What Has Happened To All Your Joy Religion Essay

Welcome to Word Alive a Good News Broadcasting production. Were all about assisting people make sense of the Christian religion. Im Brenda Critchley and Derek Stringer is the Bible Teacher. I know he will state something from the Word of God which will be relevant, encouraging and acquire your religion working. Word Alive is about learning the Bible in a realistic manner.

Dr Stringer is the National Director of Good News Broadcasting. He travels a great trade to churches of all denominations. In fact merely approximately anyplace he can where they will allow him open a Bible and explicate it. If you meet him allow him cognize you listen to the programme. Well – Lashkar-e-Taiba ‘s acquire this programme peal.

Derek is taking us through the New Testament book of Galatians.

Darmstadtium

Yes Brenda and we ‘ve reached Galatians 4 poetries 12 through to 20.

GNB

And the rubric is: What Happened To Your Joy? I ‘ll be back from clip to clip but – over the Derek.

Darmstadtium

Okay – Lashkar-e-Taiba ‘s acquiring traveling with today ‘s edition of Word Alive.

You know, something is losing from today ‘s Church. It is n’t that we are n’t seeking difficult or that we do n’t care about God and what He wants.

At assorted times in my life I have thought that I ‘ve found the reply.

I began my ministry sermon and learning a batch about DEDICATION. My sincere belief was that if we had more dedicated people – people sold out to the Lord – all would travel good in the church. I helped a batch of people to travel frontward in committedness and resignation – and that was good. But – I still sensed that there was something losing.

I started to concentrate on MISSIONS. If I could merely acquire people to be better informants for Christ. And traveling or back uping others to travel out into all the universe to prophesy the Gospel. I ‘ve seen a batch of people get into informant and ministry and do a difference in the lives of people who needed Christ – and that was good. But – I still sensed that there was something losing.

I watched a motion immerge which spoke of ‘Signs and Wonders ‘ and encouraged us to look for the marvelous and supernatural intercession of our God. I ‘ve seen what ca n’t be explained at the natural degree. But – I still sensed that there was something losing.

Do n’t misconstrue – I still want to see dedicated trusters. I still want to see people distributing the message of Christ. And of class I long to see the marvelous intercessions of God – we all do when we pray for the will of God in Eden to be done down here on Earth.

However, I now know that we can unfeignedly travel after many things that are good things. But – still lose a critical thing in the life of a worthwhile Christian life. The cardinal component is JOY!

And I know that the apostle Paul felt the same manner because in verse 15 of our survey transition in Galatians 4 he asks the inquiry, “ What has happened to your joy? ”

GNB

Believers in the part of Galatia had a batch traveling for them and they were making a batch excessively – but if JOY is lost we lose the key that opens the door to so much more.

Darmstadtium

And JOY can be lost! Like you Brenda, I guess, I ‘ve seen people recite bible poetries such as, “ Rejoice in the Lord ever ‘ , while looking as though their rich uncle has merely died and left his huge luck to his pet gold fish!

There are leisure Centres, athleticss Centres, and there are ‘guilt Centres ‘ ! Do you cognize where to happen a ‘guilt ‘ Centres? Visit some Churches! And who are the guilt-trippers? Who are the guilt bearers populating a inexorable joyless atmosphere behind them? Harmonizing to Paul, they are the ‘LEGALISTS ‘ .

Did you know there is no such thing as a joyful legalist? Think about it for a minute. I ‘ll wager you ca n’t believe of a individual individual who is both a committed legalist and a joyful individual. And I ‘m positive you ca n’t call a legalistic church that is known for its joy.

I do n’t intend a legalist ca n’t express joy, or that he has no felicity in his life. He can speak about joy. He can claim joy. He can move like he has joy. But he can non be joyful, for joy and legalism are perfectly incompatible.

Nor can a legalistic church be joyful. One thing you ‘ll ne’er hear from person who attends a legalistic church is, “ Sunday is the high point of my hebdomad. I ca n’t wait to travel to church. ” Oh, he may state, “ I ne’er miss church. ” He may state with considerable strong belief, “ We teach sound philosophy in our church. ” He may even state, “ You should come to my church. ” But he will ne’er state, “ I love church. ” At least he will non state it and intend it.

