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Week number two in our series that we are going
and looking at spiritual growth. Everybody say
spiritual growth. Who was here last Sunday? Wave
at me if you were here last Sunday. And that
means about half of us were not. That's okay.
Because you will understand what's going on as
we continue. I promise. We don't leave you in
the fog if you weren't here a previous week in
the series. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2
.14, it says this, Does not receive the things
of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness
to him. Nor can he know them. Because they are
spiritually discerned. Everybody say natural
man. That's about half of you. 1 Corinthians
3 verse 1 through 3 says this. And I brethren.
Paul talking to the believers in Corinth. I,
brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual
people, but as carnal, as to babes in Christ.
I fed you with milk and not with solid food,
for until now you were not able to receive it.
And even now you are still not able, for you
are still carnal, for where there is envy, strife,
and divisions among you? Are you not carnal and
behaving like mere men? So in this text out of
Corinthians, we see three types of people. Three
types of people found in 1 Corinthians chapter
2 and 3. And this covers everyone. The first
type of person is a natural person. Everybody
say natural. A natural person is one who is unrenewed
and is just led by their flesh and led by their
sensual nature. They're not born again. They're
not in a relationship with Christ. They are not
in Christ. They are still in sin. So that's a
natural person. All they've got to go by to live
their life is living by what feels good or by
what seems right in their own eyes. That's all
they are, natural. Then we see carnal people.
Everybody say carnal. Carnal people are Christians.
But they still live like a natural person. There
hasn't been any transformation. There hasn't
been any change. It's a Christian who still lives
according to their flesh. It's immaturity. They
live on a childhood level because they will not
feed on the Word of God and grow. They will not
receive the Word of God. I like to put it this
way. They just want to rub a little bit of Jesus
on their life. Right? Like when you go to the
pool, you better put on a little bit of sunscreen.
You don't wear it all the time just when you
go to the pool. So carnal people just rub on
a little bit of Jesus when they go to church
every once in a while. And Jesus doesn't really
impact their life outside of their time in church.
It's a carnal person. And then we see spiritual
people. Everybody say spiritual. Spiritual people
are Christians, followers of Christ, who are
being led by the Spirit. The Bible tells us that
we're supposed to be led by the Spirit. We're
supposed to walk in the Spirit. Christians who
are led by the Spirit through the Word of God.
Now this is a growing Christian. You could call
it that. A growing Christian. It's not that they've
arrived at any spiritual maturity level and then
they can just coast the rest of their life out.
This is a growing Christian who regularly receives
the Word of God and walks in the Spirit. That's
a spiritual person. Now, this series is on spiritual
growth, so where does spiritual growth occur?
Where does spiritual growth occur? How do we
move from being carnal to being spiritual? 1
Thessalonians 5 .23 tells us something about
us in general. It says, Now may the God of peace
make you holy in every way. The word holy means
set apart for God. Now may the God of peace make
you holy in every way. Listen, and may your whole
spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until
our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. So we see
that there are three types of people, and then
in this text we find out that we're made up of
three different... Everybody in this room. Let's
look at Hebrews 4 .12. For the word of God is
alive and powerful. I'm just not what I'm preaching
about. Let's get amen right there. The word of
God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than
the sharpest two -edged sword, cutting between
soul and spirit. Between joint and marrow, it
exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. We
see that, I say man in general, mankind, people
that God created, man is a three -part being.
Did you know that you are a three -part being?
You are a spirit. Everybody say, I am a spirit.
I'm a spirit. We see this in this text that we
just read, right? In both of those texts, we
see it. And God says that He created us in His
image, right? How many of you know that God is
spirit? A spirit class of being, right? There
are three spirit classes of being that we know.
There is God. There are angels. They're in the
spirit class. And then there are people. Me and
you that God created. We are spirit beings. That's
what sets us apart from any other animal or any
other living thing in the world. We are spirits.
God is spirit. We're made in his image. And we
have a soul. We are a spirit. We have a soul.
And we live in a body. Do I need to read that
verse again or are you with me? Is everybody
with me? I can back up and read it again if you
say not. Wait a minute, I hadn't heard anything
about that before. So, we're a three -part being.
