Is it okay to pursue joy? | Pr Julian Saw

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

My question this money is is it right? Is it

okay to pursue joy? Is it right for us? Is

it okay for us to pursue joy? So how many

of you like to be happy? Please put over hands?

Or if you like to be happy or if you

you know, I don't know some of you didn't premisy.

Maybe joy is not one of your priorities.

But you know, as we start off twenty twenty five,

I'm thinking like, what could I have more in my

life this year?

And I think joy is one of them. Joy is

one of them.

And I don't know whether it's an Asian thing or

like growing up in a culture where sometimes having the

having to say that I want more happiness can be

a bit of a taboo.

Have you felt that before? Maybe not?

If you had that, maybe maybe it's a Chinese thing

or a sore family thing. Not lie, it's not like

my parents are like my parents, like my dad. I

come up with a B or C on my report

kind it's like well done, you know, but it doesn't

happen often. You know, good, good student. But I don't know.

Some I think you know, I want to say this

morning that through the word.

Of God, and.

And I'll just I'll just go straight into one of

the verses first John, chapter fifteen, verse eleven. You know

it's the next the next life. So this is the

words of Jesus in a Book of John. Jesus said

this these things I've spoken to you, that my joy

may remain in you and that your joy.

May be full.

So I want to start this morning if you're asking yourself,

can I allow myself to be happy in twenty twenty five?

I want to say that Jesus. The words of Jesus

is this, that my joy may remain in you and

that your joy may be full. Okay, So we're going

to break down this word joy today, super simple, and

we want to understand more of what the Bible says

about joy.

Okay.

So, yes, God wants us to have more joy in

the same way, like how as a parent or as

parents here, I think many of you are moms and

dads here.

You want your child to be happy.

Right right, I'm sure all of us parents, grandparents, great grandparents.

I don't know where there's any great grandparents in the house,

you want your child to be happy, right, But also

as a parent, you know that you do not want

your child to be happy in a sense where they

get like a short.

Term feeling of pleasure.

Right, So I wrote down here parents will not give

into a child's short term feeling of pleasure or contentment

that fades quickly okay, and often comes from immediate gratification

versus a lasting sense of fulfillment and joy.

Right.

So, so as a dad, yes, I want my three

boys to be happy always. That will be like super ideal,

although as humans we know that in this life, in

no way we can constantly be happy.

Right.

And I also don't want to have them think as

they're growing up that they can have very instant gratification.

Right.

You know that things may come easy, and I want

to feel joy immediately and it's not long lasting because

that will be detrimental to who they are as they

grow up.

Right.

So, so, yes, God wants us to be happy. God

wants us to be full of joy, that our joy

may be full, but I believe that He will not

give us this kind of instant gratification. Okay, So let's

explore this word today. And you know this is the

first time I got sole little slides like I usually

have fifty slides. I've got like sixteen today, so it

might be quick then we haven't. We can have no

we can talk about outside later. So if you're new

and not new, please stay back all right again, John

fifteen eleven. And these words come up to me really

from the Book of John and John fifteen and John sixteen.

So these two chapters are of like my key text today, right,

all right, let's go, let's move. So how how I'm

going to do this today. I'm going to split the

sharing the two parts. The first part is I want

to sort of define in the Bible what joy is? Okay, definition,

how does God see it? From the Bible? How does

Jesus use the words? And then the second part, I'm

gonna just give you guys three hours like really simple

things to remember on how we can have more joy

in our lives. Okay, So let's go to the definition.

So what is joy? What is joy? What is joy? So?

Joy number one is a good feeling?

Right, And if you're feeling good today, it's now been

saying the song the Joy of the Lord is my strength. Right,

Joy a good feeling and I want to use sort

of this definition from John Piper because for me it

really is sums up what this definition is. So buster

John Piper say this Christian joy is a good feeling.

There's no doubt, but it is. It is a feeling.

It's a response and emotion that we have to different things. Okay.

It can be from God given gifts, or it can

be from experiences we have that brings out join us.

Okay.

