Arcade Church Service - September 19, 2021

is [Music] and as we lift our hands the declare the love our god has spoken over us and as we lift our hands the heavens open our heaven declare the love our god has spoken over us i give thanks for all you have done and i will sing of your mercy and your your [Music] [Music] [Music] i cast my mind [Music] to calvary where jesus bled and died for me i see his wounds his hands his feet my savior on that cursed tree his body bound and drenched in tears and they laid him down in joseph's tomb the entrance sealed by heavy stone messiah still and all alone of the lord our god forever foreign [Music] the third at break of dawn the sun [Music] is [Music] [Music] i was buried beneath my shame who could carry that kind of weight it was my tune till i met you i was breathing but not alive all my failures i tried to hide it was my team till i met you [Music] out of the darkness into your me [Music] [Music] has saved my soul and now your freedom is all that i know [Music] [Music] you [Music] out of the darkness [Music] heaven thundered and the world was born life begins and ends with the dust you formed [Music] fear is [Music] impossible defeated jesus is overcome [Music] when the stone was gone [Music] shall be [Music] impossible shall be nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus our god unstoppable nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus our god unstoppable nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unsolvable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] impossible things in your name [Music] [Music] lord i come i confess i find my rest and without you i fall apart you're the one that guides my heart lord i need you [Music] my [Music] [Music] where sin runs deep your grace is more where grace is found it is [Music] in me [Music] defense my righteousness [Music] when temptation comes my way and when i cannot stand i'll fall on you cause jesus all right everybody [Music] [Music] justice [Music] oh [Music] my righteousness oh god how i need good morning arcade church good morning family happy sunday to you it's good to be together i think we say that every week but it really is good to be together amen it's just good um and we want to welcome those of you who are at home as well you know we wish you were you're here with us but we know you're here in spirit and so we're so glad that you're joining us i want to invite you to stand to your feet i'm going to read psalm 100 as we prepare our hearts for worship this morning make a joyful noise to the lord all the earth serve the lord with gladness come into his presence with seeing know that the lord he is god it is he who made us and we are his we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter his gates with thanksgiving and his course with praise give thanks to him bless his name for the lord is good his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations amen let's worship this morning together [Music] as we lift our eyes to hope [Music] an beyond to declare the reign of the lord our god [Music] [Music] is [Music] in the name of jesus christ [Music] with a voice [Music] when the earth [Music] there's an empty [Music] [Music] surrendered [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] is we will not be moved when the earth gives way for the reason why is overcome amen [Music] and for everything there's an empty grave [Music] we will not be is [Music] is [Music] give him praise this morning church [Applause] [Music] this is the day that the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it [Music] is in your name and now your joy always [Music] is [Music] set my feet [Music] [Applause] [Music] my faithfulness [Music] is [Music] [Music] i is [Music] open so let our lives [Music] god has spoken over [Music] [Music] i give thanks for all you ever [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] let's praise him let's praise him show him how grateful we are for him [Music] the almighty the king of creation oh my soul praising for he is your health and salvation come on [Music] time [Music] [Music] all things [Music] have you not seen [Music] [Music] [Music] his goodness [Music] with his love he befriends you [Music] [Applause] [Music] joyful joyful [Music] [Music] to the sky [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello [Music] praise to the lord [Music] come down with praises before [Music] again gladly forever adore him amen romans 8 beginning in verse 12 says so then brothers we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of your body you will live for all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry abba father the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god and if children then heirs heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him let's reflect on that passage as we continue to sing and as we begin to sing words about not us but christ in us right yet not i but through christ and me let's sing [Music] what gift of grace is jesus my redeemed there is no more for heaven [Music] is [Music] my mind is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] through the deepest [Music] through [Music] [Applause] [Music] the future the price it has been paid for jesus [Music] jesus [Music] oh [Music] [Music] for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] father thank you for your spirit and that you indwell us because of the gospel thank you father that you haven't given up on us yet that we can hold on to you that our hope only is in your son jesus we thank you father in your son's name amen amen you may be seated amen thank you team for leading us our hope is only in jesus and what better place for our hope to be in this unshakeable unchanging awesome incredible savior we have if this is your first time to arcade church i have the privilege of