The Power of Choosing Joy - Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

and there's something about the joy of god that is not subject to circumstances it is not subject to world conditions it is not subject to whether or not i got my dream answered or not it lives because the spirit of the resurrected christ lives in me and his nature is a nature of joy well it's nice to see you glad you showed up i have uh something to read here that i've not read in quite a while it's an oldie but a goodie so just pretend like it's new by the way uh bless you all our online family community too we just love love that we get to do this together several men are in the locker room of a golf club cell phone begins to ring on the bench man engages the hands-free speaker function and begins to talk everyone else in the room stops to listen hello he says hi honey it's me are you at the club he responds yes i'm at the shops now and i found this beautiful leather coat it's only two thousand dollars is it okay if i buy it sure go ahead if you like it that much she continues i also stopped by the mercedes dealership saw the new models i saw one i really liked he said well how much she said it's two hundred thousand dollars he said well okay but for that price i want it with all the options she responded great and she said one more thing i was just talking to janie and found out the house i wanted last year is back on the market they're asking 2. 2 million dollars for it he responds well go ahead make an offer of 2 million they'll probably take it if not we can go the extra 200 000 if it's really what you want she says okay i'll see you later i love you so much he responds by i love you too the man hangs up the phone the other men in the locker room are staring at him in astonishment mouths wide open he turns and he asks anyone know who this phone belongs to [Applause] that to me is a perfect story it's just it's a it's a perfect story oh boy all right open your bibles if you would to nehemiah chapter 8. and there's a story i love the whole book of nehemiah i i remember oh goodness almost 50 years ago i took a period of time of months i think it was six months where i just studied that book over and over and over again every day every day for six months because i felt a real prompting of the lord through a word that my aunt had given me uh to take a look at that book so anyway it's been a favorite ever since then and but the lord spoke to me out of chapter eight some time ago in a way that really has marked my thinking and i i hope to pass it on with you i share we we study this together i don't know it's probably been 10 years now but uh every once well i like to bring it up and talk about it again um but before we actually read this i want to talk to you about three words that have been unfortunately redefined by christian culture instead of kingdom culture they're words that are biblical terms but when they're not understood according to biblical definition we end up creating a culture that lowers our standard of living to create explanations for the absence of breakthrough instead of launching us into pursuing greater breakthrough the church often creates theology around what didn't happen instead of what the scripture says did happen the pool of bethesda great example history tells us it's probably 900 to a thousand people there jesus healed one person the bible celebrates the healing of the one but if it were to happen today all the interviewers would be talking to the 900 that didn't get healed how did it feel for jesus to walk past you and theology would be created around what didn't happen so i want to talk to you about these um um four words counting the word joy that we're going to look at in chapter eight but three words i set us up for them so the first one is the word hope we talked about it last week i i spoke last week about the issue of hope the nature of hope the uh the requirement for me to maintain a heart of hope the word hope in our culture is it's basically a wish man i wish that would happen or i hope i hope that happens it's it's like you know if things really work good maybe this will come about and that's not the biblical word hope the biblical word hope actually means the joyful anticipation of good hope gives you permission to enjoy the emotional benefits of an answered prayer before it ever happens that was better than your response that was a lot that was a lot better hope gives us permission to experience the joy of a breakthrough before the breakthrough comes it it's too late you missed your chance the joyful anticipation of good actually my favorite definition um watching uh my wife's family's uh christmas time remember the video eight cameras and some of the old people remember with the spotlights that could peel paint on the wall they were so hot and bright yeah and uh and my my father-in-law would set up the camera and benny and my wife and and her siblings would be at the end of the hall just jumping up and down jumping up and down on christmas morning waiting for them to say merry christmas and as soon as he said merry christmas he's got the camera set as soon as they said merry christmas they would come running down that hall turn around that corner dive in into the christmas tree and begin to open gifts that thing at the end of the hall that's hope that bouncing up and down back there that's actually that's the best different definition i know of hope they know they don't know what there is they just know it's good and and that's the biblical word hope hope is uh is something that i can i can set myself up to increase in my life i i talked about last week i don't want to repeat that but i can't create faith but i can engage with god in a way that builds hope and hope is the atmosphere that faith grows in hope would be like the soil you know in a in a pot and then you plant the seed of faith and it grows in that atmosphere of hope and hope is is uh the expectation of good is something that actually should drive the heart the thought the prayers of every believer what would happen if we prayed in expectation of good and not just the shot in the dark hoping something will happen the second word that i want to i was just actually i was ready to talk about this nehemiah thing this morning first service and i started thinking about all these words that that uh are so common for us but they've because they're misunderstood they've created a wrong culture in how we think and do life and so i'm just trying to kind of reset due north again so the second word is the word uh to wait wait on the lord for most of us the word waiting on the lord means to sit down and do nothing and make room for him to do something he promised you know i hear people say they hear leaders say well god knows we want revival he knows where our address is if