The Shock of Suffering – Bishop T.D. Jakes

In times like these, we notice the abandonment of human kindness and decency, as we’ve forgotten who we are. As a result, God will allow pestilence to humble us and cause us to behold the greatness of His power! We are His image-bearers, and as Christ became sin to cure us, we must also become a part of the cure to heal those around us. Understand, we have to go through bad to get to better. But, while going through, let us continue to look up, focusing on our Savior and living to become the cur

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greetings in the name of Jesus Christ

our Lord and Savior grace and peace be

multiplied unto you from God our Father

I want to say good morning to the Polish

house and to all the saints who are

gathering from around the world to view

this broadcast I believe that God has

given me a word that will bless your

life stir your spirit and challenge the

way you think I’m excited to be with you

this morning I’m excited that you have

logged in from wherever you are to have

this virtual experience and though it is

in fact a virtual experience that does

not diminish the fact that it can be

virtual and still be spiritual it can be

virtual and still be anointed it can be

virtual and still be effective so

prepare your hearts and prepare your

minds as we prepare to go into the Word

of God and more importantly that the

Word of God might go into us because

these are the kinds of times that we

need the Word of God to go into us we

need his word to saturate our spirits

I’m going to Matthew 21 1 through 10 so

you get ahead of me we need we need the

Word of God to get deep down in

ourselves and in our spirits and speak

to us in such a supernatural way that we

don’t leave the way we came and in

perilous times in times of uncertainty

now more than ever we need to consider

and contemplate not only the Word of God

but our understanding of God’s Word that

understanding being the truth we stand

under how does this become applicable in

my daily life for me it does no good to

have to embrace the historicity of the

text and not have any contemporary

relevance with what’s going on in our

lives today and right now everything in

the world is going on in our lives

so let’s go to the Word of God we’re

going to be in the Gospel of st. Matthew

chapter 21 verse 1 through 10 and a

reason they approached Jerusalem and

came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives

Jesus sent two disciples saying to them

go to the village

ahead of you and at once you will find a

donkey tied there with her coat by her

untie them and bring them to me if

anyone says anything to you say that the

Lord needs him and he will send them

right away this took place to fulfill

what was spoken through the Prophet say

to the daughter of Zion see your King

comes to you gentle and riding on a

donkey and on a Colt the foal of our

donkey the disciples went and did as

Jesus had instructed them they brought

the donkey and the Colt and placed their

cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on a

very large crowd a very large crowd

spread their cloaks on the road while

others cut branches from the trees and

spread them on the road the crowds that

went ahead of him and those that

followed shouted Hosanna Hosanna to the

son of David blessed is he who comes in

the name of the Lord hosanna in the

highest heaven when Jesus entered

Jerusalem the whole city was stirred and

asked who is this I want to take this

text and I want to use this subject the

shock of suffering the shock of

suffering can you say man spirit of the

Living God fall afresh on us as we go

into the Word of God today that it might

be illuminated in our spirits that it

might be indelibly etched into our

hearts and minds that we might be

transformed by the renewing of our mind

that we might be shaped into the very

image of Christ in the earth now like

never before we need to be Christ in the

earth the salt of the earth a city set

up on a hill that cannot be here and

causing our faith to shine out even

beyond our fears and even beyond our

anxieties and even beyond our

complexities and even beyond our

uncertainties allow our faith to shine

out and saturate us endow us with power

in the mighty name of Jesus

we pray somebody who believes that his

word shout a man you may be seated

I’m excited to have this opportunity to

talk to you because of the perils of the

time said we’re living in I believe the

Word of God is more relevant right now

than ever before

we need his word to guide us through the

turbulence that we’re in right now and

really it’s a test of our faith because

I didn’t say that we need our fellowship

to Guyana South fellowship is important

fellowship is biblical fellowship is

right Fellowship is something that we

were made to have God said it’s not good

for man to be alone I get that but this

is not a test of our ability to interact

with each other

this is a test of how deeply are we

rooted and grounded in God’s Word for

the Word of God is what sustains us when

the test is on and it occurs to me it’s

a little bit amazing that there’s not

been much focus in recent days on the

whole lit season very little focus very

little being said about it very little

being talked about because I think we

are so preoccupied with the uncertainty

of how we might end up suffering that we

fail to recognize that the God we serve

becomes emblematic of suffering itself

and I must confess to you I don’t I

don’t always enjoy preaching this

particular message from this particular

text on Palm Sunday only because it is

so traditional and I’ve been doing it

for 43 years that sometimes I’d rather

