12.21.2025 Rejoicing With One Another

And that's because most of us define and experience joy circumstantially. And that's one way to experience it. One way to define it is joy comes when you have an experience of something good coming to you. Like a win. Or something that's positive in your life. Something good happens and you experience joy. Because joy for most of us is experienced circumstantially. Something good happens. We feel happy. But the Bible defines joy like that and more. [00:03:22] (29 seconds)  #JoyIsMoreThanCircumstance

Actually, one of the powerful things you see in Scripture throughout is this definition of joy that is there even when circumstances don't give you any sense of joy. Because the biblical joy is tied to something that doesn't change even if circumstances change. Biblical joy is tied to a person. It's tied to someone who never changes, never fails, never falters, and never gives up. [00:03:51] (29 seconds)  #JoyBeyondCircumstances

During Advent, we've been looking at this theme of one another. And this word, one another, comes up 54 times in the New Testament. It's a strong theme. It's showing us that as followers of God, we experience gifts from God. We experience salvation from God. But that doesn't mean we experience those things in isolation. We are meant to have that lead us into family, into a body, into a church. We're not meant to do it alone. [00:04:21] (26 seconds)  #FaithInCommunity

We've looked at encouraging one another, waiting with one another, having peace with one another, serving one another. And today, I want to look at rejoicing with one another. Because joy, we'll find, is not meant to just be an isolated personal experience in private. It's meant to spread. It's meant to be shared. It's meant to affect how we experience the church and with each other. [00:04:56] (28 seconds)  #JoyIsCommunal

Most people will have to wrestle with the possibility of the gospel. Many people will struggle to believe that's the normal reaction. Even if you come face to face with supernatural things, but her reaction is engaged. She's, she's asking for more information. She's taking steps. She's moving one step at a time. [00:07:56] (24 seconds)  #StepTowardTruth

In fact, that may be where you are. You aren't quite sure about who Jesus is. You've experienced some things. You've heard some parts of this. I think even being here, maybe you haven't gone to church in some time. That's a step. That is the step you're taking. And we see Mary taking small steps too. [00:08:30] (17 seconds)  #SmallStepsToFaith

This is when things click. It's when Mary comes into relationship and comes to conversation, comes into fellowship with Elizabeth. It's Elizabeth who is understanding from the Holy Spirit of what's going on. And she expresses her understanding to Mary. And then it clicks for Mary. It causes her faith to connect. Her transformation begins to occur. Now her style steps lead into faith. Her heart then overflows with joy into song. [00:10:01] (34 seconds)  #FaithClicksIntoSong

Faith flows from this intellectual understanding and a submission of your whole person. And look at this. It's when Mary comes into fellowship with Elizabeth that it's sparked into her understanding and into rejoicing. And so I think this is something that we kind of miss in the story, but I think is a profound truth. Her joy is sparked by fellowship. [00:10:35] (29 seconds)  #FellowshipSparksJoy

Mary doesn't take good news and understand it on her own. In fact, she doesn't quite get it. She doesn't turn into joy in her life and experiences until she comes into fellowship with Elizabeth. It's Elizabeth who helps her. Her joy is sparked by her cousin. What a beautiful picture and reminder to us of the importance of deep fellowship, of friendships, of relationships, the importance of community. [00:11:04] (28 seconds)  #FellowshipUnveilsJoy

And when you are with that person, they spark something in you to understand God. It sparks something in you to come to joy in your life. And so one of the questions I think we should consider in our lives, both as recipients and givers of fellowship, is who is your Elizabeth? Who is the person that you need to spark joy in your life? And seek them out. Because maybe it is. Maybe one of the challenges of experiencing joy in this circumstance, because maybe your circumstances have brought you to a place where you're not feeling joy. [00:12:35] (39 seconds)  #SeekYourSpark

Because someone in your life needs you. Because you see God and experience God from a certain perspective. You understand joy from a certain perspective. And you can bring that to someone in your life. God has brought you to those relationships to spark joy in their life. Who can you be an Elizabeth to this week? Who needs that spark that you have? And how can you seek them out to be present in their life? [00:13:39] (28 seconds)  #BeAnElizabeth

She is a teenage girl who is pregnant during the betrothal state of her relationship with Joseph in a hyper-religious Jewish community in the first century. Do we know what the possible consequences of being pregnant in this time are? In the first century Judea, betrothal is a binding contract. And any perceived infidelity, obviously pregnancy, not from that guy would be perceived infidelity, would lead to severe social repercussions. Because Mary would have been completely ostracized from her community. [00:16:56] (39 seconds)  #FaithOverReputation

And according to Jewish law, a betrothed woman found to be pregnant could also be subject to divorce. And divorce in their context means you lose all social standing. You lose all safety net. You lose resources. It also could result even in stoning. So death. So yeah, does Mary have anything to worry about? Yes, her life at risk. Her reputation, her future, all likely, potentially gone. And yet, she's worshiping. [00:17:34] (36 seconds)  #WorshipDespiteRisk

We all choose what we give our worship to, our attention to. Let me kind of define worry this way. Worry is trying to control things that are beyond our control. And that's what causes anxiety. We're trying to do all that we can to control things we can't control. And as a control freak, I totally understand what that means, right? Some of you totally understand the definition. Trying to control things we cannot control. [00:19:48] (30 seconds)  #ReleaseControl

Because worry fundamentally is a matter of worship. It's what you give your heart to, your attention to. Worry is based on the fear that God doesn't have control. So I have to do something to make me feel like I'm in control. It's self-inflicted panic trying to control something I cannot control. What are you giving attention to? [00:20:29] (24 seconds)  #WorryIsWorship

This is the spiritual disease that each one of us needs to fight against forgetfulness. And you fight that by paying attention and remembering the things of God, looking backwards and looking at the present to see how God has acted. If you want a path to joy, if you want to discover joy that can go through any kind of circumstance that you will walk through, whether that's a difficult circumstance now or the difficult circumstance you will face in the years to come. We need to have this discipline of remembering, looking backwards at our history and saying, God was faithful then and calling him to be faithful now because he will be faithful now. [00:26:23] (41 seconds)  #RememberAndRejoice

Because every time I want to forget God is working, I hold that piece of clothing. And I remember. It doesn't mean I'm going to have, I don't know how much time God's going to give me. But he gave me more than eight years old because God is faithful. And I choose to remember when God saves. Not just thousands of years ago. Not even just physically because that wasn't the most important salvation in my life. When he brought me back from death in my sins. Back to life. That is what's most important. And I choose to remember the people he brought into my life. That made that happen. [00:32:05] (46 seconds)  #RememberHisFaithfulness