VIEWPOINT with Chuck Crismier
IF You wANT JOY...
This is viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is a one hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now with today's edition of Viewpoint here is Chuck Chris Meyer. The Bible tells us that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. So why is it that when at least about 50 years ago, 90 plus percent of Americans claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ, and now about 65 percent claimed to be. So why is it that there were lacking such joy in the country? Why is it that happiness seems to be eluding us? Why is it that peace seems to be on the way in the country? Maybe it's because we've forgotten that righteousness was the foundation of all of it. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. And today we want to talk about this elusive thing called joy. Another word that we often think of in place of joy is the word happiness. Is there a difference between joy and happiness in the Kingdom of God? Well, maybe there is. Our Declaration of Independence tells us that it's a God-given right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. Well, if we're pursuing happiness, why is it so elusive? Maybe again, it's because we're missing the foundation, righteousness. And if you think about the Bible, it says, well, righteousness alone, exaltination, but the sin is a reproach to any people, maybe, just maybe that might give us a clue as to why joy and happiness are eluding us. Today on Viewpoint, we want to pursue this matter of joy. If you want joy, we used to sing about if you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. But what's going on here? Maybe there are some missing links. What is the missing link or what are the missing links that would help us to experience joy and happiness in our lives? Remember, as we launched into the program here today, Israel was kept out of the Promised Land, 599,998 men who God took with a mighty hand out of Egypt were kept for the Promised Land because they were complainers. They had no joy. They had no happiness. All they did was complain. What's the link between complaining and not having peace and joy? Would it possibly keep us from the Promised Land as well? Just asking, today on Viewpoint, we have a very special guest joining us with a happy book. The joy challenge, discovering what he says is the ancient secret to experiencing worry, defeating, circumstance, defying, happiness. Randy for Z joining us here on the program today. Randy, I think you've been with us before in years gone past. Is that true? I think that is very true, Chuck, and it's great to be with you again today. Well, is there any happiness in Kansas City? I hear that there's been a lot of stuff about Kansas City and one of your celebrities in the news today, in fact, for the past two weeks. It seems like happiness has gone by by there in Kansas City. Why is that? Yeah. Well, we had some challenges. We've had some victories in a Super Bowl champion, but we also have challenges just like anywhere else in the world. Really Chuck, there was a recent study done on depression and anxiety in America, and they ranked all 50 states in the state of Kansas, came in bed last. That is the number of people who have the most trouble with depression and issues of anxiety. Oh, my goodness. What a lament. Yeah. Well, you think it would be something like California or New York or Washington, D.C., but it was no those places, it was the place where Dorothy and Toto lived. And so you can think that everything is all rosy, but it's not all rosy here in Kansas. Well, maybe that's the reason I had to get out of Kansas. I went to Wichita High School North for two years. Actually it was a delightful experience, and I enjoyed that. My father was a pastor there in Wichita, but I haven't been back there except to speak one time a few years ago. So it pains me to think that a place that I experience considerable joy and happiness is on the bottom of the totem pole in happiness. But you know what, Randy? I took the opportunity to ask Google, you know, the infamous Google that is wise beyond all her ears, I asked her, what were the happiest countries in the world? And here's what I came up with. This is the 2024 ranking of the world's happiest nations. Number one is Finland. In fact, all of the happiest nations are in the Baltic region. Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel is number five. Who would have ever believed that Israel was number five in the happiest of nations with all that's going on there? And guess where the good old U.S. of A is? Number 24, 23, 23. Yet we, according to the world's estimation, have it all. How do you figure, Randy? Yeah, that's a very good question. You know, actually I opened my book The Joy Challenge with, you know, that very pondering is how do these Nordic people that live in a place where it's freezing cold turn out to be the happiest people on the planet. One of the reasons why I think America, who has everything, is in plot 23 at this moment in time, is because we have super high expectations. We know, they can be anything that they want to be, but the differential between our expectation and what we're actually experiencing, which is how that study, by the way, Chuck is actually monitored, is the differential between your expectation and your current reality. In reality is a lot of your Nordic countries like Denmark and Sweden who are always at the top have a culture where their expectations are low and therefore the differential between their expectation and their reality is not that big of a difference. In America, I think that we have these huge high