How To Get Your Joy Back // Have You Been Robbed? // Fun Month // Bianca Olthoff

Welcome to our summer series, FUN MONTH! This week we have a special guest, Pastor Bianca Olthoff! Pastor Bianca and her husband Matt are lead pastors of “The Father’s House” in Orange County, California. They have been a part of the local church for over 20 years and have traveled the world teaching the gospel. They live in Orange Country with their two children, Parker and Ryen. Pastor Bianca is also the leader of “In The Name of Love” which is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming lives through the saving power of Jesus Christ. Today she shared with us the difference between happiness and joy. Do you feel like you have been robbed this year emotionally and you want to get your joy back? Check out this message and share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it!

[Applause]

welcome what is up

transformation nation

[Applause]

let me tell you something it is good to

be back here with my tc

family whatever country whatever

continent whatever community you’re

watching on

i just want to say welcome home you made

the right decision

you made the right decision to find

yourself in the house of god today

now for those that do not know me my

name is bianca what is old hoff and i

love this house

i love this house i love your pastors

and this church has blessed me

and my husband and our church the

father’s house orange county

in so many ways your generosity has

changed the way that we live

and we love you guys so much so my

husband and i haven’t known pastors mike

and natalie all that long

but in the words of tupac real eyes

no real lies okay and you got some real

pastors up in here let me just tell you

that much

they are the real deal and there’s

something about their vibe there’s

something about their vibe that makes me

feel like i could trust you

i could trust you i i like you i don’t

know you all that much but i can trust

you

and let me tell you something your vibe

attracts your tribe and we’re part of

this tribe

we are so grateful we are so grateful

now uh when i come here

i feel like you understand me

i really do i really do let me be honest

with you um it’s been it’s been a really

difficult season a very difficult season

i was meeting with my counselor a few

weeks back

and she asked me a very pointed question

she said

b what joy are you looking

forward to in your future i thought

about it and i said

i am so excited to go back to

transformation church

and she said really why what is it and i

said well

well they have amazing passion and

worship they rightly divide the word of

god and they’ve got

crazy faith up in there you know and she

said oh that’s great but how is that

different from any other church

i thought about it and i was like huh

and then it hit me the reason why i love

y’all is because you guys are

a little hood and a little holy those

are my kind of people

all right that’s my kind of people right

there y’all are my people

and i’m about to ask you a question and

i’m not sure our church in orange county

would be able to understand it but i

think maybe y’all would understand it tc

if you feel it you could put in the chat

box i want you to answer this but when i

would ask our orange county folks this

question

i think they were a little confused like

chad

have we been robbed i don’t know stacy i

i

we’re from newport beach we don’t know

what that is so the question i’m asking

you today

is have you ever been robbed

transformation charge i have to ask you

that legit question i want you to put in

the chat box if you have ever been

robbed because let me tell you something

when you uh are violated in this sense

of being

robbed something taken away from you it

changes you changes you

the first time that i had experienced

this i was four years old

and um we were living in a two-bedroom

apartment

it was ghetto ghetto two-bedroom

apartment in a really bad area

and during this time it was me and my

twin sister jasmine my mom was eight and

a half months pregnant

and um we lived in a like i said i was

rough up in these streets

there was a a crack house next door and

so there’s a lot of hype heads and if

you don’t know what a hype head is

a ipad is basically a crack head but a

low budget version of it okay

there was a lot of ipads that lived

around the area and there was some

robberies that were going around

well we had come back from church on

sunday night and my dad before pulling

into the parking garage

had allowed me and my mom to get out of

the car and we walked over to the

apartment

which was obviously dark and we left

lights on

so we were like what’s going on she

opened up the door where the deadbolt

had been completely knocked off

and our house that was once filled with

christmas decor

and and christmas tree and presents

was completely ransacked it was a

disaster

i remember feeling terrified my father

comes in and he knows that we are all

amazingly devastated and he’s thinking

you know what we just left church

my father a man of great faith looks at

my my mom and says but you know what

love

at least we still have the turkey and he

saunters over to the refrigerator opens

the freezer and realizes

they took the turkey okay we had nothing

we had nothing it was the first time

that this has happened to me and i had

felt

so violated i felt like nothing was safe

now during those moments um i was

reminded now as an adult of what

scripture says in john 10 10.

