Part of our Christmas 2020 series, this talk focuses on joy. Not the surface-level cheerfulness the season often demands, but the deeper kind that persists even when circumstances are far from perfect.
01Why Joy and Happiness Are Not the Same Thing
There is a moment in this Christmas talk where one of the speakers uses an image that sticks. Joy, she says, is like an iceberg. Happiness sits on the surface, visible and constantly shifting with circumstances. But joy runs deep beneath the waterline. It is something altogether different from the emotion that comes and goes depending on whether your day has been good or terrible.
This distinction matters, especially in a year where happiness has been in short supply.
02Born Into the Mess
The Christmas story is often presented as something warm and cosy. Carols, candles, nativity scenes with clean straw and a serene-looking Mary. But the reality of the first Christmas was nothing like that.
Jesus was born into an occupied land. The Romans were in charge. The people were oppressed and poor. Bethlehem itself was tiny, possibly home to just three hundred to a thousand people. A couple of streets, not a city. And into this small, struggling place under the thumb of a foreign empire, God chose to unfold the story that would change human history.
"When Jesus was born as a baby, he was born into an occupied land and the Romans were in charge. It was a terrible time. And so the very gift of God that we celebrate at this time of year, we have got to think of the context of when Jesus was born. And it was not necessarily a time of great joy and celebration."
The parallel to modern difficulties was drawn without being forced. The year had been brutal. People had missed weddings, birthdays, holidays. Grief and isolation had been constant companions. And yet here was the claim: the original Christmas happened in circumstances just as bleak, and heaven still wanted to celebrate.
03Heaven Could Not Keep Quiet
The angel's announcement to the shepherds is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible, and for good reason. "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people. For today, in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you."
What is striking about this scene is not just the message but the audience. The announcement did not go to the religious leaders. It did not go to the powerful or the wealthy. It went to shepherds, people working the night shift in fields outside a tiny town.
And then heaven itself could not contain its excitement. "Suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God."
One of the speakers compared this to the birth of his twins. "I was ringing people up all over the place. I even rang your mama three times by mistake. I just wanted everybody to know the great joy that we had." If that is the reaction to the birth of ordinary babies, how much greater is the reaction when God's master plan to rescue humanity finally arrives?
04The Gift and the Gift Giver
The heart of the talk's message about joy came down to a simple but profound idea: joy is a gift, and to understand the gift, you need to know the giver.
"I believe joy is a gift. I believe God gives that gift. And when you understand the giver, you understand the gift."
This is what separates joy from happiness. Happiness is responsive. It depends on what is happening around you. Joy is rooted in something, or someone, that does not change. It comes from knowing the character of God, from the certainty that his goodness is not conditional on circumstances.
"When you know the giver of the gift, you can be joyful in all circumstances. In the happy times and the sad times, we still have joy."
That is a bold claim. And the talk did not shy away from testing it against real life.
05Joy in the Midst of Grief
One of the most honest moments came when the conversation turned to personal loss. The co-host shared about losing her mother at a young age and the crisis of faith that followed.
"My mum died very young, and that was a horrendous time. I really struggled with why that had happened, why that had been allowed to happen. She was a lovely, amazing person. It was a real crisis point for me and my faith, because I just could not understand why that would happen."
There was no neat resolution offered. No tidy explanation. Instead, there was something more honest and more helpful.
"I got to the point where I had to just understand that actually I cannot explain some things and I do not understand some things. And that is actually okay. But I can still have that hope. And because I have got a hope for the future, I can have that joy even when I am going through really difficult times."
That admission, that it is acceptable not to have answers, feels particularly important. The Christian faith does not require people to explain away their pain. It invites them to hold the pain and the joy at the same time, which sounds impossible until you actually experience it.
06Joy Grows Over Time
The conversation also surfaced something that new Christians or people exploring faith might find reassuring. Joy is not something you either have or you do not. It develops.
"The more I have got to know God, the stronger my faith has become. The stronger my faith has become, the more I have understood hope. The more I have understood hope, the more I have understood joy. These things grow and develop over time."
