The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Don’t Lose Your Joy (Part 2)

Episode Date: December 22, 2023

Life has its challenges, but can we still have joy even when we are suffering? Yes! Using Scripture, Jeff Cavins explains the Christian response to challenges. He also shares how we can experience joy by bringing others to Jesus and witnessing others live a Christian life. Snippet from the Show The joy that the Bible talks about is a deep joy that brings great peace. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is episode 355, Don't Lose Your Joy, Part 2. Welcome to the show again this week. What a joy to have you back. And last week we, last week we started. what I didn't know was a series until I got halfway through, but it's a two-part series on don't lose your joy. And just hearing, you know, how people respond to the Word of God has been so encouraging, particularly over the last few shows.

I'm getting some feedback that is really, really meaningful. And I appreciate that so much. By the way, if you do want to get in touch with me, all you got to do is write me. And the email for the show is, the Jeff Kaven show at ascensionpress.com. That's the Jeff Kavan show at ascensionpress.com. And if you want the show notes, last week we had a whole lot.

And this week we have more. All you got to do is type my name, Jeff Kaven's one word, and text it to the number 3377. So how did you do last week? Did you step out on the Word of God and put it into practice? Did you make a habit out of doing what Jesus called you to do that day? Did you adopt the practice of reading the Bible every day? At least the gospel in the liturgy, read it every single day,

maybe spend some time doing Lexio-Devina, ask God, what are you expecting from me today? And then living it? Did you get opportunities? If you did, and you did, then you should start sensing that joy that's deep down in your soul. not something that you just feel like you would with laughter or silliness or, you know, anything else. The joy that the Bible talks about is a deep joy. It's a comforting and

content joy and it's full of peace and it comes from living in the spirit, living and abiding in God. Last week, before we get on to this week's points about joy, just a quick review of last week. We talked about last week how important it is to understand that only God himself has really the ability to help us respond to life's difficulties and experience the joy. He's the joy. And that's why Nehemiah in chapter 8 and verse 10, he doesn't talk about the joy of our culture. He doesn't talk about the joy of intellectualism or the joy of sports or anything else, even though there's a certain kind of earthly joy in a lot of these things, but Nehemiah talked about the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. And I experience

the joy of my Lord when I do his word. And when I'm obedient to him, there rises up within me this joy, which is like a vine producing fruit. I can't make it happen. We talked about this last week. I cannot make it happen. I can squeeze that vine all day long. I can yell at it. I can make promises to it. I can call it names. I can do anything. Nothing's going to happen because fruit comes naturally or in this case what we're talking about today with joy, fruit comes supernaturally by abiding in Christ. And so if you have the joy, not the joy that's an earthly joy, but the joy of the Lord, then that's going to be your strength. Why would you need that? Well, you'd need it because of the trials that we're going to talk about today. The trials that you would encounter. That's why you

need the strength. That's why you need the strength. And we talked last week about the fruit of the spirit. And the second one is joy. We've got love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. And we talked about how important it is to seek first. The kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God, and that is the key. And I also gave you in the notes last week some things about the catechism and about entering into divine joy. And those are in the show notes for last week. So this week, don't lose your joy part two. I want to now move into this area of entering trials. Okay. Entering trials. I have a James study that is oh what is that one now the james study is 10 weeks it's 10 weeks 10 hours where we go

or go through james and james is one of those books that it's very different than paul's epistles in that paul seems to have themes that he weaves in and out of his letters but james is organized in a way that the rabbis of jesus day called it stringing pearls and what james is is that it's a lot of like staccato, it's like little, boom, the little truth. One, two, and three, and four. And it's these little truths that are all strung together. And so these are pearls for wise living. And he opens up the first chapter of James by addressing this issue of joy. Last week, I mentioned to you, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Why, why again, I'll ask, would you need this kind of strength that comes from the Lord, this joy that comes from the Lord, comes deep within your soul. Why? Because

