Seven Sources of Biblical Joy

So nice to be with you again. The privilege that I have of sharing experiences, being able to travel, and learn so much that I can share with you.

And I'm sure the great majority here know how many of the fruits of God's Spirit are mentioned in Galatians chapter 5. How many are there?

Nine. There are nine fruits of God's Spirit mentioned there.

And to me, they not only show because fruits, of course, are very delicious, a different variety. And when it says the fruit of God's Spirit, it's actually mentioning it like fruits, but it's just that sometimes the English and even the Spanish, you can use the singular even if it's kind of like a family group. But it's talking about different fruits of God's Spirit. And to me, I also picture it as a beautiful crown with nine beautiful jewels, splendid jewels. Each one are the fruits, the product of God's Spirit in a person. And I want to speak to you about one of the favorite fruits, one of these jewels that always gets my attention. It certainly is one of my great goals in life, to have God's Spirit develop that in me. I think it's one of the vital. They're all very important. But to me, this has a special place in my heart for it. And it is the fruit of joy. Joy is the second fruit mentioned there in Galatians 5 about God's Spirit. And to me, it's so important to have what the Bible says is the biblical joy, something that God's Spirit produces in a person. Now, it is one of my motivating principles in life. I certainly fall short, but it is one of my goals to develop joy. And I will share with you that one of my goals this year when I went to the youth camp in High, Camp High Sierra, was to bring as much joy to the campers and to the people as I could. Maybe I can't contribute anything else, but if I contributed for the kids to feel that joy, to enjoy and delight in that spirit, that was something I wanted to do. Young people are very optimistic. They're innocent. They're growing up. And just to have that joy that you can provide, it means so much to them. Not all of them have homes where joy radiates. So at camp, that is so vital.

It's so important to have joy as one of the chief ingredients for a good quality of life and spiritual development. Joy is essential, as we will see today.

Now in the Bible, it tells us in Proverbs chapter 15, verse 13 and 15. I'll read it to you in the Message Bible. It's a little more colorful. It says it this way, Proverbs 15, 13 and 15.

A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face. A sad heart makes it hard to get through the day. A miserable heart means a miserable life. A cheerful heart fills the day with song. So it's the perspective, the way a person views things that really make such a big difference. And what can be devastating for one person can just be a blip on the screen. That's just this little speed bump to get over. Joy being the second of God's Spirit. It's no coincidence that it follows after love because they are connected. Now, I'm not speaking of joy as something that is a natural born disposition that a person has. There are people that have a very sunny outlook on life. No, I'm talking about the biblical joy, something much deeper because people that have sunny dispositions can also have very bad tempers and sometimes they can be so optimistic that they get taken for a ride. They're easily duped. So not always is that positive. But I'm not talking about the joy as the world has it. I'm talking here about the joy as God produces it through His Holy Spirit, which is something much deeper, much more grounded in the relationship that a person has with God.

So to some people, joy doesn't come very naturally. Maybe they were born in a home where everything was pretty negative or pessimistic and they got to see things that way. As a matter of fact, there's one man in the Bible who confessed that before conversion, he was a pretty nasty person. He wasn't very pleasant. And that was the Apostle Paul. Notice what he says in 1 Timothy 1, verse 12. 1 Timothy 1, verse 12.

It says, And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. So he attributes the joy that he developed through that relationship, through the conversion process. He was no longer this piece of wood floating in the ocean of life and being taken back and forth according to the circumstances. Now he was well anchored by God. He was transformed by the conversion and God's Spirit and learned what was true and lasting joy. So I'd like to focus today on seven sources of biblical joy because joy is a result of something. The source is what produces that joy. Would you like to know what are those seven sources for biblical joy? It just does not mean happiness. The world has this. You know, somebody won something like 700 million dollars in the lottery this year, this week. Well, that sure is a time of rejoicing, but many times as they've done surveys of these people that have won those jackpots, many of them it eventually turned out to be a curse because people took advantage of them. You had to be careful where you slept. People would like to kill you. All kinds of things. Of course, you've got to please all your relatives, and so you don't have a private life. And then the government's going to take a big part of that, and lawyers too. Sorry, Joel, but that's part of the situation here.

