Joy Under Pressure | Whats Your Pressure? | Pastor Bryan Grant

Good morning, KCC.

Welcome to church.

Are you excited to be here on this time change Sunday?

I hope everyone's feeling awake, right, and ready to worship.

I just want to let you know this morning that we have a bit of a different setup.

We're really excited this week because we have the Heritage Play, which is happening this week.

So as you can see, we have no screens because we've got everything set up for the play.

So on your seats, you will find a worship book that you can sing along with.

It's got all the words to our song, so please join in and worship with us this morning.

We're going back to old school roots with the song book.

So we're just gonna embrace it this morning and worship God together.

So I'm just gonna pray for us and then we've got an awesome service plan.

So Lord God, we just thank you for this opportunity to worship you this morning.

We praise you, God, that you are with us in the time change, in the weather change, in the songbook change.

You are just here through it, are Lord God.

And so we just honor you and worship you this morning.

We thank you for this opportunity to praise you.

We bless the service in Jesus' name.

Amen.

What makes us come alive?

A sacrifice of race, a city on a hill, surrender to your will.

Go beyond this lake.

Go beyond this lake.

Awesome in this place.

Jesus, you are awesome in this place, worthy to be praised.

Jesus, you are worthy to be praised.

You will be praised.

You will be praised.

Consuming every space, sun containable.

Coming like a flight, a heart of feeling up.

All things are possible.

All things are possible.

Awesome in this place.

Jesus, you are awesome in this place.

Worthy to be praised.

Jesus, you are worthy to be awesome.

Awesome in this place.

Jesus, you are awesome in this place.

Worthy to be praised.

Jesus, you are worthy to be praised.

You will be praised.

Awesome in this place.

Worthy to be praised.

Jesus, you are worthy to be awesome in this place.

Worthy to be praised.

Jesus, you are worthy to be praised.

You will be praised.

Your praise goes on and on forevermore.

We in the name of Jesus.

Your praise goes on and all forever more.

We live the name of Jesus.

Your kingdom come is what we're living for.

We live in the name of Jesus.

For your earth, for your earth of Jesus.

Awesome in this place.

Yes, Lord, worthy to be praised.

Jesus, you are worthy to be praised.

You're awesome.

Awesome in this place.

Jesus, you are awesome in this place.

Oh worthy to be praised.

Jesus, you are worthy to be praised.

Yes, Jesus.

Oh Jesus.

Her goodness flows.

There is a fountain.

Drows on road, there is induction.

Deeper than fear, the tide is rising, rising.

There is a current stirring deep inside flow.

From the heart of God, the flood of hell.

Crashing over us, the tide is rising, rising.

We feel it now, we come alive in the river.

We come alive in the river.

We come alive in the river.

We come alive in the river.

There is a fountain that drown so roll.

There is an ocean.

Deeper than fear, the tide is rising, rising.

There is a current staring deep inside.

It's overflowing from the heart of God.

Crushing over the rest.

The tide is rising, rising.

I'm from the ground.

We feel it now.

Birsting, birsting up from the ground.

We feel it now, we come alive for fiver.

We come alive in the river.

We come alive in the river.

Oh, yes.

Come alive in you girl.

Sail the captives free.

Spring up a will.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a will in me.

Yes.

Nothing can stop this joy.

We're dancing in the street.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a will.

Spring up a will in me.

Spring up the well.

Spring up the well in the wheel.

Spring up the bell.

Spring up the bell.

Spring up the bell.

We come alive in the wheel.

We come alive in the wheel.

We come alive in the wheel.

Oh, yes, Lord.

Oh, thank you for your joy, God.

We break open, break open prison doors, sell the captive street.

Spring up a will, spring up a well, spring up a will in me.

Yes, God, stir it off.

Nothing can stop this joy.

Yes, Lord.

We're dancing in the street.

Spring up a will.

Spring up a will in me.

Come on.

Sell the captive stream.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a well in me.

I think we saw this door.

We're getting in the street.

We come alive in the river.

We come alive in the river.

We come alive in the river.

We come alive in the river.

Spring up a well in me.

Yes, Lord.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a well in me, God.

Stir it up, Lord.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a well.

Spring up a well in me.

Yes, Lord.

Thank you, Jesus.

Chases me down by until I found leaves a nine.

I couldn't earn it.

I don't deserve it till you give me yourself away.

Yes.

Oh, yes.

How is your foe?

Still your love off me.

You have been so so good to me.

Now hell no worse.

You've hated over me.

You have been so so kind to me and don't be overwhelming, never ending or reckless love of God.

Oh shape sets me down by itself.

I'm found easy nine.

