O Come All Ye...Joyful with Pastor Tony Albano

Welcome to the MetaCurch podcast.

My name is Clayton.

I'm the pastor at MetaCurch, and I hope that today's message is inspiring and enlightening and really builds you up wherever you're at in life.

Welcome in.

So excited you guys are here today.

If you're joining us on the other side of the camera at our Helotus venue or online, I want to welcome you in as well.

Some of y'all are new here, maybe you don't know that we're a multi-site church.

I'm one of our venue pastors here in Helotus.

And I'm excited that we get to all come in and hear the same message together.

There's a reason that we are a multi-site church.

If you're new here, we have a big vision here.

We have a large mission.

Jesus gave us the keys to the kingdom.

And every single week we're unified under the same message.

No matter where you're tuning in from, whatever venue you'd be at, you're going to be hearing the same exact message.

And why that's important is because what we believe about the church is important.

You are the church.

Like you and I are the movement.

And what we believe here at Meta is that you meet together and then move together out in the real world.

And one of the most important things to do is if you're going to be part of a movement, you want to be unified in a movement.

Amen?

And one of the things that we're unified as Christ followers is Jesus.

And Jesus didn't give us explicit ways to do church.

He said, Hey, take this.

Here's the keys to the kingdom.

You're the church.

Go figure that out.

And you're part of something larger than just this room.

So, hey, welcome on the other side of the guys.

I love y'all.

I'm so happy to be uh leading out there.

We have some incredible families out there, and those are y'all's family members.

Just know, in the faith community, y'all have an extended family over in Helotus and even people who are watching consistently online.

Um, we're gonna continue in this series called Oh come all yeah and we've been filling in the blank of what it means to like wrestle with things during uh and like during this season and the expectations that we bring into this season.

Week one, if you were here, uh my message series title was called O come all ye enthroned, and we answered the question that many of us miss out on.

Many of us don't actually sit and ponder because it's uncomfortable.

It's who's actually sitting on the throne of your life.

And what we did last week, my buddy Pastor Andrew was in town here, and uh it was cool we had him over here, and he was preaching on O come all ye burdened.

And he taught on Jesus' teaching about the weary and the burdened and how he invites everyone, all people into this, and he says that I will give you rest.

Take on my teachings.

And this week we're gonna be wrestling with O come all ye joyful.

Would you pray with me?

Father, we're thankful for your son, we're thankful for your spirit, and God, I pray that you would just minister to the hearts here in the room, online, those in Helotus.

We ask that you would just counsel us and teach us and challenge us in these moments.

Your spirit is here, and God, we're thankful for that.

We're thankful that you encounter us in this broken world and you don't leave us broken.

And God, I pray that today's message today would help people, heal people, give them correct perspective of the story of Jesus and what it means for our lives here as we as we truly wait with anticipation that you are coming back.

We're thankful for you, Jesus.

We're thankful for your son.

All God's people said, Amen.

So today we're kind of landing the plane in this series, oh, come all ye, like I said, and um if Jesus is king, if he invites us into rest like we heard about last week, I think something's still missing though, because it's like, again, I write these messages not just for us, but for myself.

And what I think is missing as I look at like the years of celebrating Christmas, family, all that, and when I go out into the world and I'm trying to depict like what are people experiencing, I think we're missing joy.

Like deep-rooted joy.

And I'm not talking about the joy that like we post online, I'm not talking about the joy that comes from like when you pull your tree out a little early because you're like, man, I just love the Christmas spirit, I love the holidays, I get to focus on this.

It's kind of like we use Christmas and Thanksgiving in this end part of the year as like escape.

And we spend money we probably shouldn't be spending, we do things and spend time on things we probably shouldn't be doing, and we find ourselves missing out on the actual thoughts and reasons for the season.

And if we're honest and we slow down, joy is missing.

Deep-rooted joy.

This isn't something you can convince yourself of.

Like you and I, we can't convince ourselves we have joy.

So many of us walk into this venue, our Lotus venue, or any church, and people ask how you're doing.

And people are quick to respond, like everything's good, highly blessed, highly favored.

If you're church, you know, you put the smile on, God is good, he's moving.