So, biblical joy doesn't come from money. It doesn't come from your sunny disposition or not. It comes from the relationship with God. That's how the Apostle Paul was transformed into a joyful man. Boy, if he came today, if we could bring him back and just have him for a while, I'll tell you, he would just be radiant with joy. And of course, he was such a deep thinker as well. So he had depth and also he had length, and so it would be fascinating to one day, hopefully in the kingdom, we will listen to him. So let's first of all go into the definition. What does joy mean in the Bible? It comes from a Greek word, c-h-a-r-a, which actually is pronounced cara. That's where you get the word for charismatic. Where you get many of these, because it's related to the word carous, but this is cara. It means gladness, delight, and joy.

The verb is carous, which is the word rejoice. So that's where the word joy comes from, but it's in a verb form. So you can have joy, but you rejoice. It's the act of having joy, which means rejoicing. And so we are ready now to launch into the first source of this biblical joy.

Biblical joy results, first of all, from God's love. That's why joy follows it. It is not a coincidence.

Notice in John chapter 15, Jesus Christ mentions about this joy to His disciples. John chapter 15, during the Passover sermon that He gave before He was going to be arrested on the Passover. John chapter 15 in verse 9. It says, As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.

Now, why do you think He made that differentiation between the Father's commandments and His commandments? Why do you think that is? There's a very simple explanation, and that is that Jesus Christ now is the mediator between God the Father and man.

So now it's not just God the Father giving the commands, but it is through Jesus Christ. And He amplified and magnified God's law, not only with His teachings, but with His example. Now we have not only the theory, but the practice, how it was put into action. That's why it is through Jesus Christ that we can understand the love of the Father. And so God the Father is not sending us commandments directly to us.

It is through His Son, who is the head of the Church. It is His Son. He has placed that authority. He has placed that responsibility. God the Father is overall, but He has placed His Son to carry it out so that we have a relationship not only with God the Father, but with God the Son. So this is what it means. And He gives an example of how His commandments amplify God the Father's. How the Ten Commandments are magnified by what Jesus Christ said. He says in verse 11, These things I have spoken you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. See, this isn't something that you get by winning a lottery ticket or having a good time someplace. No, it's through the relationship. With God the Father and Jesus Christ, that we are delighted. We are pleased. It's this joy of what they have done for us and continue to do up to this day.

He goes on to say, verse 12, This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. It's the same love that God the Father has, but now Jesus Christ manifested it. He gave the example, and through that experience, we can see exactly what God's love is all about. Because after all, one thing is to talk about love, the other is to sacrifice yourself, to show that love. So that's the way God the Father and God the Son have shown that love. And because of that, that's the first reason that we can experience the biblical joy. It's not based on something physical here on this earth. It's based on something spiritual. What Christ's sacrifice means to all of us, that manifestation of God's love. If He can do that, He can do everything else for us. Notice in 1 John chapter 3.

1 John chapter 3, we see again what God's love does and how it transforms the person that has experienced it. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1, it says, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Now Jesus Christ came teaching God's way of life based on God's laws and commandments. He never violated them. He always applied them in the proper letter and in the Spirit. So He was the outstanding example of how to keep God's laws. And so the world doesn't do that. Oh, they can talk about Jesus, but do they obey what Jesus says about keeping my Father's commandments? As I have taught you, He is saying. He goes on to say, verse 2, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, which was what Bill Wozner brought up in the sermonette, that we still have a stage left to be born into that family of God. But right now we're going through the stage of developing, in that sense, in the church, in the mother's womb. We're being perfected. So one day we will be born into the family of God. And then it goes on to say, but we know that when He is revealed, when Christ comes back, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. When does that birth, spiritual birth, take place? When He returns, when He is revealed, not before that. Let me just go real quickly to another scripture here that Matthew 19. I didn't have this in my notes, but this is an important point that he mentions here in Matthew 19 in verse 28. He says, so Jesus said to them, Assurely I say to you that in the regeneration, which means rebirth, the time of rebirth, that's what you're being generated again from physical to spiritual, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on the twelve tribes judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And so he's saying there, that's when it takes place, the regeneration from physical to spiritual.

