JOY | JEFF WALACE

Amen. Thank you so much. Come on. Can we

give God a hand clap of praise in this

place, man? [applause] It's so

so good. So good. Well, so good to be

back uh here with all of the cool kids

that only uh believe that the Lord rest,

rule, and abide in his spirit only

dwells at the 10:00 service. And so uh

God bless you to each and every last one

of you. Man, uh I just am so grateful

for my pastor and uh friend uh Pastor

Luke. we've not had a chance to meet. My

name is Jeff and I am Luke Lison's twin

brother. Uh just uh the honey mocha

version and um and you know to be honest

I started I started to wear like the

little crush velvet jacket too but I I

couldn't do it. I mean, man, I I saw it

and I was like, man, all right. How many

of you saw it and the first thing that

came in your mind was like a combo of

just an immaculate, incredible preacher

plus a retired boy band member? You know

what I mean? And so, you just I was just

waiting for [laughter] the, you know,

and um Okay, sorry. He's going to kill

me for that. Um, [laughter] but man, I

am I am so uh excited to be here. Merry

Christmas season to each and every last

one of you. love Christmas here in

Orlando because uh it's not just the

happiest place on earth, but it's also

the time where many of you in this

place, you decide to go and and purchase

as many Christmas lights as you can and

wrap your house uh in uh this beauty of

LED magic. And uh and you are also

stumbling blocks for people like myself

uh who love to go through different

neighborhoods and drive by and look at

all of the lights that are um around

homes and you know and and I just got to

be honest because it brings me a lot of

joy. But there are some people who still

have the spirit of you know uh the

Grinch you know because there have been

many of days I've had people blow behind

me because I'm just there in awe of some

of your homes that are lit up. So for

those of you who uh blow your horns at

the people like myself who love to look

at the Christmas lights, God, we're

praying for you that you will um

experience this joy of Christmas and um

and so but it is also a a great joy to

come as we continue in our collection of

conversations that we've had around uh

this season of Advent. And and what I

love about uh this annual time that we

can pause and reflect that this

collection is not as you've heard before

this is not just a you know um just a

series that we just said oh man this is

a cool theme or idea. No this is a part

that is dedicated on the Christian

calendar where we pause and reflect the

significance of what took place there in

Bethlehem. When we know that word

Advent, it means coming or the arrival

of Jesus of Nazareth, the the true king

that was really the gift. And and so we

celebrate, yes, this Christmas season,

and we appreciate and we love all of the

Christmas gifts that we uh will have

under the tree, but the ultimate and the

greatest gift was the gift that was born

in a dusty old manger there in

Bethlehem. And so this Advent season is

us remembering how God offered the

greatest gift which was his son Jesus uh

you know that he offered to all of us

during this um this time here in

Bethlehem. And so we come to this advent

season to really kind of talk about this

gift. And so we know that uh people all

types of with all types of different

Christian uh backgrounds whether it's

the Protestants or Roman Catholics or

Orthodox they they will practice Advent

differently but ultimately advent is

centered around these four unique

pillars that we uh will walk through

over the the course of this collection.

Obviously we've heard already from about

hope and peace. Today we want to talk

about joy and then there is love. But

Advent, Advent is just a time to remind

us of the significance of this season

and that we never miss uh the truth of

the season while we're walking through

Disney Springs or we're at uh Disney or

or SeaWorld or Yes, SeaWorld. I said it.

And uh and so but we're we're at

different places and we're appreciating

the beauty of the lights. Uh we we come

to celebrate the ultimate light who is

the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Can we say amen?

Amen. And so on week one, week one, uh,

uh, Pastor Mike, he really opened us up

and laid down the foundation, uh, by

lifting up the gift of hope and the

significance and the importance of it.

