Getting the Most Joy | The Book Of Philippians Week 1 | Anywhere Service

00:00:07

- Let me know when this starts getting weird.

00:00:09

You know what this message is not about?

00:00:11

Just cheering up.

00:00:12

I think everybody is chasing some type of joy.

00:00:14

And the good news for you and for me, joy isn't hiding.

00:00:18

We just are looking for it in the wrong places.

00:00:24

- Life is like a never ending pursuit of happiness.

00:00:28

We're always looking for

00:00:29

something better than what we have.

00:00:31

But problems, trouble, pain, life, death all get in the way.

00:00:38

Just when we think we're almost there,

00:00:41

we get knocked back down.

00:00:43

But what if joy didn't mean what you thought it meant?

00:00:47

What if you could have joy

00:00:48

no matter what circumstance you're facing or will face?

00:00:53

In this series of videos,

00:00:54

we're exploring five keys to Chasing Joy.

00:00:57

And today is about finding joy in any situation.

00:01:16

Let me know when this starts getting weird.

00:01:18

Oh, right now? Okay.

00:01:20

You know what else is weird?

00:01:21

The most joyful book in the Bible

00:01:23

was actually written in a prison cell.

00:01:26

That blows my mind.

00:01:28

Have you ever met a person that was, like, joyful,

00:01:30

but, like, super joyful?

00:01:31

Like, they were so joyful they frustrated you?

00:01:33

You were in a great mood with your regular old Tuesday

00:01:36

until your buddy Carl kept being so positive and hopeful.

00:01:39

Joy, it's a key theme in the Bible,

00:01:42

but why does it trigger, like,

00:01:44

this gag reflex in so many of us?

00:01:47

All the heroes of the faith have it,

00:01:49

but too few of us have it today.

00:01:52

And it seems like, for real,

00:01:54

some of the most religious people

00:01:56

are the ones who have the least amount of joy.

00:01:59

What is joy?

00:02:01

I can tell you what joy isn't.

00:02:03

I can tell you what this message is not about.

00:02:05

You know what this message is not about?

00:02:06

Just cheering up, you know, just be cheery. You know?

00:02:09

You're experiencing pain and hardship and just --

00:02:11

No, that's not what this is about.

00:02:14

Some of you might be thinking, "Oh, okay,

00:02:16

joy is not cheering up.

00:02:17

Maybe joy is about, like, you know, being happy

00:02:20

and being, like, happy, happy because I --

00:02:21

No, that's not what this message is about.

00:02:25

What is joy?

00:02:26

Well, I'll tell you what it isn't.

00:02:28

It is not rose colored glasses.

00:02:31

It's not just being in denial

00:02:32

about the problems in the world that are negative stuff.

00:02:35

There are really hard things in the world.

00:02:37

Joy is deeper than that.

00:02:39

You see happiness and cheering up

00:02:41

and rose colored glasses,

00:02:42

they're all about what's happening around you.

00:02:44

Joy, it's about what's happening inside of you.

00:02:47

Joy, it's internal stability in the middle of external chaos.

00:02:51

Joy embraces the pain, but it encourages us

00:02:54

to take a risky chance on God's ultimate purposes

00:02:58

and God's ultimate love to overcome in the end.

00:03:02

Joy is not determined by our outward struggles.

00:03:05

It's determined by what God has for us, our destiny.

00:03:08

It's a gift of God's presence, regardless of circumstances.

00:03:13

I think everybody is chasing some type of joy.

00:03:16

And the good news for you and for me, joy isn't hiding.

00:03:20

We just are looking for it in the wrong places.

00:03:22

And that's what we're doing this whole thing

00:03:24

on Philippians because Philippians is about joy.

00:03:28

The writer of this book, Paul,

00:03:30

figured something out about joy

00:03:31

that so many of us have not.

00:03:33

You see, Philippians was written in a jail cell,

00:03:36

so when Paul writes the words,

00:03:38

you've got to imagine him in a dark cell

00:03:40

where he doesn't even know if he's going to make it out alive.

00:03:43

That blows my mind when I think about Philippians 1:21

00:03:46

that says this: For to me to live is Christ,

00:03:49

and to die as gain.

00:03:50

If I'm to live in the flesh,

00:03:52

that means fruitful labor for me;

00:03:54

yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

00:03:56

I am hard pressed between the two,

00:03:58

my desire is to depart and be with Christ

00:04:00

for that is far better.

00:04:02

Whoa, wait. What?

00:04:04

Paul, in the middle of the jail cell says,

00:04:05

"Look, to live is Christ, that means you know what?

