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Oh, somebody better make some noise. You feel good, Littleton. Help me, help me. Welcome all the other Denver locations. Brussels, Belgium. Austin, Texas. Hey, Austin. We know, guys, you don't know this here, but Austin is in the middle of a crazy ice storm said to shut the building down this weekend. So everybody from Austin, we're so glad you're with us. Hope you're safe and at home. And men and women at our correctional facilities, we love you so much. And everybody joining online, welcome home. Welcome to Red Rocks Church. High five. Somebody have a seat. Let's get this party going. You feel good, church. I believe you. We're in this teaching series called Miracle Mindset. And if you're just joining us, we are in the middle of or 2/3 of the way through a 21 day fasting and praying. And so if you just joined us for the first time and you're like, man, the couple next to us seems grumpy. They might be really, really nice people. They're just hungry. Okay, if you're just joining us, man, we highly encourage you join us for the last part of this fast. For you, it can be a seven day prayer and fasting. If you're in one of the buildings, tap that plate in front of you with your phone. It'll take you right to the app. And you can submit prayer requests, you can submit praise reports. If you're watching from, from anywhere else, you can use that QR code right there. And church, I'm telling you, this has been so cool. Huge props to our creative team for putting this app together the way they did. Listen to this. In the last 30 days, 11,000 different ones of us have gotten on the app and put in prayers, prayed for people. Just since the series started, over 100,000 interactions with our prayers. That's how many people are getting on the app and praying for the prayer requests that you put on there. And I've been reading them and man, some of them have just have just struck a chord in my heart. And, and so if you're joining us for the first time, get on that app, put a prayer request on there, hit that praise report. I'm telling you, church miracles are happening all throughout our church family. I'm gonna share a few of them with you here in a few minutes. But it is happening. So use the app and join us on the fast. We would love it. Okay, so we're in church. It's okay. To be honest. Anybody, I won't completely indict you. Anybody felt tempted to break your fast? Yeah. Welcome to the party. I saw a guy at the gym yesterday and he came up to me and he did the whole, like, dabbed me up and we did the whole deal. And he's like, hey man, I'm in the church and I'm doing the fast. And I was like, right on. And he goes, hey, bro, this fast and trying to work out at the same time. This is no joke. I was like, I know, man. I was like, dude, I walked through the kitchen like an hour ago. My wife had bought a bag of donut holes for my son. I was like, I had to flee from temptation. That's why I'm at the gym. And he got real serious. He goes, hey, I'm two weeks in, man. He goes, I've never wanted a donut more in my life than I do right now. Don't do it, stay in it. We can do this church. Amen. I was about, I was 100% certain about a week ago that Satan himself was trying to tempt me to break my fast. I was at my son's basketball game and I've been to a lot of basketball games, all right? I've been going to basketball games, me and Jill have for 20 years now. So our oldest son is 22 and we started him right around the corner here at Lily Gulch in a three and four year old league when he was two. Because I was like, you know, he just looks advanced to me, babe, let's put him in. And then I became the assistant coach for the team because I'm like, can't have people checking birth certificates around this place. And I'm not trying to make it about me, but we won the league and I think we all know behind every good championship team is a great assistant coach. You know what I'm saying? And so anyways, we've been going to games for 20 years and a lot of them, like. I started doing some math this week and it started freaking me out, like just in the last, in this 12 month period, just with our youngest son, Ashton. We, we've been to 75 basketball games. We got three boys, they've been playing sports year round. I put it all into Chat this week. Chat thinks me and Jill may have been to close to 3,000 games in the last 20 years. And then it started telling us how many days and months and years we've spent on bleachers. And I was like, I gotta stop reading this. Okay? My point is, I needed you to understand that so you'll know why I was sure Satan was attacking me. So I'm at the basketball game last week, first week of the fast. Dad comes up to me and he goes, hey, my wife gave me an entire grocery bag full of chocolate chip cookies for you. I give them to you at the end of the game. Now, what I said to him was, oh, thanks, man. And in my head, I went, get behind me, Satan. Oh, no, you don't. This is not a coincidence. I've been to thousands of games. Not one person has ever offered me an entire grocery bag full of chocolate chip cookies until 2026, when I am fasting and praying for miracles. So I said. I said, jill, Satan's attacking me. She goes, no, we're hosting the basketball team tomorrow. Those cookies aren't for you. They're for them. I went, ah, okay. And just for accountability