Hillsong's Founding Pastor Brian Houston is encouraging believers to see life's challenges through a different lens in a new message titled "Count It All Joy," released on JesusFollowers.TV.
Drawing from James 1:2-4, Houston teaches that trials, setbacks, disappointments, and seasons of testing are not designed to destroy faith but to strengthen it. According to Houston, God uses life's difficulties to develop endurance, spiritual maturity, and resilience, preparing believers for the future He has planned for them.
"Your challenges are working something," Houston says during the message. "They're doing something. They're not meant to defeat you; they're meant to strengthen you."
Joined by his wife Bobbie Houston, the longtime church leader opens the program by encouraging viewers who may be carrying heavy burdens. The couple reflects on God's faithfulness through difficult seasons and reminds believers that divine purpose is often being formed in the midst of adversity.
Throughout the sermon, Houston contrasts joy with happiness, explaining that happiness is often dependent on circumstances while joy is rooted in what God is doing internally. He points to the Macedonian believers described in 2 Corinthians 8, who demonstrated remarkable generosity and joy despite experiencing severe poverty and affliction.
Houston also draws on personal experiences, including recent challenges he and Bobbie have faced, to illustrate how trials can become opportunities for spiritual growth. He encourages listeners not to view testing as evidence of failure but as proof that God is continuing to work in their lives.
The message highlights three outcomes that emerge when believers persevere through testing: maturity, wholeness, and readiness. Houston explains that the goal of faith-testing is not perfection in the absolute sense, but spiritual maturity. He further notes that God desires His people to become "complete"-healthy, whole, and equipped for the assignments He places before them.
Referencing James 1:12, Houston reminds viewers that those who endure trials faithfully are ultimately blessed, approved, and crowned with life.
The sermon also addresses the importance of endurance, a theme Houston returns to repeatedly. He argues that many believers want immediate relief from difficulties, but God's greater purpose is often to build the spiritual strength necessary to sustain future victories.
"We're tested to be approved," Houston says. "God is preparing us so that when we run, we're ready. Mature, complete, and lacking nothing."
Houston closes the message with a prayer for those facing hardship, encouraging them not to quit, give up, or seek shortcuts around their challenges. Instead, he urges believers to trust God's process and remain confident that He is producing something valuable through every trial.
The episode is the latest installment of JesusFollowers.TV, the online ministry platform launched by Brian and Bobbie Houston following their decades of church leadership. New messages are released regularly through the ministry's YouTube channel and online platforms.
"Count It All Joy" is available now on YouTube through JesusFollowers.TV.
