Nicolas: 00:14

Today, we relight the first two candles of the advent wreath, the candle of hope, and the candle of peace. Now we re light now we light the first can the third candle of Advent. This is the candle of joy. As the coming of Jesus, our savior, draws nearer, our joy builds with our anticipation of his birth. From the book of Isaiah, we read these words, Isaiah 6518.

Nicolas: 00:59

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create. For I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. From the new testament, the apostle Peter says this. In first Peter 1 8 through 9, though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

Nicolas: 01:27

For you are receiving the end result of your faith and salvation of your souls. Joy wells up within us when we receive that which is good and beautiful. When we receive a present, our hearts light up. How much more do our hearts overflow when we receive Jesus' presence and work in our hearts? We carry with us a joy that cannot be extinguished because Jesus has overcome all things.

Nicolas: 01:57

Please join me in prayer. We joyfully praise you, oh lord, for the fulfillment of your promise of a savior and what that means in our lives. Thank you for the gift of salvation through the birth of your son, Jesus. Kindle afresh the flame of joy in our hearts. May we carry it with us each and every day.

Nicolas: 02:25

Create us anew as we wait for you and our salvation. Help us to see your glory as you fill our lives with your living spirit. Amen.

Pastor Lucas: 02:37

Heavenly father, Lord, we are thankful that you are with us, that today you are making us into your church. Lord, I ask that as we open your word, as we look into your truth, that we would see you and that we would see and hear your word being spoken into our circumstances. That your word through your holy spirit would have its effect on our lives that you desire it to be. Lord, we just pray that you would bless the faithful preparation of pastor Cameron and that he would be responsive to the leading of your spirit in Jesus name. We pray.

Pastor Lucas: 03:20

Amen.

Pastor Cameron: 03:23

Good morning. How are we this morning? Good. It's good to see you all, to be with you. Appreciated a week away with my family and, a couple weeks, of not preaching.

Pastor Cameron: 03:37

I love to preach, but it is nice to have a break for once in a while and to sit underneath preaching myself. And, but I'm I'm happy to be back. I'm happy to be back at it this morning. We've been celebrating the Advent season. And Advent is, again, that a season of preparation.

Pastor Cameron: 04:03

It's a season of waiting. That last song that we sang this morning was it has intentional language. We're we're waiting here for you with our hands lifted high, singing honor and praise to him. And Advent is a season of waiting. It's for us, of course, when we're celebrating this type of advent, you know, the advent that comes before Christmas, it's a, it's sort of a symbolic waiting.

Pastor Cameron: 04:36

Right? Because we're dipping back into the gospel, and we're reading, or if we're dipping back into the in the scripture at all, we're reading the Old Testament, we're reading the account of a people, the people of God who were eagerly awaiting the coming of the Messiah. They were anticipating it. They were hoping for it. They were praying for it.

Pastor Cameron: 04:59

They were expecting it. They were needing it, needing deliverance, needing a savior, needing the Lord to act on their behalf and looking and watching and waiting. And then in a stable, in Bethlehem comes a humble baby born not of a royal lineage in the way that they would expect, but, in humility, coming to serve rather than to be served. And so we we celebrate Advent in this way, in kind of like a retrospective anticipation of what the people of God has have always waited for, the coming of the savior. Now that's not to say that you and I, in this season, are somehow have zero application to the of 0 application of waiting on God.

Pastor Cameron: 06:01

I don't know about you. I'm waiting on I'm I'm waiting on God to do some things in my life. I'm asking God to do some things in my heart. I'm asking God to do some things in in in me and in the people around me. I'm asking God to do some things in his church.

Pastor Cameron: 06:19

I'm asking God to do some things in the city, in the region. And we wait expectantly and with faith for a God who shows up to keep his promises and to come through. Of course, we are also waiting for what we call the second. We are in, like, a period of of second secondary advent. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 06:46

Where in Christmas, we celebrate and remember the first coming of Jesus to earth. But now, as followers of him, those who have, believed in him by faith, we stand in a place of, once again, waiting for him to come. Waiting for him not to come the first time, but waiting for him to return. And there is hopefulness, and there is joy, and there is peace, and there is love, and there is expectation and anticipation in that reality just like there was for those in the old testament who are anticipating him to come again. Like, listen.

Pastor Cameron: 07:26

I'm waiting for Jesus to come back now and to set things right now and to make things new now and to change the trajectory of history now. Like, so the theme of Advent is not one that is or should be foreign to us. We're gonna talk about joy this morning. Not joy. Although it it applies.

