Endless Summer

Hello, and welcome to the Salt Church Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this week's message. Join us as we explore God's Word, providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you are about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning worship experience. If you would like to learn more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.

org. We hope that you are encouraged by today's message. Today, I want to talk a little bit about a deeper joy, because the summer joy that we experience isn't the summer joy we will experience throughout the year, right? When it gets a little colder, when it gets a little darker, when it gets a little more empty at times, when we go through life events, things just happen, and maybe that joy isn't all right. That's why I want to talk about an endless summer today.

Our joy, and this is the statement I want to make, and this is the big idea today, our joy is not determined by seasons. And it shouldn't be determined by seasons. As believers, it's not determined by seasons. It isn't determined by how much we accumulate. It's not determined by any one person or people.

If our joy is determined by that, then we're just chasing carrots, right? We see the hamster on the wheel, you know, chasing the little carrot, you know, get a picture of that. That's people today. They're chasing that carrot, and they're trying to get to it, and they're looking around. They're wondering why they're not going anywhere.

We're trying to obtain the things that bring us no results or ultimately bring us emptiness, and it's never satisfying. And as a surfer, I can kind of relate to that because growing up surfing, I was actually out the other day surfing with some guys even here at the church, and there was this young lady that was beside us, and she kind of looked over at me. She says, it's crazy how addictive surfing is, isn't it? I said, yeah. She says, it's like a drug.

I mean, I just got to surf all the time. I said, I know. It's like that, and there's like this endless pursuit of the perfect wave. You know, you surf one wave, and it's not good enough, right, guys? I mean, all you surfers out there, you got to go out and get another one, and you got to go out and get another one, and then we spend lots of money traveling around the world to catch the perfect wave, you know, for that temporary moment, you know, because, I mean, we're like, wow, I can't believe I spent thousands of dollars just to catch this one wave, right?

And there's like this endless pursuit, and maybe that endless pursuit isn't a wave. Maybe it's something else in your life. Maybe it's a success. Maybe it's a sport like golf or something like that. Maybe it's just obtaining more items, maybe a bigger house or a bigger car.

Whatever that is, we seem to have this endless pursuit for joy. We want to find that thing that gives us joy, but unfortunately, our joy can't be determined because it's very short-lived when we put our joy in those things. And today, I want to talk about joy as a state of mind, a state of mind. And in fact, John the Baptist, as he was introducing Jesus, even in his ministry before Jesus came into the picture, he was out preaching. Matthew 3, 2, it says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Repent. Now, when you hear that word repent, some of you are getting like this negative idea in your head. Repent, because I'm a worthless sinner, right? And hopefully, you know, that's the reason people do repent, because they come to terms with the conviction in their heart that there is something that I need more, and I'm not getting it done, right? And so we have this, but repent is actually, I want to take the negativity out of repent.

Repent is really to change one's mind. And what he's saying here, changing your mind or turning, he's trying to help us. When Jesus talked about repenting, when John the Baptist talked about repenting, when you hear that word in the Bible, repent, it's actually a good thing. It's good news, because it's turning away from us being the king of our kingdom. Because our choices, our kingdom doesn't really work, right?

So we're changing focus. So the writers of scripture are trying to help us. Jesus was trying to tell us. John the Baptist was trying to show us that repenting is changing our minds, changing our thought process, turning from the things that have been bringing us disaster, bringing us destruction. The sin that is in our lives that keeps us from being all that we can be, that all God created us to be, because it leads nowhere.

It leads into emptiness. It leads into darkness. It leads into destruction. It leads into no end. There is no, I mean, it leads into a dark place that we don't want to go, and we want to be in charge.

So he's asking us, he's like, I've got a kingdom for you, a kingdom for you. Repent, and it's called the kingdom of heaven. It's the kingdom of God. And under his kingdom, it's good. But it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Sometimes it's counterintuitive, because the way we think of our kingdom is different from the way that God has, the kingdom that God has for us. So what we do is by focusing on our own kingdom and our own joy and building our own joy and figuring out the things in life that bring us joy, we experience anxiety. We experience depression. We experience hopelessness. And God actually promised us joy.

