SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grant Parkway, visit GrantParquay.org.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, those are dangerous uh words that we say when we say, bring your kingdom here, because Isaiah prophesied and said that of the increase of your government there will be no end.
SPEAKER_01: And so we are inviting something that has the capacity to take over.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's your design all along.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe we can understand today that that's at the heart of what you're all about.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just coming like a little baby in a manger.
SPEAKER_01: It's just another option on the buffet of religious nonsense here in America.
SPEAKER_01: But you came streaking out of heaven like a meteor man and you burning with divine godness.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was the Son of God, came to this earth fully man and fully God.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's a wonder when you hit the manger, you didn't burn that thing down.
SPEAKER_01: Because you came as a threat to everything we know, to our money, to our sex life, to our thought processes.
SPEAKER_01: All of that you came to say, mine.
SPEAKER_01: Like the seagulls in finding Nemo.
SPEAKER_01: Mine, mine, mine.
SPEAKER_01: That's been the refrain of your life all along.
SPEAKER_01: And it is the chorus of the Bible that the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Said differently, mine.
SPEAKER_01: Mine.
SPEAKER_01: All of it's yours.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us that in the 24th Psalm, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, rescue us from being passive, safe, fear-bound, neurotic religious people, and make into us winsome, wild, free thinkers and talkers who have more than our opinions on our tongue.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may the bread on our tongue leave a trail of crumbs so the world could come back to this place we're from.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're here today.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we're asking you to do in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to begin with a confession.
SPEAKER_01: I woke up this morning at about 4.12.
SPEAKER_01: You ever wake up in the middle of the night?
SPEAKER_01: You can't go back to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: I woke up at about 4.12 and I looked over, my wife's just sound asleep, just over there.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, well, can't turn on the TV.
SPEAKER_01: That'd be kind of rude.
SPEAKER_01: Because the TV in our bedroom, when you turn it on, it goes ding, ding, ding, like the space shuttle is landing.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just laying there and I said, Lord, what do you want to do?
SPEAKER_01: Because I prayed and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I heard at about 4.18 this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Clear as a bell, I heard the Holy Spirit say, please hammer, don't hurt them.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: It's because I'm a little jacked up, and it's not because of the 16 cups of coffee I've had since 5 o'clock this morning.
SPEAKER_01: That's got nothing to do with it, I assure you.
SPEAKER_01: It's because of this.
SPEAKER_01: Because what we're going to read in the Bible this morning, I think that we as Christians are missing out on, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want to confess that.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, I want to I want to uh talk to you this morning about the greatness of joy.
SPEAKER_01: And before I well, let me just kind of read.
SPEAKER_01: I'll read in Luke chapter 2, starting in verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried to read the birth narrative because I want to keep this connected to my soul.
SPEAKER_01: I can't get past verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: But we'll start in verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: It says that in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.
SPEAKER_01: And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
SPEAKER_01: And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_01: And I and I and I keep wanting to go past that, but my mind has been arrested by verse 10, where the angel says, Fear not, for I bring you good news of a great joy, a specific reference to a specific reality.
SPEAKER_01: I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if I'm all the people, I mean people that don't believe yet, if I'm people that live in your neighborhood and work with you, that are unchristians, that are non-Christians, that just think that's the craziest thing.
SPEAKER_01: You pray to the sky fairy.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm looking around, I'm looking at all of us, and I'm thinking, okay, where's the joy?
SPEAKER_01: If this whole thing is supposed to be about good news of a great joy, if I'm a non-believer, I'm one of the reasons I'm not believing is I don't see that much joy.
SPEAKER_01: I think most Christians are about as neurotic and fearful as their neighbors who don't believe.
SPEAKER_01: And so the neighbors kind of go, hey, why should I believe?
SPEAKER_01: You fear all the same things I fear, you love all the same things I love.
SPEAKER_01: Only difference in me and you is I sleep in on Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: My ma, yes.
SPEAKER_01: I've been up since early this morning.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna get it.
SPEAKER_01: In love, of course.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're visiting today, just let me just say this.
SPEAKER_01: If you're visiting today, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: If you're visiting today, or if you're sitting there thinking, I'm not a Christian, I don't believe any of that, you're in a great place because I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions just to think about today.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get to the end of this, and then we'll just kind of the lights will come down and you can breathe in the point set of ambience and think about what the Bible said, and then you can get out of here, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Are you bothered that I said point set of ambiance?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can see some of y'all coming.
