SPECIAL DAYS: Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 19, 2004, Lesson Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:39-45

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INTRODUCTION:

1. How are you feeling this morning?

1. Do you have the joy?

2. Let's sing the song: I Have the Joy, Joy, Joy

I Have The Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy
(by George W. Cooke)

1.
I have the joy, joy, joy, joy,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
I have the joy, joy, joy, joy,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.

2.
I have the peace that passeth understanding,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
I have the peace that passeth understanding,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.

3.
I have the love of Jesus, love of Jesus,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
I have the love of Jesus, love of Jesus,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.

Refrain
And I'm so happy, so very happy,
I have the love of Jesus in my heart,
And I'm so happy, so very happy,
I have the love of Jesus in my heart

1.
I have the joy, joy, joy, joy,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
I have the joy, joy, joy, joy,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.

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MAIN BODY:

1. Do you have the joy?

1. 6 days before Christmas do you have it?

2. Do you have the Joy?

1. Joy = exultation; specifically welcome:--gladness, (exceeding) joy

2. I created my own Christmas Card and emphasized this thought.

1. I found the words to a 13th-century Franciscan Christmas carol

In Bethlehem is born the Holy child,
On hay and straw in winter wild,
O, my heart is full of mirth
At Jesus' birth.

2. I included a cartoon from The Family Circus.

Dolly and P J are watching a television program and the three wise men are moving across the screen.

Dolly says, "The three wise men brought gifts of Gold, Frankenstein, and Mirth.

3. In a few of the cards I wrote:

We hope that your life is filled with peace good-will, and mirth. This truly is the reason for the season.

3. Most basically, Jesus means joy.

1. If we are truly filled with this joy,

2. It should be on the brink of bubbling and gurgling out of us each day.

A father asked a child why she liked her Sunday school teacher so much.

She answered, "Because her eyes twinkle like she's laughing inside all the time."

2. Jesus as our joy keeps the corners of our mouths perpetually turning up.

1. This is the joy realized by those who heard and believed, had, and have faith in, the promise of Micah5:4-5

⁴    And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,
        in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
    And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
        to the ends of the earth;
⁵    and he shall be the one of peace.

2. This is the joy that was experienced and shared between Elizabeth and Mary

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴²and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁵And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

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3. It is so easy to lose the joy during this season of the year or any time in the course of the year.

1. We can be robbed of joy by a sour attitude

Robbed of Joy by a Sour Attitude ⁽¹⁾

A couple of years ago Dale E Galloway performed one of the most beautiful wedding celebrations he had ever seen. The bridesmaids looked like they had stepped out of a fashion magazine. Everything was the finest. The father and mother of the bride had put out big bucks to make this the wedding of all weddings.

In the midst of the ceremony, he looked down at the bride's mother and saw she had a big frown on her face. She looked like she was about ready to kill somebody. Here was this great celebration that she had looked forward to and planned for years--the wedding of her only daughter--and she wasn't enjoying it at all.

Afterwards he found out what had robbed the mother of her joy. The florist had put the wrong color roses in the mother's corsage, so she sat there in a miserable state of mind and missed the joy of her only daughter's wedding.

2. We can be robbed of joy by concentrating of the insignificant.

1. A customer at the General Store approached Helga complaining about the weather.

1. Helga responded by pointing out that the sun was shining, the cold was killing the germs, and it was December in Wisconsin.

2. The customer thought and said that made her feel better.

2. You have a dinner reservation and when you get to the restaurant you find that even with a reservation there is going to be a delay in getting to your table.

3. You are in a train of traffic on Highway 14 coming from Madison.

4. How are you and I going to acquire and maintain JOY regardless.

1. One of Helga's favorite songs.

2. Used to close the celebration of music every year.

JOYFUL, JOYFUL, WE ADORE THEE

Words: Henry J. van Dyke, 1907. Music: "Hymn to Joy," from the 9th Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven.

3. Concentrate on the verses and the thoughts and encouragements that Henry J. van Dyke created.

1. Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;

Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

2. All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,

Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,

Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

3. Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,

Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!

Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine;

Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

4. Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;

Father love is reigning o'er us, brother love binds man to man.

Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,

Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life.

4. I dare you to attempt to sing this song without smiling.

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CONCLUSION

1. A cartoon depicts a husband and wife sitting in a living room that is gaily decorated for the Christmas season.

The wife, however, has a deep frown on her face, and looks completely exhausted.

In the caption the husband is saying:

"Of course you're depressed - 'tis the season to be jolly."

1. As an astute person observed:

"'Tis the season to be jolly, not melancholy."

2. Part of the message Jesus brought to a weary world is "Be merry;"

3. Jesus is the one whom it is described by Charles Welsey as, "the joy of heaven to earth come down."

1. This the thought of Charles Wesley in the song Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart

2. With our faith and joy secure in the fulfilled promise of the new-born Jesus, we can have the Joy, Joy, Joy down in our hearts, now and always.

AMEN!

1. Dale E Galloway, CONFIDENCE WITHOUT CONCEIT (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Power Books-Fleming H. Revell, 1989).

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