Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. And here's my confession. When
I'm out in public, and I don't know about you,
but when I'm out in public, sometimes I like
to watch people. How many are like, come on,
look at that, all right? It's almost a sport,
isn't it? You know, I love to get out and watch
people because you just never know what you're
going to see. You really don't. If you're out
in the public, you can see the strangest things.
You can see very normal things. You can see anything
from the bizarre, right, to the crazy. Almost
weird. And on one occasion for myself, there
was this time when I was watching people and
came up on a scene, and it was kind of bizarre
and horrifying all at the same time. And I remember
this years and years ago. This was many years
ago. And it happened in the strangest of place.
You know, normally you're in a mall watching
people. You're going down the street. You're
going somewhere up the road, and you see a group
of people. But this particular time, I was coming
off of a four -lane highway. and I was coming,
exiting the highway and I was going down to an
intersection. And at the intersection, there
were three cars in front of me that were at a
light. It was a T down there and you stopped
and it was a light. You could go right or left
when the light turned green, of course. And I
hopped off the highway. It was a beautiful summer
day. I'm in a pickup truck. I got the window
down, the tunes on, right? Praise and worship,
listening to some worship. And I'm just cruising
down to the light and I noticed something strange
happening. First of all, The car that was the
lead car at the light had a person standing in
front of it. How many know that's not normal
at an intersection, right? There's somebody standing
in front of it. And as I got closer, I began
to hear yelling and screaming. And there was
a woman. She was in front of this car. And she
is yelling at the driver. I don't know who the
driver was, but she was beating on the car and
she's yelling. And how many know some of these
things? You just like, you don't even really
believe you're seeing this where you're seeing
it, but I'm watching this all unfolding. I'm
sliding down to the cars that are in front of,
you know, in back of them. And the closer I got,
I began to slow down and I began to fear the
worst because I began to hear the person that
she was yelling at revving the engine. I know.
And I'm like, please, Lord, no. You know, and
they're revving the engine as I'm coming and
slowing down. And my worst fear took place. I
heard tires squealing and boom. They take off
and hit this woman, knock her halfway out into
the intersection, and she's laying on the pavement.
And I couldn't believe what I was seeing in front
of me. And the car backs up and just sitting
there revving the motor and then suddenly cuts
to the right and takes off down the road. And
this woman's laying in the street. And I begin
to come to a stop, start to get the car, my vehicle
stopped, the truck stopped. I begin to unbuckle
my seatbelt because I didn't know what kind of
horrific scene I was going to walk up on. And
then the strangest thing happened. This woman
sits up and starts to crawl across the street.
And the car that was sitting at the intersection,
the door opens, she crawls in the back seat,
and that car turns to the right and takes off.
Have you ever seen something and you don't even
know what's going on? I didn't know whether to
call 911. I didn't even know what to report.
I couldn't even see their license plate. Everybody
was gone and me in the car in front of me, the
guy's just sitting in there shaking his head.
I didn't know what to do, right? It was the most
bizarre and horrifying thing I've ever seen,
you know, watching people. And we watch people
and sometimes you see people that are angry and
they're frustrated and they're mad and they're
unhappy and they're anything but satisfied in
life. Dixie and I just went shopping. We take
one day a year and we go together and we go shopping
and we do a bunch of Christmas shopping. And
I watched, like people watched this year. We
were at a mall and some outside outlets and all
this kind of thing. I wanted to watch people,
see if they have any joy in their face. I didn't
see a whole lot of joy that day. Matter of fact,
I saw a whole bunch of grumpy people, right?
They were not smiling. We're sitting in the middle
of food and more provision than we could ever
hope for. And all I saw were these faces that
were frustrated. No hope, no life, no peace,
no promise. Just unhappy. And I think it's because
of this. I think it's because people are looking
for happy in all the wrong places. Amen? They're
looking for happy in all the wrong places. They're
searching in places that they're not going to
find it. Happy is eluding them every step of
the way. Joy seems to be a million miles from
them, even during Christmas, right? And at the
most, what they're experiencing is just a splash
of happy. Just a splash, just a moment, right?
