In this sermon titled “A Choice Before the Change,” two speakers (A and B) unpack Nehemiah 8:10 (“the joy of the Lord is your strength”) and urge the congregation of Pilgrim Rest to choose praise and celebration even before their circumstances improve. They frame the biblical passage historically—people fresh from Babylonian exile, having rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls, and gathering for the Feast of Trumpets—to illustrate that God commands joy before any personal merit is earned. The speakers draw parallel historical and cultural illustrations: Victory in Europe Day (May 8 1945) where a nation celebrated before the war fully ended, the 1993 Super Bowl halftime show as a celebration that outweighs a lopsided score, and Michelangelo’s unfinished “Slave” sculpture as a masterpiece protected despite its incompleteness. Throughout, they emphasize themes of “protective benevolence,” “preferential behavior,” and “protective joy” – the idea that God’s joy toward His people is a source of spiritual strength and protection. The sermon repeatedly calls listeners to make a conscious choice to bless God now, regardless of grief, illness, or lack, and to view themselves as incomplete masterpieces crafted by the Master Sculptor. The message concludes with a pastoral appeal to trust God’s ongoing mercy, to celebrate the new season God has ushered in, and to not wait for external change before offering praise.
Chapters
There is an exegetical invitation I want to extend to you today, and I pray that you accept. You've been invited to fellowship with me in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8. TC was the first person to stand, so he get to be dismissed early today. So after point 1, you can go ahead and leave, man. Everybody else got to sit through the whole thing. Nehemiah chapter number 8. I want to go down to verse 10. I want y'all to pray with me this morning. Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10. Word of God reads, and then he said to them, go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, send portions to those who have nothing prepared. Since the day is holy to our Lord, don't grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength. You may be seated. We thank God for his word. Joy of the Lord is your strength. Just a few moments this morning, want to do my best to expound upon this subject. A choice before the change. A choice before the change. Date was May the 8th. 1945. On that day, the world was at war, what we know today as World War II. In Great Britain, there was a lot of destruction, there was a lot of chaos, caused the country was wrecked with what looked like war. Up until this day, Great Britain, along with many other countries, were still in war. I just told you that when you looked around, it looked like the war in which they were in. Y'all here with me this morning? However, history tells us that May 8th, 1945 is what we know today as Victory in Europe Day. And the reason that is called Victory in Europe Day is because Winston Churchill, who was the then Prime Minister, addressed the country and declare from his mouth that it was the day in which victory in war had come. At that simple declaration, the people of Great Britain began to celebrate immediately because the Prime Minister who was in authority declared it. I told you that it looked like war.
I told you that up until this point the country was in war, but since the one who was in authority declared that the victory had been won despite what the people saw, the people celebrated because the one in authority said that they had the victory. Now y'all busy looking at who walking in church and you missed the fact that I just preached the whole sermon, that no matter what they saw, because of what they heard, the people shouted and celebrate it. And I'm looking at people this morning who, when you look with your eyes, things may still look chaotic. But despite what you see, have you heard any good news today? Have you heard that you serve a risen Savior? Y'all sat up here and sung a while ago that victory today is mine. And you told Satan, get thee behind you. Why? Because victory today is mine. And if victory today is yours, then a praise should come from you. Because not because of anything that you may see, but because God is moving in your heart, no matter what the devil tries to tell you. Even though circumstances have not changed, God has already told you that you have the victory. So even though there are reasons to be down, even though there may be reasons to be sad, I guarantee you there's an even bigger reason for us to have celebration in our heart. Because despite what's going on around me, there is a God above and within me who who still gives me the victory despite what's going on around me. I think I preached by myself this morning. There may be some things that have not changed yet. I may want them to change. I may be wanting and waiting on them to change, but in the meantime, I am going to celebrate my God who has kept me. I'm going to celebrate my God who is with me. I'm going to celebrate my God who has given me the strength, because even though has not changed, I am going to make up my mind that I have a choice to praise God.
Dad, where you get this from? I think you making it up. Let me prove to you that I'm not. We're in Nehemiah chapter 8. The wall has now been rebuilt. Now The people have stumbled up on this thing called the word of God.
