Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So I'm going to have you this morning turn in your Bible to the Gospel of Luke. It's Christmas time. I want to wish you a merry Christmas. I know we're moving into that season. Last week I spoke on a beautiful theme called love. You know what I'm going to do this week? I'm going to speak on another great theme called joy. I like joy. In a world that's filled with oppression and despair, you know, God actually broke into what we would call 400 silent years. There was not a lot happening. I mean there was, yeah, certainly there was history happening. People were living their lives, but there was no real prophetic utterance for 400 years. And then all of a sudden the book of Matthew opens up and we see the story of Jesus erupting. God now is going to invade the planet. But how many know it was almost like a secret mission? Has anybody figured that out? I mean, who would have come up with this idea? God becomes a baby. Isn't that an amazing idea? And he doesn't get born in some great grandeur.
[00:00:59] He comes in a very obscure way. He's born to some very humble people.
[00:01:04] He selects a young woman, her name is Mary, and she's basically covenant to marry Joseph, but they're not united in marriage yet, but they have a legally binding contract. And all of a sudden, and this is something nobody could have anticipated because every Jewish young girl getting married, having a family, always would hope that her child would be the Messiah. But who knew that God was going to do something so unusual in bringing his son into the world via a virgin. But it totally makes sense when you think about it because now God becomes a man. And so we have the man side of it. She's born of a woman, but now a seed is deposited in her womb by the spirit of God and Jesus is conceived within her. And what a powerful thing. So where many times as we look through this Christmas season, the focus is generally on gifts and presents and family gatherings. But I know as believers we want to also focus on probably the reason why we're even here and is the fact that God invaded the planet, but he did it in a very low keyed way. And I think that's important. Yet I think at this time of year we're reminded of heaven's invasion and gentleness. But this time is also filled with stress, growing pressures, and also the possibilities for some real disappointments in our lives. How many know at Christmastime people feel like burdened, they feel a little pressure, some of them. People feel like I don't know if I can meet people's expectations.
[00:02:49] Sometimes people are discouraged. A lot of people. It's a season where over the year there's been loss. Some people have lost a loved one, and now this is the first Christmas. And that absence will be noticed at even a higher and a more tense level. So Christmas is really the story of God coming into our world, living among people under stressful conditions.
[00:03:12] But these people found joy in their troubles. Now, that's the point I'm going to try to get across today, finding joy even though we have trouble. How many think that if you're going to have trouble, you might as well have joy with it?
[00:03:24] Anybody sign up for that? Because I could say one thing. In life, you're going to have trouble no matter what. So you can have trouble without joy or you can have trouble with joy. I'm signing up for trouble with joy. I mean, if I'm going to get trouble, I want joy with it. And so I want to look at how that happens in our lives this season. God does want us to experience that, that same joy that these early believers had, regardless of our circumstance and situation. And that's what we're going to look at. You know, I think Christmas sometimes brings out the best and worst in people, and many realize that. I think that's why shows like, you know, the Christmas Carol with Scrooge or, you know, the Grinch, you know, they're kind of popular characters in our culture. And it's a season I think of mixed emotions, you know, bringing out great hopes while reminding others of terrific losses. And in the first Christmas season, we're going to see that there was a lot of anxiety and difficulty intermingled with moments of incredible joy and joy that could actually sustain these participants and principals in the great story. So the great question is, why does sorrow so often come before joy? And I like what William vine says, he says experiences of sorrow prepare and enlarge our capacity for joy. In other words, you really don't. When you go through trouble and you come out of trouble and good things start happening afterwards, you have a deeper appreciation and a value for what's happening in your life at that point. And it's the truth, it does happen. So God uses that time to develop something inside of us. And I think it's interesting, the this idea of joy. So what is joy? One of the guys was sharing a definition in our prayer time. You know, the sense of well, being. But I want to just bring out a few other thoughts. You know, it comes from a Greek word. And the word is chara. And it means to delight. Joy means that we delight in something. It's a Greek derivative. And I want to just show you that this root idea of joy, there's many other words that kind of go with it. You know, the word karyo means to rejoice. Another derivative word is charis, which is the word grace. That's translated from Greek into English as grace, charis. And then you have the word charisma. You know, the word charisma means gift. And then you get, you know, we talk about charismata. The charismata means the gifts.
[00:05:57] And so the word, the root idea is simply this. And I put them all together. You got gifts, grace, rejoice and joy. And they all come from the same root word. And it's these concepts that I think define the meaning of Christmas.