The Apostle Paul addresses this issue in Galatians 4:12 to 20, as we continue our exciting journey through this powerful epistle from the New Testament. It ‘s been some clip since we reviewed the context of this missive, so allow me take a few minutes to make that.

GNB

Galatia was an country of cardinal Turkey where the Apostle Paul shared the Gospel on the first of three missional journeys.

Darmstadtium

He preached the Gospel there and organized converts into churches. But since his primary naming was to be an revivalist, he did n’t remain to pastor those churches. Rather he appointed the more mature of his converts to be seniors and curates over the others.

GNB

Then he moved on to other countries to expose them to the Gospel.

Darmstadtium

When he returned to Palestine after his first mission, Paul heard through the pipeline that the churches he had planted in Galatia were being influenced by false instructors, so he fired off this missive to name his converts back to the truth.

GNB

These false instructors we call Judaizers because they were basically seeking to turn Christianity into a new and improved signifier of Judaism.

Darmstadtium

It is true that Christianity has its roots in Judaism, but we must ne’er bury that it is radically different. Hebraism requires obeisance to the Law of Moses ; Biblical Christianity does non. Judaism requires rites like Circumcision and observation of particular diets ; Biblical Christianity does non.

GNB

Hebraism has an ecclesiastical calendar that must be followed ; Biblical Christianity does non.

Darmstadtium

Most significantly, Judaism in the first century taught that redemption is a concerted attempt between adult male and God. Biblical Christianity, on the other manus, Teachs that redemption is God ‘s work.

The term we use for the mistake of these Judaizers is legalism. But legalism is non some dry and dust-covered antediluvian unorthodoxy ; it is still alive and good in the church today. It takes different signifiers ; it focuses on different issues ; but basically it ever makes the same mistake-teaching that adult male and God are spouses in the redemption concern. God does His portion and we do our portion.

GNB

Together we get the occupation done.

Darmstadtium

‘No ‘ , says Paul. All we bring to the tabular array is the wickedness from which we are redeemed. Yes, we must believe, but faith itself is non a meritable work ; it is basically merely projecting ourselves on the grace and clemency of God. We are saved by believing, non by accomplishing.

Since I am utilizing this term legalism a batch, allow me specify it for you one time more: “ Legalism is a incorrect attitude toward the codification of Torahs under which one lives, or which one imposes on others. ”

Notice it is non the observation of regulations or criterions itself or even the infliction of the same on others. All of us are capable to certain regulations and most of us impose regulations on others-on our kids or employees, for illustration. The presence of regulations does non in itself constitute legalism. Rather legalism is a incorrect attitude toward the rules-an attitude that exalts ego and Judgess others, an attitude that bases credence upon obeisance or public presentation, an attitude that proliferates regulations instead than learning understanding.

Now, through the center of chapter 4 of Galatians, the Apostle Paul has been reasoning smartly against the legalists of Galatia by marshalling all the scriptural and theological statements at his disposal. He has done an unbelievable occupation, and I would state the instance is water-tight. But now, in our text for today, he takes off his theologist ‘s chapeau and as a curate he entreaties to their Black Marias.

Follow with me in your Bible if you can as we check out Galatians 4:12 to 20:

GNB

“ I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no incorrect. As you know, it was because of an unwellness that I foremost preached the Gospel to you.

Even though my unwellness was a test to you, you did non handle me with disdain or scorn. Alternatively, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

What has happened to all your joy? I can attest that, if you could hold done so, you would hold torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by stating you the truth? Those people are avid to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to estrange you from us, so that you may be avid for them. It is all right to be avid, provided the intent is good, and to be so ever and non merely when I am with you.

