Preaching on this topic today, embrace today's joys. Embrace today's joy. In other words, loving your present time. We tend to live in memories of the past or anticipation of the future and we forget to live the right now time. And that's the only time we really have. The past is gone and the future is not here yet. And so right now is all we have. And that's the part we miss out on so often. We preached sermons recently on heaven. And considering that we have such a bright prospect in our future as Christians, it is a joy to think about, isn't it? And we are told that we're to watch for his coming to rest in that blessed hope. And so we're not saying never think about the future. We're saying we can't live in it. We'll live in the future when we get to the future, but what we have right now is right now. So preaching on heaven, future things, prophecy, it's a good thing, but we're not living there. And if we dwell on either our past successes or past failures, that can be detrimental to our living in the present as well. because we're anchored, chained to something in the past that we can't shake loose. I preached recently on the pitfall of being reactive to our emotions, and so many people in America today are reactionary. Their emotions happen, and then they act according to the emotions that happen. But really, we ought to be in charge of our emotions so that our emotions are the result of how we acted. Amen? We should have our ice cream breakfast instead of an ice cream supper tonight. I think the ice cream would wake us up, don't you? What if we just call time out? Listen, what if we call time out and everybody, we'll just run around the room three laps. Would that wake us all up? I know you're contemplative. You're thinking about spiritual things. And so if emotions, if emotions are kept under our control rather than being the cause of what we do. Emotions are good things. The emotion of love, the emotion of pleasure. I had last night for supper, I had pinto beans and cornbread, fried potatoes, fried okra, a big slice of a tomato steak, a ripe garden tomato steak and iced tea. Did I say cornbread? Now let me tell you something, there are emotions that go with that. The emotion of pleasure is very real. I told my wife, I would eat another big plate just like that if I wasn't so full. Oh, pleasure, joy, emotions are good things when they're the result of our being in control. I didn't eat that second plate, I stayed in control. Let's read our text and we'll talk about it this morning. Are you with me? In Psalm 118, verse number 24. Psalm 118, verse 24. I think I can put my finger on something this morning in this message that will help us to live a life that is more pleasing, more pleasant, more cheerful, more fulfilling, satisfying, than perhaps we've enjoyed in the past as we look into God's precious word. Psalm 118, verse number 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Let me read it again. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Nebuchadnezzar had captured The remnant of Israel carried them away captive up into Babylon, kept them for 70 years, and finally, after leadership has changed in Babylon, a new ruler releases them. The Jews are allowed to go back to their homeland. They're marching down, in this Psalm, Psalm 118, they're marching down an old, dusty, rocky road, but they're headed for home, and they're on their way. They've been rescued by being freed, and now they're going back to their homeland And even though they're out there probably in a hot sun, probably dust all over their feet, stubbed their toes maybe a few times on the rocks. and there's a journey home. But on this journey, they are singing and praising the Lord. We could read the whole psalm, but I want us to focus on this one verse that says it very well. This was a day of great joy. They are resting in the fact that God has taken care of them for that 70 years. He's released them, and they're going home, and they're happy about it. And they didn't know what the future would hold road back home, they didn't know what was gonna happen, but they knew who held the future. Now friend, that's where our joy comes from. I'm just gonna tell you the bottom line of the sermon is when you know who holds the future, you know who holds your hand, you can rejoice in this day and be glad in it no matter what else is going on around you. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you would bless us the joys of the present time that can be ours. And Lord, how many times we forsake the present joy and blessedness by reveling in the past or worrying about the past or obsessing about the future. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to learn to enjoy the moment in which we live. Lord, you gave us this moment. It's the only one we have. I pray that you'd bless us. May the Holy Spirit make these verses, these thoughts from the Bible sweet to our hearts this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. This is the day which the Lord hath made. This day. What's the date today? August the sixth? I mean, August the 6th when we're supposed to rejoice, right? I mean, we're supposed to be rejoicing at 1130. Are we doing it? I mean, you might be thinking, man, I can't wait till this sermon's over so I can get to my cornbread and beans and fried potatoes. That's good to think about, but to worship the Lord, to praise the Lord, it takes what we're doing right now. Our whole thrust of this message today is to learn to live in the present. I've got some apple trees. I've got two apple trees in my orchard. I've got some pear trees and some peach trees and some wild cherry trees. I've got some possum grapevines, too. And my apple trees, I've got a golden delicious and a red delicious. The golden delicious very seldom has very many apples. It had a few more this year. And the red delicious was absolutely covered with apples. I'm seeing those apples early in the spring. I went through and thinned them out so they could get nourishment to the best of the crop and thinned them out and pruned it real good and made everything conducive, put a little fertilizer down under the tree so it'd have a good crop of apples. That thing is, I mean, it's covered with apples. I'm keeping an eye on it. Every time I mow the yard, I'll go down and mow in the orchard and go under that apple tree and I'm looking up and see all those apples. and they're going to be ripe one of these days. Now the squirrels got them last year and so I'm keeping an eye on them. This year I'm going to watch those apples and I'm going to enjoy some of those apples. And so I was under the tree with my mower a couple of weeks ago and those apples had gotten pretty good size. Now apples don't grow real great in Arkansas like they do in Washington or Michigan. But they were pretty good for Arkansas apples, and I reached up and plucked one of them off. I thought, I'm gonna try and see if they're too sour to eat yet. And it was a little bit hard, but the thing had developed some sugars in it, and it was sweet enough that I actually enjoyed that apple. And it didn't have a worm in it either, or at least not one that I saw. And you know what's worse than getting a worm in your apple? It's when you find half a worm in your apple. And so I eat that apple, and I think, these things are nearly sweet enough to go ahead and harvest, but they could still grow a little more. And so I'm gonna leave them, and I'm gonna come back. I'll give them another week at least, because I don't want to wait long enough for the squirrels to get them again this year. So I waited another week, and I was down there mowing yesterday. Not one apple. Not a single apple was left. The squirrels got every stinking apple on that tree. Every one of them. They're gone. Not one. You know what I did? I was living in expectation of what the apples would be next week. Now, I'm ashamed to tell you, but I'm very bitter at those squirrels. I intend to have squirrel and dumplings this fall. Now, it's a funny story, but it is instructive about the way we live oftentimes, because we're thinking, there's something I'm gonna enjoy in the future, but I'm too busy doing what I'm doing right now to enjoy anything. I gotta stay busy, I gotta get this done, I've gotta think about this, I've gotta do that. And next week, next year, a few years from now, there's some things I'm gonna enjoy. and we put it off. And the squirrels will steal your joys. And that's the way we tend to live way too often. An average of 13% of Americans take antidepressants, prescription drugs, because they're just depressed and unhappy. Anxiety, more prescriptions are prescribed for that because people are anxious and just, you know, can't enjoy the moment because they're worried about the payment that's coming up next week or they're worried about the family that's not doing well or worried about the health and they live in constant anxiety. 13% of Americans take antidepressants. 17% of women do. 27% of Americans have an anxiety disorder. 27%, that's more than a fourth. Do you realize if we kind of divided up the auditorium, that means everybody on this side of the auditorium is taking antidepressants or anti-anxiety. See how you people are? No, I don't think they're taking anything. But I'm saying statistically, 27% of people are, why are they taking, these prescriptions because they're not happy in the moment and because they're anxious about something in the future or they're worried about something in the past and so they're trying to take something to ease them and give them a little relief. Tranquilizer is a whole other story. I didn't gather statistics on that one, but I did look up the suicide rate. You know, suicides have increased by 37% from the year 2000 until right now, 37% increase. Why? People can't bear it and they're looking for some relief. Now that's not the answer. Suicide is never the answer, but I'm just quoting that to say this, that people are rather unhappy and they're not living Well, can I quote Joel Osteen? They're not living their best life now. Well, our best life won't be now. The best life is gonna be in heaven. But we could have a better life than perhaps what we have because we don't live in the moment. Because of something that's got us changed to the past or something that's too alluring in the future to allow us to enjoy the moment where we live. Talking about a timeline. Past, present, and future. The only point on that