in this world, Jesus said, you're going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Isn't that great? I have overcome the world. So Jesus is pretty straight with us. He's honest. He's saying, look, in this world, you're going to have tribulation. And in the last month, you probably have had a little bit of tribulation, right? I have, I don't know of a month that goes by where there isn't something like I have to deal with at some level. Some months are better than other months, but life does have its challenges. That's okay. We have a way of dealing with the challenges. The joy of the Lord is my strength. So listen to what James says is he opens up this epistle. He says in chapter 1 versus 2 through 4, I'm not only going to read part of it. Listen to what

he says here he starts off and he says he says what every every christian wants to hear first thing in the morning count it all joy my brethren when you meet various trials seriously seriously james is that all you got for me today i'm supposed to be joyful when i encounter these various trials wow all right i'm just going to act like i'm joyful i guess i'm just going to put on an act here. I'm going to pretend everyone's going to think I'm joyful inside. I'm miserable. When I go through these various trials, well, maybe that's the way you've been trying it. Maybe it has been a put on. Maybe we've just tried to act joyful, you know, in the midst of the trials and kind of fool everybody and then tell everyone, you need what I have. Fakery. No, we don't fake

joy in the midst of trials. We count it all joy. And that is this piece. peace and this contentment that comes over us when we meet various trials. Why now? Why would we do that? Why would we count it all joy? Well, James goes on and he says, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I would say, that we're starting to get around to joy here now. Complete, perfect, lacking, nothing. I'll take a bushel basket of that too.

That sounds pretty good. Well, how do you get it? Where do you get that bushel basket full of joy? Where do you get that? You get it by abiding in the vine, abiding in the love of the Lord. How do you do that? You do what he tells you to do.

And if you do that, then the joy, the joy from God will be enough in these various trials. And it's going to produce a lot of beautiful things in our life. So why am I joyful when I run into trials? Because I know what the outcome is. I know what the fruit is. And I know what the benefit is. I'll be complete.

I'll be full. I'll be complete. I will be perfect. I'll be lacking in nothing. I'll take another bushel basket of that. you can't sell this stuff in the market this is incredible and here it is available to us this joy to live this life we have a choice we can do this and we can do what jesus told us to do or we can fake it and we can go and look for joy somewhere else in the world maybe a party maybe collecting

things maybe getting into shape maybe learning a second language you know Oh, come on. That's not what we're called to do. All those things are fine, so don't write me about it. But what we're really looking for is that deep joy. Now, the catechism talks about an interesting aspect of joy. And I'm going to get to that in just a moment. I'm going to take a break. When I come back, I want to talk to you about how joy comes by bringing people to Jesus and watching them obey God. Now, we've already talked about that joy comes from obeying God, but you know that joy comes from watching other people obey God too, particularly those that you bring to the Lord? It's true. We'll look at that. Right after this, you're listening to the Jeff Kaven show.

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz. I want to let you know about an exciting announcement that could revolutionize the way you listen to the Bible in the air and the catechism in the year. Ascension has released a new Bible and Catechism app called the Ascension app. No, here's what you get. In this app, you get the entire. text of the Great Adventure Bible, just incredible. You also get the entire text of the catechism of the Catholic Church, as long with the Catechism in your podcast, the Bible in your podcast, and

transcripts for each episode. If you're like, I'm tired of listening to that guy. I just want to read it. There's complete transcripts from each and every episode. One thing that makes this app incredibly unique is that it includes special features that make connections between the Bible and the catechism so crystal clear through color-coded references and all these links. The hyperlinks are amazing. I tried it out and I'm like, oh my gosh, it kind of has changed the way I read through the Catechism, kind of changed the way I read through the Bible. These features will help you navigate the Bible and Catechism even more seamlessly so you can get more out of your experience. Also, the app provides almost 1,000 answers to Bible questions. The people