And even believers today, we as believers, struggle with this joy thing, because we like to be under our own kingdom. We like to be ruler of our destiny. When God says, repent, when Jesus said, repent, because I have good news to deliver you from the oppression, from the depression, from the anxiety, all these things that he teaches us, it's there for us to gather. And some of you would say probably, well, Pastor, you don't understand my situation. And I may not, but let me ask you this.

Is being sad and being depressed helping your situation? Well, maybe there's a different answer. So my hope and prayer for you today is that you will find hope, you will find life, you will find joy in God and in something that is reachable. It's very reachable. And it's much more simple than you think it is.

And my hope today is that you see that. I love how Nehemiah 8.10 says this. As Israel was dealing with a lot of things, with captivity and coming out of captivity, and they were listening to the word of God for the first time and forever, instruction from the Lord. It says, do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

They were grieving. They were worrying. We're not giving exactly in Scripture what they were grieving and worrying about. But this statement was true. Do not grieve.

That's an action statement. Do not grieve. Stop grieving. And today my hope is that you stop grieving, church. You stop grieving, world.

Trust in the Lord. Seek repentance. Because joy comes this way. Let me just give you three things, three theological things I want to share with you today about joy, about joy coming, and then I'll give you some practical examples from Paul that Paul shares with you, which is one of my heroes of the faith, and how he dealt with it, and how he experienced joy even in the midst of some of the most troubling things in his life. Number one, joy comes by knowing God has a plan for my life.

Joy comes by knowing that God has a plan. Because here's the deal. If you don't know how God made you and why he made you, everything else is going to do. What else will define your life? Absolutely everything else that you run for, the carrots that you're chasing, that will define who you are.

If you do not know why you were created, how you were created, and who you are, you will be defined by everybody else. In fact, Jesus even understood that. As He was on the cross, at His dying moments, He said, because of the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, right? He endured. Because of that joy that He saw, despite His situation, He endured the cross.

I love how it's put in Psalm, the psalmist puts it in Psalm 16, 5 and 11. Bear with me, I've got a lot of scripture today, because I was just a little scripture hungry this week. Psalm 16, 5 and 11 says, Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup. You make my lot secure. I mean, You bless me, Lord.

And the boundary lines, underline that, boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. What does that mean? It's the boundary lines, it's the place that God has placed you at this epoch of time, at this moment. For me, God has placed me right where I'm supposed to be here, in Virginia Beach, near the oceanfront area. He has placed me in this boundary, and He's given me a calling, and it gives me joy, because I fit right at the moment in which God has placed for me.

He's put boundary lines on our lives in pleasant places, and surely I have a delightful inheritance. And I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night, my heart instructs me, and I keep my eyes always on the Lord, and with Him at my right hand. And I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.

My body will also rest secure, meaning I can sleep at night, because I know who I am, and I know whose I am. And I trust in Him, because you will not abandon me from the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. What I love about that scripture is not only is He preaching to us and helping us, He's prophetically speaking about Jesus who will not see decay. And we will, in a spiritual sense, will not see decay when we trust in God. He gives us rest.

And you make known to me the path of life, and you fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Isn't that a beautiful scripture? That we can trust in Him, that we can rest secure in Him, that He has created us and placed us and made us a certain way. And if we walk within the boundaries He has created us to be in, we can experience amazing things in God. I love how Kay Warren, Rick Warren, Pastor Rick Warren, many of you know him, a pastor of Saddleback Church.

His wife wrote a book, Kay, called Choose Joy. And she said this, Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all details of my life. I'm assured that whatever I do, whatever I go through, whatever's happening, He's involved. And He's involved in every detail, from the biggest thing to the smallest thing. Secondly, I can be certain that God will work it out.

When I'm going through something, I know that my Lord is going to work it out. I know He's working something out that I can't see. And it may not make a lot of sense to me right now, but I know it's happening. Whatever I'm going through, even though the obstacle may be around, and maybe my plans are interrupted, but God's going to work it out. And God is working currently.

He's doing it now. And it's going to work out in a way that is better than I even think it's going to be. And it may be better than my way, you know? And it may not be the way I want it to be, but ultimately He's going to give me something much more than the thing that I want. And the thing that I may think I need.

