Circle of AbunDance

Hi guys, so we continue with our series on Hebrides 2.0.

And last week we dealt with calling sons and daughters.

And so again, every week I'll just have to recap

for those who weren't here last week or the week before.

This was a word given to us at the beginning of the year

when we went to Stornoway off the coast of Scotland,

where in the 1950s there was a revival

called the Hebrides revival.

Felt God saying that this is what I want to do again on Earth.

I want to ignite it through you guys.

And here is a promise I give you for the young in particular,

between the ages of maybe 14 and 40.

And this is what I'm planning to do amongst them.

And so this was a promise given.

And that's why it's called Hebrides 2.0,

because it happened on the island of Hebrides

off the coast of Scotland 50 years ago,

and God will do it again.

And so here was the promise given.

I am going to send a purifying fire.

I'm sending a purifying fire from heaven

that will burn up all religious and historical junk.

I will come into this revival

upon the Earth as the divine warrior.

And as the divine warrior marches,

I will deliver young men and women

from nations into the kingdom.

And I'll call them to myself as sons and daughters

and invite them into the circle of dancing,

abundance and joy before the lion and the lamb.

And they will become a torch bearing generation

that goes forth and will not return home empty.

That is a promise given.

And so we've been working our way down from purifying fire.

And today, last week we did calling sons and daughters.

And today we are doing into that circle

of dancing, abundance and joy.

Into that circle of dancing, abundance and joy.

So if you want a title, it'll be circle of abundance.

That's where we're going today.

Such odd words, eh?

That I'm calling sons and daughters

into a circle of dancing, abundance and joy.

And so the reason we need to study this

is so that we know what he is planning to do

and what he would like us to become.

One of the things when it comes to dancing,

abundance and joy is you can't call people

to come and see what you don't have.

You can't call people to come and see what you don't have.

Jesus would, in John chapter one, verse 39,

some disciples keep following Jesus quietly

and then Jesus spots them and he says, what do you want?

And they say, we want to see where you live.

And he says, come, come with me and see where I live.

Because he wanted them to see how he actually is.

In John 1, 46, he again uses the word come and see.

In Matthew 11, verse four and five,

John's disciples, John the Baptist's disciples come to him

and they say, are you the real deal?

And Jesus says, listen, go tell John what you see and hear.

Tell him that the dead are being raised,

that the lepers are being healed,

that demons are being cast out,

the blind can see, the sick are healed.

Go tell him that.

And for God, it is important that the young

that are coming in

will step,

will have a circle

of dancing,

abundance,

and joy

to step into.

Why do you think it's important to him?

Hi there.

Why do you think it's important to him?

Why can't he just leave this bit alone?

What is the opposite of this?

Standing still,

lack of insufficiency.

I mean, you're not talking about money, please.

And

neither joy nor happiness, nor sadness.

That would be the opposite.

We don't think this is important

because we come from different cultures,

different backgrounds, different setups.

We come with two left feet

and we're not focusing on dancing.

Please don't think the sermon is about dancing.

But God wants to create on earth

for what he's about to do with the young.

He wants to create on earth

an atmosphere or a circle

into which to dance.

Or a circle into which he can invite the young.

But it must be a circle of dancing of abundance and joy.

And you must ask the question, why?

Why?

Because if you can answer why,

it doesn't leave you much of a choice.

Why does he want this?

It's not a rhetorical question.

Feel free to respond.

Why does he want this?

I think part of that is to be dancing, you're free.

And when you have abundance, you don't have any lack.

It's free, you don't have to worry about those things.

That's what Jesus provides.

What else?

Why is this important to him?

I think it shows the cross frankly towards people.

It says I rejoice over you, I dance over you,

I show you abundance, I show you joy.

Yep.

Those are actual scriptures.

What else?

Why?

Why?

Yeah man, he is a blooming happy God.

And by blooming, I'm adding that because it really blooms.

He is a happy God.

He is a joyful God.

It is the essence of his nature.

This is who he is.

He's inviting people into his nature.

This does not, please don't equate,

oh so if I don't dance,

then I don't display the nature of God.

No, that is not what is being said here.

Jumping doesn't display the nature of God.

I can be highly irritated with you while jumping.

