Joy to the World

All right. Good morning, salt church. How’s everybody doing? All right. All right.

So this morning, so I just want to welcome everybody to Salt church this morning. Thank you for being here with us here in person, or if you’re online, we just want to welcome you as well. We don’t want to forget about people that are watching online. So this morning, I already feel like there’s a joyful spirit inside this house. And I know every Sunday is a day to praise the Lord, but today.

So we’re currently in our summer of salt series on Joy, and we’ve heard a couple messages already. So the first message or the message we heard last week, our beautiful pastor’s wife, Miranda, she spoke on preach on suffering and how we can actually draw closer to the Lord through it. And it’s not something that we should run away from or shy away from. And so. But today, and that was a very good message, and I’m really glad.

I actually waited to write my sermon until I heard hers because I was like, I don’t know exactly how I’m gonna fit it in. So I actually didn’t start until after last Sunday. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing to admit, but. But I think this sermon actually perfectly dovetails into exactly what she was preaching last week into the sermon this morning. So this morning we were looking at the joy of the Lord and how we can have it throughout our lives, no matter what our circumstances are.

So. And the main scripture that we’re going to be looking at today is actually in the Old Testament. So I don’t know if you realize this, but the joy of the Lord is something that was present with God’s people in the Old Testament. In the New Testament. So we’re actually going to look at Habakkuk, chapter three, verses 17 through 19, which says, though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will be joyful in God, my savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to tread on the heights. And that’s in the new international version.

I read it in a bunch of them, but this is the one that I like the best, because it says he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and he enables me to tread on the heights. So when we look at. When we think about the joy of the Lord. Sometimes we get into this dichotomy or discussion about joy and happiness and that happiness is from the world. And I think we don’t really need to get too wrapped up in that, because we’re going to look at what joy and happiness actually are.

So the definition of joy is an intense and especially ecstatic or exultant happiness. So the definition of joy has happiness in it, or it’s an instance of such feeling. It’s also a source or an object of joy. Happiness is a state of well being, a pleasurable or satisfying experience. So if you look at the definition of the word rejoice related to the word joy, it’s to feel great delight and be glad.

And so, depending on the translation, the Bible uses the word happy and happiness about 30 times, while joy and rejoice are used over 300 times. So we see that both are used in scripture, throughout the Bible. Jeremiah 30 113 says, I will turn their mourning into gladness. I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. So here we can see the words gladness and joy are used synonymously to mean the same things.

Proverbs 23 25 says, let your father and mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you. So being glad is the same thing as rejoicing in this verse. Unless we’re willing to say that gladness and happiness are completely different things, then we have to admit here that joy and happiness are linked together. So if someone is joyful, they’re happy. I don’t know anybody that’s like, you know, eeyore, eeyore.

It’s like, well, I’m happy today. I’m joyful today. Poo. So, no, there’s no such thing as gloomy joy. That doesn’t happen.

Okay? So when the Holy Spirit gives us joy, we’re happy people, all right? As christians, we’re meant to be joyful, and happiness should characterize our lives. The main thing that I want us to see this morning is that there are different sources and types of happiness and joyous, and we must know the source of where ours comes from. So where does your joy come from?

Is the question today. Where does it come from? What is the source of your joy? And so that actually leads me to the first point, is we need to know the source. Know the source of our joy and our happiness.

In Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse 25, the Bible talks about Moses and how Moses was a prince of Egypt. Moses was jewish, but he lived in the palace, right? He had all of these things. He had money, you know, riches, fame. Everybody knew who he was.

Even his own people, you know, the jewish people that were in bondage, they knew who he was. And he, you know, if he stayed in Egypt, he would have had power. He probably would have had some form of position underneath ramesses. But in Hebrews 1125, it says, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. So this verse speaks about happiness that comes from the world and that the pleasures of sin are fleeting.

And the joy and the happiness that we derive from the world, those things are fleeting, and they’re fleeting because. And fleeting just means that it comes for a time, it actually will affect us and help us to be happy. But it leaves, that feeling leaves because it doesn’t actually fulfill or satisfy us. So to be sure, we can get happiness from the world, we can get our joy from the world, but eventually it’s going to feel us leaving empty and unsatisfied inside. So we’re constantly looking for the next thing.

