Choosing Joy: Embracing God's Love and Redemption

"But in that, he's meeting them, right? So this is the end of Zephaniah 3, and he says, So sometimes we get this picture of like, oh, like, if God gives us justice, then he can't be loving. But justice is loving. And it right here, it says he's restored. He's singing to Israel. He's delighting in them. And Israel, we share in that now. It's not just Israel. It's God loves us the same way." [00:21:22] (32 seconds)


"While we're on the topic of choosing celebration, it may seem like I'm going off on a trail but I'm not there's this movie Bonhoeffer that just came out it's about this pastor from World War II his name is Dietrich Bonhoeffer he wrote a couple of great books that shaped Christian thought today but he was mainly known for standing up to Hitler and he was a really cool dude, you should watch the movie but this kind of paradigm of choosing joy came up in that movie to me Luther grew up in Lutheran church or maybe you'd be more familiar with Catholicism where it's kind of rigid so" [00:23:44] (42 seconds)


"he was a really smart guy he knew a lot about God he was a theologian so much so that he got sent to America to learn more to further his studies while he was in America he encountered a Pentecostal church some might call it a Pentecostal church a charismatic church I call it a black church there's just something like or you know a church of like Tracy's there, yes just for context, take the color out of it but while he was at this church he was talking to the pastor and the pastor goes, have you met God?" [00:24:27] (44 seconds)


"and Dietrich was fascinated or I'll say for my word today he was captivated everybody say captivated all right, whenever we truly meet God we truly meet God there is something undeniably captivating about him amen there's undeniably a mentor of mine says it like this our job isn't to defend Jesus to make people believe in Jesus we hold him out in front of people and what they take of it, they do but I believe whenever I say, hey, here's Jesus people are like, what? let me get closer there's something captivating there's something that captivates me there's something that draws people to him it's not my job today I want to talk about being captivated over consecrated this isn't heretical, I promise consecration is good but I think we have to be captivated before we become concentrated or captivated before we become consecrated I know that's two C's I promise I was sick before I met Dave but let me give you, let's start with some definition captivated captivated means to attract and hold interest of inattention or to charm" [00:25:34] (83 seconds)


"Then an angel stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy, and that will be for all the people. Today in the city of David, a Savior was born for you. Who is the Messiah? The Lord. This will be the sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and laying in a manger." [00:28:16] (27 seconds)


"Suddenly there was a multitude of heavenly hosts, and with the angel praising God and saying, Glory to God in the heaven, and peace on earth to the people he favors. When the angels had left and returned to heaven, the shepherd said to one, Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what had happened, which the Lord has made known to us. Guys, they were captivated by the angels. And then what? They were moved to heaven. To action. They left their posts. They left their job. They went AWOL. Captivation leads to action." [00:28:43] (37 seconds)


"Whatever has our attention, the Jimmy Siebert, the father of Antioch, which is our family churches, but I mean, I say it jokingly, but I respect the shoes out of that guy. He says it like this. He says, whatever has our attention has our affection. Whatever has our affection has our adoration and adoration is worship, right? So whatever we're focusing on, whatever we're choosing, to focus on leads us down a path ultimately to serve that, right? So if we're focusing on the bad, we're focusing on the negative, we're going to end up at a negative destination. I talk to, talk to my son about this all the time." [00:31:14] (41 seconds)


"Since the weapons of our warfare are not flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds, we demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God. And just focus right here is we take every thought captive to obey Christ. We take every thought captive to obey Christ. Being really humble, open, transparent with you guys is this one is really hard for me. I'm, I gravitate towards pessimism quite a bit." [00:32:21] (34 seconds)


"So it's always like worst case scenario until my wife is like, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, this is reality. It's not so bad. Everything's not falling apart. I'm like, Oh yeah. Um, the reality is, is, uh, even if we don't act on these things, these thoughts, right. By some miracle, right? Because whenever we think about something, we end up acting out of that. But even if we don't, it's still a distraction. I know that's how it is in my life." [00:32:55] (31 seconds)


"Romans five verses seven through nine says for rarely will someone die for a just person. Though for a good person, perhaps someone might even dare to die, but God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath?" [00:36:38] (30 seconds)


"Romans 8, 38 and 39 says, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Guys, this is, I mean, I, I don't know what I expect, but this is, this is the good news. God redeemed us." [00:37:38] (27 seconds)


"Today, let's choose to be captivated by this. God's redemption, because on the other side of this is joy. And I used to think like, oh, if I have to choose it, then it's, it's manufactured. No, it's not. Every day, if you're married, you, you get up and you choose your wife. You choose to be a good parent. Anything real in life is a choice. Amen." [00:38:59] (26 seconds)