Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Hymn number 412.
Onward Christian soldiers.
Hymn number 412.
We'll begin on that first verse together now.
Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war.
Hymn number 412.
Let's lift our voices together on that first now.
Hymn number 412.
Sing it out now.
Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ the royal master leads against the foe.
Forward into battle see his banner go.
Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
At the sign of triumph Satan's host of glee.
Onward Christian soldiers on to victory.
Bells foundation swivered at the shout of praise.
Brothers lift your voices loud roar and come praise.
Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Like a mighty army moves the church of God.
Brothers we are treading where the saints have drawn.
We are not divided.
All one body waiting.
One in all the doctrine.
One in charity.
Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
On the last.
We need more joy our happy throne.
Let with ours your voices in the triumph song.
Glory, laud and honor unto Christ the king.
This room countless angels men and angels sing.
Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war.
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
We want to go before the Lord.
Father in heaven thank you for faithful word Baptist church.
I pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Hymn 122.
Oh God our help in ages past.
Our hope for years to come.
Our shelter from the stormy blast.
And our eternal home.
Hymn 122.
Begin on that first verse now.
Hymn 122.
Sing it out together now.
122.
Our shelter from the stormy blast.
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of thy throne.
Thy saints have dwelt secure.
Sufficient is thine arm alone.
Our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood.
O earth receive her frame.
From everlasting thou art God.
To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in thy sight.
Are like an evening gone.
Short as the watch that ends the night.
Before the rising sun.
On the last.
Oh God our help in ages past.
Our hope for years to come.
Be thou our guide while life shall last.
And our eternal home.
Amen. Good singing.
Alright this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bullet then slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6.
Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we will be in 2 Chronicles 36.
Finally to the end of 2 Chronicles.
This has been a big one.
So you know it's been like what nine months or something that we've been going through this.
So the baby is finally ready to be born.
And so we're going to be done with 2 Chronicles.
And so it's been a great book.
I've really enjoyed learning.
And one last chapter to go this Wednesday.
I hope you'll be there.
So many times are listed below.
Salvations and baptisms.
We've got the baptism number corrected there.
And then across the page we've got the note about the donuts and coffee before the service on the first Sunday of every month.
Sunday March 2nd in this case.
And so we'll be celebrating the birthdays and anniversaries in the month of March.
And then another successful cruise missions trip in the Bahamas.
This was me and my son Steven that went out there.
We say a total of three soul winners because we met up on one of the two days we met up with Kenton who lives in Nassau.
And it's great to have him there to host us, pick us up, take us where we need to go, show us the ropes.
And so he was also with us.
And we had a total of 24 people saved.
And one of those salvations was actually my son Steven got his first soul saved.
So that was a cool milestone for him as a 12 year old boy.
And so thank you to everyone who prays and participates in these trips.
We've got a big one coming up.
March 23rd we've got about 20 plus people signed up.
And so it's not too late to get on board.
No pun intended.
And so be thinking about that.
And we will also have other trips and other opportunities later in the year.
Also don't forget that you can always just grab a buddy and just plan one of these things yourself.
And you can talk to us for help and support on that.
And then below that we've got the note about the Mother Daughter Tea Party.
This is in honor of Mother's Day.
It doesn't take place on Mother's Day but it's in honor of Mother's Day.
And we have two different dates.
We normally have three dates available.
The venue is only available for two days this time.
So we've got two dates available.
When the time comes make sure you RSVP.
It's not open yet.
The registration.
But for now just be thinking about which of these dates works for you.
Whether you want to go.
And remember this is for all ladies and girls.
You don't have to be there with your mother or your daughter.
Just any configuration of ladies and girls can go to this thing.
And just mark the calendar.
Think about it.
And we'll get to you with more details as it gets closer.
On the back of course we typically have food donations over here to my left.
And so especially on Wednesday nights we usually have a lot of stuff over there.
So and sometimes it's really good stuff.
A lot of organic stuff that you know is just like barely expired or whatever that gets donated.
And so you can really eat good off that table sometimes.
Alright keep praying for the expectant ladies that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
And then other upcoming events.
We've got Pastor Corbin Russell preaching in March on the 12th.
We've got Pastor Bruce Mejia preaching in April.
We've got Pastor Dylan Oz preaching in May.
So we're keeping a nice succession of guest preachers coming at you over the next few months.
And that is about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days.
So going back to Thursday of this week.
Anything to report from Thursday? Is that a three?
Alright.
Got it.
Okay that's a one right?
Okay.
Alright.
Gotcha.
Okay anything else?
How about Friday? Anything from Friday?
Okay gotcha.
Got it.
Okay.
Alright and then I'm going to log the ones from our mission strip as well.
Alright and then how about Saturday? Anything from yesterday?
Alright.
Okay got it.
Alright.
And then anything else?
Alright and then how about today?
Brother Scott.
Five.
The main group with Brother Scott.
Got other groups.
Gotcha.
Got it.
Okay.
Anything else from today?
Very good.
Keep up the great work on soul winning.
And with that let's sing our next song.
Come lead us.
Alright you should find the insert in front of your hymnal with Psalm 15.
If you don't have an insert you can raise your hand so you can receive one.
We'll sing all that verse together.
Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbited not with his tongue
nor do with evil to his neighbor
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.
He that backbited not with his tongue
in whose eyes a vile person is content
but he honoreth in that fear the Lord.
In whose eyes a vile person is content
but he honoreth in that fear the Lord.
He that swear it to his own hurt and change it not.
He that put it not out his money to usury.
He that swear it to his own hurt and change it not.
He that put it not out his money to usury.
Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be blue.
Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be blue.
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hymn?
Good singing, everybody. Take your hymnals now.
We'll go to hymn number 166, hymn number 166.
I will praise him, hymn number 166.
166, when I saw the cleansing fountain open wide for all my sins.
Sing this out on that verse together now, number 166.
When I saw the cleansing fountain open wide for all my sins,
I will praise him, I will praise him.
I will praise the lamb for sinners slain.
I will praise him, I will praise him.
Praise the lamb for sinners slain.
Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Though the way seemed straight and narrow, all I claimed was left awake.
My omniscience, plans, and wishes that my beaten ashes lay.
I will praise him, I will praise him.
Praise the lamb for sinners slain.
Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Then God's fire upon the altar of my heart was set aflame.
I shall never cease to praise him.
Glory, glory to his name.
I will praise him, I will praise him.
Praise the lamb for sinners slain.
Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Blessed be the name of Jesus.
I'm so glad he took me.
He's forgiven my transgressions.
He has placed my heart from sin.
I will praise him, I will praise him.
Praise the lamb for sinners slain.
Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Glory, glory to the Father.
Glory, glory to the Son.
Glory, glory to the Spirit.
Glory to the three in one.
I will praise him, I will praise him.
Praise the lamb for sinners slain.
Give him glory, all ye people, for his blood can wash away each stain.
Man, good thing tonight.
Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plate around.
As the plate goes around, let's turn our Bibles to Habakkuk chapter 3.
Habakkuk chapter 3, this is at the end of the Old Testament in the Minor Prophets.
Habakkuk chapter number 3.
As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Habakkuk chapter 3.
In Habakkuk chapter 3 the Bible reads,
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionath.
O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid.
O Lord, revive thy works in the midst of the years.
In the midst of the years make known.
In wrath remember mercy.
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah.
His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
And his brightness was as the light.
He had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power.
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
He stood and measured the earth.
He beheld and drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered.
The perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting.
I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers?
Was thy wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
Thy bow was made quite naked. According to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word, Selah,
thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
The mountains saw thee, and they trembled.
The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered his voice and lifted up his hands on high.
The sun and the mood stood still in their habitation.
At the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
Thou didst march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed.
Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation under the neck, Selah.
Thou didst strike with his staves the heads of the villages.
They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
When I heard, my belly trembled. My lips quivered at the voice.
Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble.
When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines.
The labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat.
The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet,
and he will make me to walk upon mine high places, to the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to hear your holy and precious word.
I thank you for the souls that were saved this week.
I ask you to fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit.
Open our hearts and our ears to receive your word.
I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. This evening, we're continuing to talk about the fruit of the Spirit,
and this morning, we talked about love.
Tonight, we're going to be talking about joy.
I'll just read for you the verse that we read this morning about the fruit of the Spirit.
It says in verse 22 of Galatians 5,
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such, there is no law.
And the idea here is that we're all indwelled by the Holy Spirit as believers.
Every single one of us is indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
We're sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption.
He's never going to leave us or forsake us.
And so everybody who's saved has the Holy Spirit living inside of him,
yet it is possible to quench the Spirit.
It's possible to walk in the flesh and not be walking in the Spirit.
And so if we put on the new man, if we walk in the Spirit,
the Spirit is going to bear fruit in our hearts and lives,
and we will, as Spirit-filled Christians, be characterized by these attributes.
We will have love. We will have joy. We will have peace. On and on the list goes.
And so this morning we talked about love,
and how the Christian who is filled with the Spirit, walking with God,
is a loving person and loves others.
But tonight we're going to focus on joy.
And as I mentioned this morning, this is what everybody's after in their lives, right?
Everybody's looking for love, and everybody wants to be happy, right?
It's even in that most famous part of the Declaration of Independence,
the founding document of our country,
where it says, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
because this is a big thing, even for non-believers, even for non-Christians.
Nobody wants to be unhappy, right? We want to have joy in our lives.
And so we want to have real, lasting joy.
As Christians, we've got to be filled with the Spirit, right?
We've got to be walking with God.
Now, if we do walk in the Spirit, we can have joy,
even when our circumstances are really bad,
because we're all going to go through bad circumstances in our lives,
but if we're filled with the Spirit, we can have joy in spite of that.
Look down at your Bible at Habakkuk, chapter 3, verse 17.
It says, although the fig tree shall not blossom,
neither shall fruit be in the vines,
the labor of the olive shall fail,
the fields shall yield no meat,
the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
and he will make my feet like Heinz feet,
and he will make me to walk upon my high places.
And so you see that the Christian, even when the economy is bad,
even when the bank account is empty,
to kind of modernize this language a little bit,
the fridge is empty, the pantry is empty,
the gas tank is empty, the bank account is empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
And we can still be high spiritually,
and God can lift us up spiritually,
and we can be rejoicing and happy even when circumstances are bad.
How? Because the fruit of the Spirit is joy,
and the Spirit can give us a joy that transcends our physical circumstances.
If you would, flip over in your Bible to Ecclesiastes chapter number 3.
Here's another good scripture on this, Psalm 4 verse 6.
There be many that say, Who will show us any good?
Lord, lift thou up, the light of thy countenance upon us.
And then here's a great verse.
Thou has put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
And the idea here is that I'm happier just from walking with God and being filled with the Spirit
even when the pantry's empty than these other people when everything's going their way.
Even in the time when their corn and wine increase,
I actually have more joy from walking with God is what the psalmist is saying there in verse 7.
Now, having this long-lasting abiding joy that comes from being filled with the Spirit
does not necessarily mean that you're happy at every moment.
That's obviously not realistic, right?
But it does mean that you're happy in general.
In general, you have joy and happiness in your life,
and you're able to push through those periods of sadness that you're inevitably going to face
because of the Holy Spirit.
So look what the Bible says there in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1.
It says, To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
And then jump down to verse 4.
It says, A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
And so inevitably, we're going to go through a cycle in life of good times, bad times, happy times, and sad times.
I'm not saying that if you're right with God, you're going to be happy all the time.
What I'm saying is that you have a long-lasting abiding joy that will make you happy in general.
And even when you are going through those really rough times, sad times, sorrowful times,
the joy of the Lord is going to sustain you through that.
It's going to give you sort of like a baseline joy, allowing you to not get swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
Look at chapter 7 verse 14, just a few pages to the right there in Ecclesiastes.
And this is a really important truth that you're going to want to let sink in and become part of your worldview.
Ecclesiastes 7, 14, In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider,
God also hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him.
And this idea that the good days and the bad days are set one against another means,
if today is a good day, tomorrow is probably going to be a bad day.
If today is a bad day, tomorrow is probably going to be a good day.
This is how life works.
Life is this oscillation between good days and bad days.
Now look, there are some people out there living a sinful life, a rotten life, a wicked life,
and they're just having all bad days.
Every day is a bad day for them.
There are people that are going through that.
But as God's people, we as Christians should just be happy to have a mixture of good days and bad days.
That's just what we can expect realistically in life.
And the joy of the Lord is going to get us through those hard days.
And then on the good days, man, we're doing really good because we've got the joy of the Lord deep down in our spirit.
Now if you would turn to John chapter 16.
And remember that even Jesus was a man of sorrows.
