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Nehemiah 8:9-12 NLT

 

Scripture Text: Nehemiah 8:9-12 (NLT)

Nehemiah 8:9-12 (NLT)

9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them, “Don’t mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God.” For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

10 And Nehemiah[b] continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

11 And the Levites, too, quieted the people, telling them, “Hush! Don’t weep! For this is a sacred day.” 12 So the people went away to eat and drink at a festive meal, to share gifts of food, and to celebrate with great joy because they had heard God’s words and understood them.

The Title of Today’s Message is: The Joy Of The Lord Is My Strength

Introduction

If you give me about 15 minutes this morning, I would have preached what God said to preach and will be making an altar call.  I know you’ve heard me say that before, but today, I feel as if God wants to get directly to the heart of the matter and encourage you to know that you are stronger than you think you are.  I take great pride in delivering the Word of God to you, and am humbled by each opportunity God grants me to be a mouthpiece for Him.  And those that know about my sermon preparation understand that it is important to me that the main thing stays the main thing in every message I deliver from this sacred desk.  As preachers of the Gospel, we must understand that while there are different types of learners in the congregation, whatever road the preacher travels down must lead to Jesus.  Taking the vehicle any other direction than the one that leads to the importance of a relationship with our Lord and Savior is a perversion of the Gospel that God does not take lightly.  So how I introduce Jesus to you is important to me, because for some in the room, this may be the only opportunity I have to make the case to you that “With Jesus on your side, things will work out fine.”  And so this morning, I don’t have any personal stories to share or historical events in the world to relate to.  But I do have the words of a hymn that I believe summarize the thesis of today’s message that I hope encourages your heart.  Two verses of the hymn say this message to the reader– 

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Tho changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not

As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside

The chorus of the song goes on to say

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

Connection to the Introduction

I want to encourage someone in the house today to remind you that God provides strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.  And this reminder is necessary, because if you are not careful, you’ll spend so much time looking in the rear view mirror of your life that you will miss the moment God has that is right in front of you through the windshield.  There is a reason why the rear view mirror is so much smaller than the windshield.  You were never meant to spend more time looking behind you about what could have been or should have been than you were meant to look unto the hills from whence cometh your help.  The hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness mentions strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow because your past is already under the blood.  And I believe God brought us to this last message in our Apostolic DNA series to remind us that there is a season for everything under the heaven.  Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there is a time to be born and a time to die.  There is a time to plant and a time to pick up that which has been planted.  There is a time to kill and a time to heal.  There is a time to tear down and a time to build up.  There is a time to be quiet and a time to speak.  There is a time for war and a time for peace.  And today’s message reminds us what is said in that same chapter at verse 4.  In the new living translation, it says “[There is] a time to cry and a time to laugh.  A time to grieve and a time to dance.”  Get your praise partner’s attention for me real quick and say “Praise Partner– trouble in my way, I have to cry sometimes, I lay awake at night, but that’s alright, Jesus will fix it after while!”

God anointed me this morning to share with you that because the joy of the Lord is your strength, it is time to transition from tears of sorrow into tears of joy.  Someone in here knows what I am talking about; have you ever had a laugh that was so good to you that it made tears fall from your eyes?  See that’s the enemy’s problem– he sometimes thinks that if he has you crying that he has you right where he wants you.  But God is saying in the house this morning that He has a new garment for you to wear called the garment of praise, and this garment will alleviate the heaviness that’s upon you and shift you from a time to grieve to a time to dance.  You know this heaviness I’m talking about– the heaviness of expectations from others that seem to shift every minute; the heaviness of not reaching your full potential; the heaviness of the generational curse that you are working so hard to have cut off from your bloodline; the heaviness of having to work so hard because of the economy we are living in.  The heaviness of doing the best you can but feeling like it is never good enough.  The heaviness of seeming to rub someone the wrong way just by being who God has called you to be.  

God said this is the season where I give you glory in place of the heavy things in your life, and when God pushes His weight around in situations, you’ll be able to sing “I’ve had some good days, I’ve had some hills to climb.  I’ve had some weary days and some sleepless nights, but when I look around and think things over, all of my good days outweigh my bad days, can someone finish the song for me and shout “I won’t complain!”  You’ll be able to declare “God has been good to me, He’s been so good to me, more than this old world or you could ever be, He’s been so good to me.  He dried all of my tears away and turned my midnights into so I’ll just say thank you Lord, I won’t complain!”

Contextual Evidence

Believe it or not we are almost done with the message today, because God simply wants to encourage your heart and remind you that when you have the joy of the Lord, you are stronger than you have ever been.  Nehemiah had to remind the people in today’s text that though it was appropriate for them to weep and cry for a moment, it was time to move forward from what happened in the past and embrace the next season that God had for them.  The people meant well and were repentant, because when they thought about how they had offended God by not keeping the law that was rehearsed to them, they saw themselves as guilty and unworthy of God’s love and protection.  But after crying for a little while, the spirit of the Lord sent Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites, who were the public praise and worshippers, the musicians and the gate keepers, to tell the people “It’s time for us to go and celebrate; it’s time for us to have a feast and even share it with those who have nothing prepared, for this is a sacred day.”  It was the Sabbath, and on the Sabbath, the appropriate response it to celebrate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with joy and praise.  And today I end this message by reminding you that when God woke you up this morning and ordained for you to come to church, He did so to bring you to where your help is and remind you of just how strong you really are.  Every now and then, you have to remind yourself that you have a right to have the joy of the Lord.  Get you a good scripture and meditate on that thing until the tears of grief and sorrow turn into tears of joy.

  • Psalm 30:5 says “Weeping my endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
  • John 16:22 says “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
  • John 15:11 says “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
  • Philippians 4:4 says “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!”  

Do I have anyone in the house today that will simply declare the joy of the Lord is my strength, and this joy that I have, the world didn’t give it, and the world cannot take it away!