timeline that we really possess is when? Right now. This moment. What's on your mind? Are you thinking about the Lord? Are you thinking about His Word? Are you thinking about maybe the promises that He gives that we can rejoice in? Or are you worried about something? Are you grieving about something? Are you expecting something better to happen in the future? It just shows us, these statistics show us that people are not expressing and experiencing contentedness, cheerfulness, and joy right now. It seems to be elusive. It's just out of reach a little ways. Now there may be several factors that contribute to the reason why so many people are not enjoying the moment. But I want to focus in on three things about how this timeline affects our joy. True, there's things like wars and there's things like economic distress in the nation, political events and things like that. They all contribute. We don't have much control over them. But let's talk about what we can control. Living too closely connected with the past or vicariously living in the future robs us, robs us of the joy that we can have right now. I'm talking primarily to Christians, but it certainly applies to the lost in a lot of instances. I want you to consider with me, number one, the possibilities in assigning a priority to the timeline. What's most important? Is it most important that I think about what happened in the past? Is it most important about thinking and living according to what I'm expecting in the future? Or is it more important to live alert in the time that exists right now? Let's talk about the past. I think According to the scriptures, I think the way we live habitually, some people are just habitually living in the past. They don't consciously do it, it's a habit. And the past is not altogether bad. I can remember some things about the past that's very pleasant. I remember going into the old barber shop where I could get a quarter haircut when I was 11 years old, and that old barber, he was elderly and shaky, but he always gave me a good haircut if he didn't get to laughing too hard about something nobody else knew what he was laughing about, and he'd give me a shave around the neck with a straight razor, and then he would take some of this old Gerris green hair tonic, and it's still available. I bought some of it, just to see what it smelled like. See if it smelled like it did when I was a kid. And it mostly was alcohol, water, and a little bit of fragrance. But it was mostly a wetting agent. Didn't even have oil in it, I don't think. And he'd sprinkle it in his hand. He'd rub it all over my hair to make it wet so he'd comb it. Boy, he'd slick my hair back. This is before we had all those goofy hairdos that men wear now. If you ever see me wearing a man bun, shoot me, would you? Put me out of my misery. I think back about things like that little barbershop and the fragrance in that little barbershop and getting a haircut for a quarter. I think about those things, and it's a pleasant memory, but I can't live back there. I don't need to go find me a barber shop somewhere that looks just like that one and go in there and say, hey, I want to rent this place. I can't live there. It's okay to think about things. I love driving my old 65 T-Bird. There's a little bit of nostalgia hooked to those old cars like that, and I enjoy driving it to church on Sunday morning. And this morning I'm driving along, I've got the window down, I'm letting the breeze kind of blow in the car and listening to the mellow rumble of the twin pipes on that 390 engine. I feel the acceleration under my foot. and I enjoy those things. It takes me back once in a while, and it's okay to go back once in a while if you've got a pleasant thought from the past, but we can't avoid living in the future because of those things. We're not chained to it. Paul speaks about refusing to glory in his accomplishments of the past or even his persecutions of the church in the past. He says in Philippians 3.13, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press, that's present tense, I press towards the mark. He's talking about the present time, what I'm doing right now, forgetting those things which are before, and I'm concentrating on doing what I'm supposed to be doing right now, and enjoying my life right now. He said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Joseph, you remember the story about Joseph when he was betrayed in the book of Genesis? His brother sold him into Egypt. Remember all of that? I mean, his own brother sold him. Man, they hated him to start with, and that's why they sold him into slavery in Egypt to the Midianites who took him down there. And after he's made prime minister of the country, then he sins for his father and his brethren to live in Egypt, and then finally old Jacob dies, and those brothers that had persecuted Joseph, they get worried and anxious, and they say, boy, now that dad's dead, no telling what old Joseph's gonna do to us, because we treated him really badly. So you know what Joseph did? He had them all executed. No, he didn't. He said, you meant it to harm me. but God meant it for good. And he forgave them. He said, God put me here to nourish you. So he forgave, and not only did