WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.960 Today we are going to take a posture of peace by practicing the privilege of joy. 2 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:14.160 Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything. Together, 3 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.680 we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace. 4 00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:25.840 In Luke chapter 2 verses 10 and 11, the angel says to the shepherds in the field, 5 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:33.840 Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 6 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:41.040 For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. 7 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.720 Now in last week's episode, we were talking about walking in the spirit, 8 00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:51.920 really living in our identity in Christ. And I encourage you to pick a fruit and walk in it. 9 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.920 Now the fruit that I chose, I didn't tell you this last week, but the fruit I chose 10 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:02.960 to walk in is joy. During this holiday season, there is so much focus on joy, right? And I think 11 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:07.600 it's really cool when you think about how during the season, most of the world, not just the 12 00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:13.520 children of God, people in the kingdom, but most of the world recognizes in some form or another, 13 00:01:13.520 --> 00:01:19.760 the atmosphere of joy that is swirling around us. And it's as if the joyous good news that 14 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:26.240 the angel proclaimed thousands of years ago is still reverberating within creation itself. 15 00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:34.160 This is the power of the word of God. It goes into all of eternity. And so we're still 16 00:01:34.160 --> 00:01:40.560 experiencing that joyous proclamation even now, even a world who may not know that is what they 17 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:46.640 are experiencing. Now in Hebrews chapter 15, verse 13, we've been in that scripture many times as a 18 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:53.840 pastor community. It says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in 19 00:01:53.840 --> 00:02:01.760 him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I've been asking 20 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:08.720 the Lord to expand my understanding of joy, expand my experience of joy, because joy and peace partner 21 00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:14.880 together in raising our expectation of God's goodness in our lives. That's hope. They also 22 00:02:14.880 --> 00:02:21.680 partner together in developing a deeper trust in him. And I want that. I want this to be my lifestyle. 23 00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:28.080 And I know that in order for this to be my lifestyle, to live fully aware and fully activated 24 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:35.200 by Christ in me, the practice of joy is essential. Jesus said in John chapter 15, now this is the 25 00:02:35.200 --> 00:02:41.280 chapter where he is talking about abiding in him and remaining in his love. In that chapter, in 26 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:49.600 verse 11, he says, these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may 27 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:57.200 be full. Other translations say your joy may be complete, basically so that you have a joy 28 00:02:57.200 --> 00:03:06.960 that is not lacking. A full joy that can stand up to anything, hold up in all times, in any situation. 29 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:14.640 This joy is the divine privilege of the sons and daughters of God. The gospel, the good news, 30 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:18.960 is for all people, like the angel said. But not all people, unfortunately, receive it. 31 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:24.400 And unfortunately, not all people who receive it choose to live in it in the here and now. They 32 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:30.320 think it is for the distant future. They think it's for heaven. They literally live a lifestyle 33 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:39.120 that says, I will be glad when, instead of choosing to live in what Jesus died for now. 34 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:45.760 The world, they taste and see joy. We can see that now in this season. Most of the world is 35 00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:51.840 doing that, but they can't experience the full joy outside of Christ. That's why it's our privilege. 36 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:56.800 And I think it's something we should take advantage of. Just like all the fruit of the spirit, peace, 37 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:01.680 patience, love, kindness, all of it, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God gave us 38 00:04:02.480 --> 00:04:08.800 not an escape route from this world. He gave us himself so that in this world and throughout all 39 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:14.320 of eternity, we would be partakers of his divine nature, the fruit of his spirit. 40 00:04:15.200 --> 00:04:21.600 We would participate, partner by being in union with him. The fruit of God's spirit, his nature, 41 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:28.240 these characteristics, it's our privilege. It's our inheritance. It is now our identity because 42 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:35.520 we are identified in Christ. There's no separating ourselves from it. That's good news. I don't want 43 00:04:35.520 --> 00:04:42.320 to just know that. I want to live it every single day. And as we've talked about many times, practice 44 00:04:42.320 --> 00:04:48.320 makes permanent, right? So I've been asking the Lord, how can I practice joy? And I've been asking 45 00:04:48.320 --> 00:04:52.800 him, I think in order to practice it, I need to know what it is, right? Like, what is joy? I can 46 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:58.960 think of physical expressions of joy, like laughter or praise. I can think of emotional expressions of 47 00:04:58.960 --> 00:05:00.040 joy, like the feeling of joy. 48 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:08.960 of contentment, elation. But what is it? And this is what I heard him say. Joy is embracing 49 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:16.480 the beauty. Joy is embracing the beauty. Now, I want to read you something that 50 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:21.040 David wrote in Psalm chapter 16. I love Psalm chapter 16. 