AMA: What is the Joy of the Lord? - Pastor David Houck | July 12, 2026

So we're continuing our Ask Me Anything series this morning.

And uh when I read this question, I picked it immediately before my dad could get to it, and was very excited to look at what scripture has to say about it.

The question is quite simple.

What is the joy of the Lord?

What is the joy of the Lord?

We just sang about the joy of the Lord.

There are many songs about the joy of the Lord.

We hear people refer to it quite often, but what does it actually mean?

And this question is actually very personal to me.

As I've shared many a time, uh throughout my life, I have dealt with depression.

Uh, I've actually been diagnosed with a sort of uh a fort form of or sort of, there we go, a form of bipolar depression.

Uh and I began to experience it um in high school.

And I remember uh for several years, and especially uh during this period of my life where I was at another church, wasn't here, we'd be singing about the joy of the Lord, and I wouldn't be singing along because I was angry, because I was bitter, because I was depressed and in pain and in despair, and singing it felt like a lie, and I didn't understand what it was, and I didn't understand why I wasn't experiencing it.

I remember when I um went to college, which lasted two and a half weeks, but when I went to college, um the day that my parents dropped me off, they had us do this exercise with each family where you wrote with chalk on the ground to give each family member something that they hoped you would get, or something they hoped you would find through your years at school.

And I I had attended Roberts Wesleyan, which is a Christian college, and I remember very clearly with tears in her eyes, my mom wrote joy.

She hoped I would find joy.

Two and a half weeks later, I drop out because quite frankly, I was suicidal.

Um, and the way that God has led it, um, was never felt to uh go back to it.

Um but then this question of joy continued to won't say haunt, but continued to consume my mind.

And I've spent many years um discovering more and more truths about it.

This isn't in your notes.

I I probably should have put it in your notes, but I was just trying to come up with my own definition of what joy is.

And I wrote a sustaining gratitude, contentment, and delight that is found first in the knowledge and work of God, and second through our obedience to him.

That right now is my working definition of what joy is, particularly the joy of the Lord.

And I think it's important that we differentiate a little bit between joy and happiness.

Now, joy is happiness, but not all happiness is joy, because happiness depends on your current circumstances or a momentary feeling of pleasure.

Happiness can even be false joy.

You know, when you when you go down the path of sin, when you choose a sin, and maybe you think in the moment it is bringing you some sort of pleasure, but that is fleeting, and it certainly isn't joy because it only leads you further and further down into darkness and despair.

But joy surpasses all circumstances.

True joy exists within your hearts, regardless of what you are going through.

But I want to break down just a little bit of different aspects found in Scripture of what the joy of the Lord is.

And we're limited into how much we can discuss today, so I just tried to pick some highlights.

But first of all, the joy of the Lord is a response to salvation, a response to salvation.

In Christianity, we often refer to the gospel message, meaning the message, the story of Jesus and what he has done for us, as the good news.

It's good news, it's news that is supposed to bring joy.

In fact, in the Christmas story, when the angel appears to shepherds, notice what he says in Luke chapter 2, verses 10 through 11, and the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.

Luke 2:10–11

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Good news of great joy that will be for all people.

That should be our initial response when we hear the gospel message.

And if you become a Christian, that is your initial response.

It is joy.

It is joy of discovering what Christ has done for you, that he paid the penalty for your sins, so that you can have eternal life with him.

Later on, Peter writes, Though you have not seen him, you love him.

Though you do not see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

So you might not see him right now, but you have joy.

You love him because you've accepted the good news.

So it is a response to salvation.

Secondly, joy of the Lord is a fruit of the Spirit.

As we talked about the Trinity a few weeks ago, there are three persons that make up our God: God the Father, God the Son, Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is God Himself dwelling within the lives of every believer.

The second you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you place your faith in Christ as the risen Son of God, God Himself enters within you through the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is what seals your salvation for all of eternity.

And the Holy Spirit is what slowly transforms you.

He slowly transforms you to be more and more like Christ.

And he produces fruit in us.

And Paul identifies the fruit.

