How to Find True Joy

Are you longing for a joy that lasts? In this episode, we explore what it truly means to have your joy made full through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

• Hear how following Jesus and being reborn of the Spirit brings unshakable joy.
• Discover the mystery of God’s presence—like the wind you feel but cannot see—that fills you with His joy.
• Learn the importance of loving one another and building meaningful friendships with fellow Christians.
• Understand how sorrow can lead to a deeper appreciation of the joy God provides.
• Reflect on the victories God has given you and the sorrows He’s helped you overcome.

Tune in as we uncover the beauty of living a joy-filled life through the Holy Spirit and God’s love.

🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe and share this episode to spread encouragement and joy!

#JoyInJesus #HolySpirit #ChristianCommunity #OvercomingSorrow

Transcript

Man oh man. Oh man. What a fantastic time of the year. So we will be here Tuesday night at 6 o'clock. We're gonna gather and watch a movie together and and probably cry together and then Have some we're gonna have popcorn. It's gonna be a good time If you don't if you don't have plans come on join with us Tuesday night at 6 o'clock. There won't be a Wednesday night service That's Christmas. So we're moving Wednesday night to Tuesday night having a Christmas Eve get together(...) so I Don't know it may have been announced once but I'm gonna invite you again. So hallelujah. Oh man, let's pray father I thank you so much for this morning. I thank you for who you are. I thank you for what you've done Gotta just pray that you would have your way in this place. We thank you in Jesus name God put your anointing on your word Amen, somebody better turn me down because I'm probably more excited than this anyway

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Yeah, you might want to yeah. Thank you, buddy. All right. Hallelujah Luke chapter 2 Matthew Mark Luke chapter 2 In your Bible we're going How do you do Christmas without reading Luke chapter 2? I don't really know

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Luke chapter 2 and it start which it does still we'll start probably around verse 8 but

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The Luke chapter 2 is where all the Christmas programs begin(...) You know where the decree from Caesar Augustus and all that's where typically those always start but we're in verse 8

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Verse 8 and There were in the same country shepherds abiding in their field keeping watch over their flock by night night And lo an angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid Which you can imagine. All right. I mean an alien just dropped down on top of you You're out there in the middle of field and all of a sudden the glory start shining an angel shows up it freaked me out And it says that the angels said to them don't be afraid behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day in the city of David is Savior Which is Christ the Lord verse 10 said behold I bring you good tidings of great joy Which shall be to all? People you know, I looked that up because Just because I like to look those things up. I looked it up. Do you know what all people means?

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Everybody(...) It's actually the same word believe it or not. It's the same word Although it's it's pretty you know that when the translators changed the word It's the same word when they wrote whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord. It's actually the same word(...) It basically means whoever will

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Whoever will I bring great joy now? I don't know about you, but I'm really I'm willing to have some joy(...) I'm like I'll take some of that(...) I'm willing I'm in so if you're willing he said I'm bringing great joy for anybody who's willing and I'm like I'm willing I Want joy John chapter 15 Matthew Mark Luke John so you're in Luke you're gonna go one more book over to John(...) chapter 15

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John chapter 15 is a pretty

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Just a powerful powerful chapter

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But John chapter 15 Jesus begins to teach there at the beginning I'm the vine You know your every branch in me That bears fruit right he works on it. We're gonna get to that. But if you jump down to John chapter 15 verse 11

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Jesus said these things have I spoken to you that my joy might remain in you And that your joy might be full Jesus literally said I'm telling you this stuff so you can get your joyful

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Said I'm telling this to you so that my joy would remain in you and that you would get your joyful

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See at the pro when Jesus was at the angels began to proclaim that did he was coming they were saying he's coming To bring great joy to anybody that will anybody that will let him he's gonna bring great joy And then Jesus when he's when he's teaching these things. He said these things I'm telling you and I'm sharing with you That you're gonna have joy and that that joy is gonna be in you and that you're gonna have your joyful So I'm gonna tell you I'm ready God. Give me my joyful Fill her up Go to like going to the gas station fill it up. I Want my joyful. I want my joyful So I think if he's saying I'm telling you these things so your joy could be full. There's probably some meat in there Are you with me? There's probably some good stuff in there that tell us. How do we get joyful?