My God, I don't like Mike at all.

See?

So jumping doesn't convey anything.

It's not jumping, but we're talking about

something called expression.

We're talking about something called expression.

That we'll touch soon.

But you need to understand why God insists

that what he's building is a circle of abundance,

dancing, and joy because it is his nature.

Therefore you don't have a choice.

Therefore I don't have a choice.

We have a choice, but we don't have a right.

We always have a choice,

but we don't have the right to resist it.

What do you do when you don't have the right to resist it?

You keep moving into what God wants.

It does not happen overnight.

But you keep moving into what God wants.

What does resistance look like when you decide

that you will not move into what God wants,

or you will decide when you will move into it?

That is resistance.

Resistance is not, I haven't gotten there yet.

Resistance is not, I'm slow in getting there.

Resistance is when you decide you will not,

or decide that you will choose when to.

That is resistance.

This is what he is planning to do.

For us to revive the earth,

the joy of the Lord must infect and then go viral.

For us to revive the earth,

the joy of the Lord must infect and then go viral.

It's not that you will not have sorrows.

It is not that you will not have trials

and difficult situations.

It is that this is essential to us

because this is the essence of who he is.

The ultimate, John Piper said this,

the ultimate intent of God in all his creation is joy.

The ultimate intent of God in all his creation is joy.

That's why he created.

That's why every evening he'd put his feet up

on a chair in heaven and he'd say,

it is good.

And then when seven days was finished and he made man,

he said, this is really good.

This is really good.

The ultimate intent of God in all his works is joy.

And if that doesn't become my essence,

if lamenting, if war, is complaining, bitterness,

gossip, slander, finding things about people

that can fuel my bitterness,

if that is where I'm living,

then you are a weak Christian because the joy is,

whenever joy is absent, weakness is absolute.

Let me say that again.

Whenever joy is absent, weakness is absolute.

Any questions?

Any comments?

Any?

Anyone?

Have you ever had a time when you were here?

Yeah.

Mourning is not the absence of the joy that you have

in the one who gives you hope.

So I can stand over my dad who is dead and is cold

and look at him and weep and then know,

because he made the choice,

I will see him again, he will see me again.

In every situation on earth,

whether it's mourning or sorrow or pain or tears,

because of Christ, there is always joy breaking through.

We don't know how to find it.

And we are surrounded by people who fuel the mourning.

But what if we were surrounded by people

that are able to bring in glimmers of joy

in every sad situation?

What do you think the prophetic does?

The prophetic allows us to grasp joy that is at the end.

What is the book of Revelation about?

That in this darkness, there is a time coming.

What is Jesus's intent on earth?

Guys, I am making all things new.

So in every darkness, in every sorrow,

especially for believers, there is joy.

And for unbelievers, there is us.

Bringers of joy, carriers of joy.

Those stories that Bob was talking about,

they all bring joy.

We are distributors, delivery mechanisms of heaven.

We are delivery boys and girls for heaven,

distributing what heaven has.

One of the things you will never find in heaven

is the opposite of joy.

It is known for that.

And it is missing in the church.

And we don't have the right.

We don't have the right.

We have the choice, but we don't have the right.

All enjoyment must, I mean, you know this from just life.

All enjoyment, all enjoyment spontaneously overflows.

Who's joining Sunday school today?

And?

Wow.

They seem quite joyful there.

All enjoyment spontaneously overflows into expression.

All enjoyment spontaneously overflows into expression.

Lovers express their love.

Readers express delight when they read a story

or read a poem.

Players express delight over a goal.

Fans express over their club.

And it's almost rarely, rarely is it,

rarely is joy a planned, well-thought-out emotion.

It's almost always got spontaneity at its roots.

How it is expressed may differ,

but it is always from a place which just erupts.

That's something we need to realize.

And if expression is something

that we have been taught to hide,

then we will have to learn how to grow in it.

But how you express it differs.

My expression of joy cannot become the standard.

And when a person's expression of joy becomes a standard,

then everybody else has to now use that

as a measure of expression.

And that is wrong.

That is when you now force something on,

saying if you don't jump, you're not joyful.

If you don't dance, you're not joyful.

