Go a little deeper
Pastor Brad Goeman opens by revealing "Joy" as the week's gift in the Limitless Christmas series and contrasts joy with happiness. He argues that happiness rises and falls with circumstances—presents, food, and family arrangements—while joy rests on one's position in Christ. He also notes that the English Standard Version uses words like joy, rejoice, or joyful far more often than happy or happiness.
The teaching turns to Isaiah 9, read as a prophetic word given roughly 700 years before Jesus, in a fearful time when the Assyrian Empire was rising and Israel faced captivity. Pastor Brad walks through the passage's imagery—light in darkness, harvest rejoicing, victory over an oppressor, and garments burned as peace arrives—and describes it as God giving a cause for joy when there was little to be joyous about. He then follows the story to Luke 2, where shepherds in the night receive the announcement of great joy, and notes that God went to shepherds rather than priests, kings, or the wealthy.
The message closes with the "now but not yet": believers live in the victory Jesus accomplished while awaiting his return, described as a trumpet, meeting him in the clouds, and a place he is preparing. Pastor Brad invites anyone who has not received that gift to respond, leads a prayer, and extends a closing invitation to choose joy amid job loss, ended marriages, and strained family relationships.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
I want to thank you all for braving the weather this morning in fact I want everybody to take your hand like this if you are able take your hand like this put it back like this and then pat yourself on the back just do that because I want to say good job because there are those watching online this morning hello uh but these are the brave ones right here and so I just want to say good job you guys deserve a little Applause I I am excited um I'm excited because uh God is good and God has I I believe a message that he wants you to hear today how many of you know that we've been doing this thing with the the present every week Pastor Keith has been opening it up and how many of you have ever done this before we open this uh how many have ever peaked
has anybody ever peaked at a present nobody is admitting it you're all liars okay some of you I saw some hands go up and some of you are just going I'm sitting right next to my parents I can't answer that question right now let me let me share a hint if you walk through those doors every week in bright bold lights is a big hint right um or if you listen to what's taking place over here you already have a hint and so today when we open up the gift uh the the Limitless gift that we receive at Christmas anybody want to take a guess before I pulled out Joy good job you know what put your hand up like this and do like that okay good job you know
if we are we're talking about Joy today and I am excited about this one because I believe we need Joy I I believe that Joy is one of those things that's so important to the Christian Life uh and and especially at Christmas time it's just one of those words that you see flash around okay in fact I went around the church uh earlier this week and I took a couple pictures of joy that I saw but then I thought you know what I'm gonna go to Walmart Walmart's two blocks away and I thought I'm just gonna take pictures of everything I see that say joy for Christmas and so if we have some of those pictures could we put those up okay so this was a card at Happy Happy Joy Joy right okay uh how about the next one this one's in the church right here Joy to the World probably the most
popular Christmas song ever right okay how about uh how about something else okay there's uh Christmas ornaments Joy all right what else socks you are not truly joyful unless you have joyful socks okay and and so you need those and those are aloe infused as well you can get them at Walmart okay more ornaments uh Joy what else do we have wishing you peace and joy this Christmas again another greeting card what else now this one I leave this one up here for just a second some of you that are die-hard green and yellow fans maybe you felt a little let down on this one this year they actually have the Ducks one or the beaver one
right next to it and I really should have took a picture of that one because you guys experienced Joy this year right um especially this football season uh any more up there I can't remember what else we have is that the last one oh there's another ornament uh Joy love peace family Christmas merry happy joyful Joy it's out there all all over the place isn't it this time of year it's just part of Christmas that this thing that says joy and this morning I want to talk about this because I believe uh sometimes we can get confused about what Joy is or is not okay in fact I would ask this question is Joy the same thing as happy okay and I I absolutely applaud you again good job all right I think there are times that where we can be sad and still carry Joy okay because I believe they're
totally different things and and I can remember you know especially at Christmas time as we talk about Joy the presence you know I can remember presence that that made me so happy right you know I also remember some presents I was like what were you thinking you know right uh and I won't ask you to raise your hand oh somebody did you know there's times at Christmas how about the the treats the food that come with Christmas right it's like yes that makes me happy and then it takes till like June to lose all of what you ate during Christmas right um there's there's the time of getting family together I love getting family together especially now as my kids are starting to to be grown and married and have kids you know having everyone together I mean that brings me happiness okay I love that but I also know you know as my kids
