The joy of the Lord is your strength

Brothers, let's open the word to Romans Chapter 14. How many enjoy being in the house of God? Amen. How many feel joy to be in the house of God? Glory to God. Amen. So, the whole point, the reason, brothers, we are in good hands because that is precisely what God wants with our lives. Brothers, I don't know what brought you to the house of the Lord, and the Lord uses countless ways and patterns to bring us here. But know that the Lord wants something with you too. You want something from the Lord, but God wants something with you. At the end of this process those who walk in the Lord, the Lord wants you to reach a very clear end, that is the desire of your heart.

And in the name of Jesus we ask that all those who are here walking in the ways of the Lord, all those who follow us on the internet, all those who call Jesus Christ their Lord, our prayer is that their lives resemble this word, to this statement. Romans, Chapter 14, verse 17, we'll be there just for an introduction and then we'll move on to Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah, Chapter 8. But this word declares:

"... For the Kingdom of God is not food or drink, but justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit..."

Justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. What is this about? What is the Apostle Paul saying with this of neither drink nor food. In other words, how do you worship the Lord? He is talking about different things, there are people in those days who ate one thing but they didn't feel like not eating certain things, and all their time in the Lord they spent debating those details.

The Lord is telling you, brother, calm down, after all the details, what God wants to fulfill with you, what God wants to fulfill with our lives is that throughout our lives we can see our lives in the light of the Lord and say, thank God that since I met the Lord I can testify that the Lord has increased his justice in my life. In other words, I grieve for sin, I know his law, I love the Lord, I am moving further and further away from those things that distance me from his glory and from his distance, and you can say that although I am not perfect, I have known the justice of the Lord. I know what a lawyer I have in heaven and I know that more and more God is doing a work of justice in my life. Even if our life is a life of peace.

Now ask yourself, my brother, are you living a life of peace? And that is not merely those who have just arrived at the Lion of Judah Congregation, or who have just begun their journey in the Lord. You who have been serving at the table of the Lord, you who have been living, walking as a child of God for x years, 10, 15 years, are you truly experiencing a… do you know the peace that surpasses all understanding? Do you know when they talk about that peace in which in the middle of the storm you sleep well, like Jesus Christ sleeping on the stern of the ship, do you know what that is? You have experienced it.

I see amen, glory to God, but if not my brother, know that this is what God wants with you. And finally, I think joy is more important. Joy. Joy. Brothers, the Lord wants this life in him to be full, saturated, known for joy, that you walk in the Lord, you can say, I know the joy of my salvation. It is one of the treasures of my life. Because I warn you, this morning my brothers, I do not want to scare you, but I do warn you this morning Satan has you on target, he has you on target. You knew that.

But you, perhaps, are expecting Satan's attacks on obvious places and sensitive places and we ask that the Lord cover those places with the blood of the lamb. But many of us don't realize that Satan is after your joy. It has your joy in its target. He wants to attack, diminish and if he can do it, evaporate your joy, that serving the Lord is an affliction. And look at what, no matter how much this is the formula, no matter how much you serve the Lord, no matter how busy you are in the vineyard of the Lord, the more you are in danger that the enemy will attack the joy of the Lord.

Samuel, what are you trying to say? Brethren, there is a joy in serving the Lord. Being idle is boring, there's a lot to do here, thank goodness for all the ads. This church is September, this church is about to kick off. Discipleship classes, classes of..., cells are still in force,... He's doing classes on…., it's worth waiting, the wind is going well, alpha has his walk. Glory to God, there is life in the house of the Lord.

Glory to God. Amen. Glory to God. There is life in the house of the Lord. And many of you would say, I know, because I am one of those who is running, doing a thousand things here in the house of the Lord. And that is the danger. Many times we arrive, not all of us, but Satan would love for you to become those things and do it forgetting the joy of the Lord. And that this work becomes pure eagerness. In other words, you get lost in the details. And still the work in the Lord, still preparing his discipleship class, still preparing his class for Bible school, still preparing the class of…. this week, it becomes kind of a monotony, because he's done it so many times. Maybe you have done it for so many years, and when you do it without the joy of the Lord, you lose sight of the reason behind it, you lose sight of the glory of the Lord, you lose sight of how what you do, how the work of his hands glorify the Lord.

