Thessalonians chapter 5. I want to end tonight by giving
you a little bit of a challenge here, more of a reminder than
anything, but 3 verses that I want to look at this evening in
First Thessalonians chapter 5, and the Bible says this in verse
#16 probably some of the shortest verses together in the
Bible. Obviously Jesus wept is the
shortest, but these are the next shortest verse #16 says rejoice
evermore 17 pray without ceasing 18 in everything.
Give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you and you know I I know many of your situations
because you've you've obviously been here and and life is filled
with a lot of circumstances. Some of them are joyful, some of
them are difficult, some of them are confusing.
Some of them are just downright painful.
But when Paul wrote to these believers here in First or in,
yeah, in First Thessalonians to the to the church there at
Thessalonica, he understood that they were facing pressures.
They were, they were facing persecution.
They were, they were facing uncertainty.
They just, they didn't know what was going to happen.
And there was a lot of a lot of things that they were dealing
with. And obviously the Apostle Paul
himself to be able to say rejoice evermore, pray without
ceasing in everything, give thanks.
That's a difficult thing to say in the middle of the
circumstances. Like what Paul was going through
and like what the church at Thessalonica was going through.
And maybe like what you're going through, it's, it's not always
easy to do those things. Paul didn't tell them to escape
their circumstances. He didn't tell them to wait
until life got easier. He gave him 3 commands, three
powerful commands, Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing
in everything. Give thanks for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
I want to, I want to just walk through these truths for a
couple minutes with you tonight. But I want to tell you a story
that I read that I thought was pretty interesting.
I feel like goes right along with this.
And there was a guy by the name of Captain Jonathan Harris and
he had spent 25 years as a commercial fisherman out in the
North Atlantic. And honestly, it's been so long
out there that the North, I mean, the, the, the ocean had
kind of shaped who he was. I mean, all of his, you know,
the, the, the beauty, the danger, the unpredictability.
He knew everything about the North Atlantic, the currents
and, and the weather patterns and, and where the fish were and
what time, you know, what seasons that fish were in
certain places and all of those things.
He had spent all of the, the time on the ocean.
But there was one thing that he couldn't that he didn't
understand, and one thing that he couldn't fix.
And that was his anxious heart he just had.
He worried constantly and he knew that he had a problem with
that. But he worried about providing
for his family. He worried about the weather.
He worried about every time the the radio crackled.
He worried about things that he couldn't change.
And he had a very godly wife, thankfully.
And a godly wife is such a, such a huge asset to any husband.
But she would remind him as as gently as possible that as these
verses remind us, she would say, John, the Bible says rejoice
evermore, pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks.
And she she told him, you know, you can have that.
You don't have to worry when you go out on the boat.
You don't have to worry about all of those things.
Just give it to God. And he would always tell her
kind of the same thing, You know, hey, maybe when things
finally calm down, maybe I'll, maybe I'll try to do that a
little bit more. And he never really did it,
though, until one day when he decided that it was not decided
he was going out for, for a run like he always did.
And he checked the weather, the, the radar and all of those
things, checked the maps. He knew exactly where he was
going. He knew exactly what he was
going to do. It's just going to be a quick
run. He, he and his crew were going
to jump in the the fishing boat, go get a haul and come back.
And just about a few hours off the coast, everything started to
change. The weather changed
dramatically. It was supposed to be calm seas.
There was not supposed to be anything that they had to worry
about. But it's like ink rolled across
the sky, and the next thing you know, they were in the middle of
a storm that he had never been in the middle of before.
And the ship was just being tossed around like a cork in the
ocean. And the wind picked up at 1st
and then the waves started crashing around the boat and
the, they, they were caught in something very violent,
something very unpredictable, something very dangerous.
And he knew that and, and the crew knew that most of the crew
had been with him for a lot of those years, that he was a
captain of that boat. And the boat started pitching so
violently that, that the men were thrown to their knees.
And they, you know, the, the crew members could barely hear
each other hollering over the sound of the wind and the waves.
