1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,480 Hey Go Church Family, Pastor Julie here. 2 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,160 So excited to be with you this Christmas season. 3 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,240 I'm here with Laura. 4 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:25,240 Hi everyone. 5 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:27,560 I'm so glad that Pastor Julie is with us. 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,360 I'm here with Pastor Matt Hatubo. 7 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:30,360 Hey everybody. 8 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:31,360 And Gilbert. 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:32,360 Hey everyone. 10 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:36,440 I'm so glad that this podcast is turning into a grow group. 11 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:37,440 Exactly. 12 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:41,560 This is the audio version of our grow groups. 13 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,240 This is the grow group where Pastor Matt and I get banished too because we talk a lot 14 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:47,240 during other groups. 15 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:48,240 Exactly. 16 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,200 We're not allowed to go to actual grow groups. 17 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:53,200 But we're so excited. 18 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:54,200 That's why we talk a lot. 19 00:00:54,200 --> 00:01:01,680 You know, this is from that deep well in our hearts whereby we want to just express our 20 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,120 joy and that's what we're doing this month. 21 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:09,880 I think one of the greatest loves that you can cultivate is a love for the Word of God. 22 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:18,480 If you want to grow spiritually and the way you get to love something is you spend time 23 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:24,760 doing or being or around it. 24 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:30,880 If you have no exposure to something, you'll have no relationship with it. 25 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:31,880 That's true. 26 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:39,240 That's a person, a sport, an activity and certainly that's true with the Word of God 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:40,960 and with prayer. 28 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:45,440 People that come to me and say, well, I just don't know how to pray. 29 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:47,440 Well, how was prayer today? 30 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:49,560 I didn't do it. 31 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,520 We've located the problem. 32 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:58,200 Anyway, it's wonderful to be... 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:05,320 I love actually, I love the podcast because it's an opportunity to really dig into the 34 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:12,520 scriptures and just celebrate the truth of God's Word. 35 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,760 That's right. 36 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,680 And this month we're celebrating, period. 37 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,240 Actually, we're celebrating because it's called Joy. 38 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:28,200 Our series is called Joy and we take the opportunity that we're nearing Christmas season for us 39 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:30,960 to talk about joy. 40 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:37,880 And today what we're going to do is dig into week one out of week three of this December 41 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:46,120 series and all of our podcasts always lead into what we're going to talk about during 42 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,280 our grow groups this week. 43 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:54,200 And in case you missed the big Sunday message, you can always listen to our big Sunday messages 44 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:58,200 right here on podcasts on this channel. 45 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:00,680 And next time, don't miss it. 46 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:02,720 You always want to be there. 47 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:08,640 It's so different being present during a service because there are things that the Holy Spirit 48 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:10,880 is doing in that moment. 49 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,160 There are things that he's trying to get across to us in that moment. 50 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:19,960 And he's, how do you say, being present in the place where he's putting light on his 51 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,760 own word is precious. 52 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,800 And it's an experience that we don't want to miss. 53 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:31,040 We always want to be there when he's trying to tell us certain things. 54 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:35,600 So with that, I'm going to move straight into our series. 55 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:38,880 Today we're talking about joy by nature. 56 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:48,560 So we're going to dig into what joy really is and where joy really is and what joy really 57 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,200 means to us. 58 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:55,760 So the first question I do want to ask, and I'm hoping we get some really good answers 59 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:02,720 from our grow group here sitting with me, is what is joy? 60 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,480 Lara, what is joy? 61 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:12,240 That's a loaded question. 62 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:22,360 Well, joy is constant happiness, never ending happiness. 63 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,800 It's not relying on circumstances. 64 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,360 And there is joy in many things. 65 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,280 We are talking in joy of Christ now. 66 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:46,200 And as I said, it's this sense of peace and happiness that is always there and it's constant, 67 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,480 which is something amazing to have. 68 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:49,480 Yeah. 69 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,480 Yeah, I love that, Lara. 70 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,440 You know, joy is who we are. 71 00:04:54,440 --> 00:05:01,120 We have his nature, the nature of God in us, and that means we're partakers of his joy. 72 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,280 So we don't just have joy, but we are joy. 73 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:07,320 I absolutely love what you shared. 