In the middle of the tinsel and in the middle
of the lights and in the middle of all of it,
there's this splash of happy. The whole world's
chasing a splash of happy. I'm gonna tell you
one more story, then we're gonna get to the word
of God. We recently, I'm in story mode today,
man. I haven't preached in three weeks. You're
in big trouble, all right? Well, we recently
went on a family vacation and we went to the
happiest place on earth. How many know what that
is? Disney, right? I heard all kind of, I don't
even know what some of you said. But, you know,
Disney's supposed to be the happiest place on
earth. And I remember going, we went there with
the kids and the grandkids, and it was a blast.
We had a ball. We had just as much fun, actually,
back at the big old house we were in, just spending
time together. And we went to all the different
parks, and I spent all my money, and I came home
broke. But it was awesome, right? And while we
were visiting Epcot, we got on this ride that
was called Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind.
By far the best roller coaster I've ever ridden
in my life. And I like roller coasters. And I
remember going in, and even while you're in line,
they got you in little sections, right? And you
go in, and it's a whole experience from the beginning
to end. You're standing in line, and the video
screens come on, and they're telling you how
you're going to be guardians of the galaxy along
with them. Huge video screens. It's amazing,
right? And you go a little further, and they
tell the story a little more. And then you get
on this crazy coaster that runs in the dark,
and it was amazing. And we all got off of it,
and we're smiling ear to ear, and we're laughing,
and we're telling each other all about it, right?
for 15 minutes. We're going on and on. We had
a splash of happy, right? And then we get off
and we got to the kids where some of the other
ones were waiting. And then the splash of happy
turned into, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired,
let's go. Can we ride something else, right?
Do you know what it costs Disney for that splash
of happy for my life? We looked it up, $500 million
to build that ride. That's why I came home broke.
I'm helping Walt pay for it, right? 500 million
for 15 minutes of happiness. In John chapter
four, Jesus begins to unlock the source of true
happiness. And the amazing part is that he gives
us gallons daily of happy. I'm going to, as you
turn to John chapter four, we're going to start
verse one. I'm going to pray. Father, thank you
for this day. I thank you for Lord, each person
that's here. I thank you, Lord, God, for their
testimony and you and God, for some that might
be here and don't have a testimony. God, I pray
that changes by the end of this gathering. Lord,
we pray that God, as we break bread and Lord,
we read your word, God, that it settles into
our hearts and into our minds and God, that it
changes who we are. And we just give you glory
and honor in Jesus name. And everybody said together.
Amen, amen. John chapter four, verse one says,
therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees
had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples
than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize,
but his disciples, he left Judea. Now, Judea
was in the southern part of Israel's area, okay,
in Judea, and departed again to Galilee, which
was in the northern area, but he needed to go
through Samaria. Samaria was kind of sandwiched
between Judea, right, and Galilee, and so he
came to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near
the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son
Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore,
being weary from his journey, sat thus by the
well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of
Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,
give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away
into the city to buy food. The woman of Samaria
said to him, how is it that you being a Jew ask
a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews
have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered
and said to her, if you knew the gift of God
and who it is that says to you, give me a drink,
you would have asked him and he would have given
you living water. Say living water. And the woman
said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with
and the well is deep. Where then do you get that
living water? Are you greater than our father
Jacob who gave us a well and drank it for himself
as well as his sons and his livestock? Jesus
answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this
water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him will never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him will become
in him a fountain of water springing up into
everlasting life. And the woman said to him,
sir, give me this water that I may not thirst
nor come near to draw, right? Jesus has an encounter
with a Samaritan woman at a well as he travels
back up to Galilee. And in the course of the
conversation, Jesus informs this woman that he
