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Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

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questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

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and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

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pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

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for the life we're searching for. We are so glad that you're with us this morning.

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I hope that you have your Bible with you. And please take them and turn to the book

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of Philippians this morning, Philippians chapter four, verse four today. And by the way, we

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have Bibles at the doorways. If someone comes in, doesn't have a Bible with you, you forgot

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it or you don't have one, please take one of those and we'll be using those Bibles to

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be in the same translation as what I use, which is the New American Standard 1995. So

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we encourage you to use that if you want. If you don't have a Bible, take that home

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with you and we'd love for you to have it at your home too.

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Alright, Philippians chapter four, verse four today. I'm going to give you an overview of

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the book of Philippians in anticipation of starting next week, walking through the book

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of Philippians over the next number of months. There'll be at least four series in the book

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of Philippians. There are four chapters in the book of Philippians. And really the overarching

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theme of this entire book is what we'll focus on today. And I call this the secrets of joy,

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the secrets of joy. We're going to look at one verse in chapter four for just a few moments

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as a focus point to look at the whole book and the whole letter and we'll tell you more

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about that this week and next week as well. We're in for a journey, a journey for joy,

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a journey to understand what it means to live a life filled with joy. How many of you could

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use a little bit more joy? Would you say amen? Most of us could use a little bit more joy.

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Well what if I told you that the Bible promises, Jesus promises that your life can be full

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of joy. Not a little bit more, but full of joy. And what the secrets of joy are are found

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in Philippians and we'll begin in chapter four. Please stand with me as we read this

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one verse, Philippians chapter four, beginning in verse four. Philippians chapter four, verse

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four. This is a command from Paul to the church at Philippi. It's an unusual, unusual phrase,

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unusual phrase because it's the command to do something that is not simply done. You

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have to have the message of the whole book to be able to obey this command from the apostles

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of Paul. Something else you might know is that when Paul wrote this letter to the church

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at Philippi, he's writing from a prison cell. And he's writing a book about joy. Isn't that

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amazing? I mean most people don't write books about joy from a prison cell. This guy was

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doing something different. He had a different kind of definition and a different way of

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getting joy. And here's what he says in chapter four, verse four. He says, rejoice in the

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Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. I'm going to say that again. I know it's a complicated

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verse, but I'm going to read it one more time. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will

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say rejoice. If you can walk away knowing what that means today, that's a great day.

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Father, in Jesus' name, help us to understand this command and why it's possible and how

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Paul could say it. Help us, Father, to see how this applies to our lives today. We ask

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this in Jesus' name. And everyone said amen. Please be seated if you would.

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A lot of people on the quest for joy today. A hundred million people will turn the television

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on at 5.30 this afternoon to try to find football joy. A hundred million people. And about half

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of them will not find the joy that they want. If you're a Chiefs fan and you don't win,

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you're not going to have football joy. If you're a 49ers fan and your team doesn't

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win, you're not going to have football joy. There are 8.5 million Dallas Cowboys fans

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and they're not going to have any football joy at all today. People are looking for joy

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and they'll look for it just about anywhere, but even in this game. $23 billion worth of

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bets are going to be placed today on this football game. And most of the people that

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put their money down have no idea what it takes to win a football game. They'll bet

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on the color of the uniforms or something, but they won't likely win a lot of money.

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Madden's NFL 24 football simulator has the Chiefs winning the game 30-24. And if you're

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a Madden NFL fan on the computer simulator game, then maybe you go that way. And before

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the game takes place, if you're watching, you'll notice that there will be three or

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four former football players or coaches that give the keys to winning for the Chiefs and

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then the keys to winning for the 49ers. And then the game will be played and we'll find

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out what really happens. Also today, there are billions of people looking for joy in

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their life as he proceeds anything from a football game. They just want to know how

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to have joy in their life internally, personally, or with their family or those around them.