So joy is a feeling. By that I mean it

is not an idea. It is not a conviction. It

is not a persuasion or a decision.

Okay. It is a feeling or I use the words.

Interchangeably here and emotion. So right, joy is an emotional feeling.

So one of the marks of the difference between an

idea and an emotion or a feeling is that you

don't have immediate control over your feelings or your emotions.

You don't have control over how you feel and your emotions.

That's right, right.

You can't snap your finger and decide to feel something. Right,

So let's just establish that foundation Firstla Joy, the joy

that God wants us to experience in our lives in

fullness is not something we can control. It's a feeling,

a response to what happens to us in our lives.

You know, what does this saying the heart wants what

it wants? Is it from the Bible.

It's not a Bible verse.

Okay, some famous celebrities said it the heart wants what

the heart wants. I think it was in response to

it like an affair that this person had, so so

don't quote that, but it rings true in the sense

where when the heart wants something, you know, the heart

wants something like you know Jaden, our youngest child. He's

he's great, I love him, but he's very like determined

to get what he wants.

And as a child sometimes you cannot.

Like what's the word, comprehend or manage how you feel

on the inside. So when he's when he's focused on

getting something, could be this bottle over here, nothing in

the world can stop him from getting the bottle, and

he will cry and and you know if I take

it away from him, he will He just wants it

because that's what the heart wants.

Right.

So, jaw in a sense is a response and an

emotion to things, and in general, that feeling of joy

that we have is just a feeling and emotion. That's

the first definition, Okay, is he number two? Number two,

it's in the soul, So it's a good feeling in

the soul. By that, you know, I'm drawing attention to

the fact that it's not in the body. Okay, it's

not in the body. The body may feel effects of that,

so you might feel like, you know, butterflies in your tummy,

or you feel like you're skipping your steps suddenly and

then or you have a smile, or it could be

tears of joy. But it's something you feel in your soul,

is an emotion, and the body may respond to it.

Right, So you know what this means to me.

I believe that the feeling of joy goes to eternity,

right because joy is not a physical thing. Our flesh

will die one day, one day when we're old and

we live this earth. And if you're a Christian here,

you believe that you go into eternity, into the.

Joy of your maker, our God.

This joy carries on the joy that God wants to

experience you on earth, carries on to His fullness even

in heaven.

Okay.

Third thing about joy, it's obviously a fruit of the spirit, right,

so you know, I think even Jason preached about this

last week Galatians five twenty two. Right, the fruit of

the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

and self control. So this third part of the definition

of the movements of the soul are produced by the

Holy Spirit. So therefore the joy in my soul overflowing

towards God is coming from the work of the Holy Spirit. Okay,

let me explain a little bit more. The thing about fruits.

Right. The thing about fruits is, as.

A farmer or someone who likes to do gardening, if

you have ever done that before, the responsibility of the

soul or the farmer or the person putting that see

into the ground.

It that's all they do.

They take the seed, they put into the ground, and

then they care for it by watering and providing fertilizer.

But everything that happens from the sowing of the seed

to the tree growing to the fruit coming out is

almost beyond the control of the sower. Right, So when

you say the fruit of the spirit is actually an

outcome of something that we do first, and then the

spirit to the Holy Spirit gives you this fruit of joy. Right,

So we want to talk a little bit more. Yes,

joy is a feeling. Joy is an emotion, a response

to something we deem as good that happens in our lives.

But how since we cannot control how we feel, what

can we do to sow to bear this fruit of

the spirit, which we call joy?

So just what we're going to break down today? Okay?

So three things? What is joy?

A good feeling and emotion we cannot control. It's in

the soul, not physically, it's in the soul, and it's

the food of the spirit.

Okay.

So I want to bring you two more definitions to

the word joy from what I written a bible okay.

And the next one is this this this statement which

I think will be very familiar to you, and it's

the joy of the Lord.

Okay, the joy of the Lord.

Again, we sang this song, and we we I mean

I I I'm a musician, right, and I love Christian songs.

