Alright, great singing. Take your Bibles and go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 11.
Ecclesiastes chapter 11.
And while you're turning there to Ecclesiastes chapter 11,
I'm just going to read to you from Galatians 5, 22 once again,
which reads, But the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Remember last time I covered this, we spoke about love and what it means to,
what it means to love the things that God loves and to hate the things that God hates.
But the second one in the list is joy.
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
against such there is no law.
Hey, if you've got these qualities about you in your life,
if they're fruits that are emulating from the Holy Spirit living in you,
then there is no law in the sense that you cannot be breaking God's laws.
These are things that are not sinful.
These are things that we should be aiming for
in order to walk in the Spirit and overcome this sinful flesh that we have.
But if you've got Ecclesiastes chapter 11, just look at verse number 8 quickly.
Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 8, it says,
But if a man live many years and rejoice in them all,
the title of the sermon tonight is Rejoice in Them All.
Hey, you know what?
The Bible says that it is possible to rejoice in every day that we're given.
Every day that God gives us is an opportunity for us to rejoice.
All right?
So I want you to look at verse number 7 to begin with there.
Verse number 7 Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 7, let's start from there.
It says, and look, if you know the book of Ecclesiastes,
it's Solomon basically speaking about all the riches, all the pleasures,
all the possessions that he has, and he sees it all as vanity.
But as you read through that book,
as you get toward the end, this is toward the end of the book,
he starts to turn a page and he starts to realize what's important in life.
And this is probably the point where you start to see things change
in his attitude toward life.
But look at verse number 7 there, it says,
Truly the light is sweet.
And the light is referring to here is the light of the sun.
And then it says,
And a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.
And he's saying, what are you talking about?
When I look into the sun, it burns my eyes.
I can't look at it.
But what he's talking about here,
when you look at the rest of this chapter,
is he's talking about sunrise.
When the sun starts to rise, you've got that beautiful color,
you can actually look at the sun.
It's not harmful to your eyes in that early stage.
You've got that early light.
He's saying, hey, that's a beautiful thing to behold.
It's a pleasant thing to behold.
And what he's comparing there with the rest of the chapter
is the days of your youth.
And it's kind of like when the sun starts to rise,
it's kind of like the start of the day,
the early morning,
and then obviously the sun rises and eventually the sun sets.
And he compares that to your life and the days of your life,
especially the early days of your life.
And you look at verse number 8, he says,
But if a man live many years,
so this is a man who's obviously lived a long time.
He's older, he's an elder.
And then it says,
And rejoice in them all.
So he's talking about a man that can live a long life
and rejoice in every day of his life,
every year of his life.
He says,
Yet let him remember the days of darkness.
Say, what are the days of darkness?
Well, just like when the sun rises,
eventually that sun will set and you'll get into darkness.
It's nighttime.
He's talking about the days once a man has passed away.
It's a euphemism of kind of saying like the days of death.
He says,
Yet let him remember the days of darkness,
for they shall be many.
All that cometh is vanity.
So he's comparing the many years that we hopefully get to have,
we can rejoice in that,
but let us not forget about the days of darkness to come.
Because largely speaking,
generally speaking,
unless you're the last few generations of Christians on this earth,
you're going to spend more time dead,
physically dead, I'm speaking,
than you were alive.
Some of that lived a hundred years ago,
passed away a hundred years ago.
They've spent more days in the days of darkness, as it were,
dead than they have lived.
So what Solomon is saying here,
yes, you can rejoice in all your years,
but don't forget,
remember the days of darkness has come in a time
when your days will end.
Eternity is what matters.
What you do now in this life,
yes, rejoice, but eternity matters.
Keep that in your mind.
Otherwise, it's vanity.
If you forget that,
because the few days of life in comparison to eternity is very, very few.
The Bible says your life is like a vapor.
It's here one moment, gone the next.
Let's keep reading verse number nine.
Rejoice, oh young man.
Hey, this is a command.
God, when he speaks to us,
yes, these are words of Solomon,
but he's been inspired by the Holy Ghost.
God wants us to live a life of joy.
If you're a person that's lacking joy in your life,
it's almost like it's just not worth living.
The reason people commit suicide
is because they just find no joy in life.
If they can't find joy in life,
then what's the purpose of living?
Joy is an important aspect that God wants us to live.
It says in verse number nine,
Rejoice, oh young man, in thy youth
and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth
and walk in the ways of thine heart
and in the sight of thine eyes.
But we need to be mindful
as we read the rest of this verse here
that we rejoice in the right things,
that we rejoice in the things that God gives us,
rejoice in the things that are godly,
that we rejoice in the things that are righteous,
because there is another way that this world rejoices.
The non-believing world, the ungodly world, also find joy,
but they find joy in wickedness.
They find joy in things that are ungodly, unrighteous.
And so when you look at verse number nine,
the last part there says,
But know thou that for all these things
God will bring thee into judgment.
So be mindful about the things you rejoice in,
because there's coming a day
when you're going to stand before God in judgment.
We know the non-believers will be judged out of the books
and they're not going to measure up,
the name's not going to be found in the book of life,
and they're going to be cast into the lake of fire.
But even as believers, we're going to be judged,
obviously, for the works we've done for Christ.
And I hope the joy that you find in your life,
the rejoicing that you have in your life,
has been built on the righteousness
that we have in the word of God.
Otherwise, those things that you rejoiced in,
that were a waste of time,
maybe sins that you rejoiced in,
when you stand before God in judgment,
all that's going to burn up,
and you're not going to be rewarded by your Heavenly Father.
So look at verse number 10.
Therefore, so because we know
we're going to be faced judgment by God,
therefore remove sorrow from thy heart,
and put away evil from thy flesh,
for childhood and youth are vanity.
