*How can we find true and lasting happiness?*
How can we find that place of *real joy? *
🔎Let’s discover how God’s people in Nehemiah’s day found real joy.

🎉That’s the Jewish New Year!
🎺The trumpets blow, everybody takes a day off, and they gather to celebrate the goodness of the Lord.
Nehemiah 8:1-2

📖Only this time, Ezra is reading the Bible out loud to everyone.
📖They paid attention to what was being read. Nehemiah 8:3
📖Bible scholars estimate that there were 30,000 to 50,000 people there that day.
⁉️Can you imagine that – a stadium full of people, praising God together, shouting “Amen!”, and then bowing low with their faces to the ground. Nehemiah 8:5-6
📖As Ezra reads the Bible, several men spread out among the people to translate it and explain it so everyone could understand it. Nehemiah 8:7-8

1️⃣If we want to find that place of real joy, then we should get to…

📖KNOW GOD’S WORD.
📖Understand the Bible.
🧠Comprehend it.
❤️Let it touch our mind.

📖The Bible has been a part of every revival since recorded history.
🙏First, God’s people pray.
📖Then the Bible is preached in such a way that people get it!
👍As a result, lives are changed and whole communities are transformed.
First of all, we should READ IT!!
🙇‍♂️And read it in a language we understand.
🙇‍♂️Then * let’s ask the Author of the Bible, God Himself, to help us understand* what we read.
🙇‍♀️He’s glad to help if we just ask.

2️⃣Then second, if we want to find the place of real joy…

📖LET’S CELEBRATE GOD’S WORD.
🧠Don’t let it just touch our mind;
❤️Let it touch our heart, as well.
😲Let the Bible move us to the very depths of our being.
👉That’s what happened to the people in Nehemiah’s day.

😢They wept, because they realized they had broken God’s Law, which could only mean that they were under condemnation. Nehemiah 8:9

😇They had missed the part about God’s grace and forgiveness for condemned sinners.
🙌Their return from Babylon and the restoration of Jerusalem was evidence of that grace.
🤗So this was not a time to weep; this was a time to rejoice!

🤷‍♂️Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

🙋‍♀️The joy of the Lord is our protection.
🙋‍♂️The joy of the Lord is our place of refuge.
🙅‍♂️The joy of the Lord is our security.

If we want to find that place of real joy, then:
📍1st of all, understand God’s Word – let it touch our mind;
📍2nd, celebrate God’s Word – let it touch our heart;
3️⃣and 3rd…

📖LET’S DO GOD’S WORD.
📌Let it touch our mind, heart AND will.
📌Let’s Decide now, with God’s help, to put it into practice in our own life.
📌That’s what the people in Nehemiah’s day did.

📖On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law.
Nehemiah 8:13
👂On the first day, they heard the words of the Law.
🙇‍♂️Now, on the second day, they study it.
🙇‍♀️ On the third day, they Do God’s Word.

🤗There is joy in obedience, “very great” joy!
🤗They did what God had told them to do, and it brought them great joy!
🤗They found joy in obedience, and that’s where we find it too!

👍 If we want to find true and lasting happiness, we must put God’s Word into practice in your own life.
Do you want to find true and lasting happiness?
Do you want to find real joy?
🛑Then stop chasing after it.
✅Instead, chase after God’s will as it’s described in this Book, the Bible.

First, seek to understand God’s Word – let it touch our mind. Then celebrate God’s Word – let it touch our heart. But most importantly, DO God’s Word – let it touch our will.

‼️Then, and only then, can we find real happiness. Then, and only then, will you find real joy.‼️

Princess Hudson