It seems that the only "Joy Unspeakable" we read of, we used to sing of just does not exist as it should in the church today.  In the last few months I personally have been going through some trials.  Minor as they may be compared to living in the backwoods of Africa. They have been stressful and sometimes a great burden.  I found that two things were happening, two things that at first were barely noticeable but grew.  First I was getting a shorter and shorter fuse and second I did not feel the joy unspeakable I should.  Old slue foot was trying to "bring me down" so to speak.  I am not sure exactly what triggered my sudden knowledge of this little trap old slue foot was trying to lay.  Maybe it was my prayers to the Lord to take me back to the beginning, not my beginning but to the days of Pentecost:  back to the days of power and boldness, or maybe it was  just that  the Lord took pity on me.
        One morning while studying the Word of God I asked the Lord as always to teach me, instruct me, chastise me or what ever He needed to do from His word.  I opened to Habakkuk 3:17-19  (NLT) 17Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. 19The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.   Whoa! Teary eyes of love for my Lord and savior.  Floods of memories came to me of all the times that my Lord had been there for me.  How many times I had gone through trials and tribulations only to come out the other side so much better off.  Why? because I never stopped praising the Lord no matter what happened in my life! 
        I just love how Jude ends his short letter. Jude 1:24-25 (NLT) 24And now, all glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy. 25All glory to him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to him, in the beginning, now, and forevermore. Amen.  You see my friends we are not able to keep ourselves from making mistakes or sinning.  We must rely on our Lord and Savior for our strength.  In verse 19 above the Hebrew word here for strength means force, army.  Do you get the idea that as the scripture says with God all things are possible.  Do you believe it?   I mean do you believe the old song "rejoice in the Lord always"!  The modern church has lost that joy unspeakable.  Sadly this old pastor knows more sorrowful, sad looking Christians than I know showing the Joy Unspeakable.  As one old pastor friend said more Christians wear the " I just sucked a lemon" look than the " I just looked in to heaven" look!  What does the world see when they look into your eyes?  They should see what Peter described in his first letter. 1 Peter 1:8-9 (NLT) 8You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.


        You see my friends we are to be the living Bible to all those we encounter.  Whether it is rig hands (such as I encounter each day) or the homeless person on your block or the aids orphans in another country.  If we Christians walk around like we have been sucking on lemons all the time who will believe that we have a mighty God who controls everything?  I cannot speak for you but I would rather be thought of as a freak or crazy person because I am constantly praising the Lord even for the bad and hard times rather than walking around like the rest of the world with that deadpan frown on my face.  When I was a young Christian full of vigor I had a tee shirt made up that said "Smile they will think you're up to something!"  It is true, when you constantly have a good attitude and smile, when you truly have the joy of the Lord deep in your heart sooner or later people will ask you why!  I cannot count how many times in my life people have asked or commented about never seeing me down or upset.  People ask why you are so happy, because deep down inside that is what they are looking for. They want that joy you reflect. It opens the door for you to explain why.  Here is where being that living Bible comes into play.  Just tell them why you feel this joy.  You do not need to Bible thump them.  Let them know why you are joyful. Let them decided if they want more. 
        Do you have the Spirit of God?   Yes, you say!  Ok, let's do a test a Biblical test. Galatians 5:22 (ASV)  22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.  First, do not give me the "I speak in tongues therefore I have the Spirit" excuse!   Did Paul say that was one of the fruits? Nope he did not.  So let's use the Biblical test.  The first fruit of the Holy Spirit of God is Love.  This is the Greek word agape!  In other words it is a Godly love.  A Godly love toward all, not just those you like.  So do you have a Godly love for others?  Is your soul burdened  to tell others of the Love that God showed a sinner like you?  Do you have a drive to bring just one more into the Kingdom of God?  Because, if you do not you have already failed the first question on the test.  I have so many friends that can pray or speak in tongues but they would need a stick of dynamite to get them out of their pew to tell someone of Jesus.  My friends if you do not have that agape love for your fellow mankind I have to wonder just how much of God's Holy Spirit you have.  Paul said it the best. Corinthians 14:18 (KJV) I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.    Paul knew what was important, souls, souls and more souls for the Kingdom of God. 
        Ok, lets move on to the second question of the test.  "22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy" Joy, the Greek here is cheerfulness, happiness, a calmness or delight.   So do you have a joy in Christ?  In all situations do you have a calmness?  When all about you are losing their heads are you just smiling, because you know that Jesus is in control of all?  Do you have that happiness knowing that  Philippians 4:13 (NLT) 13For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. Or Romans 8:28 (NLT) 28And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.    Do we believe God at His word or not?  If you are in the will of God for you life then you had better believe every word in the Bible or you are doomed.  You will not have the faith or the power to do what the Good Lord has for you. 
        I will let you go on individually with the Biblical test of whether or not you have the Holy Spirit of God within you.  This is a very personal thing and I suggest you be very honest with yourself.  If you do not love mankind with that agape love and long for more souls for the Kingdom. If you do not have the peace that passes understanding in all situations. Then you my friends need to do some serious re-evaluation of your relationship with Jesus!  Where do I get off saying this?  I did not  Paul did: 1 Thessalonians 1:6 (ASV)6And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit;   Paul said it we become imitators of them and the Lord because of the word we receive with the joy of the Holy Spirit.  Are you an imitator of Paul and the early men of God.  Willing to lay down your life in joy for the cause of Christ? Are you an imitator of Christ?  Acts 13:50 (KJV)50But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. 51But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.  52And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.    Whoa! Did you get that persecution and filled with joy and the Holy Ghost in one paragraph?  Are you filled with the Joy unspeakable?
        The Lord has been bringing may things back to the memories of Mary and I lately.  He has been working many, many miracles in our lives.   Over two years ago we prayed that the Lord get us out of debt.  Very shortly after that Mary was given a dream of the president of our bank mocking God because we had to borrow money.  In this dream was a verse that we live by. Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 (KJV) 1Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.  2Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.   This has become both our way of life and the ministries.  We give to as many different missions as the Lord directs and will allow financially.  We give of ourselves as much as we can.  Not because we are someone special but because we want to share all the blessings that the Lord has given us.  The Lord in bringing these things back to our minds is preparing us for His future for this ministry and ourselves. For the record we are now totally out of debt and able to actually invest some of our excess.

