Looking for Happy in all the Wrong Places - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. And here's my confession. When

I'm out in public, and I don't know about you,

but when I'm out in public, sometimes I like

to watch people. How many are like, come on,

look at that, all right? It's almost a sport,

isn't it? You know, I love to get out and watch

people because you just never know what you're

going to see. You really don't. If you're out

in the public, you can see the strangest things.

You can see very normal things. You can see anything

from the bizarre, right, to the crazy. Almost

weird. And on one occasion for myself, there

was this time when I was watching people and

came up on a scene, and it was kind of bizarre

and horrifying all at the same time. And I remember

this years and years ago. This was many years

ago. And it happened in the strangest of place.

You know, normally you're in a mall watching

people. You're going down the street. You're

going somewhere up the road, and you see a group

of people. But this particular time, I was coming

off of a four -lane highway. and I was coming,

exiting the highway and I was going down to an

intersection. And at the intersection, there

were three cars in front of me that were at a

light. It was a T down there and you stopped

and it was a light. You could go right or left

when the light turned green, of course. And I

hopped off the highway. It was a beautiful summer

day. I'm in a pickup truck. I got the window

down, the tunes on, right? Praise and worship,

listening to some worship. And I'm just cruising

down to the light and I noticed something strange

happening. First of all, The car that was the

lead car at the light had a person standing in

front of it. How many know that's not normal

at an intersection, right? There's somebody standing

in front of it. And as I got closer, I began

to hear yelling and screaming. And there was

a woman. She was in front of this car. And she

is yelling at the driver. I don't know who the

driver was, but she was beating on the car and

she's yelling. And how many know some of these

things? You just like, you don't even really

believe you're seeing this where you're seeing

it, but I'm watching this all unfolding. I'm

sliding down to the cars that are in front of,

you know, in back of them. And the closer I got,

I began to slow down and I began to fear the

worst because I began to hear the person that

she was yelling at revving the engine. I know.

And I'm like, please, Lord, no. You know, and

they're revving the engine as I'm coming and

slowing down. And my worst fear took place. I

heard tires squealing and boom. They take off

and hit this woman, knock her halfway out into

the intersection, and she's laying on the pavement.

And I couldn't believe what I was seeing in front

of me. And the car backs up and just sitting

there revving the motor and then suddenly cuts

to the right and takes off down the road. And

this woman's laying in the street. And I begin

to come to a stop, start to get the car, my vehicle

stopped, the truck stopped. I begin to unbuckle

my seatbelt because I didn't know what kind of

horrific scene I was going to walk up on. And

then the strangest thing happened. This woman

sits up and starts to crawl across the street.

And the car that was sitting at the intersection,

the door opens, she crawls in the back seat,

and that car turns to the right and takes off.

Have you ever seen something and you don't even

know what's going on? I didn't know whether to

call 911. I didn't even know what to report.

I couldn't even see their license plate. Everybody

was gone and me in the car in front of me, the

guy's just sitting in there shaking his head.

I didn't know what to do, right? It was the most

bizarre and horrifying thing I've ever seen,

you know, watching people. And we watch people

and sometimes you see people that are angry and

they're frustrated and they're mad and they're

unhappy and they're anything but satisfied in

life. Dixie and I just went shopping. We take

one day a year and we go together and we go shopping

and we do a bunch of Christmas shopping. And

I watched, like people watched this year. We

were at a mall and some outside outlets and all

this kind of thing. I wanted to watch people,

see if they have any joy in their face. I didn't

see a whole lot of joy that day. Matter of fact,

I saw a whole bunch of grumpy people, right?

They were not smiling. We're sitting in the middle

of food and more provision than we could ever

hope for. And all I saw were these faces that

were frustrated. No hope, no life, no peace,

no promise. Just unhappy. And I think it's because

of this. I think it's because people are looking

for happy in all the wrong places. Amen? They're

looking for happy in all the wrong places. They're

searching in places that they're not going to

find it. Happy is eluding them every step of

the way. Joy seems to be a million miles from

them, even during Christmas, right? And at the

most, what they're experiencing is just a splash

of happy. Just a splash, just a moment, right?

