Good Tidings of Great Joy 12-17-23

Overview: The speaker shares a personal testimony about how God has been good in their life despite facing hardships and struggles. They were born to an alcoholic and abusive family, but God helped them overcome their past and find salvation. The speaker emphasizes that God's goodness extends to everyone and encourages the audience to find joy in the good news of Christ's birth. They also reflect on the importance of choosing positivity and gratitude in a world filled with negativity. Transcription: A powerful song. Such a simple thought that we could spend all our time together talking about who God is. And I think we should talk about who He is. But sometimes the simplest way is the best way. God's been good in my life. I have faced ups and downs, hurts and heartaches, stresses and struggles. But through it all, God's been good. Thank you, Brother John, for that. Can I do something just a little off kilter? And I know we got visitors here, and I apologize if it's not something you're used to. But God's been good in my life. I just want to take just a moment, and I want to share with you how He's been good in my life. You see, I was born to an alcoholic father and mother. My earliest memories only consist of them fighting, arguing, shouting, throwing things across the room. When I say my earliest memories, I want you to understand something, that this was before I was ever five years old. I remember those things. And I don't remember how old I was when my parents got divorced, but we went to live with my mother in Texas. And I don't know how long I was there, because I just don't remember the time frame from that early. But here's what I do remember. When I was somewhere around five years old, I was sexually abused by my mother. And I was removed through the system. We went to the court dates. I sat in the witness stand in the courtroom and had to look at my mother in the face and point my finger at her and say, she's the one that did it, knowing full well what that would mean for our relationship. If my memory serves correct, and I'm not saying it does, but it was very close to somewhere around her birthday. I turned five on October 30th. She turned however old she was on November 30th. And somewhere around that November 30th mark, close to her birthday, we were removed from that home. And we came to live with my father. My father was the same that he was when they got divorced. Many of my early weekends were spent over at different people's houses, his friend's houses with them drinking and partying and all of us kids just hanging out and doing whatever we wanted to do. Let me tell you, I don't have too many more young people in here, but let me tell you young people. You think that your parents' rules, that you would be better off without them, that you would be better off thinking you could do whatever you want to do and there's nothing there to hinder you and hurt you, you could not be further from the truth, because I had that. And the only thing it brought me was hurt and heartache. I grew up in that era, middle school, high school, never had anyone really pushing me to be or do anything outside of, as long as my report card had A's and B's on it, then I was alright. If I brought a C home, then I got grounded. No one there to help me with my homework, no one there to encourage me and tell me all that I could be and do in this world. Facing the things of this world in high school and following, I lived what I called the rock star lifestyle. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That's what I was about, until God sent a friend of mine into my apartment who shared with me about what God did with his family, how God brought healing. And a friend of mine said this statement, he said, I'm going to go to church on Sunday, and I want you to go with me. You see, this friend was hanging out and doing everything that I was doing. This friend was, we were two peas in a pod. This friend was the friend that would come to all my football games on Friday night, and then I would go to his house after the football game and spend the night, we'd hang out, we'd play video games, and we were just, we were close. So of course, I said, yeah, I'll go with you. And over the course of a few months of going to church on Sundays, I sat in a service where the preacher preached on something, I don't know, I can't remember his full message. I do know his name was Junior Hill, and he made this statement, he said, it's better to walk down the aisle twice than to go to hell once. God is so good to me that at that moment, he tugged on my heart and he said, you've been making fun of my believers, you've turned your back on me, you've chased everything that I stand against, and you didn't want anything to do with me, and yet I loved you. He said, James, I'm calling you to me. I want you to be my child, and I've made a way for you to be my child. Now I stand before you this morning as somebody who didn't deserve it, somebody who didn't earn it, and really somebody who didn't even want it. But the minute he opened up his love and revealed himself to me, I realized everything that I needed, and it was him, Jesus. So God's been good to me, and that's just my salvation. I have an amazing wife that