And man, I am so glad you guys are here. And, uh, we are talking about core values. And if you have chosen like a school for your kids to go to, or if you're choosing what classes to take at the university, or you're, you've already decided this weekend we're gonna be gone to so and so, you have core values. Now, maybe you didn't write them down, but there's some principles that guide your decision making that you follow, and those are your values. Well, we have those as a church family.

And over the years, leaders and I was a part of that, uh, began to write down what our values were with regard to the direction God was taking us. Now, these aren't our beliefs. We have our beliefs about the Bible and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the church and all those things. Those are all in our website. But these are kinda the principles that keep us in a pathway going in the direction that God would have us go.

And so we began the very first week by saying, we cultivate heroes because we value pointing people to their purpose. Now you say, well, what, what's the big deal about that? Well, it's huge because you may not know this, but a lot of churches, they may not say it, but their value is really performing for you and making sure you get a good product. And when you leave, you say, that was a good sermon or that was a good music. And it's kinda evaluated the heroes or the people on staff.

They're the people on the stage. And instead, we believe the heroes are people like you, the people that other folks never see because you're behind the walls. Uh, you're serving and teaching and leading our children. Uh, you're greeting people there. There's a guy named Chad, he's usually here with, with our, all of our baptismal people at Lincoln Road.

And he's always excited, you know, all those teams and how they greet you and, and those are the heroes in our church. So in our church family. So it's not just how I do, uh, as a leader, I'm trying to look at, Hey, how are you doing in multiplying? And you seeing people come to know the Lord, and, and like you, my brother was, was baptizing this morning out of his house church. Those are the heroes that we cultivate.

Secondly, we talked about with Kyle, we champion teamwork because we, we value the house over the rooms. Now let me tell you what that means, because that sounds kinda like a play on words, but we believe as a church family, the house is everyone within our church family at all of our campuses. And some of you, you count online because every week you're, you're connected and you're worshiping and you're giving, and we believe that you all are the most important thing. It's not, it's not me. Uh, it's not the different ideas you might have.

'Cause some of you came from churches, did a lot of great things and uh, you know, I like to have this ministry and I like to have that ministry. And why don't we do this? And why don't we do that? Because we value the house, the vision, mission, and strategy over all the other ideas that might not fit into that. So when some people say, why don't you do this?

Because that's not, that, that, that's not everything. That's not for the whole house, you know, that it doesn't go with their vision, vision, mission, and strategy. And there are other churches that do that, and they do a great job at that because they have different core values than we do. So we say no to a lot of things. So we can say yes to the main things.

And then last week, I love what Blake said about we create excellence because we value belonging before believing. And this is what that means. And he said, we value excellence because we love people. And and there are a lot of people that come to venture and they don't know Jesus. I mean, they really don't, I mean, they, they kinda like the music.

They kinda understand what we're talking about, but they're in process and we value people who don't know Jesus yet. You know why? Because Jesus valued people that didn't know him. You know, while you were still sinning Romans five eight, Christ died for you. He gave him himself the godly for the ungodly.

And so we value people that are coming from different places and we wanna communicate with them clearly through ways that they're accustomed to be, uh, communicated through, you know, like, like video and sound and lighting. And, and those aren't, those aren't evil things. They're just neutral things. You say, well, well, why would you spend all the time doing that? Because the next generation, you're talking about kids and young people who really need the sight and sound to understand, listen, like my grandson this week, uh, he was digging around in some drawers.

They like to dig around all of our stuff. And he found this right here. And he said, Bob, Bob, what is this? And he looked, I, I promise you he looked at it and, and he went around like it was like a moon rock. And, and he kinda looking at it and said, what'd you do with this thing?

What do you do with that? And I didn't have the heart to tell him, there was a time when you would go to church, they would place this in this little, uh, square box, rectangular box, and they would push a button and you'd hear voices coming out of it, okay? And then you'd have a flannel board. Remember the flannel board? You'd have a flannel board and you put, you know, Zacchaeus up in the tree.

That was every week. And, and the reality is, you know, we're not gonna reach the next generation if we keep doing stuff like this. And because you're willing to give, because you're willing to serve, because you're willing to value the house over the rooms and teamwork so people can belong before they believe. We've had almost 200 people baptize since January one. Listen, that's eight or 10 people a week.