But the rest of your week, the rest of your thoughts, don't look like that at all, don't mimic that at all.

And Christmas comes around and we hear the stories, or maybe you're hearing the story for the first time, and my prayer has been that you would get the correct perspective, the right perspective, and that the Holy Spirit would impress on your heart.

Because we're in a culture right now where just like happiness is expressed, it's marketed to us, it's sold to us.

Like happiness is what everyone is seeking.

If I get this, I'll be happy.

If this happens, I'll be happy.

If I can fix this, I'll be happy.

If I finally reach this milestone in my job, I'll be happy.

But if we're honest, like these things are not necessarily bad.

I'm not saying like those things in your life are bad.

Get good things, strive to be a good person, strive to be successful in your career, strive to not, you know, be stuck in your problems and fix your problems.

But the problem is that that's fragile.

Like happiness is a fragile emotion compared to joy.

Happiness raises and falls with the outcomes.

Like you and I, we have expectations, and if we if these if our expectations are missed, then guess what?

We are no longer happy.

That's not how joy works.

Joy is anchored somewhere deeper in all of us.

Joy is actually a fruit of the spirit.

As a follower of Christ, what you gain is access to these fruits of the spirit, and one of the things that being in relationship with God is it produces joy in your life.

Happiness says, I'll be okay when, but joy says, I'll be happy, I'll be good, even though.

It's not tied to the actual circumstance.

You can be going through the hardest season of your life right now, but as a Christ follower, you have access to the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and through that it produces joy in your life.

Happiness lives in the next moment, like some of us, we know that, we know it too often.

We're living in next year, or when I can finally buy a house, when I finally get in the relationship.

Some of us are in the relationship and we're like, when I can finally get out of this relationship.

And you see how volatile this is.

It's a constant pursuit.

We have expectations, we have things that we want, and what we're doing is we're chasing happiness, and the quiet lie beneath all of this is that joy is always one step ahead of me.

We never arrive.

Even when you get in the relationship, it's like, dude, I didn't know all the baggage came in this relationship.

Had I missed the red flags?

He or she, they used to treat me like this, now that and it's like, man, if we have a kid, maybe we'll reprioritize things, things will get a little bit better, and we're living in the future, we're not fixing things now.

Or we get in the house now and it's the starter home, and you're like, and but you know, in the past, it's like this is the goal.

But now you get the small house, maybe not the neighborhood you wanted, and now as soon as you get in that house, it's you've pushed it down the road.

If I can get the house that I want, if I can get the bigger house.

Some of us raising kids, it's like, man, raising kids who don't sleep well, your boy knows all about that.

I have no answers.

No answers.

But there's a lie quietly wanting me to and rob me in this season to go, man, if I can just get to that next season when they fall asleep well, they sleep through the night, and it's robbing me because I'm not living in the present, I'm living in the future of all that God wants to give me and bless me through right now.

And I'm stressed out thinking about how I can't just catch some sleep.

We all know this too well.

And it's ingrained in our culture, it's marketed to us, it's sold to us, every app you look at, every commercial you look at, they have the magic answer, and it's always out of reach.

And most of us are joyless not because we're sinful, we are sinful, and sin does rob us of joy, but we're mostly joyous in a season like this because we're pursuing something outside of what we're meant to pursue.

We're putting weight in things that don't require or should not actually have weight in us.

Like we are suffering in this world, it is broken and we will suffer.

But most of us are positioning ourselves to suffer from this idea of pursuit.

The world's designed to shape joy as something that you and I receive, and not as something we receive, but actually that we achieve.

If I get this, if I get that, if I fix this, if I fix that, if I become the right version of myself, 2026 is coming around, I'm sure you got a list of things, or maybe you've given up and you don't have a list of things.

But there was a version of you and I at one point we're like, this is gonna be the year, if I can just be the right version of myself, and we're always thinking about that year, the next year to come, and we're putting all this weight, and then if I finally get this, if this finally happens, I'll be happy.

And the danger is that not all these things are not bad, like those things are good.

Strive to be better, like I just said, like, strive, do that.

Those things are godly, but it's how we posture them in our life because they promise something that ultimately cannot be sustained.