Pastor Cameron: 08:00

Right? I asked Joy to read the Advent reading this morning during the first service, and it was I didn't actually do it on purpose. But if your name is love, you're gonna read next service or next next week. Okay? But, we're gonna talk about joy this morning, and, we'll do a little bit of work talking about, the difference between joy and happiness because we have in our culture and in our world, and I would say it has seeped into the church and contemporary Christian practice and discipleship.

Pastor Cameron: 08:55

We have created an idol of happiness where a large part of the pursuit of our faith and the pursuit of our relationship with God has been so that we can experience circumstantial happiness in our lives. I follow God. I am a disciple of Jesus because my expectation is that he would change the circumstances of my life that are all negative so that now they would be all positive and that, and that then I would have a reason to be joyful because all of my life is ordered in the way that I think it should be and happening in the way that it should be. Now this is woven this is kind of maybe a little bit seeped into our discipleship in the church these days. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 09:57

So if here's a here's a here's an example. If life isn't going well circumstantially, like, I have relationships that are broken or my health isn't great or I'm struggling financially or I'm out of work or I'm dealing with depression or anxiety, what do we what is, like, kind of, like, been the contempt in the church, the contemporary Christian response has been like, well, obviously, you're doing something wrong in your faith. Right? Something's wrong in your faith. If circumstances of your life are falling apart.

Pastor Cameron: 10:32

Right? It has nothing to do, right, that we live in a broken world that needs redeeming of which we're waiting for our redeemer to come and finally set right and make right all that he initiated in his first coming. Has nothing to do with that. Right? Absolutely nothing.

Pastor Cameron: 10:50

It has everything to do with the fact that god is angry with me, and so he's destroying my life. And I just gotta figure out how to follow him more closely so that the circumstances of my life then are perfect. That happens to the church. Right? But it and so that's kind of seeped in.

Pastor Cameron: 11:19

We've we've made an idol out of becoming happy. And it's been going on for a long time. Even back into, like, it's not a history lesson, and it's not this is not about this. But even if you think of the phrase that our founding fathers use, right, The pursuit of or like life, liberty, and the pursuit of what? Happiness.

Pastor Cameron: 11:46

It's what we're it's what America is all about. Right? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thank the lord that our citizenship is in heaven first. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 11:59

Because the simple pursuit of happiness is a pretty shallow pursuit in comparison to what Jesus desires to give us in himself. Jesus desires so much more for us than simply a circumstantially happy life. In fact, when the birth of Jesus were was happening and, like, the angels, you know, were, like, bursting into our worldly existence to announce that the Messiah had been born, they didn't come proclaiming a message that would bring happiness to everyone. Everyone's gonna be super happy. Everyone the circumstances of all your life's gonna be completely changed.

Pastor Cameron: 12:54

Ultimately and eternally, yes. But what they came was to bring a message that was not a message of the the good news of the savior being born that will be for a great happiness for all people. But in Luke chapter 2, in the beginning of Luke chapter 2, we see that there are these shepherds, says Luke Luke says that there are these shepherds keeping watch over out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Like, let's deromanticize the story a little bit. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 13:31

Because what when we hear even those words and we're used to the, like, the nativity story, we're we we we we tend to not think of the practicality of that. Shepherds were blue collar, hardworking, out in the fields, managing the herds. Right. They were just doing their job. They were doing their job.

Pastor Cameron: 13:57

And what it says is that all of a sudden, an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were terrified. Terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. Okay? Easy for you to say angel that stands in the presence of God.

Pastor Cameron: 14:26

Right? Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. So even one of the first proclamations of the coming of Jesus was a proclamation that was meant to bring great joy. 1 of the one of one of the, like, the most famous Christmas carol songs that we sing during the season has as its main theme.

Pastor Cameron: 15:00

Right? What? Joy to the world. The lord has come. Let earth receive her king.

Pastor Cameron: 15:09

Not happiness to the world. Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. So it's a theme that's not should not be absent from our vocabulary.

Pastor Cameron: 15:21

It is sometimes absent from our understanding though. And I would say beyond just it being absent from our understanding is that it's absent from our practice as followers of Jesus. It's one thing to talk about hope and know what hope means. It's another thing to talk about peace and know what peace means. It's another thing to talk about joy and know what joy means.

Pastor Cameron: 15:52

It's a completely different thing altogether to allow the holy spirit of God to transform us internally so that our lives are a living expression of hope, peace, joy, and love. And that for us often is where the disconnect happens. I know what joy is. I'm not experiencing any of it. A lot of that, I will say, gently but firmly and confidently from the word is that is is that our experience of joy rests largely on our surrender to the spirit of God to transform our mind and our perspective from our earthly lives to an eternal reality.

