Rediscover Joy

Good morning and welcome to Family Worship with Eastern Hills Baptist Church. We’re thankful that you’re here, whether you’re in the room or online. I’m Pastor Bill Connors, and this week I was thinking back to the wonderful time of worship and celebration that we had last week as our children, students, and music ministries came together to lead us in a musical reflection on the majesty of Jesus Christ. Thanks again to everyone who was involved in that production, but especially to our choir director, Michelle Smith, for all of her work.

If you’re our guest this morning, we’d like the chance to thank you for being here, so if you wouldn’t mind, would you take a couple of moments during the remainder of the service to fill out one of our communication cards? We have two options: analog and digital. The analog (or physical) option is found in the back of the pews in front of you. The digital option for those of you online or who prefer filling out an online form is found by texting the keyword WELCOME to 505-339-2004. You’ll get a text back with a link to our online communication card. Whether you fill out the analog or the digital card this morning, if you’re in the room I’d like the chance to meet you after service is over. I’ll stay down here at the front after the benediction, and if you wouldn’t mind coming down so I can introduce myself? I have a small thank you gift to give to you as well.

Announcements

Joe and I already did most of our announcements earlier, so I’d just like to talk for a moment about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Announcements

If you’re fairly new to the EHBC family, you might wonder why we usually have a special offering (such as the LMCO) going. This is because we (EHBC and the SBC) believe that we can do more, be more effective, and have a greater reach together than we can alone. So when we take up our various missions offerings, we’re partnering with other SBC churches throughout the state, the nation, and the world to promote the spread of the Gospel. Every penny of the special missions offerings that we take up go directly to the ministry areas that the offerings are designated for. Let’s watch a video about how the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is being used to support the IMB’s orality ministry in Africa. Don’t know what orality is? Just watch.

LMCO Video

LMCO: Our church goal for the LMCO is $32,500, and thru last Sunday, we’ve given $15,544.95! About halfway there, and more than half of the Sundays in our goal period remaining, because we take this offering up through January. And the national goal for Lottie Moon this year is $200 MILLION. Last year, giving to the LMCO raised $196.1 million. So pray and ask the Lord what He would have you give to the LMCO. We can do more together than we can on our own!

Opening

Intro

If you’ve been journeying with us the past few weeks toward Christmas, you know that we have been celebrating Advent. As a quick recap, the word Advent means “coming” or “arrival,” and the season is marked by expectation, waiting, anticipation, and longing. Advent is not just an extension of Christmas—it is a season that links the past, present, and future, offering us the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, to celebrate His birth, and to be alert for His second coming. Advent looks back in celebration at the hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s coming, while at the same time looking forward in hopeful and eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when He returns for His people. During Advent we wait for both—it’s an active, assured, and hopeful waiting. And each week, we are focusing on a different attribute of God represented in the coming of Jesus: hope, peace, joy, and love. Through these traits, we are learning how we can rediscover Christmas, despite the challenges, hardships, pains, and difficulties we might be experiencing. Joy is the trait we’re exploring today on this third message of Advent. Because Christ has come to be God With Us, we can experience joy no matter what discouragement we may be going through.

Our focal passage this morning is really more just a part of what we’re studying, and will help us have some context for what we look at in the sermon. So open your Bibles to Luke 1, and let’s stand as we’re able in honor of the reading of God’s Holy Word this morning:

Luke 1:10–17 CSB

10 At the hour of incense the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. 16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”

PRAYER (Berean Baptist, just down the road; IMB orality ministry in Sub-Saharan Africa)

Have you ever been to Yellowstone National Park? No? Me, neither. But in speaking to people who have, it’s an amazing, beautiful, and unique place! It’s no wonder it was the first national park established in the world. Its wonder captivated lawmakers, and in 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act that set aside Yellowstone as a protected treasure.

Even if you haven’t been, you’ve seen the sights and photos of Yellowstone. The wildlife is iconic in our American consciousness: the bison and bears, the wolves, the eagles and elk, and all sorts of smaller creatures. The mountains, of course, are rugged and majestic. So are the waterfalls and rivers. I have a couple of pictures from a pastor friend of mine who lives in Montana from a recent trip he took to Yellowstone.

But then there are the geysers, and if there’s one thing that stands out about Yellowstone in most people’s minds, it has to be the geysers. There’s an incredible amount of geothermal activity there. The park basically sits on top of a huge supervolcano brewing beneath the earth’s surface. And all over the park, this brewing heat works its way to the surface and forces its way through the earth. Here’s a picture of one of the smaller geysers that Jon sent me.