he forgive and forget, he said, I'm going to take care of you. He was refusing to live in the past. Joseph had one of the best attitudes of anybody in the Bible. I mean, he just, he said, yeah, I've been mistreated, but so what? He said, God was using that. God made those things to work together, and I've saved a whole country, all of my brethren, and a nation for God. God used me as a tool in that. And he did not let himself get chained to the bitterness, are you listening? To the bitterness of the past. He said, I'm moving on. Luke 9, 62, Jesus said this, It says in verse number 62 of Luke 9, and Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Now that doesn't mean that if you ever turn back, you're on no account, you ain't fit for nothing. That's not what he's saying. He says you're not fit. In other words, like a square peg in a round hole, you don't fit in the kingdom of God properly. I lost a deck pin out of my lawnmower this past week. You're right, Dustin. I mowed over the churchyard. We had some weeds that were growing up real fast, and before they came back this coming week to mow again, I thought, I'll just go chop all those weeds down, get everything cut down to level so it'll look nice. It won't be so hard for them to mow the next time. And I lost the deck pin. out of my lawnmower, and one side of the deck dropped down, and it was kind of scalping one side. The deck wasn't fit to the mower properly, and it wasn't level, and it wasn't cutting good. I mean, it cut everything down. I mean, it cut down to the roots in places, but it wasn't fit. That doesn't mean I threw the mower away. but I got me some vice grips, put that pin back in there and took some vice grips and latched it in place so it couldn't move. And now it's fit, it's fitting, it's fitted. And so for living in the kingdom of God, if we're not fitted properly, I mean, it's an awkward situation, like a square peg in a round hole. And so that's what Jesus said. He said, once you put your hand to the plow and you start looking back, you're messing up. Keep moving forward. Do what you're supposed to do right now. Rejoice in the blessings of today. The Beatitudes express how blessed a person is in the kingdom when they're fitted to that kingdom. Warren Wearsby said, do not say, why were the former days better than these? You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you. We must learn from the past, but not live in the past. I think that's a good quote. Somebody says, well, you don't know what happened to me in the past, preacher. Somebody just really mistreated me. Well, are you going to continue to live back there and let it rob you of today? I lost a loved one, either through death, or divorce, or relationship fell apart, and it just ruined my life. I can't ever have joy again. You wanna live that way? When Jesus said, I came to give you life, more abundantly, and you're gonna say, no, I choose to go back here and live in the sorrow and the bitterness of the past. that robs you of your present joy. God wants you to have some joy right now. God didn't mean for you to be miserable. He didn't say your circumstances would always be good, but it is how you can have joy. I know a woman who says she was mistreated in a certain church back years ago, decades ago. And I tried to get her to come to church for years and years, and she said, You just don't know what happened to me. I went to this church, and they did me this way. I said, well, I went to a grocery store one time, and they didn't do me right either, but I didn't quit buying groceries. I just found another grocery store. You know, my car broke down once, and I got rid of the thing, got me another car. I'm not going to walk from now on just because that car didn't do me right. And just because you have a bad experience, listen, just because you have a bad experience in a church somewhere doesn't mean that there's not one where you can keep serving God and keep enjoying life at the present. Some people have been abused as a child. And as terrible and awful as that is, We can't allow what happened in the past to keep us bitter and angry and hurting and full of pain in the present. God forgave you when you got saved and you don't have to live in bitterness or dread or sorrow because of something you did in the past. I've done things in the past that were awful. But God forgave me. When I got saved, He said, I'm washing you clean. And today I can enjoy the present and not be chained to what I did. If I go back and dwell on that a little bit, I can say, man, I can't believe I did that. But He forgave me for it and I don't need to go back there and hang on to that and be chained to that and keep dragging it up. When He saves you, He puts your sins as far behind you as the East is from the West. And so, if He forgets, He forgives, why do I need to beat myself over the head when He doesn't? Am I more powerful than God? Am I more wise than God? No, He says, I've released you from that. Now go thy way and sin no more. We don't have to live in bitterness because of the past. Here's what Jesus said in John 10, 10. He said, The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. The thief that comes to kill and destroy and steal That's the