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So they're going to bet careers, relationships. They're going to bet actions and decisions

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in such a way where they hope that they can end up with joy. But it's going to be elusive

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to them because most people on this planet do not know how to find joy. Even though they're

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on a quest for joy, a journey for joy, people just want joy. And they make a mistake of

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thinking, well, if I can be happy, then that's the same thing as having joy. In America today,

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we get happy by season, sometimes by events or by purchases. We're happy for a little

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while with the latest purchase and then we have to get another one to keep that happiness

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going and another one to keep that happiness going. Very surface level happiness has nothing

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to do with real joy in the heart that transcends everything else that Paul is talking about.

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Not the kind of thing that you'll write about from a prison cell and say, hey, here's how

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to be happy in a prison cell. Pretty sure Paul wasn't happy about the food choices in

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the prison. Pretty sure he wasn't happy with how people were treating him in the prison.

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But in spite of all that, Paul, in spite of those circumstances, unhappy circumstances,

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wrote a book on joy that stands at the hallmark for Christians today. We can know what it

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means to have joy in spite of all kinds of different circumstances. So what is joy? Joy

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is a God-given gladness of heart, a God-given gladness of heart. The ability to find joy

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even in the most difficult times of life is the fruit of the Spirit, the product of the

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Holy Spirit working in our life. It should be the hallmark of the Christian life. We

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should have joy in our life even when things don't seem to be going well. John Piper made

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this statement. He said, joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Spirit. I'd often

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like to use the word feeling because feelings are so transient. They're here one moment,

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they're gone the next. We could change feelings just in the spark of a moment or a change

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of a circumstance. But the good feeling in the soul produced by the Spirit of God that

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says in your mind, will and emotions, you're moving in the right way. And that kind of

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joy that he speaks of, John Piper speaks of, it's the same kind of thing that Paul is talking

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about. If you read all four chapters of the book of Philippians, which I'm sure most of

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you will do this next week, right? You read all four chapters of the book of Philippians,

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you're going to find the word joy mentioned 14 different times. And in those 14 different

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times, he points to various aspects of joy that are going to be at work in our lives.

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This last year, we stood over the excavated prison area in Caesarea by the Sea over in

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Israel. And we don't know exactly which prison Paul wrote from when he wrote this letter

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to Philippi, but it could have been a Roman prison in Rome or it could have been there

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at Caesarea by the Sea. And I just look at that excavated prison and heard that guy say,

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it's possible that Paul wrote this letter from this little cave in the ground, so to

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speak. And I was just thinking, I know the message of Philippians. I know what joy he's

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talking about here, but it's hard for me to fathom as a 21st century Western-ized American

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to see joy in that hole in the ground, in that primitive place of punishment. It's hard

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for me to fathom how he can so confidently write about joy. And then I take a step back

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and realize, oh, I know why, because the author of joy, Jesus, is what was dominating his

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life and we'll eventually get to that as well.

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So here's amazing, an amazing letter, a letter that also includes Paul's weeping at the reality

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of his enemies. He's talking about being hungry and suffering need. He's talking about having

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physical affliction. He's been lonely. He's been misunderstood, but he writes a letter

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about joy. And maybe Paul does this because he remembered the Lord's words in John chapter

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15. John 15 is the abide chapter where Jesus is teaching his disciples what it means to

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remain in him or abide in him, abide in me and I in you. And you are the brunch, I'm

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the vine, you're the brunches apart from me. You can do nothing, you can bear no fruit

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without me. And then in chapter 15 verse 11, he says, these things I've spoken to you,

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these abiding things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may

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be made for. This is none other than Jesus Christ. This is not a secondary level teacher.

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This is the primary teacher that we look to, God in the flesh. I say all these things about

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this relationship I have with you so that your joy can be made for. You can have my

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joy and your joy is going to be made for. So today I want you to take a little journey

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with me as we kind of take a jet flight over the book of Philippians. We'll come back and

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we'll look chapter by chapter and verse by verse at all the many details, but let's take

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this jet flight over, let's take a few moments and look at the secrets of joy. And you'll

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find them as the book of Philippians unfolds. So first of all, what are the secrets of joy

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that you're going to have to have according to Paul is, it's going to be determined by

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who you surround yourself with. Who you surround yourself with is going to be a key component

