Uncommon – Uncommon Joy

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason Burns and Access Church in Lakeland, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

So we're capping off a series that we've entitled Uncommon.

Everybody say uncommon.

Come on, if you never heard me preach, you've got to talk back to me in this service.

Come on, uncommon.

Yeah, there you go.

We're talking about uncommon.

What makes believers uncommon?

It comes from this verse.

We we shared it week one.

It's Philippians 2, 15 and 16.

Paul was saying, hey, as you begin to learn to live like Jesus and imitate his life, then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

So we've been looking at this.

Hey, what makes believers uncommon?

Let's pray and then let's make it happen in here.

Lord, we love you and thank you for this moment.

Thank you for that incredible worship we've had through singing.

And now let us be attuned into your word.

I pray that you would do two things: that you would remind us of something that we know, but then challenge us.

Give us something that we didn't know.

That way we can grow and we can leave here better than when we came in.

In Jesus' name.

Come on, we all said amen.

All right, so um, I was thinking about this, and and listen, I've been on the earth a long time, 32 years, man.

That is a long, a long time.

But anyway, um, and it's okay to laugh in church, by the way.

Anyway, okay, so I've been thinking about this.

There are some things uh that I believe are common sense, uh, or they should be common sense, um, but I've come to realize that that they're not always uh common sense.

And so um, I was thinking about this, and let me give you an example.

Um, when you uh go to an elevator, I I think it's common sense that that those that are in the elevator currently step out before you go in, right?

Has this ever so that way you avoid that awkward like who's going where?

It's like super awkward, right?

And I I thought that it was common sense.

Everybody say common sense.

Yeah, I thought it was common sense, but it's not always uh common sense.

Uh I think this when when you're in public places and spaces that that that you shouldn't really point at people, you know.

Um that's just to me, that is that's common sense.

But but but let me draw a scenario for you.

Have you ever been with a friend and let's say like something strange or something's like bizarre is happening?

Most likely you're at Walmart if that's happening.

But now I love Walmart though, I'm not even gonna lie.

I love Walmart.

But most likely you're at Walmart or something like that, and it's like you're supposed to use descriptive language to tell somebody, hey, what is she wearing?

What is he doing?

Hey, at your nine o'clock.

And we all have that friend that's like, who, him?

And they point.

And it's like, you done messed it up.

That's half of the fun, is trying not to get discovered.

I think that it's common sense not to point, but but hey, maybe, maybe it's not.

Um, I've had this scenario happen to me uh the last few couple last few months.

This happened a couple times, where I go in a restaurant or I go in a store or something like that, and um, and then like behind me or to the side or something like that, someone coming in behind me has has said, Hey, I'm here for an interview, and so I need to see the manager.

Now, what you need to know, you need to pray for me because I am nosy when I'm in public, and I like when people start talking, anybody else like me, just be honest.

Let's be honest in church.

Okay, thank you, my people.

I'm nosy.

And so I'm like, but this day I was really trying.

I had prayed that morning, I had really tried not to be nosy.

But when the the guy said this, yeah, hey, I'm here for an interview, I need to see the manager, and and so I just happened to look, and guys, I'm telling you, church, family, that what he was wearing was like not matching up with somebody that wants to get a job, okay?

So it was like the shirt was messed up and your pants were messed up, and and by the way, this was this was you recently, I'm sorry.

But um I saw, or maybe you're online and you're like, I'm not watching this church, I'm sorry.

But anyway, uh I saw him, but then on his feet, can I show you what he had on his feet?

Look at this, man.

He had these.

I don't know.

I was like, and I call these slides, you may call them flippers or chancaletas, I don't know what you call them, but but um I I call these slides, he had these, and I'm like, no, man, the principle is that that you dress for the job that you want, right?

That is to me, you got it.

It's common sense.

It's like everything, I've always been taught everything about you says everything about you.

So when you walk into an interview, if you want the job, you don't wear those on your feet.

But to me, that's common sense.

