Joy - Week 3

Hey GoJerk family, Pastor Julie here. I am so excited to be with you again on this podcast

as we are looking at joy. I'm here with Laura.

Hello everyone. I'm here with Pastor Matt Hattavah.

Hey everybody.

And Gilbert.

Hey everyone.

We're having a good time.

We're having a great time.

Amazing time.

I mean, it's holidays and what a wonderful way to celebrate the gift that God has given

us to be together and look into the truth of God's Word. I love it. I just, I love

our time together.

That's right. The first thing I want to say is Merry Christmas to my Go Church family.

Merry Christmas!

I sounded really unjoyful there.

I thought you were very joyful.

You know what? You know what I really enjoy is the fact that we had to actively try to

stop laughing to start recording.

So what we're talking about we're doing in this room.

And I trust that you are growing in this and that as we go through this month, that you

are able to keep exercising your joy and not to suppress it. That you know, this is giving

you faith to say, no, I will rejoice. I will laugh. It's okay if things don't seem right.

It's okay if I seem crazy to the world because they know that I'm going through this problem

or that situation.

We really shouldn't fit in.

That's right.

We are in the world, but we're not of the world.

Yeah.

So we're going to talk about joy in action.

And one of my Rayma teachers, Rayma instructors, when I was in Bible school, his grandson actually

shared this story years later.

But it was about the time I was in Bible school.

His grandson was just a young teenager and they had stopped at a filling station to get

gas in their vehicle.

And the Rayma instructor, his name is Cooper, and he looked over and he saw this young couple.

They were maybe in their 20s.

And they're just hugging next to the gas station or next to the gas pump while their car is

filling.

And his grandson told the story from his perspective.

So his grandson is sitting in the car and he sees Cooper, his grandfather, look over,

see this young couple and he thought, oh no.

And sure enough, here goes Cooper over to this young couple and he begins talking to

them about Jesus.

Just ask them, you know, do you all know Jesus?

Have you confessed Jesus as your Lord?

You know, Jesus has a plan for you.

Jesus loves you.

And the grandson is sitting in the car just like, oh, I'm so embarrassed.

You know, this Cooper is, my grandfather has just went and interrupted their day.

But guess what happened?

He led both of these young people to the Lord.

And they both confessed Jesus that day, which, you know, a couple of weeks ago in our podcast,

we were talking about the 99, leaving the 99 for that lost one and the Lord saying,

rejoice with me.

So this was a time of rejoicing.

All of heaven rejoices when someone comes.

Well, Cooper was very happy.

The grandson was happy that it was over.

And when he related that story, he said, I realized something.

He said, it took me a while to understand it.

He said, but I realized something that day.

He said, my grandfather was an alien.

He did not belong to the world.

He didn't fit in with the world because in the way the world works, you just leave people

alone.

Right.

But he didn't try to fit in because he had a message that he needed to give away.

And what is joy in action?

It's letting other people know about this hope that we're carrying around on the inside.

That's right.

That's so good.

Praise God.

So we should all rejoice with him, right?

Yeah, that's what Jesus said.

Yeah.

Well, we rejoice in that.

That's amazing.

You know, we mentioned something two years ago on the joy message that we did.

And we said this, that joy shared is joy multiplied.

That's right.

And we just want to act on that.

And we want to see that going forward.

You know, this is the last week that we talk about joy, but it is not the last week that

we rejoice.

It is not the last week that we keep practicing what we're seeing today.

And we are supposed to share that joy.

You know, when we go back to that place where the Lord has that expression, rejoice with

me because I found that lost sheep.

Rejoice with me because that gold coin was lost and now it's found.

Rejoice with me because my son who was lost is now found and he is home.

So joy shared is joy multiplied.

And we want to take our joy and act on it.

We want to put it in action.

And this week, that's what we're going to talk about.

Joy is a response of faith, our response of faith to the word of God that we believe.

Joy is a supernatural response which brings supernatural results into the world.

So last week we developed the idea that joy is a response of faith.