welcoming you we are so glad you're here and we have a super easy way for you to get connected take out your phone and text the word arcade guest to 484848 i feel like we should have a quiz in a couple weeks as to what our phone number is to text right you all know you keep hearing it but if you could do that it's a great way to get connected and and for us to kind of know who you are and how to connect you to arcade church um we have so many things going on we are as a staff incredibly excited for friday night it's something we've never ever done before we're having a sermon on the mount art exhibit and i think the number stands about 23 arcade artists have submitted incredible artwork from something they're going to do live paintings sculptures i mean the thing goes on and on and on this is also a great thing to invite friends to maybe you've invited a friend to church and they're kind of not interested in the whole church thing well this is a church thing but it also is a fun great night to join us on campus so friday night 5 30 to 8 30. there's food trucks coffee cart will be open there's interactive stuff for your family for kids there's a way that you can get involved in a painting also so you're going to be here at 5 30 to 8 30 invite a friend there's postcards in the lobby and there's also a way if you go on the app to the events you can share that directly with a friend all right so what about arcade life we are starting up another rooted class what's rooted well it's a way for you to know all about who we are as a church why we do what we do and then how to get plugged in here at arcade it is three sundays the first three sundays in october we would love to have you be a part of that it's also a pathway to membership here where you can join our church family kind of on the official side of things we would love to have you if you're interested in that go ahead and check out the app for that as well another even that is coming up is one of my favorites and if we were like to measure the decibels of baptisms i would say it's our favorite collectively right so baptisms are coming up the first sunday in october how can you get plugged in and find out about these things the app the website also if you give us a call at the church office we would love to tell you all about these things maybe help you sign up talk you through whatever you need to know about these events all right we are about that time of year we're going to talk about thanksgiving so i would love to invite taylor clifton she's the executive director of del norte club and andrew northcutt he is one of our pastors here and you guys are gonna tell us a little bit more about how we connect with sac food bank if you guys don't know uh sac food bank really uh distributed all kind of food clothing help to people who maybe are um in need and we partner with them every tuesday they are in our besara lot handing out fresh fruit and and vegetables and sometimes even like chicken or or other stuff to people who really are in need and we've seen the amount of people they serve on tuesdays just explode but we get to partner with them so taylor can you tell us a little bit about your part yeah so um traditionally arcade and del norte have hosted a running team and it's been one of the largest teams but this year we want to have the largest team is that a fun goal the largest team out of 30 000 runners we want to have the largest team and so we need your help if you like to run or walk i will say you can walk this it's actually the largest run um i think in the nation in the nation and so the the reality of you running the race for your personal best is not realistic it's more of a fun community driven um race it's on thanksgiving day but what we're going to do is we at del norte and arcade we're going to facilitate seven runs at william b pond so what you can do is you can sign up for the race if you don't know how to register we're going to be out at the welcome hub you can come see us it's really easy on our app if you'll go to the home page and scroll to the very bottom run to feed the hungry is there it's a click and then there's a register or a sign me up for something andrew's going to talk about in a minute but you can also come see me back there and i can walk you through it's really simple it costs fifty dollars but we will be facilitating seven runs at william b pond every saturday in october and two saturdays in november at 9 00 a.m and the purpose of this is really to just come together as a community and meet your team who's going to be running with you or walking with you that day that day we don't actually run together you set your own pace but we just meet we write our names down on a list for accountability we say that we were there and it's just a really fun way to get out on a saturday get some fresh air get some vitamin d meet your team and be a part of genuine community and taylor this is a great way to build that bridge from arcade to del norte and meet people that maybe don't know jesus and you might be the person that introduced this absolutely so we're going to have a team from del norte and a team from arcade but we're all one team so that's the really exciting thing you do get to meet people you don't know and maybe people that you knew that weren't over there um that you're like oh wow you go to you go to del nerdy while i go to arcade and the world is small in that way so come join us sign up i'll be there andrea will be there and if you don't want to run or walk there's another way to get involved i need to clarify she said andrew will be there she meant at the booth in the lobby he will be there standing so i love that you are putting organizing the team for arcade and del norde to run together during on thanksgiving morning for the run to feed the hungry as beth was saying it's we partner