Rejoice Ever More

[00:00:00] Alright, just doing a little calculating here. The last few days you're used to three hour sessions. And, see we started at 9.30 and it's 11, not quite 11.30, so that gives me another hour. Alright. I did want to say that for those of you that were in the seminar this weekend, And maybe you had something that you felt prompted in and you're not quite sure how to work with it, pray with it, whatever. [00:00:41] If you'd like some help, Tom's and Sheldon's and us have all been through the program. And Danny and Gloria have taken some training, so just get a hold of one of us and we'll be happy to help in whatever way we can. Quite a number of others have been through the program too and they'd be available as well, I'm sure. So don't just sit there and say, oh, I wish I knew what to do or I wish I could have some help. [00:01:11] There's help here. All right, I want to go back this morning. We had started a couple of weeks ago and looked at using... Am I not on, Daniel? Thank you. [00:01:56] We had started a series and we had talked about weapons that God has given us and we talked about understanding and using these five weapons. The weapons of rejoicing, resisting, love, prayer, and meditation. And that was what we looked at was when to use them, what the results would be, and what the end results would be. And so we went then, last time I preached, to understanding and using the weapon of rejoicing. [00:02:29] In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, if you look there, the children of Israel actually used rejoicing as a weapon of war. God gave it to them. He said, you go out and you praise God and God will fight your battle. And God did in a miraculous way, just incredible. All they did was rejoice. And God fought their battle for them. [00:03:00] And I use the two words of joy and rejoicing in looking through the Scriptures. Now, we had gone through a number of these questions, but the one I wanted to focus on, just to refresh our memory here, is what kind of reaction to bad circumstances do you think brings glory to God? We're looking at the weapon of rejoicing. That weapon is to be used in difficult circumstances. And when we think about the adversities and the circumstances we face, [00:03:32] what kind of reaction to those circumstances brings glory to God? If we're down in the mouth, if we're grumbling and complaining, and we have nothing good to say, is that bringing glory to God? No, it doesn't. We know that. And we need to be reminded of it. We also need to learn how to use our weapons. If we're going to use any weapon effectively, we've got to first recognize that we have authority over Satan through the finished work of Christ and no other way. [00:04:11] That's the only way that we have authority over Satan. And we have to recognize that and we must have given our rights to God. I don't have any rights. I don't have a right to a reputation. I don't have a right to possessions. I don't have a right, those belong to God and He can decide if I need a reputation or not He can decide if I need possessions or not He can decide what I need and I'm just going to focus on serving and worshipping Him [00:04:42] I told you about this little plaque that was on the wall in my parents' bedroom and I had to think about it again this weekend when James was sharing It's easy enough to be pleasant when life goes by like a song, or with a song, but the man worthwhile is the man with a smile when everything goes dead wrong. And who's the first person you think about when you think about that? A man with a smile when everything goes dead wrong. [00:05:22] Job. He's one of the first guys that comes to our mind, right? Let me ask you something. Do you think Job had had no trials up to that point, everything had been rosy for Job, and all of a sudden the whole load got dropped on him at once, and Job responded that way? What do you think? How many think Job had some trials before? How many think this was the whole load all at once and everything up until then had been just great? [00:05:57] Good. I think you're thinking right. Alright. God's plan for us is for us to be filled with joy. And we looked at these scriptures already for that. Now, I want to just refresh this in your memory. We have two cycles that we can get into. We can either get into the vicious cycle of defeat, or we can go to the victor cycle. [00:06:28] Both of these cycles start with adversity. What happens? Adversity comes to us, it produces distress. What do I do? I feel bad, I don't understand, there's just a lot of turmoil going on in my mind. At that time, we have a point of choice. What am I going to do? We didn't choose the adversity. We didn't choose the distress. But now we choose what's going to happen with them. [00:07:00] God gives us that opportunity. We can raise all kinds of defenses. We can get angry. We can decide, I'm going to make this thing change. We can just get into all kinds of things like that. And those produce symptoms in us, that anger grows and we start having maybe some sickness. Maybe we have some, and by the way, James shared with us that anger is responsible for a large portion of sicknesses in our society today. [00:07:37] And that's true, it is. So that's some of the symptoms that happen in this vicious cycle. And then we end up in pessimism. How many of you have been there? Nothing goes right. Nothing good is ever going to happen. It's just downhill from here. And that's that cycle. And you know what? Then here comes the next adversity. And boom, there we go, right around again. Just going around and around and around and down