Not Mine, But God's: Joy

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a decision that moves your feet, opens your hands,

and activates God's promises. In our brand new

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Order your copy of Faith Act today on Amazon.

Entitled, Not Mine, But God's. Everybody say,

Not Mine, But God's. And for the four weeks of

Advent, we've been focusing on those words of

Advent. But long before Gabriel spoke to Mary,

that's what we looked at our first week. Long

before angels visited the shepherds is what we

looked at on week number two. Or the wise men

saw a newly formed star long before this ever

happened. God planted a promise in the hearts

of his people that the Messiah is coming. A promised

one is coming. The deliverer is coming. The rescuer

is coming. The Messiah is coming. I believe the

two most important events. In all of human history,

all of the world history, I believe the two most

important events are the incarnation, everybody

say incarnation, and the resurrection. Now the

Bible encourages us to talk about the death,

the burial, and the resurrection and to remember

those things. The Bible doesn't specifically

instruct us to celebrate the birth, of Christ,

even though it records it, and that's what we've

been reading. But the incarnation is very important.

It's vitally important. Because without the incarnation,

Jesus would have been just a man like us. He

would have been born in sin like us. And if he

would have been born in sin, then it would have

been impossible. for him to die for our sin because

he would have had to die for his own sin because

the wages of sin is death. So that's how important

the incarnation is. At just the right time, the

Bible says, Jesus stepped down out of heaven.

Now, I've talked to people before who believe

that Jesus did not even begin to exist until

the Christmas story. But he's eternal. He's God.

All right? He existed. He was part of creation

in creating the earth. I mean, he is God. He

is eternal. But at just the right time, because

he was seated at the right hand of the Father

in the throne room of eternity, just the right

time, he stepped down out of heaven. And that's

what the incarnation is about. God took on flesh.

God added humanity to his deity. Born not like

us, he was not born in sin. Not only was he not

born in sin, he never sinned. So he didn't deserve

to die for sin. But the incarnation makes it

possible. For him to die for us because we were

in sin and the wages of sin is death. We deserve

to die for our own sin. But someone who had never

sinned could step in and be our substitute. Amen.

So the incarnation is important. Incarnation

is important. Advent, that word Advent is. The

definition, pure definition is the arrival of

a notable person or a think. So we don't use

that word a whole lot, but, you know, we have

used it some. We could say the advent of the

internet or the advent of smartphones or something

like that. Something that's notable that would

change, cause drastic change in the earth, right?

But in the incarnation, we're talking about the

person, the notable person that's transformed

the world. Transformed the world. I mean, even

our year, even our years started counting again

at that point, right? I mean, it's... Jesus is

the most influential character in all of the

history of mankind. So Advent, we're celebrating

his arrival. We're remembering his arrival, why

he came, what he did. And we're also remembering

some things that he brought with him. Because

he ushered in the kingdom of God into this earth.

You know, he didn't come just to save us. Even

though that would be enough. That's not the only

reason he came. He came so that we could experience

his life. It's not just about after we die. It's

about the here and now too. When we come to Christ,

when we're born again, I mean, we become alive

in Christ and we're already living the Christ

life. At least we have the opportunity to. Now,

it's up to us if we actually do or not. As we

look at these stories, we're preparing our hearts

to celebrate the birth of Jesus because this

world is so cluttered and crowded that you could

go through this holiday season and not even think

about Jesus. So many people will. But we're preparing

our hearts to truly celebrate the birth of Jesus

some of the notable things that he made available

to us. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about

hope. Everybody say hope. He brought hope. Last

week, we talked about peace. Everybody say peace.

Because he brought peace. It's a different kind

of hope and a different kind of peace, not natural.

hope or peace, not the world's hope or peace,

but supernatural hope and peace. And today we

continue, we're going to be talking about joy.

That's why we sing two joy songs on top of our

Christmas songs, if you didn't figure that out,

all right? We're talking about joy because Jesus

brought a new level of joy that's available for

us. that had never been available before. And

next week, we're going to talk about his love.

