Chasing Joy

The title of my sermon today is, Chasing Joy. Chasing Joy. Now, we have a joy here, so this isn't a slasher film about chasing joy. She's got her hand up there in case you didn't want to chase her afterwards. It is not a sermon about Annie's love life. It is a message of direction for all of us. I know that some people have no joy in their life, and they are chasing joy all the time. What about us? What does the Bible say?

Should we have joy in our lives? Yes, I think so. I know for a long time I was chasing joy. Not you, joy, but this joy. Chase this one. Oh, but is that really what the Bible is talking about? About this joy? Because you see, gods of people, if I can use that Southern colloquialism, gods of people are lots of people running after joy, hoping to find that joy. But there's something to remember. Joy is a state, a state of mind. And most people, when they're trying to find joy or chasing joy, they first run into, all I want to be is happy.

Haven't you heard people say, all I want to be is happy? I don't want to live your life. I want to be happy. Well, people look for happy. Oh, that's not me, by the way. Like, younger than I am, I can't do that anymore. But I, too, chased happiness. I, too, chased joy. But here's the thing. Happy is a temporary state. Joy is a state of mind because we all can be happy for a little while. If I brought a bunch of candy in here for these young people, they would be happy for a while.

They'd also be jumping off. That's why we don't do that with the sugar highs. But think about what people in this world chase after. That happiness, thinking that happiness will then lead to joy. Does it? No. No, because they are different. Many people think that they'll be really joyful if they had more money. Whenever I go to get gas or stop at these stores or even the public's grocery store, I see these people. They're out there at the lotto, getting this because they're going to get rich, they're going to earn all this money, and they're going to be happy.

All you have to do is study of people who've won it, and you'll find that there's no joy in their life, and that happiness only lasted so long. And we have experienced that, too. There's something when you get a raise at work, if you've got a raise at work, you feel happy. You're like, oh, yeah. But then after a little while, you're going, they only gave me this much.

And I worth more than that in here, which they were raising taxes. Didn't really get anything. And some people think that if I change my looks, if I change this, that's going to make me happy. Or maybe I'll even look like this guy. And then wherever I walk, people are going to, whoa, look at that guy. This girl. And so they will change your look. That's why one of the leading fields in the medical field down in Florida here is plastic surgery.

And they can get you looking like this or this, or they can try, but you can bet it's only going to be temporary. Haven't we all seen the movie stars and the stuff that have all had plastic surgery as they got older? And then you realize, okay, that was a big movie star 20, 25 years ago. And you see them now, I go, who's that person? Because they're chasing what they thought would make them happy. Nobody wants to age gracefully anymore, do they? You do?

Good. But what about those who seek happiness through the house, the big house, and the car? I mean, have you thought about that? Whoa, look at that. Ain't that going to make me happy? Are you going to bring joy in my life?

Well, you might pull up there and go, hmm, nice car. You know, I got a nice car, I got a nice house. Well, wait a minute, I got to pay insurance.

I got to pay taxes. I got to do all this. And all of a sudden, that there is no joy and there's pretty soon no real happiness involved. Some of that. But then, you think, okay, it's not in stuff, it's in location. It's in location. So, we're nice and there's Hawaii. I'll just, that'll bring me joy if I move to Hawaii and I can live by this beach.

Many people have found that to not be true. We got home in Hawaii for a few years, and we saw people who moved there that thought, ah, but it's in itself. You begin to lose that joy that you thought would be brought by even location.

And then, some people think it is by people. Meeting people, having friends, that's where joy is. Or they may even have a bar. You remember there was a TV show, you want to go where everybody knows your name. Cheers. And so, it made it look like this is where you want to go. This is what you want to do. This is what will make you happy or perhaps even bring you joy.

But that's not really true. Most people find that out.

