Joy to the World

CJ Wakefield: 00:00:00

Wow, good morning everybody.

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It is great to be with you all.

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Um, I have, uh, do we have some slides?

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Do I do this?

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Do I do this?

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Alright, wonderful.

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There's my family.

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So, one of my sons is not here with us

today, he's on the west side, but, uh, the

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two of them are, are here with us today.

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Um, so we have, uh, Elijah is 21,

then Nathaniel is 18, and Micah is

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16, that's my wonderful wife Cherie.

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Uh, but it's good to be

here in Orange County.

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This is not my first time here, so,

um, I'm gonna show you a picture,

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but you gotta promise not to laugh.

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Okay, we've got one nod of the head.

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The rest of you, I'm not trusting you.

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So I was here.

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Um, I came to Disneyland with my

dad in about in the mid eighties.

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So here I am.

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So why?

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Thank you.

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I know they are some short shorts, right?

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I'm glad it's a blurry picture.

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So you can't see it that clear.

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But we were also let me skip on it

because that's embarrassing but we were

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also here where in about 2008 I think

there was an international leadership

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conference in Round this in Orange County,

so we've got we were blessed to come

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and be a part of that But it is such a

blessing, you know We Robert and career

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put on a spiritual learning lab with

some of the staff And, uh, my wife and

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I got to be with, uh, most of the Orange

County staff on that spiritual journey.

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So it's been a real blessing to even

to have gotten to know them and to

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work alongside them spiritually.

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So I'm very excited today to be able

to come and share the word with you.

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You know, Christmas is amazing

and, uh, I hope that you're going

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to have an amazing Christmas.

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But today's message is entitled, uh,

joy to the world and the reason why.

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So if you remember, if you

think about what happened.

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So the angels are out in the field.

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And, uh, also the shepherds

are out in the field.

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And an angel appears and the

shepherds are absolutely terrified.

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And yet the angel says to

them, Do not be afraid.

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I bring you good news

that will cause great joy.

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For all people.

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In other words, he's saying,

listen, what I'm about to tell

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you is joy to the entire world.

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And if you think about that,

he could have announced, which

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obviously is going to be announcing

the birth of Jesus, with anything.

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He could have said, I come and

I bring you news of salvation.

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I come and bring you news of

deliverance or redemption.

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And all of those things are amazing.

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But he says, I bring you

good news of great joy.

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Joy to the world.

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Now, why is that so significant?

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That that is the single word that he

chooses to describe the most incredible

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event the world has ever seen.

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Why did he choose that word?

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Well, what had happened was, The

Israelites, up until this point,

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And even including this point, have

been in 700 years of occupation.

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With the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the

Persians, the Greeks, and now the Romans.

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700 years of oppression and of occupation.

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And so can you imagine, they

were a little bit short of joy.

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Right?

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That is why I think he says that.

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And so if you look in the book

of Isaiah, Isaiah in English.

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I will try and say Isaiah,

but I may slip back.

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So in Isaiah chapter 9,

this is what the Bible says.

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So this is a prophecy of the very

beginning of their occupation.

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Of their being occupied by the Assyrians.

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This is what it says in chapter 9 verse 1.

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Nevertheless, there will be no more

gloom for those who are in distress.

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The people walking in darkness.

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Have seen a great light on the,

on those living in the land of the

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shadow of death, a light has dawned.

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You have enlarged the nation and

increased, literally made great its joy.

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For unto us, a child is born.

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Unto us, a son is given.

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And the government will be on his

shoulders, and he will be called

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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

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See, this is no coincidence that

the angel said, I'm giving you a

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message that will bring you great joy.

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Because this was prophesied

700 years before.

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And look how Jesus birth is

prophesied, with great joy.

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Now, the thing is This was the

very beginning of their occupation.

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So, God is saying to them, Listen, you

abandon me, you're gonna have great

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distress, you're gonna go through

very dark times, but I promise you,

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something amazing is gonna happen

that will bring you wonderful joy.

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And in fact, throughout the entire book

of Isaiah, it's like a book of joy.

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Amen.

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If you ever do a study on it, he talks

about joy 33 times in that whole book.