dirty devil. He'll come and he'll remind you, remember what you did back there? Remember what they did to you? Remember what happened? Remember that pain you had? And the devil will try to keep you living back here when God says, I've come that you might have life more abundantly right now. And so we don't have to live back there. One of the possibilities to consider in assigning the priority of our attention On that timeline, past, present, and future, one consideration is the past that can rob us of present joy, and another is the future. What we like to think of the future is something that can be joyful and helpful, but some people are afraid of the future. Some people say, well, I wouldn't have children for nothing. they'll be miserable knowing how our country's going. Well, nothing's ever been perfect, and if our world ever needed some people that would live for God and be a little bit of salt on this earth, it's the Christian. And so I don't think we need to quit having kids, and we don't need to worry so much about the future. Some people are always looking to the future, thinking, I'm gonna eat those apples next week, but next week doesn't come. The apples are gone. Some people live life never learning to sit down under a shade tree in the summertime, just relax those shoulders, take a deep breath, listen to the birds sing and drink a glass of iced tea. We're so busy we don't take time to live life. Now I'm not saying quit your job and don't go to work. I'm not saying go deeply in debt and buy that Lamborghini you wanted. I'm not saying any of that. I'm just saying that we've got to stop and smell the roses along the way. Went to get in my car this morning and I noticed the rose bush out by the end of our carport that's got, it's just covered in roses in the spring of the year. and for the last month or two it hadn't had any roses at all on it. I pruned them. I guess I didn't do it right. I killed them all. There were no roses on it for two months. This morning as I got in my car and sat down and started the car up and I looked and I saw one little rose blossom on that bush. You know what I did? I was thinking about exactly what I'm preaching today and I made myself get out of the car Go over to that rose bush and smell that one little lonesome rose. Roses smell good to me. I like them. Now the ones you buy at the florist don't have a good fragrance most of the time to me, but those wild ones or the ones that grow in your yard, if they're the right variety, oh, they're so fragrant. I just stopped and smelled that rose for a little while. I think life has to be that way for us. Now I didn't miss church to smell the rose. I wasn't mad at the rose bush because it hadn't had any blossoms in the last two months. I just stopped and enjoyed the interaction with the rose for that moment. I had to get on to church because that's where I'm supposed to be. But I took time to smell the rose. You know what you need to do? Don't get so busy in life Don't get so wrapped up in your relationships and the failures of them or even the joys of them that you can't take time to stop and smell the roses along the way. Some people only dream of future contentment. Well, if I get that great job, then I'll be happy. If I can just find a church that's not such a dead one like this one is, I'll be happy then when I find that church. If I can just get away from this nagging wife and find me one that is lovely and sweet and beautiful, that never nags and makes me happy all the time, you'll die first. Some people are just dreaming about the future, saying, well, boy, I'll get a big savings account someday, and then I'll have plenty of money, and then I can do this, and then I can do that. And they're just, you know, teenagers say, boy, well, a child, a small child says, I'll be happy when I get to be a teenager. Boy, I will have arrived. I'll be a teenager. Then a teenager says, I can't wait until I graduate. Then I'll be happy. And then after graduation, that person says, oh, when Prince Charming comes along, then I'll be happy. And that person then says, boy, if we ever get these kids raised, we'll have a good time. Then we won't have to work our fingers to the bone and be up all night with sick kids and stuff like that. Then I'll be happy. And then the kids are all gone, gone home. He said, boy, it won't be long now. We'll get to retire. Then we'll be happy. Then we can enjoy life. Then retirement comes and you find out that there wasn't really any gold at the end of that rainbow. And then you set around and you're too much engrossed in what used to be to enjoy that glass of tea under the shade tree. So instead of sitting under the shade tree enjoying a glass of tea when you finally retire, all you do is stand out there by the fence and bark at your neighbors because they're enjoying life. So we never get around. Many people don't. I hope you do. Many people never get around to enjoying life. God gave them such an abundant life and pretty soon it's gone and it's all behind them and they say, boy, I missed something. Yeah, that's why we need to enjoy life today. When we live exclusively for the future, without stopping to smell those roses once in a while, we're robbing ourselves of life. Matthew 6, 25, Jesus said, now listen, he's talking about the future, borrowing from the future. Here's what he says. Matthew 6, 25. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, neither gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? He said, you're anxious about the future. I mean, you can grit your teeth and say, I need to grow another inch or two. That's kind of reading between the lines there. He said, adding a cubit to your stature. You can grit your teeth and say, I'm going to grow some more. But just because you want to doesn't mean you're going to. And you can say, Well, I'm going to be happy when I buy those new clothes, when I get that latest hairstyle, when I get made up and looking nice and feeling good, then I'll be happy. I'll agree that when you first get up in the morning and look in the mirror, it might not be the happiest part of your day, but you can be happy regardless of the wrinkles. You can be happy and joyful regardless of the whiskers. You can be happy and joyful even in the presence of that pain. But we worry. Jesus is addressing the issue of worrying and being anxious about the future. Worry is kind of like a rocking chair. There's a lot of motion and a lot of activity but you're not getting anywhere. We can make reasonable preparation for the future, but we cannot manipulate the future. In the book of James, he says, some people are saying, boy, tomorrow we're gonna go and we're gonna buy and we're gonna get gain and we're gonna sell and our business is gonna flourish and boy, tomorrow we're gonna do everything and have a wonderful day tomorrow. But the book of James also says, your life is but a vapor. appear for a little time and vanisheth away. We better not wait for tomorrow to come along to enjoy stuff. We better enjoy today. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 16, 9, a man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. You know, we can make reasonable plans about things. I mean, it's fine to have a savings account. I think it's great to pay off a vehicle and be out of debt. I think it's great to have a job that allows you to move up. I think all those things are good, planning for the future, retirement and things. That's okay. But we can't live there. It ought to be something that we do in planning, but our joy comes from the present. The present, that's the only place on the timeline we live. Corrie Ten Boom said, never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. She had it nailed down. We wish we could see into the future. Do you ever think about seeing into the future? Crystal ball. The fortune teller was gazing into the crystal ball. She was talking to a frog. The frog was having her tell his future. The crystal ball fortune teller said, you're going to meet a beautiful young woman. She said this to the frog. You're going to meet a beautiful young woman. From that moment she sets eyes on you, she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you. You'll fascinate her. The frog said, is this going to happen at a singles club? She said, no, in biology class, where you get dissected. We wish we could see in the future, but it wouldn't always be a good thing for us to see into the future. We would worry more than ever before, I suspect. So since we talked about not living chained to the past, and not being obsessed with gonna have happiness someday. Let's talk just a little bit about the present time, the present. Either it exists or we escape it. The old saying, use it or lose it. It is elusive and it tends to vanish away so quickly. But we can't just force ourselves to have joy in the moment, can we? I mean, have you ever laid awake at night, and you want to go to sleep, but you just can't go to sleep? You ever done that, and you toss and you turn, you roll to one side, like a door turns upon its hinges, you're going back and forth, and you just can't, and you say, I'm gonna make myself go to sleep. Does that ever work? You can't make yourself, in fact, you're probably more wide awake than ever before when you start worrying about not being asleep. And it's kind of that way with joy. You can't just force yourself to have joy at the moment. It just doesn't work. That might sound like bad news, but there's actually good news. Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 6, 3, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves as ministers of God in much," now watch this, what Paul has been through. He says, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in laborers, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness of knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers yet true, as unknown yet well known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. What's he saying? Paul said, yeah, man, I've been shipwrecked, I've been beat up, I've been stoned, I've been tortured. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. But he said, we kept our joy in it. Why? Because Paul knew the Lord very closely. He knew how to smell the roses. He knew how to worship the Lord. He knew how to live in the presence of the Lord. What if you're in pain? What if you're in financial distress? What if you're in a struggling relationship? Where can you get joy in the pressure of that moment? Well, knowing God's promises, listen to me, we're right down to the nitty gritty, knowing God's promises and staying connected to his presence in the present, staying connected to his presence in the present. is where we find joy. Our joy is not in the circumstances. Now, if you've got some good circumstances around you, we ought to stop and smell those roses, too. I mean, I was just thinking about this a few days ago. I was thinking about, man, I've got it pretty good. I've got a family. I've got a roof over my head. I've got a car to drive. I don't have to hoof it up and down the road. I've got a good church. I've got a few friends. Got groceries? I've got it pretty good. And I was telling the Lord that, Lord, thank you. I've got it pretty good. But those things could vanish away. So I can't put all, I mean, it's good to recognize what God has done to you. Count your many blessings and see what God hath done. Yes, but my joy and my peace, my contentment doesn't come from those circumstances around me. My joy and my peace comes from knowing the God who supplied them. The one that I can belong to and experience his presence at any given moment in any circumstance. Paul was eventually thrown into prison to die. And yet, he said, I finished my course. I've kept the faith. He knew God. He was not afraid to meet him. Circumstances couldn't have been worse. And yet he still had his joy and he kept the faith. What we're saying is, it's okay to reminisce a little bit as long as you don't live in the past. It's okay to plan for the future as long as you don't wait on the future to come to bring you joy. Knowing the God of promise in the present is the key to joy. 2 Corinthians 12, 9, you know it well. And he said unto me, Paul had a thorn in the flesh. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness, Most gladly, therefore, gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. Paul wasn't relying on his flesh, he was relying on the promises of God, the grace that God gives. And when you're in pain, when you're in sorrow, when you're in distress, when you're in hurt, when things don't seem to be going right, and you can't look around and think of a whole lot of things that's going good, you've got the promise of God. He said, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. If He's with me, I'm going to be okay. and I can sit back in that lawn chair, I can get me a glass of tea, I can relax my shoulders and take a deep breath and say thank you Lord for being with me and I can be happy in the present moment because you're not going to leave me. His grace and His presence helps you to enjoy today's enjoyment, cheerfulness, blessings, live in his joy. God said in Jeremiah 29 11 for I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord thoughts of peace not of evil to give you an expected end he said I will instruct thee in Psalms he said I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go I will guide thee with mine eye it's gonna be alright It's going to be alright so I can enjoy the moment. But as a preacher, what if temptation comes upon me? 1 Corinthians 10.13, there is no temptation taken you but such as common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it." Hey, we can just go on and on about the promises of God and how He's going to take care of you, how He loves you, how He promised you abundant life. And the abundant life doesn't lie in the things and circumstances around us. It doesn't lie in the future of finding that wonderful relationship or that wonderful status in life or that next church or that next job. If you can't enjoy where you are in life at this moment, you're probably not going to enjoy it much in the next day, week, or year. The secret is to enjoying life is to enjoy it right now. Embrace today's joys. We're not saying fall into materialism or irresponsibility and not neglecting duties or becoming lazy. But we need to set a time. I would suggest everybody set a time and assess where am I most happy? When I'm thinking about the past, about the future, or am I pretty happy right now? And find your own promises in the Word of God that apply to your situation. Now don't just, don't slough it off when you walk out the door. You won't remember much of what I've said today. But remember this, the promises of God's presence, His grace and His joy are here. You sit down with your Bible and a pen and go through and underline those and make notes on what God has given you to be joyful for right now. And then live by it. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you'd bless us as we come to you at this time of reflection on our own lives. Lord, we all want to live cheerful lives, no matter what we call it, happiness, gladness, delight, good cheer. All of us would just like to experience more of it. And Lord, I don't think you ever intended for our life to be one of continual gloominess or dread. I pray, Lord, that you'd help us today to anchor in our hearts the art of enjoying life at the present moment. Lord, help us to enjoy life, the joys that act like a medicine, every moment of our day, even when circumstances are not what we would choose. If we had to, I pray that you'd bless us.