preach something else rather than to

preach the very predictable nevertheless

one I looked at this text I’m not just

preaching it because it is in fact Palm

Sunday but I’m preaching it because I

looked at the text again through the

lens of what we’re going through right

now I found it very very very very very

fascinating when I began to look at the

text that I’m looking at the text at a

time that all around the world believers

are going through various levels of

suffering some are suffering on

respirators some are suffering with the

uncertainty of having loved ones on

respirators and waiting to hear up

from doctors who are overlaid with more

patients than they can handle

not enough equipment to maintain in some

areas not enough beds to accommodate the

victims nurses working sick and

everybody struggling trying to make the

unworkable begin to work and there is

suffering in the midst of that suffering

I’ve been inundated with calls from

pastors and leaders and friends with

various predicaments and and easing

trying to ease their anxiety and handle

my own and then to understand that a lot

of people were simply just

claustrophobic because in certain

regions of our country we have been shut

in the house and we have not been

allowed to go out or not only to go

certain places or only under certain

circumstances we’re not used to being in

the house set low and we say we are

suffering and I question in my own mind

and all I realize that there is a

certain amount of suffering involved in

and not being able to go do what you

want to do I wonder in the third-world

countries where there are various and

levels of engagement if they would think

we were suffering I wonder if they would

think that we were suffering shut up in

our air-conditioned houses and central

heat in our house is a carpet on the

floor and we are built in kitchens and

our dishwashers and our television with

our 300 channels I wonder if they would

feel bad for us you begin to understand

then that suffering is relative and

suffering depends on what you’re going

through I’m wondering if the AIDS

patients in the AIDS ward would think

that we were suffering just because we

didn’t get to make the hookup with our

friends and hang out at our favorite

restaurant and go to our favorite the

eight or go to our favorite church to

worship I wonder when we stand before

God in the face of the apostles who were

solid asunder and crucified upside down

and some of them were beheaded I wonder

if they would accept our definition of

suffering in the context of what they

went through if we stand up there with

Paul and all of them and Peter and James

and John and they all start talking

about how they were beaten

and how they were stoned and how they

were crucified and we get up and say

yeah I was shut up in my house for weeks

I wonder how that really defined

suffering recently I did an interview

and whenever you go out there and you

start doing interviews at times of

crisis one of the most predictable

questions that you will most often get

is how could God be good and allow such

suffering I want to say to you this

morning as a Christian one of the things

I love about being a Christian is that

being a Christian means that God does

not hide suffering from the conversation

he’s having with us about faith

now I must confess if we preacher some

time hat if we don’t talk about it like

we should we don’t preach about it like

we should sometimes we don’t even have a

good theology around suffering itself

because suffering isn’t exciting it

doesn’t make people want to come today

it doesn’t get them motivated nobody

wants to come but we don’t do as good a

job as Jesus did because Jesus did not

hide suffering from his followers in

fact when he made his appeal for them to

follow him if the criteria of his

invitation was take up your cross and

follow me now because we see the cross

as an emblem of worship we really don’t

give it that at the time jesus said take

up your cross and follow me crosses were

not seen as an emblem of worship but

rather a torture mechanism for a

convicted criminal it would be like take

up your electric chair and follow me

take up your gas chamber and follow me

there is no spiritual connotation to

take up your cross yet so when Jesus

starts talking to them about taking up

your cross it’s not taken up a pretty

thing it’s taken up a cursed thing a

emblem of suffering and agony and guilt

and and an emblem of degradation in it

and social disruption and then in

judicial discord

a cross was not something that people

shouted about

they did not understand it in that

context they struggle to understand

Jesus anyway because when you look at

this particular week they understood it

better in retrospect than they did in

real time this week starts out with the

triumphant cacophony of believers coming

around to celebrate Jesus they have come

with their palms in their hands and

their coats out and they’re singing

Hosanna is interesting because it is the

triumphant entry to a terrifying week

that is to say that it starts out in

such a pageantry and and enthusiasm and

excitement and positivity but it doesn’t

stay that way by the end of the week

there’s an arc to the story that is so

sharp and so profound that from the way

it starts the the ending is

unpredictable as we read about the

beginning the beginning is laced with

the pageantry of elegant worship in it

and almost like a parade a crescendo

Jesus has become quite popular so

popular that he has upset ke office of

priests and met all of the priests of

those in the synagogue are now seeking

to kill him because they said he’s about

to take the whole world so it is there’s

