Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Make Others Happy- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Online or in the overflow room, or on one of
- 0:03Speaker 1: our campuses, or right here in the Crown Ridge Auditorium.
- 0:06Speaker 1: We want to welcome you. We're so grateful that you're here.
- 0:09Speaker 1: Each week we pause as we begin the message and
- 0:12Speaker 1: offer a prayer on behalf of one of our partner churches.
- 0:15Speaker 1: Several churches in San Antonio and South Texas are partnering
- 0:19Speaker 1: with us as we study through this topical Bible. Believe
- 0:23Speaker 1: looking at the thirty Big Ideas, and this week we're
- 0:26Speaker 1: looking at the idea of joy, and we're happy and
- 0:30Speaker 1: joyful to be praying for this great church, Curry Creek Church,
- 0:35Speaker 1: John Free, great Senior Pastor, Let's join our hearts and
- 0:38Speaker 1: pray for this sister congregation. Lord, we offer a prayer
- 0:42Speaker 1: of blessing upon the Curry Creek Church, that you would
- 0:45Speaker 1: bless them as a minister to people in the area
- 0:48Speaker 1: of Bernie and around the hill country. Strengthen Pastor John
- 0:51Speaker 1: as he brings the word and leads the flock. Forgive
- 0:55Speaker 1: our speaker today. His sins are many and help us
- 0:58Speaker 1: to see Jesus just Jesus through Christ. We pray, and
- 1:02Speaker 1: all the church said, so we are continuing our study
- 1:06Speaker 1: of the big ideas of the Bible, turning the chapter
- 1:09Speaker 1: to the chapter of joy desperately needed topic. Wouldn't you agree?
- 1:15Speaker 1: Since we're discussing the theme of joy, I thought it
- 1:17Speaker 1: would be appropriate to assemble some experts and let them
- 1:21Speaker 1: give their testimonies. What is it about the joy of
- 2:14Speaker 1: a baby that causes us so much happiness? To see
- 2:17Speaker 1: how contagious that was? You should have seen your faces.
- 2:22Speaker 1: How long has it been since you felt that level
- 2:24Speaker 1: of joy? Maybe you say, oh, I feel that all
- 2:28Speaker 1: the time. If so, God bless you for the rest
- 2:32Speaker 1: of us. What happened? Where did it go? You might
- 2:37Speaker 1: think I used to feel that level of joy, but
- 2:40Speaker 1: then life took its toll. The disease took my health,
- 2:45Speaker 1: the economy took my job, the affair took my marriage,
- 2:51Speaker 1: the jerk took my heart, and I lost my joy.
- 2:58Speaker 1: Joy seems like such a fragile thing, doesn't it. It's
- 3:02Speaker 1: like a cloud that's here one day and then blown
- 3:04Speaker 1: away the next. Still we keep searching for it. Have
- 3:08Speaker 1: you ever noticed how marketing companies know that all of
- 3:13Speaker 1: us want joy? Every commercial, every advertisement promises joy. It's
- 3:21Speaker 1: not hard to be in marketing anymore because drive our car.
- 3:26Speaker 1: You'll be happy. That's all you do. Wear this dress,
- 3:30Speaker 1: you'll find joy. Use our hand cream, you'll find joy.
- 3:34Speaker 1: Everything promises joy. I even saw Preparation h commercial before
- 3:41Speaker 1: the guy had no joy. Afterwards he had a joy
- 3:45Speaker 1: filled face. Everyone promises joy, but who delivers? Who delivers?