This is not a switch that flips the moment someone becomes a Christian. It is a deepening relationship, and like all deepening relationships, it takes time and experience. The joy of year one does not look like the joy of year ten or year twenty. It grows roots. It becomes more resilient. It holds up under heavier weight.
07Should We Cancel Christmas When Things Are Hard
The talk opened with a playful skit where one speaker argued that Christmas should be cancelled because the year had been so dreadful. No celebrations. No tree. No Michael Buble. The response was gentle but firm: the circumstances of the first Christmas were arguably worse, and heaven still celebrated.
"This is a season where we can think of light and hope and joy. People over the years have tried to stop Christmas, tried to stop this kind of Christian celebration. They cannot. Because there is something like a momentum that just keeps going."
Oliver Cromwell managed to ban Christmas for three years. It came back. Every attempt to suppress it has failed, not because people are attached to the decorations and the carols, but because the story underneath them carries something that people need. Especially when times are hard.
08The Deeper Current
Joy, as this talk presents it, is not the absence of pain. It is not forced cheerfulness or a refusal to acknowledge difficulty. It is something that runs beneath all of that, a deeper current that keeps flowing even when the surface is turbulent.
It is connected to knowing God. Connected to hope. Connected to the belief that this world, with all its suffering and uncertainty, is not the final word.
"Once you know God, once you have Jesus in your life, that does not mean your life is free from problems. We still have illnesses. We still lose people close to us. We still have financial problems and difficult times. But we have something that sustains us through that. And that is the difference."
What would it mean to stop chasing happiness and start cultivating joy instead?
Topics in this talk
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oh which is by your happy song clues hey do see him in the mangaly whom the cross of angels praised mary joseph lend your way while our hearts in love we race still oh jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in the one horse open sleigh bashing through the snow in the one horse open sleigh over the fields we go laughing all the way belts on bobtail's ring making spirits bright what fun it is to laugh and sing a slaying song tonight oh jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh jingle bells jingle bells jingle one horse open sleigh a day or two ago i thought i'd take a ride and soon this fanny bright was seated by my side the horse misfortune seemed as loud we got into a drifted bag and then we got upside all the oh way fun it is to ride in a oh what fun it is to ride in one horse faithful joyful and triumphant comedy come and behold him born the king of angels come let us adore him crystal sing choirs of angels sing in exultation sing all your citizens of heaven above glory to god in the highest come let us adore him christ lord bye all the word of the father now in flesh appearing come let us [Applause] you well good afternoon and welcome to crowd church online christmas service my name is matt edmondson and sat beside me although several miles away is the beautiful south south say hi hi everybody it's brilliant to see you this week thank you for coming and joining us absolutely always great to have you i'm excited today sal about this service partly because we've got all the tech work in this little bit week this time then last week where we were we just figured out that things weren't working and it was a little bit panicky but this week famous last word because who knows who knows what's in theory everything should be okay this week so that that is great it is good good very well said so now i'm gonna put on the screen here a number now you see that number in the bottom there that is the whatsapp number now you can join in the comments on facebook or you can send us messages on whatsapp or photos if you want to be a bit more private that is how you can get older now you can use that number or you can use the comments make sure you say hi be good to know who's watching be good to know who's connecting with us and we'll come to the comments in just a minute uh but before i do let me just tell you we are obviously a church right i say obviously crowd church is kind of implied that we are a church and yeah well it says it it's it's written on the tin right so you would hope so anyway um we appreciate today's quarter season of joyce i was going to explain all in a minute and uh we appreciate it's not always joyful for people so if there's anything that you would like prayer for uh maybe life isn't going as great or maybe you know uh whatever is happening in your life and you would like some kind of prayer whether you're a christian or not we would love to pray for you you can reach us on that whatsapp number and we will happily happily do such a thing right so what's the story today what's coming up today well the theme as you've said is a season of joy and we're going to explain a little bit of the background about that choice later on today and but we've got lots of other brilliant things coming up we have got our kids say the funniest things again which is the highlight for me from last week i love that um we may have a joke or two if i'm allowed possibly admit i haven't been banned from doing that from last week and we've got a couple of carols in there which i'm really looking