Pastor Cameron: 16:59

When we become consumed with what's right in front of us, we lose the ability to experience the joy that God wants to give us in the presence of his son in our lives. That's the sermon in a nutshell. K? Alright. But I went over during second service or first service.

Pastor Cameron: 17:22

So shocked, I know, you all are. So if I go over in this one, just know that that's the main point. K? Let's just talk about a definition first off. Joy is what?

Pastor Cameron: 17:36

Joy is an indestructible heart and state of mind. Indestructible, meaning it doesn't change. It cannot be it cannot be crushed. It cannot be it cannot be moved. It is an indestructible heart and state of mind that is filled with the knowledge that nothing, no circumstance, no experience, no situation, no relationship, nothing that I go through in this life, nothing can separate us from or otherwise thwart the purposes and plan of God for our lives.

Pastor Cameron: 18:18

Joy is the spirit that I live in, knowing that no matter what happens circumstantially in this life, that nothing can separate me from God's plan and promise for my life, that nothing can destroy God's plan and promise for my life, that I am secure, fully in him, no matter the circumstantial outcome of the happenings of my life. I walk in a state of secure and indestructible confidence because of who I am, not because of what is or isn't happening around me. Now I think, okay. That's great. Love it.

Pastor Cameron: 19:14

Beautiful definition, pastor. I've been trying to live that way for a long, long time living above my circumstances. Right? Faking it till I make it type of thing. Anyone ever faked it till you maked it and then never made it all the way there?

Pastor Cameron: 19:32

I yeah. You you like, right. You you never we never make it to the place we're trying to fake it. K? We don't.

Pastor Cameron: 19:40

This is not a make it till you fake it till you make it type of thing. This is not this is not what I'm talking about. Although it may sound like that at the beginning. We don't fake it till we make it in the Christian life. We're honest with the Lord where we are, and he transforms our hearts.

Pastor Cameron: 19:58

That's what happens. K? There is no faking it till we make it. We earnestly pour out our heart. We're gonna look at someone who did that in Psalm 42.

Pastor Cameron: 20:10

Right? As the deer pants for streams of living water, so do I pant? Does so does my soul long for you, oh, lord? Very honest approach to the destruction of this person's life. We don't fake it till we make it.

Pastor Cameron: 20:25

We trust the lord to change us from the inside. Why, if we know the definition of joy, can't we just take it, like, transplant it to our lives and have it just work? Because, listen, joy is not just a thing that you, like, learn like, that you just decide that you're gonna change your mind and do. Right? Joy is joy quite literally emanates directly from the spirit of God and is a primary evidence of God's spiritual work in you.

Pastor Cameron: 21:12

We wonder why we can't get to a place of joy in the midst of our circumstances that are, like, just unraveling in our lives. And the reason is is because we do not have the power in our in our own will, in our own ability to produce a joy that allows us to live above circumstance. That is a thing that can come only from the work of the spirit in your life, creating joy where there was none to begin with. We often ask the question, well, like, how like, people often ask, how do I know that I'm growing in my relationship with the Lord? How do I know that I'm, like, maturing in my I'm maturing in my faith?

Pastor Cameron: 22:07

And once again, we we say things in our in our, in Christianity, in our walk with the Lord that we don't often stop to consider and think about both its implications and the reality of it. But we have we have, evidence in the word of God of when the spirit of God is working powerfully in our lives. When things are changing and transforming in us, we know it. How do we know it? Well, what Paul says in Galatians is that there is fruit that comes from the the presence and work of God's spirit in you.

Pastor Cameron: 22:52

You wanna know, am I growing in my relationship with the Lord? Am I maturing in my relationship with the Lord? Well, is there fruit that displays that God's spirit has has, like, active has, access to my heart and is working to transform who I am day to day. We call we we we call it because that's what Paul calls it, the fruit of the spirit, which is not just some, like, catchy youth group song. It is it is the it is the evidence of the spirit's work in our lives.

Pastor Cameron: 23:38

The fruit of the spirit is, Paul says, love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control. And so there's a question now you you ask an inverse question then to be to be able to answer the, am I growing and maturing? And what I don't know. Am I becoming more loving? Do I love more deeply, more sincerely, and more widely today than I did yesterday?

Pastor Cameron: 24:19

Is God transforming my heart for the people that I don't like? Am I giving him access? Am I giving him access to my heart that his spirit that the presence of his spirit transforms me so that the person that I didn't like yesterday, I now love today? Like, God is softening and changing my heart towards them. Is God giving me an indestructible disposition and eternal perspective that puts a smile on my face even in the midst of circumstances in my life that are completely horrible.