00:04:09

To die actually gains because I get to go be with Him."

00:04:12

But he also says, "But if I stay here in this prison,

00:04:15

if I stay here in the struggle,

00:04:16

if I stay here in this suffering,

00:04:18

that's also a good thing because it's good for you."

00:04:21

See, Paul had a perspective about joy

00:04:23

that we need to pick up.

00:04:24

Paul is an expert on joy

00:04:26

and he sees this suffering

00:04:28

that he's in as a win-win situation.

00:04:29

That blows my mind because I want that kind of outlook.

00:04:34

I want that kind of desire.

00:04:36

I want that kind of belief system.

00:04:37

I want that kind of source of energy.

00:04:39

I want people around me that give me that energy.

00:04:41

And I think you do too.

00:04:43

But see, desire is not enough.

00:04:45

We need a plan and we need a path.

00:04:49

We need a way to uncover real joy.

00:05:31

You ever leave your house and forget your wallet

00:05:34

or your keys, or even worse, your phone?

00:05:36

And you're, like, looking around for it

00:05:38

and you're, like, you can't find it anywhere?

00:05:40

That happened to me one time.

00:05:41

I was on a road trip with about 12 of my friends

00:05:44

and we stopped for gas and some food real quick.

00:05:47

And 12 of us got out of the van

00:05:49

and 11 of us got back in.

00:05:50

We forgot my good friend Tabitha.

00:05:52

We left her at a truck stop

00:05:55

in the middle of nowhere Texas for, like, 40 minutes.

00:05:58

How did we all get back in the bus

00:06:00

and no one checked for her?

00:06:01

Look, I don't want you to move on with your life

00:06:04

and go through the motions of your every day

00:06:06

and not continuously check for joy.

00:06:10

So for the rest of our time,

00:06:11

we're going to do a check up on a few areas of our life

00:06:13

to make sure we get all the joy that God has for us.

00:06:17

So the first one, check your tribe.

00:06:20

There's this old saying, right? Misery loves company.

00:06:24

But so does joy. They both love company.

00:06:26

Did you know that you are the sum of

00:06:29

the five closest people around you in like all areas.

00:06:32

When it comes to financial health,

00:06:34

your finances are somewhere in line

00:06:36

with the five closest people around you on average.

00:06:40

Your physical health, same thing.

00:06:41

Did you know you might be gaining a couple of extra LBs

00:06:44

because the people you hang out with most

00:06:46

really love the McRib?

00:06:48

Did you know that your relationship with God

00:06:51

is usually the sum of the five closest people around you?

00:06:55

And the same thing goes for joy.

00:06:57

You might not be experiencing joy

00:06:59

because the people around you aren't joyful.

00:07:02

And so when Paul gets to writing this letter

00:07:05

to the Philippians, right, about joy,

00:07:08

he opens it up with this, verse three:

00:07:40

Paul opens up the letter of joy

00:07:44

by shouting out his tribe.

00:07:45

And this idea of checking on our tribe,

00:07:48

it gets us stuck more than most.

00:07:50

You increase your joy if you and the people around you

00:07:54

are experiencing joy as well.

00:07:56

And here's how -- Here's how you do this.

00:07:59

If you're having a hard time experiencing joy

00:08:00

and you feel like you're the only person in your group

00:08:03

who is, like, just not getting there with joy, try this:

00:08:07

Celebrate what God is doing in someone else

00:08:10

and watch the joy that you experience with them

00:08:13

start to trickle into your life as well.

00:08:16

Second one, check your source.

00:08:19

Our source of joy is super important.

00:08:21

The gospel is the source of joy, spoiler alert.

00:08:25

Paul recognizes this, he's like,

00:08:26

his salvation is his ultimate joy.

00:08:29

He's got joy in Jesus.

00:08:31

Here's how he says it in verse 12:

00:08:51

What's he saying here? What's Paul saying there?

00:08:53

Paul is in a prison, right?

00:08:54

Remember that. Don't forget that.

00:08:56

And he's saying, "Look, because I've been locked up in here

00:08:59

and because Jesus is in my life,

00:09:00

the people who are in charge of me,

00:09:03

the workers and the guards in the prison,

00:09:06

they're experiencing Jesus, too.

00:09:07

So my source of joy is trickling out

00:09:10

into the people around me that I don't even know that well

00:09:13

and that are actually here to keep me in bondage."

00:09:16

Isn't that wild, isn't that wild how joy can do that.

00:09:20

And here's what I don't want to happen in this talk,

00:09:22

I don't want to happen

00:09:23

in these next few weeks we're together.