I don’t know if anybody in here can relate to that, but we’re looking for the next thing in our lives, whether it’s a concert, a vacation, buying a new car, starting a new relationship. And we think that once we get this, that we’re going to be fulfilled, that we’re just like, well, it’s just, I’m just going to buy this cardinal, you know, I have this new relationship that I’m going to start, and that relationship is going to fulfill us in our hearts. So the reason we’re constantly looking for the next thing is because we get this thing. So the relationship, the car, the home, whatever it is, the new job, the position. And then once we get it, we realize that this doesn’t fulfill us.

So we have to move on to the next thing because that’s the way that it works. It’s fleeting. And the only source of our real joy is through Jesus. So I have a short story. When I was on deployment in Kuwait, some friends of mine that I worked with in the military, we decided for some reason to do a half marathon.

So we get excited about it and we’re like, yeah, this is going to be awesome. We’re going to train for this and then we’re going to go out and run this. It’s going to be amazing. We had, you know, we had fun actually training for it. And then we got to the day of the race and it came here and we were actually all happy.

And it’s funny if you watch people doing a marathon or, like, a race at the beginning, everybody’s like, hey, this is great. I love this. And they’re running, and they’re joking and they’re laughing, and then you get about 4 miles in, and everybody’s just like, so, you know, the happiness has faded. The joy has faded from their faces and from their countenance. And so.

But then, you know, we crossed the finish line. You know, we’re like, yeah, that’s how we did it. All right. This is awesome. They give you the medal, you get the medical.

Oh, the medal. Yeah, medical. You get the medal, and then you out. You actually probably need medical after that. You get you.

Also, we got a turkey leg. I don’t know if everybody’s had the huge turkey legs, bananas, a t shirt. And then, you know, we’re excited the rest of the day, and then through the ride back to the base, but then the next day, I woke up. We all woke up, and we’re like, man, this is, like, it’s over. This is over.

Like, we just trained, you know, for, like, a month, and now it’s over. And I had, you know, we all kind of had the post marathon blues, and I also hurt. It was. My legs have never hurt so much before in my life. The stairs right here, these two stairs.

It would have taken me about, like, 30 seconds to get down those stairs or back up. So what I mean by this is that this is a prime example, and I’m sure we have examples in your own lives of things that you’ve done where it’s. You’re so excited about it, and it builds up, and it builds up, and then it comes, and then afterward, guess what you have. You have, you know, you have a letdown after, right. The emotional high wears off.

It leaves us feeling empty inside, right. And we can feel so excited for something, and we derive so much enjoyment from it. But then it’s over, right? But true joy comes from the Lord. That’s where our joy comes from as christians.

And the reason that happiness and joy that come from the world are so fleeting is because it’s just circumstantial. It’s based upon our mood, emotions, or the events that are taking place in our lives. So when things are bad, we’re down. When things are good, we’re up. Right?

We’re like, hey, are you good? Yeah, I’m all good. Everything’s looking up, right? And then, you know, something bad happens in our lives, and then, you know, we’re down. We’re down.

The slumps again. But when we read in Galatians five, verse 22 says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Self control. Against such things, there is no law. And that part at the end really, really makes me happy, because against any of these things, there is no law that states that we have to follow.

These things are the fruit of the spirit. When we have these things, we’re kind of, you know, we’re fulfilling what God’s word says through our lives. So the joy of the Lord comes from God, and it’s actually a fruit of the spirit. So it’s nothing that we derive from the world out outside of ourselves, and it’s nothing that comes, like, from within us. God places the joy of the Lord in our hearts when we come to him and we’re saved.

So this is actually a supernatural origin and it’s present with us even through the trials of life. So even though we’re going through tough times, we have circumstances in our life, in our lives that we’re going through that are difficult. We can still have the joy of the Lord. So joy is actually the evidence of the presence of God in our lives. In Luke 1021, we see that Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.

So we need to do this more today. Jesus is our great example. He didn’t just come and live on the earth and say, hey, look, I need you to do this. I need you to rejoice in the Holy Spirit. I’m not really going to do the same thing.

But Jesus told us what to do, and he showed us. He is the example of how we are to live the christian life. The early church was characterized by gladness and joy and the joy of the Lord. In acts 1352, the Bible says, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. So we can see here that the early church knew very well what the joy of the Lord is.