[00:06:11] I'm going to look at these words. It's these, you know, basically Christmas is about the gift of grace. How many say that's true? It's about an inexpressible gift, the gift of Christ to our world. It's something we don't deserve. How many know a gift is something you don't deserve? And I know some people, they expect gifts. You know, they give gifts, expect gifts. But I'm going to just say this, that none of us could really expect this gift from God. We don't deserve it. We're not worthy of it. We didn't earn it. We need it, but we didn't, you know, there's no reason in the world for God to give it. And last week I talked about why did God do it? And it's because of who he is. It's not about us. And I talked about so often, we focus on the object. When we need to look to the source, we need to look to God. That's the key in life. And I think it's expressed. This rejoicing expresses itself in joy. You know, when God comes, joy comes. When God comes, goodness comes. When God comes, grace comes. It's so beautiful. Now, I know many of us were busy during this time of the year. So what joy can we discover in our daily lives that are going to sustain us? Maybe in a season of disappointment, maybe we're in that season. Do you know that life has seasons? You know, we talk about. We know there's the solus seasons, right? Fall, winter, spring and summer. We know those seasons and we know they're different. And especially here in Alberta, we get four seasons. So we know they're all different, you know, and we know in our lives that there's different seasons. There's, you know, a season of, you know, you're journeying through life, you're going through different seasons. I actually read a book called the Seasons of a Person's Life, or it's called A Man's Life. But it's the seasons of the journey that you take from childhood to old age. And we're all processing different things at different ages in our lives. So there's seasons to our life. And then all of us in this room, we've had seasons of great blessing and great joy and great, just amazing things happening on our behalf. And then there's been seasons of difficulty and frustration and hardship and unexpected reversal. So we know that there are seasons and thank God they eventually wane and they're coming and they're going. And, you know, especially when you're in a difficult season, it's great to have that season come to an end. And my prayer for our church next year is, and I'm taking it from Isaiah 61, it's the year of the Lord's favor. You know, we've had such a challenging year. We've had so many people go through so many difficult things. And I have been walking beside people, going through sorrow and sadness and brokenness and disappointment and heartache. And I'm saying, lord, it would just be great if we entered into a brand new season. A year of your favor, a year of your blessing, a year of answer to prayer. We're going to look at that in this Christmas story today. You know, often we are waiting for God's promises in our lives to become reality. And we're going to look at a story today that we're all familiar with. But it's a story of promises now becoming realities. How many love it when God promises you something. And you know, most of the time when you're young, you think it's going to happen right away. But I've discovered in life that a lot of times God promises something and then there's a major delay. It's almost like God. Did you really say that? Think of Abraham, I'm going to give you a son, Abraham. But 25 years later, he finally gets the son. You know what I mean? There was a little bit of a delay between when God promised and when God delivered it. And God had been promising a messiah to come to the Jewish people. And we're about to read the story of how God now fulfills what he says. One thing we know about God, he's never late. He's always on time. But most of us are on fast forward. If you're like my type of personality, you're trying to move things forward, but God is moving at his speed and his speed is always the perfect speed. He says, I make everything beautiful in my time. So let's take a look at two expressions and experiences of joy. And the first one is simply the answer of prayer. Prayer, prayer being answered. I think there's nothing more exciting when we've poured out our hearts to God and God comes through and answers. That is a great moment. It's a delightful moment. And you know, in scripture here we're going to see the story of a godly couple living rather ordinary lives until two things happen to them that fulfills the longing in their soul. The first one, and we're going to find here in Luke, is the story of a priest by the name of Zechariah. They're living in an obscured village in Judea and they're godly people. And the first thing happens is that Zechariah is selected to go into the temple in Jerusalem. This is a once in a lifetime experience. They're selected by lot. His tribe comes up and he is selected to burn incense on the altar of incense, which is in the actual temple holy place. Now, he's not in the most holy place, only the high priest could go there once a year. But he's in the holy place and he's offering up incense. He's the only person in there. It's a beautiful experience.
[00:11:18] It's a once in a lifetime experience from this person who is a priest. And so he's drawn and he's going into this thing. The second thing is an answer to a long forgotten prayer. And I want to just encourage you that the prayers that you've prayed, every one of them has ascended before God has. And God has heard every last prayer that we've ever prayed. And a lot of prayers that we've prayed. You and I have totally forgotten now how many say that's probably true. I've been a believer for a long time, so you can imagine. I started praying to God when I was a child and as a young adult. And I've been praying throughout my life. And there's a bunch of stuff I prayed. I don't even remember what I prayed. Then all of a sudden God could come along and say, oh, by the way, you know that prayer you prayed way back then? I'm now answering it.
