joy

The speaker talks about the vision of the church and future works, but decides to pause and focus on Advent and Christmas. They discuss the concept of nostalgia and how it can bring joy. They believe that faith and joy are intertwined, and that the life of a follower of Jesus is marked by joy. They read from 1 Peter 1:8-9 and talk about the importance of obedience and faith in experiencing inexpressible joy. The speaker emphasizes the presence and care of God, and the inheritance and new life that comes from being born again. They highlight the importance of trusting in God's plan and having a future mindset. We talked about the vision of Faith City Church and future works. Today, I want to pause. Like in Psalms, there's this word that means pause. It's called selah, S-E-L-A-H. It means to take a collective pause. I had a message planned out to talk about generosity and to cast more vision, but I want to pause this because we're entering Advent next week. December 3rd, we'll be having one of our very own, Pastor Chris Sinclair. We just dedicated his son, Jonathan Robert, JR. And I just wanted to preach a message. And we'll be moving back into dialogue where we'll have conversation at the table again. But our Christmas time will be centered around an unexpected hope. Oftentimes, when we hear Christmas messages, we don't understand that there is something that unexpected happened when Jesus came. With the birth of Jesus, there was something that was unexpected. We're going to talk about that. And yesterday, I was praying about how to encourage Faith City in this season and anyone who walks in the doors. My heart started to long for different times in my life where I had the most joy. And some of that is caused by this one funny word. It's called nostalgia. And so this nostalgia is something that reminds you of a memory or a time and then actually banks in your mind. And this nostalgia moment, I actually like nostalgia because in World War I, doctors used to give this moment for PTSD survivors. They used to give them ice cream because ice cream is connected to moments of nostalgia. Actually, the Navy uses ice cream socials to build up morale because it reminds people of this nostalgic moment in their life. And as we're here just thinking, I had this time where I was thinking about all the different times I had joy, the most joy. I had tried to remember my nostalgia around joy. And I believe sometimes as we deal with insurmountable issues in our life, we have not been taught correctly how to process them. Trust me. I believe in therapy, but I believe in Jesus as well. I believe there's something about the climate that Jesus was surrounded in. He was surrounded by militarized governments, exiles, corrupt tax collectors, religious dictators, and the regular cares of people who were hungry and poor. He came and created a new system of living. And this life was fullness. I want to help us that we're still in our coming back to our foundation of faith, that there's a passage of scripture that can help us invest in joy. See, joy and faith are intertwined to the follower of Jesus. I experienced a newfound joy when I became a believer. This joy that kept me smiling. But let's be honest, I have high highs and I have low lows. I'm human, and the scripture has helped me see that I'm hardwired to experience joy in the most inexpressible ways. Now, if you're here today, this message is specifically for you. I want to be abundantly clear that the life of the follower Jesus, as we mature to be disciples, is marked not by miracles, not by fun times, not by spiritual awakenings, but by joy. We are going to be in 1 Peter 1, 8 through 9. You may have heard me quote this passage of scripture before, Romans 1, 5. I'm just going to quote it again. To whom has received grace and apostleship to bring the good news of Jesus to teach among the nations. And that's the foundation, the founding principle of who is sent, who will go in this Christian life. It believes if we are obedient to the teachers of Jesus, it gives us faith. Our faith is then no longer established through fear or regret, but faith and joy as we become more and more obedient to the commands of Jesus. Today, we're going to talk about living obedient through faith to have this inexpressible joy. Today, I'm going to do something different. I'm going to be reading in the message, and then I'm going to expose the scriptures in the Christian standard version of the Bible. And so before I get into that, I just want to invite you to lean in, because the Bible says that we are hearers and doers. As you're leaning in, just listen to these profound words that have been transcribed in the message version. It says, I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus the Messiah, writing to exile scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours. What a God we have, and how fortunate we are to have him, this father of our master Jesus. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand new life and have everything to live for, for including a future in heaven, and the future starts now. God is keeping careful watch over us in the future. The day is coming when you'll have it all, life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out if it proved pure. Genuine faith put through the suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your goal. That God will have on display is evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you loved him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him. With laughter and singing, because you kept on believing, to get where you're looking forward to, total salvation. What a powerful depiction of where we're gonna go, and as I start to expose the scriptures today, and we start to look, dive in to what Peter is saying, just let us know that even in that transliteration of 1 Peter 1, eight through nine, that we saw something very