Through Obedience
Get Your Joy Back
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Getting Your Joy Back Through Obedience | Pastor Dean Deguara
Philippians 2:2-4
2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
True joy comes by investing in others.
Joy has nothing to do with your current place in life, but it has everything to do with your current choice in life.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Paul’s joy was a result of what was happening below the surface not above it.
True joy is always accessed through obedience and surrender, not just sacrifice and service.
Your obedience and surrender is a choice you make in response to God’s voice.
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel (replying to King Saul), “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
Sacrifice and service without obedience and surrender will always be empty of a joy that satisfies your soul and pleases God.
Paul surrendered his circumstances to the Lord, therefore the Lord used His obedience in spite of his circumstances to serve the Church.
True Joy is a Shared Experience, not a Selfish Pursuit
Philippians 2:2-4
2 …fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
The goal of a joy filled life will continue to go unfinished and incomplete if you believe the lie that it can be accomplished by yourself.
Like-minded:
To have an opinion of one's self, think of one's self, to be modest, not let one's opinion of himself exceed the bounds of modesty.
To be of the same mind i.e. agreed together, cherish the same views, be harmonious
Romans 12:3
Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you all. - JBP
There can be no joy in the life of the Christian who puts himself above others.
Philippians 2:5-8
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God,he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Joy is the fragrance of an obedient and surrendered life that is dead to self
Philippians 2:17
But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith [for preaching the message of salvation], still I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
Paul’s joy was not based on convenience it was based on obedience
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Transcript:
(00:19) so we're wrapping up this series called get your joy back is any anybody got their Joy back over the last couple of weeks has anybody been challenged to lose your joy over the last couple of weeks in Philippians chapter 2 I when we kicked off the series I covered chapter one Jesse Pastor Jesse insisted on doing chapter four so I'm going to do chapter two and we're going to have to leave three uh for another time so I'm going to do the meat in the
(01:00) middle all right make a little affirmation sandwich here today but in Philippians chapter 2 Paul continues this theme of a joyfill life and introducing us to this concept of an others focused obedience and others focused obedience imagine Paul confined in a Roman prison receiving reports from Messengers that's that that are not brimming with hope but instead they are filled with stories of conflict Paul you never guess what's going on in Philippi Paul you never guess who's fighting and quarreling in
(01:45) Philippi Paul you'll never guess who what so and so did in Philippi you see the stories that were coming to Paul were stories of conflict disputes and disharmony among brothers and sisters amid these types of reports however Paul found cause to praise and thank God for the church at Philippi this is why Paul had to praise God for the church because he needed Faith as he prayed and expressed gratitude for their future how many you thankful that Somebody Prayed prayers of faith for you come on and didn't give up on
(02:29) you see as people of God we have a choice if we're going to be focused on problems in our prayer life or focused on the possibilities as we pray for others I don't know about you but I want to choose the latter when people come to me and ask for prayer I want to pray for the possibilities I don't want to be totally distracted by the problems I want to pray with them and believe for them when I'm praying for people I want to be focused on the potential on the purpose on the promise that's what brings me the
(03:07) greatest joy as a pastor when I'm believing God's best for his people not the worst for his people you see I want to call people up not just call them out joy for the believer is a choice that we make Joy is the fruit of a fight that Jesus has already won so let's look at Philippians chapter 2 2: 4 Paul says this as he's writing to the church in Philippi he says this fulfill my Joy by being likeminded having the same love being of one Accord of one mind let nothing be done through selfish ambition or or
(04:00) conceit but in loneliness of Mind Let each esteem others better than himself let each of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interest of others how many know we could spend eight weeks just in those verses right there Paul lets us know remember in chapter one that Joy begins with praying for others but it doesn't stop there because in chapter two he informs us that true Joy comes by investing in others at this point we know in chapter two that Paul's Joy is not complete God's work in the church in
(04:48) Philippi is not complete how many you know God has not done with real life church either they're still working it out the Church of Philippi is still trying to figure it out if you look at verse 12 he tells them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling so Paul in Chapter 2 is determined to help them out and reminding them to work it out by keeping Joy front and center how many you know when you're trying to work it out and figure it out come on it's it's easy to lose sight of joy in your