My beloved kids, for whom I am once more in the strivings of childbearing until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and alter my tone, because I am perplexed about you! ”

Darmstadtium

Clearly Paul is appealing here, non so much to ground or divinity as to their emotions and their sense of right and incorrect. He asks his converts, in consequence, “ What happened between you and me in the clip since I led you to Christ? You were my best friends and now you treat me as an enemy. You accepted the truth but now you ‘re chat uping with unorthodoxy. I went through labor to assist you see the new birth, and now I find myself in labour all over once more seeking to untangle you from the clasps of these false instructors. ”

The issue Paul raises that I want us to concentrate on chiefly is the inquiry in verse 15: “ What has happened to all your joy? ”

That is a really serious inquiry for any truster to believe about. If you one time had joy and lost it, it ‘s clip to inquire, “ What happened to it? ”

GNB

God did n’t take it off.

Darmstadtium

No – and age does n’t consume it. Fortunes do n’t destruct it. But incorrect beliefs do. False ways of thought had come along and robbed the Galatian trusters of the joy they one time had.

Now allow me get down our believing procedure with this construct: Joy is the fruit of the Spirit, and God intended for every truster to be full of joy.

GNB

In Galatians 5:22 we read these familiar words: “ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gradualness and self-denial. ”

Darmstadtium

When the Holy Spirit is allowed to command a individual ‘s life, all these qualities, including joy, will be apparent. By the same item, if the Spirit is non in control, joy will be absent. Of class, all of these qualities have their forgeries that anyone can experience-even those non controlled by the Holy Spirit. Love ‘s forgery is possessiveness or even lust. Peace ‘s forgery is solitude or repose. And joy ‘s forgery is happiness or euphory.

Happiness, if you think about it, is straight related to the fortunes of life. When things go good, we ‘re happy. When things do non travel good, we ‘re non happy. It is every bit simple as that. No 1 is happy with poorness or rejection or unwellness or solitariness, and most of us see such things from clip to clip. Pleasant times are normally seasonal and transitory, sometimes even wholly elusive. If we equate happiness with joy, so we will comprehend of the joy of the Lord in the same manner. Sometimes we have it ; sometimes we do n’t.

That is n’t what Jesus had in head when he prayed sing His adherents in John 17:13: “ I am on my manner to you now, Father, but I say these things while I am still in the universe, so that my adherents may hold the full step of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the universe has hated them, for they are non of the universe any more than I am of the universe. ”

Obviously joy and felicity are non the same, for in the same breath He prays for the full step of joy for His adherents and acknowledges that the universe hates them. Bing hated and happy at the same clip are barely compatible impressions. Joy must be something different. Possibly one of the keys to understanding it is in the small word “ my ” in Jesus ‘ supplication. He prayed that they might hold “ the full step of my joy within them. ” The joy He wants us to hold is His ain joy, the sort He experienced when He was upon the Earth.

What was that like?

GNB

Fortunately, we are non left to think refering the nature of His joy, for in Hebrews 12:2 we read, “ Let us repair our eyes on Jesus, the writer and perfecter of our religion, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, contemning its shame, and sat down at the right manus of the throne of God. ”

Darmstadtium

The joy Jesus experienced was something set before Him by the Father. It was a award promised at the terminal of the road-so desirable that it enabled him to digest all kinds of trouble, hurting, and even dishonor in order to make it.

You ‘ve heard of the term “ delayed satisfaction ” as opposed to “ instant satisfaction. ” Delayed satisfaction is non a popular construct today. Children by and large do n’t hold the foggiest impression of what it means ; teens understand it but detest it ; and many grownups pay it lip service merely. Delayed satisfaction is waiting to buy something until you need it or can afford it, believing that greater satisfaction will ensue from waiting. It is waiting to bask the pleasances of familiarity until matrimony, believing that greater satisfaction will ensue from waiting. Delayed satisfaction is accepting holds in acquiring what we want in the belief that acquiring it in God ‘s clip will do it all the better.

That ‘s what Jesus did. He endured the cross, contemning the shame, cognizing that joy and glorification were expecting Him. He could hold called 10,000 angels to deliver Him from His enemies, but He knew the cross had to predate the Crown. It was the terminal consequence, the end, and the finish line that kept Him focused. Serious jocks understand this rule. Olympic smugglers, for case, will subject themselves to strict exercises, painful experiences, and terrible wants in order to make their really best in the Olympic Games. They are non masochists who merely bask hurting. They are driven by a vision of the glorification expecting them if they win the race and have a decoration. There are no cutoffs, and the procedure becomes bearable because it contributes to the joy of winning.

