True Joy
Advent 2019 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 8:52
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· 25 viewsShort message during Awana Christmas Program
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Welcome
Welcome
Announcements in the bulletin.
If you would like to help support the church financially, we have a box at the back.
We are going to begin our program this morning with some special music.
Intro
Intro
Special thanks to Becky for organizing the program!
As a church we have been celebrating advent -
Advent is the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas, each week a candles is lit on the advent wreath.
We have looked at the preparation for Jesus birth, both God’s and ours.
This weak we light the candle of Joy.
Advent is a cue for people to prepare for the arrival of Jesus.
Advent is meant to be a time of contemplating the reality of God becoming a baby and all the vulnerabilities that come with that truth.
Advent is our call to worship and prepare ourselves in anticipation for the second coming of Christ.
Advent is important because it creates a greater, all-around awareness and underscores the significance of the Christmas story.
Advent is important because it creates a runway for celebrating Jesus’ birth leading to Christmas Day – not just celebrating on the day itself.
We don’t find the word advent in the bible.
Advent comes from the Latin word - Adventus - which means coming.
Advent, and the different candles we light, are meant to point us to one thing.
To Jesus Christ. The one and only Son of God who came to pay the price for the sins of those who place their trust in Him.
So far we have looked at the hope that comes because of Jesus birth.
Jesus birth brought hope into the world.
Hope that because of Jesus, as says the darkness is passing away and the true light is shining.
Hope that if you look for Jesus, you will see that true light shining in the darkness.
8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
We have looked at the preparation for Jesus birth, both God’s and ours.
God was at work for thousands of years, preparing a nation, preparing the world for Jesus coming.
25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
We are to prepare ourselves as well to meet our creator.
34 “Be on your guard, so that your minds are not dulled from carousing, drunkenness, and worries of life, or that day will come on you unexpectedly 35 like a trap. For it will come on all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 But be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”
This weak we light the candle of Joy.
This weak we light the candle of Joy.
What is joy?
the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires:
a state of happiness or felicity: BLISS
3: a source or cause of delight
Joy is a sense of pleasure.
I would like us all to think for a moment, what brings you joy?
Where do you find true joy?
Often in our lives we find joy in stuff.
A new phone, new car/truck, new computer, new gun, new clothes, whatever it may be.
Eventually that joy dissipates though doesn’t it. It becomes less and less.
The newness wears off.
So you start seeking something else.
This can even happen in our relationships can’t it.
We can often find joy in our children and families as well, but eventually, even our closest family members will disappoint us.
Christianity is a religion of joy.
Real joy comes from God, who has invaded us and liberated us from eternal death and sadness—who has given us hope and joy because He has poured out His love within our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us ().
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Joy comes from God, not from within.
When we look within, we just get sad.
We have joy only when we look outside ourselves to Christ.
Without Christ, true joy is not only hard to find, it’s impossible to find.
The world desperately seeks joy, but in all the wrong places.
However, our joy comes because Christ sought us, found us, and keeps us.
We cannot have true joy apart from Christ, because it doesn’t exist.
True Joy is not something we can conjure up.
Joy is not something we can conjure up.
As I said earlier, stuff may brings us joy for a time, but it is fleeting. It does not last.
We have to continue to find more, different, newer, better things try to fill that void.
Joy isn’t the absence of sadness—it’s the presence of God, the Holy Spirit.
And although the Holy Spirit produces joy within us, He often does so by humbling us so that we would take our eyes off ourselves and fix our eyes on Christ.
Real joy exists even amid real sadness, and real joy doesn’t always mean there’s a smile on our faces.
Joy comes in repentance, turning from our old selfish selves and finding forgiveness, by daily looking to Christ and living for His glory, not by looking to self and living for our glory.
But if we live each day bearing the shame of yesterday and the anxieties of tomorrow, we will never experience the joys of today.
The greatest joy in this life is to know that our greatest joy is not in this life but in the one to come.
We live each day in light of our hope for the future, when Christ “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” ().
And when we see Christ, He will dry every tear from our eyes—not just our tears of sadness, but our tears of joy as well. Otherwise, we would never be able to see Him.
Our children have helped us to see how Jesus came into this world.
In a few months, we will celebrate Easter, how Jesus died, once for all, to take the place of those who place their faith in Him.
I wold like to challenge you this Christmas season, have you found the true Joy?
Mark 11:28
28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