Happiness is a moment before you need more happiness. I love this saying because it's so true. Happiness is a moment before you need more happiness because it is so fleeting. But there is a reason, brethren, that joy is listed as the second of all the fruits of God's Spirit in Galatians 5.22. Right? You have love, joy, peace, goodness. Okay. Love, joy. Is it possible that we or the world has been seeking something that true joy comes from God, comes from His Spirit? And if you have a spirit, you baptize, you have a spirit, are you filled with joy? Well, I think as we look through the fruits of the Spirit, we can kind of say, I need a little more of that. And we all need to examine ourselves and say, am I putting myself in a position? Am I going to the source to have more joy in my life? Do we find joy, or does joy really find us? How we live? How we conduct our lives? Because if you're like me, there's times in my life where I put pressure on myself, I brought things on myself, I brought worry, I didn't have peace in my life because of me.

There are times when I did not have agape because I didn't want it.

And then we have joy.

You have all met, and you will continue to meet people that, no matter what they do, they're not looking for joy. I don't want joy. It's like, I'm miserable and I want to say it that way.

And see, she's definitely not one of them.

Got my own sound effects here. I like that. That's why you guys come up here. Oh, what about? Do we really chase joy? If we do, there's a problem. Is joy a byproduct of something else? That's what this sermon is about today. We have a song in our songbook. It says, there is joy in my heart. What? Christ is coming again. That should give us joy. We know that this is not all there is, that Christ is coming back again. We also know He's going to solve the problems and we don't have to.

There is joy in my heart knowing Christ will come again.

You think there was joy in Christ's life?

Even from the time He was a child, He knew His destiny.

He knew, as perhaps His mother even read, Psalms to Him, what was going to happen to the Messiah. But yet, there's a reason that people flocked to Him, not just because He could heal.

But little children came up there wanting to crawl on His lap. They wanted to see Him. Everybody did. Nobody wanted to see Him.

I don't see everybody flocking to my house. Oh!

Is it joy that we all need to have more of? Because if I were to go around this room today, I just had you write down on a piece of paper. One person you know in this world that has joy, we'd all know someone that just enjoys life, right? Hopefully it's somebody living in your house, but it may not be. But should we all look at that and go, I need more joy in my life. How was the last time you prayed? Because we've all prayed for more patience. We've all prayed for so many of the fruits. But when was the last time we prayed and said, God, I need more joy.

Because joy is the one thing that's easy to share because people can usually see it. They can see it on your face. They can see how you act. They see that you don't stress out with life. I think they saw that with Christ.

So is there joy in your heart? Are you still chasing it? That's a question that I have. But I love this thing. I didn't come up with it. It's anonymous. But it says that you should do something every day to bring joy to other people's lives, even if it's only to leave them alone.

Yes, you can say that to students. So I want to make sure that you understand because I am still understanding it. I'm a work in progress. If you don't believe me, ask a woman in the blue dress up here. But joy is a state and not a place. Joy is a state and not a place. People change jobs because they think that will bring them joy. People change locations. Well, I'll move over here. And I must say, after being in Tennessee and taking a week of my vacation last week and working on an old house and going back to my construction days, when it was 32 degrees in the morning, I thought about location and location. Location. Because I called my wife and it was, well, it got down to 71 last night.

But some people think there will be joy. And hey, we like it. I know Stephen's here. Can attest to that fact. Didn't you come to our service in Murfreesboro one time? I remember. Okay, we're at my office, I think. Oh, okay. Yes, okay, yes, I thought I remembered you being Murfreesboro at one time.