And that is a danger. That is the beginning of something very negative and you know, that is not God's model for their lives. The Lord wants you to live this life and that everything you do, no matter how small, even in the most detail... you would say anonymously that you do, that even in that, you experience the joy of the Lord.

What does the Lord want with your life? I believe that there is a model that we can follow in Nehemiah Chapter 8. That for me this is one of the most precious scenes in the people of God. It is a scene that we have seen here, today we saw it, today we saw something like this happen in the house of the Lord. I ask the Lord that this church is always experiencing scenes of revival like the one we are going to read about right now. But also that we see the place of the joy of the Lord in these manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Nehemiah, Chapter 8, let's say beginning with verse 9.

"... And Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra the priest, a scribe, and the Levites who made the people understand said to all the people, Holy day is to the Lord our God..."

What's going on here. By the way, in the first verse of Chapter 8, I commend you this Chapter, something extraordinary is happening here. A revival. A revival throughout this community. It seems something fleeting, but something very significant. Instead of priests and scribes and professional religious telling the people, telling the community, look, this is what God expects of you, look, behave well, look, this is what the word says. Something happened in the heart of the community, beautiful.

Ask the Lord, the Lord who did this once, can do it again in the City of Boston. You can do it again in New England, you can do it again wherever you are. When the people, the people approach the scribes and the priests and they say to the professionals and religious, you know what? Take out the book of the law, read it, tell us, please, God's desire, tell us the truth, preach the word of the Lord to us. These people made a special platform, only... you cannot see that happening to León de Judá, I see brother Roberto Naranjo making a platform 20 feet high for the servant of God to stand there and preach the word of the Lord from the lightning at dawn, at the end of the day, and all the people standing there receiving the word of the Lord, and if that were not enough spread throughout this Congregation, sprinkled throughout this town, there were Levites, there were scribes, there were teachers, people making the man understand town what he was reading. It was as if they were human concordances.

By the way, discipleship teachers, that's what you are. By the way, teacher of…, that's what you are. By the way, cell teacher, that's your role. You are doing this word in life so that people can understand it. and the Holy Spirit opened their spirits, opened the spirit of this people, opened the minds of this people and began to pour out truth into their hearts and the word penetrated. Maybe they are good Jews, they grew up hearing the word of God but for the first time, maybe in their lives, they saw themselves in the light, they saw their lives in the light of the word of God. And for the first time in their lives the deep need they had for this God dawned on them, not a distant God, but a God who knows them, who loved them, who had a relationship with them, who has commandments, yes, but commandments They are there for us to bring them closer to him, so that he could be our Father, we his children and heirs of promises. They woke up.

And brothers, the reaction they had when receiving this word, we are them. After 2000, 3000 years we see the same thing. We are these people. We are these people. At the moment that this happens, that for the first time a drop of the word of God falls like living honey in that arid heart, something happened. It's something magical at that moment. There are tears.

You have not seen it here? Haven't you seen him in León de Judá? Haven't we seen it yet this afternoon? At the moment that the spirit of God connects with our spirit and makes the word live, it is an ancient reaction, it inspires tears. Tears, perhaps, from feeling condemned for knowing the distance we have. Tears, first time realizing the emptiness we have for this God. Tears of maybe, of hope, knowing maybe my life is not chaos, it can change. Thank God, tears of joy knowing that there is a living God, tears.

Brothers, I don't know about you but I bless in the name of Jesus the tears that are shed on this altar for the Lord. I bless those who wash Jesus' feet, even with their tears. It is one of the best things, it is one of the purest, clearest, most eloquent praises that occurs in this place. It is one of the most beautiful things that happens here. When a soul is broken by the spirit of God. Man, woman, children, young people, shedding tears before the presence of the Lord. It's beautiful. But all I'm telling you is this, don't stop there. Don't stay there. Don't stay with the tears. Tears is an introduction to something else. Revival is tears, but revival is also the joy of the Lord.

