Chasing The Endless Summer

Hey everybody, welcome to Salt Church. We're starting a new series today. We're calling it Summer of Salt, and it's not really a series as you traditionally know a series. We're actually going to have stand-alone messages for the next four to six weeks of just things that God is sharing with us. We're going to have guest speakers.

We're going to have different people come in and share with us. We're just going to allow the Lord to speak to us as we go through this part of the year. And I'm excited about today's message. Today's message is really fascinating because let's just start off the series by saying, how many of you love summer? Now, how many of you don't like summer so much?

I think for most of us, we probably like summer or love summer. Why is that? Because, well, warmer weather. We just come out of the winter, shorter days, and it's been cold, it's been dark, and now we're coming into a summer. Right now, in Virginia Beach, it doesn't feel like summer.

I know it feels like fall, or it feels like early spring, just having an unusual year. But normally, we have a lot of vitamin C, the birds are chirping. We're thinking of vacations like beach, mountains, camping, hiking, all those things that you can do in the summertime and be comfortable doing that we miss out on the other part of the year. For you, it might just be a luxury hotel in Hawaii. I don't know.

Maybe that's you. For a lot of people, I know my wife, she would prefer being in a hotel rather than camping and hiking. But everybody has this idea of summer. And, of course, some of you are like, well, it's hot. I don't like summer.

My kids are out of school. Oh, my goodness. They're in and out of the house. The electric bill goes up. And all these things happen.

But for the most part, I think the exciting thing about summer is that it's a time to hit pause, hit the brakes, figure out things, enjoy life a little bit, take some vacation, enjoy the sun, get some vitamin C. And we all love the idea of summer, although we might not like the season necessarily for some of us. We all like the idea of summer. And there was a film that came out by Bruce Brown in 1966. It was called The Endless Summer.

The Endless Summer. And there was something fascinating about that title. And the idea of of this film, it was a a surfing documentary. It attracted more than just surfers. It attracted everybody.

It was a big hit. It was one of the most popular documentaries made. And the reason it was is because of that idea of Endless Summer. There was a group of surfers who went around the world and they would always pursue these waves and exotic locations, beautiful, warm environments from Africa to Australia, New Zealand to Tahiti to Hawaii to California. And they would go around the world and they would constantly be chasing this season of Endless Summer.

They were going after the Endless Summer. And when it was winter in one hemisphere, it was summer in another. So there was something special about traveling around. It had never been done before. They'd never had people travel around.

around the world for a full year pursuing The Endless Summer. It was a really cool thing, and get this, they first opened the film in the U.S. in Wichita, Kansas of all places, and it booked house records because it was so popular. Why?

Because people liked the idea of an endless summer. There was something special about an endless summer. There's something about the season that brings some joy to our hearts, that brings some happiness to us. And we're always trying to chase summer. We're always trying to chase a season.

And many of you are trying to figuratively chase an endless summer. But, here's the deal. Our joy isn't determined by a season, or seasons in life, or circumstances in life. Our joy isn't determined by the amount we accumulate. Some of that is your circumstance or your season.

Or maybe it's a person, something that you're chasing after to get happiness. Our circumstances and seasons, if we're just chasing seasons, that we're trying to get that dopamine fix, it's like a drug. And it always runs out. It always goes dry. It's always dead.

We're always like a surfer trying to chase that wave and go to that exotic place. It just gives us a temporary fix, but it never fulfills our heart. God talks about a joy that's different. Something that's internally, not externally. It's not circumstantial.

It's not based on a season. Because a season only lasts three months. And then it's gone. It's not a season in life. We can have joy even in the horrible seasons in life.

Seasons can't determine our joy when we have a joy that's available to us. That's why Matthew 3, 2, and all of you have heard this, and you've heard it probably in a negative connotation. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You've heard that. You've heard those people with veins popping out of their head, red faces, just yelling, you've got to repent.

You've got to turn from your sin. And there's some truth in that. But really, this is a good thing. Repenting is a good thing because the kingdom of heaven is a good thing. And when we change, repent just really means this.

It means to change one's mind, to turn, to change, and turn directions. And what God is asking us to do is to repent, to turn to His kingdom. Because your kingdom doesn't work. Life isn't good in your kingdom. Letting the true king be in charge under the canopy and authority of God is true freedom and true joy and something that He wants for all of us.

And it's closer than you think. It's reachable. See, people are living with anxiety, depression, and hopelessness all the time. And God has promised you joy. God promises you joy.