And I believe if we listen with expectation,

because it's really easy just to come to church

and go through the motions and not really listen

or expect anything. But I believe if we listen

with expectation, we just might hear the voice

of God calling us out of the noise all around

us. I mean, I'm not saying all the noise is bad

because some... You know, we enjoy the things

of the holiday, right? Just as much as anyone

else. But we can't get so wrapped up in the secularization

of the holiday that we miss out the most important

thing. So if we listen with expectation, we might

just hear the voice of God calling us out of

this noise and into the life. that he has for

us and is made available for us. Now, first week,

we read about the angel Gabriel coming to Mary,

talked about her response. Last week, we skipped

ahead and we went to the shepherds, but now we're

going to back up because what we're reading today

took place. In a very short amount of time after

Mary responded to the angel, we're going to pick

up in Luke 1 verse 39. A few days later, everybody

Luke 1:39

say not very long. A few days later, Mary hurried

to the hill country of Judea, to the town where

Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted

Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's

child leaped within her. And Elizabeth was filled

with the Holy Spirit. And when she was filled

with the Holy Spirit, she began to say some things

prophetically. Everybody say prophetically. She

began to speak some things that she really didn't

fully know or fully understand. Look to the person

beside you and say, God still does that. He might

want you to be his mouthpiece to somebody else,

give you the words to say to somebody else. See,

we're not going to get spooky when it comes to

prophecy. Some people get too spooky. I don't

know if you know what I'm talking about, but

people, has anybody ever been around some of

that? And people just get spooky, right? The

Holy Spirit's not spooky. Prophecy, in its most

basic form, is God speaking to you, speaking

to your spirit, you hearing him, and then you

just saying what he wants you to say. I mean,

it's easy. We're not going to make it spooky,

all right? We just hear from God, and you don't

have to announce. You don't have to say, thus

saith the Lord. I just got a word for you, brother.

We don't have to do all that announcing. You

know, we can be the mouthpiece of Christ and

just speak to someone. It's God speaking through

us to them. Everybody listen. It should happen

a lot. Should happen a lot. So, Elizabeth gave

a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has, see,

this is prophetic right here. This is, God has

blessed you above all women, and your child is

blessed. I mean, she most likely hasn't been

expecting but a week. I mean, it's not like she's

showing up six months pregnant or something.

I mean, that's why I'm saying it's prophetic,

because how would she know? Unless the Spirit

of God spoke to her and then she's speaking.

Right? God has blessed you above all women and

your child is blessed. Why am I so honored that

the mother of my Lord should visit me? I mean,

she already knows. She already knows. The Holy

Spirit has revealed that to her. Then she said,

when I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb

jumped for joy. I think she's about six months

pregnant, if I remember correctly. I should have

wrote that down somewhere. The baby in my womb

jumped for joy. You are blessed. Listen to this.

You are blessed because you believed that the

Lord would do what he said. I'm just going to

go ahead and claim that for myself. I'm not pregnant.

Hallelujah, I'm not pregnant. Hallelujah, Ghana's

not pregnant. But I want you to listen to this.

You're blessed because you believed that the

Lord would do what he said he would do. Oh, that

each one of us would truly believe that the Lord

would do in our lives what he said he would do.

Our lives will be different every day. And then

Mary responded. I'm not going to read her whole

response. Because I believe she took off in a

prophetic line too. Oh, how my soul praises the

Lord. How my spirit rejoices. And God, my Savior.

Everybody remember what your soul is, right?