The goalpost is always moving, the finish line continues to move.

And what you find is this never-ending cycle of pursuit, especially here in the West.

There's always more, there's always better, there's always someone who's gonna sell you something, tell you what you're missing in life, and we can buy into that and just realize you're gonna be chasing the rest of your life.

Joy is just always out of reach, and that's where we're confronted every single year with the Christmas story.

In Luke chapter 2, the angel appeared and it announced this good news, this great news.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

It said in Luke 2, verse 10, I bring you good news of great joy for all people.

Luke 2:10

Good news, the gospel.

It's great joy, and it's for everyone.

Back in this time period, even prior, like the good news, when a king was either in power newly, or they were defeated and they were changing power, there would be heralds that would go out because you didn't have a phone, you didn't have a newspaper, you didn't have news.

They would go out and they would proclaim this good news, this reign of this king, and sometimes it wasn't good news.

Guess what?

There's a new king, and now he owns your territory, and guess what?

He wants taxes, guess what?

He wants your women, guess what?

He wants your sons for soldiers, and now you're oppressed.

It wasn't good news.

But the proclamation of Christmas is much different.

It's good news, great joy for all people, all of us.

It doesn't say try and feel joyful, it doesn't say change your circumstances and you'll become joyful.

No, this is a proclamation that this is good news that brings great joy for all of us.

Joy is announced, and the angel states an actual fact right after in verse 11 and tells us what joy is actually rooted in.

It says in verse 11, today in the city of David, a Savior is born, who's Messiah and who's Lord.

If you hear week one, you remember those words.

Savior, Messiah, and Lord.

Joy was not announced because life got easier or circumstances changed.

Joy was announced because Jesus has arrived.

Jesus has arrived into the world.

Amen.

And part of what's important in this story, and part of what I'm gonna highlight in this story, and how it actually makes it applicable to us today, is who the good news was announced to.

The good news wasn't announced to influencers, kings, the wealthy.

It was announced to shepherds.

And when we look at Christmas today, like they're these sentimental figures, it sounds awesome, grazing in a pasture with sheep and all that.

But a shepherd was a hard job.

They weren't knights, they were outcasts, they weren't allowed at religious activities, they weren't allowed at the temple.

That was your social class right there.

They smelt like animals.

It was dangerous.

They would put their life on the line for their sheep.

That's who the good news came down to.

And they had every reason by today's standard, our world standards, to go like, there's no way those people are joyous.

They're looked down at, no one takes them for their word, they're dirty, they work the night shift, they're not in the social class.

There'd be no reason for these people to have joy.

They would hear that and go, what are you talking about?

There's no joy here.

And that's who heaven chooses first.

Because joy is not built on status, it's built on grace.

That's the story of scripture.

It's a story of grace.

I don't deserve it, you don't deserve it, and that's exactly who God shows up to in the Christmas narrative.

That first Christmas.

Joy is available to every single one of us despite our circumstances, despite your background, despite all of that, Jesus came to earth and he rescued us.

Amen?

He rescued us.

If Jesus arrived, if joy has been proclaimed, then why are so many of us not living that way?

That's what I'm wrestling with this Christmas.

That's what I feel like I've been wrestling with with a couple Christmases, just back to back.

I feel like it's been a different message, written in a different way, using different scriptures, and you know, it's the same story.

But anxiety, depression, we're caught in this trap.

We're caught in this loop.

And I said it week one, things aren't getting better.

The numbers are showing that things are getting worse.

And I feel it really heavy on my heart.

I really do.

I'm so blessed, I'm so thankful for everything God has given me.

One of the hardest things with pastoral care as a pastor is like meeting people and hearing hard stories and all that, and going, like, how in the world is this person getting through it?

Like, people are going through hard things in this family of believers right here.

People are going through hard things outside these walls.

Christ followers are going through hard things, and it's like, how do they find joy?

How?

Our brothers, sisters in Nigeria right now, like, Father, we're with them.

We're called to be that in Scripture.

We are with them, those being persecuted, murdered for our faith.

We have it so easy here in the West.

It's so easy.

And yet joy escapes us.

We're seeking happiness.

We're seeking things of this world.

Like, I can paint you a picture that we all go through every single day.