and down and down. [00:08:09] Spiraling. Now, the victor's cycle of growth starts out exactly the same. The adversity comes, the distress happens. To be a Christian and to be under God's direction and led by the Holy Spirit does not mean that adversities and distresses won't come to us. Get it straight. Some reason we have this concept in our land that somehow if we're the right kind of Christian, [00:08:39] Distresses aren't going to happen. Sorry, that's a lie from the devil. It gets us off guard. It gets us off balance. Remember, we're talking about a weapon. We're talking about warfare. And if we go back into 2 Corinthians chapter 10, where this is based out of, he says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not fleshly. They're not within our power, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Now, here's where it changes. If we're going to have victory, and James talks about this, and James Wagler brought this out, and it just blessed my heart to see how this was all tying together so well. [00:09:23] Now, James says, look, when you have all kinds of trials and temptations and distress and adversity, let patience have her perfect work. Let patience happen. Patience is just waiting on God. It's just saying, you know, I don't understand the adversity. I don't understand the distress. I'm going to wait and see what God has in this. [00:09:54] That produces experience. We learn, we're growing. Experience is growth, right? If I go to Howard to get my little tractor fixed, he is able to figure out problems that a lot of people can't because he's had so much experience. Now how did he get that experience? Because of all the problems that came to him, right? He didn't just always have brand new tractors there to work on that worked perfectly [00:10:32] And that's how he got his experience No, he got his experience because he sat there and scratched his head And wondered how that was happening That's exactly what's happening in our lives God is teaching us to use the weapon of rejoicing And so we've got that experience that comes into our life And we don't like those experiences But again, the experience is what produces the growth [00:11:02] And then James says, that ends up in hope Hope is confidence in God Now, if you've gone through a cycle like this You've made the choice You've decided, I don't understand, but I am going to trust God. God has given me a weapon of rejoicing, I'm going to use it, I don't understand. But we choose that, and we go through that experience, we gain that experience, and we have that confidence in God that God knows that He cares, that He's involved in this. [00:11:37] What's going to happen when the next adversity and distress comes into our lives? Are we going to get knocked off our feet and fall over backwards and pull our hair out and wonder what to do? No, because we've learned to use the weapon that God's given to us. And so we're better able to handle that distress. The weapon of joy is to be used in a number of ways. [00:12:07] And I just want you to notice as we look through these, how these are all very difficult situations. We looked at the one of tribulation the last time. Tribulation is a terrible thing. But Paul says in Acts 13, he says, The Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and chief men of the city, raised persecution against them and expelled them out of their coasts. But he says, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. [00:12:45] What? What? Doesn't make sense, does it? Why be filled with joy because you faced tribulation? They knew God was at work. They knew God was doing something bigger than what they could see. The weapon of joy stands against afflictions. What are afflictions? That can involve a whole range of things. Afflictions can be physical sickness and suffering. [00:13:17] Afflictions can be things that come to us from the outside. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 2 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 6 I just don't have time to go through all of these. Write these down and go and look them up and notice yourselves. You became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. It looks like these people faced a lot of difficulties. [00:13:51] Actually, let me just read 2 Corinthians 8, verse 2. How then at a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. There's a lot of words in there that are describing these people. There's affliction, there's joy, there's poverty, there's riches, there's liberality or generosity. [00:14:21] He's saying, look, these people were in the middle of affliction. They had major affliction. He doesn't tell us what all those were. Maybe they were facing sickness. One of it was poverty. He said they had a deep poverty. I mean, they were very, very poor. But they were very giving. And they had a lot of joy. I think one of the things that I've been impressed and you've been impressed with over and over again [00:14:53] You go to Haiti, people that have absolutely nothing A house half the size of this platform, not even that big For them and their family, I can't hardly call it a house And those people are so happy, so full of joy Hello? Where are we? Okay, the weapon of joy overcomes temptations. [00:15:24] James chapter 1, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, difficulties, adversities, circumstances. Just count it joy. Consider that we need to rejoice in my circumstance, in my adversity, whatever is coming against me. I need to take up the weapon of rejoicing and use it in that circumstance. [00:15:55] It's important. Colossians, strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Peter