Rejoice in the Lord Always!

God has placed it on my heart to share with you this call from the Word of God to rejoice. In Philippians chapter 4, verse 4, the words of the Lord are a call. There are people here who have lost loved ones; other people are going through various tribulations. And many of you have your own issues, just as I have mine and my family has ours—struggles and trials, difficulties and longings that we want to see God fulfill in our lives. None of us can say that we are complete, that we need nothing, that every situation has already been resolved. We all have loose ends, don’t we? There are things there that need to be ministered to by the Lord, completed by the Lord.

But do you know what? In the midst of all those unresolved things, in the midst of all those needs and trials and tribulations and struggles, the Word of the Lord tells us in Philippians chapter 4 that there is a call from God for you and for me, and God tells us: rejoice. Listen to this. The Lord Himself originally spoke through the writing of the apostle Paul, but that call has reverberated through twenty centuries, 2,000 years of Church history, from the time those words were spoken, and it reaches us this afternoon in this place. And the Lord tells us: rejoice, brothers and sisters.

Church of Christ, listen to that call; it says: rejoice. Rejoice, it says, in the Lord. There are two things that qualify this call from God. It says: rejoice, but then first it says in the Lord, and afterward it says what? Always. Wow. In the flesh, one might say, perhaps I can rejoice in the Lord, but always? Perhaps that is asking too much, but let us see whether it is possible.

It says: rejoice in the Lord always. And because some people are not convinced by that call—because sometimes you are going through certain situations and there are difficulties, and you say, “How can that be possible? I’m not sure,” and you tend to reject it—Paul says, “Again I say to you, rejoice.” To this he adds: “Let your gentleness be known to all men.” It is a call to the Church in general: “The Lord is near.” “Be anxious for nothing.”

How many of you are being reached by that Word this afternoon? How many feel that the Lord is speaking to you? Because our tendency is to worry; that is how it is. When we are going through tribulations, struggles, difficulties in times of trial, shortages, and financial difficulties in a nation such as this one where we live, the tendency is to worry, to be anxious. And the Lord tells us this afternoon: look, about nothing.

Everyone say: about nothing. Nothing—nothing means nothing. Okay? That means you must not allow anything in this world to lead you into a state of anxiety and tribulation, or leave you biting your knuckles in hopelessness and uncertainty. It says: “Be anxious for nothing,” and the antidote is: “But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known before God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Listen, what a beautiful prescription! You do not need to go to a psychiatrist to have your mind straightened out after reading this passage. Psychiatrists are good, social workers are necessary, psychologists have their place. But I would say that the first resource we have is the Word of the Lord. I believe that if the people of God could inject themselves with that benevolent syringe of the Word of God, we would not need psychiatrists.

Of course, others may perhaps need them, but the Son of God certainly knows. The problem is that it is difficult for us to administer that medicine to ourselves, and so we get into situations that require other forms of help and other resources which, as I say, have their place. But the Word of the Lord calls us to a state of rejoicing, of joy.

You know that one of the possessions, one of the elements of the multifaceted inheritance we have as children of God, is joy. One of the things you can aspire to in your life is to have a life distinguished by joy. God wants us to rejoice, you know? God wants you to be joyful. God wants you to have peace in your heart; that is God’s purpose for your life and mine.

Because sometimes we are not clear about that. We believe that the Lord is this taskmaster, this foreman who merely has a long list of commandments, expectations, and demands for us. And certainly there are responsibilities in the Christian life, but there are also privileges. There are times when God simply wants us to rejoice in Him, to celebrate.

And we have to understand that. When I understand, when you understand, that when we come to the ways of the Lord we enter a different economy, we enter a different government. When someone is not in Christ, the devil helps himself lavishly to that person’s life. He does all kinds of evil things in our lives and comes and goes as he pleases because there are no defenses within us. And that is also what happens in nations and cities: when Christ is not reigning in a home, in a heart, in a city, in an entire nation, then the enemy has free access and can sow all the tragedy, all the suffering, all the anxiety, all the wars and oppression he pleases, because the Lord is not present and cannot defend us. But the Lord wants to.

