Hello and welcome
to this teaching from Skip Heitzig of
Calvary Albuquerque. We pray this message
strengthens your relationship with the Lord, and if it does
we'd love to hear about it. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online, securely,
at calvaryabq.org/give. Life doesn't have to
be easy to be joyful. In fact, ease of
living and joy of heart have little to do
with each other. As we begin our new
series, Technicolor Joy, we learn to find joy in
the most unlikely places. In the message A
Joy Unexpected, Skip teaches that joy is not
the absence of trouble, but rather the
presence of Jesus. Now please open your Bible to
Philippians chapter 1 as we join Pastor Skip. Would you turn in your
Bibles this morning -- did you bring one by the way? Yeah. Hold that baby up. That's a sight right there. iPads, they count. They count. Would you turn in them to the
book of Philippians, please. Philippians. Flip to Philippians, chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. One of the most infallible signs
of the presence of God is joy. It is an unmistakable
badge of divine ownership, but now take and flip that coin. A gloomy Christian is a
contradiction in terms. I don't think anything
has hurt the church over a period of history
more so than the idea that a sour, sullen, serious
believer is in order. Somebody in church history
came up with the idea that clergymen ought
to wear black and look like grave diggers. In fact, one of the great
judges of our country in times past, Oliver
Wendell Holmes, he was an American jurist
appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States
under Roosevelt, he said, "I would have entered the
ministry if clergymen I know didn't look and act so
much like undertakers." A man who was a
brilliant mind, who thought of entering the
ministry, but he said no thank you. Then there's Robert Louis
Stevenson, the Scottish author and poet, who wrote
in his journal these words, as if it
were extraordinary. "I went to church today
and I'm not depressed." I don't know who came up with
the idea that to be sanctified means to be sad,
but I reject that. I reject that
because, after all, we are called to preach what's
called the Gospel, which means the good news. It's not called the bad-spel. It's not the mediocre news, it's
not oh yeah, I've heard that. It's the good news. And it should be done
with authentic joy. William Barclay said
this, "The Christian is a man or a woman of joy. The Christian is the
laughing Cavalier of Christ." You see, a joyful believer
is a beautiful believer. It's attractive. When somebody has joy,
authentic, real joy, not the fake plastered on
stuff that so many people carry around, but the real
stuff, it's attractive and people want to know
where'd you get that. I want to get me some of that. I want to have what you have. I want to experience
what you've experienced. A joyful Christian is
a good representative of the good news, the gospel. Nehemiah, when the people
of his town Jerusalem were rebuilding the walls
that had been broken down, there was a period of
discouragement and sadness, he said to them "Don't
be dejected and sad, for the joy of the
Lord is your strength." I love that. The joy of the Lord
is your strength. Now it needs to
be said, and we'll be able to develop it over
the next several weeks, but there should
be noted that there is a difference between
happiness and joy. Happiness is vacillating,
joy is fixed. You can be going through
horrible, unhappy circumstances, and yet have joy. Because happiness
goes up and down depending on the happenings. Happiness depends
on the happenings. Happiness depends
on the happenstance. Happiness is all about the hap. You may know that the word
hap is an old word for chance, and so when the chance
falls favorably toward you, you're happy. When it doesn't, you're unhappy. Did you know that 2/3 of
Americans claim to be unhappy. 2/3 of Americans claim to
be discontented with life. Well, we're doing a series
in the book of Philippians we're starting today, it's
called Technicolor Joy. You say why are you
calling it that, and what does that have to do
with the book of Philippians? It's a fair question. Especially when you understand
how the Church of Philippi started, and the conditions that
the author who wrote this book faced. The book of Philippians
was penned in 62 a.d. by Paul the Apostle,
who was a jailbird. He was incarcerated in a Roman
prison when he wrote this book. How did he get there? Well, he had been in
Jerusalem, was falsely accused and arrested. He was taken to a
place called Caesarea, where he stood before
several trials that went on for two years. Finally, he had had
enough, and he said I appeal my case to Caesar. He was a Roman citizen, and
he had the right to do that, so he said I appeal to Caesar. So the procurator said,