jesus tells us that we have an enemy an

enemy who has come to steal

kill and destroy see the thief wants to

come and steal and kill

and he will rob you of your joy now

i’ve been robbed so i know what this

feels like and now i’m

all the more wiser family all right i

get to say

not today satan i refuse to be the

frightened little girl anymore

i am like no i need to remind myself i

need to snatch

what is rightfully mine back this is

mine

now the thing about maturity the thing

about wisdom

the thing that you learn as you go

through things is

you could rob me once but you can’t rob

me twice

that night that um we went back into the

apartment

my dad had turned off all the living

room lights and we went to bed

but he stayed awake he stayed awake and

he deadbolted the new door

and he stood by the window in a chair

with a bat

okay because my dad knew you can mess

with my family once but you will never

do it again i have that same spirit

inside of me

where i know that the enemy has come to

steal your joy

to kill your contentment to destroy your

peace and it must make us on guard

this is why jesus says in john 17 13

i told them many things well i was with

them

in this world so they would there would

be filled with

my joy friend

joy is from jesus jesus wants us to have

joy

it’s it’s part of our inheritance okay

now keep in mind a few months ago um

this magazine came out

it is a time special edition entitled

the power of joy

when this magazine came out i was going

through a really dark time

and i know that 2020 did a number on so

many people

but and i’m not trying to be and say

that my 2020 was harder than yours i’m

just saying

20 20 did me dirty yo so when this

magazine came out i was like

elevate your life oh absolutely

finding joy in trying times of course

who doesn’t want that

a spiritual peek oh yes i’m from orange

county you know everyone’s all about

that

all right yes i want my spiritual feet

yes yes power of joy

so i took this to a beach newport beach

pulled out a blanket

and started reading cover to cover

sociologist

psychologist social commentary

and i realized in the pages of this that

they had

intermixed happiness and joy

the worst part of it no one defined it

no one and the worst part they didn’t

tell you how to find

it i was irritated and i felt straight

up

duped like no no no a month following

this breakdown i began to ask god

god how do i get my joy back how

do i how do i find the fullness of your

presence and the fullness of the joy

that you have

destined for me i hold on to this

magazine

because i want it to be a reminder that

we

cannot obtain what people cannot define

and the reason why our christianity is

different the reason why we can have

hope and joy

is because it is founded in a man named

jesus

now you know the problem with so many of

us in society is that we’re looking for

joy

but we’re going down the pathway of

happiness and wondering

why do i still not have joy so

for us as a church i want us today to

identify

what is joy in the life of the believers

if you’re here today

you’ve joined online maybe you know of

someone that needs to get this message

on joy you could share the link with

them right now

invite them because y’all we’ve been

robbed

the enemy has done a doozy on us and

it’s high time

we snatch back the joy that god has

called us to

if you’re sitting here today and you’re

experiencing a feeling of being

in a cave isolated alone

depressed i’ve got good news today

you’re not alone for me i can tell you

the african proverb that says

i’ve tasted your tears which basically

means i know what you’re going through

what about the the old testament prophet

elijah elijah was depressed elijah was

living in a cave

elijah was just like god have you

forsaken me all your people have turned

against me

what about what about the prophet

jeremiah oh you know what’s good when

you start to glisten family oh

yes just getting started

what about the prophet jeremiah who’s

known as the crying prophet

do you find yourself weeping in the

middle of the night

because of your sadness you’re not alone

what about

jesus’s anxiety in the garden of

gethsemane where he was

perspiring blood or of the psalmist

the prophet king david who knew god he

worshipped god

intimately and he felt himself sinking

into depression

and he asked god in psalm 51 12

restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit to sustain

me

you know what sustain means sustain is

give me a reason to live

and yes sometimes like elijah like like

jesus like jeremiah and like king david

we leak we leak and i firmly believe

that we’re in a season where we need to