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of joy. Relationships are a key component of joy. Paul opens up in chapter one, beginning

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in verse three and says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering

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prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all in view of your participation in the gospel

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from this first day until now. So Paul is looking at them as people who are following

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Christ as those who have responded to the gospel, his spiritual family and says to them,

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I'm finding my joy in you. I'm finding all kinds of joy, even as I pray for you, I pray

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for you with joy because I see God at work in your life. Who you surround yourself with

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is a component. Of the 14 times Paul mentions joy in the book of Philippians, one of them

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was related directly and only to prayer. Three of them were related to the next phrase, which

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says in the Lord, obviously connected to Jesus, 10 of them were directly connected to people.

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In other words, his joy, as he expressed it in the book of Philippians, was joy because

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of the lives of others around him. Joy in his spiritual family, joy in the church of

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Jesus Christ. I'm very well aware of when I preach and I use the word church, it's a

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trigger word for a lot of people. Sometimes the word church is a great word and people

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have all kinds of connotations that are positive and optimistic and exciting about the word

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church. So I'm kind of in that camp because I've had great experiences in churches over

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the years and I've had phenomenal people in the churches that have raised up, challenged

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me, loved me, encouraged me and all those other things. But I also know that there are

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people in this place today that the word church doesn't exactly mean just that. Sometimes

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it's connected to some negative things. People have hurt you in church. People have disappointed

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you in church. You've been disillusioned by church things. And sometimes that's because

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of the church as an organization. Now this is early in the church history. This is as

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genuine and as authentic as you can get and Paul is writing to the church saying, because

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of the common relationship and the common faith we have in Jesus Christ, my joy in you

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and because of you is overwhelming. He was talking about them as spiritual family, not

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formal, organized church membership, even though those two things are sometimes, sometimes

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synonymous. But it was the number one mention. Some of you in this room are people persons,

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right? Some of you in this room are not people persons. But people are important to your

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life. God has placed you among a people. He did that in the Old Testament, the tribes

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of Israel, the people of God. And in the New Testament, he's raised up a new group of people

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called the Church of Jesus Christ. And they're your tribe. They're the people that you need

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to surround yourself with. And according to Paul, the people from which joy will come

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from. You know, the truth is you may find more in common with your spiritual family

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than you do your biological family or your physical family or your marital family. And

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by design, God has given us a spiritual family that helps us have a joy in life when maybe

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nothing else has given us joy. Somebody's clapping back there. Everybody ought to be

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clapping back there. God has given us provision for that. And when we're disappointed and

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hurt and heartbroken because of the ongoing personal relationships that we have, there's

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a place called the church which is designed to give you joy. According to Paul, he was

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often disappointed, often neglected, often stabbed in the back. Joy was there. You know,

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in Paul's writings, we find no evidence of a spouse or his mother or his father or biological

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children. But all through his letters, he mentions being a spiritual father. He mentioned

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acting like a spiritual mother, nurturing like a mother. He talks about his brothers

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and sisters in Christ. Your gospel family is so important to you and to the level of

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joy in your life. The Bible calls us the family of God. It calls us the army of God, the body

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of Christ, the living stones. We are the royal priesthood. We are the temple of God, all

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those things. But none of those is any more important than being members of the body of

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Christ as a family of God. I like the word tribe because the tribe says basically we

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have something in common. We walk in a common direction and it's those things right there

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that help us see the power of the church to bring us joy. And you know, I probably am

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supposed to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway, even though I'm supposed to, I'm

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going to say it. We have a group of guys in our church. They're called deacons. And sometimes

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pastors don't talk favorably about deacons meetings, but we've got the best deacons on

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the planet. I'm pretty sure we do. And we met yesterday and yes, clap hands. I mean,

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those are deacons clapping right now. Those are all those deacons are clapping. They're

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amazing. 60, 70 of them met yesterday morning. We talked about the Lord's Supper and other

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things, but much of their conversation has to do with how do we take care of our body?

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How do we care for widows? How do we make sure their needs are taken care of? How do

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we make sure that our staff is supportive? How do we make sure that the gospel is advanced?

