The Joy of the Lord

Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

The joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength.

He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more, He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more.
He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more, the joy of the Lord is my strength.

He gives me living water and I thirst no more, He gives me living water and I thirst no more.
He gives me living water and I thirst no more, the joy of the Lord is my strength.

I Will Enter His Gates

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

This Is the Day

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice, and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made.

Behold What Manner of Love

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God...1 John 3:1

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.
Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.
That we should be called the sons of God.
That we should be called the sons of God.

Advent Week Two: Jesus's Arrival Brings Joy

And the angel said to [the shepherds], “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

“Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year” are expressions we hear a lot in the month of December. At other times of the year, we wish people a “Happy Valentine’s Day,” “Happy Easter,” and of course, “Happy Birthday.” Maybe we say those things without thinking very much about what we’re saying, or maybe when we say them, we really do want others to be “merry” or “happy.”
People are happy when good things are happening to them. For example, the Bible uses the word happy to describe a newly married man with his wife (Deuteronomy 24:5), a mother with her newborn baby (Genesis 30:13), and people who are ruled by a good king (Ecclesiastes 10:17). Surely those are happy times. We want to have good things happen to us, particularly on special days like holidays and birthdays. We want to be surrounded by people we love; we want to do fun things like exchange gifts and bake cookies. We think it’s a sad thing that this year, because of the pandemic, many people won’t be able to get together with their families for Christmas and won’t be able to do some of their favorite, fun holiday activities. For some people, this Christmas may not be very merry.
The prophet Habakkuk describes an unhappy time. “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls. . .,” What a gloomy picture; it sounds like everything is going wrong! But look at what Habakkuk says next, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength.” (3:17-19)
Habakkuk isn’t looking for happiness in what is happening around him, instead he looks to God, and he finds joy, a feeling of deep pleasure and contentment that stays through good times and bad. In this life, our happiness will come and go. But Jesus never changes (Hebrews 13:8), so when His saving work is the source of our joy, our joy never goes away. And it makes us strong in the darkest times.
In Matthew 25, when Jesus was teaching his disciples that he would come a second time to this earth in glory, he told the story of some servants whose master went away, expecting those servants to do their work. When the master came back, he found that some of those servants had worked, but one had not. The master said to the working servants, “Well done, good and faithful servant. . . Enter into the joy of your master.” When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God gave to the world a Savior, and that is indeed good news of great joy. But when Jesus comes again, his faithful servants will have an even greater, deeper, richer, more glorious joy—the joy of our master. Let us rejoice!

Object Lesson: Joy

You'll Need:

• four small star stickers,
• one large star sticker (or you can cut stars from paper)
• some “treasures”
• and the “Five Golden Stars” directions.

Five Golden Stars:

Follow these instructions to lead your family in celebrating Jesus’ birth. Get four pieces of clean trash, such as crumpled, unused tissues. Hide them around the house in somewhat obvious locations, and then place a small star sticker in plain view just above the hiding place of each item.

Get a better item, such as a plate of cookies or something special you can share together and hide it very well. Place the large star sticker above it, but make sure the sticker isn’t easy to see. Tell your family you’re sending them on a treasure hunt as they let the stars guide them to look for hidden treasure. Walk with your family as they search, and let them know when they’ve found all the stars.

Read Matthew 2:1-10:
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Ask:
• How did the treasure under the big star compare with the other treasures?
• How does the treasure of Jesus compare with other things about Christmas?
• What things can distract us from looking for Jesus?

Say:

Jesus is the greatest Christmas treasure of all. He’s the very reason we celebrate! This Christmas, remember to look for Jesus. Enjoy the tasty treat or fun activity to share together as a family.

(https://childrensministry.com/the-12-ideas-of-advent/)

Advent Hymn

Week #3 – Jesus’s Arrival Brings Joy – “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utpZAIycWFU

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

This hymn comes from a poem that was used in Advent celebrations 1,300 years ago. Each verse in the poem focused on a different Old Testament name for the coming Messiah, like Emmanuel which comes from Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” When Matthew, in his gospel, applies this verse to Jesus, he adds that “Emmanuel” means “God with us.” What a perfect name for Jesus, the Word made flesh who lived among us! (John 1:14)

Another verse in the hymn calls Jesus the Dayspring who brings us cheer or joy. This word picture compares Jesus to the sun that rises in the morning and chases away the gloomy darkness of light. It’s what Malachi may have had in mind when he wrote about the rising of the “sun of righteousness” in Malachi 4:2.

When we sing this hymn, we proclaim that in His first advent, Jesus fulfilled many Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah. And in this “already, not yet” period of time between Jesus’s coming as a baby in Bethlehem and His coming again in glory, we look forward to the fulfillment of every promise of God when Jesus returns to “fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.” Emmanuel has come, and He will come again—rejoice!