WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.419 Real joy is not dependent on circumstances. It 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:05.599 can be a steady source of strength, no matter 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:08.240 what you're facing. Discover how joy is more 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.900 than a feeling, it's a way of life. Order your 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:13.539 copy of The Strength of Joy by Dean and Jeffrey 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:16.620 Forrest, now available on Amazon and Kindle. 00:00:18.059 --> 00:00:22.940 Week number two in our series that we are going 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:27.039 and looking at spiritual growth. Everybody say 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:30.059 spiritual growth. Who was here last Sunday? Wave 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:33.600 at me if you were here last Sunday. And that 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:37.520 means about half of us were not. That's okay. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.579 Because you will understand what's going on as 00:00:41.579 --> 00:00:44.640 we continue. I promise. We don't leave you in 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:47.479 the fog if you weren't here a previous week in 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:50.740 the series. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2 00:00:50.740 --> 00:00:57.399 .14, it says this, Does not receive the things 00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:01.579 of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:06.519 to him. Nor can he know them. Because they are 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:10.819 spiritually discerned. Everybody say natural 00:01:10.819 --> 00:01:16.319 man. That's about half of you. 1 Corinthians 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.959 3 verse 1 through 3 says this. And I brethren. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.000 Paul talking to the believers in Corinth. I, 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.579 brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:32.980 people, but as carnal, as to babes in Christ. 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:37.239 I fed you with milk and not with solid food, 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:41.900 for until now you were not able to receive it. 00:01:42.180 --> 00:01:47.439 And even now you are still not able, for you 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:52.120 are still carnal, for where there is envy, strife, 00:01:52.590 --> 00:01:56.849 and divisions among you? Are you not carnal and 00:01:56.849 --> 00:02:04.329 behaving like mere men? So in this text out of 00:02:04.329 --> 00:02:08.509 Corinthians, we see three types of people. Three 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:11.569 types of people found in 1 Corinthians chapter 00:02:11.569 --> 00:02:16.810 2 and 3. And this covers everyone. The first 00:02:16.810 --> 00:02:21.669 type of person is a natural person. Everybody 00:02:21.669 --> 00:02:27.250 say natural. A natural person is one who is unrenewed 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:30.990 and is just led by their flesh and led by their 00:02:30.990 --> 00:02:35.990 sensual nature. They're not born again. They're 00:02:35.990 --> 00:02:39.289 not in a relationship with Christ. They are not 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:44.909 in Christ. They are still in sin. So that's a 00:02:44.909 --> 00:02:49.969 natural person. All they've got to go by to live 00:02:49.969 --> 00:02:53.629 their life is living by what feels good or by 00:02:53.629 --> 00:02:58.270 what seems right in their own eyes. That's all 00:02:58.270 --> 00:03:03.090 they are, natural. Then we see carnal people. 00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:07.629 Everybody say carnal. Carnal people are Christians. 00:03:10.330 --> 00:03:16.020 But they still live like a natural person. There 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:17.879 hasn't been any transformation. There hasn't 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:22.740 been any change. It's a Christian who still lives 00:03:22.740 --> 00:03:29.000 according to their flesh. It's immaturity. They 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:33.759 live on a childhood level because they will not 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:37.860 feed on the Word of God and grow. They will not 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:43.439 receive the Word of God. I like to put it this 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.419 way. They just want to rub a little bit of Jesus 00:03:45.419 --> 00:03:49.939 on their life. Right? Like when you go to the 00:03:49.939 --> 00:03:51.699 pool, you better put on a little bit of sunscreen. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.319 You don't wear it all the time just when you 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:58.560 go to the pool. So carnal people just rub on 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:00.240 a little bit of Jesus when they go to church 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:03.599 every once in a while. And Jesus doesn't really 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:08.060 impact their life outside of their time in church. 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:11.740 It's a carnal person. And then we see spiritual 00:04:11.740 --> 00:04:15.340 people. Everybody say spiritual. Spiritual people 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:19.120 are Christians, followers of Christ, who are 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:23.100 being led by the Spirit. The Bible tells us that 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:24.879 we're supposed to be led by the Spirit. We're 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:29.240 supposed to walk in the Spirit. Christians who 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:31.759 are led by the Spirit through the Word of God. 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:36.660 Now this is a growing Christian. You could call 00:04:36.660 --> 00:04:41.689 it that. A growing Christian. It's not that they've 00:04:41.689 --> 00:04:46.709 arrived at any spiritual maturity level and then 00:04:46.709 --> 00:04:48.810 they can just coast the rest of their life out. 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:53.529 This is a growing Christian who regularly receives 00:04:53.529 --> 00:04:58.629 the Word of God and walks in the Spirit. That's 00:04:58.629 --> 00:05:02.750 a spiritual person. Now, this series is on spiritual 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:07.490 growth, so where does spiritual growth occur? 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:12.319 Where does spiritual growth occur? How do we 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:19.939 move from being carnal to being spiritual? 1 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:23.939 Thessalonians 5 .23 tells us something about 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:27.480 us in general. It says, Now may the God of peace 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:34.160 make you holy in every way. The word holy means 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:38.519 set apart for God. Now may the God of peace make 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:42.339 you holy in every way. Listen, and may your whole 00:05:42.339 --> 00:05:51.759 spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:56.980 our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. So we see 00:05:56.980 --> 00:05:58.680 that there are three types of people, and then 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:03.779 in this text we find out that we're made up of 00:06:03.779 --> 00:06:12.649 three different... Everybody in this room. Let's 00:06:12.649 --> 00:06:15.730 look at Hebrews 4 .12. For the word of God is 00:06:15.730 --> 00:06:20.350 alive and powerful. I'm just not what I'm preaching 00:06:20.350 --> 00:06:22.430 about. Let's get amen right there. The word of 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:26.310 God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than 00:06:26.310 --> 00:06:30.209 the sharpest two -edged sword, cutting between 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:37.389 soul and spirit. Between joint and marrow, it 00:06:37.389 --> 00:06:44.290 exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. We 00:06:44.290 --> 00:06:49.290 see that, I say man in general, mankind, people 00:06:49.290 --> 00:06:53.069 that God created, man is a three -part being. 