The Hard Work Of Happiness

0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 Hey there. Before we jump into the amazing message today, 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.640 we wanted to let you know about our upcoming tour. 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:08.520 The starting end just a few days. We're heading out 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.240 in the month of August with our friends Carrie, Joe 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.680 and Codycarnes, and we're coming to a city near you. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.400 We're going to have an amazing time in the presence 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.040 of God. Every single time we gather, He's faithful to 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.080 meet with us and do something new and fresh in 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.480 our hearts. So we hope you'll join us. Yes, we're 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.160 going to be in Dallas, San Antonio, Omaha, We're going 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.760 to be in Toledo, Dayton. We're coming to you, Knoxville, Huntsville. Yeah, 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.360 we're also going to be in Louisville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.040 and New York. So come out join us, bring your friends, 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.440 bring your family. Everything you need tickets and information is 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:47.159 at Elevation Worship dot Com. We'll see us here. You 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.000 know what used to be when I would take a 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.440 little summer break the day we would get to our 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.280 vacation as a family, and we haven't been on one 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:58.640 long vacation, but normally we'll go away for a little 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.880 while and I would say, start thinking immediately about the 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.319 next sermon. So it's weird because I preach, you know, 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:08.319 week after week after week, and I'd be like, Okay, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:10.160 in a few weeks, i'm gonna get a little break. 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.200 I'm not gonna have to tell anybody what to do 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:15.920 for a little while. I could just focus on myself 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.119 and get myself right. And so I would start thinking 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.960 about the next sermon. And the Lord told me one 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:27.120 day that that was stupid, because he said that if 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:30.560 I'm always thinking about talking to others, how can I 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.880 hear from him? And that some of the best stuff 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.760 that God speaks in your life doesn't happen when you're 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:42.880 straining to hear it, but just when you're open to 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:47.319 receiving it. So I wasn't trying to think of a 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.240 sermon to preach about. Matter of fact, I was on 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.840 a bike ride with Holly. Now we had a big 0:01:53.720 --> 0:02:01.800 celebration since I saw you, our twentieth wedding anniversary. Yeah, 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.600 I think I need to do a marriage series just 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:06.760 to give you all the stuff that I've taught her 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:12.720 in those two decades and then unpack that for you. No, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.960 I've missed y'all. It's good to see you again. But 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:21.560 we were riding bikes to breakfast one day and I 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.359 had asked the Lord, I'm not going to try to 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.200 write a sermon or a series, but if you say 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:30.079 something to me, I'll write it down. We were riding 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.000 a breakfast and I felt like the Lord gave me 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.200 what we needed to talk about when we got back together, 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.800 so I could say this discermon today is been a 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.160 few weeks in the making, and I really think it's 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.840 been a few years in the making. A subject that 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:49.920 I never spoke directly about before in this church, not 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.600 because I was scared to, but because I didn't think 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.799 I was ready to. But I'm gonna speak about it today. 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.720 I've talked indirectly about these things. I probably mentioned it, 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:04.160 But in sixteen years of pastoring Elevation Jurch, I think 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:09.440 I've never put this word in a sermon title until today. 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:19.280 This is historic and the word is happy. When the 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:21.520 Lord told me riding my bike that he wanted me 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:29.480 to preach about happiness, I laughed. I laughed because I thought, Lord, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:34.040 you must be confused. Here on vacation. We talk about 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:38.960 holiness in church, not happiness. And if we're going to 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:43.440 talk about happiness. Then we shouldn't talk about happiness. We 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.960 need to talk about joy because you know, joy and 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.960 happiness aren't the same thing. You know, you hear Christians 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:55.080 sometimes make weird distinctions. Well, I'm not happy, but I 0:03:55.160 --> 0:04:01.640 have joy, the doctor joy joy Joy, Oh, joy, down 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:06.080 in my heart? Where zone in my heart? This is 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:11.160 not on your face? And added to that all the 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.560 pharisees that watch my YouTube just to say mean things 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:18.000 to me in the comments. I thought, how can I 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:19.960 preach my happiness? So I start doing a little research. 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:21.800 I thought, if I'm a preacher about this, let me 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:23.599 do a little research. But I'll do it informally, because 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:24.960 I told the Lord I wouldn't work on a sermon 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:26.960 before I came back to the church, so I would 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.640 ask people questions. I asked the family at lunch one day, 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:34.239 I said, who's the happiest person? You know? I didn't 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.560 tell them this was a preamble to my sermon in 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:39.800 a few weeks. I just said, who is the happiest 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.400 person you know? Ah, Dad, that's a dumb question. How 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:45.960 can you answer that? You don't really know if people 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:54.560 are happy or not. Ah, Maybe that'll preach, But then 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:59.000 they started listening to happiest people that they knew, and 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:06.640 none of them said you dad. I mean, I eat 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:11.200 it up. You know I'm paying for lunch. I ordered appetizers. 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.400 I let everybody get real drinks. I didn't make them 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:23.480 just drink water. And nobody said it's you. I even listen, 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:25.920 how bad listen how God pray for me and my family. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:30.119 Because even right before it got to Holly's turn, I said, Holly, 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:35.360 you're the happiest person I know. She said that's so sweet, 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.800 and then she said somebody else's name, and I'm thinking, well, 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.359 of course, if I was married to me, i'd be 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.680 the happiest person I knew too, and she really is. 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:50.960 Holly is a happy person. So I said, Louri, if 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.000 we're gonna preach about happiness, you will have to show 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.840 me how, because there's gonna be people that listen to 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.760 me preach about happiness, and they they say, I do 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.040 not want to be in one of those feel good churches. 