Joy, Disappointment, and $74-a-Gallon Gas

Glad to see you guys this morning, this early afternoon. I have been looking forward to today, and it’s been such a joy — this last night and even the 9:00 hour. It’s just so fun to be able to be with you guys. There are not many things in my life that bring me such joy as talking about God’s word amongst the body of believers, amongst those people who believe that God’s word makes impact and makes life change in our life. It’s exciting, and it brings joy to me to talk about the Bible with people who may wonder, “Can the Bible really make a difference in my life?” Maybe there are some who have not placed their faith or who do not believe in Jesus, and they’re wondering, “Can Jesus really change my life? Does this Bible really talk about it?” And I think that’s why it’s so much fun for me. Like, my wife is like, “Are you excited?” I was like, “I really am. I really am excited.” All week long, I’ve just been looking forward to today — which I usually do, but I feel like this week even more. So, I’m glad that you guys are here. I really am.

And I don’t know about you, but I need more joy in my life. I do. There are so many times I find in life the opposite of joy. You know, I find frustration. I find disappointment. You find heartache. Amy and I were driving home from a gathering a couple weeks ago, and I was like, “Hey, we’re on E. We need to get some gas.” And as I got out of the car to fill the car up and tap the reader, I was like, “Man, I didn’t realize gas is like $74 a gallon now.” It’s ridiculous. There are so many things that we find that bring the opposite of joy.

But this morning, we’re going to look at God’s word, specifically in chapter 8 of Nehemiah, and we’re going to see that when you are in God’s word — the Bible, what God decided that we needed to hear about him — it brings joy in our life. Isn’t that incredible? What we have in our hand here — God said, “This is what you need to know about me. All that you see in this world, when you look up at night or in the daytime and you see the stars, you see the clouds — I have given you everything you need to understand about me in here. Everything you need to understand about your own life, about the world, and how we respond to the relationships that we encounter every day. I’ve given you what you need to know about me in here.” And we’re going to find in Nehemiah chapter 8 that when people began to read God’s word and think about it and implement it, they found joy in their life.

So I don’t know where your joy meter is this morning, but I’m going to ask you to do some evaluation. I’m going to get to that in a second. But before I talk to you about the evaluation process, I’d like to read the passage of scripture that we’re going to talk about. So if you have your Bibles, you can open up to Nehemiah chapter 8, and we’re going to start reading in verse 13.

The Reading: Nehemiah 8:13–18

On the second day, the family leaders of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, assembled before Ezra the scribe to study the words of the law. They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should dwell in booths during the festival of the seventh month. The seventh month for them was about the same time of year it is for us right now — so they were just like us, excited that the weather was changing and getting a little bit cooler. So they proclaimed and spread this news throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, just as it is written.” And the people went out. They brought back branches and made booths for themselves — each on their rooftops and courtyards, the court of the house of God, the square by the Water Gate, and the square by the gate of Ephraim. The whole community that had returned from exile made booths and lived in them. They had not celebrated like this from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. And there was tremendous joy.

Ezra read out of the book of the law of God every day, from the first day to the last. And the Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days. And on the eighth day, there was an assembly according to the ordinance.

Now, we’re going to talk about this festival of booths as we work our way through our time this morning. But actually — let me pray. I keep getting ahead. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for this. Thank you for the time that we have in the Bible, in your word written to us. This is what we need to know. And so, would you lead our time? Would you allow us to enjoy the moments we have thinking deeply about who you are? Thank you for those folks that are in this room tonight, those watching online. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Real Time, Real Joy

So what was happening to the Israelites here in the book of Nehemiah was happening in real time. Okay, real time for them. And the benefit that we have is we get to read about what took place in their life, and we get to try to look at certain aspects of it and say, “Well, they did this and it produced joy. They did this and it produced joy.” And when we take those things and we look at our own life and maybe we apply those same principles, we might be able to go, “Oh, this has also brought joy in my life.” And then you look over the years and years and the last centuries, and we start asking the question — oh, those people did the same thing and it produced joy in their life. And so that’s why we have drawn some things out of this passage of Nehemiah to be true and have shown fruit, that it produces joy in our life. Anyways, I just thought I’d throw that out there, but I think we know each other well enough now.