Your soul is your thought life, your mind, your

will or your desires, and your emotions. That's

our soul. We are spirit beings created in the

image of God. We have a soul and we live. in

a body. Okay? So she says, oh, how my thought

life and how my desires and how my emotions,

with all of that, I am praising the Lord and

how my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. It needs

to be us every day too. So today we're going

to focus on An advent that I've already described

to you, but the advent of supernatural joy. Now,

in each one of these messages, we've talked about

natural, right? We talked about natural peace

last week, what the world calls peace, what the

world... has to offer as peace. I mean, the world

has a natural joy that people can experience

who are not in Christ. But the issue that we

face is that even though we're in Christ, many

times the only peace and joy that we experience

are natural peace and joy. which are connected

to the circumstances going on around us. But

the Bible is talking about something higher than

that. Not natural, but above natural. Don't freak

out over the word supernatural. That just means

God is putting His super on the natural. It's

just above. It's the next level. It's greater

than. Because in this fallen world, the peace

that people can experience is broken compared

to the peace in heaven, compared to God's peace.

The joy that people can experience, right? Has

anyone ever heard this song, This Joy That I

Have? Does anybody know that song? You always

give me a hard time when I sing it by myself,

but you want me to sing it anyway. Because this

joy that I have, the world didn't give it to

me. Y 'all heard that? This joy that I have,

the world didn't give it to me. This joy that

I have, the world didn't give it to me. Here

we go. The world didn't give it. the world can't

take it away. See, if the world gives it to you,

the world can take it away. But if you have a

joy and a peace that's not of this world, then

the world can't take it away. Natural occurrences

can't take it away from you. So, the arrival

of supernatural joy. You remember, it was last

week we talked about shepherds, right? I'm just

giving you a little bit more because we talked

about the baby jumping with joy. Well, the angel

talking to the shepherds, last week we focused

on them saying, you know, peace on earth, but

they also said joy to all people. So Jesus not

only brought supernatural peace on earth, he

also makes it available for us to have supernatural

joy, all of us. The angel reassured them, don't

be afraid, he said. I bring you good news. Everybody

say good news. I bring you good news that will

bring great joy. Everybody say great joy. Great

joy to all people. Now just that word joy. And

the Greek is already exceedingly, exceeding joy,

great joy. So the angel even put another great

in front of it. So it's like great, great. That

word joy is kara. I wanted to go ahead and guess

that one. Try to say it. Kara. It means exceeding

our great joy. Exceeding our great gladness.

Exceeding our great cheerfulness. Exceeding our

great delight. See, it's next level. It's not

just joy, gladness, cheerfulness, or delight.

It's exceeding our great. That's what the word

joy means. Every time you read it in the New

Testament, that's what it means. That's what

it means. I know I've shared this before, but

I'll share it again. You know, I heard a good

preacher one day say, well, you know, happiness

is like the rapids on top of a fast -flowing

river. You can see that. You can see it. But

joy, He said with a big stern face, and I repeated

it for years. Joy. Everybody get real serious.

Say joy. You know, joy. Joy. You can't see joy.

Joy is the current that keeps the river moving.

Every once in a while we can experience some

happiness that can be seen on the outside. But

nobody can see joy, he said, because it's that

current. It just keeps flowing. I can't believe

I repeated that nonsense without looking it up.

I thought he was real spiritual and smarter than

I was. But then one day I just looked it up and

I'm just like, what? I think if I have exceeding

great joy, exceeding great gladness, exceeding

great cheerfulness, Has anybody seen a cheerleading

squad before? Exceeding great delight. I believe

you could see that. You can see it. So everybody

go home and look in the mirror and see if you

can see the joy of the Lord on your face. So

many people in church today look like their mama

raised them on lime juice. It needs some joy.

It needs some supernatural joy. Yeah. So that's

what the word means. I don't believe that that's

invisible. Topical lexicon from this word says

this. Joy, everybody say joy. Joy in the New

Testament is more than emotion. It is settled,

spirit -given delight that arises from something.

This is going to tell us where it comes from.

It arises from the redemptive acts and abiding

presence of God. That's where supernatural joy

comes from. It comes with the Spirit. Hey, if

you're born again, the Holy Spirit lives on the

inside of you. Your body is a temple of the Holy

Spirit. He's here. He's... Now... Many times

we don't acknowledge him, but he's here. And

he's the one who gives us this delight that arises

from the redemptive acts of God. Now, again,

some people, when you think about the redemptive

acts of God, you're just thinking about salvation.

