Posted on Thu, Mar 12, 2009
Fulness of Joy and Rivers of Pleasure (Part 1)
Speaker - Elder Ayodeji Adesina (Lay Pastor, BHSDAC, London)(summarised by Sis. Ayobola Akwarandu)
Key Text: PSALM 16:11 – “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever”
Child of God, did you wake up happy like the psalmist declaring how happy you are that it’s another Sabbath: a Day of rest and gladness? Or did you feel like ‘oh no! its another Sabbath day’, grumbling about having to go church? Many miss the presence of JOY in their lives and many are not experiencing the ‘extras’ that God has promised us. In Gal. 4: 15, Paul asked ‘what happened to your joy?’ Many would insist they have joy but that it’s an inner joy, but you need to know that joy is not real if it doesn’t radiate on the outside.
Many don’t have this joy because of the troubles of life… bills, demands from family, work, and unemployment etc. However, you can still be joyful no matter what you are going through. Think about it, did you go to Church in a car or a taxi/bus? Do you know it could have been walking all the way, or worse still, it could have been on a wheel chair with paralysed legs. What if you were not even alive? We allow many things to worry us and steal our joy despite the fact that the same worrying issue may not have been there five years ago. You may not have been married then or have a house of your own, or a car, but today even with these blessings, you wake up each day and go to bed worn out without joy, from the stress of life.
Do you know the word ‘Joy’ is mentioned in the bible more than 650 times? God is telling us we can be joyful in spite of our situations. Psalm 5: 11 says, ‘shout’ for joy. In Psalm 43: 44, the Psalmist calls God his ‘exceeding Joy’, and even Joy is mentioned about five times in the book of Job which is filled with stories of extreme trials.
Many Christians have forgotten how to laugh but have cultivated a fake, cheeky smile that disappears no sooner than its starts. Laughter does the soul a lot of good, the Bible says it’s like medicine. Statistics have even shown that when you laugh at work, your productivity increases.
Look at the mention of joy in these passages Isaiah 9: 3 – ‘increased joy’… Isaiah 12: 3 – ‘joy – wells of salvation’. Some Christians deliberately go about with long faces just to show how much they have been crucified in Christ, but Matthew 25: 21 talks about sharing our Master’s joy as our reward for faithfulness. In Luke 2: 10, the birth of Jesus is heralded as ‘glad tidings of great joy’, In Acts 13: 52, Romans 14: 17 and Gal 5: 22, joy is also linked with the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian.
You cannot fake the joy of the Holy Spirit. Many try to fake it but give themselves away when obviously irritated at the slightest provocation at home, school, work or Church. God wants you to be joyful. Joy is not the deep down feeling that stays in the inside of you, the original words used in the Bible to describe joy give implies leaping and dancing. Some may say but leaping and dancing is not dignifying, well, this is God’s idea of Joy. It shows!
Some also have the idea that pleasure is sin but God is not a ‘spoil sport’. Some think they can’t do anything fun but Jesus is not talking about counterfeit pleasure of sin, He is talking about real joy and the pleasure of God. So don’t put up an attitude of piety, thinking it’s the same as holiness. Yes, the Bible talks about times of sorrow and sadness but here is the Bible’s position on sorrow – “Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning”! God does not want us to be sad all our lives.
You need to also realise that joy is different from happiness. Happiness is based on present circumstances e.g. ‘I just got a new job and I’m happy’ but when you lose the job, happiness turns to sadness. However, joy comes from the Spirit of God and does not depend on our circumstances. No matter what happens on the outside, joy from the inside keeps radiating to the outside. How do we get this joy and remain joyful? (Psalms 16: 11)
1. Pick the pathway of life. John 10: 10 - the enemy of our souls is out to steal the joy in every aspect of our lives but we must pick the pathway of life. Deut 30: 15 – 19 says God has set before us life and death. To choose life is to live a life of obedience to the Word of God. God gives us a blueprint/manual for life. We must live in accordance to the will of God. The devil tries to steal our joy by inducing us to sin. David lost his joy in Psalm 32: 5 because of unconfessed sins. As we struggle with sin, we must make our way back to God. The devil also steals our joy through unresolved conflicts. Hebrews 12: 14 - 15. When we choose to hold on to our hurts and grudges, we drive joy far away.
2. Pursuing the presence of God – fullness of joy is only found in the presence of the Lord. Psalm 22: 3. The way to God’s presence is by praise and worship. As we worship God, we walk into His presence. Many are weak and defeated because they are not in God’s presence and are therefore not experiencing fullness of joy. Nehemiah 8: 10 says we must seek to be in God’s presence always. God has promised us His presence and there are few things you need to internalise about His presence:
a. God’s presence brings peace (Isaiah 40: 41)
b. God’s presence brings prosperity - God blessed Potiphar’s household because of Joseph even in the land of bondage
c. God’s presence brings promotion – God said His eyes will be on Joshua.
d. God’s presence brings power (Isaiah 8: 9 - 10) it doesn’t matter how many enemies/problems.
e. God’s presence brings protection. God says He will not leave you but you must stay in His presence. 2 Tim 4: 17
f. God’s presence brings restoration. Imagine if God removes His protection!
God’s presence is also assured by past fulfilment. Exodus 3: 12, Joshua 1: 15. Ellen White says it’s only when we forget what God has done in the past that we will fear for the future. Begin to experience the fullness of God’s joy, this is your heritage as a child of God.
Shalom!
Watch out for the second part of this sermon – Rivers of pleasure. God desires that we have fullness of joy and rivers of pleasure.
(If you will like to obtain a DVD of the full message, please call ++447748 807550 or ++447853 121918, or email bhsdacpastors@aol.com. Within UK, the price is £3 but if you enquire, we may even be able to send you a free copy)
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