The crazy thing, apparently, is how many different kinds of geysers there are. There’s usually water involved. You can definitely see that at places like Old Faithful. Probably the most famous geyser in the park and maybe the world, Old Faithful shoots and spurts huge fountains of water and steam up to 180 feet in the air. The geyser erupts about 20 times a day. It doesn’t do it as often as it used to, but park rangers and scientists are able to predict the times each day when Old Faithful will erupt. You’d just better get there early, because Old Faithful draws big crowds. I have a video of Old Faithful to show you from my friend Jon.

There are other well-known geysers for different reasons, like the Grand Prismatic Geyser and Spring. Here’s a picture. It’s the largest hot spring in the U.S., and its kaleidoscope of colors is breathtaking. There are also countless small pools and puddles that bubble and occasionally shoot spouts of superheated water out into the air.

And then there are the muddy geysers called the mudpots. These are the cauldrons of goo somewhere between liquid and solid. They’re kind of like a pot of oatmeal simmering on a stove. These geysers burble and burp and boil, releasing bubbles of heat and gas into the air. They come in different colors depending on whatever predominant minerals they hold, and they remind one of lava churning and mixing in the earth.

OK, so why am I talking so much about geysers this morning? Because geysers remind me of joy. And similar to geysers, joy bubbles and overflows and has to find its way out in some way or another. Sometimes, and for some people, that’s a big bursting eruption like Old Faithful. This is how my lovely wife Melanie is. Her particular brand of joy is really infectious. She is always ready to go from calm to a happy scream (that I cannot begin to approximate because of its pitch) in literally a moment. Her joy bursts out.

But other times and for other people, joy might be more of a rolling burble. It might even be a little muddy or murky or slower to make its way out. This is more my style of joy. And sometimes, the two types of joy people marry each other.

But my point is that no matter what’s surrounding it or influencing it, joy has a deep source that wells up from within.

There’s a lot of joy throughout the biblical Christmas story, especially early in the story. But it’s important to note that this joy isn’t separate from pain and disappointment. In fact, much of this joy is born out of long disappointment and grief. We’re going to look more closely at this as we explore the stories and experiences of Elizabeth and Mary.

Luke’s Christmas story begins a little earlier than Mary and Joseph and Jesus, with a prophet named Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. Luke begins just before the passage we read earlier:

Luke 1:5–7 CSB

5 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest of Abijah’s division named Zechariah. His wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both were righteous in God’s sight, living without blame according to all the commands and requirements of the Lord. 7 But they had no children because Elizabeth could not conceive, and both of them were well along in years.

This short paragraph would have spoken volumes of information to Luke’s original audience. There’s Herod, the Roman quasi-king who kept the Jews under harsh Roman control. These were difficult times. And then we meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, both of priestly lineage, and in a day with a lot of religious corruption and power conflicts by the Pharisees and Sadducees, Zechariah and Elizabeth were a stark contrast. They are described as righteous, blameless, faithful. This is especially important in light of what Luke tells us next. Zechariah and Elizabeth were old, but had never been able to have children.

That changes suddenly and miraculously in our context passage, when the archangel Gabriel shows up and tells Zechariah that his wife is going to have a son, a powerful prophetic son who will prepare the way for the coming Messiah. Zechariah is so overwhelmed he can hardly believe this news and when he questions the news, the angel says, “OK, here’s your sign. You won’t be able to speak until the child is born.” And the prophet is left writing and signing to everyone to explain what’s happened.

It seems Elizabeth is quicker to believe the news, and when she becomes pregnant, she says:

Luke 1:25 CSB

25 “The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people.”

And there’s an odd note in the previous verse that tells us that Elizabeth went into seclusion for the first five months of her pregnancy.

Luke 1:24 CSB

24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself in seclusion for five months. She said,

Maybe this has something to do with Elizabeth’s disgrace that she mentioned. For her, the inability to have children would have been a lifelong source of pain and sorrow and even shame. It was a big deal in that culture. The great hopes of the young couple Elizabeth and Zechariah would have eventually faded through the years as they tried repeatedly to have a child. The young Jewish woman would have questioned herself and probably asked questions of the other women. And they probably would have questioned her—unfairly—perhaps casting suspicion or unfounded blame on her. To them, the inability to conceive a baby was in some ways a reflection on your relationship with God. Perhaps there had been previous pregnancies that had sparked new hope, and then miscarriages that dashed those hopes with grief and loss. Elizabeth’s self-worth probably sunk as the years passed and hope dimmed. At some point, she and everyone around her would have declared Elizabeth barren and branded her with this lifelong stigma.

Maybe that’s why she stayed in seclusion for five months, keeping to herself: to let her hope blossom into joy personally. Or to ensure that this pregnancy was indeed going to last. Maybe she was simply savoring these days of gestation on her own terms.

