Go to the River: Joy 07/21/2019: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 Last week we talked about out of Isaiah remember not the former things there consider the things of old behold I will do a new thing and now it shall spring forth I will make a river the new thing is the river in the desert to give drink to my people so the new thing is the river of God giving drink to his people and then we showed you how that river changed people’s lives in the Old Testament and in the new the woman on the wall of jericho was miraculously chained and became of the lineage of Jesus Christ bloodlines by drinking of the river now naman how the apostles how Herod’s household and the priests oh. Or change by drinking of the river today we’re going to again go to the river in Psalms 46 there is a river.

▶ 1:05 Whose streams irrigation ditches. Make glad the city of God the holy place of the tabernacles of a most high God is in the midst of her she will never be moved never slip never lose her strength and God shall help her and that right quickly are in the morning at the dawning of the day. So we have a tremendous promise here of God that there is a river and it has irrigation ditches and each one of these irrigation ditches is for a purpose whatever your need is God can open up the flood gate so that ditch of irrigation comes to meet your need Jesus is the savior the healer he’s everything.

▶ 2:03 Now. We know that eternal life is a gift we know that going to heaven is a gift we know that salvation is a gift of God but also this morning we’ve got to know that joy is a gift from God God gives to a man that is good in his sight there is a condition too many people say that there’s unconditional love in God God always has a condition then it’s unconditional. To the man that is good is it worth being good to get joy you see and wisdom and knowledge which we will talk about later but today we’re talking about joy.

▶ 2:59 Ecclesiastes 2:26 and this joy is so important and so powerful that God says that no man can take it away no one will take away your joy see you can give it up you cannot receive it but if you got it it’s like salvation you can’t lose it unless you give it up unless you turn from it that’s how important and how powerful joy is and joy puts a smile on your face a spring in your walk and gives you something through the day that you need as we will see here Psalms 4:7 you have put gladness in my heart more than the time of the increase of their grain and grape harvest.

▶ 3:52 God’s joy. Makes us more happy than the heathen the unbeliever the ones that don’t have the joy of the Lord in their time of harvest that’s their payday you know these guys that work on construction I here on our property and throughout when I drive around boy at the end of the day they gather around before they go home and they get their 6-pack out and they drink beer and they have a little party all right and then on payday they really party they don’t get it around they go to joe’s bar or someplace or just one of them’s house and they you know just party it up but the Bible says that the joy he’s given us is greater. Then the unbelievers have in the time of their harvest and the best time they have our joy is higher in that powerful very powerful then.

▶ 4:59 It says in Psalms 144:15 happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Is it when you make Jesus Lord of your life and that’s doing good remember he says I’m gonna give joy to people that do good and when you make Jesus Lord not just savior. That is doing good see when he’s just your savior you can do kind of things the way you want but when he’s your Lord he’s your master and you’re serving him you do what he says amen we are to be slaves of Christ slaves of righteousness and served the master so see happy are the people whose God is the Lord when we make him a Lord of our life joy that no man can take away is one of our possessions no matter what condition we get in we are a happy people.

▶ 6:03 Nehemiah 8:10 neither be sorry don’t get cast down see joy is the opposite of depression so many people are so depressed because things don’t go right now that this joy uh-huh. This joy depression may ask for a short period of time like someone dying but the Bible says joy comes in the morning now there it’s a short period joy is a long period hell yeah so. Don’t be sorry don’t be cast down don’t be depressed for the joy the Lord is your strength remember back there in the first slide that. The joy that. God gives us we will not be moved we will not lose our strength we will not slip we’re unmovable.

▶ 6:58 Unmovable. Because of the joy of the Lord so joy is very important not only that but God is joyful about us see. God’s a joyful God too many picture people have a picture of God up there on the throne as a tyrant just ready to shoot down a lightning rod and correct everybody you know oh my God he’s so he’s so worried about the world not fulfilling his word and you know how horrible things are but God is up there laughing he’s up there happy he’s up there joyful just because you chose to make him Lord and serve him. Amen he is a happy God just because of you and that’s what it says here the Lord God in the midst of you is mighty he will save he will rejoice over you with joy he will rest in his love and he will joy over you as seeing it God is happy about you.

