Quit Waiting to Rejoice
- Dec 14, 2025
- 28 min read
Updated: Dec 16, 2025
Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
Quit waiting to rejoice. I believe with all my heart that ever since Jesus came into this world and he began to share the gospel of the kingdom, as he called it, he's been on this journey—one person after another. Even in our generation, and your life and my life, he's been on a journey, a ministry, executing a ministry to help us quit waiting to rejoice. I grew up in church myself, and I was living a life waiting to rejoice. I believed in God. I trusted that the scriptures, that the Bible, was the word of God. I trusted that there was no other way to the Father but through Jesus Christ. But I did not live a life of rejoicing that I was perfectly forgiven, made right before the Father, welcomed into his presence any time. I was not rejoicing in the sense that I was so full of joy because God is keeping every single promise to me, and I expected him to do it. I believed in God. I believed in Jesus. But I did not believe the gospel. I did not believe the good news for my life.
I believed that the good news of God was the only good news worthy of believing. I believe that it was already true for some people that I had known in my life, and they just had a peace and a happiness and a joy and a comfortability with the things of God that I really wanted one day. And I believed that that was only possible because of Jesus. But I was still waiting for something to happen in my life. And I wasn't necessarily quite sure if it was something that I had to do and figure out, or something that God still had to do, depending on the season. I felt like God has to do this big thing in my life before I would ever enter into really being what I thought it would be like to be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus. I had secret little dreams ever since I was young—just dreams in my heart of really being somebody that loves Jesus and that knows him, ever since being little. But I never felt like I was quite dead. And I felt like God still had to do something, or I had to do a whole bunch of stuff. At the very least, I felt like God had to do something, and at the very least I had to stop doing certain things, which I was never quite able to do until I quit waiting to rejoice.
Let me read to you Mark chapter 1, verse 14 and 15. Quit waiting to rejoice. Verse 14: Now after John—that's John the Baptist, not John the Apostle—after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.” He says, “The time is fulfilled. The waiting is over. There's nothing you need to be waiting for anymore.” He says, now that the time has been fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand—it's right near now—he says, now there's repentance and faith. Repent and believe the gospel that you now can do. Before this moment, this message didn't even exist for those that were Gentiles or those of the Jews that did not have the ability to come to the temple and bring sufficient sacrifice, or bring their finances to purchase the sacrifices necessary to pay for their sins. And here Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled. The waiting is over. The kingdom of God is now at hand. Turn from your doubts, turn from your unbelief, and instead believe this gospel.”
You know, that word gospel wasn't an Old Testament word used for what we believe today.
That's Jesus always speaks to people in a way they can understand. Amen. Some of you got it. Jesus always speaks to people in a way they could understand. When Jesus first begins touse this word gospel while he walks around among the Jewish people, theyknow exactly what he's talking about. Because any time that a nation, or evencities, would fight one another or besiege one another and and and begin tofight against this city, the city would lock the doors, barricade up inside. We got enough food stored up. We got enoughwater, at least for quite a while. And the enemy would would would besiege the city on the outside. They would leavesome soldiers back at home, because what if somebody at the same time tries to come to our own city? But but here youare locked up in the city, and life goes on after a couple of days. The adrenaline wears off and the excitementwears off. It's just a standoff. Now, who is going to endure? How long can wemake it stretch in the city and wear the enemy out and perhaps win this battle?
Now, in various ways, in various strategies, the city that was under siege woulddefend itself. Not only just barricade in, but they tryto catch the enemy off guard, or at night, or at a moment they least expect to tolaunch a counterattack, as a good strategist would. But often they would try to draw thebattle away from the city. Either more military men could then escape the cityand join the fight, or people that needed to escape. And at times, if they knew it was a losing battle, they would not tellthe enemy. They would just launch an attack so that the king and his familyand the royalty and the and and the leaders of the people could escape and could continue, or couldgo and get another king and another city persuaded to join this fight. In everycase, when you were living in that city and you were a carpenter or or you were astay-at-home wife and you were homeschooling the kids, and whatever you may be doing in your day-to-day life,you would be waiting to hear if we are winning the battle or if we are losingthe battle. Because when word comes, and a runner would come, often they did noteven have a horse. They would actually be runners by trade.
They could outrun almost anybody. And they they needed todo that in order to outrun the enemy and actually be able to bring message back to the city before the enemy could getthere, especially in the case of losing. And so you'd just be going about yourday, trying to figure out how to make the best of the time, how to continue yourresponsibilities, but you're waiting to hear news. And if that news was brought to you, and it was the news that those men that went out of the city have conquered the enemy and won a victory and nothing negativeis coming upon your life, but now the victory that these men fought forbecomes yours and the freedom is yours, that message would be called a gospelhas been brought. That's what they would call a gospel. And so when Jesus comes on the scene andhe begins to tell people, I'm bringing you the gospel of the kingdom, they knewexactly that he meant that somebody has fought a battle. And now I'm being toldwhile I was waiting that there's no battle for me to fight anymore, that there's no negative consequences of thiswarfare that has been going on that is going to touch my life.
I am being brought a message of freedom anddeliverance and victory that someone else bought for, but now it is mine and I get to live in it. That's the word that Jesus uses when he explains thatGod has good news for his people. He says it's a gospel. You've been waitingfor this. You've been waiting to hear who wins this battle, cuz surely you felt by now that you cannot win it. You can't make the difference. You've been waitingwith a little bit of anxiety or worry or fear of how is my story going to end? How is this going to play out with my sin and my difficulty and my challenges and the throw the devil in the mix? How is my story going to play out? Jesus says, "The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." Believe this news that I am bringing to you, delivering to you, that the victory has been won and that nothing negative is coming upon your life. That is his message,and key is that he says the time is fulfilled.
Clearly there was a waiting. Clearly, there has been, in one measure or another, in every single one of our lives, there was a season where we could not see this message withthe eyes of our heart. We knew that some cities gotten agospel. We knew that some people experienced that freedom because othermen had gone out of the city and brought deliverance. We've heard it for other people, but here I am in my situation,and I have not had anybody from heaven, any messenger from heaven yet speak tomy heart and deliver that gospel. And maybe you say, “Well, actually, that's not really true for me. I've heard the gospel so many times in mylife, but I'm still limitingmy spiritual life to this city. I don't dare to go outside. I still worry and fear that somehow, someway, the negativesof my sin, the negatives of my lifestyle, are going to come upon me. I'm stillwaiting for God to do something. I heard the gospel and some went out rejoicing.Some moved on and now live a life of freedom. But I am still waiting onsomething.
I'm still waiting on God to do something in my life. I still don't know God's voice. I'm waiting for him todo something. I still don't know full peace. I still don't believe I'm calledto make a difference in this world. And and I'm not walking it out. I'm still wait. I believe it's possible, but I'm still waiting for God to do something, or I'm still waiting for me to quit some stuff, and then that is probably all going to come topass.” Jesus says the time is fulfilled. Why not rejoice? Why do so many believersnot live rejoicing day after rejoicing day? It is moping,difficult, heavy challenges, negativity,struggles, not wholeheartedly giving themsel to their portion of the heavenlycall upon their life. And there are so many reasons people come up with, but I promise you this: they're not living a life of rejoicing. Than not behavingdayto day as if somebody else came into my life, told me a gospel,and brought me into a freedom I never fought for, a deliverance I never paidfor, a provision that I didn't work for. Nothing I did; all was given to me. Andthat message was delivered, and now I live a life of rejoicing.