This week, we want to take it further and say that joy is a releasing of faith.

You know, joy is what takes our believing and turns it into receiving or turns it into

acting on what we believe, expecting a result.

And that's what we're going to talk about.

And I just want to, I want to read two passages of scripture back to back and we're going

to talk about the second one a little bit.

So the first one I want to read is in Isaiah chapter 12 in verse 3, it says this, therefore

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

You notice the joy, so we've been talking last week that, you know, joy, you know, the

joy that we have is our strength and that we are using joy to accomplish something and

to do something.

And here we see that with joy we are able to draw out promises of God.

We're able to go deep into that well of life because we know that there is a well of life

in our spirit because the word of God dwells in our spirit.

And so with joy we're able to draw those promises out, draw that life out of those deep places

and pour it out into the world.

Just like we saw that, you know, in that story that the joy of the Lord leads us to want

to tell other people, hey, I'm joyful.

You should be joyful too.

You can be joyful because what I have you can have as well.

That's sharing the gospel, plain and simple.

You know, our lives can be expressions of that but we also need to put that in action.

We need to deliberately tell people about it.

And you know, people who are so bold to constantly do that, it's such an inspiration to me to

be honest that, you know, they never disconnect from that joy that they have and that strength

that they have and that, you know, that willing, that heart of God to want to tell others that

that joy that I have that belongs to you.

And you know, to be honest, that's also in my personal experience when I try to share

the gospel.

I always say that, you know, my life is going to be a picture of that.

And especially when there's access for me to do that with people, with my friends, I

say, look, I will share.

I will share this one time and I will tell them about it.

And what they receive is what they receive.

They know my number.

They know where to find me.

But my life will be an expression of the gospel and an expression of the joy of the Lord.

And you know, if it turns into a debate, if it turns into some kind of just back and forth

intellectual discussion, to be honest, I cut it off and I say, listen, what I experience

on a daily basis, I just want for you to experience it one time.

That is it.

And that's going back to allowing the joy of the Lord to work in my life and, you know,

to then help me draw things out to work in their lives.

So I want to go back to...

You know, someone asked me, once they said, well, what do I say if someone presents, you

know, this argument about the gospel?

What does the Bible say?

I don't argue with people at all.

Just tell them what the Bible says.

People argue with the Bible all they want, but no one can argue with me because I'm just

not...

I'm not going to participate in that.

We never want to win arguments.

That's why I love Alpha, which is starting in just a couple of weeks.

And Alpha, we don't try to win arguments.

We just want to win people.

That's right.

So let's go back to the second scripture that I want us to talk about, which is James chapter

one, verses two through to four.

I'm going to read this and we can just add some light to this.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing

of your faith produces patience.

And let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

So here there's a picture of things coming your way.

How do you respond to it so that you can get to the other side?

So that we are perfect and complete.

So perfect means complete, you know, and we lack nothing.

So everything that's missing, everything that's not right, that changes.

How do we get to that place?

And we see a few things here.

Joy, so count it all joy.

And then we talk about faith and we talk about patience, having their perfect work.

But it all starts with joy, you know, count it all joy.

So this count it all joy, this actively rejoice is an expression or it's a command when things

are not right.

It's not really a command of when things are right.

Like Pastor Matt said last week, which I really enjoyed, you know, you rejoice when things

are bad, but you can be happy when things turn around, right?

Because happiness is an emotional response to an outward circumstance.

And we have to count it all joy when things are bad so that there is power in the response,

the faith response to turn those things around.

Laura, do you have any opportunities to count things joy?

Of course.

What you were saying about the first week we were talking about our nature, God never

changes.

We know that.

His nature is joy and His nature is in us.

We have joy and also God is so generous.

So when we see the verses about rejoicing with others, about others, it's because our

nature is to be generous and rejoice with others.

And I just love that.

And no matter what happens around you, this joy is always with you and you intentionally

keep it and grow it because no one can change their nature.

Whatever they do, the joy will be there forever.

Yeah, just love that.

