Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20260222 - The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength - Nehemiah 1:1-12

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#20260222 - The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength - Nehemiah 1:1-12 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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As your Bibles are open, if you would turn now to the book of
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Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8 in a Bible
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study I've prepared titled The Joy of the Lord is Your
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Strength. Nehemiah chapter 8, The joy of
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the Lord is your strength. And as you're open to Nehemiah
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chapter 8 in verse 10, before we pray, I want to read our key
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theme verse for this morning and it's found here, Nehemiah
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chapter 8 verse 10 that says this.
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Then he said to them, go your way, eat the fat, drink the
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sweet and send portions to those whom nothing is prepared for.
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This day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow for the joy of the
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Lord is your strength. Church, would you join me in
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praying over our Bible study this morning?
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Heavenly Father, we do come to you God, hearts of reverence,
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ready to receive what you would have for us as a church, ready
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to receive God, what you would have for us individually.
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As we consider your joy being our strength God, we ask for
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that we need both joy and strength today.
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So we petition upon the Spirit of God to use your word God to
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move in the hearts of your people.
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We ask and pray this in Jesus name.
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All God's people would say Amen, Amen.
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Well, again, my name's Keegan. I get the privilege to share the
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word with you. The joy of the Lord is your
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strength. I want us first before we jump
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into the study to define those words, both joy and strength.
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The thing to remember is as we're reading from Nehemiah
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chapter 8 verse 10 in the Old Testament, we see that Hebrew
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word for joy that it was actually only used twice.
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That particular version of joy was only used twice in the
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Scripture. There was a for joy we read from
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Psalm 16 in the Old Testament. That was another word for joy in
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the Hebrew language. And then you can find many
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references, of course, both in the Old Testament and the New
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Testament, which was written in the Greek that speak to our
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English translated word joy. And here's a comprising of all
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of the definitions and really the emphasis which each of them
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have some great similarities. Here's what joy of the Lord is
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or this joy that's being expressed.
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It is the experience of exceeding cheerfulness, delight
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and gladness, the experience of exceeding cheerfulness, delight
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and gladness. And that is again that
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comprising of what all of these words for joy mean.
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And then strength. Strength is Speaking of safety,
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protection and actually speaks to might and empowerment.
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And here's the the idea of this word strength to say that the
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joy of the Lord is your strength.
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We got what joy is. This idea of strength is
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all-encompassing. It is physical, that's the word
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might. It is emotional and mental when
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you think of safety and refuge and of course it is spiritual.
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It is an all-encompassing when you think about the joy of the
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Lord being your strength. It is in every facet of
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strength, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, The joy of
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the Lord is your strength. It's important for us to
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understand these words as we jump into the study time that I
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would have for us today. And now as we emphasize on joy,
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you might have heard, and I would say rightfully so, that
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there is a difference between this joy of the Lord and the
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happiness of this world. I don't know if you've ever
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heard that. There is a lot of truth to that,
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that the happiness that we can find in this world is hollow.
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You know, like that Easter candy, chocolate, the
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disappointing Easter Bunny that you bite into.
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And it's like not really chocolate, it's got just air.
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It's hollow or fleeting, and you can say that happiness can
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change in a moment. We got any football fans in the
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room? I'm just going to give a quick
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football reference, OK? I see a Broncos hat, and that's
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my team. So I'm just just, you know, I'm,
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I'm a Colorado native. So I truly have been a Broncos
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fan, not just fair weather, but I've been a Broncos fan for a
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long time. I'm going to talk about a, an
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occurrence this past Bronco, this past football season.
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And you know, if you saw the sad, sad ending to the Broncos
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season, but I want to go all the way back to Week 2, Week 2,
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there was a lot of hope for the Broncos.
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There was hope, which they did, that they were going to win the
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AFC West title. And they did that right.
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There was all this talk and buzz that the Broncos were finally
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back and they're playing a good team.
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They're playing against the Indianapolis Colts on week two.
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It was a good game. Now, here's the thing, being in
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pastoral ministry and also, you know, because I'm I'm here on
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Sundays most of the time, I've made it a point that I'm not so
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focused on football, but I still love it.
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I've loved football since I was in middle school and I just love
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watching the game. But I I'm not so focused on
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football that I work my schedule around it.
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So I actually had a premarital meeting that day, week two of
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the Broncos season. And so we have a premarital at
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our house. I'm taking my wife and I are
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taking this young couple through a session on premarital.
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But I asked the question, I said, do you mind since we're at
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my house, if I put the game on but just mute it.
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And I positioned us all around the table and you know what spot
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I took, I can see the screen. And man, that was a hard game.
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That was hard to focus. I had to really focus on this
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couple because it was a good game.
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It was back and forth. Broncos, you know, the Broncos
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and Colts are going back and forth.
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Great game all the way to the end.
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And praise the Lord, we amened in the last few seconds of the
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game. It was Amen.
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And I was like, and now me and my wife and this couple, we
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unmuted the TV. The Broncos had the ball.
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As the time is winding down, they're down by one point.
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They're in field goal range. The Broncos line up, they kick
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the field goal. It goes through the uprights.
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Broncos won the game. We're high fiving this couple.
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You see, actually, it was in Indianapolis.
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This game was and you see all these orange jerseys.
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I was so surprised that Bronco fans travel to Indianapolis, but
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there's all these orange jerseys jumping up for joy there in the
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stadium. Broncos win.
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Now, you guys remember how that game went?
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Broncos did not win. There's a flag on the field.
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Broncos were offsides. So all that immediate happiness
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and jumping for joy, it was met by the heartbreak of a penalty.
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They had to go back 5 yards. And now you know how the story
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ends. They they go to kick the field
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goal wide, right? And now all the white jerseys
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are jumping up. And isn't that a picture of
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happiness in this world? It's hollow, it's fleeting.
