With everything I will rejoice in the God of my salvation

We have to be confident in the Lord. I want to leave you with a reflection on the word of the Lord, the book of Esther, chapter 9, verses 21 onwards. It is a word that the Lord allowed me to express in my congregation in the city of Waltham about the fact that the Lord is always expecting from us an action of joy and rejoicing.

Human beings have the habit of being happy when it suits them and when it is not convenient they are not happy. We also have an image of a totally rigid God, something strange, more evangelical than Christian. We have the impression of a God who often does not like joy, when the word of the Lord is full of reflections and thoughts of joy. It must be because there is joy in heaven, it must be because there is a party in heaven.

Somebody out there in my church says, God is a party-goer and since his personality is to be a party-goer, − I don't know if some theologian is going to be angry with me, but I already said it − he transferred these desires to party to his creation. Who likes to party? Thank you. Honesty the Lord values it. There are other things that the Lord does not value. Tell me you're not happy with a party. When you have a birthday, do you not rejoice or do you not celebrate your birthday? It doesn't celebrate some anniversary or it doesn't celebrate some achievement. The holidays are necessary and they are also biblical, there are at least 7 national holidays in the Old Testament, so at least think about it that way, they are biblical.

And it caught my attention because we are in the process of celebrating in our church in Waltham our 10 years that we are working in that area and there are always people who say, oh, it will be good, it will not be good to celebrate? And the Lord gave me this reflection and I want to share it with you because it has a teaching especially here in the Book of Esther, chapter 9, verse 20 onwards. He says thus in the name of the Lord:

“…And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, commanding them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth of the same every year – not just once , every year – like days in which the Jews had peace from their enemies and like the month that was changed from sadness to joy…”

How many did the Lord change their sadness into joy? Isn't it a reason for a party? At least celebrate once a year.

"... And mourning on a good day, that they make them days of banquet..."

They have always said that the Lord was like half Hispanic, God is half Hispanic. Banquet, imagine, what is not missing in a Hispanic party? Meal.

"... days of feasting and joy, and to send portions to each of their neighbors and gifts to the poor and the Jews agreed to do what Mordecai had begun, because Haman son of Hamdata, Agag, enemy of all Jews had devised against the Jews a plan to destroy them and had cast pur, which means luck, to consume them and destroy them..."

You can read up to verse 32 if you want at home. I just want to leave this reflection in your heart. It is necessary that the church celebrate a living God, that we celebrate parties because our God is a living God, he is a God who has changed our environment. The word of the Lord says, in the psalm it says, that he has changed our lament into dancing. Does anyone know what dance is? No, I am a Christian. Christians don't dance, that's a sin. The Lord changed our lament into dancing, and where is it danced? Where did you dance before? And now where do you dance?

God is a God of joys. God is a God who established festivals, celebrations, banquets, and the spirit of joy as a method of gratitude and rejoicing. So a church that promotes joy and festivities is a church that is promoting part of the personality of God.

I was talking about this because there are many verses in the Bible that we can decipher or try to bring to mind. But having a party is having a celebration, to commemorate something, it is to praise something, it is to recognize, it is to revere something.

When we got to the ways of the Lord, before we were probably the nicest of the group, everyone laughed with us. We were the most entertaining, but we reached the paths of the Lord and something went out on us, not even the flame of the spirit shines. When the word is supposed to say that we were in a condition before, when we came to Christ, we really just began to have life there. So God created us with a personality, some he created with more desire to be able to do things and be able to party and be able to celebrate anything.

They say there are Latin American cultures that celebrate everything, everything. Venezuelans say they celebrate everything. Dominicans celebrate everything. Are there any Dominicans here? The Lord loves you too. And this party expression that appears in the Bible caught my attention. Because the Lord wants us to rejoice.

The word of the Lord says that when someone repents there is a party in heaven. A Puerto Rican girl from my church says, God was a Parisero, a kind of English and Spanish, something like that, Parisero, because it's good for parties. God was happy for each one of you who opened your heart to the Lord and the Lord made a party. So it was more than one party per day in some cases.

If there are 365 people here, the Lord made one party per day. And I want to call your attention so that we learn to be happy and celebrate the works of the Lord in our lives. Sometimes we lack the strength to give glory to God, a Hallelujah! in the most difficult moments.

When you continue reading this paragraph you will realize that even those who are in captivity say the word here, when you read the paragraph later on, celebrate too. If you are going through a difficult moment, say thank you Lord, I am going to celebrate, because this difficult moment allows me to recognize that you are my God and apart from you I can do nothing.

