The Blossoming Desert

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Please turn to Isaiah 35. We're starting

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Isaiah 35 today. And just as a reminder this section of Isaiah, you know, if you were to put the book of Isaiah into chapters like you have chapters in modern books

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Isaiah 28 to 35 would be its own chapter. So this is you can think of this as the last section of this particular chapter.

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We're in Isaiah this this large part of Isaiah being about the folly of trusting in the nations and here it ends with this note of hope about how

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God will restore his people after they have failed to trust in him and they've trusted in the nations instead but how he will restore them and Make them a glorious people.

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So when you have Isaiah 35, please stand for the reading of God's Word The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad the desert shall rejoice and blossom

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Like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing

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The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the majesty of Carmel and Sharon They shall see the glory of the

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Lord the majesty of our God Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees say to those who have an anxious heart be strong Fear not behold your

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God will come with vengeance with a recompense of God. He will come and save you And the eyes of the blind shall be opened in the ears of the deaf unstopped

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Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert

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The burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water and the haunt of jackals where they lie down The grass shall become reeds and rushes and the highway shall be there and that shall be called the way of holiness

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The unclean shall not pass over it shall belong to those who walk in the way

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Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray No lion shall be there nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it

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They shall not be found there But the redeemed shall walk there and rent the ransomed of the

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Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away

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You may be seated You have my father.

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We thank you for your word we thank you for the glorious promises of the gospel and we ask that you would use these prophetic images to reinforce the message that we have heard so many other times before but yet we need to hear again and We ask that you would help us to fully embrace this truth that though we

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Believe we ask that you would help our unbelief in Jesus name. Amen The fruit of the

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Spirit is love joy. Peace kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self -control

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That second part there joy joy should be a defining aspect of the

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Christian life How the world does not have joy like the Christian has the world lives with the gloom of death a death sentence

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Hanging over their head that no matter how much they suppress that truth no matter how much they ignore it too much no matter how much they fill their life with temporary pleasures

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They cannot have this joy, but the Christian has this joy and the

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Christian as the Spirit of God works in him Should be producing much fruit of the

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Spirit much joy So what reason does the Christian have to rejoice? I have the reason of salvation and this passage here

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Especially these first two verses is about that reason that we have for joy

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What God has done in this work of salvation to grant us joy So as we consider this perhaps you can think about what joy looks like in your own life

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Whether or not and you're weak as you express yourself with unbelievers around you if one would be able to tell that you have a particular joy that you have a joy that is

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Beyond understanding because it is a joy. That's origin is not of this world

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This passage begins speaking of wilderness

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It says the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus

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So we speak here of a desert into wilderness This desert in this wilderness describing the state of the people of God in Isaiah's time

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Say the people of God in Isaiah's time is like a desert it's like a wilderness because God has given them over to their hands at the enemies or he is about to so they will be

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Driven from the land and then the land of Zion will have no one in it except for animals to Come and dwell in it as though it were a desert

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So this is a picture of the effects of sin. There's a picture that's true of people in every generation who do not know the

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Lord both a picture of God's people apart from God's work

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Both corporately and individually and so for each person each person who has sinned against God each person born slave of sin

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They are part of that wilderness. They have no life.

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No source of life. They're spiritually dead Spiritually dead and unable to do anything pleasing to God but what this passage promises is something much greater than that because in context here this wilderness is not

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The wilderness it is the wilderness of the people of God apart from the work of God prior to the work of God But in context it has spoken of this curse being taken from this people and applied to the enemies of God So that those who are the people of God may receive the blessings of God Hopefully you remember some of the words that we've been going over in chapter 34 in chapter 34 it had spoken of Of the land of Edom Receiving these curses

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Edom being representative of various enemies of God throughout the world not simply one nation of Edom but it is

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But this curse has been applied to The enemies of God in order that the people of God might receive blessings

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No, just skipping forward a little here. You see how salvation comes house out of salvation come in verse 4

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It says be strong fear not behold your God comes with vengeance with the recompense of God He will come and save you salvation comes through judgment.

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It's not Oh, it's either salvation or judgment In fact, there is no salvation without judgment salvation comes through judgment

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You think of the ark the picture that God uses of salvation several times even in the New Testament Out of salvation comes it comes through judgment.

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And in this case the judgment has come upon the enemies of God They become like a desert.

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So the people of God who are like a desert may turn into a blossoming field

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That is the picture that it gives gives a picture of a blossoming field the dry land shall be glad The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus

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Might be wondering What is the crocus? I had to look this up myself but a crocus is a flower native to that region that shuts up during the night and During poor conditions so that they're one that Shuts up and opens up Under the right conditions and you can imagine, you know seeing these in the morning as it dawns, you know all blossoming at the same time

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Right. This is this is the pictures that suddenly suddenly and beautifully Will this desert blossom?

