Michael Todd - I'm Gonna IN-JOY This
Welcome to week four of a series we’re calling «Somebody Say Show Me the Receipts.» The premise of this entire message series is that if we want fruit in our lives, God requires that fruit to be produced by the Holy Spirit. When we have these fruits produced by the Holy Spirit, it is the receipt that we actually have a relationship with God. There are many people who go to church, wear a cross necklace, and have scripture tattooed on them without proof of a relationship with God. I want to let you know that having a big Bible on your coffee table does not prevent you from going to hell.
You can pray and never miss praying for your food, but still cuss out your kids. Y’all know this—because we get religious about specific things. We never miss church, but we don’t act in love. No, no, no, no, no; don’t call him a fool, because the Bible says that if you call him a fool, you have an issue. You focus on one Scripture, but neglect the others like peace, kindness, and self-control. So when the world asks us today, «Why should I believe in your God?» we should be able to pull out—everybody say receipts—receipts called fruit that prove we have a relationship with God.
Every week, we are going through another fruit of the Spirit, found in Galatians 5:22. You can turn there right now, and it’ll be on the screens in just a minute. This topic has taken hold of me in a different way, and God has literally been saying, «Michael, don’t just say you know Me; show you know Me.» Did y’all hear what I just said? Don’t just say you know Me; show you know Me. I believe sometimes when people get up and say, «I want to thank God,» God is like, «Y’all can keep that; I don’t want to be associated with that.» Think about it. Have you ever had that crazy cousin or that uncle who’s a little off-center? If you don’t know who that person is in your family, it might be you! There are certain environments where people say, «There you go, my nephew,» and you’re like, «Oh, I don’t want to be associated with something that does not represent what I actually stand for.»
It’s time for the church to elevate to a whole other level of showing that we have a relationship with God. I’m not talking about being in the comments tearing somebody down; that does not demonstrate a relationship with God. Let me get into this message. Galatians 5:22 says, «But the fruit of the Spirit is…» Let’s say it together. Okay, put it on the screen so we can say this all together. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy. I’ve always wanted to do that!
Let’s not skip past the second fruit of the Spirit. When I thought about the actual lineup, I realized the Bible is divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit and written through men; it’s infallible. Everything in there serves its purpose. So when He was naming and inspiring someone to write it down, He said love first, which is kind of obvious because God is love. For God so loved the world that He gave. It felt like, «Alright, love is first.» But before every other fruit of the Spirit, especially self-control, He wanted you to have joy. Before peace, He thought it was important that you have joy, knowing that you are loved. But please walk in this truth: what has the enemy attacked most in the body of Christ? Their love and their joy. Christians don’t look happy, and that’s the truth. You don’t make living for God look attractive. It doesn’t seem like a better option; it seems like your life is miserable. You’re enduring; you hate anyone else having a good time with their life, and you just want to make it to heaven.
When you worship in His life and get a deep revelation, I started thinking about this in my own life. I believe that joy is the second thing God put in there after love because, watch this: Joy is strength. Y’all didn’t hear what I just said to you. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of the Lord will be our strength. He said, «They need to know they’re loved, but they’re also going to need strength to have self-control, to have peace under pressure, and to be patient with others. They need strength, so I’ve got to give them joy, because the joy of the Lord will be their strength.» Most of us have been allowing ourselves to be robbed of our strength. «I don’t feel like I can do it. I don’t have any more—I just can’t take anymore.»
Maybe you’re on empty because you have not allowed the Holy Spirit to develop joy in you. Today, I’m telling you that in the next 40 minutes, somebody’s about to get their joy back! No, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying. Some of you have been enduring life. There is about to be joy and enjoyment that comes from the inside of you. You’re going to be smiling for no reason! You need to receive this by faith right now—God is going to bring joy back into your house, joy into your marriage! Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying!