So I, you know, at the beginning of when I met Laura, I used to always just joke with

her like, why are you always smiling?

Stop smiling.

And obviously that's, you know, that's a joke.

I would never encourage you in real life to stop smiling.

That's why we're doing a whole month on joy.

But it's just because every time I see Laura, there's something in her that can't be contained

in her.

There's always something in her that shows up on her face.

You know, so, so out of a joke, I say that, but, but that is true.

I mean, if you met Laura, you, you would think there's not a problem in her life, not a problem

around her, not a problem in anything that, that is, that is going on to do with Laura,

that she lives in the world just as you and I live in the world.

Right?

Yes.

That's true.

The, the verse here in James that you read, the passage is something that we should really

pay attention to.

Like I said, the spiritual response to problems is to rejoice.

And James, he calls, he says there, count it joy.

That's how the passage starts, count it joy.

So if I have to count something, it means maybe it's not just automatically, I'm not

going to automatically recognize it as, ah, this is something that my emotions would treat

as happiness.

But look at the way it ends in, in verse four, lacking nothing.

So work backwards, lacking nothing.

Does that sound good?

Or let me ask it a different way.

Is there something that you can point, point your finger to right now in your life and

say, this is lacking.

There's something that, that needs development there.

I need to receive more in this area, whether it's relationships, maybe it's an area of

development in character, maybe it's, ah, finances, whatever it is, if there is a thing

in your life that you can point to as lack, take this as a starting place and work backwards.

Work backwards.

What do I mean work backwards?

Well, just right there in verse four, it says, if I'm going to be in a place of lacking nothing,

then I need to do something about patience, patience, having a work of completion.

Hmm.

What is, what is that?

The, the, oh, this is something about the, the testing or proving of my faith.

And then I get to verse two, count it joy.

If I want to get to the place where I lack nothing, then I don't need to wait until I

lack nothing.

I need to do something.

What is it that I need to do?

I need to start counting things as joy or like Paul in the letter to the church in Philippi,

I just rejoice.

I rejoice at all times.

I rejoice in and under any circumstance.

Why?

Because the word of God will not fail, cannot fail and God's promises to me are true.

The Bible says that the Lord is able to make all grace abound toward me.

We shouted about that all summer long.

Yes.

Well, that passage is still true today.

Yep.

And so despite what circumstances might try to convince me otherwise, if I can find lack

in my life, all I have to do is work backwards to verse two and start saying, ah, here's

an opportunity for me to count this joy.

And I'll know if I count it joy by what I do, those expressions of joy.

So a great response, a spiritual response to problems is to rejoice.

Amen.

Our main scripture, the one Thessalonians 5, 16, the short verse, rejoice always.

Always.

And it's not tied to anything if you're happy, if everything is fine.

That's it.

Rejoice always, no matter what.

Rejoice always, full stop.

Yes.

If you're unsure what that looks like, do what Lara does.

Yes.

I do want to add something to this that Peter says in 1 Peter chapter one verses eight and

nine.

He says this, though you have not seen him, you love him.

Though now you do not see him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full

of glory.

So we go back to what we were talking about last week.

Yet believing you rejoice.

So in believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

So joy inexpressible manifests in very ugly ways sometimes or whatever you want to, ugly

in terms of what it looks like, not what is going on in you.

But verse nine says this, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

So because we believe, we rejoice.

And because we rejoice, we receive the end of our faith.

So joy is the strength of the Lord in any situation.

And it is an outworking of our faith, but it is also the thing that gets us from believing

to receiving according to what Peter just said right here.

So let's dig into this a little bit.

One of the things about Bible interpretation is to see who is speaking and then to understand

who is being spoken to.

We understand that the Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and so we say that the

Word of God is God speaking to me.

I want to dig into this letter that Peter wrote, this verse here, joy, inexpressible

joy.

In the translation that I have is joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Well yeah, the Christians in Peter's ministry had great joy because of course Peter was

their minister and pastor, and they didn't have any problems, right?

I mean, because their pastor was one of the twelve pastors.