The Shoe Evaluation

I’m going to ask you to evaluate some things and I want you to evaluate your life when it comes to the area of — do you have joy, and specifically joy from God’s word? But in order to get us into evaluation mode, I’m going to ask you to evaluate some things for me. I hope you don’t mind. You’re like, “Oh goodness, what’s happening?”

One of the things that brings joy in my life is shoes. And I know I mentioned this before, but for some reason, trying to find the right pair of shoes just brings me joy. It does. And so what I’m going to do is, I need some help to see if I can actually pull off the shoes that Amy and I have found for me over the last month and a half or so. I usually buy shoes like once every five years, and they all go out at the same time. So I’m going to put them on, and in order to get you in the evaluation process, you have to say — “Yes, you’re still young enough to pull those off” — or “No, you’re too old. Send them back.” And you can’t boo in church. And so we tried something last hour that worked pretty well. So if you’re like, “Yes, these are the ones,” you can just be like, “Yes! Yes!” All right, so just practice that if you don’t mind.

And if you don’t like them, if you think those are not the shoes for you, you can just go, “You’re killing me, Smalls! You’re killing me!” Okay. So, one, two, three. “You’re killing me, Smalls!” All right.

Now, when it comes to shoes, it takes me a lot of time to find them. I don’t know why. It always has. And in this last month, my daughter and son-in-law got married. And one of the things they have in weddings — there’s all kinds of different things you have to do — and they had a rehearsal dinner. And for some reason in my mind, I had it: I need to get a pair of brown shoes. I don’t know why. And so I was looking for a pair of brown shoes. And the difficult thing with me and shoes is that I’m a really cheap guy, and I don’t want to spend a lot of money on shoes. And so I’m always looking for the deals, like the buy-one-get-one type of deal. And so I’m looking at all these different stores for a pair of shoes, and it just takes time. Like, I have to put so much in, and I’ll find a pair of shoes and then all of a sudden I’ll look at the bottom and go, “Nope, those aren’t the shoes for me.” But I eventually end up at the same store every time when I’m trying to find a pair of shoes. And I finally landed on these brown shoes. And so in one second, you guys are going to have to — and you can see it on the screen in case you can’t see my shoes from wherever you’re sitting — you got to evaluate them. Can I still pull them off as an almost-51-year-old? “Yes! Yes!” Or “You’re killing me, Smalls!” One, two, three. Okay, I appreciate you guys doing that. I appreciate you having fun.

1. Joy When We Invest Time in God’s Word

And here’s the thing. When it comes to finding joy from God’s word, we find out from Nehemiah chapter 8, the first thing that we need to do is we need to invest time into God’s word. It says in verse 13 of chapter 8 of Nehemiah that on the second day, the people assembled together. Pastor Joel talked last week about the first day, and one of the things that the word of God produced in people’s lives was life change. And we’re talking about how it produces joy as well. The period between Nehemiah 8 and Nehemiah chapter 10 really spans a period of 24 days. Now, when I say for 24 days in a row the people of Israel interacted with the word of God, does that seem like a lot to you, or does that seem like a small amount of time?

When I was 17 years old, I asked Jesus to become my Lord and Savior. And as a 17-year-old young man, not long after that, a man I deeply respected and who had great influence in my life pulled me aside and said, “Listen, Ben, let me encourage you to do something. Let me encourage you to start reading the Bible every day for the rest of your life.” And being a pretty impressionable young man, I was like, “Okay, I’m going to start doing that.” And so for that whole year, I started reading the Bible every single day. I didn’t understand it all, but I started reading it every day.

And all of a sudden, I began to understand something. Because you see, the idea of investment does something. When you invest something, you’re putting something in expecting something in return. And what I received in return when I invested time into God’s word wasn’t just information, but rather what I received back was relationship. Because I began to understand more about the God who loves me, more about the God who created me, more about the God who — even though I am a sinner in need of a savior — he says, “You are worthy of my love, and I’m providing a way for you.” You see, we learn more about the author when we invest time into God’s word.

That’s not some legalistic thing — that you got to read your Bible every single day. No, we read our Bible every single day because we find out more about who God is and how glorious he is and how he’s created us. Sometimes we wonder why life works out certain ways or why things are not happening my way. You know what? As you spend time in God’s word, all of a sudden it may become a bit more clear as to the purpose of our life, what God expects of us, how God loves us and designed us.

