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 Page 2  |
1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
Mike Slaughter  |
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Psalm 126:5-6 5: May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy! 6: He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. |
 Don't
you like that? We are filled with joy. Now the key word
in this psalm is joy. "Our mouths are filled with
laughter." Joy, Galatians says, is the second fruit
of the spirit. How can you tell that you are controlled
and filled by the spirit of God? A fruit of that will be
joy. Joy is second only to love. How can you tell the
Spirit in a person's life? One, they don't cut other
people, they love other people. Second, they're filled
with joy. Joy.You know, joy was tied
into the first miracle of Jesus. What was the first
miracle of Jesus? Water to wine. That's the first
miracle. The people of God are always counter-culture.
Community. Joy is the counter-culture value to
entertainment. You see, entertainment is really just a
counterfeit, because in entertainment we buy the vitality
of another person's imagination to energize our lives.
Joy goes much deeper than entertainment. Now, what is the
key to joy? People of joy are constantly
remembering what God has done. Do you see how this psalm
begins? "We remember when you restored our fortune.
We remember when you led us back as captives into
Zion." Now remember, these are Jewish people who are
singing this song. Jewish people have long known the
pains of suffering in captivity.Three Keys To Joy Joy is not the absence of pain and suffering. That's how joy is different than happiness. Notice the theme is joy, it's not happiness. Happiness is totally dependent upon circumstances and all the circumstances working out just right. If your marriage isn't working, you can't be happy in your marriage, can you? But can you know joy? Yes, because, you see, joy isn't dependent upon circumstances. It's not the absence of pain and suffering. And you see, any time Jewish people experienced pain and suffering, they didn't focus on the pain and suffering. What did they do? They sang the songs of Zion. They filled their minds with the thoughts of what God had done in the past. How God had led them out in the past. Every time they were suffering, they would sing songs of Zion and they would remember how God led them to the Place of Promise. I. Remember  Do you
remember when God led you out? Do you remember where you
were, what you were doing when God found you? Well, I do.
I got home the other day from an out-of-town conference.
I walked over to the table late at night to check my
mail, and it still amazes me when I see "DR. Michael
Slaughter" in my mail.It's
still too easy to remember back to my senior year in high
school, three days before graduation when I was flunking
government, and I wasn't going to graduate. I still
remember those cold, numb feelings, all of the esteem
issues and everything that went with that. Boy, I
remember! Lord, you led me out, and you led me to this
wonderful place. Do you remember where you were when God
found you? Can you remember? |
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