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We’re in week 2 of our series on the “Fruit of the Spirit” and this week I’ll be talking about joy. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy. . .” God wants to cultivate joy in your life. However, joy is often misunderstood. We tend to equate happiness with joy, and while there’s definitely some overlap, at the same time, there are some differences because they each spring from a different source. For example, one comes from the world around me, and the other originates directly from the Spirit of the living God.
Happiness is based on happenings. In other words, it’s conditioned by and dependent upon what’s happening to me – my circumstances. If the sun is shining and people are nice and everything is going well in my life, then I am HAPPY! But if my circumstances fluctuate and bottom out, well then I’m unhappy!
Joy, on the other hand, is different. It’s not solely dependent upon what may or may not be happening to me in the moment. In fact, since it originates with the Holy Spirit, it has a divine component that is capable of actually transcending my circumstances. But let me give you a gentle caution. I’m not suggesting that Biblical joy is about denying reality. We live in a jacked-up, fallen world where we’re often confronted with things like pain, disappointment, stress, heartache, loss, anxiety, suffering, and death.
But if joy transcends our earthly circumstances, then hey, if you’re truly filled with it, doesn’t that mean that you’ll just skate right along above all those things? You’re a joyful Christian, right? Well, then surely you don’t ever get sad or fearful or stressed out or down or depressed! Okay if that’s true, let me be the first to say, “Then I am not a Christian!” I’m simply saying that Biblical joy is not about denying reality. In fact, sometimes it’s experienced in the very midst of sadness and hardship and heartache. Regardless of what you’re facing today, your life can be full of joy. Philippians 4:4 (this week’s memory verse) reminds us of this, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” So how do we make this joy a reality in our lives? How do we cultivate the fruit of joy? Come to Coastal this Sunday and discover how! I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor! See you Sunday!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
We’re kicking off our new series on the Fruit of the Spirit this Sunday, September 19th! Don’t miss it! Our memory verse for this week is Galatians 5:22-23, which says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Each week of the series, there will be a memory verse and a daily devotional which will be emailed out Monday through Saturday. Several of our LIFE Groups are going to use small group questions that we provide each week to dig deeper into that week’s message. (By the way, most of our LIFE Groups start this coming week! Woohoo!)
This week’s sermon is on love. In preparation for Sunday, I would encourage you to read through 1 Corinthians 13 – the love chapter of the Bible. Some have suggested that this is the greatest, strongest, and deepest passage ever written about love. It is, no doubt, the most read passage of scripture at weddings. But it’s interesting, when Paul wrote this chapter, he was not thinking about weddings or romance, at least, not primarily. Chapter 13 comes right in the middle of a lengthy discussion on the use of spiritual gifts in the church. The Corinthians had turned that into a battle ground. They argued about which gift was the most significant. They were selfish and they were taking each other to court. Seriously, the Corinthian church was literally plagued with disputes, dissension and division.
It was into THAT context that Paul introduced the Corinthians to a new kind of love – God’s love. So as you read through 1 Corinthians 13, don’t just think about your spouse or your boyfriend or girlfriend. Think about how you treat other people in the church, people you come into contact with in the community – where you live, work, parent, and play. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” You see, the distinguishing mark of a Christian is not a cross. The sign of the Christian is not a crucifix. It’s not a dove. It’s not a fish on your car. The distinguishing mark of a Christian is love. So, how many people know that you are a Christian because of your loving lifestyle? One of the most loving things you could do this week is to invite and bring someone to church with you!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
I’M BACK! Not that I’ve actually gone anywhere, but this Sunday I’m back preaching! Before we kick off a new series (more about that in just minute), before we open up our new facility, I think it’s important to look back at where we’ve been, to mark this moment in time, and remember what and who got us here. And that’s what I want us to do on Sunday. So don’t miss it! I really believe it’s going to be a powerful Sunday.
And then on the following Sunday, September 19th, I’ll be kicking off a brand new series that I’m very excited about. It’s a 9 week series on the Fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says this, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Earlier in Galatians the Apostle Paul uses this little phrase, “until Christ is fully developed in your life.” That’s what the fruit of the Spirit is. It’s a picture of Jesus fully developed in your life. You see, Jesus is love. Jesus is joy. Jesus is peace. Jesus is patience. He’s kindness. He’s goodness. He’s faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. And so each week, we’re going to look at each one of those qualities and talk about what it looks like to have that quality fully developed in your life. And not only that, but we’re going to be giving everyone a daily devotional that follows along with each week of the series. Several of our LIFE Groups are going to use small group questions that we provide each week to dig deeper into that week’s message. I really believe it’s going to be a great series. You’re not going to want to miss it. In fact, I want to challenge you to invite and bring someone with you to church.