talks about it. This is not something that's something new. This is something that's something old that we need to get a hold of. It's something that began with the early church and it's been lost. It's largely been lost in our American Christianity. [00:16:31] This whole thing of joy and rejoicing and living in the presence of God. That chorus we sang, worship his majesty. Can you do that in Haiti? When you have nothing? When you just had an earthquake that leveled the country and then you had a hurricane come through and wash everything away that was left. Can you do that then? Absolutely. Worship His Majesty. [00:17:05] You know why we have trouble using this weapon of joy and rejoicing? Because we're focused on ourselves. We're not worshiping His Majesty. We're thinking about me, what I'd like to have, what I'd like to do, what I want. all of those kind of things the weapon of joy helps us grow in times of chastening you're thinking about what all these things these are all straight from the Bible the areas where we use the weapon of joy [00:17:39] have you thought about what kind of difficulties these are representing? tribulation, affliction, chastening I mean, it doesn't sound good, does it? Not to our ears. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 11 No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby. [00:18:11] We know that chastening from God is coming to make us beautiful. for blessing and for glory to God. And so we're able to use the weapon of rejoicing in that time. This is interesting. Romans 14. The kingdom of God, pay close attention to this. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not what we do and don't do in the physical aspect of things particularly. [00:18:49] But righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost That's the kingdom of God Joy in the Holy Ghost is part of what God intends for us to display here on earth The weapon of joy gives us victory in impossible situations The children of Israel learned that early on in their experience They saw that shouting praise to God as they marched around Jericho flattened the city of Jericho. [00:19:26] Impossible. Walls thick enough that chariot races could happen on top of them. Maybe two or three abreast. And those walls just crumbled to nothing. When they praised God, when they used the weapon of joy, and again there in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, Again God showed them how the weapon of rejoicing would win them battles. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 10 [00:19:56] As sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. Are we a rich poor man or a poor rich man? Here's one that I've just got to look at. Ye had compassion of me, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, [00:20:32] knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Paul says, look, that word spoiling that's used there in Hebrews 10 is a war term. Do you remember they went in and they took the spoils? Often times they go in and like the children of Israel were there in King Saul when they went up and destroyed the people there, they took the spoils home. [00:21:06] The spoils is a war term. He says, you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods. What was Satan trying to do by taking their goods? He was trying to take away their joy, wasn't he? He was trying to take away their life. He was trying to make them look stupid and worthless. What did he actually do? He worked against himself, didn't he? Because they took it joyfully. They said, I know that my stuff's in heaven. [00:21:40] He can take all this stuff down here and it's nothing. It doesn't matter. My stuff is in heaven. And he can't get there. He can't touch that. He can't change that. They're just, write these scriptures down and look them up. There's just so much there. The weapon of rejoicing helps us win in times of suffering. Peter says, look, don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trials that have come upon you. [00:22:13] Severe persecution. He says, don't think that that's something strange or that it shouldn't be happening. He said, rejoice, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding joy. Don't think it's strange. [00:22:45] Don't be shocked that you suffer for Christ, that you're persecuted, that you'd be beaten or killed. Don't think that's strange. Just remember, when he shows up, you can have joy in his presence. Matthew chapter 5 there Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and so say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad [00:23:17] Rejoice and be exceeding glad He's saying look, take that weapon of rejoicing and come against that suffering, that persecution And Luke says the same thing, he says Rejoice, this is how he puts it and it's interesting. He says, rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Can you imagine that? Is that in your imagination somewhere that somebody come and beat you for your faith [00:23:53] and you would get up and jump up and down with joy because they did that? That's what Luke said. Jesus said it, that's recorded in Luke for behold your reward is great in heaven now we can see jumping for joy if we're healed and all of a sudden we can walk when we couldn't walk before like the lame man that Jesus healed and he jumped up and he carried his bed and he leaped for joy but Jesus says look when you're persecuted for righteousness sake you rejoice [00:24:25] and leap for joy be full of joy The weapon of rejoicing is a powerful, powerful weapon. It's one that God has given to us to use in all kinds of difficult circumstances