Defeat in detail through encounters in higher scale.
Attrition warfare through small skirmishes.
We give God the glory for all He has done, all He is doing, and all He will do. Our trust and our thanks are always to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He alone is the Lord, worthy of all praise, worthy of all worship.
Yes, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, we give Him praise.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we worship Him.
Initial thoughts for this coming Sunday, July 06, 2025:
We talked in length about the Holy Spirit last June. It started with our remembering the power of the Holy Spirit, as displayed and demonstrated by His outpouring upon the disciples in the upper room, in the events we now call Pentecost, or 50 days after the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We talked, first about how the apostles spoke in many tongues, but about how all of them spoke the goodness of God, the wondrous works of God… That’s what was in common, regardless of what language they were speaking. So I proposed a point to the congregation: If you speak in tongues, you are speaking of the wondrous works of God… and, consequently, if you are speaking of the wondrous works of God, you are speaking in tongues.
After that, we spoke of how Peter the fisherman spoke on behalf of the apostles. He testified of how this event was a fulfillment of prophecy, and also, how the resurrection of Christ was a fulfillment of David’s Psalm. I pointed out how, after all this, those who were paying attention were ‘cut to the heart’ and asked how they were to respond – and that’s when Peter told them to repent and receive the Holy Spirit; basically to believe in Christ, and to receive His Spirit.
I’m glad I’m able to recall all of this, but we keep on going here. If we talked about speaking in tongues, and to be ready to testify for those who listen to repent and receive the Spirit… Then we talked about Acts 3, the incident regarding the man lame since birth, begging in the Beautiful gate.
The point I shared was that we have the Holy Spirit. We may not have silver or gold to help ourselves or other people, but we have the Holy Spirit, and by Him we speak in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, last week we spoke a little more about the Name of Jesus… about how healing follows, but also here about how people will be roused to hate because of His name. The Pharisees couldn’t stop Peter and John from speaking the name of Jesus Christ… and I feel we won’t stop either, but not for shallow reasons.
We speak the Name of Jesus recognizing that we speak the Power and Glory of Jesus when we speak His name.
There is true power in His name. We speak of His wondrous works, as there are wondrous works that follow His name…
…and even when the world would try to shut us up, behold, we speak His name all the more.
Our tongues, our testimony come from the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit points to the name of Jesus.
Indeed, from Him are all things, and to Him are all things. He deserves all of the glory.
For the month of July, and actually also for the month of August, I thought it’d be interesting for us, first to see how Christ was inspired as much as He would inspire us to rejoice, pray, give thanks, and to test (as mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22); and then, how Christ inspires others in certain fortes: Counselling, Mission work, Government leadership and Compassion.
I’ll take lead in speaking from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, but I have other speakers lined up for August… But we start off with Rejoicing.
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.1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
Something for us, no matter what happens to us, no matter what we make happen. Something for us in the escalation of events, in the silence. Something for us wherever we are, whoever we’re with, whatever we’re thinking: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; Hold fast to what is good, and abstain from every form of evil.
Let’s talk first, on rejoicing.
21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Luke 10:21-24
‘…To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’Luke 8:10
What was Christ rejoicing about? Christ rejoices when the gracious will of the Lord is done, and in this particular case, we see that it is in the will of our Father for us to hear and see what the Son chooses to reveal to us: The secrets of the kingdom of God, not revealed to those who are perceived as ‘wise’ and with understanding, but to ‘little children’ who see and hear..
Plain and simple, Christ rejoices in our repentance… and, lest we forget, when we talk about repentance we’re talking about a full change of our way of thinking that only partially comprises of our turning away from sin… in fact, it has us totally losing confidence in our selves, and fully trusting in God, as we realize that He is our Father.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Philippians 4:4-7
What’s there for us to rejoice about? We rejoice in our redemption in the future (The Lord is at hand), as much as we rejoice in the salvation manifest in the present, when we pray with thanksgiving… and actually, there it is – We rejoice, because we can pray and give thanks, here and now!
We rejoice, because we have repentance as little children; repentance that goes beyond the wise and the understanding… and, here, we are assured of the peace of God that surpasses ALL understanding!
We rejoice, because ALL that is beyond our understanding comes from the Lord, and returns to the Lord – Indeed, from Him are all things, and to Him are all things.
In closing: The pinnacle of Jesus’ rejoicing was at the cross.
10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:10-11
I dare say, it was with rejoicing that He said, ‘it is finished’.
We rejoice always, because Christ has saved us, now and always.
We rejoice always, because Christ is always with us, even here and now, teaching us, guiding us, directing us.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise Him, all creatures here below! Praise Him above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Amen. Amen.
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