Holy Spirit Empowered Joy - Pastor Rob Urban

Welcome to Logan City Christian Church podcast where we bring God's Word to you weekly.

We pray that what you hear will bring clarity to your situation and open doors in your life.

Enjoy the message.

God is so good.

Amen.

Well, it's great to be in the presence of God and fellowship with one another.

I would have been quite happy to allow that to continue for quite a bit yet.

Very happy to do so.

I remember at different times in the history of this church, there were four different

distinct moments where the Spirit of God was being poured out and as in other churches

as well and it's wonderful to see and what was happening, what a signature of the Spirit

of God moving as the worship went for like two hours and it felt like 10 minutes and

some nights we just allowed the worship to continue and the amount of things that God

did in the lives of people was just beautiful, beautiful, transformed for life.

Welcome this morning.

It's lovely to be gathered here again and to our online viewers, it's great to have

you with us again this morning.

I have a message in my spirit that's been brewing for a while, some of you will know,

preachers know very well that you have different messages that brew in your spirit all the

time and it's like God will just go, oh, we'll have that one, thank you and it's usually

the one that's least prepared but that doesn't matter, the Scripture says be ready in season

and out of season but the title of the message this morning is Holy Spirit Empowered Joy.

Joy of the Holy Ghost no matter which way you want to put it but there is a joy of the

Lord that is Spirit led, Spirit empowered and it's powerful.

Now I'm aware that at the end of the service, I'm going to be leaving the altar open to

anybody and everybody that feels that they may need prayer in the area of being touched

by the Spirit of God to renew that joy and the joy of your salvation.

I know there's going to be an impartation of the Holy Spirit, only something that He

can do and as we go through the message, you will understand why the Spirit of God has

this theme this morning, this message, this direction but so many times we can, we're

human beings, we live in a real world and the real world doesn't always work out the

way that we plan it or think that it could or should go but many of us at different times

in life can be heavily burdened down with worry or discouragement, anyone ever not experienced

that hopelessness even and thinking at times that how do we manage to get through this

next hurdle in life?

Maybe you're faced with an illness that you believe in God to bring you through, whatever

it might be, maybe there are relationship issues that you're really trusting God and

you're not seeing anything happen.

Well I want to encourage you today that if we will tap into this river, the river of

the Spirit of God, Jesus said about drinking of this water and this water, the Spirit of

God brings life into the heart, into the life of every believer.

If you are born again, Christ is truly your Savior and the Spirit of God truly does live

within you.

You and I then have this amazing resource and source from heaven, this incredible power

that resides inside of us and sometimes we can be so, so thirsty and try and find other

things or other things to satisfy that thirst but the water that we need to drink is not

far away, it lives within you.

I remember years ago my brother and I were on a property in the outback and our vehicle,

I've shared this before, our vehicle broke down and we were a long way, possibly maybe

not quite a two day walk back to the homestead and because we'd only planned to be away for

a few hours, like it was about a two hour drive there, two hour drive back maybe, we

only took a small ration of water with us which in summer out there in 40 degree heat

it doesn't last long.

So what we did, we just instead of following the road back as we knew if we followed the

fence it was the shortest way there and the most amount of shade.

So that's what we did and we got to a shearing shed that was probably only about half a mile

from the homestead and that shearing shed had a water tank and you could feel the tank

that it was nearly full and you know you put your hand on it, you can feel where it's cold

in that and my brother and I were about to use whatever we could to you know decant a

water into this container and drink it and I remembered something that our father taught

us, that dad taught us, he says before you drink of any tank go up top and have a look

to see if there's a screen in there and if there's not look inside to see what's in.

Well we went up and had a look and there was no screen, there were dead birds, dead crows,

everything that was in there was dead and so we couldn't drink it.

But do you know how tempting it is at times to drink anything when you're thirsty?

And sometimes we may drink things because we're so thirsty that are not good for us

and so we have to make that decision to say hang on a minute even though that I may be,

you may be, we may be going through a very difficult time in life, things may not be

working out the way, we can't just accept the first apparent source of relief or an

answer that comes our way to be the right way.

And so drinking of this living water, it is good, it is wholesome, it's from God Himself

and when we drink from this life source, this water that comes from the Spirit of God, we

know it's good, it is really good, it's not polluted water, it's good water and there

is such a thing as a supernatural joy in the Holy Ghost, it goes above the natural.

I'll give you an example of what I'm speaking about.

