hey this is pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA church in Houston texas thank you for listening

to the message today i hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with god bless you

Hallelujah. I just want to give one last announcement. How many of you guys have read the Bible in one year? Yes? Maybe not everybody. Well, I got news for you.

The youth pastors so graciously put together a little plan so that you guys can read the Bible in one year.

And they have them in the foyer after service.

Please feel free to go back there, pick up a little plan.

And it guides you so you're able to read the whole Bible in one year.

They're doing this with the youth group.

And they have them available for us as well.

So a lot of you guys did not raise your hand.

So then I better see you up there picking up a little pamphlet after service.

But thank you for that.

We're going to go ahead and get into the word.

Our pastors are not here.

I'm sure you already noticed.

If you were like, oh, man, I'm going to go here.

Pastor Ryan, to finish my year, I'm sorry.

He is enjoying much family time, much needed family time.

He's out of town enjoying a little vacation.

So pray for him so that they will come back safe.

And they told me to tell you guys that they miss you guys.

And hello.

And they hope you have a really good new year, the celebration of the end of the year.

Okay, let's get into the Word of God.

This morning, I'm going to read a few passages of the Word.

So I'm going to ask you to keep your Bible handy.

We're going to go through different scriptures, different four specific stories.

but one main verse that I do want to read this morning, and it's going to be John 16, 33.

And that's going to be, if you take notes, our main scripture, and then we'll read along as we

bring the word. Amen. It says, I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace.

In this world, you will have trouble.

It doesn't say you might.

It doesn't say it's a possibility.

It says you will have trouble.

But then here's the encouragement.

But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

It doesn't matter how your 2024 look like for 2025.

take heart I have overcome the world and the I am is with you has been with you and will continue

to be with you as you head into 2025 let's go ahead and pray thank you father God for bringing

us here this morning Lord I thank you for giving me the privilege father to close down the year

father preaching your word this morning Lord I ask my God that you take control of everything that

It will be said, Father, it will not be nothing of Demeris but all of you, Lord.

I ask you to speak to your people this morning.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

I can confidently say, like I said earlier, I know that God is speaking.

I was telling my husband yesterday as I finished my message.

And this morning I said, usually when God gives me a message, I'm 100% sure or secure, right?

Like, okay, this man, I'm good, right?

This one, I was still a little, I told my husband, I said, babe, like I know that's what God has,

but I don't feel as confident as I felt with other messages.

and the Lord being so gracious like he is and how he loves me,

decided to have me sit down to the Spanish service

and hear Pastor Nanny preach almost the exact same message

that I'm bringing this morning.

Even when some of the same scriptures and some of the same quotes

and I text Pastor Maritza, I'm like, how did he get a hold of this message?

So that's how you know it's God, right?

When God is like, you know, you've been more confident other times, but this is what I have for my people.

You just are delivering what I have for them.

So here I am.

A couple of weeks ago, I felt so heavy in my spirit.

As the holidays are approaching, I felt sadness in the atmosphere when I was here a couple of Sundays ago.

It was before Christmas and all of that.

I just feel heavy. Like not heavy in a sense of not demonic heaviness. Don't get me wrong.

Heavy as in people are tired. People had a rough 2024. People experienced loss. People experienced

sickness. People are coming Sunday after Sunday with very little on the red on the 20%. You know

how your cell phone goes on red when you're 20% under. And I felt it in the atmosphere.

And I felt that some of you are not excited and were not excited to go into the holidays

when everybody's celebrating and everybody's happy and everybody's with family.

Some of you were like, that's not how I feel though. This message is for you.

God wants to remind you that he is with you. God wants to remind you that he sees you.

Your pain, your sickness, your trouble, everything that you've been through.

He's with you.

He sees you.

And he's testing your faith in the process.

And we're going to go to the first person that I want to speak about this morning.

The Bible stories that we can talk about and how faith was tested and how faith got them through it.

I want to highlight four people who experienced loss near the experiences that they experienced sickness,

but their faith carried them through.