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How do we do that? And we'll do whatever it takes to do that. Now we meet at seven o'clock

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on Saturday mornings. I just say this, if you're going to meet with somebody at seven

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o'clock on Saturday morning, they ought to be your favorite people or just don't meet

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with them at all. Those guys get up at seven o'clock or earlier than that, be there at

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seven o'clock on Saturday morning. And I watched all this meeting stuff unfold, all this conversation

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take place. And I just took a step back and say, Lord, thank you for letting me be among

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a group of brothers that want to see you glorified in the church and that the gospel would go

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to the ends of the earth from this place right here. Thank you that you let me see that.

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I'm not saying that because I'm supposed to, I'm saying that as an illustration of this

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band of brothers that we have in the body of Christ, deacons or anyone else that walks

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with you through life in ways that maybe nobody else will. Look down in chapter one, verse

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six of Philippians. Paul writes a verse that most of us are very, very familiar with. He

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says, for I'm confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you, that

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word you is plural by the way, will perfect it into the day of Christ Jesus. Now I can

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pronounce that in Greek, but I'd rather pronounce it in Texan here. For I'm confident of this

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very thing that he that began a good work in you all will perfect it until the day of

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Christ Jesus. Why is that important? Why is that plural noun important? It's important

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because it says God is going to complete his work through everybody around you as well

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as in you. He that began a good work in you all will complete it until the day of Christ

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Jesus. Others are important to my spiritual growth. Others are important to challenge

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me. Others are important to help me be selfless instead of selfish. Part of your joy level

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is going to come about because of the people that you surround yourself with. Your greatest

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allies, your greatest accountability partners, your greatest friends, your greatest prayer

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warriors will be in the church. They're not perfect. Somebody say amen. Church isn't perfect.

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Amen? You're not perfect. I'm not perfect. We're not perfect. Jesus is perfect, but we

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are family. We are family. Be the family to others. Let me just tell you today, you'll

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find more agreement, more common conviction, more common hope, more common ways to live

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in your spiritual family than you probably will in any other group of people on the planet.

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People are looking for a place to belong. Well, the believers in Jesus Christ belong

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in the church of Jesus Christ. That's where they belong. That's what God has raised up

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the church to do. So number one, you're going to find joy based on who you surround yourself

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with. Secondly, Paul talks about this. Joy comes from what you find to do. What you find

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to do. Look in chapter two, verse three. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,

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but with humility of mind. Regard one another as more important than yourselves. I've highlighted

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those words, very important words there. Regard one another as more important than yourself.

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Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

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If you're taking notes, here's the line you want to write down. Joy is found in selfless

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serving. Selfless serving. Now Paul is a spiritual father. He sees himself as a spiritual father

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over many spiritual children. He basically said that his joy is made complete by his

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spiritual family working in harmony with one another and with God. In addition to that,

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their great joy will also be found there. Got a lot of parents in the room. You know

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sometimes parents of kids can see their kids not getting along and I don't know anything

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that aggravates a parent more than seeing their kids not getting along, right? And so

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it becomes a quest that, and a prayer request that God help my kids get along with each

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other. And if they don't do it by the time they get out of the house, at least let them

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get along with each other in adulthood, right? Please God. Now those are some of the prayers

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that move mountains right there, I tell you. We have six kids, you've heard my story,

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and enough times to know. We took lots of vacations and six kids were in the back of

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the suburban. I'm telling you, we used every strategy known to mankind to get them to get

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along on vacation. And sometimes it worked and often it didn't. I pulled off the road,

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off the side of the road several times most trips, restore order, you know. The long arm

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of the law, you know what I'm talking about? You know, you've been there. But one of our

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prayer requests as parents was Lord let them get along. And it wasn't just a desperate

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prayer but it was a prayer that said at some point in the future Lord could you give us

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that prayer request. Now they're all adults now which means I don't pay anybody else's

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cell phone bill, I'm really happy about that. But all adults. And one of the proudest things

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I have of my kids is they get along like champions. It's amazing. God has answered our prayer