And this thing that we sing, the Joy of the Lord,

is so common in a lot of our songs. We

sing it, we sing about it a lot. We declare

this to God a lot. We declared this in our

lives a lot. But what does it mean? What does

the joy of the Lord mean? How does it differ

from normal joy?

Right?

So I believe that it's a difference, And I want

to say first that I wrote this down inclination. The

joy of the lot is an inclination of being happy.

So you're inclined or you are you are you have

a response of being happy or glad or joyful in

God okay, or being with God or doing.

Or obeying what he says. So right, the joy of

the Lord is.

When you are happy to be with God, happy to

be in his presence. You rejoice to be in God's presence.

You rejoice when you obey his commandments. When he tells

you to do something. It's like, yes, God, thank you

for this word you've given to me. I'm joyful because

I know that you want the best for me, and

I will respond this way. Right, it can be a

joy comes from reading his word.

Right, So it.

Gives us, like to me, two different categories. One is

as humans we experience joy. The joy can come from

many different things, like today someone gave me a new ferrari.

Am I going to be happy? Confirm?

Right? Like one hundred percent response and joy get into

that car rep that v to help and then you know,

and and but is yeah until the road text come yeah,

then it's like oh man twelve tho.

I mean that's just a very example.

I'm just you know, or it can it come from

small things like you know, suddenly today your kid you know,

comes up to you and gives you flowers. You know,

that breaks joy to your heart. Not so materialistic, right,

Or tomorrow your boss tells you're getting a promotion. Right,

Oh yah, you're getting a pay rise without any change

your job scope.

Oh joy? Yeah, happy? Right, So all those are responses.

We have two things that we dim that will make

us better in our life or bring joy to our heart.

But the Bible also uses this term, which is the

joy of the Lord. Okay, the joy of the Lord.

And to me, this is everything in response to what

God is in our lives.

Okay.

So if you're a Christian here and you're in this room,

I believe we need to have the joy of the Lord. Okay,

So in a sense where like again I go back

to my definition, joy is a feeling and an emotion.

So what if an example, Okay, an example, I don't

have the joy of the Lord, meaning I just don't

want anything to do with God as a person. Oh,

when God tells me to do something like hmm, that

doesn't sound like a good idea, I think I know better, right,

Or or when I read God's word like it doesn't

seem right to me, I think I have a better

view or perspective of life. So that is not having

the joy of the lot.

Right.

The word the joy of the Lord is our strength.

So y'all heard that, right, we sang it. Just the

joy of the Lord is our strength. That is quite loaded.

That's quite loaded. And this exact phrase from what I study,

only comes up in the Bible once, okay, and it's

in context. What it is was in Nahi Maya chapter eight,

So y'all know the book of Nahimaya, right. Nahimaya was

given the responsibility to rebuild the walls, you know. And

after they done rebuilding the walls, Ezra, not as Ra Ezra,

but Ezra, which was Nahimaya's companion, went up to then

rebuild the people in a sense where he took God's

word probably the Torah at that time, and spoke and

read out God's word from the dawn to mid day

to all these people. And what happened to the people

when they heard God's word is they they weep, and

they had sorrow, and they were crying, and they were

they sort of responded in a sense where they were

like sad because.

They were in exile. They did they were far away

from God.

And and seeing the response of the people, Ezra said, this,

don't respond in that way. Rejoice, be glad, make Mary celebrate,

because the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Right.

It is like when as a husband or as a friend,

or as a boyfriend or friend, as a husband, I

disappoint my wife. Right, And then she she tells me

the covenant of marriage is not this.

She reads out God's word.

To me and tells me, okay, all the wrongs I've done,

and my natural response is one of sadness, right, like,

oh man, yes, I've fallen shot of the role of.

Her husband today. Right.

But then she then tells me it's okay, because this

covenant that we have, we should be joyful in it.

We should celebrate, we should rejoice. So our natural response

to our relationship with God should be one that is

rejoicing and one that comes out of joy. So that

is what the joy of the Lord is. But you're

asking me, I can't control how A respond to God, right,

because joys and emotion I can't control.

So what do I do? Right?

