Allow Joy To Reintroduce Himself (Pastor Tauren Wells)

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.400 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:07.760 And I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.639 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.560 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.200 Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:22.440 So grateful to be here with you all today, apprecing 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:26.560 to what feels to me to be family, and get 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.560 so excited anytime I get to share space with you. 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.479 And if you're not familiar with who I am, that's okay. 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:39.640 I'm just your crazy beige little nephew from Austin, Texas 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.920 that pulled up on you today. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.480 Just Khaki, just out here. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:54.520 Praising God, Congratulations the Elevation Rhythm on the release Victory lab. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.040 I was encouraging. 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:08.120 And depending on how you take it, encouraging or discouraging, Chris, 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.840 because I said, my twelve year old son was riding 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:14.840 the car with me the other day. He said, Dad, 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:18.360 why does Elevation Rhythm have more bangers in Elevation worship? 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:22.039 My? 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:28.640 How the turns of tabled? But seriously celebrating you and 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:33.880 what a testimony of this house always being about the 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:39.039 next generation building for the future, not just saying it, 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:45.200 but investing time, resources, platform, influence, and it just flows 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:52.400 from a generous house, which is the culmination of generous leadership. 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:54.919 And I'm so grateful. 0:01:54.520 --> 0:02:00.720 For your pastor, Pastor Stephen Ferdick Holly. I love you guys, 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:06.680 So grateful for your kindness, for your friendship, for your support. 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:08.080 Shout out to. 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.040 Chunks wherever he's bench pressing something today. 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:13.840 Just so grateful. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.000 Chunks has been the secret weapon of Church of White 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.000 Stone and Austin. I've called him countless times and he 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.240 just makes room for us. And I'm so grateful, and 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:28.360 ultimately I'm grateful for you all because generosity doesn't just 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:29.440 flow to this church. 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:30.919 It flows through this church. 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.280 And it flowed right into Austin to White Stone to 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.000 help us plant our church fifteen months ago. 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:41.760 And I just want to let you know. 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:46.760 That God's doing something with the seed that you've sown. 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.000 That over the last fifteen months, we've baptized five hundred 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:57.080 and seven people. We've seen six hundred and thirty people 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:02.680 say yes to Jesus for the very first time. So 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:07.040 amazing to be a footnote in God's great story. And 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.160 I'm just so grateful for the ways that you have 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.760 partnered with us. We're gonna go quickly to the scripture. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:18.320 Matthew five, verse one. Grab your bibles. If you don't 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.040 have it, this is elevation. You'll be able to read 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:30.840 it somewhere. It'll be on the screens. Matthew five, verse one. 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.520 When you got it, say I got it, singing church, 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:36.200 I love it. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:39.440 Matthew five, verse one. 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:43.320 Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:48.760 a mountain side and sat down. His disciples came to him, 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:49.720 and he began. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:51.720 To teach them. 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:57.480 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:04.600 Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:11.520 will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:17.400 inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:24.680 for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:32.160 for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:39.720 in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.279 for they will be called children of God. 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:47.160 Blessed are those. 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:51.640 Who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:56.919 Kingdom of Heaven. Today, with the help of the Holy Spirit, 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:05.359 I'll be drawing this title Joy to reintroduce himself. Allow 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.840 Joy to reintroduce himself. Would you pray with me? Jesus, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:14.080 thank you so much for your word. I pray that 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:19.400 you would warm our hearts today to receive what it 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.000 is that you have to speak to us. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:23.159 God. 