Finding Joy in the Midst of Trials

And aren't you glad we have an opportunity to have a part in missions?

It is.

It's a great opportunity.

It's a great privilege.

Go ahead and open your Bibles in tonight to first Peter is.

That clock right there is correct?

Correct.

6:58.

Okay, good.

I don't want to keep pulling mine out.

I have to be finished by 7:30.

That should be plenty of time.

I made this brief in my mind.

I'm supposed to be brief in our.

In our Bridge to Recovery meeting sermons.

I'm supposed to be at the most like 20, 25 minutes.

I almost always go over it, but I don't have a choice.

Tonight the kids are coming back in, so I have to stop at 7:30.

They're going to come in about 7:40, but I'm going to stop before

7:30.

I abbreviated this anyway for this purpose.

So I want to talk to you tonight about joy.

About joy with a twist.

Christian joy.

Christian joy.

It's a topic that really is bigger than our own personal satisfaction

or happiness.

Now listen to this.

A Christian's joy really is rooted in a theological understanding

that overflows into our daily living.

Now I'm not saying that you have to be a theology, a theological

major, a theological scholar in order to understand joy or to

even have joy, but it really is.

It is.

Joy is rooted in a theological understanding that overflows into

our daily living.

Now Christians ought to be, and I'm sure you'll amen this, Christians

ought to be the most joyful, the most joyous people in the world.

We ought to be.

If we stop and consider who we were, where we were, and what God

saved us from and who he saved, we ought to be the most joyful

people in the world.

But the fact of the matter is we rarely think of joy in terms of

how it affects others.

We always think about joy, how it affects me in my circumstances,

in my situation.

I always think about joy in terms of me.

But we never really stop to think about how joy affects others.

Only for me, we get to that place where we might even think joy

is optional.

But when we understand how much joy is actually as much for

others as it is for us, we would realize it's not optional.

Now you can't fake joy.

You can't really fake joy.

Because joy is being content in any circumstance doesn't mean

being bubbly over bubbling over with laughter.

It means having a deep, deep rooted inner contentment in whatever

circumstance you happen to find yourself in.

That's joy.

So the truth is that joy is just as much for others as it is

for me.

And I want to show you that.

Why do you think that Peter said in first Peter, chapter three,

in verse 15, it's a very familiar verse to you.

And he said this.

Peter said, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.

Now, sanctify means to set apart.

Set apart as holy, set apart and honor.

So sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to

give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope

that is in you.

With meekness and fear.

Now, we always have a tendency to think, okay, well, if somebody

asked me, you know, about salvation, I need to be ready to

tell them about salvation.

And that's true.

We should.

But it's more than that.

It's deeper than that.

Your joy, which is the result of sanctifying God in your heart,

it's bigger than our own personal satisfaction and happiness.

Your joy matters.

Sometimes people lack joy.

Christians lack joy.

Sometimes we go around dragging, like Linus's blanket.

And we got Pigpen's blanket.

I don't know.

I can't remember now.

I guess it's Linus's blanket and Pigpen's cloud, right?

His dust cloud.

We walk around like those peanut characters, and there's no

reason for people to ask us about the joy and the hope that's

within us.

And so we have to exuberate joy by setting God apart in our heart

so that others will have something to ask us.

So your joy matters.

What does it matter?

It just matters.

3.

I'm going to say three things.

It matters first of all to a watching world.

Your joy.

Your joy as a Christian, it matters to a watching world.

If we're constantly walking around complaining and whining and

griping and groaning, that's not going to affect anybody in a

positive way for Jesus Christ.

Can I get an amen right there?

I mean, nobody wants to be that.

And so it's important that our joy is true joy.

It's important that we realize.

I said we were at our meeting on Friday night, our bridge to Recovery

meeting, and I preached a message entitled, there's no faith,

no resurrection power without first, a crucifixion.

You can't have a resurrection unless there's a crucifixion.

And so many times we as Christians, we have to go back to

that cross and we have to remember what Jesus Christ did for

us.

And maybe there's a time of weeping involved because we ought

to weep when we consider what he did for Us.

But then there also, after the weeping is gone, there ought to be

a time of joy.

There ought to be a time of rejoicing.

There ought to be a time of realizing, man, I'd be in hell right

now if it wasn't for Jesus Christ.

There's no telling where I'd be.

Some of us could be in the penitentiary.

Some of you could be homeless on the side of the road somewhere.

Some of you could be dead and in hell.

And so we ought to have.

We ought to rejoice when we go to the cross.

Amen.

So our joy matters to a watching world.

A joyful heart shines.

The truth of what we believe to the world.

It matters.

Our joy really does matter.

Christians aren't immune to hardship and trials, and we're not

immune to suffering.

We experience them differently than others do.

That's all.

We have hope in the darkness.

Somebody came to me today and said, I like.

