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Good morning, church family. It is great to be back with you as always, and to all the mothers in the room, happy Mother's Day. Tremendously, mothers are some of the greatest people on this planet. They do something that us men could never do, which is gently and carefully instruct their children. At times I struggle to do so. My wife seems to never struggle to do so. So, mothers, I am envious of you. I love how the Lord uses mothers to shape our world, to build and grow the church. So happy Mother's Day. I hope you have a fantastic day. If you would, open your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 12. We are continuing and very, very close to the end of our journey through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Again, if you obviously those are two separate books, but almost certainly meant to be read together and throughout church history were read together. And we are coming up upon the end. Chapter 13 is the final chapter. We have two weeks left. And if you remember, last week we journeyed through all of chapter 11, a good portion of chapter 12, because the restoration was completed. It was done. Everyone had been restored back to Israel, but now everyone had been restored back to Jerusalem. Remember, they cast lots to find a tithe of people who would move into the city of Jerusalem. No one was there, and the work of God needed to continue. And today, at the end of chapter 12, we see this huge celebration, this giant parade throughout the entire city of Jerusalem, dedicating the wall, celebrating God, celebrating restoration. And all of that takes place in just these short few verses this morning. We're going to be reading verses 27 through 47. If you don't have a Bible, there should be one in the pew back in front of you. It will also be up on the screen for you to follow along. But this is Nehemiah chapter 12, starting in verse 27. At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sent for the Levites wherever they lived and brought them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. The singers gathered from the region around Jerusalem, from the settlements of the Nephitoph, uh excuse me, the Nepho, oh my word, the Nepho Netophatites, from Beth Gilgal and from the fields of Giba and Azmapheth, for they had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem. After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the city gates, and the wall. Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions that gave thanks. One went to the right on the wall toward the dung gate. Hoshiah and half the leaders of Judah followed, along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshulam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemiah, Jeremiah, and some of the priests' sons with trumpets, and Zachariah, son of Jonathan, son of Shemiah, son of Mathaniah, son of Mekiah, son of Zachar, son of Asaph, followed, as well as his relatives, Shemiah, Azarel, Mili, Gilali, Mai, Nathanael, Judah, and Hanani with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. Ezra the scribe went in front of them. At the fountain gate they climbed the steps of the city of David, on the ascent of the wall and went above the house of David to the water gate on the east. The second Thanksgiving procession went left, and I followed it with half the people on top of the wall, past the tower of the ovens, to the broad wall, above the Ephraim gate, and by the old gate, the fish gate, the tower of Hananel, the tower of the hundred, to the sheep gate. They stopped at the gate of the guard. Two the two Thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God, so did I and a half of the officials accompanying me, as well as the priests Eliakim, Masiah, Minaimim, Mekiah, Elionai, Zachariah, Hananiah with trumpets, and Masaiah, Shemiah, Elieazar, Uzi, Jehohanon, Melkaijah, Elam, and Ezir. Then the singers sang with Jezeriah as the leader. On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem's rejoicing was heard far away. On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tents. The legally required portions of the priests and Levites were gathered from the villages or the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving. They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed. For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were heads of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed to the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for Aaron's descendants. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. This morning I ask that you would reveal your word to your church by your spirit. We pray that you would do all of this for Christ's name's sake. Amen. Last year, I'm sure all almost we're actually coming up to the month. Last year, our city celebrated something very, very special. Whether you are a huge basketball fan or not, it was really hard to miss the excitement that surrounded the Thunder winning their first championship. And every NBA team does this, like we weren't special in doing this. But for us, this championship parade in downtown Oklahoma City was something special. There's one of my favorite photos in Oklahoma history came out of this parade. And I think I have it up on the screen. I don't know if any of you have seen this, but this is the one of the championship buses that had the Thunder players on it in front of the Oklahoma City Memorial, which was kind of surreal. And obviously, I'm not saying that basketball has somehow, you know, uh made retribution for what has happened, but it was really, really cool to see victory happen in our city after such tragic loss. And for a picture like this to symbolize all of this was something special. There were over, I think, 400,000 people that gathered downtown, filled the streets, cheering, shouting, they were wearing their thunder gear, celebrating because something good had happened to this city where something bad had happened. Something so special, so powerful, I think we can all agree about a collective people celebrating. There's not a lot better than groups of people celebrating together. Human beings are wired to rejoice together. We are wired to be in community, and you see, even in secular spaces, non-church spaces, people desire to commune. They desire to be with one another. In Nehemiah 12, we see a similar celebration, one that takes place throughout the entire city, but infinitely greater than just a championship parade. Because here the people of Israel are celebrating the very restoration that God had secured for them. The faithfulness of God, the victory for him, all of his promises had been fulfilled to Israel, all of his glory has been shown, and now the people are celebrating his work with thanksgiving and with joy. And it's an easy takeaway for us. If you take nothing else away from this sermon, I'd encourage you to write this down if you're a note taker. The main idea this morning, our worship should overflow with joyous celebration because of what God has done. Worship is a joyous thing. It is a celebration of God. That's what worship is. It is not somber. In many ways, it is serious, but it is a joyous celebration. In our passage, we see a party. That's what's happening. We see singing, music, processions, all because of the restoration that God had secured for his people. Israel has been fully restored. Just this last chapter, remember, we saw people move to Jerusalem to begin anew, and because of all of that, we see the people celebrate. Just as a reminder, they had been away from their homes. They were in captivity under Babylonian supervision for 70 years, unable to partake in any of the sacrifices. No temple, no homes, no Levites, no worship, nothing. So this restoration was special. And again, in this passage, it shows that our worship is also to be marked by the same things. In fact, three things that we're going to see, three aspects of this citywide parade that highlight how I believe our worship should look. Firstly, we see celebration as worship. I think often we can fit worship into a box and think that it is perhaps only singing, or only when I have the right attitude, or only when I'm praising. Celebration is in and of itself worship to God. You see this in verses 27 through 30. Nehemiah seems to be a big fan of bringing people back to the city of Jerusalem. He first gets back to Jerusalem from the Persian Empire. Then he brings people with him, but then they don't come to Jerusalem. So he brings people to do a census. So they do the census and then they go back. And then he brings people to come here to worship, and then they worship, and then they go back. And then he finally brings people to move to Jerusalem, and now here he brings the Levites back to Jerusalem to celebrate. Not just for fun. He says, to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. Celebrations throughout Israel's history are very common, like this. They sang a lot. They sang together a lot. During David's era, singers would raise their voices, often accompanied by harps, lyres, cymbals, especially when the Ark of the Covenant enters Jerusalem for the first time. This great sounds of singing and shouting. When Solomon's temple, the first temple, was dedicated, also singing, accompanied by harps, cymbals, lyres, trumpets. During Hezekiah as well, his reforms, the Levites also were stationed with cymbals, harps, lyres, and singing. They sang together. They loved to sing. You see all these accounts through 1st and 2nd Chronicles. But the predominant use of music was worship. That's what they used to worship God. Music uses so many different forms in our culture today, as we know, some for good, some for absolutely not good. But they didn't just sing for fun or sing to put on concerts or just to celebrate nothing. Their music had a holy purpose. It was always directed toward God. It was reached its peak, I would say, during David's reign. He actually organized temple worship and singing. We see this. I'm going to read this passage for us. This is 1 Chronicles 25, verse 1. Then we'll read 6 and 7. David and the officers of the army also set apart some sons of Asaph, Heman, and Judathon, who were to prophesy, accompanied by lyres, harps, and cymbal. This is the list of men who performed their service. Then