with uh the sacramento food bank and family services they provide tons of resources to people in sacramento that are in need and one of the the biggest way that we get to participate annually and the biggest way that they raise funds annually is the the run to feed the hungry on thanksgiving morning so if you want to be part of the run team see taylor when you walk out there but if you're like me and you're like i love when other people run and i want to be a cheerleader for those people and i want to hydrate them while they're going on their business then come see me because that is how the rest of us can participate on thanksgiving morning in the run to feed the hungry uh they sweat for everyone we have fun and then we all get to go eat thanksgiving afterwards so if you're interested in being part of the hydration station at the run to feed the hungry come see me afterwards i'd love to tell you more it's a ton of fun it does not require a lot of um ability my kids have been helping since they were uh a few months old yeah um and so like any of any anyone in here can participate we'd love to have you well plus what else you're gonna do on thanksgiving morning watch your turkey cook that's boring it's so much fun i've actually had the privilege of well with craig and debbie we we walked we walked the run but then also um handing out water it it is one of the highlights of the year so sign up yeah there's no shame in walking that's the other thing if you've never done this before don't let it intimidate you when you hear a run or a race you're like oh that's not for me but really it's something so much greater so i would encourage you if you've never done it before come ask about it if you're the least bit interested we'd love to have you join us thank you guys thank you okay so andrew you're gonna stay with me and we're gonna invite pastor nick up and we get to talk to you all about arcade family ministries now we're back in person everything's kicking back up we're super excited but sunday morning is a little different than it's looked in the past but we're just going to talk you through some of the changes and some of the excitement that we have with our kids and students so nick just to begin with middle schoolers and high schoolers if you're in the room can you let us know right now oh there's a big contention up here we got a couple over here we got a few over there they're all over the place and so arcade adults can we let the students know how happy we are they're in the room with us i think the adults won i think they might have wow yeah that and students please take that to heart we mean it we are so grateful that you're here hearing and seeing jesus and hopefully following him for the rest of your lives um so i get to uh help arcade kids hear see and follow jesus and every sunday from babies on up to fifth grade we are sharing the truth of god's word with them the big story of the bible connecting every single story in the bible to jesus and if you have kids that age we hope that they come home and tell you how much fun they had singing or playing a game with their friends or hearing more about jesus whether it's in large group or small group we have an incredible team of volunteers that help us do that we are actually averaging 100 kids every single sunday and you guys help us do that by being here by showing that by partnering with us andrew what about middle school yeah so middle school since we've come back on sunday we're trying to to lean into and give resources to you as the parents on on how we can help you disciple your students in this space because we love the fact that we get to worship together and be together and grow together and so one of the ways that we're all doing that is we've developed some family and discipleship discussion questions we probably all have a different name for each of ours but that's the the heart behind them and so they go out on instagram and in our emails so if you are a parent of a middle schooler or a high schooler and you're like okay we got to get to church they're not putting their shoes on it's going to be a fight in the car check instagram before you get in the car because we've got some conversation starters that will help you get ready for the conversation that continues on in here and we would love to to help you disciple your kids that way also if you are not connected on wednesday nights if your student's not connected on wednesday night we've got a great program where we do i have the best volunteers in middle school and so i love to be able to connect to your students to other adults that will pour into them and come alongside you as the parents and raising them up to love christ what about high school nick yeah same kind of stuff man we are excited that our high schoolers are here in this room on sunday mornings and that this is a place that is specifically designed for you to be here with us on sunday mornings that being said we've heard the call from parents and students saying hey what we miss though is the community aspect of sunday morning so i don't know if you noticed this morning when you came in there was a big circle of high schoolers hanging out in the courtyard that's a new initiative we just started on the third sunday of the month we'll be doing coffee in the courtyard at nine o'clock in the morning with high schoolers and on the first sunday of every month we're gonna meet up in the courtyard after church and go get some lunch together and so that's just a few of the things we're starting on sunday mornings to continue this community aspect of our group on sunday mornings but then of course our main focus in in community and discipleship in small groups is on thursday nights here on campus from seven and nine where we get together in the gym with some worship playing games getting in the