[00:12:03] And this is exactly what's going to happen. To this man Zechariah. So God in his wisdom chose not to answer.
[00:12:11] In their timetable, I think there's nothing more difficult than to be put on hold by God.
[00:12:18] We've all had that experience. You phone somebody just a minute and they put you on hold. And then you kind of wonder, are they ever coming back?
[00:12:26] And sometimes you feel that way when you're praying. God put us on hold and he's, hey, God, are you coming back to the conversation now? Is this going to happen? Right? He makes a promise.
[00:12:37] Maybe you're reading your Bible and you're praying. All of a sudden a promise comes to you.
[00:12:42] And then the time of waiting, it's a time of testing. Are we going to trust God? It's all about faith, folks. It's all about, am I going to trust God for what he has promised is going to happen. Now, God in his wisdom chose not to answer Zechariah and Elizabeth's prayer as a young couple. Okay? And it got to the point where in their mind, the prayer could no longer be answered because they wanted a child. And now they were past the years of conception and they knew that and they probably forgot about that prayer. And I think there was a reason why God delayed their answer. You're going to see why, because God always has a reason for what he's doing. You know, a lot of times in our lives, we look at our lives and we kind of feel like we're under the tapestry and all we see is these threads and they make no sense to us. But God's on the upside.
[00:13:29] He's weaving a beautiful story. But we just see the threads underneath and it just is not even coherent to our thinking. It just looks terrible. Have you ever done that? Flipped over something that's been woven like that, and you look at the bottom and it looks weird. And you look at the top and there's this beautiful design. Well, God is the one that's designing things, but we're looking at it from the underside. We don't catch everything that's going on. So I think this testing time comes along. A desire, a hope. And then eventually, out of the delay comes and the difficulty comes an answer. And Proverbs says it, this hope deferred makes the heart sick. But a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
[00:14:13] Have you ever had those moments where you just didn't think it was going to happen? All of a sudden it happens, and because of the delay, it's even sweeter.
[00:14:21] A lot of times if you just ask and got everything you asked for when you asked for it, you wouldn't really appreciate it. But if you really want something and you're praying about it, and you've prayed about it and you've prayed about it, and nothing is happening and you're longing and praying, God is shaping you in that process. And eventually, when the answer happens, that gets pretty exciting.
[00:14:41] So. So let's pick up the story.
[00:14:46] And I know that these guys, Elizabeth and Zechariah, godly people, they knew the Scriptures and they knew about the stories from the book of Genesis. They knew about Abraham and Sarah and the long delay. They knew all that stuff. But you can know all the stuff, but it doesn't necessarily apply in your situation. You just kind of not think about it. But let's pick up the story. In chapter one, in verse five, it says, in the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. And his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. In other words, she was from the same tribe. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. So, in other words, these were good people. These were godly people. They feared God. They did what God wanted them to do, but they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive. And they were both very old. So we're getting a picture now. Okay. Now, you have to understand where the Jewish mindset is. A couple of things. First of all, there is a curse if you don't obey God, that he will allow you not to have children.
[00:15:55] So maybe she felt a little bit of pressure. Maybe she said, what have we done wrong? A lot of questions in her mind. A lot of questions in Zechariah's mind. Okay, number one, number two, I've said this before, but the Jewish people in the Old Testament, especially in the first century, they had an underdeveloped concept of the afterlife in eternity. Now, they were arguing with each other. Is there an afterlife? Some said, no, there isn't. Some said, yes, there is. But having children was an important thing in their culture because they saw themselves as extending who they were through their lineage. And, you know, genealogy was a big thing to the Jewish people, and we know that from Scripture. So they felt, you know, this was a terrible thing.
[00:16:39] Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as a priest before God, he was chosen by Lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord, and to burn incense. So I just stop and pause and say, first of all, maybe you're praying and praying and praying. I want you to know God's timing is absolutely impeccable now. I don't know, growing along as a Christian, I've had moments where I've kind of argued with God.
[00:17:09] Maybe you don't do this, but I'm going, you know, God, you have all the time in the world. I get that. But I have a limited amount of time just pointing that out. And I can see a Runway coming to an end. And if you don't start doing some of these stuff, this is never going to happen. Okay. You follow what I'm saying? So a lot of us, we get a little more anxious about answers to prayer. God seems pretty relaxed about it, but I believe that he knows exactly the perfect moment. And if we try to get ahead of it, we just mess it up. So learning to be patient is really a challenging thing. Anybody else have challenge with patience? You know, just waiting on God, just letting God let this thing unfold. And there's always pressure to act. How many know that's true? We're living in a culture today. Everybody expects people to act because we don't have confidence. First of all, the majority of the culture doesn't believe there's God.