Many of you might even have it memorized in Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23.

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things, there is no law.

These things are what God desires for you, and they are fruit of the spirit.

Paul doesn't write that these are the fruit of religion or these are the fruit of hard work.

No, it's a fruit of the spirit.

It is a result of the spirit of someone else, of God living within you.

Growth happens in the lives of a believer because God is living within you.

Without the spirit, we are dead.

So there is no growth.

Dead trees don't produce fruit, but we produce fruit through the power and the life of the Holy Spirit.

You might be able to experience, if you don't know Christ, pleasure and happiness.

But without the Holy Spirit living within you, you can never experience true joy.

They go hand in hand, which is why in Acts chapter 13, verse 52, it says, And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:52

They're intertwined, they're connected.

Joy comes from the Holy Spirit.

So this is kind of one of those do not pass go points.

If you want practical tips on how to be happy, that's not what I'm offering you today.

Because joy comes only from the Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, it is a delight in God.

The joy of the Lord is a delight in God.

John Piper often speaks about the delight in God.

And I enjoy listening to his messages.

But this should be the goal of every believer: to be able to delight, find joy, find peace, rest in who God is.

Psalm chapter 16, verse 11 says, You make known to me the path of life.

Psalms 16:11

In your presence there is fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

We should all seek to know God more and more, to discover who he is, to spend time with him through reading his word, to spend time with him in prayer, and to just learn more about him, learn how he reveals himself in scripture.

And the more and more and more you discover about God, the more inevitable it is that you will fall in love with him and experience joy.

Psalm 37 and verse 4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

A lot of people don't really understand, like, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

God will give me all the desires of my heart?

No.

Thankfully, no.

As you delight yourself in the Lord, your desires will begin to align more closely with his desires for you.

And you will begin to only want what he wants for us.

And the truth is, the core desires behind what you think you want are the same desires that God has for you.

I mean, behind our desire to find the perfect someone out there, or to find someone else that we don't have, it's just a desire for love.

Our cravings for material things is just a misplaced desire for joy.

Our longing for a better job or a bigger paycheck is often just us yearning for peace.

But many of us have found someone and we still long for love.

Many of us have gotten some of the cars or the toys or the gadgets or the clothes or the golf clubs we always desired but still feel no joy.

Some of us work in a job far better than our previous ones, or earning an income more than we ever imagined, yet still feel little peace, or maybe even less.

Because true love, joy, peace are not found in those things.

Love, joy, and peace are the first three fruits listed in the fruits of the Spirit.

The real things you desire come from God.

And the more you choose to go to God to delight in Him, to read and meditate on His word, to pour out your heart to Him and thank Him for how beautiful and holy He is, then He will give you the true desires of your heart, the desires behind your desires, because He knows what it really is.

Joy of the Lord is a delight in God.

Fourthly, joy of the Lord is a hope in God's promises.

As redeemed followers of Jesus, we have been given so many promises by God.

Hey, you're never gonna know what those promises are if you don't open up the Bible.

But let me give you a few of them.

There's a promise of salvation through his son Jesus.

There's a promise that all things will be made for the good of those who love him.

It's a promise that God will never leave us nor forsake us.

It's the promise of eternal life with him in a perfect heaven and earth.

The promise of new bodies without illness or pain or the curse of sin and death.

And so in all of these things we should rejoice.

Paul said Romans 12, 12, rejoice in hope.

We rejoice in hope.

Rejoicing should be the external expression of our internal hope.

I mean, when someone has good news to share with you, you see it in their face before they ever open up their mouth.

You see it in their eyes.

You see that they are excited to tell you something.

They are rejoicing.

We have the best news that there is.

We should carry that with us wherever we go.

The hope should be expressed through rejoicing.

Hope and belief should always be accompanied by joy.

Romans chapter 15, verse 13 says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

Just becomes this cycle of joy and hope and joy and hope and joy and hope that begins with God and grows throughout your life.

But fifthly, the joy of the Lord is an act of obedience.

I thought joy is the fruit of the Spirit, something that He does in us, not something we can produce in ourselves.