no question that Jesus had impact and

another text you will understand that he

has just raised Lazarus from the dead he

has caused so much excitement and

enthusiasm to break out around him that

they are afraid that he is going to

shift the support from the synagogue

over to this little ideology that Christ

comes to Bree

so one hand you’ve got all of these

people the Bible says a great multitude

has come to celebrate him and Jesus has

requested that they bring a donkey in

and they bring a Colt in and that he’s

going to ride it into Jerusalem to

fulfill Scripture and they’re basically

having a worship service amazing

pageantry of worship and praise and

singing and celebrating the goodness of

God and it starts out with that kind of

power it is amazing that the week starts

out with such power and the ends of such

pain we have a tendency as preachers and

as Christians to pick and choose some

parts of the Bible that we like to talk

about so it’s more exciting to talk

about Hosanna than it is to talk about

crucify him we see more emphasis placed

on Hosanna we will mention the

crucifixion but only in the context of

how he saved me from my sins we don’t

mention the crucifixion in terms of his

agony because at the beginning of the

week he is so exciting that everybody

wants to follow him by the end of the

week Isaiah has said there is no beauty

about him that we should desire him they

have beat him so bad that nobody wants

to look anybody then start out that way

it’s amazing to me that we have not

focused on that this season because we

are so shocked ourselves and I want to

talk about this whole shock thing the

whole shock of suffering we’re shocked

ourselves that we could be at the

pinnacle of success of the stock market

and business is growing up in jobs going

up everywhere people buy in the homes

and everything going wonderful and all

of a sudden through this virus all of a

sudden we’ve been shocked shock market

starts crashing job markets start

crashing people start losing their jobs

and sorry it’s a face uncertainty and

the shock of suffering has become so

agonizing that we’ve had to labor to

hold on to our churches to hold on to

our jobs to hold on to our minds to hold

on to our sanity because the shock of

suffering the shock of suffering it

should not shop Christians seeing as the

whole emblem of our faith brings

suffering out of the shadows and puts it

center stage

it shouldn’t shock Christians that we

have a God who spared not his own son

we should not grapple with the question

that the world does how could a good God

allow bad things to happen to me

not when he spared not his own son that

if he spared not his only begotten son

then I know that he will not spare me

all the more will I be a chastisement to

validate the fact that I am a son and an

illegitimate heir of salvation for whom

the Lord loveth the Bible said he

chasing it when we start looking at this

kind of thing and we start grappling

with suffering I was amazed at the

people who were talking about the

celebrities that were doing posts and

confinement and down in the comments

some people were talking about oh

they’re just like us because they seem

to draw some comfort from the fact that

these people who bribed in big cars that

live in nice homes are now confined just

as they were and they said there’s some

solidarity because no matter whether

you’re rich or you’re famous or you have

notoriety or you have political power or

you’re the CEO of a fortune 100 company

we’re all going through the same thing

and there was some fellowship in the

suffering and I laughed with their

comments I didn’t respond if I stayed

out of the fray of the discussion but I

laughed at their comments because they

almost seem to find some vindication of

the fact that these people who seem to

have these ideal lives were now confined

to a place of suffering because as my

mother taught me misery

it loves company

Oh y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to

you misery loves company but the reason

I thought it was funny is we didn’t need

a coronavirus to share suffering

suffering exists in the life of

everybody black or white or brown

suffering does not discriminate by the

color of your skin or the class or the

height of your notoriety suffering will

make its way right into the house of a

mansion as well as it will somebody

sleeping up under a bridge no one

escapes suffering just because they’re

not suffering in the way that you’re

suffering doesn’t mean that they’re not

suffering at all beautiful people suffer

rich people suffer poor people suffer

third-world countries suffer first world

cousin nobody escapes suffering you may

be high you may be low you may be rich

you may be poor but with the Lord God

gets ready everybody’s got to move and

yet there seems to be some mystery

around suffering as if some people

suffer and some people don’t we may not

suffer from the same things but God is

too just to allow anyone to escape

suffering not even Jesus now my brothers

and sisters we find Jesus in this moment

of great adulation and celebration and

they’re waving their palm trees I

remember being a little boy they used to

take little palms and make crosses out

of them and pin it on us on Palm Sunday

and that was my first understanding of

Palm Sunday the church would be

decorated with palm leaves all around

and celebrate Palm Sunday and all the

choir was saying in the pageantry and

all the beauty and all the things that

that right now we’re missing we don’t

have that kind of celebration right now

because our faith is being tested

because our commitment is being tested

because the Word of God that we have