Oh, yes, a plantation company. Yeah, that's my office. Yeah, that's where we were meeting at the time. Okay, and now you found it nice down here, too. You know, location is great. That's why people come to Florida. So we have to walk on the beach, and we love it. Mornings, we try to do it three times a week. In the morning, the sun's coming up. Mary and I go there. And I have to remind myself when I think about this, oh, you got this, this going on, this going on. People come to where we live for their vacation. So there should be more joy here than there is of Noah. Do you find that? No, not necessarily here. So I want to look at some scriptures, because I think it's important for us, too, maybe look at ourselves and say, can I have more joy in my life? Am I going to the right source? Am I doing the things, or am I doing things that's counterproductive with a joy? Because most of us would like to be happy. But all of us need to have joy in our lives, because we want it longer than just a spur of the moment happiness that we have. That's why we would like to face tabernacles many times. Why can't we keep it again? We don't have enough money. Otherwise, do it again. Let's do eight more days. So let's look at something. I'd like you to go with me to the book of Job. Job, he was kind of an expert on attitude. He kind of knew what was going on there. But I'd like to look at a scripture. Let's go to Job 38. I don't know, 38 verse 7. 38 verse 7. When the morning stars sang, morning stars meeting the angels, together and all the sons of God shouted for what? Joy. Joy. But let's look at that picture. Let's go back, if you will. I don't have it on the screen. I just want to keep this one up here. I'm going to go to chapter 38 and verse 1. So then the Lord answered Job by a whirlwind. Who is this who darkens my counsel by words without knowledge? So Job thought he was pretty smart before he came before God. Then he was about to find out. Wasn't that smart? Good. Now, prepare yourself like a man. I will question you and you will answer me. So God was being pretty forthright with him, pretty strong about teaching Job about things. What were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you can't have an understanding. Who determines this measurement? Surely you know.

Or who has stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstones? And then he says, when the morning stars sang together, all the sons of God shouted for joy. There was a time before the fall of man, before the fall of Lucifer, that all the angels were together and they saw this incredible creation that God was doing in the universe and on planet earth where they created it with a word. But everybody was full of joy. All the angels, this all, not most, all. So we know the fall of Lucifer happened after the earth was created from these scriptures. But this was a state that could have existed for billions and billions of years that there was joy. Joy in the heavens. You know, God is looking for that joy to return to the entire universe and he tells us about it in his scriptures. He tells us that someday, someday, there will be joy on earth and then there will be joy in the universe because the earth won't be here anymore, but the kingdom of God will be in its place. And then the whole universe will have joy.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. How do you get that one? As Isaiah told us. So God, because most of us can relate to God because God, look at this end, he knew what it was to have joy in the world, in the whole universe. And if you've had it, and we've all had it at different times, we've had different levels of it, we all made more of it, and we all search for it, but we've had different times. And boy, don't you want it back. Once you've had it, you want it back. And you want to try to arrange your life so that you can have more joy, or joy as a permanent fruit in your life.

In Proverbs 17 verse 22 says, what a merry heart does good like what? Medicine. Like medicine. So, where, because we talked about the song we're singing, there's joy in my heart. So it's just not up here because we can actually have a stimulating day. Have a little joy up here, but when is it here? When is it here? Do we want it here to where we feel it? And when we feel it, people are going to see it. It's going to show. It's going to shine forth like never before. And so a merry heart.

It's like medicine, and we have nurses here that know what it is to give medicine. Now, I don't really get a thrill out of taking medicine, appeals, so forth, but I've had to take it before, and guess what? Sometimes in hours, sometimes in just a day or two, I'm feeling great again!

Well, what about people around you?

Don't we all know people with merry hearts?

That they're just positive people, that they add humor to our lives, that they do certain things that other people want to be around them? Because they make you feel good!

Is that us? If we were to ask our circle, our sphere of influence, as they say, the 250 people, that way, they show up at your wedding, or show up at your funeral, or show up here. If that sphere of influence that we've had, how many of those people we've got? That! George! Now, he brought joy into our lives. How many people would count us as part of that?

Should they? That's a question that we should ask ourselves. As a man thinketh, so he is. So is he. What are we thinking about?