So be mindful of your young days.
It's good to rejoice.
We should try to rejoice in every day that God has given us.
But be mindful in what you're rejoicing in.
That's just the introduction.
So this is fruit of the Spirit, part two.
Rejoice in them all.
And what we saw there,
rejoice in all the days that God has given us.
But there's many things in the Bible
that we can rejoice over.
Now, go to chapter three, please.
Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse four, very quickly.
Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse four,
because I just want to compare this from the same book.
Just very quickly there, it says,
a time to weep, and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
When I say, when we speak of the Bible,
we say that God wants us to rejoice
in the life that He's given us.
It's not saying that there's never a time to mourn.
It's not saying that there's never a time to weep.
God has given us these emotions for a reason.
The things that give us great joy,
the things that give us great sadness,
those emotions have been built in us
for a reason, so we can react in the right way
for life situations that come in our way.
So it's not to say if you're saddened,
if you weep, or if you mourn,
that you're outside of the will of God.
No, because it's the right place for those emotions.
But what I'm saying is that as believers,
we should be people that are recognized
for the joy that we have.
It's kind of like when we covered the love,
the spirit of the spirit as love.
We should be known as people that have a great love.
Yes, that's not to say we shouldn't hate
the things that God hates.
Absolutely, but we shouldn't be people
that are known just for hatred.
We shouldn't be people that are just known
because we're sad and mourning.
No, people should look at us and say,
hey, this person has love.
Hey, this person has joy in comparison
to these other things, but they have their proper place.
And it's the same way, like I said,
with hatred, we should hate the things that God hates.
We should love the things that God loves.
And a lot of Christians, they don't understand
how can we work toward these two things.
But it's easy because it's wrong
to love the things that God hates,
and it's wrong to hate the things that God loves.
Same thing with joy.
It's right to rejoice,
but rejoice in the things that are righteous,
not the things that are unrighteous,
not the things that are vanity,
not the things that waste your time and your life.
All right?
So it is possible to find joy in the wrong things.
I mean, that's what the world largely wants to do.
Now, if you guys can turn to Proverbs 2, please.
Proverbs 2.
Let's make sure we're finding joy in the right things.
All right?
Proverbs 2, verse 10.
I want you to notice this.
It says here,
I just want you to notice those four main words there.
Verse number 10.
Wisdom, knowledge, verse 11, discretion, understanding.
Why is it important as people of God
that we have these qualities in us?
It says,
Hey, there is joy in doing evil, okay?
The wicked, the ungodly find joy in evil things,
in wicked things, right?
And they delight in the frowardness of the wicked
whose ways are crooked and they froward in their paths.
How do we overcome, you know,
the kind of joy that is wicked,
the joy that's evil?
You know, from people that try to drag us
into finding joy in wickedness and sin.
What do we need in our lives?
We saw that in verse 10 and 11.
We need wisdom.
We need knowledge.
We need discretion.
We need understanding.
And those elements come from God, obviously,
because, you know, joy is a fruit of the Spirit.
It comes from the Holy Spirit
in line with what we read in the Word of God, all right?
Now, let me just try to help you understand
these four concepts or these four qualities
as best as I can.
Because, you know, a lot of the time you read,
you might read the Bible
and it might seem like these things
are used interchangeably.
And I think sometimes God does use it interchangeably, okay?
But I'll just give you the example of,
let's say, you know,
you're preaching the gospel to someone, okay?
You're preaching the gospel to someone.
You want to see that person get saved.
Well, that person, in order to get saved,
they must first have understanding, okay?
They must first understand what you're telling them.
They have to have the ability
to comprehend the information
that you're giving them, right?
And part of that understanding process
is to ask questions or to seek clarification, okay?
That's important in order for you to get saved
so that you understand, right?
Then knowledge.
What is knowledge?
Well, knowledge is the attainment
of truths and facts, all right?
So once we're giving someone the gospel,
they need the understanding, okay?
Understand what you're saying.
And once that's occurred,
they have now gained the knowledge.
They've, you know,
gained the truth or the facts of the gospel.
They've attained that.
But, you know, there are people,
and I'm sure you've all experienced this,
where you've shared the gospel with them.
You go through it.
They understand it.
They get it, right?
You ask them questions.
They're getting all the right answers,
but they don't want to place their faith on the Lord, okay?
So that's where discretion comes in.
What is discretion?
Discretion is making correct judgment
based on the knowledge that you've gained,
making correct judgment, okay, on the knowledge, all right?
So for example,
now someone's got the knowledge of salvation.
Now they need to make that discretion.
They need to make the right judgment.
So does that mean I need to leave my false religion,
you know?
Do I need to leave, you know, my false churches?
You know, do I need to stop trusting myself?
Am I going to make the right judgment now
and say, hey, it's only Jesus Christ that can save me?
He's the only way to heaven,
and I'm going to make that right judgment call
to put my faith on him.
That's discretion.
It's making good judgment
on the knowledge that you have, all right?
And then finally, wisdom, okay?
And wisdom would be
when that person places their faith on Christ.
Wisdom is the exercise of that knowledge by discretion.
It's exercising the knowledge that you've gained,
you know, in a rightful way.
So I've gained the knowledge.
I've understood.
I've got the knowledge.
I've made the right judgment call.
Yes, now I need to believe on Christ.
Well, now you need to exercise the knowledge that you've got.
You place your faith on Christ.
You put your, you know,
you believe on him with all your heart,
and that's wisdom, okay?
It's wise to trust Jesus Christ for salvation.
And of course, you can take these words
and apply it to different situations, okay?
But I just want to show you
that knowledge alone is not enough.
You also need to be wise.
You need to exercise the knowledge that you have.