get married there's more families and so sometimes we don't get to be together because they're with opposite family and that's that's hard I want you to know that happiness does not determine my joy just as sadness does not have to determine my joy and so this today I want to just share that because I think there are things about Christmas that can be happy or sad but I also know that that does not determine my joy I said family it was 28 years ago on Christmas Day I I was going to Bible College in Eugene but I was home for the holidays in South Dakota where I grew up and Christmas morning my family took me to the airport in Sioux City Iowa and I got on an airplane and I flew to LAX Los Angeles on Christmas morning
and when I got off the plane in Los Angeles there was this family waiting for me there and it was Sherry my my wife she was not my wife yet then but her family picked me up and took them to her grandmother's house where I shared my first Christmas with this new family and it was during that Christmas when we were opening presents that when it came time to Sherry's turn I got down on my knees and took out a hidden present and I proposed on Christmas Day Christmas is important to me it's one of those things that brings happiness to me because of what it is and all those type of things but can I tell you happiness is not what Joy is in fact I'll tell you this um I know
it's an extremely hard time for many whether it be from broken relationships or maybe it is getting family together and that just makes everything stressful or maybe you don't like all the food and sweets or there's a myriad there's tons of reasons why people have a hard time they say it's actually one of the most depressing times of the year for some one of my former youth her name is Nikki she's one of my youth again I'm I'm getting older but 20 some years ago but uh she uh she posted on on social media here a couple weeks ago my wife had me watch it and uh she said I'm having a hard time being happy this year for Christmas you see last year about this time a little bit before I think it was in November October she and her husband flipped houses for a
living he was actually a former professional baseball player they had done really well with some things and flipped houses and he was going to finish one house before it was finalized one project that because of covid you know everything was delayed in the mail and so that that actually how the house was sold to a rental company and he just said hey if you guys purchase it now I'll fix this part as soon as the part comes in they said okay well he showed up there to fix the part one day and whoever was staying in the house came out and shot him six times killed him on the lawn and she shared this in this video she said I'm having a hard time being happy this year for Christmas but she went on to share that but I have a joy in Christ This Christmas that's not based on my happiness and so I want to challenge you today as we talk about Joy don't do not
get it mixed up with happiness or sadness as the determiner of your drug because those things are based on your circumstances and joy is very different in fact the English Standard Version the the version we use mostly here at the church when we share if you were to look in the ESV uh the words Joy Rejoice or joyful they appear 430 times in the Bible do you want to know how many times happy or happiness appear 10 times there's a big difference between happy and joy so that card I put up there that said Happy Happy Joy Joy totally different things okay Hallmark got it wrong or whoever made that card right I will tell you this that uh um I believe our Christian Joy flows
from realizing our position in Christ it's who you are in him what he has done for you and what he will do for you that is the determiner of our joy and he never lets us down there and so one of the things we're going to do today is we're going to look at an Old Testament prophecy that was prophesying about the coming Messiah okay we know the Messiah was Jesus you know because we live in the the future we of course have seen these things take place but this was during a time probably 700 years before Jesus actually was born as that little baby in a Manger and this wasn't a great time for Israel either in fact this was a really a pretty dark time for Israel this was a a scary time for Israel uh you know Israel had you know done great early on and
with King David they thrived and they were one of these great Nations even Solomon it prospered and did all these things but shortly after that this this great nation started to crumble uh it divided you know 10 of the 12 tribes went one way and in two of the tribes went another way you know the reality is uh honestly uh most of the kings in both nations were not godly from that point on in fact Israel never had a Godly King Judah where Jerusalem is had a few but it was a dark time and God had promised and said it in the scriptures before if you obey me there's going to be blessings but if you disobey my commands there's going to be curses and so he kind of told them ahead of time that these are the things that are going to happen and so when uh we're going to be looking at Isaiah chapter 9 this
morning when he wrote this it was a time of disobedience it was a time of falling away it was a time of fear because they were they they were just a a a wreck of what they once were they were not this mighty nation and so I would even say that uh they were probably a nation that was living in great fear because God had allowed them to be attacked by numerous enemies and at this point uh during the writing this it was the Assyrian Empire was rising up and and conquering and and taking Nation after Nation after nation and Isaiah writes in a time where I'm sure Israel and Judah both were in fear of Are We next in fact uh looking at dates and what
they believe for Isaiah chapter 9 when this one was written it was probably within 10 years of the nation of Israel that was the 10 tribes that really were not serving God at all would be taken captive um defeated and really erased from history from that time on within 10 years of this time and so can you imagine living in that kind of world where you know you do not measure up to the the empires of the day that are conquering and wondering every day is this the day that we're going to fall will will I be killed today what's going to happen to my family will my wife and kids be killed will they will they be taken captive what will be done to them can you