Pastor Cameron: 25:08

Falling apart. Do I see the work of the spirit transforming me? Listen. Every bit of transformation that happens inside of you, every bit of transformation that makes you more and more like Jesus, happens as a gift of God's grace to accomplish that in you. We work and we strive and we fail and we work and we strive and we fail and we work and we strive and we fail.

Pastor Cameron: 25:49

We're like, this thing, this Christianity thing, this Jesus thing doesn't work because we're unsurrendered in our hearts to allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify, change, and transform the deepest parts of our lives that are holding us in bondage to bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, contempt, malice, slander, rage, hurt, refusing to let go of the things that if we surrender, God's spirit would come like a refreshing and rushing wave to transform those parts of me, and I would begin to understand exactly what Paul means when he says, the fruit of the spirit is love and joy. You know what I think? I was trying to think this work this week of, like, you know, what is an example of joy that I have seen? And then not just that I have seen, but that but that we have seen that helps maybe to point towards this reality. This reality that, like, no matter what is happening in my life around me, no matter what's going on, my health is failing or a relationship is breaking or lose my job or I'm living in anxiety or living in like, whatever the case may be.

Pastor Cameron: 27:38

Like, what is an example of of joy that has over that that is overflowing despite circumstance? The example the I mean, the first thing that came to mind maybe you know where this is going. The first thing that came to mind was Bryce and Amanda. Dieter. I don't Brian I saw Bryce this morning.

Pastor Cameron: 27:57

He's here somewhere. I don't know where they are. But if you you you know their story from this past year, you might know where this is going. If you don't know their story, Bryce and Amanda's little boy, James, who's just like knee high to a grasshopper this tall, like, barely walking at the time, diagnosed with leukemia. And and Bryce and Amanda's response to that was one that I that for me was like, thank you, Lord, for teaching me what it means to have joy.

Pastor Cameron: 28:41

Because there ain't no happiness over there. There's there's no happiness in the midst of trial. There's no happiness in the midst of pain. There's no happiness in the midst of sickness. They're not happy about what has happened to James, but they are living with an indestructible joy that leukemia in their son cannot separate them from the love and power of God or thwart or change God's purposes or plan for their lives.

Pastor Cameron: 29:17

And I looked at that situation, and I'm like, oh my gosh, Lord. You are teaching me through them what it means to be joyful. You are you are you are encouraging me in their example. You are admonishing me for my lack of joy because I am seeing in them just this indestructible, like, yes, our son has cancer. No.

Pastor Cameron: 29:41

We don't like it. Yes. We're praying for his healing. Yes. We are believing God for his healing, but our joy is indestructible because we know that God's purposes for our lives haven't changed.

Pastor Cameron: 30:00

God's plans for our lives hasn't haven't changed. God himself has not changed. And the spirit of God that gives joy is alive in our lives so that no matter how the circumstances of our lives seem to be crumbling around us or constantly in chaos. Our feet are firmly planted in the place of joy. That's a that's that's a gift to us.

Pastor Cameron: 30:33

You real like, you you recognize that? You recognize that what is happening in Bryce and Amanda's life and family is a gift to us as a church. It is instructive to us and encouraging to us and should lead to our growth in the Lord. See, happiness is dependent on the things that happen around me, conditional on my circumstances. And there is no happiness in a trial, but there is and can be overwhelming joy.

Pastor Cameron: 31:19

The apostle Paul said it like this. He said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 4, rejoice in the lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Paul was calling on the Philippian church to to exude a spirit and disposition of joy in what circumstances?

Pastor Cameron: 31:46

All circumstances. Good, bad, or indifferent. And in case they didn't hear the call for joy the first time, he flat out was like, hey, and I'm gonna say it again, rejoice. Rejoice in the lord always, and I will say it again, rejoice. Well, easy for Paul to say.

Pastor Cameron: 32:10

He's prescripturally mature, had a lot of he was pretty famous. Right? In Philippians, he was like, hey, man. I have everything going for me. I was the Pharisee of all Pharisees.

Pastor Cameron: 32:22

I was educated with the best of them. I was faultless in terms of the law. He was a successful businessman by all accounts, a tent making business. Like, so okay, Paul. It's easy for you to say, rejoice in the lord always, and again, I will say rejoice.