come out of this

we are coming out of a global pandemic

and if you’re like why are we still

talking about post-pandemic life

because friends sociologists are now

saying that it is going to take us

10 years to emotionally psychologically

spiritually and financially recover from

what has happened

not just in america but across the globe

over the last

10 the last 16 months we have been

straight up

jacked in fact our joy has been hijacked

and if you’re here

and you’re wondering why we’re still

talking about this is because it

absolutely matters

it absolutely matters i want the church

to be able to find their joy again

and i had a profound urge to talk about

joy because i want us to know what we

possess

when we’re in the pit i want us to know

what we have in the midst

of the darkness of depression when i

asked the tc team i said hey what can i

bring they’re like it’s fun month

i said well we gotta talk about joy all

right

i’m an enneagram seven that means i love

to have fun

i’m naturally exuberant i love to throw

parties i show up late i like to turn up

this is me uncaffeinated okay i wake up

like this

but in today’s message i don’t want to

tell stories and tickle your ear i don’t

want us to make us just laugh for a

moment

i want to hold on to the simple truth

then when you are focused

on your circumstances you will not

experience joy

like paul wrote in romans 15 13

may the god of hope fill you with

all joy and peace as you trust him

so that you may overflow with the hope

by the power of the holy spirit

what we need to realize is that there

are real causes

and chemical imbalances for some

brothers and sisters in the world

depression is very real it’s very hard

it is very tough to deal with and there

are very

real psychological chemical imbalances

that might be hereditary might be

genetic

and that are aiding to clinical

depression

but friends i believe that there is also

something else at play

for those that do not have a chemical

imbalance and it’s not hereditary it’s

not chemistry

i believe and trust me on this i said

this the last time that i was here and

i’m going to keep telling you this

i believe that we are on the brink of

revival i believe that revival is coming

to the earth and it will shake the earth

you want to know why we remain unshaken

the reason why we are anchored

the reason why is because there is a

revival that’s coming and the enemy

wants to take out as many

people as possible paul says

in ephesians 6 12 for our struggle is

not with flesh and blood

but against the rulers against the

authorities against the powers of the

this darkness

and against the spiritual voices of evil

in the heavenly realms

depression anxiety suicide

has covered our globe in what feels like

a blanket of heaviness

and today i have come here with clear

conviction tough truth and some

sanctified savagery

you have an inheritance and it’s high

time that you snatch

it back okay snatch it back the title of

today’s message is how to fight

for your joy now now i need to tell you

that i gotta find my joy right now put a

smile on my face because some of you

guys are like whoa she is really intense

no i am angry with the enemy i’m angry

with the devil

and don’t mess with my people don’t mess

with god’s people because i love jesus

but i will cut somebody real quick okay

friends i believe that we need some

restoration we need some restitution in

the nation

even if that means me crawling across

enemy borders to fight for god’s people

i will

restitution means getting it back

restoration

means putting it back in its proper

order what did david say

restore unto me restore unto me the joy

of my salvation so whether you receive

this or not

listen fam that’s on you but i know and

i believe and i have prayed

i have fasted i have sought the lord and

i believe that today we’re going to put

joy back in its proper place

did you know that joy is a gift that our

heavenly father

wants to give you a gift but the enemy

is dead set

on stealing that from you now paul tells

us in galatians

that joy is a fruit of the spirit now in

paul’s day

joy was synonymous with happiness and

pleasure

and indulgences much like it is today

right now um this is very different

um from a biblical understanding see

paul talks about

uh not the fruit of circumstances paul

talks about the fruit of the spirit

yo we all we all went through the

upgrade with pastor mike so we know that

the fruit of the spirit is what we

manifest in our lives when we walk with

jesus

and joy is one of those fruits so as

followers of christ

guess what we naturally possess this

gift

and i need us to understand that

happiness

