Joy To The World

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, he will order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From henceforth forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We ask, Lord, that you would now center our attention and focus upon your word, and that we would worship you through the study of it. Lord, thank you for the great gift that you have given to us in your coming. Remind us of that gift today and stir our hearts to rejoice in you. We ask in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

Isaiah 9:6 and 7 are Advent verses. They are Christmas verses. If you look through the Christmas cards that you've received this season, you will be bound to see this verse on more than just a few of those. They speak of the birth of the King of Kings. They prophetically look forward to the very event that we look back to today and celebrate: the coming of the Lord when Jesus came into the world. These verses beautifully picture the nature of God incarnate in the flesh.

While no doubt many churches in our nation today are focusing on these very verses, I wanted to actually look at the preceding verses, the verses leading up to this. So look back at verse 2, Isaiah 9:2. There we read, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light."

They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has light shined. The prophet Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus came, and here he prophetically looks forward to the advent of the Messiah. He speaks about His coming and that which would be accomplished by His coming. Notice that he speaks of it in the past tense: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light," as if it has already come to pass, although it was still yet to come when Isaiah spoke and wrote these things. He knew that it was sure and certain that these things would come to pass.

God has created us, the Bible says, in His image. This means there are many things in us that are directly from Him, mirroring the way that He is. You've probably experienced this in this holiday season. If you're anything like me or your family, at our house over the last several weeks, there have already been some Christmas gifts under the Christmas tree. Can anyone relate to that?

Just last night, my family—my kids, my wife, and I—were at my parents' house, and there were a whole bunch of gifts under their tree. Our three-year-old son was already going over there, picking them up and shaking them. He's anticipating something great, wondering what is going to come. He has opened presents before, so he knows, or he thinks, that all those presents are for him. He hopes they are all for him. He shakes them, wanting to know what is inside.

As parents, sometimes we do this with our kids or our spouses. We can hardly contain the excitement we have in giving them gifts, so we want them to try and guess what it is. We give hints: "Here, just pick it up. What do you think it is? Let me give you a hint." In giving the gift, we look forward to the joy and excitement they will experience in receiving it.

I believe God is like us in that regard. He created us with that nature, that wiring, that makeup. Before the foundation of the world, before God ever said, "Let there be light," He had planned this precious gift of His Son. Jesus, we are told in Revelation 13, is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Thus, the gift of redemption and salvation was planned by God before He ever said, "Let there be light." The years of history leading up to that event when Jesus came are significant.

It was as if that gift was packaged and wrapped, but God kept giving little hints along the way. That's what the whole prophetic books of the Old Testament are all about—God wanting to tell us all about it. Here in this passage, we have just that: God, through the prophet Isaiah, giving us little hints about what is going to come when that gift, Jesus, is revealed and opened up to us. Jesus brings the revelation of the grace of God. He reveals and opens unto us just what it's all about, including the resurrection.

But 700 years before Jesus came, God, through the prophet Isaiah, was stirring our joy. Don't you want to think about it and know what it is? Don't you want to take a guess about it? So, He gives these prophetic words as hints about the coming of the Lord. He says that this coming is going to be like a light shining in darkness upon those who are in darkness. It's going to be a great light.

When this great light comes, when it is opened up, when it is unwrapped, it will bring more than just light shining in a dark place. Look at verse 3. What comes with this great light? You, God. Isaiah knows the source of this gift in this great light is God. "You, God, have multiplied the nation and increased the joy. They joy before You according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel for fire."

So, God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, is revealing and beginning to give little hints for this great gift that's going to come. Isaiah says it's like a great light shining upon those who are in darkness, and when this great light comes, it will bring increased joy. "You, God, have multiplied the nation and increased the joy."

God is giving hints about this great and precious gift, saying it's like a light shining in a dark place, and when it comes, it increases joy. Isaiah tries to explain what this joy is like. He gives illustrations so that we can grasp what it is that God is going to do through this great light. He says it's going to be joy like that when the harvest comes in.

Now, we do not live in a culture today here in San Diego, California...

In the year 2011, our whole life depended upon our harvest. For most of us in this room, there are probably not too many farmers here today, so we don't anticipate the coming of the harvest like they would have in the first century in Israel. But how might we update this?