Pastor Cameron: 32:40

You don't know what's going on in my life, Paul. Joy's pretty hard, and that's maybe a kind of a typical response. Well, like, yeah, joy is not always practical, Paul. Thinking that Paul somehow does not understand what joy is because his life is just so picture perfect. Until you recognize and realize that Philippians, in which he's writing to a church, he's writing the letter to the Philippians while he is in prison in Rome for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles and for inciting a revolution against the Roman Empire.

Pastor Cameron: 33:32

Mhmm. Paul knows that it is likely that he will never escape prison and instead will be executed by the Roman government for declaring that Jesus is lord, not Caesar. And so Paul is sitting chained and imprisoned on death row for doing, by all accounts, what he would consider to be the most important thing in all of the world. Paul had an understanding of what it meant to be joyful, even in the midst of circumstances that were crushing. I just gotta be honest with you, church.

Pastor Cameron: 34:18

I don't know if you'd be getting a real encouraging letter from me if I was in prison for preaching the gospel. I think it would maybe read a little bit different. By God's grace, maybe his spirit would transform my heart, where I could say, hey. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.

Pastor Cameron: 34:37

What Paul goes on to say later in Philippians chapter 4 actually, the fur the next verse is do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to god, and the peace of god, which transcends all understanding, will guide your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our lord. So in the midst of Paul being, like, on death row in prison, he's like, rejoice in the lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all, Paul says. Now how can Paul use this imperative to rejoice in the lord always if the circumstances of life are not joyful?

Pastor Cameron: 35:20

Well, Paul had a particular, Paul had a particular mindset and trajectory of his life that allowed joy to surface to the top when light when and when everything else was kind of spinning out of control. Let me look at a couple verses here. But first, understand this. Listen. Joy becomes our response when Jesus becomes our focus.

Pastor Cameron: 35:52

Joy is like when the doctor hits your knee. Right? And you can't even control the reflex of your foot kicking out. Joy is the reflexive disposition of a person whose life is totally sold out and focused on Jesus. Totally focused on Jesus.

Pastor Cameron: 36:19

Joy is a reflex. When we are secure with Jesus, the circumstantial outcomes of our lives cannot negatively affect our outlook, because what comes out of us is simply the work of the spirit. How we respond listen. How we respond this is why this is so encouraging as a pastor to see Bryce and Amanda react in this way or respond in this way. How we respond when the circumstances of our life begin to fall apart is indicative of what is the of the condition of our hearts.

Pastor Cameron: 37:11

It tells us what's here. Similar to how the scripture says says that out of the overflow of the heart, what, The mouth speaks. We know the content of our heart by watching the content of our speech because what comes out is what's inside. And when our focus is on our circumstance and it falls apart, then the only thing that can come out is what? Us falling apart with it.

Pastor Cameron: 37:59

Our mental, emotional, physical, spiritual crumbling. But when Jesus becomes our focus and when joy is the content of our heart, the reflexive action of our lives when things fall apart is to still give joy. It's to still be joyful. Paul says in here in Philippians, we're talking about this letter of joy. Philippians chapter 1, I guess we'll start at verse 18.

Pastor Cameron: 38:41

So but what does it matter? The important thing is is that in every way, whether from false motives or for true or true, Christ is preached, and because of this, I rejoice. Says, yes. I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the spirit of Jesus Christ how was Paul receiving joy? The prayers of the saints and the health given by the spirit of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Cameron: 39:11

What has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. Reread that. Right? I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now when what is now for Paul?

Pastor Cameron: 39:41

In the midst of his imprisonment and death row. So that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or death. For to me, to live is Christ. To die is gain. Paul Paul was like, my my focus completely on if I die, great.

Pastor Cameron: 40:17

I win. If I don't, my focus is on Christ. For me to live, my focus is on Christ. For me to die, I'm going to Christ. My life is all about Christ.

Pastor Cameron: 40:32

Therefore, I rejoice. Rejoice in the lord always. I say it again, rejoice. But it isn't the end of what he says here. The whole letter of Philippians is kind of like this annoying, would you just not be in denial for second Paul about your circumstances and get sad about it already?

Pastor Cameron: 40:51

But he continues on into Philippians, like Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 through 11, just a small portion of the rest of the letter. He says this. He says, but whatever was to my profit, I now consider a loss for the sake of Christ. What more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ, my lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Pastor Cameron: 41:30

I wanna know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Paul was so radically focused on Jesus that he was like, I am looking forward to the fellowship of sharing in the sufferings of Jesus Christ that I may be found like him. What? Talk about a man who was like, circumstances around me don't matter a bit. I'm not moving my eyes from Christ's presence.

Pastor Cameron: 42:19

I'm not moving my eyes for the lordship of Jesus. His he is my hope. He is my security. He is my confidence. He is my foundation.

