Relate Community Church
Relate Community Church
Choosing Joy When Life Feels Hard
What if the world has been selling us a counterfeit version of joy? In this enlightening exploration of the fruit of the Spirit, our speakers uncover the profound difference between happiness and joy—revealing why this distinction matters for every believer.
Joy isn't just a positive emotion; it's a spiritual superpower. While happiness depends on favorable circumstances, joy remains steadfast regardless of external conditions. As Megan reminds us, "Happiness is external, joy is internal. Happiness depends on our circumstances. Joy depends on Christ." This isn't semantic wordplay—it's a life-changing perspective that transforms how we navigate our most challenging seasons.
The teaching presents a three-dimensional framework for cultivating joy: looking back at God's faithfulness, looking around for purpose in pain, and looking forward with eternal hope. Gwen shares how remembering our salvation and God's past faithfulness creates a foundation for joy. Jackson's powerful testimony of finding Christ after losing his grandfather illustrates how serving others becomes our pathway through grief. Pastor Jason completes the picture by showing how our eternal perspective gives context to temporary struggles.
What makes this message particularly powerful is its practicality. Each speaker offers tangible ways to choose joy—from worship and scripture declaration to serving in community and maintaining eternal perspective. The authenticity of their personal stories demonstrates that joy isn't just theological theory but lived reality, even in life's darkest moments.
Ready to experience the difference between temporary happiness and lasting joy? This message illuminates the path forward. Join us in discovering why joy isn't just nice to have—it's essential for the journey ahead. Your circumstances may not change, but your perspective absolutely can.
Thank you for listening to the Relate Community Church podcast! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. If today’s message spoke to you, share it with a friend or leave us a review to help spread the word. To learn more about Relate Community Church, visit us at www.relatecommunity.com. You are always welcome here, and remember—you are loved
All right, all right, everybody, welcome to church and it's time for the message. I know y'all are ready for it. I'm ready for it too. Today's going to be a little bit different.
Speaker 1:This the whole summer for the last, I think seven this will be seven weeks fruitful summer we've been looking at the fruit of the Spirit and every week we've been unpacking one of them and just hopefully you're taking it personally and as we unpack it and take the Scripture out and drill down into it, we've been asking God to just bring about His fruit in us. We cannot just become fruitful, it has to be something that God starts inside of us. You don't just become more loving because you choose to become more loving. It's an outgrowth of something that God is doing in us, and I think that there's, in my experience in the church, there's one area that's more a test of your fruit than almost anything, and it just so happens that we get to take that test every week, especially here in the second service, because some of you guys have been coming to us and telling us, coming to me, and saying, hey, somebody sat in my chair this week, I don't know if I can have that, and so you get a little uncomfortable. You come to church, you get here a minute late and then someone's sitting in your seat. Listen, it's not a bad problem. It's a good problem. In fact, you may not know this, but every Sunday we walk around and the Dream Team prays over your chair and prays over this building and prays over the parking lot, because we believe that God is drawing people into a place where their life can be changed. Maybe that person is you today, and maybe it's that God is doing the work in someone and you have to let them have your seat for a little while. But here's the good news Even if you're that person, maybe it's just that they're getting a little too close to you. Hey, I used to have this whole row to myself, but now someone else is sitting too close to me. If that's you, I just want to calm your nerves and tell you listen, this is a good test for you to let the fruit of the Spirit love and joy, peace and patience, long-suffering maybe, if you're thinking, you don't know who's sitting next to me, pastor Sean, it's long suffering, self-control. Maybe All those things are at work.
Speaker 1:Listen, we are actively working on trying to two things. We're trying to make it more comfortable for you. Actually, three things Over the last month we've been really trying to engage the AC because, I don't know if you have noticed, but for a while there it was getting up to like maybe 75, 76 by the end of this service, usually right about now we're at already 74, 75, and I'm looking right now, 71 still. So thank you guys, sean, all the uh, the AC, the people who have been helping with the AC team, auto mechanical and, um, all of the families involved in that. You guys are a huge blessing, um, and helping to keep it cool in here.