So again, we're not going to be immune from any sadness or sorrow by being filled with the spirit and walking with God.
Because in the famous verse in Isaiah 53, it says he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
So he knows what it is to grieve and be sad and heavy.
But look what the Bible says in John chapter 16 verse 20.
It says, verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice.
And ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
So he's describing a situation where you look at the people of this world, the ungodly, non-believers, non-Christians,
and they're actually rejoicing while you're sorrowful.
But what you have to understand is that ultimately your sorrow is going to be turned into joy.
And so sometimes in the moment it can feel like, oh, these sinful people are happier or prospering,
but in the long run they're not, and in the long run you are.
Okay, so you've got to realize that life is a cycle, life has its ups and downs,
and so you've got to be patient and not expect your life to be 100% sorrow-free because that's unrealistic.
It says in verse 21, a woman, when she's in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come,
but as soon as she's delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.
And I have a little bit of experience with this because I've watched my wife give birth to 12 children.
And so in all of those 12 children, and, you know, I've been present at other childbirths,
and it is so true what this verse is saying, how women who are in labor are in so much pain and agony and sorrow and they're so upset,
and then as soon as they're done giving birth, it's just like it never happened.
They're just super happy and just friendly and just, it's like just from one minute to the next.
And so this verse is very true in that regard. I speak from experience.
And so this is an analogy that God's using about how a lot of times we go through pain and travail and suffering,
but the idea is that that's a necessary component of us being productive, of us being fruitful, right?
Of us producing results as Christians, we have to go through some pain.
The Bible says, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.
And so if we're going to be Christians that bring forth a lot of fruit and win a lot of people to Christ and produce a lot of results for the kingdom of God,
yeah, we're going to have to go through some purging and some purifying and some pain and some sorrow.
But then the results will be worth it.
And the Bible says in verse 22, ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy.
No man taketh from you.
And so, sure, people in this world, they also can sometimes vacillate between sorrow and joy.
We do the same thing.
But the difference is that we have a long lasting abiding joy that nobody can take away from us that gets us through even the ups and downs.
And that is even going to be an eternal joy as we rejoice forever with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.
Now, if you want to turn to Nehemiah Chapter 8, Nehemiah Chapter 8, just to quickly review what we've talked about so far is that if you are filled with the Spirit,
if you are walking with God, if you are a godly Christian who's living a righteous life and doing those things, then God will provide you with joy.
The Holy Spirit will give you joy.
If you're walking in the Spirit, you will have not only love, but you will also have joy.
Now, this does not mean you're going to be happy all the time, but it does mean that you'll have a baseline permanent joy that gets you through the hard times.
And your good times will be way better than the times when their corn and wine increased because you've not only got physical reasons for your joy, you've also got a spiritual reason for your joy.
And that kind of brings me to my next point, which is that there are really three components to joy that we as human beings have.
And if you think about it, this makes sense because as human beings, we're made up of a body and a soul and a spirit.
And so these are three elements of who we are, and all of them can contribute to our state of mind and whether or not we are experiencing joy or how much joy we're experiencing at any given time.
It's kind of interesting in this passage in Nehemiah chapter 8 because I feel like all three components to that joy sort of come up in this passage.
The physical component, right, that would be analogous to the body.
The psychological component of joy, that'd be the soul.
And then the spiritual component, which is obviously the Spirit.
Look what the Bible says in Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 9.
It says in Nehemiah, which is the Tirshathah, and Ezra, the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people,
This day is holy unto the Lord your God, mourn not nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
So, you know, people heard the word of God, and they're probably weeping because they're feeling inadequate.
Oh wow, we've broken a lot of these laws, and they have guilt and remorse and sorrow for having done contrary to the word of God.
And so they heard the word of God, they heard the law, they're weeping, they're sad.
And the priests and the scribes, they're trying to encourage the people and tell them, hey, don't cry, don't weep, don't mourn.
It says in verse 10, then he said unto them, go your way, and he's trying to cheer them up and get them in a good mood, and he says, eat the fat and drink the sweet.
Now, that's one way to get in a good mood, right? I mean, obviously, hey, I'm in a bad mood, eating an ice cream cone is going to make me feel a little bit better.
And so that's kind of the physical component of joy, the fun things that we do in life.
You know, we eat an ice cream cone, eat a T-bone steak or whatever, drink a glass of fruit juice, go on a roller coaster, whatever.
Those are sort of like physical things that bring joy, or be intimate with your spouse or something.
You know, these are like physical sources of joy.
And then he says to them, send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.
So another way to have joy is more of a psychological joy of not because you feel good like, ooga booga, I ate this ice cream and I feel good, right?
That's kind of just the basis, lowest level joy.
But also, how about sending portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, right?
Giving someone a gift, making something for someone else, doing something for someone else gives you joy, makes you feel good,
not because you are physically experiencing a good sensation of, you know, tickling your taste buds or something,
but rather because you're doing something nice for someone else, this gives you a psychological kind of joy, right?
It's good for the soul to do things for other people.
And then it says, for this day is holy unto our Lord, neither be ye sorrow, excuse me, neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
And that is the spiritual component of joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength, the holiness of God.
That's also giving us a different level of joy, right?
And then it says in verse 11, so the Levites stilled all the people saying, hold your peace, for the day is holy,
neither be ye grieved, and all the people went their way to eat and to drink, right?
There's the physical, to send portions and to make great mirth, there's your psychological.
And then why are they happy? Because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.
That is a spiritual source of joy because they're saying, hey, you know what?
It's a bummer that we have failed to keep the word of God and keep God's commandments.
And I'm sad that I came short of the glory of God by sinning.
But at the same time, you know what? I'm just happy that I understood what the Bible said.
I'm just glad I was able to hear the Bible, read and preach to me, and walk away understanding great spiritual truths.
That's something to be excited about and happy about. Even if we come short, hey, it's just great to know what the word of God says.
And so you can kind of see in this passage all three components of joy in our life.
Now, I've got an analogy for you tonight that's kind of near and dear to me to kind of help you understand these three different components of joy in our lives.
And this is the analogy of getting a blister, OK?
Now, the reason that this is so important to me is because I've done a lot of running and a lot of hiking.
And getting a blister is like one of the most painful things that can happen to you when you're on a really long run or hike or walk.
I mean, it's excruciating. It is fire. It hurts pretty bad to get a blister.
Who's ever had a really bad blister on the bottom of your foot and knows what I'm talking about?
