And this area that we're in tonight is not really suggestions. They're all written as commands. So there's something that we need to really take to heart and look at these things. And it would make a tremendous difference in our lives and in the life of our churches if we would just apply these things to our life. And so the first one that we see there in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 16 is where we're picking up tonight. Chapter 5 verse 16, you remember just quickly what we covered before. There in verse 12, we beseech you brethren to know them that labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men." And then we come to verse 16, where it says, rejoice evermore. Now, there's no excuse for anybody that says they can't memorize scripture. You can memorize that one. Rejoice evermore. It's a pretty easy one. And I say, well, I can't remember where it's found. Well, work on it and you'll get it. Rejoice evermore. I'm going to take you through these verses in the notes. And I want you to see because this topic of rejoicing evermore and then we'll cover pray hopefully we'll have time to cover these other two. Pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks. These are all major topics in the Bible. They're major topics. So I want you to see that and that's why I put all these verses in here and we're gonna move through them really quickly and pull out some things that we can rejoice about. And Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10, here they were being, the scripture was being read to them, the law. Ezra was, got up on a pulpit and people were saying amen and they were reading the law. And verse 10 says, then said he unto them, go your way. eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy unto our Lord. Neither be you sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Verse 12 says, and all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. We can rejoice because we have the Bible. And we can understand it. It's not some foreign book. It's not like picking up a book that's written in another language and saying, I have no idea what this is saying. The Bible is a book that, yeah, there are some places that are difficult, but overall, it's just pretty easy to understand if you just read it and look at what it's saying. And we have the word of God. Psalm chapter 5 and verse 11. I can't allow myself to spend too much time on each of these verses or we won't get through them all. Psalm chapter 5 and verse 11. I'll pull something out of this one. It says, but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. And so we can rejoice because he is our defense. And someday we will be vindicated, that's for sure. He is our defense. Chapter 13 in verse 5, it says here, but I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. We can rejoice that our God is a God of mercy. He's a God of mercy. Wow. Chapter 16 and verse 11. Chapter 16, verse 11 says, thou wilt show me the path of life and thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. Walking with the Lord is, it just, it's a joyful thing. It brings joy to our heart when we work at walking with the Lord. Chapter 27. verse 6 chapter 27 verse 6 and now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about therefore what I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy I will sing yeah I will sing praises unto the Lord and so we can see that we can rejoice because we have victory in Christ Jesus and We can sing. You know, that's why, say, why do we sing those songs in the, it's like tonight we sing a song. Well, we're not singing it to each other. We're singing it to the Lord. And that's why we ought to sing out because we're rejoicing in the Lord. So I can't carry a tune in a bucket. Well, bring a bucket with you and sing anyhow, you know. We don't care. We're not trying to make a good sound. We're just trying to praise the Lord, trying to lift him up, rejoicing in the Lord. Chapter 32 and verse 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart. So we can rejoice because we have the righteousness of Christ. I'm thankful that we don't have to depend upon our own righteousness. We have his righteousness. It says ye righteous there. Rejoice. Then next one there is 35 verse 9. And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation. Rejoice in his salvation. Joyful in the Lord. that my salvation doesn't depend upon me. Oh, I can rejoice because of that. Chapter 51 and verse 12. 51 and verse 12. Just flying through some of the verses, and this isn't all of them. I skipped a whole bunch of them. It's a very major topic in the Bible. Chapter 51 and verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, uphold me with thy free spirit. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. David had committed a terrible sin here and we can rejoice that our salvation is not dependent upon us and our sin is dependent upon what Christ did for us. That we have eternal salvation and when we do sin we can find forgiveness. Sometimes it doesn't take away the consequences but We sure can find forgiveness because we have an eternal salvation. That's something to rejoice about. Chapter 68 and verse 3. But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. You know, I read that verse, God sees our joy. I wonder what he sees in you or me when we go about our week. Are we moping and groaning and griping and complaining? Or does he see a joyful heart? Be glad. Let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. He sees what we do. Chapter 70. A lot more could be said about these verses but I'm going to move on. 70 verse 4, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee and let such as love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified. The more we magnify him, the more joy we're going to experience in our life. Chapter 97, chapter 97 and verse 12, 97, 12. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Boy, if you study about all the false gods, which are not gods at all, they're nothing. But when you study about them and their character, they're not holy. They did some horrendous things that are not holy. But our God is holy. We can rejoice in that, that he will never, ever sin. He will never do anything wrong. He will always do right. We can rejoice in that. Chapter 98, verse four, make a joyful noise unto the Lord. There you go. You can't carry a tune in a bucket, people make a joyful noise. It didn't say no joyful tune under the Lord, all the earth. make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. That's why when we have song service here, it ought to ring out. It really should. People listening on the internet should say, wow, they really sing at that church. Why? Because we're singing to the Lord. We're not singing to us. We're not singing to hear ourselves. We're singing that he might be praised and lifted up joyful in him 105 and verse 3 105 and verse 3 glory in his holy name let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord and so seeking the Lord leads to joy 118 a lot of Christians are not joyful because they are not seeking the Lord like they should 118 verse 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Ever had a day when you wished you didn't have to have that day? You had to face something that day that you didn't want to face? Rejoice in the Lord. He'll give you the strength to make it through. Help you get through those hard days if you just enjoy in the Lord. Psalm 119, 162, 119, 162. I rejoice at thy word as one that findeth great spoil. The word of God bring joy to our heart. Regular Bible readers and meditators find joy in their life. Isaiah, chapter 61, verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. Say, I didn't see hallelujah in there. Well, it's hallelujah to me, the great salvation that we have. Boy, it's something, the great salvation. And then Habakkuk, a little book of Habakkuk, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, chapter 3, verse 18. Yea, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Nice, Habakkuk. Nice you wrote that to us. Read verse 17 before it. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. So if even things are going bad, we can still joy. We can still have the joy of the Lord and get us through the tough times. Luke chapter 2, move over to the New Testament. Luke chapter 2 and verse 10, Luke 2.10, and the angel of the Lord said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. God didn't just plan salvation for a few of the elect. He wanted all men to be saved, not willing that any should perish. We can rejoice in the fact that we don't have to worry about, well, maybe I'm not one of the chosen ones. Those people who believe that God chooses some to heaven and chooses some to hell, they get a prideful spirit when they think they're the chosen ones. prideful spirit, God wants all men to be saved. John chapter 15, I just about got hung up there but I can't let myself get hung up. John chapter 15 and verse 11. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. What's the things he's spoken unto us? Well, he wants us to abide in him. And he said in verse 7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. To just abide in the Lord, to listen to what he's taught us, to try to live our life by the word of God will bring great joy. Chapter 16 and verse 24, 16, 24. Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full. When we walk with the Lord and see him answer prayer, what a joy it is to know that we have a God who answers prayer and we can go to him in our tough times and he will help us. Chapter 17 in the Lord's Prayer in verse 13, here look what he said. And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. The things that Jesus spoke, his purpose in speaking them to us, yes, was he came to seek and to save, that was lost. First of all, that we might be saved, but secondly, that we might have joy. And if we will learn to take the words of Jesus to heart, that bring joy, in our lives, so often we forsake the word of God when we hit the hard times. Acts chapter 20 and verse 24. Acts 20 and verse 24. Look what Paul said, but none of these things move me. Boy, when you look at the things that he went through, I'm not so sure I could say that. probably wouldn't move me, I'd probably be complaining. Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. You know, the more we think of ourself, the more the joy thermometer in our life, the more we think of ourself, the more the joy thermometer goes down. The less we think of ourselves, the joy thermometer starts going up. It's something to remember. He said, but none of these things move me neither count on my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Joy in the grace of God. How wonderful he is to us. David had the same philosophy. Psalm 62 in verse 2 he said he only is my rock and my salvation he is my defense I shall not be moved and that's what Paul said none of these things move me I'm gonna let the things that come in my life move me off course out of serving Jesus Christ what have been a lot of Christians have been shipwrecked because the situation that came into their life moved them away from a close walk with the Lord. They became bitter. They became blaming everybody and the Lord himself for their troubles. Romans 5 verse 11. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement, we can joy in the fact that God sent his son to come and set us free from our sin. That ought to make Baptists shout, but sometimes it's just becoming so commonplace with us that it doesn't even move us anymore. in the way that we should be moved. Romans 15 and verse 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. We can be thankful that we have the Spirit and if we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our life it will produce more joy in our hearts. Second Corinthians chapter 8 verse 2. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 2. Here they are, Macedonians, churches of Macedonia, out in a great trial of affliction. They were so sad. No, it says, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. Are you going to be bound by your problems? Or are you going to join the Lord? Are you going to let your problems tie you up, bind you, keep you away from being all that you can be for Christ, even in the mist and storms? I was reading a book that Nancy gave me on Nick that was born with no arms and no legs. how he just determined he was just going to be himself. And he became an evangelist, speaking all around the world. And we have our excuses, but boy, when you read something like that, you think, I don't have any excuses. Galatians chapter 5, Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22. This is a fruit of the spirit, so it ought to be a warning signal to us. I'm in Ephesians, can't, doesn't work there. Ephesians, Galatians chapter 5 verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. The joy thermometer can also be a thermometer if we're walking in the spirit. Because the more we walk in the spirit, the more the joy thermometer goes up. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And then Philippians chapter 4, over to Philippians, we're just scanning through and picking them out. Many others, like I told you, this is a major theme in the Bible of having joy. It ought to be a major characteristic of the believer's life. We shouldn't be moaning groaners. We shouldn't be going around with our heads hung down, depressed and discouraged. We should be joyful people because we have a lot to be joyful about. And here in Philippians chapter 4 verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. All the way. Let that sink in. I'll put a seal on there. Think about that. And again, I say, rejoice. Let your moderation, that you're under control, you're moderate, be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. He's right there. All we have to do is call upon him. That's what he told us, call upon me. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. James chapter 1. This is another good one, James chapter 1. I'm sure you are familiar with this one. In James chapter 1, verse 2, my brethren, count it all joy. Oops, better read that again. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers' temptation, different kinds. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work that you may be Perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Count it all joy. And then 1 Peter chapter four, another familiar one in this line of thinking. 1 Peter chapter four, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. You'll be glad you did. You'll be glad you had the joy of the Lord when you meet the Lord himself. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. And then 1 John chapter 1 and verse 4. He says, and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. He's talking about fellowship, fellowship with other believers. It produces joy. Taking the words of Christ, the word of God produces joy. Now it's interesting in our text there in 1 Thessalonians where it says rejoice evermore. That word evermore is mostly translated always. Always and carries the meaning of at all times. Now this isn't an option for the believer, this is a command. The joy of the Lord should be an overwhelming characteristic of all believers. It should be. So often we see believers going around with long faces, discouraged and defeated. The joy of the Lord should stand out. Yes, as the Bible tells us, there are times when we are sorrowful. I mean, if you lose a loved one, you're not going to stand there and laugh, you know. No, there's going to be tears. Jesus cried at the grave of Lazarus. He wept over Jerusalem. And there are times when sorrow does come, but in deep in the inside is that joy. Even though we sorrow at the loss of a loved one, Inside our heart there's that joy because we know they're with the Lord and we know it'll be okay. That's what he's talking about, that joy of the Lord that's in our heart should be there and it should show forth in our lives. The next thing he says there is pray without ceasing. That's an easy one to memorize too, pray without ceasing. Romans 12.12 says to continue in continuing instant in prayer. Ephesians 6.18 says praying always. It's a part of the Christian armor to be praying always. Colossians 1.3 says praying always for you. Paul is what Paul said, praying always for you. We should always be praying for one another. And chapter four in verse two says to continue in prayer, continue in prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 3.10, Paul said he was night and day praying exceedingly that he might see their face. Praying exceedingly, night and day. Pray without ceasing. And we get a good lesson from Jesus in Luke chapter 1, or chapter 18, pardon me, verse 1. Jesus is teaching here. It says, and he spake a parable unto them to this end. So when it says to this end, that means this is what it was about. This is what he was trying to get across. What was it he was trying to get across? That men ought always to pray and not to faint. It's easy to faint when it comes to prayer. Prayer life takes work. It takes time. It takes work. You don't have to spend hours in prayer, but you need to spend time in prayer. Saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither guarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him saying, avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while. But after he said within himself, though I fear not God, nor regard man. Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth, find people that are praying? that have faith to believe that God will answer their prayers. And so, I put there in the notes, powerless Christians are prayerless Christians. You could turn that around and say powerful Christians are praying Christians. And then, the third thing that we want to cover tonight in this passage is where it says, in everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." There, right there, you've got the will of God, the will of God for your life. Some people say, well, I wish he'd let me know what his will is. Well, right there it is in black and white in front of you. In everything, give thanks. This is another major topic in the Bible. 