But here's what I've come to discover that so too it is in the life of a Christian.

There are some things that should be common sense.

They should go along uh rightly with someone who follows the Lord, but some things just aren't.

And so the thing I want to talk to you today about is joy.

It's just a three-letter word, joy.

Everybody say joy.

It's a three-letter word, but man, it is strong, it is powerful.

If you get it, it will be a game changer in your faith.

And have you ever met somebody that they say they're a Christian, but they're not very joyful?

I mean, don't look at them, don't point at them.

But what I'm saying is, there are people that say, Yes, I'm a Christian, but you can't see joy anywhere in their life.

I love what philosopher G.K.

Chesterton said.

He said this, that joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian.

Oh, I love that.

The man, the the secret sauce to doing this thing with you and the Lord and the Lord directing your life and leading your life.

The gigantic secret is actually joy.

Oakliffe Bible Fellowship, the pastor is Tony Evans, he defines joy like this, and I quote that joy is internal stability in spite of external circumstances, because of the fact that God is real, because of the knowledge that God is real, he's in control.

So I wonder if you have any of that uh today.

If you have any of that joy.

Now, before we go any further, I think I need to set the stage for us.

There is a difference between joy and happiness.

And I want you to see this, that there is a difference between joy and happiness.

And I thought this week, man, what can I do to bring this to life so that people can see it?

So bear with me.

I I brought this this stick here to the stage, and and I'm gonna call this happiness.

Happiness is awesome, it's useful, just like the stick.

You could do some things.

With their sticks like this you could start a fire with.

There's some things you can do.

But the problem with this is it's pretty weak.

Well, wait a second.

There we go.

Do not put me on Instagram.

I don't want to see my face on any illustration page.

But um, but you see how easy this is?

Yeah, how easy it was supposed to be.

Um, do you see um so this is happiness, right?

Like it's useful, it's good, but you get the right call, the wrong call, the wrong time, and man, your happiness can be shattered.

Just like this.

Anyway, um, just like there we go.

Just like this thing.

This is happiness.

It's it's here, but then it's gone, and then you may be happy right now, but tomorrow somebody says something to you, and it's like, man, my happiness is gone.

This is happiness, but this, my friends, who let me in church with this?

I don't know, but this is this is joy.

Joy is nobody can break this.

And you can't try, right?

It's hard.

It may bend a little bit, but it's not gonna break.

Why?

Because it's made out of something, hold on, sorry.

Uh, but it's made out of something that's stronger.

And so too it is with joy and happiness.

Joy is just a little bit deeper, it's rooted and grounded in something just a little bit stronger.

It may bend a little bit, but it won't break.

That, friends, is joy.

And I wonder if you have any of that today.

There's a couple myths that some people have.

They feel like joy and happiness are the same thing, but they're they're really not.

Some people feel like, man, if if if I had more money, if I had a better car, if I had a better house, if I had the spouse, if I had all of this stuff, man, I'd be more joyful.

And the truth is, joy is not about what you don't have, it's about what you already do have.

A lot of people think that, man, it it joy is, I don't even really control how much I get.

That I just either have it or I don't.

But friends, I'll tell you that is incorrect.

Joy is a choice.

You choose how much joy that you have.

Here's what I believe.

I believe that God wants us to have joy.

Happiness, maybe, maybe not, but but joy, it is my belief that God wants us to be joyful people.

The English standard version of the Bible says the words joy or joyful or joyfulness 430 times.

It says the word happy or happiness only about 10 times.

So I think it's safe to say that God wants us to have joy.

And when you get joy, it can change the course and the direction of your life.

Very simply put, here's my message in just one sentence.

Here it is joy makes a follower of Jesus uncommon.

Oh man, if we're talking about what what are some things that that make a person who follows Jesus uncommon, absolutely, it's joy.

Joy can get you through some stuff.

And so the question of the day, the question I want to wrestle with here in just the next two hours is just this.

Yeah, just make it sure you're awake.