74 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:16,440 Yeah, I think the power in that question is if someone said, hey, do you know what joy 75 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:17,440 is? 76 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:18,920 You'd say, yeah. 77 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,240 Okay, tell me. 78 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:29,320 So it needs to be something that identifies us. 79 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:36,720 If I walk into a room and I say to Lara, hey, Bob, how are you? 80 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,040 Lara won't acknowledge that I'm talking to her. 81 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:47,120 She might wonder what's wrong with me, but because that's not part of her identity. 82 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:51,200 Joy should be part of our identity. 83 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:56,760 It's something that marks us and sets us apart. 84 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:05,320 And it needs to be something more than just an emotional reaction to a set of circumstances. 85 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:14,880 Rather, it should be a influencing force in the world around us. 86 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:24,160 Also when you know when Julie shows up in a room, joy just showed up in the room. 87 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,200 Yes, that's exactly right. 88 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:28,200 That's so good. 89 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:29,200 Hopefully cookies. 90 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:43,160 You know what I love about these discussions is that we spent so much time putting those 91 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:47,400 together and now we're talking and I'm getting new things. 92 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:53,120 It's not like I'm getting new things by word or by explanation, but in my spirit, I'm just 93 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:54,960 getting new things. 94 00:06:54,960 --> 00:07:02,680 Talking about joy or talking about these realities really builds us up. 95 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:09,320 I just want to pick back up on a few points and I want to mention what we already said 96 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,200 two years ago in the message. 97 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:18,440 There are things that, you know, like Pastor Matt said, it's so difficult to explain and 98 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:25,560 it's not, you know, it's difficult to put words to what is joy, but maybe we can start 99 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:30,720 with what joy is not, you know, and I want to point out the difference between these 100 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,640 two words, which is joy and happiness. 101 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:39,000 And I'm going to use these words as a reference point, not because this is the formal definition 102 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,200 of the words, but just because it helps us think through this process a little better. 103 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:49,280 So if I say joy or I say happiness, I'm going to treat them like two different things and 104 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:58,280 I will treat happiness like happiness is a feeling or an emotion that I have based on 105 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,120 a circumstance. 106 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:08,800 So by that logic, if someone puts a, you know, I'm going to use Pastor Matt's example, a 107 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,840 nice gelato in front of me, it'll make me happy. 108 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:15,080 Always ice cream. 109 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:21,780 It seems to be the food of the podcast. 110 00:08:21,780 --> 00:08:28,160 But happiness is an emotion driven by circumstance, by an external factor. 111 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:33,320 So something outside starts making my soul happy. 112 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:39,400 By that same logic, something outside could also take away my happiness and give me sadness. 113 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,800 Like when the ice cream is finished. 114 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:42,800 Yeah, exactly. 115 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:49,520 When the ice cream was the wrong flavor, whatever that is, that's a good problem to have, I 116 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:50,520 guess. 117 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:59,560 But on the flip side, so joy is neither an emotion nor is it something which is produced 118 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:01,300 on the outside. 119 00:09:01,300 --> 00:09:08,960 So joy, like we said here, is it's our identity, it's our nature. 120 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:18,340 You know, it's something that is already in us and it doesn't get changed or doesn't get 121 00:09:18,340 --> 00:09:27,680 determined by what is happening on the outside. 122 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:29,480 It is also really not an emotion. 123 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,760 I mean, joy will produce emotion. 124 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,560 So joy starts in your spirit and then it impacts your soul. 125 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:42,400 And then because it impacts your soul, you're going to manifest it in your body, in your 126 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:44,800 surroundings, in the natural world. 127 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:50,280 But it is not something that starts on the outside and flows inwards, whereby happiness 128 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:55,560 and sadness start on the outside and flow inwards. 129 00:09:55,560 --> 00:10:01,200 And I'm going to pick up where we were talking about this, which is joy is a fruit of the 130 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:02,200 spirit. 131 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:06,040 So when I say the spirit, I don't mean the Holy Spirit. 132 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:11,440 I mean our spirit because we are spirit beings. 