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The Great Joy of Christmas · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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You have your copy of God's We're going to Make your way to
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Luke chapter 2, where we have been last week and now this week
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as we walk through portions of the Christmas story, remembering
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the greatest gift that's ever been given, Jesus taking on
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human flesh, living among us. Live, die and defeat death on
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our behalf. By the way, I've been meaning to
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make a comment on all of you who served so hard and worked so
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diligently to make our place of worship and just our entire
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church beautiful this time of year as we celebrate Christmas.
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So thank all of you who've gone above and beyond to make that
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possible. I don't know if you've ever
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asked yourself this question or not, but why do we say Merry
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Christmas instead of Happy Christmas?
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Anybody else ever wondered that? I guess not.
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Maybe it's just me. Why don't we say happy Easter,
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happy birthday? We don't say happy Christmas, do
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we? I mean, that just sounds weird.
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Well, going all the way back in history, some of the first
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appearances of Merry Christmas, you can trace back to a couple
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instances. Number one, it was used in a
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letter documented in 1534 from the Bishop John Fisher to Henry
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the Eighth chief minister, Thomas Cromwell.
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And then it was also heard and popularized in the 1500s with
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the English Carol. We wish you a Merry Christmas.
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So why Mary instead of happy? Well, we don't exactly know.
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Perhaps we never will know. Grammarians simply think it
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might come down to a difference in the words and the intention,
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right? Happy, they say, describes an
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inner emotional condition, while Mary is more of a descriptor of
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outward behavior, something that's active or spirited, maybe
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even a little rowdy. We may never know the answer of
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why. And you know what?
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It really doesn't matter because did you realize the Bible
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doesn't use either word, does it?
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It doesn't use happy and it doesn't use Mary.
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It uses a different word. We've already read it.
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We're going to read it again as we read through the Christmas
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story again and kind of focus in on this word out of verse 10.
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You can be looking for it. Follow along in your copy of
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God's Word. The Bible says this Luke 2 verse
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one. In those days a decree went out
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from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
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This is the first registration, registration when Coronius was
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governor of Syria and all went to be registered, each to his
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own town. And Joseph also went up from
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Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city
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of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was at the
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house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his
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betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time
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came for her to give birth. She gave birth to her first born
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son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger
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because there was no place for them in the end.
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And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field
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keeping watch over their flock by night, and an Angel of the
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Lord appeared to them in the glory of the Lord, shone around
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them, and they were filled with great fear.
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And the Angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you
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good news of here it is you ready.
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Great. Say it with me.
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Joy that will be for all the people.
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For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who
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is Christ the Lord. The word is not happy, it's not
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Mary, it is say it again, joy. It's joy for God sent the
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messenger, the Angel to say, behold good news of great joy.
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That's praise God, for how many people, for all people, for unto
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you, that's including you this morning under the sound of my
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voice. Every single human being who's
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ever breathed a breath for you is born this day in the city of
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David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
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What is? Let's recall what we covered
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last week. What is truly the good news of
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Christmas? It is this announcement that
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unto you, unto me, under every, under every man, woman, boy and
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girl, for all people, unto you unto us is born a Savior who is
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Christ the Lord. If you've ever wondered man, is
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there just one sentence, one verse in the Bible that captures
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everything. Then if I had to reduce it all
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down and say what it's all about, if there was one verse
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that explained Genesis to Revelation, if there was a story
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in the in a sentence the of the whole Bible, what would it be?
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This is a verse you need to know.
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Romans 623. It says everything the Bible
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says in a sentence. It says everything you need to
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say in an elevator before someone gets off that you'll
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never see again. For the wages of sin is but the
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free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Ladies and gentlemen, that is the good news.
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That is the story of Christmas being explained, that the wages
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of our sin is death. The world suffering under the
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curse of sin and death and darkness and despair.
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And yet God did what He promised He would do by sending his one
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and only Son, the one and only one who could be a Savior, the
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Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who made it all literally
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becoming a man, remaining fully God, becoming fully man and
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dwelling among us. This is why he was called
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Emmanuel, which means God with us.
