Ed Schutte. Sunday September 12, 2021

[Music] hey there something some guy got after me [Music] good morning church how's everybody doing this morning everybody awake let me ah come on guys a little bit louder [Applause] all right that's better that's better well we thank you father we thank you for this morning we thank you for everything you've done this morning father god thank you lord just a i'm pastor jason for those who don't know me um just a few logistics we have communion we have flags you're free to worship in in behind me here just brief you have freedom in this house just know that in jesus name let the joy of the lord be your strength this morning let's worship we've come to praise you we've come to praise it we've come to pray you lift up your voice lift up your voice and sing praise cause we've come to pray you you are good you are good you've always been good to me you've always been good to me even when my eyes can't see the goodness you are good even when i'm walking through the darkness you are good cause you're the good shepherd right there beside me you are girl you're the good shepherd right beside me you are good so i give you my praise this morning i lift up my voice this morning and say that you're worthy of this time you're worthy of this breath you're worthy of my voice you're worthy of everything i have everything i am everything i'll be it's yours it's always been yours it's always been yours everything i have is from your hands every breath i breathe is a gift from you every breath i breathe as a gift from you every breath i breathe this one and the next one in the next one until i meet you face to face it's all a gift it's all a gift even the hard times are a gift from you god even the hard times are a gift from you god so we've come to praise we've come to praise we have come to pray we have come to praise [Music] we have come to praise we have come to pray we have come to praise it doesn't matter what we sound like it doesn't matter what we look like it matters that we lift our hearts it matters that we lift our hearts to you you don't look at the outside you don't look at what we see you look straight inside and i hope that you like what you see in me you don't look at the outside you don't see what we see you look straight into each of our hearts and we hope you like what you see we want to praise you we want to praise you we want to praise you cause you are worthy worthy we want to praise you we want to praise you we want to praise you cause we were made to stand around your throne and praise to gaze upon your beauty to lift up our voice and sing cause we've come to praise we've come to praise [Music] we've come to praise we've come to praise [Music] bowing here i find my rest and without you [Music] i fall apart you're the wife who guides my heart [Music] lord i need you oh i need you every hour i need you my one defense my righteousness oh god how i need you [Music] deep your grace [Music] is where you are and where you are lord i am free holiness is christ in me lord i need you oh i need you [Music] every hour i need you my one defense my righteousness oh god how i need yours [Music] lord i need you oh i need you every hour i need you my one defense my right oh god how i need you cause you are my one defense you're my righteousness oh god how i need you our righteousness comes from you our righteousness comes from you [Music] your righteousness righteousness comes from you [Music] all we had to say is yes all we have to say is yes and our righteousness comes from you [Music] when enemy rises up against us you raise up your banner and fight for us our righteousness comes from you [Music] cause you go before i know [Music] that [Music] you come back and you call it my victory [Music] you go before i know that you've even gone to win my war your love becomes my greatest defense it leads me from the dry wilderness [Music] and all i did was praise all i did was worship all i did was bow down [Music] all i did was stay still [Music] cause you go before i know that you've even gone to win my war your love your love becomes my greatest defense it leads me from the dry wilderness and all i did was praise and all i did was worship [Music] and all i did was bow down stay still [Music] hallelujah you have saved me so much better your way and hallelujah so much better you wait hallelujah [Music] you have saved me so much better you wait [Music] hallelujah great defender [Music] you have saved me [Music] great defender so [Music] cause when i thought i lost me you knew where i left reintroduced me to your love you picked up all my pieces put me back together you are the defender of my heart cause when i thought i lost me you knew where i left me you reintroduced me to your life you picked up all my pieces you put me back together you are the defense [Music] you knew where i left me you re-introduced [Music] put me back together you are the defender of [Music] [Applause] so much better [Applause] defender so much better [Music] [Music] defender so much better your ways and all i did was praise [Music] all i did was worship [Music] all i did was bow down all i did was stay still [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] holy [Music] early in the morning my song shall rise to thee [Music] [Music] my dear god in three purses blessed and we love all of you [Music] father son and spirit we love all of you father son and spirit we love all of you the father-son spirit [Music] give us all fears [Music] holy holy that all the saints adore thee [Music] casting down our golden crowns around the glassy sea [Music] falling down before thee [Music] shall [Music] holy holy holy [Music] though the darkness [Music] thy glory may not [Music] there is [Music] [Music] perfect in power and love [Music] holy holy [Music] lord god oh my god all