heard and often taken for granted has

become scarce enough that now is become

a priority and oddly enough the people

who didn’t always

Church when they could now we’re

complaining about not being able to come

to church in our faith this be well you

don’t hear what I’m saying to you our

faith is being challenged our faith is

being challenged to the core because

suffering now seem strange to us

suffering now becomes a question that I

have to respond to in the press because

of the disease the the complexity of how

could God be good and allow suffering no

one escapes suffering in fact the Bible

says that he is a present help in the

time of trouble and so what I want to

suggest to you that that the crowd is

around him in the celebration but they

leave before the sufferers yeah they’re

singing and the celebration they’re

rejoicing in the celebration but they

leave before the suffering begins and I

want to submit to you for your

consideration

that Jesus is more powerful in his

suffering than he is in his celebration

and if we are really like Jesus that

means that there is a power that we

exude in suffering that we do not

experience and celebration and little

job said though he slay me yet shall I

trust him there’s some kind of anointing

that comes out of you when you have

pressure applied that you would not

experience any other way you hear what

I’m saying to you

and so let us not allow the the the

oddity of the in the Western world of

seeing a man riding on a donkey covered

by coats and palm branches laid mixed

with coats all over the ground let us

not be so distracted by these elements

that we do not notice the fact that the

crowd does not stay I said the crowd

does not stay I wonder in my mind where

where

the singing at the end of the week when

he really needed to be worship when he

really needed their support I wondered

where were the worshipers and the

dancers and the celebration and the

crescendo of glory at the moment of his

real hour of suffering when he could

have used a few hosannas he could have

used somebody reminding him you may be

on a cross but you’re still my king Oh

y’all hear what I’m saying that’s what

faith is who can look beyond the cross

and steal see the king I wondered what

happened to the crowd that in just one

week the crowd would dissipate the

Apostles would step back from their

positions and one would start cussin and

one would start doubting and one would

be trained by the head in just one week

we see Christ

starting the week in celebration and

ending the week in a place of suffering

now I want to be honest I don’t like

suffering I don’t want to suffer I

prefer not to suffer they’ve never been

a morning I woke up and said I hope this

is a suffering day and I want to be

honest about it

I haven’t seen a new year they say this

is my year to suffer hallelujah No yeah

I don’t ask for it but God still orders

us to go through periods of suffering up

until now in this country we’ve enjoyed

the luxury of looking out of the

sanctity of our democracy through the

window and other countries and talk

about those people are dealing with a

playing and those people are dealing

with a disease and look at them

they have a virus at all let’s pray for

this country and that country never

thinking that the viruses will cross the

waters and fly across on plays and now

we have become them and they be careful

how you handle other people in the

moment of their suffering and look at a

condescending way and then because what

I’m suffering today

oh you don’t hear what I’m saying what

I’m suffering today you can be suffering

tomorrow

it’s my dawn of the day but it’ll be

yours tomorrow

be careful how you handle my boy because

you got a son coming up and suffering

will come to your house and the real

test is I don’t need to be tested in my

moment of celebration I need to be

tested in the moment of my suffering how

committed am i when the crowd is gone

how committed I am i when the storms

begin to reach how committed am i in the

moment of adversity I’m so grateful to

God while I appreciate all the things

he’s done for me and I I am so blessed

to come and stand in this church and see

people all the way up to the top balcony

and see them praising and magnifying God

but I want the devil to know that I’m

not serving God for the crowd that if I

have to stand by in a building like I

did years ago and preach the four or

five people that God is still God said

he still

if he thinks for one minute that I lose

my learning when I lose my crowd he

didn’t understand where I came from I’ve

been through too much to get here and

lose my authority all the people people

didn’t give it to me and they can’t take

it away they can’t take it away do you

hear what I’m saying to you glory to God

this be a moment normally I’d say touch

your neighbor and say they can’t take it

away but maybe you got to touch yourself

and remind yourself they can’t take it

away if they didn’t get a shot ha if I

didn’t give it that they can’t they

can’t take it away there have been

moments in all of our lives of suffering

where we suffered in isolation we

suffered without anybody knowing that we

were suffering we stayed up at night all

night long and put on a happy face and

faked it the next day and nobody knew

that you were going through a personal

crisis there is not a person in this

room or watching or live or sitting on a

couch or holding an iPad or looking at

your phone right now who had gone

through personal moments of great

tragedy great adversity pressure

pressing down on you and to sleep you’ve

aged until food won’t digests until

rashes break out of your body somebody

