Kingdom Celebration

Kingdom celebration. That's what we're going to talk about.

Guys, so we've been on the theme of the kingdom for the last little while.

And so this is another super important part of the makeup of the kingdom.

Because the coming of the kingdom of God is supposed to create

a celebrating community. That's what it's supposed to create. I mean,

you've seen those movies where the conquering soldiers return into a city

and they've just freed the city from oppression.

And people gather around the streets because there's a new rule that's coming.

You look at some of those camps where prisoners were held

and they hear the sound of bombs in the distance.

And then suddenly you have friendly troops coming and they set the camp open.

And even though you have these really tortured prisoners now suddenly feeling joyful,

it's the same intent. The coming of the kingdom was supposed to create

a celebrating community. And so if a church is not a celebrating community,

there's something seriously wrong because it's a makeup of the kingdom.

The coming of the kingdom creates a celebrating community.

It's supposed to do that. A coming king. He's conquered.

We know he's won the battle. He's on his way. News has already arrived.

Enemy troops are already fleeing. The city has been liberated.

Things are in the process of being reconstructed. Streets are being renamed.

People that were thrown out of office are being reinstituted into office.

Tyrants have been removed. Banners and flags of the enemy are being pulled down every day.

And in the process, the city now is jubilant because there is a returning king who is coming.

And if that is the case, then every community of believers must be a celebrating community.

This is important for us to understand somewhere inside because every time we are not,

we are denying the existence of a returning king.

So the people of the kingdom are therefore supposed to live in this idea that we live

under the good. We live under the good of a coming king.

We live under the good of a coming king.

That's what we are supposed to be like. Not just in church. The church is a place where we see

common expression. At one place at one time. But the church doesn't disband today at four.

It's a body. It doesn't disband. This should be the nature of the body throughout the week.

I mean, that's why we end up this evening saying, can we have this next week,

can we call it a spirit and joy week? And we'll talk about that a little later.

But the people of the kingdom are those that are living in the good of the coming king.

The strange thing about living under the good of a coming king is it's not dependent on your circumstances.

We are talking about living under the good of a coming king. It's almost like this cloud.

You know those mosquitoes? I don't know what they are. Those tiny things that start circling around

over your head. Yeah, it's a big cloud and you do this and they move this way. You do this and they

move this way. I mean, they're on my balcony and they only come during summer. When I don't want

to stand on my balcony through winter, they're not there. They're not there. They're not there.

When I don't want to stand on my balcony through winter, they're not there.

Come summer, the moment I step out on my balcony, they're there. About 14 of them. I tried counting them once.

And then you do this and they move this way. You do this and they move this way.

They just don't leave you alone. It's the same way that the good of a coming king works.

Then it doesn't matter what's actually happening on the ground. Above you, there is this cloud

that is the good of a coming king. And if you and I are able to lock in on that somewhere inside,

you will find that the circumstances under you begin to change because of what you're under.

Please remember this. The circumstances under you begin to change when you understand what you are

under. And you are under the good of a coming king. And what does that goodness include? It includes

everything because Moses said, show me a goodness. And how did God respond? I will show you my glory.

His splendor, his magnificence, his power, his weight, his brilliance, everything combined into

this one word, which I've often said, kabod means glory. So when we talk about walking under his

good, you will find that if that becomes where your mind and heart are locked, then the circumstances

under you must relent. It's just how it works.

But it's very hard to actually think like this because we lock our eyes on the circumstances

around us. And so it's very hard to think like this, that I live under this cloud, that it doesn't

matter where I go. It's almost like it's attached to me. It doesn't leave me.

This is what creates hope. It doesn't matter how dry and parched the land under you is.

There is a cloud above your head.

Attached to you guys. He's attached to you. You've attracted him. What in you attracted him?

One, that he made you in his image. And two, that the brilliant radiant image of his son

now lives in you too. You attract him and his son in you attracts him. And therefore he's

attached to you. And that's why he's attracted to you. And that's why he's attracted to you.

And that's why he's attracted to you. And that's why he's attracted to you.

But must think like this. This is what makes us celebrate.

This is what causes celebration. Israel was subject to a covenant of joyful obedience.

