Why Jesus Is Worth Your Joy: A Call to Reverent Worship

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:00:02] There's also confession. It's us acknowledging our need of forgiveness. So this morning we share together in the call to confession. Would you join me as we read this together?
[00:19:32] This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you. God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.
[00:19:44] If we say we have fellowship with Him, and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth.
[00:19:54] If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
[00:20:07] If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
[00:20:14] If we confess our sin, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
[00:20:24] May we share together in the prayer of confession of sin.
[00:20:31] Living God, we confess that while the tomb is empty, our hearts are often still full, full of fear, full of doubt, full of old habits that cling.
[00:20:47] You have called us to run with endurance, but we grow weary and lose sight of the finish line.
[00:20:54] You have declared victory, but we still live as though defeat has the final word.
[00:21:02] We cling to what you have already conquered.
[00:21:05] We listen to voices you have already silenced.
[00:21:08] We carry burdens you have already lifted.
[00:21:12] forgive us father we come to you weary and needy yet in you because we have found our way back to you but because you in sovereign grace have brought us from death to life lift up yourselves
[00:21:32] we would remain in the shadows but you have called us into your marvelous life you have given us new hearts new life new hope all secured by the risen christ so we lay down every weight every sin that
[00:21:51] clings so closely and we turn again to you teach us to live as resurrection people free forgiven and full of hope in the name of jesus our risen and reigning savior amen hear these words from
[00:22:09] 1 Peter as the assurance of our pardon.
[00:22:13] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because of His great mercy. He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is
[00:22:27] imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
[00:22:34] You are being guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed.
[00:22:39] in the last time.
[00:22:42] Thanks be to God.
[00:22:43] In Christ we are forgiven.
[00:22:46] Christ gave His all, a portion to Him for His kingdom's work.
[00:27:20] Let's pray together.
[00:27:23] Lord, we thank You for this day.
[00:27:25] The day of resurrection.
[00:27:27] The day in which Satan loses and You win.
[00:27:33] We give now to You out of thanksgiving in our hearts.
[00:27:37] We're asking, Lord, that You would bless the gifts that are given here.
[00:27:40] Bless those that give that their lives might be enriched because they realize they are stewards of this life and give to you as an act of stewardship.
[00:27:51] For this we ask in your name. Amen.

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:27:54] Hi. Happy Easter.

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:34:05] Yes, he is risen. He is risen indeed.
[00:34:09] Yes, we're so glad you're here.
[00:34:11] Okay, so welcome.
[00:34:12] This morning we are celebrating our Easter with a combined service of our two churches.
[00:34:17] We are at Temple Baptist Church in Christ the King, Presbyterian.
[00:34:22] We've actually been celebrating all weekend with our Holy Week services, and we're excited to combine it again this morning.
[00:34:29] I do say, if you are new, please come back, because at 9.30 on Sunday mornings, Temple Baptist worships right here, and then at 10.45, Christ the King worships.
[00:34:42] So, yes, please come back and return.
[00:34:45] With that, I do have two announcements that pertain to CTK.
[00:34:49] But Temple ladies and gentlemen, we'd love for you to join as well.
[00:34:53] Okay, the first is that our Bible studies are starting this week on the book of Judges.
[00:34:58] And you can take your bulletin, scan the QR code, and sign up right there.
[00:35:03] And yes, so those will be happening starting this week for CTK.
[00:35:07] And then we also, April 26th, the women are getting together after church to go over to the Raleigh Ironworks.
[00:35:15] Just honestly, like that way.
[00:35:17] And we're going to have lunch together at Little Ray outside in the courtyard.
[00:35:21] And we'd love for you all to join, women.
[00:35:23] And women of Temple, please come too.
[00:35:26] Yes, and then, okay, lastly, I have one more announcement.
[00:35:29] This one pertains to Temple.
[00:35:31] Pastor Mike would like me to tell you that he will be gone next week.
