Rejoicing Brings Joy Into Life

This comes from the writing of John Maxwell. “After a major earthquake occurs, they begin reporting on all the aftershocks. Even though the earth has stopped moving, there are always a few more trembles after the major quake.

Changes we have come to in the past few years

We went from humanism, where we’re the masters of our fate, to fatalism, wherein we have no control over what happens.

We went from rationalism to relativism, a movement from truth as absolute to truth is relative, and we each have our own realities.

We went from science being the ultimate that will deliver us, to technology, where applications exist to serve our needs.

We went from enlightenment to narrative. It’s a shift from, “I want the facts,” to “Give me a story; paint a picture for me.”

We went from universal right and wrong, what I call “self evident ethics,” to tolerance, in which everyone is tolerant of everyone else’s values.

We went from materialism to spiritualism, from a mindset of believing only in what we can see, to a sense of mysticism in which we believe in invisible realities.

We went from individualism, that self-made man persona, to community, being focused more on teamwork and family.

We can no longer do ministry today as we did ministry yesterday.

REJOICING BRINGS JOY INTO LIFE Phil 5:22

A man was speaking on the radio and said how many times have you heard “Have a nice day.” Is this a Biblical truth? Do we need to be happy all the time if we belong to God? Many think that being happy is the goal in life every day. Some will even fake a smile or a laugh to make you think they are happy. Life is not always happiness. Someone has stated you know you are gong to have a bad day when…… When you have a bad day can you still rejoice? I want to share a personal story with the caption you know your gong to have a bad day when you are going to move in a rental truck with all your belongings on it and they tell you it is practically a new truck with a few thousand miles on it. Your wife is driving the car and you are pulling the van on a dolly in back of the truck. You have walkie talkies so you can keep in touch. About 50 miles down the road the engine light comes on the truck. You pull over in a parking lot to make a call to the dealer and he instructs you to wait for help. The help arrives about an hour later. The man looks at the problem and says he can not fix it there and you will have to be towed to a shop some fifty miles away and he has brought a wrecker to do just that. He pulls the truck, you drive the van and wife follows in car. You soon find yourself in a way out place and are told it will not be until Monday that they can fix the truck and this Saturday. I spied another truck sitting on the lot and ask about it. They say they have not been able to get rid of it but it does run. Eight hours later they have transferred your stuff to the other truck and you are on your way. I am still speaking with my wife on the radio. We come to a motel and she will go see if they have a room for us. I pull and stop on the off ramp to wait to hear the good news. Then it is that I am visited by a highway patrol man who tells me it is not safe to stay there. I drive into the motel parking lot to find wife. I have tried to contact her again and again by our radio but no answer. It is a small lot but with my great driving ability I back up and go forward until I am wedged in and have a car that I cannot get around. I enter the motel wondering what has happened to radio reception to find that my wife turned her radio off. She has been trying to get us another motel but they are all full. Not being very calm at this moment I let her know my situation with the truck. The lady behind the desk laughs and says it is her car. We take off from there and find a rest area a long the interstate and pull in for a nights rest. I jump out of truck to sleep with my wife in the car. I am hot for it is July in Iowa and decide to roll down window which my wife does not like. Then it begins to rain. Then there is the next day but we will save that for another time.