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Y'all. It's been said by theologians
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through the centuries. The incarnation, that is the
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becoming man while remaining fully God is the greatest
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miracle. It is the central miracle of our
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fate that God became a man. For unto you is born this day a
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Savior. There's not another Savior.
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There's not many. There's one, and his name is
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Jesus. This is the good news of
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Christmas, y'all. This is not good news.
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This is the best news. There's no greater news.
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There's no more ultimate. You're not going to hear better
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news on the planet during your lifetime or 1000 lifetimes.
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And a Savior has been born for you for the wages of sin.
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That was your sin. That was my sin is what is death
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but the free gift of God. How does Jesus provide that free
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gift? I say this repeatedly about
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every Sunday so that you could say it too if someone asked you
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for a reason for the hope you have because Jesus has done
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three things for you. Those three things, Number one
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is he has lived a sinless life for you.
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The life that you and I couldn't live, Jesus lived so he could #2
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be a sinless substitute sacrifice for you on the cross,
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paying the debt of your sin, which was death, so that
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thirdly, he could defeat death for you.
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Jesus has lived for you. He has died for you.
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He has defeated death for you. This is the news that changes
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everything. For unto you, born this day, is
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a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this greatest of all news,
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friends, gives us something no other gift can give.
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And we've said it already, and it starts with AJ.
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And it's not Mary, and it's not happy.
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It's it's joy. It is joy, y'all.
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The world is desperately looking for joy, is it not?
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They may not realize it, really. Their pursuit really gets some
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really gets after chasing happiness because they don't
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really know anything about joy. So the world is constantly and
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desperately looking for joy. All they know how to chase is
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happiness, though. I picture the world's pursuit of
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joy and something that I've participated in.
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It's something you've participated in Whenever I've
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gotten distracted from Jesus as my joy and finding my
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satisfaction in him, I picture the world's constant pursuit of
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happiness. Kind of like the carnival game.
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You know, you go to a carnival kind of one of those classic
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games is I didn't know what this was called so I had to look it
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up, but I could picture it. It's the hammer game or what's
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called the high striker game. It's when you take that hammer
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and you try to pound some bullseye or a pad at the bottom
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to make something go up really hard and strike the bell at the
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top. You know what I'm talking about.
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If you've ever played that kind of game, you know how
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frustrating it can be. I mean, all the games are rigged
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out of carnival, by the way, anyway.
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But they make it this way so that it is.
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It's just not as straightforward as it should be, right?
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I mean, sometimes the strongest of men can walk up and swing the
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hammer with all of his might. And guess what?
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The thing just like barely moves.
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The bell doesn't ring. Then this little girl come over
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here and barely lifting the hammer and maybe taps it, all
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the sudden Ding, Ding, Ding, right.
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And you're like, what? How does that happen?
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You know, I picture our pursuit of joy like trying to pick up
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that hammer every day and we try to swing at what we think would
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make us happy. We try to hit, try to win, try
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to crush it, try to get ahead, trying to finally get it in.
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Some days, some days, maybe the bell rings.
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Some days it doesn't. Sometimes we think, man, we
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finally got it all together. Finally today it's going to
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ring. We swing, it doesn't ring.
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Then somebody else walks up and swings a hammer that doesn't
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look like the bell should ring, and it rings.
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And you're like, this doesn't make sense.
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What's going on? And even when it does ring, it
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might make us temporarily happy, but one day it rings, the next
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day it doesn't. Even when it does ring, the
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happiness doesn't doesn't last. The new this, the new that, this
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accomplishment, dispossession, whatever circumstance, it
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doesn't bring us lasting, final, ultimate, all the way deep down
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in our soul fulfilment. And yet this is what we
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constantly chase. What is happiness?
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Happiness is a temporary emotional high.
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Happiness y'all is a positive excitement based on our
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circumstances. Happiness is an emotional
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reaction that's dependent on external factors.
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But what is joy? What's the difference?
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Joy is a contentment and satisfaction of soul.
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It is a positive state of mind, heart.