(05:25) life I love the fact that Paul is eight 100 miles away in biblical times that was a six week Journey he is bound in Chains serving a 2year sentence yet Paul's Joy was not limited by the prison he was in instead his Joy stemmed from his desire to invest in people that belong to the Philippian Church how is it that jail that the jail Paul was in couldn't contain his Joy why couldn't the chains that bound it up bound him up not suppress his Joy why couldn't the bars he was behind prevent his Joy from breaking out I'll
(06:18) tell you why Paul made a choice church we have to make a choice Paul chose Joy instead of jail come on Paul chose Joy instead of change Paul chose Joy instead of prison bars Joy is a choice in life not a place in life Paul had every reason to throw a pity party in that jail saw but he chose Joy over jail joy as Paul emphasizes isn't a fleeting feeling it's a deliberate choice you and I make even as Paul circumstances appeared Bleak chained incarcerated and distant from Philippi his Joy remain Untamed how many could
(07:10) use some Untamed joy in the season that you're going through right now you see Paul's Joy wasn't tied to his prison cell it was tied to God's greater purposes for a people that was 800 miles away you see some of us say things like this I'll get my joy back when I get a raise I'll get my joy back when I get that promotion I'll get my joy back when I finish my degree I'll get my joy back when I get out of this apartment I'll get my joy back when I find my boo I'll get my joy back when the kids
(07:49) get older hello I'll get my joy back when the Lord gives me my own Ministry my own church and my own business I'll get my joy back when I get what I want for Christ Christmas hello I'll get my joy back when I can afford to get gifts for everybody at Christmas I'll get my joy back when the 49ers win the Super Bowl some of y'all in a drought season right now listen some of us are in hard situations some of us are in difficult situations and some of us are trying to chase an idea of what Joy is instead of
(08:33) choosing to embrace Jesus in the midst of those difficulties some of us are in hard situations how many know listen this is why our mission is engaging real life embracing real people we don't run away from the circumstances that real life throws at throws at us not real life church but real life reality how many know there's this thing called reality a and life can overwhelm us as as Trey was saying in our transition Time Life can overwhelm us but how many you do know there is a rock that is higher than
(09:17) us you see Joy has nothing to do with your current place it's in the hard places where the Holy Spirit Spirit specializes in developing a joy that cannot be shaken it has nothing to do with our current place in life but it has everything to do with your current choices in life let me say it like this Joy has everything to do with how you are choosing to respond to the things life is throwing at you am I going to run from it or am I going to run at it am I going to run at it in obedient Faith or am I going to run away
(10:13) from it in fear and Disobedience you see Joy has nothing to do with the current place you find yourself in it has everything to do with a choice that allows joy to break your soul loose from your current circumstances and some of you got to understand the power of Joy the power of Joy will absolutely break your soul free from being under the circumstances and listen when you make a choice listen to be joyful God will raise you above the circumstances that's why when we sing a song you Reign above it all you Reign
(10:54) above it all what is that that is a faith declaration that we are Rel releasing that we are saying soul I know it feels like we're beneath it all but Soul by faith I release Joy I release my praise and I'm going to reain above it all this is why David talked to his soul throughout the Psalms Psalm 103 bless the Lord oh my soul all that is within me bless His holy name bless the Lord my soul and do not forget any of his benefits how many know you have to remind your soul of the benefits come on of the
(11:44) Breakthrough sometimes you got to tell your soul Who's in charge is the holy spirit ruling and reigning your life or is the soulish desires the solish pleasures ruling and reigning in your your life just like David just like Paul we have to choose to be obedient to the spirit of God within us and not allow ourselves to be swayed by solish desires why you going to lift your hands why you going to sing there's nothing to sing about in your life and this is when we the holy spirit needs to rise up within us and say oh yeah I'm
(12:24) going to lift my hands I I don't feel like it oh I got nothing to give God praise about but I'm going to praise God anyway I'm going to praise in the face of the mountain that I'm looking at you see this wasn't Paul's first time in jail Paul was a jailbird this wasn't his first time you guys remember in Acts 16 Paul and Silas are imprison in fact ironically he is in jail in Philippi he's in jail because him and Silas cast out a demon and a slave girl who was making money for her Masters by fortune
(13:08) telling and they cast The Demon out and they killed the business and so the business owners the master they were they were irate and they beat Paul and Silas and threw him in jail how are you thankful that the story doesn't in there and it says at midnight Paul and Silas start praising God and singing hymns and when they did the foundations of the prison were shaken to its core and it says listen the prison doors swung open and everybody's chains fell off now listen we stop right there A lot of times when we preach this message and
