1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:22,080 Hello Go Church family, I'm Lara. I'm here with Pastor Matt Hataba. Hey everybody. And Gilbert. 2 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:27,760 Hello everyone and we have a special guest with us today. Hey everyone, Pastor Julie here. So 3 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:35,920 excited to be with you. This is gonna be a special time that we're celebrating the Christmas season 4 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:45,280 and who better to have on the Go Church podcast than my wife Julie who loves Christmas. We've had 5 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:51,680 Christmas trees in our house this year since... August. The able message probably. Exactly. 6 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:58,080 We were able to put up our Christmas trees. So someone asked us, they said, do you have 7 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:02,160 your Christmas tree up already? I said, we have four Christmas trees in our house. So 8 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:09,120 Merry Christmas everybody. Merry Christmas. You know what they say? They say the more than merrier. 9 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:16,080 That's right. And it's applicable because actually we're talking about joy this Christmas season. 10 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:22,800 Yeah. And we're aware that it is Christmas so we're not gonna do what we usually do which is 11 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:28,240 very long podcasts. We're gonna try to keep it as concise as possible. We're gonna keep our 12 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:33,680 announcements over the course of this month to a bare minimum. And we're just gonna spend some time 13 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:38,880 talking about the joy of the Lord and why we want to talk about the joy of the Lord during this 14 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:45,840 Christmas season. So before I do that, I do want to say if this is your first time listening to a 15 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:51,120 podcast, you're new to Go Church, you've never heard of Go Church before. First of all, welcome. 16 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:57,040 We're so glad to have you here on our podcast at Go Church Beirut. Ahlan was Ahlan. That's right. 17 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:03,040 Go Church is your place to love, grow and go. We want everyone to experience the unconditional 18 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:09,920 love of God, to grow in His love and to go out to your world with His love. We are a Bible-based, 19 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:16,720 Spirit-filled and group-centered church. And we say that we are group-centered. That is a little 20 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:23,120 different to what you might see if you're used to a traditional church setting. But we go back to the 21 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:29,120 earliest traditions of church settings, which is, you know, since the very beginning, most of the 22 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:38,320 meetings in churches happened in small groups. And those tend to happen across a town, across a city, 23 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:45,120 in homes, in public areas where groups, smaller groups of people would meet and would have a 24 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:53,440 chance not only to listen to one person with a microphone, but be able to share in the experiences 25 00:02:54,800 --> 00:03:03,200 that we get to grow in as believers in the Lord. So that is something that we do in most of our 26 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:09,440 meetings look like that. So if you haven't been to a grow group, you haven't been to go church. 27 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:17,680 So most of our meetings are in what we would identify as small groups that happen literally 28 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:24,800 everywhere now, all over Lebanon. And I'm thankful that that's the case. We're opening new groups. 29 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:32,560 We're going to open some new groups in January. One of the ways we open new groups is we're going 30 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:39,680 to start an Alpha in January. But we also gather all these groups together in our Big Sunday. 31 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:46,800 So Gilbert, talk a little bit about the Big Sunday. Yeah, absolutely. So a Big Sunday is maybe what a 32 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:52,720 lot of us will be familiar with as a more traditional service that you would see at a church. 33 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:59,600 And what it is really is not what we feel is traditional. We feel it's a celebration. So once 34 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:05,360 a month we all come together. So all the groups come together in one place. And it's an opportunity 35 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:12,480 to get to see each other, enjoy each other's company. And we celebrate. So we worship together. 36 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:18,880 There's always a time where we get to worship the Lord together. And then what we do is we take 37 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:26,240 communion together and we hear the message, which is really in line, most of the time is in line 38 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:34,560 with the series that we are digging deeper on for the whole month. So in this month of December, 39 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:40,960 we are digging into the series of joy. So you can expect to hear a message around that. Of course, 40 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:48,240 this month specifically is the Christmas month. So we're going to celebrate Christmas all together 41 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:58,800 and we're going to have extra fun. It's going to be a time of extra joy. Exciting. It is exciting. 42 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:04,080 Very much. Christmas is always a great time. Yes. The last announcement I want to make, 43 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:11,840 and I don't want to miss this, is Alpha. So we have an Alpha starting on Jan 11. So that's in 44 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:18,480 the new year, on the second week of the new year, and that will be on a Thursday night. So if you're 45 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:23,440 part of the team, we're so excited to have you as part of the team. If you're not part of the team 46 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:29,760 yet but you're interested to serve on an Alpha, please reach out to us. We want to make this the 47 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:37,200 biggest Alpha that Go Church has ever done and we need your help. If you don't feel like you're able 48 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:43,120 to be part of a team but you still want to join, or you have friends who you think would benefit 49 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:50,320 from Alpha, please make sure that you put them in contact with us and we would love to have them 50 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:56,480 there. If you've never heard of Alpha or what Alpha is, we're about to tell you about it. 51 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:05,600 Alpha, one of the ways that you describe it is a themed dinner party. And you just made that 52 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:11,760 comment about who could benefit from Alpha. I don't know anyone that can't benefit from Alpha. 