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I don't know you I spent a lot of times in my life when joyful seemed a long ways away

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Joyful didn't seem so close how do we get her joyful? So that's where we're at this morning. We're gonna find out How do we get our joyful? What do we got to do to get her joyful? What is it? What does it take to get my joyful father move on your word teach us change us? Fill us up with joy. It's holiday season. It's a Christmas season. Joy is written everywhere, but God Put that joy into our life. All right number one in In there in John chapter 15 where we're at at the very beginning. He says I'm the true vine He says I'm the true vine in verse 2 it says every branch in me

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Every branch in me can I tell you a secret to getting your joyful you need to be in him

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Every branch in me in I'm gonna give you some verses I want to get through all of this and be done in a timely manner and if you'd like to look these up Please feel free to do so But but I'm gonna give you a few verses in John chapter 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus said and he's asking Jesus about the kingdom of heaven and Nicodemus says to Jesus You must be born again. Of course that messes with him. You mean reincarnation something weird, you know, he didn't know what he's talking about(...) Jesus like no, you must be born of the spirit and then he goes down in that verse(...) And he begins to describe he said this those that are born of the spirits kind of like when the wind the wind blows You can feel it. You know, it's there You know, the wind is touching you but you can't tell where it started or where it goes

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See the thing is to be in Christ to experience true joy It must come from a spiritual relationship with God. You have to start there You got to be in him You have to understand what that means to be born again to be a Christian to to to accept Jesus to come to him Let let the blood of Christ cleanse you from all your sins learn to be a Christian Bible calls you a new creature in him and it says then the spirit begins to dwell in you like the wind You can't tell where it came and you can't do you don't know why you're happy

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Why are you happy I don't know

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Never forget as a child and and I didn't really know what it was like to experience any blessings of the Lord I didn't know what the presence of God was like. I didn't understand it. I was just a child

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We're going home from church and I'm in the back of the car and the Holy Spirit just came on me man I mean the joy of the Lord just fell me on the way home after church. I didn't know what it was I didn't know anything about it. I'm back there in a car and and it's so heavy. I start crying I mean the backseat of the car and I'm crying as a young man. I'm in the back I said dad, I'm crying

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They said yeah, what's wrong? Like this is the weirdest thing ever There am young man. I'm crying in the backseat, but I'm so happy I can't be literally so happy I'm crying and I'm like I don't understand this it's cuz it's from the Holy Spirit It's a joy that comes that you can't explain you can't tell how it got there. You can't see it's beginning There's not a purpose that you could even see but the joy just comes upon you You have to be in him to experience that if you're not one of his you can't understand that You have to be one of his(...) In John chapter 7 the scripture teaches us says that any man if we're in him out of our belly flows rivers of Living water that's joy from the Holy Spirit See you can't have joy you can have joy for things or you can have joy for something that happens in your life for a moment But true joy comes like the wind where you don't know how or you don't know you can't see it You can't do where it began. There's no excuse you can't make

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It's because being in him it's a spiritual thing that happens So the first and first first if you're gonna experience joy, you cannot experience true joy You can get happy you can even have enjoy for a man You can have a good time for a little while but to experience true joy(...) You have to have a relationship with God period. It's the only way Can't get it without it. All right Number two there in John chapter 15. It's interesting said these things verse 11, right? He said these things I've written to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full and then he jumps Right into verse 12 and he said this is my commandment that you love one another That you love one another Can I tell you that there is something about the relationship that God has built between brothers and sisters in Christ that is? It's not replaceable(...) There's something that God wants to do in us and with us now listen other people don't make you happy(...) Other people can't make you happy, but there is a joy from good solid Christian relationships

