The Home Church Podcast

The Joy of the Lord Part 4

Part 3 - Joy Stealers John 16:22; Psalm 4:7; Psalm 16:11; Luke 2:10-11; John 15:17; Romans 14:17; Galatians 5:22; John 10:10 Nine Common Joy Stealers 1. Worldliness Luke 12:15; John 15:19; Romans 10:8-9 2. Foolishness Matthew 7:26; 1 John 1:4; Acts 13:49, 52 3. Prayerlessness Hebrews 4:16; James 5:14-18 4. Weariness Romans 8:26 5. Greediness Luke 12:13-15 6. Ungratefulness 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Isaiah 51:1; Psalm 103:2; Philippians 4:12 7. Fearfulness Matthew 6:31; John 14:27 8. Self-Centeredness Psalm 42:5; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Psalm 62:5 9. Unforgiveness Jude 24

Duration:: 49m
Broadcast on:: 27 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

Thank you for listening to the Bible Preaching Ministry of Dr. Tim Pollock at the Home Church of Lodi, California. You can get more information about our church and about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ at www.thehomechurch.net. Our prayer is that this message from God's Word will renew your heart and mind today. Well, good morning, brothers and sisters, and a glorious Lord's Day greeting to each of you. Happy first day, we like to say, and happy Thanksgiving. I want to thank each of you for your faithful love and your support, not only for this ministry and, of course, for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but for me personally, thank you and for our family. Thank you for praying, thank you for a great year. We are just thrilled to be able to celebrate it together this week, and I hope you'll be able to be here with us on Wednesday night. It is a joy to be in the house of the Lord today. The joy of the Lord. Our message today is joy-stealers, chippy, the parakeet, never saw it coming. One second, he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next moment he was sucked and washed and blown. The problem all began when chippy's owner decided to clean the cage with a vacuum cleaner. The phone rang. She turned to pick it up. She had barely said hello when chippy got sucked in. The bird owner grasped, turned to fawns, threw it down, turned off the vacuum, tore open the bag, and there was chippy, still alive but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and sit, she grabbed him, raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held chippy under the running water. Then realizing that chippy was soaked and shivering, did what any compassionate bird owner would do. She reached for her hairdryer and blasted the pet with the hot air. Poor chippy. Never knew what hit him. A few later days after the trauma, the reporter who actually wrote this story contacted chippy's owner to see how the bird was recovering. Well, the owner said, "Chippy doesn't sing much anymore. He just sits and stares." Well it's not hard to see why. Sucked in and washed up and blown over. That's enough to steal the song from the stoutest of hearts. Yes, the fact of the matter is life does have a way of just sucking the air out of even the most buoyant personalities. In John chapter 16, literally a few hours before our Lord's crucifixion, he reassured his disciples that while people, the devil, will try to steal their joy, it's not going to work. And here's what he said. John 16, verse 22, "And ye know, therefore now have sorrow, but I will see you again. And your heart shall rejoice." And here's the little part that we're taking our message clue from, "Your joy no man take Now how is that possible that you don't lose your joy? Your joy isn't stolen away because true joy is found in Jesus Christ. And if you have Christ, my friend, and if he is in your soul, he will never be taken out. He joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit and despite circumstances, despite horrific circumstances, he reassured his disciples that their faith was on firm footing, the friends we live in a sad world. Most people, frankly, around us know mostly despair, unfulfillment, dissatisfaction, and may long for things that rarely come to pass. Most have little hope that anything will ever change. The long years of their life inevitably just become more long years of sorrow. Oh, moments of happiness, perhaps, but becoming less and less frequent as the aging process takes place. In fact, I read a statistic this week that shocked me, and that was the highest rate of suicide surprisingly is among people that are over 65. Factors like social isolation, chronic health conditions, loss of loved ones, depression all contribute to this epidemic. People may talk about happiness, but in their life, happiness is related to happenstance. It is if a good circumstance comes, then I'm going to be happy. But since they can't control the circumstances, then really they can't guarantee happiness. But what a sad way to live. What an elusive way to try to find happiness, despite all the time and effort and money and everything else you throw at it, they just don't have happiness. On the other hand, when you talk about joy, it's something completely different. It's not about chance, it's not about maybe, it is a deep-down confidence that no matter what God has this, God's got this, true joy is always related