So we understand how to have joy by understanding God's love, what He has done for every one of us. This is also illustrated in the Gospels in the parable of the debtor. Remember the one who just owed a little bit, and then the other one who owed an enormous amount? And it's comparing how much God has forgiven us in comparison with what we have done to forgive others. It's a tiny proportion in comparison to what God does for us. And also, that's in the parable of the debtor in Matthew 18, and in the parable of the sinful woman in Luke 7, where she really was very appreciative when she received forgiveness. Whereas the Pharisees, they didn't think they needed forgiveness. They thought they were doing it so well, so they didn't know the depth of God's love because they were self-righteous. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 3 verse 14 to see how God's love exceeds all expectation and imagination. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 14.

Ephesians 3 verse 14, it says, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love—see, that's what you need first—may be able to comprehend or understand with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. So again, it takes a whole lifetime. We will never plumb the depths of God's love for us. But once we know that and we've committed ourselves, we have joy in our hearts, as it says there in one of the hymns.

Let's go to the second source of this biblical joy. Now, the first one is understanding God's love. The second one is understanding God's truths. That brings biblical joy.

Now, David knew very well this principle. He wrote it down in so many of the Psalms, the joy that he had from knowing God's way of life and his truths. Notice in Psalms 119, Psalms 119.

In verse 14, we're going to read verses 14 through 18.

He says, I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, talking about God's laws.

As much as in all the riches, I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. So, David examined God's laws, and of course, God's laws are broken down into commandments, statutes, precepts, judgments. Those are the finer points of the law, and how you can meditate on each one of those that were given by God. They weren't given by Moses.

Moses was just a secretary. He took down what God dictated to him. And then in verse 97, it says, Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. You, through your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies.

For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers. For your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients. That's where true wisdom comes from, having a biblical foundation. That's why we have as our motto, and ABC has a stone, which of course was taken from the old slogan that we had at Ambassador College.

It is, the Word of God is the foundation for all truth. Now, it doesn't say it's all truth because we have all kinds of things that you discover in physical world, but it is the true foundation for the truth. And that's what it says here. And so that's where David delighted so much. Do we delight in God's truths? When we receive the literature we have, we have virtually a weekly diet of spiritual food.

We have newsletters that come in. We have new booklets that are printed off. We just had the booklet about angels just come out of the press a couple months ago. Then we have all the Beyond Today broadcasts. We have the Beyond Today magazine. We have so much to feed us spiritually that most of the people back in biblical days, they didn't have that. We can say we're saturated with it. And yet, there are a lot of people that have lost that hunger and thirst for righteousness. I hope we never lose that love of the truth, that studying it, analyzing it, because that's where joy comes from.

I rejoice every time I learn something new in the Bible. And you know what? I jot it down. I've got so far—I've had 16 this year—of things that just insights into God's Word. And that's what keeps me motivated so much, because I constantly am learning things. And sometimes it comes from people that present something to me that I learn from.

But we have to have that hunger and thirst for righteousness. Notice in Luke chapter 10, Jesus Christ told us to rejoice for our calling, for these wonderful truths, that people out there in the world have no idea these truths exist. And yet, they're worth more than all the riches in the world. In Luke chapter 10 and verse 7—let me see, no, it's actually verse 17. Luke chapter 10 verse 17 says, then the 70 returned with joy. See, there was something there. They were teaching God's truths, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

And then he says in verse 20, Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. You've been called by God to be converted, to receive a spirit, to have your names inscribed in the book of life. You're part of that first resurrection, the first ones that wake up from the dead and meet Moses, Abraham, David, the apostles, all the faithful, from righteous, able, all the way to the last person that received God's spirit before Christ comes back. And so he says, rejoice, which again, the word means have joy in your heart. Goes on to say, in that hour Jesus rejoiced in the spirit.

He was also filled with joy and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. What the world considers people that are not very educated. How many PhDs do we have here? How many people have fame and fortune?

