WEBVTT

00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:11.500
 Hi everyone, what a great introduction. Yes, it is a story about joy and it's about a reason

00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:18.879
 to rejoice, though it probably doesn't look at it at the beginning. Here's these two people

00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:25.019
 who have had their livelihood taken away from them and gone to the local magistrates and

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 it starts with a magistrate who didn't clearly quite grasp the gospel message of love, peace

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 and forgiveness and grace. Instead, he ordered Paul and Silas to be stripped, flogged, thrown

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 into prison and not just that, not just that, he deemed them to be such a threat and their gospel

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 message so subversive that the jailer was ordered to guard them carefully. The jailer, keenly zealous

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 to do his job and who can blame him, put them in an inner cell and fastened them in stocks

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 and chains. This was category A high security. These men were deemed dangerous. Let's just

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 pause there a minute in this story. What would we do in Paul and Silas's position if we can

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 even imagine such a scenario? We are wrongly accused, we are humiliated, we are stripped

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 naked, we are flogged, we are thrown into a dark cell with our injuries. What would be

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 our initial inclination?

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 Of course, here we go. We bring out, we sing a few choruses of mission praise, don't we?

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 Some of our favourite hymns. My goodness, the joy of the Lord and maybe a few and maybe that

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 helps stop the bleeding and the pain from the flogging and soothe the bruises along with that

00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:09.780
 excruciating pain of being shackled. Maybe even the rats might join in. Hallelujah.

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 But wait, don't forget, this is a series on the supernatural presence and power of God.

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 And that's exactly what Paul and Silas were about to encounter and all the people around them. Praying,

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 singing so much that the other prisoners couldn't help but hear and listen to them and their message

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 of hope and joy in what appeared to be a desperate situation. How counter-cultural is that for you and I?

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 I don't know about you, often when I'm in the depths of things, I just want to have a really good moan.

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 You know, how counter-cultural is this story of the gospel?

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 Then, if that isn't supernatural enough for you, here comes the earthquake.

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 Not just a run-of-the-mill earthquake. No, the very foundations of the prison were shaken and were moved.

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 Now, I've heard some singing in my time, but that would probably have shattered a few windows,

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 but nothing enough to have actually caused this for the doors of the prison to fly open around me.

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 So powerful was it, supernatural, because prison doors, if you know, are not meant to fling open.

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 Believe me, I know.

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 If that wasn't enough, not just the doors, then on top of that, the added bit is the prisoners' chains come loose.

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 Bingo! We are free.

00:03:48.900 --> 00:03:53.780
 How many of us may not have had sympathy with the jailer?

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 Come on, let's be honest, but let's consider him in this supernatural move of God in this story.

00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:10.060
 Now, we don't know whether the jailer was on a minimum wage, fixed term, or zero hours contract.

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 We're not told, but we are told, clearly from the history of his employers,

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 it wasn't going to be a really great tribunal afterwards.

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 It was better to actually get at his sword and kill himself.

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 Don't try that, please. It's never that desperate.

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 But this is, he was about to kill himself, and Paul brought some joy into what is a desperate situation,

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 and shouted in the dark, don't harm yourself, we are all here.

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 That is quite amazing, isn't it, really?

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 Probably gathering everybody, he thought, for another choir practice.

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 Now, for escaping prisoners, the scenario goes something like this.

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 Doors open, prisoners run out, kill the guards on the way if he hasn't already done it himself.

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 That's the way it normally works.

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 But this God, this is God, supernaturally moving in power to use the situation to bring somebody to know him in amazing joy.

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 The jailer gets some lights.

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 Presumably, there were still others who had joined him, just as confused and as amazed that they were still alive.

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 He rushes in, presumably stepping over doors, falling before Paul and Silas, and he then brings them out and asks,

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 Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

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 Is that where the presence of joy began in the reality of his life?

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 I'm still alive.

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 I'm not dead.

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 This is amazing.

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 I have seen God at work.

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 What is all this about?

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 And here are these people.

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 I'm alive.

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 I've just witnessed an extraordinary and totally opposite thing to how things should normally work out.

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 What is this all about?

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 No wonder he asked, what must I do to be saved?

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 His whole world has changed.