[00:35:35] So, tuck that away.
[00:35:36] so yes okay we will now go into our gospel hospitality time so please greet those around you if you have a small child under the age of four they are welcome to go out the store and
[00:35:47] up their stairwell and follow the colorful flags to various classrooms for them and so yes and also restrooms are also this way and notice the pretty new floors you'll see them uh-huh work in progress
[00:36:01] but yes okay thank you the peace of Christ be with you once again good morning CTK and Temple

[00:39:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:39:36] you can begin making your way back to your seats as we continue with our worship morning to you

[00:42:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:42:27] good morning to y'all it's good to see y'all here this morning uh I am uh Jeff Bradford that was Dr. Mike Parnell from Temple Baptist who's been leading us through our liturgy this morning and
[00:42:40] we have a combined service of our two churches on Easter on Good Friday on Maundy Thursday and this has been a beautiful partnership. We are here, I'm here, our congregation's here at the warm welcome and invitation of Temple Baptists who have been an incredible partner for us.
[00:42:58] And we're so grateful to be able to worship together this morning, have different parts of our churches contributing to worship this morning. We don't, CTK don't usually get a handbell choir or a regular choir and just lots of good this morning. So, and I am wearing a tie.
[00:43:13] I know that's unusual. So, this morning we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 through 2, and it is our practice at Christ the King to read God's Word out loud together. So, if you want to find a pew Bible, it's on page 1069. In those, you can read in
[00:43:31] your bulletin or you can read it up on the screen behind me. Let's join our voices as we read God's word. Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay
[00:43:48] aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the
[00:44:06] joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. This is the word of God. Thanks be to God. You know, I've never been
[00:44:21] much of a runner. I know there's a bunch of runners in our congregation. I've done the Krispy Kreme Challenge. I've done a couple 5Ks and a 10K and two half marathons only because family members have wanted to do this together. But this is not a shape for running.
[00:44:42] Nobody's ever called me fleet of foot before. So I've heard of a phenomenon called an ultra marathon. Have you heard of this? And it sounds like to me a form of torture.
[00:44:57] Maybe one of the most famous ones, the most grueling one is in Melbourne, Australia. It's called the Melbourne-Sydney Ultramarathon, 543.7 miles. And it's brutal, not just for the distance, but for all the extremes. So heavy rain, desert conditions, very cold, very hot,
[00:45:20] changes in altitude. It is a brutal, brutal race. And it's only for crazy people. That's what I'm convinced of is ultramarathons are for crazy people. But I want to ask you this morning, when you hear a passage like this from Hebrews 12 that says, let's run with endurance the race
[00:45:43] marked out for us, how do you hear that? Does that sound to you like an invitation to joy or like an ultramarathon? Does that sound like inspiration or exhaustion to you?
[00:46:03] You know, this passage is really, we'll miss this if you don't understand that this passage is not primarily about your running, but rather it is about his joy. And when Christians miss that, we miss sort of the whole point. Here's my main idea. People are not generally motivated by guilt
[00:46:29] or fear or duty or routine. That doesn't keep people going over the long haul.
[00:46:37] And you can motivate Christians by those things for short periods of time, but you will always run in your life toward what you love, toward what is beautiful to you, what's captivating to you what you find is worth giving all your joy to so here's my question for
[00:47:00] us this morning that i hope to really wrestle with today why is jesus worth your joy why is jesus worth your joy because until we see jesus as worth our joy no matter what we profess about
[00:47:18] what we believe. No matter what we claim about what we believe, we will never follow him 100%.
[00:47:25] We'll never give our lives fully to him. We'll never really trust him. We'll never see him as anything but a burden in some ways. You know, that's kind of the litmus test of the Christian
[00:47:37] life. God allows hardship and troubles to come in. And when those things come in, we really see where our hearts really lie. It's one thing to say, I want to follow Jesus. I want to believe
[00:47:51] in Jesus. Yeah, I know about Jesus. It's another thing for Jesus to be the very joy of your life.