Why aren't you rejoicing? Why isn't there joy on the dayto day when the Son of God himselfhas said the time is fulfilled? Waiting's over now. The kingdom of God is at hand. It'sright here. The invitation is repent of your unbelief.Repent of that sinful doubt towards Godand believe the gospel. Believe that news that is ran into your lifeto let you know that nothing negative ofthe enemy or sin is going to govern your life, and the battle has been won, and youget to just enjoy it. Why aren't you rejoicing? Just a couple of verses later, Jesus has demonstrated how near the kingdom of God has come. And this is what we read in verse 27. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this?” Doctrinemeans belief system. What new belief system is this?For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.
Well, Jesus had just told them what this is.He told them the time is fulfilled. You've been waiting for God to do something. Jesus says the waiting is now over. You've been waitingfor the kingdom of God to invade and take over and conquer the kingdom, ifyou will, of the enemy.
And Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom is at hand. Repent andbelieve the gospel.”
“What is this?” they say.“Even unclean spiritsobey him.” A new teaching with authority. This is different. Mark 16:1, 17, and 18 reads this. And these signs will follow those whobelieve in my name. They will cast out demons.They will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents. And if theydrink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Jesus says, “The kingdomhas come. It has drawn near to you. The time is fulfilled.”And he says, “Here's what will happen in my name.They will cast out unclean spirits. They will speak with new tongues.”
Not only is your language going to be changed in a very practical way. The word tells us those that don't knowGod, their mouth is like an open grave. It brings forth death. It brings forthugly words, brings forth painful words.Beyond that, it's promised that we will receive gifting from the Spirit. Some ofus also receiving a gifting called speaking in other tongues, speaking inheavenly language. At times, an other earthly language that allows people to understand the gospel, even though you don't speak their language, a miraculous language. He says they'll take up serpents. Clearly, he's referringto the time where, when man got close to a serpent,Eve got close to a serpent, everything went wrong. Jesus says, “There's coming a time, andit's now here, that those that believe they'll pick up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will by nomeans hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
The next verse talks about scorpions. Anytime you see the word talk about scorpions, it's always a very clearreference to the demonic and to the workers of evil. And and again, the wordtells us it will by no means touch those who believe. What is he saying? The kingdom of God has come near, and now thekingdom of the enemy and the workers of the enemy and everything that fallen angels or demons may be trying to do inyour life and in the lives of those that you love, it is now all not in poweranymore. The kingdom has drawn near. You're no longer waiting. You're nolonger waiting for forgiveness. You're no longer waiting for victory. You're no longer waiting for freedom.You're no longer waiting for opportunity to finally wholeheartedly turn to God. He says, “The waiting is over. The kingdom has drawn near. Repent andbelieve.” That's what he speaks. And he says, in my name, people are goingto live different. The fruit of their life is going to become very different.
Instead of making people feel like they can't come to God because they're not good people, I think church people in general have been sending more people to hell than the enemy could ever dream of. And what I mean by that is this. Many a church I visit, I know for a fact when I was not saved, if I would have visited that church, I would have never gotten saved. I would have felt I didn't fit in. I would have felt like thingswere not possible for me. I would have felt like hiding.I would have felt like I'm in real trouble. I better cover up my life real good because in this place, like I'mgoing to stand out like a sinner. If I'm found out to be a sinner, like they all going to be looking at me. When, in all reality, Jesus of the Bible came to call sinners to himself, sinnersto repentance, sinners to holiness. And I learned this love from the word.If you have sin, you qualify for Jesus. That's the gospel. That's who he brings the gospel to sinners. And he says those people, they're going to be changed to such a degree they are going to cast out demons. The demons, the the the workers of Satan that used to overpower them.
Jesus says, “I'm going to put them in charge of cleaning house. Not only in their own life, but in the lives that are around them.” And nothing the enemy does, like he tried to lie his way into getting Eve to do her own desire and the enemy's desire at the same time in the garden and bring absolute pain, sickness, and destruction on all the generations that would follow. He says, “Listen, these new people that are going to believe on thegospel that I have sent to them, those that do repent and believe on thatgospel, this is what they're going to be like. The enemy is not going to cause their life to bring forth pain anddestruction for other people. They're going to bring healing. They're going to lay hands and cause healing in placesthat they go. And nothing of the enemy kingdom is going to touch them because Isent them a gospel. I won the victory. I won the battle. And when it was told tothem, they rejoiced because they believedthe message of Jesus.”
