REJOICE ALWAYS

I WILL REJOICE

AND REJOICE ALWAYS!

Philippians 1:18-19         What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I

will rejoice.

Philippians 4:4       Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

1 Thessalonians 5:16         Rejoice always

What does it mean and how can we do it?

It is obvious from our selected texts that I intend to talk about rejoicing. I intend not only to talk on rejoicing, but on what it means to rejoice always.

It is most important to understand what it means, for the entire message rests upon our understanding of what it means to rejoice always. I think we know

what it means to rejoice. It's the always part that often evades our understanding. What does it mean?

Before I tell you what it means, I need tell you what it does not mean. It for certain does not mean that one can never do anything but rejoice; Scripture

certainly tells us there are times to rejoice, times to weep.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4  There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven; A time to give birth, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted, A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build up. A time to weep,

and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.                  NAS

We can clearly see from this passage in Ecclesiastes there are times to weep and mourn.

Romans 12:15        Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.                              NAS

So, before I go further to tell you what it means to rejoice always, please understand it does not mean that we can never ever weep and grieve. 

If that were the case, we would be like that fairy tale princess who could never cry; her father, the king, realized that she was not normal and offered

a reward for anyone who could make his child cry. We all know the fairy tale story, do we not, wherein a peasant woman received the reward by having the

princess peel onions, which caused the sought-after tears to flow? Understand that our heavenly Father, our King, wishes us, His children, also to weep.

But the commandment to rejoice always tells us He does not always wish us to weep, to grieve, to sorrow.

So with that said, what does it mean to rejoice always?

What Does It Mean to Rejoice Always?

It means that it can be done! It is most important for us to understand that. That is, if we are going to do just that; rejoice always. Our God never asks

us to do that which cannot be done.

I am reminded of a time past, when my children were younger, smaller and residing at home with their father and mother. They had a dog. It was a family

dog. A little gray schnauzer named Gretchen, and Gretchen was trained to go get on her rug. If she came into the house, she was to stay on her rug. Sometimes

we might call her over to the easy chair and pet her, but always when we were done she was given the command to go get on her rug, which she dutifully

always obeyed.

Well, I remember the time my young son decided to play a trick on Gretchen. He went over and held the rug in his right hand so that it hung down horizontally

and then with his left hand he would point and hit the rug and say to Gretchen, who was standing at his feet, "get on the rug, Gretchen. Gretchen, get

on the rug." But Gretchen couldn't get on the rug. One can only imagine what dog thoughts barked through her dog brain. "He's gotta be kidding! What does

he think I am? Super dog? Can't he see this is a collar around my neck--not some kind of cape?

What am I supposed to do, defy the laws of gravity and fly up there and get on his stupid rug?"

Obviously, there were forces against the poor dog that kept her from obeying that command -- such as the force of gravity. It just could not be done. The

command could not be obeyed.

But what about the command to rejoice always? Do we believe that it can be done? That this command can be carried out? Yes, sometimes. Yes, oftentimes.

But all of the time?

But what about the command to rejoice always? Do we believe that it can be done? That this command can be carried out? Yes, sometimes. Yes, oftentimes.

But all of the time?

Always?

Rejoice always? Sometimes, those dog thoughts go through our mind, "you gotta be kidding." We think, "There are sometimes this cannot be done." But I'm

telling you first and foremost what this "rejoice always" means; it means we can   always, do it. But you may well say at times, "How can I always rejoice

when there are forces loosed against me, pulling down upon me, crushing an already sorrowing and despairing heart?"

Please, if you remember nothing else in this message,  remember this: God never asks us to do anything we cannot do. Remember that this commandment to

rejoice always means it can be done, and, if it means it can be done, it means you and I can do it. The Scripture that says, "I can do all things in Christ

Jesus who strengthens me" has not yet been edited out of the  Bible. Do not edit it out of your mind, even when your heart and mind scream out that it

cannot be done, or at least that it cannot be done right now. Christians, it can be done -- now.

Rejoice always means now, right now -­ always!

Remember, that. It is not the rejoice part that we have a hard time with -- it's the "always" part. That's the part that we think is impossible to obey,

but our God never expects us to do the impossible.

