Getting the Most Joy | The Book Of Philippians Week 1

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- Let me know when this starts getting weird.

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You know what this message is not about?

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Just cheering up.

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I think everybody is chasing some type of joy.

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

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We just are looking for it in the wrong places.

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- Life is like a never ending pursuit of happiness.

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We're always looking for

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something better than what we have.

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

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Just when we think we're almost there,

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we get knocked back down.

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

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What if you could have joy

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

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In this series of videos,

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we're exploring five keys to Chasing Joy.

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And today is about finding joy in any situation.

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Let me know when this starts getting weird.

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Oh, right now? Okay.

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You know what else is weird?

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The most joyful book in the Bible

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was actually written in a prison cell.

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That blows my mind.

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

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but, like, super joyful?

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Like, they were so joyful they frustrated you?

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You were in a great mood with your regular old Tuesday

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until your buddy Carl kept being so positive and hopeful.

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

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but why does it trigger, like,

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this gag reflex in so many of us?

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All the heroes of the faith have it,

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but too few of us have it today.

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And it seems like, for real,

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some of the most religious people

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are the ones who have the least amount of joy.

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What is joy?

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I can tell you what joy isn't.

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I can tell you what this message is not about.

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You know what this message is not about?

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

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You're experiencing pain and hardship and just --

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No, that's not what this is about.

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

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joy is not cheering up.

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

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

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

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What is joy?

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

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It is not rose colored glasses.

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It's not just being in denial

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about the problems in the world that are negative stuff.

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There are really hard things in the world.

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Joy is deeper than that.

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You see happiness and cheering up

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and rose colored glasses,

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

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

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

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Joy embraces the pain, but it encourages us

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to take a risky chance on God's ultimate purposes

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

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Joy is not determined by our outward struggles.

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

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

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I think everybody is chasing some type of joy.

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

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We just are looking for it in the wrong places.

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

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on Philippians because Philippians is about joy.

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The writer of this book, Paul,

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figured something out about joy

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that so many of us have not.

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You see, Philippians was written in a jail cell,

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so when Paul writes the words,

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you've got to imagine him in a dark cell

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

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

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

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and to die as gain.

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If I'm to live in the flesh,

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that means fruitful labor for me;

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yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

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I am hard pressed between the two,

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my desire is to depart and be with Christ

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for that is far better.

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Whoa, wait. What?

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Paul, in the middle of the jail cell says,

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

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

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

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if I stay here in the struggle,

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if I stay here in this suffering,

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

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See, Paul had a perspective about joy

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that we need to pick up.

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Paul is an expert on joy

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and he sees this suffering

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

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

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I want that kind of desire.

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I want that kind of belief system.

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I want that kind of source of energy.

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I want people around me that give me that energy.

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And I think you do too.

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But see, desire is not enough.

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We need a plan and we need a path.

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We need a way to uncover real joy.

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You ever leave your house and forget your wallet

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or your keys, or even worse, your phone?

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And you're, like, looking around for it

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

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That happened to me one time.

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

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and we stopped for gas and some food real quick.

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And 12 of us got out of the van

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and 11 of us got back in.

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We forgot my good friend Tabitha.

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We left her at a truck stop

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

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How did we all get back in the bus

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and no one checked for her?

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

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and go through the motions of your every day

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and not continuously check for joy.

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So for the rest of our time,

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

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

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So the first one, check your tribe.

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

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But so does joy. They both love company.

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Did you know that you are the sum of

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the five closest people around you in like all areas.

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When it comes to financial health,

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your finances are somewhere in line

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with the five closest people around you on average.

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Your physical health, same thing.

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

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because the people you hang out with most

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really love the McRib?

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Did you know that your relationship with God

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

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And the same thing goes for joy.

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You might not be experiencing joy

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because the people around you aren't joyful.

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And so when Paul gets to writing this letter

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to the Philippians, right, about joy,

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he opens it up with this, verse three:

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Paul opens up the letter of joy

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by shouting out his tribe.

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And this idea of checking on our tribe,

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it gets us stuck more than most.

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You increase your joy if you and the people around you

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are experiencing joy as well.

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

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If you're having a hard time experiencing joy

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

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

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Celebrate what God is doing in someone else

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and watch the joy that you experience with them

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start to trickle into your life as well.

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Second one, check your source.

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Our source of joy is super important.

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The gospel is the source of joy, spoiler alert.

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Paul recognizes this, he's like,

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his salvation is his ultimate joy.

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He's got joy in Jesus.

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Here's how he says it in verse 12:

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

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Paul is in a prison, right?

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Remember that. Don't forget that.

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

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and because Jesus is in my life,

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the people who are in charge of me,

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the workers and the guards in the prison,

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they're experiencing Jesus, too.

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So my source of joy is trickling out

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

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

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

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

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I don't want to happen

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in these next few weeks we're together.

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

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

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thinking that you can have real joy without Jesus.

