Father, thanks for being such a great God. Thank you for bringing us together here safely this morning. Just thank you for adopting us as your children. Holy Spirit, thank you for being our teacher. And just ask you to teach each of us this morning that we can each leave today, knowing that we heard something directly from you. And I ask that that this morning that you would start supernaturally just giving each of us joy, that our joy would build and grow through Christmas time. And so I thank you for that. And Jesus, thank you for saving us, being our friend and our savior. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. So the last time we were together, we finished uh up talking about the story of Nehemiah, how God had helped them build this great wall, how it had changed their entire future. And so they finished the wall, and then Nehemiah says, you know, it's not really the wall. It's the joy of the Lord that is going to give you strength. And uh and we talked about what that was, how it was the restored relationship with God that was going to bring them joy and how it was going to give them strength. That was a joyful day for us. I don't know if you remember, but 45 of us were baptized that morning. And it was uh it was a great day, but we didn't have a lot of time to talk about joy itself. You know, what is joy? Can we really have joy? Can we experience more and more joy? In December, we're together four times. Uh, this morning, just two more Sundays, and then Christmas Eve. And uh what a perfect time to talk about joy. What a perfect time to experience uh more joy at Christmas time. You know, we talk about it, we sing it, we sing about it, and uh how great to experience it. I want you to know that we can, that we will, that we will experience more joy in our lives. You know, we don't have to just live our lives getting through so someday we can have joy in heaven. Uh God's desire is really the same as ours, that we'll have joy now, that we'll enjoy our lives here. The word joy isn't really so much a spiritual word, it just means a feeling of great pleasure or happiness. That's what joy is. Um and God's desire for you is the same as yours. You know, I think that we would live our lives with great joy. I've got an office in my house. It's uh it's really just a spare bedroom. I got a table in there and some chairs. I got a uh painting that Marlon uh Yoder did on uh one of the walls, and I've got uh this big whiteboard that's kind of a calendar and helps me just keep track of things visually. And there's a place on the side where I can write lists. And last year at Christmas time, really it's the week between Christmas and New Year's, um, I had a list of just a few things that I was praying for that that I wanted uh was asking God to help me with in my life. And I do that each year, and and uh uh this last year was it was some of the same ones that Susan and I would just have a a great marriage and that that would keep getting better and better, you know, that I would get physically fit. It seems that the first of the year that's always uh on my list. And I always asked God to make me as effective as possible in whatever role you know that that he has me in at that time. So so that's on the list. And last year was the first time I added something new, I think, in in a little bit. And that was simply that I would enjoy my life. That was one of my goals for the year, that I would enjoy my life. And I didn't mean that I would go live at the beach for the year and uh and be on vacation and and and hang out. I just meant that I would enjoy every day, that I would find joy in uh in each day. I've had a pretty, I guess, good life or a full life, you know, a relationship with God, a family I love, friends I've loved, a career and a business, and and uh this uh relatively new uh role I get to be in here. And but I wanted to say that I've really enjoyed my life. Um it seems like I'm always you know working or planning or even praying or thinking or whatever, whatever it is, and kind of looking forward to the next thing when I can really enjoy my life. And uh joy is something that I really felt like I needed uh in my life. And and you you may be the same way, or there may be times in your life uh that that you felt the same way, that uh that maybe joy is some spiritual thing, you know, that even if I'm not that happy, even if I'm not enjoying my life, maybe I have it because I don't really understand it, but it's not true. When we think of joy, joy is well, we think about it it's simply joy. And so I've thought about that, I prayed about it, and God's shown me how to have more of it. Susan and I have talked about it, how we can make sure and enjoy each other, you know, that whatever time we have together to make sure that we uh slow down and and just enjoy each other. And so I'm guessing many of you have felt the same way at different uh times in your lives. Some of you I know uh are practically bursting with joy. And uh thank God for that. What a uh what a great place to be. But I know many of us could use a little more joy, a little more joy in our relationships, a little more joy in our relationship with God, a little more joy in just our everyday lives. You know, Jesus talks about how we're just normal parents. But we like to give good gifts to our children. And he says, how much more does our Father in heaven want to give good gifts to us? And uh, when we're thinking about Christmas gifts, you know, I think this year, one of the Christmas gifts that our good father can give to each of us is more joy. What a great gift that would be. You know, Jesus' life is a story of joy. Before he was born, Elizabeth is miraculously pregnant with her baby boy John. She goes to see Mary. Mary tells her that she's pregnant too, with uh with Jesus. And in Luke 1, it says, Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. Can you imagine that? We talk about Jesus' birth before he was even born. You know, the nine months he lived on earth before he was even born. The reaction to him was joy. John jumped for joy. Then comes the famous announcement of Jesus' birth in Luke 2. That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified. But the angel reassured them, Don't be afraid, he said. The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord, has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David, and