That, is the kernel of the joy of the Lord.

It is a fantastic sense of privilege and an unbelievable sense of fate as we participate in the expansive work of Christ upon the Earth.

GNB

It ‘s the outlook that the consequence of all our service, tests, and enduring in the cause of Christ will be a brilliant sharing with Him in His land.

Darmstadtium

We will reign with Him, we will sit with Him on His throne, and we will portion with Him in His glorification. Can anything crush that?

Paul put it this manner in Romans 8:18, “ I consider that our present agonies are non deserving comparing with the glorification that will be revealed in us. ”

GNB

And Peter said the same thing in 1 Peter 4:12 to 13: “ Make non be surprised at the painful test you are enduring, as though something unusual were go oning to you. But rejoice that you participate in the agonies of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glorification is revealed. ”

Darmstadtium

Now, can you get down to see why legalists do n’t hold joy? Legalism by its very nature is focused on the journey, non the finish.

If I may seek to paint a word image, the legalist is so concerned about the agenda, and whether he has the right waies, whether the fuel armored combat vehicle is full, whether the bag contains everything needed for the trip, and whether he has confirmed reserves at a motel for each dark along the manner. He ‘s invariably kicking about the other drivers on the route who are rushing ( more than he is ) , he has no freedom, no sense of escapade, no ability to halt along the manner to smell the flowers or watch a film, no freedom to alter the path. The grace-oriented individual, on the other manus, focuses on the finish and that makes joy possible.

GNB

Joy, is the fruit of the Spirit, and God intended for every truster to be full of it.

Darmstadtium

Here ‘s a spot of Bible trifle for you – although the point it makes is n’t fiddling! If person tells you the shortest poetry in the Bible is John 11:35, “ Jesus wept ” . That ‘s non true. The shortest poetry in the Bible is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “ Be joyful ever. ” “ Jesus wept ” has 16 Greek letters. “ Be joyful ever ” has merely 14.

The experience of the Galatian trusters coincides with what most of us know to be true. When trusters foremost believe, they necessarily experience joy and the reverent qualities that accompany joy.

There ‘s nil like the joy of first gaining one ‘s wickednesss are forgiven. I ‘ve witnessed many people come to faith in Christ, and there ‘s merely nil like seeing the light travel on and watching the new convert perfectly revel in his or her new-found freedom.

GNB

Paul intimations that the Galatian trusters experienced that joy when he foremost shared the Gospel with them.

Darmstadtium

That ‘s built-in in the inquiry he asks, “ What has happened to all your joy? ”

But he besides negotiations of other QUALITIES that accompanied their joy.

For illustration GRACIOUSNESS and JOY go together.

Graciousness to the courier: “ You have done me no incorrect. ” Paul is mentioning, of class, to the many months he spent ministering to them. They had met his demands, they had received his message, and they had obeyed his Gospel. They had non wronged him in any manner. His ultimate point, of class, is to pull a contrast between their former behaviors and their present attitude. But the fact is, it is non unusual for new converts to handle the 1 who led them to Christ this manner.

By the manner, what ‘s peculiarly particular about the graciousness Paul received from the Galatians when he foremost took the Gospel to them is that he had n’t even planned to travel at that place. When he set his path for the first missional journey, it did n’t include Galatia.

GNB

He says in poetry 13, “ As you know, it was because of an unwellness that I foremost preached the Gospel to you. ”

Darmstadtium

Scholars have suggested that Paul was perchance an epileptic and that the higher, dryer clime of North Galatia was better for his epilepsy than the humid coastal field he had been working in. Others think he may hold caught malaria in the Lowlandss and travelled north to recover.

At any rate he continues, “ Even though my unwellness was a test to you, you did non handle me with disdain or contempt. ” Paul was non a beautiful physical specimen. There are a figure of remarks in his letters which indicate that he was likely a short, ugly, half-blind Jew with an unwellness that made him socially repulsive. But they were so overjoyed to hear the good intelligence of redemption that they were willing to overlook all those things.