And then Pastor Luke and his crushed

velvet jacket last week, uh, he began to

guide us. Okay, that's my last reference

of it, I promise. Uh, it was just so

stinking cool. And uh but but he he

began to guide us into uh a deep and

sustaining uh promise of peace. And and

today today which um I I love how the

Lord has a sense of humor because he

knew uh even be before um you know I

would receive this topic the the the

season of life that my family would be

in that I would need uh this particular

message for myself because what we're

going to talk about the the pillar uh

that we're going to talk about today is

one that has long been um uh

misunderstood and for many of us in this

room we long for even in this moment and

that is true authentic joy. And I'm not

talking about the joy that's some

shallow joy uh that we will receive that

fades based on our circumstances. I'm

not talking about some seasonal joy that

we will have that evaporates uh when

when life gets hard. I'm talking about

the kind of joy that scripture we're

going to see here uh in a moment that

scripture will call uh an enduring joy.

a joy that is not predicated on our

situation or our circumstance, but it's

predicated on who we allow to dwell

within us. Can we say amen? And so, it's

not about what's going on around us as

much as about who is dwelling on the

inside of us. And so, we're going to

look at uh John 15. John 15 uh today.

And we're going to look at verses 9

through 11 in the book of John 15. And

and Jesus will will speak about uh the

importance of joy or true joy and what

joy looks like. And I just want to tell

you before we we get into um our our

time today, before we get into our time

today, here is how I want to I want to

just preference for for those of you how

the message is going to be ordered and

structured, okay? For for the three

people in the room that will take notes.

All right. Here is here is how we're

going to structure it. So, I want to get

you ready. So, I'm going to give you

three points and ideas, right? Three

truths. I'm going to attach it to the

verses here in John 15:9-11.

John 15:9–11

And then I'm going to give for each

particular point uh three applications.

This is what we call in in a in a in a

world of theology applied theology

because it's one thing to hear God's

word. It's another thing to practically

learn how to apply uh this word. So it's

not really a sermon to preach to you.

I'm hoping that we can teach some things

and you can take the points that we'll

talk about and apply it in a very

practical uh sense to your everyday

life. So, so we're going to walk through

God's word, the the doctrine and

theology of God's word, but then we're

going to also have some practical point

which is where you hear the term applied

theology. We're going to do that today.

Can we say amen?

>> Alrighty. All right. So, uh John John 15

9 through 11

reads like this. As the father Jesus

speaks, as the father has has loved me,

I have also loved you. remain in my

love. If you keep my commands, you will

remain in my love, just as I have kept

my father's commands and remain in his

love. I have told you these things so

that my joy may be in you and your joy

may be complete. Let's pray together.

Father God, we come into this house

today with bow heads and humble hearts

during this season of Advent.

God recognizing that as we're talking

about this word joy, this pillar of joy,

that for many of us in this room, we're

struggling to find it or to have it or

for it to really kind of sustain us. So

God, I just pray that this word will

bring clarity and comfort to those who

are hearers. I pray oh God that we won't

tie our joy or attach our joy to our

situations and our circumstances but God

even in the weakness of our flesh God

that there will be a a persistence and a

posturing where we would connect your

word uh to our hearts and our lives so

we can uh experience this sustaining joy

in which uh your son Jesus speaks of

here in our text. We love you and we

honor you. Thank you for this incredible

church uh that I am so privileged to

call home. We ask you to walk with us in

your word today in Jesus name. Amen.