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But that's not the joy of the Lord.
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That is your strength. The joy of the Lord is eternal.
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The joy of the Lord is available at any given time.
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That's the difference between joy and happiness.
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However, I do like to consider that although there are some
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differences and distinctions between joy and happiness, I
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also would say there are some striking similarities.
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Even considering the definition of delight in cheerfulness and
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gladness, we have to recognize that there are similarities
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between happiness and joy, and one of the ways that I like to
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consider and define joy is heavenly happiness.
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Heavenly happiness maybe if that helps you, it's a great way to
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understand what that experience of the joy of the Lord is,
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because the reality is the expression of joy and the
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experience of joy feels and looks the same as happiness.
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So heavenly happiness, like Jesus taught us to pray our
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Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come,
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your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, praying that joy
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which is heavenly happiness, eternal, available.
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And now you can use my analogy for the Broncos or whichever one
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works for you, that even when things don't go the way you
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wanted, the way you hope that heavenly happiness is still
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available. And why?
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Because it's one of the fruit of the Spirit.
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You guys remember we did this going through the book of
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Galatians with Pastor Ed. And the fruit of the Spirit are
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these attributes of Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness,
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goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
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Each of those are available by choice as we get the instruction
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not to walk according to our sinful nature, our flesh, but to
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walk according to the Spirit that each of those are a choice
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as believers in Christ that we can make to step into all of
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those great attributes of what it is to be in the fruit of the
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Spirit, including that of joy. And so I give us this as a take
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away as we jump into Nehemiah chapter 8, that the joy of the
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Lord is a choice to receive and experience regardless of
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circumstances. So as you consider the joy of
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the Lord being your strength, it is a choice that you can receive
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an experience regardless of your present circumstance.
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That brings us to the book of Nehemiah chapter 8.
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And we do have to understand a little bit about the context of
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where we are here in Nehemiah chapter 8, where after a time of
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God's people being in a time of judgement for their rebellion
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and their disobedience, there was a time that they had been
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ransacked by the nation of Babylon, Jerusalem.
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The city was overtaken, the temple destroyed.
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And then they were brought captive to a foreign land that
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had Pagan beliefs and Pagan system.
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And they were indoctrinated into that culture.
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There was many that continue to stand for the for God.
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And that's where you see Daniel and his friends and many others
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who would continue to seek the Lord even in that time.
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But there was a time of rebellion and disobedience.
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But then after a series of divine events through the
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sovereignty of God, that the people of God were allowed to
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start to come back, three waves of people over the span of
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decades. The first return back to the
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Jerusalem was by a man named Zerubbabel who began the
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rebuilding of the temple and brought that to completion.
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You might remember in Zechariah chapter 4 where it says that
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it's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.
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That was the word to Zerubbabel in the rebuilding of the temple.
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And then progress was stopped because of opposition and
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struggle. But there was another man that
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came out and another wave of people of God that returned to
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Jerusalem under Ezra, who was the scribe in a spiritual
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leader. But the walls were still in
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disrepair. And then years later, Nehemiah,
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who is still now in Persia, which had overtaken the
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Babylonian Empire, Nehemiah hears of the walls in disrepair
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and he's broken about that. And one of the things I love
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about Nehemiah is he is a good leader.
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What I mean by a good leader is he's a man of character.
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He's a man of integrity, a man of persistence and perseverance.
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But the thing that Nehemiah did that was the most important and
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made him the best leader. So he was a man of prayer that
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instead of looking at the problems and complaining, he was
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stirred to pray and he was stirred to action.
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And you know, here's another take away that we can see
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through Nehemiah's life is that prayer and action go hand in
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hand. Prayer and action go hand in
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hand. You know, God impressed
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something on me this year. As you know, my my kids and I
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were at a dinner and we were praying and God just put this
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word faith. It was very simple, but very
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profound. It was a word faith that came
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into my heart. And as we were talking about
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what God would have for us this upcoming year.
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And then I'm listening to a Bible study a few days later and
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I hear this statement that for God, it's hard for him to steer
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an object that's not in motion. And it was in representing of
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like faith on the way. And I think prayer in a lot of
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ways has that similarity. Like prayer is not just idly
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sitting back and just God, here's what I need and and
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here's what I want you to do. It's that it's petition and
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supplication, but it's met with action.
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And that's exactly what we see with Nehemiah.
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He recognized the problem. He prayed and then he was
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stirred to go back to Jerusalem and this progress that had
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stopped for decades of the wall and disrepair, this almost
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impossible seeming task. He got the men and rallied the
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people together with a trowel in one hand to rebuild the wall
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brick by brick with a sword in the other hand.
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Because there was people who are coming against them directly
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trying to stop the work. And they with a trowel in one
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hand, a sword in the other, taking shifts of one while some
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people worked, others would guard and and sleep and all of
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that. They got the work done in 52
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days and that's where we come now as the wall had been
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finished now in Nehemiah Chapter 8, it wasn't just the wall that
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was in need of repair. Outwardly, the city looked good.
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The city was in a better position, but now God was doing
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a work. God wanted to reveal the hearts
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of the people in disrepair. The the rebellion that had
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happened from all the generations past.
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Now the people of God needed to repair in their hearts through
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the word of God. And So what we're see today as
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the joy of the Lord is your strength.
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I'm going to highlight three key things, how we can experience
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the joy of the Lord through his provision through provision, how
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we experience the joy of the Lord through God's presence, and
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how we'll experience the joy of the Lord through God's promises.
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And that's what brings us to Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse
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one, Nehemiah chapter 8, verse one.
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And we'll get, we'll start with that first point of the joy of
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the Lord through God's provision.