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And we can't really experience what that's like without it. We can't we miss it in Second in second John chapter 1 Paul was writing to the brethren and at the very end of the verse and in verse 12 He was saying I'm writing to you these letters is about I can't wait to come and see you face to face(...) Said I can't wait to come and see you face to face because then he says because then our joy will be full

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He's like I like knowing about you. I like writing you letters, but I can't wait to hang out with you(...) Because when we hang out together and we're worshiping God together, and we're hanging out together He said ooh, that's gonna be a good time

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So if we want our joyful Jesus is saying number one you got to be in me you have to accept me you have to be a part of Christianity of who Jesus is Number two you can't do it alone

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Come on. What is the first thing people want to do when they get to feeling down sit alone?

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What is the worst thing you can do when you're feeling down sit alone?

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It got to be together. We have to hang out together. We have to spend time together We have to love one another there's great joy that can be found in the relationships That's why Jesus said love each other love each other love each other in the same context of dwelling in him He didn't even skip a beat. He says love each other All right number three Who now we're gonna get to the good ones almost should sit down for that. I'm going to

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Let's sit down for this one number three this is found in John chapter Where we are John chapter 15?

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I'm gonna get serious with you

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Verse 2(...) every branch that's in me

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That doesn't bear fruit. He takes it away And every branch that bears fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit(...) The reason I sit down is because I need to get real with you for a second

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You will never experience the true joy from the Lord And tell you've experienced

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The true anguish of the world

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I'll never forget see it's easy to be happy when everything's going right when everything's going right joy is easy When everything is going your way, it's easy to be happy

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Many years ago I Went through a time Okay, more than one, but I'll one that I'll never forget and it was probably one of the most challenging times of mine My heart was so broken. I Remember thinking to myself. How can anybody ever ever be happy again? And my heart was so crushed and it was it was a pain that I just I don't want to go into the details with You, but I was broken my heart ached within me and One Sunday morning. We were getting ready for church, and I just was hurt. I was hurt and broken so bad and Somebody else was playing guitar So I didn't have to pray play with the worship team and I was just sitting down front and I was just sitting there I Never forget they began to sing a worship song. I don't remember what happened in the worship song of what song it was

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But in the middle of that worship song joy started moving down into my heart

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Now that God I never could have imagined feeling joy right now My heart was so broken my heart hurt so bad. How could I possibly?(...) Be feeling joy right now How how could that happen?

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How could it possibly happen that right now I am feeling joy

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And then I realized there is nothing in this world. There's no drug I've ever taken. There's no alcohol I could have ever drank There is nothing in this world that could have ever brought joy to me in my life in the middle of pain that I was Feeling and the crushing of my spirit and the broken hearted nothing could ever be like that(...) Nothing could ever give me joy like that except for my God(...) You see when God begins to truly reveal his joy to us. It has to come through pain Whoo shout of hallelujah to me

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You cannot experience the glory of God you can't experience the presence of God you can't experience how good God is(...) Until your life has been crushed by everything we hold dear

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I'm preaching better than your amen and

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In John chapter 16, let's turn there John we're in John already in John chapter 16 verse 20 Verily I say to you is Jesus talking to the people said I'm you see me now in a little while You're not gonna see me said verily I say to you that you shall weep and lament and the world will rejoice and you shall be sorrowful But your sorrow shall be turned into joy a woman when she is in travail has sorrow because her hour has come But as soon as she is delivered of the child She remembers no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world

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You now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy No, man shall take away. Jesus was saying you got to understand what's about to happen

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Everything you hoped for everything you thought everything you believed in you they believed in Jesus as the Messiah said Everything you believed in is about to get nailed to a tree All of your hopes all of your thoughts all of the things you believe you're gonna watch(...) Be crucified and killed and bled out in front of you

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You're going to experience sorrow He said but it is Necessary for my joy to be in you for the glory that I'm gonna do within you there has to be sorrow first. I Know nobody we could leave that part out of this message(...) You can't experience the rev the the the glory of God without sorrow Can you imagine if you will?

