Living Tenderheartedly in God's Eternal Kingdom

Proclaim the truth of the kingdom of God no matter what we're feeling or experiencing or what we hear in the news that you are over every throne and power every kingdom and authority will one day bow to you we don't know what the future in the middle east is or in Ukraine or North Korea or Iran we don't know the future of Washington D .C. what's going to happen here in this country we don't know what future pandemics when virus X is going to come out when our stock market is going to crash when a one world B system will be introduced we don't know what's going to happen next year or even tomorrow but we can stand here unabashedly unafraid and declare that yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever we can live without fear even if we're not we're in great pain and great lack because we have a king who will rule over all our papa our god our savior the lover of our soul we love you we love you and anyone here today or anyone watching online that does not yet love you just because they don't know you yet wait until they get to know you and they're going to love you too hallelujah [00:21:01] (95 seconds)


And we're just going to talk a little bit about kids' ministry, because kids' ministry matters. Yesterday, I was at a men's breakfast in Snohomish, and I met a guy, who was in his 70s. And I was just asking him, how did you first meet Jesus? And he said, there was a bus that would come into my neighborhood. My parents said, get on the bus, and it would take him to church. And that's where he heard the gospel about Jesus. And then when he came home at night, on his bed, little seven -year -old, he prayed to receive Jesus. But it was because somebody took the effort and time to bring him to church, and there was adults there that loved and served him. The power of the gospel. The power of the gospel changes kids' lives. [00:29:21] (43 seconds)


Children need to hear about the love of Jesus. And how are they going to hear unless there is someone that tells them? And Lord, we ask that you would create in this church, you would, would create a love for the children, that we would be like Jesus and say, let him come to me. And that we would, we would share with them. We would love, love them. And that children here would experience the love of Jesus. Like that man that I got in here yesterday, that it's been serving you now for 60 years. Let there be many stories of children that 40 or 50 years from now, if you, Terry, look back and say, my neighbor took me, my grandpa took me to Marysville four square. That's where I heard about Jesus. And that's where I gave my life to him. Do a work in this place that glorifies Jesus amongst our kids in Jesus name. Amen. [00:34:55] (55 seconds)


So joy is one of the promises that comes with the king. For those of you here that have surrendered your life to King Jesus, there is a joy that comes. Others of you that have not yet done that, maybe today is the day to come to King Jesus. The world doesn't fully really understand joy. This is a dictionary definition of joy. Joy is the emotion evoked by well -being, success, or good fortune by the prospect of possessing what one desires. Maybe if you desire the daisy red rider BB gun and you finally get it, you get a little bit of joy. But how long does it last? Until you shoot your eye out, right? [00:54:27] (44 seconds)

So the world's concept of joy is actually not all that unrelated to like lust. It's like you're wanting something and then when you get that, it's, does it completely satisfy? You end up wanting more and more and more. And I mean, this is the Christmas hangover, right? If you get three gifts, you're like, why wasn't there more? If you get 10 gifts, it doesn't fully satisfy. The place in our brain that's wired to get that dopamine hit when you open a present or, when you, when you enjoy that glass of wine or you get that promotion, you get an extra Christmas bonus. It's like, yes, you feel joy. [00:55:11] (49 seconds)


I got to hear secondhand from Mike and Sue Costello's testimony when we had our healing conference here a month ago or so, and Mike had suffered from Parkinson's disease for eight years, and that as a portion of that, just hard to walk, hard to smile even, and as God touched him out there in the lobby out there, and I would say it's a measure of healing. It's not complete by any stretch of the means, but something happened in his body in that moment, and also in their souls mutually, I would say, but they shared a little dance out there together that they hadn't had for a while, and Sue said, would you smile for me, honey? He was able to smile, and so God's doing something in Mike and Sue, not done yet, but we say more Holy Spirit right now in Jesus' name. Let the kingdom of God come, break forth in every nerve, in every muscle fiber, in the skeleton, in every communication pathway to the brain. Let the kingdom of God break forth in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But the product of that prayer time a month or two ago was joy in their life and in their marriage. Hallelujah. This is what Jesus does. [01:10:21] (79 seconds)


There's an aspect of joy that involves our will that we choose to engage with it. God didn't create our emotions that it's just like emotions come, and we're subject to it, and we have no control of them. Whatever happens, happens. No, we actually have a will that we can make choices to sort of feed into emotions, or not. And the scriptures say this very plainly. Proverbs 17, 22, a joyful heart is good medicine. Like, medicine is like... got to take it. It doesn't just happen. You got to, like, choose joy or choose to be around people that are joy. The opposite is a crushed spirit dries up the bones. We can surround ourselves with places or people where there's no joy, and it's going to affect us. Philippians 4 .4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. It's a command. [01:11:40] (58 seconds)


Habakkuk, the prophet Habakkuk, gives us a good clue about how the Bible says we can live in the tension, the reality between suffering, pain, and joy. Though the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herds in the stalls, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Now, most of us don't have fig trees or vines but maybe just make this like a country song, you know, if your wife leaves and your dog dies and your, you know, the head gasket in your Ford truck goes out and everything goes wrong. Can you still praise the Lord? Yes, you can base your joy in life off of more than just the momentary circumstance. [01:19:45] (61 seconds)