And yes, that is true, but it is also a command.

The Holy Spirit planted the seed, the Holy Spirit gives it life, but we have to water it.

We have to prune the weeds around it.

And we have to make sure that we don't trample on it or just cut it down.

I mean, this is true of many aspects of Christian living.

It's impossible without God, but there is still some work required.

And to be clear, that's not salvation, that is all in Him.

But our obedience to Him is only made possible by God, but still requires work from us.

Now, this makes little sense in terms of joy and rejoicing if you only view it as a feeling.

But it's more than that.

I mean, those of you who have been married for a while understand this when it comes to love.

Parents might too.

Love is a feeling, yes.

But it is also something much more than that.

It's also a choice.

It's also hard work.

I mean, there may be days, there might be seasons where you don't have all of those same feelings that you once had very early on in the relationship.

But you choose to love them anyways.

You choose to serve them, to put their needs before your own, to make sacrifices for them, to do the hard work of maintaining the relationship.

And through that, eventually the feelings return and you go through cycles.

The exact same thing happens with joy.

As Christians, we are to rejoice always, whether or not we feel like it.

Paul wrote it to the Thessalonians, rejoice always.

To the Philippians, he said, Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I will say, rejoice.

Romans 12, 12, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Three times there, just from the Apostle Paul, we are given the command to rejoice always.

Does anyone know what it is when a Christian refuses to be obedient to a command in the Bible?

Sin.

It's sin.

You may not have thought about this, but not rejoicing in the Lord as a believer is sin.

That is disobedience to God.

That is rejecting the will of God for you.

Say, well, I don't feel like rejoicing, so I'm not going to.

It's not how it works.

Do you say that about other things?

Honestly, we often do, you know.

I don't feel like doing it, so I'm not going to, but that doesn't mean the command is gone.

Even when you don't feel it, that's when you back up to the fact that, hey, this is a command from God.

Now, having shared my story a little bit, I want to just bring a quick word about depression.

Depression does not exempt you from this command.

Does it make it more difficult?

Absolutely.

But it's not a clause, it's not an excuse.

You can be weighed down by the dark, heavy fog of depression and yet not be miserable.

You can be depressed without being mean.

You can be depressed without being selfish and ungrateful.

It's hard, yeah.

And certainly I do not always get it right.

But I've learned that with Christ it is possible.

But the enemy wants you to fall into the trap that is so easy for those of us who deal with depression or anyone who ever has gone through a season of depression.

And that trap is to look inward, to focus on ourselves and our pain and what we're going through.

And then we begin to block out what's happening in the world around us and just travel further down the road of self-pity and selfish despair.

Do you know what's at the end of that road?

It's suicide.

Reaching a point where you're wholly consumed by your pain and your despair that you abandon God's will for your life and hurt everyone around you.

Don't even step foot on that road.

Don't even begin to walk in the direction of self pity and depression.

Walk on the path of rejoicing.

Now, does that mean you bottle up your feelings and put on a happy face?

No.

In fact, weep, cry, yell out to God for help.

As Christians, we're given the command to rejoice with those who rejoice, but also to mourn with those who mourn.

Jesus wept.

Experience the full range of emotions that there is.

And please, for the sake of yourself and for the sake of those around you, get help.

Work with people to figure out what the root cause of your depression is and seek to remedy it.

Seek counseling.

Make healthy changes.

Talk to your doctor about medication, whether or not that is the right path for you.

But never stop looking up to God and looking out to the needs of those around you, especially your loved ones.

Never stop being grateful and kind and loving.

Be obedient and rejoice always in all circumstances.

It's a tricky walk, but I say this as someone who has been there.

You don't have to hide your pain.

You don't have to lie about it.

You don't have to push it deep down.

Instead, you can allow your joy to shine through it.

That's why I share my story.

That's why I share my struggles.

We have a leadership team here and we have a prayer team here.

It wasn't that long ago that I texted them and said, hey, I need prayer because I'm really dealing with depression right now.

And they prayed for me.

I'm not embarrassed of it.