has water if drank, right? If you drink the Jesus
water, a fountain of water will begin to rise
up out of you into everlasting life. Living water
from within you. Not water from a well, not something
that you take in from the outside, not something
that erupts and you take and grab a cup and fill
up yourself, right? Fresh, eternal water that
comes up and happy flowing out of you. Joy flowing
out of you. God inside of you coming out. Hope,
life, peace, promise, joy. Happy, perpetually
at your disposal. And the woman's like, now listen,
the woman that's at the well, she's thinking
all physical because she says, sir, give me this
water that I may not thirst nor come here to
draw. She's thinking about physical water because
she doesn't want to have to go carry a pot to
the well, right? And then carry it the whole
way back. But Jesus is saying, no, no, no. You
don't understand, Miss Samaritan, right? I'm
talking about eternal water here. I'm talking
about water that never ends. I'm talking not
something beyond just a splash of happy in your
life, right? A momentary moment. of being satisfied,
and your thirst is being satisfied. What is the
secret that Jesus is letting this Samaritan know
at Jacob's well? It's this. It's not what is
flowing into us that makes us happy, but it's
who's flowing out of us that makes us happy,
right? Let me say it again. It's not what's flowing
into us that's going to make us happy. It's who
is flowing out of us that makes us happy. It's
not what's coming in. It's not. It's not what's
coming into my life that's going to make me happy.
We're all looking for that perfect circumstance.
We're all looking for that perfect situation,
right? That thing that just gets us to that happy
moment, that selfie moment. Amen. Don't we do
that? Cheese, right? That peace, that joy, that
satisfaction, happy. The best you're going to
do with something on the outside is a splash
here and a splash there. And if you want more
than just a splash of happy in your life, if
you want an internal fountain of happy flowing
up out of you, it's going to come because you
partook of Jesus' water. Because you didn't just
grab what was on the outside, but it comes from
the inside. It comes from Christ. And what are
we talking about? You know, what are we saying
here? You got to understand something. If you
look into Scripture, that term, living water,
is only used in three places in Scripture. And
all three times by Jesus, right? Twice is in
this encounter with this Samaritan woman at the
well. Very small audience, right? A woman at
the well, maybe a few disciples standing around.
I don't know if there were some other folks there
or not. Word of God doesn't really tell us. And
then in John 7, 37, Jesus cries out to a large
group of people and clearly states how this fountain
of living water. flows up out of us perpetually.
In John 7, 37, it says this, on the last day,
the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and
cried out. He's at a feast. There's a lot of
people. If anyone thirsts, come on, we're back
to water again, let him come to me and drink.
He who believes in me, as the scripture has said,
out of his heart, say his heart, will flow rivers
of living water. But he spoke concerning the
spirit, whom those believing in him would receive,
for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because
Jesus was not yet glorified. If you're looking
for more than a splash of happy that comes from
something on the outside of you, if you're looking
for happy that's going to flow up out of you,
if it's going to be a fountain, if it's going
to be a river flowing up out of you, then Holy
Spirit needs to be active in your life. Holy
Spirit needs to be working in the inside and
perpetually bubbling up within your life. This
is where happy is going to stem, plus a whole
bunch of other things, right? He is the source.
He is the never -ending supply. He is who Jesus
sent to us when he left and ascended back into
heaven. He is part of the reason why Jesus came
here in the first place that first Christmas.
This is part of the reason. The world around
us can only experience just a splash. They're
grabbing at everything they can get, right? They're
looking for happy in all the wrong places. Any
place they can go grab a moment. Anytime they're
trying to get it on their cameras, they're trying
to grab a moment of photo, right? Parties and
sports and careers and relationships and hobbies
and every place that they can go look and trying
to draw out a moment of happiness. Just grab
for one. I'm here to tell you, Jesus left the
halls of heaven. He was born to a very ordinary
couple, right? In a very ordinary town, a little
town called Bethlehem, so he could pay the price
for our sin. He became the sacrifice. He grew
into a man and he ministered and he became the
sacrifice as God's son to pay the payment for
my sin and for your sin, to bring us redemption,
to bring us right into a place of salvation and
eternity with God. But one day he left this earth
following that after he rose from the grave,
he left and he didn't just leave us with that.
