Joy vs Happiness

Well, we're going to jump right into what we have this morning. So if you have your Bibles, if you can flip over to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, chapter 8. So you have your Bibles, you can flip to Nehemiah, chapter eight. Come on.

Can you stand as we read the Word of God today?

Awesome. Awesome. Here we go.

Nehemiah, chapter 8 reads, all the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just inside the Watergate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given for Israel to obey. So on October 8, Ezra the priest brought the book of the Law before the assembly, which included the men, the women, and all the children old enough to understand. He faced a square just inside the Watergate and early morning until noon, and read aloud to everyone who. Who could understand.

All the people. They listened closely to the Book of the Law. Now, Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform that had been made for the occasion. To his right stood and there's a bunch of men. I promise you, I've rehearsed all of this, but we're gonna skip through the guys who were there.

It was important that they were there. It's awesome, but we're gonna skip through that. And Ezra stood on the platform in full, starting chapter five. Ezra stood on the platform in full view of all the people. When they saw him open the book, they all rose to their.

Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God. And all the people chanted, amen. Amen. And as they lifted their hands, then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. The Levites who were standing there then instructed the people in the law.

While everyone remained in their places, they read from the book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each message. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them, don't mourn or weep on such a day as this, for today is a sacred day before the Lord your God. For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the word of the law. And Nehemiah. Continue, guys.

Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is is a sacred day before our Lord. Don't be dejected and sad, and you've heard this phrase before, for the joy of the Lord is your. Come on, church. Say it together.

Strength. Come on. Can we say this together. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones.

I will be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. And I'm confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it in Jesus name. Come on. You guys can go ahead and get seated. So good.

I know you've heard the phrase before, the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. When you hear that, yes, it is from Scripture, but in context, it is Nehemiah who says this. He says, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Let's go ahead and add context to what Nehemiah is talking about now.

Nehemiah's city, Jerusalem, was in ruins. They need the beginning of. Nehemiah starts out with, he needs help. They lack resources, they lack favor, they lack people. And they have this mission, and that is to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

They need to rebuild the walls and the gates so they are not susceptible to attack to wild animals and all this good stuff. And so as Nehemiah does this, it takes him to 52 days to make this happen. Somehow, by the miraculous hand of God, Nehemiah rebuilds the walls, the gates, and all the people in it. The people come together and they make this happen. So Nehemiah, chapter eight starts with, they have built the walls, and now it's time to build the people.

Now it's time for the people to understand, hey, who was behind building all of this? Was it our strength or was it the Lord's strength, if you will? And so in order to do this, Ezra, the priest, Nehemiah is the governor. They gather all the people together and they read out of the book of the law of Moses. And as they're reading.

So this. This book contains stories of the Israelites and Moses. And as they're reading this, men, women and children were sitting there and they were like, oh, my goodness, I feel the conviction. I know I've drifted away from the Lord. Some of us have been exiled.

Some of us are working jobs. Some of us are in higher jobs like government and all that. And we have drifted from what is true. We have drifted from God. And as Ezra starts claiming and reading the Word, people start feeling convicted.

And the Bible says that they were shouting amen and amen, and they were raising their hands and they were falling on their faces and. And worshiping God. And there was a lot of tears and there was a lot of realization. And there was a lot of, I am not who I am supposed. Who I thought I was.

And as this is happening, Nehemiah then makes a statement and he says, guys, it is awesome that you feel the conviction, but I need to remind you, the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. I know I'm on mission today to tell this house, to tell this church, the joy of the Lord is your strength today. What does that mean? Because we live in a culture that confuses what joy and happiness means.

I know I'm not the first person to come up on stage or be on YouTube and tell people what the difference is between joy and happiness. But in my own life, I need to reflect on this. And I have a story of my son and I last fall. You see, we had the opportunity for him to go to Disneyland or Disney World last year. We went on a cruise, my family and I, and we'd come back in the.

In the afternoon and in the evening. We're like, we're so close. We should just take him to Disney World. Cause he's never been. So we go ahead and get tickets.