We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live
in a body. Now, our spirit comes alive at salvation.
Our spirit comes alive unto God at salvation.
In the fall, in the garden with Adam and Eve
in the fall, God said, the day you eat of it,
you will surely die. Right? So, this death is
talking about not being connected to God. Their
heart didn't quit beating and they didn't drop
dead. Did they? I mean, they ate the fruit, but
they didn't drop dead. But something happened.
There was a disconnect in their fellowship with
God. But when we move from being in sin to being
in Christ at salvation, when the Holy Spirit
moves us from, again, in sin to being in Christ,
our spirit comes alive. We're born again. Okay?
Spirit comes alive at salvation. And your spirit
at salvation is united with Christ. At that point,
you put on the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus, the Bible says. So at that point, you
are clothed in Christ's righteousness. Jesus'
righteousness becomes your righteousness. Jesus'
victory becomes your victory. Jesus' life becomes
your life and your spirit. And you're complete
in Him. Everything that He did, everything that
He made available, because everything He did
in this earth was to make things available for
His followers. He didn't do it for Himself. He
didn't have to come here and die on the cross.
He didn't have to do that for Himself. He did
it for us. So everything that Jesus purchased
with His blood, everything that He made available,
everything that we find out that we have in Christ,
who we are in Christ, that all is ours at salvation,
as far as our spirit is concerned. But, a lot
of times, We don't even know what that is. It
takes spiritual growth to even find out what
that is. What is available? I mean, you can spend
50 years in church and still not know what's
available. Just thought about it this morning.
I've been in church for all 60 years of my life,
but I've been a follower of Christ now for 51
years of my life. That's a long time. So, our
spirit is complete in Christ. Everything's available.
We have it. But our soul has to get involved
for it to actually be reality in our lives. We
are a spirit. We have a soul. Our soul is comprised
of three more things. I don't know why we're
in threes so much. Our soul is comprised of our
mind or our thought life. Our soul is comprised
of our will, which is our desires. And our soul
is comprised of our emotions or our feelings.
One thing about us, we're always thinking something.
I don't know what you're thinking right now.
Maybe it's good that I don't know what you're
thinking right now. Well, our thought life is
always constant unless we're unconscious. Sometimes
even when we're asleep, our thought life is running
when we have dreams, right? We always have desires.
We have a will. We know what we want and we know
what we desire. We all have emotions. Now, sometimes
when you hear me talk about emotions, you might
think that I think emotions are always bad. But
a lot of times we wind up talking about the negative
emotions. But there are good emotions. There
are godly emotions. But our soul is comprised
of our thought life, our desires, and our feelings.
Now, where does spiritual growth occur? Well,
the difference between a carnal person and a
spiritual person is spiritual growth of the soul
or the lack thereof. We'll say that again. The
difference between a carnal person and a spiritual
person is spiritual growth of the soul because
our spirit is already complete. and has everything
in Christ. But we've lived our lives up until
the point that we came to Christ, just living
a soulish and a fleshly life. And we have to
make a turn to grow spiritually. We have to make
a turn. Our spirit has to... be the director
of our soul. And the more your spirit has control
over your soul, you are a spirit being, you have
a soul, you live in a body, the more you allow
the Holy Spirit connected completely in unity
with the Holy Spirit, the more you connect your
spirit with your soul, and your spirit has dominance
over your soul, the more spiritual you become.
Some of you are looking at me strange. Unlike
physical growth, spiritual growth doesn't happen
automatically. It doesn't just automatically
happen. When a baby is born, I mean, the baby
grows up, you know, by the time they're five.
You know, unless there's some genetic thing going
on where they stay a baby their whole life. I
think I've heard that before or heard of a movie
about that or something. I've never seen it or
experienced it. But unless there's major genetic
problems, physically, people just grow. Somebody
smile or something. They're preaching hard plowing
today. Don't make it hard plowing. Unlike physical
growth, spiritual growth doesn't happen automatically.