That is not thunder; those are the children upstairs. Children being children. Just so you know, while we are here, there are more than a hundred children upstairs, dancing and celebrating with the Lord and doing all the good things they do in the Lord. They are not horses, they are not thunder; they are children, so just let that be music, as I try to do up here (laughter).

Well, brothers and sisters. When nations do not have Christ in their midst, the enemy can roam freely. But when Christ is in our hearts, we have to understand that He comes, as it says: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly.” John, in one of his letters—I believe it is Third John—says: “For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

So I believe that one of the things we have to do when we enter the way of the Lord is ask Him to change our programming. To change the programming in our brains. Because many of us come into the Kingdom after many tragedies, difficulties, and failures in life, and we think that what lies ahead of us is simply to continue with the same things, except that now we are Christians, and when we die we will go to heaven.

Christ wants us to have life now and abundant life now. He wants to work the miracle of joy, blessing, and sufficiency in our lives now. And so we have to change our expectations. I believe that one of the things that enables us to live in the rejoicing to which the Word calls us is cultivating that expectation. Envisioning a God who wants us to enjoy life. Who wants us to have good things. Trials and difficulties may come—and they do—but God wants the net balance always to favor joy, sufficiency, blessing, and provision.

And those little black specks of difficulty and trials will simply be like the salt one adds to cakes or chocolate. Meche and I were visiting Caleb and Abigail and Miguel this week, and I started making some hot chocolate at night when we came in from outside. And Abi saw that I was adding a little salt to the chocolate. “But salt in chocolate?” “Yes,” I told her, “chocolate tastes much better when you add one tiny drop of salt, just a speck of salt.” And then I told her, “Yes, cakes and pastries too.” Right or wrong? The sisters who bake and know about these things can tell us.

You might think, no, that is the opposite: a cake or chocolate is supposed to be sweet, but adding salt—something corrosive like that—seems contrary. But do you know what it does? That little speck of salt, which you may not even notice, brings those things to life; it gives them a slight edge that makes them more interesting. Perhaps the brain does not register it, but the palate does, and with food, brothers and sisters, everything is in the details.

And do you know what? Sometimes we want everything in life to be nothing but sweet, but let me tell you: if everything were sweet, it would be the most boring thing in the world. Do you know what enables you to appreciate joy and peace? The fact that there are also moments of difficulty, so that you can contrast one thing with the other. So sometimes God allows a little salt to fall on our sweet desserts, and then tribulations and trials come. Everything in life requires shadows, brothers and sisters. There has to be contrast in life; otherwise, there is no difference. Good is good because there is something called evil. Darkness is darkness because there is light. There is always contrast.

If a painting is all one color—white, for example, or yellow—it says nothing; it needs black and other contrasting colors. And life is like that too. God often allows difficulties to come into our lives to make us deeper; it is like salt in a dessert. No one can be truly happy if there is not also a little sadness in their memories. That is how it is; it is inevitable.

But when you come to the ways of the Lord, the Lord then controls the ingredients, and He makes sure that the balance is positive. That in the long run sweetness does indeed prevail, but that there is also depth within you. Sometimes we need moments of trial and difficulty in life. But what we must know is that when we come to the ways of the Lord, we should come expecting a positive balance—joy, hope, triumphs, gain, progress, and advancement in the things of life. God wants us to become better, better, and better every day.

That is why the apostle Paul says, does he not: “For those who love God, all things work together for good; even life’s difficulties, even trials, result in blessing and benefit for us.” And the apostle Paul was one of those people who could speak about that with authority because he knew. He said in one place that he wanted to know Christ in His power, but also in His sufferings. In Second Corinthians, he gives a very long list of all the things he endured in his ministry: shipwrecks, persecutions, being stoned many times, rejection by his Israelite brothers, often even being misunderstood by his own Christian brothers, and imprisonment.

When he writes this letter to the Philippians, he does so from a jail; he is in prison. He does not know whether he will come out of this prison alive, and he writes this letter to comfort those churches in Philippi that he had planted. There in Philippi he was also beaten and persecuted. And so the apostle Paul is in prison—and that is the amazing thing about this letter to the Philippians, which many scholars have called the Epistle of Joy. Because the word joy appears many times in this letter, yet it is being written by a man in chains, a man guarded by soldiers. A man considered an enemy of the state, a man who has lost everything for Christ Jesus. And that man can then say: rejoice.