And I wonder why so many Christians are anxious, depressed, and hopeless. Why is that? I get some people have chemical imbalances. And have more than just some physical or it's more biological than it is just our attitudes. But for many of you, you're depressed because you haven't reached for what God really has for you.

And my hope and prayer today is that you are filled with hope and you are filled with joy. A joy to get out of a life that feels lifeless and hopeless and joyless and reach for something better. That's why Nehemiah 8.10 says, Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Do not grieve. Think about that for a minute. The word grieve. Many of us grieve and there's good ways to grieve and there's bad ways to grieve. And I've been to a lot of funerals and I've done a lot of services.

In fact, a friend of mine, they had a paddle out this past weekend. I had to miss it. And so I sent Alex, one of our elders there, on my behalf to be there for it. But he could tell you and I could tell you, you know how people grieve by when you look at someone the way they grieve, you know where their joy lies. And somebody who doesn't believe or know Jesus grieves differently than somebody who grieves knowing Jesus.

Grieving is good. It's okay to grieve. We're all sad in life. But for those who grieve with Jesus, there's a different kind of grief. There's a joy in the grief because we know that there's hope because joy is there and available for us.

And this is what Nehemiah is saying. Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength. How do we obtain this joy? Let's talk about that for a minute because joy comes by this. Let me give you three things.

Joy comes first by knowing God has a plan for my life. That everything I go through is a part of His plan. And if you know who you are and how God made you and what He's called you to do, exactly what He's called you to do, when you're walking in His purposes and when you're walking in His plan, there's something powerful. Joy sets in. Because even as Jesus did it, because of the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross.

He had a joy. The cross was not fun. The cross was not something good. But there was a joy set before Him, and He was able to endure because He had a joy deep down. That's why the psalmist says in Psalm, if you're with me in the Bible, Psalm 16, 5, and 11, it says, Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup.

You make my lot secure. The borderlines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Let me just break that apart for a minute. The borderlines, the place that God has assigned you in this epoch of time, in this season, and the places that He's placed you in. That's your calling.

A lot of people complain about what's going on around them and what the world's like, but I can tell you, if you're walking in God's plan and know who you are and know that you're walking in those borderlines, And you're called to do it. There's joy in that. There's hope in that. And we got a lot of whiny people in the world right now. Everybody's complaining.

Politics and all this. And Christians are just as bad. It's just a bad world. It's just a dying world. I can't believe how bad the world is right now.

What are we going to do? There's just no hope. Because they're not really walking in purpose. They're just looking at darkness. But you are a light of the world.

You are salt of the earth. That's why we call ourselves Salt Church. We make a difference. And a little bit of salt goes a long way. And when we see that, when we know who we are, we know what we're designed to do, and we know our calling.

You've got to walk in calling. You have purpose. It gives you a joy. And it says, surely I have a delightful inheritance. I have an inheritance in heaven.

Amen. And it also says, I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night, my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him, at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart is glad. And my tongue rejoices. And my body also will rest secure. That means I will sleep better at night when I know who I am, when I know what God's up to, that God has a plan. Because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful ones see decay or your faithful ones see decay.

There's a little bit of prophetic statement of Jesus Christ there. But it also applies to us that He will always be with us through it all. We can rest assured that He has a plan for our life. And He's got us right where we need to be, walking out His plan. And you make known to me, it says this, you make known to me the path of life.

And you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasure at your right hand. Rick Warren's wife, Kay Warren, wrote a book called Choose Joy. She lost her son a few years back to suicide. Just very tragic. So they actually recently updated the book.

But she had a few points. And I want to carry some of these points with the different points I'm giving. And she says this, joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life. Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life. Number two, I find joy by an unwavering certainty that God will work it out.

I have an unwavering, I will not be shaken. I know that God's going to work it out. My plans might be interrupted. God might take me off the course and take me somewhere else. The world might even throw me off course.

Maybe I've made some decisions and mistakes. But I don't wallow in those choices that I've made. I straighten myself up, get myself back in gear because I know that God will work it out in the end because I follow a God. And I can be certain, I can be certain, unwaveringly certain that God will work it out. It's like a friend of mine years ago, he had a comfortable day.

But he knew that he had to move on, that God had more for him, so he went into a job, another job. It paid more, there was a little more opportunity there, but it was miserable. And it was so miserable that after a year or so, he had to get out of it, and he took another job that really wasn't the job he ever thought he would do. And it was a time, it was a sales job, and he learned about sales and things like that. But it really wasn't his forte, per se, but he took it on, and it was a very short season of his life.

