Summer of Joy

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. Welcome to our Summer of Salt that we've started a series last week. As y'all, most of you know, maybe not all of you knew, I wasn't here last week because I had this terrible allergic reaction, and I looked like a balloon. So I didn't come to church.

I got up that morning. I felt okay. I said, Miranda, should I go to church? She looked at me and says, no. You will scare people.

So I stayed home last week, and I heard that Chris did a bang-up job with our start of our Summer of Salt series. Dealing with the Summer of Fellowship. And I'm excited about a Summer of Fellowship this year. Are you guys? We're going to get together more.

We forgot to dismiss the kids earlier. They're all probably gone now, but if there are any kids, they are that way. So, okay. Sorry. Could you cut down the mic just a little more?

It's really, really powerful. Thank you. Thank you. But last week, he shared a Summer of Fellowship. And tonight, we're going to fellowship.

So come on out. Bring a friend. We're going to have lots of food. If you're not on Salt Church Community, get connected on Facebook, on Salt Church Community. We connect a lot there.

I know some of you aren't social media people, and it's hard for you to know what's going on. But if you have a son or a grandson, connect with them, figure out what's going on. Or maybe create an account just for connecting with your Salt Church family. Some of us have already done that. And it's just a great way to connect.

And it looks like a lot of good food is going to be out there. So you don't want to miss this. We're going to meet on 43rd Street, as Chris mentioned earlier. But he shared with us last week's Summer of Fellowship and talking about the importance of fellowship and breaking bread and coming together. And I'm sure you guys, I got a lot of feedback from that message.

Some of you were convicted. Some of you were challenged. And some of you are hungry for more. So the idea of this series is that we're going to do it old school. It's not necessarily a themed series.

It's just what God gives us teachers for this summer. And this week, and last week, I was going to launch with this. But this week, I want to talk about a summer of joy. A summer of joy. Because I love summer.

Do you love summer? I love summer. I love the warm weather. I love the hot weather. I love the long days.

I don't like short days. I like long days. I like long evenings on the porch where the wind blows late at night and it's warm and nice and I can sit out on my patio. I like the early mornings where I can wake up and the temperature is not where I have to wear three layers of clothing just to go outside. And I get to enjoy the sunrise.

I like iced tea. And not just iced tea. Sweet iced tea. I'm from North Carolina and there's something about non-sweet iced tea that just doesn't do right. Okay?

We love our iced tea. And there's something about summer that brings me joy about iced tea and lemonade and lemonade stands. We saw some lemonade stands in our neighborhood this past week. The kids are already selling their lemonade for the summer. And, you know, kids running around in sprinklers, you know, just doing their thing.

They got a fake slip and slide, you know, they're trying to find everything they can to get out there and get in the water. I love summer for that reason. And everything kind of seems to slow down in the summer a little bit too, you know, because, you know, you kind of got the rush of the spring and the fall and the winter and school and everybody's getting out of school now. And then we're like kind of a little more laid back or so to speak. But summer has always been a season of joy for me.

I love warm weather. I love the summer. But for many, it may not be that great of a season. In fact, with the changing culture, I've seen less and less joy. The rush and the pace of life.

People's lives are extremely busy. And things are going on just as much in the summer as it is in the winter and in the fall. And sometimes we lose that joy because we're in the rigmarole of life, going from place to place, doing thing to thing, event to event, party to party, cookout to cookout. And we just keep going. And as Christians, sometimes we feel like we just have to endure.

We have to endure life because life is just so fast and everything's going on. We endure life. But the Christian life was never meant to just be endured. It was meant to be enjoyed. And Christ has something to say.

Jesus has something to say about a joy-filled life, a life to the full, a joy-filled life that we can tap into no matter our circumstances, no matter how busy life is, how crazy things are. He teaches us about that. And Jesus, here's the thing. In John 15, 9-11, we're going to talk about that here. Jesus, just to set it up, Jesus in context is getting ready to face something that nobody should have to face in their life.

He's getting ready to go to the cross. He's getting ready to be betrayed by a good friend. He's got all these things that don't seem very joyful in life. It seems like you should just quit life. If everybody's left me, he's getting ready.