It means that it is a mental discipline. Discipline involves doing what we don't always feel like doing or doing what we really do not want to do at the

time. So it is when we are told to rejoice at all times. It is not that we cannot do it. It is that we do not want to do it. We do not feel like doing

it. When we   understand that it is a mental discipline, then we will say, as Paul said inPhilippians 1:19,I will rejoice. I will, because my Lord wills

it and his will not my will be done.

It means the same thing as ''pray without ceasing." Obviously praying without ceasing does not mean praying every 60 seconds of every 60 minutes of every

24 hours of every day of one's life. There are some things you cannot do and pray at the same time. It's not like chewing tobacco and riding a horse at

the same time. All the time that I've been preaching this sermon to you, I have not been praying. I cannot preach and pray at the same time. You can hear

my preaching and pray at the same time, perhaps; and perhaps some of youarehearing my preaching and praying at the same time.

Hopefully, you are not praying, "Dear Lord, don't let him preach too long!" To "pray without ceasing" means to be of the frame of mind to pray; to always

be of a mind to pray; to be mindful to pray. And so it is with the term "rejoice always." We should always be of the frame of mind to rejoice. To have

a mind that rejoices always. It means there is always something to rejoice about. It means that in every circumstance, in every situation, and in every

trial and tribulation, we can find something to rejoice about.

Admittedly, it takes mental discipline to find that something; but rest assured, it is there or the command would not be there.

It reminds me of the story of two old, crusty preachers holding a revival meeting in the depressed coal mine areas of Kentucky back in the '30s. At the

end of the revival meeting they passed their hats for the offering. When they got their hats back and began to count the take, they found there was not

much there; maybe a few pennies and some miscellaneous items like the "Vote for Roosevelt Button," a few wooden nickels, and a couple pieces of paper with

I-O-U's scribbled on them. After counting the offering, the one old preacher said to the other, "Brother, let's bow our heads and give thanks."

His partner replied, "Give thanks? Give thanks for what?"

 "Let's give thanks and rejoice that we got our hats back!" the old preacher replied.

Let's look at some of the situations and times that come in life that require the mental discipline to find that something to rejoice about.

THINGS THAT OFTEN SEEM UN-REJOICABLE:

Past wrong decisions. Have we not all made them? Have we not all experienced times when we looked back in time and said to ourselves, over and over, "if

only I had of," or "if only I had not of,” as we bemoan some past wrong decision? I tell you, moping in and milling around wrong decisions enhances not

the ability to obey the command of "rejoice always."

First of all, regarding wrong decisions of life (and we have all made them), I ask you, what man of God has not made wrong decisions; wrong, haunting decisions;

un-erasable decisions; decisions that forever changed the course of their lives or the lives of others?

Moses, David, Peter all made wrong decisions. Moses struck the rock, and thus never entered the promised land. David numbered his people and lived to see

the people he loved suffer because of his decision. Peter denied his Lord three times before the cock crowed, "cock-a doodle-do," and felt the resultant

shame under the merciful gaze of his Master. So, if the thoughts of wrong decisions float up into your mind, rejoice in the fact that you who have made

them are keeping company with some mighty good men. Thus, you can always rejoice in your wrong decisions.

Concerning those wrong decisions, think of this - when you made them, you did the best you could do.

Now, I'm not talking about the decision to sin, to violate the Lord's Commandments. (But, even with those wrong decisions, we can rejoice in the remedy

Jesus has provided us in John 1:9). I am talking about the decisions of life. Should I tum left or turn right; should I move here or stay there, etc. When

you made such decisions, remember that you did the best you could with the experience you had, the knowledge you had, the intellect you had.

"Yeah, but preacher, it was the wrong decision. Things worked out all wrong," you bewail!

But remember, you did the best you could - you did your best. Think about it. What man or woman in life says to themselves, "I have a decision to make,

so I think I will make the worst decision I know how to make." No, it simply does not happen that way. Wrong decisions happen by our trying to make the

best decision we could.

Now I ask, who browbeats, ridicules, and condemns a man for doing the best he could? I don't. You don't. And God certainly doesn't either. So stop doing

it to yourself. Stop    living in sorrow over past mistakes and rejoice in the Lord and in the knowledge that you did the best you could at the time.