Speaker 1:But the other thing is we're probably in the next few weeks, when you come in I'm giving you fair warning we're probably adding a few more chairs along the edges and maybe another row at the back in an effort to try and create a little bit more space. But that means if you're displaced and you're put out of your chair, you just got to get here earlier. That's the easy answer. And if you'll come up. Here's the third thing. If you want a little bit more space, your next best option is to come to the first service, because while there's still a lot of people at the first service, it's not quite as full, so you probably can still have your pick.
Speaker 1:So let's work together and keep believing that all of the growing pains that go along with reaching the amount of people and the people that God wants us to listen, reaching the amount of people and the people that God wants us to listen Next week it might be somebody who comes that does smell bad, that is not dressed like you, doesn't look like you, and their hair's not fixed, and maybe they're leaning over on, maybe they fall asleep on you. But what could be better than having someone who really needs God in their life to hear the message and then they make a decision in the service. So that's how we can work together. So that's all I want to say about it. I just want to encourage you guys. Let's keep working.
Speaker 1:Today's going to be different. I'm going to invite a series of speakers. There will be four different speakers. They're each going to come up and turn and challenge us and give us an idea of what joy is and how we can let that fruit grow in our lives and how do we choose joy. So I'm not going to delay any further. I'm going to invite Megan. Would you come on up and kick us off, let's get into it. Here we go.
Speaker 2:All righty, good morning Again. My name is Megan, or Megs or Mags. I even get called Melissa sometimes and I get called hey you. I answer to pretty much everything, but just keep it kind, that's all I'm gonna ask. So I'm so excited to be here this morning getting the opportunity to kick off week seven of Fruitful Summer and we are going to talk about joy. Can I get y'all to say joy, joy? But you got to say joy, joy and you got to roll the head. So did you guys know that joy is God's greatest secret weapon for every believer? It is his secret weapon for all of us. And so we hear words like joy and happiness and gladness tossed around like they're interchangeable, but they're not. And so what I'm hoping to do this morning is invite Holy Spirit through me to have us understand a better idea of the difference between happiness and joy.
Speaker 2:So let's break this down just a little bit. So happiness is external, joy is internal. Happiness depends on our circumstances. Joy depends on Christ. Happiness happens by chance. I remember back in the day a church I went to in Corpus Christi. I loved how the pastor said happiness is happenstance, and that's what makes me think happiness is. It occurs by chance, but joy is a choice.
Speaker 2:So here's the encouragement for today. You can see, the chart behind me gives a lot of great definitions of the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness comes and goes pretty quickly. Joy lasts no matter what we're doing. Pretty quickly, joy lasts no matter what we're doing. Happiness feels easier in the moment and we all want some happiness in the moment, right, but that joy, it makes us stronger over time. The world encourages each one of us, every single day, to choose happiness. Instagram single day to choose happiness. Instagram, facebook, social media. My generation, generations after me we are being indoctrinated Choose happiness, choose happiness, choose happiness. However, joy is God's invitation. He invites us in to choose his joy, to feel his joy, to have his presence. And I don't know about you guys, but I think I want what God offers than what the world offers. Amen. The world wants us to choose the happiness and think that we're settling for joy. But, y'all, joy is better. 100% of the time it's better.
Speaker 2:So it's story time. Can I share a personal story with y'all? Even if he said no, I was still going to do it. So here we go Back around my birthday last year, which, by the way, is September. If anybody's taking notes, you can write that down September is when my birthday is.
Speaker 2:When I had the opportunity to celebrate my birthday in September, I took a self-care day and it was so much fun and I went someplace and they handed out goodie bags and in these goodie bags were a whole bunch of things and I'm not going to lie to y'all. I didn't open my goodie bag for like a few weeks, so I didn't even know what was in it. When I finally did open up that goodie bag was a stone, and there's going to be a picture behind me and the stone said joy. This is like a real picture. I didn't make this up. This is not AI, this is real. Ai is all over the place, right?
Speaker 2:So when it came to opening that bag and reading that stone that said joy, I welled up with tears because I immediately knew that was Holy Spirit speaking to his daughter for my word for 2025. He usually gives me my word months in advance and I knew for a fact that this is what he wanted to speak over. My life for 2025 was joy. Once again, it's that invitation, the invitation that where he's pulling us in, and joy is not just for me, it's for everybody that's here. So, as we continue to dive in a little bit deeper, I invite each of you to put on that hat of joy, put joy into your heart and have the open ears. And I like how Pastor Sean reminds us every week we are a note taking church and so, if you are taking notes, there's a lot of pearls of wisdom coming from the great speakers today. So I would encourage you, don't just tuck this into your mind, into your heart, but put it into a notebook so that you go on back and read later on. Philippians 3.1 says whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things and I do it to safeguard your faith. Philippians 3.1 doesn't say when it's easy. It says whatever happens, rejoicing protects our faith, whatever happens.