you appeal to Caesar, so to Caesar you will go. So Paul was put,
eventually, on a ship that was going to Rome,
the ship sunk, and another ship
was afforded him, and he finally made it to
Rome, where he is in jail, and from prison he
writes this letter. Now, Paul had always
wanted to go to Rome. It was on his bucket list. He said I want to
go to Rome, and I want to preach the
gospel there, but he expected to go to
Rome as a preacher, he ended up going as a prisoner. And I just got to
say I appreciate the humor of God's
will, because God also wanted Paul to get
to Rome, but he didn't want Paul to
have to pay for it, so the Roman
government paid for it. He was able to get arrested, and
get sentenced, and stand trial, and appeal to Caesar. So, the Roman government
put him on a ship and took him to Rome, where
he writes this letter. There he is chained to soldiers
who will be his companions. He will mention
them in this letter. Now Paul knows
that, as a prisoner, his case before Caesar Nero
would come up very shortly, and he did not know which
way it was going to fall. He didn't know which
way the hap would fall. It could be that he
would be acquitted, it could be that he would be
beheaded, and he knows that, and he mentions that. However, running through the
fabric of all of that knowledge is the unmistakable
quality of joy. Joy is in every
portion of this letter. Now every commentator
that I have read, and I have read several
on this book, here's just a smattering
of probably 30 books that I have on
Philippians, these are commentaries
written by scholars on the book of Philippians. And they have noted that the
theme of this book is joy. Authentic Christian joy. So, here's one, A
Study in Philippians-- How to be Happy in
Difficult Situations. Another one, Philippians--
The Believers Joy in Christ. Another one, Philippians--
Life At Its Best. The classic D
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Peace and Joy-- A Study in Philippians. Swindoll's classic, Laugh Again. The Joy of Living,
by Dwight Pentecost. And then the classic, Be
Joyful, by Warren Wiersbe. All of these authors
have made the discovery that this book is
about authentic joy. We've called it Technicolor Joy. Technicolor Joy. Why? Because when color was
introduced into the cinema, up to that point
it had been shades of gray, black and white. 1939 rolled around,
and the first movie to be pushed in color
was The Wizard of Oz. And the corporate
American response was wow! There's just something
about having color spring to life on the screen
when before there were shades of gray. So this is an appropriate
title, we thought. It's Technicolor Joy. It takes you out of
the shadows of grays, of just blacks and whites,
and God colors your life with his joy. Even in the worst
possible circumstances, we'll discover that this man
Paul had the joy of the Lord. I love what a little
country boy said. He was asked what differences
Jesus Christ made in your life, and that little
country boy said "I feel better now when
I feel bad than I used to when I felt good." I thought that was pretty good. It's sort of like
saying the worst that God has to
give me is better than the best the world gave me. The joy of the Lord. If you want to have
joy, and I would I would venture to say
everybody in this room does, if you want to have joy,
master the principles of the book of Philippians
and it will be yours. Now, we're studying this
book, and this morning we're going to cover one verse. If you know me that
shouldn't surprise you, but we just want to
lay the foundation. I want to give you a little bit
of background and foundational truth. But in so doing in
verse 1 of chapter 1, I want to show you three
ingredients that form a recipe of unexpected joy. We're going to begin
with the authors, but let's read a
couple of verses. "Paul and Timothy,
bond-servants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints
in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the
bishops and deacons," he continues "Grace"
verse 2, "Grace to you, and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ." We begin with the pair, the
dynamic pair, Paul and Timothy. Now Paul is the
author of this book, Timothy is an associate
of Paul, he's with them, he's an assistant, but Paul
is the author of this book. Now, you wouldn't have
associated the emotion of joy with the person of Paul
before he met Christ. You see, before Paul the Apostle
met Christ, what was his name? Saul of Tarsus. And Saul of Tarsus was a
very religious, exacting, narrow-minded,
legalistic Pharisee. Hardly anyone you would
associate with being joyful. In fact, in this
letter of Philippians, Paul gives his
background, his pedigree, so to speak, in chapter 3. I'm going to read
Chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 in the New Living Translation. He says, "I was circumcised when
