RLC, are you ready to worship the Lord this morning? Go ahead and stand to your feet. We're gonna enter into prayer, but I just want to ask you to let everything else go away. Whatever happened this week, good, bad, or ugly, let it go away. And let's give God our undivided attention and our unbridled praise this morning.
Let's enter into prayer in Jesus' name.
Father, we thank you for your spirit and your word, which emerged to bring transformation into our lives. And so, Father, today we give you permission to change our mind, to alter our attitude, and make us more like the Son of God. In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Well, today I'm going to be bringing you a message that I have preached before. And I don't know if I've preached it once or twice, so this might be the second or the third time. But, you know, I read one time that Charles Spurgeon said, "Until you preach the message 50 times, you ain't preached it right." And so if that's true, then I ain't never preached the message right because I've never preached anything 50 times.
But it seemed good to me to bring this one again because it is a good message. And that would have been a perfect place to say, "Amen, pastor, you always preach good messages." So, you know, sometimes we need to be reminded of things, right?
And, you know, I am a fan of Christmas. I always have been. Then when I met my wife, it went into overdrive. And I'm that neighbor. Typically, now the last couple of years have been out of the norm, but there will become a return to normalcy for the Miller house. And I'm the type of neighbor you would either really love living next to or really hate living next to.
Because if everything goes right, I'm the house you see from space. I like it. One year, I got my Troy built riding lawnmower, and I put some blow mold reindeer in front of it. I wrapped it in lights and I put Santa on the seat, and I had a trailer behind it with a red bag. That's trailer hood Santa. And he had red long underwear.
Yeah. Like I said, you would either really like me or really hate me. But I refuse to be normal. And I just like everything about Christmas. And if you're one of these people who trip over the paganism of it, keep your opinion to yourself. Because I do understand what does not apply to Christ, but I see Christ in everything.
And so, I mean, I can look past the things that you have hang-ups with, and I see the wonder of Christ. But I want to say, you know, Christmas, like any other season, is what you make of it. You know, as we go through life, I've learned now that I've got half a century behind me, plus a few, that life is really not complicated. It's really pretty simple.
We always have about two choices in anything. You can choose the blessing or you can choose the curse. You can choose life or you can choose death. You can choose joy or you can choose sorrow. You can choose happy or you can choose sad. My prayer is today that you'll choose happy. And I plan on giving you so many verses to support that God wants you happy.
So today, I'm going to bring you... How many of you... Is your cup in front of you? That's going to be a very important element in the sermon. Now, a couple of you asked for hot water. I have a prophetic word for you. No. Those are brand new chairs you're sitting in, and I don't trust you, Daisy. So imagine there's hot water and put hot water on it or in it when you go home.
The title of this morning's message is "Have a Cup of Cheer." There's a statement I want to make right here as we get started, and I want you to hear what I'm about to say. Your attitude is either your emancipation or your incarceration. I want to repeat that so you get it. It's your attitude. It's not what has happened to you. You are not the byproduct of other people's bad choices and evil intent.
You know this. I'm chasing a rabbit. But you remember Joseph from the Old Testament? Everything he went through, when he met his brothers, he didn't pull any punches about it. He said, "What you did, you meant to cause me harm." But then the next two words are so vitally important. Because he said, "But God."
You and I need to understand it's not what they said, what they did, or what we went through that produces who we are because of God. So to every bad thing, you ought to say, "But God." That would have killed me, but God. That would have destroyed me, but God. That would have taken me out, but God. That would have really hurt, but God. I would have been lost, but God. I would have been damned to hell, but God. Always bring God into the equation.
And so for many of us, our Christianity needs a remodel. And the reason I say that is far too many of us, we've allowed religion and even Hollywood to paint the portrait of what Christianity is. You know, the old movies about Jesus, he was malnourished, stoic, sad, depressed. That's not Christ.
I remember years ago when my wife and I first moved to Poland, there was a movie that had just come out. And I guess we had it on VHS or DVD or something. I don't remember how we had it. But we didn't even have a place to live yet, and we wanted to watch this movie, which was a verse-by-verse through the book of Matthew.
And in this, the actor that played Jesus laughed. He smiled. He loved God. He loved life. And he loved people. And when we were done watching it, I thought, finally, a movie that I don't hate about Jesus. And my wife and I made a comment about how wonderful it was. And I'll never forget this all the days of my life. The lady that was hosting us got really, really irate and said, "I don't like that movie."