it's his will if that thought ever comes to mind slap yourself or or ask your friend to do it because they'll gladly do it it's it's not is anybody else glad the wise men didn't stay in the middle east but they actually traveled towards something they were in pursuit of something the word weight on the lord especially like psalms 37 waiting on the lord actually means to lie in weight to lie in weight like in setting up an ambush it is reducing my options refining my focus because i'm about to enter a god moment and i don't want to miss it that's what waiting on the lord is i'm a deer hunter if you don't like that just pretend i take pictures because all my hunts end with pictures i would never go down to mount shasta mall to hunt deer there's not any there the whole point in laying in weight is to discover where he's at you see well god is everywhere yeah but i watched in the early 90s as people would travel from all over the world because they heard a rumor god was moving powerfully in toronto entire plane loads of people from england would be loaded with people just going because they heard god was doing something one of the greatest acts of arrogance in the life of a believer is to sit back do nothing and say if god wants me to have it he knows where i'm at absolute arrogance it's normal to hunt pursue i'm liberally using my favorite words here but but you get the point you position yourself with a refined focus for a potential god moment because they don't all come with blazing horns and angelic whatever most of the god moments that change people's lives most of them i think start very subtly so waiting on the lord is to lie in wait it's anything but sitting back and doing nothing it's actually positioning myself for what god's about to do the third the third word is the word patience now i'm not going to ask how many of you want to increase in patience because you know what that'll do you already know but but here's my friend joe mcintyre he's home with the lord now but he um he did this word study he has a number of books in her in her wonderful books uh but he he took an old book from many many many years ago on called throne life and he kind of brought it up to date through his own experience tremendous book but in james verse uh chapter one verses two and four let me read these two verses for you said my brethren counted all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience listen to this let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect complete lacking nothing anybody want the perfect complete lacking nothing realm okay it's on the other side of the door called patience and it's it's literally going through that realm which is a fruit of the spirit which means it's the it's an evidence of his working in a person now here's what i never what i never understood is how the word is actually translated what it actually means patience in our world is much more of a passive toleration of things we don't like amen bill good point all right the word translated patience two times in these verses is defined as independent unyielding defiant perseverance in the face of aggressive misfortune and thus to a kind of courageousness okay case you were daydreaming let me read this to you again this is patience now this is different than the passive toleration of things we don't like independent many of you qualify already right there's very patient was a joke unyielding here's here's my favorite part defiant perseverance in the face of aggressive misfortune and thus to a kind of courageousness what is patience it's the intolerance of the enemy's work to kill steal and destroy and it provokes and builds in us a kind of courageousness that just says enough that's patience that's patience now nehemiah 8 are you still there i hope so nehemiah chapter 8 let me give you the context ezra and nehemiah were at one time one book they have since been because they deal with two separate uh focuses and subjects ezra deals with the rebuilding of the temple what happened for israel is through their sins first of all they followed the lord into the promised land they inherited all this land through their sin and rebellion they lost their inheritance they became exiles outside of their own land the lord in responding to their repentance sent them back to restore and to rebuild what had been destroyed the first thing they did was move back into jerusalem and rebuild the temple the dwelling place of god it's very much like an individual no matter what kind of a mess your life has been when we come to christ the first thing that takes place is you get born again and the spirit of god comes and dwells in you and then begins the rebuilding process if you will of the walls of our own city of roman hearts our own lifestyle etc so ezra was a rebuilding of the temple nehemiah is the rebuilding of the walls of the city itself interestingly israel had been working on rebuilding the walls for over 70 years i forget the exact number but over 70 years they would build something at night the enemy would come and tear it down and they they just had this this hopeless approach to to their assignment nehemiah came and he helped them to rebuild and i think it was 52 54 days i forget the exact number now but help them to rebuild what they couldn't do in 70 years what they couldn't do in a lifetime with the holy spirit they could do in under two months with the holy spirit the name nehemiah means comforter and it's a picture of the partnership with the spirit of god that enables to get things done in us we can never do on our own and it really is the picture in the prophetic story behind the book of nehemiah so they have found the scriptures which they had lost and so now israel is standing if you can imagine standing in this walled city this great community and they they find the scriptures and the entire group of people show up there's a mass of people there and they're standing on their feet with infants and children for five to six hours at the reading of scripture they're reading scripture priests are running out among the crowd explaining what's being read and also translating because we have a language issue hebrew aramaic was the language of the of the culture they were in so if you can imagine the reading of scripture the pause priests would run out and explain to this group to that group so that everybody could understand so here they are standing in this pregnant moment for five to six hours at a time at the reading of scripture that's where we'll pick up verse six of nehemiah eight ezra bless the lord the great god all the people answered amen amen while lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshipped the lord with their faces to the ground last part of verse 7 the levites helped the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place verse 8.