53 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:23,440 If you're an established believer, Alpha opens up a way for you to share your faith with people that 54 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:33,280 think different, have a different background. If you certainly, if you have questions about 55 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:39,520 the faith or the Bible, Alpha could benefit you because it's a place to bring those questions 56 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:45,520 and address them specifically to find answers and answers that are based in the Bible. 57 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:53,520 And then ultimately, it's a great place to make connections. And in life, what we find, 58 00:06:53,520 --> 00:07:00,000 and the farther you go in life, I've seen this more and more relationships matter. 59 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:06,240 And Alpha is a place to have relationships. I know some of you might be thinking, what is the age 60 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:11,520 range? What age group is the Alpha targeted towards? And you know, Trenton and Caitlin, 61 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,200 they're going to be there serving at Alpha. They're going to be helping their teenagers. 62 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:20,480 And so, Gilbert, what do you think would be a good age group if you were inviting someone 63 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:28,560 to come to the Alpha? Well, I think any age group is possible. I mean, anywhere from early teens on, 64 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:35,680 you know, it would be fun. All the way up to, you know, as long as you're alive, you know, 65 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:43,200 pretty much. It's a great time. I mean, what's amazing to me is the connections that you make. 66 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:50,560 And you know, those connections go well beyond age or, you know, certain backgrounds. It's a time 67 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:57,040 where we all get together. And what we do is we deliberately just create a space in an environment 68 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:03,280 where we can ask the big questions about life. So if you have kind of questions that you've had in 69 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:08,720 your head or in your, you know, in your heart, in your feelings for years, and you've never 70 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,760 asked those questions and you don't know who to ask those questions, just that's easy. Bring them 71 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:21,120 to Alpha. And we're creating room for you to ask those questions in a safe and respectable environment. 72 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,360 And we all want to get to know each other and grow together. That's the point of Alpha. And that's 73 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:33,920 the goal of Alpha. So with that, I want to get into the introduction of our series, which is what 74 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:40,000 we're going to do today. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. We might start shouting because we're joyful. 75 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:46,400 I like the, and I didn't come up with this phrase, but I like this quote, 76 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:56,000 Joy is the serious business of heaven. Yeah, that's nice. That's good. That's amazing. So before we get 77 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,800 into Joy, I want to go back and talk about what we were talking about last month, because we never 78 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:08,000 disconnect from the series that we've been doing. Our goal is to introduce a series to you, get you 79 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:14,000 thinking in a certain way, get you applying things in your life in a different way. But we don't want 80 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:19,120 to disconnect from that. So last month we were talking about prayer. We were talking about 81 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:29,120 pray like a champion. And there's so much to that. I mean, our, the success of our lives as believers 82 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:35,920 really is determined by our prayer life. And that is such a key component of us being able to do 83 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:40,880 what we're doing, because we can't, we can't do anything when we are disconnected from the Lord. 84 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:47,440 But so, so basically this month we want to add to that. We want to go further in that. We don't 85 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:52,240 want to disconnect from that because we were talking last month that prayer brings results. 86 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:59,520 And we pray according to the word of God. We pray according to the Bible and we pray according to 87 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:04,160 our faith. You know, we don't just say things and don't believe them. We might as well not do that. 88 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:15,840 But if we say things because we believe them, then we would respond to that situation with a certain 89 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:22,560 degree of expectation. And if I'm believing that something that really means a lot to me, it really 90 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:28,160 means a lot to the Lord is actually going to happen in my life. I would respond with joy, right? I 91 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:34,960 wouldn't respond with heaviness or with a certain degree of concern. If I'm worried, I'm not really 92 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:42,640 believing that the thing that I asked for I already have. So that, you know, this month we're really 93 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:50,080 going to talk about the nature, the character of a person who is in faith and the person who really 94 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:56,560 believes what they prayed for, you know. And another thing you might notice if you've been around 95 00:10:56,560 --> 00:11:03,040 for a while is that joy is a series that we did two years ago. You're going to hear a lot of the 96 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:08,800 things that you already heard two years ago. That doesn't matter. I encourage you to go back to the 97 