He said, go and wait for the promise. Wait for
the gift. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. It
is the Spirit who comes into your life. And when
that happens, when you're actively engaged with
the Holy Spirit, the Word of God says rivers.
Rivers. How many want a river? Come on. I don't
want a dab. I don't want a dash. I don't want
a little dribble or something. I want a river
of living water flowing up out of me. If we want
happy flowing, regardless of the chaotic circumstance
in your life, it comes by engaging with the Holy
Spirit. You want to get joy in your life in ways
that you can't imagine in the middle of the chaos?
And how many know there's chaos going on around
us, right? How many have been watching the news
this week? right? Bondi Beach, right? Sydney,
Australia, a gunman. I watched the whole video
horrified this week because I watched the video
of these gunmen who just opened up and unleashed
shooting Jewish people at random, at random,
anti -Semitic ugly on display and all kinds of
murdering people in cold blood. That's chaos,
church. Come on. You know, Brown University shootings
taking place. That's chaos. How do you find peace,
dare I say even happy, in the middle of circumstances
like that? Can you even get to happy in the middle
of that kind of chaos? Only if there is living
water flowing up out of you. It is the only way.
It's not going to come from the outside in. It's
going to come from the inside out. If you're
going to get happy when your family is messed
up, When your family is divided, if you're going
to get happy, when there's lack all around you,
you're lacking in finances, you're lacking in
support, you're lacking in whatever, right? When
your spouse never seems to be happy, some of
you are in that situation. Thank God I'm not.
My wife's here. She's happy all the time. Well,
most of the time with me. That's a lie. Sometimes
I, never mind. Right? We'll tell that another
day. All right? Sometimes when you're in a struggle.
That person right beside you at work who's never
happy. Maybe called your boss, right? Eight hours
plus a day. We need more than a splash of happy
in our lives. We need the living water. We need
the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to Bethlehem so you
could have that kind of water. He was born and
laid in a manger and grew so that you could have
this. This is part of what he paid for. We have
fountains of happy flowing up and out of us when
we're engaged with the Holy Spirit, when we're
engaged. When we walk with him and we talk with
him and we're doing life with the Holy Spirit.
We always talk about doing life with one another.
That's amazing. That's awesome. We believe in
that highly here and being a part of a community
of other believers. But that's not nearly as
important as being engaged in and connected with
the Holy Spirit who God has given us. Listen
to what the prophet Ezekiel tells us. And Ezekiel's
prophesying over, he's talking about Israel in
this. And he says in 35, 25, then I will sprinkle
clean water on you and you shall be clean. I
will cleanse you from all your filthiness and
from all your idols. And I will give you a new
heart. and put a new spirit within you. I will
take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and
I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put
my spirit, he's talking about the Holy Spirit,
within you and cause you to walk in my statues
and to keep my judgments and do them, and you
shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers,
for you shall be my people and I will be your
God. That's what he's telling the Israelites.
Scripture says, new heart, new spirit within
you. I saw hearts of stone when I was out Christmas
shopping. I watched their faces. Hearts of stone.
Everything around them. All the goodness that
was around us. All the provision that they had,
right? And nothing but hearts of stone. Jesus
came to this earth. He brought Holy Spirit to
you to do heart surgery. I don't know if you
know that or not. He's here to do heart surgery
on you. The word of God says in Proverbs that
the issues of life, right, are stored up in our
heart. Proverbs 4 .23 tells us that. He'll work
out the issues of your life if you call on him.