imagine the fear that you would have and I I think it's similar to the the same thing we live in fear today sometimes I think sometimes we live in fear of our enemies or we live in fear of our finances or we live in fear of broken relationships that are there some of us fear our governments right fear mandates We Fear mistakes from our past like Israel is having to now deal with during the writing of this because they truly had mostly walked away from God and that's where we pick up this dark time this scary time this fearful time and the reality of time where most would be conquered and it's there in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2 that we pick it up and it says this
this is a prophetic word from the Lord during this dark season it says the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light those who dwelt in the land of deep Darkness on them has light Shone you have multiplied the nation this is a nation that had been divided and was crumbling and this word says you have multiplied the nation you have increased its Joy they Rejoice before you as with joy at the Harvest as they are glad when they divide the spoil for the Yoke of his burden and the staff of for his shoulder the rod of his oppressor you have broken is on the day of Midian for every boot of the trampoline tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire this is where it gets a little more
familiar for us for to us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name Shall be Called wonderful counselor Mighty God Everlasting father Prince of Peace of the increase of his government and of Peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with Justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the Zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this this was an encouraging word in a very dark and scary time wait light in the Darkness wait and there's there's words of Victory and joy where is that right now I want you to understand something you know Pastor Keith has talked about this
a couple weeks ago and he opened up the gift of Hope I think God was giving his people hope in a time where in reality they were hopeless he was giving them a cause for joy when there was little to be joyous about and I think that's what Joy is the difference between happiness and joy is happiness is based on circumstances it's how good is this day going what's going on in our lives is it good is it bad how's my job going what's the relationship with my wife or my spouse you know you get right but joy is based on something far deeper it's the promises of God and what he has for us and so that's what God gave in this this prophetic word to Isaiah hope hope for a better day hope for joy and I
think if we really look at this we as women's that we can capitalize on Joy and you know all joy comes from Jesus right it comes from God right and so if I look at this I say Jesus Joy is like light if we look at that that first verse I read it said to people who walked in darkness have seen a great light those who dwelt in a Land of deep Darkness on them a light has shown anybody scared of the dark nobody's willing to me I did a couple of you right I'm not scared of the dark unless I have reason to be scared in the dark and sometimes those are the unknown right those are the things we fear a few years ago a couple friends of mine and I we decided to do a survival night in the wilderness now you look at me and you might say Sir everybody can survive one night right
well we went and we went uh we drove up into the ochiko mountains we took this one road as far as we could turn gravel drove about five miles into it we parked and then we didn't take anything with us we didn't take food we didn't take sleeping bags we didn't take pillows tents anything I did sneak some licorice I didn't tell the guys that but I I did take a little bit but all we took was basically one guy had a little uh like a three feet of uh fishing line and a hook and I think all of us had some sort of handgun on us and we went and hiked like five or six more miles into what's known as The Desolation in wilderness um I don't know if anybody you've been there it's desolate we saw no life I was like I'm going to be hungry at the end of this I'm glad I brought licorice you know if they're watching this they're gonna go you brought licorice
weren't supposed to do that but I remember we we hiked in and it was a hot day it was in the summer but we hiked in and there was really nothing out there and I remember one of the guys tell me goes well there used to be a lot of deer actually in Elk out here but he said the cats have scared them all away there's some big cats that live in the wilderness around us do you know that right and I remember that kind of just stood out to me and I was like okay um I have my little 22 pistol what is that gonna do that's like a BB gun to a mountain lion so anyway I was like okay we'll be all right we'll be all right and so we kind of find this place along this little creek and we're like this will be a great place we started like taking and breaking Pine branches and making beds with them you know and kind of something soft to lay on overnight and started building a clearing a spot where we
could build a fire to keep warm and started doing all these things and I was starting to enter desk time I just kind of took a little walk and I remember walking about 50 feet from where we have set up camp and they're in the dirt is a footprint about that big and it's a cougar print and it's fresh I mean none of the edges have been like bent over you know it hasn't been weathered it had to be that day and I even grabbed one of the guys said come come over here and he's like yep that's what that is looks fresh can I tell you I didn't sleep well that night it got dark and I remember I kind of laid down and I laid my gun right next to me I laid next to this stump and I laid my gun right there and I laid there all night like this
