Tidings of Comfort and Joy [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. The comfort of the Holy Spirit does not dismiss your problem, doesn't tell you about worse things, doesn't just give you the silver lining, doesn't try to immediately fix it, and certainly never covers it up with some lesser delight, but says, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you.

I'll be with you. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light.

Merry Christmas. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Joy of Every Longing Heart, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource available right now, and it can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860, 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program, but now let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. You think that's bad. Let me tell you about something worse, and as if that's going to comfort you. What you're going through is a real thing. It may not be as bad as what somebody else has gone through, but it's real.

Yeah, God doesn't gloss over that. The artificial comfort of the silver lining. Look on the bright side. This is where I take a big swing on the tee and top the golf ball, and it goes only 10 yards straight in front, and my playing partner goes, well, look on the bright side. At least you can find your ball.

Yeah, why don't you look on the backside of my driver coming to your shin right now. There's the fixer-upper. This is the one I'm championed for most of my life, and that is somebody is in pain, and they need someone to draw near to them empathetically, but instead, we default to fixing the problem. It would help our marriages a lot if we could pause, listen, and say, I hear you, tell me more, rather than, well, why don't you just... or let me just... We don't like to be around someone else's pain if we could just fix it and make it go away.

And then, of course, there's the cover-up. This is the masking of the pain, and this is where the child comes crying, and we say, here, have a cookie. Now, it may be good to have a cookie, but only after you said, here, let me hold you.

What we need is a person. There is no comfort outside of relationship, but we get bombarded with messages that tell us you can find comfort outside of relationship. Relationships are messy and difficult and tricky and take time. Here, find comfort in a quicker way. Relationship is where we find comfort. So, God, in giving us comfort, draws near to us. The comfort of the Holy Spirit does not dismiss your problem, doesn't tell you about worse things, doesn't just give you the silver lining, doesn't try to immediately fix it, and certainly never covers it up with some lesser delight, but says, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you.

I'll be with you. Joy, authentic joy, is quite different than mere happiness. Happiness is good, but it's very different. One of the ways that I have come to understand the difference between joy and happiness is to think about the distinction, not to make too much of it, but the distinction between spirit and soul. There is some theological disagreement about whether the New Testament teaches that we are bipartite, meaning soul and body, or whether we're tripartite, spirit, soul, and body, but I'm convinced of the latter. And it's texts like 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23, where Paul says, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, make you holy, set you apart completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus. So spirit, soul, and body, where the word in Greek is pneuma, for spirit, and the word for soul is psyche, like you know from the word psychology. It refers to the mind.

So it seems to me pretty clear that the New Testament is making something of a different reference to the spirit and the soul, and it's interesting in several places in the New Testament where you see a distinction. And one I want to draw your attention to that I have mentioned several times in the past that I find fascinating and also instructive in Matthew 26, where Jesus is at the most sorrowful moment, not only of his life, but maybe the most sorrowful moment that any human has experienced in human history as he is getting ready to go to the cross and take upon himself the sin of the world, the weight of that, not just the physical suffering. Other people have suffered physically.

It was awful. That's where we get the word excruciating. But he was going to take upon himself the sin of the world, and he knew this was coming. So in Matthew 26, verse 37, he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and the text says he began to be sorrowful and troubled. So if you ever wonder if there's something wrong with you because you're sorrowful and troubled, then remember Jesus. And in fact, in verse 38, he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.

So remain here and watch. Pray with me. My soul, the sukkah, the psyche, he's saying, I have a weight upon me that is so, so sorrowful and grievous that I could almost die from it. And then a few verses later, he came to his disciples and found them sleeping and said, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he says this, the spirit, that's a pneuma, indeed is willing, but the flesh, sarx, is weak. He doesn't say the soul is willing. He says the spirit is willing. When the Bible says you are a new creation in Christ, the old is gone, the new has come.

What's that talking about? Your body? No, you got the same body. I mean, being a Christian, I think it'll help your body, right?

But it doesn't. You'll one day get a new body, but right now you got the same body, but hopefully you become a Christian. Some of that joy in your life changes some things.