And even though they were persecuted so greatly, they still were able to have the joy of the Lord throughout their lives. So my question is, how are we filled with the joy of the Lord? How are we supposed to fill ourselves with the joy of the Lord? And the first point that I want to look at is we need to be in his presence. There is no joy apart from the Lord.

The joy of the Lord. You cannot have the joy of the Lord without his presence. Psalm 1611 says, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

So this verse, if you break this verse down, the Lord makes known to us, known to us the path of life and where we’re supposed to go and how we’re supposed to walk. And it says, in your presence there is fullness of joyous. So we can see here that if we are in God’s presence, there will be fullness of joy no matter what we’re going through. So our joy can be permanent because God dwells in our heart. His presence is what brings us true joy and it actually fulfills and sustains us.

I love, I have found this quote from Bernard Vaughn that says the happiness of heart cannot be attained without God, just like light and sunshine cannot be there without the sun. On every side in every part of the world, men and women are seeking happiness and cannot find it because they do not seek it from God. So are you chasing after temporary feelings of happiness? Are you just moving from one high of emotion to the next? You know, we need that because, because we’re not truly relying on the joy of the Lord to sustain us.

We’re just going to the next thing and ask, you know, trying to find that that will fulfill us. And it will never, it will never fulfill us. It will never be a lasting joy. There is no lasting joy apart from Jesus. John 1511 says these things.

I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. So Jesus came to give us his joy. He came to give us his joy. He wants his joy to be in us so that we can be completely full. There’s no way to have full joy without being in Jesus.

Right? And that for his joy to be in us. So my question today is, and I’m asking this, I’ve had to ask myself this over the last week, why are we settling for things that only bring us temporary highs when we can have true joy in God? Why are we looking for these things to fulfill us when it’s only the Lord that can do it in us? What we need to do today is we need to abide in Christ.

We need to abide in Jesus fully. John 15 five says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. So this verse actually makes me think back to Galatians 522, which talks about the fruit of the spirit.

A lot of times we think, oh, the fruit of the spirit. I have to, I’m gonna have this stuff and then I’m gonna have to do all these things right. Where it says, to bear much fruit is all these works that we’re gonna do. And that is a sense of it. But also it means that we will be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

When we abide in Jesus, I think that sometimes we get in our minds that we have to somehow work ourselves up into joy. But as we abide in Jesus, the word says he is the true vine. So when we abide in him, when you think of a vine, we get our vitality in our life from Jesus. So the joy that’s produced in us is completely his doing when we abide in him. There is fullness of joy in God’s presence.

So I don’t know if anyone in here has ever experienced the fullness of joy that Jesus is talking about, but this is something that we can have every day, every day of our lives. It doesn’t matter what we’re going through in our lives. It doesn’t matter where we’re at. We can have joy even in the valleys of life. This makes me think of, you know, when we’re on the mountaintop, we think of those experiences and that, oh, like, I’m on the mountaintop now, I’m joyful.

But when we’re in the valleys, we forget to rejoice in God. We forget to lean upon his strength when we’re in those valleys. So even in times of grief and sadness, we need to acknowledge God’s presence. We need to acknowledge his presence and let him know that we trust in him and that he is our source of strength. Strength.

Psalm 3011 says, you have turned from me, my morning, into dancing. So I saw people up here in the front row dancing this morning. Right? And so we can be like that throughout the rest of our lives. It doesn’t matter if we’re on the top of the mountain or if we’re in the valley below.

We can be in God’s presence no matter where we are at in our lives. It also says, you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. So it’s during these times in our lives that we can lose sight of the Lord. You know, we have a situation in our life. You know, a loved one is sick or, you know, has passed away or whatever it is.

You know, we’ve lost our job, or we have financial difficulties and we lose sight of the Lord. Our eyes are downcast, and we’re just kind of walking along the road with our eyes down our head. Downcast. Because we don’t have our eyes on Jesus anymore. We have our eyes on the problem and the issue that we’re going through.

So this reminds me of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke, chapter 24, verses 13 through 35. And I’m not going to read the whole thing, but in this passage of scripture, the two disciples, they were saddened because of what had just happened. So Jesus had just. It was three days after he had been crucified, and they’re walking along this road talking about what had happened, and they were sad because of it. You know, Jesus had been crucified.