We’ve been reading, we’ve been listening each week to some of our ministry partners as we’ve been walking through the book of Nehemiah. And this morning, there’s a gentleman who’s going to be sharing about his ministry and where they serve other people. But he’s also going to share an aspect of who this God is — that we find out more about when we invest time in God’s word. So, let’s listen.

Guest Video: John Grover, Cambodia Impact

Greetings, church. My name is John Grover, and I, along with my wife Linda, lead Cambodia Impact, a ministry in Cambodia that shares the gospel and works in poor people’s lives to improve them. And we’re privileged to be a ministry partner at Big Valley. Thank you for that, church.

This is largely a Buddhist nation. Only a few percent of this country are Christian. Linda and I are here now in Cambodia and looking forward to a great time with our dear friends in Cambodia and ministry partners. We work out in rural villages where there’s very little infrastructure — roads, power in some cases, no clean water — and people live without hope or joy until the word of God is shared with them and the gospel is presented to them. And that’s what we get to do. All these efforts we go through for clean water and sanitation and education and medical care are all in an effort to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that’s what happened in Nehemiah 8. Ezra read the word of God, the word of the law, it says, to the people, and they realized their sin. They repented, and they lived in obedience then to what God’s law said. I pray that that is what you and I are doing today, because it says also in there that the joy of the Lord is our strength. And that can only be true when we repent and live in obedience, because we realize the power of God is so great. His forgiveness is so great that it far exceeds the sin — our collective sin. His grace and mercy is all-encompassing.

So I pray that your anthem song today and mine is one of repentance, obedience, and that the joy of the Lord is our strength. When we live on bended knee before God in repentance and obedience, we live in a place that God treasures, that he loves. I pray that is true for you and I today. God bless you.

I love how he says his grace far exceeds our collective sin. I think it’s such a great truth. And so when it comes to joy in your life — joy from God’s word — would you take a moment and just evaluate your life? Just ask the question, not in a way to bring judgment, but in a way to bring freedom: Are you investing time in God’s word? Spending with him. Just take a moment. You got blanks on your notes.

2. Joy When We Have Teachers Sharing God’s Word

I don’t know what it is about Vans, but I think actually I know. When I was in high school, I saw like a junior or senior wearing a pair of Vans, and I thought, “Man, that guy’s cool.” And so I wanted to get a pair of Vans too. And so that’s when I started wearing them — back in the old days when they didn’t have cars and I was in high school. It was great. Amy may not admit this — she’s sitting over there towards my left — she started dating me in high school, I think, because I was wearing a pair of Vans. I don’t know if that’s exactly true or not, but you learn from someone, right? You learn from someone regarding the shoes that you wear and the clothes that you begin to wear. So, actually, before I go any further — “Yes! Yes!” … “You’re killing me, Smalls!” One, two, three. Okay, this is the one pair that actually matches what I’m wearing today. So that’s kind of fun.

We learn from someone. And as you look at Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 13 — and here’s the tie-in — it says the leaders of the households assembled together. Actually, the words it says on your notes: the family leaders of all the people, along with the priests and the Levites — these people gathered together under the teaching of Ezra, and they found out about this festival of booths. And then they went and shared with all the families in Jerusalem: “Hey, we just read this.”

And in order to find joy in our life — we can learn from Nehemiah chapter 8 — we need teachers in our lives sharing the truths of God’s word with us. And the subpoint to this, and it’s not on your notes — you can fill it in the blanks — we need to be able to share those things that we learn with the other people in our life.

I’m not a big podcast guy, but I started listening to a podcast probably about eight or nine years ago to this pastor, and he is indeed my favorite pastor to listen to, and he’s now since gone to be with the Lord. Like I said, I’m not a big podcast guy, because I’m not a multitasker. Some of you guys are really great about listening to a podcast and doing all kinds of different things. Some of you guys are like eating sandwiches, driving a car, and listening to a podcast at the same time. I can’t. When I listen to a podcast, here’s what I do — I just sit there. In fact, I’ll be at home at times — this is probably really more than you want to know — and I’ll be talking, the phone will ring, I’ll pick it up, and my wife will be like, “Hey, who are you talking to?” And I’ll try to mouth it, but it really looks like me trying to yawn, because I’m terrible at speaking that way quietly. And she’ll be like, “Who is it?” and I’ll be like getting frustrated, and I’ll finally mouth it over — “It’s my dad. He’s on the phone.” And then all of a sudden she gets frustrated, and then I’m frustrated, and it leads in. That’s kind of what happens in the Kelly household at times. But over the last few years, Amy’s finally realized: my husband just can’t multitask. I think a lot of wives might realize that at some point. Is that true?