expectations, which is nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the reality is that we're not able to meet those expectations likely because we're pursuing them the wrong way. Wow, so in reality, the pursuit of happiness may be the most elusive thing that we could possibly be pursuing. What we need is joy in the Holy Spirit, right? Yeah, that's exactly right. You've manufactured quoted the Declaration of Independence where it says that, you know, we have this inalienable right granted to us by a creator to pursue life and liberty or freedom and the pursuit of happiness, that happiness is not necessarily something that's automatically granted to us, but it is a pursuit. So the question becomes, is the one who granted us this birthright to pursue happiness, does he know something about it that we don't and may be as elusive to us because we don't know him? Well, there was one who came to know him, but he wasn't all that happy before he did. In fact, God had to knock him off his high horse and bring him to the end of himself and blind him for a while in order to get his attention. And here he was when God got his attention, his name was changed from soul to bull. And when God finally got his attention and got him corralled, it seems that his whole disposition toward the pursuit of happiness changed. And he became, shall we say, the voice of joy in the New Testament. We're going to talk about that as we go on here, friends. If you want joy, if you want joy, one thing you got to do is let gratitude replace complaint. If you want joy, so do you want joy. Our guest today says, it's time to meet the joy challenge. His book is going to be available to you on our website, we'll be right back. Once upon a time children couldn't pray and read their Bibles in school, divorces were practically unknown as was child abuse. And our once great America virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Chris Meyer and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's morals slide, relate to the fourth commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org. Welcome back to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Chris Meyer. It's conversation as always with ever increasing conviction, talk that transforms. You say, well, you talk about so many serious issues on this program and indeed we do. We've been doing that for, well, over 29 years now, every day and fronting the deepest issues of America's heart and home. But if we're lacking joy as professing Christians, something must be wrong. Whereas they say something must be rotten in Denmark. It is. Something must be wrong. Well, interestingly, I was reviewing the bio of our special guest, Randy Friesi, here today. And it says here he has been married to his high school sweetheart for more than 40 years. They have four kids and two grandchildren more on the way and the Bible says that happy is the man that has a quiver full of them. Maybe Randy, that has something to do with your happiness or at least your joy. What do you say? Absolutely. And the quiver is full. We just added three more grandchildren, my son in Washington DC and his wife have just recently adopted three Bulgarian children, three years old twins and a four-year-old. So now we're up to five grandchildren more on the way is true. You're absolutely right. A lot of the struggle we have with joy today, whether Christian or non-Christian, is the sense that if I devote myself completely to myself, then I'll experience more joy because I'm devoting more time for me. Nothing could be further from the truth. The more that we exercise responsibility, the more we give our life away, the more we engage in community, in depth of community, the higher our joy goes up. And at the very heart of that chuck is certainly the first institution that God created which is family. Good old-fashioned, man marrying a woman and staying married as best to their ability with God's strength for a lifetime we're now approaching 43 years and watching that blessing come to us is really, I think, one of the major sources of joy that many people today, particularly young people, who are missing in terms of the formula, spiritual form of joy. Well, one of the reasons for that is, you know, we used to use the acronym for joy, Jesus' first, other second, and self-last. But in our generation today, millennials brought it on in spades and Generation Z has amplified it, and that is that the pursuit of self is the end of all things. Just it was about 15 years ago, I was leaving the Chicago Air Airport and was shocked beyond all shock as I drove along the roadway there. And here was this massive billboard, and here's what it said, me, me, me. That's all it said, me, me, me. That's our problem, and isn't that exactly what the Apostle Paul said was going to be the characteristic of the perilous times in these last days? Yes, Chuck, you're absolutely right, and it is counterintuitive. It seems like if you spend your time completely focused in a very sort of narcissistic sort of way that would bring you more happiness, and it's counterintuitive, but the reality is that that's not really working at all and never has worked. And so the prayer is that people will get back to these ancient truths that are embedded in God's words, and see for a fact that for a fact, Jesus even said, if you want to find your life, you've got to lose it. And I think what that means is that you've got to get yourself into the loving of other people, and many of the principles that Paul presents in this Treaties and Joy, the Book of Philippians, actually is really not focused on us, but it's focused on community and other people, and