its-okay to be-uncomfortable

The podcast is hosted by Pastor Paul Abrams, who explores the intersection of faith and everyday life. He offers insights and guidance to help navigate life's challenges with courage, wisdom, and compassion. He discusses various topics such as faith, family, relationships, and personal growth through the lens of the Bible. He shares a personal story of being asked why he is always in a good mood and emphasizes the importance of choosing joy and focusing on God's peace. He also talks about facing unexpected news and how to trust in God's plan and power. He reminds listeners that all things work together for good for those who love God and encourages them to stand on the promises of God's word. Welcome to Pastor Paul Abrams' podcast, where we explore the intersection of faith and everyday life. In each episode, Pastor Paul offers insightful perspectives and practical guidance to help you navigate life's challenges with courage, wisdom, and compassion. Whether you're looking for inspiration, guidance, or just a moment of reflection, this podcast is for you. Join us as we dive deep into topics like faith, family, relationships, and personal growth, all through the lens of Pastor Paul and the Bible. Good morning. Good morning. Good to see all of you this morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Arturo. Arturo. Calvin. Jimmy. Good morning, JT. Good to see you. Brandon. Good morning. Good to see all of you this morning. Good morning, Ms. Lisa. Lisa. Good morning, all. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, this beautiful day. Another day. Another day the Lord has made, and we are blessed to see it again. Good morning. Mercy Me. Good to see you. Hope you're doing well. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. And we are winners. Yes, we are. Yes, we are. Good morning. Good morning. Well, first, let me start by—I got my list here. I want to thank Ms. Holly and Ms. Mandy, who blessed the ministry yesterday. We thank you so much. I'm going to make it a point to call folks out and just let them know, thank you. We appreciate it, and just thank you for the blessings. Thank you so much. As yesterday, we mentioned Ms. Jennifer, Ms. Heidi, and Ms. Cindy, but I praise God. Thank you so much, and we'll mention that again before we close. All right, y'all. Man, it is Thursday. A funny story. How many of you want to hear—before we get in our scripture, I'm going to give you a Pastor Paul story. Yesterday, I went into work. As you all know, I work at Ace Hardware. I went into work, and I think probably 45 minutes in, a guy named Chris—I won't mention his last name. He's an older gentleman. He looks at me. He goes, can I ask you something? I said, what is that? He says, what drugs are you on? I'm like, what do you mean? Good morning, Ray. He goes, you're always in a good mood. I said, well, I'm just happy to be alive. I'm happy to see another day. I'm just a happy person, and I choose to be happy. He goes, okay. He was like, no, no, it's nothing bad. He goes, you're always in a good mood. I said, well, thank you. I'm blessed. Then we had a rep come in. The rep came in, and he comes over to me. He walks over to me. I was just finishing up talking to a customer. He said, are you on drugs? I'm like, why? He goes, good morning, good morning, ma'am. I go, no, why? He goes, man, you are always in a good mood. He goes, are you married? I said, yeah, happily married. He goes, do you have kids? I'm like, I got four of them. He goes, do you have grandkids? I go, I got seven of them. He's like, how are you so happy? I'm just like, man, I am blessed. I am blessed, and I choose this. I choose to come to the table with a joy in my heart. Why? Because God gave that to me. God gave that to me. Folks, we can choose. We can make a decision. Am I going to be weighed down by the things of life, or am I going to choose to have joy in my heart? See, we read a scripture the other day. What did it say? That when we are focused on God, when we are focused on the Lord, there's peace in that, and I choose to operate in that peace. Now, though, don't let me say things don't happen in my life. Let me give you a perfect example. Last night, probably about eight o'clock, I got some news that literally took my breath away. Last night, I got some news via phone that literally was a kick in the stomach, figuratively speaking, and I was literally in it. Basically, Miss Debbie, I went radio silence because I had to focus on how did this take place? What was the events that led to this information? My mind was just, it was incredible how I went from being jovial to being super locked in my thoughts, and this information figuratively took the wind out of my sails. I was at work yesterday saying, Lord, thank you. I was at work yesterday saying, Lord, I just thank you for allowing me to share the good news of the gospel. I came home last night the same way, thinking, Lord, I want to thank you for using me in the gospel. For, Lord, I know there's something on the horizon that you're about to do, and that was my mindset, but here comes the enemy of my God and me, Satan. Satan. For the Bible is quite clear that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but principalities, the evil one. So what happens is Satan is always trying to come and rob and steal and kill your joy. He's always trying to destroy, and so last night when this information came to me, Miss Debbie this morning had to pray for me. Within the last, probably within the last hour, about 45 minutes ago, Miss Debbie had to grab my hand and she had to pray for me because I was in my thoughts. I was in my spiritual warfare. I was like, how could this have happened? And Miss Debbie grabbed my hand and she said, Lord, we want to thank you for revealing this. Lord, we want to thank you for using some folks to let us know about this. Lord, we want to thank you, and Lord, be with us. Be with us. Real quick, I am just, please, real quick. Hi, Pastor Paul, please praise for my MCAT test on 415. It's an entrance exam to become a doctor. I know exactly what it is, and I'm going to pray right now. Father God, we come before the throne of grace in the name of Jesus. Lord, I pray right now for this individual who's about to take their MCATs. I pray, Father God, they have done the possible. They have done the study. They have done the work, Father God, but I pray for the impossible. Lord, I pray that you will bring them to that desk. You will get them to the point. They are so focused. They are so locked and loaded on that exam. Father God, I pray that you give them that recall. I pray that you bring peace in that room. I pray that they do not get distracted by anything. Father, I pray blessing and favor that you open that door that no man can close when they take that exam, and Lord, I thank you in advance for a great outcome. I thank you in advance for the med school that they get to attend. I thank you in advance that they become a physician, and Father, I pray that in the name of Jesus, as you open up all these doors, as you bless, as you do the impossible, I pray that this individual will always give you the praise and glory wherever they are as a physician. Lord, I ask this in the name of Jesus, amen. As you know, I have been in the medical field many, many, many years, so praise God for you. We got you in prayer. So back to what I was saying. So Miss Debbie had to pray for me. She had to hold my hand, and she had to literally say, I do not want you to be this way all week. And then God took me to a scripture. Folks, I do not know if any of you can relate to things like this. Sometimes life is just, you just, things are smooth. You are just going through a circumstance and situation, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you just get this like kick in the stomach. Just catches you off guard. Let me read this to you, though. The book, 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, chapter 4, verse 7, 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 7. Good morning, good morning, everybody. Once again, I want to reiterate. I want to thank Miss Holly, Miss Mandy for blessing the ministry yesterday. Praise God. Thank you so much. Once again, I ask at the end of our teaching, if anybody found anything that was of value, that they bless the ministry, and Miss Holly, Miss Mandy found something of value within our teaching yesterday. Back to what we are saying. 