What's wrong with Pastor Matt?

I don't know.

That's a Julie.

But look, back up.

Who did Peter write this letter to?

Verse one, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the foreigners that have been scattered

throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Peter wrote this epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it applies to the

church in Beirut, but he wrote it to those who had been scattered.

What do you mean scattered?

Rome came in and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and there were many people that fled for their

life, and they actually went to regions of what is today central modern-day Turkey.

We have actually visited some of these places in Cappadocia where Christians made caves

and lived in the side of hills.

These were the people that Peter said, whom having not seen you love.

So despite the fact that they had lost their homes, businesses, and moved to a different

region in spite of that.

Because of destruction?

Because of destruction, because of natural circumstances.

Talk about a bad situation.

They were still in a place of confident expectation that Jesus is Lord, that God's promises are

true, and they are experiencing joy that cannot be expressed in words.

I think we can make it with, you know, AC.

My point is here we have an example where the natural circumstances were bad, and in

those natural circumstances believers are doing what?

Counting it all joy.

What happens when they count it all joy?

They receive.

What happens when they count it all joy?

They move into a place of lacking nothing.

Everybody would like to receive.

Everybody wants to be in a place of lacking nothing, but there are too few of us that

are willing to count it joy and act like the word of God is true and rejoice now without

having seen.

That's so powerful the way he says it.

In verse 7 it says, the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes,

though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the

appearing of Jesus.

Jesus, the one that you have not seen, you love, in whom though now you don't see him,

yet believing, you rejoice.

You rejoice.

And what happens when we rejoice of the thing that we do not see?

We see it.

That works 2000 years ago, and it works today.

It works for Laura.

It'll work for you.

Praise God.

Praise God.

I also want to point out that a scripture in Psalm 35 verse 27, which is one of my favorite

Psalms 35:27

scriptures, I would probably say that about half of the Bible, to be fair.

But here the psalmist is saying, let them shout for joy and be glad who favor my righteous

cause and let them say continually, let the Lord be magnified.

Because he takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Let me turn this into New Testament language of his son.

He takes pleasure in my prosperity.

The fact is that that was not written at a time when the psalmist was enjoying prosperity.

It was not written at a time where he was enjoying great success.

Because that word prosperity can also be translated as success.

But what he does say, what he starts with is, let them shout for joy and be glad.

Yeah.

So at a time when the natural circumstances appeared the opposite, he rejoiced and shouted

about something that was true because he knows who he is.

People that live their life out here in the earth sad and somber and just full of just

heaviness are going to really have an adjustment in heaven because heaven is not like that

at all.

And his presence is fullness.

Fullness of joy.

They say, he's not like that.

He's not just sad and somber and angry.

He laughs, he sings.

This is who he is.

That's why kids love to be around Jesus.

It's just who he is.

Imagine you're sitting there and he's like, come here, come here.

Let me sing a song over you.

Let me rejoice over you.

Don't get embarrassed because it's going to happen.

Just get ready.

Praise God.

It's amazing.

So reading Proverbs 17 verse 22 in the light of what we just have seen and what we just

Proverbs 17:22

received, it says this, a merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries

the bones.

This is not just an expression.

This is the fact.

This is the truth.

When we rejoice, we're making room.

Our Christmas gift this year to Go Church is a prescription to the very best medicine.

And that is laughter.

A merry heart.

Start laughing.

Even if you don't feel like it, because you don't feel like it, when you don't feel like

it, especially when you don't feel like it, especially when it doesn't look like it, laugh

because the Bible is true.

And it moves us into a place where we lack nothing and we receive what we do not see.

It's not ho ho ho.

It's ha ha ha.

That's exactly right.

That's exactly right.

I love it.

That's amazing.

I love it.

I love it.

Praise God.

So let's take a step further and talk about something practical here.

How do I stir up joy?

So we said we're not, you know, we can't lose joy.

All we can do is suppress it.

So how do we stir it up?

What if, you know, I don't, I don't feel joyful.