you will recognize him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. Good news that brings great joy to all people. See, we're all people. We're all people. We can have great joy. We can have great joy. That good news is Jesus. You know, he didn't only bring great joy, he is great joy. He lived a life of joy. And sometimes we can look at verses in the Bible. In fact, uh it's so easy to do this, and it's often done. We can look at verses in the Bible, we can draw a whole perception of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, you know, based on uh on one verse. And it's easy for us to misunderstand what Jesus' life was really like. Uh one of those verses is Isaiah the 53rd chapter. It's a beautiful chapter where Isaiah prophesies about Jesus' death. It says, He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weakness he carried, it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins. But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole, he was whipped so we could be healed. All of us like sheep have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own, yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. See, Isaiah is prophesying Jesus' crucifixion, which was brutal. And Jesus had other times in his life of deep grief, you know, like we all do. And Jesus dying on the cross is obviously important, you know, because it demonstrated his unimaginable love that we were talking about, that Susan was talking about earlier. It demonstrated that love. We don't ever have to wonder about his love. He demonstrated it on the cross, and he and he and he did pay the price for all our sins, so we can be connected with him and with God, our Father. But that wasn't his life, that was a few days in his life, moments in his life. Jesus' life was filled with joy. His life was full of joy. You might think of Jesus as a man of sorrow. He was a man of joy. You know that Jesus had more joy than anyone else ever. In Hebrews 1, it says, But to the Son, it's talking about Jesus, but to the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice, you love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else. Jesus had more joy in his life than anyone else. Yes, your joy will overflow. My joy. Jesus was full of joy. He lived a life of joy. Jesus says that if we can just have his pleasure, his happiness, ours will overflow. If we can just experience some of Jesus' joy. In John 17, Jesus is praying. He says, Now I'm coming to you. I told them many, he's praying to God our Father. He says, Now I'm coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world, so they would be filled with my joy. With my joy. And so this is the thing I want us to see this morning that Jesus was not a solemn taskmaster that came to the world to set it right. Jesus was a young man. He was a young man. He was energetic. He was full of life. He was full of enthusiasm. He was bold and daring and fun and loving. You know, older people wanted to be around Jesus. Children came running to Jesus. He would meet someone for the first time and say, Come with me. And they would. And they would. What was about him? It wasn't sorrow. It was joy. He had such freedom and openness and joy that he was irresistible. Jesus is irresistible. People wanted to be near him, maybe catch some of whatever he had going on. He exuded it, he radiated it. It flowed through him, from him. Love and joy. C.S. Lewis said, It's not so much the joy of the Lord we are seeking as the Lord of joy himself. Jesus' whole life was not lived as a man of sorrows. He lived on earth as a man of joy. We can change our thinking. We can see what Jesus is really like. See that joy is there for the having with Jesus. And with the Holy Spirit, and with God our Father. You know, you might know Galatians 5.22. It talks about the Holy Spirit. It says, but the Holy Spirit produces the kind of fruit in our lives, produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Second on the list, right after love, joy. God our Father is a God of joy. In Hebrews it says that Jesus is the exact representation of God our Father. In Luke 15, Jesus is talking about joy. Really, the whole chapter is about joy. He first talks about a shepherd, and he tells a story about a shepherd that loses a sheep. You know, and so he searches forever, and when he finds it, he's overjoyed. And Jesus says that's just kind of like heaven, that there's great joy in heaven when one person comes to God. And then he tells a story about a widow that lost a coin. And she searches the whole house and eventually finds it. And Jesus said that she was overjoyed when she found it. And she invites her friends to a party to celebrate. And Jesus says in heaven, the angels are those joyful friends that get together and celebrate every time one person comes to God. And then Jesus next tells the story of the prodigal son. You know, you probably know the story. It's about a child who had everything, including a dad that just loved him, but he rejected his dad, and he went off to do his own thing. He ended up brokenhearted with a life that was a mess. And then Luke 15 it says, So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. But his father said to the servants, Quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill the calf we've been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast. For the son of mine was dead and is now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found. And so the party began. Meanwhile, the older son who was in the fields working, when he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house. And he asked one of the servants, What was going on? Your brother is back, he was told, and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return. The thing about the story is Jesus is describing God the Father. He's talking about God the Father, his personality, what he's like, his heart towards us. And so what does God the Father do? He gives gifts, prepares a feast, there's music, there's dancing. It's a party. See, God, our Father, is a God of joy. There's two people in particular the Bible talks about giving God great joy. The first is Jesus. Do you remember when Jesus was baptized? In Matthew 3 it says, And a voice from heaven said, This is my dearly loved Son who brings me great joy. Then when Jesus was transformed in front of Peter and James and John and Matthew 17, it says, But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And a voice from the cloud said, This is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy. Listen to him. The first person that brings God great joy is Jesus. The second person is you. The second person is you. It says in Jude 1, now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. He's not talking about our great joy. He's talking about God's great joy. That he has great joy because he sees you without a single fault. And our Father is a God of joy. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy. Jesus lived a life of joy. So can we. It's there for the having. It is. First Peter 1 said, You love him even though you've never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him, and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The next two Sundays, and then on Christmas Eve, we're going to talk about three things that we can do to experience more and more joy. There are three simple things. There are things that Jesus did, and there are things that Jesus taught. And so the next Sunday we're going to talk about one of those. And next Sunday afternoon, we can go out and apply it. And we can start experiencing it. And then the same the next Sunday. And then the same on Christmas Eve. And by the time we get to Christmas Eve, that's going to be one hour of all-out joy. Celebrating Jesus, having joy in our hearts, and joy in our lives. But each week, this morning and then the next three times, we want to do kind of one other thing that the Bible says we can do to give us great joy. I mentioned that Jesus said that God is a good father and he likes to give gifts to his kids. If we want to enjoy life, if we want to have more joy in our life, more happiness in our life, the first thing we can do is simply to ask our dad. It's just to ask. Ask our dad. John 16, this is Jesus speaking. He says, I tell you the truth. You will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but you will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It'll be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy, because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again. Then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. At that time you won't need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven't done this before. Ask using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. Abundant joy. Isn't that one thing we need? Isn't that one thing that'll make our Christmas great? Isn't that one thing we need to make our life? Jesus' abundant joy. He says, ask, you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. So today and in the next three times that uh we talk about joy, we're gonna finish by just simply asking. Asking our Father to give us a gift, a supernatural gift, to give us a gift of joy, joy in our spirit, joy in our hearts, joy in our lives. And he will. He will. And then we're gonna look at three things that Jesus did and he taught that will help us to experience more and more joy. So if the worship team will come up, in a minute we'll pray together. And we will ask our Father for that. And he and he answers our prayers. You know, Jesus said that if you ask uh Jesus says that we're just, you know, earthly fathers, which means you know we're not always perfect. But if we're to ask our father for bread. He's not going to give us a stone. If we ask for a fish, he's not going to give us a snake. How much more, Jesus says. Well, our Father in heaven give us good gifts when we ask him. And so we'll ask him and he will. He will give us joy. And then we'll sing one more song together. If you don't mind standing, we'll get ready for that. You know, to have Jesus' joy. You all believe that? Do you believe we can have joy? That we can have more joy. I mean, I don't know, sometimes it feels like, you know, we talk about things, but then we don't experience them, and that and that's like religion, you know? But uh life with Jesus isn't like that. And it's a relationship, and it's life, and it's love, and it's joy. And if we if we turn to him and ask for it, and if then we do things his way, the way he teaches us, we will have it. We could all have a life that is full of joy. But the first thing we gotta do is connect with Jesus. You know, it's it's not a formula, it's such a simple thing. We just turn to him and say, you know, well, we've done it our way, but now we're gonna do it your way. You know, and he takes over and he fills us and he strengthens us and he teaches us, and he starts to give us more and more joy. And you can do that anytime, you can do that this morning, you know, it's just in our own way, in our own words. You know, I need you, Jesus. I'm sorry. Help me. I'm gonna follow you, I'm gonna live your way. You know, a couple thousand years ago, there's those shepherds minding their own business, another night of shepherding, out in the field, and here comes this amazing angel, just uh glowing with God's glory. And it freaked him out. And the angel said, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Because I bring you good no good news that's gonna bring great joy to all men. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all men. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for being such a great God. We thank you for loving us. We thank you for wanting us to have good gifts. We thank you for being a God of joy. In Jesus' name, Father, we ask that that would be your gift to us. That you would supernaturally give us a gift of joy, that we would feel more joy, that we would see things more joyfully, that we would enjoy each day, that we'd enjoy each other, and mostly that we would enjoy just a deep and satisfying relationship with you. Father, there's many things that many of us need this morning, whether it's it's health or whether it's finances or whether it's situations and relationships or with loved ones. And God, I just ask you to give each of us everything that we need today, to look down on us and bless us with that. But mostly, God, in addition to that, that you would grow and give us more and more and more joy. We thank you and we praise you and we trust you. In Jesus' name, amen.