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:14,960 recording two years ago and watch that. Which is on YouTube. Which is on YouTube. Go church favorite 98 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:21,840 YouTube channel. Yeah, that's right. And so I want to ask why are we doing this again? You know, 99 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:30,960 I was when we were looking at the calendar, joy is often associated with Christmas. And in the 100 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:40,640 Western world, if you ask someone, why is that? They'll probably say, well, because it's a time of 101 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:50,800 celebration. It's a time of gift giving. But they're really mixing that answer mixes up 102 00:11:50,800 --> 00:12:00,960 the difference of the different words, joy and happiness. And happiness is an emotional response, 103 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:09,360 whereas joy is part of the fruit or one of the fruit of the Spirit or one of the results 104 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:16,960 of the Spirit of God at work in the inside of us. The message that we did two years ago, I felt like 105 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:26,720 did a great job of bringing up that difference. And it's something that I want us to revisit and 106 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:38,320 then apply more practically in this time. Because really, the reason joy is associated with the 107 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:52,320 Christmas season is because it is when we rejoice that God made a plan for all of us. And to bring 108 00:12:52,320 --> 00:13:04,240 that plan to completion, He gave the ultimate gift, Jesus, His Son, for us. The celebration of 109 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:16,640 Christmas is because Jesus is God's gift to me and to you. The reason there's joy in the Christmas 110 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:29,520 season is because Jesus has been given. He is God's gift to me. Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God. 111 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:36,000 Praise God. Now, since you started talking about this, Pastor Matt, let's talk a little bit more 112 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:42,320 about Christmas and the Christmas story and the reason for our celebration. And I'm going to 113 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:49,040 introduce this, but I'm going to invite Lara as well to add to this. And we want to talk about 114 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:55,600 what Christmas really means to us as believers. So the first thing I want to say is that we were 115 00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:02,880 never created to be separated from God. We were never created to be far from God. God actually 116 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:11,600 designed us and created us in His likeness and His image. And we were positioned in a certain 117 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:18,560 place. I'm talking in the book of Genesis, you see that naturally, but you also see that spiritually. 118 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:25,200 We're positioned in the same place because He created us as He looks like so that we would be 119 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:32,480 given a certain measure of dominion over His creation. And we would work with Him to accomplish 120 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:37,280 the things that He wants to do. And we would have relationship with Him and we would enjoy 121 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:46,000 that fellowship with Him. Not only in a kind of business way, which is working, but in a 122 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:54,320 relationship, in an intimate union between God and man. And that was His intention. That's, you 123 00:14:54,320 --> 00:15:06,320 know, we were created with love for love. And unfortunately, a series of events occurred whereby 124 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:17,440 man separated himself from God because man sinned. And what does sin mean? Sin means missing the 125 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:25,680 mark of God. It means not being according to God or not doing according to God. And in doing that, 126 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:37,920 when man took the decision to step away or sin or turn himself away from God, then there was a 127 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:45,360 separation that was created between God and man. And that separation exists, you know, it existed 128 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:51,040 before, let's say, I was born. So even before I had this relationship with God, I was born into 129 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:56,640 the world in separation away from God. That separation was not determined necessarily by 130 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:04,560 my actions. Now, I'm not saying that my actions have been perfect, but that separation existed 131 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:15,840 before I ever had or made an imperfect action. And God is love. And His nature is love. And love 132 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:23,520 never fails. Love never gives up. Love never, you know, just clicks its fingers and, you know, 133 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:31,360 we start over. The love of God is patient and enduring and is always running after 134 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:39,040 the thing that, you know, the Lord purposes to do. And God always wanted to bring us back home. 135 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:50,160 And the story of Christmas to me is the story of the hope of reconciliation. So it is the story 136 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:59,120 where we see that God had a solution. And the solution that God had was bringing his only son 137 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:08,400 into the world to live as a man, to die without sin, but to carry the sin of the world onto himself 138 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:17,680 and be judged. And in that judgment, be found blameless and be resurrected from the dead. 139 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:24,240 And because of that victory, I can live in him by faith with that victory. So in his son, 140 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:31,680 I can now have complete access, reconciliation. That separation no longer exists. And the Christmas 141 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:40,960 story is the start of that story. So when we see Jesus born in the world, we see the hope of God's 142 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:49,200 reconciliation manifest before our eyes. And that is a celebration of the love of God towards me. 143 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:55,360 I love that. Yes, it's a Christmas story, but for us, it's a reality. 