Tim Keller

Very interesting sermon I listened to today. Tim Keller, Redeemer Church in NYC. Preached a sermon entitled on the prayer of Paul from Ephesians 3. Super lesson for me. We should expect to feel the joy and presence of Jesus from time to time. Some churches just teach the emotionality of spirituality, and some just teach the intellectuality. He suggests that we need and can have both.

Three steps to having the Joy of Jesus in our lives:

1) prayerfully seek it

Starts with recognizing that we have to ask for it - it's a gift. We can't go get it or find it or learn it or earn it. First be passive.

2) Aggressively wrestle for it

Meditate, contemplate, pray scripture. Second be aggressive.

3) Communally(a) and christocentrically(b) pursue it.

(a) pursue it with the Saints - not alone

(b) keep Jesus as the focal point of study and pursuit. Not God, not Holy Spirit, but Jesus.

Sweetest of all is the quote "If you are wanting relationship with Jesus, the wanting is a gift. Jesus is near to you in that wanting."