All this stuff that makes us so unhappy, right,
the outside stuff coming in, right, that we're
trying to look for happy in, he sends the Holy
Spirit to change our heart. You got to understand
the power in this. You got to understand the
gift of God that this is in your life. Because
when you stop looking to the outside for something
that's going to make you happy on the inside,
and you start looking to God, and you start relying
on the Holy Spirit from the inside out, that's
when rivers begin to flow out, right? That's
when fountains begin to rise up within you. You're
not looking forward to the things that are around.
You're not looking forward to in a relationship.
You're not looking forward to in a person. It's
the Holy Spirit. John 14, 25 tells us that it
is the Spirit of God who is the helper to us,
that he will teach you all things. How many of
you need some teaching out there? Amen. And this
isn't just, sometimes you need emotional teaching.
Do you know that? Lord straightened me up on
that all the time. He's trying to teach me emotionally
how to straighten up. Pray for me. He's still
doing it, right? He says that. John 35 lets us
know that we must be born of the spirit to enter
the kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and
Romans 8, 26 lets us know that the spirit comes
to live within us and that we are virtually the
temple of the Holy Spirit. John 16, 13 says that
he will lead you into all truth. As a matter
of fact, the word of God calls him the spirit
of truth. Galatians 5, 22 says that the fruit
of the spirit It looks like this. Listen to it.
Love, joy, peace, long -suffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self
-control. Did you hear joy in the middle of that?
Happiness? Romans 8 .26 and John 14 .26 tell
us that he's the comforter. He's the helper.
He's the advocate that bears our burdens and
gives us strength. And Ephesians 1 .13 says that
he seals the believers, guaranteeing their eternal
redemption. It is happy. perpetually flowing
out of us. Whole bunch of other things I don't
got time to preach on this morning, but it comes
from the Holy Spirit. And just in case you thought
I missed it with Christmas, you're like, pastor,
this is Christmas time. You should be preaching
a Christmas message. Well, let me just read you
something out of Luke chapter two. As the praise
team gets ready to come, makes their way up to
the stage. Luke chapter two, verse one says this.
And it came to pass in those days that a decree
went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world
should be registered. This census first took
place while Cyrenius was governing Syria. So
all went to be registered, everyone to his own
city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of
the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of
David, which is called Bethlehem. because he
was of the house and the lineage of David, to
be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,
who was with Chal. And so it was while they were
there, the days were completed for her to be
delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and
laid him in a manger because there was no room
for them in the inn. Now they were in the same
country, in the same place, right, same location,
shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch
over the flock by night. And behold, an angel
of the Lord stood before them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were
greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them,
Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great what? Joy. Good times of great
joy, which will be to all people. For there is
born to you this day in the city of David, a
savior who is Christ the Lord, and he will be
the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And
suddenly there were angels, a multitude of heavenly
hosts, praising God and saying, glory to God
in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill
toward men. Heavenly announcement of Jesus coming
to this earth. And what do the angels declare?
We've got good tidings, great news. That could
be interpreted. We got great news of great joy.
Good news of great joy, happiness. Those angels
could have announced Jesus coming a hundred different
ways. They could have said a thousand things
about Jesus that would have been true and amazing.
They said, we got good news. We got great joy
ahead for you. It starts. With Jesus born in
the manger and he continues on with the Holy
Spirit, actively restoring our hearts. Taking
a heart of stone and making it a heart of flesh
about everything in your life, every area of
your life. I'm gonna ask if you'd stand. I'm
here to tell you this morning, the world's got
it all wrong. They're all looking for splashes
of happy and I'm here to tell you today, it's
a lie. You're not gonna find perpetual happy.
If you're looking for the outside in. Do you
know what the world, you can Google this if you
want to. So I know some of you fact check me
on things, all right? Do you know what the, you
should, by the way. Do you know what the world
says the key drivers for happiness are? If you
look it up, they'll say social connections, which
is relationships, health, purpose and meaning,
positive habits, engagement, acts of kindness.
and spending money on experiences. Can I jump
back to where I started this message at and give
you a little bit of a case in point? The woman
at the well had been looking for happiness and
relationships for years. If you read on in that
passage, you'll find out, and Jesus says this
to her in John 4, 16. Jesus said to her, go,
call your husband and come here. He's talking
to the woman at the well. And the woman answered
and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her,
you have said, or well said, I have no husband.
