Repentace & Rejoicing

Nehemiah 12:27-47

Main Idea: Rejoicing in the faithfulness of God is spurred on by

and brings about

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.

“It was too much death to contemplate, too much

and suffering; and in August 1945 no one was counting. For those who had seen the face of battle and been in the camps and under the bombs—and had lived—there was a sense of immense

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.”
- Donald Miller on V-J Day

History gives depth to the rejoicing of Nehemiah 12
1. Israel feared that God had

them.
2. Jerusalem was originally destroyed as a result of

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.
3. Lamentations 5:

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and

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in the midst of destruction.
4. Jeremiah 32: Jerusalem was rebuilt out of God’s

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.
5. In spite of their sin, God is faithful. This is why they

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.

Nehemiah 12 is full of rejoicing and thankfulness
1. Verses

,

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,

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,

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, and

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show thankfulness.
2. Verses

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and

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show rejoicing.
3. Rejoicing in God’s faithfulness overflows into

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.
4. A community that does not

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is not fully

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.

Jesus Christ gives depth to the rejoicing of Christians
1. Christian joy is not

or

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.
2. It is

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in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
3. It looks

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forward to the reality of eternal life.

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a

, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once

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what he was like.” James 1:23-24

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with

and

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and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making

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in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” C.S. Lewis