If you don't go ha ha ha, you're not joyful.

I went to a church where they did that.

The guy who said we need to be joyful.

And I'm sitting in the front row, so,

and they have cameras.

Not like this.

This, we have only one camera.

There, they have cameras everywhere.

And so the guy says, we have to be joyful now.

And the whole church cheers.

And I thought it would stop there.

Then he says, say after me.

And then he says, ha ha ha.

And everyone goes, ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Lizzie's laughing.

And so that was their way of joy.

So it became a standard.

And I'm thinking, because the camera was on my face,

I also had to go ha ha ha.

Because I was one of the speakers, right?

So you have to be joyful.

But you can't enforce a measure of joyfulness.

That is when your standard becomes everybody's standard.

But expression must be there.

And if expression is not there,

then you need to begin to ask God

to bring wholeness into your life.

You need to begin to ask God

to bring wholeness into your life.

Because I need healing.

And God begins the process.

Sometimes an expression is a sigh.

Sometimes it's laughter.

Sometimes it's your feet tapping.

Sometimes it's dancing.

But joy is expressed.

God is saying, I want to create a circle.

I mean, look at your children.

You know when they're joyful, don't you?

We know it every Sunday.

Those kids just don't know how to be sad for a while.

Any questions?

Push back if you think this is not true,

or not biblical, or not godly,

or out of the nature of God,

because we are made in the image of God.

Our cultures, the nations we come from, our upbringing,

some of the trauma we've been through,

it does affect the expression of joy.

But we have a healer.

What we cannot do is hide behind those things saying,

but this is who I have become.

Change.

Why?

Because there is a God who's saying,

I want to create a circle of abundance, dancing, and joy,

so that I can invite others into the circle

so that they don't have to go through what you went through.

Let them see me, in essence, as a God who is joyful,

in essence, as a God who is joyful, right off the bat.

Questions, comments, push back, disagreements?

If people want to change and they don't know how,

I think everything starts with an admission

that I have a problem.

Everything starts with an admission

that I do have a problem in this area.

And if that is not there, then there is no moving forward.

So that would be the first step.

Father, I got a problem.

And then it's even better when you have the ability

to go to someone else and say,

I did talk to the father about this,

and I just want you to also know that I have a problem.

Now it's out in the open.

It's no longer hidden.

As long as it's hidden, nobody needs to know,

and nobody measures your progress.

Once you bring it out in the light,

now someone else knows.

As long as no one knows, no one needs to measure.

You don't need to measure either,

but once someone says it, now there's a problem.

The second thing then is, oh God,

can you begin the process of healing?

Heal me.

How, when you ask God to heal you,

he will send situations, peoples.

Scriptures, dreams, miracles in your heart to change you.

He'll use any of these methods.

He'll use just his Holy Spirit to cause, to rise in you.

I've seen guys who've jumped on pianos and started dancing.

Thank God they were light.

I've seen people who have been in the light for a long time,

they were light.

Can you imagine doing that in the studio at,

at Sheldon's studio?

That would be one expensive dance.

What happened, oh Steinbeck, what happened?

Guy got affected by the Holy Spirit.

And so, not Steinbeck, Steinway, sorry.

So God, he will either do a miracle,

or he'll give you a key that is,

or he'll give you a scripture that is a key,

or he'll send someone.

That's why we have parents.

What do you think parents do with their kids?

Bring them from mourning to laughter.

Take away their owie, or whatever you call it now.

And then make it go away, and the kid is back to normal.

He'll do different things, but he will bring you back.

But the first thing is an admission.

If I do not admit, I do not have a starting point.

God is able to do this, man.

Psalm 31, verse 20 or 21.

Psalms 31:20

Oh God, you are the one who turns my wailing into dancing,

my mourning into dancing.

And then you give me songs.

Oh God, you are the one who saw me in the miry pit,

but you put a song on my lips.

God does this, and he uses all these methods to do it.

And whatever is not working in my life

is what I need to focus on.

One of the problems with Christians is

we hone in on our strengths.

What's the point of developing an arm

that is already bicep?

Hone in on something that is not working.

Hone in on something else.

No, I'm not looking at you, Jordan.

The greater your satisfaction,

these statements will prevent us from hiding.

