We need to remind ourselves of everything lovely and pure and praiseworthy: God’s promises, God’s graces, and God’s ways. It’s a kind of over-the-top joy, it’s a superabundant joy. This is not a Christian. Some of our ladies have been studying a book by Ann Voskamp. We are working through Paul’s letter to the Philippians on Sunday mornings in a series titled ‘Joy No Matter What.’ We are nearing the end of the letter, and would you believe that we would just happen to be at the one place in the letter where Paul talks about “thanksgiving”! First and foremost is salvation (2Pt3:9). It’s a lot easier from a human perspective if God just did a miracle, if He just invaded all these contingencies and says, “I’m moving these aside, I’m going to make the axe head float. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. (Phil. Rejoice Always? And in all of it, he says, “In all my sufferings I rejoice.” He obeyed this command. We’re not talking about that kind of joy, that’s the world’s joy. INTRODUCTION. I also rejoice always as an act of reasonable response to answered prayer. I came to Jesus and I lost my job, and I got cut from the team. It is promised to God’s people (Psalm 132:16). You can read them for yourself through the Psalms and through the prophets and elsewhere. Be glad in that day” – I love this – “and leap for joy.” It’s not just a marginal joy again, it’s not just a minimal joy, it’s joy that you really can’t find an outlet for, so you wind up jumping. It’s obvious to you before you were a Christian, it’s obvious to you as you look at the world around you. In a leadership book by Jon Gordon, he talks about a conversation he had with Dr. James Gills: Dr. James Gills is the only man in the world to have completed six Double Iron triathlons (two triathlons back to back in 36 hours). It was written while he was a prisoner, while he was suffering the direst of conditions, and persecution and hostility from other Christian evangelists who were accusing him of iniquity and sin. My joy is, first of all, anchored in my God. It is in these times that we most need this text. And in that wonderful Philippian epistle, “joy” is mentioned, some form of the word is mentioned, sixteen times. It’s there, it’s yours, you can claim it; you’ve got this deep well. This should characterize our lives all the time. As I think about why – and I just jotted these things down because they’re personal to me, but I think they’re universal for Christians. The Ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King (Hebrews 1:1-3) Pastor John MacArthur. ... Rejoice in the Lord Always: Work Out Your Salvation Speaker: Dr. Jeff Dowdy. In our Lord’s final time with His disciples, John 13 to 17, the Upper Room Discourse, when He was celebrating the Last Supper with them, and the night that Judas betrayed Him, He mentions “joy” and “full joy” eight times. How do we come to have such a state of mind? Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. But I have overcome the world.” So it’s not fatal, it’s just part of your perfection: “Count it all joy, because it’s perfecting your faith.” It’s proving the reality of your faith, strengthening it to enduring faith. These are some of our most-loved words in Scripture. It comes into our lives through Christ: “My joy is given to you so your joy is complete.” It is an unlimited, undiminished, full joy. And there’s one other thing and it’s a big one: feelings, feelings. Pray and praise and rejoice knowing that Paul gave the Biblical admonishment to an angry and fearful people, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice." Therein lies our joy. I feel emotional joys and emotional sorrows; I feel highs and lows like everybody does. And then next, I rejoice always as an act of reasonable response to divine providence, to divine providence. God is too loving to be unkind to His children. this week. Peace displacing anxiety in our hearts and minds. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Well, that’s right, but it doesn’t talk about our internal Christian joy. It is also a product of receiving the Scripture, of receiving the Scripture. What is that? Those feelings are controlled by the truth so that the emotions serve your understanding. Somebody who worships in the Spirit of God, rejoices in Christ Jesus, and puts no confidence in the flesh. No circumstance affects it, no event affects it, no acquisition affects it, and no loss affects it. It’s a full joy, it’s a spiritual joy, it’s a supernatural joy; it comes from God. GDPR is the new European privacy regulation, which will replace the Data Protection Act 1998 in the UK and the equivalent legislation across the EU Member States. And when the word of Christ dwells in me richly, Colossians 3:16, I wind up speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody and rejoicing in my heart because of the truth. And this is really quite remarkable, because it was in that experience that the disciples would reach the low point of their human lives. This means that we should rejoice even on boring days. You have nothing to fear from him at all, because God is sovereign. Secondly, I am motivated to rejoice always in appreciation for the work of Jesus Christ, in appreciation for the work of Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 INTRODUCTION 1. James 1:2, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” This joy comes from God, mediated by Christ, energized by the Holy Spirit, as we receive the Word in the midst of trials. What’s a Christian? As I saw the man staring, I wondered what was going on in his mind. No gain affects it, no deprivation affects it. What is it that motivates me to do that? God, You did something in my heart that is more than the natural joy that I received when all my crops came in, and I had all I wanted to eat and all I wanted to drink, and all the resources and money that I needed. One of the things she writes about is her experience of making a list God’s gifts as she becomes aware of them. That is not supernatural joy. I am