word and getting into our small groups together and so if you're in the room and you're in high school and you're like oh i've never been on a thursday can you come talk to me i would love to get you here on thursday night to be a part of the community of arcade high school yeah thank you guys so much so as you can see and here we as a team are partnering together with each other but also with parents and families and so thank you for supporting us thank you for volunteering with us thank you for praying for us and for the families and kids here at arcade church we definitely couldn't do it without you we're so grateful for you and now we have this incredible opportunity of hearing more about joy from someone i think all three of us have had in our ministries so when you think when you see this video i want you to think about this young woman growing up here at arcade church and being poured into and you've been a part of that thanks guys [Music] hi my name is bry lilly i've been coming to arcades since i was in first grade the time that christ's likeness was truly displayed to me was when i was 15 years old and i was really starting to get into serving in the worship ministry leading worship in the church and i was doing that with my brother brandon and brian clifton really took the both of us in and he gave us an opportunity to serve and do what we love together and just mentored us and showed us this the love of the lord and then again when a really sad tragedy happened in my family and brandon passed away i took some time away from worship ministry and leading for a period of time and was just able to grieve and rest with my family and the church was still super evident and present in our lives and i knew they were all praying for us and then i was called back to leading um in worship ministry and i was with the choir and i could just see how present the spirit was and how evident it was in his people and i was just i was reminded of the true genuine joy of the lord through his people and the way they led me [Music] [Music] we love you bry absolutely i i know that the day has already been full uh all kinds of things going on and i just want to to add a couple more you don't have enough to do do you uh i just want to let you know that we had our our first men's prayer night this last friday night and what an incredible time that we had together as brothers in christ um there's just under 5 000 of us here and so it was just you know i think we had like 75 or 80 men here and it was a really great time uh so ladies you have your chance in october october 22nd so save that date and there will be an arcade women's prayer night for them and i know that you're going to enjoy that okay i'd like you right now to to prepare for what we're going to be talking about in the fruit of the spirit by just putting your imagination cap on and i want you to imagine that you are a young israelite family you may not have to imagine too much about that and you are crossing the jordan river on dry ground into the promised land for the first time you were not part of the egyptian slavery because you were born in the wilderness wandering but you heard stories about god's might god's power with the ten plagues the red sea you heard all about those things from your parents who are now deceased and you were walking in to the promised land and your entire life was spent no matter where you walked the soil you were walking on would never be your own but now everything has changed now you are walking into your own property because you have been given a plot of land to grow to raise livestock to grow a vineyard olive trees fig trees whatever you want to grow to make your life and all you have to do is two things work the land and trust god that's it and so you do you've got this new property and you set up a homestead and your family's excited because you've got your own soil your own land to work and you can't wait to do it and you do you get in and you're going and for a few years it's going really great but then you begin to have ideas that maybe you need to expand the family business and so you borrow this and you buy that and you leverage that and before you know it after a few years you are in debt up to your eyeballs with no ability to pay it off in that culture you just can't file bankruptcy and walk away in that culture if you can't pay in monies or in goods to pay off your debt you pay off yourself you become a bond slave to the debtor and you work it off and you work it off and you work it off but not only you but your entire family so you you walk away from your property because it's now owned by someone else all the dreams all the goals all the aspirations you had are now over and so now you belong to another and you are bound to them by law to pay off the debt the years go by and you're so discouraged because you remember what it was like to own you remember what it liked to grow and to be happy in that way but now you're owned by someone else but through one of the services that the children of israel had you heard the law being read and tucked in the pages of the writings of leviticus you know that book that we all read devotionally there is a very strange thing around chapter 25. it's called the year of our lord it's a strange thing and and and you heard the priest read it and and you asked him to read it again when the service was over and sure enough a lot of things are happening in that year of the lord first of all the land rests nobody works the land the land rests and you just live off of whatever it yields you don't plant you don't water you don't nurture you don't do anything you let it rest and that's good that's really great but then the priest read that in the year of our lord the year of the lord the slaves go free all debt is canceled and you get your property back it's