Speaker 2:So a lot of y'all know that I'm musical. I have the opportunity to be on the worship team, I'm learning guitar right now. There's a lot of things. So my little ADHD brain likes to do analogies and so welcome into my brain. So I'm going to give you a little musical analogy. Happiness is the melody when everything's in tune. We know. When everything's in tune, it sounds great, right, but joy is the key that holds the whole song together, even when there's dissonance, even when there's those wrong notes and sometimes, as I'm songwriting, there are times that I write in a wrong note on purpose, because it brings in the harmony. Jesus is our key.
Speaker 2:And then, for those of you guys that don't know I don't talk about this as much I'm actually a nurse practitioner, so I'm going to give y'all a medical analogy as well. Okay, cause I got to do both of those things music and medical. So let's talk medical. For a second Happiness is the pain pill. I have a headache. I'm going to take a pain pill. I'm going to take a Tylenol or ibuprofen. It makes the problem feel better, it makes it easier.
Speaker 2:However, joy is the real thing. It's deeper, it can be slow, it can even hurt y'all. It's not easy, but that's what the joy that the Lord gives us. He doesn't want to just cover the pain that we're experiencing, he actually wants to transform us within that pain. And if we allow that pain to happen and choose joy in the midst of it, so many amazing things can happen.
Speaker 2:James 1, 2 through 4 says Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy, for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance is fully developed. You will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. So I want each of us to read that last line out loud together, because it needs to be embedded deep within us. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. I'm about to drop a truth bomb. A faith that can't be tested can't be trusted. So are we allowing the Lord to test us so that we can grow deeper? Joy doesn't deny pain. It says God works within it.
Speaker 2:My scripture for the past two years has been Nehemiah 8 10. My word of 2024 was strength, and boy did he make me strong. My word of 2025 is joy, and boy is he testing me in that joy. Nehemiah 8 10 says don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So many of us think that joy is weakness. It's the complete opposite. The complete opposite. Joy is so much strength. When we are weak, what happens? He makes us strong, and so Nehemiah 8.10 echoes that sentiment. So, in your weakness, buck up, hold your head high and say guess what, lord? Because I am weak, you make me strong. And Nehemiah 8, 10 tells me don't be dejected or sad, because your joy is my strength.
Speaker 2:My prayer over each one of us this morning is found in Romans 15, 13. I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the holy spirit. Let's get real. What the world wants us to settle for is less than what God has a plan for.
Speaker 2:Isaiah 12, 13 tells us that with joy, we will drink from the wells of salvation. However, if we think about it from the perspective of what we're talking about now, we're also going to be able to drink from when that job's not good, when that relationship is not going well, when things aren't going the way that we have them planned. If we are drinking from his well, we are fully fulfilled. So today, let's not settle for the world's version of happy. Let's choose God's gift of real, lasting joy, amen. So I encourage each one of us today. Let's choose joy that lasts. When we stand in him, we let his joy overflow in us. Can I get a whoop? Whoop? Come on y'all. Come on y'all.
Speaker 3:Hey y'all.
Speaker 4:That was man. I need some sass. My name is Gwen, alvin's wife, jojo's mom. Some of you may know me as Lady Gwendolyn. Most of the children do. That's usually how I introduce myself.
Speaker 4:So I'm going to talk about how do I choose joy. And so we do that by looking back. So you look back, remembering that God saved you in the past, and you look back at that, look back at the day, the hour, the moment that you were saved. Do you remember that moment? Do you remember the relief? Do you remember the peace when you surrendered your life? Do you remember that sweetness of belonging that maybe you felt I finally belong, I found my place, and sometimes we can kind of get a little far from that and I'll forget that too. I can forget what it felt like when Jesus rescued me.