And this is an encouragement to you to go into 2025 with a new perspective, with new goals,

knowing that God sees you, like I said.

And part of a song that I absolutely love that Pastor Renee and Sister Claudia sang,

he's in it with you, he's working through you, he's fighting for you, and he's not against you,

let that be your confidence. And that is the title of my message this morning. This is my confidence.

The first person that I want to highlight this morning is a person that experienced sickness.

and through the sickness her faith carried her through and i want us to go to

mark 5 25 to 34 this is a little bit of reading

i want you to understand that faith in the process can impact your outcome

faith in the process will impact your outcome this is one of my favorite stories

Of all time, I preached on this one time, just on her, on the woman with the issue of blood, Mark 5, 25 to 34.

And it says, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years.

She had suffered a great deal under a care of many doctors and had spent all she had.

Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.

When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.

Because she thought, if I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.

Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once, Jesus realized the power that had gone out from him.

And he turned around in the crowd and asked, who touched my clothes?

You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered.

and yet you can ask who touched me? But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.

Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and trembling with fear,

told him the whole truth. He said to her, daughter, daughter, your faith has healed you.

Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. This woman was dealing with something physically.

She was going through a sickness.

Her body was not functioning the way it's supposed to work.

Right?

This woman thought that Jesus was her last hope.

Why do we sometimes think that Jesus is the last hope when Jesus should be our first?

Our first to go to.

Sometimes we try everything else and then we try Jesus.

Let's flip it.

Let's try Jesus and then continue to try everything else.

She had been dealing with this for 12 years.

And those times when a woman was on her cycle, she was considered unclean for seven days.

Anyone who touched her was considered unclean.

Anything she sat on was considered unclean.

So this woman had been an outcast for 12 years.

Psychologically, can you imagine what that did to her?

If you put yourself in her shoes, you're like, for 12 years, have no access to your family,

have no access to friends, have no access to pretty much anything.

what was supposed to be seven days now turning to 12 years.

She probably felt unloved, we would say.

She probably felt rejected, hopeless.

She had spent all her money going to doctors,

but she had heard of a man named Jesus who had been performing miracles.

And she said, she said, if I touch him, I will be healed.

She confessed before it even happened.

She declared it before she could even see it.

She said, if I touch him, she didn't say I might.

She said, I will be healed.

Your reality can shake your faith.

Yes, but do not let it steal your faith.

It may look like it's not going to happen.

It may look like you're going to come out of it, but don't let it steal your faith.

It may be shaking a little bit.

Don't let it steal it.

You have power in your words.

I always like to tell people when I talk to them, to ladies, when I counsel them,

I always tell them you have power in your words.

Because a lot of times we tend to say this is never going to change.

My husband's never going to come to God.

My children are never going to.

I am never.

I am never.

And Proverbs 18.21 tells you the tongue has the power of life and death.

so how about we switch what comes out of our mouth how about instead of saying i'm never this is never

i never this is never i will how about we switch the dialogue and we begin to declare even if you don see it yet how about we begin to declare that it is going to happen like this woman said if I touch him I will be healed Her body this lady body and her

reality were saying one thing, but her mouth was declaring otherwise. I want to tell you that we

need to be confident in knowing who holds all the power and who can do it.

12 years is a long time. I can't even imagine dealing with something like that for 12 years,

but she started declaring it before she could see it. So it's time for us to say, my husband

will come to the feet of Jesus. My children will come to the feet of Jesus. My financial struggle

will end. Begin

declaring it before you see it.

Jesus tells her,

daughter,

your faith has healed you.

Did you know that

this is the only time that Jesus used the

word daughter?

He never called anybody

else daughter. He only called

her daughter.

Why?

Because of everything

that she might have been dealt with for

12 years. All the rejection

all the unloving, not having her family, not having her, not having anybody.

And Jesus was moved by compassion and called her, daughter, your faith has healed you.

Walk confident in knowing whose you are.

