If somebody is filled with anxiety
or depression or a hopelessness
then that probably often means
that they are not filled with joy.
And so how do you fill them with joy?
Or how do you become full of joy
when you're full of all those other things?
Maybe we get some clues from looking
through the book of Philippians.
The book Philippians has a nickname
it's called the book of joy
and the reason it's called the book of joy
is because the Apostle Paul who wrote
the book of Philippians, he's obviously very joyful
when he's writing it.
I mean his joy just kind of leaps off the page,
read through the few chapters of Philippians
and you'll see that. He's just, he seems very, very happy
and it's very interesting that it's called the book of joy
and that the apostle Paul seem so full of joy
when he's writing it because he was writing it
while sitting inside of a prison.
After he had been tortured
after his life had been threatened
after he'd been pelted with stones
after he had nearly died multiple times
and he was sitting in a prison,
not because he did anything wrong
but because he was preaching about Jesus Christ.
So you might think that well,
someone in that kind of situation
that what do they have to be joyful about?
We get a clue into what brought him
so much joy by looking at the words
that he used in the book.
In the book of Philippians, there are 104 verses
and if you read through those 104 verses,
do you know in how many of those 104 verses
he mentions Jesus or Christ?
Some form, some name associated with the Jesus
that he believed in?
40, 40 different times, which means that
he was mentioning the name Jesus,
he was thinking about Jesus
once every two and a half sentences.
Just imagine what our words would sound like,
imagine what our thoughts would be
if every two and a half sentences,
we brought Jesus into our thoughts
and Jesus and Jesus into our minds and Jesus
and Jesus into our words.
But we look at what Paul did
and we know something about him.
We know that he believed that what he had in Christ,
far outweighed what he had in his life.
And what did he have in his life?
Well, not much (laughs).
His life on earth was probably going to end
in a pretty short time and he knew that was coming.
But what did he have in Christ?
The same thing you do.
I'm going to read just some
of the passages in the Bible that tell us
what we already have in Christ.
It says, "You are approved in Christ.
"You are sanctified in Christ.
"Grace has been given to you in Christ.
"It is God who makes both us and you stand firm
"in Christ He anointed us.
"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
"God reconciled the world to Himself in Christ,
"not counting their sins against them.
"In Christ, you who once were far away
"have been brought near to God.
"In Christ God forgave you.
"For no matter how many promises God has made,
"they are yes in Christ.
"You are all children of God through faith in Christ.
"We are God's workmanship created in Christ to do good
"and my God will meet all your needs
"according to His glorious riches in Christ."
And there's so much more, there are dozens and dozens
and dozens of other passages that remind us of who we are
and what we have in Christ.
And it's why the Apostle Paul
in his letter to the Colossians writes this.
He says,
The secret to joy,
the secret to joy in any situation
it's remembering Christ who He is,
what He already did and who you already are because of Him.
You are God's and if you are God's
then your life is glorious.
The book of Philippians gives us quite a standard thinking
about Christ every once every two and a half sentences
that's a pretty high standard.
But I think we all agree we'd be a lot better off
if we all did.
It's hard to do in the craziness of how life gets
if you have any practical tips on how you remember Christ
and how you remember the significance of what He promises
or what He did or who you are because of Him.
Do you want to share those practical tips
on how you keep Christ on your mind
throughout each day?
We'd all be better off for it.