forward to we've got malc and trish um doing the talk and matt and i will be doing some questions and chatting about that afterwards as well and we've got a brilliant song that dan pryor has put together for us later on as well so loads going on as matt said please feel free to comment we'd love to hear your thoughts um and of course if you want prayer we'd love to hear that as well absolutely thanks so now if you are wearing a christmas jumper why don't you send us a photograph just you know i am i've got mine on this week which is cool uh let me just say um matt cruz written in the comments well done matt edmondson aka former mop head yeah i was going to mention that um the haircut in a little while matt actually i appreciate that you've you've made a little bit more of an effort today which is uh oh no you're that way yeah i know i know everything's backwards so you know a little bit you have to kind of figure out what you're doing um but yeah i like to see that you've made a bit of an effort you've had a haircut you're working christmas jumper on got the lights on in the background well still needs a little of work maybe but you know we're getting there we're getting there but you know today i'm wearing my lovely reindeer dress i've got reindeer earrings in today i've even got a reindeer face mask wow i am a primary school teacher what can i say but i didn't want you to feel left out so i've got another present for you this week would you like to see what i've got for you matt uh is it like the tie you gave me last week but it's better than the tie oh if it's better i'm definitely interested yeah okay some reindeer okay your definition and my definition of better might be slightly different so well i know i think these will look really good on you matt i think i think these are really great so do you want to press the magic christmas button and i'll see if i can get actually no if i want it let me okay let's press the button i'm not sure i want to do this below let's see let's see if we can make the magic work this week hang on i'm just going to oh oh oh oh i think there's an internet lag there you go pop those what on we think yeah they look good but i i do think you're still missing something i think i think this will just finish the uh off nice gonna help me i think this will be really good yeah i think i think you like this so would you like to try this matt i mean i think i think your nose will really appreciate this if you're you know if yeah if you're up for it yeah sure yeah why not see what we've got how do i turn it on just pull the pull the string and it should start flashing wow look at that look at that yeah looking good looking good it's not exactly fitting my face it really is this like a kids version no no totally meant for adults completely yeah yeah if anyone's just tuning in they'll be going what on earth no i think they'll they'll think matt matt looks like he's really made an effort this week matt looks good yeah mazda's put in the comments here screen grab this no matt no put it in the comments that would be amazing that's just not going to happen yeah oh damn prize in the comments as well hey dan how you doing i'm i'm sorry i've got to take this i'm going to put it here okay yeah that's a good no jokes no jokes i mean no jokes about this oh yeah christmas jokes let's do christmas checks yeah because i tell you what right let me just tell tell the good folks listening every year sal and i have been doing the christmas service at church right now we're online church this first year we've done christmas online so we're doing it online uh and every year we have done christmas church um you have notoriously come out with uh some people i wouldn't say they wouldn't sell but some people would say they're bad jokes no no or me honest but it's become a bit of a tradition so have at it what jokes have we got this week well it's almost like i don't need to do any jokes because there's a really great thing on the screen already you've stitched me right up but that's okay it's christmas because i have got some really really good ones i will do i just wondered matt if you've noticed that um it's just harder to find advent calendars this year have you noticed that uh okay sure yeah i just think their days are numbered do you like that one man you know what guys this is the first time i've heard these jokes as well so um okay what's number two i feel like we need some canned laughter or something because you know i'm not well maybe next year hang on no no what i could i i think uh what i i can do that's what i know okay so that would be amazing okay okay you ready for the next one yeah yeah let's do it reindeer related to go with the theme um who is rudolph's favorite pop star i have no idea who is rudolph's favorite pop star beyonce okay that's definitely your best one yet okay one more one more let's see one more okay um what did one snowman say to the other snowman uh i don't know what did one i'm wrecking my brains what did one snowman say to the other can you smell carrots oh dear actually maybe a little that laughter actually sounds a little bit sarcastic so i'm not really okay yeah i'll tell you what this have we got it is that is that it for the jokes that's it for the jokes this for this week thank you thank you there you go a big round of applause for anybody if anybody's got any really really good jokes christmas themed jokes that you could send me for next the last please please send them in please send them in that would be amazing please please send them in that would be amazing okay perhaps we should move on to something that is actually