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And so that's possible. Watch this Regardless of 1's
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circumstances, joy is dependent on the internal factor of the
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Holy Spirit. Finally, joy is a spiritual
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choice. The Bible mentions happiness two
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to three dozen times. The Bible speaks of joy hundreds
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of times. You can think about it like
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this. Temporary happiness.
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Temporary can come from almost anything but true, lasting,
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ultimate, genuine joy only comes from one thing.
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His name is Jesus for unto you is born this day a savior is
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Christ the Lord good news of great joy, not happy, not merry,
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but true lasting, genuine now and forever joy Jesus and Jesus
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alone brings. If you're following Taking
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Notes, I just simply want to explain to you from portions of
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the Christmas story that Jesus and Jesus alone is joy.
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And then we're going to pick up reading in Luke chapter 2,
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beginning verse 22. In a portion of the Christmas
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story, we're going to draw out some of the reasons that Jesus
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is and Jesus alone is joy. This is Luke 2 beginning in
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verse 22. And when the time came for their
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purification, according to the law of Moses, they brought him
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up. That's Jesus to Jerusalem to
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present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of
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the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called
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holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is
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said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle doves, or two
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young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem
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whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and
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devout, waiting, waiting for the consolation of Israel.
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And the Holy Spirit was upon him.
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And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would
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not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
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And he came in the Spirit into the temple.
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And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him
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according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms
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and blessed God and said, Lord, now you're letting your servant
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depart in peace according to your word.
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From my eyes have seen your, Don't miss this word.
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My eyes have seen your salvation that you've prepared in the
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presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles
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and glory for your or to your people Israel.
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And his father and mother marveled at what was said about
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him. And Simeon blessed him and said
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to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall
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and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.
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And a sword will Pierce through your own soul also, so that
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thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
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And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter Ephanuel of
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the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years,
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having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a
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virgin and then as a widow until she was 84.
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She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting
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and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour,
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she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who
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were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
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The first thing I want you to see about the joy that is Jesus
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is simply this great joy begins this joy I'm Speaking of begins
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by faith in Jesus. Great joy begins by faith in
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Jesus. I want you to look at that verse
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30 where Simeon says from my eyes have seen your say it out
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loud salvation. He says when he sees the baby
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Jesus the Christ shot he literally my eyes have seen this
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child is unto you. I Savior has been born.
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Simeon says my eyes have seen your salvation.
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Y'all Jesus is joy because Jesus and Jesus alone is salvation and
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there is no joy like the joy of salvation.
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Do you remember and do you realize that the world's
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greatest problem is lostness and the only solution, the only
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solution is the salvation that Jesus and Jesus alone offers.
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Let me just remind us to be spiritually lost is to be
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unsaved. What does it mean to be unsaved?
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It means to be dead in our sin. The wages of sin is death.
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Death means spiritual separation from God now and forever.
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If nothing changes, this means we are destined, destined to be
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separated from God under the just punishment of our sins
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forever. This is what it means to be
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unsaved, to be lost. And the further problem is, the
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majority of people who are lost, guess what?
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They don't realize that they're that they're lost.
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They don't see their need for Jesus and for salvation because
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they can't see their problem. Do you realize it is impossible
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to truly appreciate a gift unless you understand how much
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you need that gift? My wife one time gave me a gift.
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She's given me more than one. But I remember one time, I think
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it was birthday or Christmas. I don't remember.
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I think it was birthday and we've not talked about this
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right here. So this is just processing in
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the moment. And this gift was something I
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did not know existed. This gift was an Ember coffee
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mug. Do I have any owners of an Ember
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coffee mug among us? I see one.
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You're like half a shame. Come on now.
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Let's put that. There you go.
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Anybody else? I see a proud one over here.
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Yeah. OK.
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I see a few. All right.
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Some of y'all don't know what you're missing.
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There we go, Joe back there. All right.
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So I open up this gift and see this Ember.
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If you don't know the Ember coffee mug is it is a
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rechargeable built in battery heated coffee mug.
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We're talking you can Bluetooth your phone to it to tell it the
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exact temperature you prefer your coffee.
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All right now don't look at me like that.