00:06:55.529 --> 00:06:58.189 Did you know that you are a three -part being? 00:07:01.189 --> 00:07:04.819 You are a spirit. Everybody say, I am a spirit. 00:07:05.779 --> 00:07:09.860 I'm a spirit. We see this in this text that we 00:07:09.860 --> 00:07:12.600 just read, right? In both of those texts, we 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:18.339 see it. And God says that He created us in His 00:07:18.339 --> 00:07:24.060 image, right? How many of you know that God is 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:30.720 spirit? A spirit class of being, right? There 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:34.319 are three spirit classes of being that we know. 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:38.300 There is God. There are angels. They're in the 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:45.220 spirit class. And then there are people. Me and 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:51.040 you that God created. We are spirit beings. That's 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:55.699 what sets us apart from any other animal or any 00:07:55.699 --> 00:07:59.910 other living thing in the world. We are spirits. 00:08:02.589 --> 00:08:08.029 God is spirit. We're made in his image. And we 00:08:08.029 --> 00:08:15.250 have a soul. We are a spirit. We have a soul. 00:08:16.189 --> 00:08:20.910 And we live in a body. Do I need to read that 00:08:20.910 --> 00:08:23.029 verse again or are you with me? Is everybody 00:08:23.029 --> 00:08:25.870 with me? I can back up and read it again if you 00:08:25.870 --> 00:08:27.819 say not. Wait a minute, I hadn't heard anything 00:08:27.819 --> 00:08:34.039 about that before. So, we're a three -part being. 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:38.500 We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:47.940 in a body. Now, our spirit comes alive at salvation. 00:08:47.940 --> 00:08:52.639 Our spirit comes alive unto God at salvation. 00:08:53.720 --> 00:08:57.389 In the fall, in the garden with Adam and Eve 00:08:57.389 --> 00:09:01.850 in the fall, God said, the day you eat of it, 00:09:01.850 --> 00:09:07.309 you will surely die. Right? So, this death is 00:09:07.309 --> 00:09:09.830 talking about not being connected to God. Their 00:09:09.830 --> 00:09:12.529 heart didn't quit beating and they didn't drop 00:09:12.529 --> 00:09:15.870 dead. Did they? I mean, they ate the fruit, but 00:09:15.870 --> 00:09:19.070 they didn't drop dead. But something happened. 00:09:19.269 --> 00:09:23.409 There was a disconnect in their fellowship with 00:09:23.409 --> 00:09:27.919 God. But when we move from being in sin to being 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.799 in Christ at salvation, when the Holy Spirit 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:36.440 moves us from, again, in sin to being in Christ, 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:43.059 our spirit comes alive. We're born again. Okay? 00:09:43.940 --> 00:09:48.639 Spirit comes alive at salvation. And your spirit 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:55.840 at salvation is united with Christ. At that point, 00:09:55.860 --> 00:10:01.259 you put on the righteousness of God in Christ 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:05.480 Jesus, the Bible says. So at that point, you 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:11.559 are clothed in Christ's righteousness. Jesus' 00:10:11.740 --> 00:10:14.840 righteousness becomes your righteousness. Jesus' 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.799 victory becomes your victory. Jesus' life becomes 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:25.470 your life and your spirit. And you're complete 00:10:25.470 --> 00:10:31.950 in Him. Everything that He did, everything that 00:10:31.950 --> 00:10:37.169 He made available, because everything He did 00:10:37.169 --> 00:10:40.669 in this earth was to make things available for 00:10:40.669 --> 00:10:46.070 His followers. He didn't do it for Himself. He 00:10:46.070 --> 00:10:47.789 didn't have to come here and die on the cross. 00:10:48.409 --> 00:10:50.250 He didn't have to do that for Himself. He did 00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:56.289 it for us. So everything that Jesus purchased 00:10:56.289 --> 00:10:59.429 with His blood, everything that He made available, 00:10:59.590 --> 00:11:04.070 everything that we find out that we have in Christ, 00:11:04.250 --> 00:11:13.250 who we are in Christ, that all is ours at salvation, 00:11:13.549 --> 00:11:21.009 as far as our spirit is concerned. But, a lot 00:11:21.009 --> 00:11:26.899 of times, We don't even know what that is. It 00:11:26.899 --> 00:11:28.980 takes spiritual growth to even find out what 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:35.360 that is. What is available? I mean, you can spend 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:39.200 50 years in church and still not know what's 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:48.019 available. Just thought about it this morning. 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:51.860 I've been in church for all 60 years of my life, 00:11:51.899 --> 00:11:53.899 but I've been a follower of Christ now for 51 00:11:53.899 --> 00:12:01.320 years of my life. That's a long time. So, our 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:05.759 spirit is complete in Christ. Everything's available. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:13.460 We have it. But our soul has to get involved 00:12:13.460 --> 00:12:19.740 for it to actually be reality in our lives. We 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:22.500 are a spirit. We have a soul. Our soul is comprised 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:26.799 of three more things. I don't know why we're 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:31.039 in threes so much. Our soul is comprised of our 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:36.299 mind or our thought life. Our soul is comprised 00:12:36.299 --> 00:12:43.919 of our will, which is our desires. And our soul 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:47.779 is comprised of our emotions or our feelings. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.740 One thing about us, we're always thinking something. 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:56.639 I don't know what you're thinking right now. 00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:58.240 Maybe it's good that I don't know what you're 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.799 thinking right now. Well, our thought life is 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:07.379 always constant unless we're unconscious. Sometimes 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:09.500 even when we're asleep, our thought life is running 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:14.440 when we have dreams, right? We always have desires. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.799 We have a will. We know what we want and we know 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:31.700 what we desire. We all have emotions. Now, sometimes 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:33.600 when you hear me talk about emotions, you might 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:37.159 think that I think emotions are always bad. But 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:39.360 a lot of times we wind up talking about the negative 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:45.700 emotions. But there are good emotions. There 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:51.120 are godly emotions. But our soul is comprised 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:54.100 of our thought life, our desires, and our feelings. 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:01.019 Now, where does spiritual growth occur? Well, 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:04.220 the difference between a carnal person and a 00:14:04.220 --> 00:14:10.919 spiritual person is spiritual growth of the soul 00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:17.039 or the lack thereof. We'll say that again. The 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.299 difference between a carnal person and a spiritual 00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:22.820 person is spiritual growth of the soul because 00:14:22.820 --> 00:14:25.610 our spirit is already complete. and has everything 00:14:25.610 --> 00:14:33.629 in Christ. But we've lived our lives up until 00:14:33.629 --> 00:14:37.149 the point that we came to Christ, just living 00:14:37.149 --> 00:14:43.049 a soulish and a fleshly life. And we have to 00:14:43.049 --> 00:14:47.269 make a turn to grow spiritually. We have to make 00:14:47.269 --> 00:14:53.159 a turn. Our spirit has to... be the director 00:14:53.159 --> 00:15:00.240 of our soul. And the more your spirit has control 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:03.299 over your soul, you are a spirit being, you have 00:15:03.299 --> 00:15:06.360 a soul, you live in a body, the more you allow 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:10.320 the Holy Spirit connected completely in unity 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.080 with the Holy Spirit, the more you connect your 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:16.460 spirit with your soul, and your spirit has dominance 00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:20.120 over your soul, the more spiritual you become. 