He knows what's getting ready to happen. But he's sitting with his disciples. He's fellowshipping with them. And he begins to teach them about joy. And he says this in John 15, 9-11.

He says, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. So he hits on that love piece. And he repeats it. Now, remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love.

Just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. So he hits on this love piece. So it all starts with love. The love of God. The love of a Savior.

That's where joy really starts. Knowing that I have a God. I have a Savior that loves me. And he says, Now, remain in my love and keep my commandments. Now, I've always looked at that.

Oh, well, I've got to work really hard to keep the commandments of God in order for God to love me. But what he's saying here is, When you understand love, when you understand the love of God, it's not hard to follow his ways and do what he requires and work for him and walk the path that God has for us. When we understand that we have a loving Father, a loving God, it's Father's Day, and we want to see a God. I want to help you see a God that Jesus saw. A God who loves us and desires the best for us.

A summer of joy. A summer of joy. A life of joy. Not just a summer of joy. A life of joy.

And he says, I've told you this so that. And this is where it gets down to. He starts out with love. And he says, I've told you this so that my joy may be in you. He wants his joy in you.

And that your joy may be, keyword, complete. That your joy may be complete. But the issue is, we live. We live on partial joy because we depend on a joy that we fabricate, that we churn, that we make happen. This joy that we produce on our own.

But he says, I have told you this so that you may have a joy that is found only in me. And we typically live life on partial joy. And we depend on joy, the joy that we make for ourselves. But Jesus kind of reverses this order. Jesus says, it's not about your joy.

It's about my joy. Because I want my joy in you. It's not a partial joy. It's a full joy. But you've got to get past the my joy part and get Jesus' joy in you so that you can really experience the joy that God has for you.

It's not event-based happiness. We live in a world of event-based happiness. Let's have a big event. Let's walk from event to event. And we live in Hampton Road.

So guess what? There's an event like every hour of the day, right? Let's run to this event. Let's go over here. There's an oyster shucking over here.

Whoo! Hallelujah! That's great, God. God, you are... And we go to concert after concert after venue after...

And we live on this hype that we generate for ourselves. And there's nothing wrong with those things. Those are beautiful things. It's great that we live in Hampton. I love Virginia Beach for that reason.

There's always something we can go do. We can pick up and go as a family anytime we want to, to an event or a place. But my joy can't be based on those things. Because if your joy is based on hype, it will wear you out. It will wear you down.

And when the hard times of life come, when the joy is not always there, the joy that we see in this, in our event-based happiness, it will pull us down. It doesn't fulfill. It leaves us empty. Hype is empty. So today, we're going to learn about a full joy that Jesus talks about.

But before we go in that, I want to introduce some joy killers. There's a lot of different reasons why we don't experience the fullness of Christ in our lives. But I think these are particularly some things that we can focus on that are joy killers. I think the first one, if you're following your notes, I believe probably one of the biggest ones is fear. Fear can paralyze us.

Fear of the future. What's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to my kids? You know, a lot of people, they don't know what's going to become of their kids. So they're fearful of how their kids are going to grow up.

Or they're fearful of how their business is going to work out in the future. Or they're fearful of not reaching a certain goal they have placed in their lives. And they live with this fear, this uncertainty, this hard times, not knowing the future. It's a hard thing not to know because we're people who want to know what's going on. And we become extremely fearful when we don't know the details.

And unfortunately, God doesn't lay out all the details. He just asks us to trust Him. That you don't have to live in fear because I got your back. So we walk in fear and we're paralyzed in fear. And secondly, we deal with disappointment.

Disappointment's a big joy killer. We have these goals set for our lives. We don't accomplish them. And some of us may be going through, you know, a midlife crisis. I'm 39 years old.

I'm turning 40 this year. And I've already been told by several people that you're getting ready to face something, man. You're going to reflect back on your life and it just always happens that way, you know. And some of you are probably going through that right now. Some of you are probably in your 50s and you're going through a later life crisis.

Or maybe you're in your 60s, you're going into a really late life crisis. I think some, and well, 60s is the new 50s and 50s is the new 40s. And I know I've got a lot of young 60s in here. Hey, man, don't read my words wrong, okay? It's good.