(13:54) everybody goes yes all the chains fell off but that wasn't the a miracle you see the Jailer was snoozing on the job he fell asleep and when he woke up he saw all the doors open and all he could think of is I'm going to get executed when they find out all the prisoners have escaped and so he gets out his sword he said say I'm going to die I'm going to do it myself and right when he pulls out the sword to kill himself Paul says wait don't kill yourself we are all here the Jailer calls for the lights he
(14:42) goes down to the dudgeon he cannot believe his eyes all the prisoners come on they're free but they didn't run and he says what must I do to be saved you see unconditional love for others will always release unlimited Joy when I do what's in the best interest of others how you know come on if that door swung open and those chains fall off you you'd be like I'm out but I don't know what kept him there except God's unconditional love for that Jailer you see when I do what's in best
(15:27) interest for others God will always do what's best for me listen are you going to allow are you going to choose to allow life's circumstances to contain and confine you or will you make a choice to allow joy to break you out joy is not a feeling everybody say that Joy it's actually the fruit right we talked about the fruits of the spirit in our summer series in the book of Galatians right there's not a separate fruit the fruit of Joy the fruit of P there's not nine fruits there actually one fruit and all nine qualities are in
(16:11) one fruit in other words you can't choose oh I'll take joy but I'm not going to take patience right I'm going to choose gentleness but I'm not going to choose love right you can you it's the fruit of the spirit you get all nine elements with one fruit and joy is not a feeling it's actually the fruit of the spirit your life will bear as a Believer because of your faith and refusal to allow outward circumstances to dictate what's going to Blossom in your life jermiah 1778 one of my favorite
(16:47) verses it says this but blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord whose confidence is in him they will be like a tree plant Ed by the water that sends out its roots come on by the stream it does not fear when the heat comes its leaves are always green it has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit and I felt like the holy spirit this morning once some of us to understand that he sees you in your circumstance I sense that for some of us the heat is being or has been turned up and listen I'm just here to be your
(17:43) greatest cheer leader we have a choice to make church are we going to be uprooted by the circumstances or we going to allow our root system to go down deep in Christ are we going to wither are we going to worship are we going to be fearful or are we going to be faithful are we going to worry about failure are we going to be secure about our future Paul's Joy was a result of what was happening below the surface not above it did you hear me Paul's Joy was a result of what was happening below the surface not above it
(18:29) if you look above it there's bars everywhere there's chains everywhere but how many you know his roots went down deep in that jail Floor come on somebody his Joy was rooted in the soil of surrender what was happening on the inside of Paul was actually propelling God's plan and purpose for people who were located where only his Joy could take him how many you know come on the devil can't stop your joy come on people can't stop your joy in fact Joy will take you places you can't go in your own
(19:10) strength secondly true Joy is always access through obedience and surrender not just sacrifice and service true Joy is access through obedience and surrender not just sacrifice and service couple weeks ago when we kicked this message off I said we need to learn how to pray ourselves happy when it comes to obedience and surrender however it is actually impossible to sacrificially Serve Yourself happy without it being connected directly to your obedience and surrender why because your obedience and surrender is a choice you make in
(20:03) response to God's voice do you guys ever recall hearing this phrase obedience is better obedience is better than sacrifice that phrase comes from a story that actually illustrates King Saul's Disobedience it comes from a story in 1 Sam chap 15 where King Saul got an assignment to eradicate the amalekites completely but instead he kept King AAG of the amalekites alive and he saved the best of the livestock for himself how many of you know 99% obedience is still Disobedience and Samuel comes back to the scene and he knows cuz God told he
(20:59) knows what Saul has done and in 1st Samuel 15:22 Samuel comes and he says to Saul what is more pleasing to the Lord your burnt offering sacrifices or your obedience to his voice you see he came back and and Saul looked it looked like everything was going right he was he was sacrificing he was trying to make it look like that he saved the best of the livestock for God and so he was trying to fool the prophet how you know you can't fool the Holy Spirit and he was trying to fool The Prophet by offering come on a nice sweet fragrant Aroma in
