God’s Kingdom Is the Source of True Joy - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 2008 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“‘. . . and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field’” (Matthew 13:44).

Every man or woman desires basic joy in his or her life—a desire that all others directly or indirectly serve. We like to eat because tasty food brings joy and usually a feeling of good health to our bodies. We enjoy money because of the prospect of good and necessary things it can buy. Many of us also seek prestige, power, knowledge, and other advantages for the supposed joy they will bring.

But all such joys are fleeting and disappointing. The only genuine and lasting joy is that found in the kingdom of God, because God Himself created mankind and wants to provide them with complete satisfaction. After Christ exhorted the apostles to abide in Him and let His words abide in them, to verify their discipleship by bearing much fruit, and to obey His commandments and thus abide in His love (John 15:1–10), the Lord told them, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (v. 11; cf. 16:24; 1 John 1:4).

The apostle Paul tells us that “the kingdom of God is . . . peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). Then he prays for the Romans, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (15:13). Authentic joy comes only when we find and accept Jesus Christ and His kingdom by faith in Him.

Ask Yourself

Have you noticed that the feeling you sense after watching a sporting event, attending a movie, coming home with a major purchase—or even enjoying Christmas—is never quite as robust as the anticipation was?

How is it different from the experience of engaging in Christian worship and service?

---

TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: gty

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word ping

[xp38]

May we all be blessed with that everlasting joy

[Elsie]

Have you noticed that the feeling you sense after watching a sporting event, attending a movie, coming home with a major purchase—or even enjoying Christmas—is never quite as robust as the anticipation was?

[Bob434]

Here is also a source of true joy. Its from a dr jeremiah sermon. I had notegpt.io put the video into written form.

“there are no accidents with God the family you were born in was no accident the country you live in the language you speak the friends you have your weaknesses your mistakes all the things that you have done your poor decisions none of them are accidents to God the book of Romans tells us that God works all things together for his glory and the word for all things together is the word Sy the word from which we get our word Synergy and Synergy is when you take a whole bunch of things and put them together and the result is much
Show less
21:48
more than all of them could be added up to be there’s a synergistic effect and when God gets involved in our lives he takes the good and the bad the mistakes and all of the things we do right and in his Sovereign he mixes it all together and he puts it together in his plan and according to the scripture he makes all things beautiful he’s The Sovereign God you may think today oh I have blown it so much God can never use me no if you’ve blown it you ask for forgiveness you get right and you wait for God’s
Show less
22:17
next word and I promise you he’s not done with you yet he has a purpose for you he will take what’s wrong and somehow he will weave it together into his plan and he will make it right do you regret certain decisions you’ve made did things not turn out the way you had hoped do you feel stuck do you wish you had done things differently there are no accidents with God God in his sovereignty even overrides our sins maybe you’re suffering long-term consequences of a bad mistake remember
Show less
22:52
there are no accidents with God God is not the author of sin so wherever we find ourselves and what whatever we have to deal with we can know that God in his infinite wisdom and in his sovereignty has designed it for our good and to make us like Christ and to bring him glory just hang in there you can trust God he’s in control and he’s a good god am and the wonderful thing that happens when you become a Christian is you come to the place where you acknowledge that there is a sovereign God and you realize
Show less
23:23
how wonderful and Powerful that is and you say to yourself Sovereign God be Sovereign of my life come and sit in the Wheelhouse of my heart come and be my Lord and my savior when you do that he never ever says no he doesn’t say I’m too busy he always comes when we invite him but he never comes unless we do you don’t get him by coming to church you don’t get him by reading the Bible or talking to other people or even learning the language of Christianity you only get God when you invite his son...”

Here is a link to the video if anyone would like to watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rS7tF9NkNc

[Bob434]

Sorry for the formatting. The translation to t3xt doesnt inc,ude commas or periods unfortunately, but thw general jist shines through.

[kosciusko51]

Reminds me of a line from Star Trek from Mr. Spock in the episode “Amok Time”:

“After a time, you may find that ‘having’ is not so pleasing a thing after all as ‘wanting’. It is not logical, but it is often true.”

And this is what earthly treasures are like. As I get older, I find myself wanting less things, and trying to simplify my life.

[metmom]

Thanks for the transcript and link.

The transcript is what it is.

Merry Christmas.