Yeah, it's bad. Well, here's the thing about blisters is that there are three things that cause a blister.
And these three components are heat, moisture, and friction.
Now, if you have all three of these things going on, if you have heat and moisture and friction, you're very likely to get a blister.
If all three of them are there, that's the recipe for a blister.
Now, is it possible to get a blister without having all three?
Here's the thing. If one of these things gets bad enough, it can alone give you a blister if one of them is bad enough.
So obviously, think about heat, for instance. We could have no moisture and no friction.
If it gets hot enough, you're going to get a blister.
If you just go out and walk on the pavement in summer in Phoenix and you just set your bare feet on that pavement,
you are very likely to just burn your feet and just get a blister from heat alone.
Right? Hey, friction alone, even if it's not hot at all, even if there's no moisture at all,
if the friction is extreme enough, you can get a blister just from friction.
But here's the thing. You're not really that likely to get a blister just from friction or just from heat or just from moisture.
It's more like when all three of them are there, that's when you're like guaranteed to get a blister.
Does everybody understand the illustration here?
And so the reason I use this analogy is because it kind of reminds me of this idea of joy having three components, right?
So just as it takes three bad things lining up to really mess you up and give you that ultra painful blister,
you know, what really messes you up is when the spirit and the soul and the body are all hit at the same time.
You know, this is where the depression or the sadness or the sorrow can just become overwhelming or paralyzing to where you can't function.
Right? And look, like I said, we're all going to have bad days. We're all going to go through sorrow. We're all going to go through pain.
But you don't want to be overwhelmed by it. You don't want to be paralyzed by it.
You don't want it to take you out of serving God or take you out of church or mess up your family or mess up your job or mess up your life in any way.
Right? And so here's the thing. If we could eliminate one of these things, either heat or moisture or friction,
it's really going to help us not to get a blister. You know, and this is one of the reasons why I'm pretty into going barefoot.
So I'll do a lot of, you know, marathons or long hikes or walks. I'll just go barefoot because then moisture is just 100% out of the equation.
Because where does the moisture come from? Your socks. Because if you're wearing socks and shoes, then you start to sweat.
Sweat is moisture. The sock is keeping the moisture in. And then it's a recipe for a blister if you get the friction and the heat and everything.
So my philosophy is like just take the moisture totally off the table and I'm a lot less likely to get a blister.
And, you know, I understand there are special socks you can get that, you know, are better about that and everything.
I'm just, you know, kind of a minimalist. Keep it simple. Go barefoot. Me no get blister because no moisture.
Now obviously I can still get a blister if it's extreme enough, if the heat's extreme enough, if the friction's extreme enough, I can still get a blister.
But just by fixing that one thing, getting a blister now, my chances have gone way down because I've taken moisture off the table.
Everybody understand what I'm saying? And I've noticed that on cold days, even if I'm wearing shoes, on a cold day it seems like I'm pretty unlikely to get blisters on a cold day.
And when I've done, you know, long endurance challenges on cold days, it seems like blisters are way less of a problem.
Whereas when you go out there and it's 90 degrees, you're way more likely to get a blister in that situation.
And so now bringing that over to our analogy about joy, okay, if we got the body, the soul and the spirit, you know, if we can just sort of take the spirit off the table
and be right with God walking in the spirit and filled with the spirit of God and we've got that joy that's the fruit of the spirit, then when things are going wrong physically and things are going wrong psychologically, we can still push through because we only have two out of the three working against us.
Whereas the unsaved person or the backslidden Christian or just the Christian who's not filled with the spirit and just walking in the flesh, right, their spirit isn't supplying them with joy.
They're depressed spiritually. They're down spiritually. So then when the physical and the psychological pain comes at them, they get overwhelmed. They get swallowed up.
Whereas if you can keep your spirit right, at least you always have one of the three in your favor. And so unless the other two really get bad, you're probably going to be okay, right?
Now look, is it possible for a person to be 100% right with God, 100% walking in the spirit, doing all the right things spiritually and still get sad and depressed?
Yes. Just like it's possible to get a blister just from one thing alone. You know, if you're physically doing bad enough, you know, it might just overwhelm you just that.
If you're just being tortured with whatever medical problems or whatever, you know, yeah. Or if you're just eating total junk food and just living this really unhealthy sedentary lifestyle, you know, you might just get depressed just because you're physically so screwed up even if you're doing the right thing spiritually, okay?
Or just psychologically if just everything's working against you, if you're going through just an onslaught of bad situations like Job or something where Job is dealing with so many bad things at the same time, where his children are dying, his wife is telling him to curse God and die, he's financially ruined, his servants are dying, you know, his friends are accusing him of sin.
Obviously, when you're getting overwhelmed by all that kind of stuff, you know, yeah, sometimes that could be pretty overwhelming as well. But, you know, if you've got the spirit though and the joy that comes from the fruit of the spirit, you can get through it. You're going to be okay.
You know, and so you want to at least make sure that you do the best you can to have that spiritual baseline that can get you through some of these like physical and psychological sources of grief.
So here's a great verse. Look at Proverbs chapter 18 and this kind of backs up what I've been saying for the last few minutes. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 14. I want you to see this verse because it's kind of a key verse.
Proverbs 18, 14 says this, the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear. You know, so the Bible is saying if you've got the spirit right, you can handle these other pressures that come at you physically and psychologically.
But a wounded spirit who can bear. You know, if your spirit is wrong, you know, now whenever things go bad physically, which they inevitably will, or when they go bad psychologically, which they inevitably will, you don't have the spirit there to fall back on.
Now you've got the trifecta. Now you're getting a blister. And in this case, a blister is talking about just kind of going off the cliff in sorrow and sadness and misery and just being super unhappy.
Flip over if you would to First Peter chapter number one. First Peter chapter one. See the Bible said the spirit of a man can sustain his infirmity, right? But a wounded spirit who can bear.
Now again, there are three kind of components or three aspects to us as human beings. We're body and soul and spirit, okay? And when it comes to joy, being happy, you know, there's the body being happy, there's the soul being happy, and there's the spirit being happy.
So again, I kind of gave an example from the scripture about physical happiness, sort of like eating the fat, drinking the sweet, you know, stuff like that. Just sort of, you know, physical pleasure that we enjoy. Good, clean, fun, but things that physically make us feel good, release endorphins and whatever.
But then also, you know, psychological, which the word psychological, I don't know if you realize this, but the word, the English word psychological is derived from the Greek word for the soul, right? The psyche, okay?