I take him in there. And as I take him in there, oh, man. It was just not what I pictured. I was so excited for his first time to go to Disney World. But as we were walking in there, it was dark because we got there like 6:30 in the evening.

It was pouring rain. Pouring rain. Somebody came over the loudspeaker and said. They said, because of the pouring rain, we're actually going to cancel our fireworks. And so one thing after another, it was just hitting us.

And he had not had his nap. Come on. Mom's in the room. You know what that means? Man, that was an overwhelming yes.

Dad's in the room. Pay attention, okay? But he did not have a. He did not have a. A nap.

And he was cranky. And I was like, oh, why did we do this? This was not how I thought his first time was gonna go. And as we were walking around the park and it's pouring down rain, and I felt like a terrible parent just for even keeping him out in the rain and walking around in there. We found this one ride that felt like a deserted island.

And it was called the Goofy Barnstormer. Anybody know what I'm talking about? And this ride, if you have not not been on this ride for good reason, is because it's almost like the equivalent of the Snoopy ride at Car Heroines. It's like the roller coaster that little Kids go on, right? And so we found this.

This ride, and nobody was riding this ride. And I was like, okay, well, at least we don't have to stand in line here. So I take my son, and it's pouring down rain. It's an outdoor roller coaster. And it's not.

Not big dips or anything. It has one dip. Listen, I'm scared of roller coasters. I don't like roller coasters. It is on my approved list of things that I can go on.

However, my son. I don't know how he would react. And so we get on the roller coaster, we go through, and the whole time it's pouring rain, he was giggling, he was squealing, he was shouting, he was like, woo. And he was like, daddy, Daddy. And to me, I was like, man, this has to be.

This is a terrible ride. Like, I can't do this. So anyway, we go through the first loop and we get to where it stops, and he just goes again. And there's nobody standing in line. And the attendant, she looks like she wants to go home, too, but she was like.

She was like, do you guys want to go again? I mean, nobody's in line. I'm like, sure, we'll go again. And kid you not, we probably went 10 to 15 times on this ride. Over and over and over and over and over again.

And after a certain point, it wasn't about the ride anymore. It wasn't about the rain anymore. It wasn't about it being dark anymore. It became, man, my son is having a blast. And as he's having a blast, he's, thank you, Daddy.

This is amazing. This is awesome. And he's squealing. I have a picture of me and my son on this ride. Let's see.

There it is. And we're sque. We're having the time of our lives, and we're soaking wet. And I'm sure his mom is going to be really upset, but it didn't matter. We were having the time of our lives.

And perhaps that's what, you know, David writes in the Psalms when he says, restore unto me, God, the joy of your salvation. Joy carries a whole nother meaning than happiness. Cause if it were up to happiness, the rain would have determined that. The darkness would have determined that. The price of the tickets.

Cause, whew, they're rough. Disney World, like, that would have determined that. Come on, are you guys with me? Like, joy has nothing to do with your circumstances. Joy has everything to do with who you are.

And it's from the inside. You See, happiness is everything on the outside. Joy is what you've cultivated on the inside. It comes from the Holy Spirit inside of you. Joy and happiness don't go hand in hand.

Culture has convinced us that they do, right? We tried to say, listen, like, somebody needs to hear this. In this. In this room, we try to say that I am joyful. And you can sub that out for I am happy.

In our culture, that is not true. Joy can only be found in the presence of God. They're two different things, joy and happiness. Joy is one of the most elusive fruits of the spirit. It's not a very popular fruits, like the barnstormer back there.

It's not very popular. People don't use it as much because joy is often misunderstood. Here's what Galatians 5. 22 says. It says, but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. There's no law against these things. Listen. It doesn't say you produce joy. It doesn't say your circumstances produce joy.

It says, who The Holy Spirit produces joy. Only one person can do that. It is us cultivating the presence of God.

Joy is a gift. It is the evidence of your partnership with the Holy Spirit. It is the evidence of Jesus in your life being your obsession. That is what joy is. Joy is an act of defiance against the enemy.

It's what allows you to laugh in the face of the enemy when things are going wrong. So what is joy? Joy is a content state being because of the hope and trust we have in Jesus. Come on. As I was preaching this first service, I heard my mom sing this song.