purposes, church, the team didn't eat all the cookies. They sat on the shelf on our counter for two days. And to be completely transparent with you and completely accountable, I want you to know that your pastor is fasting sugar with some other things, and he did not have one bite of a chocolate chip cookie. We're gonna finish this thing out. We're gonna pray, and we're gonna fast. We're gonna believe for some miracles. And let me just say this, and we'll get into today's message. Don't struggle alone. It's one of the reasons why I so encourage you to get on the app and start putting out your prayer requests and letting some people pray with you and for you. And. But even better than that, before, if you're in a building before you leave church this weekend, go to the welcome party. If you haven't already been there, there's one on Saturdays after the Saturday night service, there's one every Sunday at every location between the 10 and the 12. And these things, you'll meet the staff, you'll find out what the church is about. But most importantly, we'll help you get into community. We'll get you on a team, get you in a group, whatever you want. We don't want you. You're not built to fight the things that you're going through by yourselves. So some of you couples that are struggling, you're not built to go through this by yourselves. You need other brothers and sisters joining arms, locking arms with you, saying, I'm gonna fight with you. I'm gonna fight for you. Okay? So do that. All right, you ready? I don't know. Are you ready? I might need more water, guys. Anybody need a miracle? Yeah, a lot of us. And listen, when I Say that it's not always like, I need God to heal me of cancer, right? It might be, in fact, someone that I love very, very dearly just found out this week that they have cancer. And I know you're watching, and don't you dare give up. And you're gonna have a whole army of people praying with you and believing with you and fighting with you. But listen, remember, we defined miracle when we started as a miracle is when does what we can't, right? That's a miracle when God does what we can't. So for some of you, it may be. I need God to speak to me. I need God to guide me. I need him to lead me. I need him to help me make some decisions. I got some decisions about school. I've got some decisions about work. I've got some crazy things going on in life, and I'm not sure what the next step is. And I just, like, I need to hear from God. That is a miracle. That's why we're fasting. That's why we're praying. That's why we're believing. Because so many of us, we. We just need something for God to do in our lives that we can't do for ourselves. So we're not. We're not playing games, but we're getting serious about this. And here's one of the staple verses of this series. Psalm 77, 14. You are the God who performs miracles. You display your power among your people and church. I just want to remind you today, his power can take care of any of our problems. There's no problem you have. There's no problem I have that his power can't take care of. Jesus said it himself. He said it might look impossible, it might seem impossible with man, but with God, all things are possible. His power is bigger than cancer. His problem's bigger than Parkinson's. His power's bigger than anxiety. It's bigger than depression. It's bigger than suicidal thoughts. It's bigger than overwhelming financial fears. And it's bigger than a failing marriage. It's bigger than family problems. It's bigger than fear of whatever's going to come around the corner that you don't understand what's next. It's bigger than a broken heart because you've been through some really hard things in life and you feel like you can never get over them. And how am I going to trust God again? I'm telling you, his power is bigger than your problems. And we have a God who does miracles and shows his power to his People. That's who he is. I want God to. I want you to forget for a second that we're doing church. And I'm gonna read some stuff from the Bible and I want you to just hear some testimonies of some real people. These are historical accounts. This is not made up stuff. See, all through the Bible, God gives us stories. And sometimes I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm reading the stories and going, what am I supposed to get from this? And honestly, a lot of times I. I think God wants to just go, look what I can do. I'm just showing you what I can do in the lives of my children. In the lives of my kids. And Hebrews makes it real clear. He says, don't ever forget God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So when we read testimonies in His Word about what he can do and how he can just take things away, how he can take away sickness, take away illness, take away diseases, take away addictions, God wants us to know it's not just, I could do it then. No, I still do it now. I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. If I did it there, I can do it here. If I did it for them, I can do it for you. We good. I know I'm talking fast. I'm fired up about this, you guys. Mark 10, verse 51 and 52. If you've been in church for a while, this guy's known as Blind Bartimaeus. But see, the miracle is the rest of his life after meeting with Jesus, he wouldn't be known as that anymore. He'd be known as, I can now see Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus found out that Jesus was coming to town. He said he ran to him and he said, will you help me? Will you help me? What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, rabbi, I want to see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Listen to this. Immediately. He received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. There are so many times throughout the Bible where God says, you do your part, I'll do mine. You fast, you pray, you believe, and I'll do the miraculous. And so many times we see, he instantly takes it away. And I want to make something clear because Jesus said here, because of your faith, I read every single miracle. I studied every miracle this month through the New Testament Testament and wrote down, what exactly was the person saying? What does the text tell us that they were saying or thinking? If we can get any indication of that and Every single time. Even the times when Jesus said, because of your faith, you're healed, their faith wasn't, I'm asking for something, and I don't have any doubt that exactly what I'm asking for is going to happen in exactly the time frame I want it to happen. That's not what he was talking about. Because nobody had that. Every single person that came to Jesus, they were broken, they were hurting, they had pasts, they came to Jesus. None of them knew if what they wanted to happen was gonna happen. None of them knew if the request was gonna happen in the timeframe they wanted. They weren't trying to play some game where I can't let any doubt sneak into my head. If I pray, please don't let it rain tomorrow. Cause we got an outdoor wedding. And if one little doubt sneaks in that, oh my gosh, it might rain. There went the miracle. You don't have faith. I. That's not what Jesus is talking about. He says, no, no, just have faith in me. Every single person we see him doing miracles for, their faith was, I believe who you are. I believe that you can. And I got just enough faith to come ask. That's what he's looking for. Church Mark 1. There's a man with leprosy. They didn't know what to do with people with leprosy. They didn't understand what was going on, so all they could do was separate them from everyone. If you had leprosy in Jesus Day, you couldn't be around your kids, you couldn't be around your spouse, you couldn't be around your family, you couldn't be around your friends. They just isolate you and you just suffer alone till you die. This guy hears Jesus is coming to town. Now a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying, watch if you're willing. He wasn't pretending that he didn't have any doubts in the back of his mind, I don't know what you're going to do, but I know you can. If you are willing, you can make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him. And he said to him, I am willing be cleansed. And I was reading this this week, and I felt like God wanted me to say to somebody, I feel like there's somebody that can hear my voice right now. And this week you've been praying for a miracle, but you've had these thoughts, would God actually do a miracle for somebody like me? Would God do a miracle for somebody as broken as me, as imperfect as me, who's had as many chances as I've had and still make mistakes, would God actually do a miracle for me? And I felt like God wanted me to say if he wanted me to tell somebody today, I hear you. I see you. I know what you're going through. And I am willing. I'm willing. Don't stop believing. Don't stop praying. Told don't. Don't be anxious about anything. Pray about everything. Why? Because he's the God of miracles and he loves to unleash his power in his people. And I just think God wants somebody to hear, I see you and I'm willing. Don't stop believing. In Mark, chapter nine, we see a desperate father. And some of you will. You'll feel this one different. It'll hit different. Because some of you, that's been your miracle prayers. The miracle you've been praying for is, we so badly want to be parents, God. Some of you, the miracle is, God, heal my child. Some of you, the prayer is, God, help and reach my hurting child, my lost child, my addicted child, my estranged child. God do a miracle in our family. So he comes to Jesus and he begs, please, God, please, Jesus. Jesus. Asked the boy's father, how long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered, it's often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us if you can, said Jesus. Everything is possible for one who believes. Immediately, the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. Oh, church, I can't tell you how many times I've prayed that prayer. Some days I feel like my faith is 10ft tall and bulletproof, like I got all the faith in the world. It's gonna happen, God. Some days I come to God and I go and I got a lot of doubts, God, a lot of stuff going on. But I believe that you're God, and I believe that you're good. And I believe that you can. And I got just about enough faith to ask for it today. That's what this dad says, help me with my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. You deaf and mute spirit, he said, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. It's just another story. God says, look what I can do. I do miracles. And sometimes I do them in an instant, sometimes I do them in a moment. Immediately I just take it away. Would you