Or at least some point in your week.

Like, it's Tuesday night.

If you're like me, you got kids.

It took a while to get them to sleep.

If you're a little older, maybe your kids are a little more grown.

You got back late from work, maybe you live alone.

You got back home, it's dark.

You sit on the couch, the TV's not on.

And what do you do?

You pull out your phone.

You open up some apps you don't even care about, you've been telling yourself you're gonna delete for a couple months now, or you've deleted and you've reinstalled, or you've deleted YouTube like me, and then you go to Safari YouTube, you're like, what's wrong with you?

What are you doing?

Open up some emails you already opened, reread, and it's like, why are we doing this?

Well, no one wants to get quiet.

What happens when you get quiet?

That little voice in your head.

Are things gonna get better?

Why do I feel like I'm behind?

Why do I feel like how how am I living in this life situation right now?

How are things not better?

We all know this.

The problem is that when when these things come up in us, it's not laziness, it's not weakness, it's misplaced joy leaking outside of us.

And we're coping, not just with the phone, external things, relationships, addictions, whatever that looks like in your life.

And you know it.

I know you know it.

Because I know it.

The Holy Spirit, it'll reveal it to you.

You and I know that.

And that's what happens when the human heart is trying to carry something it shouldn't carry.

You and I weren't designed to carry some of these things, and in the world, joy is built on this idea of progress instead of presence.

And we saw that last week that Jesus, like the angel, invited all people, those standing in front of him, those who thought they knew God, some of these religious leaders, they thought they knew him.

And he's like, Come to me, take on my teachings, take on my way.

Like, you don't understand.

You're not like, and some people were oppressed and burdened and weary, and he's inviting them into something.

This good news, great joy for all people.

We're doing it wrong, and Jesus is giving us the answer.

The angel who came and proclaimed the first Christmas is giving us a picture.

Jesus coming down.

There's a reason he came down the way he came down, there's a reason the story is the way the story is, and I'm not saying I know God's thoughts because God's thoughts are not my thoughts.

God's ways are not my ways.

But what it reveals about this king is that he's good.

It's good news, great joy for all people, just based on the fact and how he came into our world.

He came into creation as a baby.

He needed to be protected and raised, and as he grew in stature and wisdom, what you see is that he doesn't mishandle this idea of being God at all.

He doesn't sin.

He's tried and tested in every single way that you and I, he's our high priest.

We can go to him because he knows what it's like to be tried.

He knows what it's like to be ensnared in the traps of this world.

And that's why the angel says, I bring you great joy.

Present tense, I bring you great joy today.

This king's coming down.

The one who's actually in control is coming down.

And false joy always trains us to postpone life.

I'll live when?

I'll feel better when?

If I can fix this, then I can finally start.

And what happens is we start becoming managers of our own life instead of living our life.

When Jesus proclaimed the opposite, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus said that he came to bring life and life abundant.

Yet, so many of us are wrestling with this idea of joy.

And I'm not discounting that things happen, horrific things happen in this world.

But the scriptures tell us that we can consider it joy.

When opposition comes, suffering comes.

One of the things we know about our God, it's written in the scriptures as well in Romans, is that He works all things for good.

All over Scripture, He's a good God.

Compared to the kingdoms of this world, just right now, no matter what you're going through, this king is in charge, and that brings great joy.

Present tense, great joy, false joy, amen.

What it does is it collapses under every real type of joy.

Everything.

There's nothing that'll stand up to it.

It cannot survive loss, it cannot survive suffering, it cannot survive like delay.

There's a deeper issue to all of this.

If you were to look at like the meta narrative of scripture, if you would look at the whole story, what you would find is that biblical joy, when you actually look at like how God's people handled in the Old Testament, like I just said, how consider it pure joy as we see in the New Testament when suffering happens.

Like, how do you find joy when you're in the wilderness?

God gave you a vision for life if you're the Israelites and you're wandering around for 40 years.

How do you find joy?

It's the hope that this king is coming.

The Messiah is coming.

When Babylon comes and conquers God's people, and Israel is practically destroyed, and their people are enslaved and they're exiled, the prophets they write in and they say, Hey, real quick, make sure you're still having families, make sure you're still planting gardens.