I could return it, I don't disturb it till you give me yourself away.

Oh the whelming, never ending, reckless love.

There's no shadow you won't lighter, bounty won't climb up, coming at me.

There's no shadow you won't lighter, bounty won't climb up, coming at me, oh Lord There's no while you won't kick down, die you won't tear down, coming after me.

Oh no shadow you won't lighter, bounty won't lie up, coming after me won't kick down, I won't turn down, coming after me won't lie, you won't lie, coming out to me all kick down, I you won't take a nap, coming up to day, everything reckless of Jesus me that I shall love I'd find in life I don't furning till you carry yourself away.

Oh me, humble will me never end this up, you carry me, God you carry me, God through the storm war, you come me, God you come me, Jesus with your never ending love, Jesus, no shadow, you won't light up, county you won't climb up, coming after me, oh you coming after me, snow you won't kick down, lie you won't tear down, coming after me.

Oh you running after me, no shadow, you won't light up, county you won't climb up, coming after me.

Oh, you coming after me, no more you won't kick down, lie you won't tear down, coming after me.

No shadow, you won't get down.

Oh, you deserve worship.

Jesus.

Hallelujah.

Jesus.

Send me your call me by my heart all again.

Send me on me.

Grace holds me now.

Yes.

Grace holds me now.

Grace holds me now.

Grace holds me now.

Let's just lift up and worship today.

If His grace holds you now, let's pray to worship him.

Let's just raise our hands to our God and gave it all for us.

My God, you are amazing.

Thank you so much.

We worship you today.

We worship you today.

Yes, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

When I was asked to uh lead prayer today, the first thing that came to my mind was uh there's just one aspect uh I would like us to focus on.

I was reading through Matthew 6, and the disciples come to Jesus and they're asking, teach us to pray.

And I'm sure many of you could uh could quote it with me.

Um it's it's very simple, and it's just even the kids.

But our Father is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts.

I find many times and it's a good thing, but we get so focused on what I would call prayers up.

And it's the portion where God, I have this need, I have this problem.

Um, give us this day our daily bread.

Lord, my finances are a disaster, my marriage is a disaster, Lord.

I need healing.

And these are good prayers that I don't want to take away from that.

Um, but if you look at what comes first, what comes first is your kingdom come, your will be done.

Heaven has a perspective that's different from ours.

So when we start with prayers up, we come with our perspective, our wisdom, our strength, our power, if that makes sense.

When we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done, you're saying, God, establish yourself in me, establish yourself in my mind, my wisdom.

I need your power, your wisdom.

So today I just want to say, whatever, maybe just bring to mind whatever is a mess, whatever is a disaster that you need God to work in.

And today we're just gonna go back to the order.

We're gonna say, God, establish your kingdom in my life.

So if you're comfortable today, just find a new place of surrender.

Maybe raise your hands, maybe just if you don't talk it all in church, maybe just give it a little whisper.

Uh, but let's let's raise it up today, just maybe push a little bit deeper into that surrender.

Father, we love you.

You've done so much for us, Lord.

Holy is your name.

You are above it all.

You are just so more than we can even imagine.

Lord, establish yourself in my life today as it is in heaven.

Lord, as you see us in heaven, your wisdom applied to our lives, to everyone here today, your power and your freedom, Lord, over my finances, over my marriage, over my family that's lost, Lord.

Your wisdom applied.

I pray that you would reach out, that you would establish your kingdom in everyone's lives.

Lord, every problem here today, Lord, we raise it up to you.

You are holy and you are good, and we thank you for your goodness.

We thank you for your goodness.

Father, your wisdom on every single person's lives today.

Everyone, let's just raise him up today.

We thank him for what he is doing, for everything that he is doing in all of these prayers.

Thank you, Father.

We worship you, Lord.

You have set us free, and you are setting free, Lord, and you are working in all of these prayers today.

Establish your kingdom, Lord, in our lives.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

We worship you.

Let's just give him a hand today.

Thank you, Lord.

Well, maybe uh just greet someone next to you, give them a thumbs up, an air high five, or whatever you're comfortable with today.

Did we enjoy worship?

Kind of going back into the uh a bit of the old school, bringing out the hymnals.

The uh it was an excellent time of worship this morning.

Uh, my name is Brian, I'm one of the pastors here at KCC, and I'm really excited to be able to share with you this morning.

Um, we uh are in the middle of a series called Joy Up.

And uh I got to spend some time this week at a team church conference down in Vancouver, and I got to go with Michael.

Uh he's our piano player, and with Camille and Logan.

If I stand next to Michael, I feel like his cool just wears off on me.