And when we asked why, because I thought it was a great movie, she said, "Jesus didn't laugh. Jesus wasn't happy." And I thought, you know, that's the view a lot of people have of Jesus. That Jesus is just really not a nice person to hang out with. He's kind of a downer.
And we need to understand that not only is Christ happy, you and I have divine permission. Actually, we've been ordained by God to be joy-filled. And so today, what I want to do is I want to throw so many verses at you that it has a shift in your mindset. And when you leave here, you have a smile on your face, a pep in your step, and you choose to be happy no matter what crap you encounter. Is that OK?
I am sure. Now, right, let's go ahead and get started. Go with me to the book of Hebrews because I want to show you. This is an amazing verse that sometimes we just gloss over. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8 and 9. Verse 8 says, "But of the Son," everyone say the Son. So he's speaking here of Jesus Christ our Messiah.
"But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom.'" Now look at verse 9. "You, the Son, have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you, the Son, with the oil of gladness, gladness above your companions."
Now, say la this for a moment because what this verse is saying is that God the Father anointed Jesus with gladness. And not just common gladness, a gladness that exceeded the gladness of everyone else. Of all of his friends and everyone else, Jesus was happier than all the rest.
And this word gladness doesn't mean just to have a little smirk on your face. It literally means dancing and laughing and shouting and clapping and spinning. It means a bubbling over, exuberant, hard-to-contain type of joy. That's not the Christ most people see. But that's who he was. Did he deal with things? Yes, he dealt with them. But he knew better than any of us that the joy of the Lord was his strength.
So you need to understand that Jesus was anointed with an overwhelming gladness. And you and I have the same anointing he walked in because we're anointed as the body of Christ with the anointing of Christ. So here's a mind-blowing thought. You're not anointed to be sad.
If you're depressed and sad and angry, you're operating outside the anointing. Because if you're operating in the anointing of Christ, which is on the body of Christ, the anointing makes you glad. And I think part of the reason why it makes you glad is because he's got it, so you ain't got to worry about it.
Let's keep... Listen, who anointed Jesus? Well, in Luke chapter 4, the Bible says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me." So Jesus was anointed by the Spirit. And then look at Luke chapter, or Acts chapter 10, verse 38. The Bible says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power."
So you can see that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of gladness. You can be happy. Listen to this, you can be happy because God empowers you to be happy. See, the joy that comes from God is not based on your circumstances. This is why he said that he was going to leave you his peace. He was going to give you his joy. Joy that's not based on what you're going through, but who you come from.
So I'm going to say that again. You and I can be happy because God empowers us to be happy. Galatians chapter 5, verse 22. Let's put that up. Put that up on the screen if you would. I want you to look at this. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love." The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy. Not depression. Not angst and stress. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit.
So you ought to be happy because it's God's will for you to be happy. You ought to be happy because God has given you the opportunity to be happy. There's a deep, deep theological movie called Pollyanna. Y'all ever seen it? In that movie, Pollyanna, the trained theologian, said that there were 800 happy verses.
Now, I ain't giving y'all 800 today, just 799 of them. But if she is accurate, if you looked up one verse a day, one verse a day on happiness, joy, and committed it to memory and acted on it, it would take you over two years of daily meditation on being happy. You ought to be happy because God has ordained you to gladness.
Years ago, one of my favorite preachers, who's now in heaven, wrote a book, "Don't Let the Enemy Steal Your Joy." Because if he can't steal your joy, he can't take your stuff. Everyone hold up your cup and say, "Have a cup of cheer."
I wish she was here, but she's in heaven now. The first time I ever preached this, there was a lady that stood right over here. I think she was in her 90s when I preached it, right? And I'll never forget it because as I was preaching this, she stood up and started doing a 90-year-old dance. And then she held up her hand and she said, "I think I'll have me another drink."
It's not only OK to be happy, it's truly a sign of discipleship. Because God didn't ordain you to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. And it's no sign of nobility that somehow you're holier than everyone else when you're depressed. Because after all, don't you know this lost soul's going to hell? I gotta be sad about it.
But the Bible says, I read it somewhere, I'm pretty sure it's in there, that everything that causes you anxiety or care, you're supposed to cast that over on him. Because the Bible says that the weight of the government, meaning the care of all of it, is on his shoulders, not yours.