▶ 8:07 Amen so why shouldn’t we be happy. To warn him. Alleluia I tell you joy I don’t care I’ve been through some tough things in life but the joy of the Lord was there I did not go into deep depression and so forth and any everybody knows me most of my life some are in here they know that’s true why because this joy that God gives you is supernatural it does not depend on conditions at all. It’s a gift just like salvation and eternal life. Can I see a smile oh. Now. We bring joy to God alright then we’re gonna go to song or Proverbs 17:22 and it says a merry heart doeth good like a medicine no I don’t know about you but I get sick about ever November it’s almost like clockwork some flu or some bug going around and I I first see God and give God a chance to heal and if he doesn’t then good old nyquil or something you pop that in there and man you’re still sick but you feel pretty good.

▶ 9:35 And if you and if you’re so set on your feeling that good and you go to work you find out you’re sicker or more sick I should say my so a merry heart does good like a medicine. Medicine heals you see. Medicine. Changes your condition and God uses this in a sentence about joy if we will use our gift of joy. We can get through thievin though we I was still sick with the flu I could handle it I could I could I could operate I could live you see and with the joy the Lord you may go through some tough things in your family stuff things in your marriage tough things financially but with the joy you can handle it it doesn’t.

▶ 10:41 Keep you down could that be an amen now I have a question up here does joy really work alright is that a good question I know it works because I got it back there 56 years ago alright and it never left me. They used to call me dancing dave okay now they called me an old man. And I still dance the joy the Lord God doesn’t change the church his thinking may change the people’s approach to God may change that God doesn’t change and you don’t have to change with the crowd could that be an amen does it really work okay let’s go to the Bible and Acts 541 in Acts 541 we have the story of the apostles man they were filled with the Holy Ghost had their understanding open to the scriptures they were on fire for God they were out preaching the gospel thousands of people were getting saved and baptized daily I mean things are happening and then they get arrested they get arrested put in jail brought before the council of the Jewish Sanhedrin.

▶ 12:00 And they didn’t like them preaching Jesus they didn’t like people have enjoy they didn’t like people having peace they didn’t like people knowing God. They like their religion they’re the ones that killed Jesus they’re the ones that set it all up they killed John the baptist these civil leaders so here the apostles are before the Sanhedrin of the Jews okay and they told these guys you know you can’t do this and they beat them and when they beat them back there it’s like a cat with nine tails you know what I mean they were beat ain’t no little one too three don’t do that anymore. Yeah when them guys got done they were in pain they were in agony you get the picture remember after Jesus was beaten he didn’t have the strength to carry the cross see that’s how bad it was.

▶ 13:05 So they beat these guys and then they told him now let that be a lesson to you don’t you preach in Jesus anymore don’t you tell people about Jesus anymore you stop this stuff and then they let him go they figured boy that and in American christianity right now that would probably wipe out 90% of the Christian you know they don’t want to suffer for Christ they don’t want any opposition no hindrances at all could that be an amen we are so comfortable in America in europe with our christianity but in around the equator and south of the equator people are coming to Christ by the millions every year and though christianity is declining in America and europe it is not declining throughout the world it’s growing because God is moving south of the equator I’m jealous as you can tell I want him to remember us too but he’s got and we had our chance and we got to learn our lessons and so forth but anyway these guys left and instead of going oh oh oh man I sacrifice for Jesus and I took this beating oh we’re gonna have to go down to the emergency room and and get doctored and we’re gonna have to you know cut back on this preaching stuff no they didn’t

▶ 14:36 do that at all the Bible says when they left the door of that Sanhedrin court they were joyful they were rejoicing wow wow. Why cuz they had joy that no man could take away the beating wouldn’t take it away the jail wouldn’t take it away and the threats wouldn’t take it away they had joy that gave them strength to go right back out and preach the gospel again amen no recovery period it doesn’t record it there they they they just kept going. Are you with me that’s why the Bible says the joy the Lord is your strength that’s why it says they that have the joy the Lord will never be moved. Their steadfast all the time in Acts 8 we have the story of the ethiopian official he was a head man in the ethiopian government the first african saved that is recorded and he came up to Jerusalem to worship God he had heard of God the Jewish God and he came up to the temple to worship God he came up to the people that killed Jesus to worship God.