[00:18:03] They believe everything depends on themselves, and therefore they all need to take action. Somebody got to do something here, right? And sometimes God is the one that's saying, hey, I'm going to do something, but I want you guys to back off. And that's hard to do in a culture that always wants us to do. And God is saying, I want you to wait. Anybody know waiting is hard? Yeah, it is challenging. So it says. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zechariah saw him, he was startled, and he was gripped with fear. That's his normal response for angelic appearances. You say, why would people get afraid? Well, first of all, it's supernatural. It's not normal.
[00:18:50] Anything other than normal messes with your head.
[00:18:53] How many know? You probably get a little shook up, but an angel showed up at your house one day, you know, especially if you knew it was an angel. You know, sometimes people could come as an angel unaware. But I'm talking about, you know, he knows this is a supernatural being. Standing there, he's a little gripped, like he's praying to God. And all of a sudden an angel shows up. He's going, and am I in trouble? Right. First thought comes to his mind, I don't know. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard.
[00:19:21] And I don't know about you, if I was in Zechariah's place, I'm thinking, which prayer?
[00:19:27] Because I've probably prayed more than one. And what prayer are we talking about here? And then he says, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you're to give him the name John.
[00:19:41] Wait a minute.
[00:19:44] Anybody can relate to this.
[00:19:47] They're an older couple now. They're past the age of having children. All of a sudden, God, aren't you a little late on that answer? Did that angel get delayed in coming down? What's the scoop here?
[00:19:59] You can imagine he was a little bit shocked by this statement. That's good news. But it's a little shocking.
[00:20:08] So trying to remember which prayer he had prayed. And then he tells him he's going to have a son. His name is going to be John, which means grace. And that son's going to have a special mission. This is all good news stuff. This is really exciting stuff. So what's the result? Well, the result is it's going to produce joy. Listen to what the angel says. He will be a joy and a delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth. So God says, I'm about to bring joy into your life. I'm about to bring this baby boy. This is something that you've always wanted. It's happening now. I'm bringing this great joy in your life. You know, sometimes when God brings joy in our lives, we go, oh, I don't even know how to handle this. It's a little overwhelming. I feel like I don't deserve it. What's going on here? Why are you blessing me like that? I don't know all that's going on in Zechariah's mind, but it was mind boggling to him. He says he's going to bring you joy. Then it says, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will never take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. So this is going to be a very special child. Isn't that great? Isn't that a great word? How many think that was pretty? You know, if you have to wait a long time and then you get the answer, isn't it great when the answer is just like above all that you could ask, think or imagine.
[00:21:26] Actually, there's a verse that says that God's willing to give you above all that you could ask, think, or even imagine how many say, this is an example of that. This is really an example of that. God says, hey, I'm going to give you a son. It's going to happen. Even though you guys physically are not able to have children, you're going to have children anyways. I'm going to do a miracle here. This is kind of the theme of the barren woman story from the book of Genesis, when Sarah and Abraham were past the age and they just believed God, and all of a sudden they got Isaac. How many know that was pretty incredible. So these are biblically oriented people. They're thinking, wow, if God is saying this, this is now going to happen.
[00:22:07] But Zechariah had a little problem. We know what happened.
[00:22:12] He ends up leaving the temple because he didn't quite believe and he couldn't talk for nine months until the baby was born. God says, you're not going to say anything.
[00:22:23] And then when he remembered what happened is he was writing his name. His name is going to be John. Then all of a sudden, he can start talking. The moment he started talking, he was filled with the spirit. He began to prophesy. Powerful story. Okay, so the blessing now is erasing the heartache, the shame, the ridicule, all the things that are going on in Elizabeth's mind. And then we pick up verse 24, as I want to remind us, experiences of sorrow prepare us and enlarge us for the capacity, capacity for joy. So here's the wife, Elizabeth. She becomes pregnant, and for five months she remains in seclusion. And then the Lord, she says, has done this for me in these days. He has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people. So she had always felt like this was a blight in her life, but now God's removing this, and people are going to see that she is now favored of God. You know, I think a lot of times we struggle with things we have no control over.
[00:23:20] You know, how many know we can't. We don't have control about the kind of IQ God gives us or our outward physical appearances.