Not too much, right? He hasn't called those. Wouldn't it be great to call a Bill Gates and a Warren Buffett and some of these? With those tithes, we wouldn't even ask people to tithe anymore. Just with their tithes, we could do everything. But you see, God is not calling the wise and powerful of the world. He's calling basically people that are average, ordinary folk. But he is giving them an opportunity to be rulers, to be under Christ in the kingdom. Nobody deserves that. Nobody's going to say, oh, I was so great on the earth. Of course God had to call me. No, he doesn't want anybody to boast before his presence. And so it says here, even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight. And God loves challenges.

If he chose a very wise, very brilliant person, it'd be easy then to say, well, let me give you my truths. And boy, they can figure that out and have it all memorized. But the problem is they're probably going to get haughty. They're going to get vain. They're going to think God called them because they were so smart. And so he says, no, I like challenges. See this person? Nobody in the world thinks much of them. I'm going to call them and I'm going to produce a son and daughter of God in my family. And they're going to be under Jesus Christ. God loves challenges. He chose 12 apostles. And where were they from? Most of them were fishermen.

Some of them, one was a publican. It's kind of like a tax collector. And nowadays, you don't like tax collectors, right? Well, how would you like it if it was maybe some other nation that was, you know, you had to pay taxes to them for their country to grow and to build, you know, the Roman Forum and all of these great temples. Why? Because you're paying for them. At least here, the money stays basically in the country. But in those days, they were collecting for the Roman government. And Christ chose one of them. And he didn't do a bad job at all. Wrote the gospel of Matthew.

And so God loves challenges. He loves this little mustard seed that doesn't look like much. He says, I'm going to make this the greatest of trees one day. Because they know it wasn't through their abilities. It's through my spirit that that was carried out.

He goes on to say, I've got to hurry here. Verse 22, it says, all things have been delivered to me by my father. Not a few things. All. They've been delegated to me. And no one knows who the son is except the father and who the father is except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. That's how we understand God the father's role and what Jesus Christ is doing and how they're not this one being, as the great majority of Christianity teaches, but that they are two divine beings, but in a Godhead. They're not separate as two separate God beings that have no relationship between the others. No, they share a common spirit. And so it is a family now that they belong to. Not in the past, before it was God and the Word. But then you had the father when Jesus Christ came down to the earth and he became the son. And now he's going to have many more children.

So in 2 Thessalonians, let's go there. Chapter 2, verse 9. I'm using a bit of scriptures, but probably most people don't have time for a good Bible study during the week, so we might as well do it now. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 9. It says about the end time false prophet. It says, The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them. He'll allow this to happen, a strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned, who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So again, to have true joy, you have to love the truth. It's not something just of the intellect. It has to be of the heart.

It has to be practical, something you put into practice. Let's go to the third source of biblical joy, and that is, biblical joy results from the vision of God's coming kingdom.

Yes, we not only have this joy now, but we have a joy looking forward when things are going to be straightened out in the world where people are not going to be suffering, people that now have lost homes, some have lost lives, because we live in a fallen world. God has not healed this world of hurricanes and earthquakes and many other things. And so joy comes from looking in the future, the vision of that kingdom of God. Don't you become encouraged when you pray and you get to that part where it says, thy kingdom come. And you know that no matter the corruption and the dangers that are out there, you know there's going to be a better day coming. Things are going to be solved definitely in the future. Notice in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10.

It says here about God the Father, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation, talking about Jesus Christ, perfect through suffering. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, of one family, is what it's saying here. Notice for this, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Christ is not ashamed to call them. These are my brothers. These are the ones that are going to live with me for an eternity. He's not ashamed to say that although we are nothing, right? But with God we are something. Notice in Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 through 3. It says, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, all of these men and women of the faith of the preceding chapter 11, he says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. Everybody has a weakness, has a sin that is easy to trap a person, a weakness that they have to overcome. I have yet to know one human being that doesn't have a special weakness, that it's just easy for them to fall. Every human being I've ever met, including myself, we have weaknesses that we have to overcome. Going on, it says, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. It's a marathon. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. What was that joy? Bringing many children to glory. That was the joy. He had the vision. Even while he was being crucified, he had the vision. I need to go through this, but it's to bring many children into glory one day, into my kingdom. I have to pay for their sins, or none of this is going to work out. He had the vision, and that's produced this biblical joy. He said, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So the vision, we need to have that. A vision today of that joy that we should be producing because God loves us, because we have God's truths, and because we have a vision of that coming kingdom, which is as sure as God's word. Notice in Romans 15, last scripture here, Romans chapter 15. How is God called here? Well, he's a God of vision. He gives us the vision. Romans 15 verse 13, it says, Now may the God of hope, hope is something that you look forward to in the future of attaining. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So hope is the vision. Yes, things are not good. Maybe in a person's life it's not very good, but we have that vision. It's going to get better in the future. Hang in there. Overcome. Don't give up. Don't give up on God's love. Don't give up in God's truths, and don't give up in God's vision. That's what hope produces in one.

