Proving Our Faith: Joy and Engagement in Christ
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "Because joy does not equal happiness, it does not depend on circumstances that would make us happy. It actually supersedes things of even life and death, meaning we could still be joyful in the face of death. Read what the apostle Paul says when he says, hey, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You understand what that means? Paul says, hey, if I keep living for the next 30 years, awesome. I'm going to preach Jesus to everybody I see in here. If I die today before I get home, great. I get to see Jesus firsthand. Like, what do you do to somebody like that? How can you threaten somebody like that? Paul, we're going to keep you alive. Great. I get to preach Jesus. We're going to kill you. Sweet. I get to go home to Jesus. Like, do you see how that's completely different than happiness? That is a joy. That is a contentment that only comes from God." [36:02]
2. "Anybody can be happy. You don't have to be a Christian to be happy. Happy, happy, happy, right? Joy, true joy, real joy, I believe can only come from a relationship. Relationship with Jesus. Because there are things in this life that aren't happy, and we can still be joyous during them. So here's my question. Here's your first question for the series. How's my joy? This is the question you're going to ask yourself. How's my joy? Right? And remember, joy does not equal happiness, so you don't have to be happy to be joyful. Joyful can mean happiness, but it doesn't necessarily have to mean happiness." [37:27]
3. "We don't serve a really good man. We serve a Savior who has always existed, who became a man for us. That's why it's important. Number two, Jesus proves who he is in person. So not only has he always existed, yet he chose to reveal himself to us as one of us. This is where we see baby Jesus in a manger. He was God who became one of us. He chose to reveal himself as one of us. Turns out that was needed. That was needed for our salvation." [21:43]
4. "We don't serve an invisible savior. We don't serve someone who's just out there somewhere, maybe, that we'll never see. And if you have a problem with the fact that Jesus might be a real person, know this, when he comes back for us, he will be real. He will still be real." [23:30]
5. "Jesus changes us forever. Not just he changes us and makes some tweaks here and there, and it only lasts a little bit. He changes us forever. So in order to understand this one, we're going to need to do a little work, okay? We're going to need to do a little Greek grammar session. You guys okay with that? Right? And they're like, come on, school's out, like, practically. Do we really have to do... Yes, we really have to do this, and it's not going to be hard, okay?" [24:54]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Our faith is not merely a mental state of being. It's a tangible truth that can be proven. And so a lot of times up here, we'll open up the Q&A like we did for this last series that we did, and you guys send me questions, and I try to answer them at the end. We're going to do something like reverse Q&A for this series, okay? You're not going to send in your questions, although I am entirely open to your questions. Just as a side note, is Robert okay if I ever question anything he says? Absolutely, because that tells me you're listening, all right? But that's beside the point." [14:44]
2. "So I'm going to ask you questions throughout this series, and the hope is that you can ask this question to yourself, and depending on how you answer this question, it is proving or disproving the faith that you claim to have. So each week, there's going to be a big question that you have to ask yourself. And if you ask this, if you answer this question, it's going to be a big question that you have to ask yourself. In the positive, that is proof. If you answer it in the negative, or meaning you can't answer it in the positive, you want to get curious about that as to why it is." [16:02]
3. "I believe that you're going to be able to prove with complete confidence to yourself and to others that you know Jesus, that you actually do know him. And I don't mean just in a cursory understanding, like you know him. There is an intimate knowledge there. I believe that you're going to be able to prove to yourself and others with complete confidence that you love Jesus, and that you're going to be able to prove to yourself and others. With complete confidence that you believe in Jesus, that what you believe is not only true, you know why you believe it." [17:30]
4. "You and I will never understand who Jesus is by simply glancing at him from time to time. We must spend significant time in close proximity, watching, studying, learning. And you're like, well, how do we do that? How do we watch Jesus? How do we study Jesus when he's not here? Jesus left. In his word, the very photograph of what he looks like. You want to see what Jesus looks like? You read these pages and you see Jesus. You want to hear what Jesus looks like? You read these pages and you will hear the voice of Jesus. You want to be able to tell the voice of Jesus in your own life? Learn to listen to what he sounds like. Then when you hear it, you'll know it's his voice. My sheep know me. They know my voice. My voice. And they listen to me." [31:18]
5. "We will not get to know Jesus by simply glancing at him from time to time and simply brushing up against him from time to time. We must spend significant time studying him, learning his voice, seeing his picture. And then number four, Jesus came to us for us. He came to us for us. Now, this is where normally my hyper-reformed friends flip their lid. Because they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Jesus did not come for us. He came for God's glory. Because he was all about God's glory. And when you say that he came for us, that's putting our needs in front and ahead of God's glory. Listen, stop. I understand the argument and calm down, okay?" [33:00]
6. "Remember this. Jesus was preexistent from all eternity in perfect community with God, the Father, himself, and the Spirit. He did not need to, come here for us. And he chose to come here to become one of us. So two things can be true. God can be living, or sorry, Jesus can be doing everything for the glory of God and it be for us. And if you have a problem with the thinking that Jesus came for us, then you're going to have a real problem when you realize he's coming back for us. And guess what? It will be for the glory of God. Right? He came to us for us." [33:00]