a lot funnier than me because we did our first kids say the funniest things last brilliant i've got another one for you and this week i asked the children what makes mommy happy let's see what they have kisses and cuddles me she likes getting hugs she loves baking and spending time with the family and she loves like people helping out in the house and yeah she just loves so many things like i could literally do like a massive list and when i can pick home when i give her kisses and books and okay but now she likes wine brilliant i used to like coffee but now she likes wine yeah i can relate i can relate to that i love that oh sensational the one um i'm not sure if you could hear it as clearly but um what does what makes mommy happy um when i play with him which i loved as well that was brilliant that's brilliant so thank you so much to our fabulous kids oh yeah they were great they were great well done kids i loved it loved all the answers kisses and cuddles is usually the right answer too i find but the coffee to wine thing i'm not i'm not gonna let that one go easily i'm now speaking of kids if you have kids and you have not done so already we have online an activity pack and you can download the activity pack from our website just go to crowd.church forward slash christmas and there's a link you can just download it print it off and the kids will have some great fun with that so have at it that's what i say so now let's do a carol shall we because it is christmas um let's do it what carol should we do so um well one of my favorites how about joy to the world i think that sounds like a plan now this carol has been put together by the fantastic john farrington as usual this is a very well-known carol talking about there's this wonderful part in the christmas story where we're going to find out about it later actually where an angel appears to the shepherds and goes i've got this massive message of great joy and this is what that carol is all about you all know the words you all know the lyrics you know the tune so come on join in full pelt and we'll be back in a few minutes joy to the world the lord is heaven and nature seem that heaven and nature joy to the world the savior while fields and floods the joy he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations through the glories of his righteousness love that well done john thank you for doing that love the world brilliant absolutely now shall we i mentioned a bible reading a second ago where an angel appears i we should get the beautiful willow on screen to read that bible passage to us what do you reckon i love that let's do it here she is willow birch reading luke chapter two luke chapter 2 verse 4 so joseph also went up from the town of nazareth and galilee to judea to bethlehem the town of david because he belonged to the house and the line of david he went there to register with mary who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child while they were there the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn a son she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were terrified but the angel said to them do not be afraid i bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people today in the town of david a savior has been born to you he is the messiah the lord this will be assigned to you you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising god and saying glory to god in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom he favors rests fantastic thank you willa always good to have you we actually got willa working this week which was fab so yeah one of the casualties to do yeah and it didn't work so without having to hear me read it so sorry about that much better listening um to willa read that yeah really good and in case you've not figured it out willa is in fact sal's daughter minnie me as we like to call her here she is the spinner please put glasses on she won't like to hear that so let's not that's not what 14 year old wanted for hearing i tell my 16 year old he looks like me all the time better looking version yeah much better looking version yeah yeah yeah a lot fitter too but that's okay you know we get we get better as we pass it down our genes don't we through the generations apparently uh okay so this week is all about season of joy right that's what it's called so um let's let's sort of explain sal why we called this one a seasoned what why where did we come up with this yeah i wanted to kind of do a little bit of a background just to the theme for the three weeks really for the the christmas themes that we're doing um and when we were coming up with what we were going to do for crowd church over christmas um i was thinking about how how different things are this year and how difficult this year has been lots of people have had ups and downs lots of people have had very traumatic experiences it's been challenging for everyone and um you know that there hasn't been a lot of joy there hasn't been a lot of hope um or peace in for some people a lot of the time and then i started thinking about the christmas story and how actually at that time that part of the world was under occupation um the people were oppressed um they were very poor you know there were lots of things that actually are similar to today um and yet out of that came this most incredible story of joy um and that's really what inspired these whole this whole sort of series of themes this um joy and hope um coming out of a place of where none of that is so that thinking behind it matt wasn't it well that's true absolutely fantastic explanation i couldn't have made any better