Have you ever been in a place where there are many people and people are laughing and

having a great time and you're laughing and having a great time and people tell a few

jokes and by the way, I think this church has the best dad jokes in town by the way

and you know, we know how to have a good laugh but you can be in a place, in a party or in

a family gathering or whatever it might be and everyone's having a good time and you're

laughing and thinking, oh this is fun, this is funny and you go home and when the music

stops and you're left alone, that's what I'm speaking about today.

That part of your being, that external joy or external happiness or things that may motivate

us to make us laugh, the question is, is it lasting?

Does it have an enduring power inside of you to carry you through and the answer is no,

it doesn't and so it's like stagnant water but when we drink of the Spirit of God and

I'm not saying a physical, you know, get a cup of water and say, Holy Spirit, fill up

my cup, what I'm speaking about is there is an incredible, unlimited source of God that

lives inside of us that whenever we are in a time of need, a time that we don't know

which way to turn, thank you by the way brother, great communion, the Spirit of God is there

and if we draw upon that resource and take it in to our spirit, there's life there and

so when I speak about the joy of the Holy Ghost, there is a joy that exists in this

world of happiness that is a result of things that may happen but when things change and

if favour ceases from your boss or whatever it might be, that joy really was only superficial

or it really wasn't a long enduring joy.

So I'm not speaking about happiness, happiness is depending upon circumstances but the Spirit

of God when He imparts this joy of the Spirit in us remains in the good times and in the

really hard times.

The joy of the Lord does not depend upon circumstances, it depends upon a person which is the Spirit

of God and it depends upon us with our attitude to choose to tap into that life source that

resides inside of us and this is the difference that I see and so you know we in this world

today, many people will take drugs and alcohol and various different things to try and numb

the discouragement, the disappointment, you know whatever it might be but I want to let

you know today if you don't already know, there is a river that flows from the throne

of heaven that flows inside of you, of your spirit if you truly are a child of the living

God that its resources are limitless, it flows and it flows and it flows, it has no end and

so this is what I'm speaking about today is tapping into this, tapping into what already

resides inside of you and inside of me and it is an exciting thing, it's an exciting

subject and I believe it is supernatural, it is supernatural, it's over and above the

natural.

Now, why would God, I'm going to read some Scriptures speaking about the joy of the Holy

Ghost and you know this supernatural joy, now why would God put this in our being and

in our life and in our reach, why would He do that?

Because He knew that we were going to need it, He knew that you know as Christians we're

going to need a source that will never run dry, a power that never ceases to be consistently

consistent and when we call upon the Name of the Lord incredible things happen throughout

this message, it will also be an encouraging word, a section in the message about our attitude

toward what we already have that we have to decide in the midst of a test or a trial,

do I want to, do I allow myself to be buried with the discouragement, the pain, the hopelessness

and it's a really easy thing to do, isn't it?

It's the most easiest thing to do or do I decide to hang on a minute, I'm going to believe

God in the time of my weakness, the time of my frailty when we've done all that we can

and still nothing may be changing that our focus turns to the Lord and it's there that

He begins to help us.

A word that sums this up is called grace and I'm going to share with this a little bit

later on.

So Psalm 16 and verse 11, an incredible Psalm that this is the one that you know David himself,

he penned this because of his experiences that he'd had with God, the faithfulness of

God and David's really bragging on God here, he's just really explaining that you can't

go wrong when you trust God, no matter what happens in life, our focus should be on His

unfailing faithfulness, that He's always there regardless what we may have done in our life

or not done in our life, God will always be there for you, always, always He will be there

for you.

So I would draw attention to verse 16 of Psalm 11 and it says, you will show me the path

of life, isn't it good, Cliff you mentioned that this morning about showing the path of

life, he says, in your presence is how much joy?

It's the fullness of joy, praise God, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

So when he says that in your presence there is fullness of joy, if I was to hold up a

cup and I was to tell you that it was full, would you expect to be able to put any more

water in it?

If it's full, it's full.

So what this is speaking about is this resource of joy, this fullness of joy means, and this

is the picture and I love it, that you can drink from this thing all day long and it

stays full, it won't empty, it will always be full, it's not like it goes down a bit

and then a couple of days, no it's always full, it always remains full.

It reminds me of a story, I don't know if it's true or not, but old Paddy, he was fishing

by the river and next thing you know this bottle floats past him and he picks it up

and he opens it up and this genie comes out, totally biblical of course, and this genie

pops out and he says to Paddy, he said, Paddy you have two wishes, what's your first wish?

