Rev. Jimmy F. Locklear opened up todays service with a, “Welcome and how God has blessed us and given us the ability to come and freely worship here today. We are not in a nursing home, how He has blessed us giving us the strength to come to The House of God to Worship. I hope you are glad to be here, I am glad to be here.”
Special Music: “Jesus Saves” – Adult Chorus Members: Sandra Oxendine, Joyce Oxendine, Carole Locklear, Patricia Carter, Burnette Driggers, Tina Locklear, Barbara Scott, Glenda Chavis, Anna Locklear, Diane Belcher, Freddie Oxendine, Crawley Locklear, Grayland Oxendine, Martin Locklear, Joe Locklear, Ronald Locklear, and Mrs. Connie Bullard, Pianist.
Message: “The Joy of the Lord”
Nehemiah 8:9-11 “And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha,
and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the
people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the
LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people
wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto
them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions
unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our
Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the
day is holy; neither be ye grieved.”
Rev Jim’s Pray Message, Dear Heavenly Father we humble come before you giving honor, praise, and glory for your Holy Son Name through and by Him we might have life and have it more abundantly. We thank you for the word of God that we might be inspired to walk humble before you. . . . Bless Lord that we may continually wait on thee, and Lord bless that lost soul that they will realize that they may cry out what must I do to be saved. Bless us Lord in lovely name of Jesus, Amen.
“Nehemiah was governor and his people had been put into captivity in the Jewish’s Nation. Nehemiah had got the authority to come back, and he discovered what was going on in Jerusalem. He found the wall of city had been torn down, city was divested, people were scattered and there was no order in city. Nehemiah returned with the desire, materials and guidance lead by God that they might rebuild the wall. It talks about “The Joy of the Lord” and what had gone on, they have not hear, enjoyed, able worship God. What would happen if all Bibles were taken away, and John 3:16 and Psalms 23 was taken away from us. We could only have what was told to us many years ago and we had nothing in this present day. We must understand that these people had been deprived from the Word of God. Ezra read the Word of God being the spiritual leader. The people’s heart was press down because they had been denied to Word.
“If we are deprived of God’s Word, we are deprived of the greatest gift every given to mankind”. The Word is the most precious gift, so I would like to use the thought, “The Joy of the Lord”, we sing about it and our children perform about it. Then I thought about us? What happen when you come to the house of the Lord did you think about what will happen when you get here. “I hope that you got up this morning with great anticipation while getting yourself prepared to meet God, and that you will not come and be deprived of God and each of you have a burning desire to get to church You cannot get enough of God!
What is The Joy of Lord? The Joy of Lord is the natural results of Christian life, Amen. When a person get saved that the first thing that will happen, The Joy of Lord will come in and take hold of our lives then we begin to grow and nurture. The Joy of Lord is anatural result of a Christian’s Life. If you are a person who do not appreciate The of Joy of the Lord you are in the wrong place. Joy is just a natural thing. The Church is a natural place for Joy.
The Gospel provision for Joy: 1) Gospel provides joy by what it brings. What Does Joy of God bring to you? In House of God are you uplifted looking for something that get out of darkness that you are overcome with in the world. You don’t need anything that takes away your joy. 2) The Gospel provides joy by what it takes away! What does joy take away? The Bible say, “Its take away the sins of man, argument, despair, brokenness of our lives despair. It makes us well presented before God when go out into the world. Students when you walk into school you are able to overcome the troubles of this world, people will see a change person, a different person. “God radiate itself in you and, “The of the Joy of Lord overcome you. 3) Sorrow is a Foundation which rest joy of the Lord, Why? Sorrow has to be the foundation of where your joy will begin. “I would have never known where joy came from if not for sorrow. At one time there was brokenness in my life but God came in and He changed me somewhere on Hwy 95/301. God came into my life and it’s was because of God, and the sorry I felt that I needed a change. My life was overshadowed I gave my heart to God. The Joy began to overshadow the sorry, I was saved”. You never know nothing about joy until you know sorry first because sorry is the foundation in which our Joy comes. 4) Being a saved person you see things that other people cannot see, you see God as you interact with others in the workplace, on streets, or at water fountain. That Spirit shines through in every aspect of your lives. There are things in becoming a Christian that others will not see unless they know, The Joy of the Lord. Joy and sorry are not contradict, but they reveal themselves to each other.
Joy of Lord is a matter of Christian duty: Read Nehemiah 8:10 and Phillippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice”. Rejoice is a commandment of the Lord and how he paid the price for our sins. We are to stand up and let the world know where we stand.
Hinder to this Christian Duty: Some people treat our Joy as we do our oversized cloths; we put them in the back closet. When there is temperament, faint-hearted, skeptical, and anything that will get above worship becomes hard to stir any emotions. Don’t allow sinners to find a comfortable place in God’s House – the unsaved should not feel secure in God’s House. Christians need to take the positions that are appointed by God, live up the Joy of the Lord!
Finally, The Joy of the Lord is our source of strength; because man’s force comes from his mind not his body. Joy lightens your workload. Start this week before you start the day start with “The Joy of the Lord”, Joy repel temptation in this life and you have a defense again the Devil and evils to of this world. When a person loses his courage to stand up against Satan he has lose everything. “Joy is strength in all we do, and only God giveth Joy. You are weak unless you are glad, you are not glad and strong unless your faith and hope are fixed in Christ”.
An invitation of commitment was given with the closing song, “At the Cross”.
Genette Oxendine
September 8, 2015
