Living A Life of Joy

and if you want to know about Joy man this is it you'll find Joy everywhere in this book let me just tell you that if you want really to have joy cultivated in your life you got to share your life with others that's really true you're not going to be happy by yourself the God didn't attended you to be happy by yourself he created the church so that we could be together how many of you know how hard it would be to live the Christian Life today if we didn't have each other if we didn't

have the church look at all the screwy mess we're in right now in this country look at all the crazy that's going on you know the only kind of Sanity you ever feel is when you come to church on Sunday then you have to go back into that mixed up world you got to have other people in your life William Barkley said the Christian is the man of Joy the Christian is the Laughing Cavalier of Christ a gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms and nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than

its black clothes and its long faces if there's a country on this Earth where people should be filled with joy one would certainly think it would be the United States of America but most current polls show that only about 35% of Americans are very happy depression affects more than 19% of American adults anxiety disorders affect 40 million or 18% of the population in 2016 a federal data analysis found that suicide rates in America had surged to their highest level in 30 years rising in that period by 64% among women and 43% among men and a

worldwide study of 990,000 people showed that the 10 richest countries in the world also had the highest rates of depression what this tells us is that joy and happiness may not be necessarily dependent on your circumstances and those who have the most reason to be joyful often turn out to be the most often depressed so let me begin this discussion about Joy with two profound statements that comes to us straight from the Bible these may surprise you they kind of surprise me even though I've studied this over the years one of the first things you

need to understand about joy in the Bible is that God experiences Joy Isaiah 625 says as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride so shall your God God Rejoice over you the Bible actually teaches us that God enjoys us he looks down over humanity and he enjoys some of us more than others but he enjoys us Isaiah 6519 says I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people and Zephaniah 3:17 says the Lord your God in your midst the mighty one will save he will rejoice over you with gladness he will quiet you with his

love he will rejoice over you with singing I don't know if you've ever thought about that before but God in heaven is a joyful person and he rejoices in us he likes us if you've been brought up in a culture where so many have where God is viewed as a god of judgment Stern and angry all of the time listen to the word of God God experiences joy and right on the heels of that we need to understand that God wants you to experience Joy if he's a joyful God he wants his creatures to be

joyful for those who believe the Bible there is no debate no doubt about this what God desires for us he provides for us listen to the words of the Lord Jesus from the Gospel of John these things I have spoken to you he said that my joy May remain in you and that your joy may be full later in the 17th chapter he said now I come to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy in themselves when you read the New Testament you discover that the ministry of

Jesus in his lifetime was always surrounded by Joy Jesus was a joyful person and wherever he went he brought Joy when he was born that was the pr promise wasn't it that he would bring joy we have a word that we sing during the Christmas season Joy to the World the Lord Has Come and when you follow him in his ministry it's amazing how much joy he created everywhere he went it was a Ministry of joy that was found in his life when for instance one day he heals this crippled woman and she stands straight

up and begins praising God and then there was a leper in Samaria who was healed by Jesus and he returns to thank thank him and the scripture says he came back praising God with a loud voice and when the lame man at the gate beautiful was healed he gets up and goes into the temple and here's what it says he was walking and leaping and praising God now that's a happy boy Jesus embodies joy and his personal style makes it so natural for him to express it you see him in a joyful celebration you see

him in a welcoming home you see him in the acquisition of a treasure you watch him finding a lost coin or a lost sheep or a lost man in fact I remember one of the first books of the Bible I taught as a young Pastor was the Gospel of John and you don't even get out of the second chapter in The Gospel of John before you see Jesus performing his first miracle at a wedding Jesus went to a wedding he went to a wedding to perform a miracle that became one of the sign miracles in

the Book of John so that those who saw the miracle would believe that he was indeed the Son of God but if you go back to that chapter in the book of John Chapter 2 and you read the story of that wedding you see Jesus involved in the celebration of a young couple making their vows to one another when they ran out of wine Jesus took care of the problem he was always around where Joy was happening I've discovered that Joy is the atmosphere in which our Christian lives are supposed to be lived when Paul