51 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:28.880 And in Psalm 16, David is actually prophesying Christ. So it's pretty cool, 52 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:34.320 especially in the season, to consider that David was prophesying all this. But in verse 8, 53 00:05:34.880 --> 00:05:43.120 David says, I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not 54 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:50.800 be shaken. Just take a minute and soak in the depth of trust that David is walking in as he 55 00:05:51.600 --> 00:06:01.920 prophesies this. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells 56 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:08.560 secure. For you will not abandon my soul to the realm of the dead, or let your Holy One see 57 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:16.320 corruption. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. 58 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:21.200 At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 59 00:06:23.760 --> 00:06:30.000 God said joy is embracing the beauty. And as I've been practicing it, I realize it's really 60 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:36.720 embracing the beauty of God himself, God with me, God in me. As his sons and daughters, we have been 61 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:43.280 given eyes to see, to be attuned to, to be aware of. Not what he's doing or not doing, though that 62 00:06:43.280 --> 00:06:49.440 is important. But it's not just that. Before it's that, it's seeing who he is. It's seeing the beauty 63 00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:55.680 of him, his nature. Now, not all life is beautiful. I know I don't have to tell you that. I'm sure 64 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:05.120 you've experienced that. But joy is not bypassing ugly circumstances. What joy is, is it's our 65 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:11.680 navigator in all of those ugly circumstances. It's what sustains us and empowers us. It takes us 66 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:18.720 through it. Nehemiah 8.10 says, the joy of the Lord is your strength. And I am experiencing that 67 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:25.040 as I practice this in depths I did not even know were possible before. So I want to encourage you 68 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:32.880 to practice, take advantage of this privilege of complete joy that you have. 69 00:07:34.640 --> 00:07:40.000 There's a lot of good advice and worldly wisdom out there on how to navigate the hustle and bustle 70 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:47.360 of these holy days. How to do the holidays when you're grieving, how to navigate the pressures 71 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:54.400 of life, how to organize busy schedules, all of it. But any advice outside of Christ will eventually 72 00:07:54.400 --> 00:08:00.720 fall short. I was feeling some angst yesterday. I was feeling a lot of angst yesterday. And it wasn't 73 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:07.440 just one thing. It was, it felt like it was everything. It was grieving the loss of people 74 00:08:07.440 --> 00:08:12.000 I'm not going to be spending the holidays with this year. It was trying to navigate just the 75 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:17.440 busyness of life, trying to end the year well and start the new year right. And it was just everything. 76 00:08:18.640 --> 00:08:25.760 But I'm beginning to recognize that that feeling of angst, that pressure, that weight is not my norm. 77 00:08:25.760 --> 00:08:29.840 So I don't have to live with it. I don't have to live in it because I'm in relationship with the 78 00:08:29.840 --> 00:08:38.960 Prince of Peace. So when I experience it, I have to choose something else. And so I chose to practice 79 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:45.760 joy. I chose to embrace the beauty around me. And it looked a little bit like Thanksgiving, allowing 80 00:08:45.760 --> 00:08:52.720 gratitude to uproot discontentment. It looked a little bit like surrender, releasing condemnation 81 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:57.760 that was trying to get me to focus on it shouldn't be this way, releasing judgment that wanted me to 82 00:08:57.760 --> 00:09:03.920 focus on it should be this way. It looked a little bit like renewing my mind, stopping the scroll on 83 00:09:03.920 --> 00:09:10.400 my screen. More importantly, stopping the scroll in my mind that was ruminating on negativity and 84 00:09:10.400 --> 00:09:18.640 instead thinking on what was true and honorable and lovely. What it looked like was using my free 85 00:09:18.640 --> 00:09:25.440 will to choose to believe God's word, his report over any other word and report that was trying to 86 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:31.520 speak to me. Maybe you're feeling angst too in this season. Maybe it's the pressures of a busy life 87 00:09:31.520 --> 00:09:36.800 weighing on you. Maybe it's the heaviness of loss. Maybe it's both. Maybe it's all those things. 88 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:43.600 You don't have to bypass it. But I want to encourage you to embrace the beauty of him 89 00:09:44.160 --> 00:09:52.240 who is with you in it. Grieve with hope. Let go of shame and condemnation. Disempower disappointment. 90 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:58.640 Walk away from striving to live a perfect life and live in perfect peace. 91 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:16.000 Brace the beauty of Him. It is your privilege, so take advantage of it.