SPEAKER_01: Point set of.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah, oh, oh, oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he let me begin with a quote.
SPEAKER_01: I re I read this in preparation for today.
SPEAKER_01: This is by a guy named J.I.
SPEAKER_01: Packer.
SPEAKER_01: He says this a joyless Christianity will become will become an obstacle to believing the truth and will render the faith repulsive rather than attractive.
SPEAKER_01: However, a joyful Christianity is a most arresting advertisement for the transforming power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So all who hope to cut ice as witnesses for Christ will do well to study the art of joy as part of their spiritual preparation.
SPEAKER_01: The joy that gives Christians credibility also gives them energy.
SPEAKER_01: So if the angel announces to the shepherds, I bring you good news of a great joy that'll be for all people, then where's the joy?
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you three responses to that question.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, the joy is in the obedience.
SPEAKER_01: The joy is in the obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Joy is not the motivation or the incentive to obey, but it is a byproduct of having obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And my fear is that Christianity is kind of eroded to this one question: how do I get to heaven?
SPEAKER_01: And so we kind of run the numbers and do the math, and we go, this is how I get to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And so we we do that.
SPEAKER_01: We we we accept Christ, or we pray the prayer or whatever, and then we just try to be happy until we go to heaven, because I'm gonna be miserable and then go to heaven and be happy there.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're not.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no, no, because you got a lot of explaining to do, Lucy, because the Bible is coarse, white hot with joy off.
SPEAKER_01: In John 17, Jesus is getting ready to go back to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He's finished, and he prays for his disciples, and he says, Father, I pray that you're not that you wouldn't take them out of the world, but you'd leave them in the world.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what makes being in the world possible and necessary.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Leave them in the world.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, This, and let my joy be in them.
SPEAKER_01: Let my joy be in them so they can be in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because what hope do their neighbors have if we retreat from the culture, if we don't engage the culture and kind of go, there's nothing you enjoy more than I enjoy God.
SPEAKER_01: So bring it on, my man.
SPEAKER_01: You're bringing Kool-Aid to a gin party, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So just joy it up.
SPEAKER_01: I love this time of year because I get invited to parties.
SPEAKER_01: Invite me to your party.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not the guy that comes in and says, hey, y'all shouldn't be drinking that beer.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm just like, hey, drink all you want.
SPEAKER_01: And then I want to have a religious discussion with you.
SPEAKER_01: And it always ends like this.
SPEAKER_01: The guy's like, so, so, so, I mean, what are you telling me?
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, you were made for this exceeding joy, this inescapable.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible talks about it, and we'll boil it down.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a man plowing a field.
SPEAKER_01: He discovers treasure, covers it back up, and in his joy, you're trying to make me feel guilty?
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm trying to tell you that you do not have sufficient joy for the Christian life yet.
SPEAKER_01: You can try hard, that's religion.
SPEAKER_01: But here's how you know you know Christ.
SPEAKER_01: There's a joy in you that is bigger than anything that comes against you.
SPEAKER_01: Cancer, death, divorce, wayward children, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: There's a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.
SPEAKER_01: And I might have told one guy, don't make me sing it.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Sing what?
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to go there.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the old hymn?
SPEAKER_01: It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, and the half has never yet been told.
SPEAKER_01: It's like God going, hey, please have it, don't hurt him.
SPEAKER_01: I got more than you can handle.
SPEAKER_01: There's a reason the Bible says, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, or mind is conceived, what God has in store for those who love him.
SPEAKER_01: Where's the joy?
SPEAKER_01: It's in the obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And see, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: If you just think it because a lot of people are like, well, what do I gotta do to become a Christian?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I gotta accept Christ, I accept Christ, I confess that I'm a sinner, and then the rest of your life is just trying not to sin.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not biblical Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here to tell you today, biblical Christianity is not avoidance, it's engagement, it's not, oh, I don't want to not sin anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Leave today and stop trying to not sin.
SPEAKER_01: Put that on Twitter.
SPEAKER_01: My pastor said, He said, What do you want us to do?
SPEAKER_01: Leave today and purpose to enjoy God the way you were created to enjoy God.
SPEAKER_01: And sin won't appeal to you as much as it used to.
SPEAKER_01: And so you begin to live the Christian life just as a byproduct, not as the goal.
SPEAKER_01: The goal is not being a better Christian, a more moral Christian.
