That My Joy Remain
(John 15:11 KJV) These
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your
joy might be full.
But that the sides can be flattened out
And the top blown off
To make a dance floor on which
To celebrate life.
I have had the
most wonderful week. I have to be completely honest with you all. For the past
year or so, I have been in a spiritual spiral downward. Oh, do not get me wrong,
I kept my faith in God and never lost sight of Christ but it was not like the
revival spirit that I had back in the late 90’s. I remember the fire of God
burning within my bones. I knew that God had a wonderful plan for my life and
anything was possible through Him. I mean I was on fire. Have you ever been on
fire for God? There is nothing like it. You know something? I thought it was
never going to end. And it didn’t have to. The sad truth is it took me this long
to realize that I had lost that fire. It is kind of like the old story of how to
boil a frog. If you place a frog in boiling hot water it will quickly jump out.
But if you put the frog in nice warm water and slowly turn up the temperature he
will stay right in the pot until he is boiled up. Have you checked your
spiritual thermometer lately?
So the thing that
really made this week so great for me was my ability to get in touch with that
on fire Pastor that I was back in 96, 97 and early 98. And I owe a debt of
gratitude to my wife. You see she saved all these old sermons of mine on tape.
Finally she told me that I should take them to work with me and listen to them
while I am driving and see for myself the difference. And what a difference. I
preached to myself from a time past all week long. I listened to messages on
repentance, revival, prayer, evangelism, evangelism and more evangelism. I
really had a heart for the lost back then. At first it saddened me because of
how much younger I sounded and how full of life I was. It was as if I was
listening to a man that had died. But it did not take long of hearing some of
the real bad jokes that I told until I realized that that man was still within
me screaming to get out.
One great
truth that I will let you in on right now is that “Faith comes by hearing the
word of God.” Now listen to what that just said. It did not say that faith comes
by what you heard, it comes from what you are hearing right now, every now
throughout your day and into the night. Satan had been robing my joy by slowly
boiling me in the world of his words, not God’s word. I am talking about all the
time I was spending in front of the television. All the time I was spending
listening to secular radio while I drove my work van. All the time I did not
spend in the word of God. You see when I was in Bible college I had to spend
hours every night in the word. Then I graduated and slowly began to let the time
I spent with God slip.
But guess
what? I’MMMMM BAAAACKKKK!!!!!!!! God is so good. I mean REALLY, REALLY, GOOD.
Today I want to give you a quick little formula that I hope will help you take
back what the enemy has stolen from you. And for those of you that may not have
ever experienced the revival fires of God, strap on your seat belts because God
is about to rock your world.
The scripture
verse above is key to our being full of the joy of the Lord. But maybe first you
need to get a glimpse of the depth of His joy. You may have heard the
expression “joy unspeakable,” but let’s take a quick look at where that verse is
found in the Bible and then we will get back to the formula.
(1 Pet 1:6 -
10 KJV) Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end
of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should
come unto you:
I need to give
you a clear picture of what this passage of scripture is telling us today. At
first glance it might seem to say that even in the midst of the toughest times
we need not have a heavy heart, but rather we can be full of the joy of the Lord
to the over flowing. Charles Spurgeon gives a wonderful illustration of what
this passage is most truly trying to impart onto us. Imagine if you will a man
of God facing persecution and slanderous remarks from the people of his own
church body. This man is so strong in his faith that he would never let these
remarks or other people talking about him get him down. Even if this man was to
face great danger lost in the depths of the sea or stranded on a deserted island
he would never so much as loose even a glimmer of the expression of joy upon his
face. And then when it comes to the putting to death of this man of God he goes
to the gallows with pride and his head held high. Yes now I encourage you all to
keep that spirit of strength with you, but it is not very realistic is it?
Realistically we hurt when our friends let us down. We experience times of fear
and even some depression in our times of solitude. And when we are on death’s
door or one of our friends or loved ones has entered though that portal we know
that the heaviness can at times be even more than we can bare. So what this
verse is telling us is that even when you have a heavy heart can be encouraged
knowing there is a time coming when every tear will be wiped away and every
sorrow turned into joy like you can not even imagine.