was writing to the Believers in thessalonica he settled it once and for all he said Rejoice always always and you know that Joy is present in every major event that we experience as Believers let me ask you a question class how many of you remember the day you were saved let me see your hands was that a happy day amen oh happy day oh happy day when Jesus walked washed my sin away the joy of Salvation is the joy realizing you're not guilty anymore that you've been forgiven that God has given you the gift of

eternal life and you're going to spend eternity with him salvation is a joyous time in fact the Bible says when a person is saved almighty God throws a party in heaven did you know that in Luke chap 15 and in verse 10 we are told there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents so every time you hear somebody give their testimony of Salvation when a person comes to Christ we should all rejoice in that because that's a moment of great joy that's where it all starts and you

know the Bible tells us this Christian Joy is so unique it even shows up in times of difficulty and trial one of my favorite bible stories probably one of yours too is the story of Paul and silus recorded in the 16th chapter of the book of Acts and they're put in prison remember that one and before they're put in prison they're taken to the stalks and they're beaten and now they're in prison and the Bible says in verse 25 of act 16 but at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and

the prisoners were listening to them now the kind of joy that can get you happy in jail at midnight with your back bleeding and your life in danger that's the kind of Joy I want I want that kind of joy we may not be able to rejoice in our load but as we learn we can rejoice in our Lord and Christian Joy is so incredible that it even stays with us when we're dying I've been with Christian people through the process of death and seen the smile on their face some of them have told me

they've seen Jesus in the process and they wouldn't come back here for anything when Paul was getting ready to finish his journey he said in Acts chap 20 none of these these things move me all the things that were going on around him he said they don't bother me these things don't move me or they don't get in my way I don't even count my life dear to myself so that I can finish my race with joy joy all the way to the end so in the 15th chapter of the Book of John this is

all played out in a few words and I'm going to take you through these few words but if you don't have your scriptures in front of you you can watch and we'll put them up on the screen write the reference down let's talk for a moment about the source of joy in your life we've already established that this Joy comes from Jesus listen to his words in John 15:11 these things I have spoken to you that my joy said Jesus my joy May remain in you say that with me my joy and that your joy

might be full Jesus says I want your joy to be the result of my joy This Joy is Christ's Joy this Joy is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ being lived out inside of you Christian Joy is Christ's joy in the Christian Christian Joy is letting Christ live his life through you so that what he is you become Peter called it a joy inexpressible and full of Glory This Joy isn't dependent on us it's dependent on him and if we will trust him he produces that joy in our hearts and the characteristic of This

Joy is that it was full Joy this is not imperfect or incomplete it is not an almost Joy or a sometimes Joy this is an everyday 100% complete joy and the uniqueness of This Joy is captured in words that Peter wrote in the first chapter of his first letter see if you can get your arms around this one here's what he said whom having not seen you love though now you do not see him yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of Glory let me pause for a moment and say if you're looking

for Joy outside of Jesus you're wasting your time but I'm here to tell you he's always open for business he's always ready for you to come and if you want joy real Joy wonderful Joy you got to let Jesus Come into your heart and if you've never done that I hope you will do that cuz all the rest of this is not going to work for you unless un you have Jesus in your heart that's where it starts the Bible also tells us that this joy that is my Joy says Jesus and full Joy This

Joy is continual Joy friends have you ever discovered how simple it is for your gladness of today to become your sadness of Tomorrow have you ever noticed that your sweetness of the morning can turn into your bitterness at night or the friends you thought were your friends yesterday become your en enemies today or the wisdom you thought was so cool yesterday is now so foolish today the one thing that all of us share as we take this journey together through humanity is that nothing we get involved with ever seems to last but the joy of

