Douglas Wilson “How to Lose Your Joy”

[@Yesica1993]

So biblical and so practical!

[@EllieM_Travels]

Sin isn’t just what we do, it’s in our thoughts, our attitudes, the very core of our human nature. We should walk in a repentant spirit at all times, always adjusting by the power of the Holy Spirit, so we can live by the spirit and not by the flesh.

[@caldylangoss2287]

Hallelujah

[@no-lie85]

Amen🙏🏾

[@MariaSmith-vy4hn]

We never sin isolation.

[@chrisschey7818]

You got in the joy and the unburdened 😅

[@captainfancypants1877]

Please do a series on naming sin.

[@justinmendes9]

I love Pastor Wilson. I've been listening to him for the last several years everyday and there has not been any pastor whose sermons have been as impactful as his in the way he exposits Scripture. However, this is why I get so disheartened and frustrated. I get annoyed and frustrated when preachers preach to their congregants as if they're dumb, and as if they haven't thought about things like these before, and as if they have not sincerely tried applying the teachings of the sermon for years, but seem like they're hitting a brick wall. It sounds so simple - "If you don't have joy, there's sin in your life that you have not confessed and repented of.". And yet for me and innumerable other people who have been going through excruciating hardships for years, who have confessed and confessed and confessed and confessed and confessed and confessed, and repented and repented and repented, and still there is no joy, no light, no indication of deliverance, and so much confusion and dismay, and we are crying out to God every day to do SOMETHING - either reveal to us what else we should confess, because we've confessed everything; reveal to us what else we should do, because we're doing everything we can; reveal to us some wisdom we don't yet know. And there's questions like "What about if we've been pleading with God for years to rid us of some habitual sin, despite our best efforts in killing it, and He has not?" "What about when we've honestly confessed and forsaken the sins we knowingly commit, and nothing happens? And then prayed to God to reveal sins we are committing that are the cause of discipline, but He has not, and we're still being spanked?" It is beyond frustrating when the basic take-away of every reformed sermon on suffering is: (1) God knows what He's doing, you don't, so just keep that in mind (2) You're a sinner who God saved, so whatever hardship you're dealing with, it's better than you deserve, and you should wake up and go to sleep everyday keeping that in mind, (3) It will all make sense one day in the New Creation, so just keep that in mind (4) You're suffering because you've sinned (like David); but maybe you're suffering even though you haven't sinned (Job); but also maybe you're suffering because you have sinned (like the children of Israel); but also maybe you're suffering (like Paul) because you have not sinned, and are being persecuted because men love darkness rather than the light; or maybe you're suffering because you have sinned (like David again); or maybe you're suffering even though you have not sinned (like Joseph); and you just have to rack your brain and figure out which one, and pray to God, and dive into scripture, and review your incredibly complex situation and try to figure out which one it is, and what you're supposed to do. It's just not that simple, and in the end it feels like it is all futile. It feels that God's heavy hand on us will never cease, and it leads to learned helplessness, and fatalism. It feels like prayer, confession, repentance, faith, just doesn't work. And then we turn on sermons like these, that speak TRUTH (I'm not denying or debating anything he's said - it's all true), but make it sound so incredibly simple. You look to good faithful preachers like Paul Washer who say "Kill Sin", and like John Piper who say "Love Jesus More than you Love Anything, and find EXCEEDING joy and pleasure in Him", and you just want to get up and throw your chair at the computer and yell "HOOOWWWW????!!!!!! I'M TRYING!!! NOTHING IS WORKING". And it seems like there's an incredible disconnect between the applications of the text (not from the text itself but as expounded on by preachers) and what faithful Christians actually go through in their complex situations that arent.so.simple.

[@Yesica1993]

And there's questions like "What about if we've been pleading with God for years to rid us of some habitual sin, despite our best efforts in killing it, and He has not?" I mean, God doesn't zap us. If we're the ones sinning, we're the ones who need to find the help / support to stop sinning. As to the rest, I don't know all the answers. All I know is that life is HARD sometimes. It just IS. There's no getting around that. Sometimes, all you can do is hold on.

[@Yesica1993]

@@user-bt6hh9yu1n There's no need to be so very nasty.

[@LucianaPelota]

@justinmendes9, I am so sorry. I will pray for you.

[@becca.carroll]

Hey I appreciate your comment and I resonate. Something I've been wondering is am I "holding God hostage" to make me feel a certain way? My own thought process has been more or less, I've wondered if I don't really grasp all that he has done for me and in that sense, the sin would be sin of omission, not commission. I think that was an important distinction for me. (If I'm correct, I think Doug is mostly talking about sins of commission.) The omission being not being joyful in all things. And so God's "heavy hand" is more me not entering into the joy and reality that he has made himself one with me. Also wondering if the heavy hand is actually not of God. Idk sometimes normal life isn't great but it's still deep peace knowing God has given Himself to us? Something that might be worth asking is, do I know what is the feeling that I'm wanting? have I felt the feeling I'm wanting before? And what was going on? Anyway... Wish you the best.

[@C.Dean_Johnson]

Where does one obtain that Joyful warrior poster?

[@MariaSmith-vy4hn]

32:50

[@j.v3235]

Please do

[@iamguardian9099]

One way to lose joy, when pastor you once respected coordinated to destroy someone you care about’s ministry, and when caught double down instead of making peace.

[@matthewdyer2926]

Nobody knows what you’re talking about.

[@rockycomet4587]

That's an oddly specific example.

[@MariaSmith-vy4hn]

Confess your sin. Thank God for the forgiveness that is already promised. Restitution Seek out motives for not confessing. 1) we believe it's too small of a sin. If it's big enough to worry you, it's big enough to bring to God. 2) we surrender to the sin. We say it's too big to bring to God. But God can deal with the most crimson of sins. 3) they justify the sin. Rename the sin. 4) excuse the sin. Saying "but" 5) blur the sin. "vague, general", left a big undefined. 6)reassign blame for the sin. Adam blaming eve. 7) simply ignoring sin.thr passing of time does not equal forgiveness. 8) procrastination. Elongatting the time I go to God confessing my direct specific sin by the name used in the Bible. 9)hide the sin. Like eve and Adam hiding in the bush after eating the fruit. God already knows it all. 10)embracing the sin. "I know it's the right thing to do but I'm not going to do it." Anger bitterness pride 11).theologize the sin. Doctrinal way. The equivalent of intellectualizing your feelings. 12)buying your sins. "ahh it's to high a price, retention" SANTIFICATION (we never sin in isolation) The prodigal son: name the sin you have committed, using the same name the Bible uses

[@MariaSmith-vy4hn]

The prodigal son: name the sin you have committed, using the same name the Bible uses

[@mOYNTdnbzso]

Nice message, but when the word "homosexual" becomes to tool for Greek lexical insight....LOL....still processing that one.

[@chill6455]

Federal Vision

[@alsteiner7602]

You don't even know what that means

[@matthewdyer2926]

People that take issue with DW’s position on FV are generally upset because they are antinomians in love with their sin, and they don’t like being told that true Christians obey Christ.

[@ryanre_con]

❤