Now, a lot of people spend a lot of time
learning doctrine,
and they have a lot of knowledge of doctrine.
It's all good,
but they need to exercise that knowledge.
They need to, you know, do the things that they see,
the commands that they see.
You know, they might know how to,
what you need to do to raise kids.
They have all the knowledge.
They see all the scriptures.
They've heard a hundred sermons about raising kids,
but you've got to put that into practice.
That's wisdom.
You know, raising your children
and nurturing admission of the Lord.
So that's just a quick example
I wanted to give you about those words there.
Now, I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 11, please.
Hebrews chapter 11, okay?
Hebrews chapter 11.
Maybe I should have told you the same problem.
It doesn't matter.
Go to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24.
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24.
So we need the knowledge,
the understanding, the wisdom,
the discretion, you know,
from the Word of God
in order for us to make sure
we don't find joy in the wrong things,
that we don't find joy in wickedness.
But look at Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24.
This, of course, being about Moses.
It says,
By faith Moses,
when he was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God
than to enjoy, notice this,
than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season.
Did you know there's joy?
You can enjoy sin.
I mean, the reason you sin
is not just because you have a sinful flesh,
but when you sin,
it gives you joy.
When you sin,
it gives joy to that sinful flesh.
That's why you do it, okay?
If you didn't enjoy it,
you wouldn't sin.
That's one of the struggles
we have in our lives, okay?
And Moses, instead of enjoying his sin,
instead of enjoying the pleasures of sin,
you know, being worldly,
being rich and powerful,
you know, in the kingdom of Egypt,
you know, the Bible says that
the joy of the pleasures of sin
is but for a season, okay?
It's temporal.
It's not long-lasting.
That's why when you sin,
it feels good,
but then after a while,
you feel bad about it,
and it's like the only way
you can get that kick once again
is to commit that sin once again,
whatever that sin is, all right?
Notice in verse 26,
esteem in the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,
for he had respect
as to the recompense of that reward.
Hey, Moses had eternal rewards in mind.
He had eternity in mind.
That's what we saw in Ecclesiastes.
Yeah, it's fine to rejoice in your life,
but don't forget the days of darkness,
which are many, okay?
And that's exactly what Moses did.
He saw, no,
I need to put my mind on eternity,
on the things of God.
There's greater joy there.
There's greater riches there,
but I want you to notice
there is joy even in sin, okay?
So we need to be mindful
what kind of joy do we want in our lives?
Sinful joy,
joys that fulfill the flesh,
or joy that comes from the Holy Spirit,
that's fruit of the Spirit.
There's a reward in that.
There's a reward by working out
the fruits of the Spirit in your life.
I'm going to read to you
just very quickly from Proverbs 10 28.
It just says,
the hope of the righteous shall be gladness, okay?
The hope of the righteous is gladness.
We're aiming to be people
that are glad, that are rejoicing,
and it contrasts,
but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
Hey, the things,
the hope of the wicked,
the things they seek after in life,
the joys they seek in life,
it says here shall perish
in contrast to the hope of the righteous,
which is eternal life, you know,
which is eternal treasures in heaven,
the joy that we can only find
by knowing God,
by knowing His word,
and living a life that is pleasing to Him, all right?
So be mindful.
You're going to say,
I'm a really happy person.
I have a great life.
Yeah, but what do you find in joy in?
You know, and it's not always black and white.
You know, there's going to be times
where you find joy in godly things,
and there's going to be parts of your life
where you find joy in worldly temple,
things that will perish, you know?
And that's just because
we have that dual nature in us, right?
But we want to,
we want to try to transfer all that joy
onto the things that are godly.
And you know what?
There are going to be things
that are righteous and godly
that you don't find joy in, okay?
You just don't naturally find joy in.
And these are things you need to work on.
You need to work on the fruit.
You need to develop this fruit.
Ask God to help you develop
a joy for the things that are righteous,
the things that are holy, all right?
Now, the next point I want to bring to you,
to your attention here,
is what should we find joy in?
What shall we find joy in?
Now, I went to my computer software program.
I typed in joy.
I typed in rejoice.
I typed in gladness and glad.
I typed in happy.
I typed in merry.
I typed in what other words kind of go with joy.
There's probably a lot of others, right?
And I just found hundreds upon hundreds
upon hundreds upon hundreds of verses
touching all these aspects.
You know, the Bible, if you take it as a whole,
is filled with gladness and joy.
God wants to make our hearts merry.
God wants us to enjoy our lives, you know?
And so I had to narrow it down.
I just narrowed it down to 10 things, okay?
10 things that we ought to,
as just every day of our lives,
find joy in.
But this is not an exhaustive list.
I mean, I could make this a series of,
you know, five sermons or something
if we're just going through everything
that God wants us to find joy in.
But let me go through a few things with you.
I'll get you to turn to, let's see.
Yeah, turn to Psalms.
Turn to Psalms 118.
Psalms 118.
I've got a few references to Psalms,
so I'll get you guys to just stay in Psalms for now,
and I'll read the other passages to you.
But Psalm 118 verse 24.
So point number one,
what does God want us to find joy in?
It's kind of what I've already discussed
as an introduction.
God wants us to find joy in
all the days that God has given us.
All the days that God has given us.
Okay, look at verse number 24.
This is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Hey, no option.
You can't say to me,
I'm not going to rejoice today.
No, we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Say why?
Because this is the day
which the Lord hath made, okay?
Every day of your life
is a day that God has given you
to live for Him, okay?
Every day God has given you
to find joy in that day, all right?
So, you know, God wants us to enjoy life,
and, you know, one of the misconceptions
that non-believers have
of fundamentalist Christians, all right?
I face this even with
my non-believing brother, you know?