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 7, he says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. Alright? There is the spirit of God that dwelleth in this body. It's the power of God that's within us. It is that power that we must tap into. It's that power we must be led by, taught by, and in some cases, when we can't even pray, it prays for us because it knows what we need, but this is when the rubber meets the road. Here we go. We are hard-pressed, oh my, my, on every side, yet not crushed. Folks, last night I was hard-pressed. I was hard-pressed. I was literally, I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but you get some news and some information and you just zone out on your thoughts. Why did this happen? What could I have done different? Oh my Lord, what if it does this and does that? And you start getting, once again, remember I talked about a few days ago, you start worrying about the details. Now, we had Bible study last night. I was fine. We had Bible study and as a matter of fact, it was amazing. It was right after Bible study and isn't that how it happens all the time? Lacey, good morning. Isn't that how it happens? You have a wonderful day. You're praising the Lord all day. You're singing hymns and you're praying and you're just like, wow. You go to Bible study and you're so high and then all of a sudden something happens and it just takes the wind out of your sails. Now, this is not saying that you lack your faith. This is not saying that you're not trusting in God. You're just saying that this event has just blindsided you, but what does the scripture say? We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. See, I'm not in despair. This came from the side and hit me out of nowhere. I was blindsided, but I'm not in despair. Why? Because I have to go back to the core of my foundation that God is doing something. Oh, see, see, you guys got to get me. You got to understand this. This is what I'm trying to get and convey to each one of you. Life brings its issues. Some good and some not so good. Life will bring you a, you know, good thank you. Sometimes, you know, when you're playing baseball or softball and you're up there at the plate, the pitcher is going to throw his best or her best throw. You know, and it's going to be, you know, it's going to curve. It's going to go low. It's going to go high. You know, it's going to go fast. Sometimes, it's going to slow and just drop just before it gets to the plate, but that pitcher is going to throw and you're not sure, but you've got to be ready. You've got to have your eyes on that ball. You've got to be in that position. You've got to be ready with that bat. Well, that's life. You've got to be ready. Things are going to come your way. However, I've got to get back to what Paul is saying. He says, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. See, I'm not crushed. I'm still here by the grace of God. I'm not crushed because God is my foundation. I'm not crushed because I know that God is in this. The news was devastating, but God over, how can I put it, is over it. God is in charge of it. God is overseeing it. The news caught me off guard, but then I had to flip the script and say, Lord, I thank you for allowing me to hear this news. Oh, y'all didn't get that, did you? See how that was turned around? See, what Satan meant for evil, God meant for good. See, I had to get to that point where Miss Debbie's like, at least God revealed this to you. I said, you know what, I didn't think about that. In my heart, that's what was going on. I didn't think about this. See, God revealed something to me. Now, the news I might not want to hear, and I might not like it, and I might not want it, and I might not accept it, but the news I needed to hear, and God brought it to me. Did you get that? See, we might not want to hear it. We might not accept it, but sometimes God is working something out for your good. Well, I think Jim just said it. Let's look at that, and I know that our brother Brian is a verse that he loves, but you have to, and you cannot dismiss this verse. You have to wrap your mind around this. Watch what it says, and hang on a second, I want to make sure, the Bible I'm looking at is pretty busy. Romans 8, 28 says, because it has a lot of other stuff in it, but watch what Romans 8, 28 says, and we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God. I love God, so that must mean, because I love God, all things, everything, every situation is working together. Do you get that? Are you wrapping your mind around that? See, last night, figuratively speaking, the wind was taking out of my sails. Okay? Figuratively speaking, I was at this desk looking out my window with my hand on my head like, how did this happen? How did this take place? What could I have done right? What did I do wrong? And my mind was just playing and thinking. Once again, remember I talked about, I was consumed with the details. I was consumed with the details, and I was just, ugh, I was just, a lot of emotions. I was angry. I was upset. I was up. I was down. I was just, it seemed like that time had just frozen, but watch this, watch this. Here we go. I can't get distracted just because I've got to stand on God's Word. You've got to stand on God's Word. Life will bring its pitches, its curveballs, its fastballs, slowballs, but watch, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. See, I've been telling you, I am called according to God's purpose. God has got a plan, our ministry, God is going to use in a powerful way. I can't get distracted by things that are around me. I can't get distracted by Satan and what he's trying to throw at me, because what is it declared that Satan does? He's throwing fiery darts. He's throwing fiery darts, but why? We understand. Wait a minute. Hang on. Let's go over here. Let's go over here. I want to make sure I get you in the right place. Watch this. Hang on. See, application ministry is the best, because why? You go through it and all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute. I've got to lean on the Word of God. I can't be consumed with the things that are going on around me. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10, finally my brother be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. We've got to be strong in the Lord. Last night I had to get back to the basics, back to the foundations. I have to be strong in the Lord. That's what it says, but be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. See, the devil was, not literally. There wasn't the devil in the room, but the spirit of the Antichrist was coming at me with some negativity. The spirit of Antichrist was coming at me and the battlefield on my mind, like how did this happen? Why did this happen? Then my mind would fast track like, well, the worst case scenario could be this. You know how you go to the worst case scenario, oh, and this, and this, and that, and so on, et cetera, and you get into that battlefield zone to the point you're like, and Miss Debbie had to pray with me. She had to pray for me. But we get back to our verse that we were reading in the first place, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. God said, I will never leave you. I will not forsake you. I will be with you. When you go through your storm, God is there. Matter of fact, to be quite honest with you, when you go through your storm, God knew that you were going to be in that storm. God knew the intensity of that storm. God understands what the storm is about and where it originated from. It's Genesis. He knows when it's going to end, but He's there with you in the storm. It's not like God took vacation and said, oh, this caught me off guard, are you okay? That's not the situation. If God brought you to it, praise be to God, He's going to get you through it. Let me repeat that. If the Lord brought you to the very storm that He knows that you're in, He's going to carry you through it. And we will deal with storms, but we must trust in the