I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded
Jewish family, that is a branch of the
tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if
there ever was one! What's more, I was a
member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest
obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly
persecuted the church. And I obeyed the
Jewish law so carefully I was never accused
of any fault." Now that doesn't sound like a
lot of joy is going on in Saul. Sounds like a lot of
judgment is going on in Saul. A lot of jostling, a lot of
jabbing, even a lot of jihad, but not a lot of joy. In Acts chapter 9, Luke, the
author, says this about Saul. "Saul, breathing out
threats and murder against the disciples
of the Lord." Do you get that language? It was the very breath,
the very air he took in. He was fixated on
it, preoccupied with damaging God's people. Same section of
scripture says, "And Saul made havoc of the church,
entering every house, dragging off both
men and women." The word made havoc was
a word that was often used of an animal, like
a wild boar, who would trample a vineyard or a garden. So this guy did damage. Doesn't sound like he's
the ambassador of joy. He sounds like a terrorist. But something happened
to Saul of Tarsus. Remember what it was? Something happened to him,
and subsequently something happened in him. We know what happened
to him, he got saved. He's on the Damascus Road, he
gets knocked off his horse, sees a light from heaven,
Jesus talks to him. Saul, Saul, why are
you persecuting me? He has an encounter with
the Lord Jesus Christ, he eventually surrenders
his life to him saying, Lord, what do you want me to do. He meets Christ. That's what happened to him. Because of that,
something happened in him. What happened in
him is a joy seed was planted in his
heart that day, and it grew, and it
grew, and blossomed, and it continued to blossom, and
it permeated his entire life. E. Stanley Jones, the
missionary to India, said "When I met
Jesus Christ, I felt that I had swallowed sunshine." I love that. Paul, how do you feel? Like I've swallowed sunshine. He was different. He was changed. And joy began to grow
in him, so he went out on three missionary journeys
throughout Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. On his first
missionary journey he goes to a place called
Antioch of Pisidia, and the whole town rejects him,
rejects his missionary team, they get kicked out of town. And Paul the Apostle now,
along with the others, it says they were filled with
joy, and with the Holy Spirit. For getting kicked out of town? It's because their joy,
that emotion that they had, was tethered to something
different, not the fluctuating up and down of
worldly happiness. They were filled with joy. And this Saul of Tarsus,
now Paul the Apostle, God changes him, and he changes from
legalism to lightheartedness. So when he's talking about
keeping the laws, and rules, and regulations, like
eating and drinking, you know you would not
drink certain things or you would not
eat certain things, he finally says in Romans
14, "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of
eating and drinking, but righteousness,
peace, and joy." As C.S. Lewis put
it so well, "Joy is the serious
business of Heaven." Paul started getting
really serious about joy, making it a part of his life. So much so, that when he
is on his way to Jerusalem where he gets arrested before he
gets into prison that we talked about, on his way
to Jerusalem, you know what everybody tells him? Don't go. Don't go to Jerusalem. They don't like you there. They're going to
arrest you there. They're going to
bind you up, and it's going to be bad if
you go to Jerusalem. So he meets with the elders
of the Church of Ephesus, and he says to them, "I go bound
in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things which
will happen to me there, except that the Holy
Spirit testifies in every city the chains
and tribulations await me. But none of these
things move me. Nor do I count my own
life dear to myself that I might finish
my course with joy, and the ministry that has been
given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ." How's that for living your life? I want to finish this
thing up with joy, and I don't care if they
arrest me and kill me. I've got joy they
cannot be taken away. He writes to the
Galatians, and he says "The fruit
of the spirit," he has now, that seed has
grown, he's experienced it, "The fruit of the
spirit," he says "is love, joy, peace, long
suffering, goodness, kindness, gentleness." Now we get to the
book of Philippians. And there is more joy in this
letter than any of Paul's 13 epistles that he writes. Joy is dripping out of
every verse in this book. At least 19 times in four