And he remembered what his wife had told him because she said it
more than once. And for the first time in his
life, he actually felt more than anxiety.
He felt actual fear. He was afraid for his life.
He did not know what was going to happen.
He had never been in a storm that violent before.
And he grabbed the radio and he called for help, but the storm
was so violent that the radio crackled and there was there was
no signal. There was nobody else that could
that he could call, nobody else that was going to bail them out
of this situation. And so, as he clung to the wheel
for dear life, he started to fight the panic that was rising
inside of him. And in that moment, he
remembered what his wife had told him just a few days before.
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing and everything give
thanks. And for the first time in a long
time, he prayed right there, grasping that wheel with
trembling hands. Soaked, exhausted, he had
nowhere else to turn. And so he was a Christian man.
He had been in church most of his life as well, but he
whispered what he said was probably the first time he's
ever really prayed. And he said, Lord help us.
That's all he said. But as soon as he said that, he
started thinking about the second verse, pray without
ceasing. And then he thought about the
third verse and everything, give thanks.
And that moment, the moment he said, Lord help us, he started
thinking, what can I thank God for in the middle of this?
Not what is there to thank God for?
He was genuinely thinking, what, what can I thank God for in the
middle of this storm? And he started looking around
and he said, I'm, I'm thankful that I have a crew that's still
next to me and still fighting this storm.
I'm still thankful that I have breath in my lungs and not
water. I'm still thankful that the ship
is upright. And the next thing he knew, he
even thanked God for the storm because it made him realize how
desperately he really needed the Lord.
And something happened. Nothing changed on the outside.
The storm was still going on. But the storm was calmed inside
in his heart. And that calmness settled over
him. Not a physical calm, but a
spiritual calm. And his fear loosened its grip
on him. His mind cleared.
He made decisions with clarity that he had not made just a few
moments before that, and he later said it was like the storm
was still screaming, but God gave my heart a quiet place to
stand. Hours later, after the storm had
finally calmed down, the boat didn't sink and he had no idea
how the boat didn't sink, but they finally broke through the
worst of the storm. The wind weakened, the waves
calmed down a little bit. And actually, they were able to
call through. They, their ship had been
battered so bad they needed to be towed back by the Coast
Guard. And the Coast Guard was on their
way. But Captain Harris was never the
same. And a couple days later, when he
walked up the driveway to his house, his wife met him.
And he was shaking, but he was still alive.
And as they embraced, as they hugged there in the driveway, he
whispered to her, You were right.
Prayer doesn't change the storm, but prayer changes the sailor.
And that's exactly what I believe this passage is all
about. He'd learned to rejoice not in
circumstances, but in the God who controlled those
circumstances. He had learned to pray not only
in crisis, but continually. He learned to give thanks not
not only for every situation, but in every situation.
And he gave his testimony at the end of the testimony said this
The storm didn't destroy me. The storm discipled me and
that's exactly what we find here.
This, this, this, that story, I think, illustrates the command
that we're given here by the apostle Paul.
He says, first of all, rejoice evermore.
Now I think the order of that is important.
Rejoice evermore, not because everything in is easy in life,
but because God is good and God holds everything in his hands.
Rejoice evermore. And rejoicing is not a feeling,
it's a choice that we make. If everything was going great
and that's the only time we rejoice, then we wouldn't
rejoice very often. It's nice when things go great,
but it seems like a lot of times they go the opposite way.
In fact, we always are looking for the the the times that they
go the opposite way. But God is in control and Christ
has already secured the final victory for us.
Circumstances may change, but God does not change and we can
rejoice in that. Paul isn't telling us to be
happy about every situation, He's telling us to be happy in
every situation, in everything. Give thanks.
Christian joy is not based on circumstances.
It's anchored in a person with a capital P because it's only
found in Jesus Christ, God. God is still good.
Doesn't matter what you're going through, God is still good.