144 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:05,040 We were created to be in fellowship with the Lord always. So His gift to us, our Lord Jesus, 145 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:13,280 we're connected to Him again. And when we think about Christmas, it's no longer a story. It's not 146 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:19,440 something we celebrate just in December. It's every day. We're connected again, and this 147 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:25,520 fellowship will never be broken no matter what. And that makes me really, really happy. And I have 148 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:34,320 joy for that. And that joy will never be taken away. Praise God. Amen. What's amazing to me is 149 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:43,920 we see in, for example, Proverbs chapter eight, also in John chapter one, the, what people that 150 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:56,560 studied the Bible describe as the, as, as we see Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and He received that 151 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:09,200 name Jesus, but as a member of the Godhead, the Word of God, He existed from the beginning. 152 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,560 Proverbs chapter eight describes Him as the architect of creation. 153 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:24,400 So the Father has the vision and the desire to be the Father. And so, 154 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:35,120 He has the vision and the desire to create. But the, the action of creation is 155 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:43,120 through the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit, the three in one working together. 156 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:54,000 But He loved us so much, He became like us. I was just reading Hebrews this morning. 157 00:19:55,280 --> 00:20:04,240 He became like us, not, not for 30 years, not for 33 years, not just for this short period of time. 158 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:17,360 Jesus is forever in a human body. Wow. That, that's the level of identification 159 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:27,360 and demonstration of His love for us. God's Christmas gift is not an event that happened 160 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:36,720 in one day, 2000 years ago. He forever became like us so that we could forever be like Him. 161 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:44,640 Wow. Wow. Praise God. Yeah, it's amazing. It gives a whole new meaning to, to, 162 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:49,760 to what Isaiah said when he said, God with us, you know, in man. Yes, yes. Because He's forever 163 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:55,760 with us, right? Yes. Yeah, it's so big. Let's, let's ask, what's the meaning of the word 164 00:20:55,760 --> 00:21:00,400 of God? Let's, let's actually, let's read that. Julie, will you read this from Isaiah? 165 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:09,680 Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. It says, For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. 166 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:16,800 The government will rest on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 167 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:24,800 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. 168 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:32,400 He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. 169 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:40,640 The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven's armies will make this happen. Glory to God. 170 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,600 Praise God. Yeah. Praise God. I love that passage. 171 00:21:49,600 --> 00:22:00,240 There's so much truth there. His name is wonderful. Yes. Yeah. This, by the way, 172 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:09,520 is the introduction to next year's Christmas message. But we can have joy in this Christmas 173 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:20,240 season. But outside of this Christmas season, we're called to demonstrate joy because 174 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:29,520 all that he's done for us, we can't, we can't put it in, we can't put it in words, 175 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:36,320 but we can live it out in our life. And in living it out in our life, 176 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:43,680 we can take what we have been given and give it away to the world around us. 177 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:51,760 Why are we talking about joy? Because that, that's the only thing that makes sense 178 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:59,600 for someone that has received so much to act like, to exhibit, and to demonstrate. 179 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:12,000 Act like, to exhibit, and to demonstrate. Yes. Yeah. So to me, joy is always connected to hope. 180 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:20,160 And there was, you know, the, the, the birth of hope was Christmas. Yeah. And then that's not like 181 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:25,440 Pastor Matt said, that's not something that just happened and finished. That's something that 182 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:32,720 was born and now is given to us as believers forever. So we forever have that hope because 183 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:39,520 Jesus is not, you know, he didn't change form. He didn't, he didn't change at all. You know, 184 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:46,320 he never changes. God's the same, you know, yesterday, today, and forever. But Jesus embodied 185 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:55,840 humanity so that we can embody godliness. And it's just super powerful. And it's, it's kind of, you 186 00:23:55,840 --> 00:24:02,800 know, you're reading that passage and, and one of, one of the, the names are, you know, one of the, 187 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:10,400 yeah, one of the names is Prince of Peace. And I just always sense that overwhelming peace during 188 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:21,280 this season. It's just a demonstration of, of a fulfilled promise. And to me, you know, a while 189 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:28,320 back, the Lord kind of presented what peace means. Peace is not just a feeling. Like, like we see 190 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:35,600 joy, joy is a fruit of the spirit, so is peace. And he, he told me peace is the place of covenant 191 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:45,600 fulfillment. Yeah. Or the fulfillment of a promise. So we get to relive the birth of that 192 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:52,240 fulfillment of promise every single year. And that's what we're celebrating at this point this year. 193 00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:00,000 And it's, it's always a constant reminder that God extended a gift to us, you know. And that's why we 194 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:05,680 celebrate Christmas by giving gifts. You know, we shouldn't, we shouldn't look further than that. 195 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:13,760 You know, it's, this is the reason. The reason is that God gave