SPEAKER_01: The goal is to enjoy God the way you were created to enjoy God.
SPEAKER_01: You should lay in bed tonight, and you should be concerned that you're not enjoying God the way you were created to enjoy God.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I say, I people say, Well, I know I'm a Christian, and I know God forgives, and so, you know, I hey, and let me just say to you, I that thought process renders obedience optional, situational, and relative.
SPEAKER_01: And the issue is not whether God forgives or not, of course he does.
SPEAKER_01: The issue is, is this the way a Christian thinks about obedience?
SPEAKER_01: Because my conversion and your conversion is most evidence in how you think about obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And how you think about obedience determines your experience of joy in this life.
SPEAKER_01: Joy is found in the nitty, gritty of life, in the outworkings of the gospel, when someone slanders you and sins against you, dates the guy you like or the woman you love, and you respond not out of the smallness of who you are, but out of the bigness of who God is and what the gospel says.
SPEAKER_01: Uh allow me to demonstrate.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you the application for this morning's sermon right now.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want you to do this week, and I'm not kidding.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to get up every day and read the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, dude, this is my third Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Back off, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a fast reader.
SPEAKER_01: I read stuff in the Bible and I'm like, squirrel! And so I timed myself last night.
SPEAKER_01: I read the whole book in 11 minutes.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you focus, you can read it better.
SPEAKER_01: It's only four chapters, but all short.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why I want you to read the book of Philippians, because it will increase your understanding of joy.
SPEAKER_01: Look and listen for words like joy and rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: And one thing you'll realize is that there's two things that made Paul, the guy that wrote it, rejoice and get, I mean, just get giddy with joy more than anything.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, was hardship.
SPEAKER_01: Hardship, both relational and consequential.
SPEAKER_01: Why am I telling you this?
SPEAKER_01: Because I said, hey, where does the joy come from?
SPEAKER_01: What happened?
SPEAKER_01: If it's good news of great joy, where's the joy?
SPEAKER_01: Joy is in the obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Not as incentive, but as experience, the byproduct of having to obey.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read from Philippians chapter 1, verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: But Paul's in prison, and these people are preaching the gospel and they're contradicting Paul, making fun of Paul, and they're saying things about Paul that aren't true.
SPEAKER_01: Before people wrote things about you on Facebook, they slandered people in the Bible as well.
SPEAKER_01: So just want you to know, no strange, this strange temptation is not overtaking you.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Paul says.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, to get to this kind of joy, to get to this point that the Bible says we are created for, here's what you gotta do.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta figure out what your only is.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to figure out what your only is.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show it to you in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: This is Philippians chapter 1, verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, I want you to know, brothers, that what is what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
SPEAKER_01: Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.
SPEAKER_01: The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
SPEAKER_01: Translation, I'm in prison, and they want to make it even harder for me while I'm in prison.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, What then?
SPEAKER_01: What then?
SPEAKER_01: There we are at the crossroads when it comes to obedience.
SPEAKER_01: What then?
SPEAKER_01: Only.
SPEAKER_01: See that you got to figure out what your only is if you want to get to this joy.
SPEAKER_01: What then?
SPEAKER_01: What do I do?
SPEAKER_01: People are saying things about me that aren't true.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in prison.
SPEAKER_01: They're preaching Christ out of rivalry, not out of love or because they believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: They just want to win the following to themselves.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, only.
SPEAKER_01: That in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.
SPEAKER_01: And in that I rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: For Paul, his only was that Christ be proclaimed.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to leave here this morning and ask yourself, what is your only?
SPEAKER_01: What is the one thing that if this happens, it doesn't matter what happens to me.
SPEAKER_01: If this happens, because here's my only.
SPEAKER_01: Is it if my kids get into a certain college, that's all that matters?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that can be realized in just a matter of time.
SPEAKER_01: Your only needs to be something that's bigger and beyond this life.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, here's what misery feels like.
SPEAKER_01: Your only gets realized in this life, and then what do you got to do?
SPEAKER_01: What is your only?
SPEAKER_01: Where's the joy?
SPEAKER_01: First of all, it's in the obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it's from the involvement.
SPEAKER_01: From the involvement.
SPEAKER_01: Being involved in something bigger than us gives us a sense of meaning and purpose, which produces this sense of joy.
SPEAKER_01: Marketers and telemarketers have figured this out.