It's not on my notes, but I just need to sing this again. But it was. Have you heard that song? Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Come on, you know what I'm talking about.

The song goes, because he lives, I can face tomorrow all fears are gone because he lives this I know he holds my future and life is worth living because he lives. Come on. That is joy. Joy is your existence. When I went on that roller coaster with my son, like I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

It wasn't happiness. It wasn't fleeting. It was a moment that I had with my son that I didn't want to trade for anything in the world. That is joy. That is your state of being.

Are you with me today, Church? Joy is not a response to circumstance. Joy is who you are. It says, I am confident that God is not a man, that he would lie I am confident that when my Lord speaks his words, don't come back. Void.

Come on. God restores. He's a restorer of my peace. He's a restorer of my joy. Come on.

That is who God is. When you know that, when you know he has your back. Come on. You know that nothing can take that away from you. There's no scheme of man.

There's no scheme of the devil that can take you from his hand. Come on. You know that to be true. But the. The truth is we don't operate in joy.

It's hard for us to trust tomorrow. It's hard for us to trust the next hour. It's hard for us to trust the school our kids go to. It's hard for us to trust our finances. It's hard for us to trust, dare I say, our marriages.

It's hard for us to trust in our own parenting because we were not meant to do this. In our own strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

We need to rely. We need a new level of reliance on Jesus. The joy of the Lord is our strength. See, as we've confused these two things, we think joy is found somewhere out there. We think if we make all the money in the world, it could buy us joy, maybe happiness, not joy.

You think if you buy a cool car. We think if we get the right promotion and the right job and we hear the right news from the doctor, and we hear the right. Are you with me? Listen to me. Those things are not joy.

Joy is who you are. You've heard the story of the prodigal son. When he asked his dad, he says, father, I need today. I need my share of what is ours. The Bible says he goes out and he spends it all on wild living.

And once he does that, he realizes, oh, my goodness, money was not all that it was supposed to be. Oh, my goodness. My hopes and my dreams. And what I thought was a good idea was not what it was cut out to be. Do you know what he does?

His next move is to return to the father that's contentment in knowing. In my father's house, in my father's house, I don't have to be on my own. I don't have to beg and plead, and I don't have to. In our Father's house. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Today, a lot of us chase joy through money, through businesses, through our reputation, through family. And we build and we build until it all comes crashing down. Because it wasn't built on the right Foundation. Psalm 16:11 says, you have made known to me the path of life. In your presence, there is free fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. It can only be found in the presence of God. It can only be cultivated in the presence of God.

I want to tell you guys this. It's hard for me to admit because this past year, I had a hard time with joy. And that's why I'm over here preaching about this. At 33 years old, I found myself. I found had a heart attack last year.

And after I had a heart attack, I didn't understand what was happening. I didn't know which way was up. It was hard for me to look at my kids. It was hard for me to look at my wife. I couldn't walk 10 paces before I started panting.

I would be in the back preaching to our kids, gasping for every. For every breath, every other word. I immediately started partnering with thoughts that I was damaged goods. There's no way that I think God is done with me. After everything that I've put in, God's done with me.

This is how it ends for me. It's even hard for me to admit this. Today I found myself in doctor's offices, and as the doctors were looking through what to do next, I found, you know, I had a heart monitor with that had wires that would run back to another device that was in my back pocket. And they said, if this thing starts beeping, know that there's an ambulance on coffee. I was so excited.

Last year, Pastor Jay asked me to preach a message. It wasn't even Refuge Kids live. I was like, oh, this is gonna be awesome. I come up here, I had my heart monitor in, and as I begin preaching, as I get louder, the thing starts beeping. This thing starts beeping.

I look at my wife, and she's got the thing in her. She's like.

And I remember as I was preaching with second service, and as the thing started screaming, I stopped everything, and I just said, God, you are the strength and portion of my heart. I need you to calm it down. And I remember going to the back hallway. I remember weeping right where the water is stored over there. I said, God, I don't want to ever be back on that stage again.