Here in our text in John 15, Jesus he's

speaking about a joy that's really uh

not a joy that waivers. It's not a joy

that's glitchy. It's not a joy that that

crashes under pressure, but uh it it's a

joy that is enduring and sustainable. He

kind of paints a very clear picture of

what it looks like to have a joy that is

that can be kept in the midst of trials,

tribulations, and trouble. And I love

the way Jesus is very clear. He he he

really uh makes sure that there's no

ambiguity or uncertainty of how we

should understand and interpret joy. And

and it reminds me of of when he talks

about, hey, there is a joy that I

command you to have that is not going to

waver. It's not glitchy. It doesn't mess

up. And when I think about that that

word glitchy joy, you know, or the joy

that trips us up or or crashes when life

happens, I think about how we uh have

our our phones, if you will. And and for

some of us, maybe Gen Alpha, you know,

uh Gen Z and, you know, the younger

millennials, cuz I know the older

millennials, you're kind of trying to

figure out where you are in life. And um

but but for for Gen Alpha and and Gen Z

and and younger millennials in

particular, like for your phone, a lot

of times your phones, your iPads, you

know, they may have what I call um apps

overload that that there's so many apps

on your your phone or your iPad

sometimes that there's moments where the

app will kind of glitch a little bit or

it will freeze and and have you ever had

that moment where you're trying to uh

just kind of get into an app and you

keep punching the app and pushing the

app and nothing happens or or you'll

open it and you get the little spinny

thing or nothing really opens up and and

it's really frustrating, you know, at

times because, you know, a lot of times

when we have these moments, it's a

couple things is taking place. Maybe if

you have your iPad or whatever and

you're attached to a Wi-Fi system, maybe

the Wi-Fi system is not properly

connected or it's it's a it's is uh a

little weak or the strength is weak at

that time. Or maybe if your phone has

app overload, then what you have to do

is you got to kind of turn it off and

and turn it back on. But or maybe what

you do is that you have to kind of maybe

reset your phone. If you reset the

settings, you got to kind of delete some

of the apps that are on uh the the phone

that you don't really need so you can

make room and and and have better

activity for the apps that you need. But

whatever it is that there's moments

where you have to kind of reset the

phone in order for it to to um operate

properly and and we see that that like

these technical difficulties that we'll

have with our phone really at the end of

the day the simple the simple reason is

because there are connection issues with

the phone and and when we think about

joy godly joy during this Advent season

that type of joy that God speaks of is

kind kind of the same way. It is that

type of joy that takes place where we

have to understand when life crashes,

not if but when life crashes, when life

is overwhelmed, when we see that culture

feels unstable or or we got unexpected

situation or circumstances that come in

our lives, we don't crash out because we

have a joy that is not built on things

around us, but it's based on who dwells

within us. And so that's what Jesus is

talking about here. here and Jesus

teaches us about genuine enduring joy

and that it's not a byproduct of a

smooth condition but it is a it's the

fruit of having a proper connection and

what happens a lot of times our joy is

based on this way and Jesus is saying no

your joy is based on this way and we

focus so much on the connection points

here that we re we we miss the point

that it is about the connection point

here And Jesus, he helps us understand

that in the in the in seasons of

challenges and troubles and sorrows

that you got to apply God's word to your

everyday life if you really want to have

true joy. I remember growing up at my

church back home in Atlanta and and and

I remember our our choir whenever there

was times where um you know there was

seasons of challenges or disappointment

or things that were going through

happening in our lives and you know um

my pastor back then would ask the choir

to sing this this song by uh a wonderful

uh uh gospel singer by the name of

Shirley Caesar. and and Shirley Caesar

uh she would sing or she she uh sung

this song or made very famous a song

that just simply says this joy that I

have and and and and this song by

Shirley Caesar uh it really wasn't a lot

of verses that you had in the song but

what was most significant and most

comforting was the chorus of the song by

Shirley Caesar and the chorus of the

song by Shirley Caesar simply said this

joy that I have the world didn't give it

to me the world didn't give it and the

world can't take it away. And and we

would sing this song over and over in my

church. And and what as we sung this

song together, it would anchor our

spirit and anchor our soul. And it would

remind us even in moments of

uncertainty, even in the moments of

sorrow, even in moments of sadness, that

our joy is not fragile, our joy is not

circumstantial, and our joy is not

humanly manufactured.

And it will bring us to a place that

will kind of connect us back to 2

Chronicles 20 and 15 that says don't be

afraid. Don't be discouraged. Why?

Because the battle is not yours. The

battle is the Lord's.

>> And when we recognize that truth in that

moment that the battle is not mine, it's

the Lord's. that that that I can just

submit my troubles to him and I can

still even though life is not what it

should be or what I desired to be, I'm

still going to have a a sustainable

enduring joy because I know uh whose

hands my life is in. And when we

understand this truth, friends, we

understand that the world cannot take

what uh take away what it never was

given the power to have, and that is

sustainable, God-honoring joy.

Jesus helps us understand this truth

about joy, that joy should be rooted in

the truth of knowing that God's word is

the same yesterday, today, and forever

more.