00:09:25

I don't want to happen in your life in general.

00:09:28

I don't want you to come out of a message like this

00:09:31

thinking that you can have real joy without Jesus.

00:09:35

Jesus is Paul's source of joy,

00:09:37

and He is the only source of joy for all of us.

00:09:40

You will not experience real joy

00:09:42

without a relationship with Jesus.

00:09:44

That goes for me, for you, and for anyone who's ever lived.

00:09:48

Third one, Check your outlook.

00:09:51

You can have the best tribe,

00:09:53

you can be walking with Jesus,

00:09:54

and you can still not experience joy.

00:09:58

And the great theologian and author

00:10:00

Tim Keller puts it like this.

00:10:01

He says, "The opposite of joy is not sadness,

00:10:05

it's hopelessness."

00:10:07

I think there's too many people who are following Jesus

00:10:10

that are walking around through their daily life

00:10:13

with a sense of hopelessness.

00:10:15

Like, do you really believe that joy is possible for you?

00:10:19

Do you really believe that God is with you

00:10:21

and that He has been with you?

00:10:23

Because if not, you're not really experiencing joy.

00:10:26

And Paul knew this.

00:10:28

Paul knew this deep in his soul,

00:10:29

and it caused his outlook to be absolutely bonkers

00:10:33

in comparison to popular opinion today.

00:10:35

And the same goes for you and me.

00:10:37

Our outlook on joy shows up in how we live our life.

00:10:39

Here's how he says it in verse 27:

00:10:41

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ,

00:10:55

He says, "Look, man, keep living with this joy,

00:10:58

this joy that I have,

00:10:59

this joy that I'm trying to give to you,

00:11:01

take it and spread it. Take it and live it.

00:11:04

Take it and put it into your life on a daily basis."

00:11:07

Paul figured out something about joy that so many of us haven't.

00:11:11

He figured out that you can have internal stability,

00:11:14

you can have hope even when external circumstances are shaky

00:11:19

and even when things around you seem hopeless.

00:11:25

In verse 29 he says:

00:11:36

Wait, what? We were just talking about joy,

00:11:38

now we're talking about suffering. What is happening?

00:11:40

Paul is saying this.

00:11:41

Paul is saying, "Look, a life of joy

00:11:43

doesn't mean you won't suffer.

00:11:44

A life of joy does not mean

00:11:45

things are going to go perfectly."

00:11:46

And so many of us are waiting until things are perfect

00:11:50

and thinking that that's when we'll experience joy.

00:11:53

My encouragement for you today is

00:11:55

don't wait until things are perfect

00:11:57

to put joy in your life.

00:11:58

Don't wait until things are perfect to lean into God

00:12:01

and let Him come close to you to experience joy.

00:12:04

If you're single watching this and you're, like,

00:12:06

"Man, when I get married, I'm going to experience joy."

00:12:08

Don't wait until you're married. Experience joy now.

00:12:10

If you're married and you're like, "Man, this is great,

00:12:13

but like, I can't wait till I have kids."

00:12:15

We're always looking forward to the next thing

00:12:17

to experience joy.

00:12:18

Experience joy right now.

00:12:19

If you're looking for a job right now

00:12:20

or you're in a job that's not working out for you,

00:12:22

and you're like, "I just can't wait

00:12:24

till I land the perfect job and I'll experience joy."

00:12:26

No, no, don't wait.

00:12:28

Maybe you got a medical diagnosis

00:12:29

and you're looking around and going,

00:12:31

"Man, this doesn't look good right now.

00:12:32

Maybe when the doctor comes back with a second opinion

00:12:34

I'll have joy."

00:12:36

No, you can have joy right now in the middle of that.

00:12:38

The hardest day of your life

00:12:39

and the most joyful day of your life

00:12:41

can happen at the same time.

00:12:45

That happened to me this last year.

00:12:47

This last year, I lost my mom.

00:12:50

My mom passed away. She died.

00:12:52

And I remember she was -- her health was declining

00:12:56

and it was just kind of continuing to decline.

00:12:58

And we were praying for a miracle.

00:13:00

We were praying for healing.

00:13:02

We were praying all the things

00:13:03

that you're supposed to pray if someone in your family

00:13:05

is not feeling well and it looked very clearly

00:13:09

like this miracle was not going to happen.

00:13:10

And I'm not upset about that because

00:13:12

miracles are miracles because they're not normal. Right?

00:13:14

So we knew we weren't going to get a miracle

00:13:16

and that her time on earth was going to end soon.

00:13:19

I remember I had a conversation with her about Jesus.