If you wanted to update this into 21st-century terms for us here in Southern California, it would be like the joy you get when you receive your paycheck. But it's greater than that. It's like the joy you experience if you receive a sizable bonus check. Or if the IRS wrote you a letter, like they did for me last month, saying, "We're sorry we overcharged you." Now, how many of you would like that? That was a great day! Most of the time, the letter says, "Listen, you didn't pay enough." This time, it said, "We overcharged you. Here's a check." And we have joy right there. Wow!

So, it's that kind of joy. Or if you were to get a sudden increase in your salary that you were not expecting. He says it's going to be joy like that. But that doesn't even really do it justice. When this great light comes and shines in a dark place, it will bring an increase of joy like what you experienced when the harvest came in. But even more than that, he says, "It's like when men rejoice when they divide the spoil."

He's speaking here of dividing the spoil of battle. We all know the saying, "To the victor goes the spoil." So, the person who wins the battle gets the spoil. On that day, when there's a battle and it's all over, if you're the winner, not only are you alive—which you want to rejoice in—but now you're able to take in the joy of the spoil.

He says the joy that will come when this light shines in a dark place will be like bringing in the harvest or bringing in the spoil because you're still alive after the battle. Again, if we were to update this into 21st-century language, we would say it's like the joy that the Green Bay Packers will experience when they win the Super Bowl next month, or in a couple of months. I'm a Packers fan; I'm sorry. But the joy that the winning team experiences after the Super Bowl, there in the locker room, that kind of joy is just scratching the surface of what this will mean—the coming of this great light that will shine in darkness.

He builds upon it in verse 4. He says, "Not only is it light shining in a dark place in the land of the shadow of death, not only does it increase joy like the joy of the harvest or the joy of the spoil coming in after the battle."

The coming of whatever this is that Isaiah is hinting at, God through Isaiah is hinting at, is also going to bring the release of bondage. Look at verse 4: "For you have broken, God, you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian." The appearing of this great light is going to bring the increase of abundant joy, but it will also mean the release of a terrible burden. The liberating release from a burdensome bondage is going to come by whatever Isaiah, God through Isaiah, is hinting at here.

Something is coming, a light shining in a dark place that will bring great joy and signify liberation from a burdensome bondage, just like that which was experienced during the day of Midian. Isaiah is making a reference to Israel's history, specifically to the book of Judges, during a time when the nation of Israel was not led by kings but by godly men called judges. One of these judges was a man named Gideon. He was, if you will, an unwilling leader at the start. He didn't want to do what God was calling him to do; he just wanted to live his life and hide from the oppressing army.

Every year at harvest time, an army of people would come into the land of Israel, stealing the fruitfulness of the land. The Midianites would come from the east, and the children of Israel would work all year long plowing their fields, planting, and tending their crops. Then, right at the time of the harvest, when they would be expecting great joy, the Midianites would arrive and take it all away, robbing their joy.

Isaiah points their attention back to this because it was in the midst of that oppression that God raised up a leader, Gideon. By God's miraculous power and strength, Gideon, with just 300 men, put to flight an army of the Midianites that numbered over 130,000. They were able to defeat the Midianites and cause them to flee with only 300 men in battle. Now, can you imagine?

That was a joyful day. It was a joyful day because they got rid of their burdensome bondage, but they also were able to bring in the harvest and experience the spoil of war all at one time. Isaiah says that this coming he is describing will mean light shining in darkness. It will mean an increase of joy, like that when you bring in the harvest or when you bring in the spoil. It will bring release from bondage.

He goes a step further in verses 6 and 7, which are great Christmas verses that speak about the coming of the Messiah. He begins to unfold for us what brings light into darkness, the joy of the harvest, the joy of the spoil, and liberation from bondage. He says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

Now we know, 2,800 years after this verse, that this is speaking of the coming of the Messiah, which would still be 700 years in the future when Isaiah wrote this. Turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2. The source of the light, the fount from which liberation springs, is the coming and the presence of a child. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that more specifically, it is a son. He is joy incarnate. When he comes, because of his nature, he brings joy into the world. That's why we sing, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come." He is joy incarnate.

His birth was proclaimed by the prophets hundreds of years before he came, as seen in Isaiah chapter 9 and other passages in the Old Testament. His arrival was announced by angels. In Luke 2, look at verse 8: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid." And the angel said unto them...

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Where does this great joy come from? Is it like that which Isaiah spoke of? This joy shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men." This child was born as a man, but he has a second nature, as the Son, the Son of God. Unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given. He came humbly, but his strength, as Isaiah tells us, will be strength to govern with justice and judgment forever. Isaiah tells us that he is wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

His coming is good news. The angel said, "I bring glad tidings." That's good news. That's the gospel. I bring you the gospel of great joy because the one prophesied of has come. His coming is good news, for he is the great joy given unto all people. Jesus is joy incarnate, as we see in the scriptures. It's part of the very nature of God—joy.