SPEAKER_01: That's why they try to attach their agenda with some big grand, uh, a global conscious movement, red, and we're gonna stamp out AIDS, and Bono's gonna sell us overpriced stuff that's colored red.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's great.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but but just locally, I walked out of Sam's not long ago, and this little boy walked up to me and said, Excuse me, sir, would you like to help the youth of America?
SPEAKER_01: You can't say crazy stuff to me without getting ready for me to say some crazy stuff back to you.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm pushing my cart, got my five gallons of mayonnaise, my two gallons of pickles, and all my Sam stuff, and the kid just runs up and he's got something in his hand and a piece of paper, and he says, Excuse me, sir, would you like to help the youth of America?
SPEAKER_01: And I just stopped and said, Yeah, I'd like to help the youth of America.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to whip half of them, and the other half, I'd like to make them quit school for a year, get a job as an apprentice with a man or woman who works for a living, so they can stop posting stuff on Instagram.
SPEAKER_01: That's how I'd like to help America.
SPEAKER_01: And his mom, who's behind the table, comes around the table, kind of like, I better get in the middle of this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and I said, So that's my plan for helping America.
SPEAKER_01: What's your plan for helping America?
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, uh, uh, uh, uh, take a deep breath, some get back on the script, okay?
SPEAKER_01: What are you selling?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, three bags of popcorn for$19.99?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you can't dress your kid's selfishness up in some kind of a helping America kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, What do you win if you sell a certain amount?
SPEAKER_01: And he whipped the paper on goes, Well, if I sell$500 worth, I'll win this right here to a bike or something.
SPEAKER_01: And then and I just like, hey man, I'll buy you the bike right now if you'll just stop lying.
SPEAKER_01: And his mom's like, I don't appreciate this kind of language.
SPEAKER_01: I don't appreciate you asking me to be a part of something so small and you couched it around helping the youth of America.
SPEAKER_01: This is not gonna help the youth of America.
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna get your kid a bike.
SPEAKER_01: That's about all this is gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: And pretty soon I got an audience.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife will tell you that's a bad idea.
SPEAKER_01: And the little kid's looking at me, and he's just kind of, and he's looking at me like a clown on fire, kind of like, I'm a little bit afraid, but I'm a little bit fascinated.
SPEAKER_01: And I just said, hey man, I don't know about this is helping America.
SPEAKER_01: The mom's like, well, son, this is I said, hey, now I ain't mad at you, my man, but just helping America, selling popcorn.
SPEAKER_01: You think youth of America need popcorn?
SPEAKER_01: Or do you need a bike?
SPEAKER_01: Let's just get down to the get down because I'll go in Sam's right now and buy you a bike.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh.
SPEAKER_01: And at that point, he is slow dancing with the tar baby.
SPEAKER_01: He's just stuck.
SPEAKER_01: He can't.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why I tell you that.
SPEAKER_01: Because when I talk about from the involvement, I'm not I'm I'm not saying one thing, I'm not kind of putting this thin veneer of purpose over this thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, when you get involved with the things of God, that thing is cut through to the core with purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, after this last service, I went in the kitchen to get some coffee because I'm a little sleepy today.
SPEAKER_01: And I was in the kitchen, and Lance Smith is in there opening cabinets and everything.
SPEAKER_01: Most of you don't know who Lance Smith is.
SPEAKER_01: He works for a construction company.
SPEAKER_01: He builds big buildings for a living.
SPEAKER_01: And he's looking around and I said, What are you looking for?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, I'm looking for paper plates.
SPEAKER_01: I need to make frisbees.
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, man, it's slow at your job, Ednett Smith.
SPEAKER_01: And he looked at me like, no, you moron.
SPEAKER_01: I'm this is my hour to volunteer the children's ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And then I wanted to cry.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's the kind of person I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: We don't come to you when we say, and by the way, as our church continues to grow, and we open up our new children's building in early January, we're going to need more people to help over there.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, there's a meeting at 11:30 right after this service for about 15 or 20 minutes just to say, hey, this is kind of what it's going to be about.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, Well, why do you tell us that?
SPEAKER_01: Because some of you have been doing nothing for far too long.
SPEAKER_01: You've just been coasting along, coming to church, hearing sermons, and leaving.
SPEAKER_01: And there's this little itch in the back of your brain, kind of saying, Hey, shouldn't you do something?
SPEAKER_01: Hello, he's talking to you.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm not mad.
SPEAKER_01: I just, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: I think with preschool and children and youth, some of you men should corner our youth pastor Aaron and say, I want to come down and frighten some of your young boys.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Because we ordained Bart Cardi.