But it's more than that. It's more than that.

See, I inserted the word grace here because I

believe God's grace is through God's grace that

he reveals his redemptive acts. But Jesus purchased

more. than salvation. I think we have some cards

back there. If you don't have one, if you already

have one at home and you've already taken one

home, we probably don't have enough for everybody.

But we did a series where we went through all

of Paul's letters and we looked for the words

in Christ, in him, through him, by him. And if

you haven't heard me say this, or maybe you've

heard me say it, but you've never really triggered

in on it, listen, every time you see that in

the New Testament, in Christ, in him, through

him, by him, you need to stop and pay attention.

Because when you see that phrase, right around

it is going to be a redemptive act. Of God that

is available to you. That Jesus purchased for

you. In his death. And sealed for you in his

resurrection. So. His redemptive acts. I mean

again. I'm not downplaying salvation. Because

that's the most amazing. Act. Right. I'm not

downplaying that. Don't take this as I'm downplaying

that. But he came so that we could have life

and life more abundantly, not just in the sweet

by and by, but in the nasty here and now. So

the spirit -given delight arises. Here's how

you're going to partake of it. By acknowledging

the Holy Spirit and acknowledging the things

that God has done for you, that Jesus provides

for you, by acknowledging those things, recognizing

those things, and then getting happy about them.

And not just getting happy about them, listen

to me, staying happy about them. Because in this

world, we're going to run into some situations

that... It's like, I know God said this, but

look at what I'm experiencing right now. And

sometimes we let this earthly, natural experience

overwhelm us, and we lose the supernatural joy

that Jesus wants us to have, that he came to

make available to us. I'm preaching all over

what's coming up, but anyway. Natural joy fades.

For those of you who haven't seen my rock, this

is natural. Everybody say natural. This is the

best that we can do on our own. And for so many

years, I tried to do on my own and my own strength

and my own ability. I tried to work on myself

and polish myself up to try to be good enough

for God, to try to be accepted by God. Has anyone

ever gone through that track before? I've even

prayed and asked God to work on me and to polish

me. But here's the deal. God wants us to exchange.

Not just polish up the natural, but to exchange

for him, for his supernatural, for in Christ.

I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer

live. This is what God wants for us. I've been

crucified with Christ, so I no longer live. It's

Christ living in me and me living in him, right?

That's the glory. So human joy, natural joy fades.

It comes and goes. Comes and goes. Just like

anybody else. Any natural person can experience

human joy. But Jesus wants us to have a joy greater

than that. That doesn't come and go. That doesn't

fade. He wants us to have his joy. And not just

for us, but his joy to the degree that it overflows.

Everybody say overflows. Natural joy will leave.

It'll fade. It'll leak out when we face disappointment,

when we face discouragement, when we face delay,

when we face exhaustion, when we face fear. Natural

joy will leak out quick. It'll fade fast. Has

anyone ever bought some battery -powered Christmas

lights? I used to have a stocking. I don't know,

do I still have it? I haven't seen it in a long

time. My stocking that had batteries in it, that

had lights on it. Yeah, we've shuffled around

a few times since then. I used to have a stocking

that you put... AA battery in the top of it.

Jeffrey's got a little Christmas tree. Put a

little battery in it. And we would just turn

that on at the beginning of the season. And you

know what? It would make it. It would make it

for about 25 days, 28 days. But as we got closer,

it got dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. But it stayed

lit up. It stayed lit up. But it dimmed. It faded.

But the ones that we have plugged into the wall,

like we had lights on all night last night. Ganna

normally likes it to be just pitch black, no

light whatsoever, but for some reason during

the month of December, the Christmas tree can

stay on. She can sleep right through without

seeing the light. I don't know how she sees the

light with her eyes closed anyway. I can't figure

that out because when I close my eyes, it gets

dark. But those that are plugged in, They don't

dim and fade. So I just thought about that because

the natural is going to fade. But if it's plugged

in or plugged into Christ and he's in us, it's

not going to fade. Elizabeth told Mary, when

I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped

for joy. Jumping up and down is an expression

of joy. That's not part of the definition, but

in the Old Testament, everybody say Old Testament.