As he brings his letter to a close, he issues a call to the Christianity of every age, calling us: rejoice. What was there in Paul that kept him from saying, “Be depressed,” instead of, “Rejoice”? What was there in Paul and in his companion Silas as well—beaten, bleeding, imprisoned after preaching the Gospel—that enabled them to sing hymns to the Lord, as the Word says? “So much so that the jail in which they were held shook, and the chains fell from their arms and ankles, and the doors of the prison where they were held opened because they were able to sing to the Lord.”

And I believe it was because the apostle Paul had changed his perspective. He had the perspective of the Kingdom; he saw things through the lens of eternity. He knew who Jesus was. He knew that the Lord had changed his identity, his nature as a man. He knew that this world was now simply something temporary. He understood in his heart that God is in control, that Christ is in control and is in the process of changing history, and that when he finished his race here on Earth, an eternal crown and eternal life with Christ Jesus awaited him.

He had been in heaven. He had an advantage that many of us do not have, because for us it is by faith alone, but Paul had been there in heaven. He says that he was taken up to heaven; he says, “Whether in the body, I do not know; whether out of the body, I do not know.” But Paul understood what awaited him, just as you and I also understand: an eternal reward and eternal glory.

So I believe that another thing that enables us to rejoice in this world is understanding that this world is under the control of Jesus Christ. That our lives, as the apostle Paul says, are hidden in Christ Jesus. That no matter what happens here on Earth, everything is purely relative, because what is real is also what awaits us on the other side. We can also find comfort and rest because we know that there is a heavenly homeland where everything will be explained, and everything will have its purpose and meaning.

To the families who have lost their loved ones, to Sister Flor, who has just lost her three-year-old little girl—I cannot imagine what a mother feels when she loses her three-year-old little girl—to this brother as well, whose name I do not remember, who, while we were here, also just lost his sister, and to others. Brothers and sisters, I can tell you that one day, if we remain in Christ Jesus, Flor is there waiting for her mother, his sister is there waiting for this brother as well, and I hope that this sweetens somewhat our lack here on earth, the difficulties we go through. Always add a little eternity to your trials here on earth, and give yourself therapy by remembering that this world is an antechamber to an eternity that we can spend with Christ Jesus.

And we have to repeat that to ourselves over and over and over again. We must have an eternal perspective, just as Paul had an eternal perspective. Whenever something happened to him, he took it and analyzed it through the economy of God and eternity. He says that there are brothers out there who are trying to preach the Gospel for reasons of strife and division, with personal agendas. Because that happens in the Kingdom of God, you know? There are people who take the Gospel, pervert it, and use it for their own benefit and their own agendas, and unfortunately those on the outside see that and say, “Look at what evangelicals are like.” No, it is that some people are misusing it. Unfortunately, anyone can put on a preacher’s or evangelist’s license, but many times the heart is damaged.

And Paul says in the letter to the Philippians: there are some out there who are preaching the Gospel for improper reasons, but do you know what Paul says? I rejoice in spite of that, because whether out of jealousy or for improper reasons, the Gospel is preached anyway, and there are people who come to know the Lord.

Do you know that there are many people who preach the Gospel who should not preach it? But people are converted, they find the true Christ, and then they can continue on their way with the true Christ, while these people merely served as a dark instrument that God used, because in the long run God always gets His way.

So Paul says: you know what? I am not going to let that rob me of my peace. Because whether for one reason or another, Christ is preached, and I am going to continue preaching Him too. When you try to see things through the Word of the Lord, when you are in a difficult situation in your life, submit it to the machinery of the Gospel; take it and grind it up. And that is what happens whenever anything comes into my life—any difficult situation, any trial, any difficulty—the first thing I immediately do is define the giant: what is its name, what is its nature, and what is the process I am going through? Then I roll up my sleeves and say: time to get to work; let us tear this down, let us submit it to the perspective of the Kingdom of God.