[00:48:00] You know, one of the things I've heard said about life in the South is that people in the South are not uninformed about Jesus. You go around and interview people and ask them about Jesus.
[00:48:13] they know a lot of the facts. It's not that they're uninformed about Jesus, but rather it's that we're unimpressed by Jesus. And that includes a lot of Christians. There are a lot of Christians who are joyless Christians. Have you ever met any of those? Really, I'm by myself up here this
[00:48:34] morning, right? I'm the only person. No, the world is filled with joyless Christians. And there's something, there's a disconnect there. I think we hear a passage like this and we think, try harder, do more, run longer, endure more. And it sounds like we are losing a race. Sorry, allergies are
[00:48:57] getting me this morning. And because we're not captivated by him, because we aren't taken with him, we aren't running toward him. And there's a disconnect. Let me give you a couple of examples of how joy is what really forms us. In Genesis chapter 29, we read about a man named Jacob,
[00:49:19] and he falls in love with a young woman named Rachel, and the condition of him being able to marry Rachel, her dad says this, you can marry her, but you've got to work for me for seven years.
[00:49:31] Now, here's what the Bible says about this for Jacob. Those seven years felt like days to him.
[00:49:39] Why?
[00:49:40] Because he was captivated by her.
[00:49:43] He's like, that's what I adore.
[00:49:44] That's who I adore.
[00:49:46] And so those seven years felt like days.
[00:49:49] But the opposite can also be true.
[00:49:51] If you are pursuing something in life that is not capturing your joy, those days can feel like years.
[00:49:59] Let me give you a couple other examples of this.
[00:50:03] Have you ever seen a young man change everything because of a young woman he's interested in. This is guilty as charged for me.
[00:50:14] So in college, I went to college near Charlotte and my uniform that I wore all the time was, I wore work boots and ripped jeans and printed t-shirts and a canvas, monocolored, earth tone canvas shirt, unbuttoned over the top of that. That's what I wore all the time. Different shades
[00:50:35] of brown, but always brown. No bright colors. I looked like I stepped off a construction site.
[00:50:41] So junior year, me and two buddies decide we're going to go on a triple date and we're going to go for it. So we're all going to ask the girl out that we really want to ask out. And I asked the
[00:50:52] most beautiful girl on campus. And to my surprise, she said, sure. And I couldn't believe it. But I knew this girl had always gone out with preppy guys before. So I knew I couldn't just go like
[00:51:06] Jeff. And so I borrowed a Paisley shirt, khaki pants, boat shoes, and a braided belt. And I showed up to this date wearing clothes. The only thing I owned on me was my socks and my underwear.
[00:51:22] And my friends were shocked. They were like, who are you? Right? Well, why? Because there was a joy set before me. Joy works despite reason, too. Around Raleigh, you'll see people driving and they have something in their hand. You know what I'm talking about. They got the cell phone in
[00:51:44] their hand. We see it all over town. People are driving. Why? We all know you shouldn't drive with your cell phone. That's dangerous. But why do we drive with our cell phones?
[00:51:57] because we're captivated by the phone. We know it's dangerous. We know it's not good for us, but whatever's on there, despite reason, takes over. We are people who are hardwired to live for joy. God has made us this way. So this, I want to think this morning about
[00:52:19] two kinds of race and two kinds of joy. I want to look at Jesus's race and Jesus's joy and your race and your joy this morning. So first, his joy, his race. We see this in Jesus.
[00:52:34] Jesus was hardwired to pursue what gave him joy. Now, that may sound odd to you.