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.280 I pray that there would be a supernatural impartation of 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:31.839 your joy, that it would flow from the pages of 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.880 these scriptures, from the heart of your presence, into the 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:40.000 lives of your people. We ask it in Jesus' name, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:45.160 and the church said, Amen, you can go ahead and 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:52.200 take your seat. Allow Joy to reintroduce himself. I want 0:05:52.200 --> 0:06:00.160 to ask you a question today, Who in human history 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:07.000 taught the most important message on joy? Who in human 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.040 history taught the most important message on joy? 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:10.240 Now? 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.000 I know we got a lot of church folk up 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.760 in here today. I know there are a lot of 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:19.159 people who've been following Jesus for a long time in 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:23.960 the room and watching online today, and so I don't 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.200 just want to assume that we're all just drawing the 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:34.000 same conclusions about joy and the origins of the message 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.400 of joy, and who articulated. 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:39.920 The power of joy most perfectly. 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:45.560 Some of you may point to someone like Buddha and 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.920 say that Buddha taught the most important message on happiness 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:51.240 and joy. 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.359 Seems like a pretty happy guy. 0:06:54.560 --> 0:07:01.400 And he said this phrase that happiness, that there is 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:05.719 no path to happiness, happiness is the path. 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:07.560 Not bad. 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:09.600 I can tell I'm already losing the church. Were just 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.880 mentioning Buddha in this sacred space. What in the world 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:15.560 been in Austin And all of a sudden, You're just 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:22.280 You're gonna be all right. Maybe some of you would 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:29.520 point to a more stoic philosopher like Marcus Aurelius, an emperor. 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.280 He said that joy is the product of. 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:40.080 Self discipline, taking life as it comes to you, not 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:46.080 a bad swing at joy. Maybe more of you philosophical 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:53.160 individuals would say someone like Aristotle gave us the most 0:07:53.240 --> 0:08:00.160 profound ideas that we have about joy and happiness. He 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:06.360 said that happiness depends on ourselves. None of those are 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.080 really bad swings at the idea. But I had to 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:14.000 go to the authority of all authorities. I had to 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:21.040 go to the resource huh, of all resources. I had 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:26.080 to go to chat GPT. Some of y'all were ready 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:32.960 to shout oh no, not ai. I just wanted to 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.160 test it see how it was feeling. I don't know 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.680 if chat GPT got safe, sanctified and filled with the 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.280 Holy Ghost or what. But chat GPT preached back to 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:46.360 your boy, chat GPT said, Jesus Christ preach the most 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.720 important message on short there's the church, all right, I 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:59.280 got shock. Okay, if chat GPT said it, then now 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.319 chat GPT he only has an eighty to ninety five 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:07.200 percent accuracy rate, so you got a fact check chat GPT. 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:10.680 But in this case, I think that it was one 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:17.520 thousand percent right. Jesus taught the most important message on 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:24.800 joy in human history. But I wonder if we have 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:32.880 stopped long enough in our lives to analyze exactly how 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:39.440 Jesus introduced the message of joy. That's why I chose 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:48.360 this framework of Matthew five, because Jesus actually resets the 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:54.960 lens through which we identify happiness and joy in the 0:09:55.000 --> 0:10:00.320 world and in our lives. Now, I'm I want to 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:05.920 test your religious reflex here. Don't at me, but the 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.600 next phrase that I'm about to say is going to 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:16.040 trigger you. Are you ready your happiness matters to God. 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:19.240 I know. 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:25.200 Maybe some of you were raised in environments adjacent to 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:29.360 the environment I was raised in, where you were taught 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.400 to believe God doesn't care if you're happy, do what 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:38.400 he says. Maybe some of you you don't even realize it, 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.960 but you have bought into the idea that the more 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:49.720 miserable you are, the more you're honoring God. I don't 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:54.040 serve him because I want to. I serve him because 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.520 I have to. I grew up hearing this priest and church. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:04.079 God doesn't care about your happiness. He cares about your holiness. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:07.000 And it's so funny. 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:11.800 In church people will say stuff all the time that's 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.160 not in the Bible, and then they'll run out to 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.880 some print store and put it on a T shirt 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.840 and sell it out of the trunk of their car 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:27.719 as if it was Bible truth. But this idea does 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.960 not exist in the scriptures. In fact, in order to 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:36.199 understand the idea of joy, to understand the heart of God, 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.160 we don't go to our feelings. 