How to Become Rich in Joy

00:00 - Speaker 1I mean we feel caught up in the things of church, that the church becomes our God. We so easily move away Unless we keep that fresh in our minds and we're sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ on a regular basis and His love and how he directs our steps and the miracles, and we're in the game, we're sharing it. Pretty soon it just fritters away and, quite frankly, we lose the joy of our salvation. That's what really takes place. I mean, I see it. I see it in people I know and friends I know. They're in church. I've been there. 00:27 - Speaker 2Welcome to the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast, where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life. 00:43 - Speaker 1Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited. You know, if there's anything that God makes abundantly clear in the Bible is that once we know who he is, we are to share our faith in the marketplace every day. I mean, go ye into the world and preach the gospel, go tell you know, love our neighbors as ourselves. We are Christ's ambassadors, we are reconcilers. We're called in the ministry of reconciliation. We're called to be salt and light, and salt and light both change their environment. We're called in the ministry of reconciliation. We're called to be salt and light, and salt and light both change their environment. We're called to change our environment. We're called to be the light at the top of the hill so everybody can see what we have and want what we have. And all these scriptures I mean I could go on and on and on the scriptures, even from the Old Testament, are replete in the sharing of our faith and the loving of those around us and leading people to God in the Old Testament and very specifically to Jesus Christ in the news. But the question comes down to why. Why is it so important to God that we share our faith? And I have a surprise for you. This is my own theory, but I think it's true. Secondarily, it's to win the lost. Yes, secondarily, I think the reason for us sharing our faith is, secondarily, to win the lost. I think primarily it's to win you and me. It's to keep our hearts. You know, if we don't share our faith I've talked about before, this atrophy sets in and we just start to lose what we have. 01:58I had one of the most respected men in my life that passed away when he's 83 years of age and a year before he died I sat with him and this man was revered in his denomination, his church. He'd done everything you could possibly imagine in the church and supporting every cause he was there. I mean, I couldn't even count how many people were in awe of this man. And I sat with him and I said, I talked to him about his life and all. And then I came and I said so what does your conference come from? And knowing that you're going to spend eternity with God Almighty. And he started telling those things. And he started telling about all the things he did and all the ministries he supported and all the youth camps he sponsored and all the different age groups in his Sunday school class and being the head usher being the chairman of the board and the chairman of the building campaign and all these things. All these things were going through his mind. I said, is there anything else? And he thought of some more things that he did. You know, 80 years in the church. He was in one church for 83 years. This man was revered in his church. 03:02At the end of the conversation I found that he had never said the one right answer that Jesus Christ died for my sins. I mean, we get so caught up in the things of church that the church becomes our God. We can so easily move away Unless we keep that fresh in our minds and we're sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ on a regular basis and his love and how he directs our steps and the miracles, and we're in the game, we're sharing it. Pretty soon it just fritters away and, quite frankly, we lose the joy of our salvation. That's what really takes place. I mean I see it in people I know and friends I know they're in church. They're in church, but they're just going through the motions and the letter to the church at Ephesus. I've been there, I've been to the sites for all the seven churches in Asia, in Turkey and the letter to the church at Ephesus. They all speak well, but this one in particular got me when he says basically my words. 03:54You know, I know, I know who you are and I know you go to church Sunday morning and Sunday night. You're there but the doors are open and I know you're faithful and I know you give sacrificially and I know you know good teaching from bad. But I have this against you You've left your first love and you're no longer doing the first work. First love, obviously it's Jesus. First love obviously is Jesus. First love is God Almighty and if we put anything in front of Him that becomes our God and so oftentimes that is our church or some ministry that we're doing. We're so caught up in doing that right, we lose our own joy. 04:25And secondarily is that you're no longer doing the first work. What is the first work? What's the first thing every new Christian does when they receive Jesus Christ? They tell somebody they don't go sing in the choir, go on a missions trip and greet people. They tell people about Jesus Christ. I was blind and now I see you. When we stop doing that, that's a problem. To the point where he says in that letter. Read it Revelations, chapter two. But I have this against you, even though you're faithful. I have this against you. You've left your first love, you're no longer doing your first work. This against you. You've left your first love, you're no longer doing your first work. And unless you repent, he's calling people in the church to repent. He says unless you repent, I will remove the candlestick, I'll remove the Holy Spirit from you. 05:05We have a lot of folks in church today. They're going through the motions, but they've lost their joy and the Holy Spirit has departed. You think about the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins. They're all waiting. They were at the church today. They're waiting for the Lord to return. They all look like Christians, they all have the clothes, they have all the church technology and wordology. They can say they look right. But when the master returns, half of them were without the Holy Spirit. In fact, he closed the door. He says I don't even know who those of you you know. Today the statistics tell us that half the people in our churches are not saved. 05:43What side of the line are you on? What side of the line are you on? You know, don't even get close to that line. You want to go way over. You want to know how to do that. It's to share your faith and let it flow out of you Every day. The church is our service station. It's not our service, it's our service station. And then we go into service and from Sunday to Sunday, what are you doing? From Sunday to Sunday? That is our service, and when we do that we're rich in joy and it's flowing through us. We have joy in the morning and night, noon and every other time, and I truly believe that the reason he has called us, without exception, unequivocal, to share our faith every day, to be his ambassador, is because he wants to keep us fresh and alive and serving him and close to him to our last breath. 06:27 - Speaker 2If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review to help us reach more listeners. Remember sharing your faith ignites your faith. See you next time on the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast.