Speaker 1: Hey there. Before we jump into the amazing message today,
Speaker 1: we wanted to let you know about our upcoming tour.
Speaker 1: The starting end just a few days. We're heading out
Speaker 1: in the month of August with our friends Carrie, Joe
Speaker 1: and Codycarnes, and we're coming to a city near you.
Speaker 1: We're going to have an amazing time in the presence
Speaker 1: of God. Every single time we gather, He's faithful to
Speaker 1: meet with us and do something new and fresh in
Speaker 1: our hearts. So we hope you'll join us. Yes, we're
Speaker 1: going to be in Dallas, San Antonio, Omaha, We're going
Speaker 1: to be in Toledo, Dayton. We're coming to you, Knoxville, Huntsville. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're also going to be in Louisville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and New York. So come out join us, bring your friends,
Speaker 1: bring your family. Everything you need tickets and information is
Speaker 1: at Elevation Worship dot Com. We'll see us here. You
Speaker 1: know what used to be when I would take a
Speaker 1: little summer break the day we would get to our
Speaker 1: vacation as a family, and we haven't been on one
Speaker 1: long vacation, but normally we'll go away for a little
Speaker 1: while and I would say, start thinking immediately about the
Speaker 1: next sermon. So it's weird because I preach, you know,
Speaker 1: week after week after week, and I'd be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: in a few weeks, i'm gonna get a little break.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna have to tell anybody what to do
Speaker 1: for a little while. I could just focus on myself
Speaker 1: and get myself right. And so I would start thinking
Speaker 1: about the next sermon. And the Lord told me one
Speaker 1: day that that was stupid, because he said that if
Speaker 1: I'm always thinking about talking to others, how can I
Speaker 1: hear from him? And that some of the best stuff
Speaker 1: that God speaks in your life doesn't happen when you're
Speaker 1: straining to hear it, but just when you're open to
Speaker 1: receiving it. So I wasn't trying to think of a
Speaker 1: sermon to preach about. Matter of fact, I was on
Speaker 1: a bike ride with Holly. Now we had a big
Speaker 1: celebration since I saw you, our twentieth wedding anniversary. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I need to do a marriage series just
Speaker 1: to give you all the stuff that I've taught her
Speaker 1: in those two decades and then unpack that for you. No,
Speaker 1: I've missed y'all. It's good to see you again. But
Speaker 1: we were riding bikes to breakfast one day and I
Speaker 1: had asked the Lord, I'm not going to try to
Speaker 1: write a sermon or a series, but if you say
Speaker 1: something to me, I'll write it down. We were riding
Speaker 1: a breakfast and I felt like the Lord gave me
Speaker 1: what we needed to talk about when we got back together,
Speaker 1: so I could say this discermon today is been a
Speaker 1: few weeks in the making, and I really think it's
Speaker 1: been a few years in the making. A subject that
Speaker 1: I never spoke directly about before in this church, not
Speaker 1: because I was scared to, but because I didn't think
Speaker 1: I was ready to. But I'm gonna speak about it today.
Speaker 1: I've talked indirectly about these things. I probably mentioned it,
Speaker 1: But in sixteen years of pastoring Elevation Jurch, I think
Speaker 1: I've never put this word in a sermon title until today.
Speaker 1: This is historic and the word is happy. When the
Speaker 1: Lord told me riding my bike that he wanted me
Speaker 1: to preach about happiness, I laughed. I laughed because I thought, Lord,
Speaker 1: you must be confused. Here on vacation. We talk about
Speaker 1: holiness in church, not happiness. And if we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about happiness. Then we shouldn't talk about happiness. We
Speaker 1: need to talk about joy because you know, joy and
Speaker 1: happiness aren't the same thing. You know, you hear Christians
Speaker 1: sometimes make weird distinctions. Well, I'm not happy, but I
Speaker 1: have joy, the doctor joy joy Joy, Oh, joy, down
Speaker 1: in my heart? Where zone in my heart? This is
Speaker 1: not on your face? And added to that all the
Speaker 1: pharisees that watch my YouTube just to say mean things
Speaker 1: to me in the comments. I thought, how can I
Speaker 1: preach my happiness? So I start doing a little research.
Speaker 1: I thought, if I'm a preacher about this, let me
Speaker 1: do a little research. But I'll do it informally, because
Speaker 1: I told the Lord I wouldn't work on a sermon
Speaker 1: before I came back to the church, so I would
Speaker 1: ask people questions. I asked the family at lunch one day,
Speaker 1: I said, who's the happiest person? You know? I didn't
Speaker 1: tell them this was a preamble to my sermon in
Speaker 1: a few weeks. I just said, who is the happiest
Speaker 1: person you know? Ah, Dad, that's a dumb question. How
Speaker 1: can you answer that? You don't really know if people
Speaker 1: are happy or not. Ah, Maybe that'll preach, But then
Speaker 1: they started listening to happiest people that they knew, and
Speaker 1: none of them said you dad. I mean, I eat
Speaker 1: it up. You know I'm paying for lunch. I ordered appetizers.
Speaker 1: I let everybody get real drinks. I didn't make them
Speaker 1: just drink water. And nobody said it's you. I even listen,
Speaker 1: how bad listen how God pray for me and my family.
Speaker 1: Because even right before it got to Holly's turn, I said, Holly,
Speaker 1: you're the happiest person I know. She said that's so sweet,
Speaker 1: and then she said somebody else's name, and I'm thinking, well,
Speaker 1: of course, if I was married to me, i'd be
Speaker 1: the happiest person I knew too, and she really is.
Speaker 1: Holly is a happy person. So I said, Louri, if
Speaker 1: we're gonna preach about happiness, you will have to show
Speaker 1: me how, because there's gonna be people that listen to
Speaker 1: me preach about happiness, and they they say, I do
Speaker 1: not want to be in one of those feel good churches.
Speaker 1: This is a feel goods uh huh. And the same
Speaker 1: people who say that get massages, eat donuts, do all
Speaker 1: kinds of things to feel good, but when it comes
Speaker 1: to my faith, I don't want to feel good at all.
Speaker 1: Stank me. You are weird everywhere else, but spiritually you
Speaker 1: want to feel good. You got butt warmers in your
Speaker 1: car and you come to church like kick my butt.
Speaker 1: Tell me what I need to hear, make me feel
Speaker 1: like God is old and mad and slow, and we'll
Speaker 1: have some scriptures about that as we go, because I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna take a few weeks, but I want
Speaker 1: to jump right in. I didn't want to preach a
Speaker 1: little you know, welcome back, sir, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: get right into what God told me to preach. I
Speaker 1: argued with him. I told him I was a hypocrite
Speaker 1: because I'm not the happiest person and I have a
Speaker 1: they call it RBF resting blessed face, but I don't
Speaker 1: have one of those. I typically I look mad, I
Speaker 1: mean mug. But the Lord said, okay, then then preach
Speaker 1: it like this, talk to the people about the hard
Speaker 1: work of happiness in Psalm one twenty six. Y'all open
Speaker 1: your bible. Y'all didn't bring your bible. I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: you feel bad about it, since that's what you came
Speaker 1: to church for and you bring your paper bible, you
Speaker 1: digital demon, all right, I'll put it on the screen.
Speaker 1: Someone twenty six, did y'all miss me? That's that guy
Speaker 1: with the big arms from that baptist picture? Was that
Speaker 1: you up there? They were talking about a baptism earlier
Speaker 1: at Valentine's six year anniversary, and Graham, they were over
Speaker 1: here celebrating baptism, new life in Christ. And all Graham
Speaker 1: said was, Dad, look at that guy's arms on the screen.
Speaker 1: You are a distraction, sir. Let me read you this.
Speaker 1: Y'all stand up. We need to reset and get serious.
Speaker 1: Now here we go. Tell somebody I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1: Put it in the chat. I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were
Speaker 1: like those who dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter,
Speaker 1: our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said
Speaker 1: among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.
Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for us, and we
Speaker 1: are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord like streams,
Speaker 1: and then negaf those who sow with tears will reap,
Speaker 1: will reap the songs of joy. Yeah, those who go
Speaker 1: out weeping carrying seed to sew, will return with songs
Speaker 1: of joy, carrying sheaves with them in that cool it's
Speaker 1: called a psalm of a scent. Going up to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: They had songs for the three festivals that they would
Speaker 1: go to, and they had songs for what we would
Speaker 1: call celebration. And then there are two there's fifteen of
Speaker 1: these songs songs of a scent. Two of them are
Speaker 1: called songs of lament. And in that interesting how they're
Speaker 1: going up to Jerusalem, which is high in elevation physically, geographically,
Speaker 1: where the temple is, where they're going to worship and
Speaker 1: celebrate these festivals, but they're singing a song of lament
Speaker 1: can be associated with mourning or grief and repentance, whether
Speaker 1: it's over sin or devastation. And this is one of
Speaker 1: the two songs of lament within the fifteen songs of
Speaker 1: a sin. That they would sing this, or that they
Speaker 1: would share this, or that they would declare this, or
Speaker 1: that they would pray this on their way. Right in
Speaker 1: the middle of it, it says those who sow with
Speaker 1: tears will read with songs of joy. What really gets
Speaker 1: me about that is that somebody on your row, somebody
Speaker 1: three seats from you, somebody that's just one room over,
Speaker 1: somebody that's just separated by very little physical space from you,
Speaker 1: is experiencing something in between those two extremes. As I
Speaker 1: speak today, sewing with tears, songs of joy. You know
Speaker 1: a lot of times when we come to church, I
Speaker 1: think we asked the question, does God have a word
Speaker 1: for me today? God speak to me? This is a
Speaker 1: community song because when they would come together like this,
Speaker 1: they realized it's not just about me. It's not just
Speaker 1: about me. This might be for somebody that I know today.
Speaker 1: This might be for somebody that I don't. You have
Speaker 1: no idea what's going on on your row right now?
Speaker 1: Or in the words of my kids, how do I
Speaker 1: know who's really happy? I don't really know them. Now,
Speaker 1: look at your neighbor and say I don't know you.
Speaker 1: I don't know you. Like that, sit down and look
Speaker 1: at your other neighbors, say I don't know you. I
Speaker 1: don't know you. You don't know what's going on on
Speaker 1: your row. You have no idea what's going on on
Speaker 1: your row? Well, they didn't lift their hands at all
Speaker 1: during worship. They must not really love the Lord. They
Speaker 1: might have a shoulder injury, a rotator, cuffed hair. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying like they barely got the church.
Speaker 1: They couldn't even drive because they're shoulder and you're judging
Speaker 1: them because they didn't lift their hands. You don't know them,
Speaker 1: You don't really know. This is why it's so hard
Speaker 1: to preach about happy because you say who's the happiest
Speaker 1: person that you know? And someone will mention the funniest
Speaker 1: person that they know. I didn't ask you who's the
Speaker 1: funniest person that you know? You ever met a comedian,
Speaker 1: These are some of the saddest people. It's true. The
Speaker 1: reason they're making all these jokes is because sometimes they're
Speaker 1: not all the time, but sometimes they're compensating for something
Speaker 1: on the inside that's not right. That's why we can't
Speaker 1: believe it when somebody who has everything that we think
Speaker 1: is supposed to make you happy is in a headline
Speaker 1: saying that they took their own life. How could they
Speaker 1: make me so happy as an actor but they couldn't
Speaker 1: make themselves happy in life. I understand there's mental illness,
Speaker 1: I understand their issues that are beyond the control of
Speaker 1: life decisions. But I think according to someone twenty six,
Speaker 1: there are some decisions that you can make in the
Speaker 1: dry places of your life that will lead you, no
Speaker 1: matter where you're starting from, into a place a super
Speaker 1: natural happiness. Super natural happiness. The Lord doesn't care if
Speaker 1: I'm happy. What The Lord doesn't care if you're happy.
Speaker 1: You take your kids on a trip and they're sitting
Speaker 1: there mad and screaming and yelling and crying, Well, you
Speaker 1: don't care if they're happy. It's just for the experience. No,
Speaker 1: you care if your kids are happy. You're just not
Speaker 1: willing to sacrifice their long term good or their short
Speaker 1: term happiness. And that's what God is like. So when
Speaker 1: we see in Psalm one, this is not happy clappy,
Speaker 1: this is not you know, the shortcut to feeling good.
Speaker 1: This is actually a spiritual path for the daily decisions
Speaker 1: that we can make in the dry places of our life.
Speaker 1: So I want to give you today yellow right if
Speaker 1: I teach? I got notes everywhere for this one because
Speaker 1: the sermon came to me in the restaurant after riding
Speaker 1: my bike. My notes were on receipts and I didn't
Speaker 1: even move them over to my iPad because I wanted
Speaker 1: to preach from the receipt I thought that'd be cool.
Speaker 1: I'll be hardcore. I thought, make it feel authentic and gritty.
Speaker 1: He was preaching from receipts. My taster never takes a break.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm priding myself on that for years, right,
Speaker 1: because I'm good at hard work. Now ask my kids
Speaker 1: who's the hardest working person? You know? They better sing
Speaker 1: me because I'm the one who paid for everything they
Speaker 1: called drip. If it isn't for my busset, they don't
Speaker 1: have any drip. I might not be happy, but we
Speaker 1: got central heating and air in the house, don't we
Speaker 1: And the fridge is full and you're not hungry. I
Speaker 1: prided myself on that for years. I kind of don't
Speaker 1: remember the story. I'm gonna get to someone twenty six,
Speaker 1: but don't remember the story of the prodigal son in
Speaker 1: the Bible. I hadn't been gone six years, y'all. Y'all
Speaker 1: remember the Bible, right, So the one boy goes and
Speaker 1: he spends all of his father's money and he rolls
Speaker 1: around with pigs and lays around with prostitutes and squanders
Speaker 1: his fortune because he just had to have it now.
Speaker 1: He just had to be happy. He just had to
Speaker 1: go get it. He just had to go see. And
Speaker 1: we preach about that boy, not realizing that wasn't the
Speaker 1: point of the story Jesus was telling. It was his
Speaker 1: older brother back home, who was home but not happy.
Speaker 1: It wasn't happy when his brother came back. He was
Speaker 1: mad that it had dipped into his college fund with
Speaker 1: his brother's dumb decisions. In fact, in Luke fifteen, I
Speaker 1: should have prepared this for the screen, but I forgot
Speaker 1: when the father started throwing a party for the son
Speaker 1: who came home, who was lost. He said, he was dead,
Speaker 1: he's alive, he's lost. His family have to celebrate. The
Speaker 1: older brother said, I've been slaving for you all these years,
Speaker 1: and you never did any of this for me. I
Speaker 1: always thought I didn't really relate to that story because
Speaker 1: I wasn't that wild in college. I never had this
Speaker 1: season of my life where I developed a horrible addiction
Speaker 1: to a substance. And the Lord started showing me recently,
Speaker 1: you are often like the brother who stayed home, working
Speaker 1: for something that is already yours. I put a lot
Speaker 1: of my worth in my work, put a lot of
Speaker 1: worth in my work. I remember many times when we
Speaker 1: were starting in the ministry, thinking if I get there,
Speaker 1: I will be happy. Legitimate real One of my Buddies
Speaker 1: has a church here in the area, and he had
Speaker 1: two thousand people coming. I remember going to see him
Speaker 1: one time. Now, at this point in our church, we
Speaker 1: had twenty about twenty thousand, twenty people like that row,
Speaker 1: and five of them were the same ones that are
Speaker 1: there right now. I'd be happy if I had two thousand.
Speaker 1: And Since we're taking a psalm of assent and we're
Speaker 1: talking about the lament within the song, I want to
Speaker 1: point the fact out that you can be on your
Speaker 1: way up and still have to deal with being down.
Speaker 1: Like watch it in the text. Watch it in the text.
Speaker 1: I want to ground this thought in the text so
Speaker 1: you don't think I'm off on a tangent here. Instead
Speaker 1: of talking about truth, I'm talking about feelings. No, watch it,
Speaker 1: he said, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
Speaker 1: we were like those who dreamed. We were shocked. They
Speaker 1: have been in Babylon for almost fifty years and God
Speaker 1: brought them back. They have been captives in a strange
Speaker 1: land for almost fifty years, since five eighty seven, when
Speaker 1: Babylon came and got all of the Jews, and the
Speaker 1: ones they didn't kill they deported, and the ones that
Speaker 1: they deported, they detained, and for fifty years the people
Speaker 1: of God had to live in the patterns of Babylon.
Speaker 1: But now we see that they have been brought back.
Speaker 1: That's what he means when the Lord put Verse one
Speaker 1: up there again, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion.
Speaker 1: This is a past tense event that he's remembering. When
Speaker 1: the Lord brought us back, we were shocked. We couldn't
Speaker 1: believe it had actually happened. It had been so long
Speaker 1: since we had expected this result that when we actually
Speaker 1: experienced it, it didn't even feel real. Sometimes you can't
Speaker 1: even be settled into your own blessing because you have
Speaker 1: gotten so adjusted to a negative experience. This is it,
Speaker 1: This is it. This is a decision that you have
Speaker 1: to make in the dry places of your life if
Speaker 1: you are to really be lastingly happy, last say, lasting happy,
Speaker 1: supernatural happy. What the Bible says as joy, unspeakable and
Speaker 1: full of glory in the holy ghost, holy ghost, happy
Speaker 1: Jesus joy. The world didn't give it, and the world
Speaker 1: can't take it away. Your boyfriend didn't give it, and
Speaker 1: your boyfriend can't take it away. Your ex sure didn't
Speaker 1: give it, and your ex can't take it away. Situational
Speaker 1: happiness has no interest in the Kingdom of God. It
Speaker 1: is too cheap and Jesus paid too much for me
Speaker 1: to need for my life to be going a certain way,
Speaker 1: to feel a certain way. So part of the process
Speaker 1: of coming to church and listening to sermons and having
Speaker 1: your mind conform not to the patterns of this world,
Speaker 1: but transformed to have a new mind, is this decision.
Speaker 1: Write this down you're ready. Negative is not my normal.
Speaker 1: Negative is not my normal. Help me, Holy Angels of God.
Speaker 1: I feel like a hypocrite saying that, because honestly, my
Speaker 1: first view of a situation, and I need you raise
Speaker 1: your hand if you like me, because I feel awfully
Speaker 1: lonely up here. I don't even have a collar on
Speaker 1: this jacket to keep me company up here. I feel
Speaker 1: all alone with y'all looking at me so judgmental. Right now,
Speaker 1: My first instinct in the situation is to see vulnerabilities, liabilities,
Speaker 1: and even sometimes hypothetical liabilities. Oh, I am a creative
Speaker 1: finder of things to fear and dread. Y'all pray for Holly,
Speaker 1: the happiest person that I know. This is what she
Speaker 1: has to live with. I came by some of it. Honestly.
Speaker 1: I was born into a family called the human race.
Speaker 1: My first parent, Adam, he screwed up real bad. He
Speaker 1: had the whole thing on luck, walking around with plenty
Speaker 1: to eat and no clothes on, and a woman that
Speaker 1: he said was very good, and he had to have
Speaker 1: an apple. That was my first father. So I came
Speaker 1: by this. I can't really be too hard on myself,
Speaker 1: because the Bible says that all have sinned and falls
Speaker 1: short of the glory of God. The prophet Jeremiah took
Speaker 1: it further and said that the heart is deceitfully wicked
Speaker 1: above all else who can know it. That's why I
Speaker 1: had you tell your neighbor, I don't know you. I
Speaker 1: don't know you like that. I don't know what you
Speaker 1: cry about behind all that clapping that you do when
Speaker 1: we're in church together. I don't know you like that.
Speaker 1: And really it takes a while before you know yourself
Speaker 1: well enough to ask the question, do your patterns match
Speaker 1: your prayers? Someone twenty six is not only a song,
Speaker 1: it's a prayer. It's a petition. Lord restore to us
Speaker 1: the fortunes of Zion. Lord restore our fortunes Lord, restore
Speaker 1: us to the state, the state that we were intended for. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to make this clear if you are a Christian,
Speaker 1: that it is not normal for you to be ruled
Speaker 1: by the same cynicism that you see seething from this
Speaker 1: angry world. It is not normal for you, if you
Speaker 1: are a Christian, to spend all of your time running
Speaker 1: after solutions to problems that God is not staying up
Speaker 1: late about, pacing the halls of Heaven wondering what He's
Speaker 1: going to do about them. Furthermore, for those of you
Speaker 1: who might have grown up in an atmosphere, in a
Speaker 1: family or an environment where you say, like everything was pessimism,
Speaker 1: how I grew up, Well, you know what. That might
Speaker 1: have been your background, that might be your default setting,
Speaker 1: but it is not your destiny in Christ. Hey, spoiler alert.
Speaker 1: That's why I named the Church Elevation because I think
Speaker 1: you're going up. Because I think if Christ is seated
Speaker 1: in heavenly places, you are not going to spend all
Speaker 1: your days down here on this earth, wallowing around in
Speaker 1: stuff that God has called you to win over. I
Speaker 1: don't believe it. I'm not settling for it, and I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be the older son like standing around, going, well, God,
Speaker 1: I'm serving you and it sucks. But one day in
Speaker 1: heaven I'll get wings and sing and play harps, and
Speaker 1: then I'll be happy. You won't be happy playing a harp.
Speaker 1: We're not supposed to be happy till we get to heaven. Well,
Speaker 1: if heaven is happy and they let you in with
Speaker 1: that attitude, it won't be happy once you get there.
Speaker 1: So you're not going because it would ruin the whole program. Negative,
Speaker 1: say it negative is not my normal? No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: It might be. It might be natural, but it's not normal,
Speaker 1: not for a believer. Because my Bible says if anyone
Speaker 1: is in Christ, he is a new creation. That means
Speaker 1: I've got a new nature. That means the way I
Speaker 1: wake up in the morning doesn't determine how I walk
Speaker 1: through the day. I gotta get my mind right, my
Speaker 1: heart right. How many of y'all are over forty Wave
Speaker 1: at me real quick? How many of y'all have to
Speaker 1: stretch before your maximum capacity could be achieved? If it's
Speaker 1: true and the body is true in the spirit, you
Speaker 1: really wake up in the morning and consult how you
Speaker 1: feel in your mind to see what kind of day
Speaker 1: you're gonna have. So the psawmist begins this prayer. He says,
Speaker 1: there's two things going on in the song you study it.
Speaker 1: There's what God has done and what God hopefully will do.
Speaker 1: And in the middle of all of that, there's an
Speaker 1: amazing verse. I need to show you this. Slow. Can
Speaker 1: I go slow? Oh man? We might take We might
Speaker 1: take a week, or three weeks or five weeks. I
Speaker 1: might preach this to everybody in the church. Gets happy.
Speaker 1: I might preach this to everybody in the church. Touch somebody, say,
Speaker 1: get your happy back, get your happy back, get your
Speaker 1: happy back. It's been a long time since you had
Speaker 1: what Psalm one twenty six is describe. Our mouths were
Speaker 1: filled with laughter. There was no room in your mouth
Speaker 1: for laughter. This week. You were complaining so much that
Speaker 1: there was nothing to laugh about. It wasn't funny to you.
Speaker 1: You've been going through some things now. This psalm is
Speaker 1: interesting because it gets to a point where it says
Speaker 1: that God restored the fortunes and brought us back to
Speaker 1: the land, and then verse three he makes a declaration,
Speaker 1: the Lord has done great things for us. The Lord
Speaker 1: has done great things for us. Stand up if that
Speaker 1: verse is true in your life? Sorry, I wasn't smiling
Speaker 1: when I asked you that I would looking at you
Speaker 1: like that. Did the Lord do anything great for you? She?
Speaker 1: My default is color. Sometimes I have to remind myself
Speaker 1: that the Lord has done great things. Okay, stay standing,
Speaker 1: I'm far from done with this lower illustration. How many
Speaker 1: of y'all think they were telling the truth when they
Speaker 1: said that the Lord has done great things for us?
Speaker 1: Put it back up. They just got out of fifty
Speaker 1: years in Babylonian captivity. Is that true? They don't have
Speaker 1: a temple to worship and yet it's still destroyed in
Speaker 1: lying in ruins. Is it true they don't even have
Speaker 1: a wall around the city yet. Nehemiah hasn't even showed
Speaker 1: up yet when someone twenty six is ready, So they
Speaker 1: have no infrastructure, so they are exposed to enemy attack
Speaker 1: from all side. Is it true? Is this? Is this
Speaker 1: a Bible verse or a hallucination? Is this just positive thinking?
Speaker 1: Is it just center around? Is this a yoga class?
Speaker 1: What is this? What is what is he talking about?
Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for us? Is that
Speaker 1: a fact? No? No, I'm asking him for real? Is
Speaker 1: that a fact? Now? In your life. Is that a fact?
Speaker 1: Is it? Oh, you come mom? Your mom got diagnosed
Speaker 1: with Alzheimer's last year. Is that a fact? But we
Speaker 1: aren't reniate a minute. Your job, your job? You hate
Speaker 1: your job? Is this? I figured that what hit everybody
Speaker 1: in the room at least one day this week. The
Speaker 1: Lord has done. And you stood up so quick. You
Speaker 1: just stood up so quick. That kid was sleeping and
Speaker 1: he stood up automatically. I think his mom yanked him.
Speaker 1: But you stood up so quick. You stood up like
Speaker 1: something was on fire. I said, the Lord has done
Speaker 1: great things for us. You didn't hesitate. You didn't pull
Speaker 1: out a calculator. You didn't check a bank balance. You
Speaker 1: didn't start reading a report. You didn't pull up CNN
Speaker 1: or Fox News. You weren't checking anything. Something instinctively in
Speaker 1: you knew. Wait a minute. If I don't stand up
Speaker 1: on this verse, I have to explain to these exiles
Speaker 1: who were taken out of their homeland why I'm not
Speaker 1: standing up to say God has been good to me.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to have to explain to them
Speaker 1: who are trying to figure out how to settle back
Speaker 1: in after fifty years of being gone. After that's half
Speaker 1: a century. Some of their kids have never even seen Canaan,
Speaker 1: and now they got enemies on every side, and not
Speaker 1: everybody likes them being backed, and not everything is finished yet.
Speaker 1: Kind of like your life, you got some walls that
Speaker 1: are down, you got some altars that are dismantled. You
Speaker 1: got some habits that have you by the throat, kind
Speaker 1: of hung up on, some stuff, kind of can't get over,
Speaker 1: some stuff kind of weeping over. Some seasons that got
Speaker 1: past you and got away from you, and some opportunities
Speaker 1: you didn't seize, and some loyalties that were not made
Speaker 1: good on, and some checks that weren't cash, and some
Speaker 1: promises that are partially fulfilled. Yet something in your soul
Speaker 1: knows that God has done great things from me because
Speaker 1: when I really when I when I really when I
Speaker 1: really focus, when I really focus, when I really focus, see,
Speaker 1: it's a fact when you focus, if you focus, it's
Speaker 1: a fact, not a feeling, not a feeling. Because the
Speaker 1: whole time we've been sitting here talking, your heart has
Speaker 1: been pumping blood. And that's why your fingers aren't blue.
Speaker 1: Because the Lord has done great things for you. The
Speaker 1: whole time we've been talking, We've still been making our
Speaker 1: little trip around the sun, and nobody needed you to
Speaker 1: make sure to press the gas pedal or fill the tank.
Speaker 1: Because God has done great things for you. Some of
Speaker 1: y'all are standing next to the great thing God has
Speaker 1: done for you. Some of y'all are standing next to
Speaker 1: the praise report that is currently your prayer request, that
Speaker 1: is going to be your praise report again in the
Speaker 1: near future. Just don't die, Ah, But you got to
Speaker 1: make some decisions in dry places, because look, he said,
Speaker 1: the Lord give me the verse has done great things
Speaker 1: for us. Is that true for you? How about the
Speaker 1: next part? And we no, no, no no, the next part
Speaker 1: of the same verse. I don't even need the next verse.
Speaker 1: I'll do it off of this verse. I'll set you
Speaker 1: up and we are filled with joy. If you struggle
Speaker 1: with that second part, sit down, I do. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: sit down. How could God be so good to me?
Speaker 1: You're honest? How could God give me all of this?
Speaker 1: And I'm not happy now. When I told you I
Speaker 1: started writing the sermon on the bike, that wasn't the
Speaker 1: whole truth, partial truth. I started writing this sermon four
Speaker 1: years ago. Two things happened that scared me a little bit.
Speaker 1: One was here and one was on an island, and
Speaker 1: they both had one thing in common. In both situations,
Speaker 1: I was in the middle of something that I had
Speaker 1: told myself at one point in my life would make
Speaker 1: me happy, and I wasn't happy one was here. I
Speaker 1: can't ever decide how much to tell y'all. I don't
Speaker 1: want to freak you out, but I want to be real.
Speaker 1: I was getting ready to come out here and preach.
Speaker 1: In the room was crazy, like packed out. People were coming.
Speaker 1: I started starting a new series. In fact, you know,
Speaker 1: the day we opened this building at Valentine where I
Speaker 1: preached from, one of my best friends was being removed
Speaker 1: from his church and I was on the phone trying
Speaker 1: to help him because he was devastated the church he started.
Speaker 1: And I was coming out here, smiling at y'all, phraise
Speaker 1: the Lord everybody. I was sewing with tears. I was
Speaker 1: sewing with tears. And the Sunday that I came out
Speaker 1: here to preach, and you would remember the Sunday Chunks,
Speaker 1: because I think it's the biggest crowd that we ever
Speaker 1: had at that point at least. I mean, this was
Speaker 1: not two thousand people. This was like thirty two thousand people.
Speaker 1: In the building. And I'm not saying that the brain
Speaker 1: I can send it to set. Of contrast, I couldn't
Speaker 1: feel anything. I think I had set so much as
Speaker 1: a goal. Oh, if I had two thousand people in
Speaker 1: my church, I would feel like a real pastor, and
Speaker 1: if I felt authentically valid as a pastor, I would
Speaker 1: be happy as a person. So why was I back
Speaker 1: there feeling like I wanted to cry and having to
Speaker 1: come out and say, y'all give the Lord a shout
Speaker 1: of praise. I'm not saying it was bad. Maybe I
Speaker 1: was just tired. It could be that I was just exhausted.
Speaker 1: But it scared me a little bit because I thought,
Speaker 1: if I don't feel happy now, when will I. Then
Speaker 1: the other one was a couple months after that, because
Speaker 1: then I said, well, I just need a break. I
Speaker 1: just need a break. I just need to get away.
Speaker 1: We were on an island and we weren't even paying
Speaker 1: for it. Somebody else was paying for it. Invited us
Speaker 1: to an island to vacation for a week. And I
Speaker 1: was so sad on the island like I was in
Speaker 1: a prison. I was in prison on the island, and
Speaker 1: it was beautiful and it was free and my brains
Speaker 1: were there, and my wife was there, and I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I was there and not there, and it scared me.
Speaker 1: You ever got scared because you had what you asked
Speaker 1: for and you still weren't happy, And now you feel
Speaker 1: guilty because you're not happy and God gave you what
Speaker 1: you asked for. Please don't know at this point, because
Speaker 1: your husband might think that you're talking about him. The
Speaker 1: best strategy for this part of the sermon is for
Speaker 1: you to look totally confused. Hello, what you're talking about? Aster?
Speaker 1: The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, yes
Speaker 1: it is. This is the day the Lord is made.
Speaker 1: I will rejoice and be glad in it. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Speaker 1: So it goes like this. It goes like this. This
Speaker 1: is the hallucination of worldly happiness. And I want to
Speaker 1: contrast it for you because it's not the same thing
Speaker 1: to have your happiness in Christ and what he gives,
Speaker 1: as it is to put your hope in the things
Speaker 1: of this world which are really sinking sand. It's not
Speaker 1: the same. The one goes like this, if I had,
Speaker 1: I'd be happy. If I had, I'd be happy. You
Speaker 1: ever done that? That's a math equation for frustration. If
Speaker 1: I had kids, I'd be happy. Why did he laugh?
Speaker 1: I'm asking, I'm asking, No, I'm asking if kids make
Speaker 1: you happy? Did y'all hear him laugh? I heard a
Speaker 1: peep out of that guy all service? He said, Oh,
Speaker 1: go get your Some children are a blessing from the Lord.
Speaker 1: People who say that children are a blessing, they say
Speaker 1: it mad. I'm like, you don't sound convinced. They remind me.
Speaker 1: There's an Old Testament character named Leah. She has sister
Speaker 1: named Rachel. Rachel was really pretty. Leah had a great personality.
Speaker 1: I said it nice. I said it nice, el Jay,
Speaker 1: I said it nice. She had a great personality. And
Speaker 1: Leah had a fruitful womb, and Rachel had a beautiful countenance,
Speaker 1: but not a fruitful woman. They start going back and forth,
Speaker 1: these two sisters that were both married to Jacob Jacob.
Speaker 1: You recognize that name, the god of Abraham Isaac Jacob.
Speaker 1: So this is an important guy. And they're both married
Speaker 1: to the same man, which is a recipe for happiness.
Speaker 1: And they're both trying to have his babies. And Leah
Speaker 1: has about four and Rachel has none. And Rachel, according
Speaker 1: to the customs of this day, now this sounds sketchy,
Speaker 1: we hear it now. But she gave her maid servant
Speaker 1: to Jacob so that the maid servant could conceive for her,
Speaker 1: like as a stand in as a surrogant, and so
Speaker 1: that works. But then Leah can't have any more kids,
Speaker 1: so she gives her servant to Jacob. She already gave
Speaker 1: him four, but he done lover, He done lover. Oh,
Speaker 1: but I'll give him another one, and he's still done lover.
Speaker 1: And so okay, I'll give him another one, and he's
Speaker 1: still done lover. And she is trying to win the
Speaker 1: love of someone who, up until this point in scripture,
Speaker 1: has given no indication that he even loves himself. In fact,
Speaker 1: the whole reason he's there in the house is because
Speaker 1: he was running from himself, pretending to be his brother.
Speaker 1: So now you've got sister Rachel trying to pop out
Speaker 1: babies like sister Leah, and Jacob loves Rachel, but he
Speaker 1: gets his babies from Leah. And I pulled this verse,
Speaker 1: just this one, from you, to show you something that
Speaker 1: Leah did. And I've done this before, and you've done
Speaker 1: this before, and how long will we keep doing this?
Speaker 1: When she had about the fifth or sixth. Kid, look
Speaker 1: at this In Genesis thirty, throw it up there. Leah's servant,
Speaker 1: Zilpah board Jacob a second son. This is the second
Speaker 1: son the servant gave about the fifth or sixth that
Speaker 1: Leah has given in all next verse. Then Leah said,
Speaker 1: how happy I am? The women will call me happy?
Speaker 1: So she named him Asher, which means gladness or happiness.
Speaker 1: How happy I am? Who are you trying to convince?
Speaker 1: How happy I am? I did the funniest thing I've
Speaker 1: been researching for this series, the hard work of happiness.
Speaker 1: So I watched people take selfies over the last four weeks.
Speaker 1: You know what the best moment of a selfie is
Speaker 1: when it's a group picture, watching the people who don't
Speaker 1: want to be in the picture when they unsmile. I
Speaker 1: could tell how strong the manipulation was from the picture
Speaker 1: taken by how quick you unsmile? I start pointing out
Speaker 1: to Abby, I said, Abby, watch how quick that that
Speaker 1: boy is gonna unsmile after this picture. He don't want
Speaker 1: to be in that picture. His wife's making him take
Speaker 1: that picture. He does not want to take a picture
Speaker 1: right now, and just as quick as the camera's over, boomed,
Speaker 1: which makes me wish that I could go home with
Speaker 1: you after church and see how quick you unsmile. Some
Speaker 1: of y'all cut out the middleman and you don't even
Speaker 1: smile at all while you're here. So you don't have
Speaker 1: to change back into the Clark kid. You never go
Speaker 1: in the phone booth to start with. But I wish
Speaker 1: I could see how long does it take you? How
Speaker 1: long does it take you to unsmile? How long is
Speaker 1: that happiness? Leah gonna last? Just see what she said?
Speaker 1: How happy I am? What's the next thing she said?
Speaker 1: Put it back up? The women will call me happy?
Speaker 1: What does your happiness have to do with what they
Speaker 1: call you? Anyway? You're really gonna put your happiness in
Speaker 1: somebody else's hands. You do that with your phone. You
Speaker 1: let a complete stranger either make you happy or make
Speaker 1: you miserable. That's a horrible strategy for happiness. But now
Speaker 1: your happiness is only a safe as the sanity of
Speaker 1: the person whose hands you put it in. And bonus notes,
Speaker 1: people are crazy. What does it take for you to
Speaker 1: look She's she's having She's having babies left and right
Speaker 1: for the approval of someone who hasn't even truly met himself,
Speaker 1: and so are many of us. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: preach at youth X this week. I can't wait to talk.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to talk to my sixteen year old self,
Speaker 1: because that's what I'm gonna do when I get up here. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk to my sixteen year old self and say,
Speaker 1: there is no formula for happiness that starts with if
Speaker 1: I had, because it doesn't come from them. Because you
Speaker 1: can be on an island, you can be in the
Speaker 1: back room ready to preach the thousands. And God has
Speaker 1: had me on this journey. See you realizing that my
Speaker 1: joy is my job. My joy is my job. I
Speaker 1: may never write another book again, but if I did,
Speaker 1: that'd be a great title. My joy is my job.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I I don't want to point at
Speaker 1: you today and say your joy, I'm gonna make you
Speaker 1: do it. Look at the person next to you and
Speaker 1: say you can't make me happy. Are they offended? I
Speaker 1: promise you if you said that to somebody that you
Speaker 1: live with, they're relieved. Because you're heavy. You are heavy.
Speaker 1: They always gotta make you happy. It's not there. See,
Speaker 1: it's not their job description to make you happy. And
Speaker 1: it's not God's either. I lost them arow the turn chucks,
Speaker 1: I lost the lost God, so good look at it,
Speaker 1: case Ion, restore our fortunes. Lord like streams and the agaf.
Speaker 1: Now look, the Negev is the southern part of the desert.
Speaker 1: It doesn't get any drier than that. To have a
Speaker 1: stream in the Negev only happens in the winter rain season.
Speaker 1: And when the rain comes in the in the winter
Speaker 1: season in the Negev, it floods the banks. Man, It'll
Speaker 1: tear up the bridges, it'll tear up the roads, it'll
Speaker 1: wipe out the livestock. You gotta be ready for the
Speaker 1: rain when it comes. And some of us are praying
Speaker 1: for things that we haven't built the infrastructure for. And
Speaker 1: even if God gives it, it will not feel like
Speaker 1: a gift. It will feel like a burden. Because your
Speaker 1: joy is your job, not an event, not a promotion,
Speaker 1: not knowledge, not in a mouth. Your bank account keeps
Speaker 1: going closer and closer to that level that you thought
Speaker 1: that you would need to feel secure, and you are
Speaker 1: still scared. Because blessedness is not a state of affairs,
Speaker 1: it is a way of life. M hm, m hm.
Speaker 1: We got some work to do, the hard work of happiness.
Speaker 1: And look what it looks like. He said, the Lord
Speaker 1: can do a miracle in it, like streams and the
Speaker 1: negav which is a completely supernatural phenomenon. That's not an
Speaker 1: ordinary thing for the Lord. And we need to pray,
Speaker 1: Lord restore my joy. But watch what the Psalmist instructs
Speaker 1: us to do. And I don't know if you're ready
Speaker 1: to do this or not. And for many years of
Speaker 1: my life I wasn't ready to do that because I
Speaker 1: was addicted to self pity, too confusing or too real.
Speaker 1: That was my addiction. It was my addiction. In fact,
Speaker 1: one of the most powerful things the Lord ever told
Speaker 1: me was, you have let your mood become your master.
Speaker 1: And I read in the Bible about Pharaoh, and the
Speaker 1: Lord will say, you have let your feelings become your Pharaoh.
Speaker 1: Tell you when you can go, and what you can
Speaker 1: do and what you can say. When did you get
Speaker 1: the idea that your feelings are in charge of your
Speaker 1: obedience to God? And Someone twenty six is a picture
Speaker 1: not only of what God is going to do, because
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that God is in the process
Speaker 1: of restoring someone's joy even as I speak. But it
Speaker 1: won't look like it, because what he said is those
Speaker 1: who sow with tears will reap with joy. What's that about.
Speaker 1: I thought we were talking about happiness, but the Bible
Speaker 1: says that in order to get to that place of
Speaker 1: happiness that will last, not to get a high. You
Speaker 1: can get a high. Hey, if we all want to
Speaker 1: feel happy, we should have skipped church and met at
Speaker 1: Chrispy Kreme because we could have got happy fast. It's
Speaker 1: called hot now, and it could do it all whole
Speaker 1: lot quicker than someone twenty six. Oh yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: need a Bible verse for that. I just need some sugar.
Speaker 1: I could get happy real quick. There's a better way
Speaker 1: to get happy than to come do this. But if
Speaker 1: you wanted to last where the enemy can't unsmile you
Speaker 1: fifteen seconds after it happened, then we will have to
Speaker 1: learn watch this the hard work of happiness. What's that
Speaker 1: sewing with tears? That means faith is in charge, not feelings.
Speaker 1: Faith is in charge, not feelings. I'm sewing with anticipation,
Speaker 1: even though I'm having a hard time even believing as possible.
Speaker 1: I'm getting in this spot. I'm showing up for this task.
Speaker 1: I was going for a song right the other day
Speaker 1: and I didn't feel like going, and I said, I
Speaker 1: start saying out loud, good things happen when I show up.
Speaker 1: Good things happen when I show up, saying I love.
Speaker 1: Good things happen when I show up. Now say this,
Speaker 1: nothing good happens when I sleep in. Good things happen
Speaker 1: when I show up. You keep hiding your talents in
Speaker 1: the ground. You know why you do that because you
Speaker 1: don't really believe that God has joy to give you.
Speaker 1: You don't rebelieve it. In the Parable of the Talents
Speaker 1: in Matthew twenty five, there was a man who had
Speaker 1: five talents that were given to him. That's like a
Speaker 1: bag of gold, a measure of money. The one that
Speaker 1: had five talents to give went out, invested it, doubled it,
Speaker 1: turned it to ten. The master was like, that's good. Now,
Speaker 1: here's what's crazy. To another, he gave two talents. The
Speaker 1: dude with the two talents had every right to say
Speaker 1: to the master, according to our human view, where's my
Speaker 1: other three? But instead of doing that lies something that well,
Speaker 1: I think it's a cultural lesson that needs to be spoken.
Speaker 1: And jealousy is the enemy of joy. Right, I don't
Speaker 1: need anybody else to tell me I'm blessed. If I
Speaker 1: have peace and contentment in my heart with God, I
Speaker 1: am blessed. I love Abby because it's hard to compliment her,
Speaker 1: not because she's like insecure. It's the opposite. She's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I know years you look you look good today, Abby, Oh,
Speaker 1: I know, Like is this good Lord? That? Ain't the
Speaker 1: ring this in a little bit. It's like, no, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't want her to need somebody else to tell
Speaker 1: her what she is. Shout, I know. The Psalmist said,
Speaker 1: then the nations will say, the Lord has done great
Speaker 1: things for us, And the Salma said, the Lord has
Speaker 1: has done great things for us. Whether you like my
Speaker 1: post or not, whether you like my car or not,
Speaker 1: whether you see my value or not, whether you think
Speaker 1: I'm worth calling back or not, whether you like my
Speaker 1: ministry or not, whether you think I know God or not,
Speaker 1: whether you agree with my decision to pull aside and
Speaker 1: get my heart right or not, whether you want to
Speaker 1: go the next mile with me or not. The Lord
Speaker 1: has been good to me. I don't need anybody to
Speaker 1: tell me that. I already know the joy of the
Speaker 1: Lord is my strength. I know. So the next time
Speaker 1: somebody tells you, oh, you're so good at that, you
Speaker 1: don't have to say it out loud. But let it
Speaker 1: be the cherry. Don't even let it be the icing,
Speaker 1: let alone the cake, because you need to know in
Speaker 1: your soul that God's hand is on me to do
Speaker 1: what I do, and what I do I do well,
Speaker 1: and who I am I am fully. And when the
Speaker 1: Lord restored the fortunes of Zion are like those who dream.
Speaker 1: Our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with
Speaker 1: songs of joy. When you fill your tongue with praise,
Speaker 1: it floods your heart with faith, and then you can
Speaker 1: sew with tears. You can do it regardless of the
Speaker 1: mood that you're in. And the man with the two
Speaker 1: talents turned his two into four. And the Master called
Speaker 1: him back, and he said, this is Matthew twenty five.
Speaker 1: I think we could show this to you. You entrusted
Speaker 1: me with two bags, I have gained two more. And
Speaker 1: for all of y'all that think that God is like
Speaker 1: your most cantankerous relative at the family reunion, look at
Speaker 1: the next verse. What Jesus said, God is like his
Speaker 1: master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. Huh wait
Speaker 1: a minute, the other guy with five he gave you ten,
Speaker 1: only gave you four. Disappointed in me? No, no no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, I only hold you responsible for what I
Speaker 1: gave you. See now, I'll just set you free from
Speaker 1: a lot of misery right there, didn't I you wish
Speaker 1: you were a little bit taller. You wish you were
Speaker 1: a baller, and you're not. My biceps and never looked
Speaker 1: like that. God gave me different fibers. I'm doing good
Speaker 1: with my fibers. I'm gonna maximize my fibers. And then
Speaker 1: something we're so surprised to find in the Bible. We mean,
Speaker 1: we got to go somewhere else for this. We think
Speaker 1: we come to God for holy and go to the
Speaker 1: world for happy. Look what the Master said, when you
Speaker 1: do what God gave you to do. You have been
Speaker 1: faithful with a few things. I will put you in
Speaker 1: charge of many things. Come and share in your Master's happiness.
Speaker 1: You mean God is happy, that's good news. A lot
Speaker 1: of Christians tiptoeing around church like dad's in a bad
Speaker 1: mood again. A lot of us running around like the
Speaker 1: older son in the prodigal star saying I'm slaving for
Speaker 1: you God, Okay, I'll do it. No one notices you
Speaker 1: weren't supposed to do it to be noticed to begin with,
Speaker 1: God knows, and your Father, who sees what has done
Speaker 1: in secret, will reward you openly. So I just want
Speaker 1: to teach you today that to really get to this
Speaker 1: place that you've been praying about, it's gonna take some
Speaker 1: new patterns. And sometimes that will mean I am crying
Speaker 1: while I am carrying. It means I will take the
Speaker 1: seed with me into my day and I will sow
Speaker 1: it in contradiction and defiance to every dry place in
Speaker 1: my life. You want to do the work or do
Speaker 1: you want to wait on the faith fairy to put
Speaker 1: peace under your pillow? And how in the world am
Speaker 1: I gonna pray about something like God give me my
Speaker 1: joy back if I am not willing to sow into
Speaker 1: the very thing that I am asking for. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about this I want to go through in
Speaker 1: the next few weeks, and I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the difference between watch this supernatural happiness that comes from
Speaker 1: God and can't be taken away by the world, that lasts,
Speaker 1: that permeates and that makes a difference and the shallow,
Speaker 1: superficial stuff that will end up costing us everything that
Speaker 1: we have in the pursuit of realizing that we don't
Speaker 1: even want it when we get it. And so you're like, well,
Speaker 1: a pastor, you share some pretty I'm gonna be honest,
Speaker 1: some pretty disturbing stuff, saying that you were not happy
Speaker 1: coming to preach and all that, and you weren't very happy,
Speaker 1: just like I have to go to the gym every
Speaker 1: day to keep my body resembling something that I can
Speaker 1: feel good about and feel good in. I got to
Speaker 1: go to God every day to get my joy where
Speaker 1: it needs to be. You worked out one time in
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, and you think you're going to be in
Speaker 1: shape for the rest of your life. And emotionally, we're
Speaker 1: so weird we want to break through, but the Lord
Speaker 1: said it's going to be hard work. Now. The interesting
Speaker 1: thing about sowing in tears and reaping in joy, because
Speaker 1: the Bible makes the connection. See it says those who
Speaker 1: sow with tears, who press past the pain of what
Speaker 1: they feel into the purpose that God is accomplishing, which
Speaker 1: maybe where God has you right now, I'm doing the
Speaker 1: hard work to stop blaming other people for where you're at.
Speaker 1: I got home the other day and the toilet was
Speaker 1: broken before I left, and I told everybody not to
Speaker 1: use it. And I got home and the only two
Speaker 1: of our kids that were there because me and Abby
Speaker 1: and Holly were gone. The only two of our kids
Speaker 1: that were there were Elijah and Graham. And I went
Speaker 1: to use that toilet and it was filled not with
Speaker 1: the joy of the Lord, but it was still all right.
Speaker 1: I gotta clarify. Oh, I lost it, y'all. I lost
Speaker 1: it because I told y'all not to use it. And
Speaker 1: I was mad at first, but not crazy mad, but mad.
Speaker 1: Who did this? Who did this? You know, like the
Speaker 1: Bible says a man came and sold tears among the wheat?
Speaker 1: Who did this? And I texted Elijah, you did me dirty,
Speaker 1: because he was there when I found out the toilet
Speaker 1: was broken, so it had to be him that forgot
Speaker 1: and used it. He said, I'm so sorry for what
Speaker 1: you're dealing with right now, because I said, it smells
Speaker 1: like a sewer down here, and I don't know how
Speaker 1: many days this has been down here, but it's been.
Speaker 1: I think you did it. The first day I left
Speaker 1: and you left it. He said, Dad, I promise it
Speaker 1: wasn't me. I'm sorry for what you're going through. I'm
Speaker 1: here for you in any way you need me to
Speaker 1: be here for you. But as it was not me
Speaker 1: and he wasn't there, and Graham was there, so Graham
Speaker 1: felt the rat. I said, there's only one left. If
Speaker 1: it wasn't him, it was you. Graham said it wasn't me.
Speaker 1: I said, oh, we got a mystery pooper just breaking
Speaker 1: through the window, just sitting on the toilet, just coming
Speaker 1: through the back, kicking down the door and using the toil.
Speaker 1: This is great, this is great. Kind of stole my
Speaker 1: joy for a minute. But when they came out with
Speaker 1: the plumber. So what happened was I went out in
Speaker 1: the yard a few days later, after the case of
Speaker 1: the mystery toilet abuse her and I smelled something in
Speaker 1: the yard and I saw some water on the ground,
Speaker 1: and I saw a light on something that looked like
Speaker 1: a tank. And I realized that I was walking around
Speaker 1: looking for who did it. And the plumber confirmed my suspicion.
Speaker 1: The pump is broken. And it became to me a parable,
Speaker 1: a parable of the mystery true that you can run
Speaker 1: around blaming people for crap for however much longer you want.
Speaker 1: To Come on, y'all, I'm back. I'm back. I'm back,
Speaker 1: I'm back. I'm back. I'm happy to be back because
Speaker 1: I gotta fix this at the pump. I gotta fix
Speaker 1: this at the palm, and I gotta be willing to
Speaker 1: get in my heart and say, you know what, Lord,
Speaker 1: there are some things in me right now in this
Speaker 1: season of my life that if I don't dig through
Speaker 1: this and sow through this and cry through this in
Speaker 1: process through this, I'm gonna always stay at the surface,
Speaker 1: settling for a high but never really being happy, trying
Speaker 1: to look like a hero but never being happy, having
Speaker 1: another baby, naming an asher, but never really being happy.
Speaker 1: And the invitation is here, Come and share in your
Speaker 1: masters happiness. Consider Jesus, who, for the joy set before him,
Speaker 1: endured the cross, despising the shame. Now stand up. If
Speaker 1: God has done great things for you, are you filled
Speaker 1: with joy today? I think that's a decision that you
Speaker 1: make in the dry places. And I think whether you
Speaker 1: sow in these tears in this season of your life
Speaker 1: determines whether you will carry sheaves of grain home in
Speaker 1: the next. It doesn't happen in the same day. You
Speaker 1: don't carry home sheaves the same day. You so see,
Speaker 1: and that's why God gave you the Holy Spirit for
Speaker 1: these in between spaces, for these Negev deserts, that we
Speaker 1: all find ourselves here. I'm home, but I'm not happy.
Speaker 1: I've accomplished some things, and God has done some things.
Speaker 1: But honestly, my pump is broken. And so let this
Speaker 1: day be a day of declaration. It's no more was
Speaker 1: it you? Was it you? Is it? This? Is it that?
Speaker 1: If I had, then I will stop and let this
Speaker 1: psalm of a sin be the declaration of your life.
Speaker 1: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were
Speaker 1: like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter,
Speaker 1: our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was set
Speaker 1: among the nations the Lord has done great things for them.
Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for us. Will you
Speaker 1: make that declaration? Maybe even lift your hands, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: just do that. Let your ass to say, the Lord
Speaker 1: has done great things for me. In spite of all
Speaker 1: that the enemy did to try to take me out.
Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for me. Look at me.
Speaker 1: Stop taking the great things for granatt it it's here,
Speaker 1: it's now. It's not gonna be one day. It's here,
Speaker 1: it's now, and it's in you. The joy of the
Speaker 1: Lord is our strength. Would you tell at least seven
Speaker 1: people God has done great things for me in my life.
Speaker 1: God has done great things for me. Put it online,
Speaker 1: put it in the chat if you can. God has
Speaker 1: done great things for me. Now, let's listen up a
Speaker 1: happy shall come on, let's left up a happy shout?
Speaker 1: Why are not bay? Well? If you enjoyed today's podcast,
Speaker 1: there are a couple of things I'd love for you
Speaker 1: to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast.
Speaker 1: You can also help us reach others by investing today
Speaker 1: at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again
Speaker 1: for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.