Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
Lord we thank you Lord your word declare Psalm 16 and in your presence is fullness of joy Lord your joy is our strength when we love your presence and Lord there's going to be nothing better than being in your presence for all eternity without the hindrance of the flesh without anything being in the way Lord God I am looking forward to being in your presence in the full glory and the full power and the full joy and the full peace of your just Mighty presence for all eternity thank you Jesus for making a way for that I pray that we somehow Lord you will use each of us to lead many more people into that relationship with you into repentance and Faith to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ Lord we ask it today in Jesus name amen amen and amen praise the Lord well got another one of those messages today that I Don't Preach very often [Music] but it's important it's a vitally important issue especially considering the times that we live in and the dark days ahead we are going to have to learn how to stir up the joy of the Lord in our lives Nehemiah 8 verse 10 or is it 10 verse 8 y'all check me on that 8 10. Nehemiah 8 10 says the joy of the Lord is our strength now think about that for a minute the joy of the Lord is our strength Nehemiah 18. so therefore if you don't have the joy of the Lord in your life you don't have what strength right now that doesn't mean see a lot of people confuse Joy with happiness how many of you know happiness is simply a human emotion happiness can come and go be up and down you can be happy today in the morning and you can be sad that night you can have something work out or think it you think it works out that morning that day and the next day it has gone the opposite direction and that's normal human experience to have ups and downs with emotional happiness but a person that is born again truly born again through faith in Jesus Christ and his resurrection
you have something inside of you that you can tap into and you can actually stir up the joy because listen notice the Bible says the joy of the Lord is your strength not your joy you see here's the the beautiful thing if you are born again Christian truly Born Again you've repented of sin you believe in Jesus you believe in his atoning death on the cross his resurrection from the dead you know the day you can point back and there was a day when you were truly regenerated you felt the Holy Spirit come in you the spirit of Jesus come in you listen that's what Paul said the greatest revelation to the Christian is that Christ is in US that he comes to live and dwell in our hearts through faith but literally by his spirit that he lives in US now he doesn't Force his ways upon us he doesn't Force us to live right he is righteousness but he doesn't Force us to live righteousness we have to choose that but where do we get the strength to actually do it we choose it and then we tap into his strength to do it right that's why Paul said I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live but the life that I now live I live through the faith of the Son of God meaning I can't live this life unless I live it through the faith of Jesus himself Jesus faith I've got to live this life through what Jesus provides for me this is why Pastor Dean and any true preacher is going to harp on the reasons that you need to pray that you need to worship that you need to be in church that you need to be reading your Bible because you need to be tapping into the things that are going to strengthen you spiritually because it's how you strengthen your spirit your spirit is either going to be strong or weak and your spirit is going to determine the way your mind goes and the way your body goes right and this is why the Bible says I'm going to read this in just a second but just you can just make a note of these things we'll turn to these passages in a minute but he says in James chapter one count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptation that's why Paul would say in in Philippians 4 rejoice in the lord always and again I say rejoice these things are choices that we make just like you make a choice to pray or not to pray you make a choice to read your Bible not read your Bible you make a choice to
come to church or not come to church you make a choice to worship or not worship you can make a choice to sulk and pout and be depressed or you can make a choice to worship and rejoice in the Lord see Joy is in you why how do I know that because if you're born again the holy spirit is in you and Galatians 5 says joy is a fruit of the spirit not a fruit of Pastor Dean not a fruit of Aaliyah not a fruit of shaky it's not our fruit it's the fruit of the holy spirit in US and we have to tap into that and let that come through amen and that's why it says count it all joy what does that mean you have to do something when you start going through trials and difficulties and tribulation and tough times and the tougher times that are ahead of us you're going to have to choose to count it Joy meaning you're going to have to really really begin to rejoice and find the things to rejoice in that God's doing listen when Nancy and I went through one of our toughest Financial trials and tests a couple of years ago in the winter of 2014 the unprecedented winter when we lost everything but our power hot water everything Transmission in our only car went out no hot water and it was six degrees outside phones cut off when we went through what was amazing was when all of that happened within it within just a few days of each