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Entitled, Not Mine, But God's. Everybody say,
Not Mine, But God's. And for the four weeks of
Advent, we've been focusing on those words of
Advent. But long before Gabriel spoke to Mary,
that's what we looked at our first week. Long
before angels visited the shepherds is what we
looked at on week number two. Or the wise men
saw a newly formed star long before this ever
happened. God planted a promise in the hearts
of his people that the Messiah is coming. A promised
one is coming. The deliverer is coming. The rescuer
is coming. The Messiah is coming. I believe the
two most important events. In all of human history,
all of the world history, I believe the two most
important events are the incarnation, everybody
say incarnation, and the resurrection. Now the
Bible encourages us to talk about the death,
the burial, and the resurrection and to remember
those things. The Bible doesn't specifically
instruct us to celebrate the birth, of Christ,
even though it records it, and that's what we've
been reading. But the incarnation is very important.
It's vitally important. Because without the incarnation,
Jesus would have been just a man like us. He
would have been born in sin like us. And if he
would have been born in sin, then it would have
been impossible. for him to die for our sin because
he would have had to die for his own sin because
the wages of sin is death. So that's how important
the incarnation is. At just the right time, the
Bible says, Jesus stepped down out of heaven.
Now, I've talked to people before who believe
that Jesus did not even begin to exist until
the Christmas story. But he's eternal. He's God.
All right? He existed. He was part of creation
in creating the earth. I mean, he is God. He
is eternal. But at just the right time, because
he was seated at the right hand of the Father
in the throne room of eternity, just the right
time, he stepped down out of heaven. And that's
what the incarnation is about. God took on flesh.
God added humanity to his deity. Born not like
us, he was not born in sin. Not only was he not
born in sin, he never sinned. So he didn't deserve
to die for sin. But the incarnation makes it
possible. For him to die for us because we were
in sin and the wages of sin is death. We deserve
to die for our own sin. But someone who had never
sinned could step in and be our substitute. Amen.
So the incarnation is important. Incarnation
is important. Advent, that word Advent is. The
definition, pure definition is the arrival of
a notable person or a think. So we don't use
that word a whole lot, but, you know, we have
used it some. We could say the advent of the
internet or the advent of smartphones or something
like that. Something that's notable that would
change, cause drastic change in the earth, right?
But in the incarnation, we're talking about the
person, the notable person that's transformed
the world. Transformed the world. I mean, even
our year, even our years started counting again
at that point, right? I mean, it's... Jesus is
the most influential character in all of the
history of mankind. So Advent, we're celebrating
his arrival. We're remembering his arrival, why
he came, what he did. And we're also remembering
some things that he brought with him. Because
he ushered in the kingdom of God into this earth.
You know, he didn't come just to save us. Even
though that would be enough. That's not the only
reason he came. He came so that we could experience
his life. It's not just about after we die. It's
about the here and now too. When we come to Christ,
when we're born again, I mean, we become alive
in Christ and we're already living the Christ
life. At least we have the opportunity to. Now,
it's up to us if we actually do or not. As we
look at these stories, we're preparing our hearts
to celebrate the birth of Jesus because this
world is so cluttered and crowded that you could
go through this holiday season and not even think
about Jesus. So many people will. But we're preparing
our hearts to truly celebrate the birth of Jesus
some of the notable things that he made available
to us. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about
hope. Everybody say hope. He brought hope. Last
week, we talked about peace. Everybody say peace.
Because he brought peace. It's a different kind
of hope and a different kind of peace, not natural.
hope or peace, not the world's hope or peace,
but supernatural hope and peace. And today we
continue, we're going to be talking about joy.
That's why we sing two joy songs on top of our
Christmas songs, if you didn't figure that out,
all right? We're talking about joy because Jesus
brought a new level of joy that's available for
us. that had never been available before. And
next week, we're going to talk about his love.