If we were watching the movie, this is where we’d get some kind of subtitle message like, “Meanwhile, in Galilee…” When Elizabeth is six months pregnant, Gabriel makes another earthly appearance, this time to Mary. And he’s delivering the most miraculous pregnancy announcement of all.

Mary received the news gracefully and willingly, but at some point early on, Mary must have known that her challenges and disgrace were just about to begin. The scorn and shame she would face—and her family and her fiancé as well—would be tremendous when it became obvious she was pregnant and unmarried. How do you make people believe the baby in your womb is God’s Son? Even Joseph couldn’t believe this news at first, and as Matthew’s narrative tells us, Joseph planned to break off their engagement in what would have been a divorce in that culture. Mary’s journey would not be an easy one.

Maybe that’s why Mary took the action that she did following the angel’s announcement, as Luke tells us:

Luke 1:39 CSB

39 In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah

Mary must have heard about her relative Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy. “If anyone will understand, it has to be Elizabeth,” she might have thought. If so, she was right.

This is where the joy erupts. Against the past backdrop of discouragement, disgrace, grief, and shame, the joy comes bursting through for these two mothers-to-be. Luke writes:

Luke 1:41–45 CSB

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! 43 How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her!”

What a relief this must have been to Mary. She didn’t have to explain herself. She didn’t have to worry anymore about being understood. All she had to do was say hello, and Elizabeth knew. Even her developing baby knew and leaped within her. This was just the affirmation and encouragement Mary needed.

Her joy came bursting through as well, and she sang and praised and thanked God:

Luke 1:46–55 CSB

46 And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy. 50 His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. 51 He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. 53 He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors.

This is a beautiful passage of Scripture. On one level it’s a celebration and connection in the midst of miraculous events. But on another level, it’s two expectant mothers sharing a deep understanding and affirmation that foster the flow of joy no matter what has happened before and what is going to come in the days ahead.

There is much we can take away from this story, but I’d like to focus on three points that we can apply to our own experience with joy.

1. It’s OK to be joyful—and happy.

For some of you, this is a no-brainer. For others of you, this is a statement that might make you a little uncomfortable if you really think about it. A lot of where you fall on that spectrum likely depends on your personal past and your spiritual history.

We’ve probably all heard joy described in contrast to happiness. I know that I’ve even described these things in a dichotomy that divides the two basically along these lines: Happiness is situational, fleeting, and temporary. Joy is eternal, deeper, and more fulfilling. Often in our Christian culture, the two get split into happiness as secular (and therefore sometimes almost looked down upon), and joy as spiritual (and therefore somehow “better”). I’ve even myself wrestled with this same question this week.

For example, if you visit gotquestions.org and ask about happiness and joy, the article there says, “The two are equal.” Ask biblestudytools.com the same thing, and you get an article that begins with the sentence, “The difference between joy and happiness is substantial.”

So what’s the answer? Well, one thing that I think we can all agree on is that joy and happiness are very near synonyms. The Bible even uses them as such:

Jeremiah 31:13 CSB

Then the young women will rejoice with dancing, while young and old men rejoice together. I will turn their mourning into joy, give them consolation, and bring happiness out of grief.

See how mourning and joy reflect or parallel grief and happiness? So Jeremiah at least relates them to each other closely. But they aren’t exactly the same thing.

But the way I approach the question is this: While the two are closely related, they are definitely not opposed to one another, so we don’t need to put them in competition. It’s true that happiness is an emotional state based on circumstance, and also that as circumstances change, happiness will come and go. We all get this part, because it’s how we all live. Something goes well for us, we’re happy. Something goes poorly, our happiness can evaporate in an instant.

But joy is also closely related to another term that we’ve already looked at during this series: peace. And in our second message in the series, we said that God’s peace comes in the midst of our storms, that God’s peace defies our circumstances, and that peace is a Person: Peace is embodied in Jesus. Joy and peace are dear friends and teammates, as the Scriptures share:

Romans 14:17 CSB

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 CSB

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We see that both joy and peace are fruits of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives:

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

The relationship between joy and peace helps us see that, like peace, true joy transcends our circumstances. It might manifest itself as happiness and celebration. In the midst of a difficult time, true joy might manifest itself as a calm assurance of God because we also have His peace. Joy might even manifest itself in tears of desperation as we cling to reliance upon God—joy because our foundation is firm in Him, even when strife seems to reign around us. But we certainly wouldn’t be happy in each of these times.