The greater your satisfaction.

The greater your joy with something,

the greater your joy.

The greater your expression.

The greater your satisfaction,

the greater your joy,

the greater your expression.

In anything, I'm not talking about God now, in anything,

the greater my satisfaction with something,

mmm, that is so good.

Greater your joy, greater your expression.

Oh my God, that tasted so good.

I'm just imagining things and responding, yeah?

In case you were wondering what it was, yeah.

I mean, I'll be sitting alone and there'll be this amazing goal

that someone who's not even a Canucks gozer,

I'll go, whoa, how does that happen?

Where does that come from?

What does whoa even mean?

Expression can take any form.

In fact, it is so odd that in Romans 8, it says,

God even knows your groanings and your sighs.

Sometimes without words, God is already understanding it.

I am so glad for the demand that God puts on us.

So when it comes to scriptures and God,

some of the ways that expressions are talked about

in scriptures is laughter,

song, dance.

In fact, dancing and singing

were some of the foremost ways of joy.

You can look at Psalm 30, verse 11 and 12,

Psalms 30:11

which I just read, Jeremiah 31, verse four,

verse 11 and 12, or 11 to 13, Jeremiah 31.

And then in Lamentations 5.5, it actually is a reverse.

It says, and then my dancing and my singing

was taken away when I was sorrowful.

And so it is this idea of when it comes to expression,

some of the ways a congregation expresses joy

is through these methods.

We cannot avoid it.

We have to create this for others

to come and find it normative.

It's not my thing, true, but it is God's thing.

This doesn't mean all of us have to become uniform

and do the same thing.

It just means that this is something we do not resist.

David tried two different times

to bring the Ark into Jerusalem.

First it was 1 Samuel 6, sorry, 2 Samuel 6.

He tries to bring the Ark into Jerusalem,

but that was the second time.

The first time he tries it in 1 Chronicles 15.

Both times he tries it in 1 Chronicles 15.

So it's not a good thing to do it in 1 Chronicles 15.

It's not a good thing to do it in 1 Chronicles 15.

It's not a good thing to do it in 1 Chronicles 15.

The second time he tries it in 1 Chronicles 15.

Both times he came with dancing,

but in the first time it brought death,

the second time it brought life.

So just because there's laughter and dancing and song

doesn't necessarily mean it aligns with the intents of God.

The first time he came with dancing,

you know what happened, Uzzah and Ahiyo were frizzled.

The second time he comes with dancing,

there's protocol to even the expression

that we have as a congregation.

And then here's the other thing.

When David danced or when Miriam danced,

you'll find in David's dance in 2 Samuel 6,

you'll find that he's leading a procession

of about 30,000 men and he's an extension

of the entire congregation.

We don't do these things alone.

When we come together as a congregation,

we do this together.

When you stand and you're not doing

your own thing before God,

you are an extension for the entire church.

So when Eli and I stand there or when Jordan stands here

or when Bishop stands here and sings,

you must see yourself as I am an extension

of this entire congregation.

To think that you are part of a music team is an anathema.

When he drums, if he thinks he's a drummer on a music team,

it is not the way this functions.

When Miriam begins to sing, she's leading all of Israel

in the song of Moses and the song of Israel

given by God for an entire congregation.

When we sing, I know he rescued my soul

and I start jumping here.

I'm not jumping for my own.

I'm jumping so that I can be someone who on one hand

leads the congregation in action like Miriam did

or like David did.

And I'm doing it not for my sake because it's clumsy.

I don't jump high.

I carry a lot of weight.

I run out of breath, but I will still do it

for one reason alone,

because one, I must lead the congregation

and two, I must be an extension

of all your thinking and doing.

Even if you don't do it, well then I'll represent you.

Do you know what happens

when people begin to think like that?

That it might be difficult right now

for you to raise your elbows.

It might be difficult for you right now to move your feet.

It might be difficult for you right now to look foolish,

but let me do it for you.

And then two people do it and four people do it.

Six people do it, 10 people do it.

We have a circle.

We never do this for ourselves.

Any instrument that plays here, that plays for itself,

any singer that is up here that thinks of themselves,

it's not to be there.

Not in the sense of the congregation.