Walk confident knowing that he can do it.

But even if he doesn't, he's still God and he is still good.

My second story.

Someone that went through a trial and his faith was shaken.

But what he thought of God, this woman was dealing with something physically.

And she declared, she confessed.

Now this man, when he was facing something, his knowledge of who God was got him through it.

Now let's go to the story of Job.

When Job, when God and Satan are having a conversation about Job, God tells Satan,

there is one on earth like him.

He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.

In one day, church, Job lost absolutely everything.

In one day, his daughters and his sons were having a party,

and someone came and said, something happened, they all died.

I was the only one that came to let you know that it happened.

Then something happened with his animals, and all this happened with your animals.

I was the only one that was able to escape to come and tell you.

one after another after another after another servant after servant came with the words i was

the only one that was able to escape to come and tell you let's go to job 1 20 and 22

bless you let's see job's reaction to losing absolutely everything after every servant have

come and told them everything that happened and how he had lost everything, all his cattle,

all his family, absolutely everything, but he didn't lose the wife.

On Job 1, 20, 22 and 20, it reads, at this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.

Then he fell to the ground in what? In what? In worship.

after losing absolutely everything he fell to the ground in worship how many of us can say if I were

to lose absolutely everything I will worship probably not it would be very difficult we would

start questioning God what's going on but Job knew who God was for him in his life and he fell down

in worship and he said naked i came from my mother's womb and naked i will depart

the lord gave and the lord has taken away may what may the name of the lord be praise

and all this job did not sin by charging god with wrongdoing

job knew who god was his knowledge of god was above what everybody else thought including his

wife why let's go a little further to three and six then the lord said to saying have you

considered my servant job after losing everything i would be telling god okay god come okay yeah

Have you considered my servant Job?

There is no one on earth like him.

He's blameless and upright.

A man who fears God and shuns evil.

And he still maintains his integrity through you inciting me against him to ruin him without any reason.

Skin for skin, saying reply.

A man will give all he has for his own life.

But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.

The Lord said to Satan, Very well then, he's in your hands, but you must spare his life.

Then Satan goes and strikes Job with sorboils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

And then here comes his lovely wife.

Are you still maintaining your integrity?

Curse your God and die.

Why would we want a wife like that, right?

Even me as a woman, I'm like,

híjole, woman, she should have gone first.

Curse God and die.

But let's look at Job's response.

Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?

Shall we?

only when God is blessing you

when the money is coming in

when the promotions are coming in

when there's plenty in your house

should we only accept that from God

but then when you're struggling a little bit

when you gotta stretch that penny

Pastor Danny said

when you gotta start using that needle milk

into the water

and that becomes your milk

you're Hispanic

you know what that needle powder milk is

when those times come

do we still praise God

or we do only praise Him

when everything

glory to God. And then something happens. It's like, God, what's going on?

We have a lot to learn from Job. Because when you know who God is, and you know who your God is,

you understand that he is sovereign. That things may not look like we want them to look.

The outcome may not be what you wanted it to be, what I want it to be. But God is still good,

and God is still God.

And he still deserves the glory and the honor.

This morning, maybe some of you can identify with Job.

You're getting hit from every angle

and there seems to be no end to what you're facing.

But I want to remind you that you need to hold on to God.

Don't let this situation take you away

from the purpose that he has for you.

Because the enemy will attack.

We read it.

In this world, you will.

You will.

The enemy will try to distract you and derail you from where God wants to take you.

Don't let the enemy steal your faith.

Job worshiped.

We read, he worshiped.

I have a shirt that says, worship your way through it, because I love worship.

I remember a few years ago, I suffered from anxiety out of nowhere.

and it was

it was a very dark

few months for me

because I'm supposed to be the strong one

which I'm sure a lot of you guys

can identify

especially moms

we're supposed to always keep it all together

we're supposed to be the strong ones

for me to deal with

anxiety out of nowhere

was something I didn't know how to

I don't know how to deal with

and the fear

of dying, the fear of something happening, the fear, everything was fear. Everything around me

was fear. Everything felt dark. I remember one time I was sitting at a restaurant with my sister

at Olive Garden and we're having soup and bread. You love it. You love it. And I remember just

talking to her, but like I wasn't there, like I was talking to her, but I wasn't talking to her

because just everything looked dark.