You could be a Christian for 50 years and still
not grow spiritually. You can be a Christian
for one year and grow spiritually, have a lot
of growth. It's not about time. So, how is spiritual
growth measured? How do we measure it? Did anyone's
parents, as you were growing, you had a doorway
maybe in the kid's bedroom? And every year, you'd
stand up against that door, maybe put a mark
on the door and put how old you were. And then
next year, wow, look how much you've grown. So
we can measure physical growth by just drawing
on a doorpost. But how can you measure spiritual
growth? What are the markers of spiritual growth?
Luke 6, verses 43 and 44 says this, For a good
tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad
tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known
by its fruit. So spiritual fruit is the marker
for spiritual growth. Now, I've been in some
churches before where they thought spiritual
gifts was the marker of spiritual growth. But
a spiritual gift, a gift is just a gift. It doesn't
show maturity. How many of you have seen someone
operate in a spiritual gift that you find out
the fruit of their life? They weren't very spiritually
mature, but they were operating in a spiritual
gift. I mean, I've seen it. So every tree is
known by its own fruit. Here's something about
fruit. It's a process. Everybody say a process.
Spiritual growth is a process. And we all should
be in that process. Fruit, first of all, it's
got to bloom. There's got to be a bloom. Then
it's got to grow. Then it matures. Then it ripens.
So there's a process. You don't get fruit. You
don't just get ripe fruit just pop on the tree.
We got Caitlin a lime tree. Is it lemon? It's
a lemon. Lemon tree. Lemon, lime, what's the
difference? Until you eat it. We got Caitlin
a lemon tree for your birthday one year, right?
And that first year, it had a lot of blooms and
had a lot of fruit. I don't know if they matured,
if they ever really worked. Now what year are
we in? Like the third year? And you think, man,
I wish I would hurry up. Sure would like to get
some lemons off of this tree. Sure would like
for that fruit to come. Fruit blooms, grows,
matures, and ripens. We need to know this. We're
all a work in progress. Look at... Look at the
person beside you and say, I'm a work in progress.
You don't necessarily have to say you're a mess,
but we're a work in progress. And listen, we
should all, if we're growing spiritually, we
should all be constantly progressing in that
work in progress. We don't need to stall out.
I mentioned this last week, but sometimes people
stall out as spiritual teenagers. I don't know
if everybody knows what that means. If you weren't
here last week, maybe you've never heard that
term. I don't know if I'm the one that created
it or what. I can't remember if I heard somebody
else say it or if it just hit me one day. But
listen, don't get stalled out as a spiritual
teenager. Most of us can look back at times in
our life when we hit those teen years. I'm sorry,
how old are you? 10? Teen years are coming. So
I'm going to give you some insight. 10 going
on 20. Okay. I can't remember what year it was,
but I remember when I was a teenager, all of
a sudden, I thought my parents didn't know much.
I thought I knew more than my parents. I knew
more about... what was best for me and what I
wanted. I knew I was smarter than they were,
I thought. My parents aren't with me anymore,
but when I look back, I have to say, they were
a lot smarter than I thought they were. They
had my best interests at heart, even though I
wanted something else. So we're all a work in
progress. Don't get stuck. Don't ever get stuck.
We should always be constantly progressing in
our spiritual growth. And this series is about
self -examination. We're not going through this
so that you can look at your family members or
your neighbors and say, well, they're really
spiritually immature. We're not going through
this so we can compare ourselves to each other
and say, you know, I think I'm a little bit more
spiritually mature than JT, but Michelle has
passed me. That's not what we're doing. We're
not doing it for comparison. We're doing it for
self -examination. Because here's what I figured
out. I always think that I'm more spiritual than
I actually am. I always think that I'm more spiritually
mature than I actually am. So when we look at
these measures, we can say, maybe I need to start
focusing on progressing again. Galatians 5 .22,
everybody say fruit. The fruit of the Spirit,
spiritual fruit, is love. That's what we talked
about last week. We talked about agape and went
through what the word agape means and how it
impacts our lives and how it should be evident
and increasing in our lives because the world
will know that we are Christ followers by our
love. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Everybody
say love. And then the next one is joy. Everybody
say joy. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. You
know what? It would have been real easy for me
today to just pull out our book that we just
released on the strength of joy and just go right
through there and just lay out all those chapters
in the book that Jeffrey and I just released.