I'm getting to something good here, guys, okay? But we got these, we base our lives on the goals we've accomplished so far. And that doesn't define us. We're defining ourselves based on our accomplishments. Number three, we base our joy on ourselves.

So, a joy killer is selfishness. Selfishness. We deal with selfishness. Me, myself, and I. I don't want to help others.

I got to help myself. And if I help myself enough, if I do so that I can help myself because of our selfishness, selfishness kills our joy, but we were never meant to be selfish people. Stats show that people who help others are 10 times more likely to stay positive during stressful times. Did you know that? We weren't made to be selfish.

We were made to be selfless. And a good place to start is being part of the local church. Like being a part of a team that is selfless and doing things together and reaching people together and reaching our community together and partnering together to be selfless, to experience joy. We need to be selfless, not selfish. Selfish is a huge joy killer.

Another joy killer is bitterness. Bitterness. It's like a cancer. When we get hurt, when we're pained, when somebody says something or does something and we never really resolve it and we never come together and try to figure it out. Maybe you've had a family member in your past that did something despicable or said something or did something and you've never healed from that and you've watched your life and you've watched the cancer grow and you've dealt with this bitterness and you can't experience joy because of it.

You're hurt. You don't resolve the issues. You get angry instead. Bitterness results into anger and anger to just being aloof. And then there's sin and guilt if you're following your notes.

Another joy killer is sin and guilt. I pulled open a video the other day of a documentary of a guy who gave his life to Christ and he was talking about the time before he was with Christ and how he had this sense of guilt all the time. And he never could place his finger on it. And that's why Jesus came. He takes away the guilt.

He takes away the hurt. Perhaps you're feeling a sense of guilt. Maybe you're dealing with sin in your life and you feel like you're separated from God and you're trying to reach for him but the sin in your life is just keeping you from it and you have this sense of guilt. That's a joy killer. Sin can separate us from the joy that God has for us.

So sin and guilt. And then here's a big one. Isolation. When we're dealing with sin and guilt and bitterness and all those things, we tend to separate ourselves from everyone. I'm going to take a break from my small group.

I'm going to take a break from my church. I'm going to take a break from my family. I'm going to take a break from my friends. I'm going to take a break from my community. Maybe if I get along, I think men are really bad for this.

I know I am. If I get along, I can figure it out by myself. When I get alone, I can work out these things. It's just me and God, you know. And God can do a lot.

Thank you. God also asks us to come together in community and work these things out together. We get private, we shut ourselves off, we close ourselves off. What happens is we build walls around ourselves when we begin to do that. And we were never intended to be that way.

So this can be a great joy killer. But to switch gears, I want to talk about how do we, what do we really need to focus on? One, really what it comes down to is thinking rightly. It's about right thinking. It's about right thinking.

Right thinking, if you're following your notes, right thinking produces right actions. Right thinking produces right actions. It starts with the mind. Did you know that? That our joy actually starts with our perception of reality, our perception of ourselves, our perception of the things around us.

Now to help with this, let me just teach you here for a little bit. The body, or the Bible talks about the triune being of men. There's debates in theological circles about whether there's a triune or a biune. We call it the body, which is our physical being. That's who we are in this world.

It's our guts. It's our, you know, our feelings, not feelings, but our body, our appetites, our things like that. And then we have our soul. Our soul is our emotions, you know, our feelings. That's our feelings.

That's where we kind of get hurt, or we're experiencing joy, or emotions, you know, things like that. Just the effect of our emotions. And then there's the spirit of man. There's the spirit of man. This is the part of us that connects to God.

This is the part of us that is like God. We were made in His like image. So there's this theological debate. You know, soul and spirit are kind of used interchangeably. Like they're one, you know, they're two sides of a coin, soul, spirit here.

So you've got the body, you've got the soul and spirit. But for the help of our teaching today, I want us to think about the body as being our minds. And I want to think about the soul and the spirit being our emotions. And then our emotions result in our actions. So mind, emotions, and actions.