- 3:53Speaker 1: Maybe you've heard the joke about the fella who was
- 3:56Speaker 1: trying to assemble the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle couldn't
- 4:00Speaker 1: get it to work. He called up a friend. He said, Bob,
- 4:02Speaker 1: I know you're great with jigsaw puzzles. Would you come
- 4:05Speaker 1: over here and help me? And Bob said, well, does
- 4:08Speaker 1: a jigsaw puzzle? Is there a cover? Is there a
- 4:10Speaker 1: picture on the box? The guy said yeah, well what's
- 4:14Speaker 1: the picture. It's a picture of a tiger. And Bob said,
- 4:17Speaker 1: you mean you can't get all those pieces together to
- 4:19Speaker 1: make it look like that tiger. And the guy said no,
- 4:22Speaker 1: I cannot. No matter what I do, I can't get
- 4:25Speaker 1: all the pieces to come together. So Bob said, okay,
- 4:28Speaker 1: I'll come over and drove over and he walked in
- 4:30Speaker 1: the house and walked in the room where all the
- 4:32Speaker 1: pieces were scattered on the table, and Bob looked at
- 4:34Speaker 1: his friend he said, well, I got two things to
- 4:37Speaker 1: say to you. Number one, I'll never be able and
- 4:40Speaker 1: you'll never be able to get these pieces to look
- 4:43Speaker 1: like that tiger, and number two put these frosted flakes
- 4:46Speaker 1: back in the box. We're trying to get the pieces
- 4:56Speaker 1: to fit, and when it comes to joy, it seems
- 5:01Speaker 1: like they just don't fit, and they don't look like
- 5:04Speaker 1: the picture of joy that we have in mind. It
- 5:09Speaker 1: might surprise you to know that God is interested in
- 5:12Speaker 1: you having joy. Just like a father would want his
- 5:16Speaker 1: children to be happy, God wants you to be happy.
- 5:20Speaker 1: That might surprise you. Many people assume that being a
- 5:23Speaker 1: Christian means being grim, or being solemn, or even being sad.
- 5:29Speaker 1: But I believe that God longs for us to experience
- 5:32Speaker 1: a deep seated, heavenly rooted joy. The question of this
- 5:39Speaker 1: weekend is a real relevant one. It's on page three
- 5:41Speaker 1: point fifty three in your Believed book, and it's this,
- 5:44Speaker 1: what gives true happiness and contentment in life? What does?
- 5:50Speaker 1: And the answer, according to the Bible is this, despite
- 5:54Speaker 1: my circumstances, I feel inner contentment, and I understand and
- 6:00Speaker 1: my purpose in life. Let's be clear, the joy that
- 6:06Speaker 1: God promises is not the same joy promised at the
- 6:09Speaker 1: shopping mall or in the shopping catalog. God is not
- 6:13Speaker 1: interested in putting a temporary smile on your face, but
- 6:17Speaker 1: he's very interested in depositing a wellspring of joy in
- 6:21Speaker 1: your heart. He has no interest in giving you a
- 6:25Speaker 1: shallow joy that melts at the first sign of adversity.
- 6:30Speaker 1: But he is very interested in giving you a joy
- 6:34Speaker 1: that anchored to something better, said, someone greater than yourself.
- 6:40Speaker 1: So this joy will last as long as you do.
- 6:44Speaker 1: The joy that God offers to us is a mixture
- 6:47Speaker 1: of peace and hope and belief. It's not just a
- 6:51Speaker 1: silly smirk that you see a religious shallow praise the
- 6:58Speaker 1: Lord anyway, added to dude that has no depth to it. No,
- 7:03Speaker 1: the joy of Jesus is authentic. Sometimes it causes you
- 7:08Speaker 1: to smile on the outside, but it always causes you
- 7:12Speaker 1: to smile on the inside. It creates a sense of peace.
- 7:17Speaker 1: It doesn't pretend there is no trouble in the world.
- 7:20Speaker 1: The joy of Jesus is not naivete, and it's really
- 7:23Speaker 1: not levity. The joy of Jesus still weeps at funerals.
- 7:29Speaker 1: The joy of Jesus still sighs at the side of disease.
- 7:34Speaker 1: The joy of Jesus still winces in the appearance of injustice,
- 7:40Speaker 1: and still flinches at the presence of evil. But the
- 7:44Speaker 1: joy of Jesus, it just doesn't throw in the towel.