True joy is recognizing the need to open

up our eyes and allow God to to to speak

to us and to remind us of his unmatched

and unexplained greatness. True joy

happens when we're willing to resist all

of of giving into all of the carnality

and the ugliness and the worldliness of

this world and say, "Man, I'm not going

to lean and subscribe to that ideology

or theology. I'm going to lean and

subscribe to the ideology and theology

found in God's word. And ultimate joy is

knowing that we must have this union

with Christ. And this union of with

Christ happens when we make a decision

that we want to abide in him regardless

of our situation and circumstances. So

here in John uh 15, we see three very

significant truths that we can extract

from this text to help us understand how

we can form a type of joy that will be

strengthened and sustained regardless of

what's going on around us. Can we say

amen? So three quick things I want to

share with you and then you can go and

uh hang out and have a wonderful Sunday

afternoon. The first thing that I think

is so important for us to know about

joy. The first thing that we see in our

text is this is number one that joy

flows where love abides. Joy number one,

joy flows where love abides. Jesus, he

begins, he begins in verse 9 by saying,

as the father has loved me, I have also

loved you. As a father, as the father

has loved me, I've also loved you. What

I love about this is the grammar. When

you look at the grammar of this

particular text, the grammar kind of

conveys continuality and continuity.

There's there's this con the consistency

and and there's this continuous love

that is there and just as the father has

this eternal unbroken love for the son

the son has for for us and he says Jesus

says remain in my love and that that

phrase remain in my love simply means to

dwell to stay to be rooted and what what

Jesus basically saying hey listen

regardless of what's going on in your

life I need you to be rooted in my love

not rooted in what's going on around

you. Because how many of you know this

world that we live in is fake, funny,

and fickle. It changed with the weather.

>> It's almost 80° today and tomorrow we're

going to have a cold front.

>> And that's how life is. One day it's up

and the next day you're down. But he

said, "Hey, listen. I need you to stay.

I need you to dwell. I need you to be

rooted in my love." Because Jesus is not

inviting us to this monetary

inspiration, but what he's inviting us

uh to have is this ongoing relationship

with him. If you're wanting to have

sustainable, enduring love, it is

predicated in your commitment to have an

ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ

the King.

And your relationship with Jesus cannot

be transactional

because transactional relationship is

like, "Hey God, you know what? I'm going

to love your son Jesus when I get the

promotion.

I'm going to love your son Jesus when

the relationship is restored. I'm going

to love your son Jesus when my kids stop

acting crazy.

[laughter]

I'm going to throw that one right there.

But we can't have this this

transactional love. Jesus said, "Hey,

listen. It has to be a ongoing

relational attachment." That's why Jude

place like Jude 21 says, "Keep yourself

in love and in the love of God." And in

Psalm 16 and 11, it says in your

presence is abundant joy. See, joy,

Advent joy is not about emotion, but

it's about being uh having an

orientation where we're oriented in our

relationship and connecting our

relationship with Jesus. And so, key

church, here is the question for all of

us to be asking ourselves during this

Advent season. It simply is this is

where is my soul dwelling right now?

Where is my soul rooted right now? Is my

soul rooted in the things that are

temporal and and temporary or or is my

soul rooted in that thing that is

eternal which is my relationship with

Jesus Christ? And a lot of times we

allow the hurry of life, the anxiety of

life, the comparison of life, to

distract us and pull us away from

abiding. And Jesus, he he reminds us, he

reminds us that, hey, listen, if if

you're going to in abide in me, what

abiding in me looks like, it looks like

being intentional about having quiet

times of prayer. It It's like being

intentional about having worship that is

void of our amazing worship team. Hey,

listen. If the only time that you're

having worship is when you are with our

key worship team, you've missed it.

That's not how we dwell and how we're

rooted. When we come into this house

when when we come in this house, this is

like game time. This is like we're

playing the game and we've been in

practice all week long

>> and he said, "No, you got to you got to

dwell." He invites us to dwell. So So he

says we got to we got to be in prayerful

silence. That's how we abide. We have to

worship. That's how we abide. We abide

by obeying his word. And we also abide

by reentering our affections and our

attentions toward him.

When we drift, when we drift from him,

that's when joy, our joy is drained and

derailed.