thy work shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea holy holy [Music] god in three persons [Music] the cherubim and seraphim that are bowing down before him these are the angels that when they appear to us we fall flat on our face we're like they fall flat on their face before the lord all power all power on and beyond all glory all glory gods [Music] cause you are holy none besides [Music] [Music] all the saints all the saints adore that's us that's [Music] casting down our golden crowns [Music] [Music] shall be [Music] [Music] so hmm [Music] i choose this day to be grateful lord i give you praise with an open heart i'm waking up to heaven waking up to you [Music] waking up to heaven waking up to you [Music] i choose this day to be grateful lord i give you praise with an open heart i'm waking up to heaven waking up [Music] waking up [Music] thank you for mercies that are new thank you in spirit and in truth thank you i'm telling you thank you your faithfulness like a sunrise [Music] is [Music] [Applause] waking up [Music] [Applause] thank you for mercies that are new [Music] i'm telling you thank you [Music] for always being good thank you for the mercies that are new thank you in spirit and in truth thank you thank you for you and you alone are waking up my soul and it's my joy to thank you to thank you alone are waking up my soul and it's my joy to thank you thank you and you alone [Music] thank you [Music] of my soul and it's my joy to thank you to thank you for always being good thank you for the mercies [Applause] [Music] [Music] you i'm telling you thank you for calling me a friend for calling me your friend thank you you stand in my defense thank you for a love that will not end thank you i'm telling you thank you oh i'm telling you thank you [Music] i'm today you thank [Music] you thank you you've given us so much [Music] [Music] say thank you [Music] she's [Music] shoes [Music] okay [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so so [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] okay [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] um [Music] um he wants to be with you he loves to be with you he really loves to be with you he loves to be with me too he wants to be with you [Music] every moment he wants to be with you he made you for himself he wants to be with you he wants to be with you so much that he gave his only son to make a way for us to be with him he wants to be with you he wants to be with you uh lord we quiet our hearts we quiet our minds we sit here in your presence and wait upon you for this moment you have all of us for right now we give you all of us no other thought upon our mind just to be with you just to be with you we want to give you what you paid for just to be with you i want to give you what you purchased with your blood just to be with you uh uh uh uh he deserves it all it's kind of his already as we sing this last song if you have an offering to give you have tithes we have a basket down the front we like to incorporate it as an act of worship because it is it's part of how we say you deserve it all we trust you you can also give online if you have a phone and want to as well you'll never outgive god though [Music] do [Music] your love has ravished my heart and taken me over it's taken me over and all i want is to be with you forever with you forever your love has ravished my heart and taken me over it's taken me over and all i want is to be [Music] with you forever with you forever so pull me a little closer take me a little deeper i want to know your heart i wanna know your heart cause your love is so much sweeter than anything i've tasted i wanna know your heart i wanna know your heart [Music] your love has ravished my heart had taken me over it's taken me over and all i want is to be with you forever with you forever so pull me a little closer take me a little deeper i wanna know your heart i wanna know your heart cause your love is so much sweeter than anything i've tasted i wanna know your heart i wanna know your heart so pull me a little closer take me a little deeper i wanna know your heart i wanna know your heart cause your love is so much sweeter than anything i tasted [Music] i wanna know your [Music] heart i wanna know your heart [Applause] closer to your [Music] jesus [Music] to you [Music] how great your love is for me how great is [Music] for me oh [Music] how great [Music] is for me how great is [Music] is [Music] so pull me a little closer take me a little deeper i wanna know your heart i wanna know your heart cause your love is so much stronger than anything i faced i wanna know your heart i wanna know your heart thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus amen amen amen amen thank you jesus i hope that worship was as pleasurable for you as i know it was for me he's a good god huh well hey my name is pastor eddie i get the privilege of just sharing a few announcements with you today we have a very special week in our state coming up in just a couple days and i want to invite ann up to lead us into a prayer for that for that day and moment how many people in here are believers yes hallelujah i want to share a promise that the lord gave me this morning that absolutely took my breath away in the context of this election this time in history the forces of evil that are arrayed against the church but against the ecclesia against you know evil will not stand if you're willing to rule and reign in the heavenly places so it's psalm 111 verses 5 and 6. he satisfies all who love and trust him do you love and trust him he will satisfy you amen he keeps every promise he makes every promise okay this promise took my breath away he reveals mighty power and marvels to his people by handing them nations as a gift wow i asked lord jesus that you give us california thank you