- 7:49Speaker 1: It doesn't give up. It's a deep rooted, deep seated,
- 7:55Speaker 1: heaven based belief that there is a good God, and
- 8:00Speaker 1: this good God has a good plan. And this joy
- 8:05Speaker 1: that emerges is something that impacts and infects every part
- 8:11Speaker 1: of our lives. But this is the joy, this promise
- 8:14Speaker 1: by Jesus. Look at this promise. He said, I have
- 8:17Speaker 1: told you this so that my joy may be in you,
- 8:22Speaker 1: and that your joy may be complete. See, our joy
- 8:26Speaker 1: is incomplete. But Jesus promises to put his joy inside
- 8:31Speaker 1: of us and complete our joy. This is a lifelong process.
- 8:36Speaker 1: But the longer Christ is in us and the more
- 8:38Speaker 1: we lean into him, the consequence is more joy. Now
- 8:43Speaker 1: that's a pretty good offer, don't you think when you love,
- 8:46Speaker 1: to discover increasing levels of joy every day of your life.
- 8:51Speaker 1: And this is a joy that comes from Jesus. In fact,
- 8:55Speaker 1: the apostle Paul excuse me, calls joy a fruit of
- 9:00Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. When you look at the fruits of
- 9:03Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. This is fruit number two, the first
- 9:06Speaker 1: one we looked at last week. The fruit of the
- 9:09Speaker 1: Holy Spirit is love, and then joy, and then there
- 9:13Speaker 1: are several others. But joy happens as a consequence of
- 9:18Speaker 1: being attached to the Holy Spirit. If an orange tree
- 9:22Speaker 1: doesn't bear oranges, the orange tree doesn't just grimace and
- 9:26Speaker 1: say I gotta produce an orange. I gotta produce an orange.
- 9:30Speaker 1: Something is wrong in the connection of the orange tree
- 9:33Speaker 1: to the source of nutrients. And if you're going long
- 9:37Speaker 1: periods of time without joy, the solution is not to say.
- 9:41Speaker 2: I've got to be happy, Oh God, to be happy.
- 9:43Speaker 2: If it kills me, I'm going to be happy. The
- 9:47Speaker 2: solution is to check your connection to Christ. If joy
- 9:53Speaker 2: is indeed a supernatural gift of God, then joy happens
- 9:58Speaker 2: as our relation with God is strengthened and gross joy
- 10:04Speaker 2: is a natural consequence of being connected with Christ. It
- 10:09Speaker 2: is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it is
- 10:13Speaker 2: a fruit that God longs for us to have. The
- 10:17Speaker 2: Apostle Peter talks about this fruit of joy when he
- 10:20Speaker 2: wrote his epistle, and this passage is on page three
- 10:24Speaker 2: sixty seven in Your Believed book. If you want to
- 10:27Speaker 2: read it, or it's in one Peter Chapter one, verses
- 10:30Speaker 2: eight and nine, and Peter says, though you have not.
- 10:33Speaker 1: Seen him, you love him. Speaking of Jesus, even though
- 10:36Speaker 1: you do not see him. Now you believe in him
- 10:39Speaker 1: and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for
- 10:44Speaker 1: you are receiving the end result of your faith, the
- 10:48Speaker 1: salvation of your souls. Look at this inexpressible joy of Jesus.
- 10:53Speaker 1: I would suggest to you that first of all, this
- 10:55Speaker 1: joy is a courageous joy. It's a courageous These people
- 11:01Speaker 1: were faced with difficult circumstances. Look at their circumstances. Paul
- 11:06Speaker 1: was writing, God's chosen people who are away from their
- 11:10Speaker 1: homes and are scattered around the countries of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,
- 11:17Speaker 1: and Bethenia. These were persecuted Christians. They had been scattered,
- 11:24Speaker 1: They had been driven from their homes. They had lost
- 11:28Speaker 1: their homeland, they had lost their houses, they had lost
- 11:33Speaker 1: their possessions, they had lost their opportunity to be with
- 11:37Speaker 1: their family. But they had never lost their joy. Though
- 11:43Speaker 1: their circumstances were difficult, their joy was real. Why, Peter says,
- 11:49Speaker 1: I'm reading from a different translation, he said, you have
- 11:53Speaker 1: never seen Jesus, and you don't see him now, but
- 11:56Speaker 1: you love him and have faith in him. They had
- 12:00Speaker 1: lost everything, but they had not lost their joy because
- 12:03Speaker 1: they had not lost their Christ. They had lost everything,
- 12:08Speaker 1: but they had not lost their joy because they had
- 12:11Speaker 1: not lost their Christ. What about you? What has been
- 12:16Speaker 1: taken from you? Your health, your scholarship, your future, your house,
- 12:28Speaker 1: your career, your friends. Maybe you've buried someone you love.
- 12:36Speaker 1: When you buried someone you loved, did you bury your joy?
- 12:40Speaker 1: At the same time, life gets difficult, and sometimes it's
- 12:46Speaker 1: a challenge to hang on to our joy. But one
- 12:50Speaker 1: reason joy can slip away is because we substitute this
- 12:54Speaker 1: courageous joy for a contingent joy. Contingent joy says I'll
- 13:00Speaker 1: be happy if or I'll have joy as long, or
- 13:06Speaker 1: if only I had that, I would have joy. If
- 13:10Speaker 1: we could get a new house, I'd have joy. Or
- 13:12Speaker 1: if I could get a new spouse, I'd have joy.
- 13:19Speaker 1: Or if I were healthy again, if I could be healed.
- 13:23Speaker 1: Many times these are legitimate desires, but we're banking on
- 13:28Speaker 1: joy happening. If something happens, this is called contingent joy.
- 13:37Speaker 1: It's not courageous joy. Contingent joy depends upon the right circumstances.
- 13:43Speaker 1: Courageous joy depends upon the presence of Christ. Now, the
- 13:48Speaker 1: problem with contingent joy is that we can't control circumstances.
- 13:52Speaker 2: Right.
- 13:54Speaker 1: The problem with contingent joy is we cannot control circumstances.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Joy depends upon a circumstance where you're setting yourself up
- 14:04Speaker 1: for disappointment. I remember when I was in college. I
- 14:09Speaker 1: met this girl I knew my mom would love, so
- 14:12Speaker 1: I took her home to meet my mom. And Mom
- 14:14Speaker 1: didn't like her, so I took her back. I met
- 14:21Speaker 1: another girl. I knew mom would love her, so I
- 14:24Speaker 1: took her home to meet my mom. Mom didn't like her,
- 14:26Speaker 1: so I took her back. This went on for several months.
- 14:30Speaker 1: I went through a dormitory full of girls. Finally I
- 14:36Speaker 1: met a girl I knew my mom would love. She
- 14:39Speaker 1: looked just like my mom, she thought just like my mom,
- 14:43Speaker 1: she sounded just like my mom. So I took her home,
- 14:46Speaker 1: and my dad couldn't stand her, so I took her.
- 14:56Speaker 1: You see, you can't control how people respond, can you,
- 15:00Speaker 1: And as long as you're thinking I can control how
- 15:04Speaker 1: somebody responds to me. Or I can fix somebody, or
- 15:08Speaker 1: if I can get this circumstance the way I want it,
- 15:11Speaker 1: then I will have joy. If you'd allow me to
- 15:13Speaker 1: be so bold, I'll just say, you're setting yourself up
- 15:16Speaker 1: for a sour life. You're setting yourself up for a
- 15:21Speaker 1: sour life. You ever wonder why some people, when they
- 15:25Speaker 1: get to my age they look so sour. It's because
- 15:29Speaker 1: they have been disappointed and disappointed and disappointed and disappointed
- 15:34Speaker 1: because they've bought into the lie of contingent joy. Early
- 15:39Speaker 1: in their life, somebody said, now, you'll be happy if
- 15:41Speaker 1: you own that car, and they bought that car, and
- 15:43Speaker 1: they were happy, but then the car got old. They
- 15:47Speaker 1: got the idea of I could be happy if I
- 15:49Speaker 1: could marry that person. They married that person. That person
- 15:51Speaker 1: couldn't bring them joy. They bought into the idea that
- 15:55Speaker 1: if I could just get that career, get that business,
- 15:57Speaker 1: we could elect that president. If we could do that,
- 16:01Speaker 1: then joy would come. And consequently they get there only
- 16:06Speaker 1: to be what disappointed, let down, disappointed, let down, disappointed,
- 16:12Speaker 1: let down, And by the time they get to my age,
- 16:14Speaker 1: their gun shy, I'm not going to be disappointed again,
- 16:19Speaker 1: and their hearts get hard because they fear that they're
- 16:23Speaker 1: going to be disappointed again. Now contrasts that person with
- 16:29Speaker 1: a person who early in their life says, you know what,
- 16:32Speaker 1: I'm gonna build my joy on Jesus Christ. I'm gonna
- 16:36Speaker 1: trust him to forgive my sins. I'm gonna welcome the
- 16:39Speaker 1: Holy Spirit into my life. I'm gonna build my life
- 16:42Speaker 1: upon the promises of God, not the circumstances of life.
