Tidings of Comfort and Joy [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. The comfort that leads to joy, because in this world you're going to have trouble.

And what God does is He brings the consolation of the Holy Spirit in the middle of it. 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.

Okay. Are you ready for some good news? Good news. Christmas brings, as the classic Carol tells us, tidings of comfort and joy. It means that when you are in difficulty, trouble, adversity, or disappointment, God comforts. And in that comfort, in that comfort from God, there is the restoration of joy that in a marvelous way can transcend our circumstances. And this is the great promise of the gospel. We are looking at texts that prophesy the Christmas joy. And I turn us today to Isaiah 49.

Isaiah 49, which is a messianic text and tells of what will come with the Messiah. Verse 13 is where we focus for a few verses. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exalt, O earth.

Break forth, O mountains, into singing. For the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on the afflicted. But Zion said, it's like saying, but the people said, the Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. And the Lord responds at verse 15, can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

Your walls are continually before me. We have our regular Christmas specials. We watch some of them every now and then we neglect, but not the one about every who down in Whoville, who liked Christmas a lot, and the Grinch who lived just north of Whoville, who did not. We always got to watch that one about that Grinch who hated Christmas, the whole Christmas season. No one quite knows the reason.

Perhaps it may have been that his heart was two sizes too small. You know, the Grinch who thought I must stop this whole thing. Why for 53 years, I put up with it. Now I must stop this Christmas from coming, but how? And they got an idea.

Wonderful, awful idea. He dressed up like phony Saint Nick, put us a little dog, Max, in front of the sleigh and went down into Whoville in the middle of the night to take all their toys and goodies and treats and put it on his sleigh and take it back up Mount Crumpet in order to dump it. And he just knew what would happen on Christmas morning of all the who's woke up and found they didn't have any of their stuff. It all the who's in Whoville would cry boo hoo. But on Christmas morning, he heard a different sound.

They were singing and rejoicing in Whoville. And at first the Grinch puzzled, how could it be so? It came without ribbons.

It came without tags, packages, boxes or bags. And where it sneaks into his thoughts that maybe Christmas is something different than he thought. And they say in Whoville, his heart grew three sizes that day and he threw Max back onto the sleigh and they carried all the goodies back down, distributed them. And he joined them for the feast.

And he himself, the Grinch carved the roast beast. We don't miss that one. That perennial favorite is such a great story.

It's so many levels. But maybe part of the reason we love it so much is it touches on the longing of every heart. That isn't there something inside of you that believes, that wants, that yearns, that feels like it must be possible. That you could have joy even if all your toys were taken away. That we are made for something more than the superficial comforts of life and that we can have a deeper authentic joy that is transcendent. Look again at verse 13 of our text, sing for joy.

Why? For the Lord has comforted his people. That God delights in giving us good gifts, feasts and even the toys. But that his promise of joy is attached to something much, much deeper. And that's what I want to talk to you about. The comfort that leads to joy.

Because in this world you're going to have trouble. And what God does is he brings the consolation of the Holy Spirit in the middle of it to lead you to the deeper and authentic joy. First, let's talk about what authentic comfort is and what authentic joy is. I Googled, to start my thought process, I Googled authentic comfort, expecting articles from psychologists and counselors and pastors to come up about what is the nature of authentic comfort.

But you know what came up? Mattresses for sale and pajamas. So evidently in our culture, our culture comfort means being comfortable. And I'm all for fuzzy pajamas and softer clothing. But comfort, real comfort is something in the Bible that is much, much deeper than being comfortable. I thought of some of the superficial ways that we or others have tried to comfort us.

The first thought that came to mind, I'll call it the dismissal. And that's where, you know, essentially we say, well, that's not so bad. And you're good. I'm good. Hey, you rock. It's inauthentic.

And it's one of the ways that we sometimes are letting people know, I don't really want to enter into your pain right now. We're all good. You're good. I'm good. You got, you rock.

You got this. And there is a part of that. Yeah, with Christ, you can do all things, but without empathy, no one feels consolation.

Here's one, here's another superficial effort, the one up. You ever experienced that? This is where someone goes, man, my jaws really hurt after having those two impacted wisdom teeth taken out. And the person says, you think that's bad.

Let me tell you about when I had my four teeth taken out. You know, you think that's bad. Let me tell you about something worse 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. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Seeing is 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 and ourselves 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. 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.

And 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, 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.

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, at 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 Numa, 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've 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've 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. Have joy again and then have some more joy again, is 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 Anne I want a hot tub for Christmas, but anyway. 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. 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 now with Pastor Alan as we're celebrating the Christmas season and we have a good news thought for the day to leave you with as we place the bookmark here and come back with more teaching next time. Tidings of comfort and joy. I just think it's so beautiful to think from the song, but it's also from God's Word that God has for us both comfort and joy. That in our difficulties, he's with us.

He really gets us. He's close to us, and we're on his mind in that sense. But he also has for us a great desire that we would know his own joy, the joy of the Holy Spirit.

It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. So if you're going through something difficult, he's not dismissive of it. He's near to you. And you can understand that the God who cares for you doesn't want to just leave you in that place of sorrow, but he's made you to be a person of joy. And so may there be to you in these days after Christmas, comfort and joy. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.

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