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.160 This is a feel goods uh huh. And the same 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:15.920 people who say that get massages, eat donuts, do all 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.760 kinds of things to feel good, but when it comes 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:24.520 to my faith, I don't want to feel good at all. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:34.560 Stank me. You are weird everywhere else, but spiritually you 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.800 want to feel good. You got butt warmers in your 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.839 car and you come to church like kick my butt. 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.880 Tell me what I need to hear, make me feel 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:50.080 like God is old and mad and slow, and we'll 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:53.880 have some scriptures about that as we go, because I 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:55.720 think it's gonna take a few weeks, but I want 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.440 to jump right in. I didn't want to preach a 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.680 little you know, welcome back, sir, and I wanted to 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.040 get right into what God told me to preach. I 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.680 argued with him. I told him I was a hypocrite 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.120 because I'm not the happiest person and I have a 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:15.400 they call it RBF resting blessed face, but I don't 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.040 have one of those. I typically I look mad, I 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.040 mean mug. But the Lord said, okay, then then preach 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:25.520 it like this, talk to the people about the hard 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:37.880 work of happiness in Psalm one twenty six. Y'all open 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:43.400 your bible. Y'all didn't bring your bible. I'm gonna make 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:45.320 you feel bad about it, since that's what you came 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:49.120 to church for and you bring your paper bible, you 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.440 digital demon, all right, I'll put it on the screen. 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:58.200 Someone twenty six, did y'all miss me? That's that guy 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:00.760 with the big arms from that baptist picture? Was that 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.760 you up there? They were talking about a baptism earlier 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.080 at Valentine's six year anniversary, and Graham, they were over 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.000 here celebrating baptism, new life in Christ. And all Graham 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.840 said was, Dad, look at that guy's arms on the screen. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:20.960 You are a distraction, sir. Let me read you this. 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:22.920 Y'all stand up. We need to reset and get serious. 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.480 Now here we go. Tell somebody I'm happy to be here. 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.240 Put it in the chat. I'm happy to be here. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.240 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.320 like those who dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter, 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.520 our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.240 among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.800 The Lord has done great things for us, and we 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:59.160 are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord like streams, 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:04.360 and then negaf those who sow with tears will reap, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:12.520 will reap the songs of joy. Yeah, those who go 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:18.440 out weeping carrying seed to sew, will return with songs 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:24.600 of joy, carrying sheaves with them in that cool it's 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:29.319 called a psalm of a scent. Going up to Jerusalem. 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.760 They had songs for the three festivals that they would 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.360 go to, and they had songs for what we would 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.320 call celebration. And then there are two there's fifteen of 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.319 these songs songs of a scent. Two of them are 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:47.520 called songs of lament. And in that interesting how they're 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:52.920 going up to Jerusalem, which is high in elevation physically, geographically, 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:55.760 where the temple is, where they're going to worship and 0:09:55.800 --> 0:10:02.320 celebrate these festivals, but they're singing a song of lament 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.960 can be associated with mourning or grief and repentance, whether 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.840 it's over sin or devastation. And this is one of 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:14.360 the two songs of lament within the fifteen songs of 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.520 a sin. That they would sing this, or that they 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:22.160 would share this, or that they would declare this, or 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:26.680 that they would pray this on their way. Right in 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.760 the middle of it, it says those who sow with 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:35.439 tears will read with songs of joy. What really gets 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:42.119 me about that is that somebody on your row, somebody 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:47.480 three seats from you, somebody that's just one room over, 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:52.520 somebody that's just separated by very little physical space from you, 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:58.200 is experiencing something in between those two extremes. As I 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:06.400 speak today, sewing with tears, songs of joy. You know 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:07.880 a lot of times when we come to church, I 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:11.200 think we asked the question, does God have a word 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.599 for me today? God speak to me? This is a 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.960 community song because when they would come together like this, 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:23.720 they realized it's not just about me. It's not just 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:28.840 about me. This might be for somebody that I know today. 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:31.320 This might be for somebody that I don't. You have 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.680 no idea what's going on on your row right now? 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:36.840 Or in the words of my kids, how do I 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:41.680 know who's really happy? I don't really know them. Now, 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:43.440 look at your neighbor and say I don't know you. 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:52.280 I don't know you. Like that, sit down and look 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.920 at your other neighbors, say I don't know you. I 0:11:55.960 --> 0:12:00.000 don't know you. You don't know what's going on on 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:04.000 your row. You have no idea what's going on on 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.000 your row? Well, they didn't lift their hands at all 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.800 during worship. They must not really love the Lord. They 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:15.480 might have a shoulder injury, a rotator, cuffed hair. You 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.400 know what I'm saying like they barely got the church. 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.120 They couldn't even drive because they're shoulder and you're judging 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:24.120 them because they didn't lift their hands. You don't know them, 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.760 You don't really know. This is why it's so hard 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.000 to preach about happy because you say who's the happiest 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:33.040 person that you know? And someone will mention the funniest 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:34.840 person that they know. I didn't ask you who's the 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.800 funniest person that you know? You ever met a comedian, 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:43.280 These are some of the saddest people. It's true. The 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.160 reason they're making all these jokes is because sometimes they're 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:49.720 not all the time, but sometimes they're compensating for something 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.680 on the inside that's not right. That's why we can't 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.560 believe it when somebody who has everything that we think 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.840 is supposed to make you happy is in a headline 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:04.040 saying that they took their own life. How could they 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.720 make me so happy as an actor but they couldn't 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:11.360 make themselves happy in life. I understand there's mental illness, 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.160 I understand their issues that are beyond the control of 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.720 life decisions. But I think according to someone twenty six, 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:22.960 there are some decisions that you can make in the 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.840 dry places of your life that will lead you, no 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:31.720 matter where you're starting from, into a place a super 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:42.160 natural happiness. Super natural happiness. The Lord doesn't care if 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.960 I'm happy. What The Lord doesn't care if you're happy. 