He said, hey I want a bottle of whiskey that never runs dry.

So boom, there's this bottle of whiskey and he takes the lid off and glug, glug, glug,

glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, I'm not suggesting you do this by the way, but and he drinks

it and halfway down it goes and all of a sudden it fills back up and he tried it about three

or four times.

He says, this is incredible and the genie said, well what's your second wish?

He said, I've got to have another one of these.

Oh come on, help me out a bit there.

But this is the thing, that if God gives you a cup that never runs out, never runs dry,

no point in wanting another one because that one is sufficient.

In His presence there is fullness of joy, so that means then that our journey is not

focusing on or living in and dwelling in the hard places which, you know what, it's easy

to be there and sometimes we're there for a reason, for a season I mean, but you know

my advice is, I've had to do it many times, I'm sure you have as well, like a plane going

down just diving, you pull on that stick, I think it's a stick, I've never flown a

plane, whatever they do and the plane's going down, we're going to crash, pull up, you've

got to pull up and as soon as you're going down you're looking at your fate, your destiny,

you're going to die.

But they made a decision to pull back and that plane bottoms out and goes up, so what

are they now looking at?

The sky.

And when you and I, when we are in a time of trouble or need, of persecution, whatever

it might be, pull back on that rudder, look up toward heaven, allow your sight to see

things that will encourage you and not remind you of how bad things are.

Yes things can be very bad.

But God is saying, drinking from this river, drinking from the Spirit of God, this Holy

Spirit joy really is a decision that we make because it already resides inside of us.

It's our choice, it's our choice to drink of it, it's our choice to tap into it.

And so the work in dwelling of the Holy Spirit, there are benefits and when we tap into them

there are amazing blessings.

If you'd like to turn with me to the book of Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22, I think

Galatians 5:22

most of us, not all of us know it's speaking about the fruit of the Spirit and prior to

that it's speaking about, you know, the flesh, the old nature that, you know, it wants to

do its old things and the new created Spirit of man, the new creation that you are, wants

to do things the ways the Spirit of God leads us to do.

And so there can be, you know, a battle that goes on.

And then Apostle Paul brings this analogy, he says, well, let me tell you what the works

of the flesh are and he goes into all these things, he says, but you don't want to go,

you're a born-again Christian, you're a child of the living God, this is what resides in

you and this is what we tap into and this is what we can and probably should, definitely

should live from.

And he says here in verse 22, but, isn't that a good word, but, so it's a change, it's

an action shift that's actually meaning that in spite of everything that's just been said,

there's some good news.

Here comes a life-changing experience if you will tap into this, if you will believe this

and it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law.

You know, this is a very joyful church, my mum's name is Joy, there's Joy over there,

who's the other, another Joy here, who are, we got Joy's everywhere in the church, it's

a very joyful church, praise the Lord, but the thing is, the Spirit of God here is saying,

well the Word of God is saying that the fruit of the Spirit, I think a more accurate word

for the word fruit is evidence, that the evidence of the indwelling Spirit in our life is love,

is joy and it goes on.

So what does that mean?

It means that it's there, the resources are there, it's there.

How do we tap into this?

I'm glad you asked because I'm going to answer that as we go.

So what does joy mean?

You may be surprised, this is what joy means, it means extend favour or extended favour.

You might think, I'm not getting it, hang on, be patient, patience is the fruit of the

Spirit folks, just be patient, I'll get there.

It means lean towards, be favourably disposed, now you might be thinking, what's that got

to do with anything?

It has everything to do with it, I'm going to explain in a minute.

It also means the awareness, you ready for this, joy, what does joy mean?

The awareness of God's grace creates joy.

The awareness of God's grace creates joy in our lives.

It means favour and this is the one I like, grace recognised.

Now you're thinking, it's no big deal to me, well I think it will be by the end of the

message because this is everything, this is really absolutely everything when we speak

about joy.

So extended favour, do you think that if you were in a place or I was in a place where

I'm thinking, oh Lord, I've messed up again, has anyone ever said that before?

Or is it just me?

I've messed up again, I've blown it, I don't know if there's any redemption for me and

then this realisation of this extended favour that God is saying, you know what, regardless,

I love you, I'm with you, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you and not only that,

I'm going to be with you, I'm going to show you how to get this right.

Do you think that would make you sad?

Hello?

Do you think that would make you sad?

What would it do?

It would make you joyful.

It would make us very joyful.