is a feeling that you get when things

are going well

now happiness and joy are two different

things so happiness is a feeling

that you get when things are going well

and it’s based on circumstance

but did you know that the word um

happiness

comes from the root word happenstance

and

it comes from a circumstance based in

your favor

you win the race you get the guy you buy

the house

you get the upgrade but see all of that

is circumstantial

and all that is temporary so for a

visual example

this is happiness

yay this is happiness oh

god is so good look at this this is

amazing wow

so awesome it’s shiny and sparkly

and loud and fun but it’s also a

distraction

and the truth of the matter is is that

we love diversions

when we’re really seeking the joy of god

it is a temporary distraction and the

truth of the matter is what comes up

must come down and sometimes that

sometimes look

sometimes our happiness it makes a mess

fam it makes a mess

yeah that party that you shouldn’t have

gone to it felt good in the moment

all right you gonna turn up but now

you’re living in the repercussions

of that what about the uh relationship

that you have been

dabbling in and you know it’s not right

but he looks so hot

well guess what so is hell he don’t love

jesus he’s not the one for you

this is an illicit sense of happiness

that is not joy

that’s not joy all those things that you

buy on amazon prime

i am an amazon girl i love me some

amazon let me tell you every time it’s

in my car and i hit by

there there is this something that

happens magically inside of my body i

feel like i’m losing weight

i feel like i’m going to get a thigh gap

i feel like i’m saving money

i tell my husband baby i’m a prime

member i’m basically making money on

that shipping you know

right do you know what happens when you

hit by

that there is a chemical hit of dopamine

in your brain

and you bought happiness but you thought

it was joy

joy on the other hand joy note takers is

a deep sense of pleasure

delight gladness a well-being that is

independent

of circumstances independent

circumstances so joy

flows deeply out of the conviction that

we read about in romans 8 28

we know that all things all things

even the sucky things we know that all

things work together for good for those

that love the lord

the theologian douglas moon he tells us

this

he defines when he’s talking about joy

inherit enjoys a sense of delight in god

that can cause our heart to smile when

everything feels

like it’s falling to pieces and falling

apart

so the question i asked today is when we

talk about possessing the fruit of the

holy spirit

and walking in the joy of the spirit of

god god’s spirit

that he gives us is absolute joy

now when we walk lock in step with the

holy spirit we possess this fruit in our

lives yes or no

now again i listed this that joy was one

of the

gifts of the spirit and so if god is

giving us these gifts

then this is our inheritance i’ve said

this before

but not everybody has a rich uncle or

rich auntie or something now inheritance

is something that is given to you

it is yours

so if we have been given joy i’m here to

ask you who has stole your joy from you

and are you ready to snatch it back but

the truth is is that you have to fight

for the joy

the reality is that joy doesn’t come

naturally to human beings

it is a work that is produced in the

spirit it’s

working through the spirit of god so and

if you don’t have it today

it’s because it has been stolen from you

fam and maybe you’re here today and

you’re like

but i’m so tired bianca the idea of

fighting

the idea of fighting for my joy feels

so incredibly hard i’m tired b

i’m tired you don’t know what i’ve gone

through you don’t know what i’ve lost

i’m gonna tell you right now fam you can

cry

but you cannot quit you can cry but you

cannot quit

you have got to pull yourself up and the

lord has brought me here and i feel like

i’m a

like in the military and we’re in battle

and you may be on the floor but i’ma

pick you up by your backpack

and lift you up i don’t have to drag you

on my back joy is yours

we gotta fight for it fam we gotta fight

for it the question i’m asking us today

is when we get out of the darkness of

depression do we know to go

for our joy where do we know where do we

go for our joy

now given the statistics of coping

mechanisms

the data doesn’t lie we’re looking for

things to

remove our pain our anxiety

our depression our loss so we want

happiness

that’s the quick fix i get it but

the problem with that is that again it’s

all temporary

and if data is correct we are looking at

things like money

like oh if i got the money if i got the

