October 25th, 2024
by Steve Marshall
by Steve Marshall
Church Family:
You get bad news and life changes quickly. Where do you find your strength to be steadfast in your faith? The greatest strength on earth that you will find in difficult times is the joy of the LORD. God is eternally, essentially, and entirely joyful and He wants His joy to be your strength in every circumstance you find yourself. “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). To know God is to know His strong and powerful joy.
In Nehemiah 8, God’s people for the first time in 141 years were able to gather to worship in the way that God had commanded. After 141 silent years, Ezra read from the Book of the Law in front of all the people and explained it so that the people could understand God’s promises. The people of God then started to mourn and weep over their sins. But what did Nehemiah lead them to do instead of mourning and weeping? Nehemiah says in 8:10, 12, “do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” God’s people then, “went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.”
Why did God’s people "make great rejoicing" knowing the joy of the Lord is their strength? They heard and understood and trusted in the truth of God's word. The joy that strengthened them were the words containing the truths and promises of God which the Holy Spirit then ignited with joy in their souls. They read and heard the strong, joyful promises like: you are loved by God and never forgotten even in your hardships; you are a recipient of God’s undeserving mercy and grace; God has a great plan for you and the best is yet to come in the form of a Messiah; you have an eternal inheritance not on earth behind some stone walls but in heaven in the heavenly city of Zion. The joyful LORD gives joyful promises for us to receive joyful strength in this life.
Today, in your weakness the powerful eternal joy of God is yours only through Jesus Christ. In John 15:11, Jesus said: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” He then repeats Himself in John 17:13 – “But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Jesus is the fulfillment of God's strong joy. Jesus is the source of a fullness of joy. No matter what you are going through, the joy of the LORD is to be your strength because of the completed work of Jesus Christ. Go to God's word to be strengthened with the joy of the LORD.
See you Sunday, strengthened by God's Joy: Steve
You get bad news and life changes quickly. Where do you find your strength to be steadfast in your faith? The greatest strength on earth that you will find in difficult times is the joy of the LORD. God is eternally, essentially, and entirely joyful and He wants His joy to be your strength in every circumstance you find yourself. “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). To know God is to know His strong and powerful joy.
In Nehemiah 8, God’s people for the first time in 141 years were able to gather to worship in the way that God had commanded. After 141 silent years, Ezra read from the Book of the Law in front of all the people and explained it so that the people could understand God’s promises. The people of God then started to mourn and weep over their sins. But what did Nehemiah lead them to do instead of mourning and weeping? Nehemiah says in 8:10, 12, “do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” God’s people then, “went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.”
Why did God’s people "make great rejoicing" knowing the joy of the Lord is their strength? They heard and understood and trusted in the truth of God's word. The joy that strengthened them were the words containing the truths and promises of God which the Holy Spirit then ignited with joy in their souls. They read and heard the strong, joyful promises like: you are loved by God and never forgotten even in your hardships; you are a recipient of God’s undeserving mercy and grace; God has a great plan for you and the best is yet to come in the form of a Messiah; you have an eternal inheritance not on earth behind some stone walls but in heaven in the heavenly city of Zion. The joyful LORD gives joyful promises for us to receive joyful strength in this life.
Today, in your weakness the powerful eternal joy of God is yours only through Jesus Christ. In John 15:11, Jesus said: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” He then repeats Himself in John 17:13 – “But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Jesus is the fulfillment of God's strong joy. Jesus is the source of a fullness of joy. No matter what you are going through, the joy of the LORD is to be your strength because of the completed work of Jesus Christ. Go to God's word to be strengthened with the joy of the LORD.
See you Sunday, strengthened by God's Joy: Steve
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