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.600 You take your kids on a trip and they're sitting 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.600 there mad and screaming and yelling and crying, Well, you 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.040 don't care if they're happy. It's just for the experience. No, 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.280 you care if your kids are happy. You're just not 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:00.880 willing to sacrifice their long term good or their short 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:06.360 term happiness. And that's what God is like. So when 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:10.800 we see in Psalm one, this is not happy clappy, 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:15.360 this is not you know, the shortcut to feeling good. 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:19.920 This is actually a spiritual path for the daily decisions 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.360 that we can make in the dry places of our life. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.560 So I want to give you today yellow right if 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:31.280 I teach? I got notes everywhere for this one because 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.680 the sermon came to me in the restaurant after riding 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:38.840 my bike. My notes were on receipts and I didn't 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:40.800 even move them over to my iPad because I wanted 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:42.720 to preach from the receipt I thought that'd be cool. 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.640 I'll be hardcore. I thought, make it feel authentic and gritty. 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:50.400 He was preaching from receipts. My taster never takes a break. 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.880 I mean, I'm priding myself on that for years, right, 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.400 because I'm good at hard work. Now ask my kids 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.840 who's the hardest working person? You know? They better sing 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.320 me because I'm the one who paid for everything they 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.280 called drip. If it isn't for my busset, they don't 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:13.080 have any drip. I might not be happy, but we 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.320 got central heating and air in the house, don't we 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.680 And the fridge is full and you're not hungry. I 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.600 prided myself on that for years. I kind of don't 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.400 remember the story. I'm gonna get to someone twenty six, 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.120 but don't remember the story of the prodigal son in 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:31.920 the Bible. I hadn't been gone six years, y'all. Y'all 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.600 remember the Bible, right, So the one boy goes and 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.320 he spends all of his father's money and he rolls 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.400 around with pigs and lays around with prostitutes and squanders 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.480 his fortune because he just had to have it now. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.120 He just had to be happy. He just had to 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.600 go get it. He just had to go see. And 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.360 we preach about that boy, not realizing that wasn't the 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.800 point of the story Jesus was telling. It was his 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:03.040 older brother back home, who was home but not happy. 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.840 It wasn't happy when his brother came back. He was 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.080 mad that it had dipped into his college fund with 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:15.640 his brother's dumb decisions. In fact, in Luke fifteen, I 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:17.720 should have prepared this for the screen, but I forgot 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:20.960 when the father started throwing a party for the son 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:22.840 who came home, who was lost. He said, he was dead, 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:25.960 he's alive, he's lost. His family have to celebrate. The 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:31.080 older brother said, I've been slaving for you all these years, 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:36.280 and you never did any of this for me. I 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.680 always thought I didn't really relate to that story because 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:40.960 I wasn't that wild in college. I never had this 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.600 season of my life where I developed a horrible addiction 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:48.840 to a substance. And the Lord started showing me recently, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:55.800 you are often like the brother who stayed home, working 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:04.600 for something that is already yours. I put a lot 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.399 of my worth in my work, put a lot of 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.600 worth in my work. I remember many times when we 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.679 were starting in the ministry, thinking if I get there, 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:25.840 I will be happy. Legitimate real One of my Buddies 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.560 has a church here in the area, and he had 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.320 two thousand people coming. I remember going to see him 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:33.199 one time. Now, at this point in our church, we 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:39.119 had twenty about twenty thousand, twenty people like that row, 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:42.080 and five of them were the same ones that are 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:48.800 there right now. I'd be happy if I had two thousand. 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:54.400 And Since we're taking a psalm of assent and we're 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.159 talking about the lament within the song, I want to 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:00.360 point the fact out that you can be on your 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:07.879 way up and still have to deal with being down. 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:11.320 Like watch it in the text. Watch it in the text. 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:13.040 I want to ground this thought in the text so 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.919 you don't think I'm off on a tangent here. Instead 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:18.439 of talking about truth, I'm talking about feelings. No, watch it, 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.200 he said, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.560 we were like those who dreamed. We were shocked. They 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:31.080 have been in Babylon for almost fifty years and God 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.879 brought them back. They have been captives in a strange 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:41.320 land for almost fifty years, since five eighty seven, when 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.480 Babylon came and got all of the Jews, and the 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.359 ones they didn't kill they deported, and the ones that 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:53.320 they deported, they detained, and for fifty years the people 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.480 of God had to live in the patterns of Babylon. 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.520 But now we see that they have been brought back. 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:01.240 That's what he means when the Lord put Verse one 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.320 up there again, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion. 