chapters of Philippians, Paul mentions joy,
rejoicing, or gladness. 19 times. That's Paul. Saul of Tarsus, now Paul the
Apostle, the apostle of joy. Now we come to Timothy, he's
the second name, the third word of verse 1, Paul and Timothy. And let me just say,
Timothy is another one you would not naturally
associate the emotion of joy with. Timothy came from a
tough home situation. He had mixed parentage. One parent was Jewish, that
was his mother, religious gal. But his dad was an unbeliever
from Lystra in Asia Minor. Now his mother and
grandmother are both named, 2 Timothy chapter 1. His mother was named Eunice,
his grandmother was named Lois. They were both Jewish ladies who
raised him in the Jewish faith, but there was this
division at home because dad was not
a religious guy, he was an unbelieving Greek. Then something happened. Paul the Apostle
came through town, and he preached the
good news, the gospel. And Lois and Eunice,
mom and grandma, heard it and they received
Jesus Christ, and by the way, so did young Timothy, probably
about 15 years of age. 15 years of age. But even at 15
years of age, he was allowed to follow Paul on
his missionary journeys, and so he did. We're not told that
his Father came to know Christ, just his
mother and his grandmother, but he becomes a
part of Paul's team. He goes on his second
missionary journey. He goes to Jerusalem
carrying money that they collected
from churches to give to the church at Jerusalem. And for years,
Paul the Apostle is able to be his tutor, his
mentor, his discipler, and show him the joy of the
Lord in the most difficult of circumstances. He becomes so important
to Paul, that Paul calls him my son in the faith. And he's the guy that Paul will
send back to the Philippians to represent him. He says in chapter
2, Philippians 2:20, "I have no one who
is isopsuchos," that's the word he
uses, "like-minded." I'm going to send you Timothy,
because in sending you Timothy I'm sending you somebody
who thinks like I think, values what I value,
and sending Timothy is as good as sending me. I have no one on my staff or
that I know who is like-minded, except this young man. That's Timothy, we'll
read more about him, consider him more as we go. But these guys
have been changed. But here's what I
want you to see. The real reason for the joy in
the lives of Paul and Timothy is described by the very
next word in verse 1. "Paul and Timothy,"
what's the next word? "Bond-servants of Jesus Christ." The reason they were joyful
is because they decided, I'm going to serve the Lord. That brought them joy. The word bond-servants,
doulos, describes a person owned by someone
else, that's a slave. You say, how do you get
happy being a slave? Where does joy come from? Being a slave of Jesus Christ. Bond-servant, a person
owned by someone else who lives to serve someone else. When it's used in
the New Testament, it usually refers to somebody
who serves another willingly. Voluntarily. They are voluntarily
devoted and surrendered to Jesus Christ as their master. Now joy is a funny thing. It's elusive to so many people. And that is because joy is
never found by direct pursuit. You might look for joy all
day long, you won't find it. Joy isn't found by direct
pursuit, it's a byproduct. In our Declaration
of Independence, we have a few guarantees. You're guaranteed life,
you're guaranteed liberty, and you're guaranteed, tell
me, the pursuit of happiness. We have a country where
people are pursuing happiness, the problem is
nobody is finding it. 2/3 of Americans
claim to be unhappy. They're are looking
for happiness, but they are not finding it. Because real happiness,
true joy is a better term, is not found by
direct pursuit, it's a byproduct of pursuing
Christ and his will. As long as you
live for yourself, and try to find peace and
happiness and joy for yourself, you'll never find. You'll be miserable. You'll be hard to live with. It's when you turn from
yourself to an alien will, who takes over your life and you
live for him that you find joy. You see, the more
you do as you please, the less you will be
pleased with what you do. But when you say, forget
me, I want to serve Him, I want to be a bond-servant
of Him, the byproduct of that is joy. Over in England, there's a great
spot called Buckingham Palace. Now Buckingham Palace is one of
the center landmarks and places to visit. It's the palace of
the royal family. Well, there's a
flag that is flown outside of Buckingham Palace
called the royal standard. The royal standard
is the flag that has pushed up on the flag
pole whenever the sovereign is in residence in the palace. So if the queen's
home, flag goes up. Or if the King's home, depending
on what area of English history we're talking about, the
royal standard is flown. Think of joy like that. Joy is the flag flown over