         But, being humans we always question, are we on the right course? Well, I was doing that just the other day concerning  a particular investment.   To make a long story short I have been working on  and off as a geologist for almost as long as I have been a pastor.   I have looked at so many samples from both rock outcrops and well drill cuttings I can almost describe them with my eyes closed.  One of the questions I am always asked is how rich I am from the gold coming out of the drill hole.  Well my friends for almost 30 years I have not seen one speck of gold come out of an oil or gas well bore.  That is until yesterday.  I was asking the Lord to show me if our investment direction was correct and for the first time in nearly 30 years I found gold in the well cuttings.  Not just a speck but a chunk of Sandstone over 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and almost 1/2 inch thick.  Below is a picture.  This is not enough gold to make us rich, actually this is about $30 worth at most.  My point is my Lord loves me enough to give this little token to say Mary and I are on the right track.  My friends my Lord loves you that much too.   We are nothing special but we pray to be in God's will every day of our lives and we listen to make sure that we are in His will.   This reminds me of the time Peter came to the Lord concerning their Temple tax. Matthew 17:24-27 (NLT) 24On their arrival in Capernaum, the tax collectors for the Temple tax came to Peter and asked him, "Doesn't your teacher pay the Temple tax?" 25"Of course he does," Peter replied. Then he went into the house to talk to Jesus about it. But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, "What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax their own people or the foreigners they have conquered?" 26"They tax the foreigners," Peter replied. "Well, then," Jesus said, "the citizens are free!  27However, we don't want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a coin. Take the coin and pay the tax for both of us."  This is not the blab it and grab it preachers gold dust falling from the sky thing.  This is not their false gospel of God wants everyone especially the man of God rich thing!  This is Jesus' way of saying to Peter, " Even though you will deny me three times, I love you so much,  I will take care of all your  needs!" thing.  That is how much my friends,  my Savior and Lord loves you!

        I love how a pastor once said.  We do not need to ask God constantly if we are in His will or not.  If that is our prayer the moment we step out of God's will we will have uneasy feeling deep inside given to us by the Holy Spirit.  Also to show us that we were on that right track with our investment.  A paper on the subject we were reading by a non-Christian quoted the wisest man to ever live and the words above.  Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 (KJV) 1Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.  2Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
        That my friends is why we should have that joy  unspeakable.  Our Lord and Savior cares so much about you and I.  He cares down to the very last detail. Joy unspeakable, if you do not have it I would suggest you get on you face and get right with God.  Don't make excuses because of you current status in life.  Jesus loves you more that you know and He will prevail in your life if you will only let Him. 
        I will leave you with Paul's words Romans 14:6-7 (NLT) 6Those who have a special day for worshiping the Lord are trying to honor him. Those who eat all kinds of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who won't eat everything also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.  7For we are not our own masters when we live or when we die. 8While we live, we live to please the Lord. And when we die, we go to be with the Lord. So in life and in death, we belong to the Lord.
        Do all you do my friends to please the Lord and He will give you that Joy unspeakable.  He loves you more than you can every grasp.  Give Him the chance to show it.