And if you are in a place that maybe, you know, rejection might be a deal or something

in your life or whatever it might be or, you know, there are so many people around and

that God favours you and the word He leaned towards is that God is actually leaning towards

you.

His favour is towards you.

He's not standing back hiding saying, I'm going to make you work for this.

No, He doesn't.

In any place or situation we find ourselves in, God's always leaning towards us.

And an outward result of that, when we realise this, this truth, it creates a joy in our

life.

This realisation, God does love me.

God does care for me.

He cares for you.

He loves you.

And that is a motivator of joy in our life that the Spirit of God is bearing witness

with your spirit that God loves you, regardless.

Amen.

So it goes on, be favourably disposed.

In other words, you are the apple of His eye.

Well, in fact, I don't know about that.

As Pastor Clark Taylor said, he said, if I'm the apple of His eye, well, I am, so how can

you be?

I thought that was funny.

But the thing is, we're all God's favourites.

God loves us all equally.

And I think this is where sometimes religion or legalism come in, is that because I pray

more than this one, that God would love me more, favour me more than the other one.

No, it doesn't work like that.

It doesn't work like that at all.

God loves us all.

The awareness of God's grace.

Are you ever, am I ever aware or do I take the time to be conscious of God's presence

and an awareness that what I'm saying to you today of His grace towards you, His favour

towards you, has that awareness become a revelation in your life?

Because let me tell you, when it does, you'll be jumping and leaping and praising God.

The revelation that God loves you, loves me is an amazing thing and we all need to know

this.

The favour, the grace recognised.

This is the one that I think, to me personally, it just stands out from the others because

grace recognised means that we've previously lived not recognising it.

And there are times that you and I, I'm sure, have been through tests and trials and tribulations

and doing it tough, feeling like the weight of the world's on your shoulders.

There's nowhere to turn.

No matter which way you try to turn, it seems like there's a roadblock everywhere and it's

like God, are you even there?

Are you even interested in my life?

It seems like I'm so alone and we can live and people do live lives like this for so

long.

I want to encourage you.

You're not a beggar in the sight of God.

You're not someone that has to continually, you know, be on your knees groveling or climbing

up the stairs, you know, on your knees, you know, these indulgences and making, putting

yourself through pain to be accepted by God.

You don't have to do anything like that because you've already been accepted.

Jesus paid the price for that.

We don't have to do that.

It's been done for us.

But when we're right in the middle of a situation, I was in one a couple of weeks ago and I'm

thinking, why is this so heavy?

Why is this, what does this seem so impossible?

And the Lord spoke to me.

He said, because I said, Lord, where are you?

He said, I'm everywhere.

I'm right there with you.

But he said to me, you need to have an attitude change.

And then I began to realize the grace that has been with me all the time.

And I began to rejoice.

It naturally happened because I realized in the midst of a circumstance, the groveling

wasn't fixed.

Has anyone found that whinging, complaining and groveling has ever fixed any of your problems?

Can I see a show of hands?

Is there anybody here?

No, it doesn't fix anything.

Would you say that it possibly might even make it worse?

I see a few husband and wives bumping shoulders and we do offer free counseling after the

service.

Just book in, you go online and you book your appointment in, not a problem.

No, we don't do that.

But we recognize the grace.

It's like God gives us a shake up and God, I don't want that.

I want a groveling this because I feel that I've been through so much pain in my life

that I feel I deserve this.

Has anyone ever done that?

It wasn't fair what happened.

Why did they do that?

Why did they...

Why, Lord, why didn't you stop?

Why, why, why, why, why?

Sound like Tom Jones.

You'll get that in a minute.

So the complaining and the groveling and staying in this dark pit in this dungeon never fixes

anything and I know we all know that.

Doesn't fix anything.

I'll tell you what it does do.

It has the capacity to attract people of that same downcast spirit.

And often, they may be good people, but often that's the last counsel or company that you

need to keep at that time.

And so this grace realized is to me so special because it comes in a time when we've got

nothing left, no fuel left in the tank and God waits for us to get right to the end and

say, how's that working for you, Rob?

Well, it ain't.

And then the Spirit of God begins to minister to us and reveal to us, reminds us of who

He is.

There's great grace toward us and then we realize, oh God, you've been there all the

time.

And I've insulated myself from your spirit because me and myself, I just wanted to complain

and I just wanted to do whatever we do, but I'm seeing it now.