And I believe if we listen with expectation,
because it's really easy just to come to church
and go through the motions and not really listen
or expect anything. But I believe if we listen
with expectation, we just might hear the voice
of God calling us out of the noise all around
us. I mean, I'm not saying all the noise is bad
because some... You know, we enjoy the things
of the holiday, right? Just as much as anyone
else. But we can't get so wrapped up in the secularization
of the holiday that we miss out the most important
thing. So if we listen with expectation, we might
just hear the voice of God calling us out of
this noise and into the life. that he has for
us and is made available for us. Now, first week,
we read about the angel Gabriel coming to Mary,
talked about her response. Last week, we skipped
ahead and we went to the shepherds, but now we're
going to back up because what we're reading today
took place. In a very short amount of time after
Mary responded to the angel, we're going to pick
up in Luke 1 verse 39. A few days later, everybody
say not very long. A few days later, Mary hurried
to the hill country of Judea, to the town where
Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted
Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's
child leaped within her. And Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit. And when she was filled
with the Holy Spirit, she began to say some things
prophetically. Everybody say prophetically. She
began to speak some things that she really didn't
fully know or fully understand. Look to the person
beside you and say, God still does that. He might
want you to be his mouthpiece to somebody else,
give you the words to say to somebody else. See,
we're not going to get spooky when it comes to
prophecy. Some people get too spooky. I don't
know if you know what I'm talking about, but
people, has anybody ever been around some of
that? And people just get spooky, right? The
Holy Spirit's not spooky. Prophecy, in its most
basic form, is God speaking to you, speaking
to your spirit, you hearing him, and then you
just saying what he wants you to say. I mean,
it's easy. We're not going to make it spooky,
all right? We just hear from God, and you don't
have to announce. You don't have to say, thus
saith the Lord. I just got a word for you, brother.
We don't have to do all that announcing. You
know, we can be the mouthpiece of Christ and
just speak to someone. It's God speaking through
us to them. Everybody listen. It should happen
a lot. Should happen a lot. So, Elizabeth gave
a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has, see,
this is prophetic right here. This is, God has
blessed you above all women, and your child is
blessed. I mean, she most likely hasn't been
expecting but a week. I mean, it's not like she's
showing up six months pregnant or something.
I mean, that's why I'm saying it's prophetic,
because how would she know? Unless the Spirit
of God spoke to her and then she's speaking.
Right? God has blessed you above all women and
your child is blessed. Why am I so honored that
the mother of my Lord should visit me? I mean,
she already knows. She already knows. The Holy
Spirit has revealed that to her. Then she said,
when I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb
jumped for joy. I think she's about six months
pregnant, if I remember correctly. I should have
wrote that down somewhere. The baby in my womb
jumped for joy. You are blessed. Listen to this.
You are blessed because you believed that the
Lord would do what he said. I'm just going to
go ahead and claim that for myself. I'm not pregnant.
Hallelujah, I'm not pregnant. Hallelujah, Ghana's
not pregnant. But I want you to listen to this.
You're blessed because you believed that the
Lord would do what he said he would do. Oh, that
each one of us would truly believe that the Lord
would do in our lives what he said he would do.
Our lives will be different every day. And then
Mary responded. I'm not going to read her whole
response. Because I believe she took off in a
prophetic line too. Oh, how my soul praises the
Lord. How my spirit rejoices. And God, my Savior.
Everybody remember what your soul is, right?
Your soul is your thought life, your mind, your
will or your desires, and your emotions. That's
our soul. We are spirit beings created in the
image of God. We have a soul and we live. in
a body. Okay? So she says, oh, how my thought
life and how my desires and how my emotions,
with all of that, I am praising the Lord and
how my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. It needs
to be us every day too. So today we're going
to focus on An advent that I've already described
to you, but the advent of supernatural joy. Now,
in each one of these messages, we've talked about
natural, right? We talked about natural peace
last week, what the world calls peace, what the
world... has to offer as peace. I mean, the world
has a natural joy that people can experience
who are not in Christ. But the issue that we
face is that even though we're in Christ, many
times the only peace and joy that we experience
are natural peace and joy. which are connected
to the circumstances going on around us. But
the Bible is talking about something higher than
that. Not natural, but above natural. Don't freak
out over the word supernatural. That just means
God is putting His super on the natural. It's
just above. It's the next level. It's greater
than. Because in this fallen world, the peace
that people can experience is broken compared
to the peace in heaven, compared to God's peace.