specific, and I'm just gonna do it. Peter first starts off as Peter, an apostle of Jesus. He's not a apostle, he's an apostle. He's saying he belongs to Jesus, the Messiah. He's the one that sat with him. He understands the vitality of the life and the sacrifice that Jesus made. He says, I'm not an apostle. He says, I'm an, I'm an apostle of Jesus, which is very important for us to understand. He says, to the chosen. Living in that style is first abroad in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. He talks off with this inheritance. How we are living, or should be, is et salve, that God knows exactly where you are, and he is pouring out his Spirit on you in that place. He doesn't say that no matter where you're living, he's saying where you're at now. I know where you're at now, and sovereignty is saying that I believe in you right in that place, and he's pouring on you with his Spirit. He's starting to do something here that not most people understand, that Peter is making a declaration in the midst of all this that God sees your pain, your guilt, your hurt, and he sees right where you're at. He sees your suffering, and in the midst of all that suffering, he sees you, and he knows exactly where you're at, and he's saying you right now, in this moment, need to trust him. He goes on in verse three, which I love. I love this part. He says, blessed be the God, the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, because of his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Pickles nostalgia again. I grew up around a church called New Birth. It was very pivotal in the forming and shaping of who I would think Jesus was in the future of that. I remember, oh, just walking down roads, thinking about the messages that Bishop Eddie Elong used to preach, and I just remembered the nostalgia right now, even as I'm with you today. It is starting to remind me of these times that he does, but Peter speaks about how we are here and why we are living this new reality of Jesus, and that we are reborn, are born again. There was a man in the Bible who I would like to just put out. He was what we would call a religious dictator. In the midst of his dictatorship, he wanted to visit Jesus in the midst of his darkness, and as he was visiting Jesus, he asked him, and this man named to be Nicodemus, he says, how can I get this gift of eternal life? How can I get this thing that you keep teaching on? How do I be a recipient of this thing? And Nicodemus, Jesus tells him this in such a simple way. He says, you must be born again. Nicodemus is confused by this born-again statement, and he says, what do you mean? Go back up into my mother's womb and be born again? Like, I don't get this. I don't understand what you're talking about. I don't understand what this born-again, and he says the gift of salvation will come through the Messiah. And you're not born by fleshly things, but you're born through spirit and truth. In verse four, it says, and into it, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation that's ready to be revealed in the last time. First, we must be born again. We need to understand that this faith, that we have this foundation of obedience and faith comes first through being born again, and it doesn't matter who you are, that Jesus sees you as an exile. He sees you as someone that's here nor there, but everywhere, he sees this, and he says you're being guarded by this faith for a salvation. See, living in this new life, we must understand that we have an inheritance. We have, have you ever met a really rich person who had a trust fund or an inheritance? They think differently, not with arrogance, but with the future of their life. They're not concerned with whether they get these things all the time. They're not concerned about how you get things, how you do things, how you show up, how much it costs, where they're going. They just know they have this future that belongs to them, and that's their inheritance, and they're not consumed by the things. They actually get things to fill their time in the midst of that inheritance, and this is what messes up their inheritance. See, the things that they're doing to fill their time, like what, they're partying, they're drinking, they're having alcohol, they're doing sexual immorality, they're doing power, and all of a sudden, their inheritance becomes corrupt. God said your inheritance is three things. It is undefiled, imperishable, and unfading, and unlike this inheritance of the rich people that we know today, this inheritance that God gives you is going to be guarded by his power in the foundation of your faith, and as you look back and you see, there should be a simple rejoicing here, because Peter says we have a different pathway for our inheritance, and it is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, and if you could just get that rejoicing inside of you today to know that the rejoicing should be happening in your spirit over this phrase that you have an inheritance that is undefiled and imperishable and unfading, and then verse six, he starts this. He says, you rejoice in this even though now, for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief and various trials, so that the proven character of your faith more valuable than gold, which through perishable is refined by fire, may result in the praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We will go through grief and trial, the various means, many colors of trials that our faith will be proven, the faith that is connected to joy. Our faith in Jesus is more valuable than gold, but it's still proven in the same way. He said, if gold had to be refined for purity, what about the character of your faith? When we're investing in joy, the character of our faith is a result of what we haven't done. It says in verse eight, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you not see