133 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:16,640 Before we were born again, the Bible says that our spirits were dead, dead to God. 134 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:22,640 So it's separated from God, you know, not in unity with God, not experiencing the life 135 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:23,640 of God. 136 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:29,400 So everything that was not the life of God was influencing my spirit. 137 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:35,200 But when I was born again, so when I took that decision and I said, Jesus is Lord, I 138 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,000 believe that he died and he was raised from the dead. 139 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:44,520 He took my sins on the cross and because I believe in him, I can have full relationship 140 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,400 with God the Father and I am now back in the family. 141 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:53,760 So this is me receiving the gift that we were talking about last week. 142 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,620 So once I have that, I am now born again. 143 00:10:57,620 --> 00:11:02,560 So my spirit is now in fellowship with God. 144 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:08,480 The Holy Spirit comes to live in my spirit, so I never lose the presence of God in my 145 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:09,480 life. 146 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:11,120 That's a whole other series. 147 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,720 But what does that do? 148 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:21,480 That starts so that the nature of God is now born in me and I am born into the nature of 149 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:22,480 God. 150 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:30,120 So that unity creates the true person that I am and the true person that I am is my spirit. 151 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:39,080 And the fruit of the spirit are the character traits or the nature of who I really am when 152 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:40,800 I'm born again. 153 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:49,360 So I'm going to read Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23. 154 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:57,680 But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, 155 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:02,160 faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 156 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:09,700 So those are a breakdown of the character traits or the nature that I really am. 157 00:12:09,700 --> 00:12:11,520 So this is who I am on the inside. 158 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:17,080 So it's not something I have, I don't have, I can lose, I can earn it. 159 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:24,480 No, this is as surely as I'm sitting here and more surely than that because this body 160 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,360 doesn't last forever, my spirit does. 161 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,480 So this is who I am. 162 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:35,920 And if you notice, love, joy, peace on and on, that's who I am. 163 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:40,440 So joy is the nature of God in me. 164 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,120 That's exactly right. 165 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,160 Joy is our nature. 166 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:52,800 I mean, we can pull out each one of these things and say, okay, this is who I am. 167 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:58,640 I need to develop in this, meaning I need to start acting like this because it's who 168 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,960 he has made me. 169 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:15,520 Hebrews chapter 1 verse 9 says that Jesus was anointed by God with the oil of joy. 170 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:25,660 The Spirit of God is expressed in joy or in other words, we should not be surprised at, 171 00:13:25,660 --> 00:13:34,640 we should expect expressions of joy to be on us and mark us. 172 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:36,020 Why? 173 00:13:36,020 --> 00:13:40,240 Because he has anointed us. 174 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:46,920 One minister says it this way, you cannot get a sad version of the Holy Spirit. 175 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:48,760 Yeah, that's right. 176 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:54,160 So joy is something that should mark us. 177 00:13:54,160 --> 00:14:02,400 It is a natural state for a born again child of God. 178 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:03,400 That's so good. 179 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:11,160 I just love that it's our nature, joy, peace, love. 180 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:12,160 It's ours. 181 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:13,160 It's in me. 182 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:14,160 Yeah. 183 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:16,080 You just grow it. 184 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,600 I mean, we start acting like it. 185 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:20,880 This is actually a bad example. 186 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:25,360 I should say it's a sad example. 187 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:32,440 But I saw a news story where a guy in New York spent an enormous amount of money, at 188 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:38,960 least to me, it seemed like a lot of money, to make a suit where he could look like a 189 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:40,920 dog. 190 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:46,160 And then he walks like his wife puts him on a leash and he walks around like a dog. 191 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:47,460 He's not a dog. 192 00:14:47,460 --> 00:14:59,040 No matter how much money he spent on his suit, he's acting contrary to nature. 193 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:00,040 Contrary to his identity. 194 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:08,120 And I could look at that and one person could look at it and say, this is ridiculous. 195 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,120 Another person could look at it and say, this is sad. 196 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:16,960 And honestly, what we should do is say, ah, this is what it looks like as a born again 197 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:23,520 believer if I'm walking around just in sadness and not in a state of peace and joy. 198 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,800 Because joy is my nature. 