And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. – Apostle Paul (1 Cor 15:14-19)

Galatians 5:22-23 talks about the fruit of the Spirit. In other words, what our lives as Christ followers are to look like, and one of those is joy. Cheerfulness as the Greek word truly means. Something that is not determined by external forces or circumstances, but determined by internal forces…the power of the Holy Spirit. Determined by the fact that we have a living God who resides inside us!

With this in mind, we need to respond to the mission of God with joy.

The mission comes out of the joy of Jesus' resurrection, and our joy comes from fulfilling the mission

The mission is to "go and make disciples" and the joy is that we serve a risen savior.

What has your response been to the mission?

Is your joy dependent on external forces?