My focus should not be on my feelings or the emotion of the whole thing, yet it is a real

thing, a real thing we go through.

But I need to pull on that rudder.

Instead of looking at the problem, nose diving, I'm going to make a change and you pull on

that rudder.

Next thing you know, you're not looking at the problem anymore.

You're focusing on the grace, grace realized.

I'm realizing, God, I was going the wrong way.

Not that you go to hell for it, but it doesn't help us when we're going the wrong way.

But as soon as we make that decision, it's a choice that we make, that we start climbing

up and our whole, the panoramic view changes.

And in a spiritual sense, we see that when we're going up, focus those things or set

your mind on those things which are above, not beneath.

There's a reason for that.

But it is a spiritual law.

What you see and what you focus on is what we meditate on and what we meditate on is

what we speak and what we speak we create and it comes into existence.

And so how much different would it be then when we change what we see by an attitude

adjustment to start climbing up and saying, hang on a minute, grace realized.

That God's grace toward me is never failing.

That cup, in His presence, there's fullness of joy.

That cup, I can drink as much as I need or it's never going to run out.

So I don't have to be conservative on how much I drink, just drink because there's our

answer.

I believe David had that revelation in Psalm 23, my cup runneth over.

It is a powerful principle, the grace of God.

And so grace is an empowering ability of God.

You know, we know that grace means He's undeserved, He's undeserved favor towards you and toward

me that it was by grace that we were saved through faith and not of our own works.

Nothing that we could do.

Salvation was a free gift, a work of grace and I understand that.

But there's more to grace than that.

Grace is an empowering ability as well.

And I want to focus on that through the rest of this message because we need to focus on

God's empowering ability.

Do you know that God's grace is what also opens the avenue to dunamis power?

It's powerful.

And I know that the Word of God is just so good.

I know that if you don't already know this, the revelation is going to set you free.

That it's all about God's care for us.

It's all about that.

God's care for us.

So this joy rises up inside of us knowing that God's got it.

I know I was over in Kenya that last trip and I was talking about something similar

and they always want to know, they want to learn Aussie slang.

I mean Kenyans here today, they say come on, teach us some more Aussie slang.

And you know, one of them is that God's all over it like a coat of paint and they have

a good laugh.

They just love it.

And one day I said, God's killing it and the place went dead quiet.

Because we have that saying in Australia, oh God's killing it.

He's just got it, you know, and I realized, don't use that one.

It didn't work and it wasn't wise to say that.

And I tell you what, the times we have over there are just great.

Just wonderful people also.

Romans 14 verse 17, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness

Romans 14:17

and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Now Apostle Paul previously was addressing a problem that the Christians at that time,

they were being confronted with other Christians, some were eating meat that was sacrificed

to idols and others would do it, some of them wouldn't do it and Apostle Paul saying, hey

guys, you've missed the whole point.

You know, he's speaking about conscience saying all that sort of thing.

But he said, he's saying to the Christians, he says, guys, I want to bring you back to

Christianity 101.

Let's go back to what I taught you.

He says, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, amen, but it's righteousness

being right with God through Christ Jesus and peace that is a result of being in the

family of God.

And he says, and the joy in the Holy Spirit and so for Apostle Paul to be inspired by

the Spirit of God to add that last bit in, joy in the Holy Spirit, he's actually saying

to these guys, he says, you know, you're so focused and becoming legalistic on these things,

you're losing your joy, you're losing your focus.

He said, focus again on the Spirit of God who lives in you and think deeply about the

witness that the Spirit of God has given.

He will restore the joy of your salvation.

He restores the joy in our life if we will yield to it.

And so in the midst of confusion about this eating and drinking, righteousness, peace

and joy in the Holy Spirit was what the message was.

And so he reminds them, this is what the kingdom is about.

And the kingdom of God is also about joy in the Holy Spirit, because God knew that we

were going to need this.

We were going to have to know that this is our portion.

This is our benefit.

This is our right as children of the living God, that whenever you and I may be going

through a difficult time, that we have accessible and available to us at any moment of our life,

this ability to draw upon a supernatural strength that lives inside of us to maintain a joy

through the deepest and toughest tests and trials in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

So recognize grace is inspired by the Spirit of God.

In Luke chapter 10 verse 21, it reads here, in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit

Luke 10:21

and said, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things

from the wise and the prudent and reveal them to babes.

And so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.

Now, previously, or previous to that, Jesus sent out the 70 to go out and to witness and

be kingdom people.

And I could only imagine what they would have thought.