Why?

Because the story has not ended.

The king is coming.

And we're looking at it in past tense.

We know how the story ends.

We saw God raise his people back up when it seemed impossible.

We know about the angel that came and proclaimed to the shepherds this good news of great joy for all people.

We know about this king who came down in a trough, who entrusted his life to his own creation, their own hands, who lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and rose from the grave, defeated everything, and over 2,000 years later, we're still talking about him.

This idea of a Messiah coming and saving, the chosen anointed king, has been over and echoed, but none of them have stood.

Jesus is the only true king, the chosen king.

And he reigns and he's good.

That produces great joy in our life.

What you see throughout scripture, how it even starts in Genesis, Adam and Eve buying into the oldest lie of all time, that I can be God, I can be in charge, I know what I'm doing.

And they take of the fruit, sin enters into the world, chaos enters into the world, fear enters into the world.

And for the first time, because it was normal, God's presence was there in Eden, and for the first time, they hid.

They were ashamed.

Scripture tells us that they knew their nakedness and they covered themselves.

They were now fearful of this good king.

The beginning statement of the scripture we started with, good news, great joy for all people, is the back half of that verse.

It starts off with, do not fear.

Fear not, for good news, great joy for all people.

And why is that important?

Because Christmas is the story that's showing you that you and I we no longer have to hide.

We no longer have to live in fear.

We no longer have to put other things above us, so we no longer can have to live oppressed.

Because the good king is here, he's arrived, and he's here to rescue you and I.

That's the good news of Christmas.

And anything other than that is you and I living at the center of our story, and what you'll learn is that you have to find meaning then.

You have to define what's right, what's wrong, you have to sustain yourself.

You have to sustain your happiness.

What that also means is if you are the person at the center, if I am the person at the center who has to sustain all that and maintain all that, well, the destruction of that all falls on you.

All falls on me.

And you and I were never meant to carry that kind of weight.

We are created beings.

We have a creator, we have a king.

And all of this sounds empowering of like, man, I'll maintain myself, I'll find joy, I'll find true meaning, my truth.

It all sounds empowering until you feel the weight of it crashing out on you.

Until things change.

And now you and I have to deal with the circumstances of that.

What you see in the Old Testament scriptures, what you see in the believers of the new church even being persecuted, was that there was something outside of the circumstances happening around them.

The Old Testaments, they had the prophets, they had the proclamation of who was to come, they had the signs and wonders that were insane, and all these beliefs, I mean, all these people were like, it would be hard not to believe, and that's the lie itself.

It's like if God will do these crazy things, there's no way.

If you'll part waters, there's no way.

But it's presence is important.

Proximity is important, but alignment is the most important.

Everyone here would love Jesus hanging out here, right?

You'd love to have Jesus on your couch.

That sounds cool.

Until Jesus starts asking you questions about your life, the decisions you've made, all that.

And Jesus is a good king, he's graceful, all that.

But what happens when Jesus challenges us?

Many of us just want Jesus in our life, but we don't want him in control of our life.

We don't actually want Jesus reigning in our life.

Joy doesn't come to those who are in control of their life.

It's those who are simply present.

The shepherd story, they were simply present in every day.

And that's where heaven broke out.

They had heard the stories, they were Jewish men, they knew about the coming Messiah.

And the fact that God announced it to them, the fact that God announces it to you.

Jesus said that you didn't choose me, I chose you.

God chose you.

Heaven broke in that first Christmas.

Heaven broke in.

Not in a palace, in a field.

The ordinary.

Joy does not only come from his presence, joy comes from his reign.

His reign.

What we need to know about joy is that joy is not something that you and I achieve.

We'll never achieve joy.

No, joy is something that you and I receive.

That's the story of Christmas.

Us receiving joy.

And we receive joy through surrender in God.

Surrender.

I want to read it just like this.

Joy is not achieved through effort, joy is received through surrender.

You and I, we will not experience the joy of Jesus without him reigning in our life.

We need that.

And I just want to sit here because we all know this.

I know this.

That's why some of us we know the verses, we know the songs, we show up faithfully, and we're restless.