And so psychological, I mean having to do with the soul, okay? And so what kinds of things could be sources of psychological grief? You know, how about the death of a loved one, right? It's not necessarily hurting you physically, but it's hurting you psychologically, right?
So, or how about just someone stabbing you in the back? You know, someone hurting you with their words or something, someone who has done evil unto you. Or just bad circumstances in your life, like for example, you lost your job or you're having relationship problems or whatever, right? These are the type of things that are gonna cause psychological grief.
The things that are gonna cause physical grief could be pain, physical pain, illnesses, sickness, disease. And I think we've all been through physical stuff, you know, where we've broken things and we've gotten really bad illnesses or had any inflammations.
I mean, you know, we could go down the list of all the physical things that we've gone through in our lives, psychological things that we've gone through. You know, for example, the Bible says the father of a fool hath no joy, right? But then it turns around and says I've no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
So children walking in truth could be a psychological source of joy. Children being fools can be a psychological cause of grief, right? The Bible talks about the child who is a grief to her that bear him, a grief to his mother.
You think about Esau marrying these heathen wives and it says that they were a grief unto Isaac and Rebekah, right? And so those are psychological sources of grief, okay?
And then, of course, spiritual sources of sorrow, sadness, depression would be our failure to walk with God, failure to be right with God, failure to serve God. Obviously, the worst of all, people who aren't even saved.
Okay. Whereas the spiritual source of joy is when we're putting on the new man, we're walking in the spirit, now the fruit of the spirit is in our life, spiritual love, spiritual joy, spiritual peace.
And that spiritual joy can sustain us even if we're going through physical pain. That's why you see people in the Bible being literally beaten with a whip, being flogged, beaten bloody and they're rejoicing.
And why are they rejoicing? You know, they're going through physical pain but spiritually they know they're right with God. They're walking in the spirit. They're filled with the spirit of God and so that sustains them.
Also, psychologically, they know, hey, we're earning rewards in heaven. We're pleasing God right now. We're doing something great with our lives that's going to resonate for future generations.
Second Corinthians chapter 7 verse 4 says this. It says, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. He said, great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my glory of you. I'm filled with comfort. I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
How can we be joyful in tribulation? Right? Tribulation could be physical if we're being physically beaten or physically imprisoned but it's probably usually going to be more psychological tribulation of being persecuted, hated, lied about, slandered, attacked, fired from a job, whatever.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. Is that where I had you turn? 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6 says this, wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
And again, heaviness could be analogous to our word depression, right? You know, being pressed down, heavy, same idea.
You know, even if for a season you're in heaviness, you're sad, you're down, you're sorrowful, you still rejoice anyway because the spirit's in good shape.
And then it says in verse 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 honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing you rejoice.
Now watch this. You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Joy unspeakable means I can't even put into words how happy I am. I am so happy. I am so joyful. It's beyond words.
It's joy unspeakable. Now look, who doesn't want to have joy unspeakable in their life? Everybody wants to be that happy, right?
People are out there injecting themselves with things in their arms to try to give them these incredible highs or whatever, but at what cost?
At the cost of destroying their lives, destroying their health, destroying their body, and in the long run having more physical sorrow when they come down from that high and are more depressed than they've ever been.
Yeah, they get higher than they've ever been. Then they get more depressed than they've ever been. Psychological problems, you name it. It's a stupid thing to do. It's a disaster.
Do not take drugs. If you take drugs, you are a fool. Do not use drugs. Do not test out drugs. Do not experiment with drugs. Do not play with drugs. I don't care if they're legal drugs, illegal drugs. Do not use drugs.
And especially things like cocaine and heroin and fentanyl are super dangerous, and people are taking them all over Phoenix tonight, and they are abusing these drugs all over Phoenix tonight.
It's a horrible idea, but why are they doing it? What are they trying to do? They're trying to get high, and they're trying to seek out new highs, and they're looking for joy unspeakable is what they're looking for.
But the Bible says that we as Christians, even now on this earth, even though our lives aren't perfect, even though we don't have everything physically that we want or psychologically that we want,
we still can rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory because I submit to you tonight that the spiritual component of joy is far more powerful than the psychological component of joy.
The psychological component of joy is far more powerful than the physical. You know, there's the physical joy, there's the psychological joy, and there's the spiritual joy, and it's in that order, my friend.
Because there's nothing better than being right spiritually. Nothing. There is no greater joy than to be walking with God, to be filled with the Spirit, to be right with God, to be walking in the new man is the best joy you're going to experience.
And hopefully you're already smart enough to realize that psychological joy trumps physical joy. Right? I mean, hopefully you realize that, you know, spending quality time with a good friend is better than just shoving an ice cream cone in your mouth.
And look, I've shoved a lot of ice cream cones in my mouth. I was just on a cruise, for crying out loud, alright? And so, yeah, there's a lot of ice cream cones on that cruise.
But you know what? That's not really the real joy in life, is it? That's like the joy that you focus on when you're five. When you're a little kid, it's just all about the ice cream, all about the roller coaster, all about playing a video game, all about just getting these physical highs.
As you get older and you mature a little bit, you start realizing, hey, it's more about relationships. It's about the soul. It's listening to a beautiful piece of music. You know, it's looking at beautiful artwork. It's having meaningful conversations with loved ones.
You kind of go from the physical joy to the psychological joy. Well, let's go up one more step on that ladder and realize that the greatest joy is found in the Word of God. It's found in prayer. It's found in singing praises to God.
It's found in church and living for God and going soul. Hey, winning a soul to Christ is a different level, isn't it? Of joy.
And so the Bible says, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
And so the fullness of the Holy Spirit will help us have joy in the face of physical and psychological pain and will allow us to fulfill scriptures like the one found in Luke chapter six.
And if you would turn to Luke chapter six, because, you know, Luke chapter six, if you really read what it's saying, it's kind of startling and it's kind of a shocking scripture.
But yet the fullness of the Holy Spirit allows us to live Luke chapter six as a reality in our lives. Look what Luke chapter six says in verse 22.
It says, 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.
And if we look at the parallel passage in Matthew, he says, they'll say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Right. They're going to lie about you. They're going to reproach you, separate you from their company, hate you.
And the Bible says, hey, blessed are you if they do that for you for the son of man's sake.
And then here's the part that's startling in verse 23, rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.
I mean, that's a pretty extreme statement, leap for joy, because you could think, well, the Bible is just saying, hey, just rejoice when that happens because great your reward in heaven.