Israel didn't have a choice. Israel, when God called Israel, he said, hey, I'm subjecting you

to a covenant. I am the superior one, so I set the terms of the covenant. I'm subjecting you

to a covenant. But I don't want your obedience. I want your joyful obedience. I want your joyful

obedience, Jacob. Because if it ain't joyful, it's not obedience really. Because if you are

willing and obedient, then you will eat the good of the land. Isaiah chapter 1. If you are willing

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

and obedient, then you will eat the good of the land. So I don't want your obedience because I

have tons of obedience from people who are afraid of me, who want things. But give me joyful obedience.

That is the nature of the community of believers who know that the kingdom has come. It's joyful

obedience. We are subject to a covenant of joyful obedience. This is why, guys, you will see that

throughout the Old Testament, and even the New Testament church practiced it, throughout the

Old Testament, there were these specific festivals that God had in the calendar year that Israel was

supposed to congregate and celebrate. And so, let's pick on someone, Rachel and Mae.

Could you find out the celebratory festivals in the Old Testament? And could you find out what days

they fall on this year? Passover is done. You don't need to do it now. You need to do it by

next week. What were the festivals that Israel would celebrate? And then find out what days they

fall on this year? I know Pentecost is coming. 50 days from Passover, there's Pentecost. Then there's

a feast of tabernacles. There's a feast of trumpets. These were ordained by God so that he could call

all of Israel to celebrate. And celebrate what? They were supposed to come together, and the intent

of their coming together was to reflect with gratitude on the fact that they lived under

the blessing of Yahweh the King. That they lived under the blessing of Yahweh the King. That they

lived under the blessing of Yahweh the King. Is there anyone in this room that doubts that you

live under the blessing of Yahweh the King? Because if you doubt it, it still doesn't make

it untrue. It's just that you doubt it. It still doesn't make it untrue. You live under the blessing

of Yahweh the King. And when we begin to think like this, we begin to enjoy. What's that line that I

used to repeat so often? If you something, something, you something, something, it'll come.

Yeah, that didn't help at all.

Shoot, it was such a good quote. Okay, guys, when we stop celebrating, we show that we have lost the

sense of the King's habitation or the King's visitation. When a church stops celebrating,

and by celebrating I really don't mean songs. Songs are one way of celebration.

When a church is no longer a celebrating community, as in a place that's fun,

where people love to come and just, just be. If a church isn't like that, then it's because

people aren't aware of the visitation of the King or the habitation of the King.

This King is so enjoyable that if a church does not become a place where celebration is normal,

then it's either because the pastor is ruining it or the people are sour.

Because God is not like the pastor or the people.

Doesn't matter how old the church is. Ah, it bothers me when I go in the church where everyone

is dressed properly, but the clothes are so starched that even the mouth doesn't smile.

It's painful. We can't have that. It's not, it's not a God thing. I'm not talking about

faking it. I'm talking about inside we should have this celebratory attitude.

So what does that look like? When I say celebratory attitude, what do you think it means?

What would it look like? What would celebration look like to you?

Oh, come on. Don't tell me. Sorry. Joy. But what would it look like to you?

Joy. But what would joy look like to you?

Like a child on his birthday, new toys, new gifts, new people, a lot of room,

lot of license. Can't jump over the sofa without getting into trouble. What else?

Spontaneous dancing, spontaneous many things. What else? Sharing special food, sharing special

things, making mistakes and knowing that it's not going to be as costly as it normally is.

What else?

Thankfulness, a heart full of gratitude, which just keeps pouring out because there are too

many things to remember. Oh, thank you for this. Thank you for that. What else?

Telling others about whatever you are excited about. What else?

Noise. Noise. Noise is such an important part of celebration. Ever been to a celebration

where there's no noise? Happens in cemeteries. Nowhere else. Cheering. What else? Sorry.

Laughing, head thrown back laughter. What else?

Jumping for joy. What else? Music. Music is such an essential part of celebration. What else?

Dancing, sharing, shouting, hugging, liking each other. I mean, go for a birthday party,

people who don't like each other hug. What else?

Togetherness. What else? Stories. Yeah, man. People begin to, am I too loud? Can you turn me? No,

I'm okay. Then it's fine. Guys, stories, telling stories, telling people about, I mean, what does

business class in Austria have anything to do with anything? Stories. What else?

Guys, do you see the long list? This is what a community that celebrates in the knowledge

that there's a new king and a kingdom in town. This is how a community looks.

And when a community is like this, it becomes very attractive to people.

Yearn for this. Say, desire this. Desire this in your time with your spouse. Desire this in your

time with your spouse and children and grandchildren. And cats and dogs and the works, man. Desire this

because this is the nature of God. You know, heaven is going to be such a time of,

it's going to be really good guys. Everything that we said, there'll be so much noise.