But worship got me through it.

I filled my space with worship.

And maybe to some of you are like, how did you do that?

I literally would wake up listening to worship,

reading the Bible of worship.

I had worship because I had somehow, for whatever reason,

forgotten maybe the promises of God

and I had to keep listening to the songs and listening to the songs, and I filled my space

with worship, and I can confidently, no doubt tell you, worship got me through it. Got me through the

darkest days, the loneliest days. I had my family. Everyone was healthy. We weren't going through

nothing. Anxiety just hit me out of nowhere, but worship got me through it. If you're suffering

from anything like that. Worship. I know it's hard. I know it feels like you don't know how to. I know

you don't feel like it. Fill your space with worship. I promise you it's going to make a difference.

If we keep reading on the story of Job, Job's second half of his life was better than the first.

God gave him double what he had.

Don't let you right now determine your tomorrow.

Right now it may look hopeless.

Right now it may look dark.

Right now it looks like I have nothing.

Right now I may feel lost.

But don't let you right now determine your tomorrow.

Shift the way you think, the way you speak,

and know that God sees you.

He sees your lonely nights.

He sees you when you cry yourself to sleep.

He sees you when you cry in the car by yourself because you got to be strong and you got to keep it all together.

He sees you.

God was putting in my spirit so heavy.

Tell them, I see you.

I see you.

And I want to remind you that he's in it with you.

And you're going to go home and I hope you jam this song.

He's in it with you.

He's working through you.

He's fighting for you.

He's not against you.

And that is my confidence.

Don't go through the desert alone.

My third one.

Create a circle that can help you when you feel like you have no strength Who around you matters Let go to Mark 2 3 to 5

Again, declare it before you see it.

Do not doubt who God is while you're in the process.

Third, who is in your circle matters.

Mark 2, 3 to 5.

And it says,

Son, your sins are forgiven.

And then there's a little pause, right?

Because they're still arguing like, who is this Jesus that he's saying he can forgive sins?

And you know the Pharisees how they were, okay?

Now let's go to verse 10.

After Jesus finished talking to the Pharisees about who he was,

10, but I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

So he said to the man, I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home.

He got up, he took his mat, and he walked out in full view of them all.

Who's in your circle matter?

Sometimes we need our faith attached to others' faith for us to carry us through.

their faith attaches to my faith and that carries me through the process there are times when we

feel like giving up i know it we've all been there where you just feel like throwing your hands up in

the air but that's when your circle comes in this is when your four come in and they can carry you

like they did for this man this man could not get to jesus himself but he had four friends that could

carry him through it.

And although the crowd was blocking the entrance,

they didn't say, no, but let's go home.

We'll try tomorrow.

No, they said, we're going to get you to Jesus today.

And they went through the roof.

They opened a hole, and they layered him right where Jesus was.

You need people in your circle who will not take no for an answer,

who will knock on heaven's door on your behalf,

and you don't have to do life alone.

Why do we like to do life alone?

Asking for help does not mean that you're weak.

And I know this is a big one for men.

Men feel weak when they need to ask for help.

They rather feel like, I got it.

I got it.

I'm married to one of those.

I got it.

I got it, babe.

I got it.

Not in a bad way.

See?

I got it babe

but even

when

he goes through something

I know that he has people

that he can go to and say

bro

because that's how they talk right

bro

and they can pray

with him

for him

and you know what

your friends

your circle

sometimes you don't even have to tell them nothing

they already know

and they're going to come

and they're going to cover you

when you don't even say nothing, when you don't even have to say nothing.

This is why it's important for you to surround yourself with a few people

that can carry you through the process.