But when we abide, our joy continuously

flows. So, what's the applied theology

here? Here we go. I got three things

that just are very practical. It's not

earthshattering, just some practical

stuff that I hope you will apply to your

life this week. Number one, if you're

going to uh be a person who says, "I

want joy to to flow where love abides,"

the first thing I want you to do is

number one, I want you just to establish

a daily rhythm of abiding. Establish,

maybe you establish a daily ri rhythm of

abiding. What does that look like

practically? Well, man, you got to set

aside a fixed time daily to be in God's

word. A fixed time to just set aside for

prayer time. So maybe it's first thing

in the morning. Maybe it's during your

lunch break. Maybe it's at the evening.

There's no there's no sacred time. But

what is that fixed time? That's your

daily abiding time. Why is that

important? I believe that it's important

because consistency strengthens your

connection.

>> The more I'm consistent, the more I'm

I'm I'm connected. And when life

happens,

h it don't take me under. I don't crash

out because I'm I'm connected to the one

who teaches me what true love is all

about and true joy is all about. So

number one, I want you to establish a

daily rhythm of abiding. Number two kind

of goes with number one. Number two is

practice what I call microabiding

moments throughout your day. Just little

short micro little short abiding moments

throughout your day. Now, here's where

some of you going to just say, you're

going to practice micro abiding moments

when you want to

bless someone out at your job, right?

All right. And and some of you ever have

where somebody cuts you off and you want

to bless them out, you know, or you want

to, you know, give them a happy wave

with one finger, you know, and um that's

not m that's not what I'm saying. You

when that happen, oh, I'm gonna micro

abide. That's not what I'm saying. What

I'm saying is is that one of those

moments, those small little moments when

you're driving or waiting in the line or

or or whatever that you'll whisper a

prayer that simply says, "Lord, help me

remain in your love right now. I I just

I just want to I just want to throughout

the day, maybe you should just keep

telling yourself, Lord, I want to remain

in your love all day." So, number one, I

want you to uh establish some daily uh

abiding rhythms. Two, practice

microabiding moments throughout the day.

But then three, number three, I'm want

you to identify what disrupts your

abiding. I want you to identify what are

those things that disrupt your abiding.

I want you to reflect, if you will. This

is when you got to be honest with

yourself. You got to be really, really

honest with yourself and transparent

with yourself and reflect on what are

those things that pull you away from

abiding. Maybe for some of us, man, we

wake up in the morning, the very first

thing we do is we check our

notifications and get on social media.

Maybe for some of us teenagers or young

adults that are in the room or those

that are watching, maybe, man, you you

spend more time making a Tik Tok video

than you do reading God's word.

And so maybe we should say, man, what

are those things that are pulling us

away? What are those moments of hurry?

The unresolved conflict. Some of us have

had some conflict that we've allowed to

be unresolved all this year. And then we

say, you know what, I'll deal with it in

2026. Can I just tell you tomorrow's not

promised to any of us. And so maybe you

got to identify, man, what are those

things that are disrupting

your abiding?

Because you see, if if abiding connects

us to the source of of joy, then Jesus

now he he he moves to the second thing I

want to talk about, which is the

pathway. So we we're talking about the

source, but now let's deal with the

pathway of joy. And the pathway of joy

takes place in number two. The second

point is this that joy deepens as we

align with his commands. Our joy our joy

it is not just surface or shallow. It

deepens as we now align ourselves with

his commands. Look at verse 10. And

verse 10 he says this. If you keep my

commands you will remain in my love.

What I love about this John 15 text is

like hey listen you don't have to be a

Bible scholar you know what I'm saying

to understand what he's saying. And you

can just use your context clues, just

read it. And he's saying, "Listen, it's

very simple. If you keep my commands,

and I love if you have your Bible, if

you have your Bible app, you want to

highlight the word if because in order

for you to receive the love and and

experience true joy, you got to be

willing number one to the the the action

for you is to keep his command." See,

this is not again, it's not con it's not

conditional love that Jesus is talking

about. He's talking about covenantal

love. It's a covenant love that you have

between yourself and him. And that's

covenantal alignment that he's requiring

right here in verse 10. And this phrase,

it describes a relationship where

obedience keep us in the flow of God's

lifegiving love. And Jesus, he's

reminding us of the significance of

perfect obedience because obedience is

not the joy thief. A lot of times we

think that obedience is a joy thief.

Obedience is not the joy thief.