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Jesus is Paul's source of joy,

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

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You will not experience real joy

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without a relationship with Jesus.

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

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Third one, Check your outlook.

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You can have the best tribe,

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you can be walking with Jesus,

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and you can still not experience joy.

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And the great theologian and author

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Tim Keller puts it like this.

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

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it's hopelessness."

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

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that are walking around through their daily life

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with a sense of hopelessness.

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

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Do you really believe that God is with you

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and that He has been with you?

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

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And Paul knew this.

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Paul knew this deep in his soul,

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and it caused his outlook to be absolutely bonkers

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in comparison to popular opinion today.

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And the same goes for you and me.

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

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Here's how he says it in verse 27:

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

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

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this joy that I have,

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

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

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

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

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He figured out that you can have internal stability,

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you can have hope even when external circumstances are shaky

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and even when things around you seem hopeless.

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In verse 29 he says:

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Wait, what? We were just talking about joy,

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

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Paul is saying this.

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Paul is saying, "Look, a life of joy

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doesn't mean you won't suffer.

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A life of joy does not mean

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things are going to go perfectly."

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And so many of us are waiting until things are perfect

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

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My encouragement for you today is

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don't wait until things are perfect

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to put joy in your life.

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

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and let Him come close to you to experience joy.

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

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

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

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

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

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We're always looking forward to the next thing

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to experience joy.

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Experience joy right now.

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If you're looking for a job right now

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

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

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

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No, no, don't wait.

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Maybe you got a medical diagnosis

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and you're looking around and going,

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

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Maybe when the doctor comes back with a second opinion

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I'll have joy."

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

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The hardest day of your life

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and the most joyful day of your life

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can happen at the same time.

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That happened to me this last year.

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This last year, I lost my mom.

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My mom passed away. She died.

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And I remember she was -- her health was declining

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and it was just kind of continuing to decline.

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And we were praying for a miracle.

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We were praying for healing.

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We were praying all the things

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

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is not feeling well and it looked very clearly

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like this miracle was not going to happen.

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And I'm not upset about that because

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

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

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

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I remember I had a conversation with her about Jesus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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that she had a relationship with Jesus

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and that she was going to church

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trying to understand who God was,

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

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

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in a otherwise hopeless situation.

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And I remember the last night she was alive,

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I'm sitting right by her bedside.

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

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And I remember praying to God and saying,

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

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we're going to need it now,

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because her time here is running low."

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

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and a sense of calmness and a sense of stability

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in the middle of a room with a dying family member

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where there are other people crying and sad.

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

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

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she was going to leave this earth

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and I was going to miss her terribly,

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but she was going to go be in heaven.

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And God gave that to me because

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He doesn't promise answers when things are bad.

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

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What He promises is His joy.

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And what we think about God determines what we feel

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and what we feel determines how we act.

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

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

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I'm looking for some sort of joy.

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I'm looking for some sort of stability."

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It's not found in the external fam.

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It's not found out here.

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It's found in Jesus.

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

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I want this joy, but it feels like

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

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Nobody steals your joy.

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

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

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In your presence, in the presence of God

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there is fullness of joy.

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

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And if you're in His presence,

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you can have this stability, this hope in the middle

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of a life that might feel absolutely chaotic.

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So where do you want more joy? Like where?

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What part of your life?

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In what area of your life

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

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Is it maybe with the people around you?

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Is it maybe in your relationship with Jesus?

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

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who is Jesus.

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Maybe you've been walking with God for a while

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and you have an outlook on life

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that just seems hopeless though.

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Like, where is it?

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This source of joy starts with Jesus.

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

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When when the shepherds are in the field

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

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I got good news of great joy."

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They're talking about Jesus.

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

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I pray that you would experience

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the absolute fullness of joy in Jesus Christ,

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

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

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So we're about to do something we do here

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

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and that is worship God through music.

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And while this song is playing,

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I want you to be thinking about your life.

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

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

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

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I have people around me that are not joyful,

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

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

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"I've got to check my source.

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I've got to check and make sure and continue

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

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

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You're like, "You know what?

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I've been really walking around here

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

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Like whatever that might be,

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

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take a step of action right now in the comment section

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

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

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You can do it in the YouTube comment section,

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

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whatever that looks like for you.

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Do some participation right now as this song plays

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and let me pray for you that you would experience

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the fullness of joy that is in Christ Jesus.

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God, thank you for your presence.

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Thank you that that your presence is with us

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and is always with us

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and all we have to do is invite you in.

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God, I pray for everyone who will experience

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this time together that they would know you more,

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that they would experience you more,

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and that they would have the joy of the Lord

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and that that would be their strength.

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We know that this good news that you have for us

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is that we can experience joy, eternal joy.

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

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Jesus, I pray that you would impact

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and pierce the hearts of people watching right now

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and they would receive you

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and they would accept your free gift of grace.

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You're good and we are thankful

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that you have given us this joy

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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.

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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,

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"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

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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

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