Rejoice in the experience acquisition department of life called wrong decisions. For experience is often acquired from the pain of past mistakes. So you

can rejoice that you learned from that mistake and that you will not need to make it again; you can teach others not to make a similar mistake. (Now whether

they listen to you are not is another story).

Don't keep focusing on past mistakes for that is the way you keep making the same mistake over and over. For you see, if you focus on something, quite

often that something will come to pass and you do not want your mistakes to keep  coming to pass time after time after time. You don't want to keep making

the same wrong decisions time and time again. There's an old cowboy saying: "Some folks have 20 years of experience and others have one year of experience

20 times."

Just as it's insane to keep repeating mistakes, it's just as insane to continue to ponder them over and over and experience sorrow over and over. One man

told me this definition of insanity: "insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over in life and expect different results."

           The biggest thing to remember concerning past mistakes is that your God is so great and so good that He can cause good to come,even from your

past mistakes. You can rejoice always in this knowledge.

Romans 8:28-29 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.NAS

When time can get no worse for you; I really don't think such time exists, say, but in our minds, that is not to say sometimes in our minds we don't think

it could not get worse, but regardless, if it is really true that things could get no worse and you could not get further down, then rejoice. Then rejoice

in the fact that things can get no worse and that you can go no lower, because then things can only get better for you.

Nothing stays the same. Everything changes. So if things could get no worse and you could go no lower then things are going to change for the better and

in this you can rejoice.

The truth is, things could always get worse and, for some, things are much worse than for you. Here's a letter that I recently received and wish to share

with you at this time:

"Dear Pastor Peters, Thank you so much for your ministry and especially your tape ministry.

           Your tapes of the last month or two have counseled me, consoled me, edified me, and soothed me greatly. Recently, on a Friday afternoon, my

truck terminally died, and, as usual, I had no money to repair or replace it.

           That evening a longtime friend, upon whose land I had stored all my retreat preparedness supplies for the last 10 years called and said he was

selling the land and we could no longer retreat together. I needed to remove my stuff-- about 1 and 1/2 tons of stuff. Anyhow, this created another unexpected

expense of around $3000, and we have always lived payday to payday. Then, the next morning, exactly one week after our 28th wedding anniversary, my wife

presented me with a polite, well-thought-out letter requesting a divorce. This was devastating to me. The children were grown and gone, and I was looking

forward to really concentrating and focusing upon one another; to rebuilding our marriage, so we could fully enjoy each other as we completed our remaining

20 to 30 years on the planet. She said she no longer loved me and that she wanted to be free to seek another man she could love. I confirmed two days ago

what I had suspected for several months -- she has entered into an adulterous affair with her boss -- also married. He has money and a smooth, charming

way. I suspect that he seduced her and has promised to divorce his wife and marry her after she and I are divorced.

           The following Monday my 81-year-old father had a stroke and lost the use of his right side and was in the hospital for about six weeks. Then,

about three weeks later I lost my job.

How would you counsel such a man in such a situation? How about with the words, "rejoice and rejoice always and again I say rejoice. Is that not Godly

counsel? Is it not scriptural? But yet, we do not give it; and furthermore, we do not receive it when it is given. At least not very well at such times,

but the Scriptures say rejoice always. So, even in this situation, there is something, or perhaps I should say, many things, to rejoice about.

A lost love! Obviously, in this letter this man is suffering from a lost love (there is only one thing that I know of and have experienced that is worse

than that). But, losing someone's love is right up there close to the top of the list of sorrows that can come into one's life. But even in the loss of

love one can find something to rejoice about. I think the one who came up with this statement found that something; "better to have loved and lost that

never to have loved at all."

You can always. rejoice in the fact the love you lost once loved you. You can rejoice in the fact that there's always hope that he or she may love you

again. But, the point is, you can rejoice. Concerning love, I have a book in my office entitledLove Is a Choice. I've never read the book, so I don't know

what it says. But, I've learned a lot just from its title; i.e., that love is a choice. To me it is a profound thought. We can choose to love God for example,

or we can choose not to. And so it is with the command to rejoice always. We can choose to do so regardless of the situation, or choose not to do so.

Here's another profound thought. Not everyone chooses to love you or I, and the truth is, in reality, none of us are all that lovable to begin with. Think

about this - - if you find yourself in the situation where someone does not love you, rejoice in the fact that there is someone who does love you. Someone

who loves you, the unlovable.

