Let us begin by singing: Down At The Cross
Let us turn to scripture John Chapter 10 concentrating on v10
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
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Prayer Time
As we join in prayers together this morning let us sing: Light Of The World
Light of the world you stepped down into darkness, opened my eyes let me see.
Beauty that made this heart adore you, hope of a life spent with you.
So here I am to worship. Lets do just that.
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Please join with me in prayer:
We thank you Father for Jesus, and the joy and peace that floods the hearts of all who have believed in Him, who is the rock of our Salvation. Eternity is too short to praise and magnify Your glorious name for all Your goodness and love towards me, and to all who are called by Your name, for in You is the fullness of joy. Help us to share this joy of knowing Jesus with all those who You place in my path, and I pray that throughout the world there may be many today who are saved by grace through faith in the shed blood of Christ Jesus, so that they too may experience the joy which is freely available to all who believe in the gospel of grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Please spend a few minuets in personal prayers, remembering all your family loved ones and friends. Bring our country and our world to God in prayer
Let us share in the Lord's prayer together:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Lets sit back and enjoy Sydney Staff Songster sing: Bow The Knee
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Like A Thief In The Night
Joy is such a wonderful thing – it’s something that Jesus wants for each one of us. But sometimes people, things and circumstances come along, like a thief in the night, to steal it away. Now imagine for a moment that a thief breaks into your house while you’re out, (awful thought) he’s come to steal things. The question is, what is he going to steal?
Now you know the things in your house better than I do. It does not matter how much you have or how much you don’t have or how much it’s worth compared to, say your neighbour. When the thief is in your house he’s going to be looking, for what? He will be looking for the most valuable things in your house.
Let’s say you have some Jewellery, paintings, TV’s, games consoles etc. The bottom line for the thief is to take the things that are worth the most, makes sense. When the thief breaks into your house, he wants to grab the most valuable things he can and then run.
I’m sure you would agree with me that all of us want joy in our lives, not some sort of fleeting happiness, we want joy. I’m talking about real joy, deep joy, abiding joy; a wondrous quiet contentment that fills our heart and hangs with us through thick and thin. The sort of joy that Jesus talked about when He said:
I’ve said all these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
This was said to His disciples when everything was falling in a heap, when Jesus was about to be crucified, when they were afraid for their lives, He said, “I’ve said all this to you so that my joy might be in you and that your joy might be complete.” And around the same time He also said to them: Until now you have not asked for anything in my name but ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Real joy, that kind of abiding joy that never leaves you is a gift from God. Just before He was crucified, here is what Jesus prayed to His Father. He said, “I’m coming to you now Father, but I pray these things while I’m still here in the world so that they, they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”
He said this so that we could experience that joy, His joy, a joy that only comes when we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that He endured the cross.
Years later the writer of the Book of Hebrews explains it to us. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2. He writes:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and the perfecter of our faith who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, scorning at shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I love this passage because, it mixes the sorrow, the scorn, the shame and the pain of the cross with joy. Jesus did that because He knew that there was joy coming. Now the point here is that, for Jesus, a joy that overflows out of your heart and mine is not some optional extra, it is central to what our relationship with Him is about. Not some “nice to have”, it is absolutely essential.
If you believe in Jesus you have eternal life, that’s fantastic! But what if that eternal life were miserable? What a horror would that be? But, an eternal life filled with an indescribable joy? Now that, for Jesus was worth dying for. You get it? Joy is the heart of what Jesus wants to give us. In John chapter 10, verse 10 he said:
The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but I’ve come that you might have life and have it in all its abundance.
I believe we need to get a handle on the life that Jesus wants us to live, a super abundant life and it’s hard to imagine that without joy, isn’t it? In fact, if you asked me to name the jewel in the crown of the super abundant life that Jesus has given me, it would be the joy of the Lord. For the joy of the Lord is my strength, the fountain out of which all my good works overflow. It begins with a relationship with Him, it begins with a joy that comes out of relationship and then everything else I do flows out of that.
After Jesus Christ himself, the joy of the Lord is the most valuable thing I possess. So, don’t you think, that when the thief comes that’s the one thing, he wants most to steal from us?
The word joy and the word grace come from the one Greek word; they’re two sides of the same coin. Joy is God’s gift of grace to us, it’s a valuable treasure that Jesus purchased for me and for you on the cross when He died, in fact Jesus tells us exactly that when He says in Matthew chapter 13, beginning at verse 44:
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it he hid it again and then in his joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.
Jesus is saying that this man’s motivation was what? The joy of discovering the kingdom of God.
And in Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10 it says: The joy of the Lord is my strength.
You see, if joy is our motivation, it makes us strong. If everything we do flows out of a joy that we experience in knowing Jesus, isn’t what we do going to be wonderful?
Now, let’s say, the thief come and robs me of that. Then following Jesus will become incredibly hard work, it becomes drudgery, it becomes a chore but fill me with His joy and my heart leaps to serve Him and to sacrifice for Him.
The devil knows that the joy of the Lord is your strength and that’s why it’s the most valuable thing he wants to rob from you. And that’s my message today. We have to wake up to that fact, that the most valuable thing in my house, your house is our joy in Christ, and he wants to plunder that. As Jesus said:
The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.
And the number one prize for the thief is our joy. When he takes that joy, our strength is sapped. We become weak, vulnerable and open to the thief to destroy all that we know is true. He robs us of the very thing that Jesus died to give us. Now, there is something so important that I want to share with you about the joy of the Lord, it may sound a bit glib but actually, it is deep and profound. If we want to enjoy God, we have to spend time with Him.
Let me say that again, if we want to enjoy God, we have to spend time with Him. I know, it’s not rocket science, you think of any human relationship that you have, if you want to enjoy that person, you have to spend time with them. If only we understood the power, the incredible power of God that is unleashed in our lives when we are filled with The Joy of the Lord. And with that Joy, we can do nothing more than praise Him, as Psalm 150:1-6, says
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathers praise the Lord
Because you and I, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. God isn’t interested in making us joyful for a short time. God wants to fill us with His abiding joy, forever. Every moment of every day – especially when we’re in chains, especially when we’re being beaten, especially when we feel like a caged animal. It’s in that place that your God wants you to experience His joy – for the Joy of the Lord is your strength. And it’s His strength that makes you not just a conqueror of your circumstances, but more than a conqueror.
The twelve disciples, they spent three and a half years living with Jesus, being with Him and He talked to them about His joy over and over and over again. Jesus wants to spend time with you and with me. He wants us to pause, to draw aside from all the noise of the day and everything we do in life and all the pressures and just quietly draw aside each day and spend some time with Him. If we do that each day, if we put him fist in all we do, we will experience the complete Joy of The Lord and no thief will be able to steal it. And if that doesn’t make you want to shout HALLELUJAH! I don’t know what does.
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Let us join together as we sing: Be Thou My Vision
The final verses says
May I reach heaven's Joy's after victory is won.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee
And be gracious unto thee
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee
And give thee peace.
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