Old Testament, if you research the word rejoice

in the Old Testament, which is a form of joy,

it means to spin in circles, jump up and down

and shout is what it means in the Old Testament.

Should not have told her of that problem. I'm

just playing. At this point, You know, Elizabeth

is an old lady. She's old. She's past childbearing

times. She's six months pregnant. Mary was pregnant.

Everything with Joseph hadn't been worked out

yet. Remember, this is like immediately she went.

You know, just a few days, maybe a week, she

went. Short time. So Joseph probably didn't even

know yet. I mean, this is like... It's still

in the could be. Everybody say could be. It could

be very interesting, right? When she got back

to Nazareth and, you know, because when she came

back now, you might be able to see that she's

expecting. She's got to go talk to her fiance.

She's got to talk to her friends. She's got to

talk to her parents if she hadn't already. Joseph

wasn't fully on board yet in the world. Talking

about the Messiah, everybody thought the Messiah

was coming to, you know, free them from Roman

rule and they'd be free and under their own government.

So as far as the world was at this time and as

far as their lives were at this time, it was

kind of chaos. It wasn't really necessarily a

time of great joy. But right in the middle, everybody

say right in the middle, right in the middle

of all that, joy overflowed because Jesus was

present. You might say, well, nobody could see

him, but he was there. Even the baby in Elizabeth's

womb jumped for joy because Jesus was there.

The Messiah was there. So joy is a response to

God's presence. Maybe sometimes we don't have

joy because we're not acknowledging God's presence.

If your joy is fading, it means you're not acknowledging

the presence of God enough. Joy is a response

to God's presence. This supernatural joy is not

a response to perfect conditions. After Jesus

talked about, listen, after he talked about the

importance of staying connected with him, you

might recall, I'm the vine, you are the branches.

If you abide in me and my word abides in you,

he goes on to say, apart from me, you can't do

anything. You might say, well, I can do some

stuff. Nothing that matters in eternity, you

can't do anything that matters in eternity apart

from Christ. Jesus began to talk about his love

and the Father's love for him and his love for

you. And it's talking about relationship. Everybody

say relationship. After he talked about those

things, he's divine. We need to stay connected

to him. You know, we need to experience his love,

all those things. I couldn't read, you know,

15 verses before I got to this one. But after

he talked about that, he made the following statement.

I've told you these things so that you will be

filled with my joy. Exceedingly great joy, gladness,

cheerfulness, delight. That's why he told us

these things. And then he said, yes, your joy

will overflow. Look at the person beside you

and say, overflow then. Overflow. Let's get some

overflow. Let's get some overflow joy going on.

Like we had some overflow laughing during the

offering, let's have some overflow joy. If we

were living in the supernatural joy that Jesus

made available for us, we would be changing the

world. got quiet after I said that. Natural joy

is emotional. Our emotions are fickle. They can

go up and down. God gave us emotions. Right?

But he wants our emotions to be spirit controlled

and not world controlled or flesh controlled.

Y 'all are thinking really too hard. Natural

joy is emotional, but God's joy is spiritual.

Listen, God's promise for supernatural joy is

not the promise of happy feelings all the time.

Because we walk by faith and not by sight. We

walk by faith and not by our emotions or our

feelings. Because we are spirits connected to

God. Now, we spend a lot of our years just learning

how to function as souls and flesh in this world.

We've got to rise above that. So it's not a promise

of happy feelings, but it's a promise of supernatural

joy. Mary responded, my soul praises the Lord.

My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. Her joy

wasn't from her comfort. It wasn't from certainty.

outside of faith. I mean, she couldn't see it.

It didn't come from her sight. It came from her

faith, right? Didn't come from clarity. She still

didn't fully understand how it was all going

to work out. And if she would have waited on

all that stuff, she wouldn't have had joy. She

wouldn't have been praising God and rejoicing

if she had to wait on that before she would.