In the middle of the tinsel and in the middle

of the lights and in the middle of all of it,

there's this splash of happy. The whole world's

chasing a splash of happy. I'm gonna tell you

one more story, then we're gonna get to the word

of God. We recently, I'm in story mode today,

man. I haven't preached in three weeks. You're

in big trouble, all right? Well, we recently

went on a family vacation and we went to the

happiest place on earth. How many know what that

is? Disney, right? I heard all kind of, I don't

even know what some of you said. But, you know,

Disney's supposed to be the happiest place on

earth. And I remember going, we went there with

the kids and the grandkids, and it was a blast.

We had a ball. We had just as much fun, actually,

back at the big old house we were in, just spending

time together. And we went to all the different

parks, and I spent all my money, and I came home

broke. But it was awesome, right? And while we

were visiting Epcot, we got on this ride that

was called Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind.

By far the best roller coaster I've ever ridden

in my life. And I like roller coasters. And I

remember going in, and even while you're in line,

they got you in little sections, right? And you

go in, and it's a whole experience from the beginning

to end. You're standing in line, and the video

screens come on, and they're telling you how

you're going to be guardians of the galaxy along

with them. Huge video screens. It's amazing,

right? And you go a little further, and they

tell the story a little more. And then you get

on this crazy coaster that runs in the dark,

and it was amazing. And we all got off of it,

and we're smiling ear to ear, and we're laughing,

and we're telling each other all about it, right?

for 15 minutes. We're going on and on. We had

a splash of happy, right? And then we get off

and we got to the kids where some of the other

ones were waiting. And then the splash of happy

turned into, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired,

let's go. Can we ride something else, right?

Do you know what it costs Disney for that splash

of happy for my life? We looked it up, $500 million

to build that ride. That's why I came home broke.

I'm helping Walt pay for it, right? 500 million

for 15 minutes of happiness. In John chapter

four, Jesus begins to unlock the source of true

happiness. And the amazing part is that he gives

us gallons daily of happy. I'm going to, as you

turn to John chapter four, we're going to start

verse one. I'm going to pray. Father, thank you

for this day. I thank you for Lord, each person

that's here. I thank you, Lord, God, for their

testimony and you and God, for some that might

be here and don't have a testimony. God, I pray

that changes by the end of this gathering. Lord,

we pray that God, as we break bread and Lord,

we read your word, God, that it settles into

our hearts and into our minds and God, that it

changes who we are. And we just give you glory

and honor in Jesus name. And everybody said together.

Amen, amen. John chapter four, verse one says,

therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees

had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples

than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize,

but his disciples, he left Judea. Now, Judea

was in the southern part of Israel's area, okay,

in Judea, and departed again to Galilee, which

was in the northern area, but he needed to go

through Samaria. Samaria was kind of sandwiched

between Judea, right, and Galilee, and so he

came to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near

the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son

Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore,

being weary from his journey, sat thus by the

well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of

Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,

give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away

into the city to buy food. The woman of Samaria

said to him, how is it that you being a Jew ask

a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews

have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered

and said to her, if you knew the gift of God

and who it is that says to you, give me a drink,

you would have asked him and he would have given

you living water. Say living water. And the woman

said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with

and the well is deep. Where then do you get that

living water? Are you greater than our father

Jacob who gave us a well and drank it for himself

as well as his sons and his livestock? Jesus

answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this

water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of

the water that I shall give him will never thirst.