1 Chronicles 16.8, give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, Make known his deeds among the people. Give thanks unto the Lord. It's a command. Verse 34 says, oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Forty-one times it says that, for his mercy endureth forever. Forty-one times. I think he wants to get that down to us, don't you? That he's a God of mercy. and that we should give thanks, we should be thankful for that. If it were not for God's mercy, every one of us would be burning in hell forever. And even if God did save us, if it were not for his mercy, if he saved those who called upon him, which he does, but if it were not, if he were not a God of mercy, if he kept that promise to save us, we'd all probably be in the grave because of things we've done because God wouldn't have mercy for it. No mercy. You did that, you're done. Get out of here. I don't want anything more to do with you. I'm thankful that God is a God of mercy. He loves us. Psalm 30 and verse 4 says, sing. Sing unto the Lord. Give thanks for his holiness. Sing. Chapter 92, let's just jump back and we do have a little time left to catch some of these verses. I've tried to read some to you because of time factor, but let's go back there to Psalm 92, verses 1 and 2. And we'll stay in the Psalms here for just a little bit. Psalm 92, verses 1 and 2. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. Well, I think if you read all the verses in the Bible, you'd have to say a great amen to that. It is a good thing. It pleases the Lord. It's special to him to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O most high, to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night. Wouldn't hurt for us to sing some songs in the morning to him and sing a song to him before we go to bed at night. Psalm 100 and verse 4. 100 verse 4, very familiar one. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. We ought to come with thankful hearts. And one of the ways we show that thankfulness when we're in church, what is it? Well, it's saying amen when the word of God is preached. It's singing out when the songs are sung. Those are some of the ways that we can praise the Lord. 103. verses one and two. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. And bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. You know, if we'd come to church with that kind of an attitude, that it's, I want to bless the Lord all I can. We came to That kind of an attitude, it changed our church services. 106 in verse 1, praise you the Lord, oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever, repeated over and over and over again, that he's good and his mercy endureth forever. And of course, 1 Corinthians 15, 57, we have the victory through Christ Jesus. We need to be thankful. We have the victory. 2 Corinthians 9.15, we're thankful. It says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. And 1 Corinthians 15.57, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And Ephesians 5.20 is another one we can look at just quickly. Ephesians 5, verse 20, in that line right there where we're supposed to be filled with the spirit. And Ephesians 5, verse 20, get there against me. Giving thanks once in a while, no, giving thanks always for all things, always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and we're speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making mellingly in your heart to the Lord. Should have that song in our heart, singing and praising the Lord. Philippians or Colossians, let's go to Colossians 2 and verse 6 to 7. It says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving. You can read these other verses that are there. First Timothy 2.1 says we ought to be thankful for all men, and Hebrews Chapter 13 and verse 15. Here's our sacrifice. They had to sacrifice often in the Old Testament. Well, here's our sacrifice. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. You see, thankfulness, as I put in the notes there, shows our love for the Lord. Shows our love for the Lord. These verses, all the way from verse 12 to 18, if you go back and examine them, they all have to do with attitude. The attitude of the believer. It's the attitude that a believer ought to have. He ought to be rejoicing every more. He ought to be praying without ceasing. in everything giving thanks. And that's a problem we have in Christianity. We don't work to keep a right attitude. And, you know, attitude shows altitude. What do you mean? Well, the closer we get to the Lord, the better attitude we have, higher altitude. When we go around moping and groaning and let bitterness creep in and we don't have that joy of the Lord and we're not a joyful person, then that altitude starts dropping. And we become sour Christians. And that's not pleasing to the Lord. It sure doesn't make for fun and fellowship with believers to be around a sourpuss. Just does not. We ought to have that joy of the Lord. We ought to be lifting up, edifying one another. That's what the Bible says, building up. But you know, there are a lot of Christians that if you get around them, they'll pull you down. Sad to say, but they will. Their attitude just pulls you down. You shouldn't do that. You should lift us up. And I'm thankful for you folks. You lift me up all the time. I'm thankful for that. It's a real encouragement to be a part of our church. I believe we have an encouraging people. And we all need to work hard at it to encourage one another, lift up one another. Psalm 9 verse 1, I put there in notes, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvelous works. If you start feeling down, start thinking about what you have in Christ Jesus. and it won't be long before you'll be lifting yourself up. Who cares what everybody else thinks about me? Who cares what's going on around me? What I have in Christ Jesus is wonderful, and the more I dwell upon that, I start coming out of the depths of despair and the despondent drudgery and mud and slop of this life and rise above all of that and find the joy of the Lord and the strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Bible says. Let's pray. Father, thank you for these few moments to consider these very important commands in the scripture. We don't take them to heart as commands. We should because we should fear you and the result of not obeying commands is very serious in the scripture. Help us to be obedient Christians and work on these things that we might be the kind of believers that you want us to be in these last days and encourage one another and lift up one another. Start singing some songs of praise to you and Get in the word and ask for the joy of the Lord to ring through it. We thank you for all your blessings. Thank you for your goodness. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.