Lord. Once again, back to Romans, and it says, all things are working together. All in Greek means everything, folks, everything. Whatever you're going through, maybe in your personal life, it might be a relationship issue. God is able to carry you through because His grace is sufficient. It might be a financial issue. God is able to carry you through because His grace is sufficient. And the list goes on of things that you and I are enduring today. And you know what, watch this, watch this. Have you ever noticed when the storms of life come your way that you feel all alone? Have you ever noticed, now let me repeat what I'm saying, let me word this a little bit different. Have you ever noticed that when you go through something that you feel like you're the only one that is or has gone through it? Why? Because it's personal. See, Satan wants you in your heart to feel that you're going to have to face this by yourself. And then you start questioning yourself. Am I really good enough? What did I do wrong? What sin did I not confess? And all of a sudden you start, if you will, questioning yourself. Because why? Satan wants you to feel that you are alone. But wait a minute, wait a minute. Did not God fill us with the Holy Spirit? Did not the Lord tell them, do not leave here until you receive the Spirit and when you receive the Spirit, you will have power? See, it is the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us the ability to overcome. And trust you me, last night in my mind, in my heart, I felt so like I'm in this by myself. I'm isolated. I'm the one who brought this situation and circumstance to the table. But then the Lord put up on my heart, are you not my son? Am I not the God over the cattle on a thousand hills? Am I not the author and finisher of your race? Am I not the one that went to the cross and resurrected on the third day? Am I not the creator of the heavens and the earth? Are you so worried about this that you put that circumstance and that issue on the throne where I should be? And I had to repeat and say, Lord, forgive me. Forgive me. But what Satan was trying to do is trying to isolate me in my thoughts to question what God has done for me. But we have to stand on God's Word. Let's look what Paul says again. He says, we are hard pressed on every side. In the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 8, he says, we are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Then Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane asked the Lord, his Father, please take this cup from me. But then Jesus says, let thou will be done. What we have to say as we go through the storms, Lord, let your will be done. What we have to do as we go through our storms, our circumstances, and our opportunities, and yes, opportunities, why do I say things that happen to us are opportunities? Because it develops our growth. It develops our maturity. It develops our walk with the Lord. Why? Because you will look back, I will look back and say, if God was able to do it then, God is able to do it now. And even as I speak to you, I'm reflecting on how God showed up on past events and he prevailed for our benefit. He's never left us. He's never forsaken us. He is God. And we have to continuously stand on the foundation and promises of the word of God. Do not, and I repeat, do not allow Satan to cause you to think any way else. Once again, I take you back to the scripture that I gave to you guys the other day and that was Isaiah 26.3. Folks, when you preach this stuff and when you teach this stuff, trust me, you get a test. How many of you? And somebody's taking the MCATs. But you know when you preach and teach this stuff, there's always an exam. Do you ever remember school? You go to school one day and there would be that, what do they call it? Not a pop exam. What do they call it? What is that called when you, all of a sudden, you get this random exam out of nowhere? What's that called? Some of you in school. I can't remember. It's been a long time for me. Somebody put that. A pop quiz. There you go. There we go. I don't know about y'all, but periodically you get a pop quiz. Well, guess what? I'm going to get an A on this. But turn to Isaiah 26.3. We got a pop quiz today, folks. We got a pop quiz. How many of you know about those pop quizzes? Anybody enjoy those pop quizzes? I don't mean the real one at school. I mean the one in life. Come on now. You know you were at church on Sunday. You were celebrating. You had your praise and worship on and then you got a pop quiz that evening. Come on. Come on, man. Somebody help me out here. You were excited in Bible study on Wednesday night and, man, you were on fire. Man, work was awesome all day and all of a sudden you got a pop quiz. Man, come on. Can someone relate to me here? I mean a pop quiz where you got some word or some information that didn't go out the way that you wanted to. You received a strange bill in the mail that said, hey, you owe some money. You just had one of your kids, you know, go off on you. You just had the spouse, you know, say something crazy to you. You know the pop quizzes I'm talking about. Those things that come at you. But guess what? I got God. I got God. And he's able to get me through the pop quiz. But wait a minute. Isaiah 26, 3. I didn't mean to preach at you there. You will keep him in perfect peace. How do I stay in perfect peace? It says right there in Isaiah 26, 3. Whose mind is stayed on you. You want to pass the pop quiz, keep your focus on God. I'm preaching to myself, guys. Keep your focus on God. Don't get consumed with the details. Don't get consumed with what could happen. Don't get consumed in how it happened. Keep your focus on God and say, Lord, thank you for bringing this to my attention. Thank you for allowing me to know this. Lord, help me and provide the necessary means that I can overcome this. That I can repair this. That I can fix this. Lord, not me but you. And Lord, I will give you the praise. I will give you the glory. Whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. See, I'm going to trust in God with regards to every and all circumstances. Because all things are working out together for the good. Because I love God according to his purpose, not mine. I need to stand on that word. But Pastor Paul, it's hard. It's not easy. It's not supposed to be easy. Because when it's hard, it drives you to pray. When it's hard, it drives you to call up on the name of the Lord. But here's the issue with that. We don't want to just call up on the name of the Lord or pray when it's hard. We want to do that in the good times, bad times, easy times, hard times. Whatever time. Every time. Call up on the name of the Lord and give him praise and give him glory. It's that simple. It is that simple. Make your mind up. My God is the God over everything in my life. Even the news that didn't put a smile on my face. God is the God over that. In my circumstance and my situation is in the hands of God. Because why? He is the author and finisher of my race. End of subject. Thank you. Thank you so much. Scooter. I just see Scooter, Ann. I don't want to. I just see that. But thank you. He's the author and finisher of my race, folks. That's it. That's end of subject. There are going to be things in your life that are out of your control. There are going to be things in your life that just came out of nowhere. There are going to be things in your life that seem so big. But I go to the third heaven, the throne room of grace. I go boldly. Thank you. I go boldly before the throne of grace because of access through Jesus. And I petition my Father. And I pray to him. Lord, this is bigger than me. This is, in my heart, this is a bit overwhelming. But I know that you're bigger than it. Lord, I place this circumstance and this situation at your feet. But Lord, let me experience the joy of your salvation as I endure and learn and be blessed in this opportunity. And I repeat that again. Anything that comes at you, in my heart, has to be turned into an opportunity. An opportunity to grow. An opportunity to grow your faith. An opportunity for prayer. An opportunity to proclaim what God has done. This is an opportunity. And I won't look at it any other way. That God