They knew that he had, that the tomb was empty, but they didn’t know. They hadn’t seen him yet. And so as they’re walking on the road, Jesus comes and talks with them. So they’re walking on the road, they’re talking with each other. And as they’re walking, Jesus comes up alongside them and says, hey, guys, what are you talking about?

They didn’t recognize who he was. They didn’t even know that it was Jesus. He just comes along. Can you imagine that? They’re walking on the road.

They’re sad because Jesus has been crucified. And they’re like, we don’t know, like, where is his body? Where the tomb was empty, right? And they were still sad. Jesus comes alongside.

Hey, guys. What are you guys talking about? And then they tell him in verse 18 and Luke 24, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these last days? Like, are you aware of what is going on, dude, like, you don’t even know what’s going on, what we’re talking about. And they’re talking to Jesus and he’s talking to them.

So this just blows my mind that they’re so fixated on the problem in their life, on their sadness, that they didn’t even. I mean, in our lives today, we don’t have, like, we don’t physically see Jesus. We feel his presence, but we can take our eyes off of him when things get bad in our lives. They had him there next to him. So this just illustrates this point that he was there next to them physically, and they did not know who he was.

So Jesus reminded them of what the scriptures say about him as they were walking, they still didn’t recognize who he was. And it wasn’t until Jesus, they went into the house. Jesus took the bread and gave thanks. And then it says, the Bible says their eyes were open and they knew who he was. And then immediately he disappeared.

So they’re like, it’s Jesus. And then. And then he disappeared. And it’s like, wait, where did you go? You know?

And so. And so then they were filled with such joy and excitement. They ran back to Jerusalem to tell everyone about what. What just happened. So that is the way our lives should be.

We should be filled with such a joy and happiness that we are excited to tell people about Jesus. There are people in this life that are on a road that is going to destruction. They are on the wide. The wide. And then I’m not the wide and narrow road that can’t be at the same time, they’re on the wide road.

It’s an easy road. In the sermon earlier, the volunteer service, I had this poster when I was. When I was a kid, a teenager, and it had. The poster had two roads, so it had. It was very descriptive, too.

It had a wide road, and at the beginning of the road, you know, it was flat, and it was really nice. And there were all these different things along the road that were really fun, like an amusement park and all these things. And then as it goes farther and farther down the road, you see the road just slowly goes down. Slowly, gradually. It’s not like just a drop off.

It just slowly, gradually goes down. Into hell is where the wide road went. On the other picture, there was a picture of the narrow road, and there’s a gate at the beginning of it. And I remember this so vividly in my mind. And you go, you know, through the gate, there’s.

There’s, like, one person walking on the road over here. There’s, like, a whole bunch of people walking down the wide road. On the narrow road. There’s a couple people you can see way off in the distance, and they’re, like, down in this valley. And then there’s another person that’s walking up this really steep mountain.

And guess where it ends in heaven. It goes up into heaven. So that’s what I picture in my mind when I think. When I think of this sometimes. So the sadness of what the disciples had experienced caused them not to recognize Jesus, and he was talking with them.

So we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus no matter what is going on in our lives. And this is one of the key points to having the joy of the Lord, no matter what is going on. Going back to Habakkuk, our main verse, when we’re really down, what we need to say and what we can say with. With Habakkuk, who has been written down in scripture, the Bible says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my savior.

The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to tread on the height. So I love how it says there’s no cattle in the stalls. So maybe you’re in a time in your life right now.

You’re like, look, I don’t have any cattle in the stalls right now. There’s nothing in the stalls. There’s no sheep in the pen. But we can still say today I will be joyful in God my savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength.

And I love how the Bible says he makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to tread on the height. So if we think about this for a minute, I found this really great picture of some ibex. And if you know anything about them, they’re these amazing creatures that can actually scale vertical walls. That’s the picture.

So that’s me on this side over here. And if you look at this, at the one over here, that spot right here, right? They can rest all four of their hooves in the same exact spot and be completely secure in where they’re standing. That is us. That is a picture of us trusting in the Lord no matter what our circumstances are, because it says in the Bible, it says he gives us the ability to tread.