God is still on the throne. God is still in charge and God
is still faithful. Rejoicing is not pretending that
life is easy. Rejoicing is proclaiming that
God is enough. The second thing that Paul tells
us here is to pray without ceasing.
See, when when rejoicing is the place that we start in prayer
becomes a very beautiful and a very easy next step.
If you're rejoicing even in the middle of a difficult
circumstance, it's going to be easy to come to God with
whatever you need to bring to him.
God loves you and he wants to hear your prayers.
Just like, I mean, we have examples of this all the way
throughout the Bible. But just like a loving father
wants to hear from his child, he wants to take care of his child.
He wants to give them things that they like.
The Lord wants us to pray to him big little.
It doesn't matter to him. Bring them to him.
That's what it means by in everything.
Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing.
That doesn't mean that we have to be 24 hours a day on our
knees walking around and you know, our eyes closed and ignore
the rest of life, but it means that we should be in a constant
state of prayer. When burdens hit, pray.
When fear hits, pray. When circumstances don't go the
way that you want them to go, pray.
That's what that's what pray without ceasing means.
And when the blessings come, pray that means.
Doesn't matter what happens to us in our lives, we should be
always praying. We should be always talking to
our Heavenly Father. Prayer is not a last resort.
It ought to be our first response.
That's the problem with most people is we get to that point
where, well, there's nothing left to do.
Now, I guess we, I guess we better pray, right?
People end up in that situation a lot.
We we get in that mindset a lot. Well, there's nothing left to do
but pray. That should have been the first
thing you did. Bring it to God and then go see
what you can do after that, but bring it to God, give it to him.
Prayer doesn't doesn't remove the storm, but it removes the
panic in the middle of the storm, doesn't always stop the
waves, but it will calm your heart.
And that's what he's saying when he says rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing. And lastly, then in everything,
give thanks. We're here for for Thanksgiving,
and we're right around the corner from that.
Our founding fathers encouraged giving thanks.
President George Washington signed a presidential
proclamation that established the last Thursday in November as
a day of giving thanks to God for his blessings for his divine
Providence in the creation of our country.
Divine Providence is the way that they looked at it.
We have so much to be thankful for.
You know, he says in that verse #18 in everything, give thanks.
It doesn't mean that we have to give thanks for everything.
I remember reading a story about Corey Tenboom and she and her
sister were in the concentration camp there.
And obviously the situation was not good.
Corey Tenboom's sister ended up dying there.
In those in in that concentration camp, Corey is the
only one that came out, but she came out talking about her
sister and how her sister was just so joyful in every
situation. In fact, she told Corey when
they were in those barracks and one of the things about the
barracks that they were in is they were just completely
infested with fleas. And obviously it's not a great
situation. But her sister said, Corey, we
ought to be thankful for the fleas because the guards won't
come in here. And it gives us an opportunity
to have a Bible study with the ladies that are in the in those
barracks. You can always find something to
give thanks for in everything. You don't have to be thankful
that you have the fleas. You don't have to be thankful
that you're in a miserable situation, But you can be
thankful that no matter what's going on, God is there in that
situation. And there's always something
good to find in that situation if you're looking for it.
Thankful not necessarily for the storm, but in the storm I can be
thankful because God works all things out for his, for our good
to them who love God, to them who are the called according to
his purpose. Because God never abandons his
children. Because God teaches us and
strengthens us through our trials.
Because God reveals himself most clearly to us when we are in the
middle of adversity. That's why we're thankful in
everything. We don't have to be thankful
necessarily that our life is hard.
We don't have to be thankful that our life is not going the
way that we want it to go or this circumstance is not exactly
how I'd like it to be, but we can be thankful in those
circumstances. Thanksgiving is not a feeling.
It's a choice to trust God when life doesn't make sense.
Christians joy, as we find in verse 16.
A Christian's prayer as we find in verse 17.
A Christian's Thanksgiving, as we find in verse 18, is not tied
to the weather of life. It's not tied to what we go
through. It's tied to the God who never
changes like like that. Captain Harris it's not tied to
how big the waves are. It's not tied to how difficult
the storm is. It's tied to the God who was
with us in the middle of that storm.