like a national reboot a national reset and you hear that and and you're thinking okay where's the calendar i gotta look at the calendar when when is the 50th year because that's when it happens this every 50th year once for every generation and you find out that the 50th year is five years away all of a sudden the hopelessness is gone the reality is still the same you're still a slave you're still working for somebody else you still have to pay off a debt that you incurred you have to do that but then all of a sudden as this year of the lord approaches they called it jubilee your eyes start picking up on the horizon you're still a slave but that day is coming you've got it marked on your family calendar jubilee and on that day is when the land rests your debt is canceled you and your family are set three and set free and now your sons and daughters no longer have to pay for your mistake and you get the land back everything starts brand new and what you're experiencing as the day approaches is this is this joy even though the circumstances are still the same you're still a slave you're still doing stuff you don't want to do you're still working for somebody else making them wealthy all of a sudden you've got this joy welling up and that's what we're going to be talking about today this is the second of the fruit of the spirit in galatians chapter 5 and so if you have your bibles go and turn there but it'll come up here on the wall as well galatians 5 22-23 could we read this out loud together here we go but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law we're just going through this fall and dealing with each one of these fruit of the spirit and today we're going to talk about joy and lord willing we'll be able to enjoy joy and find out what's going on but first of all i do want to talk about the definition that we're using for fruit of the spirit and we'll talk about this each sunday just to get that into us but the fruit of the spirit is simply god through the spirit of jesus christ producing outwardly what he has planted inwardly every believer in jesus christ every christian has been given the gift of the spirit the presence of the spirit the indwelling spirit and so what is the spirit supposed to be doing the spirit is producing fruit of the spirit and he's growing outwardly what he has planted inwardly and so joy is a very very important word and typically typically we dust joy off around christmas time but a couple of years ago this would be even before kova with the elders got together and we decided that joy is a primary need in our culture in our church in our neighborhood our community our region everywhere and so we decided to incorporate that into a vision statement for the next five years and so you're going to be hearing about joy a lot lord willing in these next five years because bottom line is that's what we need every human being whether you're a christian or not republican democrat it doesn't matter ethnicity or anything you are in desperate need of joy and so we have adapted a vision statement for that and it's this mobilize disciple makers to bring christ-like joy to our neighborhoods our region and our world and we're going to be hearing that a lot you'll probably see it on the walls in the in the lobby and everywhere else because we want to mobilize disciple makers that's you and me to bring christ-like joy to our neighborhoods our region and the world for those of you who are in gather groups you guys are already probably talking about out night when you go out and what i'd like you to think about and we talked about this in our gather group this past week is what does spreading the joy look like what does being joy look like for other people how can we bless people with the joy of christ and begin to think about out night how that can happen and how wonderful that could be as we do this because humanity every one of us we hunger for joy but here's the problem of the fruit of the spirit probably joy and peace are the most difficult to measure i mean what would you do if someone says what you need to do is you need to be more joyful i could i just thought of this i i don't know if you knew i don't know if i told you this but i used to take classic guitar lessons and this is a long time ago when guitar was a new instrument and i wasn't very good but i took classical guitar lessons and you could tell because i just did that right yeah and i can remember my teacher who's an excellent guitarist he he gave me a sheet of music and you know how for those of you who are musicians on a sheet of music at the very top or maybe some instructions on how to play it you know fast slow whatever and at the top of this sheet of music i don't even remember the song i don't remember what it said it says play joyfully and so i went to my teachers i said so hey so how do i do he just started laughing i have no clue i mean do you do you play what you're smiling you know do you dance around how do you play how do you play joyfully well it's so difficult if you were to tell me craig you need to be more loving i have an idea of what you mean by that and i know what i need to do to be more loving or if i have self-control or be more kind or faithful i know exactly what i need to do but joyful that's kind of i'm kind of missing on that and so right now we're going to be joyful i've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart down in my heart down in my heart i've got the joy joy joy joy down in my balcony down in my heart to stay isn't that great we gotta finish it but i'm so happy so very happy i've got the love of jesus in my heart down in my heart and i'm so happy so very happy i've got the love of jesus in my heart good job yeah yeah i i just love the old hymns don't you i just love that well that might have made us laugh a little bit and go back