's a Chinese guy in front of us and she's not paying attention and she just kind of starts grabbing onto his arm.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Meanwhile, I'm like standing right in front of her and she realizes what she did and was like, oh. And we're just laughing. I'm like, man, he didn't even look like he had a full head of hair. He's so, like racist, man. You know, and. But it was just hilarious, you know.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

But it's almost like that picture where.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

Some of you, you've just been grabbing.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Onto the wrong arm. You know what I mean? It's like you just.

[Angel or Testimony Speaker]

And hopefully today is one of those days where you're going, ugh, you know, who was I touching? What was that? Whether it's a relationship, whether it's a screwdriver, whether it's whatever, you're trying to hold onto, something that's not your father, that's not your God, that's not going to save you, you've gone down that.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Road and I'm telling you, there's a real father that's waiting for you, man, that can restore through the pain and everything else. And that's why we're about to take communion. And so Chaz is going to lead us in this time. And let's focus our sights on our real father. Let's let go of whatever we're holding on to. Let's just hold on to him right now.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you for listening to the Crazy Love podcast. Join us next week for a new episode, but until then, for more resources from Crazy Love Ministries or to support the work of Crazy Love, please visit our website at crazylove.

[Pastor or Church Leader]

Org.