And if you don't know Christ, you're restless.

You're chasing kingdoms of this world.

Or you think you're the king or you're the queen, and you and I were never meant to carry that weight.

But when Jesus actually reigns in our life, something actually shifts in you're in our life.

You're no longer holding it all together.

Some of us need to hear that today.

We're no longer the one holding it all together.

Maybe you feel that way over your family, over your kids, over your circumstances.

When Jesus reigns, something shifts.

We no longer are in control.

That alone should produce joy.

That there is a good king in control who's reigning.

Your identity is secured in him, your future is secure in him.

He's a good king.

He died for you.

That was the plan from the beginning, to rescue you.

Pastor Clayton has like his preaching bent, and it's um, it's good.

I'll preach it till I'm blue in the face as well, that you were made on purpose with purpose, and we believe that about you.

And I just have something I can't shake in my soul.

It's found in 1 Peter, it's found in the book of Revelation, that the Lamb was slain before the foundations of the earth.

And my, I can't even, God fixed the problem from the very beginning.

He's outside of time.

He rescued us from the very beginning, and I know how jacked up I am.

You know how jacked up you are.

So when the angel appeared and pronounced good news, great joy for all people, it's all people.

He rescued all.

That was the plan to get in relationship with you.

And I don't know what you believe about yourself, I don't know how you think about yourself, but he's a good king and he loves you, and he's inviting you into relationship with him.

That's the good news.

That he is your heavenly father.

You know exactly who you are, you know how the story ends now because he's in control.

Amen.

And joy is not absent of responsibility.

Like, hey, with Jesus, we still lead, we're still present, we still do all these things, we work.

But now we no longer have ultimate responsibility.

And that should feel like the weight comes off you.

Christmas season, Christmas dinner, navigating family, navigating the buttons.

I'm not saying don't be wise, like have a budget.

God is in control.

Give it to him.

He wants you to give it to him.

He went to the cross to the point of death to show you and I his love for us.

Joy is not achieved through effort, joy is received through surrender to the good king.

Amen?

The good king.

And it doesn't produce passivity, like I just follow this God.

No, if you look at how the shepherds responded, they heard this proclamation, this present tense joy that they have, and they went.

They went to go find the baby, the king of kings laying in a feeding trough.

They saw him and they worshiped.

So if you're stuck in life, in any area of life, not just proximity, pursue proximity, pursue the presence of God, pursue alignment with God in your life as well.

And I promise you, you'll move.

I promise you, there's some things you're gonna have to change in your life.

And I promise you, friend, you will experience joy.

Great joy for all people.

Because this joy, this king, this news about him, it dismantles every hierarchy in our life.

This is the most important thing ever.

Nothing else touches it.

He's the king, he is your father, and he saved you.

And he's coming back for you.

And one day, just like in the beginning in the garden that we talked about, where fear broke out because we chose our own way.

We stepped into sin.

Good news, great joy, all people.

We no longer have to live in fear.

We know ever we don't have to hide.

And one day, he's gonna call us back to him, and we'll forever be in his presence.

Fully indwelled in his presence.

That's joy.

We don't strive to find these things and pursue the world, but joy found us.

He chose you.

Jesus said that he came to seek and save the lost.

And I know some of us we feel lost.

Maybe you feel and you seek proximity.

Maybe it's just alignment.

Maybe it's giving more and more and more and more and more of yourself to this king, inviting him into deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper parts of your life, the parts that you won't even tell your spouse about, the parts that you want to leave in your past.

Invite him in.

You don't have to hide.

That's the good news.

That gives joy.

Here's something I want to do.

I just want to end this way.

I want to reflect this way.

Um I just want you to know that this is real for me.

Like, I write these thinking about people.

I actually tend, I'll give you my little secret away.

I write to 17-year-old Tony all the time.

High school dropout Tony, who needed to hear the logic, the facts, and all needed to just be told how it is.

Some people say, You're intense, bro.

It's like, bro, Tony needed intense.

I was running the wrong direction.

And just so you know, like, there's some practices I've been doing in this message that I've been doing.

I've been trying to notice it, name it, and return it.

Notice it is when I see it leaking out, when joy is coming out, when it's leaking out, misplaced joy, I notice it.