So I want to say today that there are things

that we can do and invest into our lives that

can help us respond to God joyfully every time. Okay,

the Word of God says taste and see that the

Lord is good. In the Book of Some, taste and

see the Lord is good. Again, you can't control what

you taste.

Right.

If I give a lemon, she puts it in her mouth,

what's it going to be? Taste sour? Right, so she

can't tell her mind. Put a lemon in my mouth,

It's gonna taste bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter. Right, it's

gonna taste our So if the Bible says taste and

see that the Lord is good when we taste it,

how do we know that it's good? How how is

our response going to be good? We need to you now,

taste bads to know that God is good, right, so

that we respond in the right manner.

Okay, you know last time, you know, I used to

don't like bitter God. You know, bit the God?

Right, Yes, it's a taste bitters in the name itself.

You know, if you're Chinese, you're fried with egg and

then man, I love that dish. Now, because did something

change to the bit of God? Did the bit of

God becomes sweeter over the thirty years of my life?

Thirty eight years of my life? No, right, it's just

that my taste but changed. La, Now I have a

preference to what I didn't like last time. Right, I

got I got older. Yeah, when you get.

Older, your tongue, your tongue functions differently.

May be true also true, So taste and see the

Lord is good. Our response to God should be enjoy

the joy of the Lord.

Okay.

Another definition that we see often in the Bible is

this phrase that your joy may be full, that your

joy maybe ful. Okay, So we see this only two times.

How Jesus used to it, both in John chapter fifteen

and sixteen. So we'll go through those verses. Now, there

are different translations that bring out different meaning, so that

joy may before. If you look at different translations, you

will say that your joy may be complete. So there's perfection,

there's completion. That your joy may overflow. So imagine if

you've got so much joy that it overflows and like

affects other people. So right, you know that this guy,

his name is Joel Edwards, he goes to Sumunjaya service.

But every time I surf with him right at even

at six thirty or five thirty am, I know I

expect it. Now if I walk into that room right

there will be one guy shouting and like, yay, welcome,

good morning, past Julian.

Are you ready to serve?

And I don't know where he gets his energy from

at that time in the morning. So there's like overflowing

of joy that it affects other people. So that's your

joy me before abandoned joy having so much right, So

the Bible talks about fullness of joy, you know, Psalm sixteen,

verse eleven. You will show me the path of the

life in your presence is fullness of joy. In God's presence,

there's fullness of joy. So if you are having being

law and joy and you need the guests fill up,

go to God's presence at your right hand up pleasures

forever more. Right In Matthew twenty five twenty three, we

also see this. This is a parable and I think

when I read this, you will you will understand well done,

good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a

few things, I will make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of the law.

So I believe we will only fully experience God's joy

when we go into eternity. Right, So, even on earth,

God has given us that fullness of joy. But when

we are fully in His presence, that's when you experience

the fullness of His joy. So imagine just imagine being

in eternity with someone that you don't like. Just think

about a person they don't like most on earth. Can

you think of someone I don't know? Yeah, I just

saw some face in my head straight away.

Which is so funny. Imagine being like.

In that person's presence for the rest of eternity, for

one thousand times one thousand years. Not fun, right, not fun.

And we're going to be in God's presence for eternity,

so taste and see that the Lord is We're gonna

train out these once to love God in this earth. Okay, okay,

So that's the first part the definition of joy. Let's

go into some practical tips on how we can How

do I have more joy? How can I have more

joy in my life, how do I experience.

The joy of the lot more in twenty twenty five.

So, as I mentioned, if you have time after this,

go back and read John chapter fifteen, John chapter sixteen,

those two verses, and my first point is this number

one is remain remain and it comes from John chapter fifteen.

So I won't be reading the whole chapter today, but

if you know John chapter fifteen, and it's actually one

of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It starts off

by Jesus talking about fruitfulness, and he says that yep,

I'm the vine. You are the branches, and my father

is the vine keeper. Right, So Jesus is the vine,

we are the branches, and we need to be connected.

We need to be attached.

We need to remain in the vine. We need to abide,

we need to be part of connected to this main thing. Okay,

So there's what John chapter fifteen is about. Whoever abides

in me and I in him bears much fruit, you know.