199 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:32,280 And we're going to talk about this next week, but you can't be in a place of faithful expectation 200 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,160 or like what you were saying about hope. 201 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,440 The Bible says that the resurrection is our blessed hope. 202 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:42,960 The Bible calls Jesus our hope. 203 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,940 Christmas is the birth of hope. 204 00:15:45,940 --> 00:15:50,640 You can't have an expectation of hope and be not joyful. 205 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:51,640 Yeah. 206 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:52,640 That's right. 207 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:53,640 It's almost hypocrisy, right? 208 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:54,640 It is hypocrisy. 209 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:55,640 Yes. 210 00:15:55,640 --> 00:16:03,760 And it is in the light of God's word, it is as ridiculous as if I walked around on all 211 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:09,160 fours and started braying like a donkey. 212 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:14,840 You would rightly say, wow, shoo, hama. 213 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:20,080 This is silly for you to act like that because you're not that. 214 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:28,160 I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ and I have this blessed hope. 215 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:37,160 And one of the natural results of that is that I am full of joy. 216 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:43,400 So I want to add something and I want to correct some language that I've used in my life and 217 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,600 many of us have used in our lives. 218 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:48,920 And that is, I'm not doing that to be picky. 219 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,040 I'm doing that to help us think through a point. 220 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:58,080 By this logic or by this reality, it's not logic, it's a reality, it's truth. 221 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,760 I can't lose joy. 222 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,240 My joy cannot be stolen. 223 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,700 This is not what the Bible says. 224 00:17:05,700 --> 00:17:07,160 The Bible says that I have joy. 225 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:15,320 Now I could choose to suppress it and never see an outworking of my joy, just like I can 226 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:23,360 choose to never pursue peace in my life, just like the love of God. 227 00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:30,560 I can choose to never allow that to work out of my nature towards someone else or out of 228 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,320 my nature towards the world in general. 229 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,860 But I still have those, I still am those things, like irrespective. 230 00:17:37,860 --> 00:17:41,720 So joy is not something that we can lose. 231 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:45,880 Joy is something that we choose to suppress or we choose to release. 232 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:52,120 It's so powerful to me and I want to go back to what Pastor Matt was saying about the nature 233 00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:53,120 of God. 234 00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:55,600 And I'm going to talk about this real quick. 235 00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:00,840 We see God manifest as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. 236 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,000 I see joy. 237 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:10,880 If I look at God the Father, for example, in Psalm chapter 2 verse 4, it says that He 238 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:18,160 sits in the heaven and He laughs, especially when we see His enemies coming against Him 239 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:19,240 and against His people. 240 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:20,480 He just laughs. 241 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:21,480 That's His nature. 242 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:23,960 He's still full of joy no matter what. 243 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:30,120 There's no image of God that we can find in the scripture where He is sad or worried. 244 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:31,840 Yeah, that's right. 245 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:35,840 Instead, we see that He laughs. 246 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:44,160 In Psalm 16, it says that in the presence of the Lord is the fullness of joy. 247 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:50,720 So if I'm not experiencing full joy, it probably has something to do with whose presence I 248 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:55,840 have been in and whose presence I am not in. 249 00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:03,560 So if I'm in the presence of God, I'm going to find that fullness of joy. 250 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:05,400 What's fullness of joy? 251 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:11,840 It says pleasures forevermore, not worries forevermore, not fear forevermore. 252 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:13,320 You don't know what's going to happen. 253 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,280 Yeah, I do. 254 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,520 Yeah, I do. 255 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:19,360 I'm not being prideful about it. 256 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:27,280 I'm just thankful that I'm able to read and God has given me His word so I know His will. 257 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:35,640 And so I can have a faithful expectation and then exhibit joy. 258 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,240 I can have those expressions of joy. 259 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:39,520 Yeah. 260 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:44,960 It's amazing to me that it says that in His presence is fullness of joy. 261 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:51,800 So the closer you get in terms of the more aware you are of His presence, the more joy 262 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:57,120 you can experience, the more joy you see, the more of the nature of God that you get 263 00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:59,640 to really take in. 264 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:07,640 And I love this passage or this verse in Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17. 265 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,080 It says the Lord your God in your midst. 266 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:14,920 So you're aware that He's there. 