Mentoring Men for the Master

EVERY DAY A FRIDAY?

The SOURCE of Real Joy is INTIMACY WITH THE LIVING GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.  God has made each of us for Himself and we are miserable until we find rest in Him.  Sleep can be purchased at the Drug Store, but not rest – it is the gift of God.  So the very first word spoken of the gospel was that of the angel who said, “I bring you tidings of GREAT JOY…for unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10).  Why such great joy?  Because when we repent and surrender to Jesus as Lord and Savior He forgives our sins and our guilt is replaced by His total forgiveness and a joy “unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).  And not only does this joy come at the moment of conversion, but continues through out our lives if we will “internalize” God’s Word, for Jesus promised “These things I have spoken unto you (ie. who Internalize His Word) that My JOY might remain in you and that your JOY might be full.”  (John 15:11).

  1. The SHOWING of Real Joy Is Inevitable. If one is filled with authentic Joy of the Lord, he or she will show it; he cannot hide it.
  1. We will first of all notify our faces that we possess joy. Example:  Faces in the choir looking like a “reprint of the Book of Lamentations.”
  2. We will show it in our smiles. If you’re not smiling, you’re like a person with a million dollars in the bank and no check book.  Example:  Doris.
  3. We will add joy to our resumes. I read that professors at Yale University made a study of how we influence others, and they found that it is not looks, height, personality, but our smile.  Illus:  Holiday Inn interviewed  5000 prospects for new jobs, and they automatically disqualified any applicant who smiled less than 4 times during the interview.  “Smilers are workplace winners.”
  4. We will express joy in our worship. Theology without doxology is dead and boring.  With doxology, it is heavenly.  Worship without joy is no worship at all.  “O clap your hands all ye people, shout unto God with the triumph of triumph.” (Psalm 47:1).
  5. We will show joy in our soul- winning. (Psalm 126:6).  For 17 years I worked to train 3000 persons to share their faith.  I taught these persons to look the lost in the eye, smile and exude great joy as you asked them the $60. question, “Bill, have you reached a place in your own spiritual life that you know for certain if you died tonight you would go to heaven?”  I discovered the smilers were soul winners; the frowners were failures in the main.
  1. The SHARING of Our Joy is Transforming: Illus:  How my smile unknowing to me transformed my grandson.  Example:  How Tommy Tyson impacted me to go into the ministry.

Finally, the Living of the Life of Joy in the Lord brings the highest satisfaction to God Himself, for our joy shows we are satisfied in the Lord, and that is the supreme praise our Father  desires.  Are you bringing to Him that praise?