Just for the next few moments.

I want to look at this question.

How do I live with uncommon joy?

In a world where it feels like joy is hard to find, in a world where it feels like, man, I turn on the TV for two seconds, and man, there's something that hurts my heart.

In a world where, man, I can go through cities and I don't have to go very far.

I can I can drive our city here of Lakeland.

And if you're online, maybe you have some parts of your city that maybe aren't the best parts, but you can drive it and just immediately hurt your heart at what you see.

In a world that we live like that, there's so much crime, and in a world like, you know, we're supporting these beautiful missionaries, but but man, we shouldn't have these issues, but we do in a world like that.

How do I live with uncommon joy?

I think to do this, uh I want to give us through what I'm calling three eyes of joy.

Can I give that to you this morning?

This will hopefully help you inspire you, encourage you to live with uncommon joy.

Here's the first one.

I want to look at joy's importance.

I'll give you three eyes today.

The first one is importance.

I want to prove to you that joy absolutely is important.

So if we go in our Bibles, the books of Genesis to Malachi, what we call the Old Testament.

Now, in the Old Testament, there's some people that are some main players.

I don't want to call them characters, and oftentimes we do that with the Bible, but they're not characters.

They're real people.

They really did live, they really did do the things that we read about.

And so in that, you have a couple of the people that are spoken about the most.

And and one of them is David.

Everybody say David.

Now, David gets a lot of a lot of uh um a lot of stage time all throughout every Sunday, all throughout churches across America and really the world because of who he was.

He was a great king and great leader, and and no doubt had some mess ups and things like that.

Um, and but but he often is referred to as a man after God's own heart.

He had an incredible relationship with the Lord.

And so David, he has a blunder.

And if you know this blunder that I'm referring to, it's one of the main ones everyone talks about.

One night he was he was doing some looking, and um some things happen with Bathsheba.

And so you can read your Bible and figure out what happened.

But um, anyway, David is is having this moment, and and it results in the killing and the murder of her husband, and and then David's found out.

He's confronted.

When he prays the God, he asks for forgiveness.

He asks for a couple things, but one of the things that he asked for, his life is in shambles, it's shattered, it's broken in a million pieces.

But I want you to see this Psalm, uh, Psalm 51.

Among some of the things that he asks of the Lord, as he's asking for forgiveness, he says, Lord, here's what I want you to do: rejoice, uh, restore to me the joy of your salvation.

We'll come to this concept in just a little bit.

But restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit.

Then I will teach teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you.

David knew that there was a call on his life to help people, to lead people in the way of righteousness, to lead people in the way that God would have them to go.

But his sin not only has devastated his family and himself, but it had taken away his joy.

And it's right here where I want to say this that no doubt sin causes separation between us and God.

But one of the negative effects of sin is that it takes our joy.

It takes the joy that we should have day by day, and it begins to suck the life out of it.

This is one of the things that a king in the Old Testament petitions God for.

Then we get to the king, the one that the Bible's really all about, and Jesus, and he's teaching one day, and he's he's teaching his disciples how to stay connected with him, how to abide with him, how to um remain with him so that their lives produce fruit that will last.

And so he's talking about this, he's he's talking about the Holy Spirit that would come and help, comfort, lead, and guide them.

And then he says this, he drops this line, I love this.

Jesus, the king himself, says this.

I've told you this, that this is all the stuff I've been trying to teach you.

So for three and a half years, he's walking with his disciples and teaching them, and he said, I told you all this stuff, so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

I think it's very interesting that Jesus knows what's up ahead.

He knows he's gonna be arrested and beaten and crucified and all of that.

But he said, I've been telling you all this stuff, and here's the deal I want you to have my joy, and that my joy would be in you, it would be complete.

Jesus knew what was what was headed his way, but he said, This is so important.

I want you to have this.

I believe that the Lord wants us to have joy.

I love Jesus' life.

His whole life was really marked uh by joy.