Sorry, that’s not the. That’s what I wrote. It says he enables me to tread on the heights. Right? So what it’s saying, the Bible is saying is God gives us the strengths, the strength.

He makes our feet like the feet of a deer. He enables us to tread on the heights no matter what problems we’re facing, no matter what we’re going through in our lives, he enables us to tread over those things and have joy in the midst of them. So our joy is anchored in a relationship with Jesus. It’s not anchored in our circumstances. We just sang the song, right?

That says, you’re never going to let me down. We just sang that song. So if we mean that song in our hearts, not just today, but tomorrow morning when we wake up, on Monday, on Tuesday when we wake up and there’s almost no food in our home or, you know, we have a financial difficulty or a health complication that we have, right? He’s never gonna let us down. He will never let us down.

Our joy is anchored in our unshakable and unbreakable relationship with Jesus. When we’ve allowed the Lord to take up permanent residence in our hearts, we will have permanent joy. So I feel like sometimes we’re like, well, you know, Lord, this. I mean, today, today is your Sunday. Today, today is your day.

I’m going to allow you into my heart today. And then on Monday, he’s not, maybe he’s not the permanent fixture in your heart every day of the week. So we need to do that and be in his presence every day that we wake up. So when we have that, when we have the Lord and he’s taken up permanent residence in our heart, we will have permanent joy in our lives as well. So we also need to adopt God’s perspective because we have our own perspective, right?

We’re like, well, there’s God’s perspective. And, you know, you look at things one way and then I look at things another way. But his perspective needs to be our perspective when we look at problems and as we go through our lives. Psalm 23 four says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they come for me.

So sometimes we just read this verse through and we don’t really think about it. We’re just like, you know, I know God is with me, right? But it says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Something that was really stuck out to me when writing this sermon is joy is not a destination. So today we say things like, man, I’ll be glad when, I’ll be glad when this is over.

I’ll be happy when this is over. And we have to watch the things that we say because, well, the words that we say have power over our lives and our mindset. So when we say things like, I’ll be glad when. And then, you know, whatever it is, you know, man, I’ll be so happy when I, you know, I get this job, or I’ll be so glad when this is over. You know, joy is not a destination.

Joy is a journey that we’re on currently. So I don’t know if anybody in here can testify to that. But no matter where we are in life, joy is not over there. Joy is not over there. Because if it’s over there, we’re never going to reach it.

I know one day we’re going to be. We’re going to reach heaven and the Lord is going to come back, and then our joy truly will be full. But we can experience joy now in the presence of God on a daily basis. God is not at the end of our problems. He is in the midst of them.

So God is not at the end. God is not at the end of it. He is now presently with us in the midst of our problems. And that’s what David is saying. King David is saying in psalm 23 and four, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you are with me.

And it says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. So there’s comfort for us even in the valley. So today we need to declare in faith that God is present and in control. Even during these times, no matter what we’re going through, we need to declare that in our lives. So we don’t need to wait.

If you’re here this morning, you’re going through something. You don’t need to wait for the fig tree to bud. We don’t need to wait for the grapes to grow. We don’t have to wait for the problem to be solved. We don’t need to wait for our lifetime partner to appear.

We don’t need for the debt to be. We don’t have to wait. I’m sorry for the debt to be paid off, but hallelujah, for debt being paid off. We don’t need to wait for the next promotion or for whatever you can fill in the blank right there underneath that. We can have joy now.

And that’s what habakkuk. Did I say that right? Habakkuk. Habakkuk is saying, right? Even though there be.

Let me go back up to it. Sorry, I. He says, though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. Right. I will be joyful in God, my savior.

Where was I? Sorry. I did lose my place. Okay, hold on. Sorry.

I scrolled a little bit too far up. Okay. Past the ibex picture. Let’s see. Okay.

So the truth of the matter is that God wants you to rejoice in him. He wants us to rejoice in him daily. When we’re in his presence, God is alone to make us joyful. Joy does not come from anything external. You know, we have our loved ones, our family, but those things cannot fulfill us.

So if we’re relying on relationships to fulfill us and make us joyful, that needs to come from the Lord. It needs to come from Jesus. And then that will affect our relationships and make us, you know, joyful and fill us with the fruit of the spirit of joy does not come at the very end. It comes even in the midst of all the ups and downs that we face through the good and the bad. So we can also choose joy.

