Sermon 7-30-05 The Joyful Christian Scripture Acts 2:22-28
A few weeks ago I was reading in Acts
I am struck by this……joy……..
Fisherman, denial guy, back to fishing, preacher…..joy
Joy
There is a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a checkbook that has money, a car that works, a good date for Saturday night. Happiness is the absence of major hassles, or terrorism or crime; happiness is kids getting good report cards and spouses getting a raise.Joy comes in connection with another or with Jesus. Joy can happen withoutmoney or a working car. Joy happens when we get to the core of life andrealize that love is at the core. Joy befriends us. It comes from being connected to God
…….witnessed vbs
fiesta, party, joy
christian life can be joyful
peters sermon………..what is his joy about????
120 days in upper room……now its time to talk……..reminiscing
Maybe he remembered his calling……….
Matthew 4…jesus chooses the disciples
Our lives matter,
There is soul in our living...its not just about the here and now
We know why we are here/
Jesus gave peter a life perspective that reached beyond himself
“The first is the attitude of a self-centered child. Have you ever seen a child saying, “If you don’t play with me, I’m going home,” ?”
“Look at yourselves. Think about what causes you unhappiness and see if you can detect this line that you say almost unconsciously, “If they don’t give me this or that, I won’t be happy.” “If I don’t get this or that doesn’t happen, I won’t be happy.” Many persons aren’t happy because they are imposing conditions on their happiness.”
“A man who was always begging for all kinds of things from God. One day…”
I want 3 wishes………..no wife, wife back, one wish left………….
Ask for money….ask for health……..finally asked God
“Lord, I’m all confused, I don’t know what to ask for! Could you tell me what to ask for? God laughed when he heard this and said, Fine, I’m going to tell you what to ask for. Ask to be happy no matter what happens. That’s the secret.”
Jesus gave him a purpose beyond himself
Maybe thinking of the day when…..Luke 5..men bring their friend to Jesus
We have a friend in him we have true friendships
We have a place to belong when my mom was sick, I had only been here 10 months
Following jesus, Being a part of church can provide you with friendship that are so wonderful………
Peter is Surely thinking of
John 19….Jesus dies & rises again
We have life in him
Our sins are forgiven
Christians understand that this is the basic root of our joy………
Love lifted me
'I was sinking deep in sin, Far from the peaceful shore, Verydeeply stained within, Sinking to rise no more' made you want to dance, andthe chorus - 'Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else would help,Love lifted me!' - would send you leaping.
Peace/Not afraid to diea businessman visiting South Korea retired to my hotel room[in Seoul]. But as I prepared for bed, I was stricken with crushing chestpains, radiating down my arm and into my back. Obviously, I was having aheart attack.Or a gas attack. How are you supposed to tell? I thought of calling forhelp, but then I considered the problems of communication, and the chaos,and the potential for embarrassment -- to say nothing of the uncertaintiesof Korean cardiac care. I imagined the emergency-room physician saying,"Yes, Mr. Garfield, you are having a serious myocardial infarction. I willnow place seven tiny needles in your eyelid."So I decided to take my chances. I managed, through the pain, to write abrief, tender note to my survivors, and lay down at peace with myself. Iloved my family. They loved me. I had accomplished some interesting thingsin my career. No felony convictions. Sufficiently insured. Go to sleep now,Bob. Maybe you will wake up.To the best of my knowledge, I did. And I was joyous -- not that I had livedthrough the night, but that I had not been afraid to die. I was at peacewith myself, which I found to be a priceless revelation--Bob Garfield, The Washington Post magazine, March 14, 1999, 38.
One of my favorite reasons why Christians can have joy
We can have peace in the midst of the storm
You are not alone in the dark valleys
Acts 9…..ananias and Saul
God helps us
You can face your fears
cs lewis, the joyful Christian
in a world at war, with gas at $3 we can learn to live above circumstances
“Happiness is always a consequence.” “Happiness has nothing to do with the outside. Money, power, respectability promise to bring happiness. But they don’t. Poor people can be happy.”
Exercise: look for something to be thankful for………..“How lucky I am. How grateful I am! It’s impossible to be grateful and not be happy.”
A man dreamed that a monk with a large diamond would be passing thru
Give me the diamond!! Is this what you want, here it is……next day he is back
“Here’s the diamond back. I want the kind of wealth that enables you to part with such .”
conclusion
everything that I am telling you about today, our kids learned in vbs
this is a great joy……..we are teaching them not to hate, but to love
we are teaching ourselves too……….
what was the result of peters preaching? 3,000 chose Christ that day
People were attracted to this message……….they still are
People still want that…….they want a life filled with joy
We can embrace it ourselves
A few weeks ago I was reading in Acts
I am struck by this……joy……..