knows what I’m talking about to go

through personal suffering and yet there

is now amongst us some fraternity in our

suffering there is some fellowship in

our suffering it’s nice to know that I

could pick up the phone and call

somebody who’s going through what I’m

going through right now yeah I just get

some kind of comfort out of knowing that

I don’t have to explain to you what I’m

going through because we are suffering

in the same the fellowship of suffering

brought me to Paul say o that I may know

him in the Fellowship of his suffering

but here we find the Apostle asking God

I want to meet you

in the Fellowship of your suffering I’m

not the kind of Christian that’s gonna

say Hosanna on Monday and then run from

you about Thursday

I wanted to know all of you that I might

know him in the Fellowship of his

suffering from the power of this

resurrection I want to talk to you this

morning about a God who will meet you in

suffering who will meet you in a crisis

who will meet you at a cemetery who will

meet you in the school I want to talk to

you about a god that ago in a hospital

room and meet you in your dying hour I

want to talk to you about a God who will

wipe the tears away from your eyes I

want to talk to you about a God who can

be touched by the feeling of our

infirmities I want to talk to you about

a God who will hold your mind together

when your marriage is falling apart I

want to talk to you about a God there to

keep you from collapsing even though

you’re going through a personal crisis I

want to talk about a Christ that will

show up in a crisis I need Christ in my

crisis I need him in my crisis more than

I do in my moment of exultation I need

him in my frustration I need him in my

anger I need him in my uncertainty I

need him in my confusion and I need to

know where’s Peter ass I need to know

that God cares when the storm is raging

I need to know that God cares when the

Lightning is flashing I need to know

that God cares when I can’t go about

life as normal I need to know that God

cares when I’m sitting in a waiting room

and ICU unit waiting for words and

waiting for an answer I need to know

that God cares when I’ve lost my job I

need to know that God cares when my wife

has walked away I need to know that God

cares when my husband is left I need to

know that God

tears when I don’t know how I’m gonna

feed these kids next week and I earn the

right by the way to preach this message

just because you met me at this stage of

the week does not mean that I have not

had other stages of the week I know what

it is to preach victory and come home to

a house with no lights I know what it is

to talk about God being a provider and

then have to believe him to get the

water turned by coal I know what I’m

talking about the right to preach this

message I know what it is to swallow my

feelings and preach over my mother’s

casket I know what it is to endear

affliction and because I have had

fellowship with him in suffering it

hasn’t just been success I have known

him through tears I have known him

through agony I have preached in this

very Church with my body wracked with

pain and pain running up and down my

legs and just coming out of surgery I

stood here and Briana have known him in

suffering and I am a witness that he

will not forsake you I gotta speak up

for it I can’t let you just talk about

it I can’t let you just blog about it I

can’t let you just get out there and say

just anything about him he will meet you

in suffering he will meet you when mama

won’t meet you with when daddy won’t

meet you when sisters and friends won’t

meet you when your prayer partners won’t

meet you hallelujah and say anybody that

can testify that he’s not a fair-weather

friend but he’ll stick by your describe

the crowd the Saints today will leave

tomorrow they’ll wave their branches in

you’re afraid so much you can’t see the

road and they’ll forsake you before the

week is out the crowd that shouts surely

you are the king will doubt you before

the week is out

be careful how you sign up with

everybody throwing rocks at somebody

else because the same people who are

throwing rocks at him are just waiting

on you and they’re tired on you and

throw rocks at you but when they try to

rock you goddess still be with you

Stefan told me they were stoned in him

and he was looking up and Jesus was

standing up on the right hand of the

Majesty on high giving him a standing

ovation

Wow Wow Wow he was being stole y’all

hear what I’m saying oh my god I feel I

feel by helping here this morning y’all

don’t hear what I’m saying that God will

stand up for you with men sit down love

you in the hour of your agony and in

case you’re going through something

whether it’s survivors or something

that’s the fact everybody watching is

going through something I want to tell

you about a God who will stand by you

when you’re suffering I was reading

about a German philosopher his name is

Jurgen Moltmann and this this young man

is now a theologian and a scholar

but early in his life he was drafted

into the military the the Nazi military

of Germany and in World War two yorgen

fought with the German Nazis he came in

and was drafted at 16 but by nineteen he

had come up under attack in his aircraft

and had been captured a prisoner of war

now you’ll must understand this is in

the adolescence of his life when you are

still developing as a human being and he

has to develop in gunfire in pain in

agony in falling planes and smoke and

blood and agony and he has now been

captured by some European soldiers and

they have drugged him

away as a prisoner of war and he does

not yet know God and he wonders if there

were such a thing as a god how could he