myself it wasn't great at the time jesus came but when jesus came he brought great joy with him and that's one of the quintessential christmas messages isn't it so without further ado let's get on this week's special guest the amazing malk and trish morgan who uh are uh friends of frontline they're they work with frontline they have frontline uh frontline church in greece in athens in fact so if you're in l key that i need to pronounce it right alketa so if you are in that part of the world do check them out they're amazing people we love them to bits it's great to have them part as a frontline family and we were stoked when they uh decided that they or when they said that they could actually get involved in this live stream for us and bring this week's message so you are going to enjoy this welcome to the world of malc and trish we'll be back in just a few minutes what are you i'm doing the christmas tree no sorry trish this year come on all years christmas is cats look at the year we've had it's got to be cancelled sorry what about santa no even he's got to go in it's been such a dreadful year everybody christmas is cancelled well if you're going to cancel christmas the music's going to go as well absolutely thank you michael buble leave michael who play alone i'm going to put up santa clau on saturday can come here just for a minute okay i understand but if we're gonna cancel christmas what are we gonna do instead nothing this has been the best christmas ever everything is cancelled but everything's been cancelled all year round we've had no birthdays we haven't been able to celebrate our birthdays we couldn't go to our niece's wedding we couldn't go to that you know our little grandchild's dedication and was we didn't go on a holiday best christmas best year ever look at the amount of money i said i can pay my bills now trish this year has been so bad now the reason why i think we should still go ahead and celebrate christmas is for many reasons one of them is to bring some joy into people's lives and into their homes i think this is a time for peace and for love with the hope and we put on life by putting up a christmas tree you think that makes a difference not necessarily by putting up a christmas tree but by thinking about why we're doing what we are doing what is it we're doing celebrating christmas and why yes but look at christmas so over commercialized horrible parties dreadful christmas carols everything and fantastic jumpers like these but come on well let's think about it quite seriously think this thing for a second why are we celebrating christmas as mark says some of the reasons maybe this year might not be a good appropriate time to be thinking of joy and celebration to the backdrop of the awful year we've had and are going into probably still because of covid but actually it's not too dissimilar to the times of when jesus was born because when jesus was born as a baby he was born into an occupied land and the romans were in charge it was a terrible time and so therefore the very gift of god that we like to celebrate this time of year we've got to think of the context of when jesus was born and it wasn't necessarily a time of great joy and celebration but there's one thing for sure heaven did want to celebrate did you know bethlehem wasn't that big how big do you think they reckon at that time it had shrunk inside from its early days 300 to 1000 people that was it this is smaller that's just like a couple of streets and liverpool that's right just so small that's how small bethlehem was and that's where god chose for this amazing story of jesus coming to the earth to be unfolded for the whole of mankind can i read you a couple of verses from the bible i'm going to look at it on my phone it's from luke and it's from luke 2 and if you want to look at the christmas story luke is a lovely um gospel in the bible matthew mark luke john it's the third book in the bible in the new testament take a look at it it's really helpful and you can get many modern versions these days on your phone you don't have to have that old old english language anymore anyway let me just read you a couple of verses here because we're thinking about how um jesus was born in humble surroundings um but yet it was an event that changed the world and heaven definitely wanted to celebrate on this and bringing joy to the world so let's read from luke chapter 2 verses 10 but the angel that appeared to the shepherds on the hill said to them do not be afraid but behold i bring you good news of great joy for which will be for all people for day in today in the city of david there's been for you born a savior who's christ the lord this will be a sign for you you'll find a baby wrapped in clothes lying in a manger and suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god so this was an event that heaven was although jesus had been born very humbly in a stable not in a palace heaven was wanting to celebrate and i think sometimes when we think of our celebrations we are trying to reflect that kind of moment of joy and anticipation of hope celebration in heaven itself can you remember where the twins were i was just okay that's a time of real joy yeah we had twins they are now a little bit more grown up and i remember when they were born just just the real excitement and joy i was reading people up all over the place no i wanted everybody to know i even ran your mama three times by mistake listen sorry malcolm you've already told us yeah i just wanted everybody to know the great joy that we had through the birth of twins right and that was with just babies natural things and and