When I'm not with him, I feel less cool and kind of nerdy, and it's okay, I'll get over it.

I need to joy up.

But we have we had this time down there, and uh I got to actually shake some hands and get to spend some time with some really great pastors and really great leaders from around North America.

We had people from all over.

And you know what I know is that I'm honored to be in this house serving this pastor, doing what God's called us to do.

Pastor Brody is fantastic, and we're lucky to have him as our lead pastor.

And I'm just excited that he's gonna let me share today.

Hopefully, not for the last time.

We'll see how it goes.

But uh, how many of you woke up this morning and looked at the time and went through the five stages of denial?

Or five stages of grief.

First one being denial, you're like, no, that's not a thing.

Can't happen.

Then you went through anger, like, I can't believe it's 2020 and we still have daylight savings time.

Then you're starting to bargain with your alarm clock.

You're like, no, I'm just gonna go back to sleep and it'll be fine.

I'll wake up and the time will change.

Then you go into depression, a deep sense of despair that you didn't get that extra hour.

And then you just accept it and get up and drink coffee, right?

That's what happens.

Uh, we at KCC really believe in uh our next steps.

And uh one of the things that we talk about all the time, and Pastor Brody mentions it every week, and I want to mention it too.

We do a next steps class on uh three times a month at 11 o'clock during the second service.

And really, what the next steps program is is an opportunity for you to dig deeper and know a little bit more about Jesus.

And one of the things I wanted to say is that we've had 22 people go through the program in the last two months, and over half of those are serving in the church.

And so if you're in a position and you're wondering what you want to do in church and you want to know a little bit more about your relationship with God, this is uh an opportunity today to go in and spend some time at 11 and get to know a little bit about what we do at church and our relationship with God.

But we do believe in the next steps and we do a cycle here at KCC.

We have our our first cycle is know God.

We believe it's very important for you to have your own relationship with God, not the relationship of your dad or your mom or how you grew up in the church.

It doesn't mean that by osmosis you got saved.

That's not how that works, right?

You gotta have your own relationship with God, and we're in our fine freedom time right now.

We're in our fine freedom month, and so we're talking about joy up.

And there's a freedom in joy, and today I want to talk to you a little bit about the uh what how we reach joy and how we reach that through humility in Him.

And then we go into our next phase of our series is discover your purpose.

And Pastor Brody says it this way 11.

There's two times in your life where you're you're gonna you know your purpose and you're happy about it, the day you're born and the day you actually know what your purpose is.

And then we want as a church to be able to put you in a position where you actually get to operate in your lane.

Because we believe that you're a tenant something, and we want you to use your giftings and your callings to build the kingdom of God.

And so we're gonna find a place for you, and we're gonna give an opportunity for you to serve in there, and out of that comes the opportunity to make a difference.

And we believe that once you're in your lane, you're gonna make a difference.

Not just in the people around you, but the people of this community, the people of Canada.

We have, and we just want to have that opportunity for you to be able to make a difference.

And so uh we believe that it's very important that you find out what your purpose is.

Amen?

I don't know if you know what your purpose is.

Beforehands when I'm like, I know.

Right?

I know what your purpose is.

So Pastor Brody has been leading us on a journey uh last week with in the book of Philippians, and he's talking about Joia.

And uh we have a saying here, what would Pastor Brody say?

And when we looked at the time this morning, Pastor Brody would say joy.

And we may shake an angry fist in his general direction, but he would say joy up.

And we're talking about Paul, and he's as we're we're going into Philippians 2 chapter 2 today, and Paul is actually writing to the Philippians church, encouraging them while he's in prison.

And he's doing this not from his, he's in prison, guys.

He's not doing it from a Starbucks or from online, if you happen to be watching, welcome.

But he's not doing it from a place of comfort, he's doing it from a place of discomfort.

And choosing joy, and choosing that joy, choosing joy is not comfortable.

Because we can all agree.

I want you all to agree with me now.

I want you to agree, this is just to make me feel good about myself.

I want you to agree that joy is not your natural response to difficult circumstances.

Do you all agree?

Thumbs up, elbow someone next to you and saying joy is not natural, because we don't want a high-five anyway.

But joy is not our natural response for these types of things.

And one of the things uh that we we know that is natural, we have to shift our perspective from the circumstance to the one who gives us joy.

Even as we were singing this morning these songs about reckless love and whole heart, every song is about the gospel and it's all about Jesus.

My job this morning is just to point you more deeply to a relationship with Jesus.

That's the best job ever.

I get to point to you to Christ this morning.

And so as we uh we move on, um we have all kinds of internal pressures.