I was watching Paris Fashion Week back in September. I like to see how expensive things look ugly. They call it couture and it looks like someone wrapped in foil! I’m serious! One question they always ask people is, «Who are you wearing?» The answer would be, «I’m in [designer's name],» and I’m like, «Wow, that looks amazing!» The next person comes up and they ask the same question. It was interesting to me that they didn’t say, «What are you wearing?» They asked whose name was responsible for what they put on. This made me look at my life, and I decided I would live in joy. I would allow what the Holy Spirit has given us to be the garment I put on daily.
Some of you don’t know yet because you haven’t decided what your strength is. Let’s confront it right now. I want you to be honest with yourself: Where does your strength come from? Now, I know you said «the Lord.» I just told you that’s where it should come from, but where does it truly come from? For some of us, it’s our job. Think about it: when you walk into a room, how do you introduce yourself? «Oh yeah, I own my own company; I’m an entrepreneur who made seven figures last two years.» What question do you need to ask yourself? If all of that is gone, do you still have joy? For some of us, our jobs are our strength—"As long as I’ve got that job, I’m fine.»
But if we go deeper, it’s really not the job that’s your strength; for some of you, it’s the money. The money you receive is your strength. Who are you without your money? Because that’s who you really are. For some of you, the only thing that relieves stress is shopping. The Amazon cart is full, and you don’t have the money to buy it! Or, you do have the funds, but that doesn’t fill you up.
For some of us, our spouse is our strength. I’m not talking about an unhealthy way—you shouldn’t depend on each other in a way that compromises faith. Let them veer off in their faith; what do you do? «Well, we’re supposed to be one, so let’s be one and wrong.» I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times: «We used to be on fire for God, but now we’re burnt out.» The substance of what you’re leaning on has served its purpose. It helped you through one season, but now you’re relying on things that lead you further away from joy.
Today, the title of this sermon is called, «I’m Going to Enjoy This.» Somebody say, «I’mma enjoy this!» Say it with faith! But you missed it; I’m not just talking about having a good time. I want to show you something. See what I’m wearing right now was not the original intent of this outfit. When John helped me pick it out, he had a different vision in mind. I came up here presenting myself fully clothed, but a piece of this outfit was missing—I did not put on the jacket of joy before I came out here. You all would have let me preach this whole message without knowing I was supposed to be in something else.
This jacket was the original intent for this outfit from the beginning. I’ve been worried about how I look because I didn’t have my full covering. But y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! What was provided for me, before I even walked out here, was a jacket full of joy! So, what am I wearing? How am I deciding to go through trials and tribulations? How am I going to raise my kids? Am I going to slash someone’s tires? No, I need somebody who’s deciding to put on the garment of joy to give God a shout of praise in this place!
It was a decision I had to make to wear what was provided for me, tailor-made for me. Today, somebody is going to decide to live in joy. Look at your neighbor and tell them, «Joy looks good on you!» Come on! They’ve been mean-mugging all service, but just speak it by faith: «Joy looks good on you!» Smile, even if you don’t show all your teeth. Go ahead and let me tell you what the definition of joy is! Oh, I feel this! Joy is an internal disposition of long-term contentment. The reason I didn’t put joy on the outside is because joy is an inside job.
It has to come from within. I know this can be confusing because as children, we’re taught the value of happiness. «I want to be happy! Happy, happy, happy!» All the songs talk about happiness. The reason is that happiness seems simple to understand, but it’s actually a cheap counterfeit for joy. It’s not bad; I want you to be happy. Some pastors say, «I want you to be happy.» I want you to have both happiness and joy. Can we do both? I think you can, but just realize that one can’t hold you. Write it down like this: Happiness can help, but happiness won’t hold you to pay attention, listen to what I want to do. I want to cover someone eating for this whole week. If somebody—she—I didn’t hear. She cried out to me. I heard a cry from, «Okay, come here. Let me—come on, y’all! Y’all cheer! Y’all! Somebody’s going to get blessed, I know it’s hard—just come on right up here.»
