Sermon Tone Analysis

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Introduction:

illustration:

if there is one country on earth where people should be happy, it is the United States of America.

But depression affects more than 19% of American adults, and anxiety disorders affect more than 40 million, or 18% of the population.[1]

The 2016 federal data analysis found that suicide rates in America had surged to their highest level in 30 years, rising in that.

By 63% among middle-aged women and 43% among men of the same age.[2]

Worldwide study of 90,000 people showed the 10 richest countries in the world also had the highest rates of depression.

United States had the second-highest right, exceeded only by France.[3]

This tells us that joy and happiness are not dependent on wealth and circumstances.

Those who have the most reason to be joyful are often the most depressed.

“We Americans are obsessed with being happy,” says theologian and philosopher J. P. Moreland.

“But we are also terribly confused about what happiness is.

As a result, we seldom find happiness that lasts.

But because “The Pursuit of Happyness” is promised to us as a right in the founding document of our nation, the Declaration of Independence, we have a sense of entitlement.

We think that we deserve happiness and if we do not find what we consider to be happiness, we are likely to develop what Alexis de Tocqueville cold a strange melancholy in the midst of abundance.”[4]

[2] Sabrina Tavernise, “U.S. Suicide Rates Surges to a 30-Year High,” New York Times, April 22, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/health/us-suicide-rate-surges-to-a-30-year-high.html.

[3] McMillen, “Richer Countries Have Higher Depression Rates.”

[4] J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler, The Lost Virtue of Happiness.

(Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2006), 14-15.

if there is one country on earth where people should be happy, it is the United States of America.

But depression affects more than 19% of American adults, and anxiety disorders affect more than 40 million, or 18% of the population.

The 2016 federal data analysis found that suicide rates in America had surged to their highest level in 30 years, rising in that.

By 63% among middle-aged women and 43% among men of the same age.

How would you rate your Christian walk in the area of joy? Are you daily experiencing the kind of joyful life that Peter described in when he said, “...you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”?

you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

Worldwide study of 90,000 people showed the 10 richest countries in the world also had the highest rates of depression.

United States had the second-highest right, exceeded only by France.

This tells us that joy and happiness are not dependent on wealth and circumstances.

Those who have the most reason to be joyful are often the most depressed.

It is the will of the father that your walk in the spirit the one that is filled with joy.

In the listing of the fruit born in the life of those who walk in the Spirit God says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.

“We Americans are obsessed with being happy,” says theologian and philosopher J. P. Moreland.

“But we are also terribly confused about what happiness is.

As a result, we seldom find happiness that lasts.

But because “The Pursuit of Happyness” is promised to us as a right in the founding document of our nation, the Declaration of Independence, we have a sense of entitlement.

We think that we deserve happiness and if we do not find what we consider to be happiness, we are likely to develop what Alexis de Tocqueville cold a strange melancholy in the midst of abundance.”

3 questions often come up when speaking of Christian joy:

(1) What is joy?

(2) Why am I not experiencing joy?

(3) How can I have joy?

T.S.: The word of God has the answers to all three of these questions.

Let us take a look at the answers given in Scripture.

I- What is joy?

A- Joy defined:

1- Joy (χαρά) = a state of joy and gladness.

(χαρά

a state of joy and gladness

2- “Joy is a delight of the mind arising from consideration of a present, or assured possession of a future good.”

(Unger’s Bible dictionary, page 613).

3- Joy is lasting: it is an abiding quality in the life of one who is walking in constant surrender to the Holy Spirit.

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a.

We experienced joy only if we are continually walking under the control of the Holy Spirit of God.

b.

This joy can be experienced in spite of circumstances.

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B- Joy and happiness are not the same:

1- happiness is linked to circumstances.

2- Joy is not linked to circumstances.

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*Happiness is about what happens to you; and, to an extent, is dependent on your circumstances, your behaviors, and your attitudes.

But the joy of Christ is much, much bigger.

The joy of Christ is about a relationship with a person.

It is something you have access to, but it is also something you must choose.

C- Joy can be present in the midst of trials.

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Illustration:

Christian joy is so complete and lasting that it stays with us even when we are dying.

Tony Snow was one of America's most successful and respected news men and commentators.

He rose from an op – id writer and editor for a small newspaper to become a voice on ABC's good morning America and other network shows.

His career took off when he moved to Fox News as a host of his own show and was a frequent commentator on others.

In 2006, Pres.

George W. Bush appointed Snow to be as White House press secretary.

The popular, knowledgeable, and highly articulate, he was forced to resign less than two years later when he was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer.

He died the following year at 53 years of age.

Tony Snow could have died a bitter man, angry at how his brilliant career was cut short at its peak and how cancer deprived him of life with his wife and 3 children.

But Tony was a devout Christian.

Far from being angry at God, he found joy in the unexpected blessing his illness brought him.

He communicated this joy eloquently in an article published a few months before his death.[5]

*Author Bruce Larson wrote: "joy is the surest sign of the presence of God."

*Grimness is not a Christian virtue.

William Barclay said "the Christian is the man of joy.

The Christian is the laughing Cavalier of Christ.

A gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, and nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than its black clothes and long faces."

D- It is Jesus’ intention that we have joy.

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II- Why am I not experiencing joy?

There are several possible reasons…

A- No assurance of salvation

1- Constant reference is made to the contrast in the lives of the saved and unsaved in the Scriptures.

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B- Unconfessed sin

(, ).

1- David, who was known as God’s servant, was robbed of the joy of your salvation through sin.

a.

Notice David’s description of his own personal emotions that resulted from his sin.

2- Instead of joy, pain and sorrow come as we yield to sin.

a.David’s sin affected Bathsheba, Uriah, David’s household, and a whole nation.

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C- Failure to spend time in worship and intimacy with Christ.

1- You were created and saved to become one with Christ.

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a.

Without an intimate relationship with him, there is no purpose or joy in life.

D- Broken fellowship with other believers.

1- The fellowship of believers is to be marked with unity.

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2- When fellowship is broken, discord, division, and life are robbed of its joy.

a. Example of the elder brother ().

III- How can I have joy?