Gen 21:6, And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." 
	We turn once again to this passage dealing with Sarah’s absolute joy in the Lord with regard to the birth of Isaac, her long promised son. Last time, we dealt with several aspects concerning the great truth of how we are to regard God in the answer to the prayers of our heart’s desire. We saw that, many times, when we are in travail and anguish, we call upon the Lord with all our heart and mind and being, seeking His course of deliverance from all the peril and strife. Then, it often happens, that when we are delivered and things are going much more smoothly, we find ourselves, more tepid toward God. We take His deliverance and answer to prayer for granted and we become complacent in the working of His hand in our lives.
	True joy in the Lord is cemented when we continually remind ourselves of Who God is and what He has done. We must repeatedly come before Him in the awe of His tremendous working grace evidenced in even in the seemingly minor aspects of our lives. There is nothing that happens that is not from Him and directed for the purpose of creating in us a greater love and longing after Him. 
	We, as well, considered the fact that we need to rejoice no matter how things appear to our human understanding. We are called to trust in the Lord and to be settled in the fact of His Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent power at work in these lives that we live on this earth. It is as the storms and gales abound around us that He is seen by others in the manner in which we are steadfastly rejoicing in His goodness and His grace. It is when we can fully rejoice in the Lord in the gravest of dilemmas that the testimony and the truest witness of the preserving life of Our Lord Jesus Christ will be most evidenced. We do not rejoice in the fact that we are being abused by this realm. We exult in the reality that Jesus is constantly with us no matter how this world tries to separate us from Him. Our joy and our delight and our satisfaction is in His so great love manifested in the midst of the trials and the dire situations. 
As we saw last time with regard to Sarah and with Hannah, there was much that they had to bear in the terms that they could not have children. Therefore their joy was increased exponentially when the Lord opened their wombs for the birth of their sons. Thus was also the case with Zacharias and Elizabeth as they struggled through such difficulty in the fact that they were childless. Finally, after years of prayer and supplication to the Lord, God sent an angel to Zacharias with the declaration that Elizabeth would give birth to a son whom they would name John. As Zacharias rejoiced in the goodness of the Lord’s provision, the angel also informed him of the following in Luke 1:14, "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 
Many people would find joy in this child who grew up to be John the Baptist. Luke 1:57+58, Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her. The community of her friends and associates celebrated in the goodness of the Lord toward Elizabeth as she was given this child. 
It was the culmination of all those petitions and requests in sincerity for the Lord to make her a mother. Despite all the years without children, her community saw that she was still relying upon God and counting on Him to provide as He deemed fit. If Zacharias and Elizabeth were to remain without offspring, they would take that from the Lord. As a result of their faithfully counting on God to do that which He chose to do, they were a living testimony to His graciousness. Because of this testimony, all the neighbors and relatives joined their hearts in gladness unto God for this son.     
For Elizabeth, all those years of seeming barrenness would give way to the fulfillment of the scripture in this boy to whom the people would flock. Mark 1:2-5, As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way; The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.'" John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. There was a tremendous revival unto the way of the Lord as John preached the message for the need of repentance and seeking God’s forgiveness for sins. This message was received with solemn joy in the working of God’s Holy Spirit in the preparation for the Promised Christ.
Even before John was born, there was joy in the Lord demonstrated in the knowledge of the Lord to come. This was evidenced as Mary went to visit Elizabeth while both were in their pregnancies. Please turn to Luke 1:39-44. Luke 1:39-44, Now at this time Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice, and said, "Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? "For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 
This was something that Mary understood and took to heart. Consider the fact that the Lord blessed her with being the earthly mother of His Son. Yet, this was done at a time when unwed motherhood had a very unaccepted stigma in the culture. Joseph was going to put her away, meaning hide her from society until the Lord told him not to do so. This was not an easy thing for Mary to endure in the face of her community, yet she counted on the Lord to make the way for her. She understood the tremendous grace of God that was abounding to her. 