And if we go back to the body, soul, and spirit, if one of these particular ones are out of whack, like if our body isn't healthy, then our emotions aren't very healthy, are they? And our spirit's not very healthy. If our spirit's not healthy, if we're not really feeding ourselves, if you're not being fed, if you're not going to the Word of God, if you're not in prayer, if you're not in church, if you're not around people who are continually building you up and helping you discover and know God more, if you're not doing it, then what happens? Your emotions are kind of out of control because you don't know where to direct your emotions. And a lot of times your body is out of whack too, and you're not healthy.

And then obviously your emotions, if your emotions are haywire and they're not healthy, then you can't really connect to God. And then your body is a mess. So going back to the mind. So how are we thinking? Because if we program our thinking, if our thinking is right, then they will produce the right actions.

If our thinking is right, then our emotions and our spirit will react to the way we think, and then our actions will dictate good things, a joy-filled life. In fact, the Bible is replete with this. It just talks about the mind a whole lot. Battling the mind is a huge thing. Romans 12.

2 says this, Do not be conformed to this world. I mean, don't be shaped by the thinking of this world. Don't be shaped by what they think you should do. But be transformed. It's telling you you need to be transformed because you're already automatically, by birth, shaped and molded to what the world thinks.

But God's saying through Paul and his message to the church, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect, the renewing of the mind. Be transformed by the renewing of the mind. And then he goes on, and Romans kind of backs up to Romans 8. And he says, For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. What is he saying there?

He says, When we set our minds according to the things of the world, the things that our appetites are fed by, the things that we think that drive our emotions towards that stage, then we operate according to flesh. Flesh is just a term in Scripture that's used for our bodies, our sin, nature, the things that we are driven towards other than God. So, Paul's like, you're driven to things other than God. You're setting your mind on things that you think fulfill and bring you fullness and bring you happiness. But those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Who is that? That's our Spirit, God's Spirit. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. When we are driven to connect with the Holy Spirit, with God, we have these thoughts and actions in the Spirit. For the mind set on flesh is what is death.

Because the flesh leads us to death. But the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. A mind set on God. A mind set on the Holy Spirit. A mind walking in the ways of God.

Trusting Him. Trusting Him no matter what our situations. A mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. This isn't in your notes, but I've got a few other Scriptures here because it's so replete. I've got a lot.

I mean, when I don't have a series and I only have one message within the series to speak on this, I just like to throw out a lot of Scriptures, guys. So, if you're following your notes, 2 Corinthians 10, 5. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. So, that's an action.

It doesn't happen automatically. We've actually got to take hold of those thoughts. We've got to reprogram. We've got to be transformed. We've got to allow our minds to be renewed.

So, it's taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Proverbs 4.23 says, Watch over your heart with all diligence. What is our heart? That's our emotions which connects to our spirit.

What enters into our heart? How does it enter into our heart? Through our minds. Through our actions. So, it says, Protect our hearts.

For from it flow the springs of life. See, our heart actually can produce life or it can produce death. It's about our right thinking. It's about the thoughts. It's about allowing the renewing and the transforming of our minds.

Away from the flesh but into the spirit. It's about keeping our thoughts on God. So, protect your hearts by keeping wrong thinking out. Keeping wrong. It all begins with thinking.

I know it sounds simple, but it all begins with thinking. Joy always begins with thinking. Thinking about, you know, I didn't make it here. I didn't do this. I didn't fulfill this dream of mine.

My kids didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. Whatever it might be, I didn't think I would be here in this particular situation in my job at this point in my life. I thought I'd be much further along. That doesn't define you. That's not you.

This is just a journey into eternity. So how do we do this? This sounds all wonderful, Pastor Leon, but how do we do this? Give me some stuff. Give me some thoughts to help me along this journey.

I've got three things I want to share with you today. Number one, you've got to see God's redemption for yesterday. I've got to see my redemption for my yesterday. God has redeemed me. What does redeem mean?

It means you have been brought back to what you originally intended to be. Because you weren't intended to be a sinful creation. You were intended to be like Christ. You were intended to be like God. He created you in His own image.

But sin got in the way. And what is Christ doing? He's redeeming us and bringing us back in. And He's redeemed you. He's redeemed me.

Anyone under the name of Jesus Christ who has received Jesus as their Savior, has committed their lives to Him, is redeemed. You are redeemed. Start thinking as a redeemed person. Sin doesn't define you. Failures don't define you.