The joy that people can experience, right? Has
anyone ever heard this song, This Joy That I
Have? Does anybody know that song? You always
give me a hard time when I sing it by myself,
but you want me to sing it anyway. Because this
joy that I have, the world didn't give it to
me. Y 'all heard that? This joy that I have,
the world didn't give it to me. This joy that
I have, the world didn't give it to me. Here
we go. The world didn't give it. the world can't
take it away. See, if the world gives it to you,
the world can take it away. But if you have a
joy and a peace that's not of this world, then
the world can't take it away. Natural occurrences
can't take it away from you. So, the arrival
of supernatural joy. You remember, it was last
week we talked about shepherds, right? I'm just
giving you a little bit more because we talked
about the baby jumping with joy. Well, the angel
talking to the shepherds, last week we focused
on them saying, you know, peace on earth, but
they also said joy to all people. So Jesus not
only brought supernatural peace on earth, he
also makes it available for us to have supernatural
joy, all of us. The angel reassured them, don't
be afraid, he said. I bring you good news. Everybody
say good news. I bring you good news that will
bring great joy. Everybody say great joy. Great
joy to all people. Now just that word joy. And
the Greek is already exceedingly, exceeding joy,
great joy. So the angel even put another great
in front of it. So it's like great, great. That
word joy is kara. I wanted to go ahead and guess
that one. Try to say it. Kara. It means exceeding
our great joy. Exceeding our great gladness.
Exceeding our great cheerfulness. Exceeding our
great delight. See, it's next level. It's not
just joy, gladness, cheerfulness, or delight.
It's exceeding our great. That's what the word
joy means. Every time you read it in the New
Testament, that's what it means. That's what
it means. I know I've shared this before, but
I'll share it again. You know, I heard a good
preacher one day say, well, you know, happiness
is like the rapids on top of a fast -flowing
river. You can see that. You can see it. But
joy, He said with a big stern face, and I repeated
it for years. Joy. Everybody get real serious.
Say joy. You know, joy. Joy. You can't see joy.
Joy is the current that keeps the river moving.
Every once in a while we can experience some
happiness that can be seen on the outside. But
nobody can see joy, he said, because it's that
current. It just keeps flowing. I can't believe
I repeated that nonsense without looking it up.
I thought he was real spiritual and smarter than
I was. But then one day I just looked it up and
I'm just like, what? I think if I have exceeding
great joy, exceeding great gladness, exceeding
great cheerfulness, Has anybody seen a cheerleading
squad before? Exceeding great delight. I believe
you could see that. You can see it. So everybody
go home and look in the mirror and see if you
can see the joy of the Lord on your face. So
many people in church today look like their mama
raised them on lime juice. It needs some joy.
It needs some supernatural joy. Yeah. So that's
what the word means. I don't believe that that's
invisible. Topical lexicon from this word says
this. Joy, everybody say joy. Joy in the New
Testament is more than emotion. It is settled,
spirit -given delight that arises from something.
This is going to tell us where it comes from.
It arises from the redemptive acts and abiding
presence of God. That's where supernatural joy
comes from. It comes with the Spirit. Hey, if
you're born again, the Holy Spirit lives on the
inside of you. Your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit. He's here. He's... Now... Many times
we don't acknowledge him, but he's here. And
he's the one who gives us this delight that arises
from the redemptive acts of God. Now, again,
some people, when you think about the redemptive
acts of God, you're just thinking about salvation.
But it's more than that. It's more than that.