who listen to the Bible in the year, they wrote in with their questions. Almost a thousand answers, and those answers come in the form of audio clips, video clips, as well as resources excerpted from some of Ascension's published works. If you want to download this app, for free. Super simple. Just go to the app store and search for Ascension app. I am telling you, if learning about the Bible and the catechism is important to you, then this app will change your life. We're joyfully back today talking about the Word of God slash catechism, and we're talking about joy. You know, last week I brought up a point about don't lose your joy. And I brought up something that I thought was very important, and that is you can lose your joy by just being around

negative people who have to be right all the time more interested in orthodoxy than they are obeying Jesus and that will take the joy from you right there and so just another reminder don't get caught up in that you can be so right that you are wrong and you don't want to you don't want to get into that we're talking here today about joy and specifically before the break I mentioned that joy comes by bringing people to Jesus and watching them obey God. That'll bring joy to you too. You obey God and watching people obey God will give you joy. The catechism says this. Paragraph 425, here it is. The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him. Okay. From the beginning,

the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Christ. Quote now, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And they invite people of every era to enter into the joy of their communion with Christ. You see, if you and I walk with that joy, we're abiding in Christ, we are obedient to His Word. in the spirit, if we are experiencing that joy, then the catechism says that in other eras here, people invited people of every era to enter into the joy of their communion with Christ. And when you see people that you have led to the Lord, obeying the Lord, you're entering into their communion with Christ. You're entering into their joy. And that is so cool.

along those lines there third john three and four third john it only has one chapter just verses uh it's third john versus three and four john gets a hold of this too and he says for i greatly rejoiced when some of the brethren arrived and testified to the truth of your life as indeed you do follow the truth now listen to this oh here it is i'm going to put it in the show notes for you no need to get in an accident by writing a down. No greater joy can I have, John says. What do you think it is? No greater joy can I have than winning the lottery. Home team wins a Super Bowl. All your bills are paid off. House paid off. What is it? No greater joy can I have than this to hear that my children follow the truth.

There it is. That's it right there. No greater joy can I have than this to hear that my children follow the truth. Now, some of your parents, you may be a parent and you have children. Tell me this and testify for all the other people who are listening. Do you get more joy from your children following the truth or your children doing their own thing and figuring things out with, you know, taking the lumps? would it be? You'd say, well, I get more joy from watching my children follow the truth. Of course. That's what parents do. That's what God does with us. That's what John did with his spiritual

children. He said, no greater joy can I have than this to hear that my children follow the truth. Now, if that's going to make you happy to know that your children are following the truth, imagine how it's going to make God feel to know you're following the truth. See, it's all the same. It's all the same. so what can steal your joy let's look at that just a little bit more this week what can steal your joy we know that being in the wrong company as paul said i believe it was in collarsians was it he said bad company corrupts good morals and when you're around negative people constantly a negative orthodoxy constantly and orthodoxy is very important underline asterisk next to it

everything it's really important check mark it's important but if that's all the people are concerned with i typically find that they're not real joyful they're not really really joyful but what can steal your joy well pride or another name for it self-righteousness pride and self-righteousness that go along with what i was just talking about those are joy killers pride because pride is insisting on my way and not humbling myself and learning. It's very difficult to be obedient to God's word when you're filled with pride. And you have it together. You know, you feel like you really have it together. You're sanctimonious. You cannot be corrected. And nearly everything that you encounter has to have two things. One, your negative comment.

And number two, some corrections that others must make. That kind of a person is going to have the joy stolen right from them and the people that are around them are probably not going to feel that joy either and you become very much like a Pharisee when you are self-righteous you know you really do listen to what Luke said in Luke 18

verses 10 through 12 he said two men went up into the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector the Pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector here. I, on the other hand, pray twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. Hmm, self-righteous. Those who know there is a tomorrow, heaven. live more joyfully. We don't live for today. We live for heaven. We live for heaven. And we cannot be

