Tidings of Comfort And Joy

Walk Up Video: Canvas of Thanks

We have 2 paths to follow.

Satan’s or God’s.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy

Jesus comes to give life and life abundantly

This is what the Advent Season and Christmas is all about.

Jesus came to defeat Satan, Sin, and Death

He came to forgive, restore, and repair.

But we have to choose. Which path will we follow?

I choose Jesus.

But the thing is, I have to choose Jesus every day.

And the essence of choosing Jesus everyday ties into today’s theme which includes thankfulness.

JOY / SHEPHERDS

Children’s message: Advent 3

Review: What does Advent mean?

What was the first week’s candle theme? Hope

What was last week’s candle theme? Peace

Do you remember what this week’s theme is? Joy

What is Joy?

Is joy the same thing as happiness? Yes and No.

Happiness is an emotional response to positive things that happen to us and causes us to be joyful.

But, what if unpleasant things happen to us?

Are we happy?

No, but we can still be joyful.

Joy is more than just an emotional response to the good things that happen to us.

We can have joy even when unpleasant things happen.

This is a hard concept to understand, so I’m going to try to give you a sense of what it’s like.

How many of you like to throw up when you’re sick? Do you feel “happy” when you have to throw up?

You know there have been times when I was sick when I was like feeling like I needed to throw up and actually was hoping I’d thrown up, because I knew once I did, I’d feel much better.

“I can’t wait until I throw up.”

Our head track coach in Odessa would buy a milkshake for anyone who puked in practice.

This is like joy.

Joy is the expectation of better things coming, which gives you the ability to persevere through it.

Knowing there are better things coming can even help us “rejoice” in the middle of the difficult moment.

That’s why the book of Hebrews says this about Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 NASB95

...Jesus...who for the joy set before Him endured the cross...

The joy to come helps us to endure the hard stuff and even have joy through the hard stuff.

That doesn’t mean we will enjoy the hard stuff.

Just that we can have joy through the hard stuff.

That kind of joy focuses on the future.

I want to look at having joy in the present.

(Hand out letters and then have kids get together to spell word for all to see.)

True joy also comes from being thankful.

The Greek word for Thanksgiving is: eucharisteo

From Where Does The Term Come? It’s All Greek To Me

Eu

Good / A blessing

Chara

Joy / Delight

Charis

Grace – especially that which brings joy and pleasure

Eucharisteo - Joyfully Giving Thanks Because of God’s Blessings of Grace To Us In Any Circumstance

Sign language - Thank-you God.

Have children return to their seats, except the children who will light the candles.

Play brief video as the child lights the first candle.

Video: I Choose Thankful

I Choose Thankful

Being thankful is an act of the will apart from our circumstances.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NASB95

in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Thanksgiving and Joy go hand in hand. Psalm 100 great example.

Read I Peter 1:3-9

The Joy of Greatly Rejoicing vs 3-6

vs 6 - in this you greatly rejoice...

What is the “in this” that we are to rejoice? vs. 3-5

Rejoice In What He Has Done - vs 3

Rejoice that God caused us to be born again.

What I couldn’t do on my own, He did.

What I didn’t deserve, He gave.

Rejoice In What He Will Do - vs 4

Rejoice in God’s inheritance reserved in heaven for us.

I’ve got an RSVP to the upcoming wedding party!

This is the joy I mentioned to the kids earlier.

Joy is the expectation of better things coming, which gives you the ability to persevere through hard times.

Rejoice In What He Is Doing - vs 5

Rejoice in God’s protection of you through faith.

I’ve got the best body guard and guardian of my soul.

I have complete faith in Him.

He’s going to make sure I get there.

Psalm 23:4–5 NASB95

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.

He is proactively watching over, guiding, and protecting you!

God never stops working. He never takes a break.

WayMaker - Even when I can’t see it, you’re working.

The Thankfulness of Greatly Rejoicing

Greatly rejoicing - to show one’s joy by leaping and skipping with excessive or ecstatic delight.

Often spoken of rejoicing with song and dance.

Greatly rejoicing is a synonym of chara / charis in eucharisteo.

This is the thankfulness part.

Thankfulness is demonstrated through greatly rejoicing.

God thank you that you are my Shepherd.

Thank you that you are my Emmanuel.

Thank you that you have my back.

Thank you that you promise to never leave me stranded or reject me.

Thank you that you will help me through the mess and the stress.

Again, we see thanksgiving and joy go hand in hand

Ephesians 5:19–20 NASB95

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

What, Then, Is Joy?

The opposite of joy is fear and fear is the opposite of faith.

Luke 2:10 NASB95

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

We fear God will not be true to His word and that leads to a gloomy outlook.

We fear God will punish us in judgment and that leads to a a sense of doom.

We fear God is not just and the wicked will win and leads to a sense of hopelessness.

We fear that God is not good and that He doesn’t care about all the bad things that happen to us.

We fear that God is impotent and that He can’t control the chaos or wickedness around us.

We fear that God is arbitrary and cruel and even though He can control things, He won’t for us.

Secular Greek philosophy - Good mood of the soul.

In the OT - Joy is the reward for faithfulness, the result of thanksgiving, or the experience of being in the presence of God.

Emmanuel - God with us - why this is such an important understanding.

God’s presence with us.

He is near.

It’s in His presence that we find joy.

That’s why we can have joy in the midst of adversity.

Joy is the knowledge of what’s to come and leads to faith.

Joy is the realization of the fulfillment of the promises of God.