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 I don't know whether you've ever witnessed something similar.

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 Maybe somebody who has been snatched from the jaws of death.

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 Maybe a person rescued.

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 Maybe a person who has been airlifted to safety from a sinking boat.

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 A person who has encountered the supernatural power of God in their life that is so life-changing.

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 A person who is asking the question and giving thanks for being saved.

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 This is a miraculous story.

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 There is pain.

00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:09.640
 There is distress.

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 Yet there is deep joy in the jailer's life.

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 What do I do to be saved?

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 Paul and Silas, believe in the Lord and you will be saved.

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 You and your whole household.

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 Powerful.

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 Powerful words.

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 Imagine the joy in this household.

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 What should have been awake is now turned into a celebration.

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 They were baptized.

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 No lengthy baptism course.

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 There and then, as it happened, instantaneous, responding to God's goodness.

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 They knew the power and presence of God in their midst.

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 They had seen it.

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 They had witnessed it.

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 And that's what made it so exciting.

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 Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

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 Have you witnessed that joy of people being saved?

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 Who have been saved?

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 Do you remember that realization and joy?

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 Maybe in your own life of when that moment happened for you.

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 That joy that you had realized at that moment that God is alive and is on your case.

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 Supernaturally and powerfully.

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 And maybe being in joy.

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 This isn't about being happy.

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 The joy we experience as a Christian is far, far, far, far more.

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 You see, in the presence of God we have the joy because we have been saved.

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 That's probably why I find the term happy-clappy so offensive, so shallow and so ignorant.

00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:50.180
 I do.

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 I'm really sorry.

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 Because this isn't just being happy.

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 The joy of the Lord is far, far, far, far more.

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 That in the situation makes us praise and worship God.

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 Supernatural, life-giving joy.

00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.700
 One of my favorite stories in the Bible is Nehemiah.

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 And Nehemiah is taken from what is quite a cozy job and is given a job to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

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 He faces opposition.

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 He faces hate.

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 He faces lies.

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 And yet, the walls are rebuilt.

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 And he sees a whole people, a whole community return to God.

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 And as it says,

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 then he said to them,

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 Go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared.

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 For this day is holy to the Lord.

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 This is a special day for you.

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 Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

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 The joy of the Lord is your strength.

00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:08.819
 Sing a joyful song unto the Lord.

00:10:08.939 --> 00:10:09.139
 Why?

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 Because you and I, through the cross of Jesus, we know and we believe, who have accepted and acknowledged Jesus, are saved.

00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:26.679
 We have eternal life through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus, which we're going to share in a minute in our communion.

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 There's more than a few worship songs.

00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:32.340
 There's more than a few raised arms.

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 This is life.

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 Life everlasting.

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 Joy in all its fullness.

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 In whatever stage of life we are.

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 And whatever we face.

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 What is the church known for?

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 If you had to draw up a list of ten things, would joy be the top of your list?

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 Because I hope it would be.

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 Because people need to know.

00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:11.799
 See, like Paul, the world is experiencing darkness, economic instability, wars, threats of wars, a lack of trust, social injustice with poverty on our doorstep.

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 Many people don't know where to turn to at the moment.

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 They're asking.

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 There is something more.

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 There must be more.

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 What is real?

00:11:20.299 --> 00:11:21.099
 What is truth?

00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:22.339
 What is tangible?

00:11:22.599 --> 00:11:23.500
 What brings hope?

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 What brings freedom?

00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:26.559
 What brings a sense of joy?

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 And we have the answer.

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 Why aren't we telling people?

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 Why aren't we sharing that joy more and more with people?

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 We know, as Paul and Silas did, that comes through the Lord living in us and working in us and through us.

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 Bringing freedom.

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 Freedom to the captives which tries to bind us.

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 I have to tell you, the devil is a great deceiver.

00:11:57.540 --> 00:12:02.080
 Halloween, I heard it this week, Halloween is a harmless eccentricity.

00:12:03.740 --> 00:12:07.879
 You know, dress your kids up in horror costumes is just a bit of fun.

00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:08.860
 Lie.

00:12:08.860 --> 00:12:08.899
 Lie.

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 The devil will tell you that there's no hope and no solutions in your situation that you face.