See, I inserted the word grace here because I
believe God's grace is through God's grace that
he reveals his redemptive acts. But Jesus purchased
more. than salvation. I think we have some cards
back there. If you don't have one, if you already
have one at home and you've already taken one
home, we probably don't have enough for everybody.
But we did a series where we went through all
of Paul's letters and we looked for the words
in Christ, in him, through him, by him. And if
you haven't heard me say this, or maybe you've
heard me say it, but you've never really triggered
in on it, listen, every time you see that in
the New Testament, in Christ, in him, through
him, by him, you need to stop and pay attention.
Because when you see that phrase, right around
it is going to be a redemptive act. Of God that
is available to you. That Jesus purchased for
you. In his death. And sealed for you in his
resurrection. So. His redemptive acts. I mean
again. I'm not downplaying salvation. Because
that's the most amazing. Act. Right. I'm not
downplaying that. Don't take this as I'm downplaying
that. But he came so that we could have life
and life more abundantly, not just in the sweet
by and by, but in the nasty here and now. So
the spirit -given delight arises. Here's how
you're going to partake of it. By acknowledging
the Holy Spirit and acknowledging the things
that God has done for you, that Jesus provides
for you, by acknowledging those things, recognizing
those things, and then getting happy about them.
And not just getting happy about them, listen
to me, staying happy about them. Because in this
world, we're going to run into some situations
that... It's like, I know God said this, but
look at what I'm experiencing right now. And
sometimes we let this earthly, natural experience
overwhelm us, and we lose the supernatural joy
that Jesus wants us to have, that he came to
make available to us. I'm preaching all over
what's coming up, but anyway. Natural joy fades.
For those of you who haven't seen my rock, this
is natural. Everybody say natural. This is the
best that we can do on our own. And for so many
years, I tried to do on my own and my own strength
and my own ability. I tried to work on myself
and polish myself up to try to be good enough
for God, to try to be accepted by God. Has anyone
ever gone through that track before? I've even
prayed and asked God to work on me and to polish
me. But here's the deal. God wants us to exchange.
Not just polish up the natural, but to exchange
for him, for his supernatural, for in Christ.
I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer
live. This is what God wants for us. I've been
crucified with Christ, so I no longer live. It's
Christ living in me and me living in him, right?
That's the glory. So human joy, natural joy fades.
It comes and goes. Comes and goes. Just like
anybody else. Any natural person can experience
human joy. But Jesus wants us to have a joy greater
than that. That doesn't come and go. That doesn't
fade. He wants us to have his joy. And not just
for us, but his joy to the degree that it overflows.
Everybody say overflows. Natural joy will leave.
It'll fade. It'll leak out when we face disappointment,
when we face discouragement, when we face delay,
when we face exhaustion, when we face fear. Natural
joy will leak out quick. It'll fade fast. Has
anyone ever bought some battery -powered Christmas
lights? I used to have a stocking. I don't know,
do I still have it? I haven't seen it in a long
time. My stocking that had batteries in it, that
had lights on it. Yeah, we've shuffled around
a few times since then. I used to have a stocking
that you put... AA battery in the top of it.
Jeffrey's got a little Christmas tree. Put a
little battery in it. And we would just turn
that on at the beginning of the season. And you
know what? It would make it. It would make it
for about 25 days, 28 days. But as we got closer,
it got dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. But it stayed
lit up. It stayed lit up. But it dimmed. It faded.
But the ones that we have plugged into the wall,
like we had lights on all night last night. Ganna
normally likes it to be just pitch black, no
light whatsoever, but for some reason during
the month of December, the Christmas tree can
stay on. She can sleep right through without
seeing the light. I don't know how she sees the
light with her eyes closed anyway. I can't figure
that out because when I close my eyes, it gets
dark. But those that are plugged in, They don't
dim and fade. So I just thought about that because
the natural is going to fade. But if it's plugged
in or plugged into Christ and he's in us, it's
not going to fade. Elizabeth told Mary, when
I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped
for joy. Jumping up and down is an expression
of joy. That's not part of the definition, but
in the Old Testament, everybody say Old Testament.
