 If there's one thing that we should have as Christians, it's joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory. Welcome to Hope Today. We're gonna be talking about joy today. I'm Tom Hollis, I'm here with Amanda Brocker. We've got a great conversation about joy coming up. We sure do. Did you know that the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are mentioned in the Bible passage from John 15 while author Tara Dew is going to reveal this image of the Trinity during our interview all about joy? And who knew that joy entailed the Trinity, but it does? And you're gonna want to call someone, tell them, watch Hope Today because you're gonna leave this program feeling and having the hope of joy in your everyday. Absolutely, it just came through Easter. I hope you had the opportunity to go to church, had the opportunity to be with your family. That always brings me a lot of joy. I mean, we were on yesterday, so we really didn't have a chance to talk about Easter, but I had a busy Easter, but a fun one. Grandkids chasing Easter egg hunts and all that stuff. We were worn out by the end of the day, but it was joyful. That's great. How about you? Oh, the same. We enjoyed just reflecting on Good Friday service with Rabbi Nathan Puro at Bridge City. And then on Saturday we were out delivering hams that were donated from Murraysville Alliance. So big shout out and thank you for helping feed those 15 families a wonderful Easter dinner. And then of course Sunday church at Christian Life and family back in Somerset. We love you all. It was a fun weekend. Let me tell you. Well, that's great. Well, hey, we're so glad that you're with us. We hope you had a great weekend. We hope you had a great Monday, but today we're gonna be talking about joy. When you watch today's program, you're gonna be learning about three surprising pathways to overflowing joy. We're also gonna have a scripture about joy and we're gonna be sharing from the word of God, Amanda and I will be. So it's gonna be a great time, Amanda. It's just, it's gonna be a great opportunity to hear about joy. Amen. Well, we look forward to having God move in your heart, your life. It's why we're here to give you hope for your day. And always remember, we have a prayer line that we have prayer partners standing by. They are eager to pray God's word over you. We love you so much. And we wanna see you have the joy of the Lord in your every day. Well, one thing that's true. We all experience different seasons throughout our life. And some seasons where we are juggling many things, we can feel tired and worn down. Sadly, that can seem like the norm for many of us. Our next guest though, believes that God wants more for us. A life that is filled with joy. Tara Dew is the author of the book, Overcoming Joy, Overflowing Joy. Let me get it right. It is overcoming as well. And she joins us now to share how we can fully experience the joy that God desires for our lives. Tara, welcome to Hope Today. What a joy it is to be with you all today. Thank you for having me, especially coming off this wonderful Easter weekend. I pray for your listeners that are listening in today that they would experience this overflowing joy that's found in Jesus. Amen. Well, Tara, before we dig deep into God's word, would you mind sharing your own personal testimony in how you came to faith in Jesus Christ? Absolutely. So my mom and my dad both got saved during their college years and immediately jumped into serving in a local church, leading a Bible study, doing a small group in their home. And so I was born into a Christian home with very loving Christian parents. But when I was five years old, my mom took me to a Billy Graham crusade with my grandparents. My grandparents were huge FSU fans and Bobby Bowden was sharing his testimony at this Billy Graham crusade. And so my mom brought us and I can remember hearing his message that was so simple that Jesus loved me and that he died to save me. And it was a message that I had heard growing up, but it was never something that I had made my own. It was like a gift that had been giving to me, but I had never opened it for myself. And so I can remember looking at my grandmother, I was five and she was 55. And I said to her, I said, Grandma, have you ever trusted Jesus to be your savior? And she said, no, but I want to. And I said, well, I do too. And so she and I walked forward together and accepted Jesus at that Billy Graham crusade. And ever since then, I have just loved him. I have loved walking with him and learning about him and making my faith my own, reading the Bible for myself, studying passages for myself, sharing it with other people. And so what was just my mom and dad's faith then became mine. And when I was in high school, I can remember feeling just like I wanted to serve Jesus with my whole life. I didn't know what that looked like. I didn't know if I would be a missionary or a pastor's wife, or if I would just serve him as an elementary school teacher in my classroom. But I just knew that I wanted to serve Jesus with my whole heart and for my whole life. And sitting where I sit today, many years later, I just can look back and see how good my God has been and how he has led me ever since that day that I met him at that Billy Graham crusade. And as he's cultivated my heart and my passions, he really has clarified for me what he wants to do. And so it has been a joy to walk with him since I was five. Amen. And I know the content of this book is coming from that heart of just purely serving and loving Jesus. But you talk about pathways, both pathways that can lead to dead ends, but then what God gave you was these other three