And it might weigh you down, but you don't have to let it bring you down, if that makes any sense.

You can still let your joy and your hope and your faith in God shine through the pain.

And I believe that is an even more powerful testimony than someone who has never experienced that pain at all.

So sixthly.

Is that a word?

Sixthly?

Yeah?

All right.

We got a guess.

All right, thank you.

It is a source of strength.

The joy of the Lord is a source of strength.

It's actually a refuge that is available to every believer.

It is a place we can go when happiness escapes us.

In the book of Nehemiah, the exiled Hebrew people were all returning back to Israel.

And Ezra read aloud God's law and the books of Moses to all the people.

And their response was they actually wept because they saw how far they had fallen from God and how disobedient they had been.

But Nehemiah comforted them and said, Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

And the word he used for strength could be translated as refuge.

The joy of the Lord is your refuge.

It is your sanctuary.

The joy of the Lord is a place always available for Christians to retreat to.

When life gets hard, you return to God.

You spend time with Him, you read His Word, you seek His joy, and that recharges and refreshes us.

Proverbs 17, verse 22 says, A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

The joy of the Lord is our strength.

But you have to seek it, you have to prioritize it, you have to retreat to it.

At this point, might be like me a few years ago and be thinking, that's great and all.

Well, how do I get it?

Why am I not feeling it?

Or how can I get more of it?

As you said, it's a fruit of the spirit, but it still requires some maintenance from us.

So I want to share how to grow the fruit of joy.

And to limit myself, we're going to use the acronym GROW.

There's a lot more that can be said, but I figured it would be more helpful for me to give you four starting points than to pour out everything that could be said on the issue.

So first of all, G is gratitude.

Gratitude.

Ungrateful people are unhappy people.

Simple as that.

Show me someone without joy.

I'll show you someone who has no gratitude.

But grateful people are naturally joyful people.

Gratitude produces joy.

They are directly connected, which is why Paul wrote, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Now, he doesn't say to give thanks for all circumstances.

He says give thanks in all circumstances.

You always have something to be grateful for, regardless of whatever trial you may be in.

Your job is hard, hey, you have a job.

You've got car problems, hey, you have a car.

Something goes wrong in your house, you've got a roof over your head.

Not everyone can say those things.

But if you're only ever focused on yourself and your troubles, you will miss out on everything you have to be grateful for.

But there is also a sense in which Christians can and should be grateful for the bad times as well.

Because James wrote in his letter, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

There is no growth without some sort of discomfort or pain.

It's necessary, it's a part of the process.

And Christian maturity does not come from a life of ease.

It doesn't come from a recliner.

It comes from being on the move.

It comes, it develops in the trenches, on the front lines, in the battlegrounds, when you persevere through every difficult thing you face.

That is what develops you as a Christian.

C.S.

Lewis wrote, We ought to give thanks for all fortune, if it is good, because it is good.

If bad, because it works in us patience, humility, contempt of this world, and the hope of our eternal country.

Look, it might even just come down to that.

I'm grateful for this because it makes me yearn for heaven more and more.

And even if for some reason you cannot find anything to be grateful for in your past or your present, then look to the future.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2 says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

Jesus endured the wrath of the cross because he knew of the joy that was set before him.

He knew the end of the story.

Guess what?

As Christians, we do too.

I've skipped to the end.

It all works out for those of us who love him.

Amen.

So even if for some reason you are so lost in your despair right now that you can't think of anything to be grateful for today, or you can't think of anything to be grateful for in your past, you at the very least can look ahead and know someday this will be over.

I know what's coming.

It's gratitude for what God has done and what God will do.

Secondly, R is for repentance.

If you're looking to completely rob yourself of joy, turn to sin.

I mean, sin is what is contrary to God's will.

And what is contrary to God's will cannot produce what only God can offer.

As Christians, we know we've been forgiven of all of our sins, past, present, and future, but that doesn't eliminate the pain of sin here and now.

There will still be consequences now because sin is against the nature of what God created, the nature of God's divine order.

So naturally, there will always be consequences to it.