He thinks that fundamentalist Christians
that we've got no joy.
You know, he thinks where
these strict, funny daddies, you know,
who's always angry, you know,
who's always condemning everybody,
who's never happy, you know,
they see all the wickedness in the world
and it just upsets them,
and they don't have smiles on their faces.
But, you know, a lot of the world
does think about that,
like not every Christian,
but definitely fundamental
Bible-believing Christians.
The world thinks of us
many times like that,
and I think, you know,
in my life, in the churches
that I've been at,
I've seen believers
that are always depressed.
They're always cast down.
They're always upset about something,
you know, and it shouldn't be that way
because God wants us to rejoice
in the day that He made, you know?
And as we saw in Ecclesiastes,
you know, rejoicing them all,
you know, God has given us these days,
and sometimes, you know,
you might be going through difficulties,
stressful times, you know,
you might be going,
I just don't want tomorrow to come around
because I've still got this problem.
It's just another day
that I have to face
this difficult situation that I'm in,
and, you know, you might want to just sleep
and hope for the sunrise not to rise.
You know what?
God's given you that new day for a reason.
God's given you that new day,
you know, every day that you wake up
to fix the problems that there are,
you know, to find solutions
for your trials,
you know, an extra day
where you can come to the Lord
and ask for His help
to pray for your every need.
You know, we all have trials.
We all have difficulties, you know,
like all of us,
some more than others,
you know, some in finances,
some in health,
and some in relationships,
some in your workplace,
or, you know, we all have trials.
The thing is, you know,
that's the case.
Sometimes as believers,
we think,
I'm the only one going through problems,
you know, no one else is.
No, everyone is.
Everyone is.
Everyone's got a measure
of trials and tribulations
that God has given us new days every day
so we can try to fix those things,
so we can come to Him
and ask Him for help,
you know, and find joy in His help,
find joy in pleading to our Heavenly Father.
So, every day, guys, that comes, please.
Don't be upset.
Don't be frustrated.
I don't want to face tomorrow.
No, it's a day that God has made.
Remember, okay?
And if you're waking up depressed,
you don't want to face this day,
hey, that's the flesh.
That's the flesh, okay?
But the Spirit, the new man,
the fruit of the Spirit
that God wants to develop in you
wants you to be rejoicing
in the days that God has given you.
The next thing, God, you know,
point number two,
what else can we find joy in?
You guys listen to Psalm 113.
Psalm 113.
But my second point is
find joy in your family.
Find joy in your family, all right?
This is so important.
These are the people
you're going to spend
most of your life with, okay?
If God wants us to rejoice
all the days that we have,
a lot of those days
are going to be spent with your family.
A lot of those hours
are going to be spent with your family.
I'm going to read to you
from Proverbs 5 18, which says,
Let thy fountain be blessed,
speaking to men,
and rejoice with the wife
of thy youth.
You know, God wants us
to find joy, man, in our wives, okay?
The wives of our youth.
It doesn't say find, you know,
rejoice with the wife in your youth,
where it's only in your youth
where you can rejoice in your wife
before you have too many responsibilities,
before you have too many children.
No, it says rejoice
with the wife of thy youth,
meaning that if you're 80 years old
and you're married,
that woman that you married
was the wife of your youth.
Rejoice in her
even when you're 80 years old.
Even when you're 80 years old, all right?
Even once you've had
a bunch of kids
and they've grown up.
You know, we're commanded
to take that partner,
that married partner that we have
and find joy with them.
Of course, this passage
is about the intimate relationship.
You can't forget that.
That's a very important part
of your married life, you know,
between husbands and wives.
You guys are in Psalms 113.
Look at verse number 9.
Psalm 113 verse 9.
He maketh the barren woman
to keep house
and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the Lord.
You know, God wants every barren woman,
all right, to have children.
It's God's design
for married couples to have children, okay?
And if you're someone that's barren,
you know, I know my wife
when we first got married, you know,
she got told she'd never be able to have kids.
You know, we consider her barren, you know?
But, you know, what a great promise
that says here.
He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
meaning God's going to make barren women
have children.
Praise God, you know?
But notice it's not just having children
and to be a joyful,
a joyful mother of children.
Again, what does the world tell you?
The world tells you, hey,
if you want to zap your joy,
get rid of your joy,
get married and have kids.
Hey, if you want burdens in life,
they say, then get married and have kids.
You want to be tied down
and not be able to do the fun things,
the fun activities, your hobbies,
and whatever it is that you find,
you know, joy in,
then get married and have kids, you know?
And a lot of people
don't find joy in their children.
You know, but God doesn't just
make a woman have kids,
but if you're with the Lord,
if you're fellowshiping with the Lord,
if you're working and walking the Spirit,
He's also going to make you a joyful mother.
That's very important for your kids
to know that you find joy in them.
And, you know,
my personal experience with this,
and I think all men,
all fathers, all married men
have to go through this,
is, you know, before you get married,
you've got your group of friends,
you've got your hobbies
and you've got the things you spend money on
that's a waste of time,
whatever they are,
whatever those things are,
you know, and then you get married.
And then it's usually okay
because you've got, you know,
your married partner there with you,
but then you have kids
and then you find,
as life goes on,
you've got less and less time
to spend with your friends.
You have less and less time
to, you know, do your hobbies
and all your activities
and all the kinds of things
that you used to find joy in.
And I remember, you know,
this is part of maturity,
part of growing,
part of becoming a family man
and, you know, seeking the Lord
and becoming more righteous like God
where I was getting frustrated in my life.
I was getting frustrated that, you know,
I'd spend X amount of hours at work,
I'd come home,
there were responsibilities,
you know, there were things to do
and I kind of wanted to see my friends.
I wanted to go and have fun with them
or whatever, you know.