00:13:23

I said, "Mom, do you know Jesus?"

00:13:25

And she looked at me and she said, "Yes."

00:13:27

And that was huge for me because my mom didn't celebrate

00:13:32

or go to church or do anything like that growing up as a kid.

00:13:34

So I wasn't exactly sure where her faith was, right?

00:13:37

But when I found out that she had Jesus in her life,

00:13:39

that she had a relationship with Jesus

00:13:41

and that she was going to church

00:13:44

trying to understand who God was,

00:13:45

trying to get to know Him, had a relationship with Him.

00:13:47

You know what that did for me? That gave me a sense of hope

00:13:51

in a otherwise hopeless situation.

00:13:54

And I remember the last night she was alive,

00:13:56

I'm sitting right by her bedside.

00:13:58

She's in and out, you know, and she's not doing well.

00:14:00

And I remember praying to God and saying,

00:14:02

"God, if you're going to do a miracle, Lord,

00:14:06

we're going to need it now,

00:14:07

because her time here is running low."

00:14:10

And I remember when I prayed that I had a sense of peace

00:14:13

and a sense of calmness and a sense of stability

00:14:16

in the middle of a room with a dying family member

00:14:19

where there are other people crying and sad.

00:14:23

And it's not like I wasn't sad and I wasn't hurt by this,

00:14:27

but I had a joy in my heart that I knew that

00:14:30

she was going to leave this earth

00:14:32

and I was going to miss her terribly,

00:14:34

but she was going to go be in heaven.

00:14:35

And God gave that to me because

00:14:37

He doesn't promise answers when things are bad.

00:14:39

He doesn't promise that everything's going to be fine.

00:14:41

What He promises is His joy.

00:14:44

And what we think about God determines what we feel

00:14:48

and what we feel determines how we act.

00:14:51

And so maybe you're here and you're like,

00:14:52

"You know what? I am looking for some sort of freedom.

00:14:55

I'm looking for some sort of joy.

00:14:57

I'm looking for some sort of stability."

00:14:58

It's not found in the external fam.

00:15:00

It's not found out here.

00:15:03

It's found in Jesus.

00:15:05

And maybe you're here thinking, "Man, I just --

00:15:09

I want this joy, but it feels like

00:15:11

it keeps getting stolen from me and taken away from me."

00:15:14

Nobody steals your joy.

00:15:15

You choose to give it away or you choose to keep it.

00:15:19

The Psalmist says it like this in Psalm 16:11:

00:15:30

In your presence, in the presence of God

00:15:32

there is fullness of joy.

00:15:35

No one can steal the presence of God from your life.

00:15:38

And if you're in His presence,

00:15:40

you can have this stability, this hope in the middle

00:15:43

of a life that might feel absolutely chaotic.

00:15:46

So where do you want more joy? Like where?

00:15:48

What part of your life?

00:15:50

In what area of your life

00:15:51

do you want to experience more of God's presence?

00:15:54

Is it maybe with the people around you?

00:15:55

Is it maybe in your relationship with Jesus?

00:15:57

Maybe you don't have a connection to the source,

00:15:59

who is Jesus.

00:16:00

Maybe you've been walking with God for a while

00:16:02

and you have an outlook on life

00:16:04

that just seems hopeless though.

00:16:05

Like, where is it?

00:16:06

This source of joy starts with Jesus.

00:16:11

That's why in Luke 2, right, the Christmas story, right?

00:16:14

When when the shepherds are in the field

00:16:16

and the angel comes and says, "Good news, guys.

00:16:18

I got good news of great joy."

00:16:21

They're talking about Jesus.

00:16:22

That's why Jesus says in John 15:11:

00:16:30

I pray that you would experience

00:16:32

the absolute fullness of joy in Jesus Christ,

00:16:39

because that's how you're going to get it.

00:16:41

That's how you're going to experience true joy.

00:16:43

So we're about to do something we do here

00:16:45

every time we get together, and every time you're watching,

00:16:47

and that is worship God through music.

00:16:49

And while this song is playing,

00:16:50

I want you to be thinking about your life.

00:16:52

Be thinking about where in your life do you need more joy?

00:16:55

Maybe you're looking at your life and you're like,

00:16:57

"You know, I've got to check my tribe.

00:16:58

I have people around me that are not joyful,

00:17:00

or I'm not celebrating the people around me well."

00:17:02

Or maybe you're looking at your life and you're like,

00:17:04

"I've got to check my source.

00:17:05

I've got to check and make sure and continue

00:17:07

to connect to the source of joy, who is Jesus."