children but this was jesus the son of god this was god's master plan to try and rescue and redeem save mankind and give us a way out of the terrible dead-end alleys we seem to have found ourselves in and so therefore heaven wanted to celebrate heaven wanted to let people know today this is an amazing day and you know that was too over 2 000 years ago and i guess many people over the years have tried to stop christmas have tried to support this kind of christian celebration they can't because there's something like a momentum that just keeps going cromwell actually stopped it for three years it did because it becomes so over commercialized then and lost its meaning really all those hundreds of years ago i wondered what they gave each other in those days but anyway the fact is is that this is a season where we can think of light and hope and joy and joy is an interesting thing because we believe joy is a bit like an iceberg on the top is probably happiness which is like an emotion but happiness is very um it's very sort of um with the surrounding environment you can be happy one minute maybe sad the next but enjoy something quite different it is that part of the iceberg underneath the water that is deep and that's what god said he would give us his joy the bible actually talks about joy coming in the morning after a night of real sadness i know some of us are walking through seasons where it's so like we're feeling that we're emotional wrecks you know we're one minute happy next minute we're down we're celebrating with those who want to celebrate and yet sometimes we're grieving with those that want to grieve this is how jesus was born into a culture into a time of history just like that so actually nothing has changed and that's why i believe that it gives us license to celebrate so what you're saying joy is something much deeper much more personal much more important than just happiness which comes and goes i believe joy is a gift i believe joy just isn't an emotion i believe it's connected to some other things but i believe joy is a gift i believe god gives that gift and that when you understand the giver you understand the gift so we're thinking today of joy we're thinking reasons that we not just to be cheerful but real joy how we can celebrate christmas why we can go ahead put up a christmas stream out put on the lights wear my lovely jumper and celebrate the comments so you'll saying joy is really inside you it's because of jesus it is yeah when you found the giver the certainty of your faith yeah when you found the giver of the gift okay and we believe the giver of the gift is knowing jesus for yourself and he was sent from heaven and we could celebrate his birth the beginning of a new chapter of history his story god's story coming down to her and that's why i believe you can be joyful in all circumstances now in the happy times and the sad times we still have a job so i guess your microphobic background yes please add mince pie great thanks hey have a good christmas everyone god bless you bye thank you so much malcolm trish absolutely brilliant i love the um i love the bit at the end uh yes thank you by the way to malcolm trish i love the bit at the end the mints you want michael buble back on then and yes a and he was just such a lovely guy he just went and did it didn't he he's just like sure i'll put it back on i'll get you a mince pie no problem brilliant as he should love him yeah so sal let me ask you a question we've been talking you mentioned about joy and how it's been it's been an awkward year uh and as malcolm trish talked about it was an awkward time when jesus came um but in the midst of that there was some great joy and i i like what they said about joy and happiness not necessarily being the same thing and she talked about joy being an iceberg what did you think yeah i i totally agree with that i think we often think that joy means happiness and how can we have joy when we're experiencing such difficult things um but joy is very very different um happiness is that emotion that comes and goes that can uh be changed by the people around you and how they treat you or how you know what's happening to you to you today whether you missed your bus or whether you you know had a good day at work well all those different things can make us happy or not happy but joy as trish said is something much much deeper yeah i liked i i i did like the iceberg analogy that happiness was at the top but joy goes it does it's this sort of deeper work isn't it so for you in your life um how does that work though how does that have you experienced joy but not been happy because it can sound a little bit weird right it can and i think it's not some it's not something that you can just kind of um well i'm just going to get on and be joyful it doesn't work like that it's it like trish said about it being a gift from god you know i've had some really difficult times in my life um for example my mum died very young and you know that was a horrendous time and um i really really struggled with why that had happened why um that had been allowed to happen and you know she was a lovely amazing person and um it was a real sort of crisis point for me and my faith because i i just couldn't understand why that would happen and i got to the point of a lot of sort of soul-searching and things where i got to the point where i had to just sort of understand that actually i can't explain some things and i don't understand some things and that's actually that's okay but i can still have that um that hope and this is what we were talking about about hope and joy being really really