So that's John chapter fifteen, and it ends with this

in verse eleven, So we can go to the next verse,

verse nine, ten and eleven with this which I want

to bring up today, as the father loved me, I

also have loved you, abide in my love verse Tand

if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Just I have kept my father's commandments and abide in

his love. So verse eleven, as you read earlier these things,

I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you,

and that your joy.

May be full.

So the question is, how do I have more joy

in twenty twenty five? Biblical joy?

Right?

Joy that will is not instant gratification, joy that will

last me? How do I have more joy in twenty

twenty five? John chapter fifteen tells us how. Verse eleven

says these things, I've spoken to you that my joy

may remain in you and that your joy may be full.

So what was Jesus saying these things?

Uh?

It says again, we need to first abide and remain

in Jesus. Okay, I'll break that down a bit. And

then he also says in verse ten, if you keep

my commandments, you will abide in.

My love right.

Okay, So how do we do this in a practical way?

How do we keep on being connected to the vine

which is Jesus right? How do we abide in him?

Or remain in him.

I will give you an example of what I think

works for me. Of course, the word, the Word of

God says that you need to keep his commandments. Means

you need to know God's word and apply God's word. Right,

So in general that's what it is lat Okay, how

does he connect the dry I will explain in a while.

But essentially for Earth to remain and abide in God,

we need to know and read God's word and obey

and keep his word. Okay. So so it starts off

by Earth's reading hopefully every day, you know. But if

you are like me in the morning when I wake

up and read the Word of God, sometimes like right

after closing my Bible and I go and get the

kids ready, I immediately forgot what I read. Like I

don't know, you guys are laughing at me, like this

guy how he got so many eighty in SPM?

You know?

Like if you I read one chapter and I'm like,

I can't remember what I read? How do I apply it?

You know?

So I'll give you a few tips of what I've

been trying to do. But I really believe this will

help us with out joy. Okay, there I give an example,

just just this week, you know Tinny Schad about how

Zach got sick. So our kids got sick over the

last two weeks. I don't know where the same influence

about it was influenced at a So on that Sunday

that got got sick. Sunday night, Micah had a fever

which I think ran up to almost forty forty, so

very high fever. And actually he came into my room

at night and I was sleeping. Then he was sort

of talking nonsense. Then maybe the fever affects how you.

I'm like, don't disturb me trying to sleep. It's like

three am in the morning. Then you said it wasn't

so bright outside. I'm like bright outside. I mean I

didn't even go and check on him. I just just

go and sleep. So he so he slept and then

in the morning we woke up felt it was very

high fever, so.

So he couldn't go to school.

And little did I know, that was the start of

like two weeks of just all our family members taking

them to get sick, like we were playing musical chess.

Who's going to sit on a chair now to get sick?

So you know, each each others took them to get sick,

which you know, if you have kids and they're very

young kids, it's quite challenging when someone is sick in

the house.

Not a very nice thing. Uh.

And too, you know, if they are sick, they can't

go to school. They can't go to school, means I

can't work properly, or Laura and SFF can't work properly.

So it's like not the funnest or best or most

joyful two weeks of my life. Uh, not as dramatic

as what happened to Zach. But we didn't send my

car to the emergency department on Monday night. Cost it

feels very high. Uh and and you know, so so

you know that kind of weak life kind of then

as everyone was getting better, right, you know, just this

couple of days ago, you're gonna send Jayden back to school.

Uh yeah, so that also to restart because Jayden started

school this year. First couple of days, he's oh, getting better,

not crying anymore, you know, drop off time.

Then he got sick.

Then oh, man, restart the drop off drama, the crying,

the putting on the uniform, and I'll save you the

details are okay, but what happened one morning, was after

the drop off, after the whole like tiring drama and

uh crying in the morning, and like, you know, you

want to start your day well, right, you want to

start your day on the right foot. Then I was

in the cab Laura after the drop off, and then

again I was pay the details. But then we had

some disagreement, like he had a disagreement, which I.