If you're singing alone to the lot, sing away.

And there is protocol.

How we'll get it wrong, how we'll mess up, so what?

We'll get it right the next time.

He doesn't send bolts of lightning anyways nowadays.

Not the kind that'll frizzle you.

That's a wrap on him.

That's not what he was trying to do there.

What is the difference between David bringing in the Ark

the first time with dancing and two people dying

and David bringing in the Ark the second time with dancing

and everyone full of life?

The difference was one was enthusiastic and uninformed,

ignorant of the Holy.

One was enthusiastic.

One was enthusiastic.

One was enthusiastic but uninformed.

And was ignorant

of the Holy.

I'm just going to call it the Holy,

it's just the holiness of God.

The second one was scripturally informed,

as in you do not bring the Ark on a cut.

You do not take on the ways of the Philistines.

You carry it on your shoulders.

There is protocol to what God wants to do.

He is Holy.

And so the second one was scripturally or biblically informed

and it had the correct approach to Holy.

In all our expressions, even though they are spontaneous,

we because we follow a God of order who lives in us,

a God who is Holy, we know this.

And if we get it wrong, we can fix it tomorrow.

My God, we have to create this circle.

When you begin to walk in this, walk on behalf of others.

Any questions on any of this?

Yep.

First half, you were talking about just being a joint

of people.

Yeah.

Who God is.

First half, you're always saying that when we come together,

it's kind of worship and think of change,

have an identity shift where we're thinking

that we are actually not individuals.

We're a part of that.

Yeah, yeah.

I give you my word.

Every time I change a song

or every time she has a set of songs

and she changes a song,

when I do it, I'll tell you why I do it.

Because I know that the Holy Spirit wants to take

the congregation somewhere else

or somewhere that I did not know.

It is never because, huh, this feels like the right song

or let's do one of my favorites.

Never, never.

Because that'd be so self-serving, so my God and me.

He teaches you a prayer and he doesn't say,

my Father who art in heaven.

He says, our Father who art in heaven.

Any other questions?

It's not a duty, huh?

It's not some worship ritual.

I mean, Don and Kezia just celebrated

their wedding anniversary.

What if Kezia in the middle of dinner said,

why are you doing this, Don?

And Don says, it's my duty.

That's it.

That's the end of that night.

You might as well go talk to your cat, yeah.

But his response is, this is my delight,

this is my joy, this is my honor.

I couldn't think of anything better to do.

This expression of joy is like that.

It is something, it is enjoyment

that then begins to express itself.

And it is odd that we sometimes lack it

and we don't step into it

because we are not accustomed to it.

And you can express it any which way you want.

It could just be song, please don't think,

like I said, please don't equate this to,

oh, so are you saying we all have to dance and jump?

No.

I'm just saying that expressionless is wrong, is wrong.

You were not made like that.

Because we come from different cultures,

there'll be different styles, eh?

Sometimes it'll be spontaneous, sometimes it won't.

That's okay.

I'm taking away any excuse we have of resisting this.

How shall we honor God in worship?

And I'm not even saying in a service.

How do you honor God, whether you're with two people

or yourself or you're in a congregation,

how do you honor God in worship?

By enjoying him.

By enjoying him, by enjoying him.

You must come with this attitude every time

you are about to worship and worship is not just songs,

worship is not music, but let's take anybody.

You know what worship means, word, script,

as in here is someone, the picture of worship,

the actual picture of the word worship is a dog

that sees the world and the world is a dog.

Is a dog that sees its master return home

and begins to just jump and run around

and go around in circles

because he can smell his master at a distance

and do you notice cats don't do that?

But that's a side point.

And the dog begins to run around and jump up and down

because he can smell the master at a distance

and he smells the master at a distance

and that is the very expression of worship.

And so it requires that be you with a person

or be you with God.

One of the reasons God gave us relationships on earth

is so that we can understand how to approach him.

But he did not find a companion that was suitable for Adam

so he created one, specially made.

So that intimacy and companionship

may be something real on earth

so that we can transfer it into the spiritual

so that he can rewrite Ephesians 5, 25 to 30 later

and say as a bride groom is with his bride

so that he can write song of songs

and describe what it is to be in a relationship.