Old Testament, if you research the word rejoice
in the Old Testament, which is a form of joy,
it means to spin in circles, jump up and down
and shout is what it means in the Old Testament.
Should not have told her of that problem. I'm
just playing. At this point, You know, Elizabeth
is an old lady. She's old. She's past childbearing
times. She's six months pregnant. Mary was pregnant.
Everything with Joseph hadn't been worked out
yet. Remember, this is like immediately she went.
You know, just a few days, maybe a week, she
went. Short time. So Joseph probably didn't even
know yet. I mean, this is like... It's still
in the could be. Everybody say could be. It could
be very interesting, right? When she got back
to Nazareth and, you know, because when she came
back now, you might be able to see that she's
expecting. She's got to go talk to her fiance.
She's got to talk to her friends. She's got to
talk to her parents if she hadn't already. Joseph
wasn't fully on board yet in the world. Talking
about the Messiah, everybody thought the Messiah
was coming to, you know, free them from Roman
rule and they'd be free and under their own government.
So as far as the world was at this time and as
far as their lives were at this time, it was
kind of chaos. It wasn't really necessarily a
time of great joy. But right in the middle, everybody
say right in the middle, right in the middle
of all that, joy overflowed because Jesus was
present. You might say, well, nobody could see
him, but he was there. Even the baby in Elizabeth's
womb jumped for joy because Jesus was there.
The Messiah was there. So joy is a response to
God's presence. Maybe sometimes we don't have
joy because we're not acknowledging God's presence.
If your joy is fading, it means you're not acknowledging
the presence of God enough. Joy is a response
to God's presence. This supernatural joy is not
a response to perfect conditions. After Jesus
talked about, listen, after he talked about the
importance of staying connected with him, you
might recall, I'm the vine, you are the branches.
If you abide in me and my word abides in you,
he goes on to say, apart from me, you can't do
anything. You might say, well, I can do some
stuff. Nothing that matters in eternity, you
can't do anything that matters in eternity apart
from Christ. Jesus began to talk about his love
and the Father's love for him and his love for
you. And it's talking about relationship. Everybody
say relationship. After he talked about those
things, he's divine. We need to stay connected
to him. You know, we need to experience his love,
all those things. I couldn't read, you know,
15 verses before I got to this one. But after
he talked about that, he made the following statement.
I've told you these things so that you will be
filled with my joy. Exceedingly great joy, gladness,
cheerfulness, delight. That's why he told us
these things. And then he said, yes, your joy
will overflow. Look at the person beside you
and say, overflow then. Overflow. Let's get some
overflow. Let's get some overflow joy going on.
Like we had some overflow laughing during the
offering, let's have some overflow joy. If we
were living in the supernatural joy that Jesus
made available for us, we would be changing the
world. got quiet after I said that. Natural joy
is emotional. Our emotions are fickle. They can
go up and down. God gave us emotions. Right?
But he wants our emotions to be spirit controlled
and not world controlled or flesh controlled.
Y 'all are thinking really too hard. Natural
joy is emotional, but God's joy is spiritual.
Listen, God's promise for supernatural joy is
not the promise of happy feelings all the time.
Because we walk by faith and not by sight. We
walk by faith and not by our emotions or our
feelings. Because we are spirits connected to
God. Now, we spend a lot of our years just learning
how to function as souls and flesh in this world.
We've got to rise above that. So it's not a promise
of happy feelings, but it's a promise of supernatural
joy. Mary responded, my soul praises the Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. Her joy
wasn't from her comfort. It wasn't from certainty.
outside of faith. I mean, she couldn't see it.
It didn't come from her sight. It came from her
faith, right? Didn't come from clarity. She still
didn't fully understand how it was all going
to work out. And if she would have waited on
all that stuff, she wouldn't have had joy. She
wouldn't have been praising God and rejoicing
if she had to wait on that before she would.