jesus thank you jesus i ask lord jesus that you give us the united states of america i ask receive it is your son in me who asks his father to give him nations as his inheritance and so lord god we stand in faith for this election we stand in faith that the man of god whom you called who the prophet said and you will win yes will be the next governor of california we stand on that promise we stand in faith we receive because we trust in the lord god almighty for whom nothing is impossible thank you jesus lord i also ask you to preside over this election to keep all corruption away from this election let it be honest and fair and i decree it in the name of jesus christ amen amen amen thank you and thank you thank you thank you um do we have uh is is christina here i think um that's okay we can oh yeah come on up i love testimonies we have a testimony to share yes hi good morning friends so um gosh i don't even know how long ago it was it's been over a year um we got a puppy uh i had this uh we had a puppy gate blocking our hallway so he couldn't go in the back part of the house and eat the cat food and uh in our front doorway we have flagstone and then some entryway furniture and i happened to be having some laundry in my hands i was putting away and i went to go step over to my puppy gate and uh i ended up falling hey baby i ended up falling and uh my wrists hit the enterway furniture so i didn't have anything to break my fall so my knee both my knees just slammed smashed down on the um flagstone concrete and uh i literally thought i broke both kneecaps um i i was on the floor face down and uh it took about a good 10-15 minutes for me to even turn over because i just didn't even know what it was going to look like when i did my husband verified they weren't broken and it was just been a battle since then being tossed to and fro from orthopedic to pain management thankfully the right one was he got healed but then the left one and um they were doing everything they could um considering the surgeries can toss me to and fro just to have other procedures done like nerve block stuff and i would get some relief for a period of time but it come right on back and hindered me from i couldn't go to work i couldn't be partaking family activities taking the family dog on walks i couldn't do things i sat at home and even you know unfortunately i had not wanted to go down this road but for ladies out there this is the best way i can can describe it the pain was worse than labor it really felt like the kneecaps were going to blow off and then at the same time with that pressure like somebody was stabbing me at the same time and all these things we came up wrong on my mri and so uh ortho ortho was like yeah okay i'm gonna have to scope it but then let's try this one over here and then i go to pain management and he's like what are you here for you need to be an ortho for surgery and they just it was just and then even pain pills not wanting to go down that road but when you have no choice in your backs against the wall that wasn't even touching it so my husband and our good friend al we headed on down to this revival and the the main guy of the ministry he was he was already uh imparted you know preaching and releasing the glory on other people and i haven't even got to him yet but somebody on his team now this may stretch some of you but i guess god uses the foolish things to confound the wise right so one person on his team he happened to look at me and he pulled out his prayer cloth and he said do me a favor he said grab a hold of this and uh and i grabbed that thing and i connected my faith to it and i i started feeling you know some things going through my body i realized deliverance was happening [Laughter] and uh yeah and then uh by the time i got to the main guy he just released the the power of god on me and i just just ended up receiving impartation from him and uh i was scheduled for my fifth knee procedure it was going to be a three-hour procedure down in l.a my husband had taken the day off of work to take me and i got home and without anybody even praying for me my knee specifically just through the deliverance the power of god i came home my knee was completely healed [Laughter] yeah jesus and uh and through that that uh the day of my the day i was supposed to have the surgery i uh i canceled cancel the contracts with the pharmacist for pain medication and my day and my family and i all spent a family day together and so glory to god thank you jesus thank you thank you amen we say do it again god do it again hey one last announcement guys before we get into it um brother al asked me to remind you that although e-sum classes have started it is not too late to sign up this week you can still sign up it's thursdays from 5 30 to 7 30 here at the teatro and so see him if you have questions with that lastly i'm going to turn it over to pastor samuel for an update on where he's at and introducing today's guest speaker hello embrace family pastor samuel here the final push on the campaign trail i will be back next week i can't wait to be back in the saddle and uh be with my church family thank you so much for your support in this season i'm up here in san jose i'm speaking at a huge coverage chapel and uh it's just been an incredible season i'm sure those of you that have followed me on instagram facebook twitter and so forth uh have known that but today you have a special treat eddie is preaching our eddie give him a hand and god bless you as you enjoy his speaking and i will see you next week thanks for your prayers and support amen all right how y'all doing [Music] thank you brother good morning well hey guys uh it seems to me that god has been speaking to this church calling us into a deeper pursuit of his presence specifically so byron gave us a powerful word and that