And I realized that it's not
that I had no joy in my family,
it's just my priorities were wrong, you know.
And I remember just having
to make a conscious decision
and saying, well, God,
you've given me a wife,
you've given me kids,
I don't have all this time now
that I once used to have,
I'm just going to find joy
in what you've given me.
I'm going to find joy in my family.
I'm going to find more joy
than I currently have,
you know, so much so
that I'm not desiring
all the other things
that I once used to have, you know.
And it's like when I made
that conscious decision
and asked God to help me,
all of a sudden,
it's like one day to the next,
something clicked in my brain.
I feel like I matured
just very suddenly, very, you know.
And all of a sudden,
it's like from one day to the next,
I just found a great love,
a great joy for my family.
I found great joy
of coming home from work
and seeing the little children,
you know, and hearing the noise
and playing with them
and all those kinds of things.
And seeing my wife
and knowing, hey,
this is the woman
that I'm going to spend
the rest of my life with.
And the thoughts,
the feelings of the hobbies
and the friends,
it all just started to,
you know, go away.
But I found greater joy
in the family
than what I had before, you know.
But it requires you
to make that decision.
It requires you
to ask God to help you,
you know, to mature,
to grow, to develop a love
and joy for the family
that He's given you.
And I'll just read to you
from Proverbs 23, 24.
It says,
the father of the righteous
shall greatly rejoice.
Okay?
The father of the righteous
shall greatly rejoice
and he that begetteth
a wise child
shall have joy of him.
Hey, men, you know what
gives us great joy?
Wise children,
righteous children.
That's what's gonna give you joy.
All right?
You know, and,
so it's not just having children
that gives you joy.
Yes, that'll give you joy,
but it's raising children
in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord.
You know, and it requires work.
I've already gone through
the series on the family.
It requires work
to raise godly children,
to raise a godly seed.
Okay, but when you put
a lot of work into it,
you put a lot of effort into it,
a lot of hours,
a lot of tears and effort,
and when it comes to fruition,
there's great joy, okay?
Just like any job
that you work hard at
and you have success.
There's great joy
in raising children,
not just by the mother,
but by the fathers also, you know?
And if you're lacking
joy in your family,
then that's a fruit of the spirit
that you need to ask God
to help you with, you know,
to not just have the children,
but to raise them
in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord.
Number three,
what else can we be joyful about?
You guys are in Psalms, right?
So go to Psalm 122,
and this is a very common one
that we've read
a few times before,
but Psalm 122,
Psalm 122 and verse one,
okay, we should find joy
in church attendance, all right?
I'm glad there was that amen, right?
Because, you know,
I know in a midweek service,
it's tiring, you know?
You've been at work all day.
You probably just want to come home,
lift up your feet and relax, you know?
And the kids,
they've been doing schoolwork
or whatever.
They probably just want to go home
and play with toys
and play whatever,
whatever it is they want, you know?
But look,
there's joy in church attendance.
It says there in Psalm 122 verse one,
I was glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord.
And of course,
in the Old Testament,
that was the temple,
but the house of the Lord
in the New Testament is church.
Do you have joy?
I mean,
do you have joy in church right now?
Can you honestly say to me,
I'm just,
I'm happy to be here.
You know,
it might have been hard to get here,
but I'm happy to be here anyway.
You know,
and I've said this before that
the flesh doesn't really want to be in church.
The flesh doesn't really want to sing hymns,
doesn't really want to hear preaching,
okay?
But that new man does.
The new man loves it, all right?
And I compare it to soul winning.
You're going soul winning,
the flesh doesn't want to do it,
but when you're out there doing it,
it feels good.
You know,
the new man's getting fed,
the new man's, you know,
trying to reproduce,
you know,
be getting other children of the Lord.
And so,
you know,
there's great joy to be in church,
but you know,
it's not just about,
you know,
coming to church,
but when you're in church,
if you find that there's a lack of joy,
it's probably because your mind is elsewhere,
okay?
And I've been there.
I've been,
like it's harder now
because I'm usually preaching,
so my mind can't really go elsewhere,
but I've been there in church
where you sit down,
you're listening to a sermon,
and then you're like,
what are we going to have for lunch?
You know,
or,
you know,
will somebody come in over later on today,
or,
oh,
actually,
I've got to go to work on Monday,
I've got to finish that project off.
You know,
but when you come to church,
please,
don't just come physically,
come mentally,
come mentally prepared,
come spiritually prepared
in order to receive the Word of God,
to be fed by the Word of God,
a place to come to,
to rejoice and praise God
with fellow brethren,
okay?
So,
yeah,
being here is one thing,
but make sure you're mentally here,
please.
If you find yourself,
your mind just wandering off,
you've got to get that,
that vain imagination,
that thought,
and just bring it back
into the,
you know,
to bring it into captive,
you know,
in the name of Jesus Christ.
So,
you know,
please be here mentally as well.
You know,
you're going to find joy
in church attendance
when you do that.
And,
you know,
for the children,
go to the toilet before the service.
You know,
go to the toilet after the service.
So,
you don't have to get up
and then miss part of the sermon.
You come back,
and you're not sure,
what are we talking about again?
What are we up to, okay?
Try to find joy
in the Lord.
And then point number four,
I'll just read to you very quickly.
2 John 12, it says,
Having many things
to write unto you,
I would not write with paper and ink,
but I trust to come unto you
and speak face to face
that our joy may be full.
So,
it's not just coming to church,
but number four,
we can find joy in fellowship
with the brethren.
Okay,
we ought to find joy in fellowship
with the brethren.
We have John here speaking
about coming to see the church,
coming to see fellow brethren.
When you can see them face to face,
he says,
Our joy may be full.