At that time, they'd already seen what Jesus had done.

They saw what he was able to do, and Jesus commissioned them.

And I can imagine their first day on the job as apprentices.

Could you imagine?

And he sends them out in the midst of all these big bad wolves.

And I could only imagine if it'd be...

I don't think things would change much from as it is today.

My thoughts were, it's just like, off they go.

And you go, you speak to him.

No, no, I'm not... you speak to him.

I'm not going to knock on that door.

Yeah, you knock on that door.

But I'm scared.

Yes, how am I?

I mean, could have there have been an element of this when they went out?

It's very possible.

Surely there would have been a measure of intimidation of some degree, because Jesus

didn't go with them.

He sent them out, and they're on their own.

I think that would have been quite an intimidating moment, but a moment to grow.

God does the same with us.

There are times that he separates you and causes you to be in a place where you're not

comfortable.

And then he'll create opportunity for you to minister to someone or whatever it might

be.

And let me say, the same is the way the disciples come back, so we come back, totally changed,

totally transformed.

It's just an incredible thing.

But Jesus, when they came back, they said, you know, Lord, even the demons are subject

to us in your name.

I mean, they were joyful.

They were ecstatic.

They're going, man, this is amazing.

And when Jesus heard their report, it says in that hour, Jesus rejoiced, not just rejoiced,

He rejoiced in the Spirit.

And so that word there, rejoiced, what it means is, is that a person is so overwhelmed

by this incredible good news and this what has happened and the results of it that people

listen to this, they jump, they twirl around, they throw their hands in the air, probably,

you know, do a little bit of a disco wiggle or something.

I don't know what it might be.

But you're getting the picture.

Now, am I saying that Jesus did that?

No, what I'm saying is the word said says that Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and the

concordance says that when someone rejoices in the Spirit, they just don't stand there

and go, I'm really happy about that today.

Praise the Lord.

He jumped and he shouted and he was like, yes, it's happening.

The kingdom of God is breaking forth everything that's been planned.

It started, this was the first time and off they go and they come back rejoicing and saying,

Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

How good is that?

And so Jesus, yeah, that's what it's about.

But He wants us to rejoice in the victories that we have every single day.

Whenever we have a test or a trial that comes our way, Jesus is wanting us to have the attitude

to go, yes, here comes another test and another trial.

How awesome is this?

This is another great opportunity to show off how good and mighty our God is.

Come on, bring it on, as Pastor Keith would say.

And this is what I'm seeing.

So we can be bogged down with what we're seeing, everything that is wrong and go, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no.

Grace realized, I'm focusing on this.

Bring it because my God is greater than any problem, any test, any trial, any persecution.

He's greater than any financial struggle that I'm going through.

He's greater than any relational problem that I'm going through.

He's greater than any sickness that I might be experiencing.

Grace revealed, my God is greater.

Let's do this thing.

Praise the Lord.

Are you excited this morning?

Praise God.

Hallelujah.

John chapter 15 verse 11, nearly finished.

John 15:11

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may

be full.

Amen.

He doesn't want us to do life with joy like our yellow light on the petrol gauge flashing

and staying on.

I've got enough just to get home.

It's not about just having enough to get somewhere.

It's about keeping the tank full all the time to know.

And it's grace realized that I can drink from that cup all day long, all night long.

And when I'm going through a test and a trial, that cup's going to stay full so I can keep

drinking from it and it's going to stay full.

That is God's grace.

And when we realize that, we rejoice.

We go, man, it's going to be a tough, or it is a tough journey, but I know I'm not walking

this alone.

Christ is with you.

The Spirit of God is in you.

The rivers of living water is in you and it's flowing.

It's flowing like a torrent, I can tell you.

And so in our tests and trials, take a sip from that, draw from that spring that will

never ever run dry.

And I tell you, this grace realized starts bubbling up within us.

What have I to be afraid of?

You know, the fear of failure...

The Christ who lives in me is not a failure.

And if I listen to Him and have my attitude lined up with Him, I'm going to be exactly

like Him and end up exactly where He wants me to be.

I think sometimes we may worry too much.

In fact, the Bible says not to worry at all.

1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6 to 9, and here's where it shifts.

1 Peter 1:6–9

In this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been

grieved by various trials.

Anyone been grieved by various trial here today?

Probably plenty of us, if not all of us at some stage.

And so now we can place ourself in this.

So now we can say, if I'm going through a trial now, the rest of this word is going

to give me an answer to get through it, to succeed and be on top of it.