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More than any other book in the whole

Old Testament, apart from the book of

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Psalms, which is man talking to God.

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So God is talking to us and

saying, Listen, just hold on.

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Yes, you abandoned me.

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Yes, you're going to go

through some hard times.

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But it's going to be worth it.

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Because I'm sending you someone.

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Who is going to bring you the

most incredible joy in your life

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that you could ever imagine.

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Does that how we feel though,

as we live our lives in Christ?

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Is that how we feel though, in our

relationships with one another?

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Because that's what Jesus promised.

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That's what God promised through Jesus.

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So going back to Luke chapter 2.

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So the angel says to the shepherds.

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Today in a town of David, a

Savior has been born to you.

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He is the Messiah.

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He is the Lord.

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You see, their joy had been

realized in this moment.

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He says, God is saying to them, My gift to

the world, yes is my Son, but it is joy.

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This year I've been studying out joy.

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Thank you.

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And I've read lots of books and

just been really, it's been really

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inspired by how central joy is to

the Bible and to God's message.

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I'm a big fan of Dallas Willett.

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I love reading his material

and listening to his teachings.

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And he says that, in his book

Divine Conspiracy, he says

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that God is a joyous God.

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Do we think of God in that way?

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It seems hard, doesn't it, to

connect with Him on that level.

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Because He's omnipotent, He's

all knowing, He sees everything.

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We can easily see Him as like a little,

a big grumpy dad in the sky that we

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have to keep on the right side of us.

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Or any other variations of our,

perhaps sometimes skewed views of God.

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But God is a joyous God.

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Joy is essential And to

God's character as His love.

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I absolutely believe that.

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Think back to Genesis chapter

1 in the book and in creation.

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When God created all of those different

things, what does it keep on saying as

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He looked back and saw what He had made?

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What did He say?

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It is good.

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When you look at that in the

Hebrew, it means that it was

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good, but it also means pleasant.

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Beneficial, beautiful, best, better,

bountiful, godly, bringing joy.

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So God looked at all that he

had made and it brought him joy.

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God is a joyous God.

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Think about when we are out in nature.

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Doesn't it bring us joy?

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It does something to us

because we are made for joy.

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Therefore, As God ushered in creation

with joy, He also announced the birth

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of His Son with that same level of joy.

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Because we are created for joy.

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How is your life of joy?

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In a lot of the reading that I've

done, it says that our level of

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joy should be our homeostasis.

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How That should be our natural state.

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And if our joy is off, then we're off.

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Isn't that interesting?

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That should be our normal

existence, living a life of joy.

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Our brains function well.

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Our body does well.

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Our immune system is boosted.

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When we are joyful people, we

have no reason to not be the most

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joyful people on the entire planet.

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Because we're the recipients of that

great news, of that news of great joy.

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Even babies in the first two years of

their lives, the number one thing apart

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from food that they are seeking is

joyful interactions with their parents.

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That's what they look for.

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The studies on this is quite amazing.

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This is a great book if you'd

like to read anything about it.

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It's a little, small book, easy to read.

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It's called the Joy Switch.

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And what I love about it, it says,

it gives this definition of joy

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with, in relationship, is that joy

is the glad to be togetherness.

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Isn't that a nice quote?

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A nice way to think about joy?

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And this comes into our

relationship with God.

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Glad to be togetherness.

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God is always glad to be with you.

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Glad to be togetherness in our

families, in our marriages, with

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our children, with our friends.

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That is the definition, I

think, that we can hold on to.

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We can do something with that.

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The problem is that we can sometimes think

that joy just happens by being in the

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same room with each other or by sitting

next to each other or just by being with

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God and checking a box for a quiet time.

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The problem is, though, is that joy,

there's an intentionality behind joy.

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We actually have to do certain things to

be able to work on that to make it happen.

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So we have to learn to live in

the joy that God has given us.

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There is unlearning to be done and

learning, new learning to acquire, so

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that we can learn how to fully make

the most of and enjoy the most of

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this great gift that God has given us.

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In another book I've been reading called

Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You.

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They talk about joy as well and it says

that joy is number one, it is relational.