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 It's a lie.

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 The Bible is no longer the true and authoritative word of God.

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 Lie.

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 Because it is.

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 People won't accept your invite to come and explore the Christian faith.

00:12:32.680 --> 00:12:32.960
 Lie.

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 Lie.

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 They will.

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 Because they'll see something in us that they want.

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 Yet the door of your life that binds you today, whatever that might be, whatever it is, if you're listening on the podcast,

00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:51.980
 whatever that is that lies have been spoken into your life can come flying off their hinges

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 when the supernatural joy of the Lord breaks in and frees us.

00:12:59.259 --> 00:13:02.400
 The joy of the Lord is our strength.

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 It can shake the foundations of our bondage and free us and the joy of us stepping into a new freedom.

00:13:11.139 --> 00:13:15.160
 Maybe we need to live more like a people who have found that joy in our lives.

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 And people will say, do you know what?

00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:17.480
 I want some of that.

00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:19.680
 I want what you've got.

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 I can see that.

00:13:22.379 --> 00:13:25.519
 I want to experience that in whatever situation.

00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:27.060
 Where do I get it?

00:13:27.340 --> 00:13:28.879
 Where do I find it?

00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:38.019
 I've experienced through Alpha so many people, especially young people, have come to know Jesus

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 and I recall very, very much certain people in your life that touch your life with joy.

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 And one was a guy called James Bennett.

00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.320
 James Bennett was in his mid-teens.

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 James Bennett, wherever you saw him, would be on his roller skates, on his skates, skating around the town.

00:14:02.560 --> 00:14:05.360
 He was a huge advocate for the gospel.

00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:09.519
 Just the joy just flowed out of him.

00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:15.639
 James died very, very suddenly and unexpectedly in his bedroom.

00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:16.759
 His funeral was here.

00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:18.600
 I remember that day.

00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:29.519
 Church was absolutely packed to overflowing with his friends and all of us who had been impacted by the joy that he had shared in his life.

00:14:30.199 --> 00:14:33.559
 It was a joyful celebration amidst the sadness.

00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:39.299
 Most of his friends said in a book that they wrote at Clevedon School,

00:14:39.859 --> 00:14:43.979
 I have known Jesus because I know James.

00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:51.019
 What a great testimony for us all in our lives that people will say to us,

00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:57.379
 actually, I've seen the joy in your life and that is what has joined me to Jesus.

00:14:57.379 --> 00:15:27.360
 It says,

00:15:27.379 --> 00:15:28.980
 By the power of the Holy Spirit.

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 That's what we get sent out with into our everyday this week.

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 The jailer knew this wasn't the end.

00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:37.559
 He knew it was the beginning.

00:15:38.259 --> 00:15:39.179
 That was his joy.

00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:40.939
 A whole new life.

00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:41.939
 Born again.

00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:42.799
 Freedom.

00:15:43.179 --> 00:15:44.159
 Have you asked for joy?

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 Like that in your life?

00:15:47.980 --> 00:15:48.639
 Have you asked?

00:15:51.259 --> 00:15:53.360
 I'm going to end with a personal story.

00:15:53.360 --> 00:16:00.039
 There are times and moments when God takes you to a place to restore that joy in your life.

00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:04.799
 I didn't know what had stolen some joy from my life.

00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:05.959
 It was certainly diminished.

00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:10.620
 But I ended up at Lee Abbey.

00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:11.559
 If you know Lee Abbey?

00:16:12.019 --> 00:16:13.059
 On the beach.

00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:16.219
 Just doing stones.

00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:20.120
 Which is just throwing stones in like they do skimming across.

00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:22.820
 Which is what my dad and I always used to do.

00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:24.659
 My dad had died seven years before.

00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:27.600
 And there was something I knew.

00:16:28.060 --> 00:16:31.159
 Something that was missing in my life.

00:16:33.220 --> 00:16:34.240
 I went back up.

00:16:34.299 --> 00:16:34.779
 I was early.

00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:36.240
 I just arrived.

00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:36.960
 Went back up.

00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:39.120
 And everybody's very polite, don't they?

00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:39.980
 Everybody's new.

00:16:40.060 --> 00:16:41.299
 They all meet for tea.

