En "Joy" Ing Life

THIS IS NOT AN ORIGINAL SERMON, BUT AN OUTLINE I FLESHED OUT...

Date Written: December 06, 2006

Date Preached: December 06, 2006

Where Preached: OZHBC (Wed PM)

Sermon Title: Enjoying Life

Sermon Text: John 15:1-15

Introduction:

There is a story about a football coach whose team had fought hard and endured many injuries against their rivals. They had a one-point lead and the ball, but they were down to their 3rd string QB who was slow of foot and had NOT seen the field all year.

The coach told the QB to run the ball up the middle and if they needed to they would punt the ball. Surprisingly they began to run the ball with great effectiveness and they had reached their rival’s 10 yd line.

It was at this time where temptation overcame instruction for this 3rd string QB. He had always dreamed of throwing a TD pass and so he called a pass play in the huddle much to his teammate’s surprise.

As fate would have it, his pass was NOT accurate and the opposing safety intercepted the ball and broke clear and was running for the winning touchdown.

The young QB saw the safety running in the clear and he took off after him and eventually caught him on the 2 yard line preventing the winning touchdown as time expired.

When the coaches met at the middle of the field after the game the coach for the rival team made the comment that he could not believe that a 3rd string QB could have caught his starting safety.

The other coach said, “It is really simple, you see your man was running for a touchdown… but my man was running for his life, cause I was going to ‘kill him’ if ya’ll scored a TD and he knew it!

Let me ask you a question this evening, ‘WHAT MOTIVATES YOU AS A BELIEVER?’

For many Christians, their main motivation is FEAR, for other believers the main motivation is GUILT, but when we look at Scripture we can see that the Bible is very clear about what our motivation as believers should be… JOY!

People who live with the joy of Christ in their hearts are really impressive to watch. We can admire a family who faces the difficulties of life without bitterness and we know that those who suffer loss with great courage will be sought out by us when we face difficulties and tragedy. Joy attracts people, but negativity detracts from people…

There are many believers out in the world today who miss out on the simple joys and pleasures of life. Such as the man who comes home to a hot-home cooked meal… she has worked hard to put this meal on the table and then all he can do is complain about what she has served! Let’s face it…

Negative personalities repel people away from whatever it is your are talking about!

In life we quickly learn that it is so much easier to criticize someone rather than affirm them. A critical attitude and approach to life is the lazy man’s way to dealing with life.

As believers, we need to strive to rediscover the sense of joy about living! Because when we think about what Christ has done for us, how we WOULD HAVE ended up had it not been for Christ and the place we have waiting for us after this life… how can one help but NOT be joyful in their approach to life, even when the difficulties come our way!

So tonight I want to reveal 2 important priorities that all believers must cling to if they are going to experience the joy that the Bible speaks about and the joy that I am preaching about tonight…the believer’s 1st priority is to know…

1. The Source of OUR Joy - Jesus Christ:

When Jesus was here on this world and teaching His disciples, He used a wonderful symbol to represent just WHO He was and His ministry… that symbol was the vine and the branches.

In His illustration Jesus said, “…I am the vine and YOUR are the branches…” His point was that we abide in Him, and that we are fully reliant upon Him for our life! With this in mind every believer should be placing ALL of who they are in His hand! Just like any true branch is fully dependent on the vine from which it sprang! Jesus is vital to our survival as believers in knowing that we must fully and totally depend on Him.

Jesus also illustrated for His disciples the concept of bearing fruit, and that we were not alone in this effort… in fact we can not do it on our own, but that He would provide the sustenance we would need through the power of the Holy Spirit as He flows thru us!