Being the Hand and Feet of Jesus: Joy and Peace
Being the Hands and Feet of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
What do I believe God wants them to know? Joy and Peace are found in Him
Why? We are all searching for JOY and PEACE…It is a longing of our heart
What do I believe God wants them to do? REJOICE, PRAY, THINK
Why? It brings JOY and PEACE
ME/WE
Have you ever had a hankering, a craving for something your mom or dad or friend made?
Growing up your dad made these amazing cincinamin role…they were like the best…better than cinabon....they were amazing!
Or maybe it was grandmas mashed potatoes! You loved Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter and other family parties because of GRANDMA’S mashed potatoes
some of you are saying why are you talking food…I didn’t even have breakfast this morning....sorry!
AND YOU LOVE THEM SO MUCH THAT ONE DAY YOU CALL YOU DAD OR GRANDMA OR YOUR FRIEND
Hey dad, hey grandma, hey Sarah can you send me the recipe for you
Family says no it is a secret recipe…but I am family…it will given to you in the family will…just kidding
THEN YOU GO TO MAKE IT
and you follow the recipe to a T....every detail
And what happens?
It doesn’t look like dad’s cinnamon roles..your sister what is that??
Then you taste it
And they do not taste like dad’s
WHAT DO YOU?
You call your dad up and say, “Dad I follow your recipe to a T, every detail but it looked and tasted horrible!”
Did you give you me the REAL RECIPE?? Are you playing a joke on me?
Dad say, “No, it’s the real recipe…let me come over and help you”
And you noticed there things he does He comes it is perfect, AMAZING
OVERTIME YOU ARE ABLE TO MAKE CINNAMON ROLES LIKE YOUR DAD
TENSION
Why do I bring this up? To make us more hungry? I will say I know how you feel I wrote this SERMON while fasting.
The reason I bring this up is believe in a similar way this is how we feel about the next two ATTRIBUTES OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT…this next TWO FRUITS ARE SOMETHING WHEN WE SEE SOMEONE HAVE BILL, SARAH THEM WE SAY WHAT’S THE RECIPE? HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT? OR HAVE SOME MUCH OF…EXSPECAILLY WHEN MANY OF US IN THIS WORLD DO NOT HAVE THIS THING
WHAT ARE THE NEXT TWO ATTRIBUTES? JOY AND PEACE…they are often used together in the same verse interchangeable
If you have JOY you often have PEACE
If you have PEACE you often have JOY
JOY AND PEACE ARE ATTRIBUTES THAT WHEN WE SEE IT WE WHAT IT
All of us are JOY and PEACE seekers
Scripture says and so do secular studies
NOBODY SAY PLEASE GIVE ME depression and anxiety
What is JOY? Christian JOY: it is state of having an overwhelming gladness despite circumstances....the opposite of DEPRESSION
What is PEACE/SHALOM? it means to be WHOLE, TOGETHER…anxiety the word anxiety means to be torn apart.
THIS IS SUCH A PRESSING QUESTION BECAUSE IN AMERICAN TODAY HOW MANY ADULTS ARE STRUGGLING WITH ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION?
- 1 out 5 adults
A very recent study teen girls and found out
6 out of 10 teen girls suffer from depression
Covid: isolation didn’t help
Social media, bully and comparing are especially hard on girls and woman
In AMERICAN we like to shout we’re number one, we’re number one
and we are number one in being the country who struggles with depression and anxiety the most
Here is the odd thing we are the country who is the wealthiest in the world and has great privileges
What is odd about this?
We are in the land of the FREE and of WEALTH
It is because people think these are the ways you get joy and peace
MONEY cannot by JOY and PEACE
“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.” - Jim Carry
A lot of Hollywood actors struggle with depression
STATUS or POSITION
Once I get that promotion, once I go from single to married (I know people who are more misarable now that they are married)
POSITIVE CIRCUMSTANCE: THAT IS TEMPOPRAY
if the Brown wins the Super Bowl then I will be so happy/joyful
JOY and PEACE are not found in POCESSIONS, POSITIONS, or POSITIVE CIRCUMSTANCES
JOY and PEACE are found in a PERSON: JESUS CHRIST
SOME OF US SAY I KNOW AND BELIEVE JESUS BUT I AM STILL ANXIOUS AND WORRIED AND DEPRESSED
P
This is what Paul writes to us and the church of Philippi....many people call it the JOY book of PAUL…In four chapters he uses the word JOY 13 times....and he is the kicker in all of this....where does Paul write this letter?
Is Paul on a mountain top experience? Is he coming from a conference? A church service? A retreat?
NO
PHOTO??
He is in prison, not knowing if He is going to be executed or released every
HE SAYS LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT JOY AND PEACE BECAUSE I HAVE IT
WHAT DOES PAUL SAY?