00:17:09

Or maybe you've been walking with Jesus for a long time.

00:17:11

You're like, "You know what?

00:17:12

I've been really walking around here

00:17:14

with an outlook on life that's, like, hopeless."

00:17:16

Like whatever that might be,

00:17:17

in the comment section right now, take a step right now,

00:17:19

take a step of action right now in the comment section

00:17:21

and just drop in there where you want to experience more joy.

00:17:24

And be as specific as you want to be. Okay?

00:17:25

You can do it in the YouTube comment section,

00:17:27

if you're on the app, you can write it down on paper,

00:17:29

whatever that looks like for you.

00:17:31

Do some participation right now as this song plays

00:17:33

and let me pray for you that you would experience

00:17:36

the fullness of joy that is in Christ Jesus.

00:17:41

God, thank you for your presence.

00:17:43

Thank you that that your presence is with us

00:17:45

and is always with us

00:17:47

and all we have to do is invite you in.

00:17:50

God, I pray for everyone who will experience

00:17:52

this time together that they would know you more,

00:17:56

that they would experience you more,

00:17:57

and that they would have the joy of the Lord

00:18:01

and that that would be their strength.

00:18:04

We know that this good news that you have for us

00:18:07

is that we can experience joy, eternal joy.

00:18:11

So God, for those of us here who don't know who you are,

00:18:13

Jesus, I pray that you would impact

00:18:16

and pierce the hearts of people watching right now

00:18:19

and they would receive you

00:18:20

and they would accept your free gift of grace.

00:18:24

You're good and we are thankful

00:18:27

that you have given us this joy

00:18:28

and that we can walk it out every single day. Amen.

00:21:47

- Phenomenal message from Paco.

00:21:49

Listen, if that connected with you,

00:21:51

if it was like, "Oh, my gosh,

00:21:52

maybe there's more joy for me in this Jesus guy.

00:21:54

Maybe there's something in this book of Philippians."

00:21:56

Here's a step for you.

00:21:57

Dig in to the book of Philippians with us

00:22:00

in the Bible Challenge

00:22:01

and let us mail one of these to your house for free.

00:22:03

What is it? It's a guidebook.

00:22:04

It's got history, context,

00:22:06

stuff you're not going to get just by reading the Bible alone.

00:22:08

We made it just for you. We'd love to mail one to you.

00:22:10

Just chat in with us.

00:22:11

Go to our website, hit the chat button and say,

00:22:13

"Hey, I'd love one of these the Kyle talked about,"

00:22:15

and we'll send one to your house.

00:22:17

And by the way, if you haven't yet, create a profile

00:22:19

with us at Crossroads.net.

00:22:21

- Yeah, that'll make it easier for us

00:22:23

to connect with you because Crossroads is not content.

00:22:25

Like, we make episodes, but these are tools.

00:22:28

These are tools with the goal being growth and community.

00:22:30

And that's what we want for you.

00:22:32

And when you create a profile in Crossroads.net,

00:22:34

that makes it easier for us to connect with you.

00:22:36

Iif you're like, "Man, I'm not doing that," great, that's fine.

00:22:38

Just send me an email. It's my personal email.

00:22:41

It's not a bot, it's not a team.

00:22:42

It's not -- it's my personal email.

00:22:44

Andy.reider@Crossroads.net.

00:22:46

I would love to help do anything I can

00:22:49

because it's our goal to do everything we can

00:22:51

to push you and encourage you on your spiritual journey.

00:22:53

- That's right.

00:22:54

We really do believe you're born for adventure

00:22:56

and we exist to help guide

00:22:57

and equip you for that adventure.

00:22:58

That's a true statement.

00:22:59

I think that's it for today? - That's all we've got.

00:23:01

We'll see you next time on Crossroads.

00:23:06

- The world grinds us down and leaves us for dead.

00:23:09

Guys are lonely, exhausted, and visionless.

00:23:12

Man Camp is the cure.

00:23:14

Take a break from the grind,

00:23:16

make lifelong friends, discover your purpose.

00:23:19

The world needs you on board.

00:23:21

48 hours off the grid to spark revival in your life.

00:23:26

This October.

	Philippians	0:00
	This isn't joy	1:06
	How To Be Impactful	4:54
	Forget something?	5:30
	Check Your Tribe	6:17
	Time To Celebrate	7:58
	Check Your Source	8:16
	Check Your Outlook	9:48
	Don't wait for joy	11:55
	Nobody can steal your joy	15:06
	Where do you want more joy?	16:43
	We're made for this	18:32
	How to connect	21:47

Recent Series