Overwhelming Joy

By Pastor Bioye Segun,
Zonal and Senior Pastor, RCCG Majesty Court, London
Text: Psalm 30:5

Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.Problems may persist till the close of day but joy begins a new day.When we say something is overwhelming we mean when something engulfs you,when joy floods your heart?Have you noticed that there are some people when they laugh it makes you laugh too?It’s as if they should laugh so you too can laugh because you find it therapeutic.Bible says in Prov 17:22 A merry heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones.Another version says Being cheerful keeps you healthy.It is slow death to be gloomy all the time.But when some people laugh you can easily see that it is plastic,artificial.It does not come from the heart because it is empty of joy.Joy goes deeper than happiness.You are happy only when a good event occurs eg you buy a car,clothes etc but joy from the heart is long lasting that even when things are not going well for you you still have that inner joy that keeps you going right through that unpleasant experience.David said in Ps 51:8 Make me to hear Joy and gladness….When last did you hear joy,goodness,good news?Your time has come to rejoice.For somebody here good news is coming your way soon.

The widow of Nain in Luke 7:11-15 once knew joy because the day she got married was a day of joy for her and also the day she had her son too was overwhelming joy for her.She had everything going for her until the spirit of death visited and snatched her husband.Immediately her joy turned to sorrow and as if that was not enough her only son and only hope equally died.In this instance man can only sympathise and encourage but as they were going to bury the son the great restorer came calling and restored her joy.I don’t know whether you have been going from one sad event to another or whether you have encountered sorrow and have not been able to come out of it?or you have been terribly disappointed or jilted?Today I pronounce that trend of sorrow and bad news and disappointments has come to an end in your life IJN.Every Link you have with sorrow is hereby destroyed by the blood of Jesus

From this moment you will begin to encounter joy.

You will begin to move from one joyful even to another.The Almighty restorer will restore your stolen joy because He wants your joy to be full.

David also cried to God in Ps 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.There is joy in being saved you know.There is joy in serving God.There is joy in soul winning you know.Brethren it’s a new day.

A new day is another opportunity to rejoice because the struggles of yesterday is gone with yesterday,

there is a new hope with a new dawn that I can still make it.Joy comes in the morning.This is a new day.It is the morning after the night before.The joy after the sorrow and pain of yesterday.Thank God the night does not last always.This is the reason why it is not good to worry.I sense in my spirit that there is someone here who is always worrying.Now I ask you if joy is coming tomorrow why waste time worrying today?because somehow by the following morning that thing that is causing you to worry will be taken away by the owner of joy IJN.

Now morning is also called daybreak,that word,daybreak is significant,

how?because the day has to break in on the night because night wants to linger on,the pain of yesterday wants to stay on,the disappointments wants to linger on,that sickness,terminal or not does not want to leave,just as it took 12 yrs for the issue of blood to leave that woman,depression wants to remain,poverty wants to dwell in us etc all these are symptoms brought in through the works of darkness because darkness still wants to rule but day suddenly breaks in on the night unannounced.The bright and the morning star breaks in on the night and darkness cannot comprehend it.When He does He brings joy,he brings good news.The joy of The Lord will continually be your strength IJN.

God uses the day to break the hold of the night.He uses light to expose the works of darkness,that is why men do not like coming to the light because their deeds are evil.John 3:19-21. This is why joy will always come in the day. That is why good things happen in the day.

Evil things and evil people carry out their deeds in the night but the day brings the new mercies of God, new compassions and kindness of God. God uses the morning to bring new blessings.

So every morning God has something new for you.There is always something new we can look forward to because He is always doing new things

So we can now understand that scripture that difficulties may persist for a time but joy breaks through in the morning.The bible says in Ecc.7:8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof so if joy comes in the morning then your testimony is complete.

A day came when Job in his troubles thought to himself in Job 14:14 If a man dies shall he live again etc in other words I will wait to see a new dawn.I will wait to see the light at the end of the tunnel,I will wait to see my joy come and it happened because the bible says in Job 42:10 And The Lord turned the captivity of Job …There was a divine turnaround.He got double for his troubles and his friends,family, well wishers began to come to him etc and the bible says the latter end of Job was better than his beginning.It marked a new dawn in his life.His joy came in the morning.So before there can be a new dawn there must have been a night before,the night of struggles and pain,of no headway in life, of joblessness, of lack, of failure, of sickness & disease but it is only up to midnight because it is the dividing line between your yesterday and today.