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Building joy means getting closer to God

and getting closer to grace filled people.

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That is a really important statement.

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Is it easy to feel joyful

around people who are angry?

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I agree.

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Is it easy to feel joyful around

people who are judgmental?

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No.

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You see, when we have relationships

that are grace filled, it opens

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the door for vulnerability.

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We're going to talk about

that in a little bit.

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But I think this describes

the ministry of Jesus.

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That he enjoyed his relationship

with God, his Father.

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And he absolutely spread joy in his

relationships with other people.

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Why is it that the prostitutes and

the sinners and the tax collectors

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felt so comfortable being around him?

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Because he was full of

grace and full of truth.

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But he was full of grace,

spreading joy, that this was

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the best place for them to be.

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That's how we should be in our

relationships with one another.

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That describes our

relationship with our Father.

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It should infuse the very fabric

of all of our relationships.

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I did a study on joy, as I said,

and I looked at all the references

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of joy in the whole Bible.

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And this is where we find them.

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In the Old Testament, pretty much all of

the references to do with joy are to, are

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connected to our relationship with God.

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Pretty much all of them.

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And it's about taking joy from being in

His presence, taking refuge in Him when

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we're feeling down or discouraged, taking,

um, remembering God's goodness, being

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mindful of how amazingly He loves us.

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That should bring us joy.

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Taking refuge in Him.

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To having our strength in Him.

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In the New Testament, again, the majority

of references to do with joy are also

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connected to our relationship with God.

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But also it's connected to God in

our, in, through the Holy Spirit that

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we have in, at work in our lives.

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He brings us joy.

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Our righteousness and our

walk with God creates joy.

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But what's interesting in the New

Testament is that we also see that

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there is joy that comes from our

relationships with one another.

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There's so many scriptures that talk

about bringing the gospel to others

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bring us joy, having healthy spiritual

relationships bring us joy, having

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true agape love, caring for one

another brings us joy, strengthening

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and teaching one another brings joy.

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I really believe that every church

of Christ, where we have people

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striving to be disciples of Jesus,

should be the centers of joy.

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That people should come in,

and I know people do, and

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like, what is going on here?

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Where's the Kool Aid?

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That, what is it that's happening?

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Because they should see a level of joy

that you cannot find anywhere else.

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There is no reason why that

shouldn't be happening.

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These should be the most joy

filled communities on the planet.

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The problem is Satan knows that too.

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So what does he try and do?

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Take our joy.

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And if he can do that, we can then

start getting critical with one another.

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Judging one another, feeling distant from

God, simply because our joy has gone.

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That's how powerful this is.

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So, we're going to have a look.

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How can we enjoy God's gift of

joy this Christmas and beyond?

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So I have a couple of quick things

to be able to help us with, okay?

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So my wife and I, we're both

actually educators, we're teachers.

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So, um, So I'm going to give you

a little bit of homework to do.

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Okay.

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So you might want to take some

notes because I don't think any

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of us have a photographic memory.

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No, maybe if you don't, you've

not been blessed with that.

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I'm encouraging you to take some notes.

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Okay.

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Right.

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How do we make the most then this

holiday and moving, moving forward

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in our relationship with one another.

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So let me give you some things.

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So how do we build joy?

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Through healthy relationships.

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Tell me what you see about this image.

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What's the first thing that

stands out to you in this image?

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Smiling.

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Pablo, thank you.

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Smiling.

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Right?

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We'll come to that.

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Coffee.

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We'll come to that.

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But you see them smiling.

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So, how we build joy filled

relationships with one another is

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that when we see each other We smile.

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You're giving a message to someone

that says, I'm glad to be with you.

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Teenagers, when you come into

the house and your parents smile,

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guess what you could do back?

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You can do it.

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It might break your face a little bit,

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but smile and let them know that you

are glad to be with them as well.

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It is, it's radical, it's true.

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It is so powerful.

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It is so powerful.

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So, we're going to talk through, from this

picture, how we build different things

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to help, to build healthy relationships.

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The reason why this is important,

let me go back for a second.

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The reason why this is so important

is because I think sometimes our

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relationships can be fear based.

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Yeah.

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They can be judgment based.

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God never wants that to be the case.

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So we have to undo and unlearn perhaps

some unhealthy practices that we can have.

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So here are some other

things that we can do.

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So in this book, Living from the

Heart Jesus Gave You, it gives

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a great list of ways that we can

build joy in our relationships.

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So one of the things it says is

that we can ask questions of one

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another that bring out vulnerability.

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So we can say, Hey, tell me about this,

or how are you feeling about this?

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Sometimes though, we can be triggered

and think, why are they asking?

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And then our defenses go up and then the

joy is just gone, it's just disappeared.

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But if we can allow ourselves to

ask a question with grace, we can

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hear a response with compassion,

and That very intimate conversation

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has the potential to build joy.

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It's powerful when we do that.

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I sat with one of my sons the other

day and I showed him this quote from

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the book and I said, listen, I'm

going to ask you some questions just

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about how you're doing spiritually and

it's not because I want to judge you.

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It's simply because I want to connect with

you and genuinely just see how you are.

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And he's, you know, I can

see his shoulders relaxing.

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It's amazing.

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And then the rest of the day, my wife

said, Have you noticed how joyful he is?

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I was like, I know, it works!

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So, God wants to bless us with

these powerfully deep relationships.

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But we have to unlearn,

perhaps, some unhealthy things.

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We have to learn to treat one another

with real dignity and respect.

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Not with an agenda.

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But just simply because they are

my brother or sister in Christ.

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One of the things I love, now, this

sister here said she noticed coffee.

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Another thing that we can do in

building healthy relationships is

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finding each other's joy language.

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So, my wife's joy language

would be this exact situation.

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Sitting down with a healthy snack,

some home roasted coffee, and just

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talking, getting deep, piercing

into my soul, trying to find out

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how I'm doing and what's going on.

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That's her joy language.

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How am I really doing?

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: 00:20:31

What's going on?

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: 00:20:32

It's good for me, because

I would rather not share.

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So it's good for me.

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: 00:20:37

But what are your joy languages?

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Perhaps it's going for a walk,

playing games with one another.

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: 00:20:44

Watching TV is fun, but if the thing

you're not watching is not producing

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: 00:20:49

joy, is it really building joy in

your relationship all the time?

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: 00:20:54

We have to have conversations.

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: 00:20:56

What brings us joy?

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: 00:20:57

The other day, my wife and I, we had

a midweek, and one of the questions

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: 00:21:01

that came up was, what actually brings

you joy, and creates joy in your life?

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: 00:21:06

We both said, music.

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: 00:21:08

The next day, we went out to this cafe,

where they had live music, And we were

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able to experience that joy together.

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: 00:21:15

But how will you know what

brings you joy if you don't even

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: 00:21:18

communicate it or talk about it?

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: 00:21:20

Okay?

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: 00:21:21

So, here are some things.

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You could try some of

this over the holidays.

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: 00:21:26

Have deep, vulnerable conversations

that are filled with grace,

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that are full of compassion.

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: 00:21:33

Amen?

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: 00:21:34

Do some things that create joy.

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: 00:21:36

Go on some walks with one another.

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: 00:21:38

Play some games with each other.

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: 00:21:41

Okay, finally.

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What's amazing is that all of the things

that you saw on the last slide about

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building joy relationally, we also

can do the very same things with God.

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: 00:21:56

And these spiritual disciplines

that many of us do on a daily

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: 00:22:00

basis, they are opportunities

for connections of joy with God.

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: 00:22:09

Sometimes, though, we can

see the spiritual disciplines

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: 00:22:12

as just checkbox exercises.

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: 00:22:16

I'm a disciple, therefore I should pray.

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: 00:22:19

I should read my Bible.

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: 00:22:21

That's pretty much it.

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: 00:22:24

There is so much more to our

relationship with God that He

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wants us to enjoy with Him.

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: 00:22:34

I don't have the time to go through all

of these references, but I would like

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: 00:22:37

to encourage you for your homework.

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: 00:22:39

Write down the scripture

references, because every one of

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: 00:22:43

these disciplines connects you

to joy in God in some capacity.