Maybe it affects you, but. And your mind, is it totally made new? Is the way you think totally new? Is all of your old stinking thinking gone?

No. In fact, we're told to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It's a process. Psychological transformation is a process of spiritual growth. You do not change all your ways of thinking instantly.

So what is it that's brand new? Well, when Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born as if all over again. He's talking about a spiritual rebirth. There's a sense in which we were dead, not physically and not mentally, but dead spiritually.

And when you accept Christ, this is the miracle that happens. You are resurrected. You are made alive spiritually. And so now you're alive to God where once you were dead. And you have a mystical in some ways, inexplicable, but very real communion with God spiritually.

God's always loved you, but there was a way in which you were spiritually shut off from God. And when you're alive in Christ, your spirit is made alive. And what Jesus says here to these disciples who are falling asleep while he's nearly dying from sorrow, is he said, the spirit's willing, the flesh is weak. And that word for willing is in Greek, just as easily translated, desiring. And this has been an important revelation to me because I think what it means is the spirit, that born again nature within you that is alive to God, the spirit within you is always desiring God, is always desiring to worship, is always desiring to pray, is always desiring to rejoice. And what I've learned is that therefore I want to find more and more ways that I remain connected and let my mind be instructed by what's happening in my spirit. When your body feels tired and your mind wants to think about something, your spirit is drawn to God, which is really good news because this is the only way that I think we could ever understand something like Paul saying, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.

He was in prison when he said that. And rejoice means have joy again. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Seeing as Jesus sees. It's the title of Pastor Alan Wright's newest book just released.

And it's the giant secret of real transformation. Followers of Christ tend to focus on doing. So we've been told to ask, what would Jesus do? But even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works. There's no gospel power in ourself striving. But what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing? Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye opening new book, Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the Savior loves to answer because after all Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six weeks seeing as Jesus sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life.

As you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes, you'll start seeing as Jesus sees, and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Have joy again, and then have some more joy again. That's what he's saying.

How could that be possible when you're in prison and things aren't going well for you? It's because it's a spiritual thing. Think of it this way.

All good gifts are from God, but not all are equal. So the body might experience relaxation, which is great. I think it's great. Don't think I'm going to get one, but I told Ann I want a hot tub for Christmas. But anyway, just soak in the hot tub. I mean, just relax.

What do you do? Get your body to relax. It's good to get your body to relax.

Good, good. The soul can experience ease. Ease is wonderful.

I love it when life is easy. It's just not often that easy, but your soul can experience, oh, that's ease. But what does the spirit experience? Comfort. What I'm saying is that authentic comfort is a spiritual thing. It's not superficial.

It's not of the body. It is not merely in your mind. Another way to think of it is that the body experiences pleasure. I mean, nothing wrong with a good warm chocolate chip cookie and a cold glass milk.

Your body will taste buds and everything. It's the best kind. The soul experiences happiness. I like happiness. Happiness is when things are going great.

Be happy. My wife and I, it's been a hard year for us, and we got away to a blowing rock and just got to just go shopping. And honestly, we didn't have any no crisis phone calls for a whole time. We were away for a day and a half and we ate good meals and shopped for each other and others.

And they had lights up and heavy fog up there and blowing rock with the lights and all these trees. And it was just, it was happy. This spring we spent most of the time being sad because of deaths. It was really good enjoying being happy. When life brings you ease and things are going good and you can be happy, be happy. But it's a soulish thing.

Not a bad thing. It's a wonderful thing, but it's soulish. But joy is a thing of the spirit. Joy is something that, like peace, that can pass understanding. Joy can just come just because God is joy and you're with God. And pretty much happens to me every time I worship God. Even in my sadness, I feel God's presence when I worship Him.

And there's joy. So this is how it's possible that you can experience comfort and joy in Jesus because the presence of God and His communion in the Holy Spirit with you is not dependent upon whether the Whos in Whoville got their toys or not. We don't have time to look at the whole magnificence of this Isaiah prophecy, but it is one of several servant songs in Isaiah that prophesy about a coming servant, an individual who is the Messiah, who will serve in these magnificent ways, including, as you might remember from Isaiah 53, suffering in our place, atoning for our sins so that by His stripes we're healed. But this, in Isaiah 49, is also one of the servant songs.