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.520 This is a past tense event that he's remembering. When 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:11.640 the Lord brought us back, we were shocked. We couldn't 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:16.760 believe it had actually happened. It had been so long 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.320 since we had expected this result that when we actually 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:26.600 experienced it, it didn't even feel real. Sometimes you can't 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:30.840 even be settled into your own blessing because you have 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:38.880 gotten so adjusted to a negative experience. This is it, 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.560 This is it. This is a decision that you have 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:46.960 to make in the dry places of your life if 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:55.679 you are to really be lastingly happy, last say, lasting happy, 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:02.040 supernatural happy. What the Bible says as joy, unspeakable and 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:06.479 full of glory in the holy ghost, holy ghost, happy 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.960 Jesus joy. The world didn't give it, and the world 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:14.800 can't take it away. Your boyfriend didn't give it, and 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:18.639 your boyfriend can't take it away. Your ex sure didn't 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.720 give it, and your ex can't take it away. Situational 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.320 happiness has no interest in the Kingdom of God. It 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.960 is too cheap and Jesus paid too much for me 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.720 to need for my life to be going a certain way, 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:37.760 to feel a certain way. So part of the process 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.840 of coming to church and listening to sermons and having 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.639 your mind conform not to the patterns of this world, 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:48.200 but transformed to have a new mind, is this decision. 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:53.760 Write this down you're ready. Negative is not my normal. 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:05.280 Negative is not my normal. Help me, Holy Angels of God. 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:10.119 I feel like a hypocrite saying that, because honestly, my 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:12.480 first view of a situation, and I need you raise 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:13.800 your hand if you like me, because I feel awfully 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:16.639 lonely up here. I don't even have a collar on 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.240 this jacket to keep me company up here. I feel 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.120 all alone with y'all looking at me so judgmental. Right now, 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:29.960 My first instinct in the situation is to see vulnerabilities, liabilities, 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:39.480 and even sometimes hypothetical liabilities. Oh, I am a creative 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:45.600 finder of things to fear and dread. Y'all pray for Holly, 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.840 the happiest person that I know. This is what she 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:54.480 has to live with. I came by some of it. Honestly. 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.879 I was born into a family called the human race. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:04.359 My first parent, Adam, he screwed up real bad. He 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.199 had the whole thing on luck, walking around with plenty 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.960 to eat and no clothes on, and a woman that 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:14.040 he said was very good, and he had to have 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.320 an apple. That was my first father. So I came 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:21.360 by this. I can't really be too hard on myself, 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.840 because the Bible says that all have sinned and falls 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:28.200 short of the glory of God. The prophet Jeremiah took 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:31.359 it further and said that the heart is deceitfully wicked 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.159 above all else who can know it. That's why I 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.399 had you tell your neighbor, I don't know you. I 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:42.080 don't know you like that. I don't know what you 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:45.600 cry about behind all that clapping that you do when 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:51.720 we're in church together. I don't know you like that. 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.960 And really it takes a while before you know yourself 0:22:56.000 --> 0:23:03.120 well enough to ask the question, do your patterns match 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:08.119 your prayers? Someone twenty six is not only a song, 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:13.040 it's a prayer. It's a petition. Lord restore to us 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:22.000 the fortunes of Zion. Lord restore our fortunes Lord, restore 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:26.879 us to the state, the state that we were intended for. Now, 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:31.120 I want to make this clear if you are a Christian, 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:34.399 that it is not normal for you to be ruled 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:37.439 by the same cynicism that you see seething from this 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:44.199 angry world. It is not normal for you, if you 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:47.720 are a Christian, to spend all of your time running 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:52.639 after solutions to problems that God is not staying up 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:55.200 late about, pacing the halls of Heaven wondering what He's 0:23:55.240 --> 0:23:59.800 going to do about them. Furthermore, for those of you 0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:02.080 who might have grown up in an atmosphere, in a 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:05.200 family or an environment where you say, like everything was pessimism, 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.600 how I grew up, Well, you know what. That might 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:13.320 have been your background, that might be your default setting, 0:24:14.760 --> 0:24:22.840 but it is not your destiny in Christ. Hey, spoiler alert. 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:27.760 That's why I named the Church Elevation because I think 0:24:27.800 --> 0:24:32.080 you're going up. Because I think if Christ is seated 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:35.440 in heavenly places, you are not going to spend all 0:24:35.480 --> 0:24:39.520 your days down here on this earth, wallowing around in 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:43.040 stuff that God has called you to win over. I 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:46.280 don't believe it. I'm not settling for it, and I'm 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:50.280 not going to be the older son like standing around, going, well, God, 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:53.399 I'm serving you and it sucks. But one day in 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:55.879 heaven I'll get wings and sing and play harps, and 0:24:55.920 --> 0:24:58.720 then I'll be happy. You won't be happy playing a harp. 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:06.560 We're not supposed to be happy till we get to heaven. Well, 0:25:06.640 --> 0:25:10.000 if heaven is happy and they let you in with 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:12.400 that attitude, it won't be happy once you get there. 0:25:14.400 --> 0:25:20.960 So you're not going because it would ruin the whole program. Negative, 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:26.480 say it negative is not my normal? No, no, no, no, no. 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:30.040 It might be. It might be natural, but it's not normal, 0:25:30.720 --> 0:25:35.040 not for a believer. Because my Bible says if anyone 0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:39.600 is in Christ, he is a new creation. That means 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:43.399 I've got a new nature. That means the way I 0:25:43.480 --> 0:25:46.200 wake up in the morning doesn't determine how I walk 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:50.600 through the day. I gotta get my mind right, my 0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:53.880 heart right. How many of y'all are over forty Wave 0:25:53.960 --> 0:25:56.720 at me real quick? How many of y'all have to 0:25:56.840 --> 0:26:01.760 stretch before your maximum capacity could be achieved? If it's 0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:04.760 true and the body is true in the spirit, you 0:26:04.880 --> 0:26:08.280 really wake up in the morning and consult how you 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:10.399 feel in your mind to see what kind of day 0:26:10.400 --> 0:26:21.840 you're gonna have. So the psawmist begins this prayer. He says, 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:24.679 there's two things going on in the song you study it. 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:28.960 There's what God has done and what God hopefully will do. 0:26:30.080 --> 0:26:32.560 And in the middle of all of that, there's an 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:36.160 amazing verse. I need to show you this. Slow. Can 0:26:36.200 --> 0:26:39.840 I go slow? Oh man? We might take We might 0:26:39.920 --> 0:26:44.000 take a week, or three weeks or five weeks. I 0:26:44.160 --> 0:26:48.040 might preach this to everybody in the church. Gets happy. 