Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. Hey. Have you heard the news? We might be tired, but God isn't. The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Isaiah 40, 28 and 29. I bless the strength of your spirit during these wearisome days.
I bless the endurance of your soul when the journey feels long. despite the toils of the world and remember God feels no fatigue. The sovereign creator doesn't get tuckered out. and he the source of unquenchable energy. lives in you, Saint of God, That's The gospel.
Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. There's something that happens in these moments where you feel, in a mysterious way, connected with God. It's love. And there's not just a connection, but there is when there's real joy. a sense that God is taking delight in you.
And I want to show you in today's text that that's so.
something of the pattern. Or the pathway to joy that Jesus is describing. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt.
Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Abide, taken from John 14 through 17, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire broadcast today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. At any point, contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here. is Alan Wright. People of God, are you ready for some good news?
God is not depressed. He is not sitting in heaven discouraged and somber. and in a spiritual malaise. God, like all of the kingdom of God, is full of joy. He abides in joy.
He is joy. And he is the joy-giver. And here's the beautiful thing is that if you're in Christ, then you have the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God Himself in you, which means that though this It bends our mind in this depressing world. We have in the Spirit Unlimited access. to divine joy.
We're in a series on John 14, 15, 16, 17, this intimate final discourse of Jesus. As he celebrates the Passover, he spends this evening with his best friends. On the night before he's going to be crucified. And so he's sharing what is. Deepest on his heart, and what is most essential, and we get to be.
like in the room listening in on this incredibly intimate conversation. And in chapter 16, in these beautiful verses, what we'll see today is the. The dialogue turns towards Joy. Enjoy the Lord. and what he wants for his disciples and for you.
and for me. Joy. There is a Therapeutic ministry. approach called the Emmanuel approach. that can be beautiful and powerful.
Immanuel means God with us, and it is this whole ministry approach is built. on the truth that God is with us at all times. And he's not just with us in this present moment. He is not confined by time. God is able to be at all places, at all times.
We can't wrap our minds around that, but it's who he is because he is infinite and he is eternal.
So he stands outside of time, which means that God is in your past. It means God's in your future. It means he can meet you at any moment, past, present, or future. And so that's where this ministry approach, Emmanuel, gets its name. really is with you.
And if you could bring Those things that need healing in your life to God and experience Him in the midst of that which hurt you, it can be very, very healing. But Carl Lehman, Jim Wilder, and others who have helped pioneer this realize that therapeutically. The best way to enter into any experience of God. is actually through a positive memory. I think so often, you know, we think, okay, we need help, and we go sit down with the counselor, and we're going to need to talk about difficult things.
But it's not necessarily helpful just to launch right into the most traumatic things of our life and just put our mind right there, but instead, start with. A positive memory. And anyone can do this. When I first received ministry in this Emmanuel approach in ministry and I was invited to think of a positive memory, I knew immediately where my mind was going to go and immediately went to Myrtle Beach as a kid. I didn't realize until I was an adult how lavish this was, but my family every summer went to Myrtle Beach for two weeks.
Two delicious weeks where I had my whole family together. happy, healthy, me, my two older brothers. And this was before Myrtle Beach had grown into all these high-rises. It was the Driftwood Motel where we stayed. I love the Driftwood Motel.
I thought it was paradise. Our meals were at the Driftwood Motel. They had a restaurant there. And every year I had the same server. His name was Jake.
and he'd fix our meals. And the only negative memory I have associated with the driftwood or that vacation every year was that Jake did not put enough chocolate in my chocolate milk. I had to be bold enough to say, Could I please have some more chocolate? It's not chocolatey enough. But other than that, the driftwood and Myrtle Beach was perfect.
And I didn't realize how much I was cherishing that until later when my parents' marriage split up. But I had them up through fourth grade, and we would go to the beach and play in the ocean all day long. And I said, Think of a positive memory. And my mind went to Myrtle Beach and all the memories of walking down to the pavilion and playing ski ball and eating foot-long hot dogs. But the memory that actually just came up, I think, by the Holy Spirit, was me floating in the ocean.
