Joy

(This is a message I gave at a few nursing homes on a couple different days during the fall of 2012. - RB)

Greetings everyone!

We’re happy to be here again, it fills us with great joy to be here and to be with you all! Seeing your beautiful faces and sharing good news with you and singing songs of praise to God...it truly is a joy!

Outside today, right now, there are people driving by, or working nearby, or even some of you, who aren't feeling any joy at all. Some are feeling bad about relationship problems, money problems, health problems, transportation or mobility difficulties, difficulties in taking care of themselves or providing for the needs of their kids, difficulties of all kinds. It can be a really hard life sometimes and often it isn’t much fun.

Some people end up with more difficulties than other's and they just do their best without complaining. Other people, who have had a pretty smooth life for a long time, when they all of the sudden hit some turbulence they are convinced life is totally not fair, and complain loudly about it!

From dealing with our own problems, dealing with the problems of others, being surrounded by complainers, and maybe being one ourselves from time to time, to being bombarded by a steady diet of bad news on the t.v., radio and newspapers - it's seems like just piling on bad news on top of bad news on top of bad news on top of bad news!

It doesn’t seem like a very joyful life with all that goin on does it? It can all be a bit too much!

Well that’s why we enjoy being here with you so much, because not only do we get to share the true joy of the good news of the Gospel with you, but we get excited and are joyful that we are allowed to play music and sing with you, it's good therapy for us to have fun like this after a long week of work or school studies.

All of us, everyone in this building, all have our own problems and therefore we all need some joy.

When we spend time worshipping God, we can feel the joy of his love right then and there! We may not be able to maintain that level of joy constantly every day, we are human after all! But that level of joy is what God wants us to experience every minute of every day! And all of us are invited by God to have that joy now, and for the rest of our lives, and for all of eternity. That, my friends, is good news!

In the King James Bible, the word “joy” occurs 167 times. And if a person were to go through the Bible and look up all those verses that the word joy is in, that person would see that a relationship with God has joy as one of the most prominent elements of that relationship.

The apostle Paul wrote about joy:

(Galatians 5:22)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith

Notice that joy is the 2nd most notable characteristic of the spirit of God. First comes love, then with love joy is manifested, then with love and joy, peace is manifested, then with love, joy and peace, longsuffering is manifested etc. So joy is the first result of love.

(Romans 14:17)
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

He is saying in this verse that the kingdom of God isn’t meat and drink….in other words, it isn’t found in what you consume – things that your body craves, but its in things your soul craves – righteousness, peace…and joy in the Holy Ghost.

And Jesus himself spoke of joy many times:

(John 15:11)
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Our God is not the God of hate or envy, Jesus right here says that his desire is that our joy might be full. God does not want us to be unhappy or without joy. Joy is of God, misery is of the devil.

(John 16:21-22)
21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

(Luke 6:20-23)
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven

Jesus mentioned the negative things in the world we experience: physical pain ie child birth, men taking our joy away from us, poverty, hunger, sorrow, hate…all those things will end and we will get a reward so great that we will leap for joy!! Now, I know some of our knees don’t work so well anymore, and the strength in our legs are gone, but we can leap inside our hearts with joy until we get our heavenly bodies, amen?

There is a little story in the book of Acts, about how one disciple of Jesus, named Philip, went to a city in Samaria to preach Christ, and there many people believed in Christ. There was one little verse buried in that story, it’s a small verse but a verse that speaks volumes to me:

(Acts 8:8)
And there was great joy in that city.

That tells me that when many people turn to God, there is so much joy that it seems like the entire city is filled with joy! This joy is contagious, just like negativity and evil can spread – so too can Gods love and joy. So we are here in effort to spread joy so that there is great joy in this city. Because even unbelievers can benefit from our joy. And maybe some will come to know God through our joy.

My wife is a good example of that, she noticed something in my family that she did not have in her own. After some time she realized it was God. So now after turning to God she also knows this incredible joy … and I am very joyful for her because I love my wife!

(Luke 15:4-10)
And all of heaven rejoices when we repent and turn to God: 4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

So heaven rejoices when we turn to God because our souls are saved. God does not want any of us to be lost, he wants all of us to be found. The apostle Peter added to this point when he wrote:

(1 Peter 1:6-9)
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls

And the old testament prophet Isaiah prophesied of great joy is in store for those that turn to the messiah:

(Isaiah 51:2-3)
2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

(Isaiah 51:11)
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

So how exactly do we get this joy? We turn our hearts towards God with a humble heart and ask him to save our souls.

(John 3:16-17)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

(1 John 1:9)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(Romans 10:9)
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

My hope, my prayer, is that all of us have or will turn to God and confess our sins and start a new life filled with love and joy. If we all are filled with Gods love, then it can be said about our city that there is great joy here…and its because of our Lord.

Kind David wrote psalms that covered a wide variety of topics. But most all are filled with joy in praise of God! Even when things were going bad for David he still had words of thankfulness and praise for God. In closing, I’d like to just read a few of them:

(Psalm 5:11)
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

(Psalm 32:11)
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

(Psalm 43:4)
Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.