So proud of my wife's second sermon at the BN Vineyard! We even have video for those interested ;)
Intro
Good Morning and welcome to the Bloomington-Normal Campus of the
Vineyard Church. My name is Corrie
Waters and I am one of the campus pastors here along with my husband Adam. I have the privilege of sharing with you this
morning.
We are in the middle of a message series where we are discovering
healthy emotions and today I will be continuing the series with message
entitled: Joy more than a
feeling! How can we experience joy in our everyday life?
Pray
ME
I am pretty joyful person and
in my life I have experienced joy numerous times and in numerous ways…the night
my college volleyball team won the National Championship, the day Adam asked me
to marry him, our wedding day, our first puppy as a married couple, our first
home purchase, the day our children were born, watching my kids experiencing their
“firsts” (you know crawling, walking, talking, and using the potty)…you get the
idea.
What does your life look like,
can you find joy? What is bringing you joy and what circumstances are you
having to ask “where is my joy”?
Joy can be defined by the
Webster’s dictionary as “a
feeling of great pleasure and happiness”. I am sure that all of us can look back into
our past and think of something, someone or a specific situation that brought
us joy. But have you ever looked back at those joys and remembered the journey
of how we actually came to experience this emotion? Sometimes there is sorrow or disappointments
that might have been attached to them and then you have to ask the HS to help
you CHOOSE JOY? I know this seems like
an odd question, but think about it? For
example, when your child is learning to crawl or walk, you experience the pain
they might feel when they fall and hurt themselves, but at the same time it is
so exciting watching them grow in their new found venture.
Let’s take a look at this clip
from the movie and see how these two emotions are linked…
**Play movie clip** (1:20-1:23.45)
Over the last year and 2
months I have looked back into my life and there have been many times, days and
moments that I have lost sight of joy amongst my circumstances. This is a hard
thing to admit! In those moments I have had to ask the HS to help me chose joy
and not just the feeling of joy. Because the truth is Joy is actually never
gone from us…
As many of you know my mother
passed away last May. The journey of
dealing with her death has been tough and very painful at times, but it has
caused me to be active in asking the HS to help me choose joy on a daily basis.
There have been days when I wake up in a bad mood because of the grief of
losing my mom suddenly with no closure is so strong. There are days that I just
want to have one more conversation with her, but instead I have to chose joy
and remember all the times that I was able to have with her. On the other side of this, there are days
that I wake up, look at my daughter Eleora and see my mom looking back at me
with the same soulful eyes she always did and I know that in those moments the
HS is releasing Joy back into my spirit. Psalms 30:5 says. “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes
with the morning.”
You see—Joy is a settled assurance that God is in control of
all details in our lives, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is
going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every
situation.
WE
So how do we let joy be more than a fleeting feeling…
A couple of weeks ago Putty
opened up our sermon series talking about how our emotions a lot of times are
based off on our world views and those world views can affect our beliefs,
which then in turn affect our behaviors.
So I ask, do you have a world
view that is affecting you producing the gift of Joy in your life?
The joy that the world offers
is a poor example of the true joy that God can give us. The joy that people find in the world is
temporary…and it comes and goes depending on the situation that the person is
in. “If things are going well, there is
joy…if things are difficult, there is no joy”.
Have you ever found yourself
in this place? I know I have…when things are going well I am happy…when things
are going poorly I am upset and everyone knows it.
Most of us know that JOY is
one of the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5) and that we are to suppose to exhibit it in ever
increasing measures, but how do we do that in a world where there are new
things we are presented with on a daily basis that can decrease our joy?
The truth of the matter is
that as a Christian this means that even when we are in the midst of a
situation that legitimately brings sorrow or troubles, our inner joy can never taken away. (1 Cor. 6:10 Our hearts
ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to
others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.)