We might be saved from the eternal consequences, but they are still immediate ones.

One of the main and the most powerful consequences of sin in a believer's life is spiritual decay.

Especially as we keep hidden sins secret and refuse to confess them and refuse to give them up.

King David experienced this after his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.

We didn't get a glimpse into what he was experiencing internally in Psalm chapter 32, when he wrote, For when I kept silent, meaning when he was trying to hide the sin, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

Psalms 32 · chapter mention

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

He was in pain.

He was in agony.

We know he he even after this is referred to as a man after God's own heart.

He knew what it felt like to be close to the Lord.

He knew what it felt like to be walking with God, but because of this hidden sin, that disappeared.

And God's hand was heavy upon him.

And it felt like his bones were wasting away through his groaning night and day.

His soul was in constant torment because of what, not just what he had done, but because he was keeping it hidden.

Leads to depression.

Now, this is not to say that all depression is caused by sin.

There are many contributing factors.

And the cause of one's depression determines the remedy.

If the cause is some sort of trauma in the past, then you need to seek therapy and counseling.

If it's unhealthy habits, then make healthy changes.

If there's some sort of genetic chemical imbalance, then you'll probably need medication.

But no physical change can cure spiritual depression.

If you're living in sin, if you know you're disobeying God, but you just keep doing it, you don't want to give it up, or if you're living with a secret, unconfessed sin, no amount of medication will cure the pain that causes.

You could take every med in the world, you're still going to be depressed if that is what is leading to it.

The only way out of that is repentance.

That was the only way out for King David.

In Psalm 51, we get his prayer of repentance.

Said, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Then he says, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.

Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness.

Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

And verse 12, he says, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

We have the promise that as believers, sin doesn't cause us to lose our salvation, but it can certainly rob you of its joy.

Many of us need to pray this.

Call out to God beg that he cleanse us and ask that he restores to us the joy of salvation.

Thirdly, for the letter O, it is obedience.

Now we already discussed being obedient to the command to rejoice, but here I'm referring to just overall obedience to God's word.

Just the willingness to follow Christ and his commands for you.

To read his word and not just be hears of the word, but doers as well.

John chapter 15, Jesus said, If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

John 15 · chapter mention

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

Our joy is full when we keep Jesus' commands.

Christ's joy enters us when we're obedient to Him, especially His command to love others the way He loves us.

The author of life knows how life works.

He created you.

He knows what's best for you.

And he hasn't left us alone to try to figure out what that is.

He's written us an instruction manual.

We want to argue with it and reject his word like we know any better.

Like, hey God, I know what you wrote then, but that wouldn't work today.

Really?

I mean, how well has following your way gone?

How much joy has the way of the world given you?

If God wants us to experience joy, to experience the fruit of the Spirit, his commands are not going to lead us in the opposite direction.

Many of you know that the word blessed in the Bible can also be translated as happy.

So translating it that way in Luke chapter 11, verse 28, Jesus says, happy rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Luke 11:28

Do you want to be happy?

Do you want to limit the regret that you have in this life?

Do you want to walk in the direction of joy?

Then follow God's word.

Live the way He wants you to live.

Going to church is not enough.

Just sitting and listening to a message isn't going to do anything if you're only hearers of the word and not doers.

You're wasting your time.

Happy are those who follow God's word.

Which leads us to number four.

For W, it is simply Word.

It is God's written word.

As Jesus said to his disciples, these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.

He speaks it to us as well through the Bible.

God's word written through men.

66 books that we have neatly organized and bound together.

People say, I want to hear from God, then open your Bible.

I want to know what God's will for my life is, then open your Bible.

I don't feel like I'm I hear God's voice, then open your Bible.

It's all there for you.

And if you want joy, seek it in God's word.

Even John said, and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

God's given us his word so that we may have joy.

Psalm chapter uh one nineteen is all about rejoicing in God's word.

In verse 111, it says, Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

Then in verse 162, he says, I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.

It's a treasure to them.

It should be the same way for us.

You ask, how?