For you have had five, say five, five husbands.
And the one in whom you have is not your husband,
in whom you spoke truly. The woman said to him,
sir, I was perceived that you're a prophet. Six
relationships that she was engaged in, looking
for happy. Five of them were her husband's, and
now she's living with a guy, and she can't find
it. She's looking outside in. Jesus was letting
her know, woman, you're looking for happy in
all the wrong places. Let me tell you about living
water, right? You've been searching for happy
in people. How many know people fail? How many
know you fail? Come on. We all fail. Health will
fail you. Habits will not get it done. It's all
good things, but it will not get it done. Spending
money on experiences, right? 500 million for
15 minutes, and you're going to get a splash
of happy. Engaging in something purposeful, that's
awesome, right? But it will not perpetually bring
happiness into your life. Happy starts in Jesus,
it continues in Jesus, and it works as the Holy
Spirit moves in your life. as you engage Holy
Spirit. Now, I know what some of you are thinking.
Why didn't he leave us sit a little longer? That's
probably what some of you are thinking. You might
ask, well, why are some Christians so stinking
miserable and unhappy jerks, right? Anybody ever
meet an argumentative, combative, judgmental,
unkind, unhelpful jerk of a Christian? Raise
your hand if you have. Don't finger point, don't
look around, by the way. Did you say that? We
are in church. You probably met a Christian who's
stiff -armed the Holy Spirit in their life. Or
a Christian who pretends that he's not there.
He is a he, he is part of the Godhead, the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is God. Or he's
not in communication, or they are not in communication
or communion with the Holy Spirit. Or they value
their truth. over the truth that he speaks. Don't
look at them. Look at Jesus. Don't rely on them
as a representative of God and certainly not
as a representative of the Holy Spirit as well.
Engage. First step to happy in this holiday season,
in Christmas time, time we celebrate Jesus is
faith in Jesus Christ first. And then the second
step is engaged with the gift that he's given
us in the Holy Spirit. I'm going to ask you to
bow your heads. If you're in the house this morning
and you've been looking for happy in all the
wrong places, I'm here to tell you Jesus came
to this earth, was born in a manger in Bethlehem,
grew, and he became the sacrifice for your sin.
He became. The go -between between you and being
reconciled back to God. And maybe nobody's ever
told you that before. He has a plan for you.
He has a purpose for you. He wants to wash you
clean of the sin that has separated you from
Him for so long. And if that's you in the house,
and you're tired of looking for happy in the
wrong places, and you want to know this living
water that I'm talking about. You want to know
what Jesus spoke about to the woman at the well.
If that's you in your house, I want you to raise
your hand and put it up right, put your hand
up and put it right back down. I want to make
sure that, thank you. Thank you for those hands.
Appreciate that. This is an acknowledgement tweet.
He's got living water for you. Now I want you
to keep your heads bowed just a little longer
because Christians, you need to hear this. You
need the Holy Spirit active in your life. You
need to be engaging. and the Spirit's move and
activity in your life. You cannot ignore the
gift of God and expect to get to happy. You cannot
ignore the Spirit of God and living water flow
up out of you. You cannot stiff arm His work
in your life and expect fountains of joy to come
up out. You cannot do it. Father, we come to
you today, and Lord, as each person in the house,
examines their heart as we go into this week
of Christmas. Lord, I pray right now that you
would guide and direct those, Lord, that spoke,
raise their hand, Lord, as they pray and ask
you into their lives. God, as they recognize
that life only comes in you, I pray, Lord, in
their own words, they just say, Jesus, come into
my heart, come into my life, forgive me of my
sin. I want to follow you. I want to walk with
you. I want to talk with you and give me the
gift of the Holy Spirit in my life. Lord, for
those of us who are following, and God have followed
you for so long, God, help us not to stiff arm
the Spirit of God. As he convinces and convicts
us, God, help us to recognize his work in our
lives. As the paraclete, as the one who comes
and never leaves us, but walks with us till one
day we meet you face to face. Lord, we ask this
in Jesus' name, and amen. I want you to look
back up. I want you to think about this in the
light of Christmas for just a moment. What if,
what if it cost you your life to give a gift
to somebody this Christmas? And you gave that
person that gift, and the person took that gift
and stuck it in a corner, ignored it. That's
what Jesus did. He came. He was born. He died
on a cross. He left and he gave us the gift of
the Holy Spirit. What if, right? What if? Here's
what I know. He wants to be active in your life.