It seems really difficult.

I mean, we just, we just answered one of the most obvious things.

Just laugh, you know, get, get up and do something.

Act on what you believe.

And that is so, so I have a couple of practical points that, you know, they really helped

me and they're, they're practical, but they're also scriptural, which is doing.

So the first thing I want to say is speaking the word of God.

So putting the word of God in my mouth, you know, sometimes if I don't, if I don't feel

right, sometimes, you know, my, my emotions are just like kind of nagging at me.

I'll do something a little weird.

I will stand in front of a mirror and I'll start talking the word of God to myself.

You know, I'll do what, what the Psalmist and Psalm 42 and verse five, what he, what

he does, you know, he says, why are you cast down?

Oh, my soul, hope in God, keep your hope in God.

And I start talking to myself.

He's done too much for you.

Do you know what you have in you?

Do you know what he's expecting to do for you?

Do you know what he's trying to do in your life?

Do you understand how valuable you are?

And I just start talking the word of God to myself.

And I do want to say that that, that is scripture.

So let me, let me read Proverbs 15 verse 23.

Proverbs 15:23

A man has joy by the answer of his mouth and a word spoken in due season, how good it is.

That's scripture.

If I talk according to words of my mouth, I have joy.

So if I'm speaking, I'm allowing the joy of the Lord to flow out of my belly into my life.

And so that is the first thing I want to say.

Talk the word of God, you know, sit, sit someone down and start bragging about God.

Do you know what God's done for me?

Do you know what God's doing for you?

Do you understand how big he is?

Do you like, you start magnifying the Lord.

Everything else looks small in front of him.

Yeah.

So, and you're saying, let's take it a step further.

Let's, let's take this one practical step and, and let me ask, do you know someone right

now that if you're not in the, in the, the ready to rejoice on your own and shout at

yourself in the mirror, do you have someone you can call and say, hey, tell me, tell me

how blessed I am.

Do me a favor and remind me how healed I am.

Do you have, can, can you think of that person?

I hope they're in your grow group.

And then let me, let me take it as a step further.

Are you that person for someone else?

Do people know if I call Laura, I know, I know exactly what I'm going to get.

I'm going to get like a faith injection.

I'm going to get a rejoice injection.

I'm going to get a joy injection.

Or do they think, well, if I call this person, I'm going to hear, you know, like what this

politician said, what this thing said, wonder what the Americans are going to do.

Let me tell you something, speaking on behalf of America, nothing.

There, we're, we're not in charge of anything, but honestly, who are you to the people around

you?

Are you the voice that encourages them, that says our key scripture, rejoice always?

Or do you need to spend some time with someone that encourages you to rejoice?

And what I would say is do both.

Know, know who to go to, to get that joy injection.

Yeah.

And I'm speaking to all the faith friends who want to be faith friends.

Don't be a voice of condemnation.

Don't tell your friend three, four, five, 10 things that they haven't done.

And if they did, they wouldn't be in the position they're in.

Be a voice of faith, right?

Be a voice of who God is, because God doesn't condemn us.

So we don't condemn anyone.

Like we don't put them in condemnation.

We just tell them what God is trying to tell them all the time, which is I love you.

I did this for you.

I have big plans for you.

I'm taking you further.

I don't want you in a bad position.

I don't want you here.

I want you there.

And this is what we do as faith friends.

You know, another, another point I just want to talk about in terms of something practical,

which is how do I stir up joy in humility?

Yeah.

So Psalm 118, there's, there's a verse which says, you know, this is the day that the Lord

has made.

I will be glad.

I will rejoice in it.

Does that, like Laura was saying, does that include when the day is sunny or when things

are good?

No, it's rejoicing in the fact that I recognize God in this more than I recognize problems

in this more than I recognize, you know, the weight of my issues in this.

No, I recognize God in this.

So I will rejo, I will humble myself.

Humble myself is get over my emotions, get over the fact that, you know, I look good

when I sulk, you know, over, over getting the, getting over this idea that, you know,

what are people going to think of me if I rejoice and things are going bad?