00:15:22.889 --> 00:15:28.389 Some of you are looking at me strange. Unlike 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:32.289 physical growth, spiritual growth doesn't happen 00:15:32.289 --> 00:15:37.049 automatically. It doesn't just automatically 00:15:37.049 --> 00:15:41.029 happen. When a baby is born, I mean, the baby 00:15:41.029 --> 00:15:43.389 grows up, you know, by the time they're five. 00:15:44.330 --> 00:15:46.809 You know, unless there's some genetic thing going 00:15:46.809 --> 00:15:48.669 on where they stay a baby their whole life. I 00:15:48.669 --> 00:15:50.970 think I've heard that before or heard of a movie 00:15:50.970 --> 00:15:53.110 about that or something. I've never seen it or 00:15:53.110 --> 00:15:56.110 experienced it. But unless there's major genetic 00:15:56.110 --> 00:16:05.610 problems, physically, people just grow. Somebody 00:16:05.610 --> 00:16:09.870 smile or something. They're preaching hard plowing 00:16:09.870 --> 00:16:14.169 today. Don't make it hard plowing. Unlike physical 00:16:14.169 --> 00:16:16.289 growth, spiritual growth doesn't happen automatically. 00:16:19.429 --> 00:16:24.230 You could be a Christian for 50 years and still 00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:28.629 not grow spiritually. You can be a Christian 00:16:28.629 --> 00:16:35.809 for one year and grow spiritually, have a lot 00:16:35.809 --> 00:16:45.480 of growth. It's not about time. So, how is spiritual 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:52.980 growth measured? How do we measure it? Did anyone's 00:16:52.980 --> 00:16:56.340 parents, as you were growing, you had a doorway 00:16:56.340 --> 00:17:01.399 maybe in the kid's bedroom? And every year, you'd 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:04.160 stand up against that door, maybe put a mark 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:08.819 on the door and put how old you were. And then 00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:14.130 next year, wow, look how much you've grown. So 00:17:14.130 --> 00:17:20.170 we can measure physical growth by just drawing 00:17:20.170 --> 00:17:24.630 on a doorpost. But how can you measure spiritual 00:17:24.630 --> 00:17:28.990 growth? What are the markers of spiritual growth? 00:17:31.130 --> 00:17:35.069 Luke 6, verses 43 and 44 says this, For a good 00:17:35.069 --> 00:17:41.150 tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad 00:17:41.150 --> 00:17:47.529 tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:54.829 by its fruit. So spiritual fruit is the marker 00:17:54.829 --> 00:18:00.190 for spiritual growth. Now, I've been in some 00:18:00.190 --> 00:18:01.950 churches before where they thought spiritual 00:18:01.950 --> 00:18:05.470 gifts was the marker of spiritual growth. But 00:18:05.470 --> 00:18:11.529 a spiritual gift, a gift is just a gift. It doesn't 00:18:11.529 --> 00:18:13.869 show maturity. How many of you have seen someone 00:18:13.869 --> 00:18:16.829 operate in a spiritual gift that you find out 00:18:16.829 --> 00:18:19.369 the fruit of their life? They weren't very spiritually 00:18:19.369 --> 00:18:21.589 mature, but they were operating in a spiritual 00:18:21.589 --> 00:18:28.089 gift. I mean, I've seen it. So every tree is 00:18:28.089 --> 00:18:32.829 known by its own fruit. Here's something about 00:18:32.829 --> 00:18:36.309 fruit. It's a process. Everybody say a process. 00:18:37.150 --> 00:18:43.480 Spiritual growth is a process. And we all should 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:48.880 be in that process. Fruit, first of all, it's 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:52.460 got to bloom. There's got to be a bloom. Then 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:58.559 it's got to grow. Then it matures. Then it ripens. 00:19:00.579 --> 00:19:04.740 So there's a process. You don't get fruit. You 00:19:04.740 --> 00:19:08.420 don't just get ripe fruit just pop on the tree. 00:19:10.599 --> 00:19:15.859 We got Caitlin a lime tree. Is it lemon? It's 00:19:15.859 --> 00:19:18.940 a lemon. Lemon tree. Lemon, lime, what's the 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:24.380 difference? Until you eat it. We got Caitlin 00:19:24.380 --> 00:19:26.859 a lemon tree for your birthday one year, right? 00:19:28.099 --> 00:19:33.140 And that first year, it had a lot of blooms and 00:19:33.140 --> 00:19:35.619 had a lot of fruit. I don't know if they matured, 00:19:35.619 --> 00:19:40.210 if they ever really worked. Now what year are 00:19:40.210 --> 00:19:45.470 we in? Like the third year? And you think, man, 00:19:45.470 --> 00:19:49.170 I wish I would hurry up. Sure would like to get 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:52.910 some lemons off of this tree. Sure would like 00:19:52.910 --> 00:19:58.230 for that fruit to come. Fruit blooms, grows, 00:19:58.410 --> 00:20:02.990 matures, and ripens. We need to know this. We're 00:20:02.990 --> 00:20:08.880 all a work in progress. Look at... Look at the 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:11.200 person beside you and say, I'm a work in progress. 00:20:13.099 --> 00:20:19.259 You don't necessarily have to say you're a mess, 00:20:19.380 --> 00:20:25.819 but we're a work in progress. And listen, we 00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:29.859 should all, if we're growing spiritually, we 00:20:29.859 --> 00:20:33.200 should all be constantly progressing in that 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:37.359 work in progress. We don't need to stall out. 00:20:39.690 --> 00:20:41.869 I mentioned this last week, but sometimes people 00:20:41.869 --> 00:20:47.549 stall out as spiritual teenagers. I don't know 00:20:47.549 --> 00:20:49.329 if everybody knows what that means. If you weren't 00:20:49.329 --> 00:20:50.990 here last week, maybe you've never heard that 00:20:50.990 --> 00:20:53.049 term. I don't know if I'm the one that created 00:20:53.049 --> 00:20:55.650 it or what. I can't remember if I heard somebody 00:20:55.650 --> 00:20:58.230 else say it or if it just hit me one day. But 00:20:58.230 --> 00:21:00.910 listen, don't get stalled out as a spiritual 00:21:00.910 --> 00:21:06.329 teenager. Most of us can look back at times in 00:21:06.329 --> 00:21:10.630 our life when we hit those teen years. I'm sorry, 00:21:10.710 --> 00:21:16.109 how old are you? 10? Teen years are coming. So 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:21.049 I'm going to give you some insight. 10 going 00:21:21.049 --> 00:21:26.029 on 20. Okay. I can't remember what year it was, 00:21:26.089 --> 00:21:27.869 but I remember when I was a teenager, all of 00:21:27.869 --> 00:21:32.269 a sudden, I thought my parents didn't know much. 00:21:34.069 --> 00:21:37.970 I thought I knew more than my parents. I knew 00:21:37.970 --> 00:21:41.490 more about... what was best for me and what I 00:21:41.490 --> 00:21:45.269 wanted. I knew I was smarter than they were, 00:21:45.349 --> 00:21:52.529 I thought. My parents aren't with me anymore, 00:21:52.710 --> 00:21:59.450 but when I look back, I have to say, they were 00:21:59.450 --> 00:22:03.250 a lot smarter than I thought they were. They 00:22:03.250 --> 00:22:06.369 had my best interests at heart, even though I 00:22:06.369 --> 00:22:10.359 wanted something else. So we're all a work in 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:12.559 progress. Don't get stuck. Don't ever get stuck. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:18.299 We should always be constantly progressing in 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:24.940 our spiritual growth. And this series is about 00:22:24.940 --> 00:22:30.220 self -examination. We're not going through this 00:22:30.220 --> 00:22:32.900 so that you can look at your family members or 00:22:32.900 --> 00:22:35.240 your neighbors and say, well, they're really 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:40.690 spiritually immature. We're not going through 00:22:40.690 --> 00:22:43.109 this so we can compare ourselves to each other 00:22:43.109 --> 00:22:47.470 and say, you know, I think I'm a little bit more 00:22:47.470 --> 00:22:50.730 spiritually mature than JT, but Michelle has 00:22:50.730 --> 00:22:54.609 passed me. That's not what we're doing. We're 00:22:54.609 --> 00:22:58.450 not doing it for comparison. We're doing it for 00:22:58.450 --> 00:23:02.230 self -examination. Because here's what I figured 00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:05.990 out. I always think that I'm more spiritual than 00:23:05.990 --> 00:23:10.059 I actually am. I always think that I'm more spiritually 00:23:10.059 --> 00:23:16.019 mature than I actually am. So when we look at 00:23:16.019 --> 00:23:25.000 these measures, we can say, maybe I need to start 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:32.960 focusing on progressing again. Galatians 5 .22, 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.240 everybody say fruit. The fruit of the Spirit, 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:41.039 spiritual fruit, is love. That's what we talked 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.220 about last week. We talked about agape and went 00:23:43.220 --> 00:23:47.519 through what the word agape means and how it 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:49.519 impacts our lives and how it should be evident 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:52.980 and increasing in our lives because the world 00:23:52.980 --> 00:23:55.759 will know that we are Christ followers by our 00:23:55.759 --> 00:24:02.720 love. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Everybody 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:07.730 say love. And then the next one is joy. Everybody 00:24:07.730 --> 00:24:14.710 say joy. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. You 00:24:14.710 --> 00:24:16.210 know what? It would have been real easy for me 00:24:16.210 --> 00:24:18.230 today to just pull out our book that we just 00:24:18.230 --> 00:24:21.549 released on the strength of joy and just go right 00:24:21.549 --> 00:24:24.210 through there and just lay out all those chapters 00:24:24.210 --> 00:24:26.390 in the book that Jeffrey and I just released. 00:24:26.789 --> 00:24:32.490 But I'm like, I don't need to do that. I don't 00:24:32.490 --> 00:24:35.109 need to pull up some previous message on joy. 00:24:35.769 --> 00:24:39.970 Here we go. Look at the person beside you and 00:24:39.970 --> 00:24:45.069 say, here we go. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. 00:24:46.910 --> 00:24:52.890 Joy. Philippians 1 .25 says this. This is Paul 00:24:52.890 --> 00:24:58.430 talking. And he's in prison under house arrest 00:24:58.430 --> 00:25:01.940 in Rome. He's talking and he says this. He says, 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:04.160 you know, because he's going through this thing. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:06.059 I'm not reading all the verses around it. He's 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:07.740 going through this thing. He's saying, you know 00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:15.400 what? I really would like to go to heaven. You 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:21.480 know? I'm looking forward to heaven. But whether 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:24.640 I'm in heaven or whether I'm in here, you know, 00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:27.920 I'm with Christ or I'm in Christ. So I'm good 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:31.309 either way. And then he says this, I'm convinced 00:25:31.309 --> 00:25:37.430 that I will remain alive so I can continue to 00:25:37.430 --> 00:25:41.910 help all of you grow. Everybody say grow. So 00:25:41.910 --> 00:25:44.569 I can continue to help all of you grow spiritually. 00:25:46.869 --> 00:25:50.089 Everybody in Philippi, he wants to help them 00:25:50.089 --> 00:25:57.269 grow. And how is he going to know that they're 00:25:57.269 --> 00:26:03.299 growing? I'm convinced that I will remain alive 00:26:03.299 --> 00:26:05.740 so I can continue to help all of you grow and 00:26:05.740 --> 00:26:15.099 experience the joy of your faith. Experience 00:26:15.099 --> 00:26:19.640 the joy of your faith. Paul can look at these 00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:21.359 people in Philippi and say, well, they're growing, 00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:24.339 but you know, they're coming up short on joy. 00:26:25.079 --> 00:26:27.200 They're coming up short on the fruit of joy. 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:30.859 And I say this every once in a while, but... 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:34.619 You know, if you stand up here and look at people 00:26:34.619 --> 00:26:37.960 who come to church, I've been in over 800 churches. 00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:41.400 You stand up here and look at the faces of people 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:44.779 who are rejoicing in the Lord. This is the day 00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:46.079 the Lord has made. We're going to rejoice and 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:48.299 be glad. They look like their mama raised them 00:26:48.299 --> 00:26:55.279 on lime juice instead of milk. Where's the joy? 00:26:57.480 --> 00:26:59.940 Maybe Paul remembered talking to the Philippians. 00:27:00.490 --> 00:27:02.450 Maybe they looked like they had been raised on 00:27:02.450 --> 00:27:04.609 lime juice. And now he's saying, look, I've got 00:27:04.609 --> 00:27:08.430 to stay and help you grow. Because there's something 00:27:08.430 --> 00:27:11.029 that you need to experience that you're not experiencing. 00:27:11.849 --> 00:27:15.809 You need to experience the joy of your faith. 00:27:18.049 --> 00:27:27.210 You need some joy. Sometimes, I just don't know. 00:27:30.350 --> 00:27:33.730 Sometimes church gets too serious. Everybody's 00:27:33.730 --> 00:27:43.349 just serious. We've got to get serious. But if 00:27:43.349 --> 00:27:46.750 we don't have joy, something's missing. Come 00:27:46.750 --> 00:27:49.230 on. If we don't have joy, something's missing. 00:27:49.549 --> 00:27:53.589 We're missing something very important if there's 00:27:53.589 --> 00:27:58.910 no joy. Now that word joy in the Greek is kara. 00:27:59.889 --> 00:28:02.769 Chora, I guess. I've got to put the right accent 00:28:02.769 --> 00:28:04.990 on the right syllable. Or you won't understand. 00:28:05.349 --> 00:28:09.329 For all you Greek speakers in the room. Chora. 00:28:11.750 --> 00:28:15.509 And here's the definition. Joy. Cheerfulness. 00:28:16.470 --> 00:28:21.890 Delight. Gladness. And even in the New American 00:28:21.890 --> 00:28:24.529 Standard Concordance, because I went to the Lasical 00:28:24.529 --> 00:28:26.130 Concordance, Strong's Concordance, New American 00:28:26.130 --> 00:28:29.019 Standard Concordance. And in New American Center, 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:35.319 it says it's great exceeding joy. Great exceeding 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:41.380 joy, cheerfulness, delight, gladness. Is any 00:28:41.380 --> 00:28:47.839 of that invisible? Can you have that and people 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:56.019 around you not know it? Hello? Come on. Can you 00:28:56.019 --> 00:29:01.109 be cheerful? And then somebody look at you and 00:29:01.109 --> 00:29:05.410 say, well, I don't see any cheerfulness. Can 00:29:05.410 --> 00:29:21.650 you be glad? See, joy is always visible. I used 00:29:21.650 --> 00:29:24.829 to say, because I heard somebody that I thought 00:29:24.829 --> 00:29:27.250 was more spiritual than me, I heard him preach 00:29:27.250 --> 00:29:31.099 one day. And he said, now happiness is like the 00:29:31.099 --> 00:29:36.259 rapids and the part of the river that you can 00:29:36.259 --> 00:29:38.759 see. You know, it's always moving. Happiness 00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.900 is something that you can see. But joy is that 00:29:42.900 --> 00:29:52.779 deep, deep current that you can't see. Well, 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:55.000 you know, I thought it sounded real spiritual. 