I know it’s hard for a student out here. What’s your name, sweetheart? Anaya? Where do you go to college? TU? All right, shout out to TU! All right, I want to cover you eating for this whole week, so here we go—seven days in a week. Here we go: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. I mean, cherish these, and any time that you know when your stomach is about to turn inside out and starts eating another part of your body, throw one of these in just to—what? —snack on them. No, no, no! This is what you’re going to eat this week. Now, how foolish do I sound offering her moments of happiness? This won’t hold her when she’s hungry. When she’s biting into it, she’s going to be like, «Oh God, that feels so good!»
Forty-five seconds later, right after track practice. Oh, because you have something you need to be fueled for—you run track. This wouldn’t be enough. It would make you happy in moments but not have the sustenance to actually fill you up to be healthy. This is what happiness looks like; it tastes good. A Snickers is good, but only eating Snickers—constant immediate moments of sugar highs will create something in you that could kill you. Diabetes is inevitable if all she eats for the next fifteen years are small pockets of happiness. Oh, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! Baby girl, I’m going to give you $300, okay? So you can eat this week. Okay, thank you for not slapping me when I gave you these Snickers; I appreciate you. God bless her!
All right, Mo’s going to take care of you. God bless you. What I’m saying to you is if that’s what you want to settle for, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can, but let me give you something better than happiness. Somebody say, «I’m going to live in joy!» Okay, all right, all right, all right? If you’re doing it for happy, you’re going to get disappointed at some point. If you’re marrying because she makes you happy, I don’t know if I’m going to get through this message. All the married people over five years will tell you there are some days that happy isn’t even on the menu. I’m looking at the Cheesecake Factory menu, and I slap—cuss you—because that’s all on the menu, but happy can’t even be found. You’ve got to write it in!
So I’m just trying to help you. If you’re only marrying them to be happy, you’re going to get disappointed, watch this. If you’re having kids to be happy, little doo is going to make me happy! Look at me and little doo—look how little! Y’all know those people; they hold babies like this! Little Zsu! Y’all know what I’m talking about! Look at him; I got him a G too at three years old! Little Zsu—parents will tell you kids make you happy like 6%. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, okay? If you’re starting the business to be happy, I’m just trying to let you know happiness is not bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s just not going to be long-lasting. If you want to feel something, this is why people jump from bed to bed, 'cause they haven’t found joy inside themselves and go from happy to happy.
Okay, let me stop, 'cause some of y’all came with him. All right, here we go! I’m on another level today. All I’m trying to say, having lived a little bit of life, is when happy stops holding you, it feels like hell. This is why people turn to stuff; they say, «I can’t.» I’ve tried happy, and this won’t keep me. I can still be depressed and be in happy moments; this doesn’t hold me anymore, so I’ve got to go to this, and I’ve got to go to that, and I’ve got to get more success, and I’ve got to be more, and I’ve got to get more Instagram followers, and I’ve got to—because happy’s not holding me anymore, and it feels like I’m living in hell! Can I give you a better option that was provided at salvation through the Holy Spirit?
It’s something that can be developed in you, and the world didn’t give it, and the old folks would say, «And the world can’t take it!» I’m feeling good! Somebody shout at me, «I’m going to enjoy this!» Okay? Right now, some people are getting agitated because this message lets you know how far you’re away from joy. Like, I’m talking right now, and you’re like, «What does this have to do with anything? Teach me the word! Teach me! Give me some deep revelation!» So you can still be mad and angry. Like, I just want everybody to understand people be like, «That’s milk! I want something deep!» No! You want to be confused! Some people equate good preaching with confusion. I’m not playing! Oh my God, what are you talking about?