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I'm not usually like that, all right, but I didn't pick this
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out. My wife did for me, but she
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witnessed me constantly returning to the microwave to
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reheat my coffee because, you know, I get distracted studying
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or working or something, and then all of a sudden it goes
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cold and I go to the microwave. So open up this gift.
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Let me just give you a piece of advice here.
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You know when, well, let me just say what happened.
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I opened up the gift and my immediate thought was that this
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is what you don't say out loud. And I didn't say out loud.
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Hallelujah. My first thought was this is a
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waste of money. This is by the way, you're going
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to get some gifts. Oh you she did get it on sale.
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She said so a less a waste of less money.
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But anyway, so so you don't you don't say that out loud.
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I'm not that bad of a husband. So I'm thinking, OK, this is
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what they make a microwave for. But my wife obviously went to
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the effort to get this. Why not?
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Why not try it? Sure enough, I don't know how
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long I've had it now, at least a year.
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It's like the only coffee mug I use literally.
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And I, I don't want anybody else using it and, and using the
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charge. I mean, I, I use it all the
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time, right? I, I, I didn't know how much I'd
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use quote need. I know that's a long stretch
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right there. I didn't know how much I needed
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an ember coffee mug until I got one.
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Let me just ask you a question. Has God-given the greatest gift
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you could ever receive and you've yet to realize how much
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you need it? Have you yet to realize how much
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you need it? For unto you is born this day a
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Savior, because the wages of sin, that's your sin is death,
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and my sin is death. There's only one and only
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salvation. His name is Jesus.
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There's only one solution to lostness.
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It's confessing by faith. Jesus says word, believing in
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your heart. God raised him from the dead.
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The Bible says you will be saved.
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It's impossible to truly appreciate a gift unless you
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realize how much you need it. But maybe you're thinking this.
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Call Kyle. He's a baby.
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How much do I really need a savior born as a baby?
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No doubt it was the minority of people, Simeon and Anna.
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The Bible mentions no one else who actually knew what to look
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for and how to appreciate God giving the greatest gift mankind
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could ever received. And their eyes were attuned to
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how it would come. But you see, most in Israel
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thought what they needed was very different from what they
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actually needed. You see, what they thought they
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needed was political deliverance.
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What they thought they needed was financial success.
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What they thought they needed was physical health.
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What they thought they needed was restored fortunes or
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restored and reunited families. But what they needed most,
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y'all, was God. What we need most, who we need
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most is the One who made us His Son.
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Jesus sent for us. Y'all John 17 three is an
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incredibly clear verse and it says this and this is eternal
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life. This is the opposite of
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lostness. This is the opposite of being
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separated from God because of your sin forever.
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This is eternal life, that they know you, that they know you,
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the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
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Y'all real life, abundant life, fullness of joy is to know and
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walk with God. Does that describe who you are?
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Do you know God and walk with Him?
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If not, the greatest gift you could ever receive has been
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given to you, and you've yet to receive it by faith.
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Great joy begins by faith in Jesus.
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Do you realize the human heart? The human heart has a giant God
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sized hole in it that can only be satisfied by design by God
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himself. You can try to stuff money in
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it. You can try to stuff stuff in
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it. You can try to stuff romance in
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it, or physical pleasure in it, or financial career success in
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it. You can just keep stuff and it's
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going to dissolve like cotton candy.
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It cannot satisfy you, only God can.
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Eternal life is that they know you, and we only know the Father
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through his Son, Jesus Christ. For unto you is born this day, a
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Savior, who is Christ the Lord. If you've been saved, if you've
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been saved and you know Jesus and the joy of salvation that
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begins with Him, do you realize every single day that you wake
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up, you have reason for joy? Not just because of your
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salvation, but because you are better every single day than you
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what, than you deserve because of what Jesus has done for you,
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saving you from your sin, giving you life and the hope of heaven
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forever? Y'all, Jesus is joy, and great
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joy begins by faith in Him. But #2 great joy continues as
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believers. It continues in our lives by the
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good fight of faith in Jesus. Great joy continues every single
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day as we fight the good fight of faith in Jesus.