let me go through this so your organ is

now a prisoner of war and he’s been

captured and while he has been captured

and I believe if I’m not mistaken he was

he was held in Scotland or somewhere

like that in captivity and treated like

any prisoner of war at eighteen nineteen

years old suffering agony and abuse and

mistreatment so much that he despaired

of life itself

and an American gentleman who was

working in the prison slipped him a

Bible and he started reading about our

God just because you got nothing else to

do and he stumbled up on the Gospel of

st. mark and started reading about

Christ being crucified and he read the

lines Eli Eli lama sabachthani that is

to say my God my God why has thou

forsaken me and it was on the premise of

Christ’s suffering that jörgen has an

encounter with God he said I can serve a

god like this because he feels like I

feel he’s going through what I’m going

through I can serve Him because I

connect with the fight then there are

moments of uncertainty that make you

feel for say wow wow forsaken me I want

to preach I want to preach to some

people who have gone through some Eli

lama sabachthani moments and all of a

sudden you find Koinonia you find

fellowship with God in suffering that

you connect with the agony of the Cross

I went to God that I had time or even

the ability to articulate effectively

the agony of the Cross I don’t know

whether the real

was that the spiritual agony that he who

knew no sin became sin for us that he

became what he hated that he became what

he despised oh my god oh I could stay

there a little while and talk to some

people who had become what you hated who

have done things that you said you

despised man but I don’t know whether it

was an agony of a holy God becoming the

emblem of sin and shame and being

smitten of his father I don’t know

whether to talk about the agony of being

smitten of his father or whether I

should talk about the agony of him being

beaten by creatures he created that they

beat him with the cat of nine tails

until they ripped his flesh wide open

and and the history says his entrails

were hanging outside I know I don’t know

whether to talk about that part of it I

don’t want to talk about that this the

disgrace of being stripped in front of

your followers and being standing there

naked covered in nothing but blood I

don’t know whether to talk about that I

don’t know whether to talk about the

part that they drove nails into his

hands and nails into his feet him put a

crown of thorns on him and snatched his

beard somebody pull ahead snatch his

beard out of his face and he’s bleeding

from everywhere he’s waiting from

everywhere and there in the moment of

his greatest suffering we see the

greatest encounter he has with God that

Jesus says more in power in his

suffering than he did in his celebration

this this this was what captured your

gun moment and blew his mind in such a

way the organ says I connect with him

because he is one with me in suffering

that I cannot promise you that God will

not allow us to go through suffering i

cannot definitively say that he will

always snatch us out of suffering we

liked

preach that but there are some times

that God allows you to go through

suffering that you might have an

encounter with him through suffering

that you could not have in other way I

know the best way to close the message

is to tell you how he’s gonna bring you

out but the real active the reality is

sometimes he takes you through I’ll be

there good god I’ll be right there in

the fire with you because I am a God

they does not run away when you suffer I

am a God who will not try to escape your

pain and he has been flamboyant in his

discussion about being jehova shamma

being present with us with you always

always Paul tells Timothy when my hour

came to trial

no man stood with me notwithstanding God

stood with me that’s what he tells

Timothy he stood with me when others for

certainly and I want to talk to you

about the shock of suffering that maybe

we need to adjust our theology maybe we

have taught enough on five steps to be

blessed

and and I got the blessing of Abraham

nothing wrong with that sir but maybe

we’ve done enough teaching on being

overcome us and then champions and

walking in victory maybe we’ve done

enough preaching about how God will

snatch you out maybe we need to change

our theology and adjust it to the point

that we embrace a God who walks through

it with you God who goes through the

fighter with you who goes into pain with

you who goes into suffering with you

I couldn’t understand as a young

preacher I said God how can you use me

to heal other people literally lay hands

and see them heal and then bring me home

to a mother with Alzheimer’s how could I

be so annoying that I remember leaving

the church who still wet with sweat from

preaching and going in the hospital and

laying across her body with the sweaty

body and laid on her nasty Mahela and

spear she died and the enemy said what

you gonna preach now I’m talking about

seeing God in suffering walking you

through the pain and the enemy said you

you you couldn’t even heal your own

mother and how can you stand up in front

of them and preach now I said not only

will I preach now I’ll preach your

funeral I stand over top of her and I

couldn’t do it in my own strength but I

met him in the suffering so I want to

talk to you about this whole shock we

have about suffering is not a result of

our God it’s a result of our teaching we

have not been taught enough about

suffering

see back when I came along my

grandmother’s generation came out of the

Great Depression and all the souls were

about suffering I’m going through I’m