down memory lane to when we were kids in church some of you are probably thinking if you've never been raised in a church or you're not a christian you're brand new thinking these people are crazy that's just an old sunday school song that we sang years ago but that didn't really give us joy the truth is for many of you singing that song may have been a slap in the face because right now times are not joyful everybody wants to have harmony at home everybody wants to have zero financial worry everyone wants to have perfect health everyone wants to have a job that they love to go to but it could be that for you right now joyfulness is a mystery it's at a distance and so i'm aware of that but as we look at scripture this morning and we see this i'm hoping and praying that we can be able to find a difference i do feel compelled however to define joy and so here is kind of a working definition for us to work off of joy is a subtle happiness that is anchored in the facts of faith and not the fleeting circumstances of life joy this should be the word settled joy is a settled happiness that is anchored in the facts of faith and not the fleeting circumstances of joy there is happiness in joy we tend to think that happiness is superficial and there is a kind of happiness that is superficial superficial happiness depends on what happens it comes and goes joy stays joy stays happiness comes and goes we just remembered the life and celebrated the life of wade chandler yesterday here at arcade and it was a great service of of learning about him and enjoying him and also reflecting on christ who saved him and there probably wasn't a lot of happiness but there is this settled happiness this this to the core happiness this down deep happiness why because wade was such a good guy because he was that's because god is a good god who saved wade and so now i'm i'm not happy i'm not happy that i'm not going to see him for the next few years but i am happy because there will be a day when i will see him and i'm happy for cheryl and for braden and for audrey because they too will see him again that is the kind of joy that goes to the core of who we are and joy is all over scripture and this morning because of the time we're going to look at some passages i think are really good because jesus loved to talk about joy we're going to look at a lot of verses right now kind of rapidly but i'd like you to look and find a common denominator or a common thread as we go through these jesus talked about joy a lot for example in what is called the upper room discourse the upper room teaching this is just hours before jesus is nailed to a cross just hours before he is arrested and nailed to a cross and he talks frequently about joy john 15 verse 11 these things i have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full a little bit later on this in the in the 16th chapter jesus says until now you have asked nothing in my name ask and you will receive that your joy may be full he has just told them that he is going to leave and where he is going they can't come and you can imagine you can imagine the disciples and the anxiety that went through them because they have left everything they left businesses they left families for the sake of jesus and now he says fellas i'm going and they just hit the roof and he said don't worry don't worry you're going to receive this joy in full their joy was being with jesus and so they were convinced that they weren't going to be able to have that and then in jesus prayer in john 17 this is just possibly minutes before he's arrested he says this but now i am coming to you and these things i speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves the joy that was taking jesus to the cross he did not go skipping to the cross it wasn't happy clappy joy that took him to the cross it was what the cross would produce and that is your salvation and mine your forgiveness and mine his mercy upon you his mercy upon me it was that joy that took him there and now he's praying to the father give them the same kind of joy paul loved to talk about joy as well he talked about it more than anybody and that we enjoyed this passage in our gather group this last week may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the holy spirit you may abound in hope for us to abound in hope requires joy and so paul is asking god to produce in you and me [Music] joy elsewhere in first thessalonians chapter one verse six he's talking to a group of people that are suffering and he says this and you became imitators of us and of the lord for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the holy spirit peter talks about joy first peter chapter 1 verse 8 though you have not seen him you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory you can't define it you can't put words to that you can't bottle it it is just there and peter is talking to a group of people they've lost businesses they've lost houses they've lost family members some of them have lost their lives and peter is saying and yet you have this inexpressible joy james count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds why for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness did you happen to notice the common thread that was going through all those passages affliction you see happiness is contingent upon what happens happiness is contingent upon that family being completely harmonious you having zero financial worries you having entertainment and pleasure and having all kinds of that's what happiness is based upon but the joy that's being talked about is this settled this down deep happiness that stays regardless of circumstances and that is the gift that is the fruit of the spirit that god is producing in you is that kind of joy so what do we do wouldn't it be great if we were all neo from the matrix where