the castle of your heart when the King is
in residence there. It's the badge, it's the
sign, of a bond-servant. The King is residing
in my heart. So that's the pair. That's the author
and his associate, Paul and Timothy,
the dynamic pair. But there's something
else to notice, and that is the difficult place. Verse 1, "Paul and Timothy,
bond-servants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints
in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the
bishops and the deacons." Now, did you know that Paul
never wanted to go to Philippi? At least, that wasn't on his
plans, it wasn't on his radar. He went there out of compulsion. Not because he said, I
want to go to Philippi. Philippi was a Roman
colony, not a big deal that he wanted to visit,
at least right now. On his second
missionary journey, his plan was to go
through Galatia, he had already been
there before, but then expand northward and southward. That was his plan. But he got resistance. You know he got resistance from? God. God resisted him going
to the places he planned. God resisted him. Psalm 37 says "The
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." Oh, how we love that
verse, but let me tell you another part of that truth. The stops of a good man are
also ordered by the Lord. Sometimes God says no. I have had people say, I've been
praying for that for months, and I've got no answer from God. Yes you have. No. Sounds like he said no. That's what it
sounds like to me. Well, it's not the
answer I wanted. That's an answer, and
it's a good answer if God gives it to you. God's no is as
important as God's go. And Paul discovered that. What do I mean? Well, let me read it to you. This is Acts 16. It said, "When they had
gone through Phrygia and the region of
Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit
to preach the word in Asia." That's God saying no. "So they came to Mysia and
they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did
not permit them." So twice, God says no, no. You can't go there,
can't go there. So he is flummoxed. He goes to a little
place called Troas, which is a cool
little beach town, and must have been
much bigger then. I visited there. And he, at Troas, gets a
vision of a man from Macedonia. Saying come over to
Macedonia and help us. My friend [INAUDIBLE] calls
him the man from macadamia. But he is the man
from Macedonia. And he gets a vision,
this man in the vision says come over to
Macedonia and help us. So, he's come from
one direction. He tried to go north,
tried to go south. He's come from that way,
there's only one way to go, and there's a guy in
this vision saying come over here and help us. So they wake up the
next day and they go, I think God wants
us to go there. That's how he goes. Now this is interesting. If you were to have interviewed
Paul the Apostle at that time, and you would have said,
where you going Paul? He would've said I don't know. What? You don't know? What the will of
God for your life? He'd have said I don't
know, I haven't got a clue. You? You're the writer of 13
books in the New Testament, surely you know the will of God. Not today. All I know is twice,
I've tried to go places and God keep shutting that door. But I got a vision from
the man from Macedonia. I guess I'm supposed
to go over there. God said no, and
to Paul, he's now understanding God's no is
as important as God's go, because of closed doors. OK so, he arrives
in Philippi, that's the chief city of Macedonia. Philippi named after Philip
of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. He gets to Philippi,
and I bet he's looking for a man from Macedonia. He had a vision of a man. He's looking around
the streets going, I don't see that guy
that I saw my vision. I'll look over there -- no
that doesn't look like that -- So, he goes down
to the river, we're told, where women
are gathered praying. Why are women gathered praying? They're Jewish women
praying by a river, because there is no
synagogue in town. None. He often goes to the synagogue,
that's where he starts, but there's no synagogue
because Jewish law said you had to have at least 10
Jewish men to have a synagogue. It was called a minyan. There was no minyan, so
they had no synagogue. Because there was no
synagogue, he couldn't go to it and start preaching,
so he goes down to the river where
women are praying. There's one woman,
named Lydia, who sold purple fabric
from Thyatira, and the Bible says the
Lord opened her heart to receive the words
spoken by Paul. So she comes to Christ
because of Paul's presence down at the river, and
I'm sure Paul's going, OK well, we're off to a start,
may not be a great start. Usually I get a
lot more response than one chick from
Thyatira down by a river, but there's no synagogue,
so I'll start with that. So things go from bad to worse. He ends up getting arrested,
