Holiness, Godliness, Usefulness
06/07/2014, by John Kincaid
Lesson 260: Rejoice Always
1 Thes.5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Psa.98:4; Phil.4:4; Col.3:16, 4:2
The following symptoms indicate that you don’t fully appreciate the grace of the Gospel:
- You are weighed down with guilt, depressed, ashamed
- You believe that sincere Christians should always be sad and downcast about sin
- You feel uncomfortable when believers express joy in Christ
The attitude of believers, the expression on their face, should reflect joy and thanks for grace.
This gratitude comes from repentant tears, but also from the joy that God has forgiven us.
We don’t minimize our guilt, in fact, we ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts to expose sin.
But this increases our delight in doing what pleases Him; we can only thank Him for His mercy.
We are “zealous for good works” because we are His treasured possession. The song of our heart becomes, “Everything that is right about me, Jesus did.”
About This Series
The goal of this series is to become more useful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, as an instrument in the Redeemer's hand. The theme verses for the series are Ephesians 4:22-24, Philemon 11, 2 Timothy 2:21
- to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
- and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
- Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
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