put that slide up here on the side? Let this just start. To build your faith this week. Take a screenshot of this if you need, if you need a little shot of adrenaline to your faith this week. Mark 10, immediately he heals blind Bartimaeus. Not because he's perfect. It wasn't a perfect person with some kind of perfect faith. He just had enough faith to ask a man with leprosy. In Mark 1, he takes away the leprosy instantly. A father with a sick son, he takes away the sickness instantly. In Mark 5, the woman who had a 12 year issue of blood Jesus heals her instantly. A paralyzed man brought to Jesus by some people lowered through the roof on a mat in Mark 2 heals him instantly. Mark 4, the disciples are out at sea and they're scared for their lives. There's a storm coming. They think they're going to die. They wake Jesus. Please help. Please help. He calms the storm instantly. He can do it instantly. Church. He's a miracle working God. And I'm telling you, we're seeing it all through our church family. Just today I asked the team, I said just recently, how many praise reports have come in about things they've already seen God doing in their lives today. They said, oh, about 124 today. I said, let's put a couple of them up, guys, look at this. This is what's going on in our church family right now. Let this build your faith. In Austin, we didn't feel like we should put names. Someone at the Austin campus. I asked for prayers for my brother's healing and his CT scan came back completely clear. Praise God. He's doing miracles. Church at the Park Meadows campus. Overwhelming peace that God has provided for me in this time of fasting and prayer, I. I truly didn't understand how impactful it would be. My husband and I are getting closer and praying together, which we haven't done in years. Praise God. He can heal marriages. At Arvada, I've accepted a new role that better aligns with my family's needs and allows for healthier work, life balance with less stress. Thank you, God for answering my prayers. I'm so excited. Let's look at a couple more. At Arvada, my father is starting in a new treatment facility for alcoholism on Tuesday at no cost in Jesus name. We Pray for freedom at Park Meadows. My mom reached out and apologized for past hurts. It feels like we made forward progress. This is the longest I've gone without cannabis since I was 15. I'm now 18 days completely sober. Praise God. He's setting people free at the Littleton campus. IVF transfer worked. Embryo stuck, and today it was confirmed. I'm pregnant. Praise Jesus. He's doing miracles, Church. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let that build your faith. That's who he is. And church, I've seen it. Like, I've experienced it. And depending on how long you've been around this church, you may have heard me tell part of this. But when my son was 15, he went to Africa with the youth group on a missions trip. And he came back and he got real sick. And Jill and I took him to the hospital, and he went septic twice. Which, if you know about that, you know, like, that can kill you. He went septic twice in the ICU for five days. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. They put these. They put multiple ports in each arm, so they could just give multiple medicines in each arm at a time, trying to find what it was, but they couldn't figure out what it was. And so they'd come into the hospital every few hours, day after day, and they'd go, well, that organ's now shutting down. We might have to remove that. And that organ's shutting down. We might have to remove that. And now we gotta get him oxygen to help him breathe because he's not breathing right. And then doctors started telling me, this is the percentage of the chance that your boy's gonna live. And I remember that day so vividly. I'm just on my knees, begging God to help my son. And I'll never forget, my friend came to the hospital and prayed for Ethan, by the way. I asked Ethan if I could show this picture, and he said, only if you tell people I gained 50 pounds of water weight when I was in the hospital. So I'm off the hook now. My friend came in the room. He put his hand on Ethan's head. He said, I pray in Jesus name that whatever is in this kid's body that it would stop hiding and show itself in Jesus name. And I'm telling you, Church, it was like we blinked, and the people from the infectious disease team came running into our room, and they started screaming. I'm not kidding. They're like, we found it. We found it. It's a miracle. And they went on to Explain to us that out of the hundreds of slides that they were studying under the microscope, that they were on one of their very last slides that didn't know what else to do. And they said, we found. In the upper right hand corner, we found one little spot. And here's what they said. True story. They said it was like it was hiding and it showed itself. And they said, this is a miracle. They said, we don't have the medicine to treat him, but we're having the medicine flown here right now. And we took my son home the next day. And he preached on this stage this summer and told you how good God is. I've seen it. Don't you give up. I don't know what you're going through. Don't you give up. We have a God today who promises. He says, I do miracles. I could take it away. And let's talk about what a lot of us are thinking right now. Okay, then