beaten up, and thrown in jail. There's sort of an
old joke about Paul that whenever he would
go to a new town, he would say, show
me the jail, I want to find out where I'm
going to be spending the night. He spent a lot of time in
jail, lot of nights in jail. So he's in jail, in
stocks, stretched out, in pain with his
buddy, and at midnight they sing hymns to God. An earthquake happens, the
stocks fall from his hands, the doors open. He ends up leading
the Philippian jailer to Christ, and his family. So we have a chick
down by a river named Lydia, and a jail guy. Two converts who become the
seeds of this church that's going to grow. So Paul leaves, years go by. Maybe even a decade
goes by right now. The church of Philippi out
Paul is in jail, again, this time in Rome. So they send him some money. A love gift to help support him. He writes a thank you letter. Philippians is that
thank you letter. It's a special
relationship of love, and he's saying thank
you, and as they read it, they discover something
unexpected in it. Joy. Joy. This guy who's had
it so bad for so long is writing with
such joyful terms. Unexpected joy. Billy Sunday said,
"If you have no joy, there's a leak in your
Christianity somewhere." "If you have no joy, there's
a leak in your Christianity somewhere." I know, I can hear all
sorts of rebuttals. You don't know what
I've been through. You don't know who's hurt me. You don't know what
circumstances I'm under. Wait a minute, what are you
doing under your circumstances? You see, as
believers, we're told to rise above the circumstances,
that's where joy is, and Paul says "We are more
than conquerors through him who loved us." Don't get under
your circumstances, get over them, on top of them. So this dynamic pair,
Paul and Timothy, faced difficult places with
difficult people, so what did they do? In their pain, they
found God's purpose. They found God's purpose. So want to go from the dynamic
pair, and the difficult place, to the divine purpose. What is that purpose? Well, it's hinted at, at least. Again, in verse 1
"Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of
Jesus Christ," now watch this "To all the
saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the
bishops and the deacons." Sounds like they've grown. What started out as
a woman by a river and a jailer and his family,
has grown into all the saints. A spiritual family
with spiritual fathers, overseers, pastors, and
servants, deacons in this case. Church has grown. So that growth,
from all of his pain to see a church grow out of
that and strong, is worth it all to him. Worth it all. I know that because -- read the next couple verses. Let's just take a sneak peek. Verse 3, "I thank my God upon
every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine
making requests for you all --" he's from the
south apparently -- "requests for you all with
joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the
first day until now, being confident of
this very thing, that He who has begun
a good work in you will complete it until
the day of Christ." Here's the key, or
here's one of the keys, of Paul's life and his joy. Whatever negative
experience he was facing, and I bet I'm talking
to a few people who are facing some negative
experiences, whatever negative experience
Paul was encountering, he was looking for
how God was working. When something bad happened, he
would think what's God up to? He's up to something. This hurts, this is
painful, this is horrible, what's He up to? That's how he lived his life. Listen, when life
happens unexpectedly, God is moving supernaturally. Paul believed that,
Paul lived that way. There's always two sides of
every event in your life. There's the factual
side of the event, but then there's the
actual side of the event. There's the facts. The who, the what, the where,
the how, and usually, I want to know, what are the facts? What happened here? OK, here's the facts, but
then there's the actual side. The why. Why did this happen? And so, Paul lived his
life looking around for the actual
side of this event. He knew the facts, but what's
the actual thing happening? Why is God allowing this? What's He up to? Where is the will of
God found in this fabric of pain and suffering? In this case, he'll
discover that God uses Roman law, appellate law. He appeals his case to
Caesar, which gets him on a ship where he
almost dies but doesn't, which takes him to
Rome, which puts him in jail for a long time. But through all
that, he discovers this is the will of God,
and for that I'm joyful. You go, the will of God? How? Listen, and again sneak
ahead a little bit. Look at verse 12. "I want you to know, brethren,
that the things which happened to me have
actually turned out for the furtherance
of the gospel." Now, you think of