SPEAKER_01: We met with the elders in his ordination council upstairs this past week on like Wednesday or I think on Thursday night.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why I tell you this: why I say get involved with the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because we don't come to you and go, hey, you want to help the youth of America?
SPEAKER_01: No, I come to you and say, hey, you want to rescue teenage boys from all the nonsense that you got tied up in when you were a teenager?
SPEAKER_01: That's what I would say.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not the youth pastor.
SPEAKER_01: But that's what I would say.
SPEAKER_01: I would say, hey, do you want to shape the minds of young boys and girls so they understand God and the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: I just want to ordain somebody one time and they say, Tell me why you're here, and they look and go, Because Mr.
SPEAKER_01: David was my Sunday school teacher when I was in the second grade.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't remember his last name.
SPEAKER_01: But we talked about God, my heart beat fast.
SPEAKER_01: Jacked me up, ruined me.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I got.
SPEAKER_01: Second grade.
SPEAKER_01: Peace out.
SPEAKER_01: I would love that.
SPEAKER_01: I want some of you to stop being so safe and stretch out your schedule and go to Jana or Samantha or Aaron and say, hey, I want to get involved.
SPEAKER_01: I want to wreck your kids.
SPEAKER_01: Show up with a banjo.
SPEAKER_01: I just got some crazy ideas.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: When you get involved in the things of God, you invite this world to think about things in a way they've never thought about.
SPEAKER_01: Allow me to demonstrate.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in Luke, just turn to the right to the book of Acts, chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll just read from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Is that okay?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Not saying, hey, would you like to help the youth of America?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying, because because here's the part where the mom said, okay, son, that's enough.
SPEAKER_01: I just said to the kid, hey man, what you're inviting me, I'm not buying you popcorn because what you're inviting me to is too small.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna give my life to get you a bike.
SPEAKER_01: I would buy you a bike right now, cash money, write a check, whatever, just to rescue you from this.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Now you're you maybe think if you're a visitor, you're thinking, dude, you're like rude.
SPEAKER_01: No, somebody's got to rescue that kid from smallness.
SPEAKER_01: Or he's gonna go through life and become a salesman and think, oh, I gotta do a Make my quota.
SPEAKER_01: All I gotta do is one day be number one in the company.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, that's attainable.
SPEAKER_01: Now what?
SPEAKER_01: This is what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: This is not small.
SPEAKER_01: This is involved in Acts chapter 5, verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: And these apostles, uh, they'd been out preaching and they got in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, in our politically correct world, you can't tell the truth and not get in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: So just get in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to call me from jail sometime.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Pastor, we were picketing an abortion clinic, not with signs, you know, saying goofy stuff.
SPEAKER_01: We were saying, give us your babies.
SPEAKER_01: We're infertile.
SPEAKER_01: We will adopt them.
SPEAKER_01: And they locked us up.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll come bail you out.
SPEAKER_01: I'll take you to lunch.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, did you feel what happened in here just then?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who you are, but abortion's not the unforgivable sin.
SPEAKER_01: You're forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
SPEAKER_01: God's not mad at you.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that that doesn't wash off with soap and water.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not being flippant, but don't you leave here and kind of go, well, we've got to go find another church.
SPEAKER_01: People might find out you're safe because you're forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says this in verse 27 of Acts 5.
SPEAKER_01: And when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, We strictly charge you to not teach in this name, yet here you fill Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men.
SPEAKER_01: The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed, by hanging him on a tree.
SPEAKER_01: God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_01: And we are witnesses to these things.
SPEAKER_01: And so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
SPEAKER_01: When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want to have that experience once before you die?
SPEAKER_01: Of just saying something to somebody that so enrages them they want to kill you.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, somebody besides your wife, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Let's start there.
SPEAKER_01: They were so enraged they wanted to kill them.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave order to put the men outside for a little while.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to them, Men of Israel, take care of what you're about to do with these men.
SPEAKER_01: For these days, for before these days, Thaedis rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him.
SPEAKER_01: He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.
SPEAKER_01: After him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him.
SPEAKER_01: He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
SPEAKER_01: So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone.
SPEAKER_01: For if this plan or undertaking is of man, it will fail.
SPEAKER_01: But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.
SPEAKER_01: You might even be found opposing God.
SPEAKER_01: So they took his advice.