because I'm listening I I'm paying attention to everything because I can hear the Little Creek bubbling by but anything that didn't sound like a creek I was sure I was going to be dinner I you know and so I was in that kind of mode all night long of I got to sleep but I'm scared to death because there's things out here that can eat me and and that wasn't the only problem because that night it actually it was a really clear night and it got really cold even though it was in the summertime we were up in the mountains a bit it actually got down in the 40s that night and and again we were out there during the day I think I did wear a pair of jeans and I might have had a t-shirt but maybe a long sleeve shirt but I didn't bring a coach or a jacket this is a survival night we're being tough right and I remember getting so close to that fire because either this might scare something away or it's going to keep me
warm but I just remember it was the longest night of my life I can remember at one point dragging a whole tree Into the Fire because I was so cold I was so scared it was one of that moments and I remember just staring at the East all night long why would I be staring at the East because I'm just like Lord every day in history the sun has risen don't let this be the first time that the sun is not going to rise in the morning and so I just watched and listened and cuddled up to that fire and watched and like it's not happening it's not happening and they say it gets the coldest right before the sun rises that is so true I never knew that until that night and I was so cold I was so scared but I remember when there's suddenly finally
that kind of glow in the east as it started to I think that's it I think that's it you know light has a way of Conquering the darkness in our fears and that's that scripture that was there in that first part you know a light has been shown in the darkness you know that's a promise of hope and can I tell you as that light grew brighter my joy started to build inside of me my my fears started to quench a little bit and Jesus Joy is like the light number two Jesus Joy is like the Harvest it went on and in verse 3 it said you have multiplied the nation you have increased its Joy they rejoiced before you as with joy at the Harvest now I grew up in the midwest I already said I grew up in South Dakota what do you think is the biggest industry there
farming corn and beans as far as you can see everywhere all right but I can tell you I work for Farmers as a teenager and I had friends who are farmers everything they do is built towards what the Harvest in the fall and so they put in all this money they put in all this effort they do all these things you know from the spring through the summer all built towards the Harvest and unfortunately things aren't always perfect if you farm before because there would be times of drought and there'd be high concern with everybody during those seasons or there were seasons of flooding where it was like we can't even get the crops in or are the crops even going to be able to grow because they're under water I can remember Seasons with both in the Midwest
drought and flooding but there was nothing like when they finally I can remember my best friend he's a farmer still to this day I can remember times where it's about this time of year before he's finally able to get in and bring in the Harvest because the weather at times in December where they're finally doing that's late but they do whatever they have to do because everything is dependent on the Harvest whether they can keep the family farm or have to sell whether they can support their family or they're going to have to get another job everything is dependent on the Harvest and so when he said I talked about Joy you have increased its Joy they rejoiced before you as with joy at the Harvest only a farmer would truly understand that one but it's huge because their livelihood is based on the Harvest three I Think Jesus Joy is like a
victory anybody like victory how many like War most of us most of us wouldn't raise our hand but it says this for the Yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder and the rod of his oppressor you have broken is on the day of Midian now you'd have to research what Midian is about but that's when Gideon and the midianites would come and they had raid uh the Israelites in the time of the judges it was a dark and scary time in fact people would hide in caves because I think the movie bugs life was based on the story of Gideon to be honest because remember how the Grasshoppers would come in and take all their food and leave them just a little bit and you know but then they could survive for another it's the story of Gideon in the Israelites against the midianites because there was thousands upon thousands of the midianites and and the warriors were very few for Israel
in fact when they actually found Victory God had got that down to us about 300 Israelites to fight against over ten thousand of the enemy midi Knights and God gave them a great Victory and so where there was limited or no hope God gave hope and again he says it's like that that's where your joy is going to come from he's going to break the rod of his oppressor you know in America we're all about all about our freedom things aren't always right and things aren't always great and we're not always happy sometimes we're sad but we always take pride and joy in our freedoms we have here and so I think we can identify with that one a little bit um and I think uh number five I would just share this is Jesus Joy is like peace when we look at this scripture the verse that sounded a little funny it said for
every boot of the tramping Warrior and battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire what you have to understand is when the Israelites went to war they did not take a suitcase okay they didn't come out and fight all day long and then go back to their camp that night say oh good I got fresh clothes for tomorrow these are my Tuesday clothes and and I'm saving this Wednesday because Wednesdays I look better in pink I'm wearing this this you know it wasn't like they had their clothing that they wore can you imagine if they were at Battle for a few months or a few weeks how nasty that clothing had to get it how dirty and how gross and especially if they're in an armed arm battle a hand-to-hand battle it might be blood spattered sweaty gross muddy dirty