But I'm like, I don't need to do that. I don't
need to pull up some previous message on joy.
Here we go. Look at the person beside you and
say, here we go. The fruit of the Spirit is joy.
Joy. Philippians 1 .25 says this. This is Paul
talking. And he's in prison under house arrest
in Rome. He's talking and he says this. He says,
you know, because he's going through this thing.
I'm not reading all the verses around it. He's
going through this thing. He's saying, you know
what? I really would like to go to heaven. You
know? I'm looking forward to heaven. But whether
I'm in heaven or whether I'm in here, you know,
I'm with Christ or I'm in Christ. So I'm good
either way. And then he says this, I'm convinced
that I will remain alive so I can continue to
help all of you grow. Everybody say grow. So
I can continue to help all of you grow spiritually.
Everybody in Philippi, he wants to help them
grow. And how is he going to know that they're
growing? I'm convinced that I will remain alive
so I can continue to help all of you grow and
experience the joy of your faith. Experience
the joy of your faith. Paul can look at these
people in Philippi and say, well, they're growing,
but you know, they're coming up short on joy.
They're coming up short on the fruit of joy.
And I say this every once in a while, but...
You know, if you stand up here and look at people
who come to church, I've been in over 800 churches.
You stand up here and look at the faces of people
who are rejoicing in the Lord. This is the day
the Lord has made. We're going to rejoice and
be glad. They look like their mama raised them
on lime juice instead of milk. Where's the joy?
Maybe Paul remembered talking to the Philippians.
Maybe they looked like they had been raised on
lime juice. And now he's saying, look, I've got
to stay and help you grow. Because there's something
that you need to experience that you're not experiencing.
You need to experience the joy of your faith.
You need some joy. Sometimes, I just don't know.
Sometimes church gets too serious. Everybody's
just serious. We've got to get serious. But if
we don't have joy, something's missing. Come
on. If we don't have joy, something's missing.
We're missing something very important if there's
no joy. Now that word joy in the Greek is kara.
Chora, I guess. I've got to put the right accent
on the right syllable. Or you won't understand.
For all you Greek speakers in the room. Chora.
And here's the definition. Joy. Cheerfulness.
Delight. Gladness. And even in the New American
Standard Concordance, because I went to the Lasical
Concordance, Strong's Concordance, New American
Standard Concordance. And in New American Center,
it says it's great exceeding joy. Great exceeding
joy, cheerfulness, delight, gladness. Is any
of that invisible? Can you have that and people
around you not know it? Hello? Come on. Can you
be cheerful? And then somebody look at you and
say, well, I don't see any cheerfulness. Can
you be glad? See, joy is always visible. I used
to say, because I heard somebody that I thought
was more spiritual than me, I heard him preach
one day. And he said, now happiness is like the
rapids and the part of the river that you can
see. You know, it's always moving. Happiness
is something that you can see. But joy is that
deep, deep current that you can't see. Well,
you know, I thought it sounded real spiritual.
I even repeated it. Until I got to studying up
a little bit more. You glad that I studied? Here's
what C .S. Lewis said. Joy is the serious business
of heaven. Heaven is a joyous place. Heaven is
a happy place. Heaven is a rejoicing place. And
if that's what eternity is going to be, don't
you think God wants us to experience some of
that here? I think so. Romans 14, 17. The kingdom
of God, the eternal rule and reign of God, both
in the earth and both in heaven, the kingdom
of God is not eating and drinking. Now what does
that mean? It means it's not about the rules.
Everybody say, not about rules. The kingdom of
God is not about having a list of rules to be
right with God. It's not what the kingdom is
about. Even though I spent years and even decades
of my life thinking that Christianity was about
trying to keep a set of rules. I've got to do
this, I've got to do that, I've got to do this,
I've got to do that. and I can't do this, and
I can't do that, and I can't do this. Anybody
experience that? The kingdom of God is not about
the rules. It's about righteousness. Everybody
say righteousness. If you're in Christ today,
you can't be any more righteous than you are
right now. You can't grow in righteousness. That's
not spiritual growth. It's not growing in righteousness.
Because we're clothed in the righteousness of
Christ. You can't get more righteous than Jesus.