SPEAKER_01: And when they had called the apostles in, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see how cavalier the Bible is about you getting beat?
SPEAKER_01: Well, they called them in, they beat them, and then they had a ham sandwich, and then they went to lunch.
SPEAKER_01: They beat them, then they let them go.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 41.
SPEAKER_01: Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
SPEAKER_01: That's what involvement will do to you.
SPEAKER_01: It'll reframe suffering.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're a part of something bigger than you.
SPEAKER_01: So you just take your whip.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, they beat them and they said, Do not teach any more.
SPEAKER_01: In this man, do not speak in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And they let them go.
SPEAKER_01: They left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
SPEAKER_01: And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Wait, they just got beat and told, hey, do not teach in this guy's name anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And every day, in the temple and from house to house, and every day at church and at home and at HEB and at Chick-fil-A, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And every day.
SPEAKER_01: You say, what's the big deal?
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean from the involvement?
SPEAKER_01: These men got involved in something that was so true.
SPEAKER_01: What Gamalio said was true.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if this is not of God, it's gonna die out.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you think you're sitting in this room right now?
SPEAKER_01: Because what they were part of is of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we say, hey, get involved here.
SPEAKER_01: Pitch in and help pull the wagon around here, we're saying, link your life to something bigger than you.
SPEAKER_01: That's where the joy comes from.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly and finally, in the expectation.
SPEAKER_01: Where's the joy?
SPEAKER_01: It's in the expectation.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I mean Advent's a great time.
SPEAKER_01: And we read about it a little bit earlier during the reading.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great time to think about not just his first coming, but his second coming.
SPEAKER_01: That there's going to come a day when this is all going to end because you were not created to be in this world forever.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_01: This is not home.
SPEAKER_01: It's great.
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: I love life.
SPEAKER_01: If you're visiting today, we're not one of those churches that's like gloom and doom.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, you just should be miserable because you get to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: No, you should be the most joyful person anybody knows.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a feeling, that's not an emotion, that's an understanding.
SPEAKER_01: You should be the most joyful person anybody knows.
SPEAKER_01: And then when you think you've exceeded your capacity for joy, you get to die and go to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that you can't fathom what that's going to be like.
SPEAKER_01: And so it uses language like an ass.
SPEAKER_01: The streets were like gold.
SPEAKER_01: And I fell down and became like a dead man.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because John the Revelator says, I couldn't take it in.
SPEAKER_01: It was overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01: I told you earlier that for Paul, there's two things in the book of Philippians that just really produce joy in him.
SPEAKER_01: One of them was hardship, and the other one was death.
SPEAKER_01: How morbid is that?
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: He says this in Philippians chapter 1, verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: For me to live as Christ and to die is gain.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
SPEAKER_01: Yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell.
SPEAKER_01: I'm hard-pressed between the two.
SPEAKER_01: What's he talking about?
SPEAKER_01: He's not talking about which fantasy quarterback he's going to have on his team this week.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm hard-pressed between the two.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about staying here and continuing to minister with the Philippians or dying and going to heaven and being with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You say, how do you know?
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell.
SPEAKER_01: I'm hard-pressed between the two.
SPEAKER_01: My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the reason we don't think about heaven enough.
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't believe it's better than whatever you got going on right now.
SPEAKER_01: We just think, man, I got it.
SPEAKER_01: I got it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: A friend of mine told me recently, man, I'm gold and everything's paid for.
SPEAKER_01: I take trips all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I looked up and he's like, and I'm the most miserable person I know.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is all there is for him.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't believe.
SPEAKER_01: He's just like, well, you know, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we might die.
SPEAKER_01: And then what?
SPEAKER_01: We ain't going there, McClendon.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're going there.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going there.
SPEAKER_01: The thought of going there brings me great joy.
SPEAKER_01: The thought of you going there, you look like you need another Jack and Coke.
SPEAKER_01: How many know what Jack and Coke is?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I thought you were here.
SPEAKER_01: My friend hits it hard.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, hey man, that liquid courage ain't gonna get you there.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, oh man, don't but don't don't roll up on me with that.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm not here like the Moral Police.
SPEAKER_01: Moderation's great.
SPEAKER_01: You passed moderation about two hours ago.
SPEAKER_01: But the thought of it freaks him out.
SPEAKER_01: That's why whenever I leave, he's like, hey, here's a little check for the church.
SPEAKER_01: And I take his check and put it on his counter and go, God wants you and values you more than he values that.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, just take that and let's all be even.