How many of you prayed the prayer with Pastor Brody last week and felt some pressure happening this week?

Right?

It's because when you choose joy, the enemy ain't happy and he wants you to be under pressure.

And Pastor Brody said that joy under pressure is essential for change.

Joy under pressure is essential for growth.

We want to move this week.

You've you've been feeling some pressure.

We've been reading the news, there's things happening with a coronavirus, and that's weighty.

People are feeling it.

Uh, Costco is running out of toilet paper.

Y'all laugh.

You're gonna need toilet paper soon, unless you've stocked up already.

But we have this weight right now that's happening in in the world, and God didn't give us a spirit of fear.

God gave us a spirit of love and power and sound mind.

Oh, we're gonna rise above the fear and say, coronavirus, you have no place.

We're gonna pray for our country, we're gonna pray for the globe and say, hey, the coronavirus has nothing.

Because we know who Jesus is and it's his kingdom that we're establishing.

Amen?

You agree with me?

All right, let's pray this morning.

Um Lord, thank you for the opportunity we have for this morning to come and to be in your house to hear about who you are, to hear about your joy.

Lord, this uh morning as we hear your word and as we hear what you have for us, God, that our hearts would be open.

That we wouldn't be a church that just hears the word and walks away.

We have to be a church that hears the word and does the word.

So this morning, I pray that our hearts are open, that our eyes are open, that our our hearts are ready to hear what you have to say, and that we could choose joy in the things that we're doing, Lord, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So I want you to turn to your neighbor, and maybe you can comfortably ask, what's your pressure?

Remember the old days when it was uh you hear the valley girl's like, what's your damage?

Like, right?

I do that really well.

I apologize for that.

I was practicing in the mirror this week, thank you.

Practicing in the mirror this week and trying to get the accent, what's your damage?

Do you remember?

Never mind.

I'm really dating myself right now.

But what's your pressure?

Joy under pressure doesn't begin as a feeling.

It begins when we decide to focus more on the one who brings us joy.

So I'm gonna put it this way.

I heard it said this way.

There's two lists.

You have two lists.

So on the first list, you write down all of the bad things, all of the anger, all of the bitterness, all of the hurt, all of the things that people have done and wrongdo, you write this big list.

Anything that's an injustice in your life that you feel like something's not right.

Then you on the other list, you write all the things that God's blessed you with.

All the things that He's done for you, all the people that have surrounded you, all the people that love you, and all the words that you've been spoken into your life, and all the good things that God has done for you, and all the good things that you've been blessed with.

You take those two lists and you take the negative list and you put that away.

You take the positive list and you stick it on your mirror.

And in that list, this is what's going to happen is that you only look at that negative one once every once in a while.

But you take that positive list and you look at it every single day in the mirror.

And what happens is that list will determine your story.

So if all you focus on is the negative things in life, and only look at the bad things that are happening and all of those things that are going on in your life, and all of the worst possible things that can happen to you, that's going to determine the outcome of your story.

But if we take the positive list and we read that every single day, and this is there's a there's a biblical response or a biblical passage that actually supports positive thinking.

In Philippians chapter 4, verse 8, where it says, Focus on those things that are good, that are noble, that are admirable, that are excellent.

Philippians 4:8

Focus on those things.

Because when you focus on those things, they bring you peace.

They will bring you joy.

Because you're focusing on things that are good.

The list that you read every single day.

You've been around them, the ones that just suck the life out of you because there's no positivity in them.

All they can see is the bad thing.

Meanwhile, they're living in a house, they're driving a nice car, God's blessed them with an amazing job.

They have fantastic life on the outside, but their inside is in turmoil.

Because when we say choose joy, oftentimes our perspective goes from we're gonna choose, we're gonna look at the external pressures that we have.

Oh, the job is tough.

Or someone said something bad about me, or all the external pressures.

But what happens when those internal things are the ones that you carry every single day?

When your choice is the negative things that are in your life, because when someone talks to you from the outside, you can just like block them out and they can go away.

And eventually maybe they're eating away at your heart, maybe they're eating away at your soul.

But those internal things like fear of failure and approval and comparison, those are things that you carry with you every single day.

And if you're focusing on those things that are inside, and the only thing that you're you're focusing on is that I need to have approval.

You want to show approval to God, God first.

But that's what's inside of you.

You're focusing on comparing yourself to someone else.

You're focusing on your fear of failure, you're focusing on those things because someone, the external pressures sometimes are just fleeting external pressures, but these things we walk with every single day.

They're always there.

I struggle with fear of failure constantly, and so it's always in the back of my mind that you're gonna fail at the next thing that you do.