Gracious to the courier.

Second, he mentions that GRATITUDE goes together with JOY.

Gratitude for the message: “ You welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. ”

I ‘ve ne’er had anyone misidentify me for an angel – SUPERMAN yes! It ‘s a long narrative – the short version is I was prophesying for a hebdomad at a Church in South London. Over the entryway was a large streamer – “ Come and hear our Demigod! ” That was me folks! A one and lone clip that streamer was used – and that ‘s for certain! I was n’t truly misidentify for anyone but myself of class. I ‘ve surely ne’er been mistaken for an angel – but I have had people whom I have led to Christ show their gratitude in ways that were about abashing. Possibly you have had the same delectation in taking person to redemption and have experienced the same gratitude. Gratitude for the message.

Another quality that often accompanies JOY is GENEROSITY.

GNB

Paul writes in poetry 15, “ I can attest that, if you could hold done so, you would hold torn out your eyes and given them to me. ”

Darmstadtium

Actually, there may be more here than meets the oculus ( if you ‘ll excuse the wordplay ) . There is considerable grounds that the Apostle Paul suffered from terrible oculus problem, possibly a consequence of the blinding visible radiation he saw in his Damascus Road experience. One of the intimations comes from the last chapter of Galatians, where in 6:11 he writes, “ See with what big letters I am composing to you with my ain manus. ”

GNB

Normally he wrote his letters by command to a secretary.

Darmstadtium

Right – But when possible he would compose the concluding paragraph by himself, although he was forced to compose big. If so Paul did hold an oculus disease, his averment that the Galatians would hold plucked out their eyes and given them to him, if possible, demonstrates how much they had appreciated him and his ministry. Their joy led them to a spirit of generousness and great forfeit.

You know, a joyful truster is a gracious truster, full of gratitude, and generous. Make you see all three of these features to a big extent in your Church? Much more of import – are they in us? Random Acts of the Apostless of graciousness are frequent, gratitude for the message is apparent, and your generousness is legendary. This to me is an indicant of a high grade of Christian joy.

But while joy from graciousness, gratitude and generousness are common features in those who have been freshly forgiven and made portion of God ‘s household, the balance of this transition indicates that JOY disappears when LEGALISM gets a clasp on a truster ‘s life.

“ What has happened to all your joy? ” Paul asks. And he follows by uncovering TWO SYMPTOMS frequently seen when we toy with legalism.

First: We begin to see truth-tellers as enemies.

GNB

Verse 16: “ Have I now become your enemy by stating you the truth? ”

Darmstadtium

I one time shared Church leading with a committed legalist. I was learning grace as best I understood it about 30 old ages ago. I was learning some truly extremist thoughts, like the fact that God loves everyone. And that taking a walk on a Sunday afternoon was n’t iniquitous. And that it did n’t hold to be the King James Version of the Bible that we ever read from. And that we could speak to God without stating Thee and Thou and it was n’t disrespectful. It was n’t long earlier I came to be viewed as unsafe.

If you live, pattern, and prophesy grace you will arouse one of two reactions: people will love you or detest you. They will either revel in the freedom you are offering them or they will see that freedom a enormous menace.

A 2nd symptom is that we become vulnerable to manipulative false instructors.

Paul warns the Galatian trusters about the Judaizers,

GNB

“ These misbelievers go to great lengths to blandish you, but their motivations are rotten ; it is for their good, non yours. They want to close you out of the free universe of God ‘s grace so that you will ever depend on them for blessing and way, doing them experience of import. ”

Darmstadtium

Legalists are really susceptible to command by manipulative instructors. Why? Because legalism is all about control and security. The legalist is uncomfortable with loose terminals ; hence he gravitates to instructors who are dogmatic, and for whom all the issues are black and white.

A batch of amusing things are traveling on in the church today. Religious leaders with great

personal appeal are accruing to themselves followings with undeviating trueness. Sometimes they make up for hapless scholarship and deficiency of ground with greater ardor.

They remind me of the sermonizer who wrote in the border of his discourse notes, “ Weak point, lb dais here. ”

Ardor or enthusiasm, you know, is non all bad. It ‘s good to be enthusiastic about one ‘s beliefs, provided those beliefs are true.