Jesus is the same yesterday,today and forever so He stands between our yesterday,today and our future and because its a new dawn He starts new things.He is the one that can force darkness to roll away like a carpet even though darkness wants to remain in control.

So a new dawn starts from midnight and Paul and Silas knew this when the bible says at midnight they began to pray and sing praises and the other prisoners heard them and an earthquake suddenly happened which caused all the doors to open and by the morning the magistrates who sent them to prison changed their minds for no reason and said Let the men go.Their joy came in the morning as they were freed.All those who have held you captive or as a prisoner will have no choice but to let you go today IJN.Someone said the darkest hour is the hour before dawn.It is when the the problem is at its worst,when the storms of life refuse to be abated,when almost all hope is gone,when you are about to almost lose your home,or your husband to another woman or when they have told you it is over their dead body will you marry or have children,or over their dead body will you recover from that illness,or when the doctors have told you Sorry there is nothing we can do for you again,that is exactly when God says your joy has come in the morning ie the worst is over the best of God has just started but before this happens we too must do what Paul and Silas did at midnight.Remember it is when both hands of the clock go up and meet as one so we too must meet as one and pray and sing praises because that is when your joy starts though you may not see it because it is still dark but it does not mean that God has not done it.It is in the morning light that good news come.

So no matter what you are going through right now,don’t stop praying until you see joy come in the morning,don’t stop until you get to the morning of your life.your morning is a new Day,don’t stop until you see the light at the end of the tunnel.For some of us 2014 is going to be our morning when our tears will be finally dried by God.Your morning is usually at the end of every dark night and every broken promise,every disappointment,but morning still comes.Your morning usually comes at the end of setbacks, betrayals, rejection, failure, attacks, sicknesses but morning will still come. No matter how long the night may be morning does come. Let nothing keep you from believing that.God will dry your tears and you will wake up with a new song.

But the truth of the matter is that as Christians we all have to go through the dark places of life but believing that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and also believing His word that says His compassions does not fail,they are new every morning.Yesterday ended last night, it’s a new day let us make the best use of it and enjoy it.

Your morning is coming,wait for it.It is in the morning that good news come. It is in the morning that we can accomplish great things. So weeping time has a time limit but joy has no time limit.

I pray that your morning will come sooner than you expect IJN.

Don’t look to yesterday,yesterday can no longer help you but focusing on tomorrow will help you to move away from yesterday.You are too important to God to be destroyed by a situation that was meant to give you character and direction.In other words the things that we go through are sometimes meant to shape our character and give us the direction we should take.It’s not meant to kill us.There is glory ahead.There is joy ahead of us.

Don’t listen to what others are saying about you because People will always talk but it is what God says concerning you that matters.If God is not even listening to what others are saying about you why should you?

If God has not changed His mind concerning His plans for your life why should you?

Stop washing your nets before the time, stop nursing your pain, stop massaging your problems,stop worrying about what others are saying or thinking about you, it will not allow you to know what God is thinking about you.Stop saying it’s all over now when God has not said it’s over. It’s not over yet for you,the year has not finished yet,God can still show His power in you and I pray that He gives you a testimony that surpasses all testimonies IJN.Someone said time is like currency, you cannot save it, you cannot bank it,you cannot invest it, you cannot stop it because it waits for no man, you can only spend it and how you spend time determines how your future will be shaped.There was the story of a 90 year old man who while he was sick in hospital was led to Christ and having realised that all his 90 years had been a waste he decided to redeem the time and began to preach to his fellow patients in hospital till he died.

So it is not about how old we are but how well we have spent the little time we have left.Let us stop chasing after shadows and begin to do the things that matter. May the Almighty God bless you powerfully!

Prayer.

Father because joy comes in the morning let whatever is limiting my joy be taken out of my way and let my joy be full IJN.

Father according to Ps 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness,make me to hear good news and put an end to every run of events in my life IJN.

Sermon delivered on November 10th 2013.