he lists them in. Verse 6. All these men were under their own father's authority for the music and the Lord's temple, with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of God's temple. Asaph, Jedathon, and Haman were under the king's authority. They numbered 288 together with their relatives, who were all trained and skillful in music for the Lord. They were already singing, they were already skilled. David just made it for God. It is now in service to the temple, for which these people sing and play. It was for worship. David formalizes music and worship. Again, once the Ark of the Covenant comes in and arrives in Jerusalem, you see that reference throughout Nehemiah. They'll call back to worship. They'll say, as David, the man of God had prescribed. David played instruments himself. He naturally then wanted people to sing for God. And it's just such a beautiful reminder for you and me today, especially on a Sunday like this. There's something so beautiful and simple about just singing kids' songs. Like you don't need to complicate worship music. You really don't. It's just as simple as proclaiming true things about God. What do we do every Sunday? We gather and we sing. We sing to God. Why? Why do we sing? A lot of people would say that's what churches do. That's just tradition. And honestly, there's something there. But we sing aloud together because that is one of the greatest and most beneficial ways we can worship God. It is a collective activity prescribing worth to God. God's people, in fact, have been singing praises with their lips to Him for thousands of years. And by singing to God, you are partaking in that reality. Not just with this church, but with the saints of old. All saints have sang to God. So sing. Just sing, whether you're good or bad. Just sing to God. Because that's exactly what Israel does here. They gather to just sing in celebration. That's why the Levites were brought back, to celebrate specifically. In church family. They had much to celebrate. Seventy years of captivity under a regime who hated them, not just them personally, hated their culture, hated their God, their religion, their practices. They couldn't lay in their beds, they couldn't tend their fields, they couldn't continue their work, their trade, they couldn't speak with the rest of their family, they couldn't partake in sacrifices, couldn't read the law, couldn't partake in festivals, none of their culture. They couldn't do any of it. They couldn't gather as they once did to retell the stories of God and his faithfulness. This is why you see earlier in Nehemiah, some of them forgot. They forgot the stories. Israel had lost, in large part, their entire identity in captivity. But all of that is possible again. Thanks to God's steadfast love for his people. There is just something so special about coming home after a long time. You all know what I'm talking about. Whether it's just something as simple as coming home from work, and you just get to sit on your couch, eat dinner, lay in your bed, there's something special about that. But even more seriously, soldiers returning from deployment, you returning home from a long hospital stay, coming home is special, and that's what the Israelites are celebrating. But here's what I want to understand and clarify specifically. Celebration itself is not an act of worship, not necessarily. There's lots of things that you can celebrate. But when we celebrate with the right understanding of the reasons we are celebrating, we are worshiping God. The people here fully understand it was not them who restored themselves out of captivity, it was only God, and that is what they are celebrating. It is God word. That's what makes celebration worship. Like, sure, God absolutely used Ezra's knowledge of Scripture, his desire to teach people, but Ezra himself admits God is the one who gave him that. He used Nehemiah, his station in the Persian Empire. Remember, he was a cupbearer to the king, his boldness to approach him, but it was God alone that provided the restoration. The reason we celebrate church family is because we recognize what God has done for us, for his people. That's what Israel is doing. They recognize what God has done for them. So the call for you and me is to just recognize what God has done for us. We celebrate in many ways. Child's first birthday party, a retirement party, you could celebrate for a good grade on a test, a promotion, learning a new skill, running a marathon. Those are great things to celebrate. And I would argue that when you orient even those things properly, your celebration can be worship. When you recognize that God is the one who has given you those blessings, when God is the one who allows you to continue in those blessings, your celebration is worship. A Godward perspective makes your life a life lived full of worship. It will involve God, just as it should. Second, though, the second aspect of this celebration, this parade that we see is thanksgiving as worship. Celebration as worship, but also thanksgiving as worship. I'm not going to reread this portion. We see this in verses 31 through roughly 42, the first half of 42. And here we see