That's the first 15 years of my ministry in Hattiesburg. And when you realize what God is doing, I dunno if you realize this, this is a spiritual movement and what God is doing through you is incredible. And then I get to love it too because guess what? Next week, my grandson who pulled out the cassette tape, he's getting baptized. He's getting baptized because you don't use this right here, he's getting baptized because you don't mind giving so that we can make the message relatable to people no matter where they are.

Pe people call us a lot. They say, you're just shallow or you're worldly. No, you know what it is? They understand it because if you go to church and they're doing the pipe organ, I'm not against the pipe organ. I just don't think Jesus played one.

And you know, like, like, hey, I'm not against that. I'm just like, I'm just saying like, Hey, that's the only time they hear that thing played. But you get up in here and they go, well, I can relate to that. Yeah, I can listen to that on Monday. I can listen to that on Tuesday.

So, so all of a sudden you realize, hey, we're doing things that relate cross-culturally and that's why we're having over 3000 every weekend and almost 700 preschoolers and tonight, several hundred students. Now, now that's not a, that's not a commercial. That is to say, when you have core values and you know where you're trying to go, you have a chance to get there. Because if you don't know where you're going, you're gonna wind up there. 'Cause it doesn't matter.

But, but they gave me, and this was not without my voting, the core value today, that is the hardest of all the core values. And the core value is we choose joy because we value the privilege to participate. Now, now I'm just gonna tell you something, I I just don't naturally kinda lean into joy. I don't anybody, anybody else kind of critical negative and get kind of cynical. Somebody cuts you off and you don't go praise the Lord.

You know, praise it. God help him. You know that, that's just part of it. Lord, I know you no, how many of you, I mean, you're neg you're kinda negative and kind of critical and glass half empty. Anybody like that?

If you're sitting by, by somebody, thank you, sir. If, if, uh, one person, okay, the rest of you, God, you're just amazing. I don't know why you came to church, might go, you ought to be preaching. Like, like if, if you're sitting by somebody and don't let 'em know you're doing this. But if you're sitting by someone who is, who is there, you know, they just like, you're trying to clamp the kitchen and they wonder why you like, put the dishwasher, why don't you put those in there?

Anybody know that? And they're like that, okay? Like, don't let 'em see you. But can I put your hand around back of them and do that right there so I can see, oh my goodness, this message, this message, this message. Oh, thank you Lord.

That is every single one. Okay, good. Now, this morning we had a, we had marriage counts thing goes, one guy's going this right here, right here, right here. So I talked to him outta a divorce. I said, Hey, we all make mistakes.

And so the reality is, it is hard sometimes when circumstances are really hard. It's hard to choose joy. Matter of fact, in your own, in your own strength, I'm just gonna tell you something, you can't choose joy unless God gives you joy and he pours out his hope in you through the power of the Holy Spirit to give you joy and peace. You, you can't just grit it up and go, I just counted all joy. I've learned to be content.

Whatever circumstance. So man, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're gonna find it in a minute. You've got a battle for joy. And if you are already a personality where you lean into being negative and you lean into being critical and you're always kinda like, you're, you're, you're always cynical and you're always like watching the news and, and everything's upside down.

You're ire and woe is me, then you're gonna have to fight extra hard. Because if you live your life, and I'm finding this, listen, I struggle with this man. Like I'm, I can be so critical. I got so much shame and hurt in me. Like when something happens, I can rip you to shreds and quote two scriptures.

It's terrible. Okay? So we're gonna find out in a minute how to grow in joy. And it's gonna surprise you because you can grow in having the, it's like a muscle. You, you can grow in having the ability to choose joy even when things are difficult, if you know certain things.

But let me show you what it looks like. If you just say, no, I'm just gonna be happy, you know, I, I'm, I'm just gonna be happy and, and you know, I'm, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna go there, you know, I'm gonna do this over here and I'm gonna go over there. Then we're gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. And if you're not careful, when you chase happiness, you will never find joy because happiness is based on your circumstances, things that are happening to you.

And joy is based on what is happening in you. So it's football season, praise the Lord. So I'm gonna show you a video of what it looks like. If you live by happiness, how you're gonna be jerked around by life, you're gonna be jerked around by life, you're gonna be jerked around by life. So I want you to see this video and watch how people go from happiness to sadness and sadness to happiness.