Proverbs chapter 15, verse 13 says this: "A joyful heart makes a cheerful face. But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken." And then Proverbs chapter 17, verse 22: "A joyful heart is good medicine. But a broken spirit dries up the bones."
And then Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10, I told you, listen, we know this at Real Life Church, right? If it's written, I'm going to give you so many places from the Old Testament to the New Testament where God talked about his people being happy and joy-filled that you ought to have no uncertainty that you have divine permission to be happy not only at Christmas but New Year.
When the New Year starts, when you're a quarter way through the New Year, when you're halfway through the New Year, tax season, you ought to be happy. Because God meets all of your needs and he supplies everything you'll ever have need of according to his riches and glory. You ought not to be sad. You ought to eat a marshmallow.
If I see... Where they throw, are they throw biscuits at people? By the end of this service, I'm going to have a sugar buzz because I've got a whole bag of them. Nehemiah 8, verse 10. Ezra's speaking. Then he said to them, "Go eat of the fat. Drink of the sweet."
Now, eat of the fat means don't eat that gluten-free, calorie-free, taste-free rice cake. Eat something with some sugar in it. Something that tastes good. Eat of the fat and drink of the sweet. And send portions to him who has nothing prepared so they can partake on fat and sweet too.
Don't you know the Bible says he'll make your ending fat? Listen to this. For this day... Now, listen to what it says right here. For this day is holy. Do you see what it's saying? This day is holy to our Lord. So what are we supposed to do? Act sad in it? Because, I mean, after all, isn't this what holiness looks like? Not according to this verse.
This day is holy. So what are we supposed to do? Celebrate. Have a party. Why? Because this is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made. It's a holy day. And we will rejoice and be glad in it. For then he goes on to say, "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Listen to this. You are not a victim of your circumstances unless you choose to be. Gladness empowers you to press through misfortune. Sadness locks you into them. I want to say that again. Gladness of heart, when your spirit is happy, your soul is happy, it empowers you to press through misfortune.
But when you become sad and bleak... When you become weak and dark, that sadness locks you into your misfortunes. You can't get past them. Why? Because you're weak. Your state of living is connected directly to your state of mind.
Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 47 and 48. I want to read this to you out of the New Living Translation. Brian, come up here real quick. Hurry. Hurry, because I can't reach the people all the way into the back.
Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 47. Listen to this. "If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm," meaning gladness of heart, "for the abundant benefits you have received," verse 48, "you will serve your enemies." That verse goes on to say you'll be naked, you'll be destitute, and you'll lack everything. Why? Because you didn't serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart.
I want to submit something for your consideration, and if you disagree, if you disagree with me, you're wrong. You can't serve the Lord in sadness. You can't. Oh, I mean, you might go through the rituals, but your heart's not in it, and if your heart's not in it, God don't count it.
You can only serve God in gladness and enthusiasm. And again, if you don't, that's why some of the things are happening in our lives. And we're blaming the devil, but we're giving him all the opportunity he needs. Joy, shout, praise, doing what Jesus did, reciting the word back at him.
Hmm. Let's keep going. If the enemy can steal your joy, he can take everything because you're too weak, too depressed, and too tired to defend against him. Gladness is a defense against loss.
Psalms chapter 16, verse 11. Verse 11: "You will make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy." In your right hand, there are sorrows forevermore. No, pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 32, verse 11: "Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy." Hmm. All you who are upright in heart. Psalm 33, verse 1: "Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; praise looks good on you; it is becoming for the upright."
Psalm 33, verse 3: "Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy." If it's written, our understanding, our certainty is unnecessary. We have not only divine empowerment but divine permission to be happy, to be filled with joy.
Psalm 35, verse 27: "Let them shout for joy and rejoice who favor my vindication and let them say continuously, 'The Lord be magnified, who delights in the prosperity of his servant.'"
Psalm 47, verse 1: "Oh, clap your hands, all peoples." Where was I? Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with the voice of joy. And then Psalm 51, verse 12: "Restore to me the joy, the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit."
See, listen, something that we've got to understand is it's not what we have that makes us happy or what we lack. It's not about where we are or what we're journeying through. Our joy comes from our King. And just saying it beautifully this morning, there ain't nothing... The joy comes from him. There ain't nothing.
And I know that's improper English, but it's anointed when you say it that way. There ain't nothing the world can do to take your joy from you because the joy didn't come from them. Nothing alters it.