I'm embarrassed, God. I don't. If you're done with me, just tell me and release me. I'm good. And that set a trajectory for me.

The enemy robbed me of joy. There were moments I had with my family. There were moments I had with my friends. There were moments I had my kids where I would laugh, but that's not joy. And I started searching, and I said, God, I need you to restore that joy.

Restore that to me, God.

Proverbs 17:22 says, A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength. Come on. I know there are people in this room with a broken spirit that your strength has been sapped out because the joy of the Lord is lacking. You need the joy of the Lord.

So how does this fruit cultivate in your life? How does it mature in our lives? How does joy take root in our lives? Cause I'm telling you right now, a fruit is not instantaneous because it has to overcome a lot of things. It has to overcome the weather.

It has to overcome the bugs, the weeds, the poor soil, the neglect. It has to overcome all these things to bear good fruit. How do we mature the fruit in our lives?

It is by cultivating a culture of joy. It's by cultivating a culture of joy. You know, in chemistry labs, when people put together how they're testing out different drugs or they're testing out different microorganisms or whatnot, they set a culture, which means it has to be the right temperature, it has to be the right light, it has to be the right nutrients to make sure that this organism is. Can thrive, can live. And what would it do if it doesn't have these things and they make tests?

That's what I'm inviting y' all to evaluate in your life. What is the culture of your joy in your life? Because the culture of your joy will translate to your homes, it will translate to your churches, it will translate to our societies and to our culture. It will translate to our schools. I'm telling you, C.S.

lewis says this joy is a serious business of heaven.

And as I walked through my journey this past year, I identified three things.

Three things that I partnered with that I needed to let go of. That if you find yourself in any one of these things, I invite you to evaluate. So the first joy killer was a partnership with a critical spirit.

I know it's something that we don't talk about a lot in church, but how many of you know that we can easily partner with a critical spirit? Something's always wrong politically, Something's always wrong in the leadership of our state. Something's always wrong in the leadership of our church, in the leadership of our ministries, in the leadership of our homes, in the leadership or in our relationships with our doctors on the freeways of the interstates. Something's always wrong with somebody else, but it's never you. We have a lot to say about others, but none about ourselves.

A critical spirit is a harsh or negative opinion about something or someone finding fault in things, but often used to analyze something to form a judgment about its strength and weakness. Here's the deal. A critical spirit appeals to our sense of failure. All of us have that fear inside of us that we fear failure. I'm telling you right now, fear is not from God.

God hasn't given you a spirit of fear or timidity, but of. Come on. Church, power, love and a sound mind. Come on. I just need to tell you today, partnership with a critical spirit is not from God.

It displeases God. A critical spirit. Usually we partner with it when we feel threatened, when we feel guilty, when we feel jealous. But really it's a deflection to distract you from doing personal business with God. We have an opinion about everything.

But appeals. It appeals. That sense of failure inside. Oh, that one thing is going to fail. Our state is going to fail.

Come on. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

Where is our belief and our faith that God is who he says he is?

Even today, the first service again wasn't in my notes, but in first service when we announced Pastor Nathan is leaving. I know. I mean, it's. For me it was hard. My friend is leaving.

Somebody I looked up to in ministry is leaving. I worked under him for a good bit, but because he lives, I can face tomorrow. There's no point in partnering with a critical spirit and thinking about all the ways things can go wrong. Because we don't know that God is in charge. God is in control.

Jesus talked about this all the time to his Pharisees. He talked about taking the speck out of your own eye. In Luke 6:37, he says, do not judge others and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others and you will be forgiven.

Or take the speck out of your own eye. And here's what it is. Jesus understood that sinful people have a hard time with self righteousness. All of us struggle with self righteousness. We need to do personal, personal business with God.

We cannot cultivate joy in our lives if you partner with a critical spirit.

The story of Wendy and I. My wife and I. And I've shared the story before and I know it's been a couple years. I'm gonna bring it up again. Cause this changed my life.

We got in an argument, and as our argument was going on. She. She went into the bathroom and shut the door. It was more dramatic than that, but she went into the bathroom and shut the door. And I remember yelling from the other side of the bathroom.