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: 00:22:49

The first one is prayer.

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: 00:22:50

Read about that.

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: 00:22:51

John 16, 24.

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: 00:22:53

Second one, the study of God's Word.

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: 00:22:56

Psalm 19, 8.

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: 00:22:57

Please read that.

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: 00:22:59

The one at the bottom is gratitude.

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: 00:23:03

Taking time just to think how blessed we

are to have a relationship with God and

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: 00:23:08

all the things that He does in our lives.

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: 00:23:11

Study that out.

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: 00:23:12

The middle one is

fellowship with one another.

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: 00:23:16

That God designed it in such a

way that we have those healthy

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: 00:23:20

relationships bring us joy.

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: 00:23:23

It brings us closer to one another

and then closer to God as a result.

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: 00:23:27

Last one, just simply

being out in God's nature.

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: 00:23:31

That's his joy language.

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: 00:23:35

Psalm 65, eight.

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: 00:23:37

So let me encourage you study

these things out over Christmas.

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: 00:23:41

Do some activities with God so that

you can just simply say, God, I'm glad

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: 00:23:47

to be with you because he's definitely

glad to be with us as we bring it into

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: 00:23:53

to, to, to close and to take communion.

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: 00:23:58

As Jesus was beginning to prepare

himself for going to the cross, this

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: 00:24:03

is what he says to his disciples.

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: 00:24:04

He says to them, listen, I'm going

soon and you're going to be left.

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: 00:24:12

I won't be around.

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: 00:24:15

So he promises them and he encourages

them and he builds their faith.

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: 00:24:19

He comforts them and reminds

them of it's going to be okay.

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: 00:24:23

I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit.

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: 00:24:25

You've got one another.

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: 00:24:27

I will never be far from you.

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: 00:24:29

I'm always going to be with you.

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: 00:24:31

And this is what he says to them.

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: 00:24:33

I am coming to you now.

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: 00:24:34

He's praying for them.

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: 00:24:36

He says, I'm coming to you now, Father.

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: 00:24:40

But I say these things while I am still

in the world, so that they may have

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: 00:24:45

the full measure of my joy within them.

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: 00:24:50

Amen.

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: 00:24:52

Jesus.

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: 00:24:54

was full of joy.

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: 00:24:56

And he says to them, listen, as hard

as this is going to get, I want you to

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: 00:25:01

have the full measure of my joy in you.

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: 00:25:08

What an incredible promise.

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: 00:25:10

He doesn't want us just to have a

little sprinkling of joy here and

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: 00:25:14

there, but to have the full measure,

the great measure of his joy.

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: 00:25:22

We can do that.

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: 00:25:23

Yeah.

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: 00:25:24

Through our times with Him.

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: 00:25:27

Through our opportunities of

building joy with one another.

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: 00:25:32

That's His promise to us.

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: 00:25:34

And even as Jesus went to the cross,

this is, this always blows my mind.

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: 00:25:40

Hebrews 12.

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: 00:25:42

Jesus, who for the joy set

before Him, endured the cross.

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: 00:25:52

Even facing the cross.

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: 00:25:55

He was able to do it with joy.

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: 00:26:01

So He left the world with the joy,

the same joy in which He entered.

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: 00:26:08

But this time, we were His source of joy.

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: 00:26:14

You were His source of

joy, even at the cross.

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: 00:26:20

Let Him be our source of joy.

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: 00:26:24

Every single day.

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: 00:26:25

There is no reason we have, doesn't

matter what circumstances come our way,

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: 00:26:29

none of them are worse than the cross.

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: 00:26:33

And Jesus found joy even in that

darkest moment because he was able to

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: 00:26:38

look at us and see the relationship

with God that his suffering was

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: 00:26:44

going to bring and provide for us.

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: 00:26:47

I hope I've been able to encourage

you today with the great gift of joy.

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: 00:26:52

Please enjoy it this Christmas

It's great to be with you.

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: 00:26:56

Please come up and say hi afterwards.

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: 00:26:58

I'm very encouraged to share

God's Word with you today.

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: 00:27:01

Amen