[00:52:43] I think sometimes we feel guilty as people for being joy-oriented creatures. But Jesus was captivated by joy. You know, do you know that Jesus was a man that was full of joy? A lot of
[00:52:59] people don't think of Jesus this way. Jesus is the shepherd who rejoices at going out and finding the lost and the stray and bringing it back. Jesus was a man that was so full of joy that people around
[00:53:14] him gossiped about him. He said, that guy parties too much because of how much time he spends enjoying people. Hebrews chapter 1 actually quotes a psalm in the Old Testament that says this about Jesus. It says, God, it says, Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore,
[00:53:35] God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness. Jesus's life was one that was like it was anointed with gladness. And then that comes out in this passage, doesn't it? For the joy set
[00:53:50] before him. The joy set before him. Jesus pursued joy. Joy informed every step for Jesus, including his death. This is what it says in verse 2. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
[00:54:19] What held Jesus on the cross?
[00:54:24] I mean, nails did, but joy did as well.
[00:54:30] For the joy set before him, he endured the cross.
[00:54:36] What was his joy?
[00:54:40] You know, Jesus is the only person in human history who chose death.
[00:54:45] And you may say, no, no, no.
[00:54:46] There are lots of people who died on behalf of somebody else, sacrificed themselves for somebody else.
[00:54:53] But that's not true.
[00:54:54] They've only chosen the moment of their death. It's like death was in the future and they're faced with a crisis and they pulled death forward from the future into the present and they sacrificed themselves for somebody else. They've chosen the moment of their death.
[00:55:13] Only Jesus chose the fact of his death. He was not, didn't have to die. It wasn't an obligation for him. He chose his death. One writer puts it this way. It's like Jesus took his soul in one
[00:55:29] hand and his body in the other and ripped him in two. Jesus chose to die. Why? What motivated him going to the cross? What motivated him to come here? What motivated him to put on human flesh,
[00:55:45] to be with sinful people? What motivated him to live a righteous life, to be misunderstood, to be persecuted by the religious leaders, to suffer an illegal trial, and eventually to be executed on a Roman cross? What motivated him? This passage says he was motivated by joy,
[00:56:09] for the joy set before him. What did Jesus gain from the cross that he didn't already have earlier? What did he gain that he didn't have? The father's love? Got it already. Glory? Got it
[00:56:30] already. Authority? He's got it already. What was the joy set before him? He gained from the cross.
[00:56:40] Do you know? You. You were the joy. What motivated him was you. The one thing he didn't have was you. The joy of welcoming you into his family, of calling you his brothers and sisters,
[00:57:01] of you being adopted into the family of God. This is the one thing that Jesus didn't have that he gained through the cross. His joy was you. Back to the Melbourne ultramarathon.
[00:57:17] So in 1983, 150 runners show up from all over the world to run in this hyper-endurance marathon race.
[00:57:27] And people came dressed like you would think for a marathon.
[00:57:32] Running shoes, the shorts, the little tiny jerseys.
[00:57:36] And they're each given a number and they line up for the race.
[00:57:38] well that day a toothless 61 year old potato farmer and shepherd named cliff young shows up for the race and he's wearing overalls and he's wearing galoshes and people think this is a joke but he goes up to the table and he asked for a number and the people running the race were like
[00:58:05] okay. Gave him the number 64, pins it on him. And when the gun goes off, everybody else takes off except for Cliff. Cliff begins this slow kind of shuffle run walk. Now here's a picture of Cliff,
[00:58:23] real guy. People are like, this is a joke. All of Australia began to tune in for this race because the word got out that this guy is running or shuffling. People are like, somebody should stop this crazy man before he hurts himself. So five days and 15 hours and
[00:58:43] four minutes later, Cliff Young comes shuffling across the finish line in Melbourne and he wins the ultra marathon. And he doesn't just barely win the ultra marathon. He won the ultra marathon by nine hours and 56 minutes. People couldn't believe it. What happened? They were stunned.