money i’ll get the house

i’ll get the car i’ll get the chick and

then you’re to get

the mortgage you’re going to get the car

note you’re going to get the wife you’re

going to get the life you know and none

of that is easy

oh maybe if i just have fame if i just

have fame if i was just rich and famous

and

influenced i would look at everything

and people would listen to me i have a

voice

influence comes with responsibility no

privacy a loss of independence

loss of yourself in many times and the

feelings of happiness are

circumstantial what about what about

drugs

now i’m not talking about like like big

drugs like cocaine or

uh heroin i’m talking about what about

prescription drugs

what about oxy what about ritalin what

about angel dust

less pervasive things well what about

alcohol will jesus turn water into wine

yeah i know but he’s not saying shots

shot shot shot shot shots you know what

i’m saying

and sometimes we can be tempted to be

like one more thing one more drink one

more shot

well what if it’s food what if it’s food

one more slice of cake one more piece of

pie

one more meal one more snack what if it

sucks one more partner

one more engagement one more hit one

more download

where does it where does it stop now

somebody inevitably out there saying

are you saying happiness is it sin what

i am

saying is that people are associating

fun and happiness

with sin and that’s where it gets a

little dangerous

and if you’re here thinking well sin

isn’t fun well then fred you’re doing

sin the wrong way

okay because the truth of the matter is

is that the enemy knows he wants to keep

you

locked in step with your pleasures your

desires your temporary needs right now

in fact where do we get this from we get

this idea this concept

from the psychologist sigmund freud who

believed that the meaning of life

was in pleasures well where has that led

us

momentary happiness now what i’m not

saying

is that happiness is a sin what i am

saying is that if we aren’t careful

happiness can be the hit for the high

that we’re looking for

c.s lewis said don’t let your happiness

depend

on something you may lose now all of

this fades

all of this fades all the high will

inevitably come down

so hear me on this please we long for

happiness

but we are made for joy we long for

happiness

but we’re made for joy so where do we go

for

real lasting joy that cannot be stolen

listen to what psalm 16 11 says

in your presence is fullness of joy here

online

here in this building here in every

country and continent community

in him is fullness of joy

second chronicles 16 27 strength and joy

are in his dwelling place i want to be

where the spirit of the lord is

nehemiah 8 10 the joy of the lord is

your strength

do you know that joy matters to god yeah

it does in fact joy the word joy is

mentioned 97 times in the old testament

and in the new testament the word that

is referred to is c-h-a-r-a

kaada i don’t know if i said that right

because i’m not i know

just a little bit of hebrew but i’ll

break it down it basically means a

feeling

of inner gladness delight or rejoicing

paul the apostle when he talks about

this this this exact feeling of gladness

this delight do you know where he’s

writing from

he’s riding from a beach sipping a drink

out of a

coconut he’s smiling putting hawaiian

tropic

lotion on himself and he’s kicking back

and he’s saying yes joy we’re talking

about joy

you know where he was locked up in

prison

when james tells us in james 1 he says

consider it all joy my brethren

when you fall into various trials

james was writing this well his kinsmen

his family were being prosecuted and

persecuted for the faith

they were dying for the gospel so what

the

saints of old and the old testament and

new testament writers do is

that the joy that the lord wants to give

you

will supply your every need in every

situation

maybe you’re feeling as if you have lost

your joy it’s time to snatch it back

so if joy is your inheritance if joy is

the fruit that you’re supposed to

produce

if joy is something that the lord wants

for us guess what you gotta fight for it

and here is where i am asking you not to

quit here’s where i’m asking you to get

up and start doing the work

okay so let’s just let’s do that um i

want to make sure that this feels very

practical for us

now here is when um we ask ourselves

these moments

or like do i have it in me do i have it

in me

do i want to continue on you know those

moments

where you feel like all you want to do

is crawl

back into bed and fall asleep just so

you don’t have to deal with the world

it would be so much easier to to crawl

into your car