And I said, wendy, why is it that all those people out there say, I am kind, say that I'm an awesome guy, I'm a great guy, but everybody but you.

I know. I wish I talked to whoever said, oh, before, but. And she said from the other side of the door, she said, because they don't know the real you.

Listen, it doesn't matter if I'm on the stage or whether I'm sitting in a seat with you. Come on. We're doing all of these appearances for people. When God wants to do a new thing in your heart. We know who we are.

We are wretches in need of a savior. We're wretches in need of a savior. I don't care if that even sounds embarrassing, because I know who I am.

And God's rescued me time and time again. That's what robs me of my joy, is an understanding that I don't need to do personal business with God. The second joy killer is an offended spirit's the big one. Those of us take offense to people who are close to us and they hurt us. Something we pick up from someone or something that hurts us deeply.

An offended spirit is a trap set by the enemy. Offense in the Greek comes from the word skandalon, which means trap. But here's the deal. A trap will stop being a trap when you know it's a trap.

We don't go willingly into a mousetrap. A mouse does. The enemy knows how to hunt you down, what you will go for. He knows your buttons, he knows your triggers. He knows what trap is gonna get you caught.

And so he brings the right people at the right time at the right place to get you offended.

I can't tell you how many people church hop because they're offended. They don't let forgiveness play out in the church. They don't let reconciliation play out. People get offended because of something somebody said and don't even give us a chance to speak. Or we don't even give our friends a chance to speak, our parents a chance to speak.

We don't do that. And what happens is the enemy right there cuts us at our knees because we are hurt. But that's not God's design for us. Jesus warns us, then the last days, people will be offended with each other and hate each other. Is that what we need to be said about us.

Offense just hits different. You know, when somebody's offended, it's the tone of their voice when they're speaking to you. It's how they're retelling the story. It's the way they experienced it. It's the way they understood it.

Because the enemy's in there embellishing, embellishing, embellishing until he cuts you off from relationship.

Hebrews 12:1 2. It says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor besides God's throne.

We need to keep our eyes on our champion so the enemy doesn't get us trapped. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus.

I'm not saying people are not mean. I'm not saying people are not hurtful. The truth is, you and I, we are people. People have agendas. We are not God.

You can't blame the brokenness of people on a perfect Savior. We can't do that.

People can be hurtful, but how can we choose forgiveness?

This is where the culture, the enemy, has us so twisted is that we constantly think that forgiveness is about justice, that forgiveness is about justice. Forgiveness is truly about freedom. It's not, I'm not gonna forgive you because you did this to me. It's not, I'm not gonna forgive you because it's not worth it. It's, I am called to forgive you because it's freedom and it's freedom for me.

That's how you get out of the offense trap.

Forgiveness is not about justice. Forgiveness is about freedom. The final joy killer is a disengaged spirit.

A disengaged spirit is a ruthless spirit that says you have no purpose, that says you have no meaning. That says you can live a life where you are a consumer and you don't have to be a producer. That says you are not called to be a part of the body of God is ruthless disengagement, apathy. Essentially, you are asleep at the wheel when you're driving.

A disengaged spirit will convince you that the church is not doing it for you anymore, that your marriage is not doing it for you anymore, that your business is not doing it for you anymore. So what do you do? You sit back and you take in what we don't produce. We're not living the Great Commission. We're not living the Great Commission.

We're not living discipleship. We're not growing.

There are churches across America. There are homes across the world, literally, with people disengaged as parents, as business leaders, as churchgoers. Come on, you know I'm telling you the truth.

Disengagement is a trap. What will eventually happen is you will eventually leave the church because you're disengaged or bored. It's the same thing over and over again. The same thing who eventually leave parenting because same thing over and over again. I hope somebody can watch my kid.

Disengagement will eventually affect your community. Isolating from the people who are trying to help you. This is not God's design for joy in our lives.

I want to read to you some scary stats here in our church for those of us who are called to serve. We are called. We understand that, right? We are called to serve and we are one body. We may have our own unique purposes, we may have our unique ways of looking at life, but we are called to be part of the body of God and to serve.

