Sermon Tone Analysis

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.

22 Abstain from every form of evil.

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

25 Brothers, pray for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

16,17,18 are for ourselves.

19,20,21,22 Holy Spirit

23,24 To God

25,26,27,28 Final exhortations, mutual intercession.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

V16  Rejoice always

*The question is asked, How does one keep joy?

*A hard situation, tough decisions, The property...

I will explain more of this later in the sermon.

*Rejoice Evermore, “How can I always rejoice?” and, therefore, the apostle appended as answer, “Always pray.”

The more praying the more rejoicing.

*Prayer gives a channel to the pent-up sorrows of the soul, they flow away, and in their stead streams of sacred delight pour into the heart.

At the same time the more rejoicing the more praying; when the heart is in a quiet condition, and full of joy in the Lord, then also will it be sure to draw nigh unto the Lord in worship.

Holy joy and prayer act and react upon each other.

In like manner, the note of joy is also to the Philipi Church, in , having said, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice.

Let your moderation be known to all.

Be not anxious as to anything.

The Lord is at hand.

He afterwards points out the means of this—but in every prayer let your requests be made known to God, with giving of thanks.

16.

The injunction Be joyful always is at first sight a little surprising coming from one who had had to suffer as much and as continually as Paul.

But he learned that affliction and deep joy may go together

( 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

), 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

;

; ) in jail he is rejoicing!

So he counsels perpetual rejoicing to a suffering church

).=

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

few things about the New Testament church are more remarkable than this continual stress on joy.

From an outward point of view there was little to make believers rejoice.

But they were ‘in Christ’; they had learned the truth of his words, ‘no-one will take away your joy’

().

22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Now joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit (;- Love Joy peace , patience , kindness , goodness and self control

); 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.. it is not something Christians work up out of their own resources.

The various derivatives of joy occur with startling frequency throughout the New Testament.

The word for ‘grace’, for example, is from this root, as are one of the words for ‘to forgive’, one for ‘to give thanks’, and another for ‘gifts of the Spirit’.

New Testament Christianity is permeated with the spirit of holy joy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Delight in the Lord, you will bear fruit.

He is like a tree 

planted by streams of water 

that yields its fruit in its season, 

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

*Fight for your delight

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

V17 pray without ceasing,

*Conversation with God is deeper and more available than any other relationship.

“Pray without ceasing.”

Prayer is good at any given time

If I am to pray without ceasing, then every second must be suitable for prayer, and there is not one unholy moment in the hour, nor one unaccepted hour in the day, nor one unhallowed day in the year.

The Lord has not appointed a certain week for prayer, but all weeks should be weeks of prayer: neither has he said that one hour of the day is more acceptable than another.

All time is equally legitimate for supplication, equally holy, equally accepted with God, or else we should not have been told to pray without ceasing.

Wherever we seek the Lord with true hearts he is found of us; whenever we cry unto him he hears us.

Every place is hallowed ground to a hallowed heart, and every day is a holy day to a holy man.

From January to December the calendar has not one date in which prayer is forbidden.

All the days are red-letter days, whether Sabbaths or week days they are all accepted times for prayer.

Let us but send out the dove of prayer and we may be certain that she will return to us with an olive branch of peace in her mouth.

Pray without ceasing---It means, first, never abandon prayer.

Never for any cause or reason cease to pray.

Pray until last moment of your life.

Don’t leave prayer, go towards prayer.

If your heart is cold in prayer, do not restrain prayer until your heart warms, but pray your soul unto heat by the help of the ever-blessed Spirit who helps our infirmities

Never, never, never renounce the habit of prayer, or your confidence in its power.

While your hands are busy with the world, let your hearts still talk with God; not in twenty sentences at a time, for such an interval might be inconsistent with your calling, but in broken sentences and interjections.

if we would pray without ceasing, we must always be in the spirit of prayer.

Our heart, renewed by the Holy Ghost,

*We must pursue our prayers.

Pray then without ceasing, my brother.

Let your whole life be praying.

You can change the method, yet change not the pursuit; but continue still to worship, still to adore.

never altogether abandon prayer;

  offer yourself to prayer; be earnest in outpourings, be always in the spirit of prayer, and let the whole of your life be consistent with your prayer, and become a part of it.

Story of a man that became mayor, during his banquet he excused himself a few minutes for family prayer saying I have an important meeting with a dear friend.

He prayed at that family altar and in that respect, prayed without ceasing.

Who are we meeting with this evening?

Do we have a moment to say hello to a dear friend.

Oh what a friend we have in Jesus.

“I have so much to do to-day that I shall never get through it with less than three hours’ prayer.

Martin Luther.

*Your other engagements will run smoothly if you do not forget your engagement with God.

I believe that no man loves prayer until the Holy Spirit has taught him the sweetness and value of it.

You will begin to pray in the streets, pray in the workplace, there will become and increase of joy and less of a burden.

*Be persistent, Heavens gate doesn’t open at every runaway knock.

17. ‘It is not in the moving of the lips, but in the elevation of the heart to God, that the essence of prayer consists’ and it is this that enables us to put into practice the injunction pray continually (cf.

; Don’t lose heart.

; Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

.

).

It is not possible for us to spend all our time with the words of prayer on our lips, but it is possible for us to be all our days in the spirit of prayer, realizing our dependence on God for all we have and are, being conscious of his presence with us wherever we may be, and yielding ourselves continually to him to do his will.

*Prayers throughout Paul’s letters; prayer was so natural to Paul that it inevitably found its way into his correspondence).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

V18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul had learned that ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him’ ().

Even in our difficulties and trials God is teaching valuable lessons (), -Suffering produces endurance

This conviction of the divine sovereignty and providence leads to the command, give thanks in all circumstances.