(21:43) his Disobedience and and and Samuel comes on the screen and he says listen obedience is better than sacrifice and submission or Surrender is better than offering the fat of rams you see King Saul was doing the right thing by offering a sacrifice after he had done the exact opposite thing God had told him to do through the prophet Samuel King Saul was trying to offer a holy sacrifice without holy surrender he was trying to play the game y'all you know how we do it nobody knows what's going on at home no one knows what's going on in my
(22:30) private life I'll just go to church and get my praise on and I'll fool everybody else even though I'm living like hell over here listen you can't offer a holy sacrifice come on without a holy surrender Saul was more concerned about looking good before the people than doing what was right before God and he was leading in his own strength instead of leading from a place of submission and surrender to God's voice and It ultimately killed his calling and this is exactly what happens to you and I
(23:08) many of us sacrifice and serve to cover up the lack of obedience and surrender to his voice in our own lives so it looks good to everybody else on the outside and only we know that it's lacking on the inside that pretty soon I'm going to start complaining cuz it's not real pretty soon I'm going to start bickering about everything and this thing and that thing because listen on the outside it looks good but on the inside it's eating me alive because I know it's not real it's not coming from
(23:46) a place of joy in fact you got to know this I'm still locked up Bound in Chains and I'm imprison to myself and to the life that I'm living yeah and we become a shell of the person that God has called us to be lacking Joy lacking the Fulfillment of purpose and promise because we're serving out of obligation and performance instead of relationship so instead of being excited about sacrifice and service or giving a day's wages or hourly wage or whatever God puts on your heart we're exhausted
(24:27) we're we're complaining oh oh here it goes again here goes another offering to help the CH because we're not serving or giving out of a place of obedience and surrender you see sacrifice and service without obedience and surrender will always empty come on our lives of a joy that satisfies your soul and pleases God and this is why every year on the first Sunday in December we take an offering I'm not p pushing the offering right now I'm trying to make a point we we we we do an offering for children around the
(25:05) world out of obedience out of surrender knowing what God has brought us through as a church that listen when everybody was ready to give up come on God showed up in our finances God did a thing and because of that God I honor you I want to obey I Lord this is not my church God this is your church and God I just want to obey your voice I want to surr I know it doesn't make sense God when everybody's taking a miracle offering for themselves God I want to take an offering and I want to just be a distributor god of what you're doing I
(25:43) want to be a distributor of the Divine I want to give it away all that you've given me God and it's through Paul's obedience that he surrenders and offers himself as a sacrifice and He makes himself a available to serve God's purposes from a prison cell 800 miles away in Rome and he continues to serve the church not just the Church of Philippi but the Church of the Colossians by praying writing and teaching them how to live out a joy centered life you see Paul surrendered his circumstances to the
(26:22) Lord how many of you are just right there you say man I need to surrender my circumstances to the Lord you need to stop trying to manipulate and control everything that's going on in your life and you need to just throw up your hands and just say God it's not my circumstances God they're your circumstances this is not my difficulty it's your difficulty God Paul surrendered his circumstances to the Lord therefore the Lord used his obedience in spite of his circumstances to serve the church come
(27:00) on beyond the bars Paul said you know what obviously I'm not going anywhere but if I make the right choice to change my perspective I know I will continue to take this good news to people everywhere you see for some of us the key to going from jail to Joy from prison to purpose from chains to changing Our Lives is actually a shift in our mindset you see if you and I are you guys with me still if you find yourself in a constant fight an ongoing resistance where you see nothing changing in your circumstances it may be because God is
(27:50) trying to change you by changing your mind and we're so focused on the circumstances is changing which many times to be honest circumstances they do change but not 100% of the time because God is wanting to change something in us he's wanting us to see something a different way a different angle a different perspective a truth that we've never seen about our Lord so you may not be fighting the devil you may be fighting against your own Disobedience ah B the devil devil I cast you out in Jesus name
(28:40) all that is real and right but listen if you're living a disobedient like listen it's not the devil it's you I heard this statistic a long time ago from a uh a a great teacher in the body of Christ name was Dennis peacock but he said this in a spiritual warfare seminar that I attended probably when I was 20 years old it's always stuck with me but he said this 85% of what Christians call spiritual warfare is actually a direct result of their own Disobedience now whether that's true or not I don't know but I do know we read