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Verse one, it says now all the people gathered together as one
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man in the open square that was in front of the Watergate.
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And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of
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Moses, which the Lord had commanded.
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So now, you know, there were as the walls are finished, they go
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through the Watergate, they bring Ezra, remember, he was the
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spiritual leader. And it's almost like they say
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bring the book, the book of the law.
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And you know, for Bible students that this would have been this
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at this point, this would have been the first five books that
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we have in our in our completed Bible, right?
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The Genesis through Deuteronomy. And they bring the book.
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Now for me, I have I own multiple Bibles and some of my
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physical Bibles I use less than others.
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And so you can take a moment to judge this pastor up here, but
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some of my Bibles have some dust on it.
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The Bible that they had brought out there, the word surely had
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not been open for a while. You can imagine how thick that
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dust was. When they say bring the book,
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you got to imagine how it started, Ezra says.
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And the dust goes flying off of the book.
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But bring the book. It had been a while since it's
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been open, but hey, it's good to open up that word and you'll see
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how the Spirit of God was using the word of God to move in the
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hearts of the people of God. Because now in verse 2, it says
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Ezra, the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and
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women who could hear with understanding on the first day
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of the 7th month and the people were ready to hear with
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understanding. This would have been about in
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the time of October, very similar.
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You can reference like our church, we have a refreshed
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conference in October. So it was kind of and in some
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similarities, it's like that, right, that the people were here
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ready and attentive. And I think of this verse, it's
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in Proverbs chapter 2, verse 2. I want to read it from the new
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living Translation. But the proverb says this tune
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your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding.
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And that's where the people were that they had been kind of they
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had dulled the word of God in their mind for years.
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And now as things are back in order, they're like, I need to
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tune my ear to the word of God. And Ezra bringing the word of
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God, the people ready, it says in verse 3.
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Then they read it on the in the open square that was in front of
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the Watergate from morning until midday.
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If you take notes in your Bible, that's about 6:00 AM when it
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says morning. That was like Daybreak.
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It was about 6:00 AM to midday, which would have been about noon
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before the men and women and all those could understand.
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And all the ears of the people again were attentive to the book
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of the law. Now I got to ask a question and
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this is my camp. How many of us are binge
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watchers? You can binge watch a show.
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I have to be careful, right? So you see, there's a few binge
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watchers in the room. You guys understand that if you
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can turn on a show and they do that for us, we are the
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personality that you're watching a show and the episodes ends
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with a cliffhanger and the thing starts to cycle next episode.
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And we are the people. That's like absolutely right.
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My wife is not. Sadly, my wife is not.
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So she falls asleep half the way through.
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This is why I don't watch shows like that.
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I get in trouble, but she'll fall asleep halfway through the
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first episode. And then she expects me to just
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pause it and stop it at the end. And so she'll the next day
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she'll be like, how far did you get?
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And I'm like, I finished it. So the point of that is this,
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that the people were binging on the listening of the Word of
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God. What a great thing, right?
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What a great thing to just be binge listening and receiving
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the Word of God started in the book of Genesis.
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And they're just going through for six hours in the word,
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listening to it, being read, attentive to it, standing even
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right. And and however far they would
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have gotten, probably doubtful that unless, I mean, unless Ezra
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was on five times speed that they got through all of the
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books right, because Genesis, you know, that'll probably take
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3 hours in itself to read and then Exodus another few hours.
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So probably very likely they would have got to somewhere in
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the book of Exodus. We don't know for sure, but I
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that's what I like to think think on the practical level.
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How far did they get even with six hours of reading the word?
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Surely if they were still attentive, My theory on that is
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if they were still attentive, they could not have gotten to
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Leviticus in numbers. They would have fallen asleep,
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but that's why they had the people standing.
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You'll know who's falling asleep, unlike in here, you
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know, you guys could start nodding off, but these people
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were standing. And so if they're standing, you
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get to Leviticus. People just start dropping.
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I actually love Leviticus. I know we pastors and people
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give a hard time. I I think it's a great book of
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worship. But all of that aside, that's
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what we see where the people are AT.
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And then verse 4, we're going to see a list of names.
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And I'll show you in a moment where we see the joy of the Lord
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through God's provision. But now with Ezra standing on
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this platform, we're going to hear a list of names.
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It says in verse 4, Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of
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wood which they had made for the purpose.
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And beside him, at his right hand stood Mattathiah, Shima,
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and Anaya, Yuraja, Hekaya, and Matasaya, and at his left hand
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Padaya, Misha, al Malkaja, Hashim, Hashba, Zechariah, and
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Mashulim. So we see all of these men of
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God at his left hand and at his right.
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So we have the Word of God, the congregation of God, the man of
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God, Ezra, and all these supporters here.
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One of the ways you can see the provision of God is through all
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of those things, right? The provision, The joy of the
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Lord through God's provision. His Bible.
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The Word. The joy of the Lord that's
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available through the provided word and what it does in the
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hearts of those who are attentive.
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You think about community, our church community for sure what a
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blessed community that we're a part of and you can just
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recognize that the joy of the Lord is available through
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community. But then it narrows down right
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it narrows down to a specific man who's bringing the word and
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praise God for someone like Pastor Ed indeed right.
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You think of as people of support and you you know for
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your own life. You can think of our friends and
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our family and how all of these things speak to God's provision,
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that the joy of the Lord, which is our strength available
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through provision. And then verse 5, Ezra opened
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the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing
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above all the people and he opened it and we see again all
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the people stood up. As you consider provision, it's
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both what God was doing for them, but also what God was
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doing in them. And that is what provision is.
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The joy of provision is what God is doing for and in US, right?