[00:59:07] Everybody knew the only way to win an ultramarathon was to run this way. You run for 18 hours and then you sleep for six hours and you get up the next day and do it again and again and again for five
[00:59:19] days. That's how everybody else ran the race. Cliff didn't know that. He just started and kept going and he just shuffled his way across Australia until he won the race. Now, why am I telling
[00:59:35] you this story. Why am I telling you about Cliff Young and the Young Shuffle? The point of this sermon isn't you go be Cliff Young. The point of this sermon is Jesus is our Cliff Young. Jesus
[00:59:53] ran the race for the joy set before him and sat down. Let me describe this. There are two words in this passage that contain a universe of joy in them. Two words I want you to know. First,
[01:00:08] the pioneer of our faith. Did you notice that in our passage? He's the pioneer of our faith. That's a Greek word, archegos. And nobody knows how to translate it, but because it appears in only one
[01:00:19] book in the Bible, the book of Hebrews, and it only appears in a couple of places. And so different translators have it a different way. So the CSB we just read translates it pioneer, like Jesus was
[01:00:32] Neil Armstrong, the first person on the moon. Good translation? Meh, I don't think so.
[01:00:38] What about the ESV? ESV has it as founder of our faith. Like Jesus started a company.
[01:00:47] You like that one? The NIV has it as author of our faith. Like Jesus wrote a book about faith.
[01:00:57] Again, I think the best translation for that is champion. And champion in the sense of like David and Goliath champion. In the story of David and Goliath, there are two people and each of them represent an entire nation. If David wins the fight with Goliath, Israel wins.
[01:01:21] If Goliath wins, Philistines win. Jesus is our archegos. He is our champion, meaning that he did what nobody else could do and represented us. He represented you. He ran the race of faith and completed it. He won just like Cliff Young. The second word we read here, well, let me finish
[01:01:49] this. In Hebrews 2, this is what it says about Jesus, why he ran this race. It was fitting that he, we have this, we put this on the screen. It was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all
[01:01:58] things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of our salvation, same word, perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who sanctified all have one source. That's why he's not ashamed to call them brother. Jesus didn't come as an example for
[01:02:19] you to follow. Be like Jesus. He came to do what you could never do on your behalf. Now, the second word in this passage, so he's the pioneer of our faith. The second P word is perfecter. The perfecter
[01:02:37] of our faith. Again, it's a word that appears only right here and only in the book of Hebrews. And People don't know how to translate it, but it's the same word that means end or destination.
[01:02:50] It's a special term to summarize the extent to which Jesus has won. Jesus has secured your salvation. Jesus has done everything to make the life of committed faith possible for you.
[01:03:05] It's like saying this, Jesus is the one who begins the life of faith for you. He's the one completes it. Jesus is the A to Z of faith. He does everything needed. Now, what's the significance
[01:03:21] of this? Jesus is not only the champion who suffers on the cross for you, for me, in our place.
[01:03:32] He's not the only one who completes the work of the cross. He's also the one who gives you his righteousness. He gives you what you never could have achieved on your own. There's this amazing swap. He has made your faith complete. He's the beginner and the perfecter. That's his
[01:03:55] race. That's his joy. What about your race and your joy? Jesus found joy where he was designed to find it. He was created to find it. He found joy in you. And you're designed to find your joy
[01:04:12] in him. Created to direct our lives toward what gives us the most joy. Psalm 16. We can put this up on the screen. Psalm 16 says this. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. I want you
[01:04:29] to think about what is at God's right hand? I think a lot of people would say, oh, there's eternal guilt at God's right hand? Eternal long distance running at God's right hand?
[01:04:44] Survival at God's right hand? No. This is what God's right hand for you. Eternal pleasures forevermore. If his joy was you, what is your joy designed to be? Him. Him. I think one problem that we see a lot in Christians, this is why there's so many joyless Christians in the world.
[01:05:06] We're trying to run a race where we don't really want the prize.
[01:05:12] We're trying to run a race, and we don't really want Jesus at the end of it.
[01:05:17] That's why it feels impossible and joyless to us.
[01:05:22] Is Jesus worth your joy?