like this. We cannot live like this Pharisee who is his whole life is wrapped up in self-righteousness. We must be generous. We must give of ourselves. So let me conclude this now with just this this thought from Romans chapter 15, yeah, chapter 15 and verse 13. This is another one of my favorite verses from Romans. It says, Paul says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. now let's just take this apart for a second because this is really juicy this is really really good stuff uh paul says first of all may the god of hope now this word in hebrew is the word tikva ha tikva the hope okay hope from a biblical perspective isn't like i hope we're

going to have pizza tonight that's not the type of hope hope tikva is based not on my expectations or my view of the future, and based on my own talents, I look at the future. No, it's based on God's view. It's God's estimation of what I can do, the future, his unlimited perspective. So I'm looking from his perspective at the future. I have hope, and as Hebrew says, that hope becomes an anchor for my soul. it's an anchor for my soul and Paul is saying here

may the God of hope may the God of Tikva T-I-Q-E-H-T-V-E-H T-I-H-T-V-A-M-A-M-E-H-T-V-V-A-M-May the God of Tickva fill you with all joy and peace in believing what did we say last week and a little bit this week

about believing and about obeying his command Jesus said that I abide in the Father's love, I keep his word. We abide in Jesus. We keep his word. That's what abiding is. It's believing. It is faithfulness. And what Paul is saying is, may the God of Tikva of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. You see, believing fills you with joy and peace. And that's why we can do what James said when James talked about count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter these difficult

times because, you know, chiching, it's going to end up with a lot of great spiritual fruit in your life. So Paul putting it all together says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, not somebody else's power, not a glass of wine, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. So you can see there that joy and hope are bound together. There's a relationship between joy and hope. It's kind of like the more joy you have, the more you're anchored in hope, and the more hope you have, it feeds joy and it all comes from life in the trinity let me just end by saying this it's very simple

it's very very simple you have a choice this week and so do why i'm not i'm i might be sounding like i'm i'm talking strong but i'm got a mirror right to the left of me over here if i just go over about a foot i'll see myself it's really up to us do you want joy do you want joy do you want as I mentioned last week. Do you remember that? Proverbs 1722, a joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Do you want this medicine called joy? Do you want this medicine called joy? Do you want this contentment and peace in your heart that is different than joy to the world? If you want that, then you have to make the decision that you're going to study God's word and you're going to do it in your daily life. And if you do what I'm talking about

there, and I'm saying myself as well, my friend, you're going to experience a joy you've never known before. It's going to be medicine to your soul, medicine to your bones. And it's going to have a very positive impact on your life because you are now moving into the realm of unity with God, abiding in God, life in the Trinity. And there's nothing in this world that compares with this. You can collect Louis Vuitton purses. You can collect boats or shotguns. You can go travel the world.

You can learn 25 languages. But you will never experience the joy and the peace that comes from abiding in Christ. Now, here's a good assignment for you. and who knows it might end up being it might end up being don't lose your joy part three who knows but i would really encourage you to read john okay i would encourage you to read john's gospel not the whole thing for next week but what i would encourage you to do is to read chapter 15 of john i am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch of mine that bears no fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit

ooh he prunes that it may bear more fruit you are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you I abide oh I can't stop reading verse four abide in me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me full stop as they say so that's the assignment read john chapter 15 this week just marinate in a little bit and really focus on abiding in the vine because that's where the joy it's going to come from

okay again if you want the show notes and all these scriptures just text my name jeff kavens to the number three three seven seven seven my email is the jeff kaven show at ascensionpress dot com love to hear your comments remember to like this show pass it on to friends and let's get the word out. We want to become disciples of the Lord. Let's pray. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus. We love you so much.

And we thank you for your word, Lord. And we thank you that we can even abide in you. And you invite us to do this. Lord, you are the true vine. You are the true vine. And the Father is the vine dresser. We are branches of yours. We want to bear fruit.

We want to abide in you. We want to live in you. Help us to make this choice and to walk in fortitude and tenacity. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Love you. Look forward to talking to you next week.