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And that that was one of those great things that we see there
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in these first 5 verses. So remember the joy of the Lord
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that's available through God's provision.
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I want to do something that is common that we do with our
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youth. So church, if you could humor me
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for a bit, I'm going to be a pastor that asks you to close
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your Bible. We're going to do what's called
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a sword drill. And what a sword drill?
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What I mean by that is in the book of Hebrews, it tells us
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that the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than A2
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edged sword. Whether you can reference the
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Bible being like your sword. And what we're going to do is I
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want to give you some supporting verses to that idea of the joy
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of the Lord through God's provision.
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Now understand that there are times that people would say that
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the Bible, I don't read the Bible because it's full of
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contradictions. Well, I want to tell you this.
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I, I understand that there are some challenging verses and
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there's some challenging thoughts in the Bible, but I
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have found the complete opposite as I spent so many years anti
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God, anti the word of God. When I read it and applied it to
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my life, I learned this, that the Bible is complementary, not
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contradictory. So what I want to show you are
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some supporting scriptures to the idea of the joy of the Lord
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through his provision. So we're going to do a sword
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drill. What I'm going to ask you to do
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is turn to the scripture in your Bible and when you get there,
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say Amen. Psalm 23, verse one will be our
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first place. So when you get there, say Amen.
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We're all racing together. Oh man, I had it.
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Amen, Psalm 23 verse one. And it's OK.
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You know, one of the things I like to say is if you're kind of
22:46
newer to the Bible, Amen and Amen.
22:48
If you're newer to the Bible, it don't don't feel bad as we're
22:51
turning, just let it just be a personal challenge.
22:53
It's it's OK to use your table of contents, but learn to
22:57
navigate through this word that changed the life of the people
23:01
and it'll change yours. Right?
23:03
But here's the thing and the idea of God's joy through
23:06
provision. David, in this very famous
23:09
familiar Psalm, Psalm 23, verse one, it says that the Lord is my
23:14
shepherd. I shall not want.
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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
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And I like another translation, it says that it's because I have
23:22
all that I need and the, the, the Lord mentioned here, that is
23:26
the shepherd is the word Yahweh. And now in the Old Testament,
23:31
they were looking forward to the coming of Messiah to the to the
23:35
king who would bring peace both internally and externally.
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Jesus fulfilled that Jesus was the Son of God in human flesh.
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That David, looking forward, we can look backward and understand
23:49
that the Lord Jesus, that's Yahweh in human flesh is my
23:54
shepherd. I shall not want.
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And when you think of the joy of the Lord being your strength,
24:00
that the greatest provision God has given to us is his Son,
24:05
Jesus Christ, the Savior of our soul, the Redeemer of our life.
24:10
And when we think about joy always being available, that's
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one of the ways that joy is available because Jesus is
24:16
present in my heart and in my life.
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In the next verse, close our Bible.
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I'm going to give you an easier one because it's the book we're
24:25
studying on the weekend. Go to Ephesians chapter 1.
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Ephesians chapter one, verse 3. Give me an Amen when you get
24:31
there. Amen.
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Ephesians chapter one verse 3. As you consider the joy of the
24:39
Lord through His provision, this verse has to be mentioned.
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It tells us in Ephesians chapter one verse 3 blessed be the God
24:47
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Notice who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the
24:52
heavenly places in Christ. What a profound verse that and
24:57
through faith in Jesus, I have access to every spiritual
25:03
blessing in the heavenly places. Now that's a very strong,
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encompassing thing. Pastor, I did a great job in in
25:10
articulating that verse a few weeks back.
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But let me tell you one of those things that is a spiritual
25:15
blessing in heavenly places is the joy of the Lord.
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That is your strength physically, emotionally,
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mentally and spiritually. So those are some verses that I
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wanted us to to consider as we think of that first point of the
25:30
joy that is available, we can experience through God's
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provision. Next one back in Nehemiah
25:36
chapter 8. Thank you for humoring me with
25:37
that Nehemiah chapter 8. Next thing is we want to look at
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the joy of the Lord that's available through God's
25:45
presence, and it's here in verse 6 where I want to draw that
25:49
point from Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 6.
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It says in Ezra, blessed the Lord the great God.
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Then all the people answered Amen, Amen while lifting up
25:59
their hands and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord
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with their faces to the ground. And I know Pastor Ian, if you're
26:06
here last weekend, he taught a great message on what worship
26:09
is. And it's just such a great word.
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I, I know he shared that a few times here at the church.
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And this is what we see that the people were experiencing the
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presence of God through worship, through the reading of his word,
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through worship. And that is this picture of us
26:25
going from the practical, physical into the eternality of
26:29
God in the throne room of grace of God.
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It's this great picture that the people were were were broken in
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a really good way. They were just broken through
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this experience. There is exhaustion surely
26:43
through the physical work, but now there's this impression of
26:47
this spiritual work God is doing in their hearts.
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And you notice what they're saying.
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They're just Amen and Amen, raising their hands, worshipping
26:56
God and the joy that is available through God's
27:00
presence. And that's one of those things
27:02
that it's a challenge is we can go through the challenge,
27:05
challenging tribulations of life, the hard things of life,
27:08
that this is one of the things that when you're in a really
27:11
hard dark place, remember the joy of the Lord, that is your
27:16
strength through God's presence. And those are the times that we
27:20
have choices, right to distance. We can be mad at God.
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And I have been. Trust me, I speak that from
27:26
experience. There's times that I've just
27:28
been upset at God. Like, why would you allow this
27:32
to happen like that? But the reality is, you know,
27:35
when we start to distance ourself, we're missing
27:38
perspective. But when we draw close to God,
27:41
well, wow, we get to experience this joy of God.