There'll be so much laughter. There'll be so much singing and it's not worship songs.

Yesterday at Diana's mom's memorial, there was this girl who sang a song called Dream a Little.

God will say, can you sing that for me?

I can only imagine.

I can only imagine. Come on guys, this is where, this is what life must look like. And it doesn't

matter what your circumstances are. When you focus your eye on this, when you focus your thinking on

this, I live under the good of a coming king. I live under the good of Yahweh the King. He is

present. This is how I live. This is how I live. It doesn't matter that my circumstances here are

it doesn't matter that my circumstances here are really sucky, but up there, it's not sucky at all.

And then it percolates down.

The phrase that I'm trying to remember was something like you occupy what you think.

You occupy, no, you occupy this, how you think becomes, you inhabit what you think.

You inhabit what you think. That's why some of us live in fear, some of us live in great sorrow,

some of us live in the fear of things going to happen. You inhabit what you think. So when you

inhabit this, it becomes natural for it to percolate into your environment, man. You inhabit what you think.

Before any kind of mission work that anybody does or a church does, the church first is and must be

a celebrating people. Any mission that comes out of anywhere else is bound to drop like a stone at

some point. Any mission that the church engages in, if you go out on a mission trip, make sure

that the one thing you get right is that you're not going to get a bad thing. You're not going to get

a bad thing. If you go out on a mission trip, make sure that the one thing you get right

is a joyful heart and a joyful melody, man.

Absolutely. Giving is such a part of celebrating.

So before any kind of mission or service to the world, the church is and must become a celebrating

community. In Isaiah 12 verse 2 to 4, it says, and we shall scoop out of wells of salvation, water.

Isaiah 12:2–4

Spring up all wells. Splish splash. Not spring up all wells. Here's a teardrop for you. No, no, no,

no. It's wells of salvation. You pull out with joy, it says, from the wells of salvation.

Rejoice when somebody comes.

True. Rejoice and pull out with joy out of the wells of salvation. Guys, if you get that right,

it'll be fascinating. And I'm hoping we can do that this week. Go ahead.

That sounds terrible. Yeah, practical ways of... Okay, so

before I start my day, before I go on a trip, while I'm flying, the only thing I did as a father,

I really want to enjoy this, enjoy you during this trip. If I enjoy you, everything else is

going to work out. So let me engage you in conversation. Let me engage you in scriptures.

Let me engage you in what you want to talk about. Let me engage you in the fact that, boy, father,

how did you get me these perks? Father, I really want to enjoy you because if I enjoy you,

I'm confident of you. Guys, if you are embedded in the joy of his majesty, I'll explain that,

then your perspective changes. Let me explain this. When a child

has his head thrown back in peels of laughter in the arms of his mom or dad, it is the safest,

best place a child can ever have. Because the child is so confident of the place that he's located in.

What is he located in? In frail arms. But what is happening? Mom and child are just joyfully

laughing. Joy changes your perspective on everything of God. In the morning, if you get up

and decide that, father, my job is really miserable, my boss is miserable, I haven't earned any money,

my back aches and my cat is behaving like a cat. And when all these things are happening,

if you have the ability now to say, oh God, but here's what I'm going to do. In your presence is

fullness of joy. And I'm going to come and find it there. I'm going to begin to celebrate.

I'm going to locate myself in your delight. Locating yourself in his delight is when joy begins to.

Rise and it becomes your strength. Guys, this is a practice. It is a practice. What we do is prayer.

God is saying, come on, engage in my delight instead of engaging in prayer.

You come every morning, Jacob, and pray for a hundred things that you want sorted out.

I'm all sorted out. Engage in me and see how things begin to fall into place.

Children look for that. They only want their parents delight when they find it.

They are fixed.

Ministry happens out of this place of joy. Jesus would always come out of that place.

That's why he would be moved not with bitterness, not with anger, but with compassion.

When they came, returned after casting out demons, he said, oh, don't go there.

The point is this, guys, if you are not and I am not able to wake up tomorrow and the day after

that and the day after that for the rest of this week and begin with this whole idea of I'm going

to engage your delight to God, then it's going to be very hard for the rest of the day because you'll

have to pray a lot. You'll have to pray a lot. Hey, some of you are married. Don't you love it

when you crack a joke and your spouse really laughs at it? I mean, Kamal hasn't experienced

that because most of his jokes are really bad. But one of these days it's going to happen to you, Kamal.