- 16:46Speaker 1: I'm gonna build my life upon God's promises, and I'm
- 16:49Speaker 1: gonna make it my aim. My aim is to know Him.
- 16:54Speaker 1: I know there's gonna be challenges. I know there's gonna
- 16:57Speaker 1: be difficulties. I know I can't control everybody in and
- 17:00Speaker 1: I can't fix everything, but as much as I can,
- 17:03Speaker 1: God being my helper, my goal is to know Him.
- 17:06Speaker 1: I tell you one thing, where that person gets to
- 17:09Speaker 1: be my age, they're gonna glow. That scal is gonna
- 17:12Speaker 1: be gone. But they're gonna glow not because they have
- 17:15Speaker 1: been free from problems or difficulties, just the opposite. Just
- 17:20Speaker 1: like anyone else, They've had their share, but what they
- 17:23Speaker 1: have had is a hope of security. They've anchored their
- 17:28Speaker 1: expectations to God and their expectations have not been dashed,
- 17:33Speaker 1: and just the opposite. They found that every time they
- 17:36Speaker 1: seek to find God, they find more of God, and
- 17:39Speaker 1: he's increasingly beautiful, and his grace never ends, and his
- 17:44Speaker 1: mystery of love is unfathomable. And they find themselves literally
- 17:49Speaker 1: walking in this Yosemite forest of God's goodness. Every step
- 17:54Speaker 1: unveils something else, and they realize it's going to take
- 17:57Speaker 1: an eternity to know this God. So they're not disappointed,
- 18:01Speaker 1: and consequently they have joy. Now let me see it again.
- 18:05Speaker 1: I'm not talking about some fake joy that pretends there
- 18:09Speaker 1: is no problem or pain in the world, but a
- 18:11Speaker 1: sincere joy. It's ballistic, it refuses, it's weather proof, it
- 18:17Speaker 1: gets wet, but it doesn't sink. It's a joy that
- 18:20Speaker 1: can weather the storms and the struggles of life. And
- 18:25Speaker 1: that's the kind of joy that Jesus had, And that's
- 18:28Speaker 1: the kind of joy that Jesus offers here. It is
- 18:30Speaker 1: in a sentence. Contingent joy depends upon circumstances. Courageous joy
- 18:38Speaker 1: depends upon Christ. So if your joy is dependent upon circumstances,
- 18:44Speaker 1: you'll set yourself up for disappointment. But if your joy
- 18:47Speaker 1: depends upon Christ, you'll never be devastated. You may struggle,
- 18:53Speaker 1: but you'll never be devastated. Can death take your joy well, No,
- 18:58Speaker 1: because Jesus is greater than death. Can failure take your joy? No,
- 19:04Speaker 1: because God's grace is sufficient for all of our sins.
- 19:09Speaker 1: Can betrayal take your joy well? No, because God has
- 19:13Speaker 1: promised that he would be with you even when people
- 19:16Speaker 1: are not. Can disappointment take your joy? It'll try, but
- 19:21Speaker 1: it can't take it because when you're disappointed in your
- 19:24Speaker 1: the world doesn't turn out the way you planned. You'll realize.