the specific processions begin. Nehemiah's brought the Levites, he's got two groups of people, and he sends them two different directions to go around the entire city and to meet at the uh at the temple. And for the purpose in verse 31 of giving thanks. They are doing this parade to give thanks. Abundantly clear. They are celebrating to give thanks. That is the purpose that they're doing this. They're not only celebrations, not just a party, planned, coordinated events for the purpose of thanksgiving. I'm going to put up a map of the city, roughly what scholars, at least think. I know it's a little small. Jerusalem wasn't at its height at this point in time. Remember, reminder that the walls were destroyed. They had to rebuild all of them. There were no homes, they had to rebuild the homes. The temple was destroyed. They had to rebuild the temple. All of this has just been rebuilt. It's what they're celebrating. And you can actually see, you can follow the line. One procession, they both start at the bottom. One goes on the right side of the wall. The other goes on the left side of the wall, and at the end they meet at the temple at the top, right there. The procession goes through literally the entire city. It follows the whole city. Both of them. You can see the route they followed. And you can picture, you can hear the music happening. There's a reason that thanksgiving is a part of their worship because their celebration, or in this celebration I should say, their thanksgiving highlights that God was the primary actor, and it highlights that they understood that God was the primary actor in their restoration. What do they have to be thankful for if not for God? Who do they have to sing to if not to God? They're not singing to themselves. Who do they have to worship if not God? This is why thanksgiving, whether big instances like you see here, citywide instances, or just a small short prayer of thanksgiving, is worship. Because it properly places God where He ought to be in your life. That is magnified. That's why thanksgiving is worship. And this is not just something for the Israelites. The act and attitude of thanksgiving, both reference to the act and/or the attitude of thanksgiving, cover the entire New Testament. In fact, there are nearly 60 commands andor exhortations in the New Testament to be thankful or to give thanks. All over the New Testament. This is in relationship specifically to our salvation. In times of hardship, through easy times, in prayer, in attitude, in action, we must give thanks. We have to. And it's not out of obligation. We don't look back at our salvation and say, well, geez, I guess I have to give thanks now. If you know Jesus died on the cross for me, I guess I will. I feel like I have to. You familiar with the drive-thru pay it forward trend? You're in a drive-thru line and somebody buys your drink. I remember my mom went to Starbucks. She was a teacher every morning. And sometimes they would do a pay it forward chain. And I remember those days. And so what do you do when the person in front of you pays for your drink? You're like, okay, well, I guess I'll pay for their drink and hope it's not like a bunch of money. That's like what we're all thinking. That is not the Thanksgiving that you see in Scripture. That's not the Thanksgiving that is commanded. It's not an obligation. It's not a, now you have to. Look at what I've done for you, and God says, now you have to. Absolutely not. Not the case with Thanksgiving you see in Scripture, both in command and in example. Always done with sincere and glad hearts. Every time. I want to read us, uh no, no, no, sorry. I want us to read a psalm together. We we do this a lot. If you've never been to our church before, we read the Bible aloud together. I know we usually do this after I'm done preaching, but we're gonna do it now. This is Psalm 100. Do not fear, it's only five verses. It's not like, you know, Psalm 119 or anything like that. Psalm 100. I want us all to read this together. All speak slowly. And this isn't just a pause, by the way. When I come up here and preach, this is not like a pause to worship. We don't sing and worship, and then Stephen speaks, and then we worship again. This is part of the worship. I hope you believe that. So let's worship. We're gonna read Psalm 100 together, starting in verse 1. Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before him with joyful songs, acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are his, his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his skates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name, for the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever. His faithfulness throughout all generations. Thank you guys for doing that. We worship, we give thanks out of the abundance of love that we have for God. He has done so much for you and for me. The abundance of glory he holds, the worthiness he possesses. That's why we give thanks with cheerful hearts, recognizing that everything we have is from God. And in that he is worthy of giving thanks. But in Thanksgiving, it is often an outpouring of the third element of worship that we see in