0:26:49.840 --> 0:26:53.680 I might preach this to everybody in the church. Touch somebody, say, 0:26:53.720 --> 0:26:57.560 get your happy back, get your happy back, get your 0:26:57.600 --> 0:27:01.120 happy back. It's been a long time since you had 0:27:01.320 --> 0:27:04.720 what Psalm one twenty six is describe. Our mouths were 0:27:04.760 --> 0:27:07.160 filled with laughter. There was no room in your mouth 0:27:07.160 --> 0:27:10.760 for laughter. This week. You were complaining so much that 0:27:10.800 --> 0:27:14.119 there was nothing to laugh about. It wasn't funny to you. 0:27:14.119 --> 0:27:16.359 You've been going through some things now. This psalm is 0:27:16.400 --> 0:27:19.200 interesting because it gets to a point where it says 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:24.040 that God restored the fortunes and brought us back to 0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:28.960 the land, and then verse three he makes a declaration, 0:27:30.400 --> 0:27:35.280 the Lord has done great things for us. The Lord 0:27:36.280 --> 0:27:45.040 has done great things for us. Stand up if that 0:27:45.119 --> 0:28:01.040 verse is true in your life? Sorry, I wasn't smiling 0:28:01.080 --> 0:28:03.879 when I asked you that I would looking at you 0:28:04.000 --> 0:28:06.720 like that. Did the Lord do anything great for you? She? 0:28:06.920 --> 0:28:10.080 My default is color. Sometimes I have to remind myself 0:28:11.160 --> 0:28:19.479 that the Lord has done great things. Okay, stay standing, 0:28:20.200 --> 0:28:25.920 I'm far from done with this lower illustration. How many 0:28:25.920 --> 0:28:27.560 of y'all think they were telling the truth when they 0:28:27.600 --> 0:28:29.520 said that the Lord has done great things for us? 0:28:30.960 --> 0:28:35.840 Put it back up. They just got out of fifty 0:28:35.920 --> 0:28:43.240 years in Babylonian captivity. Is that true? They don't have 0:28:43.280 --> 0:28:45.480 a temple to worship and yet it's still destroyed in 0:28:45.680 --> 0:28:52.000 lying in ruins. Is it true they don't even have 0:28:52.040 --> 0:28:54.560 a wall around the city yet. Nehemiah hasn't even showed 0:28:54.640 --> 0:28:57.400 up yet when someone twenty six is ready, So they 0:28:57.400 --> 0:29:01.520 have no infrastructure, so they are exposed to enemy attack 0:29:01.560 --> 0:29:06.640 from all side. Is it true? Is this? Is this 0:29:06.720 --> 0:29:12.760 a Bible verse or a hallucination? Is this just positive thinking? 0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:15.800 Is it just center around? Is this a yoga class? 0:29:15.840 --> 0:29:20.080 What is this? What is what is he talking about? 0:29:20.160 --> 0:29:22.640 The Lord has done great things for us? Is that 0:29:22.680 --> 0:29:25.880 a fact? No? No, I'm asking him for real? Is 0:29:25.920 --> 0:29:30.080 that a fact? Now? In your life. Is that a fact? 0:29:31.400 --> 0:29:35.200 Is it? Oh, you come mom? Your mom got diagnosed 0:29:35.240 --> 0:29:40.240 with Alzheimer's last year. Is that a fact? But we 0:29:40.280 --> 0:29:44.440 aren't reniate a minute. Your job, your job? You hate 0:29:44.480 --> 0:29:49.200 your job? Is this? I figured that what hit everybody 0:29:49.200 --> 0:29:52.080 in the room at least one day this week. The 0:29:52.160 --> 0:29:55.640 Lord has done. And you stood up so quick. You 0:29:55.920 --> 0:29:59.000 just stood up so quick. That kid was sleeping and 0:29:59.040 --> 0:30:01.959 he stood up automatically. I think his mom yanked him. 0:30:01.960 --> 0:30:04.880 But you stood up so quick. You stood up like 0:30:04.960 --> 0:30:07.480 something was on fire. I said, the Lord has done 0:30:07.520 --> 0:30:10.120 great things for us. You didn't hesitate. You didn't pull 0:30:10.160 --> 0:30:13.040 out a calculator. You didn't check a bank balance. You 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:16.080 didn't start reading a report. You didn't pull up CNN 0:30:16.560 --> 0:30:21.840 or Fox News. You weren't checking anything. Something instinctively in 0:30:22.000 --> 0:30:25.560 you knew. Wait a minute. If I don't stand up 0:30:25.600 --> 0:30:30.000 on this verse, I have to explain to these exiles 0:30:30.800 --> 0:30:34.640 who were taken out of their homeland why I'm not 0:30:34.840 --> 0:30:37.480 standing up to say God has been good to me. 0:30:38.240 --> 0:30:40.440 And I don't want to have to explain to them 0:30:40.720 --> 0:30:43.600 who are trying to figure out how to settle back 0:30:43.640 --> 0:30:47.480 in after fifty years of being gone. After that's half 0:30:47.520 --> 0:30:51.240 a century. Some of their kids have never even seen Canaan, 0:30:51.520 --> 0:30:54.000 and now they got enemies on every side, and not 0:30:54.080 --> 0:30:57.800 everybody likes them being backed, and not everything is finished yet. 0:30:58.080 --> 0:31:00.800 Kind of like your life, you got some walls that 0:31:00.840 --> 0:31:04.040 are down, you got some altars that are dismantled. You 0:31:04.120 --> 0:31:06.960 got some habits that have you by the throat, kind 0:31:06.960 --> 0:31:09.720 of hung up on, some stuff, kind of can't get over, 0:31:09.800 --> 0:31:13.080 some stuff kind of weeping over. Some seasons that got 0:31:13.160 --> 0:31:16.440 past you and got away from you, and some opportunities 0:31:16.480 --> 0:31:19.440 you didn't seize, and some loyalties that were not made 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:22.560 good on, and some checks that weren't cash, and some 0:31:22.640 --> 0:31:26.400 promises that are partially fulfilled. Yet something in your soul 0:31:26.600 --> 0:31:31.120 knows that God has done great things from me because 0:31:31.160 --> 0:31:35.000 when I really when I when I really when I 0:31:35.080 --> 0:31:41.160 really focus, when I really focus, when I really focus, see, 0:31:41.360 --> 0:31:45.520 it's a fact when you focus, if you focus, it's 0:31:45.560 --> 0:31:52.560 a fact, not a feeling, not a feeling. Because the 0:31:52.600 --> 0:31:55.680 whole time we've been sitting here talking, your heart has 0:31:55.680 --> 0:31:58.600 been pumping blood. And that's why your fingers aren't blue. 0:31:59.440 --> 0:32:04.360 Because the Lord has done great things for you. The 0:32:04.440 --> 0:32:07.560 whole time we've been talking, We've still been making our 0:32:07.560 --> 0:32:10.440 little trip around the sun, and nobody needed you to 0:32:10.480 --> 0:32:13.160 make sure to press the gas pedal or fill the tank. 0:32:13.440 --> 0:32:16.320 Because God has done great things for you. Some of 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:18.400 y'all are standing next to the great thing God has 0:32:18.440 --> 0:32:21.120 done for you. Some of y'all are standing next to 0:32:21.160 --> 0:32:24.800 the praise report that is currently your prayer request, that 0:32:24.960 --> 0:32:26.480 is going to be your praise report again in the 0:32:26.520 --> 0:32:32.000 near future. Just don't die, Ah, But you got to 0:32:32.040 --> 0:32:35.280 make some decisions in dry places, because look, he said, 0:32:35.800 --> 0:32:40.280 the Lord give me the verse has done great things 0:32:40.280 --> 0:32:46.920 for us. Is that true for you? How about the 0:32:46.920 --> 0:32:51.240 next part? And we no, no, no no, the next part 0:32:51.240 --> 0:32:52.840 of the same verse. I don't even need the next verse. 0:32:52.840 --> 0:32:55.960 I'll do it off of this verse. I'll set you 0:32:56.080 --> 0:33:05.440 up and we are filled with joy. If you struggle 0:33:05.440 --> 0:33:09.800 with that second part, sit down, I do. I'm gonna 0:33:09.800 --> 0:33:13.720 sit down. How could God be so good to me? 0:33:14.720 --> 0:33:17.400 You're honest? How could God give me all of this? 0:33:18.680 --> 0:33:21.200 And I'm not happy now. When I told you I 0:33:21.240 --> 0:33:23.680 started writing the sermon on the bike, that wasn't the 0:33:23.720 --> 0:33:27.800 whole truth, partial truth. I started writing this sermon four 0:33:27.880 --> 0:33:31.720 years ago. Two things happened that scared me a little bit. 0:33:33.160 --> 0:33:38.040 One was here and one was on an island, and 0:33:38.080 --> 0:33:42.240 they both had one thing in common. In both situations, 0:33:43.160 --> 0:33:46.200 I was in the middle of something that I had 0:33:46.240 --> 0:33:49.160 told myself at one point in my life would make 0:33:49.200 --> 0:33:58.160 me happy, and I wasn't happy one was here. I 0:33:58.240 --> 0:34:01.800 can't ever decide how much to tell y'all. I don't 0:34:01.800 --> 0:34:03.720 want to freak you out, but I want to be real. 0:34:05.240 --> 0:34:07.120 I was getting ready to come out here and preach. 0:34:07.160 --> 0:34:10.759 In the room was crazy, like packed out. People were coming. 0:34:10.800 --> 0:34:14.680 I started starting a new series. In fact, you know, 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:17.279 the day we opened this building at Valentine where I 0:34:17.360 --> 0:34:19.960 preached from, one of my best friends was being removed 0:34:19.960 --> 0:34:24.240 from his church and I was on the phone trying 0:34:24.239 --> 0:34:27.680 to help him because he was devastated the church he started. 0:34:28.200 --> 0:34:31.200 And I was coming out here, smiling at y'all, phraise 0:34:31.280 --> 0:34:38.160 the Lord everybody. I was sewing with tears. I was 0:34:38.280 --> 0:34:44.440 sewing with tears. And the Sunday that I came out 0:34:44.440 --> 0:34:47.759 here to preach, and you would remember the Sunday Chunks, 0:34:47.760 --> 0:34:49.680 because I think it's the biggest crowd that we ever 0:34:49.719 --> 0:34:54.400 had at that point at least. I mean, this was 0:34:54.400 --> 0:34:57.280 not two thousand people. This was like thirty two thousand people. 0:34:57.440 --> 0:35:00.000 In the building. And I'm not saying that the brain 0:35:00.080 --> 0:35:03.840 I can send it to set. Of contrast, I couldn't 0:35:03.840 --> 0:35:09.239 feel anything. I think I had set so much as 0:35:09.239 --> 0:35:13.080 a goal. Oh, if I had two thousand people in 0:35:13.160 --> 0:35:18.839 my church, I would feel like a real pastor, and 0:35:18.920 --> 0:35:24.239 if I felt authentically valid as a pastor, I would 0:35:24.320 --> 0:35:29.600 be happy as a person. So why was I back 0:35:29.640 --> 0:35:33.600 there feeling like I wanted to cry and having to 0:35:33.640 --> 0:35:36.120 come out and say, y'all give the Lord a shout 0:35:36.120 --> 0:35:40.160 of praise. I'm not saying it was bad. Maybe I 0:35:40.200 --> 0:35:44.080 was just tired. It could be that I was just exhausted. 