267 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:15,960 The mighty one will save. 268 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:17,760 He will rejoice over you with gladness. 269 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,480 He will quiet you with His love. 270 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,240 He will rejoice over you with singing. 271 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:23,920 I love that. 272 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:25,040 He rejoices. 273 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:26,040 That's who He is. 274 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,240 Yeah, that's right. 275 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:30,600 That's what He's like. 276 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:31,600 What's God like? 277 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:32,600 Joyful. 278 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:33,600 Joyful. 279 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:34,600 Yeah. 280 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:35,600 Joyful. 281 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:37,600 And what's He joyful about? 282 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:39,080 You. 283 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:43,160 He's so joyful about you. 284 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:48,040 That passage says He makes up songs about you. 285 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:49,040 Yeah. 286 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:54,840 If you go back into the Psalms, it says He sings over us songs of our deliverance. 287 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:55,840 Yeah. 288 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:56,840 Wow. 289 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:57,840 Yeah. 290 00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:58,840 Praise God. 291 00:20:58,840 --> 00:20:59,840 Hallelujah. 292 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,800 This is who He is. 293 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:08,720 And this just doesn't, you know, no offense to the beautiful cathedrals and stained glass, 294 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:15,120 but it's hard to really put this in a fresco or a stained glass of God singing and dancing 295 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:21,960 about you because He is so full of joy about you. 296 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,840 He loves you. 297 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:26,200 Yeah. 298 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:33,400 Sometimes I think that comic book graphics would be more appropriate with words for sounds 299 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:38,640 and just, you know, just a lot of energy there because I think that's the nature of God. 300 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:46,040 We never see, we never see any facet of the Lord, anxious, worried, sad, heavy. 301 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:47,760 You know, we never saw that in Jesus. 302 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,720 We never saw a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. 303 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:56,880 I mean, you know, when the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the day of Pentecost, 304 00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:57,880 people thought they were drunk. 305 00:21:57,880 --> 00:21:58,880 Yeah. 306 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,320 People thought they were, these people are incoherently just... 307 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:06,000 Because expressions of joy are the natural state of believers. 308 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,000 Yeah. 309 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:08,000 Yeah. 310 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:09,000 Yeah, that's right. 311 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,440 And Ephesians 5 tells you do not be drunk with wine, right? 312 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,480 But instead, be filled with the Spirit. 313 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,280 What happens if you get filled with the Spirit? 314 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:18,520 You're full of joy. 315 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:19,520 Why? 316 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:25,040 Because that is the anointing of joy. 317 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:30,560 Or Romans, Paul said in Romans that the kingdom of God is what? 318 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:35,880 Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 319 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:36,880 Yeah. 320 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:38,480 It's, what is it not? 321 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,400 It's not a bunch of rules and regulations. 322 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:50,640 It's the righteousness of God, the peace of God, and the joy of who He is. 323 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,040 That's true. 324 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,360 Our nature and our natural state is joy. 325 00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:03,400 Not just at the Christmas season when I'm getting a gift, I really hope I get the gift. 326 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:04,400 Maybe I'm going to get this gift. 327 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:09,880 Or not even, you know, Julie loves to wrap presents. 328 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:13,920 She would wrap the chair I'm sitting in. 329 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,360 She loves to give gifts. 330 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:22,280 But I think that's because she's picked that up from the Lord because that's what He's 331 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,680 like. 332 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:30,360 This is not just something that is centered around a holiday. 333 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:33,360 This is who we are. 334 00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:40,680 And you know, there is a, when we rejoice, we align ourselves with who God is. 335 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:45,920 And also we start loving what He loves and we start seeing what He's seeing. 336 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:47,960 And we see that in Luke chapter 15. 337 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:56,240 So you know, in closing today's podcast, I just want to talk a little bit about the illustration 338 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:01,180 that we're going to carry into our week one girl group discussion. 339 00:24:01,180 --> 00:24:05,440 And that is actually in Luke chapter 15 verses 11 through 32. 