But the water that I shall give him will become

in him a fountain of water springing up into

everlasting life. And the woman said to him,

sir, give me this water that I may not thirst

nor come near to draw, right? Jesus has an encounter

with a Samaritan woman at a well as he travels

back up to Galilee. And in the course of the

conversation, Jesus informs this woman that he

has water if drank, right? If you drink the Jesus

water, a fountain of water will begin to rise

up out of you into everlasting life. Living water

from within you. Not water from a well, not something

that you take in from the outside, not something

that erupts and you take and grab a cup and fill

up yourself, right? Fresh, eternal water that

comes up and happy flowing out of you. Joy flowing

out of you. God inside of you coming out. Hope,

life, peace, promise, joy. Happy, perpetually

at your disposal. And the woman's like, now listen,

the woman that's at the well, she's thinking

all physical because she says, sir, give me this

water that I may not thirst nor come here to

draw. She's thinking about physical water because

she doesn't want to have to go carry a pot to

the well, right? And then carry it the whole

way back. But Jesus is saying, no, no, no. You

don't understand, Miss Samaritan, right? I'm

talking about eternal water here. I'm talking

about water that never ends. I'm talking not

something beyond just a splash of happy in your

life, right? A momentary moment. of being satisfied,

and your thirst is being satisfied. What is the

secret that Jesus is letting this Samaritan know

at Jacob's well? It's this. It's not what is

flowing into us that makes us happy, but it's

who's flowing out of us that makes us happy,

right? Let me say it again. It's not what's flowing

into us that's going to make us happy. It's who

is flowing out of us that makes us happy. It's

not what's coming in. It's not. It's not what's

coming into my life that's going to make me happy.

We're all looking for that perfect circumstance.

We're all looking for that perfect situation,

right? That thing that just gets us to that happy

moment, that selfie moment. Amen. Don't we do

that? Cheese, right? That peace, that joy, that

satisfaction, happy. The best you're going to

do with something on the outside is a splash

here and a splash there. And if you want more

than just a splash of happy in your life, if

you want an internal fountain of happy flowing

up out of you, it's going to come because you

partook of Jesus' water. Because you didn't just

grab what was on the outside, but it comes from

the inside. It comes from Christ. And what are

we talking about? You know, what are we saying

here? You got to understand something. If you

look into Scripture, that term, living water,

is only used in three places in Scripture. And

all three times by Jesus, right? Twice is in

this encounter with this Samaritan woman at the

well. Very small audience, right? A woman at

the well, maybe a few disciples standing around.

I don't know if there were some other folks there

or not. Word of God doesn't really tell us. And

then in John 7, 37, Jesus cries out to a large

group of people and clearly states how this fountain

of living water. flows up out of us perpetually.

In John 7, 37, it says this, on the last day,

the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and

cried out. He's at a feast. There's a lot of

people. If anyone thirsts, come on, we're back

to water again, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the scripture has said,

out of his heart, say his heart, will flow rivers

of living water. But he spoke concerning the

spirit, whom those believing in him would receive,

for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because

Jesus was not yet glorified. If you're looking

for more than a splash of happy that comes from

something on the outside of you, if you're looking

for happy that's going to flow up out of you,

if it's going to be a fountain, if it's going

to be a river flowing up out of you, then Holy

Spirit needs to be active in your life. Holy

Spirit needs to be working in the inside and

perpetually bubbling up within your life. This

is where happy is going to stem, plus a whole

bunch of other things, right? He is the source.

He is the never -ending supply. He is who Jesus

sent to us when he left and ascended back into

heaven. He is part of the reason why Jesus came

here in the first place that first Christmas.

This is part of the reason. The world around

us can only experience just a splash. They're

grabbing at everything they can get, right? They're

looking for happy in all the wrong places. Any

place they can go grab a moment. Anytime they're

trying to get it on their cameras, they're trying

to grab a moment of photo, right? Parties and

sports and careers and relationships and hobbies

and every place that they can go look and trying

to draw out a moment of happiness. Just grab

for one. I'm here to tell you, Jesus left the

halls of heaven. He was born to a very ordinary

couple, right? In a very ordinary town, a little

town called Bethlehem, so he could pay the price

for our sin. He became the sacrifice. He grew

into a man and he ministered and he became the

sacrifice as God's son to pay the payment for

my sin and for your sin, to bring us redemption,

to bring us right into a place of salvation and

eternity with God. But one day he left this earth

following that after he rose from the grave,

he left and he didn't just leave us with that.