Another line from the topical lexicon is this,
joy is rooted, the joy of God is what we're talking
about, not natural joy, but God's joy is rooted
in divine initiative. That means that it doesn't
start with what's around us, it means it starts
with God. It's a divine, a God initiative. He
initiates this joy. And it's supposed to be experienced
in all believers. And it's supposed to be expressed.
Everybody say expressed. At least smile when
you say the word expressed. It needs to be expressed
now. And in heaven. And in heaven. But it needs
to be expressed now too. Should be expressed
now too. Shared this last week. Romans 14, 17.
The kingdom of God. Jesus ushered in the kingdom
of God when he came. Ushered in the kingdom of
God to this earth. So what's the kingdom of God
about? Old Testament. Everybody's looking at
rules. Keeping the rules. How to be the best
person that they could be. How to polish their
rock as best they could. It's Old Testament.
Jesus ushered in the kingdom and the kingdom
of God is not eating and drinking. It's not about
the rules. Doesn't mean we throw out the rules
and don't care. But if you live spirit -controlled
lives, you don't have to think about individual
rules because you're walking with God and following
God. Right? Live in the spirit. You won't hang
on to the... lusts of the flesh when you're living
spirit -controlled lives. The kingdom of God
is not about eating and drinking. It's not about
the rules. It's about righteousness. Gift righteousness.
Not works righteousness, but gift righteousness.
Because of salvation, we take off our unrighteousness.
It's just like filthy rags. And we are clothed
in Christ's righteousness. The Bible says we
become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus,
if you want to search for that verse. So the
kingdom of God is about discovering that we're
righteous based on what Jesus did on the cross.
We're in right standing with God. It's also about
peace. Everybody say peace. Everybody say joy.
Listen, if your religion and your experience
with God is not about being right with God through
what Jesus did on the cross, having the peace
of God that surpasses understanding, having the
joy of the Lord that's your strength, if that's
not what your religion's about, you're in the
wrong spot. Because that's what the kingdom of
God's about. It should be our focus. Not just
at Christmas. When we go through those words
of Advent, it should be all the time. Peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit. It's initiated from God.
It will not be initiated from God in your life
until you fully acknowledge him. Joy doesn't
rise from circumstances. Joy rises from revelation.
Everybody say revelation. Revelation is when...
The Holy Spirit takes the things of God and makes
them known. To where all of a sudden you say,
it's mine. It's really mine. God said it was
mine. So I've received this revelation. It's
not just the hearing, it's the coming alive.
Have you read the Bible? and you've read a verse
a hundred times, but all of a sudden, there's
revelation. And it's like, I've read this a hundred
times, and I've never seen this. This is, and
you just are filled with joy because of this
revelation, right? Who knows what I'm talking
about? Joy rises from revelation. The revelation
of what is available to us in Christ. And it's
applied by the Holy Spirit. So it's in Christ
and it's in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness, peace,
and joy in the Holy Spirit. Taking hold of the
revelation just like Mary did. Natural joy is
fragile, falls apart. God's joy is strong. Again,
happiness depends on what happens. Supernatural
joy depends on who is present. Each one of us
has the opportunity. To walk in the presence
of God. Each one of us has the opportunity to
be, I'm going to put it this way, to be a carrier
of the presence of God. Each one of us has the
opportunity that when we walk into the room,
Because we are carriers of the presence of God.
Everybody's lifted. This is just different language
for the series that we did when I ask you every
week, how's your flow? Because God's supposed
to flow not just in us for our enjoyment and
for our edification, but... He's supposed to
fill us to such a way, Jesus said, that rivers
of living water flow. Nehemiah 8 .10, we sang
this. It's one of our songs that we've been singing
lately all the time. The joy of the Lord is your
strength. Let's talk about Peter a second. Jesus
came walking on the water. Peter said, Lord,
if that's you, call me out there with you. So
what could Jesus say? He couldn't say it's not
me, right? Because it wasn't. So in response
to his question, he says, come on. Peter stepped
out of the boat and began to walk on the water
to Jesus. But, look at these waves. This is dangerous.
