God cannot take you forward from where you are pretending to be - only from where you actually are. Are you ready to stop camping in yesterday and start pressing toward what God has prepared for you? The apostle Paul shows us how to move forward spiritually, even when the past feels too heavy to leave behind. What would change if you focused on just one thing this year instead of trying to do everything?

Imagine you're watching a movie. The hero faces impossible odds—betrayal, loss, suffering. The middle of the story is dark, painful, and uncertain. But you've read the Book. You know how it ends. You know the hero wins. You know justice prevails. You know love conquers all.
That knowledge doesn't erase the tension of the difficult scenes, but it changes how you experience them. You watch with hope, with anticipation, with confidence that the darkness is temporary.
That's what the biblical promise of Christ's return does for us. We're living in the middle of the story—facing real pain, genuine suffering, legitimate struggles. But we've read the end of the Book. We know how this ends.
As we conclude our "Joy to the World" series, we've seen how joy came down in Christ's birth and how joy breaks through our obstacles. Today, we discover how joy looks forward—how the promise of what's coming transforms how we live today.

Last week, we saw how joy came down to shepherds—ordinary people going about their ordinary lives. But today's story is different. The Magi weren't passive recipients waiting in a field. They were active seekers on a journey that would cost them everything—time, treasure, comfort, and certainty.

Think about the last time you really wanted something. Maybe it was a job, a relationship, a dream home. How far were you willing to go? What obstacles were you willing to overcome? What price were you willing to pay?
The wise men teach us something profound: the greatest joy isn't found by accident or given to the passive. The greatest joy comes through seeking—and persisting until we find Jesus.

Text Reading: Matthew 2:1-12
Today, we continue our series "Joy to the World" by discovering how joy breaks through every obstacle when we seek Christ with everything we have.