27:45
You know what I I've put it like this that we don't obtain joy
27:50
simply by trying, but we grow in joy through trusting and
27:55
specifically trusting in Jesus. So I'll say that again, we don't
27:58
obtain joy by trying, but we grow in joy through trusting in
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Jesus. I again want to give some
28:07
supporting scriptures. I won't make us do any more
28:08
sword drills. Thank you again for doing that.
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The last one. But I'm going to, if you, you
28:12
can turn, if you'd like, to, Psalm 16, verse 11.
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That was a Psalm that I chose for us in our reading time.
28:18
But again, we'll see how the joy of the Lord is is is available
28:24
to us. We can experience the joy of the
28:26
Lord through His presence. Psalm 16, verse 11, you show me
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the path of life, and in your presence is the fullness of joy,
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and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
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And I always have held on to that verse to remember, where do
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I find this eternal available joy while it's in God's
28:46
presence? I'm going to show you one more.
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It's a really cool example in the New Testament, Turn over to
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the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28, the Gospel of Matthew
28:55
chapter 28. And here's what we're seeing in
28:58
this section of Scripture. It's after the Son of God, Jesus
29:01
Christ had came to the earth through miraculous conception.
29:05
He had lived the only man who had ever lived a perfect
29:09
unblemished life, lived life to perfection, the Son of God.
29:13
It's what's called the it's this big theological term called
29:16
hypostatic union. Foley, God, Foley man.
29:20
But he took on humanity that he could do with no person ever
29:26
before him or ever will be able to do.
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He lived an unblemished life. And what was his reward for
29:31
perfection? Well, he was betrayed by his
29:34
very own. He was betrayed by his one of
29:38
his disciples. He was turned over to the very
29:41
people he first came to save, the very Jewish people to which
29:44
he came to save. And then he was turned over to a
29:47
Pagan government to be crucified.
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And Jesus was, he was murdered on the cross, but it was for a
29:52
purpose that Jesus died on that cross for the sin of the world,
29:58
for the sin of every man, woman and child that had ever existed
30:02
and ever would exist, that he would die on that cross.
30:05
With those words. Father, forgive them.
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They know not what they do. And of course, that brought
30:10
great grief into many people, including the women who were
30:15
close follower, many women who are close followers of Jesus.
30:18
And although he had told them that he would rise again, on the
30:21
third day, we see that the disciples forgot.
30:25
The disciples didn't understand, or even for some, the disciples
30:29
didn't believe. And the women grief stricken on
30:34
that Sunday morning they go to the tomb to embalm the body of
30:38
Jesus, and there's an Angel there.
30:41
An Angel says he is not here, he is risen and they're afraid.
30:46
And I think I would be too if I just was like I'm in shock.
30:50
I'm trying to trying to process everything that's happening.
30:53
His body's not there. What does that mean?
30:55
And now as you, as you're in Matthew chapter 28, now it's
30:59
here in verse 9. Remember the joy of the Lord
31:02
through God's presence as the women are leaving from that
31:05
encounter, Matthew 28 verse 9, it says, and as they went to
31:09
tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice.
31:14
And that word rejoice is that same word we that's the similar
31:17
word we get for joy. It's almost like him reminding
31:20
these women, Hey, the joy of the Lord is your strength, rejoice.
31:25
So they came and held him at his feet and worshipped him.
31:29
The joy of the Lord through God's presence.
31:32
So we see back in Nehemiah chapter 8 from verse one through
31:35
5, we saw the joy of the Lord that we experience it through
31:38
God's provision, through His word, through people, through
31:42
community, the God's presence through him, through his very
31:46
self. And now we're going to go in
31:48
Nehemiah chapter 8 from verse 7 to 12.
31:51
We'll see how we experience the joy of the Lord through God's
31:56
promises. We now experience the joy of the
31:59
Lord through God's promises. We're going to see another list
32:02
of names mentioned here. We'll read verse 7 and 8 as we
32:05
develop this point. And it says also Joshua, Banay,
32:08
Sharabaya, Jammin Akub, Shabbathi, Hodaja, Messiah,
32:14
Kalida, Azariah, Jazabad, Hainen, Malaya, and the Levites
32:19
help the people to understand the law and the people stood in
32:22
their place. Verse 8, it says, and they read
32:24
distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the
32:29
sense and help them to understand the reading and how
32:33
important that is. There are times and we all know
32:35
if you've read the Bible in any form or fashion, we have come to
32:39
scriptures and close our Bible and said, I have no idea what
32:42
that means. Amen.
32:44
It's all right. That's not just you, it's me.
32:46
I've come to the Bible and I'm like, I don't know God what that
32:49
means. And it's good, right, When we
32:50
can have someone and we have so much resources and things that
32:53
can help us to understand the word.
32:55
These people that were just mentioned there in verse seven
32:57
were those who are helping to understand the word.
33:00
And one of the things I love about God's Word is the hundreds
33:05
and even thousands of promises in the Bible, promises that are
33:09
like, you can take these things to the bank, you can cash it in.
33:13
Every promise of God, it says is yes and Amen.
33:17
Every promise of God is yes and Amen.
33:21
I give you an example, one that just came to my heart in
33:24
preparing this Bible study is one that I've been holding on to
33:27
even in this season, Psalm 37, verse 4, it says, delight
33:31
yourself also in the Lord, and he'll give you the desires of
33:35
your hearts. As you know, we think about one
33:37
of the of the points I forgot to mention maybe earlier is we need
33:41
to learn to pray as we go into God's word.
33:44
God, how does this apply to my life?
33:47
God, how does your word apply into my life right now I'm I'm
33:51
listening to it. That's the observation.
33:54
I'm understanding it interpretation.
33:56
But now, God, what do you want from me?
