Preacher: Josh White | Series: Fruit of the Spirit
Well for those of you have been in and want to Sunday before maybe you’re like me I look forward to the Sunday every year it’s just so neat to see these kids up here and a boy you can really see some of their personalities are really coming through and it’s fun to see them at this age because when they become junior highers they’ll never talk to you again so it’s neat to see them at the sage but in third John for John wrote he says I have no greater joy than here that my children are walking in the truth and seeing this this morning and over we’ve seen this the last ten years I hope that we as a church are being used by God to get some of these kids started in their own personal walking in the truth and John says that’s what brings him the greatest joy in life well speaking of joy this is our next topic today as we’re looking at the fruit of the spirit and I just wonder I don’t actually want you to respond but just think yourself what brings you joy in life one of the things that they bring you happiness you know I have to admit this week as I’ve been preparing for this and knowing that we’re going to be want to Sunday in trying to kind of condense the sermon a little bit as I spent time thinking about joy in this topic of joy I had some mixed emotions and see what happens is as the preacher I have to live with my sermon for about six days right and so I’m always more aware of things going on in the world than in my life when I know I’m going to be preaching on something which also makes me very nervous for the week that I’m going to preach about patience because I know something’s going to go wrong that week but that’s a few weeks away but.
This week I definitely had to think about joy and what that meant and you know in the Bible in fact I was wondering if one of these kids were going it was going to say this verse Philippians four for Brennan did now he’s smart he’s a good kid it’s a small short verse but phobias for horses rejoice in. The Lord always I will say it again rejoice.
And you know that that’s actually a command that you and I are commanded to rejoice in the Lord and it says always and have you ever looked at that verse or heard that verse and you thought yourself are you serious really we’re supposed to rejoice always you know this last week there have been a few moments when I was in a great mood I was happy something positive was taking place and there have been a few moments this week specifically when I’ve been communicating with a couple people that are going through some very difficult times in their life and I can say that I probably did not rejoice in those moments those moments were not hard or those were not easy they were hard.
And sometimes I think we all realized that joy a lot of times like happiness can appear to be somewhat situational or depending on the moment you’re either happy or you’re not and so I look at this verse in Philippi and I think are we able to genuinely in Austin typically say that we can be joyful during difficult times in our lives I want to give you a couple definitions I want to define happiness and joy and I think everyone here kind of generally knows what happiness and joy is but for a definition a good definition for happy is the state of wellbeing and contentment the state of wellbeing and could tell when a person who is happy is content but you probably think you know that’s true in my life it’s definitely true in a dog’s life you look at a dog and they’re happy and content joy goes a little bit deeper a Christian author defined joy this way and I liked it so I’ll share this with you they do find joy this way Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as He causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world and I think the biggest difference between joy and happiness is this joy or the. Joys that God wants to produce in our lives as part of the for the spirit is based more on unchanging truth then changing temporary situations in our life you know happiness is obviously momentary couple times when I’m happy I’m happy when I have a plate full of tacos sitting in front of me and I’m really happy then or I’m happy when I’m watching a baseball game or a football game and my favorite team is winning I’m happy in those moments but my happiness can immediately disappear as well if someone sneezes on my play to talk omes like a big wet sneeze you know those are really horrible ones I’ve got help me anymore I am very distraught and if my team finally loses in the last second of the game I’m not happy anymore so what makes you happy I think if we were to go around the room all of you would say different things I think we have a lot of young moms here if their definition of happiness might be different than most people maybe a little peace and quiet or a full and clean child is a Makes for a happy mom something you might say a really good cup of coffee or a great conversation with a friend or a family member that would make you happy when it goes on and on but I think you’d be foolish for any of us to say that we can be happy or joyful when we learn that someone very close to us has died you know we’re not happy in those moments or when we turn on the news and we see that there’s been another school shooting when we’re not happy in those moments or when someone gets a bad diagnosis from their doctor but yet even in moments like that we can experience joy and the joy that we experience is because we are the branch on the vine who is Jesus Christ and who we are in Christ and what we have in Christ can influence our minds more than our current circumstances and that is what enables us to experience joy. Our key verse for these next several weeks is glacial five twenty two and twenty three you don’t have to turn there right now hopefully by the end of this the series just a mini series and on the for the spirit you have this memorized but the fruit of the Spirit is joy love joy peace patience kindness goodness they fullness gentleness self-control again such things there is no law you know these qualities come from the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and joy in particular it has to come from something the Holy Spirit actually of something in our lives so that it can produce joy and so I’m going to share with you three things that I believe God has that God has given to us which the Holy Spirit will use to produce joy in our lives and so the first thing I see where joy comes from is this joy in my life in your life comes from the fact that we have a family joy comes from having a family you know our earthly families can either be our greatest source of joy and our greatest source of sorrow in this life Amen someone you’ve got a great family some of you say no my family isn’t the greatest family in the world and if you have a good family a good family background. An immediate family an extended family the blessings that can come from that are just they’re there overwhelming sometimes but some of you maybe even here in this room you might come from a dysfunctional family. A family that has lots of broken relationships lots of difficulties lots of pain and sorrow and that can be your greatest source of sorrow you know in our immediate family kind of make light of that just for a moment while we had a joyful moment and a sorrowful moment I’ve been noticing that my son Kyle has been growing which just feed him