"Who is that, preacher?" "Well, probably your mother." "Yeah, but my mother is dead" “Well then, rejoice in the fact that she once did."

The point is, don't look only at the love you don't have but rejoice in the love that you do have. Remember, you cannot say no one loves you because the

Bible says God loves you. The Bible says you have a friend that sticks closer to you than a brother. The Bible says that God so loved you that he gave

His only begotten Son for you. You can always rejoice in that love. That love that you have not lost.

If you've lost someone's love, you can rejoice in the fact that you have not lost your love for them. Listen to this man's letter as I read on; "please

pray for me, and her too, in all this. In the end, she will have been used, abused, and    discarded by this man and that will be devastating to her. No

job, no former husband, and no hope for a husband. Pray for her."

Practice it! In certain ways, I must say that I deliver this message with a measure of fear and trembling, for I know I must practice what I preach. However,

this past week, I have already practiced what I now preach, and I can tell you, it works. It is good to obey the Lord. I remember once preaching a sermon

on overcoming, and in it I asked the question, "what must one have more of than anything else in order to be an overcomer?" The answer was -- something

to overcome. When I delivered that message (what now seems so many years ago), I thought I was an overcomer, and that I had  overcome many things; but,

I was to learn I had overcome nothing compared to what I was going to have to overcome in the future.

Paul practiced what he preached.

Philippians 1:15-20 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will the latter do it out of love, knowing

that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause

me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and

I will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according

to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything…                                              NAS

Colossians 1:24      Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh

for his body's sake, which is the church…                                           ASV

Peter preached it:    

1 Peter 4:13 …but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding

joy.                  ASV

The man that wrote this letter practiced what he heard preached. Think about it. What good does it do to hear  preaching if one does not practice what

is preached? He said in his letter,"all this is said to let you know how very much you've ministered to me. Especially the story of Brenda and the contact

lens!! Truly, 'God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. ' I hope and pray that I am called, chosen, and faithful unto death."And then when

he signed his name he put next to his name a smiling face :-).

The loss of a loved one! The one thing worse than the loss of love is the loss of a loved one. But, even in the case of losing a loved one, one can equally

say, "better to have lost the loved one than to never have had the loved one at all."

Let me share with you another letter from yet another listener."Your message entitled 'Don't Reject The Cross' was very helpful. It scared me to hear you

weaken as women panic when men falter, and I figured you had so much more left  after losses than I ever had that how could I make it? I am suffering from

head to toe and am so injured and sick (then she lists a long list of ailments). I have debt galore. All of my friends are dead. No family. No support.

Like you, I have lost family. I am all alone here. No new spouse. Not even one kid, etc. I've been targeted for extinction, and, in fact, will leave the

world childless, courtesy of doctors."

Yes, you can find something to rejoice about even in the loss of a loved one. You can rejoice that you have other loved ones that you have not lost. I

do believe one of the   saddest songs I've ever heard was song by Buzz Goertzen, a man who sang at one of our past conferences. It was a song about a grandpa

not being able to see his grandson. Yet, in even a situation like that, the grandfather could at least rejoice that he had a grandson that he could not

see.

You can look at all the years that you did have with a loved one and rejoice that you had those years, knowing full well that many have never had even

that; or, you can look at all the years that you will have without that loved one and experience all the sorrow that comes with that thought. I tell you,

you can rejoice always, you can find something to rejoice about in the loss of a loved one.

Here's another thought concerning the loss of a loved one. When you experience indescribable pain, ache and heart-wrenching grief, you can be thankful

that that loved one you grieve for will never have to experience that pain in grieving over you or other loved ones. You can rejoice that they are not

experiencing such pain. The point is you, as a Christian, can rejoice and rejoice always.

Christians can rejoice in salvation! This and this alone allow us, as Christians, to rejoice and to rejoice always. Notice the many Scriptures that teach

just this:

Psalm 9:14 …that I may declare your praises in the gates of the Daughter of Zion and there rejoice in your salvation.                        NIV

Psalm 13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.                                  NIV

Psalm 35:9  Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in his salvation.                                        NIV

Matthew 5:12         Rejoice, and be glad, for your  reward in heaven is great…                           NAS

Luke 10:20  Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.                                            NAS

It reminds me of a conversation that I once had with a friend. This friend is a kind and caring sort of person who, because of his kind and caring nature,

spent a year in prison for having allegedly practiced medicine without a license. My friend told me of an incident that took place when he was in prison.