him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you're receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. These trials, these hurts, these pains, they're seen as these many colored things that bring us grief, that test our character and faith. There is something that happens when your faith is being proven because of the trials and the suffering that you're going through. If somebody can hear me today at Faith City, I don't care what you're going through, how big it is, how small it is, how much it has taken over your life, how much trauma that you have having, if you can do what this verse says do, if you can believe in Jesus right now, if you can believe him and trust in him, what is it saying is that it is building a character for your faith, and that character for your faith is gonna prove that you belong to Jesus and that you have this inheritance. There is something that brings joy in the midst of that. There's something that stops everyone right where they're at in their steps to say that they have inexpressible and glorious joy. There's something happening. There's a future. The pause that we collectively have that we talked about in the beginning of this, as Peter talked about in the beginning of this, he said, I hope that grace and mercy be multiplied to you because he knows that we wake up in a world that doesn't see us, care about us, doesn't think that we are worthy, and but God is saying that he sees you and he has an inheritance for the future of your life to prosper you, and there is something that should bring you more joy than any moment, and that joy is being proven by the character of your faith. There is something that's inexpressible and glorious for us. That's joy. I love this, and I hope you see this in the message of the gospel, that the goal of your faith, oh, shut down deep in my bones, the goal of your faith today, the goal that God is having to prove this faith, to make sure that this faith is not on rocky ground, to make sure this faith is an inheritance, to make sure this faith has a foundation, the goal of your faith is to have joy. Joy. Not to be intense, not to judge people, not to hurt those who hurt you, but the goal of your Christian faith, the goal of your discipling faith, the goal of the faith that God has for you is that it would bring joy. The goal is to live through this grief and pain to see the character of faith produce a joy that is glorious and inexpressible, like when people see you, they don't see you as someone that's mad and angry and upset, they see you as somebody that is joyful. I ain't been there the whole time, I'm still working on it, but I'm gonna tell you this, he says this in the earlier verse, and I love this, we have to keep being meaningful to what Christ is doing, because it says this in verse seven, it says that, so that the proven character of your faith, there is a proven character of your faith, more valuable than gold, which through perishable is refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor at this, at the revelation of Jesus. As you don't see him, but you love him, as you learn to know him and you trust him, this joy may result in praise, glory, and honor. We are not missed from this trial that God has for us, we are not separated from the things of this world, we are sitting here in a precipice of the proven work of our faith. And today, if you're here, and you were taking this collective pause with me, and you're hearing the words that I'm saying, let me pray with you, as we continue to work through, to walk through this moment that God has given us for our faith, that your faith is intertwined with joy. Your faith is intertwined with joy. It is our goal here at Faith City that you experience that through community, through love, through consideration, through compassion, through grace, through care. And today, if you're listening to this message, this message is for joy. This message is not meant to convict you to go back down the spiral of messing things that you have come from, but it's to uplift you, put you on a rock of faith that will let you experience immeasurable, unprecedented, uncalculable joy. This joy that the old saints would sing about, that's deep down in my bones, that's shut up inside of me, this joy that will lift up a praise, that will make you sing, that will make you want to join and be part of a community, this joy, this joy in your faith, they're intertwined. And I think Peter is trying to let us know that even though we go through these trials, even though we go through these problems, even though we go through these circumstances, even though we go through these situations, there's something that can happen in the midst of that. And that thing that can happen is joy. The thing that you need right now that you think is missing is joy. The thing that needs to happen, it comes to what your faith, the one thing that your children don't understand but they need to be taught is joy. You keep coming in and out of these situations, you keep coming in and out of these circumstances and you believe it's just you, but no, it's joy. See, joy is the thing that's gonna sustain you through the rest of your life. It's not gonna be just your faith. The plan of your faith to be proven in the name of Jesus is joy. So today, if you're here and you say I'm missing that, I don't know what that means. So now we need to ask another question. Can we build up your faith for this joy? Come. All who are weary, heavy laden and burdened, come to this faith that has a plan of joy that will remind you of nostalgic moments where Jesus can meet you. Pray with me today. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for what you're doing here at Faith City. We thank you for what you're doing in the midst of all that we have. And we just ask you in the midst of this time that you would continue to move in our hearts and our minds as we move in this inexpressible joy.