something and he just search growing and you know you kids are walking around and all the said hey wait a second I think you grew and so I had come over here and kill deer and had Kyle and killed stand right by each other and we realize that they are right now. The exact same height there is a right way to sing Kristen you come over here too and so we had Kelemen Kyle and Kristen all standing and for this very moment in time they are all the exact same height right now look at your clock right now because in one week from now it’s probably not going to be the case they’re both growing so fast so there was kind of this moment of all how me in this is just it’s going to go it’s just going to go away really quick and so there’s some sorrow on that Jackie we have already decided she’s not going to grow up so she’s always going to be our little girl early as my little girl but when it comes to earthly family dynamics they’re always changing hopefully sometimes our family dynamics get better like for instance is exciting when a young couple welcomes into their lives and new child I mean that’s an exciting time relationships get stronger sometimes than a family new memories are made but sometimes unfortunately relationships can get worse in a family setting relationships can fall apart for a wide variety of reasons but the joy that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives is because we are now if you place your face in Christ you are for now and forever a member of God’s family and someday every member in that household will be freed from their body of sin and will have a perfect relationship with each other I know we say that and we have face but just to actually experience that is going to be something that we can’t even imagine you know I think all of you would probably say maybe the greatest source of joy in your life up to this point has probably been some relationships that you’ve had like the best relationships I know it’s fun to have different possessions but those coming go but if you’re a child of God we have right now and we will have even a better relationship with God and each other in the future once you open your Bible stuff first John chapter one.
First John chapter one.
And in this passage John talks to us about the source of our joy and it comes from our fellowship with God first John chapter one
let’s begin in verse one.
What John is doing is ultimately he says in verse five that are Verse four that our joy is complete in the relationships that he’s going to talk about so first John chapter one beginning of verse one it says.
That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life here is obviously referring to Jesus the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us in verse three and for the key verses here that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete and so Jesus is talking about the joy that you and I can experience is that fellowship that we have with each other and also with Christ and with the father so our joy is made complete in these relationships with each other and with the Trinity you know for us especially today I don’t know how many of you here are Jews we talked about Jews in my Sunday School class a lot this morning but us the Gentiles most of us here are gentiles out one point in the history of mankind we couldn’t say that we had access to this fellowship with God the Father but today we do and this is such a blessing Let me read for you from the fees INS chapter two. Efficient chapter two in verse twelve it says Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ Ilya native from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ and they going on in verse one. Scene and twenty Paul says to us so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but your fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets was Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone lessen the fact that we have eternal relationship with God the Father there’s nothing that you and I did to earn that and the good news is there’s nothing that you and I can do to lose that is well well for those of you here today I hope that you have a wonderful earthly family and if you do you just read Joyce in that but I know some of you you might not have a strong one or full source of joy in your life when it comes to your earthly family and for you especially if you’ve been of the if you are a believer in Jesus Christ I hope the fact that your relationship with God and the family that you are always going to be a part of is a huge source of your joy that the Holy Spirit will produce in your life so that’s the first reason why we can have joy is because of the family that we’ve been adopted into the second thing that we can see where our joy comes from is this joy comes from having faith the fact that we have faith is a source of our joy you know I think this point in particular is a very practical one for me you know when I see all the junk that’s going on in the world today I think you probably do the same thing I hope you do the same thing do you ever look at the mess that the world is in you think I’m so glad that there’s something beyond this life there’s something better than this that I know is going to happen some day you know how many how many of you find joy when something in your life breaks you know you like it when your car I hate it when of the car breaks down and usually I’ve noticed in Arizona it always breaks like in July or August what’s the deal with that you know it’s just like clockwork or on the head have any of you ever had your air conditioner break at your house like in May or June that’s the worst. It happened to us one year and several years ago fortunately we were able to get it fixed really fast you know we are usually going to find joy in those moments usually those moments or we’re experiencing some other emotions that we probably shouldn’t talk about in church but I want you to turn to the Book of Acts Acts Chapter sixteen you know this story every time I read it I just I almost cracked up thinking how in the world was the apostle Paul able to do this actually Chapter sixteen beginning in verse twenty two. This is a great example of someone who was truly able to see beyond his situation and genuinely be filled with joy and this is when Paul and Silas were thrown into prison
so X. Chapter sixteen beginning in verse twenty two
so Paul and Silas they’re in there and there are among some people speaking about the truth and it says in X. sixteen twenty two says the crowd joined in attacking them and the magistrates toward the garments of them and gave orders to beat them with rods and when they had inflicted many blows upon them they threw them into prison ordering the jailer to keep them safely how they received this order he put them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks OK this is not a good day obviously in verse twenty five about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s bonds were unfastened you know I’m sure that Paul and Silas did not enjoy being beaten with rides I mean who would but in that moment the thing that was more real to them than anything else was their face in God and in that moment they were able to experience joy and so they started singing and don’t you wonder what hymns they were singing Thanks Steve no steel received Steve McFadden You probably know what it will sing some of those hymns maybe next Sunday but.
You know our face also teaches us something and I sure hope that this is true our faith also teaches us that our sins are forgiven I want you to turn over to Romans chapter eight.
Romans chapter eight verse one.
This teaches us that our sins are forgiven which means that we have no punishment there you and I are looking forward to or dreading. Romans chapter eight verse one. It says. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus for the law the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death the you have this faith that your sins are forgiven I do you and this is something that helps me to get beyond this life into something that is a great source of my joy and I know it is for you as well while the third point is one of the third point third thing that we have that the Holy Spirit uses in order to produce join our life as this joy comes from having a future joy comes from having a future you know in my Sunday School class this month and last month we’ve been talking about the Jewish peace and festivals and looking at all all the future events and and today and last Sunday we’re looking at the Feast of Trumpets and in and yom Kapoor and we’re trying to figure out what events these are going to be pointing to in the future we’re trying to figure out what’s going to happen at the end of time and that’s all fun to do although ultimately when we’re talking about future events we have to be very careful because soon as you start predicting when things are going to happen you make a fool out of yourself but one thing that we do know you read the Bible there are some things that are very crystal clear this is our Future OK God wins and Satan loses all right that’s in our future Another thing is that Jesus will come back that’s in our future and there are obviously some more details and we can read the scriptures and we can put together timelines and kind of figure out what some things are going to happen but that ultimately is our future I want you to if you’re still here in Romans chapter eight a look down at verse fifteen
Romans chapter eight and let’s pick up in verse fifteen.
This is talking about our future.
Says for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption his son by whom we cry Aba Father the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then errors errors of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with Him in order that we also may be glorified with him you know just that verse there verse sixteen it says the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God that gives me an incredible amount of joy and I think I hope that gives you joy as well we are children of God We are errors and Co errors with Christ but even gets better because verse eighteen.
It goes on to say for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God for you know that the whole creation has been groaning together and in the pains of childbirth until now and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we eagerly wait for our adoption as sons the redemption of our bodies for in this hope we were saved now I hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he had sees but if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience and listen this future my hope fills me with joy if you ever spend time and you know you think the. Older someone gets the more time they do this but you’re a spent time just imagining what it would be like to have a glorified resurrected body that is not affected by sin or or pain or sorrow I think about that a little bit often I’m sure many of you probably draw on it all the time I think we’ll probably all get to that point but what we will experience in that day the life that we will have this so much better and it’s going to be how God originally intended us to live this right here this is our future this is not our present which is going by way too fast but this will be our future our eternal future and the truth is this is something that the Holy Spirit will use in our lives to produce joy this is what God uses.
You know I think it’s a lot more fun to be around someone who is anticipating some some good events coming up in their life as opposed to someone who is going through a very difficult time in their life like isn’t it kind of contagious to be around someone who has something that they’re really looking forward to like maybe on graduating or maybe the birth of a child or a wedding or a vacation they just kind of have this this vibe about them right.
You are a joy the joy that we have from the things that God has given to us should be so contagious that the people around us should be saying what soul quenching Joy Do they have that I am missing in my life and that’s what the Holy Spirit does the Holy Spirit produces that within our life and I just want to end this morning service by just reflecting on one of those verses that we already read that’s Romans eight eighteen because I think this is a verse that we should probably have memorized maybe you wouldn’t necessarily stand up here on a want to Sunday and repeated but this is something that we should always have memorized because this is something that the Holy Spirit can grab onto and produce join our lives Romans eight eighteen says for I consider that the sufferings of this present time art. Not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us listen if that’s true.
If it’s true that we have been adopted by God and we will always be in his family and if it’s true that we have a future with him that is real those unchanging trues are what the Holy Spirit will use to produce joy in our hearts and so what we need to do is we need to think about those things and allow the Holy Spirit to do that in our lives. Let’s go ahead and close in prayer. And Father I just come before you today and I think about this past week that I’ve had in just the time that you’ve allowed me to reflect on this. Sometimes life can be very hard it’s hard to see different people going through very difficult painful situations and yet in the midst of that we can just have some wonderful experiences and Lord sometimes life is like a roller coaster we have those ups and those downs but Lord you all want to produce something that is long lasting and that will endure forever and it’s it goes beyond the happy moments of our life it’s that joy that cannot be taken away and Lord as we look in your wording we see the truth is that are just each terminally true they are not momentarily true the fact that we have this face we have this future when we are part of your family Lord it’s upon those truths that the Holy Spirit can tap into those and bring joy into our lives irregardless of the circumstances that we go through as a father right now my prayer is for everyone here you want to produce joy in our life just like you want to produce a love for the spirit and so father if there’s anyone here that is is dwelling on in focusing on all the negative things in the Lord allow us to look beyond us and to allow the Holy Spirit to take these truths to produce the joining our lives as a Jew ultimately want to produce the Lord we love you and we thank you for giving us this hope and giving us this future and we pray this now in Christ’s name Amen.