Back to — what was I talking about? So the podcast and the teachers. There’s a pastor that I listen to, and as he was talking about the story of David and Goliath — and I don’t know if you know the story of David and Goliath; many of you may know it — but the story, if you don’t: there was an unassuming young man by the name of David, and he was the representative of the nation of Israel, and he was to fight this giant of a man by the name of Goliath, who represented the nation of the Philistines. And essentially what was going to take place is, the losing person in this battle — David or Goliath — the country he represented would have to be enslaved to the other country. And what happens is, this unassuming young man defeats this giant, seasoned, battle-tested veteran, Goliath.

And as I heard that story from when I was 17 all the way up until I was in my 40s, I used to hear people say things like, “Now, we need to be like David, and we need to go out and slay our Goliaths.” And I would hear people teach that, and I would walk out of the church and I’d be like, “Yeah, I’m going to go slay my Goliath.” And then all of a sudden, I started realizing very quickly: I can’t seem to overcome these Goliath-type issues in my life. When it comes to the issue of dealing with fear, I can’t seem to overcome it. When it comes to the issue of self-worth, I cannot seem to overcome it. When it comes to the issue of addiction, I cannot seem to overcome these Goliath-type issues. And on down the road — like how to raise my children in a way that honors the Lord, how to love my wife in a way that shows that she’s valued and loved by the Lord — these Goliath-type issues, I can’t overcome them. I think about the Israelites when they were trying to build the wall under Nehemiah’s leadership — they were facing tremendous battles. They were facing tremendous Goliath issues in the surrounding countries trying to say to them, “What are you doing? You’re never going to accomplish this task.”

And then all of a sudden, this pastor that I was listening to said something that changed my life. He said, “You know what David really was representing? You see, David was stepping in as the champion of Israel. No other Israelite could do what David was going to do that day. He was the only one who could overcome the giant that stood before them. And what David was — he was a picture of what Jesus is for us.”

You see, I can’t overcome the Goliath issues in my life. Nor can you. Only Jesus can overcome those Goliath issues that you are facing right now. And once I heard that — oh man, what a freedom it brought in my life, because I realized I don’t have to do the heavy lifting. Jesus will do those things. Jesus will overcome them. And you know what? All of a sudden, when I heard that, I started thinking — I got to let people know. I have to let people know that truth. And in fact, I’ve shared with all of you before that God is the hero of the story. That wasn’t something new that I came up with. It’s because God has brought teachers into my life who have been instructing me in God’s word in a way that, on my own, I would not be able to understand.

And we need teachers in our life, just like the Israelites did in the time of Nehemiah — just like we need today. So would you evaluate your life? Do you have people in your life who are teaching you God’s word? It might be through a podcast. It might be from just being here on Sunday mornings, which is a good thing. It might be from going to one of the ministries that we have available in our church. It might simply be just listening to someone reading the word of God. It’s incredible how, when you allow the word of God to wash over you and someone else is reading it to you and you’re focused on it, the things that take place — because God’s word is living and active. It says in Hebrews chapter 4. So take a moment. How are you doing?

3. Joy When We Find Instruction Together

I’ll tell you though, without a doubt, the best part of trying to find a pair of shoes is when I get to go find a pair of shoes with Amy. I just like being around Amy. She’s just my favorite person to be with. And I don’t say that just because she’s here — I even said it in the other services, all right. I just really enjoy being around her, and it’s really fun doing shoe shopping with her, especially this last time we went, because she needed a pair of shoes for the rehearsal dinner too. And I don’t know what it is when you go to look for ladies’ shoes — it’s kind of unfair, because ladies have like oceans of shoes to choose from; we got like five, as guys. But I went with Amy to look for these shoes, and I was looking for shoes too. Actually — evaluation! One, two, three. Okay, thanks. I feel like they’re a little too white, but that’s okay.