linked together that because i've got a hope for the future i can have that joy even when i'm going through really difficult times does that answer your question matt no it does it's brilliant i think it's um it's a fascinating idea this concept of joy isn't it and and thank you for sharing about your moment because uh grief i think is one of those times that isn't is is very not joyful but in the midst of it you can still know god um and i like what you said there about it's okay not knowing um it's okay to have questions and you and yet you can still have that joy can't you it's um it's yeah once you you know once you know god once you have jesus in your life that doesn't mean that your life is free from problems you know we still if only yeah that would be amazing wouldn't it but you know we still have illnesses we still lose people close to us we still have financial problems and difficult times but but we have something that sustains us through that and that's what's diff that's what the difference is yeah that's so true so true it's i love what trish said about it's about knowing the gift giver isn't it the joy is a gift it's a gift from god and i think the more i think the more i've got to know him the stronger my faith has become the stronger my faith has become the more i've understood hope the more of understood hope the more i've understood joy and these things i think they grow and develop over time don't they so yeah i agree i agree it doesn't mean you know that i'm happy all the time it doesn't mean that i understand why things happen and it doesn't mean that i'm free from the difficult things in life but it does mean that i've got something that i can hold on to and i think next week we're talking about hope um and so that will we'll link into that as well so do join us next week for that little plug little plug there brilliant segue i'm not gonna lie i like that totally unplanned that was totally unplanned it's like it's like we're professionals don't give that illusion or maybe it's just me you're a professional uh you're obviously a professional teacher i'm i'm just kind of winging it as i go along but that's okay i'm used to making you good been making you look good from chris this is your last 20 years yeah and long may that continue i'll take whatever i can get me take whatever i can get brilliant well thanks for sharing before we move on to the next thing i just i know we have already said about prayer and things um but you know if if you're going through a really difficult time if you've lost someone over this um this period in your grieving if you're you know there's financial all sorts of different things that could be happening especially at the moment then please you know let us pray for you send us a message email through the website um you know give it a go what have you got to lose exactly that's exactly it right there so um let me in fact why don't i uh let's use the technology uh if you would like uh he says let's press the right button there we go if you would like personal number matt thank you very much you don't need that no no you definitely don't need that i never went through it anyway but this number you can text stuff in and just let us know where how you're getting on anything you would like prayer for we would love to know you can also head to the website crowd.church um there's a little link at the bottom which says try prayer just put your details in there if you prefer the web and we will be in touch that'd be awesome so uh thanks for sharing that so i really appreciate that and totally agree with and that joy is something that you get when you know christ and you can know it even in the midst of a crazy tumultuous year like this year and that's a beautiful thing so i think that is a very good point to bring in the next part of the show which is the song by dan pryor greg schofield and zoya williams now i said stand down listen no dan for years no known down longer than i'm knowing you sound that's a long time right dan and i go back to uni together that's how long i've known dan price and chalk wasn't it matt yeah we were there with noah i mean we were you know we were a tight three let me tell you and so um and so i said stan dan is brilliant worship leader brilliant musician i love the guide to bits and i said dan could you do something for crab for christmas and so he got together with greg who's also an absolute ledger and zoya who is another legend got three legends together and did a cover of all the world awaits so here is dan song you're going to love it all the world awaits the promise of his birth open up the gates heaven come to highest worthy is the land he has come to say to take away your sin he freely gave jose god held the heaven born prince of peace heal the son of righteousness light alive to all he brings glory to the new born king wow oh thank you so much guys that was really special yeah really brilliant i really appreciate you taking the time to do that these things aren't easy to put and so i think they also got andy watts involved to put the video together and they they they put that together which was fab appreciate it although i mean i have question marks over greg's uh christmas jumper i'm not gonna lie it was the blue one with the penguin and i was like wow that was that was awesome i mean that was it was so bad it was awesome i'd like to see you matt with a really really bad christmas jumper next week would that be possible or is it christmas zoo time i i think what's the last one we we might have to wear the suit and tie next week oh brilliant it also appeared that dan pryor had a