rejoicing always because of the character of God, because of the wonder of the work of Christ, and thirdly, because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. "Rejoice in the Lord Always--Even in 2020!" Paul says in Colossians 1:24, “I rejoice in my sufferings. It is from God, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit, as we understand the Scripture. He’s my God. Here is my sermon on Philippians 4:4-7. Throughout the book of Acts we find the disciples and apostles rejoicing that they were counted privileged to suffer persecution for the cause of Christ. I’m very emotional. And then one other element: it is enhanced and enriched through trials. What makes that, I suppose, remarkable is that that was written as one of Paul’s prison epistles. That’s tragic. Let me close with just some hindrances. What thoughts occupy your mind? Philippians 3:1-3. I rejoice always as an act of reasonable response to spiritual blessings continually given. You may recall that "joy" is the keynote of this epistle a. When we’re told again to, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say rejoice,” when it’s reiterated, we bow the knee again and say, “That’s exactly right,” and we have the resource to do that. Even when he was sorrowing, sorrowing with the sorrows of others, sorrowing over the failure of believers in churches, sorrowing over the disaffection of those he loved, sorrowing over the pain of persecution, sorrowing more often than not over the maltreatment that the gospel preachers received, sorrowing over the dishonor that was literally placed upon Christ, and yet all of those kinds of emotional experiences never touched his joy. It sure would be nice with a vacation right now, but if it doesn’t work out, that inner joy that I have isn’t dampened. Can you believe it is Thanksgiving week?! It is the will of God for us to rejoice always. I can let life bring what it brings, and move through life knowing that whatever happens God providentially orders it to work together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose, Romans 8. q The Lord is at hand; 6 r do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. So if they lust after something that their body wants, or they lust after something their eyes see, or they desire strongly something that they think will satisfy their sense of well-being, pride, and they get it, then there’s joy. ... Share this sermon. And I want to draw you to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 16. It is a command: “Rejoice always.”. That’s why they move from partner, to partner, to partner, to partner in relationships incessantly, because the momentary thrill in the fulfillment of their lust dissipates very fast, is delusional, and they look one day at the person they wanted so badly and they don’t want them anymore, and now the grief comes: “How do I get rid of this person to move on to what my lust wants now?” And that’s how they live their life, controlled to some degree by conventional expectations and the expectations of people around them. The word for rejoice is a Greek verb chairontes in the imperative mood, which means it is a command. That’s why trials are so helpful, because when you pass the test you know your faith is the real thing. And then you could even include the promise of future glory, the promise that is yet to be unfolded for us in the glory which is to come; that certainly is cause for joy. – “joy, joy.”. We’re talking about supernatural joy: something that is not natural; something that comes from God, not from our humanness. This is the plan. I believe everyone regretted the busyness of the Christmas Season. So it isn’t long after you have what you thought you really wanted, and it only brought you a moment of happiness, and you find out what Proverbs says, “The end of joy may be grief.”. It is a command that we must deliberately choose to obey, especially when we’re in difficult circumstances. Our attitude and state-of-mind can rise above our situation. But the drawing of that joy is dependent upon the Holy Spirit; that is to say, walking in the Spirit, obeying the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit. And so when Jesus started to talk about His death, and when it became imminent and they were on the brink, as it were, of that reality, and the Jews had already hatched the plot and it was well nigh about to be sprung on Jesus, and now Jesus had been telling them, “I’m leaving, I’m leaving,” never was the fear greater, never was the anxiety greater, never was the sense of dread greater, never was there a time in their experience with Him when they would have more justified reason to be sorrowful than that. In fact, James emphasizes, James 1:2, “Consider it all joy,” – again, not a marginal joy, not a minimal joy, but a consummate joy – “my brethren, when you encounter various trials, because these trials test your faith, and they therefore produce endurance.” Tested faith is faith that endures. He said – I can’t remember exact words, I should have brought it to read. I understand disappointment and grief as well as exhilarating happiness, and experiencing not only in my own personal life and the life of my family, but in the lives of the people who are a part of my life, and your lives as well. Well, it’s like Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” What strengthens me in the midst of difficulty and trial is the joy I find in the rock of my God. And the key, of course, is to look away from the changing circumstance to the unchangeable God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the unchangeable benefits and blessings of our salvation, and the unchangeable promise of eternal heaven, so that the joyful Christian thinks more of his Lord than his personal difficulties, more of his spiritual riches in Christ than his poverty on earth, and more of his glorious fulfillment in heaven than his present pain. There are a number of passages that undergird that statement. That’ll steal it. 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