it is now proven that these principles are, in fact, true. And I think there's going to be a spiritual awakening, at least among some who are saying the route that we've taken has taken us into a dark hole, and we're looking for something different. Exactly. So actually, what we're doing here today, Randy, it seems to me is we're providing hope for the future. Now, it may not lead to the resurrection of the United States of America, or it may not lead to some glorious manifestation of earthly power, but it will lead to a resurrection of the mind and heart of those who are committed to Christ. In fact, I wrote down in anticipation of my chat with you that if we want to close the joy gap that you talk about in your book, we have to be crucified with Christ. If we're not crucified with Christ, we've resurrected the self, which makes it impossible for us to have joy, right? That is exactly right, and Paul is going to talk about this quite extensively. Obviously, the famous passage in Philippians 4, 13, "I could do all things through him or through Christ who gives me strength." And Paul is also going to expound on this in Philippians and in other of his writings that it is not our human love that we need to pass out, but it's the human love and joy that Jesus provides in the mind and the branches passage. Jesus says, "I want my joy to be complete in you, and if you abide in me, that's what's going to happen." So it's a different brand of love. It's a different brand of joy that we need to be seeking that comes from a rooted relationship with Christ. It actually, we're basically talking about the resurrection of real Christianity and the fruit of the spirit that comes from it. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and so on in the Holy Spirit. One of the problems we're missing is the Holy Spirit. We want the spirit of the culture. We want the blessing of the culture. We want self-induced joy, but it keeps eluding us. It's running away. It flees faster and faster the more we pursue it. Maybe we should just settle down and say, "Maybe I need to be still, know that he is God. He might just bring joy my way. What do you think?" Absolutely. I think it's really insightful for you to just call out the fact that the thing that we're all pursuing, which can be summarized in these nine, the nine fruit of the spirit, which is love, with all the hints of these other eight things, is called the fruit of the spirit. It is the production of God working inside of us. That's why one of the greatest things that Paul suggested to bring us great joy comes out of Philippians chapter three when he says, "I don't care if I know anything else. I've ever done in my life, it's like a pile of rags compared to knowing Christ in the power of resurrection." He understood that he could not sustain a meaningful joy in his life, which is inner contentment and inner purpose, apart from really connecting to Christ and the spirit that empowers us. All right, friends, the book, The Joy Challenge, and I really want to recommend this to you highly, because friends, we need the antidote to anxiety, to fear, to worry, to depression. We need the antidote, God's antidote for these things, so that we can stand in this evil day and having done all to stand, to stand. We need to do that. You need that. As moms and dads, you need that. Your children need you to have joy in your life. And if you don't, there's a problem, and we need to analyze what that problem is. The Joy Challenge, it is a $20 book, yours for $12, on our website, saveus.org, saveus.org. You can call us at 1-800-Save USA, 1-800-Save USA, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 7, 0879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255, writing a check. And $5 for postage and handling will get this antidote to your misery, and worry, and fretting, and complaining and lamenting that is keeping you from joy and happiness. I hope you'll avail yourself of it. Did you know that over 430 times in the Bible, there were joy, rejoice, or joyful appear? That's right, over 430 times. Sounds like God might be interested in saving joy. What do you think, Reddy? Oh, absolutely. And I think it's a really surprise for people who've walked away from the truth of God in a relationship with him, thinking that he's the cosmic, killed joy. But in reality, you've mentioned it over, you know, the 400 plus times when he's saying, "No, I've actually want you to have joy. I've sent my son so that you could actually restore your joy. Please pursue me, because I want nothing more for you than to have joy. But you're going to have to pursue me, and you're going to have to get to know me, and you're going to have to trust that my principles are true, and you're going to have to rely on the spirit of God within you to enable you to actually pull those off. And you will most certainly experience joy despite your circumstances." Well, he is the heart of joy. He says, "Seek me with your whole heart, and if you will seek me with your whole heart, then I will be found of you, meaning that we're going to find satisfying joy in our lives. But apparently we're not seeking him with a whole heart. It doesn't seem that way, even in our congregations. I think pastors are realizing this. My father was a pastor for 50 years, and even though he passed away in 2007 at the age of 92, I remember as a kid growing up in his ministry that one of the great concerns that he had was people, even then in the 1950s and 1960s and 70s. They were not pursuing the Lord and seeking him with a whole heart. They were seeking the fruit of the American promise, not the fruit of the spirit." Yes, that's absolutely