I mean, and when he took his eyes, Off of Jesus.
I've never seen anybody begin to sink. But the
Bible says he began to sink. Because every time
I've sunk, I've just sunk quick. I didn't begin
to sink. Jesus reached out and took him by the
hand. Here's the deal. We're talking about walking
by faith and not by sight. But everybody in this
room agrees with what you're talking about, including
the preacher, right? But here's why. Because
all of a sudden, in this natural world, we're
overwhelmed by what we see. We're overwhelmed
by what the doctor says. We're overwhelmed by
our bank account. We become overwhelmed by things
that we see. By things that we feel. And so many
times it's not even reality. What we're feeling
is not even reality. Right? Are you agreeing
with me? The things that bring us fear is not
even reality sometimes. It's worrying about something
that could possibly happen. And this is all of
us. See, again, if we think that we're the only
one that goes through it, a lot of times that
will take us to a really bad place. Because we
think we're the only ones. Listen, right in the
middle of what you see, right in the middle of
what you feel, you can still have supernatural
joy and supernatural peace. You don't have to
sink. You don't have to sink. The reason why
we sink is because we allow the things going
on around us to overtake us. But listen, when
that happens, I think I did this the first week,
but you are a spirit. You have a soul. You live
in a body. Who's supposed to be in charge? Of
your three parts, who's in charge? It's supposed
to be your spirit. That's who you are. It's time
that our souls and our flesh are not the dictators
of our being. That's how we're going to step
up. You've got to recognize it if your soul is
trying to take over, if your emotions are trying
to take over, if your thoughts are trying to
take over. We've got to learn to be spirits.
We've got to recognize that. And we've got to
stand up and say, I know what I'm seeing and
I know what I'm feeling, but this is not right.
This is against. what God has promised, what
God has made available to me, and I will not
allow you to be the dictator over my being anymore.
Because we can have, as the old songwriter put
it, peace in the valley. We can have it. We can
have it. that we walk in the natural through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. That's your spirit standing up. No,
no, no. Fear, you're not going to be the dictator
of who I am anymore. Because God hasn't given
me a spirit of fear, but a power and love and
a sound mind. So you just sit down and shut up.
You have to take authority over your soul, over
your thoughts, over your desires, over your emotions.
You've got to rise up. You're a spirit. You are
a spirit. You rise up and tell that old soul
to shut up. Spiritual joy, it's not something
that you work up. See, if you're trying to work
it up, all you're trying to do is polish your
rock. If you're trying to work it up, all you're
doing is polishing your rock. You don't work
it up. You receive it. Joy in the Holy Spirit.
It's initiated by God, and you receive it. From
the one who is joy. Set your mind on things above.
Set it. I can't set it for you. You've got to
set your own mind. I can't set it for you. But
I'm trying to help you. Know that it's possible
for you to be able to set it. It is possible.
Joy came wrapped in humility. And just strips
of cloth. Came crying in a manger. Feed trough.
That's what a manger is. Feed trough. And he
came to be with us. Everybody say Emmanuel. He
came to be with us. He didn't just visit for
those 33 years and then leave. He came to be
with you. And he came to be in you. And he wants
you to be in him. He wants to be in you. Let's
pray. God, thank you. Thank you for your truth.
Thank you for your word. God, I pray that it
will be planted in our hearts in good soil. That
the cares of this life won't pluck it up out
of our hearts, but it'll be planted in our hearts
in such a way that it grows. in such a way that
we grow and take hold of the things that you
have for us, not only for our personal fulfillment
and enjoyment, but for the sake of your kingdom
in this world. I pray that your word would grow.
In our hearts. We yield to you. Holy Spirit,
we yield to you. Do your work of transformation
in our lives. Conforming us. Into the image of
Jesus. Amen. This online worship experience was
brought to you by the friends and partners of
Elation Church.