other when the transmission went out in the car you know business had been really dried up in the in the months previous and leading up to that when the transmission went out literally I could have chose to got an angry frustrated you know mad at God depressed discouraged but you know what I did I realized it's a it's it's a trial it's a test it's an attack of Satan on every side and I laughed out loud I literally laughed and you know why I laughed because I knew that it was a trial from Satan to try to shake me to try to shake me down get me discouraged get me depressed get me upset at God offended and instead I laughed because you know what I knew I knew because this is what I know I this is how you counted Joy see I'm trying to tell you something I knew that my God was not going to forsake me or my family and I knew that we would get through the
trial and we would get through the trial and that God would work miracles some small some big but I knew that he would get us out of it because I believe he is our provider and that he is good and he knows what we have need of and let me tell you something we still had hot showers we still had food we had everything we needed you understand and I think it was just to remind us when we go through we think we got to have iPhones and iPads and computers working and you know anything we want when we want and we think that when we've got all those things that that means we have that's when we have joy no when everything's going well you have happiness necessarily have joy it's really when you're tested it's really when you go through the dark trial the trials whether they're Financial or emotional or relationships or family problems it's really when you go through those things that's up to you if you're truly born again Christian you're truly Walking With Jesus it's up to you to either wallow in the depression and discouragement and darkness of the devil and get mad at God and get upset at people or to begin to rejoice in the Lord to count it Joy and then to rejoice in the Lord until you tap into the joy that is of the Holy Ghost inside of them and that is where your strengths spiritual strength emotional strength is going to come from when you have a death when you lose someone close to you you know I remember and I shared this many times when I lost my mom October 2nd 2010. normal human emotion it was a sad day it was a very sad day it was a very painful day there's nothing wrong with mourning but let me explain something to you I sat there all day Saturday with genuine grief crying my eyeballs out and just trying to wrap my brain around that she was gone I knew she was saved though I mean there was comfort in I knew she was saved Born Again truly love Jesus and even in the last months of her life had drawn much closer to the Lord and was trying to reach out to people and um we found some of her writings that she wrote down in in the last few days and in the last month of her life and it was all about God I mean she was ready but still there was that you know that darkness that depression that grieving that morning that came over me but let me tell you I could have chose I could have chosen
the next day was Sunday that we were taking a break from the church so I wasn't pastoring I didn't have to preach the next day but it would have been so easy to stay at home and stay in that dark grieving place but you know what I did I chose to get up and drive an almost an hour to church and it was in that church service the moment I chose to rejoice in the Lord even in the midst of my pain and in the midst of that dark time and that trial when I chose to begin to worship God when I stood up and began to worship God is when I had the vision and saw my mom in heaven with a white robe standing beside Jesus and had Jesus speak to me it was a vision it was a revelation and the power that was so strong see I tapped into Joy then the tears that were coming down my face as I was in worship and seeing this vision of my mom in heaven and Jesus speaking to me in the presence of God all over me true Joy came up and I wasn't sad anymore I wasn't depressed anymore I wasn't down anymore I was in awe it was tears of joy running down my face I was in awe at what I saw knowing what is what she is in now and what we have the promise of and it was I don't know it was an amazing moment now I'm going to say this this morning before I go any further in this I'm not even trying to pretend to you today that I have this down perfectly yet not even close all right I got a lot of growing to do because I still get frustrated sometimes and I it takes me a little while before I get to the point where okay I need to I should be rejoicing and what I had and you know yesterday I've had a rough week we've had a rough week as a family with sickness with my back I don't really have rough week and what was it and then two I'm reading and studying some heavy heavy dark material about what's going on in the world so it's easy to let that all that get you down and the devil of course trying to work on you well now you know your church you believe in healing and your whole church is going through sickness you know the Devil beats on me it's like a real real good church of healing you got there that you believe in the devil he'll he'll try to make you be you know the devil he he likes to when you're down he likes to kick you right but you know what yesterday even though Faith wasn't feeling well fever congestion again I mean we've had nearly