is blessing and will bless and teach me out of this. I also want to thank God for using a husband and wife to bring this to my attention. I'm not going to talk about it just yet. I'll talk about it in the future. However, I thank God that he used a husband and wife team. Not only used them, but also equipped them to be able to handle, to some degree, this circumstance. That right there is God's grace and mercy. That right there is a blessing from the Lord. Why? Because what I wouldn't have known, God revealed to me. That's another thing, folks. God will reveal things to you. And God has always, always had blessed me. Maybe not overnight. Because, you know, I don't know about some of you all. I can be a little, have a little tunnel vision. You know how when you just, you know, you have that tunnel vision. And it can be a little hard for me to see what I need to see out here. But God always, always, always, somehow reveals it to me. And in that, I thank God. In that, I thank God. You know what? Hang on. Hang on. I want to read that. Please, let me read that. Let me read that. I think that's, oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. It's such a blessing, y'all, to get on here this morning with all of you. You just don't know how, what a blessing to be able to be here with like-minded people. That bringing some verses and helping me, helping each other. Proverbs chapter 3. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. And he shall direct your paths. But look at verse 7, because I think that is the icing on the cake. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. See that? I received that word. I received that word. That was the book of Proverbs. Thank you, thank you. Folks, I want to thank you. I want to thank you. I want to thank you so much. I must get off early today. I have to be at, well, hang on, hang on. Let me do it. Let me do it. Brother, let me get that. John 16, 33. This will be the last one I read on this one, because I got to get off. Oh, my, my, my, my, my. Y'all just want to bless me this morning. Y'all just want to bless me this morning. Because you know that the power is in the word. You know that breakthrough and delivery is in the word. These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. Oh, my, my, my, my. In the world you will not have tribulations, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. But he says, in me you will have peace. Praise be to God. Y'all, just thank you. Thank you. Keep me in prayer today. I felt the prayers. I felt people praying for me. Keep me in prayer today. God is going to use us today. God is going to bless us today. And I just thank God for each one of you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Please, as I say again, if anything of value, it's raining. It is raining. Praise God. Well, it's drizzling, but it just rained. Praise God. If anything of value was spoken today, if anything that you heard was helpful today, please partner with us in the ministry. First, prayer. For prayer. That is the most important contribution that you can make to this ministry. Please pray for us. Pray. Pray for God to use our ministry to reach out to people. I believe that our ministry must be, should be, needs to be multicultural. I believe that. I believe that our ministry, our congregation, should represent all the ethnicities that I see on a day-to-day basis. I believe our ministry should have a room full of people with their hands honoring and praising God based on even what I see in the book of Revelations of people of many cultures, many tribes, many nations. I believe our church should be that. I believe that our leadership should reflect what that congregation looks like. I believe conversations and dialogues, when we watch the news and the narrative that says that because I'm black, I'm not supposed to like you because you're white, and because you're white, you're not supposed to like me because I'm black. I want our church to say, we are a church of many ethnicities, and we come together under the blood of Jesus. We're here to praise Jesus. We're here to honor Jesus. And not only do I want that for our church, but we want that to be internationally broadcasted, that there's a church in Arizona where people love each other. And I want you to come to our church. I'm not worried about your sexual agenda. I'm not worried about your background. I'm not worried about your sin. I want you to come to a church where you can hear a message and allow God to transform your life from the inside out. I want you to come to a church where people will love you, but love you in truth and live truth and love. I want you to come to a church where you feel comfortable when you meet the people, but you feel uncomfortable when you hear the word. I want you to come to a church that wants to share the truth of God with you. If you could pray for that, please. If you could pray for all of that. If you could pray that God would use us in a powerful way. And I want to declare and decree this right now. How many of you saw the movie, Jesus Revolution? How many of you saw Jesus Revolution? Any of you? Thank you, Lambriel, for putting that up. Moderators, thank you so much. Thank you so much. How many of you? How many of you saw the Jesus Revolution? Can you pray for my leg? Father God, I pray for this individual's leg. Lord, I pray that you will heal, that you would restore. I pray, Father God, please, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Jesus Revolution. Is it biblical? Don't go as a theological student. Go looking at a story that took place in the 60s. All right. Any of you who saw the movie, I'm praying for a revolution to start at our church. I'm praying that Jesus will use our ministry and our church and bring people together that we may praise and honor God. I declare and decree that. I declare and decree that. I pray that. And I pray that in our ministry. I do believe that without a doubt. But I also know, I also know for a fact that Satan is angry. He's throwing everything he can at us. Notice I said us, not just me. Because there's a variety of people in our ministry. You have Stephanie, one of our praise and worship leaders, just had kidney failure. We have our praise and worship leader, John. He just basically, his mom is ill or something. So if you would just pray for our ministry and partner with us in prayer, I pray for that. Last but not least, if you see anything that has helped you on here, help us. Bless our ministry and partner with us. And if you want to bless us monetarily, praise be to God. Your love blessings will be used to take care of what we need to. Things like getting information out there via the Internet. I see Joshua. Being able to bless Joshua to create insignias and things like this. So that we can see these all over the place. I choose love. Blessing Jim Taylor, our software engineer. Blessing those around us. If you are able to bless our ministry, thank you. Thank you. If you see anything of value. But let me close with this. Let me close with this. PayPal, Venmo. Hey man, I think we have, if you look on my webpage. I can't remember what it was. Moderators, what's our church account? Which I'm going to call it. What is that? I can't remember. Oh, I can't remember what it was. Oh, it's Cash App. And it's Cash App. It's S-A-M-B-C Church. So Southern Avenue. So it's S-A-M-B-C Church. So you can look. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, that's Cash App. If this is something that God leads you to do. But most importantly, I want you to pray for our ministry. Because I know God has already started something. I know He's already started something. And I know something explosive is happening. It's happening right now. I know that. I know that. I don't doubt that at all. So if TikTok disappears, trust me. The software engineer, he's setting it up. Where we will eventually, on every platform. If TikTok disappears, so be it. We will, Instagram, Facebook, whatever these guys tell me. I will just go to the microphone. And I will run my mouth about God. But once again, bless us with your prayers. I pray with that. I pray for that. Please. All right, everybody. I must get going. Keep us in prayer. I thank you so much. I hope today was helpful. But I thank you. May the Lord keep you. Watch over you. May He bless you. May He show you favor. May He open the doors that no man can close. And remember, God is able. If you come to our church, our praise and worship will sing some beautiful songs that will give you that God is able. Let's bow our heads. Father God, we thank you. We praise you. We honor you. Lord, I pray this morning that you would just bless us. That you would just keep us. And Lord, as I deal with this opportunity, Lord, I pray that I keep my focus on you. As I deal with this situation that has come our way, Father, I pray that you will bless me with that faith. I pray that you will understand that your grace is sufficient. And I pray that you will open that door. I pray that you will allow me to just keep my focus on you and not the storms. Focus is my prayer. Father, we thank you. We praise you. Lord, I pray for everyone under the sound of my voice. I pray that you bless. I pray that you will heal. That you will restore. That you will open the doors. That you will just do a mighty and great work with each individual. And Father, any prayer that I miss, any prayer request, you know. Anything that I didn't see, you know. Father, I pray for them, whatever that might be. Father, we will forever honor you. We will praise you. We will lift you up. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus. And we all say, Amen. All right, everybody. God bless you. We thank God for you. Have a great day. May the Lord show favor upon you. God bless. Good morning, Pastor Paul. God bless. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Jose. Lisa, good morning. JT, did I see you there? I think I saw you go by. Good morning, all. Tim Taylor. Good morning, Brandon. Thank you for sharing. Yes, please, you all share with each other that we're on this morning. Please do. Share with each other we're on. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Joneser59. Me and my husband watched you every morning. I love it. Thank you so much. I love it. I love it. Good morning. Let's see. For his glory. Praise God, I love that. God bless you, Paul. Thank you. I appreciate it. Good morning, user 1561999024665. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Good to see you. Good to see you. I got my coffee. It is Friday morning. Praise God. Even though I go to work today. Hey, quick praise report. Hang on a second. I want to thank, I think it's Miss Katie. Her name is, Brother Nate, good to see you. Good to see you. Oh, we got London. Oh, good morning, good morning, good morning. But let me get a praise report. It's Miss, oh, my, my, my, my. I don't know. I should have wrote her name down. But the point of saying is she blessed the ministry yesterday. Let me see if I got her name right here. Hang on. Hang on. Wait a minute. I might have it. Miss Joy. Miss Joy, I want to thank you. You blessed the ministry yesterday. Just want to thank you so much, Miss Joy. Wanted to make sure we got that. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for blessing the ministry. Folks, but let me tell you something. Ever since I came on at the beginning of this week, I let everybody know that I believe God is calling me to really focus on ministry. Okay? And I've always felt that. I left corporate America almost three years ago. But the problem I had is I didn't ask people. Because why? I don't know. Who knows why? Maybe too ashamed. Too much pride. I don't know. But a few people have told me, Pastor Paul, you need to say something. I believe God has called you to teach and preach. I even had a pastor say, if you start a day out, what do you call it? Patriot. He goes, I tell you right now, I would follow you on, is it Patriot or Patron, Patron, whatever it is. And I said, okay. But I finally broke down at the beginning of this week, and I confess to all of you that I want you to partnership with our ministry, to donate. And people have done it daily. And so what has happened, if you remember I work at Ace Hardware in the morning, and then I transition and I Uber for about two and a half hours. My goal for Uber is to raise about $50 a night. Now, the Ace is just to take care of me and Miss Debbie's responsibilities. The Uber is just our fun money. Dad would be able to go to grab a burger in and out or, you know, maybe take a road trip up to, you know, I don't know, the coast. However, I haven't had to Uber all week. You do the math. People bless the ministry that I haven't had to Uber all week. And I thank you. Jeez, you Uber two hours to work? Well, I work an eight-hour day for Ace Hardware, and then I Uber two hours after that. So I get off Ace at 4.30 some days, 5.30 other days, and I jump in and I Uber for probably about two hours. I've gone two and a half hours. My goal is just to make $50 a day. And I try to do that five days a week. So thank you all. Thank you so much for allowing me not to have to go on Uber. So what has been going on? Last night my son came over with his fiancee. We went through the whole wedding, how that's going to play out, how that's going to work. I wouldn't have Ubered anyway, but that was just a beautiful thing to be able to do. I didn't have to go out and go to Uber. I got home. I got ready. I studied. I worked with my future daughter-in-law and my son, spent time with Miss Debbie. And praise God, that's folks I want to thank. Thank you for blessing. And let's just – I'm not looking for – I'm looking for long-term donors. I want people to donate and be partners with us month in and month out. But you know really what I want from you from the very beginning? Your prayers. If you could bless our ministry with your prayers, trust me, prayers go a lot farther than monetary gain. Prayers. But please, partner with us. All right, we're going to do something very powerful. As you saw yesterday, I'm going through a storm. I'm going through a pop quiz as we said yesterday. But you know, by golly, I'm feeling pretty good about the pop quiz. God is blessing. So here we go. Yesterday, a beautiful gentleman went ahead and sent me some verses. And we're going to read the verses that he sent me. And this is what he said. Some inspiration I would share with you. Love you, brother. Brother Raymond sent this. Let me repeat this again. Some inspiration I would love to share with you. Love you, brother. So we're going to look at the verses that he sent me. Brother Ray, we're going to look at the verses that you blessed me with. Ms. Lacey, good to see you this morning. All right, let's turn our Bibles to Deuteronomy 31, verse 8. Deuteronomy 31, verse 8. See, this is a beautiful thing, folks. When the Bible talks about iron sharpens iron. You know, sometimes we have people that will give us advice. And that advice is based on maybe experience. That advice probably has great intentions. And there's nothing wrong with getting good advice from people with some wisdom. But there's so much value in getting a godly advice with the word of God from a godly person. Good morning, Ms. Lacey. Good to see you this morning. So let's read this. Hang on, let me get my notes back up. My phone is going out already. My other phone. Deuteronomy 31, verse 8 says this. Here we go. I love this. It says, and the Lord, he is the one who goes before you. Oh, my, my. Let me get a sip. Brother Ray, come on now. He is the one that goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed. Did you hear that? Good morning, lamb. Yesterday, I was talking yesterday, sharing yesterday that I am going through a test. I got some information here in the last couple days that really took the wind out of my sails. Now, health, my family is fine. Ms. Debbie is fine. Health, we're fine. We're fine. It was something bigger. But something came in my direction yesterday, thank you, thank you, that took the wind out of my sails. I just got out of Bible study. I'm feeling the presence of prayer by you all. I'm at work, and I'm having a great day. And I get this information that just was like a kick in the stomach. And I didn't lose my faith. But you know when you get so shook that you know your foundation is solid, but you've been shook. You know the building sways a bit, but it doesn't tumble. It sways a bit, but it doesn't fall over. That's how I felt. I was so devastated. But this brother sent me this verse, Brother Ray, and I'll read it again. Look what it says. And the Lord, he is the one who goes before you. Ooh, goes before you. Now, how do I look at that? Goes before you. Let's say that we're going into battle. All right? We're going into battle. And before I get to the main event, to the battle, the Lord is already there. Think about that. No matter what's going to go on tomorrow, my God is there. No matter what is about to come, God is there. No matter what the situation turns out to be, God was already there. But what I've got to do is trust in God. Trust in the Lord. Read it again. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Watch what it says. Do not fear. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Brother Ray, you're stepping on my toes here, brother. You sent me a verse. You're stepping on my toes. And that's a good thing. Folks, there's nothing wrong with the Word of God stepping on your toes. There's nothing wrong with the Word of God causing you to rethink a circumstance or a situation. It's one of those things you want to hear, you need to hear. Jim, I saw that. What should we make the title this morning? It's Okay to be Uncomfortable. That's the title. It's Okay to be Uncomfortable. That's the title. Here we go. So, when Brother Ray sent this and I took a look at it, it had me to rethink because when this subject matter came my way, when I found out what I found out, it really caused me to, wait a minute, fear. It caused me to fear because, and I'm not going to go into the details of what happened. In the future, we'll talk about it. But it caused me to, like, what happened? Why did this happen? What if this happens? No, that can't. And all of a sudden, you have Satan playing all these tricks on you when you're dealing with the spirit of fear. But what does the Bible say? For we do not have the spirit of fear. See, that was Satan trying to mess with me. That was Satan trying to mess with you. As you go through things and deal with things, and all of a sudden you get a word, you get a message, you get someone notifies you of something, all of a sudden you start operating in fear as if God can't handle it. You start operating in fear as if it got God off guard. You operate in fear as if, like, oh no, God, what are we going to do? How do we fix this? But what does it say? And I read it again. And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed. Ray, I think that was an on-time verse. I want to thank you. I needed that. And folks, I say it and I keep saying it. We're going to go through some things. We're going to endure some things. We're going to get message that a loved one is healed. We're going to get a notification from the company, the job, that they don't need our services anymore. We're going to get a spouse to say, I've fallen out of love. We're going to get a friendship that has gone south. We're going to get notice that a bill that you didn't know about shows up. And I'm sorry, my eye is itchy. The list goes on. There are going to be things that take place in your life. There are going to be things that happen. But we must keep our focus on the Lord. We must say to ourselves, if God brings me to it, the Lord will get me through it. We have to basically say, Lord, I know that I'm going through this, but I know you're doing something. I know you're shaping me. You're molding me. You're preparing me. Lord, I know. And you've got to understand, too. Watch this. This is important. People are watching you as you go through a thing. As you go through the storms of your life, people are watching you. They're seeing how you react. They're seeing how you respond. They're seeing what you say. And by golly, it's okay to be shook for a moment. Get out of that shookness and get in your faith. Get out of that fear and get in your faith. Do you know fear and faith cannot coexist together? Uh-oh. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Do you know that fear and faith cannot coexist together? It's either one or the other. See, when you fear, thank you, when you fear, you're being faithless. Oh, he's Pastor Paul, but fear is a natural reaction. Absolutely. Fear for a moment is the natural response. Well, then hear me. Fear for a moment is the natural response. But we can't allow fear to get in the throne or on the throne of God. We can't. See, fear causes you to question God. It causes your faith to minimize. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. I think we see that in the book of Hebrews. What was that, Ray? What did you say, 811? What did you say, 811? I want to read that for you because you put it out there. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he will raise Christ. That's a great verse, 831. So, sorry, please forgive me. 831, what does it say? What then shall we say to those things if God is for us, who can be against us? Amen. But fear cannot coexist with faith. Folks, we have to keep our faith in God. No matter what's going on, no matter the situation, no matter what the physician says, no matter what the spouse says, no matter what is going on, we must keep our faith in God. Alright, let's look at that next verse Brother Ray sent us. Psalms 23, 1-6. Psalms 23, 1-6. See, this is what happens, folks. When you're going through a storm, there's going to be a brother or sister that's going to encourage you. When you're going through a storm, there's going to be a brother or sister that's going to send you some words. They're going to send you the word of God. Because that's the only thing that can help you get through. That's the only thing that builds up your faith. Sorry, Psalms 23, 1-6. Psalms 23, 1-6. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me into the path of righteousness. For His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Watch this. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Folks, right there. Right there. Even though I am walking through the valley of death, the Lord is with me. Even though that there are things coming at me left and right, and you, not just me, and you, God is protecting me. He's watching over me. He's blessing me. He's keeping me. He's making sure that things are working the way they are supposed to work. You know the book of Romans. All things working together. God is watching us. Like our sister said, stand firm in and on the word of God. Stand firm. Stand firm. Folks, people are watching you. Stand firm. Don't be moved. I sung a song on here a couple weeks ago. We used to sing a song at church. I shall not. I shall not be moved. I shall not. I know I can't sing, but you get the point. I shall not be moved. That's a song stating that you shall not be moved. That I am planted like a tree beside the water. I am planted. I am focused and I'm standing firm in God's promises and God's word. That's how we have to be, folks. We have to be that way. Once again, the guys at work, Ace, they said, why are you so happy all the time? Why are you such a good mood? I'm too blessed not to be happy. I am too blessed to allow Satan to try to get me. I'm too blessed to allow Satan to try to convince me that I'm not blessed. I am too blessed to allow Satan to try to convince me that my God is not for me. I'm too blessed. I don't have time for that. I don't even have my moments. I have my moments, but I have to disappear into my prayer closet. I've got to go to my truck real quick. I've got to say the word as I'm walking around the store. I've got to preach to myself. Oh, I'm blessed in the name of God. I'm a child of God. My name is written in the book of life. God is for me. No weapon shall form. I've got to do that. And as I do that, that nurtures that root, that seed. It nurtures that word in my heart. And all of a sudden, the fear, the thoughts, the message Satan is trying to put upon me, the evil one, the enemy of God, the enemy of me. All of a sudden, I started like, wait a minute. I'm a child of God. I've been adopted into the royal family. I'm a peculiar person. I'm an ambassador representing the kingdom here on earth. It wasn't a surprise. Whatever might have happened in your life, God has you. But you've got to go back to