And I have to fight it with things that are positive, with things that are right, with things that are noble, with things that are admirable.

So that voice doesn't speak louder than God's voice.

I want God's voice to be the one that speaks into me, not the voice of negativity.

Philippians chapter 4 is the recipe for positive thinking.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

It's a biblical principle.

So we shift from a perspective of internal or from external to internal.

So sometimes a perspective on our inside, inside of us, needs to make a shift.

The real truth is, is sometimes we let anxiety, depression, sin, all of those things weigh in on us in such a heavy way that all you can see is that.

That I was letting anxiety or my fear of failure to be the one that rules.

I was letting those things be the idol instead of who Christ was first in my life.

Even as we're singing it about this morning, Lord, I give you my whole heart, my arms are in surrender to you because you're number one.

I seek your kingdom first.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, your will be done in me before anything else.

And we let work, we let all of these outside pressures be that joy.

And we're replacing the joy that God gave you with an idol that's actually giving you what I've been calling a counterfeit joy.

You think that you're filled with joy, but the moment that thing is ripped from you, your life goes to shambles.

Your heart goes to shambles.

You look at a different direction instead of looking at Christ.

Instead of looking at Christ.

How do we move into a place where we're choosing joy?

Psalms 37, verse 4 says, I delight, delight yourself in him.

Psalms 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Do you know what delight means?

Look up the definition.

Delight means that you give exalt him above every other thing.

That you exalt him above every thought, every action, every person, every thing in your life, you exalt him above all that.

That nothing else can knock Christ out of that position.

That he is number one, that you wake up in the morning and you think about Christ.

You go to sleep at night, you're thinking about Christ.

Your thoughts are being captive.

You're not letting anything drag you down.

Because Christ is first, because he is the giver of joy.

He gives us the grace to be able to walk through these things with strength and authority, but we're letting other things captivate us.

We're letting idols be the thing that we focus on instead of who Christ is.

We're not choosing joy, we're choosing anxiety.

No, I'm not saying that these things are not things that we struggle with.

And we're gonna struggle with jobs, we're gonna struggle with things.

That's just part of the find freedom thing is that sometimes we come with baggage.

We want you to find freedom in choosing joy.

Because God can heal the heart in a way that no one else can.

That no item, that no material goods, that no mega church pastor can speak the right things, nothing can take the place of God healing you when you choose joy.

When you choose Him.

And this is the thing is when we choose joy, we're choosing Christ first.

He is the giver of joy.

He is the giver of joy.

And so when we choose joy, we're choosing Christ.

So when we move in that place where we're actually acting on the joy that God's given us, and we can actually move into a place to find the freedom from these things.

Amen.

So when I read Psalms 37, verse 4, I see it kind of in two different perspectives.

Psalms 37:4

The first is that God will give me the desires of my heart, meaning that he will instill his desires in my heart, and my desires become his desires.

When we say the word expectation, Lord, we have expectation, God, that you're gonna do something.

I want to shift from the the mindset from my own heart, Lord.

I want to shift into your what are your desires now?

What's your desires in this moment?

I want to shift from thinking about expectation of God.

I want my mind and your mind to be one.

Because when we're tied in together, sin has less place.

When we're focused on Jesus, we're not sin conscious, we're God conscious.

That we can look at the righteousness that He's provided for us, and we don't wear it like a coat, it is who we are.

We're a new creation in Christ.

That we're choosing Christ.

We're not just wearing the coat sometimes when it suits us because we want to be righteous in this one moment.

We are righteous because he made us righteous.

And so we're we're not we're living as new creations in Christ because we're choosing Christ first, and his desires are my desires.

We want to be focused on Christ.

That Christ is the center of what we're doing.

There's always that that pull from all different sides, all of your emotions, all of the things that you struggle with to move him from center.

When we build around Christ, our life changes.

Amen?

And today, even as I was praying for it, I believe that God's asking us to set aside those things that are replacement and counterfeit joy.

So, what's your pressure?

What's your pressure?

What's the thing that the Lord has already been speaking to you about that you know you need to set aside but just aren't doing?

Because there's so many things in life that can actually weigh us down that we can't see what God's saying to us.

It's not because he's not speaking to us.

Sometimes I can guarantee you that when I'm not hearing the Lord, it's not because he stopped and he's like, Oh, I don't like you anymore.

It's because I'm just not listening.

Or I'm in the middle of my own head.

I'm the one that's sinning, I'm the one that's letting the depression in my own mind just eat me alive.

Because I've taken my focus off Christ.

As soon as we move the needle and we start looking to anywhere but Christ, life just kind of has a way of going poof.