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.800 We don't go to church culture, we don't go. 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.800 To secular culture. We go to the Word of God, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:49.160 the scriptures. And when I look at the Word, it's 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.240 so important. How you look at the Word. You don't 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.560 just look at it, you look around it. And you 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.520 understanding the Word of God is so important because how 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:05.000 you you the word the scriptures determines how you view God, 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:11.120 and how you view God determines how you interpret the events. 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:11.839 Of your life. 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.880 And so if I'm going to buy into a premise 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:19.720 that God only wants mean Christians and God only makes 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:25.760 miserable people, then I have gone outside of the very 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.920 character and nature of God that the Bible teaches. When 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.000 I look at Scripture, I see verses like in his 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:42.400 presence is the fullness of joy? Well, if joy is 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.319 in his presence, how could he produce what he does 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:51.200 not possess? And so he must possess joy. 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.760 To produce joy. 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.160 I'm coming after this whole God only wants to mean 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:01.680 Christians thing, And if you can't in church, I hate 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:09.880 to tell you you're the problem. Can't nobody be more saved 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:11.920 and more mean looking than a Christian? 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.200 Wild But even when you. 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.719 Look at God and you see that the angels are 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:26.240 gathered around his throne declaring, Holy, Holy, Holy is the 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:30.560 Lord God Almighty, and the earth is filled with his glory, 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:38.280 They're beholding His holiness. But they're not just saying Holy, Holy, Holy. 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:44.520 The scripture indicates that they're singing Holy, Holy, Holy will. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.360 Singing is a product of joy. 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:53.480 So something that heaven is experiencing in God's presence is 0:13:53.600 --> 0:14:00.360 provoking a praise from a source of worship. This is 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:05.439 so important for you to understand today. It's because some 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:10.400 of you have been living your lives believing that God 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:17.480 is withholding a certain aspect of his nature from you, 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:25.040 that he's keeping a dimension of his character from you. 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:34.440 Because we've been convinced that our happiness is dependent on 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:40.920 something that we go into the world and get. But 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:46.080 it's not going out into the world that allows us 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:51.160 to possess happiness and joy. It's going to what Dallas 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:57.200 Willard called the great beyond within, where the character of 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:02.640 Christ is being formed in your heart. So my happiness 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:07.400 doesn't flow from my dreams, doesn't flow from my plans, 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.600 doesn't flow from whatever season of. 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:11.760 Life I'm in. 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:18.480 It flows from the character of Jesus being formed in 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.960 my heart. But you first have to buy into the 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:31.800 premise that God is uniquely invested in your happiness. When 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:43.040 I looked at Matthew five, I was shooketh when I 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:49.480 realized that Matthew five records. What theologians and scholars all 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:56.640 agree on is Jesus' inaugural sermon, his very first message 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:01.400 that someone wrote down, and the first word. 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:12.000 That Jesus says is blessed. Have you considered. 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:18.520 That that Jesus stepped into time and space, split history 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.440 in half with his mere existence, and he goes with 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.920 his disciples, sits down on a hillside on an ordinary day, 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.120 and the first word that he declares that he knows 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:34.600 would be echoed throughout human history is the word blessed. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:36.080 Wow. 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:42.440 You know, we give a lot of credence to famous 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:49.480 last words, famous last words, words that are powerful because 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:54.080 they seal a moment or a season. Famous last words 0:16:54.160 --> 0:17:01.360 like ain't gonna be no rematch, Apollo Creeve Rocky four. 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.880 Famous last words like don't let it in like this, 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:19.040 Tell them I said something, Pancho Villa. Famous last words 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.480 like I only regret that I have but one life 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:28.920 to lose for my country Nathan Hale. Famous last words 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:34.400 like you must do me this honor. Promise me you'll survive, 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.360 that you won't give up no matter what happens, no 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:47.160 matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:48.480 go of that promise. 