us a precious gift and God so loved 196 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:19,680 the world that he gave. And it's really an opportunity. Say that again. God so loved the 197 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:24,880 world that he gave us his only begotten son. That whoever would believe in him would not perish, 198 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:32,560 but would have everlasting life. And we can demonstrate love to others by giving them a gift. 199 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,160 But we don't always have to give them the physical gift, right? We can, 200 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:43,600 we can show them what the Lord has done for them. We can help them see that gift. And, you know, 201 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:49,840 we, we always try to be very practical. What, what I'm so happy about revisiting this joy message two 202 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:54,480 years later is that, you know, we're not necessarily doing this through COVID season, where we're 203 00:25:54,480 --> 00:26:01,680 on lockdowns, but we get to meet all month now in grow groups. And we want to take this subject, 204 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:09,120 this revelation of joy, this nature that lives in us. And we want to start pulling it out of us. 205 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:16,160 But we also want to learn how to apply it in our lives on a regular basis and really go further 206 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:22,720 in our walk. Because like we said, Go Church is your place to love, grow, go. It ends with go. 207 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,800 We always want to go. We always want to do something with what we're hearing. You know, 208 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:32,240 this is, this is not a podcast where we're just wanting to throw information at you. This is a 209 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:37,520 podcast where we want you to get something new from the word of God so that you can apply it 210 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:43,120 in your life so that you can change the world around you. We don't have much time. We're not 211 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:49,280 here forever in this world. You know, there are eternal things which we do not, we're not able 212 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:54,800 to see with our natural eyes, but we have to stay focused on. And those things last forever. And 213 00:26:54,800 --> 00:27:01,120 many of the things around us that we see with our natural eyes, well, not many, everything that we 214 00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:08,720 see with our natural eyes is going to end at some point. And so we want you to, you know, we want, 215 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:15,120 I say you, we want us to take this series and we want us to take this revelation and go further 216 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:25,200 with it. And this is why we picked out this key scripture in, in First Thessalonians chapter 5 217 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,880 verses 16 through to 18. Number one is because we don't want to disconnect from what we were talking 218 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:38,320 about last month. And number two is because we want to make it simple and applicable. So this is 219 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:46,400 it. First Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 through to 18. Rejoice always. That's one verse, by the way. 220 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:56,880 That's a whole verse. Rejoice always. Verse 17, pray without ceasing. Verse 18, in everything give 221 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:05,040 thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. You see, we're connecting last month's 222 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:14,800 message on our last month's study series on prayer to this month's subject on joy. And we want to go 223 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:20,640 further into the will of God, because this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. We want to 224 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:27,200 learn to be thankful. We want to learn to exercise our joy so that we can go further. 225 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:32,960 So in closing this podcast, I want to read out the purpose of the series and what we're going to be 226 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:40,080 talking about over this month. So the purpose of the series is this. We want the Go Church family 227 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:46,800 to actively participate in the joy of the Lord during the Christmas season. Well, I want to add 228 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:54,320 and beyond the Christmas season. This month, we will be looking at joy by nature. So our joy 229 00:28:54,320 --> 00:29:04,400 in Christ, which is really a subject about love. And next week, we're going to talk about joy in 230 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:12,320 faith, which is our series or our subject really about grow. So how does joy connect to faith? 231 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:20,560 And week three, we're going to talk about joy in action, which is go, because we want to activate 232 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:26,960 joy so that we can do something with it. Joy is not a feeling, but it is the outworking of the 233 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:36,160 nature of Christ, which we are called to live by. A walk in joy is a walk in victory. So I'm very 234 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:42,480 excited about the discussions we're going to have both on the podcast and also in our grow groups. 235 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:51,120 And I'm really expecting this not only to be a discussion, but to be a an outworking manifestation 236 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:57,120 of joy that we could practice joy altogether in our groups. You know, we can what's to stop us from 237 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:01,840 lifting up our hands, lifting up our voices and worshiping the Lord. We don't need music to do 238 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:08,560 that. Music is nice, but we can we can just enjoy the revelation of Christmas and do that all 239 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:16,400 together. Praise God. Well, if you've made it through this far in your day and no one's told 240 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:23,360 you yet, we want to tell you that we love you and we're praying for you. God bless you. Thank you for 241 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:30,640 listening. Go Church Beirut is your place to love, grow and go. We want everyone to experience the 242 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:38,720 unconditional love of God. Grow in His love and go with His love to the rest of the world. On behalf 243 00:30:38,720 --> 00:31:01,280 of the entire Go Church family, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.