And so we go, and Amy’s looking for a pair of shoes that she has in her mind — like, the ones she wants. And of course, I’m looking at all the ladies’ shoes too. And she’s looking for what she has in her head, and all of a sudden, I see these shoes and I’m like, “Baby, these are the shoes you need.” And I hold them up, and she’s like, “I won’t even be able to walk in those things.” I’m like, “No, but you need them. You got to get them.” And she’s like, “I’m not getting those things.” And then we moved on to the shoes — my shoe store, where I find a pair of shoes — and she’s like, “Babe, you need these pair of shoes.” And I was like, “I’m not going to wear those shoes. I don’t like those shoes.” But it’s just so fun being together looking for a pair of shoes. One of the sweetest times — Amy and my kids and I all got shoes at the same store together. My kids are carrying on the legacy of wearing Vans too. It’s kind of fun — that’s not the only shoes they wear, but it’s just a great time being with other people looking for a pair of shoes.

And therein lies the third way in which we find joy from God’s word. And it’s on your notes. We find joy from God’s word when we find instruction together. It says in verse 13 again, what we’ve been looking at — they assembled before Ezra. They came together to study God’s word. Something miraculous happens when we’re with other believers looking at the word of God.

Amy and I have had the privilege, the last five weeks, to be part of a neighborhood group — and we’ve been part of small groups or life groups, whatever you may call them, over the years. In the last five weeks, we’ve been part of our neighborhood group, and it’s been a great time. There’s Amy and I. There’s Kurt and Alicia. There’s Steve and Susan. There’s Kevin and Karen. There’s Sue and Ed. And we just enjoy being there. And I think the reason why is because there’s something unique when you’re around a group of people who you had no idea who they were before you started meeting. We didn’t. We all showed up together, and we’re all like, “Hey, how’s it going? I’m Ben. I’m Amy. And where do you live? Where do you work? How many kids do you have? How long have you been attending Big Valley?” And then all of a sudden, you start reading the Bible together. You start praying together. And after a few weeks of that, all of a sudden, you realize — this is great. We start understanding things that we would not have understood before. We start to realize, “Oh my goodness, I’m not the only one dealing with that issue. I’m not the only one. You’ve dealt with those things before.”

When you walk through God’s word together with other people, all of a sudden things might begin to click, because they have life experience and understanding that you don’t. As an early believer, I used to be together with a group of friends, this group of guys, and they would just start reading the Bible, and they’d be like, “Ben, you need to come and be with us as we read the Bible and study it together.” And they would start reading, and they would start talking about the Bible, and all of a sudden I was like, “How do these guys know all this?” And then all of a sudden they started explaining this to me and explaining that to me, and I’d be like, “Oh my goodness.” And then I would go home and I’d tell Amy — “Babe, listen to what they just said” — and we talk about it. When you find instruction together, when you’re reading the Bible, joy begins to take place. It begins to happen. Your life begins to change.

So would you evaluate your life? Are you finding instruction in God’s word together? Maybe you might need to find opportunity to be part of a neighborhood group. Maybe you might need to be part of a men’s study, a women’s study. Maybe at Celebrate Recovery, you need to be in a step study — somewhere where you can gather amongst people and discuss the Bible together. Maybe it needs to be around your dinner table with your wife and your kids. Maybe on a lunch break at work with other believers, you might just be able to read the Bible. Or on a school break with your classmates and read together. How are you doing in that area, and finding joy?

4. Joy When We Implement God’s Word — Wear the Shoes

Okay, last pair of shoes. Are you ready? And these are my favorite-est shoes, okay? They are the ones that I wanted. And when Amy and I were looking for shoes, all of a sudden I was like, “Baby, those are it. These are the shoes that I want.” And she looked at me — she’s like, “Are you serious?” I’m like, “Yes, I want them. They must be mine.” And she was like, “Fine. If those are the shoes that you want, then get them, I guess.” And it was so funny — there was a young lady who was helping us, and I went up to her because Amy said I could get them. And I looked at her — I was like, “Hey, can you grab me a 12 in these things?” And she gave me this look. And the look could have meant one of two things, the more I think about it now. It could have been a look that said, “Wow, I can’t believe this old guy’s getting this cool pair of shoes. That’s great.” Or the look could have meant, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this old guy’s trying to buy this cool pair of shoes.” I’m still waffling back and forth on which look on her face and what it meant.