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Now older translations speak of a rose and you can imagine the same thing with the rose Maybe it doesn't close up overnight and open in the morning, but roses have bright and beautiful blossom

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So the picture is of a sudden beautiful blossoming of this people of God And how do we know that this is speaking of the people of God we could look at a couple of things but just recall that Isaiah has spoken of this picture several times before and Isaiah 32 verse 15 it says until the spirit is poured out from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is deemed as a forest

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Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness abide in the fruitful field and so there he had been talking about About Zion.

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He's been talking about the people of God receiving these blessings of God and becoming no longer as a desert but as a fruitful field

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Blossoming beautifully and this is what has taken place in the gospel as God's Word has been preached

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Men their spirits that are dead in sin have been quickened quickened meaning coming alive as they come to life you see a beautiful field a beautiful Blossoming of the people of God This is the condition that the nation of Israel was in until Christ arrived and people heard his word than those who had been

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Without hope suddenly had a great hope in Jesus Christ And it is what it this is

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I am that is spoken of here is the church It is the people of God not just of one nation, but across the world blossoming opening up a

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Beautiful picture of the joy of God filling the hearts of many across the world and so we have much reason to To rejoice because of this beauty this picture of beauty.

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Oh this picture also exists in Song of Solomon's as in Song of Solomon.

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I'm a rose of Sharon a lily of the valleys Now you've probably heard that before and that's why I think the ESV chooses to Say a rose of Sharon.

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In fact, they have a little footnote saying that this is actually crocus But you're used to hearing it as rose of Sharon.

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So I think they wanted to keep it that way But is this speaking of the same thing is this speaking of the the beauty of a crocus of Sharon opening up and here when we

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Talk about this the glory of Lebanon shall be given it the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. It's talking about the beautiful flowers beautiful picture of the joy of God It says it shall blossom

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Abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing It's not it's not also one of the marks of the church that it sings it rejoices with joy and singing

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This desert this was a desert becoming a fruitful field rejoicing blossoming singing several things to consider as you

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Examine this passage and you understand that it is for not just those people then but as for us today as we are

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This people of God, they're being led in the ways of God We're being led into joy

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What this should mean for us? First of all that you should join yourself to a church if you've not already joined yourself a church

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This is something that you absolutely should do because it is through this Through this body that Christ has instituted that he is bringing these blessings and building up and giving joy

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And secondly as you see this picture of of joy and singing that this is supposed to be the mark of the church now

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That's not just on Sunday as we sing, but you should be singing regularly to the

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Lord. It should be something that Fills your soul so that it would only be right

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To sing this is how one expresses himself joyfully You know, I find it interesting that our

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Society is one that is very very focused on Self -expression right self -expression apart from self -expression.

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You're not really the the full you, you know They make a big deal in workplaces about being being able to bring your whole self to work

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You know being able to express yourself completely and if you're not able to express yourself completely, you're just not even you and yet people struggle when it comes to Expressing themselves in the way that God has given us to express ourselves

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Right forget other ways that you might express yourself that are more or less important But we have here a way of expressing ourselves is through song and we should be training ourselves in this mode of self -expression

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We should be training one The heart condition that would desire to have this mode of self -expression, but then on top of that the expression itself

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This is something that we should be we should be growing in and it's something that God has supplied his spirit

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That living water that we might have the life that would just naturally as the plant does

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After a rain just open up and blossom Says in the next passage the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the majesty of Carmel and Sharon now

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Before I talk about this passage in the next let me let me break this into two categories

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Okay, we're supposed to we're supposed to have joy. We are to sing to God and why what is the reason? It can be broken into two categories here.

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First category is that we receive Glory, the church receives the glory of God Zion as a desert receives glory and and blossoms becoming glorious But then also we see

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The glory of the Lord and the passage after that So it's both receiving glory that should cause us to rejoice and is also seeing glory that should cause us to rejoice

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And so this is described as seeing glory Here speaking of the glory of Lebanon shall be given it the majesty of Carmel and Sharon You know these all being pictures of very prosperous lands

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Lebanon Carmel Sharon these places have tall trees or beautiful fields things like that and before The removal of these things was considered a curse so in Isaiah 33 9

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It says the land mourns and languishes. This is talking about judgment upon Israel The land mourns and languishes

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Lebanon is confounded and withers away Sharon is like a desert Boshan and Carmel shake off their leaves and so the

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Destruction of Jerusalem or God's curse upon it It's considered so great that it spreads all the way to these beautiful lands right that are in the far regions of Of that area and they are all their beauty is taken away from them because this curse of God has spread from Zion But now what you have in this picture is the opposite is those places in their beauty is all restored centralized in Zion in the people of God So that it's not just taken from them for their sin, but despite all the sin that we have seen

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God for some reason undisclosed in this particular passage, but disclosed later and especially in the

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New Testament Is restored and centralized and made even more beautiful than it was before and how is that?