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Can you imagine finding two pennies on the floor?

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two pennies on the floor and(...) Shouting hallelujah and jumping up and down and raising your hands and crying out before the Lord and the glory of God Can you imagine that my brother did?(...) not my physical brother a spiritual brother The Lord called him and he went to this place to preach and he and he went there to teach And he said I need 20 bucks to get home from that place and he began to pray He said Lord I need 20 bucks and he believed the Lord spoke to him. You're gonna get the 20 bucks You're gonna get the 20 bucks

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He's like I'm gonna get my 20 bucks and have my fuel I'm gonna get home. I trust you. I believe in you I'm gonna grab this promise from God And he got through the meeting and the meeting was all good and pastors and some people came over to his motel room and they had Prayed together before the meeting and he saw one of them stick his hand in his pocket and something fell on the floor in The motel room. He didn't know what it was They went to the meeting and he preached at the meeting and he got all done at the meeting and he brought in(...) $19.98

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God You told me you were gonna give me 20 bucks. I believed you I Stooded by faith. I believed you were gonna do it God. I believed you were gonna do it God You know, we agreed that's what I needed and then why would my promise be short God? Why would my promise be short two pennies?

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He went back to the motel room kind of mad at God Don't act like you've never been there

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And he went back to the motel room mad at God

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And he looked down on the floor and there were two pennies laying on the floor

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He said only a god like mine could care about his promises down to the very last penny only a god like mine Will take care of every knee only a god like mine will do everything He said he will do only a god like mine will give me two pennies

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You know how broke you got to be to be that excited over two pennies

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Do you know how much pain you have to have to understand the greatness of who God is

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So many times we go through anguish and problems and struggles and pain Why?(...) Why Jesus said here in this verse. He said this is why(...) Said because the joy I'm gonna put in you will never be able to be taken again(...) They might beat you but it won't matter because you saw your Savior died and rose and again from the grave They could come back at you. You're gonna have pain you're gonna have sorrow But it won't matter because you saw me die and raised from the dead(...) And that will never leave you that will never ever ever go away(...) And that joy will always remain within you he said(...) Psalms I do a couple of Psalms here. I got time Psalms chapter 30

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Psalms chapter 30 the Psalmist David understood this I'm gonna tell you I When I read these I really recognize that he understood this Psalms chapter 30 verse 11. So Psalms 30 11

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30 11

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And you have turned me from my morning into dancing and you have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness for this reason

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That my glory may sing praise to you and not be silent My God, I will give thanks unto you forever He said you turn my you have to have mourning before you can have dancing(...) Because if you dance without mourning you don't understand how incredible the gift of joy God has given to us But when you have joy and you have or when you have mourning and you have sorrow and God Transforms that into joy then your heart begins to rejoice and it never quits. He said David said God turned my morning into dancing so that my heart will never be quiet. That is my God(...) That is my God

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Said I'll never turn it away because that's my God how many victories in our life will God bring through how many Glories does God break through and you can look back and say no I Will never forget what my God has done for me You have to have sorrow don't you like that when a preacher's talking about joy and tells you you're gonna have pain first You can't experience how powerful the glory and the joy of the Lord is until you've been through it Psalms 126 one more Psalms 126 and Then we're gonna move on but Psalms 126

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I'm doing all right for time. We're all good Psalms 126

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When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion We were like them that dream(...) Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord has done great things for them The Lord has done great things for us. Wherever we are glad(...) Turn our captivity Oh Lord as the streams of the soul And they sow in tears or excuse me they that sow in tears shall reap in joy They that go forth weeping bears precious seed Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bring the sheaves with them Since own in tears and it's reaped in joy(...) There is something about the joy of the Lord that can transcend all of our problems But to be honest with you, we have to go through it before we will ever understand it We have to experience it before we can understand it and when God brings you back out of your heart and the pain in your Life and you can look at it and go there is no way In This world or with anything of this world that God could have done that that could have happened for me Only my God and when God does that in you that joy stays in you