If you look even before he came to this earth, you remember the Easter or the Christmas story, sorry, the Easter uh Christmas story uh in Luke.

I don't know why I'm on Easter, but he's alive, everybody.

Anyway, um, so in the Christmas story, the angels come to the shepherds and they said, Behold, don't be afraid, be of good courage, because we have good news of great joy.

Jesus hadn't even touched earth yet, but there was something about him that brought joy.

At one point, Luke 1, 41, we won't read it, but in Luke 1, 41, we have this time where Jesus' mother Mary, she's pregnant with Jesus.

And then her cousin uh Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist, who who would help the world get ready for the coming of Jesus.

And at one point, Mary's just going to hang out with Elizabeth.

She goes over and she says, Hey, Elizabeth, how's it going?

The Bible says that as soon as uh she greets Elizabeth, the Bible says that the baby, John the Baptist, leapt in her womb.

There's something about the arrival of Jesus that brings joy.

The writer of Hebrews 1, uh chapter 1, verse 9, says this that God has anointed Jesus with the oil of gladness or the oil of joy.

So all I'm trying to tell you is that joy is important because Jesus proclaimed and possessed it.

Here's what I think.

I think it would be common sense that those that follow Jesus are those that proclaim and possess joy.

What do you think?

I think that that should just go along with it.

It just, it just should.

So, very quick, uh, I want to do this.

I want to talk real practical about how how important joy is.

What does it do?

Number one, it points to my salvation.

Joy is important because it points to my salvation.

We don't have time to read it, but in Luke chapter 10, verse 20, we have a scenario in which Jesus has told his disciples, go out, preach the good news that I told you, tell that to everybody else.

Luke 10:20

And they begin to do that.

And people are healed and demons are casted out.

All this good stuff starts happening.

They come back to Jesus and they say, Jesus, look what we did.

You'd be so proud.

Oh man, if you were there, look at all of the stuff that we did.

And in Luke 10, 20, Jesus says a beautiful line.

He says this don't rejoice in all this stuff.

This is this is good, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.

What was he saying?

The stuff, the byproduct, that's all well and good.

But really rejoice.

Find joy in the fact that when you die, you're gonna be with me forever.

This is the part where I want to pause and talk to every person who already has a relationship with Jesus.

If you already have a relationship with Jesus, you ought to have frequently some flashbacks to the moment in which you accepted him into your life.

Do you have those moments sometimes where you just stop and you pause and you say, God, thank you for that beautiful moment.

See, because often we live our life so fast at such a high rate that we we don't pause and say, Man, God, thank you.

That you know what, I'm going through some stuff.

Tomorrow's Monday, I'm gonna hit some stuff, but you have saved me.

And if I were to pass away right now, I would be with you forever.

When you have joy, it's an indicator, it should be a reminder of your salvation and what God has brought you through.

And you should have some of those what I call like holy flashbacks to that moment.

Many of us need to bring ourselves back to that moment.

What did you feel?

What did you sense in that moment?

Do you remember the weight that it felt like got lifted up off of you when you became a believer?

Joy, friends, when you get it, it points to your salvation.

I love this one.

That's it, it's evidence of God's spirit.

Pastor, I said, why is joy important?

It points you to your salvation, and you can look forward to that with hope.

But also it's evidence of God's spirit.

Pastor Jason, our lead pastor, preached a message a few weeks ago.

And he just simply said this that we are a spirit-empowered church.

That means that we're led by the Holy Spirit.

He said this that the Holy Spirit is God in us.

And so Paul would say to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 5, check this out.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy.

One of the indicators that you know the Holy Spirit is living inside of you and dwelling inside of you, is the fact that you will walk around with joy.

And I love that.

I love this one.

This is super practical.

Joy, it'll get you through some stuff.

Like it'll just get you through some stuff.

Like you know when somebody has some joy, because it's like they've walked through some of the most unhappy days, but they've done it with a smile on their face.

Why?

Because they have joy.