true, and it can be very fine-lined for a lot of people. But the reality is that in America, we define success and happiness as the next purchase. And I think that that's just really a lot of fallacy that we need to get back to the principles that God is offering to us and learn that we can have joy. In America, we want joy, if we can have the right circumstances, we can have the right looks, we can have the right everything, but Paul is offering us in the Holy Scriptures a kind of joy that's not dependent upon those things, because it's coming from the inside out in our relationship with God, and he's going to offer us very practical, doable things. So it's not esoteric, it's very practical, the things that we can do to pursue those principles in the power of God's spirit. Let's talk about the difference between joy and happiness for just a moment. I practice law as a trial attorney in California for 20 years, and I still have joy, Randy. I really do, but it's been 30 years since I practiced law there. And one of the things that I was thinking about is if you want to carry a case, one of the weakest elements of proof is called circumstantial evidence, circumstantial evidence. And yet that's exactly what people are pursuing, circumstantial evidence. Happiness is circumstantial, joy is not circumstantial, happiness is. So if the circumstances aren't right, then where's my joy? Joy disappears, and that's what's so amazing about the Apostle Paul's writing of the book of Philippians is that he was in prison when he wrote about joy and rejoicing, wasn't he? He absolutely was, and the theologians call him the theologian of joy and his book, The Treaties on Joy, but the person who may be not be familiar with the Bible needs to recognize that his circumstances were pretty difficult. And he is under house arrest in Rome. He is tied to a smelly Roman guard. He has really a sense that everybody's out to get him, the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders, and even other Christians are trying to take advantage of his situation in prison. And it will, of course, be in about five years or so where he will actually go back into prison and ultimately a historian's policy beheaded. And he had that hovering over him the entire time, and yet he writes The Treaties on Joy. And I think the biggest observation, I have to offer this book, is that our joy is completely dependent upon circumstances. Yet in America, we have a number of people who've been able to sustain really positive circumstances for a long time and still aren't happy. Paul was able to actually have his sense of joy completely separated from his circumstances. Something from the inside that allowed him to experience melancholy, this is not talk to positivity. It's something that's completely different than what we post on Instagram about how great life is. There's a great depth to our life. When someone like your father maybe dies and you have a period of grief, you can have grief and not be super happy, but you can still have joy because your father, likely as a pastor, taught you about our no-lose situation that we have that no matter what happens to us in Christ. We end with a great story, he is going to redeem us, he's going to give us eternal life. And so that inner sense of truth is what brings us joy when our external circumstances aren't quite up to speed with very one thing. Absolutely. I think Randy, you and I could talk for several hours about this. We could make applications and we're going to try to make some further applications here as we go forward. But as you said, Paul knew that he was likely to lose his life while he awaited trial. It is in that context, he says, "Rejoice," and again I say, "Rejoice." It's amazing. And then he goes on to say, "Let this mind be in you," which was also in Christ Jesus. But this mind, maybe there's something about our stinking thinking that is keeping us from joy. We'll talk about that when we get back, friends. The book, The Joy Challenge, you want to get a copy of it I know, $12, a $20 book on your hands, on our website, saveoffs.org. There is so much more about Chuck Chris Meyer and Save America Ministries. On our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on his mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage, and morals, saveus.org. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project, saveus.org, and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's viewpoint broadcast live and archive, saveamerica ministry's website at saveus.org. According to the Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians, we can have joy despite our circumstances. We can have joy despite people. We can have joy despite our past, and we can have joy that defeats worry and complaining. Now that sounds to be like something worthy of our focus. Now, one of the problems, Randy, that I have seen, and I grew up in the church. As I said, my father was a pastor. I've pastored for 40 years myself, even while practicing law. What I have discovered is, for the past, I'd say at least 50 years, the market has superseded the master, even in God's own house. Here's what I mean by that. What we have done is use the cultural motif and methodology for the church and decided to market the gospel instead of proclaiming it. Now in the process, what we've done is actually sold to people a false understanding of what to expect, to expect something they shouldn't expect, and to not expect what the Bible says they should expect. And therefore, we actually have, shall we say, almost betrayed people and reduced their ability to have joy because the things that were promised to them aren't necessarily