Merry Life Repair – 3 – Gift Gladness

 

Hello Redemption Church. Merry Christmas.
Hello everyone online. We are having a shorter message today, because we have a Christmas party about to happen in person. We have some great Tex Mex food being prepped as I speak.

But I do want to share some things with you before we go full party mode.

 

Merry Life Repair

There is a lot in life that needs fixing.

Relationships.
Finances.
Health.
Emotional and mental breakdown.
 

Broken Things

There is a lot in life that needs fixing.
WE ALL HAVE BROKEN THINGS.
WE REFUSE TO JUDGE ONE ANOTHER BY OUR BROKEN THINGS.

All the brokenness hurts us… emotional, mentally, spiritually.

There are people who around us who are barely making it today, because of brokenness.

Nina – suicide in her family. Devastated.

 

How can we ever have joy in all this brokenness?

Christmas is known as a time of Joy. The original Christmas story features joy.

We aren’t talking about HAPPINESS… but JOY. There is a difference.

 

Happiness is a reaction to something great. Joy is the product of someone great.

 

It is possible to experience brokenness and joy. Happiness can’t compete…
It is possible to experience pain and joy.
It is possible to experience betrayal and joy.

 

Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross…

Jesus went through the worst brokenness, pain, and betrayal. We are not making light of that… BUT at the same time Joy was present.

For the Joy set before him… he endured.

What is the joy set before you? Do you recognize the joy set before you?

Of course heaven is a joy… but I am talking about something here now. I am talking about the people around us.

 

The Greek word for Joy is Chara, and as I close I want to point out a major way the word is used in scripture.

“The joy received from you.”

It does not say received by you… but from you.

We often point out that God gives us joy. This is true.
But it is also true that we should give joy.

 

Gift gladness

Let’s stop chasing temporary happiness, and gift gladness.

 

We usually ask you to come to an altar and pray and receive.

But today I want us to do it differently. I want us to pray together at our tables.

I want us to pray with and for each other.

I want us to gift JOY.

For the JOY set before Him… Jesus endured.

You are setting beside and across joy today. Make sure they know.