Your shortcomings don't define you. What I haven't accomplished in my life doesn't define me. It's the redemption of Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you no matter who you are, where you've been, what you've done. You are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

That's the purpose of the cross. That's the gap that was filled by the cross. Sin to wholeness and redemption. And you can cross on the cross by way of the cross. None of that is who you are.

And Paul understood this well. And I imagine he was a person who struggled with the desire to gain profit because, man, Paul was the man back in the day. He was like the Sanhedrin's friend, man. He was like the ruler, the law guy, you know. No, he, in fact, I was reading a book about the Apostle Paul and Dr.

Chuck Swindoll shared that there's a possibility that when Jesus was being tried in the courts before the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin's that he was one of the Pharisees in the room actually eyeing Jesus. I mean, this guy was a special privileged man. He was a persecutor of Christians. He was such a vigorous Jewish leader in this culture. And I'm sure he's like, I have this desire to gain profit, to earn accomplishments.

But in Philippians, as he's writing to the Philippians church, the church of Philippi, in chapter 3, verse 7, he begins to make this statement, and Paul is in prison at this moment. There wasn't a whole lot going on in his ministry. He says, but whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything loss compared to the surpassing greatness, the greatness of knowing Jesus Christ so this prison doesn't mean anything to me. For whose sake I have lost absolutely everything.

I've given it all away. When he met me on the road to Damascus, it was all over. I knew who he was. I followed him. I gave it all away.

I gave all the goals and the dreams. I placed it in his hands because it is greater to know Jesus. And I consider them rubbish. I consider them trash. Some versions say I consider them filthy rags that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having the righteousness of my own that comes from the law.

It's not because I'm doing the right things is what he's saying. It's not because I'm following the law perfectly. But that which is through faith, through trust in Jesus. Faith and trust in Jesus. The righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

And I add in this part, and faith alone. I want to know Christ. What does that mean to know Christ? To be fully devoted. I don't want to just be a Christian.

I want to know Jesus. I want to know Christ. Our mission here is to carry people from knowing God to be fully devoted followers of Christ. I want all of you to know Christ as Paul talks here. Knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection.

The powers of resurrection. What does that mean? The power, the inauguration of eternal life. It's about eternal life. That's the whole point of resurrection.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then why are we even meeting here today? The inauguration of eternal life. The power of the resurrection. The fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Becoming like him in his death.

And so, somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead. Remember our redemption for our yesterdays. All those things in the past, they're washed away. They're gone. You're redeemed.

Can you say that with me? I am redeemed. I am redeemed. I am redeemed. You are redeemed.

And then number two, I got to see God's purpose for my today. See God's purpose for my today. I have a purpose today. Stop focusing on yesterday because there's a purpose for today. Stop missing because you missed out on a few things back then.

Or you could have done things a little better as we saw in our Father's Day video. You know, you could have made a few better choices. Yeah. I could have made a few better choices. I'm still making mistakes.

But man, I'm not worried about yesterday. I can't fix yesterday. I'm focused on today. What's my purpose for today? My son Max, he's developed an interest in twisters, tornadoes.

In fact, he's walking around the house with a towel in his hand all the time trying to do a twister. You know, like in his bed, twister. He's sleeping with a twister. He wants to carry it to the beach with him. You know, can I carry my towel, my twister?

You know, he's got the towel twisted up and he's just walking around. He's really into twisters. I don't know where he got it. Maybe he got it on YouTube or saw it on TV or maybe they talked about it at school or something. I don't know.

But just all of a sudden, it's all about twisters, twisters, tornadoes, twisters. And he's just he gets fixed on these things. And just recently we were watching TV and Twister was on TV, the movie Twister back in the 90s. It was really popular, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton. And we had that movie and he was watching it and he was just so interested in it.

And so, I purchased it, you know, because I said he's watched it like 20,000 times. You know, it's just these little, he just loves it. He knows Joe and Billy's name now. He knows Dusty, you know, the guy in the van, the crazy guy that rides around with him. And he knows all the characters, you know, and he just talks about twisters all the time.