So I think that we can also agree that, biblically, there’s something deeper about joy when compared to happiness. And just as I think we can all agree that happiness comes and goes, true joy is like the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone—always there and defining what’s going on up at the surface, but not necessarily always presenting itself in the same ways.

And I think that one other thing that we can agree on about the relationship between joy and happiness is that there are lots of counterfeits of joy out there: lots of things that promise real, true, lasting joy, but which only provide ephemeral happiness. For example, the pleasures of the world, the prestige of fame, and the power of wealth all promise last peace, joy, and meaning, but fall woefully short on that promise, as King Solomon found as he searched for meaning in the book of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 2:1–3 CSB

I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile. I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?” I explored with my mind the pull of wine on my body—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to grasp folly, until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

(he goes on this way for another 8 verses)

I appreciate Trevor and Rich and Rebecca joining me in the wrestle about joy and happiness that I had this week. Sometimes you just have to bang things out verbally, and it’s great to have a church staff who will join me in the process.

All of that to say that we don’t have to put the two in competition. It’s a blessing to be able to be BOTH joyful and happy, and in fact, joy should often manifest itself in happiness. However, we also need to understand that if we spend all of our time chasing only happiness, we won’t find either happiness or joy in any lasting sense.

But regardless of how you take joy and happiness, there is great joy to be found in the Christmas season, and it’s good to embrace and celebrate that joy! It can be hard to find the right balance in our lives to savor and experience that joy. But to those of you who find yourselves driven by obligation and busyness and guilt in this season, it’s OK to stop, and say no, and pause and embrace a part of the season that helps you to focus on the joy of Christmas. And to those of you who find Christmas to be a painful, difficult season; to those of you who are hurting or grieving personally or feeling discouraged by a tumultuous year; and to those of you who are happy to revel in this season—it’s OK to feel and to embrace joy. Elizabeth and Mary were certainly both happy and joyful as they met that day in what we read earlier.

My point here is that our longing for happiness and joy is a natural desire that God has placed within us as a reflection of His own joyful nature. And He rejoices over His people:

Zephaniah 3:17 CSB

The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing.”

The most important part is our source of joy.

2. Joy is a source of strength.

When we look at both Elizabeth and Mary, we find that both of them took strength for what they had ahead of them from the joy that they were experiencing through God’s work in their lives. That strength allowed them to reframe the difficulties of the past and to rest in the difficulties coming in the future.

There’s a great example of this principle in the story of Nehemiah. You might recall that Nehemiah was the Old Testament leader who got permission from King Artaxerxes to return from exile and rebuild Jerusalem, starting with its walls.

The process was more than just a return to the physical city; it was a spiritual reawakening for the people. In chapter eight of the book of Nehemiah, he brings all the people together and they bring out the Law of Moses and read it. Nehemiah is calling the people to remember and return to their relationship with God. As he does this, the people are weeping. Maybe there are some tears of joy from some of the people who remember God’s words from years past, but most of them weep from sadness as they recognize their guilt and drifting from God.

So here’s the beauty in the midst of this scene. The Bible tells us,

Nehemiah 8:10 CSB

Then he said to them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

“Celebrate! Enjoy it!” Nehemiah says. Why? Because this is a time for rejoicing that God has brought us back and is restoring our city and our hearts—and because our source of strength is the very joy of the Lord. It fuels us and sustains us.

Our true source of joy, peace, and fulfillment is a relationship with God through faith in Christ. Christmas is a season of joy because the Messiah has brought joy into the world and provided us the way of ultimate fulfillment and life. Peter describes it like this:

1 Peter 1:8–9 CSB

Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

An inexpressible and glorious joy sounds like deep stuff, the kind that finds its source even deeper than our pain and sorrow and the problems that can bury us. It’s a deep well that we draw upon, no matter what we are facing.

And this is why the Gospel is literally “good news.” Jesus, the Son of God, came as one of us, born in a lowly stable and placed in probably a disgusting manger. He brought His perfection into our mess, so that through His perfection, our mess might be cleaned up. We all sin, missing the mark of God’s perfection. So Jesus was perfect FOR US, and then He took sin’s punishment FOR US, and then He beat death FOR US, rising from the grave and ascending to heaven FOR US. And one day He will come back FOR US. According to Scripture, all those who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord are made right with God, and will receive eternal life. Surrender to Jesus even right now where you sit, and experience the joy that comes only through Him and His Spirit which comes to live in us as a gift.

So I’m not suggesting that we take on a “don’t worry, be happy,” put-on-a-plastic-smile-and-fake-it-till-you-make-it kind of joy, but that we draw the strength we need to face life through taking joy in the Lord, which only comes through relationship with Him by faith in Jesus.