And at verse 3, we have this interesting verse. He said to me, you are my servant Israel, in whom I'll be glorified. And without spending too much time on this, it's beautiful because what this is saying is that here the designated servant, the Messiah, this is Jesus, is being called or personified as the true Israelite. So the nation, Israel, who was given the law of God, which was a wonderful gift, revelation of God, but they never could keep it and never could be righteous in front of His, in front of the law, but will always be condemned by it because they couldn't keep it. So a true Israelite came who lived a perfectly righteous life. Commentator Alec Matier has said this beautifully, Israel was the name of an individual before it became that of a nation. He's speaking here of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham. And Jacob's name was changed to Israel, thus the naming of the nation Israel. So there was Jacob, Israel, before there was the nation. And Matier says, and with the name came responsibility for the Abrahamic promises of world blessing. So what was promised to Abraham was that through your seed, all the nations of the world will be blessed. And now Jacob, who becomes named Israel, this promise is flowing through him. But Jacob was a deceiver, in many ways was a scoundrel, who never really understood the grace of God much until he got to the end of his life. And the whole nation of Israel never really was able to obey or be that light to the nations that had been prophesied. And so Matier continues, must the Lord admit defeat?

No. He has prepared a worthy Israel, the servant divinely shaped for the task, the only one worthy of the name. So Isaiah 49 is about Jesus. And he is this righteous one. And he therefore is the comfort giver that is described here. He is the source of the comfort and joy, which explains why in one of his final discourses with his disciples, Jesus says in John 14, 16, I'll pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. What he's saying here, this word comforter, one of the words that we could translate this Greek word for the Holy Spirit, the parakletos, is that the parakletos, the Holy Spirit, is described as the one who literally comes alongside. He's saying to the disciples, if you have experienced any comfort while being with me physically, personally on the earth, I want you to have this better news.

I'm going to send another comforter. He's the Holy Spirit. He's going to always be with you. And because of this, a few verses later in chapter 15, Jesus can say, these things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. My spirit will comfort you and your joy and my own joy, the same joy Jesus says that I experience, you will experience. If you've ever tasted the joy of the Lord, if you've ever felt something exalting the Lord within you and rejoicing, not because suddenly all your problems were solved, but because of some other more beautiful, powerful, mysterious reason within you, you are experiencing the actual joy of Jesus.

It's wonderful. And this comes, he says, by the consistent, everlasting, comforting presence of the Holy Spirit. Alan Wright, our Good News message, tidings of comfort and joy from the Christmas series, Joy of Every Longing Heart.

He stayed with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio, sharing his parting Good News thought for the day in just a moment. Seeing as Jesus sees, it's the title of Pastor Alan Wright's newest book just released.

And it's the giant secret of real transformation. Followers of Christ tend to focus on doing. So we've been told to ask, what would Jesus do? But even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works.

There's no gospel power in our self-striving. But what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing? Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye opening new book, Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice, a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus, how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the Savior loves to answer because after all, Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion, win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. When you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book. And as an additional thank you for your support, you'll also receive a free six weeks seeing as Jesus sees companion video series from Pastor Alan, along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life.

As you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes, you'll start seeing as Jesus sees and you're going to love the view. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Back here with Pastor Alan and our parting good news thought for the day as we place a bookmark and come back next time for the conclusion of this teaching, Tidings of Comfort and Joy. We'll leave you with this good news thought for the day. You know, there's a way, and this sounds mysterious, but there is a way in which we can have joy that is not dependent upon our circumstances or even how our body feels. So we're spirit, soul and body, and the body can experience pleasure, the soul can experience happiness, but the spirit within us can experience joy. There's a way in which you can have the joy of the Lord that transcends your circumstances. And that's not to say that is dismissive of the challenges that any of us might be facing, but I'm praying for you. I'm praying for our listeners. I'm praying for each and every one of you that just as Jesus had said in John 15, that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. May it be so.

Jesus' own joy in you, not dependent on what this world has offered you lately. 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, free. Find out more about these and other resources at PastorAllen.org. That's PastorAllen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.