Asking for help does not mean you're weak.

It means you're only strong enough to admit that you need help and you can't do it alone.

I love hearing when people say that PNEUMA is a loving community.

And we are.

If this is your first time, we are.

if you let us though

because some of y'all run

as soon as service ends.

But there's nothing wrong with saying

I'm struggling, I need help.

And some of you are trying to do it alone.

I know it.

I know it.

Some of you are trying to do it alone.

Who is in your circle matters.

Get you two, three, four like this man

if you want to.

that will share the struggle with you,

that will pray with you,

that will stand there with you.

I cannot tell you how many times I've had to reach out to my circle.

We all have one.

And I've had to ask them to cover me, to pray with me.

Sometimes they just to be there, not even words needed.

And I can tell you that I feel their prayers,

their nonjudgmental love, because that's a big one.

Sometimes we don't like to share our struggles

because we feel that they're going to judge us.

those who are close to God and when I'm telling you find someone in your circle I'm not telling

you go out there and find four of your friends that do not know God you need godly people that

will carry you through because this man had faith it doesn't talk about their faith but you know that

they had faith because they did whatever they had to do to get their friend to Jesus so you need

Godly circle

Don't go over there to the wall

And say well Pastor DeMaris said for me

You want to be in my circle? No ma'am

No sir, give you a

Godly circle

Of men and women

And I promise you

That they're not going to judge you

If they're men and women of God

When you're struggling with something

We all need accountability partners

They're not going to tell you otra vez

You did it, no

They're going to pray with you

And they're going to fight whatever it is you're fighting with you

if you don't have those pray pray that in this 2025 god leads you to those who need to be your

people and let me plug it in there the woman have a discipleship program that will help you through

it because you will have an accountability partner and the men do too so you have no excuses if you're

a PNEUMA you have no excuses of why you don't have a circle and why you're fighting everything you're

fighting alone. Because the enemy wants to keep you there. He wants to keep lying to you and tell

you that nobody cares and nobody's going to understand. Let me tell you that it's a lie from

the enemy because God knows, because God understands, and God will send the right people

to your corner to intercede in your behalf.

that takes me to my fourth spiritually we already covered the physical when you're experiencing

sickness when you begin to declare when you begin to speak before you even see it matters

get to the master we already talked about when you're going through the process

do not lose sight of who God is in your darkness moments God is still good and God is still God do

not lose sight of who God is in your life the third one who's in your circle matter surround

yourself with men and women of God who are going to get you to the feet of Jesus when you cannot do

it yourself and the fourth one let your confidence be so rooted in him that even if he does not answer

you, you will still give him glory. That takes me to the story of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego. Daniel 3, 15 to 18. And I'm going to say, like Pastor Danny said, Nabu, because I mean,

you know my accent. I can say that whole name. Nabu, Nabu. 3, 15 to 18. And it reads,

now when you hear the sound of the horn the flute the sither the lyre the harp the pipe and all

kinds of music if you are ready to fall down and worship the image i made very good but if you do

not worship it you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace then what god will be able to

rescue you from my hand. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, King Nebuchadnezzar,

we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing

furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from it,

your majesty's hand, from your majesty's hand. 18. But even if he does not, but even if he does not,

we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your God or worship the image of gold

you have set up. Even if he does not. And I can almost see the picture of them like,

Let me tell you something, Nabu.

Even if he can, he will.

But even if he doesn't, we will not worship the image of gold you have set up.

When you're going through something and your faith is being tested, know who you serve.

Know that we serve a sovereign God.

Know that we serve a God who is able.

But know that even if he does not, he's still worthy of all the honor and all the praise.

The enemy will throw things our way to shake our faith and dependence on God.

But what will our answer be when we are facing the blazing furnace?

Will it be fear?

Will it be worry?

or will it be full dependence on who God is?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown in the fire.

If you read the story, the guards who threw them in,

as they were putting them in and they tied them up, they died.