And so the intent is in any such place

where there is worship, there must be an enjoying of him.

So the question is, is that how we enter any time of worship?

Do you come with the intent?

Aha, I'm gathering together with people

and my intent is to enjoy him with others today.

That's a church that looks forward,

that doesn't need a music team.

If music brings me joy, then bring your AirPods with you.

Because it'll be better

than most of the stuff we do here on our best day.

But then first we enjoy him by enjoying him,

that's the first thing.

And then what do we do?

We try, try because all of us are in this place of trying.

We try and let our delight overflow.

Do you notice how sometimes my handwriting

gets really clean?

And then suddenly something happens by enjoying him.

Second, try and let our delight overflow.

Third, spontaneous expression.

When it overflows, that's when spontaneous expression

happens, when it overflows,

that's when spontaneous expression happens.

Spontaneous expression happens.

To an extent, delight is incomplete if not expressed.

It's not that you don't delight,

but the expression of delight completes it.

The expression of delight completes it.

The expression of delight completes it.

Do not measure yourself by someone else's standard,

please, please don't, please don't.

Sometimes when I go to Kenya

and I see them praising and worshiping,

I try for about three minutes,

then I'm out of breath, man.

I try and they go on for 25, 30, 35 minutes.

And I sit down.

Even to do the, oh, I try, but it doesn't hit the high note.

At some point it goes, ah.

Just not, so all to say, we are not supposed to try

and meet a measure, but we have to keep pushing,

keep pushing, keep pushing so that others can follow.

Come on, man, we're supposed to open the way for others.

Get out of your invalid excuses.

Stop it.

But what, Jacob, what if I'm not feeling like it today?

Well, next Sunday you better feel it.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

So you're very right, Jill,

and I'm not trying to disagree with you

so that you feel good, but here's the thing.

This is you or me, and there is something in us

called Christ, the hope of splendor,

of power, laughter, presence, weight,

magnificence, majesty.

So we have that, and then there are times

when in our heart we feel bad, sad, hurt,

offended, depressed, funked.

Funked is an old word.

It's hard, funk is like a dull thing,

but funky is groovy.

Like I was in New York, and they started playing that song.

Won't you take me too?

Funky time.

Come on, Mike, I thought you'd groove to that.

I was doing it just for you.

Thank you.

Okay, so this is what happens.

All these things are real in our lives.

They do affect our heart, but somewhere inside is this.

The reason the sacrifice of praise

becomes a joyful fountain is because the sacrifice

of praise must tap into this.

What happened with the Pentecostal

or Charismatic Movement and praise is they said,

just keep praising, keep praising, keep praising

if you're not feeling good, and then eventually

if you keep praising, you'll feel good.

No, the intent was, can you begin to praise

and give the sacrifice of praise and reach deep down

into where Christ dwells so that his magnificence,

power, laughter, weight, splendor, majesty

begins to rise up in you.

The sacrifice of praise should quickly change

into a willing sacrifice, a joyous sacrifice.

And when it doesn't, we are stuck in a way of praise.

That's the difference.

The praise was supposed to break through the sadness,

the badness, the hurt that I'm feeling,

which is very real, which grabs my,

my heart is supposed to be a little closer to my sternum.

This is not where my heart is.

This is where my lungs are.

And so my heart begins to feel that tightness

of sadness and all this stuff,

and then there is Christ who lives here.

And then in my sacrifice, it is he who begins to arise,

and my heart begins to now feel free

from the grip of the hurt and the sadness.

And now I go from the sacrifice of praise to,

oh my God, I'll do cartwheels of joy

because I am right there in Malachi chapter four,

Malachi chapter, Habakkuk chapter three, verse 17 to 19.

Now it's no longer a sacrifice.

Though the victory shall not blossom,

though there be no olives on the thing,

I will do cartwheels of joy.

Now it's no longer sacrifice.

You never sacrifice cartwheels of joy.

So that's how it works.

108, we won't finish it, so I'll kind of stop.

I wanted to talk about abundance,

or we'll talk about that next week.

Abundance is not having a lot of money.

Abundance is the abundance of love.

Abundance is the abundance of expectation.

Abundance is the abundance of hope and peace.