Like you're kind of just like, oh man, this stinks. But you know, I guess I'm getting rewards in heaven.
OK, God, I guess I'll endure. But that's not even what it's saying. It's saying like leap for joy, like, whoa, like getting excited.
And whenever I read this verse, I always think of that old commercial from the 80s.
I love what you do for me, Toyota. You know what I'm talking about? Who knows what I'm talking about?
And so that commercial is always what we got to lower ceilings right here.
Well, that's always the commercial that pops into my mind where that, you know, the leaping for joy about their Toyota or something.
You know, is that is that the physical or the psychological? That's a psychological, I guess.
But the point is that we're leaping for joy when we're persecuted. That's pretty strange of a thing to do if you think about it.
But actually, this makes sense when you actually realize the joy unspeakable and full of glory that comes from serving God, walking with God, being filled with the Spirit.
This can actually become a reality for you where you see the apostles literally getting flogged and rejoicing.
I mean, you see Paul and Silas in the prison after receiving a physical beating.
So, I mean, they still have all the bruises and blood and scabs and strife and they're sitting in that prison, probably not comfortable.
Shackles are not comfortable, right? Handcuffs are not comfortable. And they're in that prison.
It's probably just a stone floor stone, but it's not exactly a hotel room that they're in.
And yet they're singing praises to God at midnight. Why are they even up at midnight?
Like, why aren't they even asleep at midnight? Because I don't know about you, at midnight I'm pretty much asleep every night at midnight.
What are they doing up at that hour? Well, because it's kind of hard to sleep when you just got a beating and your back is still throbbing from the pain and you got all those fresh wounds and you're in an uncomfortable prison and it's cold and you're uncomfortable and it's the first night.
You're probably not going to fall asleep. Or at least you're not going to fall asleep until much later.
And so that's probably why they're up at midnight because they've been beaten. And so if you think about our three categories, body, soul, spirit, how's their body doing?
You know, their body's doing terrible. Can't sleep, in pain, torture, agony, confinement, you know, it's all wrong over here.
But here's why they're not getting a blister. Because psychologically they have rationalized this and realized great is our reward in heaven.
We're doing the work of God. We're in the will of God. We're right with God. And even more importantly, spiritually they're filled with the spirit of God and God's providing them with a supernatural fountain of joy springing up inside their heart.
That's all overwhelming whatever physical feeling that they're experiencing.
And so that's how we can rejoice and leap for joy. And you know, sometimes I've even been criticized of, you know, enjoying persecution sometimes.
But actually the Bible commands us to enjoy persecution. So excuse me for sometimes just trying to make the best of a bad situation.
What else can you do but just rejoice and leap for joy when they lie about you and attack you and hurt you?
You know, my favorite newspaper article of all time that was written about me was one from Botswana where it said,
Pastor gloats about how being deported was so much fun. And it shows a picture of me going like woohoo.
And it talks about how much I enjoyed being in the back of the police car because the police car got like over 100 miles an hour.
And you know, it was kind of fun and this and that. You know, what else can you do?
You know, and when you know, hey, what I said was right. What I preached was biblical. You know, souls are being saved.
Psychologically it clicks. It makes sense. And then spiritually nothing beats walking with God, being filled with the Spirit.
You know, walking in the flesh, you're trying to gratify yourself with all these physical joys.
You know, because if you're walking in the flesh, fulfilling the lust of the flesh, you know, that could be gluttony, that could be drunkenness,
that could be fornication, that could be adultery, that could be gambling or whatever you're trying to do to get those physical feelings of joy.
When you're walking in the flesh, trust me, you're going to be way happier walking in the Spirit even if the cupboard's empty, even if you don't have an ice cream cone.
Flip over if you would to 1 John chapter 1, 1 John chapter 1. The Bible says in James something similar,
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,
but let patience have a perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Right?
Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. This is counterintuitive, right?
Because here's what the world thinks is going to give you joy. The world thinks getting everything you want is going to give you joy.
And yet, the people that we see in this world who get everything that they want are typically not happy people.
And maybe this will help you understand why that is. What about small children who are given everything they want?
You know what they're called? Spoiled brats. Right? If a little kid is just giving everything they want, they're not just,
Oh man, I'm having the greatest childhood ever, I'm so super happy, I got all the food I wanted, I got all the drink I wanted, I got all the gains I wanted.
They're not like that. They're the most miserable brats. And you know what? I've been married for almost 25 years now,
and I've been raising kids, and you know what the number one compliment that has come at me when I'm in public with my children, with me,
and this has been a compliment that has consistently come in over the last 20 some years of parenting is,
Wow, your kids are so happy. Your kids are so cheerful. Wow, your kids are smiling and they're happy and they're in a good mood and things like that.
That's what everybody says. Is it because I gave my kids everything that they want? No. The ones that are grown up are complaining and whining that they didn't have it good enough.
But here's what's funny is that while they were living in my house, while they were under my roof, while they were my little kids, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 years old,
we were out in public with them, they're all smiling, they're all happy, they're all having a good time. You want to know why?
It's precisely because we didn't give them whatever they wanted. It's precisely because there were boundaries. They're not eating whatever they want.
They're not playing and doing whatever they want. They're boundaries. Now look, obviously, I'm not saying to be just super strict and be like militaristic in the way that we bring up our kids.
Obviously, that can go way too far in the other direction as well. But the point that I'm making is giving a little kid everything that they want makes them an unhappy,
spoiled brat. And then what happens is you'll see kids that are happy, then they grow up and then they start indulging in whatever they want, all of a sudden now they're not happy anymore.
All of a sudden now that they're not withholding themselves from any joy, now all of a sudden they're not happy. They should be super happy getting everything that they want, doing everything that they want.
Why aren't they? News flash, getting everything you want doesn't make you happy. Okay, you know what makes you happy is walking with the Lord because the physical joy, here's the weakness of it.
The weakness of the physical joy is that it's very temporary and what goes up must come down. And so what ends up happening is that, yeah, you'll eat that sugary snack and feel great, but then later you feel bad.
And then you need another one. And then you're kind of on this roller coaster of feeling good, feeling bad, feeling good, feeling bad. And especially people who do even more extreme things like taking drugs, you know, they go high and then they go even lower and it's that back and forth.
Okay, that's the real weakness of these sort of physical joys is that they're very temporary. They're very shallow. And so you give a kid everything that they want, they're not building character, they're not building the soul, they're not building the spirit, then they're just going to be unhappy because they don't even appreciate the good things that they even receive.