Pastor Cameron: 42:34

Though everything around me may fail, I will not be separated from his purposes and plan for my life. Couple years ago, we had these line of pine trees in my house. And, we live on the top of a hill, and the wind blows like you read about. Okay? It blows up there.

Pastor Cameron: 43:01

And, you could see that, there was this one tree that was, like, leaning. Right? Just leaning in one direction. And I was like, keep an eye on that. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 43:17

And then we had one of those, like, storms. One of those wind windstorms. Right? Where the wind is just, like, whipping across Chautauqua County and the tree fell exactly in the direction that I thought it would fall. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 43:37

Listen, when the circumstances of life become hostile, you will fall in the direction that you lean. You will fall in a direction that you lean. And if you are leaning towards Jesus, and if you are fixated and focused on Jesus, and if your life is centered around seeking Jesus, you're leaning in that direction. When the circumstances of life blow you over, you will fall directly into him and be secure. But if you're leaning towards your own strength, if you're leaning towards a pursuit of circumstantial happiness in life, I need everything to be perfect for me to be happy or for me to be joyful.

Pastor Cameron: 44:27

If you're leaning in the of pursuing happiness over pursuing joy, when the wind blows, you will fall and be you into a crumbling pile. We fall in the direction that we lean. And And when we lean towards joy and we lean towards Jesus, no matter what happens, we're always falling into him. Number 2, joyfulness is the response of a person that is fixed upon an eternal perspective. Joyfulness is the response of a person that is fixed upon an eternal perspective.

Pastor Cameron: 45:06

We have a scourge in western civilization to be concerned with the right now, the right here, what's happening in my life. We are the center of our own universes this day, this week, this month. Right? It's all about what's going on right now. But listen, as a blood bought ransom child of God, we do not live by worldly perspectives or timelines.

Pastor Cameron: 45:34

Everything that our mind is oriented towards is oriented towards an eternal perspective. We we don't we don't live for this world. We live for the eternity of heaven. When our vision for our lives is consumed by the here and now with what is important only circumstantially in this moment, it is difficult to live in joy. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 4 16 through 18, therefore, we do not lose heart.

Pastor Cameron: 46:10

Though outwardly, we are wasting away. And I'm wait we wasting away. Probably getting bifocals in 2025. Alright? It's my cross to bear.

Pastor Cameron: 46:22

But listen, I'm trying to live with joy. Alright? Outwardly wasting away. But what? Inwardly renewed day by day.

Pastor Cameron: 46:37

No circumstance affects. No circumstance is going to move or thwart God's purpose, plan, place, confidence in my life. Though outwardly, we are wasting away. Inwardly, we are being renewed day by day. For our light and what?

Pastor Cameron: 46:57

Momentary. Momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but one on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but on but what is unseen is eternal. Even Jesus himself, in the Sermon on the Mount, said to his disciples, Matthew 511 through 12, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Pastor Cameron: 47:31

I don't want that. I don't want people to say evil things about me, persecute me, think poorly of me. That is a that is a that is a circumstance of life that I would like to avoid, that would not make me happy at all. Right? But why does it not matter?

Pastor Cameron: 47:51

Because my reward is not in the praises of people. Our reward is not in the opinion of others. He goes on to say, rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. I don't I don't I don't care what people say about me here.

Pastor Cameron: 48:13

I care about what people are saying about me in heaven because that is where I belong. That is where I'm going. That is the trajectory of our lives. We have we have fallen head first into the worship of the right now. The worship of what is what is right in front of our faces, forgetting that we are a people called to an eternal reality.

Pastor Cameron: 48:49

Living not for just the blip on the timeline that we're in right now, but building into the kingdom things that moth and rust will not destroy and thieves won't break in and steal. I see this in my kids. I get myself into a trap all the time about being really worried about whether or not they're gonna grow up and get a good job. Have a good family. Be a productive be a productive person in society.

Pastor Cameron: 49:29

Pursue the American way. Be successful on all the worldly metrics that we that we possibly can. They possibly get is this are these good things? Things that we want for our kids? Yeah.

Pastor Cameron: 49:44

Absolutely. But but here's what I'm saying, is that we get distracted from eternal things by focusing on good worldly things. It's not like a 180 degree turn. It's like a point 5 degree turn where when we stay on it long enough, eventually, we're far away from the center of an eternal perspective. Because we live for eternity's timeline, not the world's timeline or standards.