[00:23:29] We can't control where we're born and whose family we're born into. We can't control some things. How many say that's true, those are things you have no control over.
[00:23:40] And I think a lot of times people allow their outward things to define what can really happen in their life. And I think that's a mistake that we can make.
[00:23:49] Elizabeth's child estate, I think, had affected her attitude. We see that from her statement there.
[00:23:56] How often do we seem to allow our earthly condition to determine our sense of value or worth, including that sense of value or worth that we gain from God? I think Christians are struggling with value and worth because we look at ourselves, and I said it last week, I'm going to remind us again this week. We got to look away from ourselves.
[00:24:18] Once you do that, because two things happen. Either you think more of yourself than you ought to or less of yourself than you should. You're still looking at yourself. It's problematic both ways. Why don't we look up? Why don't we look to God? Why don't we look to the Source and allow God to give us a sense of value? First of all, you are important. You say, how do you know that, Pastor? Every human being God creates is important. Otherwise God wouldn't have done it. Number two, every person that God ever creates, he has a purpose in why you were created, where you were created in the time you were created. And he has a distinct purpose for you to fulfill with your life. And I think ultimately it's to bring glory and honor to God that you would live for him. And you and I have no idea. But when we're walking in obedience to God, things are being revealed through our lives to other people, and we don't even recognize it. We're communicating many times by the good decisions that we're making, the godly decisions, the choices that we're making. We're communicating the glory, the goodness, the kindness, the reality, the presence of the living God to our society. How's that? And I'm going to pray today at the end that we're going to have joy. Because I really believe that when people see that we can have the same troubles, the same challenges, the same difficulties, and we have joy in the midst of it, we're communicating that there's a power greater than ourselves that work within us. It's not us generating this. It's the power and the life of Christ flowing through us. We're witnessing them. Just because we have joy in our life, because we have hope in our life, because we have faith in our life, we're communicating powerfully into their lives.
[00:25:59] So I believe there is a delight and joy from answer to prayer, but there's also a joy in knowing our position in Christ. So one is a change of circumstances brings joy and the Other is a knowledge of who I am in Christ can bring joy even though my circumstances don't change. So I can have joy if God changes things, but I can also have joy if nothing changes because I knew who I am and Christ. How many think that might be important? I think it's critical because I think we need joy. Okay, now let me move on to the second expression.
[00:26:37] And it's simply the opportunity to announce our good news to other people.
[00:26:43] Think about what I'm saying. Do you know that when something fantastic happens to you, wouldn't it be awful if you couldn't say it to anybody?
[00:26:53] How many here would say that would drive me crazy? Pastor, if I got some phenomenal news and I couldn't share with anybody, that would bug me. I'd have to say, I got to talk to somebody about it.
[00:27:05] How many are going to be honest enough to say, pastor, I'm just like you. When I get good news, I got to share it with at least one person. At least one person. But if you're like me, it's not just one person. I gotta tell somebody. You know what I mean? I gotta tell people. This is so good. You gotta hear it, right?
[00:27:25] Are you guys any. I'm a little enthusiastic. I get it. But I gotta share it. You know, joy, to be fully experienced, needs to be expressed. How many say that's probably true?
[00:27:38] I mean, can you imagine? You know, you had the great news and you walked around going, can't say anything.
[00:27:46] I'd be a drag, right?
[00:27:50] I think joy is incomplete apart from sharing it. I think God designed us to be social. We're human beings. We need other people. You know, we can't just live in isolation. You know, the worst form of punishment is to be in isolation. It'll do something. It'll damage you eventually. To be living in constant isolation, it's unhealthy. God didn't design us that way. And so God's designed us to communicate. God's designed us to share. And, boy, when you got something good to talk about and who are the people you're going to share to? Well, I think you share to the people you love. That's what you want to tell, right? The person I love, the people I love, I want to tell them what's going on in my life. So Jesus wants to bring blessing and grace into our lives. He wants to overwhelm us. I read it this morning. He wants to overwhelm us with joy. He wants to overwhelm us with good things to the point where you And I can't stand it anymore. I got to say something. This is so good. I got to share it, you know, So I don't believe you have to tell people. You need to go share Jesus with people. If Jesus overwhelms you, you're going to want to share it. You know, I think back when I was a brand new Christian, you know, I was so excited. I had to tell people. I was just telling everybody. It didn't matter. I was excited. I was full of joy. When you got joy, you got to share it. You just got to do it, you know, I'm still that way. I have to share the good things of God. Not because it's something I have to do, it's something I. I want to share this.