And then you begin to pray, amen? You begin to cry out to the Lord. You look for passages in the Bible that speak to what you are going through. You turn to those declarations in the Word that encourage us to adopt a positive stance. Because there are two options: either you become depressed and allow the situation in your life to envelop you like a cold, wet sheet and seep inside you, or you resist in the name of Jesus and use the weapons of faith. That is why we must know Scripture. Because one of the things that helps us adopt that Kingdom perspective, which enables us to see the things that happen to us through eternity, is knowing the Word of God.

Because when you are going through trials and difficulties, that Word of God comes into your heart and mind and begins to flow through you. And it begins to give you a different perspective, and the Word of God becomes a medicine that washes your mind, washes your thoughts. When you are going through trials or difficulties, do not just give up and die; that is what the devil wants. Never turn your back on the devil, because if you turn your back on him, he will whip you until there is no room left for another scar. Always face him with the Word of the Lord.

The Word of the Lord says that we are to resist. That we are to stand in the evil day, to stand upon the Word of the Lord, the promises of the Lord, the declarations of the Lord. Let us use the full armor of faith, the Word of God says, so that when the evil day comes, having gone through everything, we may stand firm. Amen? And that is what we must do.

And that is why it is so important, brothers and sisters, that we always keep our minds on Christ Jesus and on His Word. That is why what it says here is so beautiful: rejoice in the Lord. There is a rejoicing that is not possible except in the Lord. That rejoicing does not come from you; that rejoicing does not come from therapy you give yourself. That rejoicing comes mysteriously because the Lord is within you, His Holy Spirit is within you. And when trials and difficulties come and you are clinging to Christ, if His Word is flowing through you, and if you open yourself to the Lord’s comfort and ministry, you will feel something different; hope will be born within you, thoughts will come to you that you did not have, that it would not have been possible to have unless God supplied them to you. A peace will come into your heart that you will not understand.

You have to give the Lord time to do that work in you. That is why we have to remain close to the Lord, because that is where the joy we need is found. The joy you will ultimately feel will be a joy that you will not create by yourself; it is the joy of the Lord manifesting itself within you, in your nervous system, and then you will feel the joy of the Lord within you. That is why Christ says: abide in Me, and I in you.

We must remain close to Christ Jesus. The Word of the Lord must continually flow through our minds and our hearts. That is why I encourage you, brothers and sisters: be avid readers of the Word of God; be students of the Word of the Lord. Fill your homes with the Word of God, with sounds of blessing. Play good Kingdom music in your cars and in your homes. Confess the Word of God with your mouth. Engage in wholesome conversations about the Kingdom with your brothers and sisters. Attend church and be filled, because all these positive energies are what will turn you into joyful people who are fully satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because you are what you eat, you know? If you consume thoughts of anxiety, struggle, affliction, and difficulty, that is exactly how you will be. But if you consume the promises of God, the Word of the Lord, then Christ remains close to you and you remain close to Him, and your mind can perceive the Lord’s waves in your life. Many times we do not perceive the Lord’s waves because there are other waves competing in our minds for our sensitivity. But when we remain close to the Lord, then the Lord’s peace and joy can be within us, amen?

Because that is the nature of Christ. And the Word of God calls us many, many times to that perspective of sufficiency in the Lord and to recognize that we have a God who has called us to that joy, and that we must become conscious of it and cooperate with Him so that the wholesome intentions He has toward us may become a reality in our lives. I am continually thinking about God’s calling for my life and God’s purpose to bless me and make my life a life of joy and peace.

I have always told you that, for me, one of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11: God sends this love letter through the prophet Jeremiah to the Hebrew people while they are in Babylon, in exile. Imagine what would happen if an enemy army came here to the United States and we were transported to another country, having to leave all our possessions and all the things we love behind. Perhaps loved ones died in the attacks by that enemy army. Perhaps people were separated during the journey to Babylon, an enemy country, a pagan country where the Word of the Lord did not flow at all.

And there these people are depressed, sad, and anguished. And they are there because of their own stubbornness. They are there because God warned them for a long time; He told them: change your ways, do not worship other idols. Do not serve idols. Seek Me, for I am your defense. These people stubbornly persisted in their sins. The first to become corrupt were the priests and the spiritual people among the nation.

And finally, after warning them many times, the Lord—as He is also warning this nation—how many prophetic words have come concerning the United States, telling it to change its direction? And the Lord sends warnings.