Oh, you talk about the Osmos and the cosmos and how the cosmos went to the dsmos! You won’t shut up, and the scripture talks about somebody who can rule their mouth! I don’t want it to be deep; I want it to be doable! Until we can live this thing out, we got to talk about how much we know Jesus instead of showing people. Somebody say, «Show me the receipts! Show me the receipts!» So I was looking up how you can differentiate joy and happiness, and they gave three factors that helped you to conclude whether you were functioning in happiness or joy, and it really just jacked me up! I could preach this for like three days! It said the way you know is the difference in source, depth, and duration. So I said, «Hold on! Source of happiness, depth of happiness, duration of happiness!»
So I began to look at it. I said the source of happiness is situational, so when I’m in a good situation, it’s good. But watch this—the source of joy is salvation! So I want you to know where your source of joy is. Where do you get it from? Do you get it when somebody buys you a new pair of shoes? That’s happiness, 'cause somebody doesn’t buy you a new pair of shoes every day. So when they do, it’s like, «Ah, I’m happy!» I’m not saying happy is bad; I’m just letting you know that it’s happiness. You don’t actually have joy. But if you have been saved by grace, and you were dirty, filthy, jacked up, and nasty, and God still said, «I’ll leave the 99 and I’ll pick that one right there,» and while you were yet sinning, planning for it, He died for you.
If your joy comes from knowing how good God has been to you, it’s actually joy! Depth: happiness is shallow while joy is deep. You know it’s joy 'cause this was before me! There’s no way I’m preaching on this stage right now without God speaking to Tommy and Brenda Todd to come to Tulsa in 1970, helping them help Caron Pearson start Higher Dimensions! But it went before them! This thing that I have is something deeper than what I could even connect myself to. God wants to give you the ability to be a part of history, or say it a different way—His story! He said, «I was writing this story all the way back to the first Adam!» This thing that you have should be so deep, it’s connected to something that you just have to receive! You couldn’t even make this up, but many shallow people settle for the shallow thing.
The last thing is duration. You know that it’s happiness if the duration, watch this, is immediate! Boom! Ah! Ah! That was good! But joy—the duration is, watch this, eternal! What’s longer than eternal? He said, «I want to give you joy that lasts through every government structure, every kingdom, every president, every hurricane, every natural disaster! I want to give you something that you can have when you’re single, when you’re married, when you’re divorced, when you get married again, and when they die! I want to give you something when the children are babies! I want to give you something that you can have when they’re adolescents, when they leave the house, when they do what you say, when they don’t do what you say! I want to give you…»
Some people shout out, «Let me have joy!» Because most of our joy, watch this, is really just happiness uneducated. When you actually graduate to joy, it’s like happiness with a PhD! It’s like I can get the same feeling, but it doesn’t come from the same place! And when I saw that, I realized putting on this jacket today—I’m trying to say something super simple that you can live out. Putting on this jacket today was a decision. I am preaching to you in joy. Tomorrow when I wake up, I’m going to put it on! So, I’m not—matter of fact, I’m not taking it off. There is this idea that when I go home, I take off the fruits of the Spirit. I can really be myself! That sounds like division to me! That sounds like you’re not one person.
It feels like you might have some split personality, spiritual demonic kind of stuff going on! Because if you come here one way and then you go home and be another way, which one do you want God to heal? God does not bless the you you pretend to be; He blesses the real! I would rather you come in here ratchet, jacked up, judgmental, crazy, so God can heal that person! Because if you learn how to be a professional Christian, you become desensitized to the move of God! So the Spirit can be moving, but you’re so used to switching faces that you can then bust somebody in the face and be disintegrated. You’re not together, and God wants us to be one! Unified—the same person! And that’s why we have to decide every day, «I’m putting myself in a position to live in joy!»
Okay, I said it earlier, but write it down as a point: joy is an inside job! Psalms 51 verse 10: joy is an inside job! David, at his lowest moment, had literally been with Bathsheba, killed her baby daddy and her husband. Oh, y’all, the Bible’s juicy! My man is in—like, he’s already taken care of Goliath. His name is on all the billboards! He’s successful by man’s standard, but he walks away from the purity of what God wanted in his life, and he’s in a low place. In Psalms 51, look what he prays for. «Create in me a pure heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me!» Which tells me that at one point, he was there! At some moment, this was in him! He had a pure heart; he was steadfast in spirit! But he said, «Could you renew in me?»