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request for that. It gives me joy to know that when one of them is hurting, all of them

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are hurting for them. And when one of them moves from one house to another, they all

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show up to help. And I find an easy boy and iced tea and I watch it unfold with great

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joy. I don't have to do that work anymore because they get along, because they're together,

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because they care for each other. Now that's true of my biological family but what must

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you think that God thinks when his spiritual children get along and walk together and work

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together and care for one another selflessly. It's a big deal. And you find joy in that

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selfless living. Catch this thing. Selfless living is a key to joy in part because self

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is insatiable. Have you ever figured that out? That when you view life just through

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your lens, just for you, life is insatiable. You cannot feel that chasm, that gulf inside

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of you. You can't feel that hole. And you'll never be able to but you're always trying

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to. When your own self or pleasure is on the throne, you can become inward, egotistical,

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malicious to others, controlling. You want everything your way. There's little joy because

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the world doesn't actually revolve around you. Some of you might need to think about

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that for a minute. The world does not revolve around you. You never have, never will, never

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can and yet you live like it does. And at the extreme end of all that selfishness is

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narcissism and sociopathic behavior and we see this running wild all around us. But there's

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something greater to live for than self, isn't there? Now when you realize that something

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greater to live for, you begin to find the avenue, the capacity for joy. And of course

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the greatest example of this is Jesus. Paul tells us that that was the greatest example

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of it. In chapter two verse five, if you'll look at that verse, he says, have this attitude

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in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus who although he existed in the form of God,

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did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped. Now catch this next line, highlight

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these words, underline them, put a star next to them, whatever you do with your Bible,

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but emptied himself taking the form of a bond servant. Now this is an attention getting

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statement for me. When God walked among us, he showed us how to live selflessly, the God

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of the universe. If the universe needs to revolve around anyone, it's God. But Jesus

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came and demonstrated that he had the capacity to love others sacrificially and emptied himself.

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You know, part of joy is emptying yourself of self so there'll be room for joy. Emptying

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yourself of self so there'll be room for others. Jesus later on in his ministry in Matthew

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chapter 20 was teaching his disciples about leadership and he said, whoever wishes to

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become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you shall

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be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to

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give his life a ransom for many. We quote that a lot, we're thankful for that because

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that means Jesus was willing to die on the cross for us to give us eternal life through

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the forgiveness of sin. But I want you to see this verse in another way. I want you

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to see it in the light of the fact you're made in his image, you're designed by him

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and wired by him to do that very same thing. To be able to love others, look out for others,

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care for others, and when you do that, joy happens. And sometimes you find joy through

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helping other people, other creatures, other things, other causes. At times we associate

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this selfless kind of living with biological family relationships like marriage or family

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and children or other significant relationships. And it's true, if you're in a relationship

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with somebody else, another human being, you've got to be more selfless to succeed in that

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relationship. When I got married 45 years ago, I learned how selfish I was before I got

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married. I only thought about myself. My wife confirmed that when she said, you don't know

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how selfish you are until you got married. Just kind of a tongue in cheek joke there.

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But when you're not far into marriage, you realize it can't just be about you. It doesn't

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work like that. When you have children, you realize you can be pretty selfish and they

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can too. And sometimes it's the existence of those relationships that help you know

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how selfless you need to be serving others, whether it's in your family or whether it's

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in the church, wherever it may be. It matures us, it grows us, it helps us. What you do

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in your everyday life can give you the capacity for immeasurable joy because you've emptied

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yourself of yourself. There's a secret in finding joy and that is in serving others.

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That's number two. Thirdly, Paul emphasizes another avenue of joy and that is how you

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view your purpose in life. How you view your purpose in life. And I want you to jump to

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chapter three, verse 12, another one of those great quotable verses that so many of us know

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about. He says, I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold

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of by Christ Jesus. Now the word here is gripped or grasped. So Paul is talking about gripped

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hold of something and being gripped by something. The word was actually first used to describe

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the grasping of the trophy at the end of the public games. Somebody wins a race, they grasp

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the prize. But he uses it not in the sense of winning the race, but running the race.