So we've got to understand that. We've got to
understand that righteousness is imputed because
of what Jesus did on the cross. The kingdom of
God is about righteousness. It's about peace.
And it's about joy in the Holy Spirit. So if
our religious experience is not founded on gift
righteousness, the peace of God, and joy in the
Holy Spirit, then we're wasting our time. These
are the main things. Everybody say main things.
That's what the kingdom of God is about. I did
not write this verse. I just read it. The Holy
Spirit breathed this verse. God's kingdom is
a joyous kingdom. Heaven is just celebration,
continual celebration. As people are coming to
Christ, right? As people are saying yes to the
love of God, there's rejoicing in the presence
of the angels of God over one and... In this
world with all these billions of people, there's
always somebody coming to Christ. Always somebody.
Heaven is just a big old party. Big old celebration.
It's a joyous kingdom. Billy Sunday. Here's what
he said. The trouble with many people is they
just have enough religion to make them miserable.
If there's no joy in your religion, you've got
a leak somewhere. That's what Billy Sunday said.
John Wesley said this, Sour godliness is the
devil's religion. I agree with all those guys.
That's why I quoted them. The fruit of joy, Listen,
the fruit of joy is not always loud or exuberant.
I mean, we don't have to live our lives going,
woo, woo, woo, woo. Woo, woo, woo, woo. We don't
have to live every day of our lives like that.
The fruit of joy is not always loud or exuberant.
But it is real enough. to affect your demeanor.
It's real enough. It's real enough to affect
your countenance. It's real enough to affect
your attitude. It's real enough to affect the
tone of your voice and the words that you say.
It's real enough to affect the responses that
you make for the things that you encounter. Somebody
say, God help me or something. When you have
the joy of the Lord, when you really have the
fruit of joy evident and increasing in your life,
you're going to respond a lot differently. Listen.
I believe the joy of the Lord, the fruit of joy,
when you have it and it's increasing, it's going
to flow out of you. And it's going to make a
difference in your life. And it's going to make
a difference in your sphere of influence. It's
going to make a difference. Because it's going
to be part of your testimony. And people are
going to ask you. Because you're going to be
with a co -worker or a family member and you're
going to be going through the same kind of circumstance,
but your response and your reaction and your
tone and your demeanor is going to be a little
bit different than everybody else. When the fruit
of joy is increasing in your life. John 16, 13
through 15. But when He, the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into
all truth. He will not speak on His own. He will
speak only what He hears, and He will tell you
what is yet to come. He will glorify me, Jesus
said, because it is from me that He will receive
what He will make known to you. Listen to this.
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That
is why I said the Spirit will receive from me
and He will make known to you. What does this
tell us? It tells us that God, the Holy Spirit,
is the one who takes the things of God. Takes
the things of the Trinity, of the Godhead, of
the Father, of Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes those
things and then He makes them known to us. He
reveals. Everybody say reveals. He makes known.
He reveals them to us. Supernatural joy. Then.
is ultimately produced by the Spirit of God.
That's why the kingdom of God is about righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's why
the Holy Spirit is connected to that. Because
it comes from Him. Ultimately, it flows from
Him. This spiritual, supernatural joy that we're
talking about flows from the Holy Spirit. Listen,
for any fruit tree to fully mature, any fruit
to fully mature and ripen to perfection, it must
overcome some things. Right? If you've got fruit,
those lemons have to overcome weather, have to
overcome bugs, have to overcome weeds. If you
just leave them for their own, the weeds will
begin to take all the nutrients. He does. There's
no weeds in that container with that lemon tree
in it. But the spiritual application, listen,
for joy to mature and to grow in your life, it's
going to have to overcome some stuff. Because
a joy, That is too fragile to overcome anything.
Is not really supernatural joy. It's just natural
joy. Not supernatural joy. If it will never overcome
anything. That's good preaching right there.
Anyway. One of the greatest indicators of spiritual
growth. Is whether your joy survives pressure
or not. I think I need to say that again for
my own benefit. One of the greatest indicators
of spiritual growth is whether your joy survives
the pressure that comes. Because we live in a
fallen world. And we face pressures every day.
