The Joy That Holds in the Storm

It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. And for our first song, we'll be singing, are you washed? Have you been to [music] Jesus for the cleansing [singing] power? Are you washed [music] in the blood of the lamb? Are you fully [music] trusting [singing] in his grace this hour? Are you washed [music] in the blood of the lamb? Are you [music and singing] Are you washed in the blood? In the [music and singing] soul cleansing blood of the lamb. Are your garments [music and singing] spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Lay [singing] aside the garments that are stained with sin and be washed in the blood [music and singing] of the lamb. There's a fountain flowing for the soul [singing] are clean. Oh, [music] be washed in the blood of the lamb. Are you Are [music] you washing the blood in the blood? In the soul cleansing [music] blood [singing] of the lamb. Are your garments [music and singing] flawless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of [music and singing] the lamb? Some glad [music] morning. [singing] When this life is over, I'll [music and singing] fly away to [music] a home on God's celestial shore. I'll [music] fly away. [singing] I'll [singing] fly away. All [music] glory. I'll fly away [music] when [singing] I die. Hallelujah. By and by, I'll fly away. [music] I'll fly away. [music] Oh, [singing] glory. I'll fly away when [music] I [singing] die. Hallelujah. By and by, I'll fly away. [music and singing] And for our second song, we'll be singing Mighty to Save. Everyone needs compassion. [music] A love that's never failing. Let mercy [singing] [music] fall on me. Everyone needs forgiveness. The kindness of [singing and music] a savior. The [singing] hope of nations. Savior. He can move the mountains. [music] My God [singing] is mighty to save. He [music] is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. [music] He [singing] rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. [music] So take me as you [singing] find me. All my fears and failures [music] and fill [singing] my life again. [music] I give my life to follow [singing] everything I believe [music] in. Now [singing] I surrender. [music] Savior. [singing] He can move the [music] mountains. My God [singing] is mighty to save. He [music] is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. [singing and music] He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus [music] conquered the grave. Shine your light in. Let [music and singing] the whole world see. We're singing for the glory [singing] of the risen king. Jesus, shine your light in. Let the [music and singing] whole world sing. Sing it for the glory [music and singing] of the risen king. Savior. He can move the mountains. [music] My God is mighty to sing. He is [music and singing] mighty to save forever. Author of [music and singing] salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus [music and singing] conquered the grave. Praise God. Praise the Lord, my dear friends, for this morning that we're able to come here together today to worship his name, to praise his name, and to hear his word. And uh I'd like to do our Bible reading for this morning. And I want to open up to Psalms 42, which for many of you it's going to be page 808. Psalms 42. And this is a very interesting psalm because it's actually pretty famous and it's when uh David was in distress and he was calling out to God. And it's actually very famous and a lot of people go to this exact psalm when they're when they're going through a very hard time in their lives. And it's going to be in Psalm 42, page 808. And it says here, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, "Where is your God?" When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God. Praise with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, oh my soul, and why are you disquited within me? Hop in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance, oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan and from the heights of Hermmon, from the hill Mazzar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me. A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning? Because the oppression of the enemy. As with the breaking of my bones, my enemies reproach me. While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God? Why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you disqued within me? Hop in God, for I shall yet praise [snorts] him, the help of my countenance and my God." Praise God. And now we'll have uh Pastor Tim say a couple of announcements for this morning and there'll be a word right after. God bless. Praise God, my church and uh or God's church and my friends. Uh happy Mother's Day as well. And we're going to be praying for our Sunday school, but also for God's blessing upon the word that's going to be spoken to us. And I want all of us to stand up. And I'll be reading from Psalm 32:8. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. Yes, the students please come up. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. That is so important for us believers to be guided by the Holy Spirit because without the Holy Spirit's guidance, we're just going to keep on digging ourselves a bigger hole in life. But he's the one who guides us around our holes that we do not fall into those pits. So, let us learn from what God is trying to teach us this morning. And um after we pray, we'll have a meet and greet and our sisters prepared some gifts for mothers. So uh during the meet and greet, you'll be able to pass out those gifts. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for this morning that you have blessed us with Lord. And how we read, Lord God, help Holy Spirit, instruct us in the way of the Lord. instruct us in the way of the Lord that we can do the will of our father and that we can love our lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, soul and mind. God, I bless each person here Lord. Whatever is going to be spoken, may it enter into our heart and produce good fruit and bless all the mothers. Lord God, we bless them in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, give them strength, Lord God. I would say spiritually and physically Lord God give them strength. We bless them in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed. Serious. [music] Heat. Heat. That was good. Father [music] [music] Hallelujah. [music] Are you right? [music] Yes. Amen. Okay, we'll just start in a few minutes. Please everybody have your seats. This morning we're going to be going through the topic of joy. And that's one of the fruits of the spirit. We've been going through the fruit of the spirit of love and right now we are focused on joy. There there was a time when Jesus said these words. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. People attach joy to happiness. But let me tell you this that these words were spoken the night before Jesus was going to go on the cross. The night before he was going to be betrayed and the night before he was going to be beaten. Yet these are the words that came out of his mouth. That my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. So the question is what is joy? In Galatians 5:22 through 23, you guys can actually turn to John 15, which is page 1559. But in Galatians 5:22-23, is the slide going to go up? It says, "But the fruit of the spirit," and I will skip it, and it says, "Is joy." But the fruit of the spirit is joy. You're going to have to scroll down all the way to joy. What we see here is that joy is not an emotion, but it's a spirit. It's the fruit of the spirit. And sometimes we think that when we are happy we are joyful but happiness is emotional but joy is spiritual. So what is joy? I defined it like this. Joy is a inner peace that gives you confidence that Jesus is with you. And you will actually understand that in life when you are going through times of hardships. Joy is an inner peace that gives you confidence that Jesus is with you. Because he is with you. He is in control of your situation. And since he is in control of your situation, that brings you peace in your heart because God is in control. And that what joy is. I want to repeat this. Rejoice when you know Christ is with you and he is in control of your situation which brings you peace and comfort and confidence in your life. A joyful person, a joyful person will still cry but they can have but they can be full of joy. A joyful person will still experience pain and sadness in difficult seasons and they could be full of joy. A joyful person will have times where they will question God. Lord, but why did this come into my life? But a joyful person always turns to God. It is great of course when joy crosses the path of happiness but happiness is just an emotion. Joy is a spirit. Joy is not attached to emotions. Happiness is how the the word reads happiness. those things that happen in our life. You can feel happy when something good happens to you. When you buy something nice, you get happy. Eat a great meal, you're happy. Spend time with the ones you love or receive good news that brings happiness. But happiness can change very quickly. When those people who you spent time with that brought you happiness, you can drive out to drive home and somebody cuts you off and that happiness becomes unhappiness just like that. So, so emotions are not attached to your joy. Joy does not depend on happiness or unhappiness. Joy does not depend on something. Friends, when is joy needed the most? When is joy needed the most? Joy is needed the most not when life is smooth like butter, like everything is going your way. You are just living and you feel that, oh, that's when I have joy. No, joy is needed the most when you are in the middle of your storms. Joy is needed the most when the the waves of life are crashing over you, burying you in your pain, in your tears. Those are the moments that joy matters the most because true joy is not built on the perfect circumstances in your life, but it is in the strength of God. That's why Nehemiah says these words to to Israel when they were weeping when the law was being read and they were weeping they were being convicted and they were being sorrowful and he says do not grief for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And then after those words they went and they started rejoicing. Joy is needed the most when you and I are going through those hard times in our life. I want to bring up a little illustration. When a person is walking through life, battle after battle, he or she feels like, "I can't handle this anymore." Joy is knowing that Jesus is with me. That's what joy is. It's knowing that Jesus is with me. So when I'm walking and I'm and I'm weak and I have no more strength. Joy is when Jesus sees our weakness and he picks us up and carries us through those storms in life. He is our strength. God is our strength. And the joy is when Jesus is walking with you through your storms in life. How can we see that or how can we know that? I want to bring up some stories of believers who went through the most horrific things in life, but joy is what kept them keep on fighting. Corey Tenboom. She was a woman that survived the Nazi concentration camps. I'm going to read this. I'm not going to memorize this. Corey was a Dutch Christian who helped hide Jewish people during World War II. She and her family were arrested by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps. Her sister Betsy died in a camp after terrible abuse and starvation. Yet Corey later became known for her extraordinary message of forgiveness and joy in Christ. One of the most striking moments from her story is that Betsy, even inside the camp, kept thanking God for the small things, including fleas in the barracks. Later, they discovered that the guards avoided entering because of the fleas, which allowed them to secretly hold Bible studies. Corey spent the rest of her life speaking about forgiveness, hope, and the presence of God in suffering. There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still. Johnny Tara paralyzed at 17. Johnny became a quadrit quadriplegic after a diving accident as a teenager. She went through years of