[01:05:26] Unbelievably so.
[01:05:28] Absolutely so.
[01:05:30] If Jesus becomes our joy, it changes what we wear and where we look and how we run.
[01:05:41] I want you to think about this. First, it changes what we wear. Go back to verse 1.
[01:05:47] Lay aside every weight and everything that entangles you. Now, that makes sense. The writer of Hebrews couches all his doctrine of salvation and sanctification in this. It's not, what is sin and how do I get rid of it? But if I'm running, what's getting in the way of my running?
[01:06:07] You know, I like to swim for exercise. And if you swim, if you watch the Olympic swimmers, nobody's wearing baggy shorts. You wear tight fitting stuff if you're going to swim.
[01:06:19] Why? Because it gives your aerodynamic, your sleek in the water. You could wear jeans if you want to when you go swimming. But jeans are going to hold you back. There's no rule in the NCAA and
[01:06:33] competitive swimming about not wearing jeans. But nobody wants them because it's a burden. It gets in your way. When Jesus becomes your joy, you don't have to be forced to let other things go in your life. Nobody has to tell you, you got to let go of some things. You want to let go of
[01:06:55] things that are getting in the way of pursuing Jesus. You want to lay aside anything that holds you back. You want to take off the weights. I know a lot of you are people who love the weighted vest
[01:07:07] in Raleigh. You take off the weighted vest. You run with endurance, not with encumbrances.
[01:07:16] Second, it changes not only what you wear, but where you're looking. Where you're looking. Verse two says, looking to Jesus. In Greek, that means looking away, like looking up to the horizon, looking up. You know, to look away means you're not looking down at yourself. There's a lot of
[01:07:39] Christians who are really good at navel gazing and looking at themselves all the time and being therefore really discouraged. You look at your failures, you look at your inconsistencies, You look at all the ways you are exhausted
[01:07:55] You look at other people and you compare yourself to other people around you But the call is to look up Look to jesus eyes on the prize That will get you where you want to go
[01:08:09] Now I have six sons So i've taught a lot of kids how to ride a bike And here's the secret. I know A lot of bike riders in the room. So, you know the secret
[01:08:21] the secret to teaching a kid to ride the bike is teaching them to look up if they look down at the pedals if they look down at the tire they're going to fall over they're going to go so slow they
[01:08:34] crash over because looking down won't get you where you need to go and here's the irony if you look up this is hard with kids teach them to look up that front tire somehow follows where it needs
[01:08:47] to go those pedals somehow turn you get the double gyroscope of the two wheels and you keep going Look up, Christians.
[01:08:56] Look up to Jesus.
[01:08:57] Look up to him.
[01:08:58] Look at him.
[01:09:00] Finally, it changes how we run.
[01:09:03] Remember Cliff Young?
[01:09:05] Everybody thought you had to run a certain way to run that ultra marathon.
[01:09:10] Everybody thought it was 18 hours on, six hours off.
[01:09:13] 18 hours on, six hours off.
[01:09:16] But not Cliff.
[01:09:16] He didn't know any better.
[01:09:18] He just kind of shuffled along.
[01:09:20] Some of you are exhausted.
[01:09:23] Some of you are exhausted because you think you've got to run a certain way.
[01:09:28] You think you've been trying to live the Christian life based on guilt and pressure and fear and duty, and you're worn out, aren't you?
[01:09:43] You're in the brink of throwing in the towel.
[01:09:46] You're like, I'm kind of done with this.
[01:09:49] Stop running like that.
[01:09:51] You're wearing and wearing yourself out.
[01:09:53] Learn from Cliff.
[01:09:53] There's another way to run.
[01:09:55] Here's our version.