What a great thing.
You know,
I love having our technology today
where we can send text messages,
you know,
just randomly throughout the day.
And that's happy,
you know,
you can keep in contact with believers
and things like that.
It's great, you know.
It's good to have technology,
but your joy will not be full
until you're with them face to face.
I mean,
you can be amongst the brethren
and speak to them.
But please don't replace internet,
you know,
relationships with real life friendships
and relationships from church.
Okay,
and if you say,
Look,
I just don't have any friends in church.
Well,
if that's the case,
you're missing out on a big joy,
you know,
a significant joy
that you can have in your life.
You've got to work toward that.
You know,
you've got to work toward that
and try to be a blessing to other people.
One of the best ways to make friends
is just to,
you know,
stop thinking selfishly,
stop thinking I'm coming to church,
I'm not getting anything out of this.
No,
you should be thinking,
What can I give to other people?
How can I serve others?
How can I be a blessing to others?
And if you do that,
I guarantee you,
you'll make friends.
You know,
you'll make friends in church.
Can you please turn to James chapter one?
James chapter one.
I'll try to be mindful of the time.
What time is it?
All right.
I'll get through all 10 points.
I'll just be,
I'll go through the next five quickly.
But James chapter one, verse two.
Now,
there is a time to mourn.
There is a time to weep.
We know that.
All right.
But even when things are going bad,
God wants us to find joy as well.
All right.
So in James chapter one,
just verse two there,
it says,
My brethren,
count it all joy.
Wow.
When I'm blessed,
when I'm prosperous,
is that when I find joy?
Well,
Amen.
Yeah.
But what does this say?
Count it all joy
when you fall into diverse temptations.
All right.
Knowing this,
that the trying of your faith
worketh patience.
Now,
patience is another fruit of the Spirit.
One thing that I've noticed
as I'm going through
and preparing sermons
on the fruit of the Spirit,
there's a lot of overlap.
You know,
you can't really help it
because I mean,
you can't really have love
unless you find joy
in the things that you love.
You can't really have joy
unless you have peace,
you know,
in yourself too
to be able to express that joy.
So a lot of the fruits of the Spirit,
there is this overlap
that you'll find.
We see an overlap here
with joy and patience there.
But it says in verse number four,
But let patience have a perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
To be perfect is to be complete,
to be mature.
You know,
God allows trials and temptations
in our lives,
not because He hates us.
He allows it
so we can grow from it,
so we can develop,
you know,
Brother Callum goes to the gym.
I'm sure you didn't start
lifting the weights you lift right now.
You know,
you needed a bit of trial,
a bit of difficulty,
you know,
a certain weight.
Once you mastered that weight,
you moved up to something harder
and then you build,
you build and build.
But it hurts.
It hurts the body, right?
And that's the same as temptations
and trials and difficulties in life.
You know,
it hurts,
but it helps you grow.
It helps you become stronger.
It helps you call out to God,
be closer to Him.
Many times,
God just allows problems in our lives
because we've distanced ourselves from God.
We haven't picked up our Bible.
We haven't been praying to Him
and He's got to put us through some difficulty
so we just call out,
you know,
in faith and say,
God, help me,
you know,
but that's going to help us to mature,
to grow,
to develop.
That's why it says here,
you know,
can't it all join
when you fall into temptations?
The difficulties,
the trials of your life.
But look at verse number five.
Remember how wisdom was important
understanding knowledge
in order to find joy in the right things,
all right?
Because look at verse number five,
it says,
if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God
that giveth to all men liberally.
But God wants to give you all the wisdom.
You just have to ask Him
and afraideth not
and it shall be given Him.
So the way we find joy
in our trials and difficulties
is to first seek wisdom from God.
If you don't understand,
how do I overcome this trial?
How do I overcome this temptation?
You need to go to God
and He's going to give it to you.
He's going to explain to you
why you're going through this difficulty.
He's going to show you
how to get through this difficulty
and He's going to allow you to mature
and grow,
become complete
through the perfect work of God.
So please,
you know,
you may mourn,
you may weep for a little while
when you go through difficulties
but find the joy
because God has allowed you
to go through something
to develop in, okay?
Number six,
I'll just read to you
from Proverbs 15 verse 23
but try to find joy.
This is going to sound weird
but I thought it was an interesting one.
Find joy in your own wise words.
Joy in your own wise words.
I'll read to you
from Proverbs 15 verse 23.
It says,
A man hath joy
by the answer of his mouth
and a word spoken in due season.
How good is it?
All right?
So what it's talking about here is,
you know,
having knowledge,
having wisdom,
having good words
that you can speak to another person
to edify that person,
to give them counsel.
You know,
they're in a tough place.
They don't know what decisions to make.
Speaking good words
that encourages them,
gives them direction.
The Bible says here
is that you're going to find joy
in the answer of your mouth
but of course,
the answer of your mouth
is wisdom.
It has to be with understanding.
It has to be with knowledge.
It has to be grounded
in the Word of God
because there's a lot of people
that speak foolish things as well.
All right?
But we can find joy
in your own words.
All right?
Not because,
you know,
not to fill yourself with pride
but knowing that your words
can help other people.
There's joy in that.
You know,
there's joy in helping others.
Given,
said there,
a word spoken in due season
at the right time.
Perfect timing.
Your words,
you know,
help someone along the way.
Number seven,
you can find joy
in God's chastisement.
Joy in God's chastisement.
I'll get you guys
to turn to the book
of Ecclesiastes
just so while I read this to you
but you turn back
to Ecclesiastes please.
But we can find joy
in God's chastisement.
I'm going to read to you
from Psalm 30 verse 4
while you turn to Ecclesiastes.
