Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
INTRODUCTION: "It’s Party Time"
Place under each chair party favors, i.e. squawkers, poppers, bubbles etc... Get some young people to come up and lead a couple of cheers and get everybody to scream and holler, creating a party atmosphere.
APPLICATION: It’s party time in the kingdom of God. Why, because we have a reason to party, a right to party and a responsibility to party. By partying I mean to rejoice in God and His goodness. Partying because of Who Jesus is and for what He has done, because we have been freed from sin’s grip on us and because we want others to see the joy of God in us.
Quote:
Happiness is caused by things that happen around me, and circumstances will mar it; but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition. It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about. The Lord gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him. DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY (1837-1899)
I. WE HAVE A REASON TO PARTY
A. Because of Who He is
1. As lovers of Jesus Christ and who is and who is in our lives it gives us the ultimate reason to party. The world is always looking for reasons to party, football games, concerts, birthdays, etc…, but there celebration is short lived with the end of a sporting event etc… Where our reason lives forever.
2. Our reason to party or celebrate has to be about Jesus or our partying will be up and down along with our relationship with Jesus. One day we’ll feel good and be in a good mood so we’ll celebrate but if we feel bad then we don’t party we just sit there and sulk.
3. Jesus is not the historical figure that the world makes Him out to be, he is much more than that. When we begin to see Jesus for who He really is our partying takes on a whole new excitement and cause. We now celebrate because we are in love.
4. Who is Jesus to you? He is just a religious figure, the big guy in the sky, someone who is only there when you need him to suit your needs, or is He the most important person in your life, the reason you live, the reason you party.
B. BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE
1. Not only do we party or rejoice for who Jesus is but what he has done. The world doesn’t hold a candle to why we party. We have been freed from the power of sin, we no longer have to be the slave of sin, we don’t have to sin. We celebrate what He has done for us as well as all people.
2. You and I were a lost people. We where unable undo the predicament that we were in, we were hopeless, and spellbound by enchanting powers of Satan. He held us hostage and the ransom he set was far to high for anybody to pay with the exception of our creator.
3. When we begin to fully understand what Jesus has done for us our reason for partying or rejoicing becomes more intense & passionate. We celebrate with more enthusiasm, fervor, excitement, and craze.
4. What Jesus did He didn’t have to, He did it because He wanted to and so He desires for us to party in Him because we want to not because we have to. He has provide for us the freedom party and has provide for us the reason to party.
II. WE HAVE A RIGHT TO PARTY
A. FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY
1. The devil is not going to sit by and just let us party in Jesus because he knows that our rejoicing in Jesus will lead to a more intense relationship with God and thus making you and me more of a threat to him and his kingdom.
2. You will have to fight to party in Jesus. Everything in this world is against you being in love with Jesus, but you must determine in your heart to love God no matter what the world says or does. Realize that you have been given the RIGHT to party.
3. Your emotions, circumstances, friendship, way of thinking will be against you rejoicing in God, but you must press on regardless of what you feel, think, or see, because you know that sorrow only last for the night but Joy comes in the morning.
4. It is your right by the virtue of what Jesus did on the Cross and through the resurrection that you have the RIGHT to party, and you must not let anyone or anything take that away from you.
B. WE HAVE BEEN SET FREE
1. The reason you have the right to party is because Jesus ransomed or purchased you from the enemy, i.e. Satan. You have been set free from his hold, his bondage, his clutches and you now have been given the right and privilege to rejoice in God.
2. The wages of sin is death, but because we have been freed from sin’s hold on us we now don’t have to fear death, because we now don’t have to sin, it is no longer part of our nature. We have been given a new nature, the nature of God.
3. Before in your life before Christ you partied because your nature drove you to, you had an insatiable desire to fulfill the lust of your flesh and everything you did or said lead to that fulfillment. You were a slave to your own desires and sinful nature. But now because of Jesus you have been freed from being forced to fulfill that selfish desire and have been given the choice of loving God or not.
4. Rights are great but unless we make full use and exercise them what good are they. They are nothing more that useless words on paper that mean nothing unless we put them into practice. You have the right to party in Jesus, don’t let anyone or anything steal that from you.
III. WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO PARTY
A. WHAT DO PEOPLE SEE IN ME?
1. Not only do we have a reason and right to party but we have a responsibility to. Yes, a responsibility to God and to others. You see as people see the joy and love that is in our lives they will begin to see why we rejoice and thus see the Jesus in you and me.
2. The question remains what do people really see in me? Do they see that joy and excitement about being in love with Jesus. Or do they see a boring, dull, and dead religion. Or do they see the hypocritical and Phariseeical life we live. What do people see?
ILLUSTRATION: "A picture of God"
A little boy sat down at the kitchen table with his crayons and a big sheet of blank paper, and he started to draw.
His father, noticing the youngster hard at work at the table, stopped to look. "What are you doing, son?"
"I’m drawing a picture of God," said the little boy.
"But son," said the father, "You can’t draw a picture of God. Nobody knows what God looks like."
The little boy thought for a moment and said, "Well--they will when I get through!"
Application: Can we say that about our lives? Will people be able to look at us and see God? What do they see, who do they see?
3. It is our responsibility as lovers of Jesus Christ to represent Him with accuracy. And part of doing that is by rejoicing or partying in Him with a joy and fervor that the world can’t hold a candle to. Yes the world can party, but in the morning they can’t remember what they did last night and live with the regret of what they did the night before, whereas on the other hand we live our lives with more intensity & passion with no regrets of what we have done knowing that one day we will see Jesus face to face.
4. They must see Jesus in you and me, if they don’t then we are not partying right. We aren’t living our lives to their fullest potential if they don’t see Jesus in us.
B. THEY’LL WANT WHAT YOU’VE GOT
1. Our lives must be lived in such a way that others want what we’ve got. Can you say that you live your life in such a way that others i.e. your friends at school, people in your community, your parents, brothers & sisters, etc… want what you’ve got?
2. People know a fake when they see one and if you’re faking your love relationship with God people will eventually figure it out and then you’ll be left with a smoking gun. You killed your testimony of what and who God is in your life and thus further harming your influence in other people’s lives.
3. If we party or rejoice because of who Jesus, what He has done, and because He given us the right, and we do it out of sincerity and a pure heart people see that we are real and people are hungry for something real.
4. Party like you’ve never partied before and people will be drawn to you. Enthusiasm & excitement are contagious, show your love and excitement about Jesus and people will want what you’ve got.
CONCLUSION: "Wouldn’t He Stick Out?"
A seven-year-old boy approached his pastor one morning after the sermon. He said to the pastor, "Didn’t you say I have ask Jesus Christ into my heart in order to be a Christian?"
"That is what I said," replied the pastor.
"Well, how big is Jesus?" asked the boy.
"I’m not sure, but I bet He’s pretty big, because He was a carpenter," the pastor told him.
"That’s what I thought," said the little boy. "So as little as I am, and as big as Jesus is, wouldn’t He stick out if I asked Him into my heart?"
To this the pastor smiled, "He will stick out more than you think."
APPLICATION: If we have the joy of God in our lives people will see it. They can’t help but see Jesus in us. It’s party time in Jesus all the time. Let Jesus shine through.