Christ of which we speak today is a continual NeverEnding absolutely constant lasting Joy This Joy is not hinged on happenings it's perfected in a person at one of the lowest times in the lives of Jesus disciples the days just before he was taken away from them to go to the cross in the midst of their sorrow and anxiety Jesus comforted his disciples with these words John 1622 therefore you now have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice in this is the part I love and your joy no one will take

from you amen so how do you get this Joy we've already talked about the fact that you have to surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ you have to give Jesus Christ first place in your life I want to say again if you don't know Jesus Christ that's where Joy starts one of the things you need to do if you want to have joy in your life you have to submit your life totally to the spirit of God you see Joy is the fruit of the spirit when you're filled with the spirit of God

you get that fruit we're talking about how you cultivate the fruit but you don't get it you have to trust the Lord Jesus Christ and then the spirit of God comes to live within your heart and if you want that joy to be full and complete you have to say to the Lord Jesus and to the Holy Spirit here's my life do with it as you please I may have told you years ago that when I first uh understood the importance of fully dedicating your life to the Lord I didn't want to do it because

for some reason in my mind I thought God was going to send me to Africa for some reason I thought if I said Lord Jesus you can have my whole life I thought if I did that I'd end up on on a mission field in Africa and now I know that wouldn't been all that bad because a lot of good things happen there but you see until you come to the place where it's not you anymore it's him you're willing to say Lord Jesus here's my life you chart it I'll sign at the bottom I

faced that early in my life when I believe God wanted to be a preacher I had been so totally involved D in the in the broadcast industry I i' taken many courses in broadcast industry and speech and I was working in a couple of radio stations because this is what I wanted to do and then God called me to preach and I thought the worst thing about that was I was going to leave all that broadcasting stuff away and I was going to go be a preacher but God was just training me back here for

what he knew he wanted me to do out here and I would never have found that out if I hadn't just said Lord okay whatever you want me to go to Seminary and be a preacher here I am what I thought he took away from me he gave me back multiple times the Bible says commit your way unto the Lord and He what gives you the desires of your heart but it doesn't start until you say yes until you say Lord God I want your joy I know I'm not going to get it my way

so here I am here's the page of my life I've signed the bottom you fill in the details thirdly you got to study the word of God you know why because this is God's handbook on Joy this is the book that God gave us so that we would know how to live the Christian Life and if you want to know about Joy man this is it you'll find Joy everywhere in this book let me just tell you that if you want really to have joy cultivated in your life you got to share your life with

others you're not going to be happy by yourself the God never intended you to be happy by yourself he created the church so that we could be together how many of you know how hard it would be to live the Christian Life today if we didn't have each other if we didn't have the church look at all the screwy mess we're in right now in this country look at all the craziness that's going on you know the only kind of Sanity you ever feel is when you come to church on Sunday then you have to

go back into that mixed up world you got to have other people in your life you know Christianity is joyful one of the great things people tell me when they visit our church Dr Jeremiah there's so much joy in your church isn't that what should be here if you got Jesus shouldn't you be full of joy joy is contagious and to catch the infection you have to expose yourself to the virus and become part of the Blessed epidemic amen so if you want to be a joyful person I been learning this the hard way and

some of you know it already if you want to be joyful hang out with joyful people you say how do I know the kind of people to go and hang out with find those who are joyful because if a person has authentic Joy you've just solved your problem you you got the right person find Joyful people hang out with joyful people become a part of the epidemic catch the virus get infected with the joy of Jesus Christ amen so let me go back to that lyric of an old song we used to sing growing up

here it is if you want joy real Joy wonderful Joy Let Jesus Come into your heart and now with one one last word for today's program here is Dr Jeremiah in today's message I quoted a number of statistics about the Quest for happiness for many true Joy seems to be an elusive experience perhaps this is true because we seek happiness in the wrong places true Joy is only found when we come to know God and we anticipate spending eternity in his presence the path to knowing God's joy is through faith in his son Jesus Christ

for Christ is the only path to living a contented life and a joyful life to assist you in living a joyful life I would love to send you three free gifts first life beyond amazing scripture cards to help you stay focused every day on the amazing life we have in Christ second a booklet about knowing and living for Christ called your greatest turning point and third our monthly devotional magazine turning points to encourage you with inspiring articles and devotionals and we'll send all these gifts to you free of charge if you will contact us here

at turning point today thank you for being with us today join us next time for another message with Dr David Jeremiah here on turning point [Music] [Applause] [Music] o [Music]