going through I’ll take the way with the

Lord’s despise whew

in Jesus and I’m going to anybody

singing about suffering no more when the

Depression was over the revelation of

suffering seemed to dissipate out of our

hymn books and so if you want to sing a

song about suffering you have to go back

about 40 years because our revelation is

seen through the lens of our situation

so the way we see God is a reflection of

our point of view when things are going

good we see him in the hosanna lens

things go bad can you still see him in

the crucify him lives sooner or later if

you live long enough you will have both

extremes you’re gonna have the

dichotomous experience of being

victorious over here and agonized over

here a big hole in this area and being

broken in a few you began to walk away

with certain conclusions like jörgen did

that that I can serve a God like this

because I found him in my suffering I

know it’s not a seductive invitation I

know it’s not as dramatic and aurochs

pleasant as this world would like to

have that it’s hard to get people to

come to Jesus now so we promise you

Cadillacs and Mercedes that Rolls Royce

has come to Jesus and God’s gonna give

you a bigger house come to Jesus and he

can bring your children out of prison

come to Jesus and he’s a we’re quick to

make promises it’s easy to write checks

on somebody else’s account

come on here as long as you’re right on

somebody else’s got anybody could write

you a big check when it comes out of

somebody else’s account but walking with

God cannot just be a bunch of quick

preachers with slick hair saying nice

things to excite big crash should I

write up you will have a week like this

so late if you live long enough the the

pageantry of your wedding will go

through the painting of marriage if you

live long enough the the luxury of

holding a little beautiful baby in your

arms that starts out in your arms ends

up on your heart yeah you gonna have a

week like this and I came to warn you

don’t let the hose analyst fool you I

cannot promise you that everybody who

starts with you is gonna stay with you

then everybody who celebrates you will

be there with these turned bad for you

[Applause]

[Music]

but it looks real when they throw you in

the fire he’ll get in the fire with you

when they throw you in the furnace

he’ll be walking around in the furnace

with you he’ll stand right there by you

because there is something there’s some

kinetic energy there’s some connectivity

there’s some kinship there’s some

kinship that we have with him in the

agony and the suffering of life so don’t

be shocked when suffering comes such a

face as Flint because we are not serving

a God or faith that is built on just

promises of good time he didn’t just

give you sunshine and not tell you about

rain he didn’t just give you pleasure

and not be open about pain

the epitome every time you see a cross I

want you to see that God is the honey of

him saying keeping it real

he’s keeping it 100 that you gonna

suffer so don’t be shocked in the

suffering there is a revelation to be

seen in the suffering I thought to

myself he had the biggest crowd at the

most insignificant moment and all that

left him before the suffering mixed his

finest hour for his finest hour is not

when we lay down our coats

and we they lay down our parlays his

Frye this hour is when they stripped

back his flesh and he commends his body

over to his father and says I’ve done

all I can do and they hold him down for

the count and say he will not be back

and for three days it looked like he was

a liar Oh y’all don’t be what I was

there for three days you could think

anything you wanted to think for three

days you could say anything you wanted

to say about it for three days you could

say see he was a phony and a fraud for

three days you can pull your hands up

and say there’s nothing to it

Friday you could laugh Saturday you can

laugh but uh

early Sunday morning he slapped the

smile off your face

he took the grin out of your teeth early

Sunday morning with no witnesses and no

crowd and no palm trees it nobody

singing not one saw nobody said holes

anywhere said it’s over step from death

into life y’all don’t hear what I’m

saying step from hell and death into

life itself sorry I have overcome and

said you can overcome two now in order

to be an overcomer you gotta have

something to come over as I close I’m

gonna hear what I’m saying

you can’t being over Karma and not have

something to come over hallelujah

you can’t be a chat there and you ain’t

been in a fight you can’t be victorious

if you don’t have an opponent if you

don’t have an opponent you don’t have a

victory but I’m here to try feel like

preaching y’all I’m here to tell you

hallelujah

I’m here to tell you I’m here to tell

you and you and you I’m here to tell all

you that I’m watching a lie but most of

all I’m here to tell the enemy I want to

tell them that I want to preach to the

devil for a minute if you think I’m

shocked

you don’t know me if you think I’m gonna

quit you underestimated me take it not

strange that these fiery trials have

come against you hallelujah

so to meet you in the fire there to meet

you in the furnace that a meet you in

the hospital gotta meet you in your

agony there to meet you in your

suffering there to meet you in the

hospital there to meet you in the

cemetery there to meet you in your pain

that a meet you were born of all over

you meet you will leprosy that Ameche

the unemployment line gotta meet you

where they threw you out

evicted you ha put you away said you’ll

never be back that’ll meet you the

homeless shelter

that’ll be chaired the divorce court

[Applause]