he had kind of a a port in the back of his neck and if he needed to learn something he can just plug in and in one place he plugged in he came out and says i know everything about kung fu and he became a kung fu master remember that yeah you do wouldn't it be great if the christian life was that way the moment that we pray the prayer and ask jesus into our heart he just kind of has a bar code on our forehead and all of a sudden we just become spirit-filled and we we produce all the fruit of the spirit just like jesus wouldn't it be great if we did it that way but that's not the way it is so what what do we do if if joy is something that's very difficult to measure in fact peter says it's inexpressible what do we do well i would contend we do this we must resist joylessness i think for those moments in my life where joy is so far deep into my soul i don't detect it i take a passive stance to it i just say well i guess i don't have it i guess i'm not i i guess i'm just going to be joyless i i i think brothers and sisters in christ we come against that we not be passive in that fight but rather we fight for joy and we fight it we fight for joy by fighting against the joylessness well how do we do that let me just suggest some things that are in your notes there if you want to take some notes first of all we fight joylessness by not looking for it because the moment we start looking for joy we take our eyes off of jesus because what will happen it happened to eve in the garden why did eve take the fruit at the core of why she took the fruit was joy satan painted a picture of life without god and he painted in a very positive light you too can be god how cool would that be at the core of every one of my sins is my hunger for joy i'm convinced that if that if i if i do that sin or think that sin then i will have joy and what happens is when we go looking for joy we look for reasonable facsimiles that look like the real thing but they're not so we look for sports we look into our children for sources of joy we look to other family members we we look to maybe alcohol or drugs or porn or something that just overwhelms us and gives us those pockets those those nanoseconds of joy followed by phenomenal guilt and we think that's just our lot in life that's the way it's going to be and so i've just got to grab the joy where i can and so the way that we fight joylessness is not by looking for it but rather this by running to the author of joy we fight joylessness not by looking for it but by looking for him because he has said seek you me and you will find me the god that we worship is not a hide and seek god the god that we worship is glad for your company he is glad to bring you in and so we look for him i i want to re remember the the the imagination part about the year of jubilee fast forward a couple of thousand years and jesus has just launched his public ministry and in luke chapter four he goes to his hometown of nazareth and he goes to the synagogue all right where they read the law and they're instructed and this is what it says in luke chapter 4 beginning at verse 16. and jesus came to nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day and he stood up to read now now think about this jesus had to be one of the favorite sons of nazareth they all knew jesus when he was just a kid they had stories of jesus and they're thinking oh he's so famous now he's got this rock star status from nazareth he's ours he's hours and jesus shows up at the at the synagogue and he's going to read the prophet and the scroll of the prophet isaiah was given to him he unrolled the scroll and found a place where it was written and this is in isaiah 61 and this is he's quoting the prophet isaiah the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set all to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the lord's favor dun dun dun and then he says this and he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him um we're familiar with isaiah 61 anything else jesus as a matter of fact yes and he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing isaiah 61 is about the year of jubilee and so jesus jesus is saying to us he's saying to us i'm not the year of jubilee i'm jubilee i'm the one who is going to set the captives free i am the one who is going to abolish debt i am your jubilee i'm him now about five minutes later they want to throw him off a cliff because he's claiming something that should never be but this is what happens jubilee was meant to be this this manufactured joy for the people for those who are oppressed for those who are marginalized for those that that made really bad decisions and now their grandchildren are paying for those bad decisions jubilee was meant to be a reset to infuse joy within the land for the marginalized the oppressed and the poor and now jesus is saying that's a law i'm the law maker and i'm the law keeper and so i'm the jubilee connect to me and that source of joy that was manufactured in the year of jubilee will be manufactured in you because when you come to jesus christ you receive mercy you receive forgiveness you receive new standing before god you receive a now and forever relationship with him you receive what a new start the new testament calls of being born again or a new creation but it's the same as it's jubilee every day for a believer is jubilee why because of christ and that's that settled happiness that subtle joy that comes and so the joy that we need the joy that we so desire cannot happen unless it's connected to the author of that joy and that is so powerful and so wonderful i know that for many of you especially this last year and a half this has not been a joy-filled period in our life or has it because it's reminded you it's reminded you that your happiness and mind your joy and mind is not connected to my surface