All within about 10 seconds. I want you to watch this Travis Wilson to pass on third down in five allotted time looking down the field, it's got a man open down the field, 35, 25, it's a touchdown. Hey, why not just do that? I think they got some balance in the passing game. The play is still alive.

Oregon's running the play back. Wait a minute, he, they said he fumbled it going across the goal line. Oregon's running into the end zone and they're saying it's a touchdown back. The other one, oh my gosh, are you kidding me? They said that tra they said that Kaylin Clay let go of the ball before he crossed the plane.

Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. And Oregon runs it back for a touchdown. What? What? Listen, if you play any sport, you do something that stupid don't point to Jesus.

That ain't his fault. My word. Okay? That's what it looks like. If you choose circumstances and go, well, you know, hey, we're gonna be that this year.

Your your team, they're gonna score and they're gonna do well, then they're gonna get beat. There's some days at work, you're gonna go to work. And man, it's great, you know, everybody's happy, everybody's nice. There's some days when they're not. So if you choose now, you can, if you choose to live based on your circumstances, you're gonna find your life is here and here and here.

So how do you grow in being able to choose joy in any circumstance you're in? Well, it's difficult. Romans chapter 15, if you have your Bibles, I'm gonna show you three things you can do. You say, I don't like that formula. Well, I'm just telling you it's in your, it's not self-help.

This is God help. And Paul wrote it and he's gonna say, 'cause he's going to end up with this is how you can grow in hope and joy and peace. So Romans 15, verse one, he says, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbor for their own good, to build them up for even Christ should not please himself. Jesus didn't even please himself.

But as it is written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. Great verse in verse four, for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the Scripture and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude. It's about your attitude, the same attitude of mind that Jesus had had. Matter of fact, the Bible says, you, you have the mind of Christ toward each other that Christ Jesus had.

So that with one mind and one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Skip down to verse 13. 'Cause you're gonna say some things about Jews and Gentiles. We'll talk about that later in the, in the fall it says may the, this is a verse you may wanna memorize. Put somewhere in your car, maybe on your bathroom mirror and, and kinda be reminded that you can choose joy because the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace as you place your trust in him, not your circumstances, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now that sounds kind of complicated, but it's not. He says there's three things. If you wanna grow in having joy, in choosing joy in your marriage, you wanna change your marriage. Lemme tell you, if you do, if you learn these things, this will transform your, this is not just for church, this is for life. If you learn these three things, it will change your marriage forever.

And you can thank the Lord. You don't have to thank me. These are his principles. He says the first thing, if you gonna grow joy, you begin serving other people. He says, you need to understand that if you set out to get joy and happiness, you'll never find it.

But if you set out to serve other people, the byproduct of serving other people is that you'll find joy. Boy. Because all of a sudden you're not just thinking about you, you, you're starting to realize it's not all about you. It's all about God and what God wants to do. And the people around you, listen, listen, the church is not even all about you.

It's hard for me to say because like, like we think about our, our our, our principal, our business principal. I get up here and I talk to our, our teachers get up here and they talk to, we say, you need to serve, you need to give your life. You're probably never gonna be on the spotlight. And you need to give money so we can get more people to serve and change the world. And you're going, my, that's crazy.

We don't send you a receipt. We don't send you a bill. We tell you the truth. And you could go somewhere else and you get anything you want. I mean, they can just bring it outta the woodwork.

But church is not all about you. It's all about God. It's all about Jesus. It's his bride. Listen, it is Jesus that builds the church.

Listen, it's all about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit if you know this. But when, when it was just God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and they were together before anything happened, they were happy. It's kind before we had kids, you know, and not in our church, but other churches I've seen the way they act. But but he didn't need you. He made you because he loves you.

That's why being in a church and, and being able to worship and give and serve and and love, man, that is a privilege. That is a privilege. We have so many countries, you, you can't even worship out, out in public. You, you can't even speak the name of Jesus. My kids were in a place where if you spoke the name of Jesus and somebody got converted, not only could their family kill them, they could kill you.

Now, I know you had it rough this morning getting to church, that one sock, but that's a little different. You've been blessed beyond measure. You say, well, how do we serve others? Well, you carry their burdens. That's what he says right there.

It's right in the book. I mean, it's right there. The first, like the words in the Bible, he says, you, you carry their burdens. You, you listen to people instead of talking all the time like I do. 'Cause I love to talk.