00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:43.719
 And we all stand around having a cup of tea.

00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:44.579
 Which is very nice.

00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:48.179
 But I sensed the Lord as I walked back up saying,

00:16:48.379 --> 00:16:49.259
 This is where it ends.

00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:52.000
 Just those words.

00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:54.579
 This is where it ends, Clive.

00:16:55.099 --> 00:16:56.039
 This is where it ends.

00:16:56.740 --> 00:16:58.919
 Two people who had just travelled down from Birmingham.

00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:00.899
 And they travelled down from Birmingham.

00:17:00.899 --> 00:17:04.220
 And they came to pray for everybody that week.

00:17:05.299 --> 00:17:07.940
 And as we were having tea, they were very bold.

00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:08.940
 And they stood up and said,

00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:10.620
 As we were praying on the way down,

00:17:10.700 --> 00:17:12.320
 We just got these words for somebody.

00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:14.440
 I don't know whether it means anything to anybody.

00:17:14.779 --> 00:17:16.120
 But this is where it ends.

00:17:16.779 --> 00:17:17.779
 I thought, hmm.

00:17:18.860 --> 00:17:20.000
 Bit of a clue there, God.

00:17:20.860 --> 00:17:21.840
 I might get that one.

00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:22.799
 I know I'm thick.

00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:23.940
 But I'd just get that one.

00:17:24.100 --> 00:17:24.440
 It's okay.

00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:27.480
 So you sort of sidle up behind somebody and say,

00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.259
 I think that's me.

00:17:31.740 --> 00:17:32.940
 Can we pray together?

00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:34.779
 I met with them in the evening.

00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:37.360
 And they had this wonderful way of praying with people.

00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:37.779
 They said,

00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:41.700
 We're just going to be still and silent and see what the Lord says.

00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:43.259
 Come Holy Spirit.

00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:48.420
 And whereupon, she starts scribbling on this notepad that she had.

00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:49.720
 I thought, this is good.

00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:52.339
 It's almost like the Ten Commandments again.

00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:54.000
 She's really going for it.

00:17:54.379 --> 00:17:54.839
 There's anything.

00:17:55.019 --> 00:17:56.279
 That just wouldn't stop.

00:17:56.539 --> 00:17:57.920
 It's going through.

00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:01.160
 And then she paused and she said,

00:18:01.620 --> 00:18:03.039
 What do you think?

00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:08.480
 What do you think your bereavement has stolen from your life?

00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:11.279
 And I said, joy.

00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:11.360
 Joy.

00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:11.380
 Joy.

00:18:12.380 --> 00:18:20.400
 And she'd written on two full-scop sheets, joy, joy, joy, joy, again and again.

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 And they prayed.

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 And we restored the joy that had been stolen from them.

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 The joy of the Lord is our strength.

00:18:29.180 --> 00:18:31.940
 I'd encourage you today.

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 Whatever you feel that zeal or that joy that you may have experienced maybe years ago has been taken from you, that it is there for you today.

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 The Lord is ready.

00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:48.359
 There may be an earthquake.

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 It may not be an earthquake.

00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:54.299
 But whatever the doors are, I pray that the doors would fling open.

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 The chains of whatever has bound us with that would be free.

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 And that the Lord would bring supernaturally, which is what this series is all about, would bring that joy into our lives.

00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:10.579
 Again, please ask.

00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:13.879
 Ask and it will be given.

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 That's what we're about today.

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 And enabling to be filled with that joy, we can share that with a waiting world.

00:19:24.539 --> 00:19:25.519
 Should we do that?

00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:27.599
 Let's pray.

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 Music team are going to come up.

00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:31.779
 And we're going to move into a time of prayer.

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 Holy Spirit, would you come?

00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:41.940
 Lord, would you identify to us those places where our joy has been diminished?

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 Where things have been stolen from us that you long to restore?

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 Would you encourage us as a people of God to share that joy with the people that we meet, probably in desperate circumstances?

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 So that doors can be opened, shackles can drop, and people once more can be free again.

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 To be who you've called them to be.

00:20:18.139 --> 00:20:19.079
 Thank you, Lord.

00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:35.579
iva priessary. k