We know this because one of the evidences of God in us, the Holy Spirit in us, is joy. Galatians chapter 5, verse 22 states, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, and then what? Joy." The evidence of God's presence in our life is joy coming forth. When people see joy in us, it is supposed to point to God. Joy is not something you can buy or manufacture. Ultimate joy, fullness of joy, enduring joy comes from God in us, and then it exudes from our lives. People will look at it and say, "How do you have this?" Or that's how it should be.

So, it's not something that can be purchased. Although, Pastor Josh sent me some pictures. He was down at the mall the other day, and he kept taking pictures with his phone. He showed me about...

A dozen different pictures of signs displayed the word "joy." There was joy for 50% off, joy for 20% off, and joy in various forms. Apparently, there is lots of joy out there. Today, if you haven't already, you're going to go home, open your Christmas gifts, and experience some amount of marginal joy from those things. There are pleasures to be had in this world, but full and enduring joy comes only from God. When God is in us, by His Holy Spirit, joy flows from us, and when people see that, it directs their attention to Him. It glorifies Him.

Jesus, when He came, is joy incarnate. Secondly, Jesus has come purposefully to graciously extend His joy to us. We see this in Luke 2, verse 10, where the angel said unto them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." His joy is meant to be given to all people, as we see in Luke chapter 2 and also in John chapter 10. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly." He desires that we experience this joy.

In John 15, verse 11, Jesus states, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might increase to its fullness."

So, point number one: Jesus is joy incarnate. Point number two: Jesus has come to graciously extend His joy to us. Point number three: We should enjoy the gracious gift of His joy. It is God's desire that we would embrace the joy He extends to us. As we have considered before, He is glorified when we enjoy that joy.

Throughout the Bible, we receive exhortations to rejoice in or find joy in God. We are called as Christians to experience and enjoy the joy of God and the grace of God so that it may be magnified to this world. Paul, as he wrote to the church at Philippi, encourages us in Philippians 3, verse 1, saying, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord."

He exhorts us to rejoice in Him, to find joy in Him. "Rejoice in the Lord," He says. "To write the same things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe." Apparently, as Paul states in Philippians 3:1, this was an exhortation he gave often. He emphasizes, "Rejoice in the Lord." I know I'm repeating myself, but it's good for me to remind you of this again. It seems that when Paul was with the church in Philippi, he regularly told them to rejoice in the Lord. That's why, when he writes it here, he acknowledges, "I know I'm saying this to you the ten millionth time, but you need to hear it: Rejoice in the Lord."

Just thirty or so verses later, he reiterates in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice." This was a common theme in Paul's teaching: rejoice in the Lord. Jesus is joy incarnate, and He has graciously extended His joy to us so that we should enjoy His grace and find joy in Him.

Point number four: we magnify Him by extending His gracious gift and carrying His joy to a joyless world. We glorify God by sharing the gracious gift of His joy with this world. By, if you will, incarnating His joy in all aspects of our lives—whether in our workplace, at school, while shopping, hanging out, or playing basketball—we glorify God. Jesus is the incarnation of joy. He brings joy into the world, extends His joy to us, and calls us to carry that joy into the rest of the world.

To this end, Jesus commissioned His disciples. To this end, Jesus prayed for His disciples. Turn in your Bibles to John 17. In John 15, which we looked at last week, Jesus is speaking to His disciples in the upper room. This is just hours before He will be betrayed, arrested, and condemned to die.

In John 15, we've looked at verse 11. Every single week in our series on joy, He says this: "I write these things unto you" or "I've spoken these words unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." Then, in John 16, again He says to them, right around verse 24, "I want your joy to be full."

In John 17, Jesus, God the Son, is now praying to God the Father. He says in John 17, verse 13, "And now come I to thee, God, and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, Father, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth."

So, ready them for what you're calling them to do. I don't want you to take them out of the world. In verse 18, He continues, "Father, as you have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."

Follow along with what Jesus is praying here. God, you sent me into the world to bring joy. I have spoken unto them that their joy would be full, and I don't want you to remove them from the world, even though they're not like the rest of the world. I want you to send them into the world so that they too would incarnate joy.

