Fruit of the Spirit - Joy

Welcome!

Have you ever had a bad day? Silly question, right? Discover a leak in your ceiling? Find a pool of water on your floor? Find out one of the pipes in your wall is spraying water everywhere?

Your car every break down on you? Multiple cars have issues at the same time?

Ever find out someone in your life is sick - seriously sick?

Ever have any troubles in a relationship? Maybe in your marriage; maybe a close friend or family member; maybe a teammate, co-worker, or boss?

Have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever felt like quitting? Have you ever felt like there was no hope - things would never change, it will always be this way, I don’t know how we’re going to get through this?

Ever feel like God is silent? Ever feel like He’s distant?

I’m sure there’s a category I missed - another reason for you to feel like giving up or giving in.

Aren’t you glad you came to church?

By a show of hands this morning, who would say they have had troubles? Who would be bold enough to say, I’ve experienced all of them!

Well, if you have, then this message is for you, cause we’re going to be talking about JOY!

As a reminder, we’re in this series on the Holy Spirit. We’ve talked about being filled, talked about how the Spirit works, talked about how the Spirit produces these virtues in our lives, and now we are working through each virtue. Last week we talked about LOVE - Love Acts; Love Sacrifices, Love Gives!

Galatians 5:22-23 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

I don’t know about you, but these things and JOY don’t seem to be synonymous. They’re really not like peas & carrots, but I want to share with you what God’s Word has to say about how to have JOY IN THE MIDST OF OUR TROUBLES.

First of all, and probably most importantly… I want you to know that it’s possible. It’s possible to be experiencing troubles and challenging times and find JOY in the midst.

James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

Let me read this passages to prove the point…

2 Corinthians 6:4–10 (NLT)

We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.

5We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.

6We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.

7We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense.

8We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors.

9We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed.

10Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.

The apostle Paul knew what it meant to be joyful. Even when things weren’t going his way, even when his heart ached, he said, “we always have joy!”

In order to understand HOW this is possible, that we can find joy in the midst of our troubles, we are going to look at Psalm 30:1-5.

#1. The first way we can find joy is by REMEMBERING.

Psalm 30:1-3 David, The writer of this Psalm says,

1I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.

2O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health.

3You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

God is a god of rescue, restoration, & redemption!

Isaiah 43:1–5 (NLT)

1But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.

2When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.

3For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...

4...you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.

5“Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

As if Isaiah is saying, “Don’t forget the past and where we’ve come from. Remember what God has done for you. Remember how He has worked on your behalf. Remember how good He has been. Remember from where you have come from / where he has rescued you from.

Remember - “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

If this isn’t worth celebrating. If this isn’t worth rejoicing for, I’m not sure what is.

How about you? Do you need reminded today of God’s goodness and what he has done for you? What can you look back on to be able to find Joy in season of your life?

#2. The second way we can find joy is by PRAISING.

Psalm 30:4

4Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.

Psalm 148:1–6 (NLT)

1Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise him from the skies!

2Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all the armies of heaven!

3Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars!

4Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!

5Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being.

There are times in my life when I don’t feel like praising. But one of the greatest ways to find JOY in the midst of trouble is to praise your way through it. It’s hard to be down and out when you are praising.

Here’s the deal… There are so many things that we can praise Him for...

When we praise God, we are affirming that He is greater and is in control of all things. That He is worthy to be praised even in dark times.

How about you? What are things in your life that you can quickly think of to praise God for?

#3. The third way we find joy is by TRUSTING in God.

Psalm 30:5

5For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

We trust and believe that JOY comes with the morning. Troubles are temporary. Weeping is temporary.

Romans 8:35–39 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

36(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)

37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

39No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I trust those who I have a relationship with. Chris can come up to me and share something completely off the wall (and he does sometimes), and I will consider trusting him because we have a relationship.

But you could be a complete stranger and tell me an out-right fact, and I would question it because I don’t know you.

If I want to trust God more - even trusting Him in times of trouble, I need to grow/strengthen my relationship with him through prayer and reading the Word.

How about you? Is your trust in God growing? If not, check how your relationship with Him is growing. What are you trusting Him with - everything?

I think for me personally, the past 4 months of ministry compared to the previous 10 years, have been the most trying. I confess that there have been times where I’ve not found JOY in the troubles. It’s easier to see and focus on the BIG, FAT, PROBLEM - instead of...

Remembering

Praising

Trusting

Philippians 4:4

4Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!

Thanks for giving!

Reminder that it’s our last Saturday service

July 5th - Sunday 9am & 11am

Dismiss