two months of sickness in our household we were sitting there and we didn't leave the house we all stayed in our pajamas all day long and we played Uno and we I read a book and we goofed around but let me tell you let me tell you though as I sat there and I watched I looked at my wife doing her thing and look at Faith you know what I began to just rejoice I've got a home I've got my wife who loves me and is loyal and dedicated to me and love this church and loves the Lord and I've got this little girl who adores me and blessed you know what I mean and I began to just feel This Joy Bubble Up In My Heart and I'm like that is where see we that's when you choose you choose to count it all joy and really what when it means count there means you start counting hey you know look at what I got look at what I'm blessed with plenty of food in the cabinet plenty of firewood stacked on the porch thank you so thanks to some help from Kevin you know I think we take so many things for granted man if you have if you have time with your family and you're all together and you have a roof over your head and you have clothes and you have food to eat and then there you see what I'm saying but for us Christians it should even go further than that we should begin we we should be able to really stop and not just count the blessings that we have here on the earth who stir up that Joy but to think about what God has in store for us what he's already done for us what he's going to do for us the problem is we get so focused on our problems and our trials here and he wants us to think about there he wants us to think about what he's done his great salvation let me read I'm going to read this passage go to um go to Psalm 51 this morning this is one of my favorite songs now in my Bible and of course even if this heading wasn't there historically we know that this is the psalm of David after he had committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba after she had become pregnant and he tried to hide it and had her husband killed in the battle after the child that they had died
I mean not a good time for him right here's here's a godly man who has had a season of falling away from God he's had a season of completely giving in to the lust of Flesh uh hurting his family and you know not a good time for the man after God's Own Heart not a good time for the man who was promised that from his uh from his body the Messiah would come think about that that when God would take on a human flesh he would be a descendant of David great promises God had done great miracles for David almost all of his life great miracles through difficult times and David turned his back on the Lord committed adultery and had a man killed and I can't you know even hardly fathom that but this Psalm is what David wrote during that time of afterwards when he was grieving and mourning and repenting and trying to seek God and restore his relationship with God how many people are out there like this that need to restore their relationship with God right and let me just say this all men and women I don't care how Godly you are none of us live perfect sinless lives that we never have to confess or repent or mourn or grieve over a failure but look at this verse 1 have mercy upon me o God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy Tender Mercies blot out my transgressions lost me truly from my iniquity and cleansed me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speaketh and clear when our judges behold I was shaping in iniquity and incended my mother conceive me behold you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to no wisdom and he says Purge me with hyssop now the word hyssop this thing hyssop is what they used to take and dip but they would fit in blood of a sacrificed animal and then they would sprinkle it on the people that's what Moses was instructed to do and it was the cleansing so in the New Testament when we come you know the first John 1 9 says that we come to the Lord we confess our sins and he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness but it's done by his blood he washes our sins away when we confess them and turn from them he washes them away with his blood so David's talking about Purge me with hyssop meaning take the blood of the sacrifice sprinkle me and I shall be clean and wash me and I shall be wider than snow and listen to what he says this is this is David's cry here two times he makes reference to Joy he says make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou has broken May rejoice hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities created me a clean heart o God and renew a right Spirit Within Me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me look at verse 12 restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with I free spirit then I will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee let me say this you want to know the biggest thief of joy is sin David drifted away from the Lord he committed adultery he committed murder but the Holy Spirit convicted him he was broken God began to deal with him about his sin and are we glad that God is merciful aren't we glad that if we'll yield and humble ourselves and confess our sins and repent truly be sorry for what we've done and turn away from it and make make our decision that we're not going to live that way that God says he'll wash it away and we know God for for he completely forgave David well look what David says restore unto me the joy of thy salvation he he lost his Joy and he says Lord please restore the joy of your salvation listen this is something a lot of Christians need to get a hold of if you're depressed and moping around and and you know what it could be because you're lukewarm it could be because sin is crappy in your life worldliness you've let distraction Jesus not the most important thing in your life but if you'll repent and cry out Lord I want again the joy of your salvation see I tell people all the time I said you know what if you don't remember the day you got saved then it was a tremendous Joy finding the peace and forgiveness of God you might want to go back and make sure you're truly saved because I remember when I got saved and I remember when I repented and rededicated my life after I fell away just like David