Obedience is what is the gateway to joy.

We think, man, man, I just I want to I

want to do it my way. Now, you can, but

understand when you do it your way,

there are consequences for your actions.

That's why places like Psalms 198 says,

"The precepts of the Lord are right,

making the heart glad." or places like

John 1:22 and 25 talks about how the one

John 1:22

who acts on the word is blessed. That

word blessed talks about uh or is is

referencing the one who does God's word.

When you talk about blessed the person,

they're thriving or they're flourishing.

You're you're flourishing. You're

thriving when you keep God's word. You

obey God's word.

And right now, if we're honest, friends,

we treat joy. culture and society treats

joy as it's some product of freedom

without boundaries. And I love how Jesus

brings us back to the truth. And he's

saying, "No, no, no, no, no. I know

culture and society says freedom is is

boundary. I mean is is freedom is

actions without boundaries." But Jesus

is saying joy grows when we submit our

will to his.

>> If you really want to have sustainable

joy, it grows when we say not my will

but your will be done. See, you can cuz

listen, we all have free will. So, you

can do whatever you want to do. But can

I just tell you that is a very temporary

joyful moment that you're going to have.

But if you want sustainable, enduring

joy, you submit your will to his. And

you got to say, "Hey God, listen. I know

what I want to do right now is I want to

let somebody have it, but your will is

for me to keep my tongue and to operate

with the spirit of discipline. I know,

God. Right now, I want to be a I want to

be a Facebook bully. [laughter]

But your will is to share the love of

Jesus in a God-honoring way, even in the

midst of divisiveness and polarization.

See, it's a it's a different perspective

and mindset. And so we have to

understand that submitting our will to

his will means that we got to forgive

when we don't want to forgive. We got to

be generous when it's sacrificial. We

got to live pure in an unpure world. And

we got to have compassion when everybody

want us to live in a tribal state where

we want to pick this side or that side.

And we got to be truthful where we're

speaking truth to life. These are not

restrictive rules, my friends. These are

guard rails of joy. See, I have joy even

in the midst of right now my heart being

broken because I know that in the midst

of hurts, habits, and hang-ups, God is

still solving and in control.

>> So, we got to understand that every

command of Jesus is an invitation to a

deeper participation into this Christian

life. So, here is the applied theology

and we got to move fast.

Number one, I want you to try to obey

one clear command this week. And what I

mean by that is what is that one thing

that is convicting your soul? Whether

it's anger, bitterness,

uh refusal for reconciliation.

And I want you to take that one thing

and I want you to give it to the Lord

like, "Hey God, this command I'm going

to be obedient and whatever you tell me

to do, I'mma do it." So if the Lord says

go to that person and make it right,

I would do it.

So So number one, I'm going leave that

right there. Uh try one clear command

this week. Number two, uh after you do

number one, I want you to invite

accountability.

Don't try to do it by yourself. Share

that area that you need obedience in

your life with a trusted friend. See,

accountability strengthens follow

through. When you try to do it by

yourself, man, listen, you are not a

island unto yourself.

The Christian life requires us to live

in circles, not rows. And what I mean by

that is in community. So, invite a

friend to help you accountable like,

"Hey, listen. I got an attitude right

now and I need you to help me with it."

And then respect when that person calls

you out. I'm like, "Hey, listen. Your

face right now is real twisted. You

might want to check that."

Don't be like, I shouldn't have had you

as my accountability partner.

And then number three, number three,

here's the ply theology. I want you

number three to turn scripture into

action. Turn scripture into action. As

you're reading God's word, as you are

walking through God's word, here's what

I want to invite you to do. I want you

to read God's word. But then after you

read God's word, I want you to follow up

with this question. What is the one

thing that I must do today because of

this particular passage?

So a lot of times what we do is we just

kind of read through God's word and like

whoop good did my Bible reading today.

That's good. We cannot just be hearers

of God's word. We got to be doers of

God's word. See faithful obedience

cultivates ongoing joy again. And so

here's what we know thus far is that

number one, Jesus in this text in John

15, he shows us that the source of joy

is his love. Number one. But then number

two, he shows us the pathway of joy is

through obedience. But then number

three, he reveals the promise of Advent

joy and how it's unshakable by this

third point, which is simply this. That

Jesus offers joy that is complete and

not temporary. That's the good news.