He said, go and wait for the promise. Wait for

the gift. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. It

is the Spirit who comes into your life. And when

that happens, when you're actively engaged with

the Holy Spirit, the Word of God says rivers.

Rivers. How many want a river? Come on. I don't

want a dab. I don't want a dash. I don't want

a little dribble or something. I want a river

of living water flowing up out of me. If we want

happy flowing, regardless of the chaotic circumstance

in your life, it comes by engaging with the Holy

Spirit. You want to get joy in your life in ways

that you can't imagine in the middle of the chaos?

And how many know there's chaos going on around

us, right? How many have been watching the news

this week? right? Bondi Beach, right? Sydney,

Australia, a gunman. I watched the whole video

horrified this week because I watched the video

of these gunmen who just opened up and unleashed

shooting Jewish people at random, at random,

anti -Semitic ugly on display and all kinds of

murdering people in cold blood. That's chaos,

church. Come on. You know, Brown University shootings

taking place. That's chaos. How do you find peace,

dare I say even happy, in the middle of circumstances

like that? Can you even get to happy in the middle

of that kind of chaos? Only if there is living

water flowing up out of you. It is the only way.

It's not going to come from the outside in. It's

going to come from the inside out. If you're

going to get happy when your family is messed

up, When your family is divided, if you're going

to get happy, when there's lack all around you,

you're lacking in finances, you're lacking in

support, you're lacking in whatever, right? When

your spouse never seems to be happy, some of

you are in that situation. Thank God I'm not.

My wife's here. She's happy all the time. Well,

most of the time with me. That's a lie. Sometimes

I, never mind. Right? We'll tell that another

day. All right? Sometimes when you're in a struggle.

That person right beside you at work who's never

happy. Maybe called your boss, right? Eight hours

plus a day. We need more than a splash of happy

in our lives. We need the living water. We need

the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to Bethlehem so you

could have that kind of water. He was born and

laid in a manger and grew so that you could have

this. This is part of what he paid for. We have

fountains of happy flowing up and out of us when

we're engaged with the Holy Spirit, when we're

engaged. When we walk with him and we talk with

him and we're doing life with the Holy Spirit.

We always talk about doing life with one another.

That's amazing. That's awesome. We believe in

that highly here and being a part of a community

of other believers. But that's not nearly as

important as being engaged in and connected with

the Holy Spirit who God has given us. Listen

to what the prophet Ezekiel tells us. And Ezekiel's

prophesying over, he's talking about Israel in

this. And he says in 35, 25, then I will sprinkle

clean water on you and you shall be clean. I

will cleanse you from all your filthiness and

from all your idols. And I will give you a new

heart. and put a new spirit within you. I will

take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and

I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put

my spirit, he's talking about the Holy Spirit,

within you and cause you to walk in my statues

and to keep my judgments and do them, and you

shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers,

for you shall be my people and I will be your

God. That's what he's telling the Israelites.

Scripture says, new heart, new spirit within

you. I saw hearts of stone when I was out Christmas

shopping. I watched their faces. Hearts of stone.

Everything around them. All the goodness that

was around us. All the provision that they had,

right? And nothing but hearts of stone. Jesus

came to this earth. He brought Holy Spirit to

you to do heart surgery. I don't know if you

know that or not. He's here to do heart surgery

on you. The word of God says in Proverbs that

the issues of life, right, are stored up in our

heart. Proverbs 4 .23 tells us that. He'll work

out the issues of your life if you call on him.

All this stuff that makes us so unhappy, right,

the outside stuff coming in, right, that we're

trying to look for happy in, he sends the Holy

Spirit to change our heart. You got to understand

the power in this. You got to understand the

gift of God that this is in your life. Because

when you stop looking to the outside for something

that's going to make you happy on the inside,

and you start looking to God, and you start relying

on the Holy Spirit from the inside out, that's

when rivers begin to flow out, right? That's

when fountains begin to rise up within you. You're

not looking forward to the things that are around.