that statement. You know what he
means when he says the things that happened to me? Falsely accused in Jerusalem,
thrown in jail in Caesarea, bad trial after bad
trial, put on a grain ship and taken to Rome, locked
up in a Roman prison, in guards, all those
things that have happened to me that sound bad,
have actually turned out to further the gospel. And as we get into it, I'll
show you how that happened. So we have 104 verses
in four chapters dripping with pure joy. Amazing to think about. A book of joy, written by a
guy who was once a killjoy, has now become the
apostle of joy. Now here's how to
calculate your life. Here's how to think
about your life. Here's how to get
joy in any situation. You take these elements
and put them together. You take a dynamic
person, by dynamic I don't mean I'm dynamic. It just means I'm saved,
and filled with the Spirit. That's dynamic, you
have life in you. That's what dynamic means. Take a dynamic person, saved
and filled with the Spirit, place the dynamic person
in a difficult place with difficult people,
but have that person discover the plan of God,
and the result will be joy. When you discover the plan of
God in that difficult place. The joy may be quite
unexpected, and when it is it's better that way. You go, I can't -- I've talked to people, I
don't know how to explain it, this is the worst
period of my life, but I have such
peace and such joy. Let me close with this story. Tim Hansel writes about
an 82-year-old man, served as a pastor for 50 years. They discovered skin cancer
on this man that required 15 operations to maintain him. 82 years old, skin
cancer, 15 operations. You're thinking, there can't be
a shred of joy in this story. But listen. Tim writes this, "Besides
suffering from the pain, he was so embarrassed
about how the cancer had scarred his appearance that
he wouldn't even go out. Then one day, he was
given a copy of my book You Gotta Keep Dancin',
in which I tell of my long struggle with
chronic intense pain from a near-fatal
climbing accident. In that book, I
told of the day when I realized that the pain
would be with me forever. So, at that moment, I
made a pivotal decision. I knew that it was up to me to
choose how I responded to it. So I chose joy. After reading a while,
the elderly pastor said he put the book
down thinking he's crazy. I can't choose joy. So he gave up on the idea. Then later, as he read
the Gospel of John chapter 15, verse 11, that joy is
a gift, and Jesus says, I want to give you my joy
that your joy may be complete, he thought a gift. A gift! He didn't know what to do,
so he got down on his knees, then he didn't know what to say. So he said, well then
Lord, give it to me. And suddenly, as he described
it, this incredible hunk of joy came from heaven
and landed on him. I was overwhelmed,
this old man wrote. It was like the joy spoken
about in the book of Peter. A joy unspeakable
and full of glory. I didn't know what to
say, so I said turn it on, Lord turn it on. And before he knew it, he was
dancing around the house." Picture an 82 year
old guy, skin cancer, dancing around his house. "He felt so joyful that he
actually felt born again again. And this astonishing change
happened at the age of 82. He just had to get out, he said. There was so much joy, he
couldn't stay cooped up. So he went out to the
local fast food restaurant, and got a burger. A lady saw how happy he was
and asked, how are you doing. He said oh I'm wonderful. Is it your birthday, she asked. No, honey it's better than that. Ah, it's your anniversary. No, better than that. Well what is it,
she asked excitedly. It's the joy of Jesus. Do you know what
I'm talking about? The lady just
shrugged and answered, no I have to work on Sundays." Right over her head. She didn't get
that crazy old man talking about the joy of Jesus. That's how she thought, but
he didn't care, he knew. He felt, he experienced,
a whole new way of living. The joy of the --
unexpected joy. Unexpected joy. Well, in this case,
you can expect joy. If you're filled with
life, the life of Jesus, filled with the Holy
Spirit, a dynamic person in a difficult place with
difficult people discovering a divine purpose, the
result will be joy. And the results of this letter,
all 104 verses, 103 left, we'll be here
awhile, will be joy that will drip on us week after
week as we derive its benefit. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for our time, and how I thank you
for this precious book. This simple correspondence
of a man, changed by you, surrendered to you,
in love with you, facing obstacle after obstacle. Riding from jail, saying
rejoice in the Lord always, and I'll say it again, rejoice. Lord, this is an
experience everyone can have who's a believer. It's sad that only few will. They will not choose
