Sermon Tone Analysis

Zephaniah

17  The Lord your God is in your midst,

17  The LORD your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

a mighty one who will save;

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

Words are a powerful thing.

Say the wrong combination of words and you can you bring about distortions, damage and destruction.

Say the wrong thing relationships may be lost.

Likewise if you say the right combination of words there is much to be gained.

Words can give hope, courage, inspiration, imagination and insight.

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

(Illustration)

he will exult over you with loud singing.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

(2016).

().

Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

(2016).

(Zep 3:17).

Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

- Michelle saying I love you.

- Coach saying you have the stuff to be on the varsity team as a sophomore.

I want to share with you today the idea of soothing words.

Words that can make the wrongest this right.

Words that can bring clam to the biggest storm and stop the strongest winds.

Before we can drill down in the the words of the Lord we must go on a little joy journey.

It is a journey that determines how we are able to come to the place where we find ourselves positioned to have the Lords soothing words spoken over us.

Our first stop on this journey is coming to terms with the fact that God is the source of joy.

God is the source of joy

God is the source of joy

Don’t Be Worry, Be Joyful

How can we rejoice?

Every Christian is to manifest all of the fruit of the Spirit, and the more we grow in grace, the further we progress in our sanctification, the more gentle we should be, the more patient we should be, the more faithful we should be, and, obviously, the more joyful we should be.

In simple terms, this means that the Christian life is not to be marked by dourness or a miserable attitude.

We all have bad days, but the basic characteristic of a Christian personality is joy.

Christians should be the most joyous people in the world because we have so much to be joyous about.

That is why Paul does not hesitate to command his readers to rejoice.

How do we recover lost joy?

Paul’s admonition to believers to be joyful presupposes that believers can do something if they find themselves lacking in joy.

He is right, of course, and the New Testament is filled with teaching on how to be joyful.

The most basic method is to focus our attention on the ground of our joy, the source of our joy.

This is a call to meditate upon the things of the Lord, to turn our attention to the things of God.

When we find ourselves depressed, down, irritated, annoyed, or otherwise unhappy, we need to return to the source of our joy, and then we will see those circumstances that are sapping our joy in perspective.

The circumstances of this life will pale into insignificance when compared to that which we have received from God.

When I have things in perspective, I know that if I never experienced another blessing in my entire life other than the blessings I already have received from the hand of God, I would have no possible reason to be anything but overflowing with joy until the day I die.

God has already given me so much to be thankful for, so much to provoke my soul to delight, gladness, and joy, that I should be able to live on the basis of that surplus of blessedness and remain joyful all of my days.

Of course, the good news is that God will not stop manifesting His care and giving us His tender mercies and blessings.

He continues to do that, and that means that every day we live as Christians we have more reason to rejoice than we had the day before.

We have spent one more day receiving His love and all the benefits that He pours out on us, all those things that make us joyful.

There are a few things that we can our focus on that will keep us drinking for the source of our joy.

1) God’s Character - God is true to Himself.

He will always do what His will suggest.

2) Remember the Holy Spirit - We can do nothing but rejoice when we are being lead by the Spirit of God.

3) Be glad in the work of Jesus - A great definition of a Christian is Somebody who worships in the Spirit of God, rejoices in Christ Jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh ()

My favorite definition of a Christian?

Somebody who worships in the Spirit of God, rejoices in Christ Jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh ()

4) Spiritual Blessing - We are told in the book of Ephesians that God gives us everything we need out of the abundance of His riches.

There’s only one reasonable response to that and that is joy, deep down joy.

Paul tells the Ephesians that God gives us everything we need out of the abundance of His riches.

There’s only one reasonable response to that and that is joy, deep down joy.

5) Divine providence - Because God is a God of complete sovereignty providence, we can rejoice because nothing is outside His plan.

6) Prayers that are answered - We can rejoice that God answers prayer ().

That in itself is enough to keep the joy flowing.

Divine providence.

Because God is a God of absolute sovereign providence, I rejoice because nothing is outside His plan.

7) The truth of Scripture - When the Word of Christ dwells in me richly, I end up speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody and rejoicing in my heart because of the truth ()

rejoice that God answers prayer ().

That in itself is enough to keep the joy flowing.

7. The truth of Scripture.

When the Word of Christ dwells in me richly, I end up speaking in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody and rejoicing in my heart because of the truth ()

8) Fellowship - There is something about being with believers because there is a level of joy that I don’t experience with non-believers ()

“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.

Therein lies our joy.”

John Macarthur

What are the ways you see God as your source for joy?

In what ways is it hard to see God as your source?

What is true?

What is false?

See also ; ; ; ; ;

God rejoices in the restoration of his people

We tap into joy by hanging out with God!

When we are in His Presence, we come out with a new spring in our step, a new song in our heart.

When we’re hanging out with Him, we take on His characteristics.

And God is happy!

You may have been through some trouble, but God is the One Who brings restoration.

says, “For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.”

God is saying, “You’re working for Me.

You got hurt in the service of the Lord.

And I’m going to give you worker’s compensation.

I’m going to give you double for your trouble.”

Glory to God!

Joel 2:25

Some of you have been down with a lot of “worms” in your life.

Some of you have lost years to a bad marriage.