how do you think when the battle is finally over and they get to live in peace what do you think they were going to do hey honey watch that because I want to wear that tomorrow no it's like burn it I don't need that anymore right and so this this scripture actually says that it says you know uh for every boot of the tramping Warrior and battle to mult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire I don't need it we are in times of Peace we have one I'm breaking up the good clothing now right and so we have this picture of that that that Isaiah is painting to a people that are in a very dark time a very scary time of what hope hope and when we can have hope in God guess what that that's something that we can truly have joy in because God is
always true to it and why did we have all this hope why did they have all this hope yeah I would like to say because but the Bible uses the word for because it says For unto us a child is born so it doesn't really matter what your fear is it's not going to be that much different than what they feared in those days the reality is the answer is Jesus because the baby the Messiah the one that's going to rule and the one that's going to take our place and and give us Victory and give us peace and give us all these different things comes in the form of this baby that would turn into a conquering King and how do you know you can trust What God Says
that last verse I love because it says this the Zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this if God promises you something believe it God God doesn't lie God doesn't back down from his promises God will always do what he says the Zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this if you lack Joy you should stand in Joy because God promised hope God promised Victory God promised light God promised peace God promised all these things now how many you know sometimes it doesn't happen in our time table right again our happiness is based on our circumstances our joy is based in God and his promises
and so we can we can fast forward now we can fast forward 700 years fast forward uh uh you know through uh you know because Israel was taken captive probably 10 years from that writing okay Judah would last a couple more hundred more years but then fall to a different Empire of the Babylonian Empire they would be taken captive for 70 years eventually released we're going to fast forward through that but that's where Esther the story of Esther the story of Daniel were of great God showing himself in amazing ways during those Seasons we're going to fast forward the king allowing the Israelites to come back to rebuild the wall to rebuild the Temple to rebuild their homes to establish themselves as a people of Israel we're going to fast forward through that we're going to come back to the place where we are now at in in Luke Chapter 2 and guess what
now there's just another Empire coming at him it's the Roman Empire it's not that different the Roman Empire treated things a little differently though they weren't about taking you captive they're about enforcing their rule over you oh you can still live here but we're in charge you can still live in your homes but we're going to tax you for those homes you can still work and do the things but we're going to charge you for that we're going to put our soldiers everywhere to enforce our way on you and so it wasn't this like we're going to kill you all we're going to carry you off captive those that don't get killed is no no you get to stay here but your your hours now and this is now where Luke Chapter 2 enters very similar no Israel didn't like where
they were Israel was still living in fear they didn't like what was going on because they are God's people they want to be do and be who they're supposed to be but guess what the hope and the promise of Isaiah chapter 9 is still good in Luke chapter 2. and so this is where we come and chapter eight of verse excuse me of verse 8 of chapter 2 it says this and in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock By Night by when this night dark you'll see some strong similarities in this story and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord Shone around them and they are filled with great fear the glory of the Lord Shone about them what is that that's light right and it says they had great fear why
because it was dark and now there's light and the angel said to them fear not so they are living in fear just like we've been talking about I bring you good news what news of great joy what Joy that will be for all the people what people all the people good you guys are listening Thank You For unto you is born this day sounds very similar to what we just read and Isaiah in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord and this will be a sign of you you will find wrapped swaddling cloths and lying in a Manger and suddenly there was an angel of a with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those who with whom he is pleased you notice there's a lot of
similarities right and there's peace and there's light and there's fear and all these different things okay verse 15 goes on it says when the angels went away from them into heaven the Shepherds said to one another let us go to Bethlehem right let's see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us and they went with haste which means they hurried and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lion in a manger and when they saw it they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child and all who heard about it or and all who heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told them but Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and the Shepherds returned glorifying and
praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them it's an amazing story isn't it almost like The Greatest Story Ever Told right it was it was just a normal regular night out in the dark significant in no way except that suddenly it became the night of Promise fulfilled we never know when God is going to show up and start to conquer our fears and speak words of Hope and life into US it can be when we least expect it in fact I'd say almost always it is when we at least expect it but the Messiah had come the night of greatest joy the promise
that for so long ago had been waiting on it was finally here I think it's amazing that God told the Shepherds and not priests are not Kings or wealthy people or important people Shepherds were in reality the lowest of of the society in that place but God went to them and I love this story because we have truly I think the world changed in that moment God's promise became fulfilled Jesus the Messiah has arisen they have this amazing moment of things like wondering and treasuring and pondering and glorifying and praising and then what happened
the Shepherds returned to the field it was still dark might have been cold so we see this amazing thing take place but guess what everything changed the Shepherds it says return to the fields but they return glorifying and praising God for all they had seen I call that Joy when you experience something and it changes your actions and suddenly you're going back you're normally just the guy that watches the Sheep but now you are praising God and you're like Pastor David up there you know they're going back to the field with a new joy that they have not had because their hope has finally been fulfilled
Mary is sitting there and says she's treasuring what has been said and what's happened others are pondering and trying to figure it out you know this night kind of changed a lot of things and I think it was more than just happiness our culture today they try to they they try to make happy right you know yeah how many of you ever heard the phrase do what makes you happy that's dumb because guess what do what makes you happy okay I like pizza I'll eat a pizza you know what but guess what a couple hours later am I still happy from the pizza no happiness Fades right do what makes you happy people have compromised way too much in
their life for a moment of Happiness to regret it later I I love this one no I actually hate this one you live your own truth you've heard that one that is our world's motto right now and it is a Lie from the devil I want to live by his truth because guess what my truth might be happy for a little bit but it it doesn't last his truth brings hope and it brings change it eternity is on his that is joy happiness and sadness are about circumstances Joy is about him in fact I would tell you this Joy is Our Hope and God's promise can you hold on to that I will also say Joy is the Fulfillment
of God's promise Jesus you good with that right Joy is now living in God's promises you good with that one this is where Joy is because this is something that's deeper this is something that's inside us God's love is so great for us He sent Jesus God's love is so great for you that He sent Jesus because he knew that nothing could satisfy that emptiness inside that Brokenness inside how many of us live in regret of our past mistakes our sins the things we've done wrong our regrets all those type of things and you know what guess what pizza doesn't change that but Jesus changed that Jesus came and he gave himself because he knew nothing else could change the rotten things that each and
every one of us have done only then when we experienced that forgiveness and that grace of our mess-ups and our mistakes and our sins can we truly experience the joy he intended for us to live in because guess what I'm going to mess up again but his promise is still good his grace is still amazing Romans chapter 5 1-2 says it this way it says therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in Hope
of the glory of God see we walk in Victory now we walk in that kind of faith that that is different it's not based on happiness or sadness it's based in the promise of hope that we have but how many of you realize that we kind of uh we live in this place that's uh we live in the now with Christ but we also live in the not yet just like when Isaiah prophesied they lived in a dark time but they had something to look forward to in the Messiah coming right now we live over here after the Messiah came and rose from the dead and is ascended to heaven we live in that Victory now but how many you know we're still kind of in that not yet too right because there was another promise for us yet it's not just done because Jesus did what he did right what what is the
further promise someday a trumpet will sound and for those of us that have accepted his gift we will we will what rise and meet him in the clouds and the Bible says that he is preparing A Place For Us in heaven in paradise and I think place is like the the worst word it gives a place is nothing fancy but the reality is it's a mansion and it's nothing like Mansions here it's far greater and he's doing that for us so do we live in this now but not yet absolutely because the greatest promise is still yet ahead our greatest place of joy and hope is still there we've been forgiven we've already received this gift hopefully and if you haven't you're not going to
have a chance this morning but we have this promise of standing in Victory and in this hope already of what he's done for us and that if we are lives in today guess what our eternity's already decided but we live in this hope of that thing that's to come and that's being with him in eternity guess what where there is no more sadness in fact I don't even know if there'd be happiness it'll just be pure joy and so I start to consider those things and I think we as Christians should be the most joyful people in the world and I think some of us we kind of still live in this place of oh we're kind of eeyors how are you doing today oh