During that time, he was just so aggravated. He didn't know what God was doing. He was just frustrated about where life was taking him, because this is not where he wanted to go. But throughout those processes, by being in that job, it introduced him to somebody else who ultimately found the job that was perfect for him. They learned who he was, he walked through, he got some training through the process, and knowing how to sell, knowing how to manage, and all those things.

And now he's walking in his purpose. He's doing a job that he loved, because he was created to do that from the very beginning. And God knew that, because God works it out. And there's a joy available for you in the middle. What do I mean by that, in the middle?

Because when we first start off, it's great. We've got all this excitement. God's got big things for us. He's really going to take care of us. He's going to take us to the next level, and on and on and on.

But in the middle is where it's hardest, because when we get to the end, we see the end results. We say, wow, we made it. It's worked out. God did something. But in the middle is the dark places.

In the middle is where you have to dig the dishes. In the middle is where you have to put your head down and push through at times. In the middle is where there's this uncertainty. It's a dark place. But that's where we really have to depend on joy.

If we know that we have an unwavering certainty that God will work it out, we can get through the middle. And many of you are in the middle. And I just tell you to hold on. Just trust God. Even though you don't see, believe.

And let me just speak to those. Those of you who are seasoned Christians understand this. Things do work out eventually. You see the pieces of the puzzle put together. And at the end, you're like, wow, that was cool.

That was amazing. Look what God did. That was incredible. But for you that are young, you're probably starting off. And some of you are frankly in the middle.

And you're going through some things. And you're just trying to figure it all out. And maybe marriage is difficult. Maybe finances is difficult. You're not quite making enough money right now.

You're trying to figure out life. And how do I make it? How do I make it? I know it seems like God doesn't have a plan. I know it seems like you've probably made some decisions that's led you here.

But trust me. Trust me. It's no mistake where you are right now. Trust God. He puts the puzzles together.

And in the end, you're going to see great things. This is what Peter said in 1 Peter 1.8. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him.

And are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy. I mean, there's joy in knowing who Jesus is. We don't see him. He's not right in front of us. But we know him and believe in him.

That's the beauty about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe and know. There's a story of an African king, and he had a friend that always said, he was so positive, he always said, This is good. This is good. All the time.

He couldn't understand. I mean, anything, any situation, this is good. It could be bad. It could be good. It's always, this is good.

Well, he took his friend hunting. The king took his friend hunting on this trip, and his friend loaded the gun wrong, and the gun backfired and blew the king's finger off when he was shooting at an animal. And he got really angry, and he was frustrated. Why did you do this? He asked his friend.

Why did you load? Look, my thumb's gone. And all his friend would say is, You guessed it. This is good. This is good.

This is good. And the king was so angry. No, it's not. It's bad. And he takes him and locks him up in jail, and just so angry with this guy.

Well, a while later, he's hunting again, and he wanders in. The king, that is, wanders into this cannibal area, and they tied the king up to a steak, and they were ready to cook him. These cannibals captured him and tied him up and were ready to cook him. And they noticed that, Wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we do this, let's inspect this guy.

And they found that his thumb was gone. And they had this superstition that you didn't eat anything or sacrifice anything that wasn't whole. So they ended up letting the king go. The king was released, and he felt remorse for his friend in jail, realizing that that thumb had saved his life. He really felt bad for his friend.

He went back and let him out of jail, and he apologized to him. And all his friend could say is, Yes, you guessed it. This is good. This is good. And the king was like, Why would you say that after I've locked you up for all these years?

I put you away. And he said, Well, if you had not locked me up, I would have been with you. I would have been with you. See, you can always find hope and good in everything, right? Amen.

K. Warren says it like this, Joy is the quiet confidence that everything is going to be all right. Everything is going to be all right. As Bob Marley would put it, every little thing is going to be all right, right? And there was an old chorus we used to sing in church, I've got a feeling.

Everything's going to be all right. Yeah, we, I got a feeling. Everything's going to be all right. Yes. And we would sing that and clap that because we had that and we knew that.

And it's a beautiful thing. And then thirdly, And then thirdly, And then thirdly, Joy comes by making a choice to choose joy. You've got to choose joy because joy is not going to find you. It's not going to sneak up on you. It's not going to drop on you.