what about mine? Can we get real in church? Is that okay? See, because I prayed for my Aunt Jane to get healed from cancer, and she didn't. My friend prayed for my son to get healed, and he did. I've prayed for three years that God would heal what the doctor says is an incurable brain disease, and he hasn't yet. And I say yet with as much faith as I could muster. What's going on? Here's what I'm learning. Church. Sometimes the miracle is he takes it away. Sometimes the miracle is he takes you through it. Sometimes the miracle is he takes it away. And sometimes the miracle is he takes you through it. And both are miraculous and both are worthy of our praise. But I know the deal. We don't want to hear that part. If I would have prayed after the Ethan story, we all leave here way more excited. But I'm not doing you justice as your pastor, because, see, God gets very, very clear in his word. He shows us time and time again. I could take it away. I could take it away. I could take it away. But then he shows us time and time and time and time again. But sometimes I'm gonna take you through it. And when I take you through it, here's what we see. You can read it story after story after story. Just read the Hebrews hall of Faith story after story as people going, he didn't take it away like I wanted. He took me through it. But because he took me through it, I experienced more of his power. I experienced more of his presence. I was able to help more people. I had more purpose on my life. Than I ever could have imagined. Sometimes there's bigger miracles on the backside of. He took me through it. This has to be part of our theology, Church. Because if it's not, here's what happens. Oh, I tried that. I prayed. He didn't heal my Aunt Jane. She went to heaven. So then we walk away. I guess he's not good. I guess he doesn't care. I guess he doesn't do miracles for people like me. And it's not true. It's not true. Listen, this verse applies to every single one of us. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. What did he say? Jesus said it himself. In this world, we're going to have trouble. Everything's not going to get taken away. In this world, we're going to have trouble. And sometimes you're going to feel like you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. But notice it says, you're not staying there. That's not the end of your story. You're going through it. God just says, I'll be there with you. Sometimes I'll take it away. But sometimes I'll just lock arms with you and I'll never leave you or forsake you. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. Don't be dismayed. Don't be afraid. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Sometimes it's, I'll take you through this valley and I'll get you to the other side. And when you get to the other side, you're going to realize you experienced my power like never before. My presence was with you in miraculous ways. And the purpose that's now going to be on your life is completely different. And the people you're going to help is going to blow you away. Sometimes he takes it away, Church. Sometimes he takes us through it. And I'm just going to say this. If he hasn't taken it away, he's taking you through it. Let me say that again. Listen, I'm sitting in it with you. I need to be reminded today. If he hasn't taken it away, he's taking me through it. He didn't leave me. That's his promise. He's still God. He's still good. He's still with me. He's still working. I don't have to be able to feel it, to trust the promises in his word. If he hasn't taken it away, he's taken me through it. I just got to Keep holding on, because this is true. Romans 8:28. And we know that in all things, every single thing we go through, God works. That's his promise. For the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose. He says, I got a purpose for you. I got a calling on your life. I'm with you when you can't sense it. I'm working when you don't understand it. I'm doing the miraculous when you can't feel it. Don't give up. Sometimes I'll take it away. Sometimes take you through it. That's Paul's story. One of the most influential humans to have ever lived, Guy who wrote about half of our New Testament, and some of his words that was given to him through the power of the Holy Spirit has changed our lives. Listen to what he said. 2nd Corinthians 12, 7, 10. I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord, here it is to take it away. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions and. And difficulties. He says, this is what I've learned when I'm weak. I'm actually really strong. I was having a hard day after this diagnosis, and my pastor called me one day. He said, sean, he said, while God's taking you through this, don't be surprised if you start to sense the anointing of God on your life in ways you never have before. So what are you talking about? He said, God's word doesn't say his power just gets stronger when we're weak. He said, his power is made perfect in our lives when we're weak. So, yeah, this is a hard season, and this is not easy, and some days are really hard. But because he hasn't taken it away yet means he's taken you through it. So start to expect that power to show up in the form of faith and strength and grit and anointing on your life, and I'm just believing it for you. Church. If we could ask the Apostle Paul, hey, man, if