Another line from the topical lexicon is this,

joy is rooted, the joy of God is what we're talking

about, not natural joy, but God's joy is rooted

in divine initiative. That means that it doesn't

start with what's around us, it means it starts

with God. It's a divine, a God initiative. He

initiates this joy. And it's supposed to be experienced

in all believers. And it's supposed to be expressed.

Everybody say expressed. At least smile when

you say the word expressed. It needs to be expressed

now. And in heaven. And in heaven. But it needs

to be expressed now too. Should be expressed

now too. Shared this last week. Romans 14, 17.

The kingdom of God. Jesus ushered in the kingdom

of God when he came. Ushered in the kingdom of

God to this earth. So what's the kingdom of God

about? Old Testament. Everybody's looking at

rules. Keeping the rules. How to be the best

person that they could be. How to polish their

rock as best they could. It's Old Testament.

Jesus ushered in the kingdom and the kingdom

of God is not eating and drinking. It's not about

the rules. Doesn't mean we throw out the rules

and don't care. But if you live spirit -controlled

lives, you don't have to think about individual

rules because you're walking with God and following

God. Right? Live in the spirit. You won't hang

on to the... lusts of the flesh when you're living

spirit -controlled lives. The kingdom of God

is not about eating and drinking. It's not about

the rules. It's about righteousness. Gift righteousness.

Not works righteousness, but gift righteousness.

Because of salvation, we take off our unrighteousness.

It's just like filthy rags. And we are clothed

in Christ's righteousness. The Bible says we

become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus,

if you want to search for that verse. So the

kingdom of God is about discovering that we're

righteous based on what Jesus did on the cross.

We're in right standing with God. It's also about

peace. Everybody say peace. Everybody say joy.

Listen, if your religion and your experience

with God is not about being right with God through

what Jesus did on the cross, having the peace

of God that surpasses understanding, having the

joy of the Lord that's your strength, if that's

not what your religion's about, you're in the

wrong spot. Because that's what the kingdom of

God's about. It should be our focus. Not just

at Christmas. When we go through those words

of Advent, it should be all the time. Peace and

joy in the Holy Spirit. It's initiated from God.

It will not be initiated from God in your life

until you fully acknowledge him. Joy doesn't

rise from circumstances. Joy rises from revelation.

Everybody say revelation. Revelation is when...

The Holy Spirit takes the things of God and makes

them known. To where all of a sudden you say,

it's mine. It's really mine. God said it was

mine. So I've received this revelation. It's

not just the hearing, it's the coming alive.

Have you read the Bible? and you've read a verse

a hundred times, but all of a sudden, there's

revelation. And it's like, I've read this a hundred

times, and I've never seen this. This is, and

you just are filled with joy because of this

revelation, right? Who knows what I'm talking

about? Joy rises from revelation. The revelation

of what is available to us in Christ. And it's

applied by the Holy Spirit. So it's in Christ

and it's in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness, peace,

and joy in the Holy Spirit. Taking hold of the

revelation just like Mary did. Natural joy is

fragile, falls apart. God's joy is strong. Again,

happiness depends on what happens. Supernatural

joy depends on who is present. Each one of us

has the opportunity. To walk in the presence

of God. Each one of us has the opportunity to

be, I'm going to put it this way, to be a carrier

of the presence of God. Each one of us has the

opportunity that when we walk into the room,

Because we are carriers of the presence of God.

Everybody's lifted. This is just different language

for the series that we did when I ask you every

week, how's your flow? Because God's supposed

to flow not just in us for our enjoyment and

for our edification, but... He's supposed to

fill us to such a way, Jesus said, that rivers

of living water flow. Nehemiah 8 .10, we sang

this. It's one of our songs that we've been singing

lately all the time. The joy of the Lord is your

strength. Let's talk about Peter a second. Jesus

came walking on the water. Peter said, Lord,

if that's you, call me out there with you. So

what could Jesus say? He couldn't say it's not

me, right? Because it wasn't. So in response

to his question, he says, come on. Peter stepped

out of the boat and began to walk on the water

to Jesus. But, look at these waves. This is dangerous.