But I was watching it with them and there was this one scene. And if you haven't watched Twister, you're living under a rock probably, but that's okay. It's a great movie. It's like one of the top 90s movies out there, you know. I think I saw it in the theater when it came out back then.

I'm pretty sure I did. But there's, the idea of the movie is Helen Hunt's character, which... Jo lost her father in a tornado. So she's dedicated and committed her life to chasing tornadoes to figure out how they work so that she can prevent it from happening to anyone else. And they have this little machine that they invented called Dorothy.

And they want to set it in the path of the tornado. As they're chasing these tornadoes, they set them in the path of the tornadoes and the tornadoes come over and they open up and it takes these little devices up into the tornadoes so they can read all the math and the data and all that. So they can figure out how. So they're chasing this whole movie, they're chasing it. And Bill Paxton's character, Billy, Bill, Billy, I think they even call him Bill in there a few times, is running out, you know, trying to catch her in the field because they were married and they're going through a divorce and they haven't officially signed the papers and he's got a new fiance and he wants to go back.

He's a newsman so he's going back and he's going to marry her and she's not signing the papers so he's like chasing her through the field and Bill starts getting his mojo back about chasing tornadoes. So they're like, let's get in and let's go, you know. And they're in the middle of this ditch and they throw Dorothy down in front of this tornado that's coming through the ditch. And then the Dorothy falls over and all the cans start flying out and stuff like that. And she's like running out there, you know, she's going to jump right in the middle of the tornado just to pick up those things and try to get it back up so that it can, I mean, just so passionate about knowing about this tornado.

And Bill Paxton's character comes out and he grabs her and he says, stop it. You know, he's pulling her back. You're going to kill yourself. And then this profound statement comes, says, you've been living in the past for so long that you forget what's in front of you. You've been thinking about your dad.

Your dad's gone. And you've got all these people around you. And I know it's hard, you know, when we lose people and we lose things in our past, but we still have those cherished memories of them. And they wouldn't want us to live that way, would they? And she's living this life chasing these toys and she's ruined her marriage.

She's ruined the very person who loves her more than anything in this life because she's focused on the past. And you've been living in the past. You don't see what's in front of you. And so often that profound statement from Twister is it rings true in our lives that we are so focused on the past and the things we didn't accomplish that we forget everything that's around us. Our children, our grandchildren, our friends and our neighbors and our community and the people that need us most.

We ignore them because we're so focused on yesterday's purpose and what we didn't accomplish. But God wants us to see our purpose for today. Going on in Philippians 3, chapter 12, it says, not that I have already obtained all this. This is Paul talking. Not that I have already obtained all this.

He's like, I'm not perfect, guys. I mean, I'm Paul. I know I'm like an apostle called by God, but I'm not perfect. See, I like that. See, I love churches like that.

Don't you guys that we can really be real? You know, a pastor can actually be real in front of people and say, look, listen, I don't have it all together. I'm not trying to figure this out. Pastors are not perfect. Paul was not perfect.

He says, not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I'm sure he was remembering the day of Damascus road experience when Jesus showed up on the road in Acts, in the book of Acts, and turned his life completely around. And he was never the same. And he says, I just, I take hold of Christ. And then he says, brothers, and you can add sisters there too, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

Again, he punches that home. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind, I forget what is behind me. All that stuff in the past, all that baggage in the past, all that messiness in the past, I forget about that. I'm going to forget about that. And I'm straining toward what is ahead.

And I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward. And Jesus Christ, he pushed ahead to one goal, one goal. And that was the favor of Jesus Christ. That should be our only goal. That should be our only hope.

All the rest kind of works out when we're striving and straining, as he uses that word, straining for the goal. In the world's eyes, Paul's ministry didn't look very exciting. It was actually kind of bleak at that moment. Yes, he planted lots of churches, but he was in prison. And at one point, he was actually in prison begging for his friends to come and see him.

He missed his friends. He missed John Mark, who had left him earlier in the ministry. And he wanted nothing to do with Mark because he abandoned him and Barnabas and their ministry. Now he's calling out for him to come. I want to see John Mark.

I want to see Mark. I want to see him. But he knew where his joy was. He considered it all joy. Pastor Dino Reza said this at one time.