We need to mind the warning Paul gave to the immature curate Timothy, “ Preach the Word ; be prepared in season and out of season ; correct, reproof and promote — with great forbearance and careful direction. For the clip will come when work forces will non set up with sound philosophy. Alternatively, to accommodate their ain desires, they will garner around them a great figure of instructors to state what their itching ears want to hear. ”

Here ‘s a large inquiry: Do you cognize what STOPS your joy?

The job of the legalists is that they spread guilt all around the topographic point. GUILT and JOY ca n’t co-exist. If it ‘s existent guilt over existent issues in our lives so that ‘s a good thing. But if it ‘s false guilt over unreal issues in our lives, so it ‘s a bad thing.

GNB

King David committed criminal conversation and so murdered the adult female ‘s hubby in order to cover up. The prophesier Nathan confronted him. In Psalm 51:12 David indicates in his supplication the province his life had reduced to, “ Restore to me the JOY of my redemption. ”

Darmstadtium

Real guilt will rob you of joy – but Paul ‘s point is this: “ So will FALSE guilt! ” And make you cognize something? You do n’t laugh much when you are guilty.

Laughter and forgiveness travel together.

GNB

Experts tell us that laughter makes our serious lives lighter and helps with hurting.

One: By deflecting our attending from the hurting.

Two: By cut downing the tenseness we live.

Three: By altering our outlooks.

Four: By increasing the endorphins – the organic structures natural analgesics.

Laugh turns our heads from the hurting. It creates a grade of anesthesia and gives a brief jaunt from what hurts.

Darmstadtium

Becoming a truster you enter a relationship with a loving FATHER non a High Court JUDGE. Let it travel round your head: “ I am forgiven through Christ. ”

GNB

You are listening to Word Alive with Derek Stringer explicating Galatians 4:12 to 20 – which is all about losing your joy. Have free transcripts of today ‘s message available and I ‘ll give you our contact inside informations at the terminal of the programme. Back to Derek.

Darmstadtium

Well, we started today by detecting that joy is the fruit of the Spirit, and God intended for every truster to be full of joy.

Then we noted that in Galatia, as everyplace, when trusters join God ‘s household, they experience joy and the reverent qualities that necessarily accompany joy.

Third, the Galatians besides demonstrated another cosmopolitan truth: joy disappears when legalism gets a clasp on a truster ‘s life.

WHAT ‘S THE SOLUTION?

What is Paul ‘s reply to this tragic reversal he sees among his converts? The intervention prescribed is a strong dosage of uncompromising truth, unconditioned love and uninhibited pick.

The Galatians were like so many whose enthusiasm for a Bible instructor ebbs every bit shortly as he delves into a topic that offends or convicts them. They like to be selective in their credence of truth. But the truth is the truth, and if the truth produces struggle, so be it.

GNB

The universe tells us the manner to decide struggle is to compromise,

Darmstadtium

and so sometimes it is. But non in regard to necessities. Though Paul urgently wants to see his former relationship with the Galatians restored, he is non about to compromise his strong beliefs to accomplish it. He ‘s non about to state, “ Oh, this is n’t such a large trade after all ; merely do n’t allow your legalism acquire out of manus. ” That would be to compromise the Gospel and to acknowledge he was incorrect in learning in the first topographic point that grace is the lone manner to God.

The grade of a existent friend is that he tells those he loves the truth, even though it may be him.

Abraham Lincoln said to one of his friends before presenting a controversial reference, “ If it is decreed that I should travel down because of this address, so allow me travel down linked to the truth. ”

GNB

That would sound reasonably flooring coming from one of the favorites for a top political occupation today, would n’t it?

Darmstadtium

But that ‘s how God wants us to react when the truth is at interest.

The lone limitation God has placed upon the speech production of the truth is that it must be spoken in love. Uncompromising truth must be accompanied by unconditioned love.

GNB

He says in poetry 19, “ My beloved kids, for whom I am once more in the strivings of childbearing until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and alter my tone, because I am perplexed about you! ”

Darmstadtium

Peoples need to cognize they are loved ; they need to be encouraged ; they need to be affirmed.