to God. And that's why that only Christians can have joy. Now this world can have some happiness, and it may be have more happiness than some others, but they cannot have joy, because joy is something that only Christ can give. Now in Scripture, we are told quite a bit about joy. In fact, fifty-seven times in the New Testament, God talks about joy. I read a little blog recently by Charles Swindall, and he used this very same topic, "Joy Steelers." And he said there are three joy Steelers, he mentioned worry, and stress, and fear, and those certainly are. And so using that title as a springboard, I began to look through and begin to pray and think and came up with nine biblical joy Steelers that I commonly see in the world today. And so that's what I would like to share with you this morning. Join joy Steelers, and we're going to ask God to keep that promise that we read just a few moments ago, nobody's going to have your joy stolen when you have Christ in your soul. Let's pray, Father. Thank you for this opportunity to be here. Thank you for the feeling better, Lord. Thank you for all the people in praying for me. I thank you, Lord, so much. And now pray that Lord, each one of us, might just focus on your word. May, Lord, this be a life-changing service in Christ's name, amen. Joy comes from God. Joy is a gift from God. David said that in Psalm 4 and verse 7, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart." You have put gladness in my heart, it's from you. In that wonderful Messianic Psalm, the 16th, verse 11, "In thy presence is fullness of joy. In your presence, God, I have found my greatest joy in your presence." God is the source of all true joy. Joy is a gift from God. It is a gift to those who, first of all, believe the gospel. And that wonderful angels appeared to announce the arrival of the birth of a Savior into the world. They said that what will follow will be the purest of joy. You remember, Luke chapter 2 and verse 10, "The angel said unto them, 'Fear not, fear not.' They always have to tell us humans to not be afraid. Behold, and they're stopping now, I want you to listen, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Good tidings of great joy for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. It is the birth of Christ, it is the birth of a Savior, it is the gospel that brings joy to all people, all the nations, because He is the Prince of Peace. He is the one who saves this world. And as you submit yourself to Christ and as I give my life to Him, the fuller my joy becomes. The more I know His word, the more I know God, the more closer I am to Jesus, that just increases my joy. Now we've looked at several passages over these last three messages. We began with John chapter 15 and verse number 11, where Jesus said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." The fullest of joy, now you may think you've had joy, but when you have the joy of Jesus, it is incredible. People talk about optimists and pessimists. Some say the optimist says the cup is half full. The pessimist says, "No, the cup is half empty, but the child of God says it differently than both." They say along with David, "My cup, it just runs over. My cup runs over." It is because it is true joy produced by the Holy Spirit as we begin to know His kingdom. That's in Romans chapter 14 and verse 17. Here's what Paul reminded those dear Roman Jews, those wonderful people that had believed in Christ and were spread all over the Roman Empire. He said, "The kingdom of God is different than the kingdom of Caesar." The kingdom of God is different than the kingdom of Pharaoh. The kingdom of God is different than the kingdom of Herod. The kingdom of God is different than any kingdom in this world, because the kingdom of God has internal things like righteousness, the joy of living a right life, and then peace. And then notice what he says, "Joy in the Holy Spirit." And that is what happens as we get into the kingdom of God. The more we serve God, the more joy we find in life. I've had so many people over the years to tell me something like, "You know, I can't even believe that the way I used to be a year ago or five years ago or ten years ago or thirty years ago, the way I used to think and act and where I am today, it's just amazing." Galatians 5 verse 22, that's because when God comes into your life, things change the fruit of the Spirit. The planting of spiritual things, the trying to sow spiritual seeds produces a wonderful joy when the Holy Spirit is resident in our life. More importantly, when He is president in our life, He brings about joy. He brings about peace. But there are joy stealers, there are things that come along and begin to just take away that joy. And Jesus warned us of those in John chapter 10 verse number 10, and that shepherd's passage. He said, "You know, if you want to be a good shepherd, you've got to be careful. Watch out. The thief comes, his goal is to steal. He's going to steal every drop of joy and suck it out of you. He's going to kill everything he can and destroy." And when you see marriages destroyed and you see health stolen and when you see beautiful lives killed, I tell you, that is the thief that does that. He said, "I've come