Joy Giver

Let’s open our bibles to Romans chapter 5. When you find Romans five, would you stand with me as we read God’s word together. Romans 5 and we will be in verses 1 through 5. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. And all of God’s people said together, amen.

You may be seated. Monday I took some of the morning to pray for my dear friend Paul and April. Just a week or two ago a gunman from what I have scarcely been figuring out from words and sifting through news articles and videos, It seems perhaps a man with a jealous rage fired a weapon into the car with my friends 25 year old daughter Faith and her friend inside.

Faith’s life was taken at the scene while her friend still fights for their life in the ICU. I’ve been watching her dads videos on social media as he brings Jesus into every conversation. Just yesterday he took us into her apartment as they packed it up and he reminded us that JEsus still cares for us. Tuesday our family drove to Hughesville for one of Abby’s softball games. In between innings I had picked up my phone to check Facebook and then saw that there was a shooting at a Texas elementary school.

I went to a news page to read what was going on, and my heart sank as I watched in horror with all of the world the tragic death of innocent children and their teachers. I watched as they would say, 5 to 10 to 19 to 21 people lost their life that day. What really punched me in the gut was when I was watching the early videos. It would show desperate mothers running down the street towards the school.

Tears began to well up and all I could think of in that moment was how scary and horrific it must be to know that you child is in danger and to not know whether or not they are going to make it out of that danger. How scary it is to know you’re not with them in a moment of need. One of my biggest fears as a father is that one of my kids would need me and I wouldn’t be able to be there to help them.

Wednesday, i took our kids to school and as I returned home. I was greeted with my wife bringing out our daughters chrome book. As i began to back out of our drive way there was a white car that pulled in behind me. A lady rushes out with tears flowing. She was desperate. She had no where to go and could only think to come to our little church where she knew there was a praying pastor.

She came up to my car and began to tell me how her mom had fell and how she had surgery on her leg and Hip but there is something wrong, She’s not acting like herself and it seems she had symptoms of a stroke. So, i got out of my car, came around to where she was, and I prayed with her in our parking lot. I let her know to give me some time, I needed to change into something more appropriate and I would go to the hospital to pray for her mom as well.

I showed up at the hospital and as I was walking towards the main entrance, I hear my name being called by someone at the ambulance entrance. As i walked to the right there was a couple walking by and the guy said hi, as if he knew me. I said hi and continued on to the ambulance to talk to a friend of mine who is a firefighter.

I turn to walk back to the front entrance of Williamsport hospital and there standing was the couple that I had passed and said hi too. As I was signing in to go visit my friends mother, the man that said hi spoke up with trembling in his voice, and he said, my dad had a stroke. Now at this point it didn’t matter whether or not he knew me and if I knew him…

what mattered was.. as someone who aims to bring JEsus to wherever i go, I heard his heart for prayer. I ask for his dads name and room number. And I made my way through the hospital room by room telling people Jesus as sent me, and he wants me to tell you that he sees you. After I left the hospital, I made a quick trip over to see a friend of mine to see how he was doing and to let him know were still praying.

I am sure there’s at least one or two of you hear today who would agree that you too had a tough week as well. To which I want to say too you this morning, you matter… Jesus sees you and he cares. This prayer has been laying heavy on my heart all week……… Lord, We live in a world…. We live in a world that has lost its way… and the church has lost its voice.

We live in a world where unborn babies are dying one week and there are national leaders who seems to be ok with it until, they witness our born children being gunned down the next week. And now those leaders enthusiastically call for reform because innocent lives are being taken. I struggle to understand that. We live in a world that has lost it’s foundation in Christ alone by faith alone.

We live in a dark world, and in dark times. We hear the cry from those in the pews of how God needs to be reestablished into schools. But how can God be reestablished in the schools if he isn’t the head of the church and the home? Everyone wants the power of the Spirit and the inheritance the Spirit gives but no one wants to heed to the calling the Spirit places on our lives anymore.

Change doesn’t happen if the church isn’t changed and transformed by the very presence of God with in them. No one hears a voice unless it speaks up and lives up to what they are speaking. The voice of the church can’t be heard today, because the world has the church so afraid to pray in public that it’s afraid to even show up to church and to pray at the alter.

I’ve seen more life at a pot luck than at prayer meeting. And worst yet, the world has the church so afraid of prayer that it’s lost it in the homes of the people as well. We pray for blessing.. no doubt. But when was the last time you just laid in bed and before you gently fell asleep, just prayed,. Lord, I’m just desperate for you? I’m so ashamed to say that were more surrendered to God when we sleep than we are awake and aware.