if you have not seen that i highly recommend you check it out michael added to that and i'd like to add to that today as well specifically once i saw this guy on a bridge about to jump i said don't do it he said nobody loves me i said god loves you do you believe in god yeah go ahead you can read this this will be helpful you say i am he said yes i said are you a christian or a jew he said a christian northern baptist or southern baptist he said northern baptists i said me too nor the conservative baptist or northern liberal baptist he said northern conservative baptists i said me too i said great lakes region or eastern region he said great lakes region i said me too i said regional council of 1879 or regional council of 1912. he said 1912. and i said die heretic and i pushed him over the bridge so i told that joke to vera and she said what does that have to do with your message yes yes in all seriousness i do have a message today that i do hope challenges you and provokes you and i think is a critical message that is what i feel god wants to add to this calling to pursue him more deeply especially into so um be prepared to be provoked and i just pray that god reveals to you the truth in this message that he has for you so here we go thank you blaise pascal says all men seek happiness this is without an exceptions the cause of some going to war and others avoiding it it is the same desire involved this is the motive of every action of every man mr pascal seems to think that you cannot pursue god without pursuing happiness pascal's wager there's any philosophers in the room that's him let me read you some quotes from the secular humanist manifesto the longing to be happy is a universal human experience and it is good not sinfulness we should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy as though it were a bad impulse instead we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction experience is and lastly to the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure we fail to honor god and love people or to put it positively the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue and forgive me i misspoke that that was not from the secular humanist manifesto that was from conservative and fundamental baptist preacher john piper fundamental who i wish to give credit for much of the inspiration and content behind the message today he helps put words to what god is showing me and i believe showing us today pastor john has a theology which he calls christian hedonism [Music] is a doctrine that promotes the pursuit of pleasure as a chief virtue give me a second i'm looking for hideousment yep spanish today i want to help establish for you a theo a biblical theology of pleasure and other emotions that feel good which is all i mean when i say pleasure i mean it broadly to say emotions that feel good about i believe that we're a lot of christians were hesitant to use words such as pleasure and happiness and i understand why but the message of the bible is not that we shouldn't pursue pleasure and happiness and sometimes we prefer the word joy and and we typically mean that that to be um non-circumstantial and and and that is true that's going to be hard it is ever it is enduring it is always present but we can speak of joy as if it's a state of being rather than a feel-good emotion [Music] what about emotions such as excitement passion pleasure i mean how would you describe the feelings if you found a priceless treasure in these terms of pleasureness and happiness in our faith so if you prefer to use and think of different words then then then that is fine but if by joy you mean something that doesn't feel good then what i have today might not make sense i'll be um i wish to make a few points point number one everything god does is for your ultimate good and satisfaction um some some dismiss the idea of pursuing our pleasure because quite simply it's not about you it's about god and and surely that's true but i think it's only half of the truth because it's all about god but god is all about you okay it was his good pleasure it is his good pleasure to give us the kingdom and hold tight we will be talking about things such as god's glory and and the most important things in our faith walk so hold tight please consider this god told me to marry vera now was that for his glory or was that for her good or was that for my good all of them it can be more than one thing did you get that sorry i got distracted that's okay um uh furthermore if it's all about us why does scripture repeatedly inspire us towards guidelines by promising us a great personal reward that is for our gains delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart jesus says whoever follow him will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age and in the age to come in the author of hebrews says that whomever comes to god must believe he is one who rewards people rewards you for doing so so you see the bible repeatedly tells us the bible does not tell us to stop pursuing reward and personal gain that is not the message of the bible rather the bible reorients our desires to a deeper and more enduring reward the question is what rewards are you seeking point number two the pursuit and attainment of good feelings is repeatedly commanded in scripture psalm 4 you have put gladness in my heart psalm 34 taste and see that the lord is good the joy of those who take refuge in him psalm 63 my soul is satisfied as with fat and fatness fatness like you guys ever have the fat on a rib eye and that just melts in your mouth yeah brings me joy different different things for different people i suppose uh which one was that oh god there's more um shout for joy serve the lord with gladness rejoice in the lord always and again i say again i say rejoice guys there's even a biblical threat if we don't