this passage. We've seen celebration as worship, we've seen thanksgiving as worship. Next we see joy. Joy is worship. This is at the end of the section. This is um, you see this roughly in the 42, second half of verse 42 through 47. The singers are singing, the procession is going on, but here we see the reaction to it all. We see what they do because of the worship. And I want us to focus specifically on a phrase that you see. The Lord had given them great joy. I'm gonna read verse 43 for us. This is after the procession. It says, On that day, they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. Nehemiah, well, he's likely not the author of the book, he is the narrator, at least in this chapter and many of the chapters of this book. And above all, he recognized that not only did God grant restoration from captivity, like he didn't just do the physical part of it where he actually brought them back home, he is the one who gave them their joy back. He's the one who granted them peace, joy, the cause for celebration. God is the great joy giver. If you have joy, it is of God. Just as we've seen all throughout this passage, God is our cause for celebration, he is our reason for thanksgiving, but he is the source of our joy. The source of it. Every victory, every blessing, it's all from God. But something I believe that we can easily miss, there is an element to our joy that is transcendent. Because I'm not gonna lie, if you read a passage like this, you'd be like, why wouldn't you have joy? Your home is back. There's literally a party happening in Jerusalem. Like, of course you have joy. But the joy that's described in Scripture is something that is transcendent. It goes so far beyond what our circumstances will allow. I'm gonna read from the New Testament. This is 1 Peter 1, 6 through 9. He says, writing encouragement to the church, mind you, you rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials, so that the proven character of your faith, more valuable than gold, which though perishable is refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with what? Inexpressible and filled or excuse me and glorious joy. Because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. One of the major themes of 1 Peter is perseverance and hope through persecution, not to get out of persecution in the middle of persecution. To begin this letter, he reminds the church that they are experiencing grief, suffering, various trials, yet they still rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy. It is a joy that does not make sense from a worldly perspective. If you're haters of the church and you saw that the church was reacting to persecution with joy, it makes no sense. That is the joy that you see in Scripture. Not dependent on your circumstance, it's dependent on your God. Because He is the joy giver. The answer is only God. Just as Peter says, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. God has granted you salvation. What can man do to you? What can he do? God is the source of salvation and is the source of our joy. Same is true for people of God in Nehemiah 12. Same is true of you today. God is the source of your joy. But notice also, do not miss this, that their joy resulted in action. It resulted in great sacrifices and rejoicing, so much so that their rejoicing was heard far away. I wish he gave a specific. I want to know. How far away could I have been and still heard this? I remember growing up, my dad had season tickets to OU football games, and I remember walking to the stadium. You can hear it way far out. You can hear the football stadium from far away. That's what's happening here. But magnified. You can hear the city while not being in the city. And all of that joy, again, specifically makes itself known in singing, shouting, praise. I get it. That's why it's loud. But that's because of the joy they have for God. They would not be singing if they didn't have joy. Furthermore, though, again, it's easy to get lost in the details, but in verses 44 through 47, we see temple giving specified. And this is a big deal. Do not remove this from the worship. This giving, these tithes, making sure things are in place, that is worship. They're making sure things are accounted for. The temple, again, was the way that God blessed the people of Israel. It's where they made sacrifices, is where the high priest made atonement yearly. Givings and tithes, offerings to the temple, that was worship. But notice specifically verse 47. In the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, that's today, all Israel contributed to the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for Aaron's descendants. They were doing what God had them to do. They were following his commands. Because worship is not static. It is not just a one-time event that causes no change. We just talked about this a couple chapters ago. Their joy in the Lord directly led to work for the Lord. You cannot separate those two things. You cannot claim to have tremendous joy for what God has done for you and then not give a rip about his work or his ministry or his salvation. When you have joy in God, you will work for God. And