Yes or no question: are you satisfied with your life, now? Are you fulfilled, right now? Are you content, right now?
Many of us are on a journey to finding that which will satisfy. The hope of finding that which will satisfy staves off current dissatisfaction, temporarily. We think, "once I achieve ____" or "once I have ____" or "once I am ____" or "once I feel ____ " then I'll be satisfied. But how about now? Can I experience satisfaction, now? And if I haven't found it yet, what makes me think I'll ever find it? What's the hope of satisfaction based upon?
One of the most compelling proofs for the existence of God is our perpetual dissatisfaction. Why is it, that even when we experience the most glorious experiences this world has to offer, we're still left wanting? As the atheist Jean-Paul Sartre admitted, "there comes a time when one asks, even of Shakespeare, even of Beethoven, "Is that all there is?" Is this it?
As C.S. Lewis so beautiful put it, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world."
Philippians 4:10-23
August 16, 2015 • Philippians 4:10–23
Philippians 1:1-11
June 28, 2015 • Philippians 1:1–11
Tomorrow, we're starting a brand new sermon series through the book of Philippians, also known as the "Epistle of Joy." As we spend the next few weeks thinking about joy, I believe we'll actually be surprised by the counter-intuitive, supernatural nature of this foretaste of God. True joy is something no circumstance can give you, and no circumstance can ever take away. C.S. Lewis, in his spiritual biography, appropriately entitled "Surprised by Joy" talks of joy as that which moved him more than anything else. He writes, "No one who has ever experienced it would ever exchange it for all the happiness in the world." Lewis distinguished Joy from both pleasures and happiness. Joy is more than happiness, just as happiness is more than pleasure. Pleasure is in the body. Happiness is in the mind and feelings. Joy is deep in the heart, in the spirit, in the essence of our being. The way to pleasure is power. The way to happiness is happenstance. The way to Joy is Jesus. The desire for Joy is God's footprint in the sands of the soul, his fingerprints on our hearts. Join us tomorrow as we begin our journey through Philippians and my prayer is that each of us will be surprised by joy.
Philippians 1:12-30
July 5, 2015 • Philippians 1:12–30
How would you fill in these blanks? "For me to live is _____ , and to die is _____." Be honest. What is your life? What is your definition of life? What are you living for? Whom do you live for? What is the most important thing for you? What is that thing/person which will make your life worth living regardless of what else happens? Most of us don't ask such "morbid" questions when everything is going well in life. However, we do ask when we suffer because suffering cuts through the mask of superficiality to the heart of reality. As we continue our journey through the glorious book of Philippians tomorrow, and as we continue our meditation on joy, we learn there is only one way to answer that question which will bring satisfying joy in this life and the next. Join us tomorrow as we continue to be surprised by joy.
Philippians 2:1-11
July 12, 2015 • Philippians 2:1–11
Think of the absolutely most joy-filled person you have ever met. You ever wonder what their secret is? I can almost guarantee you, they are probably also the absolutely most humble person you've ever met. Humility and Joy are always together and we struggle to live lives of joy because each one of us struggles with pride. We often mistaken humility for weakness. True humility, however, is one of the greatest virtuous strengths we can cultivate and growth in humility always produces ever-greater experiences of soul-satisfying joy. We all long to live joy-filled lives. But why is joy so elusive? What gets in the way of joy? As we look at Philippians 2:1-11 tomorrow, we'll learn that true humility always produces lasting joy. We experience true humility when we start to take our focus off ourselves and start directing it toward Jesus Christ who radically humbled himself for the joy set before him.