Abundance is great generosity.

Abundance is so many other things.

And only a small amount of love

is having no lack, but we'll talk about that next time.

Let me just conclude with the joy of the dance.

In a revival, joy is not a mere option.

In a revival, joy is not a mere option.

It is a gift from God, and it is an essential component

of revivals.

In a revival, joy is not a mere option.

It's not like, it'll be good if you're joyful.

No, the nearness of God, that's what revivals are.

In the nearness of His presence,

if there is no fullness of joy,

then there is something wrong.

Psalm 16, 11 says, in your presence

is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

What words, eh?

Which God uses words like that?

In my presence, there is no fullness of joy.

I'll say that.

In my presence, it's fullness of joy,

as in no limit, overflowing.

Fullness is not getting to the top of the cup.

It's not getting to here.

Fullness is always overflowing.

And he says, in my presence,

in my presence, Jacob, is fullness of joy.

And then he adds, add pleasures forevermore.

Pleasures are things you really, really enjoy.

So what's missing?

Do you enjoy your wife?

Yes.

In her presence, are you full with gladness and joy?

Most of the time.

Yes.

Okay?

No, really, most of the time you are.

I've watched you both.

I've watched you both.

I've watched you both.

I've watched you both.

Is she someone who delights your heart

and brings you pleasure?

Does your heart sing when she's with you?

We were given physical relationships

so that we may understand the depth of this.

And then we are supposed to take that and say,

oh God, can you make this real between you and I,

because you are more real

than the physical person next to me?

And we haven't plumbed that.

And we're not aware of that.

What is missing?

Can I put on your tombstone,

here lies a joyful person?

Or will I be lying?

Because joy is expressed.

Joy is expressed.

Can I put that on your grave?

Or I'll have to put, here lies a joyful person,

but I never knew it kind of a thing.

Oh, didn't see it.

Okay.

Okay.

God is not, here's another thing.

This is so important, eh?

God is, this is not my line,

it's some famous person's line.

God is not worshiped where he is not treasured.

It's either Tozer or Piper.

He's not treasured.

God is not worshiped where he is not treasured.

And enjoyed.

God is not worshiped where he is not treasured and enjoyed.

This is not Tozer or Piper, it's Jacober.

Others must see

the pleasure.

Others must see in you

the pleasure to be had

in him, beautifully.

Others must see in you the pleasure to be had in him.

So sometimes when I'm unable to worship,

I must question this.

Because there might be days when Don might be really sad

and things didn't go well at work,

or he met a bear when he was walking in Vernon.

He is super hungry, super sleepy.

And then just when he's feeling all that stuff,

along comes Kezia.

And suddenly he seems okay.

God is not worshiped where he is not treasured and enjoyed.

Sometimes when we struggle with worship,

it is not the music,

it's not that you've had a bad day,

you're not able to locate the treasure

and you have not learned how to enjoy it.

And it happens to all of us.

And where he's treasured and where he's enjoyed,

even if the expression is a sigh

or an imaginary hug,

it'll begin to grow.

Two more points.

Psalm 63 verse five to seven.

It's such a cool scripture.

Psalm 63, you know, CS Lewis used to say

that he used to read the Psalms

so that he can begin to have the same delight

that made David dance.

What a reason to read Psalms.

Psalm 63 verse five to seven.

But before I say that,

I mean, when you read the verses, it's so beautiful.

It talks about the depth to which you can enjoy God,

but the way David describes it.

But here again, what CS Lewis said,

I read the Psalms so that I might discover the delight

that made David dance.

And then you see why he can say that

because in Psalm 63 verse five to seven, it says,

my soul is feasted with marrow and fat.

And my mouth praises you with joyful lips

when I think of you upon my bed

and meditate on you in the watches of the night.

What kind of love is this?

My soul is feasted on the marrow and the fat, O God, of you.

And as I lie on my bed and I meditate,

I begin to praise.

We were made like this, guys.

Shred, shrug off your denominational upbringing,

your national upbringing, your traditional upbringing,

your church upbringing,

your parental upbringing, your home upbringing.

Shrug it off, shred it off,

because primarily you were made differently.