And they said, I'll tell you what I.

It was one of our men.

They said, I'll tell you what I like most about our Bridge to Recovery

meetings.

It's.

We have.

We have a main assembly.

And then after the main assembly, after.

Then we go, we break off into our sessions, our group sessions.

That's what that brother said.

He said, I love our group sessions.

And he said, the reason I love our group sessions is because it

makes me realize that I'm not the only one dealing with this.

I'm not the only one dealing with this.

I have been pleasantly surprised and praise God for the

transparency.

I can't say anything about the women because I'm not in their group,

but the transparency that the men in our group have displayed,

and it's because they know that we can help each other.

We're there for each other.

Oh, brother, I'll tell you, I don't know how I got on that, but,

oh, it's because we're not immune to hardship.

Christians suffer, Christians struggle.

Christians have temptation.

Christians even give in to temptations.

But in the midst of all of that, we can go through all those

things differently than those who are not saved.

We can have joy in the midst of darkness.

We can have hope in darkness.

A Christian's hope shines to a watching world in such a way that

we need to be prepared to defend our hope.

We should expect and we should be ready for instances where people

approach us and they can ask us, why are you so hopeful?

How can you be happy under such circumstances?

And I think about our society today.

I think about our economy.

I'm a Christian.

I have been saved 40 plus years and I still gripe about the

economy.

I hate the fact that I'm paying $3 a gallon for gas.

I'm glad I don't, you know.

Anyway, I don't buy meat.

My wife usually buys meat if I go into the grocery store just to

buy milk or whatever, you know, nothing big.

I don't.

But my wife buys the meat.

We went the other day, I was with her and she said, let me show

you something.

She took me to the steaks.

We looked at a rib eye steak.

Oh, oh, here's why I'll tell you backstory.

I was complaining because I stopped at a place to get a Philly

cheesesteak.

I love Philly cheesesteaks, a good one.

And I stopped at a place to get one and they wanted $15 for a

foot long Philly cheesesteak.

I'm like, uh, I walked in and walked out.

Listen to this.

They're so desperate.

The lady followed me out to my car.

I'm not kidding you.

She followed me.

The lady inside the restaurant got out from behind the counter,

followed me out to my car.

She said, did you decide you're not hungry?

Telling you, she said that.

Anybody ever followed you out to your car at a restaurant before?

That's the truth.

She followed me out to my car.

She said, did you decide you're not hungry?

I said, no.

I decided I didn't want to pay $15 for a sandwich.

She said, yeah, but this is ribeye.

It's the real stuff.

It's the good stuff.

And I said, well, I do.

Well, I didn't have any clue.

I didn't know.

I didn't know that a Philly cheesesteak was made out of ribs.

So anyway, that's the backstory.

So my wife takes me to the grocery.

We're in the grocery store, my wife takes me.

And after me coming home and complaining about this, griping like

a good Christian should, ent I'm complaining about this.

And so we're at the grocery store and she says, come here, let

me show you something.

We go to the steaks, ribeyes.

I want to become a vegetarian.

$25 for one ribeye and up.

And I'm like, man, let's just go to the roadhouse and get it cooked

and put on a plate for me with veggies next to it.

$25.

Amen.

29 maybe.

I think that's what mine cost today, but folk.

And I even had shrimp with it.

Going to a restaurant, get an Uncooked steak for.

See, we're complaining about.

I fuss over that.

It is.

It's hard to believe, isn't it?

But how many people are we going to affect in a positive way

by constantly fussing over the prices, over the economy, over the

fact that it is what it is?

Can my fussing change it?

Can my worrying change it?

Can my lack of joy affect anybody in a positive way?

No.

Joy is being content, no matter the circumstance.

I'm with you, brethren.

I don't like having to shell out that money either.

But it is what it is, and we just need to learn to be content.

Like Paul said, hey, we are where we are.

Well, I'm going to have to scale it down.

Okay?

I can't have a ribeye.

I might have to have something else.

But I like bologna.

Good thing I like bologna, I guess.

Our theology, our understanding of God's redemptive

plan, and I hope that you have a somewhat of an understanding of

God's redemption plan, his redemptive plan in your life, how

you got to where you are today in terms of salvation.

Our understanding of that allows us to hold joy and sorrow

side by side and not be in opposition to one another.

Does that make sense?

If we understand the theological aspect of salvation,

then we can hold those two and they can be balanced.

And that's what people look at and say.

How is it that you never complain about the gas prices?

How is it I never hear you cuss at the shop?

How come it is I never.

How is it that when.

That's what makes a difference.

When Joni Eareckson Tada was a teenager, she was paralyzed from

the shoulders down in a diving accident.

She described those who.

And she became quite the speaker across the country.

She described those who suffer in profound ways, yet still have

hope and joy as spectacles of glory.

In her words, she called him spectacles of glory.