joy, but some will. And they will decide to
live their life looking, being on the lookout for what
you are up to, what purpose could be in this situation. Beyond the fact that they're
hurting, they feel pain, this is horrible,
but this could be because other people need that
example, and that instruction. Lord as we surrender
to you, even in the bleak situations
some may find themselves, would you give that precious
gift, that byproduct of seeking you and surrendering
to you, which is joy. Joy unspeakable full of glory. This morning, as we close, you
may not know Jesus personally. Let's just start there, you
may not know Jesus personally. You know things about him,
you've heard his name, you don't know him personally. You have never
surrendered, you have never decided that you're
going to follow him, that you're going
to do what he wants. You have never surrender
to an alien will, in fact your big fear
is loss of control. And the Bible says,
let go of your life and give it over to God,
completely, utterly, totally, and follow him. This morning, that's what
I'm asking you to do. If you've never
personally received Jesus as, not just Savior, but
as Lord, master of your life, I'm going to ask you to do that. I'm going to give you an
opportunity to do that. If you're willing
to surrender to him, and to say yes to Him
this morning, to follow Jesus as Savior, as Lord. If you've never made
that personal commitment, you can just raise
your hand up, if you're willing to do so,
just so I can see it, and I'll acknowledge you
as we close this service. I'd love to pray for you, I need
to know who I'm praying for. You surrender and say,
I'm going to let go today. I'm going to give my
life to Jesus today. I'm going to follow him today. It's going to be real
from this day forward. He'll forgive you of
your sins, cleanse you from your unrighteousness,
make you his child, and you'll see the
byproduct of joy chase you around the
rest of your life. As David said, "Surely
goodness and mercy will follow me all
the days of my life." If you're up for that, then
you raise your hand up. Put it up high enough
so I can see it. God bless you, right
there in the middle. Anyone else? To my right, toward the
back, in the middle. On my right, far right. Right up front, to my left. Anyone else? Jesus rose from the dead, we
celebrated that this week. Guess what? A week later he's still alive. He'll still change. He's still available. Father, thank you for these. Strengthen them, bless them. Fill them with purpose. Help them experience mercy,
and as they experience it, Lord, put within
them that joy unspeakable that's indescribable, full of
your glory, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand on our feet. I'm gonna give you an
opportunity, as we close this song, if you raised your
hand, different parts, easy if you're up front, little
harder if you're in the back. Wherever you're seated, I want
you to, as we sing the song, get up and come this way,
and stand right up here. I saw a few of you
raise your hands. We're just going
to wait for you. We don't do this
to embarrass you, we do this to
celebrate with you. We're brothers and sisters,
we're forgiven people. So come right up here,
I'm going to lead you in a prayer to receive Christ. If you raised your
hand you come. Come right up here to the front. [MUSIC - "COME AS YOU ARE"] [SINGING] So lay
down your burdens. Lay down your shame. And all who are broken,
lift up your face. Oh wanderer come home. You're not too far. So lay down your hurt, lay down
your heart, come as you are. Come as you are. I'm about to pray with
those who have come forward. Anybody else take Jesus'
offer of life, love, joy, forgiveness? Well, those of you who have come
forward, I'm glad you're here. I know you didn't
expect to be here when you came in this
morning, but here you are, responding to
God's call in your life. So, I'm going to
lead you in a prayer, and I'm going to say
this prayer out loud, and I'm going to ask you
to say these words out loud from your heart to the Lord. All right? Let's pray. Great, come on, come on over. God bless you guys. Thank you. Say Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. Forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe that he
paid for my sin. That he died on a cross. I believe he rose
from the dead, and I believe he is alive right now. And so I turn from my sin,
I leave my past behind, I turn to Jesus as my Savior,
as my friend, and as my Lord. It's in his name I pray. Amen. Congratulations! Paul's joyful letter to
the church at Philippi is not what you
would expect, given his circumstances at the time. Were you encouraged
by Paul's example? We'd love to hear about it. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for joining us
for this teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque.