Hey, listen. If I didn't have a bad knee

and a bad foot, I would run around here

and y'all won't look at me crazy. When I

think about that, the joy of Jesus, he

talks about the joy, real joy, enduring

joy, is complete. It's not temporary.

which does not mean that we're not going

to have moments in our lives where we

going to deal with hurt and heartache

and challenges.

But when we trust God's word, we obey

God's word, when we lean not to our own

understanding, all our ways, we

acknowledge him so he can set our

pathway straight. Man, can I just tell

you the joy that we have is complete and

enduring. So I can smile even when my

heart is hurting because I know who has

my situation in the palm of their hands.

He says this in verse 11, this is what

Jesus says. He says, "I've told you

these things so that my joy may be in

you and your joy may be complete." See

that verb, that verb that he uses right

there when he talks about it, it means

to fill to the brim. It is to bring full

measure. That's what he talks about.

Man, my joy is going to fill you to the

brim. It's going to it's going to it's

going to bring you to a place where you

have full measure of joy. There's a full

measure of joy. See, this is not partial

joy. It's not seasonal joy. It's not

situational or sentimental joy. It is

the joy of Jesus that is in our lives

that keeps us in the midst of all that's

going on in our lives. This joy is

rooted in the perfect union with the

father and his redemptive love that he

has for us. And so friends,

Nehemiah 8 and 10 tells us, hey, listen,

that the joy of the Lord is your

strength. So when you're feeling weak

and wounded, broke, busted, and

disgusted. Can I just tell you the joy

of the Lord, that is what is your

strength in that moment when you cannot

feel your legs up under you or the

breath in your body. Can I tell you,

it's the joy of the Lord. When you're

angry and you're dejected, it's the joy

of the Lord in that moment that has to

be your strength. John 16 and22 even

says no one will take your joy from me.

No one can take your joy. It takes me

back to the surely see the song. This

joy the joy that I have this world

didn't give it to me. So since the world

didn't give it to me the world surely

can't take it away because the world

does not have the capacity or the

ability to take the joy away when I'm

abiding in Jesus.

>> When I abide in Jesus it's a game

changer.

Some of us walk around, hey, can I just

be honest? I love you too much to lie to

you. Some of us, we walk around with

just constant attitude and always angry.

You know why? Because you're not

embiding in Jesus's love. See, man, when

you have a a love that changes your

heart, it alters some things.

>> Man, I'll never forget that first

moment, man, that I fell in love with my

wife. It was different for me just she

wasn't any just any old girl. She was

someone that I wanted to enter into a

covenant relationship with. And because

of the heart connection that I have with

her, it dictates and determines my

actions with her, how I speak to her,

how I love her, how I sacrifice for her

because of the heart connection. But can

I just tell you, as great of a heart

connection that I have with my wife, I

have even a greater heart connection

with Jesus. and and I believe the reason

why I'm just such an awesome husband,

you know, [laughter]

who's flawed a little bit. Um, but is

because uh as I abide in him and

experience his perfect love, it teaches

me how to love her.

See, if I try to love her based on

Instagram and Facebook and some

self-help book, all those things are

clinical. They're anecdotal. They're

subjective. They're opinionated.

But oh, when I love her through the lens

of scripture. When I love my enemies

through the lens of scripture. When I

deal with haters, gossipers, and

backbiters through the lens of

scripture. When I deal with my hurts,

habits, and hang-ups through the lens of

scripture. It's a gamecher.

So when you want to if you really want

to have joy for real joy, it's about

abiding in God's word. It's about

understanding, man, this is complete

joy. There is complete joy that's being

offered to you. All you got to do is be

willing to accept it. And so here is the

application. Here's the application for

us. Because I I think sometimes we think

that that like uh this Advent joy that

we're talking about is escapism. It's

like we're escaping like, oh, we don't

deal with stuff. That's not it. But it's

the evidence when we think about this

true joy. It is the evidence of Christ's

presence in our lives. And so, here's

the application.

