"Relating with Indestructible Joy" (Psalm 16:5-11, John 15:8-11)

Welcome to the Reformed University Fellowship at UNCW Podcast! Each week, we will post the messages from our RUF Large Group meetings at UNCW. This semester, we are looking at how the Spirit of God transforms our relationships. We don't want to just dispense relationship advice, but hope to show you the gospel in a way that actually transforms character and empowers wisdom. This week, we continue in the fruit of the Spirit and look at Joy. What is Christian joy and how does it impact how we relate to others? As we look at Joy in Psalm 16 and John 15, we see that joy is an essential part of the Christian life, because joy is an essential element of Jesus Christ's character. “If we aren't capable of being hurt we aren't capable of feeling joy.” -- Madeleine L'Engle “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” ― C.S. Lewis “The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean.” — Jonathan Edwards