Was like, you're ruining the whole day. I am. I

just did my devotion this morning, man, like I thought

it was all going well to the moment the.

Kids wake up until now it's like, oh man, this

is not good. And I had this word in my heart.

You know, I want to share about this, you know,

being joyful. So so so okay, we went our separate

ways to go to work, and then as I was

about to start to work, this.

Verse came to me.

How do I remain connected to the vine when I'm

in situations where like it's impossible to be joyful.

So this is what I do.

I will try and scan in my head what versus

can speak to this situation.

Now, it can be from this morning when.

I read the Bible or anything, and and God just

gave me this, which is Ecclesiastics Chapter four.

Our regally.

Now, though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

And a cord of trees strends is not quickly broken. Okay,

it's just a verse the Holy Spirit.

Drop in my heart.

And you know, now, even if you don't know the

whole verse, you can just take out your phone and

google it.

Like we live in a time where.

Even if you remember part of the verse, how do

we remin you can just use our phone and google it, right,

or if you haven't memorized, then use that verse to

speak to yourself, to preach to yourself. So I just

did that for a couple of minutes, Like, Okay, I

have a family now, and the word of God says

that too can defend themselves. So me and my wife

Laura are better together. And I just spoke that to

my relationship. And then you know, say, a colt of

tree strands is not quickly broken. Right, So I'm thinking about,

you know, my kids can be part of the pictures,

and I'm saying that, okay, this is good for my family,

and I'm in a great position, and I'm speaking God's

word into my life and then that just builds up

joy in myself to not respond and let something that

will rob me of my joy throughout the day. So

how do you remain in God's word? You use remain

in Christ is use God's word to preach to yourself.

You can do it, you know. It can be what

you read the morning itself. Break it down. If you're

reading my whole chapter, maybe just get one verse that

you think you speaks to you. You can write it

down on a piece of paper, put in your pocket,

and you know, just stick it up and refer to

it la or from memory. Use your brain that God

have gave you to scan through the different scriptures you

have in your mind. Pick up one verse prec to yourself,

use it, pray over it, use it and speak to yourself.

And really that just flipped the tables. How the tables

have turned in that day. It went from like it's

going to be a ruined day, like bad start, bad day,

to one that is one of victory. One that is

one that I know that I'm overcome and overcomer. Okay,

that's point number one. Remain So again going back to

if you remain, if you do these things, the joy

of what Jesus is if we if we abide and

use his commandments. His words, Jesus said that my joy

may remain in you and that your joy.

May be full. Okay, WHOA, Let's go.

Number two. Number two is request request, John sixteen. So

John sixteen is a weird one to me because you

read it, you know it. There's a lot of funny

little questions that the disciples are asking, asking Jesus. But

I'll go to verse twenty three. First, John sixteen, Verse

twenty three. Before this, Jesus was just telling his disciples

the time is coming, you know, when whoever kills you

will do it in the name of God.

Service.

So he's in a way bringing like doom and gloom

to his disciples. And it speaks about how I will

be going away for a while and I'll be returning.

John sixteen or so promises that the Holy Spirit will

be given to us.

Right.

So remember that scripture that says it is to your

advantage that I leave so that the helper can come.

Right.

So that's John chapter sixteen. But John sixteen twenty three

ends with this, and it's the second time Jesus used

the words that your joy may be full okay, And

he says this John sixteen twenty three. And in that

day you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say

to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name,

he will give you Verse twenty four. Until now you

have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will

receive that your joy may be full. Ask and you

will receive that your joy me before. Remember, Jesus only

use this word that your joy may be full two times.

This is the second time right in the book of John.

So if you take scripture at face value, how do

we have follows of joy?

We need to remember to ask, to remember to pray. Right.

It's so funny because I also experienced this recently, Like

just last week, you know, I was having some difficulties

in work and it was one that wasn't easily easily overcome,

not a direct solution because it deals with like our

local authorities in just so you know, right, if you

do a local authority like man, it's just complicated, it's

not clear what they want. I can't get you approved.

And it was hanging and it was like three different projects.