And we notice it because we know the symptoms.

Naming it is being true to yourself and like actually like asking God to search you.

Instead of lying to yourself, like, let's search ourselves and go, what am I pursuing right now?

Is it achievement?

Control?

Like we know the chase.

List it.

Directly list exactly what that is.

Are you looking for approval?

Are you looking for comfort?

Like we can be real here.

We're humans.

We have these thoughts.

And then finally, what you're gonna do is you're gonna return it.

Jesus, I trust you.

Jesus, you are Lord.

You reign.

Jesus, you're Lord.

And Jesus, I trust you.

And that's not just some cool little saying.

Like it's like I've been praying this weekly, not dramatically, not loud.

I've been praying this quietly, in my living room, in the dark, on my couch.

Before my wife gets up, before my kids get up, I've been reflecting, I've been noticing a lot.

If you ask God to search you, I promise you he'll reveal stuff to you.

There's a long list.

I'm not perfect, you're not perfect, but all these things are robbing you of joy.

Jesus is king.

Give it to him.

And I promise you, joy will overflow in your life.

Deep, deep-rooted joy.

Found in the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords who knows you personally, you're forever saved, and you know your eternity.

No matter what's going on in your life, we know the end.

Anything less than that, Jesus would not have gone to the cross.

We can't dismiss it.

Like, he gave his life for you and I.

I'm thankful for Christmas.

I really am.

I'm thankful for opportunities like this.

I've been praying that you would get something out of this, but man, like, the more I do this myself, I'm just being honest, the better it, the more it goes from head to heart.

And the more I see how God takes a broken human being and he wrecks you.

And even in that idea of being wrecked, joy is produced.

And I can't explain it.

I'm just thankful.

Thankful for all of y'all, thankful for Helotus, and uh, just thankful for my pastor.

He's a great friend to me.

And my prayer has been that Christmas would be different this year for a lot of us.

Some of us are dealing with heavy, heavy things.

And you're not alone, and Jesus is king.

Would you pray with me?

Just everyone, just close your eyes, bow your heads, want to create some space.

For some of you who haven't taken the first step to like actually experience joy, true, life-giving joy.

It starts with surrender, it starts with making the decision today that Jesus is Lord, understanding and believing everything that He did and said He did.

He died, was buried, and resurrected.

He was fully God, fully man.

He was tried here on earth.

He died a sinner's death for you.

Never committed a sin, lived a perfect life.

He's the scapegoat.

And he did that to save you.

He did that to be in relationship with you.

And if you don't know Christ, you're caught in that happiness pattern.

You're caught in that loop.

You're chasing things of this world, you're longing for things, and if you want to know the answer, you're longing for a relationship with your Heavenly Father.

So today, here in the room, or if you're in Helotus or watching online, I just wanted to ask you to do something so I know exactly who I'm talking to.

If you've never had an opportunity in time to put your faith in Jesus, and today you can clearly say, I understand what it means to put my faith in Jesus, and that today you want to make that proclamation.

Would you just raise your hand so I know exactly who I'm talking to?

Amen.

Praise God.

Amen.

Thank you, Father.

You're moving.

Thank you, God.

Amen.

Thank you, Father.

I want you to know that the decision you're making today, believing that Jesus is God and He did everything He said He did, that you actually putting your faith in Jesus secures your faith in Him.

Your eternity is forever changed based on the decision that you made today.

And what I want to do is help you acknowledge the faith that you're proclaiming today.

I'm gonna ask all the believers in the room and everyone at Helotus to do the same, to just pray out loud with me.

Jesus, today I choose to put my faith in you.

I believe you are God, that you came to earth, that you died for my sins.

I believe that you rose again.

Thank you for loving me and forgiving my sins.

So glad you joined us for today's message.

If you want to help get the word out about this podcast, the first thing you can do is subscribe.

You can also rate and review this on whatever platform you like to listen on, and you can share it with your friends.

If you want to know more about MetaCurch, go to our website, metachurch.tv.

You can find out about all things MetaCurch.

And if you feel led, you can contribute to help push this movement forward.

We hope that you'll join us next week on the MetaCurch Podcast.