12/14/25 Isaiah 12:2-6 “Storing Treasures in Heaven!”

11 Dec 12/14/25 Isaiah 12:2-6 “Storing Treasures in Heaven!”

12/14/25   Isaiah 12:2-6      “Storing Treasures in Heaven!”

Our world has become absolutely obsessed with happiness.  Personally, I feel that this has been the case since the beginning of television or maybe even movies.   I think it is the same way with our declining moral values.  We think nothing of shooting people on screen or even committing adultery habitually.  Several years ago, they did a study on this very topic and they found that there was absolutely no correlation between violence on TV and violence in our society.  That should have convinced me until I found that it was the entertainment industry who paid for the study.  In other words, there was no real study at all.  You can wrestle with that however you please.  But I do think that we focus too much on being happy and not enough about being real.  The city of Fargo is all upset because many of their workers are not happy with their jobs.  It will be pretty hard to fix that.  There was another study a few years ago that found that 70-80% of all workers everywhere, were not happy with their jobs.  I know this to be true when I worked at the Post Office.  There were not many people happy there but they knew they just had to put up with it because it was a decent job.  People forget that work is not supposed to be happy.  It is work.  We just do it because it has to be done.  It is like shoveling the sidewalks at the church.  It just has to be done.  Anyway, today we are going to look at joy and rejoicing.  Let us see if we can close in a little on much of the joy that is in our lives.  We may not even know about some of it.

Here is a story that goes something like the story of the 10 lepers in the Bible.  Bishop Gerland Kennedy tells the true story of a shipwreck off the coast of Evanston, Ill. many years ago. The students of Northwestern University came to the rescue. One student, Edward Spenser, personally saved the lives of 17 people that day. Years later a reporter was writing a follow up story on the event, and went to interview the now elderly Spenser. When asked what was the one thing that stood out about the incident in his mind; Spenser replied: “I remember that of the seventeen people I saved that day, not one of them ever thanked me.”  Our society is to focused on me, that they will hardly ever thank you for anything.  Think about that.

Isaiah begins with an obvious observation to us but not to the world.  It is the same way today as he tells us that God is my salvation.  I will trust God and not be afraid.  Usually when we start our way to salvation, something has happened to us that is not very good.  For some reason we feel trapped by our own behavior.  This can be anything you can think.  You can be trapped in alcohol, drugs, sex, money, and many more things too numerous to mention.  But that does not mean that they are not important.  If something is dragging you down, then it is important to you.  The only sure way out of the situation is faith in Jesus Christ.  I’m here to tell you today that Jesus has never been wrong.  How would you like a track record like that?  He has never been wrong and never will be!  It is us who are wrong.  Remember that!

Anyway, our salvation comes through Jesus.  He came to take your sins away.  He came to take your troubles away.  He came so that you could have a wonderful life following and obeying Him.  This is not that hard.  I recently heard a missionary say that early on in his career, someone asked him if he was sure where he would spend eternity.  He gave the answer that many people give.  He hoped he would be going to heaven.  He hoped.  It was then that he figured he had it all wrong.  Right then and there, he got on his knees and confessed his sin to Jesus.  Then he asked that Jesus live in his heart forever as his Lord and Savior.  The reason I bring this up is that we might have some people here today who think like this missionary used to think.  So, if you are having all sorts of problems or any other disruptions in your life or if you just think you will be going to heaven, then listen to this message.  It is a life saver.  You need to confess and ask Jesus to live in your heart.  That my friends is the sure way to salvation.  And that is what we want for all of you.  That is the sure way to heaven.

Ok.  Now you have your salvation so all other things from God will work for you.  You will now trust Jesus in everything.  He has proven over and over, that He can do anything.  He can feed thousands of people with next to nothing.  He can calm any storm with just a thought.  This includes any storm in your life.  The only catch is that you have to do what He says.  This is where most Christians fall down today.  We do not want to do what Jesus tells us to do.  We are just way too independent for our own good.

This is not that hard to do either but you have to be willing to give up some of yourself.  To make this work, you need time in prayer.  Make a place where you can go everyday and pray in peace and quiet.  Talk to Jesus and tell Him your needs and wants and troubles.  Talk to Him about the good things that have been happening in your life also.  Talk to Him like you are in a regular conversation.  Then in the middle of the prayer, be quiet.  Do not think or talk or anything.  Try to completely blank your mind.  Then pay attention to the thoughts that come to you.  Jesus will be planting things in your mind to help you solve your problems or make your life better.  But listen!  Concentrate on listening.

What you will end up with is a life of trusting God in all that you do.  You will not be afraid of things for the first time in your life.  Jesus will ease you into situations where He knows that you can do it.  You will really discover your gifts and be able to apply them on a regular basis.  I always tell people that they will be free for the first time in their lives.  People who live without Jesus only think they have peace.  They only think they have freedom. They only think they have love.  Only with Jesus will you be able to have these things in their greatness and much more on a very regular basis.

Soon you will find that your strength comes from the Lord.  You will find that He is always there waiting to help you with anything.  You will attain a confidence in Jesus that you have never known before.  When it comes time for the singing to take place in church, you will find that you are leading the way in song, even if you don’t think you can sing.  All this and more are a part of the joy you will have and feel.  It is the best feeling that you can ever have so don’t wait another day to join Jesus.  This is the joy that we talk about during this advent season.