Hey, when we got here at 7 o 'clock, the lights
wasn't on, the air conditioning wasn't on. We
opened up the doors and put scotches and we set
all this up in complete darkness. Just the light
from that door was the main light that we had.
You know? And the air conditioning wasn't on.
I'm not even going to put my shirt back on that
I set up in because I could wring my sweat out
of it. Listen. But it was up to us whether we
let this temporary discomfort steal our joy or
not. Now that's nothing compared to some of the
things people in this room are facing. You know,
just being hot and sweaty and setting up in the
dark. That's nothing compared to some life challenges
that we face, right? But it's an indicator of
spiritual growth whether your joy survives, whether
it's small, seemingly small pressures. I guess
everybody that... has a pressure, thinks it is
major at the moment. But then when we put it
in perspective with everybody else's pressure,
then we might see that ours isn't that great.
But when we're going through it, we think that's
the worst thing that could possibly happen to
anybody today right now. Right? Will your joy
survive the pressure of this life? Nehemiah 8
.10 says this, The joy of the Lord is your strength.
The joy of the Lord is your strength. This was
a time where they were wanting to rebuild the
wall and they read the Word to them and everybody
was broken and everybody was repenting, which
is not a bad thing. But all of a sudden, God
sent a message to them. He said, you know what?
If you're going to complete this task of rebuilding
the wall, you've got to have the joy of the Lord.
Because you're not going to be able to do it
just focusing on yourself. You've got to have
the joy of the Lord to give you strength. for
what you have ahead of you. And I'm going to
tell you today, you need to have the joy of the
Lord for the strength to face the next thing
that you're going to face, the next trouble,
the next pressure that you're going to face.
You need the joy of the Lord to strengthen you.
Joy affects your spiritual endurance. It's important.
It's important. The Spirit of God wants to produce
something in us. Everybody say fruit. The Spirit
of God wants to produce something in us that
circumstances that we face cannot steal, cannot
take it away from us. That's what God wants to
work in us. That's what God wants to work in
you. Psalm 1611. It says this, in your presence,
God, in your presence is fullness of joy. At
your right hand are pleasures forevermore. There's
fullness of joy in the presence of the Lord.
How are you going to have the joy of the Lord?
You've got to be regularly in His presence to
really get it, to really have it. Listen, joy
does not flow from circumstances. That's just
natural joy. That's not supernatural joy. If
the only time you have joy... is when everything's
going your way and you're winning in every area.
If that's the only time you have joy, that's
just natural joy, not supernatural joy. Because
the fruit of joy does not flow from circumstances.
It flows from connection. How many of you experience
joy when you get together with other believers
and worship together? I hope you experience joy.
I guess that's part of what keeps you coming
back, I hope. Worship services can encourage
you temporarily, but they can't sustain you on
Monday and Friday. It can't sustain you. Only
abiding can sustain you. I mean, you get revved
up a little bit every Sunday, but that's... It's
not going to carry you through the challenges
and the struggles that we're going to face in
this fallen world. Just like this phone. How
many of you have a cell phone? How many of you
know if you never put it on charge, it's not
going to last very long? I mean, some phones
say that they can last how long? Three or four
days? Mine won't last a whole day most of the
time. Listen. How do you expect to live this
life being disconnected? You only charge on Sunday
morning. You only hook up to the charger on Sunday
morning. Then you expect that charge to last
you until next Sunday morning. It's going to
take more than that. To move, listen, to move
from carnal to spiritual is going to take more
than that. Philippians 4 .4 says this, Rejoice
in the Lord always. Rejoicing is an expression
of joy that's on the inside. Rejoice in the Lord
always. Again, I say rejoice. And I want to remind
you that Paul didn't write this from a beach
resort. He was not at a five -star. resort writing
this. He's imprisoned. So his joy and rejoicing
didn't depend on his circumstances today. His
joy was bigger than that. And he wrote to the
Philippians. He said, look, you're not experiencing
what I'm talking about. And I've got to stay
here to help you grow so that you can experience.
This joy that I'm talking about, this fruit of
joy, you need it. We need it. Joy in the kingdom
of God. Joy in our faith. We need it. This is
a big old word. Etymological. Etymological link.