Not only practically, in the very factthat he appeared at the right time, the word tells us,but then he confirms this in his own words. Not only in presence, his message is thetime is now. He says the time is now. He says thedead will hear, and those who hear will live. Saysthat's happening now. The time is now. Says those that believe will lay handson the sick, and they will recover. He says that time is now. The time is fulfilled. The waiting is done. And so many in the body of Christ could only dream, just like I was a little boy believing and dreaming of what kind of a man one day maybe Stan would be if all of these things were actually real. Imagining what life would be like if all of these things were actually real for me, waiting because something still felt a little wrong. Jesus says the time is now. Isaiah 43, verse 1 says this: “But now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, Jacob the deceiver,and he who formed you, O Israel, new name, princes with God.That's what that word means. To Israel says, ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you—finished work. I have called you by your name. You are mine.’”
There's so much in that verse. And this verse, there's no coincidence that it is not written to Abraham, which we might argue like, why isn't it? Why to Jacob? Why the name Israel? The word tells us that it is the descendants of Abraham that will receive all of the blessing, all of the promises. And in the New Testament, we learn that those arechildren of Abraham, not that are children according to the flesh, but those that have trusted God just asAbraham trusted God. The word says those are counted as the seed of Abraham.Those are counted as the children of Abraham, just like Jacob was the grandchild ofAbraham. And the word says, “I have redeemed you.” This has come to pass. Why not rejoice? Why not walk in ecstatic joy every daythat the God of heaven sent his only begotten son into theworld I live in, struggled, had difficulty in the worldthat I live in to the extent that the Bible tells me that he can relate to meeven in temptation and in all difficulty, so that he would know how to be a highpriest for me. He would know how to pray on my behalf. He would know how to comfort me. And the word tells me thatthere's no more waiting for me. That he has paid for my life, paid formy sins, paid for my new life so that I can receive a new life. I don't have towork for that either. Why not rejoice?
Why not set our minds, as the word says, on the things that are above, the things that are accomplished, the things thatwere sent to us from heaven, the things that were spoken over us from heaven? The word telling you, God himself speaking into your life, saying, “You are mine. That's who you are. That'syour identity.” If you struggle with your identity, this is what God says. You are his. That is who you are to God.His—you belong to him. He is so willing topay the price to own you. He is so willing to pay the price to clean you up. He is so willing to pay the price togive you a future and a hope. You are mine. He says, “I have redeemed you. Ihave called you by your name. You are mine.” Church, God is seeking to get a message across to the hearts of you and I. And it is simple. It is the time isnow. There is no more need to wait to rejoice. The kingdom has drawn near to you. I'll read again to you verse 15 of Mark chapter 1. And saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.
Believe the message that has come into your life that says there's nothing to fear of anymore.You don't have to hide anymore. You don't have to wait anymore. There's no fight waiting for you outside of the gate. There's no disappointmentwaiting for you outside of the gate. There's no unpleasant, unexpectedsurprise waiting for you outside of the gate. I have gospel for you. I have goodnews for you. This one came from heaven—good news that the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of power, a kingdom of forgiveness, a kingdom of second chances, and it has drawn near to you. Oh, how many times the enemy seeks to appear as an angel of light, as if he has a godly message to us, speaking and whispering into our heart that we should really draw near to God, that we should really pick up our Bible, read more, pray more, because we need to draw near to God, cuz something is still a little wrong. And if you would just put in a little bit more effort, you can right that wrong. If you would just put in alittle bit of effort, you can get near to God.