Amen?

That the genuineness of your faith...

What is that?

The genuineness of your faith.

Does that mean that a faith cannot be genuine?

What it's actually saying is, is that faith can be built.

Faith can be exercised.

Our faith can increase.

But it's not so much in a quantity, it's quality.

That's the difference.

The genuineness of your faith, the faith is an inner persuasion that no matter what we

are facing, the outside, our mind is telling us, run.

It's all over.

It's finished.

You're going to look like a fool.

But there's an inner persuasion inside of us that we listen to.

No, no, no, no, no.

All of those things are subject to change because I believe in my God.

I realize that there's a grace of my life and there's a river that I can drink from

right now to maintain my joy.

And I know that the joy of the Lord is my strength and that I can maintain this joy

and that God is going to get me through.

And I am convinced about that.

Devil, there's nothing you can do or say to convince me otherwise because the joy of the

Lord is our strength.

Praise the Lord.

So 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 the revelation of Jesus Christ,

whom having not seen you love, though now you have not seen him yet believing, you rejoice

with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation

of your souls.

Just quickly, what the Spirit of God in the scripture is doing is bringing out a real

life situation we all go through, tests, trials, persecutions, and all that sort of thing.

So that's in one hand.

And on the other hand, the Word of God is saying, but do you know that you possess this

ability to go through this problem over here, rejoicing with joy inexpressible?

So how do we do that?

How do we do that?

James 1, verse 2 to 4, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

James 1:2–4

knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect

work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking no thing, nothing.

Amen.

So what a crazy thing in the natural.

You and I going through a real bad test or trial and the scripture says, consider it

all joy.

Oh, how come I didn't think about that?

Because it doesn't sound like a good idea, does it?

Let me explain what this means.

Consider it all joy when you fall into various trials.

This here is speaking about posing to us a choice to consider.

When a test or a trial comes, we can choose to consider it joy or we can choose to not

consider it joy and be down in this hole.

So there's something in this that the Word of God is saying, Christians, when things

are not working out for you, make a conscious decision in your life, as hard as it is, I'm

going to choose to drink from that river.

I'm going to choose to drink from that fullness of joy, even in the midst of things that I

see just don't seem right and don't even seem to be getting better.

But I'm not going to allow this thing drag me down into a pit any longer and I'm not

going to allow it to keep me in that pit for another second.

And it's a decision, it's a choice.

So when we count it all joy, consider it, listen to this, grace revealed, consider it

God's favor, God's empowerment.

And when we get hold of that, and it's hard as it is, I know it's hard, I know this, as

we all do, that it says that the testing of your faith, you know your faith, my faith

will be tested and it will be tested over and over and over again.

And why does God do that?

Why can't God just zap things and just fix it and it's all done and we can get them a

merry life?

Well, you know why?

Because we will be the same person when we're a hundred ready to go home to the Lord than

when we were saved, when we were 20 years old, we never grew.

God said, I'm about growing my people, testing you and trying you, improving you, the patience,

the endurance of His people to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

And as I close on this, 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7 to 10, and I think this is what really drives

2 Corinthians 12:7–10

it home, 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 to 10, unless I should be exalted above measure

2 Corinthians 12:7–10

by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of

Satan to Buffett, nearly said Buffet, I'm hungry.

To Buffett, Buffett me, I said it again.

Lest I be exalted above measure concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times

that it might depart from me.

Okay, how many of us have been there?

You're going through it.

You really gone through stuff.

Lord just take it away.

And you're praying, just take it away.

A thorn in the flesh, a problem, something that is deeply persecuting you, a problem that's

going on.

You know, the answer is not to ask the Lord to remove it.

It's not there.

Apostle Paul wrote here, he said, and he, Jesus said to me, my grace is sufficient for

you.

It's the same like that cup, sufficiency of something is sufficient.

It's more than enough, more than what you need to get it done.

And if you think that there's not enough, God's got more and he's got more, and he's

got an endless supply, it's eternal.

So we shouldn't be afraid or worried about tapping into what is, has no end.

That is an unlimited resource that God has given to you saying, use this in your time

of need.

This is what you need.

Drink it, use it.

Oh, but Lord, I don't want to waste it in case someone else more needy than me needs

it.

Drink it.

There's more for every, there's enough for everybody.

But he says here, for my strength is made perfect, made perfect in weakness.

You know what that's saying?