And I love to this day, I like getting in the ocean. I like to ride the waves. I'll just go spend hours out. And I was suddenly transported in my mind, maybe to being a third grader, and I was in the ocean at the Driftwood Motel Beach. And I was just jumping the waves, jump over the ones that I could jump over and let them kind of hit me on the back of the neck.
And then the really big ones dive under and feel that mighty rush of a wave crashing over top of you. And then some of them just floating up over them and waiting on the next wave and doing it for hours. And suddenly I was there. And I was taken to this moment because I remember it, and I remember it now as I tell the story. of being so full of just bliss.
and my family happy on the beach, me just playing in the waves. And I remember, I don't know if it was the first time. But I remember it as being the first time it seemed real to me I talked to God. As a second or a third grader, I don't know that I was. a Christian yet, but I talked to him.
And I had this very real awareness. That God was there, And that he was listening. and that somehow He took delight in me. That was my memory. Could you think of a positive memory for a moment.
Would you be willing to do that? Just Maybe ask the Holy Spirit, show me some moment. Could be a big moment, could be a little moment. Could be big. Birthday event, or it could be just having coffee with a friend, could be.
Just a moment of seeing something in nature that took your breath away or A time that you were just throwing the ball with your dog. Could be that it was a spiritual moment in your life in church or.
somewhere else where you had an encounter with God. It could be any of those things. Could be long ago, could have been last week. Think of a moment like that. Really think of it.
What's best? is once your mind goes there, is to let your mind's imagination enable you to feel the moment again. We found that it's best to think about What your body sensed, what were you touching, what did you feel, what did you smell, what did you see, what did you hear, what was happening with the people around you, what was going on in the environment, what's the weather doing, what is you're there. And take delight in that moment just for Just for a moment. Take delight in that moment.
It was real. Think of all that makes it so special. And thank God. You know, you can get your mind to think like this daily. If you just stopped every day to think of such a moment like that.
And what you find in a moment like that. Is that it paints a more accurate picture of your real life? Because what happens in the world is we go through so many difficult things. that there's a horrible temptation. for all these difficult challenges, setbacks, disappointments, or griefs.
To be the thing that starts defining the way we think about our lives. But in these moments of bliss, In a moment like that, where I think about just floating In the ocean, and my family's happy, and I'm happy. And I realized this is actually what the design of God is. All the brokenness that would follow doesn't change the fact. This is the design.
There's something revelatory about these kind of moments. And there's something that happens in these moments where you feel... in a mysterious way connected with God. It's love. And there's not just a connection, but there is when there's real joy.
a sense that God is taking delight in you. And I want to show you in today's text that that's something of the pattern. or the pathway to joy. that Jesus is describing. as he turns his attention towards joy.
You'll know that at the beginning, if you've been with us, John 14, it started with this longing of Jesus. He knew this was a troubling time. For the disciples, and the first thing on Jesus' heart was: do not let your hearts be troubled. You know, they're going to go through something that's troubling, but do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
And my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, what I've told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I do go to prepare a place for you, I'll take you to myself. that you may be where I am. This is what he wants.
Later in that chapter, he says at verse 26: the helper of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things. And will bring remembrance to all I've said. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.
So this begins with Jesus saying, I want you to have. The worry lifts from your heart. He's not saying you're not going to have trouble. He's just saying, well, I want the worry to lift from your heart. And then in chapter 15, I'm just giving you the flow of this.
this discourse that he has on that night before his crucifixion. And then from that, he begins to talk about abiding. He talks about abide in me and I in you, as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. And you realize at verse 9 of chapter 15 that it's really about abiding in a specific way. It is by a connection of love.
As the Fathers loved me, so have loved you. Abide in my love. But I want you to see the heart of Jesus here. I don't want you to have a troubled heart, but instead I want you to have a deep sense of abiding connection with God, attachment with God. That is love.
And then, and only then, does he begin to talk about joy. And in our text today, in chapter 16, just look at all these references to joy, verse 20. You'll be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn and to joy. Verse 21. Like a woman giving birth has sorrow, but when she's delivered to the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy.
That a human being has been born. Verse 22, your hearts will rejoice. And no one will take your joy from you. Verse 24: Until now you've asked nothing in my name. Ask, you receive that your joy may be full.