As we change our posture and

perspectives, the number one thing I

want you to do, applications one, I want

you to identify and I want you to

celebrate a joy gift in your life. Here

is a little help right here. If you

don't know, like what's a joy gift?

Here's a gift. And the number one thing

that we should all be celebrating is the

gift that was given to us in that manger

in Bethlehem. And so as we come into

this season, we celebrate the ultimate

gift, the greatest gift. So that's

number one. So that's a freebie. I gave

you that one. But then there are some

other things in your life, man, that you

got to say, God, I thank you that even

though it's not what I want to be where

I think it should be, God, I thank you

that at least I'm here and I'm dealing

with and I know that what I'm dealing

with right now is bad, but it could be

worse than what it is.

So God, I thank you

and I appreciate you and I'm grateful

for you still being present in my life.

So number one, I want you to identify

and celebrate a joy gift in your life

because I believe that gratitude

intensifies the joy in our life. But

then number two, I want you to serve

someone intentionally this week or

during this season. Find somebody

whether it's a family member, a

co-orker,

somebody that you can bless this week.

Maybe you'll bless them financially,

practically, or emotionally. And who are

somebody you just bless and okay, here's

what I'm going to say. You can do the

whole Starbucks line, do the coffee

thing. Let's do something else besides

paying for somebody coffee. Do that plus

something else. I'm like, "Oh, dang.

That was mine. I got it.

Maybe here's one. Here's a freebie.

Here's one. Maybe we got all these uh

these Christmas Eve services. Maybe,

just maybe, you might say, "Hey, how can

I serve during Christmas Eve service?"

And then there was a hush.

[laughter]

I love [clears throat] y'all so much.

But serve someone or something

intentionally. See, joy grows when we

reflect the love of Jesus. Then finally,

finally, number three, maybe you will

have the mindset and the posture that

you will anchor your joy in Christ's

return. and understand

that during this time we celebrate the

birth, yes, but we also anticipate the

return.

And so we we live in our present day in

anticipation, incitement of what's to

come. See Jesus Jesus in this text,

friends, he offers joy to us that's not

temporary.

It's not superficial.

It's not shallow. But he offers us a joy

that's grounded in love, that's grown in

obedience, and that's guarded by his

presence. And so here, just a quick

recap. If you really want to experience

true sustaining joy,

be committed number one to saying, "Hey,

I want the joy that number one ab uh

that flows from me abiding in him." It's

number one. I I want to experience this

kind of joy that not just flows from

abiding in him, but it grows because I'm

obedient to his word. So I wanted to

flow by abiding. I wanted to grow by by

being obedient.

But then I want to experience his

complete joy. And how I experience his

complete joy is that I I want to be in

his presence. And so will you invite his

presence into your life today. God, I

want to be where you are. And so just in

a moment, we're going to have a time of

worship. A great opportunity for us to

be in his presence is to step in to our

time of worship. And we move from being

spectators of worship to participators

in the worship. So as we open up the

altar, maybe you'll come down and say,

"Man, I want to participate by being in

the presence of the king. Maybe you will

lift up your hands, you will sing along

with our worship team, but man, will you

step into this moment?" I'm saying,

"God, I want to be in your presence cuz

I want to experience the fullness of

your joy." Friends, during this holiday

season, [music] let us never forget, as

you've heard it said before, that the

ultimate gift is not what's around a

tree, but it's who was born in a manger

in Bethlehem. And because of that gift,

we can [music] now have life and life

abundantly. So, I want to pray and then

our worship team is going to come and

will you step into his presence [music]

by participating in this time of

worship. Heavenly Father, we come to

this place with bow heads and humble

hearts

with a lot of challenges, troubles,

situations, [music] and things that we

got to deal with are in front of us. But

God, even in the midst of it all, God,

we're asking

that you will give us the boldness to

not just be hearers of your word, but

God, that we will be willing to be doers

of your word. And as we've learned the

importance of what real joy looks like,

God, will we now step [music] into that,

will we apply your word to our everyday

life? And may it just begin even right

now with our worship. So God, I pray for

this time that we'll have today, but

I'll also pray for the moments that

we'll have with you [music]

tomorrow and forever more. Be pleased

with our worship in Jesus name. Amen.

Come on, let's worship the King

together.

>> [music]