Because He knows my needs, and He knows my deepest longings, and He understands it. A good example is I have a good friend of mine. I guess it was about 10 years ago. He was kind of stuck in a job, and he didn't know how to get out of it. It was a comfortable job, but he didn't pay a lot of money, and he just kind of felt stuck and underappreciated and kind of was in a place where he wanted to get out of the job.

But he really just, it was hard for him to take that step. You know, sometimes when we're in a comfortable place, even if it's miserable, we tend to just stay where we are, right? And I said, brother, you've got to step out. You've got a lot of talent. You've gotten a lot of things accomplished in this job field.

You've developed your talents and your giftings really well, and you're skilled, man. And you need to sell yourself and get out. So he did it. He took the jump. He took the jump.

But he took the jump right into a job. It paid a little more, but it wasn't his job. And he hated it, hated it, hated it. And he started to question himself. And this had been what I was, should I go back to my old job?

What should I do in this situation, you know? And he talked to me about it, and I'm like, dude, do not go back. Do not go back. Just go forward. And while you're in that situation, God has a plan for you.

God's working it out. He's working right now, and he's going to figure it out. And he trusted God, and God gave him another job that was even worse than this one. And he says, God, what's going on? And I even started to question, I don't know what's going on, brother.

I'm trying to help you. But I know that God's working it out. And so he stuck with it for a few years, worked out some, just built some things in him, worked up his resume. And sure enough, in that job field, he connected with somebody else that put him into a place. It gave him the perfect job with his personality and with his talents.

And from there, he flourished, and then he went into another job that he met through that job field. And now today, he's like, wow, I wouldn't have even known that God had a plan when I was stuck in that dead-end job, and I moved two jobs into emptiness. I felt so empty. I felt so in the wrong direction. I felt like everything was coming against me.

I felt like God didn't have a plan. But let me tell you, he's working it out. And it's easier to see it from the other side. But it's hard when you're in the middle of it. So God could reveal everything before us, right?

He could share and show the whole plan. He could put together the whole outline of our life. But if you knew the blessings that he had for you, you probably wouldn't trust him. And you wouldn't be in it for him. You'd be in it for yourself.

And that's why he does, he wants you to trust him and walk through things with him. He's your God, and he knows what's best. 1 Peter 1-8 says this, Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Man, I don't know about you guys, but I want some of that inexpressible joy.

And I want you guys to have that inexpressible joy today. We don't see him, but we love him. And even though we don't see him now, we believe in him, and we are filled with joy. There was a story, kind of a neat story of a king in Africa. And he had this friend who was always positive, and he would say, Oh, this is good.

This is good. He would always say, This is good about everything. This is good. It didn't matter if it was bad or good or a rough situation. He had that strong, you know, African accent.

This is good. This is good. And the king was hunting one day, and he and his friend were out together, and his friend loaded the gun for him, you know, kind of like kings do. My gun, kind of thing, and as he was hunting, the gun backfired and blew his thumb off, and he was just so angry and furious, and I can't believe this happened, and all his friend could say is, this is good, this is good, he says, this is not good, my thumb is gone, and you're responsible for this, so he took his friend and threw him in jail, and kept him imprisoned for a period of time. The king was back out hunting again in a territory, unfamiliar territory, and a group of cannibals came along and caught him, and began to, you know, pin him up and cook him and get him ready for a nice dinner, right?

Yeah, and it was going to be him. But then they saw his thumb, and because these cannibals were superstitious, they ended up letting him go, and not having him for dinner, right? So he felt such remorse for his friend, he's like, I'm so sorry, I did that. He went back, because he realized that the thumb situation had saved him, and because of this, this is good guy, you know, I'm okay. So the king was, I'm so sorry that I locked you up for all those years, and he responded, this is good, this is good.

He's like, the king was like, why would you, after all, for this whole year, you've had me locked up, why would you say that? And he said, because I would have been there with you. Kay Warren, he said this also, she said, joy is the quiet confidence that everything is going to be all right. It's a quiet, it's a silent confidence that everything is going to be all right. And I can be assured, and I can, I know joy comes, and the third point I want to make, and this seems so simple, but so complex at the same time, is when I choose joy.

Joy comes when I choose joy, because joy is a choice. Joy's not going to just hop on you. Joy's not just going to find you. Joy's just not going to drop out of the air. You've got to find joy.

