This transcript was generated by whisper.ai. I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions. This is our study together, the book of Philippians. In Daily Drive Time Devotions we take a look together at the Bible, through the Bible, a chapter a week, about 10 minutes a day. And this week we're looking at Philippians chapter 1, beginning our look at this incredible book about joy. When you talk about joy, you have to talk about the different places that God wants to bring joy into our lives. We're going to talk in a moment about how the way that you and I relate to people has an incredible impact on whether I have joy in my daily life or not. But before getting there, just a reminder, since we're going to talk about joy throughout this book, just a quick reminder of what joy is. When I say the word joy, I can think a lot of different things. When you hear the word joy, you may hear a lot of different things. So what kind of joy are we talking about? What kind of joy does God want to bring into our lives? Well, let me tell you some things that it isn't and some things that it is. The truth about joy, one thing that it isn't, first of all, joy is not a personality. We're not talking about being introverted or extroverted. Some of you might be thinking as you're hearing this, if I have to be bubbly to be joyful, that is not for me. Honestly, I'd rather be adrift than be bubbly. I just don't want to be one of those kind of people. Whether you're extroverted or introverted, you can experience joy because it's not about a certain personality. It's about what's happening in my heart, a kind of security, a kind of way to embrace life that you never embraced it before. Joy is not a personality, but I'll tell you one thing that the Bible says joy is. The Bible says that for the believer in Christ, joy is normal. It's normal. Jesus said in John 15, he says, "I'm telling you these things so that you can have the same joy I have and so that your joy will be the fullest joy possible. " As he talked to his followers, Jesus says, "I want you to have joy. In fact, it is the normal experience of the Christian life, the expected experience," Jesus said, "of all believers. " If I stick a spiritual thermometer in my mouth, it should register joy. And if I'm experiencing anything different than joy, and I do sometimes, that says to me that something is abnormal, something is out of whack, because Jesus says, "One of the gifts I want to give you is that you should be able to expect joy to be a part of your daily life. " We're going to work through how does it get into my daily life as we walk through this book. The third truth about joy is that joy comes from God's word. Many, many times the Bible tells us that it's from the Bible, God's truth, God's word, that we get joy. God's principles in the Bible result in joy, and that's why we're studying Philippians. I believe, I really believe that a study together of this book is going to raise your joy quotient. Wherever the joy level is in your life right now, it will go up, not based on what I'm saying, but based on what we're looking at, God's word, because it's from God's word that joy springs, that joy comes in our lives. Now, you might be listening to this and you already have a good measure of joy in your life, so your joy quotient is going to go up maybe 10, 15, 20 percent as we look together at this book. That's still pretty significant, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that for many of you as you listen to this, God is going to multiply your joy as we listen together to what he has to say by two or three or even 10 times, because it's based on God's word. Joy comes from God's word. The Bible also tells us as we walk through these facts about joy that joy is our strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength, Nehemiah 8. 10 says. It's not determination that's your strength, it's the joy that's your strength. That's where real genuine strength comes from. I have found in my life that one of the main reasons I feel I can't, I don't have the strength to face that, I don't have the strength to do that, I can't, is a lack of joy. When I have joy, when I have a genuine sense of the fact that God has a plan, God has a future, I have security in that, I can face things that I wasn't able to face otherwise. Joy is our strength. And then remember also, one final thing about joy as we enter into looking at this book, joy is a process. I think for a lot of us, joy sort of feels like flipping a switch. You find some switch somewhere and you flip it and all of a sudden you've got joy that day, but then somebody flips it down, you don't have joy that day, and you spend the rest of your life flipping the switch up and down. That's not what joy is like. You want to find joy again in your life, joy for the first time? The Bible reminds us that joy is a process. It's not a matter of flipping a switch, it's a matter of understanding God's process. And get this, here is the surprise in the process. The very places that we tend to see our joy being stolen from us are the same places where God wants to give us joy. We don't need to go to a different place to find joy, we need to find how God wants to give us joy in the very places where right now it seems that our joy is being stolen from us. As we walk through Philippians, we're going to see Paul talking about those places, those places where joy is won or lost. He's going to talk about our relationships, joy is won or lost there. He's going to talk about your problems, that's where joy is won or lost. Some people think joy is not having any problems, impossible in this world. No, joy is how you handle your problems. He's going to talk about yourself, your potential, your work, your accomplishments. Paul's going to talk about your future. The way you look at that is where joy is won or lost. He's going to talk about your thoughts, your thought life. The way you and I look at that, that's where joy is won or lost. He's going to talk about finances, that's where joy is won or lost. And as we walk through Philippians, we're going to find a different kind of joy being talked about. It is not joy in spite of my circumstances, it is joy revealed through the very things that I think might be stealing my joy. The wrong attitudes toward circumstances of life will always create for me pressure and anxiety. But this book reminds us, tells us, teaches us that the right attitudes always create joy. The book of Philippians is written to say you want to live a life of joy, here's how. How do you do that? You have joy in daily relationships. As we look at Philippians 1-6 today, chapter 1 verses 1-6 today, that's the question. Where do you find joy in daily relationships? No matter how people treat you. And as we talk about this, you might think of the one relationship in your life that seems to constantly steal joy from you. How can you find joy there? How can you find joy in that relationship? Because sometimes people tend to steal joy from us. You ever wake up with one of those zippity doo-dah kind of feelings, it's going to be a great day, and then you meet that certain someone and they burst your bubble and all the zip goes out of your doo-dah. It happens to all of us. Well listen, joy shouldn't be that fragile. It needn't be that fragile. Joy shouldn't be dependent on everyone treating you perfectly every day, on not meeting this certain person today. And Paul talks about joy in any relationship in Philippians chapter 1. Let me read for you Philippians 1 verses 1 and 2. Paul and