We see how so many unthinkable things that could happen in this nation are happening, and the Lord is warning this nation too. I am taking a slight detour here, but look at how many things there are. To me, one of the significant things about the United States is how even its credit and financial status have been downgraded by international organizations, something that would have been unthinkable in earlier times. Natural events are occurring everywhere. Horrible crimes and other things that are happening, the deterioration of young people and other things—these are warnings from the Lord.

What would happen if, after decades of warnings, a great catastrophe came? One would feel, wow, this is because of our own stubbornness, and that is how the Jews felt. Nevertheless, God sends His prophet to give them peace in their hearts. And look at what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 29:4: “Thus says Jehovah, God of hosts, the God of Israel: To all the captives whom I caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon”—the Lord was the one who caused that tragedy—“build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. Marry, and beget sons and daughters. Give wives to your sons and give husbands to your daughters, so that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not diminish.” Hallelujah.

When trials and difficulties come, even when we ourselves have brought them upon ourselves and caused them, the devil wants us to become depressed and stop multiplying. The devil wants us Christians to be like that. He wants us not to dare to witness to anyone, not to open our mouths, not to tell anyone that we are Christians, not to buy a house, not to have children because the world is lost, and so on. God says: no, no, no; fill this earth with people who fear God, get married, undertake things in My Name, dare to speak, dare to have positive expectations about the future. God tells you: do not diminish.

If you are going through a trial or difficulty, that is when the devil wants you not to come to church, to stop serving the Lord, to stop giving to the Lord, to stop singing when we are worshiping or when you are in your car, to become depressed, to distance yourself from the things of God, to diminish in your generosity toward your family. All these things—he wants you to adopt a perspective of persecution and victimhood. The Lord says: no, no, no; quite the opposite: live a happy life, rejoice, undertake things.

Look: there are times when perhaps you will not be able to control the things that are in your heart and emotions. Perhaps you will not be able to flip a switch from depression to rejoicing. But what you have to do is take actions that speak of joy. Positive actions. Perhaps you cannot control your heart and emotions, but you can control your actions. Instead of putting on an entirely gray, colorless outfit, put on a nice outfit; put on a colorful scarf. Get dressed and go out, even if it is just to have a cup of coffee somewhere or whatever.

Instead of sitting there counting pennies and cooking only for two or three members of your family because you do not know what is going to happen, no—invite someone to your home. Set a fine table and share your goods with other brothers and sisters. And even if you do not feel it in your heart, sing joyfully; declare joy. And if someone asks you how you are, resist the temptation to say, “No, I am depressed; people are bad; the world is getting worse.” Say, “In Christ I am well, in Christ Jesus.” Declare positive things with your mouth.

You know? There are people who will get upset with me because, when they ask me, I tend to add a positive little ending to everything I say. Sometimes, when I say something and speak so negatively, I still always like to add something hopeful when I describe a difficult situation, because God always has the last word. I believe that things do not end in the life of a child of God until they end well.

There is a movie out there whose name I am not going to tell you because it contains other complicated things that I do not want to confuse you with, but it says: in the end, everything turns out well, and if it has not turned out well, then it is not the end yet. I believe that does apply to the lives of God’s children, you know? I always believe that the Lord has the last word; the devil does not have it, people do not have it, my own humanity does not have it.

I believe it is important for us to use actions and words, because I can decide whether or not I speak; I can decide whether or not I act. Perhaps I cannot decide how I feel at the moment, but if I can decide the part that I can control—my confessions, my songs, and my actions—then the feeling will follow behind that. So that is why I believe the Lord tells Jeremiah: tell them to buy houses, to get married, to celebrate. Let them enjoy life even though inside they still feel as if they are drinking lukewarm water. Because as you do those things prophetically, the joy of the Lord begins to invade your life.

As you begin to share, to give, to bless, to serve, to attend church, to seek the Lord—look, the weariness goes away. The depression goes away. Many people feel lonely and complain that people do not visit them or call them, but you know, the best way to get people to seek you out and ask for you is for you to give to others, to be generous. Perhaps many people want nothing to do with you because they come near and what comes out of your mouth is a whole stream of negative confessions—no. Begin to serve others; begin to give to others.