How can reading this old ancient book bring us joy?

Because you're not going to know God without reading how he has revealed himself to you.

You're not going to know how God feels about you unless you read it in his word.

You're not going to know about the joy of heaven and the new earth that is awaiting us unless you read it in his word.

Some of you know this.

Some of you have experienced this in yourself.

When you get into a really good habit and practice of reading God's word as a compounding effect, you do it, maybe force yourself to do it.

You establish the habit, and over time there's a change.

You look forward to it, you desire it.

And then when you don't do it, you know you're missing something.

You might not even identify what it is immediately, but you'll look back.

Man, what was wrong this week?

What was wrong this past week?

I've just been in such a funk.

I just don't, you know, I haven't been in the right headspace.

I've been fighting with people, things this, and then you remember.

You haven't been spending time with God.

And you see the difference it makes.

You know what?

As pastors, we see the difference it makes between the people in our congregation we know are continually in the word of God and those who aren't.

And there's a direct correlation between the joyful and the grateful who are in God's word, and the miserable, complaining ones who aren't.

Spend time in God's word.

I'll close with this.

Christian joy is not merely for our own benefit, it is also Ultimately meant to glorify God.

Yes, God loves us.

He wants what's best for you.

The fruit of the spirit is for us, but it is ultimately meant to bring glory to God.

In fact, everything we do as believers, our relationships, our work, how we maintain our home, the things we say to others, our health, it should all serve the purpose of glorifying God.

John chapter 15, verse 8, Jesus said, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

John 15:8

God is glorified when we bear fruit.

God is glorified when the world around us looks at us and sees that we are different.

And then we point them, not to our own work, not to say, well, yeah, it's because I'm religious.

Yeah, it's because I go to church all the time.

No, when we point them and say, trust me, it is only because of God.

When you see someone, a believer whose story is awful, who has been through worse situations than we could possibly imagine, who has lived a life that none of us would even want our worst enemy to live.

And yet they have joy.

And you know there's something behind that, that can't just be them.

Then you discover the love they have for Jesus and the time they spend in his word, and you see that it is God working in them.

Jesus said that true disciples are evident by their fruit, which means true Christians are evident by their joy.

I don't really know if I believe that they can be joyless Christians.

The Holy Spirit gives you joy.

Maybe it's not as high as someone else.

But there are people that I know.

There are people within this church that I worry about because I don't see fruit.

And I certainly don't see joy that they are miserable, that they complain, they are ungrateful.

And regardless of what happens in their life, they always turn it negative.

It seems like they can't possibly get out of that head space.

And I wonder, do they really know the author of joy?

Because how could they and still live life like that?

As Christians, we should have a joy that is a light before others.

Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 16, in the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

Your joy isn't just about you.

Say, you know what?

I don't feel like rejoicing today.

What's the big deal?

The big deal is how you are representing Christ.

And when we choose to be just as miserable and bitter and ungrateful as the world around us, we are damaging the image of Jesus because they know you go to church, they know you're a Christian, and they say, Look, he's just like us.

Look, she's no different, or even worse.

Why would I want to be a Christian when they're so miserable?

But joy stands in stark contrast to the world around us.

Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 through 15, Paul says, Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Philippians 2:14–15

Other versions say, you shine as stars in the sky.

By being joyful, by growing the joy that the Holy Spirit has planted within you.

That alone is a testimony more powerful than words.

Come on, talk is cheat.

We know that.

But when you're joyful, not just in the good times, but in the bad times as well, people will take notice.

And ultimately, that brings glory to God.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word.

We thank you for the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus and for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We thank you for the fruits of the Spirit within us.

Today, especially as we focus on joy.

Lord, there are some people who have not felt that joy in a long time.

I pray that you would restore to all of us the joy of our salvation, that we might begin to look upward and outward more than we're looking inward.

That we can just return to your word, to just spend time with you, to be obedient to it, to be grateful for all that we have and all that you have done and will do.

And to repent if needed of our disobedience and the darkness that we live in, so that we might once again walk in harmony with you and experience the true joy that only you can offer.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.