I was at a conference. He said, joy is a positive confidence we can possess by knowing and trusting God regardless of our circumstances. It's a positive confidence that we have in God that we can trust him regardless of our circumstances. Because circumstances will happen, but my life does not have to be owned by my circumstances. Your life does not have to be owned by your situation, your circumstances.

It does not have to define who you are. And the character and nature of God defines our lives. The question is, do we trust God? Do we trust him? Because we've trusted ourselves for a long time, and it didn't seem to work.

The question is, do we trust God? Do we want this fullness of joy that Christ has for us? Romans 8.31 says, if God is for us, who can be against us, right? If God is for us, who can be against us?

The sovereign Savior of the world is in complete control of everything. He owns and works and operates. Who is against you? The man or flesh or people or whatever you want to call it or society, it's not even a question whether God is in charge. And he's for you.

Because the end result is my final statement. But before I get that, let me say what Peter says. I had to put this in there. Because Peter encourages us, he says, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. You're a chosen people.

If you know Christ, it wasn't a mistake. It just wasn't a coincidence. You were chosen by God. And you are a royal priesthood. What does that mean, a royal priesthood?

It means that you are a minister. Guess what? I don't have to do this alone because all of you are ministers, right? We're preachers. We're preachers.

We're reaching people together. We've got gifts and we've got talents for the glory of Jesus Christ. And the point of having a congregation, a church, is to come together. So that we can gather, so that we can scatter. We gather so we can scatter.

Because we are all ministers. We gather, we're equipped with teaching the Word of God. We have groups and community so that we can be encouraged, build up, find our gifting, and go out and make a difference. That's why we exist. That's why the church, the ecclesia, exists.

The gathering of the saints around a common idea, the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so that we can be equipped. We are ministers. A royal priesthood, a holy nation. And this is my favorite part, God's special possession. Your God's special possession.

That you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His. Wonderful. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. His light is wonderful.

I called Him out to His wonderful light. Don't ever let wrong thinking haze your purpose. Be of good cheer. Be excited. And then thirdly, we got to see God's plan for my tomorrow.

God may not lay out every detail of your life plan. I wish He would, because I'd like to know. There's things years ago that I didn't understand that I kind of get now. And now there's things happening now that I don't quite get yet. But I don't know if I'm ready for those things.

God doesn't give us all the details in life, all the answers right away. And it's very confusing at times. Right? I mean, we're just wandering through life sometimes. God, why?

God, why? God, why? And it's okay to say, God, why? God, why? God, why?

As long as we know that He has a plan for tomorrow. That He has a purpose for tomorrow. He may not give us all the details, but He does give us a general plan of what it's all going to end up like. And it's a good thing, guys. It should make us excited.

It should make us not even really care about the issues and problems of this world, because in light of eternity, they're all just small things. So we've got to see God's plan for tomorrow. In verse 20 in Philippians 3, Paul says, But our citizenship is in heaven. It's not in earth. It's in heaven.

And we eagerly await a Savior from there. We are, what is a citizenship? It's citizens of a town, a city, a kingdom, whatever you want to call it. And then we have a king, right? The king.

That's the kingdom. He is over the kingdom. We are citizens of a king. Not just any king. Not all those kings in history here on this earth.

But we have a king who is wholly good and wholly righteous. His decisions, his plans are perfect. And he is full of love and grace, hope, perfect justice. Perfect justice. When the unjust things are happening all around the world and we don't understand it, guess what?

We have a king who is perfectly just. And we know that we are citizens in heaven. And we eagerly await the Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, meaning he is in control whether you think he is or not. Okay? It may not make a lot of sense to you, but he is in control.

And that's a good thing. It's a good thing. It's not a bad thing. Well, pastor, I don't understand why these bad things are happening. Just hold on.

Just wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. As Paul strained eagerly for that goal of Jesus Christ, you do that.

Just wait. It's coming. It's coming. And he will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. I'm not going to get into the subject of heaven today.

I'm saving that for another day about our bodies being transformed, what that's going to look like and the theology behind that and the ideas of that. But I can tell you this. This body is not going to be this body. It's going to be a good body. Amen.