[01:09:57] for Christians. You want to know? Our version of the Cliff Young shuffle is this. Make Jesus your joy. Make Jesus your joy. If Jesus is your joy, you will go the distance. You're his joy. Tap
[01:10:13] into his joy. His joy is you so that your joy can be him. Jesus hit the finish line and he's not saying, you better make it on time. You better, you better hurry up. Now, here's the secret of
[01:10:33] the Christian life. The reward is not just at the end. The reward is all through. The reward is at the beginning because Jesus has done everything for you. The reward's in the middle because his
[01:10:45] spirit is with you, running with you, sustaining you. The reward's at the end when you come home with them. All of it is his reward, and he's with you every step of the way. Now, I wouldn't be a
[01:10:59] good preacher if I didn't give you a couple tests this morning. So I'm going to give you a couple tests. How do you know if Jesus is your joy? How would you know if Jesus is your joy? Three things.
[01:11:14] First is this. It just comes out of you because it's in you. There's a difference between somebody who likes to collect albums, vinyls of opera music, and somebody who sings opera in the shower, right? Somebody who collects these things can say, well, I have these. They're
[01:11:36] my treasure. They're on the shelf. I know where they are. I like to listen to them every once in a while, pull them out. But it's different for somebody for whom in the white moment
[01:11:46] noises, white moments of the day, where you're in the car, when you're in the shower, and what's inside of you comes out of you. You just start singing. A person who has Jesus as their
[01:12:02] joy, it comes out. It comes out of this. Second, it doesn't get depleted. If Jesus is your joy, you don't get depleted. Now, I know you all know about depletion right now because you're paying
[01:12:17] a lot of money at the gas pump. You know what, like you're very aware of how often your gas tank is getting depleted. How quickly? That's one kind of engine. A combustion engine runs on fuel
[01:12:33] that runs out. And there's a way to live your life, even for somebody who professes they're a Christian, where your life is constantly being depleted. The reason is because something else is your joy. You may profess, I believe in Jesus. My life's about Jesus. But if something else is
[01:12:53] your joy, you're going to run out of gas over and over again. Whether it's your career, your portfolio, right? Your relationships, your likes on social media, your friend group, whatever it is, it's going to run out. But there's another kind of engine out there. And I know you know it because
[01:13:16] every night you can go outside and look up in the sky and see it. And every day you can go out in the sky and see even a bigger one. What is that? Star or a sun. And that's a different kind of
[01:13:31] engine. That's not a combustion engine. That's a fusion engine. The sun, a star, makes energy by under great pressure, compressing hydrogen and turning it into helium at super high temperatures.
[01:13:45] And it just keeps going and going and going, and it doesn't collapse on itself. And it keeps shining, giving light. Joy in the life of a believer is that kind of engine, and it doesn't
[01:13:58] run out, and it keeps giving light and heat, and it keeps sustaining you. Jesus is worth your joy.
[01:14:07] Finally, last test. It's not affected by circumstances. Is your joy affected by circumstances? Imagine a deep-sea diver. Remember the old-timey deep-sea diver outfit where they've got a huge metal helmet on that looks like a globe and a big bodysuit and tube that goes up to the
[01:14:27] surface. Now that deep sea diver can go way, way down into very dark places in the bottom of the ocean with lots and lots of pressure around them. And it won't matter if there's a storm up on the
[01:14:40] surface of the water. It won't matter if it's dark outside. It won't matter if it's really cold. It doesn't matter if there's a lot of intense pressure, that deep sea diver's okay because they're in that suit. They're protected. They're insulated. Again, this is the life of joy for a
[01:14:57] Christian. If your joy is in Christ, it can be storming around you. It can be dark. Circumstances can be hard. There can be a lot of pressure on you. And God doesn't guarantee none of those
[01:15:08] things will happen to us. But we're okay because we're in him and in his joy. Here's my invitation for you this morning. And I don't care if you're a Christian. I don't care if you're not a Christian.
[01:15:20] Make Jesus your joy. Make Jesus your joy. He is the only thing that's worthy of it.
[01:15:30] I'm going to close our sermon today in a different way of praying than I normally do.