And the Lord wants you, the one who does shed tears the Lord that you also experience the joy of the Lord. And Nehemiah, the servant of God, seen something taking place here. It was a precious moment, but the Lord gave discernment to the servant of God. Praise the Lord. For that we have shepherds guiding the prophets and coordinating the movement of the spirit. The spirit of God working through his prophets and his shepherds. And the Lord revealed to him, come up Nehemiah, and speak, speak through me. And Nehemiah in verse 9 the governor Ezra, they say to him:

"... Holy Day is Jehovah our God, do not be saddened or cry because all the people cried hearing the words of the law. Then he told them, go, what does he say, eat fat, drink sweet wine, if that is strong for me, drink Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola, but drink something. Send portions to those who have nothing prepared, because it is a holy day to our Lord. Do not grieve on the contrary, for the joy of the Lord is your strength..."

Glory to God. Kill the big calf, invite your neighbors, barbecue men everywhere, yes, how good is a living God. Why not? You know what? Satan is an expert at taking God's most beautiful and God's most sacred things and giving it a good dirty scratch and damaging it into something evil, and something malevolent. He's an expert on those things. That's what he was born for.

He would love to take your joy and hide it behind tears. He is attacking. He has a purpose to attack your joy. And the joy of the Lord is not just anything, it's your strength and if anyone knows it, it's him. Why is he so determined to attack her joy? At least for two reasons. First, without the joy of the Lord we become immobilized and ineffective Christians. It's true.

Brethren, perhaps you are concerned that Satan, and that is a good thing, is holding you or misleading you, or distracting you. Amen. They watch over it. But you know what? He would be happy, happy merely to take away your joy, with that he does his job. That would be effective enough. Because without your joy, without the joy of the Lord, everything you do will taste like dust. You will not see the divine purpose in what you are doing. To the contrary, it would be a desire. Without the joy of the Lord you are more ineffective.

You know you have gifts, right? That each person here has a gift from the Lord. The Lord did something in your life, he chose you, he made you when you were born, it was with a special code that the Lord made in you, so that those gifts can be put into operation. But those gifts require the breath of the Lord's spirit to be revived and that work has to be lubricated in the joy of the Lord. For the more you are without joy, the more ineffective you are.

Everything annoys you, you find yourself having one encounter after another, because they all annoy you too. Nothing goes right. And then you see this pattern. The less joy you have, the more ineffective you are. The more ineffective you are, the less joy you have. The less joy you have, the more ineffective you are. And you know what? Mission accomplished. There is one less Christian for Satan to worry about. There is one more whose hands he has tied, and all he did was take away your joy. That's it. Make your life a pure affliction.

And that brings us to the second reason why we have to seek, ask the Lord for the joy of our salvation, jealously protect it, because you know what? Without the joy of the Lord Satan would fill the world with sour and reluctant Christians, he would fill the world with sour and reluctant Christians. And you know what? He would love that. Because? Because who wants to get into something like that, right? by the way, and you don't even have to raise your hand, please, but how many are here as refugees from churches like this, you know, amen, how are you? Go away and sin no more. How many of you have come from churches like this? It totally turns out sour and why is it that the people, perhaps, don't attend, why, brothers, why, brothers, don't they receive the word? Why don't they pay more attention to you? Brothers, because it seems that you are not enjoying yourself. You're not having a very good time. Why get into that? So that they look like you after so many years? Not like you, I'm sure someone on the internet is getting this word.

But who gets into that? And Satan would love to fill the world with Christians like that. Fill the world, populate the world with churches like this. Far from the joy of the Lord. Let us protect the joy of the Lord, zealously protect the joy of the Lord. Do everything you can.

And brothers, I am the president of the club of those who have had to learn to protect the joy of the Lord. But the Lord in his mercy has given me certain tactics and humbly, my brothers, if you allow me, I share with you at least three tactics, three topics on which I invite you to meditate, which you bless. I know that you have been a blessing to me and that it would tremendously increase the cup of joy from the Lord in your life. Maybe not perfectly, there is a work that the Holy Spirit has to do in many of our lives. There are things that the Lord has to heal and bind and he is powerful to do it. But if you remember these three things, brothers, maybe there will be a 75%, 80% improvement in you receiving and walking in the joy of the Lord.