you could go back in time, the days, the seasons, the nights that you begged God to take it away and he didn't, if you could go back in time and change it, would you? I bet you a thousand out of a thousand. Times he'd say, uh, oh, it was really, really hard. And I felt overwhelmed. And I so badly wanted God to take it away, but he didn't. And because he didn't take it away, he took me through it. See, now I got a story and I was able to write some things. And what he knows now that he didn't know then, he thought he was just writing to his friends. He didn't realize that God was using him to write the word of God. So he's encouraged now. Billions of people for over 2000 years who have been struggling and hurting and wanting to give up and wanting to throw in their. Wanting to throw it all in and walk away from God. And his words have been helping people not give up for 2000 years. Why? Because he's got a story. Because he's been through something that's gonna be our story. I was talking with one of my best friends, Brian Austin, this week, and he said, man, I can't. I can't tell you how many times I've went through something really hard in life. And then God gets me through it, and I look back and honestly, if I could go back and change it, I wouldn't. Because what he brought me through turned me into the person I am today, gave me the faith I have today, gave me the strength I have today, taught me to lean on God when life gets really hard, gave me the grit and the ability to walk in the calling he now has for me. I wouldn't change it if I could. That's the Apostle Paul's story. More power, more presence, more purpose than he ever dreamed and helped more people than he could ever imagine. I think he'd say, yeah, I'm thankful that God didn't answer that prayer the way I wanted. Think about Joseph. Depending on your time in church or time with the Bible, you may or may not know who that is. He's a guy that we read about in the Old Testament and God gave him a dream, and his brothers got real jealous of him, and his brothers sold him into slavery. And some people took him to Egypt as a slave. And then they went and told his dad he died. So he gets ripped from his family, from his home, from everything he knows, taken to a foreign land to become a slave, then gets put in a dungeon for years and forgotten about for a crime he didn't commit. You don't think he had days where he's like, what's up, God? I need a miracle. Why don't you care? Why aren't you helping me? I Need a miracle. And I bet if we could ask him today, you wish you could go back and change it, he'd go, not a chance. Cause see, you read about his story and what happened is God took him through stuff. God didn't take it away. God took him through it. And because he took him through it and. And because of where it put him later in Egypt, where he was a slave at first, there was a famine over here in Israel and he got to save the lives of his entire family because God didn't take away the struggle, he took him through it. Not only that, he got to save the lives of the entire nation of Israel. The entire nation of Israel was going to die of starvation and he got to save the nation of Israel because God didn't take it away, he took him through it. And that nation brought Jesus into the world, which has changed every single life that's ever been this planet. And he would say, no. I thank God that he didn't answer my prayer the way I wanted that day. I'm glad he didn't take it away. I'm glad he took me through it. Because look at the power I got to experience and the people I've been able to help and the purpose I was able to walk in. And the way I got to interact with God's presence, it changed me. I'll never forget the first time I yelled at God. I need a miracle. It's about six years ago. Some of you've heard this. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell the whole story, but in case someone's new. I had real bad anxiety and having panic attacks that I couldn't control and literally one day thought I was dying. As I was driving my truck down C470 and I couldn't. I couldn't function. I couldn't breathe. I was having a heart attack. I pulled my car over to the side of the road and I just started walking up the foothills on the side of C470 yelling at God. And I remember exactly what I said. I said, why don't you care? Why won't you help me? And then I yelled as loud as I could, I need a miracle. And feel anything. I know what it feels like. And some of you do too. To be going through some things in life when you go, God, why don't you care? Why aren't you helping? I need a miracle. I thought you did miracles. Sometimes the miracle is he takes it away. Sometimes the miracle is he takes us through it. And oftentimes that's the one we look back on in life and go, thank you, God. I wouldn't change it if I could. Let's look at Jesus story, right? He knows what's about to happen the night he's going to be arrested. He knows he's going to be taken to the whipping post, beaten within an inch of his life, punched, spit on, mocked, stabbed, executed by crucifixion. Publicly. He knows. So what's he do? He goes to God the Father. He's fully God, but also fully man. He goes to the Father, going a little farther. He fell with his face to the ground and he prayed, my Father, if it's possible, here it is again. May this cup be taken. God, would you take