And it's and and I love what Pastor Brody said.

Just because you're choosing Christ and you're choosing joy doesn't mean that hardships won't come.

I'm not telling you that this is a magic pill that you're gonna take, you're gonna choose joy, and all of a sudden life's gonna be all hunky-dory.

We often take that scripture, Jeremiah 29, 11, out of context.

I know the plans I have for you.

You know that one?

We take it like it's a vending machine.

We stick the quarter in, and God's gonna bless us out of nowhere.

It's not that God doesn't bless, but he wants us to seek Him first, to seek His kingdom first.

I don't want to have to put the send up the way years ago in Bible school was a prayer flare.

I don't want to send the prayer flare up.

I want to have a relationship with Christ.

So I'm seeing wisdom and words of life as I'm living my life, as opposed to sending up the prayer flare and all of a sudden something happening.

So here's here's part of the the flow, I believe, that we're moving into when it comes to choosing joy.

There's a way that we we choose joy, and it's through humility.

We had uh uh the message for the last couple months has been um even as we've been going through our doctrine pieces, it's all been about salvation and the power of sin and the power of salvation and being broken and contrite before the Lord.

In humility, when you approach him with humility, you approach him with a broken and contrite heart and say, God, I want what you want.

When you say, take this anxiety, take this issue, take this weight that I'm feeling, and I want my focus to be on you, and as we approach him humbly, things will start to change.

So let's read into Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Therefore, if you have in any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing is the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being in one spirit and one mind, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interests of others.

And in your relationship, this is the key, in your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ does.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, humility is thinking of yourself less.

And when we approach God with that attitude, or what do you have?

Your will be done on earth as it is in me.

We approach Him like that, things will change.

Another way that I heard this is humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.

We're focusing on Jesus this morning.

We're choosing Jesus this morning.

Above all other things, we're choosing Jesus this morning.

Delight yourself in Him.

Everything else has no place, has no place in your heart, no direction.

We're choosing Jesus this morning.

We choose joy, Lord, because we want that joy to be in us.

And uh even as we we experience the joy that God has for us, knowing that in those hardships you have peace and you have joy in you.

To know that that relationship with God is not gone because I'm not actively trying to pursue Him, but you have strength and grace and mercy to walk through things that you would not have had before.

And that's what happens when you choose joy.

Think about it this way: Paul's in prison, he's writing this from prison, he could have complained, he could have written a letter to the jailer and been like, hey, I'm upset and write a strongly worded email with caps lock on, really get his point across.

But he could have chosen all kinds of different options, but from prison, he's writing to the Philippians saying, Choose joy.

In all of the things that you're doing doing, have the mindset of Christ for loving one another.

Have the mindset of Christ.

The way we approach God in order to choose joy is we come to Him humbly and say, God, what do you have for me?

Not we manipulate sometimes and and we act in selfish and vain ways, trying to get what we want.

We try and manipulate other people to get what we need.

But if we're approaching all people with one mind, moving in that direction and saying, God, this is what you want from me, that stuff falls away.

But when we in humility consider ourselves, others better than ourselves, we're approaching them like this with Jesus.

Humility is being like-minded.

Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 to 8 says, humility is having the same mindset as Christ, just like we spoke about.

Philippians 2:5–8

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in the appearance of man.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even on the cross.

We have the same mindset of Christ.

He is God by nature and he served God's plan.

He by becoming a human, he focused on the goal.

He focused on something that was bigger than him.

Jesus died on the cross and was focused on the mission, mission first.

His kingdom, God's kingdom.

He won, and he did on the cross because he wanted to see us win.

To see us be in right standing with God.

Scripture says that uh the who the joy was set before him.

He endured pain, he endured shame, suffering on that cross for us.

But he did it with humility.

He was mission-minded, he was less about himself.

He was in unity.

Philippians chapter 2 says, Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Children of God without fault and wrapped in a warped and crooked generation.

Then you will shine them, shine among them like stars in the sky and as you hold firmly to the word of life.

Grumbling and complaining happens when we are too focused on ourselves.

Arguing was we what we do when we want to be right.

You're married.

Some of you, those of you have some good things to look forward to.

But arguing was what we do when we want to be right.

And sometimes we were we instead of saying, God, what do you have for me?

We're willing to argue with him and talk ourselves out of something that God had for us.

Because of your unwillingness to submit to his authority, because our focus is on us and not on him.

We want to choose Christ this morning, and we're doing it from a place of humility.

Lord, I come to you broken, I come to you.

What the Bible says God oppresses the proud but gives grace to the humble.

I don't want God oppressing me in any way, shape, or form.