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:57.000 I'll never let go. Let's go what I have to do. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:02.159 Leo like that, y'all. We all know there was room 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:06.000 on the thing. On the floaty thing, there was room. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:15.680 Rose, you're selfish. They stole Titanic two from us, y'all. 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:25.600 I'm not okay. Famous last words, But shouldn't there be 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:32.440 something said about famous first words, not because of their finality, 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:37.119 but because of their primacy, their priority, the fact that 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:38.560 they were spoken first. 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:40.440 Famous first words. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:47.480 Like four score and seven years ago, Happy Memorial Day, 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:55.040 Famous first words. I have a dream that little black 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.360 boys and little white girls would make little. 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:03.199 Khaki kids praise speaking tongue. 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:08.680 I'm living the dream, Marian, I'm living it. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:09.679 Martin Luther Game. 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:25.160 A famous first words and a galaxy fuck oh, y'all, 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:31.000 Some nerds, y'all. Elevation got a reputation for being so 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:42.840 cool Star Wars nerds. Famous first words, last words, first words, 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:49.200 last words, first words, last words, first words. The last 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:57.560 word of the Old Testament is curse. The first word 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.680 Jesus says in the first book of Your New Testament 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:02.880 and his first sermon. 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:16.640 Is blessed Jesus, the embodiment all of the law prophecies. 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.800 Jesus, the one who did not abolish the law but 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:29.399 fulfilled it to the finest detail, while ironically crushing the 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:42.280 spirit of religion. In one word, reverses every reality that 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:46.879 people living through that Old Testament era had experienced. 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:49.679 All they were left with was a curse. 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:55.320 Because of the stringent rules and the traditions. 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.320 All that they had was the curse. Even the law. 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.080 The Bible says, the letter brings death, but the spirit 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:02.879 is life. 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:03.520 And yet the. 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:07.360 Spirit was not given until Acts two, and so these 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:10.919 people were living under the reality of the curse until 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.120 Grace and Truth sat down on a hillside and started 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:20.440 to reorient the heart of humanity back to God's original 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:26.280 intention and design for humanity. Because the first interaction God 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:32.760 ever had with people was not to rebuke them, It 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.200 was not to correct them. 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:36.640 Although he does. 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:40.800 This in his loving kindness, this was not his original intention. 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:44.520 Genesis one twenty. 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:49.439 Eight records the first action of God toward humanity, and 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:56.400 the scripture says, and God blessed them and told them 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:58.800 to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.360 And so Jesus. 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:08.640 Turns the heart of a religiously cold people, one who 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:14.119 only knew a God from the distance back to the 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:21.840 original heart of blessing of God's people. Now, when they 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.760 heard the word blessed, they did not hear what we hear. 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:34.560 It was not come on twenty fourteen hashtag blessed. They 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:37.280 did not think card, They did not think house, They 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:40.520 did not think stuff. They did not think ocean side, villa. 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:44.840 They didn't think any of those things. The word in 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:53.600 the original language means happy. This is what got me all. 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:55.960 This is why I wrote a book about this. I 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:57.040 couldn't get away from it. 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:03.840 You mean to tell me that the first word God said. 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:10.600 When he is speaking to people that will reverberate their generations, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:20.120 he chooses the word happy. It made me ask, how 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:24.719 important must your happiness be to the heart of God 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:33.800 if it's the first thing he points us toward. God 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:37.960 wants you to be happy. 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:40.840 Wild. 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:49.800 I had an idea that was floated to me by 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.560 someone that this church has a great history with. I 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:56.080 wasn't gonna out him, but I decided to wage Joy 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.800 gave me this advice. He said, it'd be a great 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:07.800 idea if you do a five year trip with all 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:15.160 your kids every five years, take them on something just them. 