Our new facility is really taking shape! I can’t wait for everyone to see it! All the carpet and flooring has been installed, furniture has been delivered and unpacked, the indoor playground has been installed, and some of the concrete out front has been poured. There are still a lot of details, technology, and sitework to be completed, but the end is definitely in sight. It’s looking more and more like our first Sunday using the new facility will be October 3rd. But again, as soon as I know, you will know, and we will PARTY!
I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
So, have you signed up for a LIFE Group yet? If you haven’t heard, we unveiled our 2021 Fall Semester LIFE Group Catalog last week! You can go to our website right now, check out all the different Groups and sign up today.
But why? Why should you sign up for a LIFE Group? Let me give you 3 good reasons. First of all, I need others to WALK with me. In other words, I need people to help me grow spiritually. Colossians 2:6, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…” The Bible often calls your spiritual life, your walk. Why? Because life is a journey. You’re always growing. And all through the Bible we’re instructed how to walk this walk. But this is important: God never intended for you to walk through life alone. Never. Now some of you might say, “Well what’s wrong with walking alone? I like to walk alone. I prefer to walk alone. I get my own way when I walk alone.” Well, that’s part of the problem, you’re not learning cooperation. You’re not learning relationships. You’re not learning love.
Hebrews 10:25 says this, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” I need people to encourage me in my daily walk. And how do you do that? He says, “By meeting together.” He’s talking about community. It’s possible that you don’t have community when you come to Coastal for worship. Community is what develops over time when you do life with a small group of people. You get to know them, and they get to know you. You see, you could be in a crowd, you could come to church every week for years and still be lonely because you never know anybody. We need a few people in our lives that we know really well, and they know us really well. And we all need a place, a group, where we can practice relationships and learn to love.
Another reason you need to join a LIFE Group, I need others to WATCH OUT for me. I need people who will defend me, who will protect me, who will stand up for me, who will help me stay on track, who will warn me. I need people to watch out for me.
Philippians 2:4 says this, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Now that’s a countercultural statement because in America, everybody says, “It’s all about me, my needs, my interests, my hurts, and the rest of you, forget you because it’s all about me.” And yet the Bible says, “Look out for one another’s interests.”
What do we do when we go out of town? We find people to watch our pets and our stuff – because those things are important. Well, let me ask you, do you have anybody looking out for your soul? Because your soul is more important than your stuff – right? Is there anybody who is helping you out in your spiritual journey? Who’s watching out for you? To make sure that you’re still growing? To make sure that you’re not getting discouraged and depressed and feel like giving up?
Ecclesiastes 4:12, “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” That’s why you need a LIFE group. Who’s watching your back right now, spiritually? And who’s back are you watching out for? You can’t expect anybody to watch out for you if you’re not watching out for anybody else? That’s one of the values of LIFE groups. It gives us support.
A third reason you need a join a LIFE Group, I need others to WAIT AND WEEP with me, to wait and weep with me. What am I talking about here? I need people who are going to be there in the inevitable crises of life. Now as your pastor, I feel this one really deeply because I see it all the time. There are many situations in life that nobody should ever have to go through alone. Nobody should ever have to sit alone in a hospital, waiting during a life or death surgery. No woman should have to wait alone while she’s waiting for a lab test from a problem pregnancy. No man or woman should have to spend the night alone when the wife walks out, or the husband has walked out. I could go on and on and on. No one should ever have to stand at an open grave alone.
Now the fact is some of these things are going to happen in your life. They are going to happen. We’re all going to lose loved ones. And only a fool would go through life unprepared for what they know is inevitably going to happen. You need the support network in your life now because you don’t know when the crisis is going to come. You need that support group. You don’t need a hundred, but you do need five or six people in your life who are going to be there when you need them. And the time to prepare is now. We need each other. We need other believers to walk with us, to watch out for us, and to wait and weep with us. Those are just 3 reasons for joining a LIFE Group. Check out our catalog and sign up today!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
SUNDAYS
8:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am
460 Arlington Drive,
Charleston, SC 29414
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