as a teenager when I came back both times when God cleansed me and forgave me and I knew that he had washed my sins away I want to tell you there's great joy in knowing that your sins are forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ because you have confessed them you have yielded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit the sense of guilt you've acknowledged it you've accepted it you've owned it and you say God please forgive me and help me to not do this anymore let me tell you when you feel the Forgiveness of God and the blood of Jesus come in and wash it away and you feel like a new person let me tell you there's some joy in that time and David knew about that he knew about the joy of being in God's presence knowing his sins were forgiven knowing that he was anointed by God and chosen by God and loved by God David knew that and that's why he loved to worship God because that's where David would tap into that joy in the in the presence of the Lord he would tap into that because he loved God with all of his heart but if you've lost it the joy you don't have any Joy let me say this Joy comes from the Manifest presence of God in your life so there's something wrong either there's sin there's apathy there's lukewarmness there's indifference there's an idol there's some sin that's being indulged lust or whatever is being indulged it hasn't been truly repented of or you're just not choosing you're just kind of staying in a state of I'm just going to live this way I'm just going to accept life as this way but notice David in his prayer cried out restore unto me the joy of thy family restore restore man are you glad today that your sins can be forgiven see I start I start living in sin thinking deceived thinking I was okay when I wasn't when I was drinking and partying and and living in sexual immorality and all the things doing drugs and fighting and all those things that I was doing I am so grateful that God came the Holy Spirit came and opened my eyes to how wicked and evil My Lifestyle was and that he showed me I was headed to hell that I was headed to destruction in this life and darkness and Damnation and eternal hell if I didn't change my way I am thankful listen when I think about that that at 19 years old God came and
opened my eyes and convicted me of sin and showed me the truth and brought me to repentance and A Renewed relationship and restored to me the joy of something man you want to talk about a guy that was grateful and and full of joy to be forgiven and to know that it was real and then to be baptized in the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking another tongues a few weeks later and then to begin to see God do Miracles and begin to see people get saved I mean this passage was fulfilled in my life because after I truly repented of my sin at 19 years old and God restored to me the joy of my salvation that I had when I was young when I was 11 and 12 years old when that was restored let me tell you I began to teach transgressors and sinners and people began to get converted put that verse up notice he said when you get this forgiveness and this Joy of your salvation is restored notice what he says then what's then mean our church ought to know that after this he says will I teach transgressors thy ways the ways of God and sinners shall be converted listen when you repent when you get right with the Lord when you get the joy when you're when you're joyful about what God has done in your life you will share it and you will share it from a place of somebody that's not a hypocrite you will share it from a place of somebody that has been forgiven that is repented of their sins that has stirred up and restored the joy of the Lord in their life and you're excited about it and let me tell you the unsaved and the transgressors and the Sinners will see the genuineness of your joy and your peace and what you have I remember when I came back from Arkansas and I had rededicated my life and got to restore the joy of my salvation and and I was excited about Jesus and I was living for Jesus listen my unsafe friend Craig Rivers who is now an assembly God preacher but my unsaved friend this was his word he he wasn't a church goer he didn't know christianes okay he didn't have the Christian lingo right but here's what he said you got to understand me and this he he had been one of my best friends from the time of fourth grade all the way up into college okay everything that we had started doing from from when we got involved in sexual immorality to smoking dope or drinking beer or drinking vodka stealing it was stealing his dad's beard his dad vodka his dad thought he hit he knew he hit his pocket we did where he hit it sixth grade we started drinking yeah our parents didn't know anything about it