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:19.600 You and Lorna. When we had two kids. 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:24.879 This was a great idea. We got four of them things. 0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:30.320 But we started it and now we can't retract it. 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:34.000 So I went to my all this sun. He was 0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:36.800 turning five at the time. I said, hey, bro, your 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:39.159 five year trips coming up. Where you want to go? 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:42.160 I thought, we live in Texas, y'all. So I thought 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:45.640 he want to go to the Alamo, you know, down 0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:47.960 to the Mexico border. 0:24:48.040 --> 0:25:00.040 That would be interesting. No, my boy said, then I 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:04.920 want to go to Disney World, the trip of all trips. 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:09.920 Now I had a thing that I was doing for work, 0:25:09.960 --> 0:25:11.520 so we actually got to make it happen and we 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:13.920 went to Disney World. But I realized I immediately sat 0:25:13.960 --> 0:25:18.960 a very high precedent. And so here comes his little 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:25.040 brother lawson. He's five years old. Dad, it's time for 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:28.600 my five year trip, and I know where I want 0:25:28.600 --> 0:25:28.880 to go. 0:25:30.200 --> 0:25:32.720 Where we going, boss? Japan? 0:25:37.480 --> 0:25:42.879 I said, Japan? What my fault, My fault, little brother, 0:25:43.359 --> 0:25:49.159 my fault. Anywhere in the continental United States of America. 0:25:49.600 --> 0:25:50.840 Where would you like to? 0:25:53.040 --> 0:25:53.280 Eh? 0:25:55.720 --> 0:25:59.600 What a god in Japan? Do I Tachi bay. 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:02.080 She hey boy, you can't even speak English. What are 0:26:02.080 --> 0:26:09.840 you doing? We're not going to Japan? Fine, he wipes 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:17.800 his last tear. I'll go to Disney World. Spoiled. 0:26:19.520 --> 0:26:23.199 We went to disney World, then Navy. 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:27.040 He was three and a half, talking about Disney word, 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:32.199 Disney word, Disney word and if history repeats itself, we 0:26:32.240 --> 0:26:36.120 got a fifth birthday coming up. God, help you see 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:40.399 why I wrote a book. Help me help This was Wade. 0:26:40.400 --> 0:26:43.359 I blame you. I'm sending you an invoice. 0:26:45.560 --> 0:26:52.879 Disney is known as the happiest place on Earth. You 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:57.280 don't have to be there more than five minutes to 0:26:57.440 --> 0:27:03.080 realize what do you mean happy? You got people stomping 0:27:03.119 --> 0:27:06.919 their feet, throwing fits, rolling on the ground, whining, complaining, 0:27:07.000 --> 0:27:13.480 and the kids are misbehaving too. You go to Disney World, 0:27:13.600 --> 0:27:16.240 you either get in a picture with Mickey Mouse or divorce. 0:27:16.440 --> 0:27:24.000 It's what it's It's crazy to me, the happiest place 0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:24.639 on earth. 0:27:26.840 --> 0:27:28.760 I found that Disney World isn't just the home of 0:27:28.760 --> 0:27:33.760 Mickey Mouse and tinker Bell. It's the home of meltdowns, trauma. 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:37.280 What are you and counseling here today for it? Well, 0:27:37.359 --> 0:27:39.280 my dad took up me on five year trips. And 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:50.440 it's interesting that we have certain expectations connected to certain locations, 0:27:52.840 --> 0:27:57.120 certain locations in our lives. And I'm not talking about 0:27:57.200 --> 0:28:04.000 Disney World. Obviously. Some of you you're graduating, Yeah, let's 0:28:04.000 --> 0:28:12.480 go congratulations. But if you're honest, you're like, thank God, 0:28:12.600 --> 0:28:16.040 I'm done with high school. Being done with high school 0:28:16.280 --> 0:28:18.840 will be the happiest place on Earth. 0:28:24.200 --> 0:28:26.320 Then you go to college. 0:28:27.840 --> 0:28:32.160 Once I get this degree, I'm gonna be in the 0:28:32.280 --> 0:28:33.800 happiest place on Earth. 0:28:34.119 --> 0:28:36.320 But once you leave college, guess where you get to 0:28:36.320 --> 0:28:38.440 go to work? 0:28:41.520 --> 0:28:44.560 And you're not gonna make enough money to pay for 0:28:44.680 --> 0:28:48.240 the college. 0:28:49.120 --> 0:28:50.960 The happiest place on earth. 0:28:51.320 --> 0:28:57.760 If he would just purpose to me, don't you want 0:28:57.800 --> 0:29:00.120 me to be happy? 0:29:00.560 --> 0:29:02.160 This is not gonna work. I need a ring in 0:29:02.200 --> 0:29:06.880 three weeks. Happiest place on Earth. And then we keep 0:29:06.960 --> 0:29:07.720 pushing it off. 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:10.080 Well, once we have a kid, and once we move 0:29:10.080 --> 0:29:12.920 from this apartment into the house, and once I redesign 0:29:13.000 --> 0:29:16.120 the kitchen, and once I do this, and then finally, 0:29:16.320 --> 0:29:21.560 always pushing our happiness up ahead somewhere, robbing ourselves of 0:29:21.600 --> 0:29:22.719 what God wants to do. 0:29:22.880 --> 0:29:23.440 Right here. 0:29:23.800 --> 0:29:28.719 I promise you these two words will rob you of 0:29:28.880 --> 0:29:32.040 more joy in your life than any other. Two words 0:29:32.080 --> 0:29:35.400 you can put together, and those two words are what's next. 0:29:36.520 --> 0:29:39.360 What's next will cripple your life. 0:29:39.400 --> 0:29:44.080 What's next will shipwreck your faith. What's next will destroy 0:29:44.520 --> 0:29:48.160 your sense of contentment and fulfillment. We have to ask 0:29:48.200 --> 0:29:51.880 a better question if we want to get better answers. 0:29:52.320 --> 0:29:55.840 The better question is not what's next. The better question 0:29:56.040 --> 0:30:02.800 is what's here? What's here, what's in these kids, what's 0:30:02.840 --> 0:30:08.240 in this marriage, what's in this job, what's in this season, 0:30:08.400 --> 0:30:15.040 what's in this church? I think this is why Jesus 0:30:15.160 --> 0:30:21.560 chose the location from which he delivered his message very intentionally, 0:30:23.520 --> 0:30:27.640 because he didn't go to Mount Sinai to give a 0:30:27.720 --> 0:30:31.080 master class on joy. 0:30:31.800 --> 0:30:34.440 He didn't go to Mount Zion, with. 0:30:34.520 --> 0:30:38.200 All of the prestige that it carries in scripture, to 0:30:38.320 --> 0:30:40.440 deliver a master class on joy. 0:30:40.560 --> 0:30:44.000 No, he went to what we believe to be is 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:44.760 a mountain. 