And that’s actually my last point for this sermon, is it’s our choice. We have a choice. Every day that we wake up, we have a choice. We can choose. We can choose to be downcast and be saddened.

And sometimes when I wake up in the morning before I’ve had my coffee, I wake up and I’m tired. Physically, just wake up. Sometimes emotionally, you don’t feel like you’re in a very good mood. I’ll realize this after about a couple hours or 30 minutes or so. And I’ll say in Psalm 100, 1924, the Bible says, this is the day the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it. So we say, and this is why I say that this verse is so important, because today is the day that the Lord has made. And, you know, we have that old song, you know, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. So, yeah, don’t worry.

I’ll be on the worship team shortly. So that was my audition. Praise the Lord. So I say that because we can really turn our hearts through the words we say. And I think that’s from a Toby Mack song.

But we can. It’s true. The Bible, this is God’s word, and we need to remember that it’s not tomorrow. This verse doesn’t say, tomorrow is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice then, and be glad in it.

Does it? It doesn’t say that because we’re not promised tomorrow. So why would we say that and say, you know, oh, God, I’ll just. I’ll be so happy when. I’ll be happy tomorrow when I’ll be joyful when.

No. The Bible says that this is the day that the Lord has made of. So we need to stop letting things rob us of our joy. We need to stop letting the enemy distract us by the problems and the issues and the circumstances in our lives. And say with David that this is the day that the Lord has made.

We can choose joy every day that we wake up. And this turns my entire day around. I’m serious. Some days I don’t say this my entire day. It’s like down in the dumps.

Kind of down in the dumps just a little bit, and then it’s like, Oscar the grouch. Some days. So unless I say this verse. So that’s why I’m saying that is we need to be in his presence. We need to choose joy every day.

John Piper said, the reason your joyous can now be as full as it is and moving toward perfect fullness when all our battle with sin is over is because in union with me. And he’s talking about Jesus Christ. Because in union with me, the branch in the vine, you no longer enjoy merely your joy. You now have my joy in you. And you enjoy what I enjoy as your joyous.

As you abide in me. So that means that we joy in what the Lord joys in, we joy in. Right? People are looking at us and this will be. I wanted to point this out in acts 1625, which says about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.

And the prisoners were listening to them. So this is a point in scripture where Paul and Silas had been preaching the gospel and they were locked up. They were locked up in prison. And they were there. They were there in prison praying, which basically means rejoicing and singing hymns to God.

The other prisoners were listening to them. The other prisoners were listening to them. We are as christians. Other people are listening to us. They’re watching us.

They’re seeing how we live our lives. They not necessarily listening to what we’re saying. Right. They knew that these other prisoners were listening to Paul and Silas rejoice. And they’re like, these guys are in the next cell, right?

Where are these guys? Outside the cell praising? No, they were inside the prison cell and they were praising and worshiping God. So in our own lives, as a testimony to Jesus Christ and the gospel, we need to live lives that are full of joy and happiness and the salvation of our God. Because other people are watching us.

The only testimony they may see is the way that you go through problems. You face trials with a joyful heart, saying, I know that it’s in God’s hands. I know that this is difficult now, and I know that I’m going through a hard time. But they’re watching us. Because if they see us going through things and sometimes, I’m going to be honest, you guys, the problems that we face, they’re first world problems, right?

I’m not sure if you know what that means. They’re not like third world problems, all right? We don’t have, like, homeless, you know, these things. They’re first world problems, right? The water bill may be a little bit too expensive.

Hey, we have water, right? Our car breaks down. We have a car. Right. Those are all first world problems.

And these things, if we let them affect us so greatly and we let it affect our joy and our emotions, how are people going to see, like, these people are going to look at our lives and say, well, Grant is a Christian, but he doesn’t like, I don’t see he’s going through these problems. And is his God real? Is Jesus real in his life? You know, is Jesus real in other people’s lives that they see are christians? So the way that we go through problems, we need to have the joy of the Lord with us and remember that God is with us no matter what we’re going through.