There's an etymological link that I've got to
talk about. That just means root words. Everybody
say root words. Root words. You probably knew
that. You probably learned that at school. It's
been a long time since. All right. But we had
root words, and we had different words coming
from this root word, and we built other words.
Well, there's a link between some things. Korah
is joy. I got this from Help's Word Studies.
Kara is joy because of the link. It's joy because
of grace. Kario is rejoicing because of grace.
And karis is grace. Notice how they all have
kar in them. And when you look at the Greek,
it's actually an x something, but this is the
way we convert it to. English for us to be able
to pronounce it. Even though it's Greek. So there's
a connection between joy, rejoicing, and grace.
They're all rooted and founded in the same thing.
Because you can't have joy without understanding
grace. And your joy will not result in rejoicing.
Not the God kind of joy that I'm talking about.
Not the spiritual fruit of joy that I'm talking
about without understanding grace. The most widely
accepted definition of grace in the church is
unmerited favor. Who's heard that before? Grace
is unmerited favor. Well, that can kind of be
abstract where you can't really put your... Hand
on. So, I've expanded the definition. It still
means the same thing. Grace is actually God's
acts of kindness and favor towards you. God's
acts. God has done a lot of things out of His
kindness for you, out of His favor for you, whether
you realize it or not. He's done so many things
and made so many things available. And that's
why I believe in my studying this week, because
I keep studying, I keep digging deeper, right?
The Holy Spirit is the one who takes the things
of God and makes them known to us. So the Holy
Spirit is the one that connects us through the
Word of God to let us see those things that are
now available to us. He makes the Word of God
come alive on the inside of us. all of a sudden
we're growing in grace because we're understanding,
well, God did this for me. God's made this available
for me. This is who God is. It's no longer theological.
It's no longer philosophical. It becomes applicable
for us to apply to our lives, to really grasp,
to take hold of. And when we really begin to
take hold of all of these things that God has
done for us, hey, I don't believe we can ever
exhaust it, because there's so many things that
He's done for us and made available for us, showing
us His kindness and favor, that as we grow in
that, that's going to result, as the Holy Spirit
causes it to come alive and we grow in that,
then it's going to result in joy flowing in us
and through us. I hope I'm saying this making
sense. It makes perfectly good sense to me, but
I hope you're getting it. I hope you're receiving
what I'm saying. 2 Corinthians 12, 9. Paul was
talking to God and saying, God, remove this thorn
from my flesh. Man, these people are following
me around. They're attacking me. I've got people
who say that they're not even going to eat again
until they kill me. and every time I go somewhere,
people are against me, and they're talking against
me and trying to run me out of town, trying to
throw me in jail. God, take away this thorn in
my flesh. And you might say, where do you get
that from? Well, go to the Old Testament. It
says thorn in the flesh. It was talking about
people. I'm not talking about disease or sickness
or eyesight. Thorn in the flesh. God says if
you don't get those Canaanites and all of them
out of here, they're going to be a thorn in your
flesh. So Paul was saying, I've got a lot of
people against me. Could you take this persecution
away? And here's what God said. My grace. is
sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect
in your weakness. New Living Translation says,
God said, my grace is all you need. It's all
you need, Paul. All you need is my grace. And
Paul is teaching about the grace of God and teaching
about who we are in Christ. He's teaching about
what we have in Christ. That's how we find out
all of these things. The Bible tells us who God
is. His grace is sufficient. I don't know what
you're facing, but the grace of God is sufficient.
What He's already done, His acts of kindness
and favor towards you, what He's already made
available to you, that's sufficient. To carry
you through anything you face. His grace is sufficient.
So listen, joy then is the natural expression
of confidence in who God is and what He has accomplished.
It's just natural. It's a natural expression.
It's not a forced expression. It's a natural
expression of confidence in who God is. Because
who God is, as He has revealed Himself in the
Word, will take care of most of your problems.
And the ones that that don't cover, the ones
that who God is won't cover, will be covered.
By who you are in Christ. And what you have in
Christ. And the Holy Spirit. He's the great connector.