circumstances but rather it is deeply settled in who christ is and what a blessing parents for you to teach your children that that in our home we are grounded in the beauty and the power of christ and we see all the things out there to be worried of we see all the things out there to be afraid of but we are grounded in the joy of christ because he is sovereign he is our god and our happiness our joy is not contingent upon how great things are that's the fruit that god produces in us and he produces it but then there's a couple of other suggestions that we can maybe do by confessing your need and asking god to supply the need i'm talking about there is a need for forgiveness you may not want to hear this but there is a direct connection between sin rebellion against god and joylessness it may not be the sole reason why you might be joyless but let's face it when we are entertaining sin in our life when we say this is just a little piccadillo this is just a little it's a little thing it's not hurting anybody those things can suck the joy out of our lives because they cause us to focus on fighting that or enjoying that and takes our eyes off of christ and so could it be the way that we fight joylessness is when those sins come into our mind or into our actions we confess those we agree with god this is offensive to you heavenly father and so thank you for the blood of jesus christ and so now would you please instead supply me with a greater hunger for your joy than for the the counterfeit joy that i think i need think about david psalm 51 this is written in response to his adulterous affair with bathsheba he is overwhelmed with the guilt of what he has done he's come to the realization of what he has done and he says this in verse 10 create in me a clean heart oh god and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy scripture from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit i want to pursue your joy but what i lack i lack joy but i also lack the willingness can you confess that can you confess that to your heavenly father that yes you might be lacking joy but you're also lacking the willingness to pursue the kind of joy that god promises to supply father i want your joy not really it's church and so i'm saying i want your joy but not really can you be honest with your heavenly father and say that if that is indeed the case and then finally by avoiding the destructive pattern of isolation this is how we fight joylessness and that's one of the reasons why i think there are there is so much damage to covet that goes beyond the virus itself because it has placed us in situations where we are isolated and what happens we tend to think especially for those of us who who are introverts being alone sounds really great being alone sounds joyful being alone even for introverts is not good sin becomes real it becomes pleasurable it becomes desirable and all of a sudden i find myself judging the actions or inactions of other people very quickly it's very easy to go through the fruit of the spirit and and say this is what you need to work on this is what you need to work on this is what you need to work on isolation can be very very destructive i hope that you paid attention to the songs that we sang today um let me just read some of the lyrics and and uh correct go ahead and put up on the the wall the prayer please here's some lyrics i wrote down while we were singing because i think that we did battle with joylessness as the worship leaders led us this morning we were battling joylessness almost every song that was saying i could barely get through it because i just overwhelmed by this god that has saved us this jubilee where he has set me free let me read some lyrics i give thanks for all you have done i won't forget your mercy and love i won't forget all the battles you have won and then another song we will not be moved when the earth gives way why for the risen one has overcome there know something else i can't read it but it's really good oh no okay i got it okay for every fear there's an empty grave i don't know who writes these songs but man they're just really cool for every fear there's an empty grave so here we stand you are god and then my favorite one that i just wanted to shout this morning let the amen sound from his people again let the amen sound from his people again brothers and sisters in christ this world is in desperate hunger for joy and so are we and so we come before a heavenly father and we pray and we ask him i've talked to several of you and you guys have been praying this prayer by john stott every day as i have and so i thought we would just end today before the benediction with this prayer would you please read it with me heavenly father i pray that this day i may live in your presence and please you more and more lord jesus i pray that this day i may take up my cross and follow you holy spirit i pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control and all the people said amen amen that's my prayer for you that's my prayer for arcade church that's my prayer for every gather group for every small group for every home that the fruit of the spirit so invade your souls that there it becomes another contagion out there called the fruit of the spirit let's stand together may the god of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another that together with one voice may glorify the god and father of our lord jesus christ therefore welcome one another as christ has welcomed you and we say together for the glory of god have a great day i love you so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] 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Channel: Arcade Church

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Id: raoAvOXJ_zg

Length: 90min 45sec (5445 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021