pathways. So can you give some clarity on that for us? Absolutely. So Jesus says in John chapter 15 verse 11 that he has told us these things so that his joy would be in us and that that joy would be made complete. And that word complete carries the idea of a fullness, of a genuineness, of an overflowing contagiousness. And in our society today, there's a lot of things that we know that are contagious, right? We know about flu and COVID and germs. We also know that attitudes can be contagious. And so Jesus is saying that he wants his joy to be so rooted in our lives that it is so spilling out and overflowing that it is contagious to everyone around us. But any good Bible teacher will tell you when it says I've told you these things, you need to go back and see what things is he talking about. And so in verses one through 10, Jesus really is outlining three pathways to finding this complete overflowing contagious joy. And they're a little bit surprising because there are not things that you would think would bring you joy. Today, people often equate joy and happiness, but happiness and joy are not the same thing. And you can go get a pedicure or you can go play golf or you can go get a massage. And those things make you happy, but they're not gonna bring you a joy that is lasting no matter your circumstances. And so when Jesus says, I've told you these things, he's telling us what can bring us true joy that's not found in just passing moments of happiness or circumstances that will fade away. And he starts with probably the most surprising one. And that is pruning. Now, nobody really thinks that pruning is something that can bring you joy, especially for those of us who aren't gardeners. Now, he was teaching followers and listeners that would have been very familiar with agricultural societies, but today we're more distant and we're removed from that. But Jesus was telling them that his father is the gardener and that he will prune every branch that has borne fruit so that it will bear more fruit. Now, pruning is something that we don't know a lot about, but what that means is it's a cutting back of extra or superfluous branches so that it will send the plants roots deeper and in return, bear more fruit. And so in our lives, what that might look like is that God does things in our lives that cut back places where maybe we have been spread too thin or where we have gotten more overgrown than we need to. This can be in finances, this can be in our calendar, this can be where we're spending our time and our energy, this could be in programs or extracurricular activities but Jesus says the first pathway to finding joy is actually God's pruning back of our lives. And that's a very surprising thing, but in the end, where there was that one branch in our lives, he promises that there will be more than that and where there was previous fruit, there will be more fruit and then much fruit. And so in our lives, we can look back and we can see where maybe we were stretched too thin or where we had gotten too over committed and Jesus in his kindness and in his love and in his mercy to us, he allows the gardener, the good father to prune our lives back and we can look back and we can say that was for our good and we can see now how our lives have more joy than they did before. So his first pathway to finding joy is through pruning. The second, you wanna go ahead, Tom? But yeah, before you go, I wanna ask you about pruning because I'm the kind of gardener that I get over enthusiastic in my pruning. Like Jean has to run out of the house and say, stop right there, you know? Cause I'll, but sometimes it seems to me just from experience and from other people of God that I've talked to, sometimes God prunes back even the thing we think is our main thing or our main where we're succeeding the most. Is it, have you seen that? Have you seen that type of pruning? Absolutely. And this is where we have to trust that our gardener is wise and he is purposeful and he is intentional with where he is pruning. And he knows the exact places where we have maybe started depending on ourselves or our giftings or our capabilities rather than him. And he knows exactly where to make those cuts exactly when and where and how because he is a good gardener and he is wise and loving. And sometimes when he is pruning us, all we can see are the branches that are laying at our feet, right? All the things that he has cut away from our lives. And it just looks like a lot of loss and it's harmful and painful to us because we loved those things. And like you said, sometimes they can feel like the main thing in our life. But Elizabeth Elliott in her book said this, suffering produces joy. And I truly believe that sometimes the times of our deepest suffering where we rely on Jesus more than we ever have before, when we learn that he is really the only thing we need, it does bring us the joy that we need. And it's hard sometimes to see that those pruned things from our lives and it's hard to see them taken away from us. But when we look back, we will say, that made me depend more on my God than I had before. And that really leads us to the second pathway, which is all about his presence. He describes that he is the vine and we are the branches. And apart from him, we can do nothing. But so often in this life, we try. We try to do things on our own strength. We try to do things our own way. And that's where the pruning comes in because it teaches us to depend and rely on him. And I often think that if we truly want to have joy, if we truly want to bear fruit, then we've got to remain with him. We've got to stay with him. And in chapter 15 of John in verses four