but me and Craig let's just let you know I mean you're talking about we did everything went to Florida together I mean played football together played baseball together we were on the same baseball team for years I was third base he was shortstop I mean he I batted third he batted four I mean we were just like this when I came back we went over to his house a bunch of my friends I've been gone for a year we got together right over here right off Rocky Brook Road went to his house shooting basketball a bunch of our friends okay they all coolers of beer everywhere you know they're happy to see me you know they I'd send them some letters and they just they didn't know if they believed this because they knew they knew how Dean was so I came back shooting basketball with them talking cutting up you know reminiscing a little bit about this and that they broke out the beer here you want one no no thank you that right there just Florida right and so you know I hung out until about six o'clock left later this was what my friend Craig said to my other friends and he later told me this face to face he said man he said it was the strangest thing looking at you he said I cannot explain it I've known you for years but when I looked in your eyes it was like light was in your eyes he said it looked like something had cleansed you on the inside it washed you clean this is what he said an unsaved non-church going heathen recognized the joy and the light and the cleansing of God in my life and you know it didn't take too long because of that he came to hear my first sermon I ever preached in a church and he got saved that night don't tell me that they can't see the joy and the and when your sins have been washed away and you're clean and you're excited about it and you're full of joy about your salvation they can see it and that's what you want you want the world the Sinners the transgressors even the backsling Christians you want them to see the joy in your life and the times that they're going to be watching you the most is when things are not going good in your life you know why because they know they have times that things aren't going good in their life and they just fall apart so they're looking at you going do you have do you really have something or is it all just a religious game that you play
go with me I said we would turn to this go to James actually no we're going to go to First Peter first and then we'll go back to Jay First Peter chapter one I want you to see where Peter talks about this Joy about your salvation are y'all getting what I'm saying today you know in in I was in Ecclesiastes and we may turn back to it in a moment but while you're turning to this First Peter chapter one there's a there's a verse in I believe it's Ecclesiastes one I have to turn back to it a minute it says he that increases wisdom increases sorrow okay and you know in this in this church uh I believe you get some wisdom and knowledge about things that are going on right now let me tell you something there's not good news in the land Saudi Arabia just admitted that they have nuclear weapons Saudi Arabia has United with 20 other Arab well a total of 20 Arab Nations including them and they are preparing a massive ground assault into Syria Russia's told them you will not come in here or it's going to be World War III Russia has said we will use tactical nuclear weapons to stop an overwhelming Invasion Force now Saudi Arabia says we have nuclear weapons sending a message to Russia the economic news across the world is worse than it's ever been worse than 2008 the the days leading up to the 2008 crash I could go on and on so you know increasing wisdom we need wisdom we need knowledge we need understanding but he says you know Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived except for Jesus and he says what he that increases wisdom and knowledge increases sorrow so for people that understand that everything's not going to be hunky-dory and and things are going to get tough and the world's going to go through the Great Tribulation and we're going to be here when you when you realize that you're going to have to listen to me and I know I said it earlier this message but I'm just reiterating this because it's important you're going to have to choose to tap into the joy of the Lord you're gonna meaning you're gonna have to make yourself rejoice you hear what I'm saying but look at this
you know that's why they say the old saying is ignorance is bliss how many of you have heard people say you start talking about Bible prophecy and what's coming on the world and what's actually happening and what's already happening the end time Bible how many of us I've never heard that I don't want to know so that you know that's the old saying ignorance is bliss or Blissful Joy right until reality slaps you in the face right ignorance the Bible doesn't say ignorance is bliss the Bible says ignorance will get you killed that ignorance will destroy you so God wants us to have wisdom and knowledge he knows it's going to bring sorrow so therefore what has he done for his people he has given the remedy the Holy Spirit In You with the fruit of joy but you have to tap into it do you pray do you fast do you worship God in private do you go to church and worship God with all your heart do you meditate on the word of God do you study the scriptures do you read do you stir up within you do you count your blessings do you rejoice in your salvation what God's done for you do you or do you listen a lot of people and I know because I did this when I when I got into some depression through a dark trial a lot of people run to TV the television set to try to escape dealing with their sadness or their discouragement or their depression or their difficult time and they just run the TV and watch hours and hours