that you have life, but not only that you have life, but you have it more abundantly." Now, I'm here to announce this morning, again, afresh in anew, that the devil is out to embezzle and shoplift every last penny, every coin of contentment. The next time you're thinking about complaining about your income, the next time you're feeling bad about your life, try to remember that in this world, over 1 billion workers, that's four times the U.S. population, live below $1 a day. Next time you are tempted to complain about what's for dinner, remind yourself that every day, 683 children die of hunger every hour, 16,400 children die of hunger a day. How incredibly sad it is, we must never complain. God has been so good to us and if we're not careful, we'll allow the thief to come along and steal our joy. And God said, "Don't allow that to happen," and you don't have to allow it to happen. Now there are nine common joy stealers, let me give them to you this morning. Number one, worldliness. Worldliness, when people seek joy, but they do so merely in the tangible, they find that it becomes intangible, strangely, like a wet bar of soap every time they think they latch on to it, it just keeps popping out of their hands. Joy is elusive, it's been said, when it's sought. The more we try to find our happiness in stuff and in this world, the harder it is actually to keep it and that's what Jesus told the brother there in Luke chapter 12 verse 15. He said, "A man's life, a woman's life consists us not in the abundance of the things which he possesses, life is more than just a stuff that comes our way." A young banker was driving his B&W, he was in the mountains, it was a fierce snowstorm, he rounded a turn and the vehicle slid out of control towards a cliff, at the last moment he unbuckled his seat belt, jumped from the car to safety. But when he escaped with his life, unfortunately his left arm was caught, near the hinge of the door, tore it off at the shoulder, a trucker passing by witness the accident, stopped his rig, ran back to see if he could be of any help. And there, standing as you might imagine in the state of shock, this banker at the edge of the cliff, moaning, "Oh, my BMW, my BMW." The trucker pointed to the banker's shoulder and said, "Man, you got bigger problems than a car." With that, the banker looked down at his shoulder, he finally realized he had lost his arm and he began crying, "Oh, no, my new Rolex, my new Rolex." You know, we need to be careful about our life, about what we're moaning about and groaning about the stuff of this world is not bad, it can certainly be used for good, but if that's our sole source of joy, it's very misleading. Some even imagine that religion can bring joy and they like candles and they give their little liturgical repetitions. One have said that religion, they defined religion, I loved what they said, they said, "You know, religion is hanging around the cross. Christianity is hanging on the cross." And so many people hang around the cross, but they don't understand that real faith and real joy comes from the cross and people are desperately trying to experience joy, but it never comes because it is a work of the Holy Spirit. There's no capacity to have joy without Christ, there's no capacity to have joy without the Holy Spirit. And that's why John said in John chapter 15 verse 19, he said, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own, meaning if you lived on the world's terms, then yeah, it's all good. The world loves you, you love the world, it all goes well, but because you're not of the world, because your focus is on the cross and not just around the cross, I have chosen you out of the world and your joy is never going to come from the world. In fact, the world will hate you." Now folks, if you are a Bible loving, Christ loving, gospel loving person, you need to understand they're not going to, this world's not going to love you. And I would have to agree, after 70 years nearly, talking to thousands, literally thousands of individuals, I personally would have to say that many churches, Mac, almost would have to say most churches, are filled with people who are not genuinely saved. I would think honestly that one of the greatest revivals will ever take place when people in the church start getting saved. We see in the book of Revelation, the great time of the rapture time, I think there's going to be a revival of people getting saved. People who become born again Christians because they have not really the true faith. There's that powerful passage in Romans chapter 10 that reminds us of how beautiful and simple it is to have a new faith and new joy. Romans chapter 10, verse 8, and I love it because God says that salvation is so simple. You don't have to fly. I'm flyed a Tibet and eat and pray and love, no? Look at verse 8 says, "But what saith it? The word is nigh. Salvation is close, and it comes from a word, not from something you're doing, but from a word. It's even in your mouth, and in your heart, it's a word of faith we preach." What is this word? What is this amazing, close thing? He said, "If you would confess," verse 9, "if you would confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God is