10-second rule, you got it at nine. Bravo, I was watching. Hmm. Psalm 100. Listen to this verse 1: "Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him singing with joy."
I mean, it's almost like God's trying to say, "Hey y'all, get it." Hmm. Isaiah chapter 35, verse 10: "And the ransom of the Lord, that's us, will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads; they will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
Hmm. Listen to this verse. Christianity is exciting. The benefits of the Lord are amazing. And if we are sad about it, we got something wrong, and we need a realignment of our thoughts. And to realize that, again, being depressed isn't a sign that you're a deep thinker, that you really care. It's a sign you don't care.
It's a sign that you're a deep thinker, that you really care. It's a sign you don't. Because if you believed, you'd be excited because he's already won the battle. It doesn't matter what the devil does. It doesn't matter what weapons formed against you. There's not a single weapon that can be formed against you that can prosper, and nothing the enemy does can succeed.
John chapter 15, verse 11: "All I say is..." Zion is the organizer of people who do not grasp terror. The enemy does not. Every first verse, every first verse, it says more than enough for any situation or any circumstance.
Acts chapter 13, verse 52: "And the disciples were continually filled with..." But wait, they were being persecuted. Yep. They were being hunted down. Yep. Yet they were continually filled with joy. Why? Because the joy came from the Spirit.
When the Scripture speaks of joy and gladness, it's conveying an expression of excitement and cheer. Not just being happy on the inside. Don't look like it. It means exceedingly glad. Exceedingly glad. Joy, mirth, a joy expressed in laughter. Gladness, gaiety, lighthearted, cheerful pleasure.
That's the portrait of a believing daughter and son of God. You know, back before I discovered this wonderful thing called Amazon, and my wife and I were still crazy enough to go to the mall at Christmas. Y'all remember doing that? I don't do that no more. I like the smiling face on my porch.
But I remember a few years ago, we went to the mall at Christmas, and I did what any husband endowed with great wisdom does. I got a cup of coffee, and I brought a book. And I found a chair that was yet unoccupied by another man trying to do the same thing. And I sat and I waited while my wife went out and hunted.
And she's the hunter-gatherer. I'm the payer. And while I was sitting there reading this book, I kind of got annoyed because there were two look-like teenage girls over here to the side just looking at something on their phone and laughing loud. And I'm trying to read.
And whatever it was they were looking at on their phone, one of them found it so thrilling, she fell off the bench and was on the floor laughing. And it made a mark on me because I had this thought. I said, "So that's what it means to be giddy as a schoolgirl."
And the Lord backed that. I mean, he came in instantly on that thought. And this is what he told me. "If my people trusted me, that's how they would be." See, I went from looking at this girl like, "What are you doing?" to thinking, "Man, I ought to join you."
Because God said, "If my people trusted me, that's how they would be." Brother Hagin used to try to drill it into our head. "Laugh at the devil." When the devil comes and tells you you're never going to get healed of this, you're never going to get through of this, you're never going to have your breakthrough, that business is never going to be birthed, this ain't never going to work, you ought to laugh at the devil instead of getting depressed and agreeing with him.
I mean, brother, once he used to... Laugh at the devil. Why? Because he's a liar. If he says you're never going to make it, that is a... Hmm. Acts chapter 2, verse 28: "You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence."
Psalm 4, verse 7: "You have put gladness in my heart." Psalms 30, verse 11: "You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy." Is this OK?
And then in Esther chapter 8, verse 16, the Bible says this: "For the Jews, also known as the people of God, there was light, and gladness, and joy, joy, and honor." In Psalm chapter 21, verses 1 through 7, it says this: "O Lord, in your strength, the king will be glad. And in your salvation, how greatly will he rejoice. You have given him his heart's desire. You have not withheld the request of his lips."
Selah. "For you meet him with the blessings of good things. You set a crown of fine gold on his head; he asked life of you. You gave it to him length of days, forever and ever. His glory is great through your salvation. Splendor and majesty you place upon him."
Verse 6: "For you make him most blessed forever. You make him joyful with gladness in your presence." For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the loving kindness of the Most High God, he will not be shaken.
Psalm 45, verse 7. Verse 15: "They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing." Told you I'm giving you a lot of verses. But I want you to know, listen, this ain't mind over matter. This is spirit over flesh. This is his word over your situation.
