My subject today is joy!!
Let me at the beginning this morning take a quick survey. How many of you have ever been discouraged. I know were all saying when are you talking about this morning or this afternoon.
Okay I’m preaching to the right group today.
You know it’s going to be a bad day when:
∑ you turn on the morning news and they’re displaying emergency routes out of the city
∑ you wake up in the morning and the sun rises in the west
∑ your boss tells you not to bother taking off your coat
∑ your horn gets stuck following a group of hell’s angels
∑ when you jump out of bed and miss the floor
∑ wake up in the morning and your dentures are locked together
∑ when you call your answering service and they tell you none of your business
∑ when you step on the scale and it reads tilt
∑ when you call suicide prevention and they put you on hold
Well we all have bad days don’t we. We all get discouraged. But my subject today is JOY!!!!!
Now, I am not so naive to think that we will always be on the top of the world walking on the mountain, for there will be occasion that we will have to travel in the valley for a while. But neither am I so spiritually ignorant that am not aware that God has provided for us in times of those valley experiences.
∑ In this life we will have tribulation.
∑ In this life we will have trouble
∑ In this life we will have difficulty
∑ In this life we will have trials
∑ sickness
∑ hard times
∑ the storm will rise
∑ the winds will blow
∑ the waves will crash against your life
∑ there will be discouragement
∑ things won’t go as planned
∑ sorrow
∑ weeping
∑ financial difficulties
∑ dark days
∑ uncertain times
But the thing that God has provided for us in the hard times of this life is JOY!!!!
Psalm 30:5 - For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Turn to your neighbor and say: “Neighbor, weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning”.
Isaiah 61:3 - To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Turn to your other neighbor and say: “Neighbor, He’s given us joy for mourning. And he’s given us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness”
This joy that I have
The world didn’t give it to me
This joy that I have
The world didn’t give it to me
This joy that I have
The world didn’t give it to me
The world didn’t give it to me
And the world can’t take it away
SING
What is Joy? Mr. Webster says: it is the emotion evoked by well-being, success or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.
Joy is a strong feeling of happiness; a manifestation of happiness through an outward rejoicing or excitement.
To the people who don’t know Jesus those definitions might be true. But to the Christian (someone who should know Jesus) something different applies as it relates to our JOY.
This outward rejoicing comes from an inward satisfaction that I know Jesus Christ.
Nehemiah 8:10 - Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
1 Pet 1:5 - Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 - Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 - That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 - Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1 Peter 4:12 - Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 - But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Somebody say: I’m on my way to Heaven and I’m so glad.
SING
What brings joy? SALVATION!!!!
Turn to your neighbor and say: “I’ve got:
∑ troubles - But I’ve got JOY!!
∑ problems
∑ sickness
∑ trials
∑ bills to pay
∑ difficulties
When we have salvation and we are walking in the truth of God’s word we are blessed by God. We have joy not because we have:
∑ a new car
∑ more money
∑ a new house
∑ a new job
But we rejoice because our names have been written in the lambs book of life.
What brings joy? When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he’s done for me and how he saved my soul from a burning hell - that’s when I get joy. Not from the things that accompany salvation
∑ In the fiery furnace - joy
∑ In the lion’s den - joy, joy
∑ In the Red sea - joy, joy, joy
∑ In front of the walls of Jericho - joy, joy, joy, joy
∑ In prison in stocks and bonds after being beaten - joy, joy, joy, joy, joy
∑ In troubles - joy
∑ In sickness - joy, joy
∑ In financial difficulty - joy, joy, joy
∑ In problems on the job - joy, joy, joy, joy
∑ In the darkest hour of your life - joy, joy, joy, joy, joy
You don’t know like I know what he’s done for me.
SING
Isaiah 12:2 - Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 - Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Psalm 51:12 - Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Don’t witness to someone with a frown.
Don’t invite someone to your church with a sourpuss look on your face.
But get some joy!!!
If you can’t get excited about:
∑ the fact that you know him, you do have problems. You need to get some joy!!!! There is joy in salvation.
When you have joy you go from:
∑ doubt to trust
∑ complaining to confidence
∑ trusting in man to God
∑ valley to mountain
∑ dead church to revival church
The joy of the Lord is our strength!!
You need to be excited:
∑ that you know him
∑ about what God has done for you
∑ about salvation
∑ that you’ve been redeemed
∑ that your sins have been washed away
∑ that you are on your way to heaven
When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he’s done for me
When I think of the goodness of Jesus and how he set me free
I will :
∑ shout
∑ dance
∑ sing
∑ clap
all night, all night, all night, all night
You want to have revival? You want to see souls saved? You want to see family members saved? Get some joy!!
Joel 1:9 - The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’S ministers, mourn.
10 - The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
11 - Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12 - The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
NO JOY - NO HARVEST
COME ON DOWN HERE AND GET SOME JOY!!!