You've got to find it. You've got to chase it. That's the real Endless Summer that you want to chase. Not your circumstance. Not a season.

Joy that you choose. That's why Philippians says, Rejoice, Lord, always, and I will say it again. Rejoice. Philippians 4.4.

Rejoice. Because, frankly, some of you get some joys in this place, but you need to rejoice. When you leave this place and you get in that traffic and you're angry at that person, you're ready to cuss them out, right? You need to rejoice. You need to rejoice all the time.

Why did he say it again? Rejoice. Because he was purposeful. He was intentional. He says, Rejoice.

And again, I say it. You've got to rejoice. You've got to rejoice in season, out of season. Rejoice. Let the good news echo through your lungs, through your voice.

Let it be powerful. Don't just have it in church. When you leave the building and throughout the week, have joy. Rejoice. Rejoice.

I choose to rejoice. Even when times are bad. Even when times hurt. I rejoice. Anyways, the character of Winnie the Pooh.

All of you know Winnie the Pooh. My kids used to watch it with me. Or I used to watch it with them, rather. Probably my kids watch it with me, to be honest. But that's like a psychology-lessing ending of itself, the whole story and the characters of Winnie the Pooh.

It wasn't meant to be that way. The author didn't make it that way. But psychologists actually use these characters. And you've got the anxious little piglet that thinks the world's falling apart all the time. He's always anxious and just worried about things.

And then you have depressed Eeyore. Everything's always wrong. It doesn't matter what it is. Oh boy. It's not going to be good.

The sky is falling. It's sunny outside. But watch out. It's going to rain. Just wait.

Have you ever met anybody like that? So you've got those guys. And then you've got Naive Pooh Bear, who's just ADHD about his honey. And he has no idea what's going on. He's all over the place.

And then you have the know-it-all kangaroo that's just a narcissist and knows everything and just angry and this and that or grumpy. And you've got all these different characters. But then there's this one character. This one character named Tigger. Tigger's special.

Tigger's the one that bounces in. And everything changes. You know, the environment changes. Because it's Tigger. Hey, Tigger, bounce with me.

Let's bounce around. Let's do this. Let's do that. And anything you ask Tigger to do, what did he say? Sure.

Because that's what Tiggers do best. You want to go ice skating, Tigger? Sure. Because that's what Tiggers do best. You want to go cherry picking?

Oh, sure. That's what Tiggers do best. You want to play ball? Yeah, sure. That's what Tiggers do best.

It was like always that way. Tiggers do it that. You know, I'm a Tigger and there's no one like me. Hey, that's how Tigger. Attitude was, and that's just a reminder for all of us.

All of us need to be some Tiggers, you know? We need to bounce around, come into and change environments when things are bad. And it would change all those characters when Tigger walked into a room. Can we be those two? I like how Kay Warren says it, joy is the determined choice to praise God in all things.

I praise God because that's what God does best to bring joy into the environment when I praise Him. And we can live with joy in our heart. And it's really not that far from you. It's not. It seems so far.

Pastor, you're giving me all this good information, but man, I'm telling you, it's not that far from you, guys. It's within reach. That's why Deuteronomy 30, 11 through 19, and this is the message paraphrase, it says it like this. I love how the message puts it. This commandment that I'm commanding you today isn't too much for you.

It's not out of your reach. It's not on a high mountain. You don't have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level. And explain it before you can live it. And it's not across oceans.

You don't have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No! The Word is right here and now, as near as the tongue in your mouth and as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it. It's right there for you, people.

It's right there for you is what God's saying. He's laid it before you. You don't have to go far. You don't have to reach some kind of height that you can't get to. He's just laid it before you.

And here's what it says in the next verse. It says, Look at what I've done for you today. I've placed you in front of life and good and evil and death and evil. And I command you today, love God, your God. Walk in His ways.

Keep His commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God. For God in the land you are about to enter and possess. He's got that available for you. I've laid it out for you is what He says. And then He goes on to say, But I warn you, if you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, or willfully go off and serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die.

Now, let me go back to that last verse for a minute. Commandments, regulations, and rules. Hey, we're not saved by commandments, regulations, and rules. We're saved by Jesus Christ alone. It is a free gift of salvation.

But what God is saying here is that you don't have to live miserable anymore. If you walk in my ways, walk in my commandment, look, I've laid these things out for you not to dictate you, not to be head of some type of communist movement that controls you. I give you this so that you can actually be free. And I know you Americans love freedom, okay? You love freedom.