Therefore, despite the societal ill will, she realized what was involved in this great reality of God’s mercy and sovereignty. Let us read together Luke 1:46-55. Luke 1:46-55, And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. "For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. "For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. "And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him. "He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. "He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. "He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his offspring forever." She saw beyond the limited scope of what she had to endure to the fullness of what this child would mean to all the nations of the world in God giving forth His Only Begotten Son through her. In that she greatly rejoiced.
The joy of the Lord surrounded this enclave of the blessing of God in these mother’s hearts and wombs. There was a true recognition of the work that God was doing despite all that had been endured and would yet be accomplished. Consider that both these soon-to-be born children would be killed at the hands of sinful men seeking to rid themselves of the true testimony of God’s faithfulness and righteousness. John would be beheaded while Mary would witness the crucifixion of her Son on the cross. Yet their every joy rested in the Lord to do and to accomplish that which was His heart in the working power of His love and His salvation for those who would but believe.
In these examples, and many others, it is apparent that we are to find our joy in the Lord as we perform all the duties of our day to day walk in the tasks that He puts before us. We must not complain at the endurance and the strength required because He is our every ability to make it through each day. As we are weak, so is He strong and more than able to reveal Himself in our lives.  
As the Apostle Paul encourages us in 2 Cor 12:9+10, concerning the thorn in the flesh that he had to bear for the service of the Lord, And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. This is the same heart that we are each to offer unto the Lord in the service that we present to Him every day of every month of every year of every decade of our lives. We are to be well content in the fact that we are weak but He is strong. We need to take this to heart and learn to rejoice in the all-sufficiency of His grace in our lives. 
	Our Lord, Himself, encourages us to bear all things with the knowledge that we are endowed with a joy that can never be diminished or tarnished by the onslaughts of this realm. John 16:21+22, "Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world. "Therefore you too now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you. 
	Yes, we will have to bear up under the pressures of this age for a season, as a woman in the pangs of childbirth suffers the anguish and the pain of labor. It seems like an eternity of agony when in the midst of the torment, but once that child is held in her arms, the joy of that new life quickly dissipates all that was necessary for that birth to be accomplished. So we must consider all that we suffer in this transitory life in light of the eternal glory and joy that we will have in the arms of our Lord in Heaven. We will not remember the pain, but will rejoice forever in the fact that God so loved us that He gave us His salvation in Jesus, our Beloved Husband and Lord.  
Again, we hear the soothing and comforting words of Christ as He describes the way we are to joyfully view all that is part of the process of our being sanctified unto Himself on this earth. Luke 6:20-23, And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. "Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. "Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. "Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. 
Despite this world’s emphasis on trying to relieve the distress and deprivation of this present time, we do not put our hope and our belief on any fleeting, earthly course of seeking happiness and release of stress. Rather, we count on the Lord to make His way evident in the midst of the hardships and the troubles. We look beyond the immediate to the vast panorama of what God is accomplishing even through those difficult times. We see that we are blessed absolutely and fully in Jesus Christ. On that basis, we rely on His eternal joy and we fully rejoice in His lavished goodness and grace keeping and covering us.
This, then, causes us to rejoice with one another just as those who rejoiced with Sarah and Elizabeth at the birth of their sons. Please turn to Rom 12:10-18 as we read together this encouragement and admonition. Rom 12:10-28, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 
	Our every dealing with others becomes affected by this deepening joy in the Lord. No matter what we go through we are encouraged in Him and thereby we are enabled to encourage others to go forward in Him. We stand with one another in trueness of heart and spirit and we uphold one another in the every reality that we are joined together in the Love of Christ. Our every outlook is molded and melded together into the joy of the Lord. In that, we can rejoice with one another through the harshest and most severe storms and earthly devastations. This is one of God’s great blessings in our lives as we are able to receive and to give comfort and encouragement and unending grace and support to each other. It is Christ Who lives forth from us unto those in such need and distress. Thus we are able to join into that solid laughter of His joy and His love as, together, we see His overruling power in action in our lives and in the lives of all His People on this earth. So be it!
And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is 1 Tim 1:17. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.