God's strength comes to maturity in us when we got nothing left, yet our eyes are still

focused on him.

It's like you think it's all over, I just can't do this anymore, I'm finished, it's

done.

I can't bear the weight of this anymore, whatever it might be, it's at that place.

We cry out to God, Lord help me, help me.

God's saying, this is where my grace works power in your life.

He says for my strength, my dunamis power is made perfect in weakness.

How does that happen?

Because his grace is sufficient for us, his empowering ability.

When apostle Paul had the revelation of grace revealed, grace received, grace understood,

listen to what he says as I close.

Therefore, because of the revelation that I now have of this grace revealed, my cup

will always be full.

Because of this, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of

Christ may rest upon me.

That word boast is not telling everybody, you know, boasting, no, no, it's not that

at all.

It's speaking about our revelation, what we have about the situation.

We go around saying, you know, I thought it was all finished, but I have this revelation

that my God's going to get me through.

It's his grace, it's his empowering ability.

And I know that I had to come to the end of myself.

I had to come to the end of me trying to fix everything.

Anyone ever been there?

I had to come to the end of myself.

And when I found that place, when I thought that I was a failure, that I failed and I

called out to God, there his grace reveal came and empowered me and helped me and strengthened

me and strengthens you.

He said, therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions

and distresses for Christ's sake.

When I am weak, then I am strong.

I am strong.

Amen.

Now, if you're here today and you know that you need this unlimited source that I've

been telling you about, his name is Jesus.

That's how we get into this.

This is how we obtain this.

But you need to be a Christian.

You need to be a child of God to access this.

Does that mean that if I'm not a Christian that God won't love me?

No, he loves you.

He always has and always will.

And he's given out invitations from the time of the cross of Calvary for humanity to come

to him to be saved, to experience this amazing work of grace in their lives.

The forgiveness of sin, the acquittal of sin, the being pardoned of every sin that we've

committed.

Not only that, to be received into the family of God and start life fresh and new again.

That we are justified like we have never ever sinned once in our life.

I don't know about you.

When I heard about that 30 years ago, I took it with both hands.

That's for me.

And I know you've done that as well.

Well, I hope you have.

But being a Christian is not by name or word only.

It's a spiritual conversion.

It takes place when our spirit man that was dead to God because of sin, that when we accept

Christ, say, Lord Jesus, I ask that you save me.

I'm sorry for the things I've done wrong.

Would you forgive me and cleanse me from all those things?

He'll do that.

And not only that, he'll receive you into the family of God and treat you just as his

own, cherish you and just love on you so much.

And it's there at that point, that place where we have access to so many blessings is more

than what one could one could share in a in a day.

One of them is this joy that is available to every single one of us, that river that

flows of the spirit of God, that Holy Spirit joy rise up from within us in any given situation.

You do experience that.

Yes, you first must be born again.

So this morning, as I close, I want to give that opportunity to everybody here and everyone

watching online, because it'd be wrong for me to assume that everybody is born again.

Born again means that we've given our old life behind.

We've trusted in Christ to be saved.

We have the new nature.

The old person's gone.

It does a wonderful work in our life.

Christ in us, a hope of glory.

Being born from above, it means.

So if you've never experienced that before, you're watching online.

And how do I experience that?

Well, it's a good question.

Very easy answer.

I'll pray a prayer, same prayer similar that I prayed 30 years ago when I gave my heart

to Jesus and I invited him into my life.

It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

And I just couldn't imagine my life without him, but it's the beginning of the first steps

of many to come.

I wholeheartedly believe in our first step being born again, equally as much as being

disciple and being taught and trained in the ways of God.

Amen.

So I'm going to pray a prayer.

And I really do from my heart encourage you, if you're not already born again, that you

would pray this prayer from your heart.

The Bible says that if you believe from your heart and confess with your mouth the Lord

Jesus, you shall be saved.

If you believe that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

And that's most of us believe that.

So why don't we pray?

Can we bow our heads and close our eyes?

I deeply encourage you to pray with me this morning.

If you've never prayed this prayer before, would you do it today?

Father God, I come to you in the name of Jesus.

I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus.

This day, I give my life to you, Lord, and I ask you forgive me of everything I've done

wrong.

This day, I give my entire being to you.

In the name of Jesus, I need to be born again.

And today, I receive you Jesus.

Amen.

Thank you for joining us.

We pray God's richest blessing on your life.

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You can also find us at LoganCityChristianChurch.com.

See you next week.