And that morning when I woke up your remember its

a Friday, I just just was felt I felt a

prompting but the Holy Spirit to pray specifically about this

work that there will be favor, and so I just prayed,

ask God, okay, God, give me victory, give me favor.

And the background story is actually called the local authority

the week ago UH to ask for the status of

this project and he told me in bahasa tola tola

means pusha, so it means I assume that didn't get approved.

So I'm like, what's the point of praying. I already know,

I already know the results. I know what you know.

I mean, given that my bahasa was not the best

or trying to understand what he was saying, you know,

but that's what he said. And I prayed. I prayed,

and I was driving to a meeting and.

I was I wasn't.

I didn't want to go and check the status at

the office that day because I just didn't want bad

news that day. I don't know, It's like, you know

what I want to what's the word detail or postpone

or postpone the bad news actual band news announcement. Right,

they have to report to my client and all this

kind of stuff. So I thought Friday, I want to

chill on a weekend. I'll go next week, right, And

I was driving to a meeting and like it was

nearby the office where I need to check. I felt

just turned I just turned in time someone you know,

extra time. So I turned in and went in. Then

again didn't expect anything because I know I prayed in

the morning. I asked God for a favor. But the

other part of my fleshly part of me was like,

I really know the results. So the guy came up

with the three different letters, and then he was like,

I don't know. It's like Chinese knil when you play

and you play that the cut games right, he opened

the cut, You open the cut slowly to see what

cut you get. I mean, I don't gambo, but Chinese

years coming up. I don't know why to do that.

So it was like the cart is there? Really just

open and see, like why you want to open slowly.

To see all black color? Then you know the spade.

Then he's a nine. I don't know whether you you

get that bad.

It was almost like that, you know, because it was

three different files there, and the guy had to turn

each file.

I don't know.

He late get away, so he turned his file to

write into the file that I've been taking over. So

the first time I was like, that means approof la approof.

It's like, hey, waits something wrong? I like here wrongly

or did they write the letter wrongly? And I was like, oh, man,

there's been approved. Then the next one turned slowly and

it was like approve again. So all three were approved

and I was I was so. I was so joyful.

I was so joyful because what I expected from this

outcome wasn't what it was because God came through. That's

why I believe in my perspective. So I went to

the todder. I was like, thank God, man. I was

praising in the office, the government office.

And uh.

And really this scripture, if you're you want your joy

to be full, you need to remember to ask because

the verse is here. Until now you have asked nothing

in my name. So we need to remember to ask

the Holy Spirit, ask God for our breakthroughth Okay, so

let me let me just do this quick part because

in John chapter sixteen you also see this phrase lah

a little while, a little while, And it's quite weird

because the disciples were asking Jesus or asking among himself.

You know what does Jesus mean by a little while,

because he kept saying these they were confused. And I

want to say that sometimes before we get our answered prayer,

when we feel like everything is not going well, there's

no reason to be joyful. You're asking God, when when

is my breakthrough coming? And all Jesus says is a

little whole What does a little wol mean?

What does a little wou mean? How long?

Five minutes, two minutes, two years, ten years?

When I die one day? When will the breakthrough come?

Jesus actually said this a little while, And I think

it's a tough one to be joyful in those situations.

And I can't tell you that I have the answers,

but I want to read scripture, which is the verses

before the verse that we just read. So John chapter sixteen,

Verse twenty to twenty two. So after Jesus said a

little while trying to explain how he will be gone

for a while and then he will come back, and

instead of bringing clarity, it sort of brought confusion to

the disciples. And then Jesus explained it this way of

almost like what the disciples should expect in their life

Verse twenty most. Actually, I say to you that you

will weep and the man. So it's like most acturely,

like confirm, confirm, this is what's going to happen, That

you will weep and le man, and the world will

rejoice and you will be sorrowful. It's like not what

you want to hear, but your sorrow will be turned

into joy. Right, Okay, So he does promise that a

woman when she is in.

Labor has sorrow.

Because her hour has come, but as soon as she

has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers

the anguish for joy that a human.

Being has been born into the world. I mean, this

is so it's so.