depression, anger, and despair. She openly admits she begged God for healing for a long time. Over time, she developed a deep faith and became known for a radiant joy and honesty about suffering. She learned to paint using a brush in her mouth, founded a disability ministry, and has encouraged millions of people dealing with pain and chronic illness. What makes her story powerful is that she never pretends suffering is easy. Her joy is not denial. It is rooted in the dependence of God. Friends, this is what joy is. And like we can read on, Elizabeth Elliott, her husband was murdered. He went on a mission trip to to Ecuador. And those murderers who murdered her husband, she went to that tribe and she lived with them. And because of her faith in God and her commitment to the Lord, that tribe came to Christ. And we also know this person like Herio Spafford. He's the one who wrote the the hymn It is well with my soul. He said, "Not because life was easy, but because I believed in God that gave me faith in joy in my grief." In my grief. Joy in my grief. My friends, joy is needed the most. When we are grieving, when we are going through our storms, that's when joy is needed. CS Lewis later in life he lost his mother as a child. Traumatic war experience, depressions, years of atheism, then later devastating grief after the death of his wife Joy. Yet his writings consistently pointed toward deep joy, not shallow happiness, but longing fulfilled in God. He distinguished joy from circumstances. And the last one I want to mention is of course Apostle Paul. He even writes about this himself that he endured imprisonment, beatings, shipwrecks, betrayal, hunger, and eventually execution. But he says to the church in Philippi these words, "Rejoice in the Lord, in the Lord always." And he wrote those words when he was in prison. Rejoice in the Lord always. The great and wonderful gift of joy is this. You are not walking alone through life. And you no longer have to face the storms alone. These men and women of God endured some of the most horrific and painful moments in life. Yet their joy was always with them. Without Christ, many of them would have maybe went crazy or broken or angry or depressed. But because of Jesus, they found the strength to keep on fighting, to keep on believing, and to keep on moving forward in the d in the darkest moments of their lives. Friends, this is the power of joy. Now, the question is, how can I get joy? We've heard of what joy is. Joy is Jesus Christ. Joy is when we are going through our hard times in our lives, Jesus is with us. Joy is when we depend on him, knowing that God is in control, which gives us peace and hope and a meaning to our sufferings. But how can I get this joy? And Jesus writes this in John 15, which we've been going through the past month. And I would like us to read John 15:es 1 and below. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of what? The word which I have spoken to you abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. 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 I has just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. Joy is the fruit of the spirit. We cannot have joy unless we have Christ. To have joy is to abide in Jesus Christ. To have love is to abide in Jesus Christ. To have hope is to abide in Jesus Christ. Those are the fruits of the spirit. Friends, to have joy is to be in Christ. Joy is not something. Joy is someone. And like I stated before, joy is spiritual, not emotional. So how can we abide in Jesus Christ? The first step that the Bible recommends and the Bible tells us that we need to do is we need to surrender our life to him. Once we did that first step of making Christ our Lord and Savior, it doesn't stop there. Abiding means he took the withered branch and grafted it into the vine and from the root comes the nourishment to your spiritual joy. And the root is God. If you claim to abide in him, but you do not center your life around God, you are like that branch that's been cut off. To have joy, we are to abide in God. We are to constantly be nourished. Nourished by the Holy Spirit. And step two is centering your life around him. That is when you wake up in the morning, what's the first thing you do? Do you pray, Lord God, guide me in your ways? Let me do your will. Teach me. Help me. We have to start with a prayer. We have to start our morning with a prayer because that is centering our life around God's will. Wherever we go to to work, to school, to friends house, on the mission field, when we start our life off with a prayer, God is already guiding our steps. And then being in prayer before we go to bed, thanking God, Lord, thank you for this blessed day. We can't just be those kids that just keep on asking on asking, asking, asking, but are never thankful. Those are the ones that the father doesn't want to give to. So before bed, we have to thank our God. Thank you, Lord, for this blessed day. Thank you that I'm still alive. Thank you for this, for that. We got to understand what we have to be thankful for throughout the day. And like that, that is how we are centering him around our life. And of course, building your relationship with him. And this is this has been said way too many times, but it's harder to do than just being said. And that's being in the word of God. That's being in prayer. And at times when we need a breakthrough in our life, when we need God to to lift us up because we are feeling down, when we need a breakthrough, we take a fast because that is when God steps in and shows his power. Friends, in order to have the fruit of joy, we first have to have the right root. If you are rooted in Christ, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, joy will grow and flourish in your life. You will see that no matter what you're going to face, you will not lose hope because you know God is in control. You know God allowed it. And because he allowed it, he's in control. He will get you through it. That's the power of joy. Many people they claim to follow Christ but only a few surrendered their lives to him. True joy comes from