I mean, and when he took his eyes, Off of Jesus.

I've never seen anybody begin to sink. But the

Bible says he began to sink. Because every time

I've sunk, I've just sunk quick. I didn't begin

to sink. Jesus reached out and took him by the

hand. Here's the deal. We're talking about walking

by faith and not by sight. But everybody in this

room agrees with what you're talking about, including

the preacher, right? But here's why. Because

all of a sudden, in this natural world, we're

overwhelmed by what we see. We're overwhelmed

by what the doctor says. We're overwhelmed by

our bank account. We become overwhelmed by things

that we see. By things that we feel. And so many

times it's not even reality. What we're feeling

is not even reality. Right? Are you agreeing

with me? The things that bring us fear is not

even reality sometimes. It's worrying about something

that could possibly happen. And this is all of

us. See, again, if we think that we're the only

one that goes through it, a lot of times that

will take us to a really bad place. Because we

think we're the only ones. Listen, right in the

middle of what you see, right in the middle of

what you feel, you can still have supernatural

joy and supernatural peace. You don't have to

sink. You don't have to sink. The reason why

we sink is because we allow the things going

on around us to overtake us. But listen, when

that happens, I think I did this the first week,

but you are a spirit. You have a soul. You live

in a body. Who's supposed to be in charge? Of

your three parts, who's in charge? It's supposed

to be your spirit. That's who you are. It's time

that our souls and our flesh are not the dictators

of our being. That's how we're going to step

up. You've got to recognize it if your soul is

trying to take over, if your emotions are trying

to take over, if your thoughts are trying to

take over. We've got to learn to be spirits.

We've got to recognize that. And we've got to

stand up and say, I know what I'm seeing and

I know what I'm feeling, but this is not right.

This is against. what God has promised, what

God has made available to me, and I will not

allow you to be the dictator over my being anymore.

Because we can have, as the old songwriter put

it, peace in the valley. We can have it. We can

have it. that we walk in the natural through

the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear

no evil. That's your spirit standing up. No,

no, no. Fear, you're not going to be the dictator

of who I am anymore. Because God hasn't given

me a spirit of fear, but a power and love and

a sound mind. So you just sit down and shut up.

You have to take authority over your soul, over

your thoughts, over your desires, over your emotions.

You've got to rise up. You're a spirit. You are

a spirit. You rise up and tell that old soul

to shut up. Spiritual joy, it's not something

that you work up. See, if you're trying to work

it up, all you're trying to do is polish your

rock. If you're trying to work it up, all you're

doing is polishing your rock. You don't work

it up. You receive it. Joy in the Holy Spirit.

It's initiated by God, and you receive it. From

the one who is joy. Set your mind on things above.

Set it. I can't set it for you. You've got to

set your own mind. I can't set it for you. But

I'm trying to help you. Know that it's possible

for you to be able to set it. It is possible.

Joy came wrapped in humility. And just strips

of cloth. Came crying in a manger. Feed trough.

That's what a manger is. Feed trough. And he

came to be with us. Everybody say Emmanuel. He

came to be with us. He didn't just visit for

those 33 years and then leave. He came to be

with you. And he came to be in you. And he wants

you to be in him. He wants to be in you. Let's

pray. God, thank you. Thank you for your truth.

Thank you for your word. God, I pray that it

will be planted in our hearts in good soil. That

the cares of this life won't pluck it up out

of our hearts, but it'll be planted in our hearts

in such a way that it grows. in such a way that

we grow and take hold of the things that you

have for us, not only for our personal fulfillment

and enjoyment, but for the sake of your kingdom

in this world. I pray that your word would grow.

In our hearts. We yield to you. Holy Spirit,

we yield to you. Do your work of transformation

in our lives. Conforming us. Into the image of

Jesus. Amen. This online worship experience was

brought to you by the friends and partners of

Elation Church.