Even if enemies rise up, even if that enemy who wants to destroy your life rises up, celebrate the goodness of the Lord. Celebrate the peace that the Lord brought into your life, celebrate the joy that the Lord brought into your life. Celebrate the salvation the Lord brought into your life. Celebrate the mercies, forgiveness, and remission of sin the Lord brought into your life. Celebrated. Because we were created to celebrate the Lord.

The church must celebrate festivals. We must celebrate each event that the Lord brings to us. Look what Psalm says, chapter 30, verse 4 says:

"...Sing to Jehovah, you his saints and celebrate the memories of his holiness..."

celebrate Psalm, chapter 89, verse 5:

"... The heavens will celebrate your wonders, O Lord, and your truth also in the congregation of the saints...."

Psalm 145, verse 4, “…Generation to generation will celebrate your works…”

You know, even the Lord Jesus Christ participated in parties, meetings, celebrations. The one we know best is the wedding at Cana. You know what catches my attention? Not that the Lord has turned the water into wine and then they grab everything because if the Lord drank wine, we drank too. You know what caught my attention? That although the Lord was in the midst of people who were not yet his followers, he was one more guest. Just like us many times they can invite us to a party. No, we are not going because we are Apostolic and Roman Christians. No, the Lord does not allow us and since we are less evangelical, if the Lord comes that day we will stay.

That's what they told us. If the Lord catches you at that party, you're sure to stay and to hell you're going. But do you know what caught my attention about these participations of Jesus with people? That he took advantage of those occasions to show his power, to show that he was the Lord. And do you know what we should take advantage of? Show the power of the Lord, every time we are invited somewhere, every time we can share with someone.

I'm not telling you to go to every possible party in Massachusetts. I'm saying that when you have to share, end up glorifying the Lord and not dancing on top of the tables. God wants you to show the grace that he put in you so that many can understand that our God is a God of joy, rejoicing, celebrations, banquets and that it is not necessary to do so much evil to have a great time, because with the Lord we had a good time.

We celebrate, the Hispanic community celebrates everything. We invent days, February 30, nobody knows about it, only Hispanics. And that day must be celebrated for something. On March 32, we always celebrate independence. The month of September is characterized by the fact that many Latin American countries celebrate their independence and each one makes and puts... oh, I made these empanadas, these little things...

We celebrated. How did you know that I made empanadas? We celebrated. You know what makes me understand that the Lord's church should be the first to be able to rejoice, not over bad things, but over good things. Today the parties if they are not with bad things, they are not parties. The church is here as a prophetic element to say that evil does not belong to the world or to God. God does wonderful things for us to celebrate.

When you are with your family, and your family is unconverted, hey, let it be nice that they receive you. Here comes the Christian, this one is nice. Many are kicked out, not invited. They settle for just a photo on the table, this is our cousin who couldn't come because we don't want him, he's a Christian, he's bitter. He doesn't laugh at anything.

The personality of the Lord is one of constant, permanent joy, because he does not rest from doing wonderful things for us, even in difficult moments, even in moments of greatest sadness, we must declare the joy of the Lord.

You know, because that's where we recognize that our way out is the Lord. He is our dependency. Look what the book of Habakkuk says, it is also in the Old Testament for those who don't know. Verse 17, this prophetic expression of Habakkuk is an expression of joy even in different circumstances. And I want us to learn to celebrate the Lord even in those difficult moments, where it seems that nothing is smiling around us, where it seems that nothing is prosperous around us, where it seems that nothing is going well for us, where we go from one to another and we don't understand. Our human mind does not understand, but our spirit must understand something, that even in the most difficult moments God has control of all things and we can celebrate.

Look at what Habakkuk says in this part, chapter 3, verse 17, I think you know it by heart. “…Even though the fig tree does not flourish nor is there fruit on the vines, even though the olive produce is lacking and the fields do not provide maintenance, and the sheep are removed from the fold, and there are no cows in the corrals, yet I will rejoice in Jehovah and I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord the Lord is my strength, who makes my feet like servants and makes me walk on my heights..."

Hallelujah! Why not give glory to God? There are many modern Christians who only praise the Lord when things are going well for them. It is the modern Christian, but the true disciple knows who his Master is, he knows who his Lord is, he knows who his God is, he knows who his King is, and we will always be able to praise him, even in the most difficult times.

Celebrate the Lord. Celebrate the Lord. Celebrate before the Lord because he has been your peace, he has been your joy, he has been your banner, he has been your salvation, the one who gave you life, the one who gave you forgiveness. He is my Lord. Hallelujah!