00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:59.390 I even repeated it. Until I got to studying up 00:29:59.390 --> 00:30:12.490 a little bit more. You glad that I studied? Here's 00:30:12.490 --> 00:30:17.549 what C .S. Lewis said. Joy is the serious business 00:30:17.549 --> 00:30:25.410 of heaven. Heaven is a joyous place. Heaven is 00:30:25.410 --> 00:30:30.930 a happy place. Heaven is a rejoicing place. And 00:30:30.930 --> 00:30:33.170 if that's what eternity is going to be, don't 00:30:33.170 --> 00:30:35.329 you think God wants us to experience some of 00:30:35.329 --> 00:30:42.769 that here? I think so. Romans 14, 17. The kingdom 00:30:42.769 --> 00:30:46.390 of God, the eternal rule and reign of God, both 00:30:46.390 --> 00:30:49.069 in the earth and both in heaven, the kingdom 00:30:49.069 --> 00:30:53.029 of God is not eating and drinking. Now what does 00:30:53.029 --> 00:30:54.670 that mean? It means it's not about the rules. 00:30:55.980 --> 00:30:59.000 Everybody say, not about rules. The kingdom of 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:03.700 God is not about having a list of rules to be 00:31:03.700 --> 00:31:07.220 right with God. It's not what the kingdom is 00:31:07.220 --> 00:31:11.539 about. Even though I spent years and even decades 00:31:11.539 --> 00:31:16.940 of my life thinking that Christianity was about 00:31:16.940 --> 00:31:19.359 trying to keep a set of rules. I've got to do 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:21.319 this, I've got to do that, I've got to do this, 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:23.890 I've got to do that. and I can't do this, and 00:31:23.890 --> 00:31:29.849 I can't do that, and I can't do this. Anybody 00:31:29.849 --> 00:31:34.829 experience that? The kingdom of God is not about 00:31:34.829 --> 00:31:42.269 the rules. It's about righteousness. Everybody 00:31:42.269 --> 00:31:46.029 say righteousness. If you're in Christ today, 00:31:46.130 --> 00:31:48.250 you can't be any more righteous than you are 00:31:48.250 --> 00:31:51.369 right now. You can't grow in righteousness. That's 00:31:51.369 --> 00:31:53.569 not spiritual growth. It's not growing in righteousness. 00:31:54.230 --> 00:31:56.549 Because we're clothed in the righteousness of 00:31:56.549 --> 00:31:59.609 Christ. You can't get more righteous than Jesus. 00:32:02.230 --> 00:32:04.509 So we've got to understand that. We've got to 00:32:04.509 --> 00:32:08.309 understand that righteousness is imputed because 00:32:08.309 --> 00:32:12.569 of what Jesus did on the cross. The kingdom of 00:32:12.569 --> 00:32:15.349 God is about righteousness. It's about peace. 00:32:17.049 --> 00:32:24.920 And it's about joy in the Holy Spirit. So if 00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:32.819 our religious experience is not founded on gift 00:32:32.819 --> 00:32:36.960 righteousness, the peace of God, and joy in the 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:44.779 Holy Spirit, then we're wasting our time. These 00:32:44.779 --> 00:32:47.599 are the main things. Everybody say main things. 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.000 That's what the kingdom of God is about. I did 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:55.680 not write this verse. I just read it. The Holy 00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:03.599 Spirit breathed this verse. God's kingdom is 00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:08.859 a joyous kingdom. Heaven is just celebration, 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:13.220 continual celebration. As people are coming to 00:33:13.220 --> 00:33:17.220 Christ, right? As people are saying yes to the 00:33:17.220 --> 00:33:20.420 love of God, there's rejoicing in the presence 00:33:20.420 --> 00:33:23.420 of the angels of God over one and... In this 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:25.740 world with all these billions of people, there's 00:33:25.740 --> 00:33:28.640 always somebody coming to Christ. Always somebody. 00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:32.400 Heaven is just a big old party. Big old celebration. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:40.859 It's a joyous kingdom. Billy Sunday. Here's what 00:33:40.859 --> 00:33:44.380 he said. The trouble with many people is they 00:33:44.380 --> 00:33:47.359 just have enough religion to make them miserable. 00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:54.700 If there's no joy in your religion, you've got 00:33:54.700 --> 00:33:58.200 a leak somewhere. That's what Billy Sunday said. 00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:06.779 John Wesley said this, Sour godliness is the 00:34:06.779 --> 00:34:14.960 devil's religion. I agree with all those guys. 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:21.010 That's why I quoted them. The fruit of joy, Listen, 00:34:21.110 --> 00:34:23.489 the fruit of joy is not always loud or exuberant. 00:34:24.110 --> 00:34:25.750 I mean, we don't have to live our lives going, 00:34:25.829 --> 00:34:31.369 woo, woo, woo, woo. Woo, woo, woo, woo. We don't 00:34:31.369 --> 00:34:35.710 have to live every day of our lives like that. 00:34:38.769 --> 00:34:44.590 The fruit of joy is not always loud or exuberant. 00:34:47.010 --> 00:34:51.519 But it is real enough. to affect your demeanor. 00:34:54.980 --> 00:35:01.820 It's real enough. It's real enough to affect 00:35:01.820 --> 00:35:05.860 your countenance. It's real enough to affect 00:35:05.860 --> 00:35:12.519 your attitude. It's real enough to affect the 00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:15.800 tone of your voice and the words that you say. 00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:23.960 It's real enough to affect the responses that 00:35:23.960 --> 00:35:29.619 you make for the things that you encounter. Somebody 00:35:29.619 --> 00:35:34.400 say, God help me or something. When you have 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:37.760 the joy of the Lord, when you really have the 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:40.800 fruit of joy evident and increasing in your life, 00:35:40.900 --> 00:35:48.320 you're going to respond a lot differently. Listen. 00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:55.599 I believe the joy of the Lord, the fruit of joy, 00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:59.960 when you have it and it's increasing, it's going 00:35:59.960 --> 00:36:02.880 to flow out of you. And it's going to make a 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:06.699 difference in your life. And it's going to make 00:36:06.699 --> 00:36:14.239 a difference in your sphere of influence. It's 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:18.679 going to make a difference. Because it's going 00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:21.800 to be part of your testimony. And people are 00:36:21.800 --> 00:36:24.980 going to ask you. Because you're going to be 00:36:24.980 --> 00:36:27.280 with a co -worker or a family member and you're 00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:30.559 going to be going through the same kind of circumstance, 00:36:30.559 --> 00:36:34.039 but your response and your reaction and your 00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:36.400 tone and your demeanor is going to be a little 00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:41.739 bit different than everybody else. When the fruit 00:36:41.739 --> 00:36:47.159 of joy is increasing in your life. John 16, 13 00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:50.179 through 15. But when He, the Holy Spirit, the 00:36:50.179 --> 00:36:52.539 Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into 00:36:52.539 --> 00:36:57.179 all truth. He will not speak on His own. He will 00:36:57.179 --> 00:37:00.460 speak only what He hears, and He will tell you 00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:05.880 what is yet to come. He will glorify me, Jesus 00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:09.079 said, because it is from me that He will receive 00:37:09.079 --> 00:37:14.349 what He will make known to you. Listen to this. 00:37:14.409 --> 00:37:18.789 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That 00:37:18.789 --> 00:37:22.170 is why I said the Spirit will receive from me 00:37:22.170 --> 00:37:28.730 and He will make known to you. What does this 00:37:28.730 --> 00:37:34.150 tell us? It tells us that God, the Holy Spirit, 00:37:34.309 --> 00:37:39.030 is the one who takes the things of God. Takes 00:37:39.030 --> 00:37:41.829 the things of the Trinity, of the Godhead, of 00:37:41.829 --> 00:37:45.670 the Father, of Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes those 00:37:45.670 --> 00:37:51.130 things and then He makes them known to us. He 00:37:51.130 --> 00:37:55.829 reveals. Everybody say reveals. He makes known. 