Would you put it in there again? Somebody say, «Renew!» I believe that today, some people are for the first time in a long time about to experience a renewal. There’s a spiritual reset that’s about to happen in your life! He said, «Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me!» Why would David’s prayer be, «Don’t take the Holy Spirit?» Like, «I know I done jacked up. I know I messed up. I know I lied, but please don’t take me out of your presence! And please tell Him to stay here with me!» It might mean that the Holy Spirit and the fruit He brings are more important to the longevity and the actual nourishment of our life than we act. He said these two things: «Please don’t take me out of your presence, and let your Holy Spirit stay with me!»
Here’s the key: «Restore to me…» What does it say? The joy! Why would he say, «Renew me, don’t take the Holy Spirit!» and «Please restore the joy?» «I’ve been doing this outside of joy! I’ve been parenting outside of joy! I’ve been going down this career path outside of joy! I’ve been ministering to people with no joy! I’ve been praying for people with no joy! I’ve been making this money, no joy! God, please restore to me the joy of…» Hold on. Did we just find the location of joy? He said, «Please restore to me the joy of my salvation!»
But see, I just said it wrong because I always say, «My salvation,» 'cause that’s what church people say, and that’s what I heard first. But then when I started reading the Bible, and I even heard my mama say it right there, and it just came in me as «my salvation.» But look what it says for real! «Restore to me the joy of…» You didn’t die for me, and I didn’t die for me! She, I get the jacket of joy at salvation tailor-made for me 'cause He died! I get to live in this! And He said, «Restore! Could you please bring me to the place where I was tailored? Would you please put me in that place where you can fit me again with joy?» I know when I was younger, I used to have joy when it came to seeing people do things that I didn’t do well, but now all I see is anger that you would let somebody else have that and not me.
Would you please restore to me the joy? Write it down: salvation is the source of joy. I’m trying to break this down so you never get played by the enemy again. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ provided a way for you and me to live in joy. No money in the bank? Enjoy. They cussed me out? Enjoy. You evicted me from my apartment that had roaches anyway, and I told y’all six weeks ago. Cool. No, God bless you. No, no, no, because I know God is working all things together for my good. I don’t see it right now, and I really do want to go back to my «Knock If You Buck» days, and I really do want to find you, and I know where you live—C6. C6, I know that’s where you live.
You live in the apartment right across the street from the Toyota Corolla, right? Y’all crazy. I know you know you be, but I’m deciding—I digress. The Holy Spirit’s working in me, and I’m deciding to watch this—stay in joy. It’s not enough to just live in joy; you have to. And I found this: I’ve got to close, but I found that, um, all the people who don’t live in joy usually live in judgment. A sure way to judge your own joy is to see how judgy you are. If somebody gets saved who was wilding out, and you think things in your heart or say them out loud, like, «I wonder how long that’s going to last,» you might not be dressed in joy. When you’re 62, people are down in the comments talking about, «That’s not scripture, and he’s a liar, and a false prophet,» and this, that, and the third.
You didn’t think to pray for me once you’ve analyzed how much all my jewelry costs and where I get my hair done and how many cars I have, and you ain’t prayed for me one time. Out here on the front line, you are—oh, I know what you did. You took off joy and put on judgment. What’s wrong? Why are you acting different? Praise the Lord, everybody. Glory to God. I wonder how long this service is going to last. Where’s Pastor Natalie at? Where’s she at? Is she here today? You didn’t say it out loud; you said it in your heart. And the crazy thing about it is judgment is always noticeable on the outside. This thing stinks, and so do you. The Holy Spirit—this is produced by the flesh, and you think I’m making this up, but if you go up from Galatians 5:22 and you go up to Galatians 5:19, it lists a whole bunch of things that are a work of the flesh.
