This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, where Dr. Pete Owensin is our senior pastor. Today's sermon is part one in the 2008 Advent series titled, Pursuing Happiness, While God Promises Joy. This message is taken from selected passages in the Old and New Testament, and is titled, Anticipating Joy. Now here's Pete with today's message. The fulfillment of Scripture, what a joy it is. I tell you, before we look into God's Word this morning, let's bow our heads and our hearts and prayer and thank Him for who He is and what He's done. Our great God, how we thank you for the reality that we can come on the first day of this week, on the first day of this Advent season. And remember that you are the king of heaven and earth, that you are in charge. We come here today remembering that you are the God we worship, and we bow down before you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mystery revealed in the Word of God, and in the Word made flesh that there is one God in three persons, and we worship you today. You are holy, and you are righteous, and you are good, and you are kind, and you show your favor to your people. You're a God who makes covenants. You make agreements with us, and you fulfill those agreements. Lord, we are your people who have never been let down by you, and yet we come to you often as pilgrims in this world and we don't understand it. We come to you today and not understanding all of you are and not understanding all of our lives, but Father, we do know that you're righteous and we're not, that you are infinite and we have limited understanding. We come before you today knowing that you are good and we need your goodness and your grace in our lives. Father, we come confessing our sins. We do recognize that in your power and your majesty, we've sinned even before you, knowing your goodness, we've still sinned, and so we come back to you. We run back to you today. We run to the cross and know that Jesus paid for our sins past, present, and future. And yet, Lord, today we want to start out a new week fresh. Forgive us. cleanse us and maybe walk out of here knowing that we're yours, always yours. Lord, we bring to you today at the beginning of this season the reality that you're in charge and that we're not, and we ask that you would give us your wisdom. Lord, we bring before you our weakness and know that in our weakness, we find that we're humbled and we need you more than we even thought. And so, Lord, we need your strength. You know our stories. Everyone in this room, you know our stories. The physical problems that are here, the relational problems, the things that didn't get fixed, that we thought could get fixed. Father, the jobs that are needed. We thank you for the jobs that have been gained. Father, you know, every one of us and you know our stories. And right now, as we look into your word, what we find we need more than anything else is you. And so, in our time of worship now, we ask that you would meet us. We pray for the one who teaches your word that you'd forgive him his sins and use one who is limited and finite to communicate your infinite truth. Today, Lord, what we need is you. And we pray that we would get it. You be the teacher and we'll be the learners as we pray these things in Jesus' name. Well, I love this place as it's decorated for Christmas, but that just reminds us that Thanksgiving came and went quickly, far quicker than I could ever imagine. I hope you had a good time. We did a lot of food, a lot of food, a lot of family, a lot of competition around the table with games after the food, and we had a great time. But here it is. Here it is, the first Sunday in Advent. And as in the past several years, we're doing it again. We're Steve Brown and I are sharing the teaching during Advent, and he's going to be speaking the next couple of weeks. So, if you have friends you want to invite to hear the voice, the voice, do that the next couple of weeks. And today, I'm going to be teaching on joy. That's our theme for this whole Advent season. I believe our theme last year was hope. And this year it's joy, as you can tell. And as we get started, we're focusing on joy today, and that's going to be our theme, the whole Advent series. But as I realize that this is a countdown to Christmas, I realize this is also a countdown of the year. This is a countdown of 2008. It's coming. The end of the year is close. And when I think of the end of the year, I think of New Year's resolutions and all those kinds of things. And some of you don't do those on principle. You say, I wrote the resolutions down in the past that I didn't keep them them. I'm not going to keep them now, so I'm not going to make any. Well, at the end of the year always reminds me of a phrase that I like to say to myself at the end of the years, I think about the coming year. And it's this, the life you live, you leave. The life you live, you leave. Now, that speaks of legacy. And I would like to say that I lived my life absolutely independent of everybody else. And what a great thing it is, wouldn't it be wonderful to be 100% independent of everybody else we Americans try to do that? Nobody else is