Well, friend, I’m having a good time here today-I really am. And she said, “Now Lord, bless us while we met here to worship you and so many of our members are out there in the world having a good time.” I heard about a lady who was in a prayer meeting one time, and there were not very many people in the prayer meeting - her church had met for prayer meeting, and there were just a handful there, and she was kind of whining and complaining and crying. Oh, I just feel sorry for somebody who tries to carry the burdens and the load of this life and they don’t have that joy to put a spring to a step, to put a beat in their heart, to put a smile on their face. For the Bible says, “The joy of the LORD is your strength” - ”The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). And the reason why is the joy of the Lord. And I’ve said before, sometimes I get tired in the work, but I never get tired of the work. Now serving the Lord, like anything else can, make you tired physically. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17), and there’s that joy, and that peace, and that whatever it is that makes Jesus Christ real and shine out from us.Īnd not only is it the great strength in bringing the lost to Christ - but oh, dear friend, what a help, what a benefit, joy is serving the Lord! You know, the Psalmist said we’re to “Serve the LORD with gladness” (Psalm 100:2). Now some people, you know, they think that when they get all sad and somber, that is dignified - but the problem with those people is they don’t know the difference between dignity and rigor mortis. I don’t want to be in a joyless church service. They want to know, is it working for you? And there’s nothing more attractive in winning the lost to the Lord Jesus Christ than the joy of the Lord.

They’re not all that interested in your organizations. They’re not all that interested in your doctrines. They’re not all that interested in your creed. If you want people to believe in your Savior, dear friend, the mark of the authenticity of Christ in your life is the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s so important that you have joy to win the lost. And if you’re not living a life of joy, you’re living beneath your privileges as a Christian. Joy is the birthright of the child of God. Every child of God ought to have contagious joy. Every child of God ought to have continuous joy. Every child of God ought to have conspicuous joy. Every child of God ought to have conscious joy.

“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

Adrian rogers sermons on thanksgiving