with a bunch of fast food and french

fries and eat an entire pizza and hot

box with grease in your car

when you feel like there’s no point in

living anymore

and that your life doesn’t matter to

anyone that’s around you

what about that moment where you

prophesied and you got the king-sized

bed

waiting for the spouse that the lord was

gonna bring you and you’re still alone

what about the loveless marriage that

you have been in and you said for better

or worse and yet this feels so

lonely and you’re married what about

that dark night of soul when you feel

like you cannot pull yourself

up from the pit of depression that

you’ve been staying in

when we feel isolation we feel rejection

it takes over us

and this is what i want us to hold on to

you can cry

but you can’t quit what do you do you

fight for your joy

now again like i said i want to make

this um practical and as i was praying

and preparing

i was asking lord how do we fight for

restitution how do we fight for joy

well i want to fight for joy by

discovering how we get it back and i

just want to make it very

very very practical you know what comes

to um

what messes with our minds emotions mess

with our minds

our emotions can be a runaway train on a

trackless track

and if we are not careful that could be

very very dangerous

now um we know the power of our emotions

because we’ve heard it before

every preacher fix your mind on christ

guard your heart for out of it springs

the issues of life

yeah we know that right but did you know

that

emotions are mental see my brain tells

me if i’m happy

my brain tells me if i’m sad my brain

tells me if i’m angry

my my brain tells me if i’m depressed my

brain tells me if i’m afraid emotions

are mental right so um

in in discovering and researching joy do

you understand that we have the power to

choose a different emotion

and so this is what i want you to jot

down write this down joy

is a choice joy’s a choice

now if you have been on pinterest or

you’ve seen the instagram means

you probably have read or heard choose

joy

right and it’s gonna have some swirly

curly font and it’s gonna be like in

pastel colors

choose joy choose joy as if it were that

simple and it sounds almost kind of like

a command

like choose joy this is what you have to

do

and i feel frustrated because it’s the

same thing as saying

choose to be skinny choose to be rich

if you want to gain wealth if you want

to be thin there’s some work that has to

go into it

so instead of saying choose joy i want

to change the nuances of words for a

second i want us to say

joy is a choice because no one’s going

to force me to do it

i get to i have a decision what am i

going to do what what am i going to

choose

i’m going to choose joy because joy is a

choice

now there’s a phrase that i got from my

sister i have a twin sister and i called

her one time and i was so frustrated

i i called her and i said jasmine you

will not believe what’s going on

i’m so irritated i’m so afraid i’m so

upset this person’s talking mad trash

and on the end of that conversation she

said you know what you need to choose a

different emotion

hold on i was mad i was frustrated

i was justifiably justified in all my

feelings

but she said you are making yourself

angry and frustrated and mad

in my confusion i said okay so i’m

supposed to choose a new emotion okay

okay okay

i’m choosing happy look at me world i’m

choosing happy

i’m happy now jasmine didn’t work she

said

you can’t fake emotion you don’t believe

it and the world’s not gonna believe it

but what you can do is you can register

what you have capacity

to emotionally hold so i looked inside

myself and i said what do i have

emotional capacity for

i said i have emotional capacity for

peace so i said

i am choosing peace you want to know

what happened the joy of the lord became

my strength

and i went from being pissed to having a

sense of peace i’m so sorry mama

i shouldn’t have said that but it’s the

truth okay because

because joy is not based on something

that’s temporary

joy is not based on circumstance joy is

gladness and a mindset and you might

think although that’s impossible i

disagree

i disagree with you and guess what paul

the apostle agrees with me so you’re

welcome

philippians 4 7 says this and the peace

of god

which surpasses all understanding and

comprehension

will guard your hearts and your mind in

christ jesus

friends joy is a choice you will get to

decide

what emotion you carry into this so joy

is a choice

okay i want you to write down this joy

is in gratitude

joy is in gratitude write that down and

as you’re writing that down

do you know what kills gratitude