Psalm 30 verse 4,
it says,
sing unto the Lord.
Now when we sing praises to God,
that's really us rejoicing in the Lord.
That's where you're going
to find joy in singing
but I'm not going to talk
about singing all that much here
but I just want to show you there.
Sing unto the Lord,
O ye saints of his
and give thanks at the remembrance
of his holiness.
And notice this says,
for his anger endureth but a moment.
This is the anger of God.
It endureth for a moment.
In his favor is life.
Weeping may endure for a night
but joy cometh in the morning.
And I like the parallel there
with the joy of the sunrise
kind of what we saw
in the book of Ecclesiastes there.
But it says joy cometh in the morning.
What is that about?
Okay, let me just read it again
verse number 5 slowly.
It says, for his anger endureth but a moment.
You know,
if you haven't gone through
the chastisement of God,
one day you will.
All right.
And sometimes,
the first times you go through it,
you can be really stubborn
and go,
oh man, this is persecution.
The devil's after me
and I'm suffering for the name of Christ.
And then after times,
hold on,
I think this is God chastising me.
I think I've done wrong.
I think God's taking down my pride
and things like that.
But anyway,
when God chastises us,
many times it's out of anger.
His children are disobedient.
We know he's long suffering.
We know he's slow to anger.
But it comes a time when he goes,
you know what,
I have to chastise you.
And he does it out of anger.
It's fine.
Anger is an emotion that God has
and we ought to have as well.
Otherwise,
we won't react in the right way.
And then it says,
in his favor is life.
Weeping may endure for a night.
Yeah,
after you get chastised,
you may weep for a night.
You know,
there's a time where you're going to weep,
but joy cometh in the morning.
Hey, once you've gone through the chastisement,
once you've learned the lesson,
once you're like,
oh man, God,
you know,
I need to fix this up,
I need to do better,
then there's joy in that.
Okay?
So you may not feel very pleasant.
You may not really find joy
while you're getting chastised.
But the product of that is joy.
All right?
And obviously,
as a father,
you know,
I've experienced this many,
many times,
where you have to take your child,
you have to discipline them,
you have to correct them with a rod.
They don't find it pleasant at that moment.
All right?
But once it's done,
they say,
sorry,
you forgive them,
you put it behind them.
The children are happy.
You know,
children generally are happy.
It's like they were waiting for that discipline.
So they can just move on now.
They can put that chapter behind them,
put that mistake behind them,
and then they're happy,
joyful children.
All right?
And if you say to me,
but,
maybe this will be on the scope of this soon,
but,
you know,
I chastise my kids,
but they're still frustrated,
they're still angry,
then you haven't done the chastisement correctly.
It may not have been hard enough.
You may not have told them
why they're being chastised.
You know,
they might be getting mixed messages.
You know,
maybe mum said this,
dad said that.
You know,
mums and dads,
you have to be on the same page.
Otherwise,
what's right and wrong?
So,
you know,
chastisement is not just taking up the rod
and giving corporal punishment,
but it's also training,
it's discipline.
You know,
setting rules,
setting boundaries,
so children know,
you know,
what is right and wrong.
And if you have all that stuff in place,
once you do the chastisement,
your children should be happy once it's done,
once it's finished.
They know dad,
mum and dad have forgiven me,
it's behind us,
we can move on.
You know?
And I usually just try to,
you know,
make them happy.
You know,
make them laugh or something
after the chastisement
so they know there's no hard feelings.
You know,
there's no grudge.
Anyway,
there's joy in God's chastisement.
I've got three more things.
You guys are in Ecclesiastes,
look at verse number five,
chapter five,
sorry,
chapter five,
verse 18.
Ecclesiastes,
chapter five,
verse 18.
I'll just go through these last ones
very quickly.
Find joy in your possessions.
Joy in the things that God has given you.
All right?
And that could be your,
obviously family would be within that,
but also,
you know,
your house,
your car,
your clothing,
your finances,
the things that God has given you,
it's good to find joy in your possessions.
Look at Ecclesiastes five,
verse 18.
It says,
Behold,
that which I have seen,
it is good and comely
for one to eat and to drink
and to enjoy the good of all his labor
that he taketh under the sun
all the days of his life,
which God giveth him,
for it is his portion.
Hey guys,
the things you have in life,
God has given that to you.
It's your portion of life.
Find joy in the things that God has given you.
I'm not saying like,
find joy in material wealth,
in gain material wealth.
I'm saying in the things that you,
the things that you currently have,
find joy.
You know,
don't be looking at others
and look at the possessions that others have
and the riches that others have
or whatever it is that others have
and be like,
I wish I was like them.
Now find joy in what God has given you.
There's joy there, okay?
And you won't be desiring.
When you find joy in what God has given you,
when you understand,
hey, this is my portion in life,
what God has given me.
He's given me this for a reason.
Then you're not going to be desiring.
You're not going to become covetous.
You're not going to have the love
of money in your life,
and seeking things that don't belong to you.
So find joy in your possessions.
But look at verse number 19,
and this is point number nine.
Find joy in your labor,
which is the vessel
of where your possessions come from.
But look at verse number 19.
It says,
every man also,
to whom God hath given riches and wealth,
and hath given him power to eat thereof,
and to take his portion,
and to rejoice in his labor.
This is the gift of God.
We love talking about salvation,
you know,
as the gift of God.
But you know,
your wealth,
but even your job,
which is the vessel
to have your wealth and possessions,
the Bible says there,
it's a gift of God.
And he wants you to rejoice
in your workplace.
Say,
I don't rejoice in my workplace.
I don't want to go to work tomorrow,
whatever it is.
Hey, find joy in the work
that God's given you.
You know,
right now for me,
this church is my workplace.
You know,
being a pastor now is my job.