Pastor Cameron: 50:21

So while I hope my kids grow up to be people who are productive members of society, where my heart and my orientation and my perspective is, are my kids learning every day, being discipled every day to be more loving, more joyful, more patient and kind? More good, more faithful, more self controlled? Are we living to build things into even our children that are there for eternity, not just there for the small blip of time that we're experiencing now. It's really easy to become discouraged with the circumstances of life when they're falling apart, when we think that life as we're living it now is all that there is. But our faith in Jesus moves us to a place of understanding that all of our life is oriented towards an eternal perspective, where what we're experiencing now is so hopelessly short and insignificant in comparison to what God is doing in us into eternity.

Pastor Cameron: 51:49

Here's a short thing that I will say that is I wrote this point in my sermon notes begrudgingly because it was like, to me, that the Lord was preaching this. So just know that your pastor is growing in the Lord. K? Seeking growth in the Lord. Spirit would transform me and move me and create more of his life in me too.

Pastor Cameron: 52:17

K? It's this. People lacking in joy often think people who are expressing joy are just living in denial. Yeah. People who lack joy often think and look at the lives of those who are expressing joy as, like, man, they are just so far out there.

Pastor Cameron: 52:44

They're just in denial. They're repressing what's going on. I'm not saying that denial I'm not saying that denial is a bad or is a is a thing that doesn't happen. Sure. It happens.

Pastor Cameron: 52:58

But we we better be really careful about quenching the fire of the spirit that produces joy in a person's life. That just because we don't understand it or don't have it ourselves does not mean that they're manufacturing it or faking it. It may just mean you're unable to see it because you don't have it. Because the lord is doing something in them that you're unwilling for him to do in you. You wanna put a tag and a label on everything rather than live in a place of surrender when you clearly see that someone is living in a place of joy.

Pastor Cameron: 54:16

We're gonna do this quickly, he says with a smile on his face. Because I want you to hear again or I want you to hear one more time what the psalmist did when he was living in a place of hopelessness. His soul was downcast. And what did he do in order to reenter joy in the Lord? In Psalm chapter 42, we hear this, like, beautiful psalm.

Pastor Cameron: 54:52

You've probably heard it before. You've probably heard it on posters seen it on posters. Right? It's like up in your doctor's office or maybe you've shared it on Facebook. This beautiful stream.

Pastor Cameron: 55:08

Beautiful, quiet stream. Lush green grass. It's regal deer standing there. Right? Big antlers, doe and fawn, everything perfect, very peaceful.

Pastor Cameron: 55:21

And then you see in this script, on the side of it, has the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, oh god. You're like, oh, it's beautiful. I am not singing it. That'd be a way to get everyone out of here quickly, if I sang that song. You don't want that.

Pastor Cameron: 55:47

I promise you. I guess. Yeah. No. Good song.

Pastor Cameron: 55:55

However, deer hunters in the room, There's only a couple reasons or times that a deer pants. None of them are good. None of them are good. They're being chased either by a a buck in breeding season. That's a sermon for another day.

Pastor Cameron: 56:17

Like right? I mean or by a guy like me or you hunting them. Right? Or by a predator. But regardless, right, the idyllic, peaceful, comforting, like, oh, the deer is panting for streams of water.

Pastor Cameron: 56:37

Evangelical Christianity has ruined Psalm 42 for us. Because this is a picture of a deer running for its life. My soul is downcast, oh lord. I am I am dying. Circumstances of life, like, I am crumbling.

Pastor Cameron: 56:59

Everything is falling apart. I'm an inch away from death. My soul pants for you, oh lord. My soul pants. So what do we do when our soul is downcast?

Pastor Cameron: 57:12

Well, as a deer pants when they are exasperated by being chased, crushed by the circumstances of our lives, sick, broken relationship, loneliness, depression, financial ruin, all of these things, what do we do? The psalmist says, number 1, I need to seek an audience with god himself. When circumstances in life are falling apart, lord, I need you and you alone. Verse 2, my soul thirsts for God, the living God. And listen, when can I go to meet with God?

Pastor Cameron: 57:49

This is an illusion to seeing God face to face. Lord, when can I see your face? When can I experience your presence? It is you and you alone that I need in this moment. Now we know that when God met with Moses face to face, he told Moses, he's like, hey, man.

Pastor Cameron: 58:07

You're gonna need to look away for a minute because if you see me, my glory will kill you. So where do we see God face to face as the psalmist describes? We see God face to face in Jesus. This is the beauty of the transition from the old testament to the new to the incarnation of Jesus that we celebrate in Christmas is that God himself humbled himself to become a man that we may know the one true god. We see god face to face in Jesus.

Pastor Cameron: 58:54

He goes on to communicate in verse 3, my tears have been my food day and night. He hasn't eaten. So it's been internal his his anguish has been internal to him, but it's also been external to him. Right? While men say to me all day long, where is your God?

Pastor Cameron: 59:17

Circumstances are soul crushing. I have only eaten my tears, And people around me are being like, hey. Where's your god now? Where is he? Mockingly so.

Pastor Cameron: 59:37

Verse 4. Listen. How did it change? The but these things I remember as I pour out my soul to you, oh lord. I remember how I used to go with the multitude leading to the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng?

Pastor Cameron: 59:59

In a moment of soul crushing, downcast downcast circumstantial grief, what brought encouragement and resurgence of joy for the psalmist? It was the memory and the practice of the worshiping community of God. I remember when the rest of when when along with the rest of them, we entered into the sanctuary of God with festive praises, shouts of joy, and thanksgiving. Listen, we we walk back into joy when we avoid isolation and press into community. When life is falling apart, when circumstances are crumbling, we have we fall in the direction we lean.

Pastor Cameron: 01:00:57

If we're leaning on circumstance, we often isolate and separate ourself from other from community. We disappear. If we're leaning into Jesus and his body, we run into community knowing that it is among the body of Christ, the family of God, that joy can be experienced even if life is falling apart. Even Jesus knew this to be true. In the Garden of Gethsemane you know what Gethsemane means?

Pastor Cameron: 01:01:33

Place of crushing. It's literally what it means. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said to his 3 closest disciples, Peter, James, and John, would you stay here with me, please? Even Jesus knew that isolation was not where he could be. We said to them, would you stay with me here for a little while?

Pastor Cameron: 01:01:59

Because my soul is overwhelmed to what? The point of death. He's like, guys, I need you here because I feel like I'm gonna die. I'm dying. Don't leave me.

Pastor Cameron: 01:02:19

When the circumstances of life are pressing down and crushing and destroying you, you need to turn into community, not isolate and turn away from it. Watch National Geographic. Right? And when a lion is hungry, they look at a herd of wildebeest, do they run into the middle of the pile and grab the biggest, strongest, most surrounded one to eat? What do they do?

Pastor Cameron: 01:02:53

They look for one that's on the outskirts of the herd, who has no protection, who is maybe sick and weak or whatever, and they slice them off from the rest of the herd where there is no protection, and then they eat them. Listen. Our enemy is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And he devours people in isolation who have isolated their lives, who have isolated their hearts, who have isolated their relationships. There is joy, safety, and protection when life falls apart in the middle of community that can uphold you, support you, love you, pray for you, walk with you, help you, resource you, keep you safe from the schemes of the enemy.

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:56

Lastly, in verse 5, he says this, put your hope in god for I for put your hope in god for I will yet praise him, my savior and my god. Worship worship is an expression of joy that rises above circumstances. We put our hope in God when we sing praises. Yeah. I will praise my savior and my God.

Pastor Cameron: 01:04:27

Listen. In worship, we cannot remain unmoved with the ex expectation of encountering the living god. Worship is not a thing to, to view and to see. Worship is an is an a participation and expression in the praise of the one who is present in the room and is worthy of honor and glory. Well, I just kinda stand like this and just kinda reflect because I don't really connect with the songs.

Pastor Cameron: 01:05:14

Great. They're not for you. You don't need to connect with them. We ain't singing to you. Our words are a reflection and expression of our heart's desire to honor and praise a God who has given us joy in his spirit, even in the midst of the circumstances of our lives.

Pastor Cameron: 01:05:44

How can you praise god when life is falling apart? Well, because praise of a god when life is praise of god when life is falling apart is the only way above the circumstance. It is the only way to recognize that that has no power over me because my focus is on Jesus and my perspective is eternal. So I praise a god who has saved me from slavery to my circumstances, slavery to my pursuit of happiness, that I can experience an overwhelming and indestructible joy no matter what is going on because I have a god whom I worship who is above it all. And so worship is not just a way in which we transition in and out of certain aspects of our service and that you just get to view and watch it.

Pastor Cameron: 01:06:40

It is an opportunity for you to step into the presence of the one who lifts you with his spirit above your circumstances and gives you a heart of joy. That is why we worship. Let's pray. Heavenly father, I pray that you would give us joy, joy that extends above any circumstance, Lord, and that you would forgive us for the times where we have, been skeptical of those expressing joy. Lord, I pray that by your spirit, you would transform our hearts.

Pastor Cameron: 01:07:35

That we would surrender our desire for everything to make us happy. And instead, Lord, walk a parallel path of pursuing joy in your spirit. In Jesus name, amen.