I think I'm funny. Kids don't. But you listen and, and you find out what their needs are and you don't go, well, I told you not to date him. I mean, I don't know what you were thinking about riding with them. I told you, you know, no, no, you listen and you put your shoulder under the burden and you walk with them.

You, you, you are helping carry their burdens. You know, you're caring enough to go, Hey, I'm not gonna preach to you. I'm not gonna give you unsolicited advice. I just wanna help. And the only way you can do that is to be in close enough proximity to hear what their burdens are.

You think you're gonna hear that in a big room like this? You think they're gonna kind of go down the row, Hey, I'm really struggling my marriage, would you pass it down? You think that's gonna happen in the Sunday school class where you got, everybody's looking beautiful and like Stepford wives and you're left there looking like this. They're going, let's turn to the book of Hebrews. You never gonna know anything.

But when you understand, when you get in circles and you're talking to people and you're hearing about their real life, man, you can relate to them and you help them carry their burdens. Listen, the hardest, best thing Alicia and I do every week is house, church. It is hard. It is exhausting. And every time we meet after everybody's gone, and it's just like, there's chairs everywhere, you know, like it's just chaos.

And, and I, we sat there going, wow, that was amazing. Well, that was incredible. I'm exhausted. Yeah, I'm exhausted too. Like, we need a vacation.

I know, but God wasn't that good. But because all of a sudden, you know someone, but more importantly, they know each other and they're loving each other. They're caring for each other. You second, you encourage your neighbors, you slow down long enough to talk to your neighbor instead of zooming in and zooming out, and you kinda like, Hey, how you doing Joe? I have the kids.

This past week, my neighbor, I got his great neighbors one, one young guy that lives next door to me, and he's one of the nicest guys. And, and our water was off on the whole street. And, and he came over, he goes, Hey man, could you use some water? I said, yeah, I sure could. And so he brought me this case of water and he gave it to me.

And, and as he's laughing and talking and walking off, I'm thinking he spent $10 on that water. I got water, but he got joy. When you serve other people, God does something in your heart. Paul says, in, in, in Romans 15, stop thinking about yourself. Stop dwelling on all the things you don't have.

Stop thinking about what am I getting? What am I getting in return? Is God good to me? Is God gonna be fair to me? Listen, Jesus e even Jesus said, I didn't come to, he should have said I came to be served.

He said, I came to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. I I dunno if you've ever been to a restaurant and you're thinking, man, it'd be great if I had that table over there. If people were just sitting around or just talking, you know, like, yeah, yeah, we're hungry. My kids are out here. Have you ever felt that way?

You know, think about Jesus. He could have gone in, he could have gone into your favorite restaurant. He could said, I want that table right over there. And they could said, well, they're not quite done. He could have gone, boom, they're gone.

He could gotten in his table. I mean, he, I came to be served. I am God. I created everything. It's like when my grandkids, when they get their happy meal, we got a happy meal yesterday.

They were happy that we got in the car and it was ninjas. And and the reality is when you begin to understand, hey, hey, it's not all about you. So you serve and then you study because the Bible teaches us how to live. Listen, everything you need to know is in this book. You say, all the preachers say that.

No, it's true. There's no new sins in the world. If somebody says to you, no, no, no, our world, they could have never understood what we're going through in our world because they were so backwoodsy and they were, you know, it's way back so far back. They didn't understand. Listen, they understood sin.

Well, there, there's no progressive theology. It's the same thing. The same things are going on in people's lives 10,000 years ago are going on in your life today. You study the Bible, you read the Bible, it, it gives you wisdom, it gives you direction. It helps you to kinda clarify your core values.

This is what we don't do as a family. This is what we do as a family. How about the 10 commandments? You know, you have no other gods of four may, no gravy images. And it goes, Hey, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy honor your parents.

Hey, if we just did those four things, it would be transformational. The Bible gives us hope. The, the Bibles says, second of Timothy three 16 that the Bible listen to this is God breathed. It means that when people were writing the Bible, I dunno if I believe in the Bible, well listen, it, it stood the test of time. And the people that were writing the Bible, God breathed on them, inspired them to write the truth of the scriptures so that you could know this book is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

If you'll just read it. You said, but I don't know how we'll use the soap method. It's like this. You get the Bible, this all the scriptures. So I don't have a Bible.

