Choose Joy

Joy is a choice. Joy is a choice. I'm gonna say that again. Joy is a choice, and we must choose that joy. It's full of choices, and it's a choice that we need to make, an active choice of choosing joy. I would love for you to write this down this morning if you're taking notes. Walking in the fullness of his joy is a choice. [00:40:40] (28 seconds)  #JoyIsAChoice

And here is the reality. We make the choice to go before the presence of God every day and continually, or we make the choice not to. I'm a say that again. We make the constant choice to go before the presence of God or not to. And we encounter the presence of God when we get together here and we congregate worship and we listen to the word or when we go to small group and we worship and we listen to the word. But here's the reality. You and I have to make the choice to get before the presence of God every single day, when we're facing stuff. [00:41:23] (41 seconds)  #ChooseGodsPresence

I can tell you I've gone through things in my life, and there now has not been one occasion where in the midst of the trial, the tribulation, or the pain, the anxiousness, the worry, the doubt, whatever I'm facing in that moment, there has not been one instant where I haven't gotten into worship and in the presence of God where that weight hasn't lifted. [00:42:04] (21 seconds)  #WorshipLiftsWeight

We count it as joy. We count it as joy knowing what that the adversity, that the trial in the hands of God will produce an outcome in us that we're gonna be able to overcome whatever we face. And that's a choice that we make on how we're gonna look at it. That's a choice that we're gonna make, and it's not in the joy of the trial, but in the possible outcome. I'm joyful because of the not of the trial itself, but in what God can do through it. [00:50:30] (35 seconds)  #OutcomeNotProblem

And I gotta look at it and say, I don't like it, and I don't get it, but god, you're gonna work something out of me. Why? Because I have faith in the promise. And when you and I are walking in faith in the midst of a trial and adversity, it releases joy. When you and I are walking in that faith, faith in what God will do through what we face releases joy. It releases joy. [00:56:53] (34 seconds)  #FaithReleasesJoy

And I gotta look at it and say, I don't like it, and I don't get it, but god, you're gonna work something out of me. Why? Because I have faith in the promise. And when you and I are walking in faith in the midst of a trial and adversity, it releases joy. When you and I are walking in that faith, faith in what God will do through what we face releases joy. It releases joy. [00:56:53] (34 seconds)  #FaithInTheMidst

But something good can still come out of it because you can get points on the board. And guys, we face through situations. And you know what happens many a times when people go up there and miss the free throws many times? It's because when they get to the free throw line, they're still focused on the fact that they had gotten knocked down. They're still focused on the fact that they just got hit. They're still focused on the fact of the problem they just faced. [00:58:19] (26 seconds)  #GetPointsOnTheBoard

And guys, we're gonna get hit. We're gonna get knocked down, but we're gonna get back up and we're gonna look at it and say, God, I don't like it and I don't get it, but you're gonna do something in it. I don't understand it, but you're gonna do something in it. And when we make the choice to look at it that way, we're able to face whatever comes our way in the fullness of joy. We can count it as joy because we know and trust in our god. [00:59:12] (29 seconds)  #RiseAfterYoureHit