true or happening in their life. Does that make sense to you? Are you there, Randy? Hello? Yeah, I'm sorry, Chuck. Yeah, absolutely. What you're saying is absolutely spot on. And I've been a pastor now for 35 years, so just a few years behind you. And what I have discovered is that there was an attempt by the church to sort of identify with the culture and really what we did was we accidentally, or just not mindful, took on a lot of the things of the world and it did not, it was not mindful that the power of the gospel, the power to transform people is completely counter-cultural. So it's one thing to want to reach people, but it's another thing to make sure that we're speaking to them the truth of scriptures, even though it might come across initially as a bit odd or even a bit offensive. And you mentioned something before the break, and that is that we should have the mind of Christ. And it's an observation in the book of Philippians that uses the word joy over joy 16 times, but he also uses the word mind or mindset 16 times. And what he's saying here is one of the reasons we don't experience joy is because we don't have the right mindset. In other words, our viewpoint determines destiny. That's what we say every single day. This program is called viewpoint, and viewpoint determines destiny. There are no neutral viewpoints. If our mind doesn't line up with the mind of Christ, we can't possibly have the joy of the Lord in our life. That's exactly right, Chuck. This is one of the things that Paul's really trying to get through and the listeners need to really capture this, is that joy is not yours automatically, even if you just become the Christian, which is why some Christians, many Christians, are not experiencing joy. They thought if they just accept the Christ, you've got to engage in the renewing of your mind. It's also in the book of Romans. It's about the renewing of your mind and your mindset and what Paul is doing is Philippians. I've excavated about 20 principles that he's really offering us that help us get the right mindset. And you've mentioned several of them in your conversation already. Yeah. Well, I want people to be able to get a copy of your book. There has to be a raison d'etre for doing it, a reason for being. And I think a lot of people really don't sense the reason for being in their life. Paul said for me to live as Christ, is that our reason for being really, or have we just received what we thought was salvation and decided to go on live life as we pleased? So now you've got 12,000 people out there in California that were just baptized. Were they baptized in Christ or were they just baptized? Do they think that becoming baptized was going to save them? Well, are they going to have joy in the Holy Spirit eventually, five years from now? Not necessarily. Not necessarily because they're not necessarily in Christ. Now, I don't know what went on to perceive those baptisms, but it is a matter of concern to me. It's a very popular thing, and we can market it, we can sell it, we can get all joyful about it, but until that results in the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering, patience, kindness, and self-control, what did really happen there? They just got baptized. They got dunked with water. Okay, joy despite circumstances. There are several things here, and I highlighted a few things in each category, these four categories of your book that I thought would be helpful. One is recalling happy or blessed memories. Isn't it interesting that the Bible God continually told his people to remember? Remember what? Remember the mighty acts of God. Remember what God has done. What happens if we don't remember those things? If we gradually forget them, are we going to have joy and peace? Randy? Yeah, that's a, I really appreciate you. That's actually the very first principle of the book where Paul opens up and he's letting us know that he's praying with joy because he's remembering all of the things that the Philippians who are the only group of people that have supported him even without him asking from beginning to end, and so he enters into these intentional times of prayer each day with the smelly Roman guard typing him, and he's recalling all of the encounters he's had with these wonderful Philippian believers, including encounters of God and their faith, and what we've learned with modern sort of brain science is that whenever a person recalls a memory, it actually strengthens that memory and makes it more powerful in our lives. So when you add prayer to that, what you're doing is you may have difficult circumstances today, but if you recall on a daily basis, a happy memories you have of people that came alongside of you, or as you suggest, that happy memories, a great memories of where God has been there for you, it'll actually strengthen your memories and help you get through the difficulties of the day. My wife and I do this regularly. We really do, and we try to help our kids and our grandkids do the same thing. It's tough because we're living in a world that mitigates against rejoicing, that mitigates against happiness, causes us to want to worry and to want to fret, and that's a killer to joy, isn't it? It really is. The several neuroscientists now are agreeing with Paul's writing and said that it's actually impossed, it's a neurologically impossible to be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. It's impossible for your brain to do that. When you add the truth and veracity of God and the history of how he has walked with us through our life, and you recall those, so for me Chuck, I actually have several pictures of people in my life who