0:30:45.120 --> 0:30:46.560 But when you write a book, you actually have to 0:30:46.600 --> 0:30:48.840 do research to make sure it's kind of true. 0:30:49.320 --> 0:30:52.360 And so I looked it up. It's not a mountain, 0:30:54.000 --> 0:31:01.320 it's a hill. You got Sinai seven. 0:31:01.120 --> 0:31:05.440 Thousand, five hundred feet in elevation, you got Zion two thousand, 0:31:05.480 --> 0:31:09.280 five hundred feet in elevation. You got this hill that 0:31:09.360 --> 0:31:11.200 you want to know the name of. Except I'm gonna 0:31:11.200 --> 0:31:13.240 tell you right now. The Bible doesn't record it. It's 0:31:13.240 --> 0:31:14.800 not even a footnote in the scripture. 0:31:15.920 --> 0:31:23.880 Four hundred feet in elevation. It's a hill. And Jesus 0:31:23.920 --> 0:31:25.360 doesn't stand. 0:31:26.520 --> 0:31:34.800 In declass some great teaching, blest all the poemspir for 0:31:34.920 --> 0:31:36.880 that's the kingdom of heaven. 0:31:38.920 --> 0:31:42.280 No, he just sits down. 0:31:47.000 --> 0:31:54.520 On an ordinary day, in an ordinary place, and he 0:31:54.640 --> 0:32:00.560 uses the topography to illustrate the theology of joy. Because 0:32:00.600 --> 0:32:08.200 the name of that hill is Aramis, and Aramis means desolate. 0:32:09.320 --> 0:32:15.120 And isolated. And so Jesus chooses. 0:32:14.720 --> 0:32:25.440 A desolate, isolated place to teach us about joy. If 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:32.680 I'm running this show, we're pulling up somewhere, sweet, we 0:32:32.800 --> 0:32:34.000 going to Disney World. 0:32:38.080 --> 0:32:43.880 But Jesus is in this space that looks like nothing 0:32:46.080 --> 0:32:48.760 and communicates the heart of joy. 0:32:48.880 --> 0:32:55.720 Why because a lot of life is not lived on Sinai. 0:32:57.240 --> 0:32:57.840 Or Zion. 0:33:00.160 --> 0:33:04.680 Most of life has lived in Aramis. You will spend 0:33:04.680 --> 0:33:11.960 more time in traffic than on vacation. You will spend 0:33:11.960 --> 0:33:14.880 more time getting crushed by life than crushing it. 0:33:18.720 --> 0:33:25.960 And Jesus wanted to show us joy works here, joy 0:33:26.120 --> 0:33:27.080 lives here. 0:33:27.160 --> 0:33:31.840 There was nothing to be seen. Those people seated on 0:33:31.880 --> 0:33:40.479 that hillside. All they could see was Jesus. And maybe 0:33:40.520 --> 0:33:45.440 the reason why we cannot experience joy in our lives 0:33:46.320 --> 0:33:59.520 is because we're constantly looking around Jesus, not Adam. An 0:33:59.560 --> 0:34:02.560 author and pastor named David Murray gave us. 0:34:02.840 --> 0:34:04.800 Seven categories for happiness. 0:34:06.880 --> 0:34:16.839 Social happiness, vocational happiness, intellectual happiness, physical happiness like through 0:34:16.880 --> 0:34:24.040 exercise and things like that, humor happiness, creation happiness for 0:34:24.120 --> 0:34:27.120 all of you outdoors people, it's so weird to be 0:34:27.239 --> 0:34:31.520 but why be outside when there's a perfectly air conditioned 0:34:31.640 --> 0:34:38.839 room somewhere close running water and everything. And the last 0:34:38.840 --> 0:34:42.879 one is spiritual happiness. Now, because God is so good 0:34:42.880 --> 0:34:46.440 in his common grace, he allows all people to experience 0:34:46.920 --> 0:34:51.960 six of those seven categories. You can be outside of 0:34:52.040 --> 0:34:58.920 relationship with Jesus and still experience a partial fulfillment that 0:34:59.000 --> 0:35:04.720 friendship brings, that work brings, that things bring into your life. 0:35:05.719 --> 0:35:08.720 But what we do so we try to take all 0:35:08.920 --> 0:35:12.920 six of those categories and use them to fill the 0:35:13.120 --> 0:35:17.240 void that is created when we don't have the seventh 0:35:18.080 --> 0:35:26.560 spiritual happiness. Spiritual happiness is a seal around the human soul. 0:35:27.440 --> 0:35:31.440 If you don't have spiritual happiness, you can swallow the 0:35:31.480 --> 0:35:36.280 world whole and still be empty because your soul is leaking. 0:35:41.239 --> 0:35:44.839 But if you allow the presence of God, the ways 0:35:45.200 --> 0:35:49.320 of God, the will of God to seal your heart, 0:35:49.760 --> 0:35:54.880 it amplifies the joy and happiness you receive from every 0:35:54.920 --> 0:35:58.759 other category. So I get more joy out of my 0:35:58.960 --> 0:36:02.799 friendships because I'm not there to always air my problems 0:36:02.840 --> 0:36:06.120 to them. I'm there to take the way of Jesus 0:36:06.640 --> 0:36:09.160 and listen more than I speak. 0:36:13.080 --> 0:36:15.680 What a thought. 0:36:16.440 --> 0:36:20.160 When I have the spiritual seal of happiness around my soul, 0:36:20.520 --> 0:36:26.040 I go to work, and although the environment is toxic, 0:36:26.760 --> 0:36:32.160 it doesn't influence me. I influence it because even though 0:36:32.200 --> 0:36:36.320 my boss is hard to work with, I'm not working 0:36:36.440 --> 0:36:37.640 for him. 0:36:37.960 --> 0:36:41.000 I'm working unto the Lord, and so. 0:36:41.000 --> 0:36:45.080 Every menial task that I perform is done in service 0:36:45.480 --> 0:36:49.160 of the King, not in an effort to be promoted. 0:36:49.719 --> 0:36:51.440 And when I take my eyes. 0:36:51.200 --> 0:36:54.200 Off of everyone having to have their eyes on me, 0:36:55.239 --> 0:36:58.640 and I put my eyes on other people, I am 0:36:58.800 --> 0:37:04.000 greatly fulfilled than other areas of my life. The joy 0:37:04.120 --> 0:37:08.360 is amplified when Jesus is the center and the seal. 0:37:10.960 --> 0:37:16.279 This is what Jesus was communicating through these words. Now, 0:37:16.320 --> 0:37:18.840 obviously I could literally sit here and talk to you 0:37:18.920 --> 0:37:22.600 guys for hours about this. That's why I had to 0:37:22.600 --> 0:37:28.720 write about it, because we cannot even withhold the beatitudes 0:37:28.800 --> 0:37:32.359 have become like wallpaper in Christian gatherings. We know them, 0:37:32.360 --> 0:37:35.360 but we don't even understand them. 0:37:35.440 --> 0:37:37.000 Isn't that crazy, guys? 0:37:37.320 --> 0:37:43.600 This is the first thing Jesus talked about. How important 0:37:44.040 --> 0:37:47.719 must it be? And yeah, he gets to your holiness 0:37:48.360 --> 0:37:52.080 and he gets to the ways of your life, but 0:37:52.239 --> 0:37:55.359 not before he introduces us to these ideas. But this 0:37:55.440 --> 0:37:55.680 is this. 0:37:57.120 --> 0:37:59.920 It hasn't let me go yet, y'all. 0:38:01.400 --> 0:38:05.960 When Jesus is speaking through these Blessed are the poor 0:38:06.000 --> 0:38:11.279 and spirit, Blessed are those who mourn. He's not just 0:38:11.360 --> 0:38:16.839 giving us good ideas. He's not just showing us ideals 0:38:16.840 --> 0:38:26.200 to live up to. He's revealing himself. He was the 0:38:26.200 --> 0:38:32.960 one who became poor in spirit. He had the treasures 0:38:33.000 --> 0:38:38.600 of glory in his hands, and he traded it in 0:38:38.640 --> 0:38:43.760 for the dust of the earth. Although he was equal 0:38:43.800 --> 0:38:46.680 with God, he didn't see his equality with God as 0:38:46.719 --> 0:38:51.560 something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, came to 0:38:51.640 --> 0:38:54.799 the lowest form a human, a servant, obedient to death, 0:38:55.120 --> 0:38:57.120 even death on the cross. 0:38:57.719 --> 0:39:01.839 He knows what it's like to be virtually bankrupt. 