Jump For Joy Psalms 66:1-4 Psalms 98:4-7 Psalms 100:1-5 Nehemiah 8:10 Philippians 1:3-6 1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 1 Peter 1:8-9 Isaiah 12:6 Jude 1:24-25 01.09.19

JUMP FOR JOY

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¹ Shout with joy to God, all the earth! ² Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! ³ Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. ⁴ All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.” Selah   Psalm 66:1-4 (NIV)

⁴ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; ⁵ make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, ⁶ with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-- shout for joy before the LORD, the King. ⁷ Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.  Psalm 98:4-7 (NIV)

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. ² Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. ³ Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.   Psalm 100:1-5 (NIV)

¹⁰ Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.   Philippians 1:3-6 (NIV)

⁴ For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷ And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.  1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 (NIV)

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  1 Peter 1:8-9 (NIV)

⁶ “Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”   Isaiah 12:6 (NIV)

²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24-25 (NIV)

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“Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Your stars shine; Let me find Your light in my darkness, Your life in my death, Your joy in my sorrow, Your grace in my sin,  Your riches in my poverty, Your glory in my valley.”   From:  The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

“I realize that I am not used to the image of God throwing a party. It seems to contradict the solemnity and seriousness I have always attached to God. But when I think about the ways in which Jesus describes God’s Kingdom, a joyful banquet is often at its center…This invitation to a meal is an invitation to intimacy with God…Celebration belongs to God’s Kingdom. God not only offers forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing, but wants to lift up these gifts as a source of joy for all who witness them.”  Henri Nouwen

“God delights in His covenant and so we are sure He will not turn back from it. It is the joy of His holy heart. He delights to do His people good. To pass over transgression, iniquity, and sin is the recreation of Jehovah. Did you ever hear God singing? It is extraordinary that the Divine One would solace Himself with song, yet a prophet has thus revealed the Lord to us: ‘The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.’ (Zephaniah 3:17). The covenant is the heart of God written out in the blood of Jesus.”  Charles Spurgeon

“If there is joy in the world, surely the man of pure heart possesses it.”  Thomas a Kempis

“Circumstances do not have the power to steal your joy.  Joy is the by-product of experiencing God’s sovereign grace even in the midst of seemingly impossible circumstances.”   Anonymous

“Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.”   Leon Bloy

“Solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion’s children know.”   John Newton

“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.  I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be.  O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee.  My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter fairer be.  O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee.  I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be.  O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee.  I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.”   George Matheson 

“True glory and holy joy is to glory in Thee and not in one’s self.”  Thomas a Kempis

“Hard work is a thrill and a joy when you are in the will of God.”  Robert A. Cook

“Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul and they promote sanctification. We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from the Spirit of God. The soul is so constituted that it craves fulfillment from things outside itself and will embrace earthly joys for satisfaction when it cannot reach spiritual ones… The believer is in spiritual danger if he allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting the love of Christ and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior’s presence. When Christ ceases to fill the heart with satisfaction, our souls will go in silent search of other lovers… By the enjoyment of the love of Christ in the heart of a believer, we mean an experience of the “love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us” (Rom. 5:5)… because the Lord has made himself accessible to us in the means of grace, it is our duty and privilege to seek this experience from Him in these means till we are made the joyful partakers of it.”  John Flavel (1630-1691)

“In Jesus Christ we are deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally acceptable, and complete in Him.  Our journey is a joyous and challenging adventure with Christ.”  Robert McGee

“Wherefore it follows that God created the whole world for the manifestation of his love and goodness to the rational part of the world. Therefore there will doubtless be a time wherein God will fully manifest his love to good men, to those that answer the end of their creation. But reason tells us that they that fully enjoy the love of God must be exceeding happy beyond compare: for how happy are men sometimes in the love one of another. How much more happy, then, must they necessarily be in the enjoyment of the love of him who is infinitely greater, better and more excellent than any creature.” Jonathan Edwards

“The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience.  But it is not meant to be a one-time experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.”  Jerry Bridges

“When faith has the upper hand in my heart I am satisfied with Christ and His promises.  This is what Jesus meant when He said, ‘He who believed in Me shall never thirst’ (John 6:35).  When my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken.  We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can smell steak sizzling on the grill.  The fight of faith against lust is the fight to stay satisfied with God.”  John Piper

“It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world.  But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and good people who have learned the great secret of life.  They have found a joy and a wisdom which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life.  They are despised and persecuted, but they care not.  They are masters of their souls.  They have overcome the world.  These people, Donatus, are Christians…and I am one of them.”   St. Cyprian, 200-258

“You can’t get to joy by making everything perfect.  You can only get there by seeing in every imperfection all that’s joy.  The joy is in having the Beloved, not in loving what we have.”   Ann Voskamp

“Joy is the experience of knowing you are unconditionally loved.”   Henri Nouwen

“The religion of Christ is the religion of joy.”   Octavius Winslow

“No joy….can compare with the joy of God in beautifying His people.”   John Piper

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires (that is, our ambitions) not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  C. S. Lewis

HEART SAVOR

·         Only in Jesus can one know true freedom and joy – it comes not from what we have done or from what we have but from what He has done for us.

·         God loves His children to worship Him with joyful song – to come before His Presence with singing.

·         It is so foolish of us to seek joy (or any other faux fulfillment for that matter) from the created rather than the Creator - Who in Him are all things.  He is what everyone needs – everyone – whether they realize it or not.