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You know, there's a reason that both Simeon and Anna are
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mentioned in the Christmas story.
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There's actually multiple reasons, but I want to draw out
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just one of them. What is it that both this man
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and this woman have in common? It ends with ING and starts with
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AW. What are they both doing?
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Waiting. And how long have they been
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waiting? Any idea?
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All their lives to Simeon, basically to his last breath.
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He's like, God, I can die now. I mean, he's an old man.
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How about Anna, 84 years old. She's outlived the normal life
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expectancy. They've been waiting their whole
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lives. What does it mean to wait?
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Let me tell you what it means to wait.
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It means to live with hope and joy when everything is not OK.
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Let me say that again. You know what it means to wait.
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They waited their whole lives. It means to live with hope and
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joy. And let me be specific in Jesus,
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whom they were waiting for, who they knew would come but hadn't
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come yet. All their lives means to wait
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with hope and joy, fighting the good fight of faith even when
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everything's not. Oh, OK, it means to live when
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everything's not OK, but with faith that one day will all be
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made right. And this waiting well requires a
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spiritual fight of fate. This is how we wait.
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They waited their whole lives. What were they waiting for?
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The consolation of Israel, the redemption of Israel.
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You know, they were waiting for the day that God promised that
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one day He would send one who one day would make all things
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right. They didn't get to see the
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completion of it. They did get to see the
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beginning of it. Their eyes beheld the salvation
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that God promised He would send, and they got to see the
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beginning of it by seeing Jesus physically as they waited.
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You know what? By the good fight of faith.
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You know what Simeon and Anna would have had to battle every
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day by faith? Doubt and unbelief, Fear and
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anxiety, worry and discouragement, insecurity,
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maybe depression. They had to fight all these
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things every day when everything wasn't OK, believing it was all
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going to be all right. As they look forward in faith,
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fighting the good fight of faith in Jesus, making taking their
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joy from him, knowing his promises.
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You see, if you've been saved, brother or sister, you've been
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blessed by faith. No, not to see yet Jesus
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physically, but to see him spiritually.
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And now, like Simeon and Anna, we too are waiting.
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The full and final consolation or redemption or restoration
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that Jesus has promised us too is one day coming.
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When no, not all things are OK now, but one day all things will
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be all right. We too are called to fight the
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good fight of faith by waiting with joy and peace and hope in
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Jesus, knowing one day he who was in control and who came the
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first time is coming the second time to fulfill all the promises
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that started some of you. Some of you are in a posture of
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waiting more than others, maybe in a circumstance of longing for
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all things to be made right more than others.
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Maybe this time of Christmas is a particularly difficult time to
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wait, gives us a time maybe that reminds you of some hurt.
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Maybe a time that makes you feel confused or isolated or alone or
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abandoned. A time that maybe feels dark to
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you instead of what you feel like you see all around.
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Are you in a season of longing and a season of waiting and a
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season of hurting? Maybe life has not turned out
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the way that you expected it to go.
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Maybe longing for your family to be put back together again.
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Maybe longing and wanting and hoping for and hurting because
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you don't have a family of your own yet.
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You've been waiting and seems like it will never come.
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Maybe grieving the death of a loved one, or processing and
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grieving A miscarriage, or waiting for a prodigal child to
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come home. It seems far from God and like
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they're never going to return. And you've waited and waited and
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prayed and prayed or whatever general circumstance you may be
25:47
going through, wondering is God, are you in control?
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It's not OK. It doesn't seem like it's ever
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going to be OK. Are you waiting by fighting the
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good fight of faith in Jesus? Simeon and Anna's stories are
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reminders that when we wait and we're in postures or places of
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pain and when everything's not OK, God doesn't forget us.
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He sees us. He remembers.
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And waiting doesn't mean you're doing something wrong.
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Waiting is actually an essential part of the Christian life.
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Gee, listen to some things the Bible says about waiting.
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Lamentations 325 The Lord is good to those who What's that
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word wait for Him? Does God do everything right
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when we want him to do it? God is good to those who wait
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for him, to the soul who seeks Him.
