Finding Faith and Hope in Adversity

1. "You know, it's been an unprecedented couple of days as we've had the hurricane come through. And most of us have lost a lot. Many of us have lost power. A lot of us have lost possessions. And some of us have even lost people that we care about a lot. And so I know that today you may have a heavy heart. You may be trying to scramble, trying to find food to provide for your family. You might be going through a time where you're just saying, man, it would just be great if the lights came on so I can cook a warm meal. But just know this. We're right here in the middle of it with you. And we're praying for you. And we know that God often uses moments like these to bring us even closer into a relationship with Jesus Christ. And it's a time where the church can really be the church." [01:34] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "A lot of us are thinking about, hey, how am I going to get enough gas to put in my car? How am I going to get enough fuel for my generator? And we're all thinking about these things and consumed by them. And these thoughts sometimes bring us to a really tough place where we start feeling a lot of anxiety and stress because we're saying, what happens if my worst fears start to actually come to light? A lot of us are wondering, God, where are you in the middle of this? And our prayers take on a lot of urgency. But you know, these feelings of anxiety and struggle aren't necessarily just new to us. These are ideas. And things that people have felt for generations, even millennia, as we've grappled with anxiety in the face of uncertainty." [35:05] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Joseph couldn't control the situation that he was in. It was incredibly hostile. Like prison is one of the most hostile places you can be. And yet Joseph doesn't try to change where he's at. He's not trying to break out of prison. He's not trying to control things. He's not getting angry. He doesn't treat people terribly because he understands that his response is his responsibility. And emotional maturity flows from being someone who says, even though things are really chaotic and they're really difficult, I'm going to choose to act in a way that honors God with my life. And I'm going to act believing that God is ultimately in control, which frees me to be the kind of person that is able to say, I can treat others with grace and goodness." [44:35] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "You know, that's one of the greatest promises of the Bible, that God is with us. That's the name that's given to Jesus when he has promised that he's Emmanuel, God with us. God says, I will never leave you or forsake you. And Joseph experiences that kind of attention and that kind of connection with God in prison. And he rises to be the person that the warden puts over everything that is his. He runs the other prisoners. He runs all the wardens. He's in charge because God gives him favor. And here we find something that is important for us as we look at the way that we operate as people who are in difficult moments." [43:04] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "The path to the palace begins in the prison. And Joseph has a calling on his life. Those dreams that he had, that God was going to elevate him, that God was going to use, eventually do come true. What's fascinating about Joseph's story is that as he's in prison and as he's been incarcerated unjustly, God brings a circumstance about where he has the opportunity to interpret another man's dream. And that man's dream is ultimately something that comes true. There's a man who comes to the prison and he's been unjustly accused. And Joseph tells him that he's going to be restored. And he's restored back to his role as the person who's the cupbearer to the king, to the pharaoh. And it actually happens." [47:23] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "The moment you're going through right now may be a moment of preparation that God wants to use to prepare you to be the kind of person that God can use in ways you can't imagine. Because ultimately, when you look backwards, you see God's hand all over the things that you're going through right now. You see it in the middle of your suffering. You see later, much later, after Joseph has been elevated as the second in command of Egypt, he is reunited with his brothers. They show up. They're looking for some food because a massive famine has covered the entire land. And they've come to Egypt because it's the only place where there's food for people." [49:57] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Listen, I don't know what you've gone through in the last couple days. And maybe your whole life has been hard. Maybe there are times you're like, man, God, that was just evil and it hurt. And I don't know what to do with it. But know this, our God is the kind of God who could take things that are really, really painful and transform our life. My friend Mike Glenn always says is that God takes the worst moment of our life and makes it the first part of our testimony. God wants to use the broken and battered parts of your life and the pain that you're going through to make it right now so that he can reveal how good and how wonderful he really is." [51:22] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "You know, the way that you get in on this isn't just by simply praying to God and moving on. It's by saying, God, I'm submitting my whole life to you. All the pieces of my life are ultimately yours. You know the end from the beginning, and I can't do this without you. I need you to be in charge. And for those of us who've prayed that prayer, maybe your choice today is to continue to pray and to be in charge of your life. Trust that God is for you, that this moment is not too big for God. He wasn't like, whoa, huge hurricane. I just missed that one. Like, that's not how God works. And for you in this moment, you need to know how seen you are, that God sees you and cares and knows you by name. And he knows that this is not the end of your story. And you just need to say, I'm going to trust you." [52:40] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "A young mother had begun listening to our messages on Sundays. She had not grown up in church, but was curious about Jesus. A couple weeks ago, she finally understood that she didn't need to be perfect to come to God. In her words, she said, you just need to trust Jesus and that's the key. She prayed with us and became a part of the family of God that day. And that is why we exist as a ministry. We want to help people know and love Jesus. God is using our broadcasts on television and online to change lives. But we don't do this mission alone. We have partners who pray and give and help us accomplish our mission." [57:15] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)