0:39:02.120 --> 0:39:09.640 He knows what it's like to ask God why. Hanging 0:39:09.719 --> 0:39:14.799 on the cross was the first time he felt a 0:39:14.960 --> 0:39:21.120 total depravity, our depravity, our sin, and he asked God, 0:39:21.360 --> 0:39:24.960 why have you forsaken me? If he asked God, why 0:39:25.320 --> 0:39:31.359 stop beating yourself up? Because you have wow, you get 0:39:31.400 --> 0:39:37.880 to ask God questions. He was the one who mourned, 0:39:40.239 --> 0:39:47.239 can you hold the implications that God cried? Why do 0:39:47.280 --> 0:39:49.600 you have to show up so strong all the time, 0:39:51.560 --> 0:39:55.880 never a crack in the armor, got all these churchy 0:39:55.920 --> 0:39:57.239 phrases that don't mean nothing. 0:39:57.280 --> 0:39:57.920 How you doing. 0:39:57.840 --> 0:40:05.600 Blessed in highly favored, breaking on the inside, How you 0:40:05.640 --> 0:40:07.879 doing well? He's been better than me that I've been 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:09.200 to myself, Praise God. 0:40:12.400 --> 0:40:14.440 If I was any better, I'd be dead. 0:40:15.560 --> 0:40:26.040 What No, My boy's favorite Bible verse to quote right now? 0:40:26.120 --> 0:40:31.280 They feel so studious, Dad, I memorized part of the Bible, really, 0:40:31.320 --> 0:40:35.680 but I didn't know you had a Bible. What did 0:40:35.719 --> 0:40:36.440 you memorize? 0:40:37.280 --> 0:40:39.640 Jesus wept? 0:40:43.440 --> 0:40:48.239 But we cannot really understand the weight of the implications 0:40:48.320 --> 0:40:50.040 that those two words hold. 0:40:50.360 --> 0:40:55.400 If Jesus cried, if Jesus felt, you have. 0:40:55.480 --> 0:41:01.200 Permission to feel, I love something that your pastor said. 0:41:01.520 --> 0:41:03.560 The presence of God is not the place that you 0:41:03.640 --> 0:41:08.319 go to bypass your emotions. The presence of God is 0:41:08.360 --> 0:41:13.160 the place that you go to process them. You have 0:41:13.280 --> 0:41:19.239 permission to feel however you feel, and then allow the 0:41:19.280 --> 0:41:27.600 Gospel into those feelings to transform them. God does not 0:41:27.719 --> 0:41:32.360 want you burying your feelings. The problem with buried feelings 0:41:32.440 --> 0:41:38.480 is we bury them alive, and then at some point, 0:41:38.680 --> 0:41:43.879 unprocessed pain finds its way into our lives and symptoms 0:41:43.960 --> 0:41:46.880 we feel like we have no control over because we 0:41:47.000 --> 0:41:52.240 never gave ourselves permission to come into a room and feel. 0:41:54.000 --> 0:41:56.800 Do you know that's why you cry in God's presence? 0:41:58.160 --> 0:42:03.959 That it is a physical response to a spiritual transformation 0:42:04.120 --> 0:42:08.440 taking place when you're in worship and listening to music 0:42:08.920 --> 0:42:12.799 the disintegrated part of your brain when you cry, your 0:42:12.960 --> 0:42:21.680 brain is reintegrated. So there is a literal, biological, neurological 0:42:21.840 --> 0:42:26.360 aspect to worship. That's why we say you're not wasting 0:42:26.520 --> 0:42:31.080 time when you're praising God. You're literally allowing him to 0:42:31.280 --> 0:42:37.680 heal your heart, your mind, your will. 0:42:38.400 --> 0:42:39.560 Your emotions. 0:42:40.200 --> 0:42:43.080 And if you don't allow God to heal you there, 0:42:43.440 --> 0:42:57.920 you won't ever be happy. He was the one crown 0:42:58.000 --> 0:43:05.120 with meekness. He was the one, Oh my Goodness, who 0:43:05.200 --> 0:43:10.399 hungered and thirsted after righteousness, so much so that when 0:43:10.440 --> 0:43:13.080 they tried to quench his thirst on the cross, he 0:43:13.160 --> 0:43:16.400 refused to drink because the only thing that would satisfy 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:19.319 him was your righteousness being fulfilled. 0:43:23.040 --> 0:43:25.279 In order to reintroduce you to. 0:43:25.400 --> 0:43:32.120 Joy, I have to allow Joy to reintroduce himself. 0:43:35.640 --> 0:43:41.800 Because joy is not a thing. It's not a feeling, 0:43:43.719 --> 0:43:54.640 it's not an emotion, it's a person. You spell joy 0:43:56.200 --> 0:44:02.040 jay E s U s. 0:44:02.920 --> 0:44:05.640 And I know it's the simplest thing in the world. 0:44:07.239 --> 0:44:10.040 But the hardest thing for us to wrestle down in 0:44:10.040 --> 0:44:16.120 our spirit is that there's only one doorway into the 0:44:16.239 --> 0:44:22.960 joy of the Lord, and it's Jesus himself. And I 0:44:23.040 --> 0:44:25.319 know we like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all. 0:44:25.280 --> 0:44:27.000 Right, now tell me something that actually helps me. 0:44:31.480 --> 0:44:39.160 We believe that, but we also expect Joy to walk 0:44:39.200 --> 0:44:39.719 through the door. 0:44:39.760 --> 0:44:42.399 With our kids. 0:44:43.320 --> 0:44:45.319 If you did a little bit better in school, I 0:44:45.360 --> 0:44:50.200 would feel a little less like a failure. My Joy 0:44:50.239 --> 0:44:57.640 is connected to your achievement, so go achieve. We expect 0:44:57.760 --> 0:45:01.560 joy to walk through the door with our spouse, and 0:45:01.760 --> 0:45:04.839 unless her name is Joy, that's not happening. Miss. 0:45:10.000 --> 0:45:24.080 We see our spouse as an access point to joy empty. 0:45:24.440 --> 0:45:27.120 The most beautiful thing about this scripture is in the 0:45:27.120 --> 0:45:31.280 first line, Jesus. 0:45:33.560 --> 0:45:39.440 Went and sat down on a hillside. 0:45:40.120 --> 0:45:43.200 It tells me, you canna have joy and a posture 0:45:43.239 --> 0:45:48.320 of rest. We think we gotta work for joy, work 0:45:48.400 --> 0:45:50.680 for I gotta work for joy, and yeah, you have 0:45:50.719 --> 0:45:57.640 to participate. But he's seated, and then it says, the 0:45:57.760 --> 0:45:59.640 crowd gathers. 0:46:00.960 --> 0:46:06.560 Him. If we're honest, we need to evaluate our lives. 0:46:07.040 --> 0:46:13.080 What are we really gathering around? I know for me, 0:46:13.920 --> 0:46:17.480 I love to gather around work. Work doesn't feel like 0:46:17.560 --> 0:46:20.840 work to me. I love to work. It's a problem. 0:46:22.680 --> 0:46:29.239 I'm in counseling talking to my therapist. Like, brother, you 0:46:29.320 --> 0:46:31.920 gotta help me. He said, what your prayer life look like? 0:46:32.000 --> 0:46:33.960 I described it to him. He said, that sounds like 0:46:34.040 --> 0:46:38.120 work too, He said, have you just thought about delighting 0:46:38.120 --> 0:46:40.160 in the Lord? I said, that sounds great. How do 0:46:40.200 --> 0:46:43.360 you do that? He said, well, what if you just 0:46:43.440 --> 0:46:45.839 showed up and just sat down? With the Lord. I said, 0:46:45.840 --> 0:46:48.040 that's perfect. When I was writing my book, I rented 0:46:48.040 --> 0:46:50.439 an airbnb. It's twenty five minutes from my house. I'll 0:46:50.520 --> 0:46:52.520 just go be with the Lord, delight in the Lord 0:46:52.800 --> 0:46:54.240 three to four hours. 0:46:54.320 --> 0:46:56.520 Once a week. I'll just go up and do that. 0:46:56.600 --> 0:47:04.320 And he just smirked at me, like, or you could 0:47:04.400 --> 0:47:07.440 close the door to the room you're sitting and shut 0:47:07.480 --> 0:47:12.319 off your phone, put your Bible aside because you cannot 0:47:12.360 --> 0:47:16.399 help but writing some message down, and just close your 0:47:16.440 --> 0:47:22.280 eyes and be with God for ten minutes. I just laughed. 0:47:22.280 --> 0:47:24.320 I went into the living room. I said, Lorna, babe, 0:47:24.320 --> 0:47:28.560 why am I like this? Why when someone says you 0:47:28.600 --> 0:47:36.399 need to spend time with God do I immediately think zion, Airbnb, 0:47:36.880 --> 0:47:38.000 three four hours. 