There’s another spirit that is at work in you, and it is a work of the flesh. And one of those that is stuck in there, and it’s one that the church misses a lot because we focus on sexual immorality, but there’s one in there—jealousy, because judgment that you see on the outside is usually fueled by what’s scratched on the inside. That’s why people can’t celebrate what God’s doing at Transformation Church. I’m going to say it no matter what, y’all. I’m sorry; we need to do an uncut of this. The people in the comments aren’t unsaved people. This is what believers look like.
Well, the Bible tells us to judge. You are coming with a critical spirit. It says to go to your brother—oh, y’all forgot that part of the scripture. You won’t even hit me in the DM; you put a five-line paragraph, but you somehow think that you’re representing the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. There are people who are walking away from the faith because they see people who are mad when somebody that literally changed thousands of people’s lives in church culture—Carl and Lord—when they needed a place to actually heal, church people were telling me I should throw them out of the church, and they had no place. Where the hell do you go if you need to be transformed? Where the hell do you go? I’m sorry; we got to end this message. I’m taking off judgment.
Matter of fact, I’m ripping this thing and throwing it out of my life, and I’m choosing to live in joy. If you’re going to live in joy, give God a shout of praise in this place. Oh, I feel my help coming on. Okay, until the church learns that our strength comes from joy, we will be void of the power we need to actually go and love our neighbor, to actually stand in hardship with somebody, to actually have peace under pressure. I’m begging you, church, take off judgment. Stop being jealous, because if you don’t, it just creates division. Unity is where there’s a commanded blessing. Church, all I’m trying to get you to do is this one concept: decide that you will live in joy. You’re going to get a jacket this week, and somebody’s going to put joy on the inside of you. Do you hear me?
Somebody say, «Amen.» Somebody’s going to actually get a jacket. You say, «You know what? I’m going to put on a piece of tape,» and you are just going to—you know, that’s going to be our thing this week. Transformation Church, y’all snap a picture and text me, yeah, because we are choosing by faith through the Holy Spirit to live in joy. All right, all right, all right, let’s go. When you get home, Psalm 16:7—read this whole thing, because it blessed me. I’m just going to read verse 11, okay? Because we’ve got to go. Everybody stand up; we have to go home.
Psalm 16:11 says you make known to me the path of life, and you will fill me with joy. Hold on; here’s another location of joy, though: joy is found at salvation. And if you need to be filled up with joy after salvation, you find joy in His presence. Why do we worship for 25-30 minutes? Because if your whole week has been hell, all I’m trying to do is get you into His presence so that you can get joy, so that you can have strength. How are we going to make it another week? I get into His presence so that I can get joy, so that I can get strength. The equation for why I wake up in the morning and spend time with God is because to raise these kids, I’m going to need strength because everything in me wants to leave them outside.
But what I need to do right now is worship God, get in His presence, so that I can find joy, so that I can have strength. The sad truth about this whole thing is many of you have been blaming the devil for stealing your joy. He does not have that power. That’s his aim, but he can’t steal your joy. You can give it away, though. John 10:10: The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. That’s what he’s trying to do—he’s trying to steal your joy, trying to destroy your joy, but he can’t, because Jesus—He said, «I came that you may have…» Hold on, no, no, no—read it in the Amplified. It says that you may have and enjoy life…Oh, hold on; I’m going to mess with your theology right now.
So maybe you’re not just supposed to endure life. Yeah, there’s some enduring, yeah, there’s hardship, yeah, there are things that suck, yeah, there are things I wish would never happen, yeah, I have questions, like why do bad people get this and why. But the whole reason that Jesus came was in contrast to the devil so that we could enjoy life and have it in abundance, to the full, till it overflows. My last point I want you to hear me say is living in joy allows you to enjoy life. Many of you can’t enjoy life because you don’t live in joy. You think you can enjoy something; you can enjoy stuff without Jesus. But when you live in joy, it allows you to get the full expression of what God meant for things to be. I found it; I’m going to give this example.