33:58
And one of those great things are all the promises that he has
34:01
for us, the many promises. And I would just encourage, as
34:04
you sit in a Bible study like this and as you have personal
34:08
time in Bible study, know that God is speaking to you.
34:12
That's the primary way that God speaks.
34:15
And one of the things he's speaking over us are his
34:18
promises and the joy of the Lord that is available through his
34:23
promises. It's a great thing.
34:25
And we see that again, kind of developing this in verse seven
34:28
and eight, that these people were helping with the
34:30
understanding of all of God's promises.
34:32
And you'll notice why they needed to understand God's
34:35
promises because they're broken. They're broken and sorrowful and
34:38
very likely, again, we don't know exactly how far they got,
34:42
but it seemingly makes sense that they would have made their
34:45
way into the book of Exodus chapter 20.
34:48
They would have listened to the morality of God, the holy
34:52
standard of God, and they would have saw how much they did not
34:56
meet up to the standard of God, that they were flawed, that they
35:00
were broken, that they were insufficient.
35:03
It's like a mirror, and that's what the law does.
35:05
It's like a mirror. And you and I, when we look in
35:07
the mirror, the thing that highlight the most is the
35:10
imperfections. And that's what that's what we
35:13
notice and that's the things that draw our attention so
35:16
often. And that's what the Word of God
35:18
was doing to the people. And so as they were being helped
35:21
to understand that we're going to see here in verse 9 where the
35:25
people were at that they were struggling a little bit.
35:27
So Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and
35:29
scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all
35:32
the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God, do not mourn
35:37
nor weep. And so the people were broken.
35:39
And it says for all, for all the people wept when they had heard
35:44
the words of the law. And there is a place that God's
35:48
word should do that. It should reveal our rebellion,
35:53
our disobedience, where who we have fallen short.
35:56
And that for all of us is the reality that none of us are good
36:00
enough on our own merit to be right with God, that none of us
36:05
in our own standing can stand before God.
36:09
And that's where the people recognize as they're listening
36:11
to this is they're just whoa, like I am unclean and I dwell in
36:16
the midst of people who are unclean.
36:19
But the, the, the leaders are saying, well, hey, listen, this
36:21
day is holy. This day is holy to the Lord.
36:25
And, and, and they're encouraging them because what
36:28
was happening was revival, that they had gone from backsliding,
36:32
that they are now starting to press in.
36:34
They are now starting to get their eyes back on track and
36:38
their hearts back on track. And that's why they can
36:41
affirmatively say, Hey, your brokenness, God is healing.
36:45
God is healing this brokenness and we get this great promise.
36:48
Remember the joy of the Lord that's available through God's
36:51
promises of right there in verse 10, our theme verse.
36:55
He said to them, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet and
36:59
send the portions to those for whom nothing is prepared for
37:03
this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of
37:08
the Lord is your strength and again one of those promises as
37:12
you navigate through difficulties.
37:14
Hear me right, I am I am fully aware and fully experience the
37:19
challenges that this world has to offer.
37:22
But what a great promise that you can hold in the word of God
37:26
that that don't sorrow because the joy of the Lord is your
37:31
strength. And what happens is when we get
37:33
to this place of what's called godly sorrow, it's referenced in
37:37
Second Corinthians Chapter 7, verse 10.
37:39
Godly sorrow leads to repentance, which leads to
37:43
salvation. So I believe that's what had
37:45
been happening with the people of God here, that they were
37:49
broken as they were listening to the word, which led them to
37:52
repentance, which is why Nehemiah and these leaders could
37:55
say, hey, don't sorrow because the joy of the Lord is your
37:59
strength. And now there's this great
38:01
exchange happening when you think of the joy of the Lord
38:04
through God's promises. Here's this promise of an
38:07
exchange from sadness to heavenly happiness.
38:11
I'm going to give you this verse, Isaiah 61, verse three.
38:14
I'll read this also in the new Living Translation.
38:17
And it says this to all who mourn in Israel.
38:20
He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, A joyous blessing
38:25
instead of mourning and festive of praise instead of despair.
38:29
And of course, that verse continues to go on, but a great
38:32
promise right there that God will exchange through that godly
38:38
soul, through repentance, through walking and encountering
38:42
holiness. Because this day they said
38:44
multiple times, it's holy to the Lord.
38:47
And that encounter with holiness would bring them again to this
38:50
place of exchanging sadness for joy.
38:54
I'll give you this point that heavenly happiness occurs when
38:58
we are transformed in holiness. Heavenly happiness or this joy
39:03
of the Lord occurs when we are transformed in holiness.
39:08
And we got to remember that word holy is set apart, or we're
39:11
setting apart my will, my way, and we're submitted in abiding
39:18
and our Savior Jesus Christ. Heavenly happiness occurs when
39:22
we are transformed in holiness. As we pause on verse 10 for just
39:27
one more moment, I want to give five things, five things that I
39:31
had considered that we can draw from Nehemiah chapter 8, verse
39:35
one through 12, Five things that will help us practically
39:39
remember one of the things I said.
39:40
How does this apply to me today? Because it's good.
39:43
We can look at the historical account of Nehemiah and the
39:46
people of God, and it's super encouraging to see all the work
39:49
God did in ancient times. But we're like, man, I'm in 2026
39:54
and here's my issues and here's my problems and here's my wall
39:58
in disrepair and here's my heart and need of repair and here God
40:03
is my sadness. Here is my despair, and what I
40:07
want to give you is five things again that we can draw from the
40:09
eternal Word of God to help us navigate through sadness.
40:14
We'll see him again all through the book of Nehemiah, chapter 8
40:17
that we just looked at. But also I'll give you some
40:19
other scriptures to help you with that.