It's going to be. He's got something great for us, man. Heaven isn't just going up and plucking harps somewhere on a cloud. Okay? There's a plan even in eternity.

Did you know that? And it's a good plan. Amen. Get ready, guys. He's going to transform our lowly bodies so that we will be like his glorious body.

Jesus' body was a glorious body that people didn't even recognize him. It took them a minute to figure out it was Jesus. I just could imagine what that looked like, a glorious, resurrected body. And then in John 16, 33, these things I have spoken to you. This is what Jesus says.

These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. Peace. So, he's making these final statements. And you may have peace. In this world, you will have tribulation.

You will. It's just going to happen. It's there. But be of good. And I love this.

Cheer. Be of good. Cheer. There's something to be excited about. Be of good.

Cheer. A summer of joy. Cheer. Joy. I have overcome the world.

It's going to be. I have already taken care of it. I have already taken care of it. Don't you worry. It's going to happen.

I have overcome the world. So, when my strength is a little weaker. When the older I get, the more my body breaks down. I can't surf as good as I used to. I'm still young.

I know. I'm not claiming that I'm old. I'm just saying. It's just part of it. Or maybe, you know, you used to be a great basketball player.

And you're starting to, you know, your shot's off. Or maybe your knees are a little shaky or whatever. You're like, man, life is just taking hold of me, you know. But guess what? That's not it, man.

See, that doesn't bother me because I know this is not it. This is not life, you know. This is just the beginning. This is the inauguration of eternal life, right? This is the inauguration of eternal life.

When I entered into a relationship with Jesus. This is the inauguration of eternal life. And one day he's going to come back and restore all things. Revelation says there will be a new heaven and new earth. And God will reign.

And we have that hope. And justice will be served. Grace will be served. All of God's people will live. Love and perfect peace and love in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Isn't that a good thing? That's what we have hope for. That's hope, guys. That's hope. Are you excited about that?

I hope that excites you. That makes me want to continue to strive on for the things of Jesus. Just remember those things. Forgetting my yesterdays and taking hold of my today. And knowing that my hope is for tomorrow.

Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we just thank you, God, that you have all this under your control. And that we can know the fullness of your joy by simply placing our hope and trust in you. And not on the conditions and circumstances of this world. If there's anybody here today that may be struggling with that, with being defined by their accomplishments or their failures or their shortcomings, Lord, I pray that you would speak to their hearts as I pray, God.

God, let them know that you, they are not defeated. Defined by those things, God, that you deeply love them, and you want them just for who they are. For some others here today, they may have come to church for the first time in a long time, or they just woke up this morning and said, I'm going to come to church, or maybe I need to get back right with God. Whatever it is, Lord, I'm praying over those people today that they would not just try to get better, but to put their trust in you, God. With all heads bowed and all eyes closed, I'm going to offer an opportunity today, and I'm not here to embarrass you.

I just believe that God wants to change hearts today. I believe the Holy Spirit is speaking to some hearts right here in this service. He's been speaking to you. Something's prompted you to say, I want to give my life, I've got to surrender it all to Jesus. I don't want a partial joy anymore.

I want the fullness that I can experience in Jesus. By confessing that He is Lord, believing that He is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for your sin, and that you can have a full relationship with Him. If that's you today, if you would just raise your hand. Just raise your hand and say, I'm in. I'm in pastor.

Amen. I see a hand raised. Any other? Amen. Amen.

Is there anyone else? Come on. This is the inauguration of eternal life we're talking about here. Are you ready to make that commitment today? Ready to make that commitment today?

Maybe you've walked away from God a long time ago, and you're ready to recommit your life. You're like, okay, I'm ready. God, this is going to be the real deal this time. I'm back, God, and I'm ready to commit. If that's you, just gently raise your hand.

I just want to pray for you. I want to pray for you. Hallelujah. Pray this with me, church. Some of you may have not raised your hand, but you know that you need to make that decision today.

I want you to pray this prayer with me. Father, in the name of Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, and that you died on the cross for my sin. Today, I'm making a decision to walk with you. Come into my heart. Come into my life.

Change my thinking. Change everything from the inside out. Thank you so much, Lord, for finding me and making me yours.