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Come And See
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TRUE JOY
INTRODUCTION
1. It is not absolutely
guaranteed that we will always have a life of Joy while we live here in the flesh, but the Bible reveals to us a way to come in contact with
the Joy that comes from God.
2.This lesson is designed
to help us prioritize our lives so that we can achieve the greatest Joy
in this life and the one to follow.
3. Let us search for the Joy
that is found in the scriptures, and apply it to our lives.
4. We are going to be using
an acrostic to teach this lesson so that we can all remember the lesson
today.
I.
Jesus
first. (Luke
9:59-62)
A. Before family.
-Matthew
10:34-39
-Mother, Father, Son or Daughter, we need to realize that in order to
be worthy of the Lord we must put him
before our own families.
-It may be difficult at times to turn away personal activities and
events in one’s family in order to
serve the Lord, but it is what we must do to have real JOY.
B. Before
friends.
-Galatians
1:10; James 4:4.
-Who is your best friend? Most of us are closer to our best friends
than anyone else, and we enjoy spending
a great deal of our free time with them.
-When it comes to serving our Lord, and giving Him top priority, we
must realize that this means even
above our best of friends.
-If you choose to be a friend to the world rather than a friend to the
Lord, we show nothing but an ungrateful spirit
toward His welcome to be His friend.
(John 15:13-15) May the Lord be your best friend?
C. Before
employer
-Matthew
6:33; Acts 5:29
-Many Christians in our society are tried by this very difficult
decision, between their work place
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
-Time for the workplace, before time for the Lord.
-Completing man’s will when we
should be completing God’s will.
-Caught up in physical gain
rather than spiritual gain.
-Our Lord did not think twice
about obeying God’s will.
-Although He prayed “let this cup
pass from Me”, we know His final decision was
“Not my will, but thine be done.”
-Just as Christ realized that
it was not always easy to obey God, we know that the scripture teach us that
God’s will was done, and Jesus went to the cross.
-May we all have this same obedient attitude as we try to
serve God and obey Him. (Hebrews
5:8-9)
-Who are you obeying
today? Are you able to repeat the words of Peter, when confronted with
a decision to put Christ first (“We ought to serve God
rather than men.”), or do you find yourself giving in to the world and it ways.
-Are you working for the
Lord or for men on the Lord’s day? It is a commendable thing to see a good
group of faithful Christians who allow nothing to stand in their way of serving
God.
D. Before
material possessions
-Matthew
13:44-46
-If you truly appreciated the kingdom of God, Jesus said it is like
finding a pearl of great price or a
field which had buried treasure, and it means so much to us that we are willing to give up everything to have it.
-We must be careful that we do not get caught up in earthly wealth, to
the point that we are hoarding riches
that are unnecessary for the Joy that can be found in God’s kingdom. (See Luke 12:13-21).
E. Before
yourself.
-Matthew
20:26-28
-We must realize that even
Jesus the Son of God, left His home in glory and came to serve and not to be
served.
-Jesus put God’s will of
service and obedience before anything else in this world, and we are to do the
same in service to our Lord. (John 4:34; 17:4)
-We must follow the
example of Christ and serve in His kingdom that we might be pleasing to God.
-It is vitally important that
we realize that Christ is first in all things that we can truly comprehend the
joys of the faith.
II.
Others
second (Philippians
4:3-4)
-After we realize that
Christ is first in all things we then put others second.
A. Marriage
partner.
-Ephesians
5:22-33
-There is no other relationship
in God’s eyes that shares such a special bond.
-This is a relationship where two individuals leave their father and
mother cleave unto one another
and become one flesh.
-We have very specific duties to one another when we enter this
wonderful relationship.
-WIVES:
-Are to submit unto their
husbands as unto the Lord.
- Let the husband be the head
as Christ is in the church.
-Reverence your husbands
-HUSBANDS:
-Must love their wives as
Christ loved the church giving their lives for them.
-Must love their wives as themselves, in cherishing
and nourishing them, in love.
B. Children
-Ephesians
6:4; Titus 2:4
-As adults and parents we all have responsibilities to our children,
and we must learn to complete them
when putting the Lord first.
-Fathers must bring their children up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord.
