JOY STORY 4
Break Up
Joy is a supernatural delight found:
In the person of God
In the purposes of God
In the people of God
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Relationship with God changes our perspective of our relationships with others.
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The co-existence of our will and God’s will is God’s ultimate desire.
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God would rather see His own son die than break a covenant!
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We can be as passionate as we like about relationships but we still may find that they slip through our grasp.
Isaiah 58 – highs and lows
What erodes?
What undermines?
Choices
Choices quickly and easily impact every aspect of our lives.
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Eve made choices.
Adam made choices.
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Are the choices you are making expressing the kind of covenant God has with you? Are the choices you are making expressing that covenant with your spouse, your family and your church?
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Every choice effects your covenants
You are not devoid of relational consequence
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Jesus had the capability of completely setting aside His will to do the will of the Father.
John 6:38 (NLT)
For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.
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He knew that He had completely surrendered to the Father because He could not plan a better outcome. He could not suppose a better consequences.
World seeking rights and free choice BUT…
The best consequences come from the choices of the Father not our own.
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Love right – loving like Jesus
Choose right – thinking like Jesus
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OUR RELATIONSHIP (COVENANT) WITH GOD IS ENHANCED THROUGH THE CHOICES WE MAKE
Break up with GOD and we break up with OTHERS
1 Corinthians 2:16 NLT
For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
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Making choices devoid of the Father we are directly undermining the possibility of joy in our relationships
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Jesus Made choices that aligned to His purpose (the will of the Father)
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When we have no purpose we drift and lose focus from the Word of God.
Joy – found is the PURPOSE of God
MAKE CHOICES
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1. THAT PLACES PURPOSE OVER POPULARITY
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PURPOSE OVER POPULARITY
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LIVING FOR THE APPROVAL OF PEOPLE (commonality of the masses) KEEPS YOU FROM THE PURPOSES OF GOD.
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Hebrews 11:24-26
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
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THE POWER OF PURPOSE
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PURPOSE DIMINISHES DISTRACTIONS.
PURPOSE PUSHES YOU THROUGH THE PAIN.
PURPOSE EMPOWERS YOU TO PLEASE GOD.
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Acts 5:29
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
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2. DISCIPLINE OVER REGRET
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GOD HAS GIVEN US A SOUND MIND
2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and sound mind (self-discipline).
CHOOSING the Pain of DISCIPLINE rather than living in the pain of REGRET and SHAME.
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DISCIPLINE IS CHOOSING BETWEEN WHAT YOU WANT NOW AND WHAT YOU WANT MOST.
Romans 7:15, 18b-19, 24-25 NLT
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate…
I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Choosing what I want most over what I want now!
1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NLT
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!
All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.
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WHAT DO YOU WANT MOST?
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CHOOSE NOW TO ACHIEVE WHAT YOU WANT MOST?
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1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NLT
So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.
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3. CHOOSE SURRENDER OVER CONTROL
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
CONTROL GONE BAD
Genesis 16:1-4
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;
so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
NAME WHAT OR WHO YOU ARE TRYING TO CONTROL.
THREE QUESTIONS THAT WILL HELP YOU CHOOSE SURRENDER OVER CONTROL
IS IT WORTH MY CONCERN?
IS IT MINE TO CONTROL?
IS IT FOR GOD ALONE?
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
BREAKING UP WITH GOD IS HARD TO DO
Because of His Grace
BREAKING UP WITH OTHERS IS EASY
Because of our choices
Choices erode the evidence of Gods grace in our lives