And this joy Just like that moment I've invited you to think of in your life, it has with it the conveying of the Holy Spirit. Truth that leads into this is what I would call part of the revelatory work of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit leading you into truth. Look at verse 13. When the Spirit of truth comes, he'll guide you into all the truth. He'll not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he'll speak, and he'll declare to you the things that are to come.
So the sweet work of the Holy Spirit includes this. That He'll guide you into truth because He is truth. He is the Spirit of Jesus. Lies bind us. Deception enslaves us.
Truth liberates us. When we are in bondage, we cannot have joy. It is when we're in freedom that we can have joy. You can think of this just in simple things in life: how, when a revelation comes, there's joy with it, right? I mean, maybe it's a puzzle you've been working on and then you find the solution and you feel joy.
I get a little bit of this every morning, I do the jumble. I'm very skilled at the jumble. And I find the answer to the jumble, and I get a little joy. And if I can't find it, I'm frustrated. And I feel like cheating, but I don't.
And I go and I get my wife. I say, what is this word? I can't figure it out, you know. And it bothers me until I figure it out. And then.
The jumble, there it is, it appears in front of me, and I'm happy. It can be when there's a creative solution that comes where you've had only a problem, and it's like a light. You know that feeling? When a light turns on inside of your mind. and you feel a creative answer to something, that's joy.
Anytime that you're led into truth, there's something liberating about it. How much more so? When the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, leads you into the very truth of God. There's joy. in discovering Truth.
All of this text in chapter 16 hinges on this idea of seeing. Like in verse 16, a little while and you'll see me no longer. And again, a little while and you'll see me. Verse 17: What is this that he says? A little while you'll not see me.
And again, a little while you'll see me because I'm going to the Father. It's about seeing. I think it's the same reason that this image of childbirth is here. It's like a woman who is doing the work of childbirth, she may not be able to see it right then because the pain sometimes in life can blind us. But as soon as you realize, oh, it's a baby boy, it's a baby girl, oh, you realize this is what this has really been all about.
I'm saying that there is in joy, there's a kind of clarifying revelation that comes from the Spirit of truth. And if you can have the Holy Spirit correct your vision and you can begin to see as Jesus sees, there'll be joy in it. Because when you see your life accurately, you will see your life as blessed. I promise you this. If you struggle to see your life is blessed, one day you're going to go to heaven and it's all going to open up in front of you and you're going to go, oh, wow.
I had no idea you did that for me, Jesus. I had no idea. Oh, wow. You mean there was an angel there then? Oh, I didn't realize.
And so, what we want to do is invite the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth of the reality about who we really are. The most miserable people in the world are those who cannot see themselves as blessed. But the happiest people in the world are those, regardless of their troubles, that somehow see them blessed. And what's the real truth about your life? You're blessed more than you know.
Paul said, You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. You can't get more blessed than that. Hallelujah. I was thinking back to many years ago. I wrote this book on.
on uh how you remember your past. Because it so shapes how you feel today and how you think about your tomorrow. Mm. Master Alan Wright. It's our good news message from the teaching, Joy in the Holy Spirit.
And it comes from the series, Abide. Stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing.
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Or come to our website pastorallen. org Back here now with Pastor Alan at the bookmark that we're placing here in this teaching, Joy in the Holy Spirit. And when you know someone who is filled with the Spirit and they smell like Jesus, you say, I want some of that. The The fruit of the Spirit, joy. Is closely linked with the love and the peace that's also in Christ.
Peace. And love and joy. And so, I think, as we'll see in our text, that there is. A process or a progression of what Jesus has been sharing in John 14 through 17. as we've been exploring in these weeks.
that first he said, do not let your hearts be troubled. That's John 14. I want you to have peace. And then in chapter 15, he says, abide in my love. You're like a branch on a vine.
And we're connected. And then we come here in chapter 16, he begins to speak of joy. I think maybe that's still the way he comes to us. It's like, peace be to you.
now experience my love. And when our anxiety lifts, and we experience relational love That's where we have joy, even in the natural. If you think about it, whether it be in a family relationship, a marriage relationship, a parent-child relationship, or a friendship, we're Anxiety lifts. And then there's shared love. That's what makes us joyful.
In fact, that's the greatest source of joy on earth.
Well, that's what we have in Jesus all the time. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox.
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