Okay, let's go to the fourth source of biblical joy. Biblical joy comes from contentment.

To be grateful for what we have and not worrying about what we don't have. People can be miserable, just thinking, oh, if I had this, I'd be happy. Oh, if I could only have this, then I can really have joy. No, it has to come in our present state. We have to find joy in the present situation. Notice in Philippians chapter 4 verse 10. Philippians chapter 4 verse 10.

Paul's talking about the virtue of contentment. He says verse 10, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care for me has flourished again. Though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. He wasn't doubting that they really wanted to support him financially, but now they were finally able to carry it out. He says in verse 11, Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. Boy, that is tough. When the good times roll around, it's pretty easy to be. But how about the hard times, difficult times, to be content? I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so if we're discontent, if we just are not satisfied, if we're frustrated with what we have, well, it's very hard to produce that biblical joy. Okay. There's always someone worse than us. Helen Keller, who had a disease when she was very young girl, just an infant, and had an infection. She lost her eyesight. She lost her hearing and basically couldn't communicate. And yet with those impediments, those handicaps, she got to address the United Nations, became a very wise person. And she said, I cried because I didn't have shoes until I met a man who had no feet. Now she referred. She thought, oh, here I am. I'm blind. I'm deaf. You know, what hope? And then she met somebody that had brain impediment. They couldn't even think. And at least she could think. She had a very good brain. She was a very smart lady, so she had to figure out how to learn. And by Braille, she read thousands of books, and she became a teacher. So we can always see someone that is worse than our situation. Life is full of blessings. Sometimes we are just too blind to see them. Helen Keller couldn't see physically, but she was able to see mentally, and she had hope.

So we can all learn to be content, learn to be satisfied with what we have. Sure, aspire, have goals to improve your lot in life. But while you're there, we have to learn to be satisfied, not to be envying or to be lusting after something like with that, then I can be happy. Now we have to be happy with what we have now. That takes us to the fifth source of biblical joy, which results from the lessons and trials and tests which bring them out. So the Bible says that although testing and trials are not easy, God permits them to test us, to perfect us, to purify us. Notice in James chapter 1, James chapter 1 and verse 2.

He says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or better translated endurance or perseverance. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So of course, we're going to be tested. We're developing spiritual character, and that character is just like a muscle that has to be exercised. We've got to be tested so that we get stronger. Just like a muscle can get stronger and harder by being exercised. So our character is going to get stronger when we go through trials, if we learn to do it God's way, how to overcome things through His instructions. In 1 Peter chapter 1, notice here how similar what Peter said from what James said. See, they had common experiences. They had the same Holy Spirit, and so they could talk about trials in the same way. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6.

It says, In this you greatly rejoice, there's the word for the verb for joy, though now for little time, while if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The genuineness of your faith. He's talking about spiritual character being created, that it will be something pleasing to God. Life is not just a nice little picnic across time. It's supposed to be a testing ground, a perfecting, forging our character to make it stronger, make it more robust and a better instrument for God to use. So we can't be parasites in this society and just live off of what they can give us. No, we're here. We're just like trained spiritual athletes. We've got trials and we're going to go through testing, just like a good athlete does, until he can accomplish a lot more. Danny Luker, who was a pastor here, beloved pastor, he one time mentioned in front of us that some of the toughest tests they went through, which were very difficult, but he said, now looking back, those were the times when we spiritually grew the most. When you are tested that way, if you're able to withstand the temptations, if you're overcoming them, stick with the faith, he says that's when they grew the most. Has that been your experience?