through 11, the word remain or stay, dwell, abide, it is listed at least eight times. And so in the Bible, they couldn't underline things. They couldn't change the font. They couldn't italicize things. So what they would do is they would repeat a word to make sure the listeners got it. And so sometimes we miss that in English, but it would have been, Jesus would have been saying, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay. He wants us to remain with him. He wants us to abide with him because apart from him, we really can do nothing. And so I love so many of the old hymns that talk about the things of earth growing strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace because we live in a glittery, shiny world. And if we're not careful, those things can steal our heart's attention away from who our God is. And he tells us, you stay with me. You dwell with me. You remain with me. And that is where the joy is. So the first pathway is pruning and the second one is his presence. Now, this last pathway is especially surprising because it's persevering in his commands to love other people. He says, if you remain in me, then you will keep my commands. And then he says, my command is to love one another. Now, those are three words that we know as Christians. We are to love one another. But those words can be really hard sometimes. They can be difficult. There are people in our lives that are hard to love. And Jesus doesn't say, love one another when you feel like it or love one another when it comes easy. He says, love one another. But when we stay connected to our vine, we allow his love to flow through us to other people. And we find that there really is joy when we love the way he tells us to. And so those are three kind of surprising pathways that he says in John 15 of how we can have this contagious, genuine, overflowing joy in a life. You are the most best, wonderful interviewer we have ever had. I'm like, just wind her up, girlfriend. You went through everything. You brought your book to life. And I love you. You have some personal examples in there, you know, of how God transitioned you in a very flourishing season. And it didn't make sense but how you and your family are impacting then hundreds, now thousands of people in the body of Christ. So God knows what he's doing. And I just love that. But you talk about the Trinity. I wanna make sure that we expound on this just a moment how the Trinity is revealed in John 15. Yes, yes. You really do see the whole Godhead, all three persons of the Trinity in John 15. It begins with God the Father. He is our gardener and he knows where to prune our lives back. Jesus then describes himself as the true vine. He is the rooted one who causes us then as his followers his branches to flourish. And then this fruit is mentioned. Now in agricultural times, they would have been very familiar that fruit comes from the branches that are attached to the vine. But then Jesus expounds in other places like in Galatians that that fruit actually comes through the Holy Spirit. We know in Galatians chapter five that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And so when we stay connected to our vine pruned back by our gardener the Holy Spirit then flows through us to produce fruit in our life. And we want much fruit in our life. Amen and well said. We so appreciate you and the content of this book. And I love how in each chapter you have discussion points, you have questions versus for reflection. It is so important. So go out and grab a copy of this book and have this overflowing joy. Tara, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. We'll stay with us because when we return in 60 seconds we'll look at a scripture that shows us how God wants us to experience His joy that will bless and enrich our lives. We'll be right back. God is calling you to do something significant in the earth for Him regardless of your age, skill set or perceived limitations. What's holding you back? When you give to support Cornerstone Television this month, let us bless you with Rick Renner's life-transforming book, Chosen by God. Every page will help you overcome your limited thinking and follow God's plan for your life. Rest assured, God has a plan and He will thoroughly prepare you to fulfill it if you'll say yes with all your heart. This book will thrill you with the possibilities that await because you are chosen by God. Request your copy when you give by calling 888-665-4483 or donate online at ctvn.org slash donate. Thank you for helping us spread the gospel through life-changing programming like Rick Renner, Hope Today, Hard Questions and more. To keep your favorite programs coming and receive Chosen by God, donate today. A lot of great conversation we just had with Tara and everything that she had to say about having overflowing joy. And I think this next scripture that we're gonna share, she shared part of it, or actually a bigger section. We're gonna drill down into one section of John 15. This is verse nine through 11. This is a new living translation. And I wanna bring out a couple points here. It says this, Jesus speaking, I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love. Just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. Well, isn't it interesting? First of all, think of that last part, that your joy will overflow. Some other translations in the translation I grew up with that said your joy will be made full. All right, so you'll be full and even overflowing with joy. Isn't this what we all want? Isn't it what we all desire is to have a life that's filled with joy. And you say, well, Tom, how can that be? We can't make our bills, can't make our