It might be controversial, but I’m going to just say it anyway. People hate on LeBron, and I understand. I understand there are different eras and there are different things. But the one thing that I found out in comparison to the person that he is going against is that one of them does it with noticeable joy. One of them laughs, has handshakes with his teammates, and brought all of his homeboys, who were broke, and made them millionaires. And he has a school and gives back. There’s this level of joy, and people hate that he enjoys his dream coming true. Think about the type of sick you have to be—and I’m not saying you end up with fewer championships—but when I watched the other guy’s documentary, nobody close to him was in it.
Scott, I don’t care; we can fight later. I’m just saying one of them brought his high school coach who cut him to his Hall of Fame speech to basically say, «I told you so.» This is public knowledge, so I’m not making up anything. This is stuff that just doesn’t seem like, even though you’ve got all the rings and all the things, did you? I would hate for us to get to the end of this life, have millions of people saved, and your kids didn’t enjoy you. We filled arenas, but you were void of anointing. This is why, for me, like everything that God’s blessed me with, I’m going to enjoy. I know what people think a pastor is supposed to be, but He didn’t make me that. If He knew what the stereotypical pastor looked like, that ain’t your boy.
So everybody can’t rock with it. Oh, did you see his car? For some reason, God blessed me outside of this pulpit. I just got to say some stuff. You’re not going to make me feel bad for enjoying my life. Come on, I’m going on vacation several times in one year because y’all stress me out, and I’m going to look at my wife in a bathing suit and enjoy it. And what I’m telling you is, y’all, I’m telling you, you’re not going to see—The religious part of you right now has built up something wrong with that. But until you live in joy, you’ll never be able to enjoy. I just want you to evaluate: is joy missing in your life? Because if it is, I can help you find it today. David prayed, «Restore me to the joy of my salvation.»
If you have never been saved, today you are going to get joy by being engrafted into the kingdom. I need the church to start praying. Some of y’all needed this message because it’s not what you can gain; it’s what you’ve been missing. You’ve been missing joy, and the only way you get joy is through salvation. If you’re in this room, there are going to be two altar calls, so I don’t want anybody to move real quick because this is very, very, very um, um, this is about to be transformation.
I feel the presence of God. If you need to get this jacket of joy today and take off the jacket of judgment, and watch this—you can be saved and choose to put on that jacket of judgment. If today you want to take that off and be restored to the joy of your salvation, on the count of three I want you to lift your hands. Restoring, repenting, renewing in Jesus is the only way you get joy, and today is your day of salvation. It’s the thing that took me from being a liar, a manipulator addicted to pornography, having very dark things in my heart, being very judgmental, thinking that everybody was worse than me while I was doing the same thing everybody was doing and worse. But I had a shadow over my eyes to see my own failures until Jesus took the veil off of me. And today I want that same thing for you.
If today you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior, or renew your relationship with Him, on the count of three I want you to lift your hands. I want you to do it not with your eyes closed and nobody can see because we have to live this out in front of people. So let’s go ahead and start it now. Everybody’s like, «In secret?» No, in front of everybody. I see you, ma’am, and I’m so glad that you made that decision. One. Come on, I see you. Two, I see you. Three, lift your hands all over this building! There’s a renewal, Transformation Church. Let’s praise God! I see you, I see you, I see you, I see you, ma’am. I see you, brother. More than I see you, God sees you. Now those hands are up. Everybody put your hands up, yeah, because nobody prays alone at Transformation Church. This is a family, and I want us to pray together. Say:
God, thank You. Thank You for sending Jesus to give me joy. Give me joy. I declare that my life will never be the same after this moment. Today I believe that You lived, You died, and You rose again with all power just for me. Just for me. Take my life, change me, renew me, transform me. I’m Yours, and I will live in joy all the days of my life. All the days. In Jesus' name. Amen.