One of the core values here at the refuge is we do things with excellence. So it may not seem this way from refuge kids that this point of view, but I want to read some stats to you talking about a disengaged spirit that's wrecked havoc. How many volunteers are currently on our roster serving consistently on Sundays?

40 people. Do the average numbers in our church today. One first service, 600 people. Second service route around 400 to 540 serve with our kids in our preschool ministry. Out of those 40, do you know how many we need to run?

So how many volunteers does it take to ideally to run a service each week just to make it happen, to survive, we need, based on the number of classrooms we have and all that, we need at least 35. So we're pooling, trying to make 35 spots happen out of 40 people on roster every month.

Listen, my tone and my I'm reading this not to embarrass us, not to guilt trip, but a lot of us, we've succumbed to a disengaged spirit. Somebody else will take care of it. That somebody else is not coming. I've been here for eight years. I'm telling you that somebody else is not coming.

If you felt that was meant for you on a Wednesday nights, we have 24 on our roster, how many of our volunteers volunteers in Refuge Kids. So this is serve culture across this church. How many volunteers serve in Refuge Kids and serve somewhere else in the building? Total?

40. That means the same volunteers who are serving with our kids are also serving in other places.

How many of our Wednesday night volunteers also serve on Sundays? 25.

We're burning our own people out and I'm watching it happen in real time.

On average, how many volunteers cancel at the last minute or don't make it happen or don't show up? On average, eight to ten volunteers a Sunday.

Come on. If I could tell you today you have purpose in this house. You have purpose with your life. God wants to move his kingdom forward, and I'm inviting you. Come on.

It's not about you. It's not about what makes makes you feel good. It's not about what you what, how talented you are, how skilled you are, how equipped you are.

The kingdom of God needs to move forward. And as we're cultivating this sense of joy in our lives, and as we're cultivating the sense of I need God's presence in our life, as we are doing that, we are swatting away at all these flies. And I heard this from Pastor Skyler several years ago and it changed my life.

We're swatting at all these flies that come our way. I can't tell you the number of kids I counsel because they have nightmares, because they're anxious about going to school. I can't tell you the number of people I've had to counsel that's going on today. And we constantly think the flies of nightmares or anxiety or feeling disengaged or a critical spirit. Here's what it is.

If the Lord wants to move into your life and he wants to create joy in your life, it can only happen in his presence. And if you let him in, he can't dwell where your sin dwells. Also, he can't do that. He's not gonna come and be a tenant in your house, in the house of your heart and say, you know what? That person, the critical spirit, can stay in the back room while I'm here.

The Lord doesn't do that. He's here to consume you. And he wants all of you. He wants to give you joy. He wants to give you peace.

He wants to bring love into your life.

So here's what we need to do. We need to pick up. We need to pick up to trash that's in our lives where we purposely are indulging. As long as it's not tripping somebody up. We're okay.

That's wrong. Sin is sin. We need to pick it up and we need to take it to the trash, throw it away. We need to go through our houses and we need to start taking all these. This trash out.

The trash of anxiety, the trash of a critical spirit. The trash of offense. The trash. And listen to me. If you have trash in your house.

We don't leave it in our house. Why? Because when we leave it in the same spot, the flies will come. And when the flies come, it's hard to get rid of them. And we start swatting at the flies away.

How do you get rid of the flies? Take the trash out. Listen to me. This. This word changed my life.

I remember clean as day, sitting in the back of the vent room hearing this. I want. I need you to understand. Taking the trash out is not you showing up to the altar one time and then disappearing for six weeks and then coming back later. Taking the trash out is not you coming to the altar and all of a sudden you're good.

It's not you getting baptized one day and now. Now everything is hunky dory and everything is fine. Taking the trash out is every day. It's maintenance. Your relationship with the Lord is maintenance.

We have to constantly take the trash out every day and say, God, you are welcome in my home. God, you are welcome in my church. We can't be praying for God. Whatever you touch will live. Whatever you speak is done.

If we don't want to partner with him, it's hypocrisy. We need to take the trash out, and we need to do serious business with the Lord. Because it's about us.

Come on. Can everybody in the room stand up?