You've got to choose joy. You've got to make that repentance, you know, like that turning. It's a thought process. We need to turn towards that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. Great.

Philippians 4, 4 says this. I love how Paul says this. He says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say what? Rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Why do you say it again? Because we have short mind spans, and we forget after five minutes. We'll say, we'll get here at church, and we'll be rejoicing and all that, and we'll go outside, and then five minutes later, we're miserable, and we're unhappy, and something happens, and somebody did something, and somebody ran out in front of me in traffic, somebody, whatever it is. Oh, it's too hot outside.

Oh, I'm miserable, blah, you know. It's summer, you know, and you're not joyful because we don't rejoice. Again, I say rejoice because it's purposeful, and he was purposeful when he was making this statement. Rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again.

Rejoice. I think of the attitude of joy, you know, like it really is just an attitude. We have to kind of claim that attitude. We have to make the choice that we're going to have good attitudes, and I love Winnie the Pooh, particularly because, yeah, you know, Winnie the Pooh, and I'm sad my kids don't like it too much. I tried to show them some of the cartoons, and they're too into those new cartoons and stuff that they like Hotel Transylvania, which I like too, but I like Winnie the Pooh, you know, one of those old Winnie the Pooh cartoons, and what I love about Winnie the Pooh is that everybody has problems in this group, right?

You got Winnie who's just kind of naive, and Pooh Bear doesn't even, you know, know what he's going to do next or whatever, and you got Piglet who's anxious, you know, is always worried and stuff like that, and you got Rabbit who's kind of a know-it-all, and this is how it works, you know, and yada, yada, and you got Eeyore who's like miserably depressed and never, nothing ever works out, you know. But there's this one guy in the group, and y'all know where I'm going with this, one guy in the group that always changes the atmosphere, and it's Tigger, right? And Tigger shows up, and Tigger shows on the scene, it doesn't matter what it is, Tigger can do it, right? And they ask Tigger, you know, Tigger, you want to go ice skating? Sure, I want to, because that's what Tiggers do best, right?

Tigger, you want to go pick up trash off the playground? Sure, because that's what Tiggers do best, you know, and everything's about Tiggers do best, and Tiggers do best, you know, and he changes the atmosphere, and I love that, and my hope is that we become Tiggers, you know, we bounce on the scene, and we have joy in our hearts, and we choose joy, and that's what we do best. As Christians, we do that best, right? We walk into a place and change the atmosphere, because there's going to be people, and there's going to be things, and there's going to be heartache, and there's going to be lack of joy, there's going to be darkness, this is where we live, this is what it is, this is the reality of it, but we can choose joy, and it's really not that far from you. Did you know that?

God is right there. It is not that far from me. In fact, Deuteronomy says this, Deuteronomy 30, 11, and 19, and this is the message paraphrased. I love how it says this, it just kind of brings it down to normal language. This commandment that I'm commanding you today isn't too much for you.

It really isn't. It's not out of your reach. It's not on a high mountain, and you have to climb that, you have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it to you before you can live it, and it's not across the ocean. You don't have to send sailors out to get it. Bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it, right?

I mean, it's not. No, the word is right here and now, as near as your tongue and your mouth, as near as the heart and your chest, and like Nike, it says just do it. Just do it. Joy is a choice, right? Just do it.

It's right there before you. Look at what I've done for you today. I've placed in front of you. I've made it obvious to you. I've placed in front of you.

I've given you an instruction manual. I've given you the word of God. I've given you everything you need. I've placed in front of you life and good, death and evil, and I command you today, love God, your God. Walk in his ways.

Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly. I love how it says that. Blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess. But I warn you, I warn you, and people don't listen, so we go our own way anyway, right? But he says this, and God warns us, I warn you, if you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off and serve and worship other gods, then you will surely and certainly die, okay?

He was speaking to Israel in this context, obviously, but this is a spiritual principle for us. You won't last long in the land you are crossing in the Jordan and entering and possess. And I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, and I place before you life and death, blessings and curse. And what does he say? Choose life so that you and your children will live.

And I think of it, I think of God as this tender father. Choose life. I mean, after he's thrown all this at us, you know, you're going to die if you don't listen to me. And he says, I placed it before you, and now choose life. Choose life.

