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Adventist Medical Evangelism Network (AMEN)

Ivor Myers

Sabbath - A Day of Mercy

How many of you have been blessed this Sabbath day?

I want to talk to you today about true worship.

By the way, how many of you enjoyed that testimony on the screen just now?

And I think that God wants the world to know who his people are.

I know that as I was here today and just looking at the expression on people's faces as they were being served, I saw joy in so many different ways.

I saw joy on the faces of people serving.

And I think that today was truly a special day.

I believe the Lord wants us to be joyful.

So Let's just have a word of prayer and we're gonna get into the message for this evening.

Heavenly Father, please bless this message.

How many of you would like to have joy in your life at all times no matter what the circumstance?

Yeah, that sounds pretty difficult, right?

I'm not going to share with you the whole story.

I'm just going to share with you a piece of the story And then I will conclude the story at the very end of the message.

Okay Talking about joy It was Saturday morning.

I Just concluded the worship service And I had gotten in my car and not to go home.

I was going someplace else, but I wasn't quite sure where I was going so I know you're now going like well why would you be driving if you didn't know where you were going I didn't know where I was going and I was talking to the Lord as I did not know where I was going because I was asking the Lord show me where to go and As I was talking to the Lord I came up to a stop sign and as I came up to the stop sign and stop the car and I'm talking to the Lord, suddenly, out of nowhere, I get hit from behind.

And as my head was going forward, in my mind I said, thank you, Jesus.

And now you're looking at me like I'm crazy I understand pause the story And we'll pick up with that towards the end of this message.

There is a verse in the Bible and it tells us that the joy of the Lord is your what?

So if we want to be strong in the Lord, what do we have to have?

It's found in the book of Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 10.

So let me read it to you Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 10 the Bible says then he said unto them go your way eat the fat and drink the sweets and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto the Lord.

Neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

I believe that the greatest way to have joy is by knowing the character of Jesus.

When you know the character of Jesus, you not only receive joy, but you can also give joy.

Listen, I want to share with you the context of Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10.

So bear with me as I read from verse 8 The context is that the children of Israel have just come out of Babylonian captivity and their old ways are being restored They find the book of the law and Nehemiah is now reading the book of the law to them in their hearing and when they hear the words they are overwhelmed because of their own wickedness, their own sinfulness.

In verse 8 it says, So they read in the book, in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense of it to understand the reading and Nehemiah which is the church of God and Ezra the priest the scribe and the Levites that talk of people set out all the people listen carefully 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.

So Nehemiah is saying, hey guys listen, this day is a what kind of a day?

Holy, therefore do not mourn, do not weep.

Then he said unto them, go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet.

In other words, he was saying eat the good.

And send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.

In other words, and for those who have nothing, send unto them so that they can be joyful too.

Reading on, it says, for this day is holy unto the Lord neither be sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength so the Levites still all the people saying hold your peace for the day is holy neither be ye grieved and all the people went there with the eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth because they had understood the words that were declared unto them This idea of celebrating and sharing your blessings with others because of the holiness of the Lord goes back to the book of Deuteronomy.

And it says here, And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant.

Does this verse sound familiar to anyone?

It says that the Levite that is within thy gates and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow that are among you in the place which the Lord thy God has chosen to place his name there and thou shalt remember that thou was a bondman and agent and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

So the Lord commanded that his people should rejoice because of these holy days.

I want to read to you another example very quickly.

The Bible says, But the Jews that were at Shishan assembled together on the 13th day thereof, and on the 14th day thereof, and on the 15th of the same, they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwelt in the upper old towns made the 14th day of the month Hedar a day of gladness and feasting and a good day and of sending portions 1 to another.

It says, As the days were in the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, And from morning into a good day that they should make them days of feasting and joy and send portions 1 to another and gifts to the poor.

Part of God's Description of the people of God being joyful was to share that joy with others Yeah, that was how they were to be joyful by themselves.

They were to spread the joy Now why do I share this because there is a there is a Commandments found within the 10 Commandments that has, as it were, this built-in mechanism of joy and it is, guess what commandment?

Let me read it to you it's found in Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 14 and 15 I'm reading that version for a particular reason.

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Sabbath - A Day of Mercy

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