entitlement

an enemy of joy is an ungrateful spirit

and if joy is rooted in jesus and who

he’s called us to be we’re gonna get

into that in a second

then the enemy of a ungrateful spirit

is rooted in self me myself and i that’s

entitlement

entitlement can be easily described as i

deserve it

i deserve it right and when you’re

saying i deserve it

you are fostering an ungrateful spirit

so everything that comes your way

you feel like no this is mine i rightly

deserve this

i earn this and that spirit snuffs out

gratitude and steals your joy real quick

you know it’s been said comparison is a

thief of joy and that’s very true

but the reason why we compare is because

we feel we’re actually entitled to more

now i’m going to pause for a second

because right now the olympics are going

on and if i were to say

i actually believe that i should have

won the gold medal in the 400 meter

dash that’s ridiculous because i’m not

sprinting

but what we do find ourselves comparing

is people that we think that we’re on

par with

that’s where we really compare well how

many dates did they go out on

how many job opportunities did they get

how many vacation

days did they get that i didn’t get to

have no no no no how many opportunities

did they get to have

what this reveals is that we want more

because we feel like we are entitled to

it

so you know what fights against

entitlement and brings true joy

gratitude gratitude entitlement says i

deserve it but gratitude says lord thank

you for it

you want joy fight for gratitude and

i’ve been struggling with joy in this

season i’ve mentioned this before it’s

been

it’s been hard i’m naturally a person

who loves to

celebrate and and and seek joy and

happiness

but a discipline that i’ve had to adopt

in the last 10 years i’ve been doing

this for 10 years

is and taking time to actually chronicle

or journal

why i am excited because the reason why

that this is super important is because

if we don’t start

pausing and giving thanks to god we can

fall into the memes and the eye

eyes real quick that’s when we start

finding ourselves saying things like

they don’t see me they they always

forget about me

i do everything right i’m always here

literally let me just save you like five

therapy sessions okay this is what i

want you to do

i want you to grab a post-it note or a

journal

or a piece of scratch paper and i want

you to begin to journal i want you to

write whether it’s three minutes five

minutes seven minutes ten minutes 15

minutes however long it takes and i want

you to start driving down everything

i want you to jot down everything that

you are grateful for

i’m talking if you’re sitting here like

i don’t even know where to begin hey

this is where you begin

lord thank you for the beat in my chest

thank you lord god for the brain waves

in my brain thank you lord that i could

breathe in

and i could breathe out praise you

heavenly father for what you’re doing

thank you lord that i have a job if you

don’t have a job you say praise you lord

i have another day off all right

now now some of you some of you are are

going to be frustrated and you’re gonna

say like oh no

i’m still upset no no work the system

with some gratitude begin to thank the

lord for what he will bring you

lord i thank you for the house you will

get me lord i thank you for the child

you will birth in my womb

lord i thank you for the coven 19 pounds

that will fall off me thank you jesus

oh lord i thank you i’m going to snatch

my joy back

now lastly i want you to write this down

his joy is our hope now remember joy

isn’t in our circumstances

joy is not in our circumstances our joy

is what we have in christ our joy is

because

this world is not all that there is

now joy is not found in circumstances of

this life

but in the certainties of god’s promises

now faith is having eyes to see what we

have in promise

but not in full possession that’s faith

i believe i believe god that you are

going to do it

so you can have hope you can have joy

and hope

in these two things what you have in

christ

and who you are in christ now do you

know

do you know what you have in christ

jesus now we possess

a joy a joy unexplainable because there

is a promise of heaven that awaits us

joy is closely connected to hope

because the fulfillment of our joy is

always pointing forward

i have joy because there is hope in the

promises of god

check out what hebrews 11 1 says now

faith is confidence

and what we hope for an assurance of

what we do not see

that is what we hold on to i have

joy because jesus has promised me a

future

and a hope i have joy because god is not

done with me yet i have joy because what