When Jesus says, “No, the time has come. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand.” In anotherplace, he says, “The kingdom has come near to you.” So, you don't have to go look for it. You don't have to draw nearto it. You don't have to work your way up to it. You need to repent of all yourdoubts. You need to repent of all the reasons that you believe things arestill wrong or things still need to happen in you or by you. And you need to believe this gospel message that came into the city of your heart—a kingdom of power, forgiveness, and second chances. No more waiting to rejoice over this news. You can only imagine a city that's been captive. I was 22 when I got saved.Imagine being a city under siege for 22 years. And then the message breaks through me. You going to have a party, and thatparty is not going to be one day, let me tell you. There going to be commemorations. There's going to be uh some some kind of thing built in memoryof this victory. There's going to be a yearly feast. Everybody going to be dressing up and decorating their homes.It's going to look a lot like Christmas. There's going to be celebrations. There's going to be rejoicing on thedayto-day.
There may may even be, we may even go as far as to say, “Let's get together one day a week, every singleweek for the rest of our lives to rejoice and celebrate that a message has come into our lives.” That finally the waiting is done. Jesus has won thevictory. He has brought victory to the city of my heart. He has brought deliverance to the city of my heart. When I had no power to fight, I had no will to fight. I had no desire to fight. I caused a measure of the conflict. But Jesus Christ has come into my heart notjust because he needed to be Lord over my life. He came into my heart to tellme something. He came to tell me the gospel. And ever since I was willing torepent and wholeheartedly receive that good news for my own life, it's been aparty in this city. It's been a party in this heart. And church, that is why we meet together on Sundays. We don't meet together on Saturday seeking to keep the ten commandments, because the very one that had brought the standard of the ten commandments upon our heart, upon our life, upon our understanding, for us to begin to see that God is greater and more holy and his standard is unattainable for us.
He sent his only begotten Soninto our lives when we were finally willing to look for an other way to God,for him to tell us, listen, nobody could ever come to the Father anyways through the law. But that had to prepare yourheart to finally become willing, in humility, to accept that what you neededwas not a good fight. You needed a gospel. You needed somebody to carry amessage into your heart that someone else has done all of the work. Someone else has done all of the fighting.Someone else has paid the price. Someone else took the risk. Someone else did the work. You didn't need strength to becomebetter and to fight your own battles. No, you needed a gospel. But your heart is so hard and it is so full of pride that for a season there, for a time, you had to try to be good for me to realize that you cannot attain to the standard. And when the church of the living God received that message of deliverance, received that gospel, the church said every single week, but by demonstration,the day after the Sabbath, we are going to get together and we aregoing to celebrate. We are going to rejoice because we are no longer tryingto somehow be good enough for God until one day we may break through intovictory. No, we can hear in our heart. We have received from heaven that there is a message that has gone out. The angels testified to it when Christ was born. But now my heart has heard it. Nowmy heart has received it. I have been set free. I have been forgiven anddelivered, and I did not deserve it.
I did nothing to earn it. But someone else did this for me, and someone else carried it into my heart. And I, when he, when the Lord did that, I repented of my doubt. I repented of my unbelief. And I began to believe. I began to livelife based upon that good news. I began to have actions that were basedon that good news. I began to forgive people based on that good news. I beganto tell other people based on that good news. My language began to change. Ibegan to treat people with a grateful heart based on having such good news formy own heart. I, I began to become changed by this good news. Church, no more waiting. Quit waitingto rejoice, church. The devilalways wants to keep you waiting. I've seen this in every country where my wife and I have ministered or plantedchurches. Cultures are different. Traditions are different. Devil's the same. Gospel'sthe same. Solutions are the same. The heart is the same.