Encouraging for us to know that in the sorrow that

we have, in the anguish that we have, that God

promises joy, just like how a woman who is in

labor will one day experience joy.

Right. Therefore, you now.

Have sorrow, but I will see you again and your

heart will rejoice and your joy and your joy no

one will take from you. So how do we how

do we deal in situations like this when it's just

a little while, when we don't have the answers, when

we're in the midst of the sorrow. I can say

that the Bible also tells us that there's a time

for everything. There are seasons for every activity under the

heaven's ecclesiastic history. A time to be born, a time

to die, the time to plan and the time to uproot,

the time to kill and the time to heal, a

time to tear down, a time to build, a time

to weep, the time to laugh, a time to mourn,

and a time to dance. He goes on, but what

is the position we should take when it's a time

to weep, when it's the time to mourn. How do

we have those situations in the middle of in the

middle of sorrow. So I've got just two points, and

the first one is in John sixteen. The Word of

God says, it is to our advantage that he goes away,

because he will send a helper. He'll send a helper.

So we need to rely on the Holy Spirit in

those moments.

Right. You know, if you don't need help, you don't

need a helper. Right.

God says that he's sending a helper because he knows

that we need help. If we can do everything, then

don't help her out like settle myself. But the reason

Jesus has sent the helper is because there are situations

we cannot handle, and in those times, the Holy Spirit

is there for us. And the next thing I want

to say is this point, which is my last point,

and I just get the band to come up as well.

And it's this word refocus. So three hours right, remain

remain abiding in Him, connected with the vine. Second thing

is requests remember to pray, rely on the Holy Spirit.

And the last hour is refocus. Refocus. You remember what

Jason pushed about last Sunday. It was about Peter walking

on water right step out of the boat and then

he experienced a miracle. But in the midst of that miracle,

he got distracted by the waves and the storm and

they started sinking because his focus was away from Jesus.

He looked at the waves, he looked at the storm,

he looked at the ferocity of the city way he

was in. And this morning, as we are in different

situations that are challenging, can I invite you to refocus

your perspective on what may not be going good and

refocus it on who Jesus is and what he has

said in our lives. Hebrews twelve, verse two this scripture

is amazing. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,

refocus the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. So

we need Jesus to complete our faith in believing him.

And why because of what he has done, because of

the joy awaiting him. So Jesus had the joy set

out before him. The verse says he and the are

the cross, disregarding its shame. Imagine imagine this verse, like Jesus,

the Son of God is going to go through one

of the biggest tortures, pain, sacrifice ever faced to a person,

and the word joy is in there because of the

joy awaiting him. He and they are the cross, disregarding

its shame. I don't know why this.

Is there, but.

The challenges that we go through, we need to refocus

on that joy set out, that joy awaiting us believing.

I mean, if I can imagine what Jesus was like,

He's I'm gonna endure the cross. They're gonna pierce nails

through my hands and my feet, they're gonna weep me.

And it's not like he can decide to not have

pain in those situations. Right, you know, he's God, but

he's still man. He endured all the pain as a

human should, but he had the joy set out before him.

He had the joy awaiting him.

And I can imagine him in those situations thinking about us,

thinking about how this sacrifice will take away the sin,

will take away all that sickness in humanity, will remove

the darkness, will bring so many people to eternity and

reconciliation with God.

And he's looking at that, and his perspective.

Was that that God the Father has a plan, and

he's refocusing on what awaits him. And therefore he endured

that trial, He endured that sorrow, He endured the cross

disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place

of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility

he endured for simple people, then you won't become wary

and give up. So if I'm not here to say

that all of us are, there are different situations that

we are in and it's maybe difficult and even beyond

you know what I can experience or what I can

help with sometimes or give counsel to.

But the Word of God says, if.

We think of all the hostility Jesus has enjoyed for

simple people, then we won't become weary and give up.

So my encouragement to you this morning as we as

we close and can I invite you.

To we hope you've been blessed by this message. For

more information on our church, please visit as Church o RG.

We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing

that this week is going to be a good week.

I hate for you, godless