00:37:55.909 --> 00:38:05.530 He reveals them to us. Supernatural joy. Then. 00:38:07.340 --> 00:38:10.099 is ultimately produced by the Spirit of God. 00:38:11.059 --> 00:38:13.739 That's why the kingdom of God is about righteousness, 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:22.219 peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's why 00:38:22.219 --> 00:38:25.340 the Holy Spirit is connected to that. Because 00:38:25.340 --> 00:38:28.000 it comes from Him. Ultimately, it flows from 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:31.340 Him. This spiritual, supernatural joy that we're 00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:34.780 talking about flows from the Holy Spirit. Listen, 00:38:34.860 --> 00:38:37.900 for any fruit tree to fully mature, any fruit 00:38:37.900 --> 00:38:41.880 to fully mature and ripen to perfection, it must 00:38:41.880 --> 00:38:49.940 overcome some things. Right? If you've got fruit, 00:38:50.099 --> 00:38:55.860 those lemons have to overcome weather, have to 00:38:55.860 --> 00:38:59.679 overcome bugs, have to overcome weeds. If you 00:38:59.679 --> 00:39:01.380 just leave them for their own, the weeds will 00:39:01.380 --> 00:39:08.320 begin to take all the nutrients. He does. There's 00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:10.739 no weeds in that container with that lemon tree 00:39:10.739 --> 00:39:20.079 in it. But the spiritual application, listen, 00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:26.639 for joy to mature and to grow in your life, it's 00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:33.780 going to have to overcome some stuff. Because 00:39:33.780 --> 00:39:38.380 a joy, That is too fragile to overcome anything. 00:39:39.599 --> 00:39:44.000 Is not really supernatural joy. It's just natural 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:48.539 joy. Not supernatural joy. If it will never overcome 00:39:48.539 --> 00:39:52.480 anything. That's good preaching right there. 00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:56.139 Anyway. One of the greatest indicators of spiritual 00:39:56.139 --> 00:40:01.219 growth. Is whether your joy survives pressure 00:40:01.219 --> 00:40:09.349 or not. I think I need to say that again for 00:40:09.349 --> 00:40:13.210 my own benefit. One of the greatest indicators 00:40:13.210 --> 00:40:15.769 of spiritual growth is whether your joy survives 00:40:15.769 --> 00:40:18.469 the pressure that comes. Because we live in a 00:40:18.469 --> 00:40:21.889 fallen world. And we face pressures every day. 00:40:23.010 --> 00:40:25.570 Hey, when we got here at 7 o 'clock, the lights 00:40:25.570 --> 00:40:28.369 wasn't on, the air conditioning wasn't on. We 00:40:28.369 --> 00:40:30.730 opened up the doors and put scotches and we set 00:40:30.730 --> 00:40:35.039 all this up in complete darkness. Just the light 00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:37.260 from that door was the main light that we had. 00:40:38.659 --> 00:40:43.139 You know? And the air conditioning wasn't on. 00:40:44.199 --> 00:40:46.440 I'm not even going to put my shirt back on that 00:40:46.440 --> 00:40:48.940 I set up in because I could wring my sweat out 00:40:48.940 --> 00:40:55.559 of it. Listen. But it was up to us whether we 00:40:55.559 --> 00:41:02.679 let this temporary discomfort steal our joy or 00:41:02.679 --> 00:41:09.730 not. Now that's nothing compared to some of the 00:41:09.730 --> 00:41:11.690 things people in this room are facing. You know, 00:41:11.730 --> 00:41:15.250 just being hot and sweaty and setting up in the 00:41:15.250 --> 00:41:20.010 dark. That's nothing compared to some life challenges 00:41:20.010 --> 00:41:26.469 that we face, right? But it's an indicator of 00:41:26.469 --> 00:41:30.230 spiritual growth whether your joy survives, whether 00:41:30.230 --> 00:41:33.730 it's small, seemingly small pressures. I guess 00:41:33.730 --> 00:41:36.409 everybody that... has a pressure, thinks it is 00:41:36.409 --> 00:41:41.570 major at the moment. But then when we put it 00:41:41.570 --> 00:41:43.210 in perspective with everybody else's pressure, 00:41:43.389 --> 00:41:46.250 then we might see that ours isn't that great. 00:41:48.369 --> 00:41:50.409 But when we're going through it, we think that's 00:41:50.409 --> 00:41:51.889 the worst thing that could possibly happen to 00:41:51.889 --> 00:42:00.030 anybody today right now. Right? Will your joy 00:42:00.030 --> 00:42:05.619 survive the pressure of this life? Nehemiah 8 00:42:05.619 --> 00:42:09.099 .10 says this, The joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:16.820 The joy of the Lord is your strength. This was 00:42:16.820 --> 00:42:21.539 a time where they were wanting to rebuild the 00:42:21.539 --> 00:42:26.099 wall and they read the Word to them and everybody 00:42:26.099 --> 00:42:30.679 was broken and everybody was repenting, which 00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:36.920 is not a bad thing. But all of a sudden, God 00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:40.139 sent a message to them. He said, you know what? 00:42:42.079 --> 00:42:48.039 If you're going to complete this task of rebuilding 00:42:48.039 --> 00:42:50.820 the wall, you've got to have the joy of the Lord. 00:42:51.579 --> 00:42:53.500 Because you're not going to be able to do it 00:42:53.500 --> 00:42:57.179 just focusing on yourself. You've got to have 00:42:57.179 --> 00:43:00.050 the joy of the Lord to give you strength. for 00:43:00.050 --> 00:43:02.670 what you have ahead of you. And I'm going to 00:43:02.670 --> 00:43:05.789 tell you today, you need to have the joy of the 00:43:05.789 --> 00:43:09.150 Lord for the strength to face the next thing 00:43:09.150 --> 00:43:11.150 that you're going to face, the next trouble, 00:43:11.230 --> 00:43:12.829 the next pressure that you're going to face. 00:43:12.909 --> 00:43:17.130 You need the joy of the Lord to strengthen you. 00:43:18.130 --> 00:43:23.590 Joy affects your spiritual endurance. It's important. 00:43:25.369 --> 00:43:30.119 It's important. The Spirit of God wants to produce 00:43:30.119 --> 00:43:35.519 something in us. Everybody say fruit. The Spirit 00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:38.400 of God wants to produce something in us that 00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:41.260 circumstances that we face cannot steal, cannot 00:43:41.260 --> 00:43:44.239 take it away from us. That's what God wants to 00:43:44.239 --> 00:43:46.920 work in us. That's what God wants to work in 00:43:46.920 --> 00:43:59.349 you. Psalm 1611. It says this, in your presence, 00:43:59.449 --> 00:44:07.429 God, in your presence is fullness of joy. At 00:44:07.429 --> 00:44:15.269 your right hand are pleasures forevermore. There's 00:44:15.269 --> 00:44:19.309 fullness of joy in the presence of the Lord. 00:44:20.989 --> 00:44:23.030 How are you going to have the joy of the Lord? 00:44:26.510 --> 00:44:30.429 You've got to be regularly in His presence to 00:44:30.429 --> 00:44:37.210 really get it, to really have it. Listen, joy 00:44:37.210 --> 00:44:41.989 does not flow from circumstances. That's just 00:44:41.989 --> 00:44:46.070 natural joy. That's not supernatural joy. If 00:44:46.070 --> 00:44:51.199 the only time you have joy... is when everything's 00:44:51.199 --> 00:44:54.099 going your way and you're winning in every area. 00:44:54.139 --> 00:44:57.519 If that's the only time you have joy, that's 00:44:57.519 --> 00:45:02.219 just natural joy, not supernatural joy. Because 00:45:02.219 --> 00:45:06.079 the fruit of joy does not flow from circumstances. 00:45:06.079 --> 00:45:12.300 It flows from connection. How many of you experience 00:45:12.300 --> 00:45:14.760 joy when you get together with other believers 00:45:14.760 --> 00:45:18.320 and worship together? I hope you experience joy. 00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:21.039 I guess that's part of what keeps you coming 00:45:21.039 --> 00:45:25.000 back, I hope. Worship services can encourage 00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:31.380 you temporarily, but they can't sustain you on 00:45:31.380 --> 00:45:39.260 Monday and Friday. It can't sustain you. Only 00:45:39.260 --> 00:45:45.699 abiding can sustain you. I mean, you get revved 00:45:45.699 --> 00:45:49.099 up a little bit every Sunday, but that's... It's 00:45:49.099 --> 00:45:51.800 not going to carry you through the challenges 00:45:51.800 --> 00:45:53.739 and the struggles that we're going to face in 00:45:53.739 --> 00:45:57.199 this fallen world. Just like this phone. How 00:45:57.199 --> 00:46:00.179 many of you have a cell phone? How many of you 00:46:00.179 --> 00:46:02.440 know if you never put it on charge, it's not 00:46:02.440 --> 00:46:05.739 going to last very long? I mean, some phones 00:46:05.739 --> 00:46:07.880 say that they can last how long? Three or four 00:46:07.880 --> 00:46:12.840 days? Mine won't last a whole day most of the 00:46:12.840 --> 00:46:27.300 time. Listen. How do you expect to live this 00:46:27.300 --> 00:46:35.300 life being disconnected? You only charge on Sunday 00:46:35.300 --> 00:46:37.099 morning. You only hook up to the charger on Sunday 00:46:37.099 --> 00:46:41.460 morning. Then you expect that charge to last 00:46:41.460 --> 00:46:45.099 you until next Sunday morning. It's going to 00:46:45.099 --> 00:46:49.300 take more than that. To move, listen, to move 00:46:49.300 --> 00:46:52.380 from carnal to spiritual is going to take more 00:46:52.380 --> 00:46:59.539 than that. Philippians 4 .4 says this, Rejoice 00:46:59.539 --> 00:47:02.820 in the Lord always. Rejoicing is an expression 00:47:02.820 --> 00:47:06.340 of joy that's on the inside. Rejoice in the Lord 00:47:06.340 --> 00:47:10.559 always. Again, I say rejoice. And I want to remind 00:47:10.559 --> 00:47:12.699 you that Paul didn't write this from a beach 00:47:12.699 --> 00:47:17.940 resort. He was not at a five -star. resort writing 00:47:17.940 --> 00:47:27.400 this. He's imprisoned. So his joy and rejoicing 00:47:27.400 --> 00:47:33.280 didn't depend on his circumstances today. His 00:47:33.280 --> 00:47:36.019 joy was bigger than that. And he wrote to the 00:47:36.019 --> 00:47:38.840 Philippians. He said, look, you're not experiencing 00:47:38.840 --> 00:47:41.519 what I'm talking about. And I've got to stay 00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:44.159 here to help you grow so that you can experience. 