awaits me in my future

is better than what’s behind me what you

have in christ

is a future and a hope therefore we have

joy so that is what we have in christ

but

do you know who you are in christ

child of god in christ we are loved

in christ we are forgiven in christ we

have a plan for our lives

in christ we have a hope in christ we

have his spirit

in christ we have his power in christ we

have his gifts in christ we have his

eternal destiny

we are not forsaken we are not forgotten

we are not abandoned we are not ignored

no we are not isolated we are not alone

we are not hated

we are found loved we are not sinners we

are considered saints we are not

despised friends

we are redeemed redeemed by the blood of

jesus

that is who you are and that

is why we can have joy we need to find

our joy by saying jesus

if you do nothing more for me you’ve

already done enough

god for the breath in my lungs for the

beat of my heart

for my brain waves that you have given

me i praise you lord

i asked lord god for a divine exchange

i came i came to tc with such an urgency

an urgency to speak to people who have

been oppressed oppressed and depressed

and i come with the simplicity of

us being able to fight for our joy and

steal it back

now here’s what i do know is that this

joy that you are longing for

can only be found in the fullness of the

presence of our lord and savior jesus

christ

if you have never accepted jesus as your

personal lord and savior

friends today is the day of salvation

you don’t have to wait

you don’t have to pause today is the day

that you are like no i want to snatch

back a relationship

with my lord and savior maybe you have

never heard about this man named jesus

today is the day that you get to say yes

or maybe

maybe you have been walking with the

lord

maybe you grew up in church but you have

since turned your back on god

today is the day that we invite you the

word in scripture is to repent

to turn around to walk back to the lord

in faith

today is your opportunity to do that and

i firmly believe that

those who are making this declaration

and saying yes to jesus

your life is going to alter and change

now i’m not saying that all your

problems are going to go away

i’m going to say you’re not alone you’re

not alone you can be grateful

for the joy that the lord has given you

you can have hope because

god is a god of joy who wants to give

you that and we can be grateful for

everything that the spirit of god is

giving to us

so if you’ve never said yes to jesus or

maybe at one point you have but you have

since walked away from faith

today is the day we’re going to pray a

prayer of faith

and you enter into a right standing with

the lord now i want to make sure we

understand what we’re doing here if

if you are saying yes to jesus i want to

make sure that this is very clear

i’m going to count to three and right

where you are you’re going to speak out

loud

to your television to youtube to

facebook to the website to the app

podcast if you’ve never said yes to

jesus you’re coming around i’m gonna

count to three when

i count to three you’re going to raise

your hand as a declaration of faith

number one by raising your hand you are

saying i want jesus as my personal lord

and savior

number two that you believe that your

mistakes and your failures with the

bible refers to a sin

can be removed by the shed blood of

jesus

and three the same spirit that

resurrected jesus from the grave is

alive in you

so if that is you one two three

church i believe that hands are going up

and we’re gonna pray a prayer of faith

because guess what church guess what you

are entering into a right relationship

with jesus

wherever you are will you repeat this

prayer after me declare it in faith get

everyone in the room everyone online can

you holler back and can we say

jesus forgive me of my sins

today i choose you as my lord and savior

cleanse my heart cleanse my mind

and cleanse my conscience fill me with

your spirit

to do what only you can do in jesus name

amen church i want to celebrate

the angels in heaven are rejoicing hit

me can’t be i think we need to have a

party

a little bit of happiness and a little

bit of joy that’s right

oh church hey if you said yes to jesus

we want you to text the number that’s

going to pop up on your screen text save

to 828-282

family we love you we are closing out

fun month literally with the bang

hey there is amazing series coming up

next week we don’t want you to miss out

if you are alone you don’t have to be

alone get into a b group

get connected we love you we can’t wait

to see you online and in person soon

enough love you guys