and adversities. We've got to learn to use it well. The weapon of rejoicing is mandatory equipment for the child of God. We talked about this in the beginning. [00:24:55] We said God has given us the armor. That's mandatory equipment. We need that. But we need weapons if we're going to win for God. Just having the armor on is not going to help us win. Having the armor on protects us, but we've got to have weapons to defeat the enemy. And so the weapon of rejoicing is mandatory equipment. [00:25:26] Philippians chapter 3 verse 1 Finally, my brethren, or ultimately, rejoice in the Lord. That's Paul writing to the Philippian church. Finally, rejoice in the Lord. That's kind of like, this is the main weapon. This is the main tool for you to use. Get a hold of it. Rejoice in the Lord. Philippians 4 verse 4 Rejoice in the Lord always, always, always, always [00:26:03] And again I say, rejoice We sing that little chorus, rejoice in the Lord always And again I say rejoice, it would be a good one to close with It's an important weapon, it's mandatory equipment 1 Thessalonians 5.16 Rejoice evermore! That's all the time. That's continuous. Now, I want to just quickly show us this is something that James had [00:26:34] and by the way I want to give credit again for some of the things that I had there to Otto Kony but James had this chart our thoughts and he told me we're welcome to use the things that we had on our computer he told me we're welcome to use them But if you want one of these to use for yourself, just tell me and I'll print one out. This is our thoughts, and this is talking about bringing every thought captive. And if we are going to bring thoughts captive, one of the tools we are going to use is rejoicing. [00:27:10] And this doesn't actually have the thing of rejoicing on it, but you look at all the different wrong thought patterns we can have. We can be critical, negative, we can have self-pity or depression or discouragement And all of those, not all of these thoughts need to use the weapon of rejoicing But a lot of these thoughts are directly connected with that And we can list all the improper thoughts We can think about what Satan's goal is in that improper thought [00:27:41] What he's trying to do We can think about what God's goal is And then we can pray I'm a child of God. I desire that each thought please God. Specifically, my thoughts regarding, and we can take that thought and bring it into captivity to Christ, to the obedience of Christ, and then we can choose to rejoice. Remember that choice we have when adversity comes and distress begins to happen to us? [00:28:11] We have the choice to use the weapon of rejoicing. That's important for us. And we can find a scripture there to go along with it. I think that will be helpful to us. Rejoice evermore, for this is the will of God. There in Thessalonians he talks about, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God. Rejoice evermore, that's the will of God too. [00:28:43] And so I'd like to challenge you. How many of you have been praying to bring your thoughts into captivity to Christ? I'd like to see your hands. Okay, and there have been a number of you who have talked about that to me. How many have seen something very interesting about your thoughts when you began to pray that? Did you see some thoughts there that you didn't even know you had? Yeah. And as you did that, and as you prayed that, did you begin to see how God worked to bring those thoughts to His glory? [00:29:18] It's amazing. And I'd like to challenge you, don't just do this in a general way, that's good. But don't stop there. Take a thought that comes to you, if you're faced with a thought of lust, If you're faced with a thought of anger or bitterness towards someone, take that thought and pray specifically for that thought. Lord, I bring this thought into captivity to you, to your obedience. [00:29:51] I want my thoughts to glorify you and God, I am going to go forward with the weapon of rejoicing and give you praise. I'd just like to challenge you to do that. Rejoice evermore Let's stand together I'd just like to ask you this morning How many of you would like for me in the closing prayer To pray for you specifically [00:30:22] That you can learn to be a good warrior for Christ And using the weapon of joy and rejoicing Father we thank you We thank you for your spirit ministering to our hearts this morning So many things that you have to teach us So many things that we have to learn Lord, especially, I know I do As I go to various countries and I see your children there And the joy on their faces in their deep poverty [00:30:53] And in their persecution And in all of those things, Lord, they rejoice They know how to use the weapon of joy and rejoicing. And Lord, I pray that you help us to learn to use that weapon effectively. Lord, in our own adversities, in our own distresses, Lord, that we choose to allow you, to wait on you, to allow you to work experience in our hearts, and then that we can have confidence in you, Lord, [00:31:24] and go forward with rejoicing and joy in our hearts. There have been a number, Lord, that raised their hand this morning and said they want to learn to use that weapon effectively. Bless them, Lord. Guide them by your Spirit. Remind them when these thoughts of distress and these thoughts of a wrong response to adversity, When they come, Lord, give them grace to pray against that thought and bring it into captivity and to go forward with rejoicing. [00:32:00] Lord, I just praise you and thank you for what you're doing in our hearts and in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.