They found—
they just come from Babylonian captivity.
And if you've been paying attention in Wednesday calls the past few weeks, Babylonian captivity has been rough on the people. Now they have come from exile. They now have access to the word of God. Which is the first 5 books of the Old Testament, in which we know of it as today. Ezra the prophet has come to this resurrected place, which we know today as the pulpit, and reads the word. After he reads the word, the people were so convicted because they understood that their behavior was not consistent to what the word of God says. But Ezra declared, I know that what you read may show you your flaws. I know that we've gone through a tough time. I know that things have not been good for us over the past few years. But I want to declare today that despite the reasons that you have to be in a sense of grief, even though those things have not changed, today is your day that before life changes, that your behavior and your praise change. So even though you may see yourself in a place as if you're not leveled to where God has called you to be. Since God has spared you, since God has kept you, since God has shown mercy on you, that's reason enough for us to dry up those tears and lift up our hands and say that yes, we've been through a lot, but God has brought us to this point. Yes, I have my flaws, but God has spared me. Yes, I got some issues, but he keeps waking me up in the morning. Yes, I've done things I shouldn't have done, but he put food on my table. Yes, I thought some things that I should not have thought, but by his grace and his mercy, I'm still here. And I want to know if there's anybody in Pilgrim Rest today who knows that there are some things that you can grieve about today. There are some things that's going on in your life that you wish that they were not going on. But God says that even though that has not changed, he wants you to make a choice that I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in your mouth.
He said that the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Yes, you've been through it, but the joy of the Lord is your strength. You don't know what's gonna happen at the doctor tomorrow, but the joy of the Lord is your strength. You don't know what you gonna go home to today, but the joy The joy of the Lord is your strength. You don't know if you're gonna have the money to buy all these gifts, but the joy of the Lord is still your strength.
There's a lot of things that we can grieve about, but we still make a choice that God has been good despite my grief.
We still make a choice. He has been consistent when I've been inconsistent. I will make a choice even through it all. This is sloppy exposition this morning, but let me tell you what I came to preach. Simple sentence. Y'all ready for it?
I'm gonna try to say it calm, Tony, because I get excited sometimes when I preach. So let me put both my hands up, shake my shoulders to make sure the blood is flowing. That way I don't get too excited.
God's joy is greater than your grief. I tried not to get excited, Tony, but I'm gonna say it one more time. God's joy is greater than your grief. Yes, I have grief. Yes, I have pain. Yes, I have circumstances, but my God is bigger than any pain that I'm going through. And if you have breath in your body, you are walking proof that God's joy is greater than your grief. I've had tears in my eyes, but look at me this morning. I have some sad moments, but somehow, some way, I end up thinking about the goodness of God even in my pain. And when I was crying in sadness, God mess around and give me praise. Is there anybody today who knows that, yes, I have grief, I've gone through some pain, I'm in some things now, but God's joy is greater?
And we can't always wait on things to change before we make a choice.
I can't promise you that when you blink your eye and when you pay your tax, that all your problems gonna go away. But despite what may come, despite what may go, my choice is God, I bless your name.
Big hand at the team. Let me unpack a few hermeneutical highlights. I'm out of your way up 167. I promise you, I want y'all to throw them leftovers away today, okay? This text teaches us that God gives us this right to have a choice based upon preferential behavior. Y'all think he gonna play this drum? Y'all listen to me. God often calls us to celebrate before we feel worthy to celebrate. Can I show it to you in the text? They, the people, are fresh from exile. They've rebuilt the walls now. However, they have lived for a while without the word.
Ezra, the scribe, read the word and the people saw how they were in error.
They start crying, they start weeping.
Immediately Ezra says, now it's time to stop crying. It's time to rejoice. God, you're calling us to rejoice, and we have not shown any change in our behavior. God says that's exactly why you should rejoice. Because me sparing you is already evidence that you have every reason to rejoice.
Historically and exegetically, this reading of the Bible, or the 5 first 5 books of Torah, was on a day—
hear me, hear me, hear me— was on a day called the Feast of Trumpets.