- 19:27Speaker 1: But God is sovereign and his plan is greater than mine.
- 19:31Speaker 1: You have these tools with which you can deal with
- 19:34Speaker 1: the challenge of life. Jesus gave you this promise. It's
- 19:38Speaker 1: an astounding promise. No one will take away your joy.
- 19:43Speaker 1: Isn't that great? You can stand on that today, say, well,
- 19:47Speaker 1: all right, it's possible for me to have a joy
- 19:50Speaker 1: that's going to outlive my life. And my joy can increase.
- 19:54Speaker 1: No one can take it away. Jesus said, in this
- 19:58Speaker 1: world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. Why,
- 20:04Speaker 1: because I've overcome the world. You'll have sadness, you'll have grief,
- 20:09Speaker 1: but Jesus promised even your grief will turn into joy.
- 20:15Speaker 1: This is courageous joy. And you know what happens if
- 20:20Speaker 1: you were to surrender your contingent joy and move into
- 20:26Speaker 1: courageous joy, That courageous joy becomes hang onto your hats,
- 20:33Speaker 1: contagious joy. Aren't I clever? Contagious joy? You develop a
- 20:42Speaker 1: case of joy that causes people to pick it up.
- 20:46Speaker 1: You're infectious. He's suffering from a case of joy, and
- 20:50Speaker 1: I think I picked some up off of it. It's
- 20:54Speaker 1: a contagious joy. It causes the joy level of your
- 20:58Speaker 1: house and your neighbor in your workplace to increase. How
- 21:02Speaker 1: many of you think our world could use a little
- 21:04Speaker 1: more joy? How many have you ever been on an
- 21:06Speaker 1: airplane full of grumpy people? How many have you ever
- 21:11Speaker 1: been in a workplace where nobody wants to be there?
- 21:14Speaker 1: Don't you appreciate somebody who doesn't seem sucked in to
- 21:21Speaker 1: the quicksand of despair, and who has found a way
- 21:27Speaker 1: to radiate some joy, to at least be a candle
- 21:31Speaker 1: in a dark, dark world. I believe you'd like to
- 21:35Speaker 1: be that person. I know I would. This is the
- 21:40Speaker 1: kind of joy that was seen in the New Testament Church.
- 21:45Speaker 1: The scripture says about the New Testament Christians, the first Christians,
- 21:49Speaker 1: they ate together in their homes, happy to share their
- 21:53Speaker 1: food with joyful hearts. Look at that joyful hearts they
- 21:59Speaker 1: praise God. I love this. They were liked by all people.
- 22:04Speaker 1: Sometimes I think we're beginning to think that being a
- 22:06Speaker 1: Christian means being grim, or being angry, or being perpetually
- 22:12Speaker 1: ticked off, sour, victimized. But here the first Christians were
- 22:22Speaker 1: liked by all people. May God bring that about today.
- 22:28Speaker 1: May God create within us a spirit of joy that
- 22:32Speaker 1: is so contagious and so infectious that we are liked
- 22:37Speaker 1: by all people. I'm real excited about our new sanctuaries
- 22:42Speaker 1: that we're building in the Outer West and at Crown Ridge.
- 22:45Speaker 1: I'm really thankful about the new campuses we're developing. I'm
- 22:50Speaker 1: really grateful for our programs. I think we're right on track.
- 22:53Speaker 1: But can I just say new buildings, new programs, and
- 22:56Speaker 1: preachers will not change the world, right. I Mean, there's
- 23:01Speaker 1: a European continent full of wonderful buildings, but many of
- 23:06Speaker 1: those cathedrals are empty of joy. Doesn't do anything to
- 23:11Speaker 1: build a beautiful sanctuary. What changes the world are joyful people.