Speaker 4:God reminds us many times in the Bible, kind of like through people like Paul, that the absence of suffering is not what's best. The presence of God is what's best. I'm going to say it one more time the absence of suffering is not what's best. The presence of God is what's best. That's what he's working out in us. Did you know that in the book of Philippians, which is only four chapters long, he uses the word joy 16 times 16 times.
Speaker 4:Paul didn't write the book while he was on spring break. He wrote it in a prison cell in Rome while he was waiting to be executed. Think about that in cell in Rome, while he was waiting to be executed. Think about that. Paul didn't write from a position of denial, but from a place of sober and joyful reality. And what should have been the darkest, darkest days of his life, he ends up writing one of the most encouraging books of the Bible. I think that is so powerful. I want to be like that.
Speaker 4:I'm going to read you Philippians 3, 7 through 8. It says I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I can gain Christ and become one with him. Paul knew something. Would you say that? The fact that he could write that while he's waiting to be executed. The word that is used in the value of knowing Christ is actually the Greek word gnosis, and it means a deeper, personal, relational knowledge, not factual knowledge, and some of us we got it in our head but we don't have it in our heart because we forget, we get really far removed from our salvation experience and we start studying and we know this and I could tell you oh, I know all these scriptures, I know all this, but it has to be in our heart. He looked back while in that prison cell and he saw the counterfeit joys because he experienced something that changed him forever and what he experienced Jesus, something that changed him forever and what he experienced Jesus, that's what he experienced. He looked back and he called it all garbage compared to knowing Christ. I thought this was really cool when I heard this Do you know anything about counterfeiting experts?
Speaker 4:So counterfeiting experts actually study. This is what they master. They master the real thing so that when they see a fake with a discrepancy, they know it immediately. And I feel like y'all, we should know the voice of Jesus, we should know the Holy Spirit, we should know the word so much that when the enemy comes and he wants that joy, he wants to distract us with counterfeits. We're like, uh-uh, I know who I am, I know who's I am and I know who he is right.
Speaker 4:This is how we choose joy. We remind ourselves by looking back at all the times he has come through. I can remember when I look back, I mean I've been saved a long time, um, when I just felt so bound by shame and guilt and it was just a constant battle and he set me free. I can look back and remember praying for my family members to be saved. He answered those prayers. I can look back and remember times of betrayal. My heart felt so shattered I didn't know if I would recover. He healed my heart. So it's possible, and looking back at those moments is how we're strengthened. That's how we choose joy. We choose joy.
Speaker 4:And then this is another way we choose joy we have to encourage and strengthen our spirits, because it's called the fruit of the spirit. Right, it's not the fruit of works, it's not just I showed up and I do this and I checked off a list. It's our spirit. It's the fruit of the spirit. And so one of the things that I do worship shocking is I sing about who he is and what he's done, and sometimes that's a defiant worship, like sometimes when I'm up here. It's a defiant worship because I may not have it in me. That's just me, though, right? Nobody else, no, none of y'all. Y'all are always ready, you know you're, and so sometimes that, and I'm Lord, where are you? What are you doing? Are you a good father? I don't know, and sometimes I literally will have to do this. I'll go in my room and I can just, you're a good, good father.
Speaker 3:It's who you are. It's who you are, and I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. You're a good, good father. It's who you are. It's who you are, and I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am.
Speaker 4:I may not have felt that, but I can speak it. Can I? Can I speak it? Can I say it? Yeah, and I promise you, if you can do that, your joy will return, because it's spiritual. That is spiritual work, prayer, being real and honest. God can take it. He's heard it all. He hears all of our conversations all the time. He can take it.
Speaker 4:I don't know if you were here and you got the declarations a few months ago. Y'all we do this at night before bed. If you want them, I will give them to you. They are powerful and amazing. Quote scripture Having four or five scriptures memorized. Sing scripture that's another awesome thing to do. Find songs that are scripture and sing scripture that's another awesome thing to do. Find songs that are scripture and sing those.
Speaker 4:Remember that if he did it before, there's no reason he won't do it again. Right? So we get to share in the joy of Jesus. John 15, 11 says these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. So what makes you rejoice Is it knowing the incredible sacrifice of Jesus, his willingness to drink the cup of wrath so that you nor I have to his death on your behalf, your sins forgiven. His death on your behalf, your sins forgiven. Does that make you rejoice? Come on somebody. We can have joy because we are never alone, we are never abandoned. We are chosen by the father. Before you did a single thing, you were chosen. Think about that. I choose joy because if he never does a single thing for me ever again, calvary was enough. What he did on the cross was enough.