Well, God has the best freedom to bless you and let you prosper so that you will live, so you will not die. And then He goes on to say, You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. And I call heaven and earth to witness against you today. I place before you. Life and Death.

Blessed Curses. He re-says that one more time. He references that one more time. And then he says this, choose life so that you and your children will live. So he just says choose life.

It's right there in front of you. It's not hard to reach. It's pretty easy. It's just basic. It really is.

Well, it's so far and so hard. No, it's not. It's really right there for you to grasp. If you surrender you, your God, whatever that is, yourself really is what it comes down to. And you surrender to the God, the King of Kings, the God of gods, the one who has it all in his hands, who has the best for you.

So how do you do that? Let me give you some application real quick. Here's three things. And Paul in Philippians, when he's in prison, I mean, my man is facing death here. He's shackled to a prison cell and he's writing these letters.

We call them the prison epistles. letters from prison. And he doesn't know if he's going to live tomorrow. He's not in a good place. It's not a happy place.

And I'm not talking about the type of persecution and oppression of you not being able to get your ball game during football season in the afternoon. That's not what I'm talking about. Or when your Orange Theory instructor yells at you, that's not persecution. This guy was facing persecution. Real, real, real persecution now.

Heavy persecution. And it's even hard for us as Western Christians to really relate to this because our persecution is so different. But in the midst of his persecution, there's something wild that happens. He chooses joy. Anyway, and here's how he does it.

Number one, he chooses to look beyond what happened. Okay? He didn't sit around and ruminate and think about all the bad things that happened. So we draw conclusions when we ruminate. Did you know that when we go and we think about things, we start venting half-truths and we're questioning why this happened and that happened and we start making up things and then it ends up just being all kinds of disaster.

It begins to be destructive. And we don't want that for our lives. Ruminating is not a good, about that bad thing is not a good thing. And Paul didn't do that. Did you know that one of the main steps that leads to suicide is when people get alone and start thinking about the things that they're struggling with instead of going to somebody or getting help, seeking help to get alone?

That's just not the answer. And Paul wasn't sitting around saying, oh man, you know, I served you God and here I am in this dirty prison and I might face death. No, no, no, no. He takes the opportunity to actually encourage. He starts writing letters.

And in Philippians 1, 12, he says, now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, what has happened to me is actually serve to advance the gospel. See, I'm here to advance the gospel. I mean, I've got a little time off here now that I can write you letters and get things prepared in case I do go. And you know what to do. And I'm here to do that.

And on the flip side of that is number two. Paul found opportunities. Not only was he writing some letters, getting some writing done, he was sharing the gospel with the others. In fact, in one situation, he actually led a jailer to Jesus, right? He took lemons and he made lemonade out of them.

He made something beautiful out of them. This is what it says in verse 13 and 14 of Philippians chapter 1. It says, As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace garden to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. They know that it's for Christ. It's not about me.

And they're questioning this. They're like looking at this. And here's what he says it has done. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. Isn't that cool?

People were inspired by Paul being in chains. So instead of Paul looking at his chains as a limitation, he saw it as an opportunity. In the world today, we can either complain about what's going on or we can take the opportunity. People are hurting. People are in very difficult situations in our world, okay?

Whether it's financially, economically, whether it's identity issues, whatever it is, we can complain about those things and say they're not godly, they're not biblical, yada yada, and the world's against us. But we as Christians should instead see it as an opportunity to share the gospel which changes their lives and brings hope, brings life instead of death. And we need to be able to take these opportunities. Let's change our mindset and think about how we can be creative in bringing the gospel to people who are hurting in this world. And then number three, Paul, what he did is he chose to focus on what really matters.

You've got to choose to focus on what really matters. So how do we do that? We'll get away from the gossip. People are talking all the time. Get off of Facebook.

Get off of Instagram. You see the gossip. There's the stories going on. There's half-truths. There's talks about people.

And this was happening for Paul. The people were bringing all these things to him. And he was like, you know what? I don't really care. I'm not focused on those things.

I'm focused on what really matters. Look at verse 15 of this chapter, Philippians 1, kind of going on from where we were talking about before. He says, it is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. There are people there doing it wrong. You can talk about those people.

You can gossip about those people. You can be worried about those people. But there's also people that are doing it out of goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. They know that.

The former preach Christ out of selfless ambition, or selfish ambition rather, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble. It's impossible for me when I'm in chains so they can talk about me. Have you ever had anybody talk about you, even when you're doing the right thing? But here's what he says. Here's his response.

