In Christ Jesus IV

Rejoice in The Lord

Rejoice in the Lord Philippians 3: 1-3

Paul wrote this epistle To all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi,

Paul was brought to Rome to appear before Caesar.

While Paul was in Rome for 2 years, he was able to rent his own quarters, but he had to be chained to a guard 24hours a day. What he counted as a great opportunity to share the Gospel with the elite roman soldiers protecting Ceasar, many came to know Christ.

This was his first imprisonment in Rome,

Scholars believe he was released from his first arrest after 2 years, then arrested again and this time sent to Mamertine dungeon where he was eventually beheaded in 68 AD.

From Rome he wrote this letter to his faithful and beloved friends in Philippi, They sent him an offering and he was responding to them.

We are in the book of Philippians chapter 3

Let’s pray

Rejoice in The Lord

1 Guard your Joy

Php 3:1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

What he is saying here is, Go on constantly rejoicing.

This was written by someone who had no reason to be joyful he was in prison, not knowing if he was going to live or die, but he is telling us to rejoice in the Lord.

In his letter to the church in Corinth he wrote.

2Co 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.

2Co 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

2Co 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,

2Co 11:26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.

2Co 11:27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

2Co 11:28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

How are you doing?

Paul was confident that all He needed was Jesus

If you would count how many times the apostle Paul used the word Joy or rejoice just in this letter you would find 14 times. is the theme of this letter

Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Rejoicing in the Lord has nothing to do with the circumstances around us.

I believe was just last week that someone won the lottery on the mainland, and if I’m not wrong it was over 1.5 billion,

I can imagine whoever this person is, when they receive this good news, their hearts were filled with happiness, and this is a very temporary circumstance.

by the way if you are watching us, or listening to this message we only need $900 thousand to get back into our sanctuary, help us.

If you are a Christian you are filled with overwhelming Joy, we should go around beaming from ear to ear every day, of our lives, after we receive Jesus as our Lord and savior, yes you are one of the most blessed people, in the universe.

The Joy of the Lord is the gladness of heart that comes by us knowing God as our Heavenly Father, abiding in Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. A follower of Christ is filled with Joy.

Our Joy is very real but is often under attack, the enemy knows that a Christian without the joy of the Lord, is a vulnerable target, almost as a non-Christian.

God is the sustainer of our Joy, in the presence of the Lord there is Joy!

Psa 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Without Joy we are back in to loneliness, depression, hopelessness, despair, yes there are some Christians that live like that, but that is not the life that motivates them or others to follow Christ. There are plenty of people in this world living in misery.

Jeff just uploaded a testimony from a woman named Jordan Taylor on our Facebook, what a powerful testimony, form witchcraft, new age, yoga teacher to faith in Jesus Christ. From loneliness and deep depression into Joy.

Our Heavenly Father is the only one able to save and deliver us from the consequences of sin and bring Joy into our lives.

There are many things trying to rob our Joy, sickness, finances, relationships, chronic pain persecution, we need to guard our Joy, don’t allow anything to rob your Joy in the Lord, material, physical or spiritual.

Guard your Joy

No matter what is going on around you make a choice to rejoice in the Lord.

Php 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Joy has much less to do with what is around you, than what is in you

1Sa 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

Rejoice Is a choice

Psa 42:11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Your joy is a byproduct of your relationship with the Lord if we are not joyful is because we are looking for joy in the wrong things.

Rejoice in the Lord not on a perfect circumstance or things.

2 Watch out for false teachers.

Php 3:2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.

Their Joy was been threaten, so Paul was calling their attention.

Legalism must be avoided.

Paul was referring to a group called Judaizers, a faction of Jewish Christians who begin to teach the new gentile believers that for them to become Christians they need to follow the Old Testament Levitical Law, they needed to become Jews first and be circumcised, before they became Christians.

Act 15:1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved."

We may say thank God, there is no one doing that today,

unfortunately there are people in our churches doing just that.

There are some who carry a list in their back pocket, of who are the real Christian,

And their actions and words are always putting down someone who does not cooperate with their view or actions. If politics get involved is even worse. For them grace is not sufficient, you have to do more in order to be considered a Christian or a committed Christian in their books.

There are others who believe in the Jewish root’s movement were we have to follow the Jewish calendar or have this practice or this other thing, none of it is relevant to our salvation and relationship with our Lord and savior, if you like to celebrate the shabbat together, great, or a Passover meal awesome but don’t judge or put down those who don’t.

Paul was warning us, just like wild dogs roaming on the streets, they come to destroy.

Paul also warns us about evil workers.

Good works needs to be a by product of our relationship with Jesus, not something we do to be accepted or embraced by God and others. If the good work, we do, is not out of obedience to The Lord is evil, and we have to pay attention to that, because it will rob our joy.

False circumcision

Circumcision was part of God’s renewed covenant with Abraham when he was 99 years old, and after him every male child on the eight day of life was dedicated to the Lord and circumcised in the flesh but also representing a circumcision of the heart.

With time it became only a ritual, their hearts were far away from the Lord.

Just like for some Christians today, if you ask them are you saved? and they answer I was baptized when I was a child.

That was not the question, do you have a relationship with Jesus?

Baptism will not save you.

Just because you got wet once, this is not your ticket to heaven, they were equating the ritual the formality with salvation.

The Judaizers would make the same mistake, equalizing the ritual to circumcision of the heart.

Paul Says

Be aware of the mutilators of the flesh, the term he is using here was the same for the pagans who would cut themselves, 1Kings 18 when Elijha is at mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal

Circumcision with no purpose just a ritual.

3 Know who you are in Christ

Php 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

There are Two religions in the world, but pastor what about the 4000-4300 other religions.

If you divide them in to these two categories

Human achievement and Divine accomplishment

Human achievement takes all except Christianity.

Divine Accomplishment only one Christianity, what God has done for us.

Our identity is, we are the true circumcision.

We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus, our sins have been forgiven they were paid for by Jesus sacrifice, on the cross.

We are the true followers, the true celebrators, we boast in Christ Jesus.

We can always spot a legalist; they work so hard to be a Christian that they minimize the work of Christ, and maximize the works of men

and by the way that’s why they have no joy. They are always working hard to get to heaven.

The sad thing is they really believe they have kept their own rules and regulations and they are proud of it.

Mark Twain

Having spending a considerable time with good people, I can understand why Jesus likes to be with tax collectors and sinners.

Give me them any day over religious people

Our message is

Jesus paid it all

All to Him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

Joh 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].

Rejoice in the Lord

Guard your heart

be aware of false teachers

Know who you are

If you never asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior let me give you an opportunity to do so.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Joh 3:16

To receive Him we need to accept Him as God’s son, repent from our sins and a life of selfishness, asking Him to be your Lord and savior, not that you deserve it, but is a gift from God.

If this is your desire today, please repeat this prayer after me?

Heavenly Father I’m sinner, I’m sorry for my sins, I’m willing to turn away from my sins.

I receive Christ as my savior,

I confess him as Lord

from this moment on I want to follow and serve him,

in the fellowship of his church,

In Jesus name. Amen!