have led me into faith or believed in me, and whenever I'm having a tough day, I turn around and I look at that picture and I go there, I recall those memories and I finish by saying thank you God for the Philippians in my life, and what it does, every time I do that, it strengthens those memories of God's faithfulness in my life, and therefore what I'm about ready to face today can be faced with greater confidence and greater joy, and that's just one of the 20 principles that can increase our joy. It's complete sense. The same apostle Paul writes in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you, the word that we frequently use for giving thanks is gratitude, an attitude of gratitude, and it was about 25 years ago Randy when even though I do these things, I've been a Christian since I was age 5, grew up at the church, have taught and written books myself, but for some reason the importance of gratitude had escaped me. Until the Holy Spirit one day, it was like a complete divine revelation, the attitude of gratitude and how critical it was to live a joyful life and one that God could actually continue to speak in and through my own life, and as a result of that, everything changed in my outlook, our marriage, approach to people, everything changed, an attitude of gratitude and the level of joy increased dramatically. It was like taking some amazing medication and completely catapulting my life into a new level with the Lord, gratitude, I think it's just tremendously important. I can't agree with you more, again in my book Chuck, I compare current brain health that we've discovered in the last 10 years to all the principles of Paul and what's so exciting because I know you love the scriptures, is to see how modern science has been turned upside down and now is agreeing with these ancient principles where Paul right up the beginning of chapter one and then as he gets towards the end, he encourages us in chapter four to rehearse daily our breath and blessings, whatever things are true, whatever things are lovely, think on these things and the peace of God which transcends all understanding. So this is an ancient principle that's been sitting there all along, people have sort of made fun of it, all the scriptures are old fashioned, you know, we got to get on with the modern life, but now in modern neuroscience is saying to us that the number one thing to increase your joy is to be filled with gratitude and it's not even a bad idea to sit down like you and your wife do and share it out loud or even write it in a journal and something gets rewired in our brain. Now I'm just going to say that there's a lot more to be grateful for when you're connected to Jesus Christ. True. Now we used to sing a song, count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God hath done. What happens when we count our blessings, isn't that basically another way of looking and reinforcing what God has done, the happy memories? Oh, 100%, you know, as a matter of fact, you know, skipping over all the way to chapter four, but you know, what Paul says, when you are that you should not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer, with petition, with thanksgiving, so one of the things that we do when we're in desperate situation is we cry out to God, even atheist, we get to cry out to God and say, God, get me out of this. So Paul says, okay, you can read your petition before God, but do so with the spirit of thanksgiving and we bypass that when we engage in prayer with thanksgiving and counter blessings one by one. How could it be that that old song had what the psychologists today considered the greatest truth on how to increase your joy? Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, I'll build my church. Christ by His spirit, stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century. The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family and it was said by all who observed, behold how they loved one another. Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click sell church. We can revive first century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Sell church. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. We sing, love the song. Almost everybody loves the song, but why should there be joy to the world? What is it that brought joy to the world? Interestingly, we don't really get into it until we get to the second verse. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love. Oh, he rules the world with truth and grace makes the nations prove the wonders of his love. He joy to the world. We need a whole lot of joy in the world, don't we Randy? We sure do. I appreciate you bringing out that song because it is a combination of not abandoning truth and righteousness because those things are tough and hold us accountable, but joy is actually found in a combination of love and grace coupled with truth and righteousness. Again, that's counterintuitive to a lot of people that are far from God, but boy, I tell you what, you bring them together and you'll begin to experience more joy than you've ever had. Absolutely, the same apostle Paul that wrote the book of Philippians wrote, "The kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit, righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit." Everybody wants peace, but peace seems so elusive, just like happiness seems so elusive. It's because we're not in the Holy Spirit, we're not listening to him, and we're not walking in righteousness. Whoa, Randy, it was about 15 years ago. I was on my way to a pastor's prayer breakfast here in Richmond, Virginia, the first city of America, and as I was crossing the James River, I