You're not looking forward to in a relationship.

You're not looking forward to in a person. It's

the Holy Spirit. John 14, 25 tells us that it

is the Spirit of God who is the helper to us,

that he will teach you all things. How many of

you need some teaching out there? Amen. And this

isn't just, sometimes you need emotional teaching.

Do you know that? Lord straightened me up on

that all the time. He's trying to teach me emotionally

how to straighten up. Pray for me. He's still

doing it, right? He says that. John 35 lets us

know that we must be born of the spirit to enter

the kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and

Romans 8, 26 lets us know that the spirit comes

to live within us and that we are virtually the

temple of the Holy Spirit. John 16, 13 says that

he will lead you into all truth. As a matter

of fact, the word of God calls him the spirit

of truth. Galatians 5, 22 says that the fruit

of the spirit It looks like this. Listen to it.

Love, joy, peace, long -suffering, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self

-control. Did you hear joy in the middle of that?

Happiness? Romans 8 .26 and John 14 .26 tell

us that he's the comforter. He's the helper.

He's the advocate that bears our burdens and

gives us strength. And Ephesians 1 .13 says that

he seals the believers, guaranteeing their eternal

redemption. It is happy. perpetually flowing

out of us. Whole bunch of other things I don't

got time to preach on this morning, but it comes

from the Holy Spirit. And just in case you thought

I missed it with Christmas, you're like, pastor,

this is Christmas time. You should be preaching

a Christmas message. Well, let me just read you

something out of Luke chapter two. As the praise

team gets ready to come, makes their way up to

the stage. Luke chapter two, verse one says this.

And it came to pass in those days that a decree

went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world

should be registered. This census first took

place while Cyrenius was governing Syria. So

all went to be registered, everyone to his own

city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of

the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of

David, which is called Bethlehem. because he

was of the house and the lineage of David, to

be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,

who was with Chal. And so it was while they were

there, the days were completed for her to be

delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn

son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and

laid him in a manger because there was no room

for them in the inn. Now they were in the same

country, in the same place, right, same location,

shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch

over the flock by night. And behold, an angel

of the Lord stood before them, and the glory

of the Lord shone around them, and they were

greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them,

Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good

tidings of great what? Joy. Good times of great

joy, which will be to all people. For there is

born to you this day in the city of David, a

savior who is Christ the Lord, and he will be

the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped

in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And

suddenly there were angels, a multitude of heavenly

hosts, praising God and saying, glory to God

in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill

toward men. Heavenly announcement of Jesus coming

to this earth. And what do the angels declare?

We've got good tidings, great news. That could

be interpreted. We got great news of great joy.

Good news of great joy, happiness. Those angels

could have announced Jesus coming a hundred different

ways. They could have said a thousand things

about Jesus that would have been true and amazing.

They said, we got good news. We got great joy

ahead for you. It starts. With Jesus born in

the manger and he continues on with the Holy

Spirit, actively restoring our hearts. Taking

a heart of stone and making it a heart of flesh

about everything in your life, every area of

your life. I'm gonna ask if you'd stand. I'm

here to tell you this morning, the world's got

it all wrong. They're all looking for splashes

of happy and I'm here to tell you today, it's

a lie. You're not gonna find perpetual happy.

If you're looking for the outside in. Do you

know what the world, you can Google this if you

want to. So I know some of you fact check me

on things, all right? Do you know what the, you

should, by the way. Do you know what the world

says the key drivers for happiness are? If you

look it up, they'll say social connections, which

is relationships, health, purpose and meaning,

positive habits, engagement, acts of kindness.

and spending money on experiences. Can I jump

back to where I started this message at and give

you a little bit of a case in point? The woman

at the well had been looking for happiness and

relationships for years. If you read on in that

passage, you'll find out, and Jesus says this

to her in John 4, 16. Jesus said to her, go,

call your husband and come here. He's talking

to the woman at the well. And the woman answered

and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her,

you have said, or well said, I have no husband.