Speaker 4:So, before I'm done, I'm almost done and um, I want to have you guys stand up for a minute before the next speaker comes up, who, by the way, when we were working yesterday, said he hoped I got poison ivy so he could have my minutes. That's all I'm saying. I'm just saying. I'm just saying this is an excerpt from a prayer written in 400 AD by St Patrick, and kind of like the singing and the worship and the praying, the declarations. This is a little bit similar to something I would do to encourage myself in the Lord, like David in the Bible, david, if you read Psalms, that's what he's doing. He is speaking over himself over and over again. So I want you guys to repeat this after me with some oomph. Repeat this after me with some oomph, all right, it says.
Speaker 4:This writing is very tiny. I arise today through God's strength to pilot me, god's might to uphold me, god's wisdom to guide me, god's eye to look before me, god's ear to hear me, god's word to speak for me, god's hand to guard me, god's shield to protect me. God's host to save me from snares of devils, from temptation of vices, from everyone who shall wish me ill. Now, here it is. Christ with me, christ before me, christ behind me, christ in me, christ beneath me, christ above me, christ on my right, christ on my left, christ when I lie down, christ when I sit down, christ when I arise, christ when I arise. Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, christ in every eye that sees me and Christ in every ear that hears me. Believe that, hears me. Believe that Amen.
Speaker 5:What's up, guys? Y'all look so good. I love y'all. So I'm also talking about how we can find joy, and the way that I'm going to talk about it is by looking around, just kind of looking at what God's done for you, like what he's doing for you. You're living in his promises. Look around at the blessings and the promises that you're living in that he said you would be living in and you are. I could be done right there. I'm not, though. So, in the middle of the pain, look for the purpose. We have a purpose. God has called us all to something specific. You have a purpose. Use your gifts, use your talents. Find your purpose in the middle of that pain.
Speaker 5:An illustration is little kids. They're gullible, I didn't say dumb, they're gullible. So there was one time I was hanging out with some friends, and it was me, my buddy and another one of my buddies and his kid, this little tiny baby. Now she's running around, not supposed to be, but she's running around and supposed to be, but she's running around and she hits her head. Boom, like CTE concussion protocol, send her to the tent Like she's out for the season. Kind of kind of kind of head injury, and one of my buddies immediately goes over, slides and hits his head just as hard, and she doesn't cry. Once she didn't start a tear, she didn't end the tear, she didn't have any tears. She was laughing. She was so like she thought it was the funniest thing that he just bashed his head against the floor for her.
Speaker 5:But what happened was her pain didn't go away. She still hit her head. All of that still happened. She still did have that pain, but there was more joy in her than she let there be pain. The joy took over over the pain and I mean why can't we, why can't we have that childlike faith where, oh man, that hurt, that sucked, that's cool. God's still so much better than that pain.
Speaker 5:We do need purpose. We need purpose to eclipse the pain, and in Philippians 3, 12-14 it says I don't mean to say that I've already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on to possess that, the perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing forgetting the past and looking forward. God didn't call us for some worldly prize. What, like a car? That's cool. I'm going to heaven. I'm getting the heavenly prize from God. You can drive through 45 traffic while I'm not, but and that goes in death and diagnosis and in hurt and pain and anything I mean we press on the purpose, guys. We have a purpose that will get us through that. That will overcome any hurt with joy.
Speaker 5:Now, the way that happened for me and I noticed it was my pops was he was my grandpa on my mom's side. He was the biggest part of my life. He was my source of God. I didn't go to church. I didn't grow up going to church, but I grew up with Pops and Pops was awesome, guys. Pops was the best.
Speaker 5:And so I think, in like 2020, 2021, I had just started going to church, just started going to youth group. Actually, I didn't even go to Sunday, just youth group. My first youth group, first church ever, and I was having a great time. I was like you know what this is? Fun. I get to come here on Wednesdays. I don't have to worry about my school problems, I don't have to worry about any of that. I can just have fun, play some games, eat some chips, have fun. You know, not really think about anything I need to think about. I didn't take it serious.