So Paul and Silas were singing and praising God even while they were in prison because Jesus, or because they chose joy and they knew that God was in control. Listen, so I know we live in the United States, but, y’all, there is a time coming in the future when christians will be persecuted. God’s word says that it’s gonna happen. It’s not a maybe type thing. So we need to ready ourselves for this.

And remember what Miranda. Miranda preached last week, that there is joy even in suffering. There’s joy even in the persecution that we’ll face. And Paul and Silas in the early church, they knew it very well. They were very intimate with suffering and persecution.

So let’s abide in Christ so we can be filled with his joy. Let’s take our eyes off of the problem. You know, we can’t be walking down the Emmaus road with our eyes down with Jesus walking next to us, talking to us, right? Let’s just turn to the side and look at our savior and keep our eyes fixed on him and recognize that he’s with us. Right?

He was going with them while they were sad, and he’s talking to them, trying to say, like, what’s going on? You don’t even recognize me. All right, so maybe. Maybe you’re here today and you feel that you’ve lost your joy. Maybe the cares of this life have smothered the joy out, the joy that you experienced before in the Lord.

Maybe you’ve lost sight of the savior. You’ve lost your joy due to a serious situation that you’re going through. You lost somebody close to you, difficult situation with family members. Whatever the situation is, maybe you’ve lost your joy and you desperately are seeking it again. And the great news is that Jesus can restore it.

Like that. Like that. Right? All we need to do is turn to him and he will restore it. It’s not something that you’re going to find.

You’re not going to find it in the world. You’re not. You’re not going to find it on Netflix. You’re not going to find it in an awards show or through the new job at work. You’re not going to find it there.

Jesus says that it’s in him, that we will have the fullness of joyous. Psalm 51 1012 says, and this is King David speaking. And he’s actually here praying, praying out to God for forgiveness for what happened with Bathsheba. You know, he committed adultery with Bathsheba. And this is not the whole prayer, you know, this is not everything.

But it says, create in me a clean heart, o God, and renew a right spirit within me. So maybe we need to ask God to create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. It says, cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me. The joy of the Lord is through the Holy Spirit. And then verse twelve says, restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. So if you’re here today and you’re a Christian and you know the Lord, wherever you’re at on your walk with God, he can restore your joy completely. There’s fullness of joy. Do not let the enemy say, tell you that there is partial joy in the Lord. I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry.

There is fullness of joy. Fullness. Maybe you’re here today or listening online. You’ve been traveling down a long road of empty pursuits. You’re searching for something.

I’m here to tell you today that it can’t satisfy you. Just like those two roads that I talked about, that road that you’re going down, the wide road, it leads to destruction. And all those things that you’re going to enjoy on the way, none of those things will ever satisfy you. The narrow road is difficult, but guess what? The person that’s at the bottom of that valley and that’s getting ready to go up a mountainous, they have the joy of the Lord.

We have the joy of the Lord going through those things because we know the end of where we’re going. We know the end of the journey and where it leads us. We know that even in the midst of all those things, imagine that going through the struggles that Paul went through, like thinking about what Jesus went through, which says he endured the cross, right? He endured the cross and he. I can’t think of the verse.

I’m sorry. He despised the shame, right? Because he knew the joy that was set before him. And that’s what we need to remember if Jesus can say that we can rely on his strength. So I just want to end with a prayer today and with all heads bowed and eyes closed, we’re just going to turn to the Lord this morning in prayer.

Thank you, dear God, for this day that you have made. We thank you for the worship that we experienced this morning. We thank you for your presence, being here with us, with each person that’s here in this room. We also thank you for those that may be watching online. Lord God and we know that your presence are with them as well.

Even though we’re separated physically, Lord, we know that your holy spirit is with everyone. And I just pray for everyone under the sound of my voice now, Lord, that you would restore our joy completely. God. And that we would rely on your strength, on the joy of the Lord daily, every day, Lord and we know that you are working in us and that you’re working through us. God and we just ask for those, anybody that may not know you today, Lord, that they would seek you while you may be found and that they would call on you while you’re near.

Lord God. For salvation. And then you will fill them with your joy. That’s never ending. Lord.

It’s never ending. And there’s fullness of joy and what they will experience is your joy in them. Lord God so we thank you so much for this. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, God and that we are able to choose joy each and every day. Lord God we thank you for all these things.

It’s in Jesus name we pray. Amen.