The devil always wants to keep people waiting, especially if they are going tothat rejoicing celebration that takes place once a week. He, the devil, tries to come and whisper tothe heart. He does it as an angel of light. He doesn't want to get caught, cuz God forbid you start to pray when yourealize the devil, devil messes with you. So he does it very subtly. He's not dumb. He's skillful. He has no powerover you. But he does whisper to our heart to touch that belief, to reversesome of that repenting that you've done. You've turned from your unbelief. You had an incredible, maybe, salvationexperience with Jesus. And then 10 years into being saved, your life with Jesusmaybe got a little bit dull again. Maybe even slightly boring. The enemy always tries to come in whispering still small, very tiny lies.He is patient. He'll just do one a week. Tiny little ones,because he wants to bring those that are near to truth. Just like Jesus said, thetime is now. The kingdom has come near. It's at hand, within your reach.
The enemy wants to create an attitude of waiting in those that have gotten sonear to the kingdom, been brought near, the kingdom brought right to them, within the reach of their arm. The enemywants to make you wait. Wait on a great act of God that you cansense in your emotions and in your entire being. Wait on you being able to walk away from certain habitual sinsthat just make you feel like you ain't worth it. The enemy loves to bring waiting backinto your life. And, and Jesus's words, black on white in our scriptures,sounding forth into your life time and time again. The angels declaring, you hear about it every Christmas season, the, the waiting's over. The work. Jesus declared it. The last thing, think about this, the Son of God on earth, the last thing he was going tosay before going into the grave and finishing his reign on earth—I pick mywords very carefully. He's the Son of God.
The last words he decided to say was one more time speaking over all of us to help us please remember it is finished. And the enemy always tries to come into your heart, trying to make you wait again for something that still maybe needs to be finished, to lose the belief and the repentance towards those words. Thank God everything is finished. Thank God nothing is wrong. Thank God I'm not waiting for anything. Thank God the kingdom has been broughtnear, within the reach of my hand. Thank God that he has accomplished what neededto be accomplished. Thank God. The enemy always tries to make you wait as if something still needs to happen. And when that work, when the devil's work in your heart even accomplishes alittle bit, here's how it looks. You stop rejoicing. You stop rejoicing wholeheartedly. You stop worshiping with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your body. You stop worshiping Jesus. You stoprejoicing. You stop telling people about it. You stop being excited, you cuz you're waiting for something to happen. And the enemy speaks to our heart to not respond to this good news that comesinto our mind and comes into our ears.
He, the devil, says you respond when God does something big. That's when you respond. Don't respond just to the words of the gospel. Respond to some big move. Respond to something big because you need something big, cuz something's still wrong in your life. It's not true thatyou already have good news for you. Something is still wrong. That's whatthe enemy whispers to your heart. He doesn't want the church of Jesus Christto be a rejoicing church. Nevertheless, 2 Corinthians 3:16, nevertheless, whenone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. In other words, when, when we are not wholeheartedly turned to Jesus, there are certain things we cannot see.And there's the glory, if you read the entire scripture portion there, there's the glory that can only be revealed once we move on from the law to the Lawgiver.
Once we move on to the one that fulfilled the law, once we turn to theLord, there is something incredibly miraculous that happens. The veil is taken away. Do you know that the Bible tells usabout the veil in the temple, the actual physical veil that separated the holy place from the holiest place? What I could best describe to you as a very thick, all-encompassing, in-the-room curtain between two spaces that, whenJesus was crucified, that veil tore from top to bottom in the temple. Do you know the Bible tells us that the body of Christ was the veil? The Word tells us thatwhen Moses received the plans for the tabernacle, when Moses received from Godthe plans for the tabernacle, the Word tells us that these were the shadow of heavenly things.
And then Jesus comes from heaven, and his body is literally brokenfor your and my sin. And the shadow of heavenly things had tofollow the actual heavenly being, Christ Jesus. And when his body was broken for you and I, the shadow had to follow, and the veil was torn. And the holiest place where God dwelt was now opened to anyone that would repent and believe the gospel that this Jesus had carried into their life and spoken over their life. He says, “No more waiting anymore for you. The time isnow.”
Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” That’s Christ. Rejoice in theLord always. Again I say rejoice. When you struggle, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. When you struggle, or when you sin, or when you make mistakes, or when you are caught in a lie, you have to apologize to someone, it is not time for you to start moping around and be all sad and try to live a good life for three days before your confidence is kind of built back up and you feel you can straighten your back again because I’m living now right with God again as a Christian again. That is just unbelief, still feeling that your walk has something to do with how God will respond to you and how he looks at you. No, the Word tells us rejoice in the Lord always. When your devotional life, reading your Bible in the morning, is not the way it should be, the Word tells you rejoice in the Lord always. This would actually be a problem for you if you didn’t have agospel. This would actually be a problem for your track record if you did nothave the righteousness of Christ. But instead, the Word tells us, rejoice.
Rejoice in what Jesus has done. Rejoice in what Jesus has given. Again, I say, rejoice. For some of you here online, you’ve known Jesus,but the devil has made you timid in rejoicing. You don’t raise your hands in worship. You don’t physically raise yourhands to bless God. You’re not blessing him. Maybe you do it in your heart. Maybe you do it with your words. But it’s a timidrejoicing. It’s a composed rejoicing. It’s not the kind of rejoicing you’d expect when a city has been under siege for 22 years and then the message breaks through: battle’s over, victory’s won, you’re free now. And that’s what the enemy tries to do. He tries to make you timid in rejoicing,composed, aware of your surroundings. Don’t have people think of you thatyou’re a little too much. Don’t have people see your tears. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people apologize for their tears.
God was not wrong when he made you with the ability to shed tears when eitheremotion has to come out or rejoicing is coming in. God was not wrong. You don’t have toapologize for how God made that work in your life. You don’t resist how God made that work and try to swallow back the tears. Allof those things, and they are the smallest things in life. They touch all of our life. The enemy tries to makeus timid in rejoicing. He, tries to tame the Christian. Do you understandthat? Do you understand that? If you and I are not rejoicing, if we are not full of joy, if we are not blessing Jesus, nobody will. And the enemy hates your Jesus. And so he tries to find little sneaky ways to make you wait so you don’t rejoice. And you’re waiting for things that have already long happened, long ago.But the enemy convinces you that something is still not finished. It still needs to happen. Or the enemytries to come in and just tone down. Tone down. Fear people, not God.Be aware of how people look at you. Don’t just focus on that.
God Almighty says you are mine. Everything you’ve done, everything youfailed to do, I don’t care. You are mine.
If you would stand with me, church, as I read this to you. Isaiah 58, verse 6: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” Church, the Spirit of God wants you to break this yoke of Satan. It’s a yoke that doesn’t have a lot of power. It’s not the kind of yoke that has to be broken by the cross of Jesus. That already happened. That gospel already went out. That gospel alreadycame knocking on your heart. But the Word tells us in this scripture portion, where God actually rebukes the Jews for the way they were fasting. They were fasting by abstaining from food and doing difficult things for God to try to make him answer more willingly to them. And God rebukes them and says, “That’s not what I mean. That’s not what I want you to do when you fast. I wantyou to lay down your life for this, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undoheavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke.”
Church, there’s not a yoke on you that has power when you are timid in your rejoicing, or when you have not rejoiced yet wholeheartedly over your forgiveness. You understand that the rejoicing comes first,then the miracle follows. It’s a step of faith. It’s saying, “I’ve heard the message. I don’t quite see it all take place in myself yet, but I’ve heard the message. I believe Jesus. So I’m taking a step out of the gateto see this thing for myself. I’m taking a step of faith.”
And when you come out of the gate, now you see that thevictory has been won. Now you see there’s no longer a conflict. Now you see every threat has been taken away outof your life. And you can go and explore and be amazed by everything Jesus has done outside of those gates while you were still locked up inside. Church, the yoke that oppresses your ability to rejoice over your forgiveness, over your cleanliness, over your holiness, over your favor, over your blessing, the lack of rejoicing over your Christian walk, or the future, or the way that God will answer your prayers, it is a yoke that you have agreed to carry. You have agreed with the devil about some things that Jesus said,“I already paid for that. I already did that work.”