pursue our joy and happiness in god deuteronomy 28 47. because you did not serve your lord with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things therefore you shall serve your enemies who the lord will send against you god loves the cheerful giver if i'm to obey this verse i am to not only give but to do so with seeking and attaining cheers positive happy feelings are an important part of scripture there is again the message of scripture is not to find pleasure or to seek pleasure but to reconsider what you are finding your pleasures in this place it has and everything leads to this point guys and we're going to expound even more upon this but the fullness of joy happiness pleasure reward is found in jesus christ it's not a created thing it's not the gifts of the spiritual gifts it is god himself psalm 16 11. you make known to me the path of life you see but i'm going to read the whole thing in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures for every more forevermore that's the esv translation so i say pursue fullness of joy pursue moments of pleasure and let that lead you towards him but what about self-denial and sacrifice doesn't jesus say if anyone wishes to come to me he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me yes but in the in the very next sentence he says but whoever wishes to save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it recorded but only to buy the greatest treasure known to man there is self-denial yes but it is all for the sake of ultimate satisfaction in the lord in the words of c.s lewis the new testament has a lot to say about self-denial but not about self-denial as an end in itself we are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow christ and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire but isn't pursuing a reward selfish and operating in the way of the old man paul told the elders at ephesus uh to help the weak and remember the words of the lord jesus it is more blessed to give than received a chaos if we weren't to draw inspiration from that paul would have had to have said something like help the weak and forget what jesus said that is more blessed to give than receive even jesus himself when he looked towards the cross scripture said he endured it for the joy so i'm running through some objections here to to um this viewpoint of pleasure next shouldn't we be promoting obedience rather than the pursuit of pleasure or feeling good this objection makes no sense because the same verse that tells me to give says to do it cheerfully the same verse that tells me to serve sells it tells me to do it gladly i have to pursue these things if i am too obey contradiction correspondence is christian hedonism a man-centered view cristiano so please hear this any belief that does not end in the glory of god and the love of people is not from god if your pursuit of pleasure puffs you up and minimizes him and minimizing others that is not from god but if the pleasure you seek is god himself then suddenly this becomes one of the most godly things that that can be done in i believe like so many such as jonathan edwards that the the the um the main aim the main point the major theme in the bible is of god's glory dios the westminster confession says man's chief end is to glorify god and to enjoy him forever and i really love how both of those ideas are captured but along with pastor john i want to make a slight tweak to that that says the chief hand of man is to glorify god by enjoying him forever never underestimate how much your joy in him glorifies him we cannot live a life that fully glorifies god unless we come to experience and live in the fullness of pleasure and joy which can only be found in him instantly so what about love i talked about the glory of god but i also said if if it doesn't end with the love of others it's also not from god pursuing and attaining joy in our hearts is essential to christian love listen to hebrews 13 17 obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable if i'm to love you as a pastor this this text says that if i do so with burden and without joy that it is not for your good it is unprofitable to you uh number two it is natural to share the joy that comes from god in both praise to god and love love to people yes listen to what c.s lewis says all enjoyment this isn't religious spiritual all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise i had not noticed that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value so they spontaneously urge us to join them in phrasing it isn't she lovely wasn't it glorious don't you think that magnificent the psalmist is telling everyone to praise god are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about uh so when you're on a roller coaster do you do you uh however you express yourself whether it's shouting or whether it's tensing up do you have to like try to do that or is that just what comes out of you this is it's a natural thing no you're not doing it because someone is making you or telling you fuss is the way with the same is with worship it's a natural response to seeing the treasure for who he is this is maybe the coolest part it's not only natural but sharing this joy with others is the full consummation of your joy one time i i actually did this i can't remember why but i wanted to go on a roller coaster and i i was going to not allow myself to smile i was just going to try i think it was for the camera i wanted to just have that picture and i wasn't going to allow myself any response and it was hard to do that but i did it but here's the thing guys not expressing what was naturally naturally in me actually robbed me of the fullness of joy from that roller coaster so if you want joy if you want pleasure if you want happiness to get in philly cheer delight that we're going to talk