Even Kamal's future daughter-in-law, I was sitting with her some days ago and she said,

oh, that sounded like a Kamal joke. And I'm thinking to myself, gosh, she isn't in the family yet and

she already knows some traits. But the point is this, sometimes you crack a joke and your spouse

laughs and it brings you so much down. Or you bring a gift and you didn't know what to get it

and you finally got it right and she is so delighted. This is how God is, guys. Find those

things. Life is really very simple with God. It keeps coming back to these simple things of

delighting in a much loved child. I know we've repeated it a hundred times, but it's amazing how

we still don't get it. So the practical part of it is tomorrow morning or when you go giving out

tracks or when you're doing a salvation call or when you're healing somebody, first and foremost,

identify this very thing that, oh God, I'll do this out of a sheer sense of joy, not duty,

not work, but out of just sheer delight. You know, all those healings that happen in Mongolia,

they would become a struggle only when I would forget that God is powerful and compassionate.

Whenever I knew he was powerful and compassionate, I knew I didn't have to do any work

and I'd just be joyful. When I would forget that, I'd have to start praying. How sad,

how sad. Most of our prayer is struggle.

Do pray. Engage him and his personality. God has a personality. Engage his personality.

This week, pray less, but engage him and who he is. Do it like you would do with a friend.

I wish I could define this better, but I might come back to it.

Guys, in the New Testament, if you look at fellowship, you'll see in Acts chapter 2, 46 and 47,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the church was always like that. They broke bread in their homes and ate together.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together. How did they eat? With glad and sincere hearts,

praising God, enjoying the favor of all the people. May you do this more. I pray God that

this week and next week, you will break bread with a few people that come to your house.

You will break bread in restaurants. We used to do this a while ago. We've kind of lost out on it.

Break bread and do it with laughter and with joy. Do it with laughter and with joy.

The two things that the breaking of bread was supposed to hold dear, laughter, joy,

praising, glad, sincere hearts. The church has crushed and made it a solemn funeral.

May you break bread this week with your spouse, with your children around the table. Let Psalm 127

come alive in your life, or 128, where it says, and you will sit down with your wife who is fruitful

and with your children around the table and you will eat and as you do that, break bread and enjoy

it. Talk about God. We said that celebration includes stories. Talk about God. Celebrating

community. In a celebrating community, it's very hard to have long feud, long lasting feuds.

You'll have to settle issues. You'll have to debit offense and credit friendship. You'll have

to reconcile because a community that celebrates cannot afford to have long-standing feuds.

Feuds need to be settled and it takes time to settle it. Don't put a band-aid on it.

It needs cleaning. It'll take time. But I was telling the Lord today, Father, if I have any

feuds that are outstanding, show it to me because I've got to settle them. This community cannot

afford a feud. I'm not talking about us as a church. I'm talking about Christian community as a whole

and in this church for sure, if there's anything outstanding, if there's an offense that has lasted

too long, debit it and credit friendship, man. Got to do that. Got to do that

because we're supposed to be a model, right? This is what a people amongst whom God dwells looks like.

That's the intent.

So Jacob, what about the fact that we are in these bodies and we are groaning? What about conflicts on the outside and fears inside?

What about the struggles with sin? What about crushed but not pressed on every side but not crushed? Perplexed but not in despair?

Persecuted but not forsaken? Struck down but not destroyed? What about stuff like that? All that is true.

But God is not saying, hey, you're not going to be a Christian. You're not going to be a Christian.

But God is not saying, hey, your grief is not real or hey, your problems in your marriage is not real or hey, your struggles are not real.

But he's saying in the midst of that, there's something else that you can look for.

In the midst of that, you can begin to experience alongside the hurt you're feeling a deep hope-filled joy.

If your joy does not have hope, it's just happiness with few interruptions of laughter.

If your joy does not have hope, all it is is happiness with few interruptions of laughter. That's all it is.

The joy that the kingdom brings is a joy that is filled with hope. That's the beauty of this thing called joy. It's filled with hope.

One of the ways you can question whether you have joy is, is it filled with hope?

And if it is not filled with hope, it is not kingdom joy. It's some kind of man-generated joy.

Joy must be full of hope.

And joy has three things that you've got to watch out for and look for. Source, context, expression.

These three things are important when you think of joy.