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Isaiah 3018 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and
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therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you, For the Lord
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is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait
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for him. Isaiah 4923 Those who wait for
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me, God says, shall not be put to shame.
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Do you realize no one who's ever waited on God has ever been let
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down? I didn't say God fulfilled
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everything, just the way we would have done it or how we
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would have exactly. But God has never let down, let
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go or neglected or walked away from those who have waited on
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him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German who
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stood against the evil of the Nazi regime, said this the
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Advent Advent means coming. We call Christmas Advent coming
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of Christ the first time. The Advent season is a season of
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waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, he says.
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That is a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time
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when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
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You see, Christmas reminds us that while we have so much to be
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thankful for now, we as Christians are still living life
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in a season of waiting. Waiting for the what?
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The second coming of Christ, waiting for a new heavens and a
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new earth. Waiting one day for the day when
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all wrong will be made right, when King Jesus reigns and death
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is no more in the curse of sin and struggle against.
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It is not a daily fight. We have and we're perfectly made
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an image of Jesus, seeing him face to face and experiencing
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his presence forever. What a day that will be.
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We're waiting, and that waiting requires fighting the good fight
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of faith in Jesus. And that's where joy is found.
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When days and times when everything's not OK, but we
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know. We know in him all will be made
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right. God has not forgotten.
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He sees and He knows. This is the joy and comfort of
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Christmas. His name is Jesus.
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Jesus is joy. And great joy begins by faith in
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Jesus. And great joy continues by
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fighting the good fight of faith in Jesus, even when all is not
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OK, but when we know all will be.
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All right. There is 1/3 and final point
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there. You're going to have to come
29:02
back on Christmas Eve and invite a friend to hear that one, all
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right. And by the way, that
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announcement video said 3:00 to 5:00 PM.
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It's 3:00 and 5:00 PM. So don't be scared, all right?
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Y'all want to share something to just I just this week, it's been
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on my heart so clear as it relates to what we've just
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talked about. Many of you know that we
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celebrated the life of Nancy Smith this past Thursday.
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Many of you are here. We prayed and thank God for her
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last Sunday. Many of you may not know her
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total story. I certainly didn't and it was
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learning it even in the process of preparing to celebrate her
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life that God blessed me even more through her than I had been
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blessed previously. I just can't help but share it's
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I think it's it's one of those practical things that I could
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share at the close here. Nancy Smith was one of the most
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joyful people I've ever known. Would you say Amen to that?
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What I didn't know was that Nancy Smith was a woman who had
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faced more difficulty and hardship than anybody else about
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that I'd ever known. Without getting into all of
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that, Nancy Smith was a woman who had experienced betrayal.
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She's a woman who'd experienced physical abuse.
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She was a woman who raised three daughters as a single mom.
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She worked, started her own businesses.
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Some of them were she was undermined and lied about and
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cheated out of. Some of them stolen from.
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Not just recently. Nancy had a neighbor who was
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trying to, like, take part of her property, claiming it was
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his own, tearing down a fence that she had put up on her
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property. Nancy walked through cancer.
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And you think about more hardships to face.
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And I'm just giving you the tips of the iceberg.
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So how is it that Nancy was one of those joyful people we've
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ever known, but also someone who's walked through some of the
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most difficult trials of life? How does that math work?
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What? How does that happen?
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What, what's going on in those circumstances to make this a
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reality? The truth is here is here, here
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it is. Bottom line, Jesus is either joy
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or he's not. He's either joy or is not.
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Nancy proved he was and you know how you know how she chose the
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joy of Jesus. If you got the scene of the
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videos we did as we celebrated her life or you heard her talk
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about this, she would come up on one of these difficulties.
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She'd be lied about. She'd be given a diagnosis.
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She'd be trying to walk through the situation of a neighbor
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trying to do something underhanded against her.
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Then she said when she walked through those times or when she
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was being abused, she, she said, Kyle, I, I, I would be, I would
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want to choose the downward spiral away from God.
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And you know what that downward spiral is?
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It's the spiral of choosing anger and unforgiveness.