raised from the dead, you'll be saved." True salvation is plain and easy. It is close, it says. There's no way you have to go, but to your heart, because it's been preached to you. It's called a word of faith, because he's using that as a reminder that you need to pray to Jesus. You need to ask God. That's not the actual words or that action. It is this faith, this repentance openly confessing our life to the Lord Jesus Christ. If it's not in the heart, it's mockery. Jesus is different, Jesus is unique, Jesus in our soul changes us. The great Napoleon from yesterday year said, "I know men," and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every person in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, even myself, have founded empire, but what we did only is a fond force or a genius maybe, but Jesus founded his empire on love. And at this very moment, millions would die for Jesus, and so friend, our love, our joy, our peace comes not from anything in this world. It comes from Jesus, who is so close that simply a word would get us into our heart. And then a common joy stealers, not only whirliness, but foolishness, foolishness, an inadequate understanding of God's word. Now you'd say, "Well, that sounds like a very harsh word this morning to use the word fool," but our loving Lord was never one to mince words. He was never in kind, but boy, I tell you one thing, he was painfully at times straightforward. Look what he said in Matthew 7, verse 26, in that great sermon on the Mount. He said, "Everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, a foolish man, a foolish woman which builds his house upon sand." Jesus said, "You are a foolish person." Can you imagine him standing there looking at that crowd, saying, "You are a foolish, foolish person if you are erecting your lifestyle on the shifting sands of humanism. If you are looking to culture to give you the answers to life, you are a foolish person. There is no joy found in this culture. There is no joy found in this world. Only joy comes from God, and it is produced in the life of wise people by the Holy Spirit as they receive and obey the word. John the beloved wrote in 1 John 1, verse 4, "He said these things we write to you." He said, "The scripture, the groffe," is the Greek word, "the written word is what has been given that your joy may be full." The written word will bring you joy. It is amazing the power of the written word, understanding our joy when you get the written word of God. It is where you begin to see all that God has done for us, the thrilling things that Jesus has loved me before I ever even knew He existed. He sought me, and like the great song "Victoring Jesus," He is my Savior forever. He sought me. Then He bought me. He loved me before I ever knew Him. He plunged me to victory. You know when we begin to understand the true amazing things that God has done for us and recognize that, then He conquered hell. For us, He conquered death. For me, He lives as my intercessor. He is my advocate with the Father. We live far beneath our privileges when all we do is just get up another day, have our breakfast, go about our day, just kind of respond how it happens. My friend, but when we get up, spend a little time in the Word or a lot of time, whatever you can do, but spending some time for sure, it is amazing what happens. The joy begins to just multiply. I love that passage in Acts chapter 13. Paul and Barnumus were sharing with the people of what was known as Asia Minor, and they were preaching to them the deep, wonderful, beautiful, pure Word of God. And it was such a breath of fresh air. I love it when people tell us they come to the home church and they say, "It's just like a breath of fresh air. It's just so refreshing." This world is so suffocating, so weird, and the pagan concepts that were going in that day, they were just strange. And Paul and Barnumus began to preach, and look what it says in Acts 13.49, the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord was published. The Word of the Lord was going forth throughout all the region. And look what happened, verse 52. And the disciples were thrilled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. I mean, it was just amazing. They began to listen. They thought, "This is like nothing we've ever heard before. It's so beautiful. It just rose above everything else." I was walking along a busy golf course one day. Well I heard someone singing, and they were singing in Spanish. His clear tenor voice was distinguishable. Even above all the loud buzzing of all the equipment. I was trying to find out who it was when I finally located. I realized it was a man on a large mower, making one boring pass after another out on the turf. An hour after hour pass after pass, catching up with him. I caught his eye and I gave him two thumbs up. Isn't that interesting? Here's this man out on a lawn mower. I'm out there supposedly having fun, and he's the one that lifted me. He was just singing at that beautiful Spanish voice. He could have been thinking about how the fact he didn't have much pay. He could have been thinking about how hot he was. He could have been thinking about all the disrespectful golfers. But in fact, he found