And when you get armed with joy, oh, it's so important that it begins to get you through some stuff.

I think doctors are great, and I think medicine's awesome when you need it.

Don't abuse it, but but when you need medicine, you gotta take medicine, right?

Like I love NyQuil, not too much, but I love NyQuil when I need it, you know.

Um, but it does taste good.

And I feel good after it.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

The reality is this those are all great.

But sometimes to get you through some stuff, you just need a little bit of joy.

Joy has a different perspective.

Joy says, hey, whatever I'm in right now, you know what?

There's there's a different perspective I can see this through.

That's the first eye of joy I want to take you to.

Here's the second one: joy's improvement.

Oh, it's not just important to us, but but it'll help improve your life.

Now you say, Pastor Isaiah, how does joy improve my life?

I'm so glad that you asked.

This is the best class ever.

Here's the answer.

I'm gonna give you a fourfold answer.

Number one, when you let joy improve your life, here's what's gonna happen.

Number one, your work is gonna be different.

When I let joy do its work in my life, it has this improvement factor of it inside of it.

And then my work changes.

It's a little different.

Writer of Hebrews was talking about Jesus.

Chapter 12, verse 2, he says this, for the joy set before him, talking about Jesus, he endured, and we're gonna hit this word next week in our next series, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now hold this here.

I love that he said this.

He said that there was a joy set before him.

In other words, when Jesus was holding the cross, and when he was taking the cross, that nothing about that was was beautiful, nothing about that was just was just nice and cuddly and sweet and happy.

No, but but there was a joy on the other side of what Jesus was doing.

Jesus knew that, man, if I can just get through this horrific, horrible situation, there'll be something on the other side.

Jesus knew that in 2024, Lake Land, Florida, we would gather in his name.

And so the Bible says that for the joy set before him, he endured the cross.

Jesus knew that, man, Friday is bad, but I also know Sunday is coming.

And can I just tell you this morning, you might need to just take that and hold on to that.

That what you're going through may not feel good, it may not seem good, it might not be good, but hold on, Sunday's coming.

Hold on to that joy because God can do so much.

You just gotta keep pushing and keep pressing.

Are you hearing me this morning?

You just gotta keep going because you're gonna get through this keyword, through this.

You gotta know that this morning.

For the joy, your work then becomes different.

So tomorrow morning's Monday.

And you're like, man, I'm gonna have that co-worker that I want to punch in the face.

Hold on.

Get you a little bit of joy.

Because with some joy, you can get through this thing.

And you may find out that you're there for a purpose and for an assignment, maybe for a person.

You may find out that God actually knows what he's doing and he put you there for a specific reason.

So hold on.

Get yourself a little bit of joy.

I'm trying to tell you, when you let joy improve you, your work becomes different.

You ready for the second one?

How does it improve my life?

Here it is.

My worship is different.

Oh, come on.

Your worship is different.

When you got a little bit of joy to you, your your worship is different.

And I like to think of worship like a car, like like it's powerful, it's useful, it can do some things, but but with a no gas, it can't do anything.

But but but but worship, man, when you add some joy to it, man, you could do a whole lot.

Check this out.

Psalm 100 says this.

Shout for come on, everybody, shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness, not sadness, not madness.

Don't walk in the doors.

Mad, get glad.

There you go.

You watch TV too.

All right.

Come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who has made us.

We are his, we are his people, the chief of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and praise his name.

I love this for the Lord is good.

Like in my church, I always used to say, God is good.

Yeah, we went to the same church, and all the time, God is good, and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Do you know what can happen to your worship when you put just a little bit of joy with it?

Oh man, your worship can go to a whole new level.

So now let's talk.

Sunday morning.

You ever been sitting next to someone?

Don't look at them, don't point, but they're not good singers.

They should, like they should never just be up here.

Like if they ever hold auditions, you're telling them, hey, don't go.

You can greet, but but don't come up.

Don't look at them.

Somebody's looking around.

Don't look.