Fisherman, denial guy, back to fishing, preacher…..joy
Joy
There is a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a checkbook that has money, a car that works, a good date for Saturday night. Happiness is the absence of major hassles, or terrorism or crime; happiness is kids getting good report cards and spouses getting a raise.Joy comes in connection with another or with Jesus. Joy can happen withoutmoney or a working car. Joy happens when we get to the core of life andrealize that love is at the core. Joy befriends us. It comes from being connected to God
…….witnessed vbs
fiesta, party, joy
christian life can be joyful
peters sermon………..what is his joy about????
120 days in upper room……now its time to talk……..reminiscing
Maybe he remembered his calling……….
Matthew 4…jesus chooses the disciples
Our lives matter,
There is soul in our living...its not just about the here and now
We know why we are here/
Jesus gave peter a life perspective that reached beyond himself
“The first is the attitude of a self-centered child. Have you ever seen a child saying, “If you don’t play with me, I’m going home,” ?”
“Look at yourselves. Think about what causes you unhappiness and see if you can detect this line that you say almost unconsciously, “If they don’t give me this or that, I won’t be happy.” “If I don’t get this or that doesn’t happen, I won’t be happy.” Many persons aren’t happy because they are imposing conditions on their happiness.”
“A man who was always begging for all kinds of things from God. One day…”
I want 3 wishes………..no wife, wife back, one wish left………….
Ask for money….ask for health……..finally asked God
“Lord, I’m all confused, I don’t know what to ask for! Could you tell me what to ask for? God laughed when he heard this and said, Fine, I’m going to tell you what to ask for. Ask to be happy no matter what happens. That’s the secret.”
Jesus gave him a purpose beyond himself
Maybe thinking of the day when…..Luke 5..men bring their friend to Jesus
We have a friend in him we have true friendships
We have a place to belong when my mom was sick, I had only been here 10 months
Following jesus, Being a part of church can provide you with friendship that are so wonderful………
Peter is Surely thinking of
John 19….Jesus dies & rises again
We have life in him
Our sins are forgiven
Christians understand that this is the basic root of our joy………
Love lifted me
'I was sinking deep in sin, Far from the peaceful shore, Verydeeply stained within, Sinking to rise no more' made you want to dance, andthe chorus - 'Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else would help,Love lifted me!' - would send you leaping.
Peace/Not afraid to diea businessman visiting South Korea retired to my hotel room[in Seoul]. But as I prepared for bed, I was stricken with crushing chestpains, radiating down my arm and into my back. Obviously, I was having aheart attack.Or a gas attack. How are you supposed to tell? I thought of calling forhelp, but then I considered the problems of communication, and the chaos,and the potential for embarrassment -- to say nothing of the uncertaintiesof Korean cardiac care. I imagined the emergency-room physician saying,"Yes, Mr. Garfield, you are having a serious myocardial infarction. I willnow place seven tiny needles in your eyelid."So I decided to take my chances. I managed, through the pain, to write abrief, tender note to my survivors, and lay down at peace with myself. Iloved my family. They loved me. I had accomplished some interesting thingsin my career. No felony convictions. Sufficiently insured. Go to sleep now,Bob. Maybe you will wake up.To the best of my knowledge, I did. And I was joyous -- not that I had livedthrough the night, but that I had not been afraid to die. I was at peacewith myself, which I found to be a priceless revelation--Bob Garfield, The Washington Post magazine, March 14, 1999, 38.
One of my favorite reasons why Christians can have joy
We can have peace in the midst of the storm
You are not alone in the dark valleys
Acts 9…..ananias and Saul
God helps us
You can face your fears
cs lewis, the joyful Christian
in a world at war, with gas at $3 we can learn to live above circumstances
“Happiness is always a consequence.” “Happiness has nothing to do with the outside. Money, power, respectability promise to bring happiness. But they don’t. Poor people can be happy.”
Exercise: look for something to be thankful for………..“How lucky I am. How grateful I am! It’s impossible to be grateful and not be happy.”
A man dreamed that a monk with a large diamond would be passing thru
Give me the diamond!! Is this what you want, here it is……next day he is back
“Here’s the diamond back. I want the kind of wealth that enables you to part with such .”
conclusion
everything that I am telling you about today, our kids learned in vbs
this is a great joy……..we are teaching them not to hate, but to love
we are teaching ourselves too……….
what was the result of peters preaching? 3,000 chose Christ that day
People were attracted to this message……….they still are
People still want that…….they want a life filled with joy
We can embrace it ourselves
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