Speaker 5:And then my pops passed away and that was the hardest thing that I ever thought I was going to have to deal with. And I was doing a men's slow pitch softball. I was sitting in the outfield and I kind of knew something was going to come. I didn't want to. I was just kind of pushing it aside. I wasn't letting any pain in at all, I was just blocking it immediately. And then I got the text man. That ruined me. That was the worst.
Speaker 5:And then a week later was youth camp. How was I supposed to get to youth camp? I had just lost, like my everything and I'm supposed to go somewhere that he's not. I mean, I'm supposed to go somewhere that he's not. I mean, just, I'm supposed to go anywhere. You couldn't. You couldn't have paid me to leave the house.
Speaker 5:I laid in the same spot in my bed for a week and then I got text after text, multiple people texting me. Hey, man, I really think you should come to youth camp. No, it's okay, I think I need to say no. No, I know you need to come to youth camp. All right, fine, get off my back, I'll go. So then I go and I'm not ready to take this serious whatsoever. I'm ready to just kind of go and just, you know, have fun Maybe. Maybe forget, just kind of forget about the pain for a little bit, just kind of you know what this could be really fun. You know like I could have some fun here, but what I found was so much better than fun.
Speaker 5:I found God. God found me, he met me where I was and I gave my life to Christ. That trip, I mean, it's not that I, it's not that it still doesn't hurt, it still hurts. So bad, it still is a lot, and it's not that during youth camp I gave my life to Christ and oh cool, I'm good, I'm good. Yeah, it sucks but I'm good. No, no, it still hurt, but I made a faith-filled decision to look away from the pain and look around to where God can use me to fulfill the purpose he has set out for my life.
Speaker 5:There is something beyond the pain. You press on towards the prize and we do get hurt, we struggle, we have pain and our first response kind of like mine was just stay in the bed, just don't go anywhere. But when we're going through a difficult season, you're not going to get through it by seceding. You get through it by serving. Serve the God that serves you, serve in his house, serve his people, serve your brothers and sisters. Who all was here for serve day yesterday? Yeah, who all? Was super hot and sweaty and it was very warm outside. I don't see enough hands. So now that's a dream team. We're sitting, not sitting. We are walking and lugging trees across the cemetery and across the road, sweating. But we're doing it for a bigger purpose. We're doing it to advance his kingdom, to advance to grow church, to grow his kingdom.
Speaker 5:And I mean, how could you not be joyful for that? Yesterday was a bunch of people serving for a bigger purpose, choosing joy, putting all of their problems below the joy. The joy was the biggest thing. Yesterday I saw kids sweating, running around with signs, helping out and then taking care of frogs. I heard the sentence. You know what pastor needs that. So why don't you give those frogs to Jojo? He can take care of them. You go run and then you can come back and take care of the frogs later. I mean that was pretty joyful. I don't think there's any like. There's no way to be upset during that conversation, right? But that could be what you're missing. You could be missing the dream team, the people who are putting joy first, who are choosing to put joy before everything. That's the community you're missing first, who are choosing to put joy before everything. That's the community you're missing. And let this be your sign to lead a small group, to lead a team.
Speaker 5:The biggest joy I have is, every Friday night, coming into this building and serving your 6th through 12th graders during youth. I mean it is amazing. The second, a kid, walks in just more and more and more and more joy. It is the greatest thing I get to do and I love it, and that's why they're so important, because they get that community. Sorry, I am so fired up.
Speaker 5:Y'all should be too, but they're teenagers. They need a place where they feel loved, chosen and seen and guess what they are. And so are you In a place where they feel loved, chosen and seen and guess what they are. And so are you In this place where you are loved, you are chosen, you are seen, you have a purpose that is bigger than what the world is trying to make you think, right? So if you're feeling tired or discouraged or empty or down at all this week, stop and look around, find your purpose. It is right there and it's asking you which game we're playing a million times and where the goldfish are. And whenever you invest in others, God does invest in you, I promise.
Speaker 6:I promise so good. Amen. Whenever you invest in others, god invests in you. That's awesome. Well, good morning everybody.
Speaker 6:My name is Pastor Jason and I'm going to go through a little bit. We're still talking about joy, but so we had three points. First point was look back. Second point was look around, and I'm going to talk about the third point, which is look forward. Look back, second point was look around, and I'm going to talk about the third point, which is look forward.