0:35:44.880 --> 0:35:48.560 But it scared me a little bit because I thought, 0:35:49.080 --> 0:35:54.879 if I don't feel happy now, when will I. Then 0:35:54.920 --> 0:35:56.959 the other one was a couple months after that, because 0:35:57.000 --> 0:36:00.680 then I said, well, I just need a break. I 0:36:00.760 --> 0:36:02.440 just need a break. I just need to get away. 0:36:03.000 --> 0:36:05.399 We were on an island and we weren't even paying 0:36:05.480 --> 0:36:08.520 for it. Somebody else was paying for it. Invited us 0:36:08.560 --> 0:36:13.239 to an island to vacation for a week. And I 0:36:13.400 --> 0:36:17.719 was so sad on the island like I was in 0:36:17.920 --> 0:36:20.920 a prison. I was in prison on the island, and 0:36:20.920 --> 0:36:27.120 it was beautiful and it was free and my brains 0:36:27.120 --> 0:36:33.279 were there, and my wife was there, and I wasn't. 0:36:34.800 --> 0:36:38.840 I was there and not there, and it scared me. 0:36:41.160 --> 0:36:45.520 You ever got scared because you had what you asked 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:51.640 for and you still weren't happy, And now you feel 0:36:51.680 --> 0:36:57.080 guilty because you're not happy and God gave you what 0:36:57.120 --> 0:37:01.880 you asked for. Please don't know at this point, because 0:37:02.200 --> 0:37:07.400 your husband might think that you're talking about him. The 0:37:07.400 --> 0:37:09.600 best strategy for this part of the sermon is for 0:37:09.680 --> 0:37:18.040 you to look totally confused. Hello, what you're talking about? Aster? 0:37:18.239 --> 0:37:22.439 The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, yes 0:37:22.560 --> 0:37:26.000 it is. This is the day the Lord is made. 0:37:26.280 --> 0:37:33.279 I will rejoice and be glad in it. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. 0:37:34.200 --> 0:37:38.200 So it goes like this. It goes like this. This 0:37:38.280 --> 0:37:42.320 is the hallucination of worldly happiness. And I want to 0:37:42.360 --> 0:37:46.040 contrast it for you because it's not the same thing 0:37:46.520 --> 0:37:49.160 to have your happiness in Christ and what he gives, 0:37:49.920 --> 0:37:52.160 as it is to put your hope in the things 0:37:52.239 --> 0:37:58.279 of this world which are really sinking sand. It's not 0:37:58.360 --> 0:38:04.279 the same. The one goes like this, if I had, 0:38:05.840 --> 0:38:14.000 I'd be happy. If I had, I'd be happy. You 0:38:14.040 --> 0:38:21.399 ever done that? That's a math equation for frustration. If 0:38:21.440 --> 0:38:27.959 I had kids, I'd be happy. Why did he laugh? 0:38:28.520 --> 0:38:33.680 I'm asking, I'm asking, No, I'm asking if kids make 0:38:33.760 --> 0:38:36.400 you happy? Did y'all hear him laugh? I heard a 0:38:36.440 --> 0:38:43.120 peep out of that guy all service? He said, Oh, 0:38:43.239 --> 0:38:47.280 go get your Some children are a blessing from the Lord. 0:38:50.800 --> 0:38:53.239 People who say that children are a blessing, they say 0:38:53.239 --> 0:38:56.400 it mad. I'm like, you don't sound convinced. They remind me. 0:38:56.480 --> 0:39:00.799 There's an Old Testament character named Leah. She has sister 0:39:00.880 --> 0:39:06.760 named Rachel. Rachel was really pretty. Leah had a great personality. 0:39:07.600 --> 0:39:10.359 I said it nice. I said it nice, el Jay, 0:39:10.680 --> 0:39:16.279 I said it nice. She had a great personality. And 0:39:17.520 --> 0:39:23.200 Leah had a fruitful womb, and Rachel had a beautiful countenance, 0:39:23.680 --> 0:39:27.320 but not a fruitful woman. They start going back and forth, 0:39:27.480 --> 0:39:31.840 these two sisters that were both married to Jacob Jacob. 0:39:32.880 --> 0:39:37.040 You recognize that name, the god of Abraham Isaac Jacob. 0:39:37.600 --> 0:39:40.920 So this is an important guy. And they're both married 0:39:40.960 --> 0:39:44.960 to the same man, which is a recipe for happiness. 0:39:47.920 --> 0:39:51.360 And they're both trying to have his babies. And Leah 0:39:51.360 --> 0:39:55.600 has about four and Rachel has none. And Rachel, according 0:39:55.640 --> 0:39:57.400 to the customs of this day, now this sounds sketchy, 0:39:57.400 --> 0:39:59.960 we hear it now. But she gave her maid servant 0:40:00.080 --> 0:40:02.759 to Jacob so that the maid servant could conceive for her, 0:40:02.800 --> 0:40:05.480 like as a stand in as a surrogant, and so 0:40:05.600 --> 0:40:08.320 that works. But then Leah can't have any more kids, 0:40:08.600 --> 0:40:11.480 so she gives her servant to Jacob. She already gave 0:40:11.560 --> 0:40:17.399 him four, but he done lover, He done lover. Oh, 0:40:17.520 --> 0:40:19.920 but I'll give him another one, and he's still done lover. 0:40:20.960 --> 0:40:24.160 And so okay, I'll give him another one, and he's 0:40:24.200 --> 0:40:28.640 still done lover. And she is trying to win the 0:40:28.800 --> 0:40:31.560 love of someone who, up until this point in scripture, 0:40:31.560 --> 0:40:36.040 has given no indication that he even loves himself. In fact, 0:40:36.120 --> 0:40:38.400 the whole reason he's there in the house is because 0:40:38.440 --> 0:40:41.720 he was running from himself, pretending to be his brother. 0:40:42.280 --> 0:40:45.439 So now you've got sister Rachel trying to pop out 0:40:45.480 --> 0:40:49.360 babies like sister Leah, and Jacob loves Rachel, but he 0:40:49.400 --> 0:40:52.160 gets his babies from Leah. And I pulled this verse, 0:40:52.320 --> 0:40:54.360 just this one, from you, to show you something that 0:40:54.440 --> 0:40:56.879 Leah did. And I've done this before, and you've done 0:40:56.920 --> 0:40:59.279 this before, and how long will we keep doing this? 0:40:59.440 --> 0:41:02.000 When she had about the fifth or sixth. Kid, look 0:41:02.000 --> 0:41:05.760 at this In Genesis thirty, throw it up there. Leah's servant, 0:41:05.880 --> 0:41:08.280 Zilpah board Jacob a second son. This is the second 0:41:08.280 --> 0:41:10.880 son the servant gave about the fifth or sixth that 0:41:10.960 --> 0:41:15.760 Leah has given in all next verse. Then Leah said, 0:41:20.160 --> 0:41:25.320 how happy I am? The women will call me happy? 0:41:26.600 --> 0:41:30.480 So she named him Asher, which means gladness or happiness. 0:41:31.920 --> 0:41:35.640 How happy I am? Who are you trying to convince? 0:41:38.840 --> 0:41:42.239 How happy I am? I did the funniest thing I've 0:41:42.280 --> 0:41:44.920 been researching for this series, the hard work of happiness. 0:41:45.120 --> 0:41:49.120 So I watched people take selfies over the last four weeks. 0:41:49.520 --> 0:41:51.319 You know what the best moment of a selfie is 0:41:51.520 --> 0:41:54.239 when it's a group picture, watching the people who don't 0:41:54.239 --> 0:42:01.520 want to be in the picture when they unsmile. I 0:42:01.560 --> 0:42:05.800 could tell how strong the manipulation was from the picture 0:42:05.920 --> 0:42:11.640 taken by how quick you unsmile? I start pointing out 0:42:11.680 --> 0:42:13.920 to Abby, I said, Abby, watch how quick that that 0:42:13.960 --> 0:42:16.279 boy is gonna unsmile after this picture. He don't want 0:42:16.280 --> 0:42:18.160 to be in that picture. His wife's making him take 0:42:18.200 --> 0:42:20.160 that picture. He does not want to take a picture 0:42:20.200 --> 0:42:23.440 right now, and just as quick as the camera's over, boomed, 0:42:25.440 --> 0:42:28.640 which makes me wish that I could go home with 0:42:28.680 --> 0:42:37.480 you after church and see how quick you unsmile. Some 0:42:37.560 --> 0:42:39.799 of y'all cut out the middleman and you don't even 0:42:39.840 --> 0:42:43.000 smile at all while you're here. So you don't have 0:42:43.120 --> 0:42:46.160 to change back into the Clark kid. You never go 0:42:46.239 --> 0:42:49.839 in the phone booth to start with. But I wish 0:42:50.360 --> 0:42:52.680 I could see how long does it take you? How 0:42:52.719 --> 0:42:55.319 long does it take you to unsmile? How long is 0:42:55.440 --> 0:42:59.640 that happiness? Leah gonna last? Just see what she said? 0:42:59.760 --> 0:43:01.759 How happy I am? What's the next thing she said? 0:43:01.800 --> 0:43:06.680 Put it back up? The women will call me happy? 0:43:07.160 --> 0:43:11.640 What does your happiness have to do with what they 0:43:11.760 --> 0:43:20.400 call you? Anyway? You're really gonna put your happiness in 0:43:20.480 --> 0:43:26.360 somebody else's hands. You do that with your phone. You 0:43:26.440 --> 0:43:29.960 let a complete stranger either make you happy or make 0:43:30.000 --> 0:43:35.879 you miserable. That's a horrible strategy for happiness. But now 0:43:35.920 --> 0:43:38.360 your happiness is only a safe as the sanity of 0:43:38.400 --> 0:43:42.040 the person whose hands you put it in. And bonus notes, 0:43:42.160 --> 0:43:47.560 people are crazy. What does it take for you to 0:43:47.719 --> 0:43:51.400 look She's she's having She's having babies left and right 0:43:51.560 --> 0:43:56.320 for the approval of someone who hasn't even truly met himself, 0:43:56.719 --> 0:44:01.080 and so are many of us. I can't wait to 0:44:01.120 --> 0:44:04.319 preach at youth X this week. I can't wait to talk. 0:44:04.560 --> 0:44:07.400 I can't wait to talk to my sixteen year old self, 0:44:07.600 --> 0:44:09.360 because that's what I'm gonna do when I get up here. Okay, 0:44:09.480 --> 0:44:12.719 I'm gonna talk to my sixteen year old self and say, 0:44:12.760 --> 0:44:16.959 there is no formula for happiness that starts with if 0:44:17.000 --> 0:44:24.840 I had, because it doesn't come from them. Because you 0:44:24.920 --> 0:44:28.320 can be on an island, you can be in the 0:44:29.040 --> 0:44:32.960 back room ready to preach the thousands. And God has 0:44:32.960 --> 0:44:37.120 had me on this journey. See you realizing that my 0:44:37.360 --> 0:44:51.600 joy is my job. My joy is my job. I 0:44:51.640 --> 0:44:53.560 may never write another book again, but if I did, 0:44:53.600 --> 0:44:58.200 that'd be a great title. My joy is my job. 0:44:59.160 --> 0:45:00.680 And in fact, I I don't want to point at 0:45:00.719 --> 0:45:05.440 you today and say your joy, I'm gonna make you 0:45:05.520 --> 0:45:07.160 do it. Look at the person next to you and 0:45:07.160 --> 0:45:14.360 say you can't make me happy. Are they offended? I 0:45:14.480 --> 0:45:17.960 promise you if you said that to somebody that you 0:45:18.040 --> 0:45:24.600 live with, they're relieved. Because you're heavy. You are heavy. 0:45:25.200 --> 0:45:28.319 They always gotta make you happy. It's not there. See, 0:45:28.320 --> 0:45:32.880 it's not their job description to make you happy. And 0:45:32.920 --> 0:45:38.760 it's not God's either. I lost them arow the turn chucks, 0:45:38.840 --> 0:45:41.759 I lost the lost God, so good look at it, 0:45:41.960 --> 0:45:46.160 case Ion, restore our fortunes. Lord like streams and the agaf. 0:45:46.239 --> 0:45:48.800 Now look, the Negev is the southern part of the desert. 0:45:48.960 --> 0:45:51.480 It doesn't get any drier than that. To have a 0:45:51.560 --> 0:45:54.920 stream in the Negev only happens in the winter rain season. 