“No, they did not visit me when I was in the hospital.” Begin to give to the Lord, and you will see how, mysteriously, magically, people come around you. Begin doing good, positive things yourself, and joy will follow; blessing will come. Because actions and confessions are like magnets that attract good or evil. We are magnets, and what we have inside is what we attract.

So begin to confess faith, begin to confess joy, begin to confess the Lord’s good intentions. Pray for someone, visit someone, minister to someone, share with someone, and the joy of the Lord will mysteriously come to you. Do not wait for joy to come; attract joy into your life.

God wants us, as they say, to be thermostats instead of thermometers. Do you know the difference? The thermometer merely registers the temperature outside; it cannot do anything more than register it. If it is cold, the mercury in the thermometer drops and registers a low temperature; if it is hot, the mercury rises and adjusts to the temperature. The thermostat controls the temperature. You set the thermostat and it lowers or raises it; it controls the heat, and that is what we have to do. Do you know that God has made you a thermostat and not a thermometer? And that this comes as a result of your actions, your prophetic words, your sharing, and the inner atmosphere you cultivate in your life. And when you understand that, in some mysterious way, your inner world controls your outer world, you do everything you can on your part to make the atmosphere the right one, capable of bringing God’s blessing.

And many times it will involve you doing things outwardly: confessing positivity, cultivating positive thoughts, consuming positive energy, setting blessing, peace, and joy in motion in your home; and then the other part comes. That is why I believe God tells them, look: buy houses, open your businesses, send your children to school, make gardens in your homes, in your yards; let there be flowers that bring joy into your life, and that will change your situation and bring what you need, which is the peace and joy of the Lord in your life.

And it is so important that we understand this, brothers and sisters. And another thought is occurring to me here: lately we have been talking a great deal here at Lion of Judah and at the Center for Academic Resources about schools, right? There are so many schools here in this nation, in the Department of Education. The departments of education do not know what to do with the schools; our children are in crisis right now. And in part, I believe it is because of the atmosphere we have allowed to be created in our generation of young people, the confessions we allow to enter their minds, the things we do in our homes, the movies.

There is a whole stream of negative consumption from this society that we have been supplying. And that is why the air is being poisoned, because the energies we are allowing are negative energies that glorify hell more than heaven. They glorify death, violence, promiscuity, and other things instead of purity, holiness, and joy in the Lord. There is such a great difference. We were just in Tennessee, where Aby and Miguel are. Look, I believe the devil is everywhere; it is not that I am idealizing that city or anything like that, but one of the things that surprises me about that area is the number of churches there are. You throw a stone in the South and it hits a church.

Again, understand me correctly: there may be just as much sin there as there often is in other cities and elsewhere; that is entirely possible. But—and this also happens to me when I have traveled to other states in the United States—sometimes people think that the United States is only New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and a few others, and we believe that is the United States. You know what? When you travel, there are so many places—in most of the states of this nation—where there are people who fear God. There are many people who have a healthy fear of God.

They are not perfect, okay? They are not saints there, all ready and prepared to go to heaven, but they are people who fear the Lord. And even if only in their general confessions, they recognize that there is a God on Earth who watches over the Earth and that somehow we human beings must bow before that God. And many go one step further and believe that Christ is the defender of creation. You know that the only one who can defend cities, nations, and families from the devil’s attacks is Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus.

There is direct opposition between the Name of Jesus and the hosts of hell that want to kill, steal, and destroy in our cities. And every day I understand one thing more clearly: when a man, a woman, a family, a city, or a government aligns itself with Jesus Christ, it is not only saying yes to Jesus Christ, but it is also saying no to the devil. Christ is an element of warfare and opposition to the kingdom of darkness. When Christ enters, the Kingdom of heaven enters with Him. The values of the Kingdom of God enter, God’s positivity enters, and God’s good will for His creation enters.

So I always tell people: when you receive Christ, understand what you are doing; you are signing a covenant of war. You are not merely saying neutrally, “Okay, Lord, I make You my Jesus and my King,” and so on. No, you are saying to the kingdom of darkness: “I do not want you here; I do not want you in my life, I do not want you in my spirit, I do not want you in my finances, I do not want you in my work; I want Christ.”