lost my job got in a fight with my wife you know what happiness and sadness are going to still be part of our lives that those are emotions that's real we live in a fallen world but we also have the antidote his name is Jesus he came as a little baby in a manger and he was and is the answer and now we can stand in that hope and know that we get to go to a place that he's preparing for us Psalm 126 verses 3-6 I think illuminates this really well but it says the Lord has done great things for us we are glad this is somebody that's tasted and seen that the Lord is good right but this is
also somebody that realizes but I still live in a messed up world because they go on in verse 4 it says restore our fortunes O Lord like streams in the give those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of Joy he who goes out weeping burying the seed for sowing shall come home with shouts of Joy bringing his sheaths with him that Harvest ideas again again there and the joy idea is again there in a fallen world because we live in the not yet but we still have a promise of hope and someday we will be able to say goodbye to sadness someday we will be able to say goodbye to problems broken relationships and
sickness and aches and pains and all the things we have to deal with here so we have right now an opportunity to live in joy because of what he has done for us in fact I would like to do something right here in fact everybody just close your eyes for a second we have an opportunity where maybe you want to trade your hurts and your pains and your sorrows and your sadness and all these things maybe even your happiness for True Joy a promise that this is not all it is a promise that you have a God and a savior that will walk every day of your life with you even during the hard times but also during the good times
this is an opportunity for you to come and experience that he is a good god and maybe just maybe today is the day that you just know that you need to open up that gift because the Bible says it is a gift that he gave us and it's himself and that whoever chooses to believe in him will never perish but have eternal life meeting in the clouds the mansion in heaven eternity in his presence with no more sickness in fact if that's you today and you've never done that I just want to give you that opportunity nobody's looking around eyes are closed but just slip that hand up and say Pastor would you pray with me today because I need that kind of gift all
right I see that hand in that hand and that hand that hand that hand that hand you know what the greatest gift there's hands up all over there the greatest gift you can ever receive in this life is not something you will open on Christmas Day that's under the tree the greatest gift you will ever receive is the one that was given and promised about many many years ago but it's still there to take today would you all just repeat after me for the sake of those that raise their hands we'll all pray this together but let's just ask the Lord um to meet us in a real way [Music] even in the midst of our sadness and our hurts and our aches and our fears and in our Darkness he will be that great light
repeat after me say dear Jesus thank you for giving yourself for being Our Hope and our joy Lord we ask you to come into our lives to wash away our sins to make us new to heal our hurts to be our joy today we come and we accept that gift and we pray this now in Jesus name amen now we still live in that place of now but not yet right how many still need Joy friends
Pastor Keith has done this every week but uh what are things we need Joy from anybody lose a job this year and it just devastated you I've been there before you need Joy you know the cool thing about God's gifts they're Limitless right maybe somebody is in a place where a marriage ended and you just don't see how you could ever be happy again you've been defeated choose Joy he's here for you today he wants to give that to you [Music] some of you uh maybe Christmas is hard because family relationships might be an adult child or
a parent you just can't even be around them without arguing and you're just saying God I need your help I need to not look at the negative but I need to choose your joy he wants to give you that today what whatever is the thing that ails you you know what he can put on and take away our sadness and give us the true Joy that's what he does he's here for you today so some of you like we've done the past week somebody you just need to grab one of these before you leave today sorry some of you just need to grab those and say you know I'm going to put this up because this is what I need to walk in not what the world has labeled me as probably
the most famous Christmas Carol of all is Joy to the World how many you like that one How does it go it says Joy to the World what the Lord is come let Earth receive her King let every heart prepare him and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing probably the most popular Christmas song and it's been around forever right how many you know it wasn't written for Christmas if we call Christmas and the baby Jesus the first coming right how many know there's that second coming when he does call us and we all go home to him how many you know this song was actually written about the second coming Pastor David shared this with us in staff meeting I think it was this week
I was like wow so it's been made into a Christmas song but it's really a song that was written to celebrate Jesus coming and taking us all home what a day of joy that will be right and so we live in the now not yet Joy To The World Is This Christmas song that we sing but it truly looks forward to not him coming as a baby but him coming back is the Conquering King calling us home meeting us in the clouds taking us to that place where we spend eternity where everything is right everything is good and so we're going to close this morning and Joy to the World and I want you to stand up but here's what I want you to do I want you to sing it maybe as a
Christmas song but with eyes on where our hope is truly when he calls us home and we go to be with him forever will you do that with me Pastor David lead us there and uh let's let's sing with joy because that's what he gives us