7. "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard. There are those words again, by the way, written in the same way. So that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. Here we see another reason for John's writing this, to make our joy complete. Well, what does that mean? It means to Well, first off, it's important to know that joy does not equal happiness. Joy does not equal happiness. A lot of people are surprised to realize that when you read the Bible, you see that God's biggest goal in life has nothing to do with your happiness. It has everything to do with your holiness. And sometimes that holiness even comes at the expense of your happiness." [34:32]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "Because joy does not equal happiness, it does not depend on circumstances that would make us happy. It actually supersedes things of even life and death, meaning we could still be joyful in the face of death. Read what the apostle Paul says when he says, hey, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You understand what that means? Paul says, hey, if I keep living for the next 30 years, awesome. I'm going to preach Jesus to everybody I see in here. If I die today before I get home, great. I get to see Jesus firsthand. Like, what do you do to somebody like that? How can you threaten somebody like that? Paul, we're going to keep you alive. Great. I get to preach Jesus. We're going to kill you. Sweet. I get to go home to Jesus. Like, do you see how that's completely different than happiness? That is a joy. That is a contentment that only comes from God." [36:02]
2. "Anybody can be happy. You don't have to be a Christian to be happy. Happy, happy, happy, right? Joy, true joy, real joy, I believe can only come from a relationship. Relationship with Jesus. Because there are things in this life that aren't happy, and we can still be joyous during them. So here's my question. Here's your first question for the series. How's my joy? This is the question you're going to ask yourself. How's my joy? Right? And remember, joy does not equal happiness, so you don't have to be happy to be joyful. Joyful can mean happiness, but it doesn't necessarily have to mean happiness." [37:27]
3. "We don't serve a really good man. We serve a Savior who has always existed, who became a man for us. That's why it's important. Number two, Jesus proves who he is in person. So not only has he always existed, yet he chose to reveal himself to us as one of us. This is where we see baby Jesus in a manger. He was God who became one of us. He chose to reveal himself as one of us. Turns out that was needed. That was needed for our salvation." [21:43]
4. "We don't serve an invisible savior. We don't serve someone who's just out there somewhere, maybe, that we'll never see. And if you have a problem with the fact that Jesus might be a real person, know this, when he comes back for us, he will be real. He will still be real." [23:30]
5. "Jesus changes us forever. Not just he changes us and makes some tweaks here and there, and it only lasts a little bit. He changes us forever. So in order to understand this one, we're going to need to do a little work, okay? We're going to need to do a little Greek grammar session. You guys okay with that? Right? And they're like, come on, school's out, like, practically. Do we really have to do... Yes, we really have to do this, and it's not going to be hard, okay?" [24:54]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Our faith is not merely a mental state of being. It's a tangible truth that can be proven. And so a lot of times up here, we'll open up the Q&A like we did for this last series that we did, and you guys send me questions, and I try to answer them at the end. We're going to do something like reverse Q&A for this series, okay? You're not going to send in your questions, although I am entirely open to your questions. Just as a side note, is Robert okay if I ever question anything he says? Absolutely, because that tells me you're listening, all right? But that's beside the point." [14:44]
2. "So I'm going to ask you questions throughout this series, and the hope is that you can ask this question to yourself, and depending on how you answer this question, it is proving or disproving the faith that you claim to have. So each week, there's going to be a big question that you have to ask yourself. And if you ask this, if you answer this question, it's going to be a big question that you have to ask yourself. In the positive, that is proof. If you answer it in the negative, or meaning you can't answer it in the positive, you want to get curious about that as to why it is." [16:02]
3. "I believe that you're going to be able to prove with complete confidence to yourself and to others that you know Jesus, that you actually do know him. And I don't mean just in a cursory understanding, like you know him. There is an intimate knowledge there. I believe that you're going to be able to prove to yourself and others with complete confidence that you love Jesus, and that you're going to be able to prove to yourself and others. With complete confidence that you believe in Jesus, that what you believe is not only true, you know why you believe it." [17:30]
4. "You and I will never understand who Jesus is by simply glancing at him from time to time. We must spend significant time in close proximity, watching, studying, learning. And you're like, well, how do we do that? How do we watch Jesus? How do we study Jesus when he's not here? Jesus left. In his word, the very photograph of what he looks like. You want to see what Jesus looks like? You read these pages and you see Jesus. You want to hear what Jesus looks like? You read these pages and you will hear the voice of Jesus. You want to be able to tell the voice of Jesus in your own life? Learn to listen to what he sounds like. Then when you hear it, you'll know it's his voice. My sheep know me. They know my voice. My voice. And they listen to me." [31:18]
5. "We will not get to know Jesus by simply glancing at him from time to time and simply brushing up against him from time to time. We must spend significant time studying him, learning his voice, seeing his picture. And then number four, Jesus came to us for us. He came to us for us. Now, this is where normally my hyper-reformed friends flip their lid. Because they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Jesus did not come for us. He came for God's glory. Because he was all about God's glory. And when you say that he came for us, that's putting our needs in front and ahead of God's glory. Listen, stop. I understand the argument and calm down, okay?" [33:00]
6. "Remember this. Jesus was preexistent from all eternity in perfect community with God, the Father, himself, and the Spirit. He did not need to, come here for us. And he chose to come here to become one of us. So two things can be true. God can be living, or sorry, Jesus can be doing everything for the glory of God and it be for us. And if you have a problem with the thinking that Jesus came for us, then you're going to have a real problem when you realize he's coming back for us. And guess what? It will be for the glory of God. Right? He came to us for us." [33:00]
7. "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard. There are those words again, by the way, written in the same way. So that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. Here we see another reason for John's writing this, to make our joy complete. Well, what does that mean? It means to Well, first off, it's important to know that joy does not equal happiness. Joy does not equal happiness. A lot of people are surprised to realize that when you read the Bible, you see that God's biggest goal in life has nothing to do with your happiness. It has everything to do with your holiness. And sometimes that holiness even comes at the expense of your happiness." [34:32]
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from May 19, 2024. Do you have any questions about it?