that verse we just said. For the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Did you see that? The Lord is my shepherd. What does a shepherd do? The shepherd provides for the sheep. When the sheep need water, what does the shepherd do? He takes them to water. If the sheep need food, he takes them to the green pasture. If they need protection, the shepherd is there with his staff and his rod. He protects his sheep. I think I even heard in the scripture where he left 99 to go get that one. And when he found the one, he celebrated. Folks, we've got a good shepherd. We've got a good shepherd. You know, sheep are unusual creatures. My neighbor down the street, he has sheep. He said they are the meekest, kindest, most humblest creatures that you have. He goes, but they're not the brightest of the bunch either. But guess what? They're loyal to their owners, their shepherds, my neighbor. They're loyal to them. When they call them, here come the sheep. When the sheep see them, they get all excited and run over to them and meh, meh, meh. He said, but they're not the brightest creatures. Bright in the sense that danger, stuff. But you know what? They've got a good shepherd. See, we're not the brightest creatures. We don't know everything, but God does. We're not in all places, but God is. We're not all powerful, but God is. See, our shepherd loves us. Our shepherd watches over us. Our shepherd keeps us. Folks, let's keep our focus on the shepherd. He's got us. He says what? He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me to the path of righteousness. What? For his name's sake. What is that name? That name is Jesus. That is above every name. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess. Folks, Jesus. People who don't believe in Jesus, I'm just amazed. People who do not receive Jesus and minimize him just to be a prophet, I'm amazed. But Jesus is the one that went to the cross for you and I, that resurrected on the third day, that sits at the right hand side of the Father. It is Jesus that's been given all authority. So when I read this Psalm 23, I can't help but think of Jesus. Think about it. Though I walk through gates, though I walk through the valley of death, the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. How many of you have said that to yourselves as you walk? Surely your goodness and mercy follow me. Say that to yourself as you're in the course of your day. Say that to yourself as you endure your storm. Say that to yourself when you get that negative information. Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me. Think about it. Casting down every thought that, what, exalts itself against the God. I love it. Casting down every thought. You have a negative thought? Cast that bad boy down. But start standing on God's word, standing firm. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Folks. Folks. We just got to trust in God. But you got to say God's word to yourself. You got to say God's word to yourself. You got to say it so that you are feeding that seed. You know, you take a seed. You put that seed on a table. You'll come back two weeks later, it's still a seed. You take a seed and you put it on a piece of lawn furniture outside. Just let it sit there. You come back two weeks later, it's still a seed. But it's when you put that seed in some good soil. Now you're not listening to me. You're not hearing me. So you need to take that seed and put it in some good soil. Joshua, good morning, brother. You take that seed and put it in some good soil. And all of a sudden, put some water on it. Then all of a sudden, a little sprout will pop up. Takes root. But if you take that seed and you put it in some good soil, but if you take that seed and just leave it there on the table, it'll never be what it's supposed to be. See, if you take the seed of God and you don't plant it, uh-oh, I know, I'm getting to somebody. If you don't take that seed and you don't plant it within the heart, it'll never take root. It'll never grow. But when you take it and plant it within your heart, in that good soil, and you keep reading and studying and praying, all of a sudden that seed takes root. Uh-oh. Now when the storm comes, you reflect back to the seed and the tree. And you start, wait a minute, wait a minute. If God is for me, who can be against me? There's not a weapon on earth that can be formed that can come against me. I'm a child of God. I've been adopted in this world, family. I'm a peculiar person. I say again, I'm an ambassador representing the kingdom of God. Let's read it again. What did he say? Surely his goodness and mercy shall follow me. There's goodness and mercy. Follow me. And when people see this, it gets infectious. When people see this attitude of gratitude, all of a sudden they start asking you, hey, hey, hey, brother, hey, sister, what does it make you? What is it that you have that causes you to just be optimistic? Well, it's called faith. Then all of a sudden that opens up that door and opportunity to share with them. Even with us, I'm praying if there's one thing I do is that I encourage you to have an attitude of gratitude towards the Lord. I pray that. I pray that you all get to see this 60-year-old man and you're like, man, he's fired up for God. I want some of that. You can. All you have to do is make your mind up and get in that word. It allows you to motivate you, to get you excited, to stand on it. That's all you got to do. You just got to make your mind up. Say, Lord, I'm going to study my word. I'm going to meditate on it day and night. I'm going to apply it in my life. I'm going to be preaching to myself as I'm at work. I'm going to be preaching to myself as I'm at work. I'm going to be preaching to myself as I'm down on this work. If you would just do that. If you get anything from me, if you hear anything from me, please be optimistic. Be positive for the glory of God. People are watching you. And remember I said it the other day, we are all influencers. We are all influencers. Some of you might say, well, Pastor Paul. You got X amount of thousand people that you are an influencer. No, no, no. We are all influencers. I said this the other day, we are all influencers. Why? We influence our children. We influence our neighbor. We influence the people at the store. We influence the people we interact. We influence. Don't think about folks. Get past numbers. It's about quantity, not quality. I should say, I'm sorry. It's about quality, not quantity. The quality of influence that you have is more important than a person who has a billion people on TikTok. Because those intimate, influential relationships on a day-to-day basis, that's the kind of things that lead people to the Lord. When they see your attitude, when they see your response, when they see you standing on the Word of God, you are influencing them, and that is important. So remember, it's not about quantity. It's not about how many people. It's about the quality of each opportunity that God allows you to influence somebody. And in that, are they seeing the love of God in your heart? I know we're going a couple different directions this morning. And Jim, I know the title that we gave, to some degree, does not even align up to what we're talking about this morning. But I want us to understand that even as a pastor, I go through... Thank you so much. Even as a pastor, as a believer, as a follower of Christ, as a Christian, I go through my own personal storms. You go through your own personal storms. But what helps me is my relationship with the Lord. Let's take about five more minutes. I'm going to read a couple more scriptures, and I got to get off and get ready. But I want to encourage you guys this morning. I tell you what, God is blessed. So we are reading some scriptures that were sent to me by a young man named Ray. And so he said, hey, and I repeat, some inspiration I would share with you. Love you, brother. So he sent these verses to me, and we're reading them. So here we go. Psalms 125, verse 2. Psalms 125, verse 2. I hope this morning is being helpful. Psalms 125, verse 2. Let's see. Psalms 125, verse 2. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people from time forth and forever. You know what? That's a very interesting and powerful verse. Let me tell you why. First, let's talk about the application to us. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forever. I'm surrounded, and we in Arizona, they call it the Valley of the Sun, and we have mountains everywhere. Right there is a mountain. I could walk from my house and be at the base of that mountain. Less than, I don't know, five minutes, if that, a mountain. So we're surrounded. When you think about the imagery that we're getting here, you have these mountains. Maybe some of you don't live in a mountain area, but you have all these mountains that surround you. To some degree, they're a protection from the storms, the wind currents that come out of the desert. They're a form of protection, and they're very interesting, these mountains. I think it's a very powerful image that they give us here, that these mountains are surrounding us. They're almost like a gate. They're almost like protection. I love the imagery that it gives us with regards to the mountains and us. The mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people from the time forth and forever. Now, here's interesting. The mountains that surround Jerusalem are the enemies of Jerusalem. The mountains that surround, those are filled with the non-Jews that were descendants of Esau. And those mountains that surround Jerusalem, right, are there. But how interesting, God compares the mountains, right? But in the same verse, he says, not only those mountains there that surround Jerusalem, the imagery of those mountains, but I can protect you from who can come down from those mountains. I can watch over you as Jerusalem or Israel has been protected over the centuries. No one can come against Israel. Why? Because God is for them. And those mountains really are imagery of God and his divine protection. Even though those mountains in Jerusalem, the enemy of Israel is there, but God watches over them. What's the example? The Six-Day War, the formation of Israel, and all the other events where Arab Muslim nations have come against Israel out of those mountains, Mount Esau. But they cannot overcome Israel because God is for Israel. Think about that, y'all. That right there, that little piece of information, now let us apply to our lives. Here we go. So the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forever. I am surrounded, I am protected. By whom? The Lord. He watches over me. He keeps me. He takes care of me. He provides my every need. We don't have to worry. We can look at Israel. He's doing it with Israel. He will do it with you and I. Why do we worry? Why do we get concerned with fear? God is watching over us. He's keeping a moment of fear, but do not let it take residence in your heart. Do not do it. Let's look at this last verse. Philippians 4, 6 and 7. Philippians 4, and I've got to get going after that. Philippians 4, 6 and 7. Philippians 4, 6 and 7. There's one more after that, but we're going to make this the last one for now. Alright, here we go. Oh, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy. Hang on, I'm almost there. Here we go. Here we go. Philippians 4, 6 and 7. Think about that. Think about that. Oh, but what should we think on? Read the next part. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are a good report, if there is any virtue, and if there be anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. And that right there, Jim, I concur, will bring you perfect peace. Meditate on God. Meditate on His Word. Meditate on His goodness. Meditate on His love. If you want to just meditate on what Jesus Christ did by going to the cross, trust me, that will put you over the top with pure joy. Meditate on that. Meditate on all the things that God has blessed you with. Go look at your spouse and say, Lord, I want to thank you for giving me that person. Go look at your children and say, Lord, I want to thank you for giving me those children. Look at your church family. Look at your friends. And I want you to say, Lord, I want to thank you. Thank you so much for blessing me, for watching over me, for waking me up, for protecting me, for providing. Don't look at the negativity. Don't get consumed with what you don't have. Start celebrating and praising God for what you do have. You know why? Let's see who responds first. God is good. God is good. Who's going to respond? Give me the first 20 people to respond. Let's put it that way. Oh, look at Joshua. Look at Joshua. Give me 19 more. Yes, all the time. All the time. Yes, all the time. Oh, look at that. And all the time? How do you respond to that now? And all the time? Good. Come on now. Y'all know what's up. Y'all know what's up. That's what you've got to tell yourself all day. God is good. All the time and all the time God is good. Come on now. That's what it boils down to, folks. Man, we serve a great God. Folks, it's 709. Let me answer a couple questions, and I've got to go get ready. I've got to go get ready. I'm blessed to go to Ace. I'm blessed this morning to go to Ace, and God is going to use me today. I'm excited. He already is. I'll tell you what. He already is. He surely is, Pastor Walt. Right? Isn't he good? Isn't he good? Yes, yes, yes, yes. That Volkswagen is up next to that globe. Oh, man, good eyes. You see that? Yeah, I used to have a little bus like that. I used to have a little bus like that. Amen. All right. I hope you all have a beautiful Friday. You know, weekends I don't come online, but I will post some videos in the course of the day. So, I love it. Well, you know what, James? Since you pointed it out, I'm going to pull it down just so you can see it, okay? Because it's cool. Now, it's a little dusty. It's a little dusty, but here. It's a Volkswagen. Insert it on top. Serve for it. See that? So, I used to have a bus just like this, just like it was serving. So, I want to show that to you. All right. I must get going. Remember what I said. If you want to partner with us in the ministry, go to... JT, what is it again? Pastor Paul TV? What is it? God bless you today, Pastor Paul. Thank you. JT, what is it? Pastor Paul TV. I'm so sorry. JT will put it on there. If you want to... Thank you, Josh. PastorPaul.TV. If you want to go to that, you can bless the ministry. You can register. You'll get updates, all that cool stuff. As we evolve and start going on different platforms, you'll get updates saying, Hey, Pastor Paul's going live, and so on, et cetera. Keep us in prayer. If you want to bless our ministry with your love offerings, you can do that. And like I said, you've seen my vision. We're going to be in a church that is multicultural. Just delivering the message of God. And that's what it's all about. All right, everybody. Let me pray over you, and I must get going. All right? Father God, we thank you. We praise you for this moment. We thank you, Lord, for waking us up. We thank you for grace and mercy. And, Lord, if there were prayer requests, if I miss them, Lord, you know. You know what is needed. You know what needs to take place, Lord, and we call upon you for your God, the author and finisher of our race. We thank you and we praise you. We love you, Lord. Lord, we thank you for your son, and thank you for your words that you've given us and the power that comes with them. And, Lord, our faith is on you. Not the situations, not the circumstance, not the storms, but on you. And, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. All right, everybody. God bless you. Brother Ray, thank you. Josh, thank you. Lamb, Brian, all of you, thank you so much. God bless you, and have a great day. Praise God. Thank you for tuning in to The Coffee with Pastor Paul Podcast. We hope today's message has been inspiring and uplifting for you. If you would like to stay connected and receive notifications for new podcasts, please visit our website at pastorpaul.tv and register with us. We believe that through this podcast, we can continue to spread the word of God and reach more people with this message of love and hope. So, make sure to sign up for notifications and share this podcast with your friends and family. Thank you again for joining us today. We look forward to having you tune in next time. Until then, may God bless you abundantly.