But there comes a moment where you have to wear your shoes, because — if you include the 9:00 hour and last night, me putting on these pairs of shoes — this is only the fourth time I’ve ever worn these pair of shoes in the last month and a half. Okay? There comes a moment you got to put them on. A few weeks ago, Amy and I went to dinner with some friends of ours, and I said, “Hey babe, I think I’m going to wear my shoes.” And she’s like, “The mustard shoes?” I’m like, “I think the mustard shoes.” And she goes, “You should wear them. That’s why you bought them.” And I said, “I know, but I’m afraid.” And she’s like, “Why are you afraid?” And I felt like I was in junior high. I’m like, “Well, what if they laugh at me? What if people laugh at the shoes that I’m wearing?” So I thought I’d wear them at church — no one’s going to laugh at me at church.

But herein lies the point, folks. When it comes to finding joy from God’s word, finding joy takes place when we begin to implement the truth of God’s word. In other words, when we finally wear the shoes that we bought, right?

And this is where it gets really fun as you start to understand a little bit about the festival of booths and what was actually happening in Israel. Read with me, if you could, verses 14 to 17. And they found written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” I always giggle at this point — like trying to find all those trees. I’m terrible when it comes to trees. Sometimes people be like, “Oh, that’s an oak tree, or that’s a eucalyptus tree” — and unless a tree has fruit on it, I won’t be able to tell you what kind of tree it is. So these people are intelligent.

So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate, and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. And all the assembly of those who had returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths. For from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day, the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.

When you begin to do the things that God’s word says, joy takes place. We see this take place in this story of the Israelites in the time of Nehemiah. I have seen it take place in the lives of people in my own life. When I begin to implement the truth of God’s word, joy is produced. Joy takes place. And there may be a time this morning, as we’re looking over our life, where we may begin to implement the truth of God’s word. And that could be a myriad of things. It could be — you might need to stop doing something. Sometimes God’s word is really clear on: don’t do this. Maybe it might mean we need to start doing something. God’s word is also very clear on: these are the things that you should do — and maybe we need to finally go, “Okay, I need to start doing those things.” Maybe it’s believing something. God says, “I knit you together.” Talks about how we are cherished. He is pursuing us. Maybe we need to begin believing the truth of God’s word — that you are cherished, that you have value. Maybe some of you have heard, over and over and over, that you don’t have value. I want you to know this morning that God says you do. God’s created you for a reason. And God desires that all should come to repentance, to come to an understanding of him.

The Festival of Booths: Backward and Forward

Now, when it comes to the Israelites celebrating this festival of booths, there’s something pretty cool that we need to understand to get the big picture of what’s happening. The festival of booths was a festival that the Israelites had every single year, and it celebrated God’s provision of the nation of Israel when he saved them from the hand of the Egyptians. If you look way back in Exodus, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians, and God led Moses to lead them out of Egypt. He led them out, and they walked through the Red Sea, and then for 40 years they walked through the wilderness until God brought them into the promised land. And during those 40 years, God provided for the nation of Israel. There are stories of how God provided water from a rock. God rained down manna from heaven. God brought in quail for them to have. That’s a great story — you need to read it. You need to read all of it, too, because a lot of incredible, strange things happen in that. But God provided for the nation of Israel. So for them, it looked back on how God is the provision that’s necessary.

But for the Israelites, it also dealt with what they were currently walking through. God provided for them in rebuilding the wall in the book of Nehemiah. God was also rebuilding their hearts.

But for us, we can also see that this feast of booths looks forward to something else. It looks forward to how God provides for us. In this festival of booths that the Israelites would have as they continued on as a nation, one of the things that would take place at the end of this festival — there would be a ceremony, a water-pouring ceremony, and the priest would bring the water and they would pour the water out. And if you look in the book of John — this isn’t on your notes, you can look at it in John chapter 7, you can write it down if you like — John 7, verse 37. Let me double check that to make sure I’m giving you the right one. In verse 37 of chapter 7 of John — Jesus, when he is doing his ministry, walking this earth, he is at this same feast, this feast of booths. It says, on the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”

And what Jesus was beginning to tell them — and as if you read on, you’ll find out — is that Jesus provides salvation. And in providing salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit, who is able to bring daily provision in our life. And so when the Israelites would look back and say, “Oh, we’re pouring out this water to illustrate that God brought water from the rock as he was leading them through the wilderness” — all of a sudden, Jesus is like, “Listen, I’m going even further back and saying that when God brought water from the rock, he was looking forward to what I would be able to bring in your life.” God can bring provision in our life today.

Evaluation: Are You Implementing God’s Word?