about that but what i'm saying we're going to talk about how to get that but what i'm saying right now is share it with others and you will have more yourself listen to c.s lewis again i think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment it is its appointed consummation it is not out of compliment this is so good here it is not out of compliment that lovers keep telling one another how beautiful they are the delight is incomplete until it is expressed because i'm just reading it to make sure it's in the right context [Music] guys this truth has tremendous application in corporate worship never that because i want to encourage you guys during worship to worship differently than you than you might alone need share the joy share share what's in your heart share with others for their good and enjoyment as for yours here's the thing guys you you cannot give what you don't already have peter says silver or gold i do not have but what i do have i give you in the name of jesus christ of nazareth walk is such a gift of pleasure and happiness is definitely caught rather than taught and people are intuitive and can see through if it's not there so for the sake of his glory and the world and our joy and pleasure in him we must pursue these things directly generally if we don't start from this place of overflow then we will never walk like jesus listen to hebrews 11 24 to 26. by faith moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of god than to enjoy the past the passing pleasures of sin considering the reproach of christ's greater riches than the treasures of egypt for he was looking to the reward he says everything we do on our walk is a reaction to him and when we understand this suddenly our walk becomes a celebration rather than an obligation obligation so i'm going to leave you with a few calls to actions number one make it a daily practice to tend to your soul's delight in the lord george waller muller was a man of god he cared for over ten thousand orphans established 117 schools and educated more than 120 000 over his life is listen to what he said i saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which i ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the lord the first thing to be concerned about was not how much i might serve the lord how i might glorify the lord but how i might get my soul into a happy state and how my inner man might be nourished for i might seek to set the truth before the unconverted i might seek to benefit believers i might seek to relieve the distress excuse me i might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of god in this world and yet not being happy lord and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day excuse me all this might be might not be attended to in the right spirit [Music] two so that was ten to your soul steward you're the the happiness result number two if during this standing two year the happiness of soul you sense that it's not full then repent and ask god for joy here is am i saying that ministry and life will always feel good no anyone who's been served at a restaurant by a server in a good mood or bad mood knows what i'm talking about so what do we do if we find ourselves in this place first please don't feel condemned we're not so much talking about sin here as we are talking about a better way something to contend for second follow the advice of paul and remember all of the rewards of the scripture third go and serve if you are able are you then and lastly as you go ask god to fill you with joy and stay open to him giving you that as you continue to go mask and so um we're going to wrap up here in a couple minutes can i have kyle up just a pad and uh can i invite the ministry team up to we're going to administer the minister some pleasure and joy and and um god is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him the chief aim of man is to glorify god by enjoying him forever am i in today's message trying to make a god out of pleasure heavens no no [Music] i'm saying that we all make a god out of that which we take the most pleasure whatever we take most pleasure in is in a way your god we can take pleasure in created things but they must point us to the greater pleasure that is him the great tragedy of life of many is not that non-christians haven't learned to suppress and control their desires for positive emotions and instead self-sacrifice rather the great tragedy is that too many of us christians and non-christians alike have chosen to settle for inferior sources of pleasure and joy rather than receive the fullness of pleasure and joy found in him christianity [Music] [Music] taste and see that the lord is good i want to end with one final quote by c.s lewis if they're lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing i submit that this notion is crept in from kant and the stoics and is no part of the christian faith indeed if we consider the unblemishing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels it would seem that our lords find our desires not too strong but too weak [Music] we are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea we are far far too easily pleased [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] so let us pursue the holiday at the sea and no longer be too easily pleased with making mud pies questions so we're going to dismiss at this time if you if you want to receive or to give to share for his glory for others for your good then you can come you can receive prayer and for those who have to go we just bless you father as everyone goes lord fill them with pleasure in you magnify their desires let us no longer settle for the mud pies let us go after the holiday at the sea in jesus name amen bless you guys [Applause] [Music] you

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Published: Mon Sep 13 2021