[00:29:35] So we want to share the good news with others.
[00:29:39] Elizabeth now is about to have her child and she receives an amazing visit from a sweet and favored relative. Mary is also pregnant, but there's a social stigma attached to her pregnancy. Now, remember I said earlier, it just seemed like, you know, like I said, the expectation and the culture, how many know culture really shapes our expectations? How many say that's true? The culture you're living in is shaping the way you're thinking. It's shaping your expectations. You know, they had no expectation that someone who had never been in a relationship with a human being could have a child. How many know that doesn't compute.
[00:30:21] Does anybody relate to that? So you have to understand in their natural thinking that this child would be in marriage. Probably godly people that God would choose, and he did, but a godly couple and the child would be the Messiah and that's how they thought. But now to have it go outside of the marriage relationship in that culture, that was just outside of their expectation. So how many know that even though Mary had an angelic visitation, she was told she was highly favored of God, she's now willing to carry the Son of God and be the mother of the Son of God. That's an amazing responsibility. And she's a teenager. How many think this is amazing overload? In some ways it's going to maybe even jeopardize her relationship with her contractual arrangement to be married to Joseph. Because we read in Matthew's Gospel, Joseph was a blameless godly person too. When he found out that Mary was pregnant, he was going to put her aside publicly because he didn't want her to be shamed and he didn't want her to be punished, but he didn't want to marry her because that was not the Right thing to do if you're a righteous person. So he was going to put her aside and privately divorce her. So how many know that in the midst of this great favor and in the midst of this great joy, it also introduced a whole bunch of problems?
[00:31:38] How many can see that a bunch of problems showed up? And you can imagine if she, you know, she would have told some people, they'd go, man, no one's going to buy your story, Mary. No one's buying what you're laying down. It's just, we can't believe this. So let's pick up the story. What happens? So it says, at that time, Mary got ready and hurried to the town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zacharias home and greeted Elizabeth. She's a relative.
[00:32:08] When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, I could just hear Mary going, elizabeth, Elizabeth. And she says the moment she heard Mary's greeting, the baby in Elizabeth's womb, it says, leaped, ok? And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:32:27] In a loud voice, she exclaimed, blessed are you among women. Blessed is the child you will bear. But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Isn't that interesting? Great expression, you know, the baby came alive. It just leaped within her. And the spirit of God came on Elizabeth and she began prophesying immediately. She started saying, I know who you are, Mary. I know what's going on in your life. I know that you're the mother of the Messiah. You know, isn't that an amazing thing? How many think that would be a very encouraging word for Mary to hear in light of all that she was going to experience by most people, to have one person understand what was going on. And the reason why she could understand Mary was because she was experiencing a miracle herself. How many get it? So now we understand why God delayed that whole pregnancy was so that he could do a supernatural miracle in Elizabeth's life, so that Elizabeth would be there, so that when Mary would have her miracle, she would get it. Isn't that beautiful?
[00:33:41] So, you know, sometimes we look at something. I don't understand why God is taking so long to do this over here. God goes, I got a plan. How many think that God's plan is better than your plan and my plan?
[00:33:56] So now the next time we're praying and God's not doing what we think he ought to do, just, okay, God, listen, I know you got a plan.
[00:34:04] I'm buying in. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm buying into it. I'm just going to wait. It's going to be patient. I have a bunch of things that I have waited a long time for. I feel like Abraham right now. In my life, I have prayed and waited for over 25 years for one answer to prayer. I'm still waiting. But you know what? I have an expectation because, you know, I was reading last night with Patty. We were doing our devotions together. We do one in the morning separately, but we do one at night together while we're reading. And it just hit me with impact, you know, Abraham believed God, and God said, that's what creates a right relationship with me, that you believe what I'm telling you. And Abraham believed God, even though it was difficult to believe that he was going to have a child, a son. He had already waited long time and there was no answer. But God had to come along later on and remind him, yes, I have not. Because Abraham was basically meeting with God and he was talking to God and he said, God said, listen, I'm your great reward, Abraham. He said, yeah, but I don't have a child. And God says, look, step outside here. Let's take a look at the stars together. You see up there? He says, look at all those stars. You can't even. There are so many. He said, you descendants are going to be as great as the stars in the sky. Isn't that a beautiful thing? So he has a visual picture. And the Bible says, and Abraham believed God and God credited to him for righteousness. And that's a principle that we have to live by, that we believe God. And God says, because you believe me, I declare you to be righteous. Because you believe in Jesus, because you believe in his death, because you believe in his resurrection. I declare you to be righteous and forgiven and blameless in my sight.