it away? May this cup be taken from me. And then he prayed the most gutsiest prayer you can ever pray yet. Not as I will, but as you will. Wouldn't it be cool if Jesus come up here and grab the mic? We could go, hey, Jesus, if you could go back to the Garden that night, would you change the way it played out? Would you? Do you wish that the Father would have just taken it away? And you know the answer, right? Jesus would say, absolutely not. I'm so grateful that he didn't answer that prayer the way I wanted. But he took me through it, see? And then he brought me back to life on the third day, proving I was the one and only son of the one and only God and the one and only way to heaven and every single person. Because God didn't take it away. Me through it can be forgiven of their sins, have his spirit put inside of us and go to heaven forever. Jesus would say, no, I'm glad he didn't answer that prayer the way I wanted. Are you kidding? Let this one speak to you, church. Isaiah 43:2. This is us. This is real. When you pass through the waters, I'll be with you. He said, I won't always take him away. I'll be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. No matter what this problem looks like you're facing. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. God says, I won't always take the fire away, but I will take you through it. Don't you give up. I'll be right there in the middle of it with you. Remember those boys we talked about a few months ago? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? God didn't take away the fire. They still got thrown in it But Jesus jumped in it with them. He said, I'll get you through it. I'll walk you out of it. And the very king who threw them in the fire because they wouldn't praise him, they praised God. That king watches some believers go through some really hard things, watches them cling to Jesus in the middle of a fire, watches them come out gracefully praising their father. And that king starts praising God, everyone around starts praising God. More powerful, more purpose, presence like I never imagined. Got to help people in ways we never dreamt possible. And I just thought this week I had this kind of funny thought, almost like if we could ask the apostle Paul, Joseph, Jesus, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, if you could go back in time and have it taken away and not have to go through it, would you? And I thought, no. Every single one of them, I go, I'm actually thankful that he didn't answer my prayer the way I wanted, because he took me through it. And my life has never been better because of what he took me through. I thought, well, that sounds like a song my roommate made me listen to in college. Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers. Remember, when you're talking to the man upstairs, I wish I could sing so bad. And just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care. Some of God's greatest gifts. Unanswered prayers. Every single one of them would go. It really wasn't an unanswered prayer. It just felt like an unanswered prayer. And there were miracles behind every single one of what felt like unanswered prayers because he didn't take it away. So it felt unanswered. But he took me through it. And the miracles blew me out of the water. And church. That's my story. Six years ago, I begged God to take away my anxiety. Begged Him. He didn't. For six years, he's been taking me through it. And three years ago, I was able to write a book on it. And I never would have been able to write about it had I not been through some stuff. See, I hit bottom on that journey, but he got me through it. And it wasn't that long ago that I talked to a. An ex military man. And he said. He said he was sitting on the edge of his bed one night with a pistol to his head. And he said out of his peripherals, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Attacking Anxiety book that he had bought on his nightstand. And he said, I couldn't do it. And I read the book and God got ahold of my life and he changed me and I'm saved. Today I got a message from a, from a mom who said, My 12 year old daughter has dealt with suicidal thoughts since she was like six. She heard your message about God taking you through it and she came up to me one night in tears and said, mom, somebody understands what it feels like and if they could get through it, I could get through it. I talked to a girl this summer. I was at a youth conference in Montana speaking for a friend. And I did the craziest thing. I just felt like God wanted me to do it. I said, if there's anybody here who's dealing with suicidal thoughts with everybody's eyes open, stand up, because I just don't want you to go through it anymore by yourself. And about 30 kids at this youth conference stood up. They got to tell somebody and they got to pray with somebody. And I got a message the next week from a 17 year old girl. She said, my mom signed me up for this conference. She said nobody knew it. But before I left for the conference, I said goodbye to all my family and all my friends. And they didn't know what I was doing, but I did. I said goodbye to every single one of them and planned to come to the conference and take my life. But I heard that God took you through it and I thought maybe he could take me through it. And I started just praising God. And she said I felt like, like