so much to be thankful for. And I've thought about that man so many times, how that, you know, we can sing through life, or we can just go through life grumpy. And that's what I want to do. I want to sing because God has given me a word. He's given me the scripture he has given me so many things. God says if you allow it, worldliness will steal your joy. If you allow it, you'll just go through life and you won't have any joy because you're not in the Word. But there's a third common joy stealer, and that is prayerlessness. One of the main reasons we don't have joy is because we just simply don't pray. We fret, we fume, we do whatever, but we don't pray. The Holy Spirit invited us to pray, Hebrews 4 and verse 16, let us therefore come boldly, come boldly through the throne of grace, come to heaven, literally walk into the throne room and get grace of God, obtain the mercy of God, find grace to help in time of need. And our friend, that is joy, you know, real joy, a real prayer is missing so much in churches today, it seems like it's been replaced by counseling. Now I know there's a need for counseling at times, but let me just qualify that. I think the best kind of counseling is biblical. But second of all, I don't think it has to be super complicated or trained by some secular psychologists or psychiatrists, I think biblical counseling simply amounts to this. Someone with a question, asking a wise man or woman a question, and that person gives them an answer from the Bible, that's counseling, that's what it should be. But all too often, instead of going to God with our needs, people want to go to counseling. And that person will tell you things. That best, they may be some good words, but it's definitely so often a far cry from divine assistance. Good with me for a moment to James chapter five. Here's this amazing brother of Christ, the half brother of Christ, the pastor of the first Baptist church of Jerusalem, brother James, and brother James said, "Now folks, you need to pray," and listen to how many times he talks about praying in their time of issues. Verse 14, "Is anybody sick? Call for the elders of the church and let them pray, anoint them with oil and pray." He didn't say go to counseling. He said, "Pray," verse 15, "and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." He didn't say counseling, verse 16, "Pray for one another." He didn't say counsel one another, although there's a place for counseling one another. He said the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man, a veil of musts, verse 17. Now he uses the illustration of Elijah. He said, "Elijah prayed earnestly," that's what he did. He had a problem. He didn't go for counseling. He prayed earnestly, verse 18. He prayed again, and God heard him. Now I'm not trying to say anything bad about counselors or counseling. That's not the point. The point I'm trying to say is to do that without praying is to miss the point of everything. Prayerlessness steals our joy. People scramble from one counselor to another, one seminar, the other from one book to the other, trying to find solutions that only God can solve. Go to God. Go to God. Have you ever realized that this world, even the languages of this world, are a constant reminder to go to God? I was just realizing as I was reading this week, you know, I mentioned a Spanish man that was singing out there on the golf course. And have you ever noticed that when you say goodbye in Spanish, adios, it actually means with God? In French, they say adieu, you know, we bid you adieu. It's actually the word again, with God. Even the word goodbye, did you know that the word goodbye means God be with you? It's sort of an anglicized way of saying God be with you. You know, the languages of this world are even built in to remind us, go to God. Go to God with your need. And that's where you'll find the greatest solution, the common joystealers, worldliness, foolishness, prayerlessness, and then weariness. It is our natural bent to wimp out. We wimp out as parents, we wimp out as husbands and wives, as Bible students, as evangelizers, givers. We may go for a while and then we kind of begin to lose our effort and we lose our energy, we lose our power. We need the Holy Spirit. We need joy. The joy the Lord gives that strength. Here's what Paul said in Romans 8 and verse 26, "Likewise the Spirit, He helps our infirmities." He helps our infirmities and aren't we full of infirmities? We're full of so much weakness for we know not how we should pray for as we ought to. Notice what it says. We ought to pray this certain way, but we so often don't pray that way. We ought to pray this way. We ought to do this. You'd say, "Well, I just can't do that spiritual thing." The Spirit helps our infirmities. He helps our weaknesses, and if we'll go to Him, He will strengthen us. Have you ever noticed how that on a Sunday? I mean, how could you not be blessed by that beautiful music we had just a few moments ago? I mean, man, my soul was stirred, and then fellowship, the preaching of the Word, man, we go home pumped. But then the next day, Monday, all of a sudden it's same, same, oh, you know, you go to work, or maybe your mother and you wake up and you look at the