dependent upon me, and I'm doing my own thing, and that great, nobody does. Even those of you who have a lot of freedom, there is somebody, somewhere, who is affected by your life, the life you live, you leave. We all impact somebody, somewhere, someplace, and so I ask that question to myself, hoping that I'm living a life that I really want to leave to my kids, that I want to leave to my wife, that I want to leave to you, that I want to leave to God. I don't want to, just as it says on the sermon outline, I don't want to just live a life of a pursuit of happiness, pursuit of happiness. Now, I know our constitution allows us the pursuit of happiness, and you notice I spelled that wrong if you see this on the chart in back of me and on your outline, the pursuit of happiness with a Y instead of a... I, that's right, it's by the name of a book I read recently, and maybe you saw the movie, the pursuit of happiness will Smith, was the star of that movie, but the book was written by Chris Gardner, he was the one who was, the story is all about the San Francisco Chronicle, book review said that this story, the pursuit of happiness is the quintessential rags to riches American dream story, amazing and inspirational, and it really is, if you, the movie was good, and so I got the book, and I started reading the book, and I, I couldn't finish it, and I'm neurotic about finishing books, I start, but I got halfway through the book, and I said this book, I mean, it's a pursuit of happiness, that's what he was... But he began to tell his story over and over and over, really about his pursuit of, well, it was a sorted pursuit of hedonism, I mean, I threw the book away, I don't even want to loan it to anybody, and I found that his pursuit of happiness became a pursuit of hedonism, which often happens, by the way, if you and I pursue happiness, often what that is translated in this world is a pursuit of hedonism, what's best for me, I do, and I don't care about anybody else. Now there are some people who don't follow Christ who understand that the operative word in life, for building your life is not pursuing happiness, but pursuing joy. George Bernard Shaw, you ever heard that name? He was a British playwright, and I never read anything he wrote, but his quotes are incredible and powerful, and I love this one because this is what he said. He said, after a life lived of, well, pursuing every hedonistic pleasure you can ever pursue, George Bernard Shaw said this, he said, this is the true joy in life, he used the word joy. This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself is a mighty one, the being thoroughly worn out before you're thrown on the scrap heap, and being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. He makes a difference between joy and happiness, and I believe we need to grasp that difference at the time. Joy and happiness are really two different realities with two different foundations, aren't they? Happiness is based on circumstances. Happiness is based on what you do, what other people do to you, or what happens around you. Happiness is that good feeling that kind of is a result of what other people do. Joy is that well-being deep down that is not circumstantially based. Happiness is dependent on you, how you write your story, how others write the story for you. Joy is not, one of my friends said this, joy could prevail in the midst of unhappiness, but happiness doesn't always come with joy. That's powerful. Eric offer put it this way. He said the search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. That's rich. The more we often pursue writing our story of happiness, the more we find it's so elusive. It's just difficult to find. George Burns, that great theologian put it this way. He said happiness is having a large loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. And as we get to this Christmas time, as we get to this holiday time, oftentimes we're, have you noticed how those people that you're the closest to can affect your happiness like nobody else? I mean you could do something to me and it wouldn't hurt that much. But one of the people closest to me says one little word or looks at me like I'm the Antichrist and my world comes apart. Why? Because so often my happiness is dependent on those people or those circumstances. And Marl Lindbergh gave up. She said don't wish me happiness. I don't expect to be happy. It's God beyond that somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor. I will need them all. I think what she was looking for was joy. I don't know the whole story of her life but I do know this. She had gotten to the end of happiness. She had gotten cynical. She had gotten hurt so much. She said that's it. There isn't going to be any happiness in this world. It isn't going to come. I think the big question that separates the pursuit of happiness with the pursuit of joy is the question who's writing the story. And I believe the difference that you and I can have in our life is how we answer that question. Who is writing the story of life? Who is writing the story of your life? Are you writing it? Are you trying to write it or are other people writing the story of your life? Or circumstances writing the story of your life? Or is God writing the story of your life? How you answer that question? Who's writing my life story? Well determine whether you're pursuing happiness or joy. And whether your happiness is based on circumstances or your joy are based on God. Some of you are one or no. We're ever going to get to the Bible. Here it is. Matthew 1, 18 through 25, there are some scriptures that link this idea in the Christian and the Christmas narrative that links this idea of the birth of Christ with this subject of joy and happiness. And I love it. Here we go. This is God's Word. Matthew 1, 18 through 25. This is very familiar to you. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph before they came together. She was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph or husband was a righteous man, did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. Now I've not heard many of many divorces that are quiet. They're not, they're painful, they're difficult. Back then Joseph could have done this but he didn't. After he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. He said Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place. Here's the word. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, the prophet Isaiah. The Virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and he took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son and he gave him the name Jesus. He gave him the name Jesus because the angel of the Lord said that was to be his name and when the angel of God speaks to you. You don't have any options, you just do what you're supposed to do and he did. God in the flesh has come. Being's source began to be, I love that. If you underline in your Bible and it's okay to do that by the way, take an underlying the word fulfill. Wrapped and woven all through the Christian narrative, the Christmas narrative is the word fulfill. And what we're reminded of is that this birth of Jesus, all of this that we're celebrating is the fulfillment of that which God had prepared from before the foundation of the world. This idea is all throughout the Christmas narrative. Remember when the magi or the magi appeared to Jesus and his family, remember that? They came with the gifts, gold, frankincense and murder. When Jesus was a real little baby because this took some time to get there but that scripture says that when they came it was a fulfillment. It was written by the prophet Micah. Micah said these guys from the east are going to come. Why? Because God is writing this story, the flight of Joseph and Mary to Egypt. Remember when they took Jesus down to Egypt? It says this, Matthew 2.15 is where we see the word fulfill again. This prophecy was from Hosea. Out of Egypt I will call my son and then when Herod slaughtered the babies trying to kill Jesus says in Matthew 2.17. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was there's the word fulfilled. I love it. Underline that. Underline and remember at this time of the year this whole idea that what we're celebrating is the fulfillment of prophecy. Who's writing this story? God's writing this story. And when you pop over to Luke's narrative is good. Remember Zechariah? Remember Zechariah is working in the temple. He's a priest and he's offering the sacrifice in the temple and an angel appears to him. And he says to Zechariah you're an old guy and your wife is two and you're going to have a child. And Zechariah says something like oh you're kidding. Could you imagine that? He comes home. What great news. He had to write her because he didn't believe. He said what do you mean? I'm going to have a child. Well God's going to make your wife Elizabeth get pregnant. She's going to have a child. This child be the forerunner of the Messiah's name would be John. He says I don't believe you. Show me. And God takes his ability to speak away. You imagine going home to your wife and writing that out. Hey honey I can't talk but let me tell you something. You're going to have your first child. I know you're about 60. It's going to be cool. That it would be fulfilled. That it would be fulfilled. And then when Elizabeth, this pregnant older lady, meeting Mary, this pregnant teenager, when Elizabeth sees Mary she says, God's Word has been fulfilled in you. Fulfillment. Fulfillment. Who is writing the story of your life? And as we get to Christmas and as we celebrate, what are we celebrating? We're celebrating the reality. We don't ever forget this guys, that the reality that it Christmas, we must not forget that God has sent the Messiah who would grow up. It is not about a baby. It's about a baby who became a man who went to the cross, who died on the cross for our sins, to redeem us from our sins. The fulfillment of all of prophetic scriptures are leading toward a Messiah. And it's so easy for those who are following Jesus today to forget what Christmas is about and forget that the primary work of the Messiah is that he would pay for our sins and redeem us. Don't forget that. Hey, are you ready for a survey of the Book of Romans? We're going to do that right now. Are you ready? Don't look so excited. We're going