0:45:55.200 --> 0:45:57.359 And when the rain comes in the in the winter 0:45:57.440 --> 0:46:00.760 season in the Negev, it floods the banks. Man, It'll 0:46:00.760 --> 0:46:03.719 tear up the bridges, it'll tear up the roads, it'll 0:46:03.760 --> 0:46:06.880 wipe out the livestock. You gotta be ready for the 0:46:07.000 --> 0:46:10.040 rain when it comes. And some of us are praying 0:46:10.080 --> 0:46:13.440 for things that we haven't built the infrastructure for. And 0:46:13.600 --> 0:46:16.200 even if God gives it, it will not feel like 0:46:16.280 --> 0:46:19.439 a gift. It will feel like a burden. Because your 0:46:19.719 --> 0:46:26.280 joy is your job, not an event, not a promotion, 0:46:26.680 --> 0:46:29.680 not knowledge, not in a mouth. Your bank account keeps 0:46:29.719 --> 0:46:32.239 going closer and closer to that level that you thought 0:46:32.239 --> 0:46:35.480 that you would need to feel secure, and you are 0:46:35.920 --> 0:46:43.320 still scared. Because blessedness is not a state of affairs, 0:46:44.040 --> 0:46:49.600 it is a way of life. M hm, m hm. 0:46:49.719 --> 0:46:53.360 We got some work to do, the hard work of happiness. 0:46:54.600 --> 0:46:58.360 And look what it looks like. He said, the Lord 0:46:58.920 --> 0:47:01.520 can do a miracle in it, like streams and the 0:47:01.600 --> 0:47:05.200 negav which is a completely supernatural phenomenon. That's not an 0:47:05.280 --> 0:47:07.880 ordinary thing for the Lord. And we need to pray, 0:47:08.480 --> 0:47:12.400 Lord restore my joy. But watch what the Psalmist instructs 0:47:12.440 --> 0:47:14.880 us to do. And I don't know if you're ready 0:47:14.880 --> 0:47:17.120 to do this or not. And for many years of 0:47:17.160 --> 0:47:20.160 my life I wasn't ready to do that because I 0:47:20.200 --> 0:47:29.239 was addicted to self pity, too confusing or too real. 0:47:30.360 --> 0:47:35.960 That was my addiction. It was my addiction. In fact, 0:47:37.320 --> 0:47:39.040 one of the most powerful things the Lord ever told 0:47:39.080 --> 0:47:43.440 me was, you have let your mood become your master. 0:47:49.040 --> 0:47:52.120 And I read in the Bible about Pharaoh, and the 0:47:52.160 --> 0:47:57.520 Lord will say, you have let your feelings become your Pharaoh. 0:47:57.800 --> 0:47:59.799 Tell you when you can go, and what you can 0:47:59.800 --> 0:48:03.399 do and what you can say. When did you get 0:48:03.440 --> 0:48:07.920 the idea that your feelings are in charge of your 0:48:07.960 --> 0:48:13.400 obedience to God? And Someone twenty six is a picture 0:48:13.680 --> 0:48:15.920 not only of what God is going to do, because 0:48:15.960 --> 0:48:19.719 I have a feeling that God is in the process 0:48:19.800 --> 0:48:25.520 of restoring someone's joy even as I speak. But it 0:48:25.560 --> 0:48:29.000 won't look like it, because what he said is those 0:48:29.760 --> 0:48:35.799 who sow with tears will reap with joy. What's that about. 0:48:36.719 --> 0:48:40.040 I thought we were talking about happiness, but the Bible 0:48:40.120 --> 0:48:43.160 says that in order to get to that place of 0:48:43.239 --> 0:48:47.040 happiness that will last, not to get a high. You 0:48:47.080 --> 0:48:49.440 can get a high. Hey, if we all want to 0:48:49.480 --> 0:48:53.160 feel happy, we should have skipped church and met at 0:48:53.280 --> 0:48:57.520 Chrispy Kreme because we could have got happy fast. It's 0:48:57.560 --> 0:48:59.960 called hot now, and it could do it all whole 0:49:00.200 --> 0:49:03.839 lot quicker than someone twenty six. Oh yeah, I don't 0:49:03.840 --> 0:49:06.680 need a Bible verse for that. I just need some sugar. 0:49:06.880 --> 0:49:09.480 I could get happy real quick. There's a better way 0:49:09.520 --> 0:49:12.399 to get happy than to come do this. But if 0:49:12.440 --> 0:49:16.120 you wanted to last where the enemy can't unsmile you 0:49:16.520 --> 0:49:24.319 fifteen seconds after it happened, then we will have to 0:49:24.440 --> 0:49:27.719 learn watch this the hard work of happiness. What's that 0:49:28.280 --> 0:49:34.920 sewing with tears? That means faith is in charge, not feelings. 0:49:36.400 --> 0:49:41.760 Faith is in charge, not feelings. I'm sewing with anticipation, 0:49:42.200 --> 0:49:45.200 even though I'm having a hard time even believing as possible. 0:49:45.960 --> 0:49:49.320 I'm getting in this spot. I'm showing up for this task. 0:49:49.640 --> 0:49:51.680 I was going for a song right the other day 0:49:51.840 --> 0:49:54.040 and I didn't feel like going, and I said, I 0:49:54.160 --> 0:49:56.839 start saying out loud, good things happen when I show up. 0:49:57.840 --> 0:49:59.799 Good things happen when I show up, saying I love. 0:50:00.080 --> 0:50:03.040 Good things happen when I show up. Now say this, 0:50:03.200 --> 0:50:11.920 nothing good happens when I sleep in. Good things happen 0:50:11.960 --> 0:50:16.600 when I show up. You keep hiding your talents in 0:50:16.640 --> 0:50:21.440 the ground. You know why you do that because you 0:50:21.480 --> 0:50:25.000 don't really believe that God has joy to give you. 0:50:25.000 --> 0:50:28.480 You don't rebelieve it. In the Parable of the Talents 0:50:28.480 --> 0:50:30.640 in Matthew twenty five, there was a man who had 0:50:30.640 --> 0:50:32.520 five talents that were given to him. That's like a 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:35.680 bag of gold, a measure of money. The one that 0:50:35.760 --> 0:50:39.560 had five talents to give went out, invested it, doubled it, 0:50:39.560 --> 0:50:42.440 turned it to ten. The master was like, that's good. Now, 0:50:42.440 --> 0:50:48.000 here's what's crazy. To another, he gave two talents. The 0:50:48.120 --> 0:50:51.319 dude with the two talents had every right to say 0:50:51.360 --> 0:50:54.880 to the master, according to our human view, where's my 0:50:54.920 --> 0:51:02.080 other three? But instead of doing that lies something that well, 0:51:02.120 --> 0:51:04.400 I think it's a cultural lesson that needs to be spoken. 0:51:04.640 --> 0:51:11.000 And jealousy is the enemy of joy. Right, I don't 0:51:11.040 --> 0:51:13.799 need anybody else to tell me I'm blessed. If I 0:51:13.880 --> 0:51:16.600 have peace and contentment in my heart with God, I 0:51:16.640 --> 0:51:25.239 am blessed. I love Abby because it's hard to compliment her, 0:51:26.000 --> 0:51:30.040 not because she's like insecure. It's the opposite. She's like, oh, 0:51:30.040 --> 0:51:35.319 I know years you look you look good today, Abby, Oh, 0:51:35.360 --> 0:51:40.040 I know, Like is this good Lord? That? Ain't the 0:51:40.160 --> 0:51:43.600 ring this in a little bit. It's like, no, I don't. 0:51:44.200 --> 0:51:46.719 I don't want her to need somebody else to tell 0:51:46.719 --> 0:51:54.640 her what she is. Shout, I know. The Psalmist said, 0:51:54.760 --> 0:51:57.640 then the nations will say, the Lord has done great 0:51:57.640 --> 0:51:59.920 things for us, And the Salma said, the Lord has 0:52:00.040 --> 0:52:02.600 has done great things for us. Whether you like my 0:52:02.719 --> 0:52:05.520 post or not, whether you like my car or not, 0:52:06.120 --> 0:52:08.799 whether you see my value or not, whether you think 0:52:08.840 --> 0:52:11.320 I'm worth calling back or not, whether you like my 0:52:11.440 --> 0:52:14.200 ministry or not, whether you think I know God or not, 0:52:14.640 --> 0:52:16.880 whether you agree with my decision to pull aside and 0:52:16.920 --> 0:52:19.440 get my heart right or not, whether you want to 0:52:19.440 --> 0:52:21.720 go the next mile with me or not. The Lord 0:52:21.800 --> 0:52:24.480 has been good to me. I don't need anybody to 0:52:24.520 --> 0:52:27.680 tell me that. I already know the joy of the 0:52:27.719 --> 0:52:34.319 Lord is my strength. I know. So the next time 0:52:34.360 --> 0:52:36.440 somebody tells you, oh, you're so good at that, you 0:52:36.480 --> 0:52:38.319 don't have to say it out loud. But let it 0:52:38.360 --> 0:52:41.399 be the cherry. Don't even let it be the icing, 0:52:41.480 --> 0:52:44.440 let alone the cake, because you need to know in 0:52:44.480 --> 0:52:48.239 your soul that God's hand is on me to do 0:52:48.680 --> 0:52:51.480 what I do, and what I do I do well, 0:52:52.880 --> 0:52:56.840 and who I am I am fully. And when the 0:52:56.880 --> 0:53:01.239 Lord restored the fortunes of Zion are like those who dream. 0:53:01.520 --> 0:53:04.920 Our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with 0:53:05.080 --> 0:53:08.680 songs of joy. When you fill your tongue with praise, 0:53:09.040 --> 0:53:13.839 it floods your heart with faith, and then you can 0:53:13.920 --> 0:53:20.960 sew with tears. You can do it regardless of the 0:53:21.000 --> 0:53:24.160 mood that you're in. And the man with the two 0:53:24.200 --> 0:53:27.359 talents turned his two into four. And the Master called 0:53:27.440 --> 0:53:30.919 him back, and he said, this is Matthew twenty five. 0:53:31.719 --> 0:53:35.360 I think we could show this to you. You entrusted 0:53:35.360 --> 0:53:38.200 me with two bags, I have gained two more. And 0:53:38.280 --> 0:53:41.880 for all of y'all that think that God is like 0:53:42.360 --> 0:53:46.719 your most cantankerous relative at the family reunion, look at 0:53:46.719 --> 0:53:50.200 the next verse. What Jesus said, God is like his 0:53:50.280 --> 0:53:56.640 master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. Huh wait 0:53:56.680 --> 0:53:58.960 a minute, the other guy with five he gave you ten, 0:53:59.040 --> 0:54:01.239 only gave you four. Disappointed in me? No, no no, no, 0:54:01.239 --> 0:54:04.480 no no, I only hold you responsible for what I 0:54:04.520 --> 0:54:10.239 gave you. See now, I'll just set you free from 0:54:10.239 --> 0:54:13.879 a lot of misery right there, didn't I you wish 0:54:13.880 --> 0:54:16.480 you were a little bit taller. You wish you were 0:54:16.520 --> 0:54:22.640 a baller, and you're not. My biceps and never looked 0:54:22.719 --> 0:54:27.439 like that. God gave me different fibers. I'm doing good 0:54:27.480 --> 0:54:34.080 with my fibers. I'm gonna maximize my fibers. And then 0:54:34.160 --> 0:54:36.680 something we're so surprised to find in the Bible. We mean, 0:54:36.760 --> 0:54:38.560 we got to go somewhere else for this. We think 0:54:38.560 --> 0:54:39.960 we come to God for holy and go to the 0:54:40.000 --> 0:54:43.040 world for happy. Look what the Master said, when you 0:54:43.120 --> 0:54:45.399 do what God gave you to do. You have been 0:54:45.880 --> 0:54:49.080 faithful with a few things. I will put you in 0:54:49.200 --> 0:54:57.279 charge of many things. Come and share in your Master's happiness. 