And that element of warfare in the confession of Jesus is what makes it possible for the peace and joy of the Lord to come to any community—whether it is a family, a city, a government department, a school, a neighborhood, a street, and so on and so forth. And why do I say this again? When we were there, there was something beautiful in those cities, in those states where humanism, rationalism, and that pride, that arrogance possessed by intellectual man do not yet reign as they do here in the city of Boston and its surrounding areas. I speak to you from experience; I know what it is to live in the belly of the beast.

I know the arrogance of rational man, of intellectual man, and how modern man believes he has the right to choose and decide his destiny; and what they do, then, is become like little rabbits that enter a forest where there are wild beasts that want to kill and destroy them. But when there is a community that humbles itself before Jesus, even if its members are not perfect, something happens: the darkness has to retreat a little. And then, as one walks around, one senses that there is something—ah, it is somehow different, wow.

And the people are different. In those areas, people look at you and greet you. Listen, even in restaurants, you are surprised by how they serve you. The conversations you can have with strangers—the air is different. Why? Because there is a recognition, even if only implicit, that Christ is welcome. Those families make their mistakes and commit their sins, but many times what God wants is for someone to bow their head before Him and humble themselves. He says, “Now we can work things out; do not worry. You have many issues, you have problems, there are inconsistencies, but at least you bowed your head before Me.”

I say: if only communities understood that. Our universities, the present-day plagues of promiscuity. Dropping out of school, girls becoming pregnant prematurely, boys crumbling more and more every day in their masculinity—there is almost a disappearance of men in our societies. When our society bows its head before Jesus, the peace and joy of the Lord will come; I assure you of that. We will not have to throw away so many millions of dollars that we waste.

We want to throw iPads at the devil and believe that this will make him go away, you know? We give iPads to all the young people; we give computers to all the young people. We fill our classrooms with every kind of resource; we throw vouchers at the poor to see whether that will appease their hunger and thirst. We set up gleaming clinics with tables on which we can perform the most exquisite abortions in the world, and we believe that with this we will be able to solve the problem of our youth.

Brothers and sisters, when Christ comes, joy is possible in societies. When Christ comes, when the Lord—when there is a bowing of heads before Jesus—then we can say, “No, I will rejoice; I will delight in the Lord,” because Christ makes joy possible. When we cling to Christ, the joy of the Lord becomes possible in our societies. Men, human beings, can delight in the Lord; rejoicing becomes possible. Let us say to Christ: “Come into my life.”

I will not be satisfied until God uses us as a church to tell our community, and perhaps other communities as well if God allows us—I speak of the Latino community because that is what we are, but I want God to use us to speak to Anglo-Saxons, Africans, Asians, Haitians, whoever they may be—to tell the communities: take refuge in Christ Jesus. There is refuge in the Lord. Let us open the doors of the hospitals to the Lord; let us open the doors of the mental institutions to the Lord; let us open the doors of the addiction clinics to the Lord; let us open the doors of the psychiatric offices to the Lord, and let the peace and joy of the Lord enter those places.

We have to tell our communities: take refuge in Christ Jesus, because in Him there is joy, there is hope, there is peace, and there is salvation. We have a sacred duty, brothers and sisters. I feel as never before that the Lord is calling our church, and you—each one of you—and me, to do everything possible to proclaim to this depressed, sorrowful world, which is slowly falling apart and stewing in its own juices, that Christ is the solution to its need, and that in Him, in the Lord, the rejoicing of our communities is possible once again. The rejoicing of our families, the rejoicing of our children, the peace of the Lord that surpasses all understanding. The answer is in the Lord; rejoice in the Lord always.

And even when there are trials and difficulties, when everything is not going well for you, that “always” will make sense. Even when there are trials, you will find a way to rejoice because the Lord will be your joy. I leave you with the words of Habakkuk chapter 3, verse 17 and following. Habakkuk 3:17 says: “Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor is there fruit on the vines. Though the produce of the olive fails”—today we would say, though there are no cans in the pantry, though there is no milk in the refrigerator, though we have cooked the last little bit of rice and beans and have nothing left to eat. Though there are no tortillas left to knead or anything like that, nor even refried beans to put on top, and though the sheep are taken from the fold and there are no cows in the stalls, say nonetheless, nonetheless: “I will rejoice in Jehovah, and I will delight in the God of my salvation.”