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Okay, it has to be sown in tears Boy, that's good. That's good stuff. All right, let's move on to something funner

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You have to be in Christ it comes from the Spirit of God Yeah, we have to dwell with one another learn in that relationship with one another. There's great joy We have to understand that it is sown in tears to experience true joy You have to get it through the troubles and the struggles of life Number four we have to learn to make joy a lifestyle. Did you know that God is always with us? God's victory is always with us God's always always always does he bring get victory even when I don't feel like it seemed like it, you know

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You ever been there way it sure don't seem like it it don't look like it my old pastor used to preach all the time He says you're seam or he'll kill you

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Bible says there's a way that seems right and a man in the end there of his death

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He said you're seam or I'll get you killed If it doesn't see we have to learn to take captives of it We have to learn to be to to transform ourselves to look for that glory the glory the victory the Lord his presence his Holy Spirit It's always here We have to look for it(...) We have to be aware of it in Romans 12 to says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind You got to change your mind We we we spent last week and to talk to you about setting your affections on things above how that we have to learn to set Our affections upon God we have to set our affections on him not on things of the earth We have to learn to set our affections on him This is a part of experiencing joy learning to put the right things into our life In second Corinthians 10 it says holding every thought captive to the obedience of Christ

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You know how powerful it is to hold your own thoughts captive to who God is

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You get down you know what a great let me let me just say the great thing to do is when you get down Remember that time that the joy just sprung out on you out of nowhere

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Remember that think about that Begin to focus on that thing that God did for you begin to focus on what God did put your mind onto it

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Number five John chapter 15 there where we began I should have had you keep a finger there in John chapter 15 But back in John chapter 15, so there's the there's the that you got to be in his presence You're gonna have to learn to dwell with one another gonna have to develop good relationships with each other We're gonna have to understand that God's gonna purge us He's gonna he's gonna take us through the valley of the shadow of death I love that thing everybody likes that the valley of the shadow of death. I'll fear no evil Well, you got to get to the valley of the shadow of death

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To be there and go through it with God. All right, we leave that one alone move on

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Learn to control and begin to live in that presence this Jesus beginning said I'm divine You need to dwell in me need to live in me day out day in all the time dwell in me(...) Keep your mind keep your hearts and your thoughts toward him to dwell in him number five is Though over in that same John chapter 15 verse 16 Said you chose you did not chose me But I've chosen you and adained you that you would go forth and bring much fruit Can I tell you one of the next things that we're gonna miss if we don't if we don't understand that in order to? Experience the fullness of joy remember I came that your joy might be full you need to fulfill your destiny in God

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You need to find and fulfill the thing that God has for you. You will never be Full of joy until you're doing what God wants you to do

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Can I tell you something as a preacher if I quit preaching today and never preached again I Think that would be rough

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It would be rough because I was called to do this because God's pulled it on my heart And if you don't do what God called you to do it's really hard to have your joyful

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You have to do what God called you to do

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You have to be a doer in 2nd Timothy says stir up the gift that is within you You have to use it you have to put it to work You have to begin to act and do what God put inside of you And if you don't use what God gave you you'll never experience the fullness of joy you can be happy over here You can be happy in his presence But you'll not understand what it means to have fullness of joy till you're doing what God called you to do You somebody say amen a little louder than that Thank you

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Until you're walking and doing what your purpose until you know why you're here until you know what's going on Tell you know what God called you to do and you're doing it

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You can't have the fullness of joy. God said I want you to have fullness of joy I want you to have fullness of joy Alright lastly number six and here's it is Do you know whose responsibility it is for you to obtain the joy?(...) That God that the angels promised out in the middle of the field