40:21
But the first thing I will tell you is a good word when I need
40:25
to help to overcome sadness, it's important to have a good
40:30
word and let one of those good words just even today be right
40:32
there from the Word of God, whether it's Psalm 16, verse 11,
40:36
that in your presence is the fullness of joy or Nehemiah
40:39
chapter 8, verse 10, that the joy of the Lord is my strength.
40:43
But also, I think just even on very simple practical level,
40:48
right, that the idea of when somebody gives us a word of
40:50
encouragement to tell you you're a blessing.
40:53
Hey, I'm praying for you. Hey, you're precious, you're
40:56
loved like those things we need to hold onto in times of
41:00
challenge and difficulty and struggle.
41:02
The good word. I think of this in Proverbs
41:04
chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12 is one of
41:07
the is really again something I go to and recounting this great
41:12
principle, but it says anxiety in the heart of man causes
41:16
depression, but a good word makes it glad that good word.
41:21
So when I'm overcoming sadness in life, I want to find that
41:26
good word seek that good word in his Bible, but also how God will
41:30
use people in in whatever form and fashion tune our ears again
41:35
to wisdom and understanding. The next thing is that we want
41:38
to overcome sadness through repentance, overcoming sadness
41:43
through repentance. I referenced it earlier, but I'm
41:45
going to turn and read it to you in Second Corinthians Chapter 7
41:49
verse 10. And repentance is this idea of
41:52
going away from God and against God to turning a 180 back
41:57
towards God. And notice this, it says godly
42:00
sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation.
42:05
There are times of sadness and brokenness and despair in our
42:09
life. Not exclusive, but there are
42:11
things that are causing sadness in our life based on our own
42:15
doing. It is things we have done that
42:18
have caused us to experience this despair.
42:21
And the reality is God will not bless us in those moments of
42:25
disobedience and rebellion that God is.
42:28
You know, those are not the times where we're experiencing
42:30
the fruit of the Spirit in our rebellion.
42:32
We're not experiencing Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness
42:35
doesn't mean it's not available. It means that because of my
42:38
rebellion, I am now in the flesh, and I cannot
42:42
simultaneously be in my flesh and in the Spirit.
42:46
But as a believer in Jesus Christ, I can be in my flesh.
42:49
Unfortunately, we all know that I can be in my flesh, but in a
42:53
moment of repentance, being drawn by the goodness of God, I
42:57
can be right back and right standing at God, I confess and
43:01
God, I ask that you forgive and God hears those humble, contrite
43:05
hearts and repentance will bring you back into right
43:09
relationship. And so we see a good the, the
43:12
overcoming sadness through a good word, overcoming sadness
43:15
through repentance, and then overcoming sadness through doing
43:19
the next right thing. And I just recall everything we
43:23
just read in Nehemiah, you know, for why were the walls in
43:27
disrepair for decades? It was an insurmountable task.
43:31
They had been. The city had been ransacked and
43:33
destroyed and all these bricks. And even Zerubbabel, although he
43:37
had that great word, it's not by might nor by power, but by my
43:40
spirit, says the Lord For Zerubbabel and Ezra, they didn't
43:45
finish the work because discouragement and opposition, A
43:48
threatening letter had come. And so, you know, for Nehemiah,
43:52
as he shows up and he's now instructing the people and says,
43:55
like, where do we even start? One brick at a time.
43:59
You do the next right thing by brick, by brick.
44:03
And in 52 days, they finished it.
44:06
And then when they finish it, they meet there at the
44:08
Watergate, build a platform, bring the preacher, and they go
44:13
into the word. And it's just one thing at a
44:15
time. This principle comes from a
44:17
famous missionary. Her name's Elizabeth Elliott.
44:20
She dealt with significant tragedy, even having her husband
44:25
murdered for the sake of the gospel on the mission field, and
44:29
she wrote a book titled Suffering is Never for Nothing.
44:32
I've read that book and man, it's such a great book.
44:35
But there's just a key thing she brings in that one thing I will
44:38
never forget is what she learned to do in grief stricken times is
44:44
just do the next right thing. Just do the next thing.
44:48
As you're overcoming sadness, learn to do the next right
44:51
thing. And then four and five, I'll
44:54
give them to you together. So we saw a good word,
44:56
repentance, do the next right thing.
44:58
And these ones going to have some spiritual language to them.
45:01
And I'll show you in Hebrews chapter 12, verse one and two.
45:04
But I've said it like this, to have eyes of faith and a heart
45:08
of hope, eyes of faith and a heart of hope.
45:10
In Hebrews chapter 12, verse one and two, it tells us this.
45:16
Therefore we also, since we're surrounded by such a such a
45:19
great crowd of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the
45:24
sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance
45:27
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the the
45:32
author and finisher notice of our faith, looking unto Jesus,
45:36
eyes of faith, who for the joy that set before him, he endured
45:40
the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand
45:45
of the throne of God. And so we see these eyes of
45:48
faith and, and here's the reality.
45:49
Sadness is because there's a problem and issues and you know,
45:53
some of our problems and issues are bigger than others.
45:55
Again, I'm not just encompassing them all together.
45:57
I know that there's layers of struggles and problems, but in
46:00
perspective of Jesus, no matter how big your problem is, what
46:04
God says about your problem is in comparison to eternity.
46:09
He calls it a light affliction. It's a little offensive for
46:12
some. It's hard because it's like God,
46:15
do you really know? And he say, yeah, I do.
46:18
I sent my one and only Son to be murdered for you to defeat sin
46:23
and conquer death like God would say yes I do and your affliction
46:28
which he would say light is working for you.
46:30
A far more eternal weight of glory.
46:33
Eyes of faith is what we need to learn to do.