If you want to have JOY and PEACE: REJOICE
No, no....that is what I am trying to get Paul…joy....how do I get JOY? REJOICE
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
It is a double command…I believe it is the only double command in all the Bible.
WHERE DOES PAUL WRITE THIS?
IN PRISION
REJOICE??? WHAT’S THERE TO REJOICE ABOUT??? ANYBODY THOUGHT THAT WAY
IPAUL SAYS
That my spiritual chains are gone
I once was dead but now I am alive
I once was stranger and enemy to God and now I am in the family of God
NOT ONLY THAT....why this is so important is
WHERE THERE IS worship/rejoicing guess what is not there? WORRY/ANXIETY
WORSHIP and WORRY are like oil and water
Where one is present the other is absent
We know this....we come here or in our pray closet or car and we are worried/anxious
Start signing
You are GOOD GOOD FATHER…that’s who you are
WAYMAKER
You are
Waymaker, miracle worker
Promise keeper, light in the darkness
My God, that is who You are
C.S. LEWIS HAD A HARD TIME WIHT REJOICING AND SINGING WHEN HE BECAME A CHRISTIAN…WHY DOES GOD NEED THAT? WHY DO I NEED THAT?
What Lewis discovered is REJOICING completes the JOY
We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he or she is; or to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. To witness the Browns win a Super Bowl but you are in another part of the world with people who like soccer more than football and don’t care.
Some will say what is there to REJOICE IN?
rejoice that you were dead in your sin but now you are alive in Christ…AMAZING GRACE
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
GOOD GOOD FATHER
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Good SHEPHERD
BREAD OF LIFE
THE WAY, TRUTH, LIFE
WHEN YOU REJOICE…JOY HAPPENS
2. PRAY
when you are worried and stressed Paul says pray
Isn’t this sometimes the last thing we do....some will say of course it is the last thing we do because we do it is the last thing we need to do.
Is not true that many of spend countless hours PLANNING and PROCESSING how we are going to get out of our worry and concern..
He have the white board in our head and we have PLANNED and PROCESSED SO much we dry easer marker on our hand
And finally we are exhuasted and the SPIRIT says pray or a friend says pray
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Do not be anxious about anything? WHY DON’T WE NEED TO BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING? BECAUSE WE HAVE A GOOD GOOD FATHER
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Seek the Kingdom and I God your Father will take all of your needs
But if you are like me…I know the verse but sometimes I still worry…what do we do about that?
Any of us ever have a time in your life when you were worried about something?
You worried about money
Worried about a relationship
Worried about our country
Worried about your kids
Worried if people will like you
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
What happens?
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
How many of us have experienced this? We are ANXIOUS, ANXIOUS,
I don’t know how this is going to work???
Then we pray and all of sudden this supernatural peace comes over us.
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Paul writes if you want JOY and PEACE in your life
PRAISE
PRAY
3. THINK
TO HAVE PEACE AND JOY IN YOUR LIFE YOU NEED TO HAVE CORRECT THINKING, GODLY THINKING
huh?
Many times when we get worried or anxious or depressed do you know what we tend to do? Stop thinking
We get stuck on this worry or concern and it is like we are stuck in a loop.
How many times has that helped?
A better question is how many times has our worried been even a cause for concern?
Almost never
90% of the things we worry about never ever happen
But we were so sure it was going to happen
I was sure that I was going to get a bad report
They were not going to like me
I was going to lose my job
Part the problem is we do not DOUBT our DOUBTS
We don’t DOUBT WHAT WE DOUBT
I AM GOING TO REALLY LOSE MY JOB?
IS LUCY REALLY UPSET WITH ME
DO YOU REALLY HAVE NOTHING OF VALUE TO OFFER THIS WORLD
THIS IS WHAT PAUL WRITES TO US
Sometimes what we need to change is our THINKING
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
HOW DO WE DO THAT?
STOP BEING A MARATHA…BEING BUSY....
BY SITTING AT THE FEET OF JESUS BY YOURSELF AND WITH OTHERS
READING HIS WORD
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
2. SIT UNDER GODLY TEACHING
PASTORS
BOOKS
PODCAST AND YOUTUBE
3. IN COMMUNITY
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
HOW MANY OF US HAVE HAD STINKING THINKING AND OUR FRIEND COMES AND LOVING SAYS, BECCA THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN
THAT’S NOT TRUE
AND SOMETIMES YOU LOOK BACK AND LAUGH AT WHAT YOU WERE WORRIED ABOUT
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
PAUL, WHO IS IN JAIL, WRITES I HAVE GOOD NEWS BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
YOU WHO ARE DEPRESSED AND ANXIOUS
I KNOW THE RECIPE TO GET OUT OF IT AND HAVE JOY AND PEACE
IT IS FOUND IN JESUS BY
REJOICING
PRAYING
THINKING, RENEWING OUR MIND
Went in JOY to bring us JOY and PEACE
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated 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 once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.