And some people and some people they raise their hands and they bob and they wave, and some people just swing.

And sometimes it's easy to look at people and say, why are they doing all that?

Why are they moving?

But you don't know what they have been through that's gotten them to that point.

Maybe, just maybe, they have let the joy of the Lord improve their life, and now it's coming out in their worship.

So here's what I want you to do.

Next week, can't do it today, but next week, when you come in, I don't want you to look down on those people or judge those people.

Be one of those people.

Okay?

Say, you know what, you kind of don't sound good, but I don't either.

Let's sing to the Lord anyway.

Not with sadness, but with come on, you with me this morning?

That's what we're talking about.

Joy can improve your worship.

Not only that, but it improves your witness.

Your witness is different when you let joy get a hold of you.

I love this.

There was a uh a philosopher, he he didn't really believe in God, and somebody said, Hey man, why do you look at why do you look down on Christians so much?

Why do you look at them in a negative type of way?

And here's what he said.

It startled me this week when I found out he said, I would believe in their salvation if they looked a little more like people who had been saved.

Woo!

Somebody in the back row, take a picture of this, I'll move out the way.

Come on.

Why?

Because the reality is this the world is watching our joy.

The world, if you call yourself a believer, if you don't, we'll deal with you in just a few minutes.

And we love you and we want you to come into a beautiful relationship with the Lord.

But if you already have that title, there are some things that are just common, and joy is one of them, and you need to look like you're saved.

Okay?

So it's right here where I want to say this that if you call yourself a believer every day, here's what you need to do.

Um I gotta smile when I say this.

Tell your face.

Okay.

That's what I need from you.

I need you to tell your face.

I need you to tell your cheekbones and tell your teeth, and no matter how big like mine they are, or how small, it doesn't matter.

If you got no teeth, it doesn't matter, but I need you to tell your face, hey, I hey, hey, remind yourself that I'm in a beautiful relationship with the Lord, and man, somebody's watching.

I think it would be incredible.

I think, I think for each and every person that calls themselves a believer, one person would come to faith just because of watching someone else's life.

Remember, joy is not happiness.

And when you begin to observe someone's life who is truly joyful, and you see that they walk through some stuff that's that's happening to them that's that's not good, and and it's it doesn't feel good, and it doesn't seem good, and it's just simply not good, period.

End of discussion, but yet they still have joy.

Somebody's gonna come to faith because of seeing you.

So here's my question: Are you one of these people he was talking about?

You walk around life, but you don't look like it.

Joy will improve your witness.

Here's the last one it will improve and your well-being will be different.

If you'll let joy improve your life, your well-being will be different.

I love what the book of Proverbs says, chapter 17, 22 says, a joyful heart is good medicine.

I told you, man, what medicine's good?

When you need it, you take it and all that good stuff.

But a joyful heart, come on, that is good medicine.

But a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

I love Proverbs 15, 13 says this that a glad heart makes a happy face.

Tell your face, everybody.

A broken heart crushes the spirit.

Come on, we gotta let joy improve our work and our worship and our witness and our well-being.

I wanted to prove it to you so much.

I looked up three sets of numbers.

I'm gonna give them to you, right?

And it's gonna prove my point that joy will improve your well-being.

You ready?

Here's the first number.

Write this in your notes.

Online, type it in six.

Why six, Pastor Isaiah?

Six is the number of hours a day spent socializing that those that reported some of their happiest and highest levels of joy in their life, um, that that's the number of hours a day they spent socializing.

So, so simply put, like very, very plainly, like, man, get out and talk to some people and be around people.

Don't don't just always be by yourself.

Get around six hours a day.

For many of us, we can do this.

Uh, in this same the same study I read, most people reported some of their highest levels of joyfulness on the weekends.

Why?

Because they were able to spend time with family and friends and be nourished.

So six is the first number.

This second uh set of numbers I'm gonna give you is for all the married people.

Married people, where are you at?

Raise your hand.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, it's somebody, yes, sir.