That it doesn't matter how many letters you have on your desk with past due. It doesn't matter how many times the IRS or the doctor has contacted you. Put your faith in God. Going back to what Joseph said. What they sent me ought to have made me sad, but God.
They said they were going to repossess it, but God. They told me I was going to get kicked out and fired, but God. The God factor makes our life light. Psalm 68, verse 3: "But let the righteous be glad. Let them exalt before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness."
Psalm 97, verse 11: "Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart." Psalm 100, verse 2: "Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful singing."
And remember what we read in Deuteronomy. I'm going to say this. You can't serve God. Not properly. And be depressed and angry and sad. The only way to properly serve God in the way that he both requires and deserves is to come before him the way he prescribed.
Come before him with singing. But pastor, I got so many things going wrong. The more they're going wrong, the louder your shout should be. The harder your day, the louder your shout and the deeper your praise ought to be. That's good.
Man, I remember one time when my wife... Listen, my wife and I have been homeless. I know what it is. I know what it is to live off of bagels that come to you in a garbage bag. And I remember one time when we were driving through Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And I was just filled with how bad everything was. A family member had just stolen all the money I had.
And I was just mulligrubbing. You know what I mean by that? I'm like, like Charlie Brown's parents. That's what I sound like. And my wife said, "Stop the car." I mean, we're on a public street. She said, "Stop the car." And I knew not to mess with her. Because I could tell she was serious.
She said, "Stop the car. Get out." I thought, boy, that was a quick thing. I thought she was going to take the car and drive off, throw the ring out the window while she's going down the road. She gets out and she comes over and she grabs my hand. We're in a street. She said, "Now dance."
I said, "I have had enough of this complaining and bickering and murmuring. We are going to dance before God." And I was like... But love, we ain't in church. Sadness went away. And I'm going to tell you right now, some of you, if you would practice your shout as much as you do your pout, you would find that sadness and sorrow flee from you.
Because when you begin to give God shouts of gladness and joy in the midst of your trouble, the devil don't know what to do with you. And he probably thinks you're cray cray too. And he don't want to mess with cray cray people. We got to practice joy.
Psalm 106, verse 5: "That I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation." God wants everyone who's in his kingdom to be happy, that I may glory with your inheritance.
Proverbs chapter 10, verse 28: "The hope of the righteous is gladness. But the expectation of the wicked perishes." Job. You wouldn't think in Job you'd find anything about joy. But Job is actually a really amazing book if you read it properly.
Job chapter 8, verse 21: "He will yet fill your mouth." But I'm sitting on the ashes of my dreams. I hurt so bad. The only relief I can find is to take a broken flower pot and scratch myself. Yet in the middle of that, everyone say, "But God."
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouting. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 20: "For he will not often consider the years of his life because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart."
I encourage you for the sake of time. Go read the two verses that come before that. But I love just reading this. God is saying, in essence, can I give you the Jimmy Miller version? Quit being so preoccupied with how old you are and become preoccupied with how glad you are about the blessings of the Lord in your life right now.
If you focus on gladness, you won't be preoccupied with... About the blessings of the Lord in your life right now. That's what it's saying. Go in Psalm 43, verse 4: "Then I will go to the altar of God, to my God, to God my exceeding joy; and upon the lyre I shall praise you, O God, my God."
Isaiah 35 and 10: "And the ransom of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads; they will find gladness and joy."
Isaiah chapter 61, verse 2: "He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of the spirit of fainting."
Isaiah chapter 65, verse 18: "But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness."
You know, whenever you read the Bible and you find the people sad and depressed and lacking, you'll always find that's because they're in the midst of judgment. Sorrow always came with the judgment. Gladness and shouting came with the return.
So let's not model ourselves after... The Bible says God's no longer angry with us because the Lord is not angry with us. The Lamb of God took the entirety of God's wrath upon him. So if you're in Christ, you're not cursed. If you're in Christ, you are not judged. If you're in Christ, you are the redeemed of the Lord.
And I think it's time that we would say so. Eight more pages. Let's keep going. When the people were being judged, this is what they would ask. Where's the music? The day of judgment is the day the music dies. Where's the laughter? Where's our joy? A sign of judgment was sadness.
But we ain't sad no more. We can be happy. We can sing songs. And we can pick marshmallows up off the floor and eat them. Go with me to Jeremiah chapter 33, verse 11. I don't got too much further to go.