▶ 15:50 So he gets to the temple and they can’t help him they don’t like Jesus they don’t believe Jesus is the messiah this guy’s looking for the real God and they can’t help him so he’s on his way back home and he’s reading the scripture see that’s redeeming the time you listen to the Bible or when you’re driving or a sermon or so forth that’s what this ethiopian was doing he wasn’t wasting any time. He was redeeming his time and while he was reading out of Isaiah Philip come running up man he must have been some superfast guy he comes running up to that chair and says hey what you reading. What’s happening he gets into the chariot and he talks Jesus to him the man gets saved the man gets baptized and what he left Philip rejoicing joy came that day to this ethiopian he was changed from a man seeking the true God to a man that had found the true God and not only eternal life not only heaven not only salvation but that joy that no man can take oh that joy that gives you strength.

▶ 17:16 Changes your verbal vocabulary how you talk he left Philip rejoicing then the third one is Acts 13:14 Paul Barnabas and his whole team Paul and Barnabas traveled with a team. In ministering throughout the world to the Gentiles and they came to antioch this is another antioch then where they were sent out from is in a different roman state they came to this city of antioch and they preached Christ and the Jews rejected the message and they rejected them and not only did they reject them they persecuted them mistreated them talked bad about him. Did everything they could to make their life miserable and finally they led him to the skirts of the city and say don’t come back.

▶ 18:20 Now most of us when people reject us and don’t want us around in their company anymore we want to find a way to please everybody. Hallelujah but the apostles know they would not stop preaching Christ and if those people didn’t want it they just went to people that did and the Bible says when they left that city they were filled with joy filled with joy and the Holy Ghost. Are you with me church. See they possessed joy they didn’t talk about joy they possessed it they possessed eternal life they possessed salvation they possessed the baptism of the Holy Ghost so it was easy for God to fill them with the Holy Ghost again they’d already been filled with the Holy Ghost more than once before this.

▶ 19:29 And he filled him of the Holy Ghost again he moved upon him and the Holy Spirit how many believe we need another move of the Holy Spirit yeah yeah. The Jews disagreed about Jesus the Jews didn’t want to do good remember they killed Jesus they persecuted those of all of them the Jews didn’t care about the joy they had a job they were getting paid they were wealthy these leaders were wealthy just like some ministers today they don’t need to lean on God they got millions of dollars they got fancy houses and everything else and they didn’t want any of that disrupted. And they didn’t care if this joy was in movable or not or unmovable I should say and this strength that joy brings you and they persecuted the people that were bringing the message and it’s.

▶ 20:37 Not the people bringing the message it’s God who gave the message that you’re accountable to. Do we agree on that and disliking people bringing the message does not change the message and it shouldn’t silence us Christians. Hallelujah that’s why I was down in san diego and I started witnessing to this guy I found out he was catholic and I found out he believed in Jesus and he had enough stuff but you know he was lacking and I said you know because I know things I said you know there’s a group in your church they meet through the week in the back room they’re called charismatic I said you need to go to that group and you need to experience something besides this ritualistic catholic program and he goes you mean the happy people I said yes these people are filled with the Holy Ghost they are happy people yes he says yes I know them I talk to them they’re always happy they’re always smiling he’ll know that they’re never down.

▶ 21:54 Are you hearing me church see he knew the difference he said I’m going to take you about I’m gonna go I’m gonna go to that service because I had to come back home I can’t follow up on him or anything else and yes church as the music comes as the musicians come we should be a happy people because God gives us joy no man can take away no situation and life can rob you of it only you can let go of it are you there you can let go of it just like you can let go of salvation eternal life and anything else but me that joy makes all the difference in the world hallelujah you can go through the pits of life and you can have a smile on your face and not be dragging your head hello there and it’s a free gift.