(29:25) nothing in Philippians about Paul blaming the devil for his time in the Roman jail doesn't mean he didn't speak about the enemy because he writes to the Ephesians he says stand there's there's things that he writes but in the book of Philippians he's just focused on his Joy isn't it crazy we spend more time binding the devil instead of Allowing God to use what the devil meant for evil and turning it into good nothing will steal your joy faster than fighting against God's plans and
(29:56) purposes that he is trying to develop in your life notice I said in your life come on turn to your neighbor and say your life this is what I know about Paul's life from observing it we meaning you and I I'm not excluding myself we could use a lot more obedience and surrender in our lives how about if we prayed that everything that came against us would instead be used for us God take my problems and build a platform God take my circumstances and use them to make me more effective God take my obedience and surrender and pour
(30:44) out my life for us God take my lack of provision and ingrain in me a deeper trust in you obedience and surrender and lastly true Joy is a shared experience not a selfish Pursuit fulfill my Joy by being likeminded having the same love being of one Accord of one mind let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in loneliness of Mind Let each of esteem others better than himself let each of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interests of others notice what is going to fulfill or
(31:36) complete Paul's Joy he says this word likeminded in other words he say this same perspective that I have while I'm sitting in this jail cell for two years I need for you who are on the outside that are acting like you're locked up I need you to shift your mindset you see the goal of a joy-filled life will continue to go unfinished and incomplete if you believe the lie that it can be accomplished all by yourself well I'll jump in the marriage Community once my marriage is healthy how you know you gonna be waiting a
(32:21) while well when I get my act together I'll start attending the men's community on Monday night we're still waiting when my kids get their grades up I'll allow them to go to youth ministry how you know youth ministry could help your kids get their grades up Paul says fulfill my Joy by being likeminded another translation says it this way having the same attitude how you know attitudes will change atmospheres sharing the same love being united in Spirit keeping one purpose in mind the Amplified says it this way
(33:01) having the same love toward one another knit together in spirit how many you know God is knitting something beautiful together here at Real Life Church intent on one purpose and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel this is what like-mindedness means right here I put all the definitions up but I'm going to summarize it right here to have a modest opinion of oneself to not let one opinion of himself exceed the bounds of modesty Romans 12:3 don't cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your
(33:41) importance but try to have a sane come on how you know it's good to be sane try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities By the Light of the faith that God has given you I I love this uh quote that I came across in one of the commentaries I was studying said this there can be no joy in the life of the Christian who puts himself or herself above others you see some of us have our mindset on things happening a certain way but Paul says sharing in God's joy together is going to require having the same mindset and the same attitude if
(34:25) we're going to see an atmosphere osphere of Love release if we're going to see an atmosphere of unity released if we're going to see an at atmosphere of purpose released a mindset is a mental attitude has anybody ever had a mental block before just me all right the Bible calls mental blocks strongholds one of the greatest oppositions to to our obedience listen our mental arguments we have with our own thoughts that oppose our surrender let me say it again one of the greatest oppositions to our obedience
(35:11) are the mental arguments we have with our own thoughts that oppose our surrender thoughts that have exalted themsel against the knowledge of God and Paul told the Corinthian Church what to do with those thoughts 2 Corinthians 10:4 five the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world on the contrary they have divine power of demolishing strongholds we demolish arguments and every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ you see our minds are so set we
(35:49) don't value one another this is what's happening in the world today we don't listen to one another people point out all the time let I'll say listen the word listen 65 times in a sermon it's because we need to listen nobody's listening we don't respect one another we don't love one another we do our own thing and I say God change my mind change my attitude Lord so you can change my life life and Paul tells us how to do it he said the greatest example we ever had Philippians 2:5 to8
(36:35) he says You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had everybody say uhoh he went there though he was God he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to instead he gave up his Divine privileges he took the humble position of a Slave and was born as a human being when he appeared in human form he humbled himself in obedience to God and he died a criminals death on the cross you see Paul's saying Jesus thought differently we need to think differently he did not cling to his thoughts of being equally to God what's