One other
point with this is for us to realize that the sorrow we are experiencing should
lead us out of that which is causing it. It is natural to feel and experience
sorrow but if you wallow in it then satan is taking that which is natural and
beneficial and once again perverting it to rob you of your calling. Stay with me
here. Because we are getting into the main point of the message that God has for
us. You have been called of God, By God unto good works which He has prepared
for you to do from the foundation of the earth. In fact that is why you have
been saved. Read with me Ephesians 2: 8-10 (NIV) For it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do.
Now lets get
it square within our hearts and minds who we want to serve. Who is our Lord?
Who’s Father are we? Who is it that dwells within us? If it be Christ than we
can be assured that greater is He who is within us then he who is in the world.
When you make the conscious decision to accept Jesus into you heart as your Lord
and savior, and I am not talking about the decision that you made years ago, I
am talking about right now. Letting Jesus in right now. Every second of every
day. It is great to go to church or have times of fellowship with other
believers, but God wants to be all over you all the time. Jesus wants His joy to
remain in you even when you are alone. Even when you are in pain. Even when you
are experiencing a heavy heart. Have you ever had a friend that was always there
just to hold your hand when you needed someone? They did not need to say
anything. In fact you really did not want to be cheered up at the time you just
wanted someone to feel your pain with you. Well I want you to know, more than
that, I want you to feel, and experience the life changing reality of the
presence of God. It is in these times of heaviness that we know He is with us.
It is in these times of heaviness that we know we NEED HIM. It is when our cup
is empty that He can fill us with His joy and if we can quickly now look at our
scripture I believe you will discover the mystery of allowing His joy to remain
and your joy being full.
1st. If we read back in
the beginning of the 15th chapter of John we discover that Jesus is
talking about how we need to “abide in Him.” (John 15:4 KJV) Abide in me, and I
in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine;
no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
What we are looking at is the “These things” that Jesus was talking about in our scripture verse. The first thing that we need to do is to make sure that we are tapped into Jesus. In order to keep this message somewhat brief we are going to jump right to the next thing which is found in (John 15:8 KJV) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
We will bear
fruit when we are really grafted into the power of God, which is found in the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the resurrection power of the one and only true
living God that is able to change us, and make us to bear an abundance of fruit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness and
self-control flow through us as we move into the third step of God’s formula for
joy which is found in (John 15:10 KJV) If ye keep my commandments, ye shall
abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his
love.
Now I think
you are starting to get it, lets cut right to the revelation; (John 15:12 KJV)
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Do you want to
experience the true joy of the Lord? Do you want His joy to remain within you?
Do you want to once again to experience those winds of revival in your life?
Would you like to feel the power of God coursing though your veins and know
within your heart that you are doing that which you have been called to do?
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came to give us an example of not only
how we can live but also what we should do. If you are tired of the mundane, If
you have sat in heaviness long enough then it is time to renew the joy of your
salvation.
The mystery is
clear. Give and it will be given, pressed down shaken together and pouring over.
Do you want joy, then give a little joy to someone else and watch and see if you
do not get it back ten fold. Give a little more and see if it is not returned to
you thirty fold. The more you give in the name of the Lord the more you will
have come back to you in great store. So what is it you lack today? If anything
came to your mind other than Jesus then you will find it hard to receive it. But
as we seek Him and we discover the good works that he has called us to do we
freely receive. So let the Joy of the Lord come into your life and remain, and
let your joy be full.
Pray with me
now:
Heavenly
Father we come before your throne in the precious name of Jesus. Lord forgive me
of all my sins and cleans me from all unrighteousness. All my sins I confess to
you. All my known and unknown sins I ask for your forgiveness and mercy. All the
sins that I have committed and yes Lord all the sins that I committed by not
doing what you have called me to do. Lord I have been away from you long enough
and I ask you to welcome me back into your loving arms. I know that you have
never left me nor forsaken me but Lord I right now desire a closer walk with
you. I desire your Holy Spirit to be within me, filling every fiber of my being.
I ask for your Holy Spirit to come upon me giving me strength and boldness to
overcome every trial and temptation. I ask for your Holy Spirit to be along side
me to give me comfort in my times of heaviness, lifting me gently out of the
depths of despair unto new hights of joy unspeakable and full of the glory in
You. Thank you Jesus; thank you Father Thank you Holy Spirit. I accept you right
now and surrender my broken heart over to you that you might use me for your
glory in Jesus Name; Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To
the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and for ever. Amen.
And Amen