[01:15:35] I'm going to invite you to pray after me. And I'm going to say a line. You can say it out loud if you want to. You can say it in your head. You don't have to do this. But I want to encourage
[01:15:46] you to ask Jesus to be your joy today. Would you bow your heads and pray with me? Jesus, would you be my joy? I've tried lots of other things out as my joy. They don't satisfy. They don't last.
[01:16:16] I need you. Change my heart today. I crown you as king of my heart. Melt my self-centeredness.
[01:16:33] change my heart make jesus my joy today and always let's stand and sing together

[01:16:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:16:51] was a wretch i was run and separated privileged today to come around and celebrate the death

[01:22:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:22:08] the resurrection the ascension and the second coming of jesus we gather around this table every week because he is our hope. And it's really beautiful today to celebrate as two churches come together in this combined service. One faith, one Lord, one baptism. We gather around
[01:22:29] the cross together and we gather around this morning together to celebrate what's been given to us, the joy that's been given to us in Christ. Let's use this liturgy to call one another to this
[01:22:41] act of worship. It will be up on the screen as well as in your bulletin. Blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, for the bridegroom has come and his bride has been
[01:22:54] made pure. Let us rejoice and give him glory. Christ has clothed us in his righteousness, bright and pure. The Spirit and the bride say, come. We will feast and rejoice with our eyes on the ground. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and given thanks,
[01:23:17] he broke it as he would be broken and gave it to them and said, my body broken for you, take and eat. After the supper, he took the cup and he gave it to them and said, this is the
[01:23:31] blood of the new covenant poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
[01:23:35] Take this, all of you, drink this in remembrance of me. The Bible says every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. I want to invite all here
[01:23:47] today who are Christians, who have owned Jesus by faith in this church or another church, either of these churches or another church, to come and celebrate with us around this table and remember the past, present, and future of the gospel for you. The past that Jesus has been died and been
[01:24:05] raised, the present that he's with you, the future that he's coming again. If you're not a Christian, we're so glad you're here this morning, but we'd ask you not to come and partake, just to watch.
[01:24:15] We believe Jesus meets us at this table in a place like no other place. We ask you to stay where you are and just watch what happens. There's a prayer in your bulletin even to guide you how to
[01:24:25] talk to God during this time. We'll also have somebody in the back. If you'd like somebody in the narthex, that's the lobby out there, to pray with you during this part of our service, somebody
[01:24:33] can be back and be happy to do so. In just a moment, we'll invite you to come forward. I'll invite those who are helping serve to come forward at this time. But we'll invite all of you in just
[01:24:42] a moment to come forward, and you can go to the middle of the row, the middle of the room, and come forward up the center aisle. There'll be a bunch of stations up front. Come to any of the
[01:24:51] ones that are open. You'll go up to the front and introduce yourself. Say your name. The server will turn around and welcome you by name to take the bread, tear off a piece of bread, and to take one
[01:25:02] of the cups from the tray. Clear cups are wine. Tinted cups are grape juice. So we got the Baptist cups, the colored cups. We've got the clear cups. Those are the Presbyterian cups. Anybody can have
[01:25:14] any one of those y'all want, okay? Take the elements, go back, the side aisles back to your seat. And then when everybody's been served, we'll partake together. If you want gluten-free crackers, if you want prepackaged community supplies, come see me. I'll be right here in
[01:25:28] the middle with a tray of both those. Y'all are in the balcony, somebody's coming up to serve you, and there's prepackaged community supplies up there as well. Let's come and rejoice and remember and celebrate the death, resurrection,
[01:25:41] and the coming again of Jesus.

[01:25:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:25:49] Please come and receive the bread.

[01:30:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:30:39] The bread that we eat, is it not the body of Christ broken for us?
[01:30:42] Take and eat.
[01:30:51] Would you hold up a cup?
[01:30:53] The cup that we drink, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ poured out for you?
[01:30:57] Take and drink.