340 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,000 The story of the loving and giving Father. 341 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:09,000 That's right. 342 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:10,000 Yeah. 343 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,000 A lot of people know it as the parable of the prodigal son, but there are three people 344 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,680 who we talk about and we see in the story. 345 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:24,240 But before I do that, I actually want to go through a few passages, sorry, a few, a few 346 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:33,680 verses before that, and Jesus speaks about two parables and one of them is the, you know, 347 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,440 the shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep to go find that one sheep. 348 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,800 That's such a beautiful image to me. 349 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:45,000 It's such a beautiful picture of the heart of God and how much He loves each and every 350 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:52,800 single person, how much He values and knows and wants each and every single person. 351 00:24:52,800 --> 00:25:01,240 And at some point, you know, in verse six in Luke 15 verse six, He says, when He finds 352 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:07,680 that sheep, He says, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep, which was lost, you know, 353 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:13,040 and the next parable, there is a parable of a woman who has 10 coins and she lost one 354 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:17,080 and you know, she's trying to look for that coin. 355 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:23,760 And again, in verse nine, it says, and when she has found it, she calls her friends and 356 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:29,240 neighbors together saying, rejoice with me for I have found the piece which I have lost. 357 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:35,240 There is an action which we take, you know, once we align our hearts with God's heart 358 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:40,960 about how much He values the lost, how much He values the people who don't know Him yet, 359 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:48,080 how much He wants each and every single person to come back, then that it draws out that 360 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:52,600 very nature of God in us, which is rejoice with Him. 361 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:59,880 And you know, thinking about that, thinking about the rejoicing in salvation, so whether 362 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:05,300 it's our own salvation or whether it's rejoicing someone else's salvation, I want us to look 363 00:26:05,300 --> 00:26:12,780 at the parable of the loving Father and we're going to take time and read it in our 364 00:26:12,780 --> 00:26:17,480 grow groups, but I do want to ask questions along those lines and I'm sure there are more 365 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,720 questions which will come out of this. 366 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:25,560 Number one, what do we see about the character of the Father when the Son comes home? 367 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:31,080 Number two, why does the Father rejoice over His Son coming home? 368 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:39,280 Number three, what does He expect the other Son to do when they're having a conversation 369 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:40,280 outside? 370 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:45,560 See, there's an older Son who never left home and then there's a party that's being thrown 371 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:55,880 for the Son that comes home and everyone's inside, in the house, happy, rejoicing, celebrating, 372 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:00,380 but you can't stay in that house and not rejoice. 373 00:27:00,380 --> 00:27:05,280 So the elder Son leaves that house because He doesn't want to rejoice, He just doesn't 374 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:11,120 want to exercise that and share in His Father's joy, so He finds Himself out of His place, 375 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:17,040 He finds Himself out of the house, He finds Himself walking away from the Father outside 376 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:23,680 and the Father in all His love and all His goodness follows Him outside and tells Him, 377 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:27,920 you know, we're supposed to be joyful, your Son was lost and now He's found, now He's 378 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:29,880 home. 379 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:36,640 He was gone and now He's back, so we're supposed to rejoice, we're supposed to celebrate. 380 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:44,900 And so I just want us to keep talking about joy in the context of salvation, the context 381 00:27:44,900 --> 00:27:49,060 of God's victory in that situation. 382 00:27:49,060 --> 00:27:51,080 That's so big. 383 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:52,080 Rejoice with me. 384 00:27:52,080 --> 00:28:01,080 I mean, we've finished our time on this podcast, but in the Grow Groups, I'm going to encourage 385 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:06,640 you dig into this because there's truth there. 386 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:17,520 And this is an opportunity for us to see Him and know what He's like. 387 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,320 This is who He is. 388 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:31,760 He's interested in seeing us rejoice with Him about the things that He loves. 389 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:36,280 What a privilege to be invited into that. 390 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:42,180 I could talk a lot more about that, but I know we've run out of time. 391 00:28:42,180 --> 00:28:45,680 But I want you to know that we love you and I'm rejoicing. 392 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:51,400 We're all sitting here rejoicing that you have spent the time with us today. 393 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:53,160 Thank you for listening. 394 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:57,320 Go Church Beirut is your place to love, grow, and go. 395 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,320 We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of God. 396 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:06,000 Grow in His love and go with His love to the rest of the world. 397 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:10,000 On behalf of the entire Go Church family, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New 398 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:16,000 Year.