I know that my joy comes from him. Circumstances
change all the time. Trouble comes. If you're
following Jesus and somebody told you it was
going to be sunshine and roses, they lied. They
just straight up lied to you. Life's difficult,
amen? But joy comes from within. Now I want to
help you with something. As you follow Christ,
and we're going to do this as a church, by the
way. We're going to start, we're going to begin
to plan for this in January. But here's what
I know. To engage with the Holy Spirit, you have
to be actively in God's Word. You've got to be
praying, right? Praying to the Father. You've
got to be praying and reaching out in prayer.
And you've got to be listening and looking for
the Spirit's move in your life. And one of the
things that so many people struggle with is reading
God's Word. They have such a difficult time in
staying in God's word, understanding God's word,
figuring out God's word. And here's what we're
going to do. And I don't even call this doing
your devotions every day. When you're going to
get with God, I want you to think of it in this
manner. You're going to meet with the creator
of the universe. Do you understand that? Daily.
And here's what we're going to do. We're going
to put a tool in your hand to help you with that.
It's called the Bible recap. Say the Bible recap.
All right. We're going to try to get everybody
engaged in this by the month of February. If
you've never read the Bible through from cover
to cover, you're going to do it this year. This
is your year. And we're going to give you support.
We're going to give you a tool. The beautiful
thing with Bible Recap is there's an app that
goes along with it. And in that app, they'll
give you the reading for the day. And if you're
feeling really lazy that day, they'll read it
to you. Seriously, you can just sit there like
a lump and listen to somebody else read. the
word of God to you. And on top of that, they
got a video that explains what the word of God
just said. It helps you understand what was just
taking place in the Bible recap. So there's an
app, there are books, there are manuals, there's
study guides. We got recap Bibles out there that
you can purchase. You can get just any kind of
resource that you need to help you be successful.
And there's one more step to being successful
in that is other people doing it with you. So
here's what we're looking to do. We've instituted
LH3 here a long time ago. We used to call it,
just to get it started, we said three friends
for three months for three minutes in God's Word.
Now, listen, that was just to get you started.
Now it's going to be three friends and you guys
engaging in God's Word. And the beautiful thing
in the app, you can just chat right within the
app and talk about God's Word. So what I want
you to be praying about through this month into
Christmas, going into January, I know you're
busy right now, right? I want you to be praying
about who you're going to engage. I want you
to find two other people to engage in God's Word
with. I want you to begin to pray about that.
And then... I want you to connect with them and
talk with them. And then we're going to get you
all outfitted with material. And we got a table
set up right out there. If you don't know how
to load the app, they'll help you because it
works in conjunction with YouVersion Bible app.
And they're going to help you get it loaded up.
They're going to show you how to do it, when
to do it, right? They're going to give you all
the, there's some people out there that I'm going
to call experts at Bible Recap. And they're going
to help you learn this tool. And we're going
to engage in God's word. Nothing will change
you more than engaging with the Holy Spirit and
God's word because he was the author. The Holy
Spirit was the author of God's word. Amen. Amen.
God's so good. It's Christmas time. Amen. Thank
you for tuning in to this message from Lifehouse
Church. Visit our website at www .lifehousecog
.com.