Sometimes this joy is a rushing fountain erupting from our spirits, and sometimes it is a thick, slow bubble to the surface. Wherever you find yourself today, let me encourage you that the joy of the Lord can be felt no matter what we are facing. And that leads us to our final point.

3. We can choose joy.

There are a lot of uses of the word rejoice in the Bible. We see it from both Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1. It’s not a word that we use very often in our culture, but maybe we should. Rejoice is the verb form of joy. It’s the action of feeling or expressing joy and delight.

And if you look a little more closely at the word, you’ll notice that it begins with the prefix re-. Think back to grammar class or just think of other English words that start with re-, and you’ll re-member that this prefix means once more, or again, or call back (like, call back to mind: remember). So to re-joice is to come back to joy. It’s a choice and an action we can take to re-turn to joy. I’d like to add that for us, it is a return to our source of joy; it’s a return to Jesus.

Friends, I believe this is the only way we can find true delight and satisfaction. And I believe the process is the same for all of us, whether we are feeling the happiness and joy of this season or not. Whether we are buried in discouragement or everything is going our way, none of us can conjure an unending supply of feel-good happiness all the time, no matter how optimistic or positive our natural disposition is. Sooner or later, we all have one of those days, or weeks, or years. And in reality, we all have them way more often than we’d like.

That’s where the re- comes in. That’s where we must return regularly, daily, constantly to Jesus, our source of joy. It’s why rejoicing is our process of re-fueling our tank, re-storing our strength, and re-newing our spirits. It’s re-connecting with our Savior. And it’s in this process that the apostle James’s words make sense, when he encourages us:

James 1:2–4 CSB

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

So here we are commanded to see our trials as “great joy.” This is one of the ways we know that joy and happiness aren’t exactly the same. James commands us to take joy. He doesn’t command us to just “be happy,” because that’s not going to work. I mean, you married folks: try that on your spouse and see how that goes. “Well, love… you just need to be happy.” Yeah, right.

I’ve got to admit, James’ command is sometimes the last thing we want to hear when we’re hurting. Joy can feel so far away when we’re grieving or depressed or afraid, as our pain and problems loom. But be encouraged that James isn’t commanding that we be happy about our trials and problems. He’s saying we can choose joy within them when we see the bigger picture beyond them. The bigger picture that God is working for our good in every situation. That bigger picture starts at our source in Jesus if we belong to Him by faith.

In the difficult times, there’s much encouragement to be found in the “rejoices” of the Psalms. Psalms 13 is a great example. It begins with the painful cry:

Psalm 13:1 CSB

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

But it ends with the reminder and declaration:

Psalm 13:5 CSB

But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.

It’s just one of many similar examples. Consider a couple of others:

Psalm 118:24 CSB

This is the day the Lord has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 31:7–8 CSB

I will rejoice and be glad in your faithful love because you have seen my affliction. You know the troubles of my soul and have not handed me over to the enemy. You have set my feet in a spacious place.

The Psalms are honest and raw as the writers pour out their feelings in these prayer-like poems and songs. Then we see them transition through the process of remembering and stirring themselves to rejoice and find strength in and from God. This is where and how we find authentic and lasting joy. This is how we can celebrate in this season as we remember and turn to Jesus, who is come to be with us and to give us joy.

Closing

Friends, let’s rediscover Christmas this year by embracing joy, no matter what we’re going through. Let’s remember each day the Source of our joy. Let’s seek happiness not in the seasonal trappings and traditions around us, but in returning constantly to that Source of joy. Let’s choose to continue the process of rejoicing, despite the pain and challenges we are facing. Let’s heed the good news of the angels that will bring great joy to all of us: A Savior has been born, our Messiah, the Lord, and He will carry us through and complete His work in us, no matter what.

But this promise of joy is for those who belong to Him in faith. Jesus says that those who believe in Him have eternal life. Believing is kind of a trusting surrender—it’s discovering that you cannot save yourself from your sin, and so you stop going your own way and give yourself up to Jesus, surrendering into His hands as Savior, and submitting to Him as Lord. Trust Jesus this morning and experience the true joy that only He can bring! Come and tell us so we can celebrate with you. If you have questions, let us know that as well. Send an email if you’re online.

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Closing Remarks

Giving: App, website, text-to-give by texting EHBCGIVE to 1-888-364-GIVE (4483).

Bible reading: Advent reading plan, calendar online and in the foyer. Ezekiel 34:11-31 and Matthew 11:2-10 today.

No Pastor’s Study on Sunday evenings until January 7 because of other things.

Prayer Meeting this week at 5:45. No prayer meeting on the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year’s.

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Benediction

Nehemiah 8:10 CSB

10 Then he said to them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.”