twin in that video which isn't the case really really great so thank you so much for that guys yeah much much appreciated thank you very much now if you would like to see that video that song again you can of course watch the video on youtube it'll be part of this live stream when we upload it you can connect to our youtube channel just with the you know like comment uh just head on over to the youtube channel you can follow the links from the website crowd.church and then you can listen to that song again and again it is a beautiful beautiful song for this christmas you definitely want to listen to that and also on the youtube channel we have been uploading the christmas carols which i know many of you have been listening to and enjoying uh so all of the songs are from those are also uh on our youtube channel so do check those out i'm just going to scroll quickly down the comments uh we had oh i've not read them for a little while sorry uh emma says well done willa uh so well done for the bible reading uh matt crew said well done willa yeah yeah so that was that was fantastic and then apparently the prior teens are laughing at the jokes i'm not quite sure what the joke is just because you've got terrible taste and you don't have a good sense of humor you know doesn't mean that everybody doesn't which is why i need to be honest with you i don't think it was your jokes they were laughing at i think that what they were talking to was my jokes about yeah me going to university with him and noah oh i don't want to steal your thunder not loving that at all we'll have to find out prior teens did you actually laugh at sally's jokes yes or no that would be uh good to know um charlotte you're not finding them funny then give me some good ones come on for next week i want some brilliant ones that you know are going to impress matt so send them to me if you've got any or if they're awful you know like really really awful even better yeah absolutely send those in as well because why not right um so uh charlotte says here she loves you sally butch uh that's good to know so you've got one fan at least which is fantastic i appreciate that take whatever you can get itself take whatever you can get absolutely i'm feeling the love i'm feeling the love i'm loving that um yeah we hope that you can join us next week for um season of hope and we hope that you find some joy uh through the christmas story this week don't forget to send any progress to us via the messages as matt's told you all of the technical ways of doing it we would really really love to hear from you yeah absolutely again the whatsapp number for that is on the bottom of the screen uh emma pryor writes here sorry sal it was laughter at dan but emma laughed at your jokes ah thank thanks so you know that's good uh james saying it sounded great which is great and jane has written oh wow a really long message and she sums it up by saying thanks matt and sally merry christmas merry christmas to you jane thanks for watching the live stream thanks for being part of it now let me explain to you what's going to happen now i am going to play what is technically called the outro um i don't know why it's called that it's just what it's called anyway in that we have some questions based on today's topic of joy questions like how has your year been um do you think you can find joy in difficult situations just things to ponder and think about and also we have some christmas carols so we've got uh let me think we've got i'll come all ye faithful and hog the herald angels sing which we'll also sing against that one really did you have you ever had to at one point in your life stop and go what does hark mean park have i it's just maybe it's just me i just look for certain words up in the dictionary anyway we've got those carols coming up that's going to play for about 10 minutes this is going to be it from me and sal at the end of those 10 minutes uh the livestream will end but do stay along sing along with the carols because it is christmas sally and i will be back again next week at 4pm for part three of the christmas series uh which again sal is all about hope right about hope next week and we'll have the amazing john harding doing the talk another kid say the funniest things and some amazing jokes and hopefully uh matt in a christmas suit how amazing would that be so yeah join us next week we would love to see you we hope you have an amazing week and we hope you find some joy this week whatever's going on in your life take care lovely to see you bless you guys have a fantastic week thanks how and we'll be back again next week bye thanks see ya bye e glory to the newborn king peace on earth and mercy mild god and sinners reconciled joyful ye nations rise join the triumph of the skies with angelico's proclaim christ is born in the bethlehem angels sing the everlasting lord laid in time behold him come offspring of a virgin's wound veiled in flesh the godhead sea hail the incarnation pleased this man with man to dwell jesus i remember well hark the herald angels sing our of peace light and life to all he brings risen with healing in his wings mild he lays his glory by born and man no more may die born to raise the sons of earth glory to king oh come holy faithful joyful and triumphant come and behold him born the king of angels oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him christ the lord is glory to god glory in the come highest us adore adore him oh come let us adore him christ the lord yay lord we greet thee on this happy morning jesus to thee be your glory gift word of the father now in flesh appearing come on so