Source, context, expression. All three are important.

The source. This goes back to the question of, okay, so what does it look like practically? How do we get this joy?

Guys, the source of joy in his presence is fullness of joy. In his presence is fullness of joy.

Are you going through a really bad time right now? Are you going through a really bad struggle?

Are you going through a frightening time in terms of facing the future? Are you scared of something?

Are you feeling hopeless? Have you waited for way too long and nothing has changed? Are your circumstances the same?

Are the sickness symptoms exactly as they were before or are they getting worse? Does life look dismal?

Then you must find this thing that we are talking about because it, and you can only find it in his presence.

How do we access presence? Very simple. Time.

If I want to spend, if Mark, or if I want to seek Mark's presence, I must spend time.

Implicit in the word presence is the need to spend time.

Not towards an end. The end is the presence.

I'm not spending time with Mark so I can get something. I'm spending time with Mark because Mark is the end game.

Because in his presence is fullness of joy. And if I spend time with him, I leave,

and I don't understand the mechanics of it, but I leave with oodles of hope-filled, light-emitting joy.

The Bible says so. I mean if you read Psalm 16, 11, it talks about it. Psalm 43, verse 4 talks about it.

Psalms 43:4

Psalm 45, verse 7 talks about it. In Jeremiah 15, 16, it says,

Psalms 45:7

Even when I eat your word, it brings me joy. When I eat your word, it brings me joy.

Before I left for this Vienna trip, something happened where I got something wrong.

And I went and told someone about it and they said, I think you're completely off balance and it's not right.

And I thought maybe I was completely wrong. And so I'm sitting in the flight that's just left and I'm saying,

Father, not exactly the way I wanted to start a trip. I'm feeling really bad.

Because if this is how I hear and if I could get it wrong, it'll be disastrous in Vienna.

So instead of watching a movie or looking outside the window, found Proverbs 25, verse 9.

Proverbs 25:9

Proverbs 25, verse 9 says, If you walk humbly, I'll teach you my ways and I'll show you my path.

Proverbs 25:9

So I said, Father, I just want to come and humble myself because I want to get things right.

So if I spend enough time with you right now and get this out of the way, I'm sure I can do well.

Took about half an hour, one hour, worked it out. The worse off you are, the more you need this time.

The worse off you are, the more you need this time. You don't need it for healing.

You don't need it for provision. You need it so that you can get here.

Once you're here, provision and healing come.

Problem with prayer is, prayer targets healing and provision.

Thing with spending time is, you target God. The healing and provision follow.

It goes back to the primary verse that the kingdom is based on. Seek first and all other things.

The all other things includes healing and provision and everything else.

But seek first whom? Seek first him.

And you come under this cloud and then healing and provision flow.

You don't have to go seeking it.

The amount of time we spend praying for stuff that hasn't happened.

When you can go to the one who has all the stuff.

I don't know what it is. Ever since I started out, about a couple months ago, I've just not been myself.

Especially this last week, it's just been really bad.

I was saying to God, are you my healer? And I was corrected.

And I thought, the question is, who is my healer? And it's this God that is my healer.

And he knows that everything is in him.

And all the things we will do, he knows.

And he's got a provision for it, regardless of whether you're at fault or someone else is at fault.

So, source, God is the source.

Context. Guys, there are three contexts if you want to maintain joy.

First, obedience.

Because it says, I'll finish by four, don't worry.

Obedience. John 15, verse 9 to 11. Jesus put it this way.

John 15:9–11

Hey, Jeevan, if my words abide in you and you abide in me.

He says, I'm telling you this ahead of time so that my joy might be yours and your joy is complete.

Obedience brings joy.

In Hebrews 1, 9, here's what it says.

Because you've hated wickedness and loved righteousness, I have anointed you with the oil of gladness much greater than your companions.

You'll find that as you begin to walk in obedience, joy is a natural outcome of it.

Walk in obedience and it's very hard not to be joyful.

You don't know how pleased children are when they do something that you tell them to do.

And they do it. And they look at you like they need a medal.

Why? Because there's this sheer joy.

They have this sheer joy at having obeyed daddy and done what daddy asked.

So obedience is one of the contexts.

The second one is, joy must be shared. Joy must be shared.

There are some Christians who are very joyful, but it's only when they are with themselves, not with others.

The joy that isn't shared dies young.

That's not my quote, it's somebody else who I don't know.

The joy that is not shared dies young.