My man.

Who else didn't raise their hand?

You're getting slapped on the way home, just trying to tell you.

All right, so check it out.

Here's the next set of numbers.

Five to one.

Couples that said, hey, listen, we are we are fulfilled, we are set up.

Man, I love this person.

I mean, I'm joyful with this person.

They had about five positive interactions to every one negative.

So here's the homework.

If you're married, well, on the way home, give each other a compliment.

Share, reminisce on a moment that'll make you laugh and hang out with one another.

Like this week, find find ways to just make each other laugh.

And because I think what you're gonna find is that joy improves your well-being.

Are you with me?

Here's the third, the third, the third number I want to give you.

Three to five.

Experts have said if you have three to five close friends, people that that that they looked at their life, they reported some of the highest levels of life satisfaction because they had about three to five close friends.

Don't be that person that's like, well, yeah, I don't have no friends.

Nobody liked me.

I don't like you either.

Okay?

So it's like, don't be that person.

I was a youth pastor for nine and a half years.

And uh and and it was crazy, and I loved it, but it was it never failed.

Each and every place that I youth pastor, that we'd always have students, Pastor Dan, I don't like this youth ministry, and I don't, I don't like, I don't have any friends.

And so what I would do is I would say, man, I want to help you out.

And so what I would do the next youth service, though, I would just watch them.

And I would see, like, okay, are they really doing it?

And it's just not working.

Are they are they stinky?

Are they funky?

Are they are they just weird?

We had one girl in our youth ministry like years ago, um, and it wasn't here at this church, and she just barked the whole time to people.

And I'm like, Well, are you that's why you don't have no friends, okay?

But anyway, so so I would watch them, but they'd be in the back the whole time.

And they would say, Christ is my friend.

I mean, I don't want to be my dad made me come to church.

Man, I hate this church.

And it's like, listen, if you want friends, you gotta be friendly.

And it doesn't just stop, uh start and stop with teenagers, adults, we could do it too.

So when you come into church or when you go about life, if you want friends, you have to be friendly.

Okay, so be somebody that somebody wants to be friends with.

Are you getting that this morning?

It can improve your well-being.

Joy can, but you gotta let it.

You just have to simply let it do its work.

Are you with me this morning?

You still here?

You still awake?

I'm just trying to get you to see how we can be uncommon.

We gotta know that joy is important.

Joy has this improvement factor to our life.

Every area of our life can be better with just a little bit of joy sprinkled on top.

And here's the third one, and we can we'll we'll start to close here.

Joy's invitation.

This is the third eye of joy this morning.

Joy's invitation.

So, Pastor Isaiah, where does joy, where is joy at?

Where is joy at inviting me to come in?

Two things that we're gonna go.

Two places.

The first place is the presence of God.

Man, where can I find joy?

Oh, I can find it in the presence of God.

I love what Psalm 16, 11 says.

It says, You will make known to me the way of life.

In your presence is fullness of joy.

Fullness of joy.

In your right hand there are pleasures forever.

First Chronicles 16, 27 says this splendor and majesty are before him.

This capitalized H means talking about him, talking about God's strength and joy.

Come on, strength and joy are in his place.

When you get in God's presence, that's where you can find some joy.

I love this.

It talks about strength being there.

Oftentimes in the Bible, you'll see joy and strength coupled together because when you get a little bit of joy, seemingly you get some strength to push through whatever it is that you're going through.

You can find joy in God's presence.

And this is one of the reasons why I love access, and we say this in our next steps class all the time that we believe church should be celebratory.

So when you come in, you got to worship God.

And in that worship God is a connection card.

And then I'm not gonna repeat all of that, but when you got a, you should have got to worship God and somebody greeted you, they should have.

Somebody said hi, somebody gave you a smile, something like that, a hug, a high five.

We believe that church should be celebratory because in God's presence you can find fullness of joy.

You got it, fullness of joy.

And it doesn't just, it's not just here in South Lakeland.