New Year's time, it was around July 1st, right?
Early July.
And they celebrated the Feast of Trumpets.
Now, this was not a random mandate for the people to celebrate, but this day was already prescribed in the word.
The law had already prescribed the people to celebrate what's called the Feast of Trumpets. Please, somebody ask me, what's the purpose of the Feast of Trumpets? Here it is.
The Feast of Trumpets was simply a day set aside by God for the people to celebrate God bringing them to a new season. I just told you that these people done acted a fool, done got themselves in exile, done clown, done been disobedient. But now They're in a new season, and God says, I brought you to a new season even though you're not worthy. So even though you haven't changed yet, I want you to celebrate because I let you survive. I want to know today, is there a pilgrim in the house who can confess, as Pastor, my season have not always shown the best of me, but despite me, God just brought me to a new day, and I got some stuff on me But God, you brought me to a new season. Is there anybody in the house today who know that your last season, the devil tried to take you out? He tried to give you sadness, he tried to give you bereavement, he tried to give you lack, he tried to give you pain, but God just kept on putting you to bed and waking you up, kept putting you to bed and waking you up, kept putting you to bed and waking you up, and now you're in a new season. Is there anybody who has a new season praise, that knows that God can keep on bringing me to a new season, that my God is a keeper? Oh yes, he is. Today I know my God is a keeper. Look at all those times when you were not aware and God just protected you and he just kept you and You were not even aware of the danger that you were in, but his hand kept you through it all.
It wasn't them pills keeping you.
Go to your doctor's appointment, but it ain't that doctor keeping you. I'm trying to go to the gym when I leave here, but it ain't that gym that's keeping me. It's the grace and mercy of God who keeps me even when I'm not aware.
Here it is.
God's telling these people, celebrate the fact that despite you, I brought you to a new season. And in this closing moments of the year, before we go another day, it's important that we pause and thank God and look back over the past year, that I've been through a lot over this year. But you brought me to this season. I know there's some people who I wish were here, they're no longer here, and it makes me sad sometimes. But God, you brought me to this season, and I know that you brought me to this season for a purpose. Comfort my heart and let me be appreciative and thankful that you brought me to this season. I can't change what I'm grieving.
I choose to celebrate the fact that simply you brought me to this season.
Here it is.
If God orchestrated this moment, he's telling the children of Israel, I know what you've done.
I know how crazy you've been. I know the sins that you've committed, and I know the sins of your forefathers, but I brought you to this place, and just tell me thank you. Here it is.
It means that not only does God accept praise toning from those who are not worthy, he also prescribes it.
He said, I could deal with your sin now. But I don't even want to deal with your sin. I want to deal with the fact that you need to know who I am, who has been keeping you, who's been holding you, who gave you the power to rebuild these walls. Don't think that it was your strength that let you do it, but it was me who gave you another chance. And I know today that every last one of us in here, God keeps on giving us chances. After chance after chance again.
It's almost, it's almost like God— I'm moving on— it's almost, Mims, like God don't know how to keep score. Thank you.
God, look at all this stuff your people done. They're here, here it is, they're doing the churchy and the right thing because they were weeping, because they were weeping because they saw their sin. Stay with me now. And when you see your sin in the midst of God's righteousness and word, It should make you convicted. Anybody ever just read the word and just saw how you were not abiding by what God says? But here's what God did. God didn't just keep on saying, you owe me 30 more minutes, I want y'all to cry 30 more minutes. For all the sin that you've been in. God—
here's what God did.
God says, I saw you crying, now enough of that. Y'all paying attention to him and y'all ain't paying attention to me. You miss a shout. God says, I've seen you crying, you've asked for forgiveness, and now that you've asked for forgiveness, accepted and move on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess I ain't talking to nobody here.
They asked for forgiveness. God didn't keep score. He said, I accept it. Now it's up to you to celebrate and move on. Somebody today, God says, I've accepted your forgiveness. I've accepted your plea for righteousness and forgiveness. I've forgiven you. Now let it go and move on.