Jesus is joy incarnate. He has graciously extended His joy to us. He desires that we would enjoy His joy, that we would maximize our joy in Him, and then that we would carry it out to this world. Jesus is the key to unlocking joy. That's what we've seen in this series as we wrap it up today. He is the key to unlocking joy, as evidenced by the Apostle Paul's reckless abandon to apprehend, to lay hold of Jesus. Paul came to the place where he recognized that Jesus is a treasure to be treasured above all other treasures.

In Philippians chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, Paul writes, "But what things were gained to me, those I have counted..."

Loss for Christ. Yes, indeed, I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them as dung, as rubbish, that I may apprehend, that I may win Him.

Paul and many others throughout history recognized Jesus as a treasure to be treasured above all treasures. They left whatever it was in this world that held them so they might lay hold of Him. He, Jesus, has shown us the path of life and salvation. Psalm 16:11 states, "You, God, will show me the path of life." Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me."

Not only does He show us the path into life, but He also reveals that He is the very source of full and enduring joy. Again, Psalm 16:11 reminds us, "In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Jesus has made the way open and extended the opportunity to us that we can lay hold of full and enduring joy.

However, we have seen, as we've gone through our series, that not all Christians experience this full and enduring joy. We wanted to consider how we can promote that. How do we encourage joy in our lives? We promote our joy in God through gratitude, which is an emotive response. It's something that happens in response to something else; it's not something we can just force ourselves to have.

We can encourage the promotion of joy in our lives through the contemplation of the greatness of God and His work. The secret to gratitude is to constantly behold the greatness of the glory of God as manifested through the beauty of His Son, Jesus. When we are filled with this gratitude, the overflow of gratitude is worship of God, which escalates our joy.

The worship of God and our joy in Him expand our love for Him because we love Him because He first loved us. In response to His great love, we are stirred to love Him, and that love for God will overflow in love for others. Love for others is expressed not only in tender-hearted affections—"I really like that person"—but also in tender actions of giving and serving from ourselves because love is the overflow.

Of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others. Giving and serving when motivated by love result in increased joy. Acts 20, verse 35 states that it is more blessed to give than to receive. We all know this to be true at some level. Even people who don't know God recognize this truth because we spend a significant amount of money this time of year to give gifts. Consumer debt goes through the roof in the last quarter of every single year because people understand there is joy in giving to others. If there wasn't any joy in giving, many would say, "I’m not doing that." They wouldn't want to fight the craziness at the mall, Walmart, or Costco. It took me 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot at Costco the other day. Why? Because people like to give things. This verse is proven true in our lives: it is more blessed to give than to receive.

When we give of our time, talents, and treasures out of a heart of worshipful gratitude, our joy in God increases. We saw last week that one of God's aims, one of His goals for us, is that we would have our joy full in Christ. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Therefore, God desires that our joy would be full in Him because it magnifies Him when we find our joy in Him.

This brings us to the last point for our series on joy. In God, we find our fullest joy, which we are to carry to a joyless world so that they may know in Him their fullness of joy. In God, we find our fullest joy, and therefore we carry that joy to a joyless world, helping them come to know the joy of knowing God.

So, here we are on Christmas Day, which reminds us of the incarnation of God. God became a man and came to this world to give us life, not just more abundantly. The incarnation reveals to us that God is truly passionate about our joy.

He desires our joy to be full. That's why He came. Joy is incarnate in Jesus, and so the incarnation of God becoming a man and bringing joy to us should stir us to be passionate for the joy of all peoples. His joy residing in us and satisfying our quest for joy should motivate us to lay hold of the commission to go and carry that joy to other people.

We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. That's why we're here, church. That's why we, the body of Christ, have not been taken out of the world. Jesus said, "I pray not that you take them out of the world, but that you would keep them there, strengthen them, and send them forth into the work to carry the joy that we've received from Him to a joyless world."

As we come now to the end of this seven-week series, that is my exhortation: that we would seek to maximize our joy in God. We should pursue our fullest joy in Him so that we can carry that joy to a joyless world for His glory. That is our aim as we enter 2012.

Next Sunday is January 1st, and as we step into the new year as a church, my prayer is that we would enjoy His grace and extend His glory. We should recognize that He has given us His joy so that we can carry it to a joyless world. We are not just to be hoarders of joy, but carriers, the fountainheads of joy in this joyless world.