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That Jesus promised that would be there for anybody said I'm here that your joy is gonna be the river of living water Flowing without it whose responsibility is it? Listen Jesus made it so easy if any man will come to me

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If any man will hear me knocking on his door if any man will hear me I'm here I'm ready to change your life to set you free To heal and forgive your sins if you confess your sins on faithful and just to forgive your sins He said I am here right now to cleanse you and wash you and take you and make you spiritual But you must choose him in Our relationships others don't make us happy, but who's responsible for the relationship My brother of mine should be a better brother. No, it's you

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Come on. It's me. It's us me. I must be responsible for my relationships

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Who is the one who is responsible to go through the pain? I? Sure wish somebody else could do it

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Wouldn't it be fun if so? I wish somebody else could experience this pain for me. No only you

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Can go through it and walk through it and live through it and let God bring you out of it You have to have it for you.

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Oh he does he brings big breaks come on Learning to make joy and walking and dwelling in God is it God's? Responsibility to grab you and hold you and keep you in his presence No, his presence is there. It's your responsibility(...) Say here. I am God this morning. I want to walk in you. I want to walk with you. I want to keep you(...) And whose job is it to do the work that God called you to do? Don't blame pastor Even if I wasn't pastor, I would still say that(...) Don't blame pastor for you not doing what God called you to do

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You have to pick up that sword you have to pick up that gift you have to stir up the gift within you You have to develop what God has done. You're responsible for your actions, and you must be a doer of the work

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The angels split the sky open and the lights blamed everywhere and the glory of the Lord fell up on the field And he said great joy is available to all men

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You have to choose to have it why would anybody choose not to have joy I don't know they do it all the time they choose to reject Christ Why would anybody reject a God as loving as our God? blows my mind(...) blows my mind Why would anybody reject Christ I? Boo can't fathom it

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Why would anybody reject relationships that are building and lifting why would we reject it?(...) Maybe because we don't see the importance. I don't know why would we reject that?(...) Why would we we all know life is going to be a hard why not fight through and make it good I? Remember my marriage when our marriage my marriage was not going well Some about three years at three years in marriage. I didn't like her and she didn't like me

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Marriage was not good, and I started weighing my options you know

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And I was weighing options(...) That option was not good that option was not good And she said the only way she was getting out was a widow, and I believed her

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So that option wasn't good And I decided something in my heart if it's going to be hard anyway

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It might as well be good

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If it's going to be hard anyway life's hard the problems are hard They're still hard, but you might as well get victory you might as well see glory in it You might as well experience the power and the presence of God when you go through it, but it's your responsibility to find that joy in your life(...) It's going to be hard anyway might as well be good

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Come on

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Up to you

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It's up to you

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The joy of the Lord is available His forgiveness his love his covering the comfort of the Holy Spirit the presence of the Lord the glory of God Experiencing his glory until you ball for the joy that's welling up in your heart. It's available for you

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The victory of Christ in every pain the victory of Christ through every circumstance is available to you

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It's available to you and that is the meaning of Christmas

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That that joy is available for you(...) That's why we celebrate the birth of that baby

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Because now that is available to me Don't go home without it in Jesus name Let's pray Father I thank you for the Christmas season. I thank you for the son Jesus for Jesus that was sent The pain that he went through in the anguish so that joy could spring from it So that a river of living water could flow from without me so that I could experience joy in every issue and every problem(...) The promise of victory in my life over everything the fact that you not only called me, but you gave me a purpose That I have a reason to be I have a meaning my life has meaning in you God I want to fulfill your joy in my life. I want my joyful Let me meet all of these things Let me meet all of these requirements Let me meet all of these requirements in Jesus name Amen Amen God bless you Merry Christmas and the joy every time you see joy from now on I want you to remember it's available for me(...) You walk through and you see joy on a sign. It's available for me

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It's available for me. I'm done