temple work was the work of God. If we have no joy in the Christian life, no joy in worship, no joy in salvation, no joy in our churches, even, first I would question salvation. But secondly, there's no way, no way, if you have no joy, you'll want to participate in the work. Do not miss that joy is an act of worship. It is something that utterly transcends your condition, your circumstances, because joy for the believer is a spiritual reality, not a physical reality. I think people, especially outside of the church, think joy is something that you just have. It's not physical, it is spiritual. Joy transcends your situation and it infects your worship. When you worship, you worship with full joy. Joy because your salvation is sure, it's true, your sin has been dealt with. He is our portion and he is our reward. But here's what's crazy. Because when I read passages like this, I get a little bit convicted. I'm not gonna lie. Because there's I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it real with you. This may come as a shock, but I enjoy thunder basketball. And when I saw the parade last year, in many ways, I was more joyous from that moment than many times I am in the church. I read passages like this, and I'm like, man, they were worshiping God. Do I worship like this? And here's the crazy part. They don't even have Jesus to look back on. They don't even have his sacrifice yet. They can't read the gospel and look at how their sin was dealt with, and yet, tremendous joy. We should have so much more joy than you see in Nehemiah chapter 12. Why? Because our salvation has been purchased by the blood of Jesus. It is made complete. Your joy, your worship, your thanksgiving, your celebration, it is made complete because of Christ's work. This passage does, I believe, show us a different look at worship. We see familiar elements, right? We see singing, we see playing instruments, but worship takes so many different forms in their celebration, in their thanksgiving, in their joy. Again, reminder, when celebration is worship, it's when God is at the center. When thanksgiving is worship, it's because he is magnified correctly. And when your joy is worship, it's because it surpasses your circumstances. So I have one simple question. And I'm asking myself this today, absolutely. One simple question for you and me today. Does my life reflect the same joyous celebration because of God's work? Nehemiah chapter 12, they did a lot wrong. Let me be clear. The people of Israel did a lot wrong, they did a lot right. Here's one of the moments where they do something right. They are filled with joy because of God's work. Are you filled with joy because of God's work? Does your life then reflect that joy? Because here's the reality. We have so much more to celebrate, so much more to give thanks for. We weren't banished in captivity, sure. We weren't removed from our homes. We weren't used as servants, sure, I get that. But do you know what God has rescued you from? Your sin and the evil that separated you from Him. Because of Christ's life and death on the cross, you can walk free, free from sin, free from the law, free from performance, just freedom for Christ. We have so much more to celebrate. So I ask again, does your life reflect the same joy because of God's work? We always have a time of response. Just a couple minutes. You can pray to yourself. I'd encourage you to pray aloud. You could pray with a neighbor, pray for someone, pray with someone. But I want you guys to reflect on this question. Does your life reflect joy in God as it should? When you're ready, you've had a chance to pray, please take your time. There is no rush to this. We have, we always partake of the elements together, the Lord's Supper. Just so you know, the cup is stacked, so do not fear if you just grab the juice. The bread is under it. But feel free, partake. We ask that you be a believer in Christ Jesus, baptize as a believer in Christ Jesus, and good standing with a local church doesn't have to be ours. But come partake when you're ready and celebrate. That's what we're doing. Celebrate what Christ has done for you. When you're ready, I think Preston is leading us. So just take it back to your seats whenever you're done and we'll partake of it together. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for another Sunday where we can gather and worship. We thank you for another Sunday where we can be reminded of the thanksgiving that we ought to have, the celebration our life ought to be, the joy our life ought to be marked with, because what you have accomplished for us. We thank you for salvation found in Jesus Christ. I pray that anyone here who doesn't know Jesus would come to faith in you, that you would convict them, draw them to yourself. And for those who do know you, that you would draw them closer, that you would give them joy that surpasses any any temporary circumstance. You give them joy that other people see and worship you because we thank you again for the church you've gathered here at this location. I ask that you would help us worship by your spirit, and we pray all of these things for Christ's name's sake. Amen.