Jesus was a man of sorrows, but he was very joyful to be around.

Don't mistake him being called a man of sorrows as being a really sour guy.

Prostitutes and fishermen and tax collectors don't hang around sour people.

They are sour to begin with.

If you're a joyful person and your joyfulness is limited to worship and to times of church or times of intense communication with God,

then there are monasteries in Europe that you can go and become part of.

But if you're a joyful person as a Christian who belongs to the joyful community of Christ,

then it must be shared, otherwise Proverbs 18.1 goes into action.

What does Proverbs 18.1 says?

It says, a man who isolates himself is just after fulfilling his own desire and he goes against wise counsel.

There is no isolation in the body of Christ.

That's another question we need to ask ourselves.

Am I so intense and so joyful when I'm one-on-one with God, but nobody else gets to share in it?

In this, I admire Kamal.

Doesn't matter how bad the joke is, he will make sure that he spreads it all over the place.

Praying to Jesus and seeking his presence.

I would put it this way.

When your children were small, when Armin was small, did he talk or did he always request?

Talk.

When it comes to Christianity, most of us make requests to him as God who needs to do us a favor

and we rarely have the joyful, unashamed, bold, shameless confidence of sitting with daddy and talking to him.

I mean, I got an upgrade on my way back from London this time and on my phone you'll see me starting off my writing to him

and my first comments are, hey daddy-o.

And then I thought, I better not show this to someone because they'll think I'm being highly irreverent.

But I was so joyful at the spark that I got that I couldn't but say, hey daddy-o.

I'm not saying you should say it.

I'm not even saying that's the right thing to say.

I'm just saying it came out of me.

Prayer somehow has this notion of request and supplication and there is a time for this

but most of the time is spent in delight.

Righteousness is what? Right relationship. With whom? With God. Who is what? A father.

Let me say that again. What is righteousness?

Righteousness is right relationship. With whom? With God. Who is what? A father.

Before he was anything else, God is father.

Before he was creator, he is father.

Adam was who? The son of God.

Oh, we shouldn't forget that.

And if you are father, then the only thing fatherhood is based on is relationship.

And the thing that sonship is based on is relationship and obedience.

Third context is faith. The third part of context is faith.

Guys, it's odd, eh?

One place that says come for my praise is frolicing. I don't know what it is in English.

Frolicing is an English and German word. I think it says it exactly.

It's a right word. Frolicing. It's a beautiful word. Come before me, frolicing.

That's awesome, eh? Come before me, frolicing.

Faith is essential to produce joy and joy is always evidenced in acts of faith.

Faith is essential to produce joy.

Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17.

Habakkuk 3:17

Though the fig trees haven't blossomed, though there be no cattle in the stall,

though the olive tree has shed its fruit, and though there be no grain in my barns,

yet here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do cartwheels of joy.

Why? Because God's going to come through.

So faith is essential to produce joy. Essential to produce joy.

And finally there's expression. Joy that is not expressed is stillborn.

Joy that is not expressed is stillborn.

How is joy expressed? You guys said it.

Clap, shout, dance, laugh, tell stories.

This is the nature of the kingdom community here on earth.

How end the community is not like that. My God, it stinks.

Maybe become increasingly like that.

So, let me conclude.

Want joy?

There's that got milk ad. If you want joy, ask yourself the question,

Do I got the spirit?

Because if you got the spirit, joy is just waiting at the door.

Joy and the spirit go hand in hand. Joy and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

Joy and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand. Joy and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

Joy and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

Joy is really a heavenly attitude.

Joy and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

Want joy?

Jump into the wind of the spirit.

Hey, let me give you an example.

When we started the service,

the computer that we had would not work.

The other computer that we had was not here.

Certain things that needed to be in place weren't in place.

Had no idea when those things would work out.

There was no timeline.

Marcus was having a little bit of trouble with the drums.

Sound was up and down, going off and on.

What do you do?

Find the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Jump into the wind and he'll restore everything that you need.

Instead of you going down the route of irritation, bitterness, upset, who's at fault?

Who do I blame?

This happens every day.

You go home today and your spouse is not very happy, find the wind of the Holy Spirit.

You go home today and your children just broke your favorite hockey stick,

jump into the wind of the Holy Spirit.

You go home today and you find out that you forgot to turn off the oven

and your dinner is cooked, jump into the wind of the Holy Spirit.

