It
was a great time together Sunday morning for worship at Harvest.
Pastor
Todd had us in Ezra 6:13-22 talking about joy.
You can hear the message and get the small group questions online. He shared some definitions of joy and a
chart contrasting “happiness” and “joy”. I thought some of you might be looking
for this.
“Biblical joy consists of the deep and abiding confidence that all
is well regardless of circumstance and difficulty.” John
MacArthur
“Joy is supernatural delight in
the person, purposes, and people of God.” James MacDonald
"Joy is the serious business of heaven" G.K. Chesterton
|
Happiness
|
Joy
|
| emotion |
attitude |
requires positive circumstances
|
exists even in difficult times
|
| temporary |
lasting |
comes from within ourselves
|
comes from the Holy Spirit
|
Satan wants us to be happy
|
Satan would steal our joy
|
One great
thought that Pastor Roger put into the small groups questions was this, “Are there any areas of partial obedience or ‘rebellions large and
small’ stealing my joy?” That’s a question I can think about a lot this
week.
Dawn and the
worship team led us in a new song…powerful. You got the link for that on Friday
(the
Sunday preview blog as well as the ‘News Updates’ on
the front page of the website always have the set list up for you to see before Sunday). Anyway, the
lyrics for ‘A Mighty Fortress’ by Christie Nockels are powerful as I said.
Check them out and
download the song on iTunes. We’ll be doing it again soon.
Our God is a consuming fire,
A burning holy flame, with glory and freedom
Our God is, the only righteous judge,
Ruling over us with kindness and wisdom
We will keep our eyes on you
We will keep our eyes on you
A mighty fortress is our God
A sacred refuge is your name
Your kingdom is unshakable
With you forever we will reign
Our God is jealous for his own
None could comprehend, his love and his mercy
Our God is exalted on his throne
High above the heavens
Forever he's worthy...
We will keep our eyes on you
We will keep our eyes on you
We will keep our eyes on you
We will keep our eyes on you
So we can set our hearts on you
Lord we will set our hearts on you!
Two other
notes from Sunday…
A couple of
families brought beautiful baby daughters to be dedicated on Sunday. Mike
presided over that with Ben and Janet DeBoer and their daughter, Ava (a little
sister for Ben Jr) and with Matt and Louisa Wanless and their daughter Lucy
(and little sister for Jayde).
Pray for these families as they seek to raise their children for Christ.
And Terry
Codling, the chair of our elders, brought the elders’ insert to our attention.
You can download a copy from our
Resources page. He
explained that the elders are sharing five of their key requests with the
church family and that we want to hear from the church. Please be sure to send
in your response. The elders will respond to each one.
I
hope you have a joy-filled week! And if you’re into it, “Joyful Valentine’s
Day”.
Eutychus