-Older women are encouraged to teach the young women and
young men those godly
characteristics of life that are so needed in a society like ours today.
-Once we have worked out
our own salvation and we are serving the Lord, we must realize our
responsibilities to others, especially the upcoming generation of our children.
C. Parents
-Ephesians
6:1-3
-It is just as important for the young people in our audience to
realize that they must obey and honor
their parents, as it is to honor and obey the Lord.
-It you make the claim to be following and obeying Christ, but you are
not being obedient to your parents, then
you must make that right and heed
this scripture.
-There are too many children today that express independence from
their parents, when they should hear and heed their every word. (Proverbs 1:8; 23:22)
-If we want to please God
and have real Joy, let us seek to honor our father and mother as we put the
Lord first in our lives.
D. Neighbor
-Galatians
5:14
-We all have a responsibility to those who we come in contact with
everyday.
-When we speak of our neighbor, we are not talking about neighboring
houses in relation to ours, but we are focusing on everyone from friend to
enemy that we come in contact with on a daily basis. (Matthew 5:43-48)
-We must also remember that the Lord is first, but we do have an
obligation to others that we
come in contact with. (Matthew 22:36-40)
-The Lord is without a
doubt first in our lives, but we must grasp our responsibilities toward
our fellowman and do our Father’s will.
III.
Yourself
last
-If the world could only
grasp this concept, we would live in a much better place.
-If everyone saw
themselves as last and served humbly those around them, we would all be
first.
-If we see ourselves as
last and serve and love others, and others considered themselves to be last and
served and loved others, we would all be served while being a servant and
therefore become first in the kingdom of God.
A. We must put
ourselves last.
-Philippians
2:17-18; I Thessalonians 2:8; II Timothy 2:10.
-We see that Paul was
willing to put his selfish desires away and serve and give to others.
-Paul took joy in putting self
last, was willing to hold others near and dear to him as more important, and had
an eager desire to lead others to salvation in Christ Jesus at whatever the
cost.
B. Give yourself
to the cause of Christ and to others.
-II
Corinthians 8:5; Galatians 6:2-4
-The church of Macedonia had
given themselves to the Lord and to others before they considered or thought
about selfishness.
-We are told to bear the burdens of others, not because of man will,
but to fulfill the law of
Christ.
C. We must share our blessings
with others.
-Romans
1:11; Acts 20:35; Matthew 19:16-22; 7:12; Luke 10:29-37
-We must desire to share our gifts that the Lord has blessed us with,
and give them to others.
-Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us it is more blessed to give than to
receive, and Paul says that we are to support the
weak, an never neglect that responsibility.
-If we want to be complete we must not get caught up in selfish wealth
and do our very best to treat others
with our blessings.
-Jesus taught us to do unto others as we would have them to do to us.
Blessings for blessings.
OR
Cursings for cursings.
-We must be Samaritans in a
world of sinners as we enter into this world only to bless and curse not. Many
may pass by and see those that are needy, but we must be compelled to stop and
be a servant of our Lord.
D. We must sympathize with
others, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves.
-Romans
12:15; Philippians 2:4
-We must understand that we
need to stop focusing on our troubles so much, and consider all those who are
less fortunate.
-The Boy Who Cries For New Shoes Is Humbled By The Boy
With No Feet.
-Sometimes we really over express our needs, and they are not one of
life’s necessities.
-We should accept blessings as they come and try to share them with as
many others as we can.
CONCLUSION
1. Do you want the JOY that
comes fro your heavenly Father?
2. We must begin by putting
away our own will and start by giving our life to the Lord in service.
-We must obey His
will today, and become a child of God.
BELIEVING IN HIS WORD AND ON HIS SON
REPENTING OF THE SINS IN YOUR LIFE
BAPTIZED FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF THOSE SINS
FAITHFUL LIFE OF SERVICE TO GOD.
-After we give our lives
to the Lord, we then seek to aid others in any way possible, putting our selfish desires last, and seeking to do the will of the Father.
-Will you accept the JOY that
can be yours today? Will you obey the simple commands of the Lord and turn back
to the One who loved you enough to die for you?
-If you are in subject to
this gospel call, we invite to come and be made right.
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