But what does that matter? What does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice. Yes, I will continue to rejoice.

Rejoice and rejoice. He emphasizes that rejoice again. I'm going to rejoice in this. I don't care what people say. I don't care what people think.

I don't care if people don't like my ministry. I don't care if people don't like my teaching. I don't care if people don't like my church. You know what merely matters is the gospel is centered. And I'm going to preach the gospel because God has called to me.

He set up these boundary lines for me right here. And I choose to obey God and not man and let man knock me off, of course. I've been approved. I've been set apart. And I've been called to ministry.

And that's how I, as a pastor of the Lord Jesus, preacher of the Lord Jesus, handle this. I look to choose joy over what people say. Because when you're a pastor, when you're a leader, when you're anything, if you're doing things for God, you're going to be talked about. You just got to get used to that, okay? But remember what's important.

Christ is being preached. And even those churches that might, you might not even agree with on every theology. Instead of getting online and talking bad about them, typing out all those things, those wrong things, a laundry list of bad things about them. Instead, you should be focused on what really matters. Like, hey man, are people getting saved?

Are these non-essentials? Are these essentials? Whatever they are. But you know what? Why does it really matter?

And finally, I just want to say this as I close. Today, I choose joy. Today, you need to choose joy. You need to choose joy. Today is the day that you can choose joy.

What does it matter? If the world falls apart? What does it matter? If you're chasing this endless summer, the seasons of endless summer, those seasons will run dry. They'll run out.

Winter will come again. Fall will come again. The cold air is going to come again. The joy is not going to last. And you're going to be depressed again, over and over and over again.

But if your joy is not circumstantial, but rather a change of heart, a change of mind, that joy is different. You can have joy in season and out of season. But here's the deal. You can't know joy unless you know Jesus. You can't know joy unless you know Jesus.

So, it says in Scripture, if you don't know Jesus, none of this will make sense to you. But God says in Jesus Christ, if you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. In Jesus Christ, if you call on the name of the Lord, He will rescue you and He will give you a joy. The Bible calls it joy unspeakable and full of glory. It means it's just not something that you can express.

Because it's not circumstantial. It's not about happiness. We're not always happy, but we have joy. That's why we grieve differently. That's why we see bad things differently.

That's why we understand why the world works the way it is, because we know that there's a plan, and God's always going to get us through, and it's all going to work together for His good, and it's always going to end with joy. It's always going to end with peace and joy, and God's got a plan in the end. So, if that's you today, if you want to know the joy of Jesus Christ, maybe you've been struggling, depression, you've just been really sad, life has not really treated you well, maybe, and you've tried everything, you've tried every religion, you've tried every philosophy, let me bring you back to the simple, powerful truth of the Gospel, that Jesus loves you, He died on the cross for your sin, because you weren't good enough to stand before God, but God the Father loved you so much that He gave Jesus Christ, His only Son, so He could die on the cross, that you could come into fellowship with Him, that God could make you a son and daughter of Him. So, just pray this with me. If that's you listening right now, and you want to receive Jesus as your Savior, everything's getting ready to change for you.

So, just pray and believe this in your heart, that Jesus, just pray this with you, Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God. Father, I believe that You gave Your Son, Jesus Christ, for my sins. I receive Your Son, I receive the blood, Jesus, over my life. Come into my heart, come into my life, Jesus. Make me a new creation.

Change me. I repent, I turn, and I look to You, because You bring life. Bring life to me. Bring joy to me. Bring hope to me.

Now, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hey, if you gave your life to Christ today, you need to let us know. Simply just fill out a blue card in our Next Steps area that lets us know, or if you're online, fill out a card at saltchurch.org slash card, and let us know that you gave your life to Jesus, because this is the greatest thing that could have ever happened to you.

Your life is getting ready to radically change for the better, and we want to be a part of the process. Amen, amen, amen, amen. Remember that you can give. We don't pass buckets around church, but we do everything pretty much online, and a box in the back of the church, but you can give at saltchurch.org slash give.

If you go to that location, you will find a text feature there, or text number there. You can text to give. You can just give right there online, or you can mail it right to our web address at P.O. Box 680, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23451.

If you believe in this ministry and want to support it, we thank you so much for your giving. We're going to take the world by storm, because salt always makes a difference, and a little bit of salt goes a long way. God bless you, brothers and sisters. I can't wait to see you back with us next week. God bless.