house payment, have difficulty in the family, have difficulty at work, or in my neighborhood. Well, listen, God can give us joy even in the middle of all those things. That's not pie in the sky. In fact, it's as far as opposite of pie in the sky as you can get. It's pie right now. It is the truth of God, the joy of God right now in that difficult situation that you're finding yourself in. And if you're in that difficult situation, not seeing joy, I just wanna declare to you that today you can begin to have joy. But he said something interesting. He said, remain. And Tara brought this out really well. And Amanda, I think of, again, the King James says abide. In fact, my new American standard says abide. And we don't use that word, do we? I don't walk into the living room, put my jeans in there and say, hey, I'm gonna abide here for a little bit. You know, she looks at me like I'm a weirdo because we don't use that word. But we do use words like remain and stay. Tara brought that out quite a bit, stay. And so what's that mean for us? Well, obviously we've talked our whole lives and all the time on Cornerstone Television about how this is not a religious thing that we're declaring to you. It's a relationship with God. And that is the basis of any relationship. It's to remain, to abide, to stay with someone, to find out what they're like, what their heartbeat is like, what their cares and concerns are like, what their joys are like. And so when we understand that, and of course it talks in there about obeying his commands, so that big, big part of that relationship of abiding with him is walking along with him just like the disciples did. Walking and finding out what those commands are. When he sent them out, they didn't say, I don't really feel like going out today, Jesus, no. They went out and they were obeying his commands because they had stayed with him. Amanda, what's your thoughts on this? I think it's so important. As she said, there's so many dead ends like pathways that lead to dead ends. And we need to practice the pathways that lead us to life. And that is part of getting in God's word for yourself. I mean, if I don't know him, how will I even obey him? It can be daunting to think, well, I'm to obey. Well, obey what? Well, until I get in God's word and actually know what it is that I'm to obey. And this is where, you know, and the Israelites did a great job of passing down what it was they were to obey to the next generation. Jesus got into that heart part of that. It was like, it wasn't just the commands. It was like, why are the why of the commands, the heart of the commands? That's right, that's right. So, and I'm not loving God because I have to. And I think this is the part where she kind of went through the pruning, you're being cut back and then you're the presence, you're practicing the presence. But then this part of persevering is I am not doing the commands out of duty. I am simply doing them because I've fallen in love with my Savior. Like my Father God has become my Father God. We could say there's like levels of growth in our maturity with the Lord. And at first, you know him as Savior. He saved you. He rescued you. Then you know him as Lord and you're starting to let him have Lordship in your life. And then it says like Abraham, you known him as a friend. And you don't do things out of duty for a friend. You do it simply because you love that friend. And I believe that's the relationship that remaining that God is asking for us. He knew we could never get to that place in our relationship with him, a friendship, if we didn't learn to remain with him. That's absolutely right. And I think that is so key in what we're sharing with you today and what we hope whatever you tune into hope today, we're always our hope is that you will find Christ's hope in your situation and in your life. And the way you do that more than any other is abide, is remain, is stay, is be with him and understand that heartbeat. There's just pictures I see of, they say that John was the one that was closest to his heart. You can see in the last supper painting that he's sort of leaning on the breast of his Savior there. Feeling what he was feeling, understanding what he was understanding. And then launching out from that, Jesus, he sent his disciples out and he sent them out to declare the word of God and to love people with the word of God. So in so many ways, that is the clear, it's the clear instruction for all of us is to stay with him and learn what's in his heart so that you can receive that joy and you can give it to others. That's right, that part of perseverance needs to be intentional is what Tara says. And she quotes Mother Teresa and I just love this because this is who Jesus is to me is what Mother Teresa said. And I'm just gonna read the last few. It says, to me, Jesus is my God. Jesus is my spouse, he is my life. Jesus is my only love. Jesus is my all in all. Jesus is my everything. And I guess that's having true hope, that's having true joy when your full dependence is on the one Jesus Christ. And that truly is the message that we bring you today that would give you much hope and much joy that you would place your full trust in the one Jesus Christ because he died for you and he loves you. And as Norma said, everybody ought to know who Jesus is. On Tomorrow's Hope Today, find out what are some of the biggest questions that people ask about God and the Bible. Founder and CEO of God Questions Ministries, Shaye Michael Houdman, takes a look at several questions on the minds of many believers by examining what scripture has to say. Don't miss Tomorrow's Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.