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So Paul's description is, you need to learn to run a race and grasp the prize. He says,

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Paul's description is, you need to learn to run a race and grasp the purpose for which

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God has created you. Now at the end of the day today, the Super Bowl champion will hoist

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a Lombardi trophy over their head. They're going to grab it, pass it on to the next guy

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and pass it on to the next guy until everybody has held that trophy. But that's the exact

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idea here. The idea is God has a purpose and plan for your life and when you discover that,

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you grab hold of that which you were laid hold of by God, by Christ. And that basically

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says of course that you have a purpose in life. You have a God given purpose that's

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behind all he's doing in your life and joy is found in that journey. Let me just pause

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for a second. All that God is doing in your life is not necessarily happy kinds of things.

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All that God is doing in your life sometimes involves pain and heartbreak and difficulty

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and tragedy. All that God is doing or allowing to happen in your life is not easy. But all

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that contributes at some point to the joy of knowing his purpose for your life. Sometimes

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you find that purpose altered a bit this way or that way but always in line with him and

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his timing. But I want you to know if you're listening to this message today about secrets

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to joy and you don't have joy and you've got disastrous destructive circumstances in

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your life, that doesn't mean that joy is not coming. And that doesn't mean that that joy

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is not possible. You've got to remember that God shapes your life in such a way to help

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you find purpose and to help you find joy even in the hard time. That's why a man in

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a prison cell in a pit in the ground could write about joy because that's the God we

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had. So you're going to find joy in the purpose that you have in life. You remember the movie

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Chariots of Fire? It's a 1991 movie. There are probably 13 people in the room that were

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alive in 1991. How many of you know Chariots of Fire? Raise your hand. Okay. There's several.

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There's several of you. Great great great great movie. All kinds of great scenes and

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quotes in there. It's based on two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics. Eric Little,

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a devout Scottish Christian who ran for the glory of God and Harold Abrahams who was running

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to highlight and overcome prejudice as he was an Englishman who was a Jew. And when

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they asked Eric Little why was he running? Why do you run? Why are you so possessed by

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running? And he said this. It's a memorable line. He said, I believe God made me for a

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purpose but he also made me fast and when I run I feel his pleasure. Have you heard that

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line before? Raise your hand if you've heard that line before. When I run I feel his pleasure.

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I connect with that line. Now God did not make me fast. When I run I do not feel his

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pleasure when I run. But there are other things that God does in my life that I feel his pleasure

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when I do those things. And what he's trying to communicate is I found my purpose. I figured

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out why I'm on the planet. I know God is going to use me for a lot of different things but

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one of those happens to be running at this particular point in my life. It's a great

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story, great movie, great line but the bottom line is it simply illustrates the fact that

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you've been laid hold of for a purpose by Christ Jesus. And he may have laid hold of

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you for a purposeful gift that he's put in your life or a passion or a zeal, a skill

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set or a talent, a relationship that you have or a season of helping someone else through

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something that they're going through, whatever it might be. It has wide application. I couldn't

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possibly name all the things that God intends by this line but what he does intend is for

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you to find the purpose for which he laid hold of you and thrive in it and find joy

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in it. Wow. Wow. How you view your purpose in life. And number four, lastly, the most

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important one, the one upon which all these other secrets hinge, why you can have joy.

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So by the time Paul gets to chapter four, verse four, he's making these short statements

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that have loads of meaning in them. Rejoice in the Lord always again, I will say rejoice.

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So you see what rejoice is followed by is the phrase in the Lord. He doesn't say rejoice,

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I'm telling you, just rejoice. But he says rejoice in the Lord always and again rejoice.

