What does Tribe teach about joy?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on joy starts with a clear distinction: joy is not the same thing as happiness. Brian Hunter has taught that happiness moves with circumstances, rising and falling with what life brings, while joy is a fruit of the Spirit that no situation or person can take away. That difference matters, because it means joy is available even in genuinely hard seasons, not as a feeling to be manufactured but as something God has already placed within reach.
Brian is direct that this does not happen automatically. He says, "Joy is a choice, and we don't manufacture that from our flesh because it then comes forward as wax fruit like you're wearing a mask." Opening that gift is something a person has to do. A member of the congregation named Clay shared during one of these conversations that he had arrived at the same conclusion through a difficult stretch at work, which grounded the teaching in real experience rather than theory. Brian also noted a point raised about joy being a gift, and his response was that the gift may already be sitting in your lap, but you still have to open it.
The connection Brian draws is between joy and God's word planted in the heart. Working through Psalm 19:7-11, he taught that one of the things scripture does when it is buried deeply enough to be recalled is bring joy to the heart. That kind of joy is not circumstantial. It is described in the text as part of what God's word produces in a person over time, the way something planted and tended eventually grows. The bottom line Brian landed on from those weeks: where God's word is planted, a great reward grows.
Taught from Psalm 19:7-14 · Proverbs 4:20-22 · Romans 12:2 · Psalm 119:18
“Joy is a choice, and we don't manufacture that from our flesh because it then comes forward as wax fruit like you're wearing a mask.”
From Sweeter Than Honey
The passage taught · Proverbs 4:20-22
20 My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- June 2, 2025 Sweeter Than Honey Brian Hunter walks Tribe through Psalm 19, exploring how burying Scripture in your heart revives the soul, brings joy, gives wisdom, warns of danger, and yields lasting reward.
- June 1, 2025 The Great Reward A Jackson Hole pastor leads his congregation through Psalm 19, exploring what happens when God's word is buried deep in the heart rather than just read from a page.