And so, let me ask you to evaluate your life. Are you implementing God’s word? And when I say implementing, it’s not like this legalistic thing. Sometimes we can look at these dos and don’ts of the Bible and think, “Man, that’s a lot of rules.” I look at the Old Testament sometimes and I think that’s a lot of rules that the Israelites had to follow. And God didn’t do that just because he wanted to be punitive or anything. God was doing that because he wanted them to be holy and pure — because he knows that in their holiness and in their perfection, in their purity, they would find joy. They would find fullness of life. And when Jesus talks about loving him and loving others, and not being angry with others, and watching the things that we say, the things we look at — God’s not saying “you can’t do anything” like a mean parent. What Jesus is saying is: “I know what you need in your life. I know what’s necessary, and that’s why I’m telling you to do these things, or to stop doing these other things — because I know what it will produce in your life.” Just like a parent — we don’t give our kids a bunch of rules just because we want to be mean or we shouldn’t do those things. We do those things because we want our kids to succeed in life. We want them to experience the best parts of it. And so we establish some safe boundaries for them. And that’s why implementing the truth of God’s word brings joy — because we recognize those things.

Joy That Never Wears Out

So, I’ve been talking about silly shoes for you guys. I’ve been talking about finding joy. And here’s the reason why. When I was a kid, a long time ago, we would always get a brand new pair of shoes before school started. Maybe you guys are the same. But my sisters and I, we would get a new pair of shoes. And my parents played this cruel joke on us. They’d be like, “You can’t wear them before school.” And they’d always take us school shopping like two or three weeks early. So we just had to be like, “What is that about? That’s totally lame, that we can’t wear them anywhere but school.” So we would wear them around the house, right? And we would run as fast as we can up and down the hall, and we’d be like, “Look how fast I can run in my new shoes, and look how high I can jump.” And of course, you can’t jump any higher. Maybe your kids do the same thing. Maybe you still do that. That would be funny. But eventually, after you’d go to school for so many weeks or so many days, those shoes would begin to wear out, right? You get holes in them. Your parents would be like, “You had to wear them anyways.” The shoestrings would break, and all of a sudden, you would never think about those shoes that you were so excited about, because they were just old and you didn’t care about them anymore.

I want you to know that finding joy from God’s word never ceases. We may change at times. Circumstances in our life may change — but God never does. James was talking as he was leading our time of worship, and he says his mercies are new every morning. Every morning his mercies are new. Every moment you spend in God’s word is opportunity for God to change your life.

And so I want to encourage you to spend time with God in his word — reading it, hearing it, studying it, thinking deeply about it, memorizing it, letting it wash over you. And the reason I’m bringing up shoes is because I hope every day you put your shoes on — whether they’re cool shoes or not. Some people have been coming up to me the last couple of services and they’re like, “The shoes you need to get better are the ones you don’t have to tie.” And I was like, “You’re right. You’re right.” Whatever shoe you put on, I pray that you would begin to think about: Do I have joy? Do I have joy from God’s word? And to spend some time reading it, because it changes your life.

And you may be at a point right now where — “Ben, I don’t really believe in God.” You know what? Maybe today is the day you place your faith in him, and all of a sudden that living water, called the Holy Spirit, comes into your life, and you begin to understand the scriptures — because that’s one of the reasons why we don’t understand God’s word. It’s because we don’t have the Spirit residing within us. But then, if you do know the Lord, would you make it a daily practice to be in his word so that your life might be changed? Are you going to understand it all right off the bat? No way. No way. But joy comes when you begin to invest in God’s word.

Closing Prayer

Anyways, let me pray for us. And I think I kept you guys long enough today. So, Father, thank you. Thank you for these people that are here. Thank you for this record of what took place in the Israelites’ lives in the time of Nehemiah. And Lord, I’m convinced that there is nothing else on this planet that brings life change like your word. And the reason why is because it’s filled with you. In it, we don’t just find out information, but in it, we find relationship — because of Jesus Christ. And so Lord, I pray that you would encourage those in this room this morning, that as they go about their day, as they go about their week, Lord, that you would remind them that you were there. You are waiting for them. You desire to have relationship with us. You are not far from us. You are near to us. Thank you for providing a way. Lord, we love you. We thank you. Pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Glad you guys are here. If there’s anything that you need, our prayer room is open. If there’s any questions that I can answer about the Bible or whatever, I’d love to talk to you. I’ll be right up here. Appreciate you guys.