A Pastor must be a shepherd every bit good as a instructor. The Apostle topographic points infinite value upon the Galatians, merely as a female parent does upon her kids. You see, Paul was their religious parent. He was the 1 who laboured to convey them the cognition of Christ, which finally resulted in a new birth for them. But a abortion had occurred along the manner, and now he is in labour all over once more “ until Christ is formed in you, ” or, as one paraphrasis expresses it, “ until you take the form of Christ. ”

Let me state a drumhead word about a fold ‘s attitude to their curate and frailty versa. We should take a cue from this transition that we are non to judge our religious leaders by outward visual aspect. They may be fit as a violin or sickly, intelligent or norm, eloquent or dull, handsome or homely, extroverted or introverted, they may be well-groomed or wear old denims.

These are non the truly of import things. We should neither blandish them because they are remarkably gifted or contemn them if they are non. We should non measure their worth harmonizing to our favorite instructions. Our attitude toward religious leaders should be determined preeminently by their fidelity to the missive and spirit of God ‘s Word and their desire to convey trusters to adulthood in Christ.

GNB

And what about the curate ‘s attitude to the people?

Darmstadtium

Well – John Calvin wrote, “ If curates wish to make any good, allow them labor to organize Christ, non to organize themselves, in their listeners. ” Merely when curate and people therefore keep their eyes on Christ will the work of Christ ‘s church win.

Let me return to where I started.

What has happened to all your joy? If you have allowed legalism to acquire a bridgehead in your life, I know where your joy has gone-it ‘s gone south. But if you rid yourselves of legalistic attitudes, if you accept and revel in your freedom in Christ, if you begin to see obeisance as a privilege instead as an duty, so the joy can return, and it will return.

Make you cognize what Jesus prayed for his followings?

GNB

That we would see the “ FULL step of JOY within us. ”

Darmstadtium

Remember the narrative of Rip Van Winkle? He fell asleep at Hudson Bay and woke up 20 old ages subsequently. The tap house was no longer called ‘King George III ‘ but ‘George Washington ‘ . Large alterations. He did n’t necessitate to make anything to do a difference – things were different BUT – he needed to populate in the visible radiation of what had happened.

Jesus ‘s coming to the universe to forgive and coming to populate His life in us by the Holy Spirit is a large alteration. Let ‘s confirm it together. Let ‘s let our heads to absorb what it means.

And that means we make an uninhibited pick.

GNB

In other words, CHOOSE JOY!

Darmstadtium

Yes – and I ‘ll rapidly give 10 grounds from the Bible as to why we can. Listen to them and Take JOY in them.

Here they are in rearward order. Help me out here Brenda!

GNB

Reason Ten for taking joy:

Darmstadtium

When you came into God ‘s household, God celebrated.

GNB

Reason Nine:

Darmstadtium

Your name is written in Eden.

GNB

Reason Eight:

Darmstadtium

Your wages is great in Eden.

GNB

Seven:

Darmstadtium

You found great ‘spoil ‘ in God ‘s Word.

GNB

Six:

Darmstadtium

Jesus is being proclaimed in the universe.

GNB

Five:

Darmstadtium

Any problem you have is crafting you to be like Jesus.

GNB

Four:

Darmstadtium

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

GNB

Three:

Darmstadtium

Nothing can divide you from the love of God.

GNB

Two:

Darmstadtium

The fruit of the Spirit is joy.

GNB

And Reason figure One:

Darmstadtium

At any minute, Jesus Himself may return. Then it truly gets to be merriment! Do n’t lose the joy!

GNB

Thankss Derek. If you have been helped by this message we would love to hear from you and of class pray for you. I ‘ve mentioned that we will direct free transcripts of Word Alive to you – although we need an electronic mail reference as that makes it easier.

‘Sounding Out ‘ is our free intelligence missive. Ask for a transcript.

Please make acquire in touch, and fall in us once more following clip. Our Bible Teacher is Dr. Derek Stringer. Our manufacturer is Phil Critchley and I ‘m Brenda.

Good pass for now and God bless you.