Charles Swindoll tells of an old woman dearly loved her Lord. Often her cup of joy overflowed. A favorite expression of hers was, “Praise the Lord!” Often, in God’s house, when the minister preached, she would say out loud, “Praise the Lord!” Sometimes, however, the minister was disturbed by this, and he would lose his line of thought – and so he considered how he might kindly discourage the old woman’s outbursts. The woman was very poor, and therefore the minister had an idea. He offered her a parcel of groceries every month on behalf of the Benevolent Fund if she would only refrain from saying, “Praise the Lord!” during his sermons. She greatly needed the groceries, so she did her best to earn them on the minister’s terms. For many Sundays, she kept perfectly quiet during the sermon. One day, however, the minister preached on forgiveness of sin, with its attendant blessings and joys. And as he preached, the old woman thought less and less of the groceries, and more and more of the joys of salvation. Finally, she could stand it no longer. To everyone’s surprise, she cried out: “Groceries or NO groceries – PRAISE THE LORD!”  I know and I love people who just cannot hold it in and have to shout out “Praise the Lord!”  And by the way, you can shout that out at anytime during one of my sermons.

As we look at verse 3, we find that the Lord will draw water from the wells of salvation with joy.  He tells us many, many times how much joy there is when one person comes to know Jesus for the first time.  It is hard to believe that Jesus would stop everything when someone first believes.  But He does.  I have known many people who have come to know the Lord.  They are so full of joy and happiness that they seem ready to burst.  They are excited about finally being in the right place.  They will do anything for Him at this point.  Well, the Lord is the same way.  He is excited beyond our dreams.  He wants to do many wonderful things for them and He still wants to do many wonderful things for you.

And it is not like salvation is a one and done thing.  The well of salvation is bottomless and will continue to flow forever.  This is where you get your strength, hope and peace just to name a few wonderful attributes that Jesus is wanting to give you from this endless stream of water.  One of the great things that come from this endless stream of salvation, is joy.  I want to tell you today, that this joy is something that you cannot have without Jesus.  It is a joy that is beyond our description.  It is beyond time because if you have it here, you will have it for eternity.  I can think of nothing better than the joy of the Lord, unless, of course, I think about his love, peace and hope.  Jesus wants to fill you up with all of these things.  Then you will want to go into the world and spread His word with whatever gift He has given you.  Think about that.

I just read a story of a man who went to work every day and had to bring his lunch with him.  His little girl decided that she was going to help.  So, she made a second bag and filled it with things she thought would be nice for lunch.  He didn’t open it until he was eating his first bag of lunch.  In it he found two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, two animal crackers, a marble, a used lipstick, a small doll, 2 chocolate kisses and 13 pennies.  These were her treasures and they filled the man with joy.

That is what I call joy but there could even be more.  We just added a new grandson to our family.  All are doing well.  We did not get to be there but we will get down to see them soon.  Anyway, we got pictures and videos of mom, dad and the new baby.  The other two kids ages 3 and 1 were also very happy with the addition.  The point I want to make here is that our daughter, the mom, was beaming with joy for at least the whole day after young Wellington was born.  That is the type of joy that we just cannot replicate.  This is more like what we are supposed to be doing for the Lord all the time.  It is an absolute joy for me to prepare messages for the King of kings and Lord of lords.

And that just brings us to the last part of this reading.  You might be a little afraid of this last part but please don’t tune me out.  In this last part we are called to spread the word of Jesus with song, thanksgiving and words.  Now I don’t want you to think that you all have to go out and be evangelists.  However, if you think you can do this then just go and to it.  But most of us are not gifted in this way.  I would guess that there are not many of you who can do what I do every week and that is ok.  You see I’m gifted in this area so I can stand up here and talk about Jesus just about all day.

You, however, were not gifted as such.  You can proclaim the greatness in Jesus in ways that I cannot.  Once again you have to rely on your gifts.  Remember that when you are using your gifts, then it seems like you are doing no work at all.  What you do is effortless because Jesus is there to help you every step of the way.  So, if you have the gift of hospitality, then set up hospitality for the church or in the neighborhood.  Others will see and want whatever it is you are offering.  If you have the gift of faith, then show how much faith you have in Jesus.  Others will want to join in and try to have what you have.  This list just goes on and on here.  Do the work of Jesus wherever He sends you.  Keep using and using and using your gifts and you will be making a difference in this world, a huge difference.

That is what this is all about, making a difference in our world for Jesus.  The story is told of a South Sea Islander who proudly displayed his Bible to a G.I. during WW II. He had received it as a present from a missionary some time before.  The soldier said, “Oh, we’ve outgrown that sort of thing like the Bible.”  The native. who had been a Cannibal before he was saved, simply smiled back and said, “Well, it’s a good thing we haven’t, because if it weren’t for this Book……..you would be our evening meal!”  This man is alive full of hope, and joy because these primitive people knew the Bible.  That missionary who gave them the Word of God had no idea the good he was doing at the time.

You can be the exact same way.  You probably will not know who will benefit greatly from what you say and do in the name of Jesus.  But remember, that the word of God will never come back empty.  Never.  What you will be doing is spreading the Word of God.  Someone will benefit from this.  I know they will because the Bible tells me so.

I would like you to try to spread the hope, joy, peace of Jesus during this Christmas season.  Then do not stop.  Keep spreading all these things and more to everyone.  That way you will be storing up your treasures in heaven.  Jesus will reward us richly when the time comes. So, keep on moving ahead with Jesus.  You will never regret it.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.    Merry Christmas