a real relationship with Jesus trusting in him and placing your life into his hands. And maybe one of us today came with a heavy heart. Maybe one of us today have a lot going on in our lives. Friend, know that Christ is with you. If you abide in him, he is with you. He is walking right next to you. Know that if he put you into this situation, he will get you through it. You just have to trust in him. Lord, I don't understand. I don't know why. I don't know why this is happening to me, but I trust in you. But I trust in you that is for the good, that is for the better. And this peace that God is going to get us through the storm, it gives us the strength to move on and live. Jesus is joy and he gives it to all who believe in him. Abide in God and you will have joy. Let's pray. Amen. Lord God, we are thankful for this message, Lord God, that you God uh put on the like with the words in the scripture, Lord God, to understand, Lord, that you are joy. You are joy, Lord God. And when we abide in you, God, we have the full power of joy, Lord. And the joy is the peace, Lord God, that we have in our lives, that you are with us. And God, that you are in control of our storms, Lord. And since you're in control of our storms, you have the the the strength, Lord God, to to get us through those storms, Lord. God, maybe there's somebody here this morning or somebody watching us online who are going through something hard, Lord. God, help them to trust in you. Give them an understanding heart, Lord. Help them to trust in you knowing that you will get them through their storms. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And for our last song, we'll be singing Wonderful Merciful Savior. Wonderful, [singing and music] merciful savior, precious [music and singing] redeemer and friend. Who would have thought that [singing] a lamb could [music] rescue the souls of men? Oh, [singing] you rescue the souls [music] of men. Counselor, comforter, keeper. Spirit we long to [music and singing] embrace. You offer hope when our hearts have hopelessly [music] lost the way. Oh, [singing] we hopelessly lost the way. [music] You are the one that we praise. You are [music] the one we [singing] adore. You give [music] the healing and grace. Hearts always [music] hunger for. Oh [singing] our hearts always hunger for. [music] Almighty [singing] infinite Father, [music] faithfully [singing] loving your own. Here in [singing] our weakness, you find us falling [music and singing] before your throne. Oh, we're falling before your throne. You are the one that [music and singing] we praise. You are the one we adore. You [music and singing] give the healing and grace our hearts always [music and singing] hunger for. Oh, our hearts always hunger for. You [music] are the [singing] one that we praise. You are [music] the one we [singing] adore. You give [music] the healing and grace [singing] our hearts always [music] hunger for. Oh, [singing] our hearts [music] always hunger for. Praise God. Well, praise God, friends. Our service has come to an end and we ended a little bit early this morning, but we can all go down and have some coffee and breakfast and talk and uh continue having fellowship there. But, uh, next week I um I wanted to do like little announcements. So, we wanted to So, we have a group at the 9:00 a.m. that we gather and um we think of, you know, like what or we rely on God's will and God's guidance uh for our ministries in our church. And uh we had some plans and we've already talked to um the the council and the leadership that there's going to be some minor changes. So we wanted to actually discuss that next week. Next week. And if you guys have any questions, um we we will with God's help answer all your questions. Um, so please everybody come and we believe that this is where God's leading the next chapter for our church. Praise God in that. So, please be there. And um, like I said, it's going to be a little minor changes, but they're for the good. Um, just a reminder for our services. Tuesday's 8:30 Bible reading at the Cafana Coffee Shop off of State Street and Thursday's Bible study at 6 PM. We're going through a very fun topic about rewards, uh, which a lot of people are afraid to touch that subject. But friends, if you are laboring for the Lord, it's not in vain. You are going to get rewarded. And praise God for that. Um, does anybody have any needs? if not. Yes, DA. Yeah. So, he's flying out to Japan on his mission trip um with his friends um on those like beach areas, you know, where they minister, you know, it's like very nice. And now I'm just joking. [laughter] Yeah. Okay. Okay. Demo, we're gonna uh pray for your trip. Uh Michael, yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we'll for sure pray for you. Okay, let's pray. Lord God, uh thank you for this morning, God, that we could gather together, Lord, as a church, as believers in Christ, Lord God. And help us, Lord God, to to uh grow this fruit, th this fruit of joy, Lord God, in our life, God. And that's when we abide in you, Lord. and forgive us, God, wherever we have been slacking off in our spiritual life, Lord God, where we've been only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about you, God. Let us get back into the the root, Lord God, and that's you, God, to build a relationship with you and to center our life around you, Lord God. Help us with that, Lord God, because we need these these uh fruits of the spirit to to flourish in our lives, God. We also pray for uh Dimmitri, Lord. He's going to be leaving with his friends to Japan. May you protect them there on the way there on the way back and there. May your hand be with them and guiding them in all ways. God, we also pray for Michael. Lord, you see God, he's going through a lot right now, Lord God, but may this joy, God, carry him through, God, uh his his storms, God, in his life, Lord God. and God bless his next the next uh chapter in his life Lord because he is your child. Please take care of him in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Our father in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.