To cause that truth to come alive on the inside
of us. There's another point. John 15. Verses
5 and 11. Jesus is talking. He says, yes, I am
the vine. You are the branches. Listen, those
who remain in me and I in them will produce much.
Somebody say fruit. So fruit is a mark of our
spiritual growth. A measure of our spiritual
maturity. Jesus said, those who remain in me
and I in them will produce much fruit. And then
verse 11, as he talks about abiding in him, being
connected to him, he says this, he says, I've
told you these things so that you will be filled
with my joy. Y 'all got a smile or something?
I've told you these things so that you will be
filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.
The purpose of joy is not just for your enjoyment.
The purpose of joy is to overflow. To spill out.
To flow through. to fill you with His joy to
the point that you overflow with joy. Look at
the person beside you and say overflow. And smile
while you say it, please. Overflow. Overflow.
So joy is the natural flow from being rightly
connected to the source. We have to be rightly
connected. Rightly connected. There's a lot of
different ways people try to connect to God.
A lot of different ways. But we have to be rightly
connected. We've talked about some of it already.
Some people try to be connected to God by trying
to do all this self -effort to be a good person.
To connect to God. It's just one example. You'll
have to let the Holy Spirit reveal to you what
you're dealing with right now. Listen. Joy is
a natural flow for me and rightly connected to
the source. The source of life. The source of
joy. The source of peace. That's next week. The
source of all that you need. The source of love.
Got to be rightly connected to the source. I
want to end with these statements from the topical
lexicon. Listen, joy in the New Testament is
more than an emotion. If you think joy is just
an emotion, it's bigger than that. The joy that
I'm talking about is bigger than just feelings
and emotion. It is the settled, Spirit -given
delight. Gladness, cheerfulness that arises,
listen, from the redemptive acts and abiding
presence of God. Everybody say grace and presence.
This joy, this fruit of joy rises. As grace is
unfolded and revealed. And as we abide in the
presence of God, rightly connected to the vine,
which is where the source flows, the life flows.
You know, you don't wind up with any fruit without
any life flowing through the vine, through the
tree, through the branch. Right? And then this
one. Joy is rooted. In divine initiative. That
means that joy comes from God. This joy that
we're talking about, it comes from God. It comes
from God. It's experienced in the believer. You
can have it. And it is expressed. Because if
you got it, it's going to automatically be expressed.
It can't be hidden. It's expressed both now and
in the age to come. There's been a time in my
life where I thought, boy, when I get to heaven,
I'm going to experience the joy of the Lord when
I get to heaven. Ganda was even singing a song
this morning. You remember what you were singing?
Something about heaven. When we all get to heaven,
what a day of rejoicing that will be. We'll sing
and shout the victory. That's an old one. I don't
know if you know it or not. Listen. We sing songs
about the joy of the Lord in heaven. But God
doesn't want you just to... Wait on heaven to
have His joy. He wants you to experience His
joy. Today, every day, He wants you to walk in
it. He wants you to be strengthened in it. Because
that's what's going to carry you through. It's
the joy of the Lord being your strength. So the
measure of your abiding joy That means that you
have it. You don't lose it. When challenges come,
when struggles come, you don't lose it. You're
abiding in this joy. It's part of where you live.
You can live in it. You don't have to be like
this. Your life doesn't have to be a spiritual
roller coaster. Hallelujah. The measure of your
abiding joy is a good measure of your spiritual
growth and your spiritual maturity. Remember,
this is self -evaluation. I'm not asking you
to bump up joy in the flesh. Because we all know
people who can turn it on even though it's not
genuine. When you will know if it's genuine or
not is when you're by yourself and you face a
challenge and you say, you know what? A while
back, I would have responded a whole lot differently.
I would have responded a whole lot differently.
But you know what? I have a joy. It's based on
the confidence that I have in God. God's faithfulness.
God's goodness. I know His goodness is running
after me every day. and I know I'm facing this
temporary difficulty right now, but I'm not going
to lose my joy. I haven't lost my joy. That's
when you know that the fruit is progressing.
You can be there. If we couldn't be there, the
Bible wouldn't have told us all this stuff that
we just talked about today. You can have it.
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