And so now, obviously, I think we all understand that when it comes to young children. I don't think anyone here is confused about this. I think we all understand if you give a little child everything that they want, they're not happy. Everybody got that?
And we've never seen a spoiled brat who was happy, you know. These little brats, you know, I want an Oompa Loompa now, you know, is not really going to be the happiest child. It's going to be a downcast, sad child who just is spoiled and getting everything given to them. It's never going to be enough.
Okay, but here's what's funny is that we all understand that when it comes to little children. Everybody with half a brain in their head realizes, hey, don't give children everything they want. You're going to spoil them, have boundaries, have rules, withhold things from them.
Okay, but then all of a sudden, when we get to be adults, we just think, well, but if I get everything I want, I'm going to be happy. Does everybody see how this is not consistent?
So we understand giving children everything that they want isn't happy, but then we're like, okay, God, give me everything I want. And if you give me everything I want, Heavenly Father, I'll be happy. Really? Because it doesn't work for little children, so why would it work for us as adults?
And so getting everything you want isn't the answer. And if you think about these musicians, pop stars, actors, actresses, they kind of are living the dream of what a lot of teenagers would think is what we want out of life.
Because they have unlimited money and resources. They have popularity, fame, glamour, good looks. Everybody thinks they're wonderful. Everybody thinks they're cool.
And yet, how many times do we see them indulging in drugs because they're so depressed? And how many times do we see their relationships failing? Because they are not happy, they're not well adjusted, they're not doing well, and they're always being caught.
Shoplifting, which makes no sense because they're a millionaire, and then they're shoplifting or getting drunk, on drugs, lashing out in bizarre ways. Why? Because there's no happiness in that life.
Okay, that's not going to bring real joy. The world is telling you, this is what's going to make you happy. Booze, and women, and partying, right? That's going to make you happy. Wrong.
I'm here to tell you that real, true, abiding joy comes through the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Saved people experience joy that unsaved people don't.
But getting saved is not enough to be a joyful Christian because if you're walking in the flesh, you're still not joyful because now you're on this program, you're on Hollywood's program, you're on the music industry's program, okay, of just indulging the flesh.
And maybe you're even a little more sophisticated so you're indulging the flesh and the soul. You're indulging the flesh and the psyche. And you've got the relationships going and the art and the music.
Well, again, let's get back to our friends in the music business. You know, hey, they got soul. I think that's even one of the genres of music. And so, yeah, they're enjoying fine art, you know, in their mind or whatever.
And I use that term very loosely about a lot of them. But again, is this really providing ultimate happiness? No. The only thing that really can provide the sustainable, long-term, steady joy is the Holy Spirit. That's the consistent, reliable source of joy.
It's what we can bank on. And so it's going to get us through a lot of hard times. And when you see these celebrities crashing and burning, it's because they don't have it.
And when you see other even people that are normal people and maybe even saved Christians crashing and burning, you know, a lot of times it's because they don't have this joy from serving God to sustain them.
Now, look, I'm not saying to neglect the body or neglect the soul because, again, like I said with the blister, if any one of these things gets extreme enough, it alone can bring you down.
If you just abuse the crap out of your body, I don't care how right with God you are, you know, you're probably going to be unhappy if you're just super unhealthy in your lifestyle.
Or if you're just, you know, having no relationships, nothing for the soul, nothing psychological going your way, you know, that can be bad.
I obviously want to try to be firing on all three of these cylinders. Ideally, we want to be, you know, taking care of our body, taking care of our soul, and taking care of our spirit.
But what I'm saying is that the spirit is by far the most important and the most powerful.
And just as the soul overrides the body, the spirit overrides the soul as far as keeping us joyful and happy.
I hope that the sermon is making sense to you tonight. It certainly makes sense to me.
John chapter 3, or where did I have you turn? 1 John? Yeah, 1 John, because I want to conclude with this thought. This is the final thought I want to conclude with.
Getting backslidden and turning to sin will not make you happy. It's not going to.
If you tonight want to be happy, you need to get more right with God, not less right with God.
Because again, yeah, you can get joy from physical sources. You can get joy from psychological sources.
But the best supply of real, long-term, powerful, joy unspeakable and full of glory is the spiritual joy.
That's what you want to spend the most of your time thinking about and working on.
You know, and yeah, hey, put a little time into the body, put a little time into the soul, but make sure that you're seeking first the kingdom of God.
Because walking in the spirit is going to do more for you than the other two.
And if you mess up on the spirit, well then, you know, you are going to be more sad, not more happy.
And so a lot of people, when their life starts to go bad, and when they go through...
And look, I get it, man. I've been through trials and tribulations just like you have. We've all been through stuff, haven't we?
And you know what? I've been through some stuff recently that was pretty hard on me psychologically.
You know, physically I've been doing great, but I went through some things recently that were hard on me psychologically, not spiritually.
Because you know what? I know I'm right with God. I know I'm following the Bible. I'm not perfect, but I'm following the Word of God.
But psychologically I've been through some things recently that were hard, dealing with things.
And here's the thing about that is I kind of had two choices in front of me.
If I'm going through psychological trials and tribulations, and when I say psychological again, I mean things that affect the soul.
I'm using it in kind of a literal meaning of the word.
I've got two choices, right? And so do you. When you go through hard times, when things don't go your way, when things go bad for you, you've got two choices.
You can either lean in on the things of God, double down on your Bible reading, double down on your soul winning, double down on your walk with God, and say, you know what?
I'm going to overcome evil with good. I'm going to push through. The joy of the Lord is my strength, and I'm going to get better, not bitter.
Okay? That's one thing you can do. Or the other option is to say, you know what? Woe is me. I'm feeling sorry for myself. I didn't get a fair shake, and so therefore, you know what I'm going to do to make myself feel better?
I'm going to get backslidden and indulge the flesh and get into sin. Those are kind of the two choices that you're faced with.
And that's kind of the two things that people do when they go through a hard time. They either get backslidden, get out of church, quit soul winning, or scale back the soul winning, scale back church, scale back Bible reading, and just start seeking solace in sin.
Right? Because, you know, you can just enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And this is when people, quote, drown their sorrows.
I mean, look, isn't that why a lot of people drink? And I know there are a variety of reasons why people drink, but you want to know one of the reasons why people drink? They drink to forget. Have you ever heard that saying?
