Psalm 149, Romans 8:18, Phil 4:4, 1 Thess. 5:16-18, James 1:2 (ESV)
August 28, 2022
preached by Pastor Ryan Bouton
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”

~C.S. Lewis in A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

“‘Evangelion’ (that we call the gospel) is a Greek word, and signifies good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that makes a man’s heart glad, and makes him sing, dance and leap for joy.”

~William Tyndale (1494-1536), English scholar and Bible translator

“The mass of men have been forced to be gay about the little things, but sad about the big ones. Nevertheless (I offer my last dogma defiantly) it is not native to man to be so. Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul. Pessimism is at best an emotional half-holiday; joy is the uproarious labour by which all things live.”

~G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

“I think one may be quite rid of the old haunting suspicion—which raises its head in every temptation—that there is something else than God, some other country into which he forbids us to trespass, some kind of delight which he ‘doesn’t appreciate’ or just chooses to forbid, but which would be real delight if only we were allowed to get it. The thing just isn’t there. . . .The truth is that evil is not a real thing at all, like God. It is simply good spoiled. . . . You know what the biologists mean by a parasite—an animal that lives on another animal. Evil is a parasite. It is there only because good is there for it to spoil and confuse.”

~They Stand Together: The Letters of C. S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves (1914-1963)

Sermon Passage

Psalm 149, Romans 8:18, Phil 4:4, 1 Thess 5:16-18, James 1:2 (ESV)

Psalm 149

¹ Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly!
² Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
³ Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
⁴ For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
⁵ Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
⁶ Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
⁷ to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
⁹ to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the Lord!

Romans 8

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Philippians 4

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

1 Thessalonians 5

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.

James 1

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,