A very simple and direct question for you today, Pastor John, over the years, what things

have been most apt to steal your joy?

My kids, my marriage, my soul in response to my kids and my marriage.

If things are sweet at home, you can stand almost anything in the ministry.

At least that's my experience.

The hardest battles for me have been emotional battles within my family.

Living by the Spirit, trying to minister by the Spirit doesn't prevent hard relational things

from happening in the ministry.

It just gets you through them and gets you through them with hope and in the end with

joy in the sustaining grace of God.

Now here's some implications of that answer.

I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty weighty to say the biggest joy-steelers in the ministry

are not deacons, they're not elders, they're not counseling issues, they're not people

who leave the church, they're not, you know, notes you get in the mail from a disgruntled

parishioner, that's just, those problems are, there's nowhere near as emotionally depleting

as conflict in the marriage or kids that are disappointing you or you're disappointing

them or there's conflict.

So here's some implications, number one, investment in a happy Christ-honoring marriage is not

separate from ministry.

For me, it was part of the power of ministry and I don't just mean that my ministry is

legitimated because elders are supposed to have well-behaved homes, that's not what

I mean.

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