You know, a man one time, raising his children, and they got to be teenagers, and they became very what? No, they didn't come to rebuild. They just became very self-centered and looked at the things they didn't have. Oh, my friend over here, he's got a brand new car! His parents bought him when he was 16. Oh, my friend over here, they get to go do this. They get to do that. And so, yeah, he said, how do I break that pattern? How do I break that state? To where it's all about them and what they don't have instead of what they do have. Because isn't that what gets most of us? When we start thinking about, why don't I have that?

So he took his children, he took his two teenagers down to a homeless shelter and let them feed the homeless. Then he took them to the bad part of the city. And had them clean up the trash that was just piled up.

And he did three or four things like that. And he brought back at the end of the day, it was a long day. And he asked the kids, what did you learn today? And they both said, we've got it good. We have it good.

Have we looked around our lives?

Have we looked and say, we've got it pretty good?

Now we can find joy. Now there's times when things happen and we can't have joy in our life. And he goes, Ecclesiastes 3 said, there's a time for everything. Time to laugh and a time to cry. Time to live and a time to die. That's part of it. But it can't define us. Like you go with me to, back to the book, Ecclesiastes. So said the preacher, chapter 2. Chapter 2 in verse 26. Very profound statement in the Word of God. Ecclesiastes from the New King James Version, verse 26. For God gives wisdom, well I need that, and knowledge, could use some of that, and joy. Joy. So he said, for God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight.

So it kind of makes us realize we may have to examine it. If we want more joy, we want God to give it to us. We may have to examine our lives and do what? Clean up our lives a little bit. There's not a one person in here. They can't clean up their lives a little bit. Because none of us are there at the stature of Christ yet. This mind being you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Oh, got a long way to go. But first, if God has it, if God is the source, then we now know how to get more joy in our life. Didn't we? One verse. But there's other verses in there, too, that tell us. So we don't have to be chasing joy, because we know where it comes from. If you believe Scripture, and that if you believe this, it's a gift. Joy is a gift. We talk about people in our lives being a gift, don't we? Because we see. I'm sure David and Olivia feel like little David. Now it was a gift. Well, joy can also be a gift if we want it. Give me a gift from God. For God gives joy. God gives joy. Now let's look at another verse. Let's go back to Matthew 25. Let's go back to the masters. Masters words in Matthew 25. Matthew 25. Verse 21.

Now this is parable. Parable of the talents, but it goes down to 21, which you all know. And his Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful over a few things. I will make you rear over many things. And then is those magical words. Enter. Where? Into the joy of the Lord. Why would this servant do? Why would? Why does he get this? Because he does what God asked him to do. Because he's used his talents. It's a representative of actual money or wealth, but also the Holy Spirit.

Enter into the joy of the Lord. He wants us there. What's holding you back? What's holding me back? Now it's something we're just going to get up tomorrow morning and go, Oh, there's joy in my heart. I'm just a joyful, joyful person. Get up, Mary. It's joyful. We're going to have a joy, joy, joy, joy, day, day. You should go, go back to Tennessee. Don't need that much joy. But no, it's something that can that we can work on and develop. That God wants to give us. We're seeing what he requires of us for him to give us more. And what's naturally a progression. And so we can start having more than we have now. And why would we want that? Why would we not want that? Haven't we all experienced it? We'd like to have a little more of it. And he's the one that can make sure that we get it. Let's go with me to Luke, Luke 15. More of his words, powerful words. Luke 15 and verse 7. Here is the parable of the lost sheep, the ninety-nine and the one that people are always talking about. You don't go out and find this this lost sheep. It's incredible parable. But then he comes down to verse 7. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine just people who need no repentance. Who needs no repentance? A self-righteous person.

But whose joy is it talking about here? God's. God's joy. When one repents, there's joy up there. It's his joy and that joy radiates to the angels. Just like we should be radiating joy to the people around us. It's hard to do sometimes. Really is. But here it says there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner, over one. It repents. That's what's so great. Tomorrow I have the opportunity to baptize someone that I met many years ago. I'm no longer I was pastor over at church for a year. And I would no longer the pastor, but she's come into the into the church now. And now she wants to be baptized after many years. And so I so look forward to that as I counsel with her. And now tomorrow morning about this time, I will be baptizing her. It just feels great because I know not only do I feel joy because of her life and her gifts and talents that she brings to the body of Christ, but that God's going to be so happy because he's been waiting for this. He's waiting for all humanity to come to that point.