I don't deserve, that I can't even begin to tell you the stuff she puts up with. I've got three beautiful kids that our plans didn't work out, but God in his goodness and his grace and his mercy, I pastor the greatest church that I've ever been part of. God's been good in my life. I want you to realize something this morning. God's been good in your life. Your testimony might not be the same as mine. You may have grown up in a church, but let me tell you something. You are alive, you are breathing, and you are sitting in this building this morning. God has been good to you. You say, preacher, you don't know what I've been through. You're right, but you've been through it. You're here. You've got this opportunity to be here and to respond to the good news of the Gospel once again. He's not done with you. You have an opportunity. At the end of service, and listen, I'm not even into the message yet, but at the end of service, or hey, come now if you want to receive Christ. I'm not going to stop you. We'll take you right now and counsel you, but you have an opportunity to respond to the good news. God's been good to you. I'll draw your attention to Luke 2, verse 10 this morning. Actually, we're going to read the first 11 verses, but 10 is what we will focus on. Luke 2 is a familiar text around Christmastime. Matter of fact, I don't know if it gets preached any other time than Christmastime. Maybe it does, but in Luke 2, we have the story of the birth of Christ. Luke 2, verse 1 says, "...and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, every one to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David. To be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child, so it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Now what is the good tidings of great joy? Verse 11, There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. That's the good tidings of great joy. And so what I want to speak on this morning is this topic, good tidings of great joy. We looked into peace last week as we're doing the Advent season and the Advent wreath and the second candle of the wreath being that of peace. We talked about how to have peace with God through Christ, and we're seeing another aspect of that this morning about joy, because in this world, as we talked about, joy is sometimes hard to find, isn't it? The good tidings, the good news, we look around this world and it seems to be filled with anything but that. It seems to be filled with darkness and despair, depravity. We look around and it is so easy to find something to get down about and to complain about and to just get into the dumps about, if I'm really honest. I was working in the shop last night, and I have my precious dog with me, this glorious dog that you know that I love so much. And I'm over there, I'm working away, doing whatever I'm doing, and I look down and look over and this dog has chewed my fan cord in half. I'm thinking, really? I'm like, Biscuit, what are you doing? And honestly, I tried to be mad. I tried to look at the negative, right? That was my instinct to take that cord and piece it back together. But when I said, Biscuit, what are you doing, man? He just looked at me with these big puppy dog eyes, this white curly hair all around his face. And in that moment, he was cute. He was precious. And so I reached down and I petted him instead of what I wanted to do, right? And in that moment, I chose the good things over the bad. But it's so easy to find something. So my question when I read this, when I was thinking about this thought, good tidings of great joy, how do we find this joy? Where does this joy come from? How can this spring up inside of me? You see, I believe this goes further. And I'm reading into this Scripture a little, and I understand that. I want you to know that this is good tidings of great joy. And that good tidings, that good news, and the great joy is that there is a Savior born, that it is Christ the Lord. And I understand that. But God in His goodness and the ways that He has been good to us is more than just giving us the news of a Savior. It's more than just the Savior being born. You say, what do you mean by that? I want you to understand that all of these things that I'm going to share with you don't exist without the Savior being born. I'm not saying that if we do all of these things that we can have joy outside of the Savior, because it's only within the Savior can we have true joy. But how does God give us reminders? How does God give us those good tidings on top of, I should say, Christ? Well, He gives us joy in the promises. He gives us joy in the promises. You see, this moment in time where the shepherds find themselves, this good tidings of great joy, was not just the news that they had heard in this moment. This was news that had been promised from them through the prophets. Isaiah and Elijah and all the other prophets were proclaiming a time that was come. The Messiah is coming. The King is coming. The One who is going to set us free is coming. He's coming. He's coming. He's coming. And so the good tidings of great joy that the shepherds received in this moment was the promises that God had been giving them for years to come. And we can take great joy knowing that there are still promises that lie