IM ashamed to say, that the dead bodies in the cemetery show more life than the church of today does. Because At least they show up and are accounted for. At least every Sunday those in the cemetery are present and ready. The greatest danger in our churches today is that it’s filled with dead bodies that think their alive. It’s filled with powerless christians that live with no hope and have no time for God.

But the church isn’t a cemetery is it? It can’t be. God’s people are to grow. There aught to be life burning within the church. We aught to be showing up to the church with heart aglow and fanned into flame a deep rich adoration for God. That’s my prayer this week… We live in a world.. that is lost and the church has lost its voice. Now, you’re probably wondering what does that have to do with our Scripture this morning…

I’m praying for God’s love to be poured out into His people and we find hope for the future of this church and the future of this community. God has given us a new start. We have a fresh start. He has given us a vision. He has given us direction. He has called people into leadership and we have $160,000 dollars + or - available to us for the work he’s calling us into.

The only thing we’re missing is hope filled Christians with a burning desire to share the gospel with compassion. That’s it! I’m praying for A loved filled hope and the only way we find this love filled hope is by us having a love for God because God’s Spirit is pouring his love into us. Did you catch the ending of verse 5? The father has given to us, the Holy Spirit who fills our hearts with His love.

not my love. My love is dung compared to God’s love. The only true love that I can give to my wife, is love that comes from God to me. Men, if you want to truly love your wife. Love her with the love of God. Not your own. Wemon, if you wan to exp[reince that love fro your husband then be a wife that encourages him to be a man filled with the SPirit.

this hope Paul talks about.. the hope of faith. The hope of being regenerated and justified and adopted. This hope that we have because the Holy Spirit has now taken up residence within us. This hope we have that is in our most troubling moments and trials we can have unshakable faith in Christ, and not only that. That our foundation in Christ is so firm and secure, he not only develops within us endurance, but our character changes as well.

That means who you are changes.. you’re being transformed from who you were into who you were called to become and we’re called to become holy which means were being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit is pouring out the love of God into our hearts and minds, and Souls. Why our hearts? Why doesn’t the Holy Spirit pour his love into our minds. Right? When someone says Matthew, how can I pray for you.

I always say two things, Pray I know and stay in God’s presence, and, pray that i have the mind of Christ. Praying for presence and a staying in presence is really to pray that I stay within the will of God. Like Moses I do not want to make any decisions without God’s presence moving me in that direction. And yes, God will move us to make some tough decisions that others will disagree with.

Especially when it comes to living a life of purity. praying for the mind of Christ is so that my mind is aware of His presence. But, my mind isn’t as strong as my heart is for Christ. It’s true. And it’s also true that God will always speak to our heart first. And if you and i do not have the mind of Christ, our mind will always talk our hearts out of what God tells us to do.

Why? Because our hearts is not an organ of performance, but an organ of preference. If our walk with God was about performance then we would never have any issue finding people to serve in the church. Right? If God’s glory and presence fell to this place at this time and said, Hey. I’ve changed my mind. Live by works and not by faith. Every Sunday school class would have lists of people wanting to teach and serve in the church.

But why our heart and not our minds Even JEsus when asked by the scribe what’s the greatest commandment, what did Jesus say and put first? To love the Lord your God with all of your what? Your heart. Heart is what he uses first. IN Deuteronomy chapter 6, the Jewish shema where Jesus got the greatest commandment from. What does the shema put first? It says, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart.

Then soul, then might. God speaks and pours his love into our heart because there is where our desire is. Our heart isn’t about performance. It’s about preference. The heart prefers, and then we do stuff in accordance to what our preferences are. The first commandment is loving God with all of our preference. We prefer Jesus over any other thing in this world. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, that was what was broken when they sinned.

They preferred the fruit and they let that preference move them into the act of sinning against God. It’s the same with us. Before Christ we preferred our darkness. and even in Christ we fight this pull towards our old life, that craves darkness. Remember, regeneration, being born again is our old self bound, but sanctification is our old self thrown out. Regeneration is sanctification begun, but sanctification is the work complete.

When we are made holy in this life through the Holy Spirt and sanctified, when the darkness pulls, it’s no longer like trying to walk up stream through raging rapids that’s trying to pull us back down, but holiness is like wading through a mud puddle. Right now in your life you struggle because your preference isn’t all in with Christ. And so, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives through the new birth and we begin to prefer Christ.

We prefer Him but as we grow we also begin to delight in him too. Think about it, we don’t delight in things we do not love. I’ve never seen my wife delight in house chores and laundry. I’ve never delighted in washing the dishes or. I’ve never seen someone delight in being chained to prison walls either. But I do witness delight in my wife when she watches our kids grow.