46:35
I need to learn to do is not to focus on the issue that is
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causing sadness, but the focus passed the issue to the
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perspective of the one who knows the beginning from the end, the
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end from the beginning, the one that was that is and always will
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be to put my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith
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and to have a heart of hope because there's a reality that
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I'm not there yet. And it's not just wishful
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thinking, but it's a confident assurance.
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When you look up the word hope in the New Testament, it doesn't
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speak of wishful thinking. Is is that word confident
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assurance that I can say I'm not there yet, but God, I know how
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the story ends and the story ends with you getting the
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victory and the story ends with you declaring that I'm more than
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a conqueror through Christ. So overcoming sadness, it's not
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an easy, I don't mean to say this like it's easy that it just
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should be. We should never experience
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sadness, but to just know that even in the midst of sadness
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that the joy of the Lord is available.
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I said it like this, the joy of the Lord is available even in
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the midst of sadness. And you can just know that's the
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difference between the hollow happiness or joy of this world
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versus the eternal available joy of the Lord.
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That is my strength, that even in my worst moments I can access
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the joy of the Lord. That is my strength as we close
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off. And Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 11
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and 12. Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 11.
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It tells us this, that the Levites quieted all the people
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saying, Be still, for the day is holy, do not be grieved.
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And all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to
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send portions and rejoice, glad greatly because they understood
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the words that were declared to them.
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So it goes from this dejection. It's a celebration and you know,
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that's the things that happen. And we can consider that there
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are going to be points. And I think we we use that
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phrase hindsight is 2020 for a reason.
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And I just want you to consider today some of the most
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significant trials that are in your rear view.
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And you can look back at those hard things and just recognize
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that in the Lord he saw you through it, that it was horrible
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in the moment. But I can look back and say,
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man, you know, victory is sweet when we triumph through
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tribulation. You know, God has a purpose and
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I don't know I I can't explain the all the wise, but just like
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Job, right, I can declare my Redeemer yet lives and that was,
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you know, for the people that they had gone from this
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dejection to joy and celebration.
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So churches, we close. I want to you know, just again
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emphasize here today in the word what we're seeing that the
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people of God there in the time of Nehemiah were not in
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disbelief, but they were in place of backsliding.
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They were in a backslidden condition and church, if you
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would let's bow our heads together in a posture prayer and
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I just want you personally just in a moment as even as I'm
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sharing this, I would just encourage you to say God search
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me and know me. We see that in one of the Psalms
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in Psalm 139. God search me and know me reveal
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if there be any wicked way in me and for the believers in the
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Lord today, I, I just as we're praying and if God is pricking
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your heart, if the Spirit of God has used the word of God to stir
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in your heart that, hey, I'm in a I'm in a backslidden place.
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I actually want to pray for you today.
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I want to let you know that that's, you know, again, a place
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where God wants to draw you by his goodness into repentance.
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If you today would say that's me, I'm just going to simply ask
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that you just raise your hand. We don't want to make a
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spectacle of it, but I want to pray for you and I think we need
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those prayers. It's OK.
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I know hands across the room. It's OK.
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Like raise your hand. Just declare you know God,
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that's me. I'm struggling and I'm
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backslidden. I'm not in your will.
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And in that humble brokenness is where God will meet you.
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Heavenly Father, as you saw the hands that went up and even for
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some God, there's still that struggle in our pride to say I
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don't want to, I don't want to raise it.
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But God, I know you see me. Man looks on the outward and the
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walls are great, but God, my heart, my heart is not God.
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I pray for the hearts of the people that believers in you
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that are veering that are off track that are wayward God that
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is they repent before you that you restore the joy of the Lord.
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That is their their strength in their heart God.
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So God, would you hear this humble cry and would you bless
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them for that and I ask and pray that in Jesus name, Amen, Amen.
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I also would like church and for the those in attendance to give
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another invitation and this one is even, I would say even more
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significant because this is an invitation for those here today
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that would say I've never surrendered my heart to Jesus.
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It's the most important decision that we make in this life is who
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the only thing that's going to matter when we get into eternity
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presence with God is who do you say that I am?
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That's what Jesus declared to the disciples one day.
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Who do you say that I am? And anything other than my Lord
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and my Savior will not give me access into the eternal presence
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of God. And I just want to give an
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invitation in this room that today, if you don't know Jesus
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but would like to, that you would recognize, yeah, I am
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flawed and I am imperfect. And I believe I actually agree,
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God. I recognize that I'm not good on
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my own merit to stand before you, but I believe that Jesus
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lived for me. I believe that Jesus died for
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me. I believe he rose from the
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grave, and I just want to confess and believe him.
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If that's you today, I'm going to ask you to stand and make a
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public proclamation. If you would stand, If we need
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today to know Jesus, to receive him as Lord, Amen.
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God and God, you know, every heart here in this room, God for
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those standing or for those maybe not that are just in a
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place again, just it's it's hard and the vulnerability.
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But God I know even as I I consider God at the the time
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that I heard an altar call for the first time, but was
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resistant to stand, but wanted to.
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And God, I know maybe there's some is standing and there's
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some that are just in that position of I don't know.
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But God, I know you see them and I know that anyone who confesses
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their sin and just says, God, I've sinned against you.
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Jesus, I believe you died for me.
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Jesus, I believe you rose again from the grave and Jesus, I
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receive you by faith. We know anyone, God, who
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confesses and believes that is in right standing with you.
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So I pray over those people, whoever that applies to God,
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that in their own words they confess and believe, ask and
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pray that in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
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Well, Church, thank you again for your time and just remember
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for all of us today that the joy of the Lord is your strength,
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all all-encompassing strength, physically, emotionally,
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mentally, and spiritually. And we get to experience those
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through His provision, through His presence, through His
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promises. God bless and thank you Church.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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54:31
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.