to, we're a Bible teaching church. We're going to do a survey of the whole Book of Romans right now. Really? Are you ready? I'm going to go fast. Here it is. I'm going to start in chapter three. Chapter three. Chapter three in the Book of Romans, says there is no one who is right, just not one. You're kidding. Not one person on the face of the earth, Romans four. How do you remedy that situation before a holy God, Romans four, we can be justified by faith in Christ. You see, it's not just that a baby came and how cool that is. It's that he grew up and he went to the cross and he paid for our sins that we could be declared not guilty for our sins, justified through faith in him. Romans five. When we're justified by faith, we have, what's the operative word, peace with God? God's no longer angry. He's not angry at us anymore. We have peace with him. Romans six. Because of what Jesus has done on the cross, he has unhinged us from those sins and sinful traits and things that we've done in our own lives that are messing up our lives. In other words, it says in Romans six that we can be freed from those things that tend to put us in bondage. Is that cooler what? Romans seven. Am I going fast enough for you? Romans seven. He says that even though we're freed from those things, sometimes we still go back and Paul talks about his internal struggle. He says, the things that I want to do for God, I don't always do and the things that I don't want to do, I sometimes do. Do you ever feel that way? That's my experience every week. I say something and I go, wait, pull those words back, I don't mean that. I didn't want to say that. That's not what I said. That's what you said and that's what you meant. I know, but I didn't want to. Romans eight, though, says and reminds us that because of the work of Christ, there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ. That's what Jesus came to do. He fulfilled all of those prophecies so that in those fulfillments, we could rid of any condemnation against us. This past week I was, Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, I was up in Tennessee with a friend of mine, and we were driving through town, a little town in Tennessee. It was cold, it was dark, and we were driving through, we got pulled over by a cop. I'm not going to tell you it was, Bill won't mind. It was so cool because I wasn't driving. I mean, I want you to know it was wonderful. It wasn't my license, I had to hand over to the cop. It wasn't me who was going to get hauled off to prison. It's going to be Bill. It was so cool. You know, I was guiltless in the matter. He got off. But you know, there's something so wonderful when there's no guilt. There's something so relaxing when you don't feel you're responsible. Even if you did it, it's gone. In Christ, the condemnation is gone. And yet a lot of times we run around as Christians still feeling condemned. We're letting the evil one condemn us. We're condemning ourselves. We're letting other people condemn us. And so our Christian experience is one more of condemnation than of joy and of forgiveness. The biggest fulfillment is when this child came, he took away the condemnation for a celebrate that. Enjoy that. Enjoy the freedom of being forgiven. And being alive again. Even if you messed up, he's paid for that. Even if you sinned, he's forgiven you of that. But now having said that, I want you to know that if he fulfilled that promise, those promises of the Old Testament, he will fulfill the other issues, the other promises to help us out in this life. What about what you're going through? What are you going through? I think the biggest issues that I'm praying for, for some of my flock, are there health issues? Are there relational issues? And they're job issues. I mean, there are many others, but some of you are going through incredible things. You lost a job you had for years and years and years. You don't know what. You stepped out in faith to follow Jesus and you can't understand why things are going on the way they're going on right now. Relationships have fallen apart. And your devastated is God going to take care of you? You're experiencing health issues. Let me ask you this. Who's writing the story? Who's writing your story? Ultimately or you, your friends? Other people? God ultimately is writing the story. He's in charge. And if he'd fulfilled the promise to send the Messiah, he will fulfill the promises that take care of you. Joy comes. You see, joy comes when we understand that he's going to take care of us. And I love this. I love this. The anticipation motivator is absolutely powerful. The fulfillment factor is that he has fulfilled the promises in the past. He'll take care of you. The anticipation motivator is that if he took care of Jesus and he brought Jesus to take care of our sins, he will take care of you. Anticipate that. Christmas is all about anticipation, isn't it? Kids that wake up. The kids that can't sleep on Christmas Eve. Because they're what? They're anticipating the fulfillment of all those gifts. Well, in the Old Testament, you should read the prophets. I know. I know there's a lot of them, and they're long. But when you read