Service: C3 Destiny Church, Sunday 4 October 2026
Speaker: Chris
Key scriptures: Acts 16:23-34; Philippians 4:4; Psalm 13; Nehemiah 8:10; Romans 15:13
Watch the message on YouTube
Summary
This message was about how rejoicing in the Lord, even in the worst of circumstances, shows our reliance on God and opens the way for Him to move.
Chris began with his own story. Seven years ago he broke his neck falling from a truck, and months later needed major surgery to repair it. He woke late that night unable to move, see clearly or make sense of what people were saying, and everything felt like pain. At first he focused on the pain, and even found himself singing about it. Then, without quite knowing why, he started singing How Great Thou Art and Amazing Grace. He sang out loud for around four hours, and as he did, the pain eased and he began to see and understand again. He wasn’t following the Lord closely at the time, but that night showed him something about the power of praise.
1. We show our reliance on God when we rejoice in Him. Paul wrote “Rejoice in the Lord always” to the Philippians, and Chris wondered if Paul learned this in Philippi itself. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were beaten and locked in the stocks, their torn backs against a stone wall. Yet at midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God. An earthquake shook the prison, the doors opened and the chains fell off, and the jailer ended up asking, “What must I do to be saved?” When we rejoice, God can move. James tells us to count it all joy when we face trials, and in Acts 5 the apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus. In 2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat sent the worshippers out in front of the army, and God fought the battle for them.
2. Shift your focus from the problem to God. On that hospital bed, Chris was focused on himself and his pain. When his focus moved to God, things changed. Lament is not wrong; Psalm 13 begins with “How long, O Lord?” But in verse 5 the psalmist turns: “I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.” However hard life gets, we know what Jesus did for us on the cross. Like Job, we can say “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Galatians 2:20 reminds us that the Son of God loved us and gave Himself for us. God has dealt bountifully with us, and Chris described standing under the stars in Namibia, seeing in them the abundance of a God who gives far more than we need.
3. The joy of the Lord is our strength. In Nehemiah 8, after the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, the people wept as God’s Word was read. Nehemiah told them not to grieve, because the joy of the Lord was their strength, their strong refuge, just like the walls now around them.
Chris finished with a question: are you focused on your struggles, or on rejoicing in the Lord? He closed with Romans 15:13, praying that the God of hope would fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in Him, so that we overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Five questions for reflection
- Chris shared how singing praise in a hospital bed changed his experience of pain. Have you ever found that praising God changed how you saw a hard situation?
- Paul and Silas sang hymns at midnight in the stocks (Acts 16:25). What would it look like for you to rejoice in the middle of a current trial?
- Psalm 13 moves from ‘How long, O Lord?’ to ‘my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.’ What helps you make that shift from lament to trust?
- Chris said we need to take our focus off the issue and put it back on God. What issue tends to grab your focus most, and how could you hand it to God this week?
- Nehemiah 8:10 says the joy of the Lord is your strength. Where do you need God’s joy to be a strong refuge for you right now?