For you have had five, say five, five husbands.

And the one in whom you have is not your husband,

in whom you spoke truly. The woman said to him,

sir, I was perceived that you're a prophet. Six

relationships that she was engaged in, looking

for happy. Five of them were her husband's, and

now she's living with a guy, and she can't find

it. She's looking outside in. Jesus was letting

her know, woman, you're looking for happy in

all the wrong places. Let me tell you about living

water, right? You've been searching for happy

in people. How many know people fail? How many

know you fail? Come on. We all fail. Health will

fail you. Habits will not get it done. It's all

good things, but it will not get it done. Spending

money on experiences, right? 500 million for

15 minutes, and you're going to get a splash

of happy. Engaging in something purposeful, that's

awesome, right? But it will not perpetually bring

happiness into your life. Happy starts in Jesus,

it continues in Jesus, and it works as the Holy

Spirit moves in your life. as you engage Holy

Spirit. Now, I know what some of you are thinking.

Why didn't he leave us sit a little longer? That's

probably what some of you are thinking. You might

ask, well, why are some Christians so stinking

miserable and unhappy jerks, right? Anybody ever

meet an argumentative, combative, judgmental,

unkind, unhelpful jerk of a Christian? Raise

your hand if you have. Don't finger point, don't

look around, by the way. Did you say that? We

are in church. You probably met a Christian who's

stiff -armed the Holy Spirit in their life. Or

a Christian who pretends that he's not there.

He is a he, he is part of the Godhead, the Father,

Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is God. Or he's

not in communication, or they are not in communication

or communion with the Holy Spirit. Or they value

their truth. over the truth that he speaks. Don't

look at them. Look at Jesus. Don't rely on them

as a representative of God and certainly not

as a representative of the Holy Spirit as well.

Engage. First step to happy in this holiday season,

in Christmas time, time we celebrate Jesus is

faith in Jesus Christ first. And then the second

step is engaged with the gift that he's given

us in the Holy Spirit. I'm going to ask you to

bow your heads. If you're in the house this morning

and you've been looking for happy in all the

wrong places, I'm here to tell you Jesus came

to this earth, was born in a manger in Bethlehem,

grew, and he became the sacrifice for your sin.

He became. The go -between between you and being

reconciled back to God. And maybe nobody's ever

told you that before. He has a plan for you.

He has a purpose for you. He wants to wash you

clean of the sin that has separated you from

Him for so long. And if that's you in the house,

and you're tired of looking for happy in the

wrong places, and you want to know this living

water that I'm talking about. You want to know

what Jesus spoke about to the woman at the well.

If that's you in your house, I want you to raise

your hand and put it up right, put your hand

up and put it right back down. I want to make

sure that, thank you. Thank you for those hands.

Appreciate that. This is an acknowledgement tweet.