And there's three things I think that will help us as we study the Apostle Paul. I don't have a lot more time to really elaborate on it, and hopefully for a future series, I can go through Philippians. I went through Philippians in the past, but let me just give you three. Let me just give you three. Little points that we can learn from the Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians he's in prison he's waiting to be beheaded so he's in a pretty serious situation but somehow he chooses joy and the first point I want to make is a choose to look beyond what's happening choose to look beyond what happened because a lot of times when the thing is happening before us when we're in the midst of thing we we focus on that right in fact people would say and psychologists even say at times we would go and sit or you know go and think about it we go and think about that issue and we ruminate on it and and and and it just gets worse when we're in a miserable place we go and sit and we we start sit we make faults you know it's basically lies that are being able being pushed into our heads because we're trying to figure it out well why did this happen why is this issue there what are we do why God would you allow this to happen and and and and we begin to think differently about the way that God thinks about us and it just gets worse and we begin to draw conclusions that aren't necessarily true and one of the leading causes of suicide is people thinking about the situation that happened or the situation that is happening.

and they get along and they get along and they get along and that's why we say oh we just get along with yourself and and just think about it and it just takes us to a deeper place and I'm going to try to work it out in my head and figure it out on my own and it doesn't mean that the the situation isn't important it doesn't mean that it's a serious thing but the more you think about a thing the more your life is going to be full of death and destruction the more your life is going to be full of death and the more you think about a situation the more you think about a difficult situation the more you think about a trial the more you think about trouble the more you think about the things that are going on around you that is really mostly out of your control it's going to bring you to a place it's going to take you to a place and and and and those seasons in life when we feel like I can't I can't even go on it's because we think about those situations We don't see an end to them. And we need to think beyond what happened, beyond what's happening. Look beyond what's happening. Philippians 1, 12 says, Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. So he's looking at his situation.

He's in prison. He's under chains and in a room locked away with a guard outside the door. He's getting ready to go in and get a verdict. And that verdict's probably going to be death. He doesn't know what's coming.

He may never see the people that he ministered to for so many years again. But all he can think about is not his current situation, but the gospel is being advanced. It actually serves as God says. He says, I was able to, you know, while I'm in here, I was able to do some writing. I was able to write some books to the church.

And I'm taking a little time here, you know, from my traveling and all that. And I'm sharing with you. And I'm looking forward. And the second point is, I choose to find new opportunities in my situation. I choose to find new opportunities in my difficulties.

Because God has put me here for a reason. There is a reason behind this. And Paul's like, not only am I writing a book, these books and these letters to these people responding to some of them, I'm actually witnessing to people. You know, there was a jailer a few years back that found Jesus because I was in the prison. Right?

And he finds opportunities even among them. And he knew how to take lemons and make lemonade. In Philippians 1, 13 and 14, as a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. So everybody knew, everybody. Paul's imprisoned.

Paul is in prison. He's on the death. You know, he's in the, he's on death row. I guess that would be death row that day. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel.

See, he wasn't concerned about his chains. He was concerned about the good news, the gospel. He found joy in knowing that he was walking in his boundaries. God had placed boundaries on his life and he was walking out his apostolic church planting gift. In the name of Jesus, he was leading many to Christ, even in his suffering, even in his difficulties, even in the hardship, even when his best friends had left and departed from him and his ministry partners had gone away from him.

There he is. Even at moments, he was, he was reminiscing on the memories of being with Mark and Barnabas and different ones. But at that moment, it wasn't really a matter of that as his joy. His joy was found in knowing that he is Jesus's. He is God's.

He is made for a reason. He is walking out his calling. And even if the end comes tomorrow or the next day, or maybe it doesn't at all, I know that I have a purpose and I'm living in joy no matter what. I want you to have that joy today. I know I want that joy today.

I think we need to walk in that joy today. Paul shows us that we can have that joy today. Look for new opportunities in the midst of your hurt, in the midst of your pain, in the midst of your suffering and your persecution. And God will come through and you will experience a deep, deep joy. And thirdly, choose to focus on what really matters.

It's easy to get caught up on everything else, right? And some of you need to get away from the gossip and the talk and the social media. You get caught up in these things and it infects you. You buy into the stories, right? We love stories.