Like they'll think this and they'll think that.

Yeah, that's, that's fine.

No, who cares?

You know, the, the fact is we humble ourselves before the Lord because we know who he is.

Yeah, we might not see it now, but we know who he is and we know what he's trying to

do.

So I will rejoice in that.

I will actively get over myself.

This is, I know that this doesn't sound logical, but this is a practical element, practical

element.

Number one, talk to myself, talk to someone else who's going to inject me with the word

of God.

And number two, actively get over yourself, actively humble yourself.

Remind yourself that God is bigger and greater than any problem you're facing.

That's right.

That's right.

Praise God.

I know that we're running longer than we have this month in our, you know, in this podcast.

I wish I could say this is because it's a Christmas special, but the reality is there's

just so much that we want to talk about.

And as we get to the end of this podcast, there are, there's just one more thing I want

to talk about, which is the need to exercise joy in order to go.

And this is something that Pastor Matt shared in that first story, that first illustration

at the beginning of this podcast.

And I want to point this out in scripture and this stood out to me and I just saw this

recently, honestly, but in, in Matthew 28 in verse nine and 10, when, when Jesus appears

to the women who come to the tomb, this is the first time that Jesus is seen after the

resurrection and the first time that he speaks according to the, according to the account

of, of Matthew.

The first thing that Jesus says is rejoice.

That is the first thing he says.

And some translations it's actually, you know, translated as hail or greetings, but the direct

word is cheer or cheerful or be cheerful or rejoice, you know?

So imagine that is the first thing that Jesus says rejoice because now there's something

new that happened.

Now there is a, a new reality for you.

Rejoice.

Hallelujah.

That's so powerful.

That's so powerful to me that stood out to me so much.

Honestly, it's like this word just came off the page and slapped me in the face.

Just rejoice.

It was amazing.

That's a good slap.

Yeah, it's a great slap.

And verse 10, the next things he said is do not be afraid.

And then he says, go, go and tell.

But first thing he says is rejoice.

So, so there's something that we need.

Like this is, this is something that will actively strengthen our ability to go out

and share the gospel and share the light of the gospel.

Not only the words, not only the story, but the light and the life of the gospel, because

we share that when we put on joy, when we actively rejoice, when we live in the joy

of the Lord.

Praise God.

That's so good.

Yeah.

It got me so excited when I saw that.

Rejoice.

The first thing, you know, we always talk about the great commission and this is it.

This is it.

Like this is the first thing he says.

Rejoice.

That's part of the great commission really.

You know, so, yeah.

So the final thing I want to say is I just want to point us to the Bible illustration

that we're going to be talking about in our Grow Groups this week.

It is Christmas.

It's the week of Christmas.

We've been celebrating together with our families, with our church family, and we don't, you

know, we want to keep talking about the Christmas story.

We're going to keep talking about joy in the Christmas story.

And so I want to point us to two passages of scripture that I would invite everyone

to read through and really keep your glasses on to see the words joy, rejoice.

Someone who gets up and shouts really loud, praises God.

Keep those glasses on.

And so the passages are this.

So first passage is Matthew chapter two, verses one through to 11 and Luke chapter one, verse

39, all the way through to chapter two, verse 40.

I encourage everyone to read those and look at different stories.

And what you will notice that there are many different people around the Christmas story

who get a revelation of the hope that is born that day and who respond in a certain way.

And that way is joy.

I love so many of these, you know, the shepherds.

One of my favorites, the shepherds rejoice and they run in and see the newborn babe,

but they know about it because the angels are rejoicing.

And one day I was reading that and I thought, you know, the angels didn't decide, hey, these

few shepherds, they probably need some, some just a special Christmas choir song.

All of heaven had been aimed at this one point.

And so all of heaven is rejoicing.

And here over these shepherds that are keeping watch over the night, do you know what they

were watching over?

They were watching over the lambs that were for Passover.

And they, they got the news that the lamb that Abraham had said that the Lord would

prepare was ready.