Glory to the Name of the Lord. You have to make a decision to live a happy life. You have to decide to rejoice. Life is not going to give you that opportunity; you have to wrest it from life. You have to decide: I am going to be a happy person. I am going to believe that God has good things for me; I am going to move forward expecting God’s happiness; I am going to undertake good things. Every time I have to make a decision, I am not going to think that something will go wrong for me. No, I am going to think that it will turn out well.

And when I return home at the end of the day, I am going to rest my head on my pillow and thank God for a good day. It will not have been perfect, but it was a good day because it was a day in which I lived in the Lord. Nonetheless, I will rejoice; that is the bottom line for the child of God. No matter what happens in my life: I am going to rejoice, I do not care. I am going to look the devil right in the face, and my joy is going to spoil his day because I decided to be happy. I am going to rejoice, I am going to be a happy human being, and I am going to be happy in the Lord.

My sufficiency is in the Lord. My definition, my worth, is in the Lord—His love for me, His good intentions for me. When you rejoice in the Lord and you think, “I have worth, I am, I have, I can, because Christ is within me, and in Christ Jesus I am more than a conqueror in every trial; I knock every affliction out of the park, hallelujah; I can rejoice in the Lord.”

God calls us this morning: rejoice. In fact, I am going to put it in plain English: rejoice, delight yourselves, celebrate in the Lord. That “rejoice” sounds too distant. Rejoice, man, woman of God; rejoice in the Lord, dance, enjoy yourself, smell the lilies around you, have a little coffee with plenty of sugar, and say, “Thank You, Lord, thank You. I bless You, Father.” Invite your friends over to your house, play some good music, put on a little perfume every now and then, amen? Rejoice in the Lord. Buy yourself a little shirt in cheerful colors, put it on, and celebrate, so that when the world sees you, it says, “Wow, what does that person have?” There is something there, a certain flavor that person has. Why? What is it that they have?

That is why the apostle Paul says: Let your graciousness be known to all people—your gentleness. That means that a child of God should have such beautiful joy within him or her that, when people see them in the neighborhood, they can tell: this person is different from everyone else. This person is loving, gentle, forgiving, generous, patient, positive; there is always a song coming from their lips, and there is a look of hope in their heart. There are trials, but I can see that somehow they always come through. Let your gentleness be known to all people; rejoice in the Lord. Let us be the happiest people on the whole Earth.

Let us stand; give glory to the Lord. Confess joy right now; receive the joy of the Lord. Say: “Lord, I receive Your joy; I rejoice in You. You are my strength, You are my hope, You are my sufficiency, You are my healing, You are the guarantor of my life, hallelujah. And in You I have my fullness; in You I have everything I need.” Hallelujah. Confess right there that positive character of the Lord in your life.

Father, we rejoice in You; we bless You, Lord. Father, I ask that if anyone has come this morning with trials in their life, the breath of Your mouth would rest upon them right now and carry away all negativity, all darkness, all sadness. I confess, and you confess, that anything in my life right now that robs me of joy will be replaced by the peace and joy of the Lord. You will give us victory in all our struggles. All the giants will fall before us.

Our children will be like plants drinking from a hidden spring. Our neighborhood will be blessed because we dwell in it. We will be sufficient in You, Lord, and we will have everything we need, hallelujah, because we have Christ Jesus in our hearts. Glory to the Name of the Lord. Thank You, Lord Jesus; we love You, we bless You. Thank You, Lord Jesus.

Hallelujah, we exalt You, Lord; these people rejoice in You, Father. The Lord is my joy, my strength. My life depends on Him, on His Presence in my life. Oh Father, fill the city, fill the city with the Presence of Jesus, the only One who can undo the works of the enemy. And fill Your people with such abundant joy that it overflows, overflows, and spills out, Lord, into the streets of this city. Create for Yourself Christian communities that reflect the joy of the Lord. We praise You and bless You. Thank You, Christ, because through Your blood and Your cross You have made this joy possible in our lives. In Your name, thank You. Amen and amen.