of TV and then go to bed and they're just trying to escape I remembered when I was going through a dark Town one of the things I did was try to play golf all the time I mean one day I played what was it three rounds three full 18 whole rounds of golf in one day all right why I was just trying to escape instead of seeking God think about that it takes about four hours to play around the golf I was playing by myself on a deserted Golf Course guess what I played three rounds of golf which I don't know if that's good for your emotional stability anyway foreign ball tends to have a mind of its own but you know what I was more depressed when I got done I should have spent 12 hours in prayer worshiping God seeking God meditating on the world I would have been far better off than trying to play golf until I was exhausted so I would fall asleep soon as I got home
all right first Peter talks about the joy let's read it and I just love this I'm going to start at verse one Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to The Strangers scattered throughout Pontius galatia Cappadocia Asia and bithynia bethenia elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Grace unto you and peace be multiplied blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to His abundant Mercy has begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance Incorruptible and undefiled that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time look at verse 6. now so he's talking about this salvation that we have through faith in Jesus in his blood and then he says wherein you greatly Rejoice though now for a season if need be you are in heaviness through manifold Temptations we say this look he's talking about having Joy you greatly Rejoice even though you are in heaviness and manifold are many different types of Temptations or trials look at that Joy can be had in the darkest deepest toughest trials and times can I just say it's a sign of maturity and that you're growing up in the Lord when you begin to rejoice during times of difficulty instead of complaining oh I heard somebody right there can't complain and rejoice at the same time don't shout me down because I'm preaching good right awful quietness Pentecostal Church all right look here let's go on he says I'm gonna read that verse again wherein you greatly Rejoice what in this salvation in the faith we have in the cleansing of the blood of Jesus that we've been begotten again or born again through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and that faith that we have in him he says wherein you you greatly rejoice in that great salvation though now for a season if need be you are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes though it be tried with fire might be found in the praise honor and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen you love in whom though now you see him not yet believing look at this you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your
soul listen when we choose to rejoice especially in times of great suffering and difficulty and trial and confusion and wondering why we're going through it stuff he says that when we choose to Rejoice we can have joy unspeakable and full of Glory so much so that we're getting to experience a little bit of what we're going to get when we go to heaven A Little Bit of Heaven on Earth inside here that's some awesome stuff right there amen so this is what and and see James continues this thought I said go to James chapter one I know I've quoted it already but let's look at his contacts James chapter 1 verse 2. well I'll just read from verse 1. James the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad greeting my brethren counted all joy when you fall into diverse Temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting or lacking nothing if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth all men liberally and upgrade us not and shall be given him but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waverth is this wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed for letting out that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways let the brother of low degree rejoice I'm gonna just stop right there count it all joy when you fall into diverse Temptations the word temptation is not just means the temptation to sin or do evil but it means trials tests it literally means when you are besieged by test multiple tests how many of you say you even now are besieged by multiple tests some people are a test I call some people holy sandpaper God puts them in your life to smooth out your rough edges make you learn how to be patient and love people that are unlovable all right and in all joy when you are besieged by holy sandpaper I mean you know sandpaper doesn't feel good against your skin does it