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If you read on to verse five of chapter four, he says the Lord is near. And if you go on

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to chapter four, verse nine, he says the God of peace will be with you. In other words,

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your joy is going to be determined by the presence of God in your life. That's why this

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joy exceeds anything the world can offer. It's way above happiness, way above circumstantial

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fun. It really is about the presence of God in your life. His life gives you joy. Listen

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to me. If you're not finding joy in the life of Christ, slow down a little bit. Draw a

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little bit more close to him and find the joy in him. If your life is so hectic, so

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painful, so far from where you want to be and you're not getting any joy from Jesus,

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slow down. He's there. It's there. The Lord is near. The God of comfort, the God of peace

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is present. And it's not a giddy happiness you're shooting for. You can get that with

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a good ice cream cone on a hot summer day. It's not that. It's the deep residing joy

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in the heart, the gladness of heart that comes from knowing and having him. I told you the

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story of a guy named Willie in past messages years ago. I talked to you about this guy

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named Willie. And when I was in college, Willie and I worked together. And Willie was rough.

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He was a rough, rough construction worker. I worked with him on a roof that we were building.

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We decked it out. We put roofing on it. He came to Christ during one of those visits

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and the next day he shows up, rough as sky on the planet. I'm telling you, he was rough.

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He smelled bad. You could smell him coming almost a block away. It was bad. But that

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next day after he came to Christ, he came back singing. And he was on the roof singing,

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I've got a joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. And I thought, you know, I'd seen

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him come to Christ and I knew that he had prayed to invite Christ into his life. And

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even I was surprised at how fast he got joy. Here's a rough guy that didn't know anything

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about joy, singing about joy the very next day. And he's a perfect illustration for

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what I want to say today. Because what I want to say is if you don't have peace with God,

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you're not going to have joy. And if you don't have a relationship with Him, you're just

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not going to have it. You're not ever going to have it. You're going to pursue it to the

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ends of the earth. But you won't have it because Jesus is the source of joy. His presence brings

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joy. And you're going to look for joy everywhere else. You might find temporary happiness.

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You might find something that's fleeting and then passes away real quick. But the trials

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and the difficulties will take you down, down, down. You'll lack purpose. You'll lack meaning.

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You'll lack endurance of any kind because you don't know what track you're on. You don't

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know if you're going the right way or not. But in Christ, you're going to find life.

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You're going to find joy. And even when life is really, really awesome, the joy you have

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with Jesus is even better. And when your joy level is really low because of pain and circumstances,

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then you're still going to have joy that He gives you in the midst of that heartbreak,

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those tears and that pain. That's why Paul in Philippians 4 says, be anxious for nothing

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but in everything by prayer and supplication that your requests be made known to God, the

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God of peace, the peace of God. That passes understanding and regards your hearts and

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minds in Christ Jesus. You're going to have peace. You're going to have joy in the midst

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of that hard, hard, anxious, difficult time. Now I have to tell you today, I mean it is

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Super Bowl Sunday and I'm a football kind of guy, so I have to say one more thing about

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the football game, okay? Brock Purdy is my favorite player on the field. He's QB1 for

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the San Francisco 49ers. And I've got some 49er fans out here. He was called Mr. Irrelevant

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because he was the last man chosen in the draft a couple of years ago. So they gave

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him the title Mr. Irrelevant. The idea is he was the last guy drafted. It was probably

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just a courtesy draft. There's no way he's going to make the team. There's no way he's

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going to get his contract. No way is he going to be a star at all. He's the last guy. We

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don't know who else to choose. There's this man. Let's get it. Mr. Irrelevant. They even

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gave him a jersey. Mr. Irrelevant. And he's not irrelevant anymore. It's really a great

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story, fascinating story. But what I like about Brock Purdy is not his football skills

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but his attitude in life. When athletes win, they get up and they say spiritual things

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sometimes. They don't say those same things when they lose, by the way, but they just

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say some spiritual things when they win. But here's Brock Purdy answering questions about

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who he is and what it means to him to play football or do anything else. Let me just

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quote him. James Dennison writes, Purdy is clear on who gets the credit for his quick

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rise toward stardom. That's all God, he said, adding that the Lord's plan is bigger and

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more beautiful than I could ever imagine. I'm just going to show up every day, work

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hard, see where this takes me. So I'm thankful for it. But did I ever expect all this kind

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of stuff? I did not. I had no idea. So I just try to show up, do my job every day, and it

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falls in the place it needs to fall. Elsewhere he stated, I know who I am. And God, if you

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want me to do great things with football, great. If not, that's fine. Let's go do something

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else. Whatever you need from me. I like that. It shows me that somebody sees Jesus and the

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joy that Jesus gives as more important than a Lombardi Trophy. Now he wants to win the

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game. We all want to win the game. Everybody wants to win the game. But more importantly

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than that, here's a guy that says the most important thing to me is Jesus. That's relevant.