That's how hot it was because he had asked them,

you got to make it seven times harder than it usually is.

They died.

but look at verse 25

after they had been thrown

into the fire

the king says

look

I see four men

walking around in the fire

unbound and unharmed

and the fourth looks

like a son of the gods

these men faith

was unshakable

they knew who they served they knew that god could and he would but even if he didn't that

was not going to shake their faith keep your eyes on jesus i don't know how you're ending your 2024

but let me tell you if your eyes weren't on jesus the whole time it had to have been a little bit

tougher than it should have been in 2025 keep your eyes on jesus he is the fourth man in the

fire with you i have a confession to make though i worry a lot and my husband can testify he tells me that all the time and i have to constantly remind myself that God is with me I have to constantly tell him no Damaris get out of your head

Damaris, get out of your head.

I get after myself all the time.

Even just yesterday, we had a tornado literally, like,

passed right behind our neighborhood.

We live up north.

My husband's over there with the door open.

and then he's like but i was rebuking i was rebuking the whole time i was saying no sir

you better get out of here you better get out of here so that's why he had a door open so now

i understand i was freaking out i was worried and i tend to do that pastor maggie describes worry

as the part that causes anxiety.

And she describes it as this.

It is a series of thoughts and images

filled with emotion, but all negative.

The person that worries is convinced

without a shadow of a doubt

that the result will be negative.

Worry comes from the root word meaning

choking or drowning.

So we're literally walking around

choking and drowning when we worry.

So for me, when I worry, I'm telling God,

God, I don't think that you can take care of my tomorrow.

That's a shame. I'll give you a little example.

Now I'm good. I'm chill. But I went to the

doctor on Monday. And I've been trying to take care of

my health, guys. I have. I've been trying. I've been

eating better. I've been working out. I've been doing all the right things. And I go to the doctor

and the doctor tells me, you're pre-diabetic, which I already knew before I even went to the

doctor. That's why I started doing everything that I started doing. And then, cherry on top,

my cholesterol was a little high. And then she sent me home to take my blood pressure for two

weeks because my blood pressure was a little high, but I know I was nervous because every time you go

to the doctor, you get nervous. News, I've been taking my blood pressure and I'm good, but

I immediately, I'm like, okay, God, but what happened? Like, you know, I'm doing things that

I'm supposed to be doing. I'm trying to eat better, although I had just, you know, we were

going to eat tamales, but anyways, those don't count, and so I'm like, God, I'm like, I'm killing

myself. I'm working out. I'm eating better. I'm like, why, why, why would it not be just what I

already know, which is some pre-diabetic, but it, it, it runs in my family, high cholesterol,

high blood pressure, diabetes. Um, and so I want to be around for my grandbabies. That's really

why I did it. I said, I want to be, I want to be a healthy grandma. I want to be around for my

grandbabies. And so it was immediately, I'm like, what? So now what? So now what do I do? Like,

I'm already doing everything. So now what do I do? I told my husband I have to starve.

That has to be the, that the answer, I have to starve. That's it. And he's like, no, babe, relax.

You know, it's okay. You're already doing what you're supposed to be doing. And, but my immediate

thing was concern, and my immediate thing was worry. But then I'm like, okay, so then what if,

okay, sometimes if it's in your genes, it's in your genes. You can do everything you can,

Pastor Junior, right, to avoid it. But when it's in your genes, it's in your genes, and sometimes

you're going to have to get on medication. So I said, worst case scenario, God, I have to get on

medication, okay? I don't want to. I be juicing, y'all. I'm telling you, I'm doing everything.

I'm doing everything, but I'm going to leave it in your hands.

And worst case scenario, I'll have to get on a small dose of medication,

but I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

So I chose to just not worry, right?

Keep doing what I'm doing, although I worry.

But I chose not to this time around because I think that was causing more issues than it should.