A man, like him, had been placed in prison unjustly and was in great despair. The man claimed to be a Christian, so my friend said to him, "Are you not

still saved?" And that remark, he said, brought him out of his despair; he realized he was still saved, only in a different location, only in different circumstances

than he had ever been in before. My friend said that remark removed his sorrow and he was able to go on. In the story a good thing happened to the man

when he began to obey the commandant to rejoice in his salvation. And we can always do that -- wherever we are and whatever happens to us.

It reminds me of another story in another time, Bible times, where we read of some other men unjustly imprisoned.

Acts 16:23-26         And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely and he,

having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and fastened their feet in the stocks.

But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there came a great

earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and    immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were unfastened…                                                  NAS

And so it is we can always rejoice in our salvation.

CONCLUSION:

           As I close this message, which is my first message in the year 2001, allow me to tell you how I began this year. Jan. 1, 2001, marked the one-year

anniversary date of the death of my only begotten son. He died the first day of the year 2000. Later in that year, my only brother also died. Jan. 1 was

my brother's birthday. Needless to say, Jan. 1, 2001, was a day I had to face and every New Year's Day will be a day I will have to face. I decided to

face it just exactly how God wants you and I to face every day of life that he gives us.

Psalm 118:24         This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and he glad in it.                       NAS

And, I resolved Jan. 1, 2001, to do just that.

I will rejoice because my God wills that I rejoice and that you rejoice. That day we went to his grave, which rests next to his mother's in a small family

graveyard on a small Wyoming hill, just north of my house (about an eighth of a mile). We read the many Bible Scriptures on the resurrection. I specifically

had his sister read out loud these words:

John 11:23-26        Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at

the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and

believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this?

At the conclusion of reading these resurrection Scriptures, I told his friends and family it was better to have had a son and lost him than not to have

had a son all.

When we lose a loved one who was a Christian, we can rejoice -- not just in our salvation, but greatly rejoice in their  salvation, and thus, we can rejoice

always. I have found now that I've lost my only begotten son in whom I was very well pleased, that there is a certain special and immediate bond with people

I meet who have also lost a child. I guess it is the fact that we both understand that pain and sorrow, the heartache and grief that comes with the loss

of a child.

However, this thing has bothered me. When I ask people who've lost a child, "Does it get any better?" They invariably and emphatically tell me, NO. And,

I decided it has to get better   because I cannot, O Lord, continue in this sorrow. When I read his command to rejoice always, I realized that our Lord

does not want me or you to continue in such sorrow. Every day of my life, when I walk out the door of my house and look out, I see that tiny graveyard

on that lonely Wyoming hill; and every day I drive to town I see the house were my son once lived and the yard where his children once played. There is

no way I can get to town without driving by a small, wooden cross by the road marking the place of his death.

So, I have simply decided I cannot go on living in such sorrow. I have decided I can and I will rejoice. I will rejoice in his salvation.

Now, when I step out of my home in the early morning hours and I look north at that graveyard on that lonely, wind swept-Wyoming hill, I say, "Oh death,

where is thy sting," and mean it. I say, or at least think, "those graves will open up." You see, I rejoice in his salvation. I rejoice in the fact that

I personally baptized my son in Jesus Christ his Lord (Acts 2:38); and every day will get a little better, because every day gets a day closer to that

glorious resurrection day; so I will   rejoice.

I Will Rejoice! Because He told me to.

Because it can be done. Because I can do it. Yes, it takes discipline; yes, it is a mindset; yes, at times it takes effort to find something to rejoice

about, but when that effort is put forth, it is found.

I will rejoice, always! Will you, fellow Christian? I pray you will. I pray you will make it a resolution in your life for this year and every year of

your life in Jesus Christ. I pray you will, and that this message will help you do just that -- to rejoice  always.

Again, I say to you, rejoice, rejoice always.

From the Scriptures for America Dragon Slayer newsletter, 2023 Vol. 8.