Speaker 6:So, in order to look forward, we have to trust in a God who's in control of tomorrow. So what does that look like? That means he's got us in mind for everything, everything that we go through. It's so easy to worry about tomorrow, but he's got us in mind for everything.
Speaker 6:So I want to read a scripture, and it's Matthew 6, 24 through 26. It says therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you would drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather in the barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they. Verse 26 says which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to a stature? Which of us, by worrying, can add a second to our life? Right, worry does nothing for us. In Jeremiah he says I know the plans I have for you.
Speaker 6:In Psalm 116, 11, paul says you will show me the path of life, and in your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hands are pleasures forevermore. So David said you'll show me the path of life. God's got a future for us. God has it all laid out, all mapped out, all presented before us. And what we tend to want to do is we tend to want to worry about what tomorrow is. And I'm telling you right now what tomorrow is is heaven. It's what God has built us for. Our purpose in life right now is not to worry about tomorrow. It's to bring as many people as possible with us to heaven. It's so people can understand what joy is. To see the joy in our hearts, to see the love in our hearts. That's our purpose. That's what he's called us to do. That's who he's called us to be.
Speaker 6:He talks about fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. And and and we, we, we want to look at that and all we think about is the chaos of this world. How can we have fullness of joy, how can we have pleasures forevermore during the chaos of this world? We have pleasures forevermore during the chaos of this world. Chaos is all around us.
Speaker 6:But I love what Megan said. She said happiness is based on emotions. Joy is based in Christ. When we're rooted in Christ, that joy shows, that joy bubbles up in us and it's contagious and it bubbles up on everybody around us. Amen, amen.
Speaker 6:I get that things look bleak and it can look dark in this world, but I read the end of the book. So I'm letting y'all know something God doesn't lose. That end of the book. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm telling you right now that end of the book. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm telling you right now that end of the book. God doesn't lose.
Speaker 6:In John 16, it says these things that have spoken to you that in me you may have peace and in the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. What I have overcome the world. Once we're rooted in him, everything else falls by the wayside. We're rooted in him, everything else falls by the wayside.
Speaker 6:It's not going to be easy. I'm not saying my life is a breeze, because it's not. It's tough, but in the grand scheme of things and everything going on in our life, it's not that it doesn't matter, it's that there's a purpose, there's a goal and there's a place. He's taken us, amen, amen. So anything that looks like loss is only temporary. Purpose there's a goal and there's a place. He's taken us, amen. So anything that looks like loss is only temporary. So everything that we go through in this life, just just to understand that it's temporary sickness, cancer, anxiety, fear, loss, anything like that death it's all temporary. It feels final sometimes, but I promise you it isn't.
Speaker 6:Heaven is a real place and when you get Jesus in your heart you're going to a very real place. Hell is a real place. Also, we don't talk about it a lot, but that is the importance of bringing more people to Christ. Pastor Sean says we want to do everything we can to unload hell and bring people to Christ. Pastor Sean says we want to do everything we can to unload hell and bring people to heaven. Like Gwen said, if I lose everything but I still have Jesus, then I have everything I need. Psalm 126, verse five, says those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Everything that goes on today, all these hard times that we may go through, it may become a struggle in our hearts, but God says we'll reap in joy, amen. I got a few more scriptures for you. Philippians 3.20 says we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior, eagerly awaiting for him to return. You know when I was growing up and I was in school.
Speaker 1:I tend to I was one of those.
Speaker 6:I'll ask it like this. I'm going to talk to you guys over here. I was one of those last minute students. You know my kids are not last minute students Actually they probably are I have no idea because they're homeschooled and so they didn't have to go through these projects. But I was one of those last minute students and what I mean by that is we would have science projects. Anybody had a science project growing up where you would.