asked the Lord, "Why is it that after all these years of praying for revival in America and in this city that we haven't seen it? Why is that?" The Lord answered me immediately, "Just as I was crossing the birth river of America, the James River," he said, "because my pastors are not preaching righteousness." As I was contemplating that for a few seconds, he said, "And that's the reason why your nations and the trouble it's in." So I'm contemplating that, and that's why my church has no power to do anything about it. My pastors are not preaching righteous. So I got to the meeting, and we were having our coffee together, and I was sharing this little tenetet that I had with the Lord with a pastor who was the pastor of a large evangelical church that had his history in the holiness movement. And here's what happened when I shared this story. He hung his head, and he said, "I don't think I even know how to preach righteousness." That's the very hope. That's the foundation for joy and peace. No wonder we're in the trouble we're in, huh? Yeah. Well, you state in Scripture, which you incorporate righteousness in with peace and joy. And so there's a formula that we have to as leaders of the cycle are people through the Word, and what that looks like. And I think for a lot of people, righteousness seems like a damning word, but in reality, in the Scriptures, the word "righteousness" is really a positive word. Sure. That it's anchored in truth so it can be relied upon, and we don't alter the truth to make people feel good, but rather we have to probe why that truth is important. And that's what we're seeing more than anything today, Chuck, is the absolute destruction of foundational truth, and we're trying to find joy despite it, despite it. And righteousness also carries the idea as well as the word "peace" with having a right relationship, not only with God, but having a right relationship and doing the right thing by other people. So righteousness is a very, very active word, it's not a negative word, it's a very positive word, and you can't have joy, you can't have peace apart from reallyanking your life in what is true, cool is true, and being truthful with each other. Well God says he establishes his throne in holiness and in righteousness. So I mean, it's so important, it's so fundamental, and when you're marketing feelings as has happened over the past 40, 50 years in our country, even in God's own houses, been marketed, you know, we've been promoting feelings over faith, and now we're neither happy nor holy. So I mean, it doesn't take a Philadelphia Lawyer to figure it out if we're really honest with the Lord, it seems to me. Yeah, you're absolutely right, and I think that, you know, one of the things that we need to come to grips with is, you know, we've mentioned at the top of the hour, just, you know, my 40, almost 43 years of marriage, you know, marriage can be very difficult, you know, but what I've discovered is that that's the pattern that God has established in creating community and multiplying society, and so I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about my own selfishness, I think about how do I, in God's strength, preserve this marriage of with my high school sweetheart and continue my legacy, and I have found that that, does that one principle alone has been, has brought me a tremendous amount of joy, and in the raising of our children, you know, they, you know, they want to, they want to revere to the right to the left, you want to love them, but you have to love them and the truth, you have to let them know what the truth is, and then disciple them in that, you get, and, and the truth will set you free, Jesus said, right? Absolutely. And when you're set free, you've got peace and joy. Indeed, as Jesus said, indeed. Yes. That's right. I'm so glad to hear you say that because marriage is on God's mind. But ever since 1968, when Ronald Reagan inaugurated the no fault divorce business in California, it spread like wildfire throughout the country. But what, what concerned me is how rapidly it spread through the church in the 1970s, and then inaugurated the remarriage cycle, and then came the homosexual issue in the homosexual marriage and then transgenderism. It all happened because we cast down the call to righteousness with regard to our marriages in the late 1960s. So that, you know, and are we happy and holy as a result? No. Are we experiencing joy as a result? No. A million children every year have been left virtual orphans in this country as a result of that decision to step on righteousness instead of live it. All right. Now, elevating others above ourselves, absolutely. The acronym joy, Jesus first, other second self last. We put self first, Jesus second, and others last. It's not exactly a prescription for joy and happiness, is it? No, it isn't. This is one of the, this is one of the most powerful principles in the entire book. He's coming off of the pattern of Jesus invites us to take on the same mindset as Christ, where he doesn't need famous words. Do not think of yourself more highly than others. And you'd say, well, how in the world, if I find myself below others, is that going to give me joy? It seems like I need to elevate myself above others. And the reality is that's not how it works at all. When you elevate others above yourself, it means that you have a sense of identity in Christ. You don't need to brag. You don't need to put yourself above others because you know who you are in Christ. It goes again back to the foundational truth of Christ and the Holy Spirit. And once you have that, you don't need to elevate yourself above others. And then when you