1993, people talk about the halftime performance of the Super Bowl. 1993, for people 3,000 people in the stadium, and this icon of pop stole the show. I don't know if y'all ever heard of him, but this old fellow by the name of Michael Jackson— y'all heard of him? This is one of the most noted half-time celebration or halftime performance of the Super Bowl. Up until this point, people really didn't pay attention to the halftime performance of the Super Bowl. But that Super Bowl in 1993 is now famous not because of the scope, but because of the celebration.
TC, probably the only one in here who knows that the score to the Super Bowl was 52-17. This team in Dallas called the Cowboys won the Super Bowl that year.
Here it is.
This teaches us something less— something powerful, that even Lopsided scores can be overcome if the celebration is right. And that's how God does us. The score is lopsided. We have more sin than we can even account for, but we have enough reasons to celebrate. And God says, if you focus on celebrating me, I can even the score for you. Is there anybody who God just leveled the score for and you just want to take time to thank God? That God, you didn't keep up with the score, but you have given me the victory, and I choose to focus on the victory that you've given me.
Preferential behavior. About to let y'all home cause y'all got some leftovers.
Oh, y'all gonna throw it away? Let me tell you one more thing.
God teaches us in this text— I'm ready to teach this part— joy of our Lord is our strength, and it gives God— God is giving us what's called here, I want to call it protective benevolence. Protective benevolence.
Are y'all ready to go to school?
Purity. I've been reading this text, kind of wrong, for a few years now. That's why y'all pay me the big bucks, so I can go home and do my homework. The joy of the Lord is our strength.
That word joy in its etymology is a word that does not talk about our joy.
It's joy that belongs to God. All right, all right.
Look who God's talking to. He's talking to this rough, raggedy group of remnants. And God looks at the remnant and says, when I see you, I still have joy.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you. That makes me want to shout out my lips, because when God looks at us now God has joy.
So Ezra's telling them, there's no need to weep because what you don't know is that even while you were lost God looked at you and had joy. We can't even look within ourselves and have joy within ourselves, but when God, who knows all, sees all, has all power, he looks at us and chooses to have joy when there is not much good to look at.
Lord, help me preach this morning.
The reason that you need to make a choice to celebrate in this season is even though things may not appear the way you want them, one thing that you can thank God for is that God sees you and God smiled on you. I know this ain't offering time, but I would feel like singing a song. God has smiled on me, he has set me free. And I'm not the only person in here who, when God sees me, God has joy. That's why goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Because when God sees me, God has joy. And even when people talk about me, and even when I don't measure up to the standards of people, God said, I still got joy for you. That job didn't want you, but God had another job for you. And you want to know why? Because God looked at you and had joy. When people didn't want to deal with you, God had a place for you because God has joy when he sees you.
When God sees us, he has joy. That shouts me. But then he moves on and says, the joy of the Lord is our strength. Once again, Hebrew etymology, that does not mean that it makes God does give us strength, but in this text, God's ability to have joy— I don't want to bore you—
to have joy when he sees you.
A better translation of that, that's where strength in Hebrew means it's our protection. Ooh, because— help me, Holy Spirit—
because God has joy about us, his emotional feeling towards us is what protects us as we go through this dangerous land. Because here it is, the problem really in this text is that the people were at odds with God because they were not living according to God's standard. But God is saying, I've forgiven you because I have joy when I see you, and because I have joy when I see you You have not only survived life, but you survived my wrath. And I don't know if you know this or not, but high blood pressure ain't the only dangerous thing that we face. But what we really need to be frightened of is the wrath of God and God taking his hand off of us. But because God has grace, and but because God has mercy, and because he sent his Son to die on Calvary and got him up that third day Sunday morning, we don't have to experience the wrath of God because God has joy when he sees us.
And here it is.
Because I have peace with God, I have peace in the world. And if God ain't mad with me, then no matter what I face, I know I can conquer it. Because if I've already had peace with God, that means that there is no bill that I have to face, no doctor's report, no person, no lie, no rumor, no gossip, no person, no man, woman, boy, or girl can separate me from the love of God, because God's joy is my protection.
Oh, God has joy because he does not just see us as we are, he sees us as what he created us to be.