0:47:40.080 --> 0:47:45.240 God's an aramis God's in the simple. 0:47:47.360 --> 0:47:50.080 And when I sat there and I just thought about God, 0:47:52.520 --> 0:47:53.719 something filled. 0:47:53.400 --> 0:48:00.280 My soul, an energy of vitality. 0:48:00.960 --> 0:48:04.520 And when I went back and talked to my counselor again, 0:48:04.560 --> 0:48:06.839 he said, how did it go? I said, it was amazing, 0:48:08.280 --> 0:48:11.279 it was so easy. He said, how did you see 0:48:11.400 --> 0:48:15.640 God in that moment? I was like, well, I've got 0:48:15.640 --> 0:48:20.839 two answers. I've got what I experienced and then how 0:48:20.880 --> 0:48:25.600 I relabeled what I experienced. What I experienced was like 0:48:25.640 --> 0:48:28.040 when I'm sitting across the table from one of my boys, 0:48:30.120 --> 0:48:35.040 just looking into their eyes. Creepy Dad, I know, I 0:48:35.120 --> 0:48:39.760 just love you. I just love you. I love everything 0:48:40.000 --> 0:48:42.600 about you. I love those freckles on your face. I 0:48:44.280 --> 0:48:47.240 love those curls on your head. I love the dreams 0:48:47.280 --> 0:48:50.320 I see in your eyes. I love that you're my son. 0:48:52.640 --> 0:48:54.520 I said. I felt like God was looking at me 0:48:54.640 --> 0:49:01.919 like that. And then when I went and. 0:49:01.840 --> 0:49:03.839 I thought about it again, I was like, well, there's 0:49:03.880 --> 0:49:08.799 another version of this story in my mind too. It 0:49:08.920 --> 0:49:11.120 was like God had his sleep rolled up and he 0:49:11.200 --> 0:49:14.280 was just pacing back and forth with his hand tucked 0:49:14.360 --> 0:49:16.640 under his chin in a furrow brow, like he was 0:49:16.680 --> 0:49:21.520 solving a problem. And when he recognized I was there, 0:49:21.600 --> 0:49:24.000 he kind of sighed eyed, glanced at me, and said, 0:49:24.280 --> 0:49:31.400 glad you're finally here, Because. 0:49:31.040 --> 0:49:33.400 All that I've known is a God who wanted to 0:49:33.719 --> 0:49:37.640 use me to accomplish something. 0:49:41.640 --> 0:49:44.680 I thought that was the greatest touch of God. 0:49:46.200 --> 0:49:48.040 Was to be used by him. 0:49:50.680 --> 0:49:53.200 I've realized it's a far greater treasure. 0:49:54.320 --> 0:49:58.000 To be loved by him. 0:49:58.040 --> 0:50:03.160 And when you receive the love of God, he pours 0:50:03.280 --> 0:50:08.719 his joy into your heart, and it's produced from His 0:50:08.840 --> 0:50:13.960 spirit in you. When you filled with the spirit, you 0:50:14.000 --> 0:50:17.719 get the features of the spirit. The evidence of God 0:50:17.800 --> 0:50:26.240 and a person is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 0:50:26.280 --> 0:50:32.120 meekness of control. But I wonder if what you've been 0:50:32.160 --> 0:50:37.320 searching the world for has been inside of the universe 0:50:37.400 --> 0:50:42.040 in you all along, but you got to come through 0:50:42.080 --> 0:50:45.400 the doorway of Jesus to get to it. If you 0:50:45.400 --> 0:50:48.400 would stand today, thank you for letting me share my 0:50:48.440 --> 0:50:59.040 heart today. I was disappointed Pastor Stephen wasn't here too, 0:50:59.160 --> 0:51:01.840 So we're all in that boat together. 0:51:01.920 --> 0:51:03.319 He'll be back kits his church. 0:51:07.000 --> 0:51:12.520 But I want to invite you today to experience the 0:51:12.760 --> 0:51:19.160 joy of the Lord. Hebrews says of the Son of God, 0:51:19.239 --> 0:51:24.600 that God poured the oil of joy on him so 0:51:24.640 --> 0:51:30.680 that he would have more joy than anyone else. This 0:51:30.719 --> 0:51:35.719 is available to you, but it comes through a relationship 0:51:35.840 --> 0:51:40.520 with Jesus. Some of you today need to take the 0:51:40.600 --> 0:51:45.800 first step toward allowing Joy to reintroduce himself by putting 0:51:45.880 --> 0:51:47.040 your faith. 0:51:46.920 --> 0:51:49.080 In Jesus once and for all. 0:51:50.920 --> 0:51:53.480 Would you pray with me, Lord, I pray that you 0:51:53.520 --> 0:52:00.680 would open our hearts to receive your joy, the joy 0:52:00.920 --> 0:52:01.680 of salvation. 0:52:04.920 --> 0:52:05.120 Lord. 0:52:05.239 --> 0:52:09.520 We turn our eyes away from everything else in this world, 0:52:11.719 --> 0:52:18.560 and for just a moment, we want to capture Heaven's gaze. 0:52:18.840 --> 0:52:19.080 Lord. 0:52:19.120 --> 0:52:28.359 There are so many deep wounds, traumas, difficulties, struggles that 0:52:28.400 --> 0:52:32.400 we have felt are in opposition to us experiencing your joy. 0:52:33.120 --> 0:52:37.000 But you actually use the mechanism of mourning to deliver 0:52:37.160 --> 0:52:41.560 us from the grip of grief. That happiness is not 0:52:41.640 --> 0:52:44.120 waiting on the other side of something for us, It's 0:52:44.160 --> 0:52:48.400 happening inside. 0:52:48.680 --> 0:52:49.840 I pray that we would. 0:52:49.560 --> 0:52:55.560 Allow you in today, come into our lives, come into 0:52:55.600 --> 0:53:01.279 our hearts, come into our dreams. If you're in this 0:53:01.400 --> 0:53:04.480 room today and you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ. 0:53:05.560 --> 0:53:07.520 On the count of three, I want you to raise 0:53:07.680 --> 0:53:10.640 your hand. I'm gonna lead you in a prayer that 0:53:10.680 --> 0:53:16.560 will change the trajectory of not only your life, but eternity. 0:53:17.160 --> 0:53:20.960 If God's pulling on your heart right now to follow him. 0:53:21.280 --> 0:53:22.000 On the count of. 0:53:21.920 --> 0:53:26.000 Three, I want you to raise your hand. One, two, three, 0:53:26.239 --> 0:53:35.359 don't hesitate. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Now listen, We're gonna pray 0:53:35.400 --> 0:53:38.040 a prayer. You have to pray this prayer for yourself, 0:53:38.280 --> 0:53:42.000 but you don't pray this prayer by yourself. This whole 0:53:42.080 --> 0:53:43.880 church family's gonna pray with you today. 0:53:43.880 --> 0:53:47.160 Would you just say this with me? Jesus, come into 0:53:47.200 --> 0:53:49.439 my life, make me new. 0:53:50.280 --> 0:53:55.680 I realize I'm lost without you. Thank you that you 0:53:55.800 --> 0:54:00.920 have more grace than I have sin. I believe you 0:54:01.000 --> 0:54:05.279 are the Son of God, the resurrected King, and you're 0:54:05.360 --> 0:54:08.160 resurrecting me in Jesus' name. 0:54:08.920 --> 0:54:09.280 Amen. 0:54:09.400 --> 0:54:13.560 Can you put your hands together for what God is 0:54:13.600 --> 0:54:15.840 doing in this church, Elevation. 0:54:16.000 --> 0:54:18.799 I love you so much. God bless you. We'll see 0:54:18.800 --> 0:54:23.719 you next time. Thank you for joining us. 0:54:24.000 --> 0:54:26.480 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:54:26.520 --> 0:54:27.280 this ministry. 0:54:27.600 --> 0:54:30.040 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:54:30.480 --> 0:54:32.680 You can click the link in the description to give 0:54:32.760 --> 0:54:36.920 now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more 0:54:36.920 --> 0:54:40.760 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:54:41.000 --> 0:54:42.320 You can share it with your friends. 0:54:42.640 --> 0:54:44.920 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:54:44.960 --> 0:54:47.080 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:54:47.080 --> 0:54:49.640 Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.