And leave it aside and said, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

I'm doing the right things.

and God, you're in control and whatever it is that this is going to look like, whatever it's

going to be, I know that you're in it with me and that's the best thing I can say and that's the

best thing I can do. But I want to tell you that when we are constantly worrying, we can grieve

the Holy Spirit. On the scripture that we read when John, when Jesus was saying that we will

encounter trouble in this world.

He had already told them that it is better for me to leave,

but I'm going to send someone to be with you.

It's better for me to go so that he can come.

Who is he that he was talking about?

He was talking about the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus wasn't going to walk with them anymore,

but he was going to send his Holy Spirit.

the Holy Spirit

the minute that you say yes to Jesus

the minute that you say yes God

I give my life to you the Holy Spirit

is inside of you like that

and the Holy Spirit

guides you

the Holy Spirit is the little voice that whispers

inside of you

the Holy Spirit is in us

and is with us

but we can also grieve him

when we think you know I don't

really think you're going to get me out of this one

so I choose worry

can I get the worship team to come up please

but I want to encourage you this morning

that although your faith may be being tested

although you may be going through a difficult time

where you might have experienced hard moments this 2024

he's in the fire with you

even if you're right now you may be saying

but I'm going through it right now.

He is in there with you.

And the Holy Spirit is in you to help you through the process.

We talked about the woman who was facing something physically.

She was sick.

Our brain or our personality were made out of four things, right?

biologically, psychologically.

Biologically is how our body functions.

Psychologically is how we think.

Social is who's in our circle.

And spiritual, our sense of being or purpose.

I read this book, I've been reading this book,

that our brain can be changed, restored to an extent.

when someone is going through anxiety, depression, worry,

if you pay attention to these four things,

how is your body functioning?

How is your body biologically?

How are you thinking?

Who is in your circle?

And how is your spiritual life?

It can change.

Your brain can literally change.

and so I don't know

again how you're ending

but I want you to

analyze yourself

this morning

and physically

is this something that you are facing

are you experiencing

some type of sickness like the one

with the issue of blood

God can heal you in an instant

no doubt

but can you put some action

behind your faith

we can't just say I Damaris cannot say God I know that you are with me

no matter the doctor's report and then go eat a double quarter pounder

okay I have to say I believe God that you you can I can go back and my blood is going to be

beautiful but I have to do my part as well I have to put action to my faith

so are there changes that we can make you know if you look at yourself if you're going through

something physically you know obviously we need the doctors we need medication sometimes but are

there is there something that you know that you can do you know to make it a little better can you

change your diet? Can you go exercise and just go walk right now that is not a thousand degrees?

Can you do something for yourself? Make the changes that you need to make physically and

you will see the difference, I promise you. Psychologically, how you think, shift the way

you think. Stand firm knowing whose you are, who you serve like Job did. Even when his own wife

told them to curse God and die, begin declaring the promises of God over your life. Not only begin

to declare, but prepare for the promises of God over your life. Don't just sit around waiting for

God to, okay, God, when you're going to do it? You said. No, make the necessary arrangements and

preparations so for when it comes, you're ready for it. Who's in your circle matters? Surround

yourself with men and women of God who

will go the extra mile with you and

for you.

Have two to three people who will help

you grow spiritually. They will hold you

accountable and will give you even

that tough love if you need it.

Because we

need that tough love.

Don't surround yourself with people that are

just going to tell you what you want to hear.

You need people

who are going to give it to you like it is when you

need to. And don't get your

feelings hurt. If they

are godly

men and women of God

they're going to tell you what they need

to tell you with love and for your good

and

spiritual don't let

the fire you are in right now make you

doubt on who God is

he's the fourth man

in the fire with you he's

closer than you think

don't let you right now determine

his power over that situation

you are alive

you are breathing

and that means that there is hope.

I want you to go into 2025 saying,

he's in it with me.

He's working through me.

He's fighting for me.

He's not against me.

This is my confidence.

Can we stand?

Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church,

visit us on our website at mypneumachurch.org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe or share it with your friends on social media

and tag us at My Pneumachurch.

Thanks again and God bless.

Amen.