# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S80
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

We don’t have to obsess about our lives; Jesus loves us
through and through.
We don’t need the world’s accolades.
What we desperately need and have is the clear voice of
Jesus through His word. That voice endures,
strengthening us, comforting us, filling us with a peace
that passes all understanding and a joy that is ours in
abundance…no matter what we are facing in this life.
And when you think about joy, the God-inspired
yearning for joy in this world, think about capacity.
With “surrender-ful” joy, don’t dwell on your
incapacity, but revel in Christ’s capacity for you and get
out of His way! Let His Word dwell in your richly, let His
promises sustain you mightily in the midst of the
challenges of ministry, even the challenges in your
lives.

80 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION

So, let God’s Word challenge your sensibilities today.
With an esteem that comes from what Jesus says of
you, not what you think of yourself, and not what
others think; with joy, rooted in your surrender to the
one who lived, died and rose again for you, learn today
that, in Christ:
You don’t grab for Him, He grabs for you.
We don’t rise to the occasion so much as receive what
we are given and are satisfied, empowered, and set free
in Him.
As we decrease, He does more than “increase.” He fills
us abundantly with His Spirit, with His Word, with His
Life and Salvation … indeed, with His JOY! AMEN.

Convention Sermons