[Applause]

the clothes I feel glory in this place

the anointing of the Lord is here as I

close this message I want you to

understand you don’t have to be shocked

you have to be prepared the thing that

stood out the most to me in this test is

that though they were saying Hosanna

they fail to understand that he could

not restore Jerusalem and be the king

they expected him to be until he was on

the cross they didn’t expect and anytime

something hits you that you didn’t see

coming

anytime you started out the week talking

about the crown and ended up the week

laying on the cross don’t be shocked in

your suffering now no covet 19 has taken

the headlines the coronavirus has taken

up all the news it is overshadowed the

discussion of the crucifixion it’s

making all the headlines

that’s all anybody wants to talk about

even church folks have forgotten that we

were in a lynch season because it sub

isn’t worried about do a head of a mass

going right I’m a six feet away from you

I’m I am I’m washing my hands long

enough and I’m not making fun all of

that we need to do all of that and wash

anything else you got the water just

stay alive I’m not again see any of that

but don’t let Corona steal the headlines

from Christ

because if there’s anything greater than

Corona its Christ the stronger than

Corona it is a Christ of God I heard the

Bible say when I see the Blood I will

pass over you and so my brothers and

sisters as I close this message today I

want to dismiss shock out of your spirit

dismay out of your heart and in the

midst of your suffering not after it’s

over in the midst of whatever your

suffering to whatever degree your

suffering I want you to feel for him I

want you to look for him you’re gonna

look for him beaten and bruised locked

up in a prison a young man on the verge

of suicide he reached out and he touched

the suffering Savior and said he

suffered so he understands what it’s

like to be me our God does not flee from

your pain he does not evacuate the house

in the middle of your loneliness if your

tests came back positive he won’t back

away from you

he won’t even put on a suit to cover

himself to be in the room with you if

other people are scared of you he is not

scared of you if you’re going through

some other agony today we have a God who

doesn’t start a week that he doesn’t

finish

he’s dissing Alpha and Omega the

beginning and the end the first and the

last

ambition TD jakes a senior pastor of the

Pollard’s house and I’m going to Pastor

this church as long as God gives me

strength in my body if I have to do it

through cyberspace

then I’ll do it through cyberspace until

we get together face to face I’m gonna

preach this gospel the unadulterated

Word of the Lord the Bible told me to do

it in season and out of season and

reprove and rebuke with all

long-suffering the book said the time

will come that men will not endure sound

doctrine

keeping to themselves teachers having

itching ears just want to hear something

to make you feel but life will take you

to things that do not feel good but they

work together for the good of him that

are the called according to the purpose

of God and so as I close this message to

all of you that are perhaps suffering in

a multiplicity of ways and to those of

you who are suffering in ways that are

not detectable to others because on the

outside you stuff looks good your lawn

is manicured you have no weeds flowers

of ruined houses payment but somewhere

on the inside of that house you deal

with things then ah that feel to the

soul like aroma that make you feel like

I can’t breathe but I’m telling you you

can

I’m telling you you can still breathe

I’m telling you you can still live I’m

telling you you can remain connected if

you lose this Pollyanna Eastern world

Santa Claus understanding of

Christianity and know that every

question in life does not have an easy

answer every story will not have a happy

ending everybody doesn’t walk away

healed in the end some people like

mephibosheth hopped the whole rest of

their life

some people like Jacob live all the way

the rest of their life never

experiencing the miraculous power of the

God that they serve and yet he’s God in

your lip he’s God in your pain he’s God

in your suffering he’s gone in your

singleness he’s God in your loneliness

he’s gone and he’s God in your unhappy

merriness he’s God in your wheelchair

he’s God in your positive rapport he’s

God in your negative report he’s God in

your meals he’s gone over your pain he’s

caught over your family this isn’t hard

that we offer to you a God that does not

flee the scene of the crime a God that

sticks closer than a brother and if you

ever needed the Lord before we sure do

need him now I’ve got some people

watching me that don’t even normally

listen and no preacher don’t even turn

this all on Sunday but pressure has

pushed you to a point that you’re

reaching outside of yourself and reach

reach reach reach reach reach reach

reach just like Jorgen Mullen did until

you touch the cross touch his bleeding

hand touches bleeding

and know that he knows what pain feels

like and he will be with you and

strengthen you and sometimes he will

deliver you from it but if he doesn’t

deliver you from it

he’ll grace you to go through it this is

the God I want to share with you today

that sticks closer than a brother if you

do not know him and the free pardon of

your sins I want to challenge you to

come to know him today you can’t build a

house on sand because sin is not stable

and emotions about stable and if you

build your house on sand when the storm

comes is go come down feelings will move

today I’m happy tomorrow I’m not you

cannot feel your faith of feelings and

circumstances and no days of God because

he gave me a husband I know days of God

cuz they got the mortgage of proof no I

know there is a God if there is no house

I know there is a God if my spouse

leaves me I know there is a God if I

shut up in the hospitai

because my faith is not built on my

circumstances the fto faith is built on

your circumstances all the enemy has to

do to kill your faith is attack your

circumstance you got to build your faith

on the integrity of God’s Word

you