But we're approaching Him in such a way that we come ready to have, Lord, search my heart, make me clean.

Sometimes search my heart, make me clean, Lord.

I want to be humble before you.

And you're gonna operate in that lane that God's built for you.

And you're gonna move into a new realm of blessing that you never had before, that you've never seen before, because you're choosing Christ.

Philippians, this is like amazing instructions from Paul on how to choose joy.

He gives us like a framework all the way through Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

We haven't even got to three and four yet about what's happening and how to choose joy.

Approach him humbly.

What's your pressure?

What's the pressure right now that's standing in your way from doing what God's called you to do in your life?

What's that eternal thing that you need to ditch to move off to the side where you're not letting Christ be number one in your life?

You're not letting his authority, what he did on the cross for you, the freedom that he paid for that's already yours because of what he's done.

What's that pressure that you're unwilling and unrelenting and holding on to?

Is it a mindset of religion?

Are you are you being religious in your attitudes?

Are you not letting grace rule?

You're holding on to bitterness and anger from an argument that you had or friends that you've you've had.

What are you holding on to?

That's preventing you from your purpose.

What's the anger?

What's the you went through a divorce and you're just angry?

You want to serve God, but you also want to hang on to that anger.

You live in fear of sickness of the coronavirus.

It's holding you down.

What's your pressure?

What's your idol?

I don't want anything in my life that exalts itself above who Jesus is and what he did on the cross for me.

You remember the story of the man at the well?

He was by the well at Gethsemane, I believe.

He was there for 38 years and he made up every single excuse to not get in the well.

Every single excuse he could, though I didn't get there in time, and he wasn't able to walk.

The Lord looked at him and said, Do you want to be healed?

So, my question to you this morning do you want a new revelation of Jesus in your life that sets you free?

Because we're not, we don't want to have a walk with God that is stagnant, that is boring, that is not moving me forward, that is just unfulfilled.

If that's where you are right now, let's see what God has for you in this moment.

Do you want to be made well?

Now, this isn't me saying you're all unhealthy and you need to be on, you need to be well.

This is saying that there's things in your heart that you're holding on to that's preventing you from choosing joy, that's preventing you from choosing Christ in a way that is gonna bring life to you, that's gonna bring healing to you and your family.

What happens when we approach Christ humbly is that things change in our heart, and then everything around us changes.

Can you bow your heads with me?

This is your first time being at church today, or you've been here a few times, and you don't know Jesus, and you want to know how to choose joy.

And you want to know more about what he did on that cross, and you want your life to change.

We're gonna have an opportunity for you to give your life to Jesus.

So, church, say this with me.

Dear Lord, I know I'm a sinner.

I choose you, Jesus.

I have done many things that don't please you.

I live my life for myself only.

I am sorry and I repent.

I ask you to forgive me.

I believe that you died on the cross.

For me to save me.

From this day forward.

Help me to live every other day for you and in a way that pleases you.

For everyone else, this is an opportunity right now for us to choose joy.

So if you want to stand with me to your feet, the team is going to lead us in a song.

But I want you to think about what's that pressure that's holding on, that you're holding on to that's not letting you move.

And at church, we raise our hands and surrender.

So what's that thing that's holding that's holding you from choosing joy?

What's that pressure?

So if you're comfortable, I want you to raise your hand and just submit to what he wants to you.

Because this is not a time that we don't respond.

This is a moment for us to choose Christ first, to choose God first, to choose joy through humility and say, God, I am broken in my own heart.

I need you to move things forward.

So just sing this out with everything that's in you and say, God, I want more of you.

I want you to be my focus, you to be my direction, you to be the thing that I focus on first thing in the morning.

First thing.

Let's just give him all the glory this morning.

Oh my heart now and forever my soul cry.

Amen.

Amen.

Can we just give a hand for Jesus this morning?

He is here, his presence is here, his joy is here.

You can have a seat this morning.

Thank you, Pastor Brian, for that message.

We're gonna talk about our tithes and offerings this morning.

And you know, I just love this theme of joy.

I mean, it's a joyful season, isn't it?

When spring is coming around.

I know it doesn't look like it outside, but it's on its way.

We know that.

And you know, I was reading this week in my Bible and and I read 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7, and it's a verse I've heard a lot of times.

2 Corinthians 9:7

But I read it in the message, and I just love the way they put it, and it said, God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

And it really hit me in a different way when I read it this time, and I thought, man, God loves it.

Like sometimes we can see God as this guy who's like, got all these commands, and he's serious, and he's asking all these things of us, and he's kind of like around us somewhere, right?