“This is already gospel for you.” But when we agree with the enemy, alittle yoke comes upon us.
How is that biblical? You know how the Word tells us, don’t be entangled again into a yokeof slavery. The Word tells us this can happen to you even though you alreadyaccepted Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. You can again be entangledinto a yoke. And the Word tells us, this is what I want you to do. I want you to break every yoke. I believe with all my heart that some of you have been rejoicing timidly.You’ve been speaking of Christ a little bit less than you know you would like to.In your mind, you can see the woman or the man that you believe you could be, or maybe you would like to be that kind of a godly man or that kind of a godly woman, but you’re not living it today. And it keeps you waiting for something. Something needs to happen. Something big. Something strange. Something needs to be done by me, or sins I have to overcome—you name it. But you’re waiting for something. And the Word of Jesus is, the time has come.
No more waiting. Quit waiting torejoice. Take a step of faith. Believe the gospel news that has been sent forth, because God is calling you to break that yoke. You can, because it’s a yoke thatyou agreed upon when little lies, little accusations, came into your heart. And thank God that you have been set free, church. This would all be a problem if you weren’t set free. It’d all be a problem if your sins were notpaid for. It would all be a problem if the city was actually still under siege. But it isn’t. And God is calling you to break that yoke. I will read it to you again.“Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undothe heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke.”If you feel in your heart that you have not been rejoicing appropriately in light of what God has actually done, the news he has sent into the city of your heart, and you say, “Today, I want to acknowledge that my rejoicing is not where I should be. AndI’m just going to say to God, God, I’m willing. I will adjust to you. And I’mnot going to adjust my rejoicing to my surroundings. I’m not going to adjust the way I rejoice to how much people seeme or who is watching me. I’m going to adjust my rejoicing to my God, what hehas done and what he has sent into my life. I’m going to acknowledge that I have not been rejoicing appropriately in the light of what God has actually done.”
If that is you, I want to ask you in a moment to come forward. And here’s another thing that was put on my heart:for those of you that have a hard time really feeling forgiven, feeling right with God, feeling that when you pray a three-word prayer, God will answer you, you feel something still needs to happen, something’s a little wrong. Here’s what the Spirit put on my heart: “I reject the lie that God still has to do something before I can fully rejoice.I reject the lie that God still has to do something before I can rejoice. I’m notgoing to listen to the devil anymore. I’m going to break that yoke in the name of Jesus.” If either one of those is whatthe Lord is speaking to your heart, or you want to acknowledge before the Lord today, I want to ask you to come forward. I would love to pray with you, and I want to see those yokes broken andrejoicing come forth in your life and in this place of worship, and every place ofworship in Portland, Oregon, in a way that is appropriate in light of what Godhas sent into your life, in light of what he has done.
Now, if you have been living a life of rejoicing, if you have been blessing the Lord anywhere and everywhere you go without holding back, without caring what any person wouldever think of you, you don’t need to be at this altar. And I want to ask you that you would stretchout your hands in blessing towards these people that are making an adjustment toGod’s direction, that say, “I want to become a vessel that rejoices appropriately in light of who God is,what he has done.” And for those that today are rejecting the lie that something needs to be done for things to be right between me and God, something has to be done in order for me to enter into full rejoicing, and you’re here because you say, “I’m breaking that yoke today in the name ofJesus. I believe that Jesus has paid. I believe that hehas made a way for me. I believe his gospel. I believe I don’t need to staystuck in this city of my heart.” I want to start off with praying foryou. Whether you’re online or here in the house, I want to ask you to quietly pray with me in your heart. Lord Jesus, thank you for sending your gospel into my heart.
-Pastor Stan Mons