We're story people. We like the drama. People love drama. I'm trying to get away from it. And people are pulling me back in it.

Get a phone call. You know, you know what's going on? You know, it's like, oh, I just don't want to know. I don't want to know. I just want to live in peace knowing that the Lord is, you know, is working all that out with you guys.

The drama. Come on. Come on. We love it. But Paul was like, I'm not going to focus on it.

Because what was going on in the context of Philippians is that he was getting reports about other ministers. He was getting reports about other preachers and other churches and how they were teaching and what they were doing. And they were word of faithing it or doctrinally doing whatever it is that some of us are critical about in the church today, right? I can't believe that that independent Baptist church does that, right? I can't believe that charismatic church does that.

I can't believe that, you know, Methodist church. You know, we like that, don't we? Because we think we have it right and they have it wrong, right? And that's what was going on in that day with Paul. They were like, they're teaching this way and they're teaching that way.

And he's like, I'm not concerned about that. I'm not concerned about that. Look at what he says. Here's how he responds to all the whiners and all the frustrating people, you know, and all the drama queens and trauma kings out there in the church that wanted Paul to know about this. Cheers.

Cheers. Cheers. Why aren't you saying something, Paul? Why aren't you doing something, Paul? Why aren't you standing up and running these people out of church?

He says this, it is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, and others out of goodwill. So there's good and bad, whatever. And the latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preached Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely. Y'all know some of those, right?

Y'all see it, and y'all hear it. I hear you talking about it. We know they're out there. People are just going to be people, right? Even pastors and preachers and teachers, and even those who are called to the ministry, like legitimately called to the ministry, they're only human.

And sometimes humanity gets the best of them, and things happen. He says the former preached Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they will stir up trouble for a while for me while I'm in chains. So they were talking about them and preaching against them. And you see, he isn't really a follower of Christ. He's in prison, you know?

If he was a follower of Christ, he wouldn't have gotten jailed in the first place. He doesn't have the Holy Spirit. That's the problem. The way he teaches. The way he goes from city to city.

I could imagine what they were talking about. Probably just, he's hanging around with a bunch of Gentiles. I bet the Jews were just all up about that, right? He and Peter got in a big confrontation about that, right? Peter, I can't believe you're going back to types and shadows.

This is Jesus Christ, his blood. Hanging around all those Gentiles, those sinners. Gosh, how dare he? But he says this. But what does it matter?

What? Underline that. What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. That's all I care about.

That's what he says. That Christ is being preached. I mean, people are being saved. People are being transformed through the power of the gospel, not the person. God's going to deal and judge those.

But we don't sit around dramatizing about those things. We focus on the true message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The joy, the endless summer that we want people to have so desperately. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.

And he says this. And because of this, I rejoice. And because of this, I rejoice. And yes, I will continue to rejoice. He does it again, right?

Amen. I'll rejoice and I will continue to rejoice. So I'll leave you with this one sentence. Today, I choose joy. Today, we choose joy.

Amen. But you can't know joy unless you know Jesus. You can't know true joy unless you know Jesus. And the Bible says if you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. You will know joy.

You will know joy. So today, I invite you, let's just pray. All heads bowed and all eyes closed. This joy that we talk about. Some of you here today are probably, you know, you've come in for different reasons.

We've got a few guests. And we've got, you know, even some regulars that probably have been here over and over again. And, you know, maybe you're just not right with God. And this is the time. You've been wondering why life has been secular and going back and forth.

And you go in and out of joy, highs and lows and all those things. You know, God, you'd experience life. He says, so choose it. So you can know joy today by calling on the name of the Lord. You will be saved.

The Bible says we are all sinners. We all are in need of repentance. Every one of us at some point has failed to measure up to God's standards. That's the point. But he gave his son, Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

Because he saw you. He saw me. He saw us all. And he offered us away. So if that's you today, I want you just to pray this with me.

And believe it. And there's nothing magical in it. It's just surrendering with your heart. Everything you are, fully surrendering. Jesus, I am a sinner.

And I've fallen short of your glory. But today, I believe that Jesus is the answer. That he died on the cross for my sin. I receive you today, Jesus. Come into my heart.

Come into my life. Fill me with joy. Fill me with hope. Fill me with life abundantly today. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.