Empowered Praise: Trusting God Through Every Trial

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "When I was asked to do this, my heart kind of like shrunk a little bit because when you think about praise, it's more than just like what we did here this morning. It's a lifestyle. You guys agree with that? I need, I need, it's a conversation. It's a lifestyle. But as I, as I was getting deeper into it and preparing more, I realized that God really had something for me. And preparing. Thank you so much, Brittany. I'll pick it up later, I promise. God had something for me. So I hope he has something for you too. And I believe he does." [26:36] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "The same way the object of our focus determines our obedience, hear me out, the object of our focus determines our praise. Praise isn't or shouldn't be dependent on our predicament. Dave's not here, but I used a lot of Ps right there. If you know Dave. Praise should be dependent on the object of our focus, and we can't focus on Jesus in tough times if we don't trust him. I'm not even going to say we can't. Yeah, we can't. And it's very hard to trust someone you only see on Sundays. We have to live our lives directed towards Jesus if we want to trust him when it counts the most." [28:15] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "My cousin used to say it like this. He says, Christians are like tea bags. You find out what they're made of when they're in hot water. You find out what's underneath the surface, who we're really depending on whenever our back's against the wall. And I'll be honest, this isn't something I should be on the floor. I'm not saying this, I'm not good at it. You know who I trust when the back's against the wall? Myself. But we're called to trust in Jesus. It's easy to say, very hard to do. And like I said, I'm preaching to myself up here as much as I am to you guys." [33:01] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Hope means there is something at the end of this. That could mean at the end of this trial. Or if you're like me and you go through a lot of trials, it could mean the end of this life. Either way, we win. It also means that there's an intentional, an intentional action of God behind this very moment in your life. Wherever you find yourself, if you're in the trenches, if you're on the mountain, the song praise this morning. It says, I praise on the mountain. I praise in the valley. I'm very, I'm not good with lyrics. That's Hannah's job. She's really good at it. But we're praising him no matter where we are." [35:26] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Praise becomes a problem when our predicament overshadows God's promise. It means if we're in a tough enough predicament that we forget that God has a plan, no matter what it is, whether it's you're a pastor, whether it's you're a banker, a mortgage consultant, whatever it is, God, it's like, it's like the embroidery. He's weaving your white life together. Also, let this, this story be an example of what happens when the power of praise shows up. Prison walls come down. Freedom breaks out. Salvations happen." [50:08] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


### Quotes for Members

1. "Their ability to worship with literal bloody backs is a prime indicator that King Jesus doesn't just rule their message, doesn't just rule their ministry, he rules their lives. I'm going to say it again. Their ability to worship with bloody backs is a prime indicator that Jesus is not just the king of their message. He rules their lives. They trust in Jesus. They've just been publicly beaten unfairly, and they're worshiping the king of kings. Right after it says, Praying and singing hymns to God, it says, The prisoners were listening." [31:43] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "If we would take the time to pause to look at Jesus trust him just for a minute and believe that he's doing it for us, doing something greater than our understanding, then we get this outcome. And we're going to go into what that looks like, right? What happens, because so far we've talked about what praise is, how we actually do that, right? Hope, contentment, perspective. What is the why? The why is because we don't want our words to preach the message of Jesus, but we want our lives, I don't know about you guys, I won't speak for you guys. I want my life to give off, give off the aroma of heaven." [44:53] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Paul could have had physical freedom, but my plan was for the jailer to be relieved of spiritual bondage. If Paul would have left, the jailer in his household would have never been saved. Paul wouldn't have praised in the hard. The jailer in the household would have never been saved. So whenever we talk about why, why do we worship when it's hard? Also, this is, I'm going to say like at least 80% irrelevant to the message, but I noticed this while I was reading and I get like hung up on certain things. Whenever Paul was like, no, I'm not leaving in, basically they punished me publicly. I'm not leaving secretly." [48:45] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "To wrap it up, guys, life is hard. That's out of our control. What is in our control is how we live it. There's a quote hanging up in my grandma's bathroom. It's by Charles Swindoll. It's called Attitude. I don't know it word for word, but it basically says life is, you know, like 10% what happens and 90% how we handle it. If we want to get through this life, like Jesus says, Matthew 11, 28, he has a plan for us to live under his yoke freely and lightly. An attitude of praise is a part of that." [52:04] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "We're in control of our lives. We're in control of how we live it, how we live our lives. And I found that community is the best way. So if you need somebody to hold your hands up through the hard seasons of life, get in community. Find a life group. But today as we enter this time of worship, find someone on the prayer team. We have people at every corner almost. I would love to pray with you. And get some prayer. We're here to hold your hands up, your arms up as your church family. That's something I've truly experienced from Paradox. And I hope you guys have too. Is we are a family." [52:40] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)