You go home today and you find out that the ticket you booked is for a month later than you want to travel,

jump into the wind of the Holy Spirit.

You're playing the guitar and you break two strings.

Give it to Mike.

Some things Mike can fix, most of the other things the Holy Spirit will do.

The point is this.

Jump into the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Guys, look for him because he's just waiting.

Unfortunately, he's a gentleman.

And so he doesn't barge his way and say, give it to me, I'll take care of it.

Give me Tate.

No, he doesn't do that.

Oops, sorry Tate, I shouldn't have done that.

These are mistakes we make, but let's move on.

Tate, I apologize.

So you can't do that.

You can't do this and you can't do that either.

Let the Holy Spirit take you away.

Let the Holy Spirit always has a solution, always has a solution.

Jump into it.

Jump into it.

So, the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,

but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So this week, can you, as you come here on Thursday,

can you prepare yourself that, oh God, when we come on Thursday,

one of the things God wants to do on Thursday is to immerse you in the Holy Spirit and enjoy.

That's one of the things that will happen here on Thursday.

How does it happen? I have no idea.

But one of the things the Holy Spirit wants to do on Thursday is he wants to immerse you in joy and in the Holy Spirit.

Immerse you in joy and in the Holy Spirit.

Another word for immerse, which will frighten all of us, is baptize you in joy and in the Holy Spirit.

So I took out the word baptize and I put the word immerse, because that sounds so friendly and so non-denominational.

So he wants to immerse you in joy and the Holy Spirit.

So come on Thursday ready for this.

Come on Thursday ready for this.

Was that joy?

That's what's going to happen here on Thursday.

But come ready.

Come ready.

Let me read this line out that I wrote just before I left.

I still have two minutes left.

You know guys, when I'm not here on Sunday, I want to desperately make up for it.

I know you were here on Sunday and so you went through it already.

But for me it's like, if I was not here on Sunday I'm going to take twice as much time.

But don't worry I won't, because I miss being here on Sundays.

Shush, silence in the peanut gallery.

I mean, if you were sitting in one of these front rows we could allow you to speak, but those back rows?

Joy allows you to perceive from within His Majesty.

Confidence and faith are then attracted to you.

Joy allows you to perceive from within His Majesty.

Guys, I'm really concluding.

God is a highly joyful God.

Please remember, grief, sadness, sorrow, pain, shame was never supposed to be part of this life.

God has had to deal with it, not because of who He is, but because of who we became.

In His nature, God is a highly joyful God.

Which then means that the Holy Spirit is ridiculously ecstatic and joyful Spirit.

He is so full of glee and laughter in His presence.

He is so full of glee and laughter and joy.

We were the ones who brought in words like grief, sadness, shame, sorrow.

These words were never supposed to enter the dictionary.

And He promised when He enters, He will meet a mouth full of laughter.

And so guys, given that God is joyful, His people must be joyful.

Given that God is bringing back a future kingdom which will be joyful.

Remember what He says to the servant in Matthew 25.

He says, enter into what? The wealth of your master? No.

The mansions of your master? No.

The service of your master? No. Enter into the?

Crazy!

Two things God is. One, joyful. Two, He is a servant.

We won't touch that today.

He is joyful. The ultimate reward is joy.

What did He say every day after the earth was created?

It was good. He was happy. He was joyful.

So on Thursday when we come, come with this desire, Oh God,

there is one character that you are so thriving that you are made up of.

That you said the kingdom is made up of righteousness, peace and joy.

In whom? In the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is packed.

The Holy Spirit is packed with joy.

Guys, we haven't even tasted what it feels like.

Oh, when life begins to operate out of this place of joy,

there are circumstances that are pressing, things that are crushing,

persecution, conflicts outside and fears within.

As Paul himself writes in 2 Corinthians 4, 5 and 6,

in the midst of that, Paul says, but rejoice.

Come with this desire, Oh God, immerse me in this fine quality that you have always had.

Enter, I mean, what are the words God uses?

Everlasting joy.

Inexpressible joy.

I don't want to live any other way.

You know what will happen when you begin to live like this?

Can you imagine what will happen to the circumstances around you?

Nothing can stand against the joy of the Spirit of God.

Nothing.

So come ready to be immersed in joy and the Holy Spirit.

How is it going to happen?

Thank God we got four days to figure that out.

Because I got no idea.

I went to one church and the way they make it happen is...

I'm done. You can switch it off because this is...

They make it happen as a preacher will say.