the prophets, you are you are inundated with the spirit of anticipation. Let me give you about 45 verses that come from the Old Testament. No, I promise. I won't give you that many, but I cut them down some. These are so good. Jeremiah 31 verse 15. This is what the Lord said. The voice is heard in Rama morning in great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because her children are no more. That's what happened in here than the slaughter of the babies. But this is what the Lord says. See, in verse 15, is the bad stuff that happens on planet Earth to you, to me. But then it says in verse 16, this is what the Lord says. Because he's in charge and writing the story. That's what happened. That's what the Lord says. Restrain your voice from weeping in your eyes from tears for your work will be rewarded declared as the Lord. Listen, if you're going through tough stuff, I'm not saying don't pray. I'm not saying don't weep, don't cry, I cry, I cry. God gave guys tear ducts too. But the prophet says, restrain your voice from weeping in your eyes from tears knowing that your work will be rewarded. I care of you. So there is hope for your future to glares the Lord. Your children will return to their own lands. He says the prophet, through the prophet. He says, there's hope for your future. Do you feel like there's no hope for you right now? It may not be on planet Earth, but it might be in heaven. There's hope for you. Whatever you're going to be. Jeremiah 31, 20. It's not Ephraim, my dear son, the child, and whom I delight. Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. I discipline my own children, but I still remember my own children. Listen to this. Therefore, God says, my heart yearns for him. I have great compassion for him, for Israel, my people. Your God yearns for you. In a way that parents can only understand as we want the best for our kids, God wants the best for you. He yearns to make your life good. Jeremiah 31, 23. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says, when I bring them back from captivity, I love that. Not if, when. You feel trapped. You feel in captivity. He says, when I bring you back from captivity, I'm going to take care of you. He said, I will, verse 25, refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. Verse 27, this is one of my favorite prophetic lines. The days are coming. The days are coming. Look ahead, anticipate. Because you're my children. The days are, because Jeremiah 31, 31, the time is coming to Claire's the Lord. When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, it won't be like the covenant I used to make. I let them out of Egypt. I'll be a husband to them. This is the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel. I will put my law on their hearts. The days are coming. The days are coming. Anticipation. How do we apply this whole idea of fulfillment? Joy and happiness. Here's what I would say. If you are building a life pursuing happiness, then there's a very good chance that you're going to be unhappy or you are unhappy right now. But if you are pursuing God who is pursuing you, He will give you joy because joy is that sense in your heart that I'm in His hands. That Jesus has come. That God is on the throne. That's going to be all right. Let me give you some applications real quick here. One is if stuff is good for you right now, good. Don't. Some of you guys, you can't even talk about it. How's life going? Paid it's going real good. And you feel guilty. That's cool. Enjoy it. Celebrate it. If life is going really good, celebrate it right now but worship. Worship. Christmas is a time to worship the God who is and who has come and who has fulfilled worship. And anticipate that more good is going to come because God is good. Be generous to whom much is given, much is required. Jesus said in Luke chapter 12, this is the time. If things are going great for you, great. Enjoy it. If this is a difficult time for you, then this is a time to worship. It's a time to pursue God. Perhaps you've been pursuing happiness. And you can't control the circumstances. Neither can I. Worship. Focus on the God who fulfills his promises. On the God who is gracious. Kind. Worship. And let your life be absorbed in anticipating what he is going to do. Bob Beel, a management consultant sent an email out, quick wisdom. He said, if you're feeling trapped at work or in life there are three specific steps you can take. Keep a growing list of the lessons you're learning during your trapped phase of life. Set aside one hour a day, take small steps out of your trap. Talk to your wisest and most trusted friend and get their perspective on the situation. You know what I do? I carry a three by five card with me and I write on it every day. Almost every day. The positives for that day. I'm a positive person. But I find that one little negative sometimes overwhelms five or six positives. And I'm walking around like life's awful. That God's not on the throne in heaven. He clearly is. That hasn't changed. I pursue him. Focus on him. Philippians says, I know what Paul said. I know what it is to be in need. I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned a secret of being content in any and every situation. Whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4.19. And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory and Christ. If you don't know Christ, somehow you got drug here by a friend and you're here today. You may never come back. But we're glad you're here. We like people who are seeking the truth to come here too. But if you have gotten to the end of writing your own story and saying, I can't make my own happiness, I obviously can't. And you're ready to move away from that. You can repent. You know the word repent is something all Christians do. It means to turn away from trying to control everything. Repending of your lifestyle, turning to Jesus. I do it all the time. Pastors are supposed to be the most repentant people in the church. I have more to repent of than you. But you can turn to the one who's writing the story. And you can relax. For the first time, you can relax. The Scottish missionaries used to say that Christianity is not a bunch of responsibilities. Christianity is a pack of blessings for those who belong to the living God. Her name was Adrian and I've never met her. And her story's coming out in Bill's book. It'll be released soon. And you'll get to read about it there. Never been talked about before Adrian was one of those very, very, very bright people. Made it through school. Her professors loved her. She was one of those girls that just had it all together. She passed the classes. Became a pharmacist. And got a position. And one of those stores that had the drive-through deal. You know, you come by and you get your prescription. They never worked for me. They always seem to take longer. I like to go in there and say, I need this prescription now or I'm going to die right now. I prefer that. But it was one of those drive-through things. And somehow, prescriptions got switched. And one of the people took the prescriptions and sued her. It turned out not to be a bad deal anyway. The prescription didn't hurt her. But the case went on and she was in court. I will count it a blessing if I never have to go through court. If you're going to sue me, just tell me how much money you want and I'll pay you. Well, that's kind of scary. But I don't want to go to court. There she was and she went through the whole thing. Her confidence being eroded by the process. I'm not telling this well, but can you imagine the suffering she went through, a conscientious person who wanted to do right to help people? And now she was being charged with negligence. And her life was coming apart of the seams to trial, just eight or lunch. She somewhere along the way, something inside of her died. And she kind of gave up and she eventually got out of the pharmacy work, of course. She couldn't go back to it. And then she started doing some research. And in the process of research, she realized that vitamins were being sold without any anti-oxidants in them. Everybody has heard of anti-oxidants now. I don't know what they are. I know they keep cancer away or something. I mean, if there were anoxidants in Coca-Cola, I'd drink more of that. I did just there everywhere. And she figured out they needed to be in vitamins and they needed to be everywhere else. She became a success at a millionaire. She's doing really good now financially. But sometime we're along the line, she went back and read the court transcripts that she'd never been able to bring herself to read or really stay focused. It was too painful. And she figured it out. Somewhere along, she figured it out. She didn't make the mistake. It was the assistant who switched the prescriptions, not her. She never did it. Could you imagine what it would have been like had she known who was really writing the story? I don't believe she knew Christ. What would it have been like if she understood that even though the circumstances were beyond her comprehension, she knew he was writing this story ultimately brings fulfillment and blessing to his people? What if she knew that? The lost years wouldn't have been lost. Who's writing your story? God's writing your story. And I don't know why. What you experience, you're experiencing. But I know who's writing the story. And Jesus has come. And that brings joy. So just keep pursuing him. Not happiness. Joy. You take it to heart. If you've been pursuing happiness but want to pursue God, you can do that right now. Just say something like this to the God of the universe in your heart. God, I'm tired of trying to be in control. I don't write the story you do. I can't make things turn out good you can. And today I turn to the Messiah, Jesus. I put my faith in him. Receive me as your child. I repent from writing my own story. You be the author from here on out. But by the way, if you're his and you've been pursuing happiness too, you could say something like this. My God, I've taken over your role. You keep writing it. You keep writing my life and help me to trust and anticipate in your goodness. Give me joy. Father, thank you for Jesus. For your never ending commitment to care for your children. And now we walk with you into another week. Give us joy as we pray in His holy name.