[00:35:54] Wow. Isn't that great? I love it.
[00:36:00] So I think an unknown author says, it takes a special person.
[00:36:11] It takes a special person who delights in the good fortune of another person. How many say that's true? A lot of people are jealous, but I think it's great when we can rejoice in other people's good fortune.
[00:36:24] What does that tell you when you can rejoice in another person's good fortune? First of all, you're secure.
[00:36:31] Secondly, you can rejoice because you know that their track and your track may be different. And you don't even. You're so happy that God's doing This work in their life. But you also know God is going to do work in your life. There's a confidence that God is working in every life. And so when people tell you good news, you can rejoice with them. I think that's important.
[00:36:52] So rather than making Mary feel bad, Elizabeth encourages her relative. I think that's powerful because she understood it. She got it.
[00:37:07] The nature of joy is that it encourages and it blesses other people. Joy is not something you contain. It's something that spills over into the lives of other people. It's something to be shared with others. And then the second thing, I think joy is contagious. Have you ever been around joyous people?
[00:37:25] You know, people that are full of joy, they're contagious. Not only did God's spirit fill Elizabeth and she began to speak prophetically, but even the baby in her womb began dancing, you know, like jumping for joy. It says when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. That's one of the results of the spirit is joy, right? And in a loud voice, she said, blessed are you among women. Blessed is the child you will bear. And then she says, why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? She recognized what's going on. And as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby and my womb leave for joy. Okay, so why am I saying all of this?
[00:38:04] What's this all about? It's about the condition that Christ brings into our soul. Do you know joy is the outcome of coming into contact with Christ in the presence of the Lord. There's what? Fullness of joy in the presence of the Lord. That's where joy comes from. We're not talking about happiness. Happiness is.
[00:38:27] It depends on circumstance. I'm happy because I have the favorable circumstances. Joy is not determined by circumstances. That's the beauty of it. It transcends it. It's beyond it.
[00:38:40] One of the great attacks directed by Satan against us as children of God is to cause us to lose our joy. The temptation is to focus on life's challenges rather than on God's grace. How many go? That usually is what happens in our lives. How many know? If you're going through a lot of problems, where do you tend to direct your gaze? All the problems. And the moment you start focusing on the problems, what happens is you lose your sense of confidence in God. You lose your joy. You're like Peter walking on water. You begin to look at the waves down you go, right? Isn't that kind of what's going on? And all I'm saying is we have to focus in on God's goodness. In those moments, I want you to know what happens, why joy is so powerful. You say, why is it that Satan attacks our joy?
[00:39:24] I'll tell you why. Because he knows he's weakening you when you don't have joy. Listen to what Nehemiah says. Nehemiah is one of my favorite books of the Bible because he's an Old Testament leader, and he's able to accomplish what nobody else is doing. He gets called by God to help rebuild the walls. Everybody else has failed. There's nothing going on. Everyone's discouraged. He comes along.
[00:39:46] He waited on God. He prayed. He got permission from the king to leave Persia, go back to Jerusalem. He goes there. He motivates the people. There's all kinds of challenges, but in 52 days, they rebuild the wall. Isn't that great? He's successful at accomplishing what he's called to do by God and also has other people help him to accomplish the task. But this is what Nehemiah says. He says the joy of the Lord is your strength. So if you don't have joy, you don't have strength. See, that's why I'm trying to say to you right now, this is so incredible. If you want to be strong in the Lord, you need joy. Joy is an important element. And how do you get joy? Well, we're going to talk about that right now. So maybe you're here today and you feel less than enthusiastic. There's no joy. You feel weak. You feel like throwing in the towel. You feel like giving up.
[00:40:41] Can I tell you something?
[00:40:44] If you come into God's presence, you are going to experience joy. Because in the presence of the Lord, there is what? Fullness of joy.
[00:40:53] So how do we lose our joy, first of all? Then I will talk about how to reclaim it. What diminishes joy? Well, I am going to point you to a church that had some struggles. Church at Philippi. I love that book. But they did have some problems. There were some difficult people, because how many know difficult circumstances and difficult people can rob you of joy?
[00:41:14] Anybody know that? You know, let me point it out to you. Somebody walks in the room, you don't get along with this person. You don't like them. Every time they come, you know, they say negative things or they do dumb stuff, or they just make you feel terrible. You don't know anybody like that, I'm sure. But had A few experiences in my life. And somebody walks in the room, all of a sudden you have an emotional. Anybody ever have an emotional moment?