The first tip is this. Number 1, the first tip is this. Never forget this. Christ loves you. Or me? Christ loves you. I know, that's maybe your 4th year old, your 3, 5 year old, the one in the…. He drew it, you have it in the fridge, you see it every morning when you open the fridge to get milk, and the idea still hasn't dawned on you that Christ, Christ, Christ, that Christ, the alpha, the omega, the one who is seated at the right hand of the Father, the one who has all authority on heaven and earth and under the earth, before his authority the demons flee, the almighty, the shaday, the one who rose from the dead and who will come to judge the dead and the living, that Christ loves you.

Or me? She loves You. He drools when he thinks of you. He's crazy about you. He remembers your birthday because a thousand years before you were born, he already had an idea of you. He programmed gifts within you. He sees you walking, he sees you waking up, he sees you in the shower, he sees you everywhere and he says, wow, behold my beloved son. Maybe he's more closed than an egg, he doesn't know how much I love him. But boy, what a beauty of creation that boy is. What a beautiful work I have done in that young woman. What potential is there in that, wow, that is beautiful. I love… look, I would give, says the Lord, what's more he did it, it's more that I'm going, he dressed in flesh, came to earth, walked among us and gave his life because he loves you. And if that doesn't give you joy, the idea hasn't dawned on you yet. He loves you. He loves you.

There's a reason the word says, let's take a look at it, let's take a look at it. Look at the author and finisher of our faith, the one who brought you into this matter, the one who holds your hand, the one you embrace, the one you sweat for, the one you adore, and ultimately whom you are glorifying. In everything you do is for him. It's about Him.

The moment you lose sight of its beauty and its authority, then everything is eagerness. Because you lose sight of the most precious thing in the universe, the most powerful energy in the universe, loving you. And not satisfied with loving you, but loving you closely, wanting communion with you, wanting intimacy with you. How humiliating, the God of heaven, the king of kings, knocking on the door of our hearts, to see if someone would hear his voice and open the door because if you open the door, he will enter you and dine with you, and you with he.

But as much as he cares, there is a divine priority to be intimate with you. Brothers, that is why we want to drive sin away from our lives, that is why we want to live in holiness, that is why we serve and serve with joy and if there is more we can do, we do it. If we are in love with this Jesus, life is a delight.

Look, Satan would love to cover up the clouds and hide your heart from the face of God. Because behind that, the joy of the Lord follows. But the joy of the Lord is not the product of a theology, my brother, the joy of the Lord is not as Paul said, it is not a matter of drink or food, it is not a matter of theology, it is a matter of him. A powerful, divine, sensitive, personal presence that invites people to love him, to know him, to lose themselves in a sea of eternal knowledge called Jesus.

Christ loves you. He loves you. Remember that especially when you go through your trials. And this brings me to the second tip. The second piece of advice, my brother, don't let his trials and difficult days surprise you. My brother, they will come, the rain will come, it's like living in New England, sunny today, three hours, tremendous downpour. You never know what to expect and you know what? Such is his life. A divine drama. And you are the protagonist.

How many of you have not seen a good movie but the more… the more you love the movie. They see it two or three times. It is recommended to people. Look, that's going to make you cry boy, but it's recommended. Now, you are an artist in such a movie. Those moments will come. Let them come, brother, don't resist it, they're coming. They will come. There's a reason why they come, you know?

Brethren, that is attached to what we just said. Christ loves you. do you think so? One, there are aspects of his character, there are aspects of his power, there are aspects of his beauty that you will not see, there are corners of God's throne reserved for people who are going through trials. There are aspects of his glory that unless you go through a good test, you will never know the level, you can speak, brothers, of God's ability to get someone out of trouble, you can hear, you can hear testimonies of the God's provision, God's healing, God's faithfulness but unless you're not in the bind, and unless you don't know what that is, white hot, in person, you'll only hear about it. , like Job, a just man loving the Lord from the first Chapter of Job, until he did not go through a living hell and that with the hand of God covering him, covering him, communicating with his spirit, until he did not experience that, and in the middle of that declare, you know what? I know, I know, the word tells me, the promise is that my redeemer lives, my redeemer lives and my eyes will see it.