ahead for us. Promises of peace. Promises of things not to hurt us, but to prosper us, to give us hope and a future. Promises to never leave us or forsake us. Promises that one day He will come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is, there we may be also. That He goes to prepare a place for us. A place that in His Father's house are many mansions that He is preparing for us. That one day He's going to step out on that cloud. That trumpet is going to sound. He is going to call His church, which is all those who put their faith and trust in Him as Lord and Savior. He is going to call us together to meet Him in the air. The dead will rise first and then those of us that will remain will go and be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We can have peace and we can have joy knowing that no matter what we face on this earth, this is not all there is. This is not all there is. And yes, I know in the midst of the hurt, in the midst of the heartache, in the midst of the problem, it feels like this is all there is. If this is what I've got, then I don't want it. I'm done with life. I'm done with church. I'm done with people. And I'm done with all that because all we see is this moment. But if we will rest assured in the promises of God, the promise is this is only temporary. That there's coming a day that is far better, that makes this struggle and this problem and this persecution and whatever it is that you're facing, it makes it seem like nothing. We can find joy in the promises through the prophets, promises through the shepherds. The shepherds, there's good tidings of great joy. And they go on and they find Jesus and they sing His praises, and then they make known abroad everything that they had seen and heard. The promise that this babe that they found in this manger is the Christ, the Messiah. Jesus was not just another baby born. Jesus was not just a figment of someone's imagination. Jesus was not just something that we've made up to make us feel good about ourselves. Jesus, based on the promises of His Word and the proclamation of the prophets, Jesus is the Christ. Now, beloved, I want you to understand something because here in America, we have a way of doing things. My name is James Paul Williams. I have a first, a middle, and a last name. My last name ties me to my family. The Williams family. In fact, we have a saying. It's a Williams thing. T-H-A-N-G, right? Christ in Jesus Christ is not His last name. It's His title. That's who He is. He is the Christ. The One who came to set free the things of this world. He came to set us free from our sins. Set us free, listen, from our condemnation. John 3.16 You know it, right? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Saved from what? Set free from, rescued from what? Verse 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe in Him is condemned already. So what has Christ come to save us, set us free, rescue us from? Our sin which has condemned us. Condemned us. For what? That word condemned means not fit for use. That word condemned means that we can't use it. You think of a condemned building, that means you're not to enter it. And in fact, you could get into legal trouble if you enter into a building that is condemned. It's beyond repair. It cannot be used under any circumstances. Beloved, that's you and me. We are already condemned. Why? Because of the sin in our lives. But Christ, being born, He has come to set us free from that condemnation. He takes us from something that is not fit for use and makes us into a prized position. Now, I think I know y'all well enough around here to know that y'all love a good remodel, right? Take an old farmhouse, instead of tearing it down and condemning it, man, just refresh that thing. Bring it back to life. Reset it back to its former glory. But listen, beloved, our salvation is not a remodel. Our salvation is not being restored to its former glory because there was no former glory. We are condemned already. But what Christ has done is set us free. And so we can find joy no matter what our circumstance, because we know the promises that God has given us. Now, I don't have time to go through the other ten ways that we can receive joy with any amount of time. But just know this, Scripture shares this, that we can have joy in promises. We can have joy in payment. What Christ has paid for us. We can have joy in our problems. Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that our trials produce patience and patience virtue. In all of these things, we have joy in problems. We can have joy in people. And that's why we're gathered here this morning. I can't stress enough the importance of being plugged in on a regular basis into a local body of believers, because we can find joy with one another when we hear their testimony and how God's working in their life. We can find joy in people. We can find joy in His presence, Luke 24, 52. And they worshipped Him. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And so they found themselves in the presence of Christ and they returned with great joy. Joy in purpose, that God has given us a purpose, 3 John 1, 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. And so we have purpose in our life. We have joy in our persuasion, that we are persuaded that nothing in this life compares to the love that Christ has for us. 1 Peter 1, 8 says, We whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see Him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, because we know of what's lying ahead of us and we're persuaded of that thing. And we can have joy in prayer, Philippians 1, 4. Always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy. We can pray in joy. Make a joyful shout to the Lord. All you land, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing, Psalm 100, verse 1 and 2. Beloved, we can have good tidings of great joy today because of Christ being born. And not only being born, but living a life as the perfect Lamb of God. Walking up that Via Della Rosa. Carrying His own cross to Galgotha. Being nailed to that cross. Where He cries out things like, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. Where He cries out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Not because of His sin, but because of mine. Where He cries out, It is finished. What's finished? The work that He was sent to this earth to accomplish. Payment for your sin and for my sin. Buried in a tomb. Laid there for three days. And on that third day, the stone was rolled away and out forth came our Savior. We can have joy knowing that all of that is true this morning. Some ask, have you put your faith and trust in Christ? Are you trusting in the things of this world to bring you that joy? Because these things are going to let you down. That person is going to let you down. Those kids are going to let you down. I can't tell you how many times I've heard about people wanting to have babies because they think they'll get unconditional love. Your kids don't love you unconditionally yet. They only love you when you give them what they want. How do I know that? I hate you! Okay. It's not going to happen. Until they get older and they realize, okay, I see what you're doing. But there's one that loves us unconditionally. In the midst of our darkest hours, our most deepest depravity, God loves us. And Christ is the proof of that. And so as we turn our attention to this Advent wreath, I light the first candle of hope again. The hope that was proclaimed through the prophets of the coming Savior. I light the one of peace that we can have peace with God because of our Savior. And this morning, I light the candle of joy. Because now that we have the Savior, we can have joy no matter what our circumstance. 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 16, it says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecy. Test all things. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Today we celebrate what is known as Gaudete Sunday. The third Sunday of Advent. The Latin word gaudete means rejoice. You may notice that the third candle on the Advent wreath is rose colored. Rose signifies joy. Thus, today's Scripture reading calls us to rejoice always. Christian joy goes beyond a mere emotion and therefore, supersedes circumstances. The joy we have in Christ can remain regardless of what challenges we are facing in life. That is because we know God is in control of our circumstances and He is faithful. Therefore, we can rejoice always and in all circumstances give thanks because we have hope in God. The hope, faith, and joy we have during Advent are not only celebrating the birth of Christ, but also His imminent return. One author wrote, we cannot properly prepare for the birth of Christ at Christmas unless we prepare also for His coming at the end of time. We cannot adore the child in the manger in Bethlehem without bending our knee before the just judge who suffered and died for our sins. The child in His mother's arms is the man upon the cross and the King who will return at the end of time. That is the message of Advent. And because of these things, we can have joy in all circumstances. Still, in order to experience the fullness of this joy, the Apostle Paul indicates that we must obey God. We must listen to the Spirit of God and to abstain from every kind of evil. This is the true path to joy. Following God's will and allowing His grace to transform us leads to true happiness. Let us therefore seek Him, trust Him, and obey Him to find the deep joy that can only be found in knowing Christ as Lord and Savior. So I want to ask you this morning, have you done that? Have you put your faith and trust in Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? I'm going to ask Ms. Patsy to come and begin to play something on the organ as we all stand together to our feet. You see, we can't find true joy in anything or anybody outside of Christ. We will only find temporary happiness. But if we want to find long-lasting joy that surpasses any situation or circumstance, that is only found in Christ, will you acknowledge Him this morning? Will you trust in Him? Will you obey Him? This altar is open. I want to invite you to come and pray. To ask God to give you that joy. To meet with Him and in His presence find hope and peace and joy. To acknowledge Him as your personal Lord and Savior for the first time. I'd love to share with you about that. To talk with you. I'd love to pray with you. This altar is open. You come for these next few moments and respond however God's leading you.