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It's the spiral of saying, I'm going to be hard hearted and I'm
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going to grow bitter. I'm going to hang on to this and
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I'm going to not believe that Jesus is enough to give me joy
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through this. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm
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going to play the victim in this.
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And she said, Kyle, there were times I took that spiral and it
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led me away from God and it robbed me of my joy that Jesus
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would have offered me had I chosen and praised God.
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She eventually learned how to choose the upward spiral, that
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upward spiral she described as choosing to forgive.
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If you think about it like this, if we've sinned against a holy
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God, how big of a deal if somebody has sinned against a
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lowly know nothing Sinner like me that we would be prideful
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enough to hold on to it and choose not to forgive when God
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has forgiven us. That upward spy was is chosen by
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choosing forgiveness, by letting go of anger, by saying no to
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bitterness, by saying Jesus, you can give me joy no matter what I
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walk through and no matter what I face.
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It says Jesus, your joy and I believe it.
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Life's not easy. Life's not all OK right now, but
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I know it's going to be all right.
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Jesus, I know you're with me. You see me, you know I'm waiting
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for you. I know no one's ever waited for
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you has ever been let down. So God, I can live with joy no
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matter the circumstances. If I just choose to trust you.
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You're in control, you're good. My circumstances aren't perfect,
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but I'm choosing Jesus, and Jesus is what?
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And Jesus is either joy or he's not.
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We just get to choose every time.
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Every time life throws something our way, we're either going to
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fight the good fight of faith, or we're going to fight it the
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way the devil wants us to fight. That always takes us out, which
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is the opposite of faith. It's unbelief, it's anger, it's
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bitterness, it's hardness of heart.
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I don't know which spiral you may be on.
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I don't know if you're on a spiral, you might be where
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you've never trusted Jesus for joy to begin with.
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And today's the day you've realized there's a gift that's
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been giving that you've never realized how much you need.
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I'm going to invite you to step out from where you are and come
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pray with me. Just say, Pastor Kyle, I need to
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receive the gift of Jesus for my salvation.
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Would you do that? You may be here and may be a
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believer, but right now you're on the downward spiral because
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you've just not trusted in the reality that Jesus is joy.
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No matter what you face, you're letting the world, the flesh,
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and the devil rob you of joy. And maybe you want to come get
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on your knees or come stand here, bring a friend or a spouse
35:14
or a family and just say God. God, we got to change direction.
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We're choosing to trust you. All's not OK.
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It may not be OK tomorrow, but I'm trusting to believe it's all
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going to be all right. Maybe you're on the upper spouse
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will know somebody who's not. You want to come pray for them,
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but listen, you can walk through the hardest things life has to
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offer. But if you know the savior who
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is joy, you can walk. You can walk different than
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everybody else on the planet does.
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And you know when you do, they're going to look at you
35:48
like you're weird because they don't know that math.
35:52
They don't know how that works. They they don't know how you can
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be full of joy and yet be going through what you're going
35:57
through. It doesn't make any sense and it
35:59
doesn't. It's supernatural, but Jesus is
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either joy or He's or He's not. You just got to make up your
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mind. You got to decide who you're
36:07
going to go to. So what's it going to be?
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It starts with Him. It continues by the good fight
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of faith in Him. Father, I pray that we would
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choose to believe that You are the joy that You offer the best
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news that's ever been given. We've heard it's the free gift
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to all who had received by faith.
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God, I pray for the person who's here today who's never received
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that gift, that by faith, today would be the day they'd have the
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boldness to step out and come. God, I pray for those who may be
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feeling far from you or wondering if waiting on you is
36:37
worth it. Today would be the day they
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decide by faith that you are joy no matter what, and they are
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going to stand in that joy and fight.
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By faith, the good fight, they keep trusting you God, flip that
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switch in our lives by the Holy Spirit and let the world witness
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and watch the joy that's found in you.
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And it's in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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Would you stand with me, church family, I'm going to invite you
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to come. You can get on your knees, you
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can come pray, you can stand. If you can't kneel, come talk to
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me. But you respond as Jesus leads
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you this morning.