And then there are times when someone can be so depressed

because of great sadness, great trauma, great trouble,

that it seems impossible.

At that time, let someone pick you up

because there are times, please,

let's not pretend that it doesn't exist.

There can be times where even the best of people,

like Elijah, go into such deep places

of feeling sad and depressed and forlorn

that it is impossible for them to even whisper a word.

I beg you when times like that happen,

as soon as you see it happening,

call someone who you trust

and say, I'm going down this deep hole, please help me.

Because there are times when nothing will come out of it.

It's such a dark hole.

David probably experienced that.

He talks about it in Psalm 139.

Or in Psalm 42 and 43, listen to his cry.

Why are you so sad, my soul?

Why so depressed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise you.

And times like that, call someone you trust.

Don't call the best guy in the church

or the best girl in the church

because they may not be able to help you.

Call someone you trust.

Call someone who knows how to walk like this.

Don't call your best friend

because your best friend probably might be as bad as you.

Call someone who is not the best at it

but walks like this, whom you can trust.

And when you call them, you can now lean on them

and let them sing for you.

Let them sing for you

and it'll begin to release things in your heart.

Saul's advisors knew this.

Saul is being tormented.

Saul is feeling like everything is lost and done.

And his advisors say, but there's a small boy,

there's a young boy, not small boy, young boy,

ruddy, complexioned, plays the harp, ask him to come.

And he begins to play.

Feast, man, on the marrow and the fat, eh?

Because what is worship if it is not banqueting

on God's glory?

Father, we as a church come and we so want this.

As I look around this church while I was teaching,

I know that at present the spirit of God

in this church is stirring us up.

Everybody here wants this.

We don't know how to get there.

We are scared of what we'll have to let go of.

Just the thought of freedom frightens us.

It's very odd.

We like freedom, but sometimes being invited

into your kind of freedom is frightening

because it's a loss of everything I can hide behind,

every security blanket,

everything I can protect myself with,

everything that'll keep me from being transparent,

it'll go away.

It frightens us, oh God.

But if you, oh God, want this circle

of abundance, dancing, and joy,

then you will have to help us because we long for it,

but we are so scared of it.

We don't want it to be hysterical, dramatic,

emotional only because we saw what happened to David.

But I want to represent someone else.

They want to represent me and someone else

till this church becomes a circle

of abundance, dancing, and joy, oh God.

Granted, Father, Granted, oh God,

only you can do this work.

Bob Crone stood here and said

that he was there at the beginning of the church

and he sees how far it's come.

Once more, once more, Lord, once more do it again.

Bring us to a place where we become a circle

of abundance, joy, and dancing

so that others can come in,

sons and daughters that you're calling

from the nations into the kingdom,

can come and say, ah, found a place for freedom.

Please, Jesus, it's a cry of our heart.

It's not a cry of my heart.

I know that the Spirit of God is here

stirring up every heart here.

It doesn't matter whether it's new or old.

It is happening in this room.

We long for it, Jesus.

So we come begging you for it.

A little bit of jumping won't do this.

It's something that happens in our heart.

Do this, Lord, we pray.

In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

Bless you guys.

Sue had sent me a list of guys

who will be up here for prayer.

Sue had to go to a funeral, so she's not here.

It is Heidi, Joan, Brandon, James.

Feel free to come up and pray.

Feel free to come up and they'll pray for you.

Otherwise, yeah, have a joyful week, eh?

What?

Just to make the joy greater,

since we talked about joy,

we know it's Jacob's birthday tomorrow.

What?

You know how small I am on birthdays.

Please, please, don't, don't, please.

And it's not a round number.

It's like a three-quarter kind of a number.

I don't even know why we mention it,

but anyways, we have a cake downstairs.

No, you didn't.

How could you guys?

Actually, the cake was meant for Bob.

Oh, really?

Just kidding, the cake.

The cake was meant for Bob and Jacob.

Thank God he left.

That's Bob left.

So you can get his piece too.

So we'll have a cake downstairs,

so you can all join and...

Oh, you shouldn't have.

Oh, there's a little video thing

for your birthday from people who want to...

Oh, shucks.

Oh, shucks, that's actually a surprise.

Say something.

The rest of it, I kinda expected, eh?