I can't wait for North Lakeland.

I'm walking the parking lot, I'm gonna be at your door.

Like, come on, knock knock, service is starting, let's go.

Like, I'm gonna be in there.

I'm just excited.

We're carrying that culture even in North Lakeland, right?

We believe that church should be celebratory.

In God's presence, there is joy.

Here's the second place you can find it, and we're gonna close out.

The word of God.

You can find joy in the word of God.

Very quickly, there's a scripture that I just love when it comes to joy.

But really, the the context in the background is a man named Ezra is standing up in front of God's people, and all he's doing is just reading the word.

And he's reading the word, and all throughout the room, people just start crying, and and people start confessing their sins to God, and people start making the decision to say, Man, I gotta put God number one.

And then Nehemiah's like, okay, this is great, but hold on, let me let me share something else with you.

Nehemiah 8:10 says this Nehemiah said, Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks.

Nehemiah 8:10

I like that.

I like grape juice.

And some, take some to those who have nothing prepared.

This day is holy.

In other words, man, we've been crying, and we've been repenting to the Lord, we've been doing all that stuff, and that's beautiful and amazing, but this day it's holy to the Lord, so don't grieve.

For the joy of the Lord is your strength.

When you begin to get in God's word and then let God's word get into you, you will find joy.

I wonder if this has ever happened to you.

You've been reading God's word, and for some reason, some verse jumps off of the pages and into your heart, and you're like, Man, I've never seen that before.

And you just start feeling this sense of like joy.

When that happens to you, just let it happen.

Sometimes you'll read a promise from God's word, and it's just like, man, I needed this in this moment, I needed this in this time, in this season of my life.

Let it happen.

That's joy coming into your life.

When we open God's word, man, there we can find the joy's inviting us on a beautiful, beautiful journey.

I hope this encouraged you today.

And I think if we'll do all these things, if we'll remember that joy is important, we'll let it improve our life.

Hey, yo.

Um, and I think if we'll let it invite us on a beautiful journey, and we'll take that journey, we will be truly uncommon.

Here's how I want to close.

I want to give you a challenge.

I'm gonna pray, and we're done.

Here's the challenge, twofold challenge.

Number one, this week, here's what I want you to do.

I want you every single day between now and next Sunday to go find joy.

Some of you need to start your day by saying, This is the day that the Lord has made.

I will rejoice and not be mad, not be sad, but be glad.

You can find joy.

As easily as you can find something to be discouraged by or messed up by or hurt by, angry by, you can find something that will uplift you and encourage you and push you along your way.

So find joy this week, every single day.

And two things joy is a choice, and finding joy is free.

Everybody say free.

It don't cost you nothing to do that.

And I like free stuff.

All right, here's the second fold of that challenge.

Every room you walk into between now and next Sunday, determine in your heart you're gonna be the most joyful person in the room.

I didn't say the happiest person, because you don't have to be happy to be joyful.

When you talk to some people who are truly joyful, they have a lot happening in their life that maybe is not cause for joy, but yet they have found joy anyway.

So every room you walk into this week, you be the most joyful person.

You be a carrier of God's joy into that room.

How does that sound, everybody?

Sounds good?

Let's do this, let's pray real quick, and we'll be done.

First, I want to pray, Lord, for those that are in the room and they're they're a believer, they're a follower of you, but they've lost their joy.

I don't know what happened somewhere along the way, they've lost that joy, and it's it's hard to get it back.

God, right now, by your power, I pray that you would infuse them and infect them with the joy of the Lord, that it would truly be their strength.

Right now, I pray for my friend, my brother, my sister that they would feel a sense of joy and they would walk in that this week.

Every room they would be uh this week that they would be in, they'd be a carrier of your joy, just like Jesus did.

God, for those that that need that, I pray right now there would be no hesitation, no delay from heaven, but you would give them joy.

Even in the midst of things that are bad that are happening, have joy.

Speak joy over them, joy for the person watching online.