Everyday of your
life, good things happen and those things bring happiness and contentment to
you, but yet at the exact same time painful things happen to you or those you
love that disappoint you, hurt you or fill you with sorrow. Both joy and sorrow run parallel to each
other every single moment of your life, but the good news is…Our identity in Jesus does not change just because
of the circumstances around us change. The very core of who we are
in Christ can still rejoice in the fact that we are forgiven, much loved
children of the King and we can still enjoy an intimate relationship with the
creator of the universe. That is why
when you are in the midst of an amazing experience, you have this realization
that its not always perfect. And while you are walking through something painful,
there’s this great realization that there is still beauty and hope to be found
on the other side because Jesus in the midst of it all. Psalms 16:11. “You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you
forever.”
So what does the Bible say
about this Fruit of the Spirit?
BIBLE
The word “joy” appears 245 time throughout the scriptures in both the
Old and New Testament. In addition, the
word “rejoice” appears 154 times. The Father is trying to communicate his heart
to us here… I believe that the supernatural gift of joy should be an outflow
into our everyday natural lives, which allows people to see that something is different
in us. The Father wants joy to be more
than a feeling (feelings are sometimes fleeting), but a fruit that produces a
lifestyle of thanksgiving and peace.
Let’s look at how David responded after crying out to the Father in the
midst of his struggle…
Psalm 28: 6-8 –
Praise the Lord!
For he has
heard my cry for mercy.
7
The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust him
with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled
with joy.
I burst out in
songs of thanksgiving.
8
The Lord gives his people strength.
He
is a safe fortress for his anointed king.
Praying through our struggles allows God to
release joy in the end. This truth was
evident in the life of King David. So many times throughout the Psalms he cried
out to the Father in the midst of his troubles, begging for mercy and wisdom
and as he did this the HS released the gift of joy back into David’s life.
David time and time again approached God with a spirit of humbleness in order
to experience victory on the other side. David let his world view of who the
Father was affect his behavior, which then in turn affected the outcome of
David’s response, which was praise and thanksgiving. As we cry out to God in the midst of tough
situations, it allows Him the chance to speak joy back into our spirit and to
release freedom in places we didn’t know we needed freedom.
1 Thes., 5:16-17 –
16 Always
be joyful. 17 Never
stop praying. 18 Be
thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to
Christ Jesus.
What does it mean to “always be joyful’? Does this mean I always have
to be happy? What you want me to “never stop praying” and to “always be
thankful”?
Yes! Joy, prayer and thanksgiving should characterize the
life of a Christian. However, “always be joyful” does not mean that we
are to put on a happy face all time no matter what is going on in our lives or
in the lives of our family and friends.
It means that we are to remain steadfast in our knowledge that God is
our strength and peace, not matter what the circumstances. Our identity lies in
who we are as sons and daughters of the King, not in the reality of what is
happening around us. We have this saying in our house: Don’t let the reality of your situation determine how
you respond. If we remain in this truth, we will want to be in constant
communication with Him because we have seen the outcome when we live a life of
thanksgiving.
ACTION
REMEMBER inner joy can’t be
taken away
When you remain in your
identity of who Christ has created you to be, the truth that your joy cannot be
taken away in the midst of trying circumstances begins to take root.
John 15:4, Remain in me, and I will remain
in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the
vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
You cannot produce
fruit if you don’t remain in him.
RECOGNIZE the need to pray
through your struggles
In the midst of trials we are NOT
to retreat we are to advance. Satan wants us to retreat and run away, the
Father wants us to ask and move forward.
We need to ask the Holy Spirit to bring strength and to release his joy
over our lives so that we can come into the full potential in who he created us
to be.
James 1:2-4, Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come
your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your
faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when
your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing
nothing.
RETURN to thanksgiving as often
as possible.
The very core of our being can
still rejoice and give thanks in the fact that we are forgiven children of the
Father who can still enjoy an intimate relationship with him no matter what the
circumstances are in our life.
Pslams 100:4, Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his
courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
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