- 23:17Speaker 1: Joyful people. I want to enlist you to be a
- 23:22Speaker 1: person of joy, to catch a case of joy, to
- 23:27Speaker 1: bring contagious joy into your workplace. I close with three
- 23:31Speaker 1: ideas ABC, the ABC's of Joy. First, would you assess
- 23:37Speaker 1: your joy level? Just take a look, take your pulse,
- 23:40Speaker 1: Take your joy pulse. Maybe you're hearing this message and saying,
- 23:46Speaker 1: you know what. I think you're right, Max. I've settled
- 23:49Speaker 1: into a case of the doldrums and it's been a
- 23:53Speaker 1: while since I had some joy. And I realize I'm
- 23:57Speaker 1: speaking to some of you for whom joy is. It's
- 24:00Speaker 1: a forgotten emotion because you battle what may be the
- 24:05Speaker 1: most difficult of mental conditions. You battle depression, and I'm
- 24:10Speaker 1: not wanting to make light of it, and I'm not
- 24:13Speaker 1: wanting to say that you do this and immediately it's
- 24:17Speaker 1: going to disappear. I've found in working with people that
- 24:21Speaker 1: depression is a real struggle. We in our own family
- 24:27Speaker 1: have experienced depression. If you've ever heard my wife Dina
- 24:30Speaker 1: and tell her story, she'll tell you about the season
- 24:34Speaker 1: in her life in which every day seemed dark. There
- 24:37Speaker 1: seemed to be a gray cloud over her and her
- 24:40Speaker 1: attitude no matter what our children were small kindergarten kindergarten diapers,
- 24:48Speaker 1: and I was traveling way too much, leaving her with
- 24:51Speaker 1: a lot of responsibilities, and this cloud of sadness just
- 24:55Speaker 1: seemed to settle over her. That's hard for anybody, it's
- 25:01Speaker 1: especially hard if you're the preacher's wife, right. But Dneland,
- 25:06Speaker 1: to her credit, has never been one to put on
- 25:10Speaker 1: a make belief face. And so one Sunday she just
- 25:14Speaker 1: decided she was gonna shoot straight with people. This has
- 25:18Speaker 1: been many years. It wasn't at this building. Is that
- 25:21Speaker 1: a different one? But she showed up for church one
- 25:23Speaker 1: Sunday resolved. All right, you asked me how I'm doing,
- 25:26Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you I was already at the building.
- 25:31Speaker 1: So she got the three girls out of the car
- 25:33Speaker 1: and was walking them all up to the church building,
- 25:36Speaker 1: and a lady came up to the first unsuspecting victim.
- 25:40Speaker 1: Came up to her said Denelon, how are you doing?
- 25:45Speaker 1: And Denlon said, I'm sad, I'm depressed. I need some help.
- 25:52Speaker 1: That turned into a very meaningful conversation. The next person
- 25:56Speaker 1: Dinelon saw said Deela, and how are you doing? She said, well,
- 26:00Speaker 1: you know, to be honest, I'm not doing well. I'm sad,
- 26:03Speaker 1: I'm depressed. I need some help. That turned into a
- 26:08Speaker 1: meaningful conversation. This went on all morning. By the end
- 26:13Speaker 1: of the day, Delon had had more than a dozen
- 26:17Speaker 1: heartfelt conversations with people she found surprisingly sympathetic. In fact,
- 26:26Speaker 1: a couple maybe three or four said, I've been down
- 26:29Speaker 1: that road. I know it's like to be a young mom.
- 26:33Speaker 1: Here's what I did, here's what helped me. Now, Denelon,
- 26:41Speaker 1: I'm telling the story with her permission, would say, I
- 26:45Speaker 1: wasn't healed that day, but my healing began that day.
- 26:52Speaker 1: And I think what happened is she began to see
- 26:55Speaker 1: that joy was an option. We can get so overwhelmed
- 27:00Speaker 1: by sadness that we assume that sadness is our new normal. Right.
- 27:06Speaker 1: That's why after you assess your joy level, I think
- 27:10Speaker 1: it's important to be believe the joy is possible. Believe
- 27:16Speaker 1: that joy is possible, Believe that joy is an option.
- 27:19Speaker 1: Don't get sucked in to sadness, defy despair, stand up
- 27:24Speaker 1: against it. Say well, all right, i know I'm not
- 27:26Speaker 1: where I should be, but I believe that God is
- 27:28Speaker 1: greater and I'm going to stand on his promises. He
- 27:32Speaker 1: has promised that he's gonna put joy in my heart.