By the way, that's how the book ends. Wow! I thought I knew this God, now my eyes see him, now I know what he is. I spoke what I did not understand, I spoke pure theology, I spoke ideas, I know, I have seen, I have seen, I have seen a redeeming God, it is not that I heard of a redeeming God, he is my faithful friend. And he has got me out of this predicament.

Do you know what that is called? Hope. It's hope. Hope. And brothers, a millimeter from hope, next door, they are twins, there is the joy of the Lord. You wake up at two in the morning, wow, this test is coming, you remember, God is on his throne. Oh, it's right. Thank you Jesus. Hope. Hope. Knowing, the certainty that my God is going to get me out of this because he is powerful to do it and he is good and loves me.

And brothers, when he does it, and he is going to do it, it is more, not when, before he does it, even in the potential that he does it, I recommend this third and final piece of advice. Very simply, celebrate. Celebrates. Celebrate before your God. Do you know that the celebration, praise the lord, so I don't forget either, do you know that the celebration belongs to the Lord, celebrating the Lord is a spiritual discipline?

And I, by the way, celebrate some young adults who have been studying Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline. And it is a small book, but powerful and this has been distributed for years, because of how simple it is. It is merely celebrating and emphasizing the spiritual disciplines that the successful church has done, has lived through in all the years of the church. Things like prayer, the discipline of prayer, the discipline of meditation, the discipline of praise, the discipline of submitting to authority, the discipline of giving generously. All these are spiritual disciplines that mark a successful life in the Lord.

And interestingly, the last discipline that he deals with, number 10 is the discipline of celebration itself. He celebrates, it's like a pun, he celebrates discipline and the last discipline is celebration. You know, telling me that it is a discipline means if I am not doing it, there is a great aspect of the Lord's life that I am not living. If I don't have a practice of celebrating before the Lord, there is something in the life of the Lord that is becoming impoverished in me. And brothers, in this I have a testimony for you, I did not share this testimony at 9, although I had it in the draft and the Lord rebuked me, Samuel, go and practice what you preach, go and practice what you preach, celebrate me. Thank you, Lord. The mercy of your servant.

A little testimonial about Hurk. Something, a way in which the Lord taught me this, but this is not any, for my life, it was not any testimony. This really marked me. Last year, something like the spring of 2009, Hurk, what a surprise, was going through a financial crisis. Brothers, that's the Hurk life. That is your story. I have seen it many times and I have also seen how the Lord has rescued us from trouble. Look, this has been my gym in faith, that place.

But this time, oh brother, we had all the data and all the data told me one thing, Samuel, for July 31, 2009 here they are going to unplug half the world and boom and everyone goes home because there is not a kilo left further. But, look, the Lord had already trained me and I began to pray. How many here have a testimony of the Lord, you pray in times like this and see God's provision? Good. Good. Ok, you understand what I'm saying. And that was, look, but I prayed, this is Josaphat lying on the floor. Do something but hurry up, Lord. And the Lord what a surprise, the Lord answered and answered big and in two weeks, in two weeks unexpectedly came at least 6 months of provision for this ministry.

Glory to God. That was what the Lord wanted to hear. Take it Lord. But I did it like you did. Do you know what I did? Wow, that supply came and I said, thank you, Lord. Amen. And soon I heard the voice of the Lord telling me, thank you, Lord? That's it! That's all? You know the rush how you lost your tears, as you asked me and look what I did, I threw myself away blessing you and all you give me is Thank you, Lord? Where is my glory? Where is? Boy, celebrate.

At that time, we were painfully there were 2 or 3 cats there with people eating cold, and Hurck at that time Danielle, I see her here, just arrived, thank God she didn't even know the trouble she was getting into. And look, guys, we're going to have lunch, let's go and I don't know how to kill the big calf, but I'm going to go where they do it. And we are going to order a good steak and we are going to celebrate the Lord and his provision. Glory to God.

You know what? It has been more than a year since that and the Lord within the two services, the Lord came to my mind, this is why you have to share it, because we have never experienced anything like this. Something has happened, an explosion of provision from the Lord. The pattern doubled, God's blessing on that ministry is multiplying and I have to see that perhaps something about that celebration unleashed something in the heart of God, because these people from Hurck can tell you, I live telling that testimony and saying, look, the God who did that, what can't he do? And my brothers, I am now living in a similar moment, and I know that the Lord will provide for the other ministries that we have before the Lord, it is worth waiting…. and all those ministries, why? Because we have a God who provides, a powerful God.