They're like the burning bush who Moses saw that Moses saw and

was confused by.

How could a bush be on fire and yet not be consumed?

The bush was a spectacle of glory, something that made you turn

and look and wonder.

And Joni explained that Christians who suffer faithfully,

they shine as light.

They shine the light of Christ in a way that is perplexing for the

world.

And watch.

And they don't.

They don't.

They simply just don't understand how a person can be joyful,

patient and kind in the midst of such hardships.

Profound suffering opens us up to be a spectacle of glory for all

the world to see.

The beauty of Christ in us.

It demonstrates that we have something greater than this world.

We have Jesus.

Your joy matters.

Your joy matters to a watching world.

Important that we recognize joy is not optional, but something

that we ought to put on every single day.

Your joy matters to a watching world.

Secondly, I want you to notice it matters to the church.

Your joy matters to the church.

I want you to look at 1st Thessalonians, chapter 3.

When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he shared with them

his concern for their well being.

He knew that they had been suffering greatly and he was deeply

concerned about their faith.

Because you know how it can be when suffering comes in.

You know, sometimes people's faith is shaken and sometimes it

can be shattered.

So he sent Timothy to check on them.

And Timothy returned with the positive report that the Thessalonians

were standing firm in their love and in their hope and in their

faith.

In the midst of his own discouragement.

I'm sorry, in the midst of his own suffering, Paul was encouraged.

In the midst of his own suffering.

And I don't need to go over all of that.

You all know, most of you, I'm assuming, I suppose, but I don't

have time to go over all of that.

Paul suffered in life.

He suffered a lot in life and even from prison.

He said, I'm just glad Christ is preached.

In the midst of his own suffering.

He was encouraged.

He said in 1st Thessalonians chapter 3, and read with me in verse

7 through 9.

He said, Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all

our affliction and distress.

How?

By your faith, he said, I overlooked my own affliction and

my own distress.

Your faith allowed me to put my stuff to the side.

I was encouraged by that.

He says, for now we live if we stand fast in the Lord, for what

thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith

we joy.

In other words, he says, for all the joy that we feel for your

sakes before God.

Here's a man who suffered.

And yet the Thessalonians, the church in Thessalonica, their contentment

in the midst of their suffering and their hardship, it

encouraged Paul in the midst of his own suffering.

As we stand firm in hope, rejoicing in the Lord, the church

is encouraged.

Our joy in the Lord stirs up fresh courage in others, blessing

our brothers and sisters in the faith.

We've started several churches in our ministry, in my ministry,

and you've had a part in one of them.

And I know you rejoiced with me.

You rejoiced with me when I was down in Corpus Christi.

We were there 10 years.

We saw a lot of people saved.

We saw just.

It was a really great ministry that God gave us and allowed us to

be a part of.

And we saw, you know, we were able to help a lot of people.

And you rejoiced with us.

We would send back.

We would send back reports, and you rejoiced with us.

Brother Kelly brought down people.

And you guys, some of you came down and you worked.

You physically labored on the building for us, and you put in some

time and effort.

You were encouraged by our faith.

And then Covid got the better of us.

We weren't a large church.

You know, most of y' all never got the real story, why, after 10

years, we had to close the doors.

Well, the big thing, the big picture is, Covid, I'm not going

to blame everybody.

You know, I had my own part in that.

But the big picture was Covid, you know, it was an unprecedented

time.

Nobody really knew exactly what the right thing to do was.

And you did one thing, you offend some people, you did another

thing, you offended the rest of them.

So you just had to figure out what to do.

And it wasn't always pleasant.

And so small churches across the country ended up closing their

doors.

We were one of them.

And I know that when that happened, that broke your heart.

I know it did.

It broke my heart.

And I know that you who.

You poured yourself into this ministry, and then you saw it.

I won't say go under.

Look at it like this.

Pastor encouraged me by these words, he said, because I was discouraged

when we had to close those doors.

But pastor said this to me.

He said, brother, a church is a body.

It's born, it lives, it dies.

Not everybody.

Not every body lives 100 years.

Not everybody lives 50 years.

Some live a short period of time.

And such is the case with Corpus Christi.

I wish it was still going, but it's not the case.

And you've welcomed me back, right?

You brought me back and you said, come home, Brother Stone.

You put me back on staff, and I just know that my joy is important

to this church, and your joy is important to this church.

Not just this church, but others who invest in this church.

And now we're investing in other churches.

And it's important that we see their joy because their joy affects

us.

So it matters to the church.

Okay?

Our joy in the Lord stirs up fresh courage in others.

It blesses our brothers and our sisters in the faith.

So God, your joy matters.

It matters to the watching world.

It matters to the church.

And then, most importantly, you're going to love this one.

It matters to Jesus.

Your joy matters to Jesus.

I want you to think about this with me just for a minute.