- 27:35Speaker 1: He has said that joy is a fruit of the
- 27:39Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. I've said yes to Jesus. He's in my heart.
- 27:43Speaker 1: I'm being led and I'm in dwelt by the Holy Spirit.
- 27:46Speaker 1: So I believe that joy is gonna happen. This is
- 27:49Speaker 1: a storm, it's a tough time, but storms always end,
- 27:53Speaker 1: and I'm looking toward the day that my joy is restored.
- 27:57Speaker 1: King David once prayed, Lord, restore to me the joy
- 28:01Speaker 1: of my salvation, and God will do the same for you.
- 28:05Speaker 1: Would you believe that, then, lastly, just call out to God.
- 28:11Speaker 1: Call out to God again. If joy is indeed a
- 28:15Speaker 1: fruit of the Holy Spirit, and if you are a
- 28:18Speaker 1: child of God, and if He desires that you have joy,
- 28:21Speaker 1: then doesn't it make sense that you ask him He's
- 28:23Speaker 1: going to give it. Call out to your heavenly Father.
- 28:27Speaker 1: Believe this. He loves you. He loves you, and He's
- 28:34Speaker 1: got a great plan for you. And there's a real devil,
- 28:37Speaker 1: and that devil wants to take your joy. So you
- 28:40Speaker 1: call out to Christ and you just expect and believe
- 28:44Speaker 1: by faith that prayer is going to be answered. Amen. Contingent, courageous, contagious.
- 28:55Speaker 1: May you move from contingent joy into contagious joy. Thank
- 28:59Speaker 1: you Lord, for you're teaching for this promise that we're
- 29:02Speaker 1: so hungry to receive. We bless you now in Jesus' name,
- 29:07Speaker 1: and all the church said Amen.
- 30:03Speaker 3: And loving you alone feels so beautiful, and yet it
- 31:59Speaker 3: hurts the most.
- 32:04Speaker 4: You became my quiet sunrise, the dream I never dared
- 32:09Speaker 4: to say.
- 32:11Speaker 1: Every smile you gave.
- 32:13Speaker 4: So freely took my breath a little away. I held
- 32:19Speaker 4: this love like fragile glass, so precious, soft and true,
- 32:25Speaker 4: but every being inside my heart was only reaching out
- 32:30Speaker 4: to you.
- 32:32Speaker 1: And spoken.
- 32:33Speaker 5: Love is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain,
- 32:40Speaker 5: A tender whole by all so sadly while it slowly
- 32:45Speaker 5: breaks me. Loving you from just one side now leave
- 32:51Speaker 5: my soul in silent blue.
- 32:54Speaker 4: Because the deeper that I fall along.
- 32:58Speaker 3: The lonelier I do.
- 33:03Speaker 4: I can blame my heart for choosing someone it could
- 33:08Speaker 4: never keep, so I smiled through hidden heartache.
- 33:13Speaker 5: Hell, love you quietly spoke in. Love is sweet and painful.
- 33:21Speaker 5: I can't even mixed with rain.
- 33:24Speaker 4: That's end, the whole pile.
- 33:26Speaker 5: So tightly walid slowly breaks me, loving you from just
- 33:33Speaker 5: one side. Now leave my soul in silent blue, because
- 33:38Speaker 5: the deeper that I fall alone, the lonely I do.
- 34:01Speaker 5: Maybe loving you in silence.
- 34:05Speaker 4: It's the closest darkista.
- 34:08Speaker 5: Though, leaves behind the sorrow that may never fast away.
- 34:18Speaker 5: Spoken love is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain,
- 34:26Speaker 5: A tender, whole, vilel so tightly Wald slowly breaks me
- 34:32Speaker 5: loving you from just one side. Now leave my soul
- 34:37Speaker 5: in silence, Loo, because the deeper that I follow love
- 34:45Speaker 5: the loly her to
- 35:00Speaker 1: Yeah,