And don't we all like to make our dads happy? I did like to make my dad happy. He's no longer here. But I have. I have a father I can make happy by having a little more joy in my life. How about you? Let's go to another verse as I begin to wrap this up. And John, if you saw Luke, now let's go over to John 15. John 15. John 15 verse 11. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you. See, Christ is talking here. This is the last really night on earth, and he wants his disciples to have this joy. And he wants us his joy because, you see, they saw it. They saw this incredible joy from this man that they had been with for three and a half years. And so no matter what, every day he had religious leaders, he had people picking on him, picking him apart, talking negative, just condemning him in every way, shape, and form. Every single day he got up, it was like that. And yet what did they have? They saw joy. They saw joy. And he wanted them to have that joy in their life because guess what? They were going to have to carry on. They were going to have to carry on this work and do it longer than three and a half years. And so these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.

Where's yours? Where's yours? Is it here? Or is it here?

We should all ask ourselves that question because Christ wanted it, because it's not just written to His disciples, it's written to us. Joy? Where's our level? We all watch our gas tanks every week. Right? How about our joy tank? Have we looked in our joy tank and got, well, I'm running. Come running on empty. Or if you don't, maybe your wife or your friends or your kids can tell you, you're running on empty? Not much joy. But Christ desired that it may be full. And brethren, that's what He wants from us. And if you look at this, it's sandwiched in between verse 10 and verse 12. It talks about what? Commandments. Keep my commandments. It's part of the joy. So you're not carrying stuff over. Well, boy, I wish I hadn't done that. I wish I hadn't said this. I wish I'd have gotten more prayer time. I wish I'd have done this. I wish I'd have done that. Keep the commandments and you can have more joy. And He said, this is my commandment that you agape one another as I have agape you. Set in the example.

I want to go to the last scripture. Last scripture that some people have been asked about it many times, talked about it. And people have a hard time with this one. And it's from the half-brother of Jesus Christ, James. James 1 and verse 2, as He's telling the church, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Oh! Happy, happy, happy. I got all these trials in my life. I'm just so happy. My car broke down. I had a flat tire.

Is this what it means? He says, brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. The Greek there are various trials. It means multi-colored. It doesn't mean, it's of various colors, it doesn't mean the same trial. Well, you know, I ran over my dog again. I have to get a new dog. No, it's saying, carry on joy when you are a trial and then you overcome that trial. Not the same one that you keep going. Whoops, sorry, dog. Hit you again. No, it's like, can I go joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. What is patience? Didn't it show up in Galatians 5? 22, depending on what translation, whether it's long suffering or patience, same thing. That we can have a, we're supposed to enjoy, go, got it! I got this. Because I saw this coming before and I handled it. And now I can have joy because I can handle that trial. Apostasy comes into the church. We've seen it before. You ready for it again? But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. That's how important this is.

Testing of our faith is really good. And we should have some joy in that. God just doesn't let us slide right into the kingdom.

This is J.W. Marriott says, the stronger the breeze, the stronger the trees. It's making us stronger when we have these tests. And for us, God is looking for us to have test smile.

Another test, smile. Because it's not going to get us down. Because He's with us and it's His joy. And He says, you have this, go ahead, I'll give you more joy. Show that you can handle it. God gives it. If you have to chase it, you're not going to get it. We should understand that as no one else. Because we must understand that joy is the state we all need to live in. Can we? Joy is the state, not just Florida. And we're all glad that you're here. So if you're watching online and you're up in the north, sorry folks, it's 77 degrees today here. And it's a great state to be in right now. But the greater state to be in is a state of joy.