Certainly. That's what I have learned as well. Let's go to the sixth biblical joy, which is produced by spiritual and physical achievements.

Physical joy is produced by spiritual and physical achievements. These can be great or small, but a sense of accomplishment in life is so important that somehow, at least you're doing something that is improving someone else's life, that it's improving your own life. You're doing something profitable. Notice in Colossians chapter 3 verse 23. Colossians chapter 3 verse 23. It says, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. Do it with all your heart, whatever you do. You're going to play tennis. Get out there. Do it with your heart and your job. Do it with your heart and your home. Be the best to take care of your kids or your house, whatever you do. Do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. That he says, you know, I see that you really put a lot of effort into this. You achieved something here. You didn't just sit back and let life move, just like a little piece of wood going down the stream that doesn't take much effort. No, you really pushed yourself, dedicated yourself.

Verse continuing on, it says, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. So it talks about here, keep yourself active, keep yourself busy, using your talents, serving others, learning new things.

Never forget a little story I read many years ago about this little widow.

And she was already in her 90s, and she was thinking, well, I don't know why I should want to live anymore. And she ran out of matches, and there was a little boy close to her, and he said, well, you know, I don't know what to do. I don't have any matches. I can't light. And he took out her little magnifying glass, got a piece of paper, got the sun, and lit it up and gave it to her. And she said, you know what? I think I'm going to live another year. I learned something new today.

If you're always learning something new, it gives life meaning.

So let's go to the last one. Biblical joy results from appreciation, appreciating God and others to be thankful. Have you ever seen anybody that's dour and sad and frustrated and testy who actually is being thankful at that moment? No, you say, oh, thanks. That helped. You're in a restaurant. Somebody serves you well. Thanks. See, thankfulness goes with a smile, with a positive attitude. Notice in Colossians right here, chapter three, verse 15, Paul says, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Don't take things for granted.

Verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Yes, that's the type of conversation we'd like to be known for. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father through him. So count our blessings. See how much we have thankful to be thankful to God about. Two things that are very important. Be thankful for the creation, all that He has created. Remember how David used to talk about the handiwork of God's creation? I'm so thankful. We have a little hummingbird that comes in right there next to our kitchen every day. And I just marvel. That little creature just weighs a few grams, but it is outfitted with the most beautiful coat with red iridescence, which isn't even a pigment. It's not painted on the bird. It's actually just like quartz tiles, like on a roof that are completely bent so that they refract from the light and have that beautiful red glow to it. I give thanks to God. Everything we see we should see that God is the author of it. And it's not only nature, but it's also Scripture, God's Word. What a great source of being thankful to God about. And so we need to be helpers of joy for others. That's what Paul did in his congregation. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 has to be one of my favorite scriptures. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 24 says, not that we have dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand. See, I'm here for you to have joy, to help you develop that joy in your life. I know sometimes we don't do the best job, but my intent is to produce the joy that God gives me and share it with all of you, because you are the crown of our joy. The crown of our joy is for you to be before God one day and God to say, well done, faithful servant, come in to the joy of the Lord. So that's what we're doing here in church. I thought it was very moving. We had a during the time we were there in Cincinnati, some person that had gone through a very terrible trial, and she said that the congregations just got together, and when she came, everybody just had five words. They said to her, I'm sorry, and I love you. And she said that was just like God the Father and Jesus Christ giving her a big hug. And she said, and we are here to help everyone make it into the kingdom and into that wedding feast, that the bride of Christ, we are all part of it. We have to help each other and not hinder each other to be part of that bride of Christ, to be part of that wedding feast. Won't that be fantastic? You know, how many will make it from the congregation? Won't be that time of total joy. I hope everyone will make it into that wedding feast. That's part of being a helper of your joy. So let's finish in Jude 24.

Jude verse 24 just has one chapter. Jude 24, it says, Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you fartless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Talk about Jesus Christ. He's going to have exceeding joy to present us before God the Father. To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. So now you know the seven sources of biblical joy.

Let's apply them all for our benefit.