In this life sometimes we only get glimpses or shimmers of that realization.

But, joy can be had now, even if the full realization is not until Heaven, because we hope in faith for the actualization of the someday.

Joy is freedom, joy is wholeness, joy is worship, joy is thankfulness, joy is contentment, joy is safety and security, joy is provision.

Joy is God because God is all those things.

Greatly Rejoice Even Though Distressed By Various Trials vs 6-7

Being Joyful and Giving Thanks In ALL Things

Leaping, skipping, singing and dancing with ecstatic delight in spite of the trial.

Remember I said being thankful is an act of the will.

Being thankful also is a sacrifice of obedience.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road.

I choose to be thankful because you tell me I’m supposed to.

I choose to sing your praises.

I choose to rejoice.

Video: Thanksgiving Prayer

What helps us do that?

Rejoice That The Trial Will Mature You - vs 7

The trial is going to prove your faith is real and genuine.

Not to God, but to us.

Builds our faith.

The trial shows you how precious your faith is.

Romans 5:3–4 CSB

And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

The trial produces endurance

The trial proves your character is legit - integrity

The trial brings about hope.

James 1:2–4 CSB

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

The trial helps you become mature.

The trial helps you become complete (wholeness - having all its parts, sound.)

But we’ve gotta let it do its work. We can short circuit or short change the process.

God help me learn what I need to learn, the first time.

Rejoice That Suffering as a Christian Brings Blessings - 4:12-14

1 Peter 4:12–14 NASB95

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

This word for rejoice here is the word chara / charis

Exultation is the Greek word for greatly rejoice earlier

The Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

There is a wholly different level of closeness and intimacy that we find with God in the midst of our struggles.

It’s in the midst of the trial that we draw close to God, rest in His arms of love, goodness, and grace, and find joy in spite of.

Greatly Rejoice With Glorious And Inexpressible Joy vs 8

Let’s just continue to add modifiers to our rejoicing.

Our rejoicing is not over what’s happening in the moment, but over what is coming.

What is coming is going to be amazing, beyond our wildest dreams.

1 Corinthians 2:9 NASB95

but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

And, yet this rejoicing is less on what is coming and the emphasis is on who is coming.

2nd Advent of Jesus

The revelation of Jesus Christ - vs 7

And yet, our knowledge of what is to come is to bleed into the present moment.

A woman in labor - not enjoyable...but what is being birthed will bring so much joy, that she endures the suffering.

You could say that the joy to come gives her the strength to endure and therefore brings her joy in the midst of it.

The joy may be revealed in this kind of statement:

This had sure better be worth it!!!

I hope this is worth it.

But this actually is not a statement of certainty, only of possibility.

Romans 8:18 alludes to this joyful hope in the inheritance to come and enduring the sufferings in this present time is like a woman in labor.

But that passage also shows us that faith culminating in hope should give us a different way to think:

For a Christian, the thought process should be:

We have the promise that it WILL BE worth it.

My hope through faith says, “OK, it will be worth it.”

It’s like dreaming for the best, knowing that it will come to fruition, even if the now is the worst.

This concept of the intersection of faith and hope in the future promise of God results in peace and joy in the present.

We might say that the promise of what’s to come brings Tidings of Comfort and Joy.

Luke 2:10 KJV

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

A declaration of Good News for all the people!

The fulfillment of prophecy.

The culmination of His purposes.

The salvation of the people.

Isaiah 9:1 NASB95

But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

Isaiah 9:2 NASB95

The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

Behold I Bring you Tidings of Comfort and Joy!

Isaiah 40:1–2 NASB95

“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”

Isaiah 40:3–4 NASB95

A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

Isaiah 40:5 NASB95

Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Behold, I Bring You Tidings of Comfort and Joy!

Comfort And Joy For The Future AND for Today! vs 9

Obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

This is a present reality with an ongoing fulfillment until it’s completed.

So this joy is for both the future day in Heaven, but also for today in spite of our trials and sufferings!

You might be saying to yourself, “This all sounds wonderful, just not possible.”

Let me close with 2 challenges in application.

Application 1: The Joy Of The Lord Is Your Strength

From Nehemiah 8:10

The joy we are talking about today is not something we can conjure up.

It’s source is from the Lord and only He can give it to us, but we have to receive it.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...

The only qualifier is obedience in being thankful.

Application 2: Jesus Is For You, Today!

Luke 2:11 NASB95

for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Even though we are over 2000 years removed from the historical event.

Jesus is not just something that happened in the past or is someone coming in the future, Jesus is for today.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The Good News of the Coming Of Jesus brought comfort and joy to them, then.

The Good News of the Coming of Jesus again should bring us comfort and joy, now.

The truth of this statement stands today.

Jesus is your Savior for you today.

Hope is for you today.

Peace is for you today.

And Joy is for you today.

Because Jesus is for you today!

Altar Call:

Where in your life do you need Jesus to set you free, today?

Where in your life do you need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, now?

Where do you need His hope, peace, and joy in your life?

Let Jesus be your peace and hope, your comfort and joy.

Rejoice In What He Has Done - vs 3

Rejoice In What He Will Do - vs 4

Rejoice In What He Is Doing - vs 5

Rejoice That The Trial Will Mature You - vs 7

Rejoice That Suffering as a Christian Brings Blessings - 4:12-14

Be Thankful Through It All

Receive Comfort and Joy in Jesus, Today!

Altar Call: You’ve Already Won

Closing Song: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (vs 1, 3, 4, 7)