And even before we see his hand, even before we see the clouds part, even before he appears with his angels on horseback, let us celebrate the name of Jesus. Celebrate it now, celebrate it in anticipation because if you are here in your common trial, no matter what you are going through, and I ask that the musicians accompany me at this moment, if you are here, God has done something for you. If you are sitting here and brothers, I know that many of you are going through horrible things, this altar is full, but the mere fact that you are here is evidence that God is working in your life. There's something to celebrate before the Lord.

What's more, brothers, let's stand up. Brethren, raise your hand where it's at, you know, that's right. Glory to God for the time of petition, the time to bring burdens to the Lord, the time to cry before his presence, the time to come before him and say, Lord, I need, Lord, intercede, Lord, hurry up, Lord, remember me. But now, change the tune of your heart a little bit. Change the channel, and look for the gratitude and celebration channel.

And I take a moment, I take two minutes, and out loud, before the Lord, this is yours with him. He wants to hear, brother, something happens and you have to believe it, until you live it you will not see it, but something happens when your heart connects with this reality, when you begin to celebrate the Lord out loud. Lord, there was that night in 2006 when I saw myself more dead than alive and you were there for me.

Lord, there was that morning when the pantry was empty, Lord, and there was no solution and I was fired from work, and I had 3 months of debt, Father, how did we eat? How was it, Lord, that we found for rent? It was your hand. Thank my Lord. Father, there was that horrible moment, I felt that tumor and nobody gave me hope and the doctors looked at me with pity, but something told me that you were going to support me, that you were going to answer me, and here I am, alive, healthy, in my common judgment, celebrating you. Thank you Jesus.

Father, I thought that I was going to lose my son, I thought that he was going to disconnect from you, and from your work, Father, I thought that he was a hopeless case. But, Lord, thank you that I see it here, thank you that I see it among the young, thank you that I see it in...., that was you. Father, thank you Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, because you have been good, good, good, good, good, good.

My God is good. My God is good. My God is good. My God is good. My God is good. And we celebrate you, you deserve it. Hallelujah!

He has been good to me, his mercy is upon me, with all my heart and soul I will adore him. He has been good to me, his mercy is upon me.

Sing this until they believe it.

With all my soul. Hallelujah! With me he has been good. His mercy is upon me, with all my love and heart I will adore him. He is good, yes.

Well he has been, his mercy is upon me, with all my heart and soul I will adore him. His mercy has been good. He has been good to me, his mercy is upon me, with all my heart and soul I will adore him. I will adore.

Hallelujah! Lord Jesus. Lord, receive this as a bouquet of praise presented to you. Receive it, Father, like a bouquet, Master, of precious praise that is given to you, a prize, Lord, we throw our crowns before your feet. We throw, Father, our days and our nights, Lord, before your feet. And we declare pouring anointing oil at your feet. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. You are good. And brothers, if this prayer fits, tell him, Lord, give me back the joy of salvation. Give me back the joy of salvation. Lord, I will rejoice before you. I rebuke and bind in the name of Jesus every strategy to try to steal your joy, to try to diminish the powerful work of God in you, to try to hide the sun of Jehovah under a cloud of doubt, under a cloud of bitter experiences that you lose your distance from the Lord. And I declare in the name of Jesus this church and this people will recover their strength before the Lord, they will recover their strength before the Lord.

The joy of the Lord, Lord, we will serve you with joy. We will serve you with joy. Lord, we will praise you with joy. Lord, we will praise you with joy. Lord, we will walk in your presence with joy. Lord, until we see ourselves in glory we will live in joy before the Lord. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. Blessed be the name of Jesus. Brothers, why don't you give it, don't give it, give the Lord a round of applause and you will know why, and you will know why. That's from him. That victory is yours and he, you will know why but he deserves it. You will know why, you will know why, but he deserves it. He deserves it. He deserves it. You know why you do it. You know why you're celebrating, but it's celebration. This is the celebration. This is joy, this is joy unspeakable.