They drink to forget. They drown their sorrows. And so a lot of people, they're going through trials and tribulations. How do they react? They say, you know what? Sin is going to make me feel better.
Hand me that bottle. Hand me that doobie. Hand me that needle. Hand me that mirror. Hand me the drugs. Hand me that dirty magazine. Hand me that whatever.
Right? That's what a lot of people do. It's like, hey, I'm upset. I'm going through psychological pain and suffering, and so I'm just going to indulge the flesh.
No, you'd be a lot smarter to indulge the spirit. It's going to be way more powerful because it's very rare that the physical is going to trump the psychological.
And so you're saying, oh, I'm going to use the physical to fix my psychological problem. Not happening. The spiritual will trump the psychological.
And so, you know, I had to make that choice recently. Am I going to lean in and double down on the things of God? Am I going to ramp up my walk with God?
Or am I going to get backslidden? And you know what? The only thing that makes sense, the only way forward is to serve God. To walk with God.
The other path is foolish. It's not going to work. And not only is it not going to work, even if it did work, I still wouldn't want to do it.
Because it's meaningless and worthless to live your life indulging the flesh. Whereas living your life serving God is meaningful and actually brings joy unspeakable and full of glory in the present.
But even more importantly, you're actually doing something of eternal value. People are actually getting saved. People are actually going to heaven.
You're actually helping people in their walk with God. Versus just, oh, I drank and felt better and I was able to forget for a few hours how much my life sucks or whatever.
You know? And my life doesn't suck. Thank God. My life's great. Because you know what? God is blessing me.
And you know what? That is what you need to do when you go through trials and tribulations is you've got to double down on the things of God. Double down on the spirit, not on the flesh.
And hey, if an ice cream cone makes you feel better, great. Eat the ice cream. But, don't shoot up the heroin.
You know what I'm saying? Again, I'm not saying to just ignore the flesh. I don't believe in asceticism. I don't believe in sleeping on a bed of nails and just constant fasting, constant self-flagellation or something.
That's not what the Bible teaches. But, here's what I believe, that we should only indulge the flesh so far as it is within the bounds of God's word.
So yeah, I'm going to indulge the flesh in the sense that I'm going to eat the fat and drink the sweet if I'm in a bad mood because God said, hey, sometimes that can be a short-term little Band-Aid for something because it's not sinful.
Or, hey, maybe I'm going to indulge in intimacy with my wife. That's going to put me in a better mood. But, there's nothing sinful about that. That's a righteous way to take care of the flesh.
Or, I can indulge in fellowship with friends and loved ones and that can give a psychological benefit.
But, at the end of the day, though, we need to keep both of those things within the bounds of God's word.
You know, so yes, indulging within marriage. No, if it's fornication or adultery. Yes, eat an ice cream cone if need be, but not to the point of gluttony, not to the point of overindulgence, right?
Yes, we can enjoy good companionship with Christian friends and loved ones, but no, we should not just indulge in wrong relationships just because they make us feel better or something, right?
Because at the end of the day, out of these three, the Spirit needs to be the priority and we've got to walk in the Spirit.
And so, the last thing I want to show you, because remember, the final point is this, getting back to sin and turning to sin will not make you happy.
It's not going to make you happy. It is the wrong answer. Don't do it.
Look what the Bible says in 1 John 1, verse 4. It says,
These things right we unto you that your joy may be full.
So, 1 John, part of the purpose of this book, it is being written so that your joy will be full.
But then I find it interesting that in chapter 2, verse 1, it says,
My little children, these things right I unto you that you sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
So, on the one hand, he says, I'm writing to you so that your joy will be full.
And on the other hand, he says, I'm writing to you so that you don't sin.
I got news for you. Not sinning increases the joy.
Sinning decreases your joy.
As a Christian, sinning doesn't make you happy. It makes you unhappy.
Not sinning makes you happy.
That's why in one breath, he could say, I'm writing to you for your joy to be full.
Next breath, I'm writing to you that you don't sin.
If you do sin, thank God we're still saved.
We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. We're forgiven.
But, you know, if you want to have fullness of joy, don't sin.
So, look, I hope that you're not going through trials and tribulations right now.
I hope that things are going well for you.
I hope that you're enjoying life. I hope your marriage is going good.
I hope your family is going good. I hope that your job is going good.
I hope that your pantry is full. I hope your fridge is full.
I hope the freezer is full. I hope the bank account is full.
I truly hope that God is blessing you and that you're doing well in life.
But you know what? In a crowd this size, I guarantee you, there are some people who are probably going through a really hard time right now.
And maybe they look fine on the outside, but maybe inside they're really hurting.
Maybe they're going through intense physical pain because of an ailment
that they don't know about. Maybe they have a literal blister right now, you know, or something way worse than a blister.
Or maybe they're going through psychological pain and sorrow from bad relationships or whatever, heartbreak and heartache.
I guarantee you there are people like that right now. And if that's you, I'm talking to you right now, you know what?
You got a choice right now. You can either double down on the things of God or you can double down on the things of this world.
That's what people do. And look, trials and tribulations, they make us or they break us.
They make us or they break us. Let them make you, not break you.
Double down on the things of God because, and just remember, hey, the fruit of the Spirit is joy.
What do you need when you're sad? Joy. What's the cure for depression? Joy.
Where does the joy come from? Fullness of the Spirit. Let's have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the joy that you give, Lord, that is unspeakable, full of glory.
And Lord, it transcends anything that this world has to offer.
It's something that the horrors and whoremongers of Hollywood don't even, they don't even understand.
They don't even have a concept of it. But Lord God, thank you for the fact that when we got saved, we got the Holy Spirit.
Help us not to quench the Spirit. Help us to walk in the Spirit. And help us to experience that fullness of joy.
And Lord, help no one, if anybody here is going through a really bad time, I pray that they would not be swallowed up with over much sorrow.
I pray that they would not be overcome, overwhelmed or paralyzed by the pain.
Lord God, please just help all of us to endure so that our church can continue to do great works for you in 2025.
And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Amen. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, take your hymnals please. Go to Hymn 131. Hymn 131, Christ is all I need.
Hymn 131. There's two verses there. We'll sing both and be dismissed tonight. Hymn 131, Christ is all I need.
Christ is all I need. Christ is all I need. Christ is all I need. Christ is all I need.
Oh, I believe He was crucified for we died on Calvary That is why I know He loves me so
Oh, I believe He loves me so
I believe He loves me so