Don't you know that's why you still here? Because there are some things God created for us to do, and God has always covered us because he considers what he's called us to be.
I close with this. I'm trying not to break the script. I feel excited. Let me find my exit and put my seatbelt on. Here it is. Over in Italy at this museum called the Accademia, there is one of Michelangelo's works called The Slave. Slave is a sculpture that Michelangelo really did not complete. It's an incomplete work of Michelangelo. It's a sculpture called Slave. It's 4 sculptures that are incomplete. Daniel Copeland, but the reason they protect this sculpture over in the academia. They protect a sculpture that's not complete. I painted some stuff in grade school and I called it being a gift to my mom and daddy. Look, I drew you. And they was trying to be nice to me, but I grew up and found out years later, the afternoon, they threw it away. Because it was not a beautiful work of art. So I'm struggling, all of you, because why over in the academia are they protecting a work of art that's incomplete? Michelangelo called me and me and him had a conversation. He said, hey, The reason they protect the slave, even though it's incomplete, is because even though it's incomplete, it's still called a masterpiece. I had more questions for Michelangelo.
I said, Michelangelo, Now I know you got some good works of art, but this one is a masterpiece and it's incomplete.
How is it incomplete and yet it's called a master? Y'all couldn't know how? Michelangelo told me to look at the word masterpiece and see what it really means.
A masterpiece is not considered a masterpiece because of the prominence of the piece, but in order to be a masterpiece, one classification is that it has to be made by a master.
Good night, may the Lord God bless you.
But it makes sense now.
Wish I can— whoo!
That the reason something that's incomplete is protected is the same reason that you and I are protected today. It's because yes, we are incomplete. Yes, we are flawed. Yes, we have issues, but we are some flawed pieces, but we are a masterpiece because we've been made by Master Sculptor. Good night, On My Way Up 167. The reason that you can go to bed tonight and trust in your God is because you are a masterpiece and you are made by the master. So when people see you protected and they want to know how are you kept so well, tell them it's not me, it's that I've been made by a master. I've been made by the King of Kings, by the Lord of Lords, by Jehovah Jireh, by Jehovah Shalom. He's been keeping me. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He heals me when I'm sick. He lifts me when I'm down. He wipes my tears. He lifts my bowed-down head. I've gotten myself in trouble, but the reason the trouble didn't take me out is because he kept me. I've done some things that I should not have done, but look at me today. I'm able to tell the story because he kept me. I've said some stuff that should have got me canceled, but I'm still preaching the word. Because he kept me. I've been some places that I should not have been, but he didn't let it take me out because my God kept me. And I know, Pilgrim Rest, that I'm not the only one in here, but there are some other incomplete masterpieces who can testify today that he kept me even when I went to some other places.
And that alone is why I make the choice to celebrate even before circumstances change. The enemy will send a spirit of grief and sadness during this time, and I can't be so super spiritual and tell you that you don't have the right to grieve. Yes, as human beings, there are some voids that we have, that we have reason to grieve, just like these children of Israel. But God says, I'm gonna let you grieve. Nasir, can't change it.
Don't wait to change. Don't wait on yourself to change.
Don't wait on the circumstances to change, but you change, because God has brought you to this season and God is keeping you See, the enemy will use our human emotions. He will use our human emotions against us and make us forget. God ain't really all that. Look at what you're going through. And while you're doing that, you miss the fact— see, these children of Israel, they didn't even understand the fact Yeah, y'all been wrong all this time. God, God done dealt with our forefathers a lot worse than this. He had mercy on us and he's keeping us through it. And that's why we make the choice before the change. I don't know when things will change, how, if, when. I don't know none of those things, but I do know that I will bless the the Lord at all times. And as I bless the Lord— hear me well— blessing the Lord ain't just gonna make things just some— I'm not teaching you to be some type of abracadabra, oh, it just disappeared. But as you bless the Lord, God continues to heal, he delivers, he comforts, he sets free. And every time those emotions come, when you disappointed about life or you disappointed in yourself, God to give you the artillery to fight. You fight with your appreciation of what God has given you. Let's give God a handclap of praise.