He's got living water for you. Now I want you

to keep your heads bowed just a little longer

because Christians, you need to hear this. You

need the Holy Spirit active in your life. You

need to be engaging. and the Spirit's move and

activity in your life. You cannot ignore the

gift of God and expect to get to happy. You cannot

ignore the Spirit of God and living water flow

up out of you. You cannot stiff arm His work

in your life and expect fountains of joy to come

up out. You cannot do it. Father, we come to

you today, and Lord, as each person in the house,

examines their heart as we go into this week

of Christmas. Lord, I pray right now that you

would guide and direct those, Lord, that spoke,

raise their hand, Lord, as they pray and ask

you into their lives. God, as they recognize

that life only comes in you, I pray, Lord, in

their own words, they just say, Jesus, come into

my heart, come into my life, forgive me of my

sin. I want to follow you. I want to walk with

you. I want to talk with you and give me the

gift of the Holy Spirit in my life. Lord, for

those of us who are following, and God have followed

you for so long, God, help us not to stiff arm

the Spirit of God. As he convinces and convicts

us, God, help us to recognize his work in our

lives. As the paraclete, as the one who comes

and never leaves us, but walks with us till one

day we meet you face to face. Lord, we ask this

in Jesus' name, and amen. I want you to look

back up. I want you to think about this in the

light of Christmas for just a moment. What if,

what if it cost you your life to give a gift

to somebody this Christmas? And you gave that

person that gift, and the person took that gift

and stuck it in a corner, ignored it. That's

what Jesus did. He came. He was born. He died

on a cross. He left and he gave us the gift of

the Holy Spirit. What if, right? What if? Here's

what I know. He wants to be active in your life.

I know that my joy comes from him. Circumstances

change all the time. Trouble comes. If you're

following Jesus and somebody told you it was

going to be sunshine and roses, they lied. They

just straight up lied to you. Life's difficult,

amen? But joy comes from within. Now I want to

help you with something. As you follow Christ,

and we're going to do this as a church, by the

way. We're going to start, we're going to begin

to plan for this in January. But here's what

I know. To engage with the Holy Spirit, you have

to be actively in God's Word. You've got to be

praying, right? Praying to the Father. You've

got to be praying and reaching out in prayer.

And you've got to be listening and looking for

the Spirit's move in your life. And one of the

things that so many people struggle with is reading

God's Word. They have such a difficult time in

staying in God's word, understanding God's word,

figuring out God's word. And here's what we're

going to do. And I don't even call this doing

your devotions every day. When you're going to

get with God, I want you to think of it in this

manner. You're going to meet with the creator

of the universe. Do you understand that? Daily.

And here's what we're going to do. We're going

to put a tool in your hand to help you with that.

It's called the Bible recap. Say the Bible recap.

All right. We're going to try to get everybody

engaged in this by the month of February. If

you've never read the Bible through from cover

to cover, you're going to do it this year. This

is your year. And we're going to give you support.

We're going to give you a tool. The beautiful

thing with Bible Recap is there's an app that

goes along with it. And in that app, they'll

give you the reading for the day. And if you're

feeling really lazy that day, they'll read it

to you. Seriously, you can just sit there like

a lump and listen to somebody else read. the

word of God to you. And on top of that, they

got a video that explains what the word of God

just said. It helps you understand what was just

taking place in the Bible recap. So there's an

app, there are books, there are manuals, there's

study guides. We got recap Bibles out there that

you can purchase. You can get just any kind of

resource that you need to help you be successful.

And there's one more step to being successful

in that is other people doing it with you. So

here's what we're looking to do. We've instituted

LH3 here a long time ago. We used to call it,

just to get it started, we said three friends

for three months for three minutes in God's Word.

Now, listen, that was just to get you started.

Now it's going to be three friends and you guys

engaging in God's Word. And the beautiful thing

in the app, you can just chat right within the

app and talk about God's Word. So what I want

you to be praying about through this month into

Christmas, going into January, I know you're

busy right now, right? I want you to be praying

about who you're going to engage. I want you

to find two other people to engage in God's Word

with. I want you to begin to pray about that.

And then... I want you to connect with them and

talk with them. And then we're going to get you

all outfitted with material. And we got a table

set up right out there. If you don't know how

to load the app, they'll help you because it

works in conjunction with YouVersion Bible app.

And they're going to help you get it loaded up.

They're going to show you how to do it, when

to do it, right? They're going to give you all

the, there's some people out there that I'm going

to call experts at Bible Recap. And they're going

to help you learn this tool. And we're going

to engage in God's word. Nothing will change

you more than engaging with the Holy Spirit and

God's word because he was the author. The Holy

Spirit was the author of God's word. Amen. Amen.

God's so good. It's Christmas time. Amen. Thank

you for tuning in to this message from Lifehouse

Church. Visit our website at www .lifehousecog

.com.