C.S. Lewis describes our present reality in this way this ‘valley of tears,’ cursed with labour, hemmed round with necessities, tripped up with frustrations, doomed to perpetual plannings, puzzlings, and anxieties. Joy is the serious business of heaven Sermon slides from a sermon at River Valley Baptist church

1. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious Business
of Heaven
The Living Room

2. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
The Living Room

3. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
The Living Room

4. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
The Living Room

5. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
The Living Room

6. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
It was reported to King David that God had
prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household
because of the Chest of God.
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7. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
So David thought, “I’ll get that blessing for
myself,” and went and brought up the Chest of
God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City
of David, celebrating extravagantly all the way,
with frequent sacrifices of choice bulls.
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8. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
David, ceremonially dressed in priest’s linen,
danced with great abandon before God. The
whole country was with him as he accompanied
the Chest of God with shouts and trumpet
blasts. But as the Chest of God came into the
City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, happened
The be looking out a window.
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9. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
When she saw King David leaping and dancing
before God, her heart filled with scorn.
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10. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
They brought the Chest of God and set it in the
middle of the tent pavilion that David had
pitched for it. Then and there David worshiped,
offering burnt offerings and peace offerings.
The Living Room

11. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
When David had completed the sacrifices of
burnt and peace offerings, he blessed the
people in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
and handed out to each person in the crowd,
men and women alike, a loaf of bread, a date
cake, and a raisin cake. Then everyone went
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home.

12. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
David returned home to bless his family. Michal,
Saul’s daughter, came out to greet him: “How
wonderfully the king has distinguished himself
today—exposing himself to the eyes of the
servants’ maids like some burlesque street
dancer!”
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13. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
David replied to Michal, “In God’s presence I’ll
dance all I want! He chose me over your father
and the rest of our family and made me prince
over God’s people, over Israel. Oh yes, I’ll dance
to God’s glory—more recklessly even than this.
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14. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
And as far as I’m concerned . . . I’ll gladly look
like a fool . . . but among these maids you’re so
worried about, I’ll be honored no end.”
Michal, Saul’s daughter, was barren the rest of
her life. 2 Samuel 6: 12-23
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15. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,
Rejoice. Philippians 4:4 (NRSV)
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in
him! Philippians 4:4 (The Message)
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16. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
Often the word here is translated rejoice. We
normally understand that word today, I think, as
meaning something that happens inside people,
a sense of joy welling up and making them
happy from within.
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17. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
All that is important and is contained within
Paul's command; but in his world and culture
this rejoicing would have meant (what we
would call) public celebration.
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18. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
The world around, in Ephesus, Phillipi, Corinth
and elsewhere used to organise great festivals,
games and shows to celebrate their gods and
their cities, not least the new 'god' Caesar
himself.
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19. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
Why shouldn't the followers of King Jesus
celebrate exuberantly?
It's only right; and celebrating Jesus as Lord
encourages and strengthens loyalty and
obedience to him. N.T. Wright
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20. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
this ‘valley of tears,’ cursed with labour,
hemmed round with necessities, tripped up
with frustrations, doomed to perpetual
plannings, puzzlings, and anxieties. C.S. Lewis
The Living Room

21. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
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22. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
Habakkuk 3: 17-19
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23. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
Though the fig tree does not bud
What I expected to happen that would
insure a secure future is just not there
and there are no grapes on the vines,
and for all my efforts of managing life
The Livinghas come to bear fruit
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24. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
though the olive crop fails
that what I relied on and put my hope in to
soothe my open wounds has failed
and the fields produce no food,
that I am looking at starvation and
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emptiness

25. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
though there are no sheep in the pen
that I have lost all tangible resources I
could trade off
and no cattle in the stalls,
that all my wealth, status, security is gone
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26. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
Yet even in this I will make a conscious
choice to rejoice. I’m not putting a ‘happy face’
mask on and pretending problems don't exist, I
am choosing to go deeper and trust.
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27. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
I know that God is my Saviour. That what I
am experiencing now does not alter in any
way God’s eternal love and commitment
to me. Nothing can separate me from
God’s love
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28. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
I find my strength not in self sufficiency,
demanding things go my way, but in the
sufficiency of God to lead me through the
problems, the ‘valley of tears’
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29. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
Look what he is doing in me! I am finding a
new ability to stand, to be nimble, to jump.
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30. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
he enables me to tread on the heights.
I have not been disabled by the ‘valley of
tears’, rather God has enabled me. I have a
steadiness within me, a confidence, a hope to
see a far off land where I will be with them
(Father, Son, Spirit) forever. Valleys to walk
The through yes, but a steady hand beside.
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31. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
How do you develop the type of joy described
by Habakkuk.
1. Realise it is a by product of a life lived fully for
God.
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32. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
But what happens when we live God’s way? He
brings gifts into our lives, much the same way
that fruit appears in an orchard—things like
affection for others [Love], exuberance about
life[Joy], serenity [Peace]. Legalism is helpless in
bringing this about; it only gets in the way.
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Galatians 5:22,

33. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
2. Don’t scorn or look down on others Joy.
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34. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
3. Sit and listen to the stories of those who have
been through the ‘valley of tears’ and yet have a
beautiful sense of deep Joy. Learn from them.
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35. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
RVBC is known as
• A community of people that have a deep
‘below the surface’ current of joy.
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36. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
RVBC is known as
• A community where people can safely be
both real in their struggles and deep in their
faith.
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37. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
RVBC is known as
• A community where ‘old’ and ‘young’ share
life and wisdom together.
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38. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
RVBC is known as
• A community of groups, from 2 -10 where
people gather together regularly for mutual
spiritual formation and support.
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39. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
RVBC is known as
• A community that because it exists the aroma
of Christ wafts gently into every area of our
local society and indeed our world. (If RVBC
wasn’t here would we be missed?)
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40. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
Joy is the Serious
Business of Heaven
Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say,
Rejoice.
The Living Room