00:47:44.800 --> 00:47:47.059 This joy that I'm talking about, this fruit of 00:47:47.059 --> 00:47:57.099 joy, you need it. We need it. Joy in the kingdom 00:47:57.099 --> 00:48:04.559 of God. Joy in our faith. We need it. This is 00:48:04.559 --> 00:48:13.119 a big old word. Etymological. Etymological link. 00:48:13.769 --> 00:48:15.849 There's an etymological link that I've got to 00:48:15.849 --> 00:48:19.230 talk about. That just means root words. Everybody 00:48:19.230 --> 00:48:21.769 say root words. Root words. You probably knew 00:48:21.769 --> 00:48:23.050 that. You probably learned that at school. It's 00:48:23.050 --> 00:48:28.150 been a long time since. All right. But we had 00:48:28.150 --> 00:48:30.530 root words, and we had different words coming 00:48:30.530 --> 00:48:33.610 from this root word, and we built other words. 00:48:34.010 --> 00:48:38.650 Well, there's a link between some things. Korah 00:48:38.650 --> 00:48:42.110 is joy. I got this from Help's Word Studies. 00:48:44.460 --> 00:48:49.679 Kara is joy because of the link. It's joy because 00:48:49.679 --> 00:48:58.500 of grace. Kario is rejoicing because of grace. 00:49:00.179 --> 00:49:05.980 And karis is grace. Notice how they all have 00:49:05.980 --> 00:49:08.900 kar in them. And when you look at the Greek, 00:49:08.960 --> 00:49:11.320 it's actually an x something, but this is the 00:49:11.320 --> 00:49:15.300 way we convert it to. English for us to be able 00:49:15.300 --> 00:49:20.320 to pronounce it. Even though it's Greek. So there's 00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:26.099 a connection between joy, rejoicing, and grace. 00:49:29.860 --> 00:49:35.280 They're all rooted and founded in the same thing. 00:49:36.340 --> 00:49:40.019 Because you can't have joy without understanding 00:49:40.019 --> 00:49:44.960 grace. And your joy will not result in rejoicing. 00:49:47.219 --> 00:49:50.000 Not the God kind of joy that I'm talking about. 00:49:50.039 --> 00:49:52.239 Not the spiritual fruit of joy that I'm talking 00:49:52.239 --> 00:49:58.019 about without understanding grace. The most widely 00:49:58.019 --> 00:50:00.500 accepted definition of grace in the church is 00:50:00.500 --> 00:50:03.599 unmerited favor. Who's heard that before? Grace 00:50:03.599 --> 00:50:07.840 is unmerited favor. Well, that can kind of be 00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:11.840 abstract where you can't really put your... Hand 00:50:11.840 --> 00:50:15.340 on. So, I've expanded the definition. It still 00:50:15.340 --> 00:50:19.000 means the same thing. Grace is actually God's 00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:27.579 acts of kindness and favor towards you. God's 00:50:27.579 --> 00:50:32.059 acts. God has done a lot of things out of His 00:50:32.059 --> 00:50:36.340 kindness for you, out of His favor for you, whether 00:50:36.340 --> 00:50:40.280 you realize it or not. He's done so many things 00:50:40.280 --> 00:50:43.619 and made so many things available. And that's 00:50:43.619 --> 00:50:48.659 why I believe in my studying this week, because 00:50:48.659 --> 00:50:51.119 I keep studying, I keep digging deeper, right? 00:50:51.820 --> 00:50:54.320 The Holy Spirit is the one who takes the things 00:50:54.320 --> 00:50:57.159 of God and makes them known to us. So the Holy 00:50:57.159 --> 00:50:58.980 Spirit is the one that connects us through the 00:50:58.980 --> 00:51:02.280 Word of God to let us see those things that are 00:51:02.280 --> 00:51:05.519 now available to us. He makes the Word of God 00:51:05.519 --> 00:51:09.110 come alive on the inside of us. all of a sudden 00:51:09.110 --> 00:51:11.550 we're growing in grace because we're understanding, 00:51:12.030 --> 00:51:15.309 well, God did this for me. God's made this available 00:51:15.309 --> 00:51:22.150 for me. This is who God is. It's no longer theological. 00:51:23.309 --> 00:51:29.670 It's no longer philosophical. It becomes applicable 00:51:29.670 --> 00:51:35.789 for us to apply to our lives, to really grasp, 00:51:35.989 --> 00:51:41.699 to take hold of. And when we really begin to 00:51:41.699 --> 00:51:44.719 take hold of all of these things that God has 00:51:44.719 --> 00:51:46.880 done for us, hey, I don't believe we can ever 00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:49.679 exhaust it, because there's so many things that 00:51:49.679 --> 00:51:51.699 He's done for us and made available for us, showing 00:51:51.699 --> 00:51:55.500 us His kindness and favor, that as we grow in 00:51:55.500 --> 00:52:00.360 that, that's going to result, as the Holy Spirit 00:52:00.360 --> 00:52:03.360 causes it to come alive and we grow in that, 00:52:03.460 --> 00:52:06.639 then it's going to result in joy flowing in us 00:52:06.639 --> 00:52:11.619 and through us. I hope I'm saying this making 00:52:11.619 --> 00:52:15.079 sense. It makes perfectly good sense to me, but 00:52:15.079 --> 00:52:19.059 I hope you're getting it. I hope you're receiving 00:52:19.059 --> 00:52:27.239 what I'm saying. 2 Corinthians 12, 9. Paul was 00:52:27.239 --> 00:52:29.239 talking to God and saying, God, remove this thorn 00:52:29.239 --> 00:52:31.139 from my flesh. Man, these people are following 00:52:31.139 --> 00:52:34.139 me around. They're attacking me. I've got people 00:52:34.139 --> 00:52:36.500 who say that they're not even going to eat again 00:52:36.500 --> 00:52:40.070 until they kill me. and every time I go somewhere, 00:52:40.190 --> 00:52:42.829 people are against me, and they're talking against 00:52:42.829 --> 00:52:45.929 me and trying to run me out of town, trying to 00:52:45.929 --> 00:52:53.929 throw me in jail. God, take away this thorn in 00:52:53.929 --> 00:52:58.190 my flesh. And you might say, where do you get 00:52:58.190 --> 00:53:01.630 that from? Well, go to the Old Testament. It 00:53:01.630 --> 00:53:03.510 says thorn in the flesh. It was talking about 00:53:03.510 --> 00:53:07.210 people. I'm not talking about disease or sickness 00:53:07.210 --> 00:53:11.690 or eyesight. Thorn in the flesh. God says if 00:53:11.690 --> 00:53:15.449 you don't get those Canaanites and all of them 00:53:15.449 --> 00:53:16.750 out of here, they're going to be a thorn in your 00:53:16.750 --> 00:53:23.250 flesh. So Paul was saying, I've got a lot of 00:53:23.250 --> 00:53:27.750 people against me. Could you take this persecution 00:53:27.750 --> 00:53:35.170 away? And here's what God said. My grace. is 00:53:35.170 --> 00:53:41.349 sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect 00:53:41.349 --> 00:53:45.530 in your weakness. New Living Translation says, 00:53:45.710 --> 00:53:51.010 God said, my grace is all you need. It's all 00:53:51.010 --> 00:53:57.269 you need, Paul. All you need is my grace. And 00:53:57.269 --> 00:54:00.230 Paul is teaching about the grace of God and teaching 00:54:00.230 --> 00:54:03.110 about who we are in Christ. He's teaching about 00:54:03.110 --> 00:54:05.570 what we have in Christ. That's how we find out 00:54:05.570 --> 00:54:08.250 all of these things. The Bible tells us who God 00:54:08.250 --> 00:54:17.329 is. His grace is sufficient. I don't know what 00:54:17.329 --> 00:54:20.070 you're facing, but the grace of God is sufficient. 00:54:22.650 --> 00:54:28.289 What He's already done, His acts of kindness 00:54:28.289 --> 00:54:30.389 and favor towards you, what He's already made 00:54:30.389 --> 00:54:36.460 available to you, that's sufficient. To carry 00:54:36.460 --> 00:54:42.239 you through anything you face. His grace is sufficient. 00:54:43.460 --> 00:54:47.360 So listen, joy then is the natural expression 00:54:47.360 --> 00:54:54.239 of confidence in who God is and what He has accomplished. 