SPEAKER_01: You know what's crazy?
SPEAKER_01: Is you're not even drunk yet, and you believe that.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't taking that.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why I don't take it.
SPEAKER_01: I know some of you are like, we got a children's bounty.
SPEAKER_01: And he can write big checks.
SPEAKER_01: That cat is loaded.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why I don't take it.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want him to lay in bed on his thousand-count Egyptian cotton sheets and think this thought.
SPEAKER_01: God wants me more than he wants my money.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, I mean, I've done a lot of bad stuff, so have I.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, come on, man.
SPEAKER_01: Just let me make a contribution to your church.
SPEAKER_01: You want to make a contribution to my church?
SPEAKER_01: Come one Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the building would fall down if I went to church.
SPEAKER_01: You think you're the first person to tell me that?
SPEAKER_01: And so I told him this.
SPEAKER_01: I said, last time I saw him, I said, Let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says where sin did abound, grace did abound all the more.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, I don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_01: I don't read the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I said, it means that you've not sinned enough to outsend the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got this much sin, God has this much grace.
SPEAKER_01: He looked at me and goes, What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: It means checkmate.
SPEAKER_01: I got that.
SPEAKER_01: I know what that means.
SPEAKER_01: In the expectation.
SPEAKER_01: We sang it a minute ago, and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.
SPEAKER_01: God is all about there.
SPEAKER_01: He's all about getting you ready for there.
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying, hey, don't enjoy your life here.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, enjoy the hound out of this life.
SPEAKER_01: But don't act like this is all there is.
SPEAKER_01: John 14, the disciples were troubled because Jesus was leaving.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, you believe in God, believe also in me.
SPEAKER_01: In my father's house are many rooms.
SPEAKER_01: If it were not so, I would not have told you.
SPEAKER_01: And if I go, I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you may be also.
SPEAKER_01: God has always thought about you with forever in mind.
SPEAKER_01: And he says that if I go, I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you may be also, and I'll come again to receive you unto myself.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, it's this expectation that the joy comes from.
SPEAKER_01: I can be having a horrible, crazy, busy week, and in the midst of it, I kind of got to stop and get my head.
SPEAKER_01: Colossians says, set your mind on things above, and set your heart on things above.
SPEAKER_01: I kind of kind of set my mind on things above, and things of this world become a little dim and a little more put in perspective, and they don't feel as big and as overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I kind of remind myself, hey, I get to live with a sense of expectation.
SPEAKER_01: This is good, but there's more to come, and it's better than this ever could be.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to close this morning by just reading from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and doing what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says this, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, those who've died.
SPEAKER_01: That you may not grieve as others that as others do who have no hope.
SPEAKER_01: For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_01: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet him in the air.
SPEAKER_01: And so we will always be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There's the Bible again kind of saying, Hey, God relates to you with forever in mind.
SPEAKER_01: You will always be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_01: To tell you this last sentence.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
SPEAKER_01: Does the reality of heaven encourage you?
SPEAKER_01: Or when you hear about it, do you think, ooh, not yet?
SPEAKER_01: Ah, not yet.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta get married.
SPEAKER_01: Marriage is great, but it pales in comparison to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And next month I will have been married 22 years.
SPEAKER_01: Highly recommended.
SPEAKER_01: The longer I'm with her, the crazier she gets.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: But heaven's so much better.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says, therefore, encourage one another with these words.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you today that this is great.
SPEAKER_01: Live life to the fullest tier.
SPEAKER_01: But don't fall so in love with this place that you forget you were made for heaven.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you with that reality.
SPEAKER_01: That's where the joy comes from, from this expectation.
SPEAKER_01: The joy also comes from the involvement.
SPEAKER_01: What are you currently involved in that is bigger than you, that makes persecution and hardship and beating just part of the deal.
SPEAKER_01: Because you get such a sense of joy out of it.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, this joy comes from the obedience.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to do the right thing sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I just said that as your pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it is hard to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: And the joy and the good feeling about doing it doesn't come before you do it, it comes after you do it.
SPEAKER_01: And so some of you are like, hey man, I need to make some hard decisions.
SPEAKER_01: There's joy awaiting you.
SPEAKER_01: Just on the other side of doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: Stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Let me speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: The joy you long for is found in finding your own.
SPEAKER_01: Get your arms around that.
SPEAKER_01: Hold on.
SPEAKER_01: It comes in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.