Speaker 6:You know, you had to plant that, plant that seed and you had to bring it in a couple of weeks later. I always waited till the night before to go. Hey, mom, I got to plant this seed and it needs to grow by tomorrow. Right, I don't think that happens. Actually, I know it doesn't happen, but that's not the point. The point was I still planted the seed, it just didn't grow. But it's always waiting to that last minute, and then it's the anticipation of it. So now I am waking up the next morning looking seeing if it grew any and it didn't, and then I'm taking it to school seeing if it grew any. So I'm so worried and anticipating about what it's going to do and what the short amount of time that I have to do something that I'm losing sight that if I'd have done it first of all two weeks ago when I was given the assignment, or a month ago I was given the assignment to be a tree by then, but it's the anxiety and the anticipation that was getting me because I was so worried about what's in front of me and not focused on what's ahead.
Speaker 6:So the truth is this what we do today I'm not saying it doesn't matter, because it absolutely matters it can matter to the person sitting next to you. But what I do know is this that the chaos, that the stuff that goes on around us, that's where people need us the most. That's where people need to see our love, that's where people need to see our joy. We should be doing everything we can to love on people Because, like I said before, heaven is a very, very real place and what we do here is just a fraction of what we're going to be doing there. You see, if all we have is today, then every small detail seems huge, but in light of eternity, everything is temporary. The rest of that scripture in Philippians says he will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. You know, I love that because once again, it just means that what we're going through today, this earthly body, this earthly world, it's all temporary, it's all preparing us for what we're going to be doing. We are here for eternity. It feels so much like it's that everything is so important, but all that's really important is what are we doing to show our joy, to show that love, to bring more people to know God?
Speaker 6:Revelation 21.4 says and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. For the former things have passed away. You know, that doesn't make the pain smaller, it doesn't make the regret any less. It doesn't make the hardship any easier. But what it does do, it helps you keep your eyes on something bigger, something bigger than you, something bigger than what you're going through. It keeps our eyes on him, corrie Ten Boom, whose family saved over 800 Jews during the holocaust of world war ii.
Speaker 6:She said when a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit and trust the engineer. That means we got to trust where God's taking us. That means we got to trust where God's taken us. That means we got to know where we're going, Not fully not understanding exactly what tomorrow brings, but know that we're going with him wherever he takes us. We're going there.
Speaker 6:Let me pray for us. Well, we thank you. We thank you, father God. We count it all joy that we walk with you, that we worship with you and that we worship a God so much bigger than anything we can go through. I thank you right now, father God, for everything that you've put on our hearts, for every word that was spoken today. I pray right now, or for each life that was touched, or that you would just sit it on our hearts in such a new way that, as we walk out the doors, that as we minister to other people or speak to other people, that they would see your joy, that they would feel your love. I thank you for each person here that we would all come to know you in a new way, that nobody would leave here the same way they walked in. That lives that are touched and changed, lord, would change because of you, to get closer to you and to understand you even more. We thank you and we love you in Jesus' name. And everybody said amen.
Speaker 6:And before I go, I want to say one more prayer, and this is for anybody who's been listening to the message today. But you just don't know what that joy is. You've never had that joy. You don't know how God even gives joy. You didn't have that experience that Jackson was talking about earlier, where you've given your life to Jesus. God wants to do something new in your heart right now. Thank you, jesus, and I just want to pray with us. I want everybody to pray. But this is, and if you don't know what that joy is, or that joy's left you, you just you don't feel the joy anymore. Once again, it's not happiness, it's joy. There's a difference, but you just don't have that joy in you.
Speaker 6:I want to pray for you as well. I want you to pray with me and everybody in the room's going to pray. That way, nobody feels left out. And I just want you to repeat after me. Just repeat these words Lord God, I give you my heart. Today. I recognize that I'm a sinner. I recognize that I need a savior. Come into my life, touch my heart, holy Spirit, have your way in me. I want to give you all of me, jesus, I thank you For who you are and I give you my life and I will follow you all of my days In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, come on put your hands together, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:Awesome. If you said that prayer, we're proud of you and we're excited for what God's doing and will do in your life. Can we give it up another time for those who said yes to Jesus today, and can we give a hand for everybody who spoke today, the four of you guys? You guys did an awesome job too. Would you stand up on your feet? I'm going to invite the prayer team to join me at the front. If you would like prayer before you go, I'm going to invite the prayer team and when we begin to sing, you can make your way down. Otherwise, we're so glad you came to worship with us today. I know we're a little bit over on time, but we love you and we'll see you next week. God bless you.
Speaker 3:Oh, sing praise, praise your faithfulness. When I get your love on my mind, I'll be faithful all over again.