She delights in the company of our pets, and she delights in knowing she has a that trophy husband. She delights in these things because she loves us. And so, since GOd is pouring out His love into her heart, and my heart and into your heart there should be joy in our hearts for God and for others. We receive our joy from God’s presence in our lives. What we realize All through the Scripture is that we see joy played out and developed…

IN the Old Testament joy is mainly attached to the actions of GOd. God is our protector… He is our provider.. healer.,. Savior. These are the actions. It’s good because it’s important today as it was for those who lived in that period of time. Now, in this day and age, we live with the fact that a savior is born, crucified, buried, resurrected and ascended. We live in an age where we have the promised Holy SPirit pouring God’s love into our lives.

And so, abundant love is provided and fills our hearts and joy is deepened, even greater than those of faith before Christ. And here is the thing, when it comes to joy, for todays world, it’s not solely attached to what God does for us… but more more than who he is to us… You see where I am going with this.. IM trying to help us understand that joy comes from who Jesus is to us, and how we delight in him.

And our joy comes from this beautiful delightful relationship we have with him through the Holy Spirit. Some of you have been placed in situations where God can do great things with you…. I think we’re seeing this already.

Some of you have stepped out by faith to join the church, and some of you have stepped out by faith to lead in the church. I cant wait to see what fruit that produces to advance the gospel here at Twin HIlls because of your willingness to serve. Last year I was so proud of all of you who poured your hearts into those 12 kids for VBS. Sometimes we can just sit in our bitterness and what we would call a bad circumstance and gripe about it all…

that doesn’t bring joy. I’ve been there.. I’ve been that guy who’s said, why didn’t they do this, or why didn’t they do that. But at the same time not lifting a finger to actually make myself available to offer any help. It’s so much easier to be a joy killer than a joy giver. And that is what God wants us to be at twin Hills… He wants us to be so filled with His love, and delight only in him that we have joy in all situations.

But how do we become a joy giver and not a joy killer? Well first, live beyond circumstances and people. Living beyond the circumstance and people means we change our attitude. When our attitude is towards gratitude, we’re more prone to be outgoing and overflowing with Joy and presence. Stephen manly our camps evangelist once said, are we willing to turn Jesus’s loose to live his life of love through us?

How can any of us be a joy givers if the Holy SPirit isnt pouring his love into us. And how can the Holy Spirit pour love into us if we never show up in prayer to tap into His presence? Secondly, we’re joy givers when we receive the joy of God presence. There is a reason why we say, presence matters most. Presence matters because we’re reliant on the Holy Spirit.

Remember Moses didn’t want to move without God’s presence. In Europe there is a castle with a throne room that has a painting of Jesus ascending into heaven through clouds above the throne. When one fellow asked why this was, the tour guide simply said, the king who used to live here always wanted to be reminded that when he sat on the throne he didn’t want to forget that he was the little king serving under the king of kings.

Gods presence is more than just a saying, it‘s life. And his presence in our life needs to reminds us that were not individuals who are independent, but we are people who must be reliant. The king of kings might have ascended into heaven, but he still sent the Spirit of our living Lord to remain on earth to reign on the throne of our hearts. Joy givers, are people who radiate God’s living presence because God presence sits on the throne of thier life.

Thirdly, and lastly, we become joy givers because we stay in the life of others. Now, i will confess i have a tendency to act more humanly than holy. What i mean by that is loving the Lord with all of my heart, soul mind and strength is a lot easier than loving my neighbor as myself. I struggle with loving people that doesn’t love me back. I asked God one time to help me with this and he did.

He opened my heart wide open for it… I prayed one day at the school board meeting and it happened to be over 100 people there. It was so full we had to use the auditorium. I stepped up to the podium and I began to talk from my heart. And as I looked over the crowds God hit me in the gut… he said Matthew, do you see all these people here.

I said yes… he said they are a flock in need of a Shepard… are you mine.. I said yes… then care for my people. Jesus reminded me that day of John 10:16, I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd. I prayed my heart out for unity and as soon as I was done every step out up from that podium and to the door, and then to the outside door, towards my car, my heart kept falling, and melting and tears were welling up and as I jumped into my car before any one could see me I was weeping uncontrollably.

That was the day I changed my title from senior/lead pastor to vision pastor. Because Without vision, people perish. If we’re going to be joy givers we’ve got to love those we’re bringing joy to and per the Bible that is everyone, even those who hate us and those who ignore us. So this morning… let me ask you… Is the Holy Spirit filling your heart with His love?

Do you prefer God over a everything else in your life? Do you delight in him. Do you find joy in him? And can you be a joy giver to those around you? If not, perhaps this morning is the morning you need to be the one crying out.. To Jesus? *