but holy sandpaper is good for you but notice he says back up one we have to count it George you know with God you always have to do something right faith without works is dead being alone that's what James chapter 2 says several times Faith must do something to be alive to be active to be effective so accept the joy what do you have to do first of all if there's habitual sin in your life whether it be lukewarmness apathy idolatry worldiness wasting hours and hours of time and worldly endeavors if you need to repent repent Joy comes through repentance that's why God said Luke 15 what did he say the angels of heaven all the angels of heaven rejoices over one sinner that truly repent repentance is not a bad thing it brings the true joy of the Lord it stirs up the true joy of the Lord in your life so turning from sin if you really do it right will bring the joy of the Lord into you also if you're being besieged by Temptation my trials my attacks of the devil tax from people you must choose to Rejoice see there's joy and then there's rejoicing Joy is what's inside of you by the Holy Ghost you tap into it by choosing to Rejoice making yourself Rejoice counting it all joy meaning starting to count the things that are good in your life from the Lord and look at the good things and the blessings of God and even looking at the trial and knowing that this thing that's coming in your life that God's going to use it for good to make you a better person a better Christian more like him if you endure it without complaining and whining and murmuring and fussing and cussing and backsliding what Pastor Gene Christians don't curse oh yes they do a lot of you do it in private oh you wouldn't dare do it around church folk but you do it what's that yep listen we all need to work at this can I say this the joy of the Lord the fruit of the holy spirit that is called joy and all the other fruits love joy peace long-suffering all those fruits you know in Galatians chapter 5. all those fruits are inside of you if
you're born again and have the Holy Spirit In You but those fruits are not brought forth unless you tap into them and cultivate them and let that fruit grow out of you how many of you know you have to choose to love people who are hurting you you ain't gonna feel it my Alabama Southern now you're not going to feel it you have to choose to do it you know I've had people that have hurt me lied about me tried to destroy me tried to destroy my reputation Ministry everything telling outright lies I mean just big lies and boy it's real easy when those lies are hurting you not just mentally emotionally but they're hurting you financially they're hurting relationships they're dividing relationships and you know it's real easy to let that turn into anger and turn into unforgiveness and start turning into bitterness it's real easy and I remember over the years what I learned to do with people who who I wanted to to choke right or I wanted God to rain down fire from heaven and consume them to really pray for him until I until my prayers weren't forced anymore that I was really praying for God's mercy in their life because I also needed God's mercy in my life it's hard to want revenge on somebody when you realize that you're a sinner as well as they are and that you would want God to be patient with you and forgive your sins and give you time to deal with it and that you know you've spoken against people and you've told things that weren't true and you've done the exact same thing in your life so you're no better than them so stop being on your high horse and being angry forgive them and you do that by forcing yourself making yourself pray for your enemies and do good to them listen I have seen this I'm not going to name names some of you know what I'm talking about because you have seen people in my life and Nancy our family's life come against us hard but we didn't let it turn us bitter we prayed for them and did good to them and now it's a complete turnaround wasn't easy to do for a while there
the Lord shall smite thee some people are going to get the smiding they don't repent but it's not my job to wish it upon them all right my job is to pray for them listen the greatest one of the greatest things that can happen in the kingdom of God is for an enemy to be changed and become a True Believer to become a Christian look at the Apostle Paul Saul of Tarsus was a great enemy of Christianity of the church he was putting Christians in prison he was beating Christians he was even having Christians killed and I know that those early Christians we don't have a record of it but I know that they were following the command of Jesus to pray for your enemies bless those that curse you do good to them and I know that those prayers melted the heart of Saul of Tarsus and when Jesus appeared to him he surrendered his life and one of the greatest one of the greatest Christians of all time that God used to write half the New Testament was at one time an enemy of all Chris he hated Christians listen when an enemy turns it's a great thing it really is but they need to see your joy your love and forgiveness toward them you are not thinking you're better than them a lot of Christians I'm telling you I'm seeing it more and more and more and more so many Christians say well you know it's great when you get your life in order but the problem with a lot of Christians when they finally start getting some some sin out of their lives and start you know walking in some obedience and righteousness they begin to get prideful thinking they're better than other people oh boy when that happens that person is getting ready for a fall right back into whatever they came out of because nobody is better than anybody the only thing that makes us worth anything is that the blood of Jesus has washed us clean and I needed it everyone else needs it you know that some I heard somebody say not long ago you know I'm not up here on my high horse thinking hey guys you got to be like me I'm thinking hey I was a poor beggar that needed bread and I just happened to know where some bread is the bread of life Jesus all right if he hadn't to come to me and revealed himself to me and opened my eyes and I chose to surrender to him I wouldn't be anything I would still be the same dirty rotten scoundrel sinner going to hell that I was before so we can't look at somebody else who right now is a dirty rotten scoundrel going to hell and think we're better than them just because we had our eyes open