elevate others above yourself, it brings them joy, because you see them and you honor them and you respect them. And then you see that joy in their eye, it deepens your relationship with one another, that communal joy goes up. And so I just, you know, people are in it particularly in marriage. People are fighting to get their own way. And this is not the pathway to joy. I get my own way, then I'll be happy. That's not the way it works according to the Scriptures. And Paul is telling us, give it a try and watch what happens to the people around you. And then you're going to have this relational peace that path is all understanding. So here was this apostle Paul, formerly called Saul, who was a big guide in Israel. He was well revered within the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He had been taught in Gamaliu's Yeshiva. And he was a big guy and deputized to go out and corral Christians. And God had to bring him down to earth to face the reality. He had been a killer of Christians. He was a murderer. And here he is in Philippians saying, look, forgetting those things that are behind now and looking forward onto the things that are ahead, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, if he has that orientation, he's been forgiven of his rabble, rousing, murderous past. And he's pursuing the kingdom of God and his righteousness. He can have joy. He can have peace. And isn't that exactly what he's writing about in the book of Philippians? It seems to me we need that in huge doses today. As we're being told, the persecution is coming upon us rapidly in this country. Well, that's a good word. You know, Paul, you're absolutely right. You know, Paul experienced a lot of success. You know, in his early past, you know, when he said he was the Hebrew of Hebrews, he was the tribe of Benjamin. And, you know, in terms of his keeping of the law, he gave himself a great of faultless. So he had success in his past, only discovered, as you heard people say, I climbed the ladder of success, only to find my ladder leaning against the wrong building. And then, in a part of that, part of that success for him, you know, came in the persecution of Christians. He was complicit in the murder, the martyr of the very first Christian, Stephen. And what, you know, we have a lot of talk today, a lot of talk today about overcoming the trauma of our past and psychologists have told us for years, and now they've said it's not true, that you need to go into therapy and dredge up all of these dark memories and try to wipe them out of your mind and make them go away. Just the opposite of what the gospel tells us. That's exactly right. And it's a little clever for them to say what you literally cannot wipe the past out of your subcon can't be done. All offers an alternative. He says the past is a part of your story. You need to learn from it. And you need to rise above it. And that's precisely what he was able to do. He was able to experience joy because he understood principles of truth about the forgiveness of Jesus through the cross. And he really embraced those things. And he meditated on those things and was able to find joy despite the fact we had this really, really difficult path. And our big heroes today need to really recognize this because there's a lot of people who have a lot of pain in their past. And they need to hear today, here's a guy that likely had more pain than we've had that possible. And yet he experienced an ability to do that by putting the past behind him, but also having a forward focus into the future and focus. Yeah, I was going to say, Paul, that focus, as you mentioned in the scripture, wasn't just a forward focus on things that I want to do to make me happy, but it was focused on the calling of God upon his life. Again, it's never about me. It's about losing myself and anchoring myself in scripture so that that upward calling of God found in Christ Jesus is where we need to find the joy as we look forward to. And that's why he said my capitalist self is crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, but Christ lives in me. And now I can live rejoicing every day like the song we used to say, Oh, happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day. And as the song that we used to sing also says, the joy of the Lord is my strength taken right for the scripture, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Is he your strength? Is the joy of the Lord your strength today, my friend? Now, in the face of persecution, Jesus said, you're going to have trials, you're going to have tribulation. In fact, he said, if they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you. Are you going to have joy amid that? Are you? That's the real world in which we live. That's the world in which the apostles have lived. And it's time that we get prepared. Joy, the kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. The wonderful book, the joy challenge, all kinds of practical things in this book is going to encourage is going to help you discover how to live, enjoy and happiness, the joy challenge. $12 will put the $20 book in your hands. It's on our website, save us.org. Save us.org. You call us at 1-800-Save USA, the right to save American ministries, be about 70879 Richmond, Virginia, 2-3-2-5-5, write a check at $5 for postage and hand and become a partner with his friends. Today, don't wait for the other guy to do it. He's not doing it. God's waiting on you. God bless and let the joy of the Lord be your strength. You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Krismeyer. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home. the world's right. [BLANK_AUDIO]