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It's through the gospel of Jesus Christ Through Christ though we dead in our sins though we deserve only to have glory taken away from us he and his wonderful kindness has sent

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Jesus Christ to not only pay the penalty for our sins to put us in the clear and zero out the balance but has even earned by his righteousness a glorious existence that we might

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Be restored beyond that to so much more something that is more than just a restoration something that is a building up even beyond this and this is not just something that we have to anticipate as we

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Look forward to having a glorious body because that is the state of glory formally considered but it is a it is a joy and a blessing that exists even now as the

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Holy Spirit has been poured out since Pentecost and Ample measures beyond anything that we have of ourselves naturally and we are given this glory in order that God himself might be glorified that as the church is is growing and building and Receiving more and more that it might be more and more joyful.

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God himself is more and more glorified in that process So as you see this and you see this picture of the church of Zion receiving glory and considering what that looks like in our world is more and more are brought into the church and Those who are already in the church grow and their understanding of God and grow and their maturity

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Know that this is a wonderful project not only to enjoy Witnessing but to enjoy being a part of it and actually participate in into a project to Have ownership over up and invest in you know

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There is an opportunity to really be invested in this work that God is doing in his kingdom Growing this fruitful field growing this land

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Be a part of it and enjoy it. Do you not consider the The tasks that you might see around here, you know when

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I when I first Became a more involved church member. I saw a lot of church duties as just that duties, right things to be

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Sighed over things to you know, grit through and endure because they were the right thing to do But no, this is something that is joyful.

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There's no there's no better way to spend your time There's no better thing to invest your time and there's nothing that is more enjoyable for the one who

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Understands what is happening for the one who who has I Keep using this phrase.

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I've used a lot today But the eyes of faith to see what is taking place to see the crocus is blossoming

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Says they shall see the glory of the Lord the majesty of our God. And so this is not just a picture of God's people receiving glory, but as a picture of them seeing glory they see the glory of the

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Lord Because the glory that The church receives is an entirely different kind of glory.

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It's an earthly glory of Sorts if you can if I can say it that way, you know,

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God says that he he does not share his glory with anyone there is a glory that is particular to the

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Lord that we ourselves cannot enjoy as recipients rather we enjoy as viewers as beholders and This is a joy

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This is a glory that we not every man can witness you have to be given the senses.

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You have to be given the opportunity to witness this just as There is a special sight of God that was restricted only to Moses and you see the way that God goes about Restricting this so no one else sees him and only

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Moses witnesses him in this particular way There is a sight of God that has been reserved only for Those who are in Christ Jesus, there is a sight of God that we will see

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One day when we are with Christ forever, we will see him and then we will be like him but even now we may witness the glory of God in a in a

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Anticipatory way not not seeing him as we one day will when we see Christ, but We can see the glory of the

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Lord as he works among us and we can we can Experience his goodness because that is what it's talking about when it's talking about seeing the

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Lord yes, there will be a visual component when we see Christ, but it is about experiencing the fullness of God's goodness and that is something that we can begin experiencing even here even now and It is the source of our joy receiving glory seeing glory and then

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Learning to cultivate that as a garden learning to express it

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Ways that we can have joy So if your life feels joyless if your life feels like a desert know that if you are in Christ You are not a desert

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You're a fruitful field and God has equipped you with everything you need in order to be that fruitful field He has given you his spirit at living water from on high that you may continue

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Blossoming as an individual individual and blossoming along with the rest of the church corporately

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And that he has given us all these things for our good Not only that others might see our joy, but the we might enjoy

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Being joyful enjoying him enjoying what he has done in our lives consider this as you go through your week as you

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Experience the ups and downs of the week where you may be tempted to despair where you may be tempted to feel a lack of joy

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Know that God has given you everything you need for joy and as we look to Christ as we look to him and what he has done in salvation and Restoring us from this desert state that we were in he has given us everything we need to be joyful Let's pray

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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the spirit We thank you for the fruit of him in our lives and we ask that you would increase us in joy that we might that we might

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More Experience your goodness. We ask that you would do this for your glory sake for the glory of your kingdom in Jesus name.