amen we got to stop this thinking we're better than other people just because for this week we happen to have our act together now that doesn't mean there's a there's not a difference between the righteous and the wicked and that doesn't give an excuse for the wicked to continue to be Wicked they just need Jesus it's like we do amen and I'm gonna need Jesus tomorrow and they're going to need Jesus tomorrow now they may be in some some severe wickedness that can put them in hell and put them in prison and they need to come out of that that's no doubt but while they're breathing they're still breathing there's still hope amen I'm gonna give you this verse and we're gonna close Philippians chapter four I'm not even gonna turn there somebody find it what'd he say s rejoice and the lord always and again I say rejoice first Thessalonians chapter 5 Paul said it this way Rejoice Evermore what does that mean that's what I looked it up in the Greek and it means rejoice Evermore always continuously ongoing you know when I met with the Muslim I'll say this when I met with that Muslim from Turkey who was trying to convert me to Islam for two hours and I preached the gospel to him for two hours you know what he said at the end of our conversation even though he got nowhere with me and he knew it he never contacted me again either he knew now this guy this guy is a Christian and he knows what we believe so I'm gonna leave him alone but he said to me he said you know I see this joy in you he said you seem like a very joyful peaceful person and I thought to myself you know a lot of times I don't look that way I know I don't my wife tells me so it has to be right I know she's listening right now and I know I don't because a lot of times I've got a lot of heavy stuff on my mind and people's problems and as a pastor you have burdens of people on your mind all the time so sometimes I may not be looking happy but I am joyful about being saved being a Christian I'm joyful about the truth of God's word I'm joyful about eternal life I'm joyful about the coming of the Lord Jesus I'm joined I'm I'm I
truly long to be with him I long for that day and that's what I'm saying even this Muslim from Turkey who's trying to convert me sees the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ in my eyes and in my face as I'm coming against Islam and right in front of me and telling him his faith is incorrect and Muhammad's a false prophet and that Jesus warned about him I mean we just we just had a Frank discussion but he said he saw the joy and you know why I had Joy because I knew regardless of whether he believed what I was saying at that time or not I gave him the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ I gave him the truth about Christianity and Islam and I did what God wanted me to do amen but to have these sin you see what I'm saying he saw in my eyes in my face he saw a genuine Joy he might not believe in the true Jesus right now in Christianity right now but what he saw was he he was acknowledging there's something very genuine about you and that's that's worth more than all the gold that's in the world let's pray Lord help us today help us to rejoice in what you have done for us that you are a good God that you are full of love and mercy that you long to forgive wash sins away that you died on that cross knowing it was going to be painful knowing that bearing the sins of the world would be horrible but you counted it Joy and Lord you did that for us and now even though when we go through heaviness and hard times and trials and difficulties and especially the ones coming in the days ahead help us as Believers as Christians to tap into that Joy you put in us to be joyful to be happy in the joy of the Lord and in the promises and in the faith that we have that not only in this world will you give us peace but in the world to come we'll have eternal life in your presence forever and as psalm 16 says in your presence there is fullness of joy Lord I want to be more joyful I want to be more of a rejoicing person even in the face of Great Tribulation help us Lord help us remind us that it's up to us to choose to Rejoice it's up to us to count it all joy it's up to us
to be excited and joyful and and think about what you've done for us let people see your joy bubbling up out of us not foolish giddiness not frivolousness not jesting but let them see that deep down within there's a light and there's a joy and there's a strength that comes from knowing the true God father we pray that the world will see your light your power Your Truth your joy in us I pray this for everyone here everyone listening everyone who will listen everyone out there Lord every Christian and if there's sin robbing people's joy in their life that they'll just deal with that and get it out father I thank you for joy Holy Ghost Joy in Jesus name we pray amen amen you know another verse came to my mind I'm gonna give it to you and I believe you're gonna check me on this I don't know why I hadn't looked it up in a long time I think it's Romans 14 17. somebody looked that up is that the verse that says there's a verse there I know it's in Romans the kingdom of God is not meet and drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost think about that the definition it's 14 17. Romans 14 17 the kingdom of God is defined as righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost man ain't nothing better than that right there Jesus is our righteousness he is our peace and he is our joy amen amen