00:54:58.800 --> 00:55:05.820 It's just natural. It's a natural expression. 00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:09.360 It's not a forced expression. It's a natural 00:55:09.360 --> 00:55:15.920 expression of confidence in who God is. Because 00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:19.780 who God is, as He has revealed Himself in the 00:55:19.780 --> 00:55:23.260 Word, will take care of most of your problems. 00:55:26.639 --> 00:55:29.280 And the ones that that don't cover, the ones 00:55:29.280 --> 00:55:32.460 that who God is won't cover, will be covered. 00:55:32.960 --> 00:55:36.840 By who you are in Christ. And what you have in 00:55:36.840 --> 00:55:43.539 Christ. And the Holy Spirit. He's the great connector. 00:55:46.059 --> 00:55:48.920 To cause that truth to come alive on the inside 00:55:48.920 --> 00:55:56.320 of us. There's another point. John 15. Verses 00:55:56.320 --> 00:56:01.090 5 and 11. Jesus is talking. He says, yes, I am 00:56:01.090 --> 00:56:04.750 the vine. You are the branches. Listen, those 00:56:04.750 --> 00:56:09.050 who remain in me and I in them will produce much. 00:56:10.269 --> 00:56:17.570 Somebody say fruit. So fruit is a mark of our 00:56:17.570 --> 00:56:21.150 spiritual growth. A measure of our spiritual 00:56:21.150 --> 00:56:24.030 maturity. Jesus said, those who remain in me 00:56:24.030 --> 00:56:28.280 and I in them will produce much fruit. And then 00:56:28.280 --> 00:56:36.199 verse 11, as he talks about abiding in him, being 00:56:36.199 --> 00:56:40.739 connected to him, he says this, he says, I've 00:56:40.739 --> 00:56:45.739 told you these things so that you will be filled 00:56:45.739 --> 00:56:49.900 with my joy. Y 'all got a smile or something? 00:56:54.320 --> 00:56:56.460 I've told you these things so that you will be 00:56:56.460 --> 00:57:01.780 filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. 00:57:06.360 --> 00:57:11.260 The purpose of joy is not just for your enjoyment. 00:57:11.360 --> 00:57:18.940 The purpose of joy is to overflow. To spill out. 00:57:19.400 --> 00:57:26.860 To flow through. to fill you with His joy to 00:57:26.860 --> 00:57:35.599 the point that you overflow with joy. Look at 00:57:35.599 --> 00:57:37.460 the person beside you and say overflow. And smile 00:57:37.460 --> 00:57:41.659 while you say it, please. Overflow. Overflow. 00:57:44.719 --> 00:57:48.760 So joy is the natural flow from being rightly 00:57:48.760 --> 00:57:54.969 connected to the source. We have to be rightly 00:57:54.969 --> 00:58:03.889 connected. Rightly connected. There's a lot of 00:58:03.889 --> 00:58:05.869 different ways people try to connect to God. 00:58:07.409 --> 00:58:10.429 A lot of different ways. But we have to be rightly 00:58:10.429 --> 00:58:17.090 connected. We've talked about some of it already. 00:58:17.309 --> 00:58:19.769 Some people try to be connected to God by trying 00:58:19.769 --> 00:58:23.429 to do all this self -effort to be a good person. 00:58:24.940 --> 00:58:31.360 To connect to God. It's just one example. You'll 00:58:31.360 --> 00:58:33.360 have to let the Holy Spirit reveal to you what 00:58:33.360 --> 00:58:38.219 you're dealing with right now. Listen. Joy is 00:58:38.219 --> 00:58:40.760 a natural flow for me and rightly connected to 00:58:40.760 --> 00:58:44.500 the source. The source of life. The source of 00:58:44.500 --> 00:58:50.320 joy. The source of peace. That's next week. The 00:58:50.320 --> 00:58:52.920 source of all that you need. The source of love. 00:58:57.449 --> 00:59:01.670 Got to be rightly connected to the source. I 00:59:01.670 --> 00:59:03.789 want to end with these statements from the topical 00:59:03.789 --> 00:59:07.110 lexicon. Listen, joy in the New Testament is 00:59:07.110 --> 00:59:10.190 more than an emotion. If you think joy is just 00:59:10.190 --> 00:59:14.309 an emotion, it's bigger than that. The joy that 00:59:14.309 --> 00:59:16.650 I'm talking about is bigger than just feelings 00:59:16.650 --> 00:59:24.289 and emotion. It is the settled, Spirit -given 00:59:24.289 --> 00:59:31.280 delight. Gladness, cheerfulness that arises, 00:59:31.679 --> 00:59:36.239 listen, from the redemptive acts and abiding 00:59:36.239 --> 00:59:42.860 presence of God. Everybody say grace and presence. 00:59:47.460 --> 00:59:56.820 This joy, this fruit of joy rises. As grace is 00:59:56.820 --> 01:00:01.400 unfolded and revealed. And as we abide in the 01:00:01.400 --> 01:00:04.980 presence of God, rightly connected to the vine, 01:00:05.139 --> 01:00:09.039 which is where the source flows, the life flows. 01:00:09.920 --> 01:00:12.500 You know, you don't wind up with any fruit without 01:00:12.500 --> 01:00:16.940 any life flowing through the vine, through the 01:00:16.940 --> 01:00:22.380 tree, through the branch. Right? And then this 01:00:22.380 --> 01:00:28.940 one. Joy is rooted. In divine initiative. That 01:00:28.940 --> 01:00:33.340 means that joy comes from God. This joy that 01:00:33.340 --> 01:00:37.340 we're talking about, it comes from God. It comes 01:00:37.340 --> 01:00:45.480 from God. It's experienced in the believer. You 01:00:45.480 --> 01:00:51.280 can have it. And it is expressed. Because if 01:00:51.280 --> 01:00:53.440 you got it, it's going to automatically be expressed. 01:00:54.699 --> 01:01:00.000 It can't be hidden. It's expressed both now and 01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:07.179 in the age to come. There's been a time in my 01:01:07.179 --> 01:01:09.179 life where I thought, boy, when I get to heaven, 01:01:09.320 --> 01:01:12.940 I'm going to experience the joy of the Lord when 01:01:12.940 --> 01:01:17.000 I get to heaven. Ganda was even singing a song 01:01:17.000 --> 01:01:19.800 this morning. You remember what you were singing? 01:01:20.059 --> 01:01:24.400 Something about heaven. When we all get to heaven, 01:01:24.500 --> 01:01:32.840 what a day of rejoicing that will be. We'll sing 01:01:32.840 --> 01:01:36.280 and shout the victory. That's an old one. I don't 01:01:36.280 --> 01:01:39.880 know if you know it or not. Listen. We sing songs 01:01:39.880 --> 01:01:49.739 about the joy of the Lord in heaven. But God 01:01:49.739 --> 01:01:53.260 doesn't want you just to... Wait on heaven to 01:01:53.260 --> 01:01:57.960 have His joy. He wants you to experience His 01:01:57.960 --> 01:02:02.599 joy. Today, every day, He wants you to walk in 01:02:02.599 --> 01:02:07.159 it. He wants you to be strengthened in it. Because 01:02:07.159 --> 01:02:11.079 that's what's going to carry you through. It's 01:02:11.079 --> 01:02:16.980 the joy of the Lord being your strength. So the 01:02:16.980 --> 01:02:23.380 measure of your abiding joy That means that you 01:02:23.380 --> 01:02:30.980 have it. You don't lose it. When challenges come, 01:02:31.139 --> 01:02:33.340 when struggles come, you don't lose it. You're 01:02:33.340 --> 01:02:38.239 abiding in this joy. It's part of where you live. 01:02:40.400 --> 01:02:45.340 You can live in it. You don't have to be like 01:02:45.340 --> 01:02:49.500 this. Your life doesn't have to be a spiritual 01:02:49.500 --> 01:03:00.019 roller coaster. Hallelujah. The measure of your 01:03:00.019 --> 01:03:04.260 abiding joy is a good measure of your spiritual 01:03:04.260 --> 01:03:12.800 growth and your spiritual maturity. Remember, 01:03:13.079 --> 01:03:18.300 this is self -evaluation. I'm not asking you 01:03:18.300 --> 01:03:24.210 to bump up joy in the flesh. Because we all know 01:03:24.210 --> 01:03:29.289 people who can turn it on even though it's not 01:03:29.289 --> 01:03:38.929 genuine. When you will know if it's genuine or 01:03:38.929 --> 01:03:45.130 not is when you're by yourself and you face a 01:03:45.130 --> 01:03:55.090 challenge and you say, you know what? A while 01:03:55.090 --> 01:04:00.170 back, I would have responded a whole lot differently. 01:04:03.289 --> 01:04:09.889 I would have responded a whole lot differently. 01:04:12.570 --> 01:04:16.269 But you know what? I have a joy. It's based on 01:04:16.269 --> 01:04:19.550 the confidence that I have in God. God's faithfulness. 01:04:19.710 --> 01:04:22.710 God's goodness. I know His goodness is running 01:04:22.710 --> 01:04:25.840 after me every day. and I know I'm facing this 01:04:25.840 --> 01:04:29.099 temporary difficulty right now, but I'm not going 01:04:29.099 --> 01:04:34.599 to lose my joy. I haven't lost my joy. That's 01:04:34.599 --> 01:04:40.079 when you know that the fruit is progressing. 01:04:43.360 --> 01:04:47.039 You can be there. If we couldn't be there, the 01:04:47.039 --> 01:04:48.679 Bible wouldn't have told us all this stuff that 01:04:48.679 --> 01:04:50.659 we just talked about today. You can have it. 01:04:51.630 --> 01:04:54.230 This online worship experience was brought to 01:04:54.230 --> 01:04:56.869 you by the friends and partners of Elation Church.