In Escondido, in San Diego, in Southern California, in the nation, and in the world, wherever God would carry us, we should take the joy of God into a lost and dying world. That is what He has called us to. As Paul closed his letter to the Romans, he said in Romans 15:13, "Now the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing." What a great prayer.

I've made that my prayer for my family and for our church as well. God, would You fill us with all peace and joy in believing? Why? Paul says that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. God, pour out upon us all joy that we would abound so that we could not contain it, so that we would have to carry that joy to a joyless world.

Have you noticed that this world around us is joyless? People are striving to try and lay hold of and find joy in things that do not satisfy. As Isaiah said in Isaiah 55, "Why do you labor for that which satisfies not?" As we look around Escondido and San Diego County, that's the question. Why are we so hard-pressed to labor for that which does not satisfy? We are to carry the joy that we've received from God into a joyless world.

You might say, "Well, I don't have joy." I've shown you from the Scriptures over the last seven weeks how to promote joy in God. So, listen to the series; it's on the internet. Set yourself to be a Christian hedonist, seeking and striving for your maximal joy in God so that you can carry that joy to a joyless world and glorify Him.

So, God, fill us with all joy and peace in believing that we would abound. In Isaiah 55, and we'll close with this, turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 55. The prophet Isaiah says in verse 1, "Everyone that thirsts, come to the waters; and he that has no money, come and buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

"Why do you spend your money on that which is not bread, and you labor for that which does not satisfy?" Listen carefully to Me, God says, and eat that which is good, that which will fill you, that which will satisfy you, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55 is God calling to His people who have been looking for their joy in other wells.

That do not satisfy. He says, "Come to me, listen carefully to me. Only from me can you get what you truly need and be satisfied." After being satisfied, He gives this exhortation to the people in verse 8: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God says, "I'm totally different than you." For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, it does not return there, but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. He gives this illustration: God sends rain upon the earth, and it rains down, watering the earth so that it brings forth fruit to give man food to eat.

Then He says, in the same way, in verse 11, "So shall my word go forth out of my mouth." His word is like water, like rain in this passage. "My word goes out of my mouth; it will not return to me void. It will accomplish what I sent it forth to do. It will prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." God says, "I've sent the rain upon the earth. It waters the earth, and the earth produces fruit. I have spoken my word out into the earth, and it will produce fruit. It will not return void."

So, what part do we play in this? Look at verse 12: "For you, you who have been satisfied by the well that is Christ, you shall go out with joy." You've been filled; you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. What did Paul pray for in Romans 15:13? He says that you would be filled with all joy and peace.

So, church, be filled with all joy and peace, and then go out into the world with joy, led forth with peace. As you do, He says something funny: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

What is going on here? Well, again, imagine the picture of a dry and parched land. It's drought-ridden, and it's not hard for us to conceptualize that living in Southern California. If you could hear...

With the ears of God, when the rain comes upon a dry and parched earth and begins to pour out, you would hear the mountains and the hills go, "Yeah!" So now, you, who have been filled with joy and peace in believing, go forth like the rain clouds. You're not carrying water, though; you're carrying His word that does not return void.

As you go, this dry land that is joyless and dark will rejoice. This is what God has called us to, church: to maximize our joy in God so that we cannot be snatched out of the world and taken away from this joyless world. Like clouds carrying water to a dry land, we can carry the joy of the gospel to a joyless world, that they would find their joy in God too. That's what we're about. That's what God has called us to. That is what Christmas speaks to us. Joy came to the world. The Lord has come to us, and He has given us, by His grace, His joy to carry it to a joyless world.

So, that's my prayer as we end this year and step into another one: that we would carry His joy to the joyless. This afternoon, you're going to be in the presence of family members and friends who perhaps do not know the joy of the Lord. They are trying to find some sort of joy in Christmas, just as a holiday festival, but it's not found in that. My prayer is that you would go forth filled with joy and peace in believing and bring joy to the joyless. Amen?

Let's pray to that end. Let's stand and pray. Father, I thank You for this truth that You became a man. God, You stepped down into this earth. You, joy incarnate, brought joy to a joyless world. You've brought joy to us, Lord.

Lord, teach us as we seek You and follow You how to maximize our joy in You, so that we would be able to carry that joy to this joyless world around us. Stir us, Lord, with a passion for Your supremacy in all things and for the joy of all peoples, so that we may carry it to the uttermost parts, wherever You would open doors for us to go.

God, we ask this in Your name because You prayed this for us. Would You do this in us, we ask. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you.