piles of laundry or the food that you have to cook and clean day after day, and it's so easy to allow the infirmities of life to steal our joy. We don't have the heart to pray. Paul said, "He helps you. He helps you. He helps you. Pray. Ask for the Holy Spirit's help, and He will help you, and He will bless you, and He will strengthen you." I don't think there could be a better example than Elijah in 1 Kings 18. He's on Mount Carmel, and he's withstanding the priests of Baal, and God sends fire from heaven. Oh, it's amazing. He turns up the sacrifice, licks up the water in the wood and the sacrifice. It's a spiritual high. It's a Sunday. Music is playing, boy, it's a thrill. And then the next day is Monday, and He's running from a crazy lady, and He's saying, "Lord, help me." There's a crazy woman after me, and He had to have the strength of God. He needed the joy of God, and it is so easy to allow weariness to steal our joy, and that's why we need the Holy Spirit's joy to have that strength we need. Dr. Charles Stanley, the late noted pastor, first Baptist of Atlanta, mentioned what he called the Halt principle, H-A-L-T, and his point was that we need to halt whenever we are H-hungry, or A-angry, or L-lonely, or T-tired. He said, "You need to stop and seek God. Get the joy of the Lord back. Get the power of the Holy Spirit, and He will help you in your weariness." There is a fifth joystealer, and that is greediness, greediness, emotions controlled by the shallowness of the world, and wanting just one more thing. Jesus warned one man in Luke chapter 12, verse 13, "This man came to Jesus, and He said, 'Master, speak to my brother, that He divide the inheritance with me.'" Now, most commentaries think that this man had an issue. He was wanting more than his share, not just a share, and he maybe was wanting a share that he didn't deserve. And Jesus probably clarified the matter well. He said unto him, "Man who made me a judge or a divider over you." His point basically was simply saying, "You could get this inheritance you're looking for, you're not going to find the joy that you want, because I'm afraid that your attitude is one of greediness." You know, stuff is all well and good, but it's a very shallow substitute for true joy. For some believers, they're only happy when they get everything they want, and if they don't get what they want, they're not going to be happy. And frankly, most people live that way. They go from one event to the next. Realism's highest value to them is possession. But for Christianity, it's being a steward of God's possessions. And so may God help us to be not greedy, but to be godly. And then there is a sixth joy stealer, and that is one of ungratfulness. And I don't think there's anything in life more ugly than unthankfulness. The nasty thing in life, Paul pushed his beloved Thessalonica Church, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18. He said, "Folks, do something for me, please." In everything, give thanks. Now he didn't say, "You have to be thankful for everything." He said, "In it, find something to be thankful about." Be thankful in every condition. Why? Because he said, "Whether you want admitted or not, this is the will of God for you. It is the will of God in Christ Jesus." Meaning, there is a redemptive purpose in this. It's in Christ Jesus. There's a redemptive reason why this is happening in your life. If you can be as happy and as joyful and adversity as well as prosperity, then you're being a great example for the goodness of God and the blessings of God. Some people, frankly, are very rarely thankful, or at least only thankful when good things happen. And I get it. I mean, it's no fun to be in pain. It's no fun to have issues in life. But I think one of the greatest things we need to remember is just how much God has done for us. Even if this surface issue is presently taking my joy away, really the big picture God's been so good. Have you ever thought about just how acknowledging the doctrine of total depravity can just reset your joy? Did you know that each one of us are as lost as we could have ever been? We say, "Oh, these nasty bad people." Did you know that each one of us are as nasty and as bad as we could possibly be? We're all sinful. Well, God saves this, my friend, we are as lost as anybody else. That's called totally depraved. And that's why Isaiah said in Isaiah 51 verse 1, he said, "You know what you need to do? You need to stop for a second and just look back where God saved you from. Harken to me, you that follow after righteousness and seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were human." He said, "If you want to just know where, if you want to be thankful for a moment, just look at the rock from which God took you from. Look at that ugly, hard rock. God just chipped you out of that rock and then he goes even further." He said, "Look to the whole of the pit from which you were dug. Look at the most vile, wicked, ugly, slimy pit you can think of. And remember, it was God that dug you out of that pit. You are a brand, plucked from the fire as the prophet said. And that's why if you ever get to the point where you feel like, "Oh, life is not good for me." God said, "You