chains fell off. And I texted with her a few months ago and she said, I'm back in church, I'm getting counseling. She said, and I actually look forward to my life. So no, put me on a polygraph test right now. Church. If God would let me go back six years ago, it was the hardest thing I'd ever experienced. If God would let me go back six years ago and change it and just take it away. You put me on a polygraph test right now, I'd say, I thank God that he didn't take it away that day. I begged him to. Because what he brought me through it, built my strength, built my faith, gave me some grit, turned me into the man I am today who can face some harder things. See, sometimes he takes it away, but sometimes he goes, son, daughter, I'm gonna take you through this one because it's gonna turn you into the person that's gonna thrive in the calling I have for you in the future. Future. So don't give up. I'm still doing miracles. I want to do Something. Holy Spirit, please help us right now. Holy Spirit, Jesus, help us. I want to do something that never thought I would do. But I just thought, you know what? This weekend we can play church or we can get real real and start asking God for some miracles. So at every single location with your heads up and your eyes open, and if you're online, you put it in the chat if you have been plagued by these thoughts that says, maybe I should take my own life. Maybe someone would be better off without me. Cause life's gotten hard and I don't know how to get rid of the pain. And you feel like Satan might be trying to whisper some lies in your mind. And that's been a thought. And today you say, jesus, help me with that thought, because I want to get rid of it. In Jesus name, if that's you right now, with everyone's head up and eyes open, would you stand up at whatever location you're at? I know it'll take some courage, but you need some people in your life to know. Oh, come on. Praise God. Praise God. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see both of you. I see you. I see you. I see you. See you. Brother, Don't you listen to the lies of the enemy and listen whatever building you're in, you talk to the people that just stood up. Get a number, get a name. Ask them how you can pray for them. We're not gonna hide this stuff anymore. Satan wants to take us out in isolation church. We're gonna fight for each other with some prayer. We're gonna fight with each other. We're gonna fast, we're gonna pray, and we're gonna believe for some miracles. In Jesus name, you stand up with me. God, I thank you for everything that you're doing. I thank you that you are the God of miracles. And God, whether you decide to take it away today, which is. That's our prayer. That's what we're asking. That's what we're believing for. In Jesus name, that you would take some things away today. That you would take away cancer, that you would take away anxiety and depression, that you would take away disease, that you would take away addiction, that you would take away whatever standing between that marriage being fixed. But, God, we put our lives in your hands and we say, you be God and we'll trust you. We thank you for the miracles when you take it away right now. And we thank you for the miracles that when you take us through it. And God, if you're taking us through it right now. Remind us every single day that you're with us and you're working and you love us and you got a plan. If you're at any of our locations and today you say, I want to ask God to forgive me of my sins. I want to start this journey with him. I want his spirit. I want forgiveness of my sins. I need his miraculous intervention in my life. But I realize it starts with me repenting of sin and just making him my Lord. I'm not going to be perfect. I don't know how it's going to work out. But maybe you just like, you just know, like right now, I can feel it. This is my time. I need to ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins, to come into my life so he'll be with me here and I'll be with him forever in heaven. If that's you right now, just slip your hand up. I'm pray for you. Go ahead and put him up. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see those over there. Yeah, I see you. I see you. See you right there. God, you know everything that's going on in every one of our lives. I pray for every single prayer request that has been submitted and all the ones who haven't, that we're holding onto them right now. You know what they are. You know the ones of us that need guidance and direction, you know the ones that need healing, you know that one. You know what we need? God be God, do miracles, and may we experience your power in the name of Jesus. And everyone said amen. Okay, church, we're gonna sing two songs. There's gonna be people all along the front. And we realize for some of you, it's like, bro, this is like one of my first times here and you want me to walk down front if that is intimidating. We also have people on the sides of the rooms. If you need prayer, no matter what it is for you or someone you love, as they're singing, let's be reminded our Lord is with us. He's with us in this fire and we're going through this thing. We're not staying here. We're going through this thing and we're going to get a testimony in Jesus name, come forward or go to the sides for prayer. Let's worship. Church, I love you so much.