[00:41:38] Somebody walks in the room, you have an emotional moment.
[00:41:43] I'm actually being quite transparent here. Maybe some of you don't have those moments, but you're just going, okay, I don't know how this is going to go.
[00:41:51] Generally, people, that's not the way it works. But every once in a while, maybe you've had a difficult moment. You got to deal with somebody and it's difficult. And they're in the room and you got to deal with this thing. You know, there's no joy there. You just, you feel diminished.
[00:42:06] They're robbing you of joy. Just their presence is robbing you of joy. There's other people, they walk in the room, you just feel like, man, they're bringing joy in the room. You know, they're just so happy. They're delightful. You know, you're just so happy to see them. They just lift your spirits around people like that. They're joy bringers. And then there's joy takers. They just diminish your joy. So people can diminish your joy. Bad situations in life diminish joy. We all know that.
[00:42:32] So how do we deal with these situations? Well, I'm going to jump a little bit here, so I'm going to go through some of my slides real fast. Philippians, he talks about don't just look after your own interests, but the interests of others. Talks about being one of mind and heart.
[00:42:53] He's basically saying, we got to develop a right mindset. And here's Jesus mindset. When he's going to the cross. This is a difficult situation. He's going to the cross. It says fix. And then he says to us, the writer of Hebrews, he says, fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer or the author and the finisher or the perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him endured the cross. When you have joy, you can handle difficult situations. That's what he's telling us. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Or I could say lose joy, because that's what happens when you lose heart. You've lost your joy. Joy is what keeps us from losing heart.
[00:43:38] It helps us fix our eyes on Christ, not on our problems. We either have a heart full of thanksgiving and grace, attitude or else we find ourselves focusing on ourselves. And the result is murmuring and complaining about things. And a lot of times, that's what we end up doing. How many go, our joy is gone. We have no strength. And then we start complaining, do everything without grumbling and arguing. It says, okay, so let me close, because I'm running out of time.
[00:44:06] And I'll just say this, skip over this verse and that verse. They're just sharing their joy. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.
[00:44:21] Can I just say it this way?
[00:44:24] When we are struggling with joy, when things aren't difficult, there's something we can do to reclaim joy. You go, what is it? Here's the verse. Rejoice in the Lord always.
[00:44:37] I'll say it again. Rejoice.
[00:44:41] What are you supposed to do when you're struggling?
[00:44:44] Rejoice.
[00:44:46] You're supposed to do the opposite of what you feel. That's what I'm trying to get at.
[00:44:50] You need to begin to worship God. The moment you start worshiping God, what happens? God's presence comes in the presence of the Lord. There's what? Fullness of joy. And what happens when you have joy? You can handle the problems. That's what I'm trying to tell you. You see? So in life, you're going to have troubles. So you have to make a decision. Do I want to have troubles with joy or without joy?
[00:45:15] Isn't that the way it works?
[00:45:18] I just can't resist this. Chilton, you always have joy.
[00:45:23] He's married to joy. That's why I couldn't resist.
[00:45:27] But let's stand as we close.
[00:45:38] Maybe you're here today to say, you know, Pastor, I have to admit, I am just letting all of the activity, the events, the challenges, the pressures, the losses, the pain, all of those things are just robbing me of joy. Maybe that's where you are at today.
[00:45:55] You know what? Our prayer, my prayer and our prayer. These men that gathered with me this morning, and I read it to you this morning, that God's joy would overtake you.
[00:46:05] God's joy would overtake you. So I'm going to pray right now. How many here say, you know, I want to have the joy of the Lord. I want the joy of the Lord. Anybody here just raise your hand. I want to be full of the joy of the Lord. I want to walk into a room. I want to bring joy. I don't want to be taking it from people. I want to be depositing it, because I have the joy of the Lord. It's my strength.
[00:46:32] And so I'm going to just say right now, Lord, I just pray right now that you will give us a spirit of worship and praise and rejoicing in our spirit, that you will fill our hearts with a song, that we will begin to worship worship you and not focus in on the challenges that are before us and the difficulties that were around us. That we'll begin to worship you and experience joy unspeakable. Lord, my prayer today is that every believer and every person that's even hearing my voice, regardless if they trust in you or not, they will experience a joy because you're going to invade their space and fill them with your presence, Lord, which breathes joy. And I pray that it would be so contagious that we're going to begin to share the good things and the goodness of our loving Savior with others around us this Christmas season. In Jesus name, Amen. God bless you as you leave today.