Timothy, he begins, "Servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. " Now it reminds us from the very beginning that when it comes to relationships, joy starts with how you see yourself. Paul and Timothy, he writes, "Servants, servants of Jesus Christ. " The literal word there is slave. Paul starts by calling himself a slave. He's a slave of Jesus Christ. The idea here is of a bond slave, a willing servant. He has chosen to give his life to serving Jesus Christ. There's something interesting about being a servant. Servants are not so demanding of getting their own way, and that is one of the secrets to joy. It depends on how you see yourself in your relationship with other people. If you see yourself as a servant, it increases your joy. There's no doubt about it. If you're forced to be a servant, it decreases your joy. But when you choose to be a servant, to give your life to serving others, there is an increase of joy. Grace and peace, Paul starts out. Grace and peace. Grace was a Gentile greeting. Peace was a Jewish greeting. Paul often combined them. It's interesting that the way that Paul starts many of his letters is not a bad way to start Reminding yourself of God's grace. Reminding yourself of God's peace. And then Paul writes to who he's writing to in Philippians. He talks about all the saints in Christ Jesus. Remember that saints in the Bible are not those really perfect super Christians. In the Bible, the word saint means any believer in Jesus Christ. To all the saints, together with, he says, the overseers and deacons. What's that all about? What's an overseer? Well, in the New Testament, the word pastor and elder and overseer, those three words are used interchangeably. Overseer is also sometimes translated bishop. Those words are all used interchangeably and they mean the same thing, the leader of the local church. He talks about the leaders and the servants in the church and he says, we're all servants together. At the very beginning of this letter, he begins to talk about relationships. We're going to take a look beginning today and then finishing tomorrow at three ways for relationships to become a source of joy. It all has to do with where you keep people. You want relationships to be a source of joy. Keep people in your thoughts. Keep people in your heart. Keep people in your prayers. Let me say that again. Keep people in your thoughts. Keep people in your heart and keep people in your prayers. Let's look at the first one today. You want to put people, you want to keep people in your thoughts. If you're always thinking only of things, you're not going to have joy. You have to put people in your thoughts. And Paul certainly did. Verses three to six, he says, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. " Paul thought about people in a way that resulted in joy in his life. He had caring thoughts towards people. He wrote back to them. He continued to care for them even though he wasn't with them any longer. For him, it wasn't out of sight, out of mind. He remembered and wrote back to those people that he loved. And he had thankful thoughts. "I thank my God every time I remember you. " Joy in every prayer and thanks in every remembrance. That was the recipe for Paul. Paul did not pretend that there were no problems in this Philippian church. Later he's going to tell them, "Don't argue so much. " He didn't ignore the problems, but he also didn't ignore the thanks and the joy. Let me ask you, when was the last time you thanked God for another person? When was the last time you thanked God for the person who most irritates you? It's one of the secrets to joy. Paul also had confident thoughts. "I am confident," he said, "that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. " It's interesting, the Greek word for "to begin" that's used there and the Greek word for "to complete" that's used there are technical terms for the beginning and the ending of a sacrifice. He's talking here about our lives offered and received as a living sacrifice. He who began a good work in you, offered up a good work, will complete that good work. Now, what's the good work that he's talking about here, by the way? Well, it's pretty simple. It's making us more like Jesus Christ. It's making us more like Jesus in character, in passion, in heart, in influence. Paul says, "I am confident. " I am confident that God's going to do that in your life. If you could be confident that God was going to do that in the life of every person that you know who's given their life over to Jesus Christ for his work, you'd have more joy. So how do you have that confidence? Well, notice very closely in these verses who the confidence is in. It's not in you, but it's in he who began a good work in you. God will finish what God started. God will finish what God started. I got a letter from a Saddleback member about these verses, and they wrote, "This verse is the verse that always encourages me to keep doing God's work whenever I feel depressed and discouraged by some unpleasant event. Sometimes I feel the limitation of my own strength and start to doubt whether the work I'm doing is from God's plan or not. But whenever I read or remember this verse, I'm reminded that God is for me and he is in charge of the things he started in spite of my limited ability or strength. So what I need to do is just trust God and keep doing it. " I want you to notice, as Paul talks about people, how often he uses a three-letter word. He says in verse 3, "I thank my God every time I remember you in all of my prayers. For all of you, I always pray with joy. Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, he who began a good work will carry it on into completion. It's right for me, he says, to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. " Again and again, he uses the word "all. " Part of the joy that he has, part of the joy that he talks about is that he didn't care just for a few. He cared for all. He may have had his favorites, people that he enjoyed being with. Even Jesus had people that he enjoyed being with, but that didn't keep Jesus. That didn't keep Paul from loving everyone. You might run this test through your heart. If you say in your heart, "I could pray for everyone but. . . " and there's one person who's not included in the all, that might be the source. That just might be the source of a loss of joy in your life. As we end, Paul thanked God for people. Let's take a few minutes to thank God for the people in our lives. And in prayer, just say, "Jesus Christ, I thank you for. . . " and name the first people that come to mind. It's likely going to be somebody in your family, somebody at your work, close friend. "I thank you for these people. " As you continue to thank God for people, you might think towards the past. Some people you may not have thought of for years, but God used them to have a significant influence in your life. "God, I remember to thank you for this person. " And if you want to pray a really courageous prayer, thank God for a person you don't want to thank him for today. Someone who maybe you've seen as an enemy lately. Someone who has become an irritation lately. Someone with whom you're having a difficulty in a relationship. "God, I thank you that you love even them. I thank you that you can work in their lives. And I thank you that your plan is bigger than what we're going through right now. " God, thank you for people, for how you work in my life, you work in our lives, to the people you put into our lives. We are grateful for your love. In your name, Amen.