He's so good.

Yeah, he is.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Praise so good.

Simeon and Anna, you know, these are, these are two people we know very little about except

that they gave their life in praying like champions for the plan of God.

There are people, there are people that you and I, we haven't met yet, but they have prayed

for the ministry that Go Church Beirut is doing in Lebanon.

Simeon and Anna, they prayed.

And when they saw Jesus just as a baby, they rejoice.

You got to read this for yourself and see the joy that comes from the place of faith

and confidence that what God promised, He is well able to perform.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What really stands out to me is how if you look at this from the outside, everyone's

rejoicing over a baby that was born.

This isn't the first baby that was born on earth.

Of course, those who know the parents, those who know the family will rejoice.

But the fact is so much more is happening.

So much more is happening in this Christmas story than a baby being born.

It's like we were talking at the beginning of the month.

This is the hope of the reconciliation between God and the whole of humanity birthed that

moment.

Yeah.

And those who saw that in the spirit, you can't help but to rejoice.

You know, maybe you're listening to this podcast.

Maybe you've been listening to the podcast all month.

You found us on social media and you clicked on wanted to hear more.

And you don't know what this joy is that we're talking about.

And you don't understand what Gilbert just shared about, you know, this baby being the

hope of humanity, bridging the gap between God and man.

But you can.

You can have this joy in your heart.

And it's as easy, you know, in the Bible, it says in Romans chapter 10 verses nine and

Romans 10 · chapter mention

10, the Bible says that if you believe in your heart that Jesus died for you and was

raised from the dead and you say Jesus is your Lord with your mouth, that you will be

saved.

You are safe from that moment.

So it's not hard.

It's not a big step.

It's not something that's challenging for you to do.

All you have to do is believe and confess Jesus as your Lord with your mouth.

And you can have this joy activated in your life.

You can have this confidence.

And that excites me so much because we don't have to work hard to experience His unconditional

love for us.

It's just there.

All we have to do is use our mouth to receive it.

So go church family.

As you're listening to the podcast this month, as you've heard about joy in love and joy

in activation, I encourage you to share this joy with someone else.

And if you're joining the podcast for the first time and you've never met any of us,

join us in January for our Big Sunday Gathering, the second Sunday of the month.

You'll get to meet Laura and Gilbert and Pastor Matt and myself at our Big Sunday Gathering

because we are looking for you.

We are excited to meet you and we're excited to hear how the joy of the Lord is your strength

in your life.

Amen.

Amen.

Praise God.

Well, we love you.

We want to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

And I want to finish this podcast series with just this one passage from the epistle to

the Hebrews.

It's a New Testament epistle, New Testament book.

It's a little different than the other epistles because it's actually a sermon.

It's a written sermon.

And Hebrews chapter two, verse 17, I am reading from the truth New Testament.

So the literal rendering from the Greek says to accomplish this.

What is this?

The salvation, the plan of redemption, this thing that we've been talking about to accomplish

this Jesus had to be made like us in every respect.

He became our high priest, the one who offered the perfect sacrifice of himself to God, the

merciful and faithful high priest who was obedient in his service to God.

In this way, he made the act of redemption, remission, the forgiveness of sins, the act

by which we are again made one with God because all of our sins are forgiven.

To be the one who would act on our behalf, he had to be subjected to temptation just

as we are, yet without sin.

And now he is able to help us when we need to overcome temptation.

God's gift to us, the Christmas gift is what he did for us in Jesus.

And Jesus, he completed the plan of salvation, he completed the plan of God and he did it

for us.

And that is a reason to rejoice.

That is a reason to be full of joy.

This isn't just for the holiday season, but this is something to set ourselves for the

new year and to be people of joy because we belong to him, we're his children and we're

the fruit of his plan.

And we love you and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.

God bless you.

Merry Christmas.

Thank you for listening.

Go Church Beirut is your place to love, grow and go.

We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of God.

Grow in his love and go with his love to the rest of the world.

On behalf of the entire Go Church family, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy

New Year.