Freedom And Joy

December 23, 2023
Speaker: Pastor Bill Bertsche
Two gifts from the Lord that are available to every follower of Jesus no matter what they are going through. These two gifts are essential in helping us face the pain of living in a broken and fallen world and fight the temptations that it brings. And without them, we are far weaker and more vulnerable than we should be.
Those two gifts are FREEDOM and JOY.
Joy is a choice; it’s a state of being more than an emotion. The foundation of joy is the promise or assurance of future happiness.
Freedom is not doing whatever you want, but instead it’s repentance of your sin.
Freedom and joy are possible when we embrace the truths of a passage like Psalm 19. In this psalm we see three actions or responses that are essential to living in freedom and joy.
1: Be Amazed by God's Glory (1-6)
Psalm 19 tells us that God’s glory is so great that His creation never ceases to proclaim it; it is on display every day, every night, all over the world, and to everyone without fail.
2: Be Captivated by God's Laws (7-11)
David is doing much more simply telling us that God’s laws are good and that we’re better off following them than not. You can hear the delight in his voice over the beauty and goodness and rightness of God’s laws.
3: Be Ruthless with Sin (12-14)
After considering the inexhaustible glory of God in creation, and the perfection and desirability of God’s laws, the psalmist asks three things of the Lord:
1) To be declared innocent from hidden faults
2) For God’s help to conquer willful sins
3) That his words and thoughts, with God’s help, would be pleasing to the Lord
Do not underestimate your ability to minimize or justify your sin.
Takeaway: The Lord is offering you freedom and joy because of Jesus Christ through the gospel.
Psalm 19
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[@punmargaret]

Thanks for this message because I’ve just learned Joy is a choice the difference between “Joy and happiness” I always thought it’s the other way around 🙏🏻

[@punmargaret]

Also I’ve forgotten Jesus gave us Joy rather than shame and I also let it be the other way around….i let my shame cover my joy!😢

[@punmargaret]

A third example you gave also hit me…most of us women don’t give the dads more credit…when we were going through a divorce, my ex husband’s girlfriend asked me “why are you still hanging on to him? What did you miss about him?” First I said we are not divorced yet not even filed…then I said “I missed his cooking…” you should hear how she changed her flirting voice when she spoke to my ex to a shrieked voice “you only missed his cooking???!!!” I still having this evil grin in me even it was true he was a good cook and I meant it because that’s what came to my mind first :). But your message reminds me what I truly missed was how I depended on him when our teenagers were in serious accidents especially our son who fell off his motorcycle on Lake Shore Drive broken a couple of his ribs…when he had a head on collision with crashed windshield glasses in his eyes called me “ Mom come see me I got broken glasses in my eyes..”. I said “your dad is on his way…” ❤. His dad died 16 years ago after our divorce of lung cancer 😢