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Let me give you this. Wherever we are, whatever happens to us, our joy is more dependent upon

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the God who is present in our lives than in our external circumstances. Look at it again.

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Wherever we are, where are you right now? Whatever happens to you, what's been happening

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to you, your joy is more dependent upon the God who is present. Where's he at? He's here.

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He's here. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, he's not just here, he's in you. He's residing

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inside of your life. Amen. It's more dependent upon the joy, upon the God who is present

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in your life than on external circumstances. That's how Paul wants you to live. That's

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how Jesus intends for you to live. Paul again, for to me to live is Christ and to die is

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game. Philippians 1.21. We'll get to that soon. And in the end, after counting all the

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ups and downs of life and all the difficulties of a prison cell, he writes, I count all things

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to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. Oh my, what

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a line. It's probably no surprise to our worship team because I say it to them all the time

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that one of my favorite songs is a song based on the Psalm. It's called The Goodness of

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God. And I told him I wanted him to sing it at my funeral. I don't have a date yet, but

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someday I know I'll die. And when I do, I want that song sung. And these words have

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a lot to do with what I think Paul is saying in Philippians 3.8. All my life you have been

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faithful. All my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, I

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will sing of the goodness of God. Can you do that? I want you to learn to do that process.

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But no matter what I have, how great, how bad, how hard, how easy, nothing is better

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than the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. In just a few moments I'm going

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to close this in prayer. We have decisions stations back at the back. And I'm going to

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invite you to do two or three things today. First of all, if you do not have the confidence

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that you put your faith and trust in Jesus, let's have a conversation. Let's talk. I'm

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going to ask you to stop by one of these tables. They're lighting the tables up now. Counselors

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will stand there at those tables and they'll just be happy to answer any questions you

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have. The most important thing that you can walk away with here today is knowing that

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you have a relationship with Jesus by faith, by putting your trust and confidence in what

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he did on the cross. Everything in this service says that from the songs to the Lord's supper,

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to all of our allusions to Jesus is the author of joy and life and salvation. We want you

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to walk out of here knowing that you have a relationship with him. Stop by the decision

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stations. We're happy to pray with you. Secondly, I invite you to go to guest reception room.

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It's outside the center exit doors across the hallway, a glassed in room. And I'm there.

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I would love to welcome you as a guest and share some things about Cross City Church.

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So take a few moments to do that. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes. It doesn't take long.

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Then we'll get you on your way. Thirdly, come back next week ready to go into Philippians

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one one and walk with me through this amazing book. If these things in Philippians four

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that I've just fairly covered today are important to you, imagine what it'll be like to walk

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through the whole book, verse by verse, chapter by chapter and walk away going, I get it now.

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I understand why Paul said what he said and I get the joy he has. That's what I want for

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you. Let's stand together and let's have some prayer. Father, I want to thank you today

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for this day, for these people, for this opportunity, for this moment of worship and prayer and

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a moment of decision. Lord, I know today there are those in the room that need to settle

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their relationship with you. Even if it's simply vague to them, they just don't know.

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Maybe they have doubts. Today, give them the courage and the boldness to stop at the decision

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station and to say, help me be sure that I have this relationship. And for others in

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the room, Lord, today that know you, but perhaps struggle with circumstances and hardship.

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Maybe their joys just a bit diminished right now. Help them to take hope that that joy

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is still there, still present, still available. And all of us in this room will need to make

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the adjustments that are necessary, important for us to be able to walk in the joy that

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you promised us. Thank you so much for an apostle like Paul who went through it all

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so that we can see what it was like to go through it all and still have joy. And Father,

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we ask these things in Jesus' name with joy. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful Lord's

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Day.