(37:19) that mean mean for us he had every right to cling to his privileges but he surrendered to God's Will and instead of clinging to his rights how you know you can be right but your attitude could be wrong some of us have a hard time admitting we're wrong I'm just being honest he gave up his privileges how many you know Jesus had to give up so he could go up you see some of us perver our privileges which prevent us from relying totally on his power and then he humbled himself in obedience to God you see some of us see humility as
(38:01) weakness instead of an invitation for God's grace to come upon our lives and let me just leave you with this Joy is the fragrance of an obedient surrendered life that is dead to self dead to self and this morning I want to just close by asking you a few questions what are you clinging to that's keeping you from obeying his voice what are you not giving up that's causing you to hit a lid in your life you can't seem to break through you can't seem to break out there is no joy there is no happiness there is no smile
(38:52) on your face because you're liing a lid in in your life what is the thing is it pride that is robbing you of your obedience that says no I will not do it that way I will do it this way because it's my way or the highway this morning I believe there is an invitation for God's grace to come upon your life and with every head bowed and every eye closed I just want to ask there may be some people people in this room today that you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ you are not surrendered to
(39:33) him you are insisting on doing life your way and it's brought nothing but destruction and chaos and havoc in your relationships and God wants to change that for you today maybe you've Fallen away and you've distanced yourself away from Jesus and you have not experienced the joy that I've been talking about this morning and with every head bowed and eye closed I would just say you say Pastor Will you pray for me I need to get my life right with Jesus I need to surrender to his voice that is calling me this morning is
(40:10) that anybody in the room today that you say Pastor Will you pray for me anybody in the room that you would say thank you so much young lady for raising your hand is there anybody else that would like to yes thank you so much for lifting your hand anybody else would like to join these two women that says you know what I need to surrender and obey the voice of the Lord today Hallelujah on the screen there's a prayer for those that you raise your hand and maybe you didn't raise your hand but listen we're going to believe
(40:43) God with all our heart and trust him as we pray this prayer all together Church we're going to pray with the two people that raised their hand I'm so thankful to God of what he's doing on the count of three let's pray with these two ladies that lifted their hands 1 two three Jesus I believe you are the Son of God that you died on the cross to rescue me from sin and death to restore me to the father I choose Now to turn from my sins my self sinness in every part of my life that does not please you I choose
(41:18) you I give myself to you I receive your forgiveness and ask you to take your rightful place in my life as my savior and Lord restore me live in me and through me in Jesus name I pray amen can we give come on the folks that were bold enough to lift their hands Hallelujah listen for those of you that raise your hand the two ladies we have a packet in the back John's back there I'm actually just going to step off and just give this to you in that packet actually is just some next steps for you in your new Journey with the Lord but stop by
(41:56) the back there tell John about the commitment you made and we're going to get you connected and plugged in will you stand with me I'm going to ask our prayer ministers to come I know I ran a little bit over but I felt like this message was a timely message for some and as our prayer ministers come listen you have as a Believer listen you have to make a choice to see the joy of Victory Jesus sees on the other side of whatever you're going through right now Jesus had to endure the cross but he didn't allow it to Blind him from seeing
(42:30) the joy that was waiting for him on the other side of his obedience and this is what I'm going to ask you listen if you are a Believer but you don't have the joy that I'm talking about you lost the joy of your salvation listen I want you to take a step forward maybe you need prayer maybe you don't maybe you need to just get at the altar but if you need prayer in any area of your life you say I need to take that step step I want you to just prophetically take a step down the aisle and say I'm going to walk
(43:01) through it and Jesus is going to take me to it I'm going to walk through it prophetically you're just saying as you walk down to these altars and get prayer you're just say I'm going to walk through it and I'm going to get on the other side and I'm going to get my joy back in Jesus name father I thank you God as we respond to your voice God I pray whatever is going on outside God would not be able to rob the joy God that is going on on the inside Lord we love you God We Praise You In Jesus
(43:35) Name and everybody said thank you again for joining us we pray that message ministered to your heart and lifted your spirit today hey to find out more about joining the RLC online family you can find us on the church Center app you can also subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven't and follow us on Instagram and Facebook God bless you oh