We'll give you one before you leave today. You can go to our app. There's all kind, and we got all kinds of tools and you read it. That's what I did in Romans 15. And you make some observations about it.

And then you go, Hey, I need to do this with my life. And then you pray it's so simple and it's so powerful, you see, but I want more meat. I want more meat. I wanna know more about meat. Listen, you don't need more, more meat.

You, you need to wash feet. You, you need to go, what does this mean for me? What am I supposed to do with this? God? How can I apply this?

God, how can you use me in a powerful way through what you said in your word. So you serve and you study and you shine. I I love what Paul says in verse 15. He 13, he says simply this. He goes, look, the God of all hope will, will flow into you.

He will flow peace into your life, joy into your life, and hope into your life. And it will overflow to the people around you. Listen, wherever you go, people are picking up on your attitude. Um, one Peter three, one three says, you've been born into a living hope. Then act like it.

Hebrews six 19, Jesus is the anchor of our souls. Then act like it because wherever you go, man, people are watching you pe it, it, it is gathering energy from you. And this is not some weird thing, it's just they're picking up. And if you're negative, and if you're critical and you're always down, and if you are, don't tell 'em you're a believer. I went into a fast food restaurant the other day, and I'm not gonna tell you which restaurant it was.

Um, and I went in to order a Big Mac. And so I come up to the counter. This is a true story. And, and literally I promise you, and I'm not being ugly 'cause I know there's a lot going on, you know, and, and I know you don't make a lot of money, you know, and all, I mean, I get all I I'm getting it, okay? But I walk up and literally I'm thinking they're not gonna be able to put their hand up to touch the keyboard.

Yeah. She was crying out and, and and, and I'm like, Hey. And I ordered and, and I, it was like, by the time I got through, I'm like, you know, hey, you know, I'll go back there and fix it. It's not, I mean, I know you got, I mean, but, but I felt it, it, it was the zombie apocalypse you said. But they don't make a lot of money.

That's why they're so, that's why they're acting like that. They don't make a lot of money and it's hard to get people to work. It's hard to get, I, I know. Hold on. So I go to this really nice restaurant and it's world renowned, and a lady comes and she's dressed to the nines and she walks up and, and she is so snobby And short, I'm thinking, honey, we're paying you money.

And, and I just got this, like, this feeling from her, like, I'm thinking, wow, that's, that's pride. That, that's arrogance. Then I go to Chick-fil-A and drive through and they're like, Hey, can I give you money? Uh, do you need to, do you need to borrow my car? Uh, like, hey, I think I've seen you before.

You're such a nice person and I wanna give you free chicken nuggets. What is the difference in that? I I looked it up. They're making the same money now. The lady at the restaurant, she's making a whole lot more.

That's a different thing, but they're making the same amount of money. What is the difference? One of 'em chose Joy Uhhuh Uhhuh. She valued the privilege to participate in giving me my chicken. That's why when you go by Chick-fil-A and you see all those people in line, it's not just a chicken.

People are depressed. They need to be encouraged. They don't pay for counseling. It's free. So, but here's, I I want end up, I I'm sorry I got off today.

I'm sorry. But I, I want end up with something I wanna challenge you. If, if you are like me and you cover up a lot of shame and anger with sarcasm and snippy, snippy comments, would you ask God to do something in your heart? W would you remind yourself that you're here for God? And God is not just here to make your life better and easier?

If you're like me and you give unsolicited advice, do you know what unsolicited advice is? It's criticism. And you have the gift of criticism. If, if you go around all the time and all you do between Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and whatever the latest thing is, and you're looking at what other people eat and you're thinking, I don't get to eat that. I don't get to go there.

Listen, comparison ruins your joy. And you just join me in saying today, here at the end of the service, you know, God, I, I wanna choose joy because it's a privilege to know you. It's a privilege to know you and to have you in control of my life. And God, if you wanna do different things than I would like, I trust you as my father, just a baby in your hands because I know I can place my faith in you because I have hope. And that hope will lead to joy and peace and it'll overflow to all those people around me because that is not normal in a broken world.

Father, help me be thankful for all that I have. Give me strength to choose joy. Because Father, it's a privilege. It's a privilege to just be a part of what you're doing. And Father, we ask all of these things in name.