Thanksgiving is not just a response to our circumstances.
It's a response to, of gratitude and humility and Thanksgiving to
God for his blessings, for his provisions, for his protections
on our lives. And boy, we've, we've given
thanks to God in a lot of different testimonies and a lot
of us are thankful for the same things.
But boy, if you actually sat down and started to think
through and list all of the things that God has done for you
and your life, you know, how often do you thank God for his
protection? You know, many times we could
have been in a wreck that killed us or maimed us or took one of
our family members and we had no idea that God even protected us
from it. You know, something happens and
your car won't start and you missed the wreck by two minutes
while you were trying to get that car going.
You know, it's frustrating when you're dealing with things like
that because it's not going the way that you want it to go.
But you have no idea why God is doing the things that He's
doing. He might be protecting you from
something that would be a horrible disaster in your life
and something that you saw as as so horrible because I can't
believe this happened. God was working it out for your
good and for His glory. I don't know why things happen
the way they do. If I had the answer to the
reason why everything happens, I would be a billionaire.
I'd have an office right next to the church building, and I'd
charge for it. But I don't know why God does
what He does. We can't answer that question,
but I do know this. God's with us in the middle of
those things. God's there when we need Him.
And that's why we can rejoice evermore, why we can pray
without ceasing, and why in everything we can give thanks.
Things may not be exactly the way that you want Him to be this
year. Maybe you had a good year, maybe
you didn't. You may be struggling a little
bit. But whatever the situation is,
with God's help, we can choose to rejoice.
We can choose to pray. We can choose to give thanks.
I want you to remember this as we close.
Joy is possible because God is good.
Prayer is possible because God is near and Thanksgiving is
possible because God's in control.
Joy is possible because God is good.
Prayer is possible because God is near and Thanksgiving is
possible because God's in control.
All those things go hand in hand.
Boy, that's something that that I try to remind you often.
I try to think of it in January and February, in March and
April, when they're, when we're in the exact opposite of the
month of November where we're supposed to think about giving
thanks. Giving thanks is something that
we should do year round. It's a command.
And it's not just here, it's all the way throughout the Bible.
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing in
everything. Give thanks.
What a reminder. What a reminder.
Doesn't matter what your circumstances are, we can still
have that joy in the middle of those circumstances.
We can still pray in the middle of those circumstances.
We can still give thanks in the middle of those circumstances.
Maybe you're not going through one right now, a difficult time,
but you will. You will because it's a part of
life. And I hope you remember those
things. Always, always, always in
everything, give thanks. We have so much to be thankful
for. Let's pray.
Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us.
God, we thank you so much for the opportunity we have to be
here together tonight. May you help us to be reminded
always in every circumstance to rejoice, to pray, and to give
thanks. And especially around this time
of the year when we focus on it a little bit more.
God, may you help us to be what you want us to be.
May you help us to be reminded that we don't necessarily have
to be thankful for the circumstance, but we can be
thankful in it because you're good and you're God, and we
thank you for all that you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.
Go ahead and take your song books out one more time.
Let's turn to page 277. Brother Niton sent me this the
other day and I said I usually read that on the pie and praise
service, so I'm going to read it.
May your stuffing be tasty. May your Turkey be plump.
May your potatoes and gravy have nary A lump.
May your yams be delicious and your pies take the prize.
And may your Thanksgiving dinner stay off your thighs.
Phase 277 go and stand. We'll close with this chorus.
We'll sing it through twice. I love you Lord, and I lived my
boys to worship you. Oh my soul, rejoice.
Take joy, my king. And what you hear, maybe a
sweet, sweet sound in your ear. Let's.
Do that one more time. I love you all and I left my
voice to worship you all. My soul.
Rejoice, take joy in my King and what you give.
Hey, hey, hey. Hey man, I hope you have a good
Thanksgiving or dismissed.