they read distinctly from the book the law of god and they gave sense and helped them to understand the reading verse 9. nehemiah who was the governor ezra the priest and scribe and the levites who taught the people said to all the people this day is holy to the lord your god do not mourn or weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law or here's here's the picture excuse me in a second oh my you ever have a tickle that's like way down here that touched places i have no let's let's not let's not go there all right wow but i feel new i feel better all right the reading of the word the people saw if you can imagine you've never heard the scriptures before you've never heard the word of god you've heard you know maybe statements made principles concepts but never the word of god was read to you and all of a sudden it's read and here is the standard of god for our lives and here is our present experience and the people were so overwhelmed by the difference the distance between those two realities they didn't get just misty-eyed they began to sob as a crowd they began to weep and weep and weep and the most amazing this is this is a this is an evangelist dream as you read the scripture and everybody is already weeping before you've preached they are ready to make a decision and the holy spirit speaks to the leaders and say tell them to stop crying why this day is holy now there's a conflict right there because most of us were raised in an environment where holiness was often times evidenced by weeping mournfulness over sin and and that's right i i don't ever want to get rid of that but there was a god moment here for the nation of israel that redefines how he works in this thing called grace and there are many glimpses of grace in the old testament and this is one of them so he they runner up among the people and they say stop weeping stop waiting why this is a holy day this day is holy stop mourning stop weeping and then he goes on in verse he takes it a notch higher in verse 10 he says uh he said to them go your way eat the fat drink the sweet send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy to our lord do not sorrow for the joy of the lord is your strength do not sorrow for the joy of the lord is your strength let me put it in my in my own terms it's as though these men of god are declaring to the people of god you're in a place where you need incredible strength and you'll not get it through morning morning will only take you so far you will have to experience undeserved joy you will have to experience undeserved joy you will have to step into what you could never earn for yourself to understand the grace that will empower you from this day on much of christian culture in the western world is a kind of a me-ism uh culture so much of it is is focused on just our individual walk our individual experience there are aspects of that that that is true god has no grandchildren uh it's all personal one one-on-one each one of us have a moment where we surrender to christ it's one-on-one but at the same time we are also made members of a body we also are a part of an us that is beyond anything any single one of us could ever accomplish achieve or become we're part of a much bigger picture and because of that we sometimes miss one thing that i don't know who instituted i think it was david i i trace it back to david's life if it was before him i've missed it but he would say for example he would say all right this section right here he would do it by family tribes but let me just give an illustration it's all right this section here you guys uh you'll be responsible to come into the tabernacle of worship um tonight at 2 a. m you will have the 2 a.

m to 3 a. m shift and your assignment is to give thanks assigned to give thanks i thought thankfulness was what you did when you had a thankful heart but he said no you're to go give thanks yeah but but shouldn't we cultivate a thankful heart first you can obey your way into thankful heart just give thanks and it's it's the part it's the part of the gospel that is often overlooked in this kind of a culture where it's about my call my ministry my assignment my whatever my family my instead of realizing that there is a corporate expression that is that is necessary and sometimes the greatest way to personal liberty is saying yes to the corporate expression you're assigned to give thanks well what should i be thankful i don't care make a list yes god i i thank you for bringing our forefathers out of egypt into the promised land all right sounds hollow sounds empty but guess what when you begin to join your heart your mind your words your physical expression to that mandate of god something begins to work inside and this right here is the same thing you can rejoice your way into joy well i don't want to be phony or you're phony if you don't you call yourself a believer but you only do what you feel [Music] not you it's them other folks there's a reality in god that you don't you you don't you don't grab hold of it because you try hard you grab hold of it because you said yes and he did what he said to do and you find yourself holding the very thing you were hungry for but you don't know how it happened do not sorrow for the joy of the lord is your strength that's that's so fascinating because i i grew up in a good environment but but joy was not part of the expression you know yeah god forbid people who are so offended at toronto they say where's laughter in the bible i'm thinking ever hear the word joy psalm 16 in his presence is fullness of joy is there is there a remote chance that one small portion of joy includes laughter the complaint was those people should be weeping and repentance i agree unless that's what god's not doing and sometimes he'll take you through the back door through an undeserved joy into a lifestyle change and we watched it time after time after time so here it is don't sorrow for the joy of the lord is your strength verse 11 the levites quieted all the people saying be still the day is holy do not be grieved all the people went their way to eat and to drink to send portions and rejoice greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them we're going to read that again just a second here send portions how many know when the last thing you feel like doing is being happy to receive the assignment to make sure everybody else is happy it's send portions if you have a lot on your plate share make sure that everybody around you has something to be thankful for send the fat that's the more than you need part of meat meat i remind you for those of you who were not here proverbs says the vegetables where love is is better than a fattened ox where hatred is it takes hatred to make meat less than vegetables i'm just quoting scripture now i'm just i'm just trying to help send portions of fat drink the sweet to those who don't have any because this is about a corporate expression but then look at this verse 12.