WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.280 Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:11.119 Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.039 We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:19.120 To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.039 Morning, church. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:28.960 Happy Sunday, you made it. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:36.159 For those of y'all that were here all week, I am so appreciative to see you and that you're even smiling. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.840 You're telling me joy is real before we even start. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:52.880 But it was a great, great week in uh seeing our children here all week and being able to connect to new families and new kids and invest in those who are here often. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:54.399 Uh it was just a sweet week. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:58.240 And this church, I say it a lot, but it just feels like family. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:04.879 Anytime we get to serve together, it's like a family reunion, gathering together, and uh it was a sweet week. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:06.719 So thank you again for that. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:10.799 And I do have a prayer request I want to ask you all to be in prayer. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:18.000 Um my mother is in the hospital with pneumonia, and um it was kind of scary. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:32.239 She passed out, and um emergency came and she came enough to call 911, and they took her, but anyhow, just be in prayer for her, and uh hopefully just a few days and they'll get her right. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.959 But I appreciate those prayers. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:46.079 Want to take your Bibles this morning and turn to Galatians chapter 5, and I want you to hold a place there and uh go over to James as well. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:47.200 Let me pray. 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:54.879 Father, we love you, we thank you for the opportunity we have to come before you and God to open up your word. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.319 We pray that it would speak to us this morning. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:07.040 And um, God, I pray that you would help us to just remove any distractions, Lord, and open our hearts. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:19.199 God, I pray that as a result of your word this morning, we would be motivated to fall into your presence and be a people known to be joyful. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:23.919 And Lord, impacting the world because of our joy and you and us. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:25.919 We love you in Jesus' name. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:26.879 Amen. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.319 Galatians 5, 22 and 23. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:34.560 We've started last week and we've read through this, but we're going to continue reading these fruits. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:44.159 It says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:46.319 Against such there is no law. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:47.840 Again, back to verse 16. 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:50.240 It says, I say, then walk in the spirit. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:56.479 And it said, You should not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and you can do these things walking in the spirit. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:01.520 This morning, the first point I want you to notice is the thermostat of joy. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.879 Joy, let me define joy this morning. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:06.800 If you want to write this down. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:12.719 Joy is a deep-seated sense of connection to the Holy Spirit of God. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:19.520 Our definition for joy, the fruit of joy, a deep-seated sense of connection to the Holy Spirit of God. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:28.639 Now, I don't want to get people in your marital relationships upset out of the gate, but you all have a thermostat at home, correct? 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:33.120 I'm not getting anybody in trouble just saying that word, am I? 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.199 I don't want any warfare. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:36.639 Somebody said yeah. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:47.120 It's funny, but I know from different parts of the house whether the thermostat is on 72, 71, or 70. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:56.639 Now, maybe you've been in your home enough that you feel the difference, but I'm telling you, in my room, if it's 72, it's too hot. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:00.319 If it's 70, it's a little cold in my room. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:02.240 71, I don't know why. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:03.599 That's perfection. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:04.159 Right? 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:08.000 Heather will go walking by the thermostat, she'll say, Who is that? 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:09.680 It's hot in here. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:12.159 And uh, I'm always not guilty. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:13.439 It must have been one of the kids. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:14.240 I don't know. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:19.360 This week at vacation Bible school, what a great week. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:21.680 The Lord turned the thermostat up. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:25.839 This is the hottest week of Alabama all year that I know of. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:30.399 And man, I mean, we were giving out free calorie burn at the church at Chelsea Western. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:31.600 You just had to show up. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:47.920 The kids would come out from the field, and I'm like, man, just soaked, and and you know, it just so happens the way things would go down, but our unit went down in the kids' chapel, and so it was just you felt the difference in the thermostat. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.959 Now I grew up, some of y'all grew up this way. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:57.759 You know, kids that are here, you've never known a time without central air conditioning and heat. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:01.120 Um, but I grew up and we had a wood stove. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:03.360 Anybody have a wood stove in the wintertime? 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:14.160 It was like my dad's greatest joy to turn on the wood stove and eliminate any fret of turning on the thermostat. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:14.720 Yes. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:15.360 Right? 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.199 It was my dad's great joy, and so he would fire that thing up. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:23.680 You couldn't walk in the living room because you'd get burnt, right? 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:32.560 And he would hope that that would last all night long, and we had one air conditioning window unit in the summertime, and he hated for that thing to come on. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:38.399 It was his great joy to save a dollar on air conditioning and heat. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:46.240 Might spend$5,000 on hunting, but air conditioning and heat, we were gonna save$1.74. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:06:03.839 Listen, joy when life is hot, when life is cold, when life is indifferent, I want to submit to you this morning the thermostat of the Holy Spirit allows you to still have joy. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:07.360 You can still have joy, hot, cold, and different. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:10.399 Well, let's talk about the types of joy and how they affect us. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:13.920 Letter A this morning is this through trials of warfare. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:16.800 How do we have joy? 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.680 Turn over to James chapter 1. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:24.639 This is a verse I don't like, but I agree with. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:27.439 James 1, verse 2 and 3. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:38.240 It says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:44.319 But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:48.959 One of the most difficult passages that I do believe. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:53.439 This verse would have you think you gotta act like something's wrong with you. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:54.560 You know what I mean? 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.040 Nobody's that excited about pain. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:06:58.560 Setbacks. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:03.040 Nobody lost their job and said, Woo! God's about to open a door. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.279 It says, count it joy. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:14.560 The word for count is hege may, and that word means to lead. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:16.560 I start with joy. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:18.079 I begin with joy. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.319 When a trial comes, I don't end with joy. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:25.120 I start, I lead with joy. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:26.319 How? 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:30.720 Well, joy is not a feeling, church. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:32.319 It's a fruit. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:36.000 How do I do that when something is difficult? 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:39.839 It's an overflow of what I'm close to. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:41.199 Y'all with me? 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:48.720 I act, the Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, what I fill my heart with comes out of me. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:57.199 My actions are what I'm nearest to, and so I can be joyful not because it's a feeling, but because it's a decision. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:00.079 It's what I'm basing myself around. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:01.839 I have to decide. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:03.199 Joy. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:13.680 Now it says in the midst of trials, that word for trial, temptation, it's parasmas, and it's talking about implied adversity. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:15.199 You all understand that. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.079 You understand that a trial is adversity. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:21.839 I found this uh experiment in the 1950s. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:25.439 Kurt Richter did a psychology experiment. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:33.039 He took rats in a container of water and observed how long it would take before they would give up and drown. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:40.720 The findings on most of the rats on average was about two minutes swimming in a container without any hope. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:47.519 Kurt went back and placed rats in, and just before drowning, he would rescue them. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:51.840 And then he placed them back in water and found that they would swim after that. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.720 Once they'd been rescued once, they would swim after that for days. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:01.200 For days they would continue going and going. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.279 And he said, after the elimination of hopelessness, rats do not die. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:10.000 They just keep going. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.960 Their mindset was to just keep going. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:20.879 Even though the trial was the same as when they drowned, they decided there's hope I can keep going. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.759 And for somebody today, you need to know that. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:29.120 Man, there is hope, so you can keep going, and you can keep going and you can keep smiling. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.720 Look at James 1 and verse 12. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:39.519 It says, Blessed is the man who endures temptation. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:46.080 For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who loved him. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:51.120 That word blessed in the Beatitudes, blessed is this, but it means happy. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.960 Happy is the man who endures temptation. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:02.639 The word for endure is hopimeno, and it implies that endurance, that patience to live through. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.440 Look at uh look over to James chapter 5. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:07.840 James gives another example. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.720 He's trying to nail down this idea for us in his book. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:18.960 He said, James 5, verse 11, indeed we count them blessed, happy who endure. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:21.200 And then look, he gave us our example. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:28.879 You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:31.440 So James brings up Job. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:40.240 And if you've read the book of Job, it is hard to feel very joyful reading the book of Job because Job, he loses everything. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:40.960 Right? 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:43.840 Job loses his children in a storm. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:45.519 Job gets boils. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.159 Job loses all of his livestock. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:50.000 We'll put it today's term. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:53.519 He lost all of his ways of income, his job. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:11:01.840 Then he gets boils, and then the people who should be his encouragement, his wife looks to him and says, Job, curse God and die. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:10.720 And then his friends, who are supposed to be his friends, continually, chapter after chapter, want to prove to him he's a sinner, and that's why he's going through these things. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:12.879 His good close friends. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:19.919 James said, Consider Job, who went through all of these things. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:22.799 And where did he end up? 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:30.960 You see, we're culturally trained that success is arriving to a comfortable wealth, a comfortable health. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:37.039 And basically, we're trained here that living on earth should feel like heaven. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:39.440 Church, that's not life. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:41.039 Not on this earth. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:48.159 And the harder that we grind away trying to get to that place here on this earth, the root of the awakening will be. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:50.799 This life is not heaven. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:56.320 And if you're fighting to live in heaven on earth, you're missing your opportunity. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:58.399 You're missing an opportunity. 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:02.480 Matthew 6.33 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God while you're here. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:04.559 And all these things will be added to you. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:06.080 But you're missing an opportunity. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:09.759 Do you realize that in heaven one day you won't suffer? 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:13.440 You won't be able to worship God with your suffering. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:16.639 You won't be patient in heaven. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.519 You won't have temptation in heaven. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:24.000 So here on earth we have an opportunity to worship God in a way that we will not in heaven. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:29.279 And so when we try to make this life heaven, we're missing the point. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.399 Happiness is a moment. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:36.080 It's a feeling. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:36.720 Right? 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:38.639 Joy is a fruit. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:47.840 Joy transcends our circumstances because we're happy, we're sad, we're mad, we're glad, we're up, we're down. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:51.519 But joy is a stability in the midst of it. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.039 Well, how do we do that, Pastor? 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.320 I'm glad that you asked. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:56.799 Turn your Bible, James 1.22. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:12:58.879 Letter be. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:06.240 We're able to keep that thermostat steady through the truth of the word of God. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.080 Through the truth of the word. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:20.000 James 1.22 through 25 says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:28.720 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's one, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:32.720 For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:42.159 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer, is the one that will be blessed in what he does. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.080 Being a doer of the word. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:45.039 Okay. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:52.240 Being able to exhibit fruitfulness when life's all over the place, all over the map, is being a doer of the word. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:14:04.159 Psalms 1-2, the same word for joy is the word delight in different places in the Bible, but in Psalms 1-2 it says, His delight is in the law of the Lord, which he meditates day and night. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:10.399 His delight, and it says, and then he'll be like a tree planted by rivers of water, which is what? 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:11.759 Fruitful. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:15.679 Because he delighted in the law of the Lord. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:17.120 We're fruitful. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:21.039 We bring forth fruit because of our stand in the word of God. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:25.039 Jeremiah 15, 16 says, all around Jeremiah was suffering. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:29.519 And he said, I ate your words, and they were a delight. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:31.759 They were a joy. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.279 Do you take joy in time in the word? 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:40.159 It is really hard to produce something if you're not putting something in. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:43.039 And so you have to take delight. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.519 We take a lot of delight in a whole lot of things. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.000 There's a list of master spouse or your kids. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:49.919 We take a whole lot of delight in a lot of things. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:51.440 Do we take delight? 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:52.320 Do we eat? 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.279 Jeremiah said, I ate your words. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:56.799 I put them in me. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:58.480 Well, I want you to look at this further. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:14:59.919 Psalms 119. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:03.440 Go to the book of Psalms. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.039 Go about to the middle of your Bible. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:14.480 Psalms 119, we're going to read verses 9 through 16. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.159 What it says. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:37.840 How can a young man cleanse his way? 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:41.679 Verse 9, by taking heed according to your word. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.159 With my whole heart I have sought you. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:46.639 Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:50.080 Your word have I hidden my heart that I might not sin against you. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:53.679 Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:56.639 With my lips I've declared all the judgments of your mouth. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:02.720 I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.720 I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:07.279 Look at this. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:12.159 I will delight, that's word joy, myself in your statutes. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.960 I will not forget your word. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:20.480 Has there been a time that you rejoiced about a Bible verse? 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:29.600 Can you remember waking your spouse up or looking over at your kids and saying, Woo! I read this verse. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:33.840 Like your touchdown dance that you high-five people that you never even met. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:35.840 Man, I read a Bible verse today. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:38.799 He said, I rejoice in your word. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:41.600 He had joy in it. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:44.639 That must have been a good verse. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:49.200 In verse 9, he says that the word it cleanses me and keeps me from sin. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:54.879 It shows and enlightens me to the wonder of God so that I do not wander from God. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:56.480 I'm gonna say that again. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:01.519 The word of God enlightens me to the wonder of God so that I do not wander from God. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:06.000 The truth of the word produces joy in us. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:10.240 Point number two this morning, I want you to look at the thieves of joy. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:15.359 The thermostat, the thieves. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:17.440 Look at James, back to James. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:21.759 Chapter 1, verse 13 through 15. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:34.799 It says, Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:39.119 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:46.000 Then when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:52.799 So you see the momentum of sin, where it starts and how it finishes. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:55.279 Lust, sin, and death. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:00.319 The word for lust there is epithea Maya, and it's desire. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:06.400 Letter A is this were fueled by discontent. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:10.720 The thieves of joy, one is discontentment. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:18.559 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 12 says this on the flip side, now godliness and contentment is great gain. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:23.519 Contentment, that's a hard thing for society today to figure out. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:26.319 And really that's finding a place of peace. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:28.160 How can I get to contentment? 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:34.400 It says godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, it's certain we can carry nothing out. 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:48.960 Verse 9 says, those who desire to be here, this, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and to many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and sin. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:53.839 And then the verse everybody knows the love of money is the root of many evils. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:19:01.519 Verse 12 there says this fight the good fight of faith for that which is eternal. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:06.960 You see, people aren't content because they're living like earth is heaven. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.880 And that it's the end, and it's not the end, and they're living for money. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:15.519 It says all of this brings us into all kinds of snares, and it puts us in sin. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:21.680 And the ball gets rolling, and lust and sin and death, it continues and continues because we're discontent. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:25.759 Godliness with contentment is great gain, it says. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:26.720 What is great gain? 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:27.759 Godliness. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:32.319 What causes destruction, desiring riches, desiring heaven on earth? 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:34.720 And so, what are we to lay hold of? 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:36.000 Eternal life. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.240 It's a mentality shift. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:46.480 The great thief of joy is relying on earth, relying on this one life, relying on this as the end. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:51.680 If your only joy comes from this life, you will never be content. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:59.200 No person that is lost is ever going to find contentment. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:03.839 Because all that lostness brings you to is these empty holes. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:09.759 Only a Christian can truly be content because they're source of joy. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:23.680 Mark 4.19 says, the cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches and lust choke the word of God out and it becomes unfruitful. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:29.599 Discontent comes when you're not doing what you were created to do. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:37.680 And if I ask people today to raise their hand here and say, Pastor, I know I'm doing exactly what I was created to do. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:43.440 I think there'd be some people here that would feel a little bit of that push, that weight. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.920 You're made in God's image. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:49.119 You are not made in the image of a dollar sign. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:52.319 You're made in God's image. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:56.960 And so contentment comes from being like what you were made for. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:02.160 In 2 Samuel 11, 1 through 5, we won't take the time to go through the passage. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:05.039 But David was supposed to be at war. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:10.079 It says the men were going to war at springtime, and David did not. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:10.799 He was a king. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:13.359 It says it was the time that kings went to war. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:16.319 So that would tell you there were times that kings didn't. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:19.680 But this was a time he was supposed to be at war and he did not. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:20.720 He stayed back. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:27.519 And all of a sudden, David climbs the stairs evening after who knows what he's done. 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:30.240 And he walks up to the rooftop and he looks over. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:32.720 And when he gets on the rooftop, what does he see? 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:35.680 Lo and behold, Bathsheba bathing. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.119 And David looks at Bathsheba and says, Me one. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:44.000 And David calls forth to the men and he says, Send after her. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:50.160 And the man in the scripture says, He says, Is that not Uriah, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite? 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:51.440 So he has his out. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:53.920 There is no temptation to take you, but such is common to man. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:55.200 There always be a way of escape. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:56.319 He had his out. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:57.759 But he didn't take it. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.039 He said he sent for her. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.759 He brought her in. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.079 And he laid with her and then he got her pregnant. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:05.920 And when he got her pregnant, she lets him know he's pregnant. 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:08.960 He tries to get Uriah off the battlefield, go get drunk. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:10.640 He won't lay with his wife. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:15.680 And then he pulls Uriah to the front of the lines, draws back the army, and now he's killed Uriah. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:17.519 Had Uriah killed. 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.839 Lust, sin, death. 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:23.200 Why? 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:24.960 He was discontent. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:26.880 He should have been at war. 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:28.960 He wasn't where he was supposed to be. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:31.200 You know what sometimes makes me sad? 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:38.480 Sometimes we'll see a married woman come into church, no husband. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:39.599 She's married. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:41.279 Husband's not here. 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:48.160 And every time that I see that, I have this thought there's a husband in a place where he shouldn't be. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.200 He's not where he should be. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:56.079 When you choose to be in the wrong place, you're inviting the thief of joy. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:59.279 David was in the wrong place. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:02.480 And where did his eyes go? 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:05.359 Where are you late at night? 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:09.200 What happens when nobody's looking? 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:12.000 I want to tell you something that maybe not everybody would tell you. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:16.400 By the way, David here, you can be anointed and be astray. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:18.480 You hear me? 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:19.599 You can be anointed. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:23.839 I mean, David, Samuel the prophet, came and anointed David to be king. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:25.200 David was now king. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:26.799 The hand of God was on him. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:35.920 David, the same David who threw a rock, killed Goliath, seen wonders of God, is now far from God. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:40.240 The Bible calls that place carnality. 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:42.240 It's living in the flesh. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.960 David was a man who knew God, but he was living in the flesh. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:46.799 By the way, I have a hard time. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:52.000 I struggle with the idea that somebody can live in carnality for a long time. 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:57.519 That you can continue constantly, we're talking years in carnality in the flesh. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:00.079 People, you know, back in the 80s, 90 called it rebellion. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:01.920 You're living in rebellion, son. 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:06.400 Like, I understand a slip-up. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:09.279 But a stay down. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:12.079 A slip-up is one thing. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.279 You fell, you tripped up, you get it right, you fix it. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:16.400 We are human. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:18.240 David was human. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:19.920 But a stay down? 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.000 I have a hard time even calling that carnality. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:24.960 I don't know what that is. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:31.920 If you know Christ is saved and you got this Holy Spirit that produces fruit in you, and it's just gone. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:35.599 David should have been at war with his men. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.799 Instead, he went to war with his flesh. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:42.400 He entered the roof and saw a bathing woman. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.039 Of course, he was tempted. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:54.640 David, who trusted God when no one else did, David, a real worshiper of God, if David can fall, everyone can fall. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:55.759 But how? 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:59.519 He opened the doorway to discontent. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:06.160 And he said, I'll take what's behind door number one, the woman without clothes. 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:11.759 Bible says, by the way, to look at a woman. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:17.359 David went way too far, but to look at a woman with lust in your heart is adultery. 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:21.200 The Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:27.519 But David's discontent led him to lust, adultery, and murder. 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:29.599 And a loss of joy. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:33.920 If you want to see a real life scenario, Heather and I was watching some documentaries. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.000 But look up the, it's it's it's it's disgusting. 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:43.119 It's really horrifying what happened, but look up the life of Ted Bundy. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.000 30 women that he murdered. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:47.519 You know where it started? 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.000 A pornography stash. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:53.359 It was never enough of the high. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:58.240 The high had to get higher, and he had to have another high, and he had to feed it some more. 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:03.200 And lust, sin, death, as James said. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:05.039 He grew discontent. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.279 He wanted that feeling again and again. 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:10.720 You know, you know what it doesn't say David did that morning? 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:14.799 It doesn't say that David got up and played his heart before the Lord. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.000 It doesn't say that David prayed. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:20.880 David got lazy. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.279 It started with being lazy. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:25.519 He got lazy on the Lord. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:28.400 He wasn't in the battle where he should be. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:31.920 He got lazy, as far as I know, one week. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:33.359 I don't know. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:42.960 I was reading this interview, or listening to this interview about how long before the loss of muscle gains for those who are working out. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:45.440 I'm going, I'm going on vacation soon. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:46.400 I gotta know. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:48.640 How long? 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.200 And it said, listen to me, two weeks. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:53.920 After two weeks, you begin to lose. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:55.519 That's unfair, y'all. 00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:58.480 Because in two minutes I can gain a whole lot of fat. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:00.640 Ain't that unfair? 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:02.480 God, would you work on? 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:03.920 I'm just kidding. 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:07.200 But two weeks, here's the point though. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:10.240 God expects you to continually work. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:12.319 You haven't arrived spiritually. 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:17.680 You have to continue to work, and that walk in the spirit, Galatians 5.16, is continuous. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:22.880 You have to continue doing work for there to be gain, for there to be growth. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:28.079 Fruit of joy doesn't fall off you because you're being lazy and discontent. 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:31.440 You have to continue walking and working. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:35.759 That lust of the flesh pulled David down. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:38.319 Letter B. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:41.680 I want you to see what happens. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:47.680 Faced with defeat, the thieves of joy, discontentment, and defeat. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:28:00.559