0:54:58.800 --> 0:55:04.879 You mean God is happy, that's good news. A lot 0:55:04.880 --> 0:55:08.520 of Christians tiptoeing around church like dad's in a bad 0:55:08.560 --> 0:55:14.520 mood again. A lot of us running around like the 0:55:14.600 --> 0:55:17.320 older son in the prodigal star saying I'm slaving for 0:55:17.480 --> 0:55:20.839 you God, Okay, I'll do it. No one notices you 0:55:20.880 --> 0:55:24.640 weren't supposed to do it to be noticed to begin with, 0:55:25.640 --> 0:55:29.719 God knows, and your Father, who sees what has done 0:55:29.719 --> 0:55:33.359 in secret, will reward you openly. So I just want 0:55:33.360 --> 0:55:35.799 to teach you today that to really get to this 0:55:35.920 --> 0:55:38.880 place that you've been praying about, it's gonna take some 0:55:39.000 --> 0:55:42.640 new patterns. And sometimes that will mean I am crying 0:55:43.080 --> 0:55:45.759 while I am carrying. It means I will take the 0:55:45.880 --> 0:55:48.680 seed with me into my day and I will sow 0:55:48.719 --> 0:55:51.960 it in contradiction and defiance to every dry place in 0:55:52.000 --> 0:55:58.680 my life. You want to do the work or do 0:55:58.760 --> 0:56:03.160 you want to wait on the faith fairy to put 0:56:03.200 --> 0:56:08.239 peace under your pillow? And how in the world am 0:56:08.280 --> 0:56:12.800 I gonna pray about something like God give me my 0:56:12.920 --> 0:56:16.200 joy back if I am not willing to sow into 0:56:16.239 --> 0:56:23.040 the very thing that I am asking for. I want 0:56:23.080 --> 0:56:25.880 to talk about this I want to go through in 0:56:25.960 --> 0:56:28.520 the next few weeks, and I want to talk about 0:56:28.520 --> 0:56:32.799 the difference between watch this supernatural happiness that comes from 0:56:32.840 --> 0:56:36.000 God and can't be taken away by the world, that lasts, 0:56:36.600 --> 0:56:40.560 that permeates and that makes a difference and the shallow, 0:56:40.680 --> 0:56:43.719 superficial stuff that will end up costing us everything that 0:56:43.760 --> 0:56:46.200 we have in the pursuit of realizing that we don't 0:56:46.239 --> 0:56:51.000 even want it when we get it. And so you're like, well, 0:56:51.400 --> 0:56:56.000 a pastor, you share some pretty I'm gonna be honest, 0:56:56.040 --> 0:56:59.240 some pretty disturbing stuff, saying that you were not happy 0:56:59.239 --> 0:57:03.800 coming to preach and all that, and you weren't very happy, 0:57:04.120 --> 0:57:05.799 just like I have to go to the gym every 0:57:05.880 --> 0:57:10.520 day to keep my body resembling something that I can 0:57:10.560 --> 0:57:13.880 feel good about and feel good in. I got to 0:57:13.920 --> 0:57:16.560 go to God every day to get my joy where 0:57:16.600 --> 0:57:24.880 it needs to be. You worked out one time in 0:57:24.880 --> 0:57:27.040 twenty thirteen, and you think you're going to be in 0:57:27.080 --> 0:57:30.080 shape for the rest of your life. And emotionally, we're 0:57:30.200 --> 0:57:36.000 so weird we want to break through, but the Lord 0:57:36.040 --> 0:57:38.880 said it's going to be hard work. Now. The interesting 0:57:38.960 --> 0:57:42.120 thing about sowing in tears and reaping in joy, because 0:57:42.160 --> 0:57:45.320 the Bible makes the connection. See it says those who 0:57:45.360 --> 0:57:48.320 sow with tears, who press past the pain of what 0:57:48.360 --> 0:57:51.200 they feel into the purpose that God is accomplishing, which 0:57:51.240 --> 0:57:53.600 maybe where God has you right now, I'm doing the 0:57:53.640 --> 0:57:57.520 hard work to stop blaming other people for where you're at. 0:57:58.920 --> 0:58:02.120 I got home the other day and the toilet was 0:58:02.120 --> 0:58:04.360 broken before I left, and I told everybody not to 0:58:04.480 --> 0:58:09.040 use it. And I got home and the only two 0:58:09.120 --> 0:58:10.800 of our kids that were there because me and Abby 0:58:10.800 --> 0:58:12.959 and Holly were gone. The only two of our kids 0:58:12.960 --> 0:58:16.120 that were there were Elijah and Graham. And I went 0:58:16.120 --> 0:58:20.920 to use that toilet and it was filled not with 0:58:21.160 --> 0:58:24.720 the joy of the Lord, but it was still all right. 0:58:24.880 --> 0:58:32.480 I gotta clarify. Oh, I lost it, y'all. I lost 0:58:32.520 --> 0:58:35.720 it because I told y'all not to use it. And 0:58:35.760 --> 0:58:39.240 I was mad at first, but not crazy mad, but mad. 0:58:40.280 --> 0:58:44.480 Who did this? Who did this? You know, like the 0:58:44.480 --> 0:58:47.320 Bible says a man came and sold tears among the wheat? 0:58:47.360 --> 0:58:52.800 Who did this? And I texted Elijah, you did me dirty, 0:58:54.080 --> 0:58:56.080 because he was there when I found out the toilet 0:58:56.160 --> 0:58:58.000 was broken, so it had to be him that forgot 0:58:58.000 --> 0:58:59.880 and used it. He said, I'm so sorry for what 0:59:00.000 --> 0:59:01.880 you're dealing with right now, because I said, it smells 0:59:01.920 --> 0:59:04.040 like a sewer down here, and I don't know how 0:59:04.040 --> 0:59:06.240 many days this has been down here, but it's been. 0:59:06.360 --> 0:59:08.040 I think you did it. The first day I left 0:59:08.080 --> 0:59:10.160 and you left it. He said, Dad, I promise it 0:59:10.200 --> 0:59:12.560 wasn't me. I'm sorry for what you're going through. I'm 0:59:12.560 --> 0:59:13.960 here for you in any way you need me to 0:59:13.960 --> 0:59:16.000 be here for you. But as it was not me 0:59:16.160 --> 0:59:18.960 and he wasn't there, and Graham was there, so Graham 0:59:18.960 --> 0:59:21.880 felt the rat. I said, there's only one left. If 0:59:21.920 --> 0:59:24.720 it wasn't him, it was you. Graham said it wasn't me. 0:59:24.840 --> 0:59:28.440 I said, oh, we got a mystery pooper just breaking 0:59:28.480 --> 0:59:32.040 through the window, just sitting on the toilet, just coming 0:59:32.080 --> 0:59:35.360 through the back, kicking down the door and using the toil. 0:59:35.600 --> 0:59:43.000 This is great, this is great. Kind of stole my 0:59:43.080 --> 0:59:48.960 joy for a minute. But when they came out with 0:59:49.000 --> 0:59:57.480 the plumber. So what happened was I went out in 0:59:57.520 --> 1:00:01.120 the yard a few days later, after the case of 1:00:01.160 --> 1:00:07.680 the mystery toilet abuse her and I smelled something in 1:00:07.760 --> 1:00:11.360 the yard and I saw some water on the ground, 1:00:12.360 --> 1:00:14.240 and I saw a light on something that looked like 1:00:14.280 --> 1:00:20.080 a tank. And I realized that I was walking around 1:00:20.200 --> 1:00:25.520 looking for who did it. And the plumber confirmed my suspicion. 1:00:27.160 --> 1:00:32.680 The pump is broken. And it became to me a parable, 1:00:33.960 --> 1:00:41.439 a parable of the mystery true that you can run 1:00:41.440 --> 1:00:45.400 around blaming people for crap for however much longer you want. 1:00:44.920 --> 1:00:50.480 To Come on, y'all, I'm back. I'm back. I'm back, 1:00:50.520 --> 1:00:58.040 I'm back. I'm back. I'm happy to be back because 1:00:58.080 --> 1:01:02.720 I gotta fix this at the pump. I gotta fix 1:01:02.800 --> 1:01:06.920 this at the palm, and I gotta be willing to 1:01:06.960 --> 1:01:09.160 get in my heart and say, you know what, Lord, 1:01:10.720 --> 1:01:13.240 there are some things in me right now in this 1:01:13.320 --> 1:01:18.400 season of my life that if I don't dig through 1:01:18.400 --> 1:01:20.520 this and sow through this and cry through this in 1:01:20.560 --> 1:01:23.520 process through this, I'm gonna always stay at the surface, 1:01:24.000 --> 1:01:28.680 settling for a high but never really being happy, trying 1:01:28.680 --> 1:01:32.600 to look like a hero but never being happy, having 1:01:32.640 --> 1:01:36.400 another baby, naming an asher, but never really being happy. 1:01:37.760 --> 1:01:42.400 And the invitation is here, Come and share in your 1:01:42.440 --> 1:01:50.840 masters happiness. Consider Jesus, who, for the joy set before him, 1:01:51.760 --> 1:01:55.000 endured the cross, despising the shame. Now stand up. If 1:01:55.080 --> 1:02:01.400 God has done great things for you, are you filled 1:02:01.400 --> 1:02:07.160 with joy today? I think that's a decision that you 1:02:07.240 --> 1:02:10.920 make in the dry places. And I think whether you 1:02:11.080 --> 1:02:13.400 sow in these tears in this season of your life 1:02:14.640 --> 1:02:17.440 determines whether you will carry sheaves of grain home in 1:02:17.520 --> 1:02:24.640 the next. It doesn't happen in the same day. You 1:02:24.680 --> 1:02:28.080 don't carry home sheaves the same day. You so see, 1:02:28.240 --> 1:02:31.600 and that's why God gave you the Holy Spirit for 1:02:31.680 --> 1:02:36.880 these in between spaces, for these Negev deserts, that we 1:02:36.960 --> 1:02:42.600 all find ourselves here. I'm home, but I'm not happy. 1:02:44.000 --> 1:02:46.560 I've accomplished some things, and God has done some things. 1:02:48.320 --> 1:02:52.640 But honestly, my pump is broken. And so let this 1:02:52.720 --> 1:02:56.800 day be a day of declaration. It's no more was 1:02:56.840 --> 1:02:58.800 it you? Was it you? Is it? This? Is it that? 1:02:58.960 --> 1:03:02.960 If I had, then I will stop and let this 1:03:03.040 --> 1:03:07.840 psalm of a sin be the declaration of your life. 1:03:08.040 --> 1:03:12.040 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were 1:03:12.080 --> 1:03:15.520 like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, 1:03:15.640 --> 1:03:22.200 our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was set 1:03:22.240 --> 1:03:28.280 among the nations the Lord has done great things for them. 1:03:28.400 --> 1:03:35.240 The Lord has done great things for us. Will you 1:03:35.280 --> 1:03:38.120 make that declaration? Maybe even lift your hands, Yeah, yeah, yeah, 1:03:38.160 --> 1:03:40.720 just do that. Let your ass to say, the Lord 1:03:41.520 --> 1:03:47.880 has done great things for me. In spite of all 1:03:47.960 --> 1:03:49.760 that the enemy did to try to take me out. 1:03:49.840 --> 1:03:57.080 The Lord has done great things for me. Look at me. 1:03:57.840 --> 1:04:03.400 Stop taking the great things for granatt it it's here, 1:04:04.720 --> 1:04:08.720 it's now. It's not gonna be one day. It's here, 1:04:10.080 --> 1:04:14.720 it's now, and it's in you. The joy of the 1:04:14.760 --> 1:04:19.320 Lord is our strength. Would you tell at least seven 1:04:19.360 --> 1:04:21.600 people God has done great things for me in my life. 1:04:22.960 --> 1:04:25.800 God has done great things for me. Put it online, 1:04:25.840 --> 1:04:27.760 put it in the chat if you can. God has 1:04:27.800 --> 1:04:31.960 done great things for me. Now, let's listen up a 1:04:32.000 --> 1:04:34.240 happy shall come on, let's left up a happy shout? 1:04:35.120 --> 1:04:41.920 Why are not bay? Well? If you enjoyed today's podcast, 1:04:41.960 --> 1:04:43.720 there are a couple of things I'd love for you 1:04:43.800 --> 1:04:48.120 to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. 1:04:48.440 --> 1:04:50.840 You can also help us reach others by investing today 1:04:50.840 --> 1:04:54.479 at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again 1:04:54.520 --> 1:04:56.640 for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.