know, just for a few moments, you need to remember how good God has been to you. He saved you." God took care of you, married for many years. Paul had been ignored by his wife Liz for some days, so eventually he confronted her which he felt like that was the problem. He said, "Now Liz, admit it. He only married me because my granddad left me for her left me $6 million, didn't you?" And she said, "Paul, you're so silly. I couldn't care less who left it to you." Now we sometimes think that our life is bad, we think it's this way. God said, "You know what you need to do. You need to memory of good things," Psalm 103 verse 2, "Blessed the Lord, O my soul." Here the psalmist said, "Look what the psalmist's doing, he's preaching to his soul." He said, "Soul, bless the Lord." Soul, bless the Lord. Don't forget one of his benefits. Some people lose their joy because of this or that, but if we would remember to preach to ourselves and be grateful for what God has done, it makes so much difference in life. And when we're grateful, realizing just how far God has and how many things God has done for us. There is a seventh joy stealer and that is fearfulness. Some people are afraid of the worst. They're afraid of their past. They're afraid of the present. They're afraid of the future. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, He said, "Don't keep so worried, so stressed out about life. What you're going to eat or drink or what you put on, just stop it. You just got to give it over to the Lord." Cory Tinboom said, "The greatest prescription for anxiety, look around and you'll be distressed. Look inside and you'll be depressed, but look at Jesus and you'll be at rest." Here's what Jesus boldly charged, John 14 verse 27, He said, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world give us. I give it, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Don't keep letting things get inside of your brain and your heart." People are always worried about this and that, but you know, if you realize how much God has done for you, realize how much God has saved you from, that's what He's saying. My peace, I've saved you from sin, I've saved you from hell. Just stop for a second and realize how good the Lord has been to you and nothing will ever keep you from your eternal salvation. I've given you peace with God. I've given you the peace of God. I've given you God's peace and that's what Jesus is saying here, "Worldliness is a joy stealer and foolishness and prayerlessness and weariness and greediness and ungratefulness and fearfulness and there is an eighth one and that is self-centeredness. Always focusing on what's going on on yourself, always disquieted. Some people are always just worried about their own selves in the New Testament. Paul warned, he said, "You know what you need to do. You need to bring your own mind into submission." Second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5, "Cast down those imaginations every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." How do you cast down imaginations? You get a Bible verse, you read a Bible verse and you quote it and you pray it back to God and you cast down those sinful, those human, those things that come into our minds, every high thing and bring it into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ. I remember hearing of one man that told me once that he actually literally did this. He recorded himself speaking the Bible, so I mean this was back in the day when you had tape recorders but he recorded himself Bible verses and then he would put it on his cassette tape in his car and he would drive places and he would listen to himself preach to himself. He preached himself, he cast down imaginations and he brought every thought into the captivity and the obedience of Christ. We lose our joy because we're become so self-focused, we don't let God help us become God-focused, get our focus on God and on his word and when we do that, that joy will just spill into our life. And then there is a ninth and final one and that is unforgiveness. Perhaps the greatest of all things I think that just steals our joy is when we forget that we've been saved. We forget just how much the Lord has done for us. We forget that we've been forgiven. Oh, I can't forgive myself but God has forgiven us and God has promised to keep us saved. Look what Jude 24 says, "Now to him that is able to keep you from stumbling and make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless, God is willing to bring us faultless before his throne." That is the believer's joy. It is a gift from God. God has given us joy and hope and glory and he said, "It is with great joy. You will be faultless presented before God. If God has forgiven you, then you can forgive yourself. And if God has forgiven you, then we can forgive somebody else." You know, joy is not the way to Christ. Christ is the way to joy. Our heads are about the... We hope you enjoyed listening to the preaching and teaching from God's Word today. You can get more information about our church and about starting a relationship with Jesus Christ at www.thehomechurch.net. From all of us here at the Home Church in Modi, California, thank you for joining us. [MUSIC PLAYING]