But God is so personal and God has asked us to tithe, but I think there's something to think about when we think about God smiling, loving it, when he sees us giving with a cheerful heart.

He's up there like, that's my son, that's my daughter, look at them, look at them giving.

I love that, that's amazing.

He's like cheering us on, you know, and I think, you know, as parents, as husbands, as wives, as friends, when we've asked something of somebody and they do it dragging their feet, but they do it, that just doesn't have the same feeling as when you've asked something of somebody.

You're like, hey, this would be so important to me.

I'd really love it if you did this.

And they're like, Yes, I would love to do that for you.

I'm gonna do that right now.

When do you want it?

Right now, I'll do it, I'll do it.

And I think that that is like the heart that we can have when we give this morning, that cheerful heart, and we can actually think that God is loving it.

He's like cheering us on, he's so happy.

And that is a picture that makes my heart glad and makes me want to give and follow his commandments because just imagine this God who created the universe is like cheering you on this morning as you're giving.

So we have a few ways to give.

We don't have screens this morning, but one of the ways is there's an envelope in your seat that you can fill out and put in the baskets as the ushers are gonna pass them around.

There's also an app that you can go on the app and you can give that way or on our website.

Um however you choose to give this morning, we just want to thank you for your giving.

And if you are new here, new with us this morning, this envelope you can also fill it out and give us a little bit of information about who you are and how we can connect with you.

And we love it if you put that envelope either in the basket or you can take it after the service out to the connect table out there, where we have an awesome team that's ready to welcome you, greet you, and just answer any questions you might have and help you connect.

So I'm gonna go ahead and invite the ushers to come forward, and I'm gonna pray for our giving this morning.

So, Lord God, we just thank you for this opportunity that we have this morning to give.

We thank you that you invite us to give with joy, Lord, and that you have joy for us when we give, when we follow your commands, and that you are filled with love and joy, Lord, when we give with a cheerful heart.

So I just pray for joy for all of us as we take this step of giving this morning, God, and I just pray that you would bless the giving, bless the people that are giving this morning, and we just pray for just this week to be filled with your joy in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right.

Well, if you are new here with us this morning, Pastor Brian already talked about our next steps class, and that happens at 11 o'clock in the second service upstairs.

So please take advantage of that.

It's an awesome way to just hear about some of the heartbeat of the church, what we're all about, and how you can connect here on a team.

So there's it's starting at 11 o'clock during the second service.

Don't miss out on that.

It's awesome.

Uh we also have lots of connect groups happening in our church.

And if you're curious about a connect group, it's just an awesome way to build relationships on kind of a smaller, more intimate level.

So you can go ahead and go to the connect table after the service, and they have our our team there, they have some information about the groups that might be a good fit for you.

Uh don't miss out.

It's an awesome way to take church through your week, to connect with deeper relationships, and to really build your life and live life alongside some amazing people that we have in our church family.

Amen.

Um, okay, and the last thing is that we have our Wednesday morning prayer happening, 7 a.m.

I know it's early, especially with the time change, but by Wednesday you're gonna be adjusted because that's just how we are.

We're just resilient people.

So please come join us at 7 a.m.

as we pray.

Amen.

All right, well, I'm gonna go ahead and invite Pastor Brody up to close our service.

It's a long ways up here.

Hey, and we also want to invite you to the drama that's happening this week.

So HCS is doing the drama on Joseph.

It is a spectacular production from the 10th to the 14th.

Go online and just search or call the front desk, you'll find information about it there.

Uh, I'd like to, uh before I just close today, I'm just gonna invite you to stand with me.

And I'm gonna just share with you uh a benediction.

But before we we close, I just want to announce uh Alice is here.

I don't know if she's just stepped out.

Uh many of you know Henry Abling, uh, who's been a longtime member of KCC.

He passed away this uh uh yesterday evening.

And for those of you who know Henry, he's served with us at the church, was always an early face and loved to dance with his, he loved to dance before the Lord.

And uh if he was here today, he would say, Yoy up.

Yoy up.

He would say, Yoy up, and he is with the Father today, his heavenly father, he's celebrating in heaven.

What an awesome, awesome thing to consider today that that uh he's in heaven today worshiping with the Lord in a new body, amen.

I'd like to uh also just share um this this benediction over you, and I'd just like to you just be able to receive it as a blessing for you, over you and your family and your children, and your children's children if you've got them, and uh just receive this.

May the Lord bless you.

May you experience his abundant blessings flowing, rushing towards you.

May the Lord keep you, may you know that you are safe in his loving arms, that you are hid in the cleft of the rock, you are safe in him.

May he cause his face to shine upon you.

May you realize you have his attention, you have his desire.