You know,
even down in Sydney.
You know,
and let me just say this.
It's a lot easier to find joy,
you know,
in being amongst the brethren,
you know,
the people of God
and preaching his word
than it is doing your secular job.
But even in your secular job,
God wants you to rejoice.
Find joy in it.
God's given it to you.
It's his gift.
It's his gift to you.
I think if you have the right perspective
on work,
on laboring,
on a job,
and you know,
this is God's gift to me,
then you're going to find joy in it.
You know,
it's about having the right perspective in life.
And the last thing I want to talk about,
this is probably the most important one.
I'll get you guys to turn to Philippians.
Turn to Philippians chapter three.
Philippians chapter three.
Like I said,
this is not an exhaustive list,
you know,
but I hope this makes you think.
If there's some of these things
that I've mentioned
that you're not finding joy in,
I hope you,
you know,
tonight you go to the Lord
and ask the Lord,
Lord, help me find joy in these things
that I'm lacking.
You know,
help me look,
find other passages in the Bible
of where you want me
to have joy in my life,
where you want this fruit
of the Spirit to develop in my life.
And if I'm lacking in that area,
please help me to develop joy in that area.
So the last thing I want you to look at,
you guys,
you guys are turning to Philippians chapter three.
And I'm going to read to you
from Habakkuk 3.18.
Habakkuk 3.18.
It says,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The last place,
may the most important place
that you should be finding joy in
is in the God of your salvation.
Okay,
the God of the Bible,
the God that's redeemed you.
All right,
look at Philippians three verse one.
It says,
finally my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord.
Okay,
to write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous,
but for you it is safe.
Beware of dogs,
beware of evil workers,
beware of the concision.
And by the way,
when you talk about the dogs
and evil workers,
you know,
the Jews here,
you know,
trying to turn you away from Jesus
as the son of God or whatever,
it could get you down.
It could get you discouraged
knowing that you're in a spiritual warfare.
Okay,
but look at verse number three.
For we are the circumcision
which we worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh.
You know,
even in spiritual warfare,
even when there's heresies,
you know,
when people are teaching falsehoods,
when they're misguiding you,
the instruction even in that spiritual warfare
is to find joy.
Okay,
and when you're struggling to find joy
anywhere else,
the best place to go and find that joy
is in the God of our salvation,
to find joy in God,
to find joy here in Christ Jesus.
Okay,
so how do I find joy in him?
You know,
I have joy of salvation.
That's good.
You know,
it's good to know you're saved.
You're going to spend eternity in heaven,
but you really need to have
that relationship,
that fellowship with God,
to be walking with the Lord.
The only way you can do that
is by walking in the spirit
because the Holy Spirit is God.
Okay,
by doing all the things we know,
church, praying,
reading your Bible.
You know,
I don't want to go through
all those basic things,
but all of that obviously
is your fellowship with God.
Okay,
find joy in the God who loves you.
Find joy in the God who sent
his only begotten son
to die on the cross for your sins.
I mean,
to think that the God
of the universe,
the creator of all things,
the one that can destroy you
right now if you really wanted to,
has love for you,
has a plan for your life,
wants you to walk in holiness,
wants you to earn rewards in heaven.
When you know that,
saying God loves you,
you know,
you need to find joy in that.
If you can't find joy
in the God of your salvation,
all hope is lost for you.
I mean,
honestly,
you might struggle
because, you know,
you're going for the hardships.
You know, if God loved me,
he wouldn't allow me.
Hey, no, but God does that.
We already saw that.
He allows you to go for the trials
so you can grow in love,
so you can rejoice in the trials
that God has given you.
He's doing it for your own good.
You know,
and you guys can actually
go to Philippians 4,
Philippians 4, 4.
Just a chapter over.
It says,
Rejoice in the Lord always
and again, I say, rejoice.
Just in case you didn't understand
the first time, you know,
and again, I say, rejoice.
Okay, we can always,
we can always rejoice in the Lord.
He's always there.
He's always someone,
a refuge we can turn to,
someone we can speak to
at any point in our lives.
You know,
who knows,
one day you might be arrested,
you know,
thrown into solitary confinement.
Who knows what kind of persecution
may come in your way?
No matter where you are,
the Lord will never leave you
nor forsake you.
He's always there.
He's always there
to give you the joy, okay,
that can be found in Him.
And I'm just going to finish off
with Psalm 16 verse 11.
It says,
That will show me the path of life.
In Thy presence,
in Thy presence
is fullness of joy.
At Thy right hand
there are pleasures forevermore.
You want pleasures forevermore?
I think we all want that.
It's available at His right hand,
but it's in His presence, okay?
You can't think as a believer
that you can just turn your back on God.
You just be like,
God, you know, I'm coming to church.
I'm just going to close my Bible.
You know,
I get enough Bible preaching from church.
I don't need to really read my Bible.
You know, Lord,
you know my needs.
I'm not going to pray to you, Lord.
Lord, you know I'm a sinful person.
I'm not going to confess my sins to you.
You can't.
The joy of finding God is in His presence.
His pleasures that He wants to give you,
the pleasures of living a godly Christian life
are available at His right hand,
but you've got to be there with Him, okay?
And if you're saying,
I haven't walked to the Lord in a long time,
then you're going to start finding yourself
missing out on the joy that you once had,
or you're going to try to replace that joy
with the joy in this world,
like we saw which perishes,
that is temple.
You know, that will lead you to sin,
this joy and sin for a season.
So, you know,
joy.
You know,
the second fruit of the Spirit that we see there,
if you're lacking it in your life,
then you need to go to the Lord.
You need to go ask,
God, please help the Holy Spirit
to develop this fruit of my life.
All right?
Let's pray.