On the night before Jesus died, he shared a final meal and

a conversation with his disciples.

And though they didn't understand that Jesus was about to

die, he knew.

Jesus knew his time was short.

He knew the apostle John recorded much of their conversation.

Jesus comforted his disciples, and he encouraged them to not be

troubled.

He assured them that although he was going away, he would come

back for them.

He told them that if they loved him, they would obey him.

He explained that the Spirit would come and dwell within them

and be with them always.

And then Jesus explained to them why he was telling them these

things.

He said in John 15:11.

John 15:11

This is what Jesus explained to them, why he was telling them

all this.

He said, these things have I spoken unto you.

This is right on the.

This is right on the.

On the.

On the cusp of his.

Of his crucifixion, he said, these things I have spoken unto you.

Why, that my joy might remain in you, that your joy might be full.

Folks, listen.

Jesus was on his way to the cross.

I mean, in just a matter of hours, he was going to be taken and

he was going to be shamed in a way you and I could never imagine.

He was preparing to endure unimaginable pain at this moment.

What was on his mind?

What goal prompted his last words to those he loved at the height

of his own agony?

Remember, he was in the garden.

He was agonizing in such a way that his sweat dropped, as it were.

The Bible says, as it were, great drops of blood.

He sweated at the height of his own agony.

His love desired our joy.

He was getting ready to go to the cross, and he told those guys,

these things I've spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in

you, and that your joy might be full.

Our joy matters to Jesus Christ.

It's unbelievable, isn't it?

For the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross.

And I know that we think about when we hear that for the joy that

was set before him.

Well, what joy was that?

We're thinking about the joy that he has, the joy that he's anticipating

going home to be with the Father and sit on the right hand

of the Father.

Well, I imagine that was in his mind, too.

But also the joy that was set before him was him passing on his

joy.

To us so that we can have joy in the midst of that kind of agony,

that kind of a circumstance.

Jesus is about to die.

He's about to be crucified.

He's about to undergo the most agonizing death.

You know, I said it.

I guess I said it in Sunday school this morning, maybe, I think,

I can't remember now, but I said it just recently.

Whether it was Friday or whether it was this morning, I think

it was Friday.

Of all the ways that there are to die, of all the means of execution,

probably crucifixion had to be the most undesirable of them all,

the most excruciating, the most painful, the most shameful,

the most agonizing way to die.

And of all the times that God could have allowed his son to die,

and the ways that he could have allowed him to die, he allowed

him to go at that time.

And I'm sure that probably some of you in here, maybe many,

you've studied the method of crucifixion and how it affects the

body.

And it's a horrible way.

I'm not going to go into the details, but it is a horrible, horrible

way to die.

And during that, just before that, he said, I want my joy to be

in you.

The joy that I'm feeling right now, I want it to be your joy.

I don't know that I'd have much joy in the midst of that kind

of a circumstance if I knew I was getting ready to be beaten, torn

apart by a whip, have a crown of thorns placed on my head and beat

into my scalp with a reed, spit in the face, betrayed by my

own friends.

I don't know that I'd have much joy, but he did.

He said, I want my joy to be in you and that your joy be full.

That's what he wanted.

Jesus was concerned about our joy.

He wasn't hoping for us to have a little bit of happiness.

He wants us to have fullness of joy, overflowing, abundant.

Our joy matters.

Jesus Christ.

We shouldn't just go through this life, you know, just happy Christians,

because happiness depends on happenings.

We need to have joy, deep seated, deeply rooted joy that's

there, put there by the Holy Spirit of God, so that when bad times

do come, we can still rise up in such a way that people say, how

in the world can you be so happy?

How can.

They don't understand joy, so they'll say, happy.

How can you be so happy in the midst of all of this?

I tell you, I don't see Ms. Chalene here right now.

Is Ms. Chalene here?

Oh, there she is.

Well, she's already here.

I don't want you to.

Don't let your head puff up, okay, Sweetheart?

I love you.

Listen, I've never seen.

Honestly, I've never seen Ms. Chalene.

I love you.

And I'm asking the Lord right now.

Just keep you humble while we say this because it can definitely

affect you if you let it.

Amen.

She's letting her head deflate.

I've never met anybody going through cancer the way that she is,

who handles it the way she does.

I've never seen anybody with that spirit, with that demeanor,

with that joy.

I mean, she comes into the room and she ought to be the one

that everybody goes to and is trying to encourage.

She encourages me.

She walks into a room and she lights up the room.

That's joy.

I love you, Ms. Chalene.

I know you do.

Your joy matters.

Your joy matters.

And it matters to Jesus Christ.

Our joy matters for more than ourselves.

It causes the world to question.

It causes the church to rejoice.

And it's the hope of our Savior.

Your joy matters.

Amen.

Let's stand together this evening, just for a few minutes.