Jeremiah chapter 33, verse 11: "The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, 'Give thanks to the Lord of hosts for the Lord is... For his loving kindness is everlasting.' And of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first," says the Lord.
If God's promises are true and God is for you and not against you, then you and I have no reason to be sad. We really ought to be as giddy as schoolgirls to where people ask you, "What are you laughing about?" And you can say, "I've already won. I've already beat this disease. I've already beat the season of lack. I've already overcome the trial. I've already overcome the testing. Because I'm in Christ. And Christ is in me."
I heard of one... Listen, I heard of one woman. She had gone to the doctor. And the doctor told her, "You only have a few days left." And she began shouting. And she began dancing. And the doctor thought the news was too much. And she had lost it.
And she was cray cray. And the doctor said, "Ma'am, did you hear me?" "Oh yes, I heard you." And she said, "This is the best news I've ever heard in my life. I've been waiting my whole life to hear this kind of news." Because she was... Listen, the joy of the Lord is so strong, even death can't steal it.
Because death no longer has victory. The grave no longer has victory. And death no longer has a sting. So she began to shout and praise. Give joy because of the news. And if she can do that in the face of impending death, why are we so sad because your car had a flat tire?
Everyone say, "Have a cup of cheer." This is another old story, but it's worth it. RLC hadn't been going too long, and I received a call. I think it was on Christmas Day, wasn't it, Cleve? You know the story. I'm at Tiffany's house. I think I got the call on Christmas Day.
And I was asked to go to the house because there had been a fire. And the fire didn't really relate; her house had burned down. And this was her first Christmas in a brand new brick home, everything in the house brand new. And they did... They tried to fry a turkey, and the turkey fried the house.
And so as I'm driving to her house, in my mind, I'm rehearsing how am I going to encourage the saint of God? And I'm thinking about what I can say that's going to give her hope. And when I pulled up into the driveway, I was like, "Oh my goodness." I mean, it was gone.
And she came out of the house with the smile that went from ear to ear. I mean, she had this biggest smile. And I'm like, "Wait a minute, you're messing with my narrative because I'm supposed to be cheering you up." And you come out like, "Hey pastor, how you doing? Merry Christmas."
And her spirit wasn't touched. And that made such an impression on me, that that big bold smile standing literally in the ashes of her house that she had just moved into, and she's cheering me up. And I thought, this is what it means to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Nothing breaks it. Nothing moves it.
Luke chapter 1, verse 14: "This is the law of Jesus," and he's saying... Last verse, "You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth."
In closing, let me say to you, and I'm going to say it, not sing it, because I don't want to ruin your perfectly good holiday. There's an old Christmas song that they used to sing, and it says this: "Have a holly, jolly Christmas. It's the best time of the year."
And I don't know if there'll be snow. I hope... Would you hold up that cup one more time? This is just a point of conversation. Contact. And the reason I ask you to do that is the devil's going to do everything he can to come after your joy because he knows... I'm going to say it again, if he can steal your joy, he has free access to your stuff, your marriage, your home, everything.
But if you can confront the adversary with the gladness that's in your heart and just remind yourself when he comes with the bad news, say, "Listen, bro, I'm about to drink a cup of cheer," and then laugh at the devil like he ain't got a lick of sense.
Can you give the Lord a hand clap of praise? Go ahead and stand to your feet this morning. I want to encourage you next week. Bring everyone you know. It's going to be an amazing service. We got some things lined up. And it's going to be an absolute...
The reason I preach the Christmas message now is because next week might be so good you probably want to hear me. But do come and bring some folks. It's going to be the love of Christ is going to be manifested in the very air that we breathe.
If you need prayer this morning, I'm going to ask our prayer team to come forward. And I say it every week or nearly every week. Your success is our honor. We want to join our faith with yours. We're in this together. You're not independent of us